Where Have All the Consumers Gone........

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....Long Time Passing

You might be interested in looking at the Federal Reserve Statistical report for October 2007. Credit cards are up "briskly."

The DoomsDay Report

The Consumers are All Busy Spending Tomorrow's Dollars today, and if they keep on having to pay more and more for gas to get to the jobs to make the money to pay food/rent/mortgages/etc INCLUDING CREDIT CARDS, something's gonna give.

You see, if those consumers no longer have the money or the credit to buy the goods that keep the other consumers working, then the other consumers won't be working to make the goods (or services) for which there are no buyers, and we finally discover the Flaw that Lies in House that Mastercard and VISA have built. This is an Economic CorkScrew pinwheeling itself faster and faster down to earth, with increasing oil prices adding an extra special boost.

The Republican Establishment Lies:

Businesses need more cheap money and labor to keep the economy going.

No they don't. They just need customers with money to buy the stuff or services they make or provide. If they don't have customers with cash, they are screwed. So, since all businesses know that expecting reliable returns above 10 - 12 % is completely unrealistic, they let the poor consumers take on the chin, encouraging interest rates all the way up to 30% these days, just to keep the mirage going a bit longer. When the bubble collapses, the banks wind up owning everything, and the cycle starts again. It's the Economy, Stupid!

MasterRetard Rides Again !

We need an amendment to the Constitution that limits interest (including all late fees etc) to never exceed 18% for the consumer on a nation wide basis. The California State Constitution limits usury rates to 10%, which is why the credit card cos are located in South Dakota, etc.

Eisenhower and Nixon Did Not Have Anything to

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do with the Moon Shot, despite what a certain former mayor of a large East Coast city might like to think and broadcast in a Presidential Debate . According to NASA history, Eisenhower argued against doing a moon shot, claiming it was too expensive. Nixon was there to welcome them back, but had nothing to do with getting the ball rolling and carrying it through to the end.

NASA History Website

30 Billion 4 Research, 60 Billion for Marketing, DrugCo's Revealed

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So you think those ads on TV are public service announcements when they talk about medical conditions and drugs ? Think again.

Drug Companies Expenditures.

Sunspots Endangering This Blog, PGandE Circumlocutes

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Apparently we're in for a bumpy ride with the new cycle of sunspots:

Sunspots Affecting Everything

This 11 year cycle may contain a greater amount activity which will adversely affect radio communications on and around the earth. Everything electronic will be affected, including the tethered cell phone that connects my computer to the Blogger server. Interesting reading, as the weather may be affected too.

36 hours of no PG&E on the ridge. Last night they said the "men were on site," but that a "key guy had not yet arrived." I really would appreciate it if they'd simply list our street and the number of jobs it takes to fix it and the priority of those jobs, instead of hiring, "make the customer feel good," operators. They are indeed nice people, but I'd like reliable data, so I could plan to: go buy a new generator; go stay with friends; or just sit tight until it is fixed in a few hours. I'm sure if I call in again I'll be told, "they're waiting for a part." Or, "a big emergency just came up." Just give us simple access to the work flow charts. Oh yes they do exist. If they don't, we are really getting crappy service, as this sort of this needs to be organised somewhere, for efficient service.

ABC Slices, Dices, "The Sound of Music"

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We are very fond of "The Sound of Music," as a movie around about Christmas time, as it makes a lot of moral statements we believe in. We know the movie well, and certainly well enough to know that when you get to the awards scene you are treated to a long, drawn out acceptance by the middle aged lady, and then at least 3 or 4 swings of the spot light to the tunnel to reveal the Trapp family coming out to accept the award. This whole sequence was definitely shortened in the name of cramming in a few more ads. Once HiDef comes down and the battle between blueray and whatever tones down, we'll stick to versions of movies that are as the director and producer originally intended them to be.

Megacorps do affect your intellectual and emotional worlds, willy nilly, at the whim of the advertisers. No censorship, please.

Constitutional Amendment, Interest Rate Cap for Consumers

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Stopping interest rates and fees above 18% would do this country a world of good. Most businesses do not expect returns on investments above 10 to 12% per year. Why should banks be allowed to run wild ? It's because they have the money, and are financing 1/5th of the current presidential election. Here's a quote from MotherJones's John Ridgeway from last July.

"None of this means that Americans who've been planning to cut up their cards should put away the scissors and go shopping. If the bill ever makes it to a vote, it will face a nearly insurmountable obstacle: All told, in 2006, financial and credit card companies gave $7 million in campaign contributions, and banks $25 million, to candidates of both parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Leading the pack, with $378,000, was Hillary Clinton."

Consumers need to rise up and free up that money so that businesses can borrow it and jump start the economy. My Republicorps friends all tell me that businesses need money to invest, and denying consumers loans at rates above 18% would surely make for a lot of capital for the businesses who want to make America thrive, no?

So, let's get a constitutional amendment going that caps all consumer lending at 18%, INCLUDING all fees and other assessments of any kind. The cost to consumers to borrow money shall not exceed 18%. Simple simple, and maybe the consumers can dig themselves out from the mountain of debt they now owe. Didn't Jesus drive the money lenders with high rates from the temple ? Now look at the mess we're in. John Edwards seems to be the only candidate addressing this issue.

Privacy, The MegaCorps Strike Back!

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I think it was a lot of consumers concerned about privacy that got the laws passed, but maybe not, based on the way it is used by the MegaCorps.

Let's assume you have a very busy daughter, and a very busy wife, and you are retired, and have plenty of time to handle snarls in your collective contacts with the MegaCorp world. In this case it is the Dental Plan of the daughter, Premier Access, and the dental plan of the mother, delta Dental, both of whch are supposed to cover the daughter's $1300 oral surgery. Can I as father call up and find a way to get this stuff paid? No, privacy is used as the excuse. Even if you get power of attorney, get it notarized and published on line, they still will only speak to the person named.

Why ?

If they (Premier Access)say they won't pay, and then Delta says they won't pay either, because the first one won't pay, THEY ARE RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK, STALLING, SITTING ON THE BALL. iN THE END, YOU WIND UP PAYING FOR WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY SUPPOSEDLY PAID FOR VIA "INSURANCE." The more complicated they can make it for you to get all your ducks in a row, the more often they win.

We have a chance to vote for John Edwards, and I'm gonna take it, because MegaCorps are self serving a**&^($s. Oh, BTW, Home Depot has screwed up a second time in two months on correcting a payment for 12 months, no payments, no interest.

Which is More Toxic: Lead Batteries or Nuclear Wastes

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Bush and the Free markets are now doing a very good job of telling you what to drive. Something that doesn't consume too much gas. Had he invested the $1,000,000,000,000 in 2.5 million homes at $40,000 in solar install each, the Arabs would have hung Osama and his followers for us, due to the drop in the price of oil. Many American soldiers and Iraqi civilians would still be alive. This policy could still be implemented.

That kind of money would have touched off a firestorm of research to make even more efficient solar panel, and the world would have applauded. If you believe that the cheapest and most efficient solar panels have already been invented, and no improvements are possible, you are a Flat Earther. The last person to fall off that edge was the Urban Legend Patent Office Head, who, in 1899, declared that the Patent Office should be closed, because, everything that was going to be invented, had been invented.

BTW Dr. Bill Wattenburg, keeper of the nuclear flame, went ballistic on San Francisco radio station KGO last night when I suggested this scheme. His reaction, "oh the horror of all those LEAD acid batteries, toxic, toxic, toxic." This guy is quite happy with spent nuclear fuel, and I wonder what he'll do with all his vehicles once he gets rid of his batteries. Do we bust Reibes (our local auto parts store) for that pallet of toxic, toxic, toxic batteries shrinkwrapped on the pallet for recycling ?

Give me a break ! BTW, he also slidered me down (the control that allows the host to kill any further speech from the caller) to make it appear as though I was just taking a beating without being able to counter his arguments. This man has correctly pointed out that we spill oil all over the place in the form of asphalt (roads) without any obvious ill effects. Does Slithering (Harry Potter) make the Slider controls? Seems likely to me. KVMR has the last honest talk shows, or do they? Slidering should never be allowed on internet broadcasts, and yes, it would be possible to do both at once.

Bernie Ward, Can You Frame Someone on the Internet ?

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As a baseline, here is a website with the indictment:

http://abclocal.go.com/three/kgo/bernie_ward_indictment.pdf

On Bernie. He's caught up the same way the Wyoming Senator was, but has a much longer timeline, running from December 23rd, 2004, 1st count, through Jan 1 - Jan 13 2nd and 3rd count. less than four weeks in all. Did he do what he did for the reasons he said? My guess is yes, but I'd really have to wonder and learn more about an area I just don't go to. Nobody has brought up the reason child porn is illegal. It's to protect kids from winding up in the images. Did he actually do it at all, or did someone remotely control his computer and set him up ? Apparently his alibi precludes that possibility. I love a teaser headline.

Now, if you got the software that ages people for later discovery identification in missing children cases, it would seem to me you could wire it backwards, and make all the child porn you wanted from people now adults, or even deceased. What wonders of the digital age! I do not have a clue as to what would make adults interested in child porn, but I guess some people go down that path. Maybe this would provide an outlet, in a virtual world, in 3D, in a real world mental lockup.

I really doubt that Bernie is one of them. Blaming Bush personally is unlikely. Blaming Bush for a climate, in which some underling feels like he's doing God's work to trap a liberal broadcaster any way he can, is quite justified. I say innocent, even if "proven" guilty, unless I agree with the proof.

Of course the silly part here is that we are not allowed to see the porn pictures, they are illegal. I would like to know the number of images, the sizes of images, the description of who (ages noted) in them doing what, before I go judgmental. Apparently a lot of people in the forum feel otherwise. I'd also like to see the IP addies and the cases pending against the characters on the other end of the lines. Surely they bust them them all. If not, why not ?

Possible Solution to Random Mass Shooters

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After Virginia Tech, I suggested a rather complex system of blunted stinky crossbow arrows, all registered and controlled carefully.

Now I don't really care. This is totally ridiculous. Let's keep it simple. K.I.S.S.

Carry a tire iron.

The kind that come with mid compacts is just about perfect. 9 inches to 14 inches long, 1/2 inch steel shaft. Can be in the bottom of a purse or brief case. If you carry one of these, you can at least throw it at the SOB with the weapon. You might get shot yourself, but that is likely to happen anyway. The first time a guy pulls out gun in a mall and is immediately pelted with 20 tire irons, will probably be the last. You can have fun practicing with it in your big backyard. Don't hit the squirrels.

Merry Christmas everybody, and let's hope this is the last of these nut cases.

Corporations and Illegals with the Right Stuff

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Thanksgiving Day saw an "illegal" save a 9 year boy in a remote USA desert after mom died in a car crash. He did this even though he knew he would be sent back to Mexico for his efforts. He said he thought of his own children.

On the KGO radio show of Gene Burns, hosted by Brian Copeland, last night, a caller suggested that a family should sponsor this obviously outstanding potential citizen. A sponsor is one who will take responsibility for assuring a new potential citizen's success in this country.

I normally am at odds with the concept of corporations having all the rights of humans, especially the right as a 100 million per year human to lobby for yet more laws in that particular corporation's favor. I think such sillynesses may be what historians will record as a prime reason for the fall of the USA.

But, if corporations have such human rights, then why can't a non profit corporation be formed to "sponsor" new potential citizens. Instead of all the responsibility falling on one family, let a bunch of people band together, chip in cash, buy or lease a half way house, take turns teaching English and other skills, and give men and women like this guy a chance?

Oh, he broke the law? Yes. If you ever break a law, do you make a citizen's arrest on yourself? If your boss breaks a law....your nephew.....your mother in law??? See, there are some breakings of law you just ignore or look the other way at. Let common sense temper the law with sanity and compassion.

Fortunately this seems to be happening in this case.

I'm having href code troubles, so look for the article at www.examiner.com

The Economy, the Stock Markets, Our Other Iraq/Vietnam

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I have a hard time understanding Paula, on CNBC, other than as a finger pointing, blame anyone but the rich, "B" word.

Who basically owns and controls the banks, credit reporting institutions, and mortgage lending companies ?

Who then set the rules for the current mortgage debacle ?

Who was best in a position to know and understand the terms and consequences of the loans they granted to harried, barely making it folks, desparate for a roof ?

And now who is looking to stick the resulting mess to good old John Q. Taxpayer ? And spend a great deal of time and money, shaping the public thought streams to blame the little guys and gals for the mess?

Look also at the stock market and the brokerage firms connected to it? Would you sit in on and play at a gaming table, with your life savings, when the bigger and often nearly the biggest players are watching your hand, know everything that is in it, have access to your credit scores, and know what you currently are thinking about doing, under conditions X, Y, and Z ?

The larger brokerage firms have the ability to forecast statistically with a high degree of probability what is going to happen, given moves that they may or may not make, and can electronically factor in the moves of the other large players on a second by second basis.

There is an unspoken agreement among them to not tip the boat too much in any given direction, and to remember that they make their money doing trades. Doing trades thus becomes their prime motive. They do not really care which way the underlying economy goes, and can't really control it, as that is affected more by White House, Congressional, and world economy factors than their trading. But they can give the appearance of a get rich card game, and steadily fleece the customers on a regular basis. With the right word here and there, and the right counterbalancing buys and sells on their own part, the boat keeps rocking side to side, settling lower and higher, but always churning out cash for the brokers.

The general disregard for the condition of the boat, on the part of the of rich, the politicians, and frazzled John Q. Public middle and lower classes, and the fact that, $100 million dollars per year gross, corporations can lobby for even more laws in their favor, will lead to the complete destruction of the United States as a world power, and possibly as a country, if people do not wake up from their stupor. Bush might as well be spending his time pulling the lever at a big casino in Las Vegas, for all the leadership he offers.

We need major repairs and changes to the country's infra-structure. Alternative energy and fiber optics everywhere, plus upgrading railroads and other items would be a nice place to start.

Also, all individual contracts ever made should be available on-line, to the parties that made them and their attorneys, and stored in a government or non profit controlled site. The typeface should be setable by the viewer, and any terms unfavorable in any degree to the party that doesn't write it up, should be in red or a color of the viewer's choice. Likewise neutral items should be in green. In addition, a version should be available where all the favorable items, and all the unfavorable items, and all the neutral items, are in three separate piles. The placement shall be made by the writer of the contract, and that placement shall be disputable at a later date, at the option of the non writing party, often described as the consumer.

No more hiding behind 9 point or smaller type sizes!

Popeye Supports Kucinich, NOAA Science Oven

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"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

I'm Strong for Kucinich,

Ah eats Organic Spinich.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!"

(A Keachie Ditty)

For the debunkers of the Global Oven Effect, how about 50 years of research, and what's the atmosphere of Venus, surface temp around 700 degrees fahrenheit, made of anyway?

NOAA and 50 Year of Research, starting in Hawaii and the South Pole.


Don't pollute and you might get snow. Google founders supporting alternative energy systems in a big way. See yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle

Improved Deaf and Blind Vehicle Avoidance

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In another blog I found the following quote and responded:

"This is similar to the recent protest by the blind in front of the MDE. The blind people were protest hybrid cars on th premise that the cars were too quiet while operating on battery power. The group sponsoring the protest wants the EPA & the MDE to require hybrid automotive manufacturers to create a minimum standard for how much noise a car produces. Its ridiculous. Really."

The part that is ridiculous is the technology requested. i.e., noisier cars. If cars had transponders outputing GPS location and velocity and direction, a device used by either the deaf or the blind, with appropriate sensory inputs, could be programmed to give a warning with the direction of the potential threat.

Solar Power Non-Believers, Go Here

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California developer with nothing but solar homes.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Your Tax Dollars at Work.

O'Reilly Books Yes ! Spider/Spyware DataBases NO !

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I just had occasion to call O'Reilly' to see if there was some wild chance I could get a replacement CD for one of O'Reilly's books. The service was absolutely out of this world ! A human operator in 3 rings on immediate pickup of the call. A quick transfer to customer service after listening to my need accurately. Another quick transfer to the CD replacement operator. He'll be burning a CD and sending it out this afternoon. No stories like, "you need to buy another book and CD combination." Or stories like, "we can't do that, it violates copyright." Or stories like, "we're out of stock," or like, "that'll be $19.99 please....plus shipping."

On the negative side, not connected in any way to O'Reilly, I did a bunch of research the other day on GPS units for laptops and cell phones, for a client, visiting many sites, and signing up at several vbulletin sites for memberships, always using a throwaway address.

Now I am getting email spam on the topic of buying such devices. The scary part is that the spams are not coming to the throwaway addresses. Instead they are coming to an address that is only posted on the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce. For some reason, the NCCofC insists on putting our emails right out in the open, where they are easy pickings for even the dumbest of spiders.

What seems to have happened is that either by my signups, or my site visits, a database some where has gotten wind of my interest (my client's interest) and has linked to me via an email they never saw during my search. This nicely excludes the parties to whom I gave the throw away addies from any blame, because they can claim they never gave away the email. They didn't, but apparently they did give away (more likely sell) the name, and let the third parties take the hit via my alternative addy.

All the more reason for assuming a totally fake persona, a computer just for web use, with cookie and history claarings after every session, and no true personal info. I think I may become nolo volente or maybe Nick Volentia, just to really screw them up.

Also, you know it is kinda funny. Amazon.com gives excellent service too. Is it perhaps because book readers won't put up with the kind of problems I've had with Best Buy and Hopeless Home Depot ? The America public seems to be headed for Ideocracy, the movie.

I went into a fast gas and food place the other day, and picked out a pound of butter, plainly marked $3.99, to avoid a trip into town. I asked what the price per stick was, and the clerk said, "$ .50" I said, "The pound is $3.99 and the price per stick, 1/4 pound, is $ .50?" He said "yes." Somebody should come up with a software program that runs on a cash register screen that offers clerks a chance to win extra cash for learning and demonstrating skills in division...

At the the other end of the spectrum, check out this "Merry Christmas" from Princess Cruises:

http://consumerist.com/consumer/scams

Schwarzeneggar Opens Mexican Italian Restaurant

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Do you want to know what it is called ?
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"Pasta La Vista" baby!

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An original, my copyright, my contribution to general funny-ness, since the writer's strike and gas prices are leaving everyone rather cranky, with no comic relief in sight. Yes, I am politically irresponsible. How about that baseball playing, Asian Hip Hop artist with the cello ?

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Yo Yo DiMaggio

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It's a contest. How many groups can you mix it up with in one joke ?

All in good fun, I love everybody who is not trying to kill us or take everything we have.

Teen Suicide due to Hoax on Myspace

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A terrible tragedy in St. Louis, occurred when parents decided to teach a 13 year old, off again, on again, friend of their daughter's, a lesson. In a nutshell, they set up a phony account on MySpace, supposedly hosted by a very attractive young man, who asked to be the teen's friend. Through chats and the like, they become online romantically involved, and then he, out of the blue, dumps her. Distraught, she commits suicide.

Don't Believe Anything in Cyberland that isn't confirmed easily via normal reality. Be sure to engage the "too good to be true," filters, especially where the heart is involved. Adults can and often are, stupider and crueler than kids. Why is it so hard to get the Golden Rule straignt ?

For a much more extensive look at the story, try this link.

More on the Story

Previewed Aerial Photography for Real Estate

TrabuccoGarfinkelMap, originally uploaded by dkeachie.

To insure that my aerial customers get what they are looking for, I do preview work on Google Earth before the plane ever uses a drop of gas. By creating a series of images like this one, we can discuss the needs in detail, and avoid most needs for reshoots. In fact, some customers are happy with just the Google Earth images, or with images taken from a very tall ladder.


If you have a legal situation, a flight can clarify many things.

Keachie101

The email addy first part above, and second part below, just needs a little human interpretation to reach me. I list it this way to avoid spammer spiders (a form of network scouring robots) from picking up on it.

(at@)andfurthermore.net

530 If you can do the email, you can also do the phone number 277 You just have top put the pieces together in order. 3456 .

Adobe Acrobat, Speed MegaBump of the Internet

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It happened again. I click on an Adobe Acrobat document at a distant website, the website is slow or none existent to respond, I try to escape via the escape key, and then via the CTRL-ALT_Delete, and my entire laptop freezes. To get back to work, I have to unplug both the power supply and remove the battery, and then restart, redial, and login in again. A total and complete waste of my time by Adobe. It happens about once every three days, and this time I vowed I'd write it up.

I try to avoid Acrobat anytime I can, because I know it is such a gamble. When Googling, I always go for the html.

It is very arrogant of Adobe to grab such deep control of my machine, and then not offer a simple way out. They can afford programmers who can write:

1. Something which determines the size of the document, and gives you a chance to opt out of the process.

2. A graceful way to stop a download in progress and return to the last page.

3. A way to preview the document by downloading the document table of contents first for review.

4. A way to pick and choose chapters for downloading.

5. A cheaper way to upgrade the latest version of the full product, instead of going for $100/year as they seem to be doing.

I want to commend Netmeter and Snort, plus ZoneAlarm and Computer Associates, and last but not least, Steve Gibson at Gibson Research Corporation, www.grc.com for all working to keep my machine free of the baddies. I feel like the CIA in the Spy vs Spy World, of who's buggering my computer now? Except that here CIA stand for Computer Information Analysis, a job I used to do for San Francisco Unified School District. Running Snort seems to drive off the pirates fairly well. The combination of all of the above allows me to such down anything suspicious and then redial for a new IP addy, for those critters that get around the normal firewall and antivirus protections.

Algorithms for getting Osama, One of Many...

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(From a comment in our local newspaper, by yours truly.)

As for solutions, again, if you've just got one, it's because you're not thinking creatively enough.

Case in point, the "Osama Problem."

We actually know where he is, we're just trying to make sure we round them all up at once. Look for an attack on USA about next June - Sept, and the "capture of Osama" by early October, to be attributed to the "brilliant Republican strategy," in hopes of retaining the White House.

Back to the problem.

Airdrop $100 USA bills in an area where you suspect him to be. If you drop one thousand of them at a time, each drop will cost $100,000 + delivery. Have a drawing each month for one of the serial numbers out of all the dropped bills ever, and the winner is awarded $1,000,000 cash and the option for he/she and family and friends to all get instant USA citizenship and transportation. 24 hours after the drop, Announce the location to the world. Do this once a month. Talk about reality TV! Do the drop at least once a month, and maybe pick on a poverty stricken area, if you have no clue as to where he might be. In fact, just to vary things, and maybe make it easier for the folks who receive the cash to use it, maybe dropping smaller denominations, but more of them, still adding up to $100,000, would be a good idea. Given the cost of everything else, this is a cheap program.

As for violating other nations' rights, well, that certainly didn't stop us in Iraq. Besides, the most likely spots are Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to what the Bush administration wants us to "know." I'm sure the locals would view this as a big improvement over bombs. Embedded information might just as well be shredded information. Our current government doesn't trust our own reporters to tell the story the way they (in government) want it told.

If the drop is near Osama, his own people will leave him to grab the dollars to discourage others from getting them. IR (infrared) camera equipped drones will pick the excess activity. Each individual Osama supporter will also have mixed feelings about what to do with the bills. They each are worth their face value, which is a ton of value in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they have their potential at the big prize.

The event would focus media and world attention onto the search. It will attract thrill seeking trust fund babies and bounty hunters equally well. It just might turn the Pakistani Northern tribal types against him. If I read them right, they love their privacy and social structure, and this is going to mess with that like mad. This is called "applied anthropology." Osama would become a pariah, a typhoid Mary, a carrier of cultural destruction.

So what's your idea of how to catch Osama ?

I personally think he is squirreled away in a manmade luxury cave in Switzerland, and travels to and from the Mideast via the modified keel of a very large sail boat.

Those at the Top Perpetuate a Self Serving Myth

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An actor can become governor, can become President, if the right people chose to back him. What experience as an actor even came close to the official set of "job skills," supposedly required for these transitions ? Maybe it would be better to ask who defines these job skills in the first place ? "Oh my, you can't jump out of an airplane with a parachute if you've never done it before."

The reality is that a great many people within an organization probably have the background information, aptitudes and attitudes needed for the top slot. A fair number of those who do, also have the willingness and desire and ability to put in the typically long hours which come with the territory.

So why not select one of these people, who would be happy with a modest salary boost ? Probably because a fair number of them are already identified as being aligned with one clique or another within the organization, or have nerded themselves out of the social pecking order. A second reason, however, is a selection committee too cowardly to take a chance on an "unproven candidate" who might screw up. And then there's the third reason, a mystique promoted by those at the top that only those at the top with experience at being at the top could possibly know how to do the job well. Net result, a ridiculously small pool of "qualified" candidates, a marvelous self fulfilling prophesy that assures a scarcity of "talent" and thus the ridiculous wages.

Hat's off to the CEO class, who know a good thing when they've got it. For the finest example of this, watch the hirings and firings of principals and superintendents in large urban school districts. The rotten ones just keep on bubbling back up elsewhere. You have no idea what a total gem you had in Terry McAteer, and still have with him as a teacher. Step down in salary and status? Unbelievable and most admirable!

Global Warming, Megacorps, and the American Consumer

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Now that Global Warming is so obvious that even Bush (Emperor's New Clothes..."we need more studies") admits it is happening, we are left with, "what to do next?". Now comes the assigning of the blame, that's going to be our first priority Not solutions, but blame, will be considered first, because we've got to find somebody to pay for the solutions. "We have seen the Enemy and They is Us," Walt Kelley's Pogo strip, from way back when. NBC's morning show is covering it this week, from North Pole to South Pole this morning.

"Why it's the fault of the American Consumer, if they didn't demand all that stuff, and burn up all that gas trying to make the money to get it, then there wouldn't be global warming."

Sounds like a plan, you can bet the third and second and the rest of the first world have fun chanting it. In our country too, the chant is carried on by the Sierra Club, the Libertarians, and all the stock holders of advertising and other corporations, and a ton of politicians who need to point fingers anywhere but at themselves.

Bad, bad, American Consumer ! But what is the American consumer ? Stacked up against the MegaCorps, how well armed is he or she ? Let's see, the comsumer is typically born into a family where the members work for others, often megacorps, and is educated in a school system that is directed by people elected by massive advertising campaigns, funded by, you guessed it, more megacorps and special interest groups. The consumer groggily grows up in this environment, being told over and over how inadequate he or she is, and that the only cure is to BUY whatever megacorps are pushing. Megacorps quite often have nearly infinite life spans, or at least the fortunes (Rockefeller family, for example) funded by them do, even if the megacorps the fortunes own, change from time to time.

The time of our representatives in Congress is owned by those who can afford lobbyists. I frankly think that it should be lotteried off to voters chosen at random from those voting in each major elelction. They in turn could sell it on a spot market, so we could really see how much each of our Congresspeople are worth to the MegaCorps. It would be a darn sight more honest than the current haze we have surrounding them. Besides, it would carry the theme of Capitalism nicely, so that kids could easily understand at a much earlier age how the system really works, and what they are up against, growing up in America, starting from the bottom. One eighth of this country makes not more than 20% above minimum wage. That is sad.

The way the system is set up, Anyone can grow up to be rich, Wonderful !

The way the system is set up, there is absolutely No Way that Everybody can even make to what was called the middle class, and it is getting worse.

On one middle class income my dad bought a three bedroom house, and raised three kids, and sent them to college. He did this on $4,000/year, and the house cost $14,000. His same job today pays $70,000. The house is worth $700,000, you do the math. From 1:3 to 1:10, that quite a change in sixty years. Dr. Seuss's "The 500 Hats of Barthollemew Cubbins"got it right, in terms of social structure in America.

Would we have such rotten mass transit and rail systems if the consumer really had a say ?

Would we not have a Manhatten Style project for alternative safe and non polluting power ?
(not to mention, non-terrorist funding power)

The A Bomb was impossible, but American know-how and money made it happen, likewise the Man on the Moon. Why not safe, clean power as a similar national priority ? Maybe lifting 15% of the financial yoke from the "little people" is not in the best interest of the MegaCorps ? If everyone's making their own power, what happens to Con Edison ?

As it is, PG and E punishes the consumer who uses more electricity, but offers a flat rate per kilowatt, all you can eat, to business. GE will gleefully sell everybody nuke plants. Oh Joy!

The oil companies build no new refineries, they know the changeover is coming, if fact, all of MegaCorps have known for years, but they're squeezing out every last dollar before shutting down our antique technologies. In the meantime, they just lied to the consumers about the situation, to gain time to be sure of being at the reins of the new paradyme, and to squeeze out those last dollars. BP is the biggest manufacturer of solar panels. Like I said, is this a fair fight ? You can bet the Spin Machines at very level will do their best to make it all the fault of the American Consumer. And to make the American consumer pay for it, along with the mortgage bankers' bailout via inflation caused by lower interest rates.

The Law, in its Majesty......

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....prohibits the well as well as the sick from using pot. It also prohibits Republicans as well as Democrats from using pot. It also prohibits all kinds of other activities, and requires certain behaviors too.

But mainly it is an enabler, enabling anyone to shout "It's the Law ! We are a nation of Laws ! or We are Nothing ! "

If all laws were enforced by all seeing, all knowing, flying robots that accompanied every person everywhere, this kind of logic might make sense. As it is, all laws are selectively enforced, and so this type of argument is pure cow exhaust.

This imperfect world has many causes, many roots, for the imperfections. It is so wonderfully convenient to pull out the "It's the Law!" whip and start flagellating away, for those who see the inhalation of fumes or some other thing as the root cause to everything that is wrong on the planet.

What's more important, stopping Osama via energy independence, and intercepting heroin, crack and Cocaine via Fair Trade payments to Colombian and Afghani farmers, or wasting resources chasing the green fields of California and freaking out over Hilary ?

I wrote this in the The Union, our local paper, in a debate over a drug bust.

Wheeee ! The People, Going Broke ?

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In some respects, not buying anybody a Christmas present, except those created from materials already on hand, might be the most effective political protest in terms of getting Bush and the rest, including the Dems, to do what the people asked for back in November, 2006.

This, in conjunction with the mortgage crisis, just might get the politicians to pay attention and reconsider their actions, or lack thereof. The Dow just slipped 200 points in the last hour.

On the other hand, running the whole country into a depression would not be cool. We'd like to refi again, and see if we can get even lower, but refi's don't happen during depressions. As long as the ruling class stays too greedy, and the middle and lower classes stay too ignorant, this country is in deep trouble. Anyone can be rich in America, Yes, But.......The System is set up so that not everyone can be rich, all at the same time. This is the dirty little secret that is never taught in school or talked about in polite company. No relevant truths in this country about the poor are readily available to those on the bottom. Knowledge of reality might lead to revolt.

Curiously enough, the rich and poor don't trade places often. 1/3 rd of the Forbes 400 start with inherited money. Donald Trump is a fine example, and Bush is a several generations' example. At the other end of the spectrum, the numbers of one racial group in jail, through generations, seems to be an indicator of a semi-permanent tenancy, a cycle which should be broken, the sooner the better.

Someday I will sketch out my ideal school for the inner city. It would not be cheap, bt it's cheaper than 3 million Americans in jail, that's one in 100, that the rest of us have to pay for, and from whom we derive few or no benefits.

Oh the poor oil companies ! Shares down. Could it be that they build no new refineries because they already know that there will have to be a major shift away from oil? BP is one of the biggest producers of solar panels. I think that the corporate Megacorps know darn well, and have known for years, that fossil fuels have got to go. They're just trying to squeeze out as much as they can from their existing plants, with as little new investment as possible, so that they'll be in a position to control alternative energy sources too. Citibank can't find any more suckers either...

PGandE charges home users more money for using more electricity to encourage home owners to conserve. Less stress on the existing generation plants. Business owners pay a flat rate, regardless of what they use, according to Dr. Bill Wattenberg on KGO talk show.

Closing Bell is now at -367 at 13,562, BOOOIIINNNGGG