tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52357118235845645442024-02-19T07:16:23.237-08:00Fine Smelling PressFinancial and political news
Email: finesmellingpress@gmail.comJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-82278062777240402382013-06-24T00:44:00.000-07:002013-06-24T00:44:21.068-07:00For the carnivores on Wall Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-34013531851096384912012-12-12T12:38:00.000-08:002012-12-12T12:38:12.518-08:00Freeze, this is a bail-out!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-86460867496226798032012-12-12T12:36:00.000-08:002012-12-12T12:36:16.906-08:00Too Big To Jail<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">"Over the last year, federal investigators found that one of the world's largest banks, HSBC, spent years committing serious crimes, involving money laundering for terrorists; 'facilitat[ing] money laundering by Mexican drug cartels"; and "mov[ing] tainted money for Saudi banks tied to terrorist groups". Those investigations uncovered substantial evidence "that senior bank officials were complicit in the illegal activity." As but one example, "an HSBC executive at one point argued that the bank should continue working with the Saudi Al Rajhi bank, which has supported Al Qaeda.'</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Needless to say, these are the kinds of crimes for which ordinary and powerless people are prosecuted and imprisoned with the greatest aggression possible. If you're Muslim and your conduct gets anywhere near helping a terrorist group, even by accident, you're going to prison for a long, long time. In fact, powerless, obscure, low-level employees are routinely sentenced to long prison terms for engaging in relatively petty money laundering schemes, unrelated to terrorism, and on a scale that is a tiny fraction of what HSBC and its senior officials are alleged to have done.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">But not HSBC. On Tuesday, not only did the US Justice Department announce that HSBC would not be criminally prosecuted, but outright claimed that the reason is that they are too important, too instrumental to subject them to such disruptions. In other words, shielding them from the system of criminal sanction to which the rest of us are subject is not for their good, but for our common good. We should not be angry, but grateful, for the extraordinary gift bestowed on the global banking giant. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">That's not merely a dark day for the rule of law. It's a wholesale repudiation of it. The US government is expressly saying that banking giants reside outside of - above - the rule of law, that they will not be punished when they get caught red-handed committing criminal offenses for which ordinary people are imprisoned for decades.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">As the Guardian's Nils Pratley noted, "the sum represents about four weeks' earnings given the bank's pre-tax profits of $21.9bn last year." Unsurprisingly, "the steady upward progress of HSBC's share price since the scandal exploded in July was unaffected on Tuesday morning."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">By coincidence, on the very same day that the DOJ announced that HSBC would not be indicted for its multiple money-laundering felonies, the New York Times published a story featuring the harrowing story of an African-American single mother of three who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 27 for a minor drug offense.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">As the NYT notes - and read her whole story to get the full flavor of it - this is commonplace for the poor and for minorities in the US justice system. Contrast that deeply oppressive, merciless punishment system with the full-scale immunity bestowed on HSBC - along with virtually every powerful and rich lawbreaking faction in America over the last decade - and that is the living, breathing two-tiered US justice system. How this glaringly disparate, and explicitly status-based, treatment under the criminal law does not produce serious social unrest is mystifying."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">More here: </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://m.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/hsbc-prosecution-fine-money-laundering">http://m.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/hsbc-prosecution-fine-money-laundering</a></span></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-37693900736521676172012-05-18T10:35:00.004-07:002012-05-18T10:36:47.982-07:00Capitalism on the brink: Moody's downgrades 16 Spanish banks<br />
NEW YORK | Fri May 18, 2012 4:40am EDT<br />
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(Reuters) - Moody's Investor Service carried out a sweeping downgrade of 16 Spanish banks on Thursday, including Banco Santander, the euro zone's largest bank, citing a weak economy and the government's reduced ability to support troubled lenders.<br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/us-moodys-spain-banks-idUSBRE84G1GC20120518">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/us-moodys-spain-banks-idUSBRE84G1GC20120518</a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-38514769103715029172012-04-20T17:45:00.000-07:002012-05-18T10:47:48.967-07:00James Cameron: Man, Machine and Beyondby Salamander Fantômas and Eerie Crevice<br />
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It was a hundred years ago today that Muslim extremists steered the Titanic into an iceberg, thus ending the Belle Époque and setting into motion the gears that would drive gear-maker Gavrilo Princip mad and cause him to start shooting at Archdukes, which set into motion the bullet which set into motion The Great War, which set into motion Dada and Surrealism. So it is that André Breton owes a debt to James Cameron, without whose films there would be no war. It's simple Terminator logic.<br />
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Today, the world is rapidly approaching an important crossroads. On the one hand, Hollywood prostitution is at an all time high. On the other, politicians are running out of high quality cheese imported from Tobago.<br />
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What the world needs now more than ever is James Cameron in space. In recent news, Cameron, after several successful missions to Planet X, hinted at fronting a space mining company to outer space. Imagine Hollywood's mogul importing rocks and other valuables from his home planet, Neptune.. It could very well lead to many new advances in space and medicine, but of course the most important thing to remember is that Hollywood is quickly running out of interesting story lines. In an age of scarcity and over-population, it seems that movie-making is always the first to go and we urgently need to fill that void today.<br />
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So in that vein we offer these creative possibilities that might inspire some hope.<br />
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<li style="text-align: left;"><i>James Cameron</i> starring James Cameron, written and directed by James Cameron</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">"<i>James Cameron, You better not leave the door open to that spacecraft dear, says his wife"</i></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><i>Earth Self-destructs, Mars Explodes, Have a Coke and a Smile</i> (15 minute infomercial)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">James Cameron as Shrek in the new action thriller, Shrek Gets an Electric Poodle (Cameron frees the children but ultimately must kill them in order to save them from themselves.)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><i>James Cameron and Beyonce - All Up In These Stars, the floppy hip hop musical</i></li>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCaZe-GG0_8/T5H_HRtHskI/AAAAAAAAAIA/HPU3M4y84-Q/s1600/James-Cameron-avatarized-stages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCaZe-GG0_8/T5H_HRtHskI/AAAAAAAAAIA/HPU3M4y84-Q/s400/James-Cameron-avatarized-stages.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Avatar II: First Blood</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2009/12/james-cameron-closet-feminist/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_blogpost/cn_float_container/cn_image_0.size.neytiri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2009/12/james-cameron-closet-feminist/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_blogpost/cn_float_container/cn_image_0.size.neytiri.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Avatar: Wallstreet III</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8HllzekB8RI/T5IGcsYX4II/AAAAAAAAAIY/feVPXAGweIU/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8HllzekB8RI/T5IGcsYX4II/AAAAAAAAAIY/feVPXAGweIU/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8HllzekB8RI/T5IGcsYX4II/AAAAAAAAAIY/feVPXAGweIU/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8HllzekB8RI/T5IGcsYX4II/AAAAAAAAAIY/feVPXAGweIU/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8HllzekB8RI/T5IGcsYX4II/AAAAAAAAAIY/feVPXAGweIU/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xMnbvOSUoLM/T5IGTKzpWvI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/BvmDadsFHjw/s1600/James-Cameron-Shrekified.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xMnbvOSUoLM/T5IGTKzpWvI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/BvmDadsFHjw/s320/James-Cameron-Shrekified.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iFeDYYSpedo/T5IOnm1iOqI/AAAAAAAAAIg/HJvLIP7DhnM/s1600/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iFeDYYSpedo/T5IOnm1iOqI/AAAAAAAAAIg/HJvLIP7DhnM/s320/James-Cameron-Lady-GaGa-ized.jpeg" width="240" /></a>James Cameron as Shrek</div>
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James Cameron-Lady Gaga clone</div>
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(Artist Renderings - click for larger images)</div>
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<br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-12390191539417756502012-04-20T15:59:00.000-07:002012-04-20T16:00:37.356-07:0010 Signs The Economy Is Improving<a href="http://thesuiteworld.com/blog/ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2012/">The outlook is somewhat grim for these 10 companies</a><a href="http://thesuiteworld.com/blog/ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2012/"></a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-17697251183825147062012-01-08T19:07:00.001-08:002012-01-08T19:09:48.652-08:00Anti-BP Protesters Make Cameo Appearance in Pro-BP AdAnti-BP Protesters Make Cameo Appearance in Pro-BP Ad<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hoOfIR4Vk1o<br /><br />It might be lesson one of putting together any ad spot: scrub away anything that might make your company look bad. Especially if your company already looks bad.<br /><br />But in its latest ad, which promotes the company’s continuing cleanup efforts after the Gulf Coast oil spill, BP apparently missed the shot that shows a group of anti-BP protesters picketing against the oil company.<br /><br />(PHOTOS: The Oil Spill Zone, One Year Later)<br /><br />The BP ad marks the company’s first presence on the airwaves since late 2010. The 60-second spot, airing nationally since December 26th, touts the company’s “ongoing commitment” to cleaning up the spill. But amid the gorgeous sunsets and wildlife images, the ad accidentally draws attention to a group of people expressing a complete opposite opinion. As BP’s External Relations Manager Iris Cross enthusiastically explains that many Gulf towns are having their “best tourism season in years,” the camera pans over the packed 40th Annual National Shrimp Festival, held each year in Gulf Shores, Ala.<br /><br /><br />COURTESY ALABAMASHRIMPFESTIVAL.COM<br />Protesters picket on the beach near the Annual National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala. held from Oct. 13-16, 2011.<br />And in the back of the shot, barely visible on the beach, is a throng of protesters. They make a two-second cameo, hardly visible in the wide-angle shot, but close-up pictures posted after the ad aired prove that the ant-sized figures (seen in the above video from 0:47-0:49) were indeed the Alabama Oil Spill Aftermath Coalition, who set up a tent and brought their banners to the Shrimp Festival to protest that not enough had been done to clean up the spill.<br /><br />Naturally, when they saw cameras filming, they tried to insert themselves into the shot. “I, like the rest of the protestors, assumed they were media filming the crowds at the festival,” protest organizer Michele Harmon told the Houston Chronicle‘s FuelFix blog. BP has not yet commented nor has it changed or pulled the ad. Considering the hundreds of millions spent by BP on post-spill PR, this tiny slip-up is one rather large oversight.<br /><br />WATCH: Lingering Worries About Health and Seafood in Louisiana<br /><br />Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/07/anti-bp-protesters-make-cameo-appearance-in-pro-bp-ad/#ixzz1ivWUuQo5Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-55311065359972838982011-11-23T10:26:00.000-08:002011-11-23T11:31:50.099-08:00More cracks in the ice<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sTxDCROEF9s/Ts1JjNZSyjI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/EApLN31w3g8/s1600/cracksinice.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 550px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sTxDCROEF9s/Ts1JjNZSyjI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/EApLN31w3g8/s400/cracksinice.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678275574424062514" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br /></u></span></div>Greece and Italian presidents step down while new governments are organized, the Eurozone looks to separate itself from other European countries, Germany positions itself as financial leader, today bank shutdowns are happening in Latvia and Lithuania. Are we seeing more cracks in an already thinning veneer of ice which separates the global economy from the inevitable: collapse? Meanwhile, as the MF Global scam reveals itself, JP Morgan is <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1283817/JPMorgan-hit-record-33m-fine.html">slapped</a> with the biggest fine ever.<div><br /><div>Hedge fund broker Ann Barnhardt, after shutting down her own firm BCM, says: </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">“I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not,” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> "...I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br /></span></div>The derivatives market is valued at 1.2 quadrillion dollars. Putting that number in perspective, betelgeuse, the red giant star that is unimaginably larger than our sun, is 4 quadrillion miles away and appears in the night sky barely as a speck of starlight. The GDP of the US is 14 trillion dollars, its entire money supply is 15 trillion dollars,, while entire world GDP is 50 trillion. Does that sound over-inflated? Do pigs with dollar signs have wings?<br /><br />In other news...<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Last week Lithuania’s fifth largest bank, Snoras, was nationalised as Lithuanian authorities shut down the bank after it observed irregularities in the bank’s operations. This morning the Latvian authorities suspended the Latvijas Krajbanka (Latvian Savings Bank). Krajbanka is Latvia’s ninth largest bank.<br /><br />We think the systemic risk from these events should be relatively limited if handled properly by the authorities. That said, the collapse of especially Snoras is not good news for the Lithuanian economy as it creates uncertainty about the economic outlook. In our view it is especially important that the nationalisation of Snoras is handled in such a way as to put minimal pressure on Lithuanian public finances that are in a precarious state as it is. A full nationalisation of Snoras in the sense of taking over all liabilities would be unwarranted.<br /><br />Yesterday Lithuanian Prime Minister Kubilis said that the problems at Snoras might involve “shady financial transactions” (according to the news agency Reuters) and the case was more “complicated” than initially thought. Lithuanian central bank governor Vasiliauskas at a news conference said that “we thought it was a flu, but now it seems to be a small cancer”. These comments obviously give some reason for concern.<br />So far the market reaction in the local markets has been limited. Not surprisingly the share price of some of the small locally-owned banks in Lithuania has been under pressure. This morning there is also a bit of pressure on the Latvian lat and local rates and yields are up a bit.<br /><br />Furthermore, last week when the news of Snoras’ collapse broke we saw an initial minor negative reaction in the Swedish krona, but since then there has not been any visible spillover to the Scandinavian FX and fixed income markets, where the euro debt crisis continues to dominate.</span><a href="http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/flash-comment/2011/11/22/">http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/flash-comment/2011/11/22/</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">According to Snoras, the bank is Lithuania’s fourth-largest by capital size and ranks fifth in terms of assets. The exact causes behind Snoras’s financial difficulties have not been made clear. The idea of a bank-run causes shivers in Latvia. In November 2008, it nationalized Parex, the Baltic state’s largest locally-owned bank, after depositors jittery about the country’s deepening economic crisis began withdrawing their cash. A month later, Latvia was forced to turn the EU and International Monetary Fund for a 7.5-billion-euro emergency loan package, which has been paid out in tranches amid one of the most draconian austerity drives in Europe. Latvia’s economy shrank by 18 percent in 2009, the deepest recession in the 27-nation EU, but has been recovering for a year. </span>-<a href="http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5549266">Lativa Limits Bank Withdrawals On Lithuania Spillover Fears</a></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-12190546367598594202011-11-22T13:10:00.001-08:002011-11-22T13:18:40.458-08:00Here's mud in your eye<a href="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv1wltpx501qala51o1_500.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv1wltpx501qala51o1_500.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Officer Lt. Pike merely wishes to maintain the status quo</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 28px; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/11/22/an-internet-meme-lt-pikes-rampage-continues-unabated">An Internet Meme: Lt. Pike’s Rampage Continues Unabated</a></span></h2></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-78319978149262005532011-11-11T13:15:00.001-08:002011-11-11T13:28:45.904-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDUVjUtRpY4/Tr2TaMk1sJI/AAAAAAAAAGo/SgJfb_jlyXQ/s1600/newyear.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 124px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDUVjUtRpY4/Tr2TaMk1sJI/AAAAAAAAAGo/SgJfb_jlyXQ/s400/newyear.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673853183818313874" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yMafyZaTFrs/Tr2QkwtnG2I/AAAAAAAAAGc/zrPOMMMyMHc/s1600/newyear.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmYnWSCzdDQ/Tr2QettiJYI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/n5Mi3v8ck28/s1600/newyear.jpg"><br /></a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-64348453762965038712011-11-04T13:14:00.000-07:002011-11-04T16:03:44.948-07:00Vultures take to the Squawk Box<div><span class="Apple-style-span">John Kanas is Chairman and CEO with Bank United. Oliver Sarkozy, brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, is on the board of Bank United and Managing Director of the Carlyle Group, buying troubled financial institutions around the world. When financial players toss around figures, numbers seem to enter the realm of the imaginary. Indeed, we live in a world devised around many fictions where livelihoods become statistic rather than actual tangible reality.<br /><br />While "urgent action is needed" in the global economy today, you'll not find any of the profiteers offering genuine solutions other than that of extended borrowing and further bail-outs. Those making such pleas are generally on the ground protesting while being ridiculed for expressing their opinions. And as long as the rich are still able to siphon off the lowest tiers (where wealth is created) it's business as usual, at least until the rigged game is finally revealed for what it is.<br /><br /><table class="contentpaneopen" style="text-align: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent;"></table></span></div><div>Video here: <a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000051803">http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000051803</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>What's John Kanas up to? (May 2010) <div>By Steve Cocheo, executive editor, <a href="mailto:scocheo@sbpub.com">scocheo@sbpub.com</a></div><div><br /></div></b></div><div></div><div>The former CEO of North Fork Bank and his private equity partners is converting Florida’s BankUnited, a failed S&L, into “North Fork South,” using the same aggressive tactics he used in New York.</div><div><br /></div><div>John Kanas and a group of private equity players—with help from FDIC—work to remake Florida’s failed BankUnited using the North Fork Bank playbook</div><div><br /></div><div>John Kanas isn’t one for apologies. He brings a New Yorker’s direct attitude and action to the Florida banking market. His $11.1 billion-assets BankUnited, since its recapitalization after closure, has made a very public effort to snatch up bankers from other organizations who can help the reborn savings institution build and transform its business. When told that a Florida community banker accused BankUnited of “lack of decorum,” Kanas smiles, raises his hand, and says, “Guilty.”</div><div><br /></div><div>“Look,” says Kanas. “Banking is changing. For many years the relations between bankers have been collegial, fraternal. Times are different today. Our job is go find the best possible employees we can, and put them to work managing our capital base, and turning their work into successful results. Unfortunately for some of our competitors, some of our people used to work for them. And we have been aggressive going after them.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Kanas has never been shy in this regard. He built North Fork Bancorporation into a major New York-area player and the sixteenth-largest bank in the country from a community bank in rural Long Island. He accomplished that, in part, by courting commercial lending “rainmakers.”</div><div>BankUnited actually ran ads in 2009 urging Florida bankers who wanted to enjoy their work again to fill out a coupon in the ad to resign, and come to join Kanas.</div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: left;">Continued here: <a href="http://www.ababj.com/profiles/what-s-john-kanas-up-to-may-2010.html">http://www.ababj.com/profiles/what-s-john-kanas-up-to-may-2010.html</a></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-55176673301564950662011-11-03T11:55:00.000-07:002011-11-07T09:22:54.016-08:00Politicians backlash at the thought of doing anything for a change<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family:Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:100%;" >The Prime Minister of Greece, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1320342679_0" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); ">George Papandreou</span> , was forced to retract a call for a referendum to deal with its massive looming debt crisis. It's not that the attempt would have amounted to very much, actually (aside from giving the people of Greece a chance to direct their own fate)--it's the simple thought of having to do anything at all that has troubled world leaders, and the possibility of Greece exiting the Euro Zone. The European leaders are clinging to notions of keeping the EU as one, just the same as American leaders wish to keep the "too big to fail" banks from failing. While the small local banks are allowed to fail, it is the large corporate banks at the center of the mess that are reaping the rewards and have received the lion's share of aid from the tax-payers, most of which will never be paid back.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://stuffershack.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Oro.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 440px;" alt="" border="0" /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family:Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;">Greece is at the front lines of the greater economic crisis, while the United States is not far behind (with riots, tire burning, and increased police crack-downs likely to come). But as long as the great illusion is perpetuated, things will be stretched out a little further, perhaps until sometime in 2012 or 2013. It's difficult to say for sure--it was actually a wonder the house of cards didn't fall back in 2008 (faith is obviously a very strong force). We've become complacent living in the present and recent past, confident that <a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-19/five-bummer-problems-make-societies-collapse">nothing will change</a> despite our unsustainable lifestyles.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;">From the looks of it, we can expect the Occupy Movement to stick around a little while longer, and possibly even rebound more strongly after winter, if for no other reason than <i>the dynamic must change but those at the top are in place to resist change.</i></span></span></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-27609268809788500622011-10-18T15:18:00.000-07:002011-10-18T15:33:53.125-07:00LET MY PEEPHOLE GO: A Review of Presidential Candidates, by Salamander Fantômas<div>The Occupy Wall Street movement is a despairing cry for radical change in America, the sort of change that we are reminded can only be effected through our sacrosanct two-party democracy. "Conservatism" is now the byword for “change,” and the Republican party of change is currently advertising hope weekly in an inter-party tv debate marathon. So now is a good time to review the field of presidential candidates, because before very long their names will be lost to the dust bunnies of time, and at that point no one will know who you’re talking about. Who are these people and what do they really stand for? It is time for some answers.</div><div><br /></div><div>You wouldn’t guess it by looking at her now, but <b>Michelle Bachman</b> was born without arms. Her parents naturally believed this state permanent and raised her to use her legs and feet as compensatory instruments, much after the manner of Frances O'Connor in the movie "Freaks." But to her caregivers’ astonishment, the buds of nascent limbs appeared on Michelle’s torso in her third year and within months had developed into full-size and completely functional arms. Still, Michelle has barely the upper-body strength to break a soap bubble, and she still readily reverts to her earlier training (as when one sees her at the debates absent-mindedly picking her teeth with her toenails), but nevertheless the Bachman juggernaut is in overdrive. She’s taking care of business, and you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Can we all come together? Yes, but it takes a lot of people, which was a song on an album that didn't have Randy on it.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Rick Perry</b> also has arm issues and many people assume the shingles which grace his appendages are the result of an exotic skin condition. In fact, close examination of those fleshy flaps shows them to be finely articulated with thin bones like bat wings. Even more surprising, if Rick’s wig is peeled back one will find it beneath a cluster of writhing bat heads straining to break free. It would seem that the world around Rick Perry is like the mass of rock around a cave, and these bats are wistfully clinging to the interior walls of Cavern Rick.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mitt Romney</b> is a Mormon but have no fear: he has only one wife because, face it, in the looks department he’s no Warren Jeffs.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Herman Cain</b> has the ability to see what other men cannot. The internal wiring of a refrigerator, ghosts, festering ulcers, the point of being in these debates – all the little things that escape the regular man’s perception are like glow-in-the-dark flower decals stuck to the eyeballs of the candidate who put the pizza in pizzazz, the next President of these United Things: Citizen Herman.</div><div><br /></div><div>And there are yet more candidates who could be named, given the inclination.</div><div><br /></div><div>— Salamander Fantômas</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-91808777573944875472011-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:002011-10-13T16:19:53.541-07:00Metropolitan<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Around The City</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><u>Photos by Pierre Moustache</u></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu3scW6xbULugyEhNLJJfhE87XJEZjq7c_5adwmCrq10tZAYOo7MfrFlpOGvFr3P1FutyI2885HMfj7rqVz8uXJvJcfoui-XUDNUY4DdtaDAiLb8l_Ej7ts-AL9DgwbtgxiO0pncZu_Q/s1600/COP.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 167px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu3scW6xbULugyEhNLJJfhE87XJEZjq7c_5adwmCrq10tZAYOo7MfrFlpOGvFr3P1FutyI2885HMfj7rqVz8uXJvJcfoui-XUDNUY4DdtaDAiLb8l_Ej7ts-AL9DgwbtgxiO0pncZu_Q/s200/COP.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663108387500119554" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Even a well-oiled machine needs minor </div><div style="text-align: center;">adjustments here and there. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyanQLgGh3yBp8hflY0p75uWnw-wiEg5aPF_jgMz4I9CfueRlkMg6dQymT_YXLLWPdCSmhIl5uxz_6cL7KF_r8uvobUYQyoOq_VIydZ43Xf52p3B9-muKAiVYYOHhyphenhyphenMHsUdJZKDQY-7w/s1600/police-state.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyanQLgGh3yBp8hflY0p75uWnw-wiEg5aPF_jgMz4I9CfueRlkMg6dQymT_YXLLWPdCSmhIl5uxz_6cL7KF_r8uvobUYQyoOq_VIydZ43Xf52p3B9-muKAiVYYOHhyphenhyphenMHsUdJZKDQY-7w/s200/police-state.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663108313240232818" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Police busy at work.</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-87824010639141978632011-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:002011-10-13T23:54:06.006-07:00Environment, Culture, Religion<div style="text-align: left;"><u></u></div><span><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Picture Stories Around The World</b></div></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><u>Photos by Pierre Moustache</u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcau_IAH42ff2-_2oQLSU2qC7kkA_br9oZnqY1ZsGjRakmBV22yoXApnmX05MnkiHyRLAzmHbVb_sS2M3JPAlni5XiDTXFfjPUxJiX4-TasnmPYX7shCTg7jcOO92C_a7bOA1Xx74eEw/s1600/rape+of+earth.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcau_IAH42ff2-_2oQLSU2qC7kkA_br9oZnqY1ZsGjRakmBV22yoXApnmX05MnkiHyRLAzmHbVb_sS2M3JPAlni5XiDTXFfjPUxJiX4-TasnmPYX7shCTg7jcOO92C_a7bOA1Xx74eEw/s200/rape+of+earth.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663101047400582658" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Picture of some woods in the distance.</span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D4fc8n5dR04/TpdmVOc9cmI/AAAAAAAAACg/81xg_yRXJDc/s1600/church%2B-%2Blovely%2Bride.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D4fc8n5dR04/TpdmVOc9cmI/AAAAAAAAACg/81xg_yRXJDc/s200/church%2B-%2Blovely%2Bride.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663107571284537954" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></a>Local community events take shape.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jtIZyrTkGeE/Tpdr4MGwzrI/AAAAAAAAADE/fM3QWaiD7sU/s200/walmart.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Economics is based on consumption, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">or the acquisition of thoughts for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">simple pleasures. </span></div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-6391107166716183102011-10-11T17:14:00.000-07:002011-11-07T09:29:10.215-08:00What's good for tourism?A real man is not someone that protests the rich but one who, spotting another man's Mercedes Benz, stops to think "one day I might only be so lucky". Good luck with that, young man!<br /><br />Foreigners are attracted to America because they know it is the world's number one destination for spending, consuming, and crazy casino-style gambling in the markets. To the protesters out there in the streets today who might find flaw with <i>God All-Mighty's</i> economic system: you are not a patriot; rather, you are the problem and not the solution.<br /><br />MAYOR SAYS<b> "PROTESTS BAD FOR TOURISM"</b><br /><br />With all of the activity of late on the streets in NY and elsewhere, vendors are finding it difficult to pass off cheap souvenirs and t-shirts with banal advertising slogans on them to patrons. Police are looking to clean up the streets as quickly as possible in order to remedy the sticky situation. Law-makers, doing their diligent part, are working to put together legislation that will ban all signage without logo and legal trademarks clearly displayed on them to officers of the law.<br /><br />One democratic law-maker sympathetic to the cause urged protestors to keep it simple in order to avoid confusion and trouble. For instance, he suggested displaying such friendly and uncontroversial signage as: "Get Met, It Pays" or "Have A Coke And A Smile!". It was unclear whether he was connected to either corporation.<br /><br />Supposing the Occupy Wall Street movement fails to lose steam as authorities are desperately hoping, there are still those who stand ready to profit. Whether it be the likes of Juicy Couture, the irrelevant but ever-present MTV1-4, or indeed the banks themselves is unimportant; rest assured that capital will never cease its upward flow. Ultimately, the revolution will be televised, if confiscated.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-11324202870281404502011-10-11T17:13:00.000-07:002011-10-18T16:25:29.232-07:00BOMBS ARE FOR CHILDREN<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N9m4NLTO15o/TpP8HVfVpnI/AAAAAAAAABk/TZNYPVv3acU/s1600/bomb.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 254px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N9m4NLTO15o/TpP8HVfVpnI/AAAAAAAAABk/TZNYPVv3acU/s320/bomb.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662146359492716146" /></a><br /><br /><br />Or so you might be lead to believe. [A picture of a woman named Sally working diligently at the bomb assembly plant, alongside her 3 children, Raytheon, Boeing, and G.E., putting in 16 hours each day. Bombs ensure peace, stability and the American Way of Life. It can be confusing in trying to determine who the real terrorists are sometimes, but a good indication usually is 1) the color of the skin of the individual in question 2) their occupation and how much money they make and, finally 3) the country of origin. If one is born in America one is most likely not a terrorist, however that is quickly changing (no thanks to any limp-wristed croissants on the other side of the Atlantic who be hating on freedom). Does your government support terrorism? Ours certainly doesn't! We set the standards for behavior around the world, spreading democracy ever since 1776. Just ask our friends, the Native Americans.]<div><br /></div><div><b>NO</b>: FACTORIES ARE FOR CHILDREN, BOMBS ARE FOR ADULTS</div><div><br /></div><div>Bombs are not toys. Factories with bombs for adults are not playgrounds for kids. The roofs of factories for adults should be designed so that light travels inward but adults can not readily travel outward (this is common sense), while children remain separately confined. We try to emphasize that hopes and dreams have no place in the work-place, regardless of age, other than to aid in the commoditization of desire, but this too is common sense.</div><div><br /></div><div>It may help to have the insides of non-bomb factories painted with zebras and giraffes, as long as attention is not too diverted from the work routine, however nature, being as it is-an undue nuisance at best - is to be avoided most of the time. Until we reach the final stage that toaster ovens can replicate themselves, we will be stuck carving out the world one young hand at a time. As we are quickly learning through science, opinion is just a minor inconvenience. And as one of my favorite sayings goes, if the mice are willing to play in the maze: let them eat cheese.</div><div><br /></div><div>For now, let's keep children where they belong: inside factories, away from bombs and not blowing up buildings, which is always counter-intuitive to economic growth.</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-71968146620624715392011-10-11T16:59:00.000-07:002011-10-11T16:18:10.146-07:00Mind Puzzles<span style="font-weight:bold;">WHAT</span> weighs more, a pig or<br />a <span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-weight:bold;">BANKER</span> </span>and his <span style="font-weight:bold;">MONEY</span>?<br />EASY! A banker and his money!<br />Solution: <span style="font-weight:bold;">end all money</span>!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-67364629343380658332011-10-11T16:07:00.000-07:002011-11-04T17:04:58.500-07:00Sheila's tips on beauty and lifestyleIt's a tough game out there and no one gets a second chance, so we should always look our best. Remember to be attractive and smell pleasant. Reconcile differences with parents, help find lost pets whenever possible and wave to your neighbors often. Do whatever feels best, but please, whatever you do, don't think for yourself! The last thing we need in a complacent, unquestioning society bent on SELF-DESTRUCTION are individuals with unoccupied minds diddling about aimlessly asking questions. If you are currently unemployed, you should probably be begging to be accepted to one of the many fine occupation mills called schools that are available in order to better suit yourself for service to your masters and help prop up the failing casino economy with more debt before it ultimately belly-flops into oblivion. Time is running out, so get your front row tickets today.<br /><br />I'll be sure to have more beauty and lifestyle tips in the future. Thanks for reading! - SheilaJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-10271093103321965512011-10-11T12:58:00.000-07:002011-10-13T08:49:29.171-07:00DO NOT READATTENTION: DO NOT READ THIS<br />Too late, you are now being surveiled!<br />Follow these instructions: carefully back<br />away; pretend to be tying your shoe;<div>next, bolt through the nearest available </div><div>doorway. You are now part of the revolution </div><div>whether you like it or not! </div><div><br /></div><div>Guess what? We are gaining great company </div><div>by the minute! Deloris the nanny just joined </div><div>yesterday and so did Trent the reasonable </div><div>accountant! Hey, life is still grand!</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-60581095146115801342011-10-11T02:05:00.000-07:002011-10-18T16:14:39.455-07:00Finance<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>BREAKING NEWS:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">This just in: everyone is full of crap. Yeah, and so what? Human nature is centered around the basic premise that GREED IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT, BABY! </span>Hallelujah! Tune out, go see another Hollywood film, and shut your mouth.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Now moving on along...</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Financial Sense - It starts in the Work Place</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Financial sense should dictate all action at home and in the work-place. And in every miscreant there is a good manager in training. Thankfully, we put all our trust in false idols and the cult of personality to foster cultural education and training. If one is gregarious, there are any number of groups designed to facilitate the furtherance of oppression and guilt outside of the church (separation of church and state). Go look them up! The economy is not in trouble, like many well-intending individuals would have you believe, in fact it is quite the opposite: there are many decently paid women today with staplers as heads that can not get enough clerical work. There are the elderly who are unemployed, so they offer themselves up as door-stoppers in busy office spaces, and likely are paid very well I might add. All work is meant to bore you into complacency and then, ultimately, death--a basic truth that shall not be taken for granted. But it is those who rise above that of the common employee, who, reaching the apogee of their perceived orbits, stop to ask the question: but how can I rise even higher? And the answer is always to either hire another manager or create a new rule for the work-place. When it comes to working with stubborn employees, it can be a little trying on the patience. Just how does one pull lemons from a bull, you might ask? (Answer: directly through its ass). Termination is usually a step of last resort, but if a life must be ended--<b>so be it</b>--think of it as creating more job opportunities for the unemployed and lazy classes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And that is your financial sense for today.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">A hemmorhoid ad</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zDalJAdf5TY/TpQH55Tfn7I/AAAAAAAAAB8/Z23Vf7-lmjU/s200/red_cross_x_.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662159322728079282" /></div><div><br /></div><div>"At least now I'm hemmorhoid free, unlike my fat boss who craps flames while barking orders", says customer Samantha W., while bending over to clean up the puke left over from another corporate party, complete with whores, cocaine and all night sex, who just received her walking papers after enduring a sexual assault from her superiors and a special reaming in the way of a demotion to janitorial services from senior investing consultant after a liquidation of another children's school failed to bring in sufficient profits.</div><div><br /></div><div>Get Fast Relief Now.</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-85023950670143776472011-10-11T01:50:00.000-07:002011-11-04T17:10:19.119-07:00Shout outs and big upsAnd now a quick special mention. Let's give a big round of applause to existence<i> just for being! </i>Without it we never would have had breath mints, custom tailored suits, bridge parties, or berets for pugs. And how about shawls? I'm not sure about you, but I love eating buttered popcorn while watching Magnum P.I. reruns and listening to the sound of the telephone ringing incessantly in the background while the drapes are on fire.<div><br /></div><div><div><b>Entertainment news</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The economy is going down Hollywood-style. Everyone is hurting from unemployment, high mortgages and a steadily decreasing quality of life. So what to do?</div><div><br /></div><div>To help remedy the situation everyone ought to:</div><div><br /></div><div>A) enroll in an online cooking class as therapy B) buy the Everyone Loves Raymond DVD box set for your spouse C) boil your Michael Bolton cassette tapes for dinner or D) get in your SUV and drive randomly into the sunset.</div><div><br /></div><div>Answer: All of the above!</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Classifieds</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Be All You Can Be</div><div><br /></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Things are heating up in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. If you want to get into the best shape of your life, join the military today! Limited money back guarantee. Must be willing to travel. Send SASE plus $2.99 shipping and handling for your starter package. On the job training for the right individual. INQUIRE WITHIN. WE ALSO OFFER A NO MAN LEFT BEHIND POLICY WHEREVER POSSIBLE. </span></div></div><div><br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235711823584564544.post-4086973790571819902011-10-11T01:30:00.000-07:002011-10-18T21:44:13.595-07:00Vacation News<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xUXnnBiUucw/TpP_alq7KgI/AAAAAAAAABw/wMPlVcoUidU/s1600/Cartoon_Fat_Lady_Holding_Her_Luggage.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 220px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xUXnnBiUucw/TpP_alq7KgI/AAAAAAAAABw/wMPlVcoUidU/s320/Cartoon_Fat_Lady_Holding_Her_Luggage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662149988788677122" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">LETS HIT THE BEACH</span><br /><br />Every day, all over the world, from the South Pacific to Indonesia, they are building more luxury hotels with bath houses to put up fat rich white men that like to push around non-english speaking maids with their index fingers and throw peasant workers into cooking vats when their cream brulees are not up to snuff. In order to fund this ever-growing project, in what is already being dubbed Guantanamo Bay 2.0: Let's go to Hawaii or Somewhere Else Exotic, individuals of all different stripes, including home-grown terrorists, house-wives, hard-working dads and little would-be criminals ages 2 and up, are being rounded up and shipped over-seas for quality employment and luxury hotel expansion. <div><br /></div><div>The government, too broke to pay for anything anymore, has decided it's had enough with its empty notions of freedom once and for all. From now on labor is a right and YOU can be taken away at any given time! So grab your sun tan lotion and earn an advance spot today. Thanks to climate change the beaches are really starting to heat up!<div><br /></div><div><b>COPS GET IT ON</b> <div><br /></div><div>It is only to be expected that when the masses revolt through lack of reason, punishment shall be endured. That was the case when 1,000 grandmothers were arrested while crossing intersections in random places on suspicion of causing mischief and potential riot. Meanwhile, thank God the rich class--banker and CEO--are safe and their "entitlement" programs and "hand-outs" in tact. No one likes a sore loser, so get over yourselves people.<br /><br />And now a message from our sponsors (who could not afford a full-length video commercial at this time because of the ever-sinking economy).<br /><br /><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>A sun-tan ad</b></span><br /><br />A woman lounges on a chair by the pool.<br /><br />"Golden skin, white teeth. Who needs common sense?" "I get my daily chemical allowance at least three times a day."<br /><br />-----A beautiful white poodle dives into the pool after a tennis ball but can not swim. Pan toward random man's hard abs and crotch-----<br /><br />"X-CENTUATE, the sun tan lotion for beautiful bodies. Now with Vitamins A and D"<br /><br />End.</i></div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670011167705763405noreply@blogger.com0