Stump Lane
in the dirt since history began

SURE US AMERICANS love our bullshit. And we don’t seem to mind going up to our necks in consumer debt for the love of instant gratification. That said, Your Montag has a question for the world economic leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, who have been discussing such things vis-a-vis the economic crisis. They are saying things like:

High levels of global activity have been sustained by the willingness of the American consumer to get deeper and deeper into debt in order to buy the excess production from China and Europe. …

But … the days when Uncle Sam spent money he didn’t have on things he didn’t need are over. …

[guardian.co.uk: Larry Elliott: Nations realise there's no going back to business as usual this time]

When did selling people things they don’t need for which they would pay with money they don’t have ever seem like a sound long-term business model?

Hell, even the idea of “excess production” seems sketchy to me. At some point you’d think we might have considered a simpler more sustainable lifestyle with more emphasis on idleness (family time!) than on productivity toil.

…and they may make a misanthrope out of me yet!

UPDATE:  Werking on rebuilding the blogrolls.   If you want to be added let me know.  Still in process.  It’ll take a few days…  Still some work to do on the stylesheet.  Things will be back to normal one day, and I can go back to my regular schedule of not posting.  Love Montag.

IF WE ARE GOING to continue on with ‘the state’ (as it is,) and the state continues to ostensibly be based upon ‘the constitution’ (for what it’s worth,) and it’s subjects (the idiots,) are to continue to submit to the authority of ‘the courts’ (those beacons of justice!) in determining the ‘constitutionality’ of things… is it really a good idea to also allow the existence of secret courts that say things like:

…the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, contain[s] an exception for the collection of foreign intelligence information.

…when the fourth amendment contains no such exception — when the fourth amendment, in its totality, says nothing more than:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

… ?

Just asking.

New York Times: Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Power Legal [Via: GFA51]

Well the hackers got us. And deleted all posts since early November. And worse, I’m not sure I got rid of all the code they left behind, so most likely they still have the ability to break in again whenever they want to, because I am not a fucking programmer. At this point I am this close to saying ‘fuck it all,’ and razing the place myself.

UPDATE: I’ve found cached versions of the three ‘longish’ posts that I was most pissed about losing. I will dust them off and repost them tomorrow, though any links to those particular posts will remain broken, I assume, and sadly, most of the comments will remain lost.

In the meantime, here’s Holy Diver by DIO:

Suck on it.

This post was deleted by hackers 1/12/2009 and recovered from a cache version and re-published. The post was originally parked at http://www.stumplane.us/blog/?p=306 but not anymore! The comments were likewise deleted but cannot be recovered.

YOUR MONTAG TOOK a nice long vacation over the holidays which was a nice break from everything. Now, it all comes rushing back. Begrudgingly, I feel compelled to post something here, if only because there have been some new folks stopping by from Jon Swift’s year-end post and the latest COTL, (thanks for linking, guys.) Not being up for a long form essay, or “thinking,” even, I’m just going to reel off a few random malformed thoughts.

• Re: a BBC international radio documentary, What Lies Beneath. Anarchy under the sea! The tensions between treasure hunting and desires to preserve the archaeological artifacts of shipwrecks and such. In the documentary, a man put forth the proposition that the recovery of pottery from a wooden chest in a way that the chest, and it’s tell-tale markings, are not preserved amounts to “cultural vandalism.” Which is a weird idea to me. And I’m not quite sure it makes sense in the context of artifacts lost under the sea.
• Re: Things that make me laugh but no one else. (Letter home from school edition.) The following passage is from a school letter informing parents of a survey students will be asked to fill out. This is a questionnaire. A 30 minute questionnaire. To be administered in their customary classroom. Voluntarily. “Potential Risks. There are no known risks of physical harm to your student. Risks of psychological or social harm are very small. None have been reported in ten years of survey administration. In rare instances, some discomfort might be experienced from the questions. The school’s counseling services will be available to answer any personal questions that may materialize.” LOL.
• Re: Gaza Here’s a primer for those with no imagination whatsoever. And here’s something for those who need to be hit over the head with it. This is terrorism.
• Re: Blargblagjovich, Panetta, the new congress. I’m trying to not even poke fun. Better living through following Dmitry Orlov’s advice for getting along in a declining empire. (See Below.)

Dmitry Orlov:

Slide [21] Many people expend a lot of energy protesting against their irresponsible, unresponsive government. It seems like a terrible waste of time, considering how ineffectual their protests are. Is it enough of a consolation for them to be able to read about their efforts in the foreign press? I think that they would feel better if they tuned out the politicians, the way the politicians tune them out. It’s as easy as turning off the television set. If they try it, they will probably observe that nothing about their lives has changed, nothing at all, except maybe their mood has improved. They might also find that they have more time and energy to devote to more important things.