[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MacG', '
')What makes him a bona fide asshole is that he seems to look forward to the destruction and suffering ahead.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '.')..Good observations about the phenomenon of being "let down" by someone you've looked up to. I bet that happens to nearly all of us at some point.

[PhebaAndThePilgrim]

Good evening from Pheba, from the farm:
After I related the accident concerning our neighbor to Kunstler, he replied about how weird it was for the neighbors to show up to finish the pond. His e-mail replies to me were always short and cryptic.
Most of the time his replies gave me the feeling that he really did not want to respond, and he could care less what I had to say.
I corresponded with Kunstler for several months to keep him informed on the farming/peak oil situation in mid Missouri.
I became irritated and disappointed with his responses early on, but kept doing it because I thought it may help him in his research.
When I related the story about our neighbor the event had just taken place. I was in shock. My husband had known the man all of his life. I had known him for 9 years.
He was such a kind and gentle men. He was a fantastic neighbor.
One time we had a cow go down. On this occasion this cow just lay down and could not get back up. The temperature dropped, and it began to sleet. We knew the cow would die if we did not get her under shelter. Our tractor was not big enough to hoist the cow.
We had several neighbors show up with larger tractors, including our next door neighbor. That's what true neighbors do.
When I related the information about the death of my neighbor to Kunstler, his flippant, sarcastic reaction really hurt. I stopped writing to him.
I don't hate Kunstler. I most certainly have no use for him.
He speaks the truth, but since he speaks the truth with such venom, he loses most of the audience he needs to reach.
I also become frustrated with people who just don't "get it".
I usually vent my frustration on this web-site or with my husband. I do not attack the very people I am trying to communicate with. That's self defeating, and especially here in the Midwest, makes me look like a fringe lunatic.
Oh, I am going to be changing my name as soon as I figure out how to do it. My hubby has been wanting to post for some time. He has some amazing farming information. We purchased corn last Saturday, and he had a long talk with the farmer we buy our corn from. My husband does not want to post as Phebagirl, so I have to change my name.
Pheba.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MacG', '
')What makes him a bona fide asshole is that he seems to look forward to the destruction and suffering ahead.

[BigTex]

Kunstler is just a little sloppy some of the time. For example, when he talks about the south, he paints it in cartoonish terms that are obviously not accurate. My experience is that small town America is a lot alike wherever you go. The south has by no means cornered the redneck market.

If you get sloppy with part of your analysis and commentary, it can undermine the rest of what you have to say.

I appreciate what he is trying to do, some of it is just a little over the top for no apparent reason.

I thought it was interesting that the Kunstler fans on Amazon seemed to have the most harsh words for his new book.

[fireplaceguy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('heineken', 'I') don't know where people get the idea that Kunstler "looks forward" to the coming wave of destruction and death.

[Heineken]

There's an ancient saying this makes me think of:

"Kill the messenger."

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')here's an ancient saying this makes me think of:

"Kill the messenger."

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')here's an ancient saying this makes me think of:

"Kill the messenger."

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')here's an ancient saying this makes me think of:

"Kill the messenger."

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')here's an ancient saying this makes me think of:

"Kill the messenger."

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'M')y copy of his 1994 book "Geography of Nowhere" is nowhere. I keep going over to my bookcase to reference it and it has disappeared. Must have lent it out.

I guess I'll have to push that buy button on FetchBook.com

but that is the book

[efarmer]

I remember going to one of those reenactment villages with
my Dad and Grandpa when I was a kid. While the women looked
at things that caught their attention I accompanied the two
patriarchs to the blacksmith shop. We watched him hammer
out couple of horse shoes and then went off to find the
ladies and gang back up again. On the trail I got to listen
to the older guys talk:

Dad: Did you get a whiff of that blacksmith? Sumbitch stunk
like an angora goat pulling a gut wagon.

Grandad: Yeah but the bastard sure hammers out a good shoe.

It's kind of like that you know. We all stink and are ignorant and
shine and are fine and worthwhile. If you pick out the bad stuff
and throw the good stuff away you are liable to earn yourself
like treatment. The stink washes off the good stuff, honest.

This is my parable for the day. I will go fuck myself now just so
I can beat all of you to the punch with your response.

[threadbear]

I read him only sporadically now. His doomer rant's wearing thin. Still funny at times, but ultimately just getting old. The threadbare reactionary rants about peak oil (yeah, right. We're at 40 bucks, looking at possibly 30, near term?) are in keeping with his creepily bigoted reaction to the Gaza pummeling. Can you just picture this nasty a** in gym class as a child? He must have gotten one heck of a wedgie from a Lebanese immigrant or Jordanian schoolmate to account for what has to be described as a very cruel personality.

Clusterfuck nation: Log on and voice your opinion. Let him know if you're going to continue reading his bile. I'm sure he'll pick up on it when he ego surfs...and something tells me he does a lot of that.

Out of the Woodwork:

"Lately, another large cohort on the political Left adopted the Palestinians as their "pet oppressed minority group du jour." This branch of Jew-haters emanated out of the humanities departments of the universities, when the faculty got bored with the Nazi holocaust, or wished to stake out some new turf in the arena of multiculturalism for the sake of academic advancement."

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/ ... ck_nation/

Hey Kunstler you Schmuck--Who are the "Jew" haters? There are only good people really angry with nasty people like you.

[Leanan]

Did you see this article?

In the unhealed Jewish heart, Arabs became Nazis

It's about Kunstler's reaction to the Gaza thing, and argues it's fear at the root of it:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his background makes it hard for me to accept that he is a Zionist moonbat. His arrogant, unruffled pose masks a deep fear that the dislocation he has been predicting for years will have a pronounced antisemitic hue, but of course mindsets like his invite rather than repel such an outcome.

[Fishman]

I love it when liberals tear into liberals, it seems to be our best hope for the future. The Middle East alone offers enough to have them at each others throat. If Barach Disillusionment Syndrome spreads quick enough we might get to see them fighting in the streets by March.

[threadbear]

Thanks Leanan. I'm glad there are others out there deeply offended with his garbage. There's a mean, snobbishly effete edge to this guy, I always forgave because he's hilarious, and I appreciate his views on suburbia and depleting resources. But this time he really has gone too far. I would actually discourage people from reading his site now. It's becoming a repository of toxic waste as ugly as the architectural monstrosities he highlights.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fishman', 'I') love it when liberals tear into liberals, it seems to be our best hope for the future. The Middle East alone offers enough to have them at each others throat. If Barach Disillusionment Syndrome spreads quick enough we might get to see them fighting in the streets by March.

[outcast]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') read him only sporadically now. His doomer rant's wearing thin. Still funny at times, but ultimately just getting old. The threadbare reactionary rants about peak oil (yeah, right. We're at 40 bucks, looking at possibly 30, near term?) are in keeping with his creepily bigoted reaction to the Gaza pummeling.

[Carlhole]

He's at his best when he takes on the sheer gaudiness, useless extravagance and aesthetic wasteland of American life and values. He has really been funny at times - something like a New Urbanist, permaculture version of Hunter S. Thompson. But lately he just seems to be another cursing grouch.