One of the things that makes a town wonderful is a great local newspaper. Hohenwald, Tennessee (of financial permaculture fame) has the Lewis County Herald, which is the finest local newspaper I have found. I became a subscriber this summer, so this is my first Christmas reading the Lewis County Herald.
I just got the Christmas edition in the mail: it dedicated seventeen pages to “Letters to Santa” written by children in the local area. Now that is a WOW on the Popsicle Index scale!
The housing and derivatives bubble sure was good for retired Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and wife NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell. They just turned up in the University of Pennsylvania’s latest list of donors for $5 million or more.
If you want to understand how the money works at your alma mater, just ask them for the last three years of tax returns and annual reports. You may be surprised at what you learn about who depends on bubble blowers.
by James Bowen, National Chairperson of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/848045.html
In the late 19th century, changes in Ottoman law created a new class of large landholders, including the Sursuq family from Beirut, which acquired large tracts in northern Palestine. A similar situation had long existed in Ireland, where most land was controlled by absentee landlords, many of whom lived in Britain.
The 1880s, however, initiated dynamics that led the two lands in different directions. In 1882, the first Zionist immigrants arrived in Palestine, starting a process that subsequently led to the eviction of indigenous tenant farmers, when magnates like the Sursuqs pulled the land from under their feet, selling it to the Jewish National Fund.
In contrast, in 1880, Irish tenant farmers started a process that turned them into owner-occupiers. A former British army officer played a role in this drama, which introduced his name as a new word into many languages.
Forty years ago, America’s cultural icons expressed the frustratation of the American people with the failure of then-President Lyndon Johnson to end this country’s undeclared war in Vietnam by boldly demanding peace.
The most respected newsman in the nation, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, explained to a national television audience after the Tet Offensive that the war had gone horribly awry.
Singer Johnny Cash, whose music and style had made him a hero of blue-collar Americans, described himself as “a dove with claws” and began singing the anti-war song “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream.”
The Smothers Brothers variety show was censored when it attempted to air a segment featuring Harry Belafonte singing in front of images of student protesters clashing with the police. CBS executives reportedly feared that the implicit anti-war message would offend President Johnson and his aides.
But the most direct and powerful anti-war statement of the period was delived by singer Eartha Kitt, then at the height of her celebrity.
Read the complete article here:
Eartha Kitt: An Anti-War Patriot
The Nation (21 Dec 2008)
Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt
In the summer of 2000, I asked a group of 100 people at a conference of spiritually committed people who would push a red button if it would immediately stop all narcotics trafficking in their neighborhood, city, state and country. Out of 100 people, 99 said they would not push such red button. When surveyed, they said they did not want their mutual funds to go down if the U.S. financial system suddenly stopped attracting an estimated $500 billion-$1 trillion a year in global money laundering. They did not want their government checks jeopardized or their taxes raised because of resulting problems financing the federal government deficit.
Our financial profiteering and complicity is not limited to aristocrats and the elites who do their bidding. Our financial dependency on unsustainable economics is broad, ingrained and deep.
IMF Agrees $2.5bn For Belarus
Telegraph.co.uk (01 Jan 2009)
Japan’s Bonds May Post First Loss Since 2003 as Debt Sales Rise
Bloomberg (02 Jan 2009)
Money Flows Out Of Hedge Funds At Record Rate
Financial Times (31 Dec 2008)
Oil Falls To $37 And Down More Than 60 Percent In 2008
Reuters (31 Dec 2008)
Treasury Has Pledged More Rescue Funds Than Authorized
The Wall Street Journal (31 Dec 2008)
Government Sanctioned Theft
GoldSeek (30 Dec 2008)
Fed Pushes On With Mortgage Bond Plan
Financial Times (30 Dec 2008)
U.S. Corporate Profits Probably Fell for Sixth-Straight Quarter
Bloomberg (30 Dec 2008)
Russia Braced for Unrest
Financial Times (30 Dec 2008)
Oligarchs Go Cap In Hand To The Kremlin As Their Vast Empires Begin To Crumble
Times Online (23 Dec 2008)
Global Economy To Shrink For First Time Since The Second World War
Telegraph.co.uk (27 Dec 2008)
Goldman Disputes Tax-dodging Charge
Financial Week (23 Dec 2008)
Cash-Strapped States Weigh Selling Roads, Parks
Yahoo News (27 Dec 2008)
Dollar Falls on Concern Middle East Conflict May Cut Oil Supply
Bloomberg (29 Dec 2008)
European Central Bank Rebels Defy the Bundesbank
The Telegraph (16 Dec 2008)
Bankruptcies, Store Closings Loom at U.S. Retailers Amid Holiday Debacle
Bloomberg (29 Dec 2008)
Alternative Currencies Grow in Popularity
Time (Dec 14 2008)
Russia, China Call for Trade in More Currencies
Reuters (28 Oct 2008)
Banks Report $6 Billion in Q3 Trading Revenue
Reuters (29 Dec 2008)
Russia-Ukraine Gas Row Heats Up
News.bbc.co.uk (31 Dec 2008)
Bush Signs Pension Relief Bill Into Law
Reuters (30 Dec 2008)
Pakistan Moves Troops To Indian Border
Financial Times (30 Dec 2008)
IDF Mobilizes Tanks, Reinforces Troops Along Gaza Border
HAARETZ.com (30 Dec 2008)
City Council Insists CALPERS Practice Ethical Investment
MercuryNews (17 Dec 2008
Israel Considers Ground Attack as it Mobilizes More Troops
Truthout (29 Dec 2008)
U.N. Official Calls Israel ‘Apartheid’
Real News (13 Dec 2008)
TV News Winds Down Operations on Iraq War
NY Times (28 Dec 2008)
Patton was Assassinated Claims New Book
The Telegraph (21 Dec 2008)
Rail Takes Back Seat as States Target Obama Stimulus for Roads
Bloomberg (24 Dec 2008)
Recession Opens U.S. - China Rift
Bloomberg (29 Dec 2008)
U.S. Police Could Get ‘Pain Beam’ Weapons
New Scientist (24 Dec 2008)
U.S. Military Troops and Bases Around the World
Global Policy Forum
Chinese Drywall Causes Problems on Florida’s Treasure Coast
TCPalm.com (24 Dec 2008)
How We Went From $42,000 To $6,500 And Lived To Tell About It!
CountrySide (31 Dec 2008)
Gallup: Americans See Religious Influence Waning
USA Today (29 Dec 2008)
Helen Fisher: The Science of Love, and The Future of Women
TED.com (Sept 2006)
Long Tail Theory Contradicted as Study Reveals 10M Digital Music Tracks Unsold
The Times (22 Dec 2008)
City Chicken: Get Ready For The Rural Revolution
Cleveland Scene (21 Dec 2008)
Kate and Gin
YouTube
Putting Madoff in Perspective
These days I am wondering if Madoff’s biggest problem is that he stole from the rich. Feels to me like when you steal from ordinary people, particularly when it makes the rich much richer, it is called “policy” rather than “ponzi.”
For example, let’s review actions of the NY Fed and its member banks, such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citibank. The NY Fed serves as the depository for the US government. The US government has refused to comply with the laws regarding financial management and is missing over $4 trillion (or $14,000 per American.) Whatever money is missing would have to leave through the accounts managed by the government’s depository.
Continue reading ‘Putting Madoff in Perspective’