Beaver Friday war edition or not

(Okay this isn't the usual sexy beaver and we know Canadians won't be sending anybody to war)

Getting serious about Syria.

 I've been scanning news reports on the situation in Syria from an up close and personal perspective. I like to dig through on the ground interviews from people who were actually there to piece together the facts. One man reported hearing the artillery shells at about 3 AM. I've watched these myself via Livestream one night last year. You hear the shot go off followed by the whiz of it traveling through the air then the explosion and smoke. In this man's case there was no explosion after hearing the shells. He reported smelling something like rotten eggs and said he ran with his family to a basement. He was one of the lucky ones and was later able to get away from the carnage that ensued. Such is the nature of chemical weapons and hazardous chemicals. It's a matter of how near you are to them and the space around you.

So from what I've read and my knowledge of such things (I am trained for such an attack believe it or not) I surmise that the weapons used were a combination. First there was the mustard gas which can produce a rotten egg smell. Also used was phosgene. I can't speculate on Sarin even though many of the symptoms were there. The reasoning behind these first two are that they are easily produced and therefore it would be easy to blame the other side. Do I think the rebels used the gas? No. It wouldn't make sense. The rebels were ill equipped to protect themselves having a limited supply of gas masks and very little in the way of protection. You will note the photo of the "cache" of chemical weapons discovered by the Syrian Army showed mostly gas masks and atropine which is an antidote to a chemical attack.

How will this end? That's anyone's guess. To attempt a strike on Syrian targets would do little to deter Assad and like striking a hornets nest could do more harm. Like or not we'll have to live with the current situation until a later time. There's too many players in this game with Russia China Iran and the U.S. playing the proxy war. Until all sides come to meet nothing will change. The only winners in this game at the moment are the arms dealers and even they will have a tough time when most of their customers are dead.

Bank fails later.
Update: No fails this week

Master disaster economically speaking

After all who doesn't like a good disaster?

The slow motion train wreck we call the worlds economy took another leap forward. With bent tracks and a very large curve ahead you'd better hold on to your hats and wallets too. 

India's rupee sank yet again. Just announced today that it's near to impossible to get a business loan in the euro zone. Oil has shot through the roof while investors have sought the safety of gold. Only problem there boys and girls is that you can't eat gold and most stores don't take it as tender.

The lame stream media continues it's drum beat to the build up of the attack on Syria. Geez you'd think Evil Knevil had come back from the dead and was about to jump the empire state building. All they need now is a sponsor. How about Smith & Wesson that might be fitting? This is all dick waving so just don't get caught on the backswing. There's enough lies and half truths flying about out there to make a conspiracy theorist's head explode. So what's this really about? It's about  money oil and power plain and simple. But for the media it's all about the show and how many bodies they can present on the nightly news because after all like a good action movie it's not over until the hero has gunned down an entire regiment of baddies. As the expression goes "if it bleeds it leads". In this case they have plenty of time to hype it and no one will really see who did what to whom until the dust clears.

Checking the trends you'd think that the biggest focus was about the latest indiscretion of the trending entertainer. After all they make a career out of it. Bad publicity is better than none in that business, but you'd be wrong. Not about the entertainers but about the trends. Latest I'm hearing facebook and twitter (although I use neither) is more about fears of an animal attack than any dress malfunction or bawdy performance. A gator attack in Florida and a wild big cat in Detroit seem to be making the top of the list. Syria is in there but it's nowhere near the top. But hen again our priorities shift as we get older. 

But this whole post was supposed to be about the economy. You can just about take any city state or country and plug it into the latest economic disaster report. If a city state or country says it's doing well they're lying. The only ones making it are those who have their money stashed in Switzerland Luxembourg or the Caymans. That's a fact you can take to the bank.

For me it's just about making it to the finish line before I take a dirt nap.  

Just eat it

Is it my imagination or is the news getting recycled?

Suddenly missing Nixon tapes surface. Former president recalling an assassination attempt that happened nearly 40 years ago. Civil rights marches that haven't been seen since the 60s. Did somebody reset the Delorian time settings Marty?

Good is becoming bad and bad good. Hannah Montana doing a dirty dancing bit. Enough to have old Walt Disney spinning in his grave. But then again who didn't have the hots for Annette, but I digress.

Where was I? Back to the regurgitated news that's been chewed up swallowed and analyzed to death only to be served up on our viewing plates cold. Tell us something we don't know. Area 51 again? Yeah yeah we know and there wasn't any aliens mucking about, but where else are you going to test planes at mock 1 or 2 without the Ruskies  snooping? Finally fess up to the fact that we overthrew the elected leader of Iran back in the 50s because he was leaning socialist and just might have nationalized the oil fields?

Next thing you know they'll have found the whereabouts of Judge Crater or the body of Jimmy Hoffa. Seems anything is fair game as long as it detracts from the fact that our government is doing absolutely nothing about anything. Naming a post office or installing another federal judge may sound like you did something but to us it doesn't really count. Nothing on the event calendar you say then just throw in another awards ceremony. That's good for at least a day and a half's news cycle. And not to dishonor our military folk but have you ever noticed that so many receive a metal for screwing up? They get captured by the enemy after making a wrong turn on the road, have to be rescued and they're considered a hero? No I'll tell you who the real heros are. They're the ones who did their jobs and came home who are now jobless and without a home and who can't medical help when they need it. These are the guys who did three four and even five tours of duty in a god forsaken desert yet their reward is little more than lip service and not a bright future.

But yet again I digress. Let's have another round. Beers? No talks. Talks about what to do about Syria. Let's get this right. (Wait for it this gets snarkier). We'll hold high level talks with our allies where we can discuss our options. All options are on the table and a plan of action must be forged out. Alternative plans must be taken into consideration and additional channels of communication must be kept open. All resources must be put in play. A coalition must be formed and consensus reached. No clear evidence has been established. High ranking members of an international team are set to hold talks yet that has been delayed. The current situation has caused the markets to tumble (hope you bought your hedge insurance) and crude prices to skyrocket (so much for the long labor day outings) .

Okay okay I'll step off the ivory flakes box. You can get back to shopping. Nothing to see here.     

Friday Beaver financial style

Didn't know the beaver was on the $5 loonie coin or even that Canada had a $5 coin

Get ready for the manure storm about to hit the financial markets. Can you say fan meet poop? Thought you could.

Where to begin on this three hour tour of the funny money trail of sleuthing.  Guess Greece is as good a place to start. After cutting corporate taxes to the bone and letting the 1% off shore their treasures for the last many years it's finally caught up to that nation's economy. Got to pay the piper eventually. But fearful that they'll lose their golden goodies nestled comfortably in the Caymans the well to do has held their government hostage. " You'll take this loan and like it" says the gangster class. And whom did they expect to pay back such a loan when incomes were less than world average even in good times? "Not to fret we'll just loan ya the money when the payment is due" was the mantra. All well and good until they realized that there weren't anymore belt loops left to tighten and who wants to buy some old ruins at a garage sale? So with no other option Greece took the deal but I'm sure didn't like it. And when the payment came due again it was a repeat scenario. Just how do you squeeze blood out of a turnip?

Bounce across the waves to China that once bastion of communist capitalism they looked like they'd cornered the market on cheap chotskies that the world could not do without. Where else could you get a hand painted back scratcher in solid wood for under a buck? But let's face facts, the world only needs so many lead laced toys and plastic gadgets. So they diversified and started building apartment buildings. Build it and they will come was the thinking. Must have seen that Costner movie way back when. Only thing was they didn't come and now whole cities sit empty rotting away. Must have missed the part about putting the cart before the horse. And like all bad leaders they lied about the growth figures because to do otherwise might get ya killed there.

Now on to another giant in the world economic game, India. The headline reads "India 'vexed' by accounting gap". Sounds almost quaint doesn't it? Vexed implies a trivial matter like a mosquito buzzing around your head. Did they ever stop to consider that maybe we caught on to their customer no service call centers and are now relying on the internet for our answers? You'll have better luck calling the local TV consumer reporter problem solver if the problem is more complex. Their currency by the way has dumped 44% of it's value in the last two years or so I'm told.

What's the matter financial wizards no more bubbles left to inflate? You've squeezed the last remaining pennies from grandma's purse so what's left to steal? We now sit in a Ponzi economy where debt is bought and sold. Take a cruise around the neighborhood and note the for sale signs or better yet check out the foreclosures that you won't see. They're neatly hidden from view in the back pages of the newspaper that is if you still read one. Think they're online too but be prepared to dig. They wouldn't want to cause a panic.

Lastly they've lied about the unemployment figures. It may be true that some folks have gone back to work but the jobs offered after having worked a few decades would be not much over minimum wage at best. Hours have been cut and it's no easy task to pay bills with promises. But fear not the gurus of the financial markets predict global growth which may be true if you have your stock fund full and the insurance to cover it  when it crashes. They wouldn't lie to us now would they?

Bank fails later.
UPDATE: One bank failed in Az.

Secrets? Secrets? We don't have no stinking secrets

Laughable - that would be what I call the government's feeble attempt to distract from the impact and ramifications of the Snowden leaks. And while the powers that be and may soon not be have done everything but tap dance naked to divert your attention, they have irritated the one person they should have left alone. That would be Glenn Greenwald who holds enough information on them that they should be running scared. Arrest warrants and bully tactics is not helping their case. 

The latest in this misadventure is the governments demand to have hard drives at the offices of the Guardian newspaper destroyed. First off I'll bet the UK meanies didn't even bother checking the information. Secondly it shows how ignorant those trying to cover their misdeeds really are. Didn't they realize that there would be other copies of this information which by the way has now been spread all over the internet now. If you don't believe me I think if you'd give me a minute I could get you a copy. Be forewarned though, what the Guardian holds is close to a terra bit of information or so I'm told, it could be more.

You will note the latest attempt to fess up when the CIA revealed that yes they did indeed play a part in overthrowing a democratically elected leader and installing their guy as leader of Iran back in the 50s. Oh give me a break! Fessing up to the fact that there's an area 51 the best known secret is not something I'd call an earth shattering confession. Sorry but the priest is busy groping the alter boy to hear matters this trivial. Next they'll be telling us they helped overthrow the elected government in Guatemala with a fake uprising in the 50s, (yawn).

Tell us what you've been up to lately. You must have the goods on Eric Holder cause none of the wall street bankers has yet to see the inside of a jail cell. And maybe you've nudged Assad to take on the common folk in that country because it sure would make things difficult for Russia and stymie their plans. Then there's Egypt with it's rotating dictators, but all in all these are just guesses as to your misdeeds. Can't wait to read the book and the movie should be a blockbuster if it doesn't turn into a Russian novel. Maybe a miniseries is in order.

Sorry guys you have besmirched the reputation of a nation all in the name of truth justice and the American way. Which has now becomes lies injustice and for most of us Un American. Slapping a label on somebody no longer works when information travels at the speed of light. Facts can be checked and events recorded or viewed in real time. Come clean before it's too late.  

Friday beaver - Time for that annual physical

"It's okay little fella I'm from the NSA and this won't hurt a bit."

We thought the days of the Stosi and KGB interrogations were a thing of the past. Forget having your door kicked in at 2 am and your papers examined and seized. This is far more sinister. Without so much as a writ or even a "how do you do" our government has taken upon itself to be judge jury and executioner. You think I kid? Not only did our government have a completely flawed program but they set about to cover up their lies and mistakes as shown below. 

"The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."

"In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff."

It's understandable that no system is perfect but this was flat out incompetent. It's a safe bet that this information gathered is the basis of the "no fly" list and we've seen how well that's worked out. Six month old babies pulled from line because they had the same  name as some suspect. Or worse when the person is older and has no recourse to get their name taken off the list.

James R. Clapper Jr head of our intelligence acknowledged that the NSA violated the 4th amendment but Obama blocked any FOI request for that information. He (Clapper) later lied to congress saying that there was no breach of the amendment.

The sheer volume of calls intercepted in the last few years is cause for concern and no computer program could cull accurate information on a regular basis. You know as well as I trying to do what a google search comes up with when trying to find a precise name or specific item. The end result is almost never of great value and usually results in millions of irrelevant hits. The following being an example:

In dozens of cases, NSA personnel made careless use of the agency’s extraordinary powers, according to individual auditing reports. One team of analysts in Hawaii, for example, asked a system called DISHFIRE to find any communications that mentioned both the Swedish manufacturer Ericsson and “radio” or “radar” — a query that could just as easily have collected on people in the United States as on their Pakistani military target.

As this may seem like a minor inconvenience to some, after all what do you have to hide, the potential for error and the ramifications are immense. Just because your name may be John Smith would be of no consequence should you somehow be tied to an overseas call of less than honorable intention.

Bank fails later 

No fails this week guess everybody is on vacation.

Crazy sci fi or is it?

The simple set up. A meteor crashes to earth containing a tiny virus that spreads rapidly. Soon a once nearly sane planet turns to the dark side. These are just bits and pieces in the never ending story of "Earth gone wild". (No boobs flashed here though) Film at 11.

Voter suppression law passed in North Carolina

Nothing says democracy like preventing people from voting. Cutting the days and hours one can vote will do wonders. And don't forget the birth certificate (that is if they even trust it) a government issued photo ID and what's next a DNA sample? 

Stocks open lower on weak outlook

Hey wasn't it just yesterday that everything was peaches and cream? Corporations see their profits slid. Why? Because nobody has any money left to steal (er finagle). And corporations are sitting on over a trillion dollars since the bailout. A vicious cycle there. Can't make a profit unless somebody buys something and people can't buy anything unless they're working. Most jobs now are either part time or temporary and only pay minimum wage. Try supporting a family on that Sam Walton. 

Containers of alcohol found in fatality accident that killed 5 in Texas

Someone once told me that it's not against the law to drink a beer and drive in Texas.  That makes sense if you're asking for trouble and it looks like those kids found it. There's enough idiots on the road gabbin on their cell phones or worse trying to text. It's okay it won't happen to me is their thinking. Famous last words. So while a bottle of Jack or an open can of Bud may be okay in Austin just don't get caught with a sex toy cause then they'll come down hard on you :-) 

Air force nuke program gets in trouble for failing inspection

Somebody forget where they left the president's phone number? And isn't this where the air force sends all it screw ups and under achievers? Something akin to the foreign legion of the military. Those guys must feel like the wall flower at the school prom.

A bank hostage taker claiming a device was implanted in his head was shot and killed by police.

What's that you say Mr. Reagan?  You'll open the doors to the mental hospitals and let people out and nothing will happen. Seems a lot of those folks made it to congress.

Lastly someone wrote a blog post touting the wonderful aspects of GMO foods but not exactly. Actually they proceeded to rip anyone who just might think GMOs were a bad thing. GMOs by the way are the genetically modified foods engineered to withstand a plague of locusts or a draught.

Sorry but I don't buy the arguments. They've been messing with our food for the past few decades and it now tastes like shit. Yes I said it. Sorry but I haven't had a "real" tomato in years. The shit, and I'll call it that, you get in stores here would make a great item for the Toronto Blue Jay's batting practice. And if you're looking for flavor you'd better eat the shipping carton it came in. It will have more flavor. 

If we let corporations take it to it's logical end we'll land up with square fruit and vegetables that have a shelf life of a twinkie. No one will know the exact health effects of this engineered food for another generation or so. But hey they touted asbestos as being a great thing for years right? 

Okay okay you got me it's been a slow news week/month.