ski report - technique, terrain & technology

The 20-day target was met without negative incident.

The techniques employed were 'the good-old' throughout, the terrain was mostly known & the technology deployed was also mostly the good-old but for the last 2 days some 'new-fangled' (Völkl P40 RC energY 193cm carving) was trailed; conclusion: a worthwhile safety upgrade. The Fischer RC4 Superform 205cm/Look77s have hence been retired to the museum, the Rosignol 195cm/Look99s remain in service.


yymmdd  VTM[1] Comment

080113   5607  Accompanied; but not too bad for 1st day.

080114   8672  Unencumbered...

080115  10364

080116  10687

080117  11194

080118  10287

080119   9830  B's birthday, looong lunch.

080120  10274  1st Hörnlis 1 red 7 black.

080121  12766  Grand tour + 9Hs, all b.

080122   8836  Bad weather; 12 Patrularve.

080123  10907  9Hs.

080124  13530  11 Hs = 4884 (Mt.B = 4810).

080125  13255  15Ks & 12 Hs all b.

080126  14204  12 Hs.

080127   6944  Chez Vroni lunch; only one run after - weather.

080128  15022  13 Hs.

080129  15176  11 Hs.

080130  15224  12 Hs, '08 best; best ever 17901 (Mt.E = 8848).

080131  14213  12 Hs.

080201  13820  (High wind therefore no Hs.)

All together 109Hs over 11 days + 184,484 - 2124 = 230,756.

[1] VTM = vertical transport metres.

Average daily VTM was 11,538, best was 15,224.

'08 VTMs in Mt.Es was 1.3 average, 1.7 best vs. 2.0 best ever.

For comparison, Perisher planning tries to guarantee a minimum VTM for most advanced (Level 7) of 3,590 per day.

So, achieved vs. Perisher min. VTM factors 3.2 ave., 4.2 & 5.0 best.

For a different comparison, Rutan's SS1 2nd X-Prize flight went 112km up, slightly less than ½ of the 20-day total.

I wanna complain!

«Complaining is never any good: it stems from weakness.»

 - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

  From 'Bringing up Baby:' "Yes, but..."

-=*=-

Lucy: «It is all too easy to look on the dark side ... but you also need to see the good things otherwise it will just depress you ... »

Me: Looking on the bright side is all very well (Carpe diem an' all that), but one can't just do nothing!

-=*=-

There's a rule called the "Second law of thermodynamics[1]," which in it's simplest form could be written:

  "The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum."

But since that's a bit 'opaque,' an easy way to understand what that means is to leave your (very hot!) cup of coffee on the counter for a while... (dum, de-dum, a few minutes later...) and try it again: "Ahhh - just right!"

Similarly, an alarm-clock of the old wind-up type requires regular winding ... or you may be late to work!

Life - all life as we see it on our once jewel-like planet, and in all it's wondrous variety - requires some form of input energy - or it dies.

-=*=-

So. If we detect a problem - and say nothing, then just as the alarm clock cannot wind itself, that problem is highly likely, to the point of certainty, *not* to get any attention, let alone get fixed.

This would be true of the smallest problem to the largest, and illustrates one'a the most serious negatives associated with religion: the idea that sinners will be punished 'after death.'

This nasty little trap allows 'believers' to say to themselves "Well, s/he will get punished for that - in heaven!" - My comment: what horrible B.S.

Justice delayed is justice denied; that sort'a woolly thinking contributes in no small part to perpetrators getting away with their crimes. Like GWBush&Co, say vis-à-vis their mass-murdering for Iraqi oil, a crime on the scale of Nuremberg.

-=*=-

So, on the principle of "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," we *must* complain - but more, we must force the issue; provide the energy to 'wind the clock up' and push hard on the only point available to us: our representatives.

It is their job, after all, to do something (right!) for us.

-=*=-

To labour the point (i.e. looping), I have already mentioned a disconnect, and here is another. Consider Newton's 3rd law: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." One'a my 'heroes,' JKGalbraith coined the term "Countervailing power"[2,3]. A name given to the so-called 'élites' presumed to be running the world (smack into the CO2 caused greedastrophe®) is "the powers that be."

Any countervailing power the electorate (aka the sheople®) may have been able to exercise has been neutralised, by the modern form of "bread and circuses," namely the mind-numbing avalanche of propaganda, disinformation and other mind-rotting filth spewing out'a TVs almost everywhere, thanks (but "No, thanks!") to Hollywood, Madison Ave. and the (venal!) MSM.

It's time: to restore our countervailing power.

Complain to, demand of your representatives. Soonest. Loud & long.

-=*end*=-

PS I leave the last word to Nietzsche:

«To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled - because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance.»

[The Wanderer and His Shadow.]

-=*=-

Ref(s):

[1] The second law of thermodynamics

«... is an expression of the universal law of increasing entropy, stating that the entropy of an isolated system which is not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.»

[wiki/Second law of thermodynamics]

[2] «The world itself is the will to power - and nothing else! And you yourself are the will to power - and nothing else!»
[Nietzsche, "The Will to Power"]

[3] «In American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power, published in 1952, Galbraith outlined how the American economy in the future would be managed by a triumvirate of big business, big labor, and an activist government. Galbraith termed the reaction of lobby groups and unions "countervailing power." He contrasted this arrangement with the previous pre-depression era where big business had relatively free rein over the economy.»
[wiki/John Kenneth Galbraith]

My comment: Sadly, countervailing power is noted almost everywhere by its absence. "Big labor" is as good as gone, "activist government" works mostly against us, we the sheople.

history teaches ...

 .. .. .. .. .. (morbid silence)

-=*=-

I grew up as a so-called baby-boomer, in a period I'd characterise as a 'post-WW2 peace-dividend' attempt at normalcy.

Of course the peace didn't last (assuming peace existed at all, recall the 'Cold War'). My consciousness was raised by the spectre of possibly being conscripted as cannon-fodder for the Yanks' claimed war to prevent the yellow (going red) peril of Commies coming at us via Vietnam. The Vietnam War ended with the defeat of the US in 1975[1].

But even before the Vietnam imbroglio, (history teaches; I could hardly'a noticed), we had a Malayan Emergency[2,3] and the Korean War[4]. After their Vietnam failure, the US switched a lot'a its attention to South America; we (in our wide-brown Aus) had a period of relative calm, largely - and sadly - at a lot'a South Americans' expense. Any 'calm before the storm' was broken by incidents in '91 (Kuwait[5]), then in the FYRs[6] and such continued through the 90s, but all pretences were finally shattered by "Shockin' Whore" aka murder for oil[7] beginning in Mar'03.

As a constant blood-bath background, we can only watch with horror as the cruelly misnamed IDF (it's actually 'offence') continues to commit genocide in and around ex-Palestine[8]. I say that 'we can only watch with horror' because there's apparently no way of stopping Israel murdering for land & water.

-=*=-

Some time in the early 70s I had an argument with my then-girlfriend; my stance was that Israel was in a "David v. Goliath" struggle against the nasty surrounding Arabs.

Then after that, as mentioned, I enjoyed a relatively peaceful interregnum, as I continued to develop my career, formed a family and built the family home am Bergle.

The interregnum was only relatively peaceful, as it was punctuated by events like the "Highway of Death(Kuwait to Basra)" horror, and watching as 'NATO' (aka US thugs plus coerced accomplices) bombed the s**t out'a bits'a the FYRs.

Then in the run-up to "Shockin' Whore", the US thugs plus the next band of coerced accomplices, aka coalition of the killing's illegal invasion of Iraq (now turned brutal occupation) we, the anti-wars cried "No War!" and "Leave it to Blix!" Nevertheless and despite our best efforts (and inaction from the UN), that war started on 19Mar'03 and continues, according to the ICH site as of today, with the Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In U.S. War On Iraq "1,191,216" and the Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 3,993.

Whether these numbers are right or wrong and if so then by how much hardly matters. What we can see, if we look with wide-open eyes, is a filthy and hideous slaughter, yet another genocide, in this case to enable oil-theft.

-=*=-

All of the above has a point, and the point is this: "I WAS WRONG!"

I was wrong in the 1st place about Israel.

I was wrong in the 2nd place in having any faith in the UN.

I was wrong in the 3rd place in having ever assumed any worthwhile purpose behind US military adventures; the "Shockin' Whore" episode and aftermath demonstrating, for all the world to see, the criminal intent of the US 'élites' and the murdering methods of their military, each more dishonourable than the other.

That the UN is corrupt is proven by Israel, which claims the UN as its source of legitimacy - but then ignores any and all UN resolutions which it "doesn't like," the number of such ignored resolutions being many and varied. Then, there're the resolutions vetoed by the US.

That the UN is ineffective is similarly proven by Israel, which has for 60+ long years carried out a genocide against the legitimate former owner/residents of the land that they (illegally!) occupy.

That the UN is both corrupt and ineffective is proven (yet again) by the US and its actions vis-à-vis Iraq, thanks (but "No, thanks!") to GWBush&Co.

As far as 'history teaches' goes, we can see that *nothing* has been learnt, except possibly by the US, who/which, we can see, apparently set out to do better than Hitler by repeating fewer of his mistakes - but doing essentially the same filthy stuff; mass-murdering for spoil.

Nobody starts a war, unless a) they think they can win, and b) they think it's worth it.

Q: How does the US win the wars it starts?

A: By increasing its resource rip-offs.

Q: How does Israel win its wars?

A: By increasing its territory.

Q: Who loses these wars?

A: The innocent wronged, plundered and murdered collaterals.

Finally, in the lead up to and following "Shockin' Whore", I saw what I'd missed before, that absolutely wicked happenings had been going on all along, essentially in plain sight - but hidden by massive, revolting and lying propaganda, sourced in Washington when not Hollywood and/or Madison Ave., and brought to us courtesy of a (venal!) MSM.

Silly me; I had assumed that what I got as 'news' was the truth. How devastating - how naïve.

-=*=-

Now I recently asked myself "How could I get it so wrong?"

And the answer came to me in an astoundingly bright flash: I get most'a my info from the AusBC, and lately also from SBS.

The AusBC and SBS are conduits for lying propaganda.

So Q: Are the AusBC and SBS biased?

A: Yes, and against the truth.

Shoot the messengers!

-=*end*=-

Ref(s):

[1] [Vietnam War]

[2] [Malayan Emergency]

[3] [Jungle warfare]

[4] [Korean War]

[5] [Gulf War]

[6] [Yugoslav wars]

[7] [Iraq]

[8] 'Typically' Israeli?

«The Irgun was the armed expression of the nascent ideology of Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He expressed this ideology as "every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs and the British; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state". Initially, a central part of their efforts included attacks against Palestinian Arabs, but it increasingly shifted to attacks against the British. Some of the better-known and more infamous attacks by Irgun were the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre (perpetrated together with the Stern Gang) on 9 April 1948. In the West, Irgun was described as a terrorist organization by The New York Times newspaper, and by the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry. Irgun attacks prompted a formal declaration from the World Zionist Congress in 1946, which strongly condemned "the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare".

Irgun was a political predecessor to Israel's right-wing Herut (or "Freedom") party, which led to today's Likud party. Likud has led or been part of most Israeli governments since 1977.»

[Irgun]

PS Note: See some Zionists 'strongly condemned "the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare".' Well then, why don't they stop? Q: Just why does USrael murder for spoil? A: Because they can get away with it. And Q: Whose (bloody!) fault is that? A: The electors in these (and other; UK & Aus say) so-called democracies. People (I like to say sheople®), who don't - or won't - wake up and listen, and having heard, move effectively to stop the killing.

Once and for all: NO MORE WAR!

throwing the baby out...

 .. no prizes for guessing what with: BW.

-=*=-

No, not the "bath water," but Bob Wall. And the "baby's" no baby, but rather *THE TRUTH*.

It's no secret, but Bob was(!!?) one'a WD's 'bright lights' - but unfortunately for Bob, his light was an 'on the hill' sort, not so much Labor but nevertheless a bit 'leftish,' and very definitely 'seeker of truth.' In short he was a 'links Wizard,' digging up the dirt on 'the right,' not because he was a 'rightie hater' (hater wrong word; see following) but because most'a the dastardly deeds 'going down' (Ameri-speak; spit!) - are being done by 'rightie types' (aka Usrael; see following) and these 'rightie crims' being aided and abetted by 'rightie trolls' - speaking about in WD, that is. Note: we never hate people, just the nasty (criminal!) things that some do - like the US plus Israel, 'melded' by M-W's Israel Lobby into a composite termed USrael, mass-murdering as they so often do, actually to steal resources (oil, land, water), aka murdering for spoil. It's a crime! Of the Nuremberg variety. Looping.

Long story short: Bob's been suspended for three months, for, according to Roffey, in "a number of interactions," making "increasingly strident demands [of the moderators] in emails etc."

Wow!

Given that Bob's contributions were mainly bucket-loads'a truth, usually documenting the USrael-composite's filthy crimes as mentioned, you'd have'ta wonder what WD has against the truth? Or against Bob?

another criminal nail ...

 .. in the (murdering) US coffin

-=*=-

There are still a few around, who think that the US 'did the right thing' by invading Iraq, GWBush (no surprise) leading the push. On a different theme - but confirming that the principle is there, he even said it himself: «See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things... to kind of catapult the propaganda.»

At this point, the disgraceful duplicity of the 935 lies should be remarked; nobody should need to lie a country off to war, especially when, as we can plainly now see, that war has led to the death of 100s of 1000s when not 1.3+mio Iraqis, plus the internal displacement of 2mio, and another 2mio more fled. But the price, [do] we think, the price [was] worth it? [1, 2] Note that this is not a complaint on how the war was run; it's a damnation that the war occurred at all, and the total death toll stemming from US actions in and around Iraq is probably well in excess of 2mio - 2mio!

Then it's worth a slight detour here, to recall that the war against Saddam didn't start on 20Mar'03; it was pretty-well continuous from '91, crossing administrations both Repug & Dummocrat. What provoked the final "Shockin' Whore" illegal invasion (now morphed into a most brutal occupation) is thought (by many including me) most likely to have been the adoption of the EURO by Saddam for Iraq's oil trading, plus the fact that the (deadly!) sanctions could not be extended indefinitely; the US saw its wished-for 'grip' on Iraq's oil sliding away.

-=*=-

Now (the 'sharp end'), for a few facts possibly not too well known:

a) a US presidential 'signing statement:'

«... Provisions of the Act, including sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President's ability ... The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.»
[US president]

Comment on previous: this is the so-called 'line-item veto' as conceived by the GWBush&Co legal geniuses; the line-item veto mechanism has, AFAIK, never been agreed to. This is simple (if such a thing is at all simple) GWBush&Co unilateralism, and is essentially just one more (ho hum) nail in the US 'democracy.'

b) the referred-to law index:

«H.R.4986
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)»
[US Congress]

c) one'a the flagged sections:

«SEC. 1222. LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES RELATING TO IRAQ.
No funds appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations in this Act may be obligated or expended for a purpose as follows:
(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.»
[US Congress]

Comment on previous (for emphasis): the intent of the section is to prevent permanent US bases in Iraq and/or control over Iraq's oil. Bush declines the section. Geddit yet?

d) another section not flagged as declined, but showing intent:

«SEC. 1227. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FEDERALISM IN IRAQ.
It is the sense of Congress that--
...
(4) the United States should urge the Government of Iraq to quickly agree upon and implement a law providing for the equitable distribution of oil revenues, which is a critical component of a comprehensive political settlement in Iraq, including a potential settlement based upon federalism;»
[US Congress, ibid.]

These may well be the penultimate steps (the actual (inevitable!) theft being still to come), i.e. prolonging the occupation into the indefinite future (McCain's 100yrs?), *not* denying the intent and then demanding that the (puppet!) Iraqi government should pass the (rip-off PSA-mechanism containing) 'oil law,' paving the way for the handing-over of Iraq's 'patrimony' into the filthy clutches of (predominately US) big oil.

Murder for oil? You bet'cha: QED.

-=*end*=-

PS The dreadful US actions can never be excused as 'geopolitical,' the invasion of Iraq is only the latest (criminal) example of US' "business as usual," i.e. pure hypocrisy; they talk about 'free markets' - but instead'a buying their oil - like all the rest of us have to do, they steal it (even if 'only' control over, it's still alienating) - and that, by deploying their utterly dishonourable, mass-murdering military.

For proof, look no further than 2mio dead Iraqis - 2mio! - and the signing statement.

PPS Let me put that, another way: any apologist supporting the (murdering) US actions vis-à-vis the Iraqi people, aka the 'collaterally damaged' = 2mio! dead, could presumably (in retrospect; up to 1945, say) have supported Nazi German actions vis-à-vis the 'collaterally damaged' people outside'a Germany (and those 'collaterals' within), or the Imperial Japanese actions vis-à-vis the 'collaterally damaged' people outside'a Japan. The one and only mistake Hitler or Tojo would'a made, then, was to have lost. To continue, if mass-slaughtering of Iraqis to steal their oil is OK; call it 'geopolitical' or whatever else you like, but then there'd be no such thing as a 'just' war, just one won or lost. In this way we can dispense with all morality; pragmatism is all, and all resort to realpolitik: "Might is neither right nor wrong; it just works mate..." (Are we in Iran yet?)

Tip: make sure you choose your parents and birthplace carefully!

That's not a knife ...

 .. This is a knife[1].

For this theme, substitute 'disaster' for 'knife.'

In other words, I'm about to describe what an ultimate[2] disaster *really* looks like...

-=*=-

From a chat with a friend:

(Rhetorical) Q: ... we talked earlier of 'turning the question around.'

i.e. in this case, what was the real *intent* in invading Iraq?

A: We do know about #1: oil theft. It's simply too obvious to argue; it's like asking Q: Why do crims try to rob banks? A: because that's where the money is. But look here: Rove going from Iraq to Israel via oil, 9/11 & Al Qaida, all used in a (swinish!) attempt to *smack* at Obama (thanks Bob; g'day).

And then there's "He tried to kill my dad!"

Israel, of course; and M-W's Lobby. Actually better named: the I/J/Z-mafia.

The Pentagon wants bases everywhere, to *oppress* as widely as it can; so much for 'defense.'

For all the GWBush ineptness, for all the evil of Cheney, for all the 'shit happens' Rumsfeld and the poorly-lying 'Mushroom cloud' Rice et al., this:

Ch#1; Laying Plans: explores the five key elements that define competitive position (mission, climate, ground, leadership, and methods) and how to evaluate your competitive strengths against your competition.
Ch#2; Waging War: explains the economic nature of competition and how success requires making winning pay, which in turn, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict.
[wiki/Sun Tzu]

Ch#1 was the 'cake-walk.' There was never gunna be much if any 'competition' from Saddam. That intel was 'easy' - and, despite all the WMD lies: *they knew that*.

BUT: Ch#2 mentions 'making winning pay.'

(Note: There is some discussion about the way the war was carried out; this contrasts with whether any war was justified. GWBush&Co used the (discredited!) WMD 'excuse,' but the sub-text propaganda used the "Muslims are terrorists" meme, even though the Iraqi regime was secular and Saddam had no terrorist connection. This serves to illustrate the magnitude of the lie that the US (& other) sheople® lapped up.
Simple inspection/reflection reveals an aggressive invasion followed by a brutal occupation, all premised on eventual oil-theft - with, also as noted, a racist/religious sub-theme; how odd of G*d to bury US' oil under Muslim/Arab sands? And not just BTW, the (corrupted, discredited) UN's Annan concluded "Illegal." Any other questions?)

But any 'failure' was not Bush&Co's bungle, it was both *systemic* and *systematic*. So, how did they get it so wrong?

OR: Is it so wrong? Oil companies, war-profiteer cronies (Halliburton et al.) all getting sickeningly, gluttonously, obesely rich - off carrion. Pentagon gets its bases, and its 'eternal war' as a career-boosting 'plus.'

But#2: It really looks like they could break the US economy.

But#3: Even if not But#2, the US' reputation is shot -
  (Wake up little Susie, Wake up...[3])

And that, my little chickadees, is THE DISASTER.

(With an even bigger one to come...
  CO2, anyone? Cough, cough. SUVs? Fat 4WDs?)

The US is morally bankrupt, as is Israel. They lie, they cheat, they steal and they murder. The US, together with the M-W (5th column!) Israel Lobby plus Israel itself makes USrael - partners in the most ghastly of crimes. (Bet you've heard all this somewhere before...) It's not about Bush (he plays a part), it's not about the Repugs or Dummos (they're sell-out puppets - when not worse), it's not about the Harvard Business School (for sharks), it's not about Hollywood nor Madison Ave. - Oh, no! It is about all of them, including the US & Israeli sheople too - because it's all about their collective immorality and criminality - that, on the scale of Nuremberg.

No component (effectively) resists - the anti-wars have no voice - can have no voice, since their 'democracy' is buggered. Both 'sides' of politics have "All options on the table!" - vis-à-vis Iran, say. No (real) choice, no (real) democracy. Presidents come and president go, still off to war they sail and fly - not to 'democratise' (what a sick (non!) joke), but to loot.
Anyone (who can think) can look, see and work it all out.

And the true, ultimate disaster is that apart from no honour, there's no way out.

-=*end*=-

PS Q: Can we put it down to arrogance/hubris?

A: Yes, but worse. A society that can set out to murder for spoil (100s of 1000s if not 1mio+ Iraqis slaughtered) is not just arrogant, not simply hubristic, it is pathological, i.e. sick, criminal and evil.

-=*=-

Addendum: This post contains serious allegations; a naïve observer stumbling upon this post may be shocked and request proof. Well, any such observer would have to have been sleeping or otherwise elsewhere for the last 60 years or so to have missed 'the story' - or perhaps had 'trusted' the (venal!) MSM for almost all of his/her info.

1. The US with roughly 5% of the world's population consumes roughly 25% of the world's resources, for air-travel they gobble roughly 50% of the world's 'revenue tonne kilometres'. This situation arose neither by accident nor from fair trade; the US is an imperial power and exercises confiscatory resource rip-offs. Proof of this is easy to see with the 'naked eye;' Australia for example 'nets' hardly more than a miserable 30% of any 'resource-boom' profit left after all (inflated!) expenses and other (tax-accountant fiddled!) deductions. Shareholders (diffuse: local or o/s?) get any left after the obscenely massive remunerations trousered by the upper-management. This system is termed 'trickle-down,' and the trickle has as good as dried up.

2. The US has a military presence with many hundreds of 'bases' spread around the world. Germany and Japan remain essentially occupied. From and via these bases the Pentagon projects its (coercive!) power.

3. As Germany and Japan, Iraq is now occupied - for the latter, with the clear intent of alienating (stealing!) - even if only 'control' of Iraq's 'patrimony,' aka its oil.

4. Along with the US' illegitimate sprog Israel similarly occupying land not theirs, the combined entity USrael (as noted above) is seen to be criminal; aggressive invasion (2003 Iraq by the US (Iran possibly next), 2006 Lebanon now Gaza by Israel) being the ultimate crime à la Nuremberg.

5. Also as noted, these facts are remarked by their absence in the (corrupt!) MSM 'news-stream;' this also is by design. If the sheople of the so-called democracies (US, UK, Aus & Israel) do not wake up and take charge, the world will go down the tubes; our once jewel-like planet will figuratively, almost literally 'crash and burn' due to the threatening CO2-induced climate changes, aka the greedastrophe®.

There are many books and online sources documenting all of this; several of which I've mentioned before. Books like Blum's "Killing Hope" and "Rogue State," Perkins' "Economic Hit Man" and a successor Hiatt's "Game as Old as Empire" then Klein's "Shock Doctrine," the story of US-inspired 'market' capitalism - and its (murdering!) rip-offs. A rough equivalent to Blum's lists can be found online here. (Whether complete or not, it really is a lot, and it all started long ago. Should that link not work (I like citing the apk site where I originally found it), try indopedia or whatreallyhappened). A new list of the vicious lies deployed by GWBush&Co is here, called False Pretenses. MotherJones also newly provides a list here called Lie by Lie: The Iraq War Timeline (thanks Craig; g'day). But basically daaarlings, the proof is all around us, one merely needs to dispense with the (lying!) MSM pushed-paradigm - to look, to see and to work it out for yourself.

Fazit: It's up to every voter to demand that their representatives actually represent us, we the sheople - to stop the lies, to right the wrongs, and to rescue our future.

-=*=-

PPS (new) Since drafting this, I came upon an old article in the SMH, courtesy of ICH:

«Oil wars Pentagon's policy since 1999
By Ritt Goldstein
May 20 2003

A top-level United States policy document has emerged that explicitly confirms the Defence Department's readiness to fight an oil war.
...
Oil conflicts over production facilities and transport routes, particularly in the Persian Gulf and Caspian regions, are specifically envisaged.
...
According to the report, national security depends on successful engagement in the global economy, so national defence no longer means protecting the nation from military threats alone, but economic challenges, too.
...
The authors warn that if the great powers return to the 19th century approach of securing resources, of conquering resource suppliers, the world economy will suffer and world politics will become more tense.»
[smh via ICH]

Basically, it supports my entire 'ultimate disaster' scenario, the supposedly apolitical Pentagon going on the offensive, aka murder for spoil.

What hope can we ever have of stopping this disgustingly criminal behemoth?

Then a final Q: Why can't the US just buy oil, like everyone else has to?

-=*=-

Ref(s):

[1] Typical US street scene; enter mugger with switchblade...

Sue: "Mick, give him your wallet."
Mick: "What for?"
Sue: "He's got a knife."
Mick (brandishing his own weapon): "That's not a knife. This is a knife."
[Crocodile Dundee (1986) VHS+1hr17m45s]

[2] ultimate
—adj. 1 last or last possible, final. 2 fundamental, primary, basic (ultimate truths).
—n. 1 (prec. by the) best achievable or imaginable. 2 final or fundamental fact or principle.
 ultimately adv. [Latin ultimus last] [POD]

[3] «We’ve both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock, and we’re in trouble deep
...
The movie wasn’t so hot, it didn’t have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot...»
[Everly Brothers/Wake up!]

seeking utopia

 Subtitle: serendipity?

  (and 'sorry' doesn't help much, but had to be said...)

-=*=-

G'day Dan... - err, David,

On May 24, 2006 - 9:23am 'someone' wrote:

«... there's a great disconnect here vis-à-vis Aboriginal people, seems to me; an' years long too - far too many years. It's just not good, parking the Aboriginal people in some settlement somewhere out the back'a Whoop-whoop (y'don't call Whoop-whoop Whoop) - without giving them something useful & meaningful to do, in their own terms of reference. Has all that been tried? And they still get roaring drunk & beat their wives up? Sniff petrol till they fall off the twig? I mean, like, die? If all else fails, then they ort'a get a drug that makes them happy & harmless...»

I've also had the thought, that 'something useful & meaningful to do' might be to return our wide-brown's original owners to something approaching their natural state; give them jobs as park carers, for example. They could wander their area of responsibility, caring for the environment - just as they did, way back then.

Well, seems that something like that has actually happened:

«Professor Ian Anderson from the University of Melbourne says the results strongly suggest that self-determination leads to improved health conditions.
"The fact that the community is decentralised, they've got good primary health care services," he said.
"They are able to have a good diet, they can hunt and they're getting good physical activity and they can have a degree of control over their affairs, so this is I guess really a good news story about things that can be different within communities."»
[AusBC/Utopia finds key to Indigenous health]

The Indigenes in Utopia live much the same life-style as in 'the good old days'- i.e. hunter-gathering, plus (a smidgen of) modern health care. And it works for them - in a big way, with half-decent life-expectancies, and less grog, one assumes. Bloody good show!

[Cross-posted]