What if?

I mentioned that I'm reading Stephen King's new book, 11/22/63.  The plot revolves around the main character who discovers a time portal that transports him back in time to a September day in 1958.  He takes it upon himself to prevent some local catastrophes and discovers how difficult it is to change history.  As King writes throughout the book, "History is obdurate."

I have not yet finished the book, but that hasn't stopped me from wondering how the world would be different today had Oswald missed the president that fateful November day in 1963.  Oswald's wife, Marina, testified to the Warren Commission that Oswald was the person who attempted to assassinate the bigot, segregationist, jingoistic, John Bircher General Edwin Walker in Dallas in April, 1963.  He missed - and from a range much closer than his shot at the president a few months later.  What if?

What if Oswald had succeeded in killing Walker?  Surely he could not then have shot at President Kennedy 7 months later in Dallas, right?  What if he had missed both times?  How would the world be different today?

Would Kennedy have escalated the war in Vietnam as Johnson did?  How many lives hung in the balance of those shots that Oswald took?  Surely, RFK would not have been running for election in 1968, right?  How would the world be different if he had lived?  And how did Kennedy's death affect the arc of MLK's life and death?  And the impact on our country?

Gently Weeping

Great cover of Harrison's great hit, While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Tom Petty and friends.  I was surprised by the appearance of, and then the performance of Prince.  An amazing guitarist.  Period.

Pre Revolutionary

Regardless of how you feel about the Occupy protesters, it's quite clear that the establishment is mishandling the assemblies.  The Cal Davis campus police indiscriminately beat and pepper sprayed student and faculty protesters on Saturday.  Many were hospitalized for exercising their Constitutional rights of free assembly.  There have been numerous calls for the chancellor's resignation and it's hard to see how she survives this with her job.

Professor Michael Hudson discusses the latest poverty figures and OWS with RT News.

11/22/1963

I'm reading Stephen King's new novel about a guy who can enter a time portal that takes him back to a September day in 1958.  From here, the fellow can do any number of things that can change the course of history.  There are historical references throughout the book that allow you to think back on an era past and wonder how we ever made it through a day without cell phones or our google machines.

The story line is pretty good, although I get a little hung up on probability and paradoxes.  King's writing is adequate, but, really, it's the story that is carrying the book.  So far.

More later - it's a chore of a book.  Almost 900 pages.

Military State

It's frustrating trying to get accurate information about the protests taking place here in the US.  The corporate media is bending over backwards to skew the coverage or not cover it at all.  The UK Guardian, on the other hand, has had excellent coverage.  Non biased and detailed, even, in my opinion, outclassing the NY Times, which one could find hard to believe given that the OWS New York protest is in their backyard.

The Guardian ran a story about Dorli Rainey, an 84 year old activist who was pepper sprayed by police who viewed her as a threat.

We're rapidly approaching a tipping point with the protests as the establishment continues to overreact to the movement.  Every attempt to break up the protesters is met with a larger group soon after.  The establishment continues to use tactics from the 1930s to battle peaceful citizens demanding redress in the 21st Century.  It's not working.

NH IS NUMBER 1!

At drinking alcohol.

According to this report, we double the national average in alcohol consumption.

What state came out on top of the tap? New Hampshire had the most widespread booze consumption in the poll. The average adult in that state doubled the national per capita average, gulping an average of 6.7 gallons of wine each and 3.8 gallons of liquor in 2010. Some in the health industry attribute this to the state’s popularity for both winter and summer vacations.

Popularity for both winter and summer vacations?  I always knew that tourists annoyed the hell out full-time residents, but never would have guessed the extent of it.

There is no national debt.

I get a kick out of all these US debt clocks.  I mean, jumpin' jeebus, what do people think these folks used to buy the US Treasuries that they are holding?  They used US dollars.  What's the difference in debt obligation to a holder of dollars compared to a holder of Treasuries?  Nothing.

The US has a sovereign, fiat currency.  Our federal government is an issuer of currency and, as such, can never go broke.  Ever.  We simply print the money we need to pay the debts.  Couldn't be more simple.  If you want to discuss the inflationary concerns about this, that is a different topic entirely.  Let's first all agree that the US can never go broke.