Yeah, this was just pathetic on so many levels. Having spent the last few days in the South, I can see how the blight of corporate monoculture has taken ugly root.

You always hear the line about “returning America to her greatness.” What period, exactly, was this? Suckers can pine for their lost USA that never was; the rest of us should keep working toward that more perfect union, even if it seems impossible.

On a more pessimistic note, I of late feel possessed by an almost religious zeal (except for the fact that it’s Reason-driven) to expunge from the Earth the disease of laisse-fairs capitalism and the global scourge it has come to represent. Only now are we seeing the true cost of this “experiment,” writ horrific in the imploding global markets, petrodictatorships, jihadist movement and impending environmental catastrophe.

Of nice comfort at all is the knowledge that the unwtaveling of this flawed ideology is likely to be accompanied by a whole new level of discomfort for the human animal. Strap yerselfs in, kids — she’s about to get REAL bumpy.

what about tramplings at concerts and soccer games? I guess they don’t count because they’re not wal-mart. everybody loves to hate wal-mart . . .
does Altamont make the Stones evil?

what is evil or wrongdoing anyway? does anybody at this blog use a coherent system of ethics? If so what is it?
what, exactly, is wrong with wal-mart?
just being repugnant to you is not a moral argument.

should we just replace capitalism with another centrally controlled utopian scheme? those always work out great.
Especially when you have to enforce the specifics of the new system with some good ole political imprisonment or death.

what will you do to those who think the new system is idiotic and refuse to participate? jail right? boots kickin’ in doors and the like.

i’m with you on the “blot of corporate . . in the South. I’m really glad I live in VT as far as being pounded by malls and chains goes. VT allows local yokels like myself to stay in business.
i think i misread your comment and reacted too quickly.
I’m getting off the internet and going back to work. I’ve gotta sell some stuff!

The Stones were already evil, independent of Altamont.

Dammit, I have too many Libertarian friends (at current count, two). It makes it difficult to unload with both barrels.

Your “police state boogeyman” argument is fucking ridiculous and needs to be let go. When our democratic capitalist system works is affords immunity from culpability to the telecom giants in the mass surveillance of the citizenry, I think we’re there.

By the by, our Police exist to uphold the status quo, and to a lesser degree, to protect the citizens from inflicting undue harm on themselves. They succeed at only one of their aims.

One only has to trace the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, to see the hidden hand of the global free market ideology — coups, assasinations, petrodictatorships and more have been the result of the American quest for economic hegemony.

Even the Marshall Plan (which cost a lot more than the New Deal, my Libertarian friends), was a carrot designed to ensnare a divded Europe on the tenterhooks of American-style capitalism. Hey, the investment paid off, right?

For a while.

To trace the roots of our current global financial crisis is to see the messy fingerprints of a poison philosophy that has always benefitted the few at the expense of the many. Take a drive through the country, if you don’t believe me. they’re still waiting for that glorious free market trickledown in Selma, AL, among other places.

What will replace this utterly flawed and now broken system is not within my ability to forecast. I do believe it should take more into account than individual profit, however. Because to choose otherwise is to be complicit in the destruction of the world and our place in it.

The Stones were already evil, independent of Altamont.

Dammit, I have too many Libertarian friends (at current count, two). It makes it difficult to unload with both barrels.

Your “police state boogeyman” argument is fucking ridiculous and needs to be let go. When our Gov’t affords immunity to the telecom giants in the mass surveillance of the citizenry, I think we’re already there.

By the by, our police exist to uphold the status quo, and to a lesser degree, to protect the citizens from inflicting undue harm on themselves. They succeed at only one of their aims.

Our military exist to open new foreign markets through force, with the political cover of “humanitarian intervention.” They haven’t “protected” Americans since WWII.

One only has to trace the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, to see the hidden hand of the global free market ideology — coups, assasinations, petrodictatorships and more have been the result of the American quest for economic hegemony.

Even the Marshall Plan (which cost a lot more than the New Deal, my Libertarian friends), was a carrot designed to ensnare a divded Europe on the tenterhooks of American-style capitalism. Hey, the investment paid off, right?

For a while, anyway.

To trace the roots of our current global financial crisis is to reveal the fingerprints of a poison philosophy that has always benefitted the few at the expense of the many. Take a drive through the country, if you don’t believe me. they’re still waiting for that glorious free market trickledown in Selma, AL, among other places.

What will replace this utterly flawed and now broken system is not within my ability to forecast. I do believe it should take more into account than individual profit, however. Because to choose otherwise is to be complicit in the destruction of the world and our place in it.

if this is the beginning of the apocalypse,
then I”m voting for Slayer as world ruler. only they can show us the true anti-christ

I’m with you. Have you heard their new song? It rules, of course.