Thursday, May 6, 2010

Out of Control



trying to herd the un-herdable

by freeacre

I’ve been thinking about control lately. Yesterday, the news featured a story where a seventeen year old was running around (like many goofy attention-seeking people have done) at a baseball game. Instead of running him down and pulling him off the field, the police face-planted him with a taser weapon. It seems a few in the audience thought that was a bit of an over reaction, but most thought the kid deserved it. He was “out of control.”


Then there was the hideous piece on Raw Story about fitting disabled kids with electronic devises that produce strong electrical shocks to children who piss off the staff for one reason or another:
”The rights group submitted their report this week, titled "Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center," after an in-depth investigation revealed use of restraint boards, isolation, food deprivation and electric shocks in efforts to control the behaviors of its disabled and emotionally troubled students.

Findings in the MDRI report include the center's practice of subjecting children to electric shocks on the legs, arms, soles of feet and torso -- in many cases for years -- as well as some for more than a decade. Electronic shocks are administered by remote-controlled packs attached to a child's back called a Graduated Electronic Decelerators (GEI).
The disabilities group notes that stun guns typically deliver three to four milliamps per shock. GEI packs, meanwhile, shock students with 45 milliamps -- more than ten times the amperage of a typical stun gun.
A former employee of the center told an investigator, "When you start working there, they show you this video which says the shock is 'like a bee sting' and that it does not really hurt the kids. One kid, you could smell the flesh burning, he had so many shocks. These kids are under constant fear, 24/7. They sleep with them on, eat with them on. It made me sick and I could not sleep. I prayed to God someone would help these kids."

I worked with emotionally disturbed kids in residential treatment for sixteen years, and this story almost made me physically ill. I don’t’ care if the kid is Hannibal the Cannibal, you just should not do this to anyone. Period.
“Pain aversion therapy” is what they call it. Sounds like torture to me. Abu Grabe torture. Guantanemo Bay torture. The kind of tactics apparently promoted on propaganda programs (pogroms) like “24” on television. I assume this, as I have never been able to sit through an entire episode. Is it still on? Whatever…. The damage has already been done.

Between television programs, movies, and video games that “entertain” the greater populace with portrayals of institutionalized pain inflicted by authority figures on the non-compliant, people by the millions have become desensitized to the suffering of others, and anesthetized to any sense of outrage. It probably helps that so many are also on anti-depressant drugs – or maybe it’s the fluoride in the water.

Somehow we have become convinced that everything needs to be controlled. So now we can have surveillance 24/7 of our whereabouts, our e-mail, or conversations – even our thoughts. New gadgets that can read our minds, “smart dust” nano-technology (see cryptogon.com) that will be dropped all over the planet and monitor virtually everything. Oh, that makes me feel so much safer… go ahead and spray mace into the eyes of tree-hugging protesters who are already kneeling with their arms handcuffed behind their backs. Fuck them and their stupid trees. They are out of control. Go ahead and search my luggage, pin-point me with my cell phone, put an rfid chip in my drivers license (or my inner arm), stream advertisements into my head in the department store. Read my mind. Disrobe and X-ray me. Whatever.

“Inalienable rights.. to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”” You’ve got to be kidding. That is so, like, pre-nine eleven…

I continue to be haunted by the movie, “The Lovely Bones.” I don’t want to spoil it for you by telling the whole plot. But, suffice it to say, that it concerns the excruciating process of dealing with a horrible and tragic murder of a child. It points to a larger concern – how do we react to a hideous situation that we cannot control, cannot make right, cannot make go away, cannot change? It seems for most of us, we try to control it with ever escalating tactics. More and more power, money, muscle focused and used to get our way and make it happen. More and more drugs and surgery or debt to stave off old age and death. More and more hardware, weaponry, manipulation, lies, whatever we can think of to maintain the status quo.
Until it just doesn’t work anymore. Then what? Eventually, you throw your hands in the air and surrender. “I give up.” Death, at that point, doesn’t seem so bad. In fact, it may be benign – wondrous even… a new direction. A better possibility than we have considered. And, the left behind, might just come back to what is rather than what could have been. Starting from “what is” may turn out to have its own sweetness in time

All this brings me back around to what is going on with the larger issues that we cannot control and must eventually come to accept and learn to make the best of. If we are not able to do this, we will become more monstrous than the threats that we perceive.

71 comments:

rockpicker said...

I love it when you get angry...


wv= pitled

freeacre said...

lol...
Hey, just noticed that the Dow is down 407 points!! Yeow!

rockpicker said...

Speaking of things beyond our control, take a look at the price of gold and the Dow Jones average right now. (stevequayle.com) 1:27 MST. I try to make sense of what's happening, but it's all Greek to me.

And the weather. If this keeps up, we'll all starve to death, without hoophouses.

rockpicker said...

Apparently, it was down over nine hundred points before noon.

Wouldn't be surprised if news of Goldman's escapade in the Gulf may not have something to do with investors' nervousness, as well as the situation in Greece. Goldman's having to put out a lot of fires on the pr front all of a sudden.

We who are powerless to affect events
do sometimes get to cheer.

rockpicker said...

http://www.infowars.com/cia-officer-explains-new-world-orders-demise/

this guy's got some pretty good ideas

freeacre said...

6 degrees when I got up this morning.... my one daffodil was encased in ice.

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Ha, rp loves it when Fa gets angry, I will bet she looks cute whilst she is doing it too.

The famous them are growing a new generation of us who think like them – violent video games torture etc so they will have at least a compliant populous if not a collaborating one when putsch comes to shove. Whatever it is we will obviously have deserve it. Seems they are getting us into the battered wives mentality.

I will bet you have seen those TV astrologers who predict events for the year ahead. You could be one too if you had an inside track into Goldman's activities but who is running Goldman's inside track?

I thought six degrees isn't so bad, then I realised you were talking degrees F Brrrrr.

freeacre said...

You know, the simultaneous headline on Huffington said something like, "Government Stands Up to Banks" & "congress votes to audit the Fed" and then the next story was a chart that showed the Dow tanking 900 points. Do you think that maybe Goldman Sachs and the Fed just demonstrated to Congress that they can tank the economy anytime they want, if the government doesn't comply with them? Kinda goes along with my "control" meme...
lol. I wish I looked cute when angry. Don't think so, though - unless you like the look of a crazed hippopotamus.

rockpicker said...

Fourteen degrees yesterday morning in Virginia City. A friend lost some things in her hoophouse, which was thriving. We thought the garlic was toasted, but it looks okay. Covered it last night.

Pangolin said...

The illusion of control is as important as the illusion of capitalism. I know a local kid who's about to receive a degree in economics; he says it's complete crap. Still, he will need the certificate to get even a half-decent job.

Tasers are simply police brutality without bruises. It's the high-tech version of your southern sheriff's axe-handle beating of old and about as frequently fatal. The people who justify it are the same sheep who baaa loudly and trot along in response to the sheepdogs stare. They don't matter; they will always blindly follow whatever regime is in power.

Evil means and thinking cannot build, nurture or maintain so they always fail. Scattering thorns in their path is fair game. Just don't get in the way.

murph said...

Rockpicker,

The only thing we had covered was the potatoes and they survived the cold. The onions, garlic, berry bushes and peas don't look damaged. Built fire in greenhouse last night (for last 3 nights actually) and everything looks ok there also, so if the weather doesn't make a habit of this crap, we might have a garden yet. lol.

Chickens didn't like the cold, laid off on eggs demanding we do something about this weather. sigh. Maybe we shouldn't have raised them anarchists. The rabbits and the rhubarb don't seem to care at all.

Pangolin said...

Down here in the flats of NorCal the temps are dropping into the 40's at night delaying strawberry season. To make things worse it's been blowing like hell day in and day out for weeks. It dries out any transplants you put in the ground in hours.

There must be a wind spill up north that they've hushed up. Put up some relief wind-mills real quick to get this under control.

freeacre said...

Ha! That's funny. Nice to hear from you, Pangolin.

Hotspringswizard said...

The bigger dire trends are definitely beyond our control, but we can change things to make our own lives more simple and sustainable. John Michael Greer also touched on this theme in his most rest blog post. Note the discussion in the last two paragraphs in particular:

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/

The Principle of Subsidiary Function

.......it’s possible to begin right here, right now, by identifying the complex systems on which you depend for the fulfillment of your needs and wants, and making changes in your own life to shift that dependency onto smaller or more local systems, or onto yourself, or onto nothing at all – after all, the simplest way to deal with a need or want, when doing so is biologically possible, is to stop needing or wanting it.....

Voluntary simplicity is something each of us can practice at and achieve everyday. In my view people doing this ( in their realistic small percentages ) will still not change the dire course the world is on, but endeavoring towards this end will bring concrete benifits to our lives, and through these efforts we can set good examples of better ways to live for those we care about in our lives.

Hotspringswizard said...

Regarding the gulf oil volcano, dispersents in mass quantities ( the most ever in the history of spills )is being spread ( surface and undersea ) to try and break up and sink some amount of this leaking oil. As it turns out the substances used in these dispersents is not known because their makeup is considered a trade secret of the companies/corporations who make them.

Many environmentalist are citing that these dispersents are toxic. Some of the advisories about their use are things like don't get it in your eyes, on your skin, on your clothes and don't breath the vapors.

So it appears chemicals that are toxic are being applied to the Gulf of Mexico in very large quantities and the public does not get to even know what they are made of, to be able to judge what they may do to the ecosystems and sealife.

Just another example of out of control corporate power.

freeacre said...

Well... new headline on Huffington Post: Senate Backs the Banks. Looks like congress got the message.

And, Iceland volcano spews new huge ash cloud. Right on schedule with the coronal ejection from the sun.

What the government can't do, looks like the planet just might.

Zoner said...

Hey, I saw a Star Trek episode with those "pain devices" and thought it was funny when Capt Kirk did hid "agony dance"

Applying that tech to folks in institutio0ns is the kind of thing that makes me want to IMMEDIATELY reinsert my head deep into the sand via drugs or start burning shit to the ground.

A month away from the computer shows that it is mostly a negative tool in my hands, but I have to try and maintain the connections made here or there will be little hope for sanity. Thank you all - I missed you.

Not much can be controlled outside our immediate sphere it seems, but maybe the influence of the machinations of our misguided (or simply f'in evil) "leaders" can be lessened as we rely less and less on anyone but ourselves and our real community.

Stay warm, folks. Snow here tonight.

Z

Hotspringswizard said...

Freeacre, I was wondering also yesterday if the massive plunge of the stock market yesterday was some sort of message to the congress, like this is what we can do if you don't work with us ( the corrupt financiers ).

At first they tried to explain it away as a misskey ( fat finger ) in some large trade, but today they are saying thats not the case. And what does this misskey idea suggest, that the entity ( the US stock market ) of the most massive financial transactions in the world can be sent into a huge tailspin by someone, somewhere in the world by them merely pressing the wrong key on a computer? If that could even be true, would that not be alarming enough in itself!

And yet, I don't believe that had anything to do with what occured yesterday. There were various stocks during this plunge that fell to complete zero value, and others that skyrocketed, like one case where a stock valued at 33 dollars a share went to 100,000 dollars a share, and they expect us to believe that kind of thing could have been caused by a misskey?

Something big is afoot with this in my opinion. The stock market is just a ridiculous casino of corrupt practices anyway and the daily " number " attributed to its supposed " wealth " provides no real indication of what is happening to the working class out in the real economy.

Like today they are citing that the job creation numbers are up more than they expected which is another ( proposed ) sign of improving conditions for the economy. All of these numbers are complete made up BS. Anyone outside of the elite clubs, the corporations, the bankers, the politicians, wall street, etc sees the grim reality of just how tanked the economic situation is throughout the country. Its just non-stop lies, deceptions, and smoke and mirrors being pumped out by the MSM, on all issues across the board.

I keep seeing various signs that pressures to more control internet info are building. Its the only place I feel I can get regular and reaasonably accurate info about whats really going on out there in the world. Its easy enough you would think for the PTB to cite that this medium provides to much access to information and communication for our national " enemies " so it must have stringent controls to access implemented to keep us " safe and secure " from those who hate us for our freedoms! The real people who threaten our well being are right here in the country, in our banks, on wall street, in our goverment, running our corporations, in the Military Industrial Complex, etc. They are the Wolves who really threaten us!

mrs p said...

FA, We also love it when you get mad. Reminds me of that song..."When Sunny gets blue"...

“Inalienable rights.. to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”” You’ve got to be kidding. That is so, like, pre-nine eleven…

Loved your idea of Carl sacraficed into the volcano thing, see comment at MRM. Hope your pup is okay. Nothing's changed but the weather! Love you guys, mrs p

Anonymous said...

hey gang... check out this high tech idea to mop up the oil...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SxX2EntEo

now thats control i can get down with... p

Anonymous said...

Hey FA...did you feel the quake this a.m. off the Coast of OR?? Just wondering. Preliminary report said 5.1 Hold on up there the big one is comin...but hopefully for yous guys it won't be that far north. mrs p

Anonymous said...

P.S.: Your dog (especially) and chicks are kissable cute! mrs p

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

My, I don’t think I would like to stand in the way of a crazed Hippopotamus. Even so I am sure it was just a little bit of hyperbole, swt.

P, that’s brilliant! I knew about it but never made the connection for this application. Any form of cellulose will do the same thing; it is super absorbent. I remember from my lab days if I had a turbid or murky reaction that was supposed to be clear then I would throw a filter paper in, heat it up and then let it cool down naturally and then it would be perfectly clear. My, I had forgotten all about that until now. If they use this then it’s a good thing it is Spring otherwise there would be some pretty hungry cattle around.

Right on rp, I have the same info for outside the USA if you want it.

rockpicker said...

This from Cryptogon:

"SEC Said to Probe Causes, Exploitation of Stock-Market Turmoil
May 7th, 2010

Maybe Captain Obvious dropped in at the SEC this morning.

Via: Bloomberg:

U.S. regulators plan to examine whether securities professionals triggered yesterday’s stock- market plunge or exploited the turmoil to profit illegally, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said..."

Hotspringswizard said...

So RP, who is Captain Obvious? Or should that too be obvious already?

rockpicker said...

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Capt. Obvious is a fictional superhero with super regulatory powers the Federal Reserve Board is still only dreaming of.

Who am I to disagree...?

freeacre said...

Nope, mrs.p. Didn't feel a thing. We are in central Oregon on the other side of the mountains. Our worry is volcanoes. And, Brie seems to be just fine now, thanks. Just ate our first lettuce from the greenhouse, and will bring a big salad to the Grange potluck tomorrow. Things are looking up.

Anonymous said...

B... i knew about it too but didn't think of it either. we used to do this on the farm when we had an oil spill. bust open a bale of hay, scatter over the spill and start stompin it in. the oil more clings to the hay than is absorbed.

whats the big diff between the shoreline of prince wm sound and the SE coast line? rocks. to which the oil clings just like to the bowl and the hay in the demo. aint no rocks on the SE coast. just sand beaches and mud banks. which posses a far greater mop-up challenge than scrubbing rocks w/dawn.

simple simon sez QUIT spraying chemicals that poison life blood on the way to dispersing the oil into bead like globs that suspend below surface so the oil can float on the surface and use organic hay and straw to mop it up... p

rockpicker said...

What's with Goldman's alleged short put options two days before the oil well blow-out?

http://worldreports.org/news/285_text_of_the_s.e.c.s_complaint_against_goldman_sachs

nina said...

Lovely photo there.

We're on the same page. Nothing vexes me more than the damage done by ignorant observation and its partner supposition rather than going to the trouble to accurately understand and describe something, someone, any situation, with authenticity. It can be compared to getting lost on a detour, never the true intent unless designed specifically to confuse, a technique that unfailingly worsens the condition. John Michael Greer has been doing a stupendous job of discussing exactly this in his series on adding layers of complexity to existing over-complexities. You've probably seen it already on the Archdruid Report:
The Costs of Complexity
The Principle of Subsidiary Function

nina said...

Oops, responding to the post without reading the comments first. Hotsprings had it covered. Heh, well, double mentions insures the curious will ingest the complexities of control. :)

(I also wanted to mention I got special treats for our remaining big dog Jake who would not touch his treats until his human father came home and Jake was surrounded with his personal people. AMAZING! Thank you for bringing that loving behavior to my attention. He played it by the book 100%.)

freeacre said...

That is so cool. Yes, it's being GIVEN the treats by someone that is important, more important than the treats themselves. I have taken that as a lesson in my life and turned my own sense of gift giving and receiving around.

rockpicker said...

Control. Mostly we've been losing, but sometimes we gain.

Apparently, the secrecy is breaking down in Scotland. These mentioned cases don't seem to be related to the Holly Grieg tragedy.

Chalk up another small victory for the light.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/police-fear-scale-of-child-sex-abuse-investigation-1.1025894

freeacre said...

I just gotta refer you guys to:
http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/
Lucretia just blows me away. She is so intelligent and grounded in spite of her past, which includes years of alien abduction experiences. In terms of coming to terms with these experiences that she is unable to control, she has managed to accept this with a measure of grace and acceptance that is profound. When she and her husband and friend visited us last year, I felt close to them immediately and came to respect them very much.
In terms of Mothers Day, her recent posts will give you a take on it that you won't find anywhere else - that's for certain. What a gal. I am proud to know her.

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Rp, I told a mate of sorts that Britain was in Iraq because Gordon the moron liked playing with little girls and boys and George Bush had the goods on Blair, threatening to bring the government down. Some people were linking this to the Dunblaine massacre and that the shooter was a mind control victim eliminating the evidence but he hadn’t read it in the paper so it obviously wasn’t true. One way or another Gordon is now out in the cold. At least the Conservatives are who they say they are unlike Labour who adopt the same policies whilst pretending to represent the working man. Will there be a new honesty in politics? I doubt it and since they don’t appear to be up to the job I guess they will have to muddle through somehow. There will probably be someone above to lend a helping hand.

VW jewieff - A combination of Jew and thief?

Anonymous said...

Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there!!

FA I loved that picture of the dog and the little ones...brings a warm fuzzy feeling to me ol' heart...

Interesting piece you wrote, just once again leaves me wondering what the hell have we become as a species?

Sigh....

Ahhh the markets... let know one believe that what happened last week was a fat fingered glitch. Look what was being debated at the congressional and senate level regarding the financial industry, look the direction it was going and then BAAAM!! A message sent, message recieved and then the representatives that are supposed to be looking out for the electorate fall back in line and all is well with the scum on wall street again.

Here is an article I read that gives an pretty interesting perspective.



http://leconomistamascherato.blogspot.com/2010/05/fraudonomics.html


Anyway cheers all!

Ely

freeacre said...

Thanks, Ely. Yup, that Ames piece and Taibi's scathing analysis of Goldman Sachs, et al, are classics. What a duo.
Glad you like the picture of Brie and her chicks. She sure loves them and the baby rabbits as well.
Have a good day, everybody.

RAS said...

I am mad tonight, clan. Foot-stomping, ass-kicking, jumping up and and down mad. The subject of my anger is our entire oil-guzzling way of life and especially British Petroleum. I can't be the only person down here who wants to go tear apart the nearest BP station with my bare hands.

The oil has reached Alabama. Volunteers spent Mother's Day cleaning up Dauphin Island, which is part of the coastline the governor elected to sacrifice in an attempt to save the estuaries (the only smart decision I've ever seen that man make).

3.5 MILLION gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf and what are these fuckers saying??? Oh, it will be all right. Oh, don't worry. We'll stop it. Nothing too awful bad is going to happen. Goddamn motherfucking bastards. The entire Gulf is going to be a dead zone for at least a generation -my grandkids may see it come back. Assuming that leak gets stopped.

If it doesn't get stopped, and enough oil spills, it may just wipe out most of the plankton in the entire ocean, and guess what? That's the basis for most of the life on Earth. Goodbye, world. It was nice knowing you. Goodbye, human race. You know what? It was never under your control after all. You just thought it was. Better luck next time.

Ok, sorry. Rant over. Great post, fa.

Pangolin said...

_Ras_ Well, understanding your anger I would suggest you consider the purchase of a cargo bicycle so that you can get yourself and a modicum of gear where you need to go without using oil. Then you might join your local bike clubs social rides or organize them yourself. It's actually a hell of a lot of fun. It has to be; or nobody else will join you.

v'word: untaxiwi, I got nothing to add to that.

Anonymous said...

Tasing a kid is way out of control. Unfortunately we are seeing too much of this lately. Anyone who can't take down a kid and put a cuff on him if need by does not need to be wearing a badge.

freeacre said...

You have every right to be furious, Little Sister. But, there's more to it than BP. For one, there's the lackey minion regulators who, once again, are lax (or paid off, or maybe just watching porn instead of doing their frigging jobs), so that the proper rules were not even close to being followed. Then there is BP and their history of screwing up the environment all over the place. Then, there is Halliburton, who are suspected of doing shoddy work in the installation of the undersea cement well head, according to the Los Angeles Times. And, then there is Goldman Sachs who shorted Transoceanic, Inc. who actually owns the oil rig and leased it to BP, thereby making untold riches off the oil disaster. Much like they did after 9/11 and the financial debacle. Guess that's why they are known as "the smartest men in the room."
But, I think they all just may have outsmarted themselves this time. I'd like to take all the assorted arrogant Big Oil and Finance pimps and throw them into the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano as a semi-human sacrifice. But, I doubt The Mother would be assuaged.
I'm so sorry to hear that the oil is reaching Alabama. Sure hope some folks are sopping it up with hay or hair or some other natural cleaner and not that secret formula chemical dispersant, which may be worse than the frigging oil for the water creatures. Man, what a clusterfuck. Mike Ruppert says that this marks the end of the industrialized world as we know it.Well, we know it has to happen sometime, but it'd be nice if we didn't take out the whole ecosphere in the process.
Pangolin's got the right idea with the bike. I'm thinking more in terms of a burro or a donkey cart myself, or a dog sled if it doesn't warm up around here.
Pray for the fishes and the birds and the bugs and the algae and everything upon which life on this planet depends. Funny how that does not seem to include the miscreants on Wall St. or their corporate crime network.
Having read your books,I know your mind and heart. And, I have confidence that you will meet the challenges ahead of you with courage and creativity, kindness, and strength. Hang in there, ras.
Oh, and that 6.9 earthquake in Indonesia was right on schedule with the solar flare from the sun near as I can tell.

freeacre said...

oh, sorry, that was a 7.1..

Anonymous said...

3.5 MILLION gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf and what are these fuckers saying???

perfect question for the topic of control. anything and everything they say is being controlled. BP is a client of PIER STRATEGIC SERVICES. PIER is an acronym for Public Information Emergency Response system. in short its a web based communications system including i-phone and blackberry. as an aside several emmergancy response agencies of the city of atlanta, fulton county, and metro area are clients. get that? we're talking official govt agencies here established to 'serve the public'!!

PIER provides the planning, training, and implementation management skills needed to meet today's extreme communication challenges.

Services include:
Crisis Preparation and Risk Assessment
Crisis Plans
Crisis Dark Site Preparation
Crisis Drills and Exercises
Emergency Public Information Plans and Annexes
PIER Certification Training
PIER Emergency Response Team
NIMS and JIC Training
Social Media Integration
Communication Technology Implementation Management

about PIER... http://www.piersystems.com/go/doc/1533/163949/

PIER is owned by O’Brien’s Response Management Inc. (O'Brien'sRM), a global provider of environmental compliance, emergency preparedness, response management, disaster services and crisis management for numerous industry sectors and government agencies, acquired PIER Systems Inc. on December 1st, 2009. For more information about O'Brien'sRM, visit www.obriensrm.com.

clients use the system as a secure interface between themselves as well as a "spokesperson" interface w/the public/press. the advantages of the former to intra and inter agengies communications are obvious. especially when there are alot of people involved in a multitude of roles which is the case of the GOM spill. in the latter role it acts as a public relations go-between. there are several ways of looking at this. i.e., from our view as the public ear wanting info about the spill. BUT, think about this from a legal perspective. the last thing BP wants is someone blabing something that might now or later put BP in a compromised position. so they use somebody like PIER as their "official voice". you know, kinda like the BOP device only these guys don't fail. why do i say that? because i watched their promo vid where they advertise that they provide a "pre-approved list of answers right on the inquiry screen". when it comes to anything 'official' coming out to you and me its pre-approved by whom do you suppose? my guess is the legal dept. this is how they control whats going out to the public. its kinda like if you get in trouble w/the IRS your hire a tax attny and give them power of attny. that legally puts them between you and the IRS. what do you wanna bet every BP employee and every sub contracting w/BP for anything spill related or otherwise signed a contract with very strict guidelines in this regard.

here's the promo vid... http://www.pierstrategicservices.com/go/site/1942/ the part on "complete media monotoring" begins at 4:20.

this from a non-reporter who obviously didn't sign anything with BP but did fly over and took this vid yesterday... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8JHSAVYT0&feature=player_embedded#!

y'all have a nice day... p

Anonymous said...

The oil.....

The gulf is so F@cked.....that video link you posted P was a good look at what the whole coast will be up against. That was a topical view though what is by far more destructive is what is below the surface, sludge that does not float well, mixing with the water and often just floating far enough to sink onto the ocean floor, killing anything that it will come in contact with. Dare I say it.... Dear Gulf, rest in peace...

I think efforts have to be made to keep this slick from entering the vast Atlantic current systems, if that should happen this is going global.

Then there is the hurricane season coming on, that should provide some great Oster Blender type activity to make sure the slick is even more dispersed and even carried inland.

FUCCCCK!!! What are we as a species? I guess our greed and stupidity is hitting a new high.....

Ely

rockpicker said...

P, Thanks for that report. I'm sure all here focus their good intentions on the stanching efforts in the Gulf. So truly sorry for those close-in to this disaster. I suspect it is a calamity most of us will share in, one way or another.

Ras, better take Pangolin's advice, and start prepping to bug out.

take a look at the latest on spaceweather.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Weird...

freeacre said...

Great investigating, p. I have not seen this info on oil drum or any of the other depletion sites or anything.
Boy, we used to think that Wally World was bad.... this is surreal.

rockpicker said...

Kinda lends a whole new meaning to the phrase 'pier-reviewed.'

Zoner said...

Oh man. Words fail. This is the kind of thing that makes one wish for the killer asteroid. Just put us out of our collective misery.

On a slightly different note, is anyone else finding a mass of dazed-looking, impatient folks everywhere they go? Even in my upscale suburban playground it looks like the walking dead around here. maybe we are and just don't know it yet.

Man, I picked the wrong time to chill on the self-medication.

Peace to you all.

Z

rockpicker said...

Wonder what Joe Lieberman would say about trying all government officials claiming to hold dual citizenship for treason, in military tribunals.

http://www.infowars.com/lieberman-looks-to-strip-the-citizenship-of-1-million-americans-without-charge-or-trial/

wv=jaudde how apropos

rockpicker said...

Man, this from Wayne Madsen, on the oil spill.

rockpicker said...

oops.

http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/The-Cover-up-BP-s-Crude-Politics-and-the-Looming-Environmental-Mega-Disaster.html

freeacre said...

Yeah, here's a choice excerpt from that Madsen piece:

"...There is other satellite imagery being withheld by the Obama administration that shows what lies under the gaping chasm spewing oil at an ever-alarming rate is a cavern estimated to be around the size of Mount Everest. This information has been given an almost national security-level classification to keep it from the public, according to our sources."

I think I am feeling like one of Z's zombies.

freeacre said...

That Lieberman idea to strip all the people on the No Fly list of their civil rights is the most outrageous, Un-American thing I've ever heard! He should be censured, tossed out of the Senate and sent packing to Israel.

Anonymous said...

RP... promises of things to come from the SDO sat shares the jaw-dropper-of-the-century award with the GOM spill in my book. to date at least. surpassing even 911. GOM spill could be the proverbial straw. an extreem EMP WOULD be! the GOM link now shares a bookmark w/fellow GOES links KP and X-RAY FLUX along with other sun-earth connection links.

EMP's. this is what FA has been referring to in several comments recently. is she off the deep end?heard a c2c interview w/prof. wm forstchen on EMP'S recently. he poses two scenerios expected within the next few years. the only question being which one comes first?

the scenarios:

a) extreem solar
in the way of a direct hit upon earth. iow, a carrington event... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

(personally i include something unprecidented in the way of other far lesser known cosmic events. i.e., gamma ray burst.)

b) 'B' is for bomb. a bomb sent into the atmosphere. if this the other would be a moot point. if this who would be the perp? forstchen sez NOT russia. the cold war proved they are 'reasonable'. and probably not china for similar reasons. but iran because they have motive and the motivation is embedded in the irrational. iow, they hate us. their mullahs and muckie mucks want the west dead. period! and then, maybe n korea.


both likelihoods is another story being heavily controlled. i give 'a' heavy odds over 'b' at this point. forstchen sez NASA is expecting 'a' along with scientists of related agencies. congress is expecting it even. or at least roscoe bartlett who has submitted house bill 2195 advocating 'hardening' of the grid and even shutting it down completly in advance of a hit.

the grid. 'product generation' and the 'product delivery system'. thats the achilles heal to a carrington event. should we care? damn right. though ice cores reveal events of such mag have happened fairly regularly every 500 years civilization and its peoples have never been dependent on E. thus never so vulnerable. earth will survive to rise again. not so for millions and perhaps billions of peoples. fry the grid and today's people are toast... p

rockpicker said...

I think congress and elites of the military/industrial/financial gangster classes are betting pretty heavy on these things to save their butts...

http://www.detailshere.com/tunnelmachine.htm

baz recon said...

bau—who's responsible—YOU—who else ? Kill an earth today, for tomorrow ... who needs it ? — Still, I suppose we can always sit in the dark rubbing our go$d, muttering ‘My precious ...’ — arrgh, the time for hints has passed ... and so will you.

An observation from a native—who else ? (Whakatauiki) ;
Ko pakeha tauiwi kuare whakahihi — hei aha, aue. The white invaders are arrogant and conceited. Alas ... so it goes.

baz recon said...

arrgh, just in case : bau = business as usual — and another whakatauiki ; haha, to pad things out :>

Tama moe, tama mate — Tama tu, tama ora

ahh, roughly translated ; Young man—remaining asleep—death. Young man vigilant—long healthy life — Kia ora

wv: unhelly — nothing to add !

freeacre said...

Question for ya, p. If the Carrington event was in 1859, and they happen around every 500 years, why does this guy think another one is expected in the next few years? Wouldn't it be more like 2359?
On the other hand, if one takes Clif and Gyrl's analysis of the Sun spot cycle, and its projected timeline that coincides more or less with the Mayan projections, yeah, we are toast anyway. Maybe soggy toast.
And, bas, even the Indians had gold. Lots of it. You can't eat it, but you can perhaps trade it or at least use it to fill cavities in your teeth. Lots of uses. Like paying property taxes. The last thing I want to worry about on top of every other way things can turn to shit, is the frigging State telling me I have to vacate my homestead because I haven't paid my damn taxes. They'll probably be the last functioning bureaucracy, the slime.
BTW, have you ever tanned any of those pig hides? It seems that would be a good skill to have.

Anonymous said...

FA... yeah, that'n don't quite add up.

lotta stuff 'bout this spill don't add up either. but if you're BP and wanna control the 'official' voice and to some extent the internal rumor mill the deal w/PIER makes perfect sense..

and bad as that GOM vid is whats going on UNDER the surface could be far worse. iow, the agents we hear about are dispersed onto the surface and, apparently for the first time ever, sub-sea. in this case a mile down at the leak site. late last week i heard they had discontinued dispersement agents pending "further study". apparently that was a referral to sub-sea. then sunday i heard they had begun again. at yesterday's press conf CC rear admiral mary landry said undersea testing had never been done before and expert scientist all over the country are "explore(ing) a process that is being evaluated over the course of a few weeks what would normally take a few years to do."

i have questions for em...

first, assuming the stop/start story is true did you start again because the dome froze and failed?

second, just how damn bad is it that you're dispersing agents (not to mention got CC, MMS and whoever else official to sign on to it) in a way thats NEVER been done before and no testing of impact whatsoever has ever been done?

third, if the amt of hydrates freezing the dome "is considerably higher than expected" and "enough to make the dome float which weighs over 100 tons" why would this be so? what the hell is going on down ther you didn't count on?

thats just a start. as an aside... the press team has added a rep from fish and wildlife who said as of yesterday 12 birds have been brought in. 2 have already been released. a third, a seagull is suspected to be sick for reasons other than the spill. something to do with eating cat food... http://www.flixxy.com/seagull-and-cat.htm ... p

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Ely that was a pretty insightful article into the way the western Financial World thinks. I make no comment because the piece leaves no room for misunderstanding. They have it game set and match and they know it. I believe that the only way of fighting back by starving the beast as we have previously discussed but without a mass consensus that follow this course, those who do will be confined to the Chat Room class. I would like to compare this article to an article which appeared in the April edition of Rolic News, a syndicated sheet of Chinese news I pick up from China Town now and again. This is not published on the web so I will type it out in full.

CHINA VOWS CRACKDOWN ON CORRUPT LEADING OFFICIALS

Beijing – China will step up efforts to crack major corruption cases, especially those with collusion between leading officials and business people, according to the full text of a speech given delivered by premier Wen Jaibao. The document was released on Sunday. Wen delivered the speech at a State Council meeting on this year’s anti-corruption work on Tuesday (25 Mar).

In the speech Wen said efforts should be made to investigate those who trade power for money and those who take advantage of power to do illegal things in areas including urban planning; approving construction programs; mineral resources exploration and bidding and tendering.

Negligence and misconduct behind major work safety incidents and food safety scandals would be probed.

In the speech Wen outlined key areas of the Governments anti-corruption fight this year, including Government funded projects; state owned enterprises and financial institutions. He called for intensified efforts to trace the fugitives and their illicit money and property and vowed “not to let those who commit corruption go unpunished or get a penny out of their illicit gain”. Government officials should follow a code of ethics issued earlier this year by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to ensure clean practice in their work and prevent corruption. The guidelines specify 52 unacceptable practices including officials accepting cash or financial instruments as gifts, or officials using their influence to benefit their spouses and children with regards to their employment, stock trading or business.

“And leaders of the State Council or central government departments should refrain from attending ceremonies or forums sponsored by companies” he added.

“Expenses on central government organs would be cut by 5% this year and government funded overseas trips, vehicle purchase and reception expenditure should be reduced consequently” he said.

-End-

I think the only question remaining is will we all start learning Mandarin or Cantonese.

freeacre said...

Holy Cow, Campfire Clan! It seems ras has snuck her WEDDING up on us! Darn it, Darlin,' there was over a six month period between posts, so we lost touch of your blog site (My Flight From the Grid)- link from our home page. Murph and I are very happy for you, and wish you all the best. So much better to have someone in your corner when things get rough. Joy, joy, joy to both of you!!!

freeacre said...

This in from our friend in Florida, who has yet another perspective on the oil leak...

"Talked to a guy yesterday who has done a lot of work in the gulf crewing commercial vessels. He described the National Response Team, which has vessels designed for this problem. They are sitting in port. Katrina reprise. But do not fear. The oil coming up from this region is heavy. It may send a light slick for miles but the bulk of the oil there is too thick to move. It hangs down like a Portuguese Man-o-War, well below the surface, and will not move far. It can, however be scooped up and brought to conveniently located a gas-cracking plant, wit none da wiser. At this point I always look for the scam angle (as in New Orleans urban renewal) since my understanding is that this oil is sitting there for the taking. Like Iraq. We wuz told that it shut down. Maybe. The fact is that resources were not deployed, that were sitting at moorings in MI and Tampa, Port Arthur, and in LA itself. It is simple to put out other (pirate )ships to recover this crude, not as convenient as a pipeline, but since no one is counting maybe more profitable. And we get a convenient shortage for the summer, the kaibosh on offshore drilling, and maybe in some illumino-wet-dream, crap-and-trade. Splendid! Meanwhile the logistics for getting that crude to the refinery, while far from ideal, are still profitable. Look up the "national response team". The pages detailing the ships built to respond draw error messages. If you have time try to run something down."

What a world.

David said...

http://silverbearcafe.com/private/05.10/oildisaster.html Jeez, I read this article that you guys just have to see.About the spewing volcano and it's under-reporting spin. I also read another one that reminded me of the exxon valdez and who was responsible for the clean-up and containment in that area,a report by greg palast...It was non other than duntduntdunna....BP.who lied about what they had in the are under contract to deal with any mishaps in the prince william sound area.......peace everyone and hope mother earth goes easy on us with this even though we don't deserve it

RAS said...

Sorry, fa, I thought you knew. We're very happy. Thanks.:)

I love the picture of Brie and the chicks, btw. It's adorable!

Anonymous said...

From Belgium

Ras – Congratulations, may you both have a long and happy life together. No matter what the world throws at you so long as both you have each other in their corner then difficulties are not insurmountable. For my first marriage I was still working for big chema and the lady in question had the big day she had always dreamed of. Eighteen years later the marriage went the same way as the economy and my business. Then I met another lady and tomorrow we hit fifteen wonderful years together. Not always easy mind you but wonderful non the less. This is all working around to the fact that we had very little money when we got married. We arranged to have a simple meal and drinks in the local café (bar) and one of the owners agreed to a split payment, half up front and half in two weeks when our pay checks came in. The other owner disagreed and cancelled at the last minute so we did it ourselves. We told everyone we were broke but we would do what we could. I can't remember the numbers now but we bought about 20 pre cooked chickens, stuffed the oven with baked potatoes, made fries, had salad and about a dozen bottles of cheap and cheerful wine and a couple of gateaux . We borrowed plates and glasses and everybody had a great time. Later we went to a café bought everybody a beer and after that they were on their own. My best man and his wife flew in from England and paid their own tickets and nobody regretted that it was not better. You can only do what you can do and if you are up front with everybody they will go along with it.

Anyway, I hope it all went well and the holiday was a success and best wishes for the future. Btw are you still thinking of moving out of the state.

freeacre said...

I second Belgium's experience with the marriage ceremony that does not include incurring crippling debt. Don't know if yours included involvement with the State, but ours didn't. We just made out wills that provide for inheritance to each other in case of death, and focused on commitment to each other for life. Got married at a friend's lovely home on Lake Tahoe, by my sacred drumming circle women friends all dressed in white. A housemate played guitar and sang. Our food was a potluck to which everybody brought a spectacular dish. My son made an amazing French cake shaped like a volcano out of homemade cream puffs and spun sugar "cloud" at the base - just beautiful and fun to eat. Lots of feasting, dancing, wine, drumming and blessing from any and all positive entities. Very fun and meaningful. Lots of people told us it was the best wedding they had ever attended. All we really bought was stationary to make the invitations, new outfits to wear, and the rings. Even got a video.
You two did it right as well. Weddings should be personal expressions of your unique relationship, not some event that is handled by some professional or that conforms to a pre-packaged ritual, to my mind.

Anonymous said...

Not always easy mind you but wonderful non the less.

those always seem to be the best kind. best to you and your bride B. have a great day together and know we're holding you close from across the sea.

same to you ras. no matter how big or small the day has a way of making whatever the prep perfect. hope you 2 find that bus and ride off into joy and happiness together. mizzou will be the better.

btw... we're involved here in developing an IC in the n ga mtns. currently called heartwood. 'bout an hour north of me. right off I-575 at cherry log. LLC formed. roughly 100 acres sitting on a huge aquifer. land owned by one of the LLC principles who's dream has been to do what's being done now. while waiting for "right time and circumstance" he's been hosting a free boogie there for 29 years. all low key and sorta by invite only. now grown to 500 people in the woods for a week. 2 stages and a huge drum circle. my best description is its like a cross between woodstock, burning man and pangea. some damn good musicians in dez woods around here! also recently hosted regional planning mtg of the rainbow people.

several projects/infrastructure in development including restructuring the lake to include aquaculture and hydro. like this hobbit house...

http://earthinmind.net/journal.aspx

tim and becca call it their "low impact reciprocal roofed cob earthship". no cost for the space for anyone wanting to build similar. i'm headed up tomorrow to start a 1000 sq ft deck and community showers off the community center bldg. all reclaimed stuff from decks we re-did around atlanta.

door's open. come see us or give me a holler if you'd like more details. goes for anyone else around the fire here lookin for a place to land... p

Zoner said...

p, glad to hear that things are moving along with the IC. It is heartening to see real people actually hanging it out there and making it real. I wish I were not such a pussy. This brought me to tears, as it perfectly mirrors my heart and reminds me of why it is so difficult to see my wife off to work in a corporate legal department everyday;

"When Tim works for someone else, the fruits of his workday quickly vanish into the next job priority. He comes home exhausted, satisfied for a work day well done. But disappointed, for it is usually time to send the kids off to bed. He delights in hearing stories about their day from me, beaming at their accomplishments and brainstorming with me as to how to help them through their next challenges. But what he really wants, what we all want, is for him to be with us. Life is much more pleasing when your daily efforts give you daily pleasure."

Thanks for sharing that.

Z

murph said...

Folks,

If you haven't seen it, here is a link from LATOC that talks about the stock market plunge being an incident of financial terrorism to influence the Senate on regulation of the banks.
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/GoldmanRiseFall.html

murph said...

Here is another great article titled "Why I fired my broker" from 2009 that is well worth the read and actually contains some humor too.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/why-i-fired-my-broker/7384/

lol WV derat

rockpicker said...

Only in America...do you need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...

The truly good and kind
are so pitifully naive,
they can never conceive
of evil, but each time
are surprised, when pure
meanness smiles, and deceives.