How True

Truth wears no mask, seeks neither place nor applause, bows to no human shrine; she only asks a hearing. 
-Anita Jacobs Thompson

from blogger 'Running 'Cause I Can't Fly'

Sunday, October 18, 2015

“America Is A Bomb Waiting To Explode”

“America Is A Bomb Waiting To Explode”

by Sam Gerrans

“The United States is in decline. While not all major shocks to the system will be devastating, when the right one comes along, the outcome may be dramatic. Not all explosives are the same. We all know you have to be careful with dynamite. Best to handle it gently and not smoke while you’re around it. Semtex is different. You can drop it. You can throw it. You can put it in the fire. Nothing will happen. Nothing until you put the right detonator in it, that is.

To me, the US – and most of the supposedly free West – increasingly looks like a truck being systematically filled with Semtex. But it’s easy to counter cries of alarm with the fact that the truck is stable – because it’s true: you can hurl more boxes into the back without any real danger. Absent the right detonator, it is no more dangerous than a truckload of mayonnaise. But add the right detonator and you’re just one click away from complete devastation. We can see how fragile the U.S. is now by considering just four tendencies.

1. Destruction of farms and reliable food source: The average American is a long way from food when the shops are closed. The Washington Post reports that the number of farms in the country has fallen by some 4 million from more than 6 million in 1935 to roughly 2 million in 2012. And according to the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, only about 2 percent of the US population live on farms. That means that around 4.6 million people currently have the means to feed themselves. Food supply logistics are extended, sometimes stretching thousands of miles. The shops have nothing more than a few days’ stock. A simple break in that supply line would clear the shops out in days.

2. Weak economic system: The American economic system is little more than froth. The US currency came off the gold standard in 1933 and severed any link with gold in 1971. Since then, the currency has been essentially linked to oil, the value of which has been protected and held together by wars. The whole world has had enough of the US and its hubris – not least the people of the US themselves, which the massive support currently for Putin’s decision to deal with ISIS demonstrates. Since pro-active war is what keeps the US going, if it loses the monopoly on that front, its decline is inevitable.

Fiat economies always collapse. They last on average for 37 years. By that metric the US should have already run out of gas. Once people wake up and smell the Yuan, the Exodus out of the dollar will be unstoppable.

3. Americans increasingly on mind-altering drugs: According to the "Scientific American", use of antidepressants among the US population was up 400 percent in the late 2000s over the 1990s. Many of these drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These are the type of FDA-approved narcotics lone gunmen are frequently associated with, and their psychoses often attributed to a forced or sudden withdrawal from such drugs. Pharmaceuticals are produced at centralized points by companies which themselves rely on extended logistics systems both to produce and to deliver their output. If the logistics system fails, there’s no more supply.

4. Morals in decline: During the objective hardship of the 1930s, there was surprisingly little crime. People were brought up with a conception of morals and right and wrong. Frugality and prudence were prized virtues. Communities were generally fairly cohesive. Relative to then, society today is undisciplined, unrealistic and selfish.

Around 250 million shoppers participated in the Black Friday sales in 2013 in which around USD 61 billion was spent on consumer items – up roughly 100 percent on 2006 figures. Stampedes and even murders are not uncommon each year with people openly fighting each other over reduced-price items. The goods bought in such sales tend to be non-essential and many of them are bought on credit cards which then have to be paid off at interest.

Part of the problem in what I have outlined above is that there is little explicit tension. Sure, it is depressing, vulgar and immoral. But it doesn’t look catastrophic. It looks normal. My point is that just because the US – and many other countries organised after the same template – do not look explosive, doesn’t mean they won’t blow up. Whereas 80 years ago we could absorb major shocks, today we cannot.

Nowhere to run: In the past, people were in rural communities. They could grow food. They had real communities. They also had self-control and a conception of morality. Today, if the supply lines go down, you are stuck in a house you can’t heat surrounded by millions of FDA-approved drug addicts who are going psycho because they have run out of juice and people who would murder their own grandmother to get a cut-price iPhone.

I would argue that the right shock event – or combination of shock events – will detonate the explosive. Potential detonators happen all the time. Either they are contained or they are simply incompatible with the explosive or they don’t go off. But that doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen or that we are not sitting on a mountain of explosives.

There was one such potential detonator – which presently has not gone off – in the UK just last week. The UK’s Independent reported Friday that experts were ‘staggered’ after Pauline Cafferkey – who had been brought to London of all places – rapidly declined after being declared cured from Ebola. This woman had been allowed out into the community – still sick with Ebola – and managed to visited Mossneuk Primary School in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, on Monday to thank children for their fund-raising efforts.

We will assume these events have their origins in incompetence; the fact is: we have a woman dying from Ebola in the UK’s largest population center. What if there is more incompetence? Boris Johnson, the current Mayor of London, primed the British public for the possibility of Ebola in London just last week. Perhaps he knows something we don’t.

What do you think will happen if people start dying from Ebola in London or New York? The natural response will be to get out of the urban centre as quickly as possible. During the Great Plague of London of 1665, for example, Defoe wrote “Nothing was to be seen but wagons and carts, with goods, women, servants, children, coaches filled with people of the better sort, and horsemen attending them, and all hurrying away”.

Once the better off city people reach the countryside there will be instant resistance from the host population, not least because they will not want potentially infected people entering their communities. Meanwhile, the poor people who are left in the cities will run out of food in short order as suppliers refuse to enter the city. Those who fled London in 1665 had somewhere to go: they were returning to the fields that fed them. Today, the fields which feed us are largely in other countries, and the ones which are in our own are mainly owned by large corporations.

I am not predicting exactly this scenario for the US or for any other country. I am saying that all the ingredients are there for complete breakdown and large-scale deaths given the right initiating incident. I am saying that volatility is baked into the cake – even into the cake of what today looks and feels normal. I am saying that while it may be possible to keep loading box upon box of societal Semtex into the truck, given the right detonator the collapse will be swift, unstoppable and devastating."

- http://www.theburningplatform.com/

The Ills of Mankind - George was so Right!

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. 

We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. 

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
 
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
 
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
 
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years. 

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. 

We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. 

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. 

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. 

We write more, but learn less. 

We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. 

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
 
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. 

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. 

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
 
Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
 
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. 

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
 
Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
 
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
 
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
 
And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away."
~ George Carlin ~

What's Your Message?

Ghandi's -‘My Life is My Message’.

I can only hope mine to be the same, that it be a good message, that there will be good direction from it.

God and St. Francis - I Laughed Out Loud

A Conversation between God & St. Francis on nature & human nature
As i watch the suburbanites daily i cannot help but think of this little story about god and st. francis having a conversation on nature and the ridiculous nature of humans. it's an old one that's been passed around plenty but worth another read because of it's truthfulness.

God: Hey St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the Midwest? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect "no maintenance" garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. The begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it... sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bail it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

Life in General and A Helping Angel Named Rick*

The past few months have been quite hectic and seemed to have sped along like a speeding train.  I find it almost impossible for it to be October already; in fact, a third of it gone already.   Doesn't seem but a few weeks ago that I was starting seeds for the wonderful, thriving vegetables I would have come summer.  My high hopes were dashed, for spring and summer came and zipped by entirely too fast.  Nothing thrived!  So to speak, for the big tomatoes turned out to be the small salad type, every last one of them  Today I have loads of "tommy toes" on vines in the mulch pile.  100s!  Yet they aren''t ripening.  the few handfuls I did get I enjoyed and was very grateful for having them.  Most  split , bugs, slugs get to them before I can.  No blackberries this year, nary a one.  Maybe 10 strawberries.  Not one squash.  Ha, Ha, yeah, THRIVE. This land was a sight to see with the great lot of blooms - then kerflunk, they would shrivel and dry.  SO, I have retired as gardener for life.  Such disappointment; I never. 
Most of my time was spent on the mower. Still at it.  I have reached a point in life when I realize I cannot go on with  this way of life much longer.  So many health issues rearing their heads also.  Forgetfulness is at critical stage. I stagger and stumble so you'd think I'm drunk.  I imagine I should see a doctor, yet I have no inclination to take their drugs or placebos;  a Reclast infusion in August for my bones  is 'guaranteed' to build them back - THEY say.  So why do I have so much all-over pain?  Growing bone pains? I guess.

My grandson has kept the grass edges trimmed but stopped now for he has pleurisy.  Hospitalized this week.  The windows still are waiting and I dare not climb a ladder while alone...that 'dizzy drunken' state again.  Back in August, while mowing, I went completely blind in the left eye for several minutes. The upper half of vision soon returned while the lower half took longer.  Weirdest experience ever!  Dr. J, my eye surgeon, thinks my carotid is blocked, that some plaque broke loose and caused this blindness.  So time for an ultrasound from the vascular surgeon next month.  Sure hope a piece doesn't break lose and go to my brain before then.  Just what I need: a blind brain!

I have been aggravated greatly for many months with the computer.  It was a new and different problem every time I turned it on.  On the verge of saying "to hell with it all" and canceling Internet service so many times (CenturyLink just keeps going up, up and up in cost), yet hesitating time and again, I finally called on Rick at www.Rick'sbitsandbites.com He used www.TeamViewer.com, remotely connected to my computer and fixed so many problems.  He even was able to talk to me via Notebook.  I sat here three or four hours watching, while that amazing man took over my cursor and did his magic.  Watching that cursor zip all about (Rick is FAST) was a fascinating education in itself.   I had more than 300 infections, I think he told me!   I am so grateful for Rick freely taking on this huge situation and fixing it. * Bless your heart, Rick, I thank you greatly.  Oh, to be able to understand all the complicated fixes myself!  Not to be, unless I go take some computer courses.  With the condition of my memory, I don't think this would work very well; besides, there is no money or physical energy left in me to take on such an endeavor.  Also, I forgot momentarily that I'm 90% deaf!  I am good at reading lips though.

What a chilly wet day it has been.  I don't relish the days gradually getting colder.  I read on AccuWeather that the Southeast will see some hard winter time.  Best to be forewarned; can't put off preps for much longer.  Sure hope the furnace makes it another season and that the electricity doesn't falter.  I won't ever forget the nightmare I barely lived through a short few years ago.  I need an alternate heat source, for certain.

I'm outta here.  It is past bedtime once again.

You take care and I will return again sometime.  I have a "million" plans in mind for when I'll be cooped up inside soon.

* He admitted it was a Doozy.

Author Unknown

 

Beautiful Sunrise Somewhere

 "He who is in too great a hurry, can bring nothing to perfection, 

   but is almost sure to spoil that which he has in hand."