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."

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Barack Obama to nominate Jacob Joseph Lew to replace Tim Geithner as the next Secretary of the Treasury.

191 comments:

  1. If Obama is nominating a known anti-semite to become Secretary of Defense, why is he nominating a known practicing Orthodox Jew to be Secretary of Treasury? Balance?

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    Replies
    1. Here Deuce is an answer -

      Sandy Berger, commented that "Lew's faith never got in the way of performing his duties."

      Great source too.

      Bwahahahahaha

      Delete
    2. Maybe the Sec of the Treasury is not in a position to screw Israel?

      Delete
  2. …or does it show the charges are plainly stupid and without basis?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On this, your one true blind spot, it shows you are being plainly stupid with bias, if I may be so bold.

      Delete
    2. Goddamn that Bibi that kike terrorist, how dare he speak to MY CONGRESS when invited, the prick, the upstart, the Christ killer, that insidious unrighteous, that survivor.....etc and forever....

      Delete
    3. And it is not so odd, either, that you, who really can't stand Obama much more than I, should suddenly gush over the appointment of an otherwise totally unqualified man to be Secretary of Defense because he is an aging stone faced anti-semite.

      I remember how you put up that video of that crazy Jew whose name I can't recall that was one step away from civil commitment and tried to pass it off as the considered opinion of some thoughtful anti-Zionist Jewish intellectual.

      It was a gas.

      It sticks out like a sore thumb, like your racism against blacks, which Trish urged you to 'keep down'.

      We all have our blind spots about ourselves, I've become aware of at least one of mine, so I know we do.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. heh

      That poor slave sure seems happy over the 2 rupees he was paid to do that singing.

      Delete
  4. What the video shows is that Jack Lew is an attorney who by his own admission has not practiced law for some time now.

    Jack Lew is a progressive, inside the beltway, budget wonk.

    While it's probably unfair to call Hagel an anti-semite, there's no question that the left has been moving toward the Palestinians and away from the Israelis. This anti-Zionist move parallels a rising anti-semitism.

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    Replies
    1. Jack Lew - Wikipedia

      More evidence that Obama is not a centrist?

      Where does he want to take the country?

      Delete
  5. Replies


    1. 'Jack ... you know my values. I trust your values.'

      That's the quote. Nice piece.

      Delete
    2. .

      Interesting piece. Seems to be making the point that if you have detailed knowledge and can shout louder than the other guy, that is a good thing.

      Kind of like, "In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed is king."

      What it fails to mention is that Lew was the author of the idea of Sequestration in last year's debt-ceiling debate.

      This encapsulates his thinking,

      “What’s the idea,” Reid asked skeptically.

      “Sequestration.”

      Reid bent down and put his head between his knees, almost as if he was going to throw up or was having a heart attack. He sat back up and looked at the ceiling. “A couple of weeks ago,” he said, “my staff said to me that there is one more possible” enforcement mechanism: sequestration. He said he told them, “Get the hell out of here. That’s insane. The White House surely will come up with a plan that will save the day. And you come to me with sequestration?”

      Well, it could work, Lew and Nabors explained.

      What would the impact be?

      They would design it so that half the threatened cuts would be from the Defense Department….The idea was to make all of the threatened cuts so unthinkable and onerous that the supercommittee [tasked with making additional cuts] would do its work and come up with its own deficit reduction plan.

      Lew and Nabors went through a laundry list of programs that would face cuts.

      “This is ridiculous,” Reid said.

      That’s the beauty of a sequester, they said, it’s so ridiculous that no one ever wants it to happen. It was the bomb that no one wanted to drop. It actually would be an action-forcing event.

      “I get it,” Reid said finally.


      WaPo Story

      This is the genius Obama wants as Treasury Secretary. The only advantage I see the man has is that there is no way he can be worse than the current Secretary.

      .

      Delete
    3. Process over policy. Sequestration was procedure, not a value judgement which means the White House "team" brainstormed and "someone" made an executive decision.

      You guys were all over Obama during the first debate for failing to bring his "street fight" credentials to the podium. Now you're all over Jack Lew for being a pit bull, an informed one at that.

      The evidence is building that the policy conflicts coming out of Washington are driven at least as much by clashing personalities as by divergent values.

      Delete
    4. Which is why I thought El-Arien was an excellent appointment - polished, calm, dignified and easy-going. But no, there's always some missing 'essentialism.' Maybe the depth psychologists can figure it out.

      Delete
    5. .

      Any executive decision was made by the executive, Obama; but as was pointed out, Obama and Lew are of similar mind. To insinuate that Lew didn't come up with the idea for sequestration, that it was a team effort, goes against what has been written in a number of publications. The only one denying it is Obama who insists that it was 'Congress' who came up with the idea of sequestration, not him.

      You guys? I don't recall anyone complaining about Obama 'failing to bring his "street fight" credentials to the poDium. I know I didn't.

      I did not attack Lew because he could out-talk or out-shout the opposition. I attacked him because he used these qualities to achieve an empty result, sequestration, once again offering the dicks in D.C. the chance to kick the can down the road and once more fail to do the job the were elected to do.

      He, like all the others involved, is a dick.

      .

      Delete
    6. .

      You have made the point about El-Arian before.

      "Polished, calm, dignified and easy-going." Heck, sounds like he's perfect.

      I haven't an opinion on the man but others evidently do and some of those disagree with yours.

      From what I have seen, there a mixed opinions on his abilities although, admittedly, I have not seen any that accused him of not being polished, calm, and dignified.

      .

      Delete
    7. The professionalism deficit damaged the credibility and authority of GWB and this country. It wasn't the only driver in play but the void at the highest levels of power was damaging.

      Delete
  6. Rufus: He's, [Hagel] actually, kind of a prickly . . . . . prick.

    I hear that's a reference, if not a prerequisite, in Washington.

    …or does it show the charges are plainly stupid and without basis?

    I've said it before (IIRC) and I'll say it again, Obama has shown a decided preference for people with whom he has some degree of rapport. Some/all appointments derive from political calculus, but the Lew appointment I think swings more towards the personal. One quote sticks in my mind from the last debt ceiling negotiations. Lew was explaining some of the weedy details and Obama said "Jack I trust you." Gotta be important at that level.

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  7. Replies
    1. .

      Quick is an airhead, AAA is in the pocket of the oil companies, as was that other lady; it's all lies; you are a dumshit for even bringing this up; I have been studying this for years now and you should listen to me not some oil company flunkies, I heard this IS all part of a plot cooked up by the Saudi's; If the EPA approves E15 you know it is ok; it's un-American to challenge their findings; all of the people on Fox Business are supporter of the 'Party-of-Stupid'; this all has rascist implications; this story was debunked in the November issue of Clean Technica, I...I...my head...owww...it hurts...what...no...BOOM!!!

      .

      Delete
    2. FOX is owned by Saudi's...

      ...nuff said!

      Delete
  8. .

    I don't trust any man who's signature looks like an attempt to get a near-empty ballpoint writing.

    J0o0l0oo's Signature

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent point. You can tell a lot about a man by his signature.

      Delete
    2. Trust Quirk on this one. He forged other people's names to lot of checks back in the Souls days.

      Delete
    3. Yikes.

      One for the depth psychologists.

      And Obama?

      Delete
  9. Rufus...Rufus, good fellow (and I say this low, and softly, as one would speak with concern to an Alzheimer's patient)....Rufus...you..were..all..for..Al..Gore..when..he..was..pushing..the..ethanol...fraud...for...the...sake...of...the...votes...of...some...farmers...in...Iowa.

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    Replies
    1. Whereas, George Bush was pushing Ethanol because he understood the oil market (and, the impending shortages,) and because he wanted to do the best for the country.

      Delete
  10. Don’t Blame AIG for Hank Greenberg’s Lawsuit

    Why might AIG sue the government that rescued it? Because its former chief has a vendetta against the government and the company’s management, reports Matthew Zeitlin.

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    1. For those who missed it, Michael Lewis writing in Vanity Fair:

      The Man Who Crashed the World

      Almost a year after A.I.G.’s collapse, despite a tidal wave of outrage, there still has been no clear explanation of what toppled the insurance giant. The author decides to ask the people involved—the silent, shell-shocked traders of the A.I.G. Financial Products unit—and finds that the story may have a villain, whose reign of terror over 400 employees brought the company, the U.S. economy, and the global financial system to their knees.

      That would be Joseph Cassano who ran AIG's FP division after Spitzer ousted Greenberg. The entire article might not still be available on-line. Have to search but it's worth it.

      Delete
    2. The Man Who Crashed the World

      Here is an amazing fact: nearly a year after perhaps the most sensational corporate collapse in the history of finance, a collapse that, without the intervention of the government, would have led to the bankruptcy of every major American financial institution, plus a lot of foreign ones, too, A.I.G.’s losses and the trades that led to them still haven’t been properly explained. How did they happen?

      Unlike, say, Bernie Madoff’s pyramid scheme, they don’t seem to have been raw theft. They may have been an outrageous departure from financial norms, but, if so, why hasn’t anyone in the place been charged with a crime? How did an insurance company become so entangled in the sophisticated end of Wall Street and wind up the fool at the poker table? How could the U.S. government simply hand over $54 billion in taxpayer dollars to Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and all the rest to make good on the subprime insurance A.I.G. F.P. had sold to them—especially after Goldman Sachs was coming out and saying that it had hedged itself by betting against A.I.G.?

      Since I had him on the phone I asked Jake DeSantis for what Congressman Grayson had asked Edward Liddy: names. He obligingly introduced me to his colleagues in London and Connecticut, and they walked me through what had happened—all of them speaking to someone from the outside for the first time. All, for obvious reasons, were terrified of seeing their names in print, and asked not to be mentioned by name. That was fine by me, as their names are not what’s interesting.

      What’s interesting is their point of view on the event closest to the center of the financial crisis. For while they disagreed on this and that, they all were fairly certain that if it hadn’t been for A.I.G. F.P. the subprime-mortgage machine might never have been built, and the financial crisis might never have happened.

      [paragraphs added]

      Delete
    3. Who was Joe Cassano?

      How and why their miracle became a catastrophe, A.I.G. F.P.’s traders say, is a
      complicated story, but it begins simply: with a change in the way decisions were made, brought about by a change in its leadership. At the end of 2001 its second C.E.O., Tom Savage, retired, and his former deputy, Joe Cassano, was elevated. Savage is a trained mathematician who understood the models used by A.I.G. traders to price the risk they were running—and thus ensure that they were fairly paid for it. He enjoyed debates about both the models and the merits of A.I.G. F.P.’s various trades. Cassano knew a lot less math and had much less interest in debate.


      It’s impossible to deliver the full flavor of a man’s character without talking to him, and relying instead upon a bunch of people who remain afraid of seeing their names in print. That Joe Cassano is the son of a police officer and was a political-science major at Brooklyn College seems, in retrospect, far less relevant than that he’d spent most of his career, both at Drexel and A.I.G. F.P., in the back office, doing operations. Across A.I.G. F.P. the view of the boss was remarkably consistent: a guy with a crude feel for financial risk but a real talent for bullying people who doubted him. “A.I.G. F.P. became a dictatorship,” says one London trader. “Joe would bully people around. He’d humiliate them and then try to make it up to them by giving them huge amounts of money.”

      “One day he got me on the phone and was pissed off about a trade that had lost money,” says a Connecticut trader. “He said, ‘When you lose money it’s my fucking money. Say it.’ I said, ‘What?’ ‘Say “Joe, it’s your fucking money!”’ So I said, ‘It’s your fucking money, Joe.’”

      “The culture changed,” says a third. “The fear level was so high that when we had these morning meetings you presented what you did not to upset him. And if you were critical of the organization, all hell would break loose.” Says a fourth, “Joe always said, ‘This is my company. You work for my company.’ He’d see you with a bottle of water. He’d come over and say, ‘That’s my water.’ Lunch was free, but Joe always made you feel he had bought it.” And a fifth: “Under Joe the debate and discussion that was common under Tom [Savage] ceased. I would say what I’m saying to you. But with Joe over my shoulder as the audience.” A sixth: “The way you dealt with Joe was to start everything by saying, ‘You’re right, Joe.’”

      According to traders, Cassano was one of those people whose insecurities manifested themselves in a need for obedience and total control.

      Even more interesting is how Cassano go to be head of AIG FP.

      (I wasn't going to mention this, but buddy larsen could weave a compelling conspiracy case out of AIG and Cassano, starting with who was at the NY Fed when Spitzer went after Greenberg. Breath-taking and sobering.)

      Delete
    4. One more excerpt:

      And in the early 2000s, the big Wall Street firms performed this fantastic bait and switch in two stages. Stage One was to apply technology that had been dreamed up to re-distribute corporate credit risk to consumer credit risk. The banks that used A.I.G. F.P. to insure piles of loans to IBM and G.E. now came to it to insure much messier piles that included credit-card debt, student loans, auto loans, prime mortgages, and just about anything else that generated a cash flow.

      “The problem,” as one trader puts it, “is that something else came along that we thought was the same thing as what we’d been doing.” Because there were many different sorts of loans, to different sorts of people, the logic applied to corporate credit seemed to apply to this new pile of debt: it was sufficiently diverse that it was unlikely to all go bad at once. But then, these piles, at least at first, contained almost no subprime-mortgage loans.

      Toward the end of 2004, that changed dramatically—but just how dramatically A.I.G. F.P. was extremely slow to realize. In the run-up to the financial crisis there were several moments when an intelligent, disinterested observer might have realized that the system was behaving strangely.

      Maybe the most obvious of these was the effects of U.S. monetary policy on borrowing and lending. The combination of the dot-com bust and the 9/11 attacks had led Alan Greenspan to pump money into the system, and to lower interest rates. In June 2004 the Fed began to contract the money supply, and interest rates rose. In a normal economy, when interest rates rise, consumer borrowing falls—and in the normal end of the U.S. economy that happened: from June 2004 to June 2005 prime-mortgage lending fell by half.

      But in that same period subprime lending doubled—and then doubled again. In 2003 there had been a few tens of billions of dollars of subprime-mortgage loans. From June 2004 until June 2007, Wall Street underwrote $1.6 trillion of new subprime-mortgage loans and another $1.2 trillion of so-called Alt-A loans—loans which for some reason or another can be dicey, usually because the lender did not require the borrower to supply him with the information typically required before making a loan.

      The subprime sector of the financial economy clearly was responding to different signals than the others—and the result was booming demand for housing and a continued rise in house prices. Perhaps the biggest reason for this was that the Wall Street firms packaging the loans into bonds had found someone to insure against what turned out to be the rather high risk that they’d go bad: Joe Cassano.

      Delete
  11. Trying thinking of that little starving kid this way, Rufus, without blaming the situation on 'God' or the lack of 'God', suggest to yourself rather that it was your own idiotic ethanol policies that were starving that little kid to death.

    ReplyDelete
  12. NRA RANKS SOAR...drudge

    Good.

    ReplyDelete


  13. According to the tech geeks at this week’s Las Vegas convention, 3D printers will put Apple and Intel out of business. Will you soon be printing out your own new MacBook?

    “You want glasses? Print them. You want a suit? Print it.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. if you believe that load up on Autodesk.

      Delete
    2. I do believe that but I'll pass on AD.

      Delete
    3. Soon be printing your own MacBook? I don't think so!

      Delete
    4. You are aware of the guns being manufactured with 3D printers?

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    5. no, but I could see how that would be possible. Basically a 3D printer just stacks up plastic in the form specified. A gun could be made out of plastic but not a computer. There are many substances and fine details to computer and it will be a long time to never before a 3D printer could ever make use of so many materials in such a complex design - unless you want to call a current computer assembly plant a fancy 3D printer.

      Delete
    6. Future applications currently under development (from wiki):

      RepRap is a one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap project aims to produce a free and open source software (FOSS) 3D printer, whose full specifications are released under the GNU General Public License, and which can print many of its own parts (the printed parts) to create more machines. As of November 2010, the RepRap can print plastic parts, and requires motors, electronics, and some metal support rods to be completed.[citation needed] Research is under way to enable the device to print circuit boards, as well as metal parts. As of 2012, several companies and individuals are selling parts to build various RepRap designs, with prices starting at about €400 / US$500.[21]

      ...

      A proof-of-principle project at the University of Glasgow, UK, in 2012 showed that it is possible to use 3D printing techniques to create chemical compounds, including new ones. They first concept printed chemical reaction vessels, then use the printer to squirt reactants into them as "chemical inks" which would then react.[35] They have produced new compounds to verify the validity of the process, but have not pursued anything with a particular application.[35] They used the Fab@Home open source printer, at a reported cost of US$2,000. Cornell Creative Machines Lab has confirmed that it is possible to produce customized food with 3D Hydrocolloid Printing.

      Delete
    7. And if they managed to do all that they are still miles away from printing one pesky silicon chip much less a CPU, ram ECT.

      Delete
  14. Wall Street and the Republicans (pardon the redundancy) seem to be, at their core, the most concerned because Lew is not on loan from Goldman Sachs.

    ReplyDelete
  15. E15 is the most studied fuel in history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is that why those car companies say using it will void your warranty?

      Delete
    2. Interlocking Directorships.

      "Phase Separation?" Between Gasoline and Ethannol? Really? That's fucking insane. NASCAR (an E15 user for over a year, now) would have blown every engine on the circuit if that were true.

      Yes, Saudi Prince Alwaleed IS, possibly, the only solvent shareholder of Fox News (unless you believe that Rupert Murdoch is solvent.)

      Delete
    3. Do you know what the difference is in the fuel system between my Flexfuel Chevy, and a 2001 Non-flexfuel Chevy?

      waiting . . . . . . .

      Never mind, I'll tell you.

      None.

      Zip. Zilch. Nada. El Zero.

      Same as Ford, btw.

      All cars made in America have had E85 compatible fuel systems since 1993. Only the computer programs have changed.

      Go on, suckers; believe it all you want.

      Delete
    4. .

      Forget it, Ash.

      Ruf, has been so indoctrinated by the publications he reads, he will never change.

      Interlocking Directorships.

      Hilarious.

      .

      Delete
    5. I remember when I had to explain to you what they were.

      You guys bitch about the Jihadis, and then gobble up every excuse the bunch of crazies at their tv network gives you to stay dependent on their product. Sad bunch of addicts.

      Delete
    6. Like any other bunch of junkies sitting around bitching about their "supplier."

      Delete
    7. My God, just think through the simplest Physics of it. If ethanol would settle out from gasoline the 10% of your present fuel would settle out, and your car wouldn't start on a cold morning. Yet, with 240 Million cars running E10, That Never Happens.

      Use your fucking heads for a change.

      Delete
    8. If this physics is too intimidating ask yourself why Ms Francis didn't confirm the story with at least two reps from the insurance companies allegedly voiding the policies. Used to be called investigative journalism. This was a drive-by doggy dump.

      Delete
    9. E10 doesn't "settle out," and
      E85 doesn't "settle out," but E15 "settles out."

      Must be some magical shit, eh?

      Delete
    10. .

      More nonsense.

      When I asked you for examples of an interlocking directorship and more importantly how one director on a large multi-disciplinary board affected the decisions of that board you came up short, not even one example. You read some propaganda somewhere about interlocking directorships and you buy it hook line and sinker.

      One more excuse.

      .

      Delete
    11. Settling out doesn't make much sense to me but, as a consumer, my big concern would be my Car company not honoring the warranty if I use the stuff. Was that a lie what Fox said about the car companies?

      I did a quick search regarding AAA, and that seems true.

      My engineer buddies have pissed on ethanol because it is more prone to suck up water from air around it.

      Delete
    12. Ethanol sucks. Your gas mileage goes down by one third on E 85 and it ruins your engine. Even ruined the wife's lawn mower engine.

      Delete
    13. .

      Now, if you want to talk about undue influence on the boards of auto companies note the two big ones that aren't on that list from the video, GM and Chrysler, the only two that recived government bailouts.

      .

      Delete
    14. You are a LYING PUSSY!

      And, on average, you will lose about 22% in a standard engine. The newer engines get better. It won't be long before you will be able to buy a high compression engine that gets the same mileage on E85.

      Delete
    15. Your "engineer" buddies are idiots. Ethanol bonds with water. That's why you put HEET (also known as ethanol) in a batch of watered gas (to soak up the water.)

      Delete
    16. The lying pussy was for Bob claiming his wife put E85 in her lawn mower.

      Delete
    17. I think that was their complaint - that it bonded with water and when you burn the ethanol it leaves the water behind. The context, if I remember correctly, was boat engines.

      Delete
    18. That water thing, and its lack of power, were the two I remember them babbling about.

      Delete
    19. The boat-racers use an ethanol mix. Think about what you wrote "ethanol Bonds with water." Gasoline Does Not bond with water. Water will Drop Out of Gasoline. It Does Not drop out of Ethanol. It is "Bonded" with it.

      Now, having said that, if you were to pour in enough water (and, we're talking a whole hell of a lot, here) you can get phase separation. But, the gasoline only engine would have died way, way, way before you got to that point, anyway.

      Delete
    20. What happens to the water that has bonded to ethanol when the ethanol is burned?

      Delete
    21. Ash, our Fighter Planes used alcohol injection during WWII.

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    22. I think it is that water vapor that is of some to concern to my engineer buds especially in a marine environment where there is a lot of moisture in the air (i.e. a sailboats half full gas tank remains that way for a long time giving the ethanol lots of time to bond with the water in the air and condensed in the tank).

      In any case, manufacturers talking of voided warranties, even if Rufus offers a guarantee, gives one pause.

      Delete
    23. They probably should leave the cap on the gas tank, I suppose.

      Delete
    24. air has to get in the gas tank or a vacuum would form.

      Delete
    25. I was being sarcastic. I was implying that as long as you don't SPLASH large amounts of water into your gas tank you'll be fine. If you'll stop and think about it, how could ethanol "attract" more water than it can bond with?

      It's just well-funded, third-party nonsense, Ash.

      Delete
    26. I'm honestly trying to understand the physics of it and you are donning a tin-foil hat conspiracy stance.

      Water bonds with ethanol, ethanol is burned, water vapour is then one of the by-products. Does that water vapour harm the engine? Why would all those car companies say their warranty is voided in pre-2012 cars if E15 is used?

      Delete
  16. Hmm, Brown is projecting a Budget Surplus for California in the fiscal year beginning on July 1.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. God Bless that useful idiot Rufus.

    I've paid off my bank loan.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Melissa Francis and Larry Kudlow have been preaching about ethanol from day one. I did mistakenly conflate CNBC with Fox. I guess that's why I don't watch either one any more.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. Ford warrantees their 2013 models for E15. GM starts at 2012. Not sure about Chrysler. Another little factoid for you. More than a small amount of E10 that you buy is closer to E15 than E10. I will guarantee you to the tune of free hand jobs in the parking lot that you will Never hear of a warrantee being voided due to E15.

      Delete
    2. Good God who but a pervert would want free hand jobs from you in a parking lot? Or any place else on earth.

      Delete
    3. Not that I want a hand job but we all just heard about warrantys being voided due to E15 in that Fox report.

      But, ya, your statement about Ford and GM matches what they said in the Fox report - pre-2012 cars are the problematic ones.

      Delete
    4. .

      And that is exactly what the video said, any cars produced before 2012.

      .

      Delete
    5. Now that cellulosic is coming on the oil companies are scared to death of E15. Have you guys NO Memory? We heard all this 5 years ago in relation to E10.

      And "I" am being fact-checked by Melissa Francis? God help the world.

      Delete
    6. E15 is an Approved fuel. I will guarantee you there will be no warrantees refused. Besides, E10 was fine, E15 is fine. Again, use your head. NASCAR has run a couple of Million Miles on E15 by now. If there had been the slightest glitch you would have heard about it, Constantly.

      Delete
    7. As for power, Ethanol has 66% the btu content of gasoline, BUT way higher Octane Rating ((114.5)

      To properly utilize ethanol you use it in a Small, but High Compression Engine.

      Delete
    8. .

      Of course no warranties will be refused, for cars produced starting in 2012 which were designed to accept E15. Now the the government mandates even how much E15 you have to buy (four gallon minimum) if you want to use it.

      You know government mandates, as in RFS2 which I had to explain to you a while back.

      .

      Delete
    9. .

      And "I" am being fact-checked by Melissa Francis?

      Not fact-checked.

      Ash can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this little exercise started out as a joke at your expense because of the uncritical way you view all things 'renewable'.

      .

      Delete
    10. You know me well enough to know that I don't view "Anything" "Uncritically."

      Delete
    11. And, YOU had to explain RFS2 to ME?

      pleeeeze

      Delete
    12. .

      Just saying, Ruf. From your posts, it was obvious you didn't understand what was mandated in RFS2.

      .

      Delete
  21. Wyoming Lawmakers Propose ‘Gun Protection’ Legislation

    http://k2radio.com/wyoming-lawmakers-propose-gun-protection-legislation/


    Other states to follow.

    This is a great way for Barky to put Benghazi on the back burner. Federal laws banning anyone might have done some good in that situation. Also in Mexico. There would be many more humans alive because of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. banning anyone from trafficking in firearms overseas

      Delete
  22. Ethanol production increases starvation of children overseas, but is great for rich farmers like me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Field corn is selling for about $0.13/lb. We have never exported hardly any corn to Africa. What we did export to Africa went to feed cattle for Steaks for Rich Africans.

      Delete
  23. Ethanol ruined my wife's lawnmower. She was told through me by some fool I asked on internet that it was "A-OK". Now I am in trouble with my wife. It rotted the hoses or something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Horseshit. You are a lying, stinking pussy.

      You drove all the way over to Washington State, to buy some E85, to bring home, and run in your lawn mower.

      And, Never mentioned it.

      Why would you want to tell such a bullshit story; and what could have ever made you think we'd believe it?

      Delete
    2. Not only that, there is a Technical reason that I know you're lying.

      Delete
    3. Ah, Now you're wondering, "How did I get busted?"


      Well, I'm going to give you one chance to redeem yourself, asshole; tells us ezzackly what you did. THEN, I'm going to prove what a lying sissy you are.

      Delete
    4. hmm, got awfully quiet there all of a sudden, dint it?

      Delete
    5. I had to shovel snow. Snow blower wouldn't start. I'm under suspicion of not doing the oil/gas mixture properly but I think Another Party flooded it. We're expecting another 6 to 8 inches so I'll go out and try it in an hour.

      Delete
    6. :) Yeah, that third party sounds pretty suspect to me.

      Delete
    7. Sparks are flying everywhere except where they should.

      Delete
    8. Umhh, That doesn't sound like "flooded." THAT sounds like a loose wire, if you're mechanically inclined, and small engine repair time if you're not.

      I never have liked "sparks flying" in the vicinity of gas tanks.

      jes sayin' :)

      Delete
    9. I meant between me and the Other Party.

      It's a 2-cycle engine with a choke pull. No external sparks - just no engine start. I started it yesterday just fine. These things are easy to flood if you're too aggressive with the choke.

      Delete
    10. Oh, btw, that was some really interesting stuff as regards Joe Cassano.

      Delete
    11. But I did manage to replace a broke toilet handle yesterday. I got out a wrench and torqued it tight. Wouldn't work right so I read the instructions which said don't torque with a wrench. I loosened it up and hand tightened it. Works now. :)



      Delete
    12. You "READ THE INSTRUCTIONS?!?!?!"

      You'll Never get in the "Mens Club" that way. :)

      Delete
    13. Glad you enjoyed the Cassano article. I admit I think Micahel Lewis found his niche as a business writer (ex-trader) but it's also true that some of these stories write themselves. Just that small dense nexus of AIG FP and the Geithner-Spitzer-Greenberg-Cassano----infecting the rest of Wall St - leaves me shaking my head in wonder about the underlying dynamics.

      Delete
    14. ::))

      I'm intimidated by nuts and bolts and gears.

      Furniture assembly is a huge "tell."

      The family patriarch would pull the pieces out of the box and just assemble the item.

      My way is more ... sequential.

      Delete
    15. And, as much as it pisses some here off, it was the Borns, and the Bairs that tried to warn us off.

      Delete
    16. I actually try to do it sequential, and still end up throwing at least one large piece across the room. :)

      Delete
    17. I have self assembled more futons, bookshelves, desks, drawers, and storage cabinets than I care to admit. That Other Party brought one home the other day, and I had to go sit in a closet for awhile. (Just kidding of course but my fists started to clench in tension at missing screws and misaligned holes and cryptic instructions.)

      Delete
  24. yikes! the joys of ownership:

    "Zombie homes’ stalk former owners in latest foreclosure horror

    Joseph Keller doesn’t expect he’ll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the house at 190 Avondale Avenue.

    Five yearsago, Mr. Keller, 10 months behind on his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JPMorgan Chase & Co. In a few weeks, the bank said, his three-story house with grey vinyl siding in Columbus, Ohio, would be put up for auction at a sheriff’s sale.

    The 58-year-old former social worker and his wife, Jennifer, packed up their home of 13 years and moved in with their daughter. Joseph thought he would never have anything to do with the house again. And for about a year, he didn’t.

    Then it started to stalk him.

    First, in 2010, the county sued Mr. Keller because the house, already picked clean by scavengers, was in a shambles, its hanging gutters and collapsed garage in violation of local housing code. Then the tax collector started sending Mr. Keller notices about mounting back taxes, sewer fees and bills for weed and waste removal. And last year, Chase’s debt collector began pressing Mr. Keller to pay his mortgage, which had swollen, with penalties and fees, from $62,100.27 to $84,194.69.

    The worst news came last January, when the Social Security Administration rejected Mr. Keller’s application for disability benefits; the “asset” on Avondale Avenue rendered him ineligible. Mr. Keller’s medical problems include advanced liver disease, hepatitis C and inactive tuberculosis. Without disability coverage, he can’t get the liver transplant he needs to stay alive.

    “I can’t make it end,” says Mr. Keller. “This house, I can’t get out.”

    Mr. Keller continues to bear responsibility for the house because on Dec. 23, 2008 – about two months after he received Chase’s notice of sale – the bank filed to dismiss the foreclosure judgment and the order of sale. Chase said it sent Mr. Keller a copy of its court filing on Dec. 9, 2008. Mr. Keller says he never received any notification. Either way, his name remained on the property title.

    ..."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/zombie-homes-stalk-former-owners-in-latest-foreclosure-horror/article7183404/

    ReplyDelete
  25. Warm, and balmy day in the Midsouth. I've actually got the windows open. Naptime. :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 115 people Thursday, including 81 who died in a sectarian attack on a bustling billiard hall in the southwest city of Quetta, officials said.

    The blasts punctuated one of the deadliest days in recent years in Pakistan, where the government faces a bloody insurgency by Taliban militants in the northwest and Baluch militants in the southwest.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Taft shooting came less than a month after a gunman massacred 20 children and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before killing himself.

    That shooting prompted President Barack Obama to promise new efforts to curb gun violence.

    Vice President Joe Biden, who was placed in charge of the initiative, said in Washington on Tuesday that he would deliver new policy proposals to the president by next week.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Kern County Fire Department Eric Coughran told KBAK-TV that another person had suffered some type of injuries in the incident but refused medical attention.

    KERO-TV Bakersfield reported that the station had received phone calls from people inside the school who hid in cupboards.

    It was not immediately clear how many students are enrolled at the high school.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 40 Miles north of Taft we used to hide in closets for the Hell of it.

      In 8 th Grade I got a girl to accompany me.

      Forget exactly how it happened, but right in the middle of class, the doors got pushed open, and the class and teacher became the audience for our little theater production.

      Delete
  29. "In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant"

    - Charles de Gaulle




    "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

    It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

    The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
    "

    - C. S. Lewis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. moral busybodies?...

      ...like all those pro-lifers who want to stop a woman from having the choice to have an abortion?

      Delete
    2. Ash, do have have to always be so lame? Some people think there is a second party involved. And are simply asking that rights be extented to that party as well. A second party, that you can do open heart surgery on these days at four months, for instance. At least here in the United States.

      It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

      This makes a lot of sense. Had never heard that quote from C.S Lewis before.

      Delete
  30. And useful idiot Rufus orders up a double shot of all that GOODNESS.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Useful idiot, Rufus, has offered up the only plan, so far, that would have protected the students at both Newtown, and Taft.

    Security door at the front, and security glass on the windows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Useful idiot pounds hairy naked barbaric chest with undeserved self congratulation.

      This is normal.

      Half of America, including myself with my 'instant safe rooms' had some such idea within 30 minutes of the events.

      Delete
  32. The United States sought to assure Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday that it would remain committed to his country even as US officials weigh a major withdrawal of American forces.

    After an elaborate military ceremony for Karzai outside the Pentagon, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told his ‘distinguished visitor’ that more than 10 years of war had paved the way for Afghanistan to stand on its own.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Horseshit. You are a lying, stinking pussy.

    Fuck off, short pecker.

    You remember I asked you if you could use ethanol in a lawn mower, my wife wanted to know, I said.

    You said, no problem at all, or some such, A-OK.

    I told her.

    She used it for part of the summer and the mower is ruined.

    Thanks.

    Care to cover the bill?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And she just bought whatever blend it was available right here because we never buy smokes, booze, gas in Washington because of the tax.

      Delete
    2. See, you're a lying pussy. There are no stations in Moscow, Id that sell E85.

      Delete

  34. Security door at the front, and security glass on the windows.


    Absolute genius. All the mighty minds in all of America failed to think of it except blow hard gas bag.

    ReplyDelete
  35. My one positive act of the day: bought kitty a little kiity cheapo from Goodwill, having grown tired of him crawling up on my back in the middle of the night.

    So far, he refuses to use it.

    ReplyDelete
  36. .

    Regarding Mr. Lew,

    And Lew is taking over as Treasury secretary at a critical time. Two and a half years after enactment, the Dodd-Frank financial law is still not fully implemented. Even as the winds of financial turbulence threaten from Europe, financial-industry officials admit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has not developed the capacity to liquidate banks in the event of a crisis. Although it never became a 2012 campaign issue, financial regulation has lagged well behind schedule (no one even seemed to care, for example, when Mitt Romney failed to propose an alternative to Dodd-Frank, even though he had promised to do so). Wall Street’s lobbyists have managed to delay the “Volcker Rule” —the closest thing we have today to a Glass-Steagall law separating federally insured commercial banking from risky investment banking—by six months. The banks are also engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to escape U.S. oversight of their derivatives activities overseas.

    Into this den of super-sophisticated—and savage—lions of finance will walk the gentle-mannered figure of Jack Lew, who is expected to be easily confirmed. Hopes for change—any real progress in containing the power and systemic size of the banks—are not high. “By going with Jack Lew, Obama is making the decision: ‘I don’t want a fight over Treasury secretary. I want someone who’s going to maintain the status quo.’ That’s what Jack Lew represents,” says Jeff Connaughton, who as a senior Senate staffer fought for financial reform and later, in despair, wrote a book titled Wall Street Always Wins...


    Is Mr. Lew a Rubinite Like the Man He Hopes to Replace, Mr. Geitner?

    .


    ReplyDelete
  37. .

    From the article above,

    There was a style about Rubin that everyone loved—judicious, calm, untouched by the rancor.

    Sounds perfect.

    Like someone else I've heard described here recently.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I doubt very much that Mr. Lew is a "Rubinite" or even Rubin-Lite, but dense Doris does get the drift. Professionalism is a state of mind that starts with approach ... and ends with value, a spectrum if you will.

      Delete
    2. But I will concede the point about what happens "where the rubber meets the road" and the "design margin" begins to shrink. It's just that Mr. Lew has the technical edge, and his opponents have what? "Fuck You?" One of the reasons why the op-ed that started this was so interesting: Jack Lew "knows his stuff." And he's not easily intimidated. Two excellent starting points.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Design Margin being a Wretchard concept (implying a degree of sarcasm.)

      But thanks for playing Forrest.

      Delete
    5. It's when the design margins begin to expand, before imploding, that opportunity arises. See Tao Te Dung. Taos Press, New Mexico 1992.

      Technicals calls this 'the striking point'. Cowboys say Fuck it, it don't make no difference.

      Professions BSers know a state of mind that starts with 'no approach' and ends with a spectrum of no value, if you will.

      This is knonw in inner circles as 'being there, being nowhere'.

      Sometimes they are able to make money off this state of consciousness, by duping the ever willing gullible at 3%.

      For further information on this, call Ash between 10:00am and 1:30 pm Tuesdays through Thursdays.

      Delete
    6. Post it at BC.

      I have no use for margins, design or otherwise.

      Delete
    7. Refuse. We are all here cause we all got cut off there. We got memories.

      Delete
    8. .

      One of the reasons why the op-ed that started this was so interesting: Jack Lew "knows his stuff." And he's not easily intimidated. Two excellent starting points.

      In this case, I disagree. It's hard to argue against the benefit of the man knowing his stuff; however, the fact that he won't be intimidated (i.e. that he is willing to shout the other side down) is hardly helpful in the current toxic atmosphere in D.C. especially when the result of all his 'hard work' is sequestration.

      Now, I don't have a problem with Obama choosing Lew. I expected nothing more. Just as I would have expected the same type of fellow had Romney won.

      Dems, Pubs, Obama, Romney they are all in the same club and all in the pocket of Wall Street. People who argue there is a measureable differences between these dicks are given to wishful thinking, criminal naivete, or kool-aid addiction.

      There are some bureaucrats who try to do their jobs, Bair being one of them IMO, but they are usually shouted down or ignored.

      And The Band Played On.

      .

      Delete
    9. I didn't get cut off "over there." I'm here because I like Deuce, and I think most of those people are silly.

      Delete
    10. He closed the whole place down for a time, if you recall.

      I love your reports on Whiskey, DRR. Thank you for that. I used to get the best laughter out of that guy.

      Delete
    11. I did not "get cut off." I lost patience.

      Delete
    12. Well, whatever. He did close the place down.

      William Blake said one must create one's own system, or be a slave to another's. Looked at in this light, Whiskey is truly a free man.

      Delete
  38. O Lord, what would Thy great and finally good world be like without good ol' Rufoid?

    A much much sadder and somewhat wiser place, perhaps.

    O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy diversity.

    Amen.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Rufus, I can't be certain beyond a reasonable doubt that the ethanol did in the mower.

    It was, after all, a WalMart cheapo. Our experience is that these usually last about three seasons. Maybe this one just belonged to a union.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You damned right you can't for two reasons:

      1) No one sells E85 in Moscow, and

      2) The engine would have run so crappily (w/o the jets being drilled) that you would have drained it, and put in gas the first day.


      Stay away from the outright lying, Sparky; you're not very good at it.

      Delete
    2. Fuck you on the lying shit, Stem, I told you the truth.

      Maybe I made a mistake on E85. They sell 15% ethanol is what I know. Whatever it is called. Anyway, she did not put regular gas in it, because, as far as I know, you can only get that down at the Co-op and that is a big hassle.

      Delete
    3. That is why she was a asking, because she didn't want to go to the Co-op which is a hassle.

      Delete
    4. NO, no one sells E15 in Moscow, either.


      You did screw around and finally say something truthful; you bought a cheap walmart lawnmower, and it broke down. Idiot.

      Delete
    5. We have had about 5 others exactly the same that we used regular in, Stem, and none of them broke down the first year. They all lasted three, or even four, years.

      If no one sells 15% ethanol in Moscow, which I doubt but will over time check on, then an even less amount of ethanol will ruin your lawn mower. 10% will do it. Maybe even 5%. You undermine your own argument.

      Using Occam's Razor, the ethanol is to blame, because there is no other variable.

      Delete
    6. You just babble on about something of which you know zip. Virtually every lawnmower in America is running, at this moment, on E10. That's ALL you can get in 95% of the country.

      Look dumbshit, the DOE tested different fuels in lawnmower engines. You know what their final judgement was? It was that they couldn't keep the pieces of shit running on ANY FUEL!

      Delete
    7. I don't care what the DOE says, we ran our own real world test here, and five worked fine for three or fours years, and the moment we put a little ethanol in one, it died within weeks.

      Again, Occam's Razor. You are always quoting Occam, when it suits your purpose.

      Ethanol sucks.

      Helps starve little kids in third world countries. Contributed to the uprising in Egypt through high food prices.

      I'm done with the topic.

      Delete
    8. I'm done with the topic, Stem.

      Delete
    9. Don't you get tired of being stupid?

      Delete
  40. Concerning Hagel, I feel we can conclude now that Barky has no intention, and never had any intention, of doing something about Iran.

    Hagel voted against, and argues against, even sanctions against Iran, standing out bravely against the entirety of the western world. This is what makes him unqualified to be Secretary of Defense, despite two Purple Hearts.

    I think Iran would be much safer without nuclear weapons than with as with them the danger of being turned into a glass parking lot arises, which hasn't been the case up to this point.

    As we have learned from the school shootings, it is a mistake to give arms to an unstable adolescent.

    Or, as W.H. Auden put it:

    "Never give a rifle to a melancholy bore."

    And that is certain now to happen unless Israel goes it alone.

    I think the situation is awful beyond words.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Good news for all the brown-eyed guys out there: Men with chocolate-colored irises are judged as more trustworthy than blue-eyed dudes.

    ...

    The results revealed that brown-eyed faces were seen as more trustworthy than blue-eyed ones, particularly for male faces. Female faces showed the same trend, but the results did not reach statistical significance, leaving open the possibility that they were the result of chance.

    The catch, however, arose in a second study. This time, researchers took the same faces and used a photo-editing program to swap the eye color of each person.

    Now the brown-eyed guys and girls sported blue eyes and the blue-eyed folks had brown eyes. Another 106 students judged those photos for trustworthiness.

    The same faces as in the first experiment were seen as the most trustworthy, even though they now had blue eyes. That means that it's not the eye color itself, but something about the face shape that engenders trust...


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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Need corn farmers down that way? We won't do you any good, but we will say we are, and make you feel all better.

      Delete
  43. $1.48 / liter AUD

    or...

    $5.95 / gallon US

    down here in little ol' backwards Australia.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Or $85 AUD / fill-up empty to full for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing we farmers could say would make you feel better about that.

      Delete
    2. Sam, why so high down under? Taxes? Got to be taxes, I am guessing. What else could it be?

      Do you have some special carbon tax or something?

      In a huge country like like, with thousands of miles between some of the cities, I'd think people would be screaming bloody murder.

      Delete
    3. Yep, taxes. There's a carbon tax, just got passed last year, but as far as I know, that is only heaved upon big industry.

      Delete
    4. And another factor, I think we get our supply from Tapis, which is a bit more expensive, I believe.

      Delete
  45. Evidently, Jack Lew skinned Boehner so badly that the Boner went back to his caucus, and bragged about all of the spending cuts he had extracted, only to find out much later that he had gotten ezzackly squat.

    The Little Leaguer don' want no more of the Pro.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      As one of our erudite bloggers upstream recently posted,

      Don't you get tired of being stupid?

      .

      Delete
  46. On this day in 1776, author Thomas Paine published “Common Sense,” a pamphlet that inspired American colonists to declare their independence from Britain.

    ReplyDelete
  47. 19 Pakistanis died in Bradford this morning.

    It was not a terrorist attack; a bunk bed collapsed.

    Police are attributing the blame to Al' IKEA.

    ReplyDelete
  48. The puzzle of the Chuck Hagel nomination for defense secretary is that you normally choose someone of the other party for your Cabinet to indicate a move to the center, but, as The Washington Post editorial board points out, Hagel's foreign policy views are to the left of Barack Obama's, let alone the GOP's. Indeed, they are at the fringe of the entire Senate.

    ...

    Current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in August 2011 that the scheduled automatic $600 billion defense cuts ("sequestration") would result in "hollowing out the force," which would be "devastating." And strongly hinted that he might resign rather than enact them.

    ...

    The issue is not Hagel's alleged hostility but his public pronouncements. His refusal to make moral distinctions, for example. At the height of the second intifada, a relentless campaign of indiscriminate massacre of Israelis, Hagel found innocence abounding: "Both Israelis and Palestinians are trapped in a war not of their making."


    - Krauthammer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perfect Obama pick.

      Incoherent.

      Amoral.

      Fringe.

      Wags tail when asked.

      Delete
  49. Top 3 safest airlines:

    1. Finnair

    2. Air New Zealand

    3. Cathay Pacific

    ...

    Top 3 worst:

    58. Air India

    59. TAM Airlines

    60. China Airlines



    ReplyDelete
  50. All things considered, there is no doubt in my mind that Nixon would not be welcome in today’s Republican party. Considering his ideals and his record in office, it’s no surprise that the GOP chose to compare Mitt Romney with Ronald Reagan in the 2012 campaign, rather than with Richard Nixon.

    For Nixon stood for an approach and a philosophy that Republicans abandoned long ago.

    So, on the 100th anniversary of Nixon’s birthday, we should remember him as a president that helped to change the face of the world and to usher in an end to the Cold War. He did it with what, today, would look like liberal panache.


    Great Liberal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, the SOB and Kissinger brought us our Chi-Com Superpower,
      the EPA, etc etc etc.

      Great fucking Progressive, indeed.

      Delete
  51. Replies
    1. If you look closely, all along the left-hand edge of that glacier are a bunch of blue and yellow tents. If you zoom right in, you can see dudes walking around and stuff.

      Delete
    2. That is really something. Was able to see the tents but not the dudes. If you go left and right you can get a whole panorama. I wonder why, being up there so high, there is so much bare ground.

      Delete
    3. Wait, got it to go in further. I do see the dudes.

      Between the camps there it seems there is a blue three sided open topped plastic enclosure that may be a latrine on the edge of a small ledge.

      What a wonderful, cold and strange place to take a crap!!

      What a view!!

      Beats sitting reading the morning newspaper.

      Delete
    4. A wonderful title for a book lurks unseen at that place.

      Delete
    5. I've come up with a couple, but I'm not going first. Something about serenity comes to mind though.

      Delete
    6. Oh well, how bout - Remembering Oyster River: Meditations on The View From the Loo at the Top O' The World

      Delete
    7. Oyster River being of course a reference to Meditation At Oyster River, an ecopoem with spiritual implications for our continuing journey, by a poet of sublimity.

      Delete