MORALE SINKS IN OUR ARMY---THIS IS BAD

Blame it on upper class educated suits, all of whom have no concern for the grunts
Two weeks ago I posted this. Today the Washington Post is running a major article focusing on a few GI's and their Iraqui counterparts. This is going to get much worse. I predict that by this time next year Bush will be toast.

The real problem is that all the civilians in government are basically draft dodgers from the Viet Nam era or people who grew up later and had no military experience either. Nobody who had served in the Post WWII occupation armies would have made the mistakes being made right now. These people are Ivy League managers who treat their employees like shit, pay them as little as possible, work them as long as possible, rake off what they can, and then leave the corporation for the next corporation or cushy retirement. That is who they are. From Bush, Cheney, Rice (Stanford), all the women, Rumsfeld (Princeton), there is not a GI in the car load.

Even after WWII the U.S. Army in Germany had deteriorated into bad actors by 1947. There is nothing to do but get drunk, screw, play poker, and playact your way through your job, day after day, after day, after day. Their wives are on mars, their kids with them, and the rest of their families are out of touch. They have been sentenced to Hell for doing a good job.

The problem is I cannot see one political person in either party who has any experience or the imagination to deal with this thing.

Imagine yourselves in Iraq right now.

CRIES FOR "WHISKEY, SEX, RAP MUSIC" WON'T OVERTHROW ANY GOVERNMENT

The Iranian student protests are empty, not a thought in a trainload

A bunch of kids going to college on their parents dime want "freedom". Big Deal.

Just read some of their blogs and you'll see that they have absolutely nothing underlying their complaints other than they want freedom. They don't have a clue about what freedom is, what it entails for them, and what they want exactly. Whiskey, sex, music ain't no revolution. They better go back and check Jefferson, Paine, Madison, Hamilton, Locke, Hugo, and a ton of others before they can be successful.

Freedom doesn't mean having sex with dogs, staying drunk for the rest of your life, killing anybody you feel like killing and so on. These are Muslim kids who aren't about to dump their religion. But until they get a handle on a Muslim Democracy, they have nothing.

No revolution anywhere has succeeded because people wanted "freedom". They wanted Communism a specific goal; they wanted to kill their leadership, another specific goal, and so on. The French largely failed because the urge to kill Louie spread to lots of little Louies so the result was Napoleon. The American Revolution is misnamed. We had a Rebellion. A Rebellion against a distant power who lost the ability to govern. Revolutions are "revolts" against domestic government and it's my understanding from limited reading that no true revolution has ever succeeded other than the Communist Revolution in Tsarist Russia.

These demonstrations in Iran by college students without a clue of what kind of government they want, are just demonstrations. They have no plan for any legislature, court system, or anything else. They are a joke to everybody but the people who blog and read blogs. They have no support outside of the classrooms and no leadership anywhere.

DEAN WILL KILL THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY---NOT

Nobody votes like a freeloader who has been robbed by his benefactor; just count the numbers. Freeloaders want taxes raised because they get the money.

Barry Goldwater led the Republicans to one of the worst defeats ever back in 1964. But what Goldwater meant to the guts of the party grew. And grew. And grew. So that sixteen years later the Conservative Reagan won in a landslide. That small "Conservative Base" became huge. Goldwater is still the "soul" of the GOP.

The same possibility exists for the Democratic Left, which starts from a much larger base than the Conservatives had when they began their expansion in 1964.

The huge entitlement class, numbering every government employee, Federal, State, County, and City (fourteen million VOTERS); the Welfare Class, two million who may vote; the Social Security Class, which is six million VOTERS and rising led by the rapacious AARP (American Association of Rapacious Pricks) ravenously ripping off their own kids; the totally subsidized farm and agri-business vote of at least two million; and the wealthy guilt ridden sympathizers of this class (Hollywood Left demanding subsidies for the "arts") are not only a presence today, but growing. This class views every expenditure not directed for them as stolen from them. Military is support for (fill in the blanks, oil companies, dictators, big business, etc.); trade is subsidy for hated business interests; lower taxes is a subsidy for the rich, higher taxes is income meant for, and destined by entitlement to, the freeloader class. There are conflicts within this class; city people hate the farm people and vice versa; race conflicts within this class are huge; so the class is not a monolith.

But get this: The Freeloader Class wants taxes raised because they get the money. Dean and the rest will raise taxes and by implication will give the money to this Freeloader Class.

Nobody votes like a free loader deprived. The total of twenty million or more VOTERS in the Entitlement Class is 20% of the total votes cast in 2000. Since the country is roughly 50/50, you can figure the entitlement class is 40% of the Democratic vote. Can Dean win? You figure it out. Only the cops, military, fire, and perhaps a few other segments assigned to the defense of the country will vote GOP.

A Conservative will find it increasingly harder and harder to win as the entitlement class grows. Dean may lose, but he emphatically won't "wreck" The Party. "Anti-War" simply means that the money spent on the war was money stolen from the Freeloader Class and only from them.

The Freeload Class is the Uber Voter. Dean will NOT wreck the party.

DON'T CALL LISTS----THEY WILL STILL CALL

Scam charities will still call. Tons of companies will still call. And many scams don't care if you are on a "don't call" list or not.

Any time you take a "freebie"; newspaper, magazine, brochure, insurance information, and so on you are "doing business" with that company and they will call. If you own stock, you will get calls. If you ask for information from anyone, they will call.

This bill well help, but only for a while.

THE SUPREMES SODOMY RULING--FAR REACHING???

I'll leave it to the Gay Mafia to jump up and down on this one but I think it really does have far reaching PRIVACY considerations. There are blue nose rules all over the country forbidding certain behaviors inside of homes. You can't smoke in your home, you can't keep certain pets INSIDE your homes, you can't charge money for sex, you can't conduct retail business, you can't conduct any business, and so on.

This is a far-reaching consenting adults ruling. Make no mistake about it. And it may also impact the current RIAA assault on downloading music in your home. Consenting adults is a large blanket.

OH MY GOD! I FOUND 12 TRILLION DOLLARS

In tax money coming due from IRA's, 401Ks and other retirement accounts coming due over the next thirty years and taxable at the time the owner reaches a certain age or starts using the money. This "forgotten" tax is bad news because the big spenders in Washington will spend twenty trillion of the twelve before we can say "stop". It renders all discussion of Medicare, Drug Bill, and everything else moot. Will be big news perhaps by tomorrow. "Found" by an economist at Stanford. Nobody, and I mean NO BODEEE, even thought of this revenue.

But that budget forecast is incomplete and perhaps overly pessimistic because it doesn't take adequate account of the growing wealth -- and future tax payments -- of America's Investor Class. Ordinary Americans and their employers are socking away huge sums in tax-deferred accounts such as Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k)s, and traditional pensions. The total in such accounts is roughly $11 trillion today, with hundreds of billions in new contributions pouring in every year. Under current law, retirees will pay ordinary income taxes as they withdraw money from these accounts. Surprisingly, official long-term budget estimates ignore most of these projected tax receipts -- and the amounts are simply staggering.

In a new, as-yet-unpublished paper, Stanford University economist Michael J. Boskin estimates that the value of these deferred taxes through 2040 is roughly $12 trillion in today's dollars. By comparison, the official estimate of the unfunded Social Security liability is $3.5 trillion in today's dollars, while the unfunded Medicare liability for hospital insurance is $5.9 trillion.

LINK HEREfor the full story.

IT'S TWO TRILLION DOLLARS, STUPID

This post now rendered meaningless by the above story. As Gilda Radner used to say, "Never Mind."
Drug benefit added to Medicare is NOT what is being talked about
Wake Up!!
The current cost breakdown of four hundred billion over ten years is absurd The Congressional Budget Office projects that Medicare beneficiaries will spend $1.8 trillion on prescription drugs over the next 10 years.

60,000,000 (sixty million) people were over 60 years old by 2003. That's sixty million prescription drug users the productive tax payers will now subsidize. The cost of this program will run into the two trillion dollar class.

Figure it out:

Sixty million washed up old farts spending your money for $500 a year in drugs comes to $30 BIL per year times ten years is $300 BIL right there. And $500 doesn't cover it. When they get through DEMANDING expensive treatments for their useless lives with expensive stuff we have to pay for, the cost is a minimum of Two Trillion dollars.

Let's say five million old farts want $800 Viagra prescriptions filled. $4 BIL (You think they won't get it?) Times ten years is $40 BIL
Another ten million demand diet pills at $150 per three months supply. $1 ?½ BIL Times ten is $15 BIL
Another five or so million decide that they may get prostate cancer so they NEED the new untried drug at $20,000 per month. That will put you in the trillion dollar class each year
A million old farts can't stop smoking? $150 for a two month supply times a million, equals $150 MIL
Cancer drugs? Cancer PREVENTION drugs (fill in the blanks)
There are drugs out there that run $1,000 a month and are in limited supply. You think this army of old farts will sit still for it? The AARP (American Association of Rapacious Pricks) will rip this country's young people for every dime they earn. No tax, no price, no burden is too much for young people to bear to keep these old farts alive for one extra useless day.

This cost is going to be in the two trillion dollar class when the "Baby Boomers" get through ripping the system with their lawyers, doctors, and "needs". Nobody can pay for this thing. Nobody, not even us.

So the next thing is price control. Price control equals research elimination. Equals the end of new drugs. Cut the price of drugs in half and the cost will still be a trillion dollars over ten years, and more if the AARP has anything to do with it..

Everybody better start adding and multiplying. And then look for a new country in which to live.

GOP TO RAISE $200 MIL, DEMS $150 MIL. WHERE DOES IT GO?

Is it sucked out of the economy thereby robbing economic growth?
Well, it is raised by check which means the check publishing services make some money, then it is deposited into various banks which creates a lot of employment for Pentium chips. An interview with a couple of chips revealed that there is no such thing as overwork for them. No new chips will be hired.

Job gain so far: 0

Then phone banks will be manned and womand by phone sales persons from various tax shelters, investment scams, phone company slammers and the like who will put in some extra time to make this country "better". Some managers recruited from boiler rooms across the country will be new employs, so let's say employment in this area will grow by about three hundred criminally inclined people. Since all are employed elsewhere, no job gain.

Job gain so far: 0

The phone pitches they will employ will include the "Are you looking forward to having your son or daughter killed in Iran?", "What will you tell your old mother when they kick her out of the nursing home?", "How strongly do you feel about giving all your money to the rich?", "Does murdering American soldiers so the oil companies could get rich affect you?", and other tried and true phone pitches. Fund-raisers Guilt will mean an increase in drug sales and more sessions for therapy providers, but no employment gain.

Job gain so far: 0

Then we have the Hollywood film and commercial producers and actors. Here is where employment will boom. Five hundred extra jobs will be created for a year or so for the poor Hollywood crowd.

Job gain so far: 500

And who else? Our nation's always truthful newspapers will pick up ten or fifteen million in extra ads which will create jobs for ten janitors in printing plants, Kodak will sell several million feet of film and video tape produced by their automated plants, the fertilizer people will be unable to process the million tons of bullshit produced by the various candidates so no jobs there. So where does the job creating money go? We are stuck at 510

My research has shown that more than 700 political hacks experienced in pocketing funds, keeping double sets of books, and laundering drug money will find jobs. Limo services will make out as will lawyers who file suits against candidates across the country. But this is just job expansion.

In short, this sea of money will be sucked out of the economy to create around 500 jobs, two of which may be on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I say this is a hell of a deal for all of us.

MARKETS---Currencies

Has the dollar bottomed? Perhaps. The trend is shorter than many but right for many others. Swiss Frank at 80 is a good top and we are about there. Euro has no record of trading at all. The usual G-8 interventions haven't happened this time perhaps because they finally figured out that interventions don't work. What may be at work here is that the Fed has flooded the world with dollars and has now stopped. Foreigners are loaded with cheap dollars that they will now spend like drunken sailors, hopefully right here.

The EU monatary policy is frozen because they simply cannot act; East German strikes may wreck what is left of "the largest economy in Europe", the French strikes are symbolic of the desires of the rest of Europe's population for early retirement without paying for it, and increasing Muslim populations bode further problems there. The Euro can't hold value for very long.

I am about to short the Euro with a small amount of change but I hate all the currenciy exchanges other than the Merc. Generally you get two chances on this and I'll wait for the second; if I miss it I miss it.

IRANIAN STUDENT BLOGS ARE DEPRESSINGLY BAD

It is very depressing to read most of the absolute trash coming out of Iran bloggers. Here's an example of a semi-literate dope who uses the word "hate" ten times in a part of a paragraph. I hope she is a minority, but when you start reading their stuff it is pathetic. I see no chance of these dopes overthrowing anybody. emphasis is mine.

The riots are declining. Dormitories are evacuated and in ruins. Examinations are suspended. Students are wounded, not only physically, but very much emotionally and mentally....
I am bitter, sentimentally angry, and dreadfully sad. Monarchists are killing themselves rambling about a new revolution, a protest, an opposition?… I hate monarchy, we hate monarchy, we hate any sort of dictatorship. I hate this stupid Bush who is releasing statements in support of the students. I hate him who has no idea what kind of people Iranians are. I hate the monarchists who think we are that stupid to put the red carpet for Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah's sun. I hate the pressure groups who are literally massacring their fellow Iranian citizens. I hate our reformist government who can do shit about all this chaos. I hate our 'real' Government who has closed its eyes on the reality and seeks for popularity and stability in suppressing people. I hate all the students including myself who can do nothing

See what I mean? And then there are at least ten more that advocate running ads, which is what the latte' liberals do over here. You don't get rid of tyrants without blood. They don't have a Tom Paine, Lenin, or Robspierre to lead them. Nobody with a fire in the belly and a head on his shoulders.

I support them, but not with stupid ads, emails, or dumb blogs here in the USA. Again, we should either get massive support for the Iranian TV stations here in LA, and get corporations to sponsor a few shows.

I'm writing to my congressional people (I live in West Hollywood, home of the Left, the homosexual Left, and the Hollywood Left so I'll write to other people).

TAX COLLECTORS FOR THE WELFARE STATE PANIC

Wake up America. The Purpose of Tax Cuts is to defund government

Don't we all wish. At least it is now in the open. The talking heads on TV this AM are all accusing the GOP of trying to "starve" the government. If only this were true but the Republicans are every bit the big spenders that the Dems are. This won't stop the panic in the freeloader class if this attack works. Every welfare group can be scared into voting Democrat; police, teachers, old people, the sacred government work force, and on and on.

When they had the hearings about the abuses of the IRS, the Democrats were in lockstep opposing the hearings at all because they didn't want the KGB IRS collections process to stop the cash flow.

I WISH the Republicans were using the tax cuts to starve the government, but they really do want the tax cuts to stimulate the economy and continue to feed this obscene Welfare State.

BE SURE YOU LINK TO HODER ON IRAN

Before jumping to any conclusions about Iran be sure to check out Bill Hoder's blog. He's on top of this pretty good. And the French arrests of the burning protestors might be right on.

"Now these bastards are making a scene by burning themselves for their leader, Masoud Rajavi, who is not much different than Saddam. I get very angry when I see that American and European politicians or their ordinary people are fooled by their well-organized and always dramatic protests.

Please, don't let them deceive you by their childish actions. They are terrorists who easily kill their colleagues because they refuse to obey their orders. They have absorbed the worst part of both Stalinist communism and Islam."

Check him out every day.

SUPPOSE YOU WERE IN THE ARMY NOW?

Fights, rapes, gangsterism by our own troops can happen, and soon.

You were trained to fight. You've spent your time practicing day after day and month after month for combat. Now a bunch of civilians have stuck you in a 130 degree desert and told you to be a fucking cop while still dressed in forty to sixty pounds of gear, a hot combat helmet, and no shot at going home any time soon.

How would you feel?

Been there, done that. There is no way the grunt military won't be in open revolt soon. You just cannot treat combat troops like they are being treated and have them remain cohesive. They are paying for the dismal planning at the top. This an occupation that has been bad from day one. Get ready for tales of rape, drunken soldiers on rampages, fights, and whatever else bored and angry young guys do whey they are fed up with the civilians.

You can bet they are beginning to hate Rumsfeld and Powell. Then they will hate the Congress. And finally they will resent the President.

This is no way to treat a victorious army, but the suits in Washington have to cover their own asses regarding their pathetic lack of planning, which looks more and more like the proverbial "throw some shit against the wall and see what sticks", and what is sticking is what usually sticks in these cases; the ordinary GI who is getting fucked. Again.

I have been of the opinion for some time that morale problems in Iraq could cost Bush plenty. The problem is that the Democrats are so much worse. So much worse.

CREATIVE CAPITALISM SUCKS

No. Really Really Sucks

Andrew Sullivan links to the site below as an example of "creative capitalism".

What bullshit. The link is to an incredibly expensive commercial for Honda that does not give one reason for buying the car. The ad is God only knows how expensive. The ad agency made a killing by billing the client five or six million dollars for a commercial that neither states nor shows any reason to buy the car other than, "it works"

I've got a flash for Honda, the ad agency, and Sullivan: I've got a '98 Chrysler that hasn't seen the inside of a repair shop since I bought it that "works" and it didn't cost anywhere near what the Honda Wagon pictured in the ad costs.

The slogan "It Works" sucks.

The only "creative capitalism" the ad agency has created is a new way to "fuck the client". The only real commercials, the kind that actually sell product, are the informercials. They show and tell. I use that Oxyclean. Works exactly as advertised. I washed filthy rugs and they were spotless; I used it to shampoo my carpeting and it is spotless. The same with that Orange Glow. The ad shows what the stuff does, you buy it, and it works. That is what a commercial is suposed to do. But those commercials are cheap. The ad pimps can't bust the client's balls for big money. So we get the "creative" Honda ad that says nothing. Other than that the ad agency is "creative".

HERE is the link to the ad Sullivan talks about. You can go there now or read a great Greory Peck story about "fucking the ad agency" in a commercial.

I was a day player on a commercial featuring Peck. The shoot was in a restaurant downtown, right on skid row. We also had the exteriors. Peck shows up EXACTLY at his 8:30 scheduled shooting start. Of course the director(s) who wanted to shoot the shit with big movie star on the client's dollar weren't ready. Peck let them know he wasn't staying one second past his contracted time. Everybody shit and the first set up was ready in three minutes.

"Roll the machines." "Rolling" came the many voices at camera, sound, and security. "Action said the agency director. Peck does his line and says "cut". The director(s), eager to run up some billing time want a second take. "Print that one," grunted Peck in his movie star voice. "Line up the next shot." It sounded just like "Twelve O'Clock High", he was sending the ad agency fruits to their deaths over the skies of Beverly Hills. So to make a long story short, Peck shot six scenes with only one retake and walked out at 9:25. The commercial was done.

But not for the ad agency thieves. They kept cast and crew downtown for three days shooting nothing. Using can after can of film that they charge the client double for. When the commercial ran, Peck was perfect. That commercial should have been wrapped in half a day at minimal client cost. But that ain't the way it works with "creative capitalism".

COULTER ROARING INTO BEST SELLER LIST

Her new book supporting Joe McCarthy is long overdue. The Left has dominated this debate for fifty years. However, before reading it understand that Nixon busted all the real Communists in the country. He got Elizabeth Bently to rat out Wittaker Chambers and then got Chambers to "turn". They got Alger Hiss the absolute darling of the Left. Once Hiss fell, Harry Dexter White, the Pearle ring, the Rosenbergs (see my post below on Ethel), Fuchs, and all the rest of the big commies followed. As far as Hollywood goes, the '47 Hollywood Ten were hard core Communists taking orders from Moscow:

"To counter what they claimed were reckless attacks by HUAC, a group of Hollywood liberals led by actor Humphrey Bogart, his wife Lauren Bacall, John Huston, William Wyler, Gene Kelly and others, established the ?“Committee for the First Amendment?” (CFA). The CFA traveled to Washington to lend its support as the eleven unfriendly witness?’ began their testimony. However, as the eleven began to respond to their inquisitors with as much disdain, and often with histrionics far more brusque than their accusers, the embarrassed First Amendmenters began to unravel. Director Edward Dmytryk one of the Ten, said later, ?“I was so happy with the support of the CFA and others, but when (screenwriter) John Howard Lawson began haranguing the committee members, I died. We lost it right then and there!" Humphrey Bogart wrote a piece for the March 1948 issue of Photoplay magazine entitled ?“I?’m No Communist?”, in which he admitted being ?“duped?”. His trip to Washington, he said, had been ?“ill-advised?”. John Garfield wrote a similar article called "I?’m a Sucker for a Left Hook. Edward G. Robinson lamented ?“the Reds made a sucker out of me?”.

"I have always believed that if the hearings had stopped after this initial round, the majority of historians and academicians might have taken a more objective view of them. After all, the Hollywood Ten who were all held in contempt of congress, later admitted to being or having been members of the Communist Party.

"In his autobiography ?“Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist?”, Walter Bernstein, contributing writer for The New Yorker, and former screenwriter, claimed that while he was working at Columbia Pictures, he and Director Robert Rossen, would set out deliberately to include some leftist point of view in a particular scene. They left it up to studio head Harry Cohn?¹ to delete the unwanted scenes. Rossen, an overt Communist, was perturbed at his exclusion as one of the original Hollywood Ten! He never got over ?“being snubbed in such an unsavory manner!?” Here, for the first time, one of the key players of the Hollywood left admitted purposefully and deliberately to including pro-Communist messages in movie scripts.

So I'm waiting to see this McCarthy apologia because I'm of the opinion he did zilch, other than to nail Owen Latimore, who wasn't exactly the hairiest gorilla in the forest.

One day Nixon will get the credit he deserves. He was the target of the Left for the rest of his life for nailing Alger Hiss, the highest placed Russian spy in history. He nailed THE guy who was right next to the President. The Left hated Nixon forever. It was Nixon who saved this country from any Communist threat at that time, not McCarthy.

FBI CORRUPTION STORY GETTING ZERO MEDIA ATTENTION

This major story, covered nationally one time by 60 Minutes, is only in the Boston papers. This has to do with a twenty year crime rampage conducted by an FBI informer that the FBI knew was committing crimes. Link HERE. The President of the University of Mass is also involved because he is the brother of the FBI murderer.

Time and again, the University of Massachusetts president avoided a direct response, saying he could not recall or knew nothing about an event. He often acknowledged something was possible -- a meeting, for example, or a conversation -- but rarely said he was certain about it.
Bulger insisted that he sought to be cooperative, and did not appear to be deceptive or trying to obstruct the committee. The result, however, was a performance that appeared evasive and, from the standpoint of Bulger's legal situation, effective. Given immunity, Bulger had legal exposure only for perjury

This should be a huge story, I don't know why it isn't. The FBI is in big trouble on this and so far it's being treated as a "local Boston situation" by the media.

"Botox-Woman" Magazine centerfold, Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry Tells it Like it Ain't

Old "Botox Puss" gives a boring speech to Dems in Mass and never mentions "What's His Name" one time.

She may be the centerfold for the"Botox Woman" Magazine for July. This truly unlovely old broad needed a grant from the billion dollar Heinz Foundation, which she administrates, to cover her own treatments. Her hubby, John Kerry, will die because his loser nothing wife will kill his chances. What she needs is mouth surgery to shut her up.

Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry (rumors that she will change the name Heinz, to Del Monte), the lady of the $550 million net worth (of which she earned zero, as in nothing) and the administrator of the Heinz philanthropic operations with more than $1 billion in assets (of which she earned nothing), is one of the most boringly liberal lady of absolutely no personal accomplishment to hit the political trail, ever. Her father had money, she married money, and now is the "wife" of a presidential candidate. She will personally kill his chances. A feminist icon? A person who has never done anything in her life but inherit money? Get real. Mrs. Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes_Ferreira Heinz Kerry (the Dakota Sioux call her "Seven Names") is the prototypical Trust Fund Baby who has never worked a day in her life, and full of liberal bullshit mainly about the "poor in Africa.

She recently did a boring 30 minute speech in Massachusetts and didn't mention the guy running for president, who happens to be her goddam husband for Christ sakes, ONE TIME. With this bitch, it's all about her. Typical of the left elite. She will kill Kerry's chances because her moronic ego won't allow her to just shut up. READ THE GORY DETAILS of her speech, look at her Botxed Puss, and remember that money can't buy the impossible. She is old and in her case trying to hide it makes her actually ugly.

A SCARY READ FROM RAED. READ IT AND THEN LINK

"I was trying to get a taxi at 10:30pm last night (which is a stupid and dumb thing to do in the
first place – curfew is still at 11:00pm) so this car stops and we agree on a 2000 dinar fare. The moment I sit in the car he starts cursing and swearing at “them”. Suddenly he stops in mid sentence turns to me and asks angrily
- are you a muslim?
*he has a muslim looking beard, is angry and I defiantly don’t want to start a theological discussion with him*
- yes, alhamdulillah I am a muslim.
- are you working with “them”?
*oh dear this is not going anywhere good*
- No! of course not. Why should I?
Pause.
- so do you think if I hide a hand grenade under the dash board they would be able to find it?"

READ THE WHOLE THING HERE

A GREAT LINE

Just because we haven't found Saddam and his sons does it mean they never existed?

UPDATE ON MONDAY MARKET TIP POST

LINK TO BELOW POST for update. Bad buy???

SUPPORT IRANIAN STUDENTS

Go HERE for blogs from Iran. The only real way to suppot them is to get weasel corporate America to help fund Los Angeles based Iranian TV aimed at Iran. But these gutless bozos will never do it.

GAY MARRIAGE. WHY MANY OF US KNOW IT'S WRONG

It comes from the question, "What is the purpose of sex?"

Children. This is a classical view. One that began hundreds of thousands of years ago. A man and a woman sharing the raising of children is the purpose of sex. Sex is an activity for married people. The purpose of marriage is to create and protect family, care for it, nurture it, and hope the children will make greater contributions to the world than their parents were able to do. Marriage is a social contract as well as a LEGAL contract. "Legal" to protect the various family interests; children and spousal.

There is no purpose in the homosexual relationship other than ejaculation and climax. The means to this end include oral and anal sex, sado masochism, bondage, and homosexual rape together with practices best left unsaid. You can forget the individual worldly accomplishments of the individual homosexual, there is no further improvement of the world because of their relationship. Some deviant sex is enjoyed by a very few heterosexual couples, who also have children in most cases. The homosexual relationship represents a deterioration of society by depriving the society a result of their copulations. Carried to the extreme, homosexual society means the population ceases to exist. A complete destruction of a country or society because no children will be born.

For the reasons of child and spousal rights, but especially children's economic and social rights, marriage in some form has been a male female legal bond in every society. To include homosexuals in this contract debases the contract to one of pure copulation rights. We don't want to lift relationships that have no purpose other than self gratification so they enjoy equality with family relationships. Families build schools. Families create protection like courts and police. Families support most of the business activities. Families create our country; every country on the face of the earth. Think about that. How many businesses would exist if their were no families? How many activities?

Today society faces the real issue of same sex "couples" who have no purpose in life other than to ejaculate, receiving the same legal stamp of approval reserved for those whose purpose in life is family. Our challenge in dealing with this homosexual marriage campaign is that from the beginning of time much of the world's populations have engaged in sex just to have sex; or more precisely, men had the sex and women had the result. Old time wars meant the victors raped the women of the vanquished. Men have always been sexual predators. Men have looked to get laid from the time they could get it up til the time they can't get it up any more. Much of the ethos of philosophy and religion has to do with reining in male sexual rampage.

Homosexual marriage is an attack on the entire concept of family. They have no interest in family, family issues, or supporting families. I live in a largely homosexual community. They have no parks for kids (one pocket size county funded park and another that is adult tennis); no baseball, football or any other league activity for the kids here, and we have a growing immigrant family population who have nothing for their kids. All community projects exclude family concerns. This is fact. Schools here are supported by the county, police are county, fire is county, a library no bigger than many living rooms is county; the community has used homosexual victimology to pressure county government to pay for the "family" things they detest. Homosexuals build nightclubs, restaurants, and parking lots for same; they can "afford" those things. But parks? Libraries? Schools? You have to be kidding. Not them.

That is it. They truly are degenerate. We oppose homosexual marriage, the lifting of these relationships to "normal" status, because we know that homosexual marriage is an attack on all family values. Their marriages, even their relationships, legitimize their individual carnal purpose in life and denigrate all family life. Within their little society they make those with families outcasts and debase the entire society.

The day we decide they are "normal" is the day society based on family ceases to exist.

.

PORTABLE MORTGAGES---CHECK THEM OUT

A mortgage you can carry from house to house at the same low rate are becoming available. Check E-Trade.

A BET

There was another all girls brawl after a school session. Only this one involved Black girls. Want to bet there are no arrests? It would be racist to arrest black girls for assaulting other black girls. Just my take. Link to images through Drudge. Add early Thursday morning: Nothing at all on the news. My inference is that blacks either don't count or that the media is "afraid" to touch the story fearing a charge of racism against them. Had those girls been white we'd have heard plenty.

ANATOMY OF A STOCK TIP

Kudlow and Cramer are the best on TV with nobody in second place. Kudlow is an economist who knows his shit and Cramer is a stock hustler who can afford to make mistakes because his clients are all multi millionaires. But even the big hitters need to have some "safe" stuff, stuff that pays dividends, has no debt, is moving in a relatively hot group and won't collapse. And a big mouth egomaniac always needs to scream at the screen that he was "right".

Their latest tip du jour has been Pfizer. A pharmaceutical company of some note. They even had a guest tout, who you can bet is loaded up with big clients, who will say what is within the law to make the stock move. So what's the skinny on Pfizer for the SMALL investor?

The group they are in is ranked 24 (out of 197)----23 better groups but this is OK
Compared to ALL other companies this stock only ranks 76 out of a possible 99, meaning while it has outpaced 76% of the market there are a hell of a lot of other companies that look better in overall performance.

It is in a fundamentally good group, 24 out of 197, BUT Pfizer is not rated all that high within the group, #34 out of 70 stocks, meaning there may be thirty other companies in this group that are better (do research before buying anything). BUT if you look at this stock on a strictly cold fundamental basis; meaning annual and quarterly sales and earnings growth rates, sales and earnings acceleration, stability of earnings, and ROE which means profit margins and return on equity you will find this company in the upper 96%. Rock solid. The ideal safe TV stock tip.

DO YOU BUY AS A RESULT OF MONDAY'S TIP? NO NO NO

The stock GAVE a buy in signal last Friday Monday. These two guys absolutely knew that the stock was flying for two days an entire day before they "tipped". If you buy now you are "chasing" a stock and you have no reliable signal for getting out. This is still a "safe" TV stock. It will probably go up to $40 but who knows when. If you are a gambler do you risk $34 to get back $40? ("Hey baby, I picked up a fast six bucks let's go to Vegas") The bubble high was around $50. Now if this company has something NEW, acquires another company or looks aggressive then maybe this is a play for a small guy. But a $34 stock ain't cheap. 100 shares might be a bit much for many.

IN SHORT IT IS SAFE, AS THESE THINGS GO. BUT FOR A SMALL INVESTOR IS THIS REALLY A STOCK TO BUY? I SAY NO. WHILE A SMALL INVESTOR SHOULD WANT DIVIDENDS, BIG GROWTH IS MOST IMPORTANT.

Now who is better and what have they done for people lately. Just within this group.

#1 in this group is a company called Endo Pharmaceuticals. Stock is a hell of a lot cheaper at $14, which means you can buy 200 shares for $2800. The stock is ranked first out of the 70 in that group. Compared to ALL other companies this stock ranks 98 out of a possible 99 meaning it has outpaced almost 99% of the market.

While this may be best, the ride could be over. It has risen 145% this year and 23% in the past four weeks. And there is no buy in point left. You would want to watch this stock and wait for a buy in if all data was OK (HAVE A SYSTEM). Specs will bail on this stock and take some profits. This is a stock that ranks high in a high ranking group with a stock price you can afford.

You have to avoid the TV touts because they have to recommend stocks that won't make them look like morons by falling out of bed, while at the same time touting one that IS rising right now so they can say they were right and if you bailed before it went south you'd have made some bucks.

The small investor needs to do some serious looking before getting in. This takes TIME. You need to spend time, or speculate on cocaine futures. Blondes are even better. Add, Thursday June 19th---I correct the top part of this post. The buy signal, and it was a classic one, came on Monday. If this had been a stock you had been watching you'd have had a buy stop at around $33.90 and in a fast market you would have been filled at around $34.10. The market closed on Monday at $36.20, when you were told the stock was hot.. The next morning you could have "chased" the market and paid between $35.90 and $36.10. Had you done that you are already behind because the stock closed today at $35.60 and you have entered the market without a clue. Now what? You wait til somebody tells you that you have lost too much or made too much and get out. Only time will tell if a buy point of $36 for this stock was wise. What is undeniably true is that you bought too late by $2.

NEWS COVER UP???

It is 5AM Pacific Time and there are reports all over the tube about the rioting in Benton Harbor (sic). No mention of race in any news reports anywhere. I write this in ignorance, but like most of us I am assuming this is another black riot. And I could be wrong. Just another example of PC non-reporting by the usual suspects. Fox finally reported this afternoon that it was indeed a black riot.

Forty Two Dead American Soldiers

And counting....

BROADWAY THEATRE---NOT AMERICAN, NOT GOOD, JUST "GAY"

It's Andrew Sullivan's Kind of Town
In response to Andrew Sullivan's attack on critic Brent Bozell column. Sullivan's blog is becoming just a fruit loop for praising every homosexual and attacking anyone who points out what is going on. I was in the "show business" for more than twenty years and Bozell hits the nail on the head.

It's all swishy queens and hard assed so-called women on Broadway. It's about time we faced it. A heterosexual actor has no place to go in New York but the next flight to LA. The Tony Awards were sickening, had nothing to do with America, American values, or anything constructive. Arthur Miller would puke, Eugene O'Niel would stay drunk for ten years. Guys like Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Clifford Odets, Richard Rogers, and that crowd could not get their plays produced by this gang of queers. "Oklahoma" with a lisp. "Golden Boy" would be a beautician yearning for another man. "Our Town" would be a queers paradise. That's it.

It's not new. A New York Times theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan was fired for pointing out the obviously effeminate performers. Anybody who points out the obvious was fired. So the Gay Mafia rules Broadway with a series of truly sick plays concentrating on sodomy, oral sex with the same sex, and proclaiming that this stuff is normal.

It isn't. Broadway isn't. The place is sick. Don't take your kids. It's Andrew Sullivan's kind of town.

FORTY ONE DEAD

How long will America put up with one dead soldier per day in Iraq? Not long I'm betting.

Without doing reams of reading it doesn't take much to realize the difference between Iraq today and Nazi Germany and Emperor led Japan after WWII. Imagine this: The Twilight Zone 1943, the German army stops fighting and runs away or surrenders. No Stalingrads, Anzios, Omaha Beaches. They only lose around 6,000 men and all the rest of the Nazis go back to Germany and the Allies march in. An undefeated army of hard core Nazis with no jobs and no future looking for trouble. That is Iraq today.

In both of the WWII cases we had wiped out the youth of the countries, stamped out the ruling class, and wrecked their economies. There wasn't a "man left standing" in either country. Any old guy who served in Japan after WWII will tell you of the endless caves dug into every hillside in the country. Had the entire undefeated Japanese army been floating around the countryside in 1945 the war against Japan would not have been over for decades.

What we have in Iraq is the non-defeat of the ruling class and their army. This is major trouble. Anybody see a solution? An entire class of people made out like bandits under Saddam and they are all still out there WITHOUT jobs and filled with hate and fear; fear of what the rest of Iraq will do to them.

What a problem.

Holy Shit

Try this. Super Cool. LA Examiner new site.

THE LATTE' SET STRIKES AGAIN AND A TOWN DIES

Imagine a business dominated by 5 huge multinationals but with over 100 smaller companies also making product for them. Imagine the employment. Then imagine the hundreds and hundreds of smaller little companies that make things for these firms, supply food, copying services, portable toilets, clerical, communications, and day labor. Employment is close to a million in a city of four million.

That is the movie/tv business in Los Angeles. In addition there are sound stages, sound studios, film suppliers, trucking companies, advertising, and God knows what else. Only those of us who have cold called in LA for business realize how big this business is.

Now LA is in the process of kicking them out. This is a community of NIMBYs (Not in My Back Yard) people. They have run out the farming business, chicken ranching, milk production, the steel business, the car manufacturing business; in short every business that employs sweat labor has been chased. When the big business downturn hits here don't feel sorry for LA. We did it to ourselves.

A bunch of Latte' lappers and wine sniffers are bothered by film crews shooting movies in their neighborhoods and they will succeed in running this business out of town like they have run out all the rest. The business may end up in Canada or other states more than willing to have a non polluting business that will employ more than a million people. Movies MUST be shot outside. The movie producers will find another town with an outside good for shooting movies, one that actually wants the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by this business.

Oh yeah, the music business will follow because of the technology, sound stages, etc. that musicians need.

You can call LA "France with sun." And Indian Gaming.

Too dark a picture? Production is already way down and being shot other places. Coolest LA site? Could be LA Examiner but if you live in Frisco it's zero.

ON GREGORY PECK, CIGARS, AND BEST LINE OF THE WEEKEND

Best line: "I never thought I'd see the day when Tiger Woods would score 75 before the New Jersey Nets."
Gregory Peck: Never much of a fan for what I consider a wooden actor but "Twelve o'clock High" is the best movie set during WWII ever made. I use the word "set" because it isn't about WWII, the fact that makes it a terrific movie. I don't know if it spans generations, only time will tell.
Cigars: Took my fathers day gifts and bought some cigars and beat the tax man, natch. The onerous tobacco taxes have been a reality in California for several years and the people out here have been beating them at Indian Reservations, trips to Vegas, and the always present step vans loaded with leaf that hit the office garages and apartment areas offering leaf at $18 a carton. Cigar smokers long ago found the web, friendly states, and trips to foreign lands an easy way to beat the system.

The widespread evasion of the tobacco taxes is ignored by the media who were the chief sponsors of these stinking taxes in the first place. I work in an office building that is visited twice per month by the ciggie selling step van; those regular appearances lead to the inescapable conclusion that organized crime is involved. EVERYBODY is beating the tax out here, one that was put on the ballot by Rob Riener (another Hollywood prick) and carried by whatever portion of the electorate that bothered to vote. The tax evasion is now media news because of the huge East Coast population now evading taxes. INTERNET TAXES will be the result, followed by offshore tobacco sellers (I've had two offers from companies offering me offshore unregulated websites in the past two weeks) and we will continue to beat the taxes. It the reponsibility of EVERYONE to beat these taxes. The plan is to force state governments to spend billions to collect millions in taxes. We will not stop til we bankrupt the system or end these taxes on the poor. We will eventually force state governments to inspect every package arriving from out of state, then demand they get search warrants before searching same, and finally when some rich liberal asshole from Beverly Hills has a diamond necklace for his mistress held up by postal inspectors, this will end. Meanwhile, Fight On. The Middle East is not important, deflation is not to be considered, nothing is important compared to getting rid of this tax.

COCA COLA A THREAT TO FRENCH WINE GROWERS

In 1947 it was Coca Cola and French wine, today it is their so-called economy we are trying to destroy
Nothing has changed in France since 1947 when they viewed the Marshall Plan as an attempt by Wall Street to control their economy, an economy that lay in ruins; it didn't exist. Back in 1947 they hatefully accepted the Marshall Plan and passed laws preventing French business from doing business with American business. They also wanted to create a Third Force against us, a country that laid down for Germany and didn't lift a finger to defend itself wanted a Third Force; talk about the first Star Wars.

Today they once again charge that we have declared war on European economies and have called on Europe to resist.

Alliot-Marie state that "American industrialists are pursuing a logic of economic war," she was quoted as saying in an interview with Le Monde, which the paper said had been read and cleared by her office before publication.
"This attitude is not connected to the Iraq episode. Faced with this, European industry must regroup in order to be in a better position to resist," she added.
Alliot-Marie said she was worried by what she sees as moves by U.S. investors to attempt to take control of firms involved in European defence and had ordered a study into the issue.

The paranoia continues with a pipsqueak economic power going through strikes and endless recession. That's what countries do when they can't solve problems at home.

And those problems are getting bigger as other Euro countries rebel over pension reform. Once upon a time a guy named Malthus had a theory, now called the Malthusian Nightmare, that the young would rebel against an aging population. No longer a nightmare. It's real. The aging population is demanding the young cough up the dough for their early retirement, which is as young as 57 in some European countries. The alternative, that the old pay for their own retirement, ain't flying in the welfare state in which the ONLY source of retirement income is the government. There are no private pension plans; all French hate the stock market: work, and everything that interferes with laying around. The French strike is now about to spread all over Europe. Good link HERE to a NY Times story on what happened to the European "Work Ethic"

Terrific Link

Worth1000 is a really clever site and needs some bucks. Link here for an idea of how clever they are and look around. You won't be sorry

MARKETS

THE TOUTS Watching the excellent Kudlow and Cramer last night I was once again reminded of how useless the two of them are for the ordinary investor. While I am writing this FOX is doing their Saturday two hour business roundup, a similarly useless series of programs. There is nothing on the tube that will serve you. Once again, I think William O'Neil and Investors Business Daily offer the only formula a small investor can use with confidence. Brokerage firms don't want the small investor, the big time operators have contempt for you, and the press doesn't know who you are. For details on brokerage firm attitudes be sure to read this one and follow the links.

We are in a hell of a market.

SULLIVAN--NOW JUST A HOUSE SHILL

You ought to ask yourselves if you should donate money to a site that will simply refer you to another site that will charge you more money to read what is there.

Not only does he beg for money for himself like a PBS apparatchick, he is shilling for Salon by linking to teasers for stories you can only access with a PAID subscription; Sullivan obviously gets a piece of the $30 you are supposed to pay to Salon but he also writes for the pub meaning he is double dipping there too. The other cause he shills for is the Homosexuals are Normal lobby since 50 to 60 percent of his blog is now about and for Homosexuals.
I don't know what the root of all evil might be, but money and sex are right in there.

EXISTENIALISM??? OH SHIT, HE'S NOT GOING TO BLOG ON THAT. is he?

OK, JUST FRANCE and Sartre plus Communism and strikes. I lived in France and Germany for a while and there is a very weird Communist vs French relationship. Reading Sartre helps understand it, but more of him later. The way it has always worked out is that the Communists ALMOST get power. It's like every French person always votes 51-49 (49 Communist), like they can't really bring themselves to make a total decision about anything.

After WWII the French almost defeated the Marshall Plan, I believe it passed by five votes, with the Communists (actually the Soviets at that time) dam near beating something that would obviously save the country. The Communists rioted back then to stop the Marshall Plan, going so far as to stop ships from unloading food for a starving country. The French dislike for us manifested itself way back then; they banned the sale of Coca Cola inside of France; "Coke" was viewed as a plot to get rid of French wines and replace it with a "poison" (shades of genetically engineered food today). They didn't want to do business with any American firms at all, and resented the Marshall Plan from beginning to end. They have NEVER liked us, and we delude ourselves when we think otherwise. The French, Left Right and Center, viewed the Marshall Plan as a Wall Street plot to take over all business in Europe. After WWII France was more interested in sacking a defeated Germany (by the U.S); grabbing all the coal in the Ruhr area of Germany; looting the Saar and stealing all the German factories they could piece by piece and bringing them into France. They didn't like us for the Marshall Plan, didn't like us before WWII and blamed us for not coming to their aid in 1940. As far back as 1947 they wanted to create a "Third Force" to counter the U.S. and balance against Russia. This is the reality that is now on the front burner. This crap about long time allies is total bull.
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In my opinion the best way to understand the French ambiguity about dam near everything is found in the widely read "Roads to Freedom" a trilogy of books by Sartre in which everybody runs around "getting it;" thinking about "getting it;" wondering what "it" really is; and giving up trying to "get it" because it won't do any good to "get it" anyway. Even the war against the Nazis is treated as a warm up for the "real war" against capitalism later; killing Nazis is only practice, not the real thing so don't get too worked up about it, just kill them so you can be ready.

The Communists are a real force in France but only if there is no real chance for them to actually take over. Everybody seems to want them around as a threat to everyone else. If the Muslims ever join with the Communists WATCH OUT. The current strikes in France can only be "won" by the strikers if they are joined by other EU unions and it could happen. But "winning" to the French doesn't mean the same as "winning" to everyone else in the world because in the existential world of France winning is always a relative term having to do with the inner person, his relationship to "it", and "it" itself. Meaning they could destroy their own country but not destroy it because there is a deeper "it" than country. Get it?

Think about all of that and you may understand the French seeking to keep everyone undermined and fighting with each other so France can continue in their eternal search for "it" without ever having to deal with "it". One of the "its" is that they don't like us. They never have. And forget about the French helping us at Yorktown, you don't think King Louis XVI wanted democracy, do you? He wanted England to lose so he could keep French colonies in the New World. It wasn't a year later that the French started attacking our shipping. They have NEVER liked us.

"HATE IS THE ONLY THING THAT LASTS"

...AND FORCE IS THE ONLY WAY TO CONTROL IT

THE UN SUICIDE MISSION IN CONGO: Playing UN Roulette is placing five rounds in a six round revolver and then spinning it before placing the gun to your head. A UN "Peacekeeping Force" has been sent into The Congo but restricted to Bunia a so-called capital. "Hey guys, you want to find the Western Imperialists? I know right where they are." Glad we're not in this one. The hate in the Congo is of the same type that possesses the Mid-East.

"Hate is the only thing that lasts" to quote my man Bukowski, and boy oh boy does it ever last.

Acting out feuds and arguments that go back thousands of years is what much of the world has become. The end of any tyranny simply allows the re-birth of hates that have been stewing for thousands of years. Good intentions or dreams of democracy cannot end something everybody wants to continue. White fueled hate rampages in our country were ended because exponentially more whites demanded the end of things than there were whites who wanted them to continue. Police, troops, FBI, and the courts ended the lynchings, killings, and kidnappings.

Tito, Stalin, and Saddam knew the power of the police state to keep everyone in line. When tyrants like they get ousted so freedom can happen, it's hate that happens not freedom. The colonial powers kept Moslems and Hindus from killing each other, the Hemas and Lindus from tribal slaughter in the Congo, and hundreds of other tribal massacres from taking place in other countries. Saddam kept the Sunnis and Shias from killing each other in a hate feud that goes back 1,500 years.

I have no idea how to end hate other than by continuing presence of force; either democratic or authoritarian. It's just the way it is. The price for continuing hate fueled violence has to be far greater than the immediate gratification obtained from killing your enemy.

READY FOR PRESIDENT SHARPTON?

And Hillary Clinton now leads the left in demanding hearings on WMD. While her public statements are appropriately cautions, after all she doesn't want to appear the fool if weapons are found, the rotweilers are replacing the dachshunds on the issue. And she is far from alone now. It appears "safe" to go after Bush on this issue.

"I don't believe there were any weapons there...." so says UN inspector, Steve Allinson, now relieved of his contract and free to speak. He charges that our intelligence was "rubbish" and the hunt for WMD "a wild goose chase." More and more people are speaking out and this doesn't look good for either Bush or Blair. Suspicions now surface regarding any weapons we "find" there will be bogus.

Allinson claims that Brit intel was just as bad. "Every single site" the team went to that had anything to do with American or British intelligence was "absolute rubbish". So far his reports are just limited to New Zealand but you can bet they will be top of the heap by Today Show time.

This could cost Bush and the Republicans the White House. Oh, BTW....the UN is fixing the sewage system and cleaning up garbage in Baghdad, something it seems the US just can't seem to do after six weeks. So by default the UN will end up running important basic services while we go around shooting Iraqi citizens, at least that will be the Party Line.

IF HE'S BLACK AND INCOMPETENT, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT

"Hey, what about this story of Hillary Clinton getting kicked out of the Communist Party at Yale for being too far left?"

"Let it fly. The Black guy wrote it and we can't kill a story by a Black Guy."

That is life in the Big City these days, on every level. University of Maryland student staffers were afraid to rat out Jayson Blair because of the "culture" at the student paper, The Diamondback. Blacks steal papers when they don't like content, physically attack students who dare say anything about their sometimes criminal behavior, and it is no wonder that Blair "got away" with it at U of M. This "culture" starts at the top, meaning the faculty and administration at all universities and colleges. This cowardice and Left bias helps make every black degree in anything mean absolutely nothing other than raise the suspicion that he or she may have been given fake grades for doing fake work.

A quote from the Diamondback follows:

"The letter said staff complaints about Blair were brushed off by journalism school officials, and many complaints were not filed because of a fear that speaking out against Blair would undermine favor with the journalism school. Each of the four incidents were reported by former staffers who worked with Blair.

"Some students tried unsuccessfully to warn faculty members and members of the Maryland Media Inc. board of directors," the letter said. " ... Many others did not, fearful of a culture inside of the College of Journalism that fostered the belief that speaking out could hurt internship possibilities and career hopes." (italics are mine)

There is not one university with integrity regarding minority education. There isn't an employer out there who will not suspect every minority job candidate. This is NOT Affirmative Action. This is the result of Black and Hispanic terror tactics, along with insufferable Left Wing bias, affecting all faculties around the country.

Will you or won't you shit your pants if a Black shows up to do your brain surgery?

DOES TICKLE TORTURE WORK?

We have heard from the "experts" that modern means of extracting information make painful torture unnecessary. They have assured us that they can get information without any of the nasty stuff that makes many of us very uncomfortable. OK, what information have they obtained with their modern methods?

Where are the WMDs? Tell us or there will be no TV for a week. You'll be grounded for a month. You can't have the car til you talk. No movies this weekend.

Whatever the "modern" techniques are they obviously aren't working. We can assume that modern drugs don't work (scientists tell us they don't work anyway), sleep deprivation just results in tired war criminals, broadcasts of heavy metal music just makes them Metallica groupies, and esoteric persuasion methods like health food diets for thirty days are useless.

We have to get serious about the uses of methods we may not like in order to get the information about Saddam, his sons, and the location of the germ warfare weapons. This is never a "nice" business. The Russians are said to have sent the severed head of a Mid East problem person to the head of state in order to get them to conform. The Brits were famous for using very graphic and cruel methods to get their way too. We may have to bite the bullet and get dirty here.

Tickle torture doesn't work.

FREDDIE MAC "SCANDAL" ENDS UP A NOTHING

Freddie Mac execs discovered that the next quarter of earnings was going to be in the toilet unless they did "something". The "something" they did was bury profits for one quarter and carry them forward to the next quarter, thus "smoothing" rates. This ain't legal, but it ain't Armageddon either.

The broad consensus about both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is that while both need an overhaul both are necessary. Both agencies can borrow from the Treasury at rates below anything quoted and then back loans (buy them from banks guaranteeing the banks a profit on the loans) or make loans directly. These agencies have access to $2.25 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury; exemption from all state and local taxes except property taxes; and higher demand for their securities, since the Government gives those securities the same preferred investment status as Treasury debt. A certain percent of loans are made to the least credit worthy and most people in both parties believe that making home ownership available to the greatest number of people is very important. This support comes from construction, banking, mortgage, and civil rights groups. The ideal as far as liberals go, is to make these two lending agencies another welfare scheme. They would like to "lend" money to people who have no hope or plan to pay it back. The acts under which both agencies operate is a lexicon of politically correct code words like: fair lending, census tract targeting, under served areas, central cities, and various other definitions that mean lending to blacks or Hispanics and not lending to Asians, whites, Indians etc. Nothing will change this.

The "news" of carrying profits forward was mostly "in the market" and the only people who didn't know about the problems were the usual suspects: the everyday investor speculator who reads the Journal, New York Times, and other tip sheets for investing information.

Real estate is still a potential problem because of the speculation in that market but criminal activity within Freddie and Fannie won't be a factor.

GOOGLE NEWS, THE NYT OF THE WEB?

Google News featured an al Jazeera story filled with inaccuracies (the old looting the artifacts story), misquoting Rumsfeld, and so on. The story and references are now down. BUT it looks like there is a mole at Google News. This site is quite good but features foreign sources for a lot of stories, Brit soccer, cricket, and stuff like that.

DERIVATIVES FOR DUMMIES

A long exchange on Bill Quick's blog triggered this one.

OK, here's a derivative. You grow corn. You are allowed to sell your corn to somebody else BEFORE you grow it. You collect the cash as a part of the contract and you have to deliver the corn after harvest to complete the contract. That contract is called a futures contract IF it is executed on a Commodity Exchange. It is called a "Forward Contract" if it is private. Both are "derived" from the corn being grown. Now, there are also options on these "futures contracts" or "forward contracts" which are "derived" from the futures contracts, not from the corn being grown. Most options are Exchange traded. Some are off exchange private contracts.

NOW DERIVATIVES FOR THE HIGH IQ

So what's the problem? The problem is that somebody figures out there is a link between the price of corn and the price of German Bonds. Further, the figuring shows that 100,000 bushels of corn will equal in dollar movement ten million dollars German Bonds. So this derivative "hedge" is put on. But they get worse. Somebody also figures out that the German Bond will move inversely one point for every two pennies Arabian Light crude oil moves. So another "hedge" (derivative) on off Exchange Arabian light is put on. You readers can't follow this and neither can anyone else. Only the smart guys with their computers can follow it and also follow any "deviation" from the formulas that take place. Now it gets hairy. When these "deviations" happen more of something is either bought or sold. These "links" can go deeper and deeper. Most times these complicated transactions actually work out. It's rare that they don't, which means a FEW do not work out. When a commodity or bond misbehaves so badly that you can't "unwind" the position (sell or buy it back), you are forced to "over hedge" somewhere else. The result can be a loss of hundreds of millions, billions, or in the case of a Fannie Mae, maybe a trillion or so.

The fact that these extended "derivative" positions are not revealed has everyone concerned. The people doing these "derivative transactions" or hedges, claim that secrecy of their proprietary formula is what makes these complex transactions work. They are called "black box" formulations, meaning they take place within a closed system. Whatever the claim, it is the secrecy of the transactions and the mis-representations of the risk to investors that is a problem.

There is nothing wrong with the derivatives we know about, it's the ones we don't know about that put companies at risk. The only way to track how they are doing is with complex computer programs. Get it? OK, now to the mortgage derivative problem. All mortgages are securitized, meaning wrapped into a giant mortgage bond of a hundred million or more. Then another bank or firm takes that mortgage bond and loads it up with credit card debt and student loan debt (payments guaranteed by uncle sucker) and they have a billion dollar security. Then another firm will take that bond and add to it car debt etc. etc. etc. til you have bonds floating around out there that are absolutely impossible to figure out---lack transparency to use the current jargon. This is compounded by bond rating services being bribed so that the bonds are labeled AAA that should be BBB at best. This shit is going to blow up and blow up big time because we are talking trillions of dollars here not billions. I know you think I'm crazy or blowing this up out of proportion, but trust me, this is a house made of tissue paper.

READY TO GET ANGRY ABOUT IRAQ TODAY?

Looting Leaves Iraq's Oil Industry in Ruins We cannot even guard the most obvious places to guard. Once again, this bungling occupation is just awful. Not only no preparation for anything, but no intention to preserve the only income generator the Iraqis have. Again, if we had a Democratic Party worth anything Bush would be toast. In fact I bet I could cause him trouble in a primary. Read the NYT piece here.

Captured Prairie Dog reveals al Qaeda Connection at El Laffo Grande, for laffs.

MARKETS

Responding to a couple of emails earlier today asking: "What has changed?"

Nothing, as today's market has shown. I repeat for all of you, use William O'Neil and you will be a happy camper eventually. I also learned a long time ago from Peter Steidlmayer to let the market tell me what to do. Trade with market information, not stories or news or stuff from the Journal all of which is "in the market" because guys much smarter than you or I already have the information and have acted on it. If this French strike gets worse there will be a nice surge when foreign money gets scared and seeks opportunity and safety here, but so what? I have learned to be a mechanic, no emotion at all, just trade on my market generated data knowing I'll be wrong a lot and that I'll get out with very small losses and when I'm right I'm going to do many hundreds of percent.

News, other than stuff like 9/11 which none of us could do anything about, means zilch. I only use it to understand why something HAPPENED, not to jump into something new. Most, if not every, economist is a horrible investor or trader. The best traders I know are all math freaks who trade on numbers, period. All the really successful people I know have some background in math, and many share their systems after they've made their "score" (O'Neil made $300 million, Steidlmayer made $50 million TRADING commodities, etc.).

I hope I can share my success using other people's systems.

currencies Is the dollar at a bottom? Right! The fifth bottom since May of last year. It's turned when it's turned. Trends last for years and this downtrend is short for a currency trend, but eventually it will be over. I don't trade currencies very often any more.

FREDDIE MAC FANNIE MAE PROBLEMS ARE OUR PROBLEMS

The hard asset deflation problem Greenspan spoke of and that I mentioned here is now upon us. Both these lending agencies, backed by the U.S. Government and 100% involved in housing is in trouble all the way around. I have detailed here about the fake partnerships buying homes through these badly managed agencies and if this thing blows it will make the S&L crises of a decade ago look like a piggy bank deal. Forget Enron. This is potentially trillion dollar stuff.

These government backed housing loans are by their nature more risky and they lend money no sane banker would lend, in effect guaranteeing loans to people who are not credit worthy at commercial lending rates. Banks immediately sell their paper to these agencies who then repackage the loans into bonds for sale to INVESTORS, like you and me. Their combined holdings of U.S. home loans total about $3.3 trillion, equivalent to nearly 40 percent of all outstanding mortgage debt in the United States.

Earlier this spring, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in a letter that Congress should keep a close eye on the risks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because the markets have trouble assessing their risks because of their ties to the government. What they stand accused of is rigging their books to control interest rate volatility. Wy would they want to do that? Fear of rising rates after they make loans at low rates. The most likely scenario is that they "played" the derivatives market (heard that one before?) on the "wrong side". The accusation here is that they hid PROFITS not losses. They have been trying to "privatize" both FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC since the '80s but since the entitlement class thinks they deserve cheaper housing than the rest of us this has never happened.

Most likely they were faced with defaults of their bad credit risks and could not replace the paper with paper at the old high rate and were forced to but up more collateral (housing) at lower rates to cover and so played the derivatives market in order to keep the housing replacements at one for one. More basic, loans they made at 7% defaulted and when house was resold the rate was 5% leaving a 2% gap to be filled in the bonds they sold to the public. They couldn't just replace paper as rates fell. They may have gone "long" the bond market to make up the loss in which case they made a ton of money they are not supposed to make while "smoothing" out interest rates because they could replace paper.

Don't allow yourself to get caught up in Libertarian/neo-con arguments about government here. These agencies are a fact, they hold more economic power than almost all banks combined, and we better hope that (a) they show a profit, and (b) that Congress will do their oversight job currently farmed out to a very weak and understaffed agency.

Near term it's bullish for bonds but we are in a bond bubble and this is temporary. We assume Greenspan knew of the problems at least a month ago and is ready to act.

IRAQ CURRENCY PROBLEM. ANOTHER STUPID SCREW UP

It's not that we don't have experience with currency and occupation. We invented currency reform in Germany after WWII. We did it in Japan too. What was everybody in Washington not thinking about? We are snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with every passing day. Backing up the currency was in the top five things to do after a country is taken over. Without a stable currency everything stops.

After WWII German farmers had plenty of food to feed Germany, especially by 1947. However because the currency was not dependable the farmers refused to bring their goods into town or do anything other than feed each other. One day in December of 1947 one cow came into Frankfurt to feed 600,000 people. One day in April 1948, two weeks after currency reform, all the shops were full of food, most of it of German origin.

There is plenty wrong with whatever or whomever did not plan the occupation. Again, if the Democratic Party was a real opposition party that we had faith in, Bush would be in major political trouble.

IF FRENCH STRIKES SPREAD TO REST OF EU, ALL BETS ARE OFF

Germans may strike, some Greek unions are making noise, and Belgium may join too. This "suicide pact" may eventually work, since no elections are scheduled before economies are wrecked. The French are fixated on a gory trial and sex scandal but this may change if nobody can get back from their vacations on Tuesday. Right now the U.S. is not affected, but if the strikers continue and stoppages spread investors will pour out of EU markets and into the "safe haven" U.S. Watch the dollar, already rallying big time in currency markets.
European strikes of government workers are devastating because so many work for the government. France has no industry worthy of the name; Germany has autos, raw materials like coal, but a stagnant economy particularly in the old Eastern part. Italian Communist unions used to join these strikes as a matter of course but so far have stayed out, but the Communists are behind this strike and it could happen.

Americans work so much harder than Europeans and put in so much more time on job that we don't understand a society where work is looked upon with disdain by most people. Europeans don't like work, don't want to work, and while productivity rises obscure the problem, they now want a work week of less than 35 hours and even more vacation time. The New York Times (????) blames God for the problem, quite seriously and has an interesting article on the long predicted phenomenon of work hating linked to the decline of Protestant work ethic. HERE

Keep one eye on this strike next week. Your main clue will be the dollar in the currency markets. Carried too far we could have another stock market bubble fueled by foreign money.

OTHER STORIES
New Times Editor issues employment test
WalMart to ban certain Magzines and Huster to ban Religious Advertising
Opportunities in Iraq
all at El Laffo Grande, for laffs

STOCKS, ECONOMY

If you didn't jump this market on the breakout over 8500 you really need to ask yourself "why?". This opportunity was classic for a small investor (5K to 25K). Couldn't have been more obvious. My prior posts are listed in this post. As a long time player I can tell you that failure to "pull the trigger" is common. Even for people who trade every day. Most guys will tell you that they spend as much time working on themselves as they do on markets. One day about twenty years ago after I had chickened out three times in a row I called a guy I know in Chicago who has made $40 million in the markets and asked him about it. He laughed and told me that he "chickens out" at least three times a week. Forget it.

My recommendation for a first reading is J. Peter Steidlmayer, a futures trader at the CBOT and the guy who developed Market Profile (He has a brand new book coming out but I don't know the details). This is an example of an elegant explanation of markets that will allow you to trade without emotion. It is not for stocks but I found his explanations a breakthrough for understanding why to trade. NOT FOR STOCKS but a good explanation for emotional detachment. I still think William O'Neill is the only way to go for stocks. Read his book and employ his methods and you'll be rich in ten years. A good first link is here. Go to IBD. Get two weeks of paper free than then subscribe and get a free copy of his book How to Make Money in Stocks and get rich. Stop screwing around.

There is only one possible negative out there and that is asset deflation in real estate which could affect the banks, but Greenspan is all over that one and he will probably be able to defuse it through warnings to banks on their lending practices regarding real estate speculation. HERE for my blog on this. HERE for a referral to all links.

Work on yourself. This market is the best in fifteen years. Healthy as can be. For the first time in recent memory people are investing because of dividends. This tax bill the stupid Dems are attacking has the wonderful dividend tax reduction which makes corporations shell out the cash they are sitting on instead of speculating with it. Real growth is going to be 4% or higher for the second half of this year. Interest rates are going to stay low. You have mergers taking place for the first time in years. You have a huge tech rally. A biotech rally. Why are you out?

There are several books on investor psychology, but I know that fear of being WRONG is the biggest fear. We have this curse; the need to be right and make others wrong. You cannot invest if you are a victim of this curse. Get rid of it. Get a system and work it. Be a mechanic. The opportunity is still out there for literally hundreds of stocks. This market will be over 20,000 on the Dow in twenty years. You will have losses. Take them and move on. This is a great great opportunity for all of you.

Read my warnings on real estate if you are messing with it. There are major warning signs out there and remember three things about real estate: 1. It's not liquid, 2. It's not liquid, and 3. It's not liquid. When real estate goes it just goes and you cannot get out no matter what. LINK here and read. A repeat of a link above.

Get rich. What are you waiting for?

FRANCE: BIG STRIKES BIG SEX SCANDAL, GUESS WHICH IS MOST IMPORTANT?

At Least to the French, who are more like us than we imagine.

French public service sector unions dominated by Communists are engaged in "rolling strikes" that are getting more and more violent. Naturally, when strikes get violent the public turns against the strikers. The Government is going to win this and it is very important for France, for the EU, and for us that the government win. For us, because the EU is our major trading partner and if faced with bankruptcy by 2010, their economies will free fall. At stake is a re-ordering of the pay as you go pension system. The government wants to increase the amount of time paid into the fund from 37.5 to 40 years in order to remain solvent. The Communist unions (Teachers, big surprise) and others are fighting mad but the government has a huge majority and will win.

But what is REALLY important, like in REALLY REALLY important?

The people of France, although sort of pissed at being inconvenienced by these strikes are positively riveted to their TV sets and papers over sex and violence. A huge juicy scandal involving a serial killer, sado-masochistic parties with government officials hosted by this serial killer, cocaine, sex, whores, under age sex and sado masochism, and, and, well you can't have all that without having lying, cheating on wives and husbands, and M-U-R-D-E-R. The papers are filled with it and if you are stuck home because of a strike, TV will give you the wildest sex since, since, well since the French invented sex. This is the biggest story to hit France, ever. Here are some juicy links, most of them probably unreliable since all compete for the latest juicy sex outrage, but why not have some fun too. Try this one. And this one. And for good measure this one. That starts: "A former mayor and three judges will be questioned about allegations by prostitutes of torture, rapes of under-age girls and other `barbaric acts'" Barbaric acts will glue me to the set every time.

Alfred E. Neuman for Editer

What? Me worry?, asks Pinch Sulzberger. No Brand Damage? Profits? Times reports REVENUE instead. There may be more to this than we are being told.

When this many people blab to this many outlets that there has been "no brand damage" you know there is some. The entire organization oozes elite disdain for everyone but themselves. There may be much more to the "problems" at that organization than we suspect. This is a company that has expanded in an almost reckless manner acquiring newspapers, TV stations, digital cable ventures, a TV production company and other stuff. Makes one think of Global Crossing and some of the other "aquisitionists" of the 90s.

Their profit thumbnails are anything but forthcoming. They declare that 91 percent of their advertising REVENUE came from newspapers (nothing about profits there) while Times circulation fell 3% plus, and that REVENUE for the broadcast group was flat but PROFITS were down 23% from a year ago. What the hell does that mean? Revenue ain't profits. Profits falling doesn't tell us anything at all. Curiouser and curiouser as somebody named Alice once observed. Details

There may be much more to this than meets the Enron like disclosures.

THE SCHANDENFRUDE FILE--New York Watchamacallit

This link is a must, from the LA uber blogger Ken Layne

THE FASCIST FCC AND GOD, PLUS FAST CARS, DRUGS, AND LOW RENT BABES

The reason Left wants Local News is so they can pressure content. That is what they do.

Oh my God. What will happen to the "local news"? The rapes, I love rape stories and they are sooooo important in showing women what pigs men are. The drive-by shootings, gangs are soooo misunderstood and are such an important part of our culture. And the celebrity sex allows me to see how I can validate cheating on my wife like a rock star. The FCC is taking all that away. THEY MUST BE STOPPED, OR I'LL START DRINKING AGAIN.

The "party line" tells us the new FCC rules actually guarantee the end of local "news". FACT: I live in LA where there are seven local stations. All do exactly the same news. Every story is sired by either the LA Times, New York Times, AP, or other outside "feeds". Once in a while they'll do something original, which all other outlets will always ignore. This is the "system" that we must defend to the death. Why? Because this system also guarantees that the usual liberal values as articulated by the LA Times, New York Times and the rest will also be the local news without a dissonant note. It keeps everybody thinking the same way. What must be done is keep Rush, FOX, and the other Right Wing fascists from getting any more air time. Especially on local TV news. Larry Elder, a local Black conservative talk show host, was boycotted by all Black consumers and in spite of the fact he had the largest afternoon ratings in Los Angeles, his program was only "saved" from extinction by a massive bail job by conservatives. The Left had successfully boycotted him off the air because they didn't like his content. That's how the Left operates. They want to be able to continue to pressure local TV News to view their viewpoint and only their viewpoint in a favorable light.

Face it. The objections to change is all about FOX, Rush, and the failure of liberal agenda broadcasting to cover 100% of the population without any choice of alternative news.. What has happened is that the one size fits all news monopoly has vanished. Blame the Internet, cable, and talk radio. The people in power, most of whom are there due to the "old" system, BF (Before FOX) are threatened. Republicans are winning, and "everybody knows" Conservatives couldn't win if the news was "fair". The only thing that can keep other news outlets from drifting to the "right" is government control. The attackers would like to roll life back to the 60's and the old "fairness doctrine", a doctrine that assured nobody from the extreme right (and you can define that as anybody opposed to the Left) was allowed on TV at all. There were NO conservative voices anywhere in the media in the 1960's. Except for The Lone Ranger and Howdy Doody. Engineer Bob, a renegade who once put a Heckel and Jeckel cartoon on the air, was kept under strict control.

What the Left wants is their point of view to be guaranteed an exposure on every news cast. CNN is a case in point. They are the darling of the media elite. CNN can be counted upon to do two minutes every hour on environmentalism, another on some victim of the "system", two or three on a minority group, and a minute on some other favorite liberal topic like teachers, health care, and so on. CNN will do this regardless of the news value, thus actually placing a "value" on this type of news (information) above other news, news that they freeze out. People who watch CNN believe the news they see there is vital or it would not be on. They tend to believe the importance of this agenda and further believe that people who don't vote along these lines of "vital interest" are (immoral, wrong, part of a conspiracy against the poor, etc.). This group wants other information outlets to be forced to program these agenda interests within newscasts. They see any and all business owned news outlets as being "ratings driven", meaning the only news that gets produced will be news people actually care about. Let's say program A is put against program B. If program B has a different slant from A and most people watch B, the market will force A to become like B in order to stay competitive. Sounds OK, if. If there were only two outlets. But there are more than two choices. LA has seven choices for local news and all are exactly the same; EXCEPT for the always liberal, always boring, viewer poor PBS, which concentrates only on minorities, environment, and victims. Most days the seven commercial channels broadcast the same news at the same time during their newscasts. The only "scoop" they ever get is to be first to cover the latest freeway car chase. The only alternative to the entire system is FOX cable news, and a now somewhat centerist MSNBC.

The objections raised against the new FCC rules are not based on concentration of power. The real objections are about the ABSENCE of government control of content. The Left wants the government to dictate a portion of news content. To force all news to contain certain subject matter. They want to make sure they can "Bork" or "Larry Elderize" local news into conformity, or else. Nobody knows or has the foggiest idea what will result from the new rules. What we do know for sure is that neither government or liberals can dictate an agenda for news. It does no good at all to point to tax supported NPR and PBS as completely liberal outlets without a grain of "conservative" views that nobody listens to when given a choice. This is a battle for votes. If the audience gets the "wrong" information they will not vote Democratic. If everyone was forced to listen to the "truth" on NPR and PBS there is no doubt who would win elections.

That's what this is all about. "Oh, wait a second. Turn on the TV, it doesn't make any difference what channel. Everybody has this. Two gas guzzling SUVs are raping the planet."

Stay tuned.

SULZBERGER IS NEXT AT THE TIMES. GET THE GREASE

You've seen that commercial where the kid, "Chip", is given daddy's company and the kid stands before the microphones and shareholders and dumbly says, "I'm--so--stoked." That's "Pinch" Sulzberger with the New York Times.

"Daddy's" boy has got to go. The only reason he ever had the job is because of Daddy, but when you look at the breadth and depth of the Times many businesses you realize that the Board of Directors cannot allow some liberal ideologue to jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs and a media empire. The fish rots from the head etc., etc, etc. The New York Times newspaper is not the profit center of the company but it IS the heart, soul, and engine of the company and no Trust Fund punk is going to be allowed to destroy it.

There are a ton of similar companies. In an age of conglomerates the Times is one of many, but few have a centerpiece as valuable as the New York Times. A huge corporation was gambling its future on a completely unprepared young man with no ability. Pinch Sulzberger may have been "so stoked" at first but now is the time when......

Everybody starts shorting that stock.

MARTHA, MARTHA, MARTHA, HERE WE GO AGAIN

"They could be taking a jaywalking case and prosecuting for Grand Theft Auto." Former Gore attorney David Boyce regarding Martha Stewart on the Charlie Rose Show. More and more legal minds are attacking this prosecution, particularly in light of who is not being prosecuted. Like it or not, this is going to be a show trial and if they can get one of those "downtown juries", the kind that let OJ walk, Martha Stewart will be convicted. Minority jurors will hate her, hate her money, hate her success, hate her because she is white, and will do her in. She needs a middle class jury, one composed of people who actually work at good jobs, and the chances of that are not good when a trail might last for months.

A REAL REVOLUTION IS HAPPENING RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES

BUT we have a highly educated and monied elite who like their bias left, and will demand more of same.

The revolution is against the media bias in the press and it is bearing fruit. Raines and Boyd leaving the NYT is the edge of a black hole in journalism. The Guardian in England is now having to "correct" lie after lie. The only reason for this sudden honesty is the internet and the obsessed maniacs who have decided to fact check everybody. There are now so many of them that soon every newspaper MIGHT have to have a nodding acquaintance with fact and truth. The breadth of the corruption is nationwide. The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle (where the people want their news slanted and hard left), the Minneapolis Daily Worker, Chicago Tribune, and many others are agenda driven and the agenda is Left. We are seeing a call to accounts....

BUT

Things won't change much because the advertisers support what is going on. We have a strange change in our culture. That change is the formation of an elite, college educated and well paid, that has become very left. They make a lot of money because they are professionals. Most work for government and this means they are an entitlement group dependent upon tax money for their life styles. This huge entitlement class includes everyone in education, every government worker (Federal, State, and Local), and many business interests (Defense, all science and research, road building, bridge building and so on. And farmers, don't forget the Ag interests). They need higher taxes to make higher wages; them rockets to the moon ain't happening on free enterprise, baby. This new elite needs laws passed so they can "take care" of others like handicapped, sick, criminals, and so on. There is a "caretaker" elite of social workers, psychologists, health care people, and so on. This huge new elite supports "art": art dealers, symphonies, museums, and such. This "art complex" is tax supported because not even the well paid elites can afford any of it. This means musicians, actors, artists, writers of their stuff, and everybody connected with these tax subsidized artistic endeavors is a part of this "entitlement class".

That class only exists through taxes. Operas, symphonies, ballets display their wares in tax supported theatres and their wages are partly tax dollars; admissions don't cover half the costs. Movies are the only big "art" medium that pays its own way. And even in that business tax shelters and taxes work. Do you think 80% of these fake actors could make the money they make if their wages were actually pegged to their box office? Most would be SAG minimum day players or weekly salaried minimums. Have you ever wondered how in the hell a real business could shell out shareholder money to finance the crap that comes out?

This means that all these papers, news outlets, and TV stations peddle what is WANTED by this huge high income group. The NYT bias is sold to a more than willing readership. They WANT Left Wing bias. Fact check all you want and it won't make any difference in the overall product other than they will be more clever in shading the news. The current semi-secret, til Slate sniffed them out, NYT "flood the zone" hit pieces on the drug companies is the first campaign along these lines.

It will never be over. Wars, whether over defense of our country or over principal, use monies this entitlement class can use for new cars. That's why they oppose wars of any kind. If principals meant anything to these bozos we'd have been in Zimbabwe a year ago, but the black entitlement class wants their checks, not free black people.

Truth? Hell I'm all for it if it will get me laid on a Saturday night. link