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, August 03, 2011

Panic in The White House

Gee, where are the jobs?

174 comments:

  1. We need loan guarantees for 3,000 cellulosic ethanol plants. The roads are fine.

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  2. Foxconn is going to replace 500,000 workers with a million robots in just the next 3 years. That tells you all you need to know about manufacturing.

    The Air Force will become the UAVF.

    The "long haul trucker" is going the way of the mule team driver.

    Solar and Wind are replacing Coal, and Nat Gas. Uranium is to make things go boom, not to boil water for steam.

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  3. You can live a perfectly normal life, and talk to a Doctor, and his receptionist once a year, and the lady at the polling booth once every two years.

    The gal at the quick shop once a month, or so, if you desire to have a couple of beers every now and then.

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  4. Pennsylvanians on public assistance now have a new 'civil right' -- free cell phones.

    Meanwhile, the rest of us get to pay higher cell bills as a result.

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  5. Dick Morris: Republicans and Independents will vote against Obama with their hands. Democrats and liberals will do so with their feet -- by staying home.

    Snerk.

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  6. Just pray the Republicans don't get too much power. Rampant Republicanism can be deadly during hard times. They tend not to have that "vision thing," you know?

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  7. The Democratic idea will be to "replace" oil. The Republicans' natural tendency will be to want to "fight for" oil.

    And, since oil is a depleting, finite resource, fighting for oil will end up being akin to fighting for the last buggy whip factory.

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  8. There are two competing visions of the future. The first is that "we run out of oil, and Everything is done by human/animal labor.

    The second, to which I subscribe, is that we "replace oil, and absolutely Nothing is done by hand."

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  9. Just make sure you add a little 'grandeur'. And some styrofoam Greek columns.

    And kinda look upward, and to the left, with a mystic look in the eye, when delivering your speech.

    FTIOH



    (P.S. -- We definitely DON'T want to go back to horse farming.

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  10. We're still paying landowners Not to plant 30 Million Acres.

    That unused land should be sown in Switchgrass.

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  11. Rufus in an ideal world, there would be no workers, merely small businesses.

    However, the world is not and never will be "ideal"

    So we do what we can with what we have

    That means the capable and able achieve and through market forces, the less capable and less able benefit from what filters down to them.

    Now we must never descend to threats of militancy by workers for an unfair share of the resources they are paid to operate but which they lack the skills to invent or organise.

    as for the welfare state... the problem is too simple,

    much welfare acts as a disincentive to risk and innovation and

    as we have seen with every example of socialism... absence of reward for risk and innovation produces economic and social stagnation

    Doubtless, you would understand how the absence of the rich leaves the poor without:

    1 something to strive for

    2 someone to blame

    Socialism itself needs someone to blame and demands to control everything in pursuit of achieving equality and nothing else.

    Fact of Life We are all individual and all different and I for one,

    - am not and do not wish to be treated as if I were "equal" with people who think the way you do.

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  12. "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." - Plutarch.

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  13. Blogger ate my post twice, so I deferred to her judgement. I was amused at hearing Obama talk jobs and do nothing about the NLRB carrying the water for the big unions over the non-union Boeing plant in South Carolina. But as our friend Hu Dat clearly riminds us, we have to talk the the talk and then wok the wok.

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  14. It is too early for Plutarch but then again it may be too late.

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  15. The computer algorithms are kicking in all ready I see and the market is rising again. Then it will fall a bit more, then it will rise, then it will fall, etc.. Blankfein thanks god for computers and mathematicians every day as he steadily if unspectacularly grinds out profits even in a collapsing market. I hope no one here thinks that human beings are involved in any of this theatre?

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  16. Howard Blankfein ought to get down on his knees and give me a blowjob for bailing his silly ass out.

    He's just a welfare queen above all others.

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  17. I have no idea who you might, or might not, be "equal" to, YF; but I have a hunch it might depend on the job at hand.

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  18. The United States is "the least dirty shirt in the bag," Minerd concluded.

    I suppose that's marginally better than "malaise".

    In other news reminiscent of what happened to America in November 2008, an intruder strapped a collar bomb and a ransom note on a rich girl in Oz.

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  19. They're hyping this Services ISM way more than usual. I wonder if they've been tipped that it's going to surprise to the upside?

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  20. Factory Orders Down -0.8

    That sucks.

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  21. There have always been 'the rich' and 'the poor' since the farmers fucked it all up by creating a surplus leading to cities, and, 'the rich' and 'the poor'.

    Just because something is later in time don't make it better. But I've been Huston Smith on the primordial religions, from which, if I can find the time and energy, I will quote some really juicy tidbits. He is advaita vedanta, non dualistic. :)

    FTIOH

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  22. Humans are very much inclined to confuse Luck with Skill.

    It's hard to remember during good times that tomorrow could, very easily, bring "your turn in the barrel."

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  23. It's hard to make predictions especially about the future.

    FTIOH

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  24. The juiciest number of all comes up in two minutes. Gasoline Supplied YoY

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  25. The Gov. released about 5 Million Barrels from the SPR last week, and Europe probably released about the same amount of gasoline, and diesel.

    Yet, our inventories are only up about 3.1 million barrels.

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  26. The key report today, the one the babbling heads on CNBC don't want to talk about was the Minus 0.8% in Factory Orders.

    That is a "Forward-looking" Indicator.

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  27. Is anyone else uncomfortable with the "Super Congress?"

    It gives me the willies.

    Confirms why I despise the current parties so very, very much.

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  28. How much oil are the speculators buying?

    It ain't the falling dollar that's causing the rise.

    In 2008, speculators "bought" 900M barrels.

    Speculators bet on the price of a commodity going up. You can't short it.

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  29. I imagine the small specs are pretty much neutral, right now. A couple of the Big Banks are buying oil, and storing it in tankers offshore, I think.

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  30. Testimony from Michael Masters in front of the US Senate in 2008.

    Speculators "bought" 900M barrels, the Chinese used 920M barrels during the same period. Speculative pressures were equal to another China consuming oil.

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  31. The Governments in the OECD are doing the Unsustainable, right now, by releasing a Million Barrels/Day from their Strategic Reserves.

    That will go on for another 45 days, and "Then What?"


    (The law won't allow a second tranche from the SPR on the Libya excuse.)

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  32. .

    The roads are fine.


    Continuing to miss the forest while seeing one large tree.

    Quaint.


    .

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  33. Forbes on Goldman driving up the price of oil 2008 to bankrupt another company. Their conduct here matches EXACTLY what they did to AIG and were made whole by the taxpayer to make back the money they stupidly invested with a bunch of stupid, criminal jackasses.

    Looks like I need to do some more research on shorting commodities. I thought that you couldn't short an index, but maybe there are equities or other funds that allow you too, as per this article.

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  34. When's the last time you went somewhere and didn't have an adequate road upon which to drive, Q?

    Cars are getting smaller, not larger, and heavy shipments are being transferred away from trucks (that cause 95% of the damage to roadways,) and onto rail.

    Of course, the streets might not be too hot in Detroit, but Detroit is supported by an industry that used a temporary drop in oil prices to build another few million gazillion hp pickup trucks with a combined gas mileage of 11.7.

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  35. Re: employment (or unemployment, if you please)

    Why would this administration readily grasp the huge signficance of employment when so few in its base do? The days of lift that barge and tote that bale are long gone. Now, I want my free cell-phone.

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  36. Commodities will bust your ass, D-Day. The Margin Calls will put you in the poorhouse.

    Spend you money sensibly on whores, and whiskey, and blackjack, and such. :)

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  37. I'll give you an example; I don't think there is a Chinaman's chance in Hell that Corn can be at $7.00/bu a year from now. However, I'd rather put a knife to my throat, and cut it, than make a futures bet on it.

    I could easily be right, and still get broke by the fluctuations in the market on the way.

    Oil is the same deal.

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  38. I'll give you an example; I don't think there is a Chinaman's chance in Hell that Corn can be at $7.00/bu a year from now. However, I'd rather put a knife to my throat, and cut it, than make a futures bet on it.

    I could easily be right, and still get broke by the fluctuations in the market on the way.

    Oil is the same deal.

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  39. .

    When's the last time you went somewhere and didn't have an adequate road upon which to drive, Q?

    You need to get out of the sticks once in a while Ruf. Get some idea of reality.

    This is the first article I pulled up when I went to Google and plugged in cost of poor infrastucture.

    Poor infrastructure fails America, civil engineers report

    And roads aren't everything. You talk about problems with oil but ignore problems with water shortages over much of the US. It's estimated that the Detroit water system which supports the entire southeast in Michigan loses up to 40% of the water it pumps because the ancient system just hasn't been kept up.

    Dams, bridges, roads, oh yea, even rail in the US are in piss poor shape, and it is costing us billions per year.

    .

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  40. Stop the Presses: Civil Engineers want More Work.

    Memphis has a Great Water System. So does Tunica Co. If Detroit doesn't they should fix it.

    The Main thing to remember, Q, is that the "Main" thing is the Main Thing.

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  41. Rail's in pisspoor shape? really?

    Do you have Any idea how much Burlington Northern, UP, etc are making?

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  42. Spend you money sensibly on whores, and whiskey, and blackjack, and such. :)

    Truer words were never spoken.

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  43. .

    Stop the Presses: Civil Engineers want More Work.

    You force me to laugh. Daily we get posts from you from the Ethanol Dailyfrom the Switchgrass Daily, from Cornhuskers International and you offer them up as proof of you position.

    The other day you offered up an article put out by a couple that was tight with ethanol producers and marketers for the past 20 years. The study was funded by the ethanol producers and was put out by the Universty of Iowa. Good lord.

    Every day you put out an article to show how cheap ethanol is. All put out by the industry.

    In the last couple days you put out an article on some new great thing. The article said that the project would be subsidized and would take a couple years to get to production. What most of these articles fail to say and which you fail to point out (or miss?) is these are pilot plants and it will take years to get production quantities.

    You pointed out a specific company a while back that you said proved the case for cellulosic ethanol. The first thing I did was pull up a recent article from their CEO that said they wouln't be able to be profitible for years without subsidies. You failed to come back with an answer.

    When someone points out an alternate view as in the case of Bob recently, you call them an idiot. When the mainstream doesn't buy your theories, you berate them. Anyone who disagrees wth you is part of the big oil conspiracy or the unenlightened masses.

    As far as posting articles to support a position you will accept them if they support your position you ridicule them if they don't.

    Rufus Theme

    :)

    .

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  44. Unless, Ruf, I have several sovereign wealth funds, pensions and trusts whose capital I manage that I can pour into corn futures indexes to run up the price. I'll make the $7/bu bet when I find out what Goldman says is going to rise because of "fundamentals." Oddly, their "fundamentals" tend to coincide with what money they are steering into certain commodities indexes.

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  45. What most of these articles fail to say and which you fail to point out (or miss?) is these are pilot plants and it will take years to get production quantities.

    And, that, is not true. I never tout potential pilot plants. I sometimes tout good results from pilot plants.

    You just can't stand that the world is changing, Q. You are the one that pouts, and stamps your little footsie in anger.

    So far, everything I've said would happen has happened. And, yes, I get frustrated when adults cry bitter tears, and deny the evidence that the milkshake is, indeed, half gone.

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  46. In short, believe in stupidity if you wish, but don't expect me to suffer it lightly.

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  47. Goldman's a professional liar, DDay. I think you'll make more money betting against their pulic statements than betting on them.

    You never know if they're "talking their book," or trying to keep the price up while they "Unload their Position."

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  48. Wolf update --

    "If the taxes are too high the people won't pay. If the laws are absurd the people won't obey" Ralph Waldo Emerson, fairly accurate.

    ADVOCATE SAY WOLF POACHING HAS BECOME 'RAMPANT'

    Wolf hunting season less than a month away

    For some in Idaho "shoot, shovel, shutup" has become the preferred management plan for wolves even as state officials are preparing for a statewide hunt with no quotas in most regions.

    Just how widespread the illegal activity has become is up for debate and depends largely on who's answering the question.

    Gary McFarland, turd, of the Moscow-based Friends of the Clearwater has a feeling the practice is rampant, although the elusive nature of wolves makes the predator a more difficult target.

    "It tells you what kind of people they are", McFarland said of poachers. "This is criminal behavior and unfortunately the State of Idaho is not prosecuting them. :):):)When I do something illegal I get thrown in jail. I expect the government to be evenhanded."

    "....That shows who's controlling the debate and I think that's a sad comment on the state of our democracy and the kind of individuals who would go out and do that. They are reprehensible human beings."

    :))) YES!!!

    Fish and Game says they haven't heard of any specific instances of wolf poaching but the department takes the issue seriously.

    (This show the efficacy of shoot shovel shutup) :)

    "Sometimes you just hear general comments, rumors so to speak.", Fish and Game said.

    According to Fish and Game the 2009 season did not stop the growth of the wolf population. (They pup twice a year, dimbos)

    The season runs through March 31 for most of the state, although the Lolo and Selway zones will remain open through June 30.


    (Or, basically, all year long day and night for those of the shoot shovel shutup persuasion) :)

    Dead Wolf Running Not Much Longer

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  49. You might not want to take the tests, Quirk, if you get a really bad score it means you might not be able to ward off dementia, and who wants to know that, right????

    Idaho Brain Trust

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  50. .

    You just can't stand that the world is changing, Q. You are the one that pouts, and stamps your little footsie in anger.


    Your right. And what bothers me the most is having it pointed out by someone as calm and stoic as you.

    No pouting or complaining from the old Rufster.

    No sirree.



    :)

    .

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  51. .



    "shoot, shovel, shutup"

    :):):)

    :))) YES!!!




    What can one say of those who find humor in other people breaking the law?

    .

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  52. If the laws are absurd Quirk, one is duty bound to obey a higher law. As Emerson, Thoreau,
    Whitman, Hemingway, Twain, all of 'em say we must.

    By Mark Weiss in Jerusalem

    1:12PM BST 03 Aug 2011

    Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a Labour party member of parliament, told Army Radio that he and Mr Netanyahu, the prime minister, said Mr Mubarak could stay in the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat.

    "I met Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh and I told him that it was a short distance and that it might be a good chance to heal himself," Mr Ben-Eliezer said. "I am convinced that the Israel government would have accepted him but he declined the offer because he was a patriot."

    Mr Ben-Eliezer, a veteran politician who has held a number of ministerial positions in various Israeli governments, was considered to be the Israeli politician with the closest links to the former Egyptian president, building up a close personal friendship over the years. The two met on dozens of occasions and Mr Ben Eliezer would often accompany Israeli prime ministers on trips to Egypt.

    Mr Netanyahu prevented ministers from commenting in public on the crisis in Egypt when protests erupted earlier this year. He expressed concern at the time that a regime change could endanger the 3-decades old peace treaty between the 2 two countries and threaten regional stability.

    President Mubarak frequently acted as a peace mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.

    Following his downfall there has been repeated attacks by militants in the Egyptian Sinai disrupting the flow of Egyptian gas to Israel.


    Mubarak should have taken the Israelis up on the offer, he wouldn't be sitting in an iron cage right now.


    FTIOH

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  53. What can one say of those who find humor in other people breaking the law?

    What can one say of those who find honor in other people breaking the law? (if the law in question is absurd)

    Praise the Lord.

    FTIOH

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  54. .

    What can one say of those who find humor in other people breaking the law?


    What can one say of those who find honor in other people breaking the law? (if the law in question is absurd)



    Sorry, I thought

    :))) YES!!!

    was just an oddly typed smiley face. I didn't realize it was an 'honor face'.

    But then I guess the next question becomes who determines if a law is absurd? Some yokels from Ideeho?

    I guess this goes along with your thoughts on jury nullification.

    Age 28 eh? I would have thought it was much younger than that.

    .

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  55. The sheriff of Idaho County and the State of Idaho have both found the federal law on the subject absurd, in addition to thousands upon thousands upon thousands of us yokels, in fact all of us yokels

    Still wishing and willing to ship the wolves to Detroit where they can dumpster dive among other pursuits.

    Your feral cat and dog population would really plummet.

    :)


    Doomsday acomin' for Big Bad Wolf.

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  56. .

    ...in fact all of us yokels

    Well not all of you yokels. I remember the comments of Laurie that were attached to that story you posted a while back about the ex-wildlife expert that spotted the wolves hanging around a school bus stop.

    You remember the story. The guy's new job is outfitter and guide for hunters. He was the only one to 'actually' see the wolves. For some reason they appeared after the kids were gone. You remember.

    Now Lauri had some pretty disparaging words to say about the guide, the old sheriff, and the state legislature.

    But maybe you are right. I shouldn't lump Lauri in with the yokels. She seems to be one of the few in Idaho with any balls.

    .

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  57. .

    What was that sheriff's name?

    It always makes me laugh.

    .

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  58. Quirk, just to clue you in a little, a younger age is better in that test, a more agile, nimble mind is what is wanted.

    I think you shouldn't take it. If your test age is higher than your biological age, well....you might feel badly, to say the least of it.

    bobo

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  59. Here Quirk.

    It may make you giddy but the nice man's name is Sheriff Doug Giddings, who only enforces rational law.

    All the news about the big wolf gun and shovel drawing, including the winners.

    bobo

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  60. .

    Quirk, just to clue you in a little, a younger age is better in that test, a more agile, nimble mind is what is wanted.



    No need to clue me in Bobbo. I got the picture.

    It's just that I thought you would have scored around a 2 year old on most any test of mental acuity.



    Oh, by the way, you be careful out there this fall. I hear in Idaho "The Hills Have Eyes".

    .

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  61. .308 SSS Wolf Pack Raffle

    Really, doesn't that sound delightful?

    And now we all know what that SSS stands for!

    bobo

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  62. .

    Naw, it wasn't the sheriff. It was the governor, 'Butch' Otter.

    .

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  63. Jobs?
    Energy prices. Inflation. Housing market. Foreign policy.
    Significantly Increased debt.

    Governing has proven more difficult than campaign rhetoric.

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  64. Great NEWS!

    More dead arabs by arab hands today!

    Syria is using tanks on it's sunni majority...

    One can only laugh as the bodies stack up like cordwood...

    Sometime real soon, the sunnis will awake and go after the alawites (assad's tribe) and that will be real entertainment..

    Meanwhile Hezbollah (shites) or as I call em.. the "shits" are shitting their pants.... They TRIED to shoot at a Jew (from the IDF) a couple of days ago, (one year to the day when the successfully murdered a lt col. Jew) They are going broke...

    China claims that the moslems are uprising again...

    Turkey? the Generals resigned do to the islamists trying to stick them one at a time in jail...

    meanwhile the Kurds are getting pissy....

    all good....

    Let's not forget the Iranian soup that's brewing...

    Summer aint over and we still got Libya killing each other... and yemen..... and sudan... (south sudan, the christian and oil part did a separation thang just a month ago)

    Egypt? the MB and it's fellow islamists are flipping out and they got the old strongman in a CAGE...

    Hamas is bitching about Israel's control of the strip but still cant get freedom from their brothers in sinai....
    lol to fucking funny..

    meanwhile the dollar? getting worth less everyday.. making all those american bonds and dollars the arabs, russia and china have? more like germany 1934...

    lol

    meanwhile America? is obamaising the nation into becoming greece...

    It's getting fun folks...

    But it aint a death camp yet....

    Let's hope for famine and death to grip the planet soon...

    Oh yeah... Nkor is starving... Parts of africa? the aid rots on the dock while millions starve...

    lol to fuckin funny...

    but not to worry, Mc Donald's is not offering apple slices in kids meals....

    and of course, Michelle Obama's ass is not getting it's own zip code...

    life is grand...

    to all you suckers that invested in the "stock market"? 401k? lol worthless crap....

    lol real estate?

    real funny...

    lol

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  65. mea culpa...

    mc donalds IS offering apple slices in kids meals and

    m obama? is getting her own zip code for her ass..

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  66. "Butch" was married to Simplot's daughter till he wasn't marred to her any longer. I think he slipped the marital bed. Simplot is dead, and his last thought was about property. Now everyone is arguing about the estate.

    "Butch" wears real nice cowboy boots and sometimes a cowboy hat too.

    He does seem to know something about horses.

    bobo

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  67. Sadly I am in no mood to work...

    I have a ton of orders to ship and no motivation....

    it's 7pm and i am tired...

    got another 100 items to add to the database...

    we keep seeing some vendors disappear.. but I keep finding NEW ones to replace the old one and in fact finding new products MADE IN THE USA to replace them...

    Sales are up over last year, even with the companies going out of business...

    Costs have risen? Sure but I am embracing new infrastructure technics to save dollars.... tightened the belt, working smarter than 3 years ago...

    KNEW the clusterfuck was coming, still think it will get worse....

    Good news? 300,000,000 MILLION Americans...

    All i need is 20,000 to make a hell of a good living...

    Remember even in the GREAT depression, 85% of the NATION had jobs and paid their bills....

    The fun will start when the looters freebies either become worthless or irrelevant...

    So I have to pay $1200 a month for "insurance"? so what? I will have to pay another thousand a month for a private doctor in the near future...

    it's going to be a 2 tier system and I dont plan on counting on the 1st tier... It's like social security.. I discounted that a decade ago... I'll pay it, but I wont rely on it...

    I'll rely on MY OWN efforts to deal with retirement...

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  68. My aunt was the only person I've known that came out good on social security but it took her 98 1/2 years to do it.

    bobo

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  69. .

    to all you suckers that invested in the "stock market"? 401k? lol worthless crap....



    You need to learn to diversify WiO.

    .

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  70. Diversify With Confidence

    Not that I do. Don't own a stock, bond, silver or gold.

    Saw something amazing here the other day, big line of people lined up at an apartment rental company, putting in applications for an apartment, a first in my experience. Things are popping good here. Everybody is going back to school.

    bobo

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  71. I'm having a real hard time trying to understand why I would want to own Gold going forward.

    We're going into recession, and disinflation looks a lot more likely than inflation. Plus, Gold is at an all-time high. Some might even say: a bubbliciously high high.

    jes sayin'.

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  72. Swedish man caught trying to split atoms at home
    I can understand the electron microscope, but where did he come up with the tiny little hammer, chisel and anvil? With that knowledge, itty-bitty wind turbines could be sown like grass, generating enough electricity to make the whole planet glow in the dark – or possibly glow during the day if the eyes are tightly shut and one has a good buzz on. Hmm…In thinking about this, it occurs that we do not need more or larger power facilities; we need smaller consumers.

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  73. Or split the atom in the basement.

    (possibly blowing up the neighborhood)

    bobo

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  74. Debt increase by presidents: Reagan 186%, Bush 54% Clinton 41% Bush II 72% Obama 23%. Source CBO.

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  75. Good Genes = Longevity

    With some of the 105 or 98 1/2 year old Swedes when they finally die you are supposed to wait two months before you bury them to make sure they are really, really dead.

    bobo

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  76. I have one last surviving aunt that I don't keep in touch with, and I was surprised to learn recently that she is going good in her own home still and just hit a 100.

    And she raised three kids and saw her husband for years through Alzheimer's. Quite remarkable.

    :)

    bobo

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  77. .

    By only selecting commodity trading systems with limited optimization, a real-time history and verifiable results, Worldwide Futures Systems develops diversified alternative investment portfolios with low correlation to traditional investments...

    Not sure what it means, Bobbo, but sign me up.

    .

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  78. I don't know what the hell it means either, and, not owning any stocks, or any 'positions' I really couldn't care less.

    Rely on Rufus about gold, then throw darts at the WSJ stock page, and grow alfalfa is my advice.

    Alfalfa's good, cause there ain't no work to it.

    And as we know, work is the curse of the long-lived drinking class.

    bobo

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  79. Maybe you won't get any big dust storms in the Palouse this year, Bobal.

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  80. Quirk said...
    .

    to all you suckers that invested in the "stock market"? 401k? lol worthless crap....



    You need to learn to diversify WiO.



    Quirk, I have!

    I have 9 websites and over 5000 items. Completely unrelated, shelf stable and will never go bad...

    ReplyDelete
  81. I have 9 websites and over 5000 items. Completely unrelated, shelf stable and will never go bad...

    WiO's ultimate dilemma:

    Pork chops 50% off.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Teresita said...
    I have 9 websites and over 5000 items. Completely unrelated, shelf stable and will never go bad...

    WiO's ultimate dilemma:

    Pork chops 50% off.




    I give that a 2 on a scale of 1 -10...

    ReplyDelete
  83. I have 9 websites and over 5000 items. Completely unrelated, shelf stable and will never go bad...

    Another reason to look you up when we get back there. I do want to stock up on food. Eating venison, trout, and pheasant and grouse and dove and Hungarian partridges and duck gets old after while.

    :)

    I do need some good shelf stable stuff.

    Miss T, the alfalfa looks great. He could do a second cutting right now.

    Thank you for not turning off the rain.

    bobo

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  84. every home should have a few pounds of salt, few gallons of bleach and a few quarts of vinegar

    ReplyDelete
  85. .

    Rely on Rufus about gold, then throw darts at the WSJ stock page, and grow alfalfa is my advice.




    Most people usually use gold for diversification (if you can believe what they say.)

    They allocate a certain percentage of it to their portfolio then when the price goes up you take profits and cut back on your holdings so as to keep the same allocation.

    When the price drops you buy more for the same reason.

    This year gold has proven to be a good hedge. Over the last 8 days, the market has dropped about 850 points. Positions in gold, silver and some defensive stocks have pretty much offset any losses in the other stocks.

    Of course, having a large percentage allocated to cash hasn't hurt either.

    (Though when you think about it, it hasn't helped much either.)

    It's been a rock and roll year.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  86. My only position in gold is my thirty year old golden bridge tween two teeth finally came out eating a Chicken McNugget, it might weigh in maybe a third or half an ounce or something.

    Not the worst timing in the world anyway.

    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  87. .

    Quirk, I'll even loan you may 4 bladed man capable Grecian bear slaying spear...



    aka a pitchfork?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  88. O heheheheh!

    smart ass

    Since I'm sure you couldn't handle my Grecian spear, you do get a pitchfork.

    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  89. Keeping a steady 10 or 15% in Gold makes sense from a diversification standpoint. It would have sure worked out well over the last ten years, or so.

    I know one thing; I have not a single "really great" idea right now. (Which is probably good. I'm pretty sure I'm "net loser" on my "really good" ideas.) :)

    ReplyDelete
  90. Here is a quote from the Federal Reserve about America's job market:

    "...it is not immediately clear how monetary or fiscal policies might alleviate the problem."

    Here is the rest of what the Fed had to say about the jobless situation in the United States:

    http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2011/07/job-friction-why-economists...

    If the Fed can't figure out the solution to the problem that their monetary policies have created, who can?

    ReplyDelete
  91. The $300 billion in annual spending cuts most recently proposed will not even meet the budgetary needs to fund interest payments on the current federal debt. This is even further complicated by the fact that the debt ceiling will be allowed to rise by another $2 trillion give or take a few hundred billion dollars. If interest rates rose to the levels experienced back in 2001 as well they might should the market start demanding a risk premium as the federal debt rises higher and higher, annual interest payments on the new debt ceiling amount of $16 trillion would hit a stratospheric $960 billion more or less. In fact, in this case, compounding will only make matters worse as the interest owing is added to the debt. To put this $960 billion number into perspective, the Congressional Budget Office estimated at the end of fiscal 2010 that total Medicare and Medicaid outlays for fiscal 2010 reached $723 billion and Social Security benefits reached $696 billion.

    If the debt situation is allowed to spiral to this level and interest rates rise to historic norms, the perfect fiscal storm will be entrenched and the Great American Dream will pretty much be over for Main Street.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Because the deficit cuts build over time, by 2021 federal discretionary spending is supposed to fall to 5.4 per cent of gross domestic product. Pigs may also fly – but not if the research project to give them wings has to be funded from a federal budget of that size. Since 1971, with little variation depending on which party held power, discretionary spending has averaged 8.7 per cent of GDP. Does anyone think that future US Congressman will be bound by that pledge when saying yes is so much more fun than saying no?

    ReplyDelete
  93. Teresita, that was a remarkable set of statistics regarding debt increases by President. You wouldn't have a link for that would you?

    ReplyDelete
  94. http://dontgetmestarted-lindasharp.typepad.com/dont_get_me_started_with_/2011/07/the-sky-ceiling-is-falling.html

    ReplyDelete
  95. Here is a more accurate assessment of Starting debt/GDP vs Ending debt/GDP statistics for presidents by term since WWII.
    The Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all had a falling percentage of debt/GDP until a small rise under Gerald Ford. Surprisingly, it went down under Carter. All that changed under Reagan/Bush Senior where the ratio climbed from 32.5% to 66.1%.

    Clinton reversed the trend from 66% to 56%.
    Bush Junior was an absolute disaster, a wealth killing machine. He drove it from 56% to 84% and Obama since 2009 has not reversed the downward momentum started by George Bush.

    The sorry ass fact is that there never would have been a Barack Obama except for George Bush. Had Bush used two tactical nuclear weapons on each and every AQ camp in Afghanistan and extracted $500 billion in reparations from Saudi Arabia instead of baking Ramadan cookies and removing the bulwark against the Iranians, we all would be better off.

    ReplyDelete
  96. We ruined our wealth and country on a fool's mission to bring democracy to the Arabs. We developed owned and stored over 50,000 tactical nuclear weapons. They were built as a deterrent and to be used to protect the US and punish her enemies. An enemy attacked the US taking down the crown jewels of lower Manhattan, killed 3000 of our people, attacked Washington DC and the Pentagon killing our military and killed 50 innocents on a commercial aircraft in Pennsylvania.

    The crime of the century was committed by Saudis, almost to a man, and we had a President too dumb, too weak and too foolish to call the felling of two building with the iconic message of raising two mushroom clouds over each and every of those camps. Message received, message answered.

    ReplyDelete
  97. George Bush will never miss a pension payment.

    ReplyDelete
  98. …but it is not just Bush, it is the elite plutocratic establishment that plundered the system for their benefit and to the detriment of most everyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  99. And, the Jobless Claims Number is:

    400,000

    Not too bad

    ReplyDelete
  100. For a few days there I thought that we might slide into recession in the 3rd qtr instead of the 4th, but now it's looking like the SPR Release is having a pretty large effect, and it Will be the fourth quarter when we dip below the waves.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Anyways, that's trying to cut it too fine.

    I can't get over that news from Foxconn. Replacing 500,000 Employees (half their workforce) with robots in 3 yrs.

    I've been reading that a large part of China's growing dominance in Solar Panels isn't from cheap labor, but is from very advanced, state of the art factories.

    This kind of reinforces that story.

    ReplyDelete
  102. They were all gushing on CNBC this morning about a new factory in Columbus, Ga, I think it was, that was bringing the manufacture of ATM machines back to the U.S.

    It was all just wunnerful, wunnerful until somebody brought up that the City had offered some serious tax considerations to the plant for locating there, and that the workers were retrained in a cough Federal retraining program. cough

    Joe Kernan looked like he'd bit down on a persimmon.

    ReplyDelete
  103. The crime of the century was committed by Saudis, almost to a man, and we had a President too dumb, too weak and too foolish to call the felling of two building with the iconic message of raising two mushroom clouds over each and every of those camps. Message received, message answered.

    Very inefficient use of special weapons. You take out camps with B-52s dropping a lot of dumb 500 pounders. Nukes are for taking out Mecca during Hajj. At least, that's what WiO and Habu tell me.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Another "job search" guy on CNBC this morning saying they have a gazillion jobs for IT Engineers, but they just can't find'em.

    For some stupid reason the Republicans just Hate job training programs; they've even held up those 3 trade agreements over a refusal to include a retraining program for any displaced workers. I don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Had Bush used two tactical nuclear weapons on each and every AQ camp in Afghanistan and extracted $500 billion in reparations from Saudi Arabia

    That's another bad call. Nukes totally obliterate a certain radius, which even for tactical nukes is certainly larger than a training camp. So the second round would obliterate an already-obliterated zone.

    Second, the $500 billion in reparations is probably what we give KSA in three months buying their oil, and they'd make it up from sales to China for all the oil they refuse to sell us in retaliation for even suggesting they, our oil masters, pay reparations.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Deuce for overall strategy, Miss T for tactics - a winning combo.

    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  107. Excellent article in this quarter's Journal of Near Death Studies. Too long to quote, simply put, you got an essence and nobody can take it away from you, not even yourself. Chill out dudes and dudettes, everything is cool, all's gonna be all right, cept the economy, which, in the real scheme of things, don't amount to a bowl of Cheerios anyway.

    Now back to the daily frivolous argumentation.....

    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  108. Nukes are for taking out Mecca during Hajj. At least, that's what WiO and Habu tell me




    No, I never said that...

    I said nuke the rock, during winter, at midnight, after warning the population to leave..

    Not to quibble about details at the rate we are going the jihadists will do it to themselves...

    SOme jihadists think the black rock is a pagan leftover and NEEDS to be cleansed from Arabia...

    ReplyDelete
  109. Teresita said...
    Debt increase by presidents: Reagan 186%, Bush 54% Clinton 41% Bush II 72% Obama 23%. Source CBO.



    Interesting snippet of factoids...

    what was the ACTUAL DEBT THAT WAS INCREASED?

    a 23% increase on 10 TRILLION is far more than a 72% increase on 500 billion....


    statistics can put out there to say anything...

    but bullshit is still bullshit

    ReplyDelete
  110. WiO said: every home should have a few pounds of salt, few gallons of bleach and a few quarts of vinegar

    I can understand the salt and the bleach, but for the life of me I can't seem to imagine why one would need vinegar as an important survival item.


    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  111. President Floppy Ears walking back his campaign rhetoric a bit --

    "It's been a long, tough journey. But we have made some incredible strides together. Yes, we have. But the thing that we all ought to remember is that as much as good as we have done, precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we we were inheriting so many challenges, that we're not even halfway there yet. When I said 'change we can believe in' I didn't say 'change we can believe in tomorrow.' Not change we can believe in next week. We knew this was going to take time because we've got this big, messy, tough democracy," President Obama said at a campaign fundraiser in Chicago on Wednesday night.


    Meanwhile the DOW drops five hundred points.

    bobo

    ReplyDelete
  112. you don't think the sell off could possibly have anything to do with the fucking republican deflationary congress??

    no, that couldn't be true could it?

    ReplyDelete
  113. No, I really don't. The Republican House hasn't been around long enough to really influence much of anything.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  114. Dow plunges 513 points. Oy gevalt!

    ReplyDelete
  115. If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, and are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing "big" spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year.

    And that's why the Dow tanked.

    ReplyDelete
  116. The US Government is NOT a family and it doesn't finance like a family - not even close but the tea partiers love to talk like it does STUPID FOOLS that you are. The Republican party being tea bagged an all are replicating the early 30's with their deflationary policies coupled with the European Sovereign debt problems and folks are starting to realize just how much cash is getting sucked out of the system - that is not going to help the stock markets NOT AT ALL.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Apply that saved three thousand to the credit card debt, for sure.

    That's what Dave Ramsey would do.

    And, eat beans.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  118. Caught in a down market, Anon?

    Home underwater?

    b

    ReplyDelete
  119. What America needs to do, and quickly, is take tactical steps to leverage the one massive American asset has which has remained unused during this crisis: the tremendous potential within American human capital for starting new businesses of every type imaginable.

    Now is the IDEAL time for people with ideas and ambitions in America to start new businesses, and a vast portfolio of start-ups is guaranteed to give rise to multiple massive companies and industries down the road, and many, many new jobs. These also help to guarantee America's strong ownership position in new innovation-driven industries, as well as new global brand franchises.

    There are many talented people who are unemployed in America, and who could throw their energies and savings, as well as seed capital from their personal contact networks, into the creation of new businesses.

    America forgets the origins of its largest private employers. They were all startups in the beginning. And importantly, the number of years it takes today to go from startup to large employer in America these days has been dramatically shortened. For example, America's Groupon company did its first coupon in 2008, and now employs multiple thousands of people. This means much faster and longer lasting employment results than typically occur with "shovel ready projects".

    Incentives for private individuals and companies to fund job-creating startups will pay off.

    Whether it is the next Facebook, Groupon, or Starbucks, America will guarantee job creation, and industry creation, but taking the tactical steps needed to cause a flood of startups to be born.

    Right now, those with cash in America are sitting on it. That is a recipe for economic collapse.

    Those in Washington need to create

    1. incentives for those having cash, the invest it with those who have ideas, and
    2. incentives for those with ideas to hire the unemployed.

    It should be BEYOND OBVIOUS in America right now that large corporates are not seeking to employ or invest. They are seeking to reduce headcount and are keeping their cash on the sidelines.

    This is a dangerous set of circumstance which needs to be righted and righted quickly.

    Grass-roots efforts to rapidly seed startups is the way to get America going again. It leverages the national identity of Americans as entrepreneurs, creates employment, and puts idle capital to work.

    The time to move is NOW America.

    You hesitate at your own peril.

    ReplyDelete
  120. America's Congress, in the eyes of many, long ago degenerated into functioning like a paid protection racket. The notion of special treatment being accorded to those taxpayers who give campaign funds to member of Congress so as to get such treatments is difficult to differentiate from bribery, influence peddling and the selling of votes for cash. Perhaps it is difficult to differentiate because it is not different.

    -FI

    "Freedom of speech" being used to spin a defense of this practice seems an offensive judicial use of America's Bill of Rights.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Amateur Hour

    President Obama plans to barnstorm the Midwest later this month in an effort to shift his focus back on the economy and boost his sagging poll numbers after the grueling debt-ceiling fight.

    The weeks of sausage-making in Washington during the spending fight took a toll on all involved. Obama's job approval rating sank to 40% last week in Gallup's daily tracking poll -- the lowest score of his term. Congress fared even worse; a CNN/Opinion Research poll showed just 14% of Americans approved of its performance, while 84% disapproved -- the worst score ever recorded.

    ReplyDelete
  122. My Congressman voted 'no'.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  123. And the trip will be financed by those who pay taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Charles Krauthammer: "An index of how spent he is sort of intellectually on the issue of jobs is the campaign speech he gave today, the fourth in 10 days, in which he pivoted, he did his pivot, and he announced five initiatives. Listen to them. Payroll tax extension: We already have that. Unemployment insurance extension: Already have that. Trade deals: He's had it for two and a half years and done nothing. Spending on more infrastructure: a perennial -- you know, more dams, more bridges and roads. And the last one, I love that. Here's the real new one that will get us out of our doldrums: patent process reform. Now that I think is the key to economic explosion, getting us out of 9 percent unemployment.

    "He's out of bullets, he's out of arrows, he's looking for stones on the seashore. And it shows that he may want to have a jobs agenda, he may want to do a pivot -- there's nothing left in the cupboard. He did a huge Keynesian gamble, and it failed."


    b

    ReplyDelete
  125. I wonder if people are going to wake up to the fact, that our nations aren't broke, our economic system is broken. I always wonder how history professors will explain how materials gotten in one country, shipped across a ocean, and then made into something, and ship across to another country could be cheaper than the same product made local material and made locally. "Uh, teacher that doesn't make sense. You use more man power and more energy, how can it be cheaper?" We've let the free market religion get out of control, and so few people understand what the root of a real economy is. Can't afford entitlements in America, what the hell are they talking about, we're rich rich rich. Machines produce tons of wealth; it's just that wealth is concentrated at the top, and not regulated to focus on the goods and services people actually need as opposed to the endless junk they can be convince to buy. I mean enough with the international ponzi scheme; a bond is just a piece of paper, what I wipe my butt with, let's get back to making real wealth. FDR was right (except for not growing representational government to be large enough to wrangle the military industrial complex). Are we really going to have to crash the economy, before people realize the right doesn't know what its talking about; that no billionaire does a billion dollars worth of labor; that we can with modern technology, knowledge, and the right focus create the better society humanity has dreamed of since it started dreaming of such things?

    ReplyDelete
  126. Well, sure, the people are so stupid they need a guru like you to tell 'em what they really need and what not, what they can buy and what they mustn't.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  127. We just ain't got the right focus, but Anon's got the focus, and the hocus pocus, an' he'll fix us all up good, all right.

    I just hope he don't want to put the Calendar back to Day One, like some folks have tried to do, previously.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  128. Wow, just got home. Looks like I missed a hell of a day.

    ReplyDelete
  129. .

    On CNBC they are spending today arguing about whether we are in recession or moving towards a recession.

    Meaningless.

    At this point, unless you are a statistician, economist, or politician, you don't really care what they call it. There has been little growth since last year. If we are not technically in a recession, we are close enough for government work.

    Ordinary people don't need terms like recession to tell them we are in a world of shit.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  130. Dear Robert,

    Huma Abedin, best known as the wife of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, is also a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...and a woman with intense family ties to the radical terrorist organization, The Muslim Brotherhood. Though born in Michigan, she was raised in Saudi Arabia, where she met the Clintons in 1996. Abedin's mother helped found the Dar El-Hekma women's college, closely tied to the Muslim Sisterhood (the female counterpart to the Muslim Brotherhood).

    In addition, Abedin's brother Hassan is business partner with a number of Muslim Brotherhood members and works at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies to promote the study of Islam in England. Oxford is home to some of the most radical versions of Islam being spread today. It is troubling indeed to have someone with such intimate ties to a known terrorist group that hates both America and Israel so close to so much sensitive information without a proper security vetting.

    The official position of the Obama Administration supports the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital by September of this year. The UN will be voting on it soon. The Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Israel in good faith, perhaps because they have been receiving inside information on the positions of the different parties. This is a critical issue for Israel, for America, and for the entire world.

    XXXXXXX

    Looks like a world of hurt to me, by the number of cardboard sign holders outside Wal-Mart.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  131. Jeez, the laws of gravity have been repealed. Night is day. black is white. Bob is smart. I is de bone air.

    Mellon Bank is charging large depositors to put money in their bank.

    Let that one soak in a minute.

    ReplyDelete
  132. What not one birthday wish for the Big Man?

    ReplyDelete
  133. The 30 day was selling at a "Negative" rate for awhile, today. Money markets were yielding less that 1.0.

    ReplyDelete
  134. I was invited cyberly to The None's Birthday Bash, just was asked to give some money "as a Birthday present."

    I dun declined.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  135. The universe always rights itself eventually Rufus, now we be back in whack, where I is smarty, you the oaffy.

    :)

    b

    ReplyDelete
  136. .

    Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition

    WASHINGTON—After months of heated negotiations and failed attempts to achieve any kind of consensus, President Obama turned 50 years old Thursday, drawing strong criticism from Republicans in Congress. "With the host of problems this country is currently facing, the fact that our president is devoting time to the human process of aging is an affront to Americans everywhere," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who advocated a provision to keep Obama 49 at least through the fall of 2013.
    "To move forward unilaterally and simply begin the next year of his life without bipartisan support—is that any way to lead a country?"

    According to White House officials, Obama attempted to work with Republicans right up until the Aug. 4 deadline, but was ultimately left with no choice except to turn a year older.


    The Onionator

    .

    ReplyDelete
  137. Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1929.

    ReplyDelete
  138. vinegar
    Sixty Uses of Vinegar Page 1 of 4 http://www.i4at.org/lib2/60vine.htm 8/30/01 Sixty Uses Of Vinegar Here are some uses for vinegar: 1. Arthritis tonic and treatment; 2 spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar and honey in a glass of water several times daily.
    2. Thirst-quenching drink: apple cider vinegar mixed with cold water.
    3. Sagging cane chairs: sponge them with a hot solution of half vinegar and half
    water. Place the chairs out in the hot sun to dry. 4. Skin burns: apply ice cold vinegar right away for fast relief. Will prevent burn blisters.
    5. Add a spoonful of vinegar to cooking water to make cauliflower white and clean.
    6. Storing cheese: keep it fresh longer by wrapping it in a vinegar-soaked cloth and
    keeping it in a sealed container.
    7. Remove stains from stainless steel and chrome with a vinegar-dampened cloth.
    8. Rinse glasses and dishes in water and vinegar to remove spots and film.
    9. Prevent grease build-up in your oven by frequently wiping it with vinegar.
    10. Wipe jars of preserves and canned food with vinegar to prevent mold-
    producing bacteria. 11. To eliminate mildew, dust and odors, wipe down walls with vinegar-soaked cloth.
    12. Clean windows with vinegar and water.
    13. Hardened paint brushes: simmer in boiling vinegar and wash in hot soapy
    water. 14. Clean breadbox and food containers with vinegar-dampened cloth to keep fresh-smelling and clean.
    15. Pour boiling vinegar down drains to unclog and clean them.
    16. Clean fireplace bricks with undiluted vinegar.
    17. An excellent all-purpose cleaner: vinegar mixed with salt. Cleans copper,
    bronze, brass, dishes, pots, pans, skillets, glasses, windows. Rinse well.

    18. Make your catsup and other condiments last long by adding vinegar. 19. To clear up respiratory congestion, inhale a vapor mist from steaming pot containing water and several spoonfuls of vinegar. 20. Apple cider vinegar and honey as a cure-all: use to prevent apathy, obesity, hay fever, asthma, rashes, food poisoning, heartburn, sore throat, bad eyesight, dandruff, brittle nails and bad breath. 21. When boiling eggs, add some vinegar to the water to prevent white from leaking out of a cracked egg. 22. When poaching eggs, add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water to prevent separation.
    23. Weight loss: vinegar helps prevent fat from accumulating in the body.
    24. Canned fish and shrimp: to give it a freshly caught taste, soak in a mixture of
    sherry and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
    25. Add a spoonful of vinegar when cooking fruit to improve the flavor.
    26. Soak fish in vinegar and water before cooking for a tender, sweeter taste.
    27. Add vinegar to boiling ham to improve flavor and cut salty taste.
    28. Improve the flavor of desserts by adding a touch of vinegar.
    29. Add vinegar to your deep fryer to eliminate a greasy taste.
    30. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to fruit gelatin to hold it firm.
    31. Steep your favorite herb in vinegar until you have a pleasing taste and aroma.
    32. Use vinegar instead of lemon on fried and broiled foods.
    33. To remove lime coating on your tea kettle; add vinegar to the water and let
    stand overnight. 34. To make a good liniment: beat 1 whole egg, add 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup turpentine. Blend.
    35. Apply vinegar to chapped, cracked skin for quick healing.
    36. Vinegar promotes skin health: rub on tired, sore or swollen areas.
    37. Reduce mineral deposits in pipes, radiators, kettles and tanks by adding

    ReplyDelete
  139. 38. Rub vinegar on the cut end of uncooked ham to prevent mold.
    39. Clean jars with vinegar and water to remove odor.
    40. Avoid cabbage odor by adding vinegar to the cooking water.
    41. Skunk odor: remove from pets by rubbing fur with vinegar.
    42. Paint adheres better to galvanized metal that has been wiped with vinegar.
    43. Pets' drinking water: add vinegar to eliminate odor and encourage shiny fur.
    44. For fluffy meringue: beat 3 egg whites with a teaspoon of vinegar.
    45. Pie crust: add 1 tablespoon vinegar to your pastry recipe for an exceptional
    crust. 46. Half a teaspoon per quart of patching plaster allows you more time to work the plaster before it hardens. 47. Prevent discoloration of peeled potatoes by adding a few drops of vinegar to water. They will keep fresh for days in fridge. 48. Poultry water: add vinegar to increase egg production and to produce tender meat. 49. Preserve peppers: put freshly picked peppers in a sterilized jar and finish filling with boiling vinegar. 50. Olives and pimentos will keep indefinitely if covered with vinegar and refrigerated.
    51. Add 1 tsp. vinegar to cooking water for fluffier rice.
    52. Add vinegar to laundry rinse water: removes all soap and prevents yellowing.
    53. After shampoo hair rinse: 1 ounce apple cider vinegar in 1 quart of distilled
    water. 54. For a shiny crust on homemade bread and rolls: just before they have finished baking, take them out, brush crusts with vinegar, return to oven to finish baking. 55. Homemade sour cream: blend together 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup skim milk and 1 tsp. vinegar.
    56. Boil vinegar and water in pots to remove stains.
    57. Remove berry stains from hands with vinegar.
    58. Prevent sugaring by mixing a drop of vinegar in the cake icing.
    59. Cold vinegar relieves sunburn.
    60. When boiling meat, add a spoonful of vinegar to the water to make it more
    tender.
    61. Marinate tough meat in vinegar overnight to tenderize.
    62. A strength tonic: combine raw eggs, vinegar and black pepper. Blend well.
    63. Douche: 2 to 4 ounces of vinegar in 2 quarts of warm water.

    ReplyDelete
  140. I can't believe I missed a day like this, and now I'm too tired to even look back on it, and try to figure out wha hoppened.

    ReplyDelete
  141. I also recommend:

    baby wipes

    lantern mantles

    good 1st aid kit, including sutures and scapels

    ReplyDelete
  142. Heads have got to be 'sploding around the humanosphere, and I'm too tired to give a poop. I gotta get some rest. later.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency

    1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy...target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
    2. Water Filters/Purifiers
    3. Portable Toilets
    4. Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 - 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
    5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
    6. Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
    7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
    8. Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
    9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
    10. Rice - Beans - Wheat
    11. Vegetable Oil (for cooking) Without it food burns/must be boiled etc.,)
    12. Charcoal, Lighter Fluid (Will become scarce suddenly)
    13. Water Containers (Urgent Item to obtain.) Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR PLASTIC ONLY - note - food grade if for drinking.
    16. Propane Cylinders (Urgent: Definite shortages will occur.)
    17. Survival Guide Book.
    18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term lighting is difficult.)
    19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula. ointments/aspirin, etc.
    20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
    21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
    22. Vitamins
    23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is dangerous without this item)
    24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products.
    25. Thermal underwear (Tops & Bottoms)
    26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets, Wedges (also, honing oil)
    27. Aluminum Foil Reg. & Heavy Duty (Great Cooking and Barter Item)
    28. Gasoline Containers (Plastic & Metal)
    29. Garbage Bags (Impossible To Have Too Many).
    30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels
    31. Milk - Powdered & Condensed (Shake Liquid every 3 to 4 months)
    32. Garden Seeds (Non-Hybrid) (A MUST)
    33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
    34. Coleman's Pump Repair Kit
    35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
    36. Fire Extinguishers (or..large box of Baking Soda in every room)
    37. First aid kits
    38. Batteries (all sizes...buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates)
    39. Garlic, spices & vinegar, baking supplies
    40. Big Dogs (and plenty of dog food)
    41. Flour, yeast & salt
    42. Matches. {"Strike Anywhere" preferred.) Boxed, wooden matches will go first
    43. Writing paper/pads/pencils, solar calculators
    44. Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime.)
    45. Workboots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
    46. Flashlights/LIGHTSTICKS & torches, "No. 76 Dietz" Lanterns
    47. Journals, Diaries & Scrapbooks (jot down ideas, feelings, experience; Historic Times)
    48. Garbage cans Plastic (great for storage, water, transporting - if with wheels)
    49. Men's Hygiene: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc
    50. Cast iron cookware (sturdy, efficient)
    51. Fishing supplies/tools
    52. Mosquito coils/repellent, sprays/creams

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  144. 53. Duct Tape
    54. Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
    55. Candles
    56. Laundry Detergent (liquid)
    57. Backpacks, Duffel Bags
    58. Garden tools & supplies
    59. Scissors, fabrics & sewing supplies
    60. Canned Fruits, Veggies, Soups, stews, etc.
    61. Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
    62. Canning supplies, (Jars/lids/wax)
    63. Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
    64. Bicycles...Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc
    65. Sleeping Bags & blankets/pillows/mats
    66. Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered)
    67. Board Games, Cards, Dice
    68. d-con Rat poison, MOUSE PRUFE II, Roach Killer
    69. Mousetraps, Ant traps & cockroach magnets
    70. Paper plates/cups/utensils (stock up, folks)
    71. Baby wipes, oils, waterless & Antibacterial soap (saves a lot of water)
    72. Rain gear, rubberized boots, etc.
    73. Shaving supplies (razors & creams, talc, after shave)
    74. Hand pumps & siphons (for water and for fuels)
    75. Soysauce, vinegar, bullions/gravy/soupbase
    76. Reading glasses
    77. Chocolate/Cocoa/Tang/Punch (water enhancers)
    78. "Survival-in-a-Can"
    79. Woolen clothing, scarves/ear-muffs/mittens
    80. Boy Scout Handbook, / also Leaders Catalog
    81. Roll-on Window Insulation Kit (MANCO)
    82. Graham crackers, saltines, pretzels, Trail mix/Jerky
    83. Popcorn, Peanut Butter, Nuts
    84. Socks, Underwear, T-shirts, etc. (extras)
    85. Lumber (all types)
    86. Wagons & carts (for transport to and from)
    87. Cots & Inflatable mattress's
    88. Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc.
    89. Lantern Hangers
    90. Screen Patches, glue, nails, screws,, nuts & bolts
    91. Teas
    92. Coffee
    93. Cigarettes
    94. Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc,)
    95. Paraffin wax
    96. Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.
    97. Chewing gum/candies
    98. Atomizers (for cooling/bathing)
    99. Hats & cotton neckerchiefs
    100. Livestock

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  145. I get the idea.

    Looks like "it's vinegar all the way down".

    :)

    b

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  146. Cooper said the brothers wanted to go out looking for the loot, but her father refused because the FBI was out searching for the hijacker and the cash.

    Marla Cooper eventually contacted the FBI and provided her uncle's photo and a guitar strap to compare fingerprints to partial prints collected after the hijacking.

    DNA tests have so far been inconclusive, officials said.

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  147. Useful list, WiO, I posted it on my Wiki.

    ReplyDelete
  148. The mountains of Hispaniola took its toll on Tropical Storm Emily completely disrupting any cyclonic character of the storm that threatened to move over Haiti and into the Bahamas on Thursday evening into Friday and Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Mellon Bank is charging large depositors to put money in their bank.

    The Swiss banks did the same in during the Carter era.

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  150. Kemp said...
    What America needs to do, and quickly, is take tactical steps to leverage the one massive American asset has which has remained unused during this crisis: the tremendous potential within American human capital for starting new businesses of every type imaginable.


    Here in Atlanta we are getting clobbered. I have been putting out feelers that have much in common with your appeal. There are literally scores of very bright people who are either unemployed or underemployed.

    Problem: Most folks today have forgotten the past. They seriously believe that Uncle will make everything right.

    Solution: economic collapse ... proving Uncle is a retread ...

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  151. Kuwait freed nine Iraqis who were jailed in 1993 for attempting to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush, al Anba newspaper reported Thursday.

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  152. Fred Thompson: "Prisoners clean sidewalks in front of Obama's Chicago funraiser. That's unusual - shady characters OUTSIDE of a Democrat fundraiser."

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  153. Time to revisit a Democratic get together with our national poet, Walt Whitman --

    The members who comprised it were seven-eighths of them, ...the
    meanest kind of bawling and blowing officeholders, office-seekers,
    pimps, malignants, conspirators, murderers, fancy-men, custom-house
    clerks, contracts, kept-editors, spaniels well train'd to carry and
    fetch, jobbers, infidels, disunionists, terrorists, mail riflers,
    slave-catchers, pushers of slavery, creatures of the President,
    creatures of would-be Presidents, spies, bribers, compromisers,
    lobbyists, spongers, ruin'd sports, expell'd gamblers, policy-backers,
    monte-dealers, duellists, carriers of conceal'd weapons, deaf men,
    pimpled men, scarred inside with vile disease, gaudy outside with gold
    chains made from the people's money and harlots' money twisted
    together; crawling, serpentine men, the lousy combinings and born
    freedom-sellers of the earth.
    -Walt Whitman, commenting on a Democratic Party Convention (sometime
    between 1840 and 1860)



    b

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  154. carriers of conceal'd weapons

    Ah, c'mon Walt, lighten up a little.

    b

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  155. And then there is this from our clever scientists --

    REALLY BAD NEWS FOR THE FLIRTS O' THE WORLD

    Flirts Age Faster

    Like the preachers say, be thou chaste, not chased

    :):)

    b

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  156. Japanese, Australian and Korean stocks dropped around 2 percent at the open, and then quickly extended losses to around 4 percent in the first 15 minutes of trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which opened two hours later, dropped by 4.5 percent.


    That followed the worst sell-off in two years for U.S. stocks. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all in correction territory.

    "Welcome to panic selling, welcome to chaos," Enzio Von Pfeil, founder of the Economic Time Bond Fund told CNBC on Friday. "The psychology of the crowd is coming back, so everybody wants to be out of these stocks.

    According to Von Pfeil, the selloff was because "reality has finally set in that things are just not going to get solved."

    But others saw the selloff as a buying opportunity, especially over the short-term.

    "In this kind of market that we're going through now, there will be a lot of volatility particularly on the upside, the rallies will be very intense, very short, and people will want to get in," Dodge Dorland, Chief Investment Officer at Landor & Fuest Capital Managers said. "They don't want to miss it because they still haven't given up the hope."

    Some analysts point the finger directly at Europe for the volatility. The European Central Bank held its benchmark interest rate at 1.5 percent on Thursday. It also reactivated two of its most potent anti-crisis measures, increasing liquidity to banks and purchasing eurozone bonds.



    I'm staying with alfalfa futures.

    b

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  157. "In a manner that lacks credibility ... the Syrian regime recently announced the authorization of multi-party politics. This is almost a provocation," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio Thursday.

    "What we want is an end to the violence against the civilian population which is only defending its rights."

    Juppe warned that "if nothing changes in Syria," France may seek further action from the UN Security Council.

    ReplyDelete