The Wasteland (w/ salute to t.s. eliot)

If you are one of those people who believes your government is a benign and righteous entity out to serve you and your best interests, stop here, because what follows is a thorough trashing of anything remotely resembling a government.

Most militaries are functions of governments.  They are the thugs that enforce the government's will on perceived enemies, both foreign and domestic.  At a local level, the military is usually called "police," at a state level its the "national guard" or "state police," and at a national level its called "army" or some variant thereof depending on medium over which it seeks dominance (the elements of earth, air, water, space, etc.).

Sometimes, the military serves the public interest, be it good, bad or indifferent.  Most of the time it is out of control and either covertly or overtly runs the civilian powers.  In the covert function, we commonly call it the Military Industrial Complex.  Overtly, we call it "junta" or "martial law," or similar epithet.

Most people think the military serves a valuable function.  They have been trained since birth to "support the troops" or "bend the knee," but in any case they bow to force of any kind.  This is because people think of "life" as a limited commodity, thus they will cower behind any entity that promises more of it.

A military runs on strategy.  If you've ever programmed in the archaic FORTRAN language, then you have a deep understanding of how military thinking works.  Everything in the world is an IF>THEN statement or a DOLOOP.  You either respond and advance/retreat, or you get bogged down in a morass.

To game out these situations, militaries create War Colleges.  This is a collection of a nation's best strategists, who pull out a piece of paper, make two columns (OFFENSE and DEFENSE) and proceed to think of every possible scenario and how to respond to it with any given set of resources.

I assure you, the current global situation has been gamed to the Nth degree for decades, down to air pressure and wind direction.  The creation of AI and supercomputers has made it all the more complex, adding dimensions of timing, stellar alignments and (based on your Amazon buying habits) the projected behavior of billions of people at any moment.

What it boils down to, is that we are being gamed by someone.  Our collective response is already known.  The headlines are written to extract the exact reaction from a precise demographic.  Every news outlet knows who is watching and what they want to hear, and the information put out is tuned to their sensitivities.

No matter how smart you think you are, you are susceptible to this Beast.  Even though I know how it works and why, I fight a continuous battle to break out of the programming and think clearly.  When you know precisely how an atomic clock works, it doesn't stop you from being amazed by the unerring vibration of Strontium-50.


In our modern world, everything has been gamed.  Information has been weaponized.  The human condition has been modeled down to being able to predict your behavior by your purchases.  If you have any social or economic habits of any kind, someone can predict how you will behave in any given situation with a fair degree of accuracy.  There are a finite number of personality types, and you are one of them.

We have reached a point in our collective development that most of our deepest thought processes are now algorithms.  I can determine your profile, enter it into a computer, adjust the conditions, and be fairly certain you will do anything I predict with a table of uncertainty built in.

With a big enough computer (think super or quantum), I can load in demographics for any given population, feed in a set of external conditions, and get a table of likely outcomes with their associated percentages of certainty.  And they are pretty damned accurate, with the outcomes plotted on a candlestick graph showing the likely range of reactions.

Add to that the ability to control what the individual knows in any given population, and now I can predict what you know and how you will react.  With sophisticated media, I can even control how any given group will react by sensitizing that group over time with certain views and beliefs.  In other words, by controlling how groups interpret religious beliefs, I can control how they will react to specific inputs based on their programmed worldviews.

Given that most of the world has some type of religious belief system and has been educated in a certain curriculum, I now have the ability to tailor information to get any group of people to behave a certain way.

There is nothing magical here, in the strictest sense.  These techniques have been studied for the better part of two centuries, with religious tool sets stretching back into antiquity.  These tools have been developed and refined for millennia.

With all that said, do you really think a novel virus has to be released into a global population?  How many people reading this can verify information coming out of China or Italy or Spain or New York?  How many of us just accept the infection and death tolls without calling a colleague in another country or hot spot to confirm?  How many of us choose an "authority" and just follow that without question?  Do you reject Trump but like Fauci?  Do you accept the Pope but reject the Dalai Lama?  Do you listen to the CDC but dismiss the WHO?  Does the FED have more weight than the IMF?  The UN over your personal governmental agencies?

Whichever set of "authorities" you choose will determine your outlook on the current situation.  That is predictable.  Whatever viewpoint you adopt based on those "authorities" will color your responses and activities based on the information packet you ingest.  That much is predictable.  At some level, someone can predict at a global, regional, national, and local level just how any group of people will react to any given set of headlines.

And now back to the military.

In this brave new world, there is no need to bomb, strafe, invade, or even fire a single bullet.  The most advanced war colleges have already gamed this situation.  They know what it would take to start it, what every possible response will be, and have some means to counter it.

You are not reading headlines or listening to reports.  You are being attacked by one group, and covered by another.  It makes no difference who/what you believe.  Whoever wins this war will decide what was right and what was "enemy".

At a certain level, we are all pieces on a game board being advanced and withdrawn in a game we did not sign up to play, but that we support with our undying allegiance to governments and militaries.

All of your possible responses have been modeled and anticipated.  You have been sensitized to follow certain "authorities" since birth.  There really is no way out, because even if you call bullshit on all of it, you are part of a demographic that will carry you along with it willing or not.

There is/isn't a new virus.  It is/isn't infecting/killing people.  Your "authorities" are/aren''t responding appropriately.  Civilization will/won't survive.

It doesn't matter what you or I believe/don't believe.  We are surrounded by billions of preprogrammed automatons and our habits and resources have been duly noted and modeled.

The war began before you or I were even aware of it.  The game is already well under way.  How you and I respond is inconsequential.

With that set of conditions, where do we go from here?

The Gay Divorcee

The high-level game of one-upmanship is progressing apace.  You've got the Russians shutting down AEGIS-class destroyers and the Americans blowing up Proton-M rockets with the latest communications satellite on-board.  The Crimean banks just switched to the new Russian financial clearing system and the Americans leaving scorched earth in Ukraine.

You've got China quietly sitting in the background.  These guys are shrewd.  Their rhetoric is clearly aligned with Moscow, but they haven't taken a direct action towards either camp.  They are playing their own game of watching and learning, while toodling around on the Moon with their little buggy learning all the stuff that has been so carefully hidden from the world for 50 years.

The EU is looking rather silly and confused.  On the one hand, they want to stay aligned with the US masters, but on the other, they see the US leadership has completely lost touch with reality.  They are teetering precariously on the fence trying to decide which side has the most king's horses and king's men to put it back together again.

Australia, historically a staunch US ally, is starting to waver.  They see the US playing a dangerous game of destabilization in the Pacific, which is soiling the Ozzie back yard.  They may have cultural and historical ties to the US,  but they also know which side of the toast is buttered when it come to trade and playing well with neighbors.

The US has obviously lost a lot of points in South America.  Brazil, a long-time ally and hot economy, is finding much greener pastures elsewhere.  Columbia and Venezuela, having been invaded by the US decades ago under something called the "War on Drugs," struggling to get out of the US tent and breathe a little fresh air.  Even quiet little Ecuador is tired of being ridden by economic hitment and want to get a little taste of their own resources.

Argentina hasn't had much luck the past few decades getting their economic cow pies together, but they are quite sure that playing in the US sandbox (and by extension the UK box-read Faulklands) is not in their best interests.

Underneath all of these macro currents, the number of secessionist movements globally has jumped dramatically in the past few years - Scotland and Venice being notable examples.  On this point, I am definitely torn.  Having worked many years in the Texas independence movement, I know the impulse and drive that makes a people want to throw off oppressive slavery and make a few decisions for one's self, for a change.

The problem with this is that you run smack into the old "devil you know" situation rather quickly.

Anyone who has ever been divorced knows that weird feeling of suddenly missing what was making you miserable.  You'll fall for anyone almost instantly just to replace that comfort of the familiar as fast as possible.  In a different situation, it's called the Stockholm Syndrome.

Once you have gone through all the court proceedings, and your friends have long since tired of hearing your litany of reasons for wanting out of the marriage, you find yourself in a position of being solely responsible for your well-being and the choices you make.  Even worse...in those moments when you just want someone to lean on, even a barb-wire covered post is better than nothing.

Furthermore, you no longer have anyone to back you up, regardless of the cost to your dignity and self-respect.  It's like the escaped slave running through the bramble, stepping on sharp stones with bare feet, and tripping over unseen obstacles - evenutally he will have the thought that at least he had three squares and knew where all the hazards were back when he was in captivity.

Finally, the main problem with independence is that one tends to cast wildly for new friends to work with, and this is where nefarious types step in to take advantage of one's weakness.  This is the classic divide-and-conquer scenario.  Break a member of the herd off alone and they are quickly very vulnerable to your evil machinations.

Herein lies the rub...people want independence and freedom, which is a good and, some would say, holy desire.  But there are wolves at the gates waiting to rip the flesh from bone as soon as those people are free of their protective shell - whether by stealth (sheep's clothing) or the direct take-down.

The PTB have acted in concern as a single, if not factionalized, entity for centuries.  They are above nations and without loyalty to anything but themselves.  Though they may disagree on the methods and tactics, they are united in their desire to rip us apart.

Smaller and smaller political units means the PTB have an easier and easier time of conquering.  That is why you see such effort to tear apart the Ukraine, or slice Scotland off the top of the island, or divide the various political forces within Iran, or keep the 'Stans ancient rivalries and hatreds stoked.  The larger the group, the harder it is to attack.  Exploiting weakness is a sure-fire way to win.

Humans have an instinct to 'circle the wagons' when under attack.  Obviously, the bigger the circle, the harder it will be to attack, and the opposing force risks a great deal in doing so.  Ideally, you want to get each wagon alone, so that there are no protected sides, no layered defenses and far more vulnerabilities.

The one major weakness of independence movements is that they rarely have long-term plans for when they succeed.  Cast loose, nations are like new divorcees, they will bed down with anyone who shows the least interest in them in order to feel the old comfort again, and that's where the PTB usually win.

Independence movements should first put their efforts and momentum into reforming what they have.  Failing that, they should corral their best and brightest to come up with a long-term strategy for survival once independence is gained.  This includes listing one's assets and deficits, and carefully forging relationships that include parsing the other sides' agendas.

One thing is certain, most independence movements fails right at the point where they succeed.  Since most do not have long-term plans, the general populace reacts with rebound syndrome and will run back to the devil they know rather than face an uncertain future.

Long-term plans must, perforce, include cultural, legal, diplomatic, educational, and economic solutions to the future.  It is easier to change an existing plan, than to plow forward in the dark with no clue.

One thing is sure - those outsiders who will support an independence movement from the start often have hidden agendas.  It is only after a successful divorce that worthy potential suitors will step forward.  It is key to remember that 'divide and conquer' always serves the divisor and never the divided.

The first step to independence is to act like you are already independent and start making clear-headed and long-reaching decisions for yourself, and especially taking full responsibility for the outcome of those decisions - good or bad.

Oftentimes one finds that by thinking and acting independent, one becomes independent.  Revolution by arms is never so efficient and clean as revolution by mind.  Stop thinking like a slave and the rest follows.

The Thought Heard Round The World

"...and the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air..."

Ah, the immortal words of war enshrined in the American national anthem.  It's no wonder the country prepares to celebrate independence by positioning war ships and materiel offshore of yet more targets of unilateral aggression.  It's no wonder that country has populated the world with war drones and bathed other nations in blood and depleted uranium.

It's no wonder no one is too upset about Fukushima.  The Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya wars have unleashed amounts of radiation that will take some reactors in Japan a few more years to match.

Any more, independence day is pretty much an oxymoron, at least as far as America goes.  About the only thing left there that's still independent are the banksters and corporations that run the country.  Everything else is owned lock, stock and two smoking barrels.

Kind of a shame, too.  It was a great idea.  Those founder guys imagined a land where everyone was educated to the hilt.  They foresaw a new Golden Age based on enlightened citizens spending summer afternoons arguing the finer points of Plato, Descartes and Bacon.  They dreamed of a nation that incorporated Rome in its glory mixed with Atlantis, populated by philosopher-kings whose realms were loosly confederated into an absolutely egalitarian society that would lead the world in moral, ethical and intellectual pursuits.

Oops.

Looks like things got derailed somewhere around Lincoln.

I suppose the dream could be recaptured, but it would take at least a century, since that's how long the Prussian model schools have been indoctrinating the nation's youth.  It would take at least two generations just to undo all the damage caused by psychiatry and social workers.  It wouldn't be easy, either.  People being deprogrammed tend to react badly.  Just ask Tom Cruise.

Look at the great hordes of folks that, despite 60 years of evil unleashed by Washington, America is the "greatest nation on Earth" and the least corrupt, most lawful nation with the highest standard of living and the best of everything.

It's not.

It's just another empire, like all the empires that have come before, and the ones likely to follow.  The most probable legacies of America are fast food and nuclear weapons.  The most enduring empire in history is the Roman, and it had to disguise itself as a church and religion to do it.  That's about the only thing Washington hasn't tried yet, but they are certainly trying, if you listen to the holy rhetoric coming from the sacred gobs.

America could take a lesson from Indonesia.  You see, here the politicians and bureaucrats simply ignore the law, much as they do in the States.  The difference is, the Indonesian people follow suit.  They figure if the lawmakers don't abide by their own laws, why should we?  You end up with a kind of beautiful mildly controlled anarchy that works just fine, thank you.

No need to worry, though.  It seems, at least from listening to the news and various prognosticators, that everything is about to change in rather profound ways.

Naturally, the PTB are fear-mongering because that is what they do best.  They use fear to manipulate not only people, but the very fabric of time-space itself.  All we have to do is follow Douglas Adams' advice, and Don't Panic!

The ninnies that imagine themselves in charge of everything have built themselves extensive underground caves to hide in, because the first rule of using fear to control is that the user must also be very afraid of losing control.

What will happen, most likely, is that we will realize in a couple of hundred years that H. G. Wells was right after all.  The PTB will retreat to their caves like good little troglodytes and try to run the world as they slowly mutate into Morlock.  Our job, as the Eloi, is to make sure we don't end up as food stock for them, but rather help to seal them in and forget about them while we rebuilt our planet into something much more interesting and sane.

I've worked pretty hard to do just that.  At the Junior Far Side World Headquarters, sitting 1,290 meters above mean sea level, I've installed a water well with a hand-pump, and I'm in the process of getting a solar array up and working.  The house is located just a couple of miles from our 7-hectare farm, which is even higher up, and currently growing teak wood for building materials.  It's isolated, has a cool breeze all the time, and a year-round growing season.  In true Far Side tradition, whichever way the PTB are going, I'm going in the opposite direction.

It's time to give up on the world as it currently exists.  I see little hope for it all.  More often than not, I have found Mark Twain's advice to always go against the common wisdom to be most beneficial.  One spends a lot of time being ridiculed, but the part I hate is that by the time I can say, "I told you so," everyone already thinks it was all their idea in the first place.  By that point, I'm already going the opposite direction again, anyway.

No, I'm not a rabid contrarian like the guy in Little Big Man.  I don't wash with dirt and dry off with water and ride horses backwards.  But if I see a mass of people rushing to one side of the boat, I figure it's prudent to go to the other side.  At least the waters will be less crowded with panicked people when we all end up in the drink.

What it all boils down to is this...as you celebrate independence day, think about all the ways you are dependent and try to figure out a way to reverse that problem.  Seize your heritage and become a subversive in any of a hundred different and quiet ways.  Become passive-aggressive.  Appear to appease the glory-eaters, while chipping away at their control structure a little at a time.

You don't have to go head-to-head and fight an open war.  The best way to fight an overpowering enemy is the classic hit-and-run.

For instance, install a solar water heater and take your old gas or electric tank off the grid.  If you have a smart meter on your house, put a lead box around it so it can't communicate with the grid.  Get an FTA satellite system and cancel your cable subscription.  Join with your neighbors and buy a cow every couple of months, have it butchered and share the meat.  Turn every open patch of ground around your house into a food-generating piece of dirt.  Grow veggies and medicinal herbs.  Buy, sell and trade for everything you can using co-ops and grey markets.  Don't buy anything new.  Watch the classified ads for things you want and only pay cash.  Keep your bank account with a minimal amount of money in it.  If you get paid by check, cash it.  If you have direct deposit, withdrawn the whole amount every payday.  Buy a safe and keep your money at home.  Close your safe deposit boxes and put your import documents in the safe, as well.  Get a passport and let all your other ID expire (passport numbers change every 10 years and you can use them in any country).

See?  No violence.  No big show of subversion.  Just a thousand little ways to extract yourself from their game.  If five million people figured out a way to keep $1 out of the hands of the system each month, look how much fun that could be.

For independence day, declare yourself independent.  Fight back without throwing a single punch or even an angry word.  You'd be amazed at how powerful you feel even doing these little things to slap the supposed owners of all they survey.  You'll notice too that these little suggestions don't take a lot of effort, and they can fill time that would otherwise be given over to TeeVee indoctrination.  Heck, the kids can even get in on the action, and the experience will teach them some valuable skills, as well as the importance of self-sufficiency.

And none of it is illegal...yet.

This revolution stuff can be so much fun!  Happy independence day!

Merdeka!

Got the flag hung out just now. Tuesday is Indonesia's 65th independence day. It'll be a national holiday and there'll be neighborhood parties with games and gatherings. Of course, this year, it falls smack in the middle of Ramadan, so anything involving food and beverage will have to wait until after sundown.

A popular item on the agenda of many Indonesians is to visit the graves of the heroes. There are national cemeteries dotted around and folks buy red and white flower pedals to cover the graves. Many have direct relatives (grandfather, father, husband) buried there. The revolution is still in living memory. One 80-year-old woman has told me stories about the war. The revolution is still a powerful reminder of the empowerment of the people.

In so many ways, Indonesia is the mirror image of the United States. The US went on to develop an entrenched two-party system, that effectively means no choice. Indonesia went the other direction with about 40 parties currently vying for power. The US fractured itself into Various-Americans and spends a lot of effort dividing itself asunder, while Indonesia struggles to build a single identity from a very diverse population. Indonesia still reveres its revolutionary heroes, while the US has developed a kind of schizophrenic self-loathing regarding its Founders.

The similarities between Indonesia and the US are striking. They are both about the same physical size, though Indonesia is a lot wetter. They have about the same population and are composed of a wide variety of people with differing histories, languages and cultures. Both countries have vast natural wealth and great natural beauty. Both aspire to a republican form of government composed of semi-autonomous regions in confederation. But that's where things diverge widely.

Imagine a scenario in which the native Americans had risen up and kicked out the European invaders and you would have Indonesia. After centuries of exploitation by wave after wave of foreign invaders, the native population came together to cast off the oppressive occupations of China, Arabia, Portugal, Japan, and the Netherlands. Nation after nation has tried to control and profit from the incredible wealth of resources that are contained within the archipelago.

Indonesia consists of around 20,000 islands, ranging from the massive Borneo down to the cartoon-style "one coconut tree on a sand bar." All of the land areas where created by chains of volcanoes, many still actively creating new land today. The primary islands are Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi, and Papua or Irian Jaya. Borneo is shared by Malaysia and Brunei, which take the northern third or so. Papua is shared with New Guinea, and tiny Timor L'este takes part of a small southern island (the name means East-East, in Indonesian and Portuguese). Otherwise, Indonesia has no land borders.

The country is dominated politically and culturally by Java. The capitol is in Jakarta, which is the largest city in Indonesia, with a population of approximately 12 million. In the same way that New York dominates the media nad culture of America, Jakarta does the same in Indonesia. Television programs center around the city and Javanese culture dominates the drama and humor. Western Java (Jakarta and environs) also get the bulk of infrastructure development, with modern highways, mass transit, and so forth. Road conditions outside of Java are spotty, at best.

For this reason, many of the outlying regions resent Java. Many folks grumble about all the focus on Java and the lack of funds to improve roads and utilities. Many areas experience regular black-outs, which are relatively rare in Jakarta. Travel in most areas is tedious, if not downright hazardous due to poor roads, especially in the rainy season. It has also led to sometimes violent secessionist movements, such as in Papua, Aceh and successfully in Timor L'este. There is even a somewhat contradictory situation where people regularly protest for more jobs and better conditions, while at the same time moving to Jakarta to find them. This leads to additional pressure on the government to develop other areas, if for no other reason than to alieve the congestion caused by the mass movement of people to the city.

To its credit, the current administration led by President Bambang (SBY) has done quite a bit to open trade blocks, grant regional autonomy and decentralize the power ctructure. It is helping, as areas like Medan, East Kalimantan and northern Sulawesi have experienced good growth in both tourism and general business and trade. There is a move to build more airports so make getting around easier and faster. Communications have exploded in the past ten years with the introduction of cell phones and WiFi. There are even road projects underway to improve ground transportation. So there is hope.

Indonesia is governed by Dutch law, which comes from Napoleonic law, and thus resembles Louisiana law somewhat. There is a healthy spinkling of Sharia, and in some regions like Aceh, it is the law of the land. Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives, as long as he can feed and care for them at some minimal level. One advantage that everyone can share are very low bank rates for loans and credit cards. Sharia forbids usury, so the gross abuse of interest rates seen in the US does not exist here.

The government is unicameral and parliamentary, with the many parties receiving seats based on votes, and then forming coalitions once seated. There is an upper-level advisory body that acts like a cross between a Senate and a Cabinet. These ministers advise and enforce policy. One advantage of the system is that it keeps the number of laws passed to a minimum because of all the disagreement within the House. This is in stark contract to the US where both parties trip over themselves to pass laws, if for no other reason than to show they are doing SOMETHING. The Indonesian laws that i have read seem fairly clear and concise, without all the mumbo-jumbo lawyering and obfuscating that goes into US law. Yes, there is indemnic corruption at all levels of government here. Every official is on the take and even competing branches feed each other. To my point of view, this is refreshing, as it is open, obvious and everyone knows it. In the US, they spend inordinate amounts of time and effort trying to legitimize the whole thing, ehich really just makes the situation worse. About the only thing that can get you in real trouble here is terrorism and drug-running, and the drugs can go away also, for a large enough sum.

The list of good and bad goes on and on. Indonesia has its problems, like any other country. As a whole, it has an inferiority complex, though. They have been told for so long that they are a third-world or developing country, that they still think there are better places "out there." Many are surprised to hear that the US and Europe are not all that different, and in recent years the gap has narrowed significantly. Part of it is also due to hundreds of years of servitude to wave after wave in invaders. They are still opening their minds to the possibilities of freedom, even as the West is selling itself into slavery.

It is exciting to live in a country where there is still a future and where people are just starting to dream really big. Here on the eve of 65 years of independence, and with a newly invigorated sense of Self, Indonesia is poised to be a powerful influence in the coming 100 years. It's wealth and creativity make it a powerhouse, if it doesn't squander the opportunity. Its internal differences are a strength, if harnessed for ideas rather than divisiveness. It is one of the few countries worldwide that is experiencing vigorous grouth right now. So the cards are stacking in favor of Indonesia. All that remains is to play them well.

Happy Birthday, Indonesia! And many happy returns.