scrambler

Yeah maybe you're right. Is independent thought an oxymoron or simply inconceivable? At least I try to stay sharp.

Damn, all along I thought the reason we were in the Middle East was to support the Bible thumpers who write books on the fulfillment of biblical prophecy!

Hahahahahahah. Nice, but your post presents a false analogy. Index of Logical Fallacies In the first case, my example, the post refers to reality. There was a Edward Bernays who is considered the father of the public relations industry. There are public relations firms, which Bernays is referring to in his quote. These public relations firms exert much unperceived influence on public opinion through media information. Significant because Democracy depends on an informed electrate. Here's a few of the Public Relations Firms: Hill and Knowlton Burson-Marsteller Rendon Group A little research will turn up some interesting links between each of these PR firms and their campaigns of systematic deception and/or smokescreens. Your post refers to imagined activities, maybe bits of truth interspersed throughout, but on the whole, disinformation for the sake of ridiculing the actual truth that points to the unseen influence of entities (PR groups) involved in shaping mens' thoughts.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power. We are governed, our minds moulded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." Edward L. Bernays, father of the public relations industry, quoted from ‘Propaganda’(1978) So, how much of your weltanschauung (worldview) is shaped by the public relations firms?

Yeah dude, I totally agree wit ya. Death sentence to the killers and to the planner. Thought I'd throw in some Pinochet considering the strange parallel for that date. For those who don't know, September 11, 1973 was the date when the freely elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, was overthrown by a military coup led by General Pinochet. Didn't Secretary Colin Powell state earlier this year that the coup was..."not a part of American history that we're proud of"? "Covert actions are necessary to maintain a viable democracy." Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings Really?

The other September 11. What about this delightful character?

In February 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield acknowledged the establishment of a new department in the Pentagon. The goal of this new department, known as the Office of Strategic Influence, was public relations. After disclosing that this goal included planting disinformation in the foreign media, public reaction led to the announcement that the plug was being pulled. FYI, the Pentagon is forbidden to provide disinformation to the domestic media, however, this prohibition does not apply to foreign media. Domestic news media often scavenge foreign media sources. Apparently, someone lied.

Here's one from Henry Rollins...ummm, I mean two. "There are so many hammocks to catch you if you fall, so many laws to keep you from experience. All these cities I have been in the last few weeks make me fully understand the cozy, stifling state in which most people pass through life. I don't want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don't want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, "Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case." I will turn and say to them "It is you who are the basket case. For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn't even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!" And maybe, the passers by will drop a coin into my cup." "I am ready for whatever's coming. I expect nothing but to be let down or turned away. I am alone. Goddamn. The shit hurts sometimes, but I realize what I am, what I have become. The alien man waved his arms up and down and noticed that he couldn't wave in the right language so he stopped."

I'm fascinated with how things work, things like law and economics, because I realize how little I know. And, I'm terribly bored. The legal world. What do ya think about judicial activism, especially two particular items. First, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company. This ruling set the precedent in 1886 that granted to corporations the same legal rights and protections the Constitution affords to any person. In essence, the US Supreme Court decided that a private corporation is a person, thereby effecting a profound historical change in favor of the rise of global corporate power. More details here:1886 Supreme Court decision Second, our constitutional right of privacy. Our individual right to privacy is implied by the courts but is never actually stated in the federal Constitution. The precedent evolved from a 1965 ruling in Connecticut that concerned a ban on the sale and use of contraceptives. And, of course, you're aware of the 1973 ruling regarding abortion rights under Roe vs. Wade. Most recently, witness the Supreme Court decision regarding the anti-sodomy law in Texas. My ignorance led me to believe that somehow since the privacy clause was invoked in the context of sexual relations then it had something to do with our inalienable Right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Nope, we talking about the evolution of society and the function of a living, not static, document. Like I said, I'm terribly bored...

I think my reading comprehension is delayed this morning by a dose of Percoset. Seems that number, 87 billion, by itself is meaningless (...to me). So, the money supply refers to the money that is available for exchange? And, it's not a bad thing in the long term to allocate this spending as long as the flow of capital is not one way, i.e., results in a deficit?? The concept of physical money itself also begins to lose meaning. Today, it's merely 0s and 1s on a computer as transactions are conducted electronically. I am so confused.

Yes. And Inflation? Isn't it inflationary to increase the money supply?

Ok, treading in uncertain waters here but, what is the source of the 87 billion? I'm assuming it's tax monies. Taxes are levied as a percentage of the GDP*. Ever heard of a zero-sum game? That means there's a fixed amount of something like money. For you to gain, someone has to lose some. Who's going to lose? *GDP is the total market value of goods and services produced within a given period after deducting the cost of goods utilised in the process of production

"I didn't so much like the latter part of the book which is more like all preachy talking, than fighting and the old in-out. I liked the parts where these old yahoodies tolchock each other and then drink their Hebrew vino and, then getting on to the bed with their wives' handmaidens. That kept me going. I read all about the scourging and the crowning with thorns and all that, and I could viddy myself helping in and even taking charge of the tolchocking and the nailing in, being dressed in the height of Roman fashion."

Well, there's a steel cable, maybe 1/2 inch in diameter, with each end attached to a tree on each side of the river. Then there's a slender cord above this cable and this cord also extends across the river. The cable has a pulley contraption with an attachment point. You then climb up on boards nailed to the tree until you're about 10 feet above the ground. Then you clip your pack to the pulley contraption with a quickdraw. With a second quickdraw clipped to your belay loop on your harness, you attach yourself to the pulley contraption. Push off and you'll get about halfway across. Then it's hand over hand until you reach the other side. Step on the board nailed to the tree. Unclip your quickdraws. It's a common courtesy to send the pulley contraption back to the other side for your climbing buddies to use. This is where the cord comes in. The quickdraw on the pulley contraption is clipped to an attachment point on the cord. Then you pull the cord until the pulley contraption reaches the other side. The cord is a loop with a small pulley on each end. I think the cord is too slick and is slipping on the end pulleys or these pulleys are just crappy. I have a picture of this setup but it's not available right now. Rough leather gloves do help out a lot by making the cord easier to grip. You can cross the river but it sure makes it more memorable to do the cable crossing.

Climbed at the Tietons several weeks ago, over at Royal Columns and the Oasis. The Oasis is sweet!! After the Oasis we headed over to Royal Columns. Took the pulley/cable contraption across the Tieton River. What's up with that thing? It's a pain in the ass to retrieve the pulley. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Fell on a slab route. Broken ankle, fucked up talus bone. Just got my stitches removed and a new cast on. No good news to report. It's the beginning of the best time to climb at destinations east of the crest. The Tietons

Yes... you're not Ginger Lynn, you are no pRon star. You're Muffy.

Does that mean you'll do it, but not for money?

Can't climb for two months minimum, then rehab. Alternate activities: reading, eating, watching tv, posting on cc.com, sleeping...

You know you're going crazy when you begin to experience deja vu

Yah, aware of this and other web info on LL's. Google rocks! Wanted to hear some actual real life stories. Sinks in better than company brochures.

What are you gonna do, when the the highest court of the land with the blessing of a future Republican administration interprets Article II of the Constitution to refer to the possession of guns as a right granted to state militas (National Guard) only? All this in the name of homeland security after a terrorist guns down people in a public place. Can't happen? Too many law-abiding gun owners for this to occur?

No, but this is much better. Here are some examples of DARPA 'Human-enhancing' schemes: The 'Metabolic Dominance and Engineered Tissue' program is aimed at being able to artificially pump up soldier endurance and muscle strength. The 'Persistence in Combat' program is a bizarre self-treatment scheme which would include pain-reducing and blood-stopping devices and techniques soldiers would apply to their own wounds -even moderately severe ones- thereby bypassing the need for a medic and enabling a soldier to keep fighting, despite serious wounds! Yep, just keep on runnin' through the jungle on that broken leg or with that bullet in the gut! Once that pain-obliterating electrode in your brain is activated, you won't feel a thing! The 'Continuous Assisted Perfomance' program hopes to find biotechnological ways (implants, metabolic manipulation, etc) to make it possible to push exhausted soldiers on without loss of performance for up to seven days without sleep.

Yeah, I imagine we're talking aboot microseconds here. So, you're falling and accelerating under the force of gravity (F=MA). The force is a function of mass and freefall time (9.8 meters per second per second, sumthin like that). In that nanosecond that the weight on the rope against the pro reaches 2 kN then the stitching begins to blow. That's like performing work, i.e., it dissipates energy. When the stitching has blown, then the remaining force is applied to the pro, hopefully it's less than the strength of the pro or its placement. Yeah, I ain't a physicist either.