The Web (Untangled)

Save Yourselves

Look away! Look away! (Photo credit: Norm Walsh)

August 25, 2012

This week, in politics here, President Obama has apparently put pressure on the Eurozone not to boot Greece out before the November elections, lest the effect on our markets make the prez look bad and hurt his chances of reelection. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/obama-asks-eurozone-to-keep-greece-in-until-after-election-day-8076852.html

And as Obama and David Cameron warned Syria of interventions if they brought out the chemical weapons in their civil war, Vladamir Putin warned them, again, not to interfere in Syria.

While all of this smacks of the political gamesmanship and hubris typical of imperial leaders and will probably be about as effective in actually changing anything for the better as King Canute commanding the tides not to rise, for sheer unadulterated crazy, the Republicans won hands down this week.

In Texas an elected Republican judge of Lubbock county worried on a local radio interview that if Obama was reelected we might have civil war.

"He’s going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., and what is going to happen when that happens?"[ Judge] Head said. "I’m thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations. We’re talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy."

"Now what’s going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He’s going to send in U.N. troops. I don’t want ’em in Lubbock County. OK. So I’m going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say, 'You’re not coming in here'." http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/24/13458896-weird-week-in-lubbock-judges-civil-war-comments-make-republicans-cringe?lite

Meanwhile, here in Missouri, our own Republican crazy, Todd Akin, is still hopping around on one foot trying to get the other foot out of his mouth, after his insulting and inaccurate remarks about women who have been “legitimately” raped being able to shut down their bodies to prevent pregnancy. (Yes, I know, all you dear fundamentalist Christians who still support him, the man merely misspoke and has asked our forgiveness. I don’t care. He’s still an idiot.)

And the RNC is looking forward to a great convention in Tampa next week in spite of the fact that the convention center where it will be held is right on the gulf only six feet above sea level and tropical storm Issac is expected to turn into a category one hurricane before hitting Tampa either full on or with a hefty glancing blow. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/republican-convention-hurricane-preparation_n_1826533.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

“[Republican Governor Rick]Scott partially activated the state Emergency Operations Center. “Obviously, we are hoping Isaac doesn’t hit Florida, but we must take every precaution,” Scott said in a statement Thursday evening. “That’s what we’re doing on a state level, and it’s what everyone should be doing on a family and personal level. If you haven’t already, get prepared and get a plan.”

The warnings offer little comfort to the more than 50,000 visitors expected in Tampa beginning Sunday for the four-day convention, which runs from Monday to Thursday.

"Monday are Tuesday are definitely in jeopardy," said meteorologist Bill Karins on MSNBC Thursday. "I don't see any way possible that Tampa's going to be completely missed at this point."”

So, there you are. To which I say, “Go ahead on, you crazy bastards. There’s nothing to perk up a slow news day like the image of some nutty politician being flattened by a UN personnel carrier, an irate rape victim or a hurricane.”

Yes, I’m tired to death of all the slick, sick politicians with their imperial schemes and crazy ideological fantasies. Not a one of them has the intestinal fortitude to tell the American people that the American Dream they prattle on about is deader than the proverbial doornail. We have allowed them to murder it with ideology, cronyism and greed and we, like the unlucky Floridians in Tampa, are facing a hurricane – this one of our own making.

The global economies, including our own, continue to wobble and weave as the whole system slides toward a new, lower energy state. The financial world bobs up and down, grabbing onto every word from our own Fed and the other central banks like the kitten in the “hang in there, baby” poster. Our bought politicians promise us energy independence and a return to greatness, knowing full well that all of the oil and oil precursors that we can scavenge from the last places on earth will leave us nowhere near the energy levels we had at our own peak back in the early seventies. And that, as energy demand rises yearly in the developing world while the giant oil fields level out and decline, not even our “one hundred years” of gas and coal will save us.

All the while, the glaciers and ice sheets melt, our coastal sea levels rise, our forests and grasses burn and our bread basket and those around the world crumble to dust under increasingly harsh droughts. Food prices are rising, leaving billions around the world at the mercy of commodities traders who don’t give a damn whether those billions starve or not as long as they make money.

Apparently, the only man in America with the guts to tell the truth, this week, was the psychopath in charge of agriculture commodities trading at Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trader.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/well-make-a-killing-out-of-food-crisis-glencore-trading-boss-chris-mahoney-boasts-8073806.html

Glencore's director of agriculture trading, Chris Mahoney, sparked the controversy when he said: "The environment is a good one. High prices, lots of volatility, a lot of dislocation, tightness, a lot of arbitrage opportunities.

"We will be able to provide the world with solutions... and that should also be good for Glencore."

Read between the lines, folks. Whoever wins the election in November, whatever they promise, do you honestly believe that, when our turn comes to pay to play, these people will worry about saving us over saving themselves?

The main purpose of this blog has been to let people know that we are already on the path of the next leg down on our long descent toward collapse and to urge people to prepare every way you can for that. The window for preparing is closing.

Our political system has been corrupted beyond repair by both parties. Our courts have sold our political system to the highest bidders. The corporate and financial PACS and the politicians they have bought will tell you the most outrageous things, promise you the most outrageous things and do the most outrageous things – not for our benefit, but for theirs – in their drive to get or retain power.

They will not only stand by and watch the world burn, drown or starve to keep their power, they will do anything to profit from those atrocities to maintain the wealth that buys that power and tell you it is necessary in a “free market” system.

Do not let the politicians hornswoggle you. Whoever gains power this November, we are on our own. Whatever they do to address the problems we face will be the minimum they have to do to maintain their power and status and will be at a price – financial, political or military – most of us would not be willing to pay.

We must get prepared - personally, locally and regionally - and stand together however much they try to drive us apart. If you are not prepared, read through the sections at the top of this blog. Read through the blogs at the blog rolls to see how others are doing it. Look at your own lives, your families, your neighbors; be honest about both the strengths and weaknesses. Use the strengths and work at the weaknesses, but get prepared, now.

The plotters and their manipulations get more desperate; the loonies get more strident; the black swans circle the lake for a landing. Now is the time. SAVE YOURSELVES.