Are we to be the oysters?

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Just a couple of thoughts that have been rattling around in my noggin this weekend.

We’ve seen Congress rush to get the super duper porkulous bill passed before anyone in either the House or Senate had a chance to read it--and some even bragged about that fact. Well, maybe not bragged so much as admitted that there was too little time to read the whole thing because, goldarn it!, some things have to be done right away! And that was followed by the President traveling back to Chicago for the weekend and putting off the actual signing of the damn thing until Tuesday in Denver.

So, what exactly was the big rush for? If I had to guess, I’d say it was because they really, really didn’t want the American taxpayer to read the f*ckin’ thing! If/when the American taxpayer gets to understanding what they’ve just been given as a “stimulus” they will be shitting bricks for years.

In both this current economic “crisis” and the Global Warming “crisis” we are constantly being told that if we don’t do something it will be the end of the world/life as we know it. This is something that puzzles me. Every moment of our existence can be described in much the same terms. Every decision we make changes our future to a certain extent. Every major decision can have huge consequences. When we are delivered from the womb and the doctor/nurse/midwife/policeman/etc. slaps our butt life will never be the same as we knew it. The first day of solid foods brings about another “life will never be the same” moment. As does the first day of school, the first job, the first kiss...well, you get the picture. Not all of those changes are bad. Some of them are unavoidable. (Puberty anyone? How about aging? If you can figure out a way to opt out of either of those without resorting to drastic measures, let me know.)

So it is with the economy. “We must do something!“ we are told. Why? Perhaps if we didn’t do anything things will get better on their own. (That’s what the Congressional Budget Office was saying last week before all the push came to shove.) Perhaps if our leaders (and I use the term loosely) would start looking at the glass as being remarkably full instead of bemoaning the loss of a teaspoon or two, there might be a more harmonious look to the future. To paraphrase the Dean of Faber College in Animal House, “Depressed, frightened and panicky is no way to go through life, son!”

And Climate Change…Is the climate changing? Sure. It does so all the time. Is man to blame…probably not on a global level. Today’s had reports crying that Climate Change is proceeding more rapidly than the IPCC reports projected. Or at least that’s what the headlines said. When you read the article, it turns out that it’s the amount of CO2 measured in the atmosphere that has grown more quickly than the one year old report anticipated. Should be warmer, right? So how come 2008 was cooler than 2007 and the Earth has been steady or cooling since 1998?
Why the push to “get something done before it’s too late”? Probably because the longer we delay the action that will cripple our economy even further, the more likely it is that people will catch on that the Global Warming “crisis” (having changed its name to “Climate Change” since that is more inclusive) is a hoax. Man has had little impact on the global climate and to think we can act to reverse a natural phenomenon is the height of hubris.

What do both of these “crises” have in common? In a word: Control. The powers that be want the power to control you and your life. They will manufacture one “crisis” after another with the sole aim of gathering more and more power a little at a time if need be until they have “enough.”

You may never notice the loss of freedom as they make moves to gather in the reins to take over your life. It will come in the form of billions of dollars to subsidize high speed trains heading into the cities (that they control) with little or no money for infrastructure in the outlying rural areas. Or in tax rebates for hybrid automobiles. Or subsidies for alternative fuels while pulling oil shale and off shore leases away from the oil companies. Or the “Fairness Doctrine” for talk radio but not, interestingly enough, television, movies or newspapers. “Card Check” for unions in the work place…Big Brother literally looking over your shoulder while you vote…what can go wrong!?

They will nickel and dime you to death and it will be a death of a thousand cuts and of pecks by a multitude ducks. Not one will be sufficient in and of itself to cripple but together they will mean the end of life as we know it.

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.