RANT: Media Bias – Cost the FDIC?

Sunday, January 31, 2010

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Regulators-shut-banks-in-apf-1868747589.html?x=0&.v=2

Regulators shut down banks in 5 states
Regulators shutter banks in Calif., Fla., Ga., Minn., Wash., totaling 15 bank failures in 2010
By Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer , On Friday January 29, 2010, 10:48 pm EST

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators shut down a big bank in California on Friday, along with two banks in Georgia and one each in Florida, Minnesota and Washington. That brought to 15 the number of bank failures so far in 2010 atop the 140 shuttered last year in the punishing economic climate.

The failure of Los Angeles-based First Regional Bank, with nearly $2.2 billion in assets and $1.9 billion in deposits, is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund $825.5 million.

*** end quote ***

And, where, pray tell, does the FDIC get “its” money?

Yes, the taxpayer.

Either directly or indirectly.

Neither the gooferment, nor any corporation, have ANY money that doesn’t originate from a real person.

Some of the FDIC money is extracted from the banks that it “insures”, but that is extracted by the surviving banks from its customers which are, presumably, taxpayers.

Now, with the supposed “insurance” fund broke, it gets “its” money from the Treasury which means we borrow it from China!

Argh!

Hopefully, the AP writer will learn that 825.5 comes from the poor taxpayer.

And, we wonder why we are in a depression?

Economic illiteracy!

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NOTRECOMMENDED: O’Reilly and Beck Bold and Fresh; not live!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

201001311006.jpg

OK, maybe I’m a sucker. I went to the movies last night. Yes, it was a (poor quality) movie. Not the live remote performance that I was expecting. I felt suckered. The previous night, I went to the Senior Showcase, EB Vo Tech, where aspiring high school seniors displayed their talent. One of their presentations was a better quality than the “professional” one I watched last night.

Now, I understand that weather in Norfolk prevented the live performance. But I felt cheated. It was supposed to be “live”!

The film was obviously edited. I paid for the full performance and I think some of the good stuff was left on the cutting room floor. And, if it was edited, why is there a twenty minute “intermission”. Sorry, that could have been cut. Maybe it was for the old folks to tap a kidney. But, I suspect it was to allow the theater to push some over-priced “refreshments”.

On to the content, I was again disappointed:

* Beck spent to much time mocking Nancy Pelosi’s physical characteristics. At first it was funny, but after a while it got boring.

* O’Reilly was “abbreviated”. He got in some great points about was NOT in Obama’s SOTU, but it seemed like, in his head, the TV timing bell went off and he’d truncate his thought.

The audience was obnoxious. It addition to being mostly old and lilly white. The guy next to us was a fidgeter; guy behind us dropped a big tub of popcorn; and the old lady behind us kept commenting to her party about what the guys were saying. Argh! A chorus of cellphone conversations would have been less distracting.

(18 seats per row, 50 rows, pretty much sold out, 900, time 25$, 225 * 100, 22500$ per theater, times 200 theaters, !!!4,500,0 00!!!, over a million a piece for two hours of work? Hmmm!)

As far as the content was concerned, I had the following observations:

* Beck is NOT a libertarian. No self-respecting libertarian would have a demonstration planned for 8/8/10 in from of the LINCOLN memorial.

* O’Reilly is an interesting amalgam of professed small government but pro-war guy. Interesting, but dangerous. He did correctly identify that OBH44 ignored the Iran threat in the SOTU and has potentially by ignoring them made the world a more dangerous place. If israel has to take Iran on, we are in a world of hurt.

* O’Reilly pointed out that in the SOTU address OBH44 avoided the whole “War” topic. (And, neither mentioned OBH44’s failure to praise the troops. I can’t imagine any President missing that point.)

* Beck makes a good case that the Progressives are the problem.

* O’Reilly was funny in his description of how the folks will wake up and right the ship. Hope he’s right. I’m not so sure.

* Beck portrayed OBH44 as evil; O’Reilly characterized him as an inexperienced unprepared Chicago corrupt politician. (O’Reilly was especially on point with his: comparison of Chicago’s South Side with Haiti; Reverend Wright’s 2M$ mansion in a all-white suburb, AND the KSM terror trial in NYC. He reminded me of Judge Judy when she says “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true”, when O’Reilly says that the “folks” can feel when the politician isn’t telling the truth. (Like when their lips move!)

Sorry, but I can’t recommend this.

I shoulda went to see Avatar; it’d been cheaper.

Yeah I know, violating my own dictum, “Shouldas, wouldas, and couldas” will kill you.

It was: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Desi and Lucy, and probably more physically accurate Abbot and Costello or Laurel and Hardy.

But not as timeless, or not as funny.

# # # # #

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/01/the_beckoreilly_bold_fresh_tou.html

“15 minute intermission” live in Tampa

Why was ours 20 minutes?

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INTERESTING: Celtic Woman. a strange allure?

Sunday, January 31, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/IrishAmerica/Celtic-Woman-the-women-behind-the-Irish-musical-phenomenon-82109502.html

Celtic Woman: The women behind the Irish musical phenomenon
By Aliah O’Neill, Irish America Magazine
Published Thursday, January 21, 2010, 11:14 PM
Updated Friday, January 22, 2010, 7:29 AM

*** begin quote ***

The answer as to why American audiences have responded so enthusiastically to Celtic Woman has not always been clear. When I asked Lynn Hilary, who joined the group in 2007, why she thought American audiences continue to be so responsive to Celtic Woman, she admitted that at first, she wasn’t sure. “I didn’t really understand it for a long time, that they would react in such a way,” she said. “They’d be crying and on their feet every night applauding us. But American people really identify with Ireland, and a lot of Americans have Irish in their ancestry, so Celtic Woman allows them to re-identify with their roots and gives them a feeling of belonging.”

*** end quote ***

Have to admit, I’ve seen the ads, watch some of the PBS, and there is some sort of strange allure? Just like Riverdance, which having seen live twice, it has that “grab” characteristic. Maybe it’s like Irish hip hop? Or with Celtic Women, it’s full size real women in movement — as opposed to the hollywood “heroin chic” that makes women look like refugees from a Nazi Death Camp? But 40$ for a DVD of 20 songs. Not going to happen.

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RANT: We’re broke

Saturday, January 30, 2010

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aC7VY11v6aMw

*** begin quote ***

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, acting on a pledge to support nuclear power, will propose tripling loan guarantees for new reactors to more than $54 billion, two people familiar with the plan said.

*** end quote ***

As much as I like nukes, we can’t afford it. And, it’s more socialism!

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TECHNOLOGY: WEP is worthless!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

How To Hack Wireless


Safe for work

Warning for WEP users. Don’t do your banking, or anything important, on that connection.

Don’t you just love command line stuff? How long until it is packaged for the script kiddies?

# # # # #


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: wh ?ASKS? justice

Saturday, January 30, 2010

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/28/
2010-01-28_white_house_orders_justice_department_to
_look_for_other_places_to_hold_911_terro.html

White House asks Justice Department to look for other places to hold 9/11 terror trial
BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Adam Lisberg and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, January 28th 2010, 8:04 PM
Updated: Thursday, January 28th 2010, 9:14 PM

*** begin quote ***

The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

Last I checked the Justice Department WORKED FOR the White House?

I think I’d have different conversation than “asking”. A long the lines of “Bring me the head of the idiot who decide this!”

Does Holder have pictures of OBH44 with the proverbial goat?

How is he keeping his job?

Argh!

# # # # #


FUN: codswallop

Saturday, January 30, 2010

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/codswallop

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QUOTE: Epitaph on the Politician Himself

Friday, January 29, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/47878.html

*** begin quote ***

Here richly, with ridiculous display,
The Politician’s corpse was laid away.
While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged
I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged.

   ~Hilaire Belloc, Epitaph on the Politician Himself

*** end quote ***

ROFL!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The true cost of gooferment

Friday, January 29, 2010

http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/vin/WE_LOST_ARE_MEDICAL_COVERAGE.html

‘WE LOST ARE MEDICAL COVERAGE’
Posted by Vin Suprynowicz
Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 at 04:06 PM

*** begin quote ***

Many government educrats continued to receive “step” raises, “merit” raises, “cost of living” raises, raises “earned” by taking various “pedagogical” night courses, etc., in recent years, as always. Ask any government employee who claims to have “received no raises” for any period of years to show you his or her latest paycheck stub, and a paycheck stub from two or three years ago, to demonstrate that the base rate of pay has remained the same. In most cases, watch for the mumbling and backpedaling to then begin.

*** end quote ***

Bottom line: we can NOT afford gooferment education. Nor, all the pensions and benefit costs of all the gooferment workers.

# # # # #


FUN: fabulist

Friday, January 29, 2010

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Fabulist

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POLITICS: A spending freeze? Is he kidding me?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

reinkefj has left a new comment on the post “A spending freeze? Is he kidding me?”:

Amazing when the wacko left and the wacko right agree, a spending freeze is just dumb. What he needs to do is what he promised in the campaign. Sit down with the Federal budget and a red pen.

Freezing spending at current levels is just enshrining the past mistakes.

imho, for example, milk and sugar price supports. We pay money so that people have to pay higher prices?

imho, minimum wage, that puts minority youths out of work. If there is a marginal worker, he’s out as opposed to making a few bucks. And, it cost the taxpayers in all sorts of ways.

imho, military bases in 170 countries. Let have some base closings in strange places.

That’s the way to “freeze” spending.

# # # # #

It merely “freezes” the increased spending of the past decade. Argh!

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POLITICS: My SOTUA!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/01/27/a-10-point-libertarian-sotu-address/

A 10-Point, Libertarian, SOTU Address

Posted by Jeffrey A. Miron

*** begin quote ***

1. Abandon Obamacare

2. Forget Cap and Trade

3. Reject the Card Check Bill

4. Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan

5. Legalize Drugs

6. Scrap the tax code and replace with a flat tax

7. Expand free trade and immigration

8. Stop the bailouts

9. Cut spending

10. Cut spending

BONUS – Cut spending

*** end quote ***

1. End the war. Bring the troops home. Close foreign bases. Department of Defense is NOW in charge of national defense. All national defense.

2. Income tax is over. A drastically reduced Federal budget will be funded on import duties and excise taxes.

3. The drug war is now OVER. All non-violent drug offenders are granted a Presidential pardon. All violent drug offenders MAY apply for clemency.

4. The death penalty IS cruel and unusual punishment. All death row inmates are commuted to life without parole.

5. All welfare (including corporate welfare) will be phased out. All immigration rules will be phased out.

6. The Federal Reserve is to be audited. Legal tender laws are NOW unconstitutional.

7. Social Security and government pensions will be securitized by bonds. National assets will be pledged as collateral for these recognition bonds.

8. All “government entities” are suspended effective immediately. All especially the IRS, BATF, etc. etc. etc. will be shutting down. If States wish to fund an entity like the FBI with funding based on population.

9. All bailouts are to be recalled. Automakers will be spun out to the citizens.

10. All “health care” and “health insurance” rules are to be phased out.

That’s my LIBERTARIAN SOTUA (State Of The Union Address)!

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WRITING: Sometimes It’s A Gun (An Index Card Novel)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sometimes It’s A Gun (An Index Card Novel)

The poor fat old white guy injineer had his home. Modest. Unpretentious. He prepped as best he could. He wasn’t handy. He wasn’t Supreman, Batman, or even Robin. And, certainly not rich. No Caddie survivalist; he had some food, water, and weapons put aside. He provided for his extended family as best he could. His big concern was the Golden Horde overwhelming them. It was truly something he could do something about. After all he was a smart injineer.

It started with a hunting cart, a gas cylinder, and a memory of how one of his long passed uncle’s neighbors scared crows. Controlled gas explosions directed by a tube. When the birds became to accustomed to it, a self-adjusting valve changed the pitch. From Boom to Bang.

# – # – #

The S did hit the F. His extended family assembled at his “retreat”. Stuff was working out for them. The the MZBs began to circle. Conventional rifles drove off the scouts. That scared the poor fat old white guy into action. He rolled out his Domesday weapon. Their lives would depend upon an untested after thought memory of times past.

He handed out make shift Darth Vader helmets and foam temporary ear plugs. The teenagers thought it was dumb; the younger boys were kool with it. The babies were hard. Eventually everyone was protected.

# – # – #

The local gang linked with two neighboring gangs with promising a “fat target” with women and girls. It was an easy sell. They gathered up for a straight bull rush up the dead end street and driveway. There was a little gas grill at the head of the driveway. Unconcerned, the rush was on. There was no firing from the house or grounds. Perhaps they residents had evacuated.

Half way up the driveway, they heard a small bang. Then, a HUGE one. At two meter intervals in the attacking mob, men and women collapsed with blood streaming from their ears. At five meter intervals, eyes exploded outward as interocular pressure surge in harmonic resonance. In the twenty five meter arc, attackers collapsed like pole axed from strokes caused by rupturing cranial blood vessels.

It was over in minutes. Those retreating blundered right into killing zones. When the “weapon” ran out of gas, (it had no shut off) the poor fat old white guy emerged from the house and switched to the alternative cylinder and was ready for another wave. He replaced the empty propane grill cylinder. There were a dozen ready to grill or defend. He looked at the bodies and wondered how he’d clean them all up. Guess his supply of garbage bags would have to be body bags.

# # # # #

Eventually, order was restored. The “authorities” came to investigate how three gangs were wiped out by one household. They were looking, of course, for “weapons violations”. There had to be automatic weapons to be seized.

As they walked the street, it was interesting that arcs had been created bulging in the asphalt. They arrested everyone in the house. Even babies. For officer safety, of course. Their search went on for several days. Even to the point of bringing in metal detectors. Other than a few odd casings, they found nothing.

Autopsies of the “victims” showed no bullet wounds and that many had died of “natual causes”. The “authorities” were mystified. The residents were released. With out apology or comment. But with a warning, that the “authorities” would be watching them. Their guns were not returned.

The poor fat old white guy went back to his home. Amused, but safe. And, he still had his “gas grill”. He wondered if he could make it portable. Holster-able?

# # # # #


RANT: BHO44’s Freeze!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/01/graph_of_the_day_for_january_2_8.html

*** begin quote ***

President Obama’s FY 2010 budget request (including stimulus) as percentage increases over FY 2009, by discretionary category (i.e., not including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or TARP):

Education: +209%

Commerce: +131%

Energy: +92.6%

Transportation: +70.8%

HUD: +40.8%

Labor: +39.5%

Interior: +32.7%

Agriculture: +30.4%

HHS: +28.0%

Veterans: +13.8%

International: +11.9%

Justice: +8.9%

Treasury: +8.7%

Defense: +2.5%

Source: The White House (Table S-12)

*** end quote ***

Something to remember every time some one talks about “BHO44’s Freeze”.

“After the horse is gone” comes to mind!

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JOBSEARCH: Students, use your content to get ready for job search

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

http://www.careersolvers.com/blog/2010/01/25/career-management-it-takes-a-village/comment-page-1/#comment-2201

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Career Management: It Takes a Village

*** begin quote ***

Last week I attended the first of many college planning meetings at my daughter’s school. Jammed into the school auditorium with 200+ other neurotic parents of high school juniors, I listened to details about student entrance exam test dates, transcripts, and application deadlines.

*** and ***

In some ways I think career management starts well before a person’s career starts. And choosing a college that is going to help with that process should be part of the plan. You know the saying; it takes a village to raise a child…I think every child needs that same village to start their career.

*** end quote ***

I don’t understand for the inet generation to not create a “personal brand” using their high school and college work. I advise the College kids that I speak with to create a web presence. I am astonished that kids studying MARKETING have NO web presence. I’m all so astonished that they seem to fail to understand the concept of “indelible digital dirt”. Career management starts with making a sale of one’s labor possible. imho.

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INTERESTING: The term retronym

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-a-retronym/

What’s a Retronym?
by Maeve Maddox

*** begin quote ***

Earlier than that, back when he mowed the grass, my big brother longed for an “electric mower.” Now the kind of mower he called a “lawnmower” is called a “push lawnmower.”

“Cloth diaper” and “push lawnmower” are retronyms.

The term retronym came into the language in 1980 when William Safire credited Frank Mankiewicz, president of National Public Radio, with its first use.

*** end quote ***

I never heard of this. Have you?

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FUN: Witling

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

1. One who aspires to wittiness. 2. One who has little wit.

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NEWJERSEY: Why Not Vouchers? It’s not moral!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2010/01/24/opinions/doc4b5899611e622323956261.txt#blogcomments

DISPATCHES: Keep public schools public
Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:41 PM EST
By Hank Kalet, Managing Editor

*** begin quote ***

   Bret Schundler may be the state’s leading proponent of school vouchers.

   The former Jersey City mayor, who twice ran unsuccessfully for governor, has been an outspoken advocate for using public money to help pay private-school tuition. And if newly sworn-in Gov. Chris Christie has his way, Mr. Schundler will be the state’s new education commissioner.

   With this appointment, it seems pretty clear the governor is not just firing a warning shot at the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s teachers union. He is making it clear he plans to push one of the conservative establishment’s pet causes during his four-year term in office.

   ”We agree on the type of significant reform that needs to happen in our educational system here in New Jersey,” he said in announcing his education choice last week (The New York Times). “I want a strong, reasonable, bold leader who’s going to help me implement those policies.”

   Advocates for school vouchers say they create competition among schools and improve education for all students. The theory is, by giving low-income parents a portion of the money that otherwise would go to their public school, they will be able to pay tuition so their children can attend better private or parochial schools. The threat of losing students — and money — then would spur the public schools to improve, improving quality for all students.

*** end quote ***

Only an ideologue could fail to agree that the “schools” are a failure. Despite what the teacher’s union tells us on TV. They have failed in educating. AND, in failing, they have done it at a price we can’t afford.

So why not try “vouchers”?

(1) It reinforces the idea that the cost of educating a child is NOT that of the parents. (I didn’t have them so why to I have to educate them. I don’t feed them, clothe them, or make any choice about them.

(2) There is no Number 2.

Since I can’t get out from under the burden of paying to ecuate Other People’s Children, then let’s have vouchers which might EVENTUALLY result in my escape from this unfair levy!

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TECHNOLOGY: Getting your data

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/14/medical.records/

Patients demand: ‘Give us our damned data’
By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent
January 14, 2010 9:13 a.m. EST

*** begin quote ***

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which governs access to medical records, gives hospitals and doctors 30 days to respond to a request for medical records, although some state laws provide for a shorter time frame, and in urgent situations, such as a transfer to another hospital, it’s customary for hospitals to move more quickly.

Be prepared to make your request in writing, McCabe says. You can bring it in person, or fax the request in, but make sure you confirm that the hospital’s received it.

One way to get your medical records more quickly is to seek out providers who use electronic medical records so the records can be e-mailed to you, she says. Some providers have an electronic portal so you can read your records anytime you want on a secure site on the Internet.

*** end quote ***

Here’s a great advice. With all of Frau’s medical problems, I wish I kept better records. I have a lot, but not everything. And not organized in the most useable fashion.

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: Can make you look dumb — TOTUS!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100119/480/9131bc77c7534185bdbf267bb4ab8497/

201001251120.jpg

AP  Tue Jan 19, 10:54 AM ET

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

*** begin quote ***

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaks to the media after a discussion with 6th grade students at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

*** end quote ***

What was the derisive term TELEPROMPTER instead of PRESIDENT. TOTUS?

Can he ever be unscripted?

If the media had shown this before the election, maybe we’d be screaming about McCain and stuff?

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FUN: pecksniffian

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

pecksniffian

hypocritically and unctuously affecting benevolence or high moral principles.

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INTERESTING: Notre Dame is a hollow shell

Monday, January 25, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/sport/Notre-Dame-Coach-Brian-Kellys-religious-values-questioned-81879027.html

Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly’s religious, Catholic values questioned
By SEAN O’SHEA, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9:09 AM
Updated Saturday, January 16, 2010, 4:31 PM

*** begin quote ***

Good for him. It is absolutely no one’s business what private views Coach Kelly holds and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. After all, few blinked an eye when Lou Holtz campaigned for a Republican candidate when he was head coach.

*** end quote ***

What a joke!

We KNOW that long ago Notre Dame sacrificed EVERYTHING to the FOOTBALL program.

And, we know that the administration sacrificed the CATHOLIC identity for a chance to give pro-abortion BHO44 with an “honorary degree”.

So, while he is Constitutionally free to believe whatever he wants, Notre Dame can only pretend to be a “Catholic” institution of higher learning. It’s not about being “Catholic”, and it’s not about “learning”. It’s about “winning”.

Unfortunately, their “winning” is all short-tern short-run meaningless “achievement”!

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RANT: The police need some moderation

Monday, January 25, 2010

Death by Checkpoint: A Murder in Massachusetts

via LewRockwell.com Blog by William Grigg on 1/24/10

*** begin quote ***

Kenneth Howe of Worcester, Massachusetts was beaten to death by police last November 25. This is the official conclusion by the Essex County Medical Examiner, who ruled that the official cause of death was “blunt impact of the head and torso with compression of the chest.” It is profoundly doubtful that the killing of the 45-year-old Howe– carried out by a swarm of 10-20 tax-feeders at a “sobriety checkpoint” — will be prosecuted as a criminal offense of any kind, let alone murder.

*** and ***

The murder of Kenneth Howe at an East Berlin-style checkpoint in Massachusetts is a sobering illustration of a principle none of us can afford to forget: While government cannot produce anything of value, it excels at making “criminals” out of innocent people, and corpses out of living human beings.

*** end quote ***

# – # – #

FROM MY LUDDITE FRIEND

On Jan 25, 2010, at 9:05 AM, LUDDITE wrote:

I admit that some of the articles you send are devastating and sad. But I have to believe in the scheme of things it’s just like reporting on the wars…you only see the bad news in the media and hear nothing of the good. You have probably sent me 50-100 articles…they are likely tens of thousands of good endings that no one reported. It appears to me to just represent a microcosm (?sp?) of the bigger populace….we area more angry, more sinful, more violent bunch of people than we were 50 years ago.

# – # – #

The gooferment is force. And, that is the root of the problem.

In a system of “law and order”, the police are out of control. If you were examining a manufacturing process’ sample, where the incidence of defects is SUPPOSED to be zero, that had a large number of true positive defects, you’d designate the process as out of control. You wouldn’t blame the sample or say that the defects were acceptable because the process was turning out lots of good stuff.

Would you?

I would quibble that the media really only reports the most egregious examples. If they don’t have video, they don’t cover it. Unless there are 51 shots in minutes, (indicating that some had to reload), they don’t cover it.

And, we don’t see all the “little intrusions” into our lives, where we are “scared” into compliance. Argh!

No, I think the police, and the militarization of the police, is unacceptable. The corruption of the political class by money is unacceptable. The failure of civic virtue in the people, as evidenced by 51% are takers, is unacceptable. The failure of the currency, as evidence by all the unfunded gooferment “guarantees” like SocSec, is unacceptable.

We have so much that I find unacceptable, I just don’t know where to start! So I’ll start by convincing you. :-)

# – # – #

We’ll see if I can convince LUDDITE! I r an injineer; not a politician.

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MONEY: Is a Zimbabwe here preventable?

Monday, January 25, 2010

http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/01/letter_re_hyperinflation_appea.html

Letter Re: Hyperinflation Appears Certain for the US Dollar
from SurvivalBlog.com by James Wesley, Rawles

*** begin quote ***

Katrina and Haiti are examples of either predictable events or unpredictable instantaneous events as would be a single nuclear event such as a “suitcase bomb” . Each of these has a number of things in common, but the most significant is the limited geography associated with each. The biggest difference between Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake is the lack of adjacent unaffected land. In the case of Katrina there was a place to bug out to, on foot or by vehicle, without walking into hostility, and the time to do it. In Haiti, there is no warning and no place to go unless you are a long distance swimmer, but it will be remedied and controlled. There will simply be more deaths and casualties along the way. There will be survivors and they will by and large return to the way things were before the quakes.

*** end quote ***

Excellent observation. Geographic disaster zone where help can come from the outside … … eventually. The trick will be to survive until help arrives.

*** begin quote ***

Our society is so intertwined that any number of small subtle events can build up to and then spark these events. As with Katrina, those signs are out there. You are being warned, and just have to identify what they are and be on the outlook for them. I would compare Haiti to a localized small nuke; no warning, nothing to see coming, it just happens.

*** and ***

It could be a stock market crash, droughts, government failure to renew its short term debt, political upheaval, increased taxes or something as obvious as hyperinflation caused by continued Fed intervention into the economy. It is likely that all of these things and many others, in their own small way, will collectively be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There is no way to tell which one or ones and when it is likely to happen. History tells us that it will happen.

*** and ***

I could ramble on forever about all of these things, but consider that hyperinflation is absolutely in our future. It’s caused by the Federal Reserve Bank and our government. The only way to decrease the value of what we owe is to print more money, or go to war. Printing more money simply dilutes the value of the dollar in this country. We buy oil with those dollars, and the less they are worth, the more dollars it takes to buy it. All things in our world are directly related to oil. The more it costs, the more everything else costs. Most of our goods are imported from foreign countries. The less the dollar is worth, the more dollars it costs to buy them. As the dollar decreases in value and it takes more dollars to buy the same old necessities, your paycheck never increases proportionately, and if the company you work for fails to make a profit, you’ll be unemployed. That $2 gallon of milk may soon cost $5 or even $10 dollars. As in Zimbabwe, $1,000 or more dollars. Sometimes it can’t be had at any price. Our money today has decreased dramatically in value and purchasing power since the Federal Reserve began in 1913. If you are my age, you’ll remember 15 cent per gallon gasoline. At that time minimum wage was $1.25 per hour. I could buy 8.3 gallons of gas for every hour worked. Today, using the same comparison, I could almost buy only 3 gallons for one hour worked at today’s minimum wage. This applies to all commodities. It’s only going to get worse, much worse.

*** and ***

The government is giving away more money than we provide to it. It’s generating unbelievable debt. Taxes have to be increased. This will decrease how much money you have to buy the more expensive goods and services. Watch the M2 and M3 money funds. They are the gauge of how much money the government is borrowing. Watch the roll-over or default of the short term debt at the end of this year. Where will the money come from to pay the $2 trillion in short term debt? Why would China or anyone else loan us this money when even they can se that they will not get repaid in anything other than de-valued dollars.

You will never see the truth about any of these topics reported in the MSM, and there is a dearth of connecting the dots, even on the Internet. As you read about these things, ask yourself, “what does it really mean” and how does it link the the other current happenings. I can’t list all of the inter-related subjects that have an effect on this, but can only advise you to pay attention. If you don’t, it will sneak up on you and you won’t be ready. – Tom H.

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A very astute set of observations imho.

I’m not so sure now with the elections in VA, NJ, and MA, that disaster might be avoidable.

With gridlock on the horizon, we have a chance to allow the market to correct the economy on its own without “help” from the gooferment.

If the congress critters were serious people, they would recognize the terrible effect of the annual deficit and the national debt. Glenn Beck has been doing yeoman’s work in calling national focus to it.

I’d suggest that each year, we should have a national surcharge on income tax. I’m not for an income tax, property tax, or any kind of tax, but we have to save the ship. I’d rather be a passenger rather than Robinson Crusoe. So let’s start! Someone has to go thru the Federal Budget, line by line, a la that great movie “Dave”, and have a “fire sale”. Department of Education, out. Department of Agriculture, out. Price Supports, out. Foreign Aid, out. You get the idea. After we are pared down to the “bare bones”, it’s time to “fix” the tax code. Identify the poverty line in every zip code. Income minus the poverty amount. And, then take -steal – rob 10%. Then add 1% for the national debt. 1% for the last year’s deficit.

It would be a way back.

No deficit; no need for the surcharge. No debt; no need for a surcharge. That’s paying off the credit card.

Then, we have to look at all the unfunded mandates?

Maybe financial collapse is inevitable?

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QUOTE: Chuchill “equal sharing of miseries”

Sunday, January 24, 2010

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

-Winston Churchill

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INTERESTING: Fixing Haiti long-term

Saturday, January 23, 2010

http://economics.gmu.edu/wew/articles/10/Haiti%27sAvoidableDeathToll.htm

A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010

Haiti’s Avoidable Death Toll

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The way out of Haiti’s grinding poverty is not rocket science. Ranking countries according to: (1) whether they are more or less free market, (2) per capita income, and (3) ranking in International Amnesty’s human rights protection index, we would find that those nations with a larger free market sector tend also to be those with the higher income and greater human rights protections. Haitian President Rene Preval is not enthusiastic about free markets; his heroes are none other than the hemisphere’s two brutal communist tyrants: Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

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We can’t fix it, but let’s keep the crooked leaders out of the USA. Persona Non Grata.

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