U.S. Loses Space Fight to Russia

Well, it looks like our Apollo 11 moon landing back in 1969 might have been a case of "winning the battle, but losing the war".  There are only two shuttle launches left, and NASA isn't even accepting astronaut applications.  These days, American astronauts are spending at least six months out of each year in Russia, training with Russian astronauts.  Private companies, such as Virgin, are also getting into the business of space travel.  As a "space psychologist" quoted in the article says, "imagine John Glenn or Alan Shepard speaking Russian. 

So, many of us have said over the years that the U.S. won the Space Race, but that seems to have been premature.  I know next to nothing about the history and the future of space travel, but it looks like the Russians are still going strong, at least compared to us.  Obama's cancellation of Constellation, as well as this development, in a way, symbolizes the pending collapse more poignantly to me than most events.  

Oil Production Cut Back in Iraq

Adding a fresh blow to our oil supply problems, Iraq is going to cut its target for oil production in half.  Remember when we were at the onset of the invasion of Iraq, and many people were cheering for it since it would lead to ultra-low oil prices?  So much for that, I guess.  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/iraqi-oil-production-cutback-plan-adds-to-global-supply-fear/story-e6frg8zx-1226050749186

The Death of Bin Laden

As the world knows, Osama Bin Laden was supposedly killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan last Sunday.  I found out about this when I was working.  Someone happened to initially misspeak (or was it a Freudian slip?) when she told us that "Obama was shot."  We were like "what", and she quickly corrected herself to say that "Osama was shot".  Everyone was very happy and uber-patriotic, saying things like "don't fuck with us", shit like that.  I kept my feelings to myself; in that crowd, if you say the wrong thing, you might find yourself hanging by your testicles. 

Anyway, although I have no solid belief system or empirical evidence to back it up (other than what I read on the net), I think Osama has been dead for awhile, possibly years.  The video releases of him have simply been too erratic and disjointed for me to believe that it was anything other than an orchestrated hoax.  I also factor in that he had kidney disease, and had a silly time envisioning him evading hordes of U.S. troops in the mountains of Afghan/Pakistan with his dialysis machine and his followers.  We've had a powerful interest in keeping him "alive" to serve as an Emmanuel Goldstein type of nemesis (read Orwell's 1984 if you don't understand that reference).  Putting a face to the war on terror was the only way Washington was going to get the support of a majority of Americans. 

So, assuming that I'm right (and who knows), deciding to "kill" Osama now, to play that card, must mean that things are afoot, and that we need a big distraction, something to placate us.  I have several theories.  One is that as the rising gas prices undermine what economic "recovery" there is (and which will ultimately kill it), Obama needed something that would buy him some time and appease the public.  I think killing Osama would certainly be one thing he could give us.  Another thing is that Obama needed a victory, in a big way, politically.  I think that he might have seen Donald Trump as a viable threat going forward.  So, between releasing his long-form birth certificate and putting Osama's head on the wall, he has marginalized Trump and has gotten a head start towards winning re-election; although, if the economy continues to tank, people might have awfully short memories.  Yet another theory is that the shit is about to hit us in a really big way (peak oil, rising food prices, tanking economy, etc.) and our government is trying to paper these over with stories like Bin Laden getting killed. 

I didn't watch much of the news footage concerning Bin Laden's death, but the masses seemed to be thrilled.  Why?  Yeah, it looks like we got him, but at what cost?  Starting two wars, hundreds of thousands dead, a bankrupt empire (that being us, BTW).  We could have probably easily gotten him and his cohorts by pursuing a "Munich" type strategy.  What we did was basically the equalvant of killing an ant with a flamethrower. 

"Good Will Hunting" Got It Right

I haven't seen the movie "Good Will Hunting" in a very long time, and actually did not recall this scene at all, but it's a very good and timely one (or timeless) that echoes many themes that we can relate to today.  The only thing is the $2.50/gal. gas comment.  Many people wish it were that price.  Other than that, wildly accurate.  Just look at our last President. 

Energy Information Agency Defunded

On reading Jim Kunstler's latest column, I found out that the Department of Energy has defunded the Energy Information Agency (EIA).  The EIA is responsible for collecting oil production data outside the U.S., where two-thirds of our oil comes from.  Is the EIA a victim of the budget-cutting that's going on (as I said, the Tea Party faction is going after programs whose portion of government funding is miniscule, although this agency is actually important IMO) or was it a victim of something else?  Like, people in Washington being scared that a painful truth can be revealed to the American people? 

$10 Million Skyscraper Sells for $1,700

I believe the headline says it all.  Our economic movers-and-shakers desperately want to keep the price of real estate up, but stories like these prove that they are failing miserably at it.  I am trying to look for as many stories as I can to prove that this "recovery" is bullshit, and I'll tell ya, I don't have to look very far. 

As to Bin Laden, yeah, I have some things to say about that.  But I'm going to a ballgame, so that'll have to wait.  

Man in Cow Suit Robs Walmart of 26 Gallons of Milk

LOL.  A day after posting an article about Walmart's troubles, and the broader U.S. economy, I find this funny article about a man dressed in a cow suit, who stole 26 gallons of milk from a Virginia Walmart.  He then handed out the milk to customers outside the store, and was later apprehended at a nearby McDonalds, with the cow suit in the back seat of his car.

I am not posting this as some kind of connection to what I posted about yesterday, but I just found it funny.  You may be amazed that a man can nearly get away with taking 26 gallons of milk, but I actually hear of such things all the time at the place I work at.  People walking out with big-screen TVs and things like that.