As IF Times

link Japan earthquake and tsunami: Sales of doomsday nuclear bunkers soars 1000% | Mail Online.

Like a scenario from an Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel, entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the recent disaster in Japan to capitalize on the fears of a gullible public.  Or at least a very small slice of the gullible public, because these disaster shelters are designed to house only 950  people apiece.

Putting aside the mentality of people who would be tempted to partake in this scheme, consider that  the real filter will be that of money.  At the moment, for the tantalizingly cheap price of $25,000, one is offered a chance at safety should a nuclear disaster strike.  That’s cheap!  You can’t buy a parking spot for that in New York City. 

However, I’ll bet on human nature that as an imminent disaster looks more likely, the owners of this scheme will renege on the deposits and instead, re-sell the spaces to the highest bidders.  After all, what are aggrieved people going  to do? Sue?  “We’ve assigned you a court date in one year”.   Therefore, this logically leads us to the worst part of this scheme.  The people who will be safely ensconced in these tombs of doom will be people with plenty of financial resources. 

Only lots and lots of money will get you in.  That means if you’re lucky enough to get a spot, your co-habitants for a year or so will be sports stars, Hollywood celebrities, business moguls, oil sheiks,  crime bosses and people who own real estate in Vancouver.   Given that, some would rather die a horrible death by radiation, but there will always be detractors.  The configuration of the bunkers is an obvious  issue.   It’s unclear how they will be able to build a space large enough to contain the egos given that all of these constituents are used to having their own expanses of privacy.  At 137,000 sq ft per bunker, it’s barely the size of Donald Trump’s guest bathroom.  You’d have to believe that there would be room made for chefs, cleaning people, publicists and yoga instructors, all key people in this groups’ entourage.   A year without yoga?  Please. 

It’s unclear how distribution of resources and maintenance of civil decorum will occur in such a close space.  Since despised  lawyers likely have been forced to populate their own bunkers, the administration of social decorum will at best be decided by the tried and true, rock, paper scissors method, or at worst, the Lord of the Flies method.  You can imagine what kind of chaos will erupt when someone consumes all of the Cabernet Franc in the first month.   One very serious consideration will be the food supply.  While it can be possible to store lots of freeze dried food and water, eventually, you run low.  It may be a good idea to have maximum weight limits for prospective buyers because you don’t want them unduly straining resources.  So, fat people are out. 

If you really subscribe to this scenario though, the best thing to do now is to get into the racket of selling these things as soon as possible.  At the very least, you may be able to save up enough to purchase a spot for yourself.   The possibility of spending a year with Oprah and the Donald?  Priceless.

link Harry Reid: “I dont know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican.” | The Weekly Standard.

If you think about this sentiment, you will see the embedded racism within.  An organization that professes to be the party of the people transparently exposes itself to be essentially a union shop.  If you extrapolated Mr. Reid’s logic, you’d have to include numerous other groups in society that could not possibly be Republican.  If we make a list of the vocal groups that regularly protest any activity seen to be hostile to their way of life and which can be blamed on Republican policies, they would include: Entertainers, gays, women, union members, blacks, drug dealers, young people, the poor, immigrants legal and illegal, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Asians, environmentalists, academics, animal rights activists, abortionists, non-gun owners and of course the aforementioned Hispanics. 

Crunching the numbers over the entire U.S. population, this leaves only Donald Trump and 5 other guys who could be Republican.  Truly amazing then that the GOP can ever get elected given this small fan base.  Of course there is a possibility that individual members of the listed demographic groups don’t subscribe to the policies of the Democratic party and instead choose to think for themselves and identify more with the principles of the GOP.  It’s possible that some may be insulted at being lumped into some amorphous group and then pandered to by Democratic “leaders” like Reid.  While there may be appeal to some groups to have their interests championed at first, the bigger consequence is the balkanization of the country which leads to the divisiveness that the Dems always accuse the GOP of promoting.  As we have discussed in previous comments, people are naturally tribal and will join a mob given the right circumstances. 

Politics in the U.S. has evolved into a game of identifying a unique demographic slice and then to claim discrimination  by the larger group of society. Weak minds fall for the political call to action and voila, a new oppressed subgroup is formed to be organized, plied for political donations and worked for influence.  Essentially a union local is created.

A guy like Reid would be far more useful leading the charge for a college football team where his rants can actually be useful and in fact encouraged.  The ‘Us’ and “Them” ideology works great in the sports arena;  there it’s healthy, in politics not so much.