This is what happens when the economy sucks

Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Theft of copper, other recyclables rising
By Brad Dickenson | Myrtle Beach Sun-News

WRAPUP 2-U.S. new home sales hit record low, outlook gloomy
Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:11pm EDT
Reuters

This week's articles brought up in Google news using "homelessness increasing" brought up 149 results (0.09 seconds). Here's one using the search term "US homelessness increasing" and the search parameter "last 24 hours ."

"...85% of organizations expect an increase in service demand in 2011; just 46% expect to be able to fully meet this demand..."

Hmm, makes you wonder if the other 15% are throwing the towel in, don't it?

update 2pm, boy these last two posts are cheerful, eh? Eeek, I'm going to go escape into some funny silly show, hopefully the next post will be less dreary.

Just thoughts

The countries on this planet that can actually take care of themselves are finding things rather amusing lately. They are watching the most powerful country slowly implode. The crumbling of this leviathan actually pretty funny.

I'm not talking about Japan. Once Japan recovers they will be laughing also.

Listen up here, Tony can make you laugh if you haven't exhausted yourself fighting with the urge to throttle his snooty ass and stop the flow of "conservative" verbal diarrhea.

I swear, Wall Streeters are like a herd of gazelle. The most powerful group of people on the planet are like a frightened school of fish, fleeing whlen something looks like it might possibly tank.

I've been avoiding the news

But I kind of can't because my friend's son does emergency medical care in disaster areas. Well, actually he sets it up, so he's always there ASAP when disasters happen. Now he's in Japan. The Japanese are polite, maybe even too polite. They say yes when they really mean no.

I happened to get a call from my friend when I was almost finished watching "The Killing Fields" a movie from 1984 which tells the story of one of the first reporters to write about the US bombing of Cambodia. It was shortly before the movie came out that most of my buddies were Vietnamese refugees. There were Lao, Thai, Cambodian and Hmong kids there also. I never read or watched the news and I was apolitical then. I was also pretty naive, so these kids could have fed me all kinds of bs lines and I would have believed them. I wonder now what kinds of horrors they went through and wouldn't mention to me even if I asked them. My boyfriend told me about heads on sticks down by the river.

It was within a year or two of making the Asian refugee friends that I met the friend with the Dr. kid who is now in Japan trying to save lives. As much as I hate some of the stupid shit my government does, I love the American people, there are all kinds of us.

All outta corned beef

Yes, 4 large chain grocery stores were out of corned beef when I went to get some this afternoon for tonight, and this weekend for friends. Bummer.

Still have beer and "The Closer" DVD and I don't give a flying fuck what is going on in the world today. Thank kewwwww.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Yes, there is some Irish blood in me, but no Catholic, thank God, lol.

Great documentary on Prop h8

8: The Mormon Proposition
2009 R 77 minutes (Streaming on Netflix now)

Some Mormon walking baby factory tried to get me (through my kid) to tithe 10% of my welfare check to the Mormon church many years ago. They look like they needed the money, didn't they?

They need to be taxed if they are funding political campaigns. They strong-armed their church members to give a lot of their money and time to defeat gay marriage after the CA Supreme court OK'd it.

At least the little fuckers are not banging on my door 10 times a year now. I wonder if their flock is shrinking now? Or they have problems now if they wear their little Mormon uniforms? I hope so. They throw h8 out there, they can certainly have some back from me. They started this fucking war, and the cowards won't be honest about the evil, rigid, intolerant, ugly and illegal things they do.

"Many LDS feel stung by the criticism leveled against them in 8: The Mormon Proposition, even without seeing the film."

Well waaaaaah. There are Mormons (or ex-Mormons) in the film telling their story.

Greg Palast knows fraud investigations in nuke plants

Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear PlantsThe no-BS info on Japan's disastrous nuclear operators

Greg Palast Mar 14, 2011


"I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.

I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.

But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough.

Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:..." read the rest of it

Maddow knocks it out of the park again

Yeah, raise taxes on the poor and elderly for tax cuts for the rich. Oh looky, it's deja vu!

skippy points us towards the answer to this nonsense:

Americans Target Bank of America to Stop Corporate Tax Dodging

Gasland (2009)

Uddate Sept 19, 2011 "Gasland" Wins an Emmy!

Gasland.
Aw jeez, 15 minutes in I thought "Fuckin' Halliburton, fuckin' Dickhead Cheney."

"...Mr. FOX: But there's a kind of gas drilling syndrome that people have been identifying which has to do with a kind of a peripheral neuropathy. But the symptoms for these - exposures to this kind of chemicals range from, you know, skin and eye irritation, to respiratory irritation, to cancer. And those chemicals - the ones that we do know about have Manufactures Safety Dash Sheets that list those possible effects and a lot of them are carcinogenic..."

And the EPA is like many regulatory agencies in the US these days - either bought and paid for, or hog-tied by the industries that they are supposed to be regulating and protecting us little people from. This is one of the companies in the documentary. I guess their bullshit works, because they are making money.

Hmmm. Japan is actively searching for alternative energy supplies. Hmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmm. Hmmmm

Asia ex-Japan shares rise on Japan rebuilding plays 2:08am EDT Factbox: Asian stocks on the move

Borrowers in Japan debt market face delays
By Atanas Dinov and Wakako Sato
TOKYO/LONDON, March 14 | Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:35am EDT

"....Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFG, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

The three megabanks provided 88 percent of the country's $244 billion of corporate loans in 2010, leaving relatively little business for international players."

Why Japan scares the crap out of me

Explosion at Japan nuke plant, disaster toll rises

Umm, earthquakes here?
Check. Even my adrenaline level rises, and I'm used to quakes that are under 5.0, but have been in ones up to 6.6.

Nuclear power plant here?
Check

But even more than imagining what might possibly happen here, I am horrified at how many people will be affected in Japan, which is densely populated. As soon as I saw the number "8.9" I got nauseous, and horrified and tears came to my eyes.

Why?

Richter magnitude scale

Japan Disaster Relief: Where to Give
With Thousands Feared Missing, Relief Organizations Offer Assistance
ABC World News March 12, 2011

Help Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Victims Without Getting Scammed

By Ginny Mies, PCWorld Mar 11, 2011 2:00 PM

8.9 is a massive quake - Japan

And a frickin' tsunami also? Wow, this is so sad.

Holy crap.

March 11, 2011 9:24 AM PST
Twitter, Facebook vital as cell networks jam in Japan
by Tim Hornyak

Ha, Larry Summers had no idea how important Facebook would be, the idiot.

Guess How Much Larry Summers Will Get Paid To Go To Bermuda And Pal Around With Hedge Fund Managers
Courtney Comstock | Jan. 7, 2011, 6:00 PM | 1,293 | 4

I'll just bet that he's really not all that interested in the little people being able to communicate during a crisis or a revolution anyway. As a member of the elite, I'll just betcha he doesn't perceive of either of these technologies as a threat. Like I said, he's an idiot, but that's how I view most arrogant and elitist assholes.

Fed Report Finds No Wrongful Foreclosures By Banks, Consumer Advocates Slam Methodology

I watched the documentar­y that won the Oscar this year called "Inside Job." The banksters get the laws changed to bend to their wills, but the Fed has never been a government service. It's a group of private bankers, so why would they find anything wrong with their own?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Chervron has owned mess for ten years, won't pay

Monday, March 7, 2011
NY judge extends order blocking Chevron judgment

"NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge in New York has extended his temporary order banning collection of an $18 billion judgment by the courts in Ecuador against Chevron..."

Important enough to win Oscars

I managed to get the DVDs from Netflix. I'm watching "Inside Job" and I watched "The Social Network" three weeks ago. If you don't feel like weeding through lots of bullshit news stories in order to figure out what is really happening on this planet watch these two movies. They should help you scan headlines with a more discerning eye, so you can decide which ones are worth reading.

Holy shit, the rich ass perps in "Inside Job" are easy to hate. These fucking fucks bring violent thoughts to my mind, especially since I've been fucked over by drug addicts and alcoholics. That's what the perpetrators of the financial crisis are: money junkies, and they aint no different than cocaine addicts. You ever have to deal with one of those narcissistic and sociopathic cokeheads that are still using? I have. These guys are worse because they get the laws changed so that what they are doing is legal on paper. These motherfuckers act like we are stupid if we figure out what they are doing. Fucking arrogant assholes.

America is not broke

Watch live streaming video from theuptake at livestream.com

My Name is Khan

This movie was recommended to me by Netflix which usually has a 50/50 chance of getting it right with me. I caught the word "Bollywood" and almost marked "not interested," because I usually run screaming from the room from Bollywood films. It is subtitled in English, most of the dialogue is in Hindi, but there are no dance scenes and even the songs in Hindi do not have that high pitched female wailing that drives me straight up the wall.

If you hate tearjerkers don't try this one, because it is achingly sweet and joyous and also painful if you are a fair-minded person at all. I am really glad I took a chance on it because it was one of the most beautiful films I have seen in many years.

In brig, WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning ordered to sleep without clothing

n brig, WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning ordered to sleep without clothing

Ahh, just the latest in a long string of examples of an out of control US military doing the bidding of some of the most spoiled asshats on the planet. Excuse the disgust, I just watched a 1992 documentary called "Panama Deception" about pulling Noriega out of commission in 1989 and killing somewhere between 1 and 4 thousand Panamanians in the process.

Wisconsin Governor Defies Court Order to Open Capitol

LOCAL SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT REFUSES TO BE PART OF THE "PALACE GUARD"

Heh.

Hmmmm?

Roger Ailes might be indicted?

"If it's true we'll find out. If it's not, no big deal," he says. "We'll see where this goes."

Ahhh, a girl can dream, can't she? Ever since I saw "Outfoxed" I've hated Roger Ailes.

English speaking foreign actresses

I dunno why some of them get on my last nerve and I adore others. These two I adore.

Maybe because they let it slip that they are Aussies? Little spur of the moment script changes? They use euphemisms that their characters wouldn't use, like nobody native to Southern California uses "early days." Maybe because the cadence in Aussie's speech is not that different from Americans? I don't know.

Unfortunately, these four drive me nuts, and I can't quite put my finger on why? Three Canadians and a woman from Ireland.

Oops, totally forgot to watch the Oscars. I was surprised at how many of the winners I had seen, or was interested in seeing.

Pepe, Matt, Pepe, Matt, aw screw it, both here, 'cause I love 'em both!

Middle East
Feb 25, 2011

THE ROVING EYE
The Gulf's terror of democracy
By Pepe Escobar


Matt Taibbi: "Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?" (Complete Interview)

The Kids Are All Right

Whhooo eeee four Oscar nods Two Golden Globes and yadda yadda yadda. Don't waste your time. Besides jerking exactly two tears out of me when they dropped the kid off at college, it pretty much left me wondering why Hollywood thinks it's so fucking progressive? I spent 2 years living with a lesbian couple who were trying to raise kids 15 freaking years ago in this very conservative county, and nobody got that weird or awkward. The whole damn movie felt forced. Or maybe it just felt like Los Angeles. Blech, I hate LA. Everyone seems so fucking full of themselves. When is Hollywood going to stop congratulating itself on it's own brilliance? If I watch the Oscars it will be because I adore Anne Hathaway and I want to get over the heebie jeebies that James Franco gives me, not because I give a crap who wins. I've seen perhaps 5 of the movies that got nods, so there you go.

Anyway, I have decided that 24 is much more fun to watch on Netflix withouth the ads than it ever was before, so I'm off to get lost in something besides the real political news which is kind of nauseating me these days.

update march 2, '11, ok I give, I keep watching the show thinking that Jack Bauer will develop at least a tiny brain to go with those big balls, but no. And his ditzy daughter the hostage queen doesn't learn either. *sigh* I give up, I'm tired of having my intelligence insulted.

Restrepo

Restrepo

2010R 93 minutes

Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm, teamed with photographer Tim Hetherington and spent a year embedded with the Second Platoon in Afghanistan, chronicling the hard work, fear and brotherhood that come with repelling a deadly enemy. Hunkered down with the soldiers in one of the region's most strategic valleys, the filmmakers uncover the dark humor, sleepless surreality and constant anxiety of war in this Oscar-nominated documentary.

NYT movie review.
"...Hanging out with the members of Battle Company in their hilltop outposts in the Korangal Valley between May 2007 and July 2008, Mr. Junger and Mr. Hetherington recorded firefights, reconnaissance missions, sessions of rowdy horseplay and hours of grinding boredom..."

IMDB page.

Streaming on Netflix. I was startled to the point of being breathless a couple of times when the firefights started, but my PTSD is a cakewalk compared to what some of these kids are dealing with. I wonder if the meds I take might help some of these kids. It doesn't turn me into a zombie, it just pushes the emotions back so that they don't completely overwhelm me, run my life and keep me from sleeping, so it might. As I was watching I had to force myself to stop asking the question that some of the soldiers asked on camera at the beginning: "What the fuck are we doing here?"

The only other Oscar nominated documentary I have seen this year is "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which is about a nutjob who follows Banksy around with a camera. Way different, and frankly, this documentary is better. Way better. As hard as it was to watch, it was worth it.

I just wish I could stop thinking about whether or not the guys who made it out of there in good shape have been sent back in.

Columbia Journalism Review - Economic Crisis

Good for your sanity.

Economic crisis, The Audit -- Feb 17, 2011
Audit Notes: Goldman's Marks, Taibbi, Dakota Tea, etc.
By Dean Starkman

"...And lest you think this is all a hot-aired rant from the left, it’s worth reading his treatment of the strange, and strangely under-covered, case of SEC investigator Gary Aguirre, who lost his job when he tried to interview Wall Street stud John Mack in an insider-trading probe:..."

Blue Girl finds Photo of the Day

visit Blue Girl (in a Red State) for her and YD's NightOwl Newsraps, they're fabulous. Here are some other pictures that I have fallen in love with in the last coupe of days.

Looping in my brain this AM

I'm too old for this shit, lol

Madison Protests

largest numbers on Saturday

Hello? Hellloooo? Helllllooooooooooo!?

Fuckingaskippychristonapogostick, are the French the only ones connecting the protests and revolutions to the soaring costs of FOOD? Well whataya know, the head of the World Bank gets it. Read the wiki page linked, of course he gets it!

Rising food prices nearing danger point: World Bank
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, February 19th, 2011 -- 6:19 pm

"...Soaring food, fuel and other basic costs have been one of the key factors driving political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa which has forced the ouster of long-standing autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia..."

Thousands protest in Bolivia over food prices
(AFP) – 1 day ago

Price protests erupt across Algeria
Unrest spreads from capital to several towns as youths protest over rising costs and increasing unemployment.
Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 10:15 GMT

"Static state salaries and inflation, particularly with respect to prices for food and key staples, have hit ordinary Libyans hard in the last two years,"
Fourteen people were killed this weekend in the deadliest incidents yet in an unprecedented wave of protests in Tunisia sparked by high food prices and unemployment,


Arab and Middle East revolt - an interactive map
Trace the current spate of protests from Morocco to Iran ...

Global wheat production will probably drop 4.3 percent to 653 million metric tons in 2010-2011 from the previous year, while demand may expand 1.2 percent to 667 million tons,...

<>Wheat reached $9.1675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Feb. 14, the highest price since August 2008 for a most-active contract, and has surged 76 percent the past year. That compares with an 88 percent gain for corn and a 47 percent increase for soybeansI hope you bitches who are dating speculators and traders got diamonds for Valentines day because your hos made bank that day.

How the fuck do you figure an effective 8% loss in production merits a 76% increase in price?

Why is Glenn Beck so full of shit?

In Hour-Long Attack On Planned Parenthood, Beck Inexcusably Ignores Key Fact
February 18, 2011 11:25 pm ET

And Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
By Matt Taibbi
FEBRUARY 16, 2011 9:00 AM ET

"...To understand the significance of this, one has to think carefully about the efficacy of fines as a punishment for a defendant pool that includes the richest people on earth — people who simply get their companies to pay their fines for them. Conversely, one has to consider the powerful deterrent to further wrongdoing that the state is missing by not introducing this particular class of people to the experience of incarceration. "You put Lloyd Blankfein in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for one six-month term, and all this bullshit would stop, all over Wall Street," says a former congressional aide. "That's all it would take. Just once."...

Gawd I love Matt Taibbi.