The Downward Slope of Evolution
Jenna Orkin
"It's not just Bernie Madoff who was a pyramid scheme; the whole economy is a pyramid scheme," says Mike Ruppert in CoLLapse.
To expand on that: It's not just a few airplanes that got hijacked on 9/11; the whole earth has been hijacked.
When exactly that started is open to debate. Under Reagan? In 1492? When the first banker sitting on his "banc" (bench) in Florence gave out the first loan to finance the first debt-based voyage east, thereby paving the way, so to speak, for the first corporation? When we grew tired of gathering berries and planted the first seed?
But because it is global, this hijacking is a little different. What can it crash into but itself? Who are the hijackers but we the people, hijacking each other but ultimately, ourselves as well?
Millions of years ago the waves threw onto some sandy berm a bunch of sea creatures, most of whom died. But a few mutations navigated life on land long enough to bear offspring. (There are still - or again - grown-ups who need to be told how evolution works. I have taught some of them but it is difficult because the other thing they have not been taught is Higher Arithmetic, involving numbers with more than a few zeroes in them. Couple this with religions that only go back a few thousand years - which is most of them - and you soon run up against a wall of blank stares.)
Watch the video below of soot-bearing waves lapping the beaches of Pensacola. What's that thick black line they leave behind? Does it contain the promise of new life, the next phase of evolution? It sure doesn't look like it.
Headlines
20 million people are “to have to evacuate the gulf states” says prominent oil-industry insider Simmons, but also Thad Allen is quoted as saying the blowout preventer is leaning.
Plans to Evacuate Tampa Bay Area Are in Place
Central Banking in Crisis: Some Twenty Countries on the Verge of Insolvency - from Kellia Ramares
States of Crisis Widen as 46 Governments in U.S. Face Greek-Style Deficits
Caribbean Storms Strengthen, May Disrupt BP Gulf of Mexico Spill Cleanup
Iran Cancels Gaza Red Crescent Ship After Netanyahu Calls It a Provocation
Oil Disaster/Energy/Resources
Expert Says Crude Oil Contains Some of the Most Toxic Chemicals We Know
Aerial footage of tar on Pensacola Beach Video
In Gulf oil spill 'war,' cleanup foot soldiers threaten mutiny - from Rice Farmer
FEMA wants you to play ‘Disaster Hero’ in upcoming emergency response game - from Rice Farmer How an Alabama fire chief risked jail to save town from Gulf oil spill
Each Day, Another Way to Define Worst Case
Health Data Gaps, BP Suspicions Worry US Panelists
BP Is Pursuing Alaska Drilling Some Call Risky
We all live in an oil slick now"
Johann Hari: Step by step, US politicians on all sides become an oiligarchy that sees moving off petrol as irrational: turning off the spigot would turn off their election funds."
Nonwoven textile developed to cleanup BP oil spill
Giant China algae slick getting bigger: report
The day after the BP oil gusher started gushing more. Small world, huh? - JO
Toxins Found in Whales Bode Ill For Humans - from Kellia Ramares
Czechs Say Russian Spies Targeting Energy Sector - from Rice Farmer
Chernobyl Legacy Fades as Eastern Europe Bets on Nuclear Power Expansion
The Nuclear Power Resurgence: How Safe Are the New Reactors? - from Rice Farmer
Japanese told to go to bed an hour early to cut carbon emissions
Are they obeying? - JO
Terror/Intelligence
North Korea threatens severe punishment for American prisoner
North Korea condemns US on war anniversary, South seeks apology
Report: Ailing Kim Jong-il Speeds Up Transfer Of Power To Son
Aboriginal Protesters: Discrimination, racism is legislated Special
To Reach Afghans, Pentagon Drafts Mimes, Storytellers, Wizard of Oz
Darpa Push: Solar Cells Tough Enough to Handle a War
E-Mail That Self Destructs - from Rice Farmer
'Teen repellent' buzzing devices may be switched off by law today
Arizona Cops Threatened by Mexican Drug Cartel - from Rice Farmer
Economy/Politics
Chinese provinces could be even more fiscally-troubled than Greece.
China purchases its own Latin American country
Greece puts island on the market
Russia Buys 1.1 Million Ounces of Gold
21.5 in 2009 to 22.6 in 2010
Central Banks Join the Ranks Of Investors Who Like Gold - from Rice Farmer
Here's How You Know Financial Regulation Bill Will Ultimately Be Toothless
The World Cup Confirms: The Developed World Is Toast, Emerging Markets Are Where It's At Economic reality: Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
Is Bernanke secretly preparing a new liquidity blitz?
Banks `Dodged a Bullet' as Congress Dilutes U.S. Trading Rules in Overhaul
Banks Make More Loans for Acquisitions as Institutional Investors Cut Back
SEC Hounding Whistleblowers
Baltic Dry Index showing signs of stress
Investors Fly Into Municipal Bonds Like Moths to a Flame
FDIC Holds off Raising Bank Insurance Premiums, Expects Bank Failures to Peak in 2010
Federal Reserve Statement with English Translation - from Rice Farmer
A nation of savers for the first time in 20 years
Food Stamps Applications Soar - from Elizabeth Miller
State pension Ponzi scheme undone with retirement at 70
Ian Cowie: pension model so unstable it's illegal in private sector.
Number of undergraduates set to plummet - UK
Investing For A Peak-Oil Future (Forbes) - from Rice Farmer
JO comment: Die-off, schmy-off. You mean this could affect my income?
Will Eikenberry, Holbrooke, Be Next One Out the Door?
Midterm Disaster Looms for Democrats as Confidence in Obama Wanes
