From Jenna Orkin
Headlines/War/Terror
Agencies Suspect Iran Is Planning Nuclear Sites
Article which has garnered considerable attention.
Obama Warns of Iran Threat to World Economy
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Suggests Israel Must Be Prepared to Attack Iran
Iran Rattles Saber Over Gaza
Iran used China connection for nuke gear
Chavez Says Russia Offers Venezuela Nuclear Help
UK troops losing limbs rises sharply
Fifty four men lost at least one limb last year, more than the total for the last three years, report shows
Al-Qaida bombs hit Baghdad
Economy/US
IMF Fed E. Europe Crisis to Get Work: Czech C. Banker
Geithner Delays Currency Report, Urges Flexible Yuan
Why Asian Nations Have Stayed Quiet on Yuan Debate
FBI Warns on Letters to Governors
Unemployed Cloud the Jobs Picture
More Debtors Find Wages Being Garnished by Creditors
What Bailout Billions Bought
Again, The Big Problem With Unemployment Is The LENGTH OF TIME People Are Unemployed
158,000 Personal Bankruptcies In March, 75% of them Chapter 7
Unions Had Their Turn, Now Municipal Utilities Sink Teeth Into The LA Budget
David Petraeus for President: Run General, run
World
Russia rail bombs seen linked to Moscow attacks
Email from a Chinese on China's Real Estate Bubble
Bangkok protesters refuse to disperse
Dash for Poland’s gas could end Russian stranglehold
Soros backs Oxford to refresh economics
Uranium nations flout nuclear mandate
Disaster filmmaker declares situation in Haiti out of control
Wikileaks to Unveil Secret Video
Environment
UK's £73bn nuclear clean-up is fast-tracked
Farm for the Future
From interviews with Campbell and Heinberg to forest gardens that produce several times more per acre than our current agricultural system.
Create an edible garden
Is the Internet Killing Polar Bears?
Organic pest control
Households 'throw out half a ton food-related waste'
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26 comments:
more for Elmo on ANPR (news right on cue ITYS lol)
"John Catt who, at the age of 80, in 2005 was stopped with his daughter Linda and had their car searched under the Terrorism Act. They were threatened with arrest by City of London police if they failed to answer questions.
After they complained, it emerged that their car had been secretly “flagged” on the police computer because it had been spotted in Brighton near a demonstration against the arms trade. "
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7086783.ece
Exactly! ... They were threatened with arrest. They should have demanded to be arrested!
I think you misunderstood me gamedog. I don't say ANPR isn't a problem. I'm saying that if a few more people were a little less compliant --and a whole lot less fearful-- they wouldn't be doing that sort of thing. The one thing the powers-that-be can't stand is to be embarrassed.
Take, for example, that case where they busted the 70 year old woman for selling a goldfish to a 14 year old. Why do you think they do that kind of shit? Because it makes people just a little more afraid to challenge authority. Like feeding Christians to the lions! If she'd have gone into the courtroom and flatly refused to admit to any wrong-doing or pay any kind of fine, she most likely would have sat the night in jail on a contempt charge, and they'd have discreetly let her go the next day. The public would have never heard a word about it.
Now, I'm sure some legal expert will chime-in and tell everyone how utterly full of shit I am, and that I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about; but I happen to have firsthand experience on the matter. Their power is your fear!
Every time you say "yes sir", "no sir" to those pricks, they get just a little more arrogant. And if people keep bowing to them, then pretty soon you won't even be allowed to breathe in public without carrying a permit.
gamedog...I just saw an interview today with the former head of Homeland Security here in the U.S. He mentioned that the new format for screening suspected terrorists at airports will involve, among other things, "a partial matching of passport numbers." I just hope the new format that the police are using with cameras on their cars, looking for suspected license plate numbers in the area, doesn't involve just a partial matching of license plate numbers in order to pull someone over.
RanD
If we are to ever change the way that money works surely a little study of alternatives would give us some guidelines to pursue.
There are those on this blog who believe that no society on the planet will survive collapse - in any civilised way. I beg to differ.
Surviving, I would not wish to continue operating within a monetry system such as we have now. Therefore I would like to be as informed as I can be on the alternatives.
Elmo
As I have commented previously, fear is their greatest weapon.
So I'm with you on this one.
elmo, here's another one to add to the list of "anecdotes of our time" - here is australia, it is now illegal to leave your car unlocked, punishable by $120 fine.
British households 'throw out almost half a ton of food-related waste'
I don't have any figures on it; but I would guess that in the U.S. we pitch at least twice that amount. I never realized how much really went into the garbage until I started composting.
"Alys Fowler predicts, people will look back at ornamental gardens and gasp at our extravagance — imagine growing plants you can’t eat! "
Hey, now! I happen to LIKE my Japanese maple!
Oh, and going back to what PeakedOut said about people speaking up...
I have read quite a huge volume of material on this blog, from some very interesting and intelligent people. But I must say that the person who has impressed me the most here, so far, has been Jenna. Not because I have heard her utter the greatest volume of wisdom, or have had any deep and meaningful conversations with her; but because I would have never in a million years expected her to let 3/4 of my posts get past her censor. To this day, she has only ever refused one of my postings; the reason for which was perfectly understandable... I had pretty much asked for it!
Never before have I visited any moderated website whose moderator didn't pick and choose to allow only those postings which fit his/her/group's personal viewpoint. My hat is off to Jenna, and to anyone else who is responsible for the content of this blog!
I see your point Elmo (I've studied the freeman movement) and agree to a point. However, I know a little about the goldfish lady, my sister lives round the corner and shops there, all locals were saying similar things to you. She did break the law (selling pets to underage) so if she had pled innocent, the magistrates (no jury - just 3 JPs) would have passed the case to crown court, where (she was advised by her solicitor) costs might exceed £50k (she'd have to pay legal expenses for both sides) if found guilty. The judge would have had to direct the jury to give a guilty verdict because she did in fact break the letter of the law (which is an ass). To plead innocent she would have to show she did not sell a pet to underage which is unlikely considering the council had video evidence. I'd have done the same in similar circumstances because it's not worth losing your house/life savings over. It's OK to fight these fights if you have no assets, you can claim legal aid, let someone who has nothing to lose fight these silly laws.
regarding my other post getting stopped on ANPR myself, had I been in-compliant, I guarantee I'd have been arrested (for obstruction, or detained to prove identity or some such bollix), my car impounded, and eventually released without charge, to face a vehicle storage/recovery fee of £130 +£12 per day storage. I was happy to answer the police "ja" & "Nein" (allo allo style) to every question, a few of them knew what I was implying ;) (google allo allo if you don't get it)
Pick your fights wisely!
Elmo, your generalizations are cute. Anyone who resorts to using "the powers that be" to bolster what is, in effect, a political discourse automatically profiles himself.
A legal hint: if and when charged/busted by the state, simply ask the state's representative if the entity being charged/busted is a "person" or a "human being." The question will likely make their eyes glaze. Further hint: the former is a corporate entity dealing with another corporate entity, i.e. the state. Last hint: if no contract has been willfully entered into, it is an impossibility to break contract.
Might it be any wonder why the state-sanctioned ideology of political correctness (with attendant designation of "personhood") is so high on the priority list?
Elmo,
I like your spirit, and your posts are refreshing and very insightful. However, I want to caution about being the one to teach the authorities a lesson. Sure, if everyone stood up against authoritarianism, there would be none of it. But we don't have that kind of world.
"We the people" have been so dumbed down and infatilized over the years by consumerism and law-and-order fear-mongering and by deliberated encouragement of our worst habits (such as overeating, or ranging around in cars for no reason) that today, "we the people" will not do the mature, responsible thing.
Now, being part of ... eh, maybe 1 or 2 percent who see pretty clearly and have a Life of your own, you think, "Hey, someone's gotta teach these monkeys a lesson." But stop and realize that there is no righteous mob behind you. There is a very unrighteous mob in front of you.
The system is gearing up right now to deal with what will certainly be a lot of dissent, chaos, disorder. None of that will "take back America" (or Britain) and none of it will teach cops to behave. Unfortunately it will lead to a lot more authoritarianism, each time someone makes a dramatic statement against it. Until the point that the center fails and we're all on our own.
Many people think anarchy will be a bunch of laughs -- no authoritarian bullshit to deal with. But if you can imagine millions of people uncertain about their future meals, their homes and cars, the safety of their kids, ALL AT ONCE, with no cops and no laws ... that's not a pretty picture. All that will have to play out before anything better than Uncle Sam with a cattle prod can be born.
I happen to be among those who believe something good can come out of collapse. You think we're all gonna die. (Well, we are, but maybe not all at once.) I'm thinking, civilization is a persistent idea, and will continue to plague us for some time to come. The good that can come is that smaller, saner knots of human interaction can develop relatively peaceful interaction in the aftermath of a huge and painful change.
I strongly recommend "Take cover!" rather than "Stand up for your rights!" Time and a place for everything.
Jes m'own humble 'pinion, boss.
(Machine chewed up my earlier post, at least I think it did. This happens often. Pardon if this is a repeat.)
Elmo,
I well respect your recent contributions. But I want to warn against teaching the authorities a lesson. They will not change. The system will not change. "We the people" have become an infantilized population of consumers. If you stand up to authority, you stand alone. Even if 200,000 march in the streets, nothing happens. Partly that's because they didn't try to make anything happen, because if they did the tanks would close in, or the tear gas would fly, arrests would be made, careers ruined. Can't have that.
People are not going to stand behind you. You'll end up being biometrically tagged, labeled a problem, punished, and watched. This is not the time to stand up. This is the time to take cover.
Big things are happening, and The State is not in control. Still, state functionaries will strive to assert control, and non-state actors (mafias, racial and religious militias, local power groups) will be armed, aggressive and ready to kick butt. If you want to play that game, good luck and it was nice hearing from you while you lasted.
AFTER the machine crashes (and, to some extent, quietly, as it does) there will be room to move, to assert the Right Way, to teach and to insist. But now is the time to get out the damn way because an insane, dying system is thrashing desperately in its last days, and it need not take you with it.
One man's opinion, is all.
http://collateralmurder.com/
@gamedog
I'm not saying she should have plead "innocent". I'm saying she should have gone before the magistrate, and said "your law is ridiculous and there's no way in hell I'm going to endorse it!" Yeah, she'd probably do some jail time; but it might save someone else some similar grief. And they're counting on you being afraid of losing your ASSets... That's why they pick on little old ladies, and not ASSholes like myself!
@eyeballs
"Sure, if everyone stood up against authoritarianism, there would be none of it. But we don't have that kind of world."
Ummm.... Yeah... Exactly!... And WON'T until we DO, I figure!
"But if you can imagine millions of people uncertain about their future meals, their homes and cars, the safety of their kids, ALL AT ONCE, with no cops and no laws ... that's not a pretty picture."
Yeah, I CAN imagine it; which is how I know that all of my gardens are an exercise in futility. Still, I am not willing to go back the way I came.
"I strongly recommend "Take cover!" rather than "Stand up for your rights!""
Well, I wholeheartedly agree with that! Trouble is, we've cut down all the trees, and we're pretty much out in the open here.
What I'm saying is that when you do have to deal with seemingly insurmountable force, it is never in your best interest to just reflexively submit.
Remember all those millions of people who walked willingly into the showers? They all went in desperately clinging to the notion that someone was going to rescue them at the very last minute. Didn't happen! Only the dissenters stood any real chance of survival. And I don't mean the loud-mouths with the megaphones; I mean the ones who refused to be directed into the pens in the first place, who had the good sense to cut-and-run when the option presented itself, and not worry about others calling them a coward! And I think that if I read you correctly, you would concur.
I understand about being "labeled and watched". I've been watched my whole life! Why do you think I stuck my picture up on my profile, with all the information anyone would need to find me? I'm not going to HIDE from these people! This is MY world just as much as it is THEIRS! They don't own SHIT! And they certainly aren't my SUPERIORS!
Y'all can hide if you want to; I really don't blame you! But just don't think they won't come looking for you, 'cuz they live for the hunt!
Scott,
I watched it. I sent it around. It was horrible. But thank you.
How normal it all sounds, up in the gunship. That normal is the insanity that runs banks, universities, the intelligence community and the State Department, as well. It's where federal taxes go, the ones that don't bail out mega-rich banks.
Sometimes we have to forego the Macro and take care of the Micro issues and be local and concern ourselves with the here and now moments of our own immediate dirt. Heads up Californians. Check the USGS latest earthquake map: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/
See the lines of activity just in the LAST HOUR, (in RED), with events in and around and moving north towards the san andreas. We're having hundreds of aftershocks in S. CA some only 15 minutes apart. The activity has been culminating for months and years but when you look at the USGS map of quakes just in the few days, it's clear to many something different is going on and some say it doesn't look good. So heads up if you're in the area, depending on what you're doing, (moving around or being still), you may or may not feel the movements but we are feeling it! Get prepared. We're just sayin. mrs p
And, yeah... I think we're all going to bite the big one on this collapse, and here's why:
They --the ones will all the money and the guns-- will not relinquish control under any circumstance! If they can't maintain authority by any other means, then they will nuke the place!
And it won't take much for it to happen. I can't stress it enough how many beer-guzzling soldier-boys there are out there who can't wait to see those big dicks fly across the sky! And some of them have lots of stripes on their arm!
But, let's say for a minute that they don't get to play with their toys; and somehow we're able to shut-down their war machine for good... And maybe we can even manage to abolish all commercial enterprise entirely, and opt for a more sustainable way of living...
You're still left with the problem of what to do with all those decaying missile silos; nuclear waste dumps; chemical storage facilities; polluted ground water; drug-resistant diseases; leveled mountain ranges; topsoil that won't grow anything; dead zones in the oceans the size of North America; etc; etc; etc...
You're going to need a billion people just to clean all that up (if that's even doable)! And you had better pray that none of those people get's the bright idea to turn it into a profit-making industry, or you'll be fucked all over again!
So, do you see the problem? I don't think many of you do!
Re:David Petraeus for President: Run General, run
"With many voters yearning for an outsider, and military officers looked up to, General David Petraeus could be a powerful presidential candidate and a potentially accomplished President. "
Outsider my ass!
Petraeus is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The “outsider” Patraeus attended the Bilderberg meeting held in Greece in 2009!
Says: We cannot complete your request. Said that last time, and I resent, but it had completed the damthing. Anyway, this time I copied before the machine ate it:
Elmo,
Yes, I do concur.
"...when you do have to deal with seemingly insurmountable force, it is never in your best interest to just reflexively submit.""
Absolutely right. You make an important distinction between lying down to be taken and not being there when the death wagon arrives. Yes, that's it, I think.
They can't nuke everyone. And there have to be not only a billion or so people left, as you say, but a usable infrastructure including the knowledge and information necessary, PLUS the WILL to clean up the horrible mess of the 20th century. Whoever does the nukin' most likely understands that. Maybe not. But there is that chance, that humankind will make it, and maybe improve in the process.
Your garden may be eaten by the starving masses. So plant more. Someone on this blog said "I'm planting in abandoned lots and my neighbor's yard." Plant plenty for everyone, all you can. Teach others.
"If we make it, we can all sit back, and laugh."
(King Crimson, 1970s)
Might as well try.
@Raymond
"it is now illegal to leave your car unlocked, punishable by $120 fine."
Yeah... And in a perfect world, everybody would protest that by leaving their cars unlocked and their windows down, with one of those windshield sun-screens covered with unpaid parking tickets! LOL
@eyeballs
"Might as well try."
Oh, I AM trying! I've gained a reputation in my neighborhood for being "That Crazy Motherfucker"; "Prophet Of Doom"; "Arrogant Land-Thieving Bastard"... You name it, I think I've been called it! My only response is: "You might want to follow my lead, before Wal-Mart goes out of business."
Right now, I think I have managed to alienate just about everyone I know, by being such an insubordinate, unruly, disruptive, unCivilized, dangerous individual; but like I said: I have no plans on going back the way I came. That doesn't mean I'm holding onto any hope for a bright tomorrow... It just means I intend to go down fighting! :-)
Who knows what tomorrow brings? I'll be the first to tell you that my fortune-telling skills are a bit lacking. But from a purely technical perspective, I don't see any way out of it, save by divine intervention.
I don't believe that population is going to just "slide" back down to the 500,000 mark, as a result of financial collapse. I think it's going to be a cluster-fuck of catastrophes hitting us all at once! Therefore, I take the Bible at it's word. Why not, it's been right about everything else? 144,000 supposedly get to live to tell about it. Out of 7 billion, yeah, I'd call that Armageddon! And it sounds somewhat feasible, but I'm not counting on it. But, daddy knows best, right?
In the larger scheme of things planet Earth will survive us. Our presence, largely a destructive one, will simply be a blip in it's evolutionary passage.
Humanity however will not disappear for many a year to come.
There were people on this planet for whom the second world war never happened. It passed them by. True they were in places far from so called 'civilization', and such places, although probably now visible, would still contain pockets of humanity capable of continuing the human race.
We each live in very different points on this planet and have varying views on survival. We each will play our hand in the way we believe is right for us.
What is right for me and my circumstances will not be the same for all.
I don't believe my survival is important, what is important to me is how I 'played the game'.
(For those unfamiliar with the game of cricket the quote is:
It matters not who wins or loses but how you play the game.)
"That doesn't mean I'm holding onto any hope for a bright tomorrow... It just means I intend to go down fighting! :-)"
Be careful how you frame your intentions, Elmo. I don't intend to "go down fighting". I intend to learn and grow and help and see what happens. And I would very much like to WIN.
That doesn't mean I will get everything I wanted. For me, Life as We Know It ended in North America about 1880. How would I get huge primeval forests and rivers full of clean water, packed with salmon? What are my chances of hippies living lightly on the land, like Gaskins Farm in Tennessee, as the NORM rather than the exception?
We've lost a great deal, and will likely endure huge losses in the coming time. But what I've found is that you can lose a lot and still have a field of action, from which good consequences can arise. Like, when the girl of your dreams tells you to shove off, and you think it's the end of the world, only it's not -- and later you thank your stars she married some scumbag lawyer because then you met some really nice people and got into some good things and didn't have to live that woman's soap-opera fantasy. Or something.
Amazonian Indians will not miss industrial civilization. Those of us to whom frozen pizza and 3D movies were the very meaning of Life, will suffer horribly. I'm somewhere in between, so I expect to suffer some. But I know that it aint necessarily the end of everything, so I'm doing my best to make whatever DOES happen as good as it can be.
And that's the good fight.
And why should I plan on losing?
OOps! Make that 500,000,000. I always forget those last 3 zeros!
"How would I get huge primeval forests and rivers full of clean water, packed with salmon? "
Well... I don't see it as a simple matter of having lost a few forests or a few fish. I see it as us having gained the mentality of the superman -- the Übermensch -- who, being so wise and intelligent, will improve on creation itself.
What is it that we do here? We talk about them, them them, as if we somehow could have done better! We offer ideas to each other on how to live; when even animals without brains can figure that one out! This is the force that drove us out of the garden, and set us on a path to conquer the entire planet. We believed we could make a "better world" for ourselves; and now that it's done, here we are drowning in our own shit!
I've been waiting all my life to hear one person... Just one fucking person... say that they're sorry they helped make it all happen. But that isn't what I find. Instead, I find a whole lot of finger pointing; and the same old endless "chattering of geniuses" who --this time-- are going to find a way to save mankind from himself!
This is hubris, my friend, and it is what brought the fall of every civilization that came before us!
So... Will this "collapse" bring the final solution? Possibly not. But I desperately hope that it does!
Russian oil tycoon gives bombastic appeal in court
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