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

Another installment of today's near non news items. As if we haven't seen enough videos of the cat chasing the feather.

Randy Travis found naked and drunk after crashing his car in Texas.
Reminds me of an old joke about Gun Smoke.
Marshall Dillon shows up in town naked. Much to everyones' shock. The Doc asks Matt what happened? To which Matt explains. Miss Kitty and I go on a picnic. After lunch Miss Kitty gets frisky and takes off her clothes. I did the same. Just as I got close to her she whispered in my ear "Go to town Matt" and here I am! :-)

Southern Cal. gets a 4.5 earthquake
That'd be about enough to shake you martini if you noticed it at all. A passing truck would probably make more of an impact.

Raw Money compares California economy to Greece
He may have conveniently forgotten but we haven't what policies got us into this mess in the first place. Things like tax evasion and off shore accounts don't work any better there than they do here.

Standard Chartered bank gets lambasted
Nothing like pot calling the kettle black as they say.
It's become so easy to scam the system especially when such large amounts of money are at stake. Standard is accused of laundering Iranian oil money through their system. With little knowledge I'd bet I could do that myself. Simply set up a dummy company in an obscure place. List it as a subsidiary foreign operation and funnel the money through it. How do you think Raw Money is playing the system? Twenty three hundred companies can not fit into a small office building in the Cayman Islands no matter how hard you try.

Refinery fire could boost gas prices
Could? No you mean will. So you might want to fill up now and while you're at it stock up on beef and canned goods because the rest of the poop storm will hit shortly.

And lastly but not leastly

There is the latest:
Celebrity/sports-person/fan/politician

(pick one or more)
1. Affair
2. Weight loss program
3. Drunken night out
4. Pregnancy
5. Illegitimate child
6. Marriage (do they still do that? thought only gays wanted to marry)
7. Tax evasion
8. Assault
9. Dress malfunction
10. Wardrobe choice

And none of this anybody really cares about because they have their own set of problems.

Romney to do a reset in Aug.

(hat tip to Tengrain who stole this from Axel Grease)

Bahahahahhahahahahahaha!

Mr. Etch-A-Sketch couldn't shake hard enough to undo the damage he's done. Open your mouth some more your foot isn't in quit far enough. And exactly how he proposes to walk back all of the pandering to the radical right would be the miracle of the century. Sorry Mittens you made your bed now you have to lay in it. And all the money in the world isn't going to help.

Some would have you believe that this country can be run like a business. It can not. It doesn't work for a profit. It never did and it never will.

So along with the ceremonial pressing of the reset button we have the (drum roll please) choice of vice presidential candidate. Now before you jump to any preconceived notions stop to consider that said candidate must have only the tiniest appeal to a select group of voters. Yet at the same time be so repulsive that no one would consider putting a cap in Mittens arse least they land up with bozo number two in the oval office. That idea didn't quit work out for McCain as his choice appealed to only those who drooled over the photos of Hustler magazine. They had something else in mind when they said "I'll give you my vote baby".

Whom to pick? Seems the bulk of choices have about as much charisma as a bowl of milk toast not to mention their own lists of luggage. Exactly how would you climb on board the Raw Money (this country is headed to hell) bus when you've been so busy telling your constituents that things are getting better because of all your good work? Professor Backwards has nothing on these people. Are there any black or hispanic republican women amongst the all white boys club? Oh that question answers itself I see.
Maybe they can alter the ancestry of this woman to fit the bill. They've come quite adept at altering history after all :

who said all foxes are smart?

(hat tip to Tim of Scared Stiff for his photoshop skills)

Now if they could just add a slight touch of rumor that her grandpa was African and her grandma Puerto Rican they might have a chance to capture that sector but alas they incorporated all those voter suppression laws thereby shooting themselves in the foot once again.
Here's a woman who thinks that you can work your way through college. That might have been true when she went 50 years ago when a loaf of bread was a quarter and states paid 2/3 of the costs but not now. Her idea of getting people back to work is to shuffle funds around in the transportation budget forgetting that it was her own party who underfunded that bill. Much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Sorry babe there is no free lunch at this bar. Her other claim to fame is wanting to eliminate pensions for congress. Ha! We know that won't happen in her lifetime. How's a retired senator going to relax with a mint julip on the front verandah and watch his undocumented workers pick all those subsidized crops?

The psychosis of right and wrong

What is that word/term I'm looking for? Contradiction is close but not quite fitting. In what context you might be asking. The thought occurred to me that when we were growing up we were taught fairness and justice and doing the "right" things. All altruistic and such, but then reality creeps in to state otherwise. We gathered around the TV as kids to watch the Lone Ranger and Tonto fight the bad guys that we all knew would lose in the end. Right from wrong was a simple matter. Everything was black and white back then, cut and dried. Somewhere along the line the bad guys started winning. And as sick as it sounds the audience started rooting for the bad guy. Had Hollywood become bored with the same old plot lines and cast their fate in a new direction? Ah but there was the code to follow. How did they get past the code? They got past the code because it was dropped somewhere along the line because those in charge of the code thought that movie makers were responsible enough to set their own standards. But that never happens both in the movie business or with other endeavors.

So what have we learned over the past 30 or 40 years and what are we passing on to the next generations? Judging by our entertainment media it's that violence rules. Whomever can produce the most force with the better weapons wins no matter if they're good or bad. Honesty is another value that's been thrown out the window. We all know criminals lie but nobody stops to think that so do the police. Our honesty can be tested by both sides. Trickery is another factor. They say you can rob a freight car with little education but with an advanced degree you can steal the entire railroad. And now entire nations are ripe for the pickings. It's all done with computers. No need to get your hands dirty or wear a mask.

Now that our sense of right and wrong has been cast away, it's filtered down to amateur sports. Maybe Lombardi was wrong when he said "winning isn't the only thing it's everything". Which makes one wonder if ethics are even taught anywhere in our schools anymore. No, it's come down to whoever has the most guns or power or violence or trickery wins. Maybe it always was like that and we just didn't see it. And just how can we be promoting truth justice and the "American" way in other countries when we're gradually taking it away here? There are no more fair fights it's now all that old saying about love and war. All tactics are fair. But eventually that gut feeling sneaks back in and the psychosis revealed. And is this patient ill. Right is now wrong and wrong right. Is there any cure?

News Snark

Syrian forces pound rebel frontline in Aleppo.
Where's the frontline when the entire city is being bombed?

Clinton wants fair elections in Kenya
How about fair elections in this country without voter suppression laws?

Fashion police turn up their noses at the stylings of the Olympics.
What's the matter you don't like blue jeans, a polo shirt with tie?

China blames the U.S. for the Syrian Crisis.
Ah yes nothing like blaming the messenger. And along those lines we have:

Romney to Reid, "Put up or shut up!"
Hey Mittens it's supposed to be the other way around. Release 10 years of your tax records and we'll all shut up.

U.S. resumes beef imports from Japan
We slap a ban on to prevent mad cow and now we need to wonder if our burgers aren't radioactive. Oh but it was so cheap we couldn't pass it up.

Wall Street with positive momentum in the face of headwinds
And the game of pump and dump continues. Just make sure there's no bugs in the software or it's hell to pay.

And Lastly

ECB saves Greece from bankruptcy by securing emergency loans
Nothing like helping somebody out of debt by giving them more debt.

Friday beaver? To market to market now don't get all jiggey on me

Combination pussy and beaver pic for Friday

I've given up on market information and trying to figure out exactly what happens on a daily basis. I used to follow them on a day to day basis until the advent of computer trading. Some wizards with supercomputers figured that they could squeeze fractions of cents out of a deal without so much as a verbal buy or sell order. The algorithms and mathematical equations used I'd be sure would have Einstein stumped. They say you can make a mistake but to really screw thing ups use a computer. Truer words were never spoken. A couple million here a few hundred million there and soon you're talking real money. But it's all paper and an idea unless of course that was part of your retirement check that just went up in smoke metaphorically speaking. Value you see only has value if there is a seller and a buyer. Real worth is only determined by that factor. That concept has been rudely perverted with the advent of computer auto trading. No need for horse trading here. Computers have no emotions as they carry out their programmed instructions. Where's the fun in that? And what exactly is the job of a broker now that so much of his work is carried out without him/her lifting a finger. After all most investors tend to use the set it and forget it method. They too know that decisions are best left to non emotional machines when trying to get ahead of the game.

Money is an odd concept when you think about it. A seemingly worthless piece of paper representing goods and services traded the world over. Yes I know the alternative could be quite messy. I'd hate to have to carry around a pocket full of melted cheese just because my barber wanted to make cheese cake for desert. Then there's the more expensive items like a house. How many fresh eggs would that take? But then I'm more of a pay as you go person. Maybe I don't want the fruit of the month this month. And I surely hate subscribing to anything that would have me as a member. Don't forget to register we're told. And why is that when the offer/information is free? I really don't want all your spam in my email box. I just wanted to read the damn article not give you my entire life history. And the last thing I really hate is having word verify just to leave a comment. Come on! You get maybe two dozen comments in any given day. Are you too lazy to delete the spam? You think your blog will become the next Firedog Lake? Think again sparky we're all just small potatoes in this chip factory.

Bank fails later
UPDATE: One bank in IL failed this week.
Parking lot index was at 7 (I suspect an anomaly here this being the first week in August)

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

Mixed bag of (in this case ) cats


Chick-fil-a
This is really a non story when you think about it. Why? Because everybody has a right to their opinion. Does the company ask and refuse service to people they think are gay? I'd bet not. So what's the big deal. We're not talking about a Birmingham lunch counter here where once blacks were refused service.


A Republican Voice With Tea Party Mantle and Intellectual Heft
Now there's two concepts that are diametrically opposed. I believe George Carlin called it something like military intelligence. They just don't go together.

Apple sues Samsung
This is an oddity considering 20% of the parts of an iphone are made by Samsung. Sounds like it will end as a Mexican stand off.


Olympic: London tourism rates plunge
What was that Yogi Berra expression? " The place was so popular that nobody goes there anymore". Now you know what he meant.

CIA authorised to offer intelligence support to Syrian rebels.
In the first sentence of the article it starts out "President Obama signs a secret order to"
Well no secret any more. The cat's out of the bag but then again who couldn't figure that we weren't going to provide assistance to the rebels. I'd also bet that this was going on way before he signed such an agreement. We know after all that Blackwater or whatever the hell they're calling themselves now has been in the area for months now. Let's face it there aren't many secrets anymore.

Fed Poised To Step Up Stimulus Unless Economy Strengthens
Considering Fed Fund rates are at near zero what's old Ben going to do start paying people to take money? Looks like Bernanke has painted himself right into a corner. I do know one thing. If the economy doesn't collapse from all the overseas trouble then at some point it will explode with expansion and pent up demand.
Oh and a fitting Beetle tune comes to mind "If you want here it is come and get it but you better hurry cause it's going fast."

Ebola and the new seal flu

There are perhaps a million an one ways to shed this mortal coil but this is not one of the more pleasant ways. The ebola outbreak in Uganda had the locals running from a hospital when they found out patients with the virus were inside. Gatherings were canceled and residents of the city were encouraged to avoid contact with others. And with good reason as the virulent strain of hemoragic fever had invaded their lives.

And you'll note in the photo people dressed in tyvec suits with their faces and eyes covered. Right up my alley so to speak. For you see after 911 I was ( unbeknownst to me) placed in a data base be on the front lines in the war on terror. All righty then. I was expecting some intense training and a call at anytime for mobilization to any manner of shenanigans that might crop up. After all George made us feel as if Al Qaeda would rear it's ugly head at any time to steal out babies and poison our drinking water. That however was not to be. The training came some four years later and it was less than stellar. Most of the information could have been gleaned from any number of sites on the web. In fact that's pretty much how I learned about what I might be up against in such an event. Remember this was the time right after the anthrax incident at the senate office building. I had heard of anthrax but never really studied it extensively as it's not one of our standard hazards.

Now before you consider sealing yourself up in the closet with duct tape and plastic sheeting stop and think about the odds. Prior to our more modern medical techniques and more sanitary procedures it was quit common for people to die from the flu and oft times even a common cold. In 1918 50 million died from the swine flu because they didn't have advanced pathology that they do today. As untrusting as some may be of our current medical establishment the advice for dealing with such things back then amounted to guess work and old wives remedies. Today even the worst cases are survivable to all but the very weak or compromised immune systems. Major airports have screening methods for detecting sick people once they land. Even our present whooping cough outbreak has been little more than an inconvenience in spite of its' numbers. Your odds are better being in a car accident than dying from flu. Ebola as deadly as it may be tends to be confined to rural regions of Africa.

In studying the list of hemoragic viruses over the last ten years it occurred to me that the odds of them making it into this country are very low. There had been that outbreak of SARS some years back yet I can't think of one fatality here in the U.S. The closest I've been to such a virus was a job involving Hanta virus. The difference being that Hanta virus is treatable and fairly easy to prevent once the source is located. The decontamination process is simple and requires little training even though unlike Ebola it can be spread through the air. For some nefarious group to try and make a weapon from these viruses would take quit a bit more than a basement operation. Getting them to their target would be another difficult matter as their symptoms can be obvious and the carrier more apt to want treatment rather than go to a ball game or other large gathering. Lastly it should be noted that most viruses can only survive outside their host for very brief periods of time, sometimes as little as a few minutes.

So there you have my two cents on the subject of Ebola and the H3N8 seal virus. And for those who deny evolution they need to stop and study this a bit more. This virus went through 37 mutations from bird to seal in a very brief period of time. And one more thing. Don't forget to cover your sneeze and wash your hands.