Madiba

Dignity!

Iraq War

"When the Romans built a bridge, the architect would have to stand under it when the scaffolding was removed. If he did his work badly, the bridge fell down and he was killed.

We'd like to see some feet poking out of the rubble of the Iraq War. Is that too much to ask? Rumsfeld. Bush. Cheney. And all the jackasses in Congress who went along with it. Of course. But how about these war criminals too:

Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Scooter Libby, John Bolton, Eliot Abrams, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, William Kristol, Frank Gaffney Jr. They said our troops would be "greeted like liberators." They claimed the war would "pay for itself" with Iraqi oil.

And let's not forget Thomas L. Friedman. He said an invasion of Iraq would be one of the great "revolutionizing" events of history... and that American GIs weren't really fighting men, but were "nurturing" a great new democracy.

Surely there is some corner of Hell, dark and hot, reserved for these intellectual miscreants. The sooner they get there the safer we will all be." - Bill Bonner

Uh-oh V

"... Look at the U.S. banking system. Look how much capital is deposited in U.S. banks versus the actual reserves at these banks.

Bank of America, for example, holds $1.1 trillion in deposits. Against that, it holds $457 billion in liquid assets – a $643 billion shortfall. Withdrawal requests are instantaneous… It would take the bank much longer to actually sell those assets in order to meet withdrawals. And should that situation occur, the value of the assets it's liquidating would be impaired.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is the entity responsible for insuring bank deposits. But it doesn't have any money. The whole thing is a mirage… The power of the printing press is the only thing standing behind this insurance."

Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic

"Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company."

Turnaround Artist :-)

Surprise: we are living in the most peaceful times in human history

"The world we live in is, first of all, at peace — profoundly at peace. The richest countries of the world are not in geopolitical competition with one another, fighting wars, proxy wars, or even engaging in arms races or “cold wars.” This is a historical rarity. You would have to go back hundreds of years to find a similar period of great power peace. I know that you watch a bomb going off in Afghanistan or hear of a terror plot in this country and think we live in dangerous times. But here is the data. The number of people who have died as a result of war, civil war, and, yes, terrorism, is down 50 percent this decade from the 1990s. It is down 75 percent from the preceding five decades, the decades of the Cold War, and it is, of course, down 99 percent from the decade before that, which is World War II. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says that we are living in the most peaceful times in human history." Fareed Zakaria

An Old Russian Joke

A wife is sitting near her dying husband. "Masha, do you remember how I was fired and couldn't find a job for 3 years? You stayed with me then." "Yes, darling, I remember." "Masha, do you remember how I was drunk and got my car smashed up in an accident? You were visiting me in the hospital for 5 years." "Yes, honey, I remember." "And now when I'm dying you are sitting here with me." "(Crying) Yes, my treasure!" "Masha, I'm starting to believe you bring me bad luck..."

"Sex Strike" in Colombia

From Agora Financial's 5 Min. Forecast

"... from Colombia, we see that a “sex strike” has achieved its objectives: The government has agreed to pave a road.

The “strike of crossed legs” began in late June, with 300 women in Barbacoa refusing their husbands sex until the road connecting the remote town to the rest of the country was paved:

Now that’s a protest…

The town of 40,000 is linked to the outside world via a treacherous mountain road stretching 35 miles to the nearest town. Even in the best of times, the trip took four to six hours. But after heavy rains and landslides in the last year, it’s more like 10-12.

Under pressure from the town’s deprived men, the National Roads Institute has given in: Construction is set to begin Oct. 11.

And just to make sure the government keeps its word, the strike is set to continue until then: “The Barbacoan community,” says a statement from the women, “is aware that there have always been many promises made here that have never been kept.”

Tough crowd…"

Uh-Oh IV

From September 2011 issue of Currency Capitalist:

Wrong Again, Economists

"Every month the Wall Street Journal publishes a survey of economists. In January, the headline read 'Economists Optimistic On Growth.'

At the time economists were optimistic. They expected the U.S. economy to grow by a respectable 3.3% in the second quarter.

But they were wrong. The U.S. GDP came in at 1.3% for the second quarter, less than half that. And this is just the initial estimate that will be revised later.

Export figures for the second quarter were recently revised lower. Since exports play a key role in GDP growth, this revision in exports will result in a lower GDP number for the second quarter.

So when the revised second quarter GDP numbers come out in late August (after we go to press), I expect to see another pathetic number.

The GDP number for the first quarter was already revised down from 1.9% to an anemic 0.4%. That’s a huge revision. If the second quarter suffers a revision of the same magnitude, we will dip into negative growth.

Again, these economists are looking at the same data that I am, but they’re still optimistic. In fact, as recent as three months ago, economists still expected the U.S. economy to grow by more than 3% this year.

Economists at Goldman Sachs still maintain to this day that the chance of another recession is only 33% in the next nine months.

Unfortunately, history doesn’t agree.

Right now, our year-over-year GDP growth stands at a very concerning 1.6%. If you go back all the way to 1950, you’ll see that every time our GDP growth dropped below 2%, our economy was either already in a recession…or we fell into one within a year.

In other words, history is already predicting another recession. Just nobody wants to come out and say it. "

Uh-Oh III

Video Link

Blame politicians or ourselves?

"Very seldom are people willing to blame themselves for the problems they create. They always want to blame someone else: the Chinese, Republicans, Democrats. It’s a natural, normal human response, but blaming someone else does not solve the problem.

...

We can blame politicians a little bit, but the bulk of the blame lies with the American people. That was kind of an epiphany for me. During the 1980s, I would occasionally have lunch with Senator Jesse Helms from North Carolina. He knew that I was highly critical of agricultural subsidies, handouts to farmers.

Something Jesse Helms told me at one of our luncheons made me realize some things I had not realized until then. He said, “Walter, I agree with you 100% that these farm subsidies ought to be eliminated.” But then he asked, “Can you tell me how I can remain the senator from North Carolina and vote against them? If I do what you say, I would be voted out of office.”

Applying his observation today, we can note that the biggest expenditures by the federal government are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and prescription drugs. Along with other entitlements, these expenditures amount to almost 60% of the federal budget. The beneficiaries of these programs vote in large numbers. Politicians who talk about cutting these programs are going to run into trouble. We have to get the American people, as much as politicians, to respect the Constitution.

...

Keep in mind something that Richard Nixon said to John Ehrlichman, who warned that Milton Friedman, an economist and Nobel laureate, advised against the policy Nixon was pursuing. Nixon’s response was, “Milton Friedman is not running for reelection.” These people in Washington have commitments and responsibilities that I don’t have. I don’t owe anybody anything, so I can be perfectly honest. When you are trying to get reelected, or appointed to a high-level position, or hoping to have a high-paying job when you leave government, you just can’t say the sort of things I am free to say.

...

We have to ask ourselves, “Are the American people any different than the Romans, the British, the French? Are they different from Spain or Portugal?” These were all once great empires that went down the tubes for bread and circuses, for huge spending. There is every indication that Americans will go the same way."

-- Walter Williams in the Casey Report

Life

The Status of Debt-Reduction Talks So Far

Collaboration

iPhone Controlled Cannon Tosses Beer From the Fridge

from Casey Research:

"At the end of the day, folks, we need a break. So is it too much to ask that we not have to trudge all the way to the refrigerator in the kitchen, in order to reward ourselves with the adult beverage of our choice?

Thought not.

Luckily, there are clever hackers out there who have been pondering the same question, and Carnegie Mellon grad student Ryan Rusnak, surely suffering as we have, arrived at an ingenious solution. He married an iPhone to a retrofitted dorm fridge, added a few off-the-shelf parts and… drum roll, please… came up with something we always knew we needed. A beer cannon.

That’s right, you simply touch your phone screen to select the brand of brew you want at that moment (works with soft drinks and iced tea, too, of course), then press the Fire! button, and the cannon will shoot an ice cold can across the room and right into your hands.

Best of all, basic directions for building your own cannon – which’ll set you back about $400, a small price to pay for this kind of convenience, in our opinion – are posted here, and the app to operate it can be downloaded from the iTunes store for free."

HA! II

HA!

A Union Army Soldier's Letter to his Wife

Sullivan Ballou, a 32-year-old soldier in the Union Army, to his 24-year-old wife:

"July 14, 1861
Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more ...

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grow to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me -- perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness. ...

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and fit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights ... always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again ... "

Ballou was killed a week later in the first battle of Bull Run.

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed | Video on TED.com

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed | Video on TED.com

Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon | Video on TED.com

Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon | Video on TED.com