With the Earth's shrinking oil reserves facing unrelenting pressure from the breakneck growth of giant new economies, such as those of China and India, I foresee the next gold rush being the rush to harness the bright white light of our sun to satisfy our seemingly unquenchable thirst for energy. White is the new black. Black gold is being obsoleted by the new white gold of power from sunlight. It's still early days in this transformation, but the great news for investors is that there are decades worth of growth, at the expense of the fossil fuel industry, ahead of us.
Let's start with wealth, which is where my line of thought began. There is no such thing as wealth "creation". Wealth cannot be created. It can only be taken. We take wealth from the Earth, and then we reformulate it into a form that is only of relevance to us. A fish cannot use our money. A bird cannot use our money. A snake cannot use our money. So, we have effectively transferred the wealth of the Earth into a domain in which it is only available to us.
This is not unique. All creatures take wealth and hold onto it, and this is never permanent. A fruit tree drinks from the soil and captures nutrients. For a time, this wealth is available only to the tree, captured within its cells. But then it bears fruits, and those fruits are released and taken by others. And so, the wealth once captured by the tree is liberated. The tree does not create the fruits, but reformulates the wealth it has taken from the Earth into the form of fruits.
So, we should disabuse ourselves of the notion that we have creative powers. In general, human beings are destructive. We can only destroy things and repackage their constituent parts. One does not create a meal. One *prepares* a meal. We are preparers. We do not bring anything into existence, but we prepare and reformulate things that are already in existence.
We can extrapolate this concept and postulate that it is not possible - ever - to create, and that - even at the cosmic level - the greatest things we can witness were not created but only reformulated from other things. The greater the ability to reformulate, the more impressive and dramatic an act of reformulation can be. We should assume that there are wills at work, at levels much greater than us, that are responsible for these dramatic acts of reformulation.
Taken to the extreme, the greatest ability to reformulate could be regarded as the ability to reformulate nothingness into somethingness - non-existence into existence. Still, this is not an act of creation, but an act of reformulation. One could argue that existence and non-existence are not discretely different things, but are two different manifestations of some common underlying thing... that existence is merely a different reformulation of non-existence. They may be opposites of one another, as a smile is to a frown, but they are manifested upon the same face, as it were.
We should not be so naive as to assume that there are no intelligent life forms beyond humans. An atheist should not be so naive as to assume that there are no powers or intelligences greater than us - powers so great by comparison that they might be regarded as "god-like". And a monotheist should not be so naive as to assume that there is only one great intelligence above us -- there is likely an endless supply.
...starting with the wealthy. They'll move their money to safety first, so you're left holding and up shit creek...
Wealthy Investors Shift Funds From Global Banks to Reduce Risks
(the more everything changes, the more it all stays the same)
The looming crisis in charity that I predicted back in September 2007 has apparently arrived, according to a report on cnn.com...
2007-09-22 - Looming Crisis in Charity (my original posting)
Charities forced to do more with less
When you entrust the system with your data under the pretext that the system can help you to better manage your life, the system invariably gains greater power over your life than you, yourself, gain over it.
If your life is better managed as a result, it is better managed towards the greater interests of the system. The system, with its massively networked super brain, is much better equipped to exploit an individual's personal data than any individual ever could hope to be.
When you casually input your data into the system's data store, you suffer an inevitable net loss of control over your own life. Your ability to exercise your own personal will over your life is diminished. The more information you allow the system to have about you, the more your personal will is displaced by the system's will.
Given the signs that financial institutions are poisoned by rubbish financial voodoo like CDOs and SIVs, at what point will the public look at this situation - with once venerable institutions like Bear Stearns - and start panicing about the safety of the last little bit of equity that they may have left -- after their 401k and stock portfolio have been decimated by a sagging market, after their home's value has been deflated by a collapsing real estate market, and as they hear stories about friends and family around them receiving pink slips?
It seems inevitable now that their will be a run on the banks - that there will be people withdrawing money to hold it in the form of cash. There are already scores of smaller banks across the nation reeling from their contamination by the subprime cancer that spread so rapidly through the system - jeopardizing the liquidity of those people who hold money in them. What remains to be seen is how intense the run on the banks will become before the dust finally settles on Alan Greenspan's glorious legacy.
Warren Buffet has finally plucked up the courage to speak up and declare that the U.S. is in a recession. Well, duh, dude! A little bit late to the game, I would say. I wonder why. Perhaps because he's finally gotten all his investments in a favorable position and now he's ready to short the hell out of the market and fuck the rest of us by driving our portfolio values down? He may make a lot of money for his shareholders, but what the fuck is he doing to address Global Warming!?!?! There are other investors who are actually investing in a positive vision for our future... like Vinod Khosla.
Buffett says U.S. in recession
I've been wondering about E-TRADE's choice to feature blog articles containing mainly opinion from investor pundits and second rate investment managers and hedge fund managers from seekingalpha.com in the NEWS headlines section of stock info pages.
This practice seems highly questionable, as it presents these articles of opinion and investment "inspiration" as if they were fact or news, adding unnecessary volatility to share prices as these articles of opinion are read by investors using E-TRADE with this weight assigned to them, which then influences their judgement.
It seems like E-TRADE is opening itself up to a class action lawsuit here by listing this punditry amongst news headlines, thereby misrepresenting the substance of the articles. As an investor, I would appreciate seeing news of substance listed in the NEWS headlines section - not blog articles by investment tycoon wannabes.
If investors wish to read punditry and seek investment ideas or inspiration, let them visit outside sites (of which there are plenty). This kind of tight integration of punditry into the E-TRADE financial service is inappropriate and should be the subject of a lawsuit or investigation by the SEC.
Proving once again that brilliant axiom "never believe anything until it's been officially denied", the UK foreign secretary David Miliband has now admitted that Jack Straw and former Prime Minister Tony Blair falsely denied that rendition flights had landed on UK territory. Now, a denial of the truth is otherwise known as a lie. Do our governments lie? Of course they do. And they should be made to pay a price for their lies. Governments should be considered guilty until proven innocent.
UK apology over rendition flights
Do we live in a society where one idea wins out over others based solely on the true merits of that idea, or instead as a result of the fervent allegiance of ideologues who stand to gain vindication from the idea's victory?
Legendary inventor Ray Kurzweil is going out on a limb and forecasting that machines will be able to match humans in intelligence by the year 2029. Well, that's not setting the goal all that high, I guess. Perhaps it *IS* achievable in a mere 21 years.
He says "I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029".
Yes, the broad "suppleness" of intelligence, the likes of George W Bush. Actually, I'm willing to bet that machines can reach that level of intelligence well ahead of Mr. Kurzweil's forecast. Is it not implicit, in his prediction, that machines will then also match humans in stupidity by the year 2029? Is that not the flipside of the coin? The other edge of the double edged sword that is human "intelligence"?
He goes on to say "But that's not going to be an alien invasion of intelligent machines to displace us." Now, honestly, it's *SO* comforting to have the assurances of scientists. After all, they've done such a bang up job of making the world a better place for life on Earth. Oh, what's that you say??? Thousands of species have gone extinct because of mankind and our scientific "advances"?!?! No! It cannot be!
All I can say to his glorious vision for the future is "YAY! More things in the world that are as stupid as the human species!". Something to really look forward to. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to concern your little head. Carry on, then.
Machines 'to match man by 2029'
THE DOG IS INSIDE THE DOG.
When you understand this Zen kōan, then you will have attained enlightenment. Good day.
It's clear that we need a way out of recession. It's clear that we need a way out of our dependence on foreign oil (and fossil fuels, in general). It's clear that we need a way out of Iraq. It's clear that we need a way out of our national healthcare paralysis.
Electing another Republican president will just continue to divide America, and we will never surface again from the various quagmires that Bush and his Republican cronies have gotten us into.
So, it's clear to me that we need a president who no longer obstructs the US congress and no longer stands in the way of the future wellbeing of the people. That is why it is clear to me that America needs a Democratic president, a Democratic house, and a Democratic senate, so that both the executive and legislative branches can work together towards making rapid progress on these important issues.
There is a lot of talk about the subprime mortgage crisis, but I haven't yet heard the mainstream media talking about our subprime leadership crisis. We need change, and Republicans just aren't up to the task.
Washington scrambles for subprime answers
I'm sick and tired of hearing Republicans spouting off about cutting wasteful government spending, when they're completely unwilling to grow some balls and cut the most wasteful government spending of all - the trillion dollar boondoggle that is the occupation of Iraq. What a complete waste of our tax money!
John McCain is just another Military Industrial Complex ass sucker who will keep us wasting our national treasure on stupid military exploits.
Rising budget deficit may add to Republican woes
The following is not what I believe, but merely an argument that ran through my head, and which intrigued me:
We express through language the notion that we exist as "persons" or "spirits" (there is no objective proof for inner existence), so it is reasonable to suggest that our personal existence is a product of language, itself. The notion of personal existence should not be confused with objective existence, the latter being ultimately only theoretical because there is nothing that is truly objective. Nevertheless, the compulsion to distinguish between mechanistic existence and spiritual / personal existence is an analog to the dichotomy of objectivity and subjectivity.
Language, in a philosophical sense, is our path to personal existence. Mechanistic organisms that are bound by deterministic principles are occupied by a meme that causes those organisms to express, through language, a sense of personal existence, a sense of spirit, a sense of soul, a sense of mind, a sense of self. This personal existence is merely make belief - an arbitrary construct. It is this meme that is the origin of and the source of sustainance for personal / inner existence, and it is propagated between members of the species - passed on from one to the other through language.
One could then postulate that beings, without the lexicon to express this sense of personal existence, do not have a sense of personal existence in the way that we know it. One could conclude that the existential dilemma is merely a side effect of language, itself, and that this dilemma does not exist in the absence of language.
Was World War II not, indeed, one other embodiment of globalization? The globalization of war? With everything of man going global, should we not view it as inevitable that war, too, would go global? How about the globalization of disease? Or the globalization of terrorism? Globalization is neither a cure nor a curse. It is a mixed bag. Along with the good that it may bring, travels also the stowaway of evil. Globalization is an unavoidable phenomenon, not an ideal to be strived towards, nor a great calamity to be avoided at all costs.
We're transitioning from an economy of consumer frivolities to an economy of social imperatives.
Of all the mind-numbingly uninspired plans to stimulate the economy that have been coughed up by the 2008 presidential candidates - on both sides of the fence - only one stands out as having any legs. The plan of John Edwards calls for a significant focus on building a new energy economy, applying American innovation to the task of creating a clean energy infrastructure, with the benefits of job creation, lower energy costs in the long term and at high scale, energy security, and squarely taking on global warming.
I'm excited about the possibility of the political will finally arriving in Washington to conduct a major makeover of our energy infrastructure. We sorely need a reformation. We need a revamped system for the 21st century. The old energy ways of the 20th century are a ball and chain that drag us behind, slowing us down. We have become thoroughly hamstrung by our dependence on fossil fuels.
We find ourselves wanting to cut interest rates to stimulate the economy, but afraid to do so because of inflation. And we're terrified of the risk of stagflation. But a big factor driving inflation in the face of a slowing economy is stubbornly rising energy prices. Unless we solve the problem of the cost of energy, we will become a poorer and poorer nation over the next few decades, and no amount of tax rebates and tax cuts for consumers or corporations will be able to have any significant impact on the overall picture.
We have found ourselves in the awkward position of being tied to a dying energy source that is costing us more and more as the rest of the world develops. Old energy is costing us in more ways than are accounted for in the direct price that we pay. We are also paying for the geopolitical turmoil and lack of energy security that is associated with our reliance on fossil fuels.
I endorse John Edwards' plan to stimulate the US economy. It is forward looking and offers long term benefits. It is time for our leaders to lead us into the age of new energy. John Edwards has the courage to stand up to the entrenched fossil fuel economy and to take on the fossil fuel fat cats who are defending their dying monopoly on energy production in the face of a desperate global need for a new way.
John Edwards Proposes $25 Billion Economic Stimulus Package
We have seen enough data now, that there can be no question that we are in the midst of a recession. Yet there are still those who would so desperately wish to pretend away the inevitable, like a squeamish child being dragged kicking and screaming to the dentist to have a rotten tooth pulled. I say welcome the recession. It may be bitter medicine, but it's needed. The economy goes in cycles. You can't get the gain cycle without the pain cycle. You can't have the crazy party without having to clean up the shit the next morning.
There HAS to be a pullback in consumer spending. It is necessary and it is healthy. Consumers need some time away from buying, buying, buying in order to reflect on their dismal financial situations and start getting their financial house back in order. Banks, apparently, need the money more than anybody. They would get the money if consumers would start saving - putting their money into the banks instead of constantly borrowing from the banks to spend their way into bankruptcy or foreclosure.
It turns out that all along the bubble that nobody was talking about was, in fact, the credit bubble. There was eventually nowhere left to hide the glaring shortage of, well, money. Real money! Not merely vacuous financial instruments - the equivalent of financial snake oil, the likes of Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Investment Vehicles, that turned out to be no more than glorified rugs under which to sweep the underlying problem. There were no more ingenious instruments of indirection that the wizards of the financial sector could use to obfuscate the truth of nomoneyness.
So, here we are now, in a recession. The sooner we just accept this and figure out how to survive it, the sooner we can get through it in one piece and put it behind us. Accept the ill, and swallow the pill!
Bush, Congress Find Economy Is Pushing Them Toward Compromise
Electorate peons - of all stripes - are apparently coming to the realization that the wealthy elite do not have their best interests at heart. The offensively rich are finding themselves increasingly at odds with the common man, on the backs of whom they have built their vast fortunes. They now find themselves on an ever shrinking island amidst an icy sea, like some polar bear marooned on a melting ice floe that drifts out to sea, where a chilly death awaits.
Even the Republican party, traditionally in the pockets of the uber rich, find themselves having to battle a populist insurrection amongst their ranks, in the form of Mike Huckabee's rise in popularity.
Huckabee's Rise Drives Wedge Between Wall Street, Evangelicals
I am becoming more and more convinced that there will be a complete collapse in the fossil fuel industry and economy within the next 15 years.
Being an advocate of renewable energy, one could argue that this is merely wishful thinking on my part. However, as a champion of renewables I've historically been gloomy and sadly pessimistic on the subject - especially in light of how corrupted our leadership class is by their connections to the big fossil energy money. Given these immense vested interests in obstructing the rise of the new energy economy, I've never felt very optimistic about the prospect of finally reaching the end of our reliance on fossil fuels.
My recent optimism, however, stems from signs that point to a massive disruption on the horizon. It is looking more and more likely to me that revolutionary innovations and breakthroughs in materials science will make it possible to harness such immense amounts of energy from the sun - especially in desert and semi-arid regions - that the world will lose all interest in an energy source that will have become thoroughly maligned and discredited.
Indeed, I believe that after the new energy tipping point, nobody will care terribly much about oil, coal, natural gas, or any other fossil fuel - or even nuclear, for that matter. Although photovoltaic technologies have existed and have been maturing slowly for many decades now, I believe it has taken the relatively recent exponential growth in computing power to enable the breakthroughs necessary in order to produce energy more cheaply and more cleanly than from fossil fuel sources.
I, therefore, reiterate my belief that when fossil fuel falls, it will fall rapidly and spectacularly, causing massive losses of money by those investors who let their money dally too long as we approach that tipping point. Personally, I don't trust my ability to time the market well enough to want to risk having investments in anything remotely related to fossil fuels - even now, with the cliff possibly still several hundred feet away.
In defense of the EPA's atrocious decision to reject California's effort to control vehicle greenhouse gas emissions within its territory, Mr. Bush has this to say: "Is it more effective to let each state make a decision as to how to proceed in curbing greenhouse gases? Or is it more effective to have a national strategy?"
Now, it's first worth pointing out that Mr. Bush does not have the courage to actually commit to a statement, preferring rather to merely cough up a vague, possibly-to-be-taken-rhetorically question. However, were we to give Mr. Bush the benefit of the doubt (and there's oh so much doubt to give him the benefit of) and assume that he was actually trying to suggest - not so very effectively - that it would be better to have a national strategy to curb greenhouse gases, then I would have to agree with him in that regard.
So, I'm waiting. Waiting for the national strategy to curb greenhouse gases. Where is it, Mr. Bush?
I would proffer that, in addition to a national strategy for curbing greenhouse gases, we might also contemplate drafting a national strategy for curbing White House gases.
Schwarzenegger: California will sue federal government
Will California one day end up going to war to seek its own independence? We've seen the USSR break up. Will it take only a few more decades for the same fate of dissolution to befall the USA? The union proved a good incubator for some powerful states to emerge, but will the states eventually want to go their own separate ways when they're all grown up? The union almost broke apart once, but didn't. But is the fact that it didn't back then any guarantee that it won't eventually in the future? I guess we just wait and see. History has a habit of being interesting and dramatic every few decades.
EPA Rejects California Vehicle-Emission Standards
Recent evidence from the subprime fiasco proves - without a shadow of a doubt - that the "opinions" of ratings agencies are practically worthless at best, and maliciously misleading at worst. Ratings agencies are poisoned by greed, corruption, and conflict of interest. Their ratings are only worth following to the extent that the masses adjust their investment behavior accordingly, and to the extent that these agencies then become shapers of investment trends.
As soon as investors no longer pay attention to the contaminated ratings, these agencies will then become utterly worthless. Let that time be now. Analyze the financial data yourself and make your own informed decisions when investing. Nobody else has your best interests at heart - especially when money gets involved. You'd better believe that.
Rating Subprime Investment Grade Made `Joke' of Credit Experts
To the banks and lending organizations of America, I would say: "There can be no pride in outsmarting stupid people." The American population is suffering from an epidemic of stupidity, encouraged and spurred on by those who set themselves up to profit from such stupidity.
For decades now, Americans have been systematically programmed to trust their government and corporations, taught to be naive and gullible, taught to trust the claims of advertizing, taught to believe in false promises offered by duplicitous weazels.
Well, the collective American stupidity is coming home to roost. It's time to wake up and smell the idiocracy. We have become a nation that is simultaneously morally bankrupt, fiscally bankrupt, and intellectually bankrupt. There can be no more placating, no more reassuring pleasantries, no more rah-rah, we're-the-greatest, and everything-will-be-ok. It's time to deliver the blow to the stomach that the nation has so thoroughly come to deserve.
It's time for America to wake up from its dream and get real. It's time to swallow the bitter pill. Lots of shit is messed up, and there is a lot of work to do to put it right. If you thought you were going to party, think again. Those before you did all the partying. Now *you* are on the cleanup crew.
Life will never be the same. Future generations will settle for less. Expectations will be lowered. Happiness will be found beyond products and services. It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. Perhaps you will too. Prepare your mind.
Talking from the sidelines, the still-yearning-to-be-relevant Alan Greenspan is now trying to bail out sub-prime mortgage lenders - and all the crooks who tried to get in on their disgusting predatory lending action - by suggesting a government bail out of borrowers.
What he's suggesting is that, rather than leaving the predatory and unscrupulous lending industry to pay for their devious practices by suffering severe defaulting and unhappy rate freezes, instead US taxpayers should bail out the borrowers so that the lenders (and their investors) can walk away with all their ill-gotten gains.
According to Mr. Greenspan, the fuck must go on. Henry Paulson has the right idea. Alan Greenspan is a tired old, contaminated voice. Since you did nothing to prevent the problem, Mr. Greenspan, please shut up and let your successors try to fix it without your annoying interference.
Greenspan Says He Favors a Government Bailout for Homeowners
When trying to generate consensus around an issue, a key strategy is to guide a person's thought process so that the person reaches the decision you would like them to reach, while leading them to believe that the decision they arrived at is their own.
I would contend that the mainstream media in the US has employed this strategy very effectively, to the benefit of the controlling interests. I honestly don't believe that the majority of Americans are capable of making their own, well informed judgements on a number of key issues that are of high importance to the controllers.
I would contend that the decisions that many people believe to be their own are, in actual fact, supplied to them in the various flavors of media that they consume - be it in television, print, films, games, or otherwhise.
Don't trust the sleight-of-hand bullshitters, it turns out. Financial wizards at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who one might suspect were merely trying to pull the wool over our eyes, vomited out exotic concepts like "decoupling" to placate and appease the panicking mobs as the subprime debacle unfolded.
Well, as it turns out, and as one might have expected all along, there is no magical insulation layer that makes financial disaster in one area mysteriously not have a ripple effect into the larger economy. The question is: why would anyone ever believe these weazels in the first place? And why was their stupid bullshit even given "air time" in the mainstream media? Unless somebody wanted to buy time for something, by using misinformation dutifully supplied by the lackey runts?
'Decoupling' Debunked as U.S. Collapse Infects World
The deluge is coming to a new energy industry near you. Right now, there should still be lots more opportunity for value growth, but once the money has all flooded in there may be less "headroom" left. Showing up early for this party may have its benefits. It sure would be nice to have an opportunity to make a crapload of money in the market and actually feel good about getting rich.
UN Wants Third of Energy Spending on 'Clean' Sources
More reason to believe that the shift away from fossil fuels will be disruptive and will catch a lot of entrenched money off guard. Don't let it be your money...
Google pushes 'green' power initiative
The pendulum shift away from fossil fuels will not be gentle, gradual, or smooth. The laws of the market dictate this. The shift, when it occurs, will be as swift and painful as the shift in advertising money away from traditional media towards Internet media, such as in the form of paid search and placements in social networks. Once the tipping point is reached, expect a big impact to occur in only a few years - a decade at most.
The investment class is already busy at work, shifting their money from the old energy economy to the new energy economy. Silicon Valley, amongst other wealth centers of the world, is abuzz with vigorous investment in green tech. As always, it is the public dupe who will be left holding. It is so tempting. Towards the end of the fossil fuel boom, things will look altogether too alluring for those who arrive late to the party. Supply will be historically low, and demand will be historically high. Stock prices will be rallied higher, for their one final dying act.
This is part of the ruse. Expect the hollow stocks to be primped and primed, so that the capital of the wealthy can take flight, and so that the average fools may be reamed. Expect it to play out just as the current housing bust and banking subprime meltdown. It will be the most hapless of the hapless who will lose, as they buy the sloppy seconds from the shrewd investor elite, right at the peak of value, and right on the cusp of impending worthlessness.
Many will be caught holding. It will be so tempting, the way it is presented and sold. As oil becomes scarce, as gas too becomes scarce and more desperately in demand, so their prices will rise - and for a period the old energy establishment will see a windfall of riches and soaring profits. But, who would wish to be caught holding, were they to know the ingenious maneuverings of the informed inner circle of our society?
There is much debate and speculation on the subject of peak oil. What investors care about, however, is growth. At the point at which old energy reaches peak growth, and at which point the growth of new energy eclipses that of the old, at that point will the pendulum swing, and at that point will the losses begin. Likely, many will lose through indirect manners, as their retirement funds of various flavors invariably direct their money towards the sink, as ultimately these funds are in cahoots with the very same gravitational centers of wealth that re-align towards the new loci of growth, and as they so trade their entrenched positions that were on the verge of becoming unfavorable, with more favorable ones to tap their roots to.
Who would wish to be caught holding investments in the corporate equivalent of the walking dead? Who would wish to be caught holding, indeed?
I'd like to see the companies that make up the new energy economy gang up on the bloated fossil fuel giants like a bunch of vicious attack dogs and rip their corporate throats out. Then, once the kill is complete, may they rip through the bloated bellies of the fallen giants, to feast upon their oily entrails. And from feeding upon these fattened pigs, let the age of renewable energy truly dawn. We have seen a Silicon Valley giant born in this way, and advertising will never be the same again. May the same fate befall the entrenched and recalcitrant fossil energy giants.
Privacy will now be redefined as the right of the government and corporations to hold onto and pour over any and all of your private data that they see fit to, as long as they keep it to themselves and only use it for *their* nefarious purposes and don't "spread the love".
Intelligence deputy to America: Rethink privacy (cnn.com)
Next up, freedom will be redefined as the freedom to have all your freedoms summarily revoked. Peace will be redefined as a state of perpetual military conflict necessary for securing a stable economic climate conducive to the operations of multinational corporations. Welcome to your Mind Fuck. Are you ready to crawl back into the womb, or are you gonna stand up and fight the fuckers?
Fuck 9/11! I reject it. There is no "post 9/11 world". It's a hollow deceit.
George W Bush is an obstacle - along with all the Republicans who have coagulated around him.
It is an outrage that our failed Republican president - and his crew of neo-cronies - is funneling our hard earned tax money into the bulging pockets of mercenary armies, the likes of the much maligned Blackwater USA.
Paying exorbitant rates to these corporations makes it much harder for the US military to retain well trained personnel, thereby posing a real threat to our national security. How can the Department of Defense hope to compete with cronyism-funded corporate war profiteers, and the mega salaries that they offer (and that us taxpayers end up paying for)? What can we expect after we permit our government to privatize war and war zone security and turn it into a for profit business enterprise like any other?
This is the next stage of the evolution of the Military Industrial Complex. Next up will be offshoring the soldiering itself to cheaper foreign national mercenaries with questionable histories of involvement in activities of repression, insurgency, and terrorism. Next up, after that, is the use of these private, offshored corporate instruments of force and subjugation against our very own citizens, like the use of Blackwater security personnel in patrolling streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Gates: Military Contractors Luring Away Many Troops
Blackwater Down (alternet.org)
Blackwater USA (sourcewatch.org)
It seems inevitable that, over the next few years, charitable organizations will face a drying up of contributions. Multiple factors are colluding towards this outcome:
The downward pressure on the dollar is putting upward pressure on the price of oil, as oil is denominated in US dollars. As the US dollar becomes worth less in the international arena, so the sellers of oil will require a higher dollar price per gallon. Combine this with turmoil in the middle east, the possibility of conflict with Iran, and the onset of peak oil, and you have a recipe for inflated oil prices for years to come. High energy costs must be absorbed by the economy, and ultimately this will put the pinch on people's pocketbooks.
Now, add to this the current subprime / liquidity crisis that makes it virtually impossible for people to refinance their mortgages in order to use their homes as ATMs (lenders just aren't lending like they used to). Then, add the declining real estate market that leaves many recent new homeowners in an upside down state where their mortgage principle is higher than the current value of their home. Add, also, the incredible level of personal credit card debt that is so pervasive throughout the American population. Now you've got some seriously cash-strapped Americans.
Finally, add to this the fact that congress is standing by idly and doing nothing meaningful to tackle the problem of AMT (the Alternative Minimum Tax). Because of this paralysis, AMT is snagging more and more middle class Americans. One of the things that increases the risk of being caught by AMT is a high total of itemized deductions. So, pretty soon it may become commonplace for CPAs and financial advisers to advise their clients to avoid making substantial donations, to make it less likely they'll be caught by AMT.
Put all this together and you've got a recipe for a crisis in charity. Donations will dry up. Public radio stations will suffer, and pledge drives will become desperate and painfully protracted. Before consumers stop spending on themselves they will stop giving to others.
As consumer money dries up, we are going to have to put more and more pressure on our government to give us back our money in the form of services and entitlements. Right now, our government is simply pissing our money away making war and suffering and fomenting hatred towards the US that will last for generations to come. We need to get back our money, in the form of healthcare benefits. We need a new energy infrastructure to replace our decrepit fossil fuel infrastructure. We need our government to pony up and act responsibly when crises like Katrina hit. Our government - the one that takes our money - cannot expect to be bailed out by charities, "faith based initiatives", and volunteerism. We give the government our tax money with the expectation that it will be spent towards the public good, not Military-industrial Complex cronyism.
It's time to flush away all the lousy tax-and-squander-on-war Republicans and elect in their place some tax-and-spend-on-us Democrats. If I'm going to pay taxes, anyway, I'd rather have my money be spent on America's overall infrastructure and wellbeing, rather than unending death and destruction in some foreign land.
...thereby confirming my suspicions all along that this man is a complete asshole. Quoted from the article...
Chairman Alan Greenspan said he told the White House before the Iraq war that removing Saddam Hussein was "essential" to secure world oil supplies.
And this from the man who is now trying to play dumb about the whole subprime debacle. Do you honestly believe that this shrewd man was oblivious to the looming inevitability of a liquidity meltdown? He stood by, lifting not a finger to address the growing problem as he presided over an absurd housing boom that led - inevitably - to the whole subprime mortgage mess.
Beware of greasy little financial wizards...
Greenspan clarifies Iraq war, oil link
Republicans appear determined to spend all of our tax money on saving face over their beloved president's disastrous military occupation of Iraq. It's now clear that the only way we're going to be able to extract ourselves from the mess that resulted from Republicans running the show is to remove the last holdout Republicans from the executive branch of government.
We will be stuck in Iraq for decades to come - and probably even get ourselves embroiled in more wasteful wars - if we allow a Republican to stay in the presidency. The only way we can undo the huge cockup that is "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is to have Democrats controlling the house, senate, and presidency, and have them working in concert towards the wrapping up of this unpleasant show.
Iraq withdrawals "off the table": Republicans
With "friends" like the U.S. Military, who needs enemies? Who needs nuclear terrorism when your own military can't keep its missiles in its pants? Is Iran really a bigger threat to us than our own government?
US B-52 'in nuclear cargo error'
Apparently, the US government is now accusing the Iraqi government of not being able to govern effectively. Well, I've got news for them: given the ridiculous mess we're in, I would have to declare that our own government cannot govern effectively. Not that it's like me to get all biblical and all, but isn't there some nugget of wisdom to the effect of "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"? In this case, it seems like our federal government is so laden with sin that all they can do is lob barrages of stones frantically in all directions in the hope of distracting attention away from themselves.
Iraq's Leadership Can't Govern Effectively, U.S. Intelligence Agencies Say
What a sad, failed, and small little man this president is. What a terrible and unfortunate disgrace to America he has become.
Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout
Proving that there is no depth that is too low for him to stoop to, now he's trying to mind fuck all of America by spinning the tragedy of the Vietnam war in his favor. I predict that his approval ratings will "stoop" just as low as he chooses to stoop, because I don't think the American people are buying any of his - or his Republican Party's - crap anymore.
Sayonara, neo-conartists.
In case you haven't been watching the subprime mortgage and hedge fund crisis, we're facing an economic meltdown and the Republican administration of George W Bush is pissing our fortune away on death and destruction in some far away land. Meanwhile, poorly maintained infrastructure is falling apart around us - bridges collapsing and the like. If it wasn't for that one branch of government still left in the hands of stubborn Republicans, we'd already be out of Iraq.
Thanks, Republicans. We owe you all so much.
The lying sack of feces that George W Bush is, he is now threatening to stand in the way of an energy bill that will help us in ending our addiction to oil. On the one hand he hints that he is seeing the light by declaring America addicted to oil, but then he turns around like a two faced bastard and does everything in his power to keep us addicted to that oil.
Now, he and his obstructionist Republican Party want to stand in the way of our renewable energy future by pandering to the very oil companies that have been poisoning our energy policy and foreign policy for so long with their unhealthy influence on our society through the corruption of our democracy. The Republicans want to obstruct the House energy bill - after a similar bill was successfully passed by the Senate - a bill that has many provisions to balance the great disparity between our massive reliance on oil and our feeble development and utilization of renewable energy.
We obviously need to clean the Republican shit out of our political system. *ALL* Republicans must be pried from their positions of corruption and replaced with new leadership - at *EVERY* level of government in *EVERY* state of this nation. Republicans have proven themselves a failure - lacking in vision and dragging their heels, and keeping us from a clean energy future.
White House threatens to veto House energy bill
Watching the stock markets of late, it really seems like after the DOW hit its crazy highs of 14000 it then went rapidly into a chaotic fishtailing mode - as if it had reached some precarious level of instability, like a car with a badly aligned wheel entering into a speed wobble at just the right speed.
I've witnessed a car fishtailing in front of me on the freeway before. It proceeded to spin out of control and end up in a nasty accident, with the shaken up and disoriented driver crawling bewilderedly out of his vehicle that had come to a rest against the freeway's side railing.
It seems very much like the charging bull has charged, obliviously, right into the patch of oil slick that is the subprime mortgage fiasco, and now it's aslippin' and aslidin' as it tries desperately to maintain its balance and not go flying right onto its bully ass.
Are we about to witness a nasty "car crash" for the stock markets?
Wall St shaken by late-day market surges
The problem with trickle-down economics is that it is just that - a trickle. What's the meaning of a trickle down effect when the government is pouring bucket loads of tax breaks on the super rich - at a faster rate than any of it can trickle down to the rest of society?
It's all bull crap, that's what it is - merely a bogus concept that sounds half right enough for fools to believe, but that really isn't backed up by the stark reality. With the amount of benefits and advantages that are bestowed upon the holders of wealth, we can't do with just a trickle down effect - we need a bloody flood down effect.
All the wealth is damming at the top, and eventually that dam has got to burst its precarious banks. Somebody, please poke a hole somewhere - just one small little weak spot is all we need to start a fissure running and then watch as the whole thing crumbles, letting all the stockpiles of ill-gotten gains rain down upon the masses and once again make the ground of this society fertile and abundant with prosperity for all.
Is the US Heading for 'Developing Nations' Inequality Levels?
It is estimated - by highly reputable economic experts - that the ultimate tally for the Republican lead invasion and occupation of Iraq could amount to a whopping ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!!!
Now consider this: a typical solar system installation - sufficient to power an entire average home - costs around $30k. And we're assuming in this rough estimate that there are no government subsidies provided, so that this is the true cost and not some bogus distorted cost.
At that cost per installation, the trillion dollars that us taxpayers will end up wasting on killing men, women, and children in Iraq could instead have been used to install solar power systems for 33 MILLION AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS!!! And this is not even taking into account the economy-of-scale effect that would inevitably kick in with such high levels of manufacture of solar panels.
Now, why the fuck aren't Americans as pissed off as hell about this complete and utter wasting of their money, and ready to take to the streets of Washington D.C. and hang all the corrupt politicians they can get their pitchfork-wielding hands on!???
If you want to make this little math exercise even more poignant, consider what it would cost to also supply electric vehicles to citizens of this country. Electric vehicles are admittedly still expensive to produce. If we gave our stagnating auto manufacturers a stiff kick in the pants - war effort style - they could probably figure out a way to get the price tag down to $40k per unit. Now, if the government were to supply citizens with an electric vehicle - AND the means to charge it with free electricity from the sun - that would cost about $70k a pop. At that price, 14 MILLION gas guzzling, global warming, lung choking vehicles would be removed from US roads.
Imagine the return on investment for US society from such a radical and enlightened approach to spending taxpayers' hard earned money. Isn't that a better way to deal with our dependence on foreign oil than getting our military mired in conflicts aimed at securing the sources of that slippery poison, to which we've become so desperately addicted? We must stop needing so damned much of it, and commit the national treasure to that cause - instead of wasting it on enriching the merchants of destruction and suffering.
Why would CNN even provide a platform for this woman to spew her decaying ideas? Why do we care about hearing what she has to say anymore? Isn't this exactly the kind of failed mainstream crap that we've had pumped down our throats all along that's gotten us into our rotten oil addiction predicament in the first place?!?!
Chatting with America's gas price survey maven
Despite the article actually being titled "Chatting with America's gas price survey maven", CNN gives it top billing on their front page with the sensational and anti-environmental title "Climate 'boogeyman'".
CNN is once again proving itself to be a mouthpiece for corporate interests and not willing to reflect the true interests of the population. Among the gems from this interview is Trilby Lundberg decrying the subsidizing of "uneconomic" sources of energy, such as biofuels. After having been focused on the subject of gasoline for so many years, how can she still fail to see the extent of the indirect costs of petroleum as a fuel source, and the extent to which we are - in effect - subsidizing its price through trillions of dollars of taxpayer money that are directed towards military exploits in foreign lands, just in order to secure the sources of oil production!?!?
Among Trilby's other doozies are her Global Warming denial. You only need to read the last few paragraphs of the interview to see whose pocket she may be comfortably nesting in. I'm sorry, but I don't see any integrity - whatsoever - in anything she has to say here. I'm losing respect for CNN by the day (as if the Iraq war debacle wasn't already sufficient to thoroughly discredit them, and the rest of the US' conservative mainstream media).
Big media is owned by big corporations - and those big corporations are invested in by a network of other corporations. Some corporations are genuinely afraid now of the rising political will to take serious action against Global Warming, as such action will put them in the hot seat and may threaten their bottom line. So, expect them to try - using any means at their disposal - to detract from this growing upsurge in Global Warming consciousness by spreading disinformation, hiring press shills, and effecting editorial pressure amongst the US' mainstream media organizations to soften the tone of the Global Warming reporting.
Why does the reporter in the article listed below, for example, have such a bias in reporting on the Live Earth concerts?
Global warming concerts: A lot of hot air?
The title of the article "Global warming concerts: A lot of hot air?" already injects his idiotic bias. Why would CNN even permit an article with such blatant bias to be published on their Web site, unless there was a general editorial mandate to start introducing messaging that is more skeptical towards the environmental movement and, as a result, friendlier towards corporate interests?
Now, not all companies are being pigheaded and obstructionist, however. At least some companies are taking up the challenge of pioneering better ways of doing things that contribute less towards Global Warming.
Companies pledge at U.N. to cut carbon burdens
Watch the big war supporter crumble...
McCain’s communications team out
I remember McCain being quoted in the press a while back saying that he'd "rather lose an election than lose a war". Now, I ask you, why would he assume that those two outcomes are necessarily mutually exclusive. All I can say is, be careful what you wish for, Mr. Surge.
For someone who has experienced war first hand, you would think he'd know better. Perhaps his support for the war is just another cynical whoring to the Military Industrial Complex, in the hopes that they'll come through and secure for him the presidency. If that's the case, then fortunately it doesn't seem to be working this time around...
McCain Ends Quarter With $1.8M Debt
Key aides resign from McCain campaign
And if all that good news (for us, that is) weren't enough, Senator John McSurge has gone on record to tempt fate, and the Great Force of Irony that powers the Universe, itself...
McCain: I'll Drop Out When I'm Dead
Wouldn't it just be the height of irony if Iran, the most evil nation on Earth (according to the Bush administration), ended up being a partner in the battle to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq?
Iraq al-Qaida group threatens Iran (Yahoo! NEWS)
It seems clear to me that high level officials in the Bush administration have had a vested interest in allowing the terrorism threat to America to fester. After all, 9/11 worked out so well for Dick Cheney and his neocon gang in giving them the pretext they needed to initiate their invasion of Iraq. If they just let the al Qaeda situation fester for long enough, then maybe they'll get lucky and score again - this time getting the pretext they want to bullshit us into a war with Iran.
'05 mission to get al Qaeda in Pakistan aborted, Times says (cnn.com)
How else can you explain the unwillingness to secure the capture of Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora back in 2001?
U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away (Newsweek)
In a recent article on news site cnn.com, the reporter refers to an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) as "essentially a high-tech bomb", and then goes on to regurgitate the federal government's line that "Iran supplies these high-tech bombs", with no substantiation offered. Sometimes it's just sufficient to repeat the accusation enough times for stupid Americans to stop questioning and swallow the bait - hook, line, and sinker. Remember Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Now, if you want to learn just how "high-tech" of a technology an explosively formed penetrator really is, consult this informative article on Wikipedia...
Explosively formed penetrator (wikipedia.org)
As you can tell, it's really just a straightforward mechanical explosive. Nothing really all that "high-tech" about it, particularly as it is employed in Iraq - it simply utilizes some basic principles of physics. There's no sophisticated guided targeting systems, or magical humvee detection electronics, or anything. It's just a particularly lethally shaped bomb.
Of course, if you *do* want to see some more "hi-tech" embodiments of the EFP principle, you only have to look at all the weapons products manufactured by our own trusty Military Industrial Complex. In fact, almost every example of an EFP that the article can find to mention happens to be manufactured by US companies. So tell me now about a bunch of fucking bullshit pussy US media bias!
The CNN article...
At least 105 killed in Iraqi village market blast (cnn.com)
Get off your fuckin' lard asses, US media, and start digging for the truth! The world - and the American people - deserves it.
The president of the United States, like the erstwhile King of England, can get away with anything - whether it's murdering American soldiers and innocent Iraqis by dragging us into a war built upon blatant lies, or shielding his traiterous cohorts (like Mr. Libby) from accountability, or spying on the American people illegally.
The list of known crimes goes on and on - nevermind all the things we don't even know about, that are being plotted by that other little man who thinks he's in his very own branch of the government (you know the guy I'm talking about)...
Court dismisses lawsuit on spying program (reuters.com)
I guess circumcision is equal opportunity mutilation...
Young Girl Dies During Circumcision Surgery In Egypt
Can we please just stop the insanity and leave helpless minors' genitals the fuck alone!
What a complete and utter fucking joke to hear this completely useless president and his completely useless and disgraced Republican Party whining about so-called "tax-and-spend" policies. They have no credibility - whatsoever - when it comes to the issue of wasting the hard earned money of American taxpayers.
If you want to talk about runaway government spending, talk about the thoroughly useless occupation of a foreign country that's costing taxpayers HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars. When the final cost is tallied up, it could quite easily end up costing us a TRILLION dollars. What a useless band of corrupt, lying hypocrites the Republican Party has become. What fool would still place their trust in these criminals?
Bush warns he'll use veto power to rein in spending (cnn.com)
It comes as no surprise to me to see a study verifying what I've experienced first hand since moving to America...
Americans - including myself - are getting shafted by a capitalist system run amok. It's all out of balance, and corporate and shareholder greed is rotting away the very quality of our lives. A select few are drowning under the trappings of wealth, while the rest of us, the majority underclass (sorry, middle class, it was sad to see you go and we miss you ever so much) is drowning under mountains of toil.
When last did I take a day of vacation? I can't remember. I guess that somewhere along the line the bait and switch occurred. There we were, merrily working to live, and then suddenly the corporate overlords did a sleight of hand maneuver on us, and now we're stuck here living to work. We've been duped.
Americans less happy today than 30 years ago: study (reuters.com)
The writing is on the wall. Energy is the next big story that will dominate societal consciousness for the next few decades.
"Say it ain't so" is the bellyaching whine that emanates from the conservative camp of conventional economists who have successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of people (including themselves) for the past half a century or more with their irrational ideology of ever increasing consumption. If only we can all hold out just a teeny bit longer... perhaps there'll be a miracle solution - just in time - so that we don't have to transform the way in which we live, and so that they don't have to suffer any disruptions in their business activities. After all, economic growth makes EVERYONE better off, right?
There are two camps now: the holdouts, and the ones who are starting to accept the new reality and realize that the party is really kind of over. There could be a revolution, lurking just around the corner, that will transform the way in which we live. The holdouts, of course, would like nothing more than for all of the stories that captivate our attention to be centered around consumption - new gadgets, devices, and stuff - more and more cool stuff. They desperately do not wish energy to dominate the consciousness of mankind. On the other hand, the entrepreneurs who are now working at the renewable energy technologies for tomorrow would love for our focus to be on energy - spending our precious money overhauling our systems of energy production, rather than flushing it down the toilet of useless consumable stuff.
Expect a painful adjustment to occur over the next few decades that will bring hardship to some, while bringing great opportunity to others who embrace the coming changes and rise to the occasion with a willingness to adapt and let go of the unsustainable ways of the past. While some are trying desperately to stave off the revolution, other intrepid pioneers are working hard specifically to bring on the revolution. There is still growth to be had over the next fifty years, but much of it will be in cannibalizing defunct, unsustainable business sectors.
Our proud "war president" and his Republican throng are trying their damnedest, it appears, to actually cause the implosion of the American nation. Their foolhardy foreign policy, with its warmongering and confrontationism, is pushing the US military to its breaking point...
US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack (The Sunday Times, UK)
At what point does the military establishment actually turn around and bite back, turning on its owner like a hardened pit bull that has been kicked in the side just one time too many? Could the seemingly inconceivable happen in the USA? Could we see something as stunningly unexpected as a military coup, where the ruling government is deemed by key military leaders to have become a real and perilous threat to the interests of the people? Such an event would - undoubtedly - be the most sensational international news event since 9/11.
George W Bush has already broken Iraq, which now stands as an anarchic failed state. Could it be that, before we get the opportunity to remove all Republicans from Washington, they might go as far as to break OUR nation as well by starting a full scale war with Iran?
We could all do with an "act of God" right about now. This one was "close, but no cigar"...
Cheney plane fine after minor problem (CNN)
At what point will the great forces of the Universe finally converge to produce some results that aren't as sickening as 9/11 and Operation "Iraqi Freedom"? At what point will luck thoroughly desert the misruling elite and swing over once again to favor the people?
My anticipation grows with every waiting day. I have a feeling it's going to be spectacular, and I want a ringside seat!
Here's Mr. Richard Cheney, telling us what we may and may not contemplate...
US, allies cannot contemplate early Iraq withdrawal: Cheney (Yahoo! news)
Who does this guy think he is, exactly? Contemplate this, Mr. Cheney: nobody's listening anymore to what you or anybody else in the failed Bush administration has to say. America has been disgraced by your policies, and now we will contemplate replacing you with real leaders.
What is all this crap that Iraq occupation apologists keep spouting out about the grave perils of a "hasty" pullout from Iraq? What drugs are these incompetent morons smoking (and where can I get some)?
How the hell can you call pulling out troops after a FOUR YEAR occupation "hasty"? Do these people not even understand the very basics of the English language? Perhaps if they actually had a plan for phasing out the occupation presence in an orderly manner - oh, say, several years ago - they wouldn't now be backed up against a wall and feeling the heat of an angry populace that's pressuring them to get the sons and daughters of America the hell out of a place they should never have been occupying in the first bloody place!!!
No, what needs to be hasty now is the fierce repudiation of a failed administration, and the replacement of a self-proclaimed "war president" with a leader of integrity, who knows how to negotiate the way through the subtle and nuanced complexities of foreign policy. Say, perhaps, a statesman? How about a diplomat's diplomat? Perhaps a powerful and commanding bridge builder who can bring nations of the world together to seek a common cause?
The time is right to get some of "the right stuff" back into America's leadership. Corporate puppets just won't do any longer. America - and the world - deserves better!
It's time to do it. Every Republican politician who can possibly be removed from office MUST be removed from office. Republican control over all three branches of government has brought this country nothing but a whole heap of pain. The wealth of this nation is being squandered on catastrophically misguided military exploits. The Republican Party has lied us into this mess.
It doesn't much matter that the Republican Party had a glorious beginning. And we don't much care if you're a centrist or "moderate" Republican. You just have got to go. Consider yourself collateral damage in this war president's campaign of destruction. Thank him when your political career fizzles out.
You may want to consider switching parties now, while your career still has some hope of being salvaged, and so you will at least be thanked for helping America to change course. You have to live with your own conscience. You know this war was built upon lies, so how can you continue to rally behind your party of lies. They have already betrayed America, so they deserve at least your betrayal in turn.
All we care about now is that the Republican Party has become an obstacle to peace and prosperity, for America and for the world. And please don't point to how powerful the US economy is as some kind of test of prosperity, when the chasm between rich and barely surviving has never been greater. What I see is poverty like never before since I arrived in this country.
I see the streets of San Francisco teeming with homeless people. Many of these people are mentally ill, and the money that is being blown up in the form of artillery shells should really be going into building mental health care facilities. I read that violent crime is increasing in cities across America, after having been in decline for many years. Poverty is rising, and it's because our nation's treasure is being pillaged by war profiteers.
We see and we know where the Republican Party's loyalty lies - not to the American people, but to crooks and thiefs who are bleeding this country of the tax money obediently given up by citizens who thought they could trust their government.
For this war, the Republican Party must receive severe punishment, and it is the duty of each one of us to mete out this punishment at each election opportunity we now get.
Operation Iraqi Freedom, as it is so called, is nothing more than corruption. Honestly. Nothing more than corruption. Keep repeating this to yourself, over and over again, until it drowns out the bullshit spin being spewed out by propaganda devices such as Fox News. Until it drowns out the bullshit spin of a recalcitrant president and his spineless Republican Party lackeys, who now find themselves trying to lie their way out of responsibility for their own actions.
Pentagon sees U.S. war cost in Iraq rising (reuters.com)
The costs are soaring, the United States of America is being bled dry, and the ones who are benefiting are the war profiteers who get to secure the cushy government contracts to replace all the depleted military equipment that is being wasted by this mindless bullshit. Instead of shooting his friends in the face, why doesn't Richard Cheney do us all a great big favor and shoot himself in the face for once.
Can you tell I'm fucking pissed off!!? If you're not pissed off too, you're just not paying attention to how much this war is costing America. $8 BILLION A MONTH AND RISING.
Senator John McCain who, on the one hand, officially supports a troop surge, appears to be, on the other hand, opposing the troop surge implicitly or by proxy by encouraging Democrats in their opposition to the plan.
From a news article "Mr. McCain also said he thinks that Democrats who oppose a surge should make their legislation binding."
Murtha proposes bill to choke funding for surge (washtimes.com)
Mr. McCain goes on to say "Look, if these people are serious, that oppose this increase in troops and change in strategy, then they should vote to cut off funding."
How about we just let Mr. Bush merrily "stay the course", while the rest of us all go ahead and change direction.
Then, when Mr. Bush finds himself completely alone and up Shit Creek without a paddle, we can all chip in a few pennies each and send him care packages.
What can I say!?!? A fantastic movie. Mike Judge truly is the smartest guy in the world. The rumor is that Fox tried to suppress this movie, and when you watch it it's quite obvious why. This m