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WB: Dog Bites Man
Billmon:
[I]t’s getting hard to see how an economic and/or foreign policy train wreck can be avoided, one that will eventually force large numbers of voters to fundamentally reassess their existing political loyalties.
Until it happens, though, it’s probably best if the corporate dreamweavers and the Rovian propaganda technicians keep their bosses in the power. I still believe (call it an article of faith) that a majority of the voters will eventually figure out they’ve been had — sold not just a bill of goods but a counterfeit reality, one that is crumbling in front of their eyes. When that happens, they’re going to be enraged, in a way that makes this year’s discontent look like the passing tantrum of a grumpy two-year old.
Dog Bites Man
All partisan activity is professional wrestling, paid distractions, else we would have paper ballot voting and Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Kucinich, Nader, etc. would have been talking about this:
When titanic glaciers melt or slide from land to sea,
the earth flexes from the weight now dispersed.
Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions result.
This has happened several times for very long periods.
This is decades old information but is not mentioned
in Inconvenient Truth nor stressed by Greenpeace,
Sierra Club, etc. (Nevertheless everyone should see
the movie, and free online sounds inarguable if
leaders’ motives were clean. In addition, Soros or
such should book theaters and pay people $1 to see it,
with the theater owner making his money on popcorn as
usual and a donation box to keep the showings going.)
For prehistory repeating itself, see
<http://tinyurl.com/s3deh>
or google:
“Greenland’s Ice Sheet Is Slip-Sliding Away ”
(LA Times 6/25/06).
Note seismic activity at end and idea
of Greenland possibly being 3 islands under the weight of the 2
miles thick ice , so basin shaped interior is 1000′ below
sea level (from other source). No discussion of the
sea water thus running under and up into the glaciers
providing excellent unseen exits for the fresh water flowing from above, but it does have this:
“To her surprise, she detected a maze of tunnels, natural pipes and cracks beneath the unblemished surface.
“I have never seen anything like it, except in an area where people have been drilling bore holes,” Catania said.
No one knows how much of the ice sheet is affected.”
So, it’s like swiss cheese below, unblemished above. Thus those holes will never refill and every melting season, which last year included December, they’ll enlarge. Sounds susceptible to earthquake damage, thus causing further earthquakes and more ice slides.
A week later appeared
“Climate Change Could Cause Earthquakes and Volcanic
Eruptions, Scientists Say” (Ottawa Citizen 7/3/06).
(”Could” as in “Gravity could cause unsupported
objects to fall.”
<http://tinyurl.com/m696x>
Neither article has any discussion of possible
effects of earthquakes on glaciers sliding, thus
ignoring the inevitable sequence: less weight triggers
earthquake, quake causes slide, repeat until arctics
are capless.
“Greenland’s Ice Cap Is Melting at a Frighteningly
Fast Rate” (S.F. Chronicle 8/11/06) says said ice is 3 miles thick, and also that it’s melting thrice as fast as 5 years gone (LA Times 6/25 said twice)
Also see “Glaciers Are Flowing Faster” Nature
9/23/04, “A Bit of Icy Antarctica Is Sliding Toward
the Sea” Science 9/24/04, “Dramatic Change in West
Antarctic Sea Ice Could Produce 16ft Rise in Sea
Levels” Independent/UK 2/2/05.
Remember the Dubai ports deal in spring? Those buyers
are screwed. The sellers, owners of The Penninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, are orgasmic.
Note that in the 6th century Justinian’s great
historian, Procopius, wrote of yellow dust in the sky
that gendered famines, plagues and decisive wars.
Lesser European and Chinese, Japanese and Mayan
sources concur. The post Arthurian Wasteland is a hint
of this, but otherwise we’ve forgotten that climate
changes have serious consequences. (Keys, Catastrophe,
o.p. but available digitally via Amazon for $9.95, and
searchable free for key words like Procopius, plague,
slavery and famine to find a couple of pages at a
time.).
Note that cavalry men ordered cavalry charges against
well emplaced machine guns 1914-1918, and in 1926
Brit. Field marshall Haig wrote “aeroplanes and tanks
are only accessories to the man and the horse, and I
feel sure that as time goes on you will find just as
much use for the horse – the well-bred horse – as you
have ever done in the past.” (Social History of the
Machine Gun)
For our leaders’ sensible attitude, google plushtown gulf stream
<http://tinyurl.com/jv9am>
Posted by: plushtown | Sep 11 2006 10:38 utc | 6
If perception really is everything, and managing mass perceptions is the be-all and end-all of the political process, then Spengler was right — what we call “democracy” is really just a disguise for plutocracy.
If you look at democracy, apart from a few rare and by nature small exceptions like historic nation states, democracy has always been indirect, as in we elect representatives who take care of the decision making for us, who pull the strings on our behalf. It is a system in which a minuscule section of the population in reality ‘wear the pants’ and the crowd’s input is restricted to choosing every 4 or so years a few representatives from parties which actually are run by two rival elites.
Democracy, as synonym to “rule by the people”, always meant “rule by the rich people”, or at least rich enough to get themselves elected, meaning being able to take ample time off from paid work to campaign and to bankroll such a campaign for months on end. On top of that, you have to be either willingly gullible or power hungry enough to join a major party and toe the line till it’s your turn to lead the mob. Democracy, same dog, different head. I can’t remember who said it, but it’s so true: People who manage to get themselves elected to be President, should under no circumstance be allowed to do the job.
Democracy is a system which allows the loaded to mega rich people in societies to remain in control, whilst giving the worker bees the impression that they are actually in power. To manage staying in control all you have to do is understand gulasch communism, give the masses enough to eat (or in our case big screen TV’s), and they’ll keep quiet. Give them the slow motion picture of a belief that they too can become mega rich in this arrangement called democracy, whilst in real time you sell them a mortgage and thus making sure that no-one is going to rattle the cage, don’t want those interest rates on home loans going up, do we? “Bread and Games” in Roman times, “Credit cards and consumerism” in modern times.
Every few years we are then being asked which set of lies we would like to believe, make our tick in the (ir)relevant box and go back to our grindstones. For those of us who are not content with what we have, the men behind the curtain, the Wizards of Uz, have a special treat in store. They call it “Current Affairs program”, available on enough channels for the tin man, the lion and scarecrow not to hear about them. You see, there are three main hooks on which the whole democracy propaganda is based. Firstly, people need to believe that everyone can make it to the top in a democratic system, best done by showing/selling them the rare rags to riches story as being the rule rather than the exception that confirms the rule that this is a pipe dream.
Secondly, give the horde the idea that nobody is above the law, that the law is not made by the rich to protect the rich. This illusion is best created by every now and then hanging one of your rich fellow rulers out to dry. Mainly people who don’t really play a key role and who were simply dumb enough to be caught out.
And thirdly, the strongest hook of them all, make the citizens feel that all other forms of political structures will end in chaos and blood on the streets. This can be achieved by showing the plebs how bad things are in countries where there is no democratically elected government in place.
Put those three themes in little 10 minute segments, mixed with 90 second advertising spots to appeal to the watching consumer, and hey presto, here is your current affairs program, a full 60 Minutes of it. Quickly followed by a Fraser or ER, keep that reality coming.
So, I am sorry to say, but I have to concur with Spengler, democracy always was a cover for plutocracy, a form of building a government in which the wealthy run the show. Or, as George Bernard Shaw said, “Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”
If in a country like the US with close to 250 million people first the father and later his son are at the helm of the country, or first the husband, and a few years later his wife, then I am more reminded of a monarchy than a democracy. See also: 27 of the 43 Presidents are cousins to the seventh degree at most.
As a remedy, hmm, I would suggest the following improvements:
A, The Peoples Representatives are not elected but randomly drawn from the population for a relatively short period of time, similar to jury duty.
B, Compulsive referenda for all issues involving sending troops abroad or other matters of grave importance
Democracy needs to be more direct, no campaign financing greater than, say $100 per person or business, AND no parties allowed, every vote a conscience vote.
…wall street is nothing more than the elegantly dressed hooker to corporate America’s stiff prick…
Too funny….
Posted by: Feelgood | Sep 11 2006 16:24 utc | 31
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