Off-line

Going off-line for a few days.

I'm sure you'll survive without me.

Chinese media censorship

LANZHOU, China, Feb. 17 — The controversy over
news media censorship in China continued Friday
as two editors who had been removed from a feisty
weekly journal, Freezing Point, issued a public
letter lashing out at propaganda officials and
calling for free speech.

The sleeping giant awakens?

Well, no. Just two editors.

You suppose that will be all?

Not likely.

Full report.

What's wrong with "we"

Logical comment by freemanlc, missed by most
while they mouth - without thinking - the
catechisms they've been taught.

See it here.

In Search Of Darkness

...or keeping The Children distracted:

The other day I found myself trapped next to the
lobotomy box in the house of a friend. The show
was one of those dismal productions based on
sexual innuendo, the sort that I would have found
titillating when I was eleven. The format was not
complex. Neither, I suspect, was the audience.

A Fred rant.

Yours or theirs

Mises saw that the attempt to wed socialism and
dictatorship would lead to unparalleled calamity,
which indeed it did because Mises's pathway out
of this problem was ignored. He mapped out his
solution in his great book Liberalism, which
appeared in 1927. Here he said that the
foundation of liberty is private property. If
property were protected from invasion, all else
in politics follows. The state cannot be
imperialistic because it cannot raise the funds
necessary to fund adventures in foreign lands. On
the other hand, he wrote, the more the state is
given control over private property, the more it
will be tempted toward imposing its rule via arms
and war.

Therefore, he said, war and socialism are both
part of the same ideological apparatus. They both
presume the primacy of power over property. In
the same way, peace and free enterprise are cut
from the same cloth. They are the result of a
society with a regime that respects the privacy,
property, associations, and wishes of the
population. The liberal society trades with
foreign countries rather than waging war on them.
It respects the free movement of peoples. It does
not intervene in the religious affairs of people
but rather adopts a rule of perfect tolerance.

Full speech.

Serenity - the movie; a review of sorts

Wow!

If you want something wordier check this out.

Peak oil, my ass

CHAPTER 16 - Gull Island Will Blow Your Mind!
... I went to his office and sat down, and
wondered why it was that on this day the trumpets
were not sounding. This was a phenomenal thing,
and yet there seemed to be no fuss at all about
it. Sure enough, without delay, the oil company
official soon walked into his office and closed
the door behind him. He looked at me with a frown
on his face and said, "Chaplain, what you saw
yesterday, don't you ever as long as you live,
let anything out that would tell anyone the data
that you saw on those technical sheets." I said,
"But sir, that's going to end the energy crisis
in America!" He said, "No, Chaplain, it's not.
Quite to the contrary." As he sat down behind his
desk, I noticed that he was very worried, and
then he continued, "Chaplain, you weren't
supposed to see what I showed you yesterday. I'm
sorry I let you go with me out there to watch
that burn. I'm even more perturbed that I let you
look at the technical data, because, Chaplain,
you and I might both be in trouble if you ever
tell the story of Gull Island." ... This company
official said to me,"Chaplain, that great pool of
oil is probably as big as the Prudhoe oil field,
it has been proven, drilled into, and tested-we
know what is there and we know the amount that is
there, but the government has ordered us not to
produce that well, or reveal any information as
to what is at Gull Island."
...
I could hardly believe what I heard that day. I
walked out of the oil company official's office
very perturbed, because again we could be lied
to, the American people would be deceived again-
the truth would not be told. As I walked out of
that office I realized that I was only one of
about six men alive who would even know the truth
about Gull Island, or would ever even see the
technical data. I was astonished that day because
of this restriction on releasing data about the
production from beneath a small island out in the
Arctic Ocean. This could end the oil crisis, but
I had come to the conclusion in my mind, with no
doubt whatsoever, that the Federal government
would never want that oil produced.
...
Gull Island was capped and the rig was removed,
and the truth has never been' told ... until now!
...
Field Pay Zone Oil Area of Field

(Average depth of oil pool)

Prudhoe 600 Ft. of pay zone 100 square miles

Kuparuk 300 Ft. of pay zone Twice the size of
Prudhoe

Gull Island 1,200 Ft. of pay zone At least four
times the size of Prudhoe . . .

Estimates are that it is the richest oil field
on the face of the earth. ...

I think you'll want to see all the details here.

Addendum:

Thanks to simmeringfrogs here's what appears to be
the entire book online:

The Non-Energy Crisis, by Lindsay Williams. (link repaired)

Believe it or not.

Of course, there's more to the story. Isn't that
always true?

As I've said in other words before, what good is
all that oil pumped out of the ground? It takes
years to get a new refinery up and running...

From the Global Oil Report...

For the first time for many years the world is
facing a shortage of refining capacity. This
summer margins in all three main refining centres
have been at their highest since 1996. Despite
soaring crude prices, first gasoline and then
middle distillate prices have reached record
highs this summer, a clear sign that refinery
production is falling short of demand. If global
demand starts to hit against refining constraints
this winter, demand could be squeezed as product
prices rise even further.

The Big Boot

"When the government's boot is on your throat,
whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of
no consequence." —- Gary Lloyd

Via Ali's Voice

Cold fusion

It means that it isn't going to be long before
we see commercial products. It means that power
and energy companies have to either get busy and
develop cold fusion power units or expect to
replay what happened to the radio tube, buggy
whip and horse industries.

He forgot the whale oil industry.

Full article.

A start...

Second Bank Within Week
To Reject Eminent Domain for Private Gain

Montgomery Bank, which has six branches in St.
Louis and five branches in Southeast Missouri,
announced late last week that 'it will not lend
money for projects in which local governments use
eminent domain to take private property for use
by private developers'.

Makes good business sense.

But what's the difference why or who forces you
out of your home, be it the local mafia or federal
mafia?

Read.

Via Ali's Voice

Aliens Don't Like to Eat People That Smoke!

The Inner Censor

"The inner censor of the mind of the true
believer completes the work of the public censor;
his self-discipline is as tyrannical as the
obedience imposed by the regime; he terrorizes
his own conscience into submission; he carries
his private Iron Curtain inside his skull, to
protect his illusions against the intrusion of
reality." --Arthur Koestler

Command and control

For every Ron Paul struggling to revive even a
modicum of integrity to a corrupt system, there
will be one hundred congressional pimps working
to insure their corporate clientele favored rooms
in the beltway brothel. With numerous untold
stories of military-industrial corruption
inviting their inquiries, members of the
established media can be counted upon to supply
diversions. Like the purple smoke or multi-
colored strings of silk used by magicians to
distract their audiences, television newscasts
will continue their in-depth reporting on missing
teenagers and bridegrooms; tunnels used to
smuggle marijuana into the United States from
Mexico; unsolved murders; and chickens that can
play the xylophone. For truths of a more
significant nature, you must turn to either the
Internet or documentary film-makers.

It has been suggested, by some, that political
systems grew out of piracy, with brigands – tired
of having to chase the lootees – establishing
permanent ports through which tradesmen would
have to pass and pay fees. It should be evident
to any rational mind that, contrary to the view
that governments were instituted to protect
property, wealth preceded political agencies;
otherwise there would have been nothing to steal
or control.

The state exists for one purpose only: to
forcibly extract from people money that could not
have been obtained in the marketplace.
...
I recall, not so many decades ago, the case that
Republicans and other conservatives made to
reform the inefficiencies of government by
incorporating business principles into government
agencies and programs. The assumption was that
businessmen, accustomed to the rigors of
marketplace competition, could weed wasteful
practices from government. The notion was an
absurd one, as any first-year student of
economics could confirm: the state operates on
the basis of commands, not transactions freely
negotiated with market participants.

That last, a fine example of the difference
between the power of the whip and the power of the
dollar that Ayn Rand wrote about.

I also suspect that not one in a thousand sees
this difference and because of that we can all
expect more of the former.

Shhh. Now let's listen to the commenters that don't.

Do you have your donkey yet?

Full article.

Tapping phones

"Tapping more phones is like trying to find a
needle in a haystack by adding more hay."
--unknown

Seen any that fit this description lately?

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and
tends to produce ferocity toward those who are
not regarded as members of the herd."
-- Bertrand Russell

Mayor: New Orleans Will Seek Aid from Other Nations

New Orleans - Shortcomings in aid from the US
government are making New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
look to other nations for help in rebuilding his
hurricane-damaged city.

Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of foreign
dignitaries since Hurricane Katrina hit in late
August, says he may seek international assistance
because U.S. aid has not been sufficient to get
the city back on its feet.

The US is broke. Soon it won't have the money to
pay for toothpicks for the troops without doing
more increasingly elaborate shell games, so why
would any mayor expect help from the Federal
version of government?

Shhh. Apparently Nagin doesn't know that money
doesn't grow on taxpayers after all.

Full report.

Ignorance, live and in the flesh

See how really rotten The System is on many levels.

I sprayed some more coffee on my computer screen
again because of this one.

Alberto: President Washington, President Lincoln,
President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all
authorized electronic surveillance on a far
broader scale.

You don't believe the US Attorney General said it?

See the video here.

--This Zombie Alert brought to you by jomama.

Social revolution

"The social revolution is seriously compromised if
it comes through a political revolution."
--Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Via Brad Spangler

That sleeping 800 pound gorilla...

Anyone who has not yet figured out how the
Internet - whose nature is to decentralize the
flow of information - is helping to dismantle
political power structures, might want to
consider the comments of Daniel Mason, co-founder
of the British blogsite "Blair Watch." Speaking
on Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" radio program,
he addressed the status of the reporting of the
memo that allegedly confirms George Bush's
statement, to Tony Blair, of Bush's desire to
bomb the Al Jazeera television station. The
British government has threatened prosecution,
under its Official Secrets Act, of those who
might be inclined to publish the contents of this
memo. When asked, by Goodman, if he would be
willing to go to jail if he came into possession
of the memo, Mason responded that there are some
400 bloggers who have agreed to publish the memo
once it is available. Should that occur, he
added, "it [the memo] would instantly be spread
around the internet so fast, it would be
impossible to pin down one particular person to
prosecute. The theory is if enough people publish
it, then the Official Secrets Act is useless,
because where do they start?"

Make that number 401. I'm volunteering.

Even tho I don't think much of the memo or its
importance, it is important to me to show
"authority" how powerless it is.

Have you done your part today? By the way, nobody
said you had to do anything.

I don't live in Britain and I'm not a Brit. How
would they prosecute? Anyone knowing even a little
about jurisdiction has to be laughing hysterically
here.

They have no idea what the net will do to Them
wherever on the planet they find Themselves.

Warms my cockles to think on't.

Now you can think on't.

link.

True democracy

Someone once said democracy means 51% of
electorate - at will - can execute the other 49%.

Highly unlikely but that 51% busily attempt to
hammer you square pegs into round holes. A few
of you will be executed, however.

Do you feel lucky?

Save the crap about the rigged elections.

That's been going on a long time and what
difference does it make which asshole is elected
and by what means he's "elected"?

The Superbowl

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What Americans desperately need...but won't get

This from a former government official...

Americans need desperately to understand that 95
percent of all Muslim terrorists in the world
were created in the past three years by Bush's
invasion of Iraq.

Americans need desperately to comprehend that if
Bush attacks Iran and Syria, as he intends,
terrorism will explode, and American civil
liberties will disappear into a thirty year war
that will bankrupt the United States.

The total lack of rationality and competence in
the White House and the inability of half of the
US population to acquire and understand
information are far larger threats to Americans
than terrorism.

America has become a rogue nation, flying blind,
guided only by ignorance and hubris. A terrible
catastrophe awaits.

The ignorance is nothing new. This ignorance is
now just becoming visible due to its accumulation
and its publicity on the net. Stupid eventually
builds up to bite many on the ass.

Are you wearing Milk Bone underwear?

Full article.

Yet another myth gone?

Now the forests are producing greenhouse gases...

But what if trees, in addition to taking in CO2,
also emit a greenhouse gas of their own?

That scenario is sketched in a new study by
European scientists, which if confirmed, would be
one of the biggest upheavals in climate science
for years.

It would also inflict a serious blow to Kyoto,
one of whose key pillars is the faith in "sinks",
as forests are called in the treaty's jargon.
...
Until now, the mainstream belief is that
atmospheric methane chiefly comes from bugs: from
bacteria working in wet, oxygen-less conditions,
such as swamps and rice paddies.

Full article.

The Big Energy Hole

If the goal of the Bushies is autarchy in
energy, well, that is unlikely. But that's not a
real goal and our fake oil man of a president
knows that. If the goal is lots and lots of
gummint contracts and subsidies for everything
from ethanol to hydrogen fuel cells, well, that's
very likely. Eye on the ball. It is not some feel-
good green agenda here at work. Nor even is it
really an excuse for more war (they've got far
better ones). It is contracts for well-connected
companies, contracts to research and design
things that will likely never work, contracts to
squander money like there is no tomorrow. It is
the Republican way of transferring wealth, from
those who don't have much to those have a lot
more, something the GOP has always been committed
to and has always been very good at.

Billions have been spent on nuclear fusion and
not one watt has been put into the grid. Producing
ethanol is a net energy loss. This last is what
your pols do best, suck the energy from you, no
matter where on the planet you live.

Doesn't that bother you more than a little?

Had this attempt at production been done
by business, it would have gone bankrupt long ago,
affecting only the stockholders.

But you're all stockholders in bummints' failed
ventures...the list is long.

Which party was responsible?

I don't have a clue. Why would it make a fucking
difference?

"Political tags - such as royalist, communist,
democrat, populist, fascist, liberal,
conservative, and so forth - are never basic
criteria. The human race divides politically into
those who want people to be controlled and those
who have no such desire." --Robert A. Heinlein

Now I suspect very few can see the connection with
what Heinlein said and what I've just written.

Now I'm going back to my cave.

Full article.

--This has been another Zombie Alert brought to you by jomama.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't

Political systems are in a position not unlike
that of a motorist driving on a major highway in
a blinding blizzard, being unable to either stop
or proceed without great danger. If the state
fights the technological changes, its society
will be unable to sustain itself in a dynamically
changing world. Such undesirable consequences led
to the collapse of the highly-structured Soviet
Union. On the other hand, to the degree the state
tolerates such transforming influences, it
renders its own systems increasingly irrelevant,
as power becomes more and more decentralized into
the hands of individuals and autonomous groups.

Full essay.

Being bipartisan

" 'Bipartisan' usually means that a larger-than-
usual deception is being carried out."
--George Carlin

War

War is a ritual, a deadly ritual, not the result
of aggressive self-assertion, but of self-
transcending identification. Without loyalty to
tribe, church, flag or ideal, there would be no
wars. --Arthur Koestler

Without loyalty to those four things, what other
crap might we be missing?

Think about it.