Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Friday 19 December 2008
Bagdad Bosanova
Finally, something good came of the Bush43 presidency. Democracy in action. Raise your shoes in honour of the ruler of the known world.
Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Eat leather, boy! Take it like a Texan. Oh...sorry, you aren't.
You know what I always say,
"Democrats cannot always defend themselves from the people they have screwed," Costick67.
Wednesday 10 December 2008
keystone cops and the right to leak
This is next in a series of lessons (for foreigners and video-gaming fans) on politics in the UK. Try to remember, this is essentially about the credit crunch and cover-ups:
the first cover up
This is a very deferent country. Most people know their place and behave accordingly, especially those in the media. Therefore, the only way for the public to learn about how the government is destroying the nation through incompetence is through leaks to opposition politicians. If the content of the leak
is not about issues of national security, it's fair game. Recently, this compact has broken down because of the general erosion of personal rights. Everything is illegal now, by the way. The police 'broke into' a politician's office and home, and cross-examined the politician himself for 9 hours, although he must have had a piss-break once in a while.
(first, they came for the politicians, and we laughed and said 'good!')
Big Brother..... I mean, the police, found the name of the leaker and paraded him in front of the media.
(then they came for the bureaucrats, and we laughed and said 'good!')
This was done for show, in order to scare other public servants from leaking other embarrassing info or leaving discs on trains. [in much the same way that Guantanamo is designed to keep middle class jihadis from getting off their couches]
The shell game and the second cover-up
The next bit is the interesting part. In order to cover up the abuse of politicians rights, of the rights of free speech and of habeus corpus, a farce has been spun which has ensnared a number of other people. You see, it's not the police's fault that they broke the law, it was the speaker of the House of Commons who was to blame. He let the police into the Commons, because they're not allowed to enter unwelcomed. So, blame the speaker. He had soiled his shorts so badly that he lied to parliament about his cock-up. Hang him high for losing the confidence of parliament! Not.
This gets better. Since Britain has, with great difficulty rid itself of most of its medeival laws, it still has to deal with behaviour which would not be allowed anywhere else, other than Chicago.
The mayor of London, Boris the-Spider Johnson, has taken the police commission under his wing, because the separation of the government and the police is something not widely accepted here. Caramba! So, Boris had a chat with the new police chief (having just fired the last one) on his first day on the job, for the chief to tell him about the raid on Parliament which victimised a colleague of Boris' in the Conservative Party. So, hang the mayor high for interfering with the police! not.
Who is the architect of all this keystone cop mayhem (the raid, speaker-gate, Boris-gate)? Who has been designing this conga-line of Punch and Judy scenes for our entertainment? In any serious country, the main issue would have been the abrogation of rights mentioned above which are worse than Watergate because the POLICE were made to do the dirty work. As it stands, the minister is still in place and the opposition is not complaining! It boggles the mind! That's because all of this story has been but theatre. If it weren't, heads would be rolling for any of the above injustices and yet all is calm. Strange, no?
working on a conspiracy theory
This grand scheme must have been orchestrated to keep the nation's hateful eyes off of Gordon Brown, author of the credit crunch. As a result, people will have nowhere to vent their anger at their financial ruin since they will not see GB's face on the nightly news. Before you know it, we'll have any number of other scandals to keep us busy and hating others, like jaywalking illegal immigrants. Keep tuned to The Sun. (just don't look directly at it, or it'll fl**k you up)
You doubt? Then why has the credit crunch left the front pages. Hundreds are still losing their jobs every week. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are up. Who would gain from keeping the public in the dark? We otherwise would be finding out how hopeless our politicians are.
The shell game and the second cover-up
The next bit is the interesting part. In order to cover up the abuse of politicians rights, of the rights of free speech and of habeus corpus, a farce has been spun which has ensnared a number of other people. You see, it's not the police's fault that they broke the law, it was the speaker of the House of Commons who was to blame. He let the police into the Commons, because they're not allowed to enter unwelcomed. So, blame the speaker. He had soiled his shorts so badly that he lied to parliament about his cock-up. Hang him high for losing the confidence of parliament! Not.
This gets better. Since Britain has, with great difficulty rid itself of most of its medeival laws, it still has to deal with behaviour which would not be allowed anywhere else, other than Chicago.
The mayor of London, Boris the-Spider Johnson, has taken the police commission under his wing, because the separation of the government and the police is something not widely accepted here. Caramba! So, Boris had a chat with the new police chief (having just fired the last one) on his first day on the job, for the chief to tell him about the raid on Parliament which victimised a colleague of Boris' in the Conservative Party. So, hang the mayor high for interfering with the police! not.
Who is the architect of all this keystone cop mayhem (the raid, speaker-gate, Boris-gate)? Who has been designing this conga-line of Punch and Judy scenes for our entertainment? In any serious country, the main issue would have been the abrogation of rights mentioned above which are worse than Watergate because the POLICE were made to do the dirty work. As it stands, the minister is still in place and the opposition is not complaining! It boggles the mind! That's because all of this story has been but theatre. If it weren't, heads would be rolling for any of the above injustices and yet all is calm. Strange, no?
working on a conspiracy theory
This grand scheme must have been orchestrated to keep the nation's hateful eyes off of Gordon Brown, author of the credit crunch. As a result, people will have nowhere to vent their anger at their financial ruin since they will not see GB's face on the nightly news. Before you know it, we'll have any number of other scandals to keep us busy and hating others, like jaywalking illegal immigrants. Keep tuned to The Sun. (just don't look directly at it, or it'll fl**k you up)
You doubt? Then why has the credit crunch left the front pages. Hundreds are still losing their jobs every week. Bankruptcies and foreclosures are up. Who would gain from keeping the public in the dark? We otherwise would be finding out how hopeless our politicians are.
Update: check Youtube for Peter Schiff, the prophet with the answers.
short order cooks & the flipside of the American dream
This is about a story on exiledonline.com
A new book ("Outliers") has arrived on the scene to explain to Americans why they are not successful, because the successful Americans wouldn't be wasting their time reading that book.
This book is necessary because financial success is the meaning of 'the pursuit of happiness. Turns out that there's an excuse or two that are ready-to-use. All that decides your fate is when, where and to whom you're born, which explains Bush43. One other small issue is whether you have a horse-shoe up your butt, or not. Of course, your birth particulars could certainly help your luck.
This should also solve another perennial problem for Americans who think that most Europeans, with their 5-week annual vacations, are lazy lay-abouts who are only interested in their cafe lattes and sex. Now you know why, okay Joe? Still confused? Read paragraph two (above) again, particularly the "All that matters..." part. It took Americans 232 years of 'liberty' to discover what Europeans have known all along. "Look after number one (yourself) or else you'll fall on number two (feces)".
All men are created equal, but most US men are unwilling to accept that. And that's why American governments have let schools, healthcare, human rights and workers' rights laws, and infrastructure to rot. Each American thinks that he's going to be the next self-made millionaire, and so, big government reminds him of communism.
There's one theory in the book that I have a problem with; the reason for the math abilities of East Asians. It probably has less to do with generations of detail work and toil, and more to do with the complexity of their languages and how they're used. checkitout!
goto: http://exiledonline.com/book-review-outliers-the-story-of-success-and-why-youre-not-having-any/
A new book ("Outliers") has arrived on the scene to explain to Americans why they are not successful, because the successful Americans wouldn't be wasting their time reading that book.
This book is necessary because financial success is the meaning of 'the pursuit of happiness. Turns out that there's an excuse or two that are ready-to-use. All that decides your fate is when, where and to whom you're born, which explains Bush43. One other small issue is whether you have a horse-shoe up your butt, or not. Of course, your birth particulars could certainly help your luck.
This should also solve another perennial problem for Americans who think that most Europeans, with their 5-week annual vacations, are lazy lay-abouts who are only interested in their cafe lattes and sex. Now you know why, okay Joe? Still confused? Read paragraph two (above) again, particularly the "All that matters..." part. It took Americans 232 years of 'liberty' to discover what Europeans have known all along. "Look after number one (yourself) or else you'll fall on number two (feces)".
All men are created equal, but most US men are unwilling to accept that. And that's why American governments have let schools, healthcare, human rights and workers' rights laws, and infrastructure to rot. Each American thinks that he's going to be the next self-made millionaire, and so, big government reminds him of communism.
There's one theory in the book that I have a problem with; the reason for the math abilities of East Asians. It probably has less to do with generations of detail work and toil, and more to do with the complexity of their languages and how they're used. checkitout!
goto: http://exiledonline.com/book-review-outliers-the-story-of-success-and-why-youre-not-having-any/
Monday 8 December 2008
Fascist violence in 70s Latin America an economics experiment, Chicago style
Chicago-bang-bang, indeed. On the "Ascent of Money" it was more or less made clear that socialists and communists were ruining the world economy so blood-thirsty fascist dictators (like Pinot-Chet)
[here he is looking like a true democrat, man of the people]
were required to save the whole world, ........for the rich, that is. So, the talking-head I will call 'Prof boy' is not a poli sci lecturer. It's a weakness. His blood runs green; greenback, that is. Growth is good. Greed is good. The welfare state is a disaster.
Okay, so let's say for a moment that Prof boy's not a mouthpiece for the Man and try to see what his ideas have done for mankind, the other 99% of mankind that has to fight for the last 5% of the planet's wealth, lest we destroy the whole place. Prof says that public pension funds are too broadly based and so if people enjoy good health, like in Japan, the nation will go broke. His solution is private investment of 'pension savings', in the stock market. [Note: he said this with a straight face, although I was watching it through my own pained squinting eyes]
People in the black markets or without steady work will have no safety net, but that's better for the 85% of the nation of Chile which is not in poverty. Success! What's fifteen percent to you and me? It's not flesh and blood, after all; it's a number.
Fly in Ointment, Kimo-sabe. The lazy rich, seeing all this filthy lucre lying around tend to want to illegally pocket it any way they can. If you rob a bank with a mask, it's 20 years, if you rob it with a white shirt and tie, it's 5. Get the math?
There has been no shortage of financial debacles since the bubble mentality took hold in the West. In the 80s, Bush41's son used Reagan's savings-and-loan law to rob his own bank, as did many other lazy rich. In 1987, US stock market crash emptied many people's 401k stock portfolios. Pop goes the pension. Employees at Enron who had all their pension savings in Enron stock are robbed by Ken Lay. Fast forward to 2007: derivative activities ($567 trill.) sink the REAL economy. Who cares about the 401k when you're sleeping in an abandoned 406?
Stocks are the ghost image of a company. They mean nothing in and of themselves if a company is bust. Derivatives are the ghost of a stock or an orange or whatever. Never has the gambling metaphor been more clear. Thanks, Prof boy. Bring on the next money-trader's messiah.
Okay, so let's say for a moment that Prof boy's not a mouthpiece for the Man and try to see what his ideas have done for mankind, the other 99% of mankind that has to fight for the last 5% of the planet's wealth, lest we destroy the whole place. Prof says that public pension funds are too broadly based and so if people enjoy good health, like in Japan, the nation will go broke. His solution is private investment of 'pension savings', in the stock market. [Note: he said this with a straight face, although I was watching it through my own pained squinting eyes]
People in the black markets or without steady work will have no safety net, but that's better for the 85% of the nation of Chile which is not in poverty. Success! What's fifteen percent to you and me? It's not flesh and blood, after all; it's a number.
Fly in Ointment, Kimo-sabe. The lazy rich, seeing all this filthy lucre lying around tend to want to illegally pocket it any way they can. If you rob a bank with a mask, it's 20 years, if you rob it with a white shirt and tie, it's 5. Get the math?
There has been no shortage of financial debacles since the bubble mentality took hold in the West. In the 80s, Bush41's son used Reagan's savings-and-loan law to rob his own bank, as did many other lazy rich. In 1987, US stock market crash emptied many people's 401k stock portfolios. Pop goes the pension. Employees at Enron who had all their pension savings in Enron stock are robbed by Ken Lay. Fast forward to 2007: derivative activities ($567 trill.) sink the REAL economy. Who cares about the 401k when you're sleeping in an abandoned 406?
Stocks are the ghost image of a company. They mean nothing in and of themselves if a company is bust. Derivatives are the ghost of a stock or an orange or whatever. Never has the gambling metaphor been more clear. Thanks, Prof boy. Bring on the next money-trader's messiah.
[interp. of photo. It's your kids lives you're gambling away]
Update: (more on this later) It is a truism, one that even Warren Buffet will allow, that if everyone is into the stock market, then it will soon be in trouble. The cause of the trouble will be the inflation of values such that they do not reflect reality. So, eventually they will come crashing down. Has anyone heard of price/dividend calculation? Lookitup.
The conclusion?: Gambling of this sort should be heavily controlled and taxed more to LESSEN speculation. Stocks only have value to a company if it is looking to place more stock on the market. As a result, rich people will have to go and do something, like build (and employ people), manufacture (and employ) and not sit at their computer moving shares around.
Costick67 may be a prophet, part 2
Though I wasn't the first, a few posts ago, I equated many of the starker aspects of 1940s Germany (if you understand) with a more recent debacle nearer, say, the Middle East. While this whole idea of the tables having long since been turned has started to infect Israel after all. People in the government are calling the settlers' recent actions a 'pogrom', a Russian word for a concerted racist attack (on a particular nation, that nation having since taken the upper hand, at 'home'). Peace in our millennium? What a thought.
Costick67 may be a prophet, part 1
A few posts ago, I mentioned that people would be going back to the Iron Age thanks to Bush43. Well, one of his bafflegab footsoldiers, Sarah Palin Pitbull, was out telling people across the great nation of Alaska that they should fight the credit crunch by bagging their own food: berries, fish and wild game (otherwise known as Bush meat). Anything to promote gun-play, I guess.
Those of you short on faith or long on humour should visit: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/110446/
Those of you short on faith or long on humour should visit: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/110446/
Plane stupid, and yet brilliant
(For foreigners and video-gaming fans) Here's yet another lesson in British politics. Plane Stupid, a wild group of direct action democrats, stormed through the chicken wire at Stansted in a protest against the needless expansion of airports serving boorish bored bourgeois travellers and the rich businessmen encouraging this "me, myself and I and fl**k everybody else and the planet" generation.
Here's the toxic stuff though. The BBC London, all bitchy at the shortage of champagne and canapes, decided to give a lesson in democracy to its viewers. A Plane Stupid campaigner was sat in front of a target and spat at by a Transport wonk and the BBC's talking head. Not only was the necessity for direct action in a healthy democracy belittled (freedom demands dilligence), but also, the poor boy was set upon with such a barrage of bull-cack as to make me gag.
Mr Wonk says 'follow the democratic path', i.e. wait 4 years for the next crop of politicians, local and national, to tell you they will help you if you vote for them, and then they'll show you the door of their new political office; the exit door! We all know that politicians side with business, business wants travellers, therefore politicians will push for new runways. Right, Boris the- Karloff Johnson?
When the Plane Stupid lad said that the unintentional cancellation of flights that day had saved the earth from several hundred tons of CO2, Mr Wonk replied "One of the people going to Poland, to discuss the next CO2 deal, could not fly today." Oh, the pain. The unstated subplot is that Mr Wonk doesn't give a toss for CO2 anyway. He wants business as usual. But, good rhetoric doesn't rely on truthing, innit?
Both of the 'representatives of the people' were attacking the PS warrior, with the Beeb's talking head taking on quite a tone. They cut off the PS crusader regularly. He stuck his ground, and I'm glad to see that the group can take full frontal attacks from the Man and still keep going. checkitout!
http://www.planestupid.com/
Here's the toxic stuff though. The BBC London, all bitchy at the shortage of champagne and canapes, decided to give a lesson in democracy to its viewers. A Plane Stupid campaigner was sat in front of a target and spat at by a Transport wonk and the BBC's talking head. Not only was the necessity for direct action in a healthy democracy belittled (freedom demands dilligence), but also, the poor boy was set upon with such a barrage of bull-cack as to make me gag.
Mr Wonk says 'follow the democratic path', i.e. wait 4 years for the next crop of politicians, local and national, to tell you they will help you if you vote for them, and then they'll show you the door of their new political office; the exit door! We all know that politicians side with business, business wants travellers, therefore politicians will push for new runways. Right, Boris the- Karloff Johnson?
When the Plane Stupid lad said that the unintentional cancellation of flights that day had saved the earth from several hundred tons of CO2, Mr Wonk replied "One of the people going to Poland, to discuss the next CO2 deal, could not fly today." Oh, the pain. The unstated subplot is that Mr Wonk doesn't give a toss for CO2 anyway. He wants business as usual. But, good rhetoric doesn't rely on truthing, innit?
Both of the 'representatives of the people' were attacking the PS warrior, with the Beeb's talking head taking on quite a tone. They cut off the PS crusader regularly. He stuck his ground, and I'm glad to see that the group can take full frontal attacks from the Man and still keep going. checkitout!
http://www.planestupid.com/
Sunday 7 December 2008
Of churches, pop stars and egos
a lesson in diplomacy and modesty. Let me see if I've got this straight: John Lennon appears to say that his band is bigger than Jesus; Catholic Church gets pissed off; Lennon dies; twenty years later, the Catholic Church forgives Lennon.
First of all, who gave that Church the right to dole out hatred? Did Jesus tell them to do that? Isn't the goal of Christianity to try to understand the person opposite you? Love thy neighbour, or perhaps his wife (sorry, broke a commandment). If they had talked to Lennon, they would have found out that he was misinterpreted intentionally by a hack looking for fame. Lennon was actually decrying the fame system. See what self-righteous hatred does? It makes you look stupid.
Although, I must say that, as a comment by a British musician, it seemed more fitting with the sensational interpretation. Many musicians over here get an altogether inflated sense of self after a while. Cases in point: the lead singer of soporific Coldplate says 'we de greatest'. The Brothers Eyebrow of Oasis say that they are the greatest singer and songwriter (respectively) ever, or some crap like that. The reason? British society is so full of backbiting and jealousy, from the Queen on down to the dustman, that when you are famous enough to isolate yourself from it for a while, the ego that you hide so well and that sustained you, becomes this monstrosity visible from space with the naked eye.
First of all, who gave that Church the right to dole out hatred? Did Jesus tell them to do that? Isn't the goal of Christianity to try to understand the person opposite you? Love thy neighbour, or perhaps his wife (sorry, broke a commandment). If they had talked to Lennon, they would have found out that he was misinterpreted intentionally by a hack looking for fame. Lennon was actually decrying the fame system. See what self-righteous hatred does? It makes you look stupid.
Although, I must say that, as a comment by a British musician, it seemed more fitting with the sensational interpretation. Many musicians over here get an altogether inflated sense of self after a while. Cases in point: the lead singer of soporific Coldplate says 'we de greatest'. The Brothers Eyebrow of Oasis say that they are the greatest singer and songwriter (respectively) ever, or some crap like that. The reason? British society is so full of backbiting and jealousy, from the Queen on down to the dustman, that when you are famous enough to isolate yourself from it for a while, the ego that you hide so well and that sustained you, becomes this monstrosity visible from space with the naked eye.
Saturday 6 December 2008
Do rich know when it's not Xmas?
I love it when obscenely rich people ask me to donate money to charity. Cheeky bastards. Line them all up to sing us a tune and move our very human instincts of concern for those who are suffering. It actually gets stronger when a recession hits. So, call in those lazy troubadours. Tell me the rumours of £ 0 having gone to Africa are not true. Tell me it wasn't a make-work project for out of work Rats. Did the musicians give any money themselves? Well, they did give their services for free. What a gift!
We are so giving. And we must always give because we have permanently destroyed the Africans' home societies with our mercantilism and our IMFism, such that they cannot survive at home. We are even flooding their markets with produce, putting their farmers out of business.
So Live-Aid-my-career musicians make it look like we're helping Africans so that we can feel righteous in blocking these Africans from risking their lives coming to our countries in search of a living.
As the song goes:
"At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear"
But rich folks cannot shed a tear.
They're immortal, and thus less human.
They're the pretty face on the immoral economic system that's screwing Africa.
Have a look in the mirror, Fameboy.
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