Thursday, January 14, 2010

HAITI

Jan 13, 2009 --- Remember Katrina and Rita? Those hurricanes that prompted a government response which made most of us ashamed to be American? I am certain that the global response to a devastation far worse, as a result of the Port Au Prince quake, will make Bush's Follies look like a well-oiled machine. Not only is the situation on the ground worse; the governments that might send massive aid are financial and economic basket cases. With the death toll already circling 200,000, and almost all critical infrastructure destroyed, the effort needed would have broken most governments before the collapse. It would take a Marshall Plan. So fuggedboudit. The UN can't help much either. No one can. There will be so many stories of courage, heroism, sacrifice and love to arise from this tragedy. At some point I can just see good souls all over the Gulf with private boats trying to do what they can. Take some fresh water and medical supplies in. Maybe pull a few out before anarchy and disease consume everything. It reminds me of a line Jeff Bridges once spoke: "You human beings are at your best when things are worst." -- That is exactly what must change in us.

We will see lots of footage of aid flights and stories about how other nations are rushing to assist. But it will not be possible to hide the fact for long that Haiti is becoming -- or has become -- a mass grave. Haiti is a stark, cold, and unforgiving metaphor for what we all face... all to soon. We need to listen to and acknowledge the suffering of the Haitian people so that someone might acknowledge ours when the time comes. What happens in Haiti needs to be watched cosely and learned from by those with the stomach for it. The journalist in me wants to be there, right in it.

Our message is spreading quickly. Every day I receive maybe 10 to 15 friend requests on Facebook from all over the world from people who have just seen "Collapse". Almost all say something like, "I thought I was the only one who felt this way." -- almost all are in their twenties. I spend as much time as I can with many to share a few words and bond across a cyberspace that now hums with a lonely echo. An awakening is taking place. Collapse has been invited to the Berlin International Film Festival and I've heard that it is going to be mentioned in one of the largest U.S. weekly news mags this week. Collapse has announced many new theatrical openings around the country and finally in some foreign cities. The awakening has started before the panic that will come... if not over Haiti then over what's coming this year. The faster we reach people, the less damage will be caused by the panic. It is my prayer that the panic can be averted, even if loss of life cannot. There is still time.

MCR
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From Jenna Orkin

War/Crime
Al Qaeda linked to air network
Homeland Security ignored a report detailing a clandestine fleet of executive jets regularly crisscrossing the Altantic on drug runs. The problem is now a global security threat.
Afghan Drone War Spikes Under McChrystal
'Killing the Enemy Is Not The Best Route to Success'
House Rep to introduce bill to ban private security contractors
Risk-averse Britain 'losing stomach for war'
Dutch Government Misrepresented Case for Iraq War
Murdered Iranian physicist acquainted with Israeli scientists (from Rice Farmer)
Police Are Told Not To Talk About Crime As It Might Scare the Public

Economy
Sovereign default risk looms
Real estate downturn will “overshadow” all others
Retail sales unexpectedly fall, jobless claims up
Jobless rate to stay above 8 percent until 2012: CBO
Foreclosures set a grim record in 2009
Swiss cheese recovery had more holes than cheese
Data suggests U.S. still overstating employment
S&P lowers California debt rating, cash crunch looms
Lowered to Third World status.
Financial crisis probe could be too late
US insurers have limited exposure in Haiti
In case you were worried about them.
Marc Faber: "We Are Doomed" -- Sees default in America's future (from Rice Farmer)
Where did all our money go?
HMRC 'spying' on tax evaders
'UK depression is over'
German Economy Shrank 5 Percent in 2009
S Korea scrambles to contain won amid export fears

Environment/Science
US primed for Copenhagen collapse
Bon appétit: Monsanto's GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure, Study Reveals (from Rice Farmer)
Earthquake worsens health nightmare
Docs seek to stifle patients’ rants on Web sites

Gold
Investor appetite drives gold to new peak
Bullion demand overtakes jewellery, showing speculators’ impact

14 comments:

Unknown said...

What is your source for 200,000 dead?

Namby-Pamby said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kraig Grady said...

i sent this a while ago. This story comes back still again
http://www.daily.pk/fake-gold-bars-in-bank-of-england-and-fort-knox-14477/

Unknown said...

When will Collapse be released on DVD?

MCR said...

Variety of personal sources. I said circling... not at. I'm sure it will pass 200,000 when all the deaths from disease, starvation, untreated wounds and everything else are counted. In every major disaster we tracked (e.g. the Tsunami and Katrina) by the time things ended, the final death cunt was always 2-3 times what you heard in the first two days.

JJR said...

Hope there will be a showing of COLLAPSE near Houston, TX very soon. I just lost my job at a university in North Texas and recently moved back to the Houston area. I know James Howard Kunstler would tell me Houston is not a great place to be in the Long Emergency, but for reasons similar to Mike going back to live in LA, Houston is the home I know best, since 1978. I never felt "at home" in North Texas despite living there 4 years, not like the way I do here. I've been grateful to reconnect with friends in Houston since moving back, too.

Losing my regular income has made me realize how unsustainable my own lifestyle was; I'm staring Bankruptcy straight in the face now; Not the way I *wanted* to get out of debt, but any port in a storm, I guess. I'm doing the best I can to be a good son to my retired parents who live on a fixed income while I look for gainful employment.

I've actually been working harder each day, getting up early every day, etc, since losing my job than I ever did when I was employed. I actually look forward to finding work so that I can let myself sleep in on weekends again.

MCR is right to point to Haiti as a stark reminder of what a post-Peak Oil world really means for us all potentially.

RanD said...

Hotspringswizard, Thanks oodles for the positive feedback. That sort of thing contributes immeasurably to improving focus and spreading general well-being. Inherently mindless competition is a disease-sustaining rag, intelligent collaboration the wave of the future.

Hotspringswizard said...

RanD, It appears you are perhaps miffed by my last comments concerning you. Just some light hearted joking around there, and nothing ill meant by it at all. And this, " mindless competition is a disease-sustaining rag ". Competing with you two is the last thing on my mind, really :-)

Realistically, I think the things you two right about, few here can make sense of for the most part. What you convey many times is this air that RanD has come to an exceedinly high state of awarness, and feel the need to " en-lighten " those of us below you in mental capacity to this greater wisdom. Clearly you feel this special knowledge you hold can help to bring humanity to a grand awakening of the consciousness.

So maybe you " en-lighten " some, but I'd bet for the most part you confuse many. So if my observation is accurate then how is what you write contributing to the achievement of, " improving focus and spreading general well-being "?

Seems to me the vast majority of people who are posting here are just trying to get a clearer picture of the developments of these precarious times we are heading into and not seeking ongoing nebulous philosophical lessons from RanD.

Trust me, none of this means I feel any ill will towards you two. You may feel I was bagging on you but thats not what I intended. I just thought your comment about people wanting your heads wrung from you bodies was funny and your ideas that somehow there's going to be some mass human awakening to a higher level of thought and action isn't going to happen.

I come here to check out the list of great links provided by Jenna, to read MCR's occasional postings, and to consider others contributions that bring more light to these subjects too. Perhaps you could start a blog with you philosophical ideas ( #26, #27, etc ) and refer people to it from time to time. Seems like you two have an ongoing interest in sharing things of this nature so a personel blog might be the ticket :-)

thelonelybarbarian said...

I completely agree with HotSpringsWizard. I usually scroll past RanD's comments which are often quite long. They do seem to possess a deep understanding of things - certainly a result of years of reading and living. Yet, to me, their writing has a strange passive aggressive air - like they don't really want to communicate but just want to show that they are more evolved than the rest of us. I don't think they would want to get their own blog b/c I don't really think they are interested in communicating. I think they are interested in parading their knowledge. Sorry, RanD - I just wish you'd be more clear so we can understand you, and if you don't want to than what ARE you doing exactly?

Paul, your posting gives me hope.

Anonymous said...

Brevity is the wit of the soul :)

Unknown said...

So if nobody here knows when Collapse will be released on DVD, does anyone know who I might ask to find out? The only reason I'm asking is because there have not been, and there are no scheduled showings in my area and I'm very interested to see it.

Alana said...

My husband and I just watched Collapse at a screening in Toronto this evening (at the Fox Theatre, January 20, 2010). Amazing movie, we were captivated. There IS an awakening going on, I've been aware of it since the late 90's but I only started to act on it within the past few months.

Last September we moved from an apartment in Toronto into a house in smaller city just outside of Toronto. I couldn't live in an apartment any longer, I felt like we were too vulnerable and helpless. I knew we needed land, so now we have a good sized yard. This spring we'll prepare the earth to grow vegetables, and I have a humble dream to keep some chickens. We are moving toward self sustanance by getting off the chemicals, buying local as much as possible (which is difficult living in Canada, short growing season for fruits and vegetables) and moving away from a consumer driven culture. So far it's felt nothing short of empowering. My sister and her husband have plans in the near future to build their home off the grid and be completely self-sustaining.

I'm so glad I got to see Collapse, thank you for sharing your research and your ideas Mr. Ruppert. I'm glad I came across your blog as well. I'll stay tuned...

Cheers,

Alana, Oakville, ON

Anonymous said...

There's a movement to radically change California government, by getting rid of career politicians and chopping their salaries in half. A group known as Citizens for California Reform wants to make the California legislature a part time time job, just like it was until 1966.

www.onlineuniversalwork.com

Unknown said...

Term limits have never made sense to me henry. What it means is that the politicians has to sell out so that he can count on a job when his term is up