| Messages 1 - 13 of total 13 in this topic |
rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 16, 2012 - 08:15pm PT
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Chalmers Johnson - on American Hegemony. one of the best discussions I've heard on this all too important topic, the new American Empire, and its consequesnces. 52 minutes, but the first 10 will give you a pretty good idea where we're going.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPr_T7btVgA
edit:(I might add in here - Chalmers is an ex right wing oriented CIA analyst , UC Berkeley political science prof and now converted critic of American corporatism and the growing Industrial Military (Congressional) complex.
This guy is more likely to show up on 'Talk of the Nation' than on 'Alex Jones'. No wacko influence to be seen)
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2012 - 09:17pm PT
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by the way (I note no one is commenting on this - ha) Chalmers is the author of Blowback and Nemesis amongst other best seller books (not that "best seller" says anything in itself.....
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 19, 2012 - 08:51pm PT
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my best post to date, and apparently only one person has taken a look? what's up with that.
as to OT, well, as has been pointed out before, this is a Climber's forum (as opposed to a "climbing forum".) I'm a climber of sorts, and I'm sitting here around the electronic firepit, and what's on my mind today, isn't my last ballsy solo, but the end of democracy. So I want to talk about it. ha anybody game?
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Nov 19, 2012 - 08:54pm PT
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I really like the way he puts in the last pro and and runs it out on the manky rock.
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Nohea
Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
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Nov 19, 2012 - 10:45pm PT
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I cannot comment on the vid, I did set a bm to watch it later, but as a teacher of Hawaiian history, this place should have never been annexed. The overthrow guys should have been shot but then again history is a bunch of shouldas.
We have military bases in how many countries? And we re loved for that?
Read GWashington's five hour retirement speech. Damn!
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mountainlion
Trad climber
California
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Nov 20, 2012 - 01:37am PT
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Rockermike I haven't had time to watch the video. I do realize the corporations have stolen our democracy from us. I also realize that they are stealing the natural resources from the 3rd world countries and sending jobs that americans used to do to these countries where the people are willing to work like slaves all day for a less than an american/westerner would earn in an hour doing the same work.
The question is what do we do about it? The people who are in charge of the system are a miniscule proportion of the world's population and they have tricked the whole world into living this rat race!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Nov 20, 2012 - 01:48am PT
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I hope to watch this, in about a week, if I can find it.
Thanks for putting this up.
Empires rise, empires fall, same as it ever was.
My goal is to enjoy every day and prepare the way for my children as best I can. I don't want to get wrapped around the axle worrying about sh#t I can't change.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2012 - 08:06am PT
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As to what can we do. I don't know, and I'm certainly not saying anyone else should do anything. But for myself, as I become more aware of the situation (political, but also environmental, social etc), I find myself depressed and tempted to just go off into the mountains to climb dangerous routes. But my better self knows that "there's nothing we can do" mentality helped Hitler rise to power. Yes, there is something we can do, it just takes extreme self sacrifice and a radical change in direction within our lives. I suppose something would include self-education, spreading information, and organizing. The "reverse Citizens United" campaign seems like a particularly good place to start. But one thing I am becoming increasingly aware of within my own psyche, is that I can no longer live the earn and burn (a la (in my case) new climbing and surfing and cycling gear. New cars and nicer houses..., whatever your poison is) lifestyle of middle America. Its sinful nature is becoming just too obvious to me and the sense of guilt outweighs the pleasures. But that's just me. Meanwhile, I'm off to Bolivia on my new bicycle to get away from the stress. ha ------- hypocrisy even more than hope springs eternal......
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sempervirens
climber
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Nov 20, 2012 - 08:38am PT
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Thanks for posting this. This is a worthy thread, IMO. Can't watch the youtube discussion yet but I'll try to get to it this evening and comment then.
This is important enough to be discussed here, IMO again. If we remain objective in discussion there is hope of change. It's foolishness to accept the ridiculous false dichotomy of liberal vs. conservative America. We need these threads to help transcend that naive thinking. More later...
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moosedrool
Trad climber
lost, far away from Poland
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Nov 20, 2012 - 08:48am PT
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"au reste, après nous, le Déluge”
(I don’t speak French, BTW}
What I ment is, we act as there is no tomorrow. And, if we learn anything from human history, indulgence is irreversible. It’s all downhill from here.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 20, 2012 - 09:02am PT
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Empires, schmempires - Thomas Malthus will have the last laugh.
There's also a virus growing in a monkey's bunghole in Rwanda and another
in a chicken's cloaca in China that will vie for the last laugh.
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moosedrool
Trad climber
lost, far away from Poland
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Nov 20, 2012 - 09:32am PT
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Reilly,
Yes, and no. Overpopulation can be mitigated. Look at Japan, they are slowly dying out. If we don’t deplete our resources first, we will dye out. That is because once you are comfortable you don’t want to have a bunch of kids, right? Most couples I know have only one or two kids. If you extrapolate, after 100,000 years, or so, we will be down to zero population. (Isaak Asimov convinced me).
So, we are doomed either way. We either deplete our resources and dwindle, or we dye out because we get too comfortable. IMHO
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| Messages 1 - 13 of total 13 in this topic |
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