I stumbled onto this latest intrusion by our thugorcracy. They are now contemplating a national registry for internet users.
Of course like everything else they do, they put the pollyanna spin on the benefits and completely avail themselves of any over reach and intrusion into our lives. Which of course- is the real goal. I am really beginning to hate everyone of those idiots that voted for Obama.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-Internet-ID-Americans/2011/01/10/id/382368?s=al
Saturday, January 22, 2011
It Never Ends, Fed Adopts New Accounting Rule, Nobody Notices
Geezus. Talk about making up your own set of rules.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41198789
You'll love this!
http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2011/01/dirty-fed-quietly-rewrites-accounting.html
The FED to US taxpayers. How's my ass taste?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41198789
You'll love this!
http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2011/01/dirty-fed-quietly-rewrites-accounting.html
The FED to US taxpayers. How's my ass taste?
What the Hell Happened To the United States? An Essay- Part Three
Long after I am taking a dirt nap, I think history is going to reflect back on this time period and see the mistakes that were made.
That these mistakes are somehow "inevitable" are the kinds of things that risk managers would scoff at. These events, whether you believe they are black swan events or not, are largely preventable. I will point to the air safety of 7000 domestic and commercial flights that take place in the United States every day. That is two and one half million flights per year without any significant large scale loss. When crashes do occur, they are studied intensely. Planes are grounded. Inspections take place. Pilots are given new instructions and flight simulations. We have done an admirable job of making flying the safest mode of transportation there is. When there is a disaster, it is usually a combination of factors headlined by pilot or human error. And while we will never be able to stop all losses, we have done an admirable job of keeping it to a bare minimum.
Our country was given "republic" status and we embraced the idea of capitalism long ago. We have been around for a few hundred years and by now you'd think we might have learned a few things about capitalism. We all know that capitalism is just a fancy word for greed. And while that may seem a little simplistic and it probably is- why do we think that human behavior is so unpredictable? In fact, I would argue, given an operating structure such that we have- human behavior is quite predictable.
We are hell bent on studying everything in the universe, why then is our own behavior such a mystery? It's really not. We just don't like examining ourselves or practicing rigorous honesty. We want to examine everyone else instead. That's what we do. We worry about everyone else's yard while our own yard piles high with leaves. And it seems, we never learn from our mistakes. A greed and credit fueled frenzy in 1929 repeated itself 80 years later. There is really little difference. Human beings, those fear driven and greedy people, were in a position to lift all the regulations that had been put in place to prevent a repeat of 1929 and they did. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9454
At the core of the problem is a Federal Reserve Bank. They fueled the crisis of 1929 with easy credit and they did it again in the late 90's. The first bubble that burst was the dot com bubble and rather than quench the supply of money they increased it. It isn't that the FED is necessarily evil in and of itself- but what gives it enormous power is its monopoly over the quantity of our money supply. Debt is money. They will forever strive to increase debt. That of course- has to end badly. The FED's days are numbered. We simply can't allow an unregulated, unaudited, 4th branch of government to destroy the fabric of this country. To usurp the very power of our elected leaders. They have essentially nullified our vote. The FED is the biggest domestic enemy of our state. (You can come get my guns if you'd like) That they are able to operate in complete secrecy and create this illusion of credibility defies all comprehension. The 8th wonder of the world.
I'm not sure at this juncture that we can restore the rule of law in our country. Thousands of prosecutors have been silenced. Federal courts are little help. The federal government no longer serves to assist states' in the prosecution of offenses- it blocks those efforts. In some cases- it sues. When a complete and utter failure of the federal government occurs particularly in enforcement (executive branch), such that we have seen, I am not sure what the remedy is. I think ultimately the states should call a convention and demand that the rule of law be followed. The original intent of our framers was for the states to be sovereign, maintaining a balance of power, and keep the Federal Government in check. Clearly that balance of power is woefully askew. I would support secession in the event the Federal Government refuses to comply. I think that is a real possibility. I am trying to write this without sounding like a whack job and trust me- it is difficult. I never thought it would come to this.
On a personal and emotional level, I have managed to get a grip on fear. I accept that human beings are fearful and that one of the manifestations of that is greed. That has never changed- yet I keep hoping that it does. Our leaders cannot deny that anytime there is an opportunity for greed, people will exploit it. Whether that is medicare fraud or obtaining crappy HELOC's. That's been the history of man. I kind of began this essay with fear and all of the negative emotions that come with it. I'd like to end it on a positive note. All of the qualities that we as individuals seek to possess- tolerance, patience, wisdom, humility, compassion, honesty, fairness, loyalty, kindness, respect, and a whole host of others...simply don't have a fear component. It might be as simple as stating that the more you fear, the lower your capacity to love others is. It's just a little something I've noticed over the years.
That these mistakes are somehow "inevitable" are the kinds of things that risk managers would scoff at. These events, whether you believe they are black swan events or not, are largely preventable. I will point to the air safety of 7000 domestic and commercial flights that take place in the United States every day. That is two and one half million flights per year without any significant large scale loss. When crashes do occur, they are studied intensely. Planes are grounded. Inspections take place. Pilots are given new instructions and flight simulations. We have done an admirable job of making flying the safest mode of transportation there is. When there is a disaster, it is usually a combination of factors headlined by pilot or human error. And while we will never be able to stop all losses, we have done an admirable job of keeping it to a bare minimum.
Our country was given "republic" status and we embraced the idea of capitalism long ago. We have been around for a few hundred years and by now you'd think we might have learned a few things about capitalism. We all know that capitalism is just a fancy word for greed. And while that may seem a little simplistic and it probably is- why do we think that human behavior is so unpredictable? In fact, I would argue, given an operating structure such that we have- human behavior is quite predictable.
We are hell bent on studying everything in the universe, why then is our own behavior such a mystery? It's really not. We just don't like examining ourselves or practicing rigorous honesty. We want to examine everyone else instead. That's what we do. We worry about everyone else's yard while our own yard piles high with leaves. And it seems, we never learn from our mistakes. A greed and credit fueled frenzy in 1929 repeated itself 80 years later. There is really little difference. Human beings, those fear driven and greedy people, were in a position to lift all the regulations that had been put in place to prevent a repeat of 1929 and they did. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9454
At the core of the problem is a Federal Reserve Bank. They fueled the crisis of 1929 with easy credit and they did it again in the late 90's. The first bubble that burst was the dot com bubble and rather than quench the supply of money they increased it. It isn't that the FED is necessarily evil in and of itself- but what gives it enormous power is its monopoly over the quantity of our money supply. Debt is money. They will forever strive to increase debt. That of course- has to end badly. The FED's days are numbered. We simply can't allow an unregulated, unaudited, 4th branch of government to destroy the fabric of this country. To usurp the very power of our elected leaders. They have essentially nullified our vote. The FED is the biggest domestic enemy of our state. (You can come get my guns if you'd like) That they are able to operate in complete secrecy and create this illusion of credibility defies all comprehension. The 8th wonder of the world.
I'm not sure at this juncture that we can restore the rule of law in our country. Thousands of prosecutors have been silenced. Federal courts are little help. The federal government no longer serves to assist states' in the prosecution of offenses- it blocks those efforts. In some cases- it sues. When a complete and utter failure of the federal government occurs particularly in enforcement (executive branch), such that we have seen, I am not sure what the remedy is. I think ultimately the states should call a convention and demand that the rule of law be followed. The original intent of our framers was for the states to be sovereign, maintaining a balance of power, and keep the Federal Government in check. Clearly that balance of power is woefully askew. I would support secession in the event the Federal Government refuses to comply. I think that is a real possibility. I am trying to write this without sounding like a whack job and trust me- it is difficult. I never thought it would come to this.
On a personal and emotional level, I have managed to get a grip on fear. I accept that human beings are fearful and that one of the manifestations of that is greed. That has never changed- yet I keep hoping that it does. Our leaders cannot deny that anytime there is an opportunity for greed, people will exploit it. Whether that is medicare fraud or obtaining crappy HELOC's. That's been the history of man. I kind of began this essay with fear and all of the negative emotions that come with it. I'd like to end it on a positive note. All of the qualities that we as individuals seek to possess- tolerance, patience, wisdom, humility, compassion, honesty, fairness, loyalty, kindness, respect, and a whole host of others...simply don't have a fear component. It might be as simple as stating that the more you fear, the lower your capacity to love others is. It's just a little something I've noticed over the years.
What The Hell Happened to the United States? An Essay- Part Two
Check this story out. This is fear in warp drive.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/arlington/2011/01/blog_post_prompts_police_to_se.html
Is anyone going to stand up for this guy's right to free speech even if we disagree with it contextually? Can we see the difference between simple words and locking people up or seizing their property? Who got victimized here? The last thing I want to see is a bunch of fear driven cops seizing property or charging us with make believe crimes because we say inappropriate things. Yet as I write this, there will be people that will say that the acts of the police are appropriate given the circumstances here. I will respectfully disagree. And people better be damned careful about defending the seizure of property when someone utters a few harmless albeit careless or insensitive words. Because as we will see in just a minute, this kind of mob fear has caused some really ugly black swan events.
This is the stuff that people don't like to talk about. Except crazy bastards like me.
In this part of the essay, I am going to offer up a universal premise. That all negative emotion flows out of fear. This includes anger, hostility, insensitivity, loneliness, attack speech, pride, greed, self centered-ness, depression, ridicule, distrust, disrespect, dishonesty, grief, sorrow, guilt, and shame. Controlling people are some of the most fearful people I have ever met.
I would also like to make one giant distinction. A little physical fear is healthy. A little real fear keeps us out of prison, keeps us from drinking and driving, tells us to get regular physicals at the doctors office. This is rational and intelligent fear. The kind that allows us to survive. What I am speaking of in a broad general sense, is the overwhelming emotional and irrational fear that causes us to do ridiculous and insane things.
What happens when fear meets power? Some of the greatest tragedies of our lives occur. And while I wasn't present for Hitler's fear driven rampage- about 75 miles from me is a Japanese internment camp. When I criticize those internment camps, the people that supported them in the early days of 1942 rigorously defend them. Why? Fear. They fear that they did the wrong thing. They don't want anyone second guessing that. They don't like it when folks like me look back and ask, "what were you thinking?" They want to rationalize that conduct. It is no different than the rationalizing southern slave owners did. And they don't want you dredging that dark piece of history up. They are ashamed of that. They say things like, "if you were here, you would have done the same thing." Perhaps. I'm not interested in criticizing those particular pieces of history. It is however, a wonderful illustration of what happens when fear coupled with power- finds group support. Now you might think 1942 is ancient history and that we have emotionally evolved out of those fear driven dark ages- eh?
Let's fast forward to Sept. of 2008. The financial world is collapsing. All of our financial institutions are bankrupt. They have been making horrible loans on margin (fractional banking) and now the whole mess is unwinding. All of those greedy bankers, insurers, originators, CDO buyers, politicians, mutual funds, hedge funds, and home buyers are about to become bankrupt and be held accountable. This is what is supposed to happen when people make shitty decisions. They go to the penalty box.
Remember the original question? What happens when fear meets power? All of those powerful and rich people were about to get wiped out financially and emotionally. Thousands, maybe millions, would go to jail. They knew they were in deep trouble. And so Hank Paulson, Congress, the President, the bankers and the FED did the predictable. They sold out every hard working and honest taxpayer here and abroad. Paulson himself acted as though he was a savior. A hero. He painted a collapsed world scenario, exploited all of our fears, and asked for a blank check. They saved their own wretched hides. And they have covered it up. Just like those Japanese internment camps. They want us to just forget about it. They haven't even bothered to try reform because that is inconvenient and the argument is still raging two years later.
Guys like Paulson are billionaires. They have a shitload to lose. They are motivated almost beyond belief, by fear, to keep what they have. Rather than be bankrupted, disgraced, imprisoned. They misuse and abuse their power. As Paulson scanned the horizon, he surely knew that they were looking at financial armageddon.
It was a helluva lot more politically expedient to just wipe out millions of middle class people. They didn't have any power. No voice. We became the path of least resistance. And here we are two and a half years later, still angry, no rule of law being enforced anywhere.
Do you understand the kind of courage that it would have taken to stand up at that time, and tell the world- tough shit. There will be no bail outs. Did anyone do that? They would have been immediately isolated and castigated. They would have been marginalized and crushed. Could Barack Obama have done that? No, probably not. He simply had never been in a situation that required that immense level of courage. He was co-opted before he ever arrived at the White House. Would there have been pain and suffering? You better believe it. Would there have been immediate reform? Would people have gone to prison, disgraced and broken? You better believe it. Had Obama overcome his fear- he might very well have been called the greatest President that ever lived. In the short term, though, he would have been ridiculed beyond belief. So it was that group fear, the easy way, won out. We have yet to pay for those sins. But we will.
I cannot tell you how it would have turned out if the honest and hardworking people of this country had been supported. Those of us who didn't flip houses or buy tons of shit on make believe equity. But I know this. The people doing the most suffering right now would be the people that deserved it. The rating agency employees would all be in jail for fraud. All those TBTF banks-gone. Former CEO's like Paulson and Mozillo-in prison. And a broken country could move forward and rebuild. Maybe without that thieving FED. There would be a sense of justice and the rule of law could surface again. But most importantly, the honest people of this country could get over their anger. We would have a sense of pride and unity and we could be proud that in America- doing the right thing still matters even if the whole village has to feel the pain. We would be the beacon of freedom and justice that we once were. We might all be broken and angry, but we could get over it a lot easier knowing that the architects of this fiasco- got theirs. But most importantly- we would be setting the example of leadership. Instead we have continued chaos. Despite our President's pleas to stop.
Iceland took their lumps. They overcame fear and the EU who desperately offered bail outs. My hat's off to the Icelandic people for doing the right thing. Emotionally, they are recovering. They are actually prosecuting people. They are light years ahead of us in terms of healing and getting well.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ireland%E2%80%99s-titanic-bailout-risk-iceland-looms-ahead
So how does it stand now? I have never seen our country more angry, more distrustful, or fractured. All of those elements of fear are everywhere. The politicians hate each other, the citizens hate the politicians, the mamby pambys want it all to stop. The conservatives take cheap shots at the progressives, and everyone has their own set of villains. Our country is a mess. Trying to triage and lie our way out of us this depression with make believe recoveries and quantitative easing. We are gushing debt everywhere. The countries we have victimized are not stupid. Our inability to police ourselves has left us isolated. I think we are going to pay a price for that also. A different kind of price.
I have taken on a couple of immense and inflammatory issues here. The very fear I am trying to wrench to the surface- may prevent any reasonable discussion from taking place. I understand that.
Is there a solution?
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/arlington/2011/01/blog_post_prompts_police_to_se.html
Is anyone going to stand up for this guy's right to free speech even if we disagree with it contextually? Can we see the difference between simple words and locking people up or seizing their property? Who got victimized here? The last thing I want to see is a bunch of fear driven cops seizing property or charging us with make believe crimes because we say inappropriate things. Yet as I write this, there will be people that will say that the acts of the police are appropriate given the circumstances here. I will respectfully disagree. And people better be damned careful about defending the seizure of property when someone utters a few harmless albeit careless or insensitive words. Because as we will see in just a minute, this kind of mob fear has caused some really ugly black swan events.
This is the stuff that people don't like to talk about. Except crazy bastards like me.
In this part of the essay, I am going to offer up a universal premise. That all negative emotion flows out of fear. This includes anger, hostility, insensitivity, loneliness, attack speech, pride, greed, self centered-ness, depression, ridicule, distrust, disrespect, dishonesty, grief, sorrow, guilt, and shame. Controlling people are some of the most fearful people I have ever met.
I would also like to make one giant distinction. A little physical fear is healthy. A little real fear keeps us out of prison, keeps us from drinking and driving, tells us to get regular physicals at the doctors office. This is rational and intelligent fear. The kind that allows us to survive. What I am speaking of in a broad general sense, is the overwhelming emotional and irrational fear that causes us to do ridiculous and insane things.
What happens when fear meets power? Some of the greatest tragedies of our lives occur. And while I wasn't present for Hitler's fear driven rampage- about 75 miles from me is a Japanese internment camp. When I criticize those internment camps, the people that supported them in the early days of 1942 rigorously defend them. Why? Fear. They fear that they did the wrong thing. They don't want anyone second guessing that. They don't like it when folks like me look back and ask, "what were you thinking?" They want to rationalize that conduct. It is no different than the rationalizing southern slave owners did. And they don't want you dredging that dark piece of history up. They are ashamed of that. They say things like, "if you were here, you would have done the same thing." Perhaps. I'm not interested in criticizing those particular pieces of history. It is however, a wonderful illustration of what happens when fear coupled with power- finds group support. Now you might think 1942 is ancient history and that we have emotionally evolved out of those fear driven dark ages- eh?
Let's fast forward to Sept. of 2008. The financial world is collapsing. All of our financial institutions are bankrupt. They have been making horrible loans on margin (fractional banking) and now the whole mess is unwinding. All of those greedy bankers, insurers, originators, CDO buyers, politicians, mutual funds, hedge funds, and home buyers are about to become bankrupt and be held accountable. This is what is supposed to happen when people make shitty decisions. They go to the penalty box.
Remember the original question? What happens when fear meets power? All of those powerful and rich people were about to get wiped out financially and emotionally. Thousands, maybe millions, would go to jail. They knew they were in deep trouble. And so Hank Paulson, Congress, the President, the bankers and the FED did the predictable. They sold out every hard working and honest taxpayer here and abroad. Paulson himself acted as though he was a savior. A hero. He painted a collapsed world scenario, exploited all of our fears, and asked for a blank check. They saved their own wretched hides. And they have covered it up. Just like those Japanese internment camps. They want us to just forget about it. They haven't even bothered to try reform because that is inconvenient and the argument is still raging two years later.
Guys like Paulson are billionaires. They have a shitload to lose. They are motivated almost beyond belief, by fear, to keep what they have. Rather than be bankrupted, disgraced, imprisoned. They misuse and abuse their power. As Paulson scanned the horizon, he surely knew that they were looking at financial armageddon.
It was a helluva lot more politically expedient to just wipe out millions of middle class people. They didn't have any power. No voice. We became the path of least resistance. And here we are two and a half years later, still angry, no rule of law being enforced anywhere.
Do you understand the kind of courage that it would have taken to stand up at that time, and tell the world- tough shit. There will be no bail outs. Did anyone do that? They would have been immediately isolated and castigated. They would have been marginalized and crushed. Could Barack Obama have done that? No, probably not. He simply had never been in a situation that required that immense level of courage. He was co-opted before he ever arrived at the White House. Would there have been pain and suffering? You better believe it. Would there have been immediate reform? Would people have gone to prison, disgraced and broken? You better believe it. Had Obama overcome his fear- he might very well have been called the greatest President that ever lived. In the short term, though, he would have been ridiculed beyond belief. So it was that group fear, the easy way, won out. We have yet to pay for those sins. But we will.
I cannot tell you how it would have turned out if the honest and hardworking people of this country had been supported. Those of us who didn't flip houses or buy tons of shit on make believe equity. But I know this. The people doing the most suffering right now would be the people that deserved it. The rating agency employees would all be in jail for fraud. All those TBTF banks-gone. Former CEO's like Paulson and Mozillo-in prison. And a broken country could move forward and rebuild. Maybe without that thieving FED. There would be a sense of justice and the rule of law could surface again. But most importantly, the honest people of this country could get over their anger. We would have a sense of pride and unity and we could be proud that in America- doing the right thing still matters even if the whole village has to feel the pain. We would be the beacon of freedom and justice that we once were. We might all be broken and angry, but we could get over it a lot easier knowing that the architects of this fiasco- got theirs. But most importantly- we would be setting the example of leadership. Instead we have continued chaos. Despite our President's pleas to stop.
Iceland took their lumps. They overcame fear and the EU who desperately offered bail outs. My hat's off to the Icelandic people for doing the right thing. Emotionally, they are recovering. They are actually prosecuting people. They are light years ahead of us in terms of healing and getting well.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ireland%E2%80%99s-titanic-bailout-risk-iceland-looms-ahead
So how does it stand now? I have never seen our country more angry, more distrustful, or fractured. All of those elements of fear are everywhere. The politicians hate each other, the citizens hate the politicians, the mamby pambys want it all to stop. The conservatives take cheap shots at the progressives, and everyone has their own set of villains. Our country is a mess. Trying to triage and lie our way out of us this depression with make believe recoveries and quantitative easing. We are gushing debt everywhere. The countries we have victimized are not stupid. Our inability to police ourselves has left us isolated. I think we are going to pay a price for that also. A different kind of price.
I have taken on a couple of immense and inflammatory issues here. The very fear I am trying to wrench to the surface- may prevent any reasonable discussion from taking place. I understand that.
Is there a solution?
What the Hell Happened To the United States? An Essay- Part One
Imagine randomly posing a question to one hundred strangers. A very simple yet broad question. What has happened to the United States? What kind of answers would you get?
I can project one outcome. The vast majority of the people you poll will not see the United States as a kinder, gentler place. That includes those "pollyanna" types who consistently try to put a good spin on everything. I have a few of those types in my life and I can tell you that even they- have taken notice of the moral and social decay of the United States. I spoke with one yesterday. I think we can safely assume that most people are in agreement. The United States has been in a downward spiral for some time. I think most people would view that as a fact rather than an opinion. I think disagreement will only occur when we try to pinpoint the precise time when our slide started. More disagreement may occur when we try to determine just how bad of shape we are in as a country.
There are nine different types of individual intelligence. If you would like to see how you score I have embedded a link here: http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html I consistently score high in intrapersonal, interpersonal, and linguistic intelligences. Throw any of those other six types of intelligence at me and I become a drooling idiot. I enjoy people. In fifty years of living I can say that I have grown to love and enjoy people far more than I did even 20 years ago. I understand what motivates people and I am well aware of what motivates me. We share a common thread.
In this piece of the essay, I am going to identify what I believe to be the underlying cause of our problems. In order to solve a problem, an enormous swarming problem such as this- very often you must break it down to it's smallest parts. The smallest part here is one human being. An even smaller part might be- why does any given human being behave the way that they do?
I am going to go out on a limb here.
There is one common denominator that threads itself through every facet of our individual lives. It is so sneaky that most people are not even aware of it's existence. It is the opposite of love. It is fear. Fear is the basis for ALL negative human emotion. I challenge any one reading this to prove that statement wrong. Fear is such a strong human motivator that I believe almost all human conduct is fear based and thus driven. I believe fear is the most underestimated and denied emotion on the planet. And I will add, fear driven behavior is largely unconscious behavior. That as it turns out- is very good news.
Human beings are social creatures. We fear isolation. In fact, there are studies that have shown that isolation drives people insane and suicidal. Therefore isolation is greatly feared by us. Almost all advertising and marketing targets and exploits that human fear. You want to be cool, hip? You gotta have these jeans or this Iphone. You want to be like us, the cool people, you gotta have this junk. This skinny body. This foreign car. This hip President. In fact, that targeted marketing has become so effective in exploiting fear- that the people who buy into that sales pitch very often condemn others who haven't. I didn't buy into the Obama pitch. Some folks castigated me for it.
We fear everything. We fear not having enough money, we fear failing health and dying, we fear that there is no God or afterlife. We fear the police, we fear failure and sometimes success, we fear China, we fear that the people running this place don't have a fucking clue what they are doing. We fear signing our real name onto a blog or a comment section. We fear sticking our neck out and being embarrassed. We fear forgetting where we parked our car and we fear getting ripped off. We fear other religions, politics, other races of people, we fear any competition to life as we have decided it should be. We fear emotional and physical pain. We fear falling down and not getting up. We fear crime. We fear our significant others lying, cheating. We fear rejection, isolation. We fear even making eye contact with a stranger or saying "hello." Without a doubt, human beings are the most fearful creature on this planet. We are consumed by fear. And there are gobs of people more than willing to exploit your fears for personal gain. In fact- they are quite adept at it. Yes Virginia it's true...if they can make you even more fearful, worried, or self conscious than you already are...they can sell you even more stuff. And they will leave you fearful for the next sales pitch. They want no rehab efforts.
The next time you watch TV, do this. Ask yourself what fear each commercial is trying to exploit. You'll get sick of it after a while. It just gets pathetically obvious.
Our country is a neurotic and fear driven mess. That's the bad news. Here's the good news. All of that dysfunctional and fear driven behavior is largely unconscious. We don't even stop to consider it any longer...nor do we consider that others are just as fearful and nuts as we are.
It is curable.
That unconscious behavior is actually very good news. If we as individuals and collectively as a society can get conscious and aware of all of this fear driven insanity- we have a real shot at serious improvement. Improvement cannot come until we are aware and fully recognize the vast damage that fear has done to our society. I see that as the DNA basis of our national problem. What occurs next happens when essentially like minded and fear driven individuals break off and form like minded and collective fear driven groups. Where do we see that most evident? Well, wouldn't you know it? It's those two things that we hate the most, politics and religion. We seek the safety of our herd. It's that fear of isolation.
Fear. It is the essential DNA building block of dysfunction. It is clearly evident in our society and it is not getting better. In part two, I'd like to discuss how various individuals and factions manipulate and control others through the use of fear and how that has contributed to our nations decline.
I can project one outcome. The vast majority of the people you poll will not see the United States as a kinder, gentler place. That includes those "pollyanna" types who consistently try to put a good spin on everything. I have a few of those types in my life and I can tell you that even they- have taken notice of the moral and social decay of the United States. I spoke with one yesterday. I think we can safely assume that most people are in agreement. The United States has been in a downward spiral for some time. I think most people would view that as a fact rather than an opinion. I think disagreement will only occur when we try to pinpoint the precise time when our slide started. More disagreement may occur when we try to determine just how bad of shape we are in as a country.
There are nine different types of individual intelligence. If you would like to see how you score I have embedded a link here: http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html I consistently score high in intrapersonal, interpersonal, and linguistic intelligences. Throw any of those other six types of intelligence at me and I become a drooling idiot. I enjoy people. In fifty years of living I can say that I have grown to love and enjoy people far more than I did even 20 years ago. I understand what motivates people and I am well aware of what motivates me. We share a common thread.
In this piece of the essay, I am going to identify what I believe to be the underlying cause of our problems. In order to solve a problem, an enormous swarming problem such as this- very often you must break it down to it's smallest parts. The smallest part here is one human being. An even smaller part might be- why does any given human being behave the way that they do?
I am going to go out on a limb here.
There is one common denominator that threads itself through every facet of our individual lives. It is so sneaky that most people are not even aware of it's existence. It is the opposite of love. It is fear. Fear is the basis for ALL negative human emotion. I challenge any one reading this to prove that statement wrong. Fear is such a strong human motivator that I believe almost all human conduct is fear based and thus driven. I believe fear is the most underestimated and denied emotion on the planet. And I will add, fear driven behavior is largely unconscious behavior. That as it turns out- is very good news.
Human beings are social creatures. We fear isolation. In fact, there are studies that have shown that isolation drives people insane and suicidal. Therefore isolation is greatly feared by us. Almost all advertising and marketing targets and exploits that human fear. You want to be cool, hip? You gotta have these jeans or this Iphone. You want to be like us, the cool people, you gotta have this junk. This skinny body. This foreign car. This hip President. In fact, that targeted marketing has become so effective in exploiting fear- that the people who buy into that sales pitch very often condemn others who haven't. I didn't buy into the Obama pitch. Some folks castigated me for it.
We fear everything. We fear not having enough money, we fear failing health and dying, we fear that there is no God or afterlife. We fear the police, we fear failure and sometimes success, we fear China, we fear that the people running this place don't have a fucking clue what they are doing. We fear signing our real name onto a blog or a comment section. We fear sticking our neck out and being embarrassed. We fear forgetting where we parked our car and we fear getting ripped off. We fear other religions, politics, other races of people, we fear any competition to life as we have decided it should be. We fear emotional and physical pain. We fear falling down and not getting up. We fear crime. We fear our significant others lying, cheating. We fear rejection, isolation. We fear even making eye contact with a stranger or saying "hello." Without a doubt, human beings are the most fearful creature on this planet. We are consumed by fear. And there are gobs of people more than willing to exploit your fears for personal gain. In fact- they are quite adept at it. Yes Virginia it's true...if they can make you even more fearful, worried, or self conscious than you already are...they can sell you even more stuff. And they will leave you fearful for the next sales pitch. They want no rehab efforts.
The next time you watch TV, do this. Ask yourself what fear each commercial is trying to exploit. You'll get sick of it after a while. It just gets pathetically obvious.
Our country is a neurotic and fear driven mess. That's the bad news. Here's the good news. All of that dysfunctional and fear driven behavior is largely unconscious. We don't even stop to consider it any longer...nor do we consider that others are just as fearful and nuts as we are.
It is curable.
That unconscious behavior is actually very good news. If we as individuals and collectively as a society can get conscious and aware of all of this fear driven insanity- we have a real shot at serious improvement. Improvement cannot come until we are aware and fully recognize the vast damage that fear has done to our society. I see that as the DNA basis of our national problem. What occurs next happens when essentially like minded and fear driven individuals break off and form like minded and collective fear driven groups. Where do we see that most evident? Well, wouldn't you know it? It's those two things that we hate the most, politics and religion. We seek the safety of our herd. It's that fear of isolation.
Fear. It is the essential DNA building block of dysfunction. It is clearly evident in our society and it is not getting better. In part two, I'd like to discuss how various individuals and factions manipulate and control others through the use of fear and how that has contributed to our nations decline.
Friday, January 21, 2011
More Birth Certificate Schtick
Why has Obama refused to disclose or release that long form birth certificate of his? Why can't Captain Transparency just put an end to the suspicion? Make his detractors look like fools?
Why not end this?
You know what I think? I think there's other information on there he doesn't want known. I don't think it has a damn thing to do with where he was born. Really. That's the cop in me.
The latest http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_birth_certificate
Found this today...01/24. Supports my original statement. Interesting and very plausible.
http://hillbuzz.org/2011/01/23/hawaii-ground-report-could-hawaiian-governor-neil-abercrombie-not-be-as-incompetent-and-foolish-as-he-appears-but-orchestrating-a-deliberate-birth-certificate-recovery-dead-end-to-cover-his-own-pap/
Why not end this?
You know what I think? I think there's other information on there he doesn't want known. I don't think it has a damn thing to do with where he was born. Really. That's the cop in me.
The latest http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_birth_certificate
Found this today...01/24. Supports my original statement. Interesting and very plausible.
http://hillbuzz.org/2011/01/23/hawaii-ground-report-could-hawaiian-governor-neil-abercrombie-not-be-as-incompetent-and-foolish-as-he-appears-but-orchestrating-a-deliberate-birth-certificate-recovery-dead-end-to-cover-his-own-pap/
Nothing Spells Recovery Quite Like Bankruptcy
If you think 7 million more homes coming onto the foreclosure market is a great thing... or the artificially induced stock market rally and jobless recovery have been a wonder to behold...there's more!
States are trying to declare bankruptcy and get out from underneath their crushing debt burdens. A sure sign of fiscal health and recovery. I love it when states' screw the bondholders and the employees. Whatever you do, don't touch those Wall Street bankers. No haircuts or prosecutions for the ruling class.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41188877/ns/business-the_new_york_times/?GT1=43001
So the great debate has been joined. Treasury Secretary and sometimes tax payer Tim Geithner now saying that if the debt ceiling is not raised, life as we know it will cease. Oooo...am I supposed to be scared?
US Debt Clock has us at 14.07 trillion in debt. I have been using 5 billion per day in interest as an average (isn't that gawd awful?) Therefore in 40 days we will hit the 14.3 debt ceiling. The magic day is Mar. 1. Here is a brilliant and of course simple definition of this debt ceiling mess.
If a debtor says to his creditor "I will not be able to make my interest payments unless you loan me some more money", it means the debtor is effectively bankrupt. What amazes me is that the Treasury still has no problem finding buyers for its junk. (and at very low interest rates) Not that amazing when you consider the FED is buying it's own debt.
States are trying to declare bankruptcy and get out from underneath their crushing debt burdens. A sure sign of fiscal health and recovery. I love it when states' screw the bondholders and the employees. Whatever you do, don't touch those Wall Street bankers. No haircuts or prosecutions for the ruling class.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41188877/ns/business-the_new_york_times/?GT1=43001
So the great debate has been joined. Treasury Secretary and sometimes tax payer Tim Geithner now saying that if the debt ceiling is not raised, life as we know it will cease. Oooo...am I supposed to be scared?
US Debt Clock has us at 14.07 trillion in debt. I have been using 5 billion per day in interest as an average (isn't that gawd awful?) Therefore in 40 days we will hit the 14.3 debt ceiling. The magic day is Mar. 1. Here is a brilliant and of course simple definition of this debt ceiling mess.
If a debtor says to his creditor "I will not be able to make my interest payments unless you loan me some more money", it means the debtor is effectively bankrupt. What amazes me is that the Treasury still has no problem finding buyers for its junk. (and at very low interest rates) Not that amazing when you consider the FED is buying it's own debt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)