Month: March 2010

2010 Anal-Ocity #10

The hits just keep coming….if seems that politicians and others cannot go very long without showing their arrogance and saying so anal it just begs to be pointed out…..

In my anger with the religious BS coming out of the Vatican, I almost forgot to add the Pope to the most anal of statements….I will rectify that here…..

Recently, when the story broke about the priest in Wisconsin that had molested at least 200 deaf boys at a school for the deaf, the Pope handled all the outrage at the act and the handling of ALL molestation charges leveled at others in the church, by saying:

he would not “be intimidated by … petty gossip”.

Petty gossip?  I covered this situation in some detail yesterday here on Info Ink……check it out….and give your opinion…..

When will the American people start demanding that these sexual predators start being treated like the degenerate toads they are?  I have NO use for any organization that allows this type of behavior within their ranks….and that includes any church that does!

Another Armed Conflict Coming?

Inkwell Institute

Middle East Crisis #3

Think back a couple years ago…there was fighting and killing in Lebanon and then in Gaza…then there was an uneasy cease fire, it will never be a peace, just an uneasy cease fire…..and then the rest of the world, well Israel friendly world, began again the tired old plan of trying to find common ground for both parties involved to secure a lasting cease fire and a solution to the nation problem…..

With every effort attempting there seems to always be the same stumbling block…settlements.  Israel goes into build mode and the Palestinians go into opposition mode and after a couple of months of back and forth, the shooting begins and the new war begins…..and with that the deaths, injuries, accusations, rhetoric and all the usual BS that goes with the conflict….

Plan after plan has been offered up and plan after plan has been shot down and with the death of each plan comes the death of the people involved…..a never ending cycle of war, ceasefire, BS and then more war……Now it is Obama’s turn in the barrel of the Middle East…it started off pretty good and then in the middle of a visit from the VP Israel announces its plan to build more settlements….pretty much a spit in Obama’s face….and then the words and then after the words fall silent…..the rockets and bullets start……and a way we go on the usual path…..

Israel’s nemesis in Gaza is Hamas and every excursion into the area is lead by the promise of the elimination of said group….and when it is over and a cease fire takes hold…Hamas always remains…..a good thing if you need something to justify the killing and maiming of a population….

But what now?  Is the cycle broken?  You decide!

Though he balked at setting any timeline for when it would happen, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz promised that Israel would “sooner or later” invade and reoccupy the Gaza Strip, liquidating Hamas in the process.

Minister Steinitz, a member of the ruling Likud Party, said that Israel would have to reoccupy the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas from rearming and that it was “left with no choice” in the matter.

Tensions along the border with the strip have been on the rise since a Friday clash inside the strip in which two members of the Hamas security force and two members of the Israeli military were slain. Israel responded to the clash by sending tanks and military bulldozers against the town of Khan Younis.

It is only a matter of time…….and if my prediction is close to correct, it will be sooner rather than later…..and the people suffer……

Petty Gossip?

That is right I have said it and so did the Pope….you know that German in white and the funny hat?

Pope Benedict today risked inflaming opinion as he appeared to round on critics of the Catholic church over the widening sexual abuse scandal, saying he would not “be intimidated by … petty gossip”.

And……….

In the face of one of the gravest scandals in the Catholic church’s recent history, the Vatican has chosen to attack the media for what it called an “ignoble attempt” to smear Pope Benedict and his top advisers “at any cost”.

First, it is ALL the fault of the media for reporting this “petty gossip”…..I would bet it is those damn “liberals” in the media that is trying to whack the Pope…..

Let me see there has been sexual abuse charges in LA, Boston, etc and Ireland and a gay prostitution ring run out of the Vatican proper and then there is that priest that violated about 200 deaf kids in Wisconsin….and it is all “PETTY GOSSIP” to the Pope….what a PRICK!

I have heard some say that as Christian it is up to us to forgive transgressions…….WAIT Just A Damn minute!  How many of those same Christians are lining up to forgive other sexual predators?  What a crock of crap!

These priests should be in prison and let the guys there handle them like they did Jeffrey Dahmer….and since nothing happens without the knowledge or approval of the Vatican…then they all need to be in prison as accessories to9 the crime of sexual predation…..and yes that means his royal highness, Pope Benedict the….whatever number it is……

If this is what “organized” religion is all about then I am pleased with my decision to be a Deist……..every year religion takes a black eye from these sort of scandals and yet it is embraced as the way…….apparently the intellect plays NO part in their decision…..

Social Security Has Its Problems

Inkwell Institute

Federal Budget Deficit Series #6

Before someone says….Duh!….and I know they will……I like stating the obvious in case some are not paying attention……I am aware that this subject has been bitched about in Washington for a generation or more…..I know all about the problems that “Boomers” are causing for the system…..and I know that some form of reform is needed…..before I talk about the reform let us look at the growing problem (yet again)…..

As reported in the AP article:

Social Security is financed by payroll taxes — employers and employees must each pay a 6.2 percent tax on workers’ earnings up to $106,800. Retirees can start getting early, reduced benefits at age 62. They get full benefits if they wait until they turn 66. Those born after 1960 will have to wait until they turn 67.

Social Security’s financial problems have been looming for years as the nation’s 78 million baby boomers approached retirement age. The oldest are already there. As that huge group of people starts collecting benefits — and stops paying payroll taxes — Social Security’s trust funds will shrink, running out of money by 2037, according to the latest projection from the trustees who oversee the program.

The recession is making things worse, at least in the short term. Tax receipts are down from the loss of more than 8 million jobs, and applications for early retirement benefits have spiked from older workers who were laid off and forced to retire.

The national debt — the amount of money the government owes its creditors — is about $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. About $8 trillion has been borrowed in public debt markets, much of it from foreign creditors. The rest came from various government trust funds, including retirement funds for civil servants and the military. About $2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security.

For decades the Congress has been skimming funds from SS and using it to save the budget from such drains as war, etc…..not ONE of the a/holes mentions that when they start their crap about it going broke.,…yes it is going broke and it is the fault of the Congress….I wish they would stop blowing smoke of the citizens asses and admit that they are the reason the fund is in sad shape….not the Boomers…

And there is the problem……the a/holes in Washington have been skimming off the fund for decades and now it is all the “Boomers” fault that it will be bankrupt by 2016….Okay I am a smart ass….do I have a fix for the problem?

Hey!  Here is a novel idea……..make people pay their FICA and Medicare taxes……simple huh?……did you know that people that make over $75,000, I believe, are exempt from paying these taxes on everything over that figure……it will help the immediate problem and probably make it more stable in the coming years….yes, it is that simple!   (he said condescendingly)…..another thing…STOP!  Raiding the fund to pay for bullshit programs that win votes!

I Knew There Was A Good Reason

A good burger is hard to beat….I am always looking for that perfect chunk of ground meat with bleu cheese and a good spicy mustard…..From Mallorca to Bangkok…..and all spots in between….I knew there was a perfect good reason why I am always searching for the next best burger……

According to the UK’s Telegraph:

American researchers found burgers, chips and sausages programmed a human brain into craving even more sugar, salt and fat laden food.

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found laboratory rats became addicted on a bad diet just like people who became dependent on cocaine and heroin.

While the findings cannot be directly transferred to human obesity, it found that overconsumption of high-calorie food triggered addiction-like responses in the brain.

But the study, published online in Nature Neuroscience, suggests for the first time that our brains may react in the same way to junk food as it does to drugs.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist who led the research, said the study, which took nearly three years to complete, confirmed the “addictive” properties of junk food.

Dammit!  Is everything illegal, addictive or immoral?

Do We Have A Political Obligation?

Inkwell Institute

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Political Theory

Paper #8

As I write my posts, from time to time, one idea morphs into more ideas and so on….as I was writing my recent series on political theory I thought of another issue that compels me to write about….that is the political obligation of the people…..in the beginning of the debate along these lines, back in the 16th century, your political obligation meant that you will obey the rules and laws of the state, the political authority….. (a post in the making)…….but I think it has evolved since the original debate….now it is the so-called obligation that Americans have to vote…..

I knew this one would be a bitch and so far I am spot on……there are complicated parts of this issue that I will try to simplify….to me it is a fascinating debate but then I enjoy politics……everyone is not that lucky or maybe that should be that…… mentally ill…..

Let us go back to the classical definition, well as far back as Plato, at least, one of the earliest of the political philosophers, in his Crito, he addressed the subject of obligation…..basically, it is what the person must do for the protection of a political authority, the State…….men would obey laws and rules for which the State protects the man.  Most political philosophers were concerned with man’s relationship to the authority….but how do we come by this obligation?  First, we have it as part of our self-interest and then a forced obligation, which is basically that it is the law of the land and you WILL obey or face the consequences…..as I have said…political obligation is a complex idea that will keep us political philosophers busy for a millennium trying to find the answer…..hopefully, there is a little clarity here…..

Now what about a more modern definition–while political obligation will keep the philosophers busy, what about the common man…..the man on the street?  To Billy Bubba the political obligation is the one to vote….a person that does not vote is un-American….why?……it is the duty (obligation) of every Americans to cast his/her vote……simple huh?

Hate to say so, but the idea that it is an obligation to cast a vote is dumb….for lack of a more appropriate word……the truth of the matter is that voting is NOT a political obligation more like an exercise in futility…..okay, think it is an obligation, then let us look at the exercise of voting…..

First if voting is truly a political obligation then education on the issues is an obligation….in reality the average American voter is ignorant of the issues, with the exception of the one that means something to them, i.e.  guns, abortion, etc……beyond the single issue there is ignorance with the voter, for the most part….

In a representative democracy voting serves one purpose…….to legitimize…..the act of voting in this atmosphere is not the “magic wand” that the elites claim it is….they control who and what is the rule of law…in reality the people have little say….an occassional poll or questionnaire from the Rep is only to give the appearance that they care of the opinion of those ruled…the agenda was set when they decided what party and what issues were to be their main focus….

So do we have a political obligation?  In the classical sense, yes we do….we must and I emphasize the word MUST, give up some personal freedoms to secure protection by the State…..and in the more “modern” sense then the answer is NO!  We have no obligation to vote, especially under representative system of governance…..it is apparent that the American people do NOT feel they have a political obligation for on an average of 50% of us actually car enough to vote on any given issue…if Americans had more of an insight to political thought then they would also agree…..but the propaganda machine of both parties work overtime, especially close to an election, to try and force people to turn out and vote for them…..

The Sympathetic American

Daily Agitator

I am always amazed at the generosity of the American people……and they just cannot let a disaster go by without taking pity on the afflicted and trying to help when help seems to be in short supply……

When the bitch of a storm, Katrina, hit in my area….the American people to quick to come to the aid of the people of the Gulf Coast, with donations and volunteering and while the government was sitting around scratching their crotch, the American people we helping the Coastians get their lives back…..Americans are very compassionate and generous…..two qualities that have made this country great…..

The recent earthquake that destroyed Haiti, the American people once again showed their compassion and helped out whewre ever it was needed, most notably raising millions of dollars that would be spent in Haiti helping the people who have lost everything….they are very generous….once again…..

And when the health reform debate was raging they donated over a million dollars to fund a series of free health clinics across the US…..helping people that could not afford health insurance to find out about their personal health…..several people’s lives were saved because of this effort….once again the generosity of the American people knows no bounds….

And now I come to the meat of this agitation……the American people have done all that was asked of them and then some to help people in need around the world….and they have been unbelievably generous……but with all that said I would like to know why health reform is a dirty word?

We are talking about the lives of the American people and somehow the compassion was been lost on them….what did the uninsured people do to deserve this treatment by their countrymen?  Why is the people that are not so close to their hearts deserve better treatment than the people next door?

Please someone, anyone explain this to me….None of my questions are rhetorical…..I am listening!

Ugly Americans

No not the best selling book and movie starring William Holden….but rather the actions and words after the health vote last Sunday….

What the Hell happened to civil discourse?

The WaPo reported on the first of these insults:

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) issued a statement late Saturday saying that he was spit upon while walking to the Capitol to cast a vote, leading the Capitol Police to usher him into the building out of concern for his safety. Police detained the individual, who was then released because Cleaver declined to press charges.

Protesters outside the Capitol hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) as they left the building after President Obama delivered an 11th-hour speech on behalf of the health care bill. Carson told reporters that protesters yelled “kill the bill,” then used a racial epithet to describe Carson and Lewis, who is a revered figure on both sides of the aisle.

According to observers, Frank was confronted by about 100 protesters inside the Longworth House Office Building, where Democrats were huddling for another meeting about the legislation. Some targeted Frank with anti-gay epithets and urged him to vote against the bill…..

Ugly, right?  Well as they say, “it ain’t over”

Separately, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., today reported two “alarming” incidents that occurred last week. She said a brick was thrown through a window in her Niagra Falls’ district office. Also, she said, someone left her voicemail “referencing snipers.” She said the FBI is investigating

There has also been a wealth of nasty emails and voice mails that have threaten and prayed for the Reps to have some form of violence committed against…either by man or God…….

And these are not so isolated….but what could cause Americans act thusly?

Funny that NO one wants to take responsibility for assisting this situation, but how about these…..

1. Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for.”

2. Senator Phil Gramm: “We’re going to keep building the party until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.”

3. Rep. James Hansen on Bill Clinton: Get rid of the guy. Impreach him, censure him, assassinate him.”

4. John Derbyshire intimated in the National Review that because Chelsea Clinton had “the taint,” she should “be killed.”

5. Ann Coulter: “We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too.”

6. Ann Coulter: “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building.”

7. Bill O’Reilly: “ll those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains.”

8. Clear Channel radio host Glenn Beck said he was “thinking about killing Michael Moore” and pondered whether “I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it,” before concluding: “No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out — is this wrong?”

(these we posted by themartyred on democratic underground)

Enter the 1990’s when disagreement became vile and disgusting……before that we all knew politicians told fibs, but from then on the lies were not so subtle and that brings us to today….the lies and accusations are epic……

Has American become so fractured that dissenting views are NOT allowed?   Something needs to be done….why is there that much hate for follow Americans?  I want to see one of these well paid dickheads step forward and accept responsibility for turning America into this nation of morons….I do not care which side of the political spectrum that you are from…there is NO room for this type of crap in the US….

Okay, I get it…there is a lot of anger out there….but this is NOT the way to solve our problems……all this coming from a group of people that are so damn worried about losing freedoms…..to the point that they want to inflict pain on others…I have no time for this from a bunch of mental midgets with the IQ of cream corn….

The Repo Men

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Economics/Finance

NO!  I am not doing a review of some Hollywood mind dribble about guys that repossess organs that are in arrears…..NOPE!….I am talking about the theft occurring on Wall Street…..

A definition, a simple one, for therm economic term of REPO:

An agreement in which one party sells a security to another party and agrees to buy it back on a specified date for a specified PRICE. CENTRAL BANKS deal in short-term repos to provide LIQUIDITY to the FINANCIAL SYSTEM, buying SECURITIES from BANKS with cash on the condition that the banks will repurchase them a few weeks later.

There is the theft that was pulled on the American people that damn near brought the country down around our ears…..in other words, they used worthless non-existent paper as collateral for the money they were given and when it came to the day the sale was called in…there was nothing of value to use to raise the cash to pay back the money…..

But there was another……DERIVATIVES:

Financial ASSETS that “derive” their value from other assets. For example, an option to buy a SHARE is derived from the share. Some politicians and others responsible for financial REGULATION blame the growing use of derivatives for increasing VOLATILITY in asset PRICES, and for being a source of danger to their users. Economists mostly regard derivatives as a good thing, allowing more precise pricing of financial RISK and better RISK MANAGEMENT. However, they concede that when derivatives are misused the LEVERAGE that is often an integral part of them can have devastating consequences. So they come with an economists’ health warning: if you don’t understand it, don’t use it.

The world of derivatives is riddled with jargon. Here are translations of the most important bits.

• A forward contract commits the user to buying or selling an asset at a specific price on a specific date in the future.

• A future is a forward contract that is traded on an exchange.

A swap is a contract by which two parties exchange the cashflow linked to a liability or an asset. For example, two companies, one with a loan on a fixed INTEREST RATE over ten years and the other with a similar loan on a floating interest rate over the same period, may agree to take over each other’s obligations, so that the first pays the floating rate and the second the fixed rate.• An option is a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell or buy a particular asset at a particular price, on or before a specified date.

• An over-the-counter is a derivative that is not traded on an exchange but is purchased from, say, an investment BANK.

• Exotics are derivatives that are complex or are available in emerging economies.

• Plain-vanilla derivatives, in contrast to exotics, are typically exchange-traded, relate to developed economies and are comparatively uncomplicated.

Another fairly normal financial exercise….but once in the hands of greedy Wall Street traders it became a thing of ugliness…the second prong of the financial disintegration of the world’s financial markets…..in this case worthless sub prime mortgages were the culprit….when they were packaged and sold to raise money…..it was dishonest for the banks and institutions knew that they were worthless when they were sold….a SCAM is a polite word to describe the theft……

The two practices that I covered are nothing short of theft….but then their is a third prong to this…..the bailout.  After really bad practices and the economy crashing the country was sold on the idea that these institutions were too big to fail and were given billions to save their companies from ruin……then a year later still using taxpayers money……these companies gave employees massive bonuses….still using taxpayer money…..and there is the final prong…….yet another theft of cash but this time they are stealing taxpayer money….that means YOUR money…….anger resides on Main Street and to save these thieves from being fed to the wolves the Congress is working on a financial reform bill……..at best the bill, if passed as is, is a YAWN and a tap on the pee pee for the financial thieves that we trust our economy to……will we ever learn?

To Be Continued……..

2010 Anal-Ocity #9

First, let me say…..HA HA HA…he said grabbing his side in pain…..

Second, In Washington there is humor and then there is f*cking hilarious…..and this is F*cking Hilarious!

The GOP is notorious, at least in the eyes of this editor, for saying the dumbest, most anal things and they are still showing they have NO idea how completely stupid they sound or look….

After the latest vote on health reform and the Prez signing it into law…..the “maverick” of the Senate, John  McCain, said:

“Democrats shouldn’t expect much cooperation from Republicans the rest of this year”

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

Is McCain still pisssed that he did not win the election?  Or is he just whining?

Now with that said…..can someone, anyone name me one thing that the GOP has cooperated on in the past year?  What moron would believe that the Dems and the Repubs have been cooperating with each other?

Okay does this mean that the GOP in Washington will be doing NOTHING they were sent to do?  In other words they will be sucking on the government teat and giving NOTHING in return?