Musings on our problematic fate...

I just finished reading the Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi’s latest on Bank of America.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314
Nothing typifies what the United States has become whether it is foreign policy of murder called the ‘support and spread of democracy’ to the wanton raping of the common man by psychopathic institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. The disease of what people refer to as greed but what I see as more of the full blown fevered virus of pathology taking over and slowly killing a healthy system has metastasized and will spell the ruin of all people, perverts what is true and just in life and is a beacon that shows times they will be a changing. It’s like the Matrix. It is everywhere, in everything and infecting the very foundation of humanity and society.

The book, one of the most needed to understand why this is happening, ‘Political Ponerology’ http://ponerology.com/ shows and spells out how psychological deviants take over. The book ‘Snakes in Suits’ spells out how psychopaths rise to the top in corporations and I think it shows why systems such as government are ripe for being taken over and used by deviants to meet their ends. https://www.sott.net/articles/show/242251-One-Out-Of-Every-Ten-Wall-Street-Employees-Is-A-Psychopath-Say-Researchers The book ‘The Authoritarians’ http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/ shows that those that aren’t psychopaths but are susceptible to the systems that psychopaths have taken over and the inhuman dictates that come from such corrupted institutions range in the 25 percent range. One of the best essays I have read on the subject is ‘Environment of Evil’. https://www.sott.net/articles/show/129924-Environment-of-Evil

Take the time to read these articles and books. When you ask yourself how can poison pink
slime meat be a mainstay of beef in our food system http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/pink-slime-supermarket-ground-beef_n_1332429.html, how can a poison https://www.sott.net/articles/show/242858-Neotame-13-000-Times-Sweeter-Than-Sugar-And-Even-More-Toxic-Than-Aspartame
be not only approved by the FDA but remain unlabeled in processed food and how why is it possible that the police state is not only being built worldwide, but being implemented https://www.sott.net/articles/show/242898-British-Teenager-Azhar-Ahmed-Arrested-for-Anti-War-Facebook-Post , the answer is not error and misunderstanding, or an identifying trait such as greed. The answer isn’t a well-meaning bureaucracy that has gotten it wrong. It isn’t the Republicans or Democrats or some other group by name that is too blame. It isn’t because we have to protect ourselves from boogey man terrorists. The problems are that the individuals that make the decisions are psychopaths and a system that does not recognize the danger and has no way to deal with them because people are ignorant of the issue and willing to remain so until it is thrust into their faces. I think we only have a short time until that happens and the system starts to come apart in full. Better prepare because we are living in the rise of the psychopaths.

Smokes and the Poison...

Ho humm trampsing through the internetosphere, I recently arrived upon an article from good ole Tennessee explaining that employees at a certain hospital will now be tested for tobacco products as a restriction on being hired. Here is the story, with a tad of ranting in the text and of course afterwards:

Smokers need not apply for a job - Memorial carves out plan to emphasize health focus

As if higher tobacco taxes, steeper health insurance premiums and smoke-free workplaces weren’t enough, tobacco users have one more financial incentive to kick the habit — missed job opportunities.

Starting Feb. 1, Memorial Hospital no longer will hire people who use tobacco products, making the hospital one of a small number of employers nationwide that consider smoking status in job applicants.

Under the new rule, which does not affect current Memorial employees, those offered employment at the hospital will be tested for nicotine during their required drug test, a human resources officer said. Even nicotine gum or the patch would make a potential employee ineligible.

The decision not to hire tobacco users isn’t based on potential savings in health care costs, but rather is an extension of the hospital’s commitment to health, said Brad Pope, vice president of human resources. Like all hospitals in the region, Memorial’s entire hospital campus is tobacco-free.

(BS and more BS, like a monkey slinging it this way and that - ok like MS then. Hospitals nowadays are run for profit, not for health, and what affects the bottom line, ie health care cost, is what drives the greedy buggers to make such decisions. At least they could be honest and say it is all about the money. More later on what they should really be looking for if they were really interested in health.)

"I understand the concerns people have, but we are here for the health of our community," he said. "Like it or not, what’s proven is that tobacco is the most preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. I think the Chattanooga and surrounding communities should expect this from Memorial."

The practice of refusing employment to tobacco users began to crop up a few years ago and isn’t yet widespread, a tobacco control researcher said. Particularly in the deep South, and in a tobacco state such as Tennessee, it’s a bold move for Memorial, said pulmonologist Dr. Carlos Baleeiro, with Battlefield Pulmonology in Fort Oglethorpe

"It’s very brave of them," he said. "I’m quite impressed by Memorial." [...]

Well I'm not impressed. Why make a stand with smoking? Why not ban obese people and test for fatness. I know you ate that twinkie last night, I can see it in your eyes. Don't get me wrong smoking the additive laced cigarettes is totally bad for you. Just like eating the BPA laced food from canned goods is bad for you (ahh my heart, was it the devil weed tobacco or BPA). Oops guess the hospital forgot that one and the guardians of light, the FDA, isn't going to do a Monkey _*%$ about it so, ho humm guess all the "we are committed to health" and love puppies, because everyone loves puppies, only goes so far.

Have another plate full of BPA broccoli and a can of HFCS death soda or would you like a can of Aspartame laced diet soda served by one of the Dark Ones Donald Rumsfeld himself (who not only happens to have been instrumental in the killing of millions of Iraqis, but pushing the approval of Aspartame through the bastions of health and freedom, the FDA) and then bask in your totally warped reality of healthiness and love zone of we don't do it for the monkey I mean the money, we do it because we love people. MS!

Their Eyes were Watching . . . You!

The National Security Surveillance Act (.pdf) passed by a 10-8 vote.

The Act radically redefines and expands the government's ability to eavesdrop on and search the homes of U.S. Citizens. Basically, it gives the government the power to wiretap Americans without court orders in direct violation of not only the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), but also the Constitution.

Why should you care? In an act of shameless self-promotion, I point you to this previous entry.

Housing update

Been a while since I posted, here is some info on the state of the housing market. Not looking upbeat at all. Don't get caught with your pants down in this mess. I bolded a few things, two of which are the indicators of a housing slump, one a early indicator and the other a newer future indicator. 1. Home builder stock prices down 50% from a year ago (big money saw this coming) 2. A new indicator is housing futures (these futures I think are ridiculous to begin with - I guess if I bought a home I might consider hedging my risk using this - but none the less) shows where money that is on the table right now and can be lost is betting on the market being down 5%. Here is my initial analysis on ARMs, etc from January: http://hamneck.blogspot.com/2006/01/knowing-your-risk.html and more info on economic stuff worth reading - http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20060823_SignsEconomicCommentary.php

"The Biggest Slump in US Housing in the Last 40 Years"…or 53 Years?
Nouriel Roubini Aug 23, 2006
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/142759
“The Biggest Slump in US Housing in the Last 40 Years”: These are not my words but those of the Toll Brothers, the famous luxury McMansions homebuilders. As reported by the WSJ today: In his 40 years as a home builder, Mr. Toll says, he has never seen a slump unfold like the current one. "I've never seen a downturn in housing without a downturn in employment or... some macroeconomic nasty condition that took housing down along with other elements of the economy," he says. "This time, you've got low unemployment, you've got job creation, you've got a stable stock market and relatively low interest rates.". This followed last week’s CNN headline: “Builder: Oversupply slump worst in 40 years. Toll Brothers slashes outlook on new homes as orders plunge and revenue misses forecasts” Indeed, yesterday’s sharply falling profit results from the Toll Brothers confirmed their view that this is the worst housing slump in decades. Similarly, Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide – the country’s largest independent home mortgage lender - recently stated: "I've never seen a soft-landing in 53 years, so we have a ways to go before this levels out. I have to prepare the company for the worst that can happen." So, the only debate now is whether housing conditions are the worst in the last 40 years or in the last 53 years. So much for the bullish soft-landing wishful thinking coming out of Wall Street these days….

Of course, the message from the Toll Brothers and Countrywide is like the proverbial canary in the mine that is reflective of an ongoing rout – calling it slowdown or slump is a misnomer by now – in the US housing market. Every possible indicator of the housing sector that has been coming out in the last few weeks – and I will discuss their details below - suggests that the housing market is in free fall. And today’s figures on existing home sales and unsold homes say it all; as Bloomberg concisely headlined this morning: U.S. Existing-Home Sales Tumble; Unsold Inventory Is Highest in a Decade

At this point there no doubt on whether the housing sector is contracting – real residential investment fell at the annualized rate of 6.4% in Q2. The first derivative of the housing market is clear and negative today and looking ahead for the next few quarters. There is not even a debate about the second derivative of the housing market as any estimate out there suggests that the housing sector will contract at a faster rate in Q3 and Q4 than in Q2. Some official estimates that I have seen suggest that real residential housing will contract at 10% - rather than the Q2 6.4% in the next two quarters. My own estimate – based on a reading of the coming data – is that, actually, the contraction is more likely to be of the order of 12-15% annualized rate in the next several quarters. So, the only remaining scary question is about the third derivative of the housing sector and at which point – in terms of quantities and prices – the housing market will bottom out.

I have also argued before that the effects of housing on US economic growth and the role of housing in tipping the US economy into a recession in early 2007 are more significant than the role that the tech sector bust in 2000 played in tipping the economy into a recession in 2001. There are three reasons:
1. The direct effect of the fall in residential investment in aggregate demand will be as high as the effects of the fall in real investment in the 2000-2001episode. Then, real investment fell by about 2% of GDP. This time around the fall in residential investment alone – let alone the role other components of real investment, such as software and equipment, that are already falling in Q2 – will be as large as residential investment could fall from the peak of about 6.2% of GDP (the highest level since the 1950s) to as low as 4% of GDP at the bottom in 2007.

2. The wealth effect of the tech bust was limited to the elite of folks who had stocks in the NASDAQ. The wealth effect of now falling housing prices – yes median prices are starting to fall at the national level - affects every home-owning household: the value of residential real estate has also increased to 48.5% of household wealth in 2006 from from 38.7% in 1996. Also, the link between housing wealth rising, increased home equity withdrawal (HEW) and consumption of durable and non durables is very significant (see RGE’s Christian Menegatti brief on this), much more than the effect of the tech bubbles of the 1990s. Last year, out of the $800 billion of HEW at least $150 or possibly $200 billion was spent on consumption and another good $100 billion plus went into residential investment (i.e. house capital improvements/expansions). It is enough for house price to flatten – as they already did recently – let alone start falling - as they are doing now since they are beginning to fall in major markets – for the wealth effect to disappear, the HEW dribble to low levels and for consumption to sharply fall. Note that this year there will be large increases in the borrowing costs for $1 trillion of ARM’s while this figure for 2007 will be $1.8 trillion. Thus, debt servicing costs for millions of homeowners will sharply increase this year and next.

3.The employment effects of housing are serious; up to 30% of the employment growth in the last three years was due directly and indirectly to housing. The direct effects are job lost in construction, building materials, real estate brokers and sales agents, and employees of the mortgage finance industry. The indirect effects imply that the role of housing is even larger than 30%. The housing boom led to a boom in consumer durables spending on home appliances and furniture. Indeed, in Q2 real consumption of such goods was already negative: as you have less new home built and purchased and less old homes refurbished and expanded, you get less purchases of home appliances and furniture. There are also other indirect effects of the housing bust on employment, even on the purchases of motor vehicles. Indeed, the current auto sector slump is not unrelated to the housing slump. As the Financial Times put recently, the sharp fall in the sales of Ford's pick-up trucks is related to the housing slump as such truck are widely purchased by real estate contractors. And indeed in Q2 real consumer durables (that include both cars, home appliances and furniture all related to housing) already fell, consistent with the view that we have now have a glut in the stock of consumer durables (durables consumption has a investment-like nature to it as such goods last for a long time). Thus, as housing sector slumps, the job and income and wage losses in housing will percolate throughout the economy.

How bad are the signals coming from the housing sector? As a recent news headline clearly put it: it is simply UGLY. Indeed, all the indicators from the housing sectors - including the latest housing starts and the homebuilders (NAHB) forward looking business conditions - indicate a housing sector that is literally in free fall. New home sales started to fall since the beginning of 2006 and in some regions they are down over 30% relative to a year ago. As Bloomberg summarized today the new housing data: “Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell more than expected in July, resulting in the biggest supply of unsold homes in more than a decade, as higher mortgage rates discouraged would-be home buyers.. Purchases declined 4.1 percent last month to an annual rate of 6.33 million, the lowest since January 2004, from 6.6 million in June, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. Sales fell 11.2 percent compared with a year earlier.” Indeed, the number of unsold homes and the ratio of unsold homes to new home sales has therefore risen sharply to over 5.5 months of supply. Similarly the ratio of unsold homes to existing home sales has also sharply increased. These are clear indicator of a glut of unsold homes in the market. Housing starts are also sharply down elative to a year ago and expected to fall further over the next few quarters. Note also that, while overall mortgage applications are still up in the latest figures published today, due to sustained refinancing applications, applications for purchase applications have fallen 1.0% during the last week, this being fifth fall in the last six weeks. Moreover, there is a large amount of evidence that suggests increasing cancellation of initial mortgage applications, as the slump in the housing market and in the economy is now scaring households considering buying a home. Thus, the official data on purchase mortgage applications are very likely to exceed actual home sales.

More generally, note that when demand for housing initially falls relative to a glut of supply, the initial market response is not on price, as it is the case of financial market where prices adjust rapidly, but rather on the quantity of unsold homes and on how long unsold homes stay on the market. Housing prices, unlike financial assets, are sluggish. This market inventory adjustment eventually leads to lower prices once sellers realize that demand is low and that waiting is not going to help.

The housing market has thus followed so far the predicted various stages of adjustment to cycle driven by the initial housing bubble: initially a glut of supply of new homes as high prices (driven in part by speculative demand) led to high and excessive production of new homes; then a fall in demand as speculative high prices and rising rates made the purchases of housing less affordable to many; then, the ensuing inventory adjustment – an increase in unsold homes. Then, the reduction in the production of new homes – lower housing starts – as homebuilders with falling revenues and profits and lower expected demand finally reacted to the growing glut of unsold inventories. Indeed, the value of home builders’ shares on the NYSE has fallen by almost 50% relative to a year ago. Finally, we have now a price adjustment in two directions: a) an increase in rents as housing affordability fell since more and more households could not afford to pay the speculative prices of existing and new homes; this increase in rents is now correctly jacking up owner equivalent rent and increasing headline CPI inflation; b) the beginning of a fall in actual housing prices as the glut of unsold homes is now putting downward pressure on actual prices. (for more on recent indicators of the housing bust see the RGE Monitor cluster of readings on housing indicators)

The evidence on falling home prices is now becoming clearer. Since the end of World War II, there has never been a year on year fall in housing prices. There have been instead several quarters in which housing prices declined. Of course in some regions where there were housing busts prices declined for a while: in Texas during the housing bust of the mid 1980s that led to the S&L crisis; in California in the early 1990s following the recession in that state; in Boston in 1990. Those episodes were all associated with the housing bust that was related to the 1990-1991 recession So, you do not need a persistent year-on-year fall in median housing prices to have a housing bust; such bust can occur even if prices are flattening or falling in some regions, but not nationally. Moreover, such regional bust can be associated with national recession, as in the 1990-91 episode. So, the fact that the latest housing bubble was concentrated on the two coasts (North East all the way to Florida; and West Coast, especially California) does not mean that the coming housing bust in these regions will not have national macro effects. For one thing, the value of the housing stock in those two regions is close to 50% of the total housing stock given the bubble of recent years. Thus, a housing bust in the two coasts can and will have macro effects.

Indeed, today the National Association of Realtors reported today that the median price of an existing home rose only 0.9 percent in July from a year ago. So, housing prices are practically flat at the national level. Worse, relative to a year ago housing prices have already fallen in the North East (-2.1%), Mid-West (-0.6%) and the West (-0.3%). So, not only housing prices are falling in the bubbly two coast; they are also starting to fall in the Mid-West, the region where the conventional wisdom was that there was no housing bubble. The fact that home prices are falling in the Mid-West where prices did not skyrocket in the bubble years is a scary signal of how much the housing bust and glut in supply will lead to a sharp fall in housing prices in the quarters ahead with painful effects on the wealth, and thus consumption, of households. You can expect falling median housing prices, on a year-on-year basis, at the national level starting this month of August: indeed, today's figures on the glut of unsold homes - much larger than in the housing bust of the early 1990s - are only consistent with a highly likely actual fall in home prices in the months ahead and throughout most of 2007. Note also that, on an inflation adjusted basis, real home prices (relative to the CPI index) are already falling at a 4% plus rate.

Also, as noted by Dean Baker: "current house price indices are failing to pick up the full decline in prices because they miss the various concessions (seller paid closing costs, buyer-side realtor bonuses, and seller subsidized mortgages) that sellers often use to move their houses."

Even more ominously, futures markets now expect that house prices will fall during 2007. Following the lead and prodding of Robert Shiller – the maverick Yale professor who predicted the 2000 stock bust and is now predicting a housing bust - the Chicago Mercantile Exchange opened this spring a new futures market for house prices in ten U.S. cities. While this market is very new and still relatively illiquid, it is now predicting that U.S. house prices will fall in 2007 at the national average level, for the first time in over fifty years. The index of this futures’ market for the entire US is projecting a 5% price fall in 2007. And the futures contracts for individual cities show expected declines in housing prices even larger than 5% for Miami, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Miami, New York and Las Vegas.
The likely fall in median home prices in 2007 may actually turn out to be larger than the 5% priced in the futures markets. In fact, one of the peculiar features of the latest housing cycle has been the presence of a large housing bubble: prices were going up well above economic fundamentals because of the speculative demand coming from expectations of increased housing prices that were feeding further speculative demand: "condo flipping" is the popular term for this speculative demand. Now that the bubble is bursting the fall in prices will be sharper than the one implied by medium term fundamantals as the initial price increase was due to a bubble that is bursting and leading to a fall in speculative demand: with prices now falling homeowners and speculators have no incentive to buy new homes as they expect prices to be lower in the future. So, expected prices fall leads to fall in speculative and fundamental demand and triggers actual larger than otherwise fall in actual prices. The speculative excess of a price bubble will now bring the bust of this price bubble. While the effect will be slower than in asset markets where prices adjust instantaneously (due to the sluggish nature of housing prices and their slow adjustment to increased inventories) eventually this price adjustment will occur - as it is now - and it will be very persistent over time. So, you can expect falling housing prices throughout most of 2007.
So, the simple conclusion from the analysis above is that this is indeed the biggest housing slump in the last four or five decades: every housing indictor is in free fall, including now housing prices. By itself this slump is enough to trigger a US recession: its effects on real residential investment, wealth and consumption, and employment will be more severe than the tech bust that triggered the 2001 recession. And on top of the housing bust, US consumers are facing oil above $70, the delayed effects of rising Fed Fund and long term rates, falling real wages, negative savings, high debt ratios and higher and higher debt servicing ratios. This is the tipping point for the US consumer and the effects will be ugly. Expect the great recession of 2007 to be much nastier, deeper and more protracted than the 2001 recession.
And the housing bust is not going to be only a US phenomenon. As I will discuss in another blog, housing bubbles festered in many other economies including many European ones. Thus, the combination of high oil prices, delayed effects of rising interest rates and slump of housing that is now leading to a US recession is a phenomenon that is common to many other economies, including several European ones. So, expect the same deadly combinations of three ugly bears (slumping housing, high oil prices and rising interest rates) to hammer Goldilocks and sharply hurt Europe and other economies in the world.

Thursday morning update:
This morning's data on new homes sales, inventories of new homes and prices of new homes fully confirm and reinforce my analysis yesterday that this will be the worst housing bust - calling it slump is too mild - in decades. And since median home prices may actually fall on a year-on-year basis in 2007 - something that has not happened since the Great Depression of the 1930s - this may end up being the biggest housing bust in the last 75 years, not just 40 years as the Toll Brothers argue or 53 years as Countrywide argues. As reported by Bloomberg this morning:
New Home Sales in U.S. Fell to a 1.072 Million Pace by Bob Willis
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- New home sales in the U.S. fell last month and inventories rose to a record, raising the risk for the economy that the housing market slowdown will become more pronounced.
Purchases of new homes, which account for about 15 percent of the market, dropped 4.3 percent to an annual pace of 1.072 million, the Commerce Department said in Washington. Sales in the Midwest slumped to the lowest level in almost nine years. The median U.S. home price rose 0.3 percent from July 2005, the smallest rise since December 2003.
The weakening housing market is leaving builders with record inventory and little choice but to reduce prices at a time when profits are declining. Some Federal Reserve policy makers have said a slump in housing is one of their biggest concerns because refinancing, which provided homeowners with extra cash to spend, may dry up as home values decline.
``There is no question we have what could be called a housing recession,'' said James O'Sullivan, a senior economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who forecast a drop to 1.075 million. ``I don't think we've seen the full effect of this yet on the overall economy.''
The decline in new home purchases follows yesterday's report that showed a drop in sales of previously owned houses to the lowest in more than two years. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales, which make up about 85 percent of all purchases, declined 4.1 percent to an annual pace of 6.33 million in July.

Super Money!

I have no idea what to make of this, but the Federal Reserve System has released Comic Books to tell the fascinating tale of how money works. Kids - Hold on to your hats and by prepared to be entertained by titles such as The Story of Inflation, The Story of Checks and Electronic Payments, and Once upon a Dime. The best part, they are free. I personally couldn't click the 'order' button fast enough. (link)

The Mockingbird's Song

Here is a passage I read last night from Mark Twain's 'The Mysterious Stranger' where the character of Satan is talking about the susceptibility of people, war and the 'minority' that call for it:

"Oh, it's true. I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. [...]

"There has never been a just one, never an honorable one--on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit will-- warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, "It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it." Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers--as earlier-- but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation--pulpit and all-- will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."

He pretty well sums up the topic of war in my opinion and the current world situation where the gallant and loving knight of US of A dupes it's own people into believing the lie of spreading freedom and democracy while killing, maiming and destroying innocents their land and culture. Fear drives us. The "conscience-soothing falsities" and ignorance drives us to believe and support statements like the one made about the suicide of three prisoners at the Guantanomo Bay prison camp. A statement that I think pulls down the 'Mask of Sanity' and shows the true psychopathic nature of those in charge of the military and government - the minority. Blame those you have wronged with the charge of which you have committed.

(Here) "They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," Navy Rear-Admiral Harry Harris, the base commander, said. "They have no regard for human life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us."

Unbelievable!!! Actually, not anymore for me. Although this statement was made about the suicides that took place in Cuba against individuals that have not been proven guilty of anything, have been held for four years without a trial and probably have little if any hope of ever leaving the place, I think we might want to look at the good Admiral and General's comments as applying to our strategy in Iraq. What the unprovoke invader that doesn't give two Sh**ts about following any international law set down since WWII (that would be the US) does is they basically strangle any hope of life out of a country and hold the people and culture hostage and torture them into submission and destruction. If you were in Iraq or Gitmo what would you feel? Desperation seems to be a good word for it. If you were a member of the community in Haditha (and other locations where similar atrocities have taken place not mentioned or covered by our media) where the Marines went crazy and killed innocent women and children performing the Iraqi version of Vietnam's My Lai, how would you act and feel? "Asymmetric warfare" - this is the US's deed, not the other way around.

(Here) "Despite articles written by defence attorneys and young translators arguing the contrary, these are, in fact, dangerous men in our custody. Make no mistake about it - we are keeping enemies of our nation off the battlefield. This is an enormous challenge. These terrorists are not represented by any nation or government. They do not adhere to the rules of war."

Rules of war. What a joke, when you make the rules up as you go. We are yet to see any proof that these are dangerous, terrorists. 4 years - I don't think proof of this will ever come out. And if statements and confessions made by these individuals does come out of the Gitmo Prison Camp, what good are they? If I was being tortured and told to confess for something I didn't do, I'd sing the song they wanted. Just ask John McCain, James Stockdale, and other Vietnam POWs I heard speak at what is called the Forrestal Lecture Series at the US Naval Academy for leadership development and/or read about in ethics classes. They sang and I naively held on to the fantasy that we would never torture, have never done this. That the US held the standard. That we were and are good. The US condemned Vietnam and condemned that torture. Now we practice it openly in the name of fighting some illusory enemy, a myth, while believing the lies and song of the minority.

Here is one brave and honorable individual that isn't swayed by the song:
"Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 7th U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will become the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to the unlawful Iraq war and occupation. He will announce his intention to disobey the illegal order to deploy to Iraq in coordinated press conferences in Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii."

Last night I was trying to sleep and thinking about all of the above when a very loud bird across the street started to sing. Changing the tune rapidly and repeatedly. Calling out as if to sway other species of birds that it is one of them. This was the mockingbird and if you've ever had one outside your window when trying to sleep, good luck.

I've been reading a book that talks about what I see as the human version of the mockingbird's song, the minority among us and the role they play in bringing about and acceptance of things such as war, torture, and destruction of the majority. Think about how often the tune has changed about every topic including Iraq, torture, enemy combatants and how absurd our acceptance of it is. Place yourself in the position of the people of Iraq. Watch this video of a beach that was shelled by an Israeli ship. Put yourself in the place of one of the family members there. The pain, empathy and sorrow you feel isn't and can't be felt by the psychopath. We are being duped by "cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities." We are in the grasp of psychopaths and the book that explains why and the process is Political Ponerology. Linked Here is commentary on the book uncluding excerpts and necessary reading if you want to understand the minority's twisted song.

Other coverage of the Gitmo suicides worth reading: Editorial: Lies, Damn Lies and Spades

Come down to the yard, watch the O's, get lost - go to jail?

Maybe this is one reason the O's attendance is down this year? via cryptogon.com

Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions POSTED: 7:23 am EDT May 17, 2006 UPDATED: 10:52 am EDT May 17, 2006

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .

"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.

"It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up."

Collins reported it was a nightmare ending to a nearly perfect day. He said the couple went to a company picnic and watched the Orioles beat Kansas City. It was their first trip to Camden Yards and asked two people for directions to Interstate 95 South when they left.

Collins said somehow they ended up in the Cherry Hill section of south Baltimore. Hopelessly lost, relief melted away concerns after they spotted a police vehicle.

"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said.

"The first thing that she said to us was no -- you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?"

"What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.

Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.

"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."

Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.

"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything -- stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."

"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"

Collins said the couple was released from jail without being charged with anything. Brook is now concerned the arrest may complicate a criminal background check she's going through in her job as a child care worker.

Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen.

Baltimore City police said they are looking into the incident.

Editorial: Who Watches the Watchers?

I've been talking to everyone who will listen recently about the issue of goverment survelience and the increasing invasion of privacy that has been brought to the forefront in recent news. And, I keep getting the same, stupid reply. "I don't care . . . I don't have anything to hide . . . I'm not doing anything wrong"

Until recently, my retorts have largely focused on the problems that could arise in the future, based on mismanagement of information. My biggest fears were that the goverment would mishandle MY information, or slightly worse, may suddenly decide to change the definition of right and wrong, and use my information to retroactively punish me. I mean, afterall, it wasn't wrong to be jewish in germany pre-police state, right?

But, as I've pondered the issue more, i've come to realize the issue is bigger than what could happen with my information. I realized I was perpetuating the idea that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's wrong for the government to invade my privacy with unprovoked survelience. But, it's wrong because it's an invasion of my privacy . . . and privacy is a basic human need.

Is it wrong for me to want to be alone and unwatched on occasion to reflect privately? Or, more simply, is it wrong for me to want privacy when i take a dump? Of course not. But, if the government continues increasing survelience at the current rate, it won't be long before we are being watched in our own homes. And, in some ways, we already are in that the goverment has been collecting information about every phone call we make. (link)

I don't know a single person who doesn't do something 'wrong' on an almost daily basis. Think about it . . . when was the last time you exceeded the speed limit? Dropped a piece of trash on the sidewalk? Watch someone long enough, and you'll almost certainly find something for which to arrest them (or blackmail them). Or, possibly worse, find something to sell to marketers, or to simply peep.

Which brings me to my main point. Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power . . . even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of survellience.

Imagine, if you will, a world in which we are constantly watched, observed in all manners. We would be in constant threat of correction, criticism, judgement, or even plagarism. We'd become children, constantly living in fear, afraid of what may happen at any moment, and afraid that we may have done something in the past that at the time was not illegal, but may become illegal and retroactively punishable by those in power.

Too many incorrectly label the debate as "security versus privacy". But I move that the debate is more correctly labeled as "liberty versus control". Liberty requires security plus privacy, security without intrusion. And that is why we must oppose constant survellience - even if we are doing nothing wrong. For "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" - Ben Franklin