There are tough times ahead, the Austerians tell us, as they continue to pull ahead of everyone else.
Of course, just as only Nixon could go to China, only Obama could destroy Social Security.
It seems the mark of an honest politician is that they stay bought.
Just another Reality-based bubble in the foam of the multiverse.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
no one's talking
Just a thought or two (again) on the great radio silence of space in the face of a probable multitude of life-bearing planets in the universe.
Even if a species gets smart enough to avoid thermonuclear suicide or environmental degradation, there's another hubris trap for any sapient species.
It's likely that the quest for space warp technology will also produce a series of mistakes about quantum black holes, which could destroy an interplanetary species that hadn't spread beyond its home system.
The voice of conventional theoretical physics assures us these would be harmless. But governments continue to pour massive amounts of money into research on elementary particle physics that's pretty transparently intended for the discovery of a new super weapon. The creation of a quantum block hole that didn't "dissolve because of quantum effects" would be a extinction-level disaster for any species not spread out over light-years already.
Even if a species gets smart enough to avoid thermonuclear suicide or environmental degradation, there's another hubris trap for any sapient species.
It's likely that the quest for space warp technology will also produce a series of mistakes about quantum black holes, which could destroy an interplanetary species that hadn't spread beyond its home system.
The voice of conventional theoretical physics assures us these would be harmless. But governments continue to pour massive amounts of money into research on elementary particle physics that's pretty transparently intended for the discovery of a new super weapon. The creation of a quantum block hole that didn't "dissolve because of quantum effects" would be a extinction-level disaster for any species not spread out over light-years already.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
when the world is going down, make the best of what's still around
The recently departed Robert Bork (and good riddance) said that the only way to return his version of morality to America was to create Great Depression conditions, where only right thinking people had the money and everyone else was too busy trying to survive to think of anything else. Growth is over if the austerity-thumpers have anything to do with it as is education, democracy, and everything else that promotes progress.
Monday, December 24, 2012
hostage syndrome nation
Friedman would blame the victims of the Tea Party for their ignorance.
By victims I don't just mean anyone on the left of Santorum.
By victims I mean the popular base of the Tea Party, the people that elected the Republican House.
The fact is that these people have been subjected to the best advertised effort at opinion manipulation the world has ever seen, using the most comprehensive campaign that money can buy. I mean a lot of money, too. It's gone on for a long, long, time as well.
It's resulted in half of America that no longer thinks evidence-based, rational decision-making works, because the logical conclusions based on the evidence they're sold on. Krugman compares them to a cult.
That's a fair description.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
keeping your eye on the oddball
So if there is a national database of the mentally ill, can we put Wayne LaPierre on it?
Second Amendment Bankrolling
I get letters sometimes.
Here's a sentence from one:
"...The M4A1 and similar variants are the about the last, best thing keeping the corporate government and the financial / capitalist elite from pulling the kill switch on its last victim, turning it full banana republic..."
Except they've done a good job of doing that pretty much since this country was founded.
Some of the financial/ capitalist elite in the Land of the Brave learned a long time ago that keeping the proles armed to the teeth and at each others throats was a great way to keep in business.
I would say it disturbs me that otherwise progressives might think owning assault weapons keeps them safe from the Man, much less these kinds of Guys.
Except that I think it more likely my post and blog showed up in a 'bot search after the NewTown massacre, was processed to determine where on the political spectrum I was, and a form letter was generated to sell the idea to me that everybody just needs all the firepower they can get.
Because, you know, civil war is great for the booming business.
Here's a sentence from one:
"...The M4A1 and similar variants are the about the last, best thing keeping the corporate government and the financial / capitalist elite from pulling the kill switch on its last victim, turning it full banana republic..."
Except they've done a good job of doing that pretty much since this country was founded.
Some of the financial/ capitalist elite in the Land of the Brave learned a long time ago that keeping the proles armed to the teeth and at each others throats was a great way to keep in business.
I would say it disturbs me that otherwise progressives might think owning assault weapons keeps them safe from the Man, much less these kinds of Guys.
Except that I think it more likely my post and blog showed up in a 'bot search after the NewTown massacre, was processed to determine where on the political spectrum I was, and a form letter was generated to sell the idea to me that everybody just needs all the firepower they can get.
Because, you know, civil war is great for the booming business.
Wayne LaPierre is a 500 lb cornered rat
Wayne LaPierre is a cornered rat, but he's about the size of a Siberian tiger in DC. He, along with the NRA board member Grover Norquist, front for the military industrial corporate enterprise. The National Rifle Association is a threat to national security, and if you don't think this, you haven't been paying attention.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Second Amendment Rights
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.
That's fine. Everyone who owns a gun should be required to serve in the National Guard at least a couple weeks a year, and part of a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state.
And if you can't or won't serve, and insist on having military grade weapons? You are a terrorist, and an enemy of the liberty and freedom of everyone else.
That's fine. Everyone who owns a gun should be required to serve in the National Guard at least a couple weeks a year, and part of a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state.
And if you can't or won't serve, and insist on having military grade weapons? You are a terrorist, and an enemy of the liberty and freedom of everyone else.
Sunday, December 09, 2012
teflon scams
If we hold the bank$ters accountable for the trillion dollar frauds they perpetuated during the Bush era, the banks might tank the economy.
Now, where have we heard that threat before?
Now, where have we heard that threat before?
Saturday, December 08, 2012
keeping on the way back
So if America and the world got most of its energy from renewable energy- and it could be done- not only would people like the Kochs miss out on a lot of money, you would develop an economy no longer based on scarcity.
Then where would austerity as a motivator of draconian social policy be?
Why would there be any money for the endless wars in the middle east?
It would all be in the ashbin of history, where it belongs.
Then where would austerity as a motivator of draconian social policy be?
Why would there be any money for the endless wars in the middle east?
It would all be in the ashbin of history, where it belongs.
they never started a war they didn't like
Cynicism about Syria's intentions to use weapons of mass destruction on its own people?
One can not imagine why people would be cynical about that, or the origins of the Arab Spring movements in Libya and Syria in the first place.
That is one could not imagine this as patriotic citizen of the United States of Amnesia.
It is interesting how Austerity-preaching politicians remain perfectly willing to throw endless thousands of billions of dollars at wars that end up enriching them, their affiliated private contractors, and the energy companies that own them both.
One can not imagine why people would be cynical about that, or the origins of the Arab Spring movements in Libya and Syria in the first place.
That is one could not imagine this as patriotic citizen of the United States of Amnesia.
It is interesting how Austerity-preaching politicians remain perfectly willing to throw endless thousands of billions of dollars at wars that end up enriching them, their affiliated private contractors, and the energy companies that own them both.
Monday, December 03, 2012
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