Surly,
You are a patient man but I don't believe you ever really fit in to the irrational, dismissive, "we've got this planet all figured out" attitude prevalent at the DD. They like to argue but, by and large, have no interest in questioning the premises of their world view. Premises established when they were about FOURTEEN.
Speaking of Ruppert, I heard an interesting commentary on Ruppert from Webster Tarpley. Tarpley is a historical scholar. I don't agree with his views on energy and his dismissive attitude toward the Occupy movement. But, he makes sense when he says that Ruppert was off base claiming that the guy that did an expose on drug trafficking in L.A. by the CIA and was later "suicided" by the CIA
WAS NOT SUICIDED. I think Ruppert was Suicided just like Gary Webb.
Anyway, the point Tarpley brought up, and I agree with him there, is that the world view that humans are inherently evil with absolutely no recourse to a better world is an interpretation of the created Universe that leads to a "There is no solution" type attitude (quite prevalent at the DD, regardless of the rampant atheism there) that can lead to paranoia and a closed mind towards potential solutions when things look very dark
(i..e. 85% forked = 100% forked is BAD LOGIC).
A person in this "collapse is imminent" mind set becomes trapped in a self reinforcing depressive cycle and loses objectivity. This happened to Mike Ruppert in regard to renewable energy. He refused to study it or even contemplate it as a solution NOT BECAUSE of the physics and laws of thermodynamics, but because he was CONVINCED that there IS NO HOPE and was not interested in anything that would delay the "apocalypse". Maybe he was right. But the point is that closing the door to hope is a bad way to live and certainly not the way we should live in a JUST UNIVERSE. The fact that the Christian world view believes that man's nature is flawed and the universe is fallen does not justify the view that we are just naturally bad and there ain't a thing we can do but bend over and kiss our arses goodbye. Ruppert was wrong that fossil fuels could not be replaced and mankind could not live sustainably. He was right that sociopaths run the world and some of them were out to get him.
God did not make an unjust, random universe, like many DD people wrongly believe. No matter how hard mankind tries to fork it up, a remnant of mankind HAS the answers because those answers EXIST, not because they are a pipe dream. God is good. The universe is good. Man can be good despite his fallen nature. You're here. I'm here. THAT'S PROOF!
Entropy is real and we are all going to die someday. So what? That doesn't mean we should throw up our hands and claim man is too evil (a rather virulent form of entropy born of spiritual bankruptcy when applied to human to human physical, destructive behavior) to be without recourse for a sustainable society. Tarpley claims that logic is a mental box canyon.
I agree. Tarpley has more faith in hard ball politics and BS energy "solutions"
like nuclear and fusion
and still doesn't get how badly forked the environment is
but that doesn't negate the validity of his view that
assuming that no solution exists is wrong for a responsible human being. Listen to the Tarpley Broadcast of April 19, 2014 if you would like to hear what he said. It includes an accurate and extremely informative history lesson on the Ukraine (it's an artificial country actually invented by the Germans in WWII!
)
http://tarpley.net/world-crisis-radio/