September 24, 2010 archive

Glen Beck, Gold, and Bubbles

  Executives from Glen Beck’s favorite gold company, Goldline, testified in front Congress yesterday. Rep. Anthony Weiner showed no mercy.

 “We’re talking about a classic consumer issue,” Weiner said at a House subcommittee hearing. “The television gold industry, led by [Goldline], is built on lies, fear and rip-offs.”

 While Weiner has a point, at least when it comes to Goldline being a predator, one has to wonder why Congress doesn’t share that level of outrage for the infinitely larger problem of payday loan predators? Is it because Goldline doesn’t have the lobbying power of the entire banking industry? Or because Beck endorses Goldline, thus making it a partisan hearing?

 On the very same day of the hearings there was another headline in the markets.

 Gold prices traded in record territory again Thursday as inflation-wary investors bid prices up near the psychologically important threshold of $1,300 an ounce.

  Gold prices gained $4.20 to settle a record $1,296.30 an ounce, building on gains it made after the Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it might take further steps to stimulate the economy. …

  Gold prices have nearly doubled since 2008, when an economic panic shook global credit markets and central banks responded by flooding currency markets. Since then, global economic uncertainty and inflation fears have spurred investors to shift money from stocks and cash into gold.

 The simple fact is that while Goldline might be stoking the hype and fear, people would be rushing into gold even if Goldline didn’t exist. The reason isn’t because of lies and rip-offs. The reasons are based on sound historical facts.

Glen Beck, Gold, and Bubbles

  Executives from Glen Beck’s favorite gold company, Goldline, testified in front Congress yesterday. Rep. Anthony Weiner showed no mercy.

 “We’re talking about a classic consumer issue,” Weiner said at a House subcommittee hearing. “The television gold industry, led by [Goldline], is built on lies, fear and rip-offs.”

 While Weiner has a point, at least when it comes to Goldline being a predator, one has to wonder why Congress doesn’t share that level of outrage for the infinitely larger problem of payday loan predators? Is it because Goldline doesn’t have the lobbying power of the entire banking industry? Or because Beck endorses Goldline, thus making it a partisan hearing?

 On the very same day of the hearings there was another headline in the markets.

 Gold prices traded in record territory again Thursday as inflation-wary investors bid prices up near the psychologically important threshold of $1,300 an ounce.

  Gold prices gained $4.20 to settle a record $1,296.30 an ounce, building on gains it made after the Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it might take further steps to stimulate the economy. …

  Gold prices have nearly doubled since 2008, when an economic panic shook global credit markets and central banks responded by flooding currency markets. Since then, global economic uncertainty and inflation fears have spurred investors to shift money from stocks and cash into gold.

 The simple fact is that while Goldline might be stoking the hype and fear, people would be rushing into gold even if Goldline didn’t exist. The reason isn’t because of lies and rip-offs. The reasons are based on sound historical facts.

Imagine it’s the year 2020

Imagine it’s election season in 2020 … you look around the economic and political and media landscape in America — and you’re asking yourself “What Happened?

VP Paul Ryan is Leading in all the Insta-Polls.

Ryan is considered a shoe-in after spearheading President Pence’s Ultimate Govt Diet Plan for the last 8 years.  Even though Ryan’s only real accomplishment was leading American Prosperity’s many market research programs.

Ryan must be credited with figuring out exactly How to Sell the Dog Food — and making it “palatable to the majority of the people”.   Afterall, the Pundit Class was stunned when Mike Pence eked out that Win in 2012 — given how he insisted on running on the GOP original slogan:  Time to Deconstruct Run-away Government.

With that surprise upset-win, which sent Obama packing, VP Paul Ryan seized the opportunity to get out of the number-crunching business, and move into the world of high-octane Messaging …

Who knew that an Ultra-Conservative — turned Marketing Guru — could actually become the “Leader of the Free-Market World“?

The 2020 Polls are ticking …

2010 Green Party U.S. Senate Candidates

The following Green Party candidates are running for U.S. Senate this year.

http://www.greenscc.org/pages/…

Jerry Joslyn – Arizona

   http://www.joslynforsenate.com

   John Gray – Arkansas

   http://www.johngrayforussenate…

   Midge Potts – Missouri

   http://www.midgepotts.com

   Duane Roberts – California

   http://voteforduane.wordpress.com

   Bob Kinsey – Colorado

   http://www.kinseyforsenate.org

   LeAlan Jones – Illinois

   http://lealanforsenate.org

   Natasha Pettigrew – Maryland – Deceased on account of a hit-and-run this week.  Please send condolences to the family, if you want to help them in their time of need.

   http://www.natashaforsenate.com

   Colia Clark – New York

   http://www.coliaclark.org

   Cecile Lawrence – New York

   http://www.cecilelawrence.org

   Richard Weir – North Carolina

   Mel Packer – Pennsylvania – Forced to drop out because of another questionable Democrat legal challenge to remove him from the ballot.

   http://www.melpacker.com

   Tom Clements – South Carolina

   http://clementsforsenate.com

   Jesse Johnson – West Virginia

   http://www.jesse4ussenate.org  

As far as I am aware, the other candidates are still running.  Numerous candidates are running for seats in the House of Representatives.  The link to the page with their info is here.

http://www.greenscc.org/pages/…

Finally, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein has almost raised enough money to qualify for matching funds.  You can donate by going here:

http://www.jillstein.org/contr…

Dave Schwab reports that her campaign, at last posting, is $8,655 shy of the $125,000 needed, and phred updated that amount raised to $117,690 here.  This means that less than seven thousand dollars is still needed by 4:30PM today to meet the deadline.  Considering the short period of time that Ms. Stein has been able to raise money, she might be able to do it, but she needs your help.

So many progressives say that they will support progressive candidates if viable ones appear.  Well, Jill Stein looks like exactly that kind of candidate.  Her positions on the issues are a left-winger’s dream, and she has proven that she can raise a lot of money in a very short amount of time.  Help put her over the top to qualify for matching funds in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.  This is the moment of truth.  Let’s make it a reality as well.

Open Shark

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GOTV, Mr. Obama

There is a enormous and powerful difference between millions of people not voting for a particular party, and millions of people saying loud and clear to that party: “we guarantee we will give you millions of votes, more than enough to tip the scale…… once you have done a or b or c or d or any combination of those things, and as soon as we see that you’ve done that you can relax in the confidence that you have won even before election day arrives, otherwise you’ve already lost and you might as well tell your corporate donors now that their money has been pissed away for absolutely nothing and that you were an utter and pathetic waste of their time, and quit campaigning”.

It takes planning, and it takes a determination to make decisions not out of fear but out of the power and leverage you know you have, but have only if you use it.

The best that can happen with this approach is beyond your wildest dreams, and the worst that can happen with this is that if nobody else does it while you do you won’t be defending yourself after the fact for having voted for people who could have done their jobs but wouldn’t.

Make it a credible threat. Not a bluff.

Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein – Strike a Blow for Independent Progressive Politics

Dr. Jill Stein is running an insurgent Green campaign for Governor of Massachusetts against 3 business-as-usual political insiders. Her platform reads like a progressive Christmas list. Now she has the chance to break this race open and show that clean, green, people-powered politics can succeed. If Jill Stein’s campaign can raise $125,000 in amounts of $250 or less by Friday 9/24 at 5 PM, it will qualify for 1-1 public matching funds.

The thermometer on Jill Stein’s website is rising rapidly. At 10:40 EST on Friday it shows $110,918, meaning Stein needs just over $14,000 to make it over the top. Supporters of her campaign have created a “Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein” facebook event, which is doing brisk business with 10,000 people invited so far.

Here’s why this is so important: progressives often talk about supporting independent progressive candidates, if a viable one comes along. Jill Stein is that viable independent progressive. She hasn’t taken a dime of corporate or lobbyist money. She was a leading activist for the MA Clean Elections public campaign financing law that the state’s Democratic establishment threw out after the people voted for it 2-1.

Jill Stein is the only candidate talking about replacing Romneycare with a vastly more efficient single-payer health care system. She is the only candidate calling for local green job creation, instead of the big corporate tax breaks and casino schemes that her opponents all agree on. On issue after issue, Jill Stein is unwaveringly progressive while her opponents pledge allegiance to the failed corporatist policies of the status quo.

If Jill Stein qualifies for matching funds, she’ll have a guaranteed place in the debates and a real war chest to spread her message of a secure, healthy green future. It will show that clean money campaigns can work – and that independent progressives are ready to support candidates who support them.

Make a little bit of history today. http://www.jillstein.org/

Dear Sarah Silverman — Time for another Schlep.

An open letter to Sarah Silverman:

(Cross-posted on kos.)

Dear Sarah,

You were a progressive hero in 2008, urging children and grandchildren to Schlep or call Bubbie in Fla. and urge her to vote for Obama.  And of course, you and the Schleppers succeeded, as you wrote:

Thank you, Schleppers! You called Nana, You wrote to Bubbie. And you schlepped on down and sat with Zadie. And because of you hundreds of thousands of Jews voted for Obama in Florida, more than making the difference in that state.

Well, we’re now at crunch time again.  We need everyone — not just Nana and Bubbie, but Gram, Popsie, Abuelito and Pater (i.e., not just Jews) to turn out (and not just in Florida) to stop the O’Donnell’s, Angles, Rubios, Bucks et al. from unleashing their lunacy as a majority in Congress.

Do we really want hearings on whether Obama is actually a cactus?  Shouldn’t teabagging be returned exclusively to its original beautiful meaning?

Where is my Jet Pack

http://www.reuters.com/article…

So, the aliens won’t let us destroy the world or what.  I want my back to the Future Flying Car then so I can make the commute to and from the job I don’t have.

http://www.survivalrealty.com/

Docudharma Times Friday September 24




Friday’s Headlines:

Obama, Wen huddle in a side meeting at U.N.

America’s best fall color drives

USA

Hidden Under Tax-Exempt Cloak, Political Dollars Flow

5 years after Rita hit some left out of recovery

Europe

French trains grind to a halt as millions join pension strike

Flemish leader riles French speakers with accusation of Nazi collaboration

Middle East

Centrality of Middle East talks most striking aspect of speech

How SA company oiled Iran’s war machine

Asia

People of Rajanpur have nothing to drink but filthy water

Four Japanese citizens detained in China as dispute escalates  

Africa

Ivory Coast Starts paying former rebels for peace

Latin America

Top Farc rebel leader Mono Jojoy killed by Colombian army  

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXXI

If a Man will begin with certainties, he will end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end in certainties.

– Francis Bacon


The Road

To some of us

To some of us

it doesn’t matter

what you think

started us

on this journey

To some of us

it doesn’t matter

what you believe

even if

what you

believe

is that

what someone else

believes

is wrong

To some of us

it may be

an interesting way

to share our stories

…or not

But the fact is

that we are all

on this journey

together

And to some of us

the question is

“What do we do now?”

To some of us

the question is

“Where do we go from here?”

And we wonder if

you intend

to stand there and argue

or if you want

to come along

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 3, 2007

Late Night Karaoke

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