Defaming Beef

It started with Carl's Jr. and their Angus beef burgers. Now McDonalds is getting in on it. Fast food is pretending at being all upscale by claiming to have genuine Angus beef.

It's a lie. My dad raises genuine Angus beef from a herd I started when in FFA. The so-called Angus in these fast food burgers is referring to beef from cows that are black. It would be like calling every dark skinned human a Nigerian, or at least the first two syllables of that word, sort of. Folks who raise genuine Black Angus beef should consider a defamation suit.

It's not all about the breed. Just like people, good beef has more to do with how they are raised, how they are treated, the environment they live in, how they die and other variables. Crappy feed lot beef is still crappy feed lot beef and is going to be tough, hard, and not as easily palatable. Just like ghetto trash is more than likely going to be toughened, harder, and less palatable (in an inter-personal relations way since we aren't supposed to be eating them for dinner).

Besides, all McDonalds really needed to say was...

Now With Less Horse!

Chaos Economics

Tonight I was reading in a book* how the chaos models used to predict weather are the same principles used to forecast economic trends.

People forecasting weather understand that these models work well up to three days out and then deteriorate quickly. People have accepted this and understand that if someone tells you a month and a day from now it will rain, they are guessing. Nobody listens to the long term forecast (or even the short term for that matter) and takes it as gospel truth.

Meanwhile economists utilizing the same principles will often mistake these forecasts for something resembling truth. They forget that the models work to give a good probability of near term events, absolutely suck at predicting upcoming trends a week or more out, but give a decent overview of how markets behave in general. Even though many of them are gifted in the field of mathematics, they neglect to consider that a slight shift even in the ten-thousandths (.0001) can cause radical changes that render the end result unrecognizable from its nearly identical (at the start) counterpart.

The models demonstrate that major spikes and valleys will occur. A deregulated market will make for some pretty wild swings. A strictly regulated market would make both the highs and lows considerably less radical. The odds of getting rich go down but so do the odds of getting wiped out.

If you establish a garden inside of a greenhouse, you can control most of the 'weather' for that system. That means more work for you but with less risk. If you are looking to invest, you can put your money in a guaranteed savings account**. You'll have to put a hell of a lot in to get anything out of it, but the chances of losing it all are quite slim.

The opposite of this would probably be throwing your apple core into a ditch on your way to buy some lottery tickets.

* Yes they still print books and yes people still read them.

** Current interest rates are out-paced by inflation. Think of it as having to put in two to draw out one. It's still better than losing your inheritance because your mom insisted on investing in Enron.

About Franken Time!

Congratulations to Senator Elect Al Franken.

BBC NEWS | Court declares Franken 'victory'

Minnesota's Supreme Court has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the state's disputed 2008 US Senate race...

The Supreme Court ruling means that Mr Franken should soon become the Democrats' 60th vote in the US Senate.

I'm just glad Norm Coleman has finally lost the seat he stole from a dead man (Paul Wellstone).

More Onion Truth

U.S. Finishes A 'Strong Second' In Iraq War | The Onion

BAGHDAD—After 19 months of struggle in Iraq, U.S. military officials conceded a loss to Iraqi insurgents Monday, but said America can be proud of finishing 'a very strong second.'

"We went out there, gave it our all, and fought a really good fight," said Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "America's got nothing to be ashamed of. We outperformed Great Britain, Poland, and a lot of the other top-notch nations, but Iraq just wouldn't stay down for the count. It may have come down to them simply wanting it more."

Bright Green Light

While I love my guns, I still consider this a lovely thing.

Northern Ireland | Loyalist weapons put 'beyond use'

Two Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary groups have said they have completed decommissioning.

The UVF and Red Hand Commando said their weapons and explosives were 'totally and irreversibly beyond use'.

Another loyalist group, the Ulster Defence Association, confirmed it had started to decommission its arsenal.

NI Secretary Shaun Woodward said it was 'an historic day for Northern Ireland'. Between them, the UDA and UVF killed almost 1,000 people in the Troubles.

Four years ago, the IRA put its weapons beyond use in decommissioning witnessed by two churchmen.

It's good to see the Irish restricting their violence to drunken pub brawls over the football match. That's universal*.



* Except in the United States where football is not football and therefor people fighting over football are not really fighting about football and cannot technically be counted as a pub brawl over the football match. And they watch in bars, not pubs. Wankers.

An Affair so Right

US governor admits 'wrong' affair.

The Republican governor of the US state of South Carolina has admitted to an extra-marital affair.

Yawn.

He could have saved a lot of trouble by announcing it preemptively.


Congressman Offers Preemptive Apology For Extramarital Affair

Putting Iran in Perspective

In the recent election in Iran there were some who were really upset with the result. Those people took to the streets to protest and have sited irregularities as proof of a rigged election.

Sounds like just another modern democratic election to me. Same thing happened here in the United States in 2000 and 2004. People took to the streets to protest. They took legal actions. They investigated and found irregularities far more rampant than those currently in Iran.

There is a difference. In Iran the protests have been forcibly restrained by police. The United States was at least more civil about it. I would guess it has something to do with the US population having more to lose if they die. As screwed up as things may seem, citizens of this great nation have still got it pretty sweet compared to the vast majority of this planet. That makes people very reluctant to erupt into the kind of violence that can lead to revolutions.

Polls by independent sources leading up to the Iran election showed the incumbent with nearly a 2 to 1 lead over the challenger whose supporters have taken to the streets in protest. Like it or not, Analbeadingjob* seems to have majority support.

In 2000 and 2004 the US polls showed much closer races and greater irregularities. It seems hard for someone like myself to believe the former and unfathomable that people would accept the latter. That has passed like so much history written in the blood of duped Americans.

In Iran, the theocratic nature of politics operates openly. In the highly civilized United States, we can feign religious tolerance while secretly acting as a Christian nation. Members of Bush's cabinet certainly saw our efforts in the Middle East as a holy war. Atheists can not get elected President here. Many who voted for Bush, and plenty of people actually did vote for him, saw him as a deeply religious individual of Christian morals. We hide our theocracy in plain sight.

As for the news stories, consider that they might just be propaganda. Maybe. Possibly. For instance, the CIA is strictly prohibited from interfering in domestic affairs. Not their jurisdiction. They have, however, deliberately placed false news stories in foreign newspapers to sway international opinion. There have been incidents where Congressmen and Senators have then quoted from these planted articles, presumably not knowing that they were planted, to rally support domestically.

Iranians get repressed like goats in a feed lot. Americans get repressed like emo kids in suburbia. Those repressing are doing God's will. Those telling us about the repression are viewing it through the eyes of their favorite oppressor.

I'm just glad to live in a country where I and others like me are free to express ourselves because our highly civilized government has accepted that it is easier to beat people down with a propaganda campaign than with the butt of a rifle. Praise be to Allah God bless America!

* Muslims are going to call for my assassination now, aren't they?

One for the Little Guy

I've been meaning to get a little more positive around here. So here's something.

Peru Indians hail 'historic' day

Indigenous groups in Peru have called off protests after two land laws which led to deadly fighting were revoked.

Hailing victory, Amazonian Indian groups said it was an 'historic day'.

At least 34 people died during weeks of strikes against the legislation which allowed foreign companies to exploit resources in the Amazon forest.

Peru had passed the land laws in order to implement a free trade agreement with the US. Indigenous peoples had this strange notion that the lands were better suited to support the people living in those areas.

The natives weren't the only ones pissed about this. Peru's neighbors Bolivia and Venezuela also condemned the decision. Peru reconsidered and revoked the laws by an 82-12 vote.

Only a few dozen people had to die in the meantime.

Lament of the Low Born

It sucks to not be born into privilege. We all know it. We may try to cover it over with little anecdotes about appreciating the simple pleasures and romantic notions of an honest day's work blah blah blah. For all those people who like to cry about the invocation of class warfare, the rich are just damn lucky that the poor in these United States still have enough to make class warfare an ideological campaign instead of a bloody one.

This week I had to purchase new work pants. When I first started buying them, I knew they were union made in the US. Then some were union made in the US so I had to look at the label. Then I could either get made in the US from foreign materials or assembled in Mexico from US materials. This time I just needed some damn pants and didn't even look at the label.

It would seem to me that if the country was really serious about building genuine economic stability and growth a wise course of action would be to boost consumption of American made goods. So why haven't we heard any encouragement towards this end? Why hasn't President Obama called for a vigorous campaign calling for people to buy domestic?

Well, he made a tiny squeak about it and was immediately shot down by big business and the European Union. It is easy to understand why the European Union would not want protectionist measures levied against their goods, but why domestic companies?

Possibly because those who spend the most financing campaigns have no desire to boost the economic stability of the working class. That's right, I smell a conspiracy afoot. A strong working class will make demands of their employers. They want benefits and an equal stake in the success of the company. No manufacturer can bring a product to market without a labor force. They know it and wish like hell it wasn't the case. Right now while companies are acting frightened, they are enjoying an unprecedented level of employee loyalty based in fear. People are less likely to farm around for a different job because the market for their 'unskilled labor' sucks. They won't make demands because their employers are systematically laying off or firing anyone they can. Unionization is right out, and corporations love that.

Fear is effective in the short term. The last administration got away with torture and murder and a whole list of lesser crimes because people were scared to death of terrorists. Prolonged fear will drive people ape-shit-bonkers and you end up with Timothy McVeigh, the Una-Bomber, and disgruntled employees going postal. Fear can only control a population until they realize that the bogey man in the closet was a fiction created by folks with an agenda. Rather than opting for a safer plan of working cooperatively with workers, companies just try to keep the fear at a 'safe level'.

I dare say that the bogey man in the closet this time around, the world financial crisis, was so convincing that the forces behind it have even scared themselves. Imagine directing a slasher movie. You shot it. You edited it. You know the film. Yet at the opening you still jump when the killer lashes out from the shadows. It happens.

Companies knew that growth based on credit was risky. Banks knew it, too. A lot of people figured they were good enough that if their current venture went down the tubes, they'd just hop on the next one. But it snowballed. The bogey man of economic uncertainty had gotten loose, snuck up behind them, and started chasing them through the moon shadowed mists of a dieing forest they helped to destroy. As they run away they hand you, the worker, the task of killing the bogey man. They raped you and violated you and beat you down until your life was a meaningless existence of booze poured down in quantities large enough to forget how much it all sucks. In a slasher film those who created the monster would be among the first to go and you would rise to the occasion and become the hero. This isn't a movie. They will get away and you will be fucked.

What can you do about it? Nothing. Shut up and get back to work, slave.

Thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.

In God's Name

Remember being told over and over again that the Iraq War was not a war against Islam? If Donald Rumsfeld's White House briefings on the war are any indication, that was all a lie.

Onward, Christian Soldiers! - GQ

Go watch the slide show. I laughed. I cried. I fought off involuntary loss of bladder control and held back a spontaneous bowel movement.

I am guessing the US Armed forces are waiting for Jesus to come down and smite the unbelievers before they can withdraw from the region. God will get right on that.

How Many Deaths Will it Take 'til We Know

Once again, The Onion gets it spot on.

Abortion Doctor's Murder Sparks Waves Of Calm, Rational Discussion

The cold-blooded murder of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, 67, who was gunned down last week by a pro-life activist during services at a local church, has ignited a firestorm of thoughtful, quiet debate about the practice of abortion. 'When I saw how [Dr. Tiller] was shot in the head at point-blank range, I couldn't help but think, 'Maybe the other side has some logical points worth listening to,'' pro-choice activist Melinda Brody said. 'I have a feeling this senseless act of violence will help resolve the divisive reproductive-rights issue once and for all.' Brody also said she's encouraging doctors across the country to double the number of late-term abortions they perform in hopes of provoking even more open and rational dialogue.

Obama Hypocrisy

You can't get much more arrogantly hypocritical than this.

Hillary Clinton demands China investigate and disclose its past abuses

A China that has made enormous progress economically, and that is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership, should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says this while the Obama domestic policy is to sweep our own abuses under the rug.

Christian Terrorists

In today's podcast I satirically make the case for waterboarding the man currently held in custody for the slaying of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.

Man quizzed over US doctor death

Quizzed. I like that. Very friendly.

Further investigation of this story revealed that the suspect being held is one Scott P. Roeder.

George Tiller suspect may be charged Monday

I did a search of the suspect's name and the very first thing that pops up...

Waterboard Scott P. Roeder

I don't actually think this guy should be waterboarded. I do agree that something more than another candlelight vigil needs to happen.

Something Positive

I've been waiting for something really nice to say about President Obama. I finally found it in a piece of pulp reporting.

Obamas enjoy a date on Broadway

The presidential date ended with a performance of August Wilson's play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Sure, it's a piece of political celebrity trash to feed the masses. Sure, Republicans are getting on his case for taking a quick trip to New York for a date with the first lady when he should be escaping to his Texas ranch to clear brush like a real President.

With my background in theater and knowledge of Broadway plays, the President made a damn good choice. Racist assholes could make the case that of course the first black President would go see a black Broadway show. My own humble opinion is that August Wilson is one of the best damn playwrights this country has ever known. It sure beats the hell out of suffering through Gypsy.

Good choice, Obama. I'd still like to see him cutting down some Bushes in Texas.

Torture Costs Lives!

Not only does torture have the potential of causing irreparable harm or even killing those being tortured, it also costs other lives. As a result of torture being used by the United States there have been more recruits to al Qaeda and more suicide bombers. Not only will those people die (willingly in a crusade against the Western hypocritical devils) but more troops die as a result of their actions (which are a result of our actions, torture).

I have always believed that the United States secretly tortured people. I just figured they were really sneaky about it and kept it so secret most people could live in plausible denial their whole lives. I would have never imagined that we would reach a stage where the former Vice President not only condones torture but is proud of torturing people. For some reason I thought everybody saw what had happened in Nazi Germany and was so sickened by it that we could at least agree that civilized nations would never resort to that sort of thing ever again. At least to never publicly admit to such things. Torture should have been off the list of 'maybes' a long time ago.

I guess we just aren't civilized.

Book News

Jumping Jesus on a Pogo Stick! Amazon has decided to offer my book.

Presidential Tentacle Porn: NSFW

You know that the government is screwing you. Why not make it by the President himself! Or at least his likeness.

Alternative Tentacles

Yes it s the long-anticipated dildo that features a likeness of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama!

When we say 'long' we mean 7 1/2" (and nearly 2" in diameter!). It's 14 ounces of TPR, Phthalate-Free Rubber & is made in San Francisco, CA. No batteries required. Previously it's only been available in sex shops & on-line sex sites.

That's right, former Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra's record label, Alternative Tentacles, is selling this somewhat disturbing sex toy.

In other disturbing sexual trends, this weekend is the 9th Annual Portland Masturbate-A-Thon. In the past I have given my endorsement of this event. After all, what could be finer than a charity event with a pro-masturbation message? This year it frightens me.

Darklady's Solo Sex Circus is pitching its big top tent over this year’s 9th Annual Portland Masturbate-a-thon for a fundraiser like no other. At last, your chance to run away and join a circus worth living in a trailer for!

Whether you’re a crazy clown, a gentle lion tamer, a nervous trapeze artist or a member of the super freak side show, Ringmistress Darklady will be happy to show you the ropes, the vibrators, the ThrillHammer, the MonkeyRocker, the silent auction, the potluck, the information table, the hoochie coochie girls, the guy stroking off while hanging from hooks and the bearded nuns… just for starters.

It makes me feel a bit prudish, but circuses and sex should not mix.

There are other things that should not be mixed with sex. Just something about creepy clowns and elephants...

Changing the Debate about 'Enhanced Interrogation'

Conservative Vanity Fair writer Christopher Hitchens underwent waterboarding and concluded it constitutes torture. Independent former Governor Jesse Ventura underwent waterboarding on says it is torture. Third time's the charm. So a conservative radio host underwent waterboarding and guess what?

Mancow Waterboarded, Admits It's Torture | NBC Chicago

'I want to find out if it's torture,' Mancow told his listeners Friday morning, adding that he hoped his on-air test would help prove that waterboarding did not, in fact, constitute torture.

This time we get video of the event! Hooray! Televised torture in the United States.

In the first video we see Mancow undergoing the 'enhanced interrogation technique'. I have to admit that watching it be done, it doesn't look so horrible. Lots of people have water dumped on them or get dunked in water. It looks fairly benign.

They talk to him after the fact. He tells of how as a child his brother pushed him into a pool and he drowned, having to be revived be EMTs. So the guy knows what drowning is. He says waterboarding IS drowning, and it is torture.

That should be that. Anyone who has been waterboarded will tell you that it is torture. The three examples given above were all waterboarded in the nicest possible way. Each of them had safety mechanisms in place that could end the procedure if they couldn't handle it, a luxury you can bet the inmates at Gitmo would have liked. Mancow could stop the torture anytime he wanted by simply letting go of a plastic toy he held in his hand. He knew there was a way to stop it and still called it torture. Some would argue that the detainees also had a way to stop the torture.

"Just tell us what you know and it will end."

"I don't know anything."

"Do it again."

"I meant to say that Bill Clinton and a vast left wing conspiracy have been funding al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden has been staying in their guest house."

Since waterboarding is the flagship of the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the United States government, and waterboarding is torture, we now can say conclusively that the United States tortured detainees. Enhanced interrogation is just a nicer way of saying it. Just like 'enhanced rectal cavity expansion technique' is a nicer way of saying 'ass raped with a baseball bat'.

Our nation tortured people. Folks can dance around that word all they want but we now know well beyond a reasonable doubt that the United States tortured people. People want to believe that all of those inmates were somehow guilty of some unnamed crime and deserved it. Without any sort of trial, without the benefit of presumed innocence that this nation's founding fathers thought was so important that they included it in one of our most important founding documents, with no way of knowing if they were actually terrorists or just citizen soldiers defending the country of their birth, the United States took it upon themselves to torture these people to find out the 'truth'. Knowing that this occurred, the only question left is if people are okay with that.

And some people are. Those people are about as un-American as they come. They hate America and are jealous of its freedoms. Those people are the children of immigrants and they hate immigrants. They are the children of people who escaped religious persecution and they can't tolerate other people's religions. They are the children of people who wanted the right to voice their opinions and they want dissenting voices to shut the hell up. They are hypocritical steaming piles of shit wrapped up in American flag t-shirts and hiding behind 'United We Stand' bumper stickers. They have wiped their assholes with the Constitution and called it an act of patriotism. And their representatives, the politicians, especially the ones who knew we were doing this long before the public did, are even worse.

You Might be a Terrorist if...

In the 1984 film Red Dawn, there is a scene where Soviet forces invading the United States round up all the Boy Scouts as members of a para-military youth organization. It seemed absurd to most viewers. Not the Scouts!

Yes, the Scouts.

Homeland Security Trains Scouts To Fight Terrorism

The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters...

The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out "active shooters," like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses.

Sixty years of para-military activities. I think when I was Scouts age (though I never was one) I would have really enjoyed such activities.

So the Boy Scouts are a para-military organization training kids to act like dick cops who will some day tase you for a minor traffic infraction. Not a big surprise.

Then there's this...

Given recent concerns over the DHS definition of "right wing extremists" and the agency’s penchant to affiliate veterans, gun owners, Ron Paul supporters and even those who question the mainstream media with terrorists, one wonders exactly who the boy scouts are being trained to target.

For the past eight years folks have been complaining that protesters and left leaning political activists have been targeted as terrorists for questioning the mainstream media. There has been plenty of evidence to support this claim as well as the above "right wing extremists" terrorist claim.

Put it all together and you discover that Americans across the board are terrorists. Scouts are being trained to keep us all in line. America as we knew it is going right down the... same path it has been heading down for generations. Only now it can do it on the internet!

Addendum: This slide show of the program is creepy.

Political Hero

Jesse Ventura wasn't just a politician or merely Governor of Minnesota. To me he was one of the last representatives.

Awesome interview with Larry King. Waterboarding, torture, Cuba, and surfing. Well worth all ten minutes of it.

An Open Invitation to Evangelicals

Catholics who have prayed the rosary are quite familiar with a particular passage.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

World without end. I like that phrase. Has a real positive tone to it.

It's not just a Catholic thing. Every Bible has it. Ephesians 3:21,

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

'Throughout all ages' and 'world without end' seem to refer to the phenomenon we now know as space/time. The space/time phenomenon is an inherent quality of the universe as we know it. So without a universe, or without existing in the universe, space/time ceases to exist and you no longer have a 'world without end'. That would be a secular translation. But 'world without end' still refers to a world, as opposed to the heavens. There was a distinct difference between the two.

I invite any and all Christians to rectify the Apocalypse and/or Armageddon with the earlier Biblical phrase 'world without end' without invoking the theoretical 'heaven' which would necessarily exist outside of space/time, or at least not in the 'world' as understood in the Bible.

For those Christians who say the Apocalypse/Armageddon is a fiction, I respect that. Just a few more books to go.

Born to Blaspheme,
Rev. Dr. Jake

Republican Brain Slugs

I'm not even sure how to take this.

Reagan afraid of invasion by aliens

He is said to have believed they had been spying on Earth for decades.

Mr Reagan, who was President from 1981 to 1989, told a pal he had seen flying saucers three times, said author Darwin Porter.

He allegedly added: “I just know it. They’ve selected some desert in the West to make their landing.”

But the ex-President’s daughter Patti Davis dismissed the claims, saying her father, who died in 2004, may have been joking.

Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev has claimed the US and USSR made a pact to help each other against an alien invasion.

He added: “President Reagan said to me, ‘If the US were attacked by someone from outer space, would you help?’”

Some will point to this and use it as evidence he was crazy. Seeing UFOs doesn't make Reagan crazy. Believing they planned to invade made him a little paranoid. Thanks to Reagan propaganda I feared a Soviet invasion throughout most of the 1980's. That was fairly paranoid and we knew the Russians existed.

His reactionary 1950's nostalgia, now that made him a stark raving lunatic. Not to mention selling arms to Iran while simultaneously getting all cozy with Saddam Hussein. And his plan to bankrupt the Soviet Union by spending America into a pit of debt.

Not to mention giving Arnold Schwarzenegger a government job that resulted in him refusing to kill anyone in Terminator 2. That was perhaps the worst thing that ever happened to this country.

Jesus Endorses Torture

For as long as I can remember people tried to convince me that the church was the supporting structure of a moral society. The idea has issued forth from friends, family, clergy, politicians, teachers, veterinarians, homeless panhandlers and addiction counselors. I have maintained for quite some time that people can be just as good without all that. Turns out I was wrong.

CNN.com

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

A bunch of Christian crackers think Jesus is okay with torture. Have they really thought this through? Take those terror suspects, nail 'em to a tree, and let them bake in the sun until they spill their guts!

Like I said, I was wrong. Religion is more like a bunch of termites gnawing away at a moral society. People are better without it.

Unless you think torture is the moral high road. Then God help you.

Cinco de Mayo

Why should Americans be excited about Cinco de Mayo? From Wikipedia

In 1861, Mexico ceased making interest payments to its main creditors. In response, in late 1861, France (and other European countries) attacked Mexico to try to force payment of this debt. France decided that it would try to take over and occupy Mexico. France was successful at first in its invasion; however, on May 5, 1862, at the city of Puebla, Mexican forces were able to defeat an attack by the larger French army. In the Battle of Puebla, the Mexicans were led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. Although the Mexican army was victorious over the French at Puebla, the victory only delayed the French invasion of Mexico City; a year later, the French occupied Mexico. The French occupying forces placed Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico on the throne of Mexico. The French, under U.S. pressure, eventually withdrew in 1866-1867. Maximilian was executed by President Benito Juarez, five years after the Battle of Puebla.

By following the example of Mexico we can wrack up debt, not pay our bills, and when our creditors come to take our stuff, we shoot 'em.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Swine Flu! Panic!

The big scare right now is swine flu. Scary, scary stuff. It's the flu only it came from pigs and it will KILL YOU DEAD!

Especially if you try to prevent it.

The Socialist Nightmare

The Daily Show explores the nightmare that is Socialism. Is this really what we want for America?

A Clockwork Fnord

There is only one way to stop wars. Refuse to fight them. I am asking people to please stop fighting wars. They are having an ill effect on my health.

At one time I could watch war footage, news coverage, clips, montages, movies, all of it and just get mad about wars. After all, the modern concept of war involves two people behind multiple protective layers getting into an argument and sending people they have little or no real interest for to go shoot the shit out of each other. And the people do it. They get duped into doing it. They get fed some bullshit line about pride or duty or morality or whatever the cause du jour is, they eat it up, and get sent off to either kill or die. Stupid. So I would get mad.

But now images and news sent back from the battle fronts is starting to have a different effect on me. It is making me ill. My stomach starts to churn and I get the faintest twinges of nausea setting in. Like when you aren't certain you've got the flu but your body is starting to show the signs of it. It seems like if I continue to watch for an extended period I will vomit. Like little Alex in A Clockwork Orange as he's going through 'treatment'.

Oddly, I feel like I'd almost be willing to kill to stop it.

So I would really appreciate it if people would stop fighting wars. I'd feel a lot better.

Signs of Change

For those keeping track of real changes brought about by the latest administration...

Snitch!

Yet another reason to despise...

Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch

According to an article published in the San Jose Mercury News, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Reagan and his first wife, Actress Jane Wyman, provided federal agents with the names of actors they believed were Communist sympathizers.

Unemployed Leeches

I am not judging, I'm just saying...

For a couple of months now the factory has been on reduced hours and participating in this thing called 'Work Share'. They went from a five day work week to a four day one and the state unemployment system will pay workers unemployment benefits for the fifth day. Each week that a person draws that one day of unemployment benefits counts as a week on unemployment.

For the past few years I've been with this company I have had many conversations with people who bitched about those unemployed loafers who are a drain on the system stealing the working people's hard earned money through higher taxes. Those same people jumped right on board with the Work Share program because they feel they are entitled to it. They are able bodied workers drawing unemployment. Many of them have expressed how much they love only working four days a week and getting their unemployment check to cover the fifth. They can sit at home and do nothing and still get paid!

I have not signed up for Work Share. I have never drawn unemployment and hope I never find myself in a situation where I feel I have to. It's a personal thing. Yet I am actually in favor of unemployment benefits for people who lose their jobs. Yes, even for ones who only lose a fifth of their job.

Space Anarchists

The story as I have it thus far.

Historical evidence shows that groups of people living in cooperation with their fellow men and women while balancing available resources tend to have the most leisure time and are among the least technologically advanced.

Historical evidence also shows that when a few fevered egos tell everybody what they should do, rule by force, strip resources, and decimate the land for their own selfish ends, people as a whole tend to be unhappy and technology progresses rapidly.

I've been contemplating the evidence as presented to me for several days now. I don't want it to be true. Yet I find myself just stammering, "but, but, but..." After all, if I believe we can live without leaders and live in orbital colonies, it must be true.

I would never accept such a ridiculous faith based statement from a political or religious source. I can not accept it from myself.

Are my dreams of living in space and anarchism diametrically opposed? Historical evidence makes it seem so.

We need to hurry up and get into space so I can stop worrying about that dream and focus on the other one!

Public Service Math

Doing the math so you don't have to!

People tend to get confused by big numbers. To many people ten grand is a lot of money and ten million is also a lot of money. So let's convert some numbers into something easier to grasp.

New Jobless Claims Drop; Ongoing Total At Record : NPR

The 5.84 million continuing claims lag the initial claims data by a week and the number doesn't include 1.54 million Americans that received benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program approved by Congress last year. That adds 20 to 33 weeks of benefits on top of the typical 26 weeks provided by states.

That's a total of 7.38 million Americans collecting unemployment. This does not account for those who are jobless without unemployment benefits.

If you combined the greater metropolitan populations including suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Kansas City on both sides of the river, the Portland/Vancouver region, and added in Freeborn County in Minnesota, all of the places I have claimed residence in, you would fall just shy of 7.38 million. Thinking about everyone in all of those places being on unemployment sounds a bit scary.

Or you could consider the entire populations of Oklahoma, Mississippi, and South Dakota drawing unemployment. Gives you a whole different perspective.

Ungrateful Hypocrite

Chycho.com

Obama, you ungrateful hypocrite, your online audience are the ones that raised half a billion dollars to put you in power.

vs.



Man, Obama walks a real tight line on this one. The pre-election statement from Senator Obama calls for decriminalization while President Obama verbally vetoes legalization. In that the quoted article is wrong. He can technically still make good on both statements without being a hypocrite.

But will he?

Former Head of the DEA Gang-Banged by Six Reporters and a Pot Head

And he manages to blurt out that the United States could be making a lot of money by legalizing marijuana.

Indecent Proposals

Biden appeals to G20 protesters

At a news conference in Vina del Mar, Mr Biden said 'I would hope the protesters give us a chance listen to what we have to say and hopefully we can make it clear to them that we're going to walk away from this G20 meeting with some concrete proposals.'

I've known many people who had some concrete proposals. Some of them later discovered those proposals really didn't mean anything. Others found themselves wishing such proposals had never occurred.

When a proposal is made, the intent is that someone is going to get screwed.

Obama's Grass Roots

Grass roots is, of course, a double entendre. I feel certain the Salon writer realized this when he titled the article.

Obama goes back to the grass roots | Salon News

As President Obama walked to the East Room of the White House Thursday morning for what was billed as an 'experimental' online town hall meeting aides passed him a message. The 3.6 million votes cast on the 104 000 questions people had submitted on the government s site had yielded a bit of a surprise The most popular questions in several categories including 'financial stability' and predictably enough 'green jobs' asked not about the economic collapse or about healthcare but about legalizing marijuana. But don t worry the president was told the event s moderator administration economist Jared Bernstein wouldn't be asking any of them.

Democracy in action. The people of the nation are told they get to ask questions and vote for which ones they want the President to address. When the people ask about marijuana legalization, Obama's staff decides he does not have to answer those questions.

But he took a stab at it without being directly asked.

"I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation," Obama said, as Bernstein laughed over in the corner of the room. "And I don't know what this says about the online audience, but I just want -- I don't want people to think that -- this was a fairly popular question; we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."

Of course the people who voted for those questions feel otherwise. And they were the top questions in multiple categories.

I guess if free speech can be vetoed, so can the free market.

Big Numbers Again

The numbers are big. Really big. I mean look at the size of those numbers!

US unveils $1tn toxic asset plan

The US has announced details of a plan to buy up to $1 trillion worth of toxic assets to help repair banks' balance sheets.

Would you rather the bank buy up all this debt from banks that failed to manage our money properly in the first place, or a $3,000 handout for every US citizen? That would be $6,000 for the average household.

Of course the truth is that we, the US citizens, will end up paying that $3,000 each plus the interest on it. All to keep banks solvent.

Seems to me that if we are going to get screwed, $3,000 would pay for a real high class hooker. (see above) And that seems like a better use of $1 trillion.

Absent

For folks who listen to the podcast, sorry for my absence the last two days. I've been busy building and trouble shooting two new computers. I'll be back on track for next week.

Babies-a-Go-Go

Bad news, folks.

U.S. Births In 2007 Break Baby-Boom-Era Record : NPR

Forget the baby boom. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history — and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter.

Despite my constant squawking encouraging women to get abortions, the call went unheeded.

On the bright side, these little crotch droppings should be hitting their earning potential stride right as I start drawing Social Security, if it doesn't go bankrupt by then.

Income Disparity

As we all get really pissed at Wall Street and the rich bastards who gambled with our money to the tune of getting our tax dollars as bonuses, it has become clear that the class war rages on.

As Kris Kristofferson once said, "Cuz everybody's got to have somebody to look down on. Who they can feel better than at any time they please."



It's part of the American Dream®. Multiple surveys have shown that people would rather make $80,000 a year and be richer than their neighbors than to make $100,000 per year and be the poorest man on the block. So of course we are all going to yell and scream when someone gets more money than we do yet we will continue to refuse to tear down the system that allows such huge disparities in (futile) hope that we may some day be on the winning end of things.

I've brought this up before and I'm going to hound on it again. Let's at least reduce the gap.

I propose doing away with the minimum wage. That's right. All you hard core Republicans can cheer. I want to see the minimum wage abandoned.

In its place let's institute a maximum wage of no more than ten times (x10) what the lowest paid worker gets. Can we really make the case that any one person deserves to earn the same amount of money in one hour that it would take ten people at the bottom of the scale to earn in that same hour? Does the fact that some woman inherited a multi-national business make her 400,000 times the human that the guy who manages one of her stores is? How much more is she worth than the mother stocking the shelves or the old man greeting the people who have helped her make that fortune?

For the folks at the bottom, they will grudingly concede that a person might be worth, maybe, ten times what they are. After all, doctors have to do a lot of things that they never could. And if there was a cap of 1000%, it wouldn't be long before those folks at the bottom were getting paid enough to make ten times more seem less dreadful.

And it's a damn site better than what most people would like to see them get right now.

NSFW: Representing the People

In a representative democracy one has to ask what is meant by representative. Do they mean someone who is tasked with the job of speaking for a larger group or someone who is an example of the kinds of people who make up their constituency? Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

If we assume the former and admit that quite often the latter also occurs, what does that say about Florida?

Florida lawmakers consider ban on bestiality

Rich's legislation would target only those who derived or helped others derive "sexual gratification" from an animal, specifying that conventional dog-judging contests and animal-husbandry practices are permissible.

That last provision tripped up Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard.

"People are taking these animals as their husbands? What's husbandry?" she asked. Some senators stifled their laughter as Sen. Charlie Dean, an Inverness Republican, explained that husbandry is raising and caring for animals. Bullard didn't get it.

"So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?" Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut case where a woman's suburban chimpanzee went mad and was shot.

I've got nothing against sick perverts getting their kicks fucking goats as long as they get the goat's permission. The incident that sparked this controversy does not meet those criteria.

Florida is one of only 16 states that still permit bestiality -- a fact that animal-rights activist and Sen. Nan Rich learned to her horror three years ago when a Panhandle man was suspected of accidentally asphyxiating a family goat that he held by the collar during a sex act.

Unless the goat was really into BDSM, this does not sound like a consensual act. The man should have been brought up on rape charges.

While I make exceptions for the sexually deviant domesticated primate (human) sick bastards to form relationships with other domesticated animals, I have very little tolerance for stupidity. Sen. Bullard should be forced to stick her hand up a goat's ass so she can learn first hand what animal husbandry is all about. There is no romance in it. Not even with a chimp.

Though buying it dinner may help relax it.

Chuck Norris Joke

There is one thing you can always count on when playing MMORPGs; Chuck Norris jokes. Here is the latest straight from the man himself.

I may run for president of Texas

On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas."

That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.

From the East Coast to the "Left Coast," America seems to be moving further and further from its founders' vision and government.

And if Chuck runs and wins I'll be happy to meet with him as the newly elected President of Freetopia. Mostly just to ensure an export of Austin based musicians and film makers and a steady supply of Lone Star beer.

Chuck goes on...

John Adams declared that, 'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.' Yet we've bastardized the First Amendment, reinterpreted America's religious history and secularized our society until we ooze skepticism and circumvent religion on every level of public and private life.

How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority according to America's Declaration of Independence.

Freetopia will be founded in the idea that religious people need to keep that stuff separate from the government. It will incorporate all current American states west of the Rockies. It will also fully decriminalize if not legalize all things currently considered criminal that primarily affect the individual, meaning drug use and prostitution. It will also change marriage into an agreement between persons wishing to consolidate household resources thus ending the draconian ban on gay marriages, polygamy, and polyamorous relationships.

Go for it, Chuck. If the people of Texas associate more strongly with you than with the current centralized government of these United States, you have a moral and possibly religious duty to do such. Just don't tread on me.

Possible Solution

I am lifting this from a friend/co-worker. I know he reads here so I hope he doesn't mind. It's a great notion and is worth spreading.

Maybe now people can get back to their roots. They can start thinking more as a collective, asking, "What will benefit the whole?"

Now would be a great time to start cooperatives and community gardens so we can grow our own food.

Now would be a great time to do less buying and more bartering.

Let the bankers screw up their world economy, we can build our own economy.

Or as the Dead Milkmen put it...

Why should we buy postage stamps?
We can make our own!

AWPC: Words of Comfort

In a meeting at work today my supervisor said something that at the time was of little comfort. Reflecting on his words, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

This isn't just our company. It's everyone. It's this whole economy. I think it's safe to say we are no longer in a recession but a full blown depression.

He's a normal guy. Exceptionally normal. As someone who is far from it, normal people are easy to pick out.

To hear a normal, average American finally face facts allows me to breath a sigh of relief. People are getting it. Of course it takes some extreme circumstances for this to come about, but it is happening.

Later I was talking with the manager.

Him: I just don't understand why we have to keep throwing money at banks who mismanaged the money in the first place. And then they give them thousands of dollars in bonuses. For what?

Me: Maybe it was the sheer scale of it all. "You didn't just screw over our bank but completely tanked the entire world economy. Wow. Here's a bonus. Hell, here's a Congressional Medal of Honor!"

To kill a man is murder. To kill thousands or even millions takes world class leadership skills. Perhaps theft follows the same logic.

Ten Years

On a totally different topic it was once said that it would be done ten years after people stopped laughing about it. I think it applies here.

Legalizing marijuana? The politicians have stopped laughing.

New York Times
Salon

Who Should Pay for This Crisis?

If we don't stick taxpayers with the bill for the bailout, who should pay for it?

Why isn’t the oil industry bailing out the auto sector?

Just one year’s worth of profits for the oil industry is approximately three times what the auto industry is asking for in their bailout package. If these five companies bailed out the US auto manufacturers, they would still be able to report billions in profit.

Sounds like a natural pairing to me. Conservatives are always saying that private industry can do the job better than government. Put up or shut up.

So many novel ideas. Adversity inspires creativity.

We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!

Novel idea. Since the rich have gotten so much richer, let them pay for the bailouts.

German Anti-Globalization Campaigner: 'We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!' - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The German government has now pledged €480 billion ($613 billion) in guarantees and cash injections for banks. In the year 2002 alone, private assets in Germany increased by almost €800 billion. There is lots to draw on.

The interview is a very quick read.

New Graphics

I'd be a pretty crappy Presidential candidate if I didn't listen to what the people want. Not that you have to give them what they want. You just have to listen and pretend to care and pretend to agree. Which is precisely why I am a really crappy candidate.

But my ways may be changing. That's right, I decided to sell out. Just a little bit. People love the "Still Fisting the American Dream" phrase and graphic. They want more. And I've come up with more.

Check out the new round feature version. I'm thinking of offering these printed on panties. Imagine going to a strip club and the dancer shaking her rump in your face as you stare at these graphics. Or would it be better on the front crotch with my blog address across the rear?

I'm listening (for a change).

Pot Crusaders Never Surrendor

Those damn pot crusaders just won't give up. Ever. They seem to think that just because a law doesn't make sense that somehow means it should be overturned, ignored, or both.

At least that's the way California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano sees it.

Ammiano Introduces Marijuana Legalization Bill to the Press

In a nutshell, here's what the bill would do: 'Remove all penalties under California law for the cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, and use of marijuana, natural THC and paraphernalia by persons over the age of 21,' 'prohibit local and state law enforcement officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws' and establish a fee of $50 an ounce on marijuana on top of whatever pot will cost in a legal future - which legalization advocates say is about half what it costs now. This tax rate figures at about a buck a joint.

We've all heard the reasons. Do we really need to go over them again? We know that pot is safer than alcohol, tobacco, and aspirin. We know that in general potheads are more docile creatures than drunks. We know that the government could tax the hell out of the stuff. We know the courts and prisons have filled up with non-violent drug offenders.

Yet people still oppose legalization. Not Ammio. He's not only should California legalize it, but the state should instruct law enforcement to ignore all federal laws pertaining to pot prohibition. That's rather bold.

Face it. These damn potheads are never going to give up. They will not go away. They are empowered by evidence and facts. While I hate drum circles and tie-dyes as much as the next beer drinking American, the day will come when pot is legal. This time? I give it a 15% chance because I'm in such a lovely mood without the aid of cannabis.

Then again if I were high I probably wouldn't put forth the effort to bitch about such insanities all the time.* My ten daily martinis tend to put the angry in the blood.

* That's a hint to the FBI agents who shadow me.

When Do We Grow Up?

It's like they are taunting us, daring us to kick their asses to the curb with extreme prejudice.

Banks Spend TARP Funds on Anti-Consumer Lobbying Campaign

Last month, the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reported that three days after Bank of America accepted $25 billion in TARP funds, it hosted a conference call with movement conservatives and business heavyweights in order to organize opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, a key bill intended to protect the right of workers to organize and join unions. Two weeks later, Change to Win discovered that the Financial Services Roundtable, a financial industry lobbying group whose members received 78% of the hundreds of billions of dollars distributed by the TARP program, intended to host a meeting of CEOs at a $530/night resort on the Gulf of Mexico, where they could coordinate their anti-worker lobbying campaign.

Just like high school. If the rich kid asks for a buck, you have to give it to him because he's rich. You know he's good for it, right? And then you never see it again. If the poor kid asks for a buck you don't give it to him because he's poor and has no way of ever paying you back.

And no matter how annoying, nobody beats up the rich kid because he's, well, rich. Anybody can punch the poor kid. Unless the rich kid hits all the people poorer than he. Eventually the group will get fed up, band together, and beat him within an inch of his life.

The United States might just be one food shortage away from revolution right now.

Torches.

Pitchforks.

Guillotines.

Geekonomics

While looking over metric measurement notation I hit upon an idea. A very geeky idea. A geeky idea for a nation quickly going geek out of necessity.

Our current designation system of monetary sums becomes a blur. So rhymey that people get lost in a Seussian haze. Million, billion, trillion, gazillion. It all sounds the same after a while.

Instead we could use metric denominations made popular by the techification of the nation. I call it Geekonomics.

• one thousand = kilo
• one million = mega
• one billion = giga
• one trillion = tera

To show how this could prove useful, let's look at one of today's top news stories.

Obama aims to cut deficit in half by 2013

'The deficit this administration inherited was $1.3 trillion or 9.2 percent of GDP. By 2013, the end of the president's first term, the budget cuts the deficit to $533 billion or 3.0 percent of GDP,' the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

'Most of the savings will come from winding down the war in Iraq, increased (tax) revenue from those making more than $250,000 a year, and savings from making government work more efficiently and eliminating programs that do not work,' the official said.

The United States spent about $190 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months while ramping up the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

Let's reread this using Geekonomics.

'The deficit this administration inherited was 1.3 terabucks or 9.2 percent of GDP. By 2013, the end of the president's first term, the budget cuts the deficit to 533 gigabucks or 3.0 percent of GDP,' the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

'Most of the savings will come from winding down the war in Iraq, increased (tax) revenue from those making more than 250 kilobucks a year, and savings from making government work more efficiently and eliminating programs that do not work,' the official said.

The United States spent about 190 gigabucks on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months while ramping up the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

For me, Geekonomics makes the differences between denominations clearer. And who wouldn't love a meg in the safe*?

* I'd say in the bank, but under the current conditions I'd feel better hiding it under my mattress rather than handing it over to a bunch of known crooks.

It's Been Done, but is Worth Doing Again

They did it in Italy when they elected Chicholina. Now there is a call in the United States to make famous porn star Stormy Daniels a Senator.

Push to make porn star a senator no stunt, fan says

I have to get the obvious joke out of the way. Government is always out to fuck you and Stormy Daniels has shown considerable talent in that department.

Which is a total lie. Government fucks EVERYBODY. In comparison Ms. Daniels has only fucked a few select people. That could be a welcome change.

And who better to represent a state famous for its annual Mardi Gras celebrations?

I encourage voters in Louisiana to vote for Stormy. Current Senator Vitter (Republican) paid for sex when he could have been getting it for free. Stormy got paid to have sex. That's sound fiscal policy.

How to Recycle

Have you ever woke up Sunday morning, looked around the house, and wondered what to do with all the empties littering the floor?

The Buddhist temple built using 1.5 million recycled beer bottles

Built using more than a million beer bottles, this incredible temple in the north-east of Thailand is a novel way to recycle any empties.

In other words, the average American football fan would be able to save up enough for a mansion in just one season.

And the bathroom kicks ass. Westerners may not be accustomed to the Asian squat toilets. I've never tried one. Though if you drank enough beer to build a room like this, what better place to give it a go?

Liberal Whiplash

Burn the False Gods!

As someone who writes a lot of angry rants about politics, I find that I also enjoy angry rants about politics. Nothing like a good angry rant to get the blood flowing. Angry rants and machetes. Good stuff for blood flow.

Mmmm, blood. More people are calling for it these days.

Who Keeps Screwing Us Over?

I shouldn't be surprised by now. But I still was when I read the article this morning in the Washington Post explaining that the cap on executive pay has been removed from the stimulus bill. I knew what Congress was doing yesterday by bringing the Wall Street executives in and scolding them in public was a dog and pony show. But I had not realized how profoundly full of shit these politicians are.

They make a big display of yelling at the CEOs and then the very next day they quietly remove any cap on their compensation. These people are not on our side. This is why so many Americans are so damn frustrated. Everyone in power appears to be bought and paid for. There is a circle of people in DC and NY that keep passing the money around to one another and then come and collect it from us.

They pulled the windfall tax on the oil companies before even getting into office. Now they pull the pay cap on banks getting 'emergency bailout funds'.

Let's have an intervention for the alcoholic uncle. I'll pick up the keg.

We're wasting our time here. Just nationalize the damn banks already. Almost all of the top economists are now in agreement that we should take this step. The people who put the money in are the people who own the company -- that's how capitalism works. I'm a die-hard capitalist. I don't want the federal government owning banks for an extended period of time. But what's worse is to continue letting these bankers rob us of our money day in and day out while we sit around like fools.

We buy it, we own it. Kick the clowns out. Run it for a limited amount of time while we stabilize the credit markets. And then sell them off in the free market. Instead of begging the bankers to loosen up credit, we take the banks and do it ourselves.

First off, if the government takes over the banks, they'll do it for keeps. Same people in charge, inconvenient new location.

As for Mr. die-hard capitalist, good for you. We humans love to believe in things. If believing in money helps you sleep at night, more power to you.

I wish people would stop forcing their belief systems on others. Just because I see representations of the Easter Bunny every year does not make the Easter Bunny real no matter how hard I believe. Lots of myth and theory behind it, no bunny leaving eggs. A lot of messed up BS* that may have meant something believable at one time but has gotten so far removed from reality we can't even recognize it any more.

Just like money.

*Belief System

Goodfellas Save the Day

The laws of free market supply and demand economics are providing a rare opportunity to organized crime. I speak of mafia types, not the kind of organized crime that did an electronic run on the banks and uses their business clout to pick puppet politicians to run things the way they see fit.

Mafia millions buoying banks

'You have the supply — an organized crime industry with enormous amounts of cash, estimated at $322 billion in 2005, not any more stored in banks — and the demand, a banking sector strapped for liquidity,' said Costa.

'This is a supply- and demand-driven situation. Our intuition, based on logic, is now supported by ample evidence.'

And the UN wants to STOP this? If they really want to save this propped up hoax of an economy, the black market could turn into their savior.

Lucifer, the light bringer. The wicked shall save us.