In Defense of Andrew Sullivan

One of the reasons Andrew Sullivan criticized neoCons is their climate change denial rhetoric.

He says: "I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy."

It is an important time that Mr. Sullivan chose to make his statement, because the Copenhagen summit is upon us.

As many as 56 newspapers in 45 countries are making a unified statement to encourage a successful conference.

Here is an excerpt from the joint statement:

Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.

The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rises to 2C, an aim that will require global emissions to peak and begin falling within the next 5-10 years. A bigger rise of 3-4C — the smallest increase we can prudently expect to follow inaction — would parch continents, turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct, untold millions of people would be displaced, whole nations drowned by the sea. The controversy over emails by British researchers that suggest they tried to suppress inconvenient data has muddied the waters but failed to dent the mass of evidence on which these predictions are based.

(Editor & Publisher). The oil barons are behind a massive campaign to generate denial of the global weather reality.

They have lost in the courts, lost in the EPA deliberations, and have lost the people too.

Sunday-Monday, Can't Trust That Day

Todd Palin purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary, then submitted this:

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Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest.

The occasion was our 15th anniversary or so, and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Sarah. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse- sized tazer. The effects of the tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing. I was disappointed.

I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I’d get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Sarah what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave. Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right?

There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it.

She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a muslim, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and tazer in another.

The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water or a holy roller gettin' healed.

Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries by sending them muslims to the place they collect their 70 virgins. All the while I’m looking at this little device measuring about 5” long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, ‘no possible way!’ What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best?

I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, ‘don’t do it dipshit,’ reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad.

I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and ... OILAH AKBAR! ... WEAPONS OF MASS DESECRATION ... WHAT THE HELL ...

I’m pretty sure Jessie Ventura in priest robes ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs like when I got saved the second time.

The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to ‘mug’ yourself with a tazer, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative? IT HURT LIKE LOSIN' A 'LECTION!

A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace.

The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. Like John Boy McCain, I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I’m still looking for my nuts and I’m offering a significant reward for their safe return!

P.S … My wife, can’t stop laughing about my mavericky experience, loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!

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What ever happened to that comic strip called "There Outta Be a Law"?

Six More Banks Bite The Dust

The total number of banks shut down by the government so far in 2009 is 130:

"The 130 bank failures are the most in a year since 1992 at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. They have cost the federal deposit insurance fund more than $28 billion so far this year."

(Huffington Post). Even the FDIC fund used to cover these 130 failed banks this year has been running short of money.

So while banks are getting trillions in bailout money, banks are going down in near record numbers? Lets dig deeper.

The graph above shows the military economy going straight up through the roof at the same time that banks are going down and while the domestic economy tanks into the basement.

There are several obvious things wrong with this picture, however, I want to focus on a hidden economic "mystery" that the MSM will not yet talk about.

The red vertical line shows when "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" was passed.

The green line shows a reasonable time frame, following the passage of that bill into law, until "shovel ready" projects could have begun to receive funding pursuant to that public works spending revolution.

The mystery is that the domestic non-military trend line stays flat while the military trend line keeps climbing.

Following the domestic trend line, it is clear that "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" had no effect on the domestic economy, in fact, the domestic economy soon got worse.

In fact it was just after John McCain said "the economy is fundamentally sound" that the graph shows the domestic economy did a steep dive.

Perhaps he was talking about the military oil complex budget which he considers to be "the economy"? The military oil complex economy was the only one raking in the taxpayer's money hand over fist.

The yellow vertical line on the graph represents the U.S. infrastructure suffering a major bridge collapse after the greatest public works spending in U.S. history should have been fully operational.

This collapse indicates how much that public works money was needed here at home.

Did that money make its way to Baghdad where the largest, most fancy, and most mismanaged embassy in the world was being built? Or Dubai where the largest building and largest airport in the world were being built?

What we know is that the Pentagon admits to having an accounting system that misplaces 25% of its budget (trillions of dollars), the Federal Reserve refuses to disclose where it has sent your / our federal dollars, and I call this the age of Plunder.

You decide.

Some Dementia Is Contagious

There are posts on this blog that attempt to use various analogies, symbols, allegories, and the like to point out that nations behave like individuals sometimes, even to the point of appearing to be temporarily outside the parameters of sanity.

To take it a bit further, lets consider whether some forms of dementia are contagious.

This contemplation is offered in the sense that "a person is known by the company that person keeps", but more than that, I found sources which declare outright that dementia is contagious:

The latest research performed in Montreal at McGill University reported that if depression is not treated then it could lead to dementia or insanity. It means that your loved one can pass the disease to you.

(Seniors, see also The Article Box). Which is another way of saying memes hang with like memes, and memes comprise sanity as well as insanity.

Canada has evidently become infected with the dirty energy meme in a magnitude that would make Exxon proud:

The people around the world who have considered Canada to be one of the beacons, one of the sources of environmental sanity, one of the places to always be a solid hope for the future of humanity, now fear that Canada has fallen into the abyss of human error.

(Ecocosmology Blog). The oil barons of the U.S. going around religiously proclaiming "Oilah Akbar! Oilah Akbar!" while infecting millions, have now infected the Canadian government. Canada is now against Kyoto and Copenhagen.

The world has gone crazy several times before and can do so again if enough people fail to resist the memes of insanity.

Resist!

Obama Situation Ethics For Fewer Jobs

Question: President Obama said in a news conference, concerning the jobs summit to fix 10-17% unemployment, that the reason for fewer jobs is that when he was inaugurated there was "less money coming in than there was going out".

So he had to spend trillions of dollars on the "poor" banks, spend $30-$50 billion a year or more to escalate another war that is only profiting the "poor" warmongers, then tell the poor people in New Orleans, who are suffering due to insufficient government help to this day , "I wish I could write a check", then go to a dinner to raise money for rich politicians where the menu only had items on it that would cost you $34,000 to sit down and eat?

Answer: The government is not of the people, not for the people. It is becoming increasingly that way, and we have no choice or hope of another politician who will do anything but be a puppet of those who would plunder the people until millions lose homes, jobs, savings, health, to become like those living in a third world banana republic.

The right wing plunder barons are becoming more and more happy with Obama as the middle class and poor are becoming shocked at the utter incompetence of the government to govern for the people any more.

The new age kingdom is upon us where democracy and concern for the people is feigned, but in reality behind the scenes, the new kings are the military oil complex of warmongering plunder barons.

Will the people rise up and figure a way to throw off the illegitimate oppressors and illegitimate plunder barons?

Maybe, maybe not.

Mega Infrastructure Bill To Make Jobs?

We are talking about "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" having creative billions reserved as special earmarking to the tune of "$24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land".

"The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long" costing "$286.4 BILLION" known as "the highway bill" was the republican congress and republican president's bill passed in late 2005.

But it did not stop the Minnesota bridge from collapsing and killing American citizens, nor did it stop the great recession that is still ongoing.

So how is the next most expensive public works legislation in US history going to be any different?

The answer is that nothing is going to work until we stop destroying wealth with the stupid wars, the stupid military spending gone pork barrel wild, and the stupid military propaganda deciding our fate.

Read this following quote slowly, remembering that it was done while the exorbitant costs of war were not being included in the budget a few years back, while everyone was smitten with bubbleosis, that economic disease which says this economic universe is expanding forever baby, and while we were in the love of war daze:

AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

That didn't stop them from voting for it. It passed 412 to 8 in the House, 91 to 4 in the Senate.

(Boston Globe, August 2005, emphasis added, see also PBS Transcript). Once again, why didn't the greatest infrastructure spending in fiscal history not help the economy?

Because war is the most expensive and economically destructive endeavor any nation can partake of. As long as we have nation building and wars like we have now we will have economic problems.

Final question, where did that money really go?

This mystery continues.

Obama's October 7, 2001 Speech

Our good president, Barack Obama, gave the October 7, 2001 speech last night at West Point that Bush II should have given way back when.

Back when it would have made sense to many of our citizens.

Over eight years ago Bush II invaded Afghanistan when the U.S. reputation in the world was at such a peak that even he could get unfettered support.

But that unfettered support did not last long, so now we find ourselves at the lowest ebb of our international popularity, our reputation in the world.

But war illusions together with the death, destruction, and loss of innocents does continue to be with us to continue our reputation's ongoing demise.

What many in the United States forgot was that war is not glorious, war is not good, war is not just, war is simply inevitable when people forget the evil nature of war, forget what war will do to any people who will let it.

Our most eloquent and wise forefathers, presidents, founders, who are our eyes, informed us of this long ago:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied : and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established."

James Madison (Father of U.S. Constitution, 4th President, etc., emphasis added)

(Source of Corruption). Obama confirmed that we are addicted to faith in war instead of hatred of war as it should be.

Our good president's decision to escalate the Afghanistan war will damage us even more than it already has, furthering the demise of our reputation as a peaceful nation of the world.

In Support of Slavery

Everyone is talking about Dubai in the context of "commercial real estate failure".

This talk is also in the sense of whether Dubai's financial failures will or will not effect our commercial real estate here in the United States.

Those in the know are already aware that commercial real estate, like residential real estate, is practically a catastrophe here already. But not much talk about their policy that supports slavery:

Dubai is finally financially bankrupt – but it has been morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis of freedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time.

Yes, it has Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneath these accoutrements, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.

(Independent, emphasis added). There is a rush to feed the public as much pabulum as possible so as to hide the realities which are unfitting for a denial society. Sorry folks, if you blog here you have to take your medicine, because that is what the doctor ordered.

Dubai practices slavery, Cheney's Haliburton moved there, it gets TARP bailout money, and the treasury will not tell us how much other money went there or to other foreign nations.

I mean "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" never found its way to Republican districts in the U.S., so how many "world's tallest building", "world's largest airport", etc. for Dubai, has to be built first before they spend some of the American taxpayer's money on Americans?

I guess, then, that "we" will have to wait for the final report as to how much "we" support slavery with our hard earned tax dollars.