Sunday Rant

PN:

Joe’s Comment – Ha! I got seduced by a “false Spring” early this week. I started thinking about shaving off my beard, getting a hair cut, even taking a shower!
Spring was in the air…..
Poof!
Back to Winter, with accompanying winter madness®, and an advanced case of cabin fever©.
What’s new……
As Charles Barsotti (RIP) so sublimely states above, don’t tell me.
There are a number of things to look forward to, but no snow or ice on the ground will be a celebration around here.
In the meantime, for inspiration, another of the fabulous Mr. Barsotti’s observations –

Ideas

Corporate Fascism
An inherent challenge with capitalism is based on a hierarchical reality – a successful business, in order to grow, must attract an ever increasing demand for its product. However, infinite growth is not possible (despite close approximations by very successful organizations in the past), because the market is finite. Yet the stockholders / principals demand their pound of flesh…..
Any return on investment depends on profit margin and volume, which in turn requires increased demand for existing or new / novel products or services released to a bullish market.
This problem was known many years ago.
Various “solutions” were tried (spoiler: there is no solution).
In Western history, an early solution manifested itself as monopoly, bequeathed by the crown or the government. An interesting article about monopolies in Elizabethan parliaments here.
Elizabeth I granted monopolies and created a patent system for the “commen wealth” (not a spelling mistake), to promote and foster economic growth, encourage investment and enterprise, and create employment.
There were negative results from such non-free trade / non-open market crown dictated legislation. In the 1571 parliament, Robert Bell claimed “‘by lycenses a fewe were enriched and the multitude impoverished’.”
And so it goes.
Some effort over the years has been spent to keep things in balance.
Indeed, some outcomes, nefarious as they are, were not intended, but are solely a “devil’s dividend”, a product of unintended consequences.
A more modern example is incorporated in the political ideology of fascism.
Clearly in opposition to “free trade” and “open market” ideology, fascism subjugated the individual citizen to the service of the state.
The following video is a Ub2b presentation of Hillsdale College.
The speaker, Michael Rectenwald, gave this speech on November 13, 2022, during a Hillsdale College CCA seminar on “Parallel Economies.”
The question Joe and I ask is this – are the negative punitive and dangerous restrictive effects of “corporate fascism” coincidental?
We think not, and quoting Steve Bannon, who said “there are no conspiracies, but there are also no coincidences”.
Joe asks what the value of “commen wealth” might be, when it is obviously not common good:

The above is a segment of the full presentation, which you can watch here.
From our perspective, a humble mud pecker, dirt person, salt of the earth type, there are Titans and there are minions.
When the Titans battle, what is the fate of minions?
What then, in the name of the Enlightenment, is a person to make of the needless loss of lives, trampled from existence, their humble and modest pursuits extinguished?
Is there a “greater cause” worthy of the loss of innocent lives?
That seems oxymoronic.
At the top of the corporate fascist hierarchy would be the brokers of war.
The munitions industries are running full tilt boogie building the instruments of death, destruction, horror, and misery.
Joe and I ask just what the fuck is going on in the Ukraine……
And what corporate fascist hell is being acted out in the name of “commen wealth”…..

Americana

Jeffry Epstein – lest we forget
Joe and I have no possible way to prove the following list is accurate or not –
This violates our sense of fair play: trust but verify.
We weren’t there, we don’t travel in this crowd, we know nothing and we’re happy. We have zero to testify. All we’ve got is our outrage and anger.
Why post this list?
So much data floods the many mediums of media carrying “news” every moment of every day –
Mr. Epstein is old news.
No one capable of investigating this atrocity is investigating this atrocity.
No one will be attending a federal penitentiary for an extended stay for crimes committed. Justice for the innocent and abused will not be seen to happen.
Yet lives were ruined.
Who will remember these travesties?
Who will carry the standard, expose the guilty, prosecute them, and punish them to the extent of the law?
Time for a Robert Zimmerman philosophical query sung as rhetorical lament:

Super Bowl
Joe and I used to like the game.
As time progressed, we still liked the game, but grew interested in the advertisements.
More time went by.
The “Black “National” Anthem”???
Half time “entertainment” that sucks ass?
Crappy seats selling for thousands of dollars?
Blow a goat.
Joe is right when he says Big Business ruins everything.
We didn’t know when the big game was played.
We don’t know who the teams were, or who won.
What we know is this –

COVID – Lest We Forget

JBP and Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya
This is an interesting and informative look back at the rise (and fall) of the COVID hysteria.
More indignation, less what to do, but a commitment to a common goal.
The identities of the guilty are named.
The reasons for their betrayal of We The People are surmised.
All in all, a good conversation that may or may not lead to less talk and more action.
What a system we live in.
You can know the bad guys but you can’t do a damn thing about it.
Correction. You can know the bad guys but you can’t do a damn thing about it except talk talk talk.
A phrase from Tom Wait’s song “Heartattack and Vine” comes to mind – “Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, there’s just God when he’s drunk“. Amen:

COVID Memes

Joe’s Garage

Destroyer to Yacht
The uber rich are a wonderful resource.
The very short video below shows the before and after of a navy frigate that does an ugly duckling metamorphic switcheroo and becomes a beautiful yacht.
The rich person or people or organization that paid for the transformation gave a large number of people employment.
Designers. Fabricators. Suppliers. Skilled tradesmen. And don’t forget the crew that keeps the yacht pristine and plying the waters of wherever.
Something you don’t see in Kalamalka Lake:

Small House
This couple decided to build a small house for their aging elders.
Joe reckons this is somewhere in Europe, perhaps eastern Europe.
Great technology.
Great skill sets.
Joe says this couldn’t be done here unless you did it on your own property off grid out of sight and mind of the bureaucrats, standards organizations, and busy bodies.
We can only dream of such freedom:

POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID

The sermon is delivered by Jordan Peterson this week.
A question is fielded to Dr. Peterson: “should we be worried about the WEF (World Economic Forum)?”
The answer takes 15 minutes.
Here’s a spoiler….. the answer is NO!
The other 14 minutes is a passionate defense of individual liberty, of freedom, of the value of the individual; all fruits of the Enlightenment.
Joe and I have a simplistic view of the world: our weltanschaunng has slimmed down and condensed over the years.
We want to be left alone to pursue our interests and passions with minimal interference from the dread (but necessary) authorities charged with the thankless job of governing.
After the last three years heralded by the notorious COVID “pandemic” hysteria and now moving on to a possible World War III, global governance, digital currency, and political thieves and scoundrels, our chance of following our dream(s) is dwindling.
2023 is definitely not for the faint of heart.
Our hope is the winds of change fluttering our sails are real, and become steady and strong:

WEATHER (OR NOT)

This week in Vernon BC, the weatherman’s prediction came to be.
That is, by mid week, the nighttime temperatures were double digit below zero Celsius and daytime not much better.
By Saturday, fresh snow, followed by sleet and more snow.
It wasn’t until Sunday, today, the 26^th of February that daytime temperatures were above zero.
This is some kind of perverse inverse Mae West advent –

That sonofabitch weatherman is predicting the same nasty until the ides of March.
Joe wishes the weatherman was as bad as sin – maybe his predictions would be wrong, it would be warmer, not what is forecast. Mae West me, baby!
Only two more days of the most unpopular month of the year.
Meanwhile, if the SOB is right, March will continue this obscenity. I can see them now, Mr. Lamb and Mr. Lion deciding how long this can go on –
Joe and I (and all the others in my head) have been in the Okanagan for over 47 years. Our recollection is that this is one of the earliest onset winters that really hasn’t let up, that has lasted long, and shows no sign of ending.
Last week was a “false spring”. The snow was melting. The damn migratory birds were yelling all over the place. The sun even appeared like a savior in the sky for a day or two. Alas, it wasn’t Spring, but a fickle February fantasy –
Joe and I are re-setting our toppled gyro.
We’re charting a new course to fine Spring weather.
The hope for a mild and lovely March is dashed.
How many days to April, exactly…..
34?
Jeez, we’ll be at the end of Sunday Rant – 13 by then.