MrKen45sWorld

Tea Party Stormtroopers-The Return of Naziism

2010-10-30T20:17:00.024-04:00

Ernst Röhm, SA Chief of Staff, & former "Tea Party" candidate. Deceased due to "inter-party" rivalry.

This writer has no hope that this country has any future other than a failed--VERY failed state. And retired seniors like myself should be afraid--VERY afraid.

It is a sad time to be a U.S. citizen. I am profoundly ashamed of what this country has become; a plutocratic, utterly corrupt, not to mention utterly incompetent oligarchic dictatorship.

I observe that the current "Tea party" movement is really a campaign based on stupidity & ignorance, which is evolving into vitriolic harangues by most of its candidates. Capitalism has returned to it's roots; exploitation of the masses by the VERY rich capitalists with unlimited pools of money--employed to retain & expand their power.

Their proper name is "GANGSTERS".

Now the ugliest part of this "movement" has emerged. Acts of violence (stomping & then demanding an apology from the "stompee") are strongly reminiscent of the behavior of Ernest Rohm's Brownshirts, the infamous 'SA'**--Adolf Hitler's private army of thugs. Blame the victim--whether it be the protestor, the unemployed, the poor (in Germany, mainly the Jew & the Communist). Threats by several "Tea Party" candidates of armed rebellion have been heard should the midterm elections not go their way.

As this writer has mentioned previously, former White House Counsel to President Nixon, John Dean, has described the United States of Amerika as a "proto-fascist" state.

As for stupidity, ignorance, & scapegoating, Amerikans are easy marks. Our citizens generally are now too poorly educated (math & science skills 21st & 25th in the world respectively) & thus too unsophisticated to employ the critical thinking skills necessary to maintain a vibrant republic, which vanished (if it ever in fact existed) perhaps 200 years ago. The super-rich, gigantic corporate entities, a corrupt capital-raising system (Wall Street), & the ever expanding Military get whatever they want & tell whatever lies are necessary to achieve their aims. And our "rulers"--likes pigs at a trough, are thoroughly unmotivated to interfere! (Think George Orwell's 'Animal Farm')

The gulf between the very rich & very poor is now the widest in recorded history in our fine 'republic'; WIDER now than the previous record year, 1929 (source:WSJ).

As Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's infamous Minister of "Propaganda & Enlightenment" noted:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Curtesy of http://thinkexist.com/quotation/-if_you_tell_a_lie_big_enough_and_keep_repeating/345877.html

**The Sturmabteilung

Ernst Rohm picture & above definition Curtesy of Wikipedia-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownshirts

Want to See Serena? Wait Till U.S. Open

2010-07-15T06:25:00.011-04:00

Image courtesy of www.inewscatcher.com/ timages/b8a5c2dbad5e0727..

Your swimsuit says it all Serena. It's ALL about you.

As the Wall Street Journal & the Washington Post reported (7/12 & 7/13), after cutting her foot, Serena Williams is withdrawing from the entire World Team Tennis season, the league said Monday. Williams was set to compete in four WTT matches-including one this Thursday in New York.

The Post reported that in the news release related to the injury, Williams issued what this writer describes as a classic disingenuous bald-faced lie--

"I'm very disappointed that I won't be able to play in the WTT matches this season," Williams said in a news release. "It is always such a fun experience and I love interacting with the fans in the cities that I don't often have the opportunity to play in during the rest of the year."

After perusing the 14 comments left by readers in response to the report, one critic had it so right, that I am reproducing it in its entirety below, since it characterizes this lazy brat & braggart far better than MrKen could hope to...

goodnight wrote:
News flash---- Serena is only committed to the Grand Slams if you follow tennis. She was conveniently "injured" earlier this year right after winning the Australian Open and turned up in Africa filming a special for the Tennis Channel, where she was seen dancing with a bad knee. Since the French Open and Wimbledon are so close together, there is not enough time to concoct a lie to miss a month or two. She will show up for on of the US Open Series tournaments, play half-heartedly and lose in the second-round; losing in the first will be too obvious. Then she will go on a tear at the US Open, explain away her sudden "foot injury", and either win the Open or lose in the quarters or semis.
She has chronic "I do not want to playitis" when there is not a slam involved. She and Venus held out until the last minute and then stiffed the Fed Cup team - which is hosting the championship match without them, thank you very much. Serena has claimed knee and foot injuries many times before, only to show up surfing with her now ex-boyfriend Common.
For those of you defending her, you may want to check her track record. In the real world, she could never hold a job.

The only items I would add to the above assessment is just simply look at the girl; (1) She certainly likes to pack away the burgers & fries, for sure, & (2) "Track & Field" workouts definitely do not exist in this player's workout regimen. If Williams actually has "cut her foot", it's on account of hauling a ton of "well-muscled whale blubber" around the tennis court (description by a NY Daily News writer @ 18 months ago)!

And shame on the tennis commentators extolling William's "wonderful shape", as she wheezes & labors her way through third sets, sweating like the overweight pig that she is. A role model for the younger generation--I think not!

Hey Mary Carillo, Martina, Johnny Mac & J Connors--did any of YOU look & labor like Serena as you competed for your many tennis titles?

Lust, Love & Like

2010-06-29T13:52:00.002-04:00

Lust is Easy...
Love is Hard...
Like is Most Important.

---Carl Reiner

Link to Carl Reiner (Wikipedia)--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Reiner

Open Letter to J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Capital One, et al

2010-06-24T21:13:00.013-04:00

Per your request, the following is an explanation as to why I am closing my Chase Checking Account.

I was not pleased that you intended to sharply increase the interest rate on my credit card inherited by Chase from WAMU to 22.9%--which is why I closed that account in 2009 prior to the increase taking effect. Evidently, you must think that all your customers are completely clueless about financial affairs. Chase charges exorbitant & constantly increasing fees & rates during a period when the Fed is holding interest rates near 0% (actually negative when adjusted for inflation) "for an indefinite period of time".

Thus while Seniors earn almost nothing on their painfully accrued savings, the Bernanke Federal Reserve caters to and rewards institutions like yours that almost destroyed the world's economy--and still may do so.

It must be very pleasant to have the ability to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars at the Federal Reserve discount window @ 3/4 % & immediately lend the same monies back to a supposedly hapless (but in reality not) Fed @ 3 1/4% (10 year T-Bond)-a completely riskless transaction which locks in untold profits! It's probably also quite agreeable for Chase & its ilk to pay next to nothing for deposits-- less than 0.25% for Fed Funds (overnight bank-to-bank lending rate) & savings accounts & nothing at all for Demand Deposits-DD's-(checking accounts).

And rather than lending these funds to small businesses in an attempt to help revive a moribund economy, commercial banks like Chase are choking off credit by raising rates & tightening lending standards.

And this after gorging yourselves at the taxpayer trough of unlimited "Fed favors" during the financial meltdown.

These outrages continue despite recent putative financial "reform" legislation--which was hopelessly watered down thanks to the army of Congressional lobbyists the banking & credit card "industries" employ.

Your operation would impress even Tony Soprano!

You don't break legs--but you greedy and unrepentant parasites DO ruin lives utilizing legalized usury.

A Federal government that was truly populist would indict all of the large commercial banks as criminal enterprises under the RICO (Racketeering) Statutes.

I have therefore transferred my business to a financial institution not based in the U.S. & that consequently has NOT taken ANY taxpayer monies and/or guarantees & subsequently announced obscene profits a la J.P. Morgan Chase, Capital One Bank, Citigroup, et al. And it even pays nominal interst on DD's!

P.S. Please explain to this writer, Mr. Chase Chairman Jamie Dimon, why I should pay down the balances on my two closed Chase Credit cards--interest rate 15.9 %--which both Chase & failed WAMU Bank tried to raise to 22.9 % ?! (An action only averted by my closing both accouts).

Uhmmm..Go get the money from Mr. Bernanke. He'll just print or borrow it. He is an associate of Tony Soprano. You see, he likes to confiscate the income of Seniors like me, too. Then he gives it to you, Mr. Dimon. It's the "American way".

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

Coming soon: The ultimate "thermonuclear" option Seniors can employ vs. the Banks, Credit Card Companies & Health Care Providers--BANKRUPTCY. How it actually IMPROVES rather than DAMAGES your credit and why. And what does it mean to be "Judgment-Proof"?

For an in-depth discussion of U.S. bank profits, please follow this link:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/bank-a18.shtml

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

DISCLAIMER:

MrKen is NOT a registered financial advisor & any opinions, suggestions or strategies explained are based on his own experiences and knowledge. Readers of this blog should consult their own financial advisors, accountants and/or brokers before taking any action explicitly or implicitly recommended or recounted by this writer.
********************************************************************************************

Jon Stewart Exposes "Dear Leader" Obama as a Charlatan & a Fraud

2010-06-18T17:24:00.004-04:00

This former registered Democrat views both political parties as hopelessly corrupt. The "Yes, We Can" Administration is anything but. I suggest to the dwindling supporters of this "No We Can't & We Won't" Administration, that they view the first part of "The Daily Show" (6/15) with Jon Stewart---

Barack Obama thinks he can be trusted with the power, but... And here is a direct link to the video, where readers can also view comments.(Unfortunately, due to a video embed malfunction, I can only provide the link to the video).

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-15-2010/respect-my-authoritah

This President is just another lying, corrupt American politician, worse than "W", because he is a constitutional scholar and surely knows better.

Kudos to Jon Stewart for brilliantly exposing the broken promises & failed Obama policies--which include health care, environmental issues, the expanded war in Afghanistan & growing human rights violations.

Health Legislation Balanced on the Backs of Seniors as Medicare Payments to Physicians to be Slashed

2010-06-16T23:25:00.019-04:00

Despite AARP's advocacy of this past year's putative "universal health care" bill, and uninformed--or purposely misleading--articles by sources that should know better; e.g., the New York Times-- seniors will most certainly pay a disproportionate price for this sell out to the insurance industry.

Who say so? Physicians who face a 21 % cut in Medicare reimbursements, which I suppose are part of the "savings" that the Obama Administration expects to help pay for last year's appalling legislation. This "the devil is in the details" surprise was pointed out by this writer during last year's so called health care "debate"--a misnomer for what really was a fraudulent campaign of disinformation.

In the Tuesday, June 15 "Letters to the Editor" section of the Wall Street Journal, a cardiac anesthesiologist who primarily provides care for older and disabled patients writes, in part--

"...Indeed, the proposed and continually delayed legislation ...preserves current levels of Medicare reimbursement to physicians by reversing a pending 21 % slash in Medicare physician payments..."

"...If over one-fifth of Medicare revenue is cut from physicians' offices, our seniors and disabled will likely suffer. Undesirable outcomes will likely lead to fewer physicians seeing Medicare patients, office staff layoffs, medical and support personnel cuts and overall impaired access..."

"...It would appear that this past year's health legislative changes are being balanced on the backs of our seniors and the disabled who depend on Medicare..."

Serena Williams' Thuggish Behavior Continues

2010-04-23T02:56:00.009-04:00

Image from Fox Sports

Serena Williams is really a disgrace to the game of Tennis, notwithstanding how many matches she wins. If she wasn't such a 'cash cow' for the USTA, the ITF & other corporate entities, she would have been banned from the 2010 U.S. Open, rather than having the ridiculously small fine of $82,500 assessed against her for threatening a lines person & uttering obscenities.

Tennis Magazine (March 2010)-'Baseline', (page 20) reported that--

"After being fined a record $82,500 for her outburst at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams, writing on globalgrind.com, accuses ITF officials of sexism and says they should apologize for the "wrong and disastrous "foot fault" call."

"Metaphorically speaking, Serena might want to consider shoving a ball down her own throat at this point."

While this amount may seem like a lot of money to the average tennis fan, it's really a very small fine and barely a 'slap on the wrist' to this out of control athlete.

She earned $800,000 -with the potential to earn up to another $2,625,000 (Olympus U.S. Open Series) for making it to the singles final at the Open, and split $420,000 with Venus for winning the Women's Doubles Championship.

Williams was called for two foot faults in the match against Kim Clijsters, and later admitted at one of her three press conferences about the incident that she "probably did foot fault". Williams also apologized to the lines person (who was, of course not present) & said she would "like to hug her if she could".

What nonsense!

Serena, you really are a hypocrite & and a sore loser as well as simply being a nasty human being!

Justine Henin's Fantastic Run at the Australian Open-Also Analysis of Henin-Williams Final

2010-02-02T14:50:00.011-05:00

Just out of reach! -----

-Justine Henin of Belgium stretches for a backhand return during the women's final match against Serena Williams of the US-

Photo by: Ben Solomon

Curtesy of 2010 Australian Open

(1) S. Williams *** (USA) 6 3 6
-------- (WC) J. Henin (BEL) 4 6 2

While I never expected Justine Henin to win the Australian Open--I certainly didn't expect to see her in the final either. Frankly, I thought Serena Williams might blow her out in a two setter.

Readers of this blog know that MrKen is in no way a fan of the younger Williams sister. But I was nonplussed at the following opinion & quote attributed to Serena in a story about Justine ('Good Times and Bad, Henin Has Kept Her Coach in View') reported in the New York Times (1/22-Joe Drape):

'Serena Williams, the world's top player, understands that Henin's enterprising shot-making and speedy persistence offer a counterpoint to her own formidable talents.'

"I'm so happy to see Henin back and doing well," Williams said. "She's such a good player and a fighter. I think she brings just a totally different theme to the game."

This is phony-baloney, disingenuous nonsense from Tennis's #1 Thug; there is plenty of bad blood between these two--& I am certain that Henin is the LAST player that Williams wants to see back on the WTA tour. Before this match, Henin had defeated Williams in 4 of their previous 6 meetings at MAJORS (remember--the only kind of tournament Serena feels is "worthy" of her participation).

There were rumors that Venus had finally prevailed on Serena to "apologize" at her THIRD press conference/rant for her infamous "foot-fault" outburst at the U.S. Open, as one or more of Serena's sponsors may have been getting "cold feet".

I suspect the aforementioned comment was also prompted by her older, smarter & less mercurial sibling.
***********************************************************
Long-time coach Carlos Rodriguez has been working with Henin to revamp her game-- her forehand and serve (especially her second serve). Her backhand is still the best in the women's & men's game (John McEnroe, among others think so). And Henin has indicated that she wants to play a more aggressive and varied style.

In my humble opinion however, I think that she may have overdone the aggressiveness a bit in the final, especially Justine's attempted forehand & backhand topspin "smashes" of Serena's many weak second serves--thus giving away too many precious points-many of them 'break' points'.

Before the final, I considered Henin a 4-1 or 5-1 underdog, mostly due to her weak serving during the Open. She had far too many double faults, and her second serve was very tentative. Not to mention this was only her second tournament back after a nearly two year layoff. I also considered that Justine might be unable to handle Williams' power after a 20 month layoff.

Interestingly, odds makers in Melbourne rated the final as 'pick em'!

Nevertheless, Henin is such a pint-sized artist on a tennis court-@ 5 feet 5 and 126 pounds-that her outsize talent, speed & mental toughness enabled her to defeat such top players at Melbourne as Nadia Petrova #19--who absolutely destroyed Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-1 --(& what was that all about?) & Elena Dementieva #5, on her way to the showdown with Williams.

While Justine was reeling off 15 consecutive points at the end of the 2nd set & the beginning of the 3rd, one of the commentators (I believe Mary Carillo) said-to paraphrase-"well, Justine has the best technique in the game, much better than Serena's. Serena basically only has her power..."

Actually, Henin won only five fewer points than Williams in the match, and their service speeds were comparable.

Justine Henin's Official Web/Fan Site (in English) is:
http://www.justine-henin.be/en.

Prediction: Justine will regain the #1 Ranking & is a good bet to win the French Open.

Justine Henin Returns to the WTA Tour!

2010-01-04T18:22:00.010-05:00

MrKen's favorite female player has returned! I posted at length about Henin's rumored return on Sept. 3--

http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Henin+shock+return

--and she has already beaten one of the top players--Nadia Petrova. The following selected copy appeared on 'Yahoo Sports' @ 4 hours ago:

Henin Returns with Win at Brisbane International

By JOHN PYE, AP Sports Writer 3 hours, 43 minutes ago

Henin beat second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the Brisbane International on Monday, the former No. 1’s first official tour match since announcing her comeback in September.

“I feel better today than when I retired, that’s for sure,” Henin said. “Better emotionally, mentally. Better with myself, and that makes a big difference.”

She is preparing to make her return to Grand Slam action at the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 18.

Henin abruptly left the tour in May 2008 after spending a total of 117 weeks at No. 1, winning seven major championships, an Olympic gold medal and 41 WTA titles overall. Now she is back, perhaps inspired by another Belgian, Kim Clijsters, who returned to the tour after about two years away and promptly won last year’s U.S. Open.

The 27-year-old Henin said she might be in stronger physical shape than she was 20 months ago. She certainly felt better psychologically after Monday’s victory, which followed exhibition wins last month, including one over Petrova.

'I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long,” Henin said. “At the beginning, everything seemed very big: the stadium, all the people. I’m not used to it anymore.'...

'...Grand Slam champions and former No. 1 players Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova—taking part in an exhibition event in Hong Kong—both predicted Henin will once again be a force.

“She was a great champion before,” Williams said. “She can keep on playing great tennis.”

Sharapova called Henin’s return good for the women’s tour.'...

For the full story, please follow this link:

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-brisbane&prov=ap&type=lgns

As far as I know, Serena Williams had nothing to say about Henin's return. Henin crushed her in the 2007 U.S. Open, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and was ranked #1 in the world for over 12 months. Williams only offers gratuitous praise to players whom she crushes, but because she is a classless sore loser (see my previous post), S. Williams always finds excuses for her poor play when she loses.--She is never outplayed, in her mind; her opponent was lucky (2007 aforementioned loss to Henin), she was treated unfairly (the "foot fault" controversy), blah, blah, blah...

It would be terrific for the WTA if Justine can quickly get into top form, as Kim Clijsters did at the U.S. Open. I'm looking forward to a Henin-Clijsters match, as well as a renewed competition with the Williams' sisters.

Why You Can't Get Social Security If You Refuse Medicare!

2009-11-06T03:23:00.020-05:00

MrKen will turn 65 next year, and has been researching articles on Medicare in an attempt to ascertain whether it's worthwhile or not to sign up. On balance, the Medicare system may not represent an especially good value for seniors, both on the issues of access to certain tests and treatment options--not to mention the pressing issue of economic viability--a nice way to say it is careening towards insolvency.

Make no mistake about it, should a version of "ObamaCare" somehow become law this year or early in 2010, much of the putative 'savings' will come out of the Medicare budget; some experts estimate payments to doctors and hospitals next year would drop as much as 20%, the obvious result being that many more physicians than heretofore will refuse to accept Medicare patients. To quote a paragraph in a recent New York Times editorial entitled "Medicare Scare Mongering"- 9/26/09 -

Republican opponents have also been warning that planned cuts in payments to hospitals and other health care providers might make them less willing or able to serve Medicare patients. If true, that is a problem that Congress will have to address in the future.

"If true" - ! That certainly does not indicate that the Times has done particularly careful research on the matter. In fact, many diagnostic tests and treatments are not covered by Medicare even now, and wholesale fraud is rampant in the system, as a recent "60 minutes" documentary revealed.

But all that is NOT the point of this post.

Incredible as it may seem, if I decide to forego enrolling in Part A of Medicare--the basic hospitalization coverage--I would lose my Social Security Retirement benefits, present and future! Not only that, but since I chose early retirement at age 62, if I opt out of Health Insurance at age 65, I would have to pay back to the government ALL the benefits previously collected!

And here's why...

On August 30, 1993, the Social Security Administration added two substantive rules to its “Program Operations Manual” to address the fact that “ Some individuals entitled to monthly benefits have asked to waive Hospital Insurance (HI) entitlement because of religious or philosophical reasons, or because they prefer other health insurance.” -These rules, while promulgated by SSA, are enforced by both SSA and HHS-[Health & Human Services].-

The first rule reads:
“Individuals entitled to monthly benefits which confer eligibility for HI may not waive HI entitlement. The only way to avoid HI Entitlement is through withdrawal of the monthly benefit application. Withdrawal requires repayment of all Retirement, Survivors, Disability Insurance (RSDI) and HI benefit payments.”
The second rule reads:
“To withdraw from the HI program, an individual must submit a written request for withdrawal and must refund any HI benefits paid on his/her behalf … An individual who filed an application for both monthly benefits and HI may:
• Withdraw the claim for monthly benefits without jeopardizing HI entitlement; or
• Withdraw the claim for both monthly benefits and HI. The individual may not elect to withdraw only the HI claim.”

Notice this Clinton rule change allows you to yield your SS benefits and keep Medicare, but you may not keep your SS retirement checks and yield your Medicare enrollment.

To read the rest of the article, go to...

http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/08/03/seniors-boomers-healthcare-choice-enroll-in-medicare-or-lose-your-social-security-retirement-checks/

Still skeptical? No, I have never heard of the "floppingaces" website either. But 'The Wall Street Journal.com' in an editorial dated 10/28/08 wrote:

Senior Liberation Act

Why You Can't Get Social Security If You Refuse Medicare

For all of America's cherished belief in choice and freedom, it remains an astonishing fact that the U.S. government forces citizens over the age of 65 into a subpar health plan of its choosing. And so it is with some hope that we greet a new federal lawsuit (Hall v Sibelius)* that aims to allow senior citizens to flee Medicare. *per MrKen

The suit comes courtesy of Kent Masterson Brown, a lawyer who has previously tangled with the government over Medicare benefits. Mr. Brown represents three plaintiffs who are suing the federal government to be allowed to opt out of Medicare without losing their Social Security benefits.

Amazingly, this is not currently allowed. While the Social Security law does not require participants to accept Medicare, and the Medicare law does not require participants to accept Social Security, the Clinton Administration in 1993 tied the programs together. Under that policy, any senior who withdraws from Medicare also loses Social Security benefits.

For the rest of the article, please follow this link: http://online.wsj.com/articleSB122506801638770679.html

And a follow up Journal article on 10/4/09:

'...Last week, Washington D.C. District Judge Rosemary Collyer handed a victory to three plaintiffs seeking that right. President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services had sought to dismiss the suit challenging so-called POMS rules that say seniors who withdraw from Medicare Part A must also surrender their Social Security benefits. (Part A covers hospital and outpatient services.) The judge ruled the plaintiffs have standing to contest their claim on the merits.

POMS were imposed in 1993 during the Clinton Administration and set forth rules that aren't in the statute or regulations governing Medicare. The three plaintiffs—Brian Hall, John Kraus and former U.S. House Majority Leader Richard Armey—all had health-care plans they preferred to the coverage they were compelled to receive through Medicare.

In her ruling this week, the judge said that "neither the statute nor the regulation specifies that Plaintiffs must withdraw from Social Security and repay retirement benefits in order to withdraw from Medicare." Article I of the Constitution gives Congress sole power to legislate—so when agency rules conflict with federal statute, the statute takes precedence.

The Obama Administration argued that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs had not exhausted the available administrative remedies for challenging POMS. Judge Collyer rejected that notion, noting that one plaintiff had sought an administrative hearing but "received no response from the SSA for approximately three years." Exhaustion of remedies was therefore "futile." A three-year wait is precisely the kind of bureaucratic hassle, or deliberate stonewalling, that government is famous for...

The response of the Obama Administration to this lawsuit is revealing about its principles, as opposed to its rhetoric. President Obama says his plan for a "public option" wouldn't be coercive, saying that "If you like your health-care plan, you keep your health-care plan. Nobody is going to force you to leave your health-care plan." But here is a case where federal bureaucrats are using their power to force Medicare on seniors. Let's hope the courts restore a genuine right to choose....(emphases MrKen)

Link to full story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574446831381142174.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

Apparently SSA conjured the requirement to sign up for part A of Medicare out of thin air "without public notice and comment."

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

MrKen is growing increasingly frustrated and alarmed with the Obama Administration. Along with comedian & libertarian Bill Maher, I really cannot see very much difference between Bush & Obama's increasingly reactionary policies. Are the aforementioned the kind of "choices" we can expect from the Administration's so-called Universal Health Care?

And no thoughtful person can seriously expect another huge new government program to actually save money over the next ten years. According to the WSJ, Medicare is now 37 times more costly (taking into account inflation) than at its inception. And it is nearly bankrupt. Considering the looming trillion dollar plus deficits on the horizon due to massive overspending and yet another expensive, open-ended military adventure -Afganistan- where exactly will the money come from? The same Times editorial optimistically opines:

...The Obama administration and Congressional leaders are hoping to save hundreds of billions of dollars by slowing the growth of spending in the vast and inefficient Medicare system that serves 45 million older and disabled Americans. The savings would be used to help offset the costs of covering tens of millions of uninsured people. (italics mine)

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/opinion/27sun1.html/

As I noted, where will the money come from?

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

On Oct. 13, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Kent Masterson Brown, discussed the lawsuit and recent judicial rulings re Hall v Sebelius at a Capitol House Briefing. Also speaking was Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute, and co-author of Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.

How Government "Competes": Grab Arm, Twist Cato Institute: Capitol Hill Briefing

(Simply click on the above text to view video)

Finally, for an overview of articles on this lawsuit & related issues, go to "The Fund For Personal Liberty" website at http://thefundforpersonalliberty.org/

While this site appears to be a conservative mouthpiece (quoting the Washington Times, etc.) it does contain many interesting and useful references-e.g., Ron Paul on Medicare [it's broke].

Posted using ShareThis

**Capitol House Briefing Curtesy of the Cato Institute-http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=6626

Serena Williams Foot Fault vs. Kim Clijsters in Women's Semifinal

2009-09-18T16:58:00.002-04:00

Viewers please note: a complete discussion of this controversial default is contained in post below (after Cats that look like Hitler). The original link to the video in that post is broken & cannot be deleted.

Does Your Cat Look Like Hitler?

2009-09-15T23:37:00.007-04:00

chaplin (owned by vikki) (3834)
Mon Sep 14 2009 at 02:49:59

DOLPHY (owned by Pauline) (3822)
Thu Sep 10 2009 at 17:06:49

Adolph the stray! (owned by Sotiris) (3809)
Tue Sep 08 2009 at 17:25:12

Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he's going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like "Sieg Miaow"? If so, this is the website for you.

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl?3835

Follow the link for more details on this amusing site...

Serena Williams Foot-Fault in 2009 US Open semi-final vs Kim Clijsters

2009-09-14T09:28:00.014-04:00

As a tennis player who wished that more recreational hackers knew at least a little bit about the rules, and more importantly, the "Code", I have more than a passing interest in the Serena Williams "foot-fault" controversy.

After reading many press reports of the incident & after personally viewing the Williams-Clijsters semifinals match on ESPN 2 Saturday night, as well as the You Tube videos of the incident, here are my conclusions...

There is no video that shows that the foot-fault call by the lines person on Serena's second serve at 15-30 and 5-6 in the 2nd set was incorrect, despite some reports to the contrary in the press & TV. While ESPN's replay and angle were inconclusive, other coverage (British broadcast?) played the incident in slow motion and seemingly at a better angle--which clearly showed the foot fault. The commentator then remarks "There's the foot-fault."

Please study the video above***the 'Cats that look like Hitler' post (especially at the point after the sequence of events is explained to Clijsters) and decide for yourself if I am indeed correct. I suggest that the clip be viewed in full screen mode.
***please ignore the video below--link is broken.

Williams had been called for a foot fault earlier in the set, not to mention being called for a number of foot faults in an earlier doubles match.

As a matter of fact, foot-faults are a problem she has had her entire career, not just at the U.S. Open--as she insisted at her "ridiculous, disingenuous" news conference (description by Mike Lupica of the Daily News). She sarcastically offered to "stand 2 feet in back of the baseline" in future matches in New York.

However, it must be admitted that foot faults are called very inconsistently--even at Grand Slam events. There seems to be an unwritten rule that this violation is not generally called unless it is egregious, and especially not on 'important' points, where the fate of the match might be decided by the call.

That this problem occurs again and again is certainly the fault of the ITF, USTA, the Grand Slam and other tournament commitees. The obvious consequence is that lines umpires are inadequately trained and unsure how to rule. Do line judges now have to consider the score and the importance of the event? Wouldn't this impact their impartiality?

Also, in this specific incident, few have pointed out that the chair umpire had the power to overrule an incorrect foot fault call. Why Williams did not appeal to the chair instead of threatening the line judge with her ghetto/thug act we'll never know...

'In matches where line umpires are assigned, they make all calls (including foot-fault calls) relating to that line or net. The chair umpire has the right to overrule a line umpire or a net umpire if the chair umpire is sure that a clear mistake has been made...'

USTA Tennis Rules & Regulations Handbook ITF Rules of Tennis
Appendix V

Since the chair umpire did not overrule in this case, it must be assumed that he was NOT sure that a clear mistake had been made. Incidentally, Williams later appeared to agree that 'she probably foot-faulted'.

In "Straight Sets", the Tennis Blog of The New York Times, these interesting and relevant insights into sports officiating were offered on 9/13--

The Thinking Behind Calling Foot Faults

"A foot fault occurs when the server touches the baseline or the court with either foot. Sometimes a player’s foot slides forward and touches the line inadvertently, and, because a player can’t see the rule violation, the foot-fault call provokes a lot of anger. Often the players’ frustration with themselves is then directed at the line official. For Serena Williams, who has been called for foot faults throughout her career, the call came at a critical moment in the match. Down by a set and serving at 5-6 and 15-30, the call on her second serve gave Kim Clijsters two match points.

Carol Cox, a veteran tennis official who evaluates line officials and referees for the United States Tennis Association, said there were two schools of thought on making a foot-fault call at a critical juncture in the match.

“One philosophy is that it is a rule, and you call it when you see it,” Cox said. “The second way of thinking is more in line with a good N.B.A. official: You don’t make a call that can decide a match unless it’s flagrant.”

John McEnroe had a similar view to the N.B.A. comparison when he was commenting on the CBS broadcast on Saturday night. “You can’t call that there,” he said.

Serena Williams had received a warning for a code violation, for smashing her racket after the first set, so her next offense resulted in a point penalty. The lineswoman, whose name has not been released, is trained to report such abuse immediately to the chair umpire.

In the end, Williams’s outburst decided the game, the set and the match.

To read the full article quoted above, please follow this link:

http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/the-thinking-behind-calling-foot-faults/

Henin Tipped for Shock Return by Belgian Media!

2009-09-03T02:06:00.014-04:00

Allez!

Justine Henin, displaying the winner's trophy for the 2007 U.S. Open, after dispatching both the Williams sisters & solidifying her hold on the #1 ranking--which she held for more than 12 months.
A baffled Serena Williams during her quarterfinal loss in the 2007 U.S. Open to Justine Henin--Clueless & Classless
A Comeback a la Clijsters?

(AFP) – Aug 26, 2009

BRUSSELS — Belgian media were speculating Wednesday on a possible return to women's tennis of former world number one and multiple Grand Slam title winner Justine Henin, 15 months after she retired from the game.

Noting that Henin, 27, is back in training for exhibition matches, several papers have speculated she may return to the circuit as compatriot Kim Clijsters did earlier this summer.

In MrKen's opinion, Henin was the best player of her generation--YES, that includes both of the Williams' sisters!

No less an authority than Billie Jean King said that "pound for pound, Henin is the best tennis player of her generation."

And John McEnroe noted that her "one-handed backhand as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game."

In the 2007 U.S. Open, Henin defeated her first four opponents in straight sets, with a 6–0 set in each match. Henin then faced Serena Williams in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam tournament, and for the third time, Henin won, 7–6(3), 6–1. She then went on to defeat Venus in an exciting semifinal, before winning the final against Kuznetova. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set.

At the time, MrKen posted about Serena's "clueless and classless" comments during a surly news conference in crediting Henin's win to "a lot of lucky shots", and went on to lamely blame her "other interests" for her poor showing--as if Williams was a tennis 'dilettante'.

This post, along with my retrospective look back at Henin's triumph-- "Justine Henin, the 'Class' of the Women's Game", can be found at http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Justine+Henin

And for the rest of the story from the Belgian press about the rumored comeback, please follow this link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jujpFjkJ7BcnLfw7F_skfUKgruQQ

P.S. Henin even knows how to serve without double-faulting a dozen times in a match! (See the 9/2/09 NY Times front page article (above the fold) on this embarrassment to the women's game and Billie Jean King's befuddlement on its cause or solution in her interview on the Tennis Channel.

Wikipedia on Henin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_Henin

70's Disco Returns to Atlantic City!

2009-08-18T11:57:00.024-04:00

KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND

KC & The Sunshine Band & Donna Summer are performing in in Atlantic City on 8/28 & 8/29 @ Resorts & Trump Taj Mahal!

Tickets were inexpensive; $35 KC (all seats) & also $35 (2nd tier seating-elevated) for DS--thru Ticketmaster.

MrKen has tickets for these shows, which are to me--as a lover of 70's Disco-a tremendous bargain.***

I have seen KC & the Sunshine Band perform in person and on cable TV; IMO they put on a terrific show that takes one back to the carefree, happy music of the 1970's.

The following descriptions are from Resorts--and the Trump Taj Mahal entertainment sites in Atlantic City.

It’s time to put on your “Boogie Shoes” and dance with the high energy of 70’s sensation KC & The Sunshine Band. Among KC & the Sunshine Band’s hits are “Get Down Tonight,” “That’s the Way (I Like It),” “Please Don’t Go,” and “Rock Your Baby.”

Date:
Friday August 28, 2009 - 9pm
Saturday August 29, 2009 - 8pm
Price: $35
Location: Resorts Superstar Theater

And from the official KC & The Sunshine Band Website...

KC & The Sunshine Band is still as widely popular today as they were when they first danced onto the music scene 36 years ago. Harry Wayne Casey – KC, for short – developed a unique fusion of R&B and funk, with a hint of a Latin percussion groove, giving us an impressive string of hits like Get Down Tonight, That’s The Way (I Like It) and Shake Your Booty.

Resorts also has a retro 70's & 80's dance club --"Boogie Nights"-- open Friday & Saturday evenings for a modest entrance fee. Video below...

Donna Summer Sat. August 29, 2009 Donna Summer will be performing in the Arena at Trump Taj Mahal on Sat., August 29, 2009. Show time is 8:00pm with doors opening one hour prior. Ticket prices are $75, $50 & $35. Tickets can be obtained by either calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420, on line at www.ticketmaster.com or in person at the Taj Box Office. For box office hours and more information call (609) 449-5150. Donna Summer, of course, rocketed to international superstardom in the mid-1970s when her groundbreakingmerger of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica catapulted underground dance music out of the clubs of Europe to the pinnacles of sales and radio charts around the world. Maintaining an unbroken string of hits throughout the 70s and 80s, most of which she wrote, Donna holds the record for most consecutive double albums to hit #1 on the Billboard charts (3) and first female to have four #1 singles in a 12 month period; 3 as a solo artist and one as a duo with Barbra Streisand. A five-time Grammy winner, Donna Summer was the first artist to win the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (1979, "Hot Stuff") as well as the first-ever recipient of the Grammy for Best Dance Recording (1997, "Carry On"). In 2004, she became one of the first inductees, as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977’s "I Feel Love") into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City. It is estimated that Donna Summer has sold more than 130 million records worldwide. Donna Summer has been working hard on CRAYONS, her bold and long-awaited new collection of songs, the artist’s first full-length studio album of newly-penned material since 1991’s "Mistaken Identity. The album debuted at #17, making this her all-time highest debut on the US Album Chart and her highest charting album since She Works Hard For The Money reached #9 twenty-five years earlier. Some hits include: "Love to Love You Baby," "I Feel Love," "Last Dance," "MacArthur Park," "Heaven Knows," "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," "Dim All the Lights," "On the Radio."

http://www.heykcsb.com/

http://donnasummer.com

***Should any readers of my blog have an interest in attending these events, please contact me at the e-mail address shown in my profile (not the Yahoo IM address but the gmail address link shown above in my profile).

Bill Maher's "New Rules" - MrKen's Discussion with The Hapless Hermit

2009-08-09T00:03:00.022-04:00

Also, a Hapless Hermit 'Scoop'--

Bill O'Reilly babbles to The Hapless Hermit-Read the exclusive interview on the Hermit's blog!

Photo and quote curtesy of "The Hapless Hermit".

Recently, my good friend, "The Hapless Hermit"-- his blog appears on my "blogroll of excellence"-- posted a Bill Maher video from a recent (7/24) "Real Time with Bill Maher" show (HBO), and noted that he "didn't hate Bill Maher so much." His complete comment was--

The Hermit Doesn't Hate Bill Maher So Much

I don't agree with everything Bill Maher says but his show is one of the few news/opinion programs that doesn't totally insult the viewer. Here is a clip where he hits the nail on the head about our healthcare system.

--Link to the video and post is contained in the title of this post.

MrKen's comment posted on the Hermit's blog was---

Hello again, Hermit!

This is where I have a slight disagreement with you, Hermit. I enthusiastically agree with virtually everything Bill Maher says on his terrific HBO show 'Real Time'. IMO, he is a sharp & well prepared interviewer. The guests are usually extraordinarily erudite and articulate (with a few exceptions e.g., John Bolton, our former U.N. Ambassador), while the debates are always lively and interesting. And Bill Maher is a great comedian! Thx for the You Tube clip; I always look forward to Bill's educational and scathing "editorial" at the end of the "New Rules" segment of the show. This past Friday-8/7, he gave numerous examples of the stupidity of this nation (18% of Americans still think the Sun revolves around the Earth!)

I had the privilege of observing him debate the rabid lunatic Ann Coulter at Radio City some months ago. You probably read the post already on my blog, but for other interested folks, here is the link--

http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Bill+Maher

Another of my favorite political satirists is Jon Stewart. His 'Daily Show' http://www.thedailyshow.com/ is a 'fake news' production that contains more actual news and well researched opinion than most of the putative "real news" programs on both the networks and cable.

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

Mr. Hermit later clarified that he actually agreed with 99% of what Bill Maher said and watched his show every week...so, our worldviews appear to be quite similar.

***Warning to the faint-hearted---The Hermit's blog contains some "adult" material. Those of you who have problems with the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are forewarned.

Conundrum for Former Brooklyn Dodgers Fans

2009-06-24T15:21:00.008-04:00

MrKen highly recommends the HBO documentary--"The Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush".

A conundrum posed by a former Dodger player was this--

'A Dodger fan is locked in a room with Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, & Walter O'Malley (Dodger owner who moved the team to its new digs in Los Angeles in 1958). The fan has a revolver containing only two bullets; who does he shoot?'

Answer: 'He shoots Walter O'Malley twice!'

Some fans of "dose bums" have never forgiven O'malley--even though the real villain was Robert Moses; despite repeated entreaties, he refused to approve a parcel of land available in Brooklyn which was ideal (it was at the terminus of a LIRR line). Instead, Moses wanted O'Malley to build the stadium in Queens--the later site of Shea Stadium. So O'Malley accepted a much superior offer from LA.

MrKen hails from Philly, so was psychologically unaffected by the dispute. I hated the Dodgers, Giants (and Yankees) no matter what city they called home. Incidentally, Phillies' centerfielder Richie Ashburn's famous throw-which nailed a Dodger pinchrunner at home plate in the last game of the 1950 season- is shown on the HBO special as yet another example of Dodger futility. Had the run scored, the Dodgers would have forced a playoff with the rapidly fading "Whiz Kids". But the Phils went on to win the game in the 10th inning, securing the NL pennant. And then lost the World Series to the Yankees in 4 straight...

Brooklyn's high-flying Dodgers are the focus of this documentary that examines the heyday and impact of one of baseball's most recognizable teams from 1947 to 1957. From the watershed moment in which Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the major leagues, the team set a new standard for integration and became a symbol for a cohesive American culture. But just ten years later, the Dodgers left Ebbets Field behind and relocated to the West Coast, shocking a borough and forever changing the professional sports landscape. This film explores that history-making period--including the team's epic battles against their archrival Yankees--and features interviews with Rachel Robinson, Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, Clem Labine, Johnny Podres, Peter O'Malley, Larry King, Pat Cooper, Louis Gossett Jr. and many others. Produced in association with Major League Baseball Productions. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Productions, Inc. Widescreen. (TVPG) (AL)

Description Curtesy of HBO's Sports Website:
http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&FOCUS_ID=631912

God Looks After...

2009-06-12T17:20:00.005-04:00

"There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America".--

---Otto von Bismarck, 19th Century Prussian Leader & First Chancellor of Germany (1871-1890)

Curtesy of Wikiquote.org Link: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck

Global Crisis to Strike by 2030 says UK Scientist

2009-03-19T04:51:00.009-04:00

Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'

By Christine McGourty
BBC Science Correspondent

(Opposite top right)--
Water shortages are predicted
across large parts of Africa,
Europe and Asia

Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist is warning.

By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington predicts.

Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he is due to tell a conference in London.

Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he will add.

'Complacent'

"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.

"There's not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don't tackle these problems."

“ We need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures,” asserted
Professor Beddington.

Prof Beddington says the looming crisis will match the current one in the banking sector.

"My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages," he predicts.

"We're relatively fortunate in the UK; there may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise."

The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025.

The amount of fresh water available per head of the population is expected to decline sharply in that time.

The issue of food and energy security rose high on the political agenda last year during a spike in oil and commodity prices.

Genetically-modified

Prof Beddington says the concern now - when prices have dropped once again - is that the issues will slip down the domestic and international agenda again.

"We can't afford to be complacent. Just because the high prices have dropped doesn't mean we can relax," he says.

Improving agricultural productivity globally is one way to tackle the problem, he adds.

At present, 30-40% of all crops are lost due to pest and disease before they are harvested.

Professor Beddington says: "We have to address that. We need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures.

"Genetically-modified food could also be part of the solution. We need plants that are resistant to drought and salinity - a mixture of genetic modification and conventional plant breeding.

Better water storage and cleaner energy supplies are also essential, he says.

Prof Beddington is chairing a subgroup of a new Cabinet Office task force set up to tackle food security.

But he says the problem cannot be tackled in isolation.

He wants policy-makers in the European Commission to receive the same high level of scientific advice as the new US president, Barak Obama.

One solution would be to create a new post of chief science adviser to the European Commission, he suggests.

MrKen would really like to know why population control (8.3 billion of us by 2030!) is not mentioned by the professor--without which all his other suggestions are nearly worthless.

Homo Sapiens is rapidly driving all other species to extinction--except possibly for certain insects like cockroaches and vermin such as rats. The 'solutions' he talks about are at best 'stopgaps' while population growth runs amok in much of the world.

I suggest the good professor views the movie "Religulous" mentioned in my previous post. It tries to explain the lack of logic displayed by otherwise intelligent (possibly) individuals when thinking about subjects infected with religious mumbo-jumbo; e.g.,"be fruitful and multiply"--and where such thinking leads us. As Bill Maher has pointed out, why do humans ALWAYS need MORE?

When followed blindly, "faith based initiatives" lead to crises, pollution, war, starvation and eventually extinction...

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7951838.stm

Published: 2009/03/19 05:58:15 GMT

© BBC © MMIX

The Clash of the Titans--Coulter, Maher spar at Radio City

2009-03-11T23:42:00.008-04:00

(Reuters )– Television personalities Ann Coulter and Bill Maher debate during the "Speaker Series: The Minds …"

Mr Ken plunked down $64.50 to attend the first of Radio City's "Speaker Series" between TV personalities Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher-HBO) & Ann Coulter (author of the bestseller "Guilty") on Monday, March 9.

Mr. Maher also wrote and starred in the controversial 2008 documentary movie "Religulous", giving his take on the sad state of religion in the world today--which MrKen highly recommends!

What a treat to listen to the erudite Maher deconstruct right wing nut case Coulter's mostly nonsensical rantings with his hilarious and cutting humor!

It was occasionally chilling, however, to realize that there is a significant segment of the population out there who also do not believe in evolution, think that ghosts are real, and imagine that a personal deity watches over them--only choosing to have misfortune visited upon others (who no doubt deserve it--and are all 'lefties').

Oh yes, and some of these same know-nothings still insist that President Obama is a Muslim (as I overheard a nincompoop couple feverishly whispering next to me).

Maher is an outspoken liberal with libertarian leanings and a former stand up comic. His long running show "Politically Incorrect" was called the Best Talk Show on Television by TV Guide, and nominated for nine Emmy Awards.

Coulter is an acerbic and rabid right wing writer & lecturer who Meghan McCain, the daughter of the would be president, blogged was "offensive, radical, insulting and confusing, all at the same time". Coulter famously does not believe in evolution and labels science a form of faith!

Here are some excerpts of the debate from Yahoo News, curtesy of Politico.com

NEW YORK — Bill Maher couldn’t have asked for a better act to follow.

Maher took the stage at the Radio City Music Hall Monday after Ann Coulter – with whom he’d spend the rest of the night debating – had held forth for 15 minutes on the sins of liberals.

The applause for Maher was huge – exactly as one might expect in not-exactly-blood-red midtown Manhattan. “If we were having this debate in Springfield, Mo., it would be different,” Maher said.

But even in mostly hostile territory, Coulter was no shrinking violet. When moderate Mark Halperin brought up Meghan McCain’s swipes of Coulter on The Daily Beast from earlier in the day — the daughter of the would-be president called her “offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time" — Coulter said it didn’t bother her.

And Coulter dealt with the occasional boos while debating with Maher over stem cell research, Iraq and of course, the 44th president – all while delivering her own blows on everyone from Timothy Geithner to Nancy Reagan. ...

“Who put two wars on a credit card?” Maher asked. “There is this debt because George Bush spent money like a pimp with a week to live.”

Maher got applause for any shots at Bush, as when he mentioned Obama’s quoting of Voltaire — “no George W. Bush, that’s not a Harry Potter character.”

He used the term “bimbo” to describe Bush, Quayle and Sarah Palin.

And Maher attacked those who consider themselves “real Americans,” by claiming that “if it wasn’t for the two coasts, this country would have been sold off to China thirty years ago.”

To read the rest of the story, please follow this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090310/pl_politico/19830

And to read more about "Religulous", go here--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religulous

DISCO Fun Facts!

2009-02-09T09:45:00.005-05:00

PARDON OUR FRENCH

What do D-Day and disco have in common, besides the letter D? Nazis, of course! During World War II, when the Third Reich occupied Paris, jazz clubs were closed and live music of a liberal nature was strictly verboten! But Parisians couldn't live without their jazz, so they took it underground, opening illicit cellars where they could drink booze freely and listen to pre-recorded music. One such club, on Rue de la Huchette, called itself La Discothèque - coined from the French words for "record" (disque) and "library" (bibliothèque

Curtesy of Disco Fun Facts-Neatorama

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/16/disco-fun-facts/

Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush

2008-12-15T05:40:00.008-05:00

Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush. Prime Minister al-Maliki tries for an interception.

MrKen Is old enough to remember the famous shoe-banging incident that took place during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on 12 October 1960, when the infuriated Premier of the Soviet Union pounded his shoe on the delegate desk. But at least Nikita Khrushchev didn't throw his shoes at the speaker.

During a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday, a reporter took off his shoes and hurled them at the president, who showed off his cat-like reflexes. Bush was not hit.

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at Mr. Bush’s head denounced him on live television as a “dog” who had delivered death and sorrow here from nearly six years of war.

Hitting someone with a shoe is considered the supreme insult in Iraq. It means that the target is even lower than the shoe, which is always on the ground and dirty. Crowds hurled their shoes at the giant statue of Mr. Hussein that stood in Baghdad’s Firdos Square before helping American marines pull it down on April 9, 2003, the day the capital fell. More recently in the same square, a far bigger crowd composed of Iraqis who had opposed the security agreement flung their shoes at an effigy of Mr. Bush before burning it.

For the full New York Times story, please follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html?th&emc=th

To read more about the Khrushchev shoe banging incident-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-banging_incident

On Gay Marriage

2008-11-24T15:03:00.004-05:00

"Gays are the only people who actually still want to get married"--
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on Larry King Live

It is simply breathtaking how unenlightened most of the U.S. remains on social issues eight years into the new millenium. Here is Rabbi Boteach's take on gay marriage.

"...What I will say is that religion in America has made homosexuality into a false bogeyman, which has seriously distracted religion from giving real values to an increasingly valueless society. Is this really what religious values in America has come to, opposition to gay marriage?"

"What do you think would do more to save heterosexual marriage in America? Making sure gays can't get hitched, or changing the tax code so that marital counseling among heterosexual couples becomes tax-deductible so that couples can actually afford the help they need? What should religion be devoting its energy to? Opposing gay marriage in California, or supporting an effective national campaign for school vouchers so that parents can afford to send their children to schools that teach religious values like male respect for women and the sanctity of a loving relationship?"

Read the full article in the Huffington Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach
/gays-as-the-new-religious_b_144339.html?page=2

Real Unemployment Rate Soars to 11.8%

2008-11-10T23:18:00.003-05:00

As Alan Abelson points out in this week's issue of Barron's, 240,000 payroll slots went up in smoke in October, and that total would have been higher by 71,000 were it not for these mythical jobs that were "created" via the infamous birth/death model.

Abelson also notes that--

"The category that gives you a better feel for the way things really are out there on the the job front is dubbed U-6 and includes marginally attached workers, part-timers who can't find a full-time job and the officially unemployed. In October, that measure reached 11.8%, the highest since 1994, when it was designed, compared with 7.9% a year ago."

MrKen is ever so thankful that he's retired!

To read this week's Barron's magazine for free follow this link:
http://online.barrons.com/public/main

On Being a Fool

2008-09-18T04:22:00.003-04:00

It is better to be silent and thought a fool ..., than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

--George Bernard Shaw

The Alcoholic

2008-08-17T00:17:00.005-04:00

"Why are you drinking?"demanded the little prince.
"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.
"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.,
"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.
"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.
"Ashamed of drinking!" The tippler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery,
The Little Prince,

from 'Under the Influence', Milam & Ketcham (1981,1983)

The link in the title is to SMART Recovery.org meetings in NYC-- a scientifically based recovery program from addiction. It is most definitely NOT a 12-Step program. The home page for SMART Recovery is:
http://www.smartrecovery.org/

*Has MrKen really returned this time? We sure hope so...2008 has been a rough year thus far.

Einstein Thought God was a Childish Superstition

2008-05-18T17:02:00.007-04:00

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE -Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter, an auctioneer said.The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people". "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. "No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper. . .

In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people. "For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said. "And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Curtesy of 'Undernews'--http://prorev.com/2008/05/einstein-thought-god-was-childish.html

--P.S. MrKen has been on an unplanned two month "sabbatical". I expect to be posting regularly once again.

Crude Oil, the Dollar & Gold -- A Disconnect

2008-05-17T13:32:00.007-04:00

MrKen wonders when crude oil will correct and move lower. Is crude a "bubble" or not? In Friday's Wall Street Journal ((5/16/08)--"Bernanke's Bubble Laboratory"--the charts of the Nasdaq Composite (3/95-2002), Las Vegas Home Prices (8/01-2/08) & Crude Oil (6/03-present) are plotted on one graph. The chart of Oil and the Composite (which peaked in march 2000) look eerily similar. With the Fed sopping up excess liquidity recently, according to Barron's 'Up and Down Wall Street Daily' (5/16/08)by Randall Forsyth:

"The popular perception is that Bernanke has opened the floodgates. "The Fed is providing an extraordinary amount of liquidity," according to the head economist of a major bank.'

"The data, however, do not bear this out. The Fed itself actually has turned tight and growth in the money supply slowed from its breakneck pace in the past month. And, coincidentally, the dollar has pulled out of its nosedive and gold has pulled out of its ascent."

"...Specifically, the monetary base -- bank reserves plus currency, as measured by the St. Louis Fed -- contracted by 0.5% in April, according to calculations by Free Market Inc., a Chicago economic consultancy. Over the past three months, this measure of the Fed's own actions has grown at a mild 2.1% annual rate..."

--will crude oil soon follow the precious metals lower, despite bullish forecasts by Goldman, Sachs & UBS?

Kopin Tan writes in his column in this week's Barron's (5/19/08) "In Stocks, Summer Nonchalance Arrives Early"--

'...CRUDE OIL'S price tag isn't the only thing that's the subject of buzz; some of its recent relationships are also much talked about.'

'Take crude oil and gold, which have moved in lockstep over much of the past two years. Since mid-March, however, gold has pulled back more than 10%, partly as traders unwind their flight-to-safety trades while the credit crisis recedes. In contrast, oil has continued to climb, tacking on another 20% to an already impressive rally as the two commodities grow ever further apart.'

'Something unusual, too, is happening between crude oil and the dollar. These two have tended to move in opposite directions, and the dollar's weakening had in fact helped drive oil higher. Yet both have rallied over the past month.'

'If we expect these relationships to revert to their typical behavior, then crude's straying from the norm with both gold and the dollar suggests it may be well the errant one.'

'That has been true in the recent past. Bespoke Investment Group found just three instances since 1986 when oil has rallied 10% or more over a two-month period while gold fell by double-digit percentages. In the two months following such divergences, oil has declined two out of the three times to register an average loss of 22.5%. Gold, on the other hand, has rallied each time to post an average gain of 5.9%.'

'Exorbitant oil prices curb consumption and act as their own check, and few will be surprised if oil takes a breather after soaring nearly 150% over the past 16 months...'

Curtesy of Barron's -http://online.barrons.com/public/main?mod=topnav
& http://online.barrons.com/article/SB121094212709898613.html?mod=rss_
barrons_up_and_down_wall_street_daily&page=2

The Internet as a Garbage Dump

2008-03-16T16:06:00.008-04:00

The Wall Street Journal's weekend edition (3/15-3/16/08) noted the passing of Joseph Weizenbaum, 1923-2008, in its Remembrances column. Some excerpts from writer Stephen Miller--

'As author of a computer program called Eliza that was designed to simulate a psychiatrist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Joseph Weizenbaum created a beguiling artifact of early computing. But after test subjects told him the program really empathized with their problems, Mr. Weizenbaum became a digital Jeremiah, and spent decades preaching the computer apocalypse.'

'The program was in effect a form of a Turing test, named for the computer scientist Alan Turing. In 1950, Turing predicted computers would soon be invented that would appear to think, and said a test of that development would be whether a person could distinguish a computer's dialogue from a human's.'

'...He soon soured on computers and condemned automated decision making as antihuman. In a lighter moment he called them "a solution looking for a problem".'

...'Even the rise of the Internet, with its seemingly boundless possibilities for communication, failed to impress Mr. Weizenbaum.'

"The Internet is like one of those garbage dumps outside of Bombay," he told the New York Times in 1999..."There are people, most unfortunately, crawling all over it, and maybe they find a bit of aluminum, or perhaps something they can sell. But mainly it's garbage."

MrKen has to agree that this observation is right on the money. Much of what is described by some as "opinion" posted on the Internet by the unwashed masses is just simplistic, uninformed nonsense. Unfortunately, these rants greatly outweigh in volume the articles and research posted by professional writers.

But these inane rants and scribblings would certainly not pass the Turing test!

To visit the Wall Street Journal Online, follow this link: http://online.wsj.com/public/us

Quantum's Jim Rogers says US 'out of control'

2008-03-02T13:53:00.010-05:00

The case for commodity stocks has been forcefully, and in my opinion, quite correctly expressed by Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fund. While sharp corrections are possible at any time, Rogers is taking a longer term view.

Especially alarming is his thesis of armed conflict over resources. But of course we have already experienced this; the U.S. invaded Iraq to secure the desperately needed oil resources of the region. To the conservative neocons** out there who insist that we selflessly sought to bring democracy to Iraq--well, Karl Rove appeared on Fox News on Sunday (3/2) as an analyst to point out that the U.S. could not allow Al-Qaeda to build up a base in Iraq because it would endanger our oil supply.

**The Wall Street Journal, for example, has written many silly, disingenuous editorials about this county's putative motives for invading Iraq; e.g., the invasion was not about oil but only about the fact that Saddam Hussein was a 'bad, bad man & killed many of his own people' & the U.S. is so selfless and pure that it was a moral imperative for our 'Dear Leader' to send its imperial armed forces to Iraq in order to topple him. As if siding with dictators with blood on their hands ever bothered Amerika; re Stalin, Batista, Franco, Shah Pahlavi of Iran. Not to mention supporting Saddam against Iran in the almost decade-long war in the 1980's and selling him much of the chemical weapons technology he later used to kill his own people (along with France & other European countries).

Memories tend to be quite short in the U.S.A.--as short as attention spans...

From the London Times Online (2/28/08):

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Jim Rogers - who co-founded the now closed Quantum Fund with George Soros - told 750 global fund managers in Tokyo today that, America is “completely out of control”, there will be a 20-year bull market in commodities and that prices will be in turmoil.

And he also warned that it “made sense” if global competition for resources ended in armed conflict.

Mr Rogers told delegates to the CLSA investment forum that the prices of all agricultural products would “explode” in coming years and that the price of gold, which hit an all-time high of $964 an ounce yesterday, will continue its surge to as much as $3,500 an ounce.

Gold would continue to rise, the analyst Christopher Wood told fund managers, “because it is the exact opposite of a structured finance product”.

In a blistering attack on US monetary policy and the “helicopter cash drop” responses of the Federal Reserve, Mr Rogers described the American dollar as a “terribly flawed currency”.

He said that the plan by Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, to “crank up the money-printing machines and run them until we run out of trees” had exposed America’s weakest point to her rivals and enemies.

The dollar may have declined recently, he added, “but you ain’t seen nothing yet”.

Talking to a room almost exclusively populated with Japan-focused equity investors, Mr Rogers recommended an immediate language course in Mandarin and a switch into commodities — the second-biggest market in the world behind foreign exchange.

Mr Rogers said that historic drains on wheat, corn and other soft commodity inventories have created market dynamics that could lead to severe food shortages.

The outlook over the next two decades would see prices of everything from cotton and sugar to lead and nickel “going through the roof”.

Heavily playing down the prospects of a big recovery in Japan, Mr Rogers said that the country’s demographics — as the fastest-aging country in the world — would cause it greater problems and an ever-diminishing quality of life for ordinary Japanese.

But he also said that other countries — including Britain, Italy, China and the US — should take note of what their own demographics would look like without the effect of immigration.

“Japan will be the perfect laboratory for the world to watch how a demographic crisis plays out,” he said.

Stock Picks for this Major Bear Market

2008-03-01T11:02:00.005-05:00

MrKen has recently returned to trading stocks, as he has recently retired (62) and now has the free time to study and trade the market. Happily, I am showing @ a 15% profit for the January/February period in a most challenging investment environment. Here are the 3 long positions I currently have:

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) -- silver, gold, lead & zinc
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) -- silver, gold, lead & zinc
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) -- palladium, platinum & other metals

Almost all of the profit has been from HL; SWC was only purchased on 2/29. CDE has risen modestly in the Jan/Feb period.

*****************************************************************
My short pick is: (but do not have an actual position at present)

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) -- financial products & services

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

The rationale for these positions are both technical & fundamental:

TECHNICAL: The long positions have very high relative strength rankings (RS) as indicated in IBD (Investors Business Daily). The short pick has an extremely weak RS ranking. As discovered years ago by Edward O. Thorp (The Relative Strength Concept of Common Stock Forecasting--now out of print), stocks that are sharply above their 200-day moving average (MA) tend to outperform other stocks that have weaker rankings, with the converse being true for issues sharply below their 200 day MA.

FUNDAMENTAL: Silver, gold, platinum & palladium are soaring due partially to the decline in the dollar to record lows against the euro, yen & basket of 16 currences--and partially to favorable demand-supply considerations.

The greenback's slide is being caused mainly by the weak U.S. economy and the Fed's decision to "reflate" (print lots & lots of money) in order to avoid a sharp economic contraction (the dreaded 'R' word).- {More on this in a later post}-

Silver is beginning to outperform gold and most likely will actually benefit from the recently announced contemplated sales of gold by the IMF. Silver may be thought of as the "poor man's gold". Platinum, palladium & rhodium are also benefiting from power outages in South Africa (78% of world platinum productioncomes from South Africa) due to electrical infrastructure problems. These are not expected to be rectified until 2012!

And now on to my specific picks:

In 2007, Hecla Mining produced 5.6 million ounces of silver at an average total cash cost of negative $2.81 per ounce, after by-product credits. The company also has significant tax credits at its disposal.

Coeur d’Alene Mines had 2007 cash costs of $3.97 per ounce of silver. Coeur has no silver or gold production hedged.

Stillwater Mining- The precious-metals miner reported a $14 million loss for 2007 on essentially flat revenue and experienced labor problems. But 'The Motley Fool' notes that--

"How many of the companies you own have roughly doubled in 2008? None? You must not be on board the Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) express. Homegrown Stillwater, which is going into 2008 with a minimal amount of hedges remaining on its platinum output. Although the company is predicting a roughly 10% rise in per-ounce cash costs, its margins ought to be magnificent."

Citigroup Inc. - Commodities, with their transparent pricing and liquidity, are the exact opposite of the toxic products that Citigroup and its ilk have produced. CDO's, sub-prime mortgages & tens of millions in trading losses are what you get if you try to 'bottom fish' this dog. OPCO analyst Meredith Whitney, who correctly predicted a cut in Citigroup's dividend back in October, last week indicated that C could fall to 16 or lower on more writeoffs. A great short!

Disclaimer:

All ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendations to invest, trade and/or speculate in the markets. Any investments, trades and/or speculations made in light of the ideas, opinions and/or forecasts expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & therefore NONE of the above discussion should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites from financial publications & professional analysts are given.

As indicated above, MrKen at the time of this posting has long positions in CDE, HL & SWC.

Stock Market 'Pennant' Formation to Resolve Soon?

2008-02-25T10:34:00.013-05:00

Here is some detailed technical analysis of the DJIA and its 'pennant formation', curtesy of Forex Capital markets, which appeared on the Yahoo Finance site on 2/25/08:

pennant

In technical analysis, refers to a chart pattern occurring when the trading range formed by successive highs and lows narrows over time.

Equities – Dow Jones Industrial Average

US equity markets have been in a downward trend since October as deteriorating economic data leads fears of a recession to build. Upcoming news could weigh on stocks, as housing sales and prices are forecasted to tumble while consumer confidence is anticipated to plunge, which does not bode well for the domestic economy as consumer spending represents approximately 70 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, a daily chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average shows price consolidating within a pennant formation, and given the sharp declines that preceded the recent moves, a bearish breakout is likely. However, if price holds above near-term support at 12,300 and manages to find a bid tone to break above 12,500, the index may target trendline resistance at 12,660.

Written by Terri Belkas, Currency Analyst, Forex Capital Markets LLC, DailyFX.com

Tell us what you think about this article. Email tbelkas@dailyfx.com
Curtesy of http://biz.yahoo.com/fxcm/
080225/1203952532617.html?.v=1
*********************************************

And Barron's column "Streetwise" (2/25/08), by Michael Santoli, has some interesting observations on the tediously narrow range that has held the stock market captive this month---

"...As a sharp trader friend likes to say, "When nobody know what's going on, people turn to market technicals..."

"...it seems most everyone is turning in their spreadsheets for some charts, with talk of the Dow's "triangle" or "wedge" or "pennant" pattern all too common."

"To translate, this talk basically means that the Dow coiled itself into a tightening band. And the sages helpfully tell us that the pattern tends to be resolved by the index breaking hard--one way or the other. So, let's get this straight: Often, after a period when nothing much happens, something happens."

"If professional investors are bored, then individuals are...fleeing equities...investors have pulled nearly $60 billion from stock mutual funds this year, while adding more than $70 billion to money-market funds and small CDs..."

But "corporate insiders have been on a selling strike for nearly two months. The dollar-based ratio of insider sales to buys has been in the bullish zone pretty much all year...and down 90% from a year ago."

Robin Carpenter of www.CarpenterAnalytix.com is quoted in Santoli's column as saying--

"For what it's worth, my own expectation is that we are close {in time} to an upturn of some consequence, but that the market needs one more down-thrust of some energy."

To view this week's Barron's for free, go to http://online.barrons.com/this_week

Bear Market in Stocks Turns Vicious

2008-01-17T18:06:00.000-05:00

Wall Street extended its 2008 plunge Thursday (1/17), sending the Dow Jones industrials down 306 points and to their lowest level since last March after a regional Federal Reserve report showed a sharp and unexpected decline in manufacturing activity. -- Yahoo Finance

Back on Dec. 24, I commented on some bullish sentiment readings on the stock market, as reported in Barron's Financial Weekly. These had occurred shortly after the Dow Theory major bear market signal given on November 21 (which I discussed on Dec. 4 & 18), when the Industrials closed at a new low. Indeed, a short-lived bounce occurred.

But the current bear market quickly has resumed -- and turned vicious, as bear markets are wont to do--with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index also piercing its August low. In addition, all the averages are now well below their 200-day moving averages.

MrKen is very bearish on the markets himself & will begin trading within the next 10 days. I have been reviewing potential candidates for selling short--the only possible long positions I like are some of the gold & silver mining stocks**...Stocks almost always fall faster than they rise & MrKen is a pessimist at heart, anyway. :>)

Some comments on the dire state of the equity markets follow from Barron's (The Trader, by Kopin Tan 1/14/08)

"...Might Tuesday's (1/8) low--the S & P finished at 1390 that day--form a meaningful shrt-term bottom? The AAII survey showed a flash of panic, with the percentage of bears reaching 59%, the highest reading since 1990. But the VIX forecast as measured by the VIX volatility index had pushed to just 26--well below August's 37. At the International Securities Exchange, investors bought just 0.72 calls for every put--more fearful than the recent average near 1.16, but still more complacent than the 0.51 low registered before August's rebound."

"Andrew Burkly, Brown Brothers Harriman's market strategist, isn't entirely ready to buy this low, partly because the market's long term upward trend may be changing. 'If the market has transitioned to a primary downtrend, oversold signals need to be deeper to be significant,' he notes."

"Burkley says measures like selling intensity, price momentum and investor sentiment are moving toward extremes, but most are still less extreme than levels seen last August. 'A deeper oversold condition is necessary to indicate that the risk/reward balance for equities has turned favorable.'

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link:
http://online.barrons.com/this_week

Disclaimer:

All ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendations to invest, trade and/or speculate in the markets. Any investments, trades and/or speculations made in light of the ideas, opinions and/or forecasts expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above discussion should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites from financial publications are given.

MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

** Specific ideas will appear soon...

Huckabee Hunts for Pakistani Terrorists in Iowa

2008-01-07T12:34:00.001-05:00

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the GOP's 'Christian' candidate, is a rube as clueless as they come (except for 'W' of course). Barron's Alan Abelson hilariously satirized this political parvenu* in his 'Up & Down Wall Street' column of Jan. 7, 2008--

"The geographically challenged Mr. Huckabee, whose strongest card seems to be his amiability, demonstrated to the apparent satisfaction of the state's Republicans that he was a regular guy by donning some hunting gear and shooting at flocks of quizzical birds. But, in fact, our Iowa sources tell us, he was really after bigger game: He was keen on picking off some Pakistani terrorists who, he implied, have been sneaking into Iowa by the thousands to do their mischief."

"For Mr. Huckabee seems to have confused Pakistan with Mexico in terms of their respective locations and also seems to believe that Iowa borders on Mexico/Pakistan. We must admit we never did a thorough survey of the state in the considerable time we spent in such places as Red Oak and Iowa City. So it could be he's discovered a hitherto unknown sliver of the state (that) snakes its way undetected to the nations southern border. We're quite eager to see what comparable revelations Mr. Huckabee's journeys through New Hampshire yield."

*parvenu - A person who has suddenly risen above his social and economic class without the background or qualifications for his new status.

Hahahahahaha...Alan Abelson's column alone is worth the price of a Barron's subscription. :>) MrKen has been reading his gems for almost 40 years.

To get a free look at this week's Barron's, follow this link: (but you will have to subscribe or purchase a newstand copy ($5.00) to read Abelson's complete "Up & Down Wall Street" column.

http://online.barrons.com/public/main?mod=topnav

'Spaghetti Monster' scares Off Creationist Pols

2007-12-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

MrKen is considering becoming a "Pastafarian". Pastafarians believe that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe...

An artistic drawing of Him creating a mountain, trees, and a midget. Remember, we are all His creatures.

The following story is curtesy of 'Undernews' (12/26/07)...

TAMPA TRIBUNE [At the Polk County School Board] five of its seven members declared a personal belief in the concept of intelligent design, the religiously based explanation of the development of life believed in by many Christians.

Four of those five sympathetic board members said they would like to see intelligent design taught in Polk schools as an alternative to Darwinian evolution, at a time when new state standards mentioning evolution by name for the first time are under consideration. . .

Yet a few weeks later, the controversy is dying with a whimper. There's no board support for a challenge to the proposed standards. Some of the five school board members blame the local newspaper for trying to start a fight. . .

What happened? You can start with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The satirical religious Web site asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the deft touch of its "noodly appendage." Adherents call themselves Pastafarians. They deluged Polk school board members with e-mail demanding equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism's version of intelligent design.

"They've made us the laughingstock of the world," said Margaret Lofton, a school board member who supports intelligent design. She dismissed the e-mail as ridiculous and insulting.

To visit the 'Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster', please follow this link:
http://www.venganza.org/

To visit the 'Undernews' site, please follow this link:
http://prorev.com/2007/12/spaghetti-monster-scares-off.html

Weekly CBOE Put/Call Ratio Turns Bullish -- A Tradeable Rally?

2007-12-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

Per Barron's Market Laboratory - Indicators (12/24/07), the weekly put/call ratio has turned bullish, especially for equity options.

"Investors rely on the equity put-call ratio, which tends to track individual trades, and the index put-call ratio, which reflects professional and institutional strategies, as contrary sentiment indicators. The higher the put trading, the more bullish the indication and vice-versa..."

"Readings in the CBOE equity put-call ratio of 60:100 and in the S&P 100 of 125:100 are considered bullish...Bearish signals flash when the equity put-call level reaches the vicinity of about 30:100 and the index ratio hits 75:100."

MrKen notes that the equity put-call ratio was .84 for the week ended 12/14/07, the highest since a reading of .91 for the week ended August 17--which preceded a rally of @ 1000 points in the Dow-Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 100 Index (OEX) ratio was at 1.26, a mildly bullish reading--but far off its levels of 1.65 for the week ended 8/24/07 and 1.88 for the week ended 10/12/07.

In addition, the AAII Index (American Association of individual investors) for last week was 35.9% Bullish & 47.2% Bearish--another contrary indicator giving off a short-term 'buy' reading.

So, it looks like Santa Claus may show up on Wall Street in the 'Nick' of time, after all!

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's Personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link (MrKen has no connection to Barron's, except as a devoted reader for over 40 years):

http://online.barrons.com/this_week

Dow Theory Bear Market Signal & Sentiment Readings-- Follow-Ups

2007-12-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

In the Dec. 10 issue of Barron's, Richard Russell, the publisher of Dow Theory Letters, discounted the Dow's recent (at the time) ebullience as characteristic of every bear kickoff.

"Often, bear market rallies look better than the real thing," warns Russell. "But once the market tops out, it will continue down until it's severely undervalued again."

Even if one is skeptical of technical analysis, one reason to care about Dow Theory is that so many others do--especially institutional investors who leave a large wake..

MrKen notes that the rally from the late November lows has resulted in weakened sentiment readings. According to Investor's Intelligence, the latest sounding of advisory sentiment showed a marked increase in bullishness to 53.3%, from 49.4%, and a corresponding shrinkage in bearishness to 25.6%, from 27.6%--these are, of course, contrary indicators (curtesy of Alan Abelson's-"Up & Down Wall Street" column-Barron's,12/17/07). Similarly, the AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) Index is 47.6% Bullish & 35.7% Bearish, up sharply from readings 3 weeks ago of 28.6% Bullish & 56.1% Bearish (from Barron's 'Market Laboratory-Indicators, 12/17/07).

It would therefore seem that the technical underpinnings of the stock market for a sharp "Santa Claus" end-of-the-year rally are absent from the scene--despite reported heavy insider buying of retail & some financial issues.

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's Personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link (MrKen has no connection to Barron's, except as a devoted reader for over 40 years):

http://online.barrons.com/this_week

'Dow Theory' Major Bear Market Signal

2007-12-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

According to the Nov. 12 issue of Barron's, Richard Russell, the publisher of Dow Theory Letters, indicated the potential of a classic Dow Theory bear-market signal.

"The Dow Jones Industrial and Transportation averages plunged to end-of-day lows of 12,845.78 and 4,672.35, respectively, on Aug. 16. Both then rallied. But while the industrials hit a record 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, the transports didn't come near a record, thus failing to confirm the DJIA's strength. This set up the potential for a classic DOW Theory bear-market signal."

"That signal would come if both averages--and I emphasize both--slip below their August 16 lows. The Transports did dip under their low last week, ending at 4603.92 ..."

MrKen notes that on 11/21 the Industrials closed at 12,799.04, below even the low ebb of trading during the summer's credit crisis--completing the Bear Market signal.

However, before any of my gentle readers rush to sell the market short, they should be aware that many short-term technical indicators are flashing strong 'BUY' signals-- such as insider trading activity. Again, according to Barron's Michael Santoli ('What to Ask Mr. Market'-11/26), for the week of Nov. 19, the ratio of insider selling to buying was down to four, deep in buy signal territory and at a level last seen the week of Aug. 23.

And there is dissent from certain quarters. UBS strategists and others have put forth the Baltic Dry index (a measure of spot cargo demand) as the 21st century transport average. It remains strong.

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link: http://online.barrons.com/public/main?refresh=on

More on Aging & Death-Exercise IS Medicine

2007-11-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

Two days after I posted **"Running as Medicine for Elders-The Fifth Avenue Mile 2007 (11/5/07)", the usually excellent and widely read elderblog* 'Time Goes By' (Ronni Bennett) posted "On Fear of Aging and Death", which contained this quote--that MrKen took issue with--

**http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/
running-as-medicine-for-elders-fifth.html

"A lot of people (boomers?) seem to be convinced that if they lift one more weight or run one more mile, they will never get old. Even if you don’t succumb to cosmetic surgery or spend too much money on expensive anti-aging creams that don’t work, there comes a day, I think, when it’s too much effort any longer to keep up the pretense."

"You realize that you do get tired more easily than your younger friends or something inside compels you to skip the daily workout in favor of a good book or those sexy high-heeled shoes hurt too much to wear today. That, my friends, is the beginning of accepting your age."

MrKen's comment (#21) was as follows:

Hi Ronni,

While I genuinely enjoy your blog , I strongly disagree with the following quote in your post 'On Fear of Aging and Death'--

This point of view strikes me as unnecessarily negative & fatalistic. Frankly, many of the bodily changes attributed to "aging" are really due to a premature deterioration on account of an increasingly unhealthy American lifestyle. Obesity and a sedentary existence have been increasingly linked to many diseases-- including various cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, as well as injuries and falls.

Because muscle mass, bone density & cardiovascular capacity can decline markedly as we age, exercise becomes an increasingly important tool to combat this lifestyle-related deterioration that is really PREMATURE aging. And regular aerobic exercise releases chemicals in the brain that act as natural antidepressants.

I think that it's also important to differentiate between silly & expensive 'cosmetic' attempts to forestall the aging process (like surgery & cremes) versus healthy and useful choices like aerobic exercise and a good diet.

I recently (11/5) posted "Running as Medicine for Elders-the Fifth Avenue Mile 2007" on my blog. Many in their 70's, 80's & even 90's (!) are happily doing competitive running (& other sports)--rather than unhealthily obsessing about their approaching demise. I hope you will get a chance to read it and I welcome your comments.

No, lifting one more weight or running one more mile will not prevent you from getting old. But you just might enjoy your 'golden years' a lot more!

Posted by: Ken on Nov 8, 2007 6:01:18 PM

A similar sentiment to that expressed in 'Time Goes By' seemed to be endorsed in the book "The Denial of Aging" (Perpetual Youth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies"--Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.) {2006}.In fact, I wrote about some of the other interesting ideas discussed therein in my post on this blog, dated 5/23/07--but not this one (although I did mention the review):

A review on the back cover noted, " Finally, a book that tells the truth about aging, starting with the fact that eating right and exercising will not prevent it. Dr. Gillick provides a fascinating guide for the journey into old age, and shows us how to make the best of it. Boomers (and most other grown-ups) will find her book right on target."-- Marcia Angell, former Editor in Chief, New England Journal of Medicine, and author of "The Truth about the Drug Companies."

Notwithstanding the foregoing review, MrKen reiterates that eating right & exercising accomplishes the following:

1) Exercise counters depression, which recently has been identified in studies as a disease having more adverse effects on health & longevity than many serious physical diseases.

2) Aerobic exercise like jogging, swimming & tennis strengthen the heart & cardiovascular system, and may prevent the onset of diabetes and Alzheimers.

3) Weight training adds to bone mass, helping to prevent brittle bones from breaking in falls by frail elders--falls which have been indicated in adversely affecting longevity.

4) Enhances the quality of life.

Be forewarned--elders & near-elders may rationalize their laziness or fatalism all they want--but as you age you need to do MORE exercise than you did when you were younger--not less. Use it or lose it, as they say...

"At 20, one has the body he/she was born with--at 60, one has the body he/she deserves". -Anonymous

"Death is the enemy--the life cycle [is] completely unacceptable."...-Michael West, founder of Geron & a molecular biologist who is researching aging.

*To read the full post in 'Time Goes By' by Ronni Bennett, please follow this link: http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2007/11/on-fear-of-agin.html#comments

To read my earlier post on the 'Denial of Aging' (5/23/07) please go here:
http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/2007/05/denial-of-aging-part-i.html

Running As Medicine For Elders-The Fifth Avenue Mile 2007

2007-11-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

Abraham Weintraub of Greater New York, was the most senior runner—at 98 years old, he finished the Fifth Avenue mile in 18:49.

A few meters from the start of the George Sheehan Memorial Mile 70+ race, the competitors begin to break away.

(Right frame)The leading lady in the 70+ women’s race was Eve Pell of Greenbrae, CA (7:04).

(above left) First-place George Sheehan Memorial Mile 60 to 69 race winner Harold Nolan of the Shore Athletic Club pulled in a speedy 5:14 finish.

As a member of the 'Elderblogger' community, MrKen is aware of plenty of complaints written by some of my 'baby-boomer' (and older) peers--but often still in their 40's & 50's--about declining vigor, reduced libido & various aches and pains supposedly caused by aging. And while lip-service is usually paid to the ideals of a healthy diet and exercise--I am unaware of many in my age group that actually follow an exercise program of any kind.

Frankly, many of the bodily changes attributed to "aging" are really due to a premature deterioration on account of an increasingly unhealthy American lifestyle. Obesity and a sedentary existence have been increasingly linked to many diseases-- including various cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, as well as injuries and falls.

Because muscle mass, bone density & cardiovascular capacity can decline markedly as we age, exercise becomes an increasingly important tool to combat this lifestyle-related deterioration that is really premature aging. And regular aerobic exercise releases chemicals in the brain that act as natural antidepressants.

MrKen currently combines a 7 mile walk & 1 1/2 mile run @ 3 times a week. During the summer, I played tennis at least once or twice a week, generally with much younger players (singles & doubles) for 4-5 hours/session. I also do training with free-weights. I am determined not to suffer the fate of my father, who died of a heart attack at age 62 (my age now), after suffering from angina & heart failure for a number of years.

But I have to admit that my efforts seem to pale against what some elders have accomplished.

During the running of this year's NYC Marathon, it was announced that the oldest male participant was 88 years old--while the oldest female competitor was 87!

On Sept. 29 the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile competition was held; really a series of races from 80th Street to 60th Street. According to The New York Times & the New York Road Runners Club, there were a bevy of older runners:

--The oldest runner of the day was 98-year-old Abe Weintraub of Brooklyn. His time was 18:49, and he was proud. "I'm glad I ran it," he said. "I'm glad I finished. It becomes tough, but i could run another mile right now. I ran the whole mile, no walking. Will I run next year? Sure. I'll run every year. It's become a habit."

--Weintraub was not last in the George Sheehan memorial race for those 70 and older (named for the cardiologist & marathon runner). David Gerli, 96, of Manhattan, finished in 21:03 and was disappointed. "I didn't do as well as I thought I would," he said. "I broke my hip two years ago, and fell in the spring. That's why I can't sprint. I didn't run. I walked fast. I hope I'll do better next year.

--The fastest in the 80-84 age group was John Bates of Pleasantville, N.Y., in an (amazing) 7:29. He indicated that he "started running in high school, gave it up and then started running again. About next year, I'm not sure. When you're in your 80's, you have to take it year by year."

--Joan Rowland,81...said she was taking life a year at a time. She ran a 10:27 and said, "I feel O.K." She added..."Next year, if I'm alive, I'll run it again." Rowland said running had been a tonic. "I've had heart disease, cancer of the arm and several ministrokes," she said. "I started running when I was 71 to help me recover from cancer. Running is my medicine."

Curtesy of the New York Times- to read the full article follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/sports/othersports/30track.html

Curtesy of the New York Road Runners Club-for the full story & many more pictures, go here:
http://www.nyrr.org/races/2007/mile/gallery_local.asp

*** Do NOT initiate an exercise program of any kind without medical clearance from your doctor, ESPECIALLY if you are over 60 years of age & ESPECIALLY if you have heretofore led a sedentary lifestyle. Yearly EKG's & medical monitoring are mandatory for joggers who are past 60 years of age. (Per Kenneth Cooper, the "Aerobics" guru). To read about him, go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_H._Cooper

Gambler Won't Eat Until He Can Play Roulette Again

2007-10-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

A Romanian man has taken compulsive gambling to a new level, by going on a hunger strike after being banned from a local casino. One suspects this is publicity the gambling industry could do without!

Ioan Seutiut was kicked out of the casino for allegedly swearing and shouting too loud while playing roulette, but the man claims that he was not doing anything different from anyone else that was in the casino.

"They say I swear and talk to loud but everybody shouts in there especially when losing. After all it's not a church, it's the roulette", said Seutiut in response to being thrown out.

He is currently sitting out front of the casino with a note that reads, "Roulette Hunger Strike".

The patron plans to sit outside until allowed back in and claims he will not accept medical attention or eat food until he's readmitted to the casino.

He went on to say, "I have a lot of money on me and I want to play it all on the Roulette but they just don't let me."

He plans to erect a tent just outside the casino and stay in it until he is allowed to play or is given back the he lost there--about $10,000.

He claims, "I love the Roulette even though it cost me lots of money. But that's my problem and all I ask from this casino is to let me play. If not I will not leave this place."

Curtesy of gaming today: http://www.gamingtoday.com/
&
Net Bet Blog: http://www.netbetblog.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

Serena Williams Crumbles, Offers Excuses in WTA Moscow Final

2007-10-17T17:52:00.000-04:00

The Williams' sisters continue to unravel, and Serena continues to offer lame excuses for her losses.

The following is curtesy of tennis-x.com:

It's a rare post-US Open sight these days in Europe and Asia -- Serena and Venus Williams, both healthy at the same time, in a flurry of tournament activity trying to raise their rankings to both qualify for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. Unfortunately both sisters are finding it difficult to simply reemerge into tournament play and sweep titles as they've done in past years.

Venus Williams lost this week in the semifinals at Bangkok to unheralded Flavia Pennetta, after losing the Japan Open final a week earlier to Virginie Razzano, neither of which you'll ever see inscribed on a Grand Slam trophy.

On Sunday in Moscow, Serena Williams won the first set 7-5 over Elena Dementieva in the final before the homecountry favorite rolled the American 6-1, 6-1 in the next two sets for the title.

Prior to Sunday's Moscow final, Serena Williams had never lost a set to Dementieva in four career meetings, making a total of 59 unforced errors in the final.

"I made a lot of errors," said Williams, making her signature statement in the post-match conference that she lost the match rather than her opponent winning. "It was me. Every ball I hit I felt was out. It was so frustrating."

Williams broke to begin the third set before losing six straight games and the match.

"She played really unbelievable," said Williams. "She should try to play like that more often."

It was the second 2007 title for the former No. 4-ranked Dementieva, who entered the event at No. 14 on the WTA Tour Rankings. It has been an erratic year for the Russian, who failed to reach a quarterfinal at any of the four Grand Slams.

Williams showed up surprisingly overweight in January at the Australian Open but put on a stunning display to win the title, then won again at her next event in Miami in March. Since then she has failed to win a title in seven tournaments.

To visit tennis-x.com, please follow this link: http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2007-10-14/k.php

Bill Maher: Show me a man wearing an American flag pin, I'll show you an asshole

2007-10-15T12:57:00.000-04:00

As usual, Bill Maher can be counted upon to illuminate the stupidity of what passes for political discourse in America today. Here is the latest example, curtesy of the Raw Story...

Bill Maher: Show me a man wearing an American flag pin, I'll show you an asshole

Nick Langewis and Mike Aivaz
Published: Saturday October 13, 2007

the Raw Story

"Show me a man wearing an American flag pin in his lapel, and I'll show you an asshole," says Bill Maher during a recent New Rules segment.

Calling it the "first genuine controversy" of the 2008 presidential campaign, Maher brings up last week's "shocking news" that Democratic candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, does not wear an American flag pin.

"So apparently, he and America are no longer going steady."

Quips Maher: "Why don't you just stab the Statue of Liberty in the eye while bitch-slapping a 9/11 widow?"

Obama came under media scrutiny after expressing to a reporter that wearing the pin seemed like a "substitute for true patriotism."

Continues Maher, "Another in a series of bullshit non-stories that have zero effect on the troops, the war, or anything in the real world. Or, as Fox calls it: Breaking news."

One personality called it "too much information," saying that Obama was showing a sign of insecurity by not simply saying he was making a fashion statement.

"This is typical press hypocrisy," says Maher. "They say they want someone who doesn't give pat political answers, but when they get one, they call them a loser. They say they don't want safe robots like [Sen. Hillary Clinton], but they create conditions where only that species can survive.

And then, they give cover to people like Sean Hannity, who reported on No-Pin-gate...and then had to call a doctor because his fake outrage hard-on lasted longer than 72 hours."

"Of course, the Republicans are the party of Mark Foley, and Ted Haggard, and Larry Craig, and countless other closeted homosexuals... so their fixation on jewelry is understandable."

Video of the entire monologue, and the remaining New Rules segment, is below. It was broadcast on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on October 12, 2007.

To view the video, please follow this link:

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bill_Maher_Show_me_guy_with_1013.html

Serena Williams Reiterates Petty, Classless Comments about U.S. Open Match with #1 Justine Henin

2007-10-11T17:58:00.000-04:00

A baffled Serena Williams during her quarterfinal loss to Justine Henin--Clueless & Classless

As MrKen posted on 9/28, Serena Williams raised eyebrows during a surly press conference at the U.S. Open, during which she blamed her quarterfinal loss on "a lot of lucky shots" hit by #1 ranked Justine Henin.

Just in case any readers were willing to overlook her immature & childish comments about the loss to the best female player in the world- as just reflecting momentary frustration with her poor showing-- check this out...from Reuters (10/8/07)

Serena Sets Sights on Reclaiming Top Spot

...Serena Williams lost in the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open to top-ranked eventual champion Justine Henin last month and said the Belgian hit some "lucky shots" to win 7-6 6-1.

NO CONTRITION

While admitting she was frustrated during the post-match news conference, Williams would not apologize for the remarks.

"I want to know what I said that was such a problem," said Williams after facing some sharp criticism. "It was what it was."

Williams then tried to lamely also blame her loss on injury and, amazingly, "other interests". Are we to believe that she is just a dilettante at tennis? As she told Reuters,

"Definitely injury has a lot to do with it," Williams told Reuters in a telephone interview from Moscow. "Well, maybe it's a little bit of both, injury and my other interests.

"But I'm not going to stop doing what I do. I'm stubborn. That's a flaw that I have."

The 26-year-old Williams is involved in a variety of off-court projects, including fashion design and acting.

"I definitely do a lot of different things," she said. "I'm not just a tennis player. I don't want to be one of those girls that doesn't have anything to change in to when I'm done with my career.

"I think it's important to have things to fall back on."

I get it, Serena--even though you lost this very important match to Justine Henin, you are more "well-rounded", right?

MrKen says that this is just so much nonsense, Serena! You apparently don't possess the necessary skills or focus to regain a #1 ranking, so you make weak excuses.

MrKen is disgusted with the childish & petty egos of the massively overpaid athletes like Ms. Williams in the U.S. today. For instance, as the historic collapse of the N.Y. Mets was starting to unfold in mid-September against second-rate teams, one star gave an explanation of several key losses. "We're so good, that sometimes we get bored."

Hey Serena--wanna join the Mets?

To read the full Reuters interview, please follow this link:

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0831908320071008?pageNumber=3

The Muddleheadedness of Alan Greenspan

2007-10-05T13:52:00.000-04:00

It seems that the former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, cannot stop babbling now that he is retired. But the former 81 year old Fed chief is as muddleheaded as ever.

In testimony before Congress in 2001, Greenspan gave a major boost to Bush's tax cut plan which mainly benefited the wealthy, irking Democrats.

But in his new book, "The Age of Turbulence", he bashes George W. Bush for not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits. And he acknowledges (approvingly) that the Iraq war had something to do with crude oil.

According to the Associated Press:

"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Greenspan wrote.

Of the conflict in the Middle East, Greenspan said: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Bush took office in 2001, the last time the government produced a budget surplus. Every year after that, the government has been in the red. In 2004, the deficit swelled to a record $413 billion.

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

James Grant, editor of 'Grant's Interest Rate Observer', authored a critical review of the book in The Wall Street Journal last month (9/18/07). Some excerpts illustrate Greenspan's fuzzy thinking and less than stellar record as Fed chief:

"...Mr. Greenspan, a consulting economist of no special attainments (on the eve of the 1974 stock market collapse, he was quoted in the New York Times saying
"it is rare that you can be as unqualifiedly bullish as you can now)..."

"...the work he performed as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, in all but name, was price-fixing. It consisted...of setting an interest rate and shoving it down the throat of the world's largest economy. It is mighty strange work for a 'libertarian Republican,' as the Maestro styles himself here, let alone a former worshipful member of the inner circle of the radical individualist Ayn Rand."

"Mr. Greenspan notes, 'it did not seem like a job I felt equipped to do; setting interest rates for an entire economy seemed to involve so much more than I knew.' "

"...Nowhere in the book does Mr. Greenspan own up to his role of ... dangling the most beguiling teaser rate of all during the mortgage rate frolics of 2004--i.e., that 1% federal funds rate. In February 2004, only months before the Fed started to raise its rate, in a speech titled "Understanding Household Debt Obligations," Mr. Greenspan domonstrated next to no understanding. His advice to American homeowners was not that they lock in a fixed-rate mortgage while the locking was good, but rather that they consider an adjustable-rate model. He who set the rates got it backward."

"...To fend off the peril of low and lower everyday prices, the Fed pressed its interest rate all the way down to 1% in 2003 and kept it there until mid-2004. Now it was house prices that went into orbit...Readers who got one of the fancy new teaser-rate mortgages in 2003 or 2004, and who have lived to rue the day, are unlikely to find much nourishment in Mr. Greenspan's discussion of the theory of financial bubbles or in his self-exculpating account of the Fed's role in financing them with artificially low interest rates..."

"...At one point during his long interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday evening, Alan Greenspan could be seen autographing dollar bills for his smiling fans. Meanwhile, off-camera, unautographed greenbacks continue to depreciate against a variety of metals and foreign currencies. Striving to understand why people trusted it in the first place, historians will naturally reach for the memoirs of the foremost central banker of his day. But Mr. Greenspan's "The Age of Turbulence" will leave them just as confused as they ever were..."

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

MrKen notes that Greenspan admitted to often being disingenuous during his many appearances before Congress. In the '60 Minutes' interview, as well as others, he indicated his strategy for questions that he couldn't or wouldn't answer. He admitted retreating into his "Fed-speak" mode of obfuscation--hoping to confuse the questioner or even making him forget that his query had not been answered!

To read the full Associated Press article of Alan Greenspan go here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/15/business/
NA-FIN-US-Greenspan-Book.php

To read James Grant's complete book review, follow this link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119006999885230401.html

Looking Back at the 2007 U.S. Tennis Open - Justine Henin is the 'Class' of the Women's Game!

2007-09-28T17:13:00.000-04:00

Allez!

Justine Henin solidified her hold on the World's #1 ranking by dispatching both Williams' sisters enroute to the U.S. Open Championship.

First Justine knocked down Serena in the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 drubbing. "The Belgian tennis queen silenced the anxious crowd and doubting American critics with tremendous shot making, and champion's poise. Justine now leads their major head-to-head record 4-2", noted Henin's official website.

Then, according to the New York Post (9/7/07), Richard Williams, reverting to his old braggadacio (sic) ways, predicted his daughter would beat Justine in the semifinals and win the U.S. Open. "I believe Venus can whip anyone here," Papa Williams declared to three reporters, "I don't think no one (sic) here is going to beat Venus."

The Post added that Serena raised eyebrows during a surly press conference after the match, saying her opponent won because Henin "hit a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors."

This remark was even too much for Mr. Williams, who 'clarified' this insult by saying that Serena should have skipped the Open and her "lucky" remark referred to the Belgian being fortunate that Serena was hurt. But then he went on to discuss a "shopping list" of Serena's allegedly undisclosed ailments, including a hamstring pull and left-knee swelling from a past operation. "That's why she felt Justine hit lucky shots because she couldn't move", added Pa Williams.

Papa Williams has been known in the past to stretch the truth.

Basically, Serena looked beat the entire second set. To this amateur she appeared old, overweight and out of shape as Justine motored around the court, hitting sizzling passing shots.

And Justine went on to defeat Venus Williams, 7-6, (7-2), 6-4 in the semifinals. It was two hours of astonishing shot making, athleticism, deft hands, and exhilirating speed from two champions. But Venus finally wilted under a twin barrage of Henin's incredible speed and dazzling passing shots.

In the final, Justine easily def. Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-3 in just 82 mins. So Justine Henin did not concede a set during the Open!

Justine had her own unpublicized health problems, evident during the Venus Williams match, when she called for a trainer. She could not go to Beijing (cancelled 9/12) because of continuing asthma problems. But in MrKen's estimation-and more importantly her own-she raised her tennis to a new, higher, level.

John McEnroe, despite his admiration for Justine's style of play and mental toughness, is wrong. Justine Henin at her best can defeat BOTH Serena and Venus Williams at their best. And I can't wait for her to do it again...

Justine is clearly the 'Class' of the Women's game-- in more ways than one...

"I didn't play Venus in four years, but she was my semi-final opponent. I can't tell you enough how enormous my motivation was. I think we reached an incredible level of tennis in that match, and it will remain as one of the best matches of my career." -- Justine Henin

Justine Henin's official fan website: http://www.justine-henin.be/public/shownews.asp?Lang=en&id=3245

"DISCO INFERNO"- The Trammps Perform at Atlantic City's Resorts Superstar Theater!

2007-08-29T14:03:00.002-04:00

One of MrKen's A-T-Fave 1970's disco bands will perform in the Superstar Theater at Resorts Atlantic City for five groovy shows beginning on Sunday, September 9 thru Wednesday, September 12-- and Friday Sepember 14.

The Trammps unique blend of pulsating beats, catchy melodies and vocal harmonies embodied the essence of a style that grew to define the disco era.

MrKen still owns the wonderful 1976 LP album, "Where The Happy People Go". The album included the songs, 'Disco Party', 'Hooked for Life', and Soul Searchin' Time.' This album was showered with honors: Best Disco Album, Best Disco Artist, Best Disco Single and Best Disco Single Unreleased (Billboard, 1976).

And, of course, the Trammps cemented their place in music history with the Saturday Night Fever hit, "Disco Inferno" (of course MrKen owns both the album of the same name & the 'Fever' LP). And in 1994, Rhino records released on Cd "This is Where the Happy People Go: The Best of the Trammps --1--

Indeed, the Trammps produced some of the happiest, carefree & danceable music ever!
****************************************************************
But take notice! There is a new disco orchestra, "Escort", that's been performing lately in Brooklyn & Stuyvesant town ("Brooklyn's Finest Disco Orchestra"- Village Voice 8/1-8/7/07)! Here is a quote from Dan, one of the producers...

"For a lot of people who do production, when you're digging for samples on disco records, you're like, 'Oh, I actually like this better than the stuff that's coming out now...The engineering's better, the production's better--and oh my god, it's actually musical."

This guy has my vote...but then, the music reflects the times.

Footnote -1- Disco aficionados may be disappointed that only the 'short' version of "Where the Happy People Go" is reprised on the Rhino CD. The "long" club version, which includes the tantalizing piano intro, can only be found on the original LP and possibly the CD, if still available. However, the collection itself is terrific. (MrKen).

*************************************************************
The Trammps will perform in Resorts’ Superstar Theater, September 9 through 12 and 14. Showtime is at 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 9 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are priced at $30 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

Link to Resorts News Release :

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:VhIEWa9NCHkJ:www.resortscasinos.com/
media/resortsac/docs/newsrelease_070803-2.doc+resorts+atlantic+city+Trammps&hl
=en&amp;ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

Link to Trammps official website:

http://aaeg.com/trammps.htm

Link to Trammps Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trammps

Link to YouTube - The Trammps, "Disco Inferno"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opY4qcidFk

'Escort' Disco Band - MySpace Website

http://www.myspace.com/weareescort

Current Stupidity ('Terror') Alert Level

2007-08-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

Current Terror Alert Level
Ernie: All commercial flights
Bert: Everything else

Curtesy of http://www.geekandproud.net/terror/

Comptroller general compares US to Roman empire

2007-08-15T17:50:00.000-04:00

MrKen has previously posted about the similarity between the Empire that is the current U.S.A. and the Empire that was Rome. "Empire of Debt - The rise of an epic Financial Crisis", (2006) by Bill Bonner & Addisson Wiggin, is a wonderful book that makes a clear and convincing case that the United States is rapidly falling into a decline that mimics the end of the Roman Empire. As I quoted from the Introduction back on 6/30/06,

'Slouching Toward Empire--'

"Institutions have a way of evolving over time -- after a few years, they no longer resemble the originals. Early in the 21 st -century, the U.S.A. is no more like the America of 1776 than the Vatican under the Borgia popes was like Christianity at the time of the Last Supper... "

"Still, while the institutions evolve, the ideas and theories about them tend to be fixed; it is as if people hadn't noticed. In America, all the restraints inhibitions and modesty of the Old Republic have been blown away by the prevailing winds of the new Empire. In their place has emerged a vainglorious system of conceit, deceit, debt and delusion."

"The U. S. Constitution is almost exactly the same document with exactly the same words it had when it was written, but the words that used to bind and chaff have turned into soft elastic. The government that couldn't tax, couldn't spend, and couldn't regulate, can now do anything it wants. The Executive has all the power it needs to do practically anything. Congress goes along, like a simpleminded stooge, insisting only that the spoils be spread around...."

For my previous posts on this subject, please follow this link:
http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Empire+of+Debt

MrKen notes that the Comptroller General, a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office--often described as the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress-- apparently agrees with the authors & MrKen.

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

--From the Financial Times of London---

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

By Jeremy Grant in Washington

Published: August 14 2007 00:06

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”

Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress.

While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volume”. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated with”.

“I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,” he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on.

“One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,” said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term.

The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”.

“With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks,” said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm.

Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an “unsustainable path”.

“Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernise everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call.”

Mr Walker said he would offer to brief the would-be presidential candidates next spring.

“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

Guaranteed leave for Mothers, 2006

2007-08-13T14:19:00.000-04:00

Who Gives Parents a Break? Here is yet another indicator that the U.S. lags behind most other countries in providing health care benefits.

The August 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine ('Geography' section) suggests that American moms-to-be might consider a move to Slovenia. The article goes on to say,

While U.S. law guarantees a mere 12 weeks of unpaid leave under certain conditions, the least of any industrialized nation, the relatively poor central European country offers far more substantial benefits. Many nations give new mothers at least 14 weeks of leave from work around the time their child is born. Some 66 countries let dads take time off, too. The consensus is that bonding time with parents is good for a newborn's health and development. By that measure, places like Cuba, Uzbekistan, and South Korea earn high marks. And the U.S., says Jody Heymann, a social policy expert at McGill University, could definitely do better. (Neil Shea of N.G.)

An accompanying map to the aforesaid article also indicates the following facts:

-Russia & Slovenia give at least 52 weeks of leave and pay full wages.
-In Ota, Japan, male municipal workers who become fathers must take 40 days of paid leave.
-Employees of India's central government may take 135 days of maternity leave at full pay.
-The governments of Australia, Liberia, Papua, New Guinea, Swaziland and the United States provide some of the world's weakest leave benefits. Lucky dads are fortunate to get even a paid week off.

To view the full article and map, you will need to obtain a copy of the Aug. 2007 issue of National Geographic. Here is the link to their website:
http://nationalgeographic.com/

The Holocaust as a Bureaucracy

2007-08-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

The obituary of Raul Hilberg in today's NY Times (8/7/07) reminded MrKen of a holocaust denier ('Beau Peep') who left some Neo-Nazi propaganda in the form of a comment on this blog way back on 8/25/06, in response to my post, "Mumbai's 'Hitler's Cross' restaurant to change name after uproar". The link to this and a related post about the Holocaust is--

http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=holocaust

Here are some putative 'facts' from "Beau Peep's" hateful & utterly nonsensical rant:

...The Japanese killings of prisoners during the World War II were much worse than what happened to the Jews in Nazi occupied Europe...

...The Holocaust itself is a subject matter of debate. I firmly believe that in order to justify a land for the Jews (creation of Israel out of nothing but biblical references), the West had to create a story so horrific that humankind is moved enough to accept and support Israel. The West had to save themselves from the embarrassment because it was the European nations who were mainly responsible for whatever happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis...

...If you asked my personal opinion, I don’t deny or believe in the Holocaust. You can say that I am not really sure whether it actually took place...

...As far as the numbers of Holocaust victims are concerned, it is a highly debatable subject. Even those who fled the Nazis are counted as victims who perished at the hands of the Nazis. The numbers you cited here are fantastic to say the least for many neutral-minded people, let alone the Holocaust deniers or the revisionists...

...The Zionists have been trying their best for thought control of the world because this is the only way they can justify Israel and their mass murder and persecution of the Palestinians and also ferment trouble in the Middle East...

Leaving aside the fact that the numbers of Holocaust victims I cited in my retort to this despicable 'skinhead' was taken from the same source he quoted (Wikipedia), it is truly amazing that he gives as his 'personal opinion' that he is agnostic about whether the slaughter of millions of innocents actually took place...after careful study of all the evidence, no doubt...

Considering the absolutely exhaustive amount of research on the subject from countless disparate sources, these denier types obviously have not read or have willfully chosen to ignore the literature, eyewitness testimony, films, pictures, and especially official German military and civilian records on the subject. But prejudice, hate & intellectual dishonesty have always been immune to facts.--MrKen
********************************************************************************
Some telling excerpts from today's NY Times obit...

Raul Hilberg, a Jewish émigré from Nazi-occupied Vienna who helped begin the field of Holocaust studies with his long and minutely detailed 1961 study of the massacre of European Jews, died Saturday in Williston, Vt. He was 81...

...In his landmark work, “The Destruction of the European Jews,” Mr. Hilberg said the Holocaust had been the result of a huge bureaucratic machine with thousands of participants, not the fulfillment of a preconceived plan or a single order by Hitler.

As uncountable separate instructions were passed on, formally and informally, to a range of actors that included train schedulers and gas chamber architects, responsibility became ever more diluted, he argued, even as the machinery of death churned inexorably ahead.

“For these reasons, an administrator, clerk or uniformed guard never referred to himself as a perpetrator,” Mr. Hilberg said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1992. “He realized, however, that the process of destruction was deliberate, and that once he had stepped into this maelstrom, his deed would be indelible.”

Though some critics said Mr. Hilberg had understated the impact of historic German anti-Semitism, his broad conclusions were based on painstaking research. He examined microfilm of thousands upon thousands of prosaic documents like train schedules and memorandums between minor officials.

“This head-against-the-wall technique is the only virtue I can parade without blushing,” he said last year when Germany gave him with its Order of Merit, the highest tribute it can pay to someone who is not a German citizen...

...Holocaust historians of all views began using terminology Mr. Hilberg had devised, including that of calling the Holocaust’s principals perpetrators, victims and bystanders...

...At least five publishers rejected his major book. It was published by a small Chicago house after a wealthy patron agreed to buy 1,300 copies to go to libraries.

His caustic personal style, which contrasted with the monotone of his histories, did not always help. When academics asked about his subject area, Mr. Hilberg was prone to reply, “I study dead Jews.”

To read the complete obituary, please follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/us/07hilberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Accused grave robbers dodge sex charges

2007-07-27T14:54:00.000-04:00

By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 26, 7:08 PM ET

MADISON, Wis. - Three men who dug up a young woman's corpse to have sex with it after seeing her obituary photo cannot be charged with attempted sexual assault because Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

A judge was correct to dismiss the charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 21, because lawmakers never intended to criminalize sex with a corpse, the District 4 Court of Appeals said in a 3-0 ruling.

The three men went to a cemetery in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin on Sept. 2 to remove the body of Laura Tennessen, 20, who had been killed the week before in a motorcycle crash.

The men used shovels to reach her grave. They abandoned their plan and were eventually arrested after a vehicle drove into the cemetery and reported suspicious behavior, authorities said.

They said the men had seen an obituary of Tennessen with her photo and wanted to dig up her body to have sexual intercourse. Such an act is known as necrophilia...

To read the rest of the story, please follow this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/grave_robbers;_ylt=Auh4TABNJ1THzTfeM3EhNn4E1vAI

Preemptive and Preventive War--A Perspective

2007-07-11T13:22:00.000-04:00

In consideration of the Bush Administration's "preventive" war and subsequent occupation of Iraq, and its contemplated military action against Iran--yet another Carrier Group is being sent to the Persian Gulf--MrKen thinks that this is perhaps an auspicious moment to take a hard look at what the terms 'preventive' and 'preemptive' really mean. A short historical discussion follows. According to a recent Wikipedia entry---

Preventive war is war launched in anticipation of a future loss of security or strategic advantage. Preventive war is sharply distinct from preemptive war, or anticipatory self-defense. Preventive war is only claimed to prevent a hypothetical attack which might occur in the future; for example, a war launched to prevent an adversary acquiring more powerful weapons. In international law, preventive war has no recognized status as distinct from a war of aggression. Many wars have been characterised as "preventive" in nature, often by both sides of the conflict...

Legal scholars generally agree that preventive war is not legally distinct from aggression, "the supreme crime" in international law. Commentators as diverse as Dwight Eisenhower and Noam Chomsky have argued that accepting one preventive war would open the floodgates to all preventive wars, reducing the world to "the law of the jungle"...

As Noam Chomsky elaborates--

'The grand strategy (of the Bush Administaration) authorises the US to carry out preventive war: preventive, not pre-emptive. Whatever the justifications for pre-emptive war might be, they do not hold for preventive war, particularly as that concept is interpreted by its current enthusiasts: the use of military force to eliminate an invented or imagined threat, so that even the term "preventive" is too charitable. Preventive war is, very simply, the supreme crime that was condemned at Nuremberg.'

MrKen notes that while the Japanese like to think of their attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 as preemptive war, or anticipatory self defense, Wikipedia accurately describes the action as preventive war-or simply an act of aggression--it...

'was motivated by the knowledge that American military power was rapidly increasing, while American policy towards Japan was becoming more adversarial. America was moving battleships and strategic bombers into the Asian theatre, an action which was construed as a long-term potential threat but was not a real or anticipated attack.'

But MrKen observes that the United States actually has a long and bloody history of fighting 'preventive' wars. The genocidal military actions against the millions of 'squatters' in North America (i.e., the American Indians) by the European invaders come immediately to mind. And, as I wrote previously in this blog on Sept. 21, 2006--[The 'Gringo Empire' as Role Model and the 'Moral Low Ground']---

'In the book 'Wetback Nation - the case for Opening the Mexican-American Border' - (2004) - by Peter Laufer, the author writes,'

"...few Gringos think of their lands from Texas to California as conquered territory. Such selective memory allowed President Clinton to declare..."

'Americans never fought for empire, for territory, for dominance.' 1

"...In fact that's exactly what Americans fought for when they invaded Mexico in 1846..." 2

"...In addition to the fight along the Texas border, (President) Polk dispatched troops to seize Mexico's northwest--the land from New Mexico out to California..." Ibid.

"It was a war 'unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States', according to a house resolution passed 85 - 81 just before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848, ceding half of Mexico to the United States." Ibid.

"Mexicans agreed to the bad deal and remember it well." Ibid.

Link to MrKen's entire blog entry: http://mrken45sworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Mexico

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

For those readers who desire a more modern opinion on preventive war by a U.S. President, let us turn to the policies of John F. Kennedy, prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

'...In March 1962, the idea that the United States might be prepared to mount a first strike against the Soviet Union was made publicly by President Kennedy himself. The veteran correspondent Stewart Alsop, known to be a personal friend of Kennedy, wrote an article on 'Kennedy's Grand Strategy' for the Saturday Evening Post on the basis of a long interview with the President. The text and quotations were cleared by the President before publication. The key phrase was: 'Khrushchev must not be certain that, where its vital interests are threatened, the U.S. will never strike first. As Kennedy says, "In some circumstances we might have to take the initiative."' 3

One can only wonder with trepidation what new adventures in preventive war the Bush Administration will undertake in its waning months of power...

Footnotes:

1 President Bill Clinton at a Memorial Day Service at Arlington National Cemetary.
2 'Wetback Nation - the case for Opening the Mexican-American Border' - (2004) - by Peter Laufer.
3 'The Cold War-A History - (1993) - by Martin Walker (Interview with President Kennedy in the Saturday Evening Post 31 March 1962)
Link http://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-History-Martin-Walker/dp/0805034544

Political Bumper Stickers!

2007-07-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

Curtesy: http://www.cafepress.com/thewhitehouse/52760

'Sicko' is boffo' -- Jack Mathews (NY Daily News, 6/19/07)

2007-06-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

Vital signs strong for Moore's health care documentary--

MrKen is planning to view Michael Moore's film essay, "Sicko", which takes on America's profoundly profitable and catastrophically inefficient health care system.

Some excerpts from Jack Mathews' review in the Daily News (6/19/07):

Anecdotal in nature, "Sicko" shows what's wrong with our health care system by comparing it with those in Canada, England and France, where universal health care is as ingrained in the social fabric as their national anthems.

Asked what would have happened in England if Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair had tried to dismantle the National Health Service, an elderly British statesman answers without pause, "There would have been a revolution."

In the U.S., politicians in the pockets of medical industry lobbyists respond to any universal health care movement by screaming, "Socialism!" And, as Hilary Clinton learned, it works...

...this is a picture about the big picture, showing that the U.S., while investing far more money in health care than any other country, ranks 38th in the world in effectiveness - far, far behind every other Western industrialized nation.

The reason for this poor return is that most of the money ends up in the bank accounts of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, both of which are driven to improve the financial health of their stockholders...

...insurance company examiners ...find reasons not to approve claims, even if the patient is fatally ill...

...In England, where the motto is "Pay according to your means, get treated according to your needs," government-paid doctors receive bonuses for improving the health of their patients. What a concept.

Follow this link to read the full review: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2007/06/19/2007-06-19_sicko_is_boffo.html

PAUL KRUGMAN: Authentic? Never Mind

2007-06-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

Conservatives like Bill O'Reilly are fond of claiming that certain Democrats & liberals, such as John Edwards, are "inauthentic" because they are 'well-heeled' and live in a big house. Economist Paul Krugman gives us his perspective on this idea--

Excerpts from Paul Krugman's excellent Op-Ed piece in the Monday, June 11th edition of the New York Times follow:

Rich liberals who claim they’ll help America’s less fortunate are phonies.

Let me give you one example — a Democrat who said he’d work on behalf of workers and the poor. He even said he’d take on Big Business. But the truth is that while he was saying those things, he was living in a big house and had a pretty lavish summer home too. His favorite recreation, sailing, was incredibly elitist. And he didn’t talk like a regular guy.

Clearly, this politician wasn’t authentic. His name? Franklin Delano Roosevelt...

What does authenticity mean? Supposedly it means not pretending to be who you aren’t. But that definition doesn’t seem to fit the way the term is actually used in political reporting.

For example, the case of F.D.R. shows that there’s nothing inauthentic, in the normal sense of the word, about calling for higher taxes on the rich while being rich yourself. If anything, it’s to your credit if you advocate policies that will hurt your own financial position. But the news media seem to find it deeply disturbing that John Edwards talks about fighting poverty while living in a big house.

On the other hand, consider the case of Fred Thompson. He spent 18 years working as a highly paid lobbyist, wore well-tailored suits and drove a black Lincoln Continental. When he ran for the Senate, however, his campaign reinvented him as a good old boy: it leased a used red pickup truck for him to drive, dressed up in jeans and a work shirt, with a can of Red Man chewing tobacco on the front seat.

But Mr. Thompson’s strength, says Lanny Davis in The Hill, is that he’s “authentic.”...

And where do you start with Rudy Giuliani? We keep being told that he has credibility on national security, because he seemed so reassuring on 9/11. (Some firefighters have condemned his actual performance that day, saying that rescue efforts were uncoordinated and that firemen died because he provided them with faulty radios. “All he did was give information on the TV,” said a deputy fire chief whose son died at the World Trade Center. “He did nothing.” And the nation’s largest firefighters’ union has condemned his handling of recovery efforts in the weeks following 9/11.)

But he’s spent the years since then cashing in on terrorism...

...The point is that questions about a candidate shouldn’t be whether he or she is “authentic.” They should be about motives: whose interests would the candidate serve if elected? And think how much better shape the nation would be in if enough people had asked that question seven years ago.

Here is the link to the full article: http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/06/paul-krugman-authentic-never-mind.html

The Soviet Empire -- A Retrospective of Spectacular Failure

2007-06-05T14:37:00.000-04:00

The Soviet Union undoubtedly represents the most spectacular failure of empire-building in the twentieth century. MrKen notes that many "conservative/religious zealots" or "CRZ'ys" point to this failed empire as an example of the evils of "state-sponsored atheism" and a supposed indictment of where the "secular progressives" or "S-P's" are leading this country.

But this interpretation is to misread what the Communist State actually represented. The Communist party was both a criminal enterprise - not unlike the Mafia - and a priesthood! Martin Walker describes the system in his fascinating book, 'The Cold War' (1993):

"The corruption of privilege in the lifestyle of the Communist Party's nomenklatura, those who qualified for the state and party jobs for which Central Committee approval was required, was only one part of the social sickness at the heart of the state. At one level, the party operated as a system of extortion, a form of protection racket. On another, it sought to act as an ideological priesthood which established a firm body of doctrine to which all could adhere, or at least pay lip-service. The enforcement of this mental, and indeed spiritual discipline was the responsibility of ...the KGB..."

In the Brezhnev era, corruption had become legendary in many republics. Walker observes...

"...Brezhnev's own private collection of sports and vintage cars, including the armoured Lincoln limousine which Nixon had given to him, and in which he terrified the American President by driving at high speed around the hilly forest bends of Camp David, symbolized the way in which Soviet leadership enjoyed the fruits of power, The affairs and high life of Galina, Brezhnev's daughter, were so much the stuff of gossip that bitter jokes were widespread in Moscow. Perhaps the most characteristic was the tale of Brezhnev proudly showing his mother and daughters around his luxurious dachas, his hunting lodge at Zavidovo, his vast garage. 'It's wonderful, Leonid,' the mother is said to have muttered. 'But what happens if the Communists come back to power?'

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-History-Martin-Walker/dp/0805034544

The Denial of Aging

2007-05-23T13:46:00.001-04:00

As one of the first baby-boomers, I will begin collecting Social Security cheques this coming November, after turning 62 in September. So, it was with much interest that I recently picked up the book " The Denial of Aging-Perpetual Youth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies"--Muriel R. Gillick, M.D. (2006).

A review on the back cover noted, " Finally, a book that tells the truth about aging, starting with the fact that eating right and exercising will not prevent it. Dr. Gillick provides a fascinating guide for the journey into old age, and shows us how to make the best of it. Boomers (and most other grown-ups) will find her book right on target."-- Marcia Angell, former Editor in Chief, New England Journal of Medicine, and author of "The Truth about the Drug Companies."

The following are excerpts from Dr. Gillick's chapter entitled "The Lure of Immortality",

'...Today's reality entails treating, and trying to cure, one disease at a time, which just props up failing bodies. Pro-longevists are fully cognizant of the limitations of this approach to aging. Proponents of a view known as the unitary theory of aging...see...the right approach to controlling aging is to shut off the process altogether. This theory, which holds that there is an on/off switch, implies that finding the switch and learning how to control it will lead to the simultaneous preservation of the function of all bodily systems. The result, according to Richard Miller, a reputable pro-longevity scientist, will be an increase in the average lifespan to 112 years and in the maximum lifespan to 140 years.'

'Scientists are hot on the trail of the switch...'

'...It is possible that scientists will discover indirect ways of influencing the switch, even if they can't figure out precisely how to turn it off. One possible strategy, in vogue in the 1990's, is to manipulate telomeres. All chromosomes have mysterious repeating sequences of DNA at their tips, known as telomeres. As cells divide and age, the telomeres become shorter and shorter until, at some critical length, the cells can no longer divide. The enzyme telomerase prevents telomeres from shortening, in principle conferring immortality on cells, allowing them to multiply indefinitely. Michael West, a colorful, charismatic, and controversial scientist, was one of the early believers in telomeres as the key to aging. 10 West--erstwhile fundamentalist Christian born again as a physician and then anew as a molecular biologist--started with a company he called Geron to isolate the gene for telomerase. The gene was found and sequenced by scientists under contract to Geron, but the leap from a DNA sequence to a pill for immortality has proved as great as the leap from C. elegans [a one- millimeter worm popular among biologists who study aging] to human beings. West himself has moved onto other strategies for life extension, principally centered on therapeutic cloning, or the use of stem cells to make new body parts to replace worn-out old ones. He continues to believe that death is the enemy, commenting that "the life cycle [is] completely unacceptable."...

MrKen wholeheartedly agrees with that last quote!

Footnote '10' An excellent book about the scientific pursuit of life extension, which features an engaging and extensive account of the activities and antics of Michael West, is Stephen Hall's Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003).

Links to a review of this book: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/GILDEN.html
and: http://www.amazon.com/Denial-Aging-Perpetual-Dangerous-Fantasies/dp/0674021487

Earth-Like Planet Discovered in Libra

2007-05-09T15:36:00.000-04:00

NPR--Space

Earth-Like Planet Discovered in Libra

by Nell Boyce

Enlarge

Astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like planet yet in another solar system. It is the first planet outside of our solar system that could be home to liquid water. Above is an artist's illustration of the planet, which scientists think is either rocky, or covered with oceans. ESO

Enlarge

The Earth-like planet orbits Gliese 581 — a red dwarf located 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Red dwarf stars are too faint to be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Digital Sky Survey

Morning Edition, April 25, 2007 · Scientists have discovered a new planet in the constellation Libra. The small, rocky planet is special because it appears to have mild temperatures, like Earth. Researchers believe it looks like the first planet outside of our solar system that could be home to liquid water, and maybe even life.

Our solar system has only eight planets — nine if you count Pluto. But outside of our solar system, around other stars, scientists have found dozens and dozens of planets.

"We have discovered more than 100 planets, here in Geneva," says Michel Mayor, a planet hunter at the University of Geneva.

Almost all of these known "extrasolar" planets are giant balls of gas, much like Jupiter or Saturn. Such massive planets are relatively easy to find. They have a gravitational pull that makes their stars wobble, and when scientists see that wobble, they know there is a planet. Small, rocky planets cause less of a wobble, making them harder to find.

Still, Mayor and his colleagues have had some luck using the European Southern Observatory's big telescope at La Silla, Chile. They recently pointed it at a nearby star called Gliese 581, in the constellation Libra.

"It's one of our closest neighbors in the galaxy," Mayor says.

His team has found three planets around this star, and one of them is particularly interesting. They think the planet is a little bigger than Earth, with about five times the Earth's mass. It orbits very close to its star, going all the way around in just 13 days. The planet isn't super hot though, because Gliese 581 is a red dwarf, which is much dimmer and cooler than our sun.

Scientists calculate that average temperatures on the surface of the planet should be around 32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Mayor says that is a friendly environment for liquid water and maybe even life.

Curtesy of NPR-- for the complete story, please follow this link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321

Manny Ramirez Asks Red Sox If He Can Work At Home

2007-05-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

Manny Ramirez Asks Red Sox If He Can Work From Home

BOSTON—Claiming that a relaxed atmosphere and a chance to create his own schedule would greatly benefit his productivity, Red Sox...

Bill Moyers Interviews Jon Stewart

2007-05-02T15:50:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, April 27th on Bill Moyers Journal, Bill Moyers talked with Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, about how faking the news can reveal more of the truth than all of the Sunday-morning talk shows put together.

MrKen was impressed at Jon Stewart's discussion of the 'surge'-- tied to the Bush Administration's careful avoidance of reinstituting a draft. This policy would seem to fly in the face of the undeniable fact that the armed forces of the U.S. are known to be severely strained. But Mr. Stewart knows that our Imperial government does not want to wake up the citizenry. Here is an excerpt from this fascinating interview:

BILL MOYERS: Well, what is your thinking about why it is as-- the war enters its fifth year, and the President has announced - an extension of tours to 15 months, and they're going to call up the National Guard. And April was the bloodiest month so far since the war started, and there was one day in April that was the bloodiest day. That people have seen they have no way to get the guys in Washington, and Condoleezza Rice, to listen to them. That there seems a detachment emotionally, and politically in this country from what is happening.

JON STEWART: It's very hard to feel the difficulties that the military goes through. It's very hard to feel the difficulties of military families, unless you're in that environment. And sometimes you have to force yourself to try and put yourself in other people's sort of shoes and environment to get the sense of that.

JON STEWART: You know, one of the things that I do think government counts on is that people are busy. And it's very difficult to mobilize a busy and relatively affluent country, unless it's over really crucial-- you know, foundational issues. That come sort of sort of a tipping point.

BILL MOYERS: War? War?

JON STEWART: But war that hasn't affected us here, in the way that you would imagine a five-year war would affect a country. I think that's why they're so really — here's the disconnect. It's sort of this odd and I've always had this problem with the rationality of it. That the President says, "We are in the fight for a way of life. This is the greatest battle of our generation, and of the generations to come. "And, so what I'm going to do is you know, Iraq has to be won, or our way of life ends, and our children and our children's children all suffer. So, what I'm gonna do is send 10,000 more troops to Baghdad."

So, there's a disconnect there between — you're telling me this is fight of our generation, and you're going to increase troops by 10 percent. And that's gonna do it. I'm sure what he would like to do is send 400,000 more troops there, but he can't, because he doesn't have them. And the way to get that would be to institute a draft. And the minute you do that, suddenly the country's not so damn busy anymore. And then they really fight back, and then the whole thing falls apart. So, they have a really delicate balance to walk between keeping us relatively fearful, but not so fearful that we stop what we're doing and really examine how it is that they've been waging this.

(Italics, coloring by MrKen).

For the full interview, please follow this link: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04272007/transcript1.html

Vietnam & Iraq; More Parallels

2007-04-18T16:19:00.000-04:00

Recently, Brig. Gen. John Johns (Ret.) appeared on C-SPAN and drew parallels between the U.S. involvement in Vietnam & the current quagmire in Iraq. The general has been teaching National Security Strategy for the last 14 years. I paraphrase...

"70% of the reason the U.S. continued its involvement in Vietnam was simply to avoid the embarassment of defeat."

And Lt. Gen. Robert Gard (Ret.) noted ...

"By the Spring of 1965, the Johnson Administration knew that the war was unwinnable. Nevertheless, in March 1965, the President ordered a 'surge' of 20,000 more troops."

"There had been 24,000 U.S.deaths in Vietnam by 1965. Five years later, 34,000 additional battle fatalities had been recorded."

"President Johnson simply did not want to go down in history as the first U.S. president to lose a war."

As I wrote in this blog on 10/04/06, "Maureen Dowd - Dr. Strangelove's Second Chance",

'As recently released tapes, diaries and notes clearly indicate, Kissinger and Nixon purposely delayed any U.S. pullout from Vietnam until after the 1972 elections. Nixon knew all along that the war was unwinnable and knowingly sent young Americans to their deaths for purely political motives. On one tape Nixon says to Kissinger, "The U.S. cannot win this war. The South Vietnam regime is too corrupt" (Tapes played on CSPAN several months ago--How many Americans listened, I wonder?).'

And, yet again, American lives are being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance, vanity, and incompetence...by the stubborn, idiot Emperor, Bush II.

"It Didn't End Well Last Time"

2007-04-06T15:10:00.000-04:00

Excerpts from the Editorial Page of the New York Times, Wednesday April 4, 2007.

"It Didn't End Well Last Time"

"Not since the Roaring Twenties have the rich been so much richer than everyone else. In 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, the top 1 per cent of Americans--whose average income was 1.1 million a year--received 21.8 per cent of the nation's income, their largest share since 1929."

"Over all, the top 10 per cent of Americans--those making more than about $100,000 a year--collected 48.5 per cent,also a share last seen before the Great Depression..."

"...government policies do matter. Part of the reason for the shared prosperity of the late 1990s was an increase in the minimum wage and a big expansion of the earned income credit. During the same period...tax increases, spending cuts and binding budget rules--conquered budget deficits and furthered job growth while providing a foundation for reasonably adequate social spending..."

"In contrast, the economic policies of the Bush years have failed to benefit most Americans. The tax cuts have overwhelmingly benefited the richest...At the same time, important social spending has been cut. That exacerbates disparities, because middle-class and poor Americans use government services more than affluent Americans."

"The nation needs an administration that will offer solutions for the scourge of income inequality."

MrKen observes that the Times paints an overly rosy picture of the Clinton Administration's contribution toward mitigating 'income disparity'. Clinton of course also signed the infamous & punitive "Welfare Reform Bill of 1996." This transferred welfare to a block grant system, i.e. one in which the federal government gives states "blocks" of money, which the states then distribute under their own legislation and criteria. Some states, like New York, simply took the money and used it for non-welfare purposes. This is why the "cash grants" for single adults have not been raised in 20 years ($68.50 2x month)in New York State!

Links: http://nytimes.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_reform

The Emerging Republican Minority

2007-03-28T19:04:00.000-04:00

Fortunately for the overwhelming majority of our citizens, the Republican Party is headed for the crapper. Paul Krugman analyzes why in his column of 3/26/07 in the New York Times. Some excerpts and my comments follow:

"...According to the American National Election Studies, in 1994, the year the Republicans began their 12-year control of Congress, those who favored smaller government had the edge, 36 to 27 per cent. By 2004, however, those in favor of bigger government had a 43 to 20 % lead."

"And public opinion seems to have taken a particularly strong turn in favor of universal health care. Gallup reports that 69 per cent of the public believes that "it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have health care coverage", up from 59 per cent in 2000."

"The main force driving this shift to the left is probably rising income inequality. According to Pew, there has recently been a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans who agree with the statement that "the rich get richer while the poor get poorer." Interestingly, the big increase in disgruntlement over rising inequality has come from the relatively well off--those making $75,000 a year."

"Indeed, even the relatively well off have good reason to feel left behind in today's economy, because the big income gains have been going to a tiny, super-rich minority. It's not surprising, under those circumstances, that most people favor a stronger safety net--which they might need--even at the expense of higher taxes, much of which could be paid by the ever-richer elite..."

MrKen ponders why so many Americans continue to put up with the obvious and growing inequities of American life.

Some observers perceive that many U.S. citizens suffer from the "rose-colored glasses syndrome". These citizens are taken in by the main "talking point" of the elites in power; i.e., they try to misrepresent our economic/political system as being really much fairer to most of us than it actually is, in reality. The modern U.S.A. has morphed from its genesis as a modest republic into a super-agressive imperialist plutocratic empire, governed by and for the super-rich & the corrupt corporations that represent them.

Move over Roman Empire! The U.S.A. is the 'big gladiator', now! And we have copied your tried & true formula of "bread, circuses & war" to keep the unwashed masses at bay...

Is the downtrodden & super-stressed middle class & the heavily persecuted lower class finally coming out of their "Neocon-induced" slumber? I surmise that many Americans are finally beginning to realize that real "equal opportunity" and the "American Dream" haved moved well out of reach for them.

But can they do anything about it?

Link to Paul Krugman's colums: http://www.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/
columnists/paulkrugman/

Finally, something good about being old..

2007-03-17T12:33:00.000-04:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - A brothel in Germany hopes to capitalize on the growing number of retirees by offering them a 50 percent discount for sex in the afternoon.

The "Pascha" in the western city of Cologne has introduced reduced rates for sex sessions for clients aged 66 and above -- provided they can prove they are old enough.

"All clients need to do is show us some proof of age," said a spokesman for the brothel's managing director Armin Lobscheid. "A 'normal session' costs 50 euros with us -- and we're now paying 50 percent of that for these older guests."

"We don't earn as much money, but we're establishing ourselves across a broader range of age groups," he added.

After testing the water with reductions for senior citizens once a week, the Pascha decided earlier this month to offer 50 percent off sex services between midday and 5 p.m every day.

"There's been plenty of demand and people have certainly been taking advantage of the offer," the spokesman said. "Older folks are more active than you think."

The brothel's Web site is keen to stress this point.

"Life begins at 66!" it says in an advert for its "senior citizens afternoon" next to a picture of a motorcycle rider.

Curtesy of Yahoo 'Odd News' & Reuters Link: yahoo.com/s/nm/germany_brothel_pensioners_dc