Sunday, January 17, 2010

10,000 US Soldiers Head to Haiti as Violence Intensifies

From Jenna Orkin

Headlines
Obama Wants Record $708 Billion for Military
Navy commissions newest warship, others coming
Dollar Crisis Looms if US Doesn't Curb Debt, Experts Say

Haiti/Venezuela
10,000 US soldiers head to Haiti as violence intensifies
U.S. carrier arrives off Haiti
US accused of annexing airport
Chavez says U.S. occupying Haiti in name of aid
Wherever did he get that idea?
Venezuela to reinforce troops on Colombia border with Russian Tanks
Experts warned of Haiti earthquake risk
Haiti quake: A medical 'perfect storm'
Medical chief: I ordered docs to leave
...on security concerns. Good to see that U.S. carrier doing its job during the perfect medical storm.
The Lesson of Haiti by Fidel Castro (from Vantage Point)
Bush On Lessons from Previous Disasters: Don't Set Expectations Too High
Haitians May Go Extinct
Haitian Man Behind Second JFK Security Breach

Economy/Energy
Round-the-Clock Car Factories in China Still Can't Fulfill Drivers' Demand
Can U.S-China ties weather perfect storm in 2010?
Japan threatens action on China gas project: report
For ‘Safe’ Investors, This May Be a Challenging Year
The word "challenging" is newsspeak for "fuggedaboudit."
Bernanke’s Days May Be Numbered
Markets to Peak in Late January: Strategist
Is Market About to Take a Tumble?
Banks Making Secret Deals to Allow More Short Sales?
Britain 'risks being insolvency brothel’
It remains likely that Greece is headed for a crisis that tests the stability of the eurozone.
IEA Sees World Oil Use in 2010 Highest Since 2007
JAL agrees tie-up deal with Delta: report
Ariz. to close 13 parks due to budget woes
10,000 protest Ariz. sheriff's immigration efforts
Venezuela arrests alleged drug lord wanted by U.S
Forget Wind. Pickens Turns Focus to Gas.

And...
The shrinking Nile
The 10 Unhappiest States in America
Stephen Colbert on The Word: Honor Bound

40 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:47 PM

    My suspicions were correct:

    The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?

    Was this operation preplanned? Can earthquakes be induced? How conveniently close to Venezuela.

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000

    This situation has upset me vastly more than 9/11 ever did. I awoke this morning to a panic attack. I ask myself what next?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:58 PM

    As far a Haiti goes, There but for the grace of God go us. Time to review our preparedness. I cooked dinner on an outdoor fire this evening and thought about those who have nothing to cook or cook with right now. Cooking by campfire would certainly be difficult in extreme cold or a snowstorm. An indoor wood-fired stove would certainly be valuable asset. Am still wondering how MCR would survive a major long or short-term catastrophe living in LA.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My goodness! You mean that you suspect something just because 10,000 soldiers invade a country immediately adjacent to Cuba? Why, you must be one of them-thar conspiracy theorists!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry about that last post. Didn't mean to dismiss your concerns. So here are the facts about Haiti, Cuba and CONUS (continental US):

    Haiti to Cuba: 100 miles
    Cuba to CONUS (max); 2566 miles (WA)
    Shehab-5 missile range: 3500-3700 miles
    Shehab-5 operators: Iran, Pakistan

    Probably long before you were born (1963), Fidel Castro installed Russian nuclear warheads in Cuba.

    Fidel Castro still leads Cuba with his brother in actual control.

    The US is actively waging war against Pakistan.

    Pakistan oil shipments to NATO in Afghanistan were recently terminated owing to a conveniently timed Taliban attack on the only bridge that can be used.

    The US has shut off Pakistan cash flow, meaning that all oil production must cease in 1 week.

    Pakistan is not yet famous for turning around and dropping its pants in the face of threat.

    WAR UPON US SOIL IN ONE WEEK?

    ReplyDelete
  5. China move threatens to delay tougher Iran sanctions

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2eac63e-03d1-11df-a601-00144feabdc0.html

    Israel Bolsters KC-707 Refueling Fleet - With the threat of a conflict with Iran looming, the Israeli air force has augmented its fleet of KC-707 (“Re’em”) aerial refueling aircraft with an eighth tanker

    http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2010/01/11/AW_01_11_2010_p22-194785.xml&headline=Israel%20Bolsters%20KC-707%20Refueling%20Fleet

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/police-in-haiti-fire-on-starving-survivors-14639443.html

    Militants Launch Bold Attack in Central Kabul

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/asia/19afghan.html

    Troops and riot police are patrolling the Nigerian city of Jos, after fighting between gangs of Muslim and Christian youths in the central city.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8465108.stm

    Today is officially the most depressing day of the year

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/6995281/How-to-beat-Blue-Monday.html

    Ahh... so every day hence should be less depressing! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fencing with Words:

    "Ah yes! How enlightened we're made to see the seething ones springing from their lairs, slavering over the faux pas which are an unwitting Hotspringswizard's words! Your ilk -- thelonelybarbarian's, Puddingknife's, stu's, and businessman's -- seals its fate with its words no differently than all of us seal our fates with our words."

    Short and to-the-point enough to suit you?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Could HARP create an eathquake? And if so, could it do it in a particular place?
    Theoretically of course...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wouldn't get too far sidetracked. There's a huge fault line there. Don't hair-split about whether HAARP "could" do it. We know it can be done because California recently dropped plans for geothermal energy because tapping fault pressures "might" trigger earthquakes.

    I'm as suspicious as everyone else. But I learned a long time ago not to waste precious mental energy debating or pondering "could bes".

    Whether the event was manufactured or not is a side issue to what we all see happening pretty clearly.

    MCR

    ReplyDelete
  9. Apparently, Earthquake/Seismic analysts studying the region have been warning of an imminent earthquake for a couple of years.

    Someone in the US Elite/government saw the 'opportunity' of such an earthquake and prepared a contingency plan most likely.

    It doesn't matter - at some point some natural disaster would have been used as cover: a severe hurricane perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:44 AM

    RanD,

    "Short and to-the-point enough to suit you?"

    Yes! That will make scrolling through the comments much quicker! Thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Never Let A Good (Haiti) Crisis Go To Waste"...

    1. Gold

    2. Bring in the Naval Ships

    3. Loot the Red Cross Donations

    4. Distract the Public Attention away from the Federal Reserve.

    5. Convince the World that you "Care"

    6. Swine Flu Vaccinations for everyone

    7. Field exercise for "Martial Law"

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:14 PM

    MCR:

    My concern with whether or not the quake could have been man-made or helped along is that it could be tried again in other locations.

    Any idea when Collapse will be available on DVD? Hasn't been shown anywhere near my neck of the woods yet.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:17 PM

    Anyone else having trouble logging on to post comments on this blog? The server never recognizes me and I have to re-enter all of information as if I am re-registering. I went through a spell where I couldn't log on at all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well RanD, looks like your going to have to add Oregon Survivor and Nihil Matters to that list in your " brief " post.

    In regards to this you wrote, " the actual 'problem' for those who are illogically critical of RanD's words is that most [whether consciously or subconsciously] just don't want to hear what RanD has to say ", I'd say that these folks in your list, and many others here I'd safely guess, clearly are not interested in your lengthy philosophical forays.

    Like Nihil Matters mentioned, most I'm sure just scroll past your stuff. So it appears you are determined to have MCR's and Jenna's site be your venue in which to " parade " as one poster said your " special awareness ". To me I think your taking advantage of the freedom of expression that is here, and the fact that most here can not make sense out of your musings doesn't really matter. Like Business man implied, wise people use simple language to communicate their deeper understanding if there mission really is to teach. If your " students " can't understand you, then whats the point?

    You wrote, " If our knowledge was yours, how & where would you share it with others? ". First, what you speak of does not make me think you have some sort of advanced " knowledge " and I'm sure many here think the same about that. I notice I can't recall anyone here post about how " helpful " your philosphical contributions have been ( especially in the latest round or our to and fro ) to the basic interest of this blog, being Peak Oil, economic collapse, larger geopolitical changes, information about how to cope with these changes, etc. So if I had the " need " as you do to share my deeper philosphical leanings and the lessons they might convey, I would create my own blog and just refer people to it, and not infuse it insessently into a communication space ( like this blog ) where the subject matter is for most practical purposes about other things completely.

    And regarding this idea of yours, " the point where you presume RanD is pumping out "nebulous philosophical lessons". That's where you begin shooting yourself between the eyes by failing to connect the dots ", Its not shooting myself in the eyes to point out that your material is not accomplishing anything of productive value in my view, with most of the people who come here to comment or to read the comments.

    But I realize that anything I've discussed above will not convince you that what your trying to share would be best broached in another setting. I know Jenna/Mike have allowed a wide range of commentary here and of course its thier call whether to allow your continued philosophical musings.

    I talked with my wife recently about this issue, she being a personel manager for the So Cal area of one of the nations biggest trucking companies. She's intelligent, sensible, and a very level headed person. She's concurs with me that your material is in the wrong venue. I guess I could have put it that HotspringswizardanD feel this ( my wifes name being Darcy ) but then, I'd be sounding like RanD wouldn't I :-)

    As I said before RanD I feel no ill will towards you two. I just think that what you think your trying to accomplish here is missing the mark and not really feasable to boot, IMHO :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Like CJ I am having the same problems leaving comments - I am not even sure this will be accepted.
    Sorry RanD I'm with the others on the question of your lengthy, irrevelant (to this blog) boring comments. I too scroll past.
    To all who read and leave comments here at FTW:-
    I live in Australia where apart from some unemployment things are going on as always i.e. house prices are reasonably stable, utilities are going up in price (Due to Climate Change the reason given), petrol around the same price, and the consuming of non-essential goods as high as ever. The media, as it is worldwide, feeds us with non information about the true nature of events around the globe.
    It is only through blogs such as FTW that we can get a glimmer of what is really happening to people around the world. So I would welcome the occasional insight into what is the actual state of affairs in your neck of the woods.
    TPTB obviously use the media to 'Divide and Conquer' and the internet is the only way we can inform each other.
    By the way, F.Kamilov, I thoroughly enjoy reading your blogs and the insights that you give us of a culture so different from our own. You have given me much food for thought.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I for one, do find RandD's comments useful in an overall, frame of reference, sense.

    Most of the discussions here are on trying to understand current world events, and relate them to the map MCR has laid out for us...

    RandD's posts remind me that, though our main immediate task in the physical world is to prepare our selves and families to be self sufficient with, and within, our local communities ASAP, there is more needed in the overall transition in us as a species than just permaculture and bio-energy and the transition away from cannibalistic consumption of fossilized sunlight.

    To me the "more" required of us truly is the realization of/by every human being on this planet, the truly divine state of our actual existence.

    This being our very real, but oft invisible in our learned perceptions of the world, interconnectedness with every bit of matter/energy in the universe. including and especially one another, throughout all of space and time, whether here or there, past, present, or future.

    At this time, it is not apparent to all (immediately, over time, or for some... ever,) that this can be a useful perspective.

    I believe that it can give one siginificantly more awareness of how to percieve one's choices of how best to "be" within the world that is our physical plane of existence.

    I do agree with others that the posts of RandD often very long, dense, and of a subject matter that some find, at times, less than "on-topic."

    I also, at times, think that the message they are trying to share at length in this forum might be better served with teaser quotes linking to a blog of their own.

    But perhaps the FTW's Act2 Blog audience is their only intended target, and making a blog of their own is more work than they have need to do.

    Speaking directly to the crowd already in one theatre is often easier than trying to get them to come to a whole different venue.

    And of course, RandD have the same right as any of us to share what we, as individual sentient beings know, and may feel is important for us to share, in this forum, and to be active in the exploration and sharing of ideas that it represents.

    JO and MCR operate FTW Act2, and ultimately exercise their right to exert due editorial control over it. I think that they are acting in the service of all in allowing RandD's posts, as they do not tend to be offensive, nor inherently counter productive to the overall mission of the Blog.

    I will continue reading their posts and enjoying the various emotional responses they elicit in me, while realizing that not all will feel/be as entertained or enriched by them, and thus may choose to exercise their page down fingers...

    ReplyDelete
  17. I agree with Hotsprings. I tried reading RanD's posts, but it's not what I'm looking for here. I don't care that they post here but it's just something I skip over. But hey, that's just me, there may be a thousand people who read and find insight but just don't post about it here. I'd rather see the back and forth about this ended too so I don't have to scroll through two lengthy posts instead of one!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. All this nonsense about philosophy is exactly that--nonsense (and I happen to hold a degree with academic distinction from Brandeis University in that discipline).

    Our situation here is simply stated: We don't have time to drain the philosophical swamp when we're up to our backsides in tyrannical alligators.

    (1) Get rid of the alligators, then (2) drain the swamp.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Orlov's post today about 'community' is really good.

    Give it a quick read.

    Here's a quote:

    "Hopkins raises an interesting issue when he mentions the common criticism of intentional communities and the Transition Towns movement that it is predominantly white, educated, and middle-class. This is hardly surprising, since these are the only people who have the resources and the connections to do pretty much as they please. They can create their alternative arrangements out in the open, as long as they don't actively threaten the status quo."

    Club Orlov

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous8:44 PM

    I have looked for MCR's map and can't find it. What am I missing? I've seen the movie Collapse where the map was also mentioned. I've been reading FTW website as well as this blog and can't find the map either.
    Where is this map? Is it a compilation of information that we have to decipher ourselves? Is it in book form?
    Also, MCR, in your resent post concerning Haiti, you mentioned that hopefully the awakening will arise before the panic over what is coming this year. What exactly is coming this year? What do you mean by that?

    ReplyDelete
  21. RanD, If you start a new blog containing your many involved philosophical ideas, I think you may have as your first " follower " PNW free thinker, who also wrote this, " I also, at times, think that the message they ( RanD ) are trying to share at length in this forum might be better served with teaser quotes linking to a blog of their own. ".

    Now I know that PNW also made some other points about this but I'd say that what they suggested above is really the best option considering how many posters have expressed that they would rather not deal with the sort of material you regularly discuss here at this blog.

    Setting up a blog is simple and once you get a list of followers just think of the great back and forth discussion you could have with them on all of these insights you consider so important. Really, I think it would be a good thing for RanD and rewarding too! Well enough said on that, back to the research :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. For CJ and all -- Had dinner tonight with Chris Smith who's in town to shoot a commercial. Looks like DVDs should be available on or around April 1...

    How appropriate. Keep your fingers crossed.

    ReplyDelete
  23. For The Boys:

    The map is pretty much laid out in Crossing the Rubicon, Confronting Collapse, and all of Mike's lectures and Videos. The Collapse Movie is a pretty good synopsis of where we stand today. But with each passing day, the world falls deeper and deeper into chaos. There is no actual map.... The map has been contructed thru Mike's research about how the world really works. It is more of an idea. Check out his website www.copvcia.com for archival work from his days publishing "From The Wilderness." The map is the way in which all of these articles weave together and form a bigger, more strategic picture of where the world is headed.

    ReplyDelete
  24. You will find MCR's "map" in his 675 page "Crossing the Rubicon", which I own and have read. Here's the deal, especially for those of you who seem to like to appeal to high-fallutin' philosophy.

    Epistemologically (theory of knowledge) there are only two kinds of thinkers: (1) transcendental idealists (Plato), who live in their heads and dream up all sorts of "road maps"; and immanent idealists (Aristotle), who claim that they live in the real world but who, sooner or later, end up living in their heads anyway. (The authority on the trivial differences between the two idealisms was Werner Jaeger from Heidelberg.)

    ALL idealists (there are actually three more versions of them) end up as "mystics", people who, in one way or another say, "I just KNOW these things and I don't have to give you evidence to prove what I'm telling you.

    MCR is a mystic. His tell-tale speech includes phrases like "connect the dots [that I've shown you]". And there is where things can go badly awry if we are not VERY careful.

    Connect-the-dots is the brain's favorite game because it is made to create pictures, not words. But if we examine astronomical constellations from various world cultures, we discover that people connect star dots to create constellation pictures that are also found in their cultural stories.

    Thus, the core issue is MEANING; and the key fact about meaning is that we read meaning INTO the pictures that we WANT to see. There are no pictures in the dots and there is no meaning in any picture even if there were some. All meaning comes from us.

    (See the Canadian mathematician C. S. Peirce, who is still the best authority on signs and symbols.)

    ReplyDelete
  25. I have to get this post sent, I started on 1,12., A have to start with this:

    Stand back and look around you, start with the Heavens, all the things happening governed by Quantum? laws which gives them their uniqueness, which 2 Universes do you see alike? All the posters here are different, & I
    like it that way. Most everyone has surely forgotten my dreams, here we go again, I mentioned Billiards/pool, and how if you walked away, & returned Later (Dreamland/prediction) things would be the same, YES/no!
    My first dream was short and involved few primary objects/actors (living/thinking minds), while the second was extended, involved many Objects, People, involving time and tide, which makes for changes, unpredictability! I never expected every detail to match. Also with History past/future, you can observe the planets and predict how they will act (unless something interferes).
    All this excludes MAN! Anything Can/Will happen when Brains are involved.
    Mike's MAP is truly a vapor, the roads are strings, almost Snakes with a mind of their own, WWII, 9-11, Floods, Tsunamis,
    Earthquakes, the number of dead-those suffering--all just guessing! Even with time travel, someone returning could make things
    better, OR MUCH worse! Conjecture about how/why/if add little to "the Map", or truly a Sand Drawing, what you or I see today
    could change Tomorrow. Mike knows the dangers of the coast, but that's Home to him, he knows from his background the odds.
    He quickly learned the odds in Venezuela. We each draws our own MAP, your side of the mountain is not my side!!
    I also miss F.Kamilov.

    1,12,2010
    I have always thought of myself as multi or extra cultural, more female than male, at odds with my peers.
    Always seeking out the different or unusual, always questioning, always the stranger, the outsider.
    I sought out relationships with people older than myself, those who would reflect on being young-growing old.
    WW I vets, a teacher who as a girl had Mrs Custer (Little Big Horn battle fame), as a neighbor;

    http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/custer.htm

    Here is a bit of the Native side.

    http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/bighorn.htm

    And about Mrs. Custer;

    http://monroe.lib.mi.us/books_movies_music/special_collections/custer_news_mrscuster_dead.htm

    (Could she really have been the Daughter, Miss Lula Custer?).

    she had many unprinted history lessons; she brought 2 huge Apples which she and Mrs. Custer had
    preserved by "Spiking" with Clove Buds over 65 yrs before. After 2 days we removed the cloves, cut, & ate the Apples, they were firm and tasty, with a bit of clove taste (I had several clove buds for years), she said the Apples
    were picked from a tree planted by Johnnie Appleseed in Michigan about 1860 (?) I have wondered if any of the seeds
    taken home produced Trees & Fruit?

    http://www.appleseed.net/About_Johnny.htm

    I knew several WW II vets, 3 German, one, a pilot who flew with/under Hans Ulrich Rudel, he said the man was crazy/insane!
    Read the comments.

    http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4893269/Stuka_Pilot_-_Hans_Ulrich_Rudel.pdf

    1 French Underground, 1 Spaniard, 1 Russian, & 2 Japanese.
    The Germans, & Japanese had been Prisoners of war here and returned as soon as they could; how many Americans did likewise, how many "Enemy Combatants" today will return here in Peace? Bush/Chaney learned nothing from history!

    Two German Ladies, one widowed before her child was born, frostbitten Fingers/Toes, in Berlin, once arrived after the
    Bomb Shelter was full. She & her baby spent the raid in a secluded doorway; everyone in the shelter Drowned!

    The second, a eastern Germany farm girl, knew nothing of the war (saw many planes, no one explained), until the Russians arrived, killed all the livestock (even her cat), & stripped the house of everything, including the Cloth wall covering.
    Her father was shot, Mother & Sister raped!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm concerned. Very concerned. I would like to re-visit my analytic comments from a previous FTW post:

    https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=22903415&postID=31724570297692716

    Not too long after I posted that, the Haitian earthquake occurred. As we speak, millions of dollars of medical, food aid is hovering off the coast of Haiti. The U.S. military has taken control of the in-flow of that aid, and everything from floating hospitals, to thousands of medical and military personnel are there to supposedly help Haitians.

    What if the majority of that aid is never meant to get into Haiti? The one common theme being expressed from the media on the ground in Haiti is that they know there is an immense amount of aid there, but for some reason it just isn't getting into the country fast enough.

    Anyone want to guess which U.S. state is just a short boat ride around Cuba from Haiti?

    ReplyDelete
  27. @Hotspringswizard, for most people reading this blog...

    RanD = yawn and skip to the next comment

    Man made earthquakes? Truly delusional.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Soggy Bottom,

    I hope that is not twisted around like in the picture on orlovs blog!
    You are my idea of a Learner, an active Teacher who encourages
    Thinking! I had one teacher (small t) who said "Sometimes I wish I could unscrew the top of your heads and pour this information in.", What a waste.

    Hotspringswizard, I follow about 6 blogs, some have been inactive
    for years, I have even posted on several with no response!?
    I do read yours, thank you.

    I would have a blog, except I do not have the time/energy to maintain one, besides where would the fun of pestering/informing those who are inclined to glance at your post now and again!
    By the by, you could also put out a "Tease" now and again, soon every
    Blog would be just plugs for another Blog, NO thank you.
    Amae.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wow, these jump into RanD's faces and kick 'em out of FTW crusaders sure tells us we're touching a bunch of soft spots out there! And hey wow, that's great! No better place to wake up snoozing ostriches than touch 'em their soft spots!

    No doubt about it, the REAL world is scarier than hell for those looking to someone to show them how to think-&-do rather than put in their own energy learning how to think-&-do for themselves. But hey! That's what all those churches and religions are all about! Why don't all of you RanD haters out there find a good ol' fashioned tried-&-true mainstream church to sign up with rather than mindlessly just keep fogging up the atmosphere down here where we're in the process of trying to escape from those churches, preachers, philosophers, world leaders, run-of-the-mill lie, steal, and murder PTBs etc etc etc!

    (Jeeze jeeze jeeze... will they ever wake up?!)

    ReplyDelete
  30. One more comment to make regarding my analysis on Florida which can be read here:

    https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=22903415&postID=31724570297692716

    I now kindly ask that you read this article:

    (Florida) Oil Drilling Debate Has Begun Again

    Oil companies know there is oil to tap in shallow waters off the coast of Florida. But you can't extract that oil without risking pollution / ruining the oceanfront views / property values / tourism.

    Now this quote really alarms me:

    "Florida Energy Associates, the organization spearheading the effort to lift Florida's 20-year ban on offshore drilling in the gulf, last week also told the News Service of Florida it planned to shed two-thirds of the 30 lobbyists it has enlisted to work the issue."

    Why bother employing lobbyists if you know there is an event coming that will eventually open the entire western coastline of Florida to oil exploration? If a large portion of Florida is harmed and people can't live there, all of those 'issues' preventing oil exploration just melt away.

    ReplyDelete
  31. RanD, In all thats been said recently I don't see anyone saying that you should be kicked out or anything like that in terms of commenting here. Its just about ideas that the general content of your lengthy post are out of place in the opinion of some.

    And when because of these expressions by some you write something like this, " No better place to wake up snoozing ostriches than touch 'em their soft spots! ", it reminds people that you truly do see yourself and your opinions in a higher place than others, even though you have intimated thats not what you really think.

    And in reference to this, " No doubt about it, the REAL world is scarier than hell for those looking to someone to show them how to think-&-do rather than put in their own energy learning how to think-&-do for themselves. ", if you think that gaining knowledge from the information and ideas of others is some kind of slackers endeavor, then why do you come here, and why do you attempt to share your " knowledge ". Wouldn't any learning that would come from your words be a representation of people not as you wrote, " think-&-do for themselves "?

    So what RanD, have you never learned anything from anyone in your life?

    And that last bit of yours about " RanD haters " comes across as a silly tantrum on your part. Who here said they hate you? That comes across like its " RanD's way or the highway ". Like if you don't take to heart RanD's idea then then you automatically by default endorse any of these things you wrote of " churches, preachers, philosophers, world leaders, run-of-the-mill lie, steal, and murder PTBs etc etc etc ".

    And regarding this, " Jeeze jeeze jeeze... will they ever wake up?!) ", the reality is that the people are few that would take to the type of ideas you hold as truth. As the world situation degrades you will find less of them. If your pinning your hopes on a " grand awakening " of the masses then your future will hold much frustration.

    So in all of what I've spoken of in reference to you two ( RanD ) lately its not been about trying to just say you shouldn't post here period ( something I have obviously no control of anyway ). Like Agape mentioned I too think diversity of thought is benificial. It should be clear to you by now what the suggestion really is.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous10:47 AM

    RanD,

    Why does your brain tell you that, since I don’t care for your posts, I am a “snoozing ostrich” with a “soft spot” that is malleable only to your mental touch, and that I should go join a church since I don’t fall victim to your pseudo-new-age rants?? (That’s rhetorical by the way…save yourself some keystrokes…)

    I am not calling you to be banned because I believe in free speech. I can easily scroll through your repeating posts about “Everything is as it should be…everything is right on track…etc. etc. etc.” The reason I avoid churches is because I am not inclined to enjoy listening to people rant that they posses some supreme other worldly knowledge, when in fact they are just as ignorant as the next person. People have belief systems to help them get through life and some people go to the extreme of believing that their beliefs are truths. I’m a follower of facts and logic, hence, why I’m not prone to enjoy many of your posts.

    It’s fine that you should view the world however you choose to view it, but when you come to a blog which the main topic centers on Peak Oil and its geo-political ramifications, you shouldn’t be surprised that participants would like to see some comments pertaining to Peak Oil. I believe as others have previously mentioned that if you have such a profound urge to share your spiritual beliefs over and over and over again, then you should start your own blog and invite others to join you.

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  33. If this pathetic nonsense doesn't stop, I'm dropping out of this blog. It has degenerated into a classic example of why America has been destroyed and a proof of the utter fraud of what passes for education here.

    I have repeatedly failed in my attempt to stimulate a discussion of the only question that matters about this blog. The sum of everything that MCR has to say about contemporary America has been said in his book Crossing the Rubicon. The issue about that book is whether it is what it purports to be--a road map to some sort of destination--or the meanderings of a slicker version of a conspiratorial mentality that might be called an educated Alex Jones sans rabies.

    In order to discuss issues raised in that book, members of this group would have to have read it. Yet, from kindergarten-level questions asked by some here, it is plain that few if any members of this blog have read it--and that at least one member didn't even know that MCR had written a book let alone that one.

    Instead of discussing the national life-and-death issues explored in that book, members of this group have made astonishing claims (e.g., that the earth's tectonic plates can be controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense); revealed incredibly uninformed assumptions (e.g., that the Harp program had to do with geology); and voted on the one member whom we do not want elected to president of our high school class (RanD).

    From what I see here, don't worry about the Internet getting shut down because it has proved irrelevant anyway.

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  34. Al-Olmstead, I read Mike's book. Man you got a serious chip on your shoulder. You think that threat of yours to leave is going to make those who post here snap to and do things just like you want them, like your the general and we are the privates? Its not going to happen and your frustrations will only grow. If you think " everything " thats discussed here is " pathetic ", and the internet is " irrelevant ", then those for you are clearly two good reasons to not even bother coming here, or to even bother going on line. Frankly, with your attitude, I wouldn't miss ya.

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  35. Al Omstead, What is "the only question that matters about this [FTW] blog"?

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    Nihil Matters, Seeing that which exists at any moment as: “Everything is as it should be…everything is right on track…etc. etc. etc.” -- such as everything is as I'm writing these words -- is not to mean that there's no need or desire of things being other than what they are.

    Life as we know is by its own intrinsic nature something which is constantly in a omni-comprehensive state of change from one state of being to another, and presents us along the way with lots of not-good mixed with good as we move from past into present into future. "Everything is as it should be...etc." thus merely displays recognition that life can be thought of as being a process, one which, as such, is therefore always inherently exactly as it should be all the time. Realizing and then fully personally self-consciously actualizing that life in fact IS this way -- i.e., that "life is a process that no one can live without" -- provides one with immeasurable socio-psycho-existential benefits and advantages that are otherwise incapable of being personally known. Nirvana? Not necessarily, in itself, but realizing then self-consciously internalizing this information will certainly help one place him-/herself within better reach of such an optimal state; but only if one is interested in experiencing such things, of course.

    Consider these words through the filters of logic and fact.

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  36. This all came to a head about a year ago with RanD also. They insist that their gospel must be told in here, and they've even been numbering the releases of their gospel this time for all of us, too. And any attempts to tell them that we don't want to hear their gospel are met with both bitterness and anger by them, a sign that they aren't really the truly spiritual people they want us to all believe they are.

    Similar to what happened about a year ago, they'll most likely lay low for awhile with publishing their lengthy writings, until they feel it's safe for the gospel of RanD to be told once again.

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  37. Businessman, I've always appreciated your contributions here :-)

    Regarding RanD and this you wrote, " And any attempts to tell them that we don't want to hear their gospel are met with both bitterness and anger by them, a sign that they aren't really the truly spiritual people they want us to all believe they are. ", yeah I noticed that too.

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