Militia

It is over now and soooooo yesterdays news, but I wanted to get this off my chest.

Now, this is going to piss some of you off.  Sorry about that.  Please don't go calling me a liberal, that dog really won't hunt.

So here goes (Please note author drawing in breath);

A fat old fucker who lets his fucking cows out onto public land to graze is an asshole.  Cows are fucking stupid fucking critters that screw up everything around them.  They deserve to be killed and eaten (I am so glad I am no longer a farmboy).

When the fat old fucker doesn't pay the rent, I have no problem with the landowner shooting the said fucking cows and letting the vultures eat said cows stupid fucking carcasses.

The landowner, if it is a government, should, following shooting the cows, then go to court and place a lien against the fat fucking deadbeat's ranch, take it from him, and let said deadbeat swing loose in downtown Vegas.

Everyone tried to make this deadbeat asshole into a shining beacon for liberty.  That shows the level of intellect that is far too common in the wacko fringe. 

If you want to start a revolt against a supposedly tyrannical government, you had better find a better crystal to coalesce around.  Because if this stupid asshole is your "Tipping Point", then the solution you propose is far, far worse than the problem. 

Fuck him and the stupid nutcases trying to use him.

Again Proving that I am an Anachronism

So, over at Jesse's Cafe Americain (which, by the way, I read every day religiously, Jesse is one of the "Good Guys" in my book).

I do appreciate his news sidebar.  His stories are well selected and thoughtful.  I have no doubt that Mr. Cutten and I would probably have disagreements, but he is one of the people out there that would make me go home afterwards and stay up all night wondering if I were in the wrong.  His inclusion of reading material in his sidebar probably offers a well-rounded view of his personal beliefs.

Anyway one of the stories made me giggle and roll my eyes.  The piece in question is a little piece of histrionics from the Independent, a British Newspaper in the grand tradition of British newpapers. It is well written, intellectually biased, thoroughly British and much more enjoyable than the predigested pablum offered up by the "Press" here in the good old USA.

UK under fire for recruiting an 'army of children'.  Well then.  Reading the article let me know that a sixteen year old boy is a child.

Well, here is the source of the problem.  Our societies, (England and Rome, USA as Byzantium, same society odd incestuous relationship), are of the aging and worrying variety, heavily populated by geezers such as your humble correspondent.  This aging population, not wanting to relinquish its death-grip on the levers of power, wealth, and privilege and especially, is attempting to move forward the age of what constitutes an "Adult.

Sixteen is a fine age for a young man to go into an organized military organization.  The military of the first world (Which I believe the US anf the UK are a part of)  is a trade, nothing more, nothing less.  By calling these young men children and comparing their inclusion in an honorable trade to the workings of North Korea and Iran (Darn that axis of evil anyway) is nonsense.

Whether the old women (of both sexes) like it or not.  Sixteen year old humans are Men and Women.  Not boys and girls.  Trying to demean them for selecting a career that is not to your liking belittles both them and especially you, clinging to an offspring when it is time for them to go is the one sure sign of your own fear of age.  

Reading the whole thing

I was quite amused when the US Government took time away from the pursuit of running the country to indict five Chinese programmers, working for the Chinese military for trying (and sometime succeeding) to break into military and commercial computer systems here in the good of God-fearing USA.

Sometimes you realize that we live in irony-rich times.

So, I am over at the Testosterone Pit, reading about the woes of the world and I stumble across this little gem.  My oh my.  So I dig down deeper. I head over the the article at Die Zeit and dig down even more, curiouser and curiouser.

So I am thinking that there is a reason that Bill Gates thinks Eddie Snowden is a little shit.  Because Microsoft is most likely the NSA's bitch when it gets down to it.  Bill Gates is as certified a member of the establishment as one can find.  The US government runs on Windows and Microsoft.  Billy-Boy will use what he needs to keep his power and prestige, and that only comes with a US government stamp of approval.  The NSA probably has the road map for every backdoor that Microsoft left in Windows and another map of things that the programmers at Microsoft haven't even realized was there.

Me typing this screed out on a Win8 computer is no big deal.  Who gives one-rats-ass what a fat old man thinks.  But if I were in change of any government that wasn't in the US Government's hip pocket (Yeah England, I'm talking to you), I would damn well start rolling out Linux as fast as I could pull it off.

Trains and Stations.

There has been quite a bit of ink and digits strewn about lately concerning the "Collapse" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ⁽¹⁾

OK then. I agree that the glaciers in question are going away. The data is convincing. But we really need to sit down and talk about the desperate need for attention that is displayed in the media and in the sciences. The word "collapse" is what I want to talk about and the two differing schools of thought that the bandying about of this word shows in glaring relief.

I cannot really emphasize enough my feeling that global warming is real and, at this point, unstoppable. Hence the ham-handed reference in the title. But, the use of hyperbole in titles and language of scientific discussion shows that the scientists are being drawn into the politics of industrial society and are actually getting rather histrionic in the process. I think that they see themselves as Cassandra, always being truthful in their prophecy, but with no one listening. They are right about that. But there is nothing that they can do but change their own behavior and try not to meet with the same fate as the original Cassandra.

What really got me started down this line is a recent article in the NY times by Paul Krugman. Now, I just want everyone to know that my feelings re: Professor Krugman: He is definitely a mixed bag. I think he has a better grasp of politics than he has on that dark variant of cephalonomancy that goes by the name of "Economics". (As an aside my favorite line in the article is "The sheet's slide into the ocean, and the resulting sharp rise in sea levels, will probably happen slowly." Really Paul? A sharp slow rise?)

But Professor Krugman has the mindset of the bulk of our population down cold. Half of the population votes for the blockheads that Krugman describes in his article because-they-think-just-like-that. The remaining half consists of a 50-50 mix of techo-narcissists who tune into TED lectures and imagine that we are halfway to the singularity and the remaining poor confused sods just like your esteemed correspondent.

So, you may ask, what is the point of my rambling thus far?

Simply put, I kind of wish people would get over the idea that we can stop the train. The world will be massively different centuries from now. The population will be much smaller. The energy flows will be at the levels of the early nineteenth century. Our descendant's world will more closely resemble the Medieval than the Modern. This being said, the energy of the non-climate challenged really needs to get going on the creation of a society and a world system that will be able to live within the constraints we have oh-so-willingly imposed on ourselves rather than trying to out-shriek the boneheads who are doing the intellectual equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and chanting "I-can't-hear-you".

So, simply put, present your data, cut out the drama, and stop shrieking collapse when the timeframe involved is tens of generations.

The world is changing, not dying.

 

 

Just a quick thought

Here in the US, we tend to think of ourselves as the New Rome.

Hmm...I would go partway there.

Up until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, when Constantine XI Palaiologos was killed defending the City from Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the people inside that city considered themselves Romans and the heirs of the Empire of Augustus.

They didn't see themselves as Byzantines.

I am beginning to think that Washington has the same relationship with London.  The two cities seem to be following the same trajectory, with London looking at the fate of Rome with a new eye.

Washington seems to be going the Byzantine route.

Just sayin'.

Doesn't mean I like it

Over at the Burning Platform

Spent some time this morning in the comments section of "The Burning Platform".

Wrote this:

Over all, can’t fault you a moment for your logic.

But more and more, I am torn between two realities.

The point of view you champion is valid and has meaning. But when spend time with the greater bulk of people, your begin to realize that they are not at all equipped to “contribute” to society or to create something of value.

But they are still people. They have all the dreams and desires as the folks who are equipped to provide those things. Some of them are pretty decent folk.

So where do you go? How do you provide the structure for a society that is, by definition, populated with 50% of the inhabitants having a IQ 100 and a healthy dose of ambition.

The folks that write the drivel that so offended you and caused this written blast are from you are apologists for a system which benefits them. One should never forget that for a moment.

But the question remains.

What does one do with people who do not have, and probably will not be able to obtain, the tools and skills to contribute to a complex and technological society?

In the current cultural mindsets, the liberals trot out a failed educational system and posit that maybe, if we just throw more money at the problem, we can equip the Capite Censi with the tools neccesary to allow them to rise from their squalor and together we can create the City on the Hill.

Well, in the words of Robert Heinlein

“Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”

It appears that the Conservative mindset is more nuanced. It appears to involve going to church every week, praise Jesus at every turn, and the Holy Ghost will fill you and you will only then be allowed to create and contribute.

Seeing as Jesus had some rather unkind words to say about the rich and the accumulation of wealth, I have a feeling this won’t work either.

I don’t have the answer. But there are some folks out there who, while being worthless from an economic viewpoint, are some damn nice people.

What do we do with them?