ol remus and the woodpile report

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Policy

Ol' Remus offers his opinions as-is, where is. He rarely cites support for his opinions so they are, in that sense, unwarranted. He comes by them largely by having lived and watched and listened rather than by argument or persuasion. His opinions are, therefore, not particularly accessible by debate or vulnerable to claims of illegitimacy. He entertains opposing opinion but he feels no inclination, much less obligation, to discuss or defend his own. Whatever usefulness or amusement the reader may find in them is their own business.

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Links to offsite articles are offered as a convenience, the information and opinion they point to are not endorsed by Woodpile Report.

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The content of Woodpile Report is provided as general information only and is not be taken as investment advice. Aside from being a fool if you do, any action that you take as a result of information or analysis on this site is solely your responsibility.

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Copyright notice

You may copy and post lengthy excerpts from any original article without prior permission if you direct the reader to the Woodpile Report for the full article. You may copy and post a photo or two in a non-commercial website without prior permission if you credit the Woodpile Report .

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Archives

Woodpile Report does not maintain an archive. Some issues linger on the server until Remus gets around to deleting all but the previous three or four. Don't confuse Woodpile Report with a blog. It isn't. It's an olde tymme internet site made by hand and archives are a dispensable chore

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Regime-speak

You're about to be lied to when they say-

a hand up
a new study shows
a poll by the highly respected
a positive step
are speaking out
arguably
arsenal
at-risk communities
best practices
broader implications
collectively
commonsense solutions
comprehensive reform
cycle of poverty
cycle of violence
demand action
denier
disenfranchised
disparate impact
disproportionately
diverse backgrounds
divisive
economically disadvantaged
emerging consensus
empower
enhance
experts agree
fair share
fiscal stimulus
fully funded
give back
giving voice to
greater diversity
growing support for
hater
have issues
high capacity magazine
history shows
in denial
inappropriate
inclusive environment
insensitivity
investing in our future
linked to
making a difference
making bad choices
marginalized
mean spirited
most vulnerable
mounting opposition to
multicultural
non-blaming
nonjudgmental
non-partisan, non-profit
not value neutral
nuanced
off our streets
on some level
oppressed minorities
our nation's children
outreach
people of color (sometimes, colour)
positive outcome
potentially
progressive
public/private partnership
raising awareness
reaching out
reaffirm our commitment to
redouble our efforts
root cause
sends a message
shared values
social justice
solidarity with
speaking truth to power
stakeholders
statistics show
sustainable, sustainability
the American People
the bigger issue is
the failed ...
the larger question is
the more important question is
the reality is
the struggle for
too many
too often
touched by
underserved populations
undocumented immigrant
vibrant community
voicing concern
working families

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You know what the media's saying by not saying it when they say-

gang-related
gangbanger
mob and rob
mobbing up
pack of teens
rival gang members
roving group
students
swarm mob
teen gang
teen mob
teens
thugs
unruly crowd
urban youths
young people
young men
youth violence
youths

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Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals
Tactics of the Left

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy.

Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.

Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag.

Rule 8: Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period.

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.

Rule 10: Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

Rule 11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.

Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.

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Artist of the day

Tropical Scenery, Frederic Church, 1873

Tropical Scenery of 1873 by Frederic Church. The location is not given in the title so it's likely a pastiche from his field sketches. Church traveled South America when even well-equipped explorers didn't always come back alive.

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Disconsent

No matter who you vote for, the government gets elected.
Traditional, cited by Francis Porretto, eternityroad.info

Referendums are a wonderful thing in theory, a direct vote by the electorate, as close to unalloyed democracy as there is. But, astoundingly, referendums are routinely nullified by federal courts. The losing side argues referendums suffer from an excess of democracy, their exact words in one California case, and the court agrees. Apparently the electorate needs protection from itself, we aren't good enough for us. So the regime uses its voter nullification card, you know, the one they deal from the bottom of the deck.

We should learn a deep lesson from this experience: referendums are an expensive, resource-consuming hoax. Voters are trained to jump through hoops like good little dogs just to get what is rightfully theirs, but if our rulers are unhappy with the outcome we get training of a different kind. It's the regime's way of telling us they will not let us decide anything of importance. Referendums are bogus and national elections are bogus. How could they make it more clear?

This is voter replacement. When DC wants to know what we think, it asks itself. We've been unreliable lately, sometimes to the point of defiance. It's too chancey to consult us. So they rally some supporters, take some pictures—done. Their media will take it from there. They already know what we should think. Our benighted orneriness just delays the inevitable. Now we're their audience, free to applaud or jeer. But they will not tolerate our actual involvement. It's more prudent to legislate in secret session and present it as a done deal, or embed it in unrelated bills and act surprised later. DC learns lessons too.

Independent citizens are left with only one meaningful vote, the one they make with their feet. They go Galt, they disengage, from the cities especially, leaving behind reservations skilled only in drawing provisions from the outside, its wards brim with net consumers, growth is reckoned in clients, the demanding and improvident kind —the least among us in every sense, but civic-minded, meaning they can be rounded up and trotted to the polls where the future earnings of the productive are auctioned off for votes. Who's entitled to our earnings has already been decided, and it isn't us. Only its distribution is up for bid. As with all found wealth, things can get ugly. Their job is to keep it orderly, or orderly enough. Cue the "applause" sign.

The regime prefers such fragile prey, tense gaggles of dependent inmates stumbling around in a fogbound maze, cognitively-unarmed quarry enmeshed in each other's mini-insurgencies, unrelieved propaganda blaring from every direction, sometimes set to music as if to emphasize its underlying nature. No longer allowed to make natural adjustments on common ground, the nation partitions itself, some clinging to DC, others fending off DC.

DC simply won't allow real change because it's not our government, it's their government. They own it. Ask them. In so many words they'll tell you they're an exceptionally full-service outfit, judge-jury-jailer, inescapable banker, and oh yes, indisputable advisor on personal matters. Voters are clients. Anything of importance is pre-decided. They debate the details of compliance, nothing more. It doesn't matter which franchise we patronize, the holding company wins either way.

The elections are supposed to indicate the presence of democracy, but they do not. Elections do not determine policy but only the division of spoils... The way to have elections without having a democracy is to let the people vote, but not on anything... Having a one party system called by two names is a technically slick way of disenfranchising the public without their noticing.
Fred Reed, fredoneverything.net

Well-spoken dimwits from the Emerald City periodically venture into "the field"—their term—with dazzling road shows, scolding and imploring and cajoling us to elect them wizard or subwizard or wizardette. They do this as if their seating arrangement should matter to us, which is all that's being decided. No, it's the turnout that matters. Not to the voters, why would it? Turnout matters because it's their best claim to legitimacy. "Get out the vote" says as much.

Monarchies and totalitarian states of the past have reconciled themselves to an inescapable fact, legitimacy comes only from the consent of the governed. No-choice elections are not consent. Imported electorates and busloads of professional voters are not consent. Supreme Court decisions are not consent. The People know fraud when they smell it. In the Soviet Union, where honest talk, plainly put, was also punishable—they invented the self-censorship we call political correctness, turnout was 99%. High turnout equates to consent, and consent validated their owner-operator license. Other than a few new butts on the same old seats, seventy years of bogus elections changed nothing. Change occured deeper in the plumbing.

As Mark Twain said, if voting changed anything it would be illegal. If the destination of the bus doesn't change, why would changing the driver matter? Why do we vote for the lesser evil and hope for a good outcome? Hope doesn't change anything, hope reveals powerlessness. Hope is for the helpless, the defeated. There is but one legal strategy remaining. Withhold our vote and withhold our consent. Reclaim our own legitimacy one citizen at a time. Rather than throw our vote away, stay out of national elections. Vote "none of the above". This is our real civic duty. It's not as if we're missing an opportunity, whole generations have learned the fix is in whichever way it goes.

As long as the entrenched elite had control of the illusion, the illusion of control works for them. However, the opposite is also true, and this is where we find ourselves now ... they are stepping outside of the inherent common consensus understanding of USA democracy at such a level as to disrupt the illusion... The herd is smelling the slaughter house.
Clif High, quoted by Michael Krieger of KAM LP at zerohedge.com

Important stuff

It occurred to ol' Remus that most of the supposedly important things that happened in his life took place in his absence and were done by people he didn't know. Further, if he hadn't had a teevee or the internet he wouldn't even have known they'd happened. All this time he'd been thinking their important stuff was more important than his important stuff. He noticed they didn't think their stuff was important for long. He also noticed it isn't quite nice to bring up important stuff from the past. Notice how it's used as gotchas by curmudgeons on political shows. Watch the other panelists roll their eyes as if nobody should remember formerly important stuff, it's sooo yesterday and a cheap shot besides. Unlike his own important stuff, their important stuff doesn't have much of a shelf-life.

Pundits are always telling Remus how momentous and fraught with life-changing implications their important things are, but he notices the effect on his life wouldn't be much closer to zero if they'd taken the day off. Soon they'll have forgotten all about it. The lesson is simple, his own personal important stuff stays fresh and important a lot longer than their important stuff does. He's going to change brands. He can always catch up on their important stuff when it's important only to antiquarians. A month ought to do it.

Duffy Cobblesworth

Cousin Ezekiel has Chapter Three of of his new tale for you, Duffy Cobblesworth, posted at Stories from outten the hills

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Speaking of survivalists

Children in Nazi-occupied Smolensk, Russia, circa 1942.

Photo: englishrussia.com

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art-stuff-you-may-want-to-think

It can be a culture shock to leaf through old editions of the McGuffey Readers, used in most American schools until the mid-twentieth century, to see how readily educators once dispensed unambiguous moral lessons to students. Nowadays, when cheating is considered by some teachers to be an excusable response to a difficult assignment, or even a form of pro-social activity, our society risks a future of moral numbness brought on by a decline of honesty and all the virtues that rely on it, says William Damon in this article, The Death of Honesty, of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Disarming America - If our military is permitted to dwindle, such that its ability to "reach out and punch someone" becomes substantially less credible, other governments will take notice. Changes to regional and global arrangements, transnational institutions, alliances, and balances of power will follow. Would-be aggressors who'd been deterred by the previous fearsomeness of our military will move toward action. These developments will not be to America's benefit, says Francis Porretto in this article, Capitalism And The Military, at Eternity Road.

Historical data - 109 Victories: Aerial Victory Credits of the Tuskegee Airmen, by Dr. Daniel L. Haulman, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Jan. 27, 2006. pdf document. Related: At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft. Bill Uher at the NASA site says: Flying over 15,000 sorties, they destroyed more than 490 enemy aircraft and 45 trains. They never lost a bomber to enemy fighters - a record no other fighter group achieved. Well, that's NASA for you.

Fascinating images of weapons technology from a century ago, two years before World War I broke out in Europe, by Daniel C. Schlenoff in this slide show, Warfare in 1912: A Look in Scientific American's Archives, at Scientific American.

There's no law that says you can't sell a crappy water filter so long as you divulge to the consumer just how awful that filter is. And hey, if you can confuse them, why not; right? So, Consumer Beware—of the nines, that is, says Kellene Bishop in this article, Water Filtration Facts–Pay Attention to the Nines, at Preparedness Pro.

<= [This is not a permalink. The link takes you to NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center's periodic updates] Monday AM: Geomagnetic Storm Expected Tuesday, Jan 23. As the strongest Solar Radiation Storm (S3) since May, 2005 continues, the associated Earthward-directed Coronal Mass Ejection is expected to arrive about 1400 UT (9am EST) Jan 24. SWPC has issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch with G2 level storming likely and G3 level storming possible, with the storm continuing into Wednesday, Jan 25. All of this activity is related to a moderate (R2) Radio Blackout x-ray flare that erupted Sunday night (11pm EST).

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1941 magazine ad

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art-overheard

However many jobs might be generated by a Keystone pipeline, they're going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance.
President Obama, quoted by Joel Gehrke at washingtonexaminer.com

It is virtually impossible to find any example where leaders are not acting in their own self interest... It's much better to decide who gets to eat than to let the people feed themselves.
Alastair Smith, economist.com

Obama's rejection of the Keystone oil pipeline - Canada this month began hearings on a proposed pipeline by Enbridge Inc. to move crude from Alberta's oil sands to British Columbia's coast, where it could be shipped to Asian markets.
Argitis and Van Loon, bloomberg.com

Another right discovered - Most healthcare plans will be required to cover birth control without charging co-pays or deductibles starting Aug. 1, the Obama administration announced Friday.
Julian Pecquet, thehill.com

Bonds - All lending to sovereigns is inherently unsecured. That is, the only thing you have is a bare promise of repayment backed by the government's willingness and ability to tax the citizens. This is not assured and in fact is under the control of the citizens themselves and not the "debtor."
Karl Denninger, market-ticker.org

Strike anywhere matches should be a top preparedness item. Right now they're cheap, but how priceless would they become if they were no longer available?
Patrice Lewis, backwoodshome.com

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, when tens of millions of soldiers returned to their homes, with millions of surplus firearms sold on the open market, and hundreds of thousands of captured souvenir weapons, there was actually a sharp decline of violent crime in the USA, Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Peter Hammond, frontline.org.za

This prolonged surge in gun sales has driven Sarah Brady's group to some very creative spin; for example, Caroline Brewer, of the Brady Campaign, said, "The research we've seen indicates fewer and fewer people are owning more and more guns." Sanetti doesn't think the Brady Campaign's spin has a syllable of truth in it; after all, he pointed out that the NSSF's First Shots Program (a program that holds shooting lessons for the public) has been growing fast.
Frank Miniter, interview with Steve Sanetti, president, National Shooting Sports Foundation, at forbes.com

These usurpations of our rights has been a gradual process. The government takes a little bite of the apple, and sees if anyone protests. After the dust settles, they take another bite. After time, only the rotted core remains. Most folks don't even realize, or care, that the apple is gone. They forget they even had an apple.
Chief Instructor, bisonrma.blogspot.com

A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment... Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting 'the free discussion of governmental affairs.'
Decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, quoted by Powell Gammill at freedomsphoenix.com

Second Amendment - In part, " …the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Show me where the Second Amendment says only hunters or target shooters, or only the good 'law-abiding' people have the right to keep and bear arms. Then show me where it says this is a state's rights issue.
Wolf, comment at theblaze.com

School kids revolt - Rejecting healthful alternatives like vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles, students are throwing them in the trash by the thousands, bringing junk food from home and buying instant noodles and other decidedly unhealthy fare from the "black markets" that have begun to thrive at campuses across the district.
losangeles.cbslocal.com

A recent article at Foreign Policy noted that the $10 trillion global black market is now the world's fastest growing economy, and that in 2009, the OECD concluded that half the world's workers (almost 1.8 billion people) were employed in the shadow economy.
econmatters.com, via Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com

Food Stamps may be our future legal tender. They already trade as 'food standard currency' at some venues.
Ol' Remus, woodpilereport.com

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Wartime scrap drives

The good citizens of Chillicothe, Missouri and Fort Kent, Maine do their bit in 1942.

Paper drive in Chillicothe Missouri, 1942

Chillicothe is a town of 9,500 in northwest Missouri

Paper drive in Chillicothe Missouri, 1942

Scrap metal drive in Fort Kent Maine, 1942

Fort Kent, Maine is a town of 4,200 just across the border from Clair, New Brunswick.

Scrap metal drive in Fort Kent Maine, 1942

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