ARTICLES - HOT OFF THE FAGGOT

Latest Census data gives snapshot of life in York County

Amplify’d from www.ydr.com

Latest Census data gives snapshot of life in York County

Commute time went up. A bad economy affected what jobs people do, and maybe whether some people chose to get married.
York, PA -
The majority of York County adults drive to work alone. They are white, married, own a home and were born in Pennsylvania.


That's the portrait painted by recently released estimates from the 2005 through 2009 American Community Survey -- a five-year survey that includes information such as marital status, commute time to work, occupation and housing.


To show how the county has changed, the survey has been compared to the 2000 U.S. Census and includes the percent change between both data sets. David Polk, a York College behavioral science professor, has offered his analysis on the comparisons.


Here is data from four sections of the survey:


--- Marital Status


--Never married: 67,854 (Census)


Never married: 85,214 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 26 percent increase.


-- Now married: 188,834 (Census)


Now married: 191,282 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 1.3 percent increase.


-- Divorced: 27,304 (Census)


Divorced: 34,182 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 25 percent increase.


What the numbers mean


In the past, marriage was seen as a precursor to having children, Polk said.


"That is no longer the case," he said. "It's become more socially acceptable to have children outside of marriage."


A growing trend has shown that more women who wait until later in life to have children are doing so without getting married, Polk said.


For example, in the past year, 30.1 percent of all York County women between 15 and 50 years old who gave birth were not married, according to the survey.


"Times have changed," Polk said. During tough economic times, the marriage rate usually goes down, he said. The economy might stop people from getting married, "but it doesn't stop hormones from flowing."


--- Commute to work


-- Car, truck or van (drove alone): 162,775 (Census)


Car, truck or van (drove alone): 175,418 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 7.8 percent increase.


-- Car, truck or van (carpooled): 18,346 (Census)


Car, truck or van (carpooled): 19,121 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 4.2 percent increase.


-- Public transportation: 1,199 (Census)


Public transportation: 2,143 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 78.7 percent increase.


--Walked: 4,177 (Census)


Walked: 4,321 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 3.4 percent increase.


-- Worked at home: 5,171 (Census)


Worked at home: 6,160 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 19 percent increase.


--Mean travel time to work: 23.9 minutes (Census)


Mean travel time to work: 25.8 minutes (ACS estimates)


What the numbers mean


Polk said he wasn't surprised that it was taking people two minutes longer to get to work. "As our infrastructure becomes more and more overloaded because of an increased population, people could be traveling the same distance to work, but it's just taking them longer to get there," he said.


Also, technology such as high-speed internet and smart phones are allowing more people to work at home rather than in the office, Polk said.


"In addition, with the economy, more people may be getting downsized and deciding to open or run businesses from their homes," he said.


--- Occupation


-- Management, professional and related occupations: 55,609 (Census)


Management, professional and related occupations: 65,834 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 18 percent increase.


--Services: 24,565 (Census)


Services: 31,221 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 27.1 percent increase.


--Sales and office occupations: 51,260 (Census)


Sales and office occupations: 54,412 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 6.1 percent increase.


-- Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations: 786 (Census)


Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations: 974 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 24 percent increase.


-- Construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations: 19,334 (Census)


Construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations: 22,411 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 16 percent increase.


-- Production, transportation, and material moving occupations: 44,408 (Census)


Production, transportation, and material moving occupations: 39,295 (ACS estimates)


Percent change: 11.5 percent decrease.


What the numbers mean


The number of service-related jobs have grown because workers are needed to serve customers in specific locations, Polk said.


Production, or manufacturing jobs, have dropped off as more companies opt to move to other locations either in the United States or overseas, he said.


Also, a symptom of the recession was that more people bought fewer products, requiring less labor on the part of many manufacturers.


"Just look at Harley-Davidson and all its layoffs," Polk said. "The economy does play a role."


Also of interest


· YorkCounts quality-of-life indicators help you make sense of York County: Ag use outpacing population growth.

Read more at www.ydr.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itq8

on No comments:

Steam whistle player's hospitalization won't stop Christmas concert 12:15 a.m. Christmas morning

Amplify’d from www.ydr.com

Steam whistle player's hospitalization won't stop concert

Daily Record/Sunday News
York, PA -
Don Ryan was hospitalized recently, but plans to be full steam ahead come Christmas.


Well, make that full compressed air for Christmas.


Ryan is one of the people who has been performing concerts on the New York Wire Cloth Company steam whistle on Christmas morning since 1955. The boiler broke recently and rather than pay to get it fixed, this year Ryan will use an air compressor to play the whistles.


He spent six days in the hospital with a blood clot in his right leg. He's home recuperating now.


He'll rehearse songs on the whistle Dec. 22 at 4 p.m. His regular performance will start 12:15 a.m. Christmas morning.


Also of interest


· New York Wire's whistlemaster about using air in lieu of steam: 'It's going to sound very close to it'







Read more at www.ydr.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itri

on No comments:

IHNN: CIA Waterboarding, Zionist House Resolution, and Community Trash Collectors

Amplify’d from theintelhub.com

IHNN: CIA Waterboarding, Zionist House Resolution, and Community Trash Collectors

IHNN News Update December 17th 2010.

The Intel Hub:

http://theintelhub.com

http://theintelhubradio.com

The Intel Hub News Network:

http://theintelhubnewsnetwork.com

Officials: CIA gave waterboarders 5million dollar legal shield!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cia_wat…

Zionist Lobby’s New Orders For Obama? Congress lines up for Israel

http://theintelhub.com/2010/12/16/zio…

Tax Collectors To Serve As Eyes And Ears On The Street For Police

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40707906

http://www.activistpost.com/2010/12/t…

Read more at theintelhub.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itq5

on No comments:

Mattison sentenced to death for killing a York City drug dealer

Amplify’d from www.ydr.com

Mattison sentenced to death for York City killing

CHRISTINA KAUFFMAN The York Dispatch
Kevin Mattison

Kevin "Yummy" Mattison will be sentenced to death for killing a York City drug dealer.

The jury this morning found him guilty of all charges related to the 2008 slaying; then determined this afternoon that he should be executed for the crime.

Family members cried after the sentence was read, and Mattison turned to tell them he loved them as sheriff deputies led him away.

Jurors deliberated about three hours Thursday evening and Friday morning before announcing they'd found Mattison guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of robbery, and burglary.

Friday afternoon, they deliberated on whether the defendant will face the death penalty or life in prison.

Prosecutor Tim Barker said the jury had to weigh whether the aggravating circumstances of the case -- the fact that the murder was committed in the perpetration of a felony and the fact that Mattison has already served time for murder -- reached the level necessary to warrant the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

Mattison pleaded guilty in Baltimore to the equivalent of Pennsylvania's third-degree murder in the mid-1990s, when he was 17.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with the final 10 years suspended, prosecutors said; he also has a pending rape charge in Maryland.

The jury was also told to consider mitigating circumstances, and whether those outweigh the aggravating circumstances. Defense attorneys called Mattison's mother and sisters to testify about his upbringing. They suggested his childhood and teen years were defined by an abusive father and an illness that left his mother unable to care for him.

Mattison, 34, of Baltimore, was found guilty of breaking into the 610 W. Philadelphia St. home of Christian Agosto, robbing him of a pound of marijuana and shooting him in the head.

Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or follow her on Twitter at @dispatchbizwiz.












Read more at www.ydr.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itqy

on No comments:

Investigative Journal » Creationism or Evolution?

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itq9

on No comments:

Propaganda 101

Amplify’d from theintelhub.com

Propaganda 101

By Joe Joseph

The Intel Hub News Network

I have to say that I was taken aback when I saw an article published by CBS titled “How to Survive a Nuclear Attack” by Dan Farber.  As we all know by now, the MSM (main stream media) is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the administration and TPTB (the powers that be).  Isn’t it odd and don’t you find it a bit disturbing that the administration is pushing information on how to survive a nuclear attack?

In the article Martin Hellman; a professor at Stanford, and a bleeding heart liberal states “A baby born today, with an expected lifetime of 80 years, faces a greater than 50-50 chance that a nuclear weapon attack will occur unless the number of weapons and available weapons grade material is radically reduced.”.

Let me first school people on how statistics can be manipulated to present an argument.  Mr. Hellman says greater than 50% chance huh?  I wonder where she got the data to arrive at that conclusion… You know, 100% of the people who are afflicted with cancer drink water.  Hmmmm… I guess cancer patients should stop drinking water and so should everyone else, lest you want to come down with that dreadful illness.

No, what Mr. Hellman fails to take into account is the same thing that some of the morons in State and Federal government fail to see all the time.  The criminal/evil element in the world will always find a way to attack or get their way.  It harkens to the old adage “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”.  The first thing to understand is reducing the United States nuclear stockpile only weakens our position globally.

You don’t hear of our nuclear weapons and weapons grade material being compromised.  That’s not to say it couldn’t, but let’s just say that our track record for guarding that material is a wee bit better than that of other countries in the world.  This article plays right into TPTB and Mr. Obama’s hand.  You see they are trying like hell to weaken the United States position in the world and bring down.  How else can you look at it?

This bozo is using the same argument as the anti-gun lobby.  Their stance is you’ve got to take the guns away to make us safer.  Let’s dissect that a little bit… Take away the guns, and the ability for law abiding citizens to defend themselves and the criminal elements intent to commit violent crime magically disappears.  Yeah right… All that does is hamstring Mr. John Q. Public while the street thug continues to procure weapons through the black market or other illegal means. Oh and as an added bonus you get to usher in the police state!  Yippee!

By reading this article I formulate two hypotheses.  The first is that this is a propaganda piece for the White House to get the public behind the START treaty that President Obama is trying to shove down our throats.  The second is if he can’t do it by pushing propaganda, then a “terrorist” attack utilizing nuclear weapons, or radioactive material will be sufficient to advance his and TPTB agenda.

If I were to believe that things happen the way Government sells it, I would think that the chances would have been greater between 1950 and 1990 when you had an arms race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (Do people forget the Cuban missile crisis??)  All one needs to do to understand what goes on in this world is read the un-abridged version of history.  When you do that, you can plainly that we are repeating events that have occurred before, they were just flavored a bit differently.  It is SO incredibly important that we understand history and become vanguards of it to preserve if for future generations.  Only then can we understand what is going on today and take the steps necessary to prevent agendas and events from reoccurring.

It is way past time for the people of the U.S. and the world to take the power back from the very small group of people that run the world.  It is time for people to wake up and harness the power that they wield and understand that without them, TPTB has no power whatsoever.  Oh they have futuristic weapons, but they’re not good without the people to operate them.  They make a ton of money through investments, the buying, selling, and trading of goods and services, but they couldn’t make that money without the common folk.

The power is within us to effect the changes needed to ensure our children and grand-children have a bright future.  All we need to do is embrace our founding principles of individual liberty, restore morality, and understand that NO HUMAN can take away our rights.  They are given to us by our Creator and can only be taken away by our Creator.  So call your Senator and tell them where to go shove this START treaty.  The only thing it does is further compromise the position of the United States and chip away at what’s left of our sovereignty.

Read more at theintelhub.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itq0

on No comments:

Here’s Why FBI Is Orchestrating Fake Terror Plots

Amplify’d from theintelhub.com

Here’s Why FBI Is Orchestrating Fake Terror Plots

American Free Press

By Paul Craig Roberts

Why does the FBI orchestrate fake “terror plots”? The latest one snared Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American teenager in Portland, Ore. The Associated Press report is headlined: “Somali-born teen plotted car-bombing in Oregon.”

This is a misleading headline as the report makes it clear that it was a plot orchestrated by federal agents. Two sentences into the news report we have this: “The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the [FBI] agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.” The teenager was supplied with a fake bomb and a fake detonator.

Three sentences later the reporters contradict the quoted authorities with a quote from Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon: “The threat was very real.”

The reporters then contradict Balizan: “White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Saturday that President Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday’s arrest. Shapiro said Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and that the public was not in danger.”

Then Shapiro contradicts himself by declaring: “The events of the past 24 hours underscore the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad.” The story arrives at its Kafkaesque high point when Obama thanks the FBI for its diligence in saving us from the fake plot the FBI had fabricated. After vacillating between whether they are reporting a real plot or an orchestrated one, the reporters finally come down on the side of orchestration. Documents released by U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton “show the sting operation began in June.”

Obviously, the targeted Portland teenager was not “hot to trot,” so the FBI had to work on him for six months. The reporters compare “the Portland sting” to the recent arrest in Virginia of Faroque Ahmed, who was ensnared in a “bombing plot that was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.”

Think about this carefully. The FBI did a year’s work in order to convince two people to participate in fake plots.

If you are not too bright and some tough-looking guys accost you and tell you that they are al Qaeda and expect your help in a terrorist operation, you might be afraid to say no, or you might be thrilled to be part of a blowback against an American population that is indifferent to their government’s slaughter of people of your ethnicity or religion in your country of origin. Whichever way it falls, it is unlikely the ensnared person would ever have done anything beyond talk had the FBI not organized them into action.

In other cases the FBI entices people with money to participate in its fake plots. Since 9-11, the only domestic “terrorist plot” that I recall that was not obviously organized by the FBI is the “Times Square plot” to which Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to trying to set off a car bomb in Manhattan. This “plot,” too, is suspicious. One would think that a real terrorist would have a real bomb, not a smoke bomb. In his May 19, 2009 article, Joe Quinn of online site, Sott.net, collects some of the fake plots, some of which were validated by tortured confessions and others by ignorant and fearful juries.

The U.S. government comes up with a plot and an accused, and then tortures him until he confesses, or the government fabricates a case and takes it to jurors who know that they cannot face their neighbors if they let off a media-declared “terrorist.”

Perhaps the most obvious of these cases is “the Miami seven,” a pathetic group of Christian-Zionist-Muslims that called themselves the “Seas of David” and were quietly living in a Florida warehouse awaiting what they regarded as biblical end-times. Along came the FBI posing as al Qaeda and offered them $50,000 and an al Qaeda swearing-in ceremony.

The FBI told them that they needed to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and various government buildings. An honest Knight Ridder news service reporter revealed: “The Justice [sic] Department unveiled the arrests with an orchestrated series of news conferences in two cities, but the severity of the charges compared with the seemingly amateurish nature of the group raised concerns among civil libertarians,” who noted that the group had “no weapons, no explosives.”

The Justice (sic) Department and tamed media made a big show out of the “militaristic boots” worn by the hapless “plotters,” but the FBI had bought the boots for them.

The biggest piece of evidence against the hapless group was that they had taken photos of “targets” in Florida, but the U.S. government had equipped them with cameras. The U.S. government even rented cars for its dupes to drive to take the pictures.

It turns out that the group only wanted the $50,000, but an American jury convicted them anyhow. When the U.S. government has to go to such lengths to create “terrorists” out of hapless people, an undeclared agenda is being served. What could this agenda be?

The answer is many agendas. One agenda is to justify wars of aggression that are war crimes under the Nuremberg standard created by the U.S. government itself. One way to avoid war crime charges is to create acts of

terrorism that justify the naked aggressions against “terrorist countries.”

Another agenda is to create a police state. A police state can control people who object to their impoverishment for the benefit of the super-rich much more easily than can a democracy endowed with constitutional civil liberties.

Another agenda is to get rich. Terror plots, whether real or orchestrated, have created a market for security. Dual Israeli citizen Michael Chertoff, former head of U.S. Homeland Security, is the lobbyist who represents Rapiscan, the company that manufactures the full body “porno-scanners” that, following the “underwear bomber” event, are now filling up U.S. airports.

Paul Craig Roberts, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury and former associate editor of The Wall Street Journal, has been reporting shocking cases of prosecutorial abuse for two decades. His book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, co-authored with Lawrence Stratton, is a documented account of how Americans lost the protection of law. It was released in 2008 by Random House.
Read more at theintelhub.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itpm

on No comments:

Christmas, Easter, and Halloween Where Did They Come From?

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/iths

on No comments:

Iowa GOP Lawmakers Vow to Impeach 4 Justices Who Legalized Same-Sex Marriage

Amplify’d from www.cnsnews.com

Iowa GOP Lawmakers Vow to Impeach 4 Justices Who Legalized Same-Sex Marriage
By Mike Glover, Associated Press

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) - Several Republican state lawmakers said Friday that they will try to impeach four Iowa Supreme Court justices who joined in a unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in the state.

The effort, led by newly elected House member Kim Pearson of Des Moines, comes about six weeks after voters removed three other justices from the seven-member court after a campaign that focused on the gay marriage ruling. Those three justices were up for retention elections, in which voters have the option of ousting judges near the end of their terms.

Pearson said the remaining justices should be impeached because they overstepped their authority and violated the state constitution when they overturned a state law that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. She claimed the court ruling infringed on the Legislature's role in making laws.

"Part of our duty, in supporting the constitution of the state of Iowa, is to ensure that the various branches of government function within their constitutional authority," said Pearson.

The court ruled that Iowa's marriage law violated the constitutional right of equal protection.

Pearson is joined by freshman legislators Glen Massie, of Des Moines, and Tom Shaw, of Laurens, in drafting impeachment measures.

To succeed, the measure would need to pass with a simple majority in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Republicans hold a 20-seat majority in the House, but Democrats narrowly control the Senate, 26 seats to 24 seats.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, of Council Bluffs, questioned the impeachment effort, noting the constitution allows removal of justices only when they are found to have committed serious violations.

"If the Republicans actually think there are misdemeanors or malfeasance in office, then let them bring that forward," said Gronstal.

House Speaker-elect Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha, said he wouldn't block the impeachment effort but would rather Republicans focus on referring the gay marriage issue to voters. That proposed constitutional amendment would take the approval of Legislatures seated in consecutive elections before it would go to voters.

Paulsen said that when voters tossed out the three justices in November, they were making clear their desire to vote on the matter.

"I think one of the messages in it was they want the opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage," said Paulsen.

The four justices still on the court are Brent Appel, Mark Cady, Darly Hecht and David Wiggins. Appel, Cady and Hecht are up for retention votes in 2016 and Wiggins will go on the ballot in 2012.

Court spokesman Steve Davis declined to comment on the matter.

Democratic Gov. Chet Culver cautioned against efforts to remove judges, either through impeachment or at the ballot box, because of their rulings on specific issues.

"I believe it's a pretty slippery slope if we start making these decisions based on one decision at a time," Culver said during a taping of an Iowa Public Television public affairs program.

Culver acknowledged the intense public interest in the gay marriage ruling and said it likely played a role in his November defeat to Republican Terry Branstad.

"I think it's fair to say that a lot of people came out to vote because of the judicial retention election and I was on the other side," Culver said. "The fact that we had a record turnout and the fact the issue was on the ballot certainly had an impact."

A Judicial Nominating Commission is taking applications for the three Iowa Supreme Court openings and will make recommendations to Branstad, who will be inaugurated as governor Jan. 14. Branstad will then appoint justices to the court.

Read more at www.cnsnews.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ithh

on No comments:

Peak Empire

Amplify’d from cluborlov.blogspot.com


Peak Empire

[This is a guest post from Gary, who presents data that indicate that the US military empire is already past its peak and may collapse suddenly. Gary uses a methodology for calculating peak empire that is similar to the Hubbert curve which successfully predicted Peak Oil for both the US and, more recently, the world.



It should be noted that the DOD base structure reports on which Gary's analysis is based don't include Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the secret (black) installations all over the world, but it is unclear whether the inclusion of these data would change the picture materially.



As far as the speed of imperial collapse, it varies: Rome took five centuries to collapse but USSR took just a couple of years. Alfred W. McCoy, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently wrote: "empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal,
two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the
Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, 22 years
for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003." My hunch is that McCoy's 22-year estimate is overly generous, and that the collapse of the USA will set a speed record, unfolding over just a handful of very strange days. When will this happen? According to Chris Hedges, it could happen any time now.]



Predicting Collapse



In February, 2009 Dmitry Orlov said the following about predicting the collapse of the US empire: “I have learned from experience – luckily, from other people’s experience – that being a superpower collapse predictor is not a good career choice. I learned that by observing what happened to the people who successfully predicted the collapse of the USSR. Do you know who Andrei Amalrik is? See, my point exactly. He successfully predicted the collapse of the USSR. He was off by just half a decade. That was another valuable lesson for me, which is why I will not give you an exact date when USA will turn into FUSA (“F” is for “Former”). But even if someone could choreograph the whole event, it still wouldn’t make for much of a career, because once it all starts falling apart, people have far more important things to attend to than marveling at the wonderful predictive abilities of some Cassandra-like person.”



As far as predicting the collapse of the US empire, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting it for 2010, and Johan Galtung has predicted it will collapse before 2020. Hubbert predicted in 1974 that global peak oil was incompatible with constantly growing money, triggering a cultural crisis (See Exponential Growth as a Transient Phenomenon).



Andrei Amalrik died in a car crash in 1980 at the age of 42. Nevertheless, at the risk of making a poor career choice, I will attempt to offer a methodology for determining peak US empire, if not a prediction for its demise. Now that global peak oil is history perhaps it’s time to work on predicting peak empire instead. If you followed the work of Joseph Tainter, he offered the theory of diminishing and eventually negative marginal return to territorial growth and complexity of societies. (See The Collapse of Complex Societies) He offered the following graph to illustrate:






From: Tainter, posted at Dieoff.org

As a result he expected complex societies to reach a peak in size and then begin to decline, similar to an oil peak.






From: http://sunhomedesign.wordpress.com/category/carrying-capacity/





He offered the following examples to demonstrate the principle with historical examples of defunct empires:










From: Tainter, The Collapse of Complex Societies

Shown above are the territorial areas of the Roman, Ottoman, Russian, and US Empires. The curve for the Russian Empire ends abruptly at 1917 where the curve for its heir—the USSR—takes off. The main point is that empires follow a typical bell curve type of shape.


US Empire



In the case of the US empire, it has not continued to expand by territorial acquisition. The last territory acquired was the Marshall Islands in 1947, which then became a UN Trust Territory, followed by Independence in 1986. What has continued to expand is the presence of US military installations all over the world. As the recently deceased analyst Chalmers Johnson explained, the US is an “empire of bases”, not an empire of colonies. The US has 800-1000 foreign military bases and 4-5000 bases in the US. Colonies are so passé these days. Why bother with colonies when you can impose your will with a few bases, and you don’t have to manage the whole country. Besides you can outsource most everything to contractors, so you don’t even need the consent of the governed. All you need is their tax money, which the sheeple continue to provide with barely a bleat.



Looking at the DOD Base Structure reports it is possible to graph the total acreage owned by the US military both in the US, in foreign countries, and in US foreign territories. Since both foreign countries and territories are occupied, I will lump them together. It is also valid to use total military acreage including the US, since the 50 states of the US are essentially occupied territory of the US military as well.







I was unable to find data before 1957, but total acreage under management by the US military had a recent peak in 2007, while foreign acreage peaked in 2004. This data is from official US DOD base structure reports, which according to Chalmers Johnson leaves out quite a bit, but from a relative point of view over time, it is probably adequate. I have included the excel sheet data, and others are welcome to add to the data and do a more thorough job graphing this data.



Military spending



Looking at US military spending below, it has continued to rise, despite the recent decline in acreage under management. This is entirely consistent with Tainter’s theory of declining marginal utility to expanding empires, as imperial overstretch becomes more and more expensive, and returns to expenditures begins to decline, and even become negative. It would be entirely consistent for the expenditures to continue to rise as the empire attempts to hold onto its existing level of military acreage, until interest on the debt causes a default, and then expenditures also collapse.






From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States



Imperial Reserves



Like oil, the empire has reserves to continue fueling the military machine. It has its AAA bond rating in order to continue deficit spending by selling Treasury bonds to foreign countries, although the rating agencies have taken somewhat of a hit on their credibility after the financial crisis. Foreign governments may also be thinking twice about the future viability of the dollar. It has the Federal Reserve to continue creating money out of thin air by key strokes on a computer, and engaging in open market operations like “quantitative easing” and purchasing existing treasuries, or even monetizing the debt by buying treasury bonds directly from the US government, giving it more money to play with. Finally they have the credulous and supplicant taxpayers who continue to fund their own demise by turning their tax dollars over to an empire, which throws it down three rat holes simultaneously: The $1 trillion dollar annual military budget, the Afghanistan War, and the bankster bailouts. Like the oil reserve/production ratio, the empire has a reserve/territorial expansion ratio which is declining rapidly. If interest rates increase adequately, the interest on the debt is going to swallow up all of tax revenues, such that a tax increase might be required. Will the sheeple rebel then? We’ll see. In any case, I welcome others to comment on the viability of military acreage as a measure of peak empire, and to expand on the analysis.
Read more at cluborlov.blogspot.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ith4

on No comments:

Inmate Wants to Kill and Eat Obama

Amplify’d from gawker.com

Inmate Wants to Kill and Eat Obama

Inmate Wants to Kill and Eat ObamaIf you're getting a Secret Service beatdown, at least do it with gusto: Career criminal Gregory Brockman wrote a jailhouse letter threatening to kill the President and eat his flesh. This has been your creative assassination plot of the day.


Send an email to Maureen O'Connor, the author of this post, at maureen@gawker.com.

Read more at gawker.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itgc

on No comments:

Signs of the Times

Amplify’d from becandrichie.wordpress.com

Signs of the Times

The other day when we arrived in New Zealand, last Monday to be specific, we rolled into the Visitor Info area at the International Airport to decide where and what we were going to do on our Whirlwind Tour of the South Island.

As we were perusing the brochure stand, lo and behold, we see a brochure of extreme familiarity.

Of all the places…

Hope you had a great Sabbath!

Seeya soon Australia!

Read more at becandrichie.wordpress.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itgx

on No comments:

Sen. Inhofe Agrees with Marine Commandant: Repealing Ban on Homosexuals in Military Could Cost Marines Their Live

Amplify’d from www.cnsnews.com
Sen. Inhofe Agrees with Marine Commandant: Repealing Ban on Homosexuals in Military Could Cost Marines Their Lives


Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Friday that he agrees with the assessment of Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos that repealing the ban on homosexuals in the military could cost the lives of Marines.

Read more at www.cnsnews.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ith8

on No comments:

Bank Of America Will Stop Processing WikiLeaks Payments, WikiLeaks Responds On Twitter

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com


Bank Of America Will Stop Processing WikiLeaks Payments, WikiLeaks Responds On Twitter

Bank of America announced it will stop handling transactions for WikiLeaks, the controversial non-profit group that has published secret government data and communications.

In a tense response posted on Twitter late last night WikiLeaks urged customers to stop doing business with the bank and suggested the consumers could find safer places to put their money. See WikiLeaks' Twitter response below:



According to the AP: "The bank said in a statement that it believes that site 'may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments.' It joins financial institutions including MasterCard and PayPal that have stopped handling payments for the site."

In a cover story published last month in Forbes, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was recently released from a British prison, said that the organization's next leak, due out early next year, will involve at least one major American bank.

In a 2009 Computer World interview, Assange said that his organization had obtained a 5GB hardrive from a Bank of America employee, but had been struggling with the best way to present the hard drive's data.

Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itgg

on No comments:

Cosmic Conflict 2: The Battle for Truth coming soon

Amplify’d from www.asabbathblog.com


Cosmic Conflict 2: The Battle for Truth coming soon

Image credit: Amazing Facts
Amazing Facts has just finished the script for "Cosmic Conflict 2: The Battle for Truth," according to the movie website.



However, it seems as if they've changed their original plans for this DVD.



Originally, Amazing Facts had said the second DVD would be about the Flood, the Children of Israel and the life of Christ. Now it looks like the DVD will be about the Reformation and the Catholic Church.



"We’re going to give viewers an incredible look at the Dark Ages and the Reformation and the part they play in the great controversy between Christ and Satan," said Doug Batchelor, president of Amazing Facts on the movie website.



The first DVD of the series is called "Cosmic Conflict: The Origin of Evil," and is about how Lucifer turned against God in Heaven, the creation of Earth, and the fall of the humanity. It was released August 2009.



Amazing Facts is a ministry that shares Jesus through evangelistic events, books, videos, and other forms of media.



Watch the trailer below:
See more at www.asabbathblog.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itgv

on No comments:

This Bus Driver Can Write and Drive at the Same Time

Autopilot?

Amplify’d from gawker.com

This Bus Driver Can Write and Drive at the Same Time

This Bus Driver Can Write and Drive at the Same TimeThe ability to drive a public bus while reading a Kindle is a gift. And now, here's a bus driver from Omnibus De México labeling some CD's, writing on a clipboard, and not paying much attention while driving pretty fast.

What's he doing... 60 mph, maybe?

[via Buzzfeed]


Send an email to Jeff Neumann, the author of this post, at jeff@gawker.com.

Read more at gawker.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/itg8

on No comments:

Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura: "9/11 Pentagon" (FULL LENGTH)

on No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)