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Browsing All Posts filed under »Analysis«
A Simple Theory of Complexity and Systemic Collapse
Hypothesis Every system has an activation, minimum, and maximum input level of materials and energy. Definitions: By system, I mean anything from a lightbulb to the US Interstate; ie any designed or analysable system. By input, I mean those materials and energy necessary for the system’s functioning. By maximum input, I mean that level of input […]
The Farce of Bradley Manning’s Persecution
March 11, 2012 by Angry. Red. Tory
At long last, Bradley Manning has been charged. It has only taken almost two years, and was more likely resulting from the military’s inability to ‘break’ him by torture into becoming a star ‘witness’ against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. The death penalty is probably still on the table, despite comments to the contrary, if merely […]
Censored News as Manufactured Corporate Products
January 17, 2012 by Angry. Red. Tory
As many noteworthy events unfold in these United States and elsewhere (National Defence Authorisation Act, for example), the disconnect between what is perceived important by people, and what is presented as important to people, is increasingly jarring. Calls of ‘censorship’ are growing, and with good reason: The lack of meaningful news, especially from domestic news […]
Working General Theory of Taxation
January 16, 2012 by Angry. Red. Tory
This essay consolidates several different posts, which can be read via Part 1 of the series. Additionally, I have refined and improved upon these previous writings, so if you read them, please keep in mind they have been superseded. Basic Taxation Taxation has often suffered a rather negative showing in the arena of public opinion. […]
NDAA: Building the Terror State
January 3, 2012 by Angry. Red. Tory
Image via the band Anti-Flag With the passage of the (insufficiently infamous) National Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA, into law, there are growing and well-founded cries of ‘police state’, even ‘martial law’. The second is not accurate, although I understand the sentiment. Martial law is when military authorities take over order enforcement, because the civilian authority […]
A Story of PERF-idy
November 29, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
Image via The Daily Bail. Ever since this Democracy Now! interview, the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF, a previously unregarded police strategy NGO, has been receiving some clearly undesired attention. In that interview, PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler unwisely let slip that it was PERF which had been coordinating the conference calls which Oakland […]
These Disunited, War-Ravaged States
November 20, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
Just recently I went on a day-trip to Yakima, Washington. I highly recommend not moving there, for any reason. If you already live there, dear Reader, you have my sympathies. The city looks like it had been carpet bombed. Only one real city street was left, filled with very sad and poor people and looked […]
Why the Democrats and Republicans are So Eerily Similar
October 29, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
Image via zazzle.com There is a very good reason why the Democrat and Republican parties seem similar. The roots of both parties are sunk in the same place: a political suasion known as Whigism. In a nutshell, Whig thought can be best called proto-corporatism. They favoured the consolidation of economic power into privately owned institutions, […]
What’s Wrong with Issuing $2,000,000,000,000 in Platinum Coins?
July 17, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
By Neil Paynter Our editor-in-chief recently had a bit of Twitter repartee with Joseph Firestone, who has a notion for the US Mint to issue coins to cover the budget deficit. You can read it here. While technically a legal and mechanically achievable notion, it is nevertheless a terrible idea. Why? Because of the great […]
“This Fucking War”
July 14, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
A few days ago I was having coffee with a friend, and she told me about one of her friends who just lost a son in Afghanistan. “This fucking war… I don’t know why we’re even there,” she said sotto voce. “It’s not like we’re going to change their culture,” she added. It’s not like […]
Hobbesian Revolutions
May 15, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
In this previous post, I wrote about how generally Thomas Hobbes regarded rebellions in his book Leviathan. In this post I want to update Hobbes’ concepts to take petroleum-based energy into account. Significant economic changes were brought about by the world-wide switch to fossil fuels — petroleum — as the primary energy source for almost […]
Thomas Hobbes on Revolution
May 7, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
One of the basic concepts one takes away from Thomas Hobbes’ immortal Leviathan, is that revolution is not a good idea. In fact, he very carefully lays out the reasons why it is a very bad idea, which I will loosely sketch out here. In a phrase, it is better to keep the devil you […]
Nuclear Power: Risk-Free Privatised Profits
April 23, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
Much comment has been made that if the nuclear power industry were forced to accept the liability (risk) of building nuclear reactors, no nukes would ever be built. This is very true: the only way that nuclear reactors are build are: 1) the host government has to eminent domain property in order to build the […]
State of War: The Nightmare of Thomas Hobbes
April 17, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
State of War: The Nightmare of Thomas Hobbes Although he never used the term, Thomas Hobbes is credited with describing the concept now called the State of War, in his immortal Leviathan of 1651. In the original spellings, the source paragraphs are as follows: “There Is Alwayes Warre Of Every One Against Every One Hereby […]
Flags & Borders in a Revolutionary World
April 2, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
As the revolution ramped up in Libya, the people gathered around a symbol which identified them as not being supporters of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The symbol was the flag of the monarchy which Gaddafi overthrew, and was subsequently adopted by the Transitional National Council as their official flag. In the context of the post-Soviet, […]
Is Nuclear Power State-Sponsored Terrorism?
March 29, 2011 by Angry. Red. Tory
Image: © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM The situation in Japan is terrible, and it is only getting worse. Despite the attempts of the Japanese government to spin a happy cartoon about the matter, the Fukushima nuclear disaster is infinitely more serious than a case of bad gas. Japan is facing not one, but at least four separate potential […]
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April 24, 2013 by Angry. Red. Tory
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