Proud to be an American.
rojo
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Today's post starts with a reference we all should read. 10,000,000 emails disappear against Federal regulation when we start a war, give out the identity of our covert EXPERT on Iranian nukeular policy and start investigations that could lead to impeachment. Either this is the Gang who could not think straight (I wonder if computers were around 6,000 years ago. or did they evolve?) or they think that "if the dog ate their homework" that is okay. At least concoct excuses better than an eight year old.
Being a geek, I called in late to work today when I saw Barnake (I am sorry, I mispelled his name yet another way earlier, no disrespect intended) today at his hearing thingie. Very precise statement of facts, I know.But, he was sweating and his voice was wavering as he stated his case. We need a short-term fix. Not over the next year, within 2-3 months. Period. Tax cuts he would not comment on as he put it "I won't get into politics."
Later he spoke of balancing input and output. You either cut the budget majorly or add taxes. Not rocket science. Anyone who raises kids and pays mortgage knows you have to buy clothes, food, utilities and pay mortgage. You don't have an option. And you only have XXXX amount of dollars. Duh. Unless you are born with a silver spoon and don't have to worry about these things. Ah, dreams of being a kept man float through my head. as do fantasies of winning. Or wiining powerball.
Anyhow, he also mentioned that the mortgage carnage is worth $100,000,000, but may be MULTIPLES of that and maybe as much as $1,000,000,000 or 7.x% of America's annual economy. OW! But no one saw it coming. This is why there is need for a short term stimulus, just so people who have to buy gas, buy food, and pay bills can do it. Or best case so they can buy products. This is a far cry from long-term benfits (if any) from a trickle down (genuflect to St. Reagan) economy. As many times as he said short-term, I got very afraid. very, very afraid of what he is seeing in the tea leaves.
Ooops flight is going. maybe more on this later.
rojo
Being a geek, I called in late to work today when I saw Barnake (I am sorry, I mispelled his name yet another way earlier, no disrespect intended) today at his hearing thingie. Very precise statement of facts, I know.But, he was sweating and his voice was wavering as he stated his case. We need a short-term fix. Not over the next year, within 2-3 months. Period. Tax cuts he would not comment on as he put it "I won't get into politics."
Later he spoke of balancing input and output. You either cut the budget majorly or add taxes. Not rocket science. Anyone who raises kids and pays mortgage knows you have to buy clothes, food, utilities and pay mortgage. You don't have an option. And you only have XXXX amount of dollars. Duh. Unless you are born with a silver spoon and don't have to worry about these things. Ah, dreams of being a kept man float through my head. as do fantasies of winning. Or wiining powerball.
Anyhow, he also mentioned that the mortgage carnage is worth $100,000,000, but may be MULTIPLES of that and maybe as much as $1,000,000,000 or 7.x% of America's annual economy. OW! But no one saw it coming. This is why there is need for a short term stimulus, just so people who have to buy gas, buy food, and pay bills can do it. Or best case so they can buy products. This is a far cry from long-term benfits (if any) from a trickle down (genuflect to St. Reagan) economy. As many times as he said short-term, I got very afraid. very, very afraid of what he is seeing in the tea leaves.
Ooops flight is going. maybe more on this later.
rojo
Hey moog, would buy this for a quarter?
from the story The Marching Morons
I have a hard time believing that the media still believes anything that comes out of this administration. The "speedboats going to kill us all" in the Straits of Hormuz story is one fine example. People said the Al Jazeera tapes had to be faked. No, once again, the news was leaked at a specific time to get people all riled up about those damned Iranians just as Middle East "Peace" talks were coming off.
Follow me on this. Bush hisself goes to talk peace, but the US warship is attacked by 3 speedboats. It shows how big a menace those pesky Iranians are and they should be bombed back to the Stone Age. Now, let's talk peace. Does Gulf of Tonkin mean anything to anyone? Here is our esteemed leader trying to provoke a war while at peace talks. and has members of his cabinet "make up" a news story. Just to prove his big his swinging dick is.
Doesn't the media find two or three sources for stories any more, or do we all have to suffer from gossip column reportage. One unnamed source leaked... hmmm. I am sorry. "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, and we won't be fooled again." Yet the MSM falls for it again and again and again. So, American public opinion is swayed by a fraudulent leak whose inaccuracy will never really be believed. Let me state that more clearly---the lie got out there first, hit the front pages, the 30-second sound byte, and any follow up will not get that big of coverage. Over 30% of the population in some states still believe there were WMDs in Iraq, and at least 10% in the last survey I read believe these were used against American troops. This was about 6 months ago. The state in question was one of the Carolinas.
I had a boss once who lied and covered up his own deficiencies by setting others up to do a lot of his work and then when decisions were wrong he had a fall guy. It was always their fault as they gave him bad information. After a while, you had to learn to cover your ass. Write, print and save all emails. Turn down information hunts that were not part of your responsibility. Be cynical. When will the press and the American public learn these bastards in office lie.??!!Continually.
So far, this administartion has ruined the economy, got us stuck in a Vietnam-like scenario and is trying to start another war, while concommitantly making agreements to tie America to their strategery for another 20 years. People should be screaming.
And yet videos are believed at face value and Iran is the greatest threat to America going. and we sell arms to Suadi Arabia, the country that helped organize the World Trade Center massacre (how many in the plot came from Iraq? from Saudi?) We are being sold down the river. and people just schlump along without rage in their hearts. And wonder how they can buy their next big screen TV.
I have a hard time sleeping at night knowing the country I love has caused over 600,000 needless deaths just so some asshole can play Commander Guy and the oil companies who own his soul profit. And now the right-wing press is saying all the stories by The Lancet giving the death toll in Iraq is payed for by George Soros. and why does he love the terrorists? After all the death toll is only 50,000. You can still sleep at night knowing you caused 50,000 deaths just so democracy in the Middle East will get a chance? Yet you bitch when Hamas gets elected.
I am glad it is early morning or I would reallly be pissed off. No caffeine yet.
rojo
from the story The Marching Morons
I have a hard time believing that the media still believes anything that comes out of this administration. The "speedboats going to kill us all" in the Straits of Hormuz story is one fine example. People said the Al Jazeera tapes had to be faked. No, once again, the news was leaked at a specific time to get people all riled up about those damned Iranians just as Middle East "Peace" talks were coming off.
Follow me on this. Bush hisself goes to talk peace, but the US warship is attacked by 3 speedboats. It shows how big a menace those pesky Iranians are and they should be bombed back to the Stone Age. Now, let's talk peace. Does Gulf of Tonkin mean anything to anyone? Here is our esteemed leader trying to provoke a war while at peace talks. and has members of his cabinet "make up" a news story. Just to prove his big his swinging dick is.
Doesn't the media find two or three sources for stories any more, or do we all have to suffer from gossip column reportage. One unnamed source leaked... hmmm. I am sorry. "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, and we won't be fooled again." Yet the MSM falls for it again and again and again. So, American public opinion is swayed by a fraudulent leak whose inaccuracy will never really be believed. Let me state that more clearly---the lie got out there first, hit the front pages, the 30-second sound byte, and any follow up will not get that big of coverage. Over 30% of the population in some states still believe there were WMDs in Iraq, and at least 10% in the last survey I read believe these were used against American troops. This was about 6 months ago. The state in question was one of the Carolinas.
I had a boss once who lied and covered up his own deficiencies by setting others up to do a lot of his work and then when decisions were wrong he had a fall guy. It was always their fault as they gave him bad information. After a while, you had to learn to cover your ass. Write, print and save all emails. Turn down information hunts that were not part of your responsibility. Be cynical. When will the press and the American public learn these bastards in office lie.??!!Continually.
So far, this administartion has ruined the economy, got us stuck in a Vietnam-like scenario and is trying to start another war, while concommitantly making agreements to tie America to their strategery for another 20 years. People should be screaming.
And yet videos are believed at face value and Iran is the greatest threat to America going. and we sell arms to Suadi Arabia, the country that helped organize the World Trade Center massacre (how many in the plot came from Iraq? from Saudi?) We are being sold down the river. and people just schlump along without rage in their hearts. And wonder how they can buy their next big screen TV.
I have a hard time sleeping at night knowing the country I love has caused over 600,000 needless deaths just so some asshole can play Commander Guy and the oil companies who own his soul profit. And now the right-wing press is saying all the stories by The Lancet giving the death toll in Iraq is payed for by George Soros. and why does he love the terrorists? After all the death toll is only 50,000. You can still sleep at night knowing you caused 50,000 deaths just so democracy in the Middle East will get a chance? Yet you bitch when Hamas gets elected.
I am glad it is early morning or I would reallly be pissed off. No caffeine yet.
rojo
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Too Tired to Really Rant
But a few things need said--
I overheard on the radio yesterday a snarky comment which did make me chuckle. On a sportstalk station they were mentioning that Kucinich was not going to be on the stage at the semi-democratic debate last night. "Why not just let him stand near the corner. He won't take up that much room."
But the seriousness of not covering a candidate and letting him have his say is a problem. He was right on the war, on impeachment and other topics, but he is too far out there to let him speak, b y some standards. (Being correct and having foresight is not a big deal to some.) Actually, in this sense the media is controlling the election. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, NO ONE HEARS IT. I do not want to get into the solipsistic argument of the importance of self-consciousness here, other than to say of course the damn tree fell, but no one was there to hear it and therefore knows it fell. Well, if Kucinich can't speak publically, who knows what he says. (I hate it when Bishop Berkeley was right, even in a limited way.) MSM should not be allowed to control our access to information. He's unelectable, but right. If he were heard, at worst he would influence the debate.
Then Mitt "I was born witrh a silver spoon in my mouth" Romney is quoted as saying his victory in Michigan is an inspiration for all the hard-working people (who he embodies.) Huh? Didn't Daddy own Michigan and a car company? How many times did daddy run for President? If I remember my conventions correctly, more than twice he was mentioned by the delegates of the Great State of Meechigan. So Mitt gets to be blue collar by having it rub off on him? WTF and no one questions this--but Kucinich can't catch a break. MSM should have ripped him a new one for his pomposity, if nothing else. Okay, so he looks like a Ken doll. So what?
and Huckabeerry Hound wants to change the constitution to suit his beliefs. You know, he has the right to do that. Women got the right to vote. Blacks got rights. I just don't want to live in that type of country so I hope he keeps being defeated. He si the scariest candidate to me. A populist who is one of God's own. That automatically gets him 25% of the vote. All he needs is a third party candidate and 15% more and he wins. Oy! oops, excuse me--Paraise Jesus.
rojo
But a few things need said--
I overheard on the radio yesterday a snarky comment which did make me chuckle. On a sportstalk station they were mentioning that Kucinich was not going to be on the stage at the semi-democratic debate last night. "Why not just let him stand near the corner. He won't take up that much room."
But the seriousness of not covering a candidate and letting him have his say is a problem. He was right on the war, on impeachment and other topics, but he is too far out there to let him speak, b y some standards. (Being correct and having foresight is not a big deal to some.) Actually, in this sense the media is controlling the election. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, NO ONE HEARS IT. I do not want to get into the solipsistic argument of the importance of self-consciousness here, other than to say of course the damn tree fell, but no one was there to hear it and therefore knows it fell. Well, if Kucinich can't speak publically, who knows what he says. (I hate it when Bishop Berkeley was right, even in a limited way.) MSM should not be allowed to control our access to information. He's unelectable, but right. If he were heard, at worst he would influence the debate.
Then Mitt "I was born witrh a silver spoon in my mouth" Romney is quoted as saying his victory in Michigan is an inspiration for all the hard-working people (who he embodies.) Huh? Didn't Daddy own Michigan and a car company? How many times did daddy run for President? If I remember my conventions correctly, more than twice he was mentioned by the delegates of the Great State of Meechigan. So Mitt gets to be blue collar by having it rub off on him? WTF and no one questions this--but Kucinich can't catch a break. MSM should have ripped him a new one for his pomposity, if nothing else. Okay, so he looks like a Ken doll. So what?
and Huckabeerry Hound wants to change the constitution to suit his beliefs. You know, he has the right to do that. Women got the right to vote. Blacks got rights. I just don't want to live in that type of country so I hope he keeps being defeated. He si the scariest candidate to me. A populist who is one of God's own. That automatically gets him 25% of the vote. All he needs is a third party candidate and 15% more and he wins. Oy! oops, excuse me--Paraise Jesus.
rojo
Monday, January 14, 2008
"Citigroup could write down as much as $24 billion due to subprime and credit-related losses, CNBC has learned. In addition, an estimated 20 thousand layoffs will be part of a comprehensive plan to slash costs and raise capital.
The plans will be unveiled Tuesday, when it reports fourth-quarter earnings. At the same time, Citigroup could also announce that it is cutting its dividend payment. "
I wonder how many hourly and middle management disappear and how many executives. Let's see middle management = $60,000-70,000. CEO = $5,000,000 and bonuses minimum. or roughly 10 middle managers whose job it is to follow orders. Just once I want millions for a job where I can run the company into the ground!!!!! Home Depot, I am waiting!
Speaking of which, Ford is making the hopes of future profits (and probably existence) on the production of the new F-150. Yes, make a gas hog that is a high profit margin in case bad gas mileage and high gas prices may have any effect on consumer spending habits. I know I am lining up for a 12 mpg vehicle. How about you? Any wonder why Toyota is now the second highest selling car in America. Yes, Toyota, not Chrysler or Ford! and they have GM in their sites. Remember, GM cut the electric car because there was no market. and remarketed the NOva (no go) in Mexico after the first failure. D'oh. I hate to say it, but amercian car companies earn the stupidest management titles they deserve.
Overheard on the radio today--
1) Huckabee is more dangerous than Al Queda to America. He has the backing of the Teacher's Union and the NEA. He can destroy a generation by teaching them the wrong things and a dirty bomb can only kill at worst 100,000. Another Right Wing WTF moment.
2) It is okay to vote for a pro-life candidate even if he is not approving of the death penalty. Let's see pro-life and pro-death. Hmmm. or pro-life and wanting death. Damned catholic channels confuse me. The death penalty was justified as punishment.
3) We must elect Rudy so he can place more strict constructionist Supreme Court judges. Regardless of his other policies for the greater good of the country. Right Wing idiot Dennis Prager.Enough OMG moments on the radio.
But one more stoopid fact according to Playboy-Thompson supporters have more sex than anyone else with 17% doing it at least once per week. I never knew that much Viagra was consumed by seniors. Damn!!!!!
wow, another great day on I-5. Is it any wonder Americans are dumber than ever?
rojo
The plans will be unveiled Tuesday, when it reports fourth-quarter earnings. At the same time, Citigroup could also announce that it is cutting its dividend payment. "
I wonder how many hourly and middle management disappear and how many executives. Let's see middle management = $60,000-70,000. CEO = $5,000,000 and bonuses minimum. or roughly 10 middle managers whose job it is to follow orders. Just once I want millions for a job where I can run the company into the ground!!!!! Home Depot, I am waiting!
Speaking of which, Ford is making the hopes of future profits (and probably existence) on the production of the new F-150. Yes, make a gas hog that is a high profit margin in case bad gas mileage and high gas prices may have any effect on consumer spending habits. I know I am lining up for a 12 mpg vehicle. How about you? Any wonder why Toyota is now the second highest selling car in America. Yes, Toyota, not Chrysler or Ford! and they have GM in their sites. Remember, GM cut the electric car because there was no market. and remarketed the NOva (no go) in Mexico after the first failure. D'oh. I hate to say it, but amercian car companies earn the stupidest management titles they deserve.
Overheard on the radio today--
1) Huckabee is more dangerous than Al Queda to America. He has the backing of the Teacher's Union and the NEA. He can destroy a generation by teaching them the wrong things and a dirty bomb can only kill at worst 100,000. Another Right Wing WTF moment.
2) It is okay to vote for a pro-life candidate even if he is not approving of the death penalty. Let's see pro-life and pro-death. Hmmm. or pro-life and wanting death. Damned catholic channels confuse me. The death penalty was justified as punishment.
3) We must elect Rudy so he can place more strict constructionist Supreme Court judges. Regardless of his other policies for the greater good of the country. Right Wing idiot Dennis Prager.Enough OMG moments on the radio.
But one more stoopid fact according to Playboy-Thompson supporters have more sex than anyone else with 17% doing it at least once per week. I never knew that much Viagra was consumed by seniors. Damn!!!!!
wow, another great day on I-5. Is it any wonder Americans are dumber than ever?
rojo
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A Day of Surprises
Let's see--US may have misrepresented the Iranian speedboat threat (source ABC news). What a shock!!!! Yeah, right. Peznut Chimpface goes to the Mid East and they have to ratchet up fear. I hope the perpetrators of these atrocities never have to bend over for the soap in the prison shower. Then they shall know what "oops, my mistake." really means. Butt, maybe Rove would like that.
Internal US wiretaps are dropped by the phone companies for lack of payment. How did that happen? Debt getting too much yet? I am glad to know that someone else gets punished for the "Oh, I just forgot line." I wonder if these wiretaps were FISA legal?
Christmas spending hurting the economy. No one had any money to spend if they had to buy gas, heating oil and medical expertise. Just have to love those good paying manufacturing jobs at McDonalds. (Honest, Buerau of labor reclassified making fries as manufacturing years ago in the Bush Presiduncy to make the numbers look better. Look it up.) Of course this means we need more tax cuts for the rich in some god-awful twisted way. Like that money will trickle down. Just ask the steel workers in Cleveland and Pittsburgh how well it trickled down in the 80s until now and how many steel manufacturers there still are in the area by comparison. Or maybe autoworkers in Flint. Hard to buy a plasma big screen on Mickey Dees wages.
rojo
Let's see--US may have misrepresented the Iranian speedboat threat (source ABC news). What a shock!!!! Yeah, right. Peznut Chimpface goes to the Mid East and they have to ratchet up fear. I hope the perpetrators of these atrocities never have to bend over for the soap in the prison shower. Then they shall know what "oops, my mistake." really means. Butt, maybe Rove would like that.
Internal US wiretaps are dropped by the phone companies for lack of payment. How did that happen? Debt getting too much yet? I am glad to know that someone else gets punished for the "Oh, I just forgot line." I wonder if these wiretaps were FISA legal?
Christmas spending hurting the economy. No one had any money to spend if they had to buy gas, heating oil and medical expertise. Just have to love those good paying manufacturing jobs at McDonalds. (Honest, Buerau of labor reclassified making fries as manufacturing years ago in the Bush Presiduncy to make the numbers look better. Look it up.) Of course this means we need more tax cuts for the rich in some god-awful twisted way. Like that money will trickle down. Just ask the steel workers in Cleveland and Pittsburgh how well it trickled down in the 80s until now and how many steel manufacturers there still are in the area by comparison. Or maybe autoworkers in Flint. Hard to buy a plasma big screen on Mickey Dees wages.
rojo
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Today's TV Fun
I was watching morning hotel TV yesterday and had on CNBC. Almost never watch it, but they had on a segment on business called "Squawk on the Street." It is hosted by the obligatory news babe and an elderly angry white male. No comments necessary on why there are few, if any, angry elderly white women and few news hunks. Probably the same reason strip clubs (excuse me, gentlemen's clubs--like there are a lot of gentlemen asking for lap dances out there--maybe we should ask Miss Manners) advertise in the sports and business sections, aside from the back of alternative newspapers under adult services. BTW, never knew there were so many Asian immigrants offering massage services. So many CMTs, so little time.
But I digress, the news babe reads the story on the gun boats threatening US destroyers yesterday at about 7:30 CA time (funny how this happens when the Preznut, J Fredd Muggs in Chief, is going to the Middle East. Maybe he needs to stay away and keep from fanning the flames. I don't think they like him there.) and all of sudden the fat Angry White Man must have not known his mike was live. "They should just sink them!" comes over the tube. He may know business, the bastion of Fat Angry White Males, but foreign policy expert he is not. Anyhow, the news babe rolls her eyes and looks to the ceiling left as she tries figure out how to cover the gaff. And her career just ticks away.
Today (just can't get enough) they had an on-scene reporter at the Las Vegas High Tech Goo Jaw show. He was talking about electroferric paper as a means of possibly making newspapers that are constantly changing. Except, he called it "really cool" paper. and admitted he might not be able to remember the name of the paper once he was done with the script. He is the "tech expert". Great expert coverage there. The news babe comes back, "just think if they can make this paper it will be like the newspaper in Majority Report and there will never be just one deadline. It will be deadlines 24/7." She is probably correct.
Probably the most incisive comment over the past two days, that.
Remember when we could relax without cell phones and being on line all the time. Bet you tranqs and booze and Ambien are used more than ever. You need to be off line sometimes, just to digest and think. and meditate. and enjoy the simple act of breathing. Even a tweaker needs to crash sometimes. And tweak ain't life and its creative cycles. I need to ask myself, how often do I take a deep breath and relax while at work? Does work ever end? and how do you delineate that in your consciousness? comments, anyone.
rojo
I was watching morning hotel TV yesterday and had on CNBC. Almost never watch it, but they had on a segment on business called "Squawk on the Street." It is hosted by the obligatory news babe and an elderly angry white male. No comments necessary on why there are few, if any, angry elderly white women and few news hunks. Probably the same reason strip clubs (excuse me, gentlemen's clubs--like there are a lot of gentlemen asking for lap dances out there--maybe we should ask Miss Manners) advertise in the sports and business sections, aside from the back of alternative newspapers under adult services. BTW, never knew there were so many Asian immigrants offering massage services. So many CMTs, so little time.
But I digress, the news babe reads the story on the gun boats threatening US destroyers yesterday at about 7:30 CA time (funny how this happens when the Preznut, J Fredd Muggs in Chief, is going to the Middle East. Maybe he needs to stay away and keep from fanning the flames. I don't think they like him there.) and all of sudden the fat Angry White Man must have not known his mike was live. "They should just sink them!" comes over the tube. He may know business, the bastion of Fat Angry White Males, but foreign policy expert he is not. Anyhow, the news babe rolls her eyes and looks to the ceiling left as she tries figure out how to cover the gaff. And her career just ticks away.
Today (just can't get enough) they had an on-scene reporter at the Las Vegas High Tech Goo Jaw show. He was talking about electroferric paper as a means of possibly making newspapers that are constantly changing. Except, he called it "really cool" paper. and admitted he might not be able to remember the name of the paper once he was done with the script. He is the "tech expert". Great expert coverage there. The news babe comes back, "just think if they can make this paper it will be like the newspaper in Majority Report and there will never be just one deadline. It will be deadlines 24/7." She is probably correct.
Probably the most incisive comment over the past two days, that.
Remember when we could relax without cell phones and being on line all the time. Bet you tranqs and booze and Ambien are used more than ever. You need to be off line sometimes, just to digest and think. and meditate. and enjoy the simple act of breathing. Even a tweaker needs to crash sometimes. And tweak ain't life and its creative cycles. I need to ask myself, how often do I take a deep breath and relax while at work? Does work ever end? and how do you delineate that in your consciousness? comments, anyone.
rojo
Monday, January 07, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
completely stolen from Crooks and Liars.com--
In the NYT, Robert Dallek reviews Elisabeth Bumiller’s new book on Condoleezza Rice, “An American Life: A Biography.” One gets the sense the book probably won’t be too hard-hitting — Bumiller has a well-earned reputation for passivity, and Dallek notes the biography’s “above-the-battle tone” and refusal to “offer any decisive judgments on Ms. Rice’s performance.”
In the NYT, Robert Dallek reviews Elisabeth Bumiller’s new book on Condoleezza Rice, “An American Life: A Biography.” One gets the sense the book probably won’t be too hard-hitting — Bumiller has a well-earned reputation for passivity, and Dallek notes the biography’s “above-the-battle tone” and refusal to “offer any decisive judgments on Ms. Rice’s performance.”
Most notably, though, there was this gem:
Ms. Bumiller says that if President Bush and Ms. Rice can produce a settlement in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians and an end to North Korea’s nuclear program, it would give them claims on success that would significantly improve their historical reputations.
As Scott Lemieux responded, “And if I discover a way of powering cars entirely with oxygen, emitting a vapor that would result in the immediate killing of cockroaches and paralysis in the hands of every Hollywood producer about to sign a contract with Joel Schumacher and Uwe Boll, my reputation as a world-class scientist would be greatly enhanced.”
Yglesias gets in on the fun, too: “By the same token, if earth’s yellow sun gave me the powers of a kryptonian, I’d be a super hero. If my blog had Engadget’s traffic, I’d be the most popular political blogger. If George Bush could breath underwater, he’d be a fish.”
rojoSaturday, December 29, 2007
Call Me ConfusedCall me "Crazy", but I have sincere doubts about the new reports that Bhutto died from an Al Queda attack. Are you sure there was not a magic bullet? Here we have a brave opposition leader (hey, she may not have been great in her first try as prime minister) as America's choice who had one assassination attempt against her. And yet she carries on. First, we are told it was a suicide bomber, then a gunshot, now its Al Queda and, Oh Yes, as opposed to law, the crime scene was hosed down immediately and no autopsy. What, did the Warren Commission perform the investigation? Or is this the truth? or a fabrication to make sure we know there is a fearsome devil that we need to be protected against because America's choice could not be protected? Or is there even more subterfuge at work? The U.S.S. Maine comes to mind.
And this from the Catholic Front. Yes, we need a demonic death squad! Even Jesus is shuddering in his radiant post-grave body. Put a German in charge and more Demons are created. It is well known to readers of the dearly-departed Weekly World News that demonic possession among teens is among the rise. And they need to be dealt with by 80-year old priests. Christ (pardon the pun), I am only 55 and my arthritis is so bad I cannot keep up with 30-year olds at rock shows. How in the hell is an 80-year old priest going to keep up with demon seed? particularly if they take over teens. We are doomed. Doomed, I say.
All jokes aside, conservatism has a tendency to create enemies that must be annihilated. It sees the enemy, the "other" everywhere and projects its fears and anger towards that entity or group. Look for Al Queda and you will find him. (If you are interested and have a spare 4 hours, well spent, I must say. My ADD brain even sat still for this. Watch The Power of Nightmares from BBC television as it describes this phenomenon in US Foreign Policy, It is very, very good. and thought provoking.) The danger of this paradigm is that conservatives tend to control armament. Doubt that? How many New Age vegetarians own guns for hunting? And when was the last serial killer or mass murderer you know of a far leftist, after the Bolshevik Revolution. (an aside, was Stalin a dictator or a Bolshevik?) But these were revolutions, not the result of a single person. Colorado has had three such incidents and none were done by leftists. Timothy McVeigh was not a leftist.
rojo
Friday, December 28, 2007
It is sad Butto was assassinated. Who is to gain? and what will happen to an already unstable region? well beyond my predictions. I have as littel Middle East experience as our current State Department crack team. But I can't forget they have nukes and I wonder how good the security is. And remember that "loose nukes" were the biggest fear of the dissolution of the USSR. BTW, anyone seen Condi lately?
I see that the EU is looking at solar power for Europe and Africa by constructing a large plant in the Sahara. and a 100 x 100 mile plant could provide ALL the electricity for the US using current technology. And this does not include wind power. Just imagine what the US could be, a WORLD LEADER, if we had not gone through the St. Reagan Revolution. In the long run, he and other neocons will be remembered as having visionary approaches to economy akin to Lenin. Free market has failed as much as communism. And before anyone scoffs too loud, think of how many people died in Iraq, where estimates are well over 1,000,000 dead. All for the ability to drive SUVs. Makes me sleep well at night.
It is maddening that this government, free marketers all, do not have the stones of Jimmy Carter and put a profit cap on energy. All these lost mortgages because of predatory lending and bankruptcies because of medical bills, people living paycheck to paycheck hoping there is no major medical emergency looming on the horizon. It is obvious this administration cares not about the middle class. Or as the class clown and resident drug expert, Rush Limbaugh brags, Roosevelt is being rolled back. Great, we can have an economic system that led to the Great Depression.
and people on LJ Democrats worry that a methhead may be getting government funds. In my youth, we worried about welfare queens in Cadillacs. Those weren't real either. Cheese and Rice, we waste more money than can be spent on meth to privitization without conscience. and no one blinks anymore. The public lexicon and accepted values have wandered so far to the right that the language should be unrecognizable to those over 40.
Immigrants are the new N word, and they are listless, dirty, uncultured, don't speak English ... Oh yes, and they bring crime. Little has changed over the years. We always, as a culture, need to kick the crap out of and demonize someone. It makes it easier to live with our own faults as we don't need to recognize them--just blame someone. Fear and loathing are great remedies for everything. And it keeps attention away from what is really happening. Misdirection is not just a football strategy. Never look at the man behind the curtain.
Internautte, I hope your trip is going well and I hope Deli Girl is having a Happy Holiday season. I will sit back and watch the Broncos get run over by Adrian Peterson.
rojo
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Dinosaur Thoughts
"The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was behind a controversial decision to block California's attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the government Environmental Protection Agency.
Staff at the agency, which announced last week that California's proposed limits were redundant, said the agency's chief went against their expert advice after car executives met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases."
from digby.blogspot.com
Excuse, but I was a certified mechanic for years. I seem to remember that you had to know whether a car was made for California emission standards, which were more stringent that the rest of the US, for years. They often had different parts and different tune-up standards. What's the big deal now? It would cost too much. C'mon. Yes, it does cost more to have two different standards. So?
Emission and mileage standards have been more stagnant than a sewage lagoon in the Midwest heat. A little change and innovative engineering never hurt anyone. I have read of "hot-rodders" having contests to see how far they can push the mileage in Priuses. But major US auto manufacturers cannot make SUVs with good mileage. Maybe fiberglass body panels on Excursions, Suburbans and Boleraphons?
how stupid.
rojo
"The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was behind a controversial decision to block California's attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the government Environmental Protection Agency.
Staff at the agency, which announced last week that California's proposed limits were redundant, said the agency's chief went against their expert advice after car executives met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases."
from digby.blogspot.com
Excuse, but I was a certified mechanic for years. I seem to remember that you had to know whether a car was made for California emission standards, which were more stringent that the rest of the US, for years. They often had different parts and different tune-up standards. What's the big deal now? It would cost too much. C'mon. Yes, it does cost more to have two different standards. So?
Emission and mileage standards have been more stagnant than a sewage lagoon in the Midwest heat. A little change and innovative engineering never hurt anyone. I have read of "hot-rodders" having contests to see how far they can push the mileage in Priuses. But major US auto manufacturers cannot make SUVs with good mileage. Maybe fiberglass body panels on Excursions, Suburbans and Boleraphons?
how stupid.
rojo
Monday, November 19, 2007
I wrote a smart ass post last weekend about praying for rain in Georgia, but some at Salon has asked the hard questions. What if some of our major southeastern cities start running low on water. Last year sections of reservoirs on the Colorado River that had not seen the light of day for 30 years were not submerged anymore. What happens to Phoenix and Tucson if the water they expect to see from the CAP canal disappear. What about Vegas? what at LA? Ow!!!!! For anyone that has not read the book Cadillac Desert, please find a copy and read it. Or the book Water Wars. I work for a privatization firm. We are needed because in this imperfect world there are many cities, towns and districts that have not made plans to replace and secure infrastructure. In a perfect world, firms like mine would be not needed. As a digression, is it an easier sell to fund new pipes or a new courthouse, police cars or recreation center?
I have yet to see in MSM rainfall projections based upon the rapidly warming seas. What happens if rainfall patterns change? Water law in the western US does not account for that. Farmlands will go dry as rapidly growing municipalities use their consolidated economic clout to basically get water from farmers either through purchasing rights or PR campaigns--"Would you let little Johnny go without water?" This should concern everyone, particularly in the US.
rojo
I have yet to see in MSM rainfall projections based upon the rapidly warming seas. What happens if rainfall patterns change? Water law in the western US does not account for that. Farmlands will go dry as rapidly growing municipalities use their consolidated economic clout to basically get water from farmers either through purchasing rights or PR campaigns--"Would you let little Johnny go without water?" This should concern everyone, particularly in the US.
rojo
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday's Miscellaneous Topics
we normally leave all the apples on our tree and on the ground for the multitudinous flickers and squirrels in our neighborhood for the winter and are blessed with their presence all year long. The squirrels are not really too bad. They keep my Australian Shepherd busy. hee. So this year we have a parrot sharing the harvest. That is correct, a full-fledged 12-15" tall parrot. Here every day for at least an hour. It bothers me as I do not think it will do well once the temperatures stay below 40 degrees for a long period of time. I have called animal control, but by the time they get here, the bird is gone. I know for two years we have had parakeets in the area during cherry season. Will parrots die from exposure? does anyone know?
Political rant time--Preznut Chimpboy stated in yesterday's paper that he is angry with the Senate for not approving his choices for judges and because of that the Constitution is being violated. They need to approve his choices without asking them hypothetical questions like "Is waterboarding legal?" Or if there were a hanging would it be tried as a race crime? Since when is he a constitutional scholar. Mr. Signing Statement? Mr. Eavesdrop? Mr. Recess Appointment? Using government resources for political gain for his party. Lying to get us into a war? Being a war criminal? What? The Senate is hating the Constitution? Give me a break! Maybe the Decider should read the damn thing.
rojo
we normally leave all the apples on our tree and on the ground for the multitudinous flickers and squirrels in our neighborhood for the winter and are blessed with their presence all year long. The squirrels are not really too bad. They keep my Australian Shepherd busy. hee. So this year we have a parrot sharing the harvest. That is correct, a full-fledged 12-15" tall parrot. Here every day for at least an hour. It bothers me as I do not think it will do well once the temperatures stay below 40 degrees for a long period of time. I have called animal control, but by the time they get here, the bird is gone. I know for two years we have had parakeets in the area during cherry season. Will parrots die from exposure? does anyone know?
Political rant time--Preznut Chimpboy stated in yesterday's paper that he is angry with the Senate for not approving his choices for judges and because of that the Constitution is being violated. They need to approve his choices without asking them hypothetical questions like "Is waterboarding legal?" Or if there were a hanging would it be tried as a race crime? Since when is he a constitutional scholar. Mr. Signing Statement? Mr. Eavesdrop? Mr. Recess Appointment? Using government resources for political gain for his party. Lying to get us into a war? Being a war criminal? What? The Senate is hating the Constitution? Give me a break! Maybe the Decider should read the damn thing.
rojo
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
from americablog.com --
What is Bush's plan to deal with oil at nearly $100/barrel? by
makeprofilelink("John Aravosis (DC)");
John Aravosis (DC) · 11/05/2007 09:17:00 PM ETDiscuss this post here: Comment
myCount('9112241469086298933');
s (219) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
From the Wash Post:
In the past 10 weeks, the price of crude oil has shot up $25 a barrel, closing at $95.93 in New York on Friday, near an all-time inflation-adjusted peak.And more importantly, why have Americans been so willing to accept a doubling of gas prices since Bush has come to office? I suspect Americans have taken the gas price rise in stride, attributing it to yet another post-Sept-11 sacrifice. The only problem is that gas prices actually dropped after September 11. So, just like the budget deficit, that is in large part due to Bush's tax cuts and NOT September 11 and the war, the public has again been snookered. At some point, it all just becomes so depressing. Are we really this ignorant as a people?
Damn good question and worth repeating. Why is there no major public protest?
rojo
What is Bush's plan to deal with oil at nearly $100/barrel? by
makeprofilelink("John Aravosis (DC)");
John Aravosis (DC) · 11/05/2007 09:17:00 PM ETDiscuss this post here: Comment
myCount('9112241469086298933');
s (219) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link
From the Wash Post:
In the past 10 weeks, the price of crude oil has shot up $25 a barrel, closing at $95.93 in New York on Friday, near an all-time inflation-adjusted peak.And more importantly, why have Americans been so willing to accept a doubling of gas prices since Bush has come to office? I suspect Americans have taken the gas price rise in stride, attributing it to yet another post-Sept-11 sacrifice. The only problem is that gas prices actually dropped after September 11. So, just like the budget deficit, that is in large part due to Bush's tax cuts and NOT September 11 and the war, the public has again been snookered. At some point, it all just becomes so depressing. Are we really this ignorant as a people?
Damn good question and worth repeating. Why is there no major public protest?
rojo
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Uncomplimentary Thoughts on a Thursday Morning
1) I was in the hotel this past week and heard the mellifluous tones of the hotel announcer on the menu channel state "For your adult entertainment needs please hit 1 and enter on the menu of your remote control." So I said to myself, "I am an adult." So, I did. One of the features was Big-titted Woman. Hello, didn't he say adult entertainment. Not pre-pubescent boys fantasies. I am not opposed to big-titted women, but something tells me a movie entitled that may lack for adult dialogue and plot. Just maybe. No. I did not wait to see.
2) Just saw the MTV marvel show (at least the three minute introduction) featuring Tila Tequila (who admits we must be stunned by her Hot videos featuring her). Why not call the show--Do you to fuck my hot body and I can't wait to say no!
And we wonder why people are getting stupider and stupider.
I fear for the human race as we watch Pants Off, Dance Off.
Hey moogs, would buy that for a quarter? -- see the novella The Marching Morons.
rojo
1) I was in the hotel this past week and heard the mellifluous tones of the hotel announcer on the menu channel state "For your adult entertainment needs please hit 1 and enter on the menu of your remote control." So I said to myself, "I am an adult." So, I did. One of the features was Big-titted Woman. Hello, didn't he say adult entertainment. Not pre-pubescent boys fantasies. I am not opposed to big-titted women, but something tells me a movie entitled that may lack for adult dialogue and plot. Just maybe. No. I did not wait to see.
2) Just saw the MTV marvel show (at least the three minute introduction) featuring Tila Tequila (who admits we must be stunned by her Hot videos featuring her). Why not call the show--Do you to fuck my hot body and I can't wait to say no!
And we wonder why people are getting stupider and stupider.
I fear for the human race as we watch Pants Off, Dance Off.
Hey moogs, would buy that for a quarter? -- see the novella The Marching Morons.
rojo
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Ah! another week on the road. Great, he said sardonically. Can't wait.But there have been some surprises.
The Town (or city) of Woodland, CA is featured in USA Today as having a funny smell no one can find. Great PR, that. National coverage that your town stinks. I bet they are proud. Most of the complaints come from residents who moved next to the sewage plant. I bet they forgot that their shit stinks too. You look at a house next to a sewage plant, move in and then complain about the smell. Reminds me of Dennis Miller (back when he was funny) telling Americans not to blame the inventor of the fork because they have a fat ass. Or maybe residents outside of Denver who moved into a horse community by the airport complaining because the jets are noisy. What part of BY THE AIRPORT don't you understand.
I woke two nights ago dreaming of a womans's face and could not place it. Then I remembered it was the archangel Gabrielle from constantine. and it was on tv just last night and this night and probably many more nights. What a babe--okay she was batshit, but still really cute. One nice thing about cable is you never have to miss CSI, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU... So many crimes, so little time.
Countryside Mortgage brokers are going to refinance marginal loans that people would default on. Popular opinion is credited with their change of heart. Remember, this is the company whose president sold $130,000,000 of stock six months before the collapse because he wanted fluid investments, not because he knew they were screwed with bad paper. I am sure it is not public opinion or bad press, but that some accountant found out that they would own so many houses to liquidate they would lose their ass, so this looks good.
I finished a well-written book, Solstice Wood, recommended by the good folks at the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts. I was so frustrated by the great and vivid written depictions of people who do not trust fairy, the fay or the Otherworld. I was pissed. These things exist and they are potent. and not Eivil. Think MAP sessions, Reiki, Jo Rei, et al. Actually, I was angry and thought about the Cold War, the war of US versus THEM. Good, good book. I will not give away the ending, except to say I wish it slower and more detailed, as it tasted so good.
rojo
The Town (or city) of Woodland, CA is featured in USA Today as having a funny smell no one can find. Great PR, that. National coverage that your town stinks. I bet they are proud. Most of the complaints come from residents who moved next to the sewage plant. I bet they forgot that their shit stinks too. You look at a house next to a sewage plant, move in and then complain about the smell. Reminds me of Dennis Miller (back when he was funny) telling Americans not to blame the inventor of the fork because they have a fat ass. Or maybe residents outside of Denver who moved into a horse community by the airport complaining because the jets are noisy. What part of BY THE AIRPORT don't you understand.
I woke two nights ago dreaming of a womans's face and could not place it. Then I remembered it was the archangel Gabrielle from constantine. and it was on tv just last night and this night and probably many more nights. What a babe--okay she was batshit, but still really cute. One nice thing about cable is you never have to miss CSI, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU... So many crimes, so little time.
Countryside Mortgage brokers are going to refinance marginal loans that people would default on. Popular opinion is credited with their change of heart. Remember, this is the company whose president sold $130,000,000 of stock six months before the collapse because he wanted fluid investments, not because he knew they were screwed with bad paper. I am sure it is not public opinion or bad press, but that some accountant found out that they would own so many houses to liquidate they would lose their ass, so this looks good.
I finished a well-written book, Solstice Wood, recommended by the good folks at the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts. I was so frustrated by the great and vivid written depictions of people who do not trust fairy, the fay or the Otherworld. I was pissed. These things exist and they are potent. and not Eivil. Think MAP sessions, Reiki, Jo Rei, et al. Actually, I was angry and thought about the Cold War, the war of US versus THEM. Good, good book. I will not give away the ending, except to say I wish it slower and more detailed, as it tasted so good.
rojo
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Hows our economy doing? Excellent article!
Why is inflation bad? This is why, everything gets more expensive and paychecks just don't make it anymore. In my opinion, the nation has been living off of mortgage extracted wealth for half a dozen years and now the credit crunch is coming home to roost as people find they are not making enough to get by without the credit cash flowing into their pockets.
And these circumstances wont change before election day, how do you think people are going to vote after another year of not being able to make ends meet? How about if things are even worse?
Living paycheck to paycheck gets harder
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/stretching_paychecks;_ylt=AiAu.dlysIazwq1zl.7szFthr7sF
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer 40 minutes ago
NEW YORK - The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder.
What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.
Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help.
While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade.
From Family Dollar to Wal-Mart, merchants have adjusted their product mix and pricing accordingly. Sales data show a marked and more prolonged drop in spending in the days before shoppers get their paychecks, when they buy only the barest essentials before splurging around payday.
"It's pretty pronounced," said Kiley Rawlins, a spokeswoman at Family Dollar. "It seems like to us, customers are running out of food products, paper towels sooner in the month."
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said the imbalance in spending before and after payday in July was the biggest it has ever seen, though the drop-off wasn't as steep in August.
And 7-Eleven says its grocery sales have jumped 12-13 percent over the past year, compared with only slight increases for non-necessities like gloves and toys. Shoppers can't afford to load up at the supermarket and are going to the most convenient places to buy emergency food items like milk and eggs.
"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.
To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.
Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.
Industry analysts and some economists fear the strain will get worse as people are hit with higher home heating bills this winter and mortgage rates go up.
It's bad enough already for 85-year-old Dominica Hoffman.
She gets $1,400 a month in pension and Social Security from her days in the garment industry. After paying $500 in rent on an apartment in Pennsauken, N.J., and shelling out money for food, gas and other expenses, she's broke by the end of the month. She's had to cut fruits and vegetables from her grocery order — and that's even with financial help from her children.
"Everything is up," she said.
Many consumers, particularly those making less than $30,000 a year, are cutting spending on nutritious food like milk and vegetables, and analysts fear they're further skimping on basic medical care and other critical services.
Coupon-clipping just isn't enough.
"The reality of hunger is right here," said the Rev. Melony Samuels, director of The BedStuy Campaign against Hunger, a church-affiliated food pantry in Brooklyn.
The pantry scrambled to feed 5,000 new families over the past 12 months, up almost 70 percent from 3,000 the year before.
"I am shocked to see such numbers," Samuels said, "and I am really concerned that this is just the beginning of what we are going to see."
In the past three months, Samuels has seen more clients in higher-paying jobs — the $35,000 range — line up for food as the fallout of the subprime mortgage woes takes hold.
The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which covers 23 counties in New York State, cited a 30 percent rise in visitors in the first nine months of this year, compared with 2006.
Maureen Schnellmann, senior director of food and nutrition programs at the American Red Cross Food Pantry in Boston, reported a 30 percent increase from January through August over last year.
Until a few months ago, Dellria Seales, a home care assistant, was just getting by living with her daughter, a hairdresser, and two grandchildren in a one-bedroom apartment for $750 a month. But a knee injury in January forced her to quit her job, leaving her at the mercy of Samuels' pantry because most of her daughter's $1,200 a month income goes to rent, energy and food costs.
"I need it. Without it, we wouldn't survive," Seales said as she picked up carrots and bananas.
John Vogel, a professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, worries that the squeeze will lead to a less nutritious diet and inadequate medical or child care.
In the meantime, rising costs show no signs of abating.
Gas prices hit a record nationwide average of $3.23 per gallon in late May before receding a little, though prices are expected to soar again later this year. Food costs have increased 4.5 percent over the past 12 months, partly because of higher fuel costs. Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average family of four is spending anywhere from $7 to $10 extra a week — $40 more a month — on groceries alone, compared to a year ago, according to retail consultant Burt Flickinger III.
And while overall wage growth is a solid 4.1 percent over the past 12 months, economists say the increases are mostly for the top earners.
Retailers started noticing the strain in late spring and early summer as they were monitoring the spending around the paycheck cycle.
Wal-Mart and Family Dollar key on the first week of the month, when government checks like Social Security and public assistance generally hit consumers' mailboxes.
7-Eleven, whose customers are more diverse, looks at paycheck cycles in specific markets dominated by a major employer, such as General Motors in Detroit, to discern trends in shopping.
To economize, shoppers are going for less expensive food.
"They're buying more peanut butter and pasta. And they're going for hamburger meat," Flickinger, the retail consultant, said. "They're trying to outsmart the store by looking for deep discounts at the end of the month."
He said the last time he saw this was 2000-2001, when the dot-com bubble burst and the economy went into a recession after massive layoffs.
For now, low-price retailers are readjusting their merchandising and pricing.
Wal-Mart is becoming more aggressive on discounting. It announced Thursday it is expanding price cuts to 15,000 items, ranging from Motts apple juice and Progresso soups to women's fleece tops, heading into the holidays.
Family Dollar, whose food offerings were limited to candy and snacks until two years ago, has expanded its mix of groceries like fruit cups, cereal and such refrigerated items as milk and ice cream while cutting back on shoes. This summer the chain began accepting food stamps.
Food pantries are also getting creative. Samuels said her church, Full Gospel Tabernacle of Faith, just started offering free cooking classes to teach clients who are diabetic or have other health conditions how to prepare vegetables like squash. It's also offering free exercise classes.
"We are trying to make them health conscious," Samuels said. "It's not right to give them just anything. Our mantra is eat well and live well."
___
Associated Press Writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, N.J., and Terry Tang in Phoenix, Ariz., contributed to this report.
I read this and wonder why MSM is not covering this very well. The economy is not up. GDP is not up. America is the most productive country in the world per worker output. We take less vacations and less pregnancy leave than the rest of the industrialized world. Often our workers are so productive, it is cheaper to hire American workers rather than Chinese workers to build anything, when the cost of the finished product is done, even with the wage disparity (do you think more jobs would not have fled faster if this were not the case, it is all about bottom line.)
CEO's salaries keep skyrocketing. Middle management is not raising as much and hourly worker salaries are stagnant, meaning they buy less when inflation and rising health care and energy costs are included into the equation. People are making money on EBay, just as Cheney said. They are making money flipping house. OOOPPPPSSSS! make that used to make money. What has happened is a giant shell game. The total economy is raising with inflation, but less and less people have access to the money. Meaning less goods are bought (how many Bentleys or Porsches do you need, unless you are Jay Leno?). Meaning less demand, meaning less need for manufacturing.
And with internet economies, or house flipping--how much new material is produced? You can't make up real, tangible products. Either you have a product, or you don't. No amount of paperwork shuffling can change that, it can just optimize profit on what is there. Has it occurred to anyone, that aside from being in the age of peak oil and beholden to those that own the oil, that we have little product. and to shore up our economy we just print more money and the notes that back the dollars we just printed are bought by foreign countries. Making it impossible for us to do anything but give them favored trade status, regardless of their ethics.
In order to ensure oil supplies and energy supplies, we invade a country. Period. Make no mistake. This is what Iraq is about. Leaders looked backwards to the past, to the Cold War, to British Imperialism for policy models. They worked so well, after all. See Vietnam and the British economy of the late 70s and 80s. What could have happened if we had put all that money we spent on the war into R&D for renewable energy and improved that technology. After all, it appears as though we will have plenty of wind and sunshine and wave energy with global warming on our door step.
America would have had a PRODUCT!!!! It would have ensured another twenty or thirty years of real employment (where manufacturing is not making fast food.) The world would have clamored for our technology and expertise. Instead we are a country of buffoons driving SUVs and pickups that are so big the have names like Balarafon and Blotsoutthesun. And of course many of these vehicles spout "Support Our Troops" stickers. Even if peak oil theory is incorrect, why indebt ourselves to foreign countries more by driving vehicles that get 14 mpg in town.
I hope the next administration has the cojones and common sense to put solar panels back on the White House.
rojo
Why is inflation bad? This is why, everything gets more expensive and paychecks just don't make it anymore. In my opinion, the nation has been living off of mortgage extracted wealth for half a dozen years and now the credit crunch is coming home to roost as people find they are not making enough to get by without the credit cash flowing into their pockets.
And these circumstances wont change before election day, how do you think people are going to vote after another year of not being able to make ends meet? How about if things are even worse?
Living paycheck to paycheck gets harder
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/stretching_p
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer 40 minutes ago
NEW YORK - The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder.
What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.
Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help.
While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade.
From Family Dollar to Wal-Mart, merchants have adjusted their product mix and pricing accordingly. Sales data show a marked and more prolonged drop in spending in the days before shoppers get their paychecks, when they buy only the barest essentials before splurging around payday.
"It's pretty pronounced," said Kiley Rawlins, a spokeswoman at Family Dollar. "It seems like to us, customers are running out of food products, paper towels sooner in the month."
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said the imbalance in spending before and after payday in July was the biggest it has ever seen, though the drop-off wasn't as steep in August.
And 7-Eleven says its grocery sales have jumped 12-13 percent over the past year, compared with only slight increases for non-necessities like gloves and toys. Shoppers can't afford to load up at the supermarket and are going to the most convenient places to buy emergency food items like milk and eggs.
"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.
To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.
Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.
Industry analysts and some economists fear the strain will get worse as people are hit with higher home heating bills this winter and mortgage rates go up.
It's bad enough already for 85-year-old Dominica Hoffman.
She gets $1,400 a month in pension and Social Security from her days in the garment industry. After paying $500 in rent on an apartment in Pennsauken, N.J., and shelling out money for food, gas and other expenses, she's broke by the end of the month. She's had to cut fruits and vegetables from her grocery order — and that's even with financial help from her children.
"Everything is up," she said.
Many consumers, particularly those making less than $30,000 a year, are cutting spending on nutritious food like milk and vegetables, and analysts fear they're further skimping on basic medical care and other critical services.
Coupon-clipping just isn't enough.
"The reality of hunger is right here," said the Rev. Melony Samuels, director of The BedStuy Campaign against Hunger, a church-affiliated food pantry in Brooklyn.
The pantry scrambled to feed 5,000 new families over the past 12 months, up almost 70 percent from 3,000 the year before.
"I am shocked to see such numbers," Samuels said, "and I am really concerned that this is just the beginning of what we are going to see."
In the past three months, Samuels has seen more clients in higher-paying jobs — the $35,000 range — line up for food as the fallout of the subprime mortgage woes takes hold.
The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which covers 23 counties in New York State, cited a 30 percent rise in visitors in the first nine months of this year, compared with 2006.
Maureen Schnellmann, senior director of food and nutrition programs at the American Red Cross Food Pantry in Boston, reported a 30 percent increase from January through August over last year.
Until a few months ago, Dellria Seales, a home care assistant, was just getting by living with her daughter, a hairdresser, and two grandchildren in a one-bedroom apartment for $750 a month. But a knee injury in January forced her to quit her job, leaving her at the mercy of Samuels' pantry because most of her daughter's $1,200 a month income goes to rent, energy and food costs.
"I need it. Without it, we wouldn't survive," Seales said as she picked up carrots and bananas.
John Vogel, a professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, worries that the squeeze will lead to a less nutritious diet and inadequate medical or child care.
In the meantime, rising costs show no signs of abating.
Gas prices hit a record nationwide average of $3.23 per gallon in late May before receding a little, though prices are expected to soar again later this year. Food costs have increased 4.5 percent over the past 12 months, partly because of higher fuel costs. Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average family of four is spending anywhere from $7 to $10 extra a week — $40 more a month — on groceries alone, compared to a year ago, according to retail consultant Burt Flickinger III.
And while overall wage growth is a solid 4.1 percent over the past 12 months, economists say the increases are mostly for the top earners.
Retailers started noticing the strain in late spring and early summer as they were monitoring the spending around the paycheck cycle.
Wal-Mart and Family Dollar key on the first week of the month, when government checks like Social Security and public assistance generally hit consumers' mailboxes.
7-Eleven, whose customers are more diverse, looks at paycheck cycles in specific markets dominated by a major employer, such as General Motors in Detroit, to discern trends in shopping.
To economize, shoppers are going for less expensive food.
"They're buying more peanut butter and pasta. And they're going for hamburger meat," Flickinger, the retail consultant, said. "They're trying to outsmart the store by looking for deep discounts at the end of the month."
He said the last time he saw this was 2000-2001, when the dot-com bubble burst and the economy went into a recession after massive layoffs.
For now, low-price retailers are readjusting their merchandising and pricing.
Wal-Mart is becoming more aggressive on discounting. It announced Thursday it is expanding price cuts to 15,000 items, ranging from Motts apple juice and Progresso soups to women's fleece tops, heading into the holidays.
Family Dollar, whose food offerings were limited to candy and snacks until two years ago, has expanded its mix of groceries like fruit cups, cereal and such refrigerated items as milk and ice cream while cutting back on shoes. This summer the chain began accepting food stamps.
Food pantries are also getting creative. Samuels said her church, Full Gospel Tabernacle of Faith, just started offering free cooking classes to teach clients who are diabetic or have other health conditions how to prepare vegetables like squash. It's also offering free exercise classes.
"We are trying to make them health conscious," Samuels said. "It's not right to give them just anything. Our mantra is eat well and live well."
___
Associated Press Writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, N.J., and Terry Tang in Phoenix, Ariz., contributed to this report.
I read this and wonder why MSM is not covering this very well. The economy is not up. GDP is not up. America is the most productive country in the world per worker output. We take less vacations and less pregnancy leave than the rest of the industrialized world. Often our workers are so productive, it is cheaper to hire American workers rather than Chinese workers to build anything, when the cost of the finished product is done, even with the wage disparity (do you think more jobs would not have fled faster if this were not the case, it is all about bottom line.)
CEO's salaries keep skyrocketing. Middle management is not raising as much and hourly worker salaries are stagnant, meaning they buy less when inflation and rising health care and energy costs are included into the equation. People are making money on EBay, just as Cheney said. They are making money flipping house. OOOPPPPSSSS! make that used to make money. What has happened is a giant shell game. The total economy is raising with inflation, but less and less people have access to the money. Meaning less goods are bought (how many Bentleys or Porsches do you need, unless you are Jay Leno?). Meaning less demand, meaning less need for manufacturing.
And with internet economies, or house flipping--how much new material is produced? You can't make up real, tangible products. Either you have a product, or you don't. No amount of paperwork shuffling can change that, it can just optimize profit on what is there. Has it occurred to anyone, that aside from being in the age of peak oil and beholden to those that own the oil, that we have little product. and to shore up our economy we just print more money and the notes that back the dollars we just printed are bought by foreign countries. Making it impossible for us to do anything but give them favored trade status, regardless of their ethics.
In order to ensure oil supplies and energy supplies, we invade a country. Period. Make no mistake. This is what Iraq is about. Leaders looked backwards to the past, to the Cold War, to British Imperialism for policy models. They worked so well, after all. See Vietnam and the British economy of the late 70s and 80s. What could have happened if we had put all that money we spent on the war into R&D for renewable energy and improved that technology. After all, it appears as though we will have plenty of wind and sunshine and wave energy with global warming on our door step.
America would have had a PRODUCT!!!! It would have ensured another twenty or thirty years of real employment (where manufacturing is not making fast food.) The world would have clamored for our technology and expertise. Instead we are a country of buffoons driving SUVs and pickups that are so big the have names like Balarafon and Blotsoutthesun. And of course many of these vehicles spout "Support Our Troops" stickers. Even if peak oil theory is incorrect, why indebt ourselves to foreign countries more by driving vehicles that get 14 mpg in town.
I hope the next administration has the cojones and common sense to put solar panels back on the White House.
rojo
Sunday, October 14, 2007
What is Wrong with This???
It has just been released that salary inequality in America is now at the level that preceded the Great Depression. Great. As I have stated, I want the job of running a company into the ground so I can be retreaded as a CEO elsewhere and still collect my millions of dollar Golden Parachute. see Joe Nacchio, Enron, Home Depot, et al. and also use insider information to purchase stock and sell out of the company knowing it will crash and burn. see Countryside Mortgage.
and now the Decider, old Monkey Boy himself, stated
"First of all, our society has had income inequality for a long time. Secondly, skills gaps yield income gaps,"
What the hell is his great skill? Aside from the obvious being a member of the lucky sperm club, his other great attributes seem to be easily manipulated, intellectually incurious, arrogant and dishonest. Good skill set that. He had to be bailed out of business venture after business venture by family and friends. and for this he gets to be the CEO President. Maybe he thinks he gets a Golden Parachute for leading the country to economic disaster, military collapse and international scorn. Oh yes, ethical lows, too.
I know many people out there who don't have great job skills, but know how to suck up, lie, cheat, blame others and start rumor campaigns. Okay, some of this may seem to be sour grapes as one of my previous bosses graduated from trade school and I received a Master's in Administration. He received business awards from the Republican Party for dealing with Indian Tribes. Over $80,000 went to the tribes and the business associates while we received no (NO) income in our business.
So the main job skill to succeed in business needs to be the ability to be manipulated and being a butt boy, and all that is due will come to you. It is something not mentioned in Business School, but really is important--know the right people, have pictures in your file and bingo--you succeed.
And many of these successful rich white men--okay, GOPpers, have debates where they state truisms like "Why National Health Insurance, go out and get your own." When the hell was the last time they tried to make ends meet on less than $40,000 per year with a family? Health insurance, maybe after rent, utilities and a weekly ration of beans and macaroni are paid for. With maybe a few beers. They are so out of touch with skill sets that the only way they would survive in the wild would be to try and find someone to survive and hunt for them and then give them food.
Aargh! it makes me want to scream.
rojo
It has just been released that salary inequality in America is now at the level that preceded the Great Depression. Great. As I have stated, I want the job of running a company into the ground so I can be retreaded as a CEO elsewhere and still collect my millions of dollar Golden Parachute. see Joe Nacchio, Enron, Home Depot, et al. and also use insider information to purchase stock and sell out of the company knowing it will crash and burn. see Countryside Mortgage.
and now the Decider, old Monkey Boy himself, stated
"First of all, our society has had income inequality for a long time. Secondly, skills gaps yield income gaps,"
What the hell is his great skill? Aside from the obvious being a member of the lucky sperm club, his other great attributes seem to be easily manipulated, intellectually incurious, arrogant and dishonest. Good skill set that. He had to be bailed out of business venture after business venture by family and friends. and for this he gets to be the CEO President. Maybe he thinks he gets a Golden Parachute for leading the country to economic disaster, military collapse and international scorn. Oh yes, ethical lows, too.
I know many people out there who don't have great job skills, but know how to suck up, lie, cheat, blame others and start rumor campaigns. Okay, some of this may seem to be sour grapes as one of my previous bosses graduated from trade school and I received a Master's in Administration. He received business awards from the Republican Party for dealing with Indian Tribes. Over $80,000 went to the tribes and the business associates while we received no (NO) income in our business.
So the main job skill to succeed in business needs to be the ability to be manipulated and being a butt boy, and all that is due will come to you. It is something not mentioned in Business School, but really is important--know the right people, have pictures in your file and bingo--you succeed.
And many of these successful rich white men--okay, GOPpers, have debates where they state truisms like "Why National Health Insurance, go out and get your own." When the hell was the last time they tried to make ends meet on less than $40,000 per year with a family? Health insurance, maybe after rent, utilities and a weekly ration of beans and macaroni are paid for. With maybe a few beers. They are so out of touch with skill sets that the only way they would survive in the wild would be to try and find someone to survive and hunt for them and then give them food.
Aargh! it makes me want to scream.
rojo
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