I wait

December 29, 2011.

Another year almost gone. I try to remember the good things, but can’t.

Some speak of destruction by fire; I saw that this year, only the fire was sun, no rain, relentless dry scorching weather, day after day, week upon week, months….

Damn near the whole year.

I am told half a billion trees died in Texas alone.

It started raining about a month ago. Slow, steady, light but soaking rain. With the rain came cold. The moisture will pay dividends down the line, but now, cold and wet suck life from animals forced to endure without hay to fill their guts.

Aquifers, lakes and livestock ponds remain precariously low despite the recent showers. I have no clue what the new year will bring.

I’ve lived with a cloud overhead, a sense of impending doom I can’t seem to shake.

And I have been hard on myself. I didn’t fix the front tooth I broke while biting a cow’s ear and I didn’t fix the broken bone in my right hand when I hit yet another cow in the head; both remind me of my shortfalls, my lack of patience and my horrible temper.

And these are milk cows with which I have an intimate relationship, involving a considerable amount of trust.

I’ve hurt others I love as well. Wasn’t my intention, but it is what it is. I feel terrible for what I have done.

A friend says don’t do that anymore, when I describe my travails.

I tell him I try. But it seems the default state in me; in the blink of an eye or one unguarded moment I do things that permanently alter the landscape, and later leave me in a state of despair.

I’ve killed a notable number of animals this year; some for food, some out of a sense or mercy or duty as they lay suffering. I wonder if I shall see them again, this long, long line whose last minute on this earth was spent staring into my cold blue eyes.

Will they, can they forgive me?

I have helped some in need; I have denied many more.

It’s as though God has turned his back, like my prayers somehow don’t quite reach through the fog and the noise and the confusion of this world.

I tire of seeing evil prosper. I tire of liars and propagandists, who set traps and spew deceitful words against the righteous.

I despise the haughty looks of the rich, their glass towers and fine linens and sparkly jewelry and soft hands with manicured nails, fine tailored clothes and wafts of perfume and cologne, delicate morsels of food served on silver and china-ware, while waiters and waitresses smile for tips to feed the kids at home.

I detest those that sit in towers overlooking cities below, devising their schemes, planning their wars, creating money from thin air in seemingly endless amounts, while the rest suffer and strain to earn a living.

And in the next breath, their counterparts say we need more fucking taxes.

You make money out of thin air to do whatever you want when you want and how you want. Why then do you need to tax the rest of us that have to earn our money the hard way?

You borrowed the money. You pay it back.

Here’s the deal. I say no. I do not sign off on this. Do what you will but do so without my blessing.

I remain a criminal without a crime, a warrior set aside.

And I wait.

Joe Rogan interviews Michael Ruppert

I watched and listened to most of this last night. It's long, over two hours, a free-for-all conversation, interspersed with humor and a wide gammit of important subjects.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening in and I think I learned a thing or two.

However, I must issue a warning: you'll have to wade through a bit of shit to get to the gems. But they are there.

PODCAST #170 - Michael Ruppert, Brian Redban from JoeRogan on Vimeo.

No excuses

I remember thinking when America elected George W. Bush the first time, Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

When bush got re-elected after people had four years to see the kind of fellow he was, that prayer no longer applied.

First the Republican party failed and then the nation at large failed.

Now Democrats continue throwing rocks at any and all challengers from across the aisle and they have, well who the fuck do they have running against Barack Obama in the primary…

No excuses. You know who this son-of-a-bitch is, and you’re going to nominate him again.

Hopi prophesies

I find this quite interesting.

In particular where the Great Spirit refers to himself as the first and the last.

Another thought: Jesus wasn't a Christian.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Leah and I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The story is complex, interesting, the acting superb. Best movie I have seen in a couple of years.

Go see it.

David Icke

I tend to disregard Icke's talk about reptilian overlords, etc. However, I think he gets it right here, aside, perhaps, from his views on climate change:



Part 2

West Texas

Lifted a link from another blog to a beautiful photographic essay of West Texas:

Check it out here.

A deflationary argument

Nicole Foss presents a compelling argument for a deflationary collapse here:

Look Back, Look Forward, Look Down. Way Down.

EROEI

Those that study the phenomenon of peak oil will be aware that finding energy increasingly is becoming more expensive, not only from a dollar and cents point of view but also when calculating energy returned over energy invested. The common example offered suggests that in the early days of oil production, a well might return 100 barrels of oil for every 1 barrel of oil invested to find and extract it. During the 1970’s that number had fallen to 30 returned over 1 invested. Now the number is said to be about 3 to 1.

Hence the frenetic activity in South Texas as the Eagle Ford Shale project continues full bore. Roads have become crowded with arrays of massive hunks of steel: pumps and rigs and tanks and other devices used to frack wells and semi-trucks carrying joints of pipe in endless queues. Near Gonzales a monstrosity of a gathering station has formed in what just a couple of years ago was a cow pasture; multiple parallel rails usher tanker cars into filling facilities looking like nuclear reactors with doors in the side. A nearby pipe yard covers land measured in square miles instead of acres.

For what it’s worth, I am convinced the money fostering this activity is one step removed from the now smoking printing press of the Federal Reserve, and comes with the seal of approval of the United States Government. No company on the face of this earth has the money to do this without the subsidization and backing of world banks and governments.

Make no mistake: there is oil in this shale. It’s light and sweet and it’s being produced in a big way. But it’s costing more than ever to extract. The nature of shale is that it produces short lived wells so the only way to keep up production is to continue drilling, fracking and building additional production facilities.

There comes a point when the return is not worth the investment. And you can’t accurately determine that point on cost projections, for things often cost more in hindsight than anticipated beforehand. Those issuing positive forecasts tend to have vested interests; they are being paid well in a time when jobs are hard to find, as are those that own the land on which this activity takes place.

I am beginning to see an agricultural equivalent as the cost of energy continues to rise. People think the cost of food is high, but the cost of fuel, parts and supplies necessary to carry an industrial farm double at astounding rates. Commodity prices that would have been considered over the top just a couple of years ago now barely pay the bills. Truth is, modern farming now survives on subsidies not unlike those that power modern oil companies. Left to our own devices, we'd all be broke.

I read the other day that in Afghanistan, it costs the US military between $400 and $1,000 for a gallon of gasoline.

I wonder how long that equation works?