On the Dec. 29th Open Thread, Booman wrote:
It’s ass-cold here today and the temperature is dropping. The news is filled with the Palin custody battle, Rovian divorce, a lot of stuff about Iran and Yemen and terrorism, and generally nothing that is of much interest to me at the moment. So, what do you want to discuss? There must be something interesting? Besides Zinc Fingers, I mean.
I replied, saying in part:
Lots of “stuff” about Iran, Yemen+ terrorism, eh?
And you’re not interested?
And he responded:
It’s my unwillingness to participate in the hysteria that explains my apathy. Why should I help push the cart off the cliff?
I started another reply, and it grew.
Read on if you are interested.
“Apathy”, eh?
Perfect.
Apathy is but one side of a three-sided Goldilocks pyramid in this case, Booman.
Ravening hatred is another, and the “just right” side seems to be a little off-kilter these days.
The fact is, we are at war. We asked for it, we got it, and unless we defend ourselves effectively we will never get the chance to change the economic imperialist mistake that drove most of the rest of the world to consider the U.S. an enemy in the first place.
“…a lot of stuff about Iran and Yemen and terrorism” sounds pretty off the cuff to me. Do you really think that Obama is simply continuing the same bait-and-switch routine of the Bush administration?
Just more “Ya-da ya-da ya-da?”
I don’t. I think that he knows a great deal more than we have been told about how serious the “terrorist” threat is…and will remain…to the U.S. over the next several years and is doing everything in his power to take us safely through that time while attempting to transition to a less predatory international position than the one in which we have lived and prospered for the past 60 years or so.
The thrust of Islamic opposition to the U.S. has never been about “beating” us militarily. How could it be? How do you “beat” a nuclear power with the delivery options that are available to the U.S.?
How?
By undermining its foundations.
This was brilliantly done to the U.S.S.R…do not forget, Osama bin Laben was part of that effort, too…and the same tactic is working on the U.S. now. The (s)election of Obama…the de-(s)election of the Butch administration, actually…was a blow to fundamentalist Islamic efforts to destroy this system. It is in their best interests to keep the level of incompetence as high as possible here, and it is the right that offers that characteristic in spades, not the centrist-left. If they can get Obama outta there and put some ass like Romney in his place…or even better, Sarah Palin…the U.S. is as good as done. Another 8 years of the right and the whole economic system would go belly-up, complete with riots in the streets and an eventual shattering of the U.S. into several smaller entities.
Abracadabra!!! No more capitalist pig, atheist world cop!!!
That’s the plan.
Bet on it.
And you write:
The news is filled with…generally nothing that is of much interest to me at the moment!!!???
Hmmmm…
Forgive me for getting personal here, but…
(12/30/09)NYPD Evacuated Times Square Buildings As Precaution
A New York Police Department spokesman said it was too early in the investigation to comment on the nature of a suspicious van in Times Square on Wednesday, but police had evacuated some nearby buildings as a precaution.
The Nasdaq Stock Exchange’s MarketSite was among the sites evacuated, though Fox Business Network has now reported the evacuations are over and the area is being reopened. Nasdaq’s MarketSite is the exchange’s face in Times Square, where it hosts corporate meetings, product launches, press conferences and special events.
“The bomb squad is barring pedestrians and is approaching the vehicle with a robot,” Sgt. Carlos Nieves had told Dow Jones Newswires. “The camera will help technicians assess what it is in the van.”
Fox showed that the rear doors of the van were opened by police and officers have moved in to inspect it. The news channel has also reported the FBI has been brought onto the scene.
Although some reports said the van had been there for possibly as long as two days, Nieves couldn’t comment on how long the van had been parked there. He did confirm there was a “placard” on the van that wasn’t known to police in either New York or New Jersey.
Nieves said that ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square the NYPD was already on the lookout for vehicle bombs and is sweeping garages and other locations.
But, Nieves added, at this time “there is no known threat.”
and
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s Times Square has been reopened to traffic after a bomb squad found no explosive devices in an abandoned van parked in the area.
The squad used a robot-based camera to approach the vehicle and open it Wednesday. Police say they found clothing inside.The area around 42nd Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway was briefly blocked off as a precaution, and two high-rise buildings home to Nasdaq and Conde Nast were partially evacuated.
The van has tinted windows, and a placard from a nonexistent law enforcement agency is on the dashboard. It has no license plates, but a temporary registration was found inside the van and officers are trying to locate the owner.
Police officers on patrol noticed the van around mid-morning Wednesday. Security is tight as the New Year approaches.
Oh.
I am going to be exactly one block away from that area from tomorrow afternoon on through the night until after 1AM. Working. Or else I would be as far away from it as it is possible for me to get.
Like…in Maine or Iceland.
Several weeks ago I went into that area at 11AM on a weekday to take care of some business and missed a shootout between a cop and an automatic weapon-wielding nutjob illegal street vendor by almost exactly 3 minutes.
Remember it?
I do.
I was on that corner less than three minutes before the shooting went down.
In Holiday Crush, a Fatal Shootout in Times Sq.
—snip—
Police officials said [the vendor] had been issued a summons earlier this year — for selling compact discs and DVDs without a tax stamp — at the same spot where the chase began. They also said he was wanted for questioning in connection with an assault in the Bronx, and on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a disorderly conduct charge, also in the Bronx.
The police said they found business cards for several Virginia gun dealers in Mr. Martinez’s pocket.
—snip—
The police said a cryptic comment that referenced a 1985 martial-arts movie was written on the back of the card: “I just finished watching `The Last Dragon.’ I feel sorry for a cop if he think I’m getting into his paddy wagon.”
—snip—
Mr. Martinez [the vendor]fired first, getting off two shots. Then his gun jammed.
Nice.
This guy was part of the system that is being set up by our Islamic enemies. It’s easy enough to do…simply keep ramping up the level of hatred between the haves and the have-nots on every level until the weakest minds of the have-not population begin to crack.
Surrounded by the violent hype of the last 9 years, this fool tries to off a cop over a couple of misdemeanors and a possible assault charge that would most likely disappear in the so-called “justice” system that is currently in place here in NYC.
And…he doesn’t even know how to use his weapon. Other news stories mentioned that he held it sideways…rap star style…and that’s why it jammed.
The perfect al Queda fool/foil.
Like the two assholes in the Caprice back in 2002, sniping at people getting gas.
Like the sneaker bomber in 2001.
Like the Ft. Hood shooter and the Riverdale synagogue (infiltrator-driven) “bombers” and the guys who wanted to blow up JFK airport by lighting a fire in a natural gas main miles away but forgot to bring matches and the Ft. Wherever idiots who were going to stage a raid on an Army base so they practiced their amateur shit in a public park. Like the Somali “pirates” who stood up with their heads in plain sight of crack U.S. snipers and got themselves blown away for their efforts.
Perfect fools.
Keeping the terror level up, up, up, without ever going so far over the line that some official U.S. fool decides to glass-parking-lot Riyadh, Kabul or some other “terrorist stronghold”.
Brilliant.
And…it’s working.
Here is a piece of prophecy from one of our true seers.
The Second Coming-William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Read it, goddamn it!!!
Understand it.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Sound familiar?
It should.
You are part of that “best”, Booman. Flopping around in the shit that passes for meta blog news while yawning at the real stuff.
Nice.
FUCK Jane Hamsher, Mr. Moulitsos and the rest of the impotent blogfools.
You’re better than that.
Do not look away.
Not out of fatigue; not out of disgust; not for any reason.
Your child will one day thank you for it.
Bet on it.
AG
As you must.
As we all must.
AG
Alice and I were missing you today. It’s like we summoned you. <cue creepy music>
I feel we all lapse into periods of apathy from time to time because our outrage meter gets broken. In BooMan’s defense, he is facing impending fatherhood and that’s not a good time to dwell on how awful the world is.
“In Booman’s defense…?”
Well…yeah.
That’s why I wrote it. (Besides of course those spooky Mothra voices I kept hearing chanting “Arthur…Arthur…where are you, Arthur?”)
I already raised one ‘a dem young critters…a good ‘un, by all accounts…and the single most important thing that I managed to do in order to help him to become a good one was a continual, non-stop attempt to redirect his attentions towards the important stuff. What was really happening, not what the news and society told him was happening.
Booman’s heart is in the right place.
It’s just his head that’s gotten misplaced.
Like dat.
So it goes…
My wish is your command.
Or…something like that.
Later…
AG
I had to look it up. Nothing to do with groupies. Just as the caterpillar thought her life was over, she became a butterfly.
Both of y’all prodigals spend too much time lurking while Booman keeps the home fires burning. For the sake of community, it’s not that hard to stop yourself from erasing at least a third of all the stupid things you type. I do it all the time, obviously.
Participating makes it personal & keeps the apathy at bay.
There is unity, (growing) family, peace and love here. We adapt together and it’s always good to see you. Virtually!
AG,
this could have been so much simpler and a lot less circuitous.
Here’s a hint:
New York Giants
I suspect that the origin of at least some, if not most of the apathy you’re trying to define is in those three words. I know it is for me :o)
The Earth actually can stop spinning for a few days under those circumstances.
Take it easy
It’s ironic that apathy toward the news is the central focus of this diary rather than the news stories cited as so significant.
The news stories that I cited were all in one way or another engendered by the hypnomedia hype that has surrounded our so called “anti-terrorist efforts” here in the U.S. If we really wanted to combat anti-American terrorism we would simply stop our massive economic imperialist system right in its tracks and begin to rebuild from the ground up. But of course we could not do that without risking the collapse of our societal system here at home, and that in turn would cause a worldwide economic crisis that would make our present troubles look like child’s play.
So there we are.
Catch 22-ed into our present corner.
My post was aimed at Booman and the rest of the blogging left, a good percentage of whom have donned blogginess blinders and spend most of their time squabbling amongst themselves. They blog about which version of the political hype scene is correct instead of holding the feet of the entire system to the fire and/or trying to understand the motives behind the kind of compromises that we see being made by Barack Obama. These compromises are quite plainly being made in an obvious effort not simply to run yet another centrist, pro-corporate game on us but rather to get us the fuck out of the massive hole that Hillary Clinton’s “vast right wing conspiracy” dug for us so that we can prepare for the future without worrying about massive attacks from nascent ex-Third World countries of all persuasions.
Think we’re having trouble now? Imagine a similar effort being mounted against us from south of our own borders. Got any hispanics in your town? Bet on it. The infrastructure for a truly frightening terrorist movement exists in every city and town in the United States. Islamic opponents find it fairly difficult to disappear into this society. But if every José and Maria in America were to suddenly become a suspect in an anti-terror scare? Fuggedaboudit. This country would shut the fuck down!
Meanwhile, what do we get from the only non-hype machine dominated opinion dispersal system left to us?
Screeds pro and con people like Armando, Jane Hamsher and Markos Moulitsas. (The Matt Drudge of the left.)
Calls for armed revolution. (Like that’s gonna happen on McDonald’s Farmland.)
Minute critical examinations of the political machinations of the centrist parties.
Sob sister stories about how tough it is to live in Omertica.
(These from the three blogs that I still visit once in a while.) I do not doubt that it is the same up and down blogwhoredom. A couple of folks here have mentioned that they miss my input. Even a dummy like me eventually figures out that pissing into the wind does nothing except get you all wet.
I used to often use a tagline that went something like this:
Well…I still do “keep trying”.
Only not so much on these blogs.
I am a busy, working musician. The time that I wasted on blogworld for a number of years is now being used where it might actually do some good.
Making, writing and teaching music.
Every once in a while I have a slow week. As is my nature, I always hope for the best, so I drop back here and a couple of other places to see if anybody has awakened the fuck up.
So far…not really.
So it goes.
And then…back to real work.
So that goes as well.
Later…
AG
Arthur Gilroy,
It`s good to see/read you, alive & well.
I did bet on it when I noticed others wonder how you were.
Have a healthy New Year & let me know when you`re to play on the west coast.
LA, to be exact.
Arthur, great stuff. I happen to have had a long time interest in Nostradamus. Now before you reach for your “tin foil hat” stamp, I should explain why. Nostradamus had a personal knowledge of historical events that no other human being has ever documentation the history of the world. The challenge in reading his predictions is to correctly interpret which past event or events he is actually referencing in his quatrain as a paradigm for his prediction. Another fascination is watching the unfolding of events around the world as they logically fall into place, thereby creating the necessary conditions to reach the threshold of the actual predicted event.
One such prediction concerns the current struggle of Islam against the west. I disagree with your declaration that WE (the United States of America) are at war with radical Islam. What a stupid statement. No nation can have a war against an ideology or a religion unless it is totally embodied within the population of another nation or nations. When an ideology is truly global in nature and you oppose it, all you can do is attempt to SUPPRESS it. In this case suppression is a STRUGGLE which must involve many components,i.e., military, economic, communications, and philosophical. However regardless of these components, the struggle does not conform to the definition of war.
While WE STRUGGLE against militant Islam in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Egypt,and the Philippines, WE failed to pay strategic attention to another old enemy of ours, China. Since the end of the cold war, China has been engaged in an economic war with the United States, one that the U.S. continues to lose due to the insatiable geed of American Corporations and Wall Street Investment Bankers. The Chinese have found the “soft Underbelly” of the American Capitalist beast and it is blind illogical insatiable GREED, and the Chinese with their usual Asian patience have continued to bloat this part of the American anatomy.
Do they do this because they love us? Hell no! Do they do it because they Like us? Hell no! Do they do it because they want to rule us? Hell yes! That is why the latest move by the Chinese to buy up struggling American businesses makes sense. They learned from the Japanese automobile manufacturers that the key to obtaining real political influence in the American Congress and Executive systems is through having a viable business rooted and well positioned on American soil. The Chinese have observed how Toyota is able to control a substantial number of votes on the floor of the U.S. Senate, to achieve specific goals and favors that they want out of Washington, and they will seek to do the same, only on a much larger scale. In conjunction with any significant buying spree of American businesses, you can expect a large wave of Chinese nationals coming into the country to administer and run these businesses. This is a standard pattern incorporated in Chinese expansionism throughout the globe. The U.S. government must be vigilant and monitor Chinese business intrusion into this country as it will have a dramatic impact on any future immigration legislation.
One last word, the Chinese currently have virtually tied up all of the members of ASEAN with mutual trade and defense agreements, and is the defacto leader of Asia itself. They were able to achieve this over the Bush eight years in the White House, for during this period of time the United States have virtually NO participation with the ASEAN organization, and China stepped into this leadership vacuum.
All of these past events and many others yet to surface in the coming decade show that WE are slowly moving towards the Biblical war of wars , the East against the West, which was foretold by both in the Bible and by Nostradamus. I find this interesting stuff to watch. Can I do anything about it? No, but it’s still fascinating to observe. Happy New Year!!
.
except for the Nostradamus and Bible stuff. Major events can be foreseen, perhaps. Minor events just happens and becomes part of history. History does have a grip on how society will evolve. Glad no one is keeping watch over me, I have my freedom to live and make my own decisions. I don’t need to be part of a consensus, political party or large group of people.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
For cash-rich China, however, the financial crisis is shaping up to be a major opportunity, with payoffs that will last for decades.
If we look forward a few months, I expect China’s overseas investments to accelerate as that country’s capital markets continue to mature. In 2008, cumulative overseas investments reached $130 billion. Overseas investments in non-financial entities soared 64%, reaching $40.6 billion. At that pace, it’s conceivable that China’s investments could grow by an additional $100 billion over the next 24 months.
We’ve already told Money Morning readers to watch as China continues its global shopping spree, spending money to lock in supplies of crude oil, mined minerals, and all sorts of other commodities that will become quite scarce when global growth resumes – as it most certainly will.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."