Comments on: Are We A Banana Republic Yet?

By: daveeriqat

daveeriqat — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:09:21 +0000

Thanks Karen! I’m glad someone found that story amusing.

Dave

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:53:43 +0000

Dave, I popped over to your blog from Mike Folkerth’s. Just want to say I have read a few of your articles and I’m impressed enough to keep coming back. Thanks for your efforts. With regards to this particular piece – ain’t it sad?

P.S. We have spent much of our lives living in one kind of fixer or another and I got a kick out of your home improvement story.

By: daveeriqat

daveeriqat — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:06:51 +0000

freeacre,

Thanks for the nice comment! It’s amazing how nice some “backward” countries are. We are definitely brainwashed. Gotta keep the hamsters spinning the wheel at all costs.

It is sad how poorly we’ve utilized our endowment of natural beauty and resources.

Katrina certainly did call attention to the emperor’s nakedness.

I heard about that earthquake prediction and it certainly perked up my ears, especially the nice graph I saw that places me almost right at the epicenter. I might even make some preparations, just in case.

But nobody has ever been able to predict earthquakes, especially a month in advance. And the technique used by halfpasthuman is dubious. What do they do? They analyze words used by people on the internet and use those words to depict the collective psyche of the human population. Well, that may be fine for things under the control of humans, but their technique presupposes that humans can predict earthquakes and that those predictions will register in their words. The key point is that humans cannot predict earthquakes, so whatever words they might be uttering on the subject are irrelevant.

I realize that the government is also warning of a possible earthquake (that’s the graph I saw), but it’s been making such warnings for decades, with little success.

Dave

By: freeacre

freeacre — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:09:38 +0000

You are right, Dave. We just finished watching the BBC documentary “The New Europe” by Michael Palin. He ran through 17 countries that used to be in the Soviet Union, showing the towns, cities, rural areas, social interaction, etc. I was dumbfounded by the differences from here. Even the Slavic countries and the remnants from the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantines seemed so much more cosmopolitan, clean, and upbeat than here. The colors, the traditions, the beauty of the places was just astounding. Maybe it was biased, but I didn’t see miles and miles of slums and deteriorated cities. I didn’t see legions of homeless, tent cities. They have public transportation everywhere, health care for every one, good schools. The people speak several languages, are well-dressed. There was no graffiti on their trains. And the people seemed lively, healthy looking, and prosperous compared to us. The people seemed to party together, play music, dance at the drop of a hat. So much more vibrant than the lives that I see. It’s shocking, really.
We have been brain-washed, it seems. “They hate us for our freedoms” will probably be viewed in hindsite as one of the more outrageous lies that we have been told. We incarcerate more people than the rest of the world all put together. I think the world’s perception of us changed radically when they got a look at us during the Katrina debacle, and witnessed all the poor people and the paramilitary response. The dismal reality of our situation vs. the myth of the American Dream creates a cognitive dissonance that is difficult to live with. We have been blessed with such a beautiful land, a great diversity of traditions from which to draw, but our leadership has been corrupted and our strengths have been misused and squandered. It is very depressing.
Also, Dave, I hope you are aware of the prediction for a very great earthquake that may take place in December (urbansurvival.com)that may occur in your area. If it happens, it may lead to incredible devastation. Take care.