Giuliani – Draft Dodger And Chickenhawk (March 2, 2015)

Posted in Draft, Hypocrisy, Vietnam, War on March 2, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

5          “He dodged the draft – catch this – by claiming that he needed to be a clerk for a federal judge in New York.”

7          “Now I’ve heard everything.  The guys in the trenches on the front lines always bemoaned and blasted the Rear Echelon Mother Fighter, the REMF, who had no idea what combat is like.  Lollygagging in New York is the ultimate Rear Echelon Mother Fighter job.”

5          “Glass houses are revealing places.”

. . .

5          “He exploited ‘9/11’ for fame and fortune.”

7          “He coined the phrase ‘9/11’ as a noun, a verb and even a conjunction.”

5          “Using the catastrophe at the World Trade Center as a profit center is unseemly.”

. . .

5          “Democrats such as McGovern, Gore, Kerry, Cleland, and Webb are war veterans.  Republicans such as Giuliani, Bush, Cheney, Romney and Ashcroft are draft dodgers.  Democrats don’t like going to war unless necessary.  Republicans do like going to war but like to send others to fight the war.”

7          “We need to bring back the draft to force the Ruling Class to struggle with avoiding it.”  

5          “Glass houses are revealing places.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Chickenhawks For War

“No one man nor group of men incapable of fighting or exempt from fighting should in any way be given the power, no matter how gradually it is given them, to put this country or any country into war.”  Ernest Hemingway, “Notes on the Next War:  A Serious Topical Letter,” Esquire, September 1935.

“Grexit”, “GrexEUnt”, Percolating Problems: PIIGS, BRICS, EU, EC, ECB, IMF, NATO, WTO, WAR (February 23, 2015)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, China, Greece, International Finance, Iran, Russia, Sports on February 23, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “‘GrExit’ admixes ‘Greek’ with ‘exit’ and may be the ‘Portmanteau Word of the Year for 2015’.”

2          “Or 2016?  Who knows.  They are punting and kicking.”

1          “What about ‘GrexEUnt’ for the ‘Greece’ ‘exeunt’ from the ‘EU’ because the dancing is so dramatic?  Devastating to stay, devastating to go.  So we Do-si-do and around we go.”

. . .

1          “Two prize fighters are circling each other warily, a flyweight versus a heavyweight.  In one corner, Greece cannot under any circumstances pay the massive debt to Germany (now d.b.a. IMF, ECB and EC) amassed by the Greek oligarchs.  In the other corner, Germany cannot under any circumstances allow Greece not to pay the massive debt it claims is owed to Germany.  In the stands, Greek citizens who now realize that the banks got bailed out but the citizens were abandoned and will suffer under any scenario.  On the sidelines, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain (PIIGS) and other sovereign colonies await the outcome and their turn in the ring.  An unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

2          “The Parthenon painted in black, red and gold does not seem striking.”

1          “The Pantheon bedecked in black, red and gold could trigger some strikes.”

2          “Another great battle between the ‘Versailles Reparations’ paradigm and the ‘Marshall Plan’ paradigm.”

1          “The central Lesson of the Twentieth Century is that it is easier to take by investment than by invasion.  The central Corollary of the Twenty-First Century is that you cannot take too much by investment or you risk an invasion.”

2          “The German group should not have foisted all the funds on the Greek oligarchs; the Greek oligarchs should not have gotten all the lucre from the German group.  Seems that they are each about fifty percent culpable.  Split the difference?”

. . .

1          “Markets usually price in inevitable developments and go on with life and business.  Which side has the market priced to prevail and how will the outcome play out on the planet?”

2          “What if Greece remains in NATO, pivots to Russia for assistance and opposes sanctions against Russia from the inside?  The BRICS Confederacy will need to fashion a new acronym.”

1          “The astute Western players might keep Greece cum a new drachma in the European Union for trade and transportation purposes and for international security concerns.”

2          “O’Bama traveled to India to keep India from allying more closely with the BRICS.”

1          “Senator Bernie Sanders wants the Federal Reserve to ride to the rescue.  He understands the Corollary.  However, expanding the Federal Reserve to become the American Monetary Fund (AMF) may not be wise or prudent.”

. . .

2          “The Europeans are fighting their civil war with each other and were drafted to serve as proxies and mercenaries to fight America’s currency war with Russia.  The French cannot sell fromage, the Pols cannot sell apples, and even the Germans cannot sell brats.  And no one can buy inexpensive gas from Russia.  And America does what America does.  America sits back far from the front and consumes.”

1          “And secretly funds some folks.  The Europeans are fighting America’s war with Russia and not making their required NATO defense expenditures.  The Germans and others could write off some of the debts and then book the amounts against their required NATO defense expenditures.  America is committed to fighting the Russians until the last European collapses.”

2          “America may not be able to sit back.  Under settled international law, America’s cyberespionage against Russia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are each acts of war that provide justification for those countries to attack America.  America’s antics may trigger an unattractive response.  Not a pretty situation.”

1          “But remember that America has proclaimed that it can always unilaterally exempt itself from international law.”

. . .

2          “The punting and kicking the can now is measured in time not in distance.  With the four month reprieve until June 21, the new ‘high noon’ show down occurs on the longest day of the year.”

. . .

2          “Greece is a failed state with few clear public records describing private property ownership, a tax collection non-system and a distended pension system.  Without a functioning country or economy in Greece, the prospect of a functioning country or economy in Greece is not promising.  Stay tuned.  Film at 11.”

1          “During the sports segment, surely.”

. . .

[See the article at U.S. Embedded Spyware Overseas, Report Claims” in “The New York Times” by Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger dated February 16, 2015.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

You can provide liquidity but you cannot provide solvency

Can God create a stone so heavy that not even God is strong enough to lift it?  Can man create a debt so heavy that not even mankind is strong enough to lift it?

Brian, Jon And Journalism Today (February 16, 2015)

Posted in Entertainment, First Amendment, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media on February 16, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J1          “If you want to educate, you must entertain first.”

J2          “One of my most inspired, inspiring and insightful professors was a stand-up comedian who transitioned to entertaining and educating students.  Everyone wanted to come to class.”

. . .

J1          “If a person who styles himself an entertainer provides 27.4 seconds of insight and another person who lists ‘evening broadcast anchor’ on his (or perhaps her) tax return provides 8.3 seconds of insight, who provides more seconds of insight?”

J2          “The grand irony is that the ‘serious broadcasters’ are the comedians and the comedians are the serious commentators.”

. . .

J2          “So he later embellished his earlier exploits while embedded/‘inbedded’ with the troops who were embroiled in the actual belli. A misdemeanor.  He acted without the proper demeanor.  Not good form.”

J1          “Superficiality is the essence of integrity today.  The corporate broadcasters punish him for boasting but not for failing to provide 27.4 seconds of insight.  Image and perception are reality.”

J2          “That is the crime, the felony, grand theft ideas.”

. . .

J2          “Poetry, in addition to humor, must be injected into the discourse.  People love the unconscious symmetry, insight and joy of poetry, yet they will recoil and run if they see it coming.”

J1          “Humorous haiku.  That would allow a commentator to transmit 27.4 seconds of insight quickly.  But poets are only in it for the money.  Journalists are in it for the pursuit of truth.”

J2          “And the discernment of beauty.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”  Edgar A. Poe.  “and listen for what you don’t hear and look for what you don’t see.”

“The illusion of freedom [in America] will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion.  At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”  Frank Zappa

“Romney – O’Bama Care” In Practice (February 9, 2015)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Congress, Federal Courts, Health Care, O'Bama, Romney, Supreme Court on February 9, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

T1          “One of the biggest misrepresentations of our generation is the statement by President O’Bama that a person could keep his or her insurance policy.  That ‘executive summary’ of the legislation by the Chief Executive led me to believe that the legislation was at least neutral if not benign.”

T2          “The legislation moved so fast that only a few on the inside knew what would transpire.”

T1          “The Federal Courts uniformly reject the doctrine that there is estoppel against the President or any federal official.  One of the great things about being on the inside of the Federal Government, for Republicans and Democrats alike, is that lies are not actionable and are blessed by the Federal Courts.”

T2          “No one cares.  And everyone on the inside gets a regular paycheck and a gilded pension.  And free health care.”

. . .

T1          “It was X dollars last year and then 2X dollars in December and then 3X dollars in January.  February brings a new number and a new nightmare.”

T2          “Before passage, a citizen filed bankruptcy after receiving health care.  After passage, a citizen files bankruptcy before receiving health care.”

. . .

T1          “Boehner does not have to navigate the mine field of ‘Romney – O’Bama Care.’  Pelosi does not have to navigate the mine field of ‘Romney – O’Bama Care.’  McConnell does not have to navigate the mine field of ‘Romney – O’Bama Care.’  Reid does not have to navigate the mine field of ‘Romney – O’Bama Care.’  They are all covered at no cost.”

T2          “No one cares about health care for the people.”

T1          “The Republicans are wasting tremendous money with all the repeated and futile votes to repeal ‘Romney – O’Bama Care’ without providing any alternative legislation.  The Supreme Court is not the forum because bad policy is not necessarily unconstitutional, it is just bad policy.”

T2          “The doctors and nurses have the most insightful perspective and provided the answer years ago.  A single payer system would work for them and their patients.”

T1          “The Republic cannot afford a single payer system and cannot afford not to have a single payer system.  The current schemes are so grindingly inefficient and unfair and only enrich insurance companies.”

T2          “No one cares.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at The “Contract with America”; The Congressional Reform Act of 2010 (March 29, 2010).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Stay healthy then die quickly

Je ne suis pas Charlie; Je ne suis jamais Charlie:  Free Speech v. Hate Speech (February 2, 2015)

Posted in First Amendment, Religion on February 2, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

W1       “The Supreme Court’s test for free speech is the benchmark for the West.  ‘Free speech is fine as long as I agree with and approve of the message and the messenger.’  The restrictions on selected expression in France, Germany, Europe and America are just that – they are restrictions on free expression.  Looking at the matter from the perspective of a Muslim, nothing whatsoever is more sacred or cherished in this life than Mohammed, and yet there are no restrictions on puerile attacks.  Others may not understand the reaction because their divine being is not as central in their lives.”

W2       “Suggesting that someone’s enthusiasm for his or her divine being is deeper and more profound than someone else’s devotion may spark a cranky response.  A Religious Fervor Index?”

W1       “One must look at how the legal regime in Europe and America appears to someone who has not been acculturated to accept the hypocrisy and dishonesty that underpins Western law.”

W2       “So it’s ‘hate speech’?”

W1       “Either apply one standard and characterize it as hate speech or reject the current hypocrisy and dishonesty and embrace unthrottled free expression.  I vote for unthrottled free expression.  That, I concede, will result in some unhappy people in many camps.  In addition, self-restraint is not the worst idea.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Chuck who?

Humanity’s motto:  To Enslave and To Colonize and To Throttle (Free Speech).

Free Speech Is Free Speech

Quasi-Free Speech Is Not Free Speech

Over Over-Population: 10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)

Posted in Bush, Energy, Environment, Global Climate Change, Population on January 26, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “If one assumes a reasonable and sustainable quality of life for each person, the carrying capacity of the Earth is about 500 million human beings.  At almost 7.3 billion little miracles and counting, we as a people are more than 14 times over gross.  Even if the carrying capacity is a quantum level higher at 5 billion souls, the population exceeds capacity.  With deficit spending, we are effectively spending and consuming today for 10 billion consumers or twice the most expansive gross carrying capacity of the Earth.  All of Mother Nature’s resources are pledged and committed which leaves us with nothing more to sacrifice and consume.”

0          “That is gross.  They say we are spending the kids’ and the grandkids’ money.  We are actually consuming their resources without permission or reflection.  Too many of us are devouring resources for two.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

7.3+ billion persons + deficit consumption = 10 billion ‘consumption person’ units

7.3+ billion persons x 1.33 deficit consumption multiplier = circa 10 billion ‘consumption person’ units

“I don’t believe in global climate change, but personally I do believe that the climate is changing quickly and I now believe that man may be partly responsible.”

“The American way of life is not up for negotiations.  Period.”  George H. W. Bush.  “Correct.  I do not negotiate, son.  I impose.  Exclamation point!”  Mother Nature

Quantitative Easing = Money Printing (January 19, 2015)

Posted in Deflation, Economics, Federal Reserve, Inflation, INFORM Act, Money, Quantitative Easing on January 19, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “‘Quantitative Easing’ sounds so academic and antiseptic and . . . surely sound.”

B          “And nebulous enough to fool a frightened public that does sense that something is wrong.”

A          “When you cannot do anything positive and you feel a compulsion to do something, should you do something negative?”

B          “It is doing something.”

. . .

A          “The Federal Reserve has been ‘printing’ more money and passing it to the wealthy for a half-dozen years.  The money is not making a demand on resources right now, so there is no systemic inflation yet other than rises in the prices of basic necessities.  The general public does not have enough money to make substantial demands on resources, so some prices are even heading down.  The Federal Reserve ‘electrons’ are driving up the stock market and leading some to conclude that all is good in the land.  When the money meanders into the economy and begins to make demands on resources that also may be in short supply, prices will go up.”

B          “Limited deflation then inflation if not hyperinflation.  Coming to a nation near you.”

. . .

A          “When someone discovers that printing money is the problem, how will the Federal Reserve react?”

B          “‘Print’ more money.”

. . .

[See the “Intergenerational Financial Obligations Reform Act” (INFORM Act) discussed at http://www.theinpformact.org/.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Quantitative Easing:  Coming (Back) To A Nation Near You

Quantitative Easing 4 = Money Printing (4th Edition) ?

Print, baby, print

Monitoring The Masses:  The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Crime/Punishment, Cyberactivities, First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty, Gold, Guns, Our Future?, Plastic, Pogo Plight, Police, Privacy, Silver, Society, Technology, Terrorism on January 12, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

X          “Failure to present The Card, even when there is no cause or provocation, will result in immediate incarceration and summary disposition.  If The Card is not physically maintained within a fathom of The Chip, The Chip will transmit a warning signal to Headquarters and trigger an unwelcome visit.”

Z          “I hear you.  Coming to a country near you.  Everyone is now familiar with a credit, a debit or an EBT card, so the transition will be unnoticed and unchallenged.  All movement, travel, purchases and sales will be monitored at all times by The Chip implanted at birth without permission.  Cash will be non-existent and free movement only a memory.  A few rebels may barter surreptitiously, yet bartering will be more than a mere failure to report income and will also result in immediate summary disposition.  Possession of any precious metals such as Fe, Pb, Au or Ag will be strictly prohibited and swiftly prosecuted.”  

X          “Plastic cards have encouraged excessive over-consumption to date, yet they could also be used to ration scarce resources in the future.  Market the idea to the public with unrelenting fear.  ‘We’ need to adopt the system to protect us from The Terrorists.” 

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s political and economic fact.

Are your papers in order?  Is your plastic in order?

When the big boys make a run on the bank and demand a repatriation of their gold, should the little guys make a run on the bank and demand a return of their fiat dollars?

Nous sommes Charlie?  Is the concern freedom of expression for all or only for some?

Boycott TurboTax:  See Internet

A Decade Of Fun (January 5, 2015)

Posted in Blue States / Red States, Writing on January 5, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

S          “Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. Guidance from the handbook for ham operators.”

J          “Abstruse, Bloviated and Cryptic.  . . .  On occasion?”

S          “Hamming it up.  On more than one occasion.”

. . .

S          “One week a law review, the next an economic journal, followed by a foreign policy tract and then a social discourse.  And every week, ‘e-commentary’ aspired to be a weekly literary adventure.”

. . .

S          “Tom Clancy observed that most military and defense secrets are publicly available in ‘Aviation Week & Space Technology’ magazine and other sources.  He stirred plot and characterization into the mix to cook a potboiler with insight.”

J          “An international thriller every few weeks this year?  That should be thrilling.”

S          “Every week is a thriller.  First understand the ‘Box.’  Assemble all the available and inscrutable and obscure and arcane information in a pile.  Connect two dots cautiously and carefully pencil in to craft the first line.  Proceed with caution and care to connect a third dot and proffer a plane.  Pen the right lines, erase connections between the wrong dots, and then distill, titrate and edit to craft a convincing and compelling production.”

. . .

S          “If I could see the bar, I raised it.  And then raised it again for good measure until it was out of sight.  And measured twelve times, wrote once.  The final product may be . . . measured and out of sight?”

. . .

S          “After ten years of careful observation, ‘blue’ and ‘red’ not only cannot see eye-to-eye, they cannot see each other and cannot stand each other and cannot sit down together.”

J          “They just do not play well with others.”

. . .

J          “Forget it.  ‘Conservatism-cum-a-four-digit-I-Q’ as a political, economic and social movement will never catch on.  You only get one word.”

S          “That gets one back to the fundamental challenge.  Why even try?  They say there is nothing that one can do.  They are right.  Yet I write.  Is that absurd or insane?”

. . .

S          “And a lot of fun.”

. . .

[See the discussion at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/arts/writers-say-they-feel-censored-by-surveillance.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news.%5D

[See the e-commentary at Writin’ (February 17, 2014) and So Many Words, So Few Ideas (Sept. 21, 2009).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

investigate, interpolate, extrapolate; titrate, distill, edit

Measure twelve times, write once

Peg it, and peg the fun meter.

“Bail Ins” Are Globalized; “Bail Outs” Are Bailed Back In; No Bail For Bankers (December 29, 2014)

Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Congress, Dodd-Frank, National Defense Authorization Act / FY 2012, Volker on December 29, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Dodd-Frank (July, 2010) said ‘no’ to more ‘bail outs’ by the public for the ‘too-big-to-fail-and-too-big-to-jail’ Banks and then the Federal Reserve (December, 2012) said ‘yes’ to ‘bail ins’ by the depositors and then the G20 Nations (November, 2014) said ‘heck yes’ to ‘bail ins’ by the depositors and then Citicorp-Congress (December, 2014) said ‘hell yes’ to more ‘bail outs’ by the public for derivatives and other junk.  So many Christmas gifts, so little time.”

K          “Back to a ‘bail out’ of the Wall Street Bankers including all the junk bonds . . . that fuel the American shale oil boom.  That did not take long to cover them for their exposure in the Great Gas War.  The people, the pensioners and the depositors will suffer existential losses when the derivatives collapse.”  

J          “Citicorp-Congress also delayed implementation of the ‘Volker Rule’ that would provide for increased capital ratios and mark-to-market valuations.  Citicorp-Congress gave the ‘one-two punch’ to the public.”

K          “K.O.’d for Christmas.  All I got for Christmas is my two front teeth.  Knocked out.  By Congress.”

. . .

J          “The plaque proclaims that your deposit is insured up to $250,000 by the FDIC.  Everyone is fooled, yet no one is protected by the plaque in a serious financial plague.  When the Big Banks and their partners in crime on Wall Street fail, the FDIC will not be able to provide insurance for the depositors who are now on the hook.  Line and sinker.  Now on the line, the bottom line is that the depositors must ‘bail in’ the Big Banks and the public must ’bail out’ Wall Street.”

. . .    

[See the e-commentary at Bailouts: Out; Bail Ins: In; Slowly Boilin’ The Frog (April 15, 2013) and Globalizing The Bail In (July 8, 2013).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

We should be doing something to make the bankers worry about getting bailed out.

18 T Debt; 18 K Dow

Plus 4 T “Federal Reserve Debt” = 22 T “Federal Debt”

Plus 9 G (Gazillion) in Derivatives = some trouble

The Capitol Building on Jenkins Hill is now renamed the “Citicorp Dome”

And then take a look at the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2012 and 2014. 

Financial History:

1998:            Banks/Wall Street bail out Long Term Capital Management

2008:           Federal Reserve bails out Banks/Wall Street

201_:            International Monetary Fund bails out Federal Reserve; Taxpayers bail out Banks/Wall Street

201_:            God bails out the International Monetary Fund; No one bails out Taxpayers

201_:            God files Chapter 11 Reorganization; Taxpayers file Chapter 7 Liquidation

So, help us God, so help us God.