See "The Road"
Viggo Mortenson deserves the statue. Dues are well paid. And I've been a fan of Guy Pearce's since "L.A. Confidential". "The Road" is the world I have been seeing for many years now. It is what drove me. And the film revealed for me what I have known intuitively, yet never articulated; in words that could fit into a song. "We have to be that good before things get that bad."
And the sooner we get that good, the less bad things have to get.
More to come at http://www.newwhitetrash.com.
MCR
*****************************************************************************
From Jenna Orkin
Headlines
Exclusive: Saudis quit Caribbean oil storage
Guess who's going to be using the space instead of the US - China.
Is China Winning the Global War on Terror?
"That’s the thought that ran through my head, as I read about China’s $3.4 billion copper-mining effort southeast of Kabul. It’s “by far the largest foreign investment project in war-torn Afghanistan,” according to the New York Times. And it’s hardly China’s only investment in an American battlefield."
North Korea: Tear down that (imaginary) wall!
U.S. Confirms American Detained in North Korea
North Korea pilfering nuclear reactor site
Woooo - Be Very Afraaaid
What Has Happened to the Billions of Dollars Spent on Aviation Security?
CIA Failed to Disseminate Report About Bombing Suspect
JAL shares down 32 percent as bankruptcy worries mount
CIA sat on dad's warning on airline bomb suspect
Obama blames "systemic failures" in U.S. security
Yemen says may harbor up to 300 Qaeda suspects
Spain raises anti-terror alert ahead of possible attacks
Excellent time to raise an alert, Spain.
Target Co was victim of hacker Albert Gonzalez
Econoomy
Treasuries Set for Worst Year Since 1978 on Record Sales, Recovery Signs
Britain's debt woe
Investors now view Britain as a riskier lending proposition than Italy.
Science/Environment
Petrol prices set for major rises in 2010
5 Reasons the H1N1 Flu is Good For Us
"...we will keep more adults at work...
While manufacturers are private enterprises that need to consider profits, they’ve shown great flexibility and willingness to alter their plans and work to achieve goals established by our public health leaders."
Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University, is also president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Volunteers for anti-diarrhoea drug offered free holiday to Mexico
Feel free to drink from the tap.
Medical-Device Studies Lack Scientific Rigor, California Researchers Find
How Algal Biofuels Lost a Decade in Race to Replace Oil
125 Pilot Whales Die on NZ Beaches
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23 comments:
Here's the official trailer for the movie "The Road" that MCR recommended to us:
Click Here to See the Movie Trailer
Here's one...
War Of Drugs
Paul, it is lonely having the CoLLapse world view. It comes with developing awareness to see just how unaware the masses are. I can't stress primitive skills and earth consciousness enough. The ancient art of tracking is exactly what we all do, following the headlines and the "between the lines" to track forward and backward through events in time, in order to more understand our own place. One of the tenets of the tracker school is that awareness and tracking are the same thing. As a detective Mike, I think you would agree.
A man named grandfather, an apache, the source of information taught at the school prophesied details of our current situation, decades ago. "The Road" seems to match the drastic consequence that he feared was inevitable if we did not fight to avoid "the probable futures" of mankind.
Among his major prophesies were starvation in Africa, holes in the sky, and the bleeding of the stars, or red skies, after which food and water would be scarce and humans would have to fear warlords and cannibals. Only those who can live invisibly making no permanent camps will survive this future.
We can avoid the worst, but as those of us with awareness know, disaster is inevitable.
We have to stick together, love not fear, educate.
This is preparation.
Believe that this is The Titanic
thx mike
Luke
It is good to know you are all out there. Hope. Thank you.
Hello Mr Ruppert, I myself have been worrying about the way society is blind to the enviable. I had a very narrow understanding till I came across the Zeitgeist movement and the Venus project. While listening to Peter Josephs & Jaque Fresco radio address on blog talk radio, He mentioned The movie Collapse and I couldn't agree more with what you spoke of. Hopefully by educating enough a transition will occur into a better direction. I think you may already know of the Venus project and the Zeitgeist movement but if you dont It is in directly inline with what you propose and instead of a organization that addresses only a few problems the Venus project / zeitgeist movement addresses a social solution to our currently sick and aberrant society.
(Continued)
You also declared Capitalism to be an obsolete notion, as if free enterprise is some sort of philosophical treatise that can be disproven. By definition the only alternatives are varying degrees of despotism! There is NO reason that Capitalism would not work during and after this zeitgeist, unless all the people participating were incompetent, and then justice, Darwin, and I agree that they WILL perish. Yet this is no condemnation of Capitalism, only a condemnation of humans incapable of sustaining life! Which is a law enforced by nature whether your consciousness is considered to be one of volition or not.
If constant growth is what you are condemning, then check your premises! Capitalism does not require constant growth; the debt based fractional reserve system is what requires that growth. I would agree with you in a heartbeat that the current fractional reserve system is the greatest evil presently on earth and that we should abolish it all the way to its root, the central bank. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! Or a better analogy might be, don’t cut your head off just because you found a leech stuck to your neck, simply scrape the parasite off!
Or are you perhaps by condemning Capitalism, you actually mean to condemn all of mankind for our discovery of a way to cheat the strict energy budget of current Sun light, by tapping sources of ancient Sun light? I would agree with that condemnation, that we - like yeast in a vat of wine with a hull breach - lack the collective consciousness to avoid overpopulation. However I would disagree that any other form of economic standards would avoid it! Perhaps it would make economies less efficient; however the end result, peak (fill in the blank) would still eventually come and go. We are still yeast, and Pandora’s Box will not be shut, and this planet will be left scarred and changed. The question is, meanwhile, and after the transition, do you want to live in a world where you are free to seek your own individual happiness? Hell, even if the planet is rendered uninhabitable by human life, then I say FUCK it! We had a good run. I’d rather let some other life have their chance then live under the iron boot of tyranny, or the by the happiness leeching suffocation of the “collective good”.
Of course, I acknowledge the outside chance that I could be bat shit crazy or confused or both! And I encourage you to convince me otherwise. A lack of response or various typical reasons to not answer me in full will not convince my mind that you are righteous and or correct, but only that you are an impotent mental coward.
For this you may think I am full of shit and I may well be - but I do not intend for you take this message as a form of disrespect. Indifference is my form of disrespect; that I acknowledge you, and address you is the salute of a rational being, of my mind to your mind.
nb patton wrote in part:
Hello Mike & Minion,
I am just stopping by to comment on your film; Collapse, which I watched last weekend. I would like to talk about something you stated in Collapse (which tainted an otherwise accurate and informative documentary). You said that all of your research and work in life has lead you to believe in this absolute: Quoting 1 Timothy 6:10 "The love of money is the root of all evil." And you said this, in the same film that you said this country needs a Thomas Jefferson as a president. Jefferson would have despised the creature that held Timothy 6:10 as his core thesis.
......rather than doing the superlative work you are famous for; reporting/mapping/cataloguing the paradigm shift at hand. Which by the way seems to be the only thing that has given you any value at all in the mind of anyone that sincerely gives a damn about you and not just what you think about them. Hearing you quote Timothy 6:10 as something you believe deeply in, made my theory more concrete than ever.
You have it perfectly backwards Mister Rupert. For money is the root of all GOOD in this world. It is the medium for which people of reason and logic trade their efforts toward happiness. What would you rather humans use? Force? Guilt?
The love of money is equal to the love of all of your values, virtues, and efforts, that when combined creates wealth for you to use as YOU see fit, for the enjoyment of YOUR existence... What is evil in any of that? The root of all evil is in the corrupt and atrophied minds of people who think that the sacrifice of happiness and joy is a virtue, when in reality it is the morality of death.
The love of money is the love of your very existence and all that benefit from it. ESPECIALLY yourself.
Did you perhaps mean a lust for acquiring unearned wealth is the root of all evil? Even then I would disagree that it is the root of ALL evil. However at least I would agree that it is the root of many and perhaps even most evils. And I wouldn't question your moral premise or character. Now, even if this is the case, you should correct yourself and be more precise. You of all people should know exactly what money is, and shouldn’t be confused about its nature.
(Continued on next posting)
Jenna,
If you do not want to post my words and ideas intact, then at least have the decency to not post them at all. The instant you change anything, it becomes a twisted echo of the authors original intent, put through a filter of what YOU think it should be. You did not even get the order of posts right. If anyone wants to see the original unabridged post feel free to view it at nbcorps.blogspot.com
To Jenna, I Disagree with your opinion. It appears that the real wealth of any nation is in its natural resources and its people who are working toward a more humane life-style through the elimination of scarcity. All social systems, regardless of the political philosophy, religious beliefs, or social mores, ultimately depend upon natural resources -- i.e. clean air and water and arable land area -- and the industrial equipment and technical personnel for a high standard of living. The money- based system was designed hundreds of years ago and was hardly appropriate for that time. We still utilize this same outmoded system, which is responsible for most of today's problems. Our current system is not capable of providing a high standard of living for everyone, nor can it ensure the protection of the environment because the major motive is profit. Businesses aren't entirely to blame; they are forced to operate this way in order to retain the competitive edge. Additionally, with the advent of automation, cybernation, and artificial intelligence, there will be an ever-increasing replacement of people by automated systems. As a result, fewer people will be able to purchase goods and services even though our capability to produce an abundance will continue to exist. This is well-documented in Jeremy Rifkin's new book The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-market Era (Putnam, 1995).
Hey Patton you're bat shit crazy nuts or you're just having a bad day.
nb patton
editors have the right and obligation to edit. you are aware from past experience that i don't allow slander about mike to go through, although i do allow criticism. i am more lenient with respect to demeaning remarks about myself since some of it amuses me. for instance 'mike and minion' made me wonder if you were confusing us with mickey and minnie.
i do not have time to parse your latest complaint. but since you are aware of the policy here (which is no different from the policy at vast numbers of other outlets), i would recommend that if you don't like it, stop writing.
I wish you peace, MCR. I also sincerely believe coercing others will only perpetuate your problems, which sadly have become the focal point of this blog.
Collapse will speak to only those people who already know and understand your message. The reason it will never become viral is because the solution is flawed - just as "The Road" is flawed. Come down from your self-imposed cross, you'll never find any peace in pretending to care about others.
In the end, your movement is no different than any other special interest group lobbying government for change. All movements seek to force people into doing something they would not do on their own, which is unacceptable. It's best to leave people alone; coercion always achieves the opposite of its intention.
In other words, global warming and peak oil to you are the war on terror and secure borders initiatives to others. You can disagree and point out the flaws in each other's causes until you are blue in the face, but in the end both groups must appeal to government for "approval." This is why such movements are a fool's errand: both sides worship the power to tell other people how to live. In the final analysis you have more in common with your supposed "enemies" than you realize.
Seek your healing through your music, you will find no peace in your efforts at coercing others. The only thing you will accomplish through your movement is projecting your frustration on others. That is unfair and hypocritical.
The intent of my comment is constructive criticism. I read this blog occasionally and disagree with most of its content. Bottom line: I don't understand why an educated group like this community would appeal for help to the same organization (government) responsible for killing millions of people since its inception. Foolish!
Happy New Year.
Now THIS is Jingle Bells -
[url]http://musiccache02.socbay.com:88/may27/cache3/92/68741.mp3[/url]
Happy New Year !
RE: Saudis Quit Caribbean
As interesting as the article was for its main point, there was a passage that I would like to have illumined by those who do more active research into oil.
"Saudi crude oil shipments to the United States fell to a 22-year low earlier this year as the recession slashed fuel use, and oil demand is unlikely ever to exceed its 2005 peak, according to a Department of Energy forecast this month."
It's the second part of that statement that raises my eyebrow. The US government is admitting that we have passed peak? This must be very harsh news for a stock market intent on going up and up forever. Could someone point me to the "Department of Energy forcast" to which the author refers?
Oh and another thing ...
About Capitalism
Fractional reserve banking is not a mere parasite on Capitalism, it is the very foundation. This did not come in with the Federal Reserve, it's what bankers have always done. Goldsmiths (the first bankers) would keep gold for clients, and lend out a fraction of it AT INTEREST. Since they could assume that not all their clients would demand their gold all at once, and that most of their carefully vetted clients would pay back the loans WITH INTEREST, the system was very profitable and allowed for the conquest of Florence by the Medici family long before Machiavelli wrote The Prince.
The Capitalist economy must grow, in order to pay the interest, which enriches the lender without impoverishing the borrower (in general - individual mileage may vary). This worked out well when trade was just beginning to flourish and create the Renaissance. Europe became used to this system by 1500 (Machiavelli's day), just in time for the conquest of the Americas, which made Capitalism work out even better. Immense growth was possible, with efficiency being the only limitation. As India and E. Asia were also colonized, the ever-increasing efficiency of Colonialism and Capitalism -- and eventually the huge efficiency of the Industrial Revolution -- combined to accelerate both highly lucrative exploitation and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few magnates. At first, the oceans, the new continents and the newly discovered globe seemed to offer an infinite cornucopia of treasure.
As corporations took over from individuals, the concentration of wealth became more and more impersonal. Chevron is nobody in particular, yet it has an economy as big as that of a medium sized country, and it does very much as it pleases in the world. This causes a lot of damage, in fact, economically, politically, and environmentally. And nobody in particular can be blamed.
Whereas it was once argued, with some justification, that Capitalism set people free, developed and enriched society and broke the traditional power structures, making way for The Enlightenment, we can no longer afford Capitalism and its hunger for growth. That's because growth of the economy means shrinkage of everything else, as our water, our food, our forests and even our child-raising are commodified, commercialized and moneterized.
There is no need to prove that Capitalism is inherently evil, and no possibility of proving (at least, to me) that it is inherently good. But a steady look at its historical dynamic should convince the observer that this economic model (it is NOT a political system, though it controls both Chinese despotism and Swiss democracy) is simply not appropriate in this age of resource scarcity and overpopulation. With all respect to those who practice it with a sense of justice and decency, we will have to do without Capitalism, or Earth will do without us.
eyeballs
note they're talking not about peak production but about peak demand.
Thanks, Jenna. The supposed report, though, seems to suggest that American demand will never recover. We knew that, but when did the Department of Energy learn about it, and have they informed the Treasury Department? Energy demand is pretty consistent with production and consumption, both of which can be taxed (say, to pay 12 trillion dollars of debt). If America is never going to work and party like it used to, who is going to cover the interest on all those T-bills? There are two choices: sell off assets (say, Yellowstone, or maybe Taiwan) or fink on the deal and loose all further credit and credibility.
Pstjak:
You wrote:
"Hey Patton you're bat shit crazy nuts or you're just having a bad day."
If you were kidding, then thanks for the belly laugh, you must be a rip in person. If you are serious, I guess I should still thank you for the laugh, however I would be very interested as to how you came to this interesting perspective on my sanity.
Jenna:
You're an outstanding party member and an asset to the Ministry of Truth, keep up the good work. But seriously, I thought the Mike and Minion was a nice touch as well, it's got a catchy ring to it. Don't feel too honored though; by "minion" I was also referring to your platoon of followers that ALMOST uses their brains enough to actually think for themselves, instead they switch from prophet to prophet using faith to rely on the cognizant work of others to dictate their route in life. That said, you're right; it’s pretty silly how I keep coming back for more gruel huh? Perhaps I am batshit crazy! I stay away from the most part, in disgust of your posting policies. But I do loiter and the reason I loiter, I explain below.
Eddie Willers:
What a fitting name for the defeatist attitude you seem to have. What sort of evil do you possess to attempt to convince a man to stop doing what he does best in life, and in this case better than perhaps anyone else?!? I wish him peace as well, but I also wish him to PROSPER by doing whatever the fuck it is that he enjoys. Not as a sacrifice, but as a fair trade. Sure I talk my fair share of shit to the man, and that is because I rely on my own mind, which I use to analyze the world around me. And when I see hypocrisy or flawed logic, I NAME it openly and confidently. This confidence is not coming from some mystic undeserved arrogance. It simply is coming from the reality that my consciousness and faculties have perceived. It is bolstered by the notion that I would want others to use the same method of open and honest communication with me. I do not operate on the premise that all of my perceptions of other persons actions and words are flawless, and if they are flawed I have little hope of knowing unless a full and open exchange of ideas is held with the other consciousnesses around me, namely the one in question. I for one do NOT EVER WANT to see MCR stop doing his investigative journalist work. And I have and am willing to pay him for it. Not as a monthly tithing, but as the payment for a service that I notice with my own perception of reality that he possesses a superlative ability in. I recognize that this ability must have come from a lifetime of hard work and dedication to truth seeking (external). And what is the highest form of my recognition of this virtue and value of his? Is it blind sycophancy that pays his rent? Is it you brainless FTW zombies clamoring to see who can jerk him off the best? NO! It would be to trade with him the very thing he calls the root of all evil… And what I call the root of all good.
MCR
I think these fucking idiots that surround you with praise for EVERYTHING and encourage your atrophy into zeroness are NOT your friends. The few batshit crazy assholes like me, who cheer when you work, and kick you in the nuts when they think you deserve it, are those who at least know why they value you. The difference between their praise and mine, is that mine is earned and theirs is a given, regardless of what you do.
Eyeballs
Your entire premise is false, the fractional reserve system is NOT the foundation of Capitalism, it is simply a horrifically corrupt method of banking. Free enterprise can, has, and hopefully will in the future exist without it. The Goldsmiths started out by loaning out THEIR OWN GOLD at interest. I have no moral or ethical problem with that at all. Corruption begins when you loan out others money; you are earning wealth that is not rightfully yours.
NB Patton
I’m no economist, just a confused citizen trying to understand. By all means, educate me. My information came from
‘Modern Money Mechanics’, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago:
“It started with goldsmiths. As early bankers, they initially provided safekeeping services, making a profit from vault storage fees for gold and coins deposited with them. People would redeem their "deposit receipts" whenever they needed gold or coins to purchase something, and physically take the gold or coins to the seller who, in turn, would deposit them for safekeeping, often with the same banker. Everyone soon found that it was a lot easier simply to use the deposit receipts directly as a means of payment. These receipts, which became known as notes, were acceptable as money since whoever held them could go to the banker and exchange them for metallic money.
“Then, bankers discovered that they could make loans merely by giving their promises to pay, or bank notes, to borrowers. In this way, banks began to create money. More notes could be issued than the gold and coin on hand because only a portion of the notes outstanding would be presented for payment at any one time. Enough metallic money had to be kept on hand, of course, to redeem whatever volume of notes was presented for payment.”
Your objections caused me to search the internet for a couple of hours.
Gary North , of Lew Rockwell says:
“After 1500, yes. Not in the medieval era, I think. … Banking in Spain during the sixteenth century adopted fractional reserves, and a series of banking house bankruptcies in second half of the century proved it. The Emperor, Charles V, had legalized the system. As usual, the State authorized the practice of fractional reserve banking as a means of financing itself. It wanted a ready market for its debt.”
Lew Rockwell links to Mises Institute and features Murray Rothbard.
Some credit John Law, the Scottish Banker of Paris, with the modern institution of fractional reserve banking.
Steve H. Hanke , an economist at Johns Hopkins University, has this to say:
“In June 1716, Law launched his first big project. It was then that the Banque Générale was established. It issued paper money which was not fully backed by specie (gold or silver). Instead, government bonds were used to back 50% of the paper money issued by the Banque Générale. This fractional reserve setup was approved by the Crown and the Banque's paper money was granted legal tender status.”
Hanke appears on the website of Cato Institute, of which Ludwig von Mises, from the Austrian School, was a prominent member.
Apparently Murray Rothbard, also an “Austrian”, advocated Full Reserve Banking, but this is definitely going against the grain, as all these various dates indicate. Fractional Reserve Banking has been going on for (by the conservative figures) three centuries, since well before the start of the Industrial Revolution, the scam of choice for those who shape the world economy. Changing that would be like ending war or cleaning up nuclear waste or enforcing a jubilee on all debts. Tremendous idea, but there are profound systemic obstacles.
I say, we had better overcome the systemic obstacles, before we are crushed by them. A very strong obstacle is the notion of Interest-bearing Loans, which is a separate issue from Fractional Reserve Banking. If 4% or 10% growth is required to pay all loans, then that much more of our world must be annually monetarized in order to keep the system working.
The capitalist system enforces aggressive profit-making, forcing “successful” players to progressively moneterize the world. This is the story of joint stock companies. They were able to succeed at highly exploitive trade (thus paying off interest with profit to spare). Their lucrative trade led to warfare, and in the end the major capitalists decided to conquer their markets instead of parlaying ad nauseum. India, Indochina and Latin America come to mind. In fact, the “successful” exploitation of the American West is one of the great tragedies of the proud country we call “ours”.
And yes, “we the people” are complicit. By allowing first land companies and then railroads, with their hunger for coal and iron, and then oil companies and lumber companies, auto companies and nuclear power dealers, to run the country, and sharing the “trickle down” consumer benefits, “we the people” have robbed ourselves, our neighbors and our descendents. And it just cannot continue.
I highly recommend
this article by Charles Eisenstein.
You can view many pages of a very interesting book, A History of Interest Rates, by Richard Eugene Sylla (1996),
here
Eyeballs:
Well its obvious you aren't an "economist", if you were you'd be trying to convince me that A is B and -1000 is +10000 are absolutes... Now, all of what you posted seemed sound and factual to me. Also, none of what you posted rebutted my statement, that fractional reserve banking is not the foundation of Capitalism. As a matter of fact it supported it. I will quote from your own post.
“It started with goldsmiths. As early bankers, they initially provided safekeeping services, making a profit from vault storage fees for gold and coins deposited with them. People would redeem their "deposit receipts" whenever they needed gold or coins to purchase something, and physically take the gold or coins to the seller who, in turn, would deposit them for safekeeping, often with the same banker. Everyone soon found that it was a lot easier simply to use the deposit receipts directly as a means of payment. These receipts, which became known as notes, were acceptable as money since whoever held them could go to the banker and exchange them for metallic money."
Do you not see that the fractional reserve system evolved from a system of 1 to 1 loans? (+ interest).
To cut to the chase and address the real point I was suggesting is that free enterprise can exist and even benefit from 1 to 1 banking.
No replies for the comment by eddie willers? i guess no one else besides eddie willers and i have had this thought? i've always found it odd that one of the central missions of this blog was to wake more and more people up. why?
if you want to wake up, you will. if not, don't. i've followed FTW for years now, it's impact on my life has been significant. yet i don't believe bringing a critical mass of humans into 'our awareness' will have any tangible impact on...anything. i also don't agree with eddie willers' idea that it is the intent of MCR and Jenna to appeal to tptb for anything. does anyone else feel this way understand where eddie willers comes from?
Great Brain!
I also don't want to wake up the masses. They'll be nasty and half-conscious as they awaken, and many of them will be prone to violence. They would reject my message and just be angry at me for waking them up. They would treat me as a mob treats a dissenting voice.
On ... the ... other ... hand ... Blowing reveille (or taps, depending) tends to wake up those who are ready. If you get out of the way as they stumble into the courtyard (and possbibly have some hot coffee available, maybe a hunk of bread or something) you might assemble some people who could be got ready for meaningful action. Unlike the sargeant, I would not go in and rouse the rest, gawd no.
As to Eddie Willers' comments, he could leave Mike to his crusade as easily as Mike could leave Obama alone. We all tryin t'get by, man. Each has our role.
And as for the futility of addressing government, it's not my bag but good things occassionally do result from citizen awareness and action. I say let Mike be Mike. Me, I'm grateful.
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