This government shutdown has had one extremely positive effect. Excepting the moocher class, it has revealed how irrelevant the government is. That life goes on – quite well, actually – without it and the “services” it “provides.”
The shutdown – like the aborted (for the moment) attack on Syria – has shown that the urgency and necessity of government (and of government “action”) is a sham. A confection. A pretext.
There is nothing there – beyond the insatiable lust for power and dollars.
We don’t need them.
But they need us.
Or, as Lenin reportedly put it:
You may not be interested in government. But government is interested in you.
If only government could be shut down permanently. Imagine how much better our lives would be.
No more “services” we don’t want – and for which we’re forced to pay, at gunpoint.
Just people going about their business, interacting with one another freely – and by choice.
The more people awaken to the absurdity of government – as well as its fundamental uselessness – the sooner we can hope to live in such a world.
@Bevin
Considering the so called identity politics arena is about as pleasurable for me as is being a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
The concept of Polis, is more fundamental, and also relatable. I do identify with various bodies of citizens. They’re citizens I choose. I don’t consider myself a Nevadan. Or an American. Or a White. Or a Worker. Or a Male Bourgeois. Or a College Graduate. Or a Christian.
Those are all scams I have no desire to be forced into at gunpoint. Take your badges and ribbons elsewhere. When someone asking me “what I am”, I have to stifle an urge to punch them in their idiotic collectivist face.
There are only two solvent political bodies on the face of the Earth AFAIK. South Africa and North Dakota.
If Jacob Zuma of South Africa were made grand ruler of everyone, and Zulus were to be the chosen race, I’m totally okay with that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polis
For me, my Polis is more abstract, I’ve never identified with a region, belief, or race. mostly I identify with the free-thinkers of the late 60s / early 70s demographic. The past, present, and future are all groovy and getting groovier, to my mind.
If I may be so predictably linear regarding IP, you’ve mentioned more than once your experiences with identity. Though you are the of the most numerous cohort on the planet, you still feel isolated and unfairly treated at times.
I’m rather surprised but upon reflection, this confirms my pre-conceived notion that the whole point of identity politics is that it’s a rigged system with ulterior motives.
Everyone loses esteem, no one is helped. It’s a con game to incite the Pauls to mob up and loot various Peters for the Oligarchs. Looting mobs aren’t very bright, they tend to exult over their win, even as their pockets are emptied in the process.
The Oligarchs don’t even have to get their hands dirty. The ideal they hold up for each cohort is subtly distorted to serve some type of hidden social agenda. A true work of evil genius.
identity politics
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-politics/
American President 1995
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnb4UWXL8KA
Dear Tor,
Identity politics is part and parcel of the long con of government.
As Mencken so astutely observed,
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
— H. L. Mencken
The number one hobgoblin is people of another “race” or “nation” or “tribe.”
Buying into identity politics is being suckered into being led to safety by ambitious demagogues. Imaginary safety. Real danger.
That sort of sentiment is what led the German people to eventual catastrophe. Germany between 1933 and 1942 was sitting on top of the world. But between 1942 and 1945, the tide turned.
By the time Hitler and his inner circle were cowering in their bunker, Russian troops eager for payback were raping German women left and right.
I wrote about this in a movie review.
http://electricshadows.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/fearless/
A Larger Lesson
In any event, the final product reflects Jet Li’s personal convictions. As Li confided on his official website:
Time and again over the years I’ve stressed that violence is not the only means of solving problems. Western reporters also grilled me about why I keep professing my belief in this, yet keep on doing movies that are violent. I think it’s not possible to have every one of my movies represent what I truly believe. It just has to be the right subject matter, and now I think I found the right project that could help me achieve this.
If someone learns martial arts solely to pick fights on the street, to lean on it as a keystone weapon in conflicts, to use it to bully and intimidate others — then that person, in my opinion, cannot be considered a true martial artist. Sure, he may have mastered the physical aspect of the art – know all the forms to the point of creative second nature. Sure, he may win all the fights, beat up all his opponents, leaving them bleeding, and claim some outside applause. But while physically he may have won – in other respects, he has lost. Badly. For one can never win another person’s heart through fighting, through hostile force. The defeated, the one who had to bear the brunt of your physical force will only walk away with a wounded heart, with anger. As a Buddhist, I believe strongly in the concept of karma. What you do will come back to you eventually, as is the universal balance. You can win today, but tomorrow, your choice to use violence will return to you, perhaps in a form ten times stronger.
Jet Li could easily have been talking about right wing Japanese political leaders such as Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, and Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara..
Jet Li could easily have been talking about Neoconservative foreign policymakers Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Lewis Libby, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, William Kristol, and Frank Gaffney Jr.
The “triumph” of Pearl Harbor led to the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The “triumph” of Desert Storm led to the tragedy of 9/11. What will the “triumph” of Infinite Justice/Enduring Freedom lead to?
Junichiro Koizumi, are you listening?
George Bush Jr., are you listening?
Fighting, or seeking revenge, is a self-defeating process and the escalation of retaliatory violence can have very bitter consequences … When you learn martial arts, it’s not just a physical endeavor — it is also internal — and your actions show an understanding of some of the highest levels of martial arts … one day those people who beat you up will have regrets that they hurt you — they will feel guilty. So perhaps their outcome, even though they won in the short term, is not so kind in the long term. The goal with any conflict isn’t to kill the other person. The goal is to win their heart. Turning one from enemy to friend is the highest level of martial arts. You win the battle without throwing a single punch.
Steven Seagal, are you listening?
Fearless not only depicts an individual’s awakening, it offers a thoughtful answer to the troubling question of how nations that have fought bloody wars with each other might resolve their differences and face the future. That Chinese film makers would produce a movie like Fearless at this moment in history, when China is undergoing a peaceful renaissance, is highly encouraging. It suggests that China’s much publicized “peaceful rise” will indeed be peaceful, as long as China isn’t deliberately backed into a corner by China baiters in Japan and the US so consumed with jealousy they cannot countenance the prospect of “uppity Chinamen” successfully competing with them in the emerging global marketplace.
Fearless is what Japanese and US political leaders need to be in the face of inevitable change. As a now deceased US president once admonished: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
@Bevin – We will all know that your (and my) philosophy is taking over in the USA when we see the likes of a Ron Paul get elected to high office. I believe there is a lot of pain and dead bodies in between though. Too many Americans need their ass kicked before they will see it.
Dear Gary,
Right. What’s really encouraging is seeing millennials support Ron Paul’s live and let live foreign policy.
That one thing gives me more hope than anything else.
As for a “rising China” I can’t see that much cause for concern. China is not like the US. The US has Canada to the north, Mexico to the south. That’s it. Neither can constrain it.
China by contrast, is surrounded by major powers that it cannot hope to aggress against willy nilly. Russia to the north. Japan to the east. India to the south. It cannot run wild the way the US has in the world even if it wanted to. And I doubt it wants to.
I’m using collective terms here for convenience. So don’t jump all over me. I am always aware of the distinction between individual interests and “collective interests.”
@Bevin – What I do know:
The “powers” have moved the productivity and future growth from the USA to China, mostly at the USA’s expense. We are seeing the end game of that strategy, planned in the 60’s, executed in the 70’s with Nixon opening the door. They would not do that without some guarantees long term. The international treaties signed have guaranteed China a cat-bird seat for years to come.
What I do not know:
What are the Chinese communist elites thinking to do both with their population and their position as world leader country in the dystopic future.
( Definition: A dystopian society is usually associated with widespread privations and lack of personal freedoms, as well as political oppression, or systematic discrimination based on sex, age or IQ. )
Dear Gary,
Mainland China is a giant question mark. A mixed bag.
More economic freedom than the US even, but less freedom of public expression.
The PRC government is doing so surprising things. It is encouraging the public to buy gold!
http://www.policymic.com/articles/16690/ron-paul-sound-currency-message-is-resonating-with-worldwide-leaders-including-china
While doing the research for this article, it appeared the leaders of China have been listening to Ron Paul while most leaders in the U.S. continue to mock him.
Gold bugs in the US would probably faint from shock if the US federal government ever encouraged Americans to buy gold.
No government is good. They are all inherently evil. The only question is which is more evil at any given moment in time.
At the moment, the Beijing regime does not appear to be worst.
@Bevin – Re: gold. Gold is the vampire stake in the heart of the western bankers if it is in the hands of the population. They themselves are accumulating as much as they can while the price is low vs the number of US dollars/ British pounds etc. that have been, and will be, printed.
The Chinese are encouraged to buy because they have a growing society that is accumulating future value. And my guess is to also deprive the western bankers of what they can in the process. That is why Chinese gold and silver production numbers are a state secret, and their import numbers are a lie on the short side. They also have a thousand years experience in the value of gold and especially silver compared to paper. Those lessons have been removed and lost from western education because the bankers need paper debt to survive.
I am okay with Steven Seagal from Langing MI not wanting to win the hearts of others. I agree with Jet Li completely except with his core premise. We are all one. Who is he to speak for anyone else?
Jet Li, now of Singaporee, as a child, once performed for President Richard Nixon in the US. He says he was asked by Nixon to “be his personal bodyguard.” His reply, “I don’t want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!”
Steven Takeshigemichi Sea Gal, was recognized in 1997 as a reincarnation of Chungdrag Dorje by his teacher Penor Rinpoche. There are rumors of CIA involvement, sexual slaves and hit contracts on his enemies. He is a very egoistical character, which doesn’t conciliate well with the views a compassionate Buddhist monk.
Practical politics aims to keep me alarmed and clamoring, begging them for relief from imagined hobgoblins. The ones you mentioned were bunker cowering afraid of murder and payback rape by foreign troops.
I reject this all. Language serves whoever masters it. So though I have had things taken. I label them unscheduled donations.
Though a woman I once loved told me a harrowing tale of rape and more from her new boyfriend, I explained to her the remedy is to leave him. That getting Uncle Sam in the equation is going to mean more rape, this time for both of you.
Robbery to me implies a mortal taking that significantly impairs my ability to thrive and live. That’s never happened to me. Hence, though the identity hustlers try to tell me I’ve been a robbery victim half a dozen times, I just laugh in their face.
Rape? It is mere unplanned coital engagement. A silly thought-crime that exists only in the hysterical mind. Abstaining from rape is a societal courtesy always rescinded once the SHTF.
I speak only abstractly. But should I be incarcerated. It’s an 11% chance I’ll endure the deed. Perhaps it is more arduous than childbirth, which I alson am unfamiliar with.
Should either of these happen, my intent is to block it out of my mind and attempt to get on with my life. Aside from physical damage, there’s far worse thing that can happen. Though traumatic and painful, it would be a non-event on my end. Only the raper would mentally experience his rape. I refuse to believe in the concept.
Any halfway physically competent man can corral a weaker female. Get her disrobed and in position. And perform the natural act. Without injury. Without bruises or blood. No different than breaking a horse. Or roping a calf.
With a straight face, do they mean to tell me all animals of the world are raped, whenever they don’t mutually consent? What balderdash. Ayn Rand and Russian women in general seem quite fond of the concept, if properly performed.
I intellectually comprehend the FSA. But they aren’t my hobgoblin either. They’re a mandatory charity. I never give them a moments thought. The entire US Govt is all FSA. I just want them to stop conscripting me. I refuse to serve.
– – – – – – – – –
Mizongquan Master Chen Fengqi 87 Years Old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_NwK79cVDs
– unbelievable agility, grace, and strength at 87, kudos to Chen
Mizong Quan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bCBSYLvnk4
Huo Yuanjia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huo_Yuanjia
Dear Tor,
I suspect Jet Li has changed since he was a child.
Hell, he’s changed since he began taking Buddhist philosophy increasingly seriously.
In any event, my endorsement was of that particular point of his, not any other positions he might have espoused at one time or another.
His remark about “We are all one” or words to that effect was not a NWO edict. It was merely a Buddhist tenet about our shared humanity. I hardly think he meant to presumptuous with that.
I endorse Jet Li as an entertainer, value creator, and stand up guy. The One was awesome. But I enjoy him without any frame of orthodoxy or measure.
I reject wholesale his assumed ethic, the part of him that doesn’t consider himself an end unto himself.
I am against the 99%+ mainstream buddhist mentality he spoke of, and not him per se. If I met him he’s almost certainly a typical scumbag sacrificer philantropist shitball who I loathe on that account, but who nonetheless I would greatly enjoy carousing with somewhere if he was game.
I’ll have to bring in Ayn Rand for backup.
Perhaps the Buddhist standpoint closest to Ayn Rand is that of the Pudgalavada branch of Abhidharma. These Buddhist thinkers, regarded as heretical by Buddhists of other traditions, interpreted the Buddha’s denial of a self to mean only the denial of a self separable from its mental and physical career.
In contrast to the Buddhist mainstream – which taught that a distinct self, if it existed, would have to be a separable self à la Hinduism – the Pudgalavadins maintained that a person is distinct from his mental activities and physical constituents in the sense that he is not identical with, or a mere aggregate of, such activities and constituents, but that he is not distinct from these activities and constituents in another sense, namely, he cannot exist in separation from them.
This view, though ridiculed as contradictory by other Buddhists, perhaps comes closest to Rand’s view that a human being is a unified integration of mind and body rather than being either mind or body alone.
In addition to rejecting most Indian philosophers’ conceptions of the self, Rand would also reject most Indian philosophers’ conception of self-interest. The majority view in the Indian philosophical tradition has located our true self-interest in ascetic detachment from material concerns and worldly satisfactions, a position for which Rand would have little sympathy.
I personally find congenial the opposing Charvaka view, which champions hedonistic immersion in bodily satisfactions. For Rand, feelings of enjoyment are the result of achieving one’s values and so cannot themselves be the criteria of value.
Moreover, she rejects the opposition between hedonism and asceticism as yet another form of the false dichotomy between matter and spirit, mindless flesh versus disembodied consciousness.
The One – Jet Li – Fu11 Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpOTHprtOec
For me the multiverse is never resolved. I am partial and irreconcilable. Balance of the whole is not something I care about.
– – – – –
july 2007:
Question for Jet:
“Forget one self” and being “selfless” leads mankind to a godly state. But can we mortals achieve the same? I assume the point of training is to see the results. What do you think about that? Have you ever experienced being selfless before?
Jet’s Response:
Don’t be fooled by religious terminology. If we don’t follow a certain process then overcoming that obstacle becomes very difficult. Many things require effort. If you ask me if I’ve had the experience of being selfless and forgetting myself, then I would say I have. But two hours later, when I’m hungry, I come right back to thinking of the self. To reduce that self-centeredness we have to have a practical beginning. Have concern for your parents, sibblings, teachers and friends. Show concern for your environment. Then, bit by bit, these concerns will spread. they will become about society and your self-centeredness will decrease as you show concern for others. That is the point from which selflessness forms.
I wish you a very happy birthday and don’t forget, we are ONE family. I hope you can spread the love to everyone.
A Few Notes Towards “Buddhjectivism”
http://folk.uio.no/thomas/po/buddhjectivism.html
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/09/20886586-kochs-to-congress-focus-on-spending-not-obamacare#comments
The comments are the big thing to see here.
It removes all my hope for these imbeciles.
But suggests that we need more Lucifer in our lives.
Jean, I don’t get either side on those comments. They could just as easily be discussing whether the Baltimore Ravens will win the superbowl again this year. (I had to wiki that info BTW)
Being you can buy fake facebook likes, YouTube views, and Twitter followers from India for only a few bucks, it’s not that much of a stretch to think friendly comments might be available for sale too.
I know there are shills among them – but I tend to think most Amoricons ARE that hopeless.
It’s why we didn’t have a Democracy in the first place…
And what we ahve now, is the result of the decay from Democratic Republic to Democracy, aka MOB RULE…
Just wish there was a way to right things, short of genocide. (Even a revolution Part 2 will be GENOCIDE here – it’ll be a French-styled revolution, and I’ll be one of the visitors to Madame Guillotine, denounced as one of “the wealthy.” All comes of having more than a nickel to my name – even if I’m living paycheck to paycheck. Basically, the “Identity Politics” says, I earn too much. So I must not be paying my “fair share.” Time to Ruck Up – nothing to leave behind any more.)
@dom
Good idea, or else put a sheet on your head, you should be otay!
Little Rascals – Hey Buckwheat!
White is right – Blind Supremacy – D. Chapelle
Clayton Bigsby
I used to watch Chapelle and that was one of his funniest.
I’d as soon they shut down the whole fuckin’ shitaree. I’ve been saying for awhile that we’d be better off if they all had no show jobs instead of their no work jobs. I’d be willing to let’em draw their pay as long as they stayed their meddling asses at home and did nothing.
I have to agree. As much as it chaps my ass to watch people do nothing, it’s even more ass-chapping to watch people just fuck up…and if they don’t show up you don’t see them or suffer their incompetence. Millions of bureaucrats just loping the mule, should be a boon for KY.
Absolutely agree. If they do that. I won’t say another word against them. Take a break boys. You’ve earned it.
To commemorate this manifestation of hope and change, I propose picking an actual American song about freedom as our new national Anthem. Maybe Free Bird.
Lissie – Free Bird
@Ed – can you get me the phone number for the White House kitchen? I want to know if “O” mans nanny, maids, waiters cooks and grounds keepers are on furlough like the National Parks workers. Maybe Michelle can put her apron where her mouth is. Just askin.
G-
Cecil Gaines Number Be FoFoFo FiddyFo FiddyFiddy
@Tor – Sorry ,I never realized how important, important, important, important, important and important that position is. At least to Oprah and this gay flamer.
Oprah tellin da troof at a monkey-human equality, women-studies, black-historians, group feels rally
blibbity blee, blobbity boo, I’s in a climate controlled auditorium using communication technology made by whitey and yellowey males.
Imma pretend dey bof was constructed out of nothin but girly sassin and african tribal gumption. Oooga boooga bourgeoisie boooga!
Dear Tor, Gary,
But is it anywhere as important as this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NULabIAGubY
Talk about important!
@Bevin – dead link.
Dear Gary,
Don’t get it. It works for me.
Oh well.
Search for: “The American President Official Trailer #1 – (1995) HD”
It’s on YouTube
Dear Tor,
Basically race trumped gender.
Oprah decided Obama being black even though he was a male, trumped Hilary being white even though she was a female.
Agenda wise the two were interchangeable.
Therefore given “identity politics,” racial identity trumped gender identity.
@Bevin — All YouTube shows me is “This video is not available”, with a sad face where the play box is. But if I VPN tunnel over to Germany and enter the internet from there it works. I have Flash disabled on that connection so I can’t watch it. Interesting how some things are falling down the memory hole.
@Tor – “We done won da struggle.” Those poor folks don’t realize they never left the plantation. Only now the massa has dark skin.
Dear Gary,
Very strange. Dunno what to make of it.
I doubt they’ll answer the phone. I told them they can have my social security if I live long enough, and they all lit out and took holiday.
I recall other times “gummint” ran out of money and not even the thugs got paid. Of course we’re heavy into tyranny now so all bets are off.
It’s amazing how panicky some people were when they heard the shutdown was coming. You’d think a moon-sized asteroid was headed right for us. My thought was: Folks, how many federal holidays are there a year? I just counted ten after a quick search. Many of these are at times when we serfs are mostly working, like Washington’s Birthday or Columbus Day. And I’ve never noticed any real problems on these days. The world somehow keeps turning. And at those times, the WHOLE government is effectively shut down. This time, they’re just shutting down the things they think will annoy us most. Let ’em, I say. I think most of us here would be relieved if they shut down the whole operation for good.
There is an effect when it’s a government employee holiday… traffic is much lighter on the roads.
Especially in the vicinity of DC.
Traffic may bog down near DC beltway temporarily. Cars displaying #T2SDA on their vehicles excepted.
Truckers to Shut Down DC Beltway
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/08/traffic-shutdown-truck-drivers-plan-3-day-protest-on-capital-beltway/
Truckers For The Constitution
The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Americans can strike in solidarity with truck drivers! (i.e. don’t buy anything whatsoever 10/11-10/13 etc.)
(Formerly “Truckers To Shutdown America” – Page was shutdown @ 86,000 LIKES)
Visit RideForTheConstitution.org to receive constant updates and tune in to our daily radio show updates. The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a national protest in support of our nation’s truckers on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Americans can strike in solidarity with truck drivers! Truckers will lead the path to saving our country if every American rides with them!
I have an appointment with Toyota on Friday evening up in Bowie Maryland. I need to take the beltway to get there. Maybe I should take an alternate route and keep some white shoe polish on hand just in case.
@Tor – Need anyone say more about the real reason the NSA and CIA funded the development of the Facebook buildout? FEED ME SEYMORE
http://youtu.be/VsmngHziLrs
@Dom – Just wear your John Wayne mask & hat. They will wave you through.
Robert, I’m not sure I remember how to panic. A friend just got a new Winders 8 laptop and a mouse since he has no idea how to use on-screen functions and doesn’t really care. Another friend suggested he use the “handi-capped” function in Winders. I suddenly realized I could use the Restore feature to fix my leg so I’m working on that now….and waiting for the PC Doctor to get back. Sure, he’ll have to come in sometime and I’m pulling the modem cord on him as soon as he’s in….and he’d better have some meds to dispense toot sweet or I’ll delete his ass. Obamacare my butt.
Well well well. Things are looking up.
Arizona lawmaker refers to Obama as ‘De Fuhrer’ on Facebook
33,500 comments, and most NOT Fuherer friendly.
http://news.yahoo.com/arizona-de-fuhrer-barton-obama-134942788.html
Government Shutdown Thoughts – Storm Clouds Gathering
– – – – – – – –
Build Your Network and Accelerate the Awakening – Storm Clouds Gathering
What The Bradley Manning Verdict Tells Us About America – SCG
It’s even becoming too much of an inconvenience for those who engineered the “shutdown” such that they’re declaring more and more people to be “essential employees”. This “shutdown” is quickly being rendered as irrelevant as the government that made it happen. I don’t expect that anyone will wake up to anything once all is said and done. The shutdown will be lifted. Everyone will be retroactively paid for their time being furloughed. The machine will grind on.
However, regarding Robert’s comment above, I have a suspicion that sales on bolt cutters will be going up, the longer this act of Shutdown Theater continues. I would also hazard a guess that this is already happening but getting censored by the media. After all, we can’t have the peons being inspired to defy those who presume to rule us. With that in mind, I wonder how much overtime salary is being paid to the ones charged with frequently checking those gates to make sure they stay locked.
How about compressed air systems, used to “reduce the headcount” of those doing the enforcement?
I wonder about that too, Ferret. This is a dangerous game they’re playing. They piss enough people off and they might actually get a reaction. That’s the thing about spite: it breeds more spite.
I believe (as others have said) – that’s the PLAN. To push people JUST over the edge.
then to respond with massive violence, and blame “The intractiable Conservatives/Republicans.”
This weekend I had my first experience of the so-called “government shutdown.” The weather was nice around Atlanta Saturday, so I decided to go kayaking. I planned to take my kayak to the National Park Service boat ramp on the Chattahoochee River that I normally use and paddle around for an hour or so. After strapping the boat to the roof of the car and driving 45 minutes to the river – including 15 minutes stuck in traffic around an accident scene – I got to the park only to see the gate closed and a printed sheet of paper hanging from it. Oh yeah, the “shutdown,” I thought. I didn’t have to read it – I knew it would basically say “Due to the intransigence of evil Congressional Republicans, this park is shut down until full government funding is restored.” Maybe it would sound a little sweeter, but that would be the message.
Let me describe this park. It’s a nice, wooded spot near the river. There‘s a trail along the riverbank, a narrow boat ramp, a couple picnic tables, and a little parking lot. That’s it. It’s small, but it’s nice for paddlers like me. I found it at the beginning of the summer, and I used it most weekends I was in town.
In the dozen plus times I’ve been there, I’ve never seen a park ranger or any other NPS employee. There are no garbage cans or facilities, but folks carry out their trash and keep the place pretty clean. So there’s little if any cleanup that would need to be done.
Moreover, it’s not free. You pay three bucks to park there. But it’s an honor system: there’s a stand where you pick up an envelope, tear off a receipt tag, put the money in the envelope, drop the envelope in a slot, and hang the tag from your rearview mirror. So nobody’s collecting money and making change. And people honor the system. You’ll see tags in every car. Postings say that the park service patrols the lot and will ticket vehicles that don’t pay. But I’ve never seen anyone patrolling or ticketing.
During the summer, I drove past the park entrance many times, and not once was the gate closed. Even at times when the park was “closed,” according to the posted operating hours, the gate was never shut. Once I even drove in late at night, to check the level of the river. And there was nothing to stop me.
So what you have here is a simple operation that benefits my community and consumes basically nothing in government resources. In fact, it makes money for them – all they have to do is pick up the money periodically.
But NOW – now that the Great Leader isn’t getting his way – the overlords have decided that this park must be closed. Even though it doesn’t require any effort to keep it open. Even though it TAKES effort to close it. And even though they’re losing money by keeping it closed.
Why? Why was the Smokey Mountains National Park road was closed this weekend, forcing my parents to change their route? Why is a private business along the Blue Ridge Parkway being forced to close by government goons? Why are pull-offs with views of Mount Rushmore being “closed,” i.e., blocked off with plastic cones?
I can answer with a bit of dialog from “Seinfeld,” from “The Wig Master” episode:
Jerry: Excuse me I’d like to return this jacket.
Clerk: Certainly. May I ask why?
Jerry: ……..For spite…
Clerk: Spite?
Jerry: That’s right. I don’t care for the salesman that sold it to me.
Only one word fits the government’s reaction to the shutdown. And that word is: Spite. An eye for an eye. You step on my toes, I spit in your face. You don’t give me what I want, I take something you already had.
I’ve had some experiences with spite. And none of them worked out well. On the contrary, I regretted them all, and where I could, I apologized.
Here’s to hoping the Great Leader will regret his too. That people will finally see him for the petty, small-minded despot he really is.
Robert,
“The People” want to see their “Magic Nigger.”*
They will BELIEVE it’s those “Evil Republican Racists” who are behind this – they have neither interest nor willingness to read the facts. It would take WORK.
Easier and “better” (to their addled, scrambled-egg minds) to emote this way, than to actually THINK.
There’s a reason the franchise wasn’t universal.
*: I was raised to not be racist. I went to school with blacks, worked with them, played on the same teams, was taught to NOT differentiate between races. At this point? I can no longer NOT differentiate. And while it’s not purely based on skin color, there’s too much correllation between black skin and niggerdom. On the street, I’m going to guess the black skin has a risk attached.
And that has led me to use such “offensive” terms as “Magic Negro (nigger, above).” Truth be told – Obama IS that “mythic creature,” and that bothers me immensely. There should NOT be any differentiation based on skin color – but by making “Black Culture” be “Anything OPPOSITE whitey” – I cannot accept any other intent on that “culture’s” actions.
I agree, Jean. We’re supposed to ignore race unless it’s a “minority.” By minority they mean anybody but whites — even though whites are becoming one more “minority” themselves. REAL minorities can celebrate their race, but if a white person tries to do the same, it’s called racism.
There’s no oppression worse than the oppression of the “oppressed.”
Hi Robert,
Well-said (and exactly right).
We live about two miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, around mile marker 143. Up the road about 20 miles is a place – a restaurant – called Mabry Mill. They serve fantastic pancakes – and the place is really popular. October is their busiest month – make or break, financially – because of the heavy traffic on the Parkway at this time of the year (leaves changing, etc.).
The got-damned government forced them to close. The Parkway is open; there’s no legitimate reason for forcing Mabry Mill to close. It’s pure spite – at the expense of the people who make their living at this joint, as well as travelers on the Parkway. The got-damned Park Service SA is still patrolling; the parking lot requires no immediate maintenance; there’s no fee to park/no need for personnel to be there to monitor anything.
Yet the restaurant is shuttered – so that Dear Leader can make his point.
The revolution can’t come soon enough.
Amen, Eric! Time to lock and load, as Pat Buchanan would say!
This is starting to cause Dear Leader some bad press. Let’s hope it continues!
@Eric – said “We don’t need them. But they need us.”
This is a theme that has been discussed for months in the “money” community, and some smart people scared.
The concept of the nationalisation of retirement accounts that Jim has drawn our attention to, is a difficult one for many people to understand and accept as being plausible. We have all thought that retirement accounts were sacrosanct and would never be at risk but the events of the past 6 months, ranging from Cyprus to Poland and now Russia should have everyone concerned about the security of those investments. The power of government in the event of a nationalisation is vast as they have the power to impose laws and regulations at will. The goal will be to access liquidity and assets to bail out Wall Street so it is not a stretch to think they will have a plan in mind to utilise all asset groups in retirement accounts, not just cash. The longer we sit on our hands and think of reasons why it won’t happen we put ourselves and our futures at serious risk when there is a simple method to exit and retain at least the majority of our investment. The argument that the retirement account is tax effective is not valid as it assumes the taxation regime will remain constant during the Great Levelling. Exiting retirement accounts is an insurance play to protect what you have before you end with 100% of a special issue of sovereign paper.
Peter Mickelberg
Communications Consultant
http://www.jsmineset.com
Morning, Gary!
I’ve encouraged everyone I know to cash out their IRAs – and stop “contributing” to them, too. Yes, you’ll pay a huge tax. But 65 or 70 percent of 100 percent is better than 100 percent of 0.
Transmute the cash into something of tangible value under your direct control, such as gold or land (etc.).
I am certain they’re going to either collectivize IRAs or simply render them worthless within the next several years. Get out – while you still can.
@Eric – If history is worth anything my guess is the IRA’s and 401k’s will be held hostage in exchange for the “full faith and credit” of the US treasury annuities or someting like that. What will be fun to watch is the marketing of the process. They will make the sheep beg for it by offering a tempting deal to the “poor” first. California already has a scheme to do that.
Dear Eric,
“But 65 or 70 percent of 100 percent is better than 100 percent of 0.”
Exactly!
That’s why I cashed out a couple of years ago.
eric, yes, land….in another country……TPTB in this country aren’t aware of. Since everyone is guilty of several federal offenses every day plus all the new seizure and forfeiture laws that have been passed, land can be a fleeting memory. Better to spend more on undocumented gold and silver and even other valuable physical items that can be hidden than to have it on record at the county tax office.
“Better to spend more on undocumented gold and silver and even other valuable physical items that can be hidden than to have it on record at the county tax office.”
Exactly, 8. For centuries, people in Asia, where governments have long been tyrannical, wealth has been gold rather than land. When you have to flee from theiving agents of government, land can’t be carried along nor liquidated.
In Hong Kong and Shanghai, there are goldsmiths who will make your bullion into chains and simple diestruck adjustable rings, all fabricated without solder, so the gold can be worn during travel.
Items described by the the term “portable property’ become much more important than those items termed “real estate”. Real estate is the term invented by taxing authorities to describe their main target of confiscation, your land.
Ed, this is all hyperbole for most I suspect, just not me.
8, not for me either. Land is only wealth if you have the means to hold onto it against any assault. Otherwise, ownership is tenuous and temporary.
@Eric – Just on the heels of our exchange yesterday I check the news today. What do I find? A big fat trial balloon over in euroland, and soon to be brought here if they can get away with it.
Yo, make the rich mofos pay.
Super Tax on savings suggested
A group of economists from the IMF plays with the idea to raise once the savings in the eurozone. a super tax of 10 percent This would the huge indebtedness of most countries be solved at a stroke. It would be an alternative to tax increases and spending cuts.
The economists are rushing to say that it is a purely theoretical proposal, a math problem so kind, but it is an efficient solution to the debt problem. For a group of 15 eurozone countries would be a measure of the debt reduced to acceptable levels before the financial crisis of 2008.
Fair
The idea of a tax on savings is not new and sticks occasionally re-emerged. In 2011 the Boston Consultancy Group already suggested something similar. These advisors were then on a charge of as much as 30 percent to come from the crisis. In April this year Steen Jakobsen, chief economist of Saxo Bank, had a load of 10 to 15 percent.
Allowing citizens to help pay for the crisis with such one-off super tax is very unusual, but attractive, according to the IMF economists. “If it is entered before it can withdraw from people and people know that it is really one time, then it will not distort their behavior, and perhaps even be seen by some as fair.”
Cyprus
In the eurozone is much savings. Hitting savings by 10 percent yields Germany around 100 billion euros. On Dutch savings accounts in late August was 329 billion euros. A one-time charge of 10 percent thus provides nearly 33 billion euros, about the same as successive governments now want to cut.
Ordinary citizens to help pay for the crisis, with the ‘innocent’ savers are not spared, is politically very sensitive. The crisis approach Cyprus had also help pay depositors and investors.
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnos.nl%2Fartikel%2F560845-supertaks-op-spaargeld-geopperd.html&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8
Did you notice this line?
“Allowing citizens to help pay for the crisis with such one-off super tax is…”
Sons of bitches.
That happens here, I’m going to the mattresses.
RE: “Yo, make the rich mofos pay.”
Shades of The Daily Bell.
Meme, meme, everywhere a meme, and always the IMF in the middle.
@RothbardianamericanHelot – Have some respect for your IMF/ BIS/ Fed Reserve masters. 🙂 Otherwise you will get a vist from Tony Soprano of the IRS.
Garysco wrote, “Otherwise you will get a vist from Tony Soprano of the IRS.”
Ha! They’ve been doing that for some time now. Every time I buy a gun at a store there’s a cop that suddenly shows up in the store, not in uniform, of course. But it’s a small town, so it’s no secret.
Aand, maybe it’s a coincidence every time I turn around in public there’s a crew cut guy standing near by? I don’t know. Funny coincidence, that. … Shadow MF’ers seem to stick out like a sore thumb. .. Or maybe they’re just gay fuckers hitting on me and stalking me? Ha! (nothing against gay fuckers, per-say, well…eww) Anyway [Oh I hope not. That’s so not right. Where’s my hot chick stalker? It’s not freaking fair!] And, damnit, why don’t they just give me a briefcase full of money?
Oh wait, you mean “a visit”.
Often I wonder, what’s to prevent them from poisoning us?
If it was good enough for the Romans…
@RothbardianamericanHelot: Poison? You drink the tainted water and eat the GMO food. You silly goose. You don’t have long now! Ha ha. Then we (my gay Tony’s and me) will spend your leftover SS donations. Thank you. You chump.
On guns:
I just bought one mail order. $35.00 shipping, + $25.00 to the state of California DOJ welfare / party fund, + $50.00 to the official gun store nearby (who I do feel sorry for because they have all the BS paperwork to fill out), and at least two trips there. One to give them my state approved ID proving where I live (so they know where to collect the item when declare it contraband later), and to swear that I have a gun safe or some such thing to put it in, and to pay them for their part. The second trip 10 days later to finally (if DOJ doesn’t catch on to my scam) get possession of my street legal item of choice (that has to be on their “pre-approved OK to buy” list first).
But I feel good because I don’t want my nameless, faceless, bald headed steroid driven government officials to miss a boat payment or bar tab.
Ah, that’s not even funny, Garysco.
And, no man, I filter my fugly water and eat grass fed beef. But that still don’t help me from the geo-engineering fallout crap and the leftovers from above ground nuke tests. And that doesn’t mean they don’t want to kill you or I off faster and won’t do anything about you or anyone else.
Yeesh, take a look at, Magic trick: promoting diseases that don’t exist
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/magic-trick-promoting-diseases-that-dont-exist/
“They” are fucking killers.
RE: “I just bought one mail order.”
No, that’s bullshit.
Mail order stopped a looong time ago.
You got one FFL transferred and walked into a store.
You didn’t mention walking into the store.
You didn’t mention anyone who was in the store.
Maybe they don’t catch on to everyone, maybe they do?
Why they would, I don’t know.
I was just mentioning what I observed and what I knew.
Anyway, you got his part right: “(so they know where to collect the item when declare it contraband later)”
…Well, unless you sell it.
@RothbardianamericanHelot:
So, you think you have us checkmated with our filters and natural feed cows do you? I am now pulling out our trusty trump Fukushima card. Ha.
@RothbardianamericanHelot
Oh yes the whole disease is money thing. Yup. Fatness is now a “disease” requiring professional medical drugs, treatment, and missed work days. Big Co2 taxes coming soon too. Since I expel the stuff, and cannot stop, maybe I can get a disability pension. My disease ought to be good for some percentage of inability to cope.
“Fukushima card”
What are ya saying?
Everybody knows it has to be a Three Mile Island Trump Card or better.
Yeesh, the crowd is expecting a nuke over S.C. for crying out loud.
…Next!
@Garysco, I hear they’re going to stop methane burn-off in this state, wondering how that’s going to affect me personally. How sensitive are their sniffers? etc.
“Default on Public Debt” was actually an offence in “continuum” (on SyFy, predicated on time travel; someone from the future went back, and is trying to “fix” things and still get back home at the same time, pun not intended.)
Anyway: I’ve been using such things to illustrate our problems. “They” will continue the fraud as long as it is profitable. It’s been profitable now for, oh, 2,000 years or more?
Maybe even all of recorded history?
A line from “V for Vendetta” seems apt:
“He [my father – J] used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.”
It is always easier to be a carrion-eater than an actual predator. A Hyena instead of a Lion. And a pack of hyenas can destroy a lion.
Any wonder why we’re in this mess? We’ve elected hyenas and we wonder why they steal from us?
Reach down, find your roar, and tell them no.
Because the Hyena’s whole purpose in “supporting” this civilization has been to castrate us and make us good eunuch “productive members of society.”
It’s sad when you realize that women have bigger balls than most men these days. We need to change that.
And if we need to kill off a few of the eunuch Praetorian Guards, well – time’s a wastin’, I ain’t gettin’ any younger.
Nor will aging mellow my views, it’s not a question of “hormones” as with the youngsters. Similar to James Bolivar DiGriz, The Stainless Steel Rat:
A few years back I wrote a small book on the subject – under a nom de plume of course – that was rather well received. My theory is that the aberration is a philosophical one, not a psychological one. At a certain stage the realisation striked through that one must either live outside of society’s bonds or die of absolute boredom. There is no future or freedom in the circumscribed life and the only other life is complete rejection of the rules. There is no longer room for the soldier of fortune or the gentleman adventurer who can live both within and outside of society. Today it is all or nothing. To save my own sanity I chose the nothing.
(Boring version here: http://www.michaelowencarroll.com/hh/n02-.htm – but has lots of detail on Harry Harrison, the author. Good short story that started it, here: http://www.michaelowencarroll.com/hh/ssrshort.htm)
Noite also, the morality of the Stainless Steel Rat:
Cold-blooded killing is just not my thing. I’ve killed in self-defence, I’ll not deny that, but I still maintain an exaggerated respect for life in all forms. Now that we know that the only thing on the other side of the sky is more sky, the idea of an afterlife has finally been slid into the history books alongside the rest of the quaint and forgotten religions. With heaven and hell gone we are faced with the necessity of making a heaven or hell right here. What with societies and metatechnology and allied disciplines we have come a long way and life on the civilised worlds is better than it was during the black days of superstition. But with the improving of here and now comes the stark realisation that here and now is all we have. Each of us has only this one brief experience with the bright light of consciousness in that endless dark night of eternity and must make the most of it. Doing this means we must respect the existence of everyone else and the most criminal act imaginable is the terminating of one of these conscious existences.
There’s a LOT of potential at times; most of it is squandered by venal, self-interested scum (politicians, clovers).
I’ve tried to not harm any, and be honest – but that’s always been a CHOICE.
Those who maliciously harm others – they got wealthy. They got promoted. Every honest person I know? Got shafted. Dead ends, basically.
Time to find a hole in the wainscotting – though they’re shutting down all the holes they can find, for US. And THEY are living behind the walls.
Eh, I got off track.
Per Eric’s quote: “Allowing citizens to help pay for the crisis with such one-off super tax is…”
Which is what I was going for with the reference to “Continuum,” and “Public Debt Default” as an excuse to enslave (literally, there, with a computer chip overriding the brain) people – making MORE chips, mind. Agenda 21? Reduce all humans to organic machines?
BUT – it DOES sound like one of those “Reasonable Compromise” plans. Since THEY ran up all that debt, taking care of US – it’s OUR debt, see? It’s all done for the “RIGHT” reasons – so WE must help pay it all back!
And failure to be employed and paying back your “fair share” of the debt, that will be a CRIME… And if you can’t get employment, they’ll FIND some employment for you, to work off the debt…
But Kim Kardasshian (sp?) won’t be doing anything different, nor will (insert celebrity here – even Snooki or Hilton).
But WE will be held PUBLICALLY RESPONSIBLE for fiscal mismanagement – of money we didn’t control, and could’t vote against spending. Feinstein, Reid, Bush – THEY won’t be on that list (or, most likely, they’ll be able to PAY their fine… it being a few million or so, nothing for THEM, but an insurmountable amount for us).
Just the Proles… Again – paying for the problems caused by those in power, while the social elites influence those in power, and profit from that influence – and misuse of power.
@Robert – Look at the bright side:
FLOTUS Verified account
@FLOTUS
This account is run by the Office of First Lady Michelle Obama. Tweets from the First Lady are signed –mo. Tweets may be archived. More at http://wh.gov/privacy
Washington, DC · whitehouse.gov
________________________________________________________
FLOTUS @FLOTUS 1 Oct
Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, updates to this account will be limited. #Shutdown
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS
Dear Robert,
Superb comment. More than just a comment actually. If you have a blog, you ought to post it there. Well worth sharing more widely.
You nailed the psychopathology perfectly. Spite. Pure vindictiveness.
“So you think you don’t need us? We’ll show you!”
The laughable thing about it is that this is pretty much the worst the self-appointed ruling class can do to us passively, by doing nothing.
To do anything worse to us, the self-appointed ruling class would have to go into active mode and start doing things to us. Basically all the things they normally do “for us” when The Government isn’t shut down.
Rob us and call it “taxation.” Kidnap us and call it “imprisonment.” Murder us and call it “capital punishment.” Coerce us and call it “law enforcement.”
Thanks, Bevin! I was about to submit it as a posting for EPautos on its own, but Eric just beat me to the punch! His idea was pretty similar, though, so I opted to just comment here.
I agree totally on the psychopathology, as you put it. About the most effort these tax-feeders can summon up is for printing out a “Closed” sign or putting out a few traffic cones. After that, they’ll have to carry their lazy lard asses back to the donut shop for a rest.