Once again, the great Chris Hedges has taken the words out of my mouth. He is, of course, absolutely correct!

JUST THIS ONCE

‘We are shedding, with the decline and death of many newspapers, thousands of reporters and editors, based in the culture of researched and verifiable fact, who monitored city councils, police departments, mayor’s offices, courts and state legislators to prevent egregious abuse and corruption. And we are also, even more ominously, losing the meticulous skills of reporting, editing, fact-checking and investigating that make daily information trustworthy. The decline of print has severed a connection with a reality-based culture, one in which we attempt to make fact the foundation for opinion and debate, and replaced it with a culture in which facts, opinions, lies and fantasy are interchangeable. As news has been overtaken by gossip, the hollowness of celebrity culture and carefully staged pseudo-events, along with the hysteria and drama that dominate much of the airwaves, our civil and political discourse has been contaminated by propaganda and entertainment masquerading as news. And the ratings of high-octane propaganda outlets such as Fox News, as well as the collapse of the newspaper industry, prove it.’

Besides, much of the time facts are boring and lame. Who needs them?

The NY Times ran a story on February 8 all about climate skeptics, in the wake of  hacked emails and the discovery of some bogus science. It should be stated that 4  incorrect citations were discovered in a 3,000 page IPCC report. One of the main sources for this article was Lord Monckton. Yes, Lord. The same lord wrote for The American Spectator years ago a solution for “the only way to stop AIDS”:

DOESN'T EXIST

‘…screen the entire population regularly and…quarantine all carriers of the disease for life. Every member of the population should be blood-tested every month…. all those found to be infected with the virus, even if only as carriers, should be isolated compulsorily, immediately, and permanently.’

So this is a hell of a source indeed, and unfortunately par for the course at the Times. Thank you Lord, and thank you, NY Times, for this objectivity.

The following quotes from Bill McKibben:

‘Let’s look at Exxon Mobil, which each of the last three years has made more money than any company in the history of money. Its business model involves using the atmosphere as an open sewer for the carbon dioxide that is the inevitable byproduct of the fossil fuel it sells. And yet we let it do this for free. It doesn’t pay a red cent for potentially wrecking our world.’ (emphasis The Exploited Times)

But McKibben is careful to note that it’s not just the big money, or even the science, that fuels climate change denial. There will always be big money and big politics jockeying for positions. The real struggle is change itself. It’s just simply way easier not to change anything at all. A dilapidated building building, for instance, will sit there for decades or more, simply because it is easier to sit there and rot than it is for it to fall or even be torn down. It is inertia, and it has a way of dominating.

McKibben is a smart guy and he is likely right on the science and his predictions, which are bittersweet futuristic nostalgia.

‘In the long run, the climate deniers will lose; they’ll be a footnote to history. (Hey, even O.J. is finally in jail.) But they’ll lose because we’ll all lose, because by delaying action, they will have helped prevent us from taking the steps we need to take while there’s still time. If we’re going to make real change while it matters, it’s important to remember that their skepticism isn’t the root of the problem. It simply plays on our deep-seated resistance to change. That’s what gives the climate cynics ground to operate. That’s what we need to overcome, and at bottom that’s a battle as much about courage and hope as about data.’

Here are a couple of examples of politics:

ROUND AND ROUND

A large-scale drug dealer decides to buy 50,000 AK-47’s and various RPG’s and other arms to fortify his position. Then he talks to the local officials, if any, and works out a long term agreement reflecting both of their future interests.

That’s politics.

The city council of a community of about 250,000 votes on a 25-year city plan. The appropriate response to this should be: Only 25 years? What community is expected to be around for only 25 years? The answer is practically none. Everyone knows almost all communities have been and are expected to be around much longer than a mere 25 years. So why the 25-year plan? Because that’s plenty of time for most of the council members to finance their business  interests buried within the 25-year plan and paid for indirectly by the constituents of the community, in tax dollars and various other revenue streams.

In 25 years, well, most of the council members will likely be retired and can hopefully create their nest eggs for their families somewhere within this 25-year plan. It’s really more of a PR marketing product that the council presents in a favorable manner to the public, which will be expected to support and facilitate the implementation of the plan, merely by living in the community.

That’s politics.

MONKEYS AREN'T THIS DUMB

In both cases the wants and needs of a small group of special interests are addressed. In the former they are addressed by the use, or expressed use of force. In the latter they are addressed by using the bureaucracy of a municipality to create short -term gains presented to the community as a long term plan.

In both cases small groups of special interests are served by the community under the guise of serving the community at large.

That’s politics.

How’s your water supply? It must be good, the government is regulating it, right? Wrong.

ALREADY IN YOU

‘Drillers do not have to reveal the chemical cocktail, thanks to a slew of exemptions given to the industry, most notably in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which actually granted the fracking industry a specific exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.’ -Amy Goodman on Josh Fox’s film Gasland.

‘Fracking’ is the fracturing of underground layers of rock, etc. to extract gas or other sought-after valuables.

Carcinogenic chemicals are used in the process, which enter the water supply unregulated.

Drink up, your government is good looking out.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/cracking_down_on_fracking_20100223/

‘Like money in the bank’ is a phrase that no longer means in a safe place. In fact, it may be the last place you’d ever want to put anything, least of all your money.

DEPOSIT INSURANCE IS JOKE

‘the government’s fund to insure depositors fell to minus $20.9 billion.’ -Robert Scheer via Truthdig

Minus 20.9 billion? What – The – Fuck? This is from Tuesday’s FDIC report. These are not balance sheets. These are the anti-balance. All the ‘money’ is so concentrated in the control of a select few entities that its very value and existence is in extreme jeopardy.

Just ask Chinese creditors what they think of American liquidity about now.

And watch some more TV, like the Olympics. It’ll make you feel better, because they won’t show the footage of Nodar Kumaritashvili -the luge slider who crashed to his death – because NBC ordered it out of sight, out of mind. Bad PR, lower revenues.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/no_banker_left_behind_20100223/

It’s like deja vu all over again. Kids arrested, cuffed for drawing, foodfights.

‘Authorities say with school violence on the rise, being prepared for any situation is key.

On Friday, Steuben County law enforcement officers took part of a mock school shooting drill at Avoca High School.  The purpose: in case of an emergency, local law enforcement officials in Steuben County want to make sure they are prepared.

“When we get there and have an active shooter we can’t wait for a SWAT team to come. We can’t.  We have to go in then and have to know who is going in right or left and how we are going to contain the situation,” says Steuben County Sheriff Joel Ordway.

It’s so insanely counter-intuitive that it borders on black comedy. Or just bad comedy. But that’s how we like doin’ things ’round here these days. The more something fails, the more it will be favored–whether it’s a bank, a pundit, or a policy on doodling and food fights.’ -Mark Ames, via ExiledOnline

http://exiledonline.com/the-paranoid-states-of-america-12-year-old-girl-arrested-for-doodling-a-week-after-25-high-schoolers-arrested-for-food-fight/#more-18270

‘Astonishingly, the health insurance industry is exempt from federal antitrust laws, which is why a handful of insurers have become so dominant in their markets that their customers simply have nowhere else to go.

NO CHOICE IN THE USA

The (health)insurance antitrust exemption has been an outrage for over fifty years. The original bill formalizing the industry’s exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act, the McCarran-Ferguson Act, was dreamed up by two Hollywood villains. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran was the inspiration for the “Senator Pat Geary” character in Godfather Part II (”Senator… my final offer is this: nothing” — that guy), while Homer Ferguson was the inspiration for the Lloyd Bridges character in Tucker who whored himself out for the auto makers to get Tucker’s new car struck from the market. These two gigantic assholes teamed up to help the insurance industry avoid the albatross of competitive pricing.’

McCarran-Ferguson was supposed to be temporary. Franklin Roosevelt clearly thought so when he signed it into law in 1944, saying that after “a moratorium period,” the antitrust laws “will be applicable in full force and effect to the business of insurance.” The law was supposed to expire in 1947. It didn’t.

State Farm even denied coverage to Trent freaking Lott after Katrina and got away with it because State Farm has Misssissippi by the nads. It’s crazy.’ -Taibbi, Taibblog

If America wasn’t so brainwashed it might open its eyes and see the totally obvious: There is no legitimate insurance, health or otherwise. Cue the obvious: what dumbass wants to be forced by law to pay for something that only might happen? This is not the way the insurance companies handle their books. Who in the hell is going to lower the balance sheet based on , well, nothing at all, save the mere possibility of something possibly occurring in the future at a cost of anyone’s guess. This is the insurance industry, and they all have deep pockets, because guess what? There is no outlay! And guess what else? The financial and insurance industries dominate the country, with essentially no outlay. Think about it for one second: These industries sit there and look pretty, while everyone delivers them money they earned doing – you guessed it – real work.

We understand that America is the land of the free and all that shit. Any dumbshit has the right to sell snake oil in America to anyone at any time. Great, freedom, I fucking get it, don’t tread on me, bear arms,  blah fucking blah.

But when the snake oil is mandated into law, then that’s exactly what the country has become – a bunch of bullshit snake oil laws for snake oil salespeople.  Land of the snake oil, home of the snake.

Many, particularly those benefiting from the sale of worthless  snake oils, think this is the greatest thing ever and we need more of it. To them we say, don’t worry, that’s all you’ll get because that’s all there is.

Make no mistake that the insurance industry is the biggest snake oil scam in the US and likely the developed world. Soon we’ll be asking the question, why in the hell would anyone want to insure that?

The answer will be along the lines of, “Remember back when everyone had to buy (or even wanted to buy) insurance?”

“Ha ha ha! Yeah, give me some of that insurance along with some 8-track tapes!”

A new iPhone app with the capability to synthesize fresh water has been unveiled.

NOT MUCH INTEREST IN NEW APP

The fresh water is emitted through a mini jack via a proprietary adapter, available in the kit with the software.

Apple said in a statement that the technology has been at their disposal for several years, and it was just a matter of marketing timing for the introduction.

Initial customer response has been flat, however.

One shopper at MacWorld who was aware of the new application shrugged his shoulders and said, “Yeah I heard about it. It’s really not that big a deal. It’s definitely not my favorite app.”

Other Apple customers were not aware of the application, while others still just couldn’t see the purpose of such an application.

Apple expects full North American and European rollout within the quarter. The application kit is capable of emitting .6 liters of water per minute.

The global icons are two peas in a pod. The race is on to see which of the two can end up with more blood on his hands, while still retaining a firm grasp on the Nobel ‘Peace’ ‘Prize’.

KISSINGER'S BUDDY. OBAMA'S TOO?

‘ “the issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves”

“I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.” -Kissinger on Chilean/Pinochet coup

Nixon: Nothing new of any importance or is there?

Kissinger: Nothing of very great consequence. The Chilean thing is getting consolidated and of course the newspapers are bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.

Nixon: Isn’t that something. Isn’t that something.

Kissinger: I mean instead of celebrating – in the Eisenhower period we would be heroes.

Nixon: Well we didn’t – as you know – our hand doesn’t show on this one though.

Kissinger: We didn’t do it. I mean we helped them. [garbled] created the conditions as great as possible.

Nixon: That is right. And that is the way it is going to be played.’

-conversation 5 days after the coup

‘A document released by the CIA in 2000 titled “CIA Activities in Chile” revealed that the CIA actively supported the military junta after the overthrow of Allende and that it made many of Pinochet’s officers into paid contacts of the CIA or US military, even though many were known to be involved in notorious human rights abuses.’

Kissinger and friends installed their buddy Augusto Pinochet who directly lead the killing, torture, and internship of thousands of innocent Chilean citizens. This same year Kissinger received the Nobel ‘Peace’ ‘Prize’ – just like Barack Obama received his shortly before escalating offensives and commanding  a $687 billion military.

‘According to a government report that included testimony from more than 30,000 people, Pinochet’s government killed at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000. Two-thirds of the cases listed in the report happened in 1973.

On 17 October 1998, while visiting the United Kingdom for medical treatment, Pinochet was arrested on a Spanish provisional warrant for the murders of Spanish citizens in Chile while he was president^. Five days later, Pinochet was served with a second provisional arrest warrant from the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, charging him with systematic torture, murder, illegal detention, and forced disappearances. The case was a watershed event in judicial history, as it was the first time that a former government head was arrested on the principle of universal jurisdiction.

In 1973, Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Paris Peace Accords.‘

Pinochet died in a military hospital in Chile in December 2006, after being released on medical grounds and returning there in 2000.

We are waiting patiently for the announcement of George W. Bush and/or Osama bin Laden, perhaps as joint recipients of this exclusive honor.

Who gets the Nobel Death Prize, or the Nobel Torture Prize?

These wouldn’t require quotations in reference.

-kissinger,pinochet, wiki

What’s in a label?

WHATEVER YOU SAY

Most times it won’t be anything like what the label says, because that would shatter the profit margin and kill the deal.

Such is the case with Gallo wines, who has been selling cheap blends of who-knows-what under a fancy pinot label. No big deal though – it was only about 18 million cases worth.

And let’s not forget the ongoing milk scandal in China. This is a good one because the milk, mostly powdered, is distributed to schools throughout the country.  Scientists have discovered that melamine, a poisonous carcinogen, can fool protein tests. In other words, melamine raises the protein content of milk products!

This is awesome if you want to sell milk with a high protein content! Not awesome if you want to avoid a poisonous carcinogen!

This is not a dilemma because only one choice raises the profit margin!

So bring on the pinot noir and bring on the milk, though neither is what it claims to be!

Watch some TV,  it’ll make you feel better.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100217/BUSINESS/100219504/1350?Title=12-men-convicted-of-selling-fake-wine-to-Gallo