by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
Planning on a lot of popcorn from now until 2016.
Oy Vey!!!
Article at HuffPo
Via: Memeorandum
Flower - Power
An autumnal vibe can be felt in this outfit today, maybe because this rich palette colors of the dress or maybe just because I secretly want a little change and Fall is what comes to my mind as a next natural change. Have a great day everyone!
Dress: Harlyn/ I also love this one Here
Shoes: Miu Miu/ option Here and Here
Parka Jacket: Green Envelope/ similar Here, Here and Here
Necklace: Flea Market find/ option Here and Here
Clutch: 3.1 Phillip Lim/ Here
Sunglasses: Ray Ban/ Here
refinishing the bench
When will I learn?! That's rhetorical by the way, as I think I am beyond help.
Ever since I wrote about the glory that is unpainted wood furniture (here), I've had a hankering to add some, somewhere. And since I've got extra furniture three rows deep in the basement, I figured buying something wasn't the way to go.
Luckily I've been eyeing my church pew. I've been thinking of changing the red for some time, as I talked about here, so why not go with the color it was originally meant to be anyway.
In theory anyway.
Quick history on the pew, it came from the small country chapel that my great-great-grandfather founded long long ago. My mom acquired it back in the early 80's when they renovated the chapel and at that time it was painted brown. Why in the world would someone paint wood furniture brown? That's exactly what I was thinking too! Anyway, she promptly painted it red and it has been that way ever since. The point being no one that I know knew what type of wood this was or how it would look.
I love to solve a good mystery so I tested a little spot with my Citristrip just to see what I was getting into. If it looked bad I could paint that spot again or worse yet just put a pillow over it.
What a tease. It was worse than Ryan Seacrest before a commercial break. It was all, oh, I'm bubbling right away, I'll come up with no problem. And the first layer did.
That's right, I said first layer. But it was the layer, upon layer, upon layer of brown...paint/natural stain/mystery McGuyver substance that wouldn't. go. away.
I don't really have any pictures of this phase as its hard to take a picture while banging you head but basically each day started with 'I'm sure this will be the last layer of brown goop, I can do this' and ended with 'Who in lucifer's reach made this #%$^!!!'.
This went on for a week.
It was the worst as it looked as if there wasn't any paint there but when I scraped off the Cirtristrip there was more and more dark brown goo. I never did find out what it was but I got as much off as I could.
I used my last bit of energy to sand and then I stopped. The bench and I needed some time apart.
Have you ever underestimated a DIY project? Have you wanted to beat a piece of furniture? Do you have any idea what that brown goop could have been?
Come back next week when we see how the old girl looks now.
Ever since I wrote about the glory that is unpainted wood furniture (here), I've had a hankering to add some, somewhere. And since I've got extra furniture three rows deep in the basement, I figured buying something wasn't the way to go.
Luckily I've been eyeing my church pew. I've been thinking of changing the red for some time, as I talked about here, so why not go with the color it was originally meant to be anyway.
In theory anyway.
Quick history on the pew, it came from the small country chapel that my great-great-grandfather founded long long ago. My mom acquired it back in the early 80's when they renovated the chapel and at that time it was painted brown. Why in the world would someone paint wood furniture brown? That's exactly what I was thinking too! Anyway, she promptly painted it red and it has been that way ever since. The point being no one that I know knew what type of wood this was or how it would look.
I love to solve a good mystery so I tested a little spot with my Citristrip just to see what I was getting into. If it looked bad I could paint that spot again or worse yet just put a pillow over it.
What a tease. It was worse than Ryan Seacrest before a commercial break. It was all, oh, I'm bubbling right away, I'll come up with no problem. And the first layer did.
That's right, I said first layer. But it was the layer, upon layer, upon layer of brown...paint/natural stain/mystery McGuyver substance that wouldn't. go. away.
I don't really have any pictures of this phase as its hard to take a picture while banging you head but basically each day started with 'I'm sure this will be the last layer of brown goop, I can do this' and ended with 'Who in lucifer's reach made this #%$^!!!'.
This went on for a week.
It was the worst as it looked as if there wasn't any paint there but when I scraped off the Cirtristrip there was more and more dark brown goo. I never did find out what it was but I got as much off as I could.
I used my last bit of energy to sand and then I stopped. The bench and I needed some time apart.
Have you ever underestimated a DIY project? Have you wanted to beat a piece of furniture? Do you have any idea what that brown goop could have been?
Come back next week when we see how the old girl looks now.
Dr. Broderick Arrested At Italy Museum After Breaking Off 600-year-old Statue's Finger
Patrick B. Broderick, M.D.
By H. Nelson Goodson
August 7, 2013
Florence, Italy - Police in Florence identified Patrick B. Broderick, M.D., 55, of New Fairfield, Connecticut as the suspect who broke a pinky finger off the 600-year-old statue of the Virgin by Florantine sculptor Giovanni d'Ambargio inside the Museo deil'Opera del Duomo. Police say, a guard saw Broderick getting to close to the statue and tried to stop him, but Broderick had already broken off the pinky finger off the statue before the guard could get to him.
Broderick was detained for questioning and then released. He could face a fine and the cost of fixing the statue. The museum has not filed any charges yet. Dr. Broderick was visiting the museum with his wife and two adult children. He is expected back in the U.S. by Monday.
Tourists are warned not to touch the statues at the museum, but Broderick failed to keep his distance because he was trying to measure the statue's hand with his own, according to police. Broderick an emergency surgeon at Danbury Hospital did apologized, but it might become an expensive moment for him, if the museum bills him for the damage done to the statue.
The pinky that Broderick broke had been a replacement for the missing marble pinky finger, according to the museum director Timothy Vernon.
Jennifer Lopez Reached 25M Likes In Facebook Account
August 7, 2013
Real Dividends per Capita
Click to enlarge.
The tree that stands above the others gets blown down - Chinese proverb
Okay, yes. Technically speaking, the tree was blown down in 2009. It's not going to happen again though. This new tree has a concrete base reinforced with rebar!
Root system? This new tree don't need no stinkin' root system. It's growing to the sky without one!
Wiktionary: no tree grows to the sky
There are limits on growth. Growth does not continue indefinitely, eventually it will halt or collapse.
Oh, please. Infinite ZIRP fertilizer equals infinite growth! Everybody knows it, except for those clueless Japanese.
Click to enlarge.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
St. Louis Fed: Interest Rates, Discount Rate for Japan
Driver Side-wiped Milwaukee Police Squad While Parked On S. Layton Blvd.
Photos: HNG/HNNUSA
By H. Nelson Goodson
August 6, 2013
Milwaukee, WI - On Tuesday, a Milwaukee Police squad was hit (side-wiped) by a gray vehicle on its left driver's side while an officer was seating inside. An unidentified driver going northbound around 5:00 p.m. on S. Layton Blvd. at the 900 block hit the squad on the side causing door and rear view side door mirror damage on the squad driver's side.
The male driver was immediately pulled over at the Walgreen's parking lot. A child accompanied the driver.
A woman in the area said, the police squad was parked in front of 940 S. Layton Blvd. facing North when the driver drove by to close and side-wiped the squad. The driver stopped after the incident.
Police would not give any additional details, other that the male driver was detained for questioning and pending an investigation.
An Up and Coming Progressive Site...
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
Today's blog entry is a very special entry. It is special in that it features a relatively new, yet up and coming spokesperson for the progressive minded in blogistan general. There are too few words to describe the potential impact this canine lover could have on the progressive movement.
As I said there are too few words to describe this gentleman of the left. So, rather than try I will leave you with just a brief description of his talents. He is very focused on melodrama, fancies himself a sort of Sherlock Holmes, and he has an apparent obsession with misplaced periods.
The volume of his thought is voluminous, and his edgy razor sharp analysis is as blunt as a hoe. But nonetheless the herculean efforts he has put forth in developing his following has been impressive. For this he deserves recognition, and from the conservative (not republican) and libertarian thinkers and bloggers a huge thank you. Check out the links provided and then spend some time perusing the balance of his creative work. You will I believe be, well... I'll leave that for you to decide.
Without further ado, the left's up and coming Blogger Extraordinaire
Intellectually Honest? .... Oops misplaced periods! The prior is open to debate. Hope you enjoy your perusal.
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
Today's blog entry is a very special entry. It is special in that it features a relatively new, yet up and coming spokesperson for the progressive minded in blogistan general. There are too few words to describe the potential impact this canine lover could have on the progressive movement.
As I said there are too few words to describe this gentleman of the left. So, rather than try I will leave you with just a brief description of his talents. He is very focused on melodrama, fancies himself a sort of Sherlock Holmes, and he has an apparent obsession with misplaced periods.
The volume of his thought is voluminous, and his edgy razor sharp analysis is as blunt as a hoe. But nonetheless the herculean efforts he has put forth in developing his following has been impressive. For this he deserves recognition, and from the conservative (not republican) and libertarian thinkers and bloggers a huge thank you. Check out the links provided and then spend some time perusing the balance of his creative work. You will I believe be, well... I'll leave that for you to decide.
Without further ado, the left's up and coming Blogger Extraordinaire
Intellectually Honest? .... Oops misplaced periods! The prior is open to debate. Hope you enjoy your perusal.
"Living wage" mentality reflects misunderstanding of business reality
Fast food workers in seven cities were on strike last week demanding a "living wage" of $15 an hour, more than twice the $7.25 they currently make. Empathy aside, this expectation is a fantasy.
Every job has a value, but it is based not on what the person who has the job thinks it should be worth, or what sympathetic observers think it should be worth, but on its role in the business.
How important is the job to the business, compared to other jobs? Are other people who can do the job a scarce commodity, or are there thousands of them? Some jobs require substantial training, while others do not, and individuals with the required training deserve higher pay than those without training. Minimum wage jobs in the fast food industry require no formal training; the worker can learn on the job, and while the worker is learning to do the job satisfactorily, the boss endures lower-than-necessary productivity.
Who exactly works for the minimum wage? These jobs are entry-level work intended for people just getting started in the workaday world, like students trying to earn a little money while pursuing their education, or people with little or no skills or experience looking to get some skill and experience. About half of the 1.6 million minimum wage workers are under 25 years of age. The minimum wage is not intended to be, and cannot be, a “living wage.”
The minimum wage is, indeed, a low wage, but most of those workers get a raise in less than a year, and there are fewer of them today than in the past. The number of people making at or under the minimum wage today is 28 per 1,000 wage and salary workers, while in 1976 there were 79 per 1,000 wage and salary workers.
Most employers want the best workers they can find, so if most workers produce 10 of something an hour and Joe can produce 12 an hour, or if Mary’s work is of higher quality than other employees, the boss is likely to give them a raise to keep them on staff.
For people in minimum wage jobs with few or no skills, demanding their salary be doubled to a "living wage" is somewhat akin to high school students demanding they be given a college diploma. And anyone earning minimum wage that is unhappy with it can go look for a better-paying job. If they can't find one, do their best at the current job, and get some training that will qualify them for something better.
An organization calling itself Socialist Alternative illustrates graphically the failure of a “living wage" minimum wage in an article titled "Profit is The Unpaid Labor of Workers."
"Hypothetically, lets assume that our job pays $7.50 an hour and our boss wants us to work for twenty hours," the article says. "At $7.50 an hour for twenty hours, that’s a total of $150. In that same period of time, however, the work we do will probably make $300, $400, or $1000 worth of pizza."
And here's where it gets good: "What does this mean? Just for arguments sake, lets assume we only create $300 worth of pizza. After our boss gives us $150 for our week’s worth of work – meaning our own labor essentially pays our wage – he is left with an additional $150 that he did not work for."
There’s a brilliant bit of insight hidden in that paragraph: "our own labor essentially pays our wage." To the socialist mentality, the only cost of running the pizza parlor is what the boss pays the pizza maker. Everything else – flour, sauce, pepperoni, cheese, insurance, rent/mortgage, electricity, water, sewage, trash pickup, taxes, fees, etc. – the boss apparently gets for nothing, and the money collected for the pizza that is not paid to the pizza maker is ill-gotten gains.
The "living wage" strikers similarly do not understand business, and what happens when wages go up. Raising the minimum wage requires a commensurate raise in all wages, to avoid causing strife among the other workers, and that means price increases that make the business less competitive. That could lead to staff cutbacks or ultimately closing the business.
The strikers and the socialists fail to understand and appreciate the investments of the owner(s), who may have mortgaged their home to finance the business, and managers of larger businesses, who usually have spent years in training and working to get where they are, perhaps starting as a minimum wage employee themselves.
Owners get whatever is left over after everyone else – employees, venders, lenders, taxes, etc. – have been paid. Often, particularly in the beginning or during hard economic times, that is little or nothing. And, few employees work as hard as the owner of a small business, and particularly a new business, yet the Socialist Alternative begrudges them making a decent return on their investment of capital and time.
It’s easy to criticize the boss from the sidelines. The best course for these critics would be their forced entry into the business owner’s world. At their own expense, of course. They would undoubtedly see things differently in short order.
Small Time Deposits vs. Large Time Deposits
Click to enlarge.
Small time deposits have become an endangered species.
There was a temporary exponential trend failure (seen in the break from the blue line) heading into the Great Recession, but we're apparently getting back on trend soon (using the new red line).
Giant Sucking Sound
The phrase, coined during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, referred to the sound of U.S. jobs heading south for Mexico should the proposed free-trade agreement go into effect.
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994.
Click to enlarge.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
St. Louis Fed: Trade Balance: Goods and Services, Balance of Payments Basis
A-Rod Rodriguez and 12 Other Major League Baseball Players Suspended For Using Steroids
New York Yankee player Alex Rodriguez suspended along with 12 other Major League Baseball players for taking performance-enhancing steroids.
By H. Nelson Goodson
August 6, 2013
On Monday, Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (BUD) Selig announced the suspension of 13 Major League Baseball (MLB) players including New York Yankee third baseman player Alex Rodriguez, aka, A-Rod. Rodriguez has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the 2013 Championship Season and Postseason and the entire 2014 Championship Season.
Rodriguez's discipline under the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program is based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years, according to Selig.
MLB found that all of players violated the Joint Drug Prevention & Treatment Program & Basic Agreement for taking or using drug enhancement steroids from a Miami Biogenesis Clinic.
Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games, until 2014. He is the only MLB player to appeal the suspension, which takes effect on Thursday. Rodriguez suspension was stayed and he will be allowed to play until the appeal process is exhausted and decided, if he in fact took drug enhancement treatments to boost his batting career. Rodriguez violations stem from taking steroids and obstructing the Biogenisis investigation, according the MLB.
Also suspended on Monday for the next 50 games, but won't appeal the suspensions were Antonio Bastardo (Phillies), Everth Cabrera (Padres), Nelson Cruz (Rangers), Francisco Cervelli (Yankees), Fautinos De Los Santos, Sergio Escalona, Fernando Martinez, Jesus Montero (Mariners), Jordan Norberto, Jhonny Peralta (Tigers), Cesar Puello and Jordany Valdespin (Mets).
The MLB investigation found violations committed by either Gio Gonzalez or Danny Valencia.
The following MLB player have completed their 50 game suspension and won't face additional suspensions. They are Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colón and Yasmani Grandal.
In mid July, the MLB Commission suspended Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun for the rest of the season without pay in connection with the MLB illegal doping scandal. Braun was suspended without pay for 65 games and decided not to appeal the suspension.
Tony Bosch, founder and operator of the Biogenesis of America, an anti-aging clinic had met with the MLB Commission and provided documents indicating phone orders and shipments of performance-enhancing drugs to 21 players suspected of taking them.
Bosch also testified against Milwaukee Brewer Ryan Braun, Yankee star Alex Rodriguez and 19 other players in the league for taking performing-enhancement drugs.
Alex Rodriguez, aka, A-Rod
Gov. To Intercept, Read, And Store American's Smoke Signals? ... J. D. Longstreet
Gov. To Intercept, Read, And Store American's Smoke Signals?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************************
This scribe warned for years that the US Government was intent upon reigning supreme over the Internet.
Government control of the Internet was a given. They could not allow the Internet to remain free.
See, the Internet is the biggest threat to government, free and dictatorial, of all the threats existing today.
Why?
Because the Internet represents power, real power, for the individual. The Internet is power in the form of information and communication.
Altho they will deny it, governments, the world over, want to control world wide instant communications between the people of the planet … period.
I have mentioned in previous scribblings that there was a time, and not so long ago, that in order for there to be a successful revolution or uprising of the people against their government, the rebels absolutely MUST take control of the country’s radio and TV stations.
It remains a fact today, that for tin horn dictators (who still dot the globe) control of broadcast stations and other means of communications -- including the Internet and the print media -- is imperative in order to maintain power over their people.
Remember the key word in the paragraph above -- "POWER." That's what it is all, about: gaining and maintaining POWER.
Here in the United States we have just learned how vulnerable we have been for some time now to government eavesdropping on all our electronic communications. See, we thought we were safe from such shenanigans, protected by our much vaunted Constitution and Bill of Rights. Imagine how BETRAYED we feel. And make no mistake -- it is flat out old-fashioned B E T R A Y A L !
And we can't point fingers at only the White House. It is the Congress and the Courts, as well -- the whole shooting match -- they have all betrayed the confidence of every American citizen.
In the name of national security our government is acting more like the government of 1930's Germany than the government of free Americans.
Here, in what used to be a free America, we now know the government has access to every e-mail we send … not to mention our land line phone calls, and our cell phones, as well. According to Col. Ollie North, the only communications the US government does not read are smoke signals.
Now we learn from CNET the following: "CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom "port reader" software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software." SOURCE: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57596791-38/fbi-pressures-internet-providers-to-install-surveillance-software/
The FBI, we learn from this article, is pressuring Internet providers to install this eavesdropping technology deep inside the companies' internal networks to facilitate government surveillance efforts.
"FBI officials have been sparring with carriers, a process that has on occasion included threats of contempt of court, in a bid to deploy government-provided software capable of intercepting and analyzing entire communications streams. The FBI's legal position during these discussions is that the software's real-time interception of metadata is authorized under the Patriot Act." SOURCE: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57596791-38/fbi-pressures-internet-providers-to-install-surveillance-software/
OK. So how much more of this are we going to tolerate before we stand up, like men, and say: "ENOUGH!"
Indeed, the question is… how much control is enough control for the federal government, and, in particular -- Obama’s White House? Or, how much control is TOO much control for the American people? I ask again: when do we say ENOUGH and say it loud and clear so that those barricaded inside the White House hear us and understand that they are treading on some very tender toes, indeed.
The US government is also walking all over the constitution, the Fourth Amendment, to be exact. The Fourth Amendment is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
One has to ask: Has the Fourth Amendment been suspended? Are these truly Post-Constitution days? Is it time to pass out the pitch forks and torches?
Maybe I have just lived entirely too long. I have spoken to a number of my contemporaries and we all are in agreement that we never thought we'd live long enough to see our country, America, become a third world socialist/communist dung heap. But, unfortunately, we have. It's here.
The thing that is so disappointing for me, as an American who can still remember a free America, is the fact that Americans did not put up a struggle. None -- at all. We just marched right into slavery like the good little Marxists we were indoctrinated to be.
The surrender of America to socialism/communism compels me to remember the 1970 feature move: "Suppose They Gave A War and Nobody Came." Even though the title is derived from an American anti-war slogan from the hippie subculture during the Vietnam War era, to this scribe it still sums up, perfectly, what has happened in recent decades here in America. The socialists/Marxists threw a war and we -- WE -- DID NOT RESPOND! Hell, THEY WON BY DEFAULT!
I had always though that when our government even appeared ready to foist their socialist agenda on free Americans the American public would rise up in righteous anger. The tar pots would be dragged out and lit. The tar would be heated, the chickens would be plucked, and the rails would be split. Washington would be slammed with a tsunami of American anger surging through its marble halls sweeping the rot of socialism before it into the gutter of American history where it rightfully belongs.
Grandiose, huh? Yeah, well, forgive an old man his hallucinations of freedom loving America. I now know THAT America no longer exists. Forgive me for my now discredited belief that Americans were a breed apart, that when the "ship DID hit the sand" red-blooded American men and women would defend their heritage of freedom and liberty with the fervor of their ancestors.
I was W R O N G!
So what happens now? I have no idea. I'm not a futurist. Unlike them I haven't the training to advance theories based on future probabilities. I don't have a clue how they do that. But -- I can daydream. And in my flights of day time fantasy, I see a period of chaos and then two nations emerge where one existed previously. I dare not allow my imagination to pursue the route it has apparently chosen. So, I will end my flirtation with futurism here.
America's taste of socialism has stripped us of our "greatness," our self confidence as a nation, our pride, and -- our freedom.
© J. D. Longstreet
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************************
This scribe warned for years that the US Government was intent upon reigning supreme over the Internet.
Government control of the Internet was a given. They could not allow the Internet to remain free.
See, the Internet is the biggest threat to government, free and dictatorial, of all the threats existing today.
Why?
Because the Internet represents power, real power, for the individual. The Internet is power in the form of information and communication.
Altho they will deny it, governments, the world over, want to control world wide instant communications between the people of the planet … period.
I have mentioned in previous scribblings that there was a time, and not so long ago, that in order for there to be a successful revolution or uprising of the people against their government, the rebels absolutely MUST take control of the country’s radio and TV stations.
It remains a fact today, that for tin horn dictators (who still dot the globe) control of broadcast stations and other means of communications -- including the Internet and the print media -- is imperative in order to maintain power over their people.
Remember the key word in the paragraph above -- "POWER." That's what it is all, about: gaining and maintaining POWER.
Here in the United States we have just learned how vulnerable we have been for some time now to government eavesdropping on all our electronic communications. See, we thought we were safe from such shenanigans, protected by our much vaunted Constitution and Bill of Rights. Imagine how BETRAYED we feel. And make no mistake -- it is flat out old-fashioned B E T R A Y A L !
And we can't point fingers at only the White House. It is the Congress and the Courts, as well -- the whole shooting match -- they have all betrayed the confidence of every American citizen.
In the name of national security our government is acting more like the government of 1930's Germany than the government of free Americans.
Here, in what used to be a free America, we now know the government has access to every e-mail we send … not to mention our land line phone calls, and our cell phones, as well. According to Col. Ollie North, the only communications the US government does not read are smoke signals.
Now we learn from CNET the following: "CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom "port reader" software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software." SOURCE: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57596791-38/fbi-pressures-internet-providers-to-install-surveillance-software/
The FBI, we learn from this article, is pressuring Internet providers to install this eavesdropping technology deep inside the companies' internal networks to facilitate government surveillance efforts.
"FBI officials have been sparring with carriers, a process that has on occasion included threats of contempt of court, in a bid to deploy government-provided software capable of intercepting and analyzing entire communications streams. The FBI's legal position during these discussions is that the software's real-time interception of metadata is authorized under the Patriot Act." SOURCE: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57596791-38/fbi-pressures-internet-providers-to-install-surveillance-software/
OK. So how much more of this are we going to tolerate before we stand up, like men, and say: "ENOUGH!"
Indeed, the question is… how much control is enough control for the federal government, and, in particular -- Obama’s White House? Or, how much control is TOO much control for the American people? I ask again: when do we say ENOUGH and say it loud and clear so that those barricaded inside the White House hear us and understand that they are treading on some very tender toes, indeed.
The US government is also walking all over the constitution, the Fourth Amendment, to be exact. The Fourth Amendment is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
One has to ask: Has the Fourth Amendment been suspended? Are these truly Post-Constitution days? Is it time to pass out the pitch forks and torches?
Maybe I have just lived entirely too long. I have spoken to a number of my contemporaries and we all are in agreement that we never thought we'd live long enough to see our country, America, become a third world socialist/communist dung heap. But, unfortunately, we have. It's here.
The thing that is so disappointing for me, as an American who can still remember a free America, is the fact that Americans did not put up a struggle. None -- at all. We just marched right into slavery like the good little Marxists we were indoctrinated to be.
The surrender of America to socialism/communism compels me to remember the 1970 feature move: "Suppose They Gave A War and Nobody Came." Even though the title is derived from an American anti-war slogan from the hippie subculture during the Vietnam War era, to this scribe it still sums up, perfectly, what has happened in recent decades here in America. The socialists/Marxists threw a war and we -- WE -- DID NOT RESPOND! Hell, THEY WON BY DEFAULT!
I had always though that when our government even appeared ready to foist their socialist agenda on free Americans the American public would rise up in righteous anger. The tar pots would be dragged out and lit. The tar would be heated, the chickens would be plucked, and the rails would be split. Washington would be slammed with a tsunami of American anger surging through its marble halls sweeping the rot of socialism before it into the gutter of American history where it rightfully belongs.
Grandiose, huh? Yeah, well, forgive an old man his hallucinations of freedom loving America. I now know THAT America no longer exists. Forgive me for my now discredited belief that Americans were a breed apart, that when the "ship DID hit the sand" red-blooded American men and women would defend their heritage of freedom and liberty with the fervor of their ancestors.
I was W R O N G!
So what happens now? I have no idea. I'm not a futurist. Unlike them I haven't the training to advance theories based on future probabilities. I don't have a clue how they do that. But -- I can daydream. And in my flights of day time fantasy, I see a period of chaos and then two nations emerge where one existed previously. I dare not allow my imagination to pursue the route it has apparently chosen. So, I will end my flirtation with futurism here.
America's taste of socialism has stripped us of our "greatness," our self confidence as a nation, our pride, and -- our freedom.
© J. D. Longstreet
Ousted Univision Radio Host El Piolin Breaks his Silence After 17 Days
Sotelo denies allegations that he groped Cortez' groin, but told fans that he "will be back on the radio soon."
By H. Nelson Goodson
August 5, 2013
Los Angeles, CA - On Monday, Eddie Sotelo, 43, aka, "El Piolin" breaks his 17-day silence and posted a message on his Facebook account around 6:00 p.m. denying Alberto "Beto" Cortez's allegations that he groped Cortez groin and made his co-workers to falsify letters concerning immigration reform.
Sotelo's contract with Univision Radio, Inc. was terminated after Cortez sent a letter to Univision executives that Sotelo has grabbed his groin during an ongoing sexual harassment period and had made his co-workers to falsify documents geared for immigration reform in 2006. Sotelo was taken off the Univision syndicated Spanish language radio program on July 22.
Sotelo in his latest Facebook post didn't address allegations raised that he is gay. But, Sotelo wrote that he had generously helped Cortez various times in a decade.
Also Sotelo says, that by the end of last year when Cortez contract wasn't renewed by Univision, Cortez had attempted to coerce co-workers to help him lie about his allegations. Sotelo wrote, that information about what Cortez was going to accuse him off was brought to his attention by other co-workers. Sotelo did not identify any of the co-workers that provided him with information about Cortez.
Sotelo thanked all his supporters and radio fans for their well wishes and praying for him. He also stated, that he "will be back on the radio soon," but didn't mention which Spanish language radio station he will be working at.
Hussman's a Must Read This Week
August 5, 2013
Hussman Funds - Weekly Market Commentary: The Minsky Bubble
Emphasis added. The article is just filled with juicy tidbits.
It would seem that we both were thinking about the impact of part time employees and margin debt this past weekend. Go figure.
And on that note, I'd much rather hold the "The Unloved 10-Year Treasury" to maturity than short it to maturity. I'm experiencing a disturbing sensation of long-term déjà vu.
This is not investment advice.
Hussman Funds - Weekly Market Commentary: The Minsky Bubble
...investors presently seem to believe that these profit margins are a permanent fixture...
What’s fascinating about QE is that it has no transmission mechanism to the real economy except as a weak can-kicking exercise - and even then only by creating enormous distortions in pursuit of minute "wealth effects."
What’s fascinating about QE is that it has no transmission mechanism to the real economy except as a weak can-kicking exercise - and even then only by creating enormous distortions in pursuit of minute "wealth effects."
The fact is that long-term interest rates are virtually unchanged since August 2010, when Bernanke first hinted at shifting to quantitative easing as the Fed’s main policy tool.
It’s worth observing that the 10-year Treasury yield is also well above the weighted average interest rate since 2010.
Meanwhile, margin debt on the NYSE now stands well above 2% of GDP – a level also (and only) reached at the 2000 and 2007 peaks.
A few quick economic observations. Since May, the number of individuals classified as “Employed, usually work part time” has increased by 534,000. The number of individuals classified as “Employed, usually work full time” has declined by 148,000. So its employment (a lagging indicator) has increased in recent months, but composition is deteriorating notably.
Emphasis added. The article is just filled with juicy tidbits.
It would seem that we both were thinking about the impact of part time employees and margin debt this past weekend. Go figure.
And on that note, I'd much rather hold the "The Unloved 10-Year Treasury" to maturity than short it to maturity. I'm experiencing a disturbing sensation of long-term déjà vu.
This is not investment advice.
19-Year TIPS Trading Update
Click to enlarge.
The solid blue line shows the median over the period that it covers (mid 2004 through 2008). Both the solid red line and the solid orange line show the linear trends over the periods that they cover. All ghost lines are extrapolations forward of their solid versions.
Linear trend failures abound, mostly to the downside (with one notable exception recently).
Click to enlarge.
I am not experiencing buyer's remorse over the 19-year TIPS purchase on June 20th. It seemed like a relatively good long-term opportunity at the time and it still does.
Since I fully intend to hold to maturity, I doubt I will ever experience remorse (barring a complete financial collapse or hyperinflation, neither of which I am predicting over the life of the bond). That would be true even if real rates were to rise from here over the long-term. In fact, I root for higher rates so that I can repeat the process with the interest this particular bond generates. And what is the process of which I speak?
This 19-year TIPS was purchased using the accumulated interest of the 29-year TIPS purchase that I made in 2011. Not surprisingly, I have experienced no buyer's remorse over that purchase either, much to the dismay of Jeremy Siegel.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: 20-Year Treasury Inflation-Indexed Security, Constant Maturity
St. Louis Fed: Daily Real Yield Curve Rates
Pakistani TV Game Show Gives Away Abandoned Street Babies As Prizes
Aamir Liquat Hussain
By H. Nelson Goodson
August 5, 2013
Karachi, Pakistan - CNN reported that a game show in Pakistan during Ramadan in July 28, has added babies to give away as prizes. The TV show aired live in Karachi is called "Amaan Ramazan" hosted by Aamir Liquat Hussain, 41, who says it better to give and make people happy than to receive.
During a broadcast, Hussain told the live audience, "If we wouldn't have found the baby, a cat or dog would have eaten it." Hussain then gave two baby girls away two several couples, one each. Riaz Uddin, 40, an engineer in Pakistan received one of the baby girls. A baby was scheduled to be given away in the following week, according to Hussain.
Hussain's game show website also posted a notice to appeal to parents who are facing poverty and want to give away their babies. The posted message states, "If any family cannot afford to bring up their newborn baby due to poverty or illness, then instead of killing them, they should hand over the baby to Dr. Aamir. The children would be given to deserving couples on air."
The abandon street babies are supplied by the Chhipa Welfare Association whose staffers go out into the streets to find the babies. "Our team finds babies abandoned on the street, in garbage bins — some of them dead, others mauled by animals. So why not ensure the baby is kept alive and gets a good home?" said Ramzan Chhipa, who runs the organization. "We didn't just give the baby away. We have our own vetting procedure. This couple was already registered with us and had four or five sessions with us."
The Pakistani game show is a similar version of the "Prize is Right" by which contestants win prizes for guessing the right answers to the Koran.
CNN reported that the couples who participated in the show didn't know that they would be parents and no paper work had been processed before the show aired and gave two baby girls away. Each couple received one baby.
Hussain couldn't explain, if everything was made possible to make sure the babies would be taken care off rather than just be looked as gifts to discard or sell, if the couples decide to get rid of them later.
In Pakistan there is no adoption process and the couples would now have to apply for guardianship at a local family court, according to CNN.
Video clip of Hussain's TV show at link: http://bit.ly/14uYoUH
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We have an array of items, including herbal alternative natural medicines, candles, vitamins and statues.
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We are located at 1101-1107 W. National Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204, call us at 414-643-9595 for more information.
Commercial Paper Outstanding
Click to enlarge.
October 7, 2008
FRB: Press Release
The commercial paper market has been under considerable strain in recent weeks as money market mutual funds and other investors, themselves often facing liquidity pressures, have become increasingly reluctant to purchase commercial paper, especially at longer-dated maturities. As a result, the volume of outstanding commercial paper has shrunk, interest rates on longer-term commercial paper have increased significantly, and an increasingly high percentage of outstanding paper must now be refinanced each day. A large share of outstanding commercial paper is issued or sponsored by financial intermediaries, and their difficulties placing commercial paper have made it more difficult for those intermediaries to play their vital role in meeting the credit needs of businesses and households.
As seen in the following chart, problem "solved".
Click to enlarge.
For what it is worth, I continue to believe that this economy cannot tolerate high real interest rates any longer. It's just way too leveraged. As seen in the first chart, the epic exponential trend failure in commercial paper outstanding began in 2004. As seen in the second chart, interest rates on commercial paper started to rise in 2004. I doubt very much that was just a coincidence.
March 27, 2012
Wrong Way Siegel Strikes Again
Click to enlarge.
Hello? Interest rates way too high relative to trend? Could someone please explain how Ben Bernanke became Time Magazine's 2009 Man of the Year? Seriously, I'd really like to know.
Just opinions. This is not investment advice.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Commercial Paper Outstanding
St. Louis Fed; 3-Month AA Nonfinancial Commercial Paper Rate
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