Yes, you’re screwed

P.S.A.

[Hat tip]

Chris Martenson – a new crash course

In four parts, ~ 10:00 min. each:

He might have a point

[Hat tip]

My Nobel Prize nominee

Ron Paul does Leno

A Puppet of the House of Saud

I never understood the citizens who grudgingly admit “yes he’s a dumbshit, but he’s OUR dumbshit.”

Well, uhm, no, like he isn’t!

“the chatter among Capitol Hill democrats has been that Bin Laden remains at large because he’s hiding in Bush’s blind spot—Saudi Arabia.”

” ‘Who can forget the kiss between Bush and [Saudi Crown] Prince Abdullah two months ago when they sat down to talk about ‘oil prices?’ Well, since then, oil prices have skyrocketed to 60 bucks a barrel!’ “

Wonder if he’s ever kissed Osama on the lips?

On a moonlight night in Tora-bora
I lost my man-pussy to a tall semitic
rebel with a cause
He might not be
the man of my dreams
but he’ll do

(to be sung as a deep low Texas shit-kicker a-capella)

—

Subprime Slime
What did the CEO of Cuntrywide(tm) know, and when did he know it?

According to this article [LAT] a long time ago.

Hey, it was public knowledge Tangelo Orangzillo was dumping his stock since late last year. Now that he has disposed of most of it, he can “feel free to talk freely about economic matters.”

—

Deja Vu all over again
Dr. Housing Bubble has a posted another fine in-depth essay. This one goes back in time to compare the land speculation boom in Florida in the 1920’s, – and was fueled by the exact same speculation fever which caused the 1929 stock market crash, and also the tech stock and housing busts of today (here in America we never learn from our mistakes, and you cna take that to the bank).

His source is the book Only Yesterday, written in 1931, and its author paints a clear picture of just what kind of crazy shenanigans went on then that ring true now (so many people were trying to sell property in the street the city had to pass an ordinance against it to keep traffic moving!).

This book is already set to be included on my next order from Amazon (which will come from one of the partner sellers of course).

Mighty thanks from this Dr. Housing Bubble reader to another for bringing this to our attention.

Along with Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, I’m keen to read all I can from that era now that mostly anyone that lived then (including my grandparents) have died off. What died with them were the bad memories and “never let this happen again” attitude which was underlying theme of the post-war boom and cautious optimism, prudent behavior, and grounded idealism.

You know, the good old days.

—

Hand-dandy tips for living in oblivion
So who knows how bad things will get in the great economic downturn the bearish amongst us are predicting. If it gets so bad that you are faced with living your car or van, here’s some heplful tips.

Once one accepts the inevitability, it is nice to know it’s do-able.

You too can bail out of that pesky sub-prime mortgage

According to Barry Ritholtz of Big Picture, an article written for the AP wire service (for which he was interviewed) hasn’t gotten enough notice- yet. Maybe it’s too dangerous, and it’s been suppressed!

No, seriously, this item apparently contains a pretty cool angle that bisects the industry’s slant, pretty much reminding us we have a law about how any mortgage, even a sub-prime mortgage, can be rescinded- transforming the lender into just another creditor (not the primary).

The pump-and-dump near-boiler room nature of most sub-prime mortgage brokers probably means loans were often rushed into being, without proper documentation. This just might be the saving grace for some grieving “homeowners” who are upside down. As we now know, many do regret ever taking on that nasty, vicious, landed-serf retro death-stalking sub-prime mortgage.

Hell, there might even be an escape from a conventional mortgage, considering the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) is really quite clear about disclosure, for all types of loans.

As home values plummet, it is natural to expect that some people might want to consider consulting with a legal professional with expertise (since they didn’t read their contract in the first place), ascertaining if this enhances their position- and packing a parachute for later use, should their loan obligation becomes too onerous.

Maybe paralegals can take on some extra work; who knows, this might even become a growth industry over the next few years.

This article hasn’t appeared yet in any of the news sources I frequent (e.g. Yahoo), but since it is AP it’s bound to appear sooner or later. I’ll keep an eye and an ear open and link to it when it does.

This was a public service announcement.

Stopping jihadsts in their tracks

You might wonder what could possibly stop idealogist bombers who consent to die quite willingly for their religion.

What if I told you there was a way to make them stop?

And it wouldn’t require anything other than a cenerted program
Then we could stop this stupid war on terror… if that’s really what it is al about.

The solution?

Gun Collector

A few years ago I was into collecting guns. Small arms.

Having worked in a manufacturing environment for seventeen years, and having worked as a welder, a machinist, a Volkswagen mechanic, a design draftsman, as well as being avid motorcyclist, the lure of the mechanics of firearms was a natural progression for me.

I know there are a lot of people who exclaim and decry the very existence of “handguns.” I don’t necessarily disagree with their particluar moral qualms.

Where reality intrudes into the argument, though, I come down on the side of pragmatism.

If I am allowed to own one, I will. So I do.

But as a responsible owner, I am very familiar with the weapon. I can tear it apart and reassemble it blindfolded. After use at a public indoor range, where I fire it with a certain degree of accuracy (“I don’t mean to brag but…”), I clean it, lube it, and stow it with a an oily rag to repel oxidation.

I don’t have kids, but still the gun is put away so that even someone ransacking the house will probably not discover it. Fortunately that’s never happened.

I hope you can see I take proper precaution, as I highly respect the harm small arms can do in the wrong hands.

One day ten or so years ago I was perusing Martin Retting, a gun store in Culver City CA that specializes in classic and used arms.

I struck up a conversation with a friendly clerk who went into the back and soon returned, bringing forth a rather strange looking Browning semi-auto. It had target grips, a squeeze safety built into the handle (a la PPK), and it was chambered in .380 (aka “9mm short”). It’s bluing was near flawless, and if it was ever used for practice, it was never for more than a few rounds. I reckoned someone probably just kept it in their nightstand for years: cheap insurance.

We looked it up in the Handgun Encyclopedia and found it: Browning 1971.

I took it home, and when I finally got it to the range, I really liked it. A compact gun without a lot of recoil, it was close in feeling, if not accuracy, to my favorite Browning Buckmark .22. Accuracy wasn’t bad once I got it sighted, but the squeeze safety grip took a little geting used to.

So years later, I find myself engorssed in something that got me to looking up John Browning in Wikipedia.

Say what you will about Wikipedia, it has so much more room to expand and include far more than any other printed Encyclopedia could possibly endeavor. Since you have to read everything these days with a skeptical eye anyway, it’s an informative time-waster as well as a useful resource.

I clicked on this link, which showed a picture of a very familiar looking pistol. Yes, I believe that is the very same pistol I purchased at Martin Retting ten years ago, albeit with some minor differences.

Browning 1910.

“In 1914, the pistol was used by Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie.”

Say what?

At the time of purchase I had no way of ascertaining that the very model I own is a duplicate of the same gun that Gavrilo Princip used to assassinate the Archduke.

Hey, if I knew, I woulda bought two!

I noticed also that Princip’s birthdate is a few months after my paternal grandfather (1894). Yes, that’s right, you heard me: my very own grandfather was older than the man who was the root cause of World War I.

Man, that makes me sound old.

My paternal grandfather fought in World War I. He was gassed in France (but obviously survived) and later fathered seven children. He died in 1975, soon after I had graduated High School.

So in my clumsy way, I’ve recounted how one evening, I discovered a new appreciation for my under-loved Browning 1910. It’s not, but feels like, a family heirloom. This pistol’s own grandfather is responsible for a World War, and brought an end to an empire. The 1910 was the first successful blowback design to make it into production- and that very same design later found it’s success with the smarter, sexier, and macho M1911, and virtually every other semi-auto handgun ever manufactured.

I was pretty close to my grandparents, and atypically I loved to hear them recount what life was like for them, which never bored me at all, as it did my younger siblings. So I have never felt too far removed from the lives lived by both sets of grandparents, who in their time saw the invention of radio, movies, television, flight, the automoblie, two World Wars, the atom bomb; saw their nation become the preeminient world power; suffered and somehow managed to survive through the Great Depression; and left loads of children and grandchildren behind.