Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

No Gun Ri, NASA gets risky, and how to rank your wealth

Posted by Mickey Z on 07/27 at 04:25 AM

Hi Mickey,
Been quietly dreaming in that little Opium parlor behind the abandoned warehouse down by the docks, in Portland, for the last couple days. (What else could I do, my TV was broken!?)
Not really, but it sounds more interesting than what a 54 year old does when too busy to stop…

The No Gun Ri story is a real heartbreaker, Mickey. Right “down” there with Ward Churchill’s writings about “us” white folks giving disease-infested blankets to native Americans. If Americans could just be somehow compelled to study - just study history for a while, real history, the whole country would turn upside down in a matter of months. Of course, real education is nigh unto treason, eh? Thus, instead of endangering “National Security” with intellectual curiosity, we go shopping and watch MustSeeTV…
Excellent piece, Mickey. Thanks for the real education…

About NASA:
Several months ago I saw a very disturbing film on FSTV, called The Arsenal of Hypocracy, which deals with the militarization of space - which is what NASA is *really* up to, and has always *really* been up to. We’re sending plutonium up in some of these rockets. One pound of plutonium is enough to provide a lethal dosage to every single human being on earth. As you can imagine, we’re using quite a bit more than that. One such rocket, carrying plutonium, already blew up. We’re surely breathing in and eating and drinking the results right this moment. Their plan is to send hundreds and hundreds of pounds more over the next few years. Bless ‘em, they’re just concerned with protecting us from The Evil Doers.
I could go on for a while, here, but I just paused and found their web-site. They have the movie and several others:
http://www.arsenalofhypocrisy.com/index.asp

It’s good to be back, Mickey. Opium’s nice, but there’s so much to do… (You’d perhaps be surprised by how much many of us appreciate this site.)
-joe

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/27 at 01:38 PM

Welcome back. You were sorely missed, Joe...but in your absence, a few new voices chimed in here. The feedback is much appreciated. I have no way of knowing how many people visit (or appreciate) the site or understanding why one post gets 20 comments and the next gets nothing.

Anyway, here’s a verrrry old piece on nukes in space: http://www.montelis.com/satya/backissues/sept96/nasa.html

You can tell by the fact that I list my address, not my e-mail, that this is a long time ago.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 01:58 PM

There are more than 5 billion with less than I have. Some pretty simple steps would make the lives of those worse off much more bearable.

If you wanted to know more about your visitors, there’s a free tool that gives some info http://www.sitemeter.com/ It’s not completely accurate, but it’s interesting. According to Technorati, which is not terribly reliable at all, there are thirty sites that link to yours.

Most people like to think about what’s written and are not extroverted, or have nothing they feel would add anything. Some are just bored and looking for entertainment. I get a high ratio of visitors to commenters on my site.

Posted by Harry on from 07/27 at 02:37 PM

Thanks, Harry...but since this blog site is essentially a webpage of Press Action, I’m not sure if i can ever differentiate between visits to either site. Nancy? You out there? Any input?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 02:52 PM

Very nice work, Mickey. The first paragraph, alone, is enough to bring tears to one’s eyes. It’s hard to imagine all of the wonderful possibilities, you know, if these “Morlochs” would just go away?

Then, of course, the nuke stuff *does* bring tears to the eyes. The nuclear plants are particularly unnerving, as you point out. Each one of them generates many TONS of waste every year. You’d think that any sane person would ponder this situation for about 4 minutes and conclude that these plants are absolute insanity. Instead, they keep them running, and some groups are lobbying for even more!

I recall reading a piece about the original nuclear vision, in which power generation would be so easy and endless, that we’d all receive our electricity virtually for free. Then, of course, they discovered that trying to contain and channel such immense and dangerous energy was incredibly hard; it puts enormous stress and pressure on every single component involved, and so vital materials and parts quickly break down or fall apart. The guy writing the article said that there have been *many* near disasters, prevented solely because of dumb luck…

They’re using our money to do all this. We’re paying them to play Russian Roulette - with our heads! We should start a yearly “Vlad the Impaler” award, for the most creative and horrific concoctions. I suppose there would be just too many to choose from…

Thanks, Mickey.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/27 at 03:17 PM

Just found another of my older nuke-related articles:
http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id948/pg1

It’s a fine example of a “cover article.” I stole the opener from the other piece to kick this one off, too.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 03:41 PM

Jesus, Mickey - that’s possibly the most dreadful news I’ve ever read.
I’d like to continue, here, but I’m going to lighten my mood by ripping out my own fingernails with a pair of needle-nose pliars.

Amazing Article. Amazing.

-joe

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/27 at 04:31 PM

Joe, was that last post directed to both Jesus and I?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 05:13 PM

It’s folly to write to Jesus, of late. He’s almost constantly with The President, whispering in his ear.

BTW, it’s much harder to type without fingernails. I have to use my knuckles. I call it hunt and punch. I’m feeling a bit “cheerier,” however.

I noticed all the new voices, yesterday. Where’d they go? Think the old, crusty guys are putting them off? I’ll try to develop a sense of humor!

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/27 at 05:38 PM

I just got home. Looks like I missed a good conversation going on here today. I remember when the Cassini Probe went up....a sad day. Also, an anti-nuke group on the other side of the state has just put out a call for children’s baby teeth. They are studying the effects of the Vernon Nuclear Power Plant there.

Posted by rosemarie on from 07/27 at 06:40 PM

You know, if an alien watched humans in action, that alien might sum it all up in two words: “mass suicide.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 06:56 PM

Hi Rosemarie, Mickey, Harry -
You’re right, Mickey. Though, from here, it looks more like mass murder. I’ve been thinking a lot about that “first paragraph” of yours, to which I referred, above. We simply can not imagine what life might be like, if our world had been free of this tiny group of psycho-thugs who have forever, it seems, controlled everything. So many horrors and absurdities which we’ve come to, more or less, take for granted might be completely absent. We’ve all been steeped in this filth for our whole lives, so it must be within each of us, almost down to the cellular level. When my kids were younger, I was sometimes tempted to say: “Listen, there really are monsters in the world. It’s not just something made up to scare children...”
-joe

Posted by joe on from just off the highway 07/27 at 07:16 PM

It gets even scarier when we look in the mirror and see a monster.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 07:35 PM

To add to to the No Gun Ri story, here’s something Greg Elich just sent me:
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050725/480100000020050725100900E7.html

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 08:33 PM

Hi Joe,

A lot of people look at the psycho thugs, the people willingly playing along with their sadistic make believe and just give up.
A few months ago, I saw the monster the in the mirror Mickey just mentioned. I felt like giving up then, too. A web friend of mine just axed his site without notice or a word. I keep clicking the link to see if it was a mistake.

The problem with getting something something going against the psycho thugs are manifold, but the one I understand best is the difficulty of achieving a critical mass of people who can both refuse to play their game and be large enough to make concessions easier than punishment. We need a new kind of framework or language in which it’s obvious on the face of it that whatever differences we may have with each other pale in comparison to the No Gun Ris and Abu Ghraibs.

Posted by Harry on from 07/27 at 09:17 PM

Harry, you summed up where my head is at with this: “whatever
differences we may have with each other pale in comparison to the No Gun Ris and Abu Ghraibs.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/27 at 09:25 PM

Hi Harry, and Mickey -
I’ve been feeling very much the same as you guyz, of late. A sense that we must, somehow, find a truly new approach to dealing with each other, and to informing the general population of our mutual predicament.
About the monster: I recognize ‘him’ all too well. Perhaps we’re all alert enough to notice that the darkest corners of our hearts are not vacant corners but are inhabited by those unspeakable fears and angers and resentments which make possible all atrocities everywhere.

Certainly, we’re all in this, together. Yet, I find myself frightened by the numbers of people who simply hope, somehow, to return to that “semi-idyllic pre-Bush world,” in which all was “relatively well,” and we “didn’t have to confront evil wars and a potential decent into fascism.” To me, we were already on a certain decent into hell. Bush has simply increased the speed and angle of our downward motion.

So, we’re all in this together, but people will settle for a return to those splendid days when Clinton slowly forced single mothers off of welfare and back into the minimum wage work force, while bombing Serbia halfway back to the stone age.

There’s that old monster, again. Now that I ‘do’ no drugs except for a rare pipefull of pot, and I don’t drink - I’m just awake and aware, and pretty consistently mindful of that huge ache in my heart which just will not go away…
-joe

Posted by joe on from Where the Woodbine Twineth 07/27 at 10:39 PM

I was in a conversation similar to this earlier on today, talking about the Democrats, though really this can be broadly applied. I said, edited slightly:

"We’ve all been in group situations where, upon being told to do something unreasonable, no one moves at first. The command is so stunningly stupid that no one can take it seriously. But then there’s always someone who yells,” Hey! come one guys! quit being unreasonable, okay?” from within the group and screws up a power change opportunity.

That’s the authoritarian personality with a toothy, beseeching grin; someone who voluntarily breaks the strike in a way that cause dismay as the first reaction. By the time anger comes around, a united group is ready to fracture and be manipulated as components—well-studied demographic components, with lots of social conditioning to be drawn out. The demotivators, parodied brilliantly by Despair, Inc., can’t be fought with rage. Satire and mockery can do it. So can life embracing distractions from demotivational campaigns. People who are having fun are hard to push around.

Posted by Harry on from 07/27 at 11:55 PM

Speaking of fun, how about another caption contest?

<center></center>

Posted by Harry on from 07/28 at 12:01 AM

Great Photograph, Harry:
Clinton Says: “I probably killed more people than you did, George; I put an end to welfare as we’ve know it for 50 years, I moved the whole political climate of the country to the right - and I’m supposed to be from the Party that cares about ordinary people! Oh, I feel their pain! Ha Ha”
Bush Responds: “Well… I don’t see any more pies in the sky, Bill.”

You’re right that we can’t win with rage, Harry. Negative emotions, generally, are the most powerful “Elite” tools, and they’ve mastered every possible subtlety of their use. And, you may be right about happiness, etc… They can’t possibly understand such things very well, at all, except in the negative. At least, this is certainly something to ponder, and I will…

G’night, Harry.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/28 at 03:10 AM

Good morning, all. Harry and Joe: I’m indebted for all your talk here today. I love this: “People who are having fun are hard to push around.”

And yes, Joe, I just might have to do a caption contest for that excellent image. The two-party (sic) system joined at the hip.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/28 at 05:10 AM

Or - somewhere down there, eh? Good one, Mickey.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/28 at 01:37 PM

I couldn’t help but notice the marked contrast between a Forbes article on how to tell how much it costs to live in the “upper middle class” of the US and the global rich list.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/06/16/cx_sc_0616homeslide.html?partner=yahoo
When you see these 2 lists together it really emphasizes how rich we are in this country and how much we ignore that fact.

Summary: Global Rich List - Can you live on less than $1,000 per year? Forbes - Can you live on less than $500,000 per year?

P.S. I love the way Forbes includes the cost of a vacation home as a normal family expense.

Posted by CJ on from the formerly great state of Texas 07/28 at 02:39 PM