I need to go make some coffee before I can spew it. ;)

Good thing mine went into the thermos for work or I’d be in big trouble.

Market crash imminent – gold going back over $1,000

Since you asked, this is what I googled this morning when I got to the tube:
http://skdesigns.com/internet/…..pest_fear/
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
Why was I looking for something inspiring?
Oh. Just. Because.

If the Fed and SEC had been doing their job instead of trying to maintain “investor confidence” we might have been able to head this off years ago.

Dangit, Christy, there’s just too much good stuff here.

The “modern spiritual” is great, but so is the Ballad of Bernie Madoff.

I like the way Digby thinks.

Our USA here in KC (Western District of MO), John Wood, just resigned last week. After Rove, Goodling, and Schlozman got Todd Graves canned, they tried to put Schlozman in as the new USA. He lasted a year, without Senate confirmation, before he gave up and they put John Wood in.

For those looking for more on Wood, you may remember this gem from his wife, who worked for his old boss Micheal Chertoff at DHS.

Wow. One toke over the line is right. Is that THE Dick Dale of electro-rockin surfer music/Pulp Fiction soundtrack fame?

Morning everyone…

Oh trust me, the Fed and the SEC were both doing “their” jobs. We all has the mistaken belief that they represent you and me. Clearly this has been proven false.

It was 100% orchestrated by the IMF/World Bank Global Elite. It’s no different than what they’ve done to every third and second world country. They perfected the scam (see Confessions Of An economic Hit Man)…loan a country more than they can ever repay, then own all their assets when they default.

Once it became clear that the banking system had totally failed, and the government was going to take them over, it became equally clear that the shareholders of the banks were being wiped out.

Without a privately held financial sector, the are NO STOCKS worth owning. The death spiral is set in place. Communism (under the false banner of Socialism) is next.

We are on the cliff, looking over the edge into the abyss. The ONLY thing that has prevented the total collapse thus far is the totally fabricated daisy chain (circle jerk) between Federal Reserve, Banks, and the US Treasury.”

The ONLY entity buying US debt is the US. The ONLY country supporting the US Dollar is the US. The ONLY entity buying US treasuries, are these US entities.

IT’S ALL JUST FUCKING SMOKE AND MIRRORS. THERE IS NO MARKET.

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/author/7251

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

After one more toke, that is.

Be good to yourselves, and to all other living things.

Namaste

ht ecahn, glennzilla coming up on democracy now re torture and detainees. can be streamed at wbai. jane mayer on now.

Ah, Dragon? I already said I was looking for something inspirational. Mind passing that over?

How’s the gold mining and oil/gas exploration within Yosemite National Park or the Grand Canyon?

Our creditors will get to find out.

http://informationclearinghous…..e22026.htm

Picture EVERY MAJOR ROAD as a toll road. Our creditors will be expecting you and me to pay off the debts created by our bank-owned government officials.

I just learned last night about your friend. I’m very sorry, SD. Namaste, my friend.

I listened to it in the earlier webcast.

Here’s what the SEC knew three years ago (and buried):

http://www.businessinsider.com…..ago-2009-2

that’s what i figured, but by the time i saw your comment, it was too late to catch it live so i listened to the wbai stream. thanks for the heads up it was very good.

I’m listening to (((Michelle Obama))). “We’re your neighbors.” OMG.

220,000 retailers closing this year.

Get Ready for Mass Retail Closings

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-…..ckers=sks,^gspc,jwn,tif,zlc,jcp

see video at left.

Republican leadership – I am picturing Steele & Romney getting all hip hop, we all remember Romney singing “who let the dogs out” in New Orleans.

Here’s the busted link from above

You know, I have a problem with Attaturk’s snarky “it’s the message, not the medium.”

It’s definitely all about the medium.

The GOP is like a group of Neanderthals marveling at the use of matches. “Oh my, we have to get us some of those nifty, hot and sparkly things,” they say, and then they set about lighting everything and themselves on fire.

Yup, the medium very much is the message.

MO to the children at the WH: “What will you do in life to help someone in need?” Wow. No one ever asked me that in my Republican family of origin. Although, in fairness, they did sometimes reach out to their personal circle when someone was struggling. Beyond that? Welfare scammers, all. (sigh)

I have the same concerns that Digby has about the US Attorney’s. I know for a fact a “mole” remains in the Southern District of Iowa. Matthew Whitaker is a Far Right Extremist Christianist who unsuccesfully tried to prosecute a gay legislator over a failed business dealing. He is still being allowed to serve and perpetuate his loyal Bushie policies. It is usual and customary to have all USA’s resign at the beginning of a new administration. Why is Obama bucking the trend? Is this more of the -Bi-partianship that has already been proved to be a failure?

Name dropping alert: About whistleblower protections? May well work in principle, but not in the actual workplace. Coleen Rowley (FBI whistleblower re FBI failure to move forward on Zacarias Moussaoui information) has told me stories about being absolutely pilloried by her co-workers. She risked her career and lost it. Took early, early retirement. Time magazine cover? Yes. But at a terrible price.

Typo police: morons, not morans in first paragraph.

Yep, gotta be suicidal to be a whistleblower.

I’m on 2 nonprofit boards and they are now required to have whistleblower policies. What a farce. I kept my mouth shut though.

Dead Malls:

http://www.deadmalls.com/

Check out these pictures.

OMG, Myron Floren and the lovely little toke singers.

A bill to support George Mitchell as ME envoy has been introduced in the house. It has 55 cosponsors. A no brainer? no no. Some in the rabid right are afraid that Mitchell will be to fair.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/…..-mitchell/
Check the link at the bottom for co sponsers

I just now read the cited Scott Horton article. In the first paragraph, Scott notes that:

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison shared one definition of the term “tyrant”–a ruler who deprived a person of his freedom without operation of law and without accountability before a court. Which perhaps explains why American historians are consistently ranking George W. Bush at the very bottom of the list of all American presidents; the man, ultimately, is guilty of tyranny.

And Scott proceeds to show that George Bush is guilty of “tyrany.”

Fine. But let’s also note that our current president is making every effort to protect and preserve not the Constitution but rather the tyrannical presidential powers accrued by his predecessor.

I thinks she’s referring to this classic.

Whistleblower policies that protect . . . ?

Yet another case of creeping even-handedness.

imo, it’s going to take a change in culture – to one that honors whistleblowers instead of condemning or mocking them. what happened to joe darby says a lot about who we are (both the good and the bad).

Oh!

Yep, gotta be suicidal to be a whistleblower.

how about courageous?

Yes. And in both the boards I’m on, I think whistleblowers would be handled properly. But then, it’s unlikely that, in those orgs, anything requiring whistleblowing would happen (though that’s never out of the question). But in orgs where misbehavior goes on, whistleblowers will never be handled properly, policies notwithstanding. Think about it: if the org is doing something already illegal, dya think a “policy” is going to make a difference?

Foolish courage, as it destroys your life.

There’s always the odd-bod who is willing to do that for the betterment of humankind, but there’s a reason why it’s rare.

Sometimes what is being done may not be illegal but nonetheless counterproductive or wasteful. Was the FAA supervisor who sheilded the airlines acting illegally?

Yesterday, eCAHN, you suggested that the ‘difference’ between Nazi Germany and the American (brand of fascism) ‘experiment’ was “success”.

Could there be a connection between that very astute observation (which I consider to be ‘correct’) and your comment of today?

Coleen Rowley is a person of immense integrity. Painfully so sometimes, but there you have it. It’s a stretch, but one could make the case that dealing with Moussaoui in a timely way might, MIGHT have been the necessary intervention re 9/11. That dogs her heels every day. Of course, she didn’t know that up front. She simply did what she believed was the right thing to do. And not impulsively. She knew what would happen to her. ANd it did. Foolish courage? Not so much. Courage with huge consequences? Oh, yeah, baby. But isn’t that often the way with acts of courage?

I was thinkin’ that if the Feds go after all those Swiss banks and their illegally laundered assets there mighht actually be enough to pay for the stimulus. UBS says they’ve only turned over about 200 names and were still willing to be fined about $800 million dollars. That’s…lemme see…$4 million per customer. The SEC and FBI says that there are about 20,000 more UBS clients that used these laundering funds. That could mean up to $80,000,000,000 in illegally laundered moneys sitting there in UBS ALONE! $80 BILLION.

What about the other Swiss banks? They are screaming about UBS was “blackmailed” by the US Government, too.

Seems that there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye. I want names named…who are these people not “carrying their fair weight”.

I’m not familiar with that case.

More generally, even if the behavior is not illegal, bureaucracies and power structures tend to protect themselves, so pointing out flaws is dangerous. And if the behavior is not illegal, why do you need to be a whistleblower? A good org will have a procedure to handle suggestions for improvement.

I think THAT “Dick Dale” would have been “jiggy with the lingo”. Hard to tell with the pompadour thoughb (I’m used to Dick with a surfer cut or lookin’ like a motorcycle rebel). Could he have worked up a routine and moled his way onto the Welk show? If so, it would be a “classic prank”.

You know, I wondered about this, too. And what’s the blather about these people losing their money? If (when?) they pay what they owe plus penalties (and legal fees, oh well), they’ll still have way more money than the rest of us, yes/no?

we disagree.

i find it inspiring when people are willing to take any kind of personal risk for justice and for others. in fact it is the opposite of the “i’ve got mine, screw you” mentality and i wish for more of it – in myself and in others.

The more I become aware of what actually goes on, the more cynical I get. Reading Legacy of Ashes now. I started off with a very low opinion of the CIA, but the book informs me that I was WAY too optimisitic. Not just in its incompetence, but in the way it is an independent operator in covert operations, ruining U.S. reputation, and in secrecy, not abroad where everyone knows what’s going on, but at home, so we don’t do anything about it.

Pretty soon, for my mental health, I’ve got to read something that’s uplifting.

Many times organizations develop their own group think. Anyone who challenges the group think is ostracized. The notion of this starts in childhood – think “tattletail”.

I agree with you. The main problem, though, is that individuals and entities that are determined to do people and the system dirt will be driven ever deeper underground. How to find balance with this, I wonder?

“Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson.

Up with necessary (and rational) positivity (or, at least, ‘uplift’!).

We must be approaching the ‘hundredth monkey’ ‘tipping point’ of ‘awareness’.

I don’t see how the ruling cla$$es can put this cat (or monkey) back into the bag.

Thanks for the suggestion.

HuffPost headlines Big Dog lecturing Obama on hope. Pretty good concept. /s

Something else making me go hmmm.
This thread of comments is completely different from those at Christy’s site, tho it’s the same title and article.
I must not be understanding something about the cross-posting. I always thought it was the same.
Hmmmm?

Another Republican beats the rap proving there is a two tiered justice system in the U.S., one for the little people and another for the rich and well connected.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._0220.html

Apparently a different “Dick Dale” than the Lebanese-American surf guitarist extraordinaire!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dale_(singer)

By the way, Misirlou is a classic Greek-Turkish song about a love affaire with a Muslim Egyptian gal by a Greek Christian. VERY controversial! Only one Arabic version is known, but there are versions in Greek and Turkish that are popular.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou

i do not know.

are you familiar with the stanford prison experiment or more on point the milgram experiments? i sometimes (ok, often) feel as though we are culturally caught up in one now – where all the old short cuts for moral decision making don’t work.

I hope you are right.

Lessons I learned from forecasting: just because you just learned something, doesn’t mean it’s new knowledge; and just because you can see what’s going on, doesn’t mean that others also see it. It’s the second one that gave me the most forecasting trouble. I could see things (like the income distribution problem) a long time in advance. Difficult to figure out when it becomes the issue du jour.

Interesting! I’ve only heard the instrumental, not vocal.

wish i could give you some suggestions that would be of use. i read about the people you call foolish. it inspires me.

Breaking: Obama’s elf.

I guess we just need to pass out more ‘compasses’.

(How come this thing doesn’t say ‘north’?)

I used to think that too…but apparently it has something to do with Looney-Tunes lingo for folks in the know (Bugs Bunny called morons “morans”).

There seems to be 2 of them. One school at a time and one child at a time. Which one (to start)?

You just have a habit of ‘arriving’ ‘early’, eCAHN.

(Have to wait for the rest of us to ketchup)

It makes me angry to read about whistleblowers because of how they are treated. My anger overwhelms my inspiration.

I think it comes from this.

I am now! Google is my friend. I’m guessing most people would not/would prefer not to see the connection between that/then and this/now. Different, dontcha know, when you’re talking Nazi torture. We’ve just got some poor little lambs who have gone astray. /s

One school at a time

ISBN 978-0-14-303825-2

Jane’s upstairs.

Well he’s trying to make himself relevant.

Thanks. I looked at the dates, found that was the first one & put it in my shopping cart for next time I do a big book order.

Off to shop for groceries in the capitalist cesspool. Ewww. That works better for Southern Dragon….

That attaturk made you spew? I thought it was weak at best. To each their own. I totally agree about the depressing news though. I was okay with being a pessimist when I was always wrong about the bad news.

Did you watch the video? That’s what made me spew.

I hope Hilzoy sent his post to the Post with a request for comment.

It is a very curious thing. The MSM considers bloggers to be lazy, sloppy, partisan, and unprofessional. When they do this, they point to our worst.

Now here is the curious thing. We say exactly the same things about them, but when we do, we are looking at their “best”.

Not quite. Bugs called them ‘maroons’, as in, “Jeez, what maroon!”

And Lawrence Welk doing a champagne jazz-lite version of One Toke Over the Line. Reminds me of a Robin Williams bit… “And-a now, the love-elly Lennon-a Sisters are a-going to a-sing for you, I Can’t Get No Satis-a-FAC-tion.”

No, I really did mean “morans.” See here for why…

I can’t believe it but “moran” has already made it into the Urban Dictionary (with picture).

http://www.urbandictionary.com…..term=moran

thanks for the links christy. those are some blogs I don’t read every day (like the Lake!). esp love the take on the Yelly Santelli brain fart.