Monday, March 8, 2010

The Hidden Crisis



time to stock up..

by ras, our youngest tribal sister. Thanks, ras!




Right now everyone is talking about the economy. The economy this, the economy that. The economy sucks, and we’re all screwed. That’s the short version of a long story. More and more people are losing their jobs and homes. Things are grim and only going to get worse.
Collapse is happening. It’s a fact, not a theory, not something your grandchildren will see in the future. It is happening now. Yes, it is happening slowly –but happening nonetheless. John Michael Greer likes to point out that a young girl about to get married when the French Revolution started would have been a grandmother when France finally stabilized decades later. The collapse of a society is measured in decades, at best; the collapse of a civilization in lifetimes. Now is the twilight hour, the golden moment between the day and the night when you know the end is coming but can still do something about it. Not to stop it - no, for what is coming is inevitable, but to cushion the blow and protect yourselves and your family.
The collapse of a society or civilization generally occurs in a series of crises. The first crisis in the current collapse was the 1970s oil crisis. I want you to note two things about this crisis: first, it occurred only years after 1970, which may be considered the peak of western civilization as measured by energy output and other factors; second, I was not yet born when this crisis occurred. I wasn’t born until 1983, and I’m old enough to have children in 5th grade. Think about that for a moment. This means the collapse of western civilization has now been going on for two and a half generations.
The second crisis began in 2001 when the events of 9/11 were used as an excuse to make a naked grab for the dwindling oil reserves of the Middle East. That crisis is still simmering, as the underlying cause of it was Peak Oil –and PO must still be dealt with. The third crisis began with the economic meltdown of 2008 and is still going on. Most of the jobs that are being lost now will never come back. Most of those unemployed now may never have another formal job. The longer you are unemployed, the harder it is to get hired. Companies assume that something is wrong with you. So these poor people (of which I am one, in a lot of ways) are going to have to either provide self-employment and/or migrate into the informal economy.
Many more crises are on the horizon: water, energy, climate change. Here I want to focus on a crisis that is occurring now but has not yet burst into the public eye and is getting very little attention. That crisis is food and food production. Those of us who read sites like this on a regular basis have been aware of the impending crisis for some time, but I think it is time to step back and take a long look at what is happening and where we are going.
Let’s start with the 2009 harvest. Officially, we had a bumper year. The USDA reports bumper harvests of every crop. Unofficially, the harvest sucked –and is still not completed in some areas. Here’s one, slightly dated, map of areas declared disasters due to the harvest: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EZMGVwURo3M/SyrprCwQNvI/AAAAAAAACMU/M62Tivs9_6c/s1600-h/US_Declared_Disaster_Secretary+&+President_Finalv2-732348.PNG
Would you like something a little more up to date? Click here: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EZMGVwURo3M/SyrprCwQNvI/AAAAAAAACMU/M62Tivs9_6c/s1600-h/US_Declared_Disaster_Secretary+&+President_Finalv2-732348.PNG Notice that EVERY county in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas has been declared a disaster –and all but one county in Georgia and Louisiana. The rest of the country isn’t much better off. (Click on each state to see the map.)
And yet, despite all of this, the U.S. had a record crop this year? I don’t think so. In fact, I’m officially going to call bullshit on this one. Yeah, I said it. Meanwhile, the number of people on food stamps in the U.S. hit another record high in December: 39 million. (Full story here: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2010/03/06/2003467306) The numbers are steadily growing. And remember, in some states it is extremely hard to get food assistance. How many people are going hungry but unable to get help?
So the U.S. had a bad harvest year. What about the rest of the world? Australia has lowered its crop forecast again due to droughts and flooding in various provinces. Asia did not do well either; rice and other crops had a rough harvest. Right now, all of this is leading mostly to higher prices. This in itself is a crisis for the billions of people who live on the edge of starvation or who are almost there. Here’s a good article about the problems in India: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/86d6533e-15e3-11df-b65b-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1
But the problems go deeper than this. Remember, the world has no stockpiles anymore. So at some point when the harvest isn’t adequate, no matter how much you raise the price, you are just going to be…out. What happens then? Prices will rise to the stratosphere well before then, and more people will go hungry, but when we do run out what happens? It probably won’t be this year, and probably not in this country –the U.S. still grows far more than it needs, and would undoubtedly use its buying power to steal food from poorer nations if need be to keep its own citizens fed, but what about the other countries? There’s an old saying I’m sure everyone is familiar with: any society is only three meal-less days away from revolution. I have the sinking feeling that statement is going to be tested again in the next few years.
Nor is the crisis likely to get any better this year. We’ve lost more farmers. They’re not making any money. They have to make enough to pay the bills, after all. Then there’s the little issue of credit. The way farming works these days, most farmers have to borrow money to pay for seeds, fertilizers, etc, which they then pay back at the end of the season out of the harvest proceeds. Some farmers weren’t able to get enough credit last year to plant enough, and a lot more weren’t able to pay back their loans at the end of the year. This year the credit crisis has gotten even worse. How many farmers won’t be able to plant at all, or be forced to plant drastically reduced amounts? Add in the uncertainty of weather, especially in these days of global weirding introduced by climate change, and we may have another recipe for disaster.
For the final bit of proof, if any is needed, go down to the local grocery store. Take a look at sizes and prices. The former has gone down while the latter has gone up. Considerably up. A year and a half a go you could get a can of chicken noodle soup for $0.50. Now that same can is $1.00. On sale. Flour has doubled in price in the past year. Doubled. So have eggs. (I buy mine from a local farm, but keep an eye on them just the same.) The organic milk we buy recently went up by $0.20 in a week. Prices are climbing dramatically.
All this adds up to an oncoming catastrophe. There’s nothing we can do to stop it. Some people will say “if only every just became a vegetarian…”. That isn’t going to happen. You know it, and I know it. Furthermore, given the number of people in the world, it would no longer be enough. We can’t control the weather. We can’t control the politicians. All we can do is try to protect our own and as many other people as we can. Given the way things are trending, that means storing and growing as much of your own food as possible, and giving as much to the local food bank as possible. Things are only going to get rougher from here on in.

P.S. For one more in-depth look at the food crisis, check out this article: http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html

64 comments:

Hotspringswizard said...

Great report there RAS! Argg, my dreams will be even worse tonight after reading that :-) Well we have a year's dried food supply sitting in my wifes closet, so maybe we can board up the windows, wait with our guns inside while the Zombies kill eachother off outside, and hopefully they will be done with it all in under a year, then its back to the good times :-) Yeah your right, I'm dreaming already!

murph said...

I've been seeing more articles lately concerning countries buying huge amounts of farm land in Africa, like China and India. Like millions of acres and setting up huge mono cropping farms. What I have read so far indicates that it is for the purchasing countries population and not to grow extra for export. Which leads me to the question of how many years will it take to degrade Africa's farmland? And, if food became scarce in the leading western countries, what would those countries do if they couldn't import food? Start more wars?

Trying to talk about food shortages in this country is not acceptable in polite company, it just is not a possible scenario. Water will be another big area for concern, but people generally don't want to talk about that either.

I guess it's time to raise the clarion call; get to where there is water, stock up on food and get ready to hunker down.

freeacre said...

Thanks so much, ras. That is a really timely report, as it is time to begin to think seriously about securing seeds, planting, stocking up on necessities while the getting is still good. We recently watched a GREAT documentary on water. It was entitled "Blue Gold: New Water Wars." It depicts how TPTB are buying up huge swaths of farmland in Africa and South America and turning them into huge mono-crop corporate farming area. Clearing forests and displacing tribal people, of course. Then "allowing" some of them to work the fields. But, not paying them enough to afford the food. Saudi Arabia is buying up a lot of Ethiopia. Jenna Bush was sent to Patagonia to close a deal there. They are also turning farm land into bio-fuel. And, there is a rust blight that is spreading across the Middle East that is reducing the wheat supply. The watershed in the US is seriously reduced from paving it over and development, so the aquifers are being drained by irrigation and not filling back up. So, water is the "new oil," and we seem to be using it up with the same abandon. Could we be any dumber?
For only a fraction of what is spent on the bloated military budgets, drinking water supplies all over the world could be cleaned up. Water could become available to drink and to grow crops. But, the mega-corporations seem determined to privatize the water supply, drive the price up, and kill off a whole bunch of "extra" people.
On a more personal and local note, it seems our chickens and darling dog are in danger of becoming food. A cougar attacked a horse only a couple of blocks from our home last night. The horse was injured so badly that it had to be put down. The sheriff has issued an alert to watch for a cougar and her cub. Good grief.

freeacre said...

...Oh, yeah. Food Stamps. Wait until the former middle class finds out just how atrocious the food stamp rules are. My friend died because she couldn't afford blood pressure medicine. Meanwhile, she was living on $585 per month. But, she didn't qualify for food stamps because she made "too much money." When my late husband was dying of cancer and I had to pay for his COBRA insurance off the top, and the house payment was practically my entire take-home pay, I thought maybe I could get some food stamps. Nope. I made "too much money." When I asked if there was anything I could do, the social worker told me, "Get a divorce." Currently, I have a friend who is living on only social security. She qualifies for food stamps - $15 worth per month. These friggin reporters who write about food stamps don't know shit about food stamps.

murph said...

I forgot to add one of the links to this African farming issue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land-grab

baz recon said...

The pain of the Indian, as he experienced the death of his way of life, has not been fully understood by the white man, and perhaps never will.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


The White people never cared for Land or Deer or Bear. When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pinenuts. We don't chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the White people plow up the ground, pull down the trees, kill everything. The tree says, “Don't. I am sore. Don't hurt me.” But they chop it down and cut it up. The spirit of the land hates them. They blast out trees and stir it up to its depths. They saw up the trees. That hurts them. The Indians never hurt anything, but the White people destroy all. They blast rocks and scatter them on the ground. The rock says, “Don't. You are hurting me.” But the White people pay no attention. When the Indians use rocks, they take little round ones for their cooking ... How can the spirit of the earth like the White man? ... Everywhere the White man has touched it, it is sore.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


I had learned many English words and could recite part of the Ten Commandments. I knew how to sleep on a bed, pray to Jesus, comb my hair, eat with a knife and fork, and use a toilet ... I had also learned that a person thinks with his head instead of his heart.


hint #2

wv: pestle — in this part of the world, a french annoyance, yeah toxic waste—fucken White people (Motherfuckers), and their goddamn big holes.

SingColleen said...

I feel more and more that we will never be prepared enough. We have canned and dried goods filling up every available space inside our home and in our garage. But no matter how much we have, it is finite, and the coming crisis seems like it could go on for MUCH longer than we could ever prepare for. We, unfortunately, live in the desert because that is where we have been able to find jobs, and I worry that this one decision will be be our ruin. We have enough cash on hand that we could make back to our family if TSHTF, provided the gas stations are working...

I suppose all we can do is our best. One thing is for sure - if things begin to melt down, we're leaving everything but the food/water, the guns and our few valuables and getting out of the desert.

freeacre said...

SingColleen - at least you and your husband are on the same page. That's a real blessing and a strength. And, you have your priorities straight. I know what you mean about never feeling like you can do enough preparation. We've been doing it for five years and there's always more on the wish list. All you can really hope for is to save enough to get you through until you are self-sufficient - can raise or grow or make what you need. I wish I could remember where I read about some nifty ideas on how to get water from the desert. Some project in Israel, I think, has come up with some really innovative ideas on growing crops on land that one would never think is possible. If I come across it again, I'll let you know. If the poles shift and the North Pole ends up somewhere in Minnesota, you might be in a surprisingly good spot! Who knows?

Hotspringswizard said...

Regarding this you wrote Freeacre, " If the poles shift and the North Pole ends up somewhere in Minnesota, you might be in a surprisingly good spot! ", here is a part I remember from a dream I had last night.

I was running along the shore of a lake, trying to hide from my brother for some reason. I then hid myself in a small building, kinda like a utility room which was in the water on the shore line.

Then ( you know how dreams do weird things ) this building was out in the middle of this lake ( which I remember was Lake Mojave actually ), and I was laying down in it looking out the doorway at the water which was calm. I then looked out the doorway up the lake and saw what I remember were the big buildings of central Las Vegas on the shore line of the lake, with a huge collumn of black smoke coming up out of the center of them.

I then went back in the building and began watching the water once again and the waves on the lake began to get bigger and bigger, and I feared they would be washing into the room I was in soon.

Then I noticed that it was not so bright outside as I looked through the door, even though it was daytime. I looked outside again to see why. I saw the sun, and it was behind orangish brown clouds, like those from a fire.

Then suddenly the sun was gone, not because it had just turned off like a light, but because it had actually disappeared. It wasn't there anymore, and everything was dark. An ominous dread filled me.

I remember thinking " now what will happen ". Then things started shifting, like the whole world was beginning to shift, and I started to become unbalanced. Then I woke up.

No RAS, this dream was not the result of your report :-) Maybe that 2012 movie is still rumbling around in my nogin :-) I wonder what would really happen to the earth if the sun was suddenly, just gone?

SingCollen, what desert area do you live in? My family and I live in the High Desert of Southern California, specifically in Apple Valley.

Regarding preperations, if the whole gig just melts down quickly and severely, I don't think its going to matter how much ( in terms of longer range considerations ) you are prepared because there will be plently of " takers " that will be all to ready to upset the best laid lifeboat plans, and the duration of these troubles times could be reasonably expected to last on into the foreseable future, given the idea of " peak everything " for one thing will mean no return to the life we grew up with, ever.

Still I say we try and do what we can towards this end. Maybe things will limp their way down to lower and lower levels in a slower fashion. These dire forcast of so many various troubles that will change our lives so dramatically is certainly daunting to consider. Its good to have like minded folks to talk to about all of it, where ever you can find them.

My mom and stepdad are so completely wrapped up in thier Faux News Fantasy World that there's no sense me even trying to wake them up anymore. Its like living among crazy people, being around so many who just have no clue about the real reasons why things are happening. Oh well, it is what it is, and we just have to do the best we can :-)

Hotspringswizard said...

Here's a recent comment from the FTW Blog that relates to the end of my last post:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=22903415&postID=3891598065868837893

" Weaseldog said...
ChuckP said... Do you have any idea of the "time frame" of the collapse???? Are we talking 10 or more years??? Anyone???

From 1999 until we and everyone we know is dead.

This collapse will continue until civilization stabilizes sometime after the petroleum age is over. And that may take hundreds of years.

Our descendants and the Earth's ecosystems will be adjusting to a new equilibrium for some time after we lose our ability to coat it with massive quantities of chemicals and non-degradable garbage.

This isn't a situation where we collapse for a decade or so, then go back to chasing infinite growth. Unless aliens from the planet Vulcan arrive to save us from ourselves.

Absent a new miracle energy source, we're just going to stair step our way down through a seemingly endless series of large and small crashes. Each plateau will likely give the illusion of normalcy and provide hope that we're on the road to recovery.

At least this is my take on it, based what I know of ecosystems, energy and my ability to solve high school level math problems. "

Anonymous said...

Absent a new miracle energy source,

and as we've discussed ad naseum, any new enegry source solves nothing relative to the bigger fish to fry first.

At least thats my read on our loose alignment here around the campfire given what we know about people!

Ras... nice report girl. thx for the contribution. my sis up in iowa farm country confirms your observations re last season's corn and bean crops around the iowa city area. they couldn't get those big monster machines in the wet fields and when it finally froze enough by november the loss was significant.

even for someone who grew up on a farm and knows the plight of the small timers its hard for me to empathize when i know most of them think and do like the farmers around green iowa that were interviewed in the independent lense documentary, KING CORN. i grew up 20 miles from there. its true, its true, its true!!! ...p

Anonymous said...

could say another glaring example of... its the people stupid. but better said... its the stupid people... p

Hotspringswizard said...

http://www.businessinsider.com/california-is-doomed-2010-3

.....California is now the world capital of Denial. Everyone from the State legislature to union officials to realtors to small business owners are hanging on, refusing to face the fact that there will be no boom to save them and the state, To survive one more year, they're borrowing money, hiding debts and real valuations, monkeying with the books and playing accounting tricks, borrowing from next year's revenues, selling bonds--anything to maintain the artifice of solvency for 2010......

......California's dependence on bubbles and booms mirrors the nation as a whole; as with so many things, California has just extended the fantasy further.

rockpicker said...

Another little turn of the screw...

From Steve Quayle website:



"Hawk Alert – German Soldier Admits They're Here for Gun Confiscation: A reader of this web site and listener to Steve Quayle's and Hawk's radio shows, who grew up in Bozeman, called here to report. He lives in Vegas now. This past Sunday he was in WalMart and encountered inside a group of six fully uniformed German soldiers. He walked over to them and asked politely. “What are you doing on American soil?”

In a heavy accent the German said he wasn’t obligated to disclose that information. He then said, “I know why you are here and I’ll tell you. I just want you to confirm it. You are here to assist in the confiscation of firearms from American citizens”.

The German nodded yes. He told the German not to do it, just go home because it won’t go well for you and your friends. He just walked away."

SingColleen said...

HSW - We're outside Vegas. Apple Valley is one of my favorite parts of the LV-LA drive... that first patch of green after the long, dry mountains...

RAS said...

Thanks for the comments everyone. Things are getting seriously weird in the world and I'm worried they're going to fall apart soon.

freeacre said...

I don't think I have mentioned it before, but Bill Herbst has his March newsletter out and it points out the similarities and differences between Depression I and D2. You can click on it from our home page, then click on the left column on his site for the newsletter. It's always good.

Hotspringswizard said...

Speaking of things getting seriously weird RAS, here is a current report on this winter's climate in Canada:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Wacky+winter+signal+years+come+Climatologist/2663423/story.html

Wacky winter a signal of years to come: Climatologist

From the balmy Arctic, to the open water of the St. Lawrence and snowless western fields, this winter has been the warmest and driest in Canadian record books.

Environment Canada scientists report that winter 2009/10 was 4 C above normal, making it the warmest since nationwide records were first kept in 1948. It was also the driest winter on the 63-year record, with precipitation 22 per cent below normal nationally, and down 60 per cent in parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

"It's beyond shocking," David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, told Canwest News Tuesday. Records have been shattered from "coast to coast to coast."

"It is truly a remarkable situation," says Phillips, noting that he's seen nothing like it in his 40 years of weather watching. He also warns that "the winter than wasn't" may have set the stage for potentially "horrific" water shortages, insect infestations and wildfires this summer.

As much of Asia, Europe and the U.S. shivered through and shovelled out of freak winter storms, Phillips says Canada was left on the sidelines.

"It's like winter was cancelled in this country," he says.......

All of the greenhouse gases that we are spewing into the atmosphere mean that it now increasingly holds more potential energy, which plays out in more and more extremes of both cold and heat, storms and droughts, etc in weather events.

The overall average ongoing small increases in temperature will not be the thing thats most noticed by human societies, it will be the extreme events that will wreak the greatest havoc.

For example for the last ten years the new record highs in the US have exceeded the new record lows by more than double. Just because the east coast got slammed by record snowfalls this winter does not change the greater reality of the world seeing greater average worldwide temps over time. The records are showing that extreme weather events are increasing, and its all because of the added energy of trapped heat in the atmosphere.

rockpicker said...

"I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time."
-H L Mencken

rockpicker said...

"According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent report on wealth, America’s private net worth was $53.4 trillion as of September, 2009. But at the same time, America’s debt and unfunded liabilities totaled at least $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion), or 225% of the citizens’ net worth. Even if the government expropriated every dollar of private wealth in the nation, it would still have a deficit of $66,600,000,000,000.00 ($66.6 trillion), equal to $214,286.00 for every man, woman and child in America and roughly 500% of GDP. If the government does not directly seize the nation’s private wealth, then it will require $389,610 from each and every citizen to balance the country’s books. State, county and municipal debts and deficits are additional, already elephantine in many states (e.g., California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York) and growing at an alarming rate nationwide. In addition to the federal government, dozens of states are already bankrupt and sinking deeper into the morass every day..."

from--U.S. Master Class Dictatorship Ready to Pull Trigger

By Stewart Doughtery, originally published at Kitco.com

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/MasterClass.html

Hotspringswizard said...

Comment from the FTW Blog:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=22903415&postID=2402437597893353934

eyeballs said...

On a very much related note, Forbes recently released its World Billionaires list, which contains about a thousand names. The World Wealth Report, which counts the world’s millionaires and crunches numbers related to that class, has not yet been released for 2010. There were 8.6 million millionaires in the world in 2008, according to the 2009 report (see tables on p. 5), down from 10 million of ‘em in 2007. Of those, 78,000 were deemed “ultra-high net wealth incomes”, with at least $30 million in wealth. Merrill Lynch, who sponsors the report, expects that we can expect annual 8% growth in the wealth of this class.

Eight or ten million of these folks, and nearly 7 billion “others”. This class comprises about 0.1 percent of the world's people. It seems clear that the economic system is designed to serve this class, at the expense of everyone and everything else. Some foresee a collapse in which even the "elite" lose out, but I’m pretty sure that at least the thousand billionaires, and many of the multi-millionaires, are counting on a different scenario, and can be counted on to move their vast resources to suit these expectations.

As is true with a government in business for itself, we cannot expect to interfere much in the general behavior of billionairs. Tactical opposition may save a grove of trees or obtain compensation for one of many catastrophes wreaked in the name of profit. But, in general, we have little hope of calling this class to account.

What we can do, instead of defining ourselves as losers in their game, is to play another game.

Don't work for them. Don't eat what they manufacture. Don't drive their cars or take their injections. Know your neighbors, trade instead of buying and selling. Give generously. Accept help without shame. Be happy.

And stay informed.

rockpicker said...

AMEN, bro'.

Hot Springs, check this out.

2012-ISM dust-Cosmic Rays-Global/Solar System Warming-
Possible beginning of ICE AGE

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread550152/pg2

freeacre said...

New report out today from Clif High at halfpasthuman.com. Boy oh boy! Linguistics predict outrageous natural disasters (due, among other things, to the effects of the "sun sickness") economic, financial, and political collapse this year, and much revolutionary action after July 8. Much, much more. If you have the ten bucks to read it, I think it's worth it. Some good news for the "feminine," p.
Going to take a lot of popcorn and pie to get through this...

Hotspringswizard said...

Rockpicker, I checked out that site you mentioned, read the article and a number of the comments to it. Considering all the complexities of interaction between a myriad of various systems ( Earths, Solar, Galactic, Universe, etc ) its become more clear to scientist that there is more to the weather than meets the eye for sure.

The Earth clearly has gone through a vast range of differant climate scenarios in its time. One of the more recently discovered possibilities as indicated by new evidence is that the whole earth went through a period, which I believe was only about 600,000 years ago where it was entirely snow and ice. I think the common reference for this is the Snowball Theory, or something like that.

Even considering all these things its my impression at this time given the significant information that I have gone through that humankinds prolific burning of differant fuels like hydrocarbons is enfusing the atmosphere ( which is a very thin layer indeed on the Earths surface ) with huge quantities of greenhouse gases and this has been the main culprit of our seeing a dramatic and quickening rise in CO2 levels and in the average yearly global temps.

Just consider that one volcano, Mt Pinatubo altered to some extent global weather for a couple of years worldwide. Just imagine how much output is involved with Billions of people around the world burning lots of stuff, fuels, coal, forest, etc.

Our brief time as humans in being able to more intricatley decipher the greater patterns of the natural world is really in truth a very miniscule window of perspective so I would offer that I always do my best to keep an open mind to new information, on this subject or any other for that matter.

I think we are seeing a definite rise in more extreme and chaotic worldwide weather conditions ( as is supported by lots of evidence ), and no matter what the causual factor or factors are, the repercussions of these drastic changes will be putting enormous strains on human socities at a time when the very foundations of those systems are beginning to crumble in so many ways. There is going to be gigantic amounts of resources being sapped away from the human endeavor just trying to cope with all of the destruction of extreme weather.

We have built up mind boggling amounts of infrastructure around the world, cities, farming areas, housing, etc with the expection ( not really even thinking about possible large scale changes )that the weather we could expect would be more or less stable.

The last 10,000 years climactically, as science has now shown, was actually very unusual regarding weather for its relatively calm and stable conditions. Outside of this anomally, Earths climate has been alot more chaotic and extreme, not good news for humans :-(

rockpicker said...

Hot Springs;

Here's a site you may find exciting.

http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=ah63dzac

rockpicker said...

"Rapid change needs a metaphorical bushfire to sweep through the ‘old growth’ on our campuses. But what ‘firestorm’ could result from misunderstandings about the Sun? The contrived crisis of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) may be a timely example. But AGW tends to be an unfalsifiable hypothesis in the short term. If you are buried in snow, the argument goes, it is AGW that is causing the “extreme weather.” We may have to wait for years before it becomes evident that the climate changes regardless of what we humans do. The cosmological fact is that the source of warmth, our Sun, is a variable star. This was termed an “unorthodox idea” as recently as last week on the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) website:"

from Our Misunderstood Sun

http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=ah63dzac

rockpicker said...

Junk Science says "This individual needs to be exposed and then ignored."

http://standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Space/080114.Sun.major.change.html

Hotspringswizard said...

Rockpicker, I read that article you suggested about the sun. Very interesting theory there, that the sun may not have a thermo nuclear core and that it derives much of its contiueing power from electrical means coming across space from the greater galaxy. Seems to make alot of sense. Interesting to the discussion of how the existing scientific paradigm consistently thwarts alternative ideas like this, for reasons that have nothing to do with good science.

Like this discussion in the article:

" “It is a strange thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the present-day world upside down, or even destroying it. I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of course I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are. We cannot think outside the particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can only think a very little way outside, and then only if we are very original.” —Fred Hoyle, Of Men and Galaxies

Our mental ‘map’ of the world is strongly influenced by the things we experience in our early years. Our formal education tends to set the patterns that we follow for the rest of our lives. But not so for everyone. There are always those adventurous few who venture off the beaten path. For them, losing sight of landmarks can be exhilarating, but the difficulty of relating discoveries upon return can be high. Not least is the problem of dismissal by the “specialized gate keepers” of knowledge. Excessive institutionalisation may have made acceptance of new paradigms more difficult now than in Galileo’s time. "

I thought this was well said too:

" It should be compulsory before indulging in post-modern metaphysics; the idea that knowledge is constructed, not discovered. "

Our ideas of things are mere mental constructions, and the interpretations we draw are derived through the various sensory features of our particular human form. This is part of the reason why I do not ascribe absolutes to anything of my experience, and to what I may describe as my " observations " about it.

continued

Hotspringswizard said...

As I have discussed her before, I see " knowledge " as being myriad mental constructs, existing on infinite conceptual levels depending on the circumstance of the one who experiences. Like for some in the past the Earth was flat, this was their reality. Now most people think its round. Some people still think the sun revolves around the Earth. For each of these people these ideas they hold are truth to them.

Now in consideration of this article for example you have two very differant ideas or supposed truths to what is the accurate functioning nature of how the sun really works. And like all of the myriad ideas that we must consider as we live out our lives, we are in the position of making judgements about the veracity of this or that, based on things we may see as valid, which someone else may see as falsehood.

It all is really endlessly complicated as you might wish to make it. Anyway regarding the Climate Change issue as it relates to this article, I definitely accept that the sun is one of the great drivers of Earths weather changes. I still consider that CO2 along with other man produced greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere, and that whatever natural oscillations of the suns intensity will be accentuated by these gases.

The CO2 levels have been rising to levels not seen for ( by some estimates ) many hundreds of thousands of years. Now its not that the Earth has not seen those levels before, but its that Man and the Climate Conditions that is now enjoyed by humanity were not part of that world of exceedingly high CO2, a time that would be very harsh for todays humans.

If the sun output stays consistent for example, then the rise in atmospheric CO2 will mean increasing global temperature, and this means more climate energy, more weather disruptions.

If as this article suggest, the suns output is set to diminish, then of course the reduced incoming heat will mean less energy trapped in the atmosphere and less climate energy. I do think the Climate Change scientist should give worthy considerations to the very important impacts of the suns normal cycles in all of this, and I really think they already do to a large extent. Of course there very well is dis-aggreement among them on what the sun's output will turn out to be in our future.

Well its all complicated stuff for sure, and to my mind really there is nothing we can do to alter any of the weather trends, whatever they turn out to be. If man's burning of stuff is a big player in climate disruptions, humanities inclinations towards business as usual practices will mean more problematic gases until human societies collapse and wane because of resource constraints and other big problems. And if its natural forces that are behind it all, the once again its out of our hands. If it all gets to rough regarding the weather, then maybe we can go underground and live like Hobbits, for a while at least :-)

RAS said...

I have the increasingly worrisome feeling this may be the year collapse begins in earnest. K and I are agreed upon our lifetime goals -regardless of whether Babylon/Omelas collapses or goes on for another 20 years (ha), we want to live on a farm.

We may be moving to some land we've found in Missouri, but it won't be until August, and we've got to come up with a couple of grand more first. The land is in a really great community, and we're going out there next month to make certain we still want to do it. One of the most important reasons we like it is that we'll be able to grow a significant portion of our own food there -increasingly important right now.

I think the food crisis is really going to burst into view later this year, and that oil may also go up to a hundred dollars again.

David said...

The crisis is not very hidden,people just are so involved in busy life that they can't seem to grasp that this really does affect all of us whether you want to believe it or not.Or whether you want to acknowledge it or not..Collapse is all around us,The Oregon coast shows signs of it everywhere.

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Hi Ras, we seem to have a little bit of negative synchronicity going on between us. It seems that whenever you put a post up, I go in for a period of total media deprivation. I wanted to come in on you youth post but missed it by quite a bit, fortunately I made it back in time to make a few observations on this occasion.

It seems that even though trade is international, those who control the worlds money supply can extend or withdraw credit to different regions at different times. You have mentioned the significant steps in America but I remember in the early 80's when I worked for Big Chema the big boss called us all in and said “The time of austerity is here. You all have your jobs for now but don't even think about going to the stores and buying a test tube because it ain't going to happen”. When they offered me money in 84 I took it and ran; so far as setting up for myself was concerned, I got a good deal. I thought slimmer and sleeker vs big and plodding but then I didn't understand the root of the problem. Eight years later when I couldn't buy raw materials because nobody could pay me for what I had already done, it all fell in the water. At that time there were more bodies in the water than in the film Titanic. In recent memory there was the Asia / Malaysia meltdown. It seems that as the collapse bites, it will affect different parts of the world at different times. I remember a story my accountant told that really big corporations have their audit checked by an independent accountant, to control any independent dodgy accounting and he did such a thing for GEC. When he submitted his invoice he was told that he was not going to be paid for six months so his answer to that little difficulty was to place a winding up order on GEC. He got his money the next day by courier. For me that was not an option, there were too many to be able to afford it and even if I had it would have accelerated the domino effect..

There was a saying going around at the time that anyone that has been out of work for a year has got out of the habbit of working and is therefore unemployable which is a sad state of affairs.

In the late 80's Barclays bank pushed loans at farmers to improve their farm machinery. Two bad harvests later they foreclosed on the loans and sold the farms to Big Ag for a knockdown price.

Three weeks ago last Monday one of the big supermarket chains over here, some parts of which are known as Carrrefour and other parts are known as GB announced that the the smaller food only stores were okay but the larger hypermarkets which did clothes and electrical good were not working well and by Saturday night of that week 120 out of 600 supermarkets were gone. It was drastic pruning to save the tree. On the final Saturday staff abandoned their traditional uniforms and all came to work wearing black. I know many chain stores in the US have given up or are seriously reduced, it is the stage of the collapse we are now at but it comes to something when the home of capitalism can't sell third world goods.

Anonymous said...

FB pt 2

You are dead right that prices will skyrocket as the world economy runs down and price control doesn't work. It was a long time ago now but I will tell a story from my own bit of the world. In 1579 the Spanish were blockading the port of Antwerp and as food supplies dwindled prices rose. Some local ships were running the blockade at night and selling food for whatever they could get for it. The city fathers in their wisdom decided this was unfair against the ordinary citizens who could not afford the higher prices and imposed a control on prices that food could be sold for. The boat owners said “If this is all we are going to get for the risk of having my boat sunk then we are no longer willing to do it and the Port of Antwerp fell to the Spanish in about four days.

I make no claims about any race being superior to any other race but when countries like Zimbabwe threw the white trash farmers off their land and out of the country and gave the farms back to the rightful indigenous owners, it turns out that those who had worked the farms for years had done it on auto pilot and didn't know what to do with them once they had them for their own. The couldn't make them pay and when the government took more and more from less and less the country went into a fatal tail spin. And we all know how the World Bank will come over the hill and rescue the situation.

This brings me on to the question of where do seed companies get their seeds from? Why don't arable farmers set aside a proportion of their land each year just for their own seed production or is it now illegal to grow plants which don't self destruct at the end of the season?

Once civilisation took a hold, people brought resources to where they where. Nomads on the other hand moved themselves to where the resources where. I have a feeling I know which one has the most potential for sustainability. Nomads will tell you that in desert areas food is hidden in plain view but there is not enough to feed a civilisation.

Freeacre, sorry to hear about the local problems the cougar is causing but the cougar itself may not be the one responsible for the situation. Maybe it has just been concreted out of its natural habitat.

Ras, Missouri, isn't that the 'show me 'state? See how the locals take to southern comers in before you make a decision.

David, capitalist civilisation is just like any other cult. People are kept so bust they don't have time to think and the less they think the more they do as they are told.

This comment is making up for lost time but it is already too long so I will quit here.

rockpicker said...

Hey, folks, please check this out. Is this for real?

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/final-destination-iran-1.1013151

Shadowfax said...

Check out the Electric Universe.....
if you always wondered about the validity of the big bang and dark matter and energy,this will open your eyes!The sun is not a fusion device..its a big electric arc powered from the galaxy....oh yeah,check out the Saturn sun theory that goes along with this.

mrs p said...

Gee FA...$15 worth of foodstamps per month for someone living on just SSA...how generous is that? Wow...Another reminder of where our country's priorities are. A whole friggin $15--excuse me while I pinch myself. Love you guys. mrsp

baz recon said...

Hey FB—you will never starve in the desert, because of the sandwiches there !

Failing that, there is always snake, iguana, roo, roasted directly among the coals—mmmm-muh

Not your cup of tea?—‘Dial-a-Pizza’ on your satellite phone—they claim to deliver anywhere ! Yeah credit-it to, ah—the Rothschilds? haha

Have to admit, liked your capitalist civilisation = any other cult stmt. Sycophantic subservience a necessary prerequisite for civilised totalitarian kontrol.

Can a practice which so routinely causes intense and prolonged suffering to impoverished peoples, even at basement levels in the White house!—simply to meet the dietary preferences of a dwindling fraction of society—ever be justified?

Far as I'm concerned collapse—so-called, happened long before I wuz even born. Confess even understanding—wtf everyone even is talkin' 'but ? Oooh, the genteel are shocked to discover the results of their affluent lifestyles have effected THEM!—although plenty of evidence to support they're still in denial—eh? Menial minimum wage and high personel risk jobs served primarily by the underclasses have always known we wuz already in lockdown.

YES the root of all our problems religious — in human nature — fairness, inequality, rascism, nazism.

Definition, or veracity — identify more with the cougar, despoiled of habitat.

The world is slowly being substituted with an artifice ~ so say Talib

Surreal say — that's why they call it kulture

baz recon said...

Civilisation — a non sequitur. Really a tool fabricated for control. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not politely fooled, having of course never really been ‘civilised’—an accidental escape ! — knowing the true underlying premise for so-called western civilisation — yeah unbridled gratuitous use of unfettered authorised violence — what else ! All to supply ignorant masses with their allotted and societally programmed entitlements — ughh

Too gritty for your sensitive palettes? Well there is always snake, iguana, roo, roasted directly among the coals — ah, spelling error should have been racism. I hate that! Makes me look ignorant. Ah, for whatever it's worth —

“Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision.” ~ Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855)

wv: forocura

rockpicker said...

Terrified of Death, can we say we have lived?

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Rp - I forgot to say thanks for the heads up on the British paedophrocracy - good one.

rockpicker said...

Belgium; Don't know if you've been keeping up with this Drockton dude, but he's kicking ass and taking names.

http://www.moneyteachers.org/Linda.Stone.htm

freeacre said...

This from spaceweather.com today:
"AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, and so is a coronal mass ejection (CME). Together, they add up to a geomagnetic storm alert for March 17th and 18th. The impact of the solar wind plus CME will brighten Arctic skies already alive with Northern Lights" A lot of us who live in the Northern US might be able to see the light show. And, if the electric universe is all involved, there might be earthquakes associated with the sun's activity.
BTW, here's an earthquake tip: in an earthquake, don't get under things for safety - get next to them. Ceiling and beams fall down and crush stuff that you might be under to seek shelter. But, if you are next to a desk or counter or big piece of furniture, falling debris will form a triangle under which you are safer.
aho
wv: philie. Maybe I should be in Philie...

freeacre said...

Oh, yeah, Hot Springs Wizard. Regarding your dream: noticed that there was an earthquake in Las Vegas today... hummmm.

rockpicker said...

Shadowfax, et al;

Here's a site I bumped into today. Thought you might be interested in it. You familiar with Tom Bearden and John Bedini?

http://mikephilbin.blogspot.com/2010/03/solar-storm-warning-2010-emp-attack.html


wv teepe

where i should be

Hotspringswizard said...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/final-destination-iran-1.1013151

The article above discusses that hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.

The rhetoric about Iran and its " Nuclear Capabilities " is being tossed about more and more lately. Its starting to remind me of the propaganda circus before the Iraq attack. A recent fox promo shows a missle firing off as they talk about Iraq's " Nuclear Ambitions ", and the whole bit is smoke and mirrors, a big lie.

Never mind that Iraq has not attacked another country for hundreds of years and they state that making nuclear weapons would be against their religion. Like they are really going to take on the US with its many thousands of nukes. Its just the case of another beligerant empire pushing its weight around.

I guess we have come quite close a couple of times in recent decades to seeing worldwide nuclear armegedon, because of mis-understanding/mis-interpretations by those with thier fingers on the trigger.

What worries me is a collapsing US empire, losing its super status, losing resources and then the War Hawk idiots who run the military industrial complex figure its time to break out the nukes to get what they want done.

Based on what I have read, the US used the nukes in Japan, even though it was not needed to win that war, just to show the world that we had this monsterous weapon, and that we were willing to use it. The overt message, " Don't mess with us, we are the bosses now! "

Hotspringswizard said...

In the last post when I wrote this " Its just the case of another beligerant empire pushing its weight around. ", I just wanted to clarify that I meant the US in this case, and not Iran.

On another subject, I had another refreshing " doom dream " a couple of nights ago. I was in a mobil home park and I was looking out the window of one I was in, and out past many of the other mobil homes I could see a tidal wave coming through them towards were I was.

Then all the mobil homes got caught up in the surge and began moving across the land and ended up being carried and deposited on top of a large mesa, then the waters receeded.

I was thinking that the threat was over, then I walked out to the edge of the mesa beyond the mobile homes and looked down, what looked like thousands of feet, to a grand valley below that wrapped around the mesa on both sides. A part of this valley led out to the ocean beyond and I could see then that the sea was beginning to surge back in for a second tidal wave.

The waters began rising quickly up the sides of the mesa and I ran back to the mobil homes and climbed up to the top of one that was wrecked and jumble from the previous surge. As I was climbing to the top of the wreckage I spotted a life preserver and put it on. Then I found a small long pool raft that was deflated and I thought to myself that I should blow it up to use ( don't recall actually doing that though ).

Then the tidal wave came and pushed all the mobil homes into a town. Then weirdly I was standing at the crossing of two street in this town and both streets had railroad track running down them.

I could see two trains, one on each track and they were both heading for the crossing and I could see that they would crash into eachother so I ran down the one track ( on my right side ) waving at the train to stop, which it did, and then I woke up.

So I've told you about the Kraken Head monsters, the disappearing sun ( with Las Vegas going up in smoke ), and now the double tidal wave, whats next? I know, nuclear armegedon dream! Us doomers, I guess we are destined for such dreams :-)

freeacre said...

So.... does that mean we should attach pontoons to our mobile home? Gaaaaah! Never enough...

rockpicker said...

Hot Springs;

What I see happening, and I'll admit to being influenced by many, this is not all original thinking on my part, but I have read and compared ideas and observed reality as it has been reported, and what I think is that those who control the world financial system knew capitalism's demand for increasing growth doomed it to eventual failure. And so the system has served its purpose, which was to enrich those who ran it, at the expense of the lower classes, and it is now being retired, replaced by a system based not on continued growth, but a system dependent on maintaining the status quo.

As Adrian Salbucci says, the dipolar, cold wars years gave way to globalization, managed by the unitary superpower for the last twenty years, but now the agenda calls for one-world goverance, and there's no need or desire for a strong United States any longer. That is why we've been taken down economically, why all our means of production were shipped out of the country, why the safeguards that kept the banks and Wall Street somewhat in check since the last depression were over-ridden and ignored.

In convergence with this take-down of the US, and the installation of the "new world order" is the 2012 transition of ages, and all the 'energetics' that entails, from wild weather to earthquakes to CME's. I believe these earth changes were forseen by the PTB long ago, and have been carefully planned for.

I have to give the old boys credit for a brilliant execution of their truly diabolical scheme. It's so horrible to consider, those of decent character find it difficult to imagine. But I fear it is all true. Know them by their deeds, and tell me these are not the vilest of creatures.

They poison our air, water and food. They inoculate us with disease. They march us off to blood sacrifices in a patriotic fog. They disdain us 'useless eaters.'

You are right in drawing a comparison to Iraq. This next attack will be as brutal and as undeserved as Bush's blitzkrieg of Baghdad. Unless we stop it. Somehow, I feel we must prevent the coming madness.

We must, as a nation in search of her displaced soul, awaken to the evil that has been done this innocent world in our good names.


We need to rouse ourselves and say NO!


-nophatem

freeacre said...

..."Oooh, the genteel are shocked to discover the results of their affluent lifestyles have effected THEM!" Ain't that the truth, Baz. And I don't think you seem "ignorant" at all. In fact, you are waxing quite eloquent.
If an EMP event jumps off and tanks the electric grid for a couple of years, there's a lot of people around here who are going to be scrounging for lizards to eat. Talk about localizing the food supply! Damn!

RAS said...

P, most of the locals are Mennonites, who are all of the 'live and let live' persuasion. Most of the rest are hippies from one of the many ecovillages and communes around there. Given that, a couple of pagan lesbians probably won't have too much of a problem. ;-)

rockpicker said...

Geez;

Here's a radio interview Dr. Bill Deagle has with a couple of geoengineering activists on Jan. 5, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-yh0Jhg6E&feature=related

One guy is from the Redding area. Hot Springs, you know these guys?

rockpicker said...

We know who dunnit. And now, here's how...

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/825.html

rockpicker said...

http://www.paltelegraph.com/columnists/peter-eyre/4856-scottish-government-cover-up-of-hollie-greig-part-3-the-mysterious-death-of-robert-greig

my small attempt to maintain the pressure.

Anonymous said...

I have to give the old boys credit for a brilliant execution of their truly diabolical scheme. It's so horrible to consider, those of decent character find it difficult to imagine. But I fear it is all true. Know them by their deeds, and tell me these are not the vilest of creatures.


RP... i surely can't. i'd say your analysis is pretty acurate. i wish i could come up with an appropriate anecdote to transition into what, in my view, are causal factors. iow, what evil intent motivates the 'old boys' you refer to. but i can't do that either.

i too have been influenced. so... imagine if you will, a movie. with characters who are motivated by agendas, desires, and intents which are products of a combination of thoughts and feelings of those characters. iow, energies. the thoughts and feelings are products of imprinting, a pre-disposed inclination toward. the energetics combine to create plot and subplots.

the opening scene is planet earth at the time of pangea inhabited by earth spirits. these earth spirits, manifest in various physical forms such as the legends of myth... fae, elf, satyre, centaur, pixie, fire dragon, etc, etc, interact. hopping, skipping, dancing, schmoozing, making love, and so on. the motivations for the interactions are fueled by the energies of feelings and thoughts, all of which are influenced by a combination of pre-disposition and real time experience. amoung them they share common fears. like, fear of the dark. fear of the unknown. and so on. they are so terrorized by their own fears they don't explore them to get details from which they can learn and expand their understandings.

the scene fades as a flashback. going way back to previous experiences of those various forms that put those fears into place on an imprint level. it was a time of their emmergence and they were not in the same forms they are in now. back then they were essence.

then the current scene comes back and a strange thing happens... hot dry winds blow onto the planet called in by the magnetic energies of these present, albeit, denied fears. riding on the wings of the hot dry winds are denial spirits. these manifest in various forms as well. some present as wizards with mystical intelligence. the denial spirits tell the earth spirits they can protect them from that which they fear.

fast forward to today.... p

post script... hitler captured many of the intellectuals of europe with his mystical intelligence and strange outlook. ronald reagan captivated many in the U.S. in similar fashion. just to mention 2 such. this does not mean they were loving men.

Anonymous said...

under normal circumstances i would not even think of posting the following. however, times have changed and time is near.

you here are also near. to me. very. and dear. so...

on love, nazis, form change, karma, denial, and the curious reflection that is israel....

it is encouraging to know that many are becoming more aware of the role denial is playing...

"even though heart is moving now the definition of love needs so much expansion that the nazi's are still more involved than (we'd) like to think. not only are they moving now as hate groups in many countries, but they have hidden themselves in israel in large numbers. this is why israel is looking like a form that has been victimized, and yet, is turning around and perping the victimization it received, as though nothing in the way of compassion and understanding was learned there.

"it appears this way because there has been a form change. nazis have been incarnating into israel, not only because it is the best possible hiding place, but for many other reasons. the law of karma is also working to place perps in the place they created for their victums. but the shortcomings of this so-called "law" are also apparent since the essence involved is not learning the lessons hoped for. this is because they are denial spirits who cannot evolve as they are."

what might that have to do with us? what might this have to do with the current state of things and the time we are in?

nazis are mainfestations of denials - thus denial spirits - made in the godhead during the creations, out from which also rolled spirits in various positions each somewhat relative to love, that ultimately became earth spirits. these spirits made similar denials.

the feelings aspect of the essence involved became what is referred to as lost will and moved out into what is called the gap.

on moving gapped fear...

"... loss of control in the gap is just as frightening as it was feared to be. it is terrifying, in fact. loss of control is what the gap fears the most, and loss of control is also what everyone who has made denials into the gap fears the most. as you move into your own gapped emotions, you will need to exercise some form of control over the expression you allow them because they have been operating so far from you normal spectrum of consciousness. it is not advisable to just turn gapped emotions loose, because the form they have been taking in a state of denial is the same form they will, at first, want to take in the one who has been denying them; and they will have power over you at first, just as they have had in the world."

quotes, "earth spell, the loss of consciousness on earth" various pgs

wv... woo, woo! ... jes kiddin. 'bout the wv that is. it was actually 'rolde'. perhaps as in... what roll-d'u play? ... p

rockpicker said...

Well now, P, truthfully, the only gaps I've dealt with lately related to a '68 Chevy six-cylinder a friend of mine put on the back of a two-ton boom truck in order to power a double-drum hoist we use for collecting building stone in a couple of local dredge tailings.

However, I can provide a few links for anyone interested in checking out the various threads that lead me to conclude that the masses have been manipulated by an organized, powerful, secretive and self-serving handful of elites for a very long time. Trying to sort out why things are as they seem to be, socially and politically, in this weary world, is my feeble attempt at developing, for human relations, an explanation roughly equivalent to unified field theory.
There have been moments, fleeting and rare, when, stooped in the garden or slumped inside a chair, a flash of inspiration made all doubts clear. But then the vision fades. And the news again clouds. And what I am expecting never does unfold. Mostly I just scratch my head and mutter along...

The letter Albert Pike is supposed to have written to Mazzini seems like a good place to start. You can find that here:

http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pike_mazzini.html

Make of it what you will. Those whom might be harmed by it's exposure to the light of course deny it's authenticity with rigorous dismissal, so who can say? I don't give the curator the time of day.

A curious and illuminating speech can be accessed here:

http://www.erichufschmid.net/TFC/Ben_Freedman.html

There are many elements of WWI herein discussed that I never was taught about in high school history class. It makes me feel differently about the twentieth century events, hearing things explained in this manner.

This one is a must see for all Americans, because it is truly a hidden part of our history. This will open even willfully blind eyes.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3319663041501647311#docid=-8237736398816742305

And here's an interesting piece I just came across yesterday. Great little snippet. There's history, and then, there's history...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYCBfmIcHM&feature=related

Lastly, I found this on Rense just a while ago today. This guy would be fun to have dinner with.

http://www.rense.com/general90/symb.htm

Hotspringswizard said...

Rockpicker, Regarding that Chemtrail Video, I'm on slow speed phone modem so it takes forever to download stuff like that. I did see off to the side though that a brief explanation of the video did mention my brothers name ( Dane Wigington ) as one of the people in it, and another guy Dr Mike Castle who my brother probably knows since he communicates with alot of the main chemtrail followers up there in Northern Cal, as well as elsewhere.

One of my brothers friends up in Redding Doug Craig did an article called " Our Broken Sky " at this address:

http://anewscafe.com/2010/03/12/doug-craig-our-broken-sky-part-one-2/

and Dane ( my bro ), Mauro ( who runs the geoengineeringwatch.org site ), and I commented to that article, along with other interested parties. Dane has been talking with Mariah Carey's brother lately about a Chemtrail DVD that Mariah's brother is planning on doing.

Dane also met at his property with Mauro and the guy ( Mike Murphy? ) who wrote the earlier article about the San Diego protest you referred me to Rockpicker. I think they were looking at some of the various problems associated with the chemtrails that are occuring on my brothers land ( he owns a couple thousand acres near Lake Shasta ).

In reference to your summary of what you think is currently going on, thats pretty much the way I see it too. Whats a CME? Something to do with the sun? Anyway I was just having a conversation today with my nephew and his wife, and I was explaining to them the various aspects of how the PTB are in control and doing lots of things to drive us back down to serfdom level. For them ( the elites ) us damn middle class people were just a pain in their ass since we blossomed after the great depression. For them better to have poor minions with no real means to challenge " our controllers " mass corruption.

Its all such a huge FUBAR circus of ill deeds and it just boggles the mind. I was watching on Free Speech TV today for the second time a great documentary called, " Orwell rolls in his grave " which goes into depth on the history and ongoing nature of the corporation controlled media. Another really great one with Noam Chompsky in it is called " Manufacturing Consent ", which also roughly discusses the same subject. Both worth checking out if you have not seen them.

Tonight I was watching a superb documentary on the Free Speech Channel called " Money Driven Medicine ". Yep, we ( the US ) got the best health care in the world, if your rich that is, because in reality, the system was designed for them, and not for your basic joes like us. What a friggin rip off the whole thing is.

And now it looks like so called " health reform " might pass. But as far as I'm concerned that package is no reform at all and actually makes things worse for the working class once again. Its massive give aways to the big medicine and the insurance companies. And you would have to buy their private insurance under this plan, or you get a big fine.

The US healthcare system has been a perfect tool of the PTB to further decimate the middle class. No matter what you save and build up for yourself its very likely that extended illness will melt it all away at the end. The PTB don't want you passing your wealth along to your progeny and rather want yo to pass the cash right into their vile pockets! I think its like 60% of the bankruptcy's in this country happen because of health care bills.

Well I guess thats enough bad JU JU for tonight. Don't want to spoil my carefree dreams eh :-)

And my WV is Gnism, a conditon I contracted from reading all the doom sites :-)

rockpicker said...

So then, bro Hot Springs, it was your own brother Dane I heard on Dr. Bill Deagle's Jan.5 radio show. (not a video, but audio) And well spoken, he was! [Everyone, this is a show you need to hear!] Please take the time. Audio loads quickly. I was dial-up once; I remember.

Your nephew and his wife, did you scare them off? My own son's wife kicked him out, and I can't help thinking I am in part to blame. Some people just don't want to hear it, and some just don't know when to shut the fuck up.

Chomsky is a problem for me. He's like NPR, or Amy Goodman. They're all so cool. Until you realize, hey, they're not. When Chomsky said "it doesn't matter who took down the twin towers," I knew then and there he was a gatekeeper unworthy of my trust. A lot of other people reacted in a similar fashion. That was it for me. He drew a line in the sand with that statement that I cannot forget, or forgive. And, yes, I quoted him correctly. He did say that, on more than one occasion. I heard him, and I paid close attention, to make sure I was hearing him clearly.

I always wondered about Howard Zinn's position. Though they were often scheduled together on Democracy Now, I never got the sense Howard ever really spoke openly about his true feelings concerning the attacks. And I still wonder how history will treat the 9/11 events. One thing's for sure. There are enough copies of Crossing the Rubicon out there to cause a real commotion in history thesis papers somewhere down the line.

CME stands for corona mass ejection. I think it is similar to a solar flare, only different. And, apparently, a hell of a lot more significant. FA reported yesterday that the sun had just fired off both a flare and a cme, so that seemed like a note-worthy event. Expect a lot more of these, as the sun is being interfered with by magnetically charged forces at the edge of our solar system. The accepted truth among rational free-thinkers now is that electrically charged plasma is running the show from here on out, and conventional astrophysics, with all it's gravity-driven anomolies, black holes and pulsing quasars is going the way of the large hadron collider, which is to say, it's being shut the fuck down. For more on this, check out Thornhill, Scott and Talbot, et al., at Thunderbolts.com. They're leading us in the right direction.

-snesmsfa
(lot of that goin' around)

rockpicker said...

Goodness, gracious...

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12140193

great balls of fire!

rockpicker said...

Here ya go, Ras!


"Pitchfork Event on the Horizon
March 18th, 2010

Via: Comrad Simba:

The major questions of existence I’ve had are answered thus:

1. It’s all about the food.
2. The food issue will drive the zombies. Bubba may be all ammo’d and camo’d up for a rape and pillage fest, but he’s really only looking for a can of beans and a piece of pork fat when you get right down to it. People are scared of the dark forest and will stay as close to anything that constitutes civilization at all costs – even their lives. That goes double for the marauding types… Safeway and Ace Hardware are at First and Main, not some remote GPS coordinate. I see the deepest and most remote places as a redoubt, and need to cast my lot with the edible plants and grubs lurking in the wild.

The riders are approaching, and the wind begins to howl."

-from Cryptogon

Anonymous said...

rp... on sparks and the truth... w/E involved there's bound to be a connection in there somewhere. pun intended, :-)

on why... we're into the same cake, just different layers.

on flashes of inspiration making all doubts clear... i've had that happen too. a window opens suddenly but the view on the other side is so horrific the window slams shut in nearly the same instant. autonomic response!

on the links... keys to the rabbit hole. comments...

what i know of pike... most recently referred to in my on-going reading of sandburg's 2 and 4 vol epics on lincoln. notable player on several counts that pale compared to the letter but collectively establish a body of circumstantial evidence the likes of which otta cause one to at least lean toward aligning w/your conclusion on the curator. from my view the 'yes he did, no he didn't' pissin contest is yet another reflection of a deeper layer of the ocean. which is said here, not to discredit him at all but, to say he represents the tip of the iceberg. so to speak.

the freidman/freedman tapes... will be out of pocket for the next 2 weeks but i want to hear this. i'll be thankful for a reminder.

on the liberty tape... i think i've seen this but could stand a refresher. shocking what some will do to advance position and/or relieve the clutch from the short hairs.

on the dodd interview... did watch this one. the agenda's on my radar along with this particular modus operandi to advance it. but what a treat to hear it told by this guy! when he said... "she'd lost her mind over it"... pheeew!! what a story! and teller. there ain't many like him around anymore. the trojan horse appears in many different forms. and so, like the banksters of a certain morgan bank and subsequently, bankers across the nation, the commettee, had the hearings been allowed to unfold, would have found out, either, what they didn't want to know, or, already knew and would have already decided there wasn't a fuckin thing they could do about it. and, further so, they would have put their feet up on the desk, made it appear as if they were doing their job, and played golf on the weekends. thus further validating baz's observation made here in earlier comment.

and btw... anyone having a smattering of sandburg's ideological leanings along with some concept of a hi-jacked education system would be remiss not to at least go.... hummmmm.

dinner w/maxwell? the guys forgotten more than most will ever know!

all 'n all... we're talkin 'bout the same things from the same book even though its told between many covers. which is to say we're talkin 'bout what is commonly referred to as the war in the heavens. and that, by default, triggers autonomic reactions like windows slamming shut, fingers to be stuck into ears, and eyes to roll. the beat goes on while the 'yes, it did happen' sayers forward as many skewed interpretations as there are stars in the sky and books w/covers. my point being, not only did it happen, it continues to play out. with players like the hawks loosly reflecting the father warriors. they continue to be empowered by the collective denial of the masses who have god on their side and praise jesus for someone to do their dirty work for them. which, in a nutshell, amounts to holding the line to insure that what's down stays down.

i prefer to think we're involved. why? well, for one thing it fits into my inclinations/intuitions on EU, UF, EM, etc. not to mention what the concept of perfection of creation really amounts to.

but more importantly? because then we can actually do something about it. otherwise we find ourselves pretending to do our job with our feet up on the desk and playing golf on the weekends having bought the idea we're just pawns in a game and there ain't a fuckin thing we can do about it... p

Hotspringswizard said...

Rockpicker, My nephew and his wife are real involved in " their " religion, and they came over to talk about that, and to try and " save my soul " so to speak. Well my perspectives on " what is " contrast greatly with theirs but we did have a lively discussion on the subject.

I don't know for sure what they really think about all the stuff I told them about all the corruption going on and what all the elites are really up too. You know how people can just smile and nod their heads when in their minds they may think your Bat Shit crazy :-)

Regarding the religion discussion, I was asking them at one point what was their timeframe for all of existance and they said around 6,000 to 7,000 years. I asked them where do dinasours fit into that period and they told me that yes the dinosours were real and present early in that period but some guy ( can't remember what name they gave ) slayed all the dinosaurs so they wouldn't hurt the people.

And, they told me of a person who had an out of body experience where they saw hell which proves it must be real. I figure you can guess what the rest of the conversation was like. As far as scaring them off, my nephews wife was downing some meds ( maybe I gave her a migraine ) as they drove out the driveway. I noticed how here attitude changed once she realized they were getting nowhere with me. I just told them what I thought, diplomatically and honestly.

On the subject of Chompsky, the Manufacturing Consent documentary doesn't discuss the 9-11 issue and I think the content is a good illustration of the nature of the corporation controlled media. I read Crossing The Rubicon when it came out and thought it was superb and unbelievably well documented.

I think it would be very important for the greater public to learn the real story of 9-11. The official story is cleary a big lie and giant coverup. I think the buildings were taken down by controlled demolitions from all of the evidence I have seen.

You see differant people who may have solid thoughts on certain subjects distancing or deny the 9-11 truth issues. Michael Ruppert has made many comments to this effect of late, saying don't put me in the 9-11 truth camp.

When he made one of these comments to someone at his blog I commented there that I respected greatly the worthy and well thought out work of many in the 9-11 truth movement, folks who are just trying to bring to light the greater truths of this most critical event that is behind so much of what has occurred since it happened.

Amy Goodman, Chompsky, MCR, James Kunstler and others clearly are turning their backs on 9-11 truth and I have to wonder are they just scared of the repercussions that occur when you attempt to go there while your trying to maintain some connection to the greater public discourse.

I had high hopes early on that with all the efforts going on that this travesty might get truly exposed and realized by the greater public for what it was.

But of late it appears this horrific incident perpetrated by the PTB seems to be slipping down the ol memory hole like much of history does. There are just so many ways the evil ones can manipulate the perceptions of the masses with their control of most all of the various media.

So when I look for viable information from various sources, I realize that when you access the content from a particular source, some of the information can be right on, while other parts of it will be erroneous. Like I agree with much of Kunstlers thinking about the negative implications of the structures of how we live on the land, but I'm in total disagreement with his views on 9-11, and his apparent support of Isreal and what it has done regarding the Palestenians.

On the cosmic theory stuff Rockpicker, so you suggest Black Holes are on the way out. So do you think they still exist, and that the new theories are merely re-defining the nature of what they really are?

rockpicker said...

Man, these wv's are getting better all the time!

Hot Springs; Here is a video by an Australian mathematician explaining why black holes can't exist.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/featured_media.htm#gsfcdsp

I would guess that the true nature of the universe is far less complicated than Steven Hawkins wants any of us unwashed to believe.

wv- pestberb

rockpicker said...

P;

Have you listened to this yet?

http://projectcamelot.org/anglo_saxon_mission.html