Friday, January 08, 2010

Unexpected Headlines

From Jenna Orkin:

Unexpected Headlines:
Massive Jump In Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) Benefits - Up 43% In One Month!
Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in December
U.S. nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly fell in Dec
Canada Unexpectedly Lost 2,600 Jobs in December
Corporate America in no rush to hire
UPS cuts 1,800 jobs
Job Growth in U.S. Erodes as Housing Bust Pushes Mobility to Record Low
Contrarian Investor Predicts Economic Crash in China

Economy
'Interest rate rise in March'

Fed Bets Off; Risk Bets On
U.S. regulators warn banks on interest rate risk
Chinese Decision on Rates Seen as ‘Turning Point’
Decade of Zero; Defense Spending Up 72% Since 2000: Are We Any Safer?
Time To Indict Geithner For Securities Fraud
Geithner’s New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure
Bankruptcy fears hit Japan Airlines as government mulls aid
After the Crash: Why We Can't Go Back To Business As Usual - Soros
Project Syndicate
Soros-supported newsletter whose contributors have included Zbigniew Brzezinski, Nouriel Roubini and Naomi Wolf.
Geithner's New York Fed Told AIG to Withhold Details of Payments to Banks
Central Banks Said to Plan Regulation Talks With Private Lenders in Basel
Schwarzenegger to Seek Permanent Pay Cuts to Replace Furloughs'
Bank set to close the £200bn printing press
Bank of England: the calm before storm

Energy
Gas supplies to factories cut off UK
Severe weather and creaking power infrastructure leads to 1970s-style rationing from National Grid
Gas rationed as temperature is set to drop
Tapping the Power of the Sea
In Great Britain and other European countries, companies are preparing to use the energy of ocean waves and tides to produce electricity. The UK is hoping to produce as much as 5 percent of its electricity needs with tidal power plants.
Emergency declared for Britain's wildlife
Another two weeks of the big freeze still to come
Farmers attack 'food revolution'
Hi-tech vision of UK production potentially damaging

Misc.
U.S. says Pakistan harassing its diplomats
Power promotes hypocrisy: study
Human sacrifices 'rise in Uganda'

And...
A Toast to Commerce

22 comments:

1_Crazy_Canuck said...

News from Canukistan...

Montreal Shell refinery to close
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/01/08/montreal-shell-refinery-closing.html

I guess the 'For Sale' sign that said "Refinery For Sale, Only 79 years old, MASSIVE investment needed" didn't pique anyone's interest.

***********************************

RCMP search Alberta farm over B.C. pipeline blasts
Convicted bomber Wiebo Ludwig's farm being searched, says lawyer
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/01/08/bc-pipeline-bombings-arrest.html

I guess if they can't find the real "domestic terrorist" they'll go with someone they already know "whodunit".

businessman said...

Jenna...You're definitely working overtime in posting so many solid articles for us so many times throughout the week. Thanks so much once again for all you continue to do for us.

LeoBro said...

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....

yakyakjack said...

GOOGLE WON'T ALLOW ANY COMMENT OVER 4K CHARACTERS. I HAVE THEREFORE BROKEN THIS UP INTO TWO CONSECUTIVE COMMENTS.

PART 1:

I've been somewhat captivated by MCR's recent suggestion to pick up some Potassium Iodide and what that really means as it pertains to 'the map'.

I want to preface this commentary with a most critical caveat, this is gross speculation on my behalf. I am by no means suggesting I have any specific knowledge or intelligence on this particular scenario. But follow along if you are so inclined.

Clearly, if MCR is correct about his Potassium Iodide claim, it would certainly indicate that another attack on the U.S. Homeland is likely. And the fact that Potassium Iodide was mentioned would also indicate the type of attack ie, a dirty bomb either nuclear or biological.

If you believe the 9/11 attack was an inside job ie, part(s) of the American government knowingly planned and/or permitted the attack to happen, then it is reasonable to assume that the next attack will be no different. 9/11 was more of a symbolic attack, the beginning, the opening shot in an undeclared war over a depleting oil resource. And there is ample evidence to show that while the destruction of the three World Trade Center buildings was the aim, there was also ample evidence that the attack was executed in a precise way so as to minimize widespread collateral damage in New York City. All three buildings miraculously free-fell straight down. Imagine if those two towers had toppled over in different directions? The human collateral damage and the collateral property damage would have been exponentially larger. The purpose of the 9/11 attack was to frame the war on terror for the American people, bring some definition to the enemy ie, Al Qaeda, and most importantly, to provide the U.S. the momentum, the justification/diversion/impetus/global support to invade Iraq.

So what would be the purpose of the next homeland attack? As I write this, the U.S. is moving their military chess pieces around the Middle East/Persian Gulf in preparation for full-scale conflict in the region. I do believe a full-scale war in the Middle East is in the offing. However, with 60% of the world's oil supply tied up in this region, a full-scale war will inevitably cause a meaningful amount of oil supply to be removed from the global supply system temporarily. If the U.S. public were to awake one morning to the news that this war has begun, the oil shock of having a significant drop in supply would cripple the American economy and likely cause some basic services to fail across the nation. So ideally, as a prelude to war in the Middle East, it would be highly advantageous if the U.S. had a sharp decline in demand prior to the onset of said war.

How can the U.S. cut demand quickly without an economic recession/depression as the instrument?
Q: What is the most oil-intensive thing we do every single day?
A: Transportation and travel. Drastically cut transportation and travel on the homeland, and you get your quick drop in demand.
How do you drastically cut transportation and travel? A dirty bomb. And likely a dirty bomb that is bigger in scale than 9/11. If a biological or nuclear bomb were to go off in mainland U.S., people would stay home, for a while.

yakyakjack said...

PART 2:

So again, this must be said, I'm just spiff-balling here. Nonetheless, this inevitably leads to the question of where this next attack might occur? If 9/11 was more of a symbolic attack, this next attack will have a singular purpose to drop demand for oil in the short term. So on the one hand, human casualties and the fear factor will be more of the focus this next time around. Unfortunately, that means horrific, gruesome images of loss of life etc. so as to ensure that following the attack, people stay home.

However, much like 9/11, the location of another attack would likely be chosen carefully. Imagine you were lost in the wilderness with no food or drink and you needed to cut off a body part to eat and survive. You are not going to randomly choose this body part, you are not going to poke your eyeball out, you are not going to cut off your tongue. You would likely choose a finger or toe so as to minize the collateral damage to the rest of the body while still accomplishing your goal. So that got me thinking about where strategically it would make the most sense for the U.S. to cut off a body part?

After doing some extremely basic analysis, my conclusion leads me to believe that (unfortunately) Florida is the most likely to be hit. Here is why, again, total and complete spiff-balling here.

a) Florida has the highest per-capita amount of elderly citizens in the U.S. California has more in shear numbers, but as a percentage of the state population, Florida has the most. If you are going to knowingly target some of your population, it makes perfect sense to target a more elderly demographic. God bless the elderly and their contributions to society throughout their lifetime, but reality is, that if you are 65 and older, you are for the most part sucking off the system, not contributing to it.

b) Geography. A dirty bomb is exactly that, dirty, messy, and ugly. No matter where such a bomb were to go off, instantly people's first reaction would be to flee the state. If such a bomb were biological or nuclear you are talking about things like 'exposure'. The U.S. would ideally not want citizens effected by such a bomb to easily flee to other states in all directions and thereby increase the exposure radius and thus put the whole country body at risk. The state of Florida is hemmed in on three sides by ocean. There is only one way out, and that's North. Logistically speaking, that makes Florida one of, if not the easiest locations in the U.S. for the military to contain a very dirty situation.

c) Tourism. The whole point of such an attack would be to drastically curtail travel and transportation. Florida is the #1 tourist destination in the U.S. both domestically and abroad. Damage Florida, and travel inevitably drops. Furthermore, if you believe in Peak Oil, Florida's economical outlook looks pretty bleak in an oil-scarce world.

That's it. Based on pure and utter blatant speculation, I'm inclined to believe the next 9/11 could occur in Florida. And needless to say, boy do I hope with every fabric of my being that I am totally, and completely, wrong!

toner deeski said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0826424620100109?virtualBrandChannel=11624
US antagonizing Venezuela

agape wins said...

Part 1:

This is my first recollection of the
"Other" & our relationship, how our isolation could become cooperation,
& even Friendship.
March, 5 ,2003
My Love to all,
This is a hard message to write; Peace.

I have the ability to recall memories of before I was 6 mo. old!
I know they are not actual events because every time we remember we update our frame of reference to our present age.

When I was young I had recurring dreams of dead animals, fighting, and people being chased and beaten; but there was no sound, as if I could not hear. After I grew up, mom told me that I didn't want to sleep as an infant so they would take me to the silent picture show,
where I would go to sleep. There were several quite violent silent
picture shows made; one in Mexico were two rebel groups had actual battles with over 50 men killed, another one was about the Civil War in which people ( Minority's of Color ) were beaten and animals killed, (these brought about the laws cleaning up the movies) I have seen cut's from "Birth of a nation " and am sure it was the inspiration of my dreams! NO SOUND.
When I was 7 yrs. old I received Crayolas for Xmas, a huge box of
48; I could not imagine that many colors! I soon noticed that the
darker the color the more effect it had; White made no impression- except when used on darker paper. The second thing I observed was that the colors could be put anywhere in the box.

I questioned mom ( In 7 yr. language ) about this; why was this
different than Life, where White was the only important color and had to
be apart from the more impressive colors ? She couldn't give me an
answer I could understand. Others I asked said " That's just the way
things were and to forget it. " ! But I never could -- some of my
best pals and the nicest people I knew were not White and spoke differently.

I will not give voice to the names used to set the races apart: Black
was not one. BLACK is a powerful color & should make as much of an
impression in LIFE as on canvas; I was proud of George Washington Carver, ( he did not " invent " the peanut , just introduced it to the White race ) because of his many inventions, but my teachers didn't " know about him " so couldn't teach about him !! When I was 9, my parents divorced and we moved to a town where there were several races but only one color. I adapted but always felt something was missing.

Between my 6th to 9th yrs. of age we lived 3 blocks from the " Other
side" My younger brother, had his friends whom I did not get along with
therefore we took different ways home from school. I always chose the long way, through " that part of town ". I soon lost my fear and the " Natives " recognized one Light skinned child poorly dressed was no danger, so I soon developed some friendships, although we never went home together, just played around; I don't remember any girls,
but at that age girls and boys play in their own groups! The only
thing that stands out that was different about the games was my darker friends never tried to take advantage of me or pick on me like my lighter "Friends " did, we just had fun. You could say they knew "Their place" and didn't want trouble, but I believe they knew I was no better than they were and I had no intentions of using them or stealing their girls; if it had taken place when I was 15 things could have been different, but the impression was made on a young WHITE brain about the color BLACK; but the most valuable impression was the need for thinking about what WHITES wanted from you and what you got in return!!!
Next.

RanD said...

Thankyou for your splendid analytic projection, yakyakjack. Your words raise hairs on our backs.

==================

Your history re "The Other" is comparable to mine (D), AW. Nicely written, enjoyable to read, easy to understand piece of work there, ol' buddy. We look forward to reading your next installment.

jcfougere said...

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http://generalecology.com/category/portable/product/first_need_xl_portable_water_purifier-new

RJ said...

Dear All,

If Kunstler is such a good friend (I never miss a Monday post), why is he so malevolent when it comes to 9/11 truth. Was it this blog that put Kunstler on it's all-star ball team? A lot of people need this reconciled, I'm sure.

Great work on all the links!

pstajk said...

Jim, as he always affirms, is "immune to conspiracy theories", bottom line. He believes what he believes and that's that.

His logic on foreign policy and international affairs can be completely backwards and mislead at times, and I think he purposely writes that way to piss the whack jobs off who read his blog and send him hate mail every Monday.

I think he also wants to keep his "credibility" in tact and not stir up controversy for himself, so he can sell more books.

businessman said...

yakyakjack...that's an interesting analysis. My thoughts have always been that in terms of another major attack, it would most likely be somewhere between Chicago and the major cities of the Northeast. Once you go west of Chicago, including Los Angeles, the major cities of the Northeast won't really pay attention to any attack there...because the rest of the country really isn't even on their radar screen for the most part. And let's face it...the heart and soul of our political and financial communities lie in Washington DC and New York City. When you strike terror into those two cities you create a deeper wound to our country, especially because the mainstream media considers those two cities to be sacred to them.

But Florida in itself has solid connections to the Northeast. Many people from the Northeast vacation there, and as I heard one speaker whose parents were living in New York City say, "My parents turned 65 and they moved to Florida...because you know, that's the law."

OregonSurvivor said...

"I guess you can call it a Ponzi scheme..."

Ponzi Scheme

RanD said...

btw, eyeballs, your recent synopsis on "failed states" is as bull's eye as it gets.

karen said...

I am wondering if anyone else is picking up on all the talk of the 2010 food crisis?

And does Mr. Ruppert (or any of the other commentators) have any comments about this?

Im just trying to reading between the doomsday hype and the reality... That being said I already have my own seed bank.. :)

MCR said...

I have nothing to do with 9/11 Truth. Don't put me and Rubicon in with that crowd either. My work and Rubicon stand alone... untainted by all the useless poison pills 9/11 Truth puts out. -- I've explained it a thousand times and I'm not going to do it again.

MCR

RanD said...

The Nature of Existence - #26

Not closing oneself off from information allows any given individual to assimilate & begin weighing any given information's merits. This is the means by which all sentient beings progressively self-consciously grow themselves into relationship with the world into which they are born; everything one expresses & reads comes into being in this way.

From this perspective it is evident that the only true obstacle to human kinds' optimal well-being is ignorance concerning the nature of existence, with "existence" right here & now being fully consciously officially formally linguistically instated as the "new" world all human kind are now being born into. And, the reason for saying this is so we humans can begin fully actualizing ourselves in accord with exactly what & why we are, rather than any longer having to continue thinking & behaving as if we're merely grand but inexplicable Earth-bound phenomena while all the rest of everything else "out there in space", beyond our biosphere, is also grand but inexplicable phenomena which exists fundamentally apart from ourselves.

Seeing everything from this perspective then makes it but a matter of overcoming one's ignorance of how to optimally experience being the alive & sentient human species of organismic beings that we are by no longer keeping ourselves closed off from assimilating information which explains the nature of who and what we are within a fully existential context. Call it bringing the Heaven(s) to Earth if you want; but, in terms of effect, our fully consciously connecting ourselves with the source of our existence accomplishes the exact same thing.

Of course it is also good for those with no interest in what's being stated here. The only ones to arrive where these words are headed will be exclusively those that want to get there.

*****

As for those who no longer have minds of innocent children know, humankind's now dying world has long been rife with deception and danger, not the least of which has come to us in the form of man-made information in the form of words and pictures. And this is where the work of those who want to transcend this dying world begins.

Knowledge of the nature of existence is not something that everyone living today will be able to assimilate; and no one needs suffer from that information, yet many will suffer until the moment they die. This speaks to a reality that is fundamental to the nature of existence, and is thus something truly impossible to do anything about, in that there are human minds in these times whose physio-psychologies are so effectively hardened by their lives' influences that they are veritably incapable of accepting expanded knowledge concerning the nature of existence. This is the way it is. Everyone's life belongs to oneself.

All of us here are experiencing the realities of existence from our collective myriad of uniquely personalized perspectives, each one of which belongs, respectively, to each one of us as an individual according to specifically one's personal understanding and lack thereof concerning the common nature of which we are a part. Each one of us is an independent personalized sovereignty produced out of -- and for this reason is readily & easily & naturally & routinely judged, kept or discarded by -- the entirely natural & normal, omni-dimensional source of literally every single thing that exists and is sustained, which ultimate over-arching/underpinning benefactor is existence, itself.

Once upon a time the source of existence was, by many of us, called God. These days the word existence is scientifically explicit, accessible, inarguable, and omni-dimensionally applicable. Today no one any longer needs use the term "God" for what is much better known simply as existence, itself.

Those who understand this information will know & have eternal life.

RJ said...

I kind of expected MCR's response when I used "truth". Sorry. You're not beating a dead horse here.

I'm sure Jim has his reasons.

RJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
agape wins said...

#2,
Remember this was written back in 2003, this is leading somewhere, several of you should know by now, no names as that would mean I am "Boxing" you.

From "The Other, p 5, " 'I think, therefore I am', 'but the self is
only possible through the recognition of the other' ". P8 " the being who is external to oneself and yet a reflection of oneself."
P14, "They arrange contacts. lend us their homes, or quite simply save our lives." "One of these beings is a person like the rest us--(is)" a person as bearer of racial features, and as a bearer of culture, beliefs and convictions.--they coexist, having a reciprocal effect on each other.--it's features are dynamism, mobility, variability and differences in intensity, depending on the external context, the demands of the current moment, the expectations of the environment or even one's own mood and
stage of life." P21, It is the situation, the circumstances, the context, that decide whether we see a person as enemy or as partner at any given moment. the Other can be both of these,--his contradictory behaviour, whose motives he himself is sometimes incapable of understanding."

All of the above applies the "Self" & "Other" in each encounter! To see how the Other has formed your"Self" read "The Other".

Back to 2003:
Some things I have said may not set well with some of you, but it was my childhood; I may have misunderstood, been lucky to have survived, or am making the wrong judgments about people or what happened, BUT It's the way I remember it. The impressions were made and no one or any happening has been able to dull my convictions!
I have never seen any proof that White is better or smarter than any other color; if you look at pickled brains in jars you can not tell which is Black or which is Smarter; just which has been exercised the most! Every Brain MUST have the same chance to excel !

To me WHITE is no better than BLACK -- I am not proud of the way I look but still I know I lie because I was never black, ( lower case ) so I have never felt the rejection and constant hurt inflicted directly upon ME!
Because we are living in a nation ruled by " WHITES "; those of us who talk and behave white succeed more!
If we were living where the rules and rulers are of another color, the whites would have to act Colored to succeed.
Peace, Love, & Compassion,

Amae,

1,10,2010, 2:19am; Thoughts Ideas?

agape wins said...

Be careful anytime you think "ICE"!!

http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/3-die-when-snowmobiles-fall-through-ice-in-vermont/19310522

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