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Feeds updated daily Frequency Change! Our Saturday morning ham radio net will meet on 3860 KHz (3.860) due to the band being long this morning and we don't want to interrupt the group on 3.817.
Terra Moving Obviously, the biggest story of the morning would seem to be the huge earthquake that hit Japan's northern islands overnight. Placed at 8.3 on the Richter Scale, this quake sent thousands of people to higher ground due to a tsunami warning that was issued shortly after the quake. No word on damage or injuries as he hit the FTP button this morning, but to read reports later in the day of damage would not surprise us a bit. --- This quake can be looked at a couple of ways. First, and a special nail-biter if you happen to live on the USA West Coast, is the the idea that the whole of the Pacific Plate is going walk-about. The 9.3 in 2004, and now an 8.3. This are big quakes, although most of us over 30 have to be reminded that quakes are not measured by the Richter Scale, as we were taught in school, but by a new-fangled "moment magnitude" scale that's been around since about 2001.
Still, now matter how you scale it, the Japan quake is a biggie, but not to be viewed in isolation, as our friends the time monks point out. Coming on the heels of 2006, a year that was seen as a great pivot point in human events, they're looking for 2007 to be a hum-dinger.
Their most immediate concerns, while quakes lurk in model space, to be sure, is the ugly matter of weather - which shows up in the "terra modelspace." It's here that most of the action seems to be gather energies at the moment, and in this light, the Japan quake is interesting, but not the center of attention.
Winter's Onslaught We can characterize the current weather uglies in three major bands of action, West, Central, and East. Starting out west, our friends in the LA area report being shocked by reports of a few skiffs of snow up in Riverside Friday, but we're looking more at Ventura County and some of the key California agricultural centers. Think Economic losses, food, and the rest. --- Apparently, we're not the only ones looking at the weather-food-price connection, either. at legendary trader/investor Jim Sinclair notes on his site after the close Friday: So let's think about this carefully for a moment. US markets are closed for Martin Luther King Day Monday and the rest of the world, which will be watching ice storm, flood, and crop damaging weather reports now through Monday, will likely bid up prices on just about everything. I wouldn't be surprised to be a $10 pop up in gold, or a 50-cent silver move either. Sinclair's perspective - as usual - is valuable.
Our own view of how 2007 will appear (firming prices early in the year, and collapsing late, but this is not advice) seems to be fitting nicely with emergent facts, and the few readers who have told us of their plans to bail out of gold to "lock in profits" while gold softens (so they guessed) to the mid $400-range, may yet prove to be the equivalent of jumping off a train that was starting to leave the station. But, not my problem, as I've sworn off the "trader mindset" What's the old Wall Street saying? Traders drive Chevrolets while investors drive Caddies? --- To return to our "weather rap", and moving to the midsection of the country, we're in for a huge amount of precipitation. In fact, here at the ranch we have flood warnings going up, the chance of freezing rain tonight and through as late as Tuesday of next week before things warm up, and the reports out of the "square states" read pretty grim. Especially around Oklahoma City.
As events would have it, one of our readers, who also subscribes to the web bot reports at www.halfpasthuman.com, which has been warning of Red River/ Mississippi flooding in early 2007 for some time (with linguistics that go to seriously ugly events like a wall of water and mud - suggestive of a dam break, or some such yet to arrive), sent us an email saying thanks for letting him know what was coming a month + in advance:
We fired up the generator here, too, but unless the ice storm makes it this far south, I figure not much more than heavy rains - and I worry about the web bots predictions, and we're thankful to be living amidst what passes in Texas for "mountains": but sadly has about as much elevation as Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, and less than San Francisco hills and high spots, if I recall correctly. --- The third band of weather to consider is the East Coast, which Cattlenetwork.com reports was way above normal for December, but that now seems likely to change. When it does, I expect East Coast-centric Mainstream Media will puff up their weather to look somehow more dramatic than the rest of the nation's experience.
Nationhood Issues We are amused to see the Swedish filing-sharing site Pirate Bay to buy Sealand, a former naval platform in the North Sea. Why? Well, if they have their own country, they figure international copyright laws won't apply to them.
Wrongo. Turns out Sealand is six miles off the coast of England, which puts it inside the UK's territorial waters. Nice try, though. We'd suggest something a little more hospitable, like some island in the Atlantic which is out in the middle of nowhere. Just pay each of the residents some portion of the file-sharing revenue and have them vote themselves out from under the colonialist thumb of whichever nation claims "rights" to dictate how they live.... --- Somalia's government, meantime, is asserting its authority again. --- And although the White House has "softened" itsa tone on Iran, looks like no change on that score immediately ahead.
Condi Dissed, II Seems folks in Congress are giving Condi Rice the Dickens. And, she's off on a new Middle East tour without what? A peace plan...
Peoplenomics:
I raised a very interesting topic on the UrbanSurvival/Independence Journal sites last week, with the mention of UFO's and what people suspect they might be after. Remember, Christopher Columbus was off looking for spices when he tripped over Hispaniola, so it sort of makes sense that we are either lab rats or we are raising something here on earth that most aren't aware of, if the UFO phenomena is real. And while the subject itself may sound a little too New Age or "esoteric" to consider as mainstream economic though, I'd suggest that no, real or not, UFO's present us with a dandy opportunity to roll up our sleeves and get on with the important work of understanding our global corporate hypnosis when it comes to defining "wealth."
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January 12, 2007 A Worthy Presidential Hopeful Hallelujah. I may have to get a bumper sticker and write a small campaign contribution check to someone running for office. Texas Congressman Ron Paul (Houston area) has decided to throw his hat in the 2008 Presidential contest. You know who I would suggest as a running mate? Congressman Tom Tancredo. But that would to too much to even hope for. Nonetheless, as I see it, Barack Obama is too slick/packaged/populist/convenient, Hillary is too "connected" to sins of the past, Lieberman too corporate, republicorps are too disconnected from the voters, and most democorps are doing a lay-down on the defense of our borders. With Paul in at #1 (hell, I'd settle for him as VP), my faith in restoring The American Dream would go up maybe a 100-fold.
One of Ron Paul's virtues is that he publishes a weekly column called "Texas Straight Talk" where he minces no words, and calls BS on much of the political hucksterism indigenous to the District of Corruption. His positions on key issues are simple, common-sense, workable - and they don't cater to corporatist pressures. A few examples:
So now he's going to try and up the ante by running. He has our prayers, support, and even a few dollars. Takes real guts to stand up to the corporate cash machine and I for one will work my butt off to get Ron Paul into the White House and suggest you consider it, too. As one reader opined in an email:
Amen. And where do I send the check?
Snow Job While the White House is now saying that any congressional vote on Iraq won't hold weight - and the administration will do what it wants anyway, we note that the Pentagon has abandoned active-duty time limits. I don't think you need to ask me what to think about press secretary Tony Snow's assertion that the "President has the ability to exercise his own authority" and ignore the will of the American people as expressed by a vote in Congress. Are we run by the defense industry or elected officials acting in our best interests? Of course, Bush doesn't have an option because as reports have it today, his troop escalation plan is already in trouble. --- Reminds me: Why are we defending Iraq's borders when we aren't defending our own? Especially since it's looking more like Mexican military is behinds the recent shooting at our Guardsmen who we send to "watch" unarmed?
Embassy Attacked Suspected guerillas launched a rocket attack on the US Embassy in Athens (Greece) today. Predictably, it's being called "leftist guerillas". And mainstream media are trotting out the "terrorist" label, predictably.
Tweaking Iran As we reported earlier this week, the neocon game now is to try and "tweak" the Iranians into doing something that could be used by the administration as a pretext to start a new fight with Iran. While we have a few strategically placed "Ides of March" bets, based on time-dimensioned linguistics for the start of real violence against Iran, the present strategy of "tweaking" seems to be the work-around since several senators have told the administration quite plainly to "Stay out of Iran." --- Still, Iran is ticked off about the invasion of their embassy in Baghdad this week that they have summoned the Swiss ambassador to talk about it.
Banker Murder Suspect Nabbed The Washington Post reports today that a suspect has been arrested in the 2006 killing of Russian central banker Andrei Kozlov. You may recall he was an anti-money laundering, banking reform sort of guy - which doesn't play well with the criminal element.
Into a Window Our time-predictive pals are watching for something big (as in "Boom!") this weekend, possibly out of India. While there's always room for error is such forecasts with new technology, we note that reports point to an al Qaida build up in Pakistan...and that leads to tensions over Kashmir, and there's a chance that the tensions could be...er...explosive. Naturally, we hope not, but listen for "booms" this weekend.
Window into Windows Reports that NSA worked with Microsoft on the development of Vista Security has us wondering if maybe the HPH time monks aren't right running cannibalized W95/W98 kernels instead of more recent operating systems to keep curious eyes from looking over their shoulders. --- So, if NSA is willing to help on a new product launch, why aren't they helping plug current operating system vulnerabilities? Say, that wouldn't be part of a plan whereby exploits were put into product up front for government use, you don't suppose? Then patched when word got around? I can hear the hacker crowd saying "Hey - here's another one of their back doors!" Duh.
Weather Window Snow storming in the Northwest and moving east today. So we find it ironic to read in the Seattle PI about the future of the hot-weather oriented Wildwave/Enchanted Village (between Seattle & Tacoma south of 320th in Federal Way). We hit the Washington DOT freeway web cam and wonder if summer will ever return. See that snow in Spokane? Watch Alpowa Summit on US 12, too, the southeastern-most camera on the WS-DOT system)
Markets: Boring Nope, not much going on. The Dow is coming into an area where it will have to break above the Jan 3 level (12,630.34 intraday) to convince us more that there is more of this rally ahead. But not much expected before next week's flurry of numbers: Consumer Prices and Producer Prices. I reckon we're in "global noise trading" presently. Maybe some movement on retail sales, but the big numbers come next week...
Saturday Morning Ham Radio Net Tomorrow morning - 8 AM - I will be on 3.820KHz +/- 10KHZ - chatting with a few ham friends. Two-fold reason: 1) Saturday morning cup of coffee with friends on ham radio is fun and 2) I want to get some reference/field measurements before I put up my new high performance antenna system here at the ranch. So, if you're a ham (or shortwave listener, drop by Saturday morning around 3.820 at 8 AM.
Thursday January 11, 2007 Gunpoint Diplomacy We can't help but find it interesting that the day has started with US forces busting in to the Iranian embassy in Iraq and arresting five employees. As we pointed out in yesterday's report, this is part of a now predictable pattern of "tweaking" Iran to try and get them to make some kind of military move (as I explained yesterday), so that the US/Israel side of the Middle East wars would have a pretext for an attack. --- The Jerusalem Post reports today Syria is saying that a "Middle East peace is not currently possible" now that George Bush has announced plans to send in "more than 20-thousand additional soldiers. --- As Elaine and I watched the president's remarks last night, I caught the what I consider the "weasel wording" of the speech. The president said "more than 20,000 troops" and while the press glommed onto that number (and some reports are saying 21,500 troops), the reality is that what he said was more than 20,000 addition. What people heard was 20,000.
Now, let me give you a clue, what to look for down the road. 30,000-40,000 because that is more than 20,000.
The Washington Post writes this morning that "Bush Rhetoric Hard to Square with Facts".
While democrats are grandstanding on this, many sharpening their 2008 presidential prospects, we expect the administration will quickly get about the business of sending "more than 20,000 additional troops" to Iraq. A lot more.
Oh, and as a bonus? Look for more Iran tweaking in coming days. Bigger wars are ahead.
Marc Faber - He "Gets It" Several readers have written in telling me to check out what Dr. Marc Faber is saying lately. Not just because of what he has predicted in the past, but what he sees in our economic future. As Lew Rockwell headlines it, he sees "Irreparable Cracks in the Financial System." All of which explains why the time monks at www.halfpasthuman.com are wondering "What does it means when the global financial system doesn't show up in linguistic modelspace in a meaningful way after this year?
Oh it gets even better (or worse, depending on whether your investment plans are similar to ours, or not). A number of readers wrote in something to the effect "Did you see the Pimm Fox interview on Bloomberg with Faber on Bloomberg? Farmland is his #1 investment choice! Holy smokes! You've been saying that for two years!" Well, sure. Bright minds, same data should equal similar conclusions, right? Don't be so surprised. And yes, we were early, but when there's a runaway train coming at you, better a few years early than a second too late. Besides, since our strategic retreat to East Texas, we've had plenty of time to transition from corporately to famerly living and thinking - and a great supply of self-sufficiency goods abound.
Better than our plans and Faber's outlook? The Amish got there ahead of all of us, I note with much respect.
Glowing Investment Worthy of study, although we won't be playing this one: James Finch's "Uranium 2007 Price Forecast." Very interesting.
Gouging Arriving? Web bot subscribers have known this for a long time, but the floods of 2007 are linguistically supposed to be marvels, both here and elsewhere (UK and South America). A reader wonders:
About a long time back, the bots were predicatively talking about flooding of London, which we took to be the flooding of New London, Conn. and the local Thames River up in that next of the woods. But now, we're not so sure that the "flooding of London" predictions could have been pointed at possible future events in the UK, as all of Britain is on a flood alert today. --- It's flooding in St. Petersburg, Russia, too, but this is the 302nd time for that.
But how about Brazil? There may be a much LARGER story coming... as a mining dam has burst in Brazil and has driven 5,000 people from their homes. This may be only the start (you might be thinking about cyanide used in mining here) and wonder about the downstream impacts, and we have reason to expect a lot more flooding in that region is likely. I mean like a lot more flooding in Brazil, capiche? More than the 50 dead. Sadly, many more.
Chavez, Continued He's a real thorn in the side of the world's corporatists. Why? Well, it's not because as he settled in to a new six-year term this week, Venezuela's HugoChavez was talking like the next generation of Fidel Castro with a socialist pitch, although he did that for sure.
Oh, sure, that's an irritation, but the real story is that guys like Chavez (a socialist with resources) are a threat because they disrupt the global banking game by doing things like putting their central bank under government control.
In all Western countries, the banksters behind the curtains have carefully positioned their institutions to make them appear as those the governments involved have some sway over their decision-making. If you're read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" you know our deliberately mis-named Federal Reserve fits the bill (pun intended) perfectly, So the threat is what? A threat to globalist banking.
Naturally, given that Chavez exports a huge amount of oil and gasoline to the US, we expect that he will be attacked, in not so subtle ways in the future, because the corporate order doesn't tolerate dissent well. And that's something you can take to the bank.
Equal Rights, Sort of... The University of Michigan has decided to drop the use of race as a factor in admissions. I view this as a solid decision. I don't think the Framers ever meant for "Equality" to mean everyone gets to the finish line together. It means everyone starts on the same starting line and equal access. From there on, grades count, at least at UM.
Now, who is going to be the first to stop using athletic performance as an admissions criteria? ROFLOL - never gonna happen. To much corporate money riding on that one. (chuckle) Bread and circuses, my friend. Bread and circuses.
Can't Get Access? Because of the web bot project and other, my server was seriously hacked last year. Therefore, today if a person's computer has tried too many times to access our www.peoplenomics.com site and failed. they are IP blocked (not putting in the username and password right, would do will trigger this response.) . If you are a subscriber and encounter this problem:
Thanks for your patience, but when UrbanSurvival was hacked last year, I put up higher than you'll normally encounter security walls around the sites. By the way, you should always be able to access www.independencejournal.com which is on a lower security-threshold server operated by another provider. Once the trouble ticket is cleared, and your IP address "white-listed" I will advise as your IP address server is restored.
Wednesday January 10, 2007 Some Good News for a Change There's no counting the number of times that people have written to me and said, in effect, "I don't like you because you are a doom and gloomer." Most times, I write back that folks just naturally don't want to deal with reality - which is why the average person is average. If you want to improve your personal productivity level 1-50%, make a daily list of things you ought to do, and then do the thing you hate most first. It's one of those secrets of hugely successful people. Average folks do the fun/pleasant/non-threatening-time consuming stuff and then discover "Gee, I don't have time for that ugly unpleasant task, so I will push it back another day. Which becomes two, which becomes 3, which becomes five...and the important stuff sits undone.
Still, there's a kernel of truth to the notion that this site is not a series of happy-talk reports. However, it's my natural inclination to prepare for bad things, and take the good things (like a glass of wine) as they come.
This morning, I'm pleased as punch to report what may be the biggest story of the month ion terms of freedom in general and free speech in particular. Democrats are reportedly introducing a bill says "Variety" that will mandate Net Neutrality. This will stop the planned corporate hijacking of the internet to basically relegate those who can least afford it, to second-class players. It's a hell of an important step in support of what is the electronic equivalent of Constitutionally protected free speech and free peaceable assembly. There is hope, and I'm pleased to report it.
While few will acknowledge it, I expect the coming weeks to be a downer for the Dow and other major indices - as a few right-thinking patriots in Congress could be slowing the advance of corporatism.
Want some more good news? Ok, but you have to be British...
Honest Bread Tracking Americans, sadly, have let hedonics - price adjustments for sometimes questionable assertions about product equivalencies - slip into our Cost of Living adjustments, and these in turn have the effect of screwing up our view of current economic reality.
To give you an example from here at the ranch, our unit cost of electricity from the local utility is up 8.7% compared with last December's bill. A call to the utility to have them tell me when the "power cost surcharge" which was implemented when natural gas prices were much higher than they are now would be removed, I was told "No word."
But folks in Britain seem to be drawing the line at honest over price inflation reflected in a loaf of bread. As one reader (a CPA sort) writes:
Still, a dollar is approaching a pound for a Pound, and considering it was 9 pence in 1970, that's a realistic look at inflation. --- All of which gets me to the problem faced by the protagonists of deflation. While it may be true that inflation may falter and deflation arrive, I'd offer that putting aside the reported figures from government, and looking at your own checkbook, the costs are living aren't going down much. And the problem is, at least for the statistician/magicians, when prices reverse, it's hard to reverse our prior hedonic adjustments and have them make sense.
To show you what I mean, let's say that during an inflationary time, an adjustment is made for change from 95% fat-free hamburger to 70% fat free hamburger because it's cheaper and will keep the price of meat looking flat. Now, suppose that deflation arrives. Does the hedonic adjuster (might we call them hedonists?) then publicize that we're going back upscale to avoid reporting falling meat prices? And, as some point, do we move up to ground sirloin, as deflation ramps up? And as deflation continues, will the figures show an upgrade the to ground tenderloin in efforts to hide deflation?
With this kind of thing in mind, the Brits are about to launch a web site that will let people calculate their own personal rate of inflation. Question: Why no such thing here in America? Answer: More to hide. It's been almost a year now since the banksters who run the not-really Federal Reserve hid M-3 because it would have revealed the wild excesses of the printing press people - which we get tipped off to eventually anyway when they had to make melting coing illegal, but I digress...
Thus, the British pound of bread -for a Pound paper story is fun to watch - and the good news is that at least one class of people is asking the right questions. (I won't go into the fact that US computations about computer prices effectively dropping is crap - they don't figure in the cost of version upgrades or annual renewals for things like anti-virus software, firewall updates, and the next round of operating system upgrades, do they. But it's a game for both of us realists to watch with amusement.
Thieves Wining Did you catch this upscale heist? A half-million dollar wine burglary in California? So much for the light stuff, let's roll up our sleeves and get into the hard stuff now:
9/11 Commission "Fixed" There's a real question about whether Sandy Berger might have somehow kept the 9/11 Commission from getting all the documents it requested. and Virginia Republican tom Davis doesn't sound too happy when he says:
Now, if you still want to believe the 9/11 Report, that's a judgment call on your part, although before you decide that there wasn't butt-covering conspiracy by both the Bushites and Clintonistas, click here to read the whole 61-page staff report. Quick - look surprised. Or disgusted.
Bolivia Minerals Tax We expect the usual whining for the globe pillaging corporatists about events in Bolivia, which is set to raise mineral taxes. In 2006, they exported $1-billion worth of minerals and received a whole $45-million in tax revenue. Pencils to 4 1/2%. This year, expecting some growth in exports, they would like to get $300 million That's a 30% tax. Well, it is their country...
George Bush is set to announce his troop surge shortly. But, enough ticked off constituents have called the corpresentaitves on Capital Hill (misspelling deliberate!) that the message about the war seems to be getting through. Democrats aren't going to let this one just slide on by. Ought to raise a lot of corporate contributions from the defense lobby for '08, huh? --- Not that this will derail the administration/neocon plans to provoke an expanded war in the region by drawing in Iran.
As I read this, the neocons have simply changed their tactics. The game now is to do everything they can think of in order to provoke Iran into a confrontation, which would give the neocons an excuse to go bunker-busting nuclear against Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.
I remember all too well that the US deliberately used similar tactics in WW II to provoke Japan into entering the war. We're reminded by a Wikipedia entry that:
See it rhyming here? Squeeze someone's..nu....er...oil...and they get angry. Then they get even. The Jerome Corsi article this week at WorldNetDaily lays out the parallel US military saber rattling.
The neocons hope you don't figure out their dirty plan to suck us into regional nuclear/global war because they're betting big on it. Provoke a war, get more power. Fear September of this year say the time monks. And as soon as Iran is backed far enough into a corner to strike back, I'll be called an SOB (and worse) for pointing out in advance that Iran isn't posting ships off our ports, trying to screw up Texas oil & gas deals, or claiming that we're running neocon training camps. Both sides are spin and you're sucked in as both sides rush to their Final Battle. --- Pretend you're an alien who just showed up from some other dimension. Wouldn't this be a intensely real-life version of a video game to be playing? Prove it ain't so...
Re-Arming Japan Speaking of which, although they play pretty low key, we can help but notice Japan's defense agency has gone upscale to full Ministry ranking now. If I lived as close as Japan does to North Korea (readying for another nuke test) and China, I'd be arming, too... --- BUT! Remember those reports that North Korea was flooding Asia with counterfeit money? Well, here's a dandy gem of a story that says no, look at the CIA as a possible source, not NK...
Tuesday January 9, 20007 Terrorists Testing? While there's no official work on what caused the foul smell in Manhattan and parts of New Jersey on Monday , I keep coming up with "Was this a terrorist probe to see how officials would react?"
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article out today outlines three possible "tests" - the NY gas smell, the Austin bird kill, and a plastic explosive sniffer going on at Miami's cruise docks. The Everett (WA) Herald headlines it differently "Mysteries, not terror".
While the Herald's take is probably right (at least we hope so) we note in passing that Everett is about 1,780 miles from Austin, 2,260 miles from New York, and 2,760 miles from Miami. And upwind at that.
Distributed Terror Oh, those folks at Britain's MI5 are at it again - this time with a "public service" going active today distributing terror alerts via email. British press seems supportive, but we're skeptical. I should explain.
I reckon that if anything really, really, really big was about to happen in a major urban area, the last thing you'd want to do is send an email to everyone with a computer saying "Warning, warning, get out on the street...run to exits." Seems obvious as heck that if you issued such a warning, people would react in huge numbers, leaving the whole of whatever city to disintegrate into an unmanageable pandemonium - a literal mob scene, making it completely unmanageable for those who might be trying to actually prevent the hypothetical really, really, really big thing. So, is it T-spam, psy-ops, a public service? You be the Decider...
Another Day, Another War We read today that the US is now involved in air strikes on al Qaida targets in Somalia, where Ethiopia has been battling to get back Mogadishu from Islamic revolutionaries This apparently has roots in the bombings of two US embassies in Africa in 1998. --- Nearby, we notice that New Mexico governor Bill "about to run for president" Richardson is off trying his hand at foreign affairs in the Sudan. Not to sound grouchy, but my friends in New Mexico wonder why he isn't starting his efforts to learn about foreign affairs with more enforcement down at the Mexico border with his state. Showmanship, political grooming/marketing, natch. More US "do as we say, not as we do"?
Chinese Terrorists Killed Meantime, China reports 18 suspected terrorists have been killed at a camp in western Xinjiang province as Islamic militants seem to be gaining followers as China goes through major social changes. At issue is an independent state in what is now China.
Migrant Meme While the US continues to suffer leaky border syndrome, it seems the meme is catching on elsewhere - protection of migrant workers being a topic at the ASEAN meetings that kick off today.
Say, I don't know if you have figured this out, but the reason the corporate/high finance crowd is trying so hard to protect migrant workers is that they really are the underclass and cattle/chattel of the corporatist empires of paper. Cheap labor, and they all buy cells phones. Is that bottom line fattening, or what?
That ought to explain why the money people are so interested in the cause - the migrants are going where the rest of us are merrily headed, a bit slower, but not much. So, if you don't want to end up corporate/cattle/chattel ala the migrants, pay attention here. The way to stop the corporate takeover of human freedom is to simply enforce existing laws and vote with your wallet.
Go read up on the border BS that happened when gunmen forced our National Guard troops manning an observation post on our side of the border to flee last week. Why did they flee? They were unarmed, of course! So, get this really straight and simple: National Guardsmen who should be armed - were not because it's all part of the corpgov "show" to get you to pretend that a war on illegal immigration is on and being waged in a meaningful way. Nothing could be further from the truth! Visited construction sites lately?
Who is the policy official who would put our fine military folks (Guard member) troops at risk and take their arms to boot? What's your definition of treason? Moreover, we're trying to fight in Iraq and we can't even secure our own borders! Sending unarmed troops to the border, for Heaven's sake... Help me here!
No, I have no quarrel with the rank and file Border Patrol or National Guardsmen who are doing the right and honorable American thing - and following orders.
The real rot is higher up the food chain - about where the corporate interests start passing out the checks to dim-witted members of CONgress who are so woefully ignorant of the facts (or so addicted to the bright lights of TV, the thrill of power, the prospect of higher office, etc.) that they operate in a way that leads us all to corporate chains as our kids will mostly end up disposable corporate migrant workers. at least as things are headed presently. You wonder why ASEAN is talking about the subject? It's here!
Corporations don't need goon squads to rule the world. A few checks here and there, a big computer system to track food (which by the way is "voluntary" as long as there is 100% participation by states" - what kinda crap is that?), a "security threat" (now distributed by email, no less, as noted earlier) to let corpgov agents know what's going on with all your personal affairs...oh, this is marvelous to watch unfold, isn't it? Snoop the mail, tap the phones...
Wanna leave? Sorry, no can do. Like Nazi Germany which closed its borders prior to WW II, you'll now need exit permission from America, too. And should you arrive in a foreign country and scratch out some foreign income, IRS will come after you for taxes anyway. So, wanna talk about freedom that we're fighting for? It's the most monstrous corporate paradigm-driven bait and switch swindle there ever was.
As long as the paper hangers can keep printing paper money (and banning the melt of coins when they are worth more melted than for spending, a ridiculous commentary on crashing our money) the game will go on. It oughta make you mad as hell. At least it does me. The best way to change corporate behavior is to VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET - don't play into the corporate swindle. Every time you borrow money, you put your neck that much further into the corporate noose. Have fun.
PS: If you're a foreigner thinking about coming to the US, by the way, read this.
Crash Time Big headlines in the press about recent comments by Dr. Marc Faber to the effect that it's down time straight ahead for global markets. Everyone out of the pool? Timing is not specific, but Faber got 1987 right (and I did OK on UAL puts, too..), so if you keep riding paper, you get what you sow.
ET in the Bloodstream A group of researchers has done something that conspiracy theorists have wondered about for years. The research says as much as 97% of human DNA may be extraterrestrial. So here's the politically correct question: When do the early thinkers who arrived at the obvious, get an apology from the balance of the 97% extraterrestrial humanoids who labeled 'em nutjobs?
If the science is good, the apologies are overdue. Oh, and as long as we're at it, how about mainstream science getting off its lazy butt and admitting that there's a whole alternative archeology that hangs together more than "we is just wise apes" theory? Duh of the day.
Best Read Can earth be saved for humans, or have we passed some invisible threshold and it's already too late? The Earth Policy Institute's book "Plan B 2.0" is now available online and examines the question. Will it work? Hmmm...don't want to be too skeptical but when I get time to read it, I'll try to find how the plan would make sense for those that matter - the corporations who would have to rethink their definitions of profits and wealth. FFC (fat effing chance), but I keep hoping.
Monday January 8, 2007 Stirring up India Separatist rebels in Assam (India) have killed 57 people in the past couple of days. This has led to a serious security crackdown. The Hindustan Times reports there's a curfew in effect, but it seems that the separatist movement there - which has been around since 1979 - is once again in a festering stage. --- Meantime, in West Bengal, there has been further violence in India - but it's not ab out separatism here. It is more about authorities trying to set up a Special Economic Zone and land acquisitions for a chemical hub. Seems the locals aren't thrilled with something akin to "eminent domain" - which although contentious in the USA hasn't resulted in this kind of violence. Five dead so far. British press reports are wondering about the safety of investing in the region. --- These reports today give rise to an interesting phenomena - it's almost like India's stars have moved into an unfavorable position, or something. About the only good news might be that a Kashmir separatist leader has unveiled a unification plan for the region whose ownership is disputed by India and Pakistan. However, we don't expect such a plan would meet favor among the militant Islamic jihadists in that neighborhood, so we look for more news from India - say in about a week.
War of Words and more As we start another trading week, the global markets will be trying to sort through what is an ever-more-complicated stew of events concerning Iraq. We're expecting later this week George Bush to appear on television and propose a "troop surge" in order to bring to war door-to-door for Baghdad. Already, some of our allies are backing away from adding troops, including Australia.
The Bush plan, figures Fox News, will include "benchmarks" for local government to meet. But, as anyone in management will tell you: benchmarks without teeth are meaningless, and we have to ask "What will the penalties be when the Iraq government doesn't tow the line?" Not much, we're afraid.
And then there's Nancy Pelosi, who seems to hear a disenchanted American public when she hints that democrats won't give Bush Iraq funds if the plan is too outrageous. nevertheless, a "hide behind the troops" phrase or three seem likely in the Deciders pep talk to pimp surging.
In other words - in fact in two words - no change.
The Secret Plan that Isn't One of the biggest stories of the weekend, and one which has me eyeing my potassium iodide pills, (www.ki4u.com) involves the report that Israel is training up a couple of squadrons of jets to use nuclear bunker-busters in a supposedly forthcoming pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear program.
Analysis in the Israeli press has taken two tacks on this. One is the denial that anything is planned (although we're wondering about web bot hot dates in March). And the other is that because Israel is still reeling from the spectacular mess that was made of Lebanon, they would not likely try pre-emptive nuking.
As you follow this - as I'd expect you to with a story of potential "Armageddon-sized impacts" - watch what Turkey is saying. The reason is that Turkey has diplomatic relations with Israel on the one hand, yet has a close relationship with Iran as well.
EBITDA Madness When we read most of the recent M&A (merger and acquisition news) we're struck with the very high prices such deals are bringing. Here's a thoughtful article "Quantum finance and the scramble for gold" that offers that in 2001 - in the wake of the dotcon bubble, M&A deals were priced at 5.2 times EBITDA -= now its up to an amazing 8.2 multiplier. Hear that oncoming train?
Executive Pressure MSNBC reports a record number of US CEO's were given their walking papers lat year. Most with reason, I expect.
Mexico's Invasion: Mexico 3 USA 0 Let's see: Mexico is giving illegal border-crossers GPS units to help them find their way here. And, once they get here, the traitorous spenders in the District of Corruption are trying to give them Social Security Benefits. And what's this? A Dallas food chain is planning to accept Mexican pesos! Wucking fonderful. Are we a nation run by idiots? No! Don't answer that...and don't put it in the mail, either.
Looking for repots of border security success? How about 3 detained in Miami for trying to enter America illegally. No word on the other 5,000 not caught that day.
GM's Volts Some folks would tell you GM long ago killed efforts to bring out an electric car, so today, from our better late than never department, a report on the new GM Volt. And we wonder why Toyota is kicking US manufacturer's butts? Please... --- Chrysler meantime is off reinventing their minivans.
Criminal Lending? A decision in Australia doesn't mean anything here - yet. But there's a fair amount of discussion going on about whether there should be criminal penalties for real estate agents who pimp sub-prime loans knowing that they are effectively burying people who will never be able to make ends meet.
Monday Morning at the Water Cooler Talking Points Department: Sailing Story
Airbrush Wizards
Happy Returns A library booked checked out 47-years ago has been returned...
Power Bills The Illinois House has voted to freeze electric rates. Now that natural gas prices have come down, folks here in Texas are wondering when (if???) power surcharges will disappear.
News from Elliott Wave International Instead of our customary chart, this week you get a free peak at one of our other charts from www.peoplenomics.com - this is our "Global Markets Equally Weighted" chart:
Write when you get rich,
George Ure, The People's Economist
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