Windows to Russia

George finally decided that Svetochka is A-Okay! He came to see what she is up to. At first when Sveta came, George was confused, for we took down our, “No girls allowed!” sign. (Just kidding! Well maybe….) And he wondered who this strange female creature was, called Svetochka. But yesterday, he allowed Svetochka to take his picture. He is our hunting Shrike that lives at our home and is one beautiful bird. Sorry the image was taken in full against sunlight, but yes George said, “Hello!” to Svetochka…

Then Sveta proceeded to terrorize us with picture taking…

I love it when Sveta comes, for she takes much different images than I would. She sees life as Sveta sees it and that is just perfect in my eyes…

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Boza and I walked while Sveta slept. We decided that we just had to see the beautiful world as it woke up this morning. The sun came up and kissed the bell tower first, then the valley. All was cool and wonderful and isn’t that what life is about?

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Looks like I need to buy two new tail lights for the Volga car. The whole assembly. I got everything almost working, but soon the lights will be too corroded and old. Therefore, since they are dirt cheap and easy to replace, new tail lights assemblies will keep the local cops happy. Should be able to get two for under a thousand rubles. Bulbs are only around 20 to 25 rubles each, but it is time to get whole units…

I also worked on Sammy the Volga and fixed her exhaust. I hope that it stays sealed, but the manifold bolts are getting rusted out. It is okay for now, but looks like it may be time to drop the exhaust and install new bolt studs to longtime cure the exhaust leak…

Finally found the issue with coolant problems. Sammy has been upset since I replaced the radiator hoses and water pump. I could not find what the problem was. I replaced every heater hose, radiator hoses and the water pump. Everything was new? Except a small hose, right in front of my face. A obscure thin return line from the radiator holding tank to the radiator itself. Sammy does not have a fill spot on the radiator, it has a separate fill bottle and I ignored a vital hose. As luck would have it, I had a piece of gas line that was a perfect fit. I installed it and Sammy became a good girl again. Oh how the little things will cause issues at times. Sammy just wanted all her coolant hoses replaced and that was that…

Sammy is a good car and she just keeps on running, bailing wire and duct tape are amazing inventions to keep a car running… 😉

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Oh My! Sveta has been making salads. She grabs beet greens, turnip greens, rutabaga greens, onion greens, garlic greens, carrot greens and chops up delicious turnips, rutabagas and carrots into tiny bits themselves and then we shell fresh sweet peas and mix it it all together with a caesar salad dressing; then lay smoked chicken breast slices on top. Oh my golly molly! Talk about a wonderful meal…

My sweety is utilizing the garden to its best and it is so wonderful having a “sweet pea” like Svetochka to help me eat right…

I realized that next year we will not grow potatoes, onions and or garlic. These items are just too cheap and plentiful. Svetochka and I want to grow pumpkins and I will try my hand at sweet potatoes. Also much less beets, turnips and rutabagas; we gonna have tons of root veggies and they are really good. Potatoes can be bought for around 20 rubles a kilo and be picked up in 50 kilo bags. Onions are the same price and weight, if not cheaper…

Need to grow things that are not as readily available in the stores….Like I am thinking about celery next year. Yummy! I also am developing out four asparagus patches and they have come back to life with a little bit of care. I have been eating asparagus all summer fresh from the patches…

Raspberries are in full swing and the work I did last year on the patches, has shown itself this year. I am looking into blackberries at this point. A good blackberry patch would be priceless…

Talk about a second childhood; as I eat and care for the gardens, I flashback to when I was a little monkey and running around eating everything I could find on the plants. Grandma would say, “Leave some for us will you!”

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I think I will pull some young beets and make a Borscht to day. I splurged and bought a pack of chicken legs. Makes the best Borscht. Maybe it is time to dig up new potatoes to put in it also?

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Well! It is time to go…

Looks like our weather meter says rain today and at a cool +10 this morning and a clear sky; it is hard to figure that, but it seems to know best. I just check the Russian weather service and it confirms what our system says. South wind (pushing temps to +25,) knocking on the door of the northern front and that means wet! Then back cold again tomorrow as the wind shifts back from the north…

Svetochka and Boza are both sound asleep. They are two peas in a pod in that aspect. Life is really grand with Sveta here to pick on me! 😉

WtR

No really it is cool! Cool as in +9 last night and about +20 yesterday and the same today. It is cool and I hope it stays this way. Life is better when life is cool… 😉

Went to the Big Village and stocked up on goodies. It was a good trip and we gathered lots of supplies. I had a nice donation that was to be used for stable food items and I did just that. Bought lots of canned goods and sealed package type foods. Oh and we also splurged on a small berry pie! We resisted eating it yesterday, but I have a feeling that it will disappear today. It looks so good and is locally produced. It is not a big pie and it cost 60 rubles, or about a dollar in American money. But it looks so good and the little kid in me keeps looking through the cabinet window and wanting to take a bite…

Do you know how hard it is for a Big Bear to ignore a Berry Pie? Fresh made yesterday and and it really needs to be eaten before it gets too old and stuff like that! Oh My……

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Okay! Back to writing!

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George gave Svetochka a serenade this morning. She heard him and was all smiles as she tried to go back to bed, but a bunch of woodpeckers decided to join him in his serenade and woodpeckers do not sing well. But George lead the way and as the woodpeckers screeched their chalk board scratches. George being the cordial host, sang as beautifully as he could. Then to the rescue of a single George, came three or four more Georges. They flew into the trees and within a few seconds; the sound level increased and after a few sparrows and chickadees came to sing, it was a concert worthy of Carnegie Hall. Sveta was amazed and I know she hears me talk about such symphonies, but now she heard one first hand. It makes a difference when you are in a surround sound of beautiful music, even if some of the singers are screechy. They all deserve to sing…

What a beautiful morning!

WtR

Heaven to me…

I woke at 3 a.m. and even though I was in pain, from the whole night of thunderstorms and rain. I was happy! Next to me was my sweety and under her side of the bed was Boza. He would not even walk with me, as I stretched out the painful arthritis joints and started a new day…

I walked almost a kilometer to the pump house to start the pump and on the way, I dropped the fill hoses down inside the wells. In about a half of an hour, I will walk back to the top pump house and check the wells on the way. By the way, they call their cisterns a well, and that is that. I use the same word as they do and it is translated into a well. They are not wells, but who cares. The well is up top near the woods. The well pumps water to the holding cisterns and so thus in a Russian mindset; all are wells and well that is as well as can be…

I did not fill the upper well and feel bad about ignoring that one, there are people up there also and they deserve water. Correct? Yes, I thought so…

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It rained all night and is a perfect morning. So cool, so wet and so wonderful for all growing plants. Svetochka and I have to go to the Big Village today and stock up on supplies. We waited an extra day because it was and did turn out much cooler. Today will be only around 20 degrees and that will make life heaven instead of hell in the village. The last three days have been smouldering hot for us poor Russian type folks, but as par for Russia, the wind from the north carries relief and desirable weather. Life goes on as before…

The wind is blowing, it is cool, Boza sleeping, Svetochka sleeping and I am at peace with the world…

That is simply heaven…

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For the last few days Svetochka has worked on some websites for me. I like to call her my IT expert and in reality she is an IT expert. Svetochka is one of those special people that is even above an intellect in normality. She does not see it, but I do. Sveta is extremely intelligent and so far in 10 years, I have found nothing related to math and computers that she is not capable of doing. I mean literally, if she can not find a program to do what she wants, she writes it herself. From scratch! My son is this same way and her son is the same way… Then there is me! The big bear that is a “Jack of All Trades!”

It works perfect for her and I; she is the brains and I am the brawn… Kinda like heaven for this grouchy bear…

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Wanna know what heaven is?

I just told you…

WtR

I feel much better today and my sore throat has gone away. Svetochka came last time when Boza was sick and this time when I got sick. Good timing for my part. I needed help walking Boza this time. I got up at 4:30 a.m. and Boza and I walked to the top of the hill and turned the water on. Our well is almost empty and that has become half my job now. Vova is having trouble getting around, because his back is out and I have been busy, to busy to check, plus I have been sick. Sometimes life gets you down and it knocked me for a loop…

Sveta has been walking Boza and even watering the garden. That is a huge help to me and I slept several days away. It was too hot anyway, but today, I can feel the healing going on and I will take it easy to reach the next few days, which will be much cooler. Then Svetochka and I have to drive to town and stock up on supplies…

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Therefore, I will write this article as I wait for the water to start running into our well. It takes awhile and then once it starts running, it will run for an hour or more after you turn it off. We are the lowest well and everything drains down to us. It is amazing how much water the small fill pipe holds under the ground…

Everyone is trying to get water and the well is empty right now…

My weather system is talking about rain today, the pressure is dropping and it is flashing thunderstorm symbols at me. We will see if it is going to pan out, we need rain…

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I discovered something that is really peoples downfall; most people just do not want to think about consequences and or the result of their and others actions all over the world. I think preoccupied and unnerved of the results as they contemplate, also sums it up properly…

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This morning at 3:30 a.m. we had a monster bird screaming his head off. The rest of the monsters are flying happily and eating what ever they can find, but we have this one stubborn screaming monster that sits on our fence and demands the world feed it. I mean it just beats the band and toots its horn as loud as it can and mom and dad still feed it. I am getting ready to spank the little monster on the ass…

He just sat near our window and yelled for food. I just went out and shooed him away. Now he is in the neighbors yard and screaming even louder… 🙂

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Well I have to check the water and if it is running properly, then that means the water tower is full. If it is full then the water will drain for a long time and finish filling the well up. Terrible system, all designed for pressurized water to the homes and jimmied up to just hardly supply water at all. This is local government issues, but the local government is lazy and broke. Thus, they say that if we have water at all, we should be happy…

Don’t worry! I am happy to have water; At All! I am also happy as a butter bean to fill the well…

WtR

The federal government (USA) collected a record high $1.48 trillion in tax revenues in the first half of the year, which helped offset growth in the deficit over the last few months.

Total public debt on Thursday was $13.93 trillion, and government loans to itself are $5.45 trillion.

As an American these numbers mean that we are up a creek and someone stole the paddle…

Total government debt hit a record $19.38 trillion on Thursday, up nearly $98 billion from the day before. It’s the first time it has ever exceeded $19.3 trillion.

The debt will soar higher still in the coming months, and is expected to approach $20 trillion by the time President Obama leaves office.

As an American; I am worried…

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“Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Comey announced at FBI headquarters in Washington.

Sooooooo! “Hillary Dillary” is above the law and a true untouchable, in the fashion of Kings and Queens all over the world…

Thus if the gods of inner earth have their way! Hillary will be president and the bowls of Hell will have one stomping hillybilly of a party…

LOL! This just made my day and it proves my points I make all the time on this website…

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Smile people! You are on “Candid Camera” and your life is a “Twilight Zone,” I at least will go out with open eyes, as they pick the last of our mental capacity and flush it down the drain…. Just smile, its all good…

WtR

July 4th! In America that means BBQ, Fireworks and Beer; lots and lots of beer….Let me tell of a different Independence Day!

My Independence Day is October 10th of every year…

Why is that?

October 9th, 2006 is the day I flew out of the USA at JFK Airport in New York and left America. I left cold turkey, I mean I did not even come to Russia and look around first. I packed and left. Simple as that. I never looked back…

Then I discovered on October 10th, 2006 that I had stepped in a new world. A world that became worthy of celebrating Independence Day. I stepped into freedom of heart, mind and soul. I could not believe how free my life became and how much better things would be. Though I felt it at the time and time has proven that my feelings were correct. Russia is far from perfect and has bad situations at time, but that is nothing compared to the lack of actuality that America had become, at least to me. You may still think July 4th is a perfect holiday, but independence means self-government, self-rule, home rule, separation, self-determination, sovereignty, autonomy, freedom, liberty and I think something happened along the way to our future we live in now…

I discovered something; October 10th is my July 4th and that is the way it is..

Have a nice 4th of July, 2016…

WtR

Oh my! The Monster Birds are back. They scream constantly for delicious worms and such from mom and dad. Poor mom and dad spend their whole time feeding these demons and the little devils are fat and sassy, while mom and dad are skinny… (Monster Birds)

The fish are getting bigger and they have been liming the water to increase the alkalinity to drop CO2 levels. Years ago they had a huge fish kill and it looks like over the last few years, they have learned the hard way to care properly for the ponds. This operation is growing and has become an amazing system. It is nice to see so much growth of businesses in Russia. Our area is booming and people are happy…

Finally got an image of our neighborhood woodpecker. He or she does not like having her picture taken and today it was so busy getting something to eat, that it ignored me. But very quickly it decided that I was a paparazzi and left… 😉

Well short and sweet today. I have to goof off and work also. Svetochka is coming to the Tiny Russian Village and I need to present a proper face and act like Boza and I are a good boy and doggy…

We are! Don’t you believe me?

WtR

PaulCraigRoberts.org – http://www.paulcraigroberts.org

The Collapse of Western Democracy — Paul Craig Roberts

Posted By pcr3 On June 29, 2016 @ 1:04 pm

The Collapse of Western Democracy

By Paul Craig Roberts

Democracy no longer exists in the West. In the US powerful private interest groups, such as the military-security complex, Wall Street, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness and the extractive industries of energy, timber and mining, have long exercised more control over government than the people. But now even the semblance of democracy has been abandoned.

In the US Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential nomination. However, Republican convention delegates are plotting to deny Trump the nomination that the people have voted him. The Republican political establishment is showing an unwillingness to accept democratic outcomes.
The people chose, but their choice is unacceptable to the establishment which intends to substitute its choice for the people’s choice.

Do you remember Dominic Strauss-Kahn? Strauss-Kahn is the Frenchman who was head of the IMF and, according to polls, the likely next president of France. He said something that sounded too favorable toward the Greek people. This concerned powerful banking interests who worried that he might get in the way of their plunder of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. A hotel maid appeared who accused him of rape. He was arrested and held without bail. After the police and prosecutors had made fools of themselves, he was released with all charges dropped. But the goal was achieved. Strauss-Kahn had to resign as IMF director and kiss goodbye his chance for the presidency of France.

Curious, isn’t it, that a woman has now appeared who claims Trump raped her when she was 13 years old.

Consider the political establishment’s response to the Brexit vote. Members of Parliament are saying that the vote is unacceptable and that Parliament has the right and responsibility to ignore the voice of the people.

The view now established in the West is that the people are not qualified to make political decisions. The position of the opponents of Brexit is clear: it simply is not a matter for the British people whether their sovereignty is given away to an unaccountable commission in Brussels.

Martin Schultz, President of the EU Parliament, puts it clearly: “It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate.”

The Western media have made it clear that they do not accept the people’s decision either. The vote is said to be “racist” and therefore can be disregarded as illegitimate.

Washington has no intention of permitting the British to exit the European Union. Washington did not work for 60 years to put all of Europe in the EU bag that Washington can control only to let democracy undo its achievement.

The Federal Reserve, its Wall Street allies, and its Bank of Japan and European Central Bank vassals will short the UK pound and equities, and the presstitutes will explain the decline in values as “the market’s” pronouncement that the British vote was a mistake. If Britain is actually permitted to leave, the two-year long negotiations will be used to tie the British into the EU so firmly that Britain leaves in name only.

No one with a brain believes that Europeans are happy that Washington and NATO are driving them into conflict with Russia. Yet their protests have no effect on their governments.

Consider the French protests of what the neoliberal French government, masquerading as socialist, calls “labor law reforms.” What the “reform” does is to take away the reforms that the French people achieved over decades of struggle. The French made employment more stable and less uncertain, thereby reducing stress and contributing to the happiness of life. But the corporations want more profit and regard regulations and laws that benefit people as barriers to higher profitability. Neoliberal economists backed the takeback of French labor rights with the false argument that a humane society causes unemployment. The neoliberal economists call it “liberating the employment market” from reforms achieved by the French people.

The French government, of course, represents corporations, not the French people.

The neoliberal economists and politicians have no qualms about sacrificing the quality of French life in order to clear the way for global corporations to make more profits. What is the value in “the global market” when the result is to worsen the fate of peoples?

Consider the Germans. They are being overrun with refugees from Washington’s wars, wars that the stupid German government enabled. The German people are experiencing increases in crime and sexual attacks. They protest, but their government does not hear them. The German government is more concerned about the refugees than it is about the German people.

Consider the Greeks and the Portuguese forced by their governments to accept personal financial ruin in order to boost the profits of foreign banks. These governments represent foreign bankers, not the Greek and Portuguese people.

One wonders how long before all Western peoples conclude that only a French Revolution complete with guillotine can set them free.

Article printed from PaulCraigRoberts.org: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org

URL to article: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/06/29/the-collapse-of-western-democracy-paul-craig-roberts/