time*treat's Blog

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7529741.stm

'Hope' doesn't contain many calories. 'Change' doesn't buy very much.

To see the vid, check out my 'Daily Show' entry from a couple days ago...

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Paris Hilton's mother doesn't share John McCain's sense of humor.

McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said last week thathis campaign ad mocking Democrat Barack Obama with images of Hilton andsinger Britney Spears was part of an attempt to inject humor into thepresidential race.

On Sunday, Hilton's mother, Kathy Hilton, a McCain donor, registered her disapproval.

"It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at thevery moment when millions of people are losing their homes and theirjobs," Kathy Hilton said in a short article posted on the liberalHuffington Post Web site. "And it is a completely frivolous way tochoose the next president of the United States."

The ad plays on Obama's popularity by dismissing him as a merecelebrity, like Hilton and Spears. The Obama campaign has said the adis proof that McCain would rather launch negative attacks than debateimportant issues.

McCain on Friday denied that his campaign had taken a negative turn,saying, "We think it's got a lot of humor in it, we're having fun andenjoying it."

Kathy Hilton, however, was unpersuaded, calling the ad "a completewaste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to hiscampaign."

Kathy Hilton and her husband donated a total of $4,600 to McCain's campaign earlier this year.

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With the possible exception of Reagan, wasting time and attention with frivolous points  has been the preferred means of choosing every president since at least Eisenhower and arguably since Wilson.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=178207

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adc3MSS5Ydc

 

Pretending you care...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXY_8cJlGMc

(some of these are so accurate...)

How Many Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?

ARIES: Just one. Wanna make something of it?

TAURUS: Well, I prefer natural light if at all possible. Are you absolutely positive that lightbulb is burned out? I hate to throw it away if it still might be useful.

GEMINI: Probably one is best, because if there is more than one, they'll get so wrapped up in talking to each other that they'll forget all about the lightbulb.

CANCER: Only one, but three therapists will be needed to help with the grieving process. OR: Only one, as long as his mommy holds his hand.

LEO: Leos do not change their own lightbulbs. They find someone else to do it for them.

VIRGO: 1.11111119873, give or take .00000000000013%.

LIBRA: Well, I could do it, unless of course you'd prefer to do it, but you look sort of busy right now. What do you want to do?

SCORPIO: One, from across the room, if they've learned their teleporting lessons well enough. OR: None, because Scorpios aren't afraid of the dark.

SAGITTARIUS: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got the rest of our lives ahead of us, and you're worrying about a stupid light bulb?

CAPRICORN: I don't have time for these foolish jokes.

AQUARIUS: Well, you see, energy is really matter and matter is really energy and light is a form of energy but the light bulb is matter, and--

PISCES: What light bulb? <---(I'm gonna just leave this one alone...)

Mutual of Omaha Bank Acquires All Deposits of First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, N.A.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2008/pr08063.html

Does anyone find it odd these takeovers always occur on Fridays? Of course not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0ZvLoHvfg

I remember it more as an airline commercial ...
... and that's when I knew I wanted to be a capitalist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_hRjDiKcv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy6SlUpbnIU

This little 600 page gem of legislation includes such tasty nuggets as:

• raising the national debt ceiling
• fingerprinting of people working in the mortgage industry
• reporting of all credit card transactions to the IRS

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... but plenty of folks love the tyrant-nanny-state, and disdain anyone who criticizes the notion, so nevermind.

Tricky Nixon blames the "speculators", "stabilizes" the dollar, and raises import taxes.

Oh, and assures you, it's all for your own good and "temporary". Sound familiar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTLX1ow-aCw

Yep, a buck still buys as much now as in '71.

AP: Monday, July 21, 2008

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sought to reassure an anxious public Sunday that the banking system is sound, while also bracing people for more troubled times ahead.

"I think it's going to be months that we're working our way through this period - clearly months," he said.

Paulson said the number of troubled banks will increase as they struggle to cope with big losses on bad mortgages.

"Of course, the list is going to grow longer given the stresses we have in the marketplace, given the housing correction. But again, it's a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation," he said in broadcast interviews.

Paulson used appearances on the Sunday talk shows to tell people that deposits up to $100,000 are fully insured. He said no one has lost a single penny on an insured deposit in the 75 years that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has operated.

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Sure, Paulie, sure. I detect (W)ords of (M)assive (D)eception.

"With enough insider information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year."  - Warren Buffett

Here's a list of ganks... er... banks that maybe didn't make the newz(sic) where you live. http://ml-implode.com/

Of course, if you don't have a mortgage, none of this could possibly affect you, right?

Excerpted from Bill Walker's "Modest Proposal"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker31.html

Look at the terrible waste in the private food sector. Warehouses and elevators full of food, none of which is loaned out to more than one person at a time. Now, if the methods of modern government finance were applied, all that grain and fruit could be giving liquidity to ten times the number of grocery stores!

Now you object: "But what if everyone wants their food at the same time?" Under the old system, when a grocery store or grain elevator had insufficient reserves, it became unable to provide more food for withdrawal in a crisis. This is obviously unacceptable.

All food-related matters will be centralized in Federally chartered Food Banks. These food banks will issue "Federal Reserve Noodles," similar to Ramen noodles except that they will have no physical existence as such. These "FRNs" will be legally good for all metabolic debts, public and private.

All actual flour, rice, kiwi fruit etc. will be stored in Fort Knox, but never audited....

Kevin Depew of "5 Things" writes: Welcome to the Depression. No, don't drop whatever it is you're doing. Don't get up. It's not going anywhere. It will wait. It's just going to sit over here in the corner and read a magazine while you do whatever it is you need to do.

A Depression doesn't run hot and fierce like some crazed meth burner. A Depression is methodical, purposeful, patient. It will build a shelter out of tree branches and newspaper, light a small, well-contained campfire and wait you out, brother. While you feed on the empty calories of denial and popcorn, it will quietly gather shards of broken dreams and fashion them into a terrible weapon of blunt force reality.

It's a hell of a thing to call this day and age the next Depression. It's dangerous tinfoil hat territory inhabited mostly by screeching lunatics and volatile nutjobs. But by the time they get squeezed out by reputable folks the whole gig will be up, the circus will have left town.

(rest of article) http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index.php?a=18055

Of course, IndyMac customers are finding out "FDIC insurance" ain't all it's cracked up to be (and it can't count so well, to boot). Finally, because I just make it all up, I thought I'd quote a figure of greater au-thor-i-tah and less tinfoil than myself to tell you that your odds of getting "your" money are only as good as your place in line.

"Meeting creditors' demands for payment requires holding liquidity--cash, essentially, or close equivalents. But neither individual institutions, nor the private sector as a whole, can maintain enough cash on hand to meet a demand for liquidation of all, or even a substantial fraction of, short-term liabilities. " - Fed Res Chr Ben Bernanke  http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20080513.htm (ugh, there I go citing real sources again)

For those that rode one of the smaller busses to school, the 'boss' of all the banks just said the banks don't have enough cash for everyone to get their money out.

He continues ... "Doing so would be both unprofitable and socially undesirable. It would be unprofitable because cash pays a lower return than other investments. And it would be socially undesirable, because an excessive preference for liquid assets reduces society's ability to fund longer-term investments that carry a high return but cannot be liquidated quickly."

I.e. go back to sleep. Move along. Nothing to see, here. Tell that to these people ... http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-indymac16-2008jul16,0,5489094.story

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/04/can-this-little.html

The July 14, 2008 issue of Time magazine has an interesting series of articles on Mark Twain.

One can see many similarities between current events and issues 100 years ago.

it wouldn't hurt you to make sure that your landlord is paying the mortgage on the place. If where you dwell is foreclosed on, you can be unceremoniously booted out by the sheriff (15mins to an hour notice), even though your rent payments are up to date.

Nah, that'll never happen here, right?