Grateful Dead

Rupert Murdoch's daughter is baptized in the Jordan so daddy has the place cleared of land mines? How did they do it? I assume they just had prisoners walk single file across to the river and drag the unlucky ones away? I have an idea! Extraordinary rendition for Blair and Murdoch. Exile them to comfy men's clubs in Luxembourg and never let them leave.

I'd have thought that would be three thumbs in your case, Inca Roadie.

Hilarious, Badger. Somebody in the US should come up with one for the last Bush.

...are responsible for the mortgage-backed securities pyramid scheme. I think the question is: Who's?

The police crackdown on the 99%ers has been unusually brutal in some cities, with the "authorities" using stun grenades and tear gas. Lesser tactics have been used in other cities but the message is always the same: Don't set up camp here. Like the War Bonus Veterans, the Dust Bowl Victims, union organizing and other populist public movements this one is facing massive repression. What is clearly pointed out by this is that the 1% control the means of repression. They can have whatever powers and laws they wish through their paid lackeys. What is exciting to me is the growing awareness that we have been being screwed again and again long before the 2008 recession by the banks and other rich people. There is a war going on and until we learn the use of nonviolence and winning over the agents of repression with that tactic there will be little change. This year has seen so many changes where the scales tipped too far in one direction have been righted. It all pales in comparison to this one titanic struggle in the US. If our priorities were reordered to reflect a humanitarian culture instead of one of material prosperity and private property the world would not only be a better place but the scales would be tipped toward a move forward in the evolution of our planet. Imagine. It isn't hard to do.

can't help but think that changing things on a smaller level, within one's own community will be markedly more beneficial in the long run. aiming too big is ultimately impotent. however, we mustn't lose sight of the fact that people just really want to express dissatisfaction (i can't get no); decades of apathy have produced headless poultry that don't like the cage they're in but have no idea how to find the exit.which is fair enough. gotta start somewhere. like we all did. a recent panel show here in England had Louise Mensch criticised for suggesting that the protesters outside St. Paul's Cathedral were hypocritical for drinking at Starbucks and having expensive tents; now, while we shouldn't really have any sympathy for her (author of 'chick lit' fiction, married to the manager of the Red Hot Chili Pricks, worst still, a Tory politician), she did have a point; protesting while mindlessly (unconsciously?) indulging in the world of corporate materialism is shooting yourself in the foot. which in turn, shoots the rest of us in the head. no monkey drone consumers, no reason to exist. think smaller. don't shop here. help the local community. change people's minds. but it's still heartening to see any voicing; however, you get the feeling they're being played like the proverbial deck of shiny number thingies. copy cat congregations tolerated as futile gesture. i've actually become bored while writing this; guess we could be more effective than talking about it. last chunks in vegas & gonzos all too pertinent; it's going to be bloody but evolution is indeed the key. let psychedelics, creativity, multiple reality understanding, ayahuasca and angelic conversation in the tunnel of goats lead the way. Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil.

After participating in movements in my 20s I know all too well the drawbacks of non-disciplined movements and the utter insanity of violence. It is difficult to organize things on a large scale and invariably we lose, save, perhaps, the Vietnam War. A disciplined movement with disciplined leaders and a well laid out plan has the only chance of working. Sometimes I wonder if they did everything right if they would still lose because of the tight link between the rich, the politicians the army and the police. I think somebody in authority would have to make a huge mistake and kill 10,000 people on CNN. Innocent people, women, children, to show how cruel and heartless they are....

"Sometimes I wonder if they did everything right if they would still lose..." absolutely right, lamagonzo. the binds ARE too tight. a well organised campaign, unfortunately, would still seem to be ineffective i feel. what's interesting (and not just in this situation) is that they have the means; laptops, meeting points, smartphones. maybe too much choice by people used to too much choice, rendering them unintentionally dazed and confused and none too sure where to begin. the passion is there. the sincerity is there. but with no clear direction ahead. concentrating on the ball instead of the goal. but i wish to reiterate; it is wonderful to see people doing SOMETHING. the concentration on death in everyday life as a force for contemplation, insight and guidance is more important than ever. never has society been more scattered and without anchor. mild desperation and barely simmering anxiety. less caffeine injection, more THC. unfortunately, well over 10,000 innocent civilians have already been killed throughout the ages. more blatant than we realise. develop the sidereal everybody, develop the Sidereal. these plants are natural, you know. they were put there for very good reason.

Wonderful that they are doing something...Death is the largest of all meditations as the elephant has the largest of all footprints (Shakyamuni Buddha said that)... When I said 10,000, I meant new ones, unfortunately a basic principle of nonviolence is taking on suffering to portray the evil-doing class's intention. Dr. Gene Sharp wrote the bible on nonviolent history and tactics and was recently given a prestigious award. Good reading for all organnizers, not just 99%ers.

something for the weekend. a beaut.

Looks like Patroits might not make the second round of the payoffs with the way they played today against the Steelers, who didn't play that great themselves (except for Roth). Grunkowski looks like a double from the movie The Longest Yard, just carrying people around the field with his giant body. Welker's working but Ochocinco is lost in action.

don't tell me the Italians are involved....look away now if you don't want to see next week's scores!

remindes me of the mimers and miners. completely unintentional

are you suggesting that certain States are to be punished for not towing Washington's line?obviously. U.S., the pathetic bullies in the playground. i wonder of you'll get the criticism i usually get. GR8fulTed where are you?

...on the relationship between the US & Allies and the Palestinians and other Arab states. Basically, the fix is is in for Israel since the deal was cut in 47. Then there is that most disputed holy site in Jerusalem, seemingly unresolvable. It is another powder keg waiting to explode whether due to a newly militaristic Egypt, a desperate Syria or a not-so-paranoid Israel over the aims and intentions of nuclear programs in Iran, just to name a few. What is rarer is to see Badger so overwrought about a low-grade cultural exchange.

Repeat: Iran is not a threat and never will be.Repeat: Iran is not a threat and never will be. i agree wholeheartedly with the badger. short sighted and vindictive? surely, you jest, sir! since when? why, cherry berry apple pie says you're blinkered, my oh my!

sweeten the pill when UN membership denied? probably. shame on Israel. shame on the U.S. shame on the complicits.

step by stepfoot by foot inch by inch They filled it's skies predators & reepers All battles are equal I guess (A Nod to Badger)

“Chris Hedges made this statement in New York City’s Zuccotti Park on Thursday morning during the People’s Hearing on Goldman Sachs, which he chaired with Dr. Cornel West. The activist and Truthdig columnist then joined a march of several hundred protesters to the nearby corporate headquarters of Goldman Sachs, where he was arrested with 16 others.” (Read the whole story at nationofchange.org)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than they have ever measured before. In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the "very poor" soared to heights never seen previously. Back in 1993 and back in 2009, the rate of extreme poverty was just over 6 percent, and that represented the worst numbers on record. But in 2010, the rate of extreme poverty hit a whopping 6.7 percent. That means that one out of every 15 Americans is now considered to be "very poor". For many people, this is all very confusing because their guts are telling them that things are getting worse and yet the mainstream media keeps telling them that everything is just fine. Hopefully this article will help people realize that the plight of the poorest of the poor continues to deteriorate all across the United States. In addition, hopefully this article will inspire many of you to lend a hand to those that are truly in need. For a long time, there have been those that have warned that economic riots are coming to this nation. Anger and frustration with the economy and with our financial system have grown to unprecedented levels, and this has fueled the rise of the various protest movements that we have seen over the last couple of years. People are fed up and they want solutions. Unfortunately, anger and frustration can express themselves in dangerous and unpredictable ways. What we have seen in Oakland, in Seattle and in other major U.S. cities this week is only just the beginning of the massive economic riots that are coming to this country. Yes, "anarchists" were responsible for quite a bit of the violence that we have seen this week, but they were not the only ones involved. Some protesters were getting violent too, and there has also been quite a bit of police brutality. Of course the vast majority of Occupy Wall Street protesters do not want anything to do with violence and they recognize that violence is not the answer. But that is the thing with anger and frustration. It is hard to contain them in neat, self-disciplined packages. As the economy continues to get worse, the protests will grow and unfortunately so will the violence. You can preach the benefits of non-violence all day long to some people but they just will not get it. America has reached a turning point, and what we are seeing now is only just the beginning of the madness. In the years ahead we are going to see rioting that is going to be absolutely unprecedented. How does a country end up 15 trillion dollars in debt? 30 years ago, we were just a little over a trillion dollars in debt. How in the world do supposedly rational people living in "the greatest nation on earth" allow themselves to commit national financial suicide by allowing government debt to explode like that? It almost seems like there should be some sort of official ceremony in Washington D.C. to commemorate this achievement. It really takes something special to be able to roll up 15 trillion dollars of debt. To get to this level, we really had to indulge in some wild spending. For example, did you know that the U.S. national debt grows by more than 2 million dollars every single minute? All of this debt has fueled an unprecedented boom of prosperity for the last 30 years, but now that prosperity is drying up. Today, there are over 45 million Americans that are on food stamps. America is being deindustrialized at a blinding pace and there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. Poverty is exploding all over the nation, and millions of families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unfortunately, there are zero solutions on the horizon. The leaders of both major political parties seem even more clueless right now than in past years. We really could use some hope, but hope is in very short supply. The debt crisis in Europe just seems to get worse with each passing day, and it is yet another glaring example of why the EU is a mind blowing failure. The EU is made up of 27 nations that all have their own economic policies, and 17 of those nations are trying to use the euro as a common currency. But when you have 27 different governments pulling in different directions, it is inevitable that there are going to be major problems. The stunt that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou just pulled is a perfect example of the nightmare that the EU has become. European officials worked really hard to pull together a deal to address the debt crisis (of course the deal was a total mess, but that is another matter), and a couple of days later Papandreou decides that Greece should hold a national referendum on it. It is so bizarre that it almost defies words. But that is what happens in the EU. Someone else always wants to have a say. Someone else always wants to throw a fly into the ointment. Someone else always want to throw in their two cents. The EU is a bureaucratic nightmare and this latest episode is yet another example of that fact. First the politicians in Europe come up with an idiotic plan that is going to make the financial crisis much worse, then Papandreou comes forward and pulls a stunt that shatters what little confidence the financial markets still had in Greece. That is why the EU should break up. It is a total failure and it is time that we all admitted it. Do you hear that sound? It is the sound of Europe being hit with a cold dose of financial reality. The air has been let out of the balloon, and investors all over the world are realizing that absolutely nothing has been solved in Europe. The solutions being proposed by the politicians in Europe are just going to make things worse. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by shredding confidence in sovereign debt. But that is exactly what the "voluntary 50% haircut" has done. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by pumping up your "bailout fund" with borrowed money from China, Russia and Brazil. More debt is just going to make things even worse down the road. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by causing a massive credit crunch. By giving European banks only until June 2012 to dramatically improve their credit ratios, it is going to force many of them to seriously cut back on lending. A massive credit crunch would significantly slow down economic activity in Europe and that is about the last thing that the Europeans need right now. If the deal that was reached last week was the "best shot" that Europe has got, then we are all in for a world of hurt. Do bad it wasn't nitrous instead of air out of the balloon.

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Dump Papendreou and get this thing (European Sovereign Debt Crisis) back on track before the peasants have any illusions of power! Greece; Portugal; Spain; Italy; Ireland... Not unless the big boys say yes is there a solution to this mess. Does this beg the question of what will happen when servicing the interest on 15 Billion dollars of debt in the US? You bet it does. Just a matter of time. It's not your kids problem, it's your retirement problem, your old-age quality of life problem. Company didn't come through with the profit-sharing and pension? Conservatives getting ready to croak Social Security and Medicare? If i don't have any quality of life at 75 I don't plan to stick around. Yes, Tiger Lilly, I may be wrong about certain things in European finance but the numbers and compound interest don't lie. ~ Same old rat in a drain-ditch ~

one of the reasons why i abandoned my reply (and subsequent topic); personally, i'm too down at present to comment on such a vast, cavernous situation. it involves so many different branches, roots, tangents; a panoply, a myriad of core causes that for me, i don't think i'll arrive at a different destination that i haven't already before.but your frustration is well founded, gonzo. however, i don't believe TigerLilly was pointing any fingers. i'm retreating from this forum topic as there is too much at present around the world that is negative and i wish to concentrate on healing with form, energy and light.

About the compound interest. Italian Bonds are trading at "junk" status (almost %7) today and the new Chinese Finance Minister last weekend emboldened his speech on the "slothful, indolent" post-industrial welfare societies that China is NOT going to invest in. Or, rather, he said more soothingly "conditions aren't correct to invest in". I don't know if the European Union is a good thing or not, with or without it's own currency. Many of the more socialist countries with higher taxes and more social programs and lower levels of debt are covering for the ones who do not have these attributes. Can it be done? I don't know how the US is still the United States.. Obviously, given the Earth's number and variety of social economic and ecological ills,all countries should be pulling together in emergency mode. That we're not at that level or recognition at this critical time tells you everything you need to know about the future. Wish I had something positive to end with. Here's one: Maybe I was wrong in my other post, The sky won't fall in Europe this week Think I'll go check in at the "Occupy Wall Street encampment at Dartmouth University. That would be the 1% saying to the 99% that they, the future Ivy League elite, are the 1%. The masters telling the slaves that theyare also slaves....

Rick Perry should quietly bow out, admitting he isn't smart enough to be president (Presidents don't get to have "blond moments") Herman Cain should bow out given the nature and number of allegations of being a sexual predator against him. He is not proven guilty, but he is in Tiger Woods territory. Besides that, a broad-based national tax of 9% on everything will hurt the poor disproportionately, which he is proposing with his "999" plan. Joe Paterno should be charged and put on trial and have a jury decide if he should go to jail. What the hell happened at Penn State during the time of the Catholic Church scandal? Did they think it was open season on little boys at Penn State? ~ The harder they come, the harder they fall One and all ~

Yesterday, on the first day of deer-hunting season in New Hampshire (with rifles, as opposed to bow and arrows) a man shot his 32 year old friend and killed him, thinking he was a doe. I propose changing the name of deer-hunting season to Human hunting season. Every year about 100 humans are harvested in the name of controlling the deer herd in the US. The idiot Wind is blowing again, Stay out of the woods.

10 Ways the Occupy Movement Changes EverythingDavid Korten, Sarah van Gelder and Steve Piersanti, News Analysis: “1. It names the source of the crisis. 2. It provides a clear vision of the world we want. 3. It sets a new standard for public debate. 4. It presents a new narrative. 5. It creates a big tent. 6. It offers everyone a chance to create change. 7. It is a movement, not a list of demands. 8. It combines the local and the global. 9. It offers an ethic and practice of deep democracy and community. 10. We have reclaimed our power.”

...from Portland, Oregon (Police action to clean out the camp behind city hall) to Burlington, Vermont (a shooting 2 hours ago in a small lakefront park in the city). It would seem the first birth pangs have really begun. Now more movement building is needed with a national virtual conference. I, for one, hope this movement survives and grows and thrives. Capitalist morons ruining the planet! Just keep repeating 2012, 2012, 2012...

You are brave letting your kids and mom(in-law) go in the woods at all during this time of the year. You could be dressed in day-glo green and still be mistaken for a deer. Hunters hallucinate seeing deer because they want to kill one so bad, and then end up, in some cases, killing their own child during their "bonding" experience. I am not for hunting except for professional wardens keeping statistics and thinning the herds as needed and then giving the meet to the poor. I think that makes a lot of sense. PS Noonie: Thanks for the invite up to Lincoln for the Jerry fest last summer. Went at the last minute but nobody could tell me where it was or knew you. I just asked the wrong people I suppose. Hope it was a lot of fun!

When authorities realized that the Occupy Wall Street had some hardcore support in major cities they did what they had to do, clear the parks of camping, for the safety and sanitation of the general public. The movement has met some quick success and could be off to a good start though they face a hard winter of demonstrating without camping. If they were to establish some positions and articulate some campaign leading to an objective that would go a long way toward getting them through the winter in good shape to make a presence in the presidential elections. The movement has already been infiltrated by state and federal provocateurs, causing problems, injury and riot. One thing is sure, if they don't articulate themselves and their means to their goals they are just going to be yesterdays news and irritating as they highlight an acute problem without providing an answer. Am I getting old, or what?