• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans

Photo
- - - - -

"America's Finite Future"


  • Please log in to reply
15 replies to this topic

#1 advancedatheist

  • Guest
  • 1,419 posts
  • 11
  • Location:Mayer, Arizona

Posted 16 January 2005 - 12:12 AM


http://www.ariannaon...lumn.php?id=753

America’s Finite Future?
January 11, 2005 

Near the beginning of "Saturday Night Fever," John Travolta's Tony Manero, frustrated that his boss thinks he should save his salary instead of spending it on a new disco shirt, cries out, "Fuck the future!" To which his boss replies: "No, Tony, you can't fuck the future. The future fucks you! It catches up with you and it fucks you if you ain't prepared for it!"

Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but America has morphed into a nation of Tony Maneros — collectively dismissing the future. And nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than at the Bush White House, which is unwavering in its determination to ignore the future.

The evidence is overwhelming. Everywhere you look, it's IOUs passed on to future generations. Record federal debt. Record foreign debt. Record budget deficits. Record trade deficits.

And this attempt to fuck the future is not limited to economics. You see the same attitude when it comes to energy policy, health care, education, Social Security and especially the environment — with the Bushies redoubling their efforts to make the world uninhabitable as fast as possible. (See their attempts to gut the Clean Air Act, gut the Clean Water Act, gut the Endangered Species Act, gut regulations limiting pollution from power plants.)

And the even bigger problem? They don't see this as a problem. In fact, it actually all may be an essential part of the plan.

If this last sentence doesn't make a whit of sense to you, then you are clearly not one of the 50 million Americans who believe in some form of End-Time philosophy, an extreme evangelical theology that embraces the idea that we are fast approaching the end of the world, at which point Jesus will return and carry all true believers — living and dead — up to heaven ("the Rapture"), leaving all nonbelievers on earth to face hellfire and damnation ("the Tribulation"). Christ and his followers will then return to a divinely refurbished earth for a thousand-year reign of peace and love.

In other words, why worry about minor little details like clean air, clean water, safe ports and the safety net when Jesus is going to give the world an "Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition" right after he finishes putting Satan in his place once and for all?

Keep in mind: This nutty notion is not a fringe belief being espoused by some street corner Jeremiah wearing a "The End Is Nigh!" sandwich board. End-Timers have repeatedly made the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic books among America's best-selling titles, with over 60 million copies sold.

And they have also spawned a mini-industry of imminent doomsday Web sites like ApocalypseSoon.org and Raptureready.com. The latter features a Rapture Index that, according to the site, acts as a "Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity" and a "prophetic speedometer" (the higher the number, the faster we're moving toward the Second Coming). For those of you keeping score, the Rapture Index is currently 152 — an off-the-chart mark of prophetic indicators.

Now I'm not saying that Bush is a delusion-driven End-Timer (although he has let it be known that God speaks to — and through— him, and he believes "in a divine plan that supersedes all human plans"). But he and his crew are certainly acting as if that's the case.

Take the jaw-dropping federal debt, which currently stands at $4.3 trillion. Just last month the Government Accountability Office released a report that found that Bush's economic policies "will result in massive fiscal pressures that, if not effectively addressed, could cripple the economy, threaten our national security, and adversely affect the quality of life of Americans in the future."

And what was the administration's reaction to this frightening assessment? Vice President Cheney shrugged, took a hearty swig of the End-Time Kool-Aid, and announced that the administration wants another round of tax cuts. Basically a big fuck you.

Then there's our trade deficit, which ballooned to a record $165 billion in the third quarter of 2004, when imports exceeded exports by 54 percent. Thanks to this imbalance, America is racking up a staggering $665 billion in additional foreign debt every year — that's $5,500 for every U.S. household — and placing our future economic security in the hands of others. Here is Bush's response to this daunting prospect: "People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit." Sounds like he's really got it under control.

I guess after the Rapture, debts of all kinds will be forgiven. The White House is promoting a similar "What Me Worry?" attitude with our live-for-the-moment energy policy. America currently spends $13 million per hour on foreign oil — a number that will only increase as U.S. oil production peaks within the next five years just as consumption by industrializing nations doubles over the next 25 years.

So is the president pushing for a long-overdue increase in mileage standards or launching an all-out effort to break our dependence on foreign oil? Hardly. Instead, he's getting ready to make his umpteenth attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

And that is just a small part of the president's full-bore assault on the environment, best summed up by Sen. Jim Jeffords, the ranking minority member on the Environment and Public Works Committee: "I expect the Bush Administration will go down in history as the greatest disaster for public health and the environment in the history of the United States."

That said, it's not hard to see why Bush has hopped aboard the Apocalypse Express. Acting like there's no tomorrow dovetails just as neatly with his corporate backers' rapacious desires as it does with his evangelical backers' rapturous desires. It offers him a political twofer: placating his corporate donors while winning the hearts and votes of the true believers who helped the president achieve a Second Coming of his own. No small miracle, given his record.

It's important to point out, however, that it's not just the White House and the End-Timers. Acting as if we have a finite future has infected our entire culture. Just look at personal savings, which have fallen to next to nothing, with Americans socking away a meager two-tenths of 1 percent of their disposable incomes. Meanwhile, the average U.S. household carries about $14,000 of credit-card debt; one in four consumers spends more than he or she can afford; and, as a result, every 15 seconds, someone somewhere in America is going bankrupt. Which, I guess, in Bush World is how an angel gets his wings.

All this represents a seismic shift in our cultural outlook. Since our founding, the American ethos has been forward-looking, geared to a bountiful future, with each generation of parents working as hard as they can to ensure a better life for their children. Those days are clearly gone.

And it has put our entire civilization at grave risk — a point echoed with great clarity by Jared Diamond, whose new book, "Collapse," looks at the reasons why so many great civilizations of the past have failed.

Although Diamond offers a range of reasons why these societies collapsed, one message comes through loud and clear: We've got to stop living like there is no tomorrow — or "fuck the future" will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.



#2 free

  • Guest
  • 54 posts
  • 0

Posted 16 January 2005 - 07:12 PM

Great topic, advancedatheist....

Yes, "planned obsolescence" and short-term thinking is prevalent everywhere, and is becoming more so....so, what are the "solutions"? Rather, since it is not a "problem" (it is described as a "plan").... what to do next?

Is her suggestion "we have to stop living like there is no tomorrow" really constructive, especially, in light of the fact the whole system (society/government/rest of the world) is geared/programmed to operate in that mode??? I guess I am looking for some more specific, practical ideas.....

#3 susmariosep

  • Guest
  • 1,137 posts
  • -1

Posted 16 January 2005 - 10:40 PM

If you ask me, I see that in history man has always managed to survive his own catastrophic myopic stupidity.

The unthinking rabbles which we might consider to be Bush and his mob will continue to lead followers, moved by fear and instant satisfaction motives of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement.

But when things look so really very bad, then as history has shown, man or people will come to their senses, and still choose to do the common sense course of action that will steer mankind from complete irreversible self-extinction.

But there is always a first time which is also a last time.

To prevent such a first and last time for man's complete irreversible self-extinction, it is incumbent upon us here who are possessed of lofty intentions and sound ideologies (ahem to myself) to continue unceasingly like Old Testament prophets, reminding people to be sensible and not to swallow hook, line, and sinker the end-time madness of Bush and his mob syndicate.

Susma

sponsored ad

  • Advert
Advertisements help to support the work of this non-profit organisation. [] To go ad-free join as a Member.

#4 Mind

  • Life Member, Director, Moderator, Treasurer
  • 19,644 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Wausau, WI

Posted 16 January 2005 - 11:28 PM

Hilarious!! At raptureready.com (mentioned in huffington's blog posted above) they claim "advancing technology" is an instrument of satan and a sign of the coming rapture. Quite funny that they are using an instrument of satan to maintain their website.

#5 Chip

  • Guest
  • 387 posts
  • 0

Posted 17 January 2005 - 12:12 AM

These end-time believers are not into science, in fact, such is considered evil. It really is just plain old insanity in a very violent and dangerous mode. Bill Moyers spoke the same recently except he added that many are actually working to promote these cataclysmic events. I know some people who are working for end-times though they do not seem to ascribe to any of these books or the bible. They are filthy rich and being so can choose from many information sources and choose to use the TV and radio, and only the right wing so-called conservative reporting (which easily predominates on TV and radio despite the claims otherwise). What I see these people who want us to nuke the Iraqis, nuke North Korea, Iran, Syria etc. doing is swallowing hook line and sinker the idea that money is a measure of success. Because they are rich (which actually happened due to accidental circumstances) they think that makes them good and that the poor are bad. I am forced to listen to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and the same message is there, monetary wealth is thought to correspond with personal value. Since there are few monetarily wealthy on the planet that makes most of us evil. These folks are also totally desensitized to the idea of death and slaughter mainly due to the shows and movies they watch incessantly (besides the football and basketball games) with special emphasis on horror and mayhem. They see things as good verses bad, black verses white, really a very very depraved view of the world. Sometimes I begin to believe that the more money one has the less wealthy one is. Consider, if it is true as I contend that we all own everything and share all then a claim to private property is denouncing that one shares in the wealth of all and curtailing options. Is a man's home his castle? Nope, our home is our biosphere and some of those who share this place with us are enraptured in self and broad scale destruction. It is nothing short of insanity but it is information based and not necessarily biochemical. So, there ought to be a way via a specific information strategy to help alleviate that danger. Hmmm, I wonder what that could be and whether or not it can be found and implemented in time.

Reminds me of that Margaret Mead quote that I paraphrase as a few can make major changes for the better. Well a few can make major changes that can remove our chances for immortality and it looks like they are gearing up for the big offensive against long life and happiness in short order.

Oh boy...

#6 advancedatheist

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 1,419 posts
  • 11
  • Location:Mayer, Arizona

Posted 17 January 2005 - 02:30 AM

I know some people who are working for end-times though they do not seem to ascribe to any of these books or the bible.  They are filthy rich and being so can choose from many information sources and choose to use the TV and radio, and only the right wing so-called conservative reporting (which easily predominates on TV and radio despite the claims otherwise).  What I see these people who want us to nuke the Iraqis, nuke North Korea, Iran, Syria etc. doing is swallowing hook line and sinker the idea that money is a measure of success.  Because they are rich (which actually happened due to accidental circumstances) they think that makes them good and that the poor are bad. 


In the U.S. financially successful people generally aren't particularly smart, educated or philosophical, despite Ayn Rand's weird fantasies about them in Atlas Shrugged. For every exception like John Sperling, who founded the University of Phoenix and is investing money into anti-aging research, you probably have scores more like John Marks Templeton, Howard Ahmanson or Vincent Bertollini who use their fortunes to promote retrograde superstitions and implicitly expect everyone to die "on schedule."

#7 Chip

  • Guest
  • 387 posts
  • 0

Posted 17 January 2005 - 03:08 AM

In systems theory there is a thing called positive feed back which ain't necessarily a good thing. Certain media feeds on itself. I see the advertisements between so-called news stories that actually refer and reference the hard-core right wing theories as truth. It is subtle but I saw it more than once. Also in the narration of sports broadcasts there can be mention of these. Almost all of the main-stream media goes along for the ride. The most popular and simultaneously the most biased news program, Fox, speaks ill of dependence on that medium. See the statistics of the people losing TV and radio news sources in preference to the internet lately?

The danger that our so-called society, the USA, considered the most powerful nation on earth, could be virtually controlled by forces that want mass destruction and annihilation, right now, is very real.

What can we do?

#8 free

  • Guest
  • 54 posts
  • 0

Posted 18 January 2005 - 07:20 PM

Got this e-mail this morning....anyone else hear about it? Curious to know if this is being distibuted everywhere, or just in my (very liberal) neck of the woods....


(email starts here)....
Possibly from Bill Moyers
Please pass this on. Tell your partner, spouse, kids, mom .
. .
Let the whole country share the message.
Thursday, January 20 - Inauguration Day
------------------------------------------------------------------
Not One Damn Dime Day - Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005

Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq,
since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it,
Inauguration Day,Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is
"Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.

On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in
Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer
spending.

During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime
for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases.
Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours.

On One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart,
Target...Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please
don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter).

For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.
The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraqis
is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and
that it is their responsibility to stop it.

"Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the
people of the United States of America, not for the international
corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and
funnel cash into American politics.

"Not One Damn Dime Day" is about supporting the troops. Now 1,200
brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The
politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.

There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing
agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing
nothing.

You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed.

For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our Religious
leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in
Iraq and give America back to the people.

Please share this email with as many people as possible. Commercial speech
must not be the only free speech in America!

Bill Moyers

--

Designed by Haiku Helen (808 )573-6343
E-mail Promotion & Computer Consultant - see http://haikuhelen.com/
Write kritzler@wisperhawaii.com for your own advertising
Kindly write UNSUBSCRIBE you will be GLADLY removed from list

#9 jaydfox

  • Guest
  • 6,214 posts
  • 1
  • Location:Atlanta, Georgia

Posted 18 January 2005 - 09:00 PM

I like the concept of the Not One Damn Dime Day, though it won't have an actual financial impact. People who do this will buy extra gas and groceries the day(s) before and/or the day(s) after, without impacting the total spending for the week centered on Jan 20th.

For that matter, an impulse buy can come a day early, or wait an extra day. Unless someone really does save the money that wasn't spent (by fasting for that day, and not driving anywhere, etc.), then it won't have a financial impact at all.

Sure, it's a nice political message, but it won't "hurt" the powers-that-be.

On the other hand, buying everything from local "mom 'n' pop" stores, and shunning the major outlets, would make a big impact. It'll cost you more money, but it'll hurt those big corporate sponsors. Take public transit that day, no matter how inconvenient. Buy locally grown produce from independent (non-mega-corporate) growers. Go see an independent film at the local small theater, rather than a Hollywood blockbuster at a major theater chain.

And don't do it for a day. Do it for a week. Unless you're budget is already razor-thin (or you're in the red), you should be able to survive a week of this. And that would cause a 2% drop in corporate revenues, assuming everyone did it. That would send a big message to "the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics."

#10 advancedatheist

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 1,419 posts
  • 11
  • Location:Mayer, Arizona

Posted 18 January 2005 - 10:40 PM

I find the Not One Damn Dime Day not only set on the wrong date, but also trying to punish the wrong institution. To be effective, we should move it to April 15 and just quietly refuse to pay our taxes while looking for ways to lower our financial visibility to the government.

After all, we are just taking Bush at his word. He wants cut our taxes and abolish Social Security, so we are helping ourselves to an advance on his offer.

More to the point, though, widespread tax refusal would do more to stop this fascistic Administration than any amount of speech. I don't see why I have to pay money to a government that is adopting an explicitly pro-death bioethics policy.

#11 Lazarus Long

  • Life Member, Guardian
  • 8,116 posts
  • 242
  • Location:Northern, Western Hemisphere of Earth, Usually of late, New York

Posted 18 January 2005 - 11:59 PM

I was just listening to the ABC evening news and there was a follow up on a Pennsylvania battle brewing over the School Board there forcing the teaching of Intelligent Design in the science classroom.

One of the statistics they gave about the USA is that 61% of Americans who recently answered a poll ( I believe Gallop) believe in a divine origin for life and prefer the idea of ID to Darwinism.

Thanks goodness the study of truth has nothing to do with the popularity of an idea though conversely it now appears to be another example where the *teaching* of science is to be defined by popular opinion.

#12 free

  • Guest
  • 54 posts
  • 0

Posted 19 January 2005 - 02:26 AM

I like the concept of the Not One Damn Dime Day, though it won't have an actual financial impact.  People who do this will buy extra gas and groceries the day(s) before and/or the day(s) after, without impacting the total spending for the week centered on Jan 20th.

For that matter, an impulse buy can come a day early, or wait an extra day.  Unless someone really does save the money that wasn't spent (by fasting for that day, and not driving anywhere, etc.), then it won't have a financial impact at all.

Sure, it's a nice political message, but it won't "hurt" the powers-that-be.


I was thinking the same thing - it only affects cash flow for the day, not gross revenues when taken as a whole. I would really be surprised if one day's cash flow would do anything for large corporations and the intended "targets", since they have lines of credit or other financing arrangements to cover their cash (outflow) requirements.

#13 free

  • Guest
  • 54 posts
  • 0

Posted 19 January 2005 - 02:37 AM

I find the Not One Damn Dime Day not only set on the wrong date, but also trying to punish the wrong institution. To be effective, we should move it to April 15 and just quietly refuse to pay our taxes while looking for ways to lower our financial visibility to the government.

After all, we are just taking Bush at his word. He wants cut our taxes and abolish Social Security, so we are helping ourselves to an advance on his offer.

More to the point, though, widespread tax refusal would do more to stop this fascistic Administration than any amount of speech. I don't see why I have to pay money to a government that is adopting an explicitly pro-death bioethics policy.


Good point...I keep thinking the day is getting closer when there will be a major tax revolt, but when and how specifically, I don't know. I get the feeling that people are fed up and quite angry about paying taxes, especially federal income taxes. But does anyone follow through and not file/pay come 4/15??? No, many are too intimidated by the IRS and don't want to risk the charge of tax evasion...

Edited by free, 19 January 2005 - 06:57 AM.


#14 Chip

  • Guest
  • 387 posts
  • 0

Posted 19 January 2005 - 06:41 AM

More than half of a world poll believe Bush's reelection made the world more dangerous: http://news.bbc.co.u...cas/4185205.stm .

Hmmm, failing social systems your problem? Don't want to see humanity get blind sided by quickly changing weather or a little nuke here and a little more nuke over there or bioengineered ethnic cleansing diseases or, what might they have in that little bag of tricks? Well then, come on over to Chip's space-faring vehicle lot and see if our in-development model might give you a tease. Want to "Fly like an Eagle" over those pesky taxes? Want to get access to the best and the latest? Interested in seeing the sights of unfettered long-lived life? When you tire of the demolotion derby with yesteryear's models, everything from the hunting-gathering band to the corporate state come on over to my home pages and consider that a different option altogether might be possible. Professor Howard Hill is not my name but you got trouble, right here on planet Earth, with a capital "T" and that rhymes with P and that stands for Politics, yes, horrible misleading politics, right here. Trouble, trouble, trouble, serious trouble.

Chip

#15 jaydfox

  • Guest
  • 6,214 posts
  • 1
  • Location:Atlanta, Georgia

Posted 19 January 2005 - 02:09 PM

Seventy-six car bombs led the big parade
With a hundred and ten gunmen close at hand.
They were followed by thick napalms and the finest dirty bombs,
the cream of ev'ry terr'rist band.

Seventy-six car bombs caught the morning sun,
With a hundred and ten gunmen right behind.
There were more than a thousand dead, many shot in the head,
there were wounds of ev'ry shape and kind.

They shot copper-jacket bullets into helpless crowds,
screaming, screaming, all along the way.
Double clap explosions and the big kabooms,
each kaboom having his big fat say.
There were fifty-cal'ber snipers in the p'riphery,
Thundering, thundering, louder than before.
Assualt rifles of eve'ry size and RPGs that sought the prize:
The man who'd fanned the flames of war.

Seventy-six A-Bombs led the reprisal,
when the order to march rang out loud and clear.
Starting off with a big bang boom and a fiery mushroom,
by a big stealth bomber at the rear.

Seventy-six A-Bombs hit the counter point,
while a hundred and ten Hornets held the air.
Then I modestly took my place as I watched the human race
destroyed 'cause W. didn't care.

sponsored ad

  • Advert
Advertisements help to support the work of this non-profit organisation. [] To go ad-free join as a Member.

#16 advancedatheist

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 1,419 posts
  • 11
  • Location:Mayer, Arizona

Posted 23 January 2005 - 06:59 PM

I keep thinking the day is getting closer when there will be a major tax revolt, but when and how specifically, I don't know.  I get the feeling that people are fed up and quite angry about paying taxes, especially federal income taxes. 


If our tax money were supplying the kinds of services you find in civilized countries (i.e., college education for everyone who can benefit from it, basic healthcare and provisions for our currently inevitable vulnerabilty), then I think people wouldn't mind paying them as much.




1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users