Weaseldog's Lair: 06/01/2008

Gas Prices

As I was leaving for work this morning, the Talking Heads on the Hypnotic Box were explaining how Congress is going to legislate us to gasoline savings of up to $2.00 gallon.

Yup the same folks that have been warming seats in Washington DC, since gasoline was a $1.25 gallon, are now going to perform a miracle and do something.

I find it hilarious that the same folks that accuse me of being a commie because I believe that many industries need regulation, want to impose regulations to control the price of gasoline.

What kind of liberal commie wants the oil industry regulated? Snort, guffaw!

The ghost of Adam Smith is probably laughing his ass off now, as the invisible hand of the market bitch slaps us around.

Of course, there are lots of conspiracy theories going around, spread by people who laugh at those of us who think that our leaders make plans behind closed doors. and these same people are asking that we conspire to start another war, to kill a lot of people, to get gasoline prices down.

Obviously, every problem in America can be easily solved by bombing another country that can't fight back. I'm surprise that more people are not arguing that a war with Ethiopia can solve our imaginary Social Security and Medicaid Crisis.

But I digress... Congress is going to bring down high gas prices by approving of drilling in ANWAR. That's right, by increasing domestic oil availability by as much as 0.5%, we can get prices at the pump down by $2.00! At least until a few more Ford F250s are sold. I was going to say 1%, then I remembered that so far North, they'll only be able to pump the oil a few months out of the year. Then every spring, they'll have to repair the damage caused by the winter cold and storms. This will make the oil more expensive than oil drilled in nicer climes. Then there's the issue that China plans to buy up all of the oil produced there.

So maybe it'll provide 0% of our domestic consumption, thus dropping the price at the pump by up to $2.00 gallon...

Oh yeah, and the sale of the Iraqi oil will cover the cost of occupying Iraq...

Red State Update has their own take on this highly interesting topic.

When I first Met You

It's late, I wrote a new song, put a draft out on YouTube, and now it's time to hit the hay. This is another 30 minute wonder. I think it has potential.

When I First Met You
Words and music by Jack Dingler

When I first met you, I knew, you were someone I could fall in love with
And you talked to me, like, I was someone you’d wanna spend time with
But the better I got to know you, the less you wanted to know me
I guess I can’t fault you, for your taste in men

I knew from the start, that you were better than me
I was a pretender, on a lark, and I couldn’t let you be
But my feelings were real to me, though you laughed them off
And I felt so alone, in the emptiness, left behind when you walked away

Ain’t it funny, how things have turned out
Me, my life got better, and yours inside out.
I guess that’s the difference, in knowing when you’re on the road
I can’t remember being any other place and you never showed

I know if you want to, you can be on the mend
But these days, I can’t help you, I’ve got no time to lend
I’ve got a family of my own, and they help to keep me whole
And we only have a memory, of a moment so long ago

Take a long look back, at the wreckage, you’ve left behind
You haven’t had a habit, of treating your lovers kind
So what do you think your were doing, what was on your mind
They went on to live happy lives, while you’re still doing time.

Chorus

You say you’ve got no time left, age has etched your face
Young men won’t talk to you, you’ve lost your sense of grace
But if you still don’t see it, the scar that mars your soul
Why should I point a finger, why should I be so bold

You pretended one time to be my friend so I’ll grant you this one request
The problem that lies within you, is beating within your chest
If you could learn to work with that, you wouldn’t be where you are
But the road that lies from here to there, might as well be on a shooting star

Peace Through Eternal War

The Real News reports on Congressman Kirks efforts to expand our wars, through paranoid bedwetting rhetoric.

Obama On Credit Cards

Obama seems to get it, while McCain and other Republicans want to just give us welfare style hand outs in the form of IRS Rebate Checks.

The Republican hypocrisy seems to know no bounds. Rather than fix the problem, they resort to piddling meaningless bribes. All the while Bernanke is telling employers that though he can't do anything about the out of control price inflation he is creating, they should not raise wages.

So the Republicans raise prices, lower wages and then create welfare hand out policies, to make up for criminal fiscal policies.

Obama wants to fix the problem so that Americans can solve their own problems in a fair and equitable, well regulated business environment.

Which party is advocating personal responsibility? Which one is taking steps to ensure that personal fiscal responsibility pays off? Which party doesn't even take responsibility for what they do?

Articles Of Impeachment

Dennis Kucinich Reading The Articles of Impeachment Against President Bush

The Modern Mystic Speaks

Panty Man Senator Rohrabacher

A Typical Email From The Pro-War People

The following messages are typical of the ones I get from people who represent the pro-war community. the common theme they all seem to have is a worship of George Bush junior, the man, and a willingness to support him in an activity he wishes to engage in. It doesn't matter to them if he engages in war crimes or other immoral or unethical activities.

They see war crimes and perpetual war as the only means for George Bush to keep them safe, so they can keep shopping. In one message a person actually argued that torturing POWs keeps us safe, and that we need the war in Iraq, so that we can keep making money and buying stuff.

i hope your entire family dies, down to 7th cousins
lol bush giggleing at dead marines. you have no idea what your talking about stop tryin to lies around to sound smart. as for off shore banking, oh shit, some officials decided to try and get rich when they saw a heartless oppertunity. the point of my reply was the FULL STORY. you a marine that my family knows says one of the happiest moment in his 29 years was watching the iraqi people vote. watching them hold their own elction with their own practices and voting freely. also the joy they showed as they tore down the statue of saddam and lined the streets to celebrate as we entered. these peopel fuckin love us and need us. why would you want to give that up because some people are makin money. you have no idea what the FULL STORY is. you throw away the hole thing cause you think bush giggles or some shit. you see those types of things when your blazed out of your mind in your little hippy drum cirlce protesting the world and doing nothing about it. you realize that we havent been attacked again in the last 7 years, cant you just be greatfull for that. you live one of the best lives on the fuckin world because of contraversial wars. try goin through the war from the iraqi side of view, they have been dealing with 9/11 like attacks forever. i hope that very soon, is some way i can only describe as deaply sadistic, you die.

a great line was one said "Thou shall not kill, but hear this, Fuck...That...Shit..." and like enslave says America is doing So much for me, and also true, what makes you think i give a fuck about what jesus said I am here NOW and what happens now has nothing to do with what a person said.. so seriously get out of my country douche

And finally, a video presented to me as proof that America is doing great things in Iraq.

Learning From the Collapse of Earlier Societies

Below is the latest PeakMoment Video.

This all sounds wonderful.

But the thinking that goes into believing that we can have a human friendly, controlled collapse, is the same thinking that got us into this mess. We want to believe that this time, things will be different.

No civilization has taken control of it's destiny during collapse and gone down in 'civilized' fashion.

Argentina and Venezuela are our best modern day examples of an attempt at a controlled crash. But they haven't depleted their oil reserves as completely as the US has.

There is no historical reason to believe that we can control our crash, and avoid the same self destructive actions that every civilization engages in, during it's death throes.

Even now, we are proving the rule with our wars of conquest in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the decline continues, the State will seek greater control over the citizenry and will zealously work to expand the wars and the funding for the same.

The United States is converting itself into a total war machine. Increasingly war is becoming the basis of the entire economy. Many people happily embrace this change. All of my life otherwise seemingly sane adults have told me that war is good for the economy. Yet history tells us that war is actually harmful to the economy. But for many of those people, they worked in industries that benefited for war. they would always argue that they preferred peace, while at the same time arguing that slaughtering people for money is a good business for the US to engage in.

Guy Prouty may well understand all of this. He might even agree with me.

I have often been accused of making the message too harsh. That Americans need sugar coating and lot's of corn sweeteners added to any truths they may consider swallowing. That Americans can't handle the truth. And those people are right.

And Guy Prouty is taken a little pinch of truth and is mixing it in with a gallon of corn sweetener.

He is right, the changes needed, will require a radically different mode of thinking. the change is so radical, that it would completely redefine us as a people and as a nation.

Though he paints a message of hope for us, he is actually painting a message of hope for our descendants that will come in a dozen generations or so.

As our population goes through the next bottleneck, only those with hardy genes and an evolved culture, with myths that are compatible with reality, will survive. We can pretend that we can do things to influence how all of this turns out, but in reality, the statical aggregate of all of our actions will overcome any individual actions we may engage in.

A number of friends have pointed out to me that only 20% of the people can recognize a problem that requires change. And out of that 20%, only 20% of them, will act on it. I have found this to be generally true. You see it in markets, in personal finance and many other endeavors in life. This implies that 96% of the people will follow the herd, even as 16% will know that even as they follow, they are on the wrong course.

The last 4% are the trailblazers. They see the new path. They see the herd. They choose the new path. The 4% don't change history. They do get written up that way. When the herd arrives in a new place, they'll come across a sign that reads, "Kilroy Was Here". And Kilroy will get written up in the history books. But change didn't occur when Kilroy was there. Change was enacted when the masses arrived. The masses would've arrived, even if Kilroy had never been born.

Guy is giving good personal advice. The advice is ageless. It predates the Ancient Greeks.

1. Stay out of debt.
2. Grow a garden.
3. Be as self sufficient as you can.
4. Make friends with your neighbors.

What troubles me is that I believe that so long as we sugarcoat the message, the 16% will do nothing. And until they act, the herd will just see the 4% as kooks. So for now, we will remain the borrow and shop society.

And this is the source of my pessimism. I believe in the power of change. But I do not believe that we can change until we're forced to.

Rather than shape the collapse, the collapse will shape us.