Pennybug, Coppernicus, Thog, Market Harmony, ScottyTX, adagirl, and any other fellow posters on this thread,
where do i begin?
at the beggining? coz i'm am literally rocked in my seat, my ADD is kicking in, as my brain is moving 20 different directions, its just a glorious thread......glorious, because even though cyber communications can be limiting.....we are communicating, we are in dialogue, and this dialogue is taking us in directions, none dare go today.
at least not in anyway meaningful, or without a lot of screaming and no listening.
Really if you analyze it, what passes off for political discussion these days is nothing more than semi-scripted television theater, complete with villians/heroes, us/them, depending on what "news channel" you watch, ....just for illustration, MSNBC vs. Fox.
I know it all started earlier, in the 90's Bill Clinton was either the devil or Elvis, Newt Gingrich was either the savior of "American values" or the devil, in the early aughts, the "left" or "progressives", went purple with rage "hating" Dubya (forget Cheney, to them he was a "Darth") 9/11 threw a lot of octane in the mix, all sorts of currents in a dark river, now in the late aughts and teens, Barry Obama has the "right"/"conservatives" absolutely wild with a visceral fury and hatred.
Meanwhile, in the midst of this scripted ....show (for want of a better word)...you get the "news".
Just THINKING about describing what a fools brew the "news" has become, makes me weary.
I mean think about it, if you dare, just go to the top of the hour, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, local affilates, and watch what they "lead" with, its inane, vain, like something out of Huxley's "Brave New World". Heaven forbid we stop for ONE second and think, "what in the world is going on?!"
Right now, i could reel off at least TWENTY situations, globally, and/or nationally that could "lead" before any of the pablum that does "lead" the news, things that are potential global/national gamechangers of such import, people would do a mass freakout.
The truth is too painful, and the human experience IS about avoiding pain, total pain avoidance, witness the sales of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications. (i'll leave erectile dysfunction med's out the mix)
the truth is too painful, and we all know it.
Thats why we're here; folks who buy sell and self bank( not going to use "hoard") copper, nickel and silver certainly must have a basic worldview that differs from the mainstream, wouldnt you think?
thats why the forum is called "realcent", because underneath it all, we don't trust the underlying national currency, and that in itself is a quiet act of rebellion.
and if you dont trust the currency, you dont trust the national polity, if you dont trust the national polity, you dont trust the national command authority, democrat or republican doesnt even matter. Our personal financial actions underline that erosion of trust.
Doesnt mean you're not a patriot if you dont trust national command authority. When you REALLY love something, God, family, a nation, you love with passion, and true passion should be rooted in clarity. Thats why i dont feel unpatriotic at all, when i say, in ITS CURRENT DEPRAVED IMPERIAL AMBITIONS, i do not trust national command authority.
LBJ----"Gulf of Tonkin", a lie spawned that cost the lives of 58,000 of our brave boys. God only knows how many million Vietnamese and yet at this second, i type this on a table of acacia wood, stamped "Made in Vietnam". Dick Nixon-"i'm not a crook"---"Watergate", which really was not so much about a break in of the DNC, but the exposure of covert operations, so anti-constitutional, so deep and twisted, in the perverting BOTH the Letter and the LAW of the Constitution, how could any sane American with both eyes open, stand by and say "I trust the national command authority", or "i trust the president"?...then to Carter, seduced by power and just hapless in the end, gamed by the folks in the five star bldg, and then the Gipper, not a bad guy, but it was only by the Grace and Mercy of God that we didnt ALL get incinerated in 1983.
i'm going to link a long wikipedia article about something called "Able Archer"....try not to blow it off, its all true, and it will just blow your mind, how close we REALLY came, and its all just come to light recently, and with LITTLE fan fare:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83and of course, there was "Iran-Contragate", which i really dont want to go into, because the same gameplay continues to this very day, only a thousand times more efficiently executed. i mean, you really dont think the "mexican mafia" got SO powerful all on its OWN, d'ya?
nuff said on that. Bush 41, and how he played. Smart fellow surrounded by some really smart guys, they did something hitler only DREAMED about, putting boots on the ground in the oil rich middle east and BEING BEGGED to do so. Brilliant move, the way Bush 41 gamed that idiot babylonian dictator into attacking Kuwait. Google "april glaspie saddam hussein", and see what conclusions you come up with. Hussein was actually stupid enough to be misled into thinking he had a tacit nod and wink to invade Kuwait, but thats the way we roll.
after all, we all want inexpensive gasoline, air conditioning, heating in winter, somebodies GOTTA get it for us, right?
here's the ending of "Three Days of the Condor", filmed in 1973, speaks volumnes, doesnt it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eovei355l4o"They'll just want you to get it for them".
and what plays bigger? "American Idol"....everybody talks it, thinks about it.
Kurt Cobain was a genius savant with his anthem, "Smells like Teen Spirit" to kick in the Clinton 90's, a soft fat era so full of self indulgence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYxkezUr8MQ"Here we are now, entertain us"......its funny, to consider that it might have a democrat that drove the nail thru the heart of the middle class, but thats what Clinton presided over, when we began to cede our manufacturing base over to the 3rd world.
Enough with the presidents and national command authority, the whole point i'm striving for is this:
do we trust national command authority, anymore?
if we did, we wouldnt be here at this forum, because we all are engaged in a rebellion of sorts, and wisdom dictates it should be a quiet rebellion, no fangs to it, no wild and crazy talk, just a few folks that see thru the mist, and are making quiet arrangements to protect hearth and kin by saying in deed, "no, this paper does not have my full faith as currency".
oh, i'll use it now, as we all will, but we know the ending, we have history as our guide.
But its the TRUST issue thats at the heart of this whole thing. Its like a wife or husband, that really betrays you...i mean REALLY betrrays you....honest injun? will you EVER really trust them again?
You see, thats why i got so intense against that poor fool trying to peddle the $500 box of clad halves for $3k.
by the by, nobody was foolish enough to hit that offer.
the reason i got intense about that tomfoolery is because in the larger scheme of things we have no control, we cant call the screwheads on their lies, we would either be ignored, or stepped on, we have no power.
But in this little world of silver trade, that is the physical, either on the forum, or say Ebay, we can raise a fuss, we can call the screwheads on their stuff, when they do things to destroy the TRUST of the market.
Its not that we're trying to protect the uneducated in silver/copper/nickel/hard money dealings, we're trying to protect and influence the integrity of the one small area of national life we can, the fair and honest trade of hard money. And i know every person here is absolutely dedicated to a world where a man or woman's honor in commercial dealings is a very precious thing, a world where if pennybug and i decide to trade some pre82's, he would KNOW my word is bond.
Color me idealistic, but i saw TOO much thievery going down on the trading floor, and as a 23 year old trader, could do or say naught, except to say, i never participated in any thievery, jimmy rigging the markets, or behavior that would bring shame upon me or my family.
i'm not as hopeful as some of you dear friends.
I HAVE to tell the story of a perfect storm headed our way, and i cant be quiet. i dont want to depress you, but let me just finish this by telling you whats on my heart, and it is the reason i do lean on God so much.
a perfect storm is headed our way and it has three elements:
the first-----a dwindling finite resource, Crude Oil, so vital to LIFE, as we know it, much of it located in the Islamic regions.
the second----the growing lust for nuclear weaponry, and nuclear weapons themselves are a perfect example of how sin soaked man's heart is, meaning, we can "mimic" the Power of God, by recreating the power of the sun, but for a few seconds, albeit enough to kill millions. Thats dark stuff.
the third------------"religious" fundamentalism....notice i use the word "religious"? i believe that "religion" and God are very different. "religion" is the dark turbid urge and institutions of mankind, while Faith in God is my path, a child-like dependence on God. You'd think that religious fundamentalism is relagated only to Islamic jihadis, but i've posted on too many Christian discussion forums, and know better. Terrible bitter divisive arguments over this bit of doctrine, that doctrine, what Bible translations are "okay", etc
and you can just see, dripping off the page...rage, which is wholly evil, and a lot of these Christians are so so scared of muslims...and hateful, and the Muslims hate them, so put these three elements together, and you can hear the gates of hell creaking open.
i wish, really wish i could end on an "up note", but i have to write whats on my heart. i'm sorry.
neil
for disclosure, i am a Jew who follows Jesus, by the way. i TRY to keep faith issues off realcent postings, because its not the right venue, and i would never want to stumble any new friends, who, at this time, are atheist's, agnostics, or just plain mad at God...my hope is that someday the Wind of the Spirit blows thru your heart and fills you with Love....but thats between you and God...or not.