COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Gloom and Doom Wednesday

The Bigger they are...

The message is loud and clear: The powers that be have learned nothing from the credit crisis and left us vulnerable to another crash. Our leaders are fiddling while Rome burns. Even now, as Congress, led by the likes of Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, works on a massive Finance and Banking Reform bill that many say does nothing about the essential problems of moral hazard and "too big to fail." In fact, they say, we've done exactly the wrong thing and created banks which are too big to fail but will anyway.





The mood coming from some corners of the European media is that of a death watch on the Euro and the Eurozone. The fear of spreading contagion has many, including Nouriel Roubini, speculating on the coming austerity measures which may be imposed throughout the social democracies and the US. Are we witnessing the end of the great post-war social experiment?



Go here and listen to a 27 minute podcast with Niall Ferguson
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/worldbiz which puts our current crisis in a historical context.


Download:
FLVMP43GP
Nassim Taleb has studied nature and determined that smaller, more diverse systems are better adapted to survive cataclysmic events. He has extrapolated his theory to encompass man's economic system and concluded that larger systems such as the US banking become less diverse which makes them less resistant and more prone to ultimate failure.

Warning: Crash dead ahead. Sell. Get liquid. Now.

Commentary: 'Game's in the refrigerator.' Power's turning off. Dow sinking below 6,470

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- "This game's in the refrigerator! The door's closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling ..."

That was legendary Lakers' radio announcer Chick Hearn's signature way of calling a game early, telling fans the home team won ... you can head for the exits before the final buzzer. Chick wrote the book with popular sports phrases like "slam dunk," "air ball," "charity stripe," and a "bunny hop in the pea patch" for a traveling violation.

Chick's our inspiration today: Last March I wrote "6 reasons I'm calling a bottom and a new bull." Today it's time for a new call. We've had a good year. Net gains over 50% in 2009. But now: "Game over, head for the exits." Bears beating bulls.

No, no, "it's a buying opportunity," says another legend, hedge fund manager, Barton Biggs. Buying opportunity? For who? Remember, Biggs isn't advising Joe Lunchbox about what to do with his little 401(k). Biggs' customers are mega-millionaires in his $1.5 billion Traxis Partners Fund. Main Street investors like Joe are prey in his casino.

Read on, you decide: As you stare from high up in the nose-bleed bleachers watching the game, staring at a Dow that not long ago was above 11,000 and heading for 12,000. Now the Dow's sitting on the bench, ready for the showers, weak after a couple air balls around 10,000. No more timeouts. "This game's in the refrigerator."

How bad is your bookie's point spread in this game? A blowout? Will the Dow drop below 9,000 again? Now that it's broken technical supports, will it drop below 6,470, where the last bull rally started in early 2009? Can you handle the nerve-racking volatility generated by Wall Street's high-frequency traders playing the game at warp-speed with algorithms making thousands of micro-bets in milliseconds, betting billions daily?

So who should you listen to? Barton and I arrived at Morgan Stanley about the same time. He stayed decades longer, became one of the world's leading strategists, advising the kind of high-rollers who also bet at private tables in a Vegas casino.

You remember Biggs: In his book "Wealth, War & Wisdom" he advises his high rollers to prepare for a "breakdown of the civilized infrastructure." Buy a farm: "Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson." Biggs is not advising small investors on what to do with their 401(k)s.

If you're gambling at Wall Street's casino, folks, the odds-makers are betting against Biggs. It's "game over."
Main Street lost 20% last decade ... yet like sheep keep going back

Yes, if you're channeling Chick, here's your "mixed metaphor" cue card: "This game's in the refrigerator ... Wall Street won (proof, Goldman's $100-million-profit trading days and Blankfein's $68 million bonus) ... Main Street's headed for another losing streak ... Congress' lights are out ... the refrigerator door's closing on financial reforms ... the lobbyists are laying some rotten eggs, poisoning capitalism ... the Tea Party-of-No-No ideologies are hardening ... the bull's Jell-O is jiggling to a flat line ... and this market's going into hibernation, with the bears ... run, don't walk, to the exits, folks."

But will Main Street exit? Will we ever learn? No. The Wall Street casino makes mega-billions for insiders like Blankfein and the Goldman Conspiracy. Yet "The Casino" is still below the 2000 record of 11,722. So after accounting for inflation, Wall Street lost over 20% of Main Street's 401(k) retirement money between 2000 and 2010. Yes, Wall Street's a big loser the past decade. Their advice is self-serving. Period.

Given their miserable track record, only a fool would bet with Wall Street. Betting odds are Wall Street will lose another 20% in the next decade from 2010-2020. Yes, today's market is a "buying opportunity," but only for Wall Street casino insiders like Biggs, Blankfein and even low-level staffers inside "The Casino." But not for our 95 million Main Street investors, there's more pain ahead, this market's dropping.
Correction? New crash imminent, worse than 2008

More proof: Earlier economist Gary Shilling said price-to-earnings ratios are at a "nosebleed 22.5 level." The Dow was around 11,000. Money manager Jeremy Grantham recently said the market's overvalued 40%. That could mean a collapse to 6,600. Last week in Reuters' "Markets Could Be Derailed Again," George Soros echoed a "game over" warning with a "stark warning ... that the financial world is on the wrong track and that we may be hurtling towards an even bigger boom and bust than in the credit crisis."

Now Dow Theory's Richard Russell is warning the public of an imminent crash: "Sell ... get liquid ... by the end of this year they won't recognize the country."

A bigger meltdown than the credit crisis? Yes, Bush's team drove America into a ditch. But now Obama and his money men, Summers, Geithner, Bernanke, are digging the hole deeper. Soros says we have not learned "the lessons that markets are inherently unstable." As a result, "the success in bailing out the system on the previous occasion led to a super-bubble." Now "we are facing a yet larger bubble." Worse than 2008?

Yes, the game may be "in the refrigerator," the lights will go out, but as Soros hints, the electricity may get turned off too. Get it? This may not be a correction. Not even a bear. What's coming could be worse than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 meltdown combined, a "Super-Bubble" says Soros. And the biggest reason, Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm tell Newsweek, is that "the president's half-measures won't fix our failed financial system" because he refuses to "bust up the too-big-to-fail banks."

Yes, Congress will pass something. But unfortunately, as reported on MSNBC, Senator Dodd, the reform bill's sponsor, is a turncoat, working overtime with Wall Street lobbyists "to weaken financial reform," leave us vulnerable to a new, bigger crash in the near future. And Wall Street lobbyists are spending hundreds of millions to kill reform.

'White Swans:' 2000 and 2008 crashes were predictable, next one too

Recently Roubini was interviewed by Charlie Rose in BusinessWeek. His message confirms the worst. Roubini was questioned about his new book, "Crisis Economics." Rose began by asking, "what have we learned from these crises of capitalism?" Roubini could easily have said, "nothing, we learned nothing." His actual reply:

"The first lesson is that crises are not 'black swan' events ... they're not just random outcomes. They are the result of a buildup of financial and policy vulnerability and mistakes -- excessive risk-taking, leverage, debt, and so on." They are 'White Swans' "because these events are predictable. But generation after generation, we seem to forget the past. When there's a bubble, there's euphoria. There's irrational exuberance. Consumers can use their homes like ATM machines. Governments and policy makers are happy because they get reelected. Wall Street makes billions of dollars of profits. Everybody's delusional."

Sound familiar? Yes indeed, in "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly," economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff pinpoint the key signal that will blow the whistle and call the game: The "90% ratio of government debt to GDP is a tipping point in economic growth." For 800 years "you increase it over and beyond a high threshold, and boom!"

Warning, fans, the numbers on the game-clock are flashing wildly. America's ratio is now 92%, thanks to Obama's $1.7 trillion budget, future deficits, exploding debt. Soon, Ka-Booom! Another great nation bites the dust. Depression follows. Goodbye retirement.
Warning: 800 years of history are calling 'game over'

But can't we change destiny? Or are Dodd, Congress, Obama, Wall Street, the Party of No-No and 300 million Americans all just playing their parts in a historical script well-known to historians like Reinhart and Rogoff, Kevin Phillips, Niall Ferguson and others? The message of "This Time Is Different" is very simple:

"We have been here before. No matter how different the latest financial frenzy or crisis always appears, there are usually remarkable similarities from past experience from other countries and from history. ... no country, irrespective of its global importance, appears to be immune to it. The fading memories of borrowers and lenders, policy makers and academics, and the public at large do not seem to improve over time, so the policy lessons on how to 'avoid' the next blow-up are at best limited."

So please listen closely: All the TARP bailouts, stimulus debt and Fed loans won't work. Neither will a new conservative government. This is not a basketball game. We are not channeling Chick Hearn, calling this game before the final buzzer. While we prefer the illusion that "this time really is different," eight centuries of history suggest otherwise:

"The lesson of history, then, is that even as institutions and policy makers improve there will always be a temptation to stretch the limits. ... If there is one common theme to the vast range of crises ... it is that excessive debt accumulation, whether it be by the government, banks, corporations, or consumers, often poses greater systemic risks than it seems during a boom. ... Highly indebted governments, banks, or corporations can seem to be merrily rolling along for an extended period, when bang -- confidence collapses, lenders disappear and a crisis hits. ... Highly leveraged economies ... seldom survive forever ... history does point to warnings signs that policy makers can look to access risk -- if only they do not become too drunk with their credit bubble-fueled success and say, as their predecessors have for centuries, 'This time is different'."

No, "this time" it's never different. Get it? In the end, it doesn't matter what happens to the Dodd-Obama financial reforms. The endgame's never a Black Swan, it's a very White Swan well known to historians -- guaranteed, inevitable and inescapable. This time is never different.

The clock's flashing. Huge point spread. Think bear, think crash, think end of capitalism, think Great Depression II ... This is no buying opportunity, this game's in the refrigerator, call it.


Download:
FLVMP43GP
Download:
FLVMP43GP
Download:
FLVMP43GP

146 comments:

  1. I've called the dow a joke for years...

    6400 for the dow is reasonable

    The chinese housing bubble has yet to pop

    The toxic debt of the euro banks lending to south america, iran and central america has yet been digested

    the cost of oil (when factored in the dollar's dip) is still at 300% higher than it should be

    oil trading at $75 a barrel in current terms, oil adjusted for dollar devaluation, 37.50 a barrel, oil prices if false constructs were not propping it? $12 a barrel, oil if slightly propped up 23 bucks a barrel.

    factor in the BILLIONS that the axis of evil nations have spent on weapons (islamic nations & iran, nkor, pakistan, lebanon, jordan, venezuela etc) that in the end will be destroyed (again) there are hugh loads of bonds, debt & assets about to be made valueless

    Real war is on the horizon, now that the USA is no longer the USA, piss and moan about me all you wish (to certain israel haters, zionist haters and jew haters) but there will be real painful costs about containing the evil real rogue nations of the planet. To many Euro, Arab & Chinese investments will go up in a cloud of smoke..

    Massive amounts of on the books valuations are about to evaporate...

    Real estate bubbles are not JUST an American issue, however certain over inflated areas of America that may have lost 40% of their retail values in the last 20 months STILL are up over 100% in the last 10 years... LA, Vegas, parts of Florida have not found a real bottom yet..

    Then take that to the rest of the world's major cities and scream..

    Unfunded pensions, health care, cap and trade, oil in the gulf? just the tip of the iceberg..

    now add in the vacuum of America the pussy...

    It's a clusterfuck and it's coming home to roost...

    Maybe Obama will be impeached for illegal job offers... Maybe his royal ass will learn that a pizza party in C-town is not more important than Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery..

    Maybe 2 vacations within 34 days DURING the oil spill crisis is not wise...

    Maybe going to fund raisers and not being a LEADER is what the squatter called POTUS does..

    But that just makes America into a land of the pussy..

    Not a place were Freedom and Liberty are our call...

    I invest in sellable product...

    the dollar, land property and wall street?

    lots of luck...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's different this time.

    It really is. The world is incredibly different than it was 50 years ago, much less 800 years ago.

    We'll have serious "Crashes." That's just human nature. We'll have serious "Recessions." That, also, is just human nature. We'll even have, eventually, another "Great Depression," in all probability.

    That said, the world is different than it was in the past, and all you have to do is whip out your iphone, and google up "growth of technology/communications" to prove it. Or go to your laptop, and yahoo up agricultural production, and robotics.

    Some old Britisher got it right, I think, when he said: "Sell on the Trumpets, buy on the Cannons."

    BTW, that is, probably, the last time in recorded history that "Any" Britisher has gotten "Anything" right; so, I'd be very careful taking investment advice from any pundit named "Nigel," or "Ian," or whatnot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The "Trucks" are finally beginning to roll. A month, or so, ago we were looking at Diesel fuel stuck at 3.6 million barrels/day, and wondering if they would ever get out of the shipping yard; but, diesel consumption has steadily risen the last four weeks to 4.0 mbpd last week.

    Train loadings started surging before truck miles, so, now, we seem to be moving a lot of stuff. That's a good sign.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BTW, that is, probably, the last time in recorded history that "Any" Britisher has gotten "Anything" right;'


    You know I can' help arguing with you Rufus.

    Lord Napier was in India a couple of decades after Rothchild's quote and was met by a delegation of Hindu locals complaining about the British banning of suttee claiming that it interfered with their time-honored customs. Napier replied:

    "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

    Couldn't help it Ruf. I saw this quote this morning and yours gave me the opportunity to post it.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  5. Detroit's ex-mayor sentenced to 1.5 years to 5 years in state pen for probation violations.

    His mother Rep. Cheeks-Kilpatrick is saddened.

    His dad is being investigated by the FBI and is likely to follow him to jail soon.

    His lawyer says the sentence was politically motivated and reeks of apartheid South Africa.

    Doing the Time for Doing the Crime


    .

    ReplyDelete
  6. :)

    The Brits are okay. I, actually, like them quite a lot. I just like to "ride" their pundits.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Obama Visits Senate Republicans Seeking Legislative Support


    "...Other Republicans said they were more surprised that Obama made the trip than that nothing came of it...

    "Others bridled at Obama's tenor, which they described as combative and didactic..."


    PR or Naive Misjudgement?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We Need a Terror Court

    by Tom Ridge


    Finally, a thoughtful approach to the trying of terrorists. The idea may need to be tweaked but at least it comes to terms with the problem in a thoughtful way instead of attacking it with emotional rhetoric.


    Terrorist Court


    .

    ReplyDelete
  10. Right on Allen.


    Good points all.


    How's that, Whit?


    .

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The writer of allen's post, he attacks Mr Beinart, calls him names.

    But not once does he mention the polling results of Mr Luntz, the results that verify Mr Beinart's accuracy of reporting, on the political position of many people in the Jewish community in the United States.

    These folks have all, the word used in the article was, "DEFECTED". (emphasis mine)

    But that is just the opposite of reality. It is the Israeli that have defected from their own historical mandate of fair treatment to all.
    There are many in the Jewish community in the US that have recognized that reality, according to Mr Luntz's surveys.

    The American Jewish community has stayed true to its' ideals, at least some of them have, the ones that are honest with themselves, about themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That is why I do not comment upon the Jewish community, in the US or abroad. But I can comment upon Mr Luntz's seminal work within that community.

    How it begins to mirror the commonly view, of Israel, within the community I do know and understand, the US electorate.

    If Mr Luntz's work is without dispute, then the past course, if projected into the future, is certainly a loser for those that desire greater US support for Israeli policies.

    Which is exactly what Mr Beinart was commenting upon, the cause of the chasm now existing, according to Mr Luntz, within the groups he surveyed.

    It is not that Mr Beinart has deserted Israel, but that he is providing a clear view of the ever evolving reality of the Levant.

    ReplyDelete
  18. For my part, I've been going through my photo album from a recent trip, lots of the Salmon River, which some of the older boys call the Salmony. The Salmon cuts down one way, the Snake another, divided by the Seven Devils, bunch of big mountains, where the deer hunting is good. Then they meet. I'm getting the hang of my camera, which has something like 10 or 12 settings. I would like to be able to take some night photos of the moon, but so far, that is past my skill level. There is something about being out in the good countryside that kinda makes politics go away. The time before this when I was down on the Salmony, a girl had just caught a steelhead, where we stopped for lunch, on a beach, and asked me to take her picture, which I did. Must have been, I don't know, eight or nine pounds, or thereabout. She caught it on a spinner. My uncle taught me to use a fly rod, the steelhead flies are big babies. And when you hook one on a fly rod, you are in for some real fun and excitement.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Not once have I called ANYONE a "low life" nor have I ever called ANYONE a "piece of shit"

    Your lies are getting ahead of yourself, again.

    That some folks lack a sense of civil responsibility. A lack of respect for the equal rights of women, that disturbs me. That a full grown man would permit a felonious assualt upon a women, to go unreported .... disturbing.

    Leaving a predator free to repeat his crimes against women in the community, without the knowledge of law enforcement of his existence or his continued pattern of behavior, shameful, to say the least.

    Criminal in some locales.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The kind of behavior one would expect, from an illegal or undocumented resident, but not from a true blue, red blooded, civilly involved US citizen.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  22. allen's link asks this question, which is easily answered, but not with the"standard' Israeli response.

    ...
    he never asks two fundamental questions: who started the war, and why was it fought from civilian areas?


    The Israeli started and maintain the War, with the continued occupation of Gaza, exemplified by the naval blockade.

    It was fought in the civilian areas of Gaza, because the Gazans would not invade Israel, but were in their homes, instead.

    It was Israelis in Gaza doing the killing, not Gazans in Israel.

    The rockets occasionally sent into Israel, a less than proportionate response to the naval blockade, with little practical effect or loss of life. Especially if compared to the 800 or so women and children killed by Israelis in Gaza.

    The questions have been asked, and fairly answered.

    Many times.

    ReplyDelete
  23. No, no twin, allen.

    Just your usual, unimaginative linguistic sameness. And of course, your lies.

    You see what is not there, just by projecting your own image upon the screen.

    ReplyDelete
  24. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Desert Rats distorts:

    desert rat said...
    Not once have I called ANYONE a "low life" nor have I ever called ANYONE a "piece of shit"


    Semantics...

    Legalistic bullshit...

    Rat, you are the perfect example of a polite psychopath.

    Please your cover is blown, polite? Not Polite?

    You are a self confession criminal felon...

    You lie, distort, twist everything and everyone for your Jew hating, Israel hating, Zionist hating POV.

    Sometimes others cross you and you use your Alinsky Rules for Radicals to destroy anyone that you deem wanting to be attacked.

    You have no merit.

    ReplyDelete
  27. the rat continues:

    The rockets occasionally sent into Israel, a less than proportionate response to the naval blockade, with little practical effect or loss of life. Especially if compared to the 800 or so women and children killed by Israelis in Gaza.



    Funny, but wrong...

    According to the arab world, ONE Israeli is worth about 1,200 Arabs. This has been demanded by the arabs in all forms of war and prisoners exchanges.

    If one Israel is killed by one of 8,000 rockets? this demands about 1,100 arabs to be killed before it could be deemed "disproportionate"

    the Rat continues to cut and paste, selective out of context and TIME, a conflict he chooses to selectively pick start and end dates, exclude the largest ARAB nation of the face of the earth (that shares a border and towns (Rafah comes to mind and historic linkage including families, clans, language, culture etc) to sum it up?

    Rat distorts, lies and cheats in discussing anything to do with Israel, Zionism and Jews.

    He is a liar, and a self confessed criminal felon who picks and chooses which laws and when they should be applied...

    In the end rat's points?

    WITHOUT MERIT

    ReplyDelete
  28. I do remember being called a coward, for not waterboarding my daughter. And I think it is against the law, to hire a Mexican hit man, to off the perp without a trial. I wouldn't do that, if I was going to off the perp, I'd just do it myself, and to hell with the intermediary.

    ReplyDelete
  29. If I knew who the perp was, which I don't, cause I didn't waterboard my daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Top Hat


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fizrfcAI13A&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
  31. "The passive aggressive BS has gotten very tiresome."



    .

    ReplyDelete
  32. “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”

    Fred Astaire



    .

    ReplyDelete
  33. “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”---heh, I always liked Fred. I liked Bing Crosby, too. And that divine man, David Niven.

    ReplyDelete
  34. But none of those guys knew a thing bout fly fishing. But, they could all dance.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Comment at the Oil Drum:

    "Does anybody else get the feeling almost like we're in Mission Control in Houston during the suspenseful Apollo 13 ordeal where they are desperately trying to get the astronauts back alive?"

    Only if they were serving boozes in Mission Control.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I talked with my engineer today, he is one hell of a good engineer, and has built half of Idaho, so I asked him, what to do about the oil leak in the gulf? He says, they are trying to drill down, make another hole, try to siphon it off. They will know in 45 days he says. So I ask, what about a small nuke? He says, maybe, but really risky.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The President's Self-Pity:
    Obama’s whining is puerile



    "President Barack Obama, at an exclusive fundraiser last night in San Francisco for Senator Barbara Boxer:

    "Let's face it this has been the toughest year and a half since any year and a half since the 1930s."

    This is the most revealing comment Obama has made publicly in a long while. It shows his self-absorption and utter lack of a sense of history..."


    Poor Baby


    .



    .

    ReplyDelete
  38. Yes, Quirk. Boozes. Humorous invention of my daughter's.

    "Katy and John can't make it over tonight."

    "Welp. More boozes for us!"

    Charmingly William Powell-ish.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Trish the following is for you.

    And don't give me no shit. This has nothing to do with who will win in the Colombian election.

    You indicated some interest and the two video commercials and the last part of the article on use of the internet are interesting. It may be useful in explaining the election to your mother.

    It appears Mockus knows how to use the media.



    Colombian Election


    .

    ReplyDelete
  40. Boozes.


    Cute.


    (Thought it might be your invention. Sometimes your so damn cute. Well the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  41. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "And don't give me no shit."

    When have I *ever* given you shit?

    I offered you a lovely hat, for crying out loud, in recognition of the rare and distant prospect of being proven wrong. So exceptional an event that it merits a prize in the form of a native handicraft.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Little wonder your baby momma packs.

    The police would not have waterboarded your daughter, boob.

    That you believe that they would use forceful interrogation, and that behavior is typical of law enforcement, in the US, is one thing.

    To state that you expect the police to treat rape victims in such a manner...

    Shines a light to your core.
    You are of no consequence.

    ReplyDelete
  44. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  45. You are welcome, allen.

    Anything for the cause of intellectual advancement.

    For the children.

    Motivation is a key to success, no doubt of that.

    I may be, can be and often am rude, but not vulgar and it is not often I use profanity.
    Not my style.

    So the use of the word "shit", to describe someone, I'd not do that.
    You see, allen, I was raised in the whirled of libel litigation and its' defenses.
    Second nature, now.

    So the words you selected, supposedly as a quote or even an attempt at paraphrasing my writing, just as bogus as everything else you write.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The police would not have waterboarded your daughter, boob.--She simply didn't want to go to the police, rat's ass, o rat's ass. She simply wanted to be left alone. Give it up now, we all have. "Thank goodness you are so reticent about Jewish affairs, despite your tireless passion for truth, justice and the American way."--Nice, and true too.

    ReplyDelete
  47. You've called me a coward, a liar, a shit, and everything else you can think of, rats ass. I'm goin' to bed. I got to work tomorrow. Next week we are going down to the Salmon River again. After that, hopefully, the daughter and I are going to Vegas, then New Mexico. I was sad today that Vaughn Ward lost in the primary, it was a surprise. I think the Republicans will have a hard time beating Minnick now, but I'm always wrong on politics. Rat, take a drive, it always does me some good, it might you, too.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Ohhhhhhh, I can see the entire evening going downhill.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I say of rat...

    "You have no merit."


    and then I state..

    about Rat...

    "In the end rat's points?

    WITHOUT MERIT"


    So now, Rat says about bob...

    "Shines a light to your core.
    You are of no consequence."

    I doubt Rat ever had an original thought as well..

    ReplyDelete
  50. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  51. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Got a little extreme that day, allen, but you cannot find "Low life shit"

    That was the quote you made, not one about the fella that fucked boob's daughter.
    A supposed crime that he would not report to the police.

    Like an illegal, undocumented resident, that was afraid of the police, not allied with them in securing the community.

    Now if boob had not made such a point of championing women's rights, his hypocrisy would not have been so noticeable.

    If you had paraphrased or correctly quoted me, in the first place, I'd have not called out your libel.

    But you did not. So I did.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I do not need a Scout Masters badge, misdirection.

    Keep your merits that for the children.

    ReplyDelete
  54. A hat?

    I though it was some kind of drink with an umbrella in it.

    A hat.

    Hmm.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  55. desert rat said...
    I do not need a Scout Masters badge, misdirection.




    Need?

    You are not QUALIFIED...

    It's really simple.

    You lack:

    Trustworthiness, Loyalty, Braveness, Honesty, Ethics, Class, Dignity and most of all?

    Honor...

    You are without merit.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Shit, now I guess I'm vulgar on top of everything else.

    I gotsta clean up my act.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  57. 'S a nice hat.

    I am not a hat person, myself. It's a hair thing.

    But again...lovely wall decoration.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Rat, why don't you drop the shit about Bob's daughter?

    He shouldn't have brought it up here in the first place. Just as he shouldn't continually be looking for reasons to be starting arguments with you.

    You stated your position and made your point on numerous occasions. Reminding the bar of it adds nothing and merely makes you look bad.


    .


    .

    ReplyDelete
  59. Could I wear it to Mexican
    Town here in Detroit?



    .

    ReplyDelete
  60. I mean, without being laughed at or beat up?



    .

    ReplyDelete
  61. "Could I wear it to Mexican
    Town here in Detroit?"

    Yes.

    ReplyDelete
  62. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  63. "I mean, without being laughed at or beat up?"

    I say try it first.

    ReplyDelete
  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Well, that kind of tempers the sweet part.


    Not that I haven't been beat up before. It's just that it's been a while.


    At any rate, the hat sounds nice. We'll wait for the runoff election to be finalized and I'll get you my address through Deuce.

    (By the way your husband's not still mad about that comment I once made and you read to him is he?)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  66. (By the way your husband's not still mad about that comment I once made and you read to him is he?)




    That poor man. If he could only spare some mad.

    ReplyDelete
  67. More than qualified.
    More than once.

    You're right, Q, but then I did not bring that up, this time. allen brought up the vulgarity of rape and the boob's lack of civic responsibility.

    It is more about that, the lack of responsibility to his community and the hypocrisy of his "Women's Rights" bull excrement spread out over of all these years. Than the rape.

    He talks about holding women in high esteem, then leaves the women in his community vulnerable to recidivist rapists.
    With nary a care at all.

    Then he compares a police investigation of a rape, to water boarding the victim.

    Little wonder he thinks the whirled has gone to hell, he took his part of it along with him.

    It took almost an entire lifetime, but boob has by his own admission, created his own version of hell on earth.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Ok.


    I was just calculating.

    Nice hat vs. passing on address where it is available to enraged Republican.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  69. That last one was for Trish not you rat.


    Lest I confuse.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  70. CIA unit's wacky idea: Depict Saddam as gay

    "During planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA's Iraq Operations Group kicked around a number of ideas for discrediting Saddam Hussein in the eyes of his people...

    "One was to create a video purporting to show the Iraqi dictator having sex with a teenage boy, according to two former CIA officials familiar with the project.

    “It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera,” said one of the former officials. “Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session.”
    The idea was to then “flood Iraq with the videos,” the former official said...


    "The agency actually did make a video purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from “some of us darker-skinned employees,” he said.


    Looney Tunes

    Lord help us.


    "By the late '90s there were very few people left who knew anything about covert action or how to do it. “


    Thank god for small favors.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  71. desert rat said...
    More than qualified.
    More than once.



    To be a Scout Master?

    you are a self confessed FELON...

    You advocate murder, without trial of those who wrong you

    You confess to doing thing, bad things outside the borders of our nation and somehow that makes it LEGAL or MORAL?

    You sir are without dignity, class or honor...

    and no, you are not qualified to be a Scout Master..

    ReplyDelete
  72. Opposition miffed by $1 billion summit security

    "Canada's leadership came under heavy criticism from opposition leaders Wednesday after announcing the country will spend nearly $1 billion for security at the G-8 and G-20 summits next month..."

    Could We Save Anything by Using Smaller Guns?

    Those damn gift baskets cost a bundle.


    But don't worry folks this will give Canada a boost in prestige.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  73. Hey, Melody.

    Good day, eh?

    Still waiting for the pictures.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  74. Oh, and I also did marriage counseling, dream analysis and I was very, very nice to a very old man who thought I was very kissable. Fucking pervert.

    ReplyDelete
  75. I also inquired about the mace to a local police officer and he said it depended on how I wanted to use it. whether I was using it as a weapon or for protection. I told him my story and he said even though it is not legal in some states that I should be find for what I using it for.

    He also said that it would be best if I could just borrow someone's gun from here.

    ReplyDelete
  76. "He also said that it would be best if I could just borrow someone's gun from here..."

    :)




    .

    ReplyDelete
  77. Quirk don't hold your breath waiting for those pictures because you'll probably die first.

    Use your imagination I'm sure you have one

    ReplyDelete
  78. So Quirk are your gonna give up yours.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  80. It depends on what your packing.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Packing?


    I was talking about pictures.


    Although I do only shoot magnum.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  82. I have to make sure it's in working order. I don't want to be on the highway and have it shoot blanks.

    ReplyDelete
  83. We are obviously talking at cross purposes.


    I'm looking for pictures of you as a blond and you want to get your hand on my gun.

    Incidently at a certain stage in life I've found women prefer men who shoot blanks.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  84. Certainly not the gun that shoots blanks.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Oh, and I also did marriage counseling, dream analysis and I was very, very nice to a very old man who thought I was very kissable. Fucking pervert.---ooh, that hurts. But from 45 it's all downhill. There's a poem I read in my daughters book of poems, some from 2000 years ago, some Chinese, one about a woman, who, at 61, her hair all aflame with desire, hand in hand with her mate, thought she was at the top of her life. And the last line was, the kids said, old fool. I'm interested in the dream analysis, how did that go?

    ReplyDelete
  86. Lebanese army fires on Israeli warplanes: military

    Getting Hot in ME

    Officials say Israel will stop flotilla for Gaza

    "Israel's navy will stop a flotilla heading for Gaza with 10,000 tons of supplies and pro-Palestinian activists intent on breaking a three-year blockade of Gaza, officials said Wednesday, in the first definitive Israeli pledge to stop the boats...

    Things are Getting Hotter in the ME



    .

    ReplyDelete
  87. Have you been drinking again, Melody?

    ReplyDelete
  88. And the marriage counseling, that might be interesting too. I've never gone through that, haven't needed it, that I know of. And the wife has never asked for it, we just get along. The Salmon River is a beautiful river, no doubt. And when you get old enough, you will know, what the symbolism really means, of the river running to the sea.

    ReplyDelete
  89. I don't drink. Why do people think I drink all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  90. It means, actually, we are all one, in the ground of our being.

    ReplyDelete
  91. I don't know. I drink for the both of us. My wife has never had a drink in thirty years. That must be some of record.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Melody, still hoping to see pictures of you blond.

    In the hopes of persauding you, I will now "show you mine".

    My pictures were taken prior to my vasectomy so I am now shooting blanks.



    The Quirkster



    The Quirkster's Facebook Page


    .

    ReplyDelete
  93. I'm not drinking, I'm not going to marriage counseling, I'm counseling a friend and I analyze a Friend's dream.

    And why I'm explaining this?

    ReplyDelete
  94. You're an ugly son of a bitch, Quirkster.

    ReplyDelete
  95. It was a rough day being interesting Bob.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  96. Melody is brunette, and a hell of a good looker. If she can only stay 45.

    ReplyDelete
  97. "I'm not drinking, I'm not going to marriage counseling, I'm counseling a friend and I analyze a Friend's dream."

    Oh, yea.

    I'm loving this.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  98. It just gets better and better.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  99. One thing you should know about me is that I don't lie...unless it's necessary. And then I'm really good at it.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Didn't you read it?

    The most interesting man in the world.

    Who else could it be?


    .

    ReplyDelete
  101. Now you've got me confused.


    Are you lying when you say you don't lie.

    Or that you are really good at it?

    Chicks.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  102. Hey, if I can't get a picture of you blond, can I get a picture of your Friend?



    .

    ReplyDelete
  103. I DON'T LIE. what's so hard about that.

    And if I feel it necessary to protect my family or not hurt some one's feelings that I'll bend the truth a little.

    I don't steal or cheat, either.

    ReplyDelete
  104. So you could be trusted with my gun?




    .

    ReplyDelete
  105. "I'm counseling a friend"---Jesus, you're the analylist? How much do you charge an hour?

    ReplyDelete
  106. You can trust me. I just told you don't lie, cheat or steal.

    ReplyDelete
  107. "I don't steal or cheat, either."---neither do I, goodnight Melody.

    ReplyDelete
  108. "...I'm counseling a friend and I analyze a Friend's dream."

    ReplyDelete
  109. But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. After all, I had paid them nearly 20% interest for about three years. My lawyer thought it to be a hell of a good move. He got most of the money. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?

    ReplyDelete
  110. Thank you for talking to me, Melody. I really appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  111. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Well, you got me pretty interested in this dream analysis stuff.

    Just kicking some ideas around.

    Might be something I could market out of the "Souls R Us" business I advertise on the horocopes here at the EB.




    .

    ReplyDelete
  113. Sam,

    Tips on grooming from the most interesting man in the world.

    Grooming Tips


    .

    ReplyDelete
  114. meh,

    What does he know? Bet he's never tried screwin' with shiny cock 'n balls.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Bob, a tip.

    Delete your post on the bank.

    No sense opening us up to another constant stream of "he said, she said" with your favorite sparring partners.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  116. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  117. "What does he know? Bet he's never tried screwin' with shiny cock 'n balls."

    Sam come on. He's the most interesting man in the world. He's tried everything.

    The man once taught a German Shepard to bark in French.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  118. The man has never lost a sock.

    ReplyDelete
  119. The police often question him just because they find him interesting.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  120. He once buried a time capsule with things that haven't happened yet.

    He's the friggin most interesting man in the world.


    Heck, bulls refuse to fight him.

    ReplyDelete
  121. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  122. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  123. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  124. He won the same lifetime achievement award twice.

    The man is right handed. And he is left handed.

    He is against cruelty to animals, but he isn't afraid to issue a stern warning.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  125. Dicing onions does not make him cry...it only makes him stronger.

    Whatever side of the tracks he happens to be on is the right side.

    The web is full of these and they just keep coming.

    He is the most interesting man in the world.

    Please do not besmirch him.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  126. Ok, then. Sorry about that.

    Hey, the best cure for crying 'onion eyes'?

    Stick your head in the freezer for about a minute.

    Works every time.

    ReplyDelete
  127. "The man has never lost a sock."

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  128. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  129. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  130. You're not fooling anyone, allen. We know you were here.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Homosexuality, boobie, another area where legal standards can vary, greatly.

    In Iran being a functioning homosexual is illegal and immoral. Heck it is a hanging offense.

    In San Fransisco, USA, homosexuality is celebrated. In the United States Marine Corps being a butt boy, well, it is soon to be legal.

    So what is it, homosexuality? Legal or not?
    Moral or not?

    Who is the Judge?

    ReplyDelete
  132. If being a functioning, observant Jew is illegal in Iran, are allen and 'misdirection' criminals in the United States?

    I would think not, you boobie, advocate that they are.
    A criminal is one locale, is a criminal everywhere.

    - Whirled Wide Law Enforcement - there is a standard, according to boobie.

    ReplyDelete
  133. The boob and ash, allied in the desire for a Whirled Court.

    Where US citizens are tried by foreign Judges, in a system that does not meet US Constitutional Standards.

    ReplyDelete
  134. While at the same time boob decries the judgments of the Whirled, when they are regarding criminal actions by Israel.

    Denouncing the Courts and Commissions of the UN as biased, unfair and manipulated.
    Denouncing the Swiss
    Even to the point of denouncing the judgments of both Treaty violations and rampant disregard for the basic "Rights of Man" by Israel, that were made by his own Government.

    ReplyDelete
  135. trish said...
    You're not fooling anyone, allen. We know you were here.

    Thu May 27, 05:37:00 AM EDT




    No one is trying to fool anyone.

    It is an experiment to see how the comments section looks without WiO and me.

    ...still waiting for those links to Beinart's critics, talking about trying to fool others and passive aggression...

    As I recall at the time of your posting Beinart, you were terribly interested in my take. Inexplicably, perhaps, your ardor seems to have cooled.

    There is going to be a war, whether you, Mrs. Clinton, DoD, and the majority of American Jewish non-stakeholders like it or not - Beinart's view, Goldberg's view notwithstanding. How and when events unfold will be determined by those having an immediate survival interest.

    ReplyDelete
  136. Trish,

    To be frank, I did not for a picosecond believe you were interested in discussing Beinart et al. You have an agenda with this hobbie horse and I find it creepy.

    Thankfully, the opinions expressed here and by Beinart et al, will have no impact whatsoever on the policy of the Israeli government. Syria has become too troublesome, meddlesome to live and Lebanon is not a country, it is a hood run by Islamic Mafiosos.

    As to US foreign policy, Magnum Madame is making its impotence known with each visit she makes in Asia. At this writing, to confront China would require borrowing from China. Even Mrs. Clinton will not be able to pull that off.

    ReplyDelete