Back to dry land again, with a great picture fr om Hot Springs Wizard.
by freeacre
There are three concepts that stick out more than anything else for me this week:
1 . George Ure's writing that we are on a disastrous course economically because the wages of the workers can only increase linearly, while our debt to our financiers increases exponentially due to compound interest. Here's an excerpt from last week's Urban Survival:
“...the old right/left/socialist/fascist politics is being hauled out to get you to choose up sides and become a partisan in a rigged game. Wrong battle. Way off base.
Fact: The creation of money out of thin air in problem #1. It waters down the honest money, pure and simple, all the fancy formulas and secret spells of central banksters aside.
Problem #2 is when financial products invent "Interest on Interest".
Problem #3 (which also guarantees a nonlinear bad ending, in case you don't see where this is going) is when financial product are evolved which promise "Interest on Interest on Interest."
Think Warren Buffett is smart? (as well as Charlie Munger, of course...). Did they buy derivatives for Berkshire? Nope. Bought a railroad. There's a huge clue there about how to preserve wealth over time, maybe?
Historical Fact: No way in hell can any economy survive compounding on interest, but compounding wages paid to working people....the two lines over time - as my friend Ehor and I worked out in early 2001 when we described the Debtberg.
My own observation that while the government regulators and bureaucrats whom we citizens appeal to in our “public process” civil actions continue to get paid whether anything gets “processed” or not. Therefore, they can afford to stall and drag the whole thing out until the original citizens who initiated the proceedings are either broke, sick, or dead. Then they start the whole process all over again, and nobody remembers what the hell went on with the last group.
Responsibility. The American Indian perspective that one should be responsible in their decision-making to the well-being of the future generations. Right now, the imperative is to be profitable, not responsible, in the short-term and to hell with the long term. Listen to the message from Indigenous Nat, part 2, a video on the right side of the page at http://whiteknightsreport.blogspot.com/.
All these problems are compounded because we are unable to have a national dialogue due to the mass media being corporately controlled. It would not due to disrupt their revenue stream by changing the financial paradigm. So, that won't happen. In fact, they are beefing up their “weapons of media destruction” with the software that has been ordered to create legions of false network identities to give the impression that a consensus is established when that is not the case, and other really sophisticated propaganda techniques featured last week on cryptogon.com and also on Max Kaiser Report http://maxkeiser.com/ (interview with Glenn Greenwald). Jaw dropping.
So, we are on the equivalent of a runaway train to economic, political, and social disaster. We can't get the assistance of our government representatives because they have made an art form out of ignoring, diverting, stalling, or in other ways, refusing to allow our objections to be persuasive. And, we can't get any real consensus of opinion going to empower the citizenry because our messages get all distorted, denied, filtered, re-interpreted, or disappeared. It all becomes part of the background babble that keeps us fighting each other rather than those who are profiting from this mess.
It puts me in mind of a memorable rant that one of Joe Bageant's readers posted back in 2008 called Declaration of Defeat, by Scott in Appalacia. It read,
DECLARATION OF DEFEAT
“I (your name goes here), having CONCLUDED, based on the undeniable reality that all American problems invariably become exponentially clusterfucked and are always forcefully contagious, and that the American dream is a tiresome, unrewarding bad trip, not worth the efforts or the casualties. Understanding that participation is complicity, resistance is futile. Having consumed all the mind-numbing propaganda that I can bare. Being duly aware that, I, by having neglected to contribute to the coffers of the winning campaigns can expect no favors and no mercy. Having zero interest in the present electoral outcomes, even for their circus-like entertainment value.
We understand that descent into total class war and social chaos is inevitable, unstoppable, and evolutionarily necessary. We fully expect to eventually be enslaved, incarcerated, tortured, shot in the cross-fire, blown-up by CIA terrorists, euthanised, or simply left behind when Jesus, or Sun Myung Moon, finally comes.
With no fond memories or illusions of any real loss whatsoever. With all patriotic tendencies as thoroughly deceased as the countless Iraqi victims of the spreading of "freedom and democracy". With the foundations of my trust for authority as wobbly as WTC Building 7. With all community affectations rendered ineffective and foreclosed. With not even a hint of a faith-based initiative. With no demand for a raise in wages. No care for a tax break. With no pleas for food stamp allotment increases or cost of living adjustments. Having no part to play in the stimulus program. With no expectations of receiving medical assistance from any of the greedy, incompetent, indifferent, upper-class medical professionals in this sanctimonious society of hustlers and pickle vendors. With no hopes of a secure, comfortable, contented, or full life. With no care for how my body is disposed of when I am relieved of the need for it. Not giving a shit who inherits my earthly belongings, if any shall somehow remain in my possession at the time of my demise or abduction.
Having no desire to profit from such an aggressively militant, murderous, deceptive, oligarchical, purified, religiously confused, environmentally rapacious culture. With no inclination to consume slave made wares, to eat toxic or genetically modified corporate American food or to interact socially with a generally lost and misguided society of hopelessly hypnotized consumer slaves or their xenophobic sycophantic superiors -- preferring to be alone unto myself.
Knowing full well that I may be trampled in the cardboard box that I may be living in when the banks finally fail, the grocery trucks run out of gas, the plug gets pulled from the hologram, the shit hits the fan,and the urban masses stampedes towards the countryside in search of the farmers' chickens or things to steal to trade for a rat-meat sandwich or a new tattoo, do hereby OPT OUT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, goodbye and good riddance.”
I think that mrs.p's observation that these times seem to really be the End of Days and look a lot like the Hindu concept of the Kali Yuga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga ). Or the Biblical Apocalypse, or the end of the Mayan Calendar, or whatever your favorite reference is. This is it. Personally I'm waiting for the Sun and its binary star, Nibiru, to put an end to our problems and allow us and our dear Mother, the Planet, to start over. Meanwhile we can eat pie and popcorn and talk amongst ourselves.
55 comments:
What do you know? The police in Wisconsin just joined the protesters occupying the Capitol Bldg. Great speech inside the House on "serving and protecting" the community.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/
It'll be real interesting to see if that video goes mainstream.
HSW
Important thoughts and info in your post there Freeacre! All so relevant to the realities around us we see unfolding in these times. I can relate very much to all that was said in that rant. With so much unraveling of our complex societal systems going on with the consequent massive breakdowns of the general " order ", makes one wonder even more if the Mayans and the 2012 ideas of a great transition show they knew something after all. The thunder of the coming great storm of change is certainly getting louder.
Regarding that photo of mine that Freeacre posted, it was taken along the route I hike through various canyons when I go to the top of what I call Turtle Mountain. There is no trail, just hiking through the pristine desert landscape. My dog Tema is actually in this photo. Just above the center of this pic there are three spiked green plants called Yucca Whipplie's, and above the one on the right is my pooch who is brown and blends in quite well with the multi-colored rocks.
I also see myriad faces in the material and textured landscapes around me, and in this photo I see a face profile in the upper left where the rock formations leave the photo. It is in the whitish rock face and the eye, nose and mouth is see with the broken rock on top of the head as some sort of abstract hat. Its like these friendly natural spirits are always watching me when I'm out hiking in the various terrain where I like to go :-)
The night before this photo was taken we had received a storm and rain and you can see in the pic that there is water seeping out of some cracks in the rocks and that the ground is wet. Its a wonderful smell and feel to the air at times like that, crisp and fresh :-)
Well we had the latest very cold air mass move through our area yesterday and last night with heavy snowfall at times. That storm is now going to cause a lot of severe weather today and tomorrow in the south east states. We are on the cusp of spring and with our recent storm rainfall things are starting to sprout in abundance around here, with flowers already showing up in the desert mountains. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather :-)
Well we will have lots to confer about with all that is going on. At the end of the week we shall see if the US shuts down if the debt ceiling is not raised. The whole fraudulent crazy system is teetering on the edge anyway and its has to fall down big time, sooner or later!
FA.... damn you're good! i nominate you for queen!!
HSW... any of those images look like these... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSldZ1g-o5s
HSW
Palooka's Revenge, I don't have high speed so I can't check out that You Tube right now but I did read a bit on Therianthropes which appears to be the subject matter of the video.
For my experience with these faces, I began to see them after I started making little abstract heads out of natural clay. Then after that I noticed that I was recognizing faces, profiles of faces in things around me. They are human looking, non human looking and of animals too and they are of so many interesting forms and shapes.
The are things of real texture, patterns and color but I don't attribute anything more to them beyond that. I usually just see them suddenly when I'm not even actively trying. The more variable the landscape of what I am looking at, the more the faces present themselves.
For example we have type of granite countertops in our home that has very complicated natural patterns and I see all sorts of faces in it. Rocky landscapes like around our home produces much the same results. You could begin to get the idea of what I'm talking about if I was able to produce a slide show of all of the ones I've seen. They would make for some very interesting paintings but I have other interest that take up my time.
Its just something of imagination that I find enjoyable to experience, when they choose to show up :-)
Erin Go Braugh!
HSW, is that stone in the foreground a red quartzite, by any chance? We have a stone here in western Montana that looks quite similar. It's called Flathead. Some geologists map it as the top layer of the Belt Series, (proterozoic,) and some map it as the lowest layer of the pre-Cambrian rocks. In hardness, it can be anywhere from a soft, friable sandstone, to a glassy, vitrified quartzite. The formation varies in thickness, from 60 ft. to 300 ft. Color often changes from red to beige across the formation, with 'bacon-striping' mix of light and dark colored beds in the middle. If you can find the right hardness outcrop, it's a dandy stone to work with. Great for accents.
BTW, it appears your material supports a profusion of lichen. It's been my experience that lichens on sandstones have an affinity for diluted acids, and have little or no tolerance for basic solutions. If using with masonry cement, keep mortar away from lichen. An acid wash on completion will do no harm, and appears to promote lichen health.
-rockpicker
Long ago I concluded that the system is unfixable: the powers-that-be have spent more than a century building the system we have today, precisely to serve their interests. Paradoxically, while they are on the precipice of unimaginable success, having bought almost all the levers of power and now training their sights on the last remnants of wealth they don’t own, that owned by the middle class, their “success” will probably bring about their destruction.
The disparity of wealth is so staggering – unprecedented, actually – that the society cannot endure. Bizarrely, while we ostensibly have a “consumer” economy, there is utterly no logic in destroying the standard of living of the middle class, who are the very “consumers” that are supposed to drive this economy.
As pointed out in the essay, we have no representation anymore. Attempting to change the system by working with the system is not only futile, but an act of insanity.
The only thing the intelligent among us can do is what I’ve said for years: “check out” of the system. Become as self-sufficient as possible; minimize interaction with the powers-that-be; definitely reduce the amount of money given to the PTB (in the form of taxes and discretionary spending); build new. local communities; think and live locally; embrace “old fashioned” values; and wait for the old system to expire under its own weight, which it’s speedily doing.
Dave
Indigenous Nat was so good to hear made me sad though. And also Russel Means...always reminds me of The Last of The Mohicans film and the speech he made in the end. We are in some strange and changing times. The "whiteman" has messed things up so much only makes sense Mother Earth would convulse in response.
Some days i have trouble relating to daily life, bill paying etc. and the fake feel of the world, and relating to friends and neighbors who are stuck in it and not knowing we're just going through the motions sometimes without thinking why, what we're doing and whom we're doing it for.
Makes one feel like getting as far off the grid as possible as we no longer feel a part of it.
The Declaration of Defeat was powerful and made me feel a part of the sadness in the heart of Scott in Appalacia which seems to be in many hearts these days.
Last night at the Oscars a documentary film maker who won an Oscar for a documentary film about the economy scam, noted at the beginning of his speech, prior to thanking anyone, that he just wanted to make the point that Nobody has gone to jail for the 2008 money grabbing take down of our economy. It was the highlight of the evening aside from when a few gave thanks to their unionized crew members. Going now to go lay on the ground and feel the earth. Hope it doesn't swallow me up. mrs p
P.S. The documentary film was called, "Inside Job". mrs p
HSW
Rp I don't think any of the rocks in my photo are red quartzite but then I'm not an expert on rocks either.
But on the other hand on the eastern flanks of this same set of mountains is a place I go hiking alot. Years ago I found a spot high up on the ridges where there are some big outcrops of white quartzite.
That place is maybe about a mile and a half as the crow flies from the place shown in my photo. At the white quartzite outcrops I have seen some pieces of it that have lines of quartzite that are red and is quartzite looking too, which I assume may be what you are referring to.
That area is called Granite Mountains and as you mentioned there is lots of Lichen on the rocks, especially in places north facing away from the sun. The Lichen is very beautiful and of many differant colors. I have sent Freeacre some photos which shows this Lichen.
Dave, regarding you last paragraph I too think that is the nature of the options for living that is really viable for us in these times we live. I agree with your other comments too.
Mrs P, I happened to notice your comment at my blog recently, thanks. Regarding this you wrote, " The "whiteman" has messed things up so much only makes sense Mother Earth would convulse in response ", Kunstler wrote something very similiar in his new post today:
http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/02/wake-me-shake-me.html#more
Wake Me, Shake Me
......Apparently nature likes to take its creations to the cleaners every so often, to clear the dross and detritus away.....
I want to see that documentary Inside Job, and Thom Hartman was talking about it today on Free Speech TV recommending it too. I think I have it in my Net Flix Que but it may take some time to become available since its new.
And Mrs P in reference to your comment about " relating to daily life " I know what you mean. Its certainly a gigantic nonsensical crazy circus on a grand scale that we see going on around us.
Simplifying our lives and learning how to be happy with alot less is a solid do-able thing to work toward adapting to the way our world is and will be changing. Like Dave said above, " the system is unfixable ", and its best we try to dis-connect ourselves from it to what extent we can.
Nice to hear from you again, Dave. It's been awhile. Totally concur with your conclusions. Hope all is well with the "new" location.
mrs. p - I just watched the Oscars myself. A neighbor taped it for me cuz we don't get either FOX or ABC on the antenna. I wanted the girl from True Grit to win, but she wasn't even nominated. What's up with that? And the Cohen brothers for best screen play, but they weren't nominated either! Huh?? The Cohen brothers rule. Although it makes the murphinator almost hurl, I don't mind paying homage to the film industry that gives me so much pleasure. Plus, I like to look at the dresses - and Penelope Cruz's husband. Well, hell, I may be old, but I'm not yet blind.
And, ah, shucks, p...
:)
I sure like the comments to this post.
Dave, I agree with your every assertion.
P, yeh, Freeacre has a way with ideas and presentation doesn't she. I really admire her writing. I try to measure up to her and fail most of the time. lol
Mrs P, Yes, that clip of Means and Nat was so cool. I may have mentioned that back in the 90's I attended a lecture by Means at the University I was attending. Impressed the hell out of me. Amazingly, a lot of the students felt that what he had to say was irrelevant since they didn't do the Indians in. Upon my remark that we are still doing it, just a lot more subtle, I got a cold hard stare. sigh. Modern education, bah!
HSW,
I am currently having a discussion by email with a friend over the role of technology and social complexity. Quite a bit younger and seems be held in enthralled by the advances of technology and that it has the potential to save the day. We disagree.
From Belgium
Hi guys
I started a reply to this post, got waylaid and when I returned I didn’t have the brains to finish it off. One bit of family just cancelled the help they asked for and another bit stepped in and took their place. I am never more busy since I retired. I am a little bit peeved since I was just about to step out the door to go to our nearby country to the north. A month or so ago I bought an oil lamp with a spare glass tower for less than $7 so I wanted to go back and get a couple more. They are simple things and I should imagine go on fire if you knock them over but for $7 beggars and choosers comes to mind. Anyway since I will be away from the computer for a few days I will put up the comment so far as I got with it.
This is all sound stuff Freeacre; I hope I don’t detect a little note of negativity creeping there. Think positive, be positive and then decide what the hell to do with all of this positivity. “Oh yeh!“, (expressed with evangelistic gospel song voice).
Isn’t it funny what sticks in your head? About 30 years ago I was in a restaurant and a businessman on the next table was having a rant with the waiter but before I tell you this I have to take a step back. In former economic times we had something like a sales tax in the UK. We called it a purchase tax, so it was the customer that was taxed not the shopkeeper for selling the goods to you but it amounted to the same thing. If you wanted the stuff you had to pay the tax. With the advent of the Common Market as it was known then, this tax was replaced by VAT. I don’t know if you Americans are familiar with VAT which stands for Value Added Tax so excuse the explanation if you already know. Let’s take something which may be a real example. If you are a manufacturing business and buy glass and wood to make window frames then the glass supplier and the wood supplier add a tax into their products which is presented separately to the price of the article (now 21% in Belgium). You pay this tax when you buy the supplies and then claim it back from the government. You then make the window frames and sell them to a builder. The builder pays the 21% you have added onto the price of the product and claims this back from the government before selling the completed house onto a home owner (ha) who, not being a business pays the inbuilt tax but has no one else to pass it on to. Thus each stage of the process pays a tax on the value they have added into the product then the final customer has to pay tax on the complete article in addition to all the value added stages which have taken place along the way thus in effect paying a tax on a tax. And so it was with the business man in the restaurant, or so he thought. Before he went through to eat he bought a beer in the bar and let’s say this was $1.00 of which to make the numbers easy, $0.20 was tax. Then he went through to eat and ordered another beer with his meal. When he received the bill there was indeed $1.00 included for the beer, then all the items were totalled and another 20% added for the final price. He claimed that he was paying a tax on a tax ie 20% on the 20% he had already paid but this was not so. What the tax was for was for the waiter bringing it over to the table since if he had left the table and gone to the bar he would have got the beer for $1.00 but because of the way he did it he had to pay an extra $0.04 (20% of $0.20) for the convenience. Sometimes it is hard to see what is a new tax and what is a tax on a tax but either way round it amounts to the customer getting screwed.
b... and an extra .16 for the delivery. 'spose the waiter got the .16? and what the hell happens when the guy gets to the cashier? am i readin this right? sounds like a hot potata!
i think there otta be a transaction tax on wall st... funds, securities, futures, bonds. and treasuries. and that mysterious window i keep hearin about open to bankers at 0 interest. and bonuses. especially bonuses. and ass kissin...
2 years ago we did a porch job for a BoA mucky muck. all set to go but it all hinged on if he was gonna get his bonus. in fact he wasn't even sure if he was gonna have a job tomorrow. this was right after leahman got torn apart in oct and everything was up in the air. he was in 'private relations'. not to be confused w/pub relations. BoA has a whole dept for this complete with a VP that takes care of their high volumn clients. this guy had the elitest of the elite. about 10 of 'em he had to keep happy. all 'problems' were delegated to appropriate other depts. he didn't even have to delegate. somebody else did that. all he had to do was report. first to his boss who took it from there and then back to the client that the prob was 'handled'. that and schmooze. didn't have to go to the clients office to do it. somethimes but mostly it was, 'oh-by-the-way' while sittin in a sky box at the superbowl. then there's the daytona 500. then the masters and the final four. in between he'd be in podunk junction over dinner with walmart. next day at the balet or the opera or the us open in ny. then off to san fran. or, or or.
then the good news came. and the check. thats when i knew we had no idea what 'they' knew. smoke and mirrors.
speaking of smoke, never a dull moment at our house... http://theunseenroleofdenial.blogspot.com/
2011/02/holy-smoke.html
its funny. and then, it ain't... p
Well, our refrigerator just gave up the ghost. I went to the store to pick out a new one, and none will fit the space we have, so murph is having to take out a top cabinet so the new one will fit in the hole. Now I have about a hundred bottles and condiments and god-knows-what evil looking old things that I have to throw out or figure out how to keep cold until tomorrow without freezing. Thank god its winter. Tomorrow I am going to haul these poor kids we've been helping get to the doctor appts. in Bend because he lost his license to drive as well as his car from getting fined for having a partial bud of pot in his vehicle. He's been paying the fine over time, but now they are going to charge him 30% interest on the fine and he'll never get it paid off unless it gets paid all at once. So, I'm going to pay off the $530 that he still owes, and they can pay me over time eventually. They live sixteen miles south of La Pine in the middle of nowhere and they've had to hitchhike everywhere for over a year carrying everything on their backs. And, it's another 26 miles to Bend. Man, the state has no mercy at all.
... while wall st and the bankster criminals walk free.
"Some days i have trouble relating to daily life, bill paying etc. and the fake feel of the world, and relating to friends and neighbors who are stuck in it and not knowing we're just going through the motions sometimes without thinking why, what we're doing and whom we're doing it for.
Makes one feel like getting as far off the grid as possible as we no longer feel a part of it."
Dang, mrs p, I know EXACLY what you're talking about. I feel likie Neo in "The Matrix." I know there's something horribly wrong with the world, but no one around me seems to have a clue -or even cares to get one!
Well, gas is going up. Stocks are going down, Egypt, Lybia, Bahrain, Yemen are mess -and hopefully the Magic Kingdom... So, ah, what do ya'll think? Things finally circling the drain? 'Bout time, man. This doom is a long time 'a com'in.
Later-
Randy
I hear ya, Randy. Just when I think I know what is going on, the fucksquad figures yet another way to grease their own pole while my doomstash goes over the expiration date. Might not have too much longer for the fireworks, though. Have you seen the latest report (it's free) posted on Half Past Human? Clif seems to have outdone himself.
HSW
Here is a story about the harsh realities of the far reaching ramifications of just what collapse will precipitate even for those who feel they are somehow prepared, or preparing. Its about un-planned for consequences of the un-raveling:
http://energybulletin.net/stories/2011-02-27/peak-oil-story
This is a Peak Oil Story
.....The realization has slowly dawned on me the past few days: so this is what life after the peak is like. This is life with limits. Both the symbol of and material source of my family’s personal transition will be gone, taken away by the events we thought we were preparing for. What, I wonder, will The Transition Movement be like as the limits of peak oil and other resource depletion begin to descend more fully upon us, difficult enough to accept and anticipate, impossible, perhaps, to truly imagine in all their dumb blunt force.....
And last evening I had a wicked night of doomer dreams! Three in a row. In one I was on a mountain side and I saw off in the distance a long planetrail/chemtrail and it was moving at an incredible speed sideways like a 300 mile an hour jetstream was pushing it, and its reality coveyed that something ominous was about to happen. I figured that wind was sure to reach where I was soon and it did, then something began flowing over the mountain peaks above me like in that movie 2012 and in this case I think it was lava. I had no where to run to get a way, eke!
Then in another one I was in some town setting and a flood of deep mud began engulfing the area so I jumped on a quad and tried to escape only to get bogged down a ways up the street. Then a bunch of people that where running amock like plunderers or takers, roaming zombies, started coming after me. I can't remember exactly what happened after that but I vaguely remember things getting worse from there.
The last one I was talking to an old friend of ours who I have not seen in a long time, and I inquired of him if he knew about the collapse conditions that were coming for us. He said he knew and then he took me to his vehicle which had this huge dashboard in the front and on it was laid out all sorts of guns, rifles and ammo.
I'll have a dream like those once in a rare while so I don't know why I had those three in one night. Well with the kind of news we tap into on a regular basis I guess its bound to fuel some unseen mental stress for the deeper working of our minds. Other than that I'm feeling just fine, really :-)
freeacre,
I deeply admire your humanitarian act of bailing out that person from the iron grip of the state, not to mention your chauffeuring duties!
It’s amazing to me that anyone still believes government is actually beneficial to anyone other than government employees. I have to commend the power of twelve years of state brainwashing ...
Dave
Thanks, Dave. I was not wanting to toot my own horn, but shared that info as a concrete example of one way I think we need to be aware of the suffering going on around us, and to respond to it. It's all well and good to say that we care. But, unless our caring is demonstrated in concrete ways, it's just more 'thumbing the cubby," if you know what I mean...
Hot Springs - those are interesting dreams and just the sort that George Ure is attempting to document on his dreamsite. He's trying to see if the collective unconscious is attempting to communicate what events are going to unfold. If you have the time, I encourage you to share it on that site.
http://www.nationaldreamcenter.com/
From Belgium
Back again for now but probably will be off here and there now and again.
I nominate Freeacre for Canonisation amongst the following of the Great Spirit. I have heard the theory that generosity comes back tenfold. If this is so then Freeacre is certainly one who deserves it.
I sure do agree with all that Randy and Mrs p have said. By the way they are really great photos you put up HSW.
Returning once more to the theme of charges included in things you buy. Over the last few years two new things have appeared that of course is before the VAT goes on. These are recycalage and recoupalage. I don’t know if these have appeared on the American Continent yet. The first is fairly obvious; when you buy something you pay for it to be recycled out front. There are two parts to this. If you have already paid for the thing to be recycled then there is a higher chance you will do it than if you had to pay for it when the item was worn out. The other thing is that it is like the postage stamp principle; you pay for the service long before you use it. Recoupalage is a real weirdo and could only have been thought out by someone like Goldman’s. The best way to describe it is by way of example. If you buy a new printer for your computer then its existence is deemed to disadvantage print shops. The tax lost to the government through you not going into print shops over the estimated life of the printer is calculated by actuary types and this amount is added into the price of the printer when you buy it. So long as we remain dutiful consumers there is no way of getting out of big brother’s sights. I have no idea what would happen if you wrote to the government and said I have stopped using my printer and it is only half worn out, so can I have half the recouplage back. Well actually I do have an idea.
However rather than hiding away and ignoring the system as we have previously recommended maybe a better method is to spend, spend , spend and bring the collapse on. Here is a piece of fatuous musing; wouldn’t it be something if all the ordinary people of America applied for Iranian nationality? Can you imagine it? I really do have a twisted sense of humour.
On the subject of international relations, the EU is going wobbly because the rich nations, particularly Germany are bailing out the poor ones. In their rush to increase its land mass and therefore its sphere of influence lots of poor nations have been drawn into the fold and the big nations are becoming broke. In a way it is nice to know the big guns can be silenced but it has kind of brought them up with shock now China has suggested that it may be willing to bail out Portugal.
With regard to Freeacre’s point 2, when I worked in chemical research it was common for PhD’s to be shuffled around the advancing experience ladder every so often. A new one would come in, have the project explained to them and then, using their initiative they would start the project from the beginning all over again. We labbies used to call it the five year reinvention wheel.
HSW
I aggree with the others Freeacre, that is very considerate of you to help out those folks the way you have. Sure alot of people in dire straights out there and we all know thats where this is all headed, the unraveling of the complexity that can no longer be maintained.
My wife and I a couple of years ago loaned $2,500 to the folks who had taken care of our children for about 10 years, as they were a couple of months behind on their house payment. They paid us back with daycare services of the same amount from that point. Our daughters have been out of daycare for since then and I just found out a couple of weeks ago that those folks lost thier home. Daycare services are way down in this economic climate.
I think one has to be cautious about such things however. For example I have a long time friend who is not responsible regarding money matters. He ran up his credit cards to $25,000 and his folks paid the debt off. He didn't learn a lesson. He then ran his multiple cards up to an unbelievable $120,000 aprox and then hit the wall and declared bankruptcy. He has since had a $300,000 heart operation, paid by the taxpayers since he has no money or income. Recently he called me and since his mom ( his dad died ) said she will no longer send him money he was fishing his various friends for funds. And, the last couple of calls he said he is seriously contemplating suicide. Even though he is still my friend, he is not one that you lend money too. I have a hard time talking to him these days since everything for him is dire and negative. Also its hard because I don't approve of the way he has lived off of the system and his folks for many years.
So what I am getting at is I think helping people who show by their actions that they are really trying to be responsible and do the right thing but are just down on their luck is something we all will find ourselves doing to help eachother out. But I think its wise to allow people some line to show their true intent and not get in to deep with them in case they turn flaky on you.
Now I of course don't know anything about Freeacre's situation and so am speaking of this idea in a general sense and not relating what I said to her recent experience of helping out those folks. Freeacre is such a thoughtful and caring person and its fortunate those people have someone like her that has such compassion like she does :-)
continued
HSW
Hey Freeacre I told my brother about my dreams and he found it quite interesting since he feels somewhat that there may be something more to dreams like them having some predictive quality to them. Reminds me of the idea of this dreamsite you have recommened and I check it out.
My brother after that lightning strike hit right next to his house ended up doing this little project with his kids building an Orgon Generator to put right next to the lighting rod where the bolt hit. Its a device that supposedly exudes positve energy or something like that ( I googled it to see what it was ).
Since there was some weird stuff happening like the bolt, some strange tapping on the window heard by all in the family one night, my brother seeing some strange manifestation ( some unexplainable visual anomally ) in daylight coming from the area of the lighting rod before the bolt hit, he and his kids figured why not strike back at the negativity with a little positive energy :-) I have no idea if the generator does anything but for them it was fun and I think put their minds a little more at ease.
Hey Belgium thanks for the complements on the photos. Man the PTB, US and European are sure spinning things big time trying their best to manipulate the mayhem and uprisings in north africa and the middle east. What a joke how they are always talking about how wonderful to see " democracy " being sought by the oppressed over there, but here in the US, Oligarchy, Fascism, Corportacracy, what ever name you choose for our system these days is just fine for us.
Libya with its oil exports and much more significant finacial involvement from various world players is getting alot more attention from the US. With Lybian oil exports now down at least by half and maybe soon going to zero, the big question is can the Saudi's really make up for the lost production, do they have the spare capacity?
Alot of info says they can't and if this is true then the price of oil ( today 102/116 - thats WTE and Brent Crude respectively )will surely being going up dramatically. Even with oil over $100 we are already at very damaging prices for the world economies.
HSW
Opps, Regarding the oil, thats WTI, not WTE.
Completely concur with your advise, Belgium. These kids have really impressed me with their uncommon work ethic and integrity. They always do everything they can to contribute - and they never asked for a dime. On the other hand, I have a half sister that I would not buy a cup of coffee for. And, by the way, I cannot take all the credit for being helpful - murph and I are united in this effort.
Just watched a documentary on Jack Abramof and his greedy bastard scum in Congress and on K St. Just unimaginable corruption. Of course, the next one will be "Inside Job" about the financial debacle. Even worse.
Jesus, Belgium! Those taxes make my head spin. Makes me want to run away to Tahiti and just watch the waves and apply lotion. Gaaaah!
hummmmm.... lemme see... how do i put this? first, some of you are familar with graham hancock's work. fa is currently reading entangled. i'm in the midst of supernatural. both of these are a lot about entheogens.... substances containing spirit molecules. iow, hallucinogens/psychoactive substances used for spiritual and religous effect. to put it another way, the stuff that opens the door to contact otherworldly dimensions. entheogens are not the only bridge. the door can be opened by more natural means such as meditation or by extreems such as the native american vision quest, etc.
second, we've had some converstaions about the stuff of free energy. we know EM is fundamental to this. we've also talked about the role of vibration and resonance that might have been involved as the sin quo non in mysterious things like how the pyramids were built, easter island, the henges, coral castle, and so on.
in supernatural hancock strongly suggests ethnography reports there is a definite link between experiences of the entheogenic travels of shaman, et al, alien abductions, and fairy tales (literally). some of the consistencies common across all of them regardless of culture, time, location, etc are advanced forms of camoflage and stealth technology including the ability to appear and disappear seemingly at will.
and then there are constistencies within each of these three broad groupings. i.e., in abduction accounts report the ability to reverse engineer this "go poof" ability and apply it to human subjects. iow, they have the ability to not only trasnport and shape shift themselves but they can do it to humans. not only transport humans but to pass them bodily through solid objects like walls and closed windows. there's evidence they seem to prefer windows. one abduction acct...
"...she wondered why they were crowding into the bathroom and then she realized that the bathroom was the only room in the basement with a window. soon a bright light entered and they flew out of the window"
there's more!
"... the abdutees speak of powerful vibratory sensations in their arms, legs and other parts of their bodies... "
and....
"its racking just to go through the window because they have to alter your vibration in order to get a solid object to pass through another solid object, literally. and that happens. you go through a window or wall - they prefer the window."
key word there? vibration!
with all of that in mind, check this out....
Now You See It, Now You Don’t — an Invisibility Cloak Made of Glass
http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2010/july/story29391.html
key words there... disappear. magnetic resonance. glass. ...p
wv, filti. why are these so apropos one time and not the next?
From Belgium
Interesting p, yknow it might come to the stage where people have to put bandages on their face just to let others know where they are. The ramifications are indeed - interesting.
HSW, I do like your pickies, I like the nature they represent. Nearly all of them are heavily polarised I notice. There is nothing wrong in that, when I had a film camera I used to love the polarising filter I thought it gave the photos a bit of zing. Now I have a first generation pocket digital camera and in this apartment there is no place for a darkroom, kind of more versatile but not as good if that makes a lick of sense.
Freeacre, I know it is both of you, I said you because you wrote the comment but you would not shell out that kind of cash without talking to each other about it first. It is surprising the difference in how some couples work their finances though. Some have your bank account and my bank account; others have our money. Some partners want to check the supermarket till receipt and others say “Tell me of you want to spend more than some amount ($50 or $100) on a single item. The only thing the system has to do is work for both partners. On the other hand there are people like your half sister and as I see it the only thing that makes the difference is respect. It is kind of interesting to speculate on whom (spellchecker just told me I had to put whom in there, it is correct but I hate these pretentious words), we as a group would throw a lifeline to. It reminded me of the Monty Python sketch where the doctors had to decide who got the kidney machine. Some Joe Six Pack type filled all their criteria and then another claimed they were more worthy because they had done more good deeds in their life and a third said they were more prominent in society. In the end I think they decided against somebody because they wore pink socks. Playing the game of where someone else’s limits lie on a subject which is open to personal interpretation is easy to play and not all tat easy to defend. Well you know how the stretching the limits game is played. Anyway navigating back to reality, you two should be proud of each other.
Webster Tarpley was on Jeff Rense radio last night. He said Ghaddafi was resisting US pressure to abdicate on grounds that he might end up in a coma.
What would it take to put the Wall St. banksters in comas?
http://www.victoryfortheworld.net/speech.html
P, FA, I'm intending to read both those Hancock titles, since I enjoyed hearing his interviews discussing both. I especially enjoy hearing him elucidate how it's no damned business of any government what a soveriegn individual chooses to ingest in order to explore his own consciousness in the privacy and safety of his own home.
FA, that Clif High read is most entertaining. Thanks.
-rockpicker
Thanks,FB. I really am proud of all of us. I think we are all doing what we can. And, Gadaffi probably has a point about the comas...
It's weird to me that all this psychoactive stuff is coming around again with the twist on it focusing on alternative dimensions, et al. I know that back in the Yellow Submarine days, it sure seemed to me that the stuff I was seeing was real. I remember looking at my passed out abusive boyfriend and seeing him with little horns coming out of his forehead and the legs and hooves of a goat. I took it as a big clue to his true nature.
It just seems so odd that on the one hand I see the might of the materialist, militaristic, soulless financial world at it's apex, and then at the same time, the other extreme with all the far out cyclic time and space and alternate realities is also going on all at wonce. Overwhelms my little brain.
One good thing is that Oregon just passed a law making it legal for anyone to have up to a thousand birds and butcher them themselves at home for food.
I'll tell ya who ought to be worried about being put in a coma - Hellyer, the former Canadian Minister of Defense who wrote that link you just put up, Rockpicker. Damn! where is Stoney and his weird-shit-o-meter? Mine's pegged.
FB
Freeacre, let’s hear it for Oregon – yeeh!
On a similar theme, eight years after some Jews blew up a few buildings in a far away land, Brussels Airport has just gone in for frisking its passengers. I wonder whose good idea that was?
The other day, the "Glenbeckistan" legislature tried to secretly pass a law that prevents the citizens (sheeple) from viewing any and all forms of communications that the legislature creates. In other words, everything any state senator/congressperson communicates via any communication vehicle would be secret -not reviewable by the sheeple.
So, in the Salt Lake Tribune today, a good many non-sheeple took out a full page ad on the 4th page of the first section protesting this Nixonish law proposal. I'm actually suprised it got leaked. Usually the only thing that comes out of the Glenbeckistan legislature is imbicilic garbage like declaring a state handgun and allowing the sheeple to blast feral cats if they wander into their yards.
Oh, and now they're trying to close liquor stores throughout the state -and their reason is to save money. Right. But, a leaked document showed that these liquor stores are one of the few things producing nice profits for the state.
We've got the Mormon Mafia here, man. It sucks.
But.. it's Friday. And that means, when I get outta here and go home, I can crack open a few bottles of MY beer and pretend I live somewhere else.
-Randy
We've got the Mormon Mafia here, man. It sucks.
yup. i see it sucks for one of byu's star round ball players caught in the hay with his girlfriend in defiance of pledge to purity required of all byu students. kinda sheds a new twist to march madness eh?
i wonder how many on the judgement panel could truthfully say they honor their own pledge? the med profession has the hippocratic oath. in salt lake they have the oath of the hipocrite. could such have anything to do with why the great lake turned to salt?
i wonder. and then i wonder why i wonder. cuz really, to each his own promise. and his own betrayal...p
speaking of hellyer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuEUmnEVJQk
as clif high might put it... the aware observer will notice the implications that go to that mysterious 'v' word again... p
Here is something all seated at this campfire need to see and absorb to get the full impact of just how serious the ptb are in killing off most of the planet's population. This is true insanity, and why there is any legal debate whatsoever is absolutely unconscionable. In my opinion, those producing and promoting gmo's are nothing short of genocidal criminals against humanity and deserve to swing by the neck until dead. I think it's either them or us, frankly.
http://farmwars.info/?p=5504
-rp
Re: Hellyer's speech, quoting Bill Clinton telling Sarah McClendon, "there is a government inside a government, and I don't control it."
In that case, we, as citizens, have a duty not to support it.
-rp
Freeacre and Murph;
Les Visible is reporting trouble getting his words out. E-mails not going through. Sent posts not arriving. Spam troubles.
http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com/2011/03/weirder-it-gets-stranger-it-looks.html
-rp
FB
I had a random thought in the shower this morning, I wonder what Hans Joachem Klein makes of the recent events in Lybia; pleased; not pleased; doesent care? It sure doesn't change anything but it would be interesting to know, in a passing sort of way.
Freeacre, what a post! I've been meaning to comment for several days but haven't had time. It's a great post. It does sound like you are feeling a bit of despair, though. Don't give in to it -if we sink into despair, the bastards win.
I spent a few hours last night helping to clean up a hoarder's house. She's a friend of a friend. This woman has physical and mental problems and she hordes things. Not animals, though she does have a few cats; things. That's important for a reason you'll see in a minute. Well, the city found out and took her to court. She missed the first deadline to get it cleaned up and the second is Wednesday. What has the state devised to punish this poor woman if she doesn't get her house cleaned to their standards? They are going to have Animal Control take her cats away and euthanize them.
No, it's not some sort of a bad joke. Would someone please explain to me why it's any of the state's business what this woman's house looks like? Yes, she has issues, but its not even like she has children living there! This has pissed me off beyond words.
This is for whomever was asking about student loans on the last post.
I got my first student loans when I was 16. I wasn't old enough to sign a contract for anything else, but I could get student loans to go to college -and yes, the contract is enforceable even though I wasn't of age. Theoretically, you get a 2 year-old to sign a contract for a SL in crayon and then come back and enforce it when he turned 18.
Yes, I knew I would have to pay it back. They told me so. They also said I would have a starting salary of at least $50k a year when I graduated, so paying it back wouldn't be a problem. I believed them. I was a kid. What did I know? Fast forward 11 years. My loans are in perpetual deferment because I can't get a job to pay them with.
The federal loans aren't the big issue anymore. They are, but let me explain. They can be deferred indefinitely if you're not making money and there's an income based repayment system now that's pretty good if you can get your lender to abide by the law. There are thousands of people in this country, possibly millions, who will be paying back these loans for the next 25 years, but it's better than paying them until you die.
When the IBR first debuted I applied for it, knowing that making $800 a month my payment should be set to zero. Well, my lender decided to interpret the law to mean that they could assign a payment to each individual loan instead of the whole amount due, so they asked me for about $10-$15 a month per loan. The total came to over $200 a month. That was a quarter of my income. Rather than file a complaint with the Department of Education and force them to comply, I simply filed for a hardship deferment, which they had to give under federal law because of my income. I almost wrote 'fuck you' on the application.
To be continued...
The real problem with student loans are the private loans. More and more students are taking them out because the cost of college is skyrocketing. All the rules are different. They don't have to defer if you're unemployed, they don't have to do payment plans, they can demand all the money at once, and you still can't discharge them in bankruptcy. Also, once you default on a private loan you can't rehabilitate it. Federal loans require you to make payments for a year and then the loan comes out of default, which makes it eligible for deferments, the IBR, and means you can go back to school if you need or want to.
Private loans, once defaulted on, stay in default until they are paid off. They can garnish your wages for the rest of your life, take any significant assets you own, and even deny you a passport to leave the country.
I took out one private loan to get through the final year of school. My aunt and the financial aid office both assured me it was the right thing to do. I couldn't finish school without it. Naturally, it went into default not too long after I left school because I didn't have the money to pay it. They were willing to defer it for a $50 fee every 3 months, but I was living out of my car and had no one to help me out. They've never sued me to garnish my wages because I've never made enough, but I know that if the day ever comes when I do make enough money they'll sue me. (The statute of limitations also did not apply to private loans.)
Luckily, I have no money and no assets, so at the moment there's nothing they can do.
Ras,
Your tenacity is inspirational. Good on you! The 'state' has no more right to regulate the appearance of individual domiciles than it has to regulate consciousness-altering plants. It's none of the 'state's' business, and we need to stand together in affirming individual sovereignty.
Our experience of the physical plane as corporeal entities involves a sacred covenant with our creator, which no political construct can legitimately interfere with.
Here's the latest from Charlie McGrath. "The purple team." I love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwkX12kcTjA
-rockpicker
I, too, admire your tenacity, ras. It's all about debt servitude. Whether it's student loans, mortgages, taxes, or whatever, our debt equals the banks ASSETS. They can then leverage that debt twenty times and spend it on the stock market or bonuses or whatever they want. They have no loyalty to their country, our children, the planet or anything other than their mutant, cannibal selves. I am reminded of the old IWW slogan, "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"
FB
Count me in that too RAS btw it was me who linked to an article about student lones. Re your debt equals the banks assets, you know the saying"If you owe the bank 20 thousand then you have a problem but if you owe the bank 20 billion the bank has a problem. But it is all a house of cards, all of these bonus's and stock market dealings ultimately come back to somebody's signature on a piece of paper promising to repay something the bank never owned in the first place.
I do believe that workers and chains quotation first came from Mr Marks, the one that wasn't as funny as Groucho.
Taken a look at spaceweather.com lately? There's a 9m asteroid supposed to be arriving tomorrow (3/7)and coming .3 lunar distance from earth. Seems like there has been an increase in close ones lately.
Well sports fans! Utah is officially a Banana Republic -without the bananas. They passed this secrecy law in less than 48 hours without any debate whatsoever.
So now the Mormon legislators can get busted for DUI's, have sex with minors and make millions in bribe money without anyone finding out about it. The wording of the garbage actually makes it a crime to attemt to find out about what the Mormom Mafia is up to.
Geebus!
Man, I wish we could leave this place.
-Randy
Randy;
Ever read this guy?
http://www.moneyteachers.org/Mormons+Under+Siege.htm
-rp
So, turns out ATF has been running guns to the drug gangs in Mexico. Honest t'Pete, what a fucked-up Empire!
http://www.2ndamendmenttv.com/videos/attacks-on-our-rights/atf-secretly-arming-mexican-drug-cartels.html
-rp
http://www.carnicom.com/bio2011-2.htm
I wish someone with a science background would step up and prove Clifford wrong, but I ain't holding my breath.
-rp
Yeah, rp, I've read some of this dude's stuff. A lot of it seems somewhat far out. But, who knows. He might have some good points and/or info.
Oh, forgot to mention. These 'alledged' lawmakers have decided to raise sale taxes on food. Yep, they're going to DOUBLE the sales tax on food and cut sale taxes on other more needed items like furniture and Mercedes. Goddamn asswipes.
Man, I don't what's gonna happen when the sheeple here don't have enough money to buy their beloved Prozac (Utah has the highest usage of anti-depressives in the U.S.).
Aaarrggggg! Let me OUTTA HERE!!!
-Randy
Anybody listen to Mike Ruppert's Lifeboat Hour radio show Sunday night?
He said the Fed announced it would end QE by May. This, he figures, means the end of the dollar, perhaps before May. China stopped buying Treasuries, so the Fed stepped in with 'quantitative easing'. If even the Fed won't buy them, who will?
Michel Chossudovsky was on Rense tonight, talking about Libya. He says what's going on in Libya differs from Tunisia and Egypt in that those were mostly peaceful, grass-roots revolutions, while this event in Libya is an armed insurrection, very much agitated by the West. Read U.S., Britain
and France. And Israel, of course. He says this one is just another oil grab by imperialist forces, nothing noble. Meanwhile, war is good for business, and oil wars are always good reason to justify high prices at the pump.
Ben Fulford was on later. He says the entire US government is going to be collapsed and gone by summer...
-rp
Yeah, well, I am still waiting for Fulford's frigging Ninjas...
Maybe they're ninja turtles.
-rp
Carol Rosin- must see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KECtbiTcPU
-rp
http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/11_Global/110308.alert.Hawk.martial.law.html
Ain't the first time, but probably ought to take note.
-rp
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