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47 Comments
The Republicans have no morals, or principles, whatsoever:
MINNEAPOLIS — Tom DeLay, the former House GOP majority leader whose connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff brought scandal and disgrace to the Republican party, returned to the spotlight in Minneapolis last night, helping to host a private party that drew hundreds of delegates and Republican officials.
“He’s the man, he’s the man,” said one guest leaving the party.
“I’ve always liked him, he’s a good solid conservative,” said one delegate standing in line for entrance to the party, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia.
DeLay arrived at the Minneapolis night club for his party last night in a gold mini-van, no longer traveling with the Capitol police detail that used to protect him from reporters and other perceived security threats.
He declined to answer questions from ABC News as he entered the back door of the club through a loading dock.
Tune in to World News with Charles Gibson tonight to see Brian Ross on the Money Trail from Minneapolis.
Once known as “the hammer” for his hardball tactics on Capitol Hill, the featured entertainment at DeLay’s party was the band Smash Mouth.
Asked his reaction to DeLay’s appearance in Minneapolis, Cong. John Mica (R-FL) declined to answer and then head-butted the ABC camera.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5707463
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2YDq6FkVE
Good one!
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/09/03/the_great_financial_bubble_scam_how_wall
I don’t throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. – Gordon Gekko
In the 1990s, Wall Street brokers told average investors to buy stocks and mutual funds in the high-tech sector because high-tech stocks were the next big thing and investors would make a killing with them. And average investors did– for a while.
Then the high-tech bubble burst and many average Americans lost one third to one half of the money they had invested in their retirement funds and 401K plans. Not to worry, they were told by Wall Street, real estate is the next big thing, so buy property and you’ll make up the difference you lost in stocks.
Which a lot of people did, buying properties they couldn’t afford with adjustable rate loans that should have never been made by mortgage brokers who were in it for a quick buck. But it didn’t matter because prices were sky rocketing; even average investors were flipping properties for big profits.
But then the real estate bubble burst when interest rates reset and went substantially higher. As a result, home owners couldn’t pay the higher rates and began to walk away from their homes. Also, those investors who bought real estate at the top of the market (including those greedy little flippers!) were now left with negative equity, so they walked away from their properties as well, causing huge foreclosure rates.
In the meantime, average American home owners who bought their homes years ago with traditional loans have lost anywhere from 20-40% of their home equity thanks to all the homes on the market in foreclosure. This phenomenon has hit baby boomers particularly hard because they had planned to use the equity in their homes for retirement.
Don’t sit around and mope, commodities brokers advised disenchanted home owners, put your money in gold and silver. They’re the next big thing! Their prices are sky rocketing! And they were– for a while, but as of this writing gold is down about 20% and silver is down about 30%. So should investors sell or hold? Is this the end of the bull market in metals and commodities generally, or just a temporary retracement with much more upside potential?
No one knows for sure, since no one can predict the direction of a commodity with absolute certainty (as the fine print warns on any speculative contract). But forget absolute certainty. The big players on Wall Street (the hedge fund operators, the billionaire corporate raiders, the big guns at investment houses like Goldman-Sachs) may not know with absolute certainty about the future price of a commodity, but they have a pretty damn good idea which way the price is headed when they buy or sell huge blocks of commodities on the open market. And once they make their move, all their friends, associates, fellow speculators and day traders will hop on board and help push the price higher or lower, which creates a sudden price spike. And this is where they make their easy money.
It’s usually at this point that average investors hear about the “big move” and enter the market because the commodity is “hot.” But by then it’s too late; the big players take their profits and hang average investors out to dry.
This is essentially what happened with the price of gold and silver. Gold had shot up over $1,000 an ounce and silver had gone over $20– until the sudden spike down. Now gold is trading in the $800 range and silver in the $14 range.
But here’s what’s been happening behind the headlines. Last month, when gold and silver took a huge tumble, there was no fundamental reason for them to lose so much value so quickly. In other words, the fundamentals in the economy had not changed very much at the time of the plunge: inflation was still on the rise, home foreclosures and layoffs were getting worse, and the political conditions in the world were still precarious.
There was one change, however. During that same time frame, the price of oil, a commodity that influences the price of metals, had also fallen about 20%. But that begs the question: What made the price of oil suddenly change course so quickly? Less demand? True, Americans were driving less and using less gas, but that was a gradual trend, not something that happened overnight.
Was there a sudden scarcity in the supply of oil? No, not at all. So why did the price spike down? According to a report by Martin Vander Weyer in the British Telegraph, the price of oil “has finally revealed itself not as the fundamental reflection of scarce supply that its adherents liked to claim, but as a simple, speculative bubble that was always going to burst.”
The same could be said for gold and silver. In fact, when the price of silver fell, there was a shortage (real or manipulated?) of physical silver on the open market (and there still is), and even if you want to buy silver bullion or ingots from metals dealers you have a long wait.
So wouldn’t that make the price go up? If we follow the laws of supply and demand that would certainly be the case. But remember, this is Bush/Cheney America, where black is white and up is down and the normal rules of economics don’t apply. So if it wasn’t supply and demand, then what caused the sudden plunge in the price of oil and gold and silver?
Well, if you rule out Satan, then the logical deduction is market manipulation by the heavy hitters and big speculators who sold those commodities short and made huge money on the sudden spike down in price. It’s a pretty good scam; technically, it’s illegal, but the truth is, there’s market manipulation of commodities all the time.
For example, as of October 25, 2007, the Department of Justice “filed more than 60 civil enforcement actions and at least 33 criminal indictments against individuals and firms that fraudulently operated multi-million dollar commodity pools and hedge funds. These actions have resulted in numerous criminal convictions and fines and restitution totaling almost $400 million.” And those are just the ones that got caught!
As a result, average investors get played for chumps and lose big time whenever the heavy hitters decide to cash out. But hasn’t this always been the case? Yes, to a degree, but from the days of FDR until the 1980s, there were much tighter rules and regulations and more government oversight in the financial markets, as well as in the banking and real estate industries.
All that changed, of course, when Ronald Reagan became president and his gang of free market crooks took over the government (remember the savings and loan scandal in the 1980s?) and made capitalism a rigged game for the benefit of the wealthy and well-connected.
Following in Reagan’s footsteps, the Bush administration has done its best to remove or ignore government regulation and oversight of the financial markets, thus creating an ideal environment for big players to create artificial price spikes and bubbles to enrich themselves and their friends and associates.
The question is, how long can the elite class of investors keep bilking the system before it collapses of its own weight? Jim Rogers, a former partner of George Soros and one of those elite billion-dollar investors that financial analysts love to quote, is talking nothing but gloom and doom these days and has pretty much given up on America as a lost cause. In fact, he’s already moved to China, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of other big players are already beginning to bail out on the good old USA and stash their cash in Swiss bank accounts and the Cayman Islands.
After all, they know the score better than anyone else. They know our country’s financial system is basically a glorified Ponzi scheme that is not only broke but over $9.5 trillion in debt. And this year there have already been runs on some federally insured banks, including one of the biggies, the IndyMac Bank of California.
Not a good sign! But are we in for a lot more bank failures in 2009? And can Americans still be confident that the FDIC will back their personal savings accounts if more banks go under and the system begins to unravel? Or will this be the next– and maybe the last– bubble to burst?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-personal-income-spending-fall/story.aspx?guid={0781280A-C14F-4382-A4C4-F4F59D775B39}&dist=msr_7
U.S. personal income, spending fall in July
By Greg Robb
Last update: 10:14 a.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008
Comments: 41
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Real consumer spending fell 0.4% in July, the Commerce Department reported Friday. This is the biggest drop since June 2004. Nominal spending rose 0.2%. Personal income fell 0.7% in July, the biggest drop since August 2005. Real disposable incomes fell 1.7% in July. This is the second straight large monthly drop in the wake of the government stimulus payments. Inflation surged in the month. The core personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.3% in July compared with June and is up 2.4% in the past year. This is the largest gain since September 2006. Wall Street economists had expected a 0.4% decline in incomes, a 0.2% gain in nominal spending and a 0.3% rise in the core PC
Is this the cut and paste blog?
Let’s talk about curious george and the man in the yellow hat.
Thanks annie moose! That first post is chilling. The truth usually does hurt and that one’s jam-packed full of truth.
And this deregulation started with the hero ronnie and found perfection with the hero dubya.
Worse? McCain wants to be bush’s third term! He has NO economic policies. In fact has told us how good our economy is under the bush administration and he plans to continue bush’s economic policies!
Speaking of Abramoff…
Palin’s Lobbyist Has Abramoff Ties
By Kate Klonick and Zachary Roth – September 2, 2008, 1:01PM
It looks like Sarah Palin’s claim to represent a cleaner brand of politics could be about to take a bruising.
The Washington Post reports today that, while Mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a lobbyist, Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to now-indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens — to help win federal earmarks for the city.
But Silver appears to have additional ties that could further undercut Palin’s image as a squeaky-clean reformer. According to Senate lobbying disclosure reports examined by TPMmuckraker, from 2002 to 2004 Silver listed as a client Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. On Greenberg’s behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on “issues relating to Indian/Native American policy,” “exploration for oil and gas” and “legislation relating to gaming issues” — the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of “Team Abramoff.”
Indeed, one specific bill that Silver lobbied on for Greenberg, according to the forms, was S.627, also known as the Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act. A former Greenberg lobbyist confirmed to TPMmuckraker that Silver would have been working to oppose the bill. And it was an earlier version of this very bill that Abramoff famously worked to spike, with the support of Christian conservative leaders Lou Sheldon and Ralph Reed.
There’s additional evidence of ties between Silver and Abramoff. Emails released by a House committee in 2006 as part of a probe of Abramoff show the now-disgraced lobbyist scheduling a meeting with Silver in 2001.
Silver is a member of the Anchorage-based law firm of Robertson, Monacle, and Eastaugh, which the Post describes as having “close ties” to Stevens, and Alaska Congressman Don Young, who’s under federal investigation for allegedly taking bribes. Since 2005, Silver has contributed $3500 each to Stevens and Young, according to campaign contributions records posted at CampaignMoney.com.
This is far from the first time that Abramoff’s trail of corruption has led to Alaska. Last year, Mark Zachares, a former aide to Young, pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff in return for using his position to advance Abramoff’s goals.
Silver did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
Google’s Chrome aims to kill Windows, make Web the OS of choice
#
SolDevVB
Posted September 3, 2008 at 9:35 am | Permalink
Google’s Chrome aims to kill Windows, make Web the OS of choice
——————————-
Ya Sol,
Been sort of tracking this. Google now has entire applications available on the Web (Word Processing, Data base applications, Graphics, Presentation Graphics and etc.) all for free.
Google has been forwarding their “anti-shrink wrap” approach to software for sometime now.
Whether or not it can be successful in changing operating system based computers into dumb Internet connected terminals, I don’t know.
With a lot of directX and openGL type applications out there that are based on variations of C language programming enhancements, I don’t see anything immediate.
Personally, I find the prospect troubling as it would mean every aspect of personal computing would no long be personal, but owned, controlled and operated by an online entity.
That entity tied to Internet Service Providers (ISP) would essentially have an industrial strength noose around the neck of the consumer and essentially kill individualism on the Web.
This is too much “big brother” for me.
I agree. Google tracks to much info already. The business sector won’t buy in due to security.
“McCain advisers Stephen Schmidt and Mark Salter told reporters in St. Paul, Minnesota, yesterday that the campaign learned of Bristol’s pregnancy when the mother was vetted.”
That still raises the question of when she was vetted. It was a good answer though. :)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080902/pl_bloomberg/azjwbcginwsg
Sol and Regular,
Not entirely true to that. Google sells services to businesses to do just that. And some businesses are in fact buying into it.
Personally, I find it nice to use, plus for businesses there are options for hosting/storing the data locally on a business network anyway(email for now that I know of, but their other apps can’t be far behind).
This technology really isn’t anything new though, green screen/dumb terminals existed long before now, this is really more a better implementation of just that where you can take it with you much more easily.
Will it replace the OS? Perhaps for small network only devices, I think it would. But for full blown PC’s? Probably not yet, but I think in time(10 – 15 years out) we may see less and less people using a full blown PC as it is being used now.
If using online apps are not your thing, and you’d still rather not have to pay much(if anything) for office style apps. I suggest looking into OpenOffice for Windows and Linux. And NeoOffice for Mac based computers.
I’ll stick with IE. I’ve used Firefox and still have it, but it doesn’t work right with some websites and frustrates me too often. I keep my security software up to date daily and retain no banking or any other personal identifying information on my computer.
As for word processing, because what I do is pretty much nothing BUT word processing, I won’t be changing programs for that. MS Word is industry standard in my world. Doing it in one company’s program and switching it to another is a waste of precious time.
Sol, I think that some small businesses may well buy in. This is based on an admittedly nonscientific survey of a few clients who are excited about being able to obtain service from an ASP (Application Service Provider), and don’t consider the security question all that seriously. They also don’t see the argument of being at the mercy of such a provider as a deal breaker.
I personally will not go that way; I’ll continue my own PC adventure, taking advantage of Linux, Open Office, Firefox, and other applications I need, as long as I am able to so do.
But I do LOVE my Google desktop sidebar!
Pre, I understand your position. I will tell you that saving a word processing file in .doc (MS Word)format is quite easy under OO Writer, and have experienced no problems therewith. Of course, I’m not doing a lot of macros, etc., which might otherwise cause problems. Importing .doc files into OO Writer doesn’t seem to be too time consuming, either.
Sol. Admittedly, I can only speak from my experience. Our company has an internet based product where the central file room is managed by our servers. It still isn’t very popular because of privacy concerns (as avtolle brough up) Of course, our product would have tax returns, charts of accounts and Trial balances, so my example may be a bit skewed.
Avtolle,
I’d agree with you, to an extent. It really depends on what you are doing in Word that will determine the ease of importing a Word document into Writer.
For most documents(in my opinion), this probably isn’t going to be an issue, but if importing some macros those are probably where most of the headache would lie in. Would I try Open Office? On something you’ve already made a backup of, I’d consider it, just to see what you like and don’t like about it. But, if you are happy with what you are using now, there isn’t a large need to change just for the sake of change. :D
djr4488, I agree with what you post in your final sentence. Just was trying to point out to Pre that if she ever needed to change for whatever reason, Writer isn’t all that bad, even though I didn’t say it clearly at all.
For familiarity with Word keyboard shortcuts, AbiWord is likely a bit better, but I don’t personally care for it. To each his/her own, right? :-)
Pre,
Every republican is connected to Abramoff. Grover Norquist of anti-tax fame has deep ties to Abramoff, too.
Grover came to Kansas last legislative session and spoke to our law makers. I am betting he did so at my expense. Though I don’t know for sure.
AMoose–Dude, thank you for posting this. This is the biggest story that the dumbkopf media can’t wrap their heads around.
DE-REGULATION LEADS TO SPECULATIVE BUBBLES AND BUSTS.
We’re seeing it with the housing markets right now. The Second Glass-Steagal Act (1933) made mega-banks illegal and regulated mortgages etc. so that what happened in 1929-1930 couldn’t happen again. This Act was repealed by another Act in 1998, by well-known CON and now banker Phil Gramm.
Within two years, we see housing prices going up way above market fundamentals, a classic speculative bubble, then a massive collapse.
There are SEVEN THOUSAND FORECLOSURES A DAY in the United States.
This is not “greed” or “bad loans” as the drive-by media would have you believe.
It’s a direct result of a systematic change to allow crony capitalists free access to manipulate markets and screw the little guy.
The fact that they also screwed their own companies makes little difference–they have their mega-million golden parachutes . . .
Maybe Palin’s problems are a result of those pesky “stiff-necked” Jews that her pastor rants about in his anti-Semitic sermons?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/3/84555/55316/359/584418
I’m sure Paul will rant on and on about how Palin hates Jews because of what her pastor preaches. Oh wait, the pastor is probably White, so he’ll be a hypocrite as usual.
dailykos, Ha Ha! Daily KOOKS!
http://www.osei.noaa.gov/OSEIiod.html
gustav just passed, hanna, ike and josephine are gathering strength. Could be a rough season.
Last night I bookmarked the recorded sermons of the Senior Pastor of the church Palin grew up in. Even listened to a couple from my bookmark. This morning:
404 Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server
Luckily, the recordings are on other servers already. I don’t suppose we will see or hear anymore about Pastor Wright!
Annie/Capt: There is no diffrence between the bankers/fund managers/financial “advisors” and guys at the track. They’re all touts, never forget that. The Market is based on fear and greed and has little to do with the benfit of the captialist system of delivering goods and services at competitive rates.
saving a word processing file in .doc (MS Word)format is quite easy under OO Writer
Thanks for the tip, VT. I’ll keep it in mind for the future. One never knows what might happen.
Linda, the scrubbing has been fast and furious over the past few days. Too bad someone didn’t spend some time hunting for things BEFORE others grabbed and saved. It might have saved the Repubs some headaches. ;)
Pre, you’re welcome.
On the scrubbing, etc., I think both parties’ leadership is a bit behind the times on how the internet can work, especially when those with a bit of experience and time to make a point set their minds to it. I believe that both sides appreciate some parts of it, but the ability to get to a site, download and save videos, etc., then reposting them to different servers as an example, seems to be a concept beyond the ken of those accustomed to dealing with the traditional media. It is truly a whole new day, and both sides seem slow to understand how it may work both to the advantage and disadvantage of either or both.
As per the ‘scrubbing’. There may be another cause of the 404. Server overload. Palin was so unknown that I am sure “Palin” is in the top 10 google searches for the past few days.
Some of the sites you went to to ‘dig up dirt’ may just be overloaded. DDS could be a culprit as well.
or the ping of death. :)
Sol, point taken. However, it seems that the Assembly of God site that was linked above has deleted that which is being sought,
Could be so. Just pointing out there may be other smoking guns. Streaming video is bandwidth intensive.
I misspoke, Sol; in the words of the Assembly, that part has been “shut down” as reported at http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/website-with-sp.html
Yes, streaming video is bandwith intensive, and that is apparently the stated cause for shutting down that part of the website.
“bandwith” =”bandwidth”.
Gmac cutting out 60% of its workforce.
Speaking of the dumbkopf media, I saw Ed Henry on CNN interviewing some state official about Sarah Palin. He asked her about the Alaska Independence Party, stating the Todd Palin was a member but Sarah was not (really? not what I heard).
The official stated that the name of the party summed up the spirit of independence that characterizes Alasks (or something to that effect). Not a word about seceding from the Union.
And he just stood there and watched.
That’s tabloid corporate “journalism” for ya.
******
I use Firefox mostly these days (Opera for newsfeeds), but Chrome sounds interesting.
P.S. While we’re on the subject of CNN and corporate media:
http://news.google.com/news?as_q=%22Amy+Goodman%22&svnum=10&as_scoring=r&ned=us&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_mind=4&as_minm=8&as_maxd=3&as_maxm=9&as_nsrc=CNN&as_nloc=&geo=&as_occt=any&aq=f
#
Maggotpunk
Posted September 3, 2008 at 11:44 am | Permalink
Maybe Palin’s problems are a result of those pesky “stiff-necked” Jews that her pastor rants about in his anti-Semitic sermons?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/3/84555/55316/359/584418
I’m sure Paul will rant on and on about how Palin hates Jews because of what her pastor preaches. Oh wait, the pastor is probably White, so he’ll be a hypocrite as usual.
——————
Hmmm… Daily Kos. Wasn’t that the commie lib site that fabricated the story about Sarah Palin not being the mother of her special needs baby?
So why we should pay attention to anything they write? Truth is not the left’s long suit.
I know everybody says polls mean little, the only poll that means anything is the one taken on elections day and all that. But I look at them, I suspect others do too.
There are many! I check two or three every week or so. Today CNN updated theirs, adding Minnesota and Iowa to Obama’s “leaning” states. This leaves their electoral map with only eight toss up states totaling 106 electoral votes, as follows:
Nevada 5
Colorado 9
Missouri 11
Florida 27
Virginia 13
Ohio 20
Michigan 17
New Hampshire 4
They currently show the Obama total at 243 (needing 27 to reach the magic number of 270).
They currently show the McCain total at 189 (needing 81 to reach the magic number of 270).
When looking at this closer, I find that McCain must win all but one of those eight toss up states to reach that magic number, and that ONE can’t be Florida.
In case you occasionally look too:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/10/electoral.map/index.html
The RCP electoral map uses a compilation of polls and can be found here:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/
A little different, but not much.
Cool…
The USS New York constructed from the materials from 911 incident in NYC.
http://www.ussnewyork.com/
outlander posted September 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm
“Hmmm… Daily Kos. Wasn’t that the commie lib site that fabricated the story about Sarah Palin not being the mother of her special needs baby?
So why we should pay attention to anything they write? Truth is not the left’s long suit.”
———-
Don’t pay attention to the David Brickner issue, if you don’t want to.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/website-with-sp.html
“Palin’s current church has also undergone scrutiny.
The Politico’s Ben Smith reported that Palin was present for an Aug. 17 sermon by David Brickner, an activist for the missionary group “Jews for Jesus,” considered quite controversial among many American Jews. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith has criticized Brickner for “targeting Jews for conversion with subterfuge and deception.”
Brickner in his sermon described terrorist attacks on Israelis as part of “an ongoing reflection of the fact that there is judgment” by God of those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior.”
More at link.
You know she still hasn’t said that she gave birth to the boy.
http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080904/ap_on_re_ca/arctic_ice_shelf
That’s for you global warming arguers.
Good night; Good luck; God bless —-
Whatever you conceive God to be!!
Blessings ALL!!
Blessings on all those in storm paths!!
Blessings on Ms. Bristol!!
So mote it be!!
Numbers 6:22
22 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,
‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
24 “May the LORD bless you and keep you;
25 May the LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 May the LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’