An ex soviet citizen (Vladimir Bukowsky, writer and lecturer) talks about the differences between the old Soviet Union and where the EU is heading. His last words in this video are quite chilling. “I have lived in your future, and it didn’t work.”
Another ‘Glad I don’t live there any more’ moment.
Watch the whole video (Yes I know it’s 30 minutes long) as Donna LaFramboise deconstructs the idea that the IPCC consists of the ‘worlds finest scientists’. Rather there is a preponderance of students, activists, and people well before getting their Phd or Masters. These are the ‘worlds finest’?
I’ve heard of child prodigies but the UN is looking less than credible as a source of all wisdom every day. At least as far as climate is concerned. Probably everything else, too. Time for a revamp? A shrinkage of mission?
The first human to set foot on another world has passed from amongst us, and this leaves me deeply saddened. He blazed a trail across the sky that those who dare to dream might want to follow. He was the tip of a broad pyramid of engineers who made the dream of stepping on to another world possible, and with Aldrin and Collins showed the way out of the cradle of mankind. He is one of the giants upon whose shoulders future spacefarers will stand.
God speed Neil. Condolences to your family.
Back in 1973, Desmond Bagley published a cold war thriller about a man who found himself part of the looking glass spy war between the West and the then Soviet Union. The book is called The Tightrope Men and it’s a bit dated like all books of that genre, but quite a good read nonetheless. On form, Desmond was more than a match for Tom Clancy and a legion of other writers, but I digress.
One of the key premises of Desmonds book was the idea that both sides during the Cold war leaked secret plans intended to tie up the oppositions best brains and stop them from thinking about more critical and workable ideas. Rather like Smart phones, iPods, Computers, Television, Radio, Sudoku and Crossword puzzles distract we mere mortals from actually bothering to talk to other people, and thus make connections to work out our differences amicably. Now gentle reader (Either of you), If I may lead you down a path that smacks as dangerously of tinfoil hattery as some of David Icke’s wilder assertions, please humour me. I will try not to bore you.
Every day our senses are assailed by some rent-seeking tub thumper or QUANGOcrat firing out press releases that we’re all doomed unless someone ‘does’ something about an alleged problem. Video games causing riots, this or that foodstuff causing Cancer or Heart Disease. Shoe sizes and dress restrictions being coded Racism, Gay rights (Why should they have any more rights than you or I? – That’s discrimination that is), the limits of Unfree speech, people who hide in embassies because they’ve pissed off powerful people as well as their ex girlfriends. Talentless people on pointless television programmes, non existent problems that ‘someone has to fix’ (How about ‘man made global warming’ – if the dutch cap fits, as one prostitute said to another). There is a cacophony of voices out there screaming about this or that, mostly drowning out the less strident voices saying; “Er, that doesn’t work – why are you still banging on about it?” Then the strident ones begin castigating those who do not share their world view. Classic examples are meaningless labels like ‘Denier’, ‘Hater’, ‘Truther’, and many, many more. It’s often hard to see where the smoke ends and the mirrors begin, and vice versa. Yet in order to make sense of this world, the mirrors and the smoke must be understood to distinguish the real from the imaginary.
In order to understand what is real and not, one has to walk a philosophical tightrope without falling off. To have a sense of detachment and balance where others, in their rushes to tribal judgement and reliance on narrow, tick box thinking, fail to apply the principles of critical thought, thus ignoring the real issues. It’s a freedom trap, which even the brightest and best of us fall into. We allow ourselves to fall prey to the glittering horde of daily distractions; Family, Friends, wild eyed activists, various attention seekers and the fools gold of misinformation which the lamestream is heavily laced with.
Friends and family demand attention. At least if you want to keep them. They have to be included in the discussions about the real. Their views cannot be discounted lightly.
However, the first class of opposition to automatically dismiss are the ones coming from people using various parroted shorthand terms, threats and name calling. They have nothing worth listening to. They are the scum on the pond. The second are the single issue ranters, who bang on and on about their pet topic, trying to hijack threads to their own purpose. The third are the verbose, those who insist on boring everyone to tears with two paragraphs of comment-waffle before they even begin to make their point. Worthless trolls to a man (Woman / whatever). I must confess some comment streams have me yawning fit to crack my jaw, especially when certain people can’t simply cut to the chase or keep on topic.
The issue above all issues is the economy. How to get the economies of the west away from their current kamikaze nosedive. One thing is certain, Government spending won’t do it because of one simple economic fact; Governments do not and have never created wealth, they only spend money earned by taxpayers. Inflating the debt away by QE or printing money won’t do it. The Weimar Republic tried it, Zimbabwe is doing it and QE does not work. Even Keynes, the originator of the economic philosophy behind the current mess said that Governments had to put aside funds in the good times to prepare for the bad. Yet what did the Governments in question do? Piss taxpayer dollar up the wall and weaken the nations financial position during the good times before for the inevitable downturn. Now what are they up to? Robbing ordinary people of their hard earned, and trying yet another tax grab on those with assets left overseas.
All the time, the rest of the UK is obsessing about a wealthy Junior Army Officer from a famous family blowing off some steam in Vegas and getting his picture taken in the nude. Oh yes, and football, and dumb TV shows. They believe the lies they are fed about ‘fairness’ and ‘social justice’ because those lies stop you from seeing the mendacity and avarice they shield. Give the socially and financially inactive money earned by others to keep them quiet and stop them rioting. Pay off the potentially violent because if they really kick off, the army and Police couldn’t shoot enough of them to keep the peace. Better they live with their toys and let the grown ups alone. Tell them they’re being ‘nice’ and their need for self worth will make the poor saps believe. Even if they’re keeping otherwise active people in a sessile state.
Some of us have seen the future and are Getting the Fuck Out (GTFO) of the UK. Yet now it seems that what remains of our assets are in the sights of a committee of UK MP’s. They say they want to prevent ‘capital flight’, but whose capital is it? Not theirs. They didn’t make it. Yet these worthless lumpsuckers want to give the sweat off your brow to others? Not only that but home searches by HMRC have increased by 155%. The politico’s must be getting really desperate. They blew the money on their friends and yet they’re scavenging for more? Yet do we hear of this in the newspapers? Google it for yourself.
There is a large body of opinion who might opine; But it don’t matter ‘cos it’s only the rich wot gets hammered yeah? Which is a rather fuckwitted statement one would expect from the mindlessly dependent. Only brain dead drones unworthy of the breath of life think this way because they cannot see that it is only a matter of time before the greedy leviathan might turn its attention to them. Unfortunately they are either intellectually unwilling or unable to walk the tightrope between the mendacity of the lamestream media, and the non-stories fed via these outlets, and the real facts, often hidden in plain sight but ignored. They believe the deluded ‘best in the world’ stories which demand ever increasing tranches of GDP. Because a time may well come when some moron will propose that the state take over all your major life decisions, and that like some medieval serf, all the fruits of your labour will belong to them.
Then everyone but the insiders who run the system will be equal. It will be ‘fair’ because the all encompassing state will dole out ‘social justice’ whether you personally like it or not. No matter how hard you try, you will go nowhere. Doomed to spin your wheels for the rest of your life, never being able to make your own choices. Your life will never really change because you will have no real say. Won’t that be lovely?
I see various upholders of moral rectitude like Madonna, and Paul McCartney (Yeah, right.) are up in arms about a three member Russian punk band called Pussy Riot being jailed for ‘desecrating’ a Russian Orthodox church. Oo, aren’t those Russians bad people, well because they’re Russians and ex-communists, and, and well bad, aren’t they? Jailing those poor harmless pretty girls. Isn’t that nasty ‘Vlad the Impaler’ a really bad man, den? Cos it was all about protesting Putin right?
Call me an old stickler if you will, but let’s see the bands own video of what actually happened shall we?
Okay, a bad song. Let’s face it, all punk rock is pretty bad. This particular performance makes thrash metal look cool and intellectual. A poorly choreographed dance routine, and lots of inflammatory gestures in a house of worship. The denomination is not important. Church, Temple, Synagogue, Mosque. Do that sort of thing in any place where people come to talk to their version of God and you deserve all you get. Invade the space of others and insult them and their version of worship to sing (this is debatable) a bad song, dance badly, make insulting gestures and essentially wound the silence of a church with pointless noise.
Two years? Siberian exile for ten might be more appropriate. Or just confiscate their guitar strings. On the other hand, ‘musicians’ that atrocious probably wouldn’t notice.
For those of you who can remember the old UK egg marketing board adverts, (I can, but I was very young back then) the latest twist is that a researcher in Toronto makes the specious claim that egg yolks are bad for you. Very bad. Nasty. Malign even. Lethal in fact. As bad as (de-dah-DAAAHHHH!) smoking. You are all doomed. Sorry but there you are. You have to die of something, and egg yolks are back on the ‘NO’ list.
No doubt we will soon be told that grocery stores will become ‘egg free zones’. No purchasing of eggs within three metres of the door or ventilation intakes. Plain packaging campaigns for egg cartons. Omelette free zones.
What is the matter with these people? Do they want to live forever? Chickens.
Perhaps Dr Spence never saw this video.
Mrs S is watching the Olympic coverage and they’ve just played Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were here.”
In today’s UK, surely it should be “Welcome to the machine” from the same album.
Back to the pool. Too warm to stay out for long.
… I couldn’t give a damn.
About the bread and circus of the 2012 Olympics.
I’m not anti-sport or spectacle, but there are just too many other things to do and see this side of the globe…….
Our pool awaits. I may be some little time. Call me in September. Maybe.
Who are Olympic ‘Team EU’? I didn’t see them represented in the teams list for the 2012 Olympics.
Maybe they’re entered in the team bandwagon jumping event? /snark
The Bill Sticker Alternative 