If you see me on the street don't shoot!

Is there something in the air or water that's turning the world into a shooting gallery? Was it the George W. Bush notion of preemptive wars the starting point for shoot first and ask questions later that's sparked a breakdown of what used to be a somewhat civil society? Rarely as a kid did we see the carnage on the streets. A random gun fight during a bank robbery maybe but I can't recall even one of those. Even in school it was verboten to use any kind of weapon as fists were the manly method of settling scores. Only cowards resorted to armed confrontations. So a bit of a round up of the last week or so of senseless violence.

6 die in gun violence in Seattle yesterday
And in the past week there were four drive by shootings and a pedestrian shot crossing the street at the Folklife festival on Memorial Day.
There are those that would say that if their victims had been armed this wouldn't have happened. Not true Pistol Pete. In nearly all of these cases the victims were caught off guard with their backs to the shooter. They could have been armed with an M-16 and it wouldn't have helped.
Indiana - More shootings
Oregon - Five dead in Oregon, murder-suicide suspected
A man was found dead in his car seventy-five miles south of where his family was dead in a burned house.
Idaho - ETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — A south-central Idaho man wanted on a warrant alleging he shot another man in the oil patch city of Williston, N.D. has been arrested in Idaho and is jailed on $250,000 awaiting extradition.
Wyoming- CASPER, Wyo. — Police have confirmed that a Casper man fatally shot his wife with a .38-caliber revolver before killing himself.
Chicago tops the murder rate this year with 70 so far.

Okay then flip on Canadian news. Surely things are quiet up north of the border. Oh but think again Double murder suspect shot by police

It amuses my how some people tout their guns and show off massive collections. Might have been fired a few times at the range but I'd bet anything it'll sit in a night stand collecting dust. And don't forget the gun lock because junior doesn't know if it's real or just a toy. And maybe they need a registry of the mentally ill to cross check when purchasing a fire arm. That may not be a perfect solution but it's a start.

But then guns aren't the only method of thinning the gene pool. To add to the seven shootings that Seattle area had in the last week on Friday a woman showed off her cutlery skills by ending her husbands' life with a knife in a parked car. Who says a Ginsu doesn't have many purposes? If ya got em stab him

Now if all of this isn't macabre enough for you there was the case (I'm sure you've heard it) of a man by the roadside eating the face off another man. Good grief and I thought the zombie thing was over! Note to governor: A little more funding for mental health might be in order.

Musical chairs, it's not a kids game anymore

You might have thought this game went away after you hit 7 or 8 years old but it's going on right now as we speak. You would have thought the rules were fixed after the Wall Street boys blew up the economy back in 08 but nothing could be farther from the truth. The game is on and just like the kids game somebody is going to land up a loser only it won't be anyone from Wall Street or even anyone from the foreign exchanges. It will be all the unknowing investors with their nest eggs in retirement funds the world over. The music is still playing but the record is about to get to the end. The same short selling hedge funds and derivatives are in play just like the last time. All waiting for Greece or Spain or Italy to get flushed down the financial toilet of history. Only there's not enough money in the world for a bail out this time around.

I don't have enough space here to explain exactly what's happening in detailed terms so I give you: Meltdown 2.0

You will note that the Dow was up today. It's as if the players ignore the fact that the casino is on fire and continue to play with fervor hoping that they'll be able to cash out their chips before getting burned to death. They might think they can make it except the cash out window won't be there either when it's time to trade in the chips. And people wonder why safes are selling so well.

Us and them

"With, without
And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about
Get out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died"

(Pink floyd "Us and them")

That's not yours it's mine. I was here first. I've been here the longest. It's my state. It's my city. It's my neighborhood. It's my land. It's my house. Like greedy birds fighting for the last crumbs it's mine mine mine mine and you can't have any. Now go back to where you came from we don't want you hangin around here. Collective greed. Our town our city our state our country our troops our factories etc. All here before we were a twinkle in the old man's eye and all here long after we're dead. Can't stop and smell the roses too busy defending and adding to the bottom line. And for what? Just because you might have the most toys doesn't add to the fact that you'll still end up worm food as will we all.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. They (them) are planning something. "Them" are not like "us". We know better than them. We are superior to them. Why is that? We have more stuff. We aught to know we stole it from them, a fact conveniently erased from the history books. Got it all from the tribes, and the sheiks and the corrupt dictators with broken treaties and peace accords. Kill the chief assassinate the dictator and install a puppet not even a need for strings attached. Sucker an army, no make that a nation into doing your bidding to let in the leaches of corporations sucking the resources until the land is left barren and polluted. No need to worry poor people can't sue and if they do their prize will be pennies on the dollar. Must polish that corporate image. People won't drink the poison unless they think it's good for them. But the jobs folks, think of all the jobs lost if we stop. Never mind the need for an oxygen bottle and an attending nurse in a few years. Sorry guys you can only sell fear for so long and we're not buying your green clean energy ideas when we saw what you dumped in the river. We may not know what's in the stuff but when the fish started dying we know it can't be good for anybody.

Nothing. That empty void of profit motivation that benefits only a few. You need us more than we need you. So it's us against them. They may have the upper hand for the time being but every dog has his day. That's what happens when the curtain is pulled back to reveal the emperors no clothes. Sitting in a posh corner office producing absolutely nothing, what value are you? Wouldn't put a dime in a beggar's cup but finding a way to steal it might be high on your priority list. How sick. Maybe it's time for you to be afraid, very afraid because the jig is almost up. More of us than there are of them.

So there you have it the ramblings of a star struck writer. A minstrel could surely craft this into a song of sorts because it was written to be a song within a song. The old mind works that way sometimes.

Odd news and other stuff you can't use

I swear I didn't make this stuff up.

Miami police kill naked man found eating another man’s face.I thought zombie season was over.

Cows crashed a BBQ and started drinking all the beer. Last time Bessie will be invited to the family picnic. Guess she took issue with the all beef burgers and hot dogs.

Good to bee back! Extinct species returns to Britain after 24 years. That'd bee short haired bumblebees. Okay enough with the puns.

Responding to Climate Change Global warming winner: Once-rare butterfly thrives. What makes the brown Argus different is that it found something new to eat, something even better than its old food, the less common rockrose plant, Hill said. The new food is a geranium and it is more widespread. Who said animals can't adapt? Maybe we'll have marlin fishing here in the northwest soon.

Mixed nuts and other mental digressions

If you've made it thus far in this extended holiday weekend without being stabbed shot or eaten by a bear or tiger then you're ahead of the curve. If the house is still standing and the plumbing still works then it's a plus. But we all know how Mr Fate can appear from out of nowhere and change all that. Murphy was an optimist or so they say. Nothing major at the moment here at casa demeur. Life seems to be wash rinse repeat as usual but as we all know that too could change in an instant. News wise however I see the reporters too are on holiday as the host of cute animal stories are set on auto recycle. "Boss what do you mean I need to hype the story of the cat getting out of the cereal box"? Not enough fillers to fill a half hour and the weather isn't that exciting? Just flip on the police scanner and the latest and greatest of drunken trollops is making her way naked down main street spraying whipped cream from a can. Should be good for a momentary laugh.

Tradition is dead. Not that there ever really was any here. Just a momentary remembrance of a passing soul lost to a forgotten conflict. How did that war start anyway? I couldn't recall. Way too young for me to understand. Makes one wonder if the troops coming home really are the lucky ones. Sans two legs or an arm is no picnic and the mental scares are another topic. And what do they mean "don't be such a baby suck it up and get over it"? We aren't the ones with the titanium limbs. Life is so easy for the guy who never saw someone's entrails splattered all over the desert floor. Brains in you lap will leave a lasting image and many a nightmare for years to come. But nobody thinks of the reality of war. And these will no longer be televised. How else can heinous acts be carried out and covered up? We only see the fraction of a fraction because reports are so easy to fudge. You know the routine. Didn't know babies carried side arms in their diaper and were well trained. Okay that's silly but you get the point.

But to wrap this mummy up because I have no clue where it's going, I will say that memorials are for the living and not the dead. Some type of self serving justification? The exact words escape me at the moment. So I'll let it lay like the graves we so stoically honor.

Life as we know it

Inside government.



Outside



And we wonder why nothing gets done. On the bright side no bank fails this week. Too lazy to blog so...
Weather is supposed to be nice today so get out there and enjoy because as we all know there is a price to pay for such sunshine here. People in Seattle don't tan they grow moss. Now where'd I leave that bottle of moss B gone?

Beaver Friday and news you can't use

Maybe our furry friend here can straighten out the economy and bring the banksters to jail.

Pakistan jails the doctor who ratted out Bin Ladin. There's a moral ethical and legal problem. Morally it was right. Ethically it was right, but legally not so much. The CIA was after all operating in a foreign country as spies. Unless they had the sponsorship of the government then they were operating illegally. So now our congress passes a bill to cut funding to Pakistan. No biggy since they were already doing back up in aid to the tune of a couple of hundred million. And now since Pakistan is not to happy about our drone strikes they're charging NATO 1 million a day to use their roads for shipments supplying our military in Afghanistan. I'd bet anything those tolls go up by a million in short order.

Syria would need 11.5 billion to cover it's operating expenses once Assad leaves (if he does). It appears that Syria is going the way of the "P.I.I.G.S." nations and will require a euro type bail out. Oh we'll have to see how this one plays out. You think Russia, Iran and Lebanon would come to the country's aid once Assad is gone?

Space X capsule getting ready to reach the space station Excuse me but haven't the Russians been doing this for years? They've sent unmanned cargo ships to the station and almost nobody notices. Have we fallen that far behind the Russians?

Trump wants to start a "super pac". Just what we need more juice to dump into the overflowing political punch bowl. Any wagers on when the poop storm of political ads will hit the TV screen? Two choices there. Either pull the plug on the TV or only view the movie channels. Anything else is sure to drive you to your nearest mental health facility.

Lastly we have Mint Raw Money touting that Obama is not for capitalism Ah, let's see the definition of Bane. You remember the company he is hyping as his claim to fame. Can't run on his record as governor that's for sure.

bane   [beyn]
noun
1.a person or thing that ruins or spoils: Gambling was the bane of his existence.
2.a deadly poison (often used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants): wolfsbane; henbane.
3.death; destruction; ruin.
4.Obsolete . that which causes death or destroys life: entrapped and drowned beneath the watery bane.

Yep that about sums up what Raw Money would do to this country.

And then we have the bank fails brought to you by the former president that "gift" that keeps on giving... later.

Up down in and out

"Karimia we're broke."

I like watching the stock market sometimes. Not that I have much vested skin in the game. Moved what little nest egg I had before the storm hit to safer ground. But it is fun to watch this psychotic play unfold. On one side you have cheerleaders rooting for success while another group is rooting for failure. That never used to be. Somewhere along the line the breaks were disconnected, the governor was cast aside and now the markets can flow like the winds of a tornado. It's up and down, in and out, where she stops nobody knows. Nothing in the not too distant future can be good news. We seems to be on a slow motion crash course. We've been here before and it ain't pretty.

I remember back in high school when things were simpler. Only common and preferred stocks back then and easy to understand. A few types of bonds then and they could be confusing at times but for the most part you could wrap your head around the idea. Not so anymore. It's become so confusing that even these paper pushers don't understand what they're selling. When one of the richest men in the country tells you an investment is dangerous to an entire economy perk up your ears and listen. He didn't get there by chance but even he can be fooled some of the time.

"Capitalism! Free Markets! Low taxes! No Capital Gains Tax!" has become the rallying cry. Sorry but you can include me out as Yogi would say. I want no part of your crap game because what goes to Vegas tends to stay in Vegas and that'd be my money. And at the end of the day I don't have that much hair to sell. When they tell you "we're the most trusted investment house in the last 100 years" beware. Image is everything when selling worthless paper. Looking out for your financial future? I doubt it. No looking for the next bonus for their next Mercedes is more like it.

Not one word out of the Justice Department. Not one peep about the fraud and the payoffs and the robo signings. And so the game continues as if the cop on the beat was well paid off. If this is stretched long enough they'll all skate scott free. Statute of Limitations you know, seven years is it? So around 2014 or 15, 16 at the latest, they will have absconded with our dreams. But you think they care? They can bloviate about how terrible such misdeeds that have been hoisted upon us are but turn right around and continue the game as if only a minor inconvenience. And why not? They control the rule makers. The game is fixed in their favor. Just need to hold power long enough to retire in the Caymans and a Swiss account doesn't hurt either.

They say every dog has his day but I can only hope I live long enough to see it. Visions of banksters being perp walked to prison in suits we could never in our life time afford. So it's screw the rich, go to jail. Screw the poor get a bonus. Their time may come. They'll look great in orange.

The stuff women will buy

Sorry Tammy if you look like a raccoon.

But then again even men fall for the hype and Madison Ave bull too.

One of the first things I learned in hazmat classes is that there are many products that contain heavy metals. That wonderful shade of eyeliner may be "the in thing" at the moment but it doesn't come without a price. A secret hidden price. Heavy metals (and I'm not talking about a rock group here) have some great properties. They are good because they don't break down easily but then that's also their bane as well. The human body doesn't react well to things that want to hang around for a couple of years. And most things are absorbed into the body either by skin contact, ingestion, or by inhaling. But in the process of trying to change thinking to what would look to appear safer, we've failed or should I say manufacturers failed. Not so with their bottom line of course.

Take womens' cosmetics. Lead which used to be a main ingredient in paints and eye shadow has now been replaced with titanium. Sounds so much safer right? Think again, it's also a heavy metal and I'd bet even though I haven't read a label that it's been neatly disguised as one of those chemical ingredients that nobody can pronounce. So easy to hide things when you've altered the basic nasty then come up with your own manufacturers' name for the stuff. Trade names are difficult enough to decipher even to one in the chemical business. I give you Corexit, that chemical combination used to disperse the oil in the Gulf as an example. Nobody knows exactly what's in it because it's said to be a trade secret. So with womens' make up they went from lead then to chromium and then to titanium. Titanium sounds so much more user friendly than lead. And nothing like fooling the public with terms like natural or organic. Of course it's natural just about all heavy metals are are found in nature.

Manufacturers have exploited loopholes in the laws for years. It's all a matter of definition. Now you would think that the term "asbestos free" would mean just that. That there is no asbestos in the product but you'd be wrong. The definition is any product containing less than one percent asbestos. The liars you say. But there in lies a problem. As we demand things to have a longer and longer service life there are no substitutes for many of the chemicals used. Any organic product will break down in short order being part of the cycle of life. It's more important to minimize exposures where possible and substitute. But as we all know the new and improved is never as good as the original. Only the original could land up killing you in the long run. Putting formaldehyde in soap comes to mind. Save the embalming fluid I'm already ready when I go. A shelf life of a Twinky.

Some of the stuff women buy escapes logic. Take waterproof make up. Did somebody not tell them skin breaths? Perhaps we could talk them into a quick spray of flesh toned Rino Lining. Spray it once and your complexion will last for months. So with face creams and cleansers and elixirs and serums and gels they seem to fall for it all only to have it land up half used in some drawer. Seem to remember grandma using nothing more than Ivory soap and she looked just fine all her life.
And guys please don't fall for it either. You may have jet black hair and mustache but the crows feet and the jowls are a dead giveaway. Father time always wins in the end. I used to be young and handsome. Now I'm just handsome. ;-)

make up

News? What news?

You know it's a slow news day when the main stories boil down to who's dating who and who asked who out for a date. Then there's the firing of one too sexy for her dress too sexy for her shirt too sexy etc second verse worse than the first. Never satisfied with making much ado about nothing and what will we name those new born baby penguins? Bad enough we long for peace and quiet but then when it happens the devils' workshop takes over. What no explosions? No tornadoes? Not even a brush fire to report. Go out and find something Jimmy Olsen lest Clark and Lois have no copy to write. No contractor scam? Come on now this is the human race where talking about here. Not so much as a juicy love triangle from the congressional halls. What? The aides and senators are behaving themselves? I find that hard to believe.
Ah but we're no fools because usually when such dead time occurs something is brewing in the background and it isn't coffee. Just you wait as the evidence oozes out, the door is flung open and light is shed. Skeletons are in the closet and they're just dying to get out just need to open the door. Film at eleven.

So it's on to sports after some silly segue and chuckling bubble headed bleach blond girlishly covers her snickers. On to you Mart or Biff or whatever your frat boy name is. So the hometown got beat once again and the coach gives the usual pep talk to the fair weather about how he was impressed with the development of (pick one: pitcher, quarterback, goalie) and the team is progressing nicely by building a solid foundation for next season.

And never to retire to the comfort of the sheets without the latest up to date acuu weather with street to street pinpoint precision only it always rains on your street and nobody else's when you were planning the barbecue. Easier to launch a rocket to the moon than prognosticate. But let's face it it's a 50/50 deal. Either it rains or it doesn't and around here odds are it will. That's a given. What's a little water anyway? Never hurt anybody unless you live near a river.

So that's a wrap but tune in tomorrow for the juiciest of juicy titillating of teases (got to keep them wanting more) all time scandal of scandals with exclusive never before seen footage.

Okay so I'm lazy as the next guy and the good Capt. Kangaroo is long gone, don't tell me I've nothing to do.

Mixed nuts and Mojo

Somebody stole my mojo. Swear I had it here a minute ago. Doing things far beyond mortals. Well the difficult was simple. The impossible took a little longer. Motivation can only come with opportunity and the pickens are slim to none. Maybe that's why I've been a procrastinator most of my existence. Why do it today when tomorrow is just as good and it'll keep you busy in the process. Let the overlords sweat the deadlines. I know what I'm doing except there's nothing doing. Just hanging around waiting to become worm food I guess. Hobbies? This is my hobby only it doesn't pay the bills and it never could. That wasn't it's purpose.

To meditate? To contemplate the most esoteric of quantum of thoughts. Enough of that, been there done that. Another cup of coffee another piece of pie oh tell me there's something important to do. Nope let the bridges fall. Let the roads crumble. No remodel. No rebuild. No money in the coffers to pay the hired help. So what, just tell me what those over educated rum stumbling bums are doing in the offices along plush carpeted corridors with their day? Would it be a meeting to decide on a meeting about when to hold the meeting? And don't forget the danish! Emails kill a lot of time. Did ya catch the one about... Or maybe a silly text message, but on second thought better not, it might fall into the wrong hands. Perhaps a tour of the plant would be in order but who wants to get their Armani dirty. That's a duty for an under of underling. Oops staff cuts, the middle of management is gone now but their lack of salary sure made for a good bonus. Forgot about the new CCTVs, so much cheaper than actually being there.

So where's the rest of the nuts you may ask? This was to be more than Mojo. I'm thinkin I'm thinkin. Ah! it comes to me, a study of studies of the spawn of the last generation (That's our former rug rats in case you didn't know) all growd up and causing their own miscreant mischief. With tweets and redits, facebooks, IMs, PMs, Skypes, chats, texts, and every manner of communication know to man short of smoke signals, there they sit staring blank looked at a computer screen with little to nothing to say. And after five minutes of dead silence or more someone will cue up a music video for all to sit and stare some more. Maybe I missed something here. Some secret of secret background language or mode not yet know to the uninformed just waiting to be discovered. Paper notes passed in class were more informative in the day. So I must wonder. Are these the responsible soon to be caregivers of us in our old and feeble days? Sure I'd trust them programming my TV remote but anything else is questionable. But I will say this, they have developed their own standards and for the most part hold to them. Total vulgarity is never permitted but innuendo is fare game. The rites of passage sure got complicated.

Beaver Friday and it's special

(From a certain blogger who shall remain nameless. His wife may have found the frying pans and if she reads this one...)

Not much in the usual of wash rinse and repeat news cycle today. You know things are slow when they start showing the latest otter litter from some far off zoo or the cat chasing the dog videos. As for me I've been busy fixing the fixes which were supposed to be fixed in the first place. What's that about if you want something done right you'll have to do it yourself? Gadfrey this wartime help is something else. You would think with all the information we have at our fingertips people could actually learn a thing or two about repairs. There's even videos on just about any fix for those that can't read and translators for those that don't speak the language. But I guess our means of communication has been reduced to three letter abbreviations he said lol. So with a lack of sleep, an over abundance of sugar, a diet high in fat and a lack of exercise our spawn have the attention spans of gnats. Quit reading the text messages and watch where you're going there's a power pole right in front of you you're about to walk into. Should we warn them? Naaah, might knock some sense into em after the second or third time maybe.

So BFLiITAI translation = bank fails later if I think about it.

Yep one bank in Alabama hits the skids this week.

The future's not ours

What grandiose and nefarious plans are about to be bestowed upon our unsuspecting souls? I polish my crystal balls and have a gander (I have several you know). Never failing in their laser accuracy of events soon to be. Well most of the time anyway. Need to adjust their time clock once in a while.

Chase that bastion of honest banking has reported another billion flushed down the crapper of worthless paper. Oh it's only a paper loss nothing to see here as your 401K vanishes like a morning fog. The Fed for all its' worthlessness is debating on whether to lower interest rates once again. You'd think their zero key for creating imaginary money would be worn out by now. No printing press necessary these days.

We watch as Greece just won't be forced to swallow. Much to the flusterment of the IMF (I like making up words too Randal). Maybe they should be called the IMMF as in I'm a Mean Mother F****** because who else would agree to such terms? And of course Spain Italy and some others are in the same bed waiting their turn for a little S&M. You'd think a pimp had at least a few scruples. Unfortunately this stable is a bit over the hill. Anybody up for buying an aging Acropolis? I hear you can get it on the cheap.

The usual talking heads are bewildered that such nations aren't up for the deal. No conflict of interest there noooo. And the market gurus downplay the damage because what's a few billion here or there? It's not their money they're talking about. That's safely tucked in a Swiss account. Got to churn and turn the money pot or nobody makes a dime. Those hedge funds don't make money by themselves you know. Somebody has to stir the pot.

So after reading the tea leaves and gazing into the crystal balls I see a Recession 2.0 coming somewhere between August and October unless we are fortunate to dodge the bullet momentarily and make it to January of next year. As I said my clock needs adjustment in these matters. Think there won't be another bail out? Think again, these are all FDIC insured banks we're talking about and none of the rules have been changed.

Greece - what goes around comes around

For those who may have forgotten or don't know, Goldman Sachs sold Greece a bunch of derivatives that has left the country bankrupt. For the idiot right wing talking heads who think this austerity is the right way to go I only assume they've never experienced what it's like to go without food or heat.

President Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced their support for the debt-stricken nation.
Yeah by slapping them with more debt. These people aren't stupid. Just today the people over there withdrew some $800 million from the banks. That's a good chunk of change considering it's a small country.

As was reported here earlier the economic storm is coming. Greece will default on it's debt next month by all indications. China is not in much better shape as demand has dried up.
China's biggest four banks barely issued any new yuan loans in the first two weeks of May, extending the country's weak credit growth last month, the state-run Shanghai Securities News reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed source.

Then there's Spain and Italy and by the recent riots that of course made no headlines here it's only a matter of time before they too default. Britain and several of the other nations that are in financial trouble have yet to experience the effects of their austerity measures. To it's credit China is about to embark on government backed infrastructure projects to get it's people working. Their growth rate had been high relative to other countries but as they are the largest nation on the planet even small glitches in their economy can have a broad impact. Their growth rate has dropped to 9.5% from a high of 11%.

Then there is the U.S. We see that Chase and probably the rest of the boys are up to their old tricks gambling our future and our childrens' future at the crap tables of Wall Street. Anybody out there taking bets on when the house of cards is going to collapse? I had predicted 6 months a few months ago but now I'm not so sure. This whole mess is based on debt and adding more debt without producing anything is not going to make things better. The solutions are quite simple though. Consider the following:
1. Reinstate Glass - Steagall. That was the bill that separated the banks from the investment houses there by eliminating the gambling with our bank deposits.
2 Eliminate naked shorts. That's betting that a business will fail even though you own no shares of the business.
3. Cut subsidies to companies that are making obscene profits.
4. Put a federal tax on all stock trades.
5. Dump the Bush tax cuts for everybody.
6. Use the money for a jobs program before workers get to old to help rebuild the infrastructure.
7. Get out of Afghanistan and use some of that money for vets with injuries and PTSD. After 4 and 5 tours of duty we're going to have some ticking time bombs here.
8. Start a real energy program to get off of fossil fuels.
9. Reinvest in education and research.
10. Get the money out of politics.

I see the banks are wising up and finally forgiving debt on home mortgages. You know why that is? Because they can't handle anymore red ink on their balance sheets. Better to have some cash flow than an asset that's costing them money to maintain or tear down. The effects of the Alt-A loans is starting to kick in which won't make for a good quarterly report.

So there you have it. Wall Street sold this crap paper around the world and it's coming back to bite us in the ass. What goes around comes around.

News you can't use and could probably care less about

Poll: Half of Americans call Facebook a fad
Probably true. Zuck will hang around long enough to cash in then retire at 30
Arizona governor vetoes law demanding return of federal lands
She didn't have any buyers stupid enough to fork over the cash for a bunch of desert land I guess.
Balding disease killing Australia's wombats
Now there's an important news flash we must know about. Can't we just get them some Rogaine?
Henry Kissinger Gets a Pat-Down at New York Airport
Nothing like feeling up an old German. Looking for wiener bombs now?
GOP kills civil unions in Colorado special session
GOP is killing everybody anyway. And they wasted a special session for this?
Euro zone finance ministers dismiss Greek exit 'propaganda'
Ha! You think they're going to squeeze blood out of a turnip?
Arizona wildfires scorch thousands of acres
That usually happens every year. This year a little sooner than usual.
Calif. gov. proposes billions in cuts amid major budget shortfall
Oh that'll up the tax base won't it. Will the last person leaving L.A. please get the lights?

Then we have the usual spate of dress malfunctions, scantily clad wanna be stars and celebrity couple fall outs but who cares. As I said it's news you can't use. Now carry on.

Label this too lazy to blog or just a slow news day. And you watch once I post this some major event will blow up over night or in the morning.

Ideologies be damned it's all about greed

Look at any of the events happening around the world and they can be boiled down to the least redeeming human factor. Greed, that vile human nature that rears its' ugly head at the most inopportune times. Proven fact that the bulk of shoplifters did not do so out of need. No needs were met when the electronic device was stolen. This is no loaf of bread.

Look around the world at all about the greed. Those with multiple houses and yachts don't need another, But there is no "enough" for them. Tens of thousands is but sofa change to them. Is one hundred thousand enough? Of course not. Perhaps a million would do? Think again. A billion or two maybe but you're only getting warm. No the truth be known there comes a time when the whole thing becomes a game and those playing it could care less about who gets killed in the process. And how cruel it is that they have the gaul to jest about their victims, laughing as they steal grandma's pension. Then you have main stream media boasting that these criminals are somehow morally superior to the rest of us Peonage ™ . Who will be the first trillionaire?

How much is too much? Is it when you have so much that you can't keep track of what you have or even know what you have? Have you become so embroiled in the game that you can't stop? Like a bad habit one is never enough nor even a thousand or a million or a billion. Has it become so objectified that you can't see the damage or the lives you've ruined in the process? You produced nothing. Not one beneficial scrap furthering the welfare of mankind. No Nobel prize for you. You reap all the rewards while leaving us with the risks and the mess to clean up after you've failed. You think we haven't noticed? You've sold debt and misery and expect us to believe that more of the same is the answer. And the game will continue until enough of us have said "enough!". Every dog has his day and yours' is coming because you need us more than we need you. You add nothing to the sum total.

I therefore decree to own everything and will redistribute the wealth accordingly. All hedge fund managers will report to the evacuation pod for their trip to Mars to kindly get the hell off the planet. All other dross of Wall Street not contributing benefits to the gene pool will kindly follow in an orderly fashion. Fear not there is plenty of room for you and your offsprings. Yes this includes oil executives, bank bunglers, Koch heads and the like. And upon their exit shall be declared a day of global celebration because who doesn't like a good party after a good win like that?

Who are you?

Ever wonder what we are? This mighty mass of billions and billions of tiny little cells all working most of the time in harmony. That compilation of hormones, enzymes and proteins unique to any other on the planet. Have we really a free will or are we determined by the sum of our chemistry? There's something the Bard of Avon never pondered. Off or on, here or not, shall I stay or go, now there's a rub.
Are we mad? Round and round we go. Over and over, haven't we been down this road before? And yet we choose the road well traveled. Is it habit or some unconscious need for status quo? A comfort zone or a rut depending upon how you look at it. Ruled by the unwritten laws of existence. You should know them by now. That shoelace didn't break without just case as you were late for the important meeting. Murphy did have a bit of insight into such matters. But it is far more than that. We with our feeble minds can only think inside the box because we are the box.
Now if all this sounds a bit esoteric it may be, but that too is part of the sum of humanity. Always need someone to travel the lesser traveled path it's the adventure land of the abstract. Where we are going and where we will land up is anyone's guess. There comes a time though when you can go on without me because I have seen enough. Been there done that now if I could just remember half of it I could write volumes. Around and around we go always landing up back where we started. A greater mind would call that a fool's errand but we call it life.

So thank you for dropping by and reading my meanderings. Just a brief passing concept tucked somewhere in the recesses. Hope it gave you something to briefly ponder. Okay then carry on but you'll be back because the door is always open and you didn't have anything better to do. "What fools these mortals be".

Hey I thought this was going to be about Mother's Day (you thought). Well it is in a round about way. All part of the puzzle.

No bank fails this week but...

(Hey think I'll request this flick for the Saturday night B movie horror channel. Always was a sucker for old 50s scifi.)

One of the largest blunders in banking history when JP Morgan Chase placed its' bets and lost. And it's reported that they will lose yet again in the coming months. Three billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at. Hey Jamie you think maybe now is the time for some rules to be set down before you swamp the boat once again? Remember there'll be no bail outs this time around. You're on your own. Sorry but you can't have the last crust of bread from my plate just so you can gamble it away. The guy (to use an Ornery Bastard term) needs a good "bitch slap".

Derivatives should either be outlawed or at the very least have a requirement whereby the purchaser should own the asset that they are trying to cover. When someone tells you an investment is fool proof they come up with better fools.

Someone gave me a newspaper today. What's this words written on paper thing? Only see that when you get a bill in the mail. At any rate the back section was five pages of foreclosures. Five full pages! The economic storm isn't over by a long shot and there's your proof. The employment section was 1/4 page maybe two dozen jobs that nobody has the skills for. There was of course three positions to sell newspapers. Oh there's a job with a future. Then there's nursing assistant. Geez out of work much longer and I'll need one myself.

Now here's a thought. Rather than send our fine young men and women off to some far off land only to come back with a life long injury or worse in a box, we should just send our bankers. They'd have total destruction of a country's financial system in six months or less. And not a drop of blood spilled until after the poor suckers wised up to the plan. And come to think of it they wouldn't even need to set foot in the country. Everything could be done electronically. And you thought drones were deadly.

Beavers and politics Friday

(Hat tip to a favorite cartoonist David Horsey)

And I always thought beavers weren't political. Speaking of which there's much ado about nothing once again as the prez tries to garner votes. Saying you're for gay marriage may be all well and good in hearing cheers from the gay community but it overlooks the fact that federal law says otherwise and Obama isn't a state employee. Good luck getting that amendment passed the House on that one.

Beginning to see a slow shift in politics. Greece elects a left leaning anti austerity government. Could you blame them? Yeah that's what I'd want when half starving to death, a more far right bunch who'd make even more cuts because I just love self mutilation (snark!).
France wised up. Too cozy with Sarkozy resulted in a less than comfortable outcome. Qu'est-ce prendre sa retraite à 65 ans? Sacre bleu!
And now I see the cops in the UK are non too happy with taking a pension cut and have joined the heads they've been cracking all these months. Hey guys we tried to tell you but you wouldn't believe us. Watch out Mr. PM the bobby just might be too busy with his fish and chips to answer your call.
Canada bringing up the rear. Ah they always were a bit late to the party. And it's no party for students who are experiencing massive tuition increases. And you wonder why they're rioting in the streets. Watch out for their energy policy too. Nothing like dirtying the air and water then selling you a Brita and a respirator.

And so the political winds are slowly shifting. You can only squeeze the Peonage ™ for so long before there is a backlash.

So it's on to the bank fails later. They never post results until closing time on Fridays. Throwing bad news during rush hour the last work day is now a tradition. So easy to hide the ugly truth.

The copyright Nazis are upon us

A condom for your eyes and ears.
No I wasn't planning on building some music or visual empire on the use of electrons floating about out here. I just wanted a momentary example to reinforce a concept. No peep show here. No nickels required. Ah but don't get caught because fair use is slowly dying. It isn't fair and now you can't use it. Wonder if these boys have figured out that just about every word and incantation has already been used and probably abused by the likes of millions. Oops make that billions now. What better way to stem the tide of creativity and human progress than to sequester ideas. You can own it for a price but don't try and pass it on to a friend. This school yard has rules you know. But we've seen this all before a time or two. Dust off your beta and fire up the reel to reel. Where'd we leave that blank cassette tapes? Face it they lost. Too many smarter 15 year olds who can jimmy any lock they can come up with.

The cat and mouse game has been going on for decades now. The underground always wins in the end. Like cockroaches you'll never rid the planet. Pirates you call them. Didn't you know? Pirates are quaint now, the in thing. Johnny Depp saw to that. So what's the problem mate? The CEO run out of Beluga? The artist sure isn't living the high life out of Motel 6. Go ahead and sue grandma. Suck down her last pension check. What did she know when grandson asked to make her computer run faster? His Ipod sure is loaded now though.

Billions and billions of cyber electrons swirling and whirling stuck in some nsa server. Pass on the Facey Tweety Redit email it IM it chatty text message because you didn't have anything that important to say anyway. Who cares whether the beans are unsalted or not? Just pick one and head for the counter. We don't have all day ya know. And no they were out of your favorite brand of chips you'll have to settle for generic. Decisions decisions such life altering decisions, but somewhere for all posterity these bits will be saved filtered categorized and analyzed by some electronic archeologist.

Now excuse me I think they're running reruns of Captain Kangaroo, now don't tell me I have nothing to do. Or so it was written.



Disclaimer:
This non copyrighted material was brought to you by Casa Demeur. Feel free to spread it about like manure. Use it but don't abuse it as it's author wishes not to be treated like a two dollar whore. All sales final. Void where prohibited. No artists or musicians were harmed in the making of this material.

Garbage garbage everywhere...

(Nice fishing spot eh Billy?)

I think we need to learn to start picking up after ourselves. I know I've touched on this in earlier posts and it's obvious that this problem is getting to the point where we can't wrap our heads around it. Well some of us don't have heads that big anyway but it really has a simple solution. It's all a matter of perspective. You may think nothing of tossing a wrapper or plastic grocery bag out the car window or over the side on a fishing trip but multiply that by a couple hundred million. Two swirling messes the size of Texas are now in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. You may not see this legacy to consumption by sea or air but it's there non the less. And where we were told that plastic bags would last 300 years or more the truth is that the sun salt water and ocean movement are breaking this down to the size of fish food. And what do fish know? They'll eat anything that remotely looks like food.

Here's a little fact that you won't find in the headline news. Even with recycling we throw away enough material every day to support another country. Take a trip to the dump and watch as a line of cars and trucks creates a mountain of trash on a daily basis. Now multiply that by the number of cities doing the same thing. I've been to three or four transfer stations in the area and there's never been shortage of customers. One station piles the garbage up until it's twenty feet high with a front loader before it gets loaded into container trucks for its' journey to the land fill. But then there are the dumpers. The cheap skates who travel by night wanting to avoid dump fees. They'll find any out of the way place to stash their trash. What they fail to realize is that it may be out of sight and out of mind right now but it will come back at them at some point in the future.

I can only imagine with the loosening of regulations what industry is adding to the problem. I realize that so much of our mess has been dumped on China. They have entire cities that are now uninhabitable due to our electronic waste and their primitive methods of recycle, but eventually we'll have to pay the price for such folly. There is only so much earth to occupy and it's all interconnected. We're all in the same boat or in this case what's soon to become a garbage can. Gee I don't feel like Oscar the Grouch just yet. Get wise ya muppets!

100 times increase in garbage in 40 years

News you can't use and could probably care less about

(Doing the samba in Finland?)

Sometime the news juxtaposition is just bizarre. They say truth is stranger than fiction. From yesterday's headlines:

South Korea seizes capsules made with dead babies.
Secret pork recipe worth $1.8 million?

Humm? If peanut oil comes from peanuts and soy oil comes from soy beans then where does baby oil come from? And do we really want to know what's in that secret pork recipe? Hope it's not from Rays'.

California seller of suicide kits sentenced for tax offense
What's that about death and taxes?

motorist has been ticketed in South Carolina for displaying a replica of testicles on a vehicle.
Wonder what the fine is for hanging a vagina from the back bumper?

Did farting kill the dinosaurs?
I swear I didn't make this one up.

Vacuum robot is trilingual, knows witty dialect
Just what I need a smart ass vacuum cleaner. Do the samba with your rumba.

Worker jumps into vat of acid to save colleague
I've done some dangerous things in my life but I'd have second thoughts on this one.

Too lazy to blog.

Eat the rich

(Okay I knew there'd be a rock group tied to this somehow.)

The tide is slowly turning on a world scale. The peonage ™ aren't falling for the "let them eat nothing" scenario. Mr. Sarkozy got too cozy with the posh and the pompous and has now paid the price. In Greece it's the same story. Blaming the victim just won't cut it anymore. So if your income is in the seven digits be afraid be very afraid. We're coming for you.
Mr. Raw Money thinks that we can just borrow a couple of million from our parents to start a business. Yeah right! We'd be lucky to get bus fare at this rate. Student loans aren't free ya know and most have moved back in with their parents just for the roof overhead.

The time is coming. Can't wait for the elections. Aside from killing the TV to ignore being victimized by the lies (Sorry guys I was not the one who caused the economic melt down. I did my job and paid my bills) I'm sure we'll have enough campaign literature to keep the fireplace burning all winter. May be a few close races but enough have wised up to the BS we've been fed. Blaming everybody but yourselves is a trick best reserved for a five year old and even then it doesn't work. We're slowly coming out of the ditch and you want to steer us back into it? Then just get the hell out of the car. You got legs you can walk.

Mmmm! Pate of millionaire. I hear if it's seasoned just right it goes well with melba toast. Maybe chief Ramsey could give us a few pointers. Have to get the oil hot enough and pick the juiciest freshest stock. No old money for this dish so Warren I think you're safe at least for now.

And with all that's gone on I didn't get time to check the bank fails last week so here it is. Security bank of Florida I guess was not so secure and shut it's doors. Shouldn't have tried to develop that swamp land. The gators must have scared off potential buyers.

So eat the rich but remember they are high in calories and sometimes hard to digest.

Rendition and a short visit to the Gulag

It was a simple process like putting a key in a lock and turning. In this particular case it was a simple act of writing a snarky comment and hitting the post button. And then all hell broke loose. Suddenly you were no longer you or in this case I was no longer me. Had I said something wrong? Had I accidently hit a wrong key while clicking? In the click of a mouse, a nano second in real time I was gone, scooped up like a dissident in old Soviet Russia and shipped to the Gulag of some server in god knows what country. A nothing unable to exist. People worry about other people coming in the middle of the night to snatch them up or coming to take their guns. Forget that. That would be child's play compared to being erased in cyberspace. And I don't think it would be that hard. There is a way after all to trace a person even with multi firewalls and encryption. And they (whoever they are) are getting better at it. We've seen the documents held in the most secure of places plastered on the web. So it's a wonder who monitors the monitors who monitor the monitors. Not a lick of trust left in the world. So if you have a secret keep it to yourself and not on any computer file nor thumb drive or disk or memory card.

The last bastion of privacy is our own brains and I wouldn't doubt that they're trying to figure out a way to break into that. We know what you're thinking. Oh do you really? Well then you know what I'd like to do with this ram rod then after you made my life a living hell.

Lies lies and more lies, the toothpaste didn't make my teeth whiter and brighter. Your product wasn't new and improved and it doesn't run any faster or add functionality, it only costs more. And you keep shaving off the edges. We're on to your plan. Give them just a tiny bit less and they might not notice until what's left wouldn't accommodate a leprechaun. Rinse repeat and etc etc and your profit margins will swell. That is until your customer base gets wise and leaves you in the dust.

So it's a temporary reprieve, a release on bail until such time as the polite bureau of the inertubes deems what's best for us all. You can't fight customer no service. Their only response is a computer generated email about as useless as junk mail to a blind man. So on our merry way we go. You have my forwarding address just in case.

Grrrrr!!!

Gee thanks guys. The boys over at Google (eblogger) decided that I wasn't me and deleted my blog. So if you were having problems getting here today actually yesterday then you know who to throw the turds at. Now if I can just figure out how to move the furniture here over to my new account at word press things may be better. In the mean time I'll hang around here unbolting the plumbing and removing the pictures from the walls. It is truly frustrating to know that they are tearing your house down while you are still living in it. Now I know what somebody going though foreclosure feels like.

So if you come here and find a deleted blog it's not that I've croaked or am being snooty. It's just those geeks messing around trying to fix things that don't need fixed. Now if I can just get the hang of Word Press I'll get a gas can and burn this place down before I leave. And sorry if my new digs look a little spartan but you know how that is living out of boxes when you first move in. Now where did I leave the hammer and nails? Pictures won't hang themselves.

New address is demeur.wordpress.com

Actually the code for the link is correct so somehow the boys at blogger are messing with me. So to get to my new digs just copy and paste the URL if you would.

Beaver Party

Forget the Wild Rose party and the Pirate Party and all the fringe groups trying to carve out their own political territory. We've seen enough of the far right parties and their ideas that will never make it to main stream. So bye bye Tim so long Sanatarium never again Noot. Anybody seen hide nor hair of Ron these days? Thought not lame stream media has relegated him to the trash can in the lower right of the computer screen. So easy to drag and drop and don't forget to do a secure empty trash or he might just regurgitate back at you when you least expect it.

The Beaver Party is here to make life so much easier. Their motto "who cares I got to much work to do to bother with you." Their platform is fairly high but simple. Eat, build a dam, fashion a lodge and procreate, everything else is a plus. And never have more offspring than yourself otherwise you'll be outnumbered and who needs that?

Banks? Beavers don't need banks unless it's the rivers' edge. Bank fails will be later.

It's up it's down

A Thursday two fer
Our economy has turned psychotic. Read any daily financial rag to experience that bit of news. One day everything is rosy and everybody lives happily ever after and the next you'd think Armageddon was upon us. I can only report from a very narrow vantage point being just one of the millions here on the sidelines. I generally go by the parking lot index. What's that you might ask? That's the number of cars in parking lots and on the streets during the day in a given residential neighborhood. It seems to work. Must factor in business trips and that rarest of event a vacation. But with 4 people seeking just 1 probable opening most are skipping the latter benefit. After all who wants to be the one replaced by a temp after a sun tanned cruise. Haven't we seen that scenario before. And surely the expense accounts for business trips have been slashed to the bone. Have to make the quarterly profit statements look good you know.

Strangely enough while europeans have been foisting austerity on their unwilling populace and we may be doing the same here shortly, Russia has set about to turn the economic corner. I don't know if this was a mere ploy to garner votes but Putin raised taxes on the very wealthy. Okay I know what the right will say about that even before the talking heads explode on Fox. But the point is he actually did it with not so much as a whimper from the opposition party. The taxes imposed will not bulge the countries coffers but the gesture at least placated the unwashed masses at least for the time being. If only we could get things done here in such short order then the picture might be rosy. But no we're stuck with a government who's content with obstruction and collecting a paycheck for what they're not accomplishing. Wouldn't we all love to have that job. What's your job senator? We didn't send you there to sit on your butt and block ever piece of legislation that came down the pike. What do you mean you can't even agree on national ice cream month? Hasn't the dairy lobby lined your pockets yet?

So here we sit wondering and waiting. Much like waiting for Godot or Wotan. And how many of us are here? There are 12.7 million of us according to the latest figures. But I'm no real fan of statistics when it comes to reporting as I'd bet there are far more who've fallen through the cracks of the bean counter's keyboard. It is after all impossible to count water drops in a flowing river.

I have seen the future and it isn't all it's cracked up to be

I was talking to some folks over there in Greece yesterday as well as some in Syria. Well not actually taking but using chat to converse about the latest updates to the goings on. What an amazing leap we've taken in technology in the last twenty years. We can converse with nearly every country on the planet. It's almost hard to remember the days of dial up much like waiting for the old Philco TV to warm up in the 1950s. So much seems to have happened so fast and yet it's hard to believe this is still in its' infancy. Dial up was fairly easy to get up and running. Just slip in a disk click on an icon or two after registering and slooowly the homepage would reveal itself. So easy and free for a while anyway. But waiting 5 minutes for a photo to load was less than a user friendly experience. Now it's the speed wars. Broadband and dedicated service lines were the must haves as well as faster computers to accommodate these fast pipelines.

Getting Broadband going was no picnic for the inexperienced. And then there was the terminology. Didn't know an ISDN from a PoP not to mention uploads and downloads and pings. Just about the time one can wrap their head around all that along comes wireless and a new host of terms. And as I sit here looking at what can now be called an antique CRT monitor running a very old system (I'm amazed it still functions because it's generations past the current operating system) I wonder what the future will bring. Everything seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Not something good for aging eyes but we may yet see a Dick Tracy wrist radio complete with video but I think I'll pass when it gets to that point. Maybe a brain implant and just use the thought process for linking up. Gad there's a thought. We'd look like those telepathic aliens from the old 50s late late show. That sure would change education too. A constant stream of information without so much as an eraser crumb and no need to text so no worn out thumbs. No need for homework since it's all right there for the taking.

There is a drawback in all of this. The technology is making us isolated from our fellow man. What cars did to a Sunday afternoon walk and visit, computers are shielding us from human contact even though they are meant to increase it. I can't see your face and you can't see mine so I have no idea the expression or laugh or nuance of interaction. So :-P there. I believe we'll just get more hostile and care less about the neighbors because they are too busy staring at a screen too.

Yes the future will be interesting to say the least.

The economic poop storm isn't over yet

We've seen what the results of derivatives have done to the world economy. The head of the spear has been Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Greece and Spain. These little financial weapons of mass destruction are still killing economies and aren't finished yet with their damage. Far from it as the other shoe is about to hit the floor. We saw with great distain how the Greek bail out went. Austerity may be a fine thing for a short term economic problem but it will never raise a nation out of a depression (and let's face it that's what this is). Why Greece was even let into the european economic community to be tied to the euro in the first place makes one wonder. They had at the time been less than honest with their books but at the time it was an atmosphere of fast buck action akin to a gold rush. Those in the know and in charge knew that Greece was not in that great shape financially at the time having entered into the newly created opaque world of derivatives, hedge funds and credit swaps. But they overlook the shortcomings and welcomed them into the Euro club.

Here's the fly in the ointment or at least a reason the mess will not be unraveled any time soon. None of these financial transactions is based on anything tangible. And they all have two things in common. They were created to get around the regulatory laws used to prevent such happenings and their purpose is to make large profits for the banks and brokerage houses that sell them. An army of highly educated mathematicians was sent out to convince ill informed retirement fund managers, city leaders, and even nuns in a convent to purchase these instruments knowing nothing about how they worked or what risks they held. Sub prime mortgages were sliced and diced repackaged and sold as an A+ investments. What was once called junk bonds was now being sold as solid gold. Entire nations bought into the scheme which like a ponzi scheme worked well until someone wanted to cash out. Then the house of cards started to fall. Greece being one of the highest exposed countries was the first to go.

What people fail to see is that the countries that bailed out Greece are in no better shape and have themselves fallen for the scheme as well by saddling their residents with higher taxes and budget cuts. We're seeing Britain as well as France and Germany those bastions of economic stability fall into recession. How we've managed to make it this far with out another major meltdown is anyone's guess because little has changed in regulating this game. We can easily see what's coming our way by focusing on the foreign markets and their condition. But don't be fooled by the rosy picture they may be touting the monster lurking underneath hasn't begun to show his face. Whether we make it to fall before the next major meltdown is up for grabs but one thing is certain the things you aren't hearing right now speak volumes about what really is happening yet no one will acknowledge the 800lb gorilla in the room until it's too late.

What was the solution? The solution was to lay the economic mess on the backs of the tax payers of every nation. We're seeing that with the austerity programs in Greece. But to add insult to injury this isn't about clearing the books and starting over again. Oh no rather than do that more debt was created such that no nation could ever hope to repay. As these weapons of financial mass destruction unravel they will take with them entire nations. It's only been in the last few months that countries like Ireland, Spain and Portugal have even begun to slash budgets and raise taxes. The end result will not be felt here for a while as we have kicked the can down the road yet again. But the effects are beginning to show on a state and local level. We're seeing tuition increases, hospitals laying off people and projects being put on hold.

How Iceland dodged the bullet:
Capital controls, progressive taxes and a careful phasing-in of austerity measures were also key to getting the country back on track, bringing a more than 10 percent fiscal deficit back to a near balance.

Iceland also did what other parts of Europe haven't dared to do - let its banks go under. It took some of the cost itself but forced foreign creditors to take the biggest hit.

Iceland was lucky because they weren't tied to the Euro directly. They could easily devalue their currency there by making their exports cheaper. We aren't so lucky in that we don't have as much breathing room. And whether this administration would let the banks fold rather than another bail out is questionable. Our leaders are after all owned by the banks. They didn't get to where they are without some healthy campaign donations.

I give a hat tip to anyone who can dig through and find out where the current crop of toxic investments is being sold. Find your sucker and you'll see the next cracks in the system. So far it's cost us a bit more than 7 trillion dollars for the last round of bail outs. I can't imagine what it would take to do the next round. One thing's for sure the next storm is coming and it won't be pretty.

Mayday Mayday Mayday!

General world wide strike called for today. "No work, no school... don't bank, don't buy" is the order of the day. Well then that's an average day for me anymore. There's no work. I don't attend school (have all the education and certifications I can handle). I only bank once a week usually Friday or Saturday. And I only go to the store once every week or two for food. Gas I get once a month. Got to slow down on the beans. So we shall see what the day brings.

What is the protest for? What do you have? A brief list.
The gradual lack of buying power. The increase in fees for just about everything. The lack of jobs. The lack of health care. Home foreclosures. Being underwater in a home. Illegal evictions. Banks that aren't prosecuted for the fraud. Politicians that don't give a crap. Tax evading billionaires. Pollution. Unnecessary invasive medical procedures. Funding cuts. Tuition increases. Corporations that think workers can work for next to nothing. Corporations that don't pay any taxes. That irritating call center that doesn't know anything about the product. Calling information when it's located out of state and doesn't know a thing about your area. And lastly that woman that keeps bringing her dog to crap on my lawn.

There is that enough or should I continue? How about you what's your beef because today is the day to get it off your chest?