Surge, Here We Come

Why Is Obama Continuing Bush Policy?

Bush made a mess of the world. He was an idiot controlled by evil greedy power hungry Neanderthals (think Dick Cheney).

I voted, campaigned for and donated to Barack Obama For President so that he would bring Change to Washington. Change being from what Bush had been up to.

Banks, Wall Street, The Federal Reserve, The Treasury Department. No Change we got Bush II

Now Afghanistan. Why not just get out. Now. What does he think he can accomplish there? Armin Karzid is a drug running thug, another man Bush looked into the eyes of and saw his soul. Why continue this ridicules dance?

The old school military industrial complex has got Obama by his short hairs. Shades of Lyndon Johnson. Why are we, the American people, letting the Taliban dictate the frame of our engagement. Who the frack! are they. So they harbored some bad people who plotted against us. We need to grow up and deal with it. They are not going to come swimming accross the Atlantic and rush our shores and eat our young. They are nobodies unless we stupidly choose to make them into somebodies. A weak enemy loves and stupid foe.

The end never justifies the means. Killing is bad. Killing bad people is bad too. Americans have no, absolute no, justification to kill people in Afghanistan at this cross road in the scenario. Who will benefit from the escalation in this war? People who sell war products. Look into it, you may be surprised at who is making money on this...hey do you own a mutual fund, maybe in you IRA? Well, you too can make some extra retirement scratch from this killing field.

Change You Can Believe in means change, dummy. Unless it really is 1984 again.

Talk about double speak....

What happened to Peace Love and Understanding?

How Is Your Shopping Experience

The Retailers Need You To Shop To Save The World From Total Shopping Collapse

Isn't sad that our world depends on our abilty to buy stuff. Things that we don't really need nor will even remember in two or three years from now.

There is a very large mall called Bahia Sur that is smack dab in the middle of a collection of beach communities here at the tip of Europe in the southern most part of Spain on the Atlantic coast. There are perhaps a half a million people within a 35 mile radius.

Spain as you probably know is suffering horrendous unemployment, above 17 % and rising. They have had a similar boom and bust in their residential property market similar to the U.S. Prices, peak to current trough are not down as much as the U.S. but they are still falling.

The mall and stores were packed. The parking lot was jammed and the police were out directing traffic and assisting people to find areas to park. Once inside though people seemed to be looking and having coffee and drinks over looking the bay and seemed not to be buying much. There is a large food supermarket, Carrefour, kind of like a Wall Mart, and they were packed and people were filling shopping carts with food. Their prices for food are the lowest in the area and their vast variety is unparalleled as well.

Outside of the food department it seemed that people were gravitating towards the cheapest products, TVs, computers, etc. and not much traffic around the high end stuff. Which is a bit of a cultural change for the Spaniards – normally when they do buy something they really want to “flash” and usually lean towards the high end expensive stuff.

IMO, people like to go out and mingle with the crowd and shopping offers an opportunity to do that. You don’t actually have to buy much or anything to enjoy that part of the experience.

As for me, I honored National Buy Nothing Day (as I do most days of the year).

Food For Thought

40% Of All Food Produced In
The United States Is Thrown Away

The new face of hunger in America is the white middle class, many of whom own homes and live in good communities. They have become unemployed or under employed and they have too many mouths to feed on too few dollars.

49 million people in the U.S. are "calorie deprived" that is to say they do not eat enough each day to afford themselves enough calories to stay healthy.

People go to bed hungry, mothers cut back and eat less so their children can have a bit more. Families struggle to feed themselves all across the nation.

One in six Americans say they do not have enough to eat and yet we throw away almost half the food that is produced.

What has happened to the sanity of society? When will we wake up?

The Federal Reserve Bank System

Ben Bernanke Is Whining That He Is Misunderstood

I have a limited knowledge of the Federal Reserve Bank System. What I do know is from crack pot videos and other fringe viral media. Hey, where else can one get information on the Fed that isn’t Fed propaganda? Really, everything with the Fed is so hush hush…

Having said that, IMO the Fed just seems dirty and crooked.

It was conceived at a meeting of eight bankers and one U.S. Senator (from a large banking family) on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1910. These gentlemen represented near to 1/4 of the world's wealth. They wanted to create a cartel to protect their interests. They finally succeeded in 1913 in Congress and the large banks have been advantaged ever since. They have succeeded in destroying the value of the U.S. dollar by deliberately causing inflation by expanding the money supply at the request of the Treasury. The Treasury simply asks the Fed for money and magically, poof! it springs into existence by the very fact that the Fed "writes the check" to the Treasury. Much easier than Congress going to the public for the money by raising taxes or by cutting programs/expenses. In the end, the public is taxed by the erosion of their wealth.

Why is there so much secrecy surrounding the Fed? Why can’t they be audited. It is not a government agency and yet it has all the advantages the government has to offer. It’s not a private enterprise so it is not regulated as such. Huh, it is not a private company nor a government agency. What the heck is it? I don't trust them.

Ben Bernanke he is an arrogant liar.

May 17th, 2007 – Bernanke: “While rising delinquencies and foreclosures will continue to weigh heavily on the housing market this year, it will not cripple the U.S.”
June 20th, 2007 – Bernanke: (the subprime fallout) “will not affect the economy overall.”
November 29, 2009 – ” Trust me. I know what I’m doing.” – Ben Bernanke

Everyone is to blame and no one admits fault. Bottom line – who benefits?

Banks, Bankers, brokers, dealers, hedge funds, mutual funds, financial advisers, CNBC, etcetera — > 1

Joe Six Pack — > 0

Round Two: coming up next

I have no problem with the idea of dismantling the Federal Reserve System.

Going Rogue

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Have you ever wondered who watches Fox News? Really who would actually watch that channel to find out what is happening in the world and to inform themselves on the events of the day?

Just as perplexing is who would support Sarah Palin for...well for anything except moose hunting and skinning?

Well all the answers are in the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKKKgua7wQk

(it is OK to laugh, it is better than crying)

Shades of Chappaquiddick

Mr. Tiger Woods Woody Gets The Better Of Mr. Woods.


Elin Nordegren, wife and mother of two, proves the old macho adage - "No matter how beautiful the woman, somebody (that would be Mr. Woods woody) is tired of fracking her..."

Sad really, but what can America's first billionaire sports celebrity do with all that wood?

UPDATE: Saturday 2:30 PM - Elin has said she bashed in Mr. Wood's SUV window with a nine iron (golf club) because she was trying to save him. How long will it take Mrs. Woods to realize that in this great country the spouse gets 1/2 of all assets (1 billion divided by 2 = a SH*T LOAD OF STOCKHOLM FJORD FRONT REAL ESTATE, COFFEE AND OPEN FACED SANDWICHES).


UPDATE: Sunday 4:00 PM - "This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me,” Woods said. “I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Woods said it was a private matter, and he wanted to keep it that way. “Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible,” he said.

Irresponsible? Now he is a comedian. Hey why not just tell the truth? Oh yea, then you may loose some $$$ from sponsors who are selling your ass as an honorable person. Now that would be irresponsible, indeed.

Ballon Boy Finds Spiritual Mom & Dad

Michaele and Tareq Salahi crash the White House State Dinner

For almost nine years we have been subjected to extraordinary measures to assure our security. Take off your shoes, no you can not bring a pen knife on board, no liquids are allowed.

OK. We were doing this to insure our safety. How many millions, billions, of collective hours have been wasted checking our bodies for things that are not there. Well, it is for the greater good.

OK. After the complete melt down of our financial system and the Banksters high jacking of our government we thought well at least these officials know how to protect us. Security.

OK. It is time to batten down the hatches on the eve of Obama declaring an unprecedented escalation of the war on Arabia, in Afghanistan. Our best of the best will be there to protect us.

And then two nincompoops, waltz into the first State Dinner and "hang out" with the powers that be. Classic are the photographs of these two reality show hopefuls with, Rahm Emanuel, The Marine Guard and V.P. Joe Biden (twice).

How did these two celebrity wannabes, veritable nut cases, get within a few inches of The President? They shook his hand...

The spin doctors are now saying: "Hey nothing to worry about, they were scanned and had no weapons on them." If you are a trained assassin aren't your hands lethal weapons...?

How much more incompetent do our leaders have to be for us to wake up?

What will make the sheeple stand up?

Ghoul man Sucks

Hank Paulson Bailed Out AIG to Save Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs big wigs will be getting million dollar bonuses this Christmas.

You, if you are lucky will be getting Zhu Zhu pets.

Goldman Sachs received 16 billion dollars from the AIG bailout.

You, if you are lucky will see your great grand children pay back the borrowed money from those bailouts.

Goldman Sachs borrows money from the Federal Reserve Bank at near 0% interest.

You, if you are lucky will be able to borrow money for those Zhu Zhu pets at near 30% interest.

Why does Goldman Sachs get the goodies and you get a lump of coal? Because they are doing the work of God and you are just a mere mortal living in their world. So stop whining and have the decency to be thankful to them for allowing you to play with the mechanical hamsters.

How To Make Friends In An Unkind World

Dig Deep

There are no strangers. One hundred and seventy-five thousand (175,000) years ago our ancestors, all 600 breeding pairs of them, hung on precariously to the shores of South Africa.

Today all those you see in the world, in your towns, cities, on-line and in line are their descendants and therefore your family. Treat them as such.

To put it another way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWHJ0jOlaGA

If you see, hear, smell, taste, touch (can be a metaphor) anything that you resonate with - reach out and he/she/it may reach back at you...

Bottom line: Love Is The Answer.

end of story. (hat tip to Mr. T. Soprano)

Shop Till You Drop

Black Friday

Just what the world needs now. More consumption.

The average credit card debt fell from 5700 dollars to 5600 dollars in the last six months. Not much really. That is a lot of debt to be carried at 10 to 30 percent interest. And guess what, the banks really really need you to pile on some more debt because they have got to "earn" their way out of the financial mess they dug themselves into by selling you crappy mortgages on over inflated houses.

Stand up if you love your country. Go out, buy something, anything and make yourself feel better and the person you give to feel great as well. If you don't have the cash, not to worry the Banksters are there behind you

(see above photo illustration)

and will lend you what ever you need at 30%, but hey who's counting. The economy is rebounding, the housing market is bouncing and it is the holidays. You deserve a treat. And it's good for Ameri-caca too.

The following video should help get you in the shopentertainment mood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAQrsA3m8Bg

Money is Money

On This Thanksgiving I am Thankful for not being sold into slavery to pay my family's debts.

Some Indian farmers are selling their wives to pay debts, a practice social workers say is as much about the low social status of women as it is poverty. The financial crisis in India is taking its toll.

A spokesperson for Goldman Saks and Morgan Stanley Chase says there is no need for regulation: 'It would only gum up sales' and 'muck up profits'. They claim that the market itself can self regulate. When asked about the moral aspect of this "market", the spokesperson started to giggle uncontrollably and hung up the phone.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to question regarding the above with the now becoming standard Obama administration's response:

'Can't we all just get along'...

The Freedom Garden Vegetables Are Served

Last night Hollywood Royalty attended Obama's first White House State Dinner. Hm mm, sounds cool. Did you get an invitation? Me neither.

All Presidents do this and it is normally a time for the entire nation to enjoy, vicariously, such a glamorous event. I am sure we are all too young to have experienced the Kennedy State Dinners. The entire nation felt in on the celebration. They felt included.

Why does this one seem to be held almost in secret? Why is the guest list so closely guarded? Why do most Americans feel left out? Under G.W. Bush, sure we understood that.

IMO: With nearly 1/5 (U6 unemployment rate) of Americans out of or in need of more work this type of event is in bad taste. Is this the time and place for the wealthy, strong and advantaged of our country to get together and pat themselves on the back? Serving vegetables from the White House garden almost sounds like a "Let Them Eat Cake" moment when 49 million Americans are now officially classified as "lacking in necessary daily calories". Mrs Obama planting the garden last Spring was kind of cool and sent a great massage to a nation in need of hope and direction. Having the white gloved staff harvest it and serve it to 400 Hollywood Fat Cats seems kind of out of touch with the pain of a nation in crisis.

If all the Big Shots from Hollywood were working hard to keep their names out of the press, I wonder how many Banksters and Wall Street Thugs were in attendance. We probably will never know.

This all happens on the eve of President Obama announcing to ESCALATE the WAR in Afghanistan.

State Dinner serves big helpings of State Secrets.

Something to think about:

(click on the picture for gigantic size)

Ameri-caca

Cash For Clunkers.

Yea that sounds great. We give you 2500 dollar credit for your worthless car and you sign up for five to seven years of debt on a new car at 10 percent interest. Yea you really need a new 20,000 dollar car and another 10,000 in interest payments over the life of the loan.

Is the government working for you or the banks?

How did we ever arrive at the place where it is normal practice to get something now and pay for it later?

Why not save your money and then buy a car. Once you have that car, save a little money for the 10 years you are driving it so you will have the money to buy a new car when you need it.

How did Americans get sold such a scheme to not only have to pay for the things they need but to pay an added charge on top for everything. And some of those charges (30% interest on credit cards) can add up with enough time to exceed the actual worth of what was originally purchased.

Being in debt must be like living in Hell. Owing money on things you bought in the past must be like being a slave. A modern day nation of slaves.

How did we become so fooled?

Europeans are living the American Dream

I spend most of my time in France and Spain and here we often discuss the merits of spending more than two euros for a bottle of wine. I often buy wine between one and two Euros a bottle and it is very good.

Why is wine so expensive in the U.S.? Really it never ceases to amaze me. When I am back in America (East Coast) I am in shock on how expensive the basics of life are. An ordinary Chardonnay for 11 dollars when a similar bottle of a dry white from the province of Cadiz, Spain sells for 80 cents. A full bodied red for 20 dollars when a similar ordinary Bordeaux sells at the local French supermarket for three.

Property taxes here are about 1/1000 of the value of the property per year. You do pay a tax when you sell, up to 18% on any profit. If you are not speculating and just owning then this is a great system.

Insurance costs: about 1/5 for medical, about 1/6 for house and about 1/2 for car.

I pay more in property tax (2.2%) and homeowner insurance for my house in the U.S. then I spend for an entire year here in Spain for all my insurance (car, house, medical), all the utilities (electric, trash, water, gas) gas for the car, and ALL THE FOOD AND WINE FOR TWO. For An Entire Year.

Why is the basics of life here in France and even more so in Spain so much more afordable then in the U.S.? What happened to the standard of living in America?

Europeans are living the American Dream. Where did all the wealth in America go?