Monday, November 10, 2008

Research shows that our concept of time may be flawed

"It's as if, in the real world, we are living inside a hologram," says Hogan. "The illusion is almost perfect."

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Government increases AIG bailout to $150 billion

By Mark Felsenthal and Lilla Zuill WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve hiked its support for insurer American International Group Inc to about $150 billion on Monday after an initial bailout attempt failed to stem massive...

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Bush pushes gambling ban via "lame duck" midnight regulation

The Bush Administration is hastily finalizing a number of “midnight rules” before they leave office, and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is on the list. Just like UIGEA was snuck into legislation in the dark of night in 2006, anti-poker extremists are again trying an 11th hour sneak job.

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Obama Plans Guantanamo Close, US Trials

The Constitution finally will be applied and torture will hopefully end.

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Government increases AIG bailout to $150 billion

By Mark Felsenthal and Lilla Zuill WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve hiked its support for insurer American International Group Inc to about $150 billion on Monday after an initial bailout attempt failed to stem massive...

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Saturday, November 1, 2008

McCain Supported Group Accused Of Terrorist Activities

During the late 1990s, the Senator supported and reportedly helped arm an organization that, while eventually tolerated by the U.S. foreign policy establishment, was accused of terrorist activities and allegedly had ties to al Qaeda.

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Palin speaks on First Amendment: This is so dumb it hurts.

John McCain's running mate thinks that the Constitution protects political candidates from being criticized by the press.

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Friday, October 31, 2008

From $603,000 to $1 In 60 Seconds

Never mind the probabilities or the greed, this is the all-time biggest bonehead move in Deal Or No Deal history.

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The Onion Predicted Joe The Plumber in 1993

The Onion had a preposterous story about Roy the Forklift driver becoming a media darling of the conservative movement.

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Barack Obama on The Daily Show (Full Interview)

Senator Barack Obama is the guest on The Daily Show and doe a great interview with Jon Stewart via satellite. He doesn't think white voters have gotten the memo about the Bradley effect.

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McCain adviser: Palin is ‘a whack job’

***In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.”

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AP Poll: Obama Leads Or Ties In Eight Crucial States

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama now leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied with John McCain in two other Republican red states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling.

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Court Docs Reveal GOP Donor Funneled $75k To Coleman Family

Paul McKim, the founder and CEO of Deep Marine Technology, alleges in a civil suit that Nasser Kazeminy -- a longtime Republican donor, friend of Coleman, and DMT shareholder -- directed the company to send $75,000 to the Senator and his wife in 2007.

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Obama uses his TV time well

It pays to buy airtime only if you know what to do with it - and Barack Obama clearly does.

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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Bill Clinton Campaigns with Obama

Bill Clinton was campaigning with Barack Obama yesterday in Florida. This is a little odd to me because of all the bad blood they had during the primary. It can only help Obama though. Bill Clinton is a highly regarded spokesperson for the democrat party and highly respected. The only way that I can explain it is that maybe if Obama is elected Bill and Hillary will play some part in his cabinet. I hope this happens. Wouldn;t it be cool to see Secretary of the State Bill Clinton? haha

Obama's Infomercial

Last night Barack Obama aired his long awaited primetime video. It featured typical people talking about their life challenges. Obama explained how he intends to fix them. The ad had a couple of spots where a mother of six children is trying to make ends meet; a third-generation Ford autoworker facing possible layoffs, and a retired couple who have to live and pay their high medical bills.This aired on CBS, NBC and Fox for about $1 million per clip. The spot also aired on Univision,, BET, MSNBC, TV One and CNN.He also aired a 30-second spot aimed at battle ground states that uses McCain's own words against him and mocks running mate Sarah Palin’s signature wink. It shows three McCain quotes, acknowledging he has limited economic expertise. In the last quote, McCain says he might have to rely on his vice president for expertise — and then it cuts to a winking Palin.McCain also ran ads striking out at Obama’s “inexperience.”We shall see if McCain's tactics help him or hurt him down the home stretch. So far to me, it seems that he can not get a consistant message across. He looks as a man who will do and say anything to get what he wants. Kind of scary.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Feds likely rate cut-Spend on Credit!

Believing that if rates on variable rate credit cards come down, Americans will be dumb enough to go out and put everything on credit - AGAIN. Maybe the Feds haven't learned a thing from their past mistakes, but a lot of Americans have. Trying to encourage spending on credit, is exactly what got us in this debacle in the first place! Use cash only

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The Best Obama video yet, making the close.

Great video from Obama. .

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WATCH: Biden Tells 5th Grade Reporter What VP Actually Does

When Joe Biden campaigned in Palm Beach County, Florida in September he was interviewed by one Damon Weaver, a remarkably poised and charming 5th grader. Weaver's news segment on Biden's visit is highly entertaining and worth checking out, And make sure to watch to the end, when Weaver pronounces Biden his "homeboy."

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Joe McCain Calls 911 To Complain About Traffic!!

We have the tape of a 911 call made by John McCain's brother earlier this week. He called the police emergency line because he was angry he was stuck in traffic: Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause); Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up).

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Pennsylvania Republicans Send False Anti-Obama E-mail

A new e-mail making the rounds among Jewish voters in Pennsylvania this week falsely alleged that Mr. Obama “taught members of Acorn to commit voter fraud,’’ and equated a vote for Senator Barack Obama with the “tragic mistake” of their Jewish ancestors, who “ignored the warning signs in the 1930’s and 1940’s.”

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Bill Clinton to Campaign with Obama

Former President Bill Clinton will campaign with Senator Barack Obama for the first time on Wednesday at an evening rally in Orlando, a Clinton aide said.

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Biden Slammed During Florida Interview

Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden gave it to Florida WFTV anchor Barbara West Thursday when she asked him a slew of questions straight out of John McCain's talking points.West began the interview by asking whether Biden was "embarrassed" by Barack Obama's association with ACORN. Watch the interview.

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McCain aide: Palin's 'going rogue'

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue." ... "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."

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Interesting site

For all you out there that are worried about the economy, this should make you more worried. This is about the dollar's collapse.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread405091/pg1

This year's election

Ok, it is getting close to time to vote. In this year's election we have to choose between an in-experienced, energetic, new comer and a more than qualified, war hero, old guy. Then think about their running mates. It's exactly the same. So, who do we choose. One side says the other is more of the same. The other side says the other is too inexperienced to lead and a supporter of terrorism. Now I have a problem with this. How do you claim that someone is a supporter of terrorism just because of his middle name? Really, this is pretty much all they have. If when you are voting this goes through your mind, then I fear that we are a doomed nation. Listen to what these guys are really saying. Check the fact checker on all of their recent speeches. That is really all you have to do. I realize some people will vote based on your party. That is expected. But what about all the others that say they have not decided?? I recommend to pay attention to their economy plans and tax plans. One purposes to just give tax credits, while the other, wants to cut the taxes of 95% of Americans. How does cutting the taxes on 95% of Americans amount to raising your taxes?? Now when he states he will cut the taxes of people making under 250,000 a year and raise on the ones making over that. He is talking about individuals not business. Business and individuals pay taxes differently. I do not know about any one else but I'm definatly not making 250,000 a year. I do not see the harm in raising taxes on anyone that does make over that. How would it hurt??

Another thing that concerns me, The one guy is pretty old and who knows how long this guy will stay alive. If they say the other is too inexperienced to run the country then this lady is really not ready. Have you heard some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth when asked pretty simple questions???? That scares me.

On Defense, you have one guy that will probably continue the same policies that are in effect now. This is really not that bad, but how long can we afford to go this route?? Spending millions everyday, economy in shambles, it would seem to save alot of money if we started thinking about a new direction. When we first started the war on terror I agreed and totally supported doing what we where doing. When they said lets make this a two front war because, if you remember, they where supposed to be weapons of mass destruction. Then when none where found, it was because they where supporting terrorist. This was disproved and then the terrorist did move in. So what did we go there for?? Now this is not a tough question but atleast we did not have to be lied to. Of course, if they told us the truth, we would have never supported this.

Just keep all these things in mind when you vote. Either way do it because it is the way you feel. Not about what the other says about the other. They are politicians and probably will say just about anything.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

My plan for the future




Recently I have been living and working in Japan. I recently separated from the US Navy and decided to stay in the same career field that I was in the Navy. This has proven to be quiet easy, as jobs in the IT field are easy to come by with the right skills and experience. Everything has been going pretty well financially speaking, but as for job satisfaction, it is no longer there. I have come to the realization that I believe it is time to move on and into another career field. I was thinking, as funny and stupid as this might seem, given the current economic situation, to get into the financial industry. This would require me to go to college. The problem here is that I am pretty old. After high school, I gladly gave the country 9 years of my life. It was the best decision that I had ever made. It allowed me to mature, gain real life experience in one of the fastest growing career fields, meet my wife, make friendships that will last for ever, explore the world out side of plainville USA, and know what it was like to sacrifice for others. That was a great 9 years. I served onboard an Aircraft carrier, did a stint in South Korea, and 2 tours in Japan. After separating it was easy to find a job. Unfortunately, I believe that I have become burned out with dealing with the every day operations of an IT operations center. Not to mention, this career field has a salary ceiling that is hard to reach. So, I believe I will head back to my home town in a year or so and go to the University there. It will be a little difficult due to having a family now. But they are supportive of my ideas even if they haven't always been the correct decisions. One good thing is, the GI Bill will be revamped soon, so it should not be too difficult to survive on a 1 part time income and 1 full time. I am just curious if the Financial industry is the correct way to go. Investment banking has been taking a good spanking recently but, history shows that this will not last for ever. I believe that behind doctors, lawyers, professional athletes, celebrities, and politicians, these group of people have the highest paid individuals
in the country. Maybe I am wrong, but I have always had the curiosity to learn more about the stock markets, banking, and anything to do with money. It will take a lot of sacrifice but I believe I could do a pretty good job. But then again, this is just an idea. The country could go bankrupt???? I will take a year or so and pay off the debt that I have, while following the news. If anyone has any experience with this field, I would love to hear.

The reason.....

Good evening (or insert what time of day it is at the moment) my friends...... I hate that phrase. I have heard it often these days. It usually comes out of the mouths of politicians who have lost all touch with what it is like to be a normal citizen. These guys sit in office and argue over who has a better way of thinking all day long. They say what ever it takes to get them elected to the office and then once they are there, they forget almost everything they said. How many times have we heard "I will not raise taxes", "I will fix the budget", or "I will fix the health care system" ?? Daddy Bush's slogan was "No new taxes". Wouldn't you know it, after being elected, he raised taxes. Then we come to the budget. THE DEFICIT IS OVER A TEN TRILLION DOLLARS!!!!!! (as of 25 OCT 10,531,204,422,183 Do you know how much that is?? As of July 2007, the estimated population of the United States was 301,139,947. Now some simple math..... 10,531,204,422,183 divided by 301,139,947 = almost 35,000. So that means we each owe about 35 thousand dollars right now. Now they say we really owe this money to ourselves. Really its to the financial elite who have the money to lend and foreign countries. A quarter of this is owed to foriegn countries. We owe Japan 593 billion dollars, followed by China at 518 billion dollars. Sound a little scary? Well dont get too worried, we will never actually go broke and we have never really been out of debt since the start of this country. But what about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicade? They are growing considerably faster than the economy. It is estimated that sometime between 2030 and 2040, spending for these programs will exceed tax revenue. All other spending (defense, homeland security, law enforcement, education, etc) will require borrowing. This situation would be catastrophic. We would have to increase our dependence on foreign sources for financing. What does that mean?? Well, say we borrow money from country "A". 5 years or so later we still owe them alot of money. They start acting up but we can not do anything because they are funding us.
We will have to eventually choose what we will need to do. Bankruptcy, raising taxes, or cutting payouts. Serious huh?


So that leads to "I will not raise taxes". I will say it like my father says. "I do not care to pay taxes. Raise them if you want. Just make sure that I make enough money to pay them and survive." Right now there are 2 candidates running for president with differing views on a tax plan. Or so they say..... I will not get into details here, but, i can tell you that taxes will go up one way or the other. The question is just on which class of people? The republican point of view is called the trickle down effect. Cut taxes on the highly paid will lead to more jobs, etc, etc. Now the democrat view is the bottom up effect. Cut taxes on the lower class and raise on higher class. Both ways have good intentions im sure but really does it matter? If you raise taxes on the upper class the argument goes, then companies will start laying off people causing unemployment to rise. If you cut taxes on the upper class they will just pocket all the savings. Example: Oil companies. This year while we all felt the pain at the pump and still do, Exxon Mobil and the rest of their pals fattened their pockets and went to the bank. They had tax breaks and did it help any of the rest of us???? And do not forget about Wall Street. What happened there? AIG is a good example. This company tanks and asks the government for help. Government helps and not 2 weeks later all of there top brass are out partying like they just hit the lottery at some fancy resort. I do not think that system works out very well.

Back to Oil. Now this is a topic that I have a very short fuse for. It gets me all worked up inside thinking about this. Oil jumped so high this summer it was pathetic. For a while people where asking why?? why??? why???? Everyone had an assumption. The prices started falling and now no one is thinking about why they went so high in the first place. You do not hear anything about that in the news or anywhere. It is like they are trying to forget. I have an idea. Not so sure but here goes. This is what I think happened. Back before the sub prime collapse, there where some smart hedge fund managers. They had this idea that this real estate thing is not going to last. Before the collapse they started moving their money into oil commodities. It was ok at first. Then the sub prime loan collapse happened. Now, all these other fund managers saw what these other guys where doing and started doing the same thing. Can you really blame them. They where losing lots of money on the sub prime loans so why not invest in something stable. What they did not know is that by doing this in mass it would drive the prices of oil up artificially. They say supply and demand is what raises the price of oil. Im convinced otherwise, or atleast for now. We will see in a few weeks. The countries of OPEC had started to like the higher prices. During the summer when prices where astronomically high, (I will call it the oil crisis) all they could say when asked why prices where so high is, supply and demand. They raised supply to try to convince the rest of the world that they cared and where doing what they could. Now that the prices are tanking, they are not happy. Case in point, Iran. They said "the days of cheap oil is over!" Cheap oil? It has only been a month at most. When asked how high the price should be they said "as high as possible". They then went on to say they should cut production to stabilize prices. I hope this does not work and the prices continues to fall.
I have a theory of why the prices are going down. When the market crashed, all these hedge funds where heavily invested in oil because it was seen as safer. Now they do not see anything as being safe except for the US Dollar. So now they are moving their money into bonds and treasury notes. This of course has hurt the strength of the dollar around the world but it has brought the price of oil down dramatically. Now to fix the strength of the dollar the FED would have to raise interest rates. If they raised interest rates, it would hurt the still recovering banks and mortgage companies. This would in turn send us back in a vicious cycle where no one would be able to get a loan, Oil prices would raise again (because the investors would go back to a commodity because its cheaper right now) and we would start all over again from the beginning. Thats just my theory. Not sure if its right or not but hey its how I feel.

In closing, I would like to say sorry if I offended anyone. I try not too but sometimes not everyone likes to hear what I think. If you have anything you are sick and tired of, please share. Thank you for reading. There will be more to follow I am sure. These are some difficult times and I do not believe they will go away anytime soon.