Nuke the Whales

I am comforted, in some small way, by the fact that the Crazies have always been part of American politics. They just used to be shunned, and now they're in charge of the Republican Party. But that can change - that will change if the public and media hold them accountable for their insanity. Maybe?

Till then, Nuke Everything.

Redshirt's Top 10 Predictions for 2012

Check back in before 12/21/12 to see how correct I was (don't bother checking after, as there will be no Interwebs after that, right?). Not in any particular order:

1. This Mayan Apocalypse nonsense will get increasingly insufferable, with, for example, pseudo scientific "documentaries" on the National Geographic channel and the like. "Some say the world will end this year; others disagree. Lets examine both sides of the issue..."
2. The Repuglicans get even crazier. This presidential election is going to be horrific, for the Repuglicans are an absolute joke and a real threat to America and the world, and yet they're already gauranteed about 42% of the vote. The MSM led by Newscorp will do their best to supply the remaining amounts.
3. That said, Obama wins re-election 53% to 46% against Willard "Magic Underpants" Romney.
4. Global Warming continues unabated, with ever more diverse freak weather incidents around the world. Repuglicans still able to stop all progress worldwide.
5. No new major wars!
6. The World economy continues a slow but steady recovery, yet the fundamental issues that caused all the trouble remain, looming over the horizon. China continues to get rich as heck.
7. And yet, China starts to see serious internal dissent, based on two factors: Economic imbalances between urban/rural populations, and climate change.
8. Alternatives for fossil fuels go mainstream, heralding a new future for energy consumption worldwide (bacteria produced diesel fuel).
9. Tons more exoplanets discovered. Most folks don't care. Kepler defunded because of narrow Repuglican control of congress.
10. Jesus still doesn't return, though certainly many people will predict so, jumping in on the revenue potentials of 2012.

Got any predictions? Post 'em in the comments!

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Good luck everyone! It's going to be a great year overall, and if we're not all dead, the future is bright!

Boom Times in Cloud City

An easy prediction: As oil becomes ever rarer and/or more difficult to extract, its price will climb ever higher, higher and higher till the oil countries of the world, especially in the Middle East, are awash in cash beyond belief. And all sorts of things will flow from this imbalance, one of them: Awesome architecture and all manner of technological advancements. Sad, but true: Progress often happens in fits and starts, leaps then long periods of nothing. And if the super rich oil kingdoms of the Middle East keep pushing the architectural envelope, then their breakthroughs will be everyone's breakthroughs, and eventually, the entire world will benefit.

Till then, let us remark how it once was America who was astounding the world with ever greater feats of construction, but those days are long gone now, aren't they? Thank Tricky Dick and St. Ronnie and all the Dittoheads hence.

Thesis: The health of a country can be directly correlated to its overall construction rate (and the overall debt rate), averaged over a set period of time. Dubai, of course, has cash money up the Yin-Yang, and is spending it aggressively yet strategically. America spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year in Finance Charges. And that, precisely, is why we no longer have nice things.

2008 v. 2004

No, not Dick Cheney, but the way he's been acting lately, he better watch out the next time he shares a blind.

This fine gent is T. Boone Pickens, Billionaire oil man and a fine example of the differences between the 2004 and the 2008 election.

In 2004, Mr. Pickens used a small, very small portion of his enormous wealth to fund various 527 groups, including the infamous "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" -- aside: Almost anytime you see a group using the word "truth" in their name, odds are they are lying.

In 2008, however, Mr. Pickens picked the wrong horse early (Mr. 911 Rudy Guliani). When that dog didn't hunt, Mr. Pickens apparently had something of an epiphany. To quote the Wiki:

Pickens "said he has stopped giving to political campaigns and renounced his previous Republican affiliation in his drive to focus the nation's attention on the need for immediate, drastic action on energy" such as solar and wind. The Washington Post says that "perhaps the strangest role" Pickens "has fashioned for himself is his current one: the billionaire speculator as energy wise man, an oil-and-gas magnate as champion of wind power, and a lifetime Republican who has become a fellow traveler among environmentally minded Democrats -- even though he helped finance the 'Swift boat' ads that savaged" Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. In an editorial, the New York Times reports Pickens "has decided that drilling for more oil is not the answer to the nation's energy problems. President Bush should listen to his fellow Texan and longtime political ally."

I can think of fewer more potent symbols for the change in America since the folly of 2004. As Mr. Pickens says in his commercials supporting his efforts at getting the USA off foreign oil,


"This is one crisis we can't drill our way out of."


Hear that, McCain?