Thinking about: Acts of War

So let me get this straight. If Pakistan never approved US drone strikes inside its borders, and yet US drones have struck and continue to strike Pakistan isn’t that an act of war by the US against a sovereign nation? What would the illiterati say if Mexican drones were striking targets in the US? Would they be as supportive? Or would their natural bigotry and hypocrisy come out on display?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Thinking about: The Authoritarian Mind

I’d have said “lack of mind,” implying “lack of thought,” but once again Glenn Greenwald hits one out of the park.

Thinking about: Locking up resources

Well, not thinking terribly hard, because someone else has done a great job on it already. Dan Kervick’s tale of Citadella nicely describes where the world is today. And though it seems to be starting out as another anti-capitalist screed (and may well be intended to be so), nevertheless it can easily be read as a rightful slam on ANY group that locks up resources for its own benefit, denying them – through force or threats of force – to others.

The thing is, while Mr. Kervick describes the walls of “Citadella” as impregnable, in real life there is no such thing. So, in real life, it’s only a matter of time before the foraging class decides that it’s time to break the tumbrils out of storage again – at which point the leisure class will find that its monopoly on force is not such a monopoly after all.

Got popcorn?

Thinking about: Degrees of College

The Debtor Creditor list serve recently had a segment of back-and-forth in regard to discharging student loans in bankruptcy (short answer: no), tuition costs are rising, and students are demonstrating over the cost of school. But let’s think about that for a moment – it’s the cost of “school,” not the cost of “education” that’s the necessarily the problem. And what exactly does school provide that an education doesn’t? A piece of paper – a degree – that says that the bear has met minimum standards of some sort or other.

But why not simply, and more cheaply, establish an independent testing and certification agency? Don’t say “corruption,” because grade inflation at colleges is a form of corruption all in its own right. The testing agency, like any other certification group, would need to establish a reputation for quality work in its process of certifying education, using repeatable testing and certification materials, such that a person could take a far more informative set of paperwork to a prospective employer than merely having a “degree” from a university. Which may, or may not, have any real application in life.

Thinking about: What’s to come

Although I occasionally disagree with his posts, Sultan Knish is usually right on – and sometimes he’s more right on than others. Setting aside the anti-Muslim bias he has (one of the areas I disagree on) and applying this precept to criminal enforcement as a whole:

“Last week I was able to observe some of the top police brass doing what they do and it struck me how similar Community Policing is to Counterinsurgency. Both are methods used to control violence in fragmented multicultural areas by building trust and winning over tribal leaders in the hopes of lowering their group’s participation in crime and terrorism while getting them to cooperate with the local forces and act as informants on the bad guys.”

Read (past the anti-Muslim bits) the rest here and think about a related question: What’s the difference between a secret policeman and an undercover cop?

Thinking about: TEOTWAWKI and tribes

Posted up on a different board, figured I’d add this here as well:

The original thread poster, discussing bugging in or bugging out, and acquisition of food thereafter, said, “Better be able to make jerky because your going to want to catch as much as you can as soon as you can and keep it for as long as you can.”

“Keep it” includes, whether he meant it or not, making sure that while you’re skinning it and gutting it and processing it and preserving it, you don’t have it taken away from you by some ne’er-do-well who’s resorted to self-help since his Oregon Trail Card doesn’t seem to have much value any more. Preserving meat by smoking it takes time, and is difficult to do covertly because of the yummy smell. Even if you are hunting with something suppressed or a quieter non-firearm, things getting shot can make noise, which can then attract scavengers or opportunistic predators.

In other words, you face exactly the same problems as your g’g’g x 100 grandfather: You are likely SOL trying to survive on your own, and not just in regard to food acquisition, preparation, and storage. Batman in the Boondocks, however romantic the concept, is more likely just a relatively fast way to die alone. However, your g’g’g’ x 100 grandfather had a simple solution, one that people have been geared to for millions of years.

Got tribe?

This is not a particularly new concept, it’s bounced around on various gun boards and sociology texts, and has done so for years.

“Tribe” isn’t just a bunch of good buddies you go out shooting with once in awhile. It’s not the couple friends who drop over for drinks once in awhile. Tribe goes much deeper than that. It takes more – but it arguably gives more.

Sports teams have a good concept of tribe. Military personnel, particularly combat arms types, have it as well (though the Army’s system of individual replacements is far less conducive to building tribe than the European regimental system). Combat vets have a SERIOUS concept of how tribe works – and doesn’t work. La Raza has a tribe down pretty well, as do most street gangs. And the thing is, your g’g’g’ x 100 grandfather knew perfectly well that his best chance for survival lay with being a member of a tribe.

So as you look around at what you’ve got prepped to survive a SHTF scenario, whether temporary, longish term, or TEOTWAWKI, if you really have any serious interest in surviving, you just have to ask yourself one question.

Got tribe?

Thinking about: Minimum wage

The Real News Network talks about legislating ourselves rich, essentially:

Here.

Why stop at 12 dollars an hour for minimum wage, though? Why not $100 an hour? Or a $1,000 per hour?

So I understand this – small businesses are expected to bail out a crap economy based on an increase in the Small Business Employee Tax (a better description of minimum wage). And oh look – no inflation from increased wages!

I notice that the speaker discusses the Thriving Europe when it comes to small businesses with higher minimum wages. Dare I point out that economies also thrive in Asia where wages are LOWER? Would we rather have the GDP growth of China? Or Greece?

Just sayin’.

Thinking about: The death of the dollar

Future cellmate Jim Bovard writes a bit about the decline of the dollar here. Which presents a good opportunity to get into print, for future reference with a date stamp for an “I Told You So” moment down the road, a question that has been nagging at me for some time now. Years, actually.

The Treasury keeps spending tons of additional money on developing “new” banknotes, each generation with improved features to, in theory, reduce counterfeiting. Great. Fine. Wonderful. But…

The old notes are still in circulation. So what has the introduction of the new notes done except spend a boatload of money on money to prevent something that might well happen anyway.

Unless…

At some point we’ll wake up and find that the Masters of Empire have declared, literally overnight (albeit with quiet advance notice to friends) that the “old” bills are no longer legal tender. Suddenly a lot of money stored here – and overseas – becomes even more worthless paper than fiat currency actually is.

Tinfoil? Could be. But still, worth thinking about.

Got popcorn?

Thinking about: Dual standards

Americans have been raised on Hollywood movies and TV. Police and action movies, in particular, which never seem to show any consequences for the hero who’s Doing The Right Thing. Car chases, shootings, extrajudicial killings, all go unpunished so long as it’s for A Good Cause. If most police acted the way you see on TV, there’d never be a second show in the series other than showing the guy filling out a metric ton of paperwork and spending years in court.

But movies and TV are, unfortunately, part of the acculturation process and we have long since passed the point where boobus americanus believes that’s really the world works. That there aren’t – and shouldn’t be – any consequences for Americans because Doing The Right Thing doesn’t have actual consequences.

With that in mind, though, take a quick read of this article which covers in far better detail what the allegedly “right” reaction is to terrorist murders.

I doubt, however, that the soldier’s home town will be attacked with drones, house-to-house sweeps done looking for co-conspirators, or even anything as mundane as the perp being given over to the local justice system.

Seems pretty simple – murder is wrong. Unless, of course, you’re an American and your victim isn’t. Then it’s just business as usual for a Hollywood-trained Morlock.

And don’t ever forget. The Morlocks will be coming back here someday.

Got popcorn?

Thinking about: Libertarians in politics

Two sets of thoughts on libertarians in politics:

Here.

And here.

And as a libertarian in office, I’d pretty much agree that they’ve called it. It takes a lot of determination to do the right thing to work through all the negative (not bad, just negative) personality characteristics your typical libertarian has in order to gain elective office.

Asking people for stuff sucks. Putting yourself out there sucks. Asking for money sucks almost as much as spending your own does. Hoop jumping is almost as bad.

That said …

There’s something vaguely satisfying about crushing your opponents, seeing them driven before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women – particularly if you end up in a satisfying job where you can make a libertarian difference in things…. 😀