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Friday, March 23, 2007
Queer Theory is a theory that is not based on traditional theoretical rationalism, but on a theoretical eroticism. It thus becomes not merely a theory concentrated on sexuality, but a theory whose very underpinnings are based on the confluence of identity and desire. David Halperin talks in Saint Foucault about 'queering theory' and this suggests to me that queer theory has always been about, in a way, gaining erotic pleasure from theory (and that if it is to have a future it needs to be fisted); indeed, Ed Cohen, with double entendre intended offers the motto for queer theorists: "we fuck with categories". Theory is, for D & G a toolbox: pick up a tool and see if it works for you. Queer theory picks up: a thousand pick ups, a thousand assfucks, a thousand tiny fistfucks. Deleuze (with and without Felix) seems to be totally fascinated with, if not obsessed with, the 'behind'. In Dialogues, "Le mouvement se fait toujours dans le dos du pensour"(movement always happens behind the thinkers back); "avec Fanny, Je n'ai jamais cesse de travailler de cetter manier. Toujours ses idees m'ont pris a revers"(I always worked this way with Fanny. Her ideas seized me from behind). Sartre, "C'etait vraiment le courant d'air d'arriere cour"(was the breath of fresh air from the backyard). Spinoza "q'ui m'a fait le plus d'effect d'un courant d'air qui vous pousse dans le dos chaques fois que vous le lisez, d'un balai de sorciere qu'il vous fait enfourcher"(more than any other gave me the feeling of a gust of air from behind each time you read him, of a witch's broom which makes you mount). Most famously, Deleuze imagines the history of philosophy as a kind of assfuck: "Je m'imaginais arriver dans le dos d'un auteur, et lui faire un enfant, qui serait le sien et qui serait pourtant monstreux" which is sometimes translated as 'I imagined myself approaching an author from behind and giving him a child which would indeed be his but would nonetheless be monstrous". The history of philosophy is a daisy chain in which GD gets to fuck and be fucked by Marx, Freud, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Guattari, and Foucault. But Deleuze's assfuck is still gendered; his penis fucks the ass of the philsopher he approaches from behind giving him a child, a monstrous arrivant to be sure, but yet this scene of copulation is reterritorialized by the overcoding Oedipal-machine of heteronormativity. But, what if ass fucking is deterritorialized by the permeability of fisting (a practice so favored by Foucault and Zizek)? What if the penis is replaced by a body part which has no gender? As Guy Hocquenghem says in Le Desir Homosexuel, the ass does not discriminate. And neither does the fist. Both belong to man and woman and yet neither (fist nor anus) is male or female.
Enter Chaucer (from behind) or more precisely Chaucer's Summoner, whose tale contains a scene of eroticized male-male groping, of a male hand entering a male anus:
"Now wel," quod he, "and somwhat shall I yive
Unto youre hooly covent while I lyve;
And in thyn hand thou shalt have it anon,
On this condicion, and oother noon,
That thou departe it so, my deere brother,
That every frere have also muche as oother.
This shaltou swere on thy professioun,
Withouten fraude or cavillacioun. "
"I swere it", quod this frere, "by my feith"
And therewithal his hand in his he leith,
"lo, heer my feith; in me shal be no lak."
"Now thane, put in thyn hand doun by my bak",
Seyde this man, "and grope wel bihynde.
Bynethe my buttok there shaltow fynde
A thyng that I have hyd in pryvetee".
"A!" thoghte this frere, "That shal go with me!"
And doun his hand he launcheth to the clifte
In hope for to fynde there a yifte.
And whan this sike man felt this frere
Aboute his tuwel grope there and here,
Amydde his hand he leet the frere a fart"
(The Summoner's Tale, 2129-2149)
Catherine Cox in a discussion of the textual erotics of the Summoner's Tale persuasively argues that when the Friar unadvisedly gropes Thomas's behind, places his hand in Thomas's "clifte", and receives the gift of a fart "amydde his hand", we are reminded of an earlier scene when the Friar explains how the law was written with God's finger. If one conflates the Friar's glossing with his groping, then one can argue that, as Cox suggests, "Thomas receives Friar John's finger". However, I would go even further, and Chaucer's text permits my reading, and say that Thomas's anus is penetrated by the entire hand or fist of the Friar. The Friar penetrates, gropes Thomas enthusiastically; the sexual encounter is, however, invited, not coerced and cannot be recuperated for a reading of eroticized violence and/or rape as other Chaucerian penetrations can. Rather, it charts the possibility for an erotic or social encounter beyond the phallus. The Friar, like Deleuze assumes an aggressive, assertive role and eagerly gropes the "tuwel" of his "compeer" (the Summoner gets to grope the Pardoner perhaps?) in search of the unnamed "thyng" located in his "pryvetee", that is to say, inhabiting the zone of secret, private, but also genital territories as David Lorenzo Boyd has shown in a discussion of the Miller's Tale. If, for Deleuze, the assfuck produces a monstrous text, for the friar his assfuck produces his own text, that is, if Cox is right to conflate fart /flatus and speech, groping and glossing, penetrating and hermeneutics. The fruit of Deleuze's assfuck remains heteronormative however; his becoming-homosexual is reproductive. But, the Friar's grope cannot be recuperated to a scheme of normative heterosexuality. The coupling described by Chaucer is unnatural, nonprocreative, sodomitical. The fruit of the "tuwel" is a fart; the fruits of homoerotic coupling produce precisely nothing; rather than the fertile fruit of the womb, of heterosexual conception, no conception is possible. As an unclean usage of male bodies that feminizes one of them, Thomas, homoerotic activity, to quote Boyd and Karras, "scorns the sweet heteronormativity sanctioned by Nature and God, and disregards the proper, gendered use of male bodies". The fart is, in effect, shown to be the bastard fruit of unnatural coupling, a nuptial against nature. David Halperin sees fisting as an activity which challenges the goal oriented, end driven practice of sexual intercourse in that it may take hours, may or may not involve orgasm and its key values are "intensity and duration of feeling". I agree with Halperin that "as a sexual practice and a subcultural phenomenon" fisting "has the potential to contribute to redefining both the meaning and practice of sex" (and theory) but Foucault is, I think, wrong to suggest that fisting is a twentieth century invention. I would like to think that in Chaucer we witness the first narrativization of male-male fisting as an eroticized, deliciously lubricious act. As Brian Massumi puts it: "So let us introduce ourselves by making the philosophical gesture of friendship: reach into your anus, and take my hand". Or as Thomas might put it: "Reach into my anus and take your gift".
27 comments:
- Jeffrey Cohen said...
Bynethe my buttok there shaltow fynde / A thyng that I have hyd in pryvetee
When I teach the Summoner's Tale, I caution my students that, should someone tell them that they have hidden a special gift for them in the cleft of their buttocks, they should probably be more skeptical than the Friar proves to be. (Yes, I really do say that to them, in quite a serious tone. I'm all about imparting important life lessons.) In light of your reading of the episode, I see now that I will have to modify my advice.
An interesting analysis involving surplus of oh so many kinds. You might be interested, Michael, in Peter Travis's Thirteen Ways of Listening to a Fart: Noise in Chaucer's Summoner's Tale in a special Exemplaria cluster on Medieval Noise (Fall 2004). Pardon the pun, but much of what is there resonates with what you have composed (as do the essays by Valerie Allen and Michael Uebel) -- though none of it so queerly.
Just a footnote: the fart is not the end-all (again pardon the pun) of the gift exchange, since the compulsion to redistribute the gift is an important part of its bestowal. Thomas bequeaths to the Friar an "inpossible," a scholarly puzzle that appears unsolvable (just as in an earlier moment of the same fragment the Wife of Bath described the depiction of women in a good light by clerics as an "inpossible") ... but a puzzle solved all the same by a handy little squire (always trust a little boy to know all truths involving farts). The wordes of the lordes squier and his kervere for departynge of the fart on twelve: I'm drawn to the possibility that the squire's cartwheel solution invokes the distribution of the Holy Spirit's flame at Pentecost. Odd fact, or queer? - 8:40 AM
- Karl Steel said...
if Cox is right to conflate fart /flatus and speech, groping and glossing, penetrating and hermeneutics
Re Valerie Allen, see her On Farting: Language and Laughter in the MA. I haven't looked at it, although I did find her Exemplaria advance preview useful for certain things on the articulation of sound.
I'm drawn to the possibility that the squire's cartwheel solution invokes the distribution of the Holy Spirit's flame at Pentecost.
No question about it. But to repeat: is the parody queer?
This piece is a lot of fun. I have only one quibble, and I'm not so much sure it's a quibble even, on the focus on the hand: As Brian Massumi puts it: "So let us introduce ourselves by making the philosophical gesture of friendship: reach into your anus, and take my hand". Or as Thomas might put it: "Reach into my anus and take your gift".
There's a philosophical tradition of seeing the hand and its power--the manipulate, to take things 'as such,' to take and give--as uniquely human.
Manus in homine loco pedum anteriorum naturaliter creatae sunt, ut dicit Aristotiles, quoniam homo maiores intellectus est omnibus animalibus et maiores ingenii, et ideo, habet maius instrumentum motionibus et operationibus multis. Thomas of Cantimpré, De natura rerum, I.23, 29.
Hands were naturally created for man in place of the front feet, as Aristotle says, since man is more intelligent than all animals and more crafty, and therefore, he has a greater instrument for moving and doing many things.
Hands [and here I quote from my diss.] do not precede human qualities, but rather are given by God because human rational qualities demand them for full expression. Hands therefore constitute a proof of the possession of mental qualities that require hands; Thomas's unstated argument is that handless creatures lack hands because they neither need to do as much as humans nor are as intelligent. (end quote)
There's also Heidegger, and I should look at Derrida's piece on Heidegger's Hand? I have at hand here some chunks of quotations from it in Cary Wolfe's Animal Rites:
H wrote 'Apes, for example, have organs that can grasp, but they have no hands.'
D wrote 'if there is a thought of the hand or a hand of thought, as H gives us to think, it is not of the order of conceptual grasping. Rather this thought of the hand belongs to the essence of the gift, of a giving that would give, if this is possible, without taking hold of anything.' For H, as D says, the hand of man is far from the hands of animals 'in an infinite way (unendlich) through the abyss of being... This abyss is speech and thought. 'Only a being who can speak, that is, think,' H writes, 'can have the hand and be handy (in der Handhebung) in achieving works of handcraft....The hand does not only grasp and catch. The hand reaches and extends, receives and welcomes...extends itself, and receives its own welcome in the hand of the other'" (qtd 63 in the Wolfe).
What impact this has on your analysis, I don't know yet. But I thought I'd suggest it.
Also, I like how wonderfully evocative "in me shal be no lak" is. You--I--want this lak so much to be a psychoanalytic trope... - 9:17 AM
Could you please share some of the bibliography with us, particularly the Boyd, Boyd/Karras, and Cox essays? Thanks very much.
It would also be interesting to investigate the associations of "clite" and "tuwel" -- it appears that in Capgrave's chronicle, "tuwel" is the word used in the discussion of Edward II's execution: (a1464) Capgr. Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12) 154/33: Edward [was] slayn with a hoot spete put into his body..þei put a horn in his tewhel, and the spete þorw the horn, þat þere schuld no brennyng appere outeward.
"cliFte", of course. And the citation I give is, of course, from the online MED. - 3:32 PM
Ah Michael, again with the fisting as hermenutic...
- Eileen Joy said...
But how, also, might one "approach from behind" and also "face" [a la Levinas's face-a-face-sans-intermediaire]? Just a niggling question.
- Eileen Joy said...
Some more niggling questions, or are they merely points of confusion [?]:
Michael O. wrote: "As Guy Hocquenghem says in 'Le Desir Homosexuel,' the ass does not discriminate. And neither does the fist. Both belong to man and woman and yet neither (fist nor anus) is male or female."
I think I disagree, but haven't quite figured out yet why/how I disagree. I just don't see fisting as "beyond" certain gender identifications, imagined or more "real." Nor do I see it as somehow on the other "side" of ass-fucking, so much as it sits "beside" it. Indeed, whether practised by women or men [in any combination thereof], fisting is just another "version" of ass-fucking, and the act also seems to me to be coded "masculine." To claim, then, that ass-fucking could escape the overlay of heteronormativity strikes me as, perhaps, not fully defensible.
Now that I am even more than knee-deep in my queer theory "primer" reading [and have just finished Edelman's "No Future," as well as the responses published in PMLA to the 2005 MLA panel on the anti-sociality thesis in queer studies], I'm thinking a lot about all the ways in which, in queer theory, although it lingers often in sex and sexuality, which requires a lingering over queer *persons* and their queer behaviors/actions within a domain of intense physicality, real queer persons are always slipping away, so to speak, especially women, who, I have decided, are the most "queer" and "abject" figures of all, whether in the realm of aesthesis or the world itself. Queer sexuality, no matter how far it delves into what might be called a delightful and creative "perversifying" and "fucking" of certain gender norms, nevertheless relies upon gender norms [indeed, cannot survive without them], especially, I would argue, the heteronormative, or *straight* "woman." I don't even know if I have a point here. - 3:16 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
Hi everyone,
Some bibliography to begin with (and thanks for supplementary suggestions--especially from JJC's wonderful special issue of Exemplaria on noise. You could talk about aurality and its facilitation of the fisting scene as well I think--a kind of queer ANT might work here):
David Lorenzo Boyd, `Seeking "Goddes pryvetee": sodomy, quitting, and desire in The Miller's Tale', in Words and Works: Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature in Honour of Fred C. Robinson, Toronto Old English series (Toronto, 1998), pp. 243-60
David Lorenzo Boyd and Ruth M. Karras, '"Ut cum muliere": A Male Transvestite Prostitute in Fourteenth Century London', in Louise Fradenburg and Carla Freccero, eds, Premodern Sexualities, pp. 99-116
Catherine S. Cox "'Grope wel bihynde': The Subversive Erotics of Chaucer's Summoner," Exemplaria 7 (1995): 145-77
That the fart is not the end of the story and is "inpossible" begs, I think, for a Derridean analysis of the gift exchange in the SumT. Although Deleuze (and Guattari) don't talk much about the gift (that I know of) their understanding of it might be incompatible with Derrida's (which, of course,stresses impossibility, non-reciprocity and unrestitutability). The differences between D & G and Derrida extend also to the animal too which brings in, as Karl astutely noted, the question of the hand. Derrida states in Paper Machine (somewhat hyberbolically but I love those gratuitous moments in JD) that he has written about nothing but paper. You could, equally hyberbolically and overdeterminedly, say that Derrida has, in the main, up to now (maintenant) maintained a very close interrogation of the question of the hand: Heidegger's, Husserl's, Nietzsche's, Kant's, and many others (There is a great moment in Kofman and Dick's film Derrida where they focus on his disembodied hands--he talks a lot in that movie about hands too). The question of the hand is, also, never far from the question of the animal and a critique of humanualism and anthropomorphism since Aristotle--in a recent post I mentioned how useful On Touching--Jean-Luc Nancy would be to medievalists and Tangent 3 "This is My body" of this book treats this question in some detail (reminding us also that Derrida has written about nothing but the animal from the very start). I urge people to read this while they wait for the unpublished later seminars on the animal (and on Deleuze's becoming-animal) to be published. Incidentally, there will also be forthoming work on Deleuze, the animal and psychoanalysis (the proceedings of a conference at Irvine). The question of the hand, the animal, and the Deleuze-Derrida relationship to both of these issues remains before us (please excuse all the hand puns).
The word "tuwel" is interesting and that it comes up in the description of the execution of Edward II is fascinating, especially since the hot ploughshare incident in The Miller's Tale is a very obvious reference to the more gruesome accounts Chaucer must have read. The connections between The Miller's and Summoner's Tales, especially where it comes to anality are particularly fruitful (another pun, sorry) to follow up although I haven't really thought too much about it.
Finally, Eileen's question (a niggling aporia for sure) is one which has stymied me before. I gave an invited paper at Newcastle on the face in Nancy, Butler, Derrida, Levinas and Agamben (and touched on critiques of this Levinasianism from Irigaray, Deleuze and Zizek). The day began with three postgrad papers on various topics and the talks were advertized by Tony Purvis at the University of Newcastle as concluding with an "Irish about Face". I promised him to begin with a vulgar Zizeckian joke, since the day began actually with a film on Zizek and Laibach and I delivered as promised something on self-buggery from Organs without Bodies. I then had to do a complete about face myself since this whole idea of philosophy as assfuck and the ethics of the ass-fist (or other body part) encounter are incommensurable with the face-a-face relation to the totally other. I very quickly sketched one tradition as belonging to Deleuze and Foucault (and to some extent Zizek who is every pervert's guide to the art of fisting) and the other to Derrida, Butler, Nancy et al. I'm not sure how to bring the two together or if I would even want to--since both involve openness, respect for, and responsibility towards the wholly other. But I need to think about this more. - 3:38 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
Hey Eileen,
Patrick Califi-Rice, when writing as Pat Califia, has an article on fisting which I think partly answers your question about gender (if it is one!): "Gay Men, Lesbians and Sex: Doing it Together" collected in Iain Morland and Annabelle Willox's Queer Theory (Palgrave).
The straight, especially pregnant woman doesn't fare too well in Edelman's No Future. Susan Fraiman has a devastatingly smart critique of this in Cool Men: Queer Theory and the Second Sex which frames some similar questions to yours (and makes me wonder if I am a cool man?) - 3:46 PM
- Eileen Joy said...
Confession: I can't stand Patrick Califi-Rice/Pat Califia, who I first read, as Pat Califia, believe it or not, back in 1992 or 1993, I believe. In fact, Califia, writing about lesbians fist-fucking each other, as a bisexual transman, really just re-emphasizes my point, I think, about this supposedly "perverse" sexual act not really being that perverse or queer at all. At the end of the day, "fucking"--no matter who's doing it to and/or with whom--will always retain a power dynamic haunted by the aura of male/female. At least, I think so, but argue with me! [This is fun.]
I was just thinking, too, am I going to get in trouble for writing on this in this format? I don't care, actually. Just another reason why I believe in non-anonymous blogging, and damn the consequences. Seriously. - 4:40 PM
- Eileen Joy said...
Michael O.--I'm just dying to talk to someone about Todd Soldonz's film "Palindromes," which I just saw last week, in relation to some of the conversations we have been having about queer studies, and also in relation to Edelman's book. Setting aside how all of us might feel about Soldonz's ouevre [I actually think much of what he has done so far is too clever by half and often tries to hard to grotesque-ify its characters and settings], I actually think "Palindromes" is his masterpiece. The main character, Aviva, is a 13-year-old girl, played by six diiferent actors [an andrognous flat-chested "boy/girl," an obesely overweight black girl, a chubby white girl, the "adult" Jennifer Jason Leigh, etc.] who desperately wants to be pregnant, and after a botched abortion forced on her by her mother [played by Ellen Barkin] which leaves her without a uterus [only she doesn't know it], she runs away to fins someone who will impregnate her. The movie is a kind of "queer" Huck Finn/Alice in Wonderland story, and the hint but also "fact" of pedophilia runs throughout the narrative, implicating even the viewer who has to watch the rapturous close-up of six of Aviva's seemingly ecstatically transported faces/expressions as she is being "fucked," or is it "made love to?" [somewhat passively] by a childhood friend, Judah [who had impregnated her at the beginning of the film and who is now older and who she meets at the end of the film]. One of the peripheral characters is Aviva's cousin Mark [brother to the main character in Soldonz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse," thus creating an intertext between the two films], who has been accused of molesting an infant. When he tells Aviva at a family picnic that he is not a pedophile, she replies, "I know; you don't love children." Whoa. That line stopped me dead in my [viewing] tracks.
There is another plot thread involving the "Sunshine Family," a fundamentalist Christian couple who take in what could be called "cast off" or "abjected" children with various so-called "disabilities," and who are also secretly involved in plots to assassinate doctors who perform abortions. In one scene in which Aviva accompanies a trucker who she had earlier "picked up" [or is it the other way around?] and then been abandoned by, as he undertakes to assassinate the doctor who earlier performed Avivas's botched abortion, we watch the doctor and his happy family through the picture window of their front room, enacting a typical scene of domestic "bliss" and togetherness just before the rifle is fired and the doctor, as well as one of his children, are murdered.
One of the reasons Aviva accompanies the trucker, who knows the Sunshine family, on this errand, is that she has recently been ejected by the Sunshone family who, although they initially accepted her without question and even "loved" her, ultimately reject her because a doctor's examination has indicated that she has had sex, and is therefore a "slut."
What to make of this film I cannot quite yet say, but I am haunted by the figure of Aviva herself, who you can't but help sympathize with throughout the film--she is, indeed, an object ripe for what might be called queer tears, or even a queer discourse of the loneliness of the abject child who, at our own peril, we turn away from. I cannot yet say which. - 5:24 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
Small point: Califia was writing then as a lesbian learning from gay men and was fistfucking men as well as lesbians.
I suppose I am less interested in gender than in the gendering of orifices but I would be uncomfortable arguing that either ass- or fist-fucking can disrupt the codes of hetero-normativity or hetero-patriarchy. I have written in Feminism & Psychology on the possibilities in queering the anus/vagina for destabilizing the active/passive binary which of course maps on to the male/female one. There has been suprizingly little response to what I had to say there especially since debates about sex, power and heterosexuality have raged through the pages of that journal since the early 90s at least.
In my writing on/about on fisting I am only partially inclined to think about it as a pervy/queer (sexual) practice and more as a trope for receptivity, openness, lubricity, welcome, generosity and so on in queer theorizing. - 5:25 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
I haven't seen Palindromes (Aviva is one right!) but it sounds like she is indeed a figure for queer tears as you say. Also, her name is so powerfully evocative and life-affirming isn't it?
- Eileen Joy said...
At the risk of appearing slightly ridiculous [because--full disclosure--I kind of abhor the idea of "fisting," whether as trope or sexual practice], I would say that even if you are interested in "fisting" mainly as a trope for, as you write, "receptivity, openness, lubricity, welcome, generosity and so on in queer theorizing," even a trope has to carry with it some of the "reality" of the practice from which it borrows its image, and therefore even the trope of fisting has to reckon somehow with fisting's violence, because its violence, in a way, and for some, is part of its attraction.
- Michael O'Rourke said...
Full disclosure: I am only a tropological fister. But, from what I have read (Halperin, Rubin, and especially the forthcoming work of Dinesh wadiwel on "sphincterism") fisting is not violent nor for many practitioners is this part of its allure (part of the misunderstanding is that the active/passive (male/female) binary code gets overlain onto the fister/fistee relationship in a way that the fistee and his/her sphincter cannot be seen to be active or reactive). In any case, as Derrida argued long ago in "Violence and Metaphysics" violence is irreducibly present in non-violence, and even (dare he/I say it) a precondition for ethicality as such.
- Jeffrey Cohen said...
Off to dinner so can't read all these amazing comments between Eileen and Michael ... BUT regarding how to be face to face when faced by the reaer, let's not forget that Chaucer calls that special spot "the nether ye" ("the nether eye") in the Miller's T (3852). Levinas, the nether ye is facing you ...
- Eileen Joy said...
Okay--point well-taken on fisting's non-violent status, while also agreeing with Derrida that "violence is irreducibly present in non-violence."
I've been thinking, too, in conjunction with this and other of our queer studies threads, how part of "real" sex's allure is its interest in being "beyond thought" or "beyond theorizing." What does it mean for queer theory to be about *thinking about* that [sex] which often does not want to "be thought"? So much of what I am reading now, primarily in texts by Edelman and Judith Halberstam, talks about queer theory being about negation--it's anti-this and anti-that, anti-teleological and anti-social, etc.--and about refusal, which is so [almost hysterically] funny, because the very act of *theorizing* implies a belief in the positivity of thought--it is, to steal from Whitman, the "yawp" of affirmation of *something*, *anything* at all. - 6:19 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
Its not just funny it is simply daft!
- Karl Steel said...
Perhaps when I get my head around all this, I'll have something more substantial to say. For now, it seems apposite to quote the lyrics to "Fists of Love," by Big Black, superb nihilist noise punk from the 1980s:
Feel my hand, feel my hand, feel my hand
Feel it, feel it
Feel my hand, feel my hand, feel my hand
Feel my arm, feel my arm
Feel my fist, feel my fist
Fists of love, fists of love, fists of love
Fists of love, fists of love, fists of love
Fists of love
(apropos of little: EJ, even if you're a Solondz fan, I would advise strongly against his first feature, Fear, Anxiety, & Depression. Important for completists and hard to come by but finally interesting only as a bit of NYC late 80s ephemera) - 7:09 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
And Nine Inch Nails "Sin":
It comes down to this.
Your kiss.
Your fist.
And your strain.
It get's under my skin.
Take in the extent of my sin - 7:38 PM
- Michael O'Rourke said...
And also Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back":
I'm bringing sexy back
Them other boys dunno how to act
I think youre special whats behind your back? - 7:41 PM
How delightful (she says as she rushes off to lock posts she would be embarrassed for you guys to read) ! Best graduation present ever :-)
I really have to do something about these multiple online identities... - 8:56 PM
- History Geek said...
I might not be a graduate student (yet) but that was a fascinating read.
Never thought about Sexy Back quite that way before.
I rather thought of Tool's Stinkfist first on the songs.
Knuckle deep inside the borderline.
This may hurt a little but its something youll get used to.
Relax. slip away.
Something kinda sad about
The way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?
How can it mean anything to me
If I really dont feel anything at all?
Ill keep digging till,
I feel something.
Elbow deep inside the borderline.
- Karl Steel said...
- Jeffrey Cohen said...
Here is a comment: "!"
- Jeffrey Cohen said...
Here's another comment: "fisting" is now the number Google search term by which internet surfers find this blog.
Wow! What a brilliant conversation! I learned tons. Thanks!


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Last updated February 1, 2019
You must read and agree to these Terms and Conditions before you can use the Portal. By purchasing a Membership or using Portal you become a User and thus agree to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions (the "Agreement") between you and Chargepay B.V. / Gamma Billing / Digigamma / Gamma Entertainment Inc. (the "Company"). Company will refer to you in this Agreement as "you", "your" or "User". Company can amend this Agreement by posting an updated version of this Agreement to the Portal. Such changes will take effect thirty (30) days after they are posted.
"Payment Method" shall mean the method of payment which You use to purchase Your Membership including credit card, debit card, money order, online check or gift cards through the Paypal service. A list of accepted gift cards to be used on the PayPal service may be found at https://jeepneyride.com
"Bookmarking" shall mean the act of placing a Web page (URL) into a temporary file on the User's browser so that the User may return to the page at a future date directly, without passing through any preceding pages.
"Fees" means amounts paid or payable to Company in exchange for Membership under this Agreement using a Payment Method. Fees are posted on the Portal which posting forms a part of this Agreement.
"Portal" shall be the website to which You are purchasing a Membership or accessing the Services.
"Login" shall mean the combination of the unique username and password sold or provided by the Company to the User and used to access Portal.
"Membership" shall be the access granted to a User using a Login for a limited period of time, to Portal for the purpose of using the Services.
"Services" shall be the limited, non-transferrable license to stream or download images and video or other content from the Portal and navigate different areas of Portal.
"User" shall be an individual, of or over the age of majority in the jurisdiction where they are located who has a Membership or rightfully accesses the Portal.
"Chargebacks" shall mean a request You file directly with Your card company or bank to invalidate Fees.
Portal is designed and intended solely for adults who are interested in and wish to have access to visual images, verbal descriptions and audio sounds of a sexually oriented, and frankly erotic, nature. The material available by the Company within Portal may include graphic visual depictions and descriptions of nudity and sexual activity and is prohibited to be accessed by anyone under legal age in their respective country or by those who do not wish to be exposed to such material. By accessing Portal or purchasing a Membership from the Company you are making the following statements to Company, its licensors and other suppliers:
"Under penalty of perjury, I swear/affirm as of this moment, I am an adult, at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in my jurisdiction. I promise I will not permit any person(s) under the age of majority to have access to any of the material contained within Portal. I understand, when I gain access to Portal I will be exposed to visual images, verbal descriptions and audio sounds of a sexually oriented and frankly erotic nature, which may include graphic visual depictions and descriptions of nudity and sexual activity. I am voluntarily choosing to do so, because I want to view, read and/or hear the various materials which are available for my own personal enjoyment, information and/or education. My choice is a manifestation of my interest in sexual matters which is both healthy and normal and which in my experience, is generally shared by average adults in my community. I am familiar with the standards in my community regarding the acceptance of such sexually oriented content and the materials I expect to encounter are within those standards. In my judgment, the average adult in my community accepts the consumption of such material by willing adults in circumstances such as this and will not find such material to appeal to a prurient interest or to be patently offensive."
Territory. Each Membership is for use within a limited territory which excludes all jurisdictions where the Content is illegal (the "Territory").
Location Breach. If the Company detects a Membership is purchased or used outside the Territory, Company may, at its discretion, disable Membership so the Login will NOT work and terminate this Agreement for breach without any refund of Fees already paid.
Fees. Users are liable for Fees for Membership together with all applicable taxes. Users may cancel their Membership at any time by contacting the Company's Client Relations department 24 hours a day or logging into their account details via the descriptor website indicated on their receipt or Payment Method statement. Users must cancel their Membership 48 hours prior to the rebill date if they do not wish their Membership to renew with associated Fees. Up until the date a Membership is canceled the User authorizes the Company to continue charging the User's Payment Method to pay: (i) Fees for Membership; (ii) all purchases of other products, services and entertainment provided by Portal; and (iii) other liabilities of Yours to Company or any third party.
Delayed Transactions. In the event a User's Payment Method was declined the Company may attempt to process the transaction again under the same conditions as the transaction was initiated by the User, within a few days of the User's first attempt to purchase their Membership. Where the Payment Method is approved in such a circumstance, the User will receive an email confirming the successful completion of their transaction along with their username and password details. The User's next rebill will be attempted on their original rebill date. Company reserves the right to change the price of the rebill to a lesser amount with the obligation to continue the User's Membership at the original rebill price, which shall take effect as of the next rebill unless the User cancels 48 hours before such rebill. At any time, should You have any questions about the rebill price or date of your Membership please contact Client Relations for the Portal.
Membership Types. Portal may offer various types of Memberships of different terms (ex: trial, 3-month, monthly etc…) each a "Membership Term". Each Membership Term offered will have its own Fee indicated during the join process and will rebill at the Fee and at the frequency indicated in the receipt sent to the User's email address. Fees are subject to change due to applicable; if you do not cancel within such thirty (30) days then you are deemed to have accepted the change in Fee.
Cancellation Policy. Memberships may be canceled at any time by completing a form located at http://www.famesupport.com/ or by contacting Portal Client Relations. If a Membership is canceled before the renewal date the User will still have access for the remainder of the period already paid.
Portal may offer the ability to purchase individual scenes. Each scene will have its Fee clearly indicated and will not rebill. Users are liable for Fees for scene purchases together with all applicable taxes to be payable to the Company or its designee.
User will have a lifetime access to all individual scenes purchased regardless of their type of Membership.
For all questions regarding individual scene purchases, User may contact Portal Client Relations.
Fees are non-refundable once the Login details have been used on Portal. Non-use of a Membership or inability of User to access the Portal through no fault of Company shall not be grounds for a refund of Fees. Company does not provide refunds or credits for any partial-month Membership periods
In the event a refund is issued, ALL refunds will be made by the Company who will credit the Payment Method used to make the original purchase. NO refunds will be made by cash or paper check. ALL refunds will be issued within ten (10) days of communication between the User and the Company's Client Relations department.
For all billing inquiries you may also visit client.chargepay.net.
All chargebacks are carefully investigated and may prevent future purchases with Portal and its affiliates. Chargebacks made to unlawfully obtain goods or services from Portal shall constitute a breach of contract and shall not be tolerated. Portal shall take necessary measures to collect all Fees owed to Portal.
For Memberships purchased by gift cards through the PayGarden service, please note:
These Memberships are subject to the terms and conditions of PayGarden. A list of accepted gift cards to be used on the PayGarden service may be found at https://www.paygarden.com/brands.
These Memberships will not be rebilled.
No refunds or partial refunds will be issued to these Memberships. The Portal may only offer Users a similar Membership to a related website.
Membership includes a single, limited, personal, non-transferrable, non-exclusive license (the "License") to use the Portal for the sole purpose of accessing the images, video and sound published therein (the "Content") in the manner provided. You shall not resell, distribute or engage in any commercialization of the Portal or its Content. You shall not modify or copy any of the Content, use it for any public display, performance, sale or rental, remove, modify or alter any copyright or other proprietary notice or trademarks of the Content or transfer any Content to any third party.
Access to and use of the Portal is through Login. Each User is responsible for keeping their Login information confidential. Portal will not release Login information for any reason to anyone other than the User except as may be specifically required by law or court order. Unauthorized access to the Portal is a breach of this Agreement. You are responsible for your Login credentials and purchases made or other acts or omissions carried out with them.
As between You and Company, Company retains all right, title and interest in any and all intellectual property rights in the Portal and its Content. All rights are reserved by the Company. All intellectual property and other rights in and to the Content and the Services found on Portal shall at all times remain the property of the Company, its affiliates, licensors and other suppliers. Nothing in this Agreement shall have the effect of transferring any intellectual property rights to You other than Your limited rights under the License.
Company reserves the right to modify any or all of the Content or Portal without Your prior notice or consent.
The Company reserves the right to terminate this License at any time if the User breaches the terms of this Agreement.
Membership, Membership Term and the License shall begin as of when Fees are paid and Login is used and shall end when the Membership Term ends or as otherwise provided herein.
Users must promptly inform the Company's Client Relations department of any apparent breach of security, such as loss, theft, unauthorized disclosure or use of a Login. Until the Company is notified of such breach in security, the User will be liable for any unauthorized use of the Services.
Users may terminate their Membership at any time and without cause by providing Client Relations notice to cancel the Membership. Users may complete a form located at http://www.famesupport.com/ or contact Client Relations directly. Users are liable for all Fees incurred on the Membership until 48 hours after notification of termination is received by the Company's Client Relations department. It is the User's responsibility to ensure notification is adequately provided. Notification should include full name, email address used upon joining and where applicable, the last four (4) digits of the Payment Method then in use. For Users residing in the European Union and pursuant to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in the event a User has exercised their right to delete their information, the Company will be unable to assist the User regarding notice of unauthorized use of the Services.
Company can terminate this Agreement at any time and for any reason or for no reason on notice to You through the Portal; however You shall be entitled to continue use of the Portal for the Membership Term for which Fees have already been paid.
By purchasing or terminating a Membership User agrees to receive an email confirmation thereof to the email address last provided to the Portal. Users may not opt out of receiving such emails. Therefore it is important to provide suitable contact information on sign-up for Membership.
Users who have terminated their Memberships may reactivate said Membership by entering their original Login details in the User Login section where their previously saved details will be used to process the reactivation provided that European Users have not exercised their right to delete their account details pursuant to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Users will have the option to select the Membership of their choice when they reactivate their Login. The new Membership will rebill at the price and at the frequency indicated in the new receipt sent to User's email address.
Bookmarking to a page on Portal whereby the warning page(s) and/or terms and conditions are by-passed shall constitute implied acceptance of this Agreement and an explicit confirmation the User is of or over the age of majority in their jurisdiction and the Content is not illegal in the Territory.
The Portal and its Content are provided "as is" without any express or implied warranty of any kind including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The Company offers no assurance of uninterrupted or error free Services. The Company does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained on Portal. Any of the information offered on Portal may change at any time without notice. Portal makes no representation as to any of the Content. In no event shall the Company be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use or inability to use the Portal or information available on Portal, even if the Company has been advised of such damages. These terms do not limit the non-waivable warranties or consumer protection rights you may be entitled to under the laws of your country of residence.
Users are responsible for providing all personal computer and communications equipment necessary to gain access to Portal. Users are also responsible for providing adequate contact details when subscribing to Portal.
If Portal enables Users to share information with third parties, User shall not submit, publish or display any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, threatening, racially offensive or illegal material. Transmission of material violating any federal, state or local law is prohibited and is a breach of this Agreement. The Company shall not be liable for any information posted by Users on Portal. Company has no obligation, but reserves the right, to edit material posted by User on the Portal. User grants Company an unlimited worldwide, royalty-free, license to collect, store and disclose any and all material posted by the User in the Portal. Title in suggestions or other material posted by a User through the Portal shall be assigned to Company as of the posting thereof.
Users agree not to engage in advertising to or solicitation of other Users to buy or sell any products or services through Portal. Users are responsible for the information they send or display through Portal even if a claim should arise after termination of the Membership. All messages shall be deemed to be readily accessible to the general public. Do not use Portal for any communication for which you intend only you and the intended recipients to read as notice is hereby given all messages entered onto Portal can and may be read by the operators of Portal, whether or not they are the intended recipients.
Please read the privacy policy for information on what information is gathered from the User and how it may be used by the Company and Website operator. Company reserves the right to transfer any and all data in its possession concerning you and your Membership to a third party who purchases all or substantially all of the assets or shares of Company or as part of a corporate reorganization.
Indemnification. You shall indemnify and hold Company harmless from and against any and all claims arising from or related to your use of the Portal or your breach of the terms of this Agreement.
Limitation of Liability. Under no circumstances shall Company be liable for any indirect, consequential or punitive damages. The liability of Company hereunder shall not exceed the amount of Fees actually paid by you during the 30 days prior to the event giving rise to liability.
Severability. If any provision of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable. If a court finds that any part of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable, but that by limiting such provision it would become valid or enforceable, then such provision shall be deemed to be written, construed and enforced as so limited.
Notices. Notices by the Company or Portal to Users may be given by means of electronic messages, by a general posting on Portal, by conventional mail or by telephone. All questions or complaints regarding Portal must be directed to the Company's customer service department.
Contact Information. The Company's customer service department may be reached by email at firstname.lastname@example.com or by online chat. If you have any questions or inquiries regarding a purchase via your Payment Method, please contact our support team. This Agreement shall be governed pursuant to the laws of the Netherlands. Any and all disputes arising under this Agreement shall be resolved exclusively before courts of competent jurisdiction in the Netherlands.
Assignment. Company reserves the right to assign any or all of its rights or obligations under this Agreement to a third party without prior notice or consent from User.
Survival. The following Sections hereof shall survive termination of this Agreement: 1 Definitions, 2 Agreement to View Adult Material, 9.1 and 9.3 Intellectual Property, 10 Term and Termination, 11 Disclaimers and 13 General.


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We found 8 record in 5 state for Steve Rushton in our US directory. The top state of residence is Utah, followed by South Carolina. The average Steve Rushton is around 65 years of age with around 50% falling in the 41-60 age group. Our public records names directory may include previous & current home addresses, cell phones and more. See more...
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Independent Investor: Enough Already!
All week the markets have hung on every word coming out of Washington. Nothing else has mattered: not earnings, not Europe's problems, not even the second coming of Christ could have distracted investors. Now that both political parties have achieved what they wanted, let's please stop the monkey business before it's too late.
Credit Suisse, a global broker/investment banker, said on Thursday that in the unlikely event that the U.S. defaults on its debt, the economy could contract by 5 percent and the stock market could lose one third of its value. Although I believe that is an extreme view, the entire mess over the debt ceiling is causing hesitation and delay among the nation's business sector.
Companies have put all sorts of decisions on hold until the crisis is resolved. That includes hiring and investment decisions that directly impact the employment rate and our economic growth. The timing couldn't be worse. The economy is just starting to recover from a soft patch caused by the slowdown in Japan's economy. In addition, our unemployment rate has recently notched up to 9.2 percent. We can't afford these shenanigans.
However, the increase in our debt ceiling is only one of an emerging two-part problem in our economy. Credit agencies are warning that unless we do something to reduce spending and the deficit, our credit rating may be reduced. Now that wouldn't be the end of the world for America, after all, Japan's credit rating was reduced early this year with little consequence. But it certainly wouldn't help the pace of our recovery nor improve the jobless rate.
As we go down to the wire, it appears that if there is to be a deal on raising the debt limit, then both parties will need to agree to disagree and postpone a big deficit-cutting plan until after Aug. 3. There is simply not enough time to hammer out a compromise in the time allotted. There will be a price to pay for a deal of that sort. The markets and the country's corporations will continue to hesitate until a deal is struck that will satisfy the credit agencies.
A compromise budget-cutting plan that cuts $2 trillion or so from the deficit over 10 years will not cut the mustard. The agencies are on record as wanting at least double that amount in order to stave off a credit reduction. The Democrats, led by President Obama, wanted a "Grand Plan" that would answer the demands of the credit agencies and put to rest the deficit politically as an election issue.
The Republicans want the opposite. They see the economy, the deficit and unemployment as the three most likely opportunities to unseat the Democrats next year. By foot dragging now, they can keep the controversy alive and hopefully capitalize on an anemic and aging recovery while continuing to ask "Where are the jobs?" If in the process either the country defaults or our credit rating is reduced they are betting Obama will be blamed for that along with the economy.
They are counting on voters to forget by election time who did what to whom in this debt controversy. I suspect their gamble will pay off.
After all, how many voters remember that the TARP Plan (just one example) was approved before Obama took office? Did you know that the huge deficit we are saddled with actually occurred during the Bush administration? Between his tax cuts and the initiation of two wars, President Bush, with the aid of today's Republican leadership, not only spent the surplus garnered under the Clinton years but wracked up $8.813 trillion in additional new debt.
The Democrats under Obama have added $1.136 trillion in the form of economic stimulus and tax cuts. Economists argue that without that spending our country would have remained in recession or possibly fallen into a depression. In addition, Obama will spend $152 billion on health-care reform and $278 billion on defense. The vast majority of the money spent on these policy initiatives won't even be spent until years in the future, if at all.
As an independent voter, I am less inclined to listen to either parties' rhetoric and instead focus on the facts. The facts are that the financial crisis, the deficit and the subsequent rise in the unemployment rate are the legacy of the Bush administration. I can applaud the GOP for belatedly realizing that they have been on a spending spree for the last decade, but don't blame others for your party's failings.
Sure, if you choose, you can blame Obama and his team for failing to generate a quick recovery, but enough already with this myth that he is the root cause of today's problems in America. As Americans, we deserve more from Washington.
Bill Schmick is an independent investor with Berkshire Money Management. (See "About" for more information.) None of the information presented in any of these articles is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at (toll free) or e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com . Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insights.
Tags: debt ceiling, Congress, credit ratings |
@theMarket: What If?
This week the scales finally tipped. The phones began to ring and each call was roughly the same.
"What are the chances the debt ceiling won't be raised?"
"What happens if the politicians can't make a deal?"
"What will happen to my investments if the worst case scenario happens?"
Since the calls were coming in from Maine, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and elsewhere, I'm sure you are all worried about the same thing. If, despite the odds, the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2, 2011, the United States of America plunges into at least a technical bankruptcy. What will happen to the markets? The short answer is nothing good.
This is not an abstract issue. The dollar, as well as global stock and bond markets, would decline. The price of gold and possibly silver would jump but very few other asset classes would be immune from the carnage. The wave of selling would reverberate around the world because everyone is involved in America's bond market. The duration of this financial rout would probably be short lived, a day or three, maybe even a week, before our political "leaders" in Washington came to their senses. Personally, I believe that it would be a classic buying opportunity and one probably not seen since the week after 9/11.
A recent poll by CNBC indicated that 64 percent of viewers are blaming the Republicans for the present impasses in the debt ceiling talks. As for me, I blame us, the voters — Democrats, Republicans (especially the tea party) and independents for the present dilemma. I wrote "leaders" in quotes because the present fiasco has convinced me that there are no leaders left in Washington, D.C.
But why should that surprise you? The present blame game that is substituting for compromise among the congressmen and senators is a joke if one looks at the track record of these supposed leaders. President Barack Obama continuously reminds us that the problems started during the Bush administration. But he was elected to the Senate in 2005, just as the real excesses of mortgage-backed securities was getting under way. Joe Biden was a senator from 1972 until running for vice president in 2009. Where were they when we needed leadership and an effort to end the rampant speculation that was occurring on Wall Street?
Rep. Barney Frank was the chairman of the House Finance Committee before and during the financial crisis as was committee members Orin Hatch, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer and even Ron Paul. All these august officials were asleep at the switch despite receiving a wealth of information daily on the nation's financial system.
Rep. Rosa De Laura has been around since 1990 and sits on the House subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services. Steny Hoyer has been in the House since 1986 and was House majority leader from 2007-2011 and House minority whip from 2003-2007. Nancy Pelosi was the speaker of the House since 2007 and is now House minority leader; that about sums up the background of today's starting line-up on the Democratic side.
Republicans, on the other hand, beginning with our past president, presided over the financial crisis from 2000-2008. During that period, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and many more of today's "responsible" budget-cutting GOP leaders knew and did nothing but watch as the financial system spun out of control. They too have conveniently forgotten their past lack of leadership and are busily blaming the opposing party for their own shortcomings.
Today we are looking to these same men and women to compromise, to work together and fix the economy, balance our finances, raise the debt ceiling and solve the nation's unemployment problem. We elected them, despite the knowledge that these very same people have been found wanting in the past. Why should we expect them to be any better today?
So let the chips fall where they may. I expect that until we have a deal the markets will continue their schizophrenic behavior. The best thing you can do is hunker down and wait for this storm to blow past.
Bill Schmick is an independent investor with Berkshire Money Management. (See "About" for more information.) None of the information presented in any of these articles is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at (toll free) or e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com . Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insights.
Tags: debt ceiling, markets, Congress |
Independent Investor: Time Is Running Out
By now we have reached our debt limit of $14.294 trillion here in the United States. As you read this, the U.S. Treasury is already shuffling bits of electronic paper around to stay current on our nation's debt payments. By Aug. 2 even this desperate farce will have come to an end.
The Obama administration's deadline is even earlier. By July 22, there must be a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling or else there will not be enough time to ratify an agreement before the beginning of August, when Congress begins its recess. The situation is serious enough for both parties to forgo their July vacations and work for a compromise this week in steamy Washington, D.C.
A new development has the president challenging the Republicans to work out a longer-term compromise solution to the deficit right here and right now. It remains to be seen whether the GOP will accept the challenge.
The nation's debt ceiling was first established back in 1917 at a hilariously low $11.5 billion. Since 1962, it has been raised 74 times, without a problem on either side of the aisle. So why has the debt ceiling suddenly become such a contentious issue?
Politics is the short answer. The Republican Party, which passed an increase in the debt ceiling eight times during the Bush presidency, claims to have suddenly found religion when it comes to the nation's debt. And if you believe that one, you deserve to be fleeced by the shills in Washington.
The GOP is demanding $4.4 trillion be cut from the deficit over the next 10 years. They are using the ceiling to affect changes in Medicare and Medicaid spending that would probably not see the light of day in any other circumstances. The Obama administration countered with a plan that would cut $4 trillion over the same time period without changing any of the major entitlements programs. One would think that a compromise could be worked out, but as time goes by it seems as if neither side really wants a solution. As the 11th-hour approaches, opposing politicians are milking the drama for very hour of prime time they can capture.
By now just about everyone realizes there will be major fallout from failing to pass a new debt ceiling. The most obvious and immediate outcomes would be that the U.S. would technically default on its loans, our interest rates would spike, and the stock market plummet. Even if our "leaders" had a change of heart and approved a new ceiling a day later, the damage would have been done.
It would be similar if you or your household declared bankruptcy. Although you might be able to work your way back to financial health quickly, the bankruptcy would be part of your credit history for years into the future and with it would come certain costs.
Everyone from the head of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury to every elder statesmen of the economy has warned of the folly of allowing the country to default. And yet a recent Gallup poll indicates that 47 percent of Americans are opposed to raising the debt ceiling while 34 percent say they don't know enough to make a decision. I suspect that most Americans mistakenly believe that raising the debt limit will automatically mean an increase in federal spending. That's not true.
Increasing spending would require authorization by Congress. In today's anti-spending environment that kind of legislation would have few backers. But failing to increase the debt limit will immediately make the debt we owe climb higher. It would force the government to suspend interest payments on the debt we already owe. Those interest payments would continue to accrue into the foreseeable future. The same would happen to you if you failed to make your minimum payment on your credit card. So your overall debt continues to rise, and quickly.
At the same time, as a result of our default, investors worldwide would demand higher and higher rates of interest to lend to a country that had already failed to pay its existing debtors on time. The fact that we might change gears later would not mitigate the actions we failed to take when they were required. The damage has been done and we would pay for it in the form of higher rates for years into the future.
I have long since lost faith in politicians. Their actions indicate that time after time they have put their own interest above the common good. So, yes, this debate makes me nervous. I don't want to see Washington once again play with our livelihoods. A U.S. default will severely impact our car loans, mortgage rates, student loans, credit cards and a whole host of personal debt liabilities. If push comes to shove, it may come down to fighting fire with fire.
The Fourteenth Amendment states:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payments of pension and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion shall not be questioned."
If the GOP is dead set on using the threat of a U.S. bankruptcy to wheedle spending cuts (but not tax increases) from the administration, than, in my opinion, using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling without legislation is a proper and responsible alternative. God knows, I am all for spending cuts and have been for decades, but this in not the time nor the arena to force change.
Bill Schmick is an independent investor with Berkshire Money Management. (See "About" for more information.) None of the information presented in any of these articles is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at (toll free) or e-mail him at email@example.com. Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insights.
Tags: ratings, debt, markets, Congress |
@theMarket: The Bottom Is In
Well, we've made it through another pullback together. It seems clear to me that this week's stock market action is telling us that the worst is over — for now.
Yes, there are still a few dark clouds on the horizon. The closest one is the ongoing debate over increasing the nation's debt limit. Although I believe that in the end politicians will do the responsible thing and approve an increase, they are not beyond eleventh hour posturing. Few politicians can resist the chance to become the focus of the nation's attention by withholding their vote until all seems lost, only to relent at the last moment, thereby becoming our heroes. Disgusting? Yes, but that's what America's politics are all about these days.
As a result, expect continued volatility within the markets as te deadline approaches. The Obama administration claims we will run out the clock by July 22 while the Treasury is sticking with Aug. 2. The time it would take the Congress and Senate to ratify the debt increase accounts for the difference.
But the bias of the market, despite the volatility, will be toward the upside. It appears that investors are beginning to recognize all the positive factors that I have outlined over the past two months. Japan's economy, for example, is roaring back as indicated by very strong industrial production data this week. For readers who missed it, see my June 2 column "Japan, Is The Sun Beginning To Rise?" in which I both recommended Japan and predicted its rebirth. As it occurs, U.S. economic data will also start to strengthen. This Friday's manufacturing data, released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), is just a taste of what's to come. It showed the economy gaining strength for the first time in four months. Oh, and expect unemployment numbers to start dropping as well.
As you know, I have been arguing that the U.S. was in a soft patch of growth brought on by Japan's earthquake-related slowdown. Now that Japan is revving up, so will we. With Greece's problems resolved (at least until September) and oil prices heading toward $85 a barrel, Wall Street is finally waking up to what you and I have known for weeks.
Normally, after such a massive move, the markets should pull back to about the breakout level, which would be 1,300 on the S&P. It doesn't have to happen, but if it does, consider it a buying opportunity. For those of you who may have gotten cold feet during the tumultuous times of the recent past, that would be your chance to get back in.
As for the end of QE II, (see yesterday's column "The End of QE II"), all of the hyperbole you have been hearing about how interest rates would spike and the markets plunge did not materialize, nor will it. As I predicted, the demise of the Fed's quantitative easing program is a non-event. With all these negatives removed from the market simultaneously, I expect stocks to roar. My price target for the S&P 500 remains at 1,450 or higher.
Once we get there, well, that may usher in a horse of a different color but first things first, the markets are going higher so enjoy your gains.
Bill Schmick is an independent investor with Berkshire Money Management. (See "About" for more information.) None of the information presented in any of these articles is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at (toll free) or e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insights.
Tags: debt, Congress, Greece, Japan, pullback |
The Independent Investor: Gordon Gekko Should Run for Congress
Did you know that congressmen and senators consistently outperform the stock market year after year? On average, the lower house members beat the market by about 6 percent a year while those of the higher chamber wrack up a 10 percent level of outperformance annually. Now, if you believe that's purely coincidental, well, I have a bridge I can sell you cheap.
Don't take my word for it. Four university researchers from four different schools poured over 16,000 stock buys and sells of 300 congressmen over a 16-year period and found "significant positive abnormal returns." Five years ago, the same team uncovered even better results when investigating the personal stock transactions of Senators.
As a full-time portfolio manager myself, I know managing money is a 24/7 job that requires an enormous amount of research, experience and time. How can our politicians manage to pull out these startling returns year after year, while serving in Washington, running election campaigns and travelling back home to their constituents?
The university report speculates (without forming a conclusion) that the out performance may have something to do with the ability of members of both houses to trade on non-public information or worse, vote their own pocketbooks.
But wait, how can that be? Isn't trading on insider information illegal?
Well, it turns out that our lawmakers are excluded from the same insider trading rules that have nailed so many Wall Street traders, most recently in The Galleon Insider Trading Case.
Just think how much potential for abnormal profits resides in knowing what bills and appropriations will pass and those that won't. If, for example, a huge contract is awarded to one of our defense companies in a non-public appropriations bill, a member of either house could legally buy the stock ahead of time and even tip off friends, family and possibly their largest campaign contributors.
It may also explain how certain big financial institutions, over the last few years, seem to know exactly how bad or good the country's economic data will be prior to public release. That data has been capable of moving markets substantially either up or down over short periods of time.
Given the U.S. government's massive intervention in the financial system since 2008, the ability to make piles of money from government actions is immense. Is it any wonder that politicians have adroitly avoided changing the rules that govern their own actions, until now?
A bill introduced by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Tim Walz, D-Minn., called the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) act was reintroduced in March of this year. It was first introduced in 2006 and predictably went nowhere. The act would "prohibit Members of Congress and federal employees from profiting from nonpublic information they obtain via their official positions, and require greater oversight of the growing 'political intelligence' industry."
"As it stands today, neither members of Congress nor their staff can be held legally accountable for making personal investment decisions based on non-public information," explains Congresswomen Slaughter, "Even more troubling is that unregistered firms might be using Congressional non-public information to make financial transactions at the expense of the average investor. The bill places those individuals under insider trading rules and enhanced disclosure rules."
The act would prevent government employees from disclosing non-public information to anyone if they believe it will be used to buy or sell stocks, bonds or commodities futures. It would also require members of Congress and employees to report the purchase, sale or exchange of securities in excess of $1,000 within 30 days.
"This is a matter of equality under the law," said Congressman Walz, "The same standards we have established for Wall Street should apply to Congress. The potential for abuse is obvious and troubling and there is simply no good reason Congress should get to play by a separate set of rules in the stock market."
Readers may agree that there is something hypocritical about politicians and regulators probing hedge funds for suspicious trading while the very same government officials are able to trade on nonpublic information on current and upcoming congressional activity and give it to their friends as well as hedge funds if they choose.
While I applaud the efforts of Walz and Slaughter, I suspect the chances of STOCK's passage is about as remote as my growing hair again.
Bill Schmick is an independent investor with Berkshire Money Management. (See "About" for more information.) None of the information presented in any of these articles is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at (toll free) or e-mail him at email@example.com. Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insights.
Tags: Congress, SEC, trading |


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Director George Roy Hill kicks up his heels while making The World of Henry Orient (1964) in New York.
By training, directors learn to expect the unexpected. Here are some quirky shots of directors who found themselves in unusual situations.
Fifty years ago, Melvin Van Peebles shook up the establishment with his subversive comedy Watermelon Man, turning the tables on a racist society with an ingenious scenario of role reversal.
Gene Reynolds, who passed away Feb. 3, served as DGA president from 1993 to 1997 and was instrumental in bringing more youthful, diverse members into the Guild's ranks.
A live-event maestro bar none, Don Mischer was equally adept at directing fine arts.
We pay homage to the director of Seven Beauties, which earned her the first nomination by a woman for the DGA's Feature Film award.
The impact of John Singleton, who passed April 28, continues to reverberate throughout the industry.
In the spring of 1969, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy was released to widespread acclaim, becoming the first and only X-rated film to win the Academy's best picture award, and earning the British filmmaker a DGA Award and an Oscar for directing.
Bernardo Bertolucci, who passed away in November, came to prominence in the '70s with such films as The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris, and won the DGA Award for his towering 1987 epic The Last Emperor.
Ida Lupino directs Robert Clarke on the set of Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951).
The recently departed Miloš Forman, who won a clutch of DGA and Academy Awards, might be the poster child for overcoming adversity.
Fifty years ago, Mel Brooks' directorial debut, The Producers, opened in New York and launched the career of one of cinema's most outrageously funny auteurs.
A peek behind the scenes of Frank Capra's timeless holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life.
John Avildsen, who passed away June 16th, won the DGA Award for directing Rocky.
Remembering Ed Sherin, DGA National Vice President and Honorary Life Member
On the occasion of Sidney Poitier's 90th birthday, his directorial achievements take center stage.
In Memoriam: Arthur Hiller, DGA past president seen here on the set of The Hospital with George C. Scott
Tim Burton offers a sly performance tip to Helena Bonham Carter on Planet of the Apes (2001).
Director Richard Thorpe discusses the subtleties of a scene with Asta on the set of The Thin Man Goes Home (1945).
Wes Craven, with Amanda Wyss, upended the room for a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Robert Wise confers with Bil Baird's marionettes on the set of The Sound of Music (1965).
Blake Edwards shows a stuntman how to take a fall in Peter Gunn (1958-1961).
David Lean (center) shot exteriors in the French Alps for The Passionate Friends (1949), his first film set outside of England.
Spike Jonze offers some acting tips to one of the beasts in Where the Wild Things Are (2009), an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book.
Wes Anderson gets around in style in The Royal Tenenbaums.
Vincente Minnelli directs Margaret O'Brien and Joan Carroll in the Halloween scene from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).
Alfred Hitchcock directs some of his fine feathered friends on the Bodega Bay set of The Birds (1963).
Paul Mazursky shows Robin Williams how to blow in Moscow on the Hudson (1984).
Robert Aldrich shows Bette Davis how to step into a scene on the set of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
Akira Kurosawa directing Yojimbo (1961), about a town divided by two warring gangs in 19th century Japan.
Frank Capra goes over the ballot with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in State of the Union (1948).
Director Gene Kelly gives Barbra Streisand a few pointers on the set of Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Woody Allen plans his strategy with Napoleon (James Tolkan) in Love and Death, the director's 1975 spoof of Russian novels.
Director Jason Winer gives up a few inches to Kobe Bryant on the set of Modern Family.
John Huston runs lines with a feathered friend during the filming of The Night of the Iguana (1964) in Mexico.
Steven Spielberg looks over the script for Jaws (1975) while shooting on the beach in Martha's Vineyard.
Doug Hayes finds the actors on The Twilight Zone a tad stiff.
Josef von Sternberg delivers an important message on the set of Exquisite Summer.
Billy Wilder directs Marilyn Monroe in the famed street scene from The Seven Year Itch (1955).
Geena Davis battles Alec Baldwin in Tim Burton's Beetle Juice.
Blake Edwards makes himself at home with his stars Capucine and Peter Sellers on The Pink Panther (1963.).
Spanish director Luis Buñuel's inadvertent comment on the trials of being a film director.
Don Siegel puts his cast in a most unusual position in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
John Landis works with a unique creature on one of the most successful comedies ever made.
Carol Reed Conducts a performance from young Mark Lester in Oliver!
Former DGA President George Stevens looks over some unusual head shots for The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
James Whale runs some lines with a very unusual star in The Bride of Frankenstein.
Richard Lester dresses for the occasion on Help! as he directs the Beatles in the Bahamas.
Director Alan Pakula watches Robert Redford as Bob Woodward filing a Watergate story in All the President's Men.
Fred Zinnemann puts Paul Scofield in a precarious position in the DGA Award winner A Man For All Seasons.
Hal Ashby serves up Bud Cort on a silver platter in Harold and Maude - literally.
Roman Polanski scares the dickens out of Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby.
De Niro and Scorsese rehearse one of the great lines in movies.
Frank Capra flips for John Ford.
Mel Brooks instructs Bloom and Bialystock in The Producers.
Preston Sturges takes a dip.
Francis Ford Coppola makes Woltz an offer he can't refuse on the set of The Godfather.
John Huston shows Eli Wallach how to roundup horses-modern style-on the set of The Misfits.
Marlon Brando lining up a shot on the set of the 1961 Western One-Eyed Jacks.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was the beginning of a long and successful collaboration between Mike Nichols and editor Sam O'Steen. They would team up on 11 other pictures.
Lamont Johnson talking with the stars of That Certain Summer; Martin Sheen and Hal Holbrook.
Tobe Hooper's 1974 horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was made on a shoestring budget and cast with University of Texas students, but eventually grossed more than $26.5 million.
This scene from Willis Goldbeck's 1951 film Ten Tall Men, though set in the Sahara, was shot at Bronson Canyon and Caves in Los Angeles.
With the cast and crew on the set of the Hal Ashby's 1975 hit Shampoo.
On the set of Make Room for Daddy in 1959.
On the set of The Air Circus in 1928, filmed at Clover Field in Santa Monica.
On the set of the classic Ocean's Eleven directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Frank Sinatra.
Director W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke, II utilizes some trees as a make-shift camera crane while shooting on location in Africa.


text: Stereotyped and printed by A. Wilson, Duke-street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields AND J. HATCHARD, PICCADILLY. ADVERTISEMENT. IT is the usual practice in schools, to let children read the New Testament before the Old, on account of the great nuin ́ber of difficult words which occur in the latter. This is surely a very erroneous plan: for Christian knowledge, to have a solid foundation, must be built on Faith in GOD as the CREATOR and GOVERNOR of the Universe; and no method for obtaining this end can be equal to that of letting the scholar read, in the very words of divine inspiration, the account which is given in the Old Testament of the wonderful display of GOD's power and wisdom, in his works of Creation and Providence, in the first ages of the world. The mind, thoroughly convinced, by this means, of the greatness and majesty of GOD, will be well prepared for the contemplation of his mercy and goodness, exemplified in the great work of Man's REDEMPTION, and for all the other important truths which the Gospel teaches. 1 In composing this Abridgment, endeavours have been used to obviate every objection usually made to the previous reading of the Old Testament, by omitting every hard chapter (as they are commonly called), and every other passage unintelligible or uninteresting to young minds. But the utility of this SELECTION cannot fully appear without its intended Companion, the SCRIPTURE CATECHISM, in which the lessons are explained in the form of familiar conversation; and in so easy a way, it is presumed, that any person ADVERTISEMENT. who can read, may, by means of it, instruct their scholars, not only in the general outline of SCRIPTURE HISTORY, but in the principles of CHRISTIANITY; and one book will be suf ficient for one teacher, as the explanation is not designed to be read by the scholars, but to them. The first part of this Catechism explains the lessons taken from the Old Testament ; the second part explains the lessons from the New Testament. The Author hopes, that in schools and families where her INTRODUCTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE, and her larger work, entitled SACRED HISTORY, with Annotations and Reflections, are used, the SCRIPTURE LESSONS, together with the SCRIPTURE CATECHISM, will be found useful as an intermediate step, leading the young mind gradually on to the knowledge of divine truths as the reasoning powers expand. SCRIPTURE LESSONS. LESSON I. GENESIS, CHAP. I. IN the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. : : 3 And God said, Let there be light and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas and God saw that it was good. : 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night: and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. : 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. |


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Field Roast Wild Mushroom Plant Based Deli Slices 5.5 Oz
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