Sunday, September 28, 2008

Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton's mosque

Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton's mosque: "DAYTON — Baboucarr Njie was preparing for his prayer session Friday night, Sept. 26, when he heard children in the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton coughing. Soon, Njie himself was overcome with fits of coughing and, like the rest of those in the building, headed for the doors.

'I would stay outside for a minute, then go back in, there were a lot of kids,' Njie said. 'My throat is still itchy, I need to get some milk.'

Njie was one of several affected when a suspected chemical irritant was sprayed into the mosque at 26 Josie St., bringing Dayton police, fire and hazardous material personnel to the building at 9:48 p.m."

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Being aware in the present moment

I spent a lot of time trying to employ the principles layed out in Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are in hopes of handling a stressful period in my life in a more productive way. It was very effective and I continue to strive to be aware in my daily life.

That is until this shit started raining down like a fucking deluge. I would like to go back to the world inside my head. It's much more pleasant there.thanks.

Monday, September 22, 2008

God I love DailyKos

So for those of you trying to understand how this happened, their is a brilliant post walking though the history on DailyKos. Here are the numbers. Tell me the bastards haven't known far ages this shit was going to explode and make everyone really really smelly.

How big did this market become? Here's business correspondent Bob Moon and host Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media's Marketplace from back in the spring.

BOB MOON: OK, I'm about to unload some numbers on you here, so I'll speak slowly so you can follow this.

The value of the entire U.S. Treasuries market: $4.5 trillion.

The value of the entire mortgage market: $7 trillion.

The size of the U.S. stock market: $22 trillion.

OK, you ready?

The size of the credit default swap market last year: $45 trillion.

KAI RYSSDAL: That's a lot of money, Bob.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Thievery explained

"Paulson, Bernanke, and Congress are conspiring to make the US taxpayer the fall guy for financial stupidity by banks and brokers. Congress is now willing to ram through legislation at the last moment, even though Senate Majority Leader Reid Says 'No One Knows What to Do'.

Please consider Paulson, Bernanke Push New Proposal to Cleanse Balance Sheets (at taxpayer expense)."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke proposed moving troubled assets from the balance sheets of American financial companies into a new institution.


Options under consideration include establishing an $800 billion fund to purchase so-called failed assets and a separate $400 billion pool at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to insure investors in money-market funds, said two people briefed by congressional staff who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans may change.
Mish's Comment: I too would want to be anonymous for forever and a day if I was sponsoring a $1.2 trillion bailout of US corporations at taxpayer expense.
Another possibility is using Fannie and Freddie, the federally chartered mortgage-finance companies seized by the government last week, to buy assets, one of the people said.

"We will try to put a bill together and do it fairly quickly," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said after the meeting. "We are not in a position to give you any specifics right now" on the proposals, he said when asked about the potential cost.
Mish's Comment: Now there's "good thinking"! There is no time to act, so let's act quickly by passing a $1.2 trillion bailout quick enough so Congressional recess can happen on schedule.

Regardless of your party affiliation, and with the exception of Ron Paul, I urge everyone to vote against the incumbent in every race.

Professor Bennet Sedacca
The Pain Trade

The Federal Government just declared war on short sellers.
Will it help the real economy? No sir.
Will it help the value of my house? Nope.
Will it blow up hedge funds? Yep.
Is it a selling opportunity? You betcha.
Will the rally last ? No.
Will earnings increase? Actually I think they will fall.

My conclusion? The pain trade, after this burst, is a crash in October. Yes, a crash. I am not talking my book as my firm is delta neutral.

What makes me ill is that folks in the media are the mouth pieces of irresponsible Government officials.

I am sick to my stomach watching Socialism take over. And with that, I head to the Ryder Cup.

They say Village Idiots, I say Crooks who should be shot

Don't let them tell you this economic meltdown is a complicated mess. It's not. Our national financial crisis is readily understood by anyone who has seen greed and hypocrisy. But we are now witnessing them on a profound, monumental scale.

Conservative Republicans always want the government to stay out of business and avoid regulation as long as they are making lots of money. When their greed, however, gets them into a fix, they are the first to cry out for rules and laws and taxpayer money to bail out their businesses. Obviously, Republicans are socialists. The Bush administration has decided to socialize the debt of the big Wall Street Firms. Taxpayers didn't get to enjoy any of the big money profits on the phony financial instruments like derivatives or bundled sub-prime paper, but we get the privilege of paying for their debt and failures.

Let's just consider the money. The public bailout of insurance giant (becoming a dwarf) AIG is estimated at $85 billion. According to one report, that's more than the Bush administration spent on Aid to Families with Dependent Children during his entire time in office. That amount of money would also pay for health care for every man, woman, and child in America for at least six months.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

a couch and its meaning in life


So I had notions of a time in my life where I would have a great job, a great apartment and I would get to create my own space in the world. Well in January 2007, I got the job and a loft apartment with 18 ft windows, dry cleaning, gym and 24 hr front desk coverage. Now here it is September 2008 and it looks like I have to sell my awesome couch to people who will not appreciate it because the notion was not what made me happy. I would like to think of this as a learning experience. A relatively painless way to discover that what makes a person happy can be far different than that person might have envisioned. Instead, I sit here staring at the couch deeply confused as to what the next notion/vision is supposed to be. I spent a lot of time getting to that apartment. Now I am supposed to create a new vision with no confidence that a new vision won't result in a similar result? Life is a pain in my ass. And Oprah doesn't know the goddamn answer either. That is all

We are so fucked

Now, I have been predicting this economic collapse along with others for awhile, but I am completely flabbergasted with the absolute lack of sanity and that is going along with it. These people are nuts. Oh and so much for their free market principles. assholes.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

3 Hours a FCUKING day?

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong:

"Somehow I Think I Knew This Already...

From Gordon's Notes:

Exercise cannot control obesity gene associated weight gain: The title on this SciAm summary is silly...

Do I look fat in these genes? Exercise can cancel out effects of 'heavy-weight' DNA: Scientific American Blog: ... Physically active people who carry gene mutations linked to obesity are no more likely to be overweight than those without the variants -- as long as they exercise at least three hours a day...

Exercising 3+ hours a day is not compatible with life in a post-industrial world. If these results turned out be generalizable to a reasonable portion of the obese population (big if), then we'd know that exercise won't control our expanding (sorry) obesity problem. We already know diet doesn't work, so here's hoping for great drugs ...

Either that, or we get rid of our cars ..."