"The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." -- James Madison - (1751-1836)
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. " : Ayn Rand in "The Nature of Government"
"Throughout history there have been tyrants and murderers. And for a while they seem invincible, but always they fall. Always."-Mahatma Gandhi
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings: Helen Keller
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is , more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime ; he is a good citizen driven to despair.--H.L Mencken
"When even one American-who has done nothing wrong-is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth-then all Americans are in peril" Harry S. Truman
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943
"When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed: Ayn Rand - (1905-1982) Author - Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco's "Money Speech"
"Loss of freedom seldom happens overnight. Oppression doesn't stand on the doorstep with toothbrush moustache and swastika armband -- it creeps up insidiously...step by step, and all of a sudden the unfortunate citizen realizes that it is gone." ~ Baron Lane
Personally, I'd love the chance to congratulate the Iraqi journalist who had the courage to make a very public protest of the latest Bushco outrage in his country. At a press conference called to celebrate the latest "agreement" made between our government and his, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network -- could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell ... you dog!" as he fired first one shoe, then the other at President Bush, barely missing his head. For those who are not aware of the symbolism behind this act, throwing shoes at a person, in Muslim cultures, is a grave insult, the sole of the shoe dirty and always low to the ground. Being compared to a dog is also quite an insult in Muslim countries, as they are considered filthy beasts.
Along with my congratulations for shoe well hurled...a pair of them in fact...I'd like to contribute to the effort to tell the Bush-boy how so many people around the world feel about his corrupt regime.
To that end, I have imposed upon my teen aged son to part with a pair of his old sneakers, well used and quite fragrant, to send to the White House. If you feel inspired to show some solidarity with this outspoken and outraged journalist, I am soliciting donations to help start a shoe hurling campaign....will surely find plenty of old shoes to send this message with a little help from my friends for the shipping costs. I'd love to be able to send a barrage of smelly old shoes to the Bushco crowd...I hope you'll join me in this symbolic little show of dissent.
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The Iraqi journalist who hurled shoes at US President George W. Bush is in hospital after being beaten up by security guards, his brother charged on Tuesday, as judicial authorities launched a probe into the incident that grabbed headlines around the world."He has been taken to Ibn Sina hospital because he has a broken arm and ribs and is also suffering injuries to his eye and leg," Durgham al-Zaidi said of his brother Muntazer.Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody. Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
Yep....MUCH better for these folks under US occupation right? Imagine, under Saddam's regime, the man might have gotten a beating rather than a fair trial....thank goodness we've rescued them.
Optimists on the Titanic As we blindly sail farther into the twenty first century, we are just beginning to witness the unraveling of our economic foundations. Like the fabled HMS Titanic, the U.S. economy was thought to be invincible. And like the Titanic, our economy has drifted into dangerous waters and has mired itself on an iceberg.
Certainly a better solution than that proposed by the government....they seem to think that continuing to do things the same way will bring different results....Hasn't that method of doing things been cited as the "very definition of insanity?" Stepping back to the basics of community based economy is the common sense answer...and, it will happen as the global economy has become hopelessly corrupted and unsustainable.
US manufacturing hits 26-year low: ISM US manufacturing slumped to a 26-year low in November, highlighting the abrupt downturn in the world's biggest economy, a survey showed Monday. "The worsening credit crisis and deepening global slump have pushed the ISM index below the 41 figure that is consistent with past recessions," said Sal Guatieri, economist at BMO Capital Markets.
"The fact that the index continues to decline points to more than your garden-variety downturn."
The U.S. economy, now officially in recession, may be in the midst of the longest slump in the post- World War II era as job losses mount and credit dries up.
“This may be referred to as the Great Recession,” because of its length, said Norbert Ore, chairman of the Institute for Supply Management’s factory survey. “It looked like we were headed for a shallow recession earlier in the year because of higher energy prices. With the meltdown in the financial sector, it has become something more serious.”
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 3.96 percent of people holding a mortgage were at least 60 days behind in payments, compared with 2.56 percent in the 2007 third quarter.
"It's nothing short of staggering," said Ezra Becker, principal consultant in TransUnion's financial services group. Becker noted the rate had hovered at about 2 percent for years, until the second quarter 2007, when it started climbing.
Moreover, the climb is not likely going to slow, he said. "Our projections are that it's not only going to be increasing but it's increasing at a faster pace," he said. The fourth quarter of 2008 could see the percentage of mortgages past due jump as high as 4.6 to 4.7 percent, he said, an estimate that reflects the recession and rising unemployment rates. "This is more pessimistic than what we would have forecast a quarter ago," he acknowledged.
The G20-meeting held in Washington on November 14/15, 2008, is in its essence a historical indicator that the Western - above all Anglo-Saxon - monopoly on global economic and financial governance, is coming to an end. Four key-factors are now pushing the Bretton Woods II (2) system to collapse in the course of the year 2009:
• Fast weakening of the central players: USA, UK • Three visions of the future of global governance will be dividing world’s largest players (United-States, Eurozone, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil) by spring 2009 • Unbridled speeding-up of the last decade’s (de-)stabilizing processes • Increasing number of more and more violent backlashes.
The agitation that has seized global leaders since the end of September 2008 indicates that panic has struck at the highest level. Worldwide political leaders have now understood that the house is on fire. But they have not yet perceived something obvious: that the very structure of the building is involved. The Worst Is Yet To Come Anonymous Banker Weighs In On The Coming Credit Card Debacle
Today, we are bailing out the banks because of their greedy and deceptive lending practices in the mortgage industry. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. More is coming, I’m sorry to say. Layoffs are being announced nationwide in the tens of thousands. As people begin to lose their jobs, they will not be able to pay their credit card bills either. And the banks will be back for more handouts.
Even Bushie has finally admitted that the economy is in big trouble, acknowledging that we are in a "recession"....of course, this is more than a recession, but the powers that be just can't bring themselves to admit to the big "D" word yet....but, it's coming, and they just make it worse by dancing around the issue. The majority of the American people, even those tuned in enough to see what's happening, don't want to believe it can happen here...but it is happening. Our economy and a good part of the global economy is collapsing. We are in for quite a ride over the next few years.
Please Help Send These Beauties to Washington
