tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61081232619425001042024-03-21T23:09:02.460-07:00multifarious"Remember kids! In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant" ....Stephen ColbertMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.comBlogger318125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-59050625629511743522009-08-01T07:19:00.000-07:002009-08-01T07:20:12.269-07:00Swan Songs?Businesses go away when consumers find other more attractive paradigms and products. Then other companies or paradigms form to fill the void. It's called creative destruction.<br /><br />In this case the destruction comes because the music industry took gross advantage of consumers, retailers and the artists themselves. I think no group of people are happier than artists at the demise of record companies. No one needs them anymore and everyone is happy about it.<br /><br />Why should we not be happy about the demise of companies that instead of creatively finding ways to satisfy consumers sued them?<br /><br /><br />Multifarious<br />USA<br />August 1st, 2009<br />9:17 amMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-34064898990407139132009-05-11T08:06:00.001-07:002009-05-11T08:06:51.503-07:00May 11th, 2009 8:50 am<br /><br />"It looks as if America may finally get what every other advanced country already has: a system that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens."<br /><br />Not to me.<br /><br />I have had continuous health insurance for over 30 years.<br /><br />My partner and I were paying $2004 a month for coverage. She is a breast cancer survivor (over 10 years) and I had bypass surgery 11 years ago.<br /><br />When the policy came due in February they raised us 29% shoving us right out of the system.<br /><br />Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.<br />— Multifarious, USAMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-73001016248196942212009-05-10T21:37:00.000-07:002009-05-10T21:39:03.543-07:00Op-Ed Columnist: Harry, Louise and BarackMay 10th, 2009 9:36 pm<br /><br /><blockquote>"It looks as if America may finally get what every other advanced country already has: a system that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens."<br /></blockquote><br />Not to me.<br /><br />I have had continuous health insurance for over 30 years.<br /><br />My partner and I were paying $2004 a month for coverage. She is a breast cancer survivor and I had bypass surgery 11 years ago. When the policy came due in February they raised us 29% shoving us right out of the system.<br />— Multifarious, USAMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-38976292507981455612009-04-24T17:55:00.000-07:002009-04-26T00:38:20.277-07:00Drawings of Some of The Slaves From The Slave Ship Amistad<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXiVJPCMuQki35lWbwXERtxIQMS8zMMYbgvnQh2b7koA2Q9IXRrVdtOrmADUv74YW-DMoGFEtdHKmdvdpaJUHTT13SZAJZJmdcyLGGt7sHMxEbou7DpQ5DLs0GS8PNSg7T9HjkAa7/s1600-h/fuli"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 308px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXiVJPCMuQki35lWbwXERtxIQMS8zMMYbgvnQh2b7koA2Q9IXRrVdtOrmADUv74YW-DMoGFEtdHKmdvdpaJUHTT13SZAJZJmdcyLGGt7sHMxEbou7DpQ5DLs0GS8PNSg7T9HjkAa7/s320/fuli" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328427112273178498" /></a><br />In 1839, the Spanish slave ship Amistad set sail from Havana to Puerto Principe, Cuba. The ship was carrying 53 Africans who, a few months earlier, had been abducted from their homeland in present-day Sierra Leone to be sold in Cuba. The captives revolted against the ship’s crew, killing the captain and others, but sparing the life of the ship’s navigator so that he could set them on a course back to Africa. Instead, the navigator directed the ship north and west. After several weeks, a U.S. Navy vessel seized the Amistad off the coast of Long Island. The Africans were transported to New Haven, Connecticut, to be tried for mutiny, murder, and piracy. These charges later were dismissed, but the Africans were kept in prison as the case turned to salvage claims and property rights. In a trial in Federal District Court, a group of Cuban planters, the government of Spain, and the captain of the Amistad all claimed ownership of the Africans. After two years of legal battles, the case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately ordered that the captives be set free. Thirty-five of the former captives returned to their homeland; the others had died at sea or while awaiting trial. New Haven resident William H. Townsend made drawings (and in most cases recorded the names) of the Amistad captives at the time of their trial. These drawings have been preserved in the library of Yale University.<br /><br />The drawings are here: <a href="http://www.wdl.org/en/search/gallery?ql=en&a=-8000&b=2009&c=SL&c=CU&r=NorthAmerica">http://www.wdl.org/en/search/gallery?ql=en&a=-8000&b=2009&c=SL&c=CU&r=NorthAmerica</a> From The World Digital Library a wonderful resouce.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-67996076665629888512009-04-24T17:26:00.000-07:002009-04-24T17:29:55.294-07:00Google, Microsoft finance UN Library of World's Knowledge site<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d1W2unqHnz_6bK7Xppwe7EegSSAtfr0zoZll1IGYhhVErxBMPIN2CAoIQ_NcEdkeQA43C-sFYln8Fr_Zvx3WzqBfabHcq8llTdQHIMBlYHDVxeKAFYCXbcLMzgeCFUhX4Ig6R8f1/s1600-h/Lincoln+at+Antietam"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 308px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d1W2unqHnz_6bK7Xppwe7EegSSAtfr0zoZll1IGYhhVErxBMPIN2CAoIQ_NcEdkeQA43C-sFYln8Fr_Zvx3WzqBfabHcq8llTdQHIMBlYHDVxeKAFYCXbcLMzgeCFUhX4Ig6R8f1/s320/Lincoln+at+Antietam" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328419511079644850" /></a><br /><blockquote>The U.N. rolled out a new website on Tuesday that offers free access to rare manuscripts, books, films and map ranging from 8,000 old paintings to recent books.<br /><br />The site cost $10 million and was financed by private donors, including Google, Microsoft, the Qatar Foundation, King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.<br /><br />The World Digital Library, an online project by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), aims to display and explain just how broad and diverse human cultures are by displaying the content for free in seven languages.<br /><br />Among the artifacts is a 1,000-year-old Japanese novel that is believed to be the first novel in history and the earliest known map to mention America by name.<br /><br />About a tenth of the 1,200 exhibits are from Africa - the oldest an 8,000-year-old painting of bleeding antelopes<br /><br />The project was launched by James Billington, a librarian at the US Library of Congress, the world's biggest library.<br /><br />The website currently in early stages and only has about 1,200 documents but is expected to grow substantially.<br /><br />The material is drawn from about 30 libraries and archives across the world, and will be made available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.<br /><br />On the Net:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wdl.org">www.wdl.org</a><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-38591538256250806762009-04-23T22:18:00.000-07:002009-04-23T22:19:10.292-07:00Yanks in Crisis"The Great Depression altered the national consciousness. So far, the Great Recession has not."<br /><br />But being manhandled by banks and credit card issuers might.<br /><br />We do not use banks out of choice, we need them. We carry credit cards because we cannot function without them.<br /><br />We American's want to be left alone by our government and be free to live our own lives as best we can but there are limits and those limits have been crossed. <br /><br />As individuals there is nothing that we can do to combat abusers of our system of free enterprise. Only government can.<br /><br />April 23rd, 2009 10:18 pmMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-74219879556080008532009-04-23T21:53:00.000-07:002009-04-23T21:54:58.409-07:00Reclaiming America’s SoulApril 23rd, 2009 9:52 pm<br /><br />Justice is always after the fact. Looking back is the only way to see where justice is required and no price is too dear to pay for it.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-57455435832571782602009-04-09T17:49:00.001-07:002009-04-09T17:52:36.568-07:00The Debate Over Online News: It's the Consumer, Stupid"We have seen the future and it is here. It is a linked economy. It is search engines. It is online advertising. That's where the future is. And if you can't find your way to that, then you can't find your way" so says Charlie Rose at the end of his conversation with Ariana Huffington and Tom Curley, AP's president and CEO.<br /><br />Catch Ariana's commentary on the interview here: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-debate-over-online-ne_b_185309.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-debate-over-online-ne_b_185309.html</a><br /><br />Ariana is correct, it's ALWAYS about the consumer, always.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-17713217603947082732009-04-08T18:02:00.000-07:002009-04-08T18:03:25.951-07:00You Don't Burn Down The Whole House Just To Kill One Mosquito<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGY3QCNoclIAzs-yE-ILAbyGROJmL8aUugP2100guKdzV7JwyXfHHTOyhUP9ACuN0ZZF4T1M9hLrhyphenhyphenqh5Zln-wzKmuV__8jnjnbI-EDO2eCV5udbfjmtXTvhRkOhih9cPyoXmkhcV/s1600-h/korean+peninsula+at+night"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGY3QCNoclIAzs-yE-ILAbyGROJmL8aUugP2100guKdzV7JwyXfHHTOyhUP9ACuN0ZZF4T1M9hLrhyphenhyphenqh5Zln-wzKmuV__8jnjnbI-EDO2eCV5udbfjmtXTvhRkOhih9cPyoXmkhcV/s320/korean+peninsula+at+night" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322490990265285186" /></a><br />I found Newt Gingrich's response to the North Korean missile firing, well, quizzical to say the least.<br /><br />On Fox News Sunday the ex Speaker of The United States House of Representatives seemed to be saying that we should have taken out the North Korean missile. Like I said, quizzical.<br /><br />I lived and worked in South Korea for over 35 years. When I arrived in Seoul South Korea in the autumn of 1971 I found that the Korean Peninsula was the most heavily armed piece of real estate on the planet.<br /><br />The two Korea's were divided by a "Demilitarized Zone" (talk about an oxymoron) when fighting stopped in 1953. By 1971 there were nearly 1million soldiers facing each other across the DMZ. There was a massive amount of heavy artillery on both sides of the divide; there still is.<br /><br />The capital of South Korea, Seoul, lies just 35 miles south of the DMZ, well within range of the the North's artillery. Seoul is a large city of 10 million. The Seoul National Capital Area which includes Seoul and the major port city of Inchon has a combined population of 24.5 million making it the worlds second most populated metropolitan area.<br /><br />I have seen estimates that between 5 and 8 million people in the Seoul metro area would be killed within the first 24 hours after the outbreak of war. To anyone with any common sense this is a chilling reality.<br /><br />The standoff between north and south has been facilitated in part by China who props up the North Korean regime, the U.S. who provides a defense umbrella and Japan which has deep economic ties and still allows the United States to base soldiers on its territory. Each of the three have much to lose in the ghastly event that war should break out.<br /><br />Today, South Korea fears greatly the collapse of the regime in Pyongyang. It is important to remember that entire families were torn apart when the DMZ was established. Mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters were separated mostly never to see each other again. Most don't know whether their relatives lived or died.<br /><br />South Korea is today a booming middle class economy. Seoul has been rebuilt (beautifully) from the ashes of war and life is good.<br /><br />North Korea is a basket case. Drought creates the starvation of millions of people and as advanced as the South Korean economy is that is how devastated the North Korean economy is. A nighttime satellite picture of the Korean Peninsula tells the story; the south glistens with lights, the north is virtually completely dark. The image is striking.<br /><br />The South Koreans learned much when with the fall of East Germany and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Suddenly a divided German was one again with one half being wealthy and the other relatively poor. The melding of the two was a big hit to the West German economy. But what could the German's do? After all, these were brothers and sisters, mothers and children, husbands and wives who had been separated for decades. They were all German's.<br /><br />The same is true of the two Korea's. Should the North Korean regime collapse there would certainly be war (between the armies) while millions of North Korean refugees would go south and others would go north seeking refuge in China. The last thing China needs is more people!<br /><br />Of equal concern for the Chinese would be the presence of the American Army on their southern border as the South, with the help of the Americans would certainly defeat the North Korean Army and the north would be taken over militarily by South Korean and American forces.<br /><br />It is unbelievable to me that the ex Republican Speaker of The House of Representatives would sanction a disaster now to avert one that will probably never occur due to a North Korean missile attack on the United States.<br /><br />The North Korean regime is a bad one, its leader Kim Jong Il is frankly nuts. But Kim Jong Il and the leaders of the North Korean Army understand the concept of annihilation.<br /><br />The Korean's have a saying "you don't burn down the whole house just to kill one mosquito", just what the reckless Mr. Gingrich seems to be advocating.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-23567842247046921142009-04-08T09:03:00.000-07:002009-04-08T09:23:32.246-07:00RIP Old Media<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFb4c-aXK4wmoa_ejL4DXVcSYAIT9TDEIUbDUY1VngyYsMnu2M-5PJDlrzW9QFhvuk202WHHMI0_K1N6GcV4NCEcgTZ1tpKnAZPhRQld7ZZP9NqCOT1nO81FK-YI5HJsqdjpzF1FMe/s1600-h/RIP"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFb4c-aXK4wmoa_ejL4DXVcSYAIT9TDEIUbDUY1VngyYsMnu2M-5PJDlrzW9QFhvuk202WHHMI0_K1N6GcV4NCEcgTZ1tpKnAZPhRQld7ZZP9NqCOT1nO81FK-YI5HJsqdjpzF1FMe/s320/RIP" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322356998819344690" /></a><br />I laughed the other day when I read that the Chairman of AP, Dean Singleton rattled his sabers at Google and Yahoo. Poor guy, he just doesn't get it. <a href="http://www.internetnews.com/webcontent/article.php/3814061/AP+Fighting+to+Reclaim+Revenue+From+Web+Portals.htm">"AP Fighting to Reclaim Revenue From Web Portals"</a><br /><br />In 1996 Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of MIT's Media Lab published "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Being-Digital-Nicholas-Negroponte/dp/0679762906/?tag=multifarious-20">Being Digital</a>". It is still a great read and highly recommended. <br /><br />Being Digital opened my eyes to what the future held. It is still a great read and highly recommended. <br /><br />Negroponte taught me the difference between atoms and bits. It is not atoms that we want, it is bits that we want. We don't want a CD (atoms), we want the music (bits) that is on the CD. We don't want a DVD (atoms) we want the content on the DVD (bits). And we certainly don't want a newspaper, we want the content that is printed on it.<br /><br />To much ridicule (I'm 61) as most of my contemporaries thought I was nuts, I proclaimed the Internet the backbone of the future. "CB radio of the '90's" I heard. "A passing fad" they said. <br /><br />About the same time I heard a radio interview, Fresh Air I think, with Andy Grove then Chairman of Intel. In the interview Grove said that by the following year more individual Email's would be sent than letters through postal mail. A few days later I mentioned this to a VC that I was pitching and he laughed in my face.<br /><br />Executives in the Music, Movie, Newspaper and Magazine industries apparently didn't read Professor Negroponte's book and if they did they didn't understand it or laughed at it.<br /><br />At the time I recognized the need for a catalog of Web sites (we got Yahoo! and LookSmart)and was having the conversation about what the economic model for the Web would look like. I was assured that Web sites linking to content would have to pay publishers for the right to link to it. I didn't see it that way because I believed that the Internet would dominate media, communications and much more from that point forward.<br /><br />I would love to see Google and Yahoo! grant Mr. Singleton his wish and stop linking to AP headlines for a week or so. AP better keep the paddles handy, Mr. Singleton's reaction would be interesting.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-32162368757499283212009-04-06T10:35:00.000-07:002009-04-06T10:39:20.259-07:00China's Yuan Ambitions<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDPn204n_2fpHFgwPWxLfP-0rWnooAhqGddUQNoe38EJ-edWrUNCGErJV9E9jHH_6sH3YQZqGC_eKyW4OaAzmUdrJ6IGyXLn95zq159DtjqyhBzTZ9ExpIiLjagQDIaUg2RpqIm0v/s1600-h/yuan"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDPn204n_2fpHFgwPWxLfP-0rWnooAhqGddUQNoe38EJ-edWrUNCGErJV9E9jHH_6sH3YQZqGC_eKyW4OaAzmUdrJ6IGyXLn95zq159DtjqyhBzTZ9ExpIiLjagQDIaUg2RpqIm0v/s320/yuan" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321634362954854930" /></a><br />China is playing a growing role in discussions over solutions to current economic problems. Much of the talk has focused on money. Beijing has signed currency swap agreements with six central banks: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Belarus and most recently Argentina. China has long wanted its currency to play a more important role in the global financial system. These swap arrangements come in the context of that broader policy aim. Read the entire WSJ story here: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123896247802990483.html">China's Yuan Ambitions</a>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-80093459399232159572009-04-04T11:13:00.000-07:002009-04-04T11:18:10.951-07:00A National Rifle Association advertising campaign distorts Obama's position on gun control beyond recognition.<blockquote>A National Rifle Association advertising campaign distorts Obama's position on gun control beyond recognition.<br /><br />The NRA is circulating printed material and running TV ads making unsubstantiated claims that Obama plans to ban use of firearms for home defense, ban possession and manufacture of handguns, close 90 percent of gun shops and ban hunting ammunition.<br /><br />Much of what the NRA passes off as Obama's "10 Point Plan to 'Change' the Second Amendment" is actually contrary to what he has said throughout his campaign: that he "respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms" and "will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns." <br /><br />The NRA, however, simply dismisses Obama's stated position as "rhetoric" and substitutes its own interpretation of his record as a secret "plan." Said an NRA spokesman: "We believe our facts."<br /><br />Perhaps so, but believing something doesn't make it so. And we find the NRA has cherry-picked, twisted and misrepresented Obama's record to come up with a bogus "plan."</blockquote><br /><br />Thanks NRA, keep up the good work you sicko's. See post below.<br /><br />The facts are here:<a href="http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/additional/Obama_FactSheet_Western_Sportsmen.pdf">http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/additional/Obama_FactSheet_Western_Sportsmen.pdf</a>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-64974484179457691302009-04-03T20:06:00.000-07:002009-04-04T10:33:35.025-07:0014 Dead in Rampage in Binghamton, N.Y.The massacre continues. A nursing home in North Carolina. A church in Tennessee. A center to teach immigrants to become American citizens in Binghamton New York. A war on the Mexican border being fought mostly with assault rifles bought from U.S. arms dealers since Bush let the ban on them lapse. Four police officers were fatally shot March 21 in Oakland, California.<br /><br />Three police officers were killed in Pittsburgh this morning at the hands of a nut job "armed with an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum" says the New York Times. <br /><br />According to the Times several of this monsters friends say that he feared ''the Obama gun ban that's on the way'' and ''didn't like our rights being infringed upon.''<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What the hell is the matter with you people?<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><br /><br />The blood of the dead and wounded is on the hands of the members of the NRA. <br /><br />No one wants to take the guns from sportsmen, but how many bullets does it take to kill a deer? <br /><br />Tell me, just how many holes can you put into a paper target anyway?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">You people are nuts and innocent people are dying because of your idiocy.</span>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-13352557345050869722009-04-03T17:20:00.000-07:002009-04-03T20:23:04.807-07:00Rupert Murdoch Doesn’t Get ITThis is already an old argument, I've been having it for nearly 15 years.<br /><br />In a speech before The Cable Show, an annual cable television industry event, in Washington, D.C. Rupert Murdoch showed just how out of touch he is.<br /><br />"People reading news for free on the Web, that's got to change," said Murdoch.<br /> <br />Reviving an already tired argument Murdoch raised his concern that search engines, blogs and portals steal revenue from newspaper sites by linking to stories published by them. The covetous Mr. Murdoch seems to resent that the referring site earns advertising dollars that he thinks belong to him.<br /><br />"The question is, should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyright... not steal, but take," said Murdoch. "Not just them but Yahoo."<br /><br />This is the Internet era and Mr. Murdoch has it backwards. The real question is should newspaper publishers pay the referrer for sending traffic to their sites not the other way around.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-62771336778366045152009-04-01T10:14:00.000-07:002009-04-01T10:15:40.154-07:00Obama’s Ersatz CapitalismJoseph E. Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, was awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001. His analysis of the Obama Administration's bank bailout plan offers insight as to why the plan is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-23264547107761967952009-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:002009-03-29T11:43:18.818-07:00The definition of insanity....doing the same thing over and over again and each time expecting a different outcome<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFsz0pdLk3drcp4cwg13sClQATKb5eZuCD-hd12_TYNixhxKtHderq77BHeU48msK9t4JqBgIsV0srTnSlDFmvumdNomoMhUZFAsj_VP3yP2F4K9ctDtFvh2aBUDya6cQz02d_cqt/s1600-h/legalize-it.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFsz0pdLk3drcp4cwg13sClQATKb5eZuCD-hd12_TYNixhxKtHderq77BHeU48msK9t4JqBgIsV0srTnSlDFmvumdNomoMhUZFAsj_VP3yP2F4K9ctDtFvh2aBUDya6cQz02d_cqt/s320/legalize-it.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318422565193678034" /></a><br />What surprises us that a declaration of war creates a war? In this case, a war that has gone on for <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/">30 some years</a> that will <a href="http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm">cost the United States over $14 billion</a> this year alone.<br /><br />What surprises us about the lack of gun control creates uncontrollable gun violence? In this case violence that has <a href="http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war">killed 7,337 people since January 2007 in this war alone</a>.<br /><br />What surprises us about demand creating supply? In this case drugs on one side and guns on the other.<br /><br />What surprises us about <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-lidrug286086284mar28,0,6209913.story">draconian unpopular laws</a> creating social disorder, <a href="http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/basicfax2.htm">mass civil disobedience</a> and unsustainable demands on civil society?Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-51871468978641313212009-03-28T10:19:00.000-07:002009-04-03T20:26:19.530-07:00Steele Ridiculous<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFCt5dWbaAb7E_QftqOiBuVU3Xhny1tDhyphenhyphen26T6AvZWFOr2VDUkJp1-nBT5Ede9cIYoSX0Ol29uEJ1VJATQZUdtpKuyzFgkk9S94xwqT2_y9jlr47ubMcfmabVqNChQmz-rY3upnGp/s1600-h/steele.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFCt5dWbaAb7E_QftqOiBuVU3Xhny1tDhyphenhyphen26T6AvZWFOr2VDUkJp1-nBT5Ede9cIYoSX0Ol29uEJ1VJATQZUdtpKuyzFgkk9S94xwqT2_y9jlr47ubMcfmabVqNChQmz-rY3upnGp/s320/steele.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318291264638824722" /></a><br />Charles M. Blow writes in the New York Times this morning about the circus that is known as the Republican Party. His witty and insightful piece highlights the empty heads that now constitute their "leadership".<br /><br />These are serious times that require serious thinking by seriously thinking people.<br /><br />Maybe it’s me but has anyone heard anything of substance from any of the clowns of the media/political circus known as the Republican Party?<br /><br />Eric Kantor was asked yesterday morning by the comedy team of Doocy/Carlson if he found “symbolism” in the fact that the Republican “budget” proposal only contained 19 pages when the Administrations budget was some 140 pages. You bet there’s symbolism in that - one was substantial, the other, well, empty.<br /><br />It is truly distressing that in a time that demands rational thinking and cooperative effort that the best the Republican’s can come up with are the likes of Cantor, Limbaugh, Steele, Malkin, Hannity, Levin, Coulter, etc who don't represent American ideals in any way. They are deeply wounded people who are incapable of intelligent discourse.<br /><br />http://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/steele-ridiculous/?apage=4#comment-16815Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-4170205292257842152009-03-27T18:43:00.000-07:002009-03-27T18:49:03.755-07:00The Market MystiqueDr. Krugman nails it again...as he points out, we've got foxes protecting hen houses....<br /><br />The bank I use, Wells Fargo, has become absolutely predatory charging outrageous fees for simple banking and holding incoming funds for as long as they legally can. I received a check from a Fortune 100 company and Wells held it for 18 days….18 days!<br /><br />Banking in the US is a mess. Banks have become the enemy of their customers. They are big and strong and impossible to talk to.<br /><br />It seems to me that what is needed at this point is besides strict regulation is nationalization of the largest banks. We then turn them into “national” banks owned by the government (the people) and a second banking system that goes back to the days of toasters, state banks. Small regional banks that know their customers.<br /><br />With strict regulation as to what the National Banks can and cannot do banking will become much more competitive.<br /><br />We cannot afford to have a system that holds us hostage to ever increasing fees.<br /><br />I don’t like banks, I never have. But I NEED a bank the same way I need electricity. Our local electric company is regulated and they still manage to get electricity to us all while remaining in the background. Have you ever heard anyone say that they hate their electric company? Not true of banks, telecoms and cable providers-monopolists all.<br /><br />http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/was-i-unfair/#comment-157171Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-76765080371305022542009-03-12T22:29:00.000-07:002009-04-09T20:58:28.356-07:00Obama's 'Science' Fiction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0a2qlFoTZhRmS8CdtDdCmlMBCVEtHMLqK33OO9KWRvKcfRtqPTnFxaq0VNPWARM72ZKWQ3Rzq8axvNuxLL8MnZVuuWY_oCx2P52gZEZjSRzvb6caw5SZMTf11bQXsaKsk5dkK2YK7/s1600-h/superman.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 87px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0a2qlFoTZhRmS8CdtDdCmlMBCVEtHMLqK33OO9KWRvKcfRtqPTnFxaq0VNPWARM72ZKWQ3Rzq8axvNuxLL8MnZVuuWY_oCx2P52gZEZjSRzvb6caw5SZMTf11bQXsaKsk5dkK2YK7/s320/superman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312540678427770050" /></a>Charles Krauthamer must be the smartest person on the planet, or he may be second behind Limbaugh, or third behind Hannity or maybe first amongst equals, what's the difference. You guys are experts on science, bioethics, medical ethics, economics, governance, science, so many things...it must be really awesome to be you. You are smarter than scientists, doctors, effective politicians, Nobel Prize winning economists and it seems the vast majority of the people of the planet, after all, so many of us are so wrong about so many things in your eyes. Wow, what it must be like to be so smart about so many things.<br />3/13/2009 1:28:11 AMMultifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-17545938324030343702009-03-11T17:35:00.000-07:002009-03-12T22:55:56.833-07:00From The Torches and Pitchforks File......Psssst, pass it on.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicE2rBQlRyST5nJCfYKamxV0MKpJZh3dGxWZI5mWl1Jw5rlkFvcjbCjPpPXFj4Z4rE6a5JQ7fxv4r423YfaKgYmp7uxtzHlSW3KwnQtp9PvPkJ34n1QVv3e6KkxFDE8jqaVbxxa-I7/s1600-h/torches+and+pichforksjpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 289px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicE2rBQlRyST5nJCfYKamxV0MKpJZh3dGxWZI5mWl1Jw5rlkFvcjbCjPpPXFj4Z4rE6a5JQ7fxv4r423YfaKgYmp7uxtzHlSW3KwnQtp9PvPkJ34n1QVv3e6KkxFDE8jqaVbxxa-I7/s320/torches+and+pichforksjpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312093627492333314" /></a><br /> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/11/help-dig-up-the-praise-th_n_173950.html">Help Us Dig Up The Praise That Today's Bailout Bandits Once Received</a><br /><blockquote>"Over the past few months we've seen the media begin to cast a hairy eye on many of the financial characters it once dubbed as experts, creators of great wealth and oracles of market behavior. Many of these people are now considered the perpetrators of our current financial crisis.<br /><br />We need your help to collect the heaps of praise that newspapers, magazines and TV news shows doled out when times were good. Now that times are bad, it's even more important to remind ourselves how easily the wool can be pulled over the media's eyes and, consequently, those who consume it.<br /><br />We want to find laudatory reports on not only the alleged Ponzi fraudsters like Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford, but also executives like former Merrill CEO John Thain and former top Citigroup adviser Robert Rubin. We need your help to research front-page magazine spreads, fawning TV interviews, and any other gratuitous praise of the perpetrators of this economic meltdown. It doesn't matter how far back you need to go.<br /><br />Email submissions+praise@huffingtonpost.com with the articles you find. Include your name, the date the article was published, and let us know if you would like to remain anonymous.<br /><br />Some examples of people to start with are John Thain, Robert Rubin, Dick Fuld, John Mack, Ken Lewis, Jacob Ezra Merkin, Vikram Pandit, Allen Stanford, Bernie Madoff and Walter Noel to name a few."</blockquote>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-43159638803986497992009-03-11T12:27:00.000-07:002009-03-11T13:16:36.732-07:00This Is Not a Test. This Is Not a Test.America is constipated from having gorged on an imagined banquet.<br /> <br />Our national dialog is dominated by those whose political voice still screams from the narrowness of their own greed-those who earn millions of dollars a year to spew that which profits them, regardless of the truth. Listen to the dialog, it’s shallowness is appalling yet it still dominates our discourse.<br /><br />The real ability to address real issues is drowned out by the noise spewed across our airwaves. Jon Stewart vs. Jim Kramer. Rush Limbaugh against us all the rest of us. Sean Hannity screaming unverifiable absurdity - nothing real, nothing of substance, just the stuff that is believed by those too lazy to unveil the truth. <br />Instead of thinking and learning we allow our own laziness to substitute for genuine rational, intelligent and informed discourse.<br /> <br />There is NOTHING today that cannot be verified by a simple Web search if we will are only willing to use some of our God given intelligence and energy to find it. Our discourse is dominated by the petty because we allow it to be so.<br /><br />The issues are lost in a scream-fest. Some of us who think that we are betrayed by the captains of finance, others who bemoan the loss of the politics of the 1980’s. We are a bewildered populace assaulted by a media that has degenerated by a narrowness fed only by its own ratings and greed.<br /> <br />The American people must emerge from the fog of the absurd idea of God given right to live in energy thirsty McMansion’s and the unsustainable belief that unfettered access to petroleum and the monsters that gulp it up is a right granted to American’s because we are somehow exceptional. <br /><br />No longer America, no longer.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-27379062518988817182009-02-24T21:07:00.000-08:002009-02-24T21:39:11.062-08:00You guys are just so fuked.....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyy8GfC7R_D_Rt4vhhj2AZddC5EmYlINoOyfSfMKX7CeAmbfjVfiM8nmD_SPpIYxVqs5rvUha9q9wTqtrSKX__Uu2xM2Tbv-7msxF-6942Xs-qxn-lJZ7uWdtjzksQfuFql5Y3yb3/s1600-h/Bobby+Jindal"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyy8GfC7R_D_Rt4vhhj2AZddC5EmYlINoOyfSfMKX7CeAmbfjVfiM8nmD_SPpIYxVqs5rvUha9q9wTqtrSKX__Uu2xM2Tbv-7msxF-6942Xs-qxn-lJZ7uWdtjzksQfuFql5Y3yb3/s320/Bobby+Jindal" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306605378273715618" /></a><br />Barack Obama towers...Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-3330717263211750702009-02-24T20:23:00.001-08:002009-02-24T20:45:54.866-08:00God Bless Us All<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0vFsRETP6fb_hyphenhyphenktQcXaFz8l3dp6OlEeioPdSU9XAGQvQImU0hlAXudYg52bXNqr4jmtwauJNzsecfGqkfvh1X_tulofvOkpQ8Eije-jPoVq5-rnrCPVukudnUpSlTqEwH-JG2dJ/s1600-h/barack+speaks+to+congress"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0vFsRETP6fb_hyphenhyphenktQcXaFz8l3dp6OlEeioPdSU9XAGQvQImU0hlAXudYg52bXNqr4jmtwauJNzsecfGqkfvh1X_tulofvOkpQ8Eije-jPoVq5-rnrCPVukudnUpSlTqEwH-JG2dJ/s320/barack+speaks+to+congress" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306589881601730290" /></a><br />Tonight, Barack Obama melted the pavement.<br /><br />The tributary known as Black History flowed into the river known as American History and they began to flow as one. <br /><br />Great speech President Obama. We are blessed to have you as our leader.Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-66556588782928663982009-02-23T19:11:00.001-08:002009-02-23T19:13:17.483-08:00'nuff said.....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUmtvM4604uq4UMAmoAeePsnZ5BK5uZUlLBUEI-GMfxUg8HGcXc1znIOT3c7Ag1uALhggrHVimrPEhyOLT1_r3XgDPNytiBdrw7ZckxLStbS0ymwilqlraTv4Zm6ucBPXumGNRnaLh/s1600-h/barack-obama-birth-certificate_472x460.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUmtvM4604uq4UMAmoAeePsnZ5BK5uZUlLBUEI-GMfxUg8HGcXc1znIOT3c7Ag1uALhggrHVimrPEhyOLT1_r3XgDPNytiBdrw7ZckxLStbS0ymwilqlraTv4Zm6ucBPXumGNRnaLh/s320/barack-obama-birth-certificate_472x460.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306196688636094434" /></a>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108123261942500104.post-87995066063720345752009-02-11T22:28:00.000-08:002009-02-11T22:40:36.289-08:00Say It Aint So Joe.......<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRMMymtJOM2SktkkHItrRB-53gjqjp8kFneMyaYecZPewPYMdCEOL53RCw8zVgJh3uEc006TRlVP1kaeiaY7q5hrOBGLSDdXFNTnXxWgQk87D3_XrBSH0H7bIdFVb5eqzDY9g4ES9/s1600-h/shoeless+joe+jackon"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRMMymtJOM2SktkkHItrRB-53gjqjp8kFneMyaYecZPewPYMdCEOL53RCw8zVgJh3uEc006TRlVP1kaeiaY7q5hrOBGLSDdXFNTnXxWgQk87D3_XrBSH0H7bIdFVb5eqzDY9g4ES9/s320/shoeless+joe+jackon" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301797042290631058" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/judd-greggs-refusal-to-vo_n_166174.html">Judd Gregg's Refusal To Vote On Stimulus Provokes Firestorm At Home And In Washington</a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/">MoveOn Goes After Cornyn For Skipping Stimulus Vote</a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12assess.html?hp">Is Stimulus Victory Obama's Opening Act Or Sign Of Reduced Expectations?</a><a href="Slate: Bush Attempted To Destroy Laws Of War That Lincoln Created">Slate: Bush Attempted To Destroy Laws Of War That Lincoln Created</a><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/Did_Pelosi_get_rolled.html?showall">Reid And Pelosi's Stimulus Standoff: She 'Went Through The Roof'</a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/2-big-satellites-collide-_n_166214.html">US, Russian Satellites Collide 500 Miles Over Siberia</a>Multifarioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041612436785463479noreply@blogger.com0