Sounds like the Madison student who was "found" today is a whack job. She may have been hurt when hit on the head or was disturbed before that.

Somebody tell Terpsboy to spring for an Apple

Jobs NOT looking good today. Yesterday a ton of huge projected numbers countered today by really bad ones. Wait til Friday. As I said yesterday, the analysts were bearish as hell on Saturday and economists bullish on Monday. Focus on your numbers. JOBS is political in its affects but will torpedo the last two day rally if they are as bad as analysts re saying.

A depressing report on the direction of the New Iraq from Allahpundit. Muslim extremists already terrorizing Iraq students. I keep thinking that the whole religion is simply anti-democratic. They hate anything that differs from their orthodoxy. I wrote this piece one year ago expressing my awful feeling about how Iraq would turn out and why. I am so sad I was right, but it sure looks like I was.

Oh my God! Media decides Bush ads are negative... What bullshit. Bush ads are effective and since the Media guy is getting hit the ads are "negative". Please explain to me why telling people how somebody actually voted on issues is negative. Explain how revealing what a person actually said about an issue is negative. How does revealing the sources of funding (Mrs. Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes_Ferreira
Heinz Kerry and her formerly secret funding of left wing hit squads) negative? The media would like to cover up the details about Kerry, and failing in that at least spin the "facts" so Kerry would look good. Anything that disrupts the Media lies is negative. Saying Bush was responsible for 9/11, that the Bush Administration covered up facts about 9/11, and other unsubstantiated "facts" published by the Media is "positive". When a guy in public office continually changes votes or statements on key issues "because compromises must be made" one has to wonder about principles. What is more important than funding for our troops in combat? What is more important than not taxing Social Security? Why tax gasoline, a tax on every poor person, everyone who rides a bus, all of us who buy products transported by truck, why is the revelation of support for this tax a negative?

I call this type of advertising "Reveal Ads", "Exposure Ads", or "Strip Ads" as in stripping away the bullshit and getting down to what a candidate really thinks. In Kerry's case it is very tough to find out what he really thinks other than he was opposed to the Viet Nam war so much that he had allied himself with violent people who wanted to kill a few Senators. The way he has chosen to reply to this "revelation" is to stammer around. Were it me or you, or anyone else who had convictions we'd cop to it and say, "once it became clear how far out these people were I got out of there." His relationship raises the issue of why he didn't report a plot to murder elected officials to law enforcement, i.e. "The Pigs". He covered up a murder plot but our sycophantic Media doesn't want to raise this issue. That would be negative.

Inside some private forecasts on JOBS Remember, I'm just the messenger here because I'm not in the business of forecasting jobs. I'm seeing some outlandish prognostications. Some really good guys calling for 250,000. A ton of them calling for 150,000 and a few down to 120,000. These are generally economists working for banks and large brokerage firms as opposed to the market analyists mentioned last Saturday. This market rally is an anticipatory one. Keep in mind that when the small caps move either way it is significant as hell. S&P 600 and the Russell are really roaring, important because when you get down to Russel stocks you are looking at less liquid stocks, harder to dump. I don't know, but the street is on fire. Gold is up and people are buying more; commodities continue on the bull run of a year; all point to a roaring economy. Tons of people buying puts on bonds (5-1 ratio) figuring rates are going higher. Me? I don't pay attention to that stuff once I am in the market.

The quintessential Homeless Bum; filthy clothes, filty persona, beard, and matted long hair exists just down the street from my upper middle class apartment. I'm never at home in the AM but this morning I was and walked to and from the market passing his place of sublime filth. His spot is located in a protected area behind the large a/c unit of the restaurant, two low walls, and a large bush. His possessions are the clothes on his back, some newspapers, and a large boom box. This morning both to and from the market he was listening to.............

Rush Limbaugh.

The accurate numbers on the economy and confidence are HERE.

Economic Confidence
Consumer Index 110.5 ▼ 0.4
Investor Index 128.3 ▼ 2.4

The JOBS number on Friday will greatly affect these numbers. Right now analysts are very worried. Jobs are not showing on their screenings. Consider the Consumer number is down twenty points from three months ago and you can see why Bush is in big trouble.

INVESTMENT SCAM FOR DUMMIES.......The current and latest. Being undertaken by almost 50% of licensed commodities firms in the U.S. They form different corporations and set out to loot investors. FOREIGN EXCHANGE, AKA FOREX, is the game and you cannot possibly last more than a few months. Unregulated so they can lie their asses off. Latest is the largest clearing firm in the world, Refco. They will take accounts as low as $3,000. Let us pretend you fall for the very good sounding pitch and jump in for $5,000.

They use a completely untried trading system that is only back tested; meaning that all records of "huge profits" are fitted to a prior performance matrix. They charge $100 per month to "rent" the untried system and $5 round turn per trade; the "system" trades 200 plus trades per month. So your commissions and fees run $1100 per month or 22% of your original capital on a $5,000 account. It will trade 400 times per month on a $10,000 account, and so on forever. You will not last more than six months. This entire scam is ignored by regulators so you have nowhere to turn when you discover you have been robbed.

We ran the numbers on 14 other systems. Many are worse, none are better. The only way you can "win" is with a $100,000 account with limits on the number of trades. This scam is growing like wildfire. There are no solicitation rules at all. Keep in mind the "Don't Call List" is a total sham. Try complaining. Our government has made it next to impossible to complain.

WHAT ABOUT "COMMISSION FREE" TRADING??? A come on and a joke. Markets trade 24 hours per day, every day but Saturday and Sunday AM. Commission free trading requires the "investor" to be on the alert for 24 hours every day but Saturday and Sunday AM. The system will beep you in the middle of the night, middle of dinner, etc., so you can trigger the trade yourself. Within three days you will be at the doctor for exhaustion. Don't fall for it.

Just say no and get off the phone. The most misleading pitches ever. Criminal. And our government just keeps on keeping on.

A good link to gasoline prices in today's WSJ

Good for a laugh...... " A Utah state trooper pulled over a car traveling the wrong way on Interstate 15 near the town of Beaver early Wednesday morning, figuring he'd find just another drunk driver.

Instead, he discovered a 49-year-old Whittier, Calif., man and his mother, who thought they were still in the Los Angeles area. Go HERE for the rest....

Update on Friday's JOBS report. 30,000 construction workers in bad weather areas have not gone back to work because the weather has remained bad. The 40,000 grocery clerks in SoCal will be included. The JOBS report will start with 40,000 plus. If the report shows 70,000 it stinks.

Right Nation has a adjusted for inflation actual cost of gasoline and says it is barely over the 1950 price. Now this is "proven" on a chart. But here's a little instructional for you when reading any kind of chart showing profits, or prices, etc. NEVER trust anything that uses a low or high price as a reference point to PROVE something; you can bet the chart will always "prove" what the seller wants proven. Gasoline us up over last week, last month, three years ago and that's all we care about. In the 30s I think gas was 10 cents per gallon but that was a huge cost in a country where 25% were unemployed with no welfare or unemployment checks, accountants earned $3,000 per year and doctors earned $5,000 per year. The chart proves nothing. Like the stock market charts starting in 1932 proving how much you would have made in the market. Useless. Fraudulent. Wrong.

Little Green Footballs was the first or second blog I ever read. I still go there every week because they get to the root of things better than most and without the fluff. Every once in a while they publish a reality that just has to be satire, but isn't. Part of an interview with an Al Qaeda wife called: "The Lonely World of Al Qaeda's Wives" on her life starts out like this:

It is almost as if terrorism were the family business - although Maha vehemently denies this. “We believe in defending one’s home, one’s family, and one’s faith,” she says. “Like in that movie, Braveheart.”

Read the whole thing HERE

Add this to White House incompetence. LINKS HERE Our forces in Iraq have closed a newspaper for lying. No specifics, no publication of what articles are bad, just close them. People get pissed. No kidding! This the worst administration in my memory when it comes to revealing the reasons for things. I swear if somebody who I didn't think would sell us down the river was running for president I'd vote for him in a nano-second. I have this nagging feeling that Bush is NOT running things.

Told ja last Saturday

...."in my business I have access to a large number of very private newsletters. Yesterday they were almost all bearish, which means the market will go higher."

I cannot tell you how contrarian you must be in the face of expert advice when there is an overload of either bullish or bearish sentiment. They are just Race Track Touts pretending forecasting ability. Dow up 120, NAZ up 33. Friday Jobs is still HUGE.

I got a very nice Left Wing email from John F. telling me quite honestly that my views about seizing the incomes of people who make $250,000 a year make no sense. (I did not recommend seizure I just pointed out the futility of seizing) He points out that these "social criminals" have assets running into the trillions and that the assets and not the income is what must be seized. If we did that the country would be OK and we could fund the war and all the social programs. No swearing, Bush baiting, or insults. Just the messenger.

The real cause of the Clarke ire appears to be that Rice (a black woman) dared to make him work without stroll in access to the Oval Office as he was used to under Clinton. This smells to me like a white male ego squashed by a Black Female. He grew to basically hate her. Hell hath no fury than a bureaucrat put in his place. Newsweek's article this week is a must read because it is balanced and clear

Clarke's animus against Rice is transparent. Still, the once obscure, now famous bureaucrat cleverly and effectively portrayed his boss last week as slow-footed and almost clueless in the race to head off a terrorist attack.

Expanding his power as the threat grew during the '90s, he was widely viewed in the bureaucracy as an alarmist. "He was always this guy in a white sheet, going around with a big sign saying the world was coming to an end," says a Defense Department official. "Who listens to people like that?"

Polls indicate that both Clarke's credibility and Bush's approval of his War on Terror have suffered blows. Read the article. I still say that this White House has proved once again that they are brain dead. They had this book INSIDE the White House for three months prior to publication and they weren't ready. Rice is being pushed by both Liberal and Conservative Media into testifying; Public Opinion is also demanding it. Just a mess.

LET'S FIND OUT JUST WHO IS FILTHY RICH

Kill the rich and we'll solve our problems FOR ONE YEAR. Census figure show that 1,438,000 earned more than $250,000. So let's assume the 1,438,000 made a million (stretching to make a point). That comes to $1.4 trillion. Take it all and leave the fuckers for dead. Now what?

Consider that total tax revenues for local and state governments are almost two TRILLION dollars per year LINK to census data. Here are their sources of revenue and get ready to puke. Add three zeros to the below figures.

Property 63,689,177
Sales and gross receipts 320,216,988
General sales 223,428,227
Selective sales 96,788,761
Motor fuel 32,045,388
Alcoholic beverage 4,521,794
Tobacco products 8,833,438
Public utilities 18,359,820
Other selective sales 33,028,321
Individual income 226,333,547
Corporate income 35,296,152
Motor vehicle license 16,447,346
Other taxes 52,135,406

Now that is just state and local taxes. Federal taxes are another two TRILLION. This means we are going to have to dip down from the $250,000 category and wipe out everybody at the $100,000 level too. Our TOTAL taxes are near the 65% category right now. Soak the rich sounds great til somebody decides YOU are the rich. Trust the Democrats to do just that.

Has anyone had one of those painful four hour erections from taking Cialis? The ads keep saying to see a doctor if it happens to you. What for? A fucking blow job?

Are they the Chicago CUBS or are they the Chicago Yankees?----- I'm going to a Dodger home game during the middle of May and went to buy some tickets. Dogers vs Cubs in the middle of the week----------$350 per ticket. You know the Cubs have arrived when they can command Yankee money for an away game. What a change over the past three years.

If you didn't link to this site from Daily Pundit do yourself a favor and go there now. It's Sunday and you have time to read "The Treason of the Intellectual". The title says it all. A very insightful and sobering read about what happened to France and what is clearly happening here right now. My only comment is that with so many millions having attended university in this country and tens of thousands possessing advanced degrees it is inevitable that "intellectuosity" seeks its own lowest common denominator. We're there and we've been there for a hell of a long time. caution It is a very old article, from early 90s. I had read it before but forgot the specifics til I read it this time. Very good.

File under Kathryn Grayson wrecked soprano for all women Watched parts of "Showboat" starring the aforementioned lady and Howard Keel. Great tits and a great voice BUT because she had already recorded the songs and was lip synching to herself she could hit all those high notes while still smiling. There were no contortions. No apparent effort to hit those high high notes. Every other operatic woman destroys herself with the furrows of effort, the inability to smile while tearing out their tonsils, or screwing up their faces. Kathryn Grayson: tits, voice, beautiful face, and no sweat. Nobody can top it.

FOX steals my entire AIDS essay almost verbatim without mentioning me. They left out the researcher at Berkeley and the award winning writer at Seed but everything else was as you read right here last Saturday.

MarketsJUST DO IT

Cutting to the chase. Here's the raw data:
Economy looks super, everything but jobs and they are coming right now.
Low rates
Dollar has turned and will trend up for a year at least
Highest productivity in the world
GDP of 4.5% or higher
Computer sales up 25% (means Intel etc. boom)
TV ad time virtually sold out.
Consumer spending up .2%
Consumer income up .4%
Housing sales set another record

And that's just a start. This is probably best investment time in a long time. Look for dividends. Almost NO profit warnings from companies. We could see a huge GDP number first quarter.

I say this because in my business I have access to a large number of very private newsletters. Yesterday they were almost all bearish, which means the market will go higher. Now I'm going to present data from an independent company regarding William O'Niel and Investors Business Daily and his system that anyone can learn called CANSLIM:

CAN SLIM™ Tops Performance

A new analysis of stock-selection strategies by the American Association of Investment Research Tool the CAN-SLIM system comes out on top. CAN SLIM's 6-year cumulative performance, from 1998 through 2003, was 706%, compared with the S&P 500 at 10.7%, the AAII says.

So there it is, if you're not making money right now you are stupid or lazy. Period

File this under Whining Right Wing Pansies for Bush. Here's the deal, these dopes go to a Kerry rally and have signs supporting Bush. This rally is heavy on a union well known for roughing up people, for completely excluding women (ten years ago, I don't know about now), and have to be quite large to do the work they do. Added into the mix is the usual Communist crowd and race hustlers. What the fuck do you think is going to happen? You think you will be welcomed with tea and crumpets? These effete punks were not there to excercise free speech. They were there to disrupt the Free Speech of the Kerry people. They waved their little signs and then were told to get the fuck out of there. When they didn't they got roughed up. Like nobody who has been to college over the past twenty years hasn't been roughed up by black thugs if they dared cross their party line. MeCHA is a pacifist org? Black Panthers for Free Speech gives a shit for anybody? These pretentious whining Conservative babies went there for the purpose of disrupting a rally and hoping to get roughed up in front of TV cameras and reporters. They were a success. I hope they didn't get their dresses torn. I say fuck them, if you're going to those kind of Commie, Union, Race rallies to challenge them and disrupt their rallies you better have some very tough guys with you. Oh the names of some of the gutless Republican pansies are Pro-Bush blogger Matt Margolis, his equally pussy brother Aaron, another blogger named Tyler who probably tests HIV-MAYBE, and a bunch of other cry babies. I know plenty of Republican areas people who wave Left Wing signs wouldn't dare attend. Bullshit squared. After these total pussies get through reading the First Ammendment they ought to study the Second and then visit Kim duToit and get ready.

Fascist Right passes the Uborn Victim Law. Abortion Rights people are outraged that women can no longer terminate a pregnancy with a shotgun blast from a friend.

APHRODISIAC SPECIAL REPORT

Shocker!!!! A drug has been around for at least six years that will improve resuscitate the sex drive in women. In tests with double blind in women of all ages who were absolutely not interested in sex....4 out of 10 reported sexual fantasies five times per month. I asked a couple of shrinks who I know as friends why the hell this wasn't known, that women are begging for a viagra for themselves. Both shrinks told me in no uncertain terms that most women are NOT interested in having sex drives. "Don't believe all the crap in the magazines." Every shrink knows about the drug and similar drugs. Curious? Just go HERE for starters. Now you can't just slip these things into a cocktail and wait for a blow job, they take several weeks to begin working but they WORK. Also works for men. Go here too, but watch out for the usual whack jobs advertising on Google

LESLEY STAHL IS NOT THE BIGGEST LYING WEASEL IN TV NEWS

Here is a partial list of extreme liberal reporters who had a SECRET meeting with John Kerry in a New York hotel room back in December:
CNN's Jeff Greenfield,
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter,
Washington Post, Richard Cohen
Frank Rich, New York Times

Here's a list of reporters who heard Clarke speak last year and contradict most of what he testified to:

Jim Angle of Fox
NBC's Andrea Mitchell,
CBS's Bill Plante
ABC's Terry Moran

And you know how straight the news has been on NBC and CBS

The ultimate, no no, the penultimate political cartoon is right here and be prepared to laugh. It should get much wider distribution.

This LINK from Reynolds will speak for itself. In case you haven't read it sort of an Emporer has no Clothes bit about Clarke.

The Bush WMD jokes were in terrible taste and shows a real lack of judgment. There is an even bigger problem. Bush is one of those rare politicians who actually tells jokes well and is therefore very effective when he tells them. His jokes hit home and people remember them. His rather funny remarks aimed at the humorless Kerry will be very effective.

Hearing hypocrisy.......Congress had passed laws forbidding the exchange of info between FBI and CIA; the Congress had passed laws forbidding the FBI to surf the internet; the Congress had passed laws forbidding any agent of anything to so much as enter a public meeting of a "religious" group, including Muslims, Nation of Islam or any other pretenders; the Congress was responsible for the "sanitized only" spies we could employ. So this gang of incompetents is doing everything to focus on the executive branch as the people "responsible" for 9/11 when they were more than just a little "responsible". Just remember this: the government bureaucrats are the permanent government and the President is just Christmas help. These unionized government employees are 95% registered Democrats. Clarke himself while a registered Republican always donated to Democrats, an aparatchik who knew that a registered Republican would have more chance for advancement in the counter-terrorism field. And it's all FOX's fault for releasing the prior Clarke data, stuff that all the Congressional reps knew and many Democratic news(???) people knew and wanted kept under wraps.

"Passion" at $302,558,804 ..... Hollywood Left blames Karl Rove.........Developing

BUSH IS TOAST....DiCaprio endorses Kerry.... Bush people fear that the legendary bit player Winston Burdett may also endorse. Bush people further feel that celebrity drug addicts, shop lifters, and drunks like Courtney Love, Anne Heche, Anna Nicole Smith and Winona Ryder, as well as other intellectuals may also support Kerry. Privately Karl Rove is shaking in his shoes fearing that star addicts like Drew Barrymore and Robert Downey Jr., will join with MAAB (Medicated Actors Against Bloodshed). MAAB is meeting tonight with Hollywood Left activists in The Viper Club on Sunset Bloulevard with the avowed purpose of defeating Bush. Drug dependency in the blue state is rumored to exceed 42% with another 20% in jail for drug related crime. There is a rumor, and only a rumor, that GOP hit squads will flood California with free cocaine during the week before election in order to weaken the Democrats. The "word" in the blue state is that controversial quasi-criminals Liberals like R. Kelly, Bobby Brown, Tommy Lee, and even Shuge Knight will be urged to campaign for Right Wing Republicans in order to "level the playing field".

Oil and gasoline prices and Media mis-information Forget all the bullshit you see on TV. The main culprit is the cheap dollar. Oil is traded for dollars world wide. Consider that the dollar had fallen from roughly 130 to 86 on the World Forex (1.3 ECU to buy one dollar to .86 ECU to buy one dollar) a fall in value of 41%. The rise in crude has been roughly from $24 to $39 a rise of 54%. The net in dollar rise has been 15%. World demand is skyrocketing with China consuming more and more, U.S. economic recovery increasing demand, and the skimming for the reserve. You will note that as the dollar is getting stronger (6% in the past month from 129 to 121; $129 to buy 100 ECU to $121 to buy 100 ECU) crude prices are coming down (check the futures pages $36 this AM). The drop mirrors the dollar strength. BTW this oil price rise will hasten by light years the development of alternate fuels. When this happens watch all governments go crazy trying to tax a basically free fuel so roads can be built and maintained. Think about it.

HAMAS TOO BROKE TO ATTACK AMERICA

The Iraq link to terror orgs is spelled out clearly HERE. The main quote

Hamas is also facing financial difficulties. The fall of Saddam Hussein closed what had become the single biggest source of funds for Hamas in the past five years. Several other Arab countries have been forced to close channels through which funds were collected for and directed to Hamas.

IRAQ WAS SUPPORTING TERRORISM. Funding from Iran has also fallen by at least half. It would seem that Hamas is too short of funds to attack America. Look for a Hamas IPO or bond issue.

In case you didn't link to this site from Reynolds, do it. Be ready to admire somebody, and get pissed too. If ever there was a case against these stinking environmentalists, American Black politicians for their failure to speak out, and the greedy beyond belief EU, it is made here. A great man in every continent on the face of the earth, EXCEPT Africa where the environuts have blocked him. Read it.

HERE'S A CLASSIC reason why you do NOT rely on Main Media for any investment advice. This story on MSNBC right now is about the weak dollar and what you can do to "protect" yourself. These morons can't even look at charts or read the papers. The dollar was trading at an all time high against the Euro almost a month ago at 129 (100 ECU would buy $129). Today the figure is 122 to by $100. The dollar has strengthened 6% in a few weeks. Today the EU announced it would drop rates. The ECU will be at 118 in another two weeks. Don't ever trust Main Media for investment news you can use for anything other than a laugh or two.

PROOF! CLARKE IS A LIAR!

From FOX News if you haven't read it. And keep in mind NONE of those scumbags Some asked late in the day. Bob Kerry was outraged at FOX for releasing the report which has destroyed Democratic use of the book for political purposes. NONE of the reporters reported it. MSNBC acted like it didn't exist.

Transcript: Clarke Praises Bush Team in '02

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

WASHINGTON — The following transcript documents a background briefing in early August 2002 by President Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator Richard A. Clarke to a handful of reporters, including Fox News' Jim Angle. In the conversation, cleared by the White House on Wednesday for distribution, Clarke describes the handover of intelligence from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration and the latter's decision to revise the U.S. approach to Al Qaeda. Clarke was named special adviser to the president for cyberspace security in October 2001. He resigned from his post in January 2003.

RICHARD CLARKE: Actually, I've got about seven points, let me just go through them quickly. Um, the first point, I think the overall point is, there was no plan on Al Qaeda that was passed from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration.

Second point is that the Clinton administration had a strategy in place, effectively dating from 1998. And there were a number of issues on the table since 1998. And they remained on the table when that administration went out of office — issues like aiding the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, changing our Pakistan policy -- uh, changing our policy toward Uzbekistan. And in January 2001, the incoming Bush administration was briefed on the existing strategy. They were also briefed on these series of issues that had not been decided on in a couple of years.

And the third point is the Bush administration decided then, you know, in late January, to do two things. One, vigorously pursue the existing policy, including all of the lethal covert action findings, which we've now made public to some extent.

And the point is, while this big review was going on, there were still in effect, the lethal findings were still in effect. The second thing the administration decided to do is to initiate a process to look at those issues which had been on the table for a couple of years and get them decided.

So, point five, that process which was initiated in the first week in February, uh, decided in principle, uh in the spring to add to the existing Clinton strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action, five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda.

The sixth point, the newly-appointed deputies — and you had to remember, the deputies didn't get into office until late March, early April. The deputies then tasked the development of the implementation details, uh, of these new decisions that they were endorsing, and sending out to the principals.

Over the course of the summer — last point — they developed implementation details, the principals met at the end of the summer, approved them in their first meeting, changed the strategy by authorizing the increase in funding five-fold, changing the policy on Pakistan, changing the policy on Uzbekistan, changing the policy on the Northern Alliance assistance.

And then changed the strategy from one of rollback with Al Qaeda over the course of five years, which it had been, to a new strategy that called for the rapid elimination of Al Qaeda. That is in fact the timeline.

QUESTION: When was that presented to the president?

CLARKE: Well, the president was briefed throughout this process.

QUESTION: But when was the final September 4 document? (interrupted) Was that presented to the president?

CLARKE: The document went to the president on September 10, I think.

QUESTION: What is your response to the suggestion in the [Aug. 12, 2002] Time [magazine] article that the Bush administration was unwilling to take on board the suggestions made in the Clinton administration because of animus against the — general animus against the foreign policy?

CLARKE: I think if there was a general animus that clouded their vision, they might not have kept the same guy dealing with terrorism issue. This is the one issue where the National Security Council leadership decided continuity was important and kept the same guy around, the same team in place. That doesn't sound like animus against uh the previous team to me.

JIM ANGLE: You're saying that the Bush administration did not stop anything that the Clinton administration was doing while it was making these decisions, and by the end of the summer had increased money for covert action five-fold. Is that correct?

CLARKE: All of that's correct.

ANGLE: OK.

QUESTION: Are you saying now that there was not only a plan per se, presented by the transition team, but that it was nothing proactive that they had suggested?

CLARKE: Well, what I'm saying is, there are two things presented. One, what the existing strategy had been. And two, a series of issues — like aiding the Northern Alliance, changing Pakistan policy, changing Uzbek policy — that they had been unable to come to um, any new conclusions, um, from '98 on.

QUESTION: Was all of that from '98 on or was some of it ...

CLARKE: All of those issues were on the table from '98 on.

ANGLE: When in '98 were those presented?

CLARKE: In October of '98.

QUESTION: In response to the Embassy bombing?

CLARKE: Right, which was in September.

QUESTION: Were all of those issues part of alleged plan that was late December and the Clinton team decided not to pursue because it was too close to ...

CLARKE: There was never a plan, Andrea. What there was was these two things: One, a description of the existing strategy, which included a description of the threat. And two, those things which had been looked at over the course of two years, and which were still on the table.

QUESTION: So there was nothing that developed, no documents or no new plan of any sort?

CLARKE: There was no new plan.

QUESTION: No new strategy — I mean, I don't want to get into a semantics ...

CLARKE: Plan, strategy — there was no, nothing new.

QUESTION: 'Til late December, developing ...

CLARKE: What happened at the end of December was that the Clinton administration NSC principals committee met and once again looked at the strategy, and once again looked at the issues that they had brought, decided in the past to add to the strategy. But they did not at that point make any recommendations.

QUESTIONS: Had those issues evolved at all from October of '98 'til December of 2000?

CLARKE: Had they evolved? Um, not appreciably.

ANGLE: What was the problem? Why was it so difficult for the Clinton administration to make decisions on those issues?

CLARKE: Because they were tough issues. You know, take, for example, aiding the Northern Alliance. Um, people in the Northern Alliance had a, sort of bad track record. There were questions about the government, there were questions about drug-running, there was questions about whether or not in fact they would use the additional aid to go after Al Qaeda or not. Uh, and how would you stage a major new push in Uzbekistan or somebody else or Pakistan to cooperate?

One of the big problems was that Pakistan at the time was aiding the other side, was aiding the Taliban. And so, this would put, if we started aiding the Northern Alliance against the Taliban, this would have put us directly in opposition to the Pakistani government. These are not easy decisions.

ANGLE: And none of that really changed until we were attacked and then it was ...

CLARKE: No, that's not true. In the spring, the Bush administration changed — began to change Pakistani policy, um, by a dialogue that said we would be willing to lift sanctions. So we began to offer carrots, which made it possible for the Pakistanis, I think, to begin to realize that they could go down another path, which was to join us and to break away from the Taliban. So that's really how it started.

QUESTION: Had the Clinton administration in any of its work on this issue, in any of the findings or anything else, prepared for a call for the use of ground forces, special operations forces in any way? What did the Bush administration do with that if they had?

CLARKE: There was never a plan in the Clinton administration to use ground forces. The military was asked at a couple of points in the Clinton administration to think about it. Um, and they always came back and said it was not a good idea. There was never a plan to do that.

(Break in briefing details as reporters and Clarke go back and forth on how to source quotes from this backgrounder.)

ANGLE: So, just to finish up if we could then, so what you're saying is that there was no — one, there was no plan; two, there was no delay; and that actually the first changes since October of '98 were made in the spring months just after the administration came into office?

CLARKE: You got it. That's right.

QUESTION: It was not put into an action plan until September 4, signed off by the principals?

CLARKE: That's right.

QUESTION: I want to add though, that NSPD — the actual work on it began in early April.

CLARKE: There was a lot of in the first three NSPDs that were being worked in parallel.

ANGLE: Now the five-fold increase for the money in covert operations against Al Qaeda — did that actually go into effect when it was decided or was that a decision that happened in the next budget year or something?

CLARKE: Well, it was gonna go into effect in October, which was the next budget year, so it was a month away.

QUESTION: That actually got into the intelligence budget?

CLARKE: Yes it did.

QUESTION: Just to clarify, did that come up in April or later?

CLARKE: No, it came up in April and it was approved in principle and then went through the summer. And you know, the other thing to bear in mind is the shift from the rollback strategy to the elimination strategy. When President Bush told us in March to stop swatting at flies and just solve this problem, then that was the strategic direction that changed the NSPD from one of rollback to one of elimination.

QUESTION: Well can you clarify something? I've been told that he gave that direction at the end of May. Is that not correct?

CLARKE: No, it was March.

QUESTION: The elimination of Al Qaeda, get back to ground troops — now we haven't completely done that even with a substantial number of ground troops in Afghanistan. Was there, was the Bush administration contemplating without the provocation of September 11th moving troops into Afghanistan prior to that to go after Al Qaeda?

CLARKE: I can not try to speculate on that point. I don't know what we would have done.

QUESTION: In your judgment, is it possible to eliminate Al Qaeda without putting troops on the ground?

CLARKE: Uh, yeah, I think it was. I think it was. If we'd had Pakistani, Uzbek and Northern Alliance assistance.

YOU WILL STILL BE TAX RAPED IF KERRY IS ELECTED

OK, Kerry will fuck the rich and tell the rest of us things are great. But below are the taxes that us slobs pay; now, tomorrow, and even more if Kerry wins. Below thanx to emailer Jim C. Some late ads courtesy of around 50 emails (special city and state, cable TV tax; Dish taxes, surcharges on traffic tickets which are 200% where I live; parking taxes; renters taxes which are $5 per month where I live; park fees; airport landing fees tacked onto tickets; and there are more but you get the drift.)

TAXES

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

Capital Gains Tax

CDL license Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Court Fines

(indirect taxes)

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax

(FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel permit tax

Gasoline Tax

(42 cents per gallon)

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax Interest expense

(tax on the money)

Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges

(tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties

(tax on top of tax)

Liquor Tax

Local Income Tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property Tax

Real Estate Tax

Septic Permit Tax

Service Charge Taxes

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Taxes

(Truckers)

Sales Taxes

Recreational Vehicle Tax

Road Toll Booth Taxes

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax

(SUTA)

Telephone federal excise tax

Telephone federal universal service fee tax

Telephone federal, state and

local surcharge taxes

Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax

Telephone state and local tax

Telephone usage charge tax

Toll Bridge Taxes

Toll Tunnel Taxes

Traffic Fines

(indirect taxation)

Trailer registration tax

Utility Taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

Here's the kicker. All taxes could probably be ended if we legalized gambling and taxed the winnings and the profits of the betting parlor. AND if we legalized pot and taxed it.

The Belmont Club makes an interesting observation regarding assassination of leaders. He observes that killing leaders is what works, not killing illiterate future suicide bombers. Reflecting upon this, there is no doubt that had somebody pulled the plug on Hitler or Stalin lots of horrors would have been prevented. Yet it is dangerous to stretch this analogy too far. It depends on who takes over and whether or not you can get him too. Graham Greene, the now out of fashion novelist, made an observation in some book or other as a detective grills a bad priest. The priest finally replies that the church does not rest on one priest, that the church is bigger than any individual or groups of individuals. Following this up is the obvious question: when do you stop killing leadership? I think there is going to be war and that Europe will be on the wrong side. The French working out with their new pals, the Communist Chinese, won't help. All this helps Bush. The only thing is that the always wrong Dick Morris thinks Bush will win by a landslide.

Lesley Stahl and 60 minutes are getting roasted over the Clarke interview, one of the biggest softball hack jobs ever.

Imus called CBS's Lesley Stahl a "gutless, lying weasel" ...... "one of the more dishonest members of the media".....and "She did everything but slip her tongue in his ear."

In another aside one of the Imus sidekicks responded to an Imus query about whether Stahl should ask Clarke something, McGurk replied:

"She could just roll over in the bed and hand Clarke the phone"....

One thing is certain, if a man goes to bed with Lesley Stahl you know he desperately needs sleep. From office chatter and client remarks I get the feeling that the CBS interview might actually rescue Bush from any fallout. Not even liberals are stupid enough to swallow that 60 Minutes "interview" (Book Hype). People are just getting wise to the main stream media. The stat that two hundred million of us go on the web means that the truth seeps out.

CENSORSHIP WE CAN ALL APPRECIATE

Cable services will now block channels that their individual customers do not want in their homes. The invasion of violence, filth, and programming that individuals think is objectionable will no longer invade our homes without our consent. This will mean that MTV will be out of at least a third of the homes now receiving it. More important, in my area the "Public Access" channel is a vile homosexual stomping ground. Sex acts, talk about various sex acts, preening drag queens, talk about S&M and so on are 90% of what is available. Homosexuals rarely talk about anything other than their sex practices. One show even has lesbian sex acts performed by The Love Doctor. I guarantee you that the parents in this area will block public access first. MTV will at last be reigned in regarding access to little children. Digital cable has not only broadened our choices, it has given us an "all or nothing" array of programming that is never suitable for families. Now we can actually choose. It's about time.

Thanks Janet.

There is no doubt that Mr Clarke has thrown 100 pounds of red meat to the Democrats with the help of his publisher, CBS. His charges will be taken out of context again and again. BUT when you look at Clarke's suggestions like washing a bunch of life rafts ashore on the beach to simulate an invasion and so on, it's quite possible this nut case was put on the outside of the box. He was obsessed with cyber-terror not flying planes into the WTC. Sadly, the hearings this week will be a partisan joke. Democrats eager to lionize their former leader and the GOP trying to demonize him and lionize Bush. The hearings, if held honestly by people who cared about the country, could be good. They won't be. All this while Hamas readies itself for the jihad of the century. Their threats make Bush the stronger candidate and the more they threaten the more likely it is that Bush will win.

HOWEVER one charge that both Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Niel make could stick to Bush like glue and one that the Democrats may finally use is that Bush team had made up its mind to invade Iraq long before 9/11. Clarke offers more documentation, because he was in more of those meetings. This is the one charge that is serious because it has more than one source.

Observations while partying this weekend with mostly slightly liberal friends. Everybody was pissed about the continuing blanket coverage of "gay marriage" on every TV cable channel, even FOX. I think the "gay voices" have been temporary. They represent 5% of the population.

While watching Clarke hustle his book on 60 Minutes last night I was surprised by the near unanimous skepticism expressed by everyone. The most heard comment was, "so where has he been while guys were dying? Waits til election to get a conscience?" And everybody questioned the statement regarding Condoleezza Rice's ignorance of terrorist groups. Surprising. No one commented that CBS/Viacom owns the publishing company that is releasing the book. Drudge outed them this AM. This is really fishy now. CBS News has almost zero credibility. Jesus what a bunch of slugs.

NCAA had some great games over the weekend, particularly the Kentucky-UAB game.

Oh, and there were three Apple owners there who were raving about Apple computers and their superiority over the PCs they had been using. The host showed his to everyone and everyone was using it and checking it out. I have to admit, Apple has a major winner. Major.

NCAA The only thing I got right was that both Stanford and Kentucky wouldn't get by the second round. My entire sheet is now less than worthless. Like I said, bring back football.

Suggested Kerry ads moved to El Laffo Grande

THE NON-LINK BETWEEN HETEROSEXUALS AND AIDS.

Q: What do you call a man who says he got AIDS from his girl friend?

A: A liar........ This essay is a primer on real censorship in the USA.

FACT: A disease-free man who has unprotected sex with a drug-free woman stands a one in 5 million chance of contracting HIV. Drudge pulled the link to the NY Post story within two hours of posting, so you can bet he got pressure from the homosexual lobby.

The Post Piece featured a referral to former Cosmo editor H.G. Brown who was vilified back in 1993 when she published a piece called "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS". Even today, most people who dare to state the facts are pilloried.

There is a relatively new CondeNast pub called "Details" (not on line at all and of course no Google refs) that has a piece by a guy named Kevin Gray called: "Whatever Happened to AIDS and Straight Men?" The story relates to the joke at the top of this piece that is making the rounds of the NYC Department of Health relating to the stats coming in showing that the predicted spread of AIDS to the heterosexual population wasn't happening.

Michael Fumento, the writer of "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS," found that his book, much like the early Right Wing books by Limbaugh etc., was banned by distributors and stores refused to carry it. In many of the stores that did carry it, clerks left it hidden in the basement so it couldn't sell. All he did was print the FACTS. His site complete with articles can be found HERE He dared to write articles exposing the AIDS business, the cash cow for all the "right" people. Another win for Sullivan and "the boys".

A woman named Celia Farber, who wrote an AIDS column in Spin magazine, was routinely attacked because she refused to rehash the propaganda put out by AmFAR (THE "not for profit" funding org for all the AIDS groups; audited financial statement not available. Wonder why?) and other groups. Farber states in Page Six that "Everybody who was wrong got journalism awards. Everybody who was right got all but driven from the profession," Her articles are HERE She exposed the conspiracy between profit-hungry drug companies, researchers who wanted more funding, homosexuals who didn't want the disease to be known as "the gay plague," and conservatives who wanted to turn back the sexual revolution.

At a recent editorial meeting at Seed, the new science magazine, the Establishment Science Writer in residence, Pulitzer Prize-winning, Peabody Award Winner, Polk Award Winner reporter Laurie Garrett, supposedly threatened to quit when a colleague suggested a story about Peter Duesberg, a leading retrovirologist. The reason for her ire? Peter Duesberg lost his funding, his laboratory, and his students when he announced in 1987 that HIV doesn't cause AIDS. "He lost everything," said one insider. Duesberg switched to cancer research, and is now touted to win a Nobel Prize. The Homo Lobby may have stalled a cure by decades. His great site is here: He is now far from alone in his opinions being joined by Nobel Winner Kary Mullis who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction technique for detecting DNA. This is the technique used to search for fragments of HIV in AIDS patients. And just like the establishment refused to so much as investigate the findings of Dr. Atkins for twenty years and then finding he had been right all along, nobody has bothered to check Duesberg's work. That's because if he is proven right all the homosexuals, all their conduits for endless money, the money being made by the drug companies will end. Rather than risk all that, they shut him down. No one will test his hypothesis.

As for Garrett, she writes plenty about infectious disease and is considered an "expert". Naturally she has written reams about AIDS/HIV and the "unquestioned" threat to heterosexuals AIDS presents. You can't expect a Pulitzer, Peabody Polk Winner to ever admit being wrong, or not telling the truth. She kills the truth any time it rears its ugly head. Her outlandishly complex and lavish website is here. I suppose the endless color and sound means that everything she writes is Gospel. She uses her awards to club everyone who disagrees with her; sort of a Who has the Biggest Dick contest for pretentious writers. She is a socialist, a advocate for single payer health care (Socialized Medicine) as the "only way" to stop AIDS and an encyclopedia of other diseases that can only be treated by government. (us tax payers). The Brothers Judd have trashed her pretty well:

The public press will approve, the people are prepared to support, and the courts sustain, any intelligent procedures which are evidently directed at the preservation of the public health. The most autocratic powers, capable of the broadest construction, are given to them under the law. Everything which is detrimental to health or dangerous to life, under the freest interpretation, is regarded as coming within the province of the Health Department, So broad is the construction of the law that everything which improperly or unnecessarily interferes with the comfort or enjoyment of life, as well as those things which are, strictly speaking, detrimental to health or dangerous to life, may become the subject of action on the part of the Board of Health.

This is the lady who sees to it that the truth is not published.

The careers the homosexual army has ruined exponentially exceeds any ruins left by Joe McCarthy. They and their pals on the Left play rough and dirty. AIDS is a homosexual disease and only a homosexual disease. It can only be transmitted heterosexually by a man or woman who already has it. In Western nations men get it from other men. Period. And all the billions in funding is directed exclusively toward this group. Honesty is not currency on the "everything for free" Left.

Does the truth ever win? Not unless you fight and fight and fight to get it out, and even then it may be buried with you..
Late courtesy ad due to emails This essay does NOT say that heterosexuals cannot get AIDS from blood transfusions or from already infected drug users.

Markets and Economy BUILDING A BASE

Til we have good JOBS numbers we won't have much movement on the indexes. Keep in mind that this market is now expensive. The big guys are selling at thirty times earnings (you just don't understand, they will go higher) so you have to shop in the low cap markets. Checking the charts on the S&P 600, the IBD Small Caps, and so on we are having a huge run there. The thing we all want most is NEW. New products and new ideas. Right now if you can find a fuel cell company that's right you buy it. Same for any hybrid energy source. Oil prices are going to make these things come to market very fast. Rumors that a drug company has a pill that will give you a hard-on that will last for three weeks are premature.

Weekly employment figures can be misleading. On the next JOBS report all the retail clerks (40,000+) who were on strike will show up as will the construction trades who have been quiet during the bad weather. Any number above 70,000 will be real new jobs.

Remember: the 90s are over. The Democrats are a threat to the market but let the MARKET tell you that they are concerned, don't sell on your opinion. Some economists are calling for 6% growth during the 1st quarter. A few call for seven. Profits are really good. The stocks that pay dividends were not affected by the recent sell off. I told you about dividends months ago. I was stopped out of two stocks I'd bought when the Dow was around 8,000 and they'd had their run. I'm still in a stock that looks as good as when I bought it.
Not a solicitation to buy or sell stocks. All stock investment involves risk of loss of all your money. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose. Stop loss orders may not be filled at your price. Buy stop orders may not be filled at your price. Spreads can be more risky than outright long or short positions. Buying on margin or trading the futures market can result in losing more money than you have put up and shouldf never be undertaken by people without the capital to sustain huge losses.

I picked Arizona, Michigan State, Washington, and Florida. I think I may have been wrong on Stanford too. I'm in a huge pool with at least five thousand people who pay $10 per card. You get two points for every game you pick correctly but you LOSE THREE POINTS for every one that is incorrect. Missing four in the first round means I will end up with a minus number. I want football season to start.

Tourney Pool I didn't even get through the first DAY because tons of people in my pool are already perfect. Picked Florida and never dreamed that Manhattan would beat anybody. I'm in a huge pool that spans LA County so most years some dope picks every game and wins the whole thing. Last year it was $55,000.

File under CBS sucks, AGAIN This time they refused to show west coast teams in the afternoon NCAA tournament opting instead for a stupid game show and their shamelessly anti-war Left Wing News. I know you don't care if you live in the East but if your games were blacked out you'd be just as pissed. FUCK CBS. So there!

OK, Bubba The Love Sponge and Howard Stern I'm a Howard Stern fan. This guy is clever, funny, and just plain good. Bubba is just plain dirty and funny. Question to be addressed is whether I'd let my little children listen to either while I drove them to school? Obviously I would not and do not. I think Stern is at best an NC17 show and Bubba is X (I've heard parts of two tapes at the office). So the question is access. I live in a neighborhood where all parents control their kids. The kids who ride busses have radios and can listen to whatever they want, and I assure you from the grapevine that Stern is listened to by middle school students.

If there was cable radio or limited access radio that you had to pay for there would be no argument. The problem is kids. I've heard Stern encourage a brother sister couple to have sex. I've heard graphic discussions of anal sex. So what is the answer? Can Stern be funny without it? He seems to think not. Stay tuned.

EURABIA IS SAVED---APPOINTMENT OF MR. TERRORISM

I kid you not the weasels have struck again with a political coup that will strike fear in the hearts of the mujahedin! "It's all over for us boys! Mr. Terrorism is coming!" Don't puke on your keyboard. Sort of covered HERE.

EURABIA, OUR PALS

Has the EU become Eurabia? Maybe that's too strong but there is no doubt that the swing of Spain toward an already supine Europe could be interpreted that way:

What is really surprising is not Spain’s spectacular act of appeasement but the fact that the anti-terror Aznar government bucked Europe’s prevailing winds in the first place. For over thirty years, Europe — including Spain — has been preparing for this moment: doing everything possible to transform itself into the newest homeland of a resurgent political Islam.

The renowned historian Bat Ye’or explains that the European Union has since 1973 been constructing “a whole infrastructure of alliances and economic, industrial, media, cultural, financial bonds with the countries of the Arab League.”

Go to Front Page for the full piece. One more bit to get you to investigate further reading:

In exchange for markets in the Islamic world, Europe turned its back on its Judeo-Christian heritage and set the stage for its own Islamization. At the highest political level, Europe, including Spain, has been selling its soul for decades now — giving up, in effect, its blood for oil (not to mention the blood of countless Iraqis and others who had to suffer under the heel of tyrants with whom Europe happily did business.)

Just a POV but an interesting one. The lady credited, Bat Ye’or, has what is known as "intel cred" as opposed to "street cred". She was born in Egypt. A British citizen living in Switzerland, since 1971 she has written numerous articles and three books on non-Muslims under Islam. The translation of Le Dhimmi (Paris, 1980) into English (1985), Hebrew (1986), and Russian (1991), brought her international recognition. The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam remains an essential introduction to her second major work, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam. From Jihad to Dhimmitude (French, 1991; English, 1996; German edition: May 2002), which put the study of this topic on a new footing. Bat Ye'or's latest book, Islam and Dhimmitude. Where Civilizations Collide, examines the trend toward dhimmitude during the 20th century. An assessment of Jihad and Dhimmitude is all the more essential since the terrorist Jihad-war struck America on 11 September 2001. She is frequently credited by Daniel Pipes in his writings. In short, she is a person to listen to and evaluate.

I have commented here often that Passion etc was produced by people who didn't care about money, just the effort. Read today's Noonan column in the WSJ. So perfect it needs no comment. So "not Hollywood" that it speaks volumes in a single page.

BEFORE you get sucked in to believing the Drudge Report link to the Veterans and other families protesting the war and demanding that Congress censure President Bush, go HERE and find out who is financing this. None other than billionaire heiress Mrs. Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes_Ferreira
Heinz Kerry through her donations to the Tides Foundation and headed by the infamous left activist David Fenton; Fenton is the single most easily identifiable nexus of anti-consumer activism in Washington, DC. Fenton and his staff masterminded the mad cow scare campaign, the organic marketing craze, the phony Alar-on-apples food scare, and more. It's important to know just who is conning who here:

There's more on this dangerous dude HERE too. Tides also provides support to Islamic Networks, Inc. – a public relations institute whose aim is to convince Americans that Islam doesn't oppress women, despite the evidence to the contrary. In addition, Tides funds the Democratic Justice Fund, founded in cooperation with George Soros’ Open Society Institute. The goal of the fund is to support Muslim and Arabic political groups that sponsor policies granting Muslim terrorists easier access to the United States.

Read the whole thing, it will piss you off no end.

Late NCAA "Madness" tourney sleeper is University of Washington which could shock everyone. They beat over rated Stanford during the season and lost in the tournament because they play only seven men and three games in three days exhausted them. I know, they have to beat Kentucky in the second round, but Kentucky isn't that good either. Both Kentucky and Stanford could lose on the opening weekend and I'm actually betting that Stanford gets ripped.

Passion success is analyzed by Hollywood Reporter article that credits Gibson with a genius label for his marketing. What a joke. Gibson did what he did because he was forced into it. Frank Rich, The New York Times Jewish writer, labeled both he, his father, and the film as anti-Semitic before it was finished AND WITHOUT EVEN SEEING IT. The Liberal Media joined in and trashed the movie and Gibson personally so much that Gibson HAD to take alternate routes. Hollywood will never understand anything that gets in the way of sticking millions into their own pockets before a foot of film is ever shot. Actors, producers, directors and so on stash tens of millions into Beverly Hills banks AND THEN make the movie without risk. When reading the article keep in mind that Gibson HAD to finance the movie because nobody would touch it. He HAD to finance distribution because nobody would give him a distribution deal. The Hollywood secular/Jewish/Liberal elite wanted the movie to fail. They publicly proclaimed that they'd see that Gibson never worked again in Hollywood; changing completely when the gross passed $100 mil. Success meant trouble for all of them. Gibson's own religious involvement opened other doors and he walked through them. It may be said that the attempts to kill the movie allowed and encouraged him to take alternate routes. Glad he's a success, but read the article because it is typical "Entertainment Expert" bullshit.

Returned to Florida before catching plane back to coast. During the intervening week Bush ads had hit there. Let's not kid around: they are effective. Short quick and repeated over and over again. All the bitching I'd heard a week ago was now muted and there was focus on "that Kerry guy". The ads are hitting home in the sense that the Kerry dominated media is now a two way street. Kerry doesn't look that good. My observation is that Blacks don't care, they will support a Democrat wearing a white hood; the Hispanic vote is scattered and the old fart vote is solidly Democrat (SS, Medicare, and whatever other freebie is out there). Bush is now engaged, but in the second person because it is just advertising. Just my POV.

American Left Response to Spain bombing and the subsequent change in government there is predictable but sad. Barbara Boxer campaigning for re-election responded to the question regarding the Spanish election by saying we need to get rid of George Bush too. Her speech was televised locally but every news venue has left out this quote. The Left will appease until it is too late, if we let them. Boxer is sure to win out here because this state is so far to the left on the population rich coast that she just can't lose.

NYT HEADLINE: "HOLLYWOOD RETHINKING FILMS OF FAITH AFTER PASSION"

Cutting to the scene before the chase, I come from a partly Jewish household so forget any charge of anti-Semitism. If you think that Jewish dominated Hollywood will ever think about "Christian Faith" as anything other than horseshit and myth for white bigots then your drug use has become a "problem". You have to be around this Hollywood Left to understand the depth of contempt they have for anything Biblical, Christian, or belief in Christ. They ridicule Christians in every conversation. These materialistic cultural polluters are not capable of doing anything having anything to do with any faith other than faith in pills, big government, and the latest Left fad . They would never have produced "Passion" because they only believe in making money for themselves. All their "deals" call for money in front. Steve Stunning wants $7 mil to play Christ (that's because Jim Carey wants $20 mil) , Billy Badass wants $5 mil to play Judas (Hackman wanted ten and is tied up for a year), Gerry Genius wants $5 mil to direct (Cameron wanted too many fight scenes), Larry Leftwich wants $2 mil to rewrite the Sermon on the Mount, and the all union big studio crew comes in at another $6 mil; the computer animation studio gets $4 mil, and the producer gets another $2 mil; all in front before one foot of film is shot. Mel's movie was a once in a lifetime achievement, truly a film of "his" Faith that communicated to an audience who also had faith. You can bet that the atheist, Jewish, Left political activists will do whatever they can to trivialize everything Biblical, everything Christian, and everyone who actually has Christian Faith.

The people who said they'd see that Gibson never worked in Hollywood again will now make films of faith. Someone get my connection on the phone, I'm starting to see reality.

March Madness quick picks. As most of you know I am a peerless forecaster, so here's your bets. Stanford is the worst number one seed in the history of the tournament. They will be blown out in the second round, if they survive the first round. If Duke survives Arizona they make it to the final four; not because they are good (they aren't) but because they are in the weakest section. Nobody KNOWS how good Gonzaga is, they always seem to surprise but the St. Louis section is just guesswork. St Joseph's is a good story but a bad team, look for Oklahoma State. BTW I've yet to get past the second day in any office pool since 1982.

CHALK UP A MAJOR WIN FOR ISLAM

The Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century is now the Spanish electorate. Call it appeasement of Hitler, feeding the dragon, bribing the Vikings (Paris in 850) or whatever metaphor you choose, the beast can never be soothed; never satiated; will always return for more til there is no more. The Spanish election will be very bad news for every election in every basically gutless country. Watch for more terrorism in Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and possibly Sweden. I leave out Canada, France and Germany because they have already caved ("Good doggy"). This is a horrible development and one which "proves" to the Islamofascists that democracies are cowardly and only interested in their own comfort; who can blame them? Spain was the harbringer of the 1940's war. Now it may prove the same for the ultimate terror war. I like the quote from Samuel Adams:

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?' ... If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"

This was posted by Chuck on Bill Quick's site but says what I feel perfectly.

This is a major win for alQaeda and make no mistake. Liken it to the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam where the Left Propaganda machine convinced everyone that the Viet Cong had won when in fact they did not. When you can win an election by killing 200 people it means that any mass murderer in any country can actually influence it. Shame!

ARNOLD IS A LYING PIG

If you live in CA, time to wake up. Our esteemed new governor is endorsing a new bill in the legislature called SB 1160 which will give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Not only that, there is an urgency clause in the bill which will make it law the instant our Governor signs it. This bill is supported by the Mecha crowd and the usual Left suspects. It was first brought public by World Net Daily, a copy of the bill can be found HERE and a petition to try to stop this madness is to be found HERE. The problem is that everything has to be timed because of the Bush Amnesty program. Methinks our governator is a liar and a hypocrite.

Note on the stink about NYT "satire" correcting columnists. I think if you will reflect, no newspaper ever checks out a columnist. Tons of them are wrong, outright liars, and political polemicists. That is the way a paper with a leftist bent can libel Bush or one with a Conservative lean can smear Kerry and not be called biased.

That is the way the game is played. If you believe the Op Ed pages of any newspaper you need help crossing the street. The NYT successfully silencing a critic who has no money is no surprise. It's been going on with left media for a long time. Think the Bush administration will step in to help? Are bears Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods?

WHAT TOOK 'EM SO LONG

Those of you who have been reading this blog know I have been talking about the cost per hire as a major reason we aren't creating jobs. Well FINALLY Big Media is reporting it.

Economy and MarketsWHAT NOW?

Shit! I've been stopped out. What do I do now? I can only tell you what I do. I saw the potential for a top last weekend. I saw my stocks tumble during the week and I set stops at the 50 day moving averages. I only own three and was stopped out of two. What now? Do I buy back in to the same stocks? Put my money in a "safe" place? What?

First, I never go long in a bear market. Never. We had huge sell offs on rising volume, but only for four days. There is no confirmation of a bear. This could be just a minor "correction". But the Friday rally was on weak volume. So?

I don't re-buy the same stock unless it is coming off a second or third "basing" formation. I am looking for other stocks to give me a buy signal. I have lots more money now than I did six months ago; one stock was up 100% and the other 325% (remember I lose three out of four times, meaning I get stopped out of my initial buys with an 8% loss).

I wait. I want a bull market. Rising prices on rising volume. Insiders have been bailing out for months. Did they buy back in on Friday? I don't know. What was the rally about? I don't know, and I mean KNOW, not what do I think.

Back to basics. Remember, being out of the market IS taking a position in the market. I'm an investor not a speculator. JOBS is what the economy and the market must have. Right now there are no NEW HIRES. All these "great" numbers coming out right now must factor in the 40,000 supermarket strikers in SoCal going BACK to work and the God knows how many construction workers who couldn't work because of the weather also going back to work. Stay cool. I won't move til I'm off vacation no matter what. And I don't move into a market I don't understand. Right now, I don't understand.

That's what I do. I'm a student and a follower of William O'Neil at Investors Business Daily. The guy is never wrong.

BTW my gold buy at 380 stop is still on. I may cancel it. Dollar has turned near term and gold is headed down. I WILL keep you posted on that old recommendation. LINK to a very old post to show you how long it takes for a long trend to truly bottom. It is my opinion that the dollar will rally for the next few months at least.

Not a solicitation to buy or sell stocks. All stock investment involves risk of loss of all your money. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose. Stop loss orders may not be filled at your price. Buy stop orders may not be filled at your price. Spreads can be more risky than outright long or short positions. Buying on margin or trading the futures market can result in losing more money than you have put up and shouldf never be undertaken by people without the capital to sustain huge losses.

Notes while traveling With an old friend in a place called Vander NC. Black activism is visible through out the areas I've been visiting over the past few days. Blacks lie, they hate white people, they want reparations, etc. etc. etc. I started to ask myself "why?"

Someone a lot smarter than me wrote that all Jews fear death. Thousands of years of being chased around the world and killed "just because" has sunk in deeply. That is a large part of what every Jew is. Applied to Blacks it means that every Black American fears being captured and returned to slavery. Every white is a "master" looking to chain him; every employment situation is a "Plantation" (ten million per year athletes say they work "for the man"); every activity that made whites superior and evil masters is to be avoided; education, reading, or doing anything "white" . When you hear nothing but Black for a few days it really sinks in.

Almost anyone like this becomes what they fear most. They brutalize one another like white master to black slave; exploit each other as white Plantation owners exploited their forefathers, (all you have to do is listen to the Black campaigns and hear the lies repeated over and over again to recognize it); and most of all their racist views about Asians, whites, Jews, and Indian/Pakistanis is evident everywhere. Revenge, the ultimate slave rebellion, is their cause.

When dealing or listening to Blacks these days it's best to think about their fear of being enslaved as the root of what they say. When you look at it that way you see how far they haven't come, not how far they have.

I tole ya HERE ON MONDAY that the stock market was going to tank. Investors are bailing because they think Bush will lose. I'm in south Georgia right now and lots of people are pissed about jobs here also. I mean really pissed. Market could go as low as 9500, worst case is 8,000.

Notes while traveling and visiting with mostly Catholic friends and family. You have no idea how angry Catholics are about the scandals in the church. "Why give money to pay off law suits?", was the most heard remark. American Catholics are almost sure to break with Rome; contempt for the Pope, Vatican, Bishops, Cardinals, and celibacy is all you hear. None I've met has seen The Passion either. So who is coughing up the 200 mil???

No cable news, so I get the smaller city news feeds. Idiotic is the only word I can think of.

Real estate prices in Florida are shockingly low compared to SoCal. In fact housing isn't that expensive throughout the South.

There are good restaurants all over the place. Best I've found so far is a small chain called "Bonefish Grill". This is really good.

SoCal weather is so good it spoils it for everywhere else.

Stock Market a barometer of the feeling that Bush is toast. The charts this AM look like the top is in. You better have your stops set for a huge drop. Face it everyone, the President is the least articulate person in Federal Office. He cannot articulate. He is not capable of running his own campaign. What you will see this week is the anticipation of a Democratic win. Only Jobs Numbers can save this presidency, and I increasingly doubt that a person who cannot communicate anything can win. Even if unemployment drops to 4.9%. The market is about to tell you plenty.

PASSION OF THE CHRIST, MY OPINION OF THE MOVIE

Exactly as first written but three minor changes made because of emails questioning my scholarship. First, the theater and audience. This movie MIGHT be a culture change, and then again maybe not. The audience for this movie at the theater in Beverly Hills I usually attend (my neighborhood movie house) is almost always white bread. Almost no minorities. The audience for Passion was no more than 20% white. At least 40% was black and the other 40% were Asian and Central American. Almost everyone was no older than 35. This audience was also unusually polite. People moved for seats, said excuse me and all the other civilized stuff. Keep in mind this is white turf. I have no idea if this mirrors other movie times and other theaters. Reminds me once again that most blacks ain't gang banging and most Central Americans are Catholic and work. The audience applauded when the movie was over. I know they appreciated the movie.

2. What I bring to the party. I view this movie from the perspective of producing five movies, acting for twenty years, and doing more than a little writing. I know the biz. I also was raised a Catholic in a Jewish father/Catholic mother household. I went to parochial school for a while, I know a bit about the Bible, but most especially I know a bit about the Dead Sea Scrolls.. The Jewish heirarchy in Jerusalem did want Jesus dead and did throw him over to the Roman soldiers. While the Scrolls have backed up the Bible in many ways, clarified it in many other ways, they have corrected and added to the history in a lot of other ways. There have also been literally hundreds of previously unknown documents and Gospels found and translated.

3. Now for some history. The more you know the less you will like about this movie. But movies are STORIES and selections are always made. However, the movie as presented shows no reasons for the Jerusalem rabbis hatred of Jesus. No background for the character of Pilate as presented. Here's the history I'd like to have seen; but keep in mind that I didn't risk my financial ass to make this movie.

First is Jerusalem. This was not Jesus' home turf. Nobody knew him there. The Biblical Palm Sunday appearance was a fake. The palm fronds were spread by only his disciples who were cited by the cops for disturbing the peace (littering in modern terms). Nobody knew or cared that He was there. Jesus was from Galilee where he had a huge following that included much of the Jewish hierarchy. The entire episode could not have taken place in Galilee. Only in Jerusalem.

Second is the time and history. Jesus was a revolutionary. By the time of the crucifixion Jesus and his Disciples had formed a plan for revolution. Several Disciples led a revolt against Pilate the year before that resulted in murders and a short lived war that Pilate naturally won. Simon, Judas, and Thaddeus, were wanted men n Jerusalem. And in fact Thaddeus and Simon were caught at the same time as Jesus and MAY have been the two others crucified along with Jesus.

At first the Disciples were fighting among themselves over whether to include non-Jews in the rebellion. Jesus wanted everyone but many of the Disciples did not. Jesus finally prevailed. They were then in the middle of dispute number two: should the non Jews be circumcised before being allowed to revolt? Jesus thought not but at least half the Disciples wanted adult circumcision before allowing non-Jews in. This dispute, something huge among Jews, had not been resolved at the time Jesus went to Jerusalem.. As I said, many of the Disciples were facing criminal charges for leading the Zealot revolt the year before. Judas was high among the wanted and he was one of the main guys opposed to allowing non-circumcised converts into the revolt. His reasons for betrayal were political as well as personal. Judas thought that with Jesus out of the way he would become the leader or at least very close to the top, close enough so he could beat the rap. (See footnote) I won't go into details, but there is no way that the Zealots; Judas, Simon, and Thaddaeus could possibly have been allowed to roam around Jerusalem without being arrested (Dead Sea Scrolls in detail); Jesus was not wanted YET. In fact Simon and Thaddaeus were caught and Judas's big plans became unraveled and he killed himself; all in all with four zealots dead Pilate had a big day.

So the political background was not in the movie. As for Pilate, he was a brute. He had been recalled to Rome twice because he was crucifying people over nothing and causing trouble for Rome. Augustus told him he would be killed if he caused any more trouble. It is against this background that Pilate may have done a "show" of mercy so that Rome might know he did all he could to stop another crucifiction. He had to want Jesus dead because he was one of the guys involved in the revolt the year before.

You can't put everything into a movie, but that is the background. The local Jewish leaders (Sanhedrin) saw Jesus as the symbol of revolt, a leader of the Zealots, and a man they had to get rid of or lose everything themselves. This is why they lined up against Jesus; something that is never explained in the movie and a big reason Jews are upset. The Bible is no longer the only authority because the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown us much more.

The movie. I didn't think it was very good. Every guy had a beard and I couldn't tell one bearded guy from the other. The two main women , the two Mary's, wore black and I never knew was who. This is a cheap movie and it showed it in many places. Gibson's direction is sloppy at best. Master shots and close ups didn't match and I frequently was confused as to where I was. Also you have to be at least a little familiar with the Passion of Christ to understand the plot because he doesn't tell you. Was I moved? No. Was the violence bad? No. Ridiculous is more like it. No person on this planet could survive the beating as depicted in the movie. Anti-Semitic? I can see why Jews are upset because the Rabbis are front and center for much of the movie. The Jews screaming about it was stupid, just makes people want to see what the stink is about. History is missing.

I know huge numbers of people are moved by this movie, it is impossible not to be affected by it, and it provokes thought and discussion. In my case I was not spiritually or emotionally moved at all. I just thought it was long, confusing, and boring.

So crucify me, but put my trinkets on Ebay. I'll sign a poster and you can give my girl friend the big bucks. Meanwhile the trashing of Gibson continues; see Sullivan today and the rest of the Gay so-called Catholics. Like I said they'd all have loved the movie had Jesus supported gay marriage while being whipped or cried out for abortion while the nails were being driven in.

Footnote to Judas: Could be an entirely separate story. He was the "hit man" of the Zealots, an assassin. He was very powerful. The Dead Sea Scrolls were produced under his supervision. The Romans called him Judas Sicarius after the deadly curved dagger called a "sica" that he used. It is most likely that his suicide had more to do with the fact that after all his political intrigue in an effort to beat the rap, he failed. It is a cinch he'd have been crucified when caught because he was Public Enemy #1 to Pilate.