American Gopnik

Последний шанс для Путина, чтобы показать мировому лидерству

2011-06-16T21:51:00.000-04:00

"Last chance for Putin to show Global leadership" ...and Obama, but I doubt that he can or will.

I've been a "fan" of Louis Farrakhan for a long time, (even though I'm a lifetime cynic, atheist, and unbeliever, sorry to say) but this clip of his recent press conference almost had me on my knees to Mecca. If you strip out the overtly religious elements of his speech and merely focus on the factual and historical elements, this is just astounding, especially his mentioning of Quadaffy's gold and plans to back a gold dinar system for oil sales, which I'm convinced is the real reason behind the NATO attacks. Every word rings true, although I don't really know if Quadaffy has been an unalloyed blessing to all Libyans (how would I, since I rarely leave my basement anymore). I do know the UN is a farce, NATO is tool of American greed, Hillary is an evil witch and Obama is a sock puppet for Wall Street.

"Farrakhan said Russia and China could still redeem themselves by bringing the matter back to the Security Council to halt the NATO action.

He lambasted US President Obama, who he said is "surrounded by people who are Zionist-controlled or Zionist." He also criticised what he called the "arrogance" of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for "telling Africans what to do with Africa" when she met with regional leaders this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and urged Al Qathafi's few remaining allies to sever ties with him."

The clip is almost 90 minutes, but I highly recommend watching the whole thing, and, if you can, pass the link on to Vlad.

"Help us Obi-Wan..."

Технический сбой

2011-05-29T12:40:00.000-04:00

Takimag's revue of the Presidential limo reminded me of a previous post, Technical Excellence*, as the rise of unarmored, but fast and cheap toyota-based weapons platforms intersects the falling benefit/cost of heavy armor, we descend into farce.

"The Beast’s first stop was Ireland, where it was secretly filled up by the Secret Service at a BP station. Its only job would be to take the Obamas from the US Embassy to Moneygall in County Offaly. Sadly, it was not up to the task."

*I recently saw the same truck in another video. It may have been from the same period as the RT video, but it makes me think the "rebels" don't have that many, that it hasn't seen much action and/or it's just a propaganda unit. Uh - what happened to that war anyway?

As the guy who got me started on google translate -"pervych" says,

"БОГ ПРОКЛИНАЕТ ИХ ВСЕ!!!"

RT просто здравый смысл

2011-05-18T11:42:00.000-04:00

Growing up in the 50's. ducking under my desk, watching Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the UN, waiting for the inevitable mushroom cloud; ah, memories, pressed between the pages of my mind. No wonder it's still disconcerting to find more actual news and "truthiness" in the english versions of the Russian press than in the entire American MSM. It may be propaganda, holding up our hypocrisy and lies for geopolitical gain, but our resistance to the truth is so strong that I'm very thankful that RT provides the opportunity to see ourselves as most of the world surely must; naked, fat and ugly.

I've been meaning to write something about lying liars and the lies they spin, but I haven't figured out yet how to approach the subject, or get my mind around it. It's so vast and woven into the fabric of our lives, it's like writing about concrete or air, and you don't really want to tug on the loose thread that may hold the whole jacket together. I still intend to try, but I'm afraid it's just too big a task, like straightening out my Itunes libraries, and probably can't be done. One suspects the world is all illusion and lying is the way we try to make sense of our place in it, not only but especially politicians, WTEORP - with the exception of Ron Paul, the exception that proves the rule, the only politician to tell us the huge hairy wart on our lip is not a beauty mark, but likely melanoma. He IS a doctor, you know.

without further ado...

Doug Wead in RT - Ron Paul just makes good sense

"I like George Smiley, the old spy in the John LeCarre trilogy. He had to be called back to save the situation. That’s kinda how I see Congressman Ron Paul. If there was someone younger who was right on the issues, we wouldn’t need to bother him, but sorry, Ron, you are needed once again. Come back and save your country."

Dominique, nique, nique s'en allait tout simplement

2011-05-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

I've heard that professional assassins prefer small-calibre, low-power .22 shots to the head because the bullet doesn't have enough energy to exit the cranium and bounces around in there causing more damage.

No idea if that's true, but a commenter on (I think zerohedge) reminded us that Hilary had started a program to collect DNA on world leaders for unstated reasons... Little fuckers still bouncing around, turning my brain to oatmeal.

Ποτέ μην υποβάλει στο ΔΝΤ βιαστές

2011-05-15T18:57:00.001-04:00

Okay, then, the Greeks probably won't ever get paid for their already stolen property*, plus 200 years of interest, plus pain, suffering and mental anguish; Ελληνικό χρέος - πληρωθούν στο ακέραιο, και στη συνέχεια κάποιες!, so I went a googlin' to try and find someone with more credibility than I have trying to explain how and why the Hellenes are being "greeked" and of course the first hit is Alex Jones. I usually take his stuff with bags of salt - his shotgun approach usually puts a few pellets on the bird but you can almost hear the rest of the load rattling in the corn husks, but in this case, in this video, he is 100%.

I've been wondering why the vampires were so interested in all these small-potato economies, especially after they demonstrated their power in the Big Billionaire Bailout in America. Low-hanging fruit? Practice? I got sidetracked by the antiquities angle, and forgot about little things like shipbuilding, industry and good-paying, real jobs in Greece that would be more valuable.

Maybe AJ is a "conspiracy nut", but unless the Greeks want to live on picking olives and bussing tables for the tourists, they better listen up, and Americans better start paying more attention, too, because we don't even have any olive trees.

* I was doing some more reading on the Elgin Marbles, and it's even worse than I thought; turns out that while the limey's were making off with the loot they dropped some giant equine statue down a 40' cliff and totally destroyed it! "Whoopsie, my bad, governor!" Why not just round up the damages to an even 700 million euros, and after that's paid, discuss further discussion.

Don't be a schmendrick, be a mensch!

Ελληνικό χρέος - πληρωθούν στο ακέραιο, και στη συνέχεια κάποιες!

2011-05-13T15:19:00.001-04:00

The Daily Bell has a good article - IMF Suggests Greece Sell the Parthenon -

"Explaining that Greece "has an extraordinary portfolio of assets" Borges estimates that there is about "€280 billion alone in real-estate assets," of which the Greek government could dispose. We mentioned that Greece could dispose of the Parthenon the other day in passing, but [IMF official Antonio] Borges sounds like this is just what he has in mind! Exactly what does he mean by an "extraordinary portfolio?"

I would seriously suggest that this has already been done with the so-called Elgin Marbles, stolen from the Parthenon by the British (with "permission" of the Turkish Sultan circa 1812). Valuation would be difficult, of course, but according to Wikipedia, the British Museum paid 35,000 pounds for them in 1816. I'll leave it to the more financially sophisticated to figure what 200 years of compounded interest might be on that 35,000*; otherwise "priceless", plus pain and mental anguish to the greek people should neatly balance that account. Britain is in the EU, non?

It occurs to me that the Egyptians and Iraqis (and how may others?) might also be interested in the value of those antiquities stolen or destroyed by those nations that now constitute the EU and their colonial progeny. India, Congo, Vietnam, South Africa, China - Who's with me on this?

* FV = P (1 + r)^Y

@5% per annum, much more if compounded quarterly...

35,000 x (1.05)²⁰⁰
=605,240,328.53 pounds
=694,454,497.42 euro

Counterpunch - Ron Paul: More Progressive Than Obama?

2011-04-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

Charles Davis on Counterpunch

Wow! My eyes are still bugging out a bit after reading that on Counterpunch, which I generally read for its excellent Power Elite analysis (and disregard for it's naive "progressivism").

Paul has stated repeatedly that his campaigns are primarily educational and, with a lot of help from the continuing economic disaster, has been wildly successful in taking his ideas to the general public. His greatest impact (so far) has been to expose the Elite's own contradictions and incoherence against itself, as in his performance in the last Republican primary and especially the debates. He exposed the other candidates as the lying hypocrites and moral midgets they are, and is perfectly poised to do it again.

I can't see the PTB letting him anywhere near the Presidency, so the left should really hold off on the hysterical screaming about racism, Ayn Rand, etc. at least until he's through spanking the people's true enemies - neocons, "Christian" warmongers, banksters, jailers and fascists. Personally, because I detest Republicans, I want to see him run third party. I'm very dubious, but Paul thinks the system can be reformed, or restored. People of good will should get behind him.

I've never been exposed to Davis before, my knee-jerk reaction to "progressivism" has created a huge blind spot on that side of my thinking, I admit. His blog "false dichotomy by charles davis" has been running since 2004, so I've got some catching up to do. Some libertarians have been hoping to make common cause with the non-totalitarian left for quite a while. Hope springs eternal...

Техническое совершенство

2011-03-09T14:45:00.000-05:00

Technical excellence
User experience may vary, esp. in presense of hostile air e.g. warthog, but most tanks are just as vulnerable, plus heavy, slow and expensive. Viva Villa!

Anybody Here Seen my Good Friends Alex, Woody, Tom, and Andy?

2011-03-09T13:14:00.000-05:00

I just look 'round,, and they're gone.

(Using Anti-war comments section as my default editor.) Justin was discussing "Paulites" v. "Palinites", in view of Walter Mead's typology of Hamiltonians, Wilsonian, Jeffersonian and Jacksonians. Briefly, Paul is a Jeffersonian and Palin a Jacksonian. A little bit of square peg, round hole, but a good rough fit. Justin discusses it as a schism within the tea party, but I don't consider Ron Paul as a TP at all and most TPrs probably don't consider him a member. It's pretty obvious that, while they have taken some of his essence and momentum and re-branded and adulterated it for their own purposes, they haven't moved him any closer to the spider's web, which is why they are trying to move the web towards him.

The consistency and integrity remain his, however selectively his ideas are cribbed. It's only important because Obama has temporarily captured the H's and W's at a time when only the Jeff's haven't been badly discredited. I predict that the eventual Rep nominee will sound very Jeffersonian, because of Ron Paul, whether he runs or not. I hope he does run, in order to maximize his message, but I wouldn't care to see him run as a sacrificial goat; a set up, without elite support, to lose against Obama and discredit Jeffersonianism as "impractical". It would be nice to think the electorate could see through the bullshit that would be piled against him. It would be nice if Santa had ever given me a dirt bike.*
*Hey, Santa, sorry I implied that you were less real than Elite Support. How about that dirt bike?

Can anyone explain why Judge Napolitano is featuring well-known scoundrels, e.g. Rumsfeld, Judith Miller (twice!), Bolton, Allen West (to be fair, he's not a first-tier warmonger like the others)? My first reaction is that this is somehow a rehabilitation of the neo-con stooges, but Napolitano is respectfully confrontational and their answers are, of course, ambiguous denials and evasions.

Thus my anti-thesis is that rather than making/showing the libertarian right as more accepting of the Jacksonian jackasses, it's rather that the judge is showing them that if they behave we'll not dwell on the past and let their talking points expire. No harm, no foul?

The show itself is awesome and 100% Paulian, which is why it seems strange having these chumps on at all. Any true Scottsman would know they were liars, and we already know the lies, so what is the purpose of making me throw things at my tv? It's particularly strange that the show is even allowed to air except as a trial balloon to get as many libertarians as possible onside against Obama, especially if Obama wins, they can say it's because we were "too extreme". (after 2012, we can go back to packing sand, in any case). Luv the show; can't quite figure the angle.

Look Down, America

2011-02-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

What to Make of Fidel?

I heard that Ann Coulter approves of Ron Paul's domestic politics but doesn't pay any attention to his views on International affairs, because she is afraid he might be convincing. I have somewhat similar reactions when I read a particularly convincing argument from someone whose view I know to be "leftist". I generally have to tell myself that although their arguments are persuasive, progressives are economically ignorant and sociologically naive; victims of emotional rhetoric and limited exposure to how real people cope with life's problems. I've been wanting to write an essay touching on these matters for some time, but afraid to take this hurdle, because the facts are that I have a very limited education (B.A. - PoliSci), was an indifferent student anyway, and because, although I love humanity in the abstract, I detest many of the individuals I actually meet, and avoid them in fact. I have even less than average exposure to human nature. Yet, somehow I persist in the notion that my views are more informed and realistic than, for instance, Noam Chomsky. I truly don't know how I can be aware my own deficiencies and remain so unshakeable in many of my beliefs. Romantic existentialism? Cognitive dissonance? Karl Pilkingtonism?

So I obviously don't strongly feel that I know more about politics and human nature than Fidel Castro, in fact, quite the opposite; he is intelligent, well-read and informed on current affairs, and although in a 50-year bubble, of sorts, having to be the Decider of Cuba and undoubtably surrounded by yes-men, he was aided by the same heuristic that I've come to use - "When in doubt, assume the Yankees are lying". Try it! It works every time. Wonder about WMD's? Colin Powell says they're real. Who killed Kennedy? The Warren commission says it wasn't the CIA. Is Goldman Sachs a bunch of crooks? Congress gave them billions. Is Libya being set up for a NATO takeover? Hillary says it isn't. Et-fucking-cetera. Pretty cool, huh? This is really the key to International affairs. "Assume the Yanks are Lying. AYL.

That's why it's so satisfying to read Fidel on Counterpunch - Oil Grab, Does Nato Plan to Occupy Libya?

"For me, what is absolutely clear is that the government of the United States is not in the least worried about peace in Libya and it will not hesitate in giving NATO the order to invade that rich country, perhaps in a matter of hours or a few short days."

The delusions of an aging dictator sympathizing with a fellow? Possibly, but then I read Daniel McCarthy on The American Conservative blog, Tiptoeing to War with Libya

Maybe naive good intentions outstrip common sense where some interventionists are concerned, but watch out: the Libyan slaughter is creating an opening for those who would have liked to stage-manage the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions to impose some “control” on unrest in the region. A Libyan intervention will be the first step toward putting an end to all this messy indigenous rebellion, so the task of proper, American-led “democratization” can resume. Considering the interests at stake, I expect the cries for intervention to grow very loud very quickly."

I've mentioned how much I love Counterpunch, even though I seriously disagree with almost every one of their writers (except Paul Craig Roberts who is sui generis) in most respects. I also happen to agree with Stanislov Mishin at Mat Rodina about 99% of the time who is a reactionary Orthodox Russian and likely a KGB mouthpiece. It is so strange and a little exciting that I can agree with so many different thinkers from all points on the political continuum, and it's a constant reminder that almost everything I know is wrong. The internet has opened my eyes; almost nothing is "true" but the path is clear if one knows the mantra - Assume the Yanks are Lying. and the Brits, Israelis, Europe, probably Japan and all the other "Yanks". It's a western disease, really; Sun-Tsu makes lying a high good, with the unspoken idea that one knows the actual truth, but the Brits perfected it and Americans have made it an art-form by not only internalizing but instinctualizing it. Apparently actually believing the totality of lies makes it's own reality, like Wile E. Coyote walking on air until he looks down. Look down, America.

"I Can't Believe this has Actually Happened"

2011-02-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

I'm watching AlJazeera live about an hour since Mubarak's announcement - the crowds are going nuts. Most common description of the celebration is "indescribable". Congratulations to the Egyptians and may Amon-Ra grant that their revolution is not turned on it's head like so many others. Now comes the difficult part of freedom.

I'm somewhat optimistic over quotes I've heard that Egyptians believe that they have triumphed not just over Mubarak, but the the entire international conspiracy behind him. "We got rid of Mubarak, but now is the time to get rid of the Mubarak dictatorship!" May the whole world come to see clearly what is revealed when the curtain is pulled down. I'm not really optimistic, but hopeful that the Egyptians' well-earned cynicism about the "International Community" will see them to a better future.

The First Neocon

2011-02-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

From Taki's Top Drawer, World War II in one sentence -

"The “good war” resulted in approximately fifty million fatalities worldwide, left Europe a starved and blasted continent, destroyed the far-flung British and French empires, brought the Soviets into Europe’s heart for more than forty years, and handed China over to Mao Tse-tung."

http://takimag.com/article/churchill_more_myth_than_legend

In Defense of Call of Duty, Modern Warfare

2011-01-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

It's not surprising to see a Russia Today article that draws a parallel with the deadly suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport and the fictional attack on the airport in C.O.D.M.W. I'm not aware if the Russian media is as hysterical and irrational as the American media (although I doubt that it could be as bad), but if this had happened in the U.S. terror and hysteria and calls for hearings and legislation to crack down on violent video games would be deafening. I would also not be writing this, because there is absolutely no reason to try to talk sense when the soccer moms go on one of their periodic rampages of fear and loathing, such as after the recent shooting of a Congresswoman in Arizona. Americans will always wave the bloody shirt if there is any remote chance of scoring political points against their opponents.

I don't know if Russian politics are more mature because of their exposure to the truly horrifying realities of the 20th century as opposed to most American's virtual and vicarious exposure, but that's the way it seems. (I'm also surprised and impressed that the Russian authorities are compensating the victims. In the U.S., victims are useful as props in the demonization of politically unpopular third parties, then ignored along with the actual perpetrators if the victims/perps don't fit neatly into the messianic narrative.) If there is no political angle, even the worst catastrophes are taken in stride. In America, shit doesn't "just happen". Someone must be blamed, and generally not the actual perps, but those evil and irrational haters who encouraged them.

The point, if I can allow myself to get to it, is that there is no connection between the "No Russian" mission in the video game, which is the player trying to embed himself within a group of Russian Nationalists employing a "false flag" attack on civilians that will be blamed on "muslim terrorists", and the real life suicide bombing of Domodedevo. (At least, I hope not). The player is not encouraged or required to shoot any civilians and in fact is trained in an earlier mission to avoid collateral killing and friendly fire. The reason the game is so popular is that it combines extremely realistic graphics and story lines with a pretty sophisticated geopolitical outlook and surprisingly clever plotting including double agents and rogue generals. I should probably mention that it's much more than I require in a video game, as I just like to shoot and blow shit up. Also, I can barely complete it on normal difficulty, so to be honest, I suck. The take-away is, War is Hell, and no player is motivated towards actual violence or killing civilians. But don't tell the soccer moms, the fear's the only thing that makes their lives interesting.

Why this Redneck will Always Honor Dr. King

2011-01-16T13:54:00.001-05:00

Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence

Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

"And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us."

I was 17 when he gave this speech and almost completely oblivious to the civil rights struggle. Although I had lived in the deep south when my dad was in the Army it was as remote from my suburban world as was Africa, or indeed, Washington D.C. (We used to joke in Arlington that the Potomac was the widest river in the world...) and poverty was only something my parents recalled from the thirties. I'm sure Dr. King's concern for young white suburban jerks was almost as remote, but his reaching out beyond his world caught me up and showed me for the first time the distance between what I had been taught, in school and in church, and the reality of America in the world. Vietnam chewed up a lot of my cohort and would have taken many more without Dr. King. Talk about standing athwart history and yelling "Stop!"

I am more embarrassed than ashamed of the casual racism of my youth, because I know it was out of ignorance, and I do know the difference between that and real hatred that I would come to see later. I always detested sports, but one of my first heros was Muhammed Ali, who put into words ("I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Congs") that even I could grasp, what Dr. King was saying so eloquently that was lost my younger self. Later I would learn about Paul Robeson's lonely struggle against the hidden side of the world I took for granted, and Malcolm X speaking reality to black men, but really to all men who want to be truly free. Everyone owes thanks to the brave men and women of the Civil Rights Movement. Like it or not, fellow crackers, Black History IS American History.

Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Us Into, Oligarchs

2011-01-10T15:43:00.001-05:00

Got a 401-k retirement account that's making little or even negative returns, and were burned once or twice when equities crashed, say in 2001 and 2006? The good news is you can cash out without the (I believe 10%) penalty if you are at least 59 1/2 years old. The bad news is they withhold about 1/3 up front, so if you think you have $45,000, you'll end up with about $30,000. You can probably do a little better in a IRA, but you still must pay when you cash out.

Those things were a sucker trap that paid off for the banks at least three times, and more if you got back into equities after the 2000 crash, and again in the coming one. The final desert will be "cramdown" to force all or part of private pensions into govt. bonds.

Paul Craig Roberts on Counterpunch

"The fallback target will be private pensions, assuming any survive plunder by the Wall Street investment banks. Pension funds could be required to invest in Treasury debt or they could face a levy. In the Clinton administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Alicia Munnell proposed confiscating 15 per cent of all pension assets on the grounds that they had accumulated tax free. Certainly Washington will steal Americans’ pensions, just as Washington has stolen Americans’ civil liberties, in order to continue the empire’s wars of hegemony."

four steps to getting blood from a stone -

1. lower interest rates to zero so savings pay less than inflation, creating minor inflation, so that

2. everyone gets into equities again, then "take profits", so that

3. everyone has to keep working after retirement because their pensions are gone, and then "cramdown" remaining pensions to finance government debt until only the rich have any cash, then

4. buy up all assets for pennies on the dollar after deflationary crash.

See, you CAN cheat an honest man, but you need to have help from the government.

The Wikileaks Punch and Judy Show

2011-01-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

Julian Assange's Deal With the Devil, by Israel Shamir on Counterpunch, January 5th, 2011 is the best defense I've seen against the (really weird) charge that Wikileaks is an Israeli cutout because there has been nothing released, so far, that reflects poorly on Israel. As further evidence of this, it's reported that Netanyahu has said that "Wikileaks revelations were good for Israel". Shamir--

"Simple-minded conspiracy junkies immediately concluded that Wikileaks is an Israeli device, or, in the words of a particularly single-minded man: a “Zionist poison”.

The truth is less fantastic, but much more depressing. The Guardian and the New York Times, Le Monde and Spiegel are quite unable to publish a story unacceptable to Israel. They may pen a moderately embarrassing piece of fluff, or a slightly critical technical analysis in order to convince discerning readers of their objectivity. They may even let an opponent air his or her views every once in a blue moon. But they could never publish a story really damaging to Israel. This is true for all mainstream media.

Furthermore, no American ambassador would ever send a cable really unacceptable to Israel – unless he intended to retire the next month. Yet even supposing this kamikaze ambassador would send the cable, the newspapers would overlook it."

It really looks like Assange can't catch a break, between the Nazis who condemn him for exposing their dirty laundry and not being loyal to a country of which he isn't even a citizen, and the global elite that consider it necessary to hide the truth from the rabble, joined in by those who would seem to be his natural allies but are convinced, for various reasons, that he can't be taken at face value. In the end, I'm glad that this mass-produced confusion of point/counterpoint may induce a political paralysis where every viewpoint is observed and the truth is revealed in a series of false moves and arguments obviously made in bad faith.

One point made by Shamir is important; that there is a deliberate attempt to make it seem as though wikileaks itself is producing these damning releases rather than simply showing the routine evil of the Empire, as if Assange was exposing, for instance, Hillary's order to get DNA and credit info on foreign diplomats, rather than reporting the exposure by Hillary's own team.

"The second mode of attack on Wikileaks is to use it as a source of misinformation. These US State Department cables are double-edged swords. They are full of rumors, trial balloons, and hopeful thinking. Worse, the newspaper headlines often declare that Wikileaks is the source of the rumor, and leave it to the discerning reader to discover that an embassy staffer was the real source of the story. Readers often do not understand that headlines are little more than come-ons, and reflect a very loose interpretation of the article content."

Until now, I've had trouble understanding why I'm not in my usual cynical mode of understanding the WL phenomena. Shamir is used to watching the black cats fighting in the dark. You can only tell who is losing by the loudest shrieks. I haven't heard so much as a moan from Assange while the cries of the Orcs are deafening. I don't believe it's about left or right at all, but Counterpunch might make a believer of me after all. If only Fidel and Hugo were Austrians!

"I Was Born a Snake-Handler, and I'll Likely Die One"

2010-12-25T21:43:00.000-05:00

My very adult daughter, wished me a happy Santa's Birthday, and asked when I had lost my faith in what she calls witchcraft, and knowing I was Catholic wondered had I ever been an alter boy. When I was about fifteen, I "played" an alter boy in a special service at a girl's school in Potomac. The priest was a friend of my fathers, an Army champlain, and didn't admonish me for not having the slightest idea of what I was supposed to be doing, That's really all I remember about it: I screwed it up and wasn't embarrassed, and I was perpetually embarrassed at that age. I thought I felt the "spirit" at my first communion, when I was six, and nothing thereafter, but this is at least partially because I lack imagination. When I was eight, I permanently damaged something in there, trying to understand spatial and temporal infinity, simultaneously (never mind omniscience) . In any case, religion became just another one of those meaningless things like school assemblies, only I wasn't paying attention, couldn't see what was going on and what I could hear was in Latin for another layer of incomprehension.

Two good thing about Catholicism, though. First, they don't want or try to get into your head, they just lay out their gibberish and if you don't ask questions or cause trouble, everybody gets along. Prots assume you are an idiot and probably a degenerate of some sort, so they want to scare and convince you hell is really real. I went to catholic school for grades 1-3 and truly feared nuns, but not enough to believe their scary stories. Never trusted Priests or Scoutmasters (or any kind of school counselor or official of any type), but I do think most other people would benefit from coordinating with such types. Secondly, Catholics have an element of mysticism beyond the normal, and just say it's too complicated to understand, and to just trust them, which should immediately bury the needle on anybody's bullshit detector, so you kind of think it must be a scam you have to let yourself in on, or some kind of inside joke. I didn't say anything, but from about the age of twelve, I was rejecting all spooky stuff and going along with the rituals, and saving my energy for fighting the important battles, like how long my hair was. Another young schmuck. Sartre with zits...

I try to be consistent in ignoring irrational things, though - ghosts, saints, miracles, vampires, "feelings", intuition, "luck", etc. It's very liberating, really, like not wearing underwear (for guys). I do pray though, when I go to bed and I mentally talk to the regular Judeo-Christian god, and ask him to bless everybody I can think of, but this is just really force of early habit. I'm really taking up Pascal's wager, even though I'm satisfied it has been disproved, plus I just think my prayers rather than actual vocalize them, figuring if he can hear everybody he might as well have our brains bugged as well. If the channels open, might as well use it. I think this could be called voodoo, and I also like pantheism and sometimes "think" the fug's chant to raise the pentagon and beam cosmic hate vibes at DC. I have to admit I don't really believe in it though, as it isn't working (yet).

Lately, I've been routed back to Judaism, routed back because some years ago, I wondered if a goy could "join up", but this is in some dispute (The more I read about Torah the more intrigued I become). For some years I've been jokingly telling people I'm Jewish (Reform) from Thanksgiving through New Years, but the more I see the more I like, although I'm interested in all Orthodox (Eastern and Amish/Old Order), just on the basis of internal consistency of doctrine, not that I think the invisible dimensions exist or whatever; Extremely interesting gibberish? So I was googling "A Serious Man" to see if someone had predigested something I wondered about (Specifically, what did the beginning Shetl part have to do with the rest of the movie, if you've seen it maybe) and came across a discussion about B'nai Noach, "People of Noah" or something, that there are Seven Torah commandments that one could follow to be "Righteous Gentiles" or essentially almost jews. The cool thing for me though was to be "righteous" you had to actually believe in the Hebrew God, but if you followed the commandments merely because you thought they were good laws (that is, without the mystic elements", you would be accepted as a "Wise Gentile". High praise, indeed, and good enough for me. So I'm looking into that...

When anyone asks I tell them I'm a Branch Davidian, and that's usually the end of it. If I had to pick a god, I would (and do) go with R.E.Howard's Crom, made up, but most credible back story; He created the universe and man, but lost interest in his insignificant creation. When wished a merry Christmas, I sometimes smartass back with Happy Solstice, Christian. So, now I'm an older schmuck, still ignorant, but unironically begging supplication from an imaginary god, and Jesus died for this?

"D'Oh!", he might well say.

Merry Christmas, anyway!

Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Wonder

2010-12-21T15:40:00.000-05:00

I watched the full lunar eclipse last night. It's one of those things that have to be appreciated with your mind more than your eyes, because the process is quite slow and except for a rather subtle difference of curve, the shadow looks pretty much the same as the normal phases of the moon's own shadow. Still, since it's not due to coincide with the winter solstice for another five hundred years or so, I thought I should take a look.

One thing that seems odd to me is that the earth's umbral shadow is so close in diameter to the diameter of the moon, which I have to assume is coincident on the respective sizes and distances of the three bodies. I should probably do some googling on this subject, since it's so much easier than going to the library that there's almost no excuse, but I'm afraid I might lose my train of thought, which has barely left the siding, and I already needed to see what the experts had to say about some of the other celestial oddities that I have come to regard as Hashem's Hints.

If the earth were closer or more distant to the Sun, or if the earth's axis was not tilted, or if the period of earth's rotation was, like the moon's, equal to it's period of revolution, or if our atmosphere wasn't precisely what it is in terms of composition or thickness, or if large meteors were, as in the past, regularly crashing into the earth, or if probably any one of hundreds of conditions weren't just so, life would not exist. I'm of average intelligence and not a scientist or mathematician, so I don't really understand the statistics of infinity, and I salute anyone who claims to, although I'll doubt their claims, in spite of, or even because I am unable to understand their proofs. I am a skeptic even of skepticism; my life's experience is that everyone has an agenda and is either wrong or lying or both, unless I trust them in my gut, based on experience.

Like many, my faith is weak, I don't know G-d, regard humanity with loathing and run from any hint of the supernatural or transcendent, and yet the existence of life "seems" far too unlikely to result from random coincidence. I'll have to take Pascal's wager, even if some smartypants closed that off. Like Ned Flanders I'm even keeping kosher, just to be on the safe side.

Untethered - Abandoned and Scuttled, Refloated?

2010-12-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how I discovered Dennis Dale, I think from occasional entries on the American Conservative blog, where wit is nowhere listed on the menu, (Sorry DL, but you put the pond in ponderous), so the clever bits stood out like, [insert cliched simile here]. I was to find at Untethered a really unique voice and obvious talent; what I felt the 'net should be. Imagine if Christopher Hitchens weren't a communist asshole and had a sense of humor. When I first discovered it, I went back and read every entry, not to try to figure out where he was coming from, the reason I went back through the Moldbug archives, but just to groove on the voice and unique mind behind it.

So, I was quite dismayed when I checked back to find his announcement that he had terminated the blog, and again when I later checked and found he had deleted everything. Dismayed, because if a well-informed, articulate and genuinely clever writer had not only quit but had taken the trouble to cover his tracks, there was obviously no reason for yours truely, who is none of those, to continue strewing my mess in plain view of virtually tens (if blogger stats are any indication, and I'm afraid they are) of readers. Also his admission in his suicide note that he "never really liked you" was practically aimed between my eyes, because I quite sure that's what many people would say were I masochistic enough to ask.

You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when I checked back today (by fortuitous accident really - I was having trouble spelling 'tethered") and found not only new entries, but his archive restored.
Frabjus day! I'm going back there right now to see if I missed anything, and then learn more about google cache, in case he changes his mind again. I suggest that you do likewise.

William Lynch Goes Global

2010-12-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

(from Information Clearing House)

My Life With The Taliban: An Excerpt
By Mullah Abdul Salam ZaeefDecember 13, 2010 "CagedPrisoners" -- An excerpt from the fascinating autobiography of former Taliban government spokesman and ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef who spent four years imprisoned in Guantanamo.

I am an American, and my reasons for opposing the Long War are utilitarian and pragmatic rather than moralistic, but I believe this man's testimony. Yet the official line, that torture and mistreatment were and are necessary to get information, makes no sense. If I believe that a man is truely my enemy, I would go to extremes to ingratiate myself, to make him like and trust me, so that he would be unprepared and disarmed when I do strike. It also makes no sense to let him live after I have made him hate and fear me and have him completely under my control, especially if he is spiritually strong and I know I have wronged him greatly. Why would I allow him the opportunity for revenge?

Someone wants the tribes to hate and fear each other, even the followers of the same faith (for example, Sunni v. Shia, Arab v. Persian) and the followers of different prophets of the One God. Someone wants the hatred to spread and keep burning hotter and hotter. Google William Lynch Speech on keeping slaves. I first heard of William Lynch on a TV movie "Animal" with Jim Brown and Ving Rhames (I couldn't watch the whole thing because I'm kind of impatient with Hollywood "drama") but the story of Lynch was central to the movie and I wondered if it were true. It may have well been a hoax, but it reveals the truth about the ancient doctrine of Divide and Conquer, and helps to explain the dearth of African-Americans involved with tormenting prisoners.

I admit I don't know God, but I think I understand how Satan works. This man and his brothers are heros to all men of good will.

Hang the Black Crepe

2010-12-14T05:09:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the let-bygones-be-bygones crowd in Serbia and Afghanistan will pray for the rapid recovery and continuing good health of their esteemed benefactor, Richard Holbrooke, whose great heart has been strained by his efforts on behalf of all enlightened people everywhere.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-12/holbrooke-s-artery-tear-life-threatening-painful-doctors-say.html
Not me, though - I'm hoping he has a long and painful transition to the ultimate abode of liars and murderers.

Update -

And now this giant has passed; too soon, too soon! (I had hoped he'd suffered at least to the point of self-awareness - maybe he did, but it seems unlikely), considering... “Yugoslavia’s tragedy was not foreordained,” he wrote. “It was the product of bad, even criminal, political leaders who encouraged ethnic confrontation for personal, political and financial gain.” Projection much?
Then, this howler;
He said the U.S. “pursued a policy that would have denied Vietnam to the enemy only as long as our ground troops remained, but would not have left the Saigon government strong enough to survive on its own. When we send our young men and women overseas to fight for their country, we must be sure they’re really fighting for our vital national security interests.”
High praise from the clueless flows like the River Lethe;
“One of his friends and admirers once said that, ‘If you’re not on the team and you’re in his way, God help you,’” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “Like so many presidents before me, I am grateful that Richard Holbrooke was on my team, as are the American people.”

It must be comforting to believe in a just God that will frog march this bastard past the long lines of innocents he helped send on ahead. The rest of us will just have to get by on schadenfreude.
"Madame Secretary, Charon has saved a seat for your bolshoi(vek) ass".
I hope his shadow passes over all the Wikileaked memo writers on it's way below.

I Wish I'd Said This When I First Meant To

2010-12-10T15:30:00.000-05:00

I was enraged when I first started hearing that Wikileaks had endangered American agents and sources in Afghanistan, but I couldn't quite put it into words, just a lot of spitting and cussing and wondering how I could express my true feelings toward unfortunate Afghanis and others that were helping the US war on terra. Something along the lines of "The Russian and Cuban troops are only trying to bring peace and justice to Colorado and the U.S., therefore Patrick Swayze and his buddies are terrorists and anyone with information should be encouraged to turn them over to the proper authorities in return for a ham and a case of budweiser. " Or something like that.

Fortunately for everyone, I don't need to, because one of the "ilk" at Vox Popoli pretty much nailed it.
(If you have the time, read the whole piece and the comments. The pro-State Secrets side had a pretty bad time of it, and hilariously, couldn't even tell when they'd been flattened. Telling quote from one victim - "This is why I prefer fighting to debate."

AP Monsieur			12/8/10 8:15 AM
I fail to see what everyone is upset about. They have a illegitimate bastard government committing illegitimate bastard deeds ... abroad AND at HOME. It ignores our constitution at will and it ignores you. While we are accelerating into a complete police state and getting groped and fondled to boot and ripped off our labor and our future... We are now even entertained by Big Brother in the check out lanes by Big Brother teleprompter ... who cares that our government gets embarrassed and caught with its pants down. All this crap has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the STATE ... the illegitimate bastard whose only interest is to grow ... and if it has to put your in a prodding pen and throw away the key ... well then, to hell with you. You are nothing ... the STATE is everything. And you defend that STATE? May it burn.

Ask Dr. Stupid - Who is Vox Populi?

2010-12-10T13:23:00.000-05:00

Paulo Finagle from Ebola, KY asks, "Who is Vox Populi?" (Which begs the question my grandfather asked me when I wanted to know how to blow up stumps with fertilizer and fuel oil, evidently a common agricultural practice in the old days, "What do you want to know for?" [He never did tell me. Although he wasn't above ending a sentence with a preposition, grampa just didn't like hippies.])

Well, Paulo, since you ask Who is, rather than What is, I think you meant to ask "Who is Vox Popoli?" because Vox Populi (voice of the people) is not the website of Vox Day (pun, I believe, on vox dei - the voice of god) "Featuring Vox Day, Internet Superitelligence, AWCA". A bit of googling reveals that AWCA can mean many things; American Working Collie Association (he might well have a working collie, how the hell would I know? Superintelligences don't usually blog about their damn dogs!), Asian Women's Christian Association (probably not, I know he's a Christian, but his wife may not approve of him associating with Asian Women. On the other hand I happen to know that Mr. Finagle likes Asian Women A LOT, so there's that...), Aetna Workers' Comp Association (ummm...probably not), Ah, Bingo! Arizona Wing Chun Association, "Includes Information on Christianity and Martial Arts". Is there anything Google doesn't know? I don't know; I'm answering questions, not asking them.

I just noticed, anyway, that the banner on his site is Vox Popoli, which is a town in Italy, and he lives in Italy, and when I entered it into Google Translate the first time I misspelled it, and got back "popolo"

(http://www.britannica.com/)

popolo, (Italian: “people”), in the communes (city-states) of 13th-century Italy, a pressure group instituted to protect the interests of the commoners (actually, wealthy merchants and businessmen) against the nobility that up to then had exclusively controlled commune governments. It was one of a number of groups competing for power in the commune and in some cities succeeded in dominating the government in the late 13th century.

Now if I were Dr. Adeguatamente-Intelligente, I might know whether Popoli comes from popolo, because that would be pretty cool if Vox lived in a town named after a group instituted to protect the interests of actually, wealthy merchants and businessmen, because that's what libertarianism is all about, plus smoking weed!

See how I spend my time? What a Yutz. Oh, well, I got another blog topic besides Julian Assange.
Short answer: Vox Popoli is the middle-finger of God.

Happy Birthday, Antiwar.Com

2010-12-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

According to Ann Charters, Kenneth Rexroth’s reading of his 1953 poem “Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas” influenced Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, published in 1956. Rexroth says in his preface that “The poem is directed against the twentieth, the Century of Horror” :

They are murdering all the young men.

For half a century now, every day,

They have hunted them down and killed them.

They are killing them now.

At this minute, all over the world,

They are killing the young men.

They know ten thousand ways to kill them.

Every year they invent new ones.

(The above from http://rossbender.org/exorcism.html)

From -

Alexia Gilmore

Executive Director

Antiwar.com

On December 2, 2010, Antiwar.com quietly celebrated 12years of existence. 12 years of questioning the powers that be, shedding light on the truth and analyzing the events that shape our world. As an independent, reader-funded web and radio presence, Antiwar.com continues to bring higher quality news to more people (around 80,000 unique visitors on one recent day!) faster than any mainstream print or television media source, and at a fraction of their operating costs. We like to think no one shares more information with more people for a less money—we’re proud of that, and we hope you are proud to invest in what we do.

Despite some positive signs of improvement in some sectors, the economy is still down. In fact, it’s just been during the latter half of this year that we, as a non-profit entity, have really started to feel the burn. As we lose donors who’ve had to tighten their belts, we’re in danger of losing our shirt. Our recent decision to boycott Amazon.com for kicking WikiLeaks off their servers will cost us much of the little ad revenue we get as well—but as always, Antiwar.com chooses principles over profit, because we know our readers demand nothing less. Just as you can trust us to bring you the truth, Antiwar.com trusts you to keep us alive, and you always come through.

[That's how it is in the boring, stupid 21st century. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when long-haired humanoids roamed the earth... and the high-point of my spiritual journey. Also from http://rossbender.org/exorcism.html] -

The mimeographed text circulating at the Pentagon march is reproduced in Norman Mailer’s account in The Armies of the Night:

OCTOBER 21, 1967
WASHINGTON DCA
USA
PLANET EARTH

We Freemen, of all colors of the spectrum, in the name of God, Ra, Jehovah, Anubis, Osiris, Tialoc, Quetzalcoatl, Thoth, Ptah, Allah, Krishna, Chango, Chimeke, Chukwu, Olisa-Bulu-Uwa, Imales, Orisasu, Odudua, Kali, Shiva-Shakra, Great Spirit, Dionysus, Yahweh, Thor, Bacchus, Isis, Jesus Christ, Maitreya, Buddha, Rama

Do exorcise and cast out the EVIL which has walled and captured the pentacle of power and perverted its use to the need of the total machine and its child the hydrogen bomb and has suffered the people of the planet earth, the American people and creatures of the mountains, wood, streams, and oceans grievous mental and physical torture and the constant torment of the imminent threat of UTTER DESTRUCTION

We are demanding that the pentacle of power once again be used to serve the interests of GOD manifest in the world as man. We are embarking on a motion which is millennial in scope. Let this day, October 21, 1967, mark the beginning of suprapolitics

By act of reading this paper you are engaged in the Holy Ritual of Exorcism. To further participate focus your thought on the casting out of evil through the grace of GOD which is all (ours). A billion stars in a billion galaxies of space and time is the form of your power, and limitless is your name

Norman Mailer devotes several pages to his observation and analysis of this historic rite of exorcism:

“Now while the Indian triangle and the cymbal sounded, while a trumpet offered a mournful subterranean wail, full of sobs, and mahogany shadows of sorrow, and all sour groans from hell’s dungeon, while finger bells tinkled and drums beat, so did a solemn voice speak something approximate to this:

In the name of the amulets of touching, seeing, groping, hearing and loving, we call upon the powers of the cosmos to protect our ceremonies in the name of Zeus, in the name of Anubis, god of the dead, in the name of all those killed because they do not comprehend, in the name of the lives of the soldiers in Vietnam who were killed because of a bad karma, in the name of sea-born Aphrodite, in the name of Magna Mater, in the name of Dionysus, Zagreus, Jesus, Yahweh, the unnamable, the quintessent finality of the Zoroastrian fire, in the name of Hermes, in the name of the Beak of Sok, in the name of scarab, in the name, in the name, in the name of the Tyrone Power Pound Cake Society in the Sky, in the name of Rah, Osiris, Horus, Nepta, Isis, in the name of the flowing living universe, in the name of the mouth of the river, we call upon the spirit to raise the Pentagon from its destiny and preserve it.

….

Then all the musicians suddenly cried out: “Out, demons, out, -- back to darkness ye sevants of Satan – out, demons out! Out, demons, out!” …..

Ed Sanders spoke: “For the first time in the history of the Pentagon there will be a grope-in within a hundred feet of this place, within two hundred feet. Seminal culmination in the spirit of peace and brotherhood, a real grope for peace. All of you who want to protect this rite of love may form a circle of protection among the lovers.” …

“These are the magic eyes of victory,” Sanders went on. “Victory, victory, victory for peace. Money made the Pentagon – melt it. Money made the Pentagon, melt it for love.”

Now came other voices, “Burn the money, burn the money, burn it, burn it.”

Sanders: “In the name of the generative power of Priapus, in the name of the totality, we call upon the demons of the Pentagon to rid themselves of the cancerous tumors of the war generals, all the secretaries and soldiers who don’t know what they’re doing, all the intrigue bureaucracy and hatred, all the spewing, coupled with prostate cancer in the deathbed. Every Pentagon general lying alone at night with a tortured psyche and an image of death in his brain, every general, every general lying alone, every general lying alone.”

Wild cries followed, chants: “Out demons, out! Out demons out! Out! Out! Out! Out demons out!”

Sanders: In the name of the most sacred of sacred names Xabrax Phresxner.”

He was accompanied now by chants of “hari, hari, hari, hari, rama, rama, rama, ram, Krishna, hari Krishna, hari, hari, rama, Krishna.”

“Out demons out!”

They all chanted: “End the fire and war, and war, end the plague of death. End the fire and war, and war, end the plague of death.” In the background was the sound of a long sustained Ommmmm.”

So, politicians and generals, do you want to knock off the bullshit? Or do you want to risk the wrath of of Tuli; more powerful in death, like Gandolph and Obi-Wan? Just walk away from the refinery...

Assange, Looking Back, Sees His (and Our) Future

2010-12-07T20:52:00.000-05:00

Mon 18 Sep 2006 : Even so, we did what we believed in

1953. US. Death row. A bad poem, but elevated by its monumental context and constrained by a simple encipherment revealing the authors.


Even so, we did what we believed in:
Treason, yes, perhaps, but with good cause.
History will judge by its own laws,
Each act within the sunlight of the season.
Love was what inspired us, a reason
As pure as any saint in Satan's jaws.
Nor was the god we worshipped through those wars
Demonized, as later all would see him.
Justice would not just sustain our guilt,
Undoing those who would undo a wrong,
Leaving us in lucid infamy.
Instead, it would remember what we willed
Under the illusion of a song
So beautiful it would the chained earth free.

From IQ.org

Interesting that this is an archived site. IQ.org still exists, but it's empty. I foresee a huge
future in Assangiana

Eek, a Mouse!

2010-12-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

The equivalence of the hysterical official American response to WL and (for instance) the hysteria of the Moolies over the Danish cartoons, the call for Assange's death and Rushdie's is obvious. I value the opinion of Stansilav at Mat Rodina on this sort of thing, both because of his (presumed by me, I could be wrong) relative emotional distance, and (again presumed) ability as a Russian to spot authoritarian auto-overeaction indicative of a weak "hand". I would caution anyone saying nothing important has been disclosed to remember that most of what is available has not been released yet, 842 out of 251,287, so it's a bit early to say there's nothing there. Also, Assange has stated that one of the main reasons for releasing these "secrets" is to cause this overreaction and disrupt the internal habits of communication and trust within the conspiracy. The shutting and blocking of websites and even secondary commenting shows that he has succeeded, brilliantly, it seems to me, much like the clownish overreaction by the TSA to the underpants bomber, or the possibility that a prankster with a firecracker could shut down air travel in the USSA. I believe the countrymen of Kasparov and Solschenizyn should appreciate the genius behind wikileaks. If you happen to have a lot of spare time, check out this discussion of Assange's motives and methods.

"The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption. Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance." Julian Assange

Like a Sharp Stick in the All-Seeing Eye

2010-12-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

The Daily Bell has had a series of pieces discussing whether Wikileaks may be a mis/disinformation front. I personally don't think so, and am continuing to take it provisionally (as one should take most of what's on the 'net, imho) at face value, but whether or not our unseen enemies want some of this released, I'm sure nothing more than embarrassment will result from leaks at his level.The various levels of security may be key to this puzzle, as Wadosy states it - whether Julian Assange is a knowing or unknowing tool. We can assume there are official levels of security that are effectively unbreachable, and easily imagine groups keeping tabs on the generals and spooks as well, so that the really smart guys probably don't, or even need to, communicate much at all. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. One should at least entertain the idea that Israel is not at the top of this pyramid, either.

Brad Manning could be liable to execution or long term imprisonment, but I have the feeling that anyone attempting to expose the really high level dope would simply never be heard from again. I obviously have no idea how many layers there are on the onion, but this stuff is just the skin. I'm grateful for Wikileaks, however. He may not crush all the bastards, but they should be on notice that the world is watching and we're not in a good mood.

Displayin' Around

2010-11-27T19:21:00.000-05:00

I was trying to figure what, if anything, the Stats on Blogger could tell me, and the only data that seemed significant (besides the fact that most of my hits were my own; like looking in the toilet before flushing, I guess) was that most of the hits were referred from yandex.ru. So I went there and it's russian only which sent me searching for a translater, and eventually to google translate, which is frickin' amazing, and where I've wasted many hours since, but still don't know what yandex.ru is, other than a russian AOL or the like.

In the event, I noticed that some of the russian pages offered google translation, so I translated this page at random, just playing around (bolshoi brat; I love it!) and just skimming it, saw "Yandex", which I had recently searched for... the hairs on my neck literally pricked up!

"Nothing prevents also recognize all conversations and save them in text form, and then search for keywords like "Yandex" searches on the Internet. Intelligence services are able to fully control what you say. And since the recorded conversations of everyone, you can quickly compare the texts of calls different people to find out with whom you spoke. So we can calculate all the people with whom you were talking ever (not just on the phone)"

Even creepier, I couldn't get a translation of the word, yandex, in english, so I'm assuming it means "nothing to see here, keep moving". Think I'll go unplug my router, now. Just kidding. I like paranoia; it feels sort of like bad coke. Naturally, skimming the rest of the page are references to the joos, I'm seriously wondering if anti-semitism makes one nuts, or vice-versa.

Либертарианская Ненависть - Яша и Марк форме кругового расстрел.

2010-11-27T14:50:00.001-05:00

Я долго вентилятора изгнании времени, и было интересно, о своей политике, так как они были изгнаны из России для принятия по РТВ (между прочим,-торговый гигант Вайнер на картину Путина.) Они были явно сумасшедший / храбрых в этой среде, и очень хорошо на раскрытие безудержной коррупции в USSA, см. ESP. работы Левина по Калифорнии Совет по воде, но они, и левые вообще, кажется, не видеть, что плутократов работы своих злых только через наш гигант и коррумпированными правительствами.

Можно лишь предположить, их ненависть к либертарианцы связано с стойких заблуждений, что правительство может быть приручены, чтобы служить "народу" и наивная вера в добро общественного сектора профсоюзов. Их ненависть к ТП крайней поскольку считают TPers как класс предателей и обманутых богатых, а не рациональные субъекты, постоянно обливали от политического класса, и обе стороны. Они вернулись из России в время выполнения, основы Америка от нежити Рейгана, которые могут быть сохранены на праведных людей применение силы к рычагам гражданских добродетелей. Они думают, что мы хотим приватизации АСП, как если бы неконституционным учреждений будет лучше работать на почту, а не возчиков, и они думают, что мы наивно.

Вот мой комментарий в изгнании (ожидает модерации!)"Ваш комментарий ожидает модерации.
Это (Рон Пол любящий, анти-Кох, малых L) либертарианской, долгое время изгнании вентилятор все еще любит тебя. Я никогда не понимал, как можно НЕ либертарианской, особенно после того, как вы лечились russkies, но я просто понял, перегруженных политическом плане неизбежно означать разные вещи для разных людей.все ...Несколько раз вы укуса медведя, а иногда медведь кусает вас.
Fight The Power! ".

[Just some fun with Google Translate, which is amazing]

Libtard Hatred - Yasha and Mark in Circular Firing Squad

2010-11-26T11:10:00.001-05:00

I'm a long time eXile fan, and have been wondering about their politics since they were forced out of Russia for taking on the PTB (among other things, -shopping a giant weiner onto a picture of Putin.) They were obviously crazy/brave in that environment, and are very good at uncovering the rampant corruption in the USSA, see esp. Levine's work on the California Water Board, but they, and the left in general don't seem to see that the plutocrats work their evil only through our giant and corrupt governments.

I can only assume their hatred of libertarians is due to the persistent delusion that government can be tamed to serve "the people" and a naive belief in the goodness of public sector unionism. Their hatred of the TP is extreme because they regard the TPers as class traitors and dupes of the wealthy, rather than rational actors that have been consistently hosed by the political class and both parties. They returned from Russia to a time-warp Amerika run by the undead Reagan that can be saved by the righteous application of people-power to levers of civic virtue. They think we want the privatization of the TSA, as if unconstitutional institutions would be better run by the post office instead of the Teamsters, and they think we're naive.

Here's my comment at the eXiled (awaiting moderation!)
"Your comment is awaiting moderation.

This (Ron Paul loving, anti-Koch, small-l) libertarian, long-time Exile fan still loves you. I never understood how you can NOT be libertarian, especially after how you were treated by the russkies, but I just figured overloaded political terms are bound to mean different things to different people.
whatever…
Some times you bite the bear, sometimes the bear bites you.

Fight the Power!"

Are Municipal Bondholders Consulting Robert Vesco in the Netherworld?

2010-05-24T20:25:00.000-04:00

Lila Rajiva deconstructs Ellen Brown's piece at the Huffington Post which exposes vast amounts of money squirreled away by State and Municipal governments as "rainy day" or emergency funds. The same governments that have to cut non-essential services (read - services that actually provide value to citizens but are high profile enough to show that the government is serious about cuts but without actually inconveniencing any public employees, at least any highly-paid ones). The same governments that are borrowing billions at X% while keeping the slush funds in essentially checking accounts earning .01X%. My county, Fairfax, VA, has had a strong stench of corruption for years as one of the richest, if not the richest in the country, yet has to borrow and roll over a mountain of debt continuously while voters approve every bond issue put before them. None of this has ever made sense to me

Another big piece of the puzzle falls into place. Thanks to Lila for reading, so we don’t have to, the otherwise horrible HP for any crumbs of actual useful information that might flow from that sewer of PC babble.

I’ve been (halfassedly) researching State banks since I first heard about the Bank of ND and wondering why such banks might not be a weapon against the FED and why there doesn’t seem to be any discussion in Austrian fora. I’ve concluded that there must be some theoretical meta-objection along the lines that a State bank would still be a state bank, i.e. 50 mini-Feds, or that there would be too much opportunity for populist shenanigans. The possibility, as Occam’s razor would suggest, that the monster banks would smother any such discussion in order to extend the lucrative status-quo is strongly implied.

Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall had introduced legislation that quickly went nowhere, to establish a Virginia state bank, and when I requested more information from his staff, not only received no answer, but was evidently dropped from his spam list as I went from 3-5 emails per week to none. I can only assume that he was well instructed to drop this line of reasoning and return to moaning about abortion and gun-control.

When it comes to the examination of state and local financing schemes there is a great bi-partisan well of don’t-go-there. I guess taxpayer ignorance really is bliss, but the bliss is that of the bond holders. Full disclosure: I’m long on torches and pitchforks.

Gusher!

2010-05-22T22:26:00.000-04:00

Humans are Earth Cancer. No question. Nothing really scares me except radiation poisoning, and I got immune to that hiding under my desk in like the fourth grade and they could still pray in public schools then (c. 1960) which would have worked just as well. The only thing that will save the environment is a really big war or slight mutation in the HiV virus recombined with the cold virus so it gets spread by coughing. Or they activate skynet...To err is human, to really fuck up requires an engineering degree.

(Don't) Go Tell the Trojans

2010-05-19T12:33:00.001-04:00

There seems to be a lot of skepticism concerning Rand Paul's Primary win in Kentucky and a lack of enthusiasm for his campaign based on a perceived lack of libertarian purity. It's true that he doesn't stress the more unpopular and controversial issues that might (would) make him unelectable in a majority stupid state (all of them). That's because he wants, and we need him, to win. Ron Paul is a brave, smart and principled man who is able to win and hold an elected office without lying or evading critical issues; a rarity if not sui generis. I give great credit to his constituents who may be uniquely principled for Americans if not Texans, but the few Kentuckians I know are some otherwise independent and intelligent (tax avoiders, pot smoking immigration/welfare haters), but Bush-/War- supporting, Obama and furriner-hating yahoos of the first water. Ron Paul, principled, consistent and up-front would get nowhere with these folks. If Rand wants to visit these folks, he's going to get metaphorical and real mud on his boots.

I compare his (Rand's) strategy to getting on a jury where the voir-dire process is specifically designed to eliminate any potential juror with any intelligence, expertise, interest or knowledge of the case. Generally, the only real requirements for a U.S. Senator are great personal wealth and/or a superhuman ability to lie out of both sides of the mouth. The Senate is a snakepit of corruption and the only possible way to gain entry is to provide at least the appearance of corruptibility. That said, the gate-keepers would be well advised to allow him into the Senate and bottle him up for six years rather than risk creating an attractive AND intelligent (sorry, Sarah) candidate for TP leadership, especially if there is any of the usual Republican slimyness in helping to defeat him in the general election. I am related to a pretty big Country Club Republican, thoroughly liberal and statist who has admitted they would rather destroy the Party rather than admit Ron to the inner circle after they went to all the trouble to purge the Birchers. I love Ron Paul, but both Parties hate and fear an uncorruptible man. We can't destroy Troy (no pun intended) if we can't get them to accept the horse.

Did the Founders Anticipate the Rise of Sarah Palin?

2010-04-18T19:59:00.000-04:00

Apart from her political views, I think she is obviously unqualified for the job, but I like her because the left is really afraid she might be the first woman President, which she wouldn't be if they just ignored her, so all she has to do is jerk their chain once in a while to get them to make her even more popular, plus she's smarter than Romney. If she went all in for Israel, (short of war with Iran in which case all bets are off), I can see her getting nominated and beating Obama in 2012. [I've been backing Buchanan/Paul since the early 90's, but they're both getting too old.]

I liked Reagan, but even then I knew that They knew they were pretending - Las Vegas democracy. Why can't we just eliminate the middle men and have the "campaign advisors" actually run the government while the puppet/figurehead just goes harmlessly about making millions through speaking and selling books. Oh, wait... yeah.

Seems kind of a big lapse of the founders to set the bar for the Presidency so low; I think you need to be a native-born American of at least thirty-five years. Doesn't say you need to not be a sociopath or a moron among many other seemingly disqualifing qualities. The voters in their collective wisdom will select the best of those that put themselves forward. Either voters were much more intelligent and rational (never mind they had to be adult property-owning males) then, or the founders meant for the President to be much less important than He has turned out to be, and only seeing that the law is faithfully executed, rather than making and interpreting the law, on the fly, for whatever reason, or none, a hunch or a tip or a favor. There should at least be a written test, or a series of real debates, or something...

Soon, a cleansing flood!

They're Coming to America

2010-02-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

My sister works for the LA Coroner's office and was asking me a while back about GIS for dead people. Turns out the LA Times has an interactive homicide page that's really nifty; for instance one guy who was capped dropping off his gf because he gave the wrong guys a "hard look". Central LA - the place NOT to be, and stay the hell out of Lynwood! Average dead guy is 20 yo hispanic. This poor bastard was 7. Persian Jew Poet "They're Coming to America". Again, bring back the guillotine. I wonder why the Asians don't be playin'? and what's up with Sunday? Doesn't anybody go to church anymore? Fucked up, Holmes...

Danny the Car-Wiper is on the Nod

2009-12-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

I've always disliked Christmas, but in the last couple of years it seems like every twinkling light and jolly shopper is like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, every gayly wrapped package a reminder that no one really grows up, every shriek of delight and surprise a passive-aggressive assertion that all's well with the modern world and that Jesus didn't die in vain. Fed up, bloated with existential figgy pudding and heavy gravey, the stupidity and waste piling up like dead Asian catfish on a frozen Chicago beach, I want to spew the contents of ten thousand dead albatross chick-guts on the National Christmas Tree and fill every stocking with 'Cong ears and bandages from limbless Iraqi orphans.

Then, New-Years, the celebration of mindless drunken revelry, the passing and heraldry of another year of death-based consumption as Americans waddle into the future, fat, dumb and happy as cannibalistic chimps on a full moon, unknowing and uncaring of anything beyond what they can eat or fuck or stuff in their pockets. "On Dasher, on Dancer, Comet and Vixen", a turd down every chimney and a rotting corpse under every tree. Let the ball descend on cleaned-up Times Square squares and Williamsburg hipsters celebrating another trip around the old tired sun, while we Surge into another unenlightened Afgan pass; down through all eternity, the whining of humanity, a big mac in one hand and M-16 in the other. Thank god for Burroughs.

Merry Xmas to all, and to all a "Good Night!"

(Cross-posted on my team blog "No Short Counts"

Obama as Tough Guy - Lack of Nerve Makes Carter II

2009-11-06T10:21:00.004-05:00

I don't have faith that the President can stand up to the war chiefs, but he needs to grow a pair fast, because every choice he has, except a smart and orderly withdrawl, results in political failure. If he escalates he can kick the can, but surely not past his second term - probable failure for which he will be blamed. If he treads water, and we continue to lose 10-12 guys at a time, he probably won't survive his first term, especially if there are reverses so bad that we won't be able to declare a (phoney, but I'll take it) victory.

He needs to go on offense. He's boxed in politically, and I don't believe he can buck his masters, but the military solution isn't that thorny. Declare victory, stand down and make it clear that the ground pounders are not expendable game pieces. Make sure that all blame, especially for any domestic economic chaos, is redirected to the previous regime that also managed to practically destroy the active military and reserves. If he can, he should get Schwartzkopf (who was a tool, but at least he looked out for his troops) back as SecDef.

Of course, he will dither and speak good things instead, so my only real hope is that the grunts concentrate on keeping each other alive and the spirit of healthy insubordination works it's way up the chain-of-command, until President Paul can straighten it back out.

There's a Reason There's No X Street in DC

2009-11-05T10:59:00.004-05:00

Philip Giraldi, one of best and most honest minds of our era, has a good idea, A Manifesto for X Street. A lobby for the interests of American-Americans, what a concept.

"What this country needs is a new direction, possibly driven by a new foreign policy lobby that recognizes that while all nations have an inalienable right to be treated fairly by the United States, Washington has a clear and compelling responsibility to avoid involvement in other countries’ quarrels so it can put its own people and interests first. "

I'm totally there:

"Membership in X Street will be open to all American citizens of every race, national origin, and religious belief. It will be guided by a unifying principle, that preservation of the liberties defined in the constitution and support of the national interest of the United States should be the sole objectives of any and all foreign policy. It would be the modern embodiment of George Washington’s warning to steer clear of foreign involvements and to be a friend to all."

The Constitution, Congressional declarations of war, staged withdrawal from Iraq and Afganistan, all good stuff, but then he twitches,

"X Street understands that the United States has no abiding national interest in staying in either Afghanistan or Iraq, but it recognizes that Washington has done a great deal of damage to both countries and their people. The US will arrange for a staged withdrawal from both nations after first convoking a conference of all countries in both regions to discuss mutual security issues in a bid to create a workable and sustainable regional security environment that will benefit everyone. The current bilateral security agreements dictated by Washington will be replaced by multilateral arrangements in which neighboring countries work together to combat international terrorism, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses. The United States will support such efforts but will commit itself to strict non-intervention in both the Middle East and Central Asia." (my bold)

My first question; does multilateral include the US, and how will we "support such efforts" beyond well-wishing?

"X Street believes that there is no security justification for maintaining hundreds of US military bases worldwide at an annual cost of hundreds of billions dollars. Many countries in Asia and Europe have become wealthy due to the US security umbrella that has been in place since 1945. They should now take over responsibility for their own security with the United States reverting to the role of good friend and trading partner. NATO no longer has any raison d’etre and is needlessly provoking the Russians through its expansion. X Street calls on the United States to dissolve the alliance."

No complaints, here, but then the horizon darkens again,

"The United States will advise Israel that its settlement policy is in violation of numerous UN resolutions and that it opposes on principle the continuing denial of any rights to West Bank and Gazan Palestinians. Washington will no longer use its veto power to protect Israeli interests in the UN and other international bodies. As Israel is now the twenty-ninth wealthiest nation in the world per capita, all US economic and military assistance will cease immediately. The United States will publicly declare its knowledge that Israel has a nuclear arsenal and will ask the Israeli government to join the NPT regime and subject its program to IAEA inspection. The purpose is not to punish Israel but to make it like every other country vis-à-vis the United States – a friend and a trading partner, but there will be no free ride and no presumption of a "special relationship." There will be no special relationships with anyone."

I'm troubled by the implication that we would inform Israel of UN resolutions and urge them to join the NPT. If x street doesn't call for the US (and any other country that cares to) abrogate and anull all international treaties and withdraw from the entire Fabian structure, I can't see the point of the exercise. One of the only things I admire about Israel is it's defiance of the UN (while, like us, also gaming the UN whenever that might serve it's own interests). The lobby is far less dangerous to Americans than the cathedral (the military-industrial-educational-financial-congressional complex. See Moldbug, et al.) In foreign affairs, Israel should be a model of real Realism for us, shorn of the bristling paranoia and hysteria, of course other than that minor quibble, Sign me up!

The Efficiency of Evil, Pt.1

2009-11-01T12:00:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the long gap between posts. That was a long period of very nice weather, I got a lot of small things done, while I stewed and sulked about what a crappy world full of fuckees and fuckahs it is, but, stoically kept my bitter opinions to myself, except to the extent necessary to irritate my loved ones. Sorry about that also, so rather than resuming my kvetching, I'm going to try for a more questioning approach. Rather than simply state my belief that Evil has a permanent advantage because good people cannot do evil, but evil people can do good when it suits them, therefore Evil can never be defeated on this side of the Apocalyptic divide. An even grimmer prospect for those who may doubt this divide exists, is that Evil can never be defeated without total collateral damage, because "they" are so intertwined with "us". For all practical purposes, they is us. (h/t - Pogo). I have to put aside the whole revealed religion thing here, because I'm unqualified to comment, and have to go with the Natural Law test whether one knows in his heart if a thing is wrong. What a child or a dimwit or an average person without Sophistic training would see as wrong. Overly simple, I know, but I call Occam in defense.

My question is, why is Evil so devilishly smart and aggressive? Couldn't it survive and thrive all laid-back and hippy or partying like it was 1975. If it only wants our souls, why does it have to kill everyone in the village and all their livestock as well? All it really needed for souls was a liquor store and a lottery, besides it would lose a lot of young and innocent souls by harvesting prematurely, so to speak. It just don't make no sense.

Next:
Gravity's Rainbow V-2 guidance system
V-1 guidance system complexity Wiki
war as technology spur
Analogue computers wiki
use for astronomy in the ancient world
use as weapons in modern world
complexity and sheer numbers of terror weapons, opportunity costs for reich
tech boost to british to defend, intellectual horsepower applied to breaking codes

tie to dearth of military tech at GW seas

They Were "Too Graphic" Then, but Now They're So Last Year

2009-04-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

I remember when the second batch of Torture Fotos were first rumored to exist (about '04?); that they were too graphic and inflammatory to release to the public. We may speculate that they were not released because they weren't already on the net. So "more than 400 individuals were disciplined" (mostly enlisted men and sergeants, I'm sure), but I'd further bet that none of those disciplined were CIA agents known to have been present.

Why did those knuckleheads photograph themselves, unless they had been totally assured that their conduct was approved by the wraiths, and why do the spinners suppose the public is just as stupid and gullible as the hillbilly guards, just because we are. "It's the same all 'round the world, big man gets the meat, po' man gets the bone"

On "Traced" Mexican Guns

2009-04-19T12:49:00.002-04:00

I posted this comment on AR article, "The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come from US"

Those weapons “traced back” to the U.S., to whom, pray tell. They’re obviously not coming from Bubba’s Gun Shack or any other retail outlet or Homeland Security, the DEA, BATF, FBI, The State Dept., State and local police, HCI and the media would all be there the next day. Someone (sorry I don’t remember the site) speculated recently that many were from weapons supplied to the Mexicans by the USG, as military aid, diverted or stolen. Who knows ain’t saying, but I would be very surprised if any legitimate, federally licensed dealer is ever even indirectly linked to any of these weapons, and it would be child’s play to determine who the manufacturer and wholesaler sent them to.

Now I’m really curious how far back they traced; if their systems are so disconnected or incompatible they can’t even keep track of the info that they already have (which I don’t believe to be the case) or they don’t want to release the info for “reasons of national security”, that is, something that would embarrass or incriminate themselves.
I would like to know the results of the trace. Who were the last Americans to own these guns. “Remington shipped serial # xxxx to U.S. Dept. yyyy on zzz date”. Show me the money, I mean, bill of lading. Put up or shutup, already, Hoover and Co.

Then I read in an unrelated article about the pre-existing (to this issue) law that makes it illegal to divulge the trace information EXCEPT for Law Enforcement or National Security purposes, so they get to release the data or not as whatever fits their purposes.

From the NRA
"For more than five years, cities suing the gun industry and anti-gun organizations have sought access to confidential law enforcement data on firearms traces. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) compiles these records when it traces firearms in response to requests from law enforcement agencies.

Every year since 2003, the U.S. Congress has passed increasingly strong language to keep this information confidential. The legislation—a series of "riders" to the appropriations bill that funds BATFE—is widely known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," after its sponsor, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.)."

Now, putting my tinfoil hat on backwards, I assert that the prohibition on release of data is a good thing unless it is used by the government to avoid proving their allegations, especially if the Tiahart amendment was designed to protect "officers, informants, and other witnesses", and further, that "every year since 2003" this has been the main purpose of the amendment rather than the protection of innocent gun manufacturers and merchants. Holder & Co are merely playing the cards they have been given, in pursuit of their own goals, but it might be more trouble to pursue this strategy if someone forces the release of the data. Otherwise their assertions are no more valuable than mine.

Farewell to Alms

2009-04-14T14:52:00.004-04:00

http://www.goldmansachs666.com/

I saw this site featured on two very different sites, (exiledonline and counterpunch,), and thought it might be of some interest. They are looking for volunteers and running a "webinar" (stupid, dorky term, imo) Wednesday - April 15th at 6PM Eastern. I'm going to check it out, although I'm more interested in bringing down the public-sector criminal enablers than the gang-bankers themselves, what with the revolving door, the distinction is not that clear.

Eliot Spitzer, please call your office. All is forgiven and revenge is best served cold, no?

[UPDATE - I went to Spitzer's wiki page just to get his photo, but noticed this. In a nutshell, why he had to go.]

"He most notably pursued cases against companies involved in computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders, fraud at American International Group, and the 2003 mutual fund scandal. He also sued Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, claiming he had failed to fully inform the board of directors of his deferred compensation package, which exceeded $140 million."

Lucky thing for him they got him for boinking a prostitute; beats sleeping with the fishes! Also from the wiki;

"Later in the month, The Washington Post published a Spitzer opinion piece conveying his analysis of the financial crisis of 2008 and suggested remedies. Spitzer concluded the piece by saying that he hoped the Obama Administration would make the right policy choices, 'although mistakes I made in my private life now prevent me from participating in these issues as I have in the past.'"

Come back and fight, Eliot, nobody wants to live forever.

Better Days are Coming

2009-01-20T23:39:00.003-05:00

I, Ectomorph is losing faith in Blogging, and he even has readers. Although he writes mostly about Canadian politics, which might not be as exciting as it seems.

To make the urgency of the situation clear: if the federal government isn't forthcoming with an industry-wide "new topics" blogospheric bailout pretty soon, I, Ectomorph may be just one in a catastrophic explosion of blog failures that will threaten the very existence of ill-informed half-witted punditry as we have known it.

Have a bit more patience. I've been reading a lot of comments by the Hopeful (mostly on the Huffpost video of various stars "pledging" to Obama [if you've missed it, check it out; jawdropping - literally defies Parody.]) It's like a Galactic cruiser full of thousands of naive My Little Ponies and Bratz dolls just starting to cross the event horizon of reality's black hole, holding hands and singing the theme song from Exodus with Pete Seeger on banjo. So much stupidity it would make Mencken have to call his doctor with an over-four-hour boner and give any half-witted blogger enough material to seem like the bastard son of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf.

Do you like spanking, and who doesn't? It's going to be like the Superbowl and World Series combined of naked, gleaming Victoria's Secret-class dumbasses and that's just the Washington D.C. tent, not to mention Hollywood, Wall Street, London and Tel Aviv! Hang in for just a little longer. the world that Groucho told us about is coming into sight, right around the old sigmoid bend!

You Say Potatoe

2009-01-20T09:36:00.006-05:00

The recent shooting of fish in a barrel in Gaza has managed to push our own barbarism in Iraq down the memory hole. I've been labeled a " paleo dilettante " for comparing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to that of the Hutus and Tutsis.

(She nailed me as a dilettante, but I'm not really a paleo, having no romantic attachment to a world that has ceased to be, and can probably never be recovered). It is an intra-tribal dispute going back to pre-history, and discussions of who hit who first are pointless. Ilana favors the Tutsi because they are "tall and better looking" and I favor them because I loved the Orlons. Whatever. She also links to a manly man...

There, I’ve said it: Afrikaners make the most spectacular paleos. “The modern Boer,” wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the popular British writer of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, is “the most formidable antagonist who ever crossed the path of Imperial Britain.”

And the modern paleo Boer is Dan Roodt. Roodt recently paid tribute to his Afrikaner ancestors’ “miraculous victory over the Zulu forces of Dingane during the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838,” when “450 Afrikaners defeated an army of at least 13,000 Zulus without any losses in their ranks.” Roodt’s coda:

“The Day of the Covenant should be internationally celebrated among all those who believe that our Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian civilisation is still worth fighting for.”

No (unmanly) weirdness there.

Maybe, but it seems sort of strange that he would remember the slaughter of a large contingent of over-confidant natives armed with spears and hide shields and forget about the treatment of the Boers by the British, pioneering the modern technique of anti-guerilla warfare by rounding up and starving the Boer civilians until the fighters gave up, a bright marker on the road to the end of the "West". Generals Sherman and Custer, call your office. Again, whatever.

As an American I'm far more concerned with our own moral and strategic blunders. America, like Israel, has an enemy within that is lazy and parasitic, resentful and dedicated to our destruction and is much more numerous, powerful and better armed than the Palestinians. To avoid any confusion, I speak, of course, of the U.S. Government.

Fear Itself

2009-01-18T20:45:00.002-05:00

From The Daily Burkeman1:

"Yet they continue to behave like children, rather than the semi-super-humans of Zionist lore. " not to mention the evil geniuses of anti-semitic lore.

This really jumped out at me when I saw the street-party in NYC celebrating the Gaza incursion. Dancing and singing, they reminded me of a college football pep rally. Children, exactly.

It seems that they really believe their own propaganda, and for the first time I'm actually starting to fear for the Israeli people, who are instructed to be "as wise as serpents". Wouldn't it be smarter to at least pretend to be magnanimous in victory; iron hand/velvet glove kind of thing. Don't they have any doubts about American power and support, and America's track record of turning on it's allies?

Will Obama Hit the Ice Running?

2009-01-15T11:21:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I posted "Some Questions...", the second of which concerned Mike Whitney's contention that Obama needs to start writing large checks to stimulate the economy as soon as his hands warm up enough from the Inaugural ceremonies. Fortunately my research (that is casually reading my usual morning blogs) led me to a satisfactory answer without even using google, on LRC, Scott Rosen "Has a Stimulus Ever Been Necessary?". In a nutshell:

"Even this pseudo-recovery did not last for long as the economy fell back into a depression in 1937. New Deal advocates insist that this was the fault of reduced government spending. In part, they are correct because so much of the "expansion" was merely a reflection of government expenditures. The decline in government spending, however, did not retard private commercial growth which, had never really recovered in the first place. Even if this was a true recovery, Keynesian theory calls for budget reductions during a period of expansion. Moreover, if five years of government spending truly resulted in economic recovery (as the New Dealers claim), it seems far-fetched to believe that a slight retreat in the growth of the government would plunge the economy back into a severe depression."

[snip]

"The fallacy behind the call for economic stimulus is that declining aggregate demand is the mother and not the daughter of economic contraction. When left to its own devices, the market will return back to prosperity (consumer demand and all). Government intervention oftentimes has the effect of actually prolonging the crisis. The new administration would be wise to let the market adjust on its own and spare us the additional debt and debased currency that an active fiscal and monetary policy will yield."

I'm satisfied. (Except that I'd still like to know if Witney considers the massive Defense budget stimulus as effective as any other public works spending, or more generally, if some spending is more "effective" than others, questions of morality aside. For instance, a bridge or hospital may be used for many years while a cruise missile is only used once.)

Some Questions that Require Research (groan)

2009-01-14T11:46:00.002-05:00

I. Norman Finkelstein in Counterpunch

"And the second main reason for the attack is because Hamas was signaling that it wanted a diplomatic settlement of the conflict along the June 1967 border. That is to say, Hamas was signaling they had joined the international consensus, they had joined most of the international community, overwhelmingly the international community, in seeking a diplomatic settlement. And at that point, Israel was faced with what Israelis call a Palestinian peace offensive. And in order to defeat the peace offensive, they sought to dismantle Hamas.

As was documented in the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair by the writer David Rose, basing himself on internal US documents, it was the United States in cahoots with the Palestinian Authority and Israel which were attempting a putsch on Hamas, and Hamas preempted the putsch. That, too, is no longer debatable or no longer a controversial claim."

What does he mean by "signaling"

II. Mike Whitney in Counterpunch

a. While a fairly good exposition of the economic problems facing Obama, there appears to be no discussion here about the Defence budget, it's effect on the deficit or its inflationary effects. Is any and all spending good for the economy?

b. "Still, many people think that stimulus is a waste of money that will send deficits into the stratosphere. Libertarians, for example, argue that the cure for a credit bubble shouldn't be more credit. They want to see debts written down and balance sheets back in the black. Their prescription is similar to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's in the 1930s who said : “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers – purge the rottenness from the system.” Mellon's rant may sound consistent with free market dogma, but following his advice would lead straight to catastrophe. The markets would crash and there would be riots in the streets. It's better to err on the side of caution and give the economy a badly needed boost of stimulus.

Forbes recently ran an article which disputes the effectiveness of stimulus. According to the article, the European Central Bank (ECB) produced a working paper, entitled 'The Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Policy' which states:

"The empirical evidence suggests that government spending shocks have, in general, a small effect on GDP,' and 'can have a 'have a negative effect on private investment...Hiking government spending does little for economies, has a minimal impact on consumer spending, hits stock prices and can put off private investment." (Forbes)"

He does assert that the libertarian position "would lead straight to catastrophe", but doesn't explain why or how. Incidentally, Keyseians never seem to mention the Keynes recommended fiscal stimulus in downturns but also backing off when the economy is doing well; using the brakes as well as the throttle, which we haven't done since Clinton and arguably, since Nixon.

III. (need source) Supposedly, Gov. whatsisname was investigating sub-prime lending in 2003 before he was thrown out for diddling Ashley DuPre (funny I can't remember his name but I do hers ) but the investigation was shut down by the Feds. Seems pretty explosive if true. Anything to this?

Anybody? Bueller?

I'm (Barely) Ashamed of Myself

2009-01-12T19:19:00.008-05:00

I posted the following as a comment to a post at Barely a Blog, “Paleos Must Defend the West, And That Means Israel Too.” that she had originally posted on VDARE. I regret that I didn't make clear that I wasn't speaking as or for "Paleoconservatism", since I'm not conservative hyphenated or not. I admire and respect them, especially paleos, but I lack the philosophical and especially historical knowledge that may someday lead me to consider myself one. If pressed, I would say I was a paleolibertarian, brought into the light by Rothbard, Rockwell and Raimondo, but I still haven't come far from nihilistic anarchism and my god is still Conan's, Crom, who created the world and walked away. I'm also really sorry I called Hagee a fat fag, in that it was offensive to a really smart and sophisticated lady, the hem of whose skirt I am not worthy to touch, and that I also thereby cheapened my own argument, which was really that Americans need to concentrate on the huge beam in our own eye before we save the rest of the world. Of course, I was referring to the pig as a fag in the South Park sense, of one who couldn't do a pushup to save his life and has never fought for anything beyond the last piece of pie, and meaning no offense to actual homosexuals, who have never harmed me in any way, especially compared to porky chickenhawk fake-christian rube-herders and their numerous allies, many of whom call themselves "conservatives", but I digress. Here is the post:

“Have you noticed how socialist the U.S. has become?”

“The Jews” are among many who have found a way to exploit a fatal security flaw in the U.S. Constitution that has resulted in the death of our Republic and the growth of the One World State.(For the record, I don’t blame the Zionists for taking advantage of our government, I blame our government).

This project (Imperialism) must fail, will fail. Since we are evidently unable to re-establish the Republic we can only pray for the destruction of the Empire by the barbarians. It’s unfortunate that Israel has chosen to be the tip of the spear while counting on the support of fat f_gs like Hagee and his ilk, traitors to their own God and Country, while reaffirming that might makes right and giving no quarter to those they conquer. Reap the whirlwind, or not, but don’t expect loyalty from slaves. If I were free to choose, I might support Israel, since I’m not, it’s just Tutsis v Hutus to me.

I wish I were a more sophisticated writer, or could just shut up, but you make war with the army that you have, as a famous man, now forgotten, once said. Here's the deal; No one needs to defend the "West" which committed suicide no later than about 1914. It is a dead parrot. It has ceased to be. I would like to see it's return (hence my growing interest in Monarchism) but what we now have is a post-civilized, post-Christian order that utilizes many of the tropes, memes and concepts of the Christian era, (debatable as to however much they were actually followed in the good old days), to legitimate what is clearly a return to barbarism. The Iron Rule: "Do unto Others that which you would not have done to you", and it's corollary: "First, or they will." This is not Christianity, (turn the other cheek) or Judaism (as far as I understand it, which is an eye for an eye, but not preemptively, as now seems the case.) Personally I like the eye for an eye approach, or even turn the other cheek. Once. But no one seems to be familiar with the concept of asking for trouble, and never understands why the other guy is so edgy.

I understand the existential danger facing Israel, and can understand their anxiety, but this does not come close to explaining how it is my problem. If you fuck with the bull, you get the horn. The Israelis are starting to realize that slapping it and sticking a few needles in doesn't help, now they need to kill it, but I'm not sure if they have the cojones to dispatch it, short of the Sampson option. I also don't understand all the weeping about "the right to exist" when it's stipulated that right is might, which is what they most hate about Islam. I hope their G_d will help them. I know Crom won't. If you have to live in an Empire, you "might" as well enjoy the games. After all, you're paying for them. "Right?"

Monarchism

2009-01-03T10:17:00.004-05:00

I've recently come across several sites that discuss Monarchy as a potential alternative to the obviously flawed and increasingly failed democratic experiment, and have reached the point where my only real objection to monarchy is that I don't see any way to get there from here. William Lind has claimed to be a monarchist, although I haven't seen any further elucidation by him on this point. (I intend to do a lot more "research" on this, but at this time it's just an interesting itch on my consciousness. I remain a Stoic, the philosophy of slaves, because slaves are what Americans, if not humanity in general, have become for various reasons, not the least of which is "democracy". For purposes of this discussion I will drop the scare quotes and capitalization of various systems of thought because it's not clear that any of these systems are more than generalizations, except at the highest levels of discourse which I am not close to approaching, and may never reach. Nevertheless...)

My first exposure to this point of view was probably from J.K. Baltzersen on LRC, which lead me to his Wilson Revolution Unplugged blog. At the time I considered his interest in monarchism as either tongue-in-cheek speculation or a kind of nerdy casual fandom like "Lives of the Rich and Famous". The sort of thing that still makes me yearn for the return of the Guillotine, although I have come to realize how much of my political thought is simple romanticism combined with fatal doses of class envy and hatred. My conservatism, as far as it goes, is what's left after going down every other philosophic rabbit hole I could find without turning up any rabbits. I expect that any rabbits I find here will be long mummified, yet, dig we must.

The most powerful and persuasive arguments I've seen along these lines are those of Mencius Moldbug at Unqualified Reservations concerning the restoration of the Stuarts. Since he doesn't use labels on his posts you'll have to dig a bit to find these. but it's well worth the effort, although almost everything he writes is (I would say, except for my unfamiliarity with the material) rather overlong and windy. His style is very eighteenth century, but doesn't really require that much familiarity with the background. It's very self-contained and he more than explains himself, but you will have to dig for it. Twitter it ain't. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know what Jacobism was/is. Thanks to public schooling my knowledge of history pretty much begins about 1776, although luckily I went to school in Virginia and was taught Virginia History which is the most important part of American history, apart from Damn Yankee history, which one needs to know to defend against, at least.

More or less by accident (chasing back commentator's profiles somewhere) I came across Theodore Harvey's Royal World blog, which is totally fascinating to me. He claims to have debunked Jacobism, and is a big fan of the Windsor's and especially Elizabeth (whom I like) and Charles (not so much, but I'm unfortunately easy to persuade. We'll see...). He is very anti-republican, which is counter-intuitive to me, but I have to keep an open mind on matters about which I know very little, and claims to have voted for Ron Paul in the primaries, so there may be a lot of common ground. He lost me in his defense of Caroline Kennedy as being part of an American aristocracy and his defense of nepotism in politics as being part of the monarchic ideal, which seems completely wrong and part of what I most hate about our system. I would like to see an Amendment forbidding the close relatives of any politician from elected office. No more Kennedys, Clintons or Bushes, please. The fact that Joe Kennedy was able to parlay his background in smuggling and his mob contacts into a Presidency for his otherwise unremarkable and feckless son is hardly a qualification for the appointment of his valley girl granddaughter to the Senate and launching her on the quick path to the Presidency, although the Senate is pretty much of a bull-pen for unqualified nepotistic scoundrels. At least Obama and Jim Webb got in on their own efforts and wrote their own books, but maybe it's just my democratic roots showing.

This is the heart of my reservations about monarchy and aristocracy in general. Every royal line can be traced back to some mud- and gore-covered thug who was able to best his equally thuggish rivals and establish dominance and eventually legitimacy over his vassels. The strongest and smartest were able to bring in the most able of their subjects to cement their positions for their families and eliminate rivals, and I'm sort of okay with that. I've come to regret the loss of the European royalty and what has become of the various revolutions and it's clear that we've reached the end of the democratic experiment. I've long felt that a king would be better than rule by common clowns; a king could decide as a matter of policy or whim to give the serfs a break and a democrat simply cannot, but I can't see how we can re-establish some kind of actual aristocracy, so at this point the best I can say is I'm a loyal thermadorian and hope for the worst, loyal only to my own family. If Charles can eliminate the scum in the Commonwealth (which he is unlikely to attempt) I'll bend the knee. Until then, subvert, withhold, sabotage and endure.

See Which one Fills up First

2008-11-06T10:01:00.002-05:00

I seriously believe the the two parties work major elections out in advance; that it is scripted and fixed. Okay, I am a conspiracy buff, and I also don't know the actual methods or identities of those evil few, but some things are just so out of plumb, they can't be accidents. Why did Kerry just shuffle and mumble through his last campaign? Because he was taking a dive and just barely trying to make it seem realistic. Why didn't McCain even pretend to be realistic and flexible if not also articulate and knowledgeable? The election was decided when the Democrats used their corrupt primary system to choose the best candidate of a sorry bunch, and the Republicans, inexplicably, used theirs to choose the worst (after Guiliani). Just when the world is fed up up with America, and the last penny has been emptied from the treasury, everybody rushes to the other side of the boat and starts singing in unison about equality and justice. It's obviously a punch and judy show, but we can't stop watching, or ever quite come to disbelieve, even though Plato demolished the whole scam years ago.

Hope in one hand...

2008-10-31T22:43:00.002-04:00

http://www.freeandequal.org/ is sponsoring a vice-presidential debate that might not suck.

"Christina M. Tobin, President of Free and Equal Elections, announced this afternoon that Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate, Wayne Allyn Root, Constitution Party vice-presidential candidate, Darrell Castle, and Independent Ralph Nader running mate, Matt Gonzalez, have formally agreed to a three-way vice-presidential debate to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this Sunday November 2, 2008."

Especially interesting as the first actual "debate" debate of this season, as opposed to the Lehrer-style love note passing, the first debate where any subject may be covered, and the participants are not constrained say anything. I hope it goes well. Will watch for on utube, I guess. I would be pleasantly surprised if it were on CSPAN.

Oops, I should have checked freeandequal before I replied. I didn't watch the Nader debate, because I can't watch Nader and I was pissed and mystified by Barr not attending. (that convinced me to "support" Baldwin [I had already contributed to the Barr campaign {and I'd like my fifty bucks back}]) So this may be the second interesting debate of this season. I'm withholding judgement until I see the video, if I'm wrong I'll admit it. I still hold a grudge against Nader for killing the Corvair, and for introducing Joan Claybrook to the world. Dude makes me squirm.

I finally watched the Nader-Baldwin debate as far as I could; the two, two-minute introductory speeches. Shorter version Chuck Baldwin, "We support the Constitution". Shorter version Ralph Nader, "We want to do a whole long list of Unconstitutional things". I couldn't watch anymore. Sorry. It may have been interesting, but what I meant was "the first actual 'debate' debate of this season that was actually watchable". We'll see.

Raimondo Recommends

2008-10-30T10:55:00.005-04:00

My comment concerning Ron Paul and Justin's endorsement of Nader over at Taki's

Justin - I agree with your choice, but I don't think Ron Paul should be a factor in how you reached your conclusion. Ron Paul was right to dissolve the coalition when he did, because the Revolution was obviously unstable and only held together because of one Man. We need a stable coalition base and at least a handful of Pauls, some of whom may be the Congressmen of both parties that voted twice against the bailout bill. (Incidentally, if you're going to vote, take the trouble to find out how your Congressman voted on this at RP's Campaign For Liberty. Some of these "public servants" in both parties need to be sent on their way; now's your chance.)

We were enthusiastic and cooperative largely because we were getting attention. The point of the money-bombs was the money-bombs, for instance. Since no one, even at the highest point of enthusiasm expected to win (and if they did they were delusional) the goal was to expose the corruption in the system and the complicity of the media, which he did in blazing triumph. The Republicans made a major mistake (from their POV) by including him in the debates.They gambled that RP would make a fool of himself and fizzle out early, like Tancredo, which would have happened if he hadn't gone out swinging. Suddenly, this "nut" is telling the whole country, in detail, about the scam, and counter-punching hard when idiots Guiliani and Mormon boy whazziz name took the bait. At least McCain was smart enough to shut up and smirk instead of getting bitch-slapped like he would have. And later, the depantsing of Hannity. Mwah! Mission, (as far as it would go) accomplished.

My point is, however unfortunate, the Paul campaign is over, he is not a candidate and I respectfully submit that you should have left him out of your calculus for this piece. My conclusion is that Nader is a better choice than the Tweedles, and an acceptable third choice if Baldwin or Barr are not on your ballot, McKinney is head and shoulders over the Tweedles on foreign policy and no worse on domestic. What we're really looking for is a high percentage of protest votes. Then we all (together) need to start pulling up the rails in front of the Obama express.

Senate Races - the Good, the Bad and the mostly Ugly

2008-10-28T13:57:00.004-04:00

"good " Senators up for re-election
names in bold are at risk and could use some extra help, donations, etc.

John Barrasso (R-WY) (safe)
Thad Cochran (R-MS) (safe)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)(no clear favorite)
Michael Enzi (R-WY) (safe)
James Inhofe (R-OK) (favored)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)(safe)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) (leaning safe)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (safe)
Roger Wicker (R-MS) (no clear favorite) "expected to be quite close"
*Mark Udall(D) v. Bob Schaffer(R) for Wayne Allard's (Retiring "good guy)
Mark is House "Good Guy" Polls show Udall way ahead
*Tom Udall (D) v. Steve Pearce (R) for Pete Dominici (R-NM) (retiring "bad guy")
Tom is House "Good Guy" "NRSC...concede the seat to Udall"

"bad" Senators up for re-election
names in bold have a good shot and are worthy of extra support

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (heavy favorite) opposed by Bob Tuke(D)
Joe Biden (D-DE) (safe) opposed by Christine O'Donnell (R)
Max Baucus (D-MT) (safe) opposed by Bob Kelleher
Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) (close) opposed by Jim Martin (D)
Norm Coleman (R-MN) (vulnerable) opposed by Al Franken (D)
Susan Collins (R-ME) (vulnerable) opposed by Tom Allen (D)
John Cornyn (R-TX) (vulnerable) opposed by Rick Noriega(D)
Dick Durbin (D-IL) (safe) opposed by Steve Saurberg (R)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (safe) opposed by Bob Conley (D) Ron Paul Democrat
Tom Harkin (D-IO) (safe) opposed by Christopher Reed (R)
John Kerry (D-MA) (safe) opposed by Jeff Beatty (R)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) (safe) opposed by Dick Zimmer (R)
Carl Levin (D-MI) (safe) opposed by Jack Hoogendyk
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (vulnerable) opposed by Bruce Lunsford (D)
Mark Pryor (D-AK) (unopposed)
Jack Reed (D-RI) (safe) opposed by Bob Tingle (R)
Pat Roberts (R-KS) (favored) opposed by Jim Slattery (D)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) (safe) opposed by Jay Wolfe (R)
Gordon Smith (R-OR) (vulnerable) opposed by Jeff Merkley (D)
Ted Stevens (R-AK) (vulnerable) opposed by Mark Begich (D)
John Sununu (R-NH) (vulnerable) opposed by Jeanne Shaheen (D)

info from http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Senate/senate_races.html

Constituent Response Team

2008-10-26T00:43:00.005-04:00

I'm really getting excited about this site, and I hope they can really get the word out before the election. I intend to send a donation; I've been looking through the site to see how much is there and I'm liking it a lot.

Capitalism with a Human Face?

2008-10-19T20:46:00.003-04:00

A response to another good Lindsay post - East Germans Getting Nostalgic for Socialism

I had a friend in the mid-80's that had escaped from Poland before the Solidarity thing. He was pretty apolitical but thought there wasn't much wrong with Communism in principle. My question to him was how they got anyone to do the shit work and hard labor if everyone was equal?

His answer was that it was done by prisoners and this was really the biggest problem, because they had to actually generate enough prisoners to fill the needed slots - curfew violations, improper documentation, drunkenness, trespassing, black-marketeers etc. because there wasn't enough actual crime to supply the manpower and the real psychos weren't suitable. This was very convincing to me, and today I look at America's gigantic prison-industrial complex with a wary eye.

It would seem that human nature works against any system, and that greed is probably a better basis for society than compulsion where everyone is either a prisoner or a guard. Equality can be a two-way street and it's much simpler for everyone to be equally poor than rich, or for some to be more equal than others.

I meant to mention. although it goes against my theory of the general evilness of all governments, the dozens if not hundreds of guys that worked to bury the reactor after Chernobyl blew up, even though they knew the were taking amounts of radiation that would inevitably lead to a slow and agonizing death. Not to mention the firemen that voluntarily went into and died in the WTC. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have, it's just a mystery to me. Maybe ideology only goes so far, y'think?

On Poetry

2008-10-19T12:59:00.003-04:00

I personally cannot read/understand poetry without being told by human or annotation what I'm supposed to be seeing. Without help, I might as well be reading a rock wall. I don't think it's a lack of intelligence or knowledge; I would guess it's something like riding a unicycle - quite difficult and without obvious benefit beyond the skill itself. I have noticed that I use a lot (too much) of metaphor in my own writing, which is probably just a rookie writing error, so I think I have the capacity to read poetry, but lack something crucial (training, persistence, imagination - I dunno).

I'm somewhat of a hermit, and most of my family is either non-literate or non-communicative, but I can only recall one person in my adult life that spoke of an interest in poetry and I don't how extensive her interest was. For most Americans it's teevee, movies and popular music, which is a large part of why I'm the aforementioned hermit. I'm to the point where the noise has died down enough for me to receive the signal, but I still don't know how to process it.

Which brings me to my final point. Poetry should probably not be taught to most kids. It almost seems like it's designed to turn them off. The esoteric seems like gibberish and the accessible is either trite (e.g. rock lyrics) or doggerel. I think that
Seuss and Silverstein are popular because they were illustrated, which helps focus the attention on a sufficiently small piece of the universe for the imagination to work with. See also greeting cards. I think this may be key to popularizing it. Good poetry stands alone, but most people need help with it. There are also a lot of graphic artists (and musicians) who are also not making any money, so it shouldn't be hard to find collaboration if the poet isn't too concerned about purity.

I'm going to have to stick to short non-fiction myself. I have a lot of ideas, but none are original, I'm afraid. Anecdote; I recently got a phone call from a girl I went to high-school with that still has some of my poems, which I mercifully don't remember, that I had given her. She asked me why I quit writing, and I told her that when I found out there were four billion people in the world I came to doubt my uniqueness.

Campaign for Liberty - Vote the Bums Out!

2008-10-17T21:17:00.003-04:00

I've been looking for some organized effort to penalize the Congressional thieves that voted for the BBBBB, without much luck, when, miraculously, comes a solicitation from Ron Paul's own Campaign for Liberty for just such a program. I was thinking about wasting my time picketing my polling place, but my own Thieves, Tom Davis (R-Pentagon) and John Warner (R-Hell), have wisely chosen not to run again, in the teeth of what should have been (before the bailout vote) a Democratic hurricane. For some strange, counter-intuitive reason, Democrats voted overwhelmingly for the big ripoff to help the guilty billionaires that caused the mess rather than the poor SOBs that got caught up in it. Whatever, dudes. None of them deserve a penny of taxpayers money, and the weasels that voted for it need to be voted out. From the press release...

"To do this, Campaign for Liberty plans to:

Produce and distribute slim jims specifically tailored to districts/states that tell how each Congressman and Senator voted. These will be available soon on the Campaign for Liberty web site for every district and state in the country.

And we will also print and distribute these pieces in as many of the key districts as funds allow.

Send a series of email blasts into many key districts and states, urging our members and supporters to contact the candidates and demand they oppose any further "bailouts."

Run hard-hitting newspaper ads in as many places as funds allow.

Run radio ads and hold news conferences announcing the votes cast on the bailout.

Flood key districts with tens of thousands of phone calls letting people know where their Congressmen and Senators stood on this very important issue."

Please contribute here.
My previous posts listing the good congressmen here
and the good Senators here

Get Exile(d) Right Now

2008-10-14T21:36:00.002-04:00

OMG - the new Exile is on fire lately, especially Eileen Jones. She snarky! Go there right now and read everything. then come back, y'hear?

There Al Loosers

2008-10-14T20:26:00.005-04:00

Attention blog commenters, here and especially elsewhere; Spellcheck is necessary but not sufficient. Heck, I couldn't spell necessary without it. Please be more attentive when using the following words, the misuse of which makes one seem less intelligent than one would prefer to seem, especially when commenting on Serious Political and Economic Matters. I'll be adding more as I see them.

Hear
Here
Know
No
Lose
Loose
Looser*
There
Their
They're
To
Too
Two
Your
You're
Were
We're
Ware
Where

Also, if it's not to much trouble, please avoid LOL, OMG and the like. I don't really know why it irritates the crap out of me, but it does, so knock it off. If you're a teenage girl, you can do it on your phone, I guess, but if you'd stop and pay attention in class, instead, you might not end up calling someone a moran on line.

* This one is especially painful, and I see it constantly. Unless your name is Cletus, be careful.

Robert Lindsay is the Coolest Commie - Part III

2008-10-12T20:31:00.002-04:00

The following is comment to a good post on Lindsay's blog. It's very surprising how often I agree with him in light of the fact that I detest Socialism and he hates Libertarians. I would try to explain to him that what he calls neo-liberalism is not the free market, but I've never had much luck pursuading True Believers. If Rothbard couldn't convince him, I doubt if I could. I'm pretty confident that if he pays close attention to how the present market chaos is made even worse by government interference, he'll probably figure it out for himself. Obama is getting handed one of the biggest shitcakes in history and failure is baked in. If he's lucky he won't get blamed for the whole mess, but that looks like the script to me.

What really surprised me, though, was Lindsay reporting that he's a fan of Catholicism, (albeit the liberation theology version, which seems to me to combine the worst aspects of both socialist economics and Santeria. But I try to be tolerant). Previously, he almost had me convinced that Mugabe was just a misunderstood patriot, but that was my own fault for being a Lindsay fan. As Norm McDonald said in a joke where he had been fooled into killing his family by a friend posing as the Devil - "That's one for you, Bob."

Robert - a cliche but you truly never cease to amaze me. Am I surprised that you're not an atheist? Yes but, Catholic? Wow! I was raised a Catholic but you get to quit when you're eighteen. I believe in God in a very nebulous way, but I can't stand any of the spooky shit, mysticism, miracles, angels, trans-whatever, souls, guys in robes, etc. It's always been for the rubes and children of all ages.

That said, I'm 100% in favor of everyone else being religious, as long as they leave me alone. I kind of like Judaism minus the burning bushes and what not, but it was and is geared to preserving God's chosen people, which I'm not. So there you are.

Did you see that other Mel movie, Apocalypto? I don't think I took the ending the way he intended; after getting captured, enslaved, pursued and almost murdered many times, the dude makes it to the sea in time for the arrival of the Spanish, and just knows IT'S ABOUT TO GET EVEN WORSE, gathers up his family and heads for the hills. However comforting, religion is the eternal curse on humanity. It's not the opiate of the people, it's the 100% pure smack. I just believe in me. Yoko and me.

Senate Good Guys

2008-10-06T15:08:00.004-04:00

The following Senators voted against the BBBBB (Dodd amendment to HR1424). Again, you should vote to defeat any Senator who is NOT on this list.

Allard Barrasso Brownback Bunning Cantwell Cochran Crapo

DeMint Dorgan Dole Enzi Feingold Inhofe Johnson Landrieu

Nelson, Bill Roberts Sanders Sessions Shelby Stabenow Tester

Vitter Wicker Wyden

Most of these deserve to be defeated because of their support for the Iraq war, but that was then. We have an opportunity to link the next election to this vote and send a clear message that unconstitutional theft under the color of law will be punished.

Mr. Peabody Helps Jesus Save Capitalism

2008-10-05T18:04:00.005-04:00

"Put down that beaker of Ephadadrine, Sherman, and follow me to the WABAC Machine. Jesus needs our help!"

"But, Mr. Peabody, I think I've found a way to pay our electric bill. And then some!"

"Never mind, my boy. Thanks to the miracle of time travel, we'll be back literally before you know it."

"Very well, Mr. Peabody. What settings shall I use?"

"Naples, Italy; Jan.25, 1962."

"But Jesus wasn't in Naples in 1962."

"Don't be so sure, Sherman, but in any case we're going to visit one Charles Luciano. He's ill and may be more inclined to the truth than previously. I need some information about the olive oil business and Prescott Bush."

" 'Lucky' Luciano, the heroin king? Olive oil? Prescott Bush? Mr. Peabody, I believe I've found the answer to that missing case of Bronkaid!"

"Never mind that now, Sherman, just set the dials and initialize. Besides you know how my asthma has been acting up lately."

"Well, here we are, Mr.Peabody. How will we find Mr. Luciano?"

"Quite simple, my boy; although many of these houses have several burley watchmen at the gate, very few also have American Cadillacs with CIA agents waiting out front. Ah, here we are! Signor Luciano?"

"Si?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody, and this is my boy, Sherman. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Ha, you and everyone else! Hey, I've seen you on TV! You're a funny guy. 'Chicken-catch-a- Tory'! Haha! C'mon in!"

"What did you find out, Mr.Peabody?"

"Never mind, for now, Sherman, we need to move on. Set the WABAC for Florence, Italy, June 20, 1527. We're going to see the great Niccolo Machiavelli."

"Gee, do we have to go right now? The girls here are so friendly!"

"Sorry, Sherman, but even though we've got all the time in the world, paradoxically we're in a bit of a hurry right now. Those bills aren't going to pay themselves, and you can always come back 'later'."

"Okay, Mr. Peabody. Hang on! Not the leg! Bad boy!"

"Sorry, Sherman. As you know I sometimes forget my manners when the quarry is afoot."

"Here we are. Florence. How will we find Signor Machiavelli?"

"As you can imagine, this place is crawling with paranoids, but "Lucky" showed me the secret hand signal. You'll have to give it, though. What with my paws and all. Here's a picture."

"Gosh, that's the same as the Dogtown Crips! See, LA roxx! It's funny that they all use the same sign. What a coincidence!"

"A coincidence, to be sure. There's a likely-looking ghoul. Try it out."

"Is that the right counter-sign, Mr. Peabody? Like he's stroking his beard. Which he doesn't have."

"No, but we'll probably see it a lot. Try that guy."

"Yo! Yo. Whazzup?"

"Nicollo Machiavelli?"

"Who want's to know?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody and this is my boy, Sherman. I need to ask you some questions about "olive oil".

"Walk with me. Leave the kid."

"What did you find out, Mr. Peabody?"

"Patience, my boy. For now, set the WABAC to Tel-Aviv, June 9, 25."

"But there was no Tel-Aviv, or for that matter, June in 25, Mr. Peabody."

"Sherman..."

"Shutting up, now. Here we go!"

"Wow, look at those dinks! Looks like San Francisco in '67."

"How do you know? Our series ended in '64."

"I meant 1667, but I did look around when we were in syndication. Ever heard of the Cockettes? the Fugs? What a stink! Man, when did they invent deodorant?"

"Just start flashing the sign, my boy. There's a likely-looking pair."

"I see you are a sailor. Step into my tent and all will be revealed."

"Pardon me, sir, it's far from my mind. I'm just looking for a good friend of mine. Calls himself Jesus, among other things. He's mc'ing a wedding party. Five wise virgins...five foolish. Ring a bell?"

"Yes, I know him! Follow me. And all will be revealed"

"Wait here, Sherman, and keep those kids out of the WABAC."

"How did it go, Mr.Peabody? Did you see Jesus?"

"Just for a second, he said he was headed out to the desert to be tempted. He winked at me. He didn't seem to be surprised to see a talking dog; evidently there's a lot of that around here. I saw the other rabbis, though; straightened them out. If they listen to me, no more oil problem, no cruxifiction, no fall of Jerusalem, no diaspora, no crusades, no dark ages, etc."

"But all those things happened, Mr. Peabody!"

"We can but try, my boy."

"What did you tell them, Mr. Peabody? About the oil?"

"Well, as you may know, the five wise virgins had enough lamp oil to last for the entire feast, but the five foolish virgins were short by varying amounts. 'Lucky' told me the thing about olive oil is that it can be all different quality as well as quantity and needs to be mixed right to burn right. Of course, he was talking about "olive oil", but the same principle applies; to make everybody a winner you got to give a little to get a little, and you always want to have another wise virgin around. I got that from Niccollo. Smart cookie, knows human nature. Even Rabbi Paulson got it, I think."

"But, I don't get it, Mr. Peabody. How does another Virgin solve anything?"

"Sherman, do you mean you've never heard of Extra Virgin Olive Oil?"

The Big Billionaire Bastard Bailout Bill

2008-10-05T11:28:00.005-04:00

These ladies and gentlemen voted against the bill both times.

HR1424 "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and HR 3997

You should vote against any incumbent except...

Aderholt Akin Altmire Bachman Barrow Bartlett(MD) Barton(TX) Becerra Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop(UT) Blackburn Blumenauer Boyda Broun(GA) Brown-Waite, Ginny Burgess Burton(IN) Butterfield Buyer Capito Carney Carter Castor Cazayoux Chabot Chandler Childers Clay Conyers Costello Courtney Culberson Davis(KY) Davis, David Davis,Lincoln Deal(GA) DeFazio Delahunt Diaz-Balart,L. Diaz-Balart,M. Doolittle Drake Duncan English(PA) Feeney Filner Flake Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks(AZ) Gallegly Garrett(NJ) Gillibrand Gingrey Gohmert Goode Goodlatte Graves Green,Gene Grijalva Hall(TX) Hastings(WA) Hayes Heller Hensarling Herseth-Sandlin Hill Hinchey Hodes Holden Hulshof Hunter Inslee Issa Jefferson Johnson(GA) Johnson(IL) Johnson,Sam Jones(NC) Jordan Kagen Kaptur Keller King(IA) Kingston Kuchinich Lamborn Lampson Latham LaTourette Latta Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Lucas Lynch Mack Manzullo Marchant Matheson McCarthy(CA) McCaul(TX) McCotter McHenry McIntyre McMorris-Rodgers Mica Michaud Miller(FL) Miller(MI) Moran(KS) Murphy,Tim Musgrave Napolitano Neugebauer Nunes Paul Payne Pearce Pence Peterson(MN) Petri Pitts Platts Poe Price(GA) Rehberg Reichert Renzi Rodriguez Rogers(MI) Rohrabacher Roskam Rothman Roybal-Allard Royce Sali Sanchez,Linda Sanchez,Loretta Scalise Scott(VA) Sensenbrenner Serrano Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuler Smith(NE) Smith(NJ) Stark Stearns Stupak Taylor Thompson(MS) Tiahrt Turner Udall(CO) Udall(NM) Visclosky Walberg Walz(MN) Westmoreland Whitfield(KY) Wittman(VA) Young(AK) Young(FL)

Stock up Now!

2008-10-01T19:20:00.003-04:00

I tried to buy a used shotgun today from the Clark Bros in Warrenton, Va about 11:00 am. I was told the computer was down. Returned at 4:00 pm; computer still down. Was told this happens frequently. How does this differ from a waiting period? What would stop them from never approving any sales, just by saying the computer is down? They also told me I have to fill out the form and wait for each individual purchase. This is unacceptable from a Constitutional viewpoint as well as common sense. It can't be good for the store's business.

My bs detector is off the scale. What, if anything, can I (we) do about this? It may be that this is how the store handles customers that are not approved, in order that the customer doesn't make a scene or blame the store somehow for the actions of the state, but this is just wrong. I'm mad as hell, and I'm going to take it some more, but I definitely don't believe it's any computer's fault. What is this, 1985, with a tandy computer and 300 baud dial-up modem? Make sure to get as many guns and as much ammo as you can, as soon as you can, if this is all it takes to stop you. Do like the Boy Scouts; be prepared.

A Republic, If you Can Get it Back

2008-09-29T20:59:00.005-04:00

Well - blogging again, or at least making my comments on other threads into blog posts. I'm surprised no one thought of that before.
I basically threw in the towel after the way Ron Paul was treated in the primaries, but since then the economy has gotten so bollixed up in just the way he predicted, that today's defeat of the Big Bailout has given me a ray of hope, even though I know the attack will recommence at dawn; or as I said to the hapless "lester" over at Taki's - (quoting myself [the sound of one hand jerking]...

"Never fear, Lester; your billionaire buds won’t give up that easily. The only reason they lost this round is because of the upcoming elections after which you can be sure they’ll “get ‘er done”. I’m truly sorry for your stock losses, but President Yomama is just going to capital gains tax you back to zero anyway. I would recommend buying gold, but that would be “donkey business”. For the remnant, I strongly suggest that when the tally becomes available, printing out the list of yeas and bringing it along when voting. This wound in our backs is not going to heal as long as the knife keeps going in."

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml

I'm going to actually do a little research on this matter and see if I can find the corresponding Senate vote on this. I'm not sure if it's actually come up in the Senate yet, although I should know, after majoring in PoliSci and all, but unfortunately the only thing I took away from my classes in legislative procedure is that it's intentionally opaque to keep the unwashed in the dark; in fact, being unwashed in the dark pretty much describes my undergraduate years, now that I recall. Anyway, I'm interested to know how Senator Webb voted, since I made a point of voting for him in the primary and general elections. I never expected much of him as a Dem, anyway, but that's the good thing about being a pessimist; any surprise is got to be good, and besides, I feel pretty much the same about Repubs now. The fact is, most of those on the the nay list should be voted out anyway, because of the Iraq thing, but that's unfortunately become ancient history, and we need to focus on this bailout because after the election begins round two.

BTW; what a surprise to see my Rep., Tom Davis, on the rat list. A final FY to cap his career of phony Republican, big government arselicher. (He had already decided not to run - the Republican brand had “lost it’s shelf appeal” or some such bs). Now he can take his congressional pension and go back to destroying the country as a full time private sector defense contractor lawyer and part-time homewrecker. God I hate that guy.

What the heck have I been doing?and was it worth it?

2008-07-08T15:02:00.005-04:00

Best. Candidate. Ever.

2008-02-27T18:06:00.002-05:00

There is still some talk of a third-party Ron Paul run, an idea I favor, although he has pretty much ruled it out. He is right to concentrate on his house seat, mostly to keep his ideas in play. One divided by four hundred thirty six is not much but it's not zero.

The calculus changes considerably if Paul (and/or Walter Jones) loses his House primary. There will then be exactly zero Constitutional Republicans in power nationally. The system has already won; however the Ron Paul candidacy was “worth” the expense, in that

a. it messed up the script for the primary charade only being open to pre-approved candidates.
b. completely exposed the corruption of the MSM being in on the charade
c. re-introduced the concept of the Constitution as law that applies directly to our biggest problems, war and the economy, a concept that may prove useful in the near future.
d. took out Rudy, although he was able to lateral the 911 whistle to McCain
e. gave the Republicans the last possible benefit-of-doubt: they blew it.
f. showed how a gentleman conducts himself.

If he loses the House primary, he will be free of any imaginary debt to the Republican Party, or perceived duty to his donors and volunteers. He could easily justify retiring, having done more in either of his careers than most men do in one. I'd like to see another moneybomb as a thank you/retirement gesture. If it were big enough it might tempt someone into one more tilt at the windmill, before the damned thing shakes itself apart.

Bob Barr - Good Enough for Government Work

2008-02-19T21:07:00.004-05:00

From Antiwar Blog:

(Ex. Congressman) Bob "Barr is rumored to be considering a Libertarian Party run for President this November. The LP nominating convention will be held in late May." I was a big fan of Congressional Republicans circa. 1995, not so much by circa 2000. My impression was that he was one of the few that didn't get all gooey when they were no longer in opposition. I'm not sure if he was beaten at some point or he just quit and if he did, more power to him. In any case he would make a better president than anyone running, ERP. Speaking of whom,

Ron Paul's House primary is in two weeks, according to his page
(give him $50.00 while you're there)

If, God forbid, he lost the primary, how would that effect the overall equation?
Would anyone care that he almost promised that he wouldn't run as a third party candidate? I wouldn't mind seeing Paul/Barr on both Lib and Const. tickets, but I could live with Barr/(Paul Craig) Roberts. (for instance)

It's somewhat unlikely that a third party might win, and that the most likely outcome is to help elect the democrat; Okay by me. I fail to see how one liberal Senator could be worse than another, and there is a (very) faint chance that Obama might (three-and-a-half years, like Nixon) pull out of Iraq. Besides, they will be out of money and probably in a depression. McCain needs to lose because he will be able continue Bush's policies without effective opposition. A Democrat will not.

Last One Out that can figure out how, Get the Lights

2008-02-03T14:09:00.000-05:00

From a comment over at Half-Sigma:

"...why is a Depression necessarily bad? If you're intelligent, you've already paid off your house and have enough money to live off for the next decade. It's not my problem if most people can't save a dime and live off credit.
I don't think it would be a bad thing to see useless bankers jumping from windows and pompous Lexus-renting suburbanites in soup lines. I think the US deserves a depression."

Really. Unless you own stock in Goldman, why should you give a shit if it collapsed. We're screwed when they manipulate the interest rate, blued when they inflate the money supply and tattood when they bail out the (supposedly) private institutions that fail, and if you don't like it - "Dude, don't you love your fellow countryman?" That's the real reason the GOP hates us Paultards; nobody likes a smart-ass, especially when he's right about every goddam detail.

The Fed was sold to us as a way to prevent bank panics; depositors not being able to get their savings out. What savings? We have net negative savings because we already earn less in interest than inflation and the entire system depends on the government loaning money to the banks at even lower rates. Why shouldn't we eliminate the middle man and just borrow directly from the government? Better yet, why shouldn't we all just have government jobs and pensions with free healthcare and broadband so we can telecommute, and then get bailed out if we still can't make ends meet after we get our stimulus rebate and mortgage moratorium?

What's really mystifying is that there enough Americans smart enough to fill out the loan forms.
Schmucks

A bit more on Gold Leasing

2008-01-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

A very good explanation of central bank gold leasing, with some good charts. I can't say I really understand the mechanism, but it seems to back up my theory that they were using it to manipulate the price.

money (pun intended) quote:

"To conclude, this final graph signals incredible stress in the financial sector in its efforts to control gold prices. The low overall rates imply that the official sector is hemorrhaging gold but that this situation cannot continue for too much longer. In short, this final graph signals the death of leasing just a surely as an EKG like this would signal the death of a critically ill patient."

Note that this is from about two years ago. It would be nice to see a more recent chart, but I suspect that it's still pretty much flat-lined due to the sky-rocketing gold price. So even though it's at historic highs ($927/oz) today, I'm very tempted to cash out my lame money-market IRA, (my last interest rate was 1.2%) buy coins and bury 'em in the garden, especially since they just dropped the interest rate 50 points and the dow went up about 30. Storms a' comin', pa.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forex

2008-01-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

I tried to do a little research a while back when the price of gold went down from about $400/ounce to about $250 and stayed there for quite a while. I assumed it was being somehow manipulated to prop up the dollar (that's right, I am a conspiracy buff). I got nowhere, though because somewhere (circa 1995?) some countries {cough, Israel, cough} stopped reporting their reserves AND something called gold leasing began, or at least began to be reported.

In my admittedly very dim understanding of leasing, it is a tool that is used by governments to count as reserves gold that it does not actually hold. Whether it is physically in some other place or gone to the private sector, I can only speculate. I'll spare you my half-baked theories, but it is interesting to note that European reported holdings have decreased substantially while only those of Spain(!), Russia and Kazakhstan have increased. I'm thinking that the net decrease in reported holding could account for the temporary lowering in the dollar price of gold (greater supply leading to lower price leading to increased demand and higher price on the private market). All I can show for it is a well-scratched head. Perhaps someone with more intellectual horsepower... MM?

It's also interesting that there is no wiki entry for gold leasing. Spooky. And why did they cancel "The Lone Gunmen" just when it started to get good?

Gold Leasing

2008-01-29T16:03:00.003-05:00

Finance for Dummies

2008-01-23T23:26:00.000-05:00

I've never owned any stocks and I barely even know what a bond is (except bail bonds - ahem) but I got up early enough yesterday to watch the tsunami hit CNBC when futures were down 400 points. Pure schadenfreude bliss, watching the talking heads panic and curse Bernanke and even accuse each other for not seeing it coming. As IOZ said "I love the smell of market corrections in the morning. It smells like victory."

I'd stand in a bread-line all day if I could see Cramer crying every morning and brokers jumping out windows, screaming "Oh, no! I can't live like everyone else. Ahhhh!" So the "Plunge (haha) Protection Team" stepped up and the Dow ended up 300 today. Can you say "bear trap". I also like "dead cat bounce". Ambrose Bierce could have said panics are God's way of teaching proles finance.

I've wondered if the government started buying enough equities to bring the market along, and it works, then what? If they sold it would have to be gradually or else it would just as likely work in reverse. What if they made a bundle? Tax rebates? Options? My brain is too tiny.

The striking writers might as well just go back to work; they couldn't possibly beat this stuff. I'm getting up early again tomorrow. I never thought I'd enjoy reality tv.

Follow the MoneyBomb

2008-01-21T11:05:00.000-05:00

Watching the Ron Paul MLK money bomb on Ron Paul Graphs my jaw is dropping; right now (11:30 am EST) it's coming in about $2200 per minute! It's already the third biggest day of donations. I'm amazed that the server doesn't choke, and the charts keep updating in realtime like clockwork. The future is now - "The Revolution will be Digitized", indeed. When the New Republic fired the Newsletter ABM, backed up enthusiastically by the Orange Line Libertarians, it was like getting punched in the gut. Fortunately, it really was old news, and the Paul campaign was able to handle it reasonably well even though it seemed to be pretty damaging, timed perfectly before New Hampshire for maximum effect. I have to grudgingly congratulate the bastards, but I think they fired their only shot, because that crap had been floating around the internet bowl, more or less unnoticed for a couple of months, and I figured they would save it for the general election. Now, they got nothing, so they're trying to get back to ignoring him. No high fives yet, orcs.

My first opinion of moneybombs was that they were a pointless exercise and would wouldn't really generate more money because people would hold off donating before and after the big day (the charts show this to be true - reverting to the mean), however, the publicity from the huge daily totals was so much greater than anything they could have actually purchased, that I now see them as the stroke of genius they obviously are. I'm hoping for a massive total today, simply to show the world the truth about Ron Paul's, and by extension our, racism; money talks, bullshit walks. Or, in this case, bullshit crawls along the gutter like Jamie Kirchick coming out of a Reason party at 4:00 am with cum on his chin. Maggots.

I Hope, therefore I Am. Hopefully.

2008-01-08T17:57:00.000-05:00

I read Chapati Mystery as a crash-course in Pakastani politics. As a pleasant surprise, I found a pretty good run-down of the current crop of Presidential candidates. The author likes Obama, and I suppose we should start getting used to the idea, but he gives Paul a relatively good plug -

"Neither Kucinich nor Paul should be forgotten, even as we mourn their candor-killed candidacies. Only grown-ups can handle Libertarianism, and even then it would take a good Democrat, or perhaps a fired-up, ready to go Dennis Kucinich, to speak for collective conscience and save Libertarians from themselves. America is ready for neither of these men, but it was delightful to see Ron Paul speaking in syllogisms so sensible they physically hurt the other candidates."

I agree that libertarianism demands personal responsibility and I know what he means by "collective conscience", although we would probably disagree on how this conscience might be assuaged. Progressives are not prepared to lose any of the ground they have gained in order to stop the US government from murdering people, and can't support Paul's stance on the constitution, because many of those gains were achieved by extra- and therefore un-constitutional means. The "right to privacy" as well as "the unitary executive" could be established by amendment, but they haven't been.

On Obama's "support that so bewilders America’s chattering classes; he is unstoppable precisely because he is inexperienced, because he does not yet carry the taint of the Imperial Corporate Machine that fleeces citizen, subject and enemy alike; he is too young to have investments in their entrenched isms, ists, and grievances; he is too new a convert to consider his ascendancy ordained by Jesus; he is just naive enough to believe that, by building a mandate across parties, races and classes, that he might at last rouse the great and drowsy American spirit that once a century rises to correct the hundred years’ of errata preceding it. Hope is indeed naive, and Americans have perhaps decided at last that naivete about the possibilities of tomorrow, no matter how improbable, is preferable the beastly, apocalyptic guile that promises to drown us."

I don't understand how the author could shoot down Libertarianism because it requires "adult" responsibility and wisdom, and endorse Obama because of the child-like faith that propels his candidacy. Ron Paul's uncomfortable syllogisms won't be nullified because Obama "does not yet carry the taint" He'll certainly have plenty of opportunity to acquire it. As far as rousing the great and drowsy American spirit: be careful what you wish for.

Hope might be naive but it doesn't have to be abandoned just because it's too difficult to work with very tools that were designed to prevent rule by guile. I naively hope that Americans will deconstruct the empire before it deconstructs the very means to speak to whatever remains of our collective conscience, a very small and meek voice, and fading.

Never play Chicken with Someone you don't Know

2008-01-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

Iranian "gunboats" Threaten U.S. Navy (Unh-huh)

And the american public still doesn't get it; I first got this from the business channel (CNBC?) this morning and the usually straight (worldly, joking-uncle type) Marc Haines asked "Why don't they just blow 'em out of the water?(chortle)".

Meanwhile the oil ticker over his head shows $96.00.

Ass-hats in all sizes. "In this style - 10/6"

Okay, Robert Lindsay is the Third Coolest Commie*, ever

2007-12-31T15:00:00.000-05:00

Alexander Cockburn is really the coolest commie after Limonov. Cockburn's end-0f-year retrospective on 07, has got me ready to storm the bastille. On the bushes, the democrats, horowitz, dershowitz, chrisopher hitchens, imus, sharpton... down they go like ducks in a galley.

Surprising support for the second amendment, a most fair-minded (but wrong) defense of hucabee and two good Ron Paul plugs. Seriously, read the whole thing.

*living, Robert Lindsay is the third coolest living commie, ever. but only because he's temporarily sidetracked by some genome hair-splitting field trip, after which I'm sure he'll be rested up and ready to rrrawk!

update - he's back and battlin' (after the VA loan post) the bad guys. Glad to see I'm not the only one with photo issues on blogger.

The Perfect as the Enemy of the Good Part.1

2007-12-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

Regarding Ron Paul's Iowa Ad, and Justin Raimondo's complaint:

Steady on, guys. This is the first time I've disagreed with anything Justin said, and not on the merits, but the Silber-level cry of fire in the night. I'm sure it was a campaign blunder to go after the two dozen tancredo supporters that didn't swing to romney as directed. I bet Paul's views are closer to Vijay Boyapati's, and that Paul will handle this masterfully, if he doesn't take too much friendly fire. Geez

In Halo, when you accidently shoot you own guys, it means you're supposed to be in front of them!

Et tu, Pat?

2007-12-30T12:01:00.000-05:00

The recent series of open letters to Ron Paul doubters on LewRockwell.com prompts me to write my own to Pat Buchanan. I can't decide on what kind of tone I should take, though, so I'm just going to ask why he isn't loudly and enthusiastically supporting Ron Paul.

I saw him on CSPAN/Sirius's POTUS08 and he was given the opportunity to say who he favors and he did mention Ron Paul, although couched in typical "I disagree with some of his policies" tepid support. This was after Pat explained that he (Buchanan) had left the Republican Party in 2000 and that they did not reward disloyalty. He also said that it looks like the surge is working and we couldn't just pull out of Iraq. He's carrying Bush's water after having opposed all of Bush's policies, when he just admitted that they never forget or forgive.

What is Pat up to? The only thing that I can think is that he loves his present position as "cranky conservative elder" media guy and wants to maintain his credibility if Paul goes down in flames. I don't want to believe that because the Paul candidacy IS the Buchanan revolution. I hope he's just keeping his powder dry, but c'mon eileen! I maxed my donations to the Buchanan campaign when he won NH and then the Republican establishment locked arms against him. I remember quite clearly. Why doesn't he?

Pat - march toward the sound of the guns!

"The Admiral is Afraid that the Alliance knows about the Airshaft Flaw in the Deathstar"

2007-12-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

r2d2-Justin Raimondo

c3po-Karen De Coster

Obi-Wan - Burt Blumert

(young Obi-Wan) Anthony Gregory

Laia - Karen Kwiotkowtski

Yoda - Paul Gottfried

Luke - Ron Paul

Han Solo - Lew Rockwell

Chewbacca - Pat Buchanan

Jaba - Ahmed Chalabi

Emperor - Rupert Murdoch

Darth Vader - Richard Pearl

Boba Fett - William Crystal

Darth Maul - Dick Cheney

Irritating Jaba-mascot muppet - George Junior

Stormtroopers - Free Republic

As if further proof were needed

2007-12-21T11:54:00.000-05:00

The story was that the Army was beefing up its weapons distribution system, increasing the staff from six to seventy and bringing in a general from the Reserve. This could be for two reasons, either stuff was not properly accounted for, or it wasn't going out fast enough, or (probably) both. My theory, that nothing happens politically by accident, leads me to assert that the entire Iraq project was simply to introduce chaos to the region and to keep the military there until the chaos becomes self-sustaining. There is a plausible case to be made that circumstances were such that we needed to get cash in circulation so fast that we couldn't account for it; eight-to-twelve Billion is what I've heard. Occam's razor cuts away all but the most likely explanation, graft and corruption; however they were trying to bootstrap a dollar economy, and they needed to kill the native currency (or absorb it by favorable conversion rates). Okay, I don't like it, but I'll accept it.

It's a much different matter with weapons though. I'm assuming we're talking about small arms. If we're giving anyone heavy or sophisticated weapons, all bets are off, except it lends even more support for my diplomacy by arson theory. So we're giving arms and money to purchase arms to those we already know to be corrupt and/or infiltrated by those we're fighting before, now and in the future. The newly beefed-up supply operation is to try to direct the aid to approved individuals or groups and keep it out of the hands of all others. To me, especially considering the recent withdrawl of the British, the timing and apparent (oh, sorry Sen. McCain), the success of the surge, it looks like we're hurrying up arming the Sunnis, so that we can withdraw to the bases (or completely if President Paul takes over) and wait until the Iraqis sort things out. That is, completely destroy themselves and as many Kurds, Turks, Syrian, and Persians as possible, sign on oil deal with whoever's still standing, and start pumping! Who's your daddy?

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_weaponssales_071220w/

"This isn't about restricting freedom of opinion, it's about examining what the limits are."

2007-12-06T18:41:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia Too Nazi - How much is just right?

Maybe they can get Robert Lindsay to testify that the truth is what was edited by the last guy to shut off the computer and go to bed muttering to himself.

"Watch where you're pointing that thing, Ollie!"

2007-12-05T13:52:00.001-05:00

Hoo boy, poor old Huckleberry! I'm surprised he didn't see that coming, considering other Arkansans who've been on both ends of the stick. Maybe he didn't think they'd do it to a preacher, or he still hasn't figured out that it's the Republicans turn to take a dive like Kerry did.

(btw- did anyone else pick up that kid that got tazed in Florida was asking Kerry why he didn't even try in '04, and the way Kerry just kept droning on his speech while the cops swarmed the screaming kid?)

I think Kerry's trying to tell us that the worst part of surrender to the borg is having to fake enthusiasm, something Romney and Huck are going to have to figure out. The other Republicans except Paul, are suitably grim visaged, as if they know they're the goat this time, "taking one for the team", remember Dole?

I wish I knew more sports terminology. What's the guy called that takes the dive in boxing? Diver? Designated loser? Whatever, we're lucky the other Clinton isn't running again.

Robert Lindsay is the Coolest Commie Ever

2007-12-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

I happened on Robert Lindsay's blog from a link on Entitled to an Opinion last night and then spent the next 4 or 5 hours reading fascinated until I had to knock off because my eyes hurt. I read about half of the site and I don't think I've ever been so excited about someone who's P.O.V I really can't determine. He describes himself as "Independent Left journalist in California. Revolutionary, Christian, liberation theology, replacement theology, civil libertarian, mixed economy. BA Journalism, MA Linguistics, Green Party, Communist Party USA, Democratic Party. Generally, topics focused through a progressive (Old Left), though heterodox, lens. Pan-humanist universalist, yet despises the PC, Cultural Marxist, Identity Politics, Western New Left." Man, there sure are a lot of different flavors; sounds like a circular firing squad.

His stuff reads like a cross between Steve Sailor and Jared Taylor, but he is anti-racialist and considers Sailor a "lab-coat racist". I used to read a lot of that sort of thing, but it mostly seems to go nowhere; on-the-one-hand-but-on-other-hand speculation, more Aristotle than Plato, but it's possible that its all just over my head. His links list is broken down into a lot of categories, and he seems to hate the same people I do, such as Christopher Hitchens, whom he regards as a traitor to progressivism, rather than as traitor to the human race, as I believe.

Most importantly, he dislikes libertarians in the same way we're seeing the left attack Ron Paul; a gooey conglomerate of negative definitions of first principles (it's based on greed and fear), selective ignorance (e.g. Hayek couldn't get tenure in Germany) and guilt by association (many jerks and assholes are "libertarian-types"), circular reasoning and non-sequetor . Since the guy is obviously smart, you have to believe, it's willful distortion, but in many other ways he's quite good and often hilarious.

I was lucky I came to the site from a link, otherwise I would have not gotten beyond the "left journalist" description. I realize I'm somewhat closed-minded about it, but I lost interest in "the left" about 30 years ago when I finished college. I wasn't negative about it, just not willing to learn enough to challenge my own ignorance. Pre-internet, one had to actually work at research and it was difficult to find informed peers, especially among my lumpen associates drinking beer around the teevee.

I majored in poli sci so I had a rudimentary grasp of dialectics, but I never experienced anything close to the kind of thing that happens in an open internet thread where a thesis is kicked around in a multi-dimensional matrix of opinion and facts. Until recently I would form an opinion and hold it until something might dislodge it, which was unlikely since I would tend to filter out anything contrary to my half-formed view. I think most people do the same. I'm sure an informed Marxist would scorn the nebulous end-product as worse than simple ignorance, but I felt a need to stand somewhere, and wherever I was would have to do. Needless to say, this approach does not lead to setting the world on fire and I never even worked up to failure, but a middle-class white guy can usually muddle along if he doesn't make any major mistakes.

I think I consciously avoided exposure to Marxism out of fear that it might well lead to some sort of social awareness when I only wanted to preserve my self. This was strongly re-enforced when I became eligible for the draft after I dropped out in 1969 and moved to Boston, where the anti-war movement was very strong, to try to beat it. I lived with some movement people (Hi Jan and Carmen, wherever you are), but was never committed although I knew I was just a hippie parasite (as they constantly reminded me) but I also didn't want to risk going to jail to avoid going in the Army, where I would be more afraid of my compatriots than the Viet Cong. (see Full Metal Jacket - Pvt. Pyle) I just want you to know where I'm starting from.
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Which brings me to his dismissal of Libertarianism (a word I hate because it sounds really dorky which I would prefer to be called Liberalism, but let it lie).

"Libertarianism is heavily made up of of healthy young men in the 20's and 30's making very good incomes."

Ignoring the income part he is generally correct, and we can stipulate that it is based on selfishness, but not affirmatively. It is generally defensive - we fear the government and will never trust it; if government is strong enough to give you what you want, it is strong enough to take it away, and it has reached the point where not only takes but can no longer deliver the services promised. I believe it now harms the vulnerable more than it helps them(e.g. Katrina), and at enormous cost in misallocated resources, corruption, and inefficiency. I think we can agree that what was sold with (possibly) good intentions, has degenerated into fascism; public means of control - private profit, and is actually destroying the very means of production to reward those best able to manipulate it. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his rank". It's true that we may not care enough about the needy, but we should be able to work with progressives at least as far as ending this bullshit, and I think a lot of the left is coming around.

"Saying that almost all US racists and racialists are libertarian types is not the same as saying the obverse, and I would not be so wicked as to suggest that."

This was key for me in taking his arguments seriously on this subject, because, many on the left are saying that libertarians are objectively racist, and I just don't see it. I see an exact parallel in distinguishing between anti-semitic and anti-zionist. We would like to see an end to state support for the needy, principally because of moral hazard (the safety net was not meant to be a hammock), but we realize this may never come about; howevert we are determined to end welfare for the rich, whatever the consequences, because it never should have been allowed to begin in the first place and has become a runaway feedback loop, again due to moral hazard. The free market does not exist. When the wealthy make money, they keep it, when they lose money, we loan them more, and this is sold as protecting the vulnerable who would suffer in an economic downturn. "Give me money or I'll shoot this dog", it seems to me. This must end or there will literally be no wealth to redistribute, short of violent revolution, which tends to be a crapshoot for the aformentioned vulnerable.

It's funny that he mentions Steve Sailor, because before I got a good fix on his viewpoint, I thought the stuff on I.Q. and race was very similar to Sailors. I used to read him a lot, but got tired of it because I'm kind of skeptical of the whole I.Q. thing. Even if it's legitimate, which I doubt but am not qualified to argue about, it is only a matter of potential and most people don't use but some small fraction of it, and many bright people only use it to avoid being organized and hard-working; some even "too smart for their own good" or brought down by emotional problems of various sorts. I like Sailor's use of statistics, though, but I wish he'd move on to something less boring. In any case, there is no racial component to orthodox libertarianism that I've ever seen beyond "I am not my brother's keeper, nor is he mine". If someone wants to help Peter, that's great but don't use the government to rob Paul. I read libertarian stuff all day every day and I've never heard of Stastny or Lapite, and if they weren't squids I'm sure someone would have linked to them. The only reason I even care about the racial aspect is because the Dems are going to try to paint Ron Paul as a racist when he runs against Hillary and I have to point out that it's not true. Ron Paul is bending over backwards (unnecessarily, imo) to assure people he will not destroy social programs; that his priority is ending the Empire. I hope progressives of good will (if there are any) will allow him to do that, and then fight him domestically, which shouldn't be too hard since the next congress should be almost 100% Dem (Inshallah). I have to say, I detested Bill, but Bush makes him seem like Thomas Jefferson.

"White Men Can't Bang"

You probably won't be surprised that I believe the questions posed in this piece are answerable by "It's the governments fault". Let me lay it out: To start with, there will never be full employment at the bottom of the ladder. With manufacturing gone from America there really isn't that much to be done anymore and almost all that's left are service jobs and mostly crappy low-paying ones at that. I can't find the quote but I think he said something like first generation immigrants are happy to have them compared to what was available at home. But second (I think he referred to them as anchor babies, but I still can't find the damned quote) and resident blacks have seen the good life and don't want the shit jobs, but do want the jack. Plus, one unintended consequence of welfare is that working for taxable income pays less than starting a family and living off of ADC moms, That leaves crime as the only alternative.

Lumpen white guys are in the same situation, but really don't want to go to jail, which means selling powder or weed and being much more discrete, as I believe he pointed out. But minorities don't care as much, because they can survive in the joint much more easily if they're tuff enough and hang with their own. It's common to have the street dealers use newbies and kids do the hustling, because judges are more lenient on youthful first offenders. It's like apprenticing, and the older and/or previously convicted guys move up to management. Guns are just tools and the whole thing wouldn't happen if drugs weren't illegal, plus prisons are privatizing more and more and need clients.

On the other side is a similar hierarchy where lawyers start their careers as prosecutors and move into the big bucks as defense attorneys and only successful and organized dealers can afford them because their families sure can't. Most white families can afford these vultures one or two times after which the chump is on his own and better go hardcore and affiliate or do time solo, not a good choice. If prohibition were ended this whole sick system comes down, which is the main reason I'm a libertarian. Originally, I just wanted to smoke some weed without risking my world; now I want to jam a wrench in the wheels. That asshat William Bennett said that druggies would be criminals even if drugs were legal and now I kind of see his point, because the underlying poverty would still be there, but this little scam would end because the vertical monopoly would be broken.

This is a good explanation of the white crime in the 30's. Those guys got their start during prohibition and needed something to replace the liquor trade during the depression and the newly empowered FBI needed a new scam as well which Hoover cemented by PR campaign against the real but highly glorified wave of amateur bank robberies and kidnapping by Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde et.al. Not to mention Anslinger and the wholly fictitious evil marijuana curse. This tided all the parasites over until the mob moved into gambling and prostitution and the feds followed their PR noses into busting the dreaded communists and nazis. Symbiotic, symmetric consolidation of respective turfs.

Finally (you may hope), I have to say he totally convinced me about Mugabe. I don't pay much attention to Africa at all anymore. It's too depressing to contemplate. I think the original and on-going problem was tribalism, which was greatly responsible in allowing slavery and colonialism to flourish there, but the lingering damage from colonialism, and especially sanctions which always and only hurt the most vulnerable, can only be described as tragedy and a crime. It's difficult to think of whites as other than a malignant tumor on the earth.

Jeff Tucker on Manners

2007-12-01T12:13:00.001-05:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker89.html
I was just dragged to a black-tie dinner for the induction of my father-in-law into some self-congratulatory Washington business group. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I don't even know which group, but Vernon Jordan and the head of the Carlyle Group were also inducted so it must be a pretty big deal. There was a stand up reception before dinner where I noticed all the lesser fish "networking" and chatting, which I couldn't do because it was too noisy and my wife said no politics.
I actually overheard three different people ask someone else what they "do" and was encouraged to leave my "business card" for some raffle, and at dinner I listened to a developer and a lawyer talk shop the whole time except when someone on stage was talking about either how great their friend was or how much they loved their families and what a great country we live in. I did remember to put my napkin in my lap, although not immediately because it was folded up like a limp fan and at first I thought it was part of the table decoration or something, but I can only hope no one was watching me because, thanks to your piece, I'm sure I was holding my fork incorrectly. I certainly wouldn't want anyone in the Carlyle Group or Akin, Gump to think I was a pig!
I'm not sure this is a question of etiquette, but was it rude of me to wish that the waiters and bartenders were really al-quaida and on pre-arranged signal, jumped up and murdered everyone there except my family and the inarticulate little black Junior Achievement girls who were used as props to show what generous humanitarians were the Washington businessmen? Because, I really detest them on so may levels and I'm not sure I can wait for President Paul to send them all back to ambulance chasing and selling liquor to the Indians. But I don't want to be thought unsophisticated.

2007-11-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

An interesting discussion of anti-anti-semitism at Taki's Top Drawer by my hero Paul Gottfried. I'm sorry I can't feel any solidarity, racial or otherwise, with whites as such. Although I know very few non-"whites", white Americans in general seem mostly ignorant, often stupid, self-centered, lazy and undisciplined, and vaguely fearful of anything unfamiliar. Observing them shopping and dining in their sports clothes and running shoes, one thinks of cattle or sheep. Our education system produces employees of various levels of competence but almost zero culture or sophistication. Their music (especially Country) makes me wish I were deaf and most of their women make me wish I were blind.

Sid Cundiff's (in the comments) view of Americans as debased Englishmen is spot on; whenever I hear some moron complain about "the jews" I mentally substitute "the British" and it generally makes more sense. The British have been the cause of more human misery by orders of magnitude than anything "the jews" could possibly gin up, and now we seek to inherit their empire and even outdo them in evil and cynicism. Fortunately for the rest of the world we're too lazy and incompetent to do it. The very white George W has undone in seven years what took the British five centuries to screw up. White pride? "Fech!"

“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Ambrose Bierce

2007-11-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

From this old gringo concerning the present situation in Pakistan to Chapati Mystery.

This is really not covered by the American media, beyond “some things are happening to some people, blah blah, Musharref, blah blah, the army, blah blah Benazir Bhutto” (photo’s of whom invariably make her look like a hot Mother Teresa with a fashion consultant). I almost feel too ignorant to comment, but if you put what we’re seeing so far with the various color revolutions in eastern europe and eurasia, one sees rat tracks all over the place. My ignorance aside, I would like to submit this eye-opener, even considering the source obviously may have an axe to grind. Read the whole thing - I don’t know what to think of the death of her father, astounding if true.

Aunt Benazir’s false promises

Bhutto’s return bodes poorly for Pakistan — and for democracy there.
By Fatima Bhutto
November 14, 2007
KARACHI — “We Pakistanis live in uncertain times. Emergency rule has been imposed for the 13th time in our short 60-year history. Thousands of lawyers have been arrested, some charged with sedition and treason; the chief justice has been deposed; and a draconian media law — shutting down all private news channels — has been drafted.

Perhaps the most bizarre part of this circus has been the hijacking of the democratic cause by my aunt, the twice-disgraced former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. While she was hashing out a deal to share power with Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month, she repeatedly insisted that without her, democracy in Pakistan would be a lost cause. Now that the situation has changed, she’s saying that she wants Musharraf to step down and that she’d like to make a deal with his opponents — but still, she says, she’s the savior of democracy.

The reality, however, is that there is no one better placed to benefit from emergency rule than she is. Along with the leaders of prominent Islamic parties, she has been spared the violent retributions of emergency law. Yes, she now appears to be facing seven days of house arrest, but what does that really mean? While she was supposedly under house arrest at her Islamabad residence last week, 50 or so of her party members were comfortably allowed to join her. She addressed the media twice from her garden, protected by police given to her by the state, and was not reprimanded for holding a news conference. (By contrast, the very suggestion that they might hold a news conference has placed hundreds of other political activists under real arrest, in real jails.)

Ms. Bhutto’s political posturing is sheer pantomime. Her negotiations with the military and her unseemly willingness until just a few days ago to take part in Musharraf’s regime have signaled once and for all to the growing legions of fundamentalists across South Asia that democracy is just a guise for dictatorship. …”

My hope is the internet can facilitate those Americans who want out of SE asia to see how much we have in common with the other neo-colonials of the world and more importantly how huge is our huge (even of relatively well-informed and educated) ignorance of the cultures and politics of the region.
“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Ambrose Bierce

british gopniks

2007-10-14T19:00:00.000-04:00

Links are kind of lame but try this
http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8736&IBLOCK_ID=35

Highlights;

"Britain is the land of the Chav. It's Chavland, Chavistan, Chavskaya Federatsiya, the United Chavdom. A land of cultureless, junkfood-eating, malnourished, pasty white trash scum that can barely speak, let alone read, and forms the basis of one of the most odious cultures in the world - modern Britain. The chav is the king of the Binge Britain jungle.

What, exactly, is a chav? Difficult question. The word itself is relatively new, appearing three or four years ago. Some claim it stands of "Council House Average", others that it was thought up by posh girls at Cheltenham Ladies College to talk about the locals - "Cheltenham Average". But, suddenly, in 2004, I got off the Aeroflot flight from Moscow after a six-month break from the UK, and Britain had gone chav crazy."

"Sometimes Chavs not only forget their manners, but how to flip people off in British
It's weird how something is so terribly wrong with drinking culture in England; part of a Northern European phenomenon that tends to affect places where it's too cold to sit out on your pleasant cobbled central square and quaff a glass of chilled white wine while discussing existentialist philosophy. Spaniards, French, Italians - they might drink a lot, but at least they do it in a civilized manner. Brits just down as much booze as they can, before lumbering out of the pub and vomiting in the street. Looking for a fight, or just the first opportunity to pull his flick-knife on any language student with a half-decent mobile phone."

I'm STILL feeling a draft

2007-10-06T10:57:00.000-04:00

Since I was about eighteen I've wondered why the draft was limited to young men. In a real democracy at war, it seems everyone that was mentally and physically able should serve and that all defence industries would be nationalized for the duration. Aside from basic fairness it would be a powerful incentive to avoid unnecessary wars. A fifty-something overweight and out-of-shape person such as myself probably wouldn't do too well hiking around Afganistan with an eighty pound pack, but we could drive trucks and move supplies and such. A lot of people have commented that most Americans have not been at all inconvenienced by the Iraq police action and would tend to be much less aggressive if they knew they would be directly involved.
I've long been interested in how black people were treated in the Armed forces - how they could fight for "democracy" when they were systematically and offically segregated in civilian life and also in the services, for whatever reasons. I admit my original interest was racist - I noticed that we had not won a war since the services were integrated and I didn't believe it was coincidental, but I saw a teevee documentary recently about ww2 in Europe, that mentioned an all-black logistics unit supplying Patton, and the pieces started to come together. Patton was continuosly bogged down driving toward Germany by lack of fuel which fit well with my original, obviously racist, hypothesis that blacks may have been less than enthusiastic about getting killed rushing unarmed and probably lightly escorted tankers in service to the Man in a dangerously fluid and undefined front for two dollars a day. I'm sure there were many with a stong sense of duty that could overlook the irony in being essentially slaves fighting for democracy, but I would have had a strong attitude problem with segregation eighty years after the civil war. We were very fortunate that black people were so patient and forebearing for so long, and I believe that their experiences in the war contributed to the acceleration of the civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's.
Without a draft, logistics and support have become almost prohibitivly expensive. Soldiers still get paid diddly, but this helps explain why privatised war is ruinously expensive and inefficient and why we will never win another war bigger and more distant than Grenada.

Webb Amendment

2007-09-20T11:01:00.000-04:00

Has anyone seen an explanation of the senate vote which was 55 to 45 (approx.) in favor but it didn’t “advance” Wtf?

[The 56-44 vote, “four short of reaching the 60 needed to advance — all but assured that Democrats would be unable to muster the support needed to pass tough anti-war legislation by year’s end.”] - AP

I’m guessing that it’s because it’s an amendment it needs 60 votes instead of 51. How about if it were a standalone Bill? At least send it to the chimp and make him veto troop support. Oh yeah, and once again John Warner sells out while posing as a patriot opposing the President’s war. I'm proud to say that I voted for Webb in the primary and general elections and if the Va Republicans don't get their shit together, the next Senator Warner might be 60th vote.

I should know more about the process of making law, because I have a degree in Political Science, but the only thing I carried away was that it was designed to eliminate non-serious legislation, normally a good thing. Since the founders could not have forseen giving so much power to the executive and the senate was supposed to represent the States' interests, I don't think the problem is procedural. The Congress is Plato's cave.

I’m proud to say that I voted for Webb in the primary and general elections and if the Va Republicans don’t get their act together, the next Senator Warner might be 60th vote. Plus, he’s a Dem that’s good on guns. Interesting times… I have no faith in our political system, but they somehow keep bringing me back in. Sucker.

Wouldn't it be nice...

2007-09-19T21:55:00.000-04:00

If OJ and Britney got married and moved to Portugal to help the McCann's find the real killer.

2007-09-13T13:17:00.000-04:00

The Fox Republican "debate" was somewhat surprising in that, aside from the expected ill-treatment of Ron Paul, they also ripped Romney for his past remarks, already retracted and apologized for, and didn't give the any of the others a clear win. I suspect that the tactics are still evolving on the best way to dispose of Dr. Paul. (full disclosure - I love conspiracy theories, but only for speculative exercise). In one of the previous debates, I first thought ABC made a mistake by giving RP as much rope as they did in the "debate" with Stephanopolos, but I came to think that they were allowing him to make the other Republicans look bad, which he did. If they had completely ignored him which I had assumed they would do, it would have allowed the others to coast on their strengths while ignoring the war.

I think Fox is doing something similar. I also noticed them dumping on Romney, but I felt they were also letting Guiliani and McCain hoist themselves with their respective prissy and robot personnae. They(Rudy McRomney) got the word not to shoot down at RP and leave it to the other dwarves to handle him. I'm surprised that the hit man wasn't Duncan Hunter, but he probably doesn't have the mental horsepower to go toe-to-toe with Paul, ditto Tancredo. The mini-debate was also a big surprise to me, especially on Fox, because, as you noted, they can just leave the slime to the moderators.

Bottom line, Fox is also trying to weaken the Republican side, for Fred (who I think will be the designated loser [think Bob Dole] in the general election to Hillary), or ultimately, for Hillary, when the neocons jump the Republican ship. Here's why I love conspiracies; Fred has lymphoma, so his VP will be important - they can get someone smart to balance Fred, in which case they can keep their war going for at least 4 more years, or worst case Hillary wins and they can keep their war going indefinitely.

So far, they've all underestimated Dr. Paul, I hope they have underestimated the People as badly.

First Let's Stop Killing People

2007-09-10T20:15:00.000-04:00

The new Machiavellism, the manipulation of ethnic religious and nationalist groups for long-range strategic advantage, as illustrated in the Balkans and Iraq can also be seen at work in American domestic politics. The puzzling, yet undeniable split (although never joined) in the anti-war "movement", is such a case; the attitudes of the various sub-groupings, especially the leadership contribute substantially to it's ineffectiveness. "Divide and conquer" would seem to be the prime directive and Agency the primary method. Of whom, it doesn't really matter; supply your own villain, let's say The Devil uses some quirk of human nature to invariably cause human differences to outweigh similarities.

The divide in the anti-war camp is curious, in that it seems to be caused more by mutual blind spots rather than overt hostilities. Small-l libertarians are used to this, having been ignored for so long. We like to think it's because we're too difficult to defeat intellectually, rather than being numerically not worth the effort, but if libertarians have a blind spot it's occupied by the left, whose many, many species and sub-species, that for us share one characteristic; good or bad, their ideas won't work because people suck. I love the ideals of the left up to when they need to start cracking eggs to make omelets, because I see myself as more likely brunch than bruncher. My job as a citizen is to try and prevent collateral damage from programs undertaken in my name, precisely because I can't control these programs. A pro-active golden rule;
do not allow others to do unto you that which would be undesirable if done unto them.

Backing Democrats Has Pulled the Anti-War Movement to the Right
Why "Inside-Out" is a Dead End
By ELIZABETH SCHULTE
http://www.counterpunch.org/schulte04232005.html

This is the second article I've read referring to "the anti-war movement" as being a subset of progressives who have been ignored by the Democratic Party. As she puts it
"We have to build an antiwar movement that not only recognizes the Democratic Party’s shortcomings, but understands that it is part of the problem."

Hey!Elizabeth! Get a clue; there are a whole bunch of non-progressives who are anti-war and understand that the DP is part of the problem. Ya'll can't see us, but we're here. We also recognize that the UN is part of the problem, and every other organization that uses our taxes to work against out interests, but we will work with you in anyway to end USG imperialism. It's not so much we are unconcerned about the third world and don't want to help, but that we have no control over what's done in our name with the taxes that are coerced from us. We, though invisible, were here first, and may be forgiven for thinking that progressives helped enable Bush when they allowed Clinton to "save" the Bosnians and Kosovars. If that was okay, then you're not anti-war, you're anti-Republican war, but we say Welcome Aboard, let's do this thing!

From Pullo to Pullet

2007-08-24T21:15:00.000-04:00

It's ironic that as I get older and inevitably more conservative, I am much more cautious in my personal habits. When I was twenty-five I would routinely pound as six pack and race my motorcycle through heavy traffic to get to the next party. Thirty years later I don't party at all, and drive an SUV at legal rates. Even my father in law thinks I'm boring. This is pretty much par as we get older, but how as a nation did we get to be such pussies? The descendants of the hardy and brave pioneers seem to have become solely concerned with comfort, health and security.

On tv today I see a clip of what looks to be about 15 cops, all with weapons drawn, nervously encircling a large black man waving a knife. I understand that they shot and killed him, although this wasn't shown, probably in the “hail of bullets” mode. I can only conclude that the cops must be really, really afraid of black guys with knives. I have to think it was “suicide by cop” but I don't see how dangerous the guy would have been with a couple of 9mm's in his knees. It's got to be a result of the training police get to shock and awe perps by screaming and trying to intimidate them; the cops end up scaring themselves. Pussies. Dirty Harry never even broke a sweat.

This is one reason we're going to lose in Iraq. We are a nation of paranoid pussies that has to use excessive force in every situation. Our soldiers are brave and tough enough, but the home front is not behind them; as a whole people, we don't have the balls. I'm embarrassed and ashamed to be associated with such a lame bunch.

I'm Still feeling a Draft

2007-08-24T00:02:00.001-04:00

I lost my student deferment in 1969 when I quit college after one year. At that time (before the lottery) I knew I would be drafted and soon was ordered to undergo a "pre-induction" physical, which I easily passed. I was determined not to be drafted (as an immature, self-centered and spoiled baby-boomer, I was more afraid of DI's than combat itself - think Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket). I had heard that there were shrinks in Boston that would certify one as mentally unfit, so I hitched up there and enrolled in group-therapy sessions after being certified as paranoid (ha!) and delusional. I knew the important thing was documentation, but I was determined to use any means necessary including going to jail, as I figured civilian jail would be better than military.

Fortunately for me, they came up with the lottery system in 1970, and I returned to normal life, albeit with a large and permanent chip on my shoulder towards involuntary servitude. I did not and do not see any reason for the War but I didn't really care about it as long as I was not involved directly. Obviously, this selfishness is not something that a good father would promote in his children, but I feel that the social contract is nullified if society allows what is in effect slavery. I do support a strong military and think the answer to manpower problems is better pay, period. If they would have fewer unnecessary wars, it would also be helpful.

The tricky part of getting a mental deferment is being convincing without actually going nuts. I'm not sure that I was completely successful; I maybe somewhat paranoid and even delusional, but compared to some vets I've known I'm Dr. Phil. Also, I don't really know what metric would be used in determining unsuitability; if one was really psychotic, one might make an excellent soldier, for all I know. However, society has become much more attentive to individual problems than in my day, although the army is still going to take whatever it can get and round off the square pegs as necessary. There's also the whole issue of sexuality. I say that I would have done anything to avoid service, but in fact I did not check the homosexual tendencies box out of actual fear that they might make me prove it somehow. Like Dick Cheney, I had better things to do...

The bottom line is every kid (but especially boys) should have a long and well-documented medical impairment of some sort, mental or physical that would preclude military service. This is long-standing practice; I remember how everyone of the doomed on the bus back from Richmond felt about the loud-mouth college boy waving his TB x-ray around. I turned out to be lucky in the lottery, but if they're really after grunts, luck won't cut it. If they restart the draft, resistance will build quickly, but each individual needs to have a personal resistance plan in reserve. Again, I'm not saying that military service is evil in itself, and for some guys, maybe most, it can be a good thing, but for some it is devastating. These guys need to plan ahead, and a parent can help.

I'm sure they will try to resurrect the draft, probably under a "national service" rubric to which I still object. Involuntary servitude is slavery, before and after the 13th amendment, despite what courts may hold.
 
 
 
 

Anti-Semitism

2007-08-23T21:14:00.000-04:00

I don't know if anti-Semitism is the correct term for hating Arabs, although they are said to be Semitic. For the purposes of this discussion I will use it to mean hatred of stereotypical Arabs by, especially ignorant American jerks, but my thesis is that much of Jewish hatred for Arabs is indistinguishable from this vulgar, “mountain grown” if you will, racism. This is an old and accepted stereotype in America; I remember seeing a Porky Pig cartoon from the '30's where he defended a foreign legion post under assault by hook-nosed, sneaky Bedouins. This cartoon was drawing on older, probably ancient, views of Arabs as slave-traders and smugglers, and were still current until very recently, even well after such views of Africans and Asians were no longer generally acceptable.

My own view is that a racist is one who expresses any of the dark thoughts that are resident in most, if not all, sane minds; racism as a mild form of Tourettes. I'm sorry to say that I instantly tag everyone I meet by their most obvious characteristics and will instantly align my behaviour and attitude to these tags, very like the inheritance model in programming, where the new object inherits it's properties and methods from it's class (stereotype). I might think “fat slob” when meeting someone overweight and poorly dressed, but I don't say it, if only to avoid being labled with “stupid fool”. I suspect most other people objectify in much the same way, although their tags may be more sophisticated or polite. My own struggle is with my internal Archie Bunker, sorry to say, but it forces me to control my behaviour and modify the object as evidence requires.

It may be that everyone shares the same well of prejudices and is simply able to exempt himself and others like him. I've often wondered why there doesn't seem to be effective epithet for white person. Cracker, red-neck, ofay, even if said with heartfelt hatred, just don't sting (although I've never been called a Republican; that might hurt). I can only assume that I am able to somehow psychologically deny that I am that objectional thing, and I think this works for most people. I once told my friend Hari that Indians seemed to believe they were the best people in the world, and he told me that they indeed think they are superior, contrary to historical evidence, and I would assume Arabs reserve similar sentiments for themselves or at least their tribes. Having been forever under foreign occupation and rule, craftiness, cynicsm and self-interest are primary virtues. I don't think they hate us because we are greedy; that they understand. It's our uncanny success in spite of our laxness and ignorance of history and culture that's got to irritate. They know we can't stick it out.

A man, a plan, a canolli

2007-08-23T21:03:00.000-04:00

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Although sometimes handy in emergencies, this is not really a way to order your life. Even in emergencies it's best to have at least a rudimentary plan and consider potential consequences of action. Sometimes just standing there is the best course, or at least I tell myself going into my fourth year of unemployment. How can a bum help? you might well arsk.

Although each person has some degree of thought and action, we artificially divide people into doers and thinkers, but each group needs the other. Where would nascar be without spectators? Most nascar drivers don't finish in the top ranks and know they never will but are important to the enterprise. In this sense, even the last guy is a winner. American society has internalized this enterprise ethic.

There are some doers who are regarded as losers, but not by me, because anyone who is trying but not suceeding is still a winner compared to a thinker who does nothing but observe [and make a lot of sarcastic remarks, but this isn't just about me].