Demeur

No sex no drugs and no rock and roll

2012-02-15T07:39:00.003-08:00

Canada is busy working on a piece of legislation to make it easier for authorities to snoop on your internet browsing habits, The one side pushing this bill says that it's to try and catch pedophiles. Only problem. It wouldn't require any warrant or oversight by those doing the investigating. It would require ISP providers to put tracking devices within their server systems and establish a data base for all cell phones via their sim cards. I can envision all sorts of abuses and misunderstandings in this scenario. Click on a blind link and wind up with the RCMP at your door. And no browsing videos of your daughter or sons' school play on Youtube lest someone get the wrong idea.

There's a drug shortage in this country. Really? You could have fooled me. But seriously, it appears that hospitals and pharmacists are in a real pickle. I was surprised to find that some cancer drugs have a shelf life of only two weeks and then must be tossed. That's part of the problem. What is a physician to do? Administer a drug that may be out dated and ineffective or not give the drug at all? And finding alternatives isn't always easy either. You just know this will open the door to all types of cheating with repackaged or diluted medications. But considering all the side effects you hear from the disclaimer on the TV ads I think I'll take my chances with the disease.

Michael Jackson Whitney Houston and scores of others. While one sector of the population face a drug shortage there seems to be an abundance among the rock and roll crowd but then there always was. The powers at the top would like nothing more than to drug test us all especially those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. I have a better idea. Why don't we start with at the top and work our way down then maybe we could weed out the dopers in congress that is if they aren't too busy with their strip clubs and hookers. Take heart ladies of the night the republican convention is coming up fast. And if they have their little SOPA way then the music on the net will surely die. Bye bye miss American Pie.

Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter

2012-02-14T07:14:00.001-08:00

Saint who?
Okay drop the lace encircled hearts and put down the Godiva chocolates. The real story behind this day wouldn't make headline news. Oh but maybe the old guys' conviction and sentence would hit the back pages of the tabloids. Here's the back story. Or one of them because you know things get lost somewhere in the story telling down the ages. The dude was a Bishop or a priest, even they forgot, who married couples in Africa much to the displeasure of the Roman big wigs. They threw him in jail. Remember this was back when they were lighting their roads at night with burning christians. They tried beating and stoning him to death. Didn't work. Finally they beheaded him. Talk about some heavy capital punishment. At any rate, they buried him and he was forgotten about. And like all strange traditions of that church made him a martyr a couple of hundred years later even though they couldn't remember who he was or what he did. For all they know it could have been any number of people but that never stops them from adding another saint somethings' day to the calendar. There's only 365 days in a year so I guess they have to double up on their martyrs because they ran out of days a long time ago and just who gets February 29th sure looses out.

And now we get to modern times. Aside from the child molestation cases and all the pay outs from the church that have hit the headlines of late it seems the Vatican is running amuck with it's own internal problems. With kick backs and bribes you'd think they were acting more like the Mafia than a supposed religious organization. But let's face it these are no saints running the show. Contrary to popular belief they aren't just a step below deities. They are humans and just as screwed up as you or I. And all the bells books candles holy water and beads isn't going to change it. So save your veneration. What an epiphany!

Web and I don't mean spider

2012-02-13T15:41:00.001-08:00

I was busy yesterday watching the goings on in Greece but not through any old school TV news channel. Just about everything outside Casa Demeur is now presented in real time in your face right here on the net. The thought hit me that nothing like this has ever existed before. As I watched a rather odd ballet of protester and helmeted riot police run back and forth about an Athens main square, I could also read the chat stream from people all over the world. But that wasn't even the best part of the experience. With only a minor delay, 4 seconds, information could be passed from anyone the world over to the reporter on the ground there. He could respond either by voice or typing information into the chat box window. As he was a bit tied up with tear gas canisters being hurled around and I'm sure it's no easy job holding and framing the scene with a laptop camera he gave us a verbal portrait of the action with occasional updates from the other Livestream media team members. A group of very brave individuals if you ask me. But the real beauty of the experience aside from watching history happen in real time from a distance is being able to talk to the people of the country and get a true understanding of their plight without the filtering and spin of some news organization. No corporate ideology being pushed here. In fact no commercials unless the broadcaster chose the cheaper free rate in which case an ad was positioned at the bottom of the video portion of the screen. What will they think of next?

Alternative Internet

There has been much talk of late about SOPA and ACTA and a kill switch for the internet. A bit paranoid if you ask me. Imagine the complexity of trying to scan through hundreds of billions of web pages looking for illegal content. No program could do it accurately without doing damage to the rest of the net. As for a kill switch that wouldn't happen for long without corporations howling about lost revenue. Even in Egypt it was only put out of commission for a few days while the protesters relied on their cell phones.
I remembered having read an article a few years back about the future of the internet stating that a new method was being developed for delivery that could be faster, totally private, and no need for a service provider. This must have scared the bejesus out of governments. I'm not that tech savvy but from what I've read it works something like this. It's a network made up of wifi connections and a simple computer program. Information leapfrogs from one computer to the next and theoretically could travel around the world as it does today. It could therefore get information from the net and yet not be part of the net. The system also doesn't use web addresses so it's basically untraceable.
Then I understand that some Germans are on the verge of launching their own satellite in an effort to create another alternative but I haven't investigated that completely.

It all may be a bit quirky at the present time with pixelated video and distorted sound at times, but then again I remember having to fumble with rabbit ears and fine tune on the TV set many years ago.

The clown circus revisited

2012-02-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

(Hat tip to the Rev. Dan for the photo but I think he stole it too.)

And which clown had the best tricks in the latest clown beauty pageant? Hard to say considering most of the contests didn't count for real. And the turn out? As Yogi might say they're staying away in droves. Who else but the craziest of the crazies would come out for this lot.

Cast of characters

Mint Raw Money - Keeps thinking he's the man to beat while his fellow party members are treating him like he farted in a room without windows. Just released the info on his Swiss accounts the Friday before the Superbowl. Oops didn't bother to tell the election committee. A hat tip to Mr. Goldman for that choice of monicker.

Eye of Newt - Wonder if he's found his next notch for his marital gun belt. Long nights on the campaign trail can be lonely you know. Which campaign staffer will grace his next wedding album will be anyone's guess. So you think having to resign from congress doesn't matter when you were caught with ethics violations and fined? You couldn't get a job at a Walmart with that record.

Rick Sanitarium - Thinks he speaks for the entire Catholic church in his quest to rid the nation of birth control. Go ahead boys keep up the fight to outlaw those evil pills and see what big Pharma has to say about it. Not to mention it's cheaper for the insurance companies to dole out pills than pay for babies. So that's two groups that will be pulling their backing. Ricky also seems to have forgotten that most of us older folks grew up in the 60s with sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Ron (What century is this?) Paul - Has an evil plot to steal all the delegates while the rest of the clowns aren't looking. Buying delegates is so much cheaper than having to buy an entire electorate. You'd have thought Mint would have figured that one out.
Ron is just jonesing to take this country back to the 1890s when there was almost no government agencies and pesky regulations. Try Somalia Ron no interference there. Just watch out for the pirates, thugs, kidnappers and thieves.

Sarah Barracuda - Cheerleading from the sidelines but for whom? You need to work on a new routine babe. The old talking points are getting thread bare. Starting to sound like a parrot. Family values raawwk. Lower taxes raawwk. Conservative values raawwwk. She has to have blonde roots. Just has to.

Herman 999 Cain - Okay he fell out after shooting himself in the foot multiple times. But his suggestion is to vote for ourselves. Vote for the American people he says. In other words none of the above. O my god I think he's right. What you witnessed with his campaign was performance art nothing more. Entertaining as it was it did little to further the cause.

Just wonder when the call for more clowns will go out. This bunch just isn't cutting it. Would it be a Bush? Probably not may have name recognition but after his brother tanked the country there still a bad taste in everyones' mouth. A Chris Cristie? A fat clown but with no experience and unwilling. Sarah said she give it a try if no one else would but we know she'd quit half way to the convention because who'd actually want to do real work when adoring fans will pay her for doing nothing.
Makes you wonder who they'll pick for VP. I know Ronald McDonald and Bozo are already booked with full schedules.

Portugal you're up next. Friday pussy looking sad

2012-02-10T00:57:00.000-08:00

I had wondered if Greece would take the bait and bite on the "bail out" if that's what you can call it. Come to find out the European financiers threw in one last $380 million condition (translate more job cuts) to the agreement. And now Portugal is waiting at the trough for it's third turn at covering its' debts. No details yet as the banksters are waiting to see how the Greek deal goes even though that deal was signed. (Correction the deal has not been signed yet as I first read.) In digging into Portugals' background I find the usual suspects. Corruption and an inflated investment bubble that popped leaving regular people to face the rounds of austerity programs lavished on them by their government.

What amazes me is how patient people around the world really are at present. One would expect riots in the street with a few heads hanging from pikes. In reading the news this morning, started writing this last night, I find some minor clashes in Greece, but now even the police realize that they are going to receive a financial thrashing with lower wages and pensions. From the Greek news:

Even the police, who have repeatedly clashed with protesters since the crisis broke out more than two years ago, announced resistance to the creditors' demands.

"As we can see you are continuing this destructive policy, so we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers," the Greek Police Federation said in an open letter to the troika.

Portugal is in no better situation having taken two bail outs already and now set to take a third. For a second there I though loan sharks were illegal until I remembered we have our "pay day loans" those 300%+ loans almost guaranteeing perpetual servitude.
A rather astute observation from a professor living in Portugal:
It will be difficult for Portugal to save its way to prosperity. Their attempt to rein in the deficit by reducing government spending while simultaneously raising all types of taxes may prove ineffective in the end. I hasten to add that no one, not a foreigner like myself and, no, not even the “policy elites” here in Portugal, knows for sure what will be the ultimate outcome. That is inherently unknowable. But given the enthusiasm shown by rating agencies for punishing countries no matter how responsibly they try to act, Portugal can depend on facing higher borrowing costs in the future as a result of continued and unrelenting bank and sovereign debt ratings downgrades. How then do the Portuguese outrun lighting?

But I think the analogy is a bit wrong there. It's more like, kindly attach this ball and chain to your ankle while we lower you into the water.

There doesn't seem to be any bank fails of late and why should there be when most are making out like bandits.

Dirty rotten lying greedy bastards

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Banks got 7.7 Trillion dollars for the mess that they created and what did the homeowners who lost their homes get? Settlement is for $25 billion but for those who actually got kicked out of their homes a paltry $2000. And nothing said about one of these crooks going to jail for the scam mortgages or robo signing documents. Last time I checked forgery on that scale was still a felony.

You've heard of a bank robbery? Well now we have:
Homeowner Heist

Twenty five million homes have been foreclosed on from 2007 to 2011 and I'd bet more are to follow yet little was done to stop or even slow the process. So we were robbed twice. The banks got a bail out and nothing more than a slap on the wrist. The justice department sat on their hands and watched this happen and not until last month did our government even begin to address the problem. It was a multiple win for the banks as I see it. They got the fees for closing the bad loans in the first place. They got the initial mortgage payments that went mostly to interest. Then when the homeowner couldn't pay they slapped on late fees. Unless the homeowner files bankruptcy he gets hit with the foreclosure costs. The bank gets to keep the property. And to add insult to injury the bank can go after the homeowner for the difference between the mortgage balance and what they can sell it for which is called deficiency of lien. And what did banks do when poop met fan? They raised the fees on regular customers checking savings debit and credit accounts many whom probably don't even have a mortgage.

Here's a bit of info that nobody is considering in all this. For all his blather, and you know that's all it is, Newt Gingrich rants about going after Fanny and Freddy (you'd think they were Bonnie and Clyde the way he talks). Well if they did that the big boys Chase, Wells Fargo and all would take a beating for you see they hold secondary mortgages on all or most of these loans. Keep peeling back all the layers of rating fraud, scam mortgages, liar loans and all and you have an onion with nothing in the middle. And Newt for all the BS that he's feeding you was promoting the very thing he's now saying he's against. Historian my butt!

And good luck trying to get a mortgage these days. Be prepared to provide proof of every financial transaction of the last twenty years. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't ask for a cavity search. Late on a car payment back in 1975 could disqualify you. Credit score better be in the high 700s or higher to pass their approval. One error and they'll show you the door but you think any of them will see the inside of a prison for what they've done?

Pot luck

2012-02-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Random bits and pieces today. That's what you get at a pot luck. And don't eat the deviled eggs they've been sitting out too long.

Of all the home sales here in the state of Washington last year one half were either foreclosures or short sales. Saw two places near me go for a song. Lucky I guess to have Boeing in my backyard. Well not that close but you know what I mean. Costs and wages are all relative. When I was a young kid a candy bar cost a nickel and now it costs a dollar but back then a good wage was $50 a week. Today that would just about cover a weeks' worth of Starbucks.

The game of chicken continues with Greece. One side like a pushy salesman wanting them to hurry up and sign the deal and the other knowing that the product is damaged but needs it anyway. No other stores to shop at either.

See another nations' leader has headed for the exit. The head of the Maldives stepped down after the beginnings of a coup came to his door step. Not a good day when you see the police take the protesters' side when you look out the window in the morning.

Speaking of police I see the police of Brazil aren't too happy. They're on strike and about 300 took up residence in the legislature building. Their wages and working conditions must be pretty bad for them to do that. All it takes is a touch of corruption and you don't know who to trust.

And no I didn't bother with the latest political beauty pageants mostly because they don't count anyway. How crazy have we become to waste millions on a primary election that doesn't count? Don't answer that. I know this is a country crazy enough to sell diet pet food so what would you expect?

Contraceptives. What's all the fuss? 99% of the nation uses or has used them. Does this mean the 1% get to dictate? A non issue if you ask me. The problem locally is that the Catholic hospitals here have taken over most of the public hospitals. The clinics have changed hands so many times I don't know what their names are at present. Small "doc in the boxes" as they're called have gotten quite bad over the years. I have no objection to foreign born doctors but when he tells you you might have mange you have to wonder about his past credentials.

Now as you leave my little pot luck here don't forget to tell your friends. And as you depart please pass up the bowl of mints. They've been there for years. They're only for show.

Where do I put the R in P.I.I.G.S.?

2012-02-07T07:01:00.002-08:00

And another one bites the dust. Another one gone and another one gone. Think you know the rest of that ditty but this is about Romania. Portugal Ireland Italy Greece Spain and now Romania all on the edge of collapse. The powers that be would try and tell you otherwise but it's the same story where every you go. Racked up debts, not enough revenues to cover the interest and another country slated for austerity. The fascinating aspect in all of this was that back in the late 80s when we were getting our first glimpse into a country dominated by Soviet rule. The nations' leader Nicolae Caesescou (sic) made the fatal error of borrowing an estimated $10 billion from the IMF but in an effort to pay that back drove the country through austerity measures into an impoverished ditch so to speak. The Soviet Union was no help at the time as they siphoned off of that nations' resources. I remember a few news items of the time as western journalists were finally allowed into the country. One thing I recall reading about was that no one was permitted to use a light bulb of higher than 40 watts. Another item about a factory town that produced carbon black for car tires. The streets were literally caked in soot as were the residents and bath soap was at a premium. How anyone could have survived those conditions is a mystery to me. Even the places I've worked in hazardous waste weren't that bad and I've worked in some nasty places.

Now we need to dig through the rest of the old Soviet bloc nations to see more misery. I'm sure it will come out albeit slowly unless main stream media screws up and lets the cats out of the bag too soon. You will note that the large news agencies scramble for any scrape of positive financial news to stem the tide of what's not being spoken. Let's face it folks this world is about totally broke and won't admit it. Start with your city. Are its' books balanced? Mine's not. Is the state budget balanced? Again mine is not. How about the national budget? Are revenues able to pay the interest on the debt? Mine almost not but we're getting very close.

I have to laugh and not in a humorous way. Governments are changing hands but the game remains the same. Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic the new leader puts more burdens on the people where the last one left off. Just change the party name and don't forget to throw the term Democratic somewhere in the middle. Liberal Democratic, Social Democratic or National Democratic it doesn't matter now.

Should we now call the situation PRIIGS or should we wait to buy another vowel. Oops that's right can't afford another vowel we'll just have to wait for a Euro bail out or an IMF loan. On second thought can't afford the interest so forget it.

(Thought about throwing in a usual cat photo example here but I'll save that for Friday.)

A Greek tragedy

2012-02-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

If you thought this was about the play Electra you're on the wrong page.

Greece situation - Good god this amazes me. Greece is set to default on their debt and the European Union wants more austerity for the country. It's as if finding a starving person you tell them to get more food you'll have to eat less and the food they'll be given will need to be stored to pay me back interest on this food. Only here we're talking about money but actually it isn't money. It is debt and promises and bringing hardship on people most of whom had nothing to do with the problem. I can just about see how this will all play out. The loans will be made then neatly packaged and leveraged and sold again to some unsuspecting fund manager in the attempt to rebuild the house of cards. They (investors) will of course buy a hedge against a collapse at a very high price and again the insurance will be underfunded. And when the music stops and the bill comes due we'll be right back where we started.
And what could be gained through a bankruptcy? A default would do no less harm. Greeces' primary problem stems from the fact that the bulk of their income comes from tourism which has been wiped out with the current economic downturn. This could be a glimpse of things to come in the U.S. if we keep outsourcing our manufacturing. It's been reported that we have lost 45,000 factories (not jobs but whole factories) over the last ten years a trend that can not continue. We may have added a couple of hundred thousand jobs in the last month but in what areas?

I see today Merkel and Sarcozy are becoming impatient at Greeces' foot dragging. Can you blame Greece? They get a choice of two poison pills. Take your pick red or green either one will kill you. But if they wait they'll infect the doctor causing him great pain. Interesting Mexican stand off we have here but we know the clock is ticking because Greece has until March to make a decision. Nothing like waiting until the last second before the bomb goes off but in this case it'll go off anyway you look at it. Imagine if you were hit with a 29% tax bill and hearing that the government wanted yet more? I have to ask just how do you squeeze blood out of a turnip Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarcozy?

Thar's gold in them thar hills

2012-02-05T09:42:00.001-08:00

hat tip to Friz Freleng (R.I.P.) and Warner Bros.

Can you just picture Yosemite Sam shooting both six shooters. And Bugs chuckling and saying "What a maroon." And today we have the same idiots lusting after the shiny metal thinking they'll be the next Bill Gates.

Canadians tell us that there's a bunch of the stuff in the eastern side of the state here. Only problem is it's a mile down deep. Humm exactly how do they know that? Do they have super x ray vision or something? Maybe all those years of mining uranium has given them super powers. It's funny I seem to recall a tad bit of history on the subject. Of the thousands of glassy eyed Rockefeller wannabes that put every cent they had into going north to Alaska to claim their fortune only a very small handful struck it rich. And you know who made more money than miners? The people here in Seattle who sold them all the equipment to do the job. It took nearly a ton of provisions to make the trek over mountains and into the gold fields of the Klondike. We even have a museum here called the Klondike gold rush museum dedicated to that era.

I get a bit of a kick out of watching Goldrush that new reality show. Watching a bunch of guys (don't get me wrong I'm sure they're sensible somewhat intelligent people on their home turf) turn into glassy eyed gold fever idiots is somewhat amusing. Dad there rushing in to dig holes everywhere is about what you'd expect from green horns. Just about every move they've made is a rookie mistake. No systematic approach for these guys. Interestingly enough if you're tooling along interstate 70 in Colorado and peer to the hills along the route you will notice holes and mine tailings doting the landscape. So I have to wonder if some poor slob got the fever and grabbed a shovel because most of these hill carvings are very small.

And a last thought on all this before I depart. Just what is gold really worth? It's used in manufacturing, gold fillings and jewelry but as an every day commodity we really have little use for the stuff. And beware of the gold bubble. My place at the height of the housing bubble was said to be worth one quarter million dollars. Yeah right! I saw the same thing with gold back in the 1980s. What had once been worth a price of around $40 soon shot to nearly $900. People lined up to dump their coins and jewelry at the nearest shop. I only wonder how many shops went under when the price plummeted and who got burned.

To read our latest local gold rush: Gold in eastern Washington

Don't think we'll be seeing too many backyard prospectors there as it was reported to be a mile under the earth but you never know.

Not so Super

2012-02-04T09:53:00.001-08:00

Why is it that in lifes' journey there always seems to be somebody out there that wants to drag you down? You know who I'm talking about. (hate that expression of course you don't I haven't gotten to the meat of this issue). And that reminds me of the expression "you know what you did". But I digress. Is it sheer greed or some sort of inferiority complex that makes these people? Didn't momma love them enough or were they teased but their siblings? Were they the nerd of the class that everybody made fun of? Then these people grow up to become, unfortunately, leaders. And rather than look after the best interests of society they set about to make everyones' life miserable. Is this some payback for an unhappy childhood? One has to wonder.

And now we see the results of a hoard of these outcasts banding together and having become the blue meanies of congress. The very people who tried to scare us to death with death panels for grandma are trying to steal grandmas' retirement and medical. You know the kid. When the old gal is pleasantly baking cookies in the kitchen grandson is stealing cash from her purse. When confronted with the missing funds junior insists it wasn't him and blames her for leaving her purse out where anyone could take it.

This is a tried and not so true tactic for you see people are starting to wise up to what's going on. The "blame the victim" routine might have worked once or twice but people aren't buying it anymore. And to such a grand scale these nerds have taken this scam. So with all this in mind I get to the meat of the matter. Okay what's the point in all this banter? A person becomes employed and when they do they expect to have an understanding of the way a company operates. They are informed from day one what the salary and benefits are. It is by it's nature a contract whether written or not. The worker in turn has an obligation to provide his/her labor or talent and look out for the best interests of the organization as a whole. Those at the top of the organization are permitted to negotiate their pay and benefits either on their own or with legal representative. A worker on average does not have that ability unless backed by a union. Who in this day and age could afford an attorney at their rates? So now it's become an issue of management to try and take away that advantage. They will do whatever it takes to belittle bemoan and berate the workforce as if nobody but their own standard of living mattered. And what major benefit have they provided? Have they stood on the production line or faced the dangers of the workplace? Most I'd say have not.

Now we come to that grandest of sporting events the Super Bowl. Say what you will about fat bank accounts of players and the millions they make but no one sees the billions the owners walk off the field with if they even bother to show up at all. They sit in their high posh glass enclosed suites and watch the play from afar. And I'd bet that the only time they make their presents felt is when there's a championship at stake. But the whole concept is somewhat skewed. A player may be lucky enough to have a long career but at what price. We know that the life expectancy of a player is 50 to 55 years on average. Then there's the injuries and surgeries to face which are becoming far too common. One bad hit becomes career ending and with usually little to fall back on what's a player to do? We have seen more than one pennyless and homeless player ground up from the gridiron.

And to my final point (thanks for staying tuned). Indiana has now become one of those right to work states or as I call it right to starve. No longer is a person there permitted to bargain for their salary and benefits if they are in a group, This will bring down the wages of all at a time when costs of living are going up. The nerds may have won this round but the people will rise up and change things. That is a given. We saw what's happening in Wisconsin and Ohio and soon to a state near you. So as a protest I'll be watching an old movie or something like that when the big game day hype rolls around. The ads may be clever but seeing the end result in all this isn't worth the price of admission.

Asbestos pussy

2012-02-03T00:10:00.001-08:00

Watching a report last night about Canada wanting to open up an asbestos mine to start exporting the stuff to India. I got an eyeful about how the people of India handle the stuff (include me out as Yogi would say). Showed workers hand scooping the fluffy stuff into piles with nothing more that a bandana over their face. A couple of Canadian PMs touting how it can be done safely and all the money that can be made by exporting to third world countries.
Okay a reality check here. I've worked removing the stuff for over 20 years. Unlike our foreign workers there I was given extensive training to protect myself and even though I've worked with some less than honorable outfits managed to protect myself because I put my own safety first and made sure that at least minimum standards were used to protect others. I also know that banning asbestos is out of the question because there are certain processes where there is no substitute. We could not produce paper or gasoline without the benefit of chemical resistant asbestos. There's simply no other material on the planet that will withstand the abuse. Now I find that our use of the material has increased here in the U.S. (see below)

According to the 2012 United State Geological Survey of mineral commodities, U.S. industries consumed 1,100 metric tons of asbestos from January through July 2011, compared to 820 metric tons during the same period in 2010. The difference represents a 34 percent increase in consumption, Reinstein said.

The U.S. Geological Survey report estimated that roofing felt materials account for about 60 percent of U.S. consumption of asbestos. The chlorine manufacturing industry, which utilizes asbestos diaphragms in the manufacturing of industrial chemicals, accounted for about 30 percent of asbestos consumption, the report said. The United States still has asbestos diaphragm cell plants.

I find that report kind of odd considering our housing market, the biggest consumer of roofing felt, has been nearly flat for the last three years. So I can only assume that we've been making products and shipping them elsewhere. Many products are still permitted to contain asbestos but I'd bet that they aren't produced due to the liability. We still use the stuff in car brake linings and small amounts in flooring tiles (that's why it has a 15 year guarantee). And one last thought, I'd bet anything that U.S. companies are just itching to get into Canada to get at their asbestos because they probably haven't changed their laws on mining the stuff since much of it was closed down years ago. Mesothelioma is not a pretty way to die killing you slowly over a period of about 12 to 18 months. How does it kill you? Simple, the fibers get into your lungs and get stuck. Your body tries to fight off the foreign material and in the process creates scare tissue. The hard tissue makes your lungs rigid so you slowly suffocate causing heart failure. In all the years I worked with the stuff I've only known of one worker who had asbestosis but then he wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch.

What was I going to say?

2012-02-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

Think I'm starting to lose it. I thought for sure I had a post all set to go for today. Maybe the beginning of that old timers disease? But with age comes wisdom. My usual trick for relaying events when the gray matter has turned to pink slime is to say that it happened about two week ago and that is sufficient. Nobody really cares anyway because I'm not running for public office so so what if FDR was around when there was no TV. This isn't Dragnet and you don't need to know all the facts and nothing but the facts. Now where was I? Can't even remember what little snippet I had set to dump here. Is this the beginning of the end? You know how that goes when mother nature has her way with you. First the vision starts going. Used to be able to read that mouse print disclaimer at the bottom of the ads and now nobody asks if I'd thread a needle for them anymore because they know I can't without multiple magnification and three hands. Then the audio portion of the program starts to fade. But as cover you laugh at the funny parts of TV shows with the rest of the audience because you don't want to look like the dunce. And here's a little something for the ladies. It's not that hubby wasn't paying attention to what you're saying (well most times) it's that he can't hear you. Proven fact that men lose a certain portion of the tonal range when they get older and guess where that range is? Yep it's the pitch of the female voice. Ah there may be a god after all. Hey put that rolling pin down there an explanation here! Men really don't care about all the miniscule details of any event. They don't care one bit if Betty Lou's dress matched her shoes or not or the convoluted genealogical progression of her kin folk. We could care less about how many cousins four times removed because it really doesn't matter you're not writing a police report Sgt. Friday.

Did I mention the beginnings of the lack of patience. Oh course I didn't I just forgot. I think I know the root cause of that. You see people who have been on this planet long enough have experienced just about everything there is to experience. So nine times out of ten they know exactly what's going to happen before it does. Not many surprises left for us old fogies. So as you fumble for your wallet at the store when we know you left it in the car don't blame us for being irritated. We've already been down that road before once too often so get over it. Now where the hell did I park the car?

Statistics and the lies they present us with

2012-02-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

(there's that darn cat but he's being stubborn and won't animate)

My old man was a statistician. Yep a number cruncher or bean counter. Take your pick. I'm terrible at math but I did learn a few things from my dad along the way like lying with statistics. I hate percentages. I hate ads in the newspaper that offer sales that say 50% off when they don't tell you the original price because usually it's a lie. So too it is with polling figures. The winner got 46%. 46% of what I'd ask? Okay here's the stats but they mean very little unless you know the whole story. That I will give later. (God I hate teases too)

Statewide Votes
Michele BachmannREP3,959
0.24%
Herman CainREP3,494
0.21%
Newt GingrichREP533,038
31.93%
Jon HuntsmanREP6,197
0.37%
Gary JohnsonREP1,196
0.07%
Ron PaulREP117,094
7.01%
Rick PerryREP6,768
0.41%
Mitt RomneyREP774,942
46.42%
Rick SantorumREP222,774
13.34%
1,669,462total votes cast

Now I peel away the curtain of what lame stream media isn't or won't tell you and we find some interesting facts. Below is the listing of how many registered voters there are in the state of Florida with party break down.

Republican: 4,075,147 Democrat: 4,562,964 Other: 2,638,324 Total: 11,276,435

Floridas' primary is a closed primary meaning only people registered with a particular party may vote for their candidates. No cross party voting. So of all the registered republicans in the state only 40% came out to vote for any republican candidate. South Carolina only saw a turn out of 21%. To reframe this then 60% of Florida republican voters see no sense in voting while nearly 80% of republican voters in South Carolina see no use in voting. That does seem odd seeing as how the pundits keep telling us that if things are bad economically in an election year then the party in power will get thrown out. And we all know how the doom and gloom sayers have been touting Obama's policies as failed. You think maybe just maybe the American people are starting to wake up to the fact that we can't go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place? Tax cuts and deregulation does not create jobs. And seeing as how we have an aging population you think anyone would want to give up their social security and medical just so that some greedy people on Wall Street have more money to play with? I didn't think so either.

The clown car rolls on next stop Nevada.

I'm from the government I'm here to help

2012-01-31T00:39:00.001-08:00

(Darn had a really cool animated cat gif. that just wouldn't work here. Need to bone up on my HTML skills.)
I've never lied to you before have I?

A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.

This is radioactive steam they are releasing into the air folks but don't worry it won't harm you. Much. Basic nasty being released along with some steam is tritium.

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, which allows it to readily bind to hydroxyl radicals, forming tritiated water (HTO), and to carbon atoms. Since tritium is a low energy beta emitter, it is not dangerous externally (its beta particles are unable to penetrate the skin), but it is a radiation hazard when inhaled, ingested via food or water, or absorbed through the skin. HTO has a short biological half-life in the human body of 7 to 14 days, which both reduces the total effects of single-incident ingestion and precludes long-term bioaccumulation of HTO from the environment.

I was once asked to dispose of one of those new exit signs powered by tritium. After a call to the home office I was told they'd have to find another method because our company could not handle it. Even though this is a very low level of radiation we did not have the correct certifications to remove or transport the sign. You may think that silly but when dealing with hazardous wastes of any type you have to follow the letter of the law no exceptions.

That brings to mind the changes in the laws on asbestos roofing material. Here's the way that works. Roofing shingles and paper containing asbestos must be removed using proper protective equipment full moon suit, wet methods and all. However once that material hits the ground it magically turns into general construction debris where it can be thrown into a dumpster. Ah but there a fly in the legal ointment here because once it makes it way to the land fill it magically turns back into an asbestos containing material because the land fill doesn't want any legal liabilities. So we normally treat it as asbestos containing for the entire process bagging it in double bags or double wrapping it in 6 mil plastic with the proper labels and manifest.

So knowing what I do about hazardous materials and the fact that it's almost impossible to determine the exact level of a release at any given distance (that's why when they evacuate an area it usually at least 1/2 mile for any gas) I'd be almost certain they're feeding these people a line of BS. When dealing with a gas leak you want to be on the upwind side and where that material lands depends on wind direction and speed.

News you can't use and could probably care less about

2012-01-28T09:59:00.002-08:00

As the clown car continues to empty out the two remaining finalists vow for the number one spot. Gad this so reminds me of a Monty Python sketch. Do you remember the one where the aristocratic idiots are in a contest to see if they can kill themselves? I'd post a link but I think John Cleese and the boys might have a few words with the RIAA. Since when did fringe become the norm and norm become the fringe? You will note that anyone in this campaign with even the remotest of sane ideas was cast out like a drunk at happy hour. Relegated to a dark corner if they kept quiet or seen quietly skulking out a side door far from the stage spot light. And now we have the main event with two contenders both wearing black masks. You know of whom I speak. Each the designated bad guy of a WWF wrestling match. How did that happen? Supposed to have at least one guy in white to represent the goodness of the audience. Not so with today's clown show. One representing greed while the other representing lust, moral values be damned. Either one would happily steal your lunch money or your girlfriend or both given a chance. Keep you eyes peeled on just how many voters show up to even cast a vote in this farce. I'll try and give you the percentages later once all the glitter has settled.

More news from Davos where that other group of trapped in a bubble billionaires are partying while Rome burns. Side note: how ironic that Italy is part of this economic meltdown. Fits my example perfectly.
Once again the fringe (er translate that = norm) show up to make their presents known and felt. God bless those fine young ladies from the Ukraine who have the courage to bring out the "naked" truth. Because as we all know there's only two ways to bring attention to a problem in this day and age and that's either sex or violence. While the powers that be desperately tried to keep the event out of main stream media our heroines stepped up to the challenge to "bare" witness to the economic inequities of the world.
"We came here to Switzerland to Davos to explain the position of all poor people of the world, to explain that we are poor because of these rich people who now sit in the building," said Inna Schewcenko.

You have to admit these gals are committed to giving all they've got even if it means giving the shirt off their backs literally.
Of course inside the conference it was a different story:
Budding bankers expecting the bumper bonuses of years gone by will have to think again, with only the top performers likely to be paid top dollar.
Only the creme de la creme will get to keep their blood money. This is like the usual game of Monopoly where only a select few reap the rewards. Once all the assets are owned by a single player only then is the game over. But this isn't a game. Real people will be cast out of their homes or worse die from lack of medical care if the system isn't fixed soon. What they fail to see is how much life runs by the sweat of the little people. Maybe it's time we showed them what happens when nobody shows up to do their dirty work. I know the day is coming when they'll hear those words "no soup for you!" We the little people do indeed own this world it's just a matter of taking possession of it.

Reading through the likes of NAFTA CAFTA and now CETA in Canada I see how the top 1% has managed to boil the frog. No need to speculate about a "New World Order" conspiracy theory it's already here. Neatly tucked away in these trade agreements are provisions that, to say the least, provide little benefit for the average guy just trying to make a living. Imagine if your boss came up to you one day and told you you're taking a 50% pay cut because the top brass a world away said that's the way it's going to be from now on. We saw the effects of NAFTA when the jobs went first south of the border then to China. My question to the 1% then is who are you going to sell to when you have effectively bankrupted your consumer base? Just what are you going to do about the sludge you created that shows up on the beach at your vacation home? Keep flaunting laws and logic and soon it will bite you in the ass. Hoisted by ones own petard I believe is the expression.

Sick pussy cat

2012-01-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

Ah choo it's that time of year again when everyone crams into close quarters and gives the gift that keeps on giving a virus. Those nasty little bugs that knock your insides out for about a week to ten days. Take your aspirin drink plenty of fluids and get your rest. Last time I had the flu was in the mid 70s. I believe it to be a version of the Hong Kong strain that was going around at the time. I can only remember having it one other time in high school. That was just after getting my one and only flu shot. I vowed then and there never to get a shot. In spite of crawling through some of the nastiest places on earth over the last 20 years I've managed to stay relatively healthy. True we take a decontamination shower (actually two per day) but they aren't the type to get really clean. They're just enough to remove whatever toxic material we may have been removing that day. I always took a third shower at home for good measure.

Viruses - I never really thought about how many there are. You have your equine, bovine, swine and bird, norwalk, legionnaires, herpes, and HIV too. Then you get into the bad boys the hemeragics like ebola, marlburg and west nile. I had to study about that last group in hazardous waste class. I am part of your homeland security in the event some unfriendly were to sneak it into the country. Not much concern about that because I figure if they haven't done it by now then they haven't figured out a way to do it. Then there's talk of super bugs. That's the drug resistant bacteria and viruses. I would say many of them are our own doing with the over use of antibiotics. Oh and there's another thing. If you know you have a virus don't bother with antibiotics they only work on bacterial infections. For a virus you would need an antiviral like Cipro but you may not like the side effects so most hospitals don't give it for common type A flu. There are many more things that'll make you ill like molds, fungi and bacteria but I'll save you the gory details for another day.

Just trying to jog the brain cells and recall a job involving a virus. And it came to me a job involving hanta virus. That's a virus carried by deer mice. It's somewhat fatal (can't remember the exact mortality rate) killing you in about three days. These suspect critters had made their home over a drop ceiling in an office. We had to remove the ceiling tiles, hepa vacuum everything and mist all areas with bleach water. I found one of the nests but nobody was home thank goodness.

So I remain healthy for now. Let's hope that doesn't cause a jinx.

Bank fails late.

So the "big boys" think they can solve the world economy

2012-01-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

(oops this isn't Friday get back in your folder kitty. Okay I'll do a two fer this week)

This just amazes me. At a meeting in Davos, Switzerland some of the worlds' richest people (including 70 billionaires) are getting together to discuss the world economic crisis. One of their topics is income inequality. One of the suggested solutions will floor you. One billionaire said that business should be more profitable. Yeah right pal we know how that works. The worker lands up working less hours making less with less benefits or worse with no job at all.

Then there's the Greek debt problem. Here's a quote from one of the brainiacs on our side of the pond:
Unless official lenders come to the rescue, it appears likely that Greece will default on Mar. 20, because it simply doesn’t have the €14.4 billion ($18.5 billion) that it owes bondholders on that date. “It is just a matter of time before the whole house of cards falls apart,” says Robert L. Rauch, a partner at Gramercy, an emerging-market investment manager in Greenwich, Conn.

So the solution by them is to borrow yet more money and throw it at a sinking ship. Let's say they cover the $18.5 billion. Then Greece would owe $37 billion. Greece is facing draconian cuts to basic programs as well as massively higher taxes (29% for everyone) and more lay offs. That'll sure get their economy going won't it? First they lay you off then they try and tax you to death whether you're working or not.
A better way might be to forgive half the debt. Then take up a collection and have them start rebuilding their infrastructure. Another idea would be to diversify their economy. Their largest source of revenue is tourism which is in the pits of late. While their at it they might just want to slap a 30% tax on all the millionaires who are hiding their loot in off shore accounts and under the guise of multinational corporations. This is sounding quite familiar.

The thing is and this ticks me off the most is that we've been down this road before. The Great Depression was caused by all the usual suspects in the economic game. We know what it took to get us out of that then so we should know what it will take to do it again. Back then it was lack of regulation and gambling by Wall Street, the same as today. And to date we still haven't put regulations in place to fix the problem. Anybody see a perp walk by any of these crooks in three piece suits? No we haven't.

A couple of last things, we know where the money went. We know who's trying their damnedest to protect the wealthy. They may try and pander to the ignorant and stupid because after all they called the rest of us lazy and overpaid but this time they won't win with 91% against them. Even many of the tea party woke up and saw they'd been used.

The slashing gashing severed vernacular

2012-01-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

"Rivers of blood" - Sounds like something out of a 1950s horror movie. Funny how we incorporate such lexicons into our daily speak. Some whiz bang 20 something slams a double tall double (oops make that a "Grande") and the next thing you know the politicians are "mike checking" it all over cable news. "Wtf" is going on here lol? Our language is getting minced and diced to something Billy Mays would be proud of. On the one hand it helps pack more verbiage into our already over packed carry around linguistic back pack but there is no other hand because it was assumed and later dropped. Watch out for those dangling participles they'll get in your face every time. And what's with all the abbreviations and acronyms? Even knowing their meanings oft times is of no help. The Google is many times no help because I wasn't looking for the latest deal on a river rafting trip and I surely don't need a blood transfusion from the nearest blood bank.

You can just about sandwich any two words or phrases together and have the latest catch phrase that they'll be using around the office. Like shooting off fireworks, the peopnage will oo and ah and incorporate it into daily communications because it's what the CEO is using at the moment. " Well back in my day" we had standards damn it! We spoke in complete sentences and defined acronyms at the beginning. Now it may be necessary to take a translator when moving about. I thought English was our primary language here. Forget delving into the bowels of a text messaging conversation even the Urban Dictionary won't help you there. We have isolated ourselves to the point that no one can interpret our true meaning even with all the graphics and squiggles we end the sentence - omg lol just kidding. A couple hundred years from now the archeologists will have no clue when they dig through our electronic clay tablets and try to decipher this tech speak. And everyone just loves to create their own slice of the language because you never know it just might make main stream and they can claim it as their own graffiti in the daily dialogue.

I like to keep focus on how the mass information flow spins what should be simple objective actions. It's never a simple matter of rain. Such reporting must be followed with as many adjectives as will fit into a two minute segment. "Sell them the sizzle" was the ancient expression. But there in lies a problem when we can't step back and realize that we're all just trying to make it one more revolution on this globe. No need to belittle me or anyone else in the process. Think we aren't being programed? A little test and you can tell if you have more than a few brain cells left. Fill in the blank:

Tax _________
Welfare_______
Arab_________
Muslim________
Illegal_________

Maybe you can think of some more, these were off the top of my ever shrinking head. Step back with jaded eye when reading or viewing the news because you know they have an ulterior motive. But with so much blood and mayhem cropping up are we becoming desensitized to what's going on? That is unless it's happening to us.

Later and keep your linguistic shields up.

Amazing this new media

2012-01-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

I find this new media fascinating. At what other time in history could you talk to people face to face with someone else anywhere in the world in real time. Sometimes there a few second lag but it reminds me of the first satellite coverage we saw in the 1960s. Only now it's not limited to 90 minute segments. That was the window the satellite was in the right position to bounce the signal around the world. I'd like to say how this new technology works but with cell towers and wifi and hot spots I admit I'm clueless. Can't even figure out how the computer connects to the net other than a rudimentary understanding.

It's kind of funny watching the goings on of the different livestream broadcasts. Much like the CB craze of the 70s it's more a matter of process than product. When I think about it it's really far cheaper now than it was when I had a CB. Most rigs then cost over $100 which is quite a bit in todays' dollars. But as the beginnings of a new media it's an experiment of seeing what works. Much of the content ends up with folks being silly but every now and then some serious stuff is laid out before the worlds' eyes. Such was the case the last day or two. People in far off lands under extreme conditions are getting their message out. From what I saw I take this as an SOS to the world.

I give fair warning what they've captured and broadcast is graphic and sometimes quite violent. Viewer discretion advised.

Syria

Called Ugarit News English this loosely organized site is made up of young people trying to get the word out about what's really going on in Syria. But consider this. If they get caught they will be executed but not before they're tortured severely.

Where'd the voters go?

2012-01-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is a break down of the vote in South Carolina for the republican primary.

Registered Voters: 2,804,231
Ballots Cast: 599,571
Voter Turnout: 21.38 %

Gingrich got 40% of the vote. Romney got 27% of the vote. But of all of the qualified voters that's only 8% for Gingrich and 6% for Romney. If the republicans are hell bent on getting rid of Obama the voters of that state sure don't look like they really care even if the candidates do. Having to pick from that field who can blame them.
Another little tidbit of info I found while researching this. For all the blather about lower taxes South Carolina has some of the highest state taxes in the nation. And South Carolina's state legislature is solidly republican with only one democratic district. Do I smell the republican stench of hypocrisy? I held my nose and went to the republican state web site to see their issues.

Economy - They'd like nothing better than to shrink the government down and drown it in a bath tub failing to realize that in order to have business you need a government to make things run smoothly. Lowering taxes on individuals and corporations while failing to realize that the money pays for roads, airports, hospitals and the like. And with the state taxes being one of the highest you'd think they'd have roads paved with gold.

Regulations - Or should I say no regulations on business because you know government just loves to get in the way of business when it's polluting our air and water. That is unless it concerns a women's health then it's a different story.

National security - Keep pumping money into the military. That makes me wonder how many defense contractors there are in South Carolina. But they mention just training and equipment for the troops and nothing about benefits and treatment after the constant wars. Oh and the fence. Must have a fence along the borders to keep out the Mexicans even though they aren't mentioned by name and I guess Canadians don't seem to matter to them.

Family values - Exactly what the hell that means any more is anyone's guess. This isn't a nation of Ward and June Cleavers of 50 years ago. Seeing as how they picked the poster boy for philanderer of the year I see they overlooked adultery when they were thumping their bibles. It's okay as long as it's man on woman action. Then they bring up religion. They have this unfounded belief that this nation was founded on the bible. It was not. They seem to forget the first amendment to the constitution that states the government shall establish no state religion. The boys back then were smart. They must have realized that would have created all kinds of problems when people from all over the world started coming here and bringing their beliefs with them. That's not to mention the beliefs of our native born who met the pilgrims when Mayflower was pulling into Plymouth. Imagine the scene at a local school if we allowed all religions to do their thing? Muslims on prayer mats. Jews reading from the torah. Holy rollers rolling in the halls. Krishnas chanting. Snake handling and devil worship (hey got to let everyone do their thing). Incense and magic powders with ritual fires and bells and gongs would make for a rather interesting display don't you think?

What they fail to realize is that this nation has taken a very large shift in demographics over the last 30 years. It's no longer the country of white northern european settlers it once was and it will never be that way again. The era of Ozzie and Harriet isn't coming back no matter how much they long for it.

Where'd they go?

2012-01-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

About once per week I go through my lists of favorite blogs. This is much like you'd swing by a friends house to catch up on their goings on. Sadly though you come across ones that haven't been home in a while or worse some that have been deleted. I do try to keep track of the people behind those crazy names. I can tell when they may not be around. Some get busy with work or family issues. Some have medical problems but one or two have vanished without a trace. One in particular Distributorcap was a very well known blogger for many years. He not only posted some very funny political photoshop satire on his own site but was a contributor to several other blogs as well. Then one day I popped over for my usual shot of funny only to find that he was only permitting a select few to his site by permission only. I searched in vain for his email address to see what was going on. Then in checking just recently I find his blog deleted all together. That makes me wonder. He looked like the type who'd be blogging for years. Had a sudden accident prevented him from doing what he liked? Was there an illness? You know that unless I drop dead of a heart attack that I'm in it for the long run. To just up and leave you hanging is not my style. So you're stuck with me at least for now. But it's almost as if you've lost a friend when you go and find a dead link. Speaking of which I almost thought I lost this post until I realized I had the archive set to published.

At least the snow is finally gone now and it's back to the usual warm rain. Pretty good. Fifteen inches of snow gone in just a day. We have an expression here "If you don't like the weather just wait ten minutes". That's one visitor I hope I don't see soon again. So as a neighborly present we're sending it your way in the east. Now it's out to restock the provisions because you can't make much out of just a couple of cans of corn and I don't think the TP supply would last much longer either.

Later and to the neighbors in the east drive safely!

Friday Pussy and the clown car drives on

2012-01-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

With clowns falling out of the car this week the "blunderBUS" moves on leaving a trail of Huntsman and Perry in it's wake. Hey this isn't a boat get back to the right analogy. Fumbling and stumbling whirling and twisting they'd better start using Desenex spray for mouthwash. I want a job too but ya have to reveal a few things about yourself to get the job. Imagine if you went to an interview and expected to be hired and the interviewer asked for past financial records. If you told him/her you'd provide that info once you got hired what do you think he'd/she'd say? Okay so you break down and tell them you'll provide that info in a couple of months but only for the past year could you imagine the laughter at such arrogance? If Mittens thinks he can just bully his way into office he has another thing coming.

Then there was the major gaff of Perry. Any fifth grader knows that Turkey is our ally and not some terrorist nation. I guess Ricky cut his high school history classes or maybe Texas is teaching another version. Oh I forgot anyone wearing a turban or other head scarf is a terrorist. They're all alike you know. This reminds me of something that happened just after 911. My idiot neighbor (a republican of course) was on the alert for suspicious activity. About 4 am a man driving the neighborhood with a turban on is spotted by said neighbor. The police are called. I can only imagine the look on the poor guys face when he gets surrounded by 5 cop cars at 4 am. Turns out he was delivering newspapers. Note to neighbor: "He was from India you idiot!"

So Newt gets all miffed when asked about a previous marriage. I have a question for him. Hey Newt when do you plan on cheating on your current wife or have you already found a new mistress? Maybe you should change religions again I hear the Mormons permitted multiple wives at one point. Next question. Just how many ethics violations were you charged with before being forced from congress? And you expect us to hire you?

No bank fails of late but I'll check later and get back to you. Bank fail update After nearly a month of no fails we have three this week in FL GA and PA

Postscript: To all the progressive radio and TV shows that read this blog I thank you for your patronage but a little acknowledgment might be appreciated. Once while driving to work I heard the very same words I had written verbatim the night before on progressive radio.

This site temporarily closed please check back later

2012-01-18T09:10:00.001-08:00

Snow

2012-01-17T08:30:00.001-08:00

Here a shot of a lady driving into a local cafe here. Sorry lady they don't have a drive thru.
(More photos later if I can figure this out)

We get about two snow storms a year out here on average. Some winters almost none. Anyone from the northern states would laugh at the amount we get and having come from that area many years ago myself I can understand. What people don't understand is what always happens to our snow here. We get an arctic breeze that combines with the warm water filled fronts from Hawaii and where the two meet we call the convergence zone. That's the area that gets hit the worst. Snow usually starts in the evening making for a less than happy commute but in Northeastern terms it would be seen as a mere inconvenience. As morning and evening rush hour commutes grind on and temperatures warm it causes a couple of inches of snow to turn into slush. All complete with news crews racing to find the latest spin out into the ditch and interviews with 4X4 driver who said he didn't think it was that bad when he started out. Then of course we always hear everyone except the other guy knows how to drive in this mess.
After the roads are turned to that slushy mess and the towing companies have finished their first round, the temps drop and everything turns to ice. That's when the real fun begins. If you're lucky enough to live near a hill you can kick back with a cocoa and watch the show from your front window. Maybe a little Blue Danube playing in the back ground would add to your viewing pleasure. I recall one car dealership having their sales staff hold up point signs with each spinout with an SUV doing a 360 getting a 9.5 for style and difficulty.
But alas the beauty of living in the Northwest is that such storms are short lived with the warm rains from Hawaii winning the battle with old man winter. It's one reason why I moved here in the first place. You don't have to shovel rain.

Smoke mirrors and world debt

2012-01-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

The game of kick the can continues. Or maybe a circular firing squad would be a better example. Only in this case a couple of players are holding a gun to their own heads. Funny how these things work out or are even started in the first place. Somewhere a couple of thousand years ago it was written "neither a borrower nor a lender be". Why would that be such a pearl of wisdom one might ask? Because it only adds to the stress of life. The borrower must worry about being able to pay back the loan and the lender worries that he'll get his money back with or without interest. Then their is the matter of collateral. Which in todays' case is non- existent. All based on paper and promises it's not something anyone can see, feel, or touch. What could the loan sharks of the central bank repo? Who would want to take over the Acropolis or other antiquity in Greece as payment? That'd be a white elephant for sure.

But this wonderful game of playing Monopoly is being played out around the world and not just in the euro zone. Leveraging works swimmingly well when economies are humming along but at some point the bubbles burst. Reading the financial pages you'd think that some magical power has deep pockets and a solution to the crisis but the truth is that no one holds the keys to a vault with endless cash. But they'd like you to think as much. No dear reader it's nothing more than trading one debt for another. There is no magic bullet, no elixir that will fix today's problems. Unless of course there is a massive write off of debt. Even then the pain inflicted would be massive. Most of what we own as an individual and as a nation is tied directly or indirectly to debt. The savings you have in the bank isn't sitting there collecting dust. It's loaned out at nine times its' value adding to the problem. Also true of your checking.

So we must now face the reality that we're all broke. Even if you're not, the country you live in is and more than likely your neighbors are if they still live in their home and hold a mortgage. But if you read the financial pages they'd have you believe that everything will work out okay. They must keep the game of smoke and mirrors going to reap the scraps of the delusion. You can watch the ups and downs of the markets and know that there is nothing there based in reality. Most of it is done by computer programs those automatic uncaring machine decision makers that are running the world. Slap a few zeros in and money magically appears on a banks books created out of thin air. Gee don't you wish you could do that?

For lack of anything better to do

2012-01-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd throw my picks for the playoff hopes. Please note though that I paid little attention to the entire season so any accuracy on my part will be just dumb luck. But I've done it twice before. Let's see if I'm still lucky.

New Orleans at San Francisco - San Fran by 3

Denver at New England - Denver by 7

Update: Looks like I'm 1 for 1 above I guess God was out for the day when Tebow went after New England

Houston at Baltimore - Houston by 7 although I hope the Ravens could be victors

Lastly we have New York Giants at Green Bay I think Green Bay will run away with it by 3 TDs

Update:Sheesh! Did Green Bay even bother to show up to play?

And as I said I didn't follow the NFL much so I could be just whistling in the breeze.

It's Friday and you know what that means

2012-01-13T00:15:00.001-08:00

Call me a nihilist but the way things are going we might as well throw a big end of the world party. That's right. A wild naked drunken drugged up loud music dance around the fire blast. Then when everybody is three sheets to the wind and falling down crazy fire off the nukes. It'd only take a couple of dozen to end life on this planet as we know it. And why not? We've pretty much screwed things up for any future generation to endure. Why not just go out in one final hoopla? Make it something that even make Caligula blush. An orgasmic blast of epic proportions. Fire up your favorite tunes at ear shattering volume. Strip off you clothes and say howdy neighbor yee haw the end is near! Break open that special bottle. Down your favorite drug. Smoke em if you got em. Grab that guy or gal you had your eye on and get down cause there'll be nothing left in the morning but a burned out cinder. No need to cover your ears kiddies cause mom and dad don't care. Always wanted to get into things you shouldn't? Well now's your chance. Eat a bowl of butter. Cover yourself in whip cream. Pull down you pants and slid on the ice. Everything is fair game. Run your car into a tree. Time for everybody to be free. Slash a tire. Build a fire. Don't worry where you do it when you need to take a pee. Paint you body brown. Slither on the ground. Cause nobody will care you see. Stuff jello in your pocket. Is that a sound of a rocket? No the parties not over just yet. Kick open the door to the Scream Room cause nobody cares you bet. Armageddon's on it's way so it's time to play. Party hardy while you still can. Cover your eyes. Cover you ears. The blast wave 'll get you so have no fears.

Tags: Doin' the apocalyptic shuffle, Ansel Adams raised from the dead, I got mine you got yours so the hell with all of us, Fun things to think about with too much time on you hands.

$5 a gallon gas? Not so fast

2012-01-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

Some are predicting $5 a gallon or higher gas. Nothing like some splashy shocking headlines about more saber rattling to push prices up and get speculators running to the trough. I see it as only a minor glitch. Why? The fundamentals aren't there. The much touted Christmas buying frenzy actually didn't happen as was predicted. Sales were up a scant 0.1% and not the 2.5% as was stated. From my December post It's the economy stupid retailers had to slash prices to get anybody into the malls and even then it was with a tight budget and bargain in mind.
On the global scene what do we have? Everybody says that China is sucking up the world supply but even their economy is slowing down. This is not to mention the massive austerity programs that are hitting Greece, Spain, Ireland, England and others in the European union. We know that won't create high demand. People too are getting creative in changing their driving habits. What was once a suggestion to carpool is now becoming a necessity. Toll roads aren't helping matters here. Get slapped with a $7 to $10 a day toll and those at the bottom of the income chain will find new routes. So if you have to leave earlier for work just to get by then so be it.
So I think it may inch up to the $4 a gallon mark but not for long. Iran may add a bit to the supply of world oil but not as much as everybody thinks. In fact most of the oil we get here in the U.S. comes from Canada. We also know there'll be no bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran as Mr. McCain would like. To do so would bring the wrath of the arab world and with all their oil out of the picture we wouldn't have a chance of continuing any aggressive actions. We seem to have forgotten how our supply system works not to mention what damage it would do to our economy.

Decision 2012

2012-01-11T09:49:00.002-08:00

The Santorum clan are really a bunch of communists?
Who would have known? And "red commies" to boot. Not just your ordinary run of the mill commie. Ricks' grandpa was a "pinko" to the core and fled the very ideology that the present day candidate is touting. For shame Ricky! Grandpa is rolling in his grave.

Then there's Mitt Romney the current front runner. Mitt would just love you to think he's an average unemployed guy just like you, that is if you had a couple of hundred million in the bank. And that money he has stashed away is blood money. Imagine the American dreams he dashed to get it. Sorry small town America there's a chinaman doing your job now because Mitt wanted another nickel. And never trust a guy who says he's been happily married for decades. We're talking about the human race here even if he does look like a robot at times. Wonder how his Mormon faith is going to play out in the bible belt? And you just know his opponents will use his past to paint him as a liberal. Break out the popcorn the cage match is about to start.

Dr. Ron Paul was the second place finisher of last nights' contest. Ronny has an idea or two that appeals to the left but that's about it. He has no chance in hell of getting the party nod. Anyone who has looked at his other ideas knows that they are unrealistic and undoable. Shrink government down and drown it in the bathtub would effectively end this nation but don't burst Ron's bubble when he's on a roll. And funny how he'd relinquish control of everything except what happens to a woman's vagina. Must go with the territory, he is after all a gynecologist. Mr. "Do no harm", unless the patient can't pay. Is that the new "Hypocritic"® oath?

I know I haven't delved into Jon Huntsman the third place finisher mainly because he's been hiding in the background for so long. You can blame main stream media for that. He wasn't even invited to many of the debates. That must mean he has more than a few rational ideas in this clown circus. For a while there I was wondering when the cat lady from the Simpsons was going to announce her run.
And here's another dirty little secret the Lame Stream Media isn't telling you, Romney didn't win with any landslide victory either. He got less than 23% of the possible votes to be had. You see about 2/3 of the voters didn't show up at the polls to vote in this primary. Maybe they are about as tired of this clown circus as I am.

What a day

2012-01-09T23:31:00.000-08:00

Fired up the old computer this morning and odd things started happening. First the browser wouldn't load then when it did it got funky and all pixelated. I tried a disk first aid but that wouldn't work either. Time to call in the big guns. "Oh computer geek!"

After a morning of fiddling and farting around...

Eight or nine updates and several test firings it's back to the old casa Demeur of old. And I do mean old because we had to load an earlier version of the operating system for functionality. But no sweat because it now runs like it's owner, old cranky and slow.

So I'm back baby! You can't keep this web surfer down for long. No siree Bob.

Wars and the nature of animals

2012-01-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

Other wars you don't even hear about.
Balochistan - Balo who? You might ask. A small region in the south of Pakistan made up of a loose knit bunch of tribes that wants their independence. An isolated area not much there with some stone built houses no electricity or running water but I guess they like it that way. They are happy to trade the modern world for their own sense of security and self respect. The Pakistani government has tried to bring power and other services to the area but the locals will have non of it.
If that's the way they want to live then I say go for it. It's not like you're bothering the rest of the world.

Then there's Somalia. That's that non country that we've tried to help in the past with humanitarian aid when Clinton was in office. It looked as if they were just about to get some peace in the country when we stuck our nose into their business once more. First we dumped a bunch of military aid to the Ethiopians and had them try and clear out Al Qaeda. Problem is Al Qaeda isn't exactly a definable army and when you have unwanted guests in your country with guns and tanks you wouldn't take too kindly to the act either. Supposedly Al Qaeda was pushed to the far south of the country and things were a bit more peaceful until now when we're returning to a puppet war. You'll note that we sent 100 troops to the Congo in Dec to train their army against rebels. I wouldn't be surprised if we're not also training some Kenyans and Sudanese in the process.
But here's the problem folks. The idea of Al Qaeda and terror is just that. It is an ideology and a concept. You can kill as many humans as you like but you can not kill an idea no matter how hard you try. And as I may have said several times before at some point you will need to sit down and reach an agreement and that can not be done at the end of the barrel of a gun.
Interestingly the Afghan government has been trying to negotiate peace terms with the Taliban but again we're dealing with a somewhat loose knit group here. The country after all is made up of small local tribes that have no real allegiance to a central government.

In stepping back from world affairs this kind of reminds me of an experiment I did in a college biology class many years ago. We took two breeding pairs of rats and put them in a defined cage and let them procreate. After several months when space in the cage was quite limited many of the behaviors we see in today's society emerged. Some rats sat motionless and showed no interaction. Others continuously chased their tails. While other fought constantly even though they were provided with adequate food and water. When the experiment was over the rats were released into the wild only to return near the building where they were kept. I know we're not rats but I think that says something about the nature of animals on this planet.

You don't have to be crazy...

2012-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

To be a New Hampshire republican state senator. But it sure helps.

The bills these guys came up with defy logic. Where to start? One bill requires all legislation to be matched up to the Magna Carta. Exactly how today's legislation relates to a charter that gave English barons more power in 1215 is beyond anyone's imagination and even the idiot state senators didn't bother to do their history homework as they didn't know either.

Right to starve re (work?). Failing to pass this republican agenda several times before they thought they'd try again but this time lay the burden on state employees requiring them to pay part of the union dues even if they chose to be non union. Considering most state employees make about 25% less in pay than the private sector this is nothing more than another take away for workers. And funny how legislators can vote themselves a raise and benefits at any time, the public be damned.

Education or lack there of. Another bill would require all schools to offer alternative courses if a parent found said course offensive or something to that effect. This would be for any courses offered. Some type of alternate course would have to be offered by the school district. You could just imagine the chaos that would create not to mention the bankrupting of the educational system.
Of course what republican agenda would be complete without some anti evolution legislation. In spite of all scientific evidence to the contrary these geniuses would like nothing more than to pull us back to an era when the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. Maybe God had a hangover the day he created these governing idiots. But all is well the bright eyed senators in another bill will let you take your guns to school. Hope you keep your safety on during "show and tell" boys and girls. "Gee can we even bring them to the floor of the state legislature too senators"? I'll bet not.

There are more idiotic bills there but I thought you'd get a kick seeing these. If there was a New Years award for the dumbest legislation these guys would be at the forefront. Help me out here guys all I can think of for the moment is the Fickle Finger of Fate from the old Laugh In days.

Nothing for today so

2012-01-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for the regular Friday gig. Who'd want to miss the pussy pictures?

To lazy to blog

Hybrid cars, Hybrid corn, now Hybrid sharks?

2012-01-04T00:32:00.000-08:00

I love this bit of info. It disproves two wingnut theories (myths). First that there is no evolution and second that there is no global warming.

Scientists said on Tuesday that they had discovered the world's first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, a potential sign the predators were adapting to cope with climate change.
The mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with its global counterpart, the common black-tip, was an unprecedented discovery with implications for the entire shark world, said lead researcher Jess Morgan.
"It's very surprising because no one's ever seen shark hybrids before, this is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination," Morgan, from the University of Queensland, told AFP.
"This is evolution in action."

If there was no evolution then viruses wouldn't mutate as any scientist can tell you. That's right boys and girls we aren't the same creatures that roamed the planet 6000 years ago or even 2000. I just wonder if we're smart enough to mate with heat enduring people. Ah oh that would mean paring up with the folks in Africa and the middle east. Oops better start being kind to them now or your offspring may be the last of the line genealogically speaking.

Which republican candidate would you choose?

2012-01-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

Come on now time is running out. Make up your mind ladies and gentlemen.

Okay easier question. Which was your favorite stooge? You can't offend anyone now they're all long dead. Mine was Curly (the first one to play the part in the lower left). I even got a hair cut like his way back when because I had an abusive teacher who liked to pull hair. Man would she have been booted out of school these days for the things she did back then. But in looking at the news today I see not much has changed in the last 50+ years Boy stuffed in duffle bag, mom opts for home schooling

Also know you couldn't do half the stunts these guys did back then today or teachers either.

News you can't use and could probably care less about

2012-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Fuel additive used in French breast implants
Gives new meaning to the expression "boy is she hot".

Greek pharmacists, doctors on strike
Nothing like trying to balance the budget on the backs of the sick and disabled.
We're seeing that here in the U.S. with cuts to state health care. And here's a bit of a heads up. Drug treatment programs were cut as well. Keep that in mind the next time you need to go out at night.

Romney hopes N. Korea will embrace 'openness
Mittens must be living in la la land if he thinks N. Korea will be changing it's tune any time soon.

Anger rises as Nigeria fuel prices soar
Their cost for gas doubled over night as the government dropped subsidies. Ah yes nothing like trying to boil a frog by throwing him directly into a pot of boiling water. They never though about actually building an oil refinery and making their own gasoline.

A fairly quiet day here. But here's a bit of an oddity. In browsing the fair of xmas flicks from the ghost of weeks past I noted 6 yes six, counted em, back to back ads for cars. Just wonder who would want to buy a new car right before the winter onslaught of snow and ice?

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

Pretty quiet here at casa Demeur last night. I never go out any more, too many amateur idiots on the road plus those days are long behind me now. Last year was soon to be forgotten and mediocre at best. I did make it one more revolution around the sun so that's a plus. Is it me or is there not much to look forward to as we get older? Yes there are the run of the mill birthdays and anniversaries that I pretty much don't celebrate any more either but for the most part the excitement is gone. No more counting down the days until some special day because most days are the same. Maybe you get to a point in life where you've seen it all, been there, done that and as BB King would say "the thrill is gone". You get to a point where you pretty much know how something is going to work out before it does because you've been down that road once before or at least witnessed it in the past. But how quickly people forget their history yet now with the internet it's neatly tucked away on some Youtube video somewhere. Makes you wonder what that will do to coming generations. They are lucky to have the attention span of a gnat these days, imagine how grandma will get along when she's forgotten her smart phone password or even where she put it. Don't they have an app for that? Forget "help I've fallen and I can't get up" it will be "help I've lost my phone and I can't remember anybody's name or address".

I guess I'm very old school when it comes to some of the little things. I never rely on electronic devices for everyday information. If it's something truly important I write it down with pen and paper. I can't tell you how many times the boss was at a total loss because the battery died in their phone. One boss couldn't tell time without his phone which made it interesting when he left it at home one day. I still wear an old Timex that keeps on ticking.

And speaking of time it's about the end of this ramble. Time to sit back and listen to the arteries harden and watch the rest of the body parts wearing out. Now what was I going to do?

Population and our eminent demise

2011-12-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

The clock is ticking

People like to think of this world as infinite. Hike to a mountain top or take a boating trip beyond the horizon to observe the vastness of this world yet fail to see how small things have become. There is only so much in this world no matter how we would like to perceive it. The amount of air and water that existed thousands of years ago is still here. There won't be a mother ship sending in an emergency supply. But the one thing that will increase is the supply of people. You can morbidly cheerlead for the thinning of the herds but our obsession with self replication keeps our numbers bounding forward. And like it or not we are moving ever so closer to a breaking point. We have two choices. We can either stem the tide of overpopulation peacefully or wait for the inevitable conflicts to ensue. Even with our present day wars the population clock ticks upward with no end in sight. And no sneaking off to some far off galaxy because our technology won't get us there yet. It's reported that the population will "level off" sometime around just before 2050 at just over 9.5 billion people. I'm glad I won't be around to endure those conditions. Governments will have no choice but to issue mandates about our very existence and it won't be some politically correct BS either. Do it or not survive will become apparent. Yes things could get ugly but we're not quite there just yet.

Pop over and have a look at the ticking population clock and consider how much in resources each one of those little mouths consumes. We have an artist here who makes an interesting representation of what we throw away on a daily basis. It would be wonderful if all that trash were to land up in recycle but that is not the case. A lot of it ends up in our oceans and rivers to come back and haunt at a later date. "But I only threw away a paper cup or candy wrapper" you say. Well multiply that by a million or a billion or two billion and see what it looks like.

The amazing thing is all that has happened in terms of population growth and our polluting the planet has occurred in just the last 200 years with the start of the industrial revolution. We sure learned to produce and reproduce too. And now we face the consequences of our success. People never stop to think that they are part of the planet. Maybe it's our short sighted nature and it seems to be getting shorter still with the advances of technology. We have done everything in our power to separate ourselves from nature thinking somehow that it makes life better only to realize that in the process we destroy nature. What we fail to realize is that nature will always win. It was here before us and it will be here long after we're done.

What would Friday be without the Friday pussy

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Cunning little creature these felines. Hope she has strong nails.

U.S. to sell Iraq $11 billion dollars worth of aircraft.
Nothing like a housewarming gift after you've destroyed the neighbors' home. They haven't rebuilt most of Iraq but they'll need a new fleet of F-15s to protect what exactly? Wouldn't happen to be their oil fields so we can steal all the oil now would it? And now to sell the Saudis a bunch of fighter jets too. What's next an aircraft carrier to Afghanistan?

Russian nuclear sub catches fire
I see they at least had the foresight to off load all the missiles first. I'll bet the fire watch is going to be in big trouble that is if they even use one.

Spain tries to cut it's debt further
Nothing like slapping more taxes and spending cuts on people who can least afford it. Yeah that will make the economy just sing. Italy to it's credit was smart enough to start putting people back to work with spending on it's infrastructure. I say we fire the lot of congress and hire an economics professional that knows how to do things. These "job creators" aren't creating jobs.

bank fails later

Greed. It can come back to bite you in the...

2011-12-29T00:45:00.001-08:00

Rootworms have become resistant to genetically modified corn. The corn made by those wonderful folks at Monsanto (he said snarkily) was modified to produce its' own pesticide. Unfortunately the worms have developed a resistance to it and are starting to increase crop damage. The problem has been exacerbated by poor farming methods.

Don't fool mother nature

A problem of greed
Most farmers rotate corn with other crops in a practice long used to curb the spread of pests, but some have abandoned rotation because they need extra grain for livestock or because they have grain contracts with ethanol producers. Other farmers have eschewed the practice to cash in on high corn prices, which hit a record in June.

Crop rotation I might add has been used for centuries and when done properly results in higher crop yields and better soil conditions. We saw what happened in the 1930s when farmers abandoned standard practices and when a draught ensued the top soil blew away leaving farmers with nothing. That was the period of the great Dust Bowl in the midwest. With a dry winter it makes one wonder how the midwest aquifer is holding up. It's been known to be decreasing with the increase of agricultural activity of the farm belt.

I hope everyone realizes that we no longer grow most of our produce in this country. We only cover about 25% of our food needs here. The rest comes from countries like Chile, Canada, India, and Mexico. And you can thank Bush for our abundance of mangos from India. Much of our farm output was outsourced long ago and yet prices continue to rise. Good luck finding a pound of beef for under $5. That was due to our draught this past summer. But this makes me wonder what defense we would have should our supplies be cut off. We have developed a "just in time" supply system and any disruption to that would be a disaster.

Oil

2011-12-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Black gold. Texas tea. Bubblin crude as Jeb Clampett would say. Much has been written on the subject of late. But so much has been inaccurate. People focus on politics and geographic locations and fail to ponder the underlying causes of our present situation. I hear talk of alternative energy and a push away from oil. All well and good in theory but there are no replacements at the present time. Take a look around the room and count how many things are made from oil. And even if they weren't made from it they had to be transported there with oil. We are stuck with a major infrastructure built on oil and nothing is going to change anytime soon. Why you might ask? Because those who run oil companies will not let it happen. They may talk a pretty game of change with flowers and butterflies flitting around solar panels but they have no intention of killing their cash cow just for your or the planets' sake. They have said as much in interviews. It's always something like "In 40 or 50 years we'll be able to move away from oil". But of course all the oil executives will be dead by then so what would they care. Just a matter of keeping the game going until then and as the supply dwindles and the price goes up they'll make even more money.

A couple of statements from a business paper -
We're highly dependent on a finite fuel source controlled by crazy people who hate us
We've done next to nothing about this problem for four decades

To which I'd reply - they may be crazy and they may hate us but they aren't stupid. They realize that their income is tied to oil and that the world needs oil. And like the addicts we are we'll come crawling for the stuff. They know perfectly well that economies can't function without oil. So you'll see back room deals and cheats as we've seen with other embargoes all under the guise of humanitarian facades. Did we do anything in the last forty years? Yes we went from the gas guzzling behemoths of the late sixties and early seventies to the smaller cars of today but the population increased as did the number of cars. And with those new cars came plastic parts made from oil. And the greed and the quest continues. So sit back, watch the show and don't be fooled by the loud mouth characters on stage. They are but a diversion from what is really happening. I'll bet the speculators are just loving this show.

Year end review

2011-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Taking stock of the year as 2011 slides into 2012 I'd say it was a mediocre year for me at least. I haven't fallen off a cliff yet but I still have a few obstacles to over come moving into the new year. Somehow all of those once in a while bills decided to converge in the month of January. The bi-yearly insurance couldn't have come at a more inopportune moment. And some long over due dental work had to be done before loosing out on the few crumbs the insurance pays. I would just love to be in the position of offering my services the way they do. I'm sorry sir/madame but in order to get my services you'll have to submit to my lengthy questionnaire, physical and be drug tested. Upon review of your application a determination of your eligibility will be made by our acceptance board. A minimum of three month waiting period is required prior to consideration. Should your request be denied you may have the right to appeal the decision. All requests for appeal must be received no later than 7 days after notification of denial. And on and on etc etc.

On the national economic news front it looks like stocks are up a bit. One would have you believe that everything is going well after an increase in retail sales. A few tiny bits of overlooked information on that front. In order to get shoppers into the malls retailers had to slash prices. And this didn't happen just once as is usually the case. Normally they drop prices the day after turkey day then it's back to business as usual until January. Not so this year. There was an uptick as usual on Black Friday but then a large fall off. Retailers fearing full shelves at the end of the year slashed prices even more. They may have moved a bit of inventory but at a cost to their profit margins. And now that the boa constrictor of consumers has been fed it will be a while before the next feeding. I'd bet that those seasonal temps have already gotten their walking papers and are or will be joining the ranks on the unemployment line sometime next week.

But hiding in the depths far from the economic news are a bunch of 800 lb. gorillas. We have the european economic mess which has been neatly shoved off the front pages for cheerier news. They still have no concrete solution in spite of what they're telling you. So once again it's crank up the money presses to shovel money at more debt. Isn't that like trying to eat yourself skinny? The problem there is that in order to keep the body alive you can't starve it to death because after all dead people don't pay taxes. And it's those taxes that pay for the debt or at least lower it. There always is and always will be an imbalance of economic activity. That's what causes the system to operate in the first place but too much imbalance will cause things to stop.
The other 800 pounder is the housing market. I have to wonder just what the banks plan to do with all those foreclosed homes they hold on their books. They can't leave them there forever as they fall into decay. We saw how Cleveland bulldozed their problems but what about all the debt that went with it? Will it become a write off or will they figure out some sneaky way to package this junk into something they can foist on the world markets as they did with the subprimes?

Just a thought, maybe I can package my debt into a bond of some type and sell it on the open market. If I could leverage it at nine times like the banks do I could be retired in no time at all. Just need to buy a hedge when I can't pay the bill when it comes due. It's all paper after all.

One reason I don't go out much

2011-12-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

At least on holidays that is. Or make that a couple of reasons.

House Fire Kills 5 in Stamford

Nine shot at Tennessee teenagers' party

Police find 7 dead in Fort Worth-area apartment Update Santa killed Texas family after opening presents.

8-year-old girl killed when branch falls on car

Soldier shot, paralyzed during homecoming party

Man's body found in Everett storage unit after fire Saturday

By the looks of it you'd think everybody got a fifth of scotch and French dueling pistols for Christmas. And with today's economy I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Between self emulation and lunatic relatives is it any wonder why I'll pass on such merriment?

So just keep fighting and thinning the gene pool. I'll just sit back and watch from the comfort of my own living room. Goof balls just won't learn will they? You just can't teach them anything. Oh well nothing more to see here. Move along and while you're at it don't disturb the crime scene tape while the investigation is still under way. The coroner's results should be available in about a week. That's all for today. Now get back to work Cratchit!

A message of Peace

2011-12-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

People wonder what the reason for this season is and never really stop to consider the true meaning. Yes I get silly here probably because it's the only way I can keep what little there is left of my sanity with all that's going on in the world. But the underlying reality is that this is the season of sacrifice. It's the time of year when we're supposed to look at the other of humanity and feel compassion. It's for people like Billy who helps out his neighbor Helen knowing that she can not care for herself and yet looks after her daily anyway. It's for Randal who inspite of a sarcastic exterior never hesitates to say the right thing when trouble comes. Not to mention S.W. and Jim and Tom and many many others who are always there for you even though they may be hundreds of miles away. It's for the ounce of compassion left in a world that's turned hostile. And to all those out there who for one reason or another have stopped posting we're still thinking of you. Even though life may have thrown it's ugly fate at you we still care and are worried about you.

So to all a momentary period of compassion even if it's brief for we're only on this earth for a brief time. That is the true meaning of the season. Whether it's true or not about a virgin birth doesn't matter. But the sacrifice always matters, it matters for our very existence, our very will to live on this planet.

Peace to all and may at least some of your wishes come true this coming new year.

A special Christmas post

2011-12-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Arrest report

Name: Santa Claus
Address: North Pole ?
Age: unknown
Aliases: Chris Cringle, Father Christmas, St Nick, Sinterklaas, Pere Noel, Babbo Natale, Dun Che Lao Ren, Weihnachtsmann, Kanakaloka, Ded Moroz .

Hair color: white
Eyes: blue
Height: 5'8"
Weight: approx. 300lbs
Other identifying traits: White beard
Adendums: See attached photo

Arresting officer report: Subject seen wearing a dirty red fur coat climbing on roof tops with large bag of toys. When confronted subject appeared intoxicated. Face was flush and nose was red. Also suspected drug use. Subject smoking pipe with smoke all around his head. Subject unlawfully entered home on 123 Main street through chimney. Subject left toys at residence. Theft charge: Subject seen carrying glass of Coca Cola. Empty can on counter, one can missing from refrigerator. Owner indicated nothing else missing. Suspected level one child sex offender. Request mental health evaluation. When confronted subject just laughed and tried to escape through chimney. Suspected animal abuse - Suspect carrying whip had sleigh with miniature reigndeer on roof. Fire and Rescue notified. Animals removed from roof and taken to county animal shelter. Suspected radiation poisoning. Lead reigndeer had glowing nose. Hazardous Waste emergency response notified of situation. Danger determined to be low but extreme caution advised. Request contact with ASPCA for further review.

File Date: December 24,2011
Arresting officer: J. Grinch

Occupying "twas the night before christmas"

2011-12-23T09:31:00.001-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house
not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse
(the rats were all in DC on Capitol Hill)
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
hope they'd dry by tomorrow
another protest march we'd all be there

The children had crashed all limp in their beds
with visions of Occupy danced in their heads.
Mom was wearing her cold weather head gear
and I wrapped in a space blanket and fisherman's cap
had just settled in
after listening to rap

When all of a sudden there rose such a clatter
I jumped from the bed
had someone smashed a vinyl platter?
I dashed to the window
and threw up the sash
checked my wallet
but their was no cash

The moon lit the camp I could make out objects below
tents and rain gear and thank god no snow
When, what to my watery eyes should appear
More back up police in riot gear

With little old sergeant, clip board and night stick
I knew in a minute eviction would be quick
More rapid than protons his bellows they came
he radioed and hollered and called them by name

Now O'Donnell! now Dugan! now Murphy and Thomas!
On Connley, On Kerry, on Flannagan and Amos
To the streets! to the sidewalks! to the alleys don't fall!
Round em up round em up round em up all!

Like dry leaves before wild hurricane fly
protesters they did scatter with chopper in sky
So out of the park protesters they flew,
With nap sacks and back packs and the old sarg too.

And then with an anti twinkle I heard from the park
tents being ripped and with video proof.
As I covered my head and was turning around,
cops pushing and shoving many hit the ground.

He was dressed in all black from his head to his toe
not a wrinkle or blemish he was no average Joe
A large canister of mace he had slung on his back,
looked like a fire fighter with mask and hard hat

His eye did not twinkle, his dimples be none,
looking at his holster, he was carrying a gun
his mouth did scowl, we wanted to know
when the beatings would start, with each baton blow.

From the look in his eyes, and the clench of his teeth
no merriment here, no dancing feet
his shoulders were broad, his middle rotund,
I could tell by his demeanor, this would be no fun

He was dark and imposing, a stern young elf
I chanted and protested at him, in spite of myself
with a scowl and sneer and a shake of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work
clubbing protesters galore, to me what a jerk!
And laying a finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, to the patrol car he goes.

He sprang to paddy wagon, to driver he did whistle
It was off to detention, what a mean old pistol
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"58 protesters arrested this eviction night!"

Pussy Noel

2011-12-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

And what would Friday be without the pussies.

Bank fails later along with one of those special holiday posts I promised if I can get the damned thing assembled. You know how that works.

Now where did I leave that screw driver?

Update: Shoe shoppers pepper sprayed in Seattle Sheesh! I thought they were saving their pepper spray for the Occupy protesters. Shows you our priorities. 25% of the planet starving and these guys are fighting over over priced tennis shoes.

On the bright side congress passed the stupid budget bill extension. Now I won't have to worry about having to live in the car in the dead of winter. Gee thanks guys.

Let the civil war commence

2011-12-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Iraq bombs kill at least 40 in Baghdad
This situation was a given considering that in 9 years of occupation the U.S. could never bring the different factions together. But fear not. After another couple of years of fighting the bullets will stop. Some agreements will be reached and the country will fall into a somewhat peaceful place. Look no farther than Lebanon to use as an example. We occupied there. Then we left. Fighting broke out but eventually peace came forth. People get tired of having to live in such conditions fearing for their lives on a daily basis. This also reminds us of northern Ireland with years and years of fighting for independence with the occupation of British troops. What happened there? It got so bad that the radical groups started to kill their own. Not trusting loyalty even from those within the organization, families were not safe from their own troops.

In other news
US growth revised down for third quarter - Isn't this just as I've said many times before. Bean counters fudge the numbers (mmmm fuuudge ghhahhhh!) to make things look good then reality sets in but everyone has a short memory about the truth. If a certain bill is not passed the first quarter will look very bad with the bulk of americans (160 million was it?) pulling in the purse strings.

Frankincense production "doomed," scientists warn
Horror of horrors what's next a Myrrh shortage? Say it ain't so.

Danish zoo raises polar bear cub by hand
We'll spend thousands of dollars helping an animal make it in the world but when it comes to our own species we'll just let them die on the street. What's that you say your insurance company won't cover your much needed operation?

New holiday (as if we didn't have enough)
Canadians have come up with a new holiday Marijuanica. Nothing official or government sanctioned mine you, but given all the ads for liquor on TV of late why not? Even creative carols have come from this merriment. So one wonders is this the eat drink and be merry attitude and I know you know how the rest of that phrase goes.

The tease (don't you just hate em?)
And stay tuned for my latest and greatest holiday season special posts. As soon as I dig them out of the attic, get them dusted off and polished they'll be ready for your viewing pleasure. Hey wait a minute that's right I don't have an attic. Well I'll find them where ever they are.

Be afraid! On second thought nothing to see here move along.

2011-12-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

Fearing Terrorism, U.S. Asks Journals to Censor Articles on Virus

This is absurd on several counts. First the information on biowarfare has been out there for a number of years. Entire governments have devoted great resources in developing the latest methods of mass destruction. It wasn't until anthrax scare after 911 that anyone paid much attention to the biological and chemical weapons. Why? Because those items had been outlawed by international agreements. First in 1975 with the biologicals and then again in 1993 with chemical weapons when George H.W. Bush signed agreements. A great many of the huge stock piles are gone. One weapon I hope they finish destroying is the Vx gas our military is holding. It is the most tenacious stuff to remediate taking weeks to neutralize should it ever be used.
But now we have a dearth of natural viruses coming at us but government agencies are worried that should that information fall into the wrong hands a pandemic of epic proportions could result.
I find that bit of information amusing because being tied to the field in a round about way, we didn't get any training in dealing with a possible event until four years after the first anthrax attacks and even then it was very minimal. Only the very basic knowledge of health effects and protection methods were presented. I've had biohazard training once before but never to a level of a national emergency event. I find their lag in training an indication that they weren't as worried about the situation as they would have you believe. I found out some time later that I was on a national list should such an emergency happen. Thanks for telling me guys.

The governments' biggest fear right now is that some group will weaponize the SARS virus (bird flu). But I'd say if they haven't done this by now then it probably won't happen. Yes you may see the generic loon try to wreck havoc in the name of their cause but I'd be more afraid of catching a case of salmonella or e-coli at the local supermarket from produce or meat.

The thought had crossed my mind that they could easily get hold of one of the hemorrhagic viruses known as VHFs which are 100% fatal but the drawback for them is getting it into the country without detection as most of those viruses are carried by an animal host. Merely injecting a suicide subject with a deadly strain would show up rather quickly on an international flight. The symptoms come on rather fast and are quite obvious starting with a high fever. Airports are wise and have heat scanning detection equipment.

So after all the scare tactics I find that most situations could have be dealt with in a fairly timely manner even if the powers that be weren't the brightest bulbs in the bunch. Much of the terror warnings are just psychological scare tactics anyway. More damage is done by panic and lack of knowledge than facing something head on and actually understanding things. And here's a laugh. Dick Cheney used to carry around with him a top of the line haz mat suit at all times. Hum did he stop to think that there'd be no one around when he ran out of air and needed a refill tank? Not too bright Dicky.

Work or lack there of

2011-12-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

I really wonder if we haven't become too efficient for our own good. I think back to a time when the average work day was from sun up to sun down or roughly 12 hours. And back then there was no such thing as a 4 or 5 day work week. It was six for everybody. Some years back I worked seven days a week but that wasn't for too long. I can't imagine doing a six day week for very long now. But back then I could recover with just a few short hours of sleep. Age catches up to you.

What has happened in the last ten or twenty years? With strides in efficiencies there is less of a need for workers. I may have said this before but in just a short period what used to take two dozen workers now takes six or eight. And time schedules have been cut in half or more. A little insight into that though. You see highway projects always seeming to be done ahead of time and under budget? A little trickery there is at work. As the estimate for bid goes through the chain of command, hours get added with each passing hand. It's all a game. Once signed the paperwork makes it back down to the supervisors and foremen but not before the hours mysteriously disappear. If a job takes two weeks to finish the bid gets pushed to three. The workers are told the job must be finished in a week. When that isn't possible they are told they'll get an extra day or two but the new artificial deadline must be met. When the job gets done ahead of schedule management is patting themselves on the back while telling the workers the company lost money on the job. This strategy backfires when workers have enough experience to know exactly how long a job will take. When pushed too far or too fast they will however slow down to make up for lost time and wages.

The though had crossed my mind sometime way back in the 1970s. What if humans or at least most of their labor became unnecessary? What would we do? Never did I think we would come so close to the current situation in my lifetime and yet there is more to come. ATMs, robot welders and auto floor vacuums are but the tip of the iceberg. There are drones and land cruisers that can act autonomously. Artificial intelligence the next frontier of computers and machines is the next blessing or worry. They already have cars that park themselves so why would I even bother going in the first place. I could just send my robot clone. In congress we have clowns, but maybe someday that is if we can pry the cash out of their bought souls, we could have clones. Low on maintenance easily controllable that is if the majority get a turn and maybe something might get done. Just keep the extremists away from the joy stick.

They

2011-12-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

Just thinking of the latest (insert name of the latest cool weapon here). We spend billions if not trillions of dollars trying to devise the latest most efficient methods for wiping the planet of the latest (insert latest enemy name here). Never once considering that it would be far cheaper in the long run to provide a little food clothing and shelter instead of bombs and bullets. How creative we've become in the carnage of warfare with drones and laser guided missiles. Never mind the fact that the next door neighbor might get added to the statistics when the smoke settles. But that's okay he and his family were probably sympathizers too even the baby and the dog.
So now it's official our military can roll down your street in a Bradly tank to arrest either you or your neighbor with no writ or warrant and there is nothing you can do about it. They have boiled the frog and he is ready for serving. We now have a full fledged dictatorship compliments of our U.S. Congress. It's fine for other countries to fight for freedom and democracy but just don't try that here buster or there'll be hell to pay. No standing on street corners or sidewalks and shouting your displeasure or it's pepper spray and baton for you. What are you going to do about it call a cop? And along those lines the creative engineers tried their best to foil such outrage with sound cannons and microwave devices. What they seemed to forget is that such demonstrations are never neat and pretty. Protesters don't just line up in a row to be mowed down and of course you have shoppers intermingled in the mix. Wouldn't want to deprive big business of their profits now. The last use of such a device resulted in the police getting whacked, hoisted by their own petard I believe the term is.

So just when will people stop the madness? Cool off step back and spend a little time actually learning about "them". It's always about "them" not us. We slap enough labels on "them". We try to make "them" different. "They" are the ones who probably did it. You know "them". "They" are not like us. "They" dress funny. "They" don't talk like us. "They" may be plotting something. "They" are out to get us. "They" have strange customs. "They" eat strange foods. "They" will cheat us if "they" get the chance. "They" are dirty. "They" are lazy. "They" are ignorant. "They" are stupid. "They" don't think like we do. "They" are radical. "They" hate us. "They" don't look like us. "They" are all alike.

Now step up to the mirror and take a good look. Couldn't the same thing be said about you?

R.I.P Missy

2011-12-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

I've never know a cat like her or even a dog for that matter. She was unique. A little hellion when we first got her. Tuxedo cat on the outside but in bright sun you could just make out brown tabby stripes underneath. rumor had it that her momma cat didn't treat her too nice as she was the runt of the litter. That may have explained her sometimes feral nature. She kind of grew out of that as she got older but had her times when she didn't want bothered you knew better than even touch her. I don't recall ever hearing of a cat who would wait for you at the front door when you came home from work but there she'd be with a friendly meow greeting. She really attached herself to me as I studied and learned cat behavior. She'd curl up at my feet at bed time and always let you know when it was time for the litter box in the middle of the night. She'd also let you know when it was chow time in early morning and evening. She was like an atomic clock in that regard.
She had her dreams in life just like the rest of us I guess. Hers' was to get out and roam free which she did on several occasions. It was always requirement to check behind you when opening the front door or she'd bolt out and down the steps headed for her favorite hiding place a drainage pipe by the street. She got out a couple of times once for three days. But the last time would indeed be her last. No she didn't get hit or attacked but after four days of feline party I was able to trick her back with a bowl of food. After a warm bath and kitty feast she'd curl up in one of her many favorite spots. I know I should have gotten her fixed but never got around to it. About a week after her latest escapade she started to bloat up. Thinking we'd be having new additions to the household I though nothing of it. I should have known something was wrong when no delivery happened and no miscarry. Yesterday she lay there on the floor with barely a quiet meow like a limp rag. I could see in her eyes that this was nearing the end but didn't want to face the truth. I picked her up packed her in her carrier and raced to the vets. Upon examination he said there was nothing to be done that she wouldn't make it the weekend. And it was then that I had to make that difficult decision. Yes doctor you can put her down rather than have her face any more suffering.

Some would say "it's just a cat" but when you get so attached it's hard to let go. I guess goodbyes are never easy especially when there was the urgency to try and save a life even of a small creature. She only made it about seven years which makes it all the harder. I will miss her.

Pussies can do crazy things too ya know

2011-12-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

I got nothing zip zilch nada.
And if you're smart you'll just keep you yap shut lest they cart you off to some foreign land for an undetermined amount of time.

bank fails later

It's the economy stupid

2011-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

(After writing this post I dug through the Bureau of labor statistics on the stats for Oct. and Nov. and they aren't looking good unless you just got your nursing degree or medical training.)

I never claimed to be any technical wizard when it comes to the economy but I do get a general gut feeling about how things are going. Looking at the markets bounce like a rubber ball is just an indication of the uncertainty of today's world. In checking stock trends you will note that most of the retail sector has taken a hit. November may have been what looked like a better than average year but most retailers had to slash prices deeply to get shoppers to the mall. The feeding frenzy of consumerism is about over there with all but a small blip on buying as the day nears. But looking at the fundamentals, the guts of industrial spending if you will, I'm looking at a very weak picture with a pull back. Okay duh! Who couldn't have figured that one out by the austerity measures coming? Mining, heavy equipment and the like are taking a hammering (oops pardon the pun). Pharma is fairing okay but basic staples seem to be dropping as are banks. Insurance is on the rise and I was just informed that rates are going up soon. Gas has been moving in an odd pattern. Even though speculators have tried their best to move barrel prices higher past $100 per barrel, it only managed to stay there for a short time before falling. Even in one of the tax heavy states here it's running around $3.60 per gallon average.

There are so many deadlines coming due in the next two weeks they're hard to pin down. We have the european debt crisis hanging over head. The boys coming back from Iraq who will find little comfort in knowing that there isn't much work to be had out there even with any assistance from government. Did I mention more lay offs? On a bright note the post office has given a temporary reprieve to closing a bunch of branches and dropping a bunch of workers. Everything is on hold until May. How they'll pay the bills in the mean time is anyone's guess.

From an anecdotal perspective I'm seeing more parked cars on the street in the neighborhood during the day and I know they aren't taking year end vacation time. Had some hope for this year but I didn't think it would be quite this bad. But to be political once more the republicans did say their only goal was to get Obama out of office. They don't seem to care if they scorch the earth in the process. Too bad we're the part that's getting burnt.

Feds Want To Take Your Phone

2011-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

(Guess who was on the phone in this little smash up?) and no it's not me.

Out of your car that is.

Give me a totally plastered driver over a woman texting on her cell phone while driving any day. I've been run off the road twice for that reason. Drunks you can avoid. I don't even like talking while driving because with the likes of some drivers you can never anticipate what they'll do any more. Another thing is U turns. All well and good if it's 3 am and the loonies have departed the bar but not so good at rush hour when opposing traffic can turn on red. I've experience more than one mexican stand off at the intersection after a perfectly legal right hand turn after stop on red. I always win because I have a bigger car. (SUVs rarely try that maneuver) For the most part I don't make many U turns anyway unless it's in a residential area and I just missed a turn even then I'll look for a parking area rather than make a bat turn.
But real trouble enters the picture when someone has finished up a double shift or second job getting off before sun up. A text message or call home might be the last. Can we put that on their tombstone? LOL...OMG... AH SH*T!

So put down the make up. Quit reading the paper. The coffee can wait. Hang up the phone and just drive!

Slanted journalism

2011-12-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

Digging through the news I keep a jaded eye about reporting. There was a time when journalists were bold enough to question authority and dig deeply into backgrounds. Today it's a different story (pardon the play on words). Sadly with shrinking budgets and skittish editors news is being perverted or at the least suppressed. Fearing the legal wrath of corporate owners not much of what you'll see hasn't been sanitized to the approval of some lawyer or well controlled editor. When we saw Fox News have a seat amongst the White Press briefings it was obvious that the days of accurate reporting were over. Why not let the National Enquirer or other supermarket tabloid have a seat as well? They could easily photoshop pictures and scramble a story like so much alphabet soup. Just wondering when they'll be able to accomplish such feats with video in near real time. Better not give them any ideas.

I guess it's true. It's easier to lie about something and get away with it today more than ever because the truth is only making it to the very fringes of main stream media. Far easier to lie, then lie about the lie and then when caught in that lie then lie again. I see no one remembers the story of the boy who cried wolf. Lies can bite you in the ass at some point. Doesn't seem that's so with politicians or much of what is reported today. When was the last time you saw a retraction on the nightly news? Ah that's right they never lie or misreport but they're doing it every day now and you don't even notice it. Where is Helen Thomas when we need her? Sure could use her kind of journalism now but I think those days are gone along with truthful honest questions.

The reason I bring all this up is because there is an ugly pattern unfolding in our nation. Looking for the cheapest labor management has taken it upon itself to replace once well paying jobs with cheap sub contractors some many owned by foreign companies. Look no farther than the auto industry in the south to see what's happened. What were once well paying family supporting jobs are now little more than subsistence work if even that. The nations ports are slowly becoming bastions of indentured servitude. But the final straw I believe was when foreign sub contractors were not even permitted to use port restrooms. I'm sure slaves of the Civil War era were afforded some accommodations in that regard. But none of this is making it to the main stream media which seems too busy reporting on trite and distracting news that no body really cares about. And the news that is making it is done so with the watchful eye of it's corporate masters. Wouldn't want to tick off the sponsors now and you never know a new sponsor could be waiting in the wings. This issue is not new. In the 1950s a show was dropped I kid you not because a contestant on a game show in a passing remark said "I'm a lucky guy". The show was sponsored by Camel cigarettes.

So I have to wonder when this McCarthy era ends. We can substitute Muslim for Communist today and the reportage is probably about the same as it was back then but now it's corporations who hold sway and not some drunken senator. This is no tin foil hat conspiracy theory either. The people protesting on the streets are no different than you or me because they are made up of the likes of you or me.

More later when it comes across my mind.

The big tent party

2011-12-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

The "big tent" republican party must be getting smaller by the day. Think about it. Who other than their corporate masters haven't they pissed off? Let's look at the list.

African Americans
Latinos and Hispanics
Immigrants
The poor
Children especially poor children
The elderly
The mentally challenged
The disabled
Police
Firemen
Teachers
The unemployed
The homeless
Retirees
Public workers
The active military
Veterans
Gays
Jews unless you're Israeli
Mormons
Catholics
Muslims
Any other religion that doesn't fit into their ever shrinking box
Democrats
Independents unless you're Joe Lieberman
Any other party not extremely right wing
And yes even many members of their own party who don't tow the line

Didn't see you name/category on the list? You either didn't look hard enough or it means you're part of that 1% everyones' talking about. In which case you wouldn't be reading this blog anyway.

So it makes me wonder if they even want to take back the Oval office. In their position they have really no work to do. It's just a matter of blocking all the bills presented before congress and knowing that nothing will pass. It's down to the point where even a threat of filibuster results in a bill getting scrapped or at best shoved back into the rabbit hole of the process never to see the light of day again. So when you have nothing better to do than shuffle papers all day or maybe a fund raiser or speech then drink with your buddies at night it's no wonder nothing gets done. And they love it that way. If all you had to do to make $172K a year for sitting around saying no all day wouldn't you jump at the chance? Just say no unless it's a tax cut for me.

Will they work all through the Christmas holiday to get a budget bill passed? I seriously doubt it because to do so now would mean having to face the folks back in their home districts and that wouldn't look too good. At best we'll see a delay until after the new year because who wants to take blame for what they are about to do to us?

Whos' land? Sorry this land ain't yours anymore

2011-12-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

The concept of land ownership is an odd thing when you think about it. The earth after all has been here long before we were born and will be here long after we and our spawn have vanished. Exactly how did we get to this idea of imaginary boundaries with fences and guards and permits to cross? I think it just may be part of our DNA. From early beginnings we will fight for space whether it's two inches in the back seat of the family sedan with a bratty sister all the way up to a bunch of islands halfway across the world. As Carlin would say get your s**t out of there I want to put my stuff here. Ala a space for my stuff.
Then there's the issue of encroachment. That's sneaking into someone else's territory and claiming it as our own. Isn't that a 10 yard penalty in football? But with nations it's a different story. For one side it's the invaders but for the other it's the settlers (how quaint). One side becomes the regime another insurgents and not to forget freedom fighters and liberators. And how could I forget occupiers? That term that has made it into all facets of daily life now. The real problem is that there is little space left to call your own. You can't stay here and you can't stay there. No camping no sleeping no sitting on the sidewalk and of course we can't forget no loitering. So officer exactly where do you expect me to exist? What do you mean you don't care as long as it's not here? That's what the officer in the next town said when he kicked me out of there. Can't go on state land, need a permit for that. Can't go on federal land you'll get run off from there too. I hear Walmart is kind to campers but only if you have an RV.

That reminds me, this obsession with possession has gotten worse over the years. I remember some years back breaking down in a small town in Texas while on the road. I don't know if it was that small town neighborliness or the time period but I got multiple offers of help. Today it would be "you can't park here or we'll have you towed".

But to finish this piece of drivel with a fitting end I recall seeing in my many journeys a sign at the entry to a national park. It was one of those brown signs with white letter spelling out the law of the land. Went something like :

No Fishing
No Hunting
No littering
No loud music
No open flames or campfires
No picnics except in designated areas
No motor vehicles on trails
No gathering firewood

We hope you enjoy your stay

And today we have:

We hope you enjoy your stay

Crazy pussy Friday

2011-12-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Tell me there isn't a full moon or something going on out there. The lunatics' parade continues with the latest headlines. One mean pussy this morning if you ask me. Oh, you didn't ask? Okay then never mind. Just don't shoot the messenger.

From the "Cut and paste slackers manual" a quick view from my part of the world.

Mental exam OK’d for suspect in Everett couple’s…- Everett Herald
Fugitive Watch- Everett Herald
Cuts would transform Monroe prison- Everett Herald
Total lunar eclipse could bring strange sight to…- seattlepi.com
Police: Shoreline man admitted to raping girl- seattlepi.com
Jesus statue has Montana choosing sides- seattlepi.com
Iconic restaurant chain sued over training video- Seattle Times
Man accused of shooting brother at Moses Lake- Seattle Times
2 neighbors arrested in fatal Spokane shooting- Seattle Times

So tell me how's it going in your neck of the woods?

bank fails later

No fails this week. Surprising

News Flash - no that was yesterday I think or was it tomorrow?

2011-12-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

It's really kind of weird when you get so far in front of the news cycle that if you catch a live bit of it you have to wait 12 hours or more for the news people to catch up. Such was the case for me today. So much is happening around the world that there is no one place to file it. A google news search fails by sometimes days to catch an important story or item. But I shouldn't be surprised since their algorithms are now set with a profit motive in mind. This can present speculations and rumors adding to the misinformation. And since the main stream media has been corrupted by the very same influences it becomes a challenge to seek out fact from fiction. But take heart a new medium is in it's infancy that should propel us into the next age. I speak of live social media. What was once started as a play toy of teens experimenting with silly dances and back yard wrestling matches has evolved into what could become a viable alternative to the talking heads of the evening news. I must say there are a few reporters in this instant, in your face journalism who have great potential. There is however certain constraints and technical problems to be worked out. All to often a wireless connection is not the best. The equipment used can vary from anything from a cell phone camera all the way up to some fancy cameras with add ons. Lighting at night also seems to be a problem but I'm sure as technology progresses and those who devote so much time to this project things will get better. These unpaid reporters do it for the love of the experience and I'd say given the chance would do it for a living. Kind of reminds me of the beginnings of early TV never knowing if a location shot would work out.
But the real beauty of this experience is being able to get both perspectives of a situation. While main stream media stands on the outside of a home the livestream reporter is on the inside giving that view complete with sight and sound. Nothing like actually being a fly on the wall literally. So to the livestream reporters with names like AJ, Tim , Spencer, and Jessie I salute you. You have more courage than I when you go into situations that could result in personal injury. The dangers of chemicals for me are easy to deal with, angry people with clubs and mace are another issue.

Conflict resolution by force

2011-12-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

I'll spare you the silent night song that goes with this. But of course you have the right to remain silent even if they didn't read you your Moranda rights. I almost forgot that I had saved this otherwise I'd have little to report because after all you get the same depressing news as I. But I thought this would be fitting for the season as a juxtaposition to the cheery tunes played on radio and TV. Sorry Mr. announcer a Holly Jolly Christmas isn't going to get me out to buy a Lexis. But peering through the news I came across these little ditties and can only wonder what a Rod Serling nightmare might be like if his Christmas pudding hadn't agreed with him. You know, the contrasting shiny lights and tinsel with the sight of gun shot wounds. But now with the economy in the toilet I know what it feels like to have to endure the endless barrage of sickeningly sweet consumer syrup ladled on the masses knowing that none of that will be this year. No I wouldn't recommend it and I don't like it.

(yes this is an actual cut and paste from yesterday's news cheery isn't it?)
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Yes Virginia there is no Santa Claus and if you're smart you'll hide in the closet when daddy finishes off that fifth and mommy burns the Christmas dinner.

Now it's back to watching Bad Santa because George Baily is so yesterday and life isn't wonderful any more.

Ready for the Italian riots?

2011-12-04T23:47:00.000-08:00

Italy will be next on the poop meet fan meter. In researching some data about the countries debt problem I find that they are just shy of the $2 trillion mark. And for a country that size it will be almost impossible to pull itself up by its' boot straps. So many things are going against it it's hard to begin to explain. They had great growth for many years but in the last two decades were saddled with a slow down in GDP to 1.6% having enjoyed 5 and 6% prior to that. And once again they have followed the Greek lead of corruption, tax evasion and several other factors leading to the current situation. Italy must import nearly all of its' gas and oil with a level of about 92%. To add insult to injury the citizens of the country have had a bit of a run on their banks removing some 2 billion dollars to the run up to this crisis. Ah but the best is yet to come in this tragedy. (No I won't call it a Greek tragedy they have their own problems)

What's their answer or should I say what is the newly elected governments' solution?

The package, dubbed a "Save Italy" decree by Monti, aims to raise more than 10 billion euros from a new property tax, impose a new tax on luxury items like yachts, raise value added tax, crack down on tax evasion and bring forward measures to increase the pension age.

(editors note: Like Greece the wealthy can easily hide their euros in numbered Swiss accounts or other local european stashes. And I'd bet that there are numerous offshore companies not paying their fair share of taxes.)

The package is divided into 20 billion euros of budget tightening and an additional 10 billion euros that will be pumped back into the economy in the form of measures to help companies and boost growth. (Hum have I heard this before?)

At least they are willing to spread a bit of the misery on the well to do but the bulk still falls on the lesser of the population. The unions are not happy with the preposed package and have said as much. And let me add that nothing spurs an economy like good old austerity measures. Yep that will make the little folks go out and spend their money. Oh that's right they won't have much left when the government cleans out their wallets. So never mind. I wonder if the Mafia is jealous?

I did not have

2011-12-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

Sex with that woman.

Sure Herman and bears don't ...

This guy is amazing. You couldn't have written a Hollywood plot line with so many twists and turns. He reminds me of a failed candidate who just doesn't get it. Not only couldn't he handle the first round of harassment claims against him he can't own up to the fact of what happened over a 13 year period. No woman in their right mind would come forward and admit to such a happening if there wasn't some truth to it. 61 phone calls over a two month period is not what I would call a casual relationship. And how his wife can fall for this cock and bull story is beyond belief. Had she been that desperate he could have consulted his wife whom I'm sure would have wanted to know the details of Ms. White's misfortune.

Ah but the icing on the cake
So Mr 999 announces today that he is "suspending" his campaign. But I thought when you suspend something you stop doing it. Not so for the ex Pizza man. Go to his web site and the first thing you'll notice is a large red Donate Button. Perusing through the news tab you'd think it was business as usual. And that's the point I'd like to make. Herman Cain had no intention of ever becoming president. He has and always will be in this for the money. What better way to hawk books and raise more attention to yourself. And with the latest developments I'm sure there'll be another novel coming out probably just before the republican convention. Got to strike while the iron is hot. (oops that didn't have sexual overtones now did it? Okay I'll leave that to your own perverted minds then.)

My opinion of Mr. Cain?
Of all the bosses I've ever had and I've had quite a few over my working career I would rate Mr Cain as third rate. I can't think of someone so inept, so lacking of knowledge of worldly affairs. Exactly how he managed to make it to the head of any corporation is beyond me. I note that most of the business that he once represented are now long gone from my area and a google search turned up only 1 within 50 miles. I'd say that says it all about Cain's business sense when every other major pizza chain has stores in every suburb around here.

So it's bye bye Herman. This isn't a suspension it's an expulsion.

Ebenezer pussy says screw you all

2011-12-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

Every get the feeling that Congress is dyslexic? You know the type. They read things backwards. Seems our congress has finished reading Robin Hood backwards robbing from the poor and giving to the rich and are now embarking on Dickens "A Christmas Carol" where Scrooge snatches all the presents he's bought returns them to the store for his cash back and skulks back to his lair. That said it's a tax increase for everyone next year Merry Christmas all. But this isn't the only punishment they've devised to lay on the masses.

There's more...

If it ever makes it through the sausage factory of our governmental grid locked congress you'll be happy to know that you can be arrested without warrant flown to a secret location never again to see the light of day. Humm I thought that was what we were fighting against in those far off lands. Have the republicans developed a Stockholm disorder or something? Just where would you put the 14+ million out of work folks of this country? Gitmo just isn't that big. Just remember to be kind to your neighbors if the powers that be start offering cash rewards for suspected terrorists you just might look tempting for a $1000 cash prize. I just have to wonder what's in the water supply in DC for people to come up with this stuff.

bank fails later --- Oddly enough there were no fails this week

Place your bets ladies and gentlemen

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000-08:00

Just a short post to add to the economic fire that's been going on for some 3+ years now. With the trappings of ministers and cabinet members and high level summits we've see all this before only now with a bit more educated eye.

Watch out for words like:
Decisive action = when we can get around to concocting an exact scheme
Conclusive action = It's never over until it's over and even then it's not over
Stability Union = a catchy phrase to make people feel good
Policy = What ever we can come up with that usually isn't part of the law
Financial constraints = figuring out a way to hedge the bet and make even more
Reforms = austerity programs only affecting the poor and middle class

Interesting to note that while the Euro countries trying to develop this bail out plan demand debt limits on the countries that are being bailed out, they are by this act creating more debt upon themselves by loaning the money. And in the process are borrowing most of the money to do it. But they are not satisfied with spreading the debt amongst themselves within the European Union. They plan to sell bonds on the open market. Ooow is this starting to sound familiar? Seem to recall some mortgage investments that were papered across the globe. And like the proverbial game of musical chairs whoever gets stuck with the worthless paper in the end looses.

What a cruel and ugly joke

2011-11-29T00:40:00.000-08:00

There are seven countries that are in deep dodo debt wise. Iceland has managed to somewhat stem the tide from what I'm hearing but the rest are fiddling while Rome burns. As I reported earlier it's really nothing that average Joes have done but the continuation of the grand theft of world wealth. Those at the top of this dung heap have managed to game the system to their advantage. A simple strategy of moving wealth off shore then lower taxes to the top 1%. Tax cuts for average Joe amounted to a couple of lattes a week so it had little effect on him. But to those at the top it meant millions and at the same time sucked billions out of the support system. So what's going on right now? You will note that the markets were up by several hundred points today. That was on the news that Europe would somehow bail out the ailing nations set to default. The process isn't as easy as one might think however for in setting up the Euro zone (those countries that use a common currency) no body thought about the consequences should one country default. They may have a common currency but their way of dealing with fiscal responsibilities is sovereign. No one wants to be the ones bailing anyone out for fear of doing damage to their own healthy economy. They could crank up the money presses and merely print what they need but that might result in the hyperinflation that was seen in 1920s Germany (as in bring your wheel barrow full of loot to buy a loaf of bread).
What to do? What to do? The single minded one percent (and I use that term to mean world wide) will sit and wait letting the anxiety build. Fear forces normally rational people to do irrational things. You will note that Italy tried to sell treasury bonds with few takers. That forced interest rates higher causing them to buy back the offering. Now there was the big, although not finalized bail out deal that Germany and France are mulling over. A slight problem there. They don't have the authority to put any strings to any such offering. They can not issue a single bond because there was never an agreement when the European Union was formed to be able to do so. Greece as we have seen has instituted austerity and massive taxes. That is something that will kill their economy. We saw that in past history.
So what's going on you might ask? Stock prices seem to be going up by a couple hundred points in the last few days. That is a diversion. The news was that Germany and France had reached some kind of deal but I can tell you that they didn't or should I say couldn't. That prompted the large institutional investors to buy thinking something was resolved. But the banks and investment houses know better. I'd bet that they just forked over a good chunk of change buying hedges against a market crash. That's something very likely to happen in the next 10 days to two weeks. Everybody wants to kick the can down the road but they are running out of road. Eventually payments on debt must be made. It will be interesting though to see who has the money to cover those hedges. We saw what happened the last time this happened. That was 2008 when everything froze up. This time it will be far worse with entire countries going down the toilet. Can't keep selling promises and leveraging everything without consequences.

And a hat tip to Jim for the illustration - a soon to be proper use of our currency

The remains of our safety nets gets flushed

2011-11-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

As we watch in shock and awe as the nations' assets go swirling down the toilet bowl I stumble upon the following clock.

Foreclosure Clock

Once every 15 seconds another poor working stiff is thrown out to the curb that is if he's so lucky to still have a job. Not a good picture after considering what was left of the safety nets has been sliced and diced by state budget cuts. All while the overlords go about their merry way not being able to decide on the 42 inch or 60 inch flat screen TV this year. Or will it be Aruba or Tahiti this year for winter holiday? But our overlords don't care and have said as much with their scoffing at police and firemen. They just might think differently when it's their property that's been burgled or the mansion ablaze and no one comes to the rescue. Sorry senator your call can not be completed as dialed. Due to budget cuts 911 service is no longer available. Your name will be put on a waiting list and we'll get back to you in a month or two. You won't mind.

But permit me to paint a grimmer picture if I have any more oil paints left. Today is the beginning of yet more budget cuts for many states and what exactly will that mean in the grand scheme of things. Hands tied yet again by those tax hating conservatives only leave forcing grandma off her cherished safety nets because after all a neocon never saw a social program to his liking unless it was a subsidy to his pals in the oil business. So where will the knife fall?

Education - estimated cuts 17% to higher education with additional cuts to K thru 12
Mental Health - estimated cuts 15 to 20% for programs like our state mental hospitals with no alternatives outside
Drug Programs - no more methadone for heroin addicts (oh that will just make the streets safe)
Child care - sorry low income working mothers find your own way to look after junior.
Jails, prisons, and detention facilities - good news for pedophiles you'll be out soon to roam the streets and with the above cut you'll have more to choose from.
Police - as city budgets feel the effects and cut police remember to tell them you've been not just robbed but assaulted too or they won't show up. That is unless you're holding a peaceful demonstration on the street in which case they'll call in back up.

The list goes on and on with the most devious and evil cuts to our safety nets I've ever witnessed. It's going to get very dangerous on the streets in the near future. Now I'm beginning to know what mom and dad experienced during the depression or at least soon will.

Monetary games and dead corpses

2011-11-27T10:38:00.001-08:00

There was a times just a few years back that people were concerned that they would lose their house during the housing bubble. Prices on homes rose to an unrealistic level. The money for mortgages flowed like water with banks offering loans of 125% of the value. Now that should have been a tip off to anyone with half a brain that something was wrong with the system. Nothing goes up in price forever. There are some basic principles in acquiring a mortgage that were thrown out the window when all this happened. Regulations were lax ignored or simply eliminated. And as simple minded as the borrowers were the lenders didn't have to be too bright either. It was just a matter of filling out some forms, fudging some numbers and voila what the applicant thought he could not afford was suddenly affordable or so he though. The basic rule in mortgage however has always been that a loan could not be more than two and a half times a borrowers gross income. To do otherwise would definitely end in default. But the banks didn't care they were raking in the money from the loan fees and percentage points added to the loan. And what happened in the end? Just look around your neighborhood at all the empty homes that is if you yourself didn't fall for such a scheme.
There is one question that I never asked myself in all the years of homeownership. Exactly where does all that money come from to provide such a loan? One would assume that the bank would pull from it's assets to pay a former owner or builder much like a savings and loan. How wrong I was to find out that the money shelled out never existed in the first place. That is correct. When a mortgage is made the bank borrows the money. And where do they get it? From the Federal Reserve of course who prints money like it was a monopoly game. In fact for each dollar you hold in a bank that bank has multiplied that dollar to a factor of 9. They have leveraged it to the point where our system of money is virtually worthless. But we're not supposed to be aware of these facts. As long as the system is moving along and no one is paying attention no one seems to care. That is until the whole system hits critical mass and the house of cards starts to fall. We're seeing that happen right now. It started with housing then moved to business although the commercial downfall has been well covered up. Try looking for the statistics on business foreclosures. It's easier to find gold.
But now with the extent of all the debt (and I'm not even talking about our own federal budget) entire countries are beginning to fall. This Ponzi scheme of wealth has come to a head. Forget the national numbers. Look at the underlying loss of all the real estate values and you'll come up with something like 63 trillion dollars which is several times our GDP. And if you watch any TV at all you will note that anything remotely suggesting the emperor has no clothes will be met with ridicule and even violent arrests as we've seen with the Occupy movement. Capitalism is dead and the stench of it's dead corpse has finally permeated to the masses. They may not understand the process but they know something is wrong. And the powers that be raise the dead arm and wave it from time to time to try and keep the illusion going.
I look at the European bail out of countries and know that the money promised is nothing more than phony money printed on some press by some official sounding Department. Ah but forgive me in this day and age it's all done with computers. No need to transfer dirty dollar bills when a few key strokes will do the trick. It doesn't matter what political party you may see doing the talking because they are all part of the same game only this one doesn't have a winner when the house of cards falls.

Terror alert!

2011-11-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Forget the radical islamists thank you very much we have something better... A Black Friday sale at WalMart.

Updated 9:50 a.m. ET: A 55-year-old shopper was shot and wounded during a robbery near a Wal-Mart in Myrtle Beach, S.C., NBC station WMBF reported.
Tonia Robbins, 55, was shot in the foot after two men demanded her purse shortly after 1 a.m. ET Friday as she stood by the trunk of her car with friends.
Updated 9:45 a.m. ET: An explosive device was found at a break room at a Wal-Mart in Cave Creek, Ariz., according to reports Friday.
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said a suspicious package was found inside a refrigerator in the store break room on Thursday. The store was evacuated as a precaution while deputies investigated the package.
Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: A Black Friday shopper was shot and critically injured during a robbery outisde a Wal-Mart in San Leandro, Calif., early Friday, police said.

Just hope kitty is packing when he goes to that store.

And as usual bank fails later
Update:This week no banks failed

Thanksgiving merriment and mayhem

2011-11-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

It all started simple enough. Sister Sue though it would be a great idea to do an invite for thanksgiving for all the kin folk. Sadly she had long forgotten what extremists made up the gene pool of that family tree. Uncle Harry had made a fortune in corn plasters back in the 50s when that was the thing. Now in his late 80s hard of hearing and a staunch ultra conservative it was a miracle that he'd even considering showing up for such an affair. Then there was aunt Ethel, a puffy stocky woman a few years younger than Harry's advanced age. She was that type of woman who'd use just a tad too much make up and wore that sickeningly sweet old lady perfume that left a vapor trail where ever she went. Her favorite past time at any gathering was discussing her gaul stone operation that was better than ten years ago. The details of which changed as time past and embellishments were added. Also the type of woman who was certain she had contracted the latest malady as seen on the front page of the morning newspaper.
Harry was one of those odd beasts. While he maintained a stiff and proper exterior it was discovered that he had a panty collection stashed in the basement although no one would speak of it. But it did make others wonder what other proclivities Harry was hiding. He certainly did have a perverse sense of humor. While Sue was busy preparing "the bird" for the family feast Harry thought it would be a novel idea to slip a cut out of bra and panties just before the turkey was finished cooking to get the above image. Sue being good natured decided just to make it her joke when the presentation came time. The kids sure snickered when aunt Sue gingerly set the platter on the table.
All was going well with the "pass the gravy" and mouthfuls of mash potatoes but then cousin Jeb just had to bring it up. Said he was going down to a peace march in the square tomorrow. Like a lit fuse you could see Harry's face ready to explode. And then the name calling commenced. "Commie!, fascist!, Nazi!, socialist! spewed across the room to the point that even the dog took cover under the couch. Kids were screaming and crying, aunt Ethel grabbed her chest as if to indicate her final heart attack. Sue grabbed a chair to try and separate the two sides.
Little did anyone know that the insidious black sheep of the clan cousin Zeb had played another one of his pranks. Zeb wasn't too bright but he did have a knowledge of gun powder. Always wanting to do something to make front page news he ingeniously slipped his little surprise into the bird. How he did this without Sue's knowledge is still unknown to this day. And as mash potatoes flew and gravy was spilled glasses knocked over a small but very messy explosion was heard. Not the type that would hurt your ears mind you but more like a low frequency thud. It was at that point that Zeb sitting with a cheshire cat grin on his face stood up picked up the remains of the bird and took it outside to show off to the world his prized trophy.

Now if you think any of this is real and the names were changed to protect the guilty you'd be wrong. It was just a little thanksgiving tale to keep you amused because after all who watches those dumb parades any more and the football games haven't started yet. Not that I watch them either.

Greek tax revolt

2011-11-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

Update: Here's a screen grab from the outside of the building at 7pm the night before last.

I had hoped to get a good image of the number of people outside of this building but nothing and it's not being reported anywhere on the web other than through a livestream.

So What's Happening Here?
As you may or may no know the Greek economy has been in turmoil for a while now. As I last reported the wealthy were basically getting away with murder economically speaking. Little did I know just how bad things really are over there. You may have heard about the austerity package that regular folks were meant to swallow but but just how bad was never really reported until now.

From a news report by workers world:
Taxation on the Greek population is to increase by a whopping 29.1%, whereas business and company taxation is to decrease by a further 22% relative to the 2011 budget. Government spending on public sector wages, pensions, welfare, and insurance contributions on pension funds, is to decrease by 5.3% relative to the 2011 budget.
Direct taxes are set to raise Є24.2 billion, up by 17.4% relative to the 2011 budget. Taxes on pensioners, workers, small shopkeepers, peasants will be up by 29.1%; taxes on companies, down by 22%. The new regressive property tax is set to raise Є3.6 billion.
VAT levels will rise. Fuel prices will rise. Household tax reliefs will be abolished or cut. Multiple levels of emergency taxation will be introduced.
On the spending side, Є19.4 billion are allocated to pensions, down by 3.3% in relation to the 2011 budget). The public sector wage bill is expected to go down drastically; for example, the monthly wage of a young school teacher is expected to go down from Є1240 to Є850 by the end of 2012.
Overall public spending on pensions, education, health, and transport is to be reduced from Є18.8billion in the 2011 budget) to Є17.1billion.
But arms spending will increase by a whopping 66.7% in relation to the 2011 budget, from Є600 million to Є1 billion.

So how was the government going to collect these draconian taxes? By adding them to electric bills. You don't pay the bill and they cut off your electricity. The peoples' response was forceful. They took over the building you see above and shut down the electronic equipment that tracks billing. They are at present occupying the building refusing to leave. This morning some 1500 protesters stood outside the building preventing police from entering.
In communicating with the livestream media there I was able to get a bit more information about their police. It seems that police over there are not like here in the U.S. Their police are not part of the 99% and are not under the same oppressive taxes that their countrymen endure. They weren't hit by this 29.1% tax. And it was my impression that there is indeed a great deal of corruption in their police force there.
Whether they can persevere for any length of time before the riot police storm the building is anyones' guess. But one thing is for certain this in not going to end any time soon. A general strike is being called by the electrical union that will shut down the city and possibly the entire country as was done once before.

I'll try to get a screen shot later showing the crowd connections permitting.

Hypocrisy

2011-11-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

The act of saying one thing and doing just the opposite.

One would think that this malady was a type of contagious disease in todays' political climate. It's gotten to the point where to read and understand not just the clown circus but the powers in office you need to take lessons from Professor Backwards. The touters of "death panels" were nothing more than a scare tactic until of course they gained power and brought it to a reality by cutting grandmas' safety nets. Then there was no need for some expensive medical administrative process. It's pay up or die!
And what other evil plots were hatched under the guise of altruistic gibberish? Off hand I can think of too many to list but take the ever so heartfelt provision of providing health care to low income children. That in the long run turned out to be nothing more than a temporary exercise in futility. Like proud owners of cute puppies holding the up for show, it was a different story when the cameras were turned off and the poor pups were bashed with a mallet. Sorry kid budget cuts means you can't see a doctor after all. What a cruel joke to play when the kid finds out he won't be getting that life saving operation. You want to be the one to tell him?

We're getting raped and robbed in this country and we don't even have the right to complain about it lest we get our heads bashed in or pepper sprayed. Gee I thought that's what we are fighting for in so many other countries. Oh that's right hypocrisy reigns supreme these days. Never mind you're on your own. Let anarchy rule. Only two choices for making a living in these hard times. Selling guns or Prozac.

An open letter to congress

2011-11-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

Dear congress

You have spent the last several months attempting to finalize a national budget. No easy task from anyones' standpoint. You have however overlooked the consequences of the actions you are about to take. With the best of intentions both sides stand rigid in their political ideologies however one side has another agenda that has nothing to do with solving the problem. You have a choice now. You can either continue to fight with locked horns until some deadline hits or put aside your petty differences and act accordingly. To slap an across the board 10% cut in all programs is no solution. It will only make matters worse. If you think what is happening in the streets today is bad now consider what will happen when even those whose job it is to protect public security are laid off due to lack of funds (something we're already beginning to see). We the majority did not create this economic problem but we are guilty of allowing it to happen by not paying closer attention to what you've done the past twenty or thirty years. The laws of long past were written for a reason. They were put in place to prevent the kinds of things that are happening now. Capitalism was never meant to be a form of gambling yet with the current disregard for principles it has eroded into just that. We truly do not need any new set of complex regulations or agencies. The laws of old were quit specific and very effective. They kept this nation moving forward through up turns and downs. You might just consider reinstating some of them and we wouldn't have the mess we face now. And as an added benefit you won't even need a lengthy and difficult process of having to write such legislation. The work has already been done for you.

Pussies with dirty laundry

2011-11-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

No political campaign season would be complete without this however it seems the pickings are slim this time around. Only a little groping has surfaced. But then again the season is still very young. And of course our feline friends here could care less whether the laundry's dirty or not. They just want a cozy soft spot after a feast of tuna. With political candidates it's a different story. They devote entire staffs combing every shred of document that might benefit their perverted sense of decency. So what if you saw Mary Jane's underwear in the fifth grade and the teacher caught you. Nobody cares about that now. Ah that's right the teacher said it would go on your permanent record to follow you to you death bed and nothing good will become of you with a bad record.
But with this lot from the clown circus there's no need to delve into pasts. If they aren't stumbling over themselves in fits of stupidity they're busy with their circular firing squad. A village idiots' convention is more adept but no less entertaining. But the novelty just may wear off. How many more months do we need to endure this before the general election? Until then let the clown wagon rolls on. Gad they sure sound like clowns with names like Mitt, Newt, Ron, and Herman. Each with their complete lack of knowledge as to how to fix our broken country and even less knowledge of foreign policy.

Oh and one more thing. My sincerest apologies to the pussies but to their credit they do have an olfactory endurance.

bank fails later as usual.
There was two this week in IA and LA and if memory serves correct that brings the total since this storm hit to nearly 400.

Have a little experiment for you

2011-11-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

Think of people whos' first name is Richard, David or Tom. Pick one. Think of all the people you can think of by that name.

Keep thinking

Okay time's up. Now ask yourself. Why were most of the names either TV or film stars?
Makes you wonder what really influences our lives doesn't it?

What a game

2011-11-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about the one you might have seen on Sunday afternoon. I'm talking about Wall Street. And add to the mix the bundles of cash our congress makes from gaming the system. How delicious it was to read the micro expressions on the faces of congress when asked if they might think there was a bit of conflict of interest when they were sat on subcommittees making the rules for companies while at the same time benefited from stock purchases from those same companies. "Lie to Me" was such a great learning program. A twitch of the lip a raise of an eyebrow and you just announced to America you lied. But why should I be surprised? After all congress is not under the same rules as the rest of us peons. Didn't know that? It's true. Where we would be facing 5 to 10 in a state pen for insider trading they get a free pass complements of rules that they passed. You don't need to be in the Mafia. Just make it to Capitol Hill in D.C. and you're set for life.

Ah but there's more to this tangled web than some bloviated spider sucking its' victims dry. Think you know why the stock markets act as they do? That just because some tin horn dictator gets bumped off in a far away land that that some how effects the price of washing machines a world away. Oh think again. It's called program trading done by super computers. The guy with the fastest and the biggest one wins every time. That computer doesn't care what happens to anybody. You life doesn't mean a tinkers damn to it. It's set to execute orders faster than light speed. We could be swimming in oil and it will make the price of crude jump making a tidy profit for the investment house. Then the losses get dumped on the little guy with junk no one in their right mind would buy if they actually did their homework. But I guess homework always was a dirty word in the eyes of the sheeple it is after all made up of two four letter words.

As I said before the shit storm is about to commence. No one has done anything remotely constructive in fixing our financial mess and that includes the rest of the world. Head line reads Greece and Italy headed for recession. Well no shit sherlock. Slap austerity measures on any country and see how fast it rebounds. The beatings will continue until moral improves.
Like it our not you are part of this game. There's no getting out. No cashing in of chips here. Anything you buy has been effected by this game of chance. Only the house always wins in this game because the cards are marked and the dealers are bought off.

Insanity

2011-11-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result or something to that effect. So as we look out to the near future horizon we see what? Our wonderful government buying into chorus of tax cuts and austerity programs. Unfortunately this choir failed history class. They failed to note that in order to lift this country out of depression required massive government spending and it was paid for that time around with large increases in taxes on the wealthy. Never before have I witnessed the level of lack of compassion from first the meanies on the right and the enablers on the left. But I think we all know the reason for this behavior. I've seen more dignity displayed from a whore than our present legislators. But I guess a bought person is a bought person when it comes to our government. We've seen little to nothing in the way of relief from our present situation. And why should our congress act when their Johns are making a killing at the expense of the rest of us and getting well compensated for their lack of action? Put all the deadlines you want on any budget deal and they'll just kick the can down the road farther because their overlords are to busy selling worthless paper (adding absolutely nothing to the benefit of mankind I might add).

And now we are seeing the results of this financial squeeze with people taking to the streets because you can only suck so much blood out of a host before it discovers the bloated leech hanging on its' posterior. If you think that some security sweep of a public park is going to solve the problem think again. This Occupy movement is here to stay whether on the street of not. They know that when things are bad that there is freedom and freedom as it was once said is having nothing left to lose.
Those of the 1% have tried to define this movement in terms of overused slurs. Every manner of term that separates has been tried with little effect. Main stream media has done its' best to serve its' master and throw labels and smears too numberous to mention with little effect. The real revolution however will not be televised it's right here in cyberspace.
Those at the top should be worried because this is no rag tag bunch of slackers. These are people from all walks of life many with far more experience and education than our ineffectual leaders. In talking to several the other day I find more degrees than a thermometer and more experience than any congressman. But the latter isn't saying much considering the lack of response to the problem. So as I see it the game of cat and mouse will continue only this time the cat is way outnumbered and the mice are smarter. At some point the two will realize that they are actually on the same side and the owner is just sitting back enjoying the hunt.

To end let me say that business as usual can not continue. It will not move anything forward. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results has resulted in our present condition. But the real question will be how to wrench power from our government without destroying the place in the process?

Ever wonder where our nations money comes from and how it gets spent?

2011-11-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this list will line up so you can see it properly if not take a trip to wiki and look up federal budget.

Estimated receipts for fiscal year 2012 are $2.627 trillion.
$1.141 trillion - Individual income tax
$329 billion - Corporate income tax
$925 billion - Social Security and other payroll tax
$103 billion - Excise tax
$30.0 billion - Customs duties
$14.0 billion - Estate and gift taxes
$66.0 billion - Deposits of earnings and Federal Reserve System
$20.0 billion - Other miscellaneous receipts
[edit]Total spending
Further information: Government spending
The President's budget for 2012 totals $3.729 trillion. Percentages in parentheses indicate percentage change compared to 2011. This budget request is broken down by the following expenditures:
Mandatory spending: $2.382 trillion (-3.2%)
$761 billion (+2.6%) - Social Security
$485 billion (-0.6%) - Medicare
$269 billion (-2.5%) - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
$612 billion (-14.0%) - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
$242 billion (+17.1%) - Interest on National Debt
$13.0 billion (-54.0%) - Troubled Asset Relief Program
Discretionary spending: $1.344 trillion (-3.1%)
$553.0 billion (+0.7%) - Department of Defense
$118.0 billion (-26.0%) - Overseas Contingency Operations
$79.9 billion (-1.8%) - Department of Health and Human Services
$77.4 billion (+6.2%) - Department of Education
$58.8 billion (+3.1%) - Department of Veterans Affairs
$49.8 billion (+0.5%) - Department of Housing and Urban Development
$50.1 billion (-0.9%) - Department of State and Other International Programs
$43.2 billion (-0.9%) - Department of Homeland Security
$29.6 billion (+4.2%) - Department of Energy
$28.2 billion (-7.2%) - Department of Justice
$23.8 billion (-7.1%) - Department of Agriculture
$18.2 billion (-6.7%) - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$13.4 billion (-4.1%) - Department of Transportation
$14.0 billion (+0.8%) - Department of the Treasury
$12.1 billion (+0.3%) - Department of the Interior
$12.8 billion (-8.3%) - Department of Labor
$8.8 billion (-2.3%) - Department of Commerce
$4.6 billion (-6.2%) - Army Corps of Engineers
$9.0 billion (-10.3%) - Environmental Protection Agency
$7.8 billion (+4.6%) - National Science Foundation
$1.0 billion (-1.0%) - Small Business Administration
$1.3 billion (-11.1%) - Corporation for National and Community Service
$6.0 billion (+200%) - Disaster costs
$44.9 billion (-3.9%) - Other On-budget Discretionary Spending
The Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not included in the Department of Defense regular budget, but are included in Overseas Contingency Operations.

But for the average person there are a bunch of things not considered here. If you were to look at this from a purely Washington D.C perspective all might seem well and good but for those of us who have to live in the real world it's a different story. One may get an increase in Social Security benefits while the price of food, gas and medication and co-pays go up. And the increases have not been in the single digits either. Also not considered are the effects on already strapped state budgets. The feds may increase an aspect of the budget while the state has no choice but to make cuts. We've already seen that with children's' health care eliminated and homeless shelters closing. And just how is it that education can see an increase in its' budget while colleges and universities are increasing their tuitions and limiting enrollment? Most college grads I've spoken to could kick themselves for being saddled with such a high debt starting out life. A debt they know they'll never be able to pay back even with the best intentions.

I have a few ideas that would change things in short order but I know they would never make it to the senate floor. Start with a one quarter percent tax on any and all stock and bond transactions. Bring corporate taxes in line with what the rest of us working stiffs pay. Heavily tax lobbyists for the privilege or better yet ban them all together. They can plead their position but no money can change hands.

And lastly I leave you with this thought post veterans day:

"No corporations are buried at Arlington Cemetery"

Scaredy pussy hides from possible nuclear fallout

2011-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

There's a 30 foot hairline crack in a containment building at a nuclear plant in Cleveland. No sweat off my brow you say? I don't live anywhere near the great lakes. Let somebody else deal with it it's their problem. And there in lies the rub as Shakespeare would say. Much of our aging infrastructure has gone without inspection for far too long. With the shear amount of items to be checked it wouldn't surprise me if many items go without inspection because we've lost touch with what needs inspecting with changes of personnel and shifting responsibilities. Cities moving the job to counties, counties moving it to the state while the state lost funds from the federal government so nobody does the job anymore. Only when an accident occurs does responsibility surface and it's usually not pretty.
Back to the example one Davis - Besse Nuclear plant on the south shore of Lake Erie. I've worked with concrete for some 20 years as part of haz mat. We often had to remove concrete walls and floors to get to the bad stuff. Even the best quality concrete has a life span. On average it's about 50 years but over that period the material slowly becomes brittle. As it passes about 40 years it becomes far easier to remove because it's strength has diminished. Most of our nuclear plants are closing in on the 40 year mark. But once again greed is raising it's ugly head. With so much money invested in such an operation companies are trying to squeeze every nickel out of the aging structures. So I have to ask at what point do the returns on the dollar diminish? When will the game of chicken end? Like a game of Jinga one more chance is taken until the structure falls apart only the consequences this time won't be putting the pieces on the floor back in the game box.

And one last note, this was the agency that the absentminded Rick Perry couldn't remember that he'd like to rid us of, the Department of Energy which inspects and certifies these nuclear power plants. He's the guy who railed against any stimulus package while at the same time stuffed the state coffers with that very same money.

bank fails later Update: one bank failed in GA this week bringing the total to over 400 banks since the mess started.

Clean up on aisle 4

2011-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Enough is out now on Penn State football that I feel safe to comment. The extent of the damage will follow for some time into the future. And unlike someone at the very top who can hide behind the Justice Department this matter was dealt with swiftly with the ousting of Joe Paterno and others. If only someone would have done the right thing in the first place this might have been but a minor stain on the university's athletic program. But no it had to be swept under the rug in hopes that no one would see the lumpy carpet. Records and accomplishments will only take you so far in hiding an ugly reality and truth. But fear not the extent of the damage will be long forgotten in a generation or so. Because as we all know the show must go on and disgraced coaches are fairly quickly forgotten whether it's a chair thrown across a court or some stupid racial slur blurted out in anger in the end all is forgotten as years pass. Maybe that is for the better because after all coaches are picked from the human race and aren't the gods we make them out as.

Something Titillating for a Tuesday

2011-11-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

I must give this women credit. She sure knows how to bring attention to the issues. This would be Aleksandra Shevchenko who is protesting against the policies of the Vaticans' long held anti contraception anti abortion stances. She was finishing up a tour of protests through out Europe that ended in Romes' Vatican Square. Must say she got my attention. I'll have to look into this further.

Then there is the nefarious activities of the soon to be not front runner Herman Cain as the clown circus keeps rolling along. Come on Herman you know you had to do better than an upgraded suit and dinner to land this one. Maybe a $999 tip might have done the trick but considering your approach I kind of doubt it. Hey don't you know that sex is limited to after you make it to the White House?

Well at least he didn't get caught like a certain football assistant at Penn State. Didn't really read all the details on that one but I guess it gives new meaning to phrase "horsing around in the locker room". And by the staid and proper image so many organizations are trying to present you'd think we lived in the Victorian era. But then those who have studied that period of history know that it wasn't all cracked up to what was reported. Just wonder how they got out of all those corsets and such is a mystery but they did have more time on their hands among other things. Cell phones, computers, video games, dvds, and tivo can be distractions to such physical pleasures.

Okay okay it's Monday night, I cheated but there'll be no pay offs for this one.

Gonna make you an offer you can't refuse

2011-11-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Ya gonna take our offer and like it see. We don't care about some pip squeaks trying to muscle in on the action here. And we don't care if you have to sell your grandmother to pay us back cause that's not our problem see. Cross us and the boys upstairs 'll make sure you're sleepin with the fish see. We own ya now. Ya got that?

And here we have a simple analysis of the Greek situation as written by Anthony (insert "the" + favorite animal here) Gangster. Only Tony is no street hood. He's a world leader or group of leaders putting the muscle on a relatively small country. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And if anyone out there has studied their history we know this won't end well. So you might ask why any settlement is taking so long. First it's a simple matter that if any resolution is delayed then anyone in the financial game stands to make even more money. This is done when word comes out about a possible resolution. It doesn't matter if the news is good or bad because money is made either way (remember short selling?). With the speed of supercomputers and some very savvy statistical brainiacs a regular Joe doesn't have a chance. But what I've said before and I'll say again is that we are witnessing one of the greatest thefts in world history all done under the guise of saving humanity. But what the winners in this game might fail to realize is that they're running out of players to fleece. That only leaves the prospect of turning on each other. And we know that won't end well.

Pussy Bourgeoisie

2011-11-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you know me or have read this blog you know that I'll go to the ends of the earth to find out what's going on in this world. Yesterday I was talking to some folks in Egypt and Greece. Thankfully they spoke English because I speak only bits of several foreign languages and not fluent in any. It's all Greek to me for the most part. In Egypt they are very proud of our actions taken against Wall Street. One photo they posted showed an Egyptian flag at one of the protest marches in Solidarity. From the articles posted they too are experiencing a rather brutal crack down on their right to protest. Trumped up charges have lead to lengthy jail stays and most cases come before a military tribunal and not some civilian court. Nothing like treating your people like soldiers to make things better.
In Greece the situation is tense but they seem to know the outcome of the sham that they call a government. As you may recall their president called for a referendum vote on accepting a bail out. As I mentioned in an earlier post the strings attached to that rescue were severe austerity measures aimed squarely at the people who could afford it the least. The speaker who I talked to over there is living in Athens but will now not be able to live there due to the cost of living and the employment situation. This reminds me of something out of a medieval saga where the crown prince demands more taxes out of the poor villagers when they can barely eat now. No, the people there aside from being outraged and taking to the streets understand that this will take a while to remedy. They knew that the referendum was only a ploy to keep the current president in power just a few days or weeks longer. You think maybe that'll give him enough time to move his own funds to safety before he gets tossed?

Yes there is a lot of anger out there and there should be. That cat sandwich up there has come to represent the 99% while its' owner lord and master the 1% is about to chow down.

bank fails later

Now back to the revolution

Two banks failed this week one in UT and and in NE

Little guys are starting to win

2011-11-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

Don't take this as some sexist slam it wasn't meant to be only the best image that I could find to illustrate a point. And sorry for the mixed metaphors I was in a hurry.

Us Peonage, as Randal Graves would call us, are beginning to put a crack in the establishment containment bubble dome forged through years of gnawing away at our rights and economic positions. What started as a simple protest in a park in New York city has quickly spread first nationally then globally to the likes this world has never seen. But the best part is the effects that this is having on the very people who's duty it is to provide our security. Realizing that they too are part of the majority they are stuck in a rather precarious position. That is to do either the will of their overlords who hold most of the wealth in this country or side with the protesters, the now unwashed masses.
In Oakland just a few days ago the mayor wiping egg from her face and facing a possible recall vote has had a change of heart and issued a memo stating that all non essential city workers were to take Wed. off to join in the protests. No one in Hollywood could have written such a script as I'm sure the audience would have scoffed it off as being unbelievable yet here it is happening in Livestream for the world to see as it unfolded.
This certainly has sent a mixed message to the Oakland police department as indicated by a letter from it's police union:

OAKLAND (KRON) -- The union representing Oakland police officers says its members are confused by the city's response to the Occupy Oakland movement.

In an "Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland," the Oakland Police Officers Association says, as a union, it identifies with some of the goals of the Occupy movement.

We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families," the letter reads. "We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours."

The letter notes its members followed Mayor Jean Quan's orders to clear Frank Ogawa Plaza and remove Occupy Oakland protestors. Within hours, the letter notes, the mayor had allowed demonstrators to return and set up tents.

Union leaders say they're also confused that the Mayor is giving most city workers Wednesday off to participate in the general strike Occupy Oakland is holding. At the same time, all police officers must report for work.

"That’s hundreds of City workers encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against 'the establishment,'" the union's letter says. "But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line?"

The letter wraps up with a call for leadership from city officials.

"We love Oakland and just want to do our jobs to protect Oakland residents." it says. "We respectfully ask the citizens of Oakland to join us in demanding that our City officials, including Mayor Quan, make sound decisions and take responsibility for these decisions. Oakland is struggling – we need real leaders NOW who will step up and lead – not send mixed messages. Thank you for listening."

editors note: And now if we could just get our military to do an all out assault on the Hamptons we could have a mop up team finish the job by Thanksgiving.

Ah geez it's starting all over again

2011-11-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

As we all may recall form the economic meltdown of 2007 that great Ponzi scheme seems to be rearing its' ugly head again. No I'm not talking about Bernie Madoff but what had happened to Goldman Sachs and the Lehman Brothers investment firms. A snipet from the Wall Street Journal :

MF Global collapse sparks FBI investigation
The fallout from MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s collapse intensified as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted to issue subpoenas to the securities firm and the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned to examine whether client funds are missing, according to people familiar with the situation.

MF Global admitted to federal regulators that money had been diverted out of customer accounts, according to a federal official who said the move violated the law. Aaron Lucchetti has the latest on The News Hub.

The two moves are the result of a discrepancy of hundreds of millions of dollars in the New York company's books that was discovered just before MF Global tumbled into bankruptcy Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

It isn't clear if the discrepancy, about $900 million as MF Global raced to sell itself over the weekend, was caused by money being diverted by company officials desperate to meet margin requirements or collateral calls as the financial situation became dire, these people said. Another possibility is that the gap reflects bookkeeping or accounting errors, as well as a delay in recording transactions in MF Global's books given the securities firm's far-flung trading and clearing operations.

Now I'd bet that anyone with a retirement account (remember many pension funds rely on these investment houses) may not know if their retirement is safe. The funds after all investments are as diverse as can be imagined. If you bother to actually read a prospectus I'd bet that many of the companies listed you've never heard of. And knowing exactly what is going on with your money at any given moment would be near to impossible. But we all rely on the honesty of those we instill with our trust. We can only go by past performance which is never an indication of future gains (a standard warning neatly tucked in the fine print). However this example is the reason Glass Stegal was put in place so many years ago. That Act split investment houses from banks so that bankers could not play Vegas with our money and loose it before we had a chance to spend it,

This isn't exactly the greatest theft in American history as compared to 07 but it sure isn't helping the situation. And seeing as how the game of chance is still going on we'll have to wait and see when the other shoe drops. So many things are right on the tipping point at the moment it's scary to sit back and watch. But keep your eyes peeled over the next three weeks as the perfect storm develops.

And let me add: You think anyone of them will go to jail?... I don't think so either.

The news you can't use and couldn't care less about

2011-10-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how when you click on your favorite news site up pops the drivel of the day. I realize that every day is not filled with informative eye popping headlines but sometimes the latest jaunt to the Google Wiki Yahoo News results in a real time waste. Did I know or do I care that there are 8 ways to cook asparagus? And no I really could care less about how to get rid of dark circles under my eyes except that maybe I need more sleep. More like did I bother to comb my hair before going out the door because you always get one of these feathers sticking up in the back that you didn't notice when you were shaving because your focus was on that tough chin area and not the back of your head?
Save me from the latest cat fight from tinsel town because I have no interest in who wore what dress to what function that landed up the latest diss headline in some gossip rag. Let me ignore the latest political gaff spewed from the mouths of political whores who'd say anything to get just a couple of points ahead in the polls. All as in better to get some attention than no attention at all. It'll do wonders for the tell all book sales later when the career in politics gets dashed on the rocks of reality. God I'm starting to sound like Ron James here eh?
Anymore the news is getting more like prospecting where you have to pan through worthless sand to get to something important. How did we get to this point? Hasn't our culture gone global? But lest we forget our outstanding educational system that cranks out the less than well informed that think a completed assignment only needs two of the five Ws because they can only think in 140 characters. Abbreviations may be fine for a quarterback calling plays in a noisy stadium but if this trend continues imagine what such text talk would do if it was used by world leaders. I'd give an example but my abilities in that language are like omg not great.
And I have no idea where this post is going so I'll let you carry on and keep on panning for the gold. And should you find anything of real interest send it my way and by all means use more than 140 characters because there's room and I think my attention span can handle it.

It's Sunday

2011-10-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

And time for the weekly installment of morning political talk shows. Avoidance of said programs is highly recommended by the shear fact that you will never see an opposing view and comic relief wears thin after endless talking points have been presented.
But I do have a theory as to the popularity of the latest clown that leads the pack from the republican clown car. Think for a minute. If you have exhausted every conceivable argument of the reverse Robin Hood doctrine that keeps your benefactors in the wealth that they have been accustom, and all of your stable of presidential hopefuls are looking more and more like third grade dropouts (sorry I know that's an insult to third grade dropouts) then what would you do? You would of course run the most unlikely destined to lose mouthpiece you could find. This would be knowing that he will lose and the candidate that you can really control who now resides in the white house will win by a landslide. I wonder just how long it took for them to turn Obama but I have my guesses. You may recall or not that Obama met with a few groups of the real money controllers in the Hamptons just prior to his election. And I'd bet that they laid down the law to him as they saw fit. He wasn't about to spoil their party which by the way is neither "democrat" nor republican. Think of any piece of legislation passed since he took office that didn't have tucked away in it yet another perk for the wealthy. And even those bills passed that did have a crumb for us working stiffs was watered down to the point of little or no benefit. All of this was under the guise of "ah gee I tried to get something better but I've been prevented". What better way to be a good servant serving a corporate master than to play into their hands.

You will note that none of these corporate criminals has seen so much as the inside of a courtroom. Even after senate and special investigations that clearly show wrong doing has our own Justice Department acted. It's only now that our federal government has failed to act that state attorney generals have brought the matter up to public scrutiny. Fraud is still fraud no matter how it's packaged and labeled. Just because it has a corporate label on it doesn't make it legal. And just because a president says it doesn't make something true or honest ( recall "I am not a crook"?) Indeed words and actions have become something to be closely watched. We've seen how congress espouses one thing on the senate floor and another at a town hall meeting. And now we have no meetings. So which is your true position on the matter senator? What's that you say? What day is it? And what city am I in? Oh we're so sorry we had to interrupt you from your meetings with lobbyists.

Time for a Friday working pussy

2011-10-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

Ever notice street workers standing around a hole looking bored at the task at hand? I know what you're thinking. Four guys standing around looking at some torn up concrete, must be a government job. I have done my share of concrete removal over the years so I know what it's like and I'm here to tell you it's no picnic. Most street workers are lucky to make it to 60 before age and disability stop them. Breathing in concrete dust for years on end does wonders for the respiratory system too. So how do they manage. One cubic foot of the average concrete weights 100 lbs. So in order to get your roads and sidewalks back to their pristine uncracked state 4 or 5 worker will take turns hammering and wrenching the old material out of its' resting place. You can only work for ten or fifteen minutes at a time because the pain of such labor is so great. And by rotation the work gets done and usually ahead of schedule in most cases. So the next time you see a group of hard hats leaning on their shovels give a wave because I know that if it was you out there you'd be whining like a baby after hour or two.

I'm a bit perplexed. There's a call for a general strike on Nov. 2. by OWS. This seems a bit early. I know it is in response to events in Oakland but to try and organize such an event in such a brief period is at best impossible. So I'm not expecting anything major to happen next Wednesday but then again I didn't think the movement would spread as fast as it did. We will see...

bank fails later
One bank failed this week in IL

And on that topic I just went to a local credit union to start the process of moving my money out of one of the big banks. To my surprise there were 25 people ahead of me doing the exact same thing. And even the elderly gentleman behind me was doing the very same thing. As I said before this isn't fooling around. People are pissed and they aren't going to take it any more.
November 5 is "Move your money day".

The beatings will continue until morale improves

2011-10-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

It truly amazes me just how societies can not get their acts together. From a national level all the way down to a small town the rallying cry is for more cuts. All the while the fat cats in the financial sector world wide continue to rake in the dough. This isn't happening in just this country but in Europe and Asia as well. The ones getting the bail outs aren't the people on main street but in the guise of some heroic effort as bail outs for a nation. All the while the people of those countries are getting the life blood squeezed from their existence. This is headed for the great downward spiral. As you cut jobs you reduce revenue in the form of taxes. The Eurozone may be patting itself on the back but they have failed to address the true problem. That would be a loss of income from taxes. They have cut and cheated their way to their own demise then have the gaul to laid blame on people who had nothing to do with the problem in the first place.
But alas the cuts will continue and people will suffer and it's always those at the bottom because after all who's easier to beat up? It's surely not the guy with body guards riding in the limo. We're already witnessing the beginnings of things to come. Open up the doors to the mental hospitals and lighten the case load. Lay off more police and firefighters and watch buildings burn and crime go unreported. Kick the poor off of Medicaid because, you know, they can barter for their health care. And when they show up at the emergency room turn them away because they use it too much.
Exactly how cruel has this world become? Where is the respect we were taught for our elders and the poor? And all of this while those at the top continue to suck the last drop of debt the very marrow of the bones of this country out of the very least that can afford it. They will cut and cut and cut until there will be nothing left but the parched white bones drying in the desert. And they won't even hang around to witness the demise. With a corporate jet to some far off private island they'll flee leaving the graveyard that they made behind.

And you thought there were scary things at Halloween. Jason doesn't have anything on these guys.

The news is just too funny sometimes

2011-10-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Perry tax plan or Cain tax plan?
When it comes time to pay your tax bill, whose tax plan will cost you less, Herman Cain’s or Rick Perry’s? For most taxpayers, the answer is likely to be Perry’s plan.
• The world's 23 flat-tax countries (The Tell)
• 5 tips to turn lower home values into tax relief

TODAY'S INVESTING IDEAS
Monkey vs. hedge fund
A new study questions the value of exclusive “funds of hedge ...

The above two stories ran one under the other in Marketwatch last night. Nice juxtaposition eh?

The Crisis revisited

2011-10-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

I was reading the words of Thomas Paine last night from his work The Crisis and it got me to thinking how a piece written over 200 years ago could be as relevant today as it was back then. The circumstances might be different but the concepts are as cogent as they ever were. The first paragraph which I will copy below has a message for our inpatient youth who may think that these problems, that took decades to develop, will somehow be resolved in a week or two or even a month or two. How quickly we have forgotten our own youthful endeavors but for us the time is running out. We can only hope to leave this earthly coil with the satisfaction of knowing we left behind something better, something more compassionate and inclusive.

December 23, 1776

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

If you take the time to read Paines' entire piece you will note that this was no highly orchestrated American army going up against the British but men from every walk of life who decided to take a stand for a cause greater than their own petty problems. Many of whom were from England itself. If they had the will and the strength to face such a formidable adversary in the dead of winter with less than adequate provisions then I'd say it can be done again. Yet the people of the marches and rallies that are happening at present fail to realize what strengths and resources they may have.
To step back and look at what is transpiring from a distance you see what appears to be the cries of a baby but when that child learns to walk it will be a different story.

What was glaringly evident in the piece is that even though our army of the 1700s was ill prepared it managed to prevail under the worst of circumstances. What it had then and we have now is the ability to solve problems on our own. Ignore it or ridicule it if you will but I'd say it will become a force to be reckoned with.

Oh what tangled web we

2011-10-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

weave when we practice to deceive.

I was looking at the Greek debt problem trying to figure out just what caused all the commotion that you've seen in the news lately. Although I must admit it too like the occupy movement is getting shoved to the back burners of main stream media. So I did some digging but first pondered the reasons an entire country would go into default. My first thought was that they too had been sucked into our black hole of mortgage backed security con game. That did seem a logical choice for a country that had had the highest GDP figures of any country on that side of the world for years running. How wrong I was. After further review as the ref says in football I see that much of the countries wealth is neatly fleeing the country into Swiss banks. Now I don't know about you but I don't have the funds to hide them with the Swiss. So those doing this dirty deed are the top 1% of Greeks. The country's tax revenues are short by 49% because those at the top don't want to pony up their fair share. It is reported that these top 1% own some 10,000 companies off shore and pay no taxes (sound familiar?)

At last count the Greek debt is something like 200% of their GDP as of this writing. And just what was the government response to their predicament? Oh no they wouldn't think of inconveniencing those that have so much they don't know what to do with it. Their government slapped the poor and under classes with the highest taxes any nation has seen in recent history. Taxes on gas and electricity and goods and services. And when that wasn't enough a new round and yet more taxes were put on homes by the square meter. But the tipping point was in my opinion when pensions were slashed causing many retirees to go without health care. I'd guess that they have to pay a bit into the system to be covered. So what you see in the streets of cities like Athens is the result of these measures and it's not because working people are overpaid or lazy as some would have you believe.

Gee if only I could do this with my debt?

2011-10-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Last night a gentleman at the protest was kind enough to give a quick overview about what is going on in this country in terms of our financial situation. Never mind the debt and deficit on the nations accounting books but look at what is going on in the private sector with our big banks. First let me say that even after being bailed out and some supposed changes to the system nothing really changed. The banks have yet to deal with all the subprime mortgages as well as most of the empty properties that they hold as assets, but what is worse is all the bad paper they hold from the unscrupulous selling of those mortgages, sliced and diced until no one knew who owned what. These wonderful pieces of paper when added up amount to a financial time bomb for our nation as a whole. Below is a very brief summary of what they are doing.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation…

Bank of America’s holding company — the parent of both the retail bank and the Merrill Lynch securities unit — held almost $75 trillion of derivatives at the end of June, according to data compiled by the OCC. About $53 trillion, or 71 percent, were within Bank of America NA, according to the data, which represent the notional values of the trades.

That compares with JPMorgan’s deposit-taking entity, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, which contained 99 percent of the New York-based firm’s $79 trillion of notional derivatives, the OCC data show.

The shorter translation of what's going on here is that they are taking worthless investments and rather than keeping it on their books and eventually writing it off as a loss against their bottom line are dumping it on the American taxpayer (FDIC). Now stop to think that the country's annual budget is only $15 trillion.

And these were the banks that took bail out money to the tune of $2 trillion and gave their CEOs some very sweet bonuses. God Willy Horton was right if you want to rob something go to a bank but in this case if you want to rob a nation be a bank.

Almost forgot our Friday furry friend

2011-10-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Busy watching and helping out with OWS Seattle branch. A lot of very dedicated people out there camping out to make a statement. What they fail to realize is the extent of the power right here on line and the influences that can be gained with such rapid communications. There are however a few drawback in trying to communicate ideas in 140 characters or less especially when so many ideas are flowing at once. That said we will see how things will progress as people begin to realize the shortcomings.

Bank fails later

Now back to the revolution

Bank fail update 4 bank failed this week 2 in GA one in FL and one in CO

Gadaffy Duck is dead and other unimportant news

2011-10-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

With the passing of the general and dictator we is yet another middle eastern (or would that technically be African?) country thrust into being destabilized with the loss of another government structure. You should be aware that that leaves a power vacuum when the lights of the presidential palace are shot out. Exactly what this will mean in the short term is anyones' guess. We've had such precious little inside information for the last many years. Even the opposition was quick to repel any outside ground force assistance when offered. Hopefully we will be able to open up a dialogue with opposition groups to understand them better but I think we all know some of the basic demands that lead to this uprising. Funny to stop and consider some of the underlying factors and they're not always about money but about many of the things money can't buy such as respect, fairness and justice.

There was the other night the republican debate. No I didn't bother to watch the 'show' because the best parts are always saved for pundit material later. I have seen more decorum in a Three Stooges pie fight than I saw there which has lead me to the opinion that this is nothing more than a clown circus with the appeal to a preteen audience but that would be an insult to preteens.

A note or two on the occupy wall street movement. As this is still the early phases of the organizing phase it's interesting to note that their resources are gaining by the day. In NY what started as a small gathering with cell phone and lap top coverage has blossomed into a semiprofessional communications system with some high tech equipment. The somewhat casual nature of the reporting is a rather refreshing break from the stale and rigid nightly network news which has tried to control opinion for several decades as it's corporate masters see fit. The beauty of this new manner of reporting is that even the audience can be involved with immediate questions and responses as long as all are civil about the process.

Restaurant nudity to be debated in San Francisco
In San Francisco it's perfectly legal to walk around in the buff but verboten to cover up with a blanket and sleep on the ground.
Go figure.

Greece is on fire and why should it be? The people there are suffering from the same criminality of their financial sector. Nothing like beating on the victim after he's been mugged and robbed.

Lindsey Lohan did not show up for community service as ordered by the court (as if anybody really cares). Hope you'll enjoy your upcoming time in prison. Keep thumbing your nose at the judge girl and see how far it gets you.

A recipe for disaster

2011-10-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Take one Alzheimer's patient

Add one dry drunk

Throw in heaping amounts of cash

Blend in a moderate amount of mixed nuts

Stir vigorously while making sure no one is looking

And there you have what I call the Dish d'jour Disaster which is best served cold because after all who has the money to heat it.

Is it Wednesday already?

2011-10-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm writing this on Tuesday but by the time I get finished it'll be Wednesday. How time flies when helping to direct a revolution. Great kids but they haven't quite figured out the soft underbelly of corporate America and where to shove the knife figuratively speaking that is.
You may have seen the blurbs on all of the TV channels of the tents and the signs and chants , but the real news isn't on TV it's right here in cyberspace. Quietly getting organized with tweets and Facebook entries and numerous videos. They may be slow on the upswing but it's coming together in a very unique fashion. Never have I witnessed democracy in action like this. At present the focus is on establishing a functioning structure and support organization. No easy task in the best of times. Resources are limited but the ingenuity of this bunch is impressive. And why shouldn't it? It has the backing of an army of well educated experienced individuals who had the misfortune of loosing their jobs to cheaper overseas employees. So don't shrug off this crowd just yet. This is only the beginning and what you see on the street is but the tip of the iceberg. If the politicians aren't shaking in their boots in DC they should be. This will be a force to be reckoned with shortly.
Why you may ask have no demands been made? Simply for two reasons, first it's taken quit a while for the group to gel. Unlike our broken government everyone has a say about the decisions presented. That may slow the process down but it makes for a strong position once something is passed. And second the diversity of the group is amazing. Young, old,middle aged, black, white, hispanic, foreign born, gay, straight this is an all inclusive movement that has one primary focus. What's that? To get rid of the things that divide us and focus on the real problems we face. Like Red Green would say "We're all in this together".
I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see some very large companies crumble and fold in the very near future as the result of the outcome of the occupy wall street movement and it won't be with pitchforks or torches either, What better way to beat an opponent than by using the same corrupted system that he created.
No 'the man' crapped on the wrong people this time around. They are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore. Any out of work lawyers out there? The group is always looking for fresh talent. You know where to go. Doesn't pay much just maybe your future.

A strange dream and other machinations

2011-10-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

Had one of those strange dreams the other night. I'll tell you about it but let me put you in the drivers' seat and tell me what you think.
You were driving down a 4 lane highway on a long journey. The road is fresh blacktop and the trip is going well. As time passes the road begins to narrow. What was once a smooth trip with plenty of room for all drivers now is congested and the four lane is now down to two one ways with a steep median in the middle. Suddenly you notice that the once nice road surface has turned from smooth black top to gravel and looking up ahead it looks as if it will turn to a dirt road. You decide to turn around but the only way is to try and find some exit. With none to be found you look to the median for any turn around. With a large line of cars behind you you manage to find a dirt path up the steep median but as you get to the crest to look down at the other direction you see that there is no road going back.

What we are witnessing today on the streets is the result of poor planing, bad management and a pervasive corruption that has taken hold in the corridors of our government. Never in my life time have I seen well educated highly experienced people cast out of their jobs as if they were yesterdays' garbage. People with 20, 30, and yes even 40 years of experience now stand at the unemployment line many with little hope of ever returning to the workforce. They played by the rules, did and gave all that they could yet somehow are now called lazy or bums or worse. This is not the only insult to injury that's about to transpire. With the failure of the passage of the jobs bill and the upcoming budget debate (you remember the budget that can they kicked down the road) state budgets are facing a similar fate if not worse. With each slice the hole in our safety nets grows larger. To those arrogant enough to think that it will not affect them are fooling themselves. Money can only grow when there are real assets and value some where in the mix. You can only sell a worthless promise for so long until someone decides to cash in theirs. At that point the house of cards falls. One must remember that the game didn't change after the last meltdown. The problems were not addressed. The fake solutions were nothing more than a smoke screen so that the game could continue, but we're now seeing the beginnings of the next collapse. Glossing over the problem with more printed money is not going to solve things. Yes it may look rosy for a while but it's more like covering cancer with acne cream. It doesn't fix the problem. Nor does cutting the revenue stream by lowering taxes. What's needed is a tax increase with the money used to fix our crumbling infrastructure. If we continue on our present path then those in our nations' capital just may be fearful of venturing outside of D.C. Not that they would have to fear a constituent but fear the results of their own making such as a bridge collapse. Karma is a hellish thing.

What machinations are unfolding before our very eyes today on the streets? This is no evil revolt to take over the world. This is an outcry against injustice. Of seeing laws, rules and our sense of basic fairness thrown out the window. When some laws are enforced while others are ignored it gets to the very heart of peoples' souls. You will note that no demands list has been presented to our leaders and may wonder why. That's a simple question to answer. What good would it do? When both political parties must answer to their corporate masters it's obvious they will only respond with a "lip service" form letter or email. What many people on the streets protesting don't realize is that they have the power but it doesn't come from working with a broken government. It will come from within them. It will come by changing the financial landscape and moving what little money they have from those corporate overlords. When a child won't share his toys what do we do? We take his toys away and give him time to change his ways. Remember we paid for his toys.

The clock is ticking. If no agreement on the federal budget is reached soon then the super duper committee will try and work things out but should it fail then there's a stipulation that a 10% across the board cut comes into play. Let's see how those in congress play chicken with that one.

Friday pussy revolution

2011-10-14T08:55:00.001-07:00

Last night I had the pleasure of witnessing the revolution up close. All of the lame stream media does not know what to make of this phenomena. They have images of the protests of the Vietnam era. They couldn't be farther from the truth. They have this idea that some one or some organization is behind all that is going on. They'd be wrong. This may have started with a group calling for a protest on Wall Street which did happen. About 100 protesters did show up in mid September to show their displeasure with the banks and investment houses. Main stream media ignored it as they have done for most protests of late that don't fit their corporate purposes. You'll note the the Tea Bag revolution was promoted long in advance of it's actual happening and called a grass roots movement even though people were bused in with the support of the Koch brothers. That movement was only started so that the candidates with radical right wing ideas could gain office with the help of the Kochs who dumped millions into the process.
But this is a different revolution that is not working with corporate media. Even the pages of Yahoo and Google news do not tell the real story. While the outdated means of communications (print and TV) thinks that they are still relevant, the entire process has quietly changed without much notice. What used to be spread by word of mouth in a slow and laborious process now moves faster than any teletype could tap out characters. It was fascinating to watch as information was disseminated at lightening speed and fact checked just as fast. Information can now be verified in minutes rather than having to wait for the film at eleven. And there are rules of etiquette in this process. Anyone not following them is given a warning and the next time is removed from the conversation. It isn't some slick packaged process but it does work.
But the one thing that has given me great hope for the next generation is their sense of compassion and ability to get things done in short order. I had always worried that in the event of some disaster that those of the younger crowd would be clueless. Nothing could be further from the truth. I watch as they solved problems within an hour or less that would take any company a half a day to solve. But the beauty of this revolution is that it's not limited to just one group. It includes young, old, black white and every manner of backgrounds. Even the police are part of this because they know that their jobs benefits and retirements could be next.
Yes I do believe change is coming. It's just that they are working out the details now. That is why you've not seen any demands list or working framework. They are realizing just how hard it is to form a new structure from scratch especially when everyone has a voice in the process.