I wrote this piece, "A Vision" . . . 8 years ago. The world I described was considered at the time "too bleak" and also extremely "unlikely"
this was before the housing crisis, before the bank bailouts, back when the economy was still humming although just on the verge of starting to stall
one point to note is my description of the police . . . again, back then, this caused a certain amount of commotion and had people calling me all sorts of names . . . and none of them included unicorns or happy thoughts
anyway, my vision of the future, reposted one more time
(Originally Posted: September 19, 2007)
Rather than give a high-level picture of my "vision" of the future, I want to first give my "opinions" as to some current issues impacting what I believe is likely to happen going forward. Be forewarned, though, my picture of the future--at least the American future--is not all Mom and Apple Pie and Manifest Destiny. I think things here are going to be just a little bit "stressful".
So, first things first: 9/11.
I think this is the dividing line, the Rorschach for the inner state of America and Americans--did the planes knock down the towers or was there something more sinister at work?
That is THE question and how one answers it says a lot about what they are likely to do and think going forward.
Here is my "likely 9/11 scenario".
1) I believe the towers were brought down by internal explosives. I could MAYBE be persuaded Towers One and Two fell down because of the fires from the planes but there is NO WAY building Seven was anything BUT a controlled demolition.
The Pentagon raises some interesting questions--the main one being: "where is the fucking plane?" We can go on from there, too; why is the lawn still perfectly green, why hide the videos from around the area, how could ANY pilot, much less a hack trained on a prop plane and video games at Chuck E. Cheese's, make those maneuvers in a plane so big, how come the hole doesn't show evidence of the wings hitting the building (hey I watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") and on and on and ON.
Norad--how come the Air Force didn't intercept these planes? I guarantee you if you get in a plane tomorrow and fly it over the Pentagon you will have company pretty damn fast.
And all the weird comings and goings in the Towers in the weeks leading up to 9/11 PLUS all the insurance money PLUS the fact that the Towers were old and in need of a very EXPENSIVE make-over . . . well, you get the point.
I am a Truther. The official story is ridiculous but hey if you must believe it, you simply must and not much is likely to change your mind.
But . . . even with all the evidence, literal or conjectural, both current and sure to come forth in the future, I don't think any of that matters because I think the powers that be are already firmly in place and nothing any of us can do will change it. Bush is not going to get impeached, no one is going to let the flaming cat out of the bag, the lies and distortions will continue. Period. It is too late to do anything about THAT.
2) The Patriot Act and all subsequent legislation was drafted and ready to roll. All that was needed was a "Pearl Harbor" like event to help do the bait and switch and push it through. I called the bill almost the day I learned of it "The Gestapo Bill" and that, pretty much in a nutshell, is what I think of it.
To enforce the Gestapo Bill one really needs . . . the Gestapo . . . and so I would expect two things to happen more and more in the days ahead. Police Officers will have a distinct military, Special Forces "kick your ass" attitude (and probably the pedigree to support it) and the use of force will kick in like never before.
Intimidation, brutality, arrests for trivial shit--welcome to the U S of A. As more and more thugs and psychotics get jobs (since the standards are likely to change as to who gets hired to be a policeman) then the chances of violence and harassment will go up. Just watch an old movie about Germans attacking Jews or Gypsies or Communists on the streets of Berlin in 1937 and you'll see what I think is going to happen.
And that IS what I think, too.
3) Every time a new "enemy" needs to be subjugated then expect a new, smaller more compact (i.e. less expensive) 9/11 to precede it. This is a very dark time and likely to get much much worse.
As the need to bomb Iran and start a whole new wave of murky Blackwater dealings revs up I think it very likely that an internal "split" begins to appear in both the fabric of American life as well as the internal psyche of many Americans. In a time of madness it is perfectly legitimate to expect many of us to, literally, go mad.
Fear is a terrible thing, especially when you're not quite sure what EXACTLY to be afraid of.
****
Prophecies for the future: Nostradamus, The Mayan Calendar, the Hopis, et al consistently point to a cleansing period leading up to a rebirth—the end of the ego, the end of history. I think the next five years are going to be just that—a big ass colonic to the world.
Rivers rise, the earth shakes, the winds blow and blow and blow, cold today an oven tomorrow weather that is just plain STRANGE. Creatures that were everywhere a few years back will vanish, the eco-system will attempt to restore balance, and that "balancing act" will make for some interesting times for all of us trying to "control" nature in order that we might continue to live comfortable, predictable lives.
Mother Nature is bigger than you and me and if she sees some of us as fleas on her back then she is more than capable of shaking us off.
*****
Neither a borrower nor a lender be—especially if the one holding your marker happens to be China. I think the US is likely to start getting a lot of collection calls from all over the world pretty soon and it is almost certain that those calls are going to be placed on speed dial to the "average" American who will be asked to step up and foot the bill for the excesses of the super-rich who caused this mess in the first place.
It will be harder and harder to buy homes and therefore people on the bubble, expecting rising equity to save them, may have some hard times ahead. Even the token lowering of the interest rates is (to me anyway) a biscuit given to the dog after the evil master kicks him. Oh thank you thank you for this scrap—a designed game, like a crap game, with odds favoring the house, a game you might win but odds are greater that at the end of the day the house will end up holding the pot—the one you would like to piss in but can no longer afford.
*****
The wars will continue, killing innocents will continue, half truths and flat out lies will continue and the world will fall further and further down the rabbit hole to hell. I believe the primary issue for all of us going forward is how do we react to all the killing and destruction that is being driven by leaders of our own country—the country that was once the light of the world.
This is a spiritual crisis, more than anything and the only thing (I believe) that matters is how we deal with the spiritual side of our lives.
A respect for the earth, a respect for all people no matter where they come from or what color they are or what language they speak, and a respect for one's self. It is too easy to hate one's self when staring at so much violence and bigotry and falsehood.
In a time of madness it is OK to be slightly mad but the trick, I think, is to try to find the spiritual core to balance that out. Love is the answer and right now we live in a time of hate and that hatred will only get worse as more and more things TO HATE appear before us.
I joked last night about my new invention: "The Armageddon Alarm Clock", set to go off six hours before the end of the world—so that we can all repent and pray for forgiveness. Some of us may have a longer list than others but I think six hours should HOPEFULLY be plenty.
But honestly the best course of action for all of us going forward is respect and love for one another. Tolerance and forgiveness and love, that is what is most important. The world is spinning out of control—fast. All we can do is right our own ship the best we can and showing a respect for the earth, for God, and for one another is (I think) a good place to start.
this was before the housing crisis, before the bank bailouts, back when the economy was still humming although just on the verge of starting to stall
one point to note is my description of the police . . . again, back then, this caused a certain amount of commotion and had people calling me all sorts of names . . . and none of them included unicorns or happy thoughts
anyway, my vision of the future, reposted one more time
(Originally Posted: September 19, 2007)
Rather than give a high-level picture of my "vision" of the future, I want to first give my "opinions" as to some current issues impacting what I believe is likely to happen going forward. Be forewarned, though, my picture of the future--at least the American future--is not all Mom and Apple Pie and Manifest Destiny. I think things here are going to be just a little bit "stressful".
So, first things first: 9/11.
I think this is the dividing line, the Rorschach for the inner state of America and Americans--did the planes knock down the towers or was there something more sinister at work?
That is THE question and how one answers it says a lot about what they are likely to do and think going forward.
Here is my "likely 9/11 scenario".
1) I believe the towers were brought down by internal explosives. I could MAYBE be persuaded Towers One and Two fell down because of the fires from the planes but there is NO WAY building Seven was anything BUT a controlled demolition.
The Pentagon raises some interesting questions--the main one being: "where is the fucking plane?" We can go on from there, too; why is the lawn still perfectly green, why hide the videos from around the area, how could ANY pilot, much less a hack trained on a prop plane and video games at Chuck E. Cheese's, make those maneuvers in a plane so big, how come the hole doesn't show evidence of the wings hitting the building (hey I watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") and on and on and ON.
Norad--how come the Air Force didn't intercept these planes? I guarantee you if you get in a plane tomorrow and fly it over the Pentagon you will have company pretty damn fast.
And all the weird comings and goings in the Towers in the weeks leading up to 9/11 PLUS all the insurance money PLUS the fact that the Towers were old and in need of a very EXPENSIVE make-over . . . well, you get the point.
I am a Truther. The official story is ridiculous but hey if you must believe it, you simply must and not much is likely to change your mind.
But . . . even with all the evidence, literal or conjectural, both current and sure to come forth in the future, I don't think any of that matters because I think the powers that be are already firmly in place and nothing any of us can do will change it. Bush is not going to get impeached, no one is going to let the flaming cat out of the bag, the lies and distortions will continue. Period. It is too late to do anything about THAT.
2) The Patriot Act and all subsequent legislation was drafted and ready to roll. All that was needed was a "Pearl Harbor" like event to help do the bait and switch and push it through. I called the bill almost the day I learned of it "The Gestapo Bill" and that, pretty much in a nutshell, is what I think of it.
To enforce the Gestapo Bill one really needs . . . the Gestapo . . . and so I would expect two things to happen more and more in the days ahead. Police Officers will have a distinct military, Special Forces "kick your ass" attitude (and probably the pedigree to support it) and the use of force will kick in like never before.
Intimidation, brutality, arrests for trivial shit--welcome to the U S of A. As more and more thugs and psychotics get jobs (since the standards are likely to change as to who gets hired to be a policeman) then the chances of violence and harassment will go up. Just watch an old movie about Germans attacking Jews or Gypsies or Communists on the streets of Berlin in 1937 and you'll see what I think is going to happen.
And that IS what I think, too.
3) Every time a new "enemy" needs to be subjugated then expect a new, smaller more compact (i.e. less expensive) 9/11 to precede it. This is a very dark time and likely to get much much worse.
As the need to bomb Iran and start a whole new wave of murky Blackwater dealings revs up I think it very likely that an internal "split" begins to appear in both the fabric of American life as well as the internal psyche of many Americans. In a time of madness it is perfectly legitimate to expect many of us to, literally, go mad.
Fear is a terrible thing, especially when you're not quite sure what EXACTLY to be afraid of.
****
Prophecies for the future: Nostradamus, The Mayan Calendar, the Hopis, et al consistently point to a cleansing period leading up to a rebirth—the end of the ego, the end of history. I think the next five years are going to be just that—a big ass colonic to the world.
Rivers rise, the earth shakes, the winds blow and blow and blow, cold today an oven tomorrow weather that is just plain STRANGE. Creatures that were everywhere a few years back will vanish, the eco-system will attempt to restore balance, and that "balancing act" will make for some interesting times for all of us trying to "control" nature in order that we might continue to live comfortable, predictable lives.
Mother Nature is bigger than you and me and if she sees some of us as fleas on her back then she is more than capable of shaking us off.
*****
Neither a borrower nor a lender be—especially if the one holding your marker happens to be China. I think the US is likely to start getting a lot of collection calls from all over the world pretty soon and it is almost certain that those calls are going to be placed on speed dial to the "average" American who will be asked to step up and foot the bill for the excesses of the super-rich who caused this mess in the first place.
It will be harder and harder to buy homes and therefore people on the bubble, expecting rising equity to save them, may have some hard times ahead. Even the token lowering of the interest rates is (to me anyway) a biscuit given to the dog after the evil master kicks him. Oh thank you thank you for this scrap—a designed game, like a crap game, with odds favoring the house, a game you might win but odds are greater that at the end of the day the house will end up holding the pot—the one you would like to piss in but can no longer afford.
*****
The wars will continue, killing innocents will continue, half truths and flat out lies will continue and the world will fall further and further down the rabbit hole to hell. I believe the primary issue for all of us going forward is how do we react to all the killing and destruction that is being driven by leaders of our own country—the country that was once the light of the world.
This is a spiritual crisis, more than anything and the only thing (I believe) that matters is how we deal with the spiritual side of our lives.
A respect for the earth, a respect for all people no matter where they come from or what color they are or what language they speak, and a respect for one's self. It is too easy to hate one's self when staring at so much violence and bigotry and falsehood.
In a time of madness it is OK to be slightly mad but the trick, I think, is to try to find the spiritual core to balance that out. Love is the answer and right now we live in a time of hate and that hatred will only get worse as more and more things TO HATE appear before us.
I joked last night about my new invention: "The Armageddon Alarm Clock", set to go off six hours before the end of the world—so that we can all repent and pray for forgiveness. Some of us may have a longer list than others but I think six hours should HOPEFULLY be plenty.
But honestly the best course of action for all of us going forward is respect and love for one another. Tolerance and forgiveness and love, that is what is most important. The world is spinning out of control—fast. All we can do is right our own ship the best we can and showing a respect for the earth, for God, and for one another is (I think) a good place to start.
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