Sing it Sister

How refreshing.

Harshing My Mellow, Maaaaan

The recession is here folks.

Chapman expects the dollar could lose as much as an additional 20 percent of its value this year alone. In the last five years, the dollar has lost 35 percent of its value against the euro.

How the rich get richer:

Looking on the bright side of what could be a major recession when the liquidity bubble bursts, Conway advises, “And of course when [the liquidity bubble] ends the buying opportunity will be once in a lifetime.”

You’re doin’ a heckuva a job, Bernanky-y!

Looks like the progenitor of the melt down was indeed the sub-prime market, but apparently it’s got feet as it’s moving elsewhere. Yikes!

Nothing like a good chain reaction to make my day.

;^)

Subliminal Advertising

For the Islamo-Facist-o-phobes, closely examining the logo of this nation’s capital’s very own NBA franchise reveals some hidden-in-plain sight clues to where the team’s allegiances really lie.

Who knew? That this is who team Al Qaeda officially roots for? Or that enclosing a swastika inside a crescent and star- with a pracitioner of the black arts twirling a b-ball on his index finger (they cleary do hate xtians)- clearly representing the world and their full court press for dominance over the west, was a sly way of insinuating their quest for global domination to unsuspecting males int he 18-45 demo. Who knew?

We need someone, a respected journalist- Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Judy Miller, Katie Couric- to investigate the source of funding and ownership behind this franchise’s straw men.

Frankly, if it doesn’t happen tomorrow, they’re a bunch of wankers.

Thanks be to Wonkette for bringing this to our attention.  Allah be praised (hedging my bet).

The Deep

Some tres cool photos of deep water fish.

What we don’t know, eh?

What we cannot see, eh?

Putting it all in Perspective

When they realized, from previous experience, that fabricating a groundleess, baseless war can provide you with all the power to usurp they could possibly want.

It’s a great way to create that license steal American’s wealth they have always wanted, so why not!?

Because they can.

Of course, whilst busily building their dynasty to the blueprint created in 1972, perhaps they have ignored that the outcome might be the same. George McGovern thinks so.

Dennis Kucinich too.

Crawford Ranch

Here are some aerial photos of the ranch before it became restricted airspace.

And here is an interesting take on the ranch from a sympathetic voice. What is strange to me is that a strange xtian cult built the original house, but is only mentioned in passing. According to other sources they have been hired to add on and even make furniture.

It’s good the president practices what he preaches, i.e. faith-based funding.

If You Are Going to Sell Your Soul…

… make sure you get top price.

Many Americans on both sides of the loan officer’s desk practiced a form of fraud over the last five years, giving and receiving liars loans (stated income loans) with Option ARM’s and debilitating re-fi fees which make it painful (if not impossible) to do anything but go bankrupt once the rate resets.

This latest brouhaha- the Sub Prime Meltdown (resulting in record foreclosures and inventory, falling sales volume and, soon, prices)- illustrates how easily manipulated the public most recently was.

The real wonder is that Americans are not but should be…

“fed up and sick and tired of the government, the banking system, and the crooks on Wall Street who keep sucking the lifeblood out of America’s economy.” [Source]

… yet it is probably certain that the public’s poor memory. After all, the IPO frauds peaked just seven years ago. It is predestined to happen again, and again.

The real question you have to ask yourself is: should others profit from the abuse of others? Some say it is finding a bigger sucker is what keeps the capitalist engine humming. When you have moved from a productive manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one, what you gonna do?

And if you are stupid enough to fall into these boulevards of traps, well then, fool me once, well, erm, let W tell it to you in his well rehearsed and well understood version.

“How may I be of service?” is starting to grate. “How stupid are you and how can I best use that to my advantage?” is what they mean.

Honesty, integrity, and looking out for the welfare of your fellow citizens (that’s right, we’re all in this together, aren’t we?) are quaint qualities of a bygone era, and it was never practiced in the corridors of power. Using one another as natural resources (i.e. “patsies”) was pretty much ushered in when the most recent crop of jackals snuck in under the back fence when Reagan took office.

Folks, they are still among us.

For those that stand in front of the flag and have their picture taken, there should be a caption under each beginning with the phrase “Beholden to…” because any oath taking apparently is forgotten the second after it’s completed.

Maybe they should be forced to renew their oaths of office every year? Every day?

“What we don’t have are the really brilliant people who possess good common sense to run this country. “

Anyway, a great opinion piece, check it out.

BTW, as this article posits, it’s not just an American problem.  Spain, where I visited in 2003, was undergoing a property boom then, especially along the coast. Many Brits, Germans, etc. were buying up as new construction expanded in unprecedented fashion.

Which of course means now the party is over because, as the saying goes #fools rush in#.

Talk About a Surge

This is a milestone. It took longer than I expected it ever would, but it has finally happened: GM has been surpassed in manufacturing numbers (let’s not talk profit- that happened a long long time ago) for the first time, by Toyota.

Since 1931.

G.M. swept past Ford in 1931 in the enormous American car market and in worldwide sales, and barely looked back for seven decades. But a combination of inattention to quality, strained labor relations, adverse regulatory decisions and a slowness to recognize the potential for small cars eroded G.M.’s seemingly insurmountable lead starting in the mid-1960s.

America seems to be in decline in everything except debt and income (excepting hedge fund managers and CEO’s).

UPDATE I own a GM car, and it’s been okay. Just okay. Drivetrain has been the best thing about it, but even that hasn’t been trouble free – throwout bearing failed. But to their credit, GM ponied up 2/3 the cost- and it was just out of warranty.

The quality of the materials is suspect- too much plastic, and probably not well engineered for each application. For example: both sun visors (necessary as I live in sunny California) have fallen away, and replacements (are you sitting down) are $200.

That aside, I continue to see 28-30 mpg on my commute (a somewhat trafficky 15 miles). Lst week I tried an experiment: keep my right foot out of it. I ran the car at or below 60 on the freeway, which surely pissed off more than a few SUVer’s (pussies) who insist on using as much fuel as they possibly can. Because they can. Rational, I know.

The payoff? When I filled up, I needed almost a gallon less than usual. Approximately a 4-5 mpg saving, which over a year in this Exxon world of hurt, will certainly add up.

Still, it’s shameful act that I forcibly restrain myself from the party and drive a Hummer or a Suburban and use up as much fuel as the vehicle is capable of at 80+ mph.

I’m such a party pooper.

Film Flam

Über-babe Barabara Stanwyck essayed in the New Yorker. Make a note: I gots to check out Clash by Night; just look at the contributors: Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe, Fritz Lang, Clifford Odets.

Chris Eigeman (“Metropolitan,” “Barcelona” and “The Last Days of Disco”) has a new film coming soon, as they say in the byz. His brief interview appears in the NY Post. Make a note: something with Eigeman I have not seen and must check out is Noah Baumbach’s 1995 comedy ‘Kicking and Screaming,’ “the definitive portrait of male post-collegiate aimlessness.”

On Role Reversal

Capitalism: someone gives up something of value, and someone else takes it.

I think I have gotten tired of being the giver. Not that I ain’t generous sort. No sirree bobby, I live to give- to friends, relations. And yet.

There is always someone with their hand out.

The government. The bank. Charity. Layers and layers of bureacracy.

The challenge: how does one reverse this trend in a personal way? While, of course, maintaing standards of decency and ethics.

Doomed ya say?

Perhaps.

“Many people have forgotten that the number one restriction on their future freedom to do what they want, when they want, and to go where they want isn’t the Iraqis, or Iranians, or North Koreans — it’s their mortgage lender.” -Sean Olender