Readers commentaries week of August 4, 2008
16 great commentaries on Survivalism, Empire of Lies, the Dollar, housing, offshore drilling and more.


Readers Essays

Dust and Shadow
(Chris Sullins, August 12, 2008)
I mentally went through all my gear I had just prepared. I was wearing part of it which included body armor with front and back ceramic plates, helmet, ballistic goggles lifted over the front lip of the helmet, a holstered pistol with spare mags, a Mossberg shotgun dangled by its sling from a carabiner clipped on my right shoulder strap, and pouches holding shotgun shells nested firmly to my front.

If we somehow got separated from the convoy or ended up on foot the most important piece of gear, my GPS unit, was also in a pouch. Sergeant H stood nearby checking out the gear of the two young specialists we were rotating in for their first mission outside the wire. It was 0400 and we would be lining up for the convoy at 0500. This moment in my memory was from sometime early in my deployment. It held great anticipation for me at the time. Now when I wake up at the same time I look back at it and wonder to myself “WTF was I thinking.”

Come and Take It
(Chris Sullins, August 12, 2008)
The state capitol court building was still in remarkable shape given everything that had happened in the nation over the last five years. It was now surrounded by an outer wall of steel-reinforced concrete topped with a spiral of razor wire.

The Self-Selected Remnant
(Chris Sullins, August 4, 2008)
One of the very few simple Arabic phrases I bothered to learn in Iraq was "I am a doctor." If I was captured despite my best efforts to die in a blaze of glory, I thought the phrase might buy me some time. Although it was not quite an accurate description of my actual military occupational specialty it sounded better and a lot shorter than "I am a licensed master of force multiplication and controlling angry combat."

The Carp Culture
(Rene Andre, August 4, 2008)
I am just an average joe schmoe who is trying to suck up an existance from the detritus and flotsam cast off by the Cream of Society. I know it, and so do you, that Americans are a wasteful bunch, who'd rather buy new than repair. They're trendy and competitive as well, so they have to have the newest latest gadget or toy so that they can continue to put on airs as the creme de la creme of society.
Enter the bottom feeders. I am not ashamed to claim that moniker. I have always been a scrounger and a trash can entrepreneur.

Energy and the Balance of Power
(Mark A. Ancona, August 4, 2008)
The United States is losing global hegemony. This is an uncomfortable, yet immutable truth, now repeated by an increasing number of powerful industry leaders and government officials. Having bankrupted our Nation with an un-winnable war, public bail-out of private investment bankers and Alan Greenspan’s nuclear housing bubble, we can no longer afford to engage in the frivolous waste of oil and natural resources. Many countries are coming of age with the re-discovery of their valuable natural resources. Previously third world nations are building first world infrastructures and economies with their new-found bounty.

Astounding Facts of Hidden History
(R. Christoffersen, August 4, 2008)
Things They Didn’t Tell You in History Class

Readers Journal essays express the views of the essays' writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of CHS. I post essays with a variety of views in order to stimulate our collective critical thinking. I have long posted essays which run counter to my own views because I could be wrong--and often have been.


Readers Poetry

Hanging Laundry In the 40s (Steve R.)

2008 hanging laundry feels good
Blue sky fabric infusion
Vapors rise wispy
Scent of cotton fresh
A Family garment memory of wearer’s waist and inseam. Sure
It is a bit more fuss than push button dry

2013 laundry hanging common
A chore reviled as much for tedium
As for the memory and sentence
Of convenience lost
The clumsy inconvenient clothespin business opportunity springs of necessity
Innocence to serve infernal truth

2018 the laundry hangs outside
All four seasons occasion
Reverent repetition
Summer textile plane arranging
Not efficient below 40, not much sense to try, but remarkable, in some latitude,
Push button dry still used

By 2023 few cars, the narrow lens
Of air so clear the sun pierces
Laundry hung even in the chill
Innovation, its own reward
Heat exchangers, new woods, reversals, past mistakes
Forgiven in hopeful moment

2028 People
Hang laundry
In the wind
Large commercial
Sterile dry heat machines, cost efficient
In population centers

As of 2035
No elders care to remembrance
The convenience of interglacial years
Hanging the family laundry
A prosaic act, neither heroic, nor tragic. Tuneless hum, on a good day might inspire;
At worst a bore

Quiet Revolution (Ken Kunst (C)2004)
(originally composed as a song lyric)

Are we free? Like we've been led to believe
or just slaves to technology and greed?
Am I free? Can I be?
What is my reality?

get out of your car....get off the phone
take a break from your pollution
try to breath...then you might see...
we need a Quiet Revolution

why are we, such busy bees?
this rat race makes me dizzy
what can you do?
the stress is in and around you...
you gotta find your solutions

take a walk...plant a tree...
listen to your inuition....
go inside, where your freedom lies...
make it a quiet revolution...
your own revolution, baby.. a quiet revolution, yeah....

can we discuss, what is wrong with us?
or keep on this road to nowhere?
seize the day...but slow it down...
this is one of my solutions...

pray and meditate...you'll feel great!
making your own small contribution
in and let it out...you don't have to scream or shout
make it a quiet revolution, baby...your own revolution...a quiet revolution...

2008 Archives

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