Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bailout ayes and noes plus

---------------------------- Scroll down for vote information. I side with those who voted "no". Rho00199

Wall Street Bailout Responses

Be it known: I am against money changer machinations. Four other responses to 29SEP08's US financial events: from counterpunch: What Wall Street Hoped to Win By Pam Martens - This article provides some salient details. [ There is a photo of a sign which obviously was made and displayed by one or more persons who were reacting in a general way. Guess what? Apparently the photo only shows when going to counterpunch directly today. ] - from Online Journal: Black Monday: Global investors vote "no" to Paulson bailout By Contributing Writer Mike Whitney - Similar to the above article, but more extensive. - from Money Morning: Although the Bailout Bill Was Rejected It's No Time to Panic By Contributing Editor Martin Hutchinson - This author calculated where the Dow might fall to. - from WalletPop: What the Wall Street Crisis Means for You - 8 topics succinctly covered Rho00198

Monday, September 29, 2008

29sep08 Pelosi speech

The link below goes to a press release at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's website. It may not come up quickly. Pelosi's statement just prior to the vote in the main pleases me because she does not avoid the truth, the truth that all those who have paid attention recently know, the truth that led her to state: "the party is over." Thank you, Speaker. Rho00197

Sunday, September 28, 2008

US President's Emergency Dictatorial Powers

Herein are two related news releases: one from Congressman Dennis Kucinich's office and one from The White House. Both are long. Read the entirety of both if you wish, but in the first scroll down to Article XXIII and note especially in d) the line that begins: "In addition on May 9, 2007. . . ." This is the evidence. - - - The one from The White House details what the US President signed on May 9, 2007. - Determine as you can what this means. - My question is: Will there soon be a sufficient emergency which through this law will allow the President to assume dictatorial powers? I am not going to take a position on this. I just want each of us to think about it. Rho00196

dwindled

From counterpunch: An article by Mike Whitney about the dealings in d c washington. deft connections and cogent details Rho00195

Friday, September 26, 2008

Humans and their Institutions

Humans create institutions such as financial, political, and numerous others for the purpose of providing useful ways for communities of humans to interact. As humans are not perfect beings, their institutions cannot be perfect. In these days of frightening uncertainties, uncertainties of planetary significance, the question-- and it is a dual question--is: Can known evils in an institutional system/ be eradicated by humans, or are those evils so entrenched they are beyond the/ control of humans? If the latter is true, the only solution is the eradication of all humans. Some believe humans are heading toward a day when all will be awakened into a new consciousness. I believe such a day, if it is to be, had better come quickly or that which is evil may well get beyond human control. As you can see, for the moment, I remain optimistic, sort of. What if evil and good in the realms of human activities are equally powerful? If the answer to this question is yes, then it is as a coin toss, the fate of human existence on this planet where resources so much in demand happen to be in decline, resources such as money while greed and bribery slither/ hither and yon unabated. - Here are some poet/writer posts/sites with more specific financial/political thoughts: [---] [---] [---] [---] [---] [---] [---] Hope you don't mind surprises. Rho00194 2008-09-27 addition: Read post and poster's comment. 2008-09-29 additions: interesting miscellaneous notes Bush's safe haven I Wonder

Federal Reserve and Usury

There and there I have written about and against usury, but here I will be deferring to an excellent post on the site that gets the highest rating in my Blog List. Federal Reserve 101 -- Pound's Usury Canto Rho00193

Thursday, September 25, 2008

another credit crisis solution

News.aol.com took a poll today regarding the Paulson plan. The question was: Do you favor the Paulson plan? At 126,945 polled, 43% gave a NO response, 35% gave a mixed feelings response, and 22% gave a YES response. At BloggingStocks a Business Week solution: - [ . . . . . ] There are other solutions, and other responses. Detainees blog is the best source I know of. Rho00192

credit crisis public debate plan

from R. Shah Gilani at Money Morning: Go to www.moneymorning.com 2008 09 25 Rho00191

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

financial derivatives solution

From George Washington 2: yes for a free market, but if. . . . See also army deployment within US post. Unlike some others, I have been silent most of my years about the possibility of this nation becoming a dictatorship, but tonight I wouldn't/ bet against it. - In my original Rooted Sky is a short poem with a long title that images why I have been silent. After Considering Again the Breakdown of My Civilization Rho00190

thank you

Inspired by William Michaelian but not wanting to imitate him-- see his 2008-09-24 thank you post-- blogs that I know link to mine will for now be identified by a ~ symbol and blogs I frequent by a * symbol, and one especially timely blog by ** in my Blog List. Below the posts on this blog's main page/ are the two which are presently followers of this blog. This new Blogger feature is one I am experimenting with. Rho00189

email scams alert

from Switched the 12 most dangerous e-mails Rho00188

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

Maybe Not Of By For

the people. Am continuing this post with a quote from the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville: [...] Over at www.alternet.org is an article by Joshua Holland. A paragraph in it reads: - "What's clear is that there is going to be a massive transfer of public wealth to the private sector, and at least the lion's share of that cash, if not all of it, will end up in the hands of an investor class whose recklessness got us into this mess in the first place." - Meltdown and Bailout: Why Our Economic System Is on the Verge of Collapse Rho00186

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Harmful Neoliberalism

Read today's CounterPunch feature article: - [ . . . . . ] Rho00184

Against Privatizing Social Security

Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security Is a Bad Idea by Greg Anrig and Bernard Wasow The Century Foundation 12/14/2004 www.socsec.org publication Rho00183

Friday, September 19, 2008

Wall-Eyed Street's Dazed Days

[ Instructions: Am presenting these articles as to-be-read only. Therefore, links to each will be given here in copy-and-paste form. For those unfamiliar with how to proceed, as I was until I was shown how to by a Microsoft site, place the cursor of your mouse at the beginning of a link and (holding down the mouse's left key while making sure the cursor's showing a vertical line) black through the link. Next, go up to the task bar. To the right of Tools there/ is a two-page icon. If you place your cursor by that icon, the word "copy" will appear. Click that icon. Note: Depending on your system setup, you may have to minimize this post before the next step. The minimize button is the third from the right at the top of the window. Clicking it will collapse the blog window to the task bar at the bottom of the AOL screen, making the present dark identifier bar a silver one. Now go find a search engine entry bar. Make sure the bar is clear. Click that space so the pulsing vertical cursor line will show at its left end. Click the icon which shows the word "paste". The link you copied will now appear in the search space. Do the search. When you want to return to the blog post, click the blog's silver identifier bar. ] ---------------------------------------------------- This URL goes to Steve Fraser's article "The End of a Gilded Age" at TomDispatch. Do take a look at it. You will quickly know what it is about, and it is a fairly easy read. - www.tomdispatch.com/post/174978/steve_fraser_the_end_of_a_gilded_age --------------------------------------------------- This URL goes to R. Shah Gilani's article about credit default swaps at MoneyMorning. This article is more technical, but is clear. Gilani's view differs from Fraser's view. - www.moneymorning.com/2008/09/18/credit-default-swaps/ Both articles are copyrighted, which is why I prefer they be read only. Rho00182

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Leaking water heater

forced me to call management, and they sent out a maintenance man. Heater is fixed, but because the furnace is below it/ and the filter for the furnace sits atop the furnace, the filter got soaked and I was told not to put a new filter in until tomorrow. The maintenance man will be back tomorrow. Had to turn off the heat. Luckily, if I need them, I have enough blankets. Rho00181

in deed indeed

"A Ripe Moment" is the title of the lastest from James Howard Kunstler. Read it here. Wait a minute! It's likely protections we thought we had have long been taken from us. Welcome to the new Dark Ages. For me it's amazing today is the 17th. Do this search: Detainees Dinh to learn more. I do hope I'm wrong about this nation's economy. Rho00180

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

examining Black Swan events

The Fourth Quadrant-- A Map of the Limits of Statistics By Nassim Nicholas Taleb An Edge Original Essay dealing with risk Rho00179

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Obama McCain since Denver

from CounterPunch Diary CounterPunch Weekend Edition September 13 / 14, 2008 "Panic!" by Alexander Cockburn [ . . . . . ] * Also see this weekend's Slate. Slate Sept. 14, 2008 Rho00178

Friday, September 12, 2008

What Moves American Voters

to vote as they do is answered in an article by Jonathan Haidt, a research psychologist. - from the edge.org 3rd Culture series: What Makes People Vote Republican? Here are two quotes from the article and five conclusions: two from John Stuart Mill and three from Emile Durkheim: - ". . . morality is any system of interlocking values, practices, institutions, and psychological mechanisms that work together to suppress or regulate selfishness, and make social life possible." "If the Democrats want to understand what makes people vote Republican, they must first understand the full spectrum of American moral concerns." from John Stuart Mill: - harm / care fairness / reciprocity from Emile Durkheim: - ingroup / loyalty authority / respect purity / sanctity [ I knew several days ago about this article because I get an email from Edge, but I had visitors this week. If you read Haidt's piece, you will learn how Mill's and Durkheim's thoughts relate to the liberalism of Democrats and to the conservatism of Republicans. ] Rho00177

Thursday, September 11, 2008

significant 911 notes

* Around a month ago I stopped answering my land line. It continues to be hard to do, but it is imperative. >>> Use your land line for 911 calls. - My new challenge is: to cease visiting adult sites, even though I've been only a now-and-again visitor. Monitor me. I don't care. I won't ever again be going to categorically pornographic sites. However, this decision of mine has nothing to do with any conception of morality. - Back around 1964 during the year I was a drugstore employee/ I tried various tobacco products. Since that time I have stayed away from tobacco products. I never did mess with any of the drugs associated with groups into mind-altering experiences. I did drink beer et cetera rather heavily for a time, but I'm not allowed to drink such beverages anymore and I do not even drink sodas and the like. - I do pray, and all my prayers are prayers of thanks. Yesterday a sister convinced me it is good to pray for one's leaders. I have, but in a general way. If you want to pray for them by name, find out who they are/ if you don't know. - Another, and more difficult goal is: to get myself to stop complaining. Complaining, like worrying, is a waste. Better to act responsibly, and thus erase complaints. * * If you have not registered to vote, register now. Find out where in your area you can register. It does not matter what your opinion of a particular major candidate is, there are others to vote for; and there are issues requiring votes. Citizens who do not vote need to form a party of non-voters and get involved. If you do not participate, you are submitting to whatever results from those who do participate, and that includes the deceptions of candidates. The voting machines some use are one of the issues voters need to address. * Rho00176

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

MaeMac weekend deal

James Howard Kunstler's Last Ditch article: - [. . . . .] Rho00175

Tocqueville American Democracy

Alexis de Tocqueville was a French political historian who in 1831 with a friend visited The United States. He wrote a two-volume work: Democracy in America. Some of his insights resonate today. The first link is to a page of quotes. If you do not wish to read all the quotes, choose the second link. It zips to a quote which to me is the most relevant. - 25 quotes 1 quote If you take the link to this page, scroll down to The Future of Democracy. - Read at least this section. This final link is to a biographical Wikipedia page. - Alexis de Tocqueville Rho00174

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

difficulties note

Have visitors this week who are helping me, but their being here disrupts my daily romp, such as it is. Today they left a bit early, but they are not angelic creatures. Like me, they are human. It is not possible for me to let them go about doing their charities while I do my online dancings. If I do not monitor what they do, I have to spend time rearranging. Living alone, I find having this there and that here and/or at such-and- such an angle/ matters. Bless us all. Rho00173

Sunday, September 7, 2008

tomorrow yesterday today

about the blue turban, the anti-Christ, the immeasurable city, and mabus: - According to one author, who wrote a book late in the last century, the answers are not what many now think. - chapter excerpts about the Great Depression, the S&L Crisis, and LIBOR: - Great Depression S&L Crisis LIBOR about bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: - article by user Jerome a Paris September 7, 2008 theoildrum.com Rho00172

Thursday, September 4, 2008

security update reconfigurations

As I was about to end my online day late last night, a security update stared at me. I stared back, but soon gave in. Since then I have/ been trying to figure out how it changed my system. It is set to learn me, but I am forced to learn it. Some things I could do easily before/ I cannot do at all. Other things I could not do/ I now must do. One of those has rocketed access time. Even so, I would like to have back what it is has taken away. It's going to be "fun" for a while. Rho00171

USA credit crisis deepening

due to years of harmful monetary practices, and the FDIC lacks the funds to bail out all the "problem institutions"; but since the Federal Reserve seems intent on "bailing out" those institutions, this nation's taxpayers will be forced to pay. I have been receiving emails from Money Morning (www.moneymorning.com), and its editor addresses this issue in the 2008-09-04 report. However, you can go to the news/statements sections of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. Also, there is information from numerous sources posted on or near August 27, 2008. You can draw your own conclusions, but unless easy credit thinking is curtailed and saving becomes the preferred goal--baby, it's down, down. Rho00170

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

theft of America 2

from The Nation 2008-03-01 a telling chart cost of war, and what one city lost/ and certain elites gained - from The Guardian 2007-09-03 commentary by Gary Younge "In the US, class war still means . . ." Rho00169

Monday, September 1, 2008

the theft of America

This article details the class war in the USA. what "moving to the center" means per an anonymous consultant at www.joebageant.com Rho00168