Socrates & Rock Stars

The trial of Socrates in 399 B.C. began with this posted indictment:

" Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state and introducing other new divinities. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death".

The "new divinties" that were the alledged corrupter of youth was his philosophy of questions. This included the questioning of authority which made the powers-that- be in Athens nervous. And so the indictment, the trial and the death of Socrates by drinking the poison hemlock. Now some 2500 years later, the present questioners of all authority take the form of members of all branches of our government, Wall Street manipulators and "rock stars".

No they are not going to drink hemlock as their punishment. But instead they will be bribed, well bonused or sell out stadiums. Somewhere in between the fates of noble Socrates and our present day trash should be the proper reward for questioning authority.

"Driver Carries No Money"

A very few delivery trucks still carry the warning, " Driver Carries No Money". Maybe it's because the illegal immigrant criminals can't read or speak English. Or maybe the hoodlums went through the public school system and didn't bother to learn to read. But because there was no money available there were no losses.

Can we learn a lesson that applies to our politicians and their Congress? It's their Congress because they as a group get more out of government than we outside of government do. The latest legal crime that our politicians are facilitating is the Wall Street bailout. Here we have Wall Street jackals making money on the way up and keeping what they made as their broken schemes and maipulations are transferred to the tax payers on the way down.

The lesson is this. First character is fate. And since our politicians start with little or no admirable character traits we are facing certain disappointment. But add the bad character to the oppotunities presented for self advancement by handling and being part of a $ 3 trillion budget process and one can see how we keep digging deeper holes as government gets larger. There is a direct ratio. And so the app. $ 1 trillion bailout will be handled by printing more money. Money represents the collective character of the issuing nation. Our falling dollar signals what our trading partners think of our character.

What's to be done? How about printing this sign on the halls of Congress, " Politician Carries No Money Only Opinions. All Money Matters Are Left To Individuals"?

Condi Rice Doesn't Get It

A Secretary Of State is nothing if not diplomatic. Which brings up our own Condi Rice's rudely chosen words directed at Russia yesterday. Referring to the Georgia/South Osettia war, our pickaninny promised, " Our [U.S.] strategic goal now is to make it clear to Russia's leaders that their choices are putting them on a one-way path to self imposed isolation and international irrelevance". Condi is predicting Russia has a one-way ticket to Palooka-Ville.

So Condi thinks the world can work around or without Russia being involved. Never mind the 13,000 nuclear warheads or the vast natural resources or the rich cultural heritage. Stanford University gave this woman a doctorate on Russian studies. Obviously Condi wasn't impressed with the Russian tutorial.

Rice reminds me of an observation by the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume. Hume was in correspondance with a friend who recently visted the Caribbean. The friend remarked how the darkies in Jamaica and other nations spoke perfect English . Hume some years later personally experienced the blacks in Jamaica. He came away with the conviction that the negroes were just reciting and copying white speech and culture like some parrot or Minah bird. They really didn't get it.

And so the philosopher accurately describes our blackbird.

Tzipi Livni: Peace Candidate?

Pity the poor Palestinians. Tzipi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister looks to be the next Prime Minister. She will succeed Prime Minister Olmert as soon as she can form a coalition. She has been part of the "peace negotiations" with the Palestinians. Her Tzipi-code for "peace" turned into collective punishment for 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza and a ramped-up expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

Her personal resume includes being a lawyer and a former member of Israel's Mossad secret service . No doubt her lack of a moral compass qualifies her for both professions. She is also the result of a Zionist line bred heritage. She can trace her heritage to members of Israel's Irgun a right-wing militia that has the blood of British and international peace keepers and Palestinians on their hands. She is being compared to the former female Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. She's the Brooklyn-born PM that brought on The Six Days War Of 1967 which is the second mistake. The first mistake was Israel's creation in 1947.

All in all Tzipi surpasses Hitler and the Nazi's definition of the undesirable Jew as indicated in the Nazi's Nuremberg Party Congress on September 15, 1935. Too bad that the Nazis lumped all the Jews together. Tzipi and Adolph were alike.

The Next Financial Shoe To Drop

Here's a quick tutorial on the root cause of the 1930's Great Depression since it increasingly looks like we will replay that whole episode in slow-motion. Sure the market crashed but the reason for the depression was the failure of the banks. The banks failed because they speculated in the stock market. E.G. Morgan Bank owned Morgan Stanley brokerage .Those speculations went south and people ran on the banks to withdraw deposits. The rest is history.

After the Crash and bank failures, legislation was passed that included the Bank Act of 1935 a.k.a. Glass Steagall. It prohibited banks from ever owning brokers or insurance companies. In 1999 , Glass Steagall was struck down. Banks then did the obvious and bought insurance companies and stock brokers. Also brokers bought insurance companies and banks.

" What could possibly go wrong?". Well first there was the failure of Bear Stearns which was bought by JP Morgan Chase and today Lehman Brothers went Chapter 11 and Bank Of America bought Merrill Lynch. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are in the wings looking for deep pocket partners i.e. some bank with fat deposits of unsuspecting civilians.

So we have gone full circle with banks now back in the brokerage business in spades. The next time the brokers fail they will take their respective bank owners with them. What's a civilian to do among these financial terrorists? First avoid any bank with a brokerage or insurance subsidiary. Limit all deposits to FDIC limits. Keep some cash at home and a weapon for protection.

Our society has resorted to money as the cure all and to that end we have printed literally bales of it. But like a house of cards, paper can't take much weight.

How To Build Personal Worth And Avoid Disappointment

Looks like Lehman Brothers will follow Bear Stearns into a shotgun merger. The buzz on Wall Street sounds like Merrill Lynch is next and then AIG and then Goldman Sachs and then.....

The effective tactic that turns these once blue chip stocks of the financial sector into a powdered form is the classic "bear raid". It's nothing new. It was around before the Crash of '29. It was used by Joe Kennedy and the very successful but suicide Jesse Livermore. Simply a group of speculators target a stock and then relentlessly sell it thus creating a panic in the financial markets till it spills over into the real world. And then it either goes bankrupt or is forced into an arranged merger. And members of the bear raid group profit from the collapse of the stock price . The "effective tactic" was the bear raid. But the fundamental reason that enabled the bear raid tactic to work was the questionable value of the underlying business of the targeted stock in the first place. It begs the question, "If these companies are so valuable, then how come they can be sold down so far?".

I.E. could a bear raid be successful if Wall Street operators tried to sell a $50.00 bag of groceries for $10.00? Or how successful could a manipulator be selling a gallon of gasoline for $1.50? Not successful because groceries and gasoline have intrinsic and recognizable value with a large market. Shares of Bear Stearns, Lehman, Merrill or whoever really when, push comes to shove, don't have intrinsic value. They operate on the "greater fool" theory. That's why the machinations of Wall Street bear raids acn be pulled off. Everyone kind of knows or suspects that Wall Street can't last .

If one is interested in building self worth and avoiding future disruptions then one should join with other like-minded, value-added individuals for a barter system . Then the group can freeze out grifters, politicians, Wall Street operators and all the other usual suspects.

Wall Street: Alternative Reality

This past Monday, Google Search picked up and published prominently a 2002 United Airlines filing for bankruptcy. The 2002 date was not printed. The source of the post was from a Florida newspaper that is affiliated with the Chicago Tribune. People who read the post and didn't give a second thought or know that UAL emerged from bankruptcy in 2006 sold shares. The stock plummeted from $12.00 to $3.00 before trading was halted. Many people lost much money before UAL was asked if the story was true. The story was true but it was 6 years old!

There is reality and there is Wall Street perception of reality. In the real world this past Monday , UAL planes continued to fly and reach their destination. This is despite the halted trading and price devestation. This is proof that the world can still function despite Wall Street seizing up. But our representaives in Washington and I use the term " representatives" loosely seem to think that Wall Street's interests are more important than the real worlds initerests. Witness oil and corn price manipulation, banking and security law failures etc.

We can function without a Wall Street and without a Washington.

"Hello Manhattan, Israel Calling"

Approximaely 50% of Wall Street investment banking management is Jewish. That doesn't make them necessarily Zionist but probably most think there should be a Jewish homeland which is the definition of a Zionist. Israel enjoys a unique U.S. tax code advantage. Donations to the Jewish state by American tax payers is deductable against U.S. income. The donations sent to Israel by these Wall Street operators neatly allows them to have it both ways.

Israel is an odd country. It's founding and nurturing depends on money and political influence from worldwide Jewry. If that is ever shut off or diminished ,Israel like some out of this world space station ,would suffer or cease to exist. And so the recent cataclysmic events on Wall Street and financial centers around the world threaten Israel's mother's milk so to speak i.e. money. The financial melt down may be a humane way to finally get Israel to pursue peace or disappear. Either way would be an improvement.

Here's A Quiz

How many Pakistani civilians have to be killed "accidentally" by U.S. and NATO forces before a significant portion of Pakistan joins the Taliban and Al Qaeda cause?

How many more Afghanis will target U.S. and NATO troops because of the deaths of their innocent citizens?

How many Sunnis will be killed in Anbar province now that the U.S. has turned over security to their historical adversary the Shiite dominated security forces and thus reigniting the Iraq civil war in that area?

How come the U.S. refused to take North Korea off the state-sponsored terror list as it promised which then caused the N.Koreans to stop dismantling a portion of their nuclear facilities which stopped the whole peace process?

How did it come about that Georgia chose now to shell South Ossetia and certainly invite a lethal response by the Russians? Also Cheney immediately rushed to Georgia with a billion dollar reimbursement for damages received and vows to SUPPORT Georgia.

Why are the missile shields in Czech and Poland which could threaten Russia in the headlines at this time?

Why hasn't the U.S. pushed the Israelis into the needed concessions for a two-state solution with the Palestinians?

Why does McCain and the republicans talk more about war than peace?

Are Bush and Cheney instigating world instability as a McCain et al vote- getter?

The coincidences of the above warmongering events are too many and too obvious to attribute to chance.

Sarah Palin Looks Better In Comparison

Criticism by definition springs from a comparison to a somewhat accepted standard. The criticism can eclipse the standard postively or negatively fall short. How does Palin compare with our recent standard of George Bush?

Pundits claim that Palin lacks experience. Oh. She achieved the governship of Alaska on her own. Bush needed the schemes and lies of Karl Rove for his Texas governorship. Then there are the connections of George I that brought George II the chance for a run at the presidency . Rove created "a palace of lies" in Bush's presidential run and the rest is history.

Palin wasn't an alcholic like Bush. She liked herself and won the title of Miss Alaska. Palin actually lives her Christian religion by bringing a Down's Syndrome baby into the world.(I think that is wrong) . Bush wears the mantle of the Evangelical Christians only for political purposes as per the Rove playbook. A true Christian doesn't authorize torture or believe in preemptive war.

Palin's understanding of foreign policy couldn't be worse than Bush. Bush just did what he was told by Cheney, the American Enterprise Institute and the fifth column Zionists led by Elliott Abrams. Abrams may write a book on how gullable Bush was after he leaves office. Why not? Bush can't help Israel anymore and Abrams could use the money. Bush was no value-added in foreign policy except as a puppet.

Hopefully Bush was a U.S. low point. He lowered the bar to the level that anyone would look better .