Saturday, April 02, 2011

Social Engineering...

So, the Inner Party of the EU have once again saddled up their Gulfstreams and flown to Brussels, where they then set forth a policy declaring how many Outer Party Members and Proles will be allowed to take a plane from London or Copenhagen to Majorca for their summer vacation in 2050.

I sure am glad that we spent all that blood and treasure saving Europe from the meddling totalitarianism of Reichsministers and Politburos for the whole last half of the 20th Century!

14 comments:

Joe in PNG said...

I'm beginning to think that the most powerful force in human society is the desire to make other people do what you think is best for them.

sofa said...

I was happy to see that most of our TARP and Stimulus bailout went to Overseas banks (rather than american businesses/banks); so our grandchildren can help pay for those Euro-weenie jet setters.

We keep proving that our civilization is "too stupid to live".

Außenseiter said...

Yeah, well, in principle, the notion that EU should use high speed rail(of which there's already lots) over jet transport is laudable.

However, like all high level EU initiatives it won't amount to a fart in the stiff find, like the Lisabon initiative.

Not only because by 2050 you're probably gonna need to synthesize jet fuel out of coal.

Too bad steam-powered atomic liners are too impractical. There's a slightly hillarious book about one possible design.


I sure am glad that we spent all that blood and treasure saving Europe from the meddling totalitarianism of Reichsministers and Politburos for the whole last half of the 20th Century!

Your presidents were merely being practical; no sane US leader wanted to share the world with a Europe spanning totalitarian empire. Helping kill them off was very good in the long run.
Especially the one whose leader held the jew and negro ridden US in open contempt.
FYI, 1945 was first half of last century.

perlhaqr said...

FYI, 1945 was first half of last century.

Yeah, which meant we managed to keep you totalitarian free during the second half.

Not only because by 2050 you're probably gonna need to synthesize jet fuel out of coal.

Or oil shale.

McVee said...

Seriously I don't know how they keep a straight face when they propose this shite.
Then again, We have Pelosi.
Also I'm sure, as We see with Obamacare, the list of waivers would grow.
Lastly, concerning the meddling totalitarianism of Reichsministers... you gotta admit Hitlers vision of a European Capital complete with miniature Cities were cool.... :P

theirritablearchitect said...

Außenseiter,

I don't care about any of what you are saying, only that there is an asshole standing up in Brussels, declaring that people can not use their own means of transportation to go where they please, when they please.

Hint; We've seen this shit before.

Best bet is to kill this fucker, and do it now...while you still have the chance.

Tam said...

I've got $20 that says there is no "EU", at least in its peaceful current configuration, in 2050. There may be a French- or German-led coalition still using the term to refer to its client states, but there won't be some confederation of "equals" run out of Brussels anymore, and whatever it is, the UK sure as hell won't be in it.

Matter of fact, I'll go a C-note on that prediction.

Hell, I've got another $20 that says the American flag doesn't have fifty stars then, either, unless it's purely symbolic and not actually related to the number of states.

Tam said...

...oh, and Außenseiter, it's pronounced "pĕd-ăn-tĭk".

Bubblehead Les. said...

EU still running by 2050? Hell, we'll be lucky if the Caliphate hasn't found its way past those pesky gates of Vienna by then!

The sad thing is, the only Political System in Europe that is making a Pragmatic effort to Generate Wealth is Tsar Putin's Kleptocracy!

Anonymous said...

@Les

Don't listen to Mark Steyn. He can't count.

By 2050, it's far more likely Europe would have fought off some do-gooder American Empire invasion concerned with muslim welfare.
For all Joe Sixpack hates Muslims your armies sure do fight a lot on their behalf. I mean, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, Kosovo, etc.

As to current EU: we'll all be glad to be rid of it. Common market, currency, standards, that's ok, but EU is past that well into regulatory madness.. like that Brussels adopted the precautionary principle in novel chemicals.

@Irritablearchitect

You fucking miss the point that
a) most people are fucking dumb - just consider what passes for popular entertainment. If they weren't dumb Michael Bay would be a homeless alcoholic somewhere in central LA.
b) shortsighted too - housing boom is proof of that. Only the greedy and the shortsighted could've thought prices are gonna keep rising forever.
c) no good at long term planning
d) so if some government agency takes steps that'd lessen some country's reliance on fossil fuels for transport it's a laudable initiative, no matter how ridiculous are it's origins (AGW)

Oil is running out, and large industrial refineries don't get built overnight.

I mean, coal to oil is profitable at $40-50 per barrel, US of A has loads of coal and how many such refineries you have? One experimental?

@Tam
UK can go fuck themselves as far as I care. What have they got the rest of EU needs? Their weather? The only good thing about the UK are their sf writers.

There's the whole of Asia on the east and Chinese seem set on spending some of their quickly decaying US treasury bonds on building a whole new standard gauge high speed railway to Europe. Transit time would be two days at 320 kph.

The sad thing is, the only Political System in Europe that is making a Pragmatic effort to Generate Wealth is Tsar Putin's Kleptocracy!

So, all the export oriented EU countries, Germany foremost don't generate wealth? How come most of them are far richer and better places to live than Russia even though they don't have a fraction of it's natural resources?

Justthisguy said...

UKish SF writers have always sucked, with the possible exception of Clarke. The USA have always been the bestest at SF. No foreigners can compare to Hal Clement and H. Beam Piper.

Außenseiter said...

@Justthisguy
Yeah, really? Bestest? Maybe back in the fifties.

I assume you´ve never heard of Greg Egan, Stanislaw Lem, Charlie Stross or Peter Watts, eh?

Anonymous said...

Why is it that Americans just can't seem to accept that Europeans WANT socialism?

The majority of Europeans have always been peasants, and will always be peasants, i.e., you can count on them to "know their place" and stay there.

I lived in Germany for four years, and traveled throughout the continent. Never have I seen so many people willing to give themselves over to whatever Fuhrerprinzip happens to light their way at that precise moment: Nazism, Communism, the "idea of Europe", etc...

TCK said...

"Hell, I've got another $20 that says the American flag doesn't have fifty stars then, either, unless it's purely symbolic and not actually related to the number of states."

But wouldn't living in a real life honest to God empire be kind of nifty, well other than all the tyranny of course.