Well, as busy as I’ve been, I’ve simply not had time to blog here like I used to, but I’m not shutting this thing down. But in the mean time, in writing my second-most-recent entry, I found that the database had gotten corrupted.
I don’t know how long this has been going on, but I suspect based on the traffic records that it’s been days. So, for you dedicated readers who come by here and see if I’ve updated anything, sorry for the big white error screen if you got that. It’s obviously been fixed, and I’ll keep an eye on things just in case something gets squirrely again.
And, again, thanks for continuing to stop by, even when I’m so incredibly delinquent. I hope it’s still worth it.
What is one of the most common claims we hear laid at liberals by conservatives, historically? That the news media silences major conservative news so that people won’t know whatever earthshaking information the liberals don’t want the people to know about.
But something fascinating is happening today.
In light of Ron Paul’s huge $4.2 million haul yesterday, where are we likely to read or hear about this amazing news? I’m seeing it in the New York Times, ABC News, the LA Times… you know… common liberal news sources. In the middle of the fundraising last night, you could find the stories on the front page tickers of the websites of Yahoo, ABC News, and CNN.
But this morning, what are we hearing from the conservative talk show hosts? Nothing. Crickets. There might be some mention of the news pretty quickly, but the rest of the discussion is all about Giuliani and Romney.
The silence from the conservatives about what grassroots supporters of Ron Paul have done yesterday for his campaign is deafening.
Isn’t this behavior, dismissing major news like this, of the sort that conservatives usually accuse the liberals?
What this is revealing is that for all the kinds of “power to the people” talk that conservatives like to parrot, we’re finding they’re every bit as pro-establishment, pro-big government, anti-individual freedom as the other side of the single ruling party.
I’m suspecting that ideas like “power to the people” really have more to do with “power to the elite people” than conservatives want to admit. Else, why is there such huge silence regarding earth-shattering news as we received yesterday about Ron Paul’s campaign?
Not surprising, just saddening that we find out again that more “conservatives” than we would like to admit are simply 3-monkey Republicans.
But the best part is going to be the stammering, dribbling and incoherent comments made by such “conservatives” if the Ron Paul campaign continues to go the direction that it has been. They have no category for what he’s been accomplishing. They can’t imagine that people of all political stripes would get behind this guy.
But they are.
It’s estimated that yesterday’s haul for the Ron Paul campaign was done, essentially, by about 40,000 people offering about $100 each. No big givers here, just lots and lots of people who have figured out that Paul is the only one talking about the things that really positively affect freedom and prosperity in America.
Even a major online betting website has moved Ron Paul’s odds at becoming president from 200-to-1 in May this year to 4-to-1 just recently.
Um, 4-to-1! Hello?! When was the last time you saw Vegas be terribly far off on determining odds? Right.
So, enjoy this ride, all you freedom lovers. And if you want to return freedom to America, don’t stop supporting Paul. He’s the only pro-constitution, pro-small-government, pro-ending-the-war, pro-individual-freedom candidate of BOTH sides of the aisle.
And certainly enjoy the contortions of the conservative elite as they do everything possible to dismiss Paul’s campaign. It doesn’t get better than this.
The Web Economy Bullshit Generator is one fantastically funny piece for those of us (you) who may be in a line of work at a corporation which deals with technology somehow on the internet.
So, here it is… I challenge you to generate some Bullshit and insert it into your official company documents in a way that not only doesn’t get called as “Bullshit”, but actually impresses the higher-ups so much that it helps you get a leg up in your career.
Of course, if you do this successfully, you have to come back here and tell us about it.
Oh, and if you only get one Bullshit phrase in, that’s not actually impressive. But if you can get several into a paragraph and pull it off, now we’re getting somewhere. And if you’re REALLY good, you can get a whole series of these to form one single sentence and still pass it off.
See, it’s this level of stupid that’s just staggering right now as the houses of cards begin to tumble:
In recent weeks, Countrywide had announced 1,400 layoffs. Mozilo said Friday that those cuts were included in the 10,000 to 12,000 expected cuts among Countrywide’s more than 61,000 employees.
The company’s banking, insurance and loan servicing operations will see few reductions, with the bulk of the job cuts affecting loan officers, processors and other employees of divisions that generate loans, Mozilo said. Though Countrywide provided few additional details, Southern California will clearly suffer because the company employs about 15,000 people in Calabasas and elsewhere in the region.
“They’re a significant employer” in the West San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, said Nancy Sidhu, vice president and senior economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “The anxiety factor has to be rising for residents of the area.”
So far, however, her business advocacy organization does not see evidence of serious economic problems spreading beyond the housing sector, she said, an assessment shared by real estate and finance expert Stuart Gabriel of the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
No evidence of spreading beyond the housing sector? Come on over and I’ll make a bet with you right now. No, I won’t take your cash. Go buy some silver or gold and make your bet with that. That’s the only currency I will take.
If you’re currently attending or have considered attending the UCLA Anderson School of Management, I’d seriously find other options. That level of ineptitude is simply inexcusable in our current market conditions. Morons! This is like saying the sun isn’t in the sky during the daytime.
Let me say again, I and some friends have speculated as early as three to five years ago that the market corrections we’re beginning to witness would be starting this year, and we’re right on target. I guess we’re in the wrong line of work. But how do you put “prophet” on your resume and sell it successfully?
For all those folks out there who have not been listening to folks (like me) who have been saying over and over that we’re going to see corrections soon on all sorts of financial levels in this country, especially with the dollar, comes some **gasp**startling news:
NEW YORK — The dollar fell to a 15-year low against major currencies on Friday as data showed U.S. payrolls fell last month for the first time in four years, raising recession fears and pressure for an interest-rate cut.
Traders dumped the dollar after the government said the United States shed 4,000 net jobs last month, the first contraction since August 2003. It also reduced estimated June and July job gains.
The payrolls data followed a larger-than-expected decline in July pending home sales reported earlier this week — more evidence that a credit crunch that began with losses on bonds tied to risky U.S. mortgages was starting to put the brakes on growth.
“Today’s employment report and the revisions are enough to justify several interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve,” said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, New Jersey. “It is clear from this report that the U.S. employment situation is worsening.”
Markets are now pricing in a 74 percent chance that the Fed slashes its 5.25 percent benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point when it meets on September 18.
“The Fed cannot keep ignoring the fact that the subprime and credit crisis has indeed hit the real economy,” said Kathy Lien, senior currency strategist at DailyFX.com in New York.
“Americans are feeling the pain and this will translate into weak consumer spending, which will drive speculation for a possible recession,” she said.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, tumbled to a 15-year low.
The low-yielding yen was the biggest beneficiary, at one point rising 1.8 percent to a three-week high of 113.28 yen per dollar as investors fled risky trades funded by borrowing the Japanese currency at low interest rates. The dollar also fell 1.1 percent to 1.1890 Swiss francs.
The euro was up 0.6 percent at $1.3765, near a session peak of $1.3799, according to electronic trading platform EBS.
Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Conn., called the payroll report “one of the bigger real surprises we have had for some time, and (it) can only add significantly to building negative dollar sentiment.”
If these guys are seriously surprised the payroll news this week, or the market drops, or the housing market drops, they’re either so naive that they shouldn’t be employed at their current jobs or they’re a bunch of evil swindlers who need to be fired as soon as possible.
Many Americans are about to get a very rude awakening in how the markets work when you’re printing worthless dollars to pay your debts and float the economy. This is exactly why it’s a terrible idea to have a central banking system.
The piper’s about to come calling. And it’s entirely the failure of a government system that was 99.9% likely to end up here. And it’s the fault of the American people for continuing to allow themselves to be fed the lie that big government and socialism is a better solution than the free market which has worked for us so well for hundreds of years.
Thanks to reader Michael, here is a great half-hour show on PBS with Bill Moyers interviewing John Nichols and Bruce Fein, writer of the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
Here’s a quick excerpt from near the end.
Moyers: You are saying you want the judiciary committee to call formal hearings on the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheyney?
Fein: Yes! Because there are political crimes which have been perpetrated in combination. It hasn’t been one or the other being in isolation. And the hearings have to be not into “this is a republican or democrat” thing, this is something that needs to set a precedent whoever occupies the White House in 2009. We do not want to have that occupant, whether it’s John McCain or Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani or John Edwards, to have this authority to go outside the law and say, “I am the law. I do what I want. No one else’s view matters.”
This is simply a great discussion which reveals much about what is being done by our current administration in direct violation of the constitution. Please check this out when you have a moment.
Wow, and again it’s been a while. Things aren’t easy when you’re working on starting your own company. Work, work, work all the time. But, we’re confident this is going to be successful and turn some things around for us. Prayers are always appreciated.
So, on this day of all days, I thought I’d drop a note in here echoing what I saw from Vox earlier. That is that this day has become a day of mourning for us. It no longer is a happy occasion. We remember what the day used to be about, but too many people have been seduced into selling out their freedom for peanuts.
So on this day, we remember my favorite old Gadsden flag and in the spirit of “Don’t Tread On Me”, I pull out a nice Sam Adams quote that’s been passed around among us recently:
“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.”—Samuel Adams
Here is Dr. Paul’s direct response to the tradeoff with former Mayor Giuliani.
It should be noted that he is not against going to war, and I think it’s very important that people understand that much of the position he’s taking is based on the 9/11 Report. I have yet to read that, but with all that’s going on, I’ll probably start trying to get my hands on it so I can scour it a bit.
