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Friday, January 30, 2009
10% Pentagon Cuts?
I just caught a news report that Obama is asking the Pentagon for a 10% cut in their budget.
Open suggestion to Mr. Obama:
The Pentagon's core budget for fiscal 2009 is about $512 billion. A $51 billion cut is chump change considering the trillions being thrown about for bailouts, stimulus and liabilities in the financial sector.
Missing in action from the debate on the economic crisis is the wars and extreme military spending to maintain the empire.
Bring all the troops home. Close down all overseas bases. It's all a fraud anyway. Our homeland security scams are bleeding us dry. Nothing we are told is true.
A 10% cut in the military budget is a joke.
Ask Rumsfeld about the missing trillions from the Pentagon that he announced on Sept. 10, 2001.
Ask yourself about your lying anti-war rhetoric to gain votes.
Don't ask us to sacrifice anymore in wars only for profit and theft.
Wild Russian Rumor - Obama to take down Federal Reserve
Too good to be true. From a source that possibly is disinformation. Regardless, it is still what needs to be done.
Obama Tells Putin
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers (Traducción al Español abajo)
A startling report is circulation in the Kremlin today stating that President Obama's top aide, and his only official representative at the Davos World Economic Summit, Valerie Jarrett, was instructed by the new American leader to 'inform' Prime Minister Putin that the United States is in its 'final phases' of 'taking down' the powerful private European banking systems known as the Federal Reserve System that has controlled the US economy since 1913, and is currently attempting to destroy it.
According to these reports, President Obama's plan to destroy the Federal Reserve System involves the creation of a new National Bank of the United States that would be completely owned by the US Government and would begin its new role by acquiring the home mortgages of American citizens, now called 'toxic assets', from the corrupt European Banking Empire run by the Rothschild Family after which it would then Nationalize all US Banks.
Leaked reports from Davos are further confirming this astounding news, and as we can read as reported by the CNBC News Service in their report titled "All Big US Banks Must Go to Fix Crisis", and as we can read:
"The creation of a government bad bank to buy toxic assets is necessary, but then the government will need to take control of and restructure major banks to fix the system, one economist at the World Economic Forum in Davos told CNBC.com. "They have to do a bad bank," Harvard Economics Professor Ken Rogoff said. But "if that's all they do then it's idiotic."
Institutions like Citi and Bank of America will have to go, boards will have to be fired and equity stakeholders will be wiped out, Rogoff said. The plan could mirror the one Sweden implemented, where all troubled banks were nationalized, their balance sheets were cleaned up and the good parts of the businesses were sold to the private sector."
But, to the most shocking revelations made in this report about the new Obama Regime was Ms. Jarrett's directly stating to Putin that the new American President was 'going after all of the Zionists' in his country, a reference to the most radical element of the Jewish peoples many hold responsible for the destruction of the morals, educational and family structures, and the economy of the United States for their own corrupt gain.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Jobless Sheep
The number of unemployed is increasing in every state. The 'government' reports the national average is 7.2%. The rate is being under reported. Factor in the underemployed which includes a vast number of those in business for themselves and it's anybody's guess how many people are idle at any given moment. Most of the figures are based upon those receiving unemployment benefits, some 6.5 million, which is at an all time high since records have been kept.
My state of Tennessee is now using its 22 career centers as places to file for unemployment since the normal ways to process the claims are overwhelmed.
When will we hit the bottom in this jobless boom? We may not have seen anything yet.
Obama's economic stimulus plan includes aid to the poor and unemployed — $43 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, increase them by $25 a week and provide job training; $20 billion to increase food stamp benefits by 13 percent; $4 billion to provide a one-time additional Supplemental Security Income payment; $2.5 billion in temporary welfare payments; $1 billion for home heating subsidies; and $1 billion for community action agencies.
At the rate we're going, the rest of the stimulus plan may be needed for the poor.
The stimulus package numbers are being thrown around:
The House Democrats' bill provides enough spending - $825 billion - to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.
$825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the U.S. $22,000.
President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save three million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year. more
Of course the administration and the majority in Congress keep telling us they know more than we do and to just shut up and let them 'fix' things.
Just like they have fixed the corruption of the financial markets.
Just like they will fix our military spending by moving troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan.
Just like they have fixed our enormous foreign aid out flow. How much do we actually give to Israel each year?
Just like we're going to take back the control of our money from the Federal Reserve.
Good Luck Dennis. Watch your back.
We finally got rid of the criminal Bush administration only to usher in another.
We allow it to happen. "We the Sheep." Everyone talks about it but we're still led around and sheared of our assets until we're too old or useless. Slaughter comes next.
Like Sheep to the Slaughter
The implication of sheeple is that as a collective, people believe whatever they are told, especially if told so by authority figures, without processing it to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them.
The Black Sheep tries to warn its friends with the truth it has seen, unfortunately herd mentality kicks in for the Sheeple, and they run in fear from the black sheep and keep to the safety of their flock.
Having tried to no avail to awaken his peers, the Black Sheep have no other choice but to unite with each other and escape the impending doom.
Moon Signs
Granny Miller
"To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die.
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted."
Ecclesiastes 3:1
I sometimes get questions about "planting by the signs".
On occasion I've been asked whether or not I pay attention to the "moon signs"?
Does it work?
Do I think moon sign gardening or farming is superstitious, witchcraft or evil?
The short answers are: yes, I think so and no.
The term "planting by the signs" is a colloquial expression or folk term for the ancient practice of timing certain agricultural tasks by the moon's astrological position in the zodiac.
It's my opinion that there does seem to be some advantage in timing gardening, livestock, medical, construction and day to day tasks according to the moon's natural monthly cycle and by it's position as it passes through the belt of constellations that we call the zodiac.
For our agrarian ancestors, the understanding and application of natural cycles and rhythms to their lives was a matter of life and death.
It's the reason why almanacs were so wide spread and heavily used.
Agricultural astrology is a very involved subject and it's impossible to do it justice in a short blog post.
The purpose of this post is to present a brief peak at agricultural astrology.
The following is an example of why this knowledge was and is so important.
Instead of giving the routine explanation for the best time to plant above ground crops, set fence posts or mow fields, I thought instead, I'd show the application of agricultural astrology in livestock management.
The Castration of Animals: Picking the Best Day
Our agrarian ancestors lived closer to the earth than most people do today.
They understood and faithfully applied the ancient principles that had been passed to them by every preceding generation.
It wasn't important for them to understand the science of why something worked.
Just that it did work.
Before the days of bloodless banding, cutting was the only method of castration for male animals.
In fact in many ways cutting is still today the superior method.
But even today with good veterinary hygiene infection is a risk with surgical castration.
Never mind the risks that were involved to animals before the days of antibiotics.
Losing an animal to bleeding or infection was a serous economic loss to our forbears and was to be avoided at all costs.
Good animal husbandry would have required that a farmer chose a day for castration that would carry less risk for his animals.
Using The Moon's Natural Cycle
Every month the moon goes through a 4 stage natural cycle.
The lunar cycle goes from darkness - New Moon
To increasing light - Waxing Moon
To full light - Full Moon
To decreasing light - Waning Moon
And then completes the cycle to full darkness again.
Through observation, it appears that bleeding and other natural functions are increased during the waxing phase of the lunar cycle.
Conversely bleeding is decreased during the waning phase of the lunar cycle.
Our ancestors were well familiar with this phenomena.
As was the ancient Greek physician and Father of Medicine - Hippocrates.
To lessen the bleeding associated with castration the most favorable time to cut the scrotum and remove testicles would be when the moon is in it's extreme waning phase.
What is even more interesting, is that routine livestock or animal welfare practices seem to have less complications and more favorable outcomes when carried out under certain zodiac "signs" that the moon is passing through.
Here's the reason why:
Every month the moon passes through all 12 signs of the zodiac; spending just under 2 1/2 days in each sign.
Each of the 12 zodiac signs is associated with a different part of the body.
The zodiac begins in Aries which governs the head and ends in Pisces which governs the feet.
Each sign "rules" a part of the body.
What's more, is that each of the zodiac signs or group of signs has certain qualities or characteristics associated with them.
The Water Signs:
Cancer - Breast & Stomach
Scorpio - Reproductive system & lower bowels
Pisces - Feet
Water signs are said to be feminine, wet, nutritive or fruitful.
The Fire Signs:
Aries - Head
Leo - Heart
Sagittarius -Thighs
Fire signs are said to be masculine, barren and dry.
The Earth Signs:
Capricorn - Knees & Bones
Taurus - Neck
Virgo - Upper bowel
Earth signs are said to be earthy and feminine.
The Air Signs:
Libra - Veins & kidneys
Aquarius -Lower legs
Gemini - Arms & respiratory system
Air signs are said to be masculine and airy.
As the moon is passing through each position of the zodiac, the part of the body that is "ruled" by that sign becomes very sensitive.
Procedures done to benefit the particular part of the body that the sign "rules" seem to be of more lasting benefit.
Quicker results are noted.
Conversely anything that is to the detriment of that part of the body is compounded.
As the moon passes through each of the 12 signs of the zodiac energy is "pulled" through the body.
From the head to the feet.
Back to our castration example:
A date must be picked so that bleeding and infection is minimized.
By applying the understanding that bleeding is lessened during the waning phase of the moon, a time should be picked towards the end of the lunar cycle.
The qualities air and dryness seems to control the spread of infection in open wounds.
The knowledge that Aquarius is a dry, airy and barren sign is helpful in determining what the best day is to lessen possible infection.
What's more, Aquarius is a zodiac sign that is moving away from the reproductive organs and towards the feet.
So the best day for the castration of animals would be when the moon is waning and passing through the sign of Aquarius.
To help me find that day I would need to consult an almanac.
The principles of moon sign agriculture are inclusive of all agricultural activities not just animal health and welfare.
Information for the best times to plant, weed, prune, breed animals, wean animals & children, castrate, harvest crops, set fence posts, logging, grafting and many other agricultural practices can be found in John Baer's Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac or any other reliable agricultural almanac.
For those who may believe that "planting by the signs" is pure superstition I would encourage you to suspend judgment, experiment for yourself and engage in a closer scrutiny of the natural world.
Why not get an almanac, 6 tomato plants and try planting them on favorable days and on unfavorable days and see what happens?
For those who may consider agricultural astrology to be witchcraft or evil; well, at one time people thought that about electricity and epilepsy too.
"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 for years."
-Genesis 1:14
Thoughts for a Thursday Morning
Zionists priming and pimping the USA to fight another war for Israel
America, ready to see you sons and daughters come home in "transfer tubes"--coffins--from another ME war fought for Israel? This one will be against Iran and the booga-booga is getting extra loud since Obama's inauguration. Whether it's bogus reports coming from Israel about some IDF Storm Trooper killed while planting some booby-traps or Iranians setting up some kind of terror network in South America, they both have the same goal: To get America involved in fighting another war for Israel.
While our kids are fighting and dying in wars for Israel in Pakistan and Iran, back home, the parents of those brave kids will be fighting another war, a war against Zionist run banks and the Zionist controlled Federal Reserve, who are systematically looting this country blind.
1.7 million American homes were foreclosed on in 2007, 2.5 million in 2008 and another 10 million or so will be foreclosed on in the next couple of years, thanks to an out of control Wall Street only interested in one thing, Money.
BTW, where is all that money that has disappeared from Wall and Main Street? It just doesn't go POOF!
So where are all of those trillions of dollars?
more - Greg Bacon
AP can't stop lying for Israel
Here is just a sample of the latest pack of lies about Israel's enemies published these last few days by "the world's largest and most trusted source of independent news and information."
Here's a lie you will see in every AP report about Israel's invasion and carpet-bombing of Gaza — a supremely criminal aggression which was meant to terrorize the population and help remove the democratically-elected government of Hamas from power:
Israel launched its 22-day offensive to try to halt Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel.
("Israel vows to back soldiers accused of war crimes," 1∙25∙9)
And here's a lie straight out of the Hasbara Handbook, on Israeli war criminal Ariel Sharon, who was found "personally responsible" for the massacre of 700–3,500 unarmed men, women, and children in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon in 1982:Israeli leaders have faced similar concerns in the past. In 2001, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was sued in Belgium over his alleged [confirmed, not "alleged"] role in a 1982 massacre in Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. He was never convicted [but was found "personally responsible" by an Israeli investigative commission because he gave the IDF and the SLA free reign to enter the camps, knowing what would likely ensue].
more - Detain This
War From Vietnam To Gaza
- From the Vietnam War all the way to Israel's most recent attack on Gaza; the policies of the US Department of War have never varied. Tactics have changed because government can no longer 'depend' on the loyalty of an informed American public; so a huge private army of mercenaries was hired to do what GI's might no longer do, since they saw the light in Vietnam. There's a film called SIR! NO SIR, that spells this out: It's needed now, because the history and the facts of Vietnam, that could have stopped the War on Iraq- have been nearly annihilated since the Vietnam War ended in our surrender on June 30, 1975.
- The war in Vietnam was a Lie. By 1968 the US had over a half million men in South Vietnam when the North Vietnamese launched their TET Offensive that overran the entire country, before being pushed back. This was the turning-point at which it became clear that the people of Vietnam were clearly on the side of the North Vietnamese. 'It was also clear that the USA was mired in a war that we could not win.'
- US troops began to go AWOL or refused to fight, and that's where the Anti-War movement really began to become visible on the global stage.
Obama: Trilateral Commission Endgame
As previously noted in Pawns of the Global Elite, Barack Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission. Most notably, it was Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973, who was Obama's principal foreign policy advisor.
The pre-election attention is reminiscent of Brzezinski's tutoring of Jimmy Carter prior to Carter's landslide election in 1976.
For anyone who doubts the Commission's continuing influence on Obama, consider that he has already appointed no less than nine members of the Commission to top-level and key positions in his Administration.
According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, there are only 87 members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other regions). Thus, in less than two weeks since his inauguration, Obama's appointments encompass more than 10% of Commission's entire U.S. membership.
Is this a mere coincidence or is it a continuation of dominance over the Executive Branch since 1976? (For important background, read The Trilateral Commission: Usurping Sovereignty.)
1- Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
2- Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
3- National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
4- Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
5- Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair 6- Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
7- Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
8- State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
9- State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
10- State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke
There are many other incidental links to the Trilateral 12- 12- Commission, for instance,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is married to Commission member William Jefferson Clinton.
Geithner's informal group of advisors include E. Gerald Corrigan, Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan and Peter G. Peterson, among others. His first job after college was with Henry Kissinger at Kissinger Associates.
Brent Scowcroft has been an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Robert Zoelick is currently president of the World Bank
Laurence Summers, White House Economic Advisor, was mentored by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the Clinton administration.
There are many other such links, but these are enough for you to get the idea of what's going on here.
Obama Lies to the Muslims and the World
Imagine: You turn on your television and see on the news that
As you look at the images on your television, you see horribly burned children who are victims of the British-made white phosphorous grenades and bombs the Canadians are using. You see a British-built fighter jet attacking an ambulance as paramedics are vainly attempting to load more terribly wounded civilians into the ambulance for a life-or-death trip to the hospital. As you helplessly watch this mayhem unfold, you feel the righteous hatred rise inside you for both the Canadians who're actually pulling the triggers and the British who are supplying them with the deadly and destructive weapons that are slaughtering your people.
You can't believe what happens next. The newly elected British Prime Minister appears on your screen and tells an interviewer that the British are not the enemies of Americans! How can he say this with a straight face as British rockets and bombs are killing Americans?
more - Robert L. Johnson at Strike the Root
You think it's bad now?
You can start to have an inkling of where the idea of the 'blood libel' came from (my emphasis in red):
"When the leader of Israel's religious-Zionist Meimad Party recently addressed a meeting of 800 high-school students in a Tel Aviv suburb, his words on the virtue of Israeli democracy for all its citizens were drowned out by student chants of 'Death to the Arabs.'"and:
"Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the fans had come up with a new chant: 'Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?' sang the crowd. 'Because all the children were gunned down!' came the answer."These are the young people, the future of Israel. Things are only going to become much worse. It is time to put an end to it, to stop the killing.
House of Representatives passes Obama 'stimulus" bill
While invariably described in the media as a "stimulus" bill, the legislation actually does relatively little to create new jobs and launches no new social programs. It provides only $40 billion for new spending on infrastructure, and much of this will not actually be expended until 2010 or even later.
Most of the spending provisions in the bill relate to extending unemployment benefits and health insurance coverage for the unemployed—including the millions more expected to be laid off in the coming months—or authorize direct subsidies to state and city governments that would otherwise face bankruptcy.
From a purely economic standpoint, the bill's function is to prevent an immediate and catastrophic collapse of consumer spending and public services, not to produce an economic revival. It was for that reason that most big business lobbies, like the US Chamber of Commerce, endorsed the legislation.One purpose of the bill is to provide a measure of political cover as the Obama administration prepares a new taxpayer bailout of the banks and financial firms, in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and proceeds beyond that to pare down the resulting record budget deficit by imposing deep cuts in basic social programs such as Social Security and Medicare
more - Patrick Martin at wsws.org
Peace Recedes as Israeli Settlements Expand
Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank increased sharply in 2008, despite Israel's pledge at the beginning of the year to freeze all construction, according to a new report by an Israeli non-governmental organization [.pdf].
The report, released Wednesday by the group Peace Now, found that settlement construction in 2008 increased by almost 60 percent, including new construction both inside and outside of the security barrier and within illegal settlement outposts.
Nearly 40 percent of the new structures were built east of the security barrier, many of them extending deep into the West Bank.
And despite the Israeli government's pledge to crack down on the illegal outposts, the study found that "not a single real outpost was evacuated."
more - Daniel Luban at antiwar
9-11, Iraq & Gaza: How many conspiracy theories are enough?I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately, all of them complaining about how I'm not telling the truth about what happened in Gaza. Hey, just because no news media was allowed into Gaza during the slaughter (even Israeli solders weren't allowed to take their cell phones into Gaza because Olmert didn't want anybody taking pictures, didn't want any proof), that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
But then dead children tell no tales.
All this pressure on me lately to simply "Shut up!" about Gaza reminds me of the times back in the bad old days when I thought there was something fishy about 9-11. "Bush knew!" I cried. "How could he not?" And if he didn't know, then the man should have been jailed for criminal stupidity. The documents telling him that something was up were right there on his desk.
And remember back in 2003, when if you even hinted that the War on Iraq was based on a lie, you were called unpatriotic -- and even a traitor? And we all know what happened there. Bush lied through his teeth.
I feel that same pressure on me now, pressure to toe the party line, to keep my mouth shut about the slaughter in Gaza, to only talk about how horrible the Qassam rockets are and to say nothing about 500 dead children in Gaza. 500 dead children in Gaza? So what. What's wrong with that?
If you don't know by now, I'm not going to tell you.
And remember how cruelly us liberals were made fun of and derided when we talked about stolen elections in Ohio and Florida, Halliburton fraud, outsourcing our jobs, large corporations that paid no taxes, Wall Street greed, the dangers of deregulation, etc. "The economy is gonna crash!" I cried. And people then accused me of being, er, nuts.
Okay. Let's face it. I've been right about all of this stuff so far. Yet now I'm not allowed to be right about the terrible massacres in Gaza?
I guess not.
Jane Stillwater
Obama's program of war
Within days of taking power, the Obama administration has made clear that it will escalate the war to subjugate the Afghan people, intensify US military strikes on targets inside Pakistan and continue the occupation of Iraq indefinitely. What is being prepared is a brutal escalation of US military violence in Afghanistan and a widening of the conflagration in the region.
Obama left a two-hour meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday pledging to ensure that the military received the "resources and the support" to wage the wars being conducted by the United States. He told journalists he would soon be announcing "some difficult decisions that we're going to have to make surrounding Iraq and Afghanistan."
The essence of those decisions was indicated on Tuesday in the testimony of Defense Secretary Robert Gates before the Senate and House armed services committees. Obama's appointment of Gates marked the new president's unambiguous repudiation of the campaign rhetoric that appealed to broad antiwar sentiment among the American people. Gates served the Bush administration in the same post for the past two years and directed the escalation of the Iraq war from early 2007 to early 2008.
Gates told the senators: "There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge right now is Afghanistan. As you know, the United States has focused more on Central Asia in recent months. President Obama has made it clear that the Afghanistan theatre should be our top overseas military priority."
The war in Afghanistan, he added, would be "long and difficult." The short-term time frame he placed on the conflict was "five years"—at least until 2014. He said an increase in US casualties was "likely" as operations are stepped-up against the anti-occupation insurgency being waged by loyalists of the former Taliban regime and other Afghan Islamist movements.
On the brink of a great depression, the GOP is still lying its ass off
- the rank and file stupid who don't know any better;
- the evil bastards up top who know better and don't give a crap!
Pinch me!
I did not hear those arguments when Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt and doubled the Federal Bureaucracy. I did not hear those arguments when Reagan's tax cut was followed quickly by a depression of some two years --the worst, longest and deepest since Herbert Hoover's Great Depression of 1929. I did not hear a peep of protest from gops when, more recently, George W. Bush cut taxes for his increasingly tiny elite of support even as he ran up the deficits like a binge drinker, leaving even Ronald Reagan in the shade. Oh...I get it! It's bone headed if Democrats do it! But it is 'sound fiscal policy' if the GOP does it.
The GOP fails --as a party --because GOP policies never put money into the hands of those who will really spend it and, thus, create jobs. That wealth trickles up --never, ever down --is a demonstrable fact. A working persons tax cut will find its way back into the economy with purchase. Give aways to the rich never have and never will!
"The equation has changed."
Meanwhile, in a bid to regain her plummeting popularity ahead of the elections, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a gathering of the New York-based World Jewish Congress in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday that Israel would no longer show restraint against Palestinian attacks from the Gaza Strip.All that WP, targeting civilians, shooting people waving white flags, collective punishment, preventing humanitarian aid, rounding people up and bombing them inside their houses, killing over 1,300 people, 90% of them civilians....that was Israel showing "restraint." But an Israeli soldier was killed on Tuesday, so all bets are off now.
"Israel is going to act according to a new equation. We are not going to show restraint anymore," Livni said. "We need to change the rules of the game until they learn that the rules have changed and the equation has changed."
more - A. Peasant at Twelfth Bough
No, I do not hear the fat lady singing
If Netanyahu wins the 2/10 Israeli elections, as seems likely, we can expect him to aggressively push forward the current (psychopathic) Israeli strategy of putting Iran in the crosshairs while systematically murdering the Palestinians and stealing more and more of their land. Now the question is: Will that work?
The Real Lewinsky Tapes British investigative journalist Kevin Dowling has released an article for publication to a variety of British and American news organizations, charging that the Israeli Mossad was bugging the Watergate apartment telephone of Monica Lewinsky, and was able to obtain material used to blackmail the Clinton administration into shutting down a probe of widespread Israeli espionage in Washington.
So all this brouhaha took place because Israel, under Netanyahu, wanted to sabotage the peace process, the same as today. And very strangely, it looks like we will have another confrontation coming up with many of the same players in a matter of weeks. Do Hillary and Bill, currently under extreme duress due to the financial corruption being exposed and liable to throw Bush Sr. et. al. under the bus to save their own skins, despise Netanyahu for setting them up? If that's true, the upcoming clash between Israel and the Obama Administration could have a very high popcorn factor. Hillary Clinton, in particular, would have ample motivation to go for Bibi's jugular. And should her courage fail her for some reason, the unraveling financial corruption scandal dangles the threat of jail over her head.
more - A. Peasant at Twelfth Bough
To be successful, such repudiation will have to be open and massive. And it will be most convincing if it's voiced loudest by young Americans -- those who have the potential to assume political power in the future. Millions of twenty-somethings saying, when they're in Congress 20 or 30 years from now, they won't honor hundreds of billions of dollars of treasury securities issued by today's profligate politicians, just may raise serious doubts among the world's lenders.
Happy meat and happy days for AmericaJust like Gore and Oprah, they can sit around with Obama and discuss the Health Care Crisis, Global Warming, and School Shootings over some happy meat at their fancy balls with their silver forks. And it is not like he doesn't know.
"Even Barack Obama commented on the Agriprocessors ethical black hole on a campaign stop in Davenport, IA, remarking, "They have kids in there wielding buzz saws and cleavers. It's ridiculous."
"All ancient philosophy was oriented toward the simplicity of life and taught a certain kind of modesty in one's need. In light of this, the few philosophic vegetarians have done more for mankind than all new philosophers, and as long as philosophers do not take courage to seek out a totally changed way of life and to demonstrate it by their example, they are worth nothing." Nietzsche
Nietzsche, Warwak, and the World are calling you out Obama.
more - Dave Warwak
Canadian Farmer Facing over Twenty Criminal Charges for Distribution of Raw MilkMichael Schmidt, a raw milk farmer, owner and operator of Glencolton Farms in Durham, Ontario, Canada is facing over 20 charges from the Canadian government for the distribution of raw milk under his cowshare program which serves over 150 families. The charges have been laid by the Ministry of Natural Resources based on the Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Milk Act. Having commenced yesterday, the trial is currently ongoing.
It is a crime to sell raw milk in Canada but it is legal to offer a cowshare program which involves consumers buying a certain share of the cow`s milk, called a cowshare, and receiving their portions on usually a weekly or semi-weekly basis. This program makes cowshare owners part owners of the cattle. In this respect, Schmidt is not selling raw milk, but rather, he is offering the service of providing raw milk for the cowshare holders. He has also never had anyone become ill from the consumption of his raw milk products. So why is he being charged?
Canadian health officials believe that raw milk is dangerous since it can contain harmful pathogens that can cause severe health problems, including serious illness and even death. It is their belief that all milk should be pasteurized to nullify all possible pathogens. What they don`t mention is that Schmidt does not raise his cows in such conditions so as to cause the proliferation of such harmful pathogens, but rather, he uses traditional methods of raising livestock, allowing the cows access to pasture and natural feed, something foreign to most conventional farmers who have their milk pasteurized.
They also believe that raw milk is particularly dangerous for children. All around the world, including other advanced nations such as those in Europe, children consume raw milk as part of their daily diet, and they do not suffer any serious health consequences. But in Canada, experts still believe that this practice is dangerous.
more - Michael Latisa at Natural News
What if the doomsayers are right ... what if society, as we know it, really is about to collapse? Do you have what it takes to make it in a world without electricity and running water? Tanya Gold offers an essential survival guidemore - guardian UK
France hit by national strike on 'Black Thursday'
Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected at more than 200 rallies to call on President Nicolas Sarkozy to do more to protect jobs and wages.
Three-quarters of people and all the main trade unions support the day of industrial action.
The protesters are demonstrating against the worsening economic climate and rising unemployment in France and at what they believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.
Kleptocrats of the World, Unite!
His name isn't Barton, but he is certainly a Fink: Newly installed economic dictator Timothy Geithner.
Perhaps the only commendable thing newly installed Economic Dictator (and Barton Fink lookalike) Tim Geithner has done in a public career otherwise devoted to serving the Power Elite was to "cheat" on his taxes.
Given that taxation is theft, "cheating" the taxman is bit like refusing to disclose every hidden pocket of household wealth to an armed robber.
Unless they're sick unto death with some form of collectivist psychosis, Americans submit to government taxation for the same reason they would pay off any other irresistibly powerful extortionist.
At some point in any conversation about taxes someone, acting with smugly misplaced confidence in the power of cliche, will deploy Justice Holmes' dictum about taxes being "the price we pay for civilization."
Actually, taxes are the price extracted from us by those determined to undermine civilization, which is built on the peaceful, mutually enriching exchange of knowledge, goods, services, sound traditions, and culture among people of goodwill.
As Justice Holmes would have understood, had he not been a blinkered positivist and deranged militarist, taxation is what fuels the forces of barbarism -- the Warmakers, empire-builders, and practitioners of public plunder in all of its malignant varieties.
The "civilizing" deeds of such people are measured by the graveyards they have filled, the prisons and gallows they have built, and the number of names listed in the obscene war memorials they erect in their own honor, if that word applies. All of these depredations are made possible by taxation.
By way of contrast, all of the genuinely civilized functions of life -- those that take place in families, churches, the marketplace, and private associations of shared interest -- require not a farthing in taxes.
Tacitus famously lamented the work of imperialists who make a desert and call it "peace." In the same fashion, tax-fed Kleptocrats impose systems of official plunder, corruption, and violence and call it "civilization."
As a young man at Kissinger Associates (KA), Geithner was deeply involved in brokering the kind of "civilized" deals the Power Elite thrives on. Among other things, Kissinger's influence-peddling operation helped arrange the Iraq War: It promoted the U.S. taxpayer-subsidized Iraqi arms build-up while simultaneously representing the state-owned Kuwaiti Petroleum Corporation.
Kleptocrat as Imperial Proconsul: L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in occupied Iraq, makes his rounds under the watchful eyes of his Blackwater Praetorian Guard.
One of Geithner's associates at that enigmatic firm was L. Paul Bremer, who went on to become the imperial proconsul in "liberated" Iraq following the second Gulf War. Bremer has followed a pretty conventional Kleptocratic career arc: He ended up presiding over the "reconstruction" of a country whose demolition he and his KA comrades had helped to arrange.
This proved to be immensely profitable to Geithner's kleptocratic cronies, who were in a position to benefit from no-bid, "cost-plus" contracts and the other lucrative scams that proliferated during the festive orgy of official corruption called the "reconstruction" of Iraq. Oh, sure: Iraq itself was left -- and remains today -- a wrecked and ruined land. But at least the Lords of Plunder made out pretty well.
Geithner is pursuing a career trajectory similar to Bremer's, albeit in a slightly different field. In the years leading up to his coronation as Treasury Secretary, Geither was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This means he was a member in good standing in the world's most important criminal syndicate, the Federal Reserve System. It also means he spent a good part of his public career abetting the destruction of the economy he now has been given dictatorial powers to "save."
The Fed's loose money and credit policies created the inflationary boom and led to the ongoing economic bust. Since the bust began, Geithner's chief priority has been to pillage the earnings of poor and middle-class Americans on behalf of the super-wealthy and politically connected. His first service of that kind came early last summer, when he helped devise a $29 billion taxpayer-backed bailout of the mortally wounded Bear Stearns investment house.
At the time, both Geithner and the Capo of his criminal order, Ben Bernanke, insisted that with that bailout the investment markets had been stabilized, and the economic downturn had been arrested. That was seven months and at least $3 trillion (and probably as much as $8 trillion) in taxpayer-backed bailouts ago.
During that time, Congress enacted a measure giving the Treasury Secretary -- acting in collusion with the Fed Chairman -- unlimited and unaccountable power to appropriate "bailout" funds, and disburse them as he sees fit, without congressional review or accountability of any kind.
The power of economic "reconstruction" has thus been vested in two of the chief demolitionists of the world economy, one of whom, Mr. Geithner, belongs to an uber-secret clique of central bankers and Keynesian socialists called the Group of 30. Not to put too fine a point on the matter, this group isn't composed of the kind of people whose sleep is troubled by concerns about the impact of their machinations on the civilized affairs of Main Street.
Given his vita and associations, there's every reason to believe that Geithner will use the means at his disposal to siphon the wealth that remains in our economy into the hands of the international Plunderbund. Perhaps the only genuinely interesting question left is this: What will parasites of his kind do once they have killed their host?
Source: William Grigg
Get Some: Obama's New Hard Line on Afghanistan
|Written by Chris Floyd
The Obama administration has decided that blood and iron, not hearts and minds, will be the new focus of the American military adventure in Afghanistan. Top Obama officials – anonymous, natch -- used the front page of the New York Times as a conduit for conveying the imperial will to the rabble this week. The basic strategy, it seems, will be the same one that professional nudnik Glenn Reynolds once proposed for the recalcitrant tribes of the Middle East: "more rubble, less trouble."
But do let's be fair to Team Obama, which, as we all know, is motivated solely by the most humane and progressive motives. The NYT story makes clear that if Karzai -- supposedly the independent president of a sovereign nation -- grovels sufficiently to his new masters in Washington, they might keep him on for a bit longer:
Mr. Holbrooke is preparing to travel to the region, and administration officials said he would ask more of Mr. Karzai, particularly on fighting corruption, aides said, as part of what they described as a "more for more" approach.
They said that the Obama administration...would leave economic development and nation-building increasingly to European allies, so that American forces could focus on the fight against insurgents.
Our fight, in any case, wasn't against the people of Afghanistan. To a certain extent, it wasn't even against the Taliban, since it was al-Qaida, not the Taliban, that had attacked us. Some, including leaders of the Bush administration, were making the case that the Taliban was directly implicated in the attacks since it had provided al-Qaida with a safe haven to plan the events of 9/11. It had yet to be proved that the Taliban was a witting host, however. As a student of the region, I believed that the United States would do well to use tribal concepts of honor to isolate and disenfranchise bin Laden and his Arab outsiders from their Taliban host. If the United States, working through the offices of the Pakistani intelligence services, could convince the Taliban that its hospitality had been abused by al-Qaida—in that the murder of innocents had been committed while under its protection—then Afghan tribal custom and honor and, even more important to the fundamentalist Taliban, Islamic law, dictated that the Taliban revoke the protections and privileges afforded bin Laden and al-Qaida.
What happened, however, was the exact opposite. The diplomat rejected out of hand any sort of diplomacy, arguing that there were only extremists within the ranks of the Taliban. There was, in his opinion, no such thing as a moderate Taliban, and as such the United States had no choice but to lump the Taliban and al-Qaida into a singular target set, and initiate direct military action designed to remove the Taliban from power and destroy al-Qaida in Afghanistan. I responded by noting that it would not be an easy thing to separate the Taliban from Afghan society, since the Taliban was a product of Afghan society, and that any military action against the Taliban would only strengthen the bonds between it and al-Qaida, which was of course the last result the United States should be seeking. The diplomat rejected my argument as simplistic and unrealistic. He argued for a military solution, and, of course, that was the result the Bush administration delivered.
It is highly doubtful that Holbrooke will bring anything more to the table than cheerleading. President Obama's stated intention to increase the size of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and to more forcefully assert U.S.-imposed "security" through continued military action in the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan is a dangerous scheme, one Holbrooke will enthusiastically support. Reinforcing failure is never a sound solution. Take it from the veteran British military officers who have served in Afghanistan and now advise that there is no military solution to the Afghan problem. Listening to advice like that would go a long way toward developing stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan and neutralizing al-Qaida's ability to organize and operate in those nations. The British recognize that the Taliban is not the problem, but rather part of the solution to what ails Afghanistan.
Source: Empire Burlesque
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Discovering Fire
One of the age old uses of fire is to burn old non-functioning objects. Get rid of them down to the ashes.
On a personal level we all have habits, thought processes and behaviors that need to be burned.
On the cultural level we see a number of manifestations of social engineering that begin now at birth or earlier. TV and school, doctors and lawyers, merchants and thieves are just a few of the general ones.
We know that both as a person and as a society we have a multitude of non-functioning behaviors and dishonest institutions that need burning.
We're just having a hard time discovering fire.


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Richard Richards Institute for Ethics
The Richard Richards Institute for Ethics at Weber State University promotes ethical behavior at all levels of government and business. The Institute teaches and inspires ethical leadership, encourages active participation in public service, promotes political reform and provides scholarships to students interested in local, national and world politics.
"I want to demonstrate, through my life's own experiences, that young people with reasonable ability, a strong desire to do well, the patience to build from one strength to the next, and a willingness to work hard can become major players in the political organizations of the United States. It is not easy. It takes commitment and some sacrifice, but it can be done. … At a time when the future of democracy seems precarious, I feel strongly about lifting an affirming voice for its values."
– Richard Richards, former chairman of the Republican National Committee

subset: commoncrawl


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Favorite son returns
The play-by-play voice of ESPN's Thursday night college football won't need a map to find Boulder – or to get around the University of Colorado campus, for that matter.
Chris Fowler, a 1985 Colorado graduate best known for anchoring ESPN's College GameDay show on Saturday mornings, will be joined for ESPN's telecast of the CU vs. West Virginia game by Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews.
This is believed to be the first time that Fowler will broadcast a game at his alma mater "since he did student radio," CU sports information director Dave Plati said.
Plati pointed out that Fowler was a "three-year letterman" in the SID office as a student helper. Plati said Fowler and best buddy Gregg LaPedus "didn't mind typing statistics until 1 a.m. for a 1-10 football team. That says something."
Fowler and LaPedus were pegged as rising stars. LaPedus wanted to become a sports writer, while Fowler favored sports broadcasting. Tragically, LaPedus never got to realize his dream. He was among the fatalities in the 1985 crash of Delta Flight 191 at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport due to wind shear.
"In sports information, we had a smaller student staff in those days, and Chris and Gregg really came through and did so much work," Plati recalled. "I can always tell who is going to make it. It's how they catch on to things and use common sense.''
Fowler did some light reporting for a Denver television station before getting his big break as host of "Scholastic Sports America" for ESPN. Fowler, who grew up in Colorado Springs, has called games at Air Force and Colorado State, but not at CU.
"Chris is fired up," Plati said of Thursday night's telecast. "But he is also on guard to be unbiased. He doesn't want to get West Virginia fans mad at him."
While back in Colorado for vacations, Fowler always finds time to drop by the SID office to visit with Plati and other old pals. I saw Fowler in August of 2007 and asked him what he thought of Buffs football coach Dan Hawkins.
"I really like Hawk's enthusiasm, and he's shown to be an excellent coach based on what he accomplished at Boise State," Fowler told me. "The key is always recruiting."
When Hawk signed tailback Darrell Scott and other blue-chippers, Fowler must have been really excited.
Off camera, of course.
*** *** ***
East Carolina football coach Skip Holtz sure has received a ton of pub after the Pirates' victories over Virginia Tech and West Virginia, and deservedly so.
Some Coloradans may not know that Holtz got his first full-time college coaching job on the Front Range. Following two years as a graduate assistant at Florida State, Holtz was hired as wide receivers coach at Colorado State in 1989. That was Earle Bruce's first season at CSU.
After one year in Fort Collins, Holtz joined his father, Lou, at Notre Dame.
*** *** ***
Skip Holtz was replaced in 1990 as CSU's wideouts coach by …
… drum roll, please….
Urban Meyer.
By the way, former Denver Post sports editor and columnist Buddy Martin, a University of Florida alumnus now executive director of Gator Country Magazine and GatorCountry.com, has a new book out: "Urban's Way" (Thomas Dunne Books, $24.95). It is Meyer's authorized autobiography and includes a chapter titled "Loving Fort Collins."
*** *** ***
Terrific "Colorado Classics" story on former CU and USOC publicist Mike Moran by Denver Post reporter Irv Moss in Tuesday morning's edition of The Post. It also can be found at denverpost.com.
Moran is one of the best. He certainly helped me learn the ropes during my two years as The Post's Olympics writer in the mid-1990s.
While we're on a trivia roll here, Mike's famous classmate at Omaha's Westside High School was …
… actor Nick Nolte.
*** *** ***
According to Internet recruiting sites, Columbine senior quarterback Danny Spond has been offered a scholarship by CU.
*** *** ***
It says here that Colorado will be emotionally ready and well-prepared for West Virginia. Buffs players have appeared focus, yet relaxed – no easy trick for coaches to pull off.


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Friday, February 26, 2010
"LIberals Abroad, Invited to Dinner"
Accept people as you find them. Anything less reflects cultural superiority. And that, liberals believe, is wrong.
Okay, here we go.
Liberal couple, taking in the sights of some exotic foreign land. Totally lost, they stop a passing stranger and ask directions to some off the beaten path sacred…something, a location indicating that the couple has done their homework and are deeply interested in the country they have chosen to explore.
The stranger is gracious and polite. Feeling comfortable in his company, the couple asks for a dinner recommendation, an eatery specializing in "authentic cuisine." The stranger immediately insists that the couple have dinner at his house. Since they are interested in the culture, here's a chance for them to experience how the people actually live. At the same time – his wife being a wonderful cook – they can experience a gourmet version of the country's most popular dish.
The liberal couple jumps at this opportunity. No exotic foreign land Burger King for them. Thanking him profusely, they enthusiastically accept his generous invitation.
After touring the sites of interest, the couple returns to their hotel to change. While there, they use their Blackberry, or whatever, to Google the country's most popular dish, eager to learn what delicacy they'll be treated to at their upcoming dinner.
The country's most popular dish is dog.
There is little question about it. They're going to have dog for dinner.
Now this is not a country that eats dog because they're poor, or lack dining alternatives. In their culture, dog is a delicacy. They serve it at birthday parties.
As for the couple, we're not talking about food extremists. They eat meat. Just not, you know…pets.
So what do they do?
They know what they want to do. They want to say, "No, thank you." But they can't. They're liberals. They have an ethos to uphold, an ethos that requires them to be nonjudgmental and flexible.
"When in Rome…" Go with the flow. Eat what you're offered. Even if it barks.
Looking for sunshine. Well, there's this guy on the Food Channel whose entire act involves eating "unusual" foods from other countries. It's usually not that bad. Maybe this won't be bad either.
Wait, we're missing the point here. It's not a question of how the thing will taste.
It's a question of what it is.
It's dog.
There seems no way of getting out of this without offending your hosts. What are you going to tell them? "I'm sorry, we had dog for lunch"? "My doctor told me not to eat anything you can train to bring you your slippers"? "In our religion, the canine is believed to be the embodiment of God"? They'll see right through it!
And by the way, "not offending your hosts" also misses the point, the point being you're either true to your "diversity" principles or you're not.
There is no way around it. This is definitely going to happen. Were the couple to be run over after their dinner, when the coroner performed the autopsy, they would discover, among the stomach contents, "substantial traces of dog."
From then on, it's pure agony. You dress as if you're going to your own execution, you pick up some flowers, when you step into their house, you remove your shoes, because that's what they do, and you do what they do, because that's who you are, dammit!
You meet the family. You make small talk. "You have a beautiful home. And those exquisite carvings. Are they teak?" Your our mouth is on "automatic." While your mind is aflame with a single thought:
"We're going to eat dog. We're going to eat dog. We're going to eat dog!"
I wrote a chunk here, but it went too far, so I took it out. Not because I was afraid of losing your respect. I was afraid of losing my respect.
Dinner is served. The couple gets up and head for the table, their gait as unsteady as a sailor's on a turbulent sea.
It begins with the salad. There's a bug crawling around. But, suddenly, that's nothing. Compared to what's coming.
Then, there's the soup. Consommé. No chunks at all. Why is it that color? Why to think about that? You've had soup. This is soup too.
Of course, you can't really enjoy it. Because you know what will follow.
The Main Course.
I'll leave you to imagine the couple's barely concealed panic as their hostess backs in from the kitchen, carrying the object of their dread. What comes next? They eat it, they don't eat it, they try to eat it and gag, it's not dog after all, but an indigenous form of chicken, you can finish it any way you want. What's certain is, the couple had a very difficult evening.
By contrast, a conservative's response to this dining dilemma would be simple and direct:
"You want us to eat dog? Hell, no! What kind of people are you? Eat 'Buster'? Are you kiddin' me? You people oughtta be shot!"
Forget the "oughtta be shot" comment. That's just the way they talk. The point is, in this matter, I side unapologetically with the conservatives, favoring honesty – minus the bombast – over "phony-baloney."
When judging other cultures, there's always a line, across which lies "Unacceptable Behavior." It's simply a question of where you draw it.
13 comments:
Although I agree about there being a line across which lies unacceptable behavior, I completely disagree with the idea that conservatives are uncaring and unaccepting of other cultures. I think you're way off the mark here. I can't be the only Republican that enjoys immersing myself in and experiencing other cultures.
- February 26, 2010 at 6:28 AM
- bbot said...
Dog isn't bad, though the steaks tend to be small. Much better in stew, or on rice.
Also: Multi-band blackberries are colossally expensive, and data service abroad is even more expensive.
- February 26, 2010 at 6:32 AM
Anon, I'm pleased that you were offended as I thought the characterization of liberals was offending. I would have thought taht someone with a Jewish heritage would be more enlightened to the pitfalls of "us vs. them" characterizations. This type of caricature only inflates the hatred and bigotry.
- February 26, 2010 at 7:11 AM
- MikeThe Blogger said...
I guess they brought flowers instead of wine. BTW, what kind of wine goes with dog? A good Alsation? Something with bite?
- February 26, 2010 at 8:28 AM
- MikeThe Blogger said...
To ANONYMOUS . ..... To be fair to Earl, he never mentioned "Republicans" or any political party, only the personality of nature of two groups of people.
- February 26, 2010 at 8:33 AM
- YEKIMI said...
There used to be a revered older newslady [so old she started when the TV station first went on the air back in the 40s] in our area. Eventually she started doing commentary and she was commenting on visiting Eqypt and she went on a harangue about having to stay at a hotel that "Didn't even have any elevators or escalators and I actually had to walk, TO WALK, up two flights of stairs to get to my hotel room and there was also NO AIR CONDITIONING, I just couldn't believe it." She continued on this rant for another 2 minutes and all I could think was "No wonder people in other countries call us 'ugly Americans'"
- February 26, 2010 at 9:53 AM
- Jo said...
If you don't keep them as pets, then what is the difference between a dog and any other animal? It is only because we keep them as pets and therefore anthropomorphise them that we seem to have a problem with eating them. Intelligence (real or perceived) in the animal isn't the reason - after all, religious diets aside, we eat pigs, which are also very intelligent.
And I am speaking as a carnivore here - I will eat anything (that isn't endangered) once. If I like it, I will have it more than once! Snake is good :-D
- February 26, 2010 at 1:19 PM
- Work In Progress said...
As if I needed on, another good reason to be a vegetarian
- February 26, 2010 at 6:13 PM
- Pidge said...
Rover isn't the issue, here, folks.
Thinking you can tolerate anything in the name of liberalism because you're better than those who make their limits known is more what Earl is talking about, I think. Not about eating Chinese food.
What starts out as a generous and noble gesture can end up causing big mess. What happens to standards (anybody's) when anything and everything is acceptable and excusable?
It doesn't usually end well.
- February 27, 2010 at 5:20 AM
I'm with Pidge on this one about the point of it all. But if vegetarians only eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat? I'd also be careful about double checking the entrée's ID. There isn't a meat product on earth that mom didn't try to convince us "tastes just like chicken."
I once asked a Korean co-worker how some people could eat dogs over there. He replied, "Are you kidding? Have you ever tried kimchi?" This is the kind of dilemma one faces here, near or at the top of the food chain.
- February 27, 2010 at 12:16 PM
- Brian Scully said...
Earl, I hope you got a paw. I'm a bit of a drumstick man, myself, so if I ate a dog, I would definitely be calling dibs on the paw.
- February 28, 2010 at 10:43 AM
The liberal view here, is that its acceptable for other people to eat dogs, even if I don't approve of it.
The conservative view is its not acceptable for other people to eat dogs because I don't approve of it.
Eating dogs isn't a great example to refute the liberal ideology. The problem is there are things (e.g. slavery or honor killings) which are acceptable by some cultures but are just bad.
- March 2, 2010 at 7:46 AM
Just because an exotic foreign culture does it (and that goes for us, if you're a visitor here from some other land), doesn't mean it's a good idea. All people do stupid things and have dumb ideas, and all other people are free to reject doing the stupid things or accepting the dumb ideas.
- March 5, 2010 at 6:26 PM


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Forget Cyber Monday: It's Cyber Two Weeks
Major retailers are trying to take on online rivals by extending online sales after Cyber Monday. Miriam Gottfried reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Reuters.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... e Cyber Monday we ... will follow in this nation ... but this is the day with online retailers really trying ... to enter the online consumer agency Dolata activity going on ... but it to the euro the markets of morning everyone I'm Paul vignette glad to be that ... time of cyber Monday when Monday is gone though the site report is still to be around that that really interesting here as we watch retailers ... travel online Miriam Gottfried is with us heard on the Street column today about this one ... explain this to us because no one knows was surprised by income is that ... still only about five percent of all sales are online and thought would of been higher by now ... includes a lot of things that were not necessarily thinking about so on ... we owe it to keep your mind out sales of ... electronics or sales and gifts in might actually be a lot higher ... aam but ... I'm you know those are the official Commerce Department figures right ... ok so balsa of all retail sales rise yet now he did the pudding or to say really was that the the the big box stores are Wal Mart's or are ... there they are really trying to end the whole CyberMonday thing they're trying to catch up with the Amazons ... yes I mean these guys have long been here ... for the Black Friday Keane's I guess you know competing to give people the doors of their stars but ... aam has ... a greater and greater percentage of retail sales move on line the need to be there ... and the need to try to take market share from Amazon which has such ... a commanding presence ... on e-commerce so ... ALM ... so far a lot of what's been happening though is certain ... extending Cyber Monday in both directions so we had pre Black Friday on line sales ... it's Cyber Monday sales and we have Cyber Week at all these retailers online and ... it's it's ... become sort of an arms race begins Amazon's to snatching them all over the place and in the sun can adjust its priests is much more quickly to undercut them and it emerged that an algorithm and I mean it's it we don't know exactly how it works that they'd be in control around the internet and ... in all the companies do this but in the sun isn't tied to a bricks and mortar store so they can just change its prices ... or as ... a big box retailer might not wanna change its prices ... to be different from what it has in store for ... more ... the means to earn and return to a point where ... this is really interesting guide you you re Wal-Mart superstars ... in terms of the mind of these didn't really does come it a try to get scraps from cable and me ... to say we don't know all the numbers for every retailer not every retailer breaks out exactly how much in revenue they get from online but that certain suggests that they're not giving us such a huge percentage of our sales online ... Samsung was it you know one of the earliest movers and it is pretty dominant ... I aam and ... in any endeavor posts in this piece is me me for retailers rate now at least falling Amazon's ... him willing to take cut prices so low and ... take its margins so low in order to gain market share many retailers ... are better off not trying to compete on products ... on the Kenzie just ... you know ... obviously that's hard to say when you're these retailers to cut yourself ... they pride themselves on having the lowest prices ... aam but it's just hard to be as nimble as Amazon ... and the other other kinds of companies have been have managed to skirt that by offering products that you just can't find on Amazon and that's with the way getting around ... we are going through and through much appreciated ...


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Pete Sessions: Federal government has gained 500,000 workers under Obama while private sector suffered
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, sees a hole in President Barack Obama's theme that the economy is on the mend.
"The numbers are stunning," Sessions said on the House floor July 30. "Over the time that President Obama has been in office, we have lost 2.5 million free enterprise system jobs, and, yet, 500,000 federal government jobs have been added in that period of time. The assault on the common man of this country is unrelenting by the Democrat majority." His criticism came to our attention on that evening's "PBS NewsHour."
The private sector starves while Uncle Sam fattens up? We wanted more information.
In support of Sessions' statement, his office guided us through employment statistics posted online by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Sure enough, between February 2009, Obama's first full month in office, and June 2010, the number of private-sector jobs dropped from 110.3 million to 107.7 million, a decrease of nearly 2.7 million. In the same period, the number of federal government workers rose from 2,792,000 to 3,171,000, an increase of 379,000.
That's not the 500,000 increase Sessions bemoans. Sessions' chief of staff, Josh Saltzman, noted that federal jobs totaled about 3.4 million in May 2010, amounting to an increase of more than 600,000 since February 2009--making 500,000 a reasonable estimate of the increase in federal employees.
Next, we contacted the BLS for more detail on the employment numbers.
What we learned: Nearly all of the uptick in federal workers from early 2009 to June 2010 reflects temporary hires by the U.S. Census Bureau, which is conducting the constitutionally required census of U.S. residents.
Nathan Clausen, a bureau economist, provided a BLS report indicating that 6,000 census workers were employed in February 2009, a number that shot up to 564,000 in May 2010 before decreasing to 339,000 in June 2010, according to the BLS. The increase of 333,000 census workers from February 2009 to June 2010 amounts to 88 percent of the 379,000 overall increase in federal workers.
Not counting the temporary census workers leaves 46,000 other federal workers added on Obama's watch. Clausen said it's not possible to divine from the bureau's database precisely where those workers were added.
We wondered how the non-census increase in federal workers during the first 17 full months of Obama's presidency compared with the same period in predecessor George W. Bush's presidency. Under Bush, from February 2001 through June 2002 the federal workforce increased by 16,000 to almost 2.8 million workers — about one third of the 46,000 bump (again, not counting temporary census workers) for the similar period under Obama.
Disregarding postal workers, who the BLS advises aren't paid with federal tax aid, the number of federal workers through most of Bush's presidency hovered around 1.9 million before passing 2 million in May 2008, according to the bureau. After Obama took over, the number of federal workers reached 2.2 million in April 2009, then dipped to 2.1 million by June 2009 before inching up to top 2.3 million in April 2010. There was a sizable one-month bump, to 2.7 million federal workers in May 2010, though the non-postal federal workforce dropped to 2.5 million in June 2010 and to less than 2.4 million in July.
And how does Sessions' statement come out?
He nails the drop in private-sector employment, even slightly understating results.
At first glance, Sessions' figure for the increase of 500,000 federal employees seems solid. However, the 500,000 figure greatly overstates reality because temporary census workers account for most of that increase — a pivotal factor his statement doesn't acknowledge.
We rate Sessions' statement Barely True.
Editor's note: This statement was rated Barely True when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to Mostly False.


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Photographer Andrzej Dragan gives us a terrifyingly detailed look at Old Marilyn. I should note that Dragan is not only an award-winning photographer, but according to his bio he's also an award-winning physicist? Annnd an award- winning composer!? WTF? Essentially his biography would make Einstein want to stay in on a friday night with a tub of Ben & Jerrys and a stack of Sandra Bullock movies.
Old Bruce Lee and Old Hitler after the jump!
[via: CPLUV]


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How to Make Your Own Hot Dog Bar
Make Your Own Hot Dog Bar
Make Your Own Hot Dog Bar
If you haven't yet taken the time to celebrate National Hot Dog Month, it's not too late! Gather your friends 'round and set up your very own hot dog bar, complete with delicious toppings, so loved ones can load their dogs with whatever their hearts desire. It's an easy and fun way to feed a large crowd, and would be great after a day at the beach or playing in the park. See how easily a hot dog bar comes together.


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What are "Off-times"?
I got called out in email, I think reasonably appropriately, for using the term "off-times" when referring to choosing a better time to do our sprintly upgrades. In a 24×7 continuous service world, there really is no such thing as a "good" time to have a problem.


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HorsebackFriday, August 29th, 2008
This has been a pretty exciting week. This week was rodeo week here. It was nice to spend a couple evenings with the kids taking in all the rodeo sights. Madison had waited a year to see "bubble gum Bob" the clown again, but for some reason they had a new clown this time around. Mattie was kind of upset at first, but it didn't take "pork chop" the new clown long to win her over. Seeing the kids with that great big smile on their face means the world to me. I enjoy all the events, but most of all I enjoy seeing the kids have fun.
There's not been any slowing down this week. Madison and I met up with some nice folks from Ohio and finally took a horseback ride in the Big South Fork. Madison handled the trail and her horse like an old pro. She was having a great time until we saw the bears. As we were riding we heard a bunch of noise over off the trail and 2 bear cubs appeared. I can't believe I didn't have my camera. Not knowing where their mother was we didn't get too close. Madison was a little scared because Kim and I wanted to go on up the trail past the bears. Madison firmly objected so we turned back. I'm no bear expert since we've not had many encounters with bears here over the years, but it looks like if we are going to spend much time in the Big South Fork we better learn about black bears.
I can't believe I have lived in the heart of such a magestic national park and not made time to get out and enjoy it. There is so much to do. There is literally something for everyone. Most of all it seems the park caters to horse people. They have 2 very nice campgrounds. One on the Tennessee side and one here in Ky. There are trails ranging in length from 30 minutes to all day or even overnight. Here in Ky there is a nice little resort just before entering the park. Bear Creek Resort has cabins that are for sale or rent with all the comforts you can imagine along with stalls for your horses. So if you're in the market for a getaway for a week, a night, or for good you owe it to yourself to check them out. The one pictured below is awesome and it's for sale. If you might be interested leave me a commet and I'll put you in touch with the folks selling it.
Folks must be doing some late summer landscaping because the topsoil is finally moving. I'm glad to see it go. Especially since there will be another big pile to sell from the second building pad. I have to make time to get to the Mahindra dealer soon and try to make a deal on a smaller HST 4×4 tractor loader backhoe combination. Our current flock of chickens will be leaving Nov 24th. That's when the fun begins. We will be scrambling to get everything cleaned up for the next flock. I think a small tractor will fit good for cleaning out the 9 1/2 ft sidewall houses. Plus I can think of a million uses for it when we aren't using it to clean out.
Well as always tons to do and not enough time to do it all so I best get at it. Thanks for reading, check back soon, and feel free to browse all the pics I've added!


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A-Z of Plastic Surgery Reference library
The A-Z is a quick reference guide to the ever expanding specialty of Plastic Surgery. The succinct bullet pointed references will enable the reader to rapidly assimilate the essentials of each entry. The cross referencing links will allow the reader the look up related entries. It will be particularly relevant to trainees in Plastic Surgery as a working reference book and as an invaluable resource during preparation for final exams.
Concise Medical Dictionary (9 ed.) Quick reference
'"No home should be without one" certainly applies to this splendid medical dictionary' – Journal of the Institute of Health Education
Over 12,000 entries
This best-selling and market-leading dictionary covers all aspects of medical science and terminology. Written by a team of medical experts, it has been fully revised and updated for this new edition to reflect the very latest in medical knowledge and practice. Accessible entries are complemented by over 150 illustrations. The 9th edition includes over 450 new entries and features up-to-date coverage of public health medicine and general practice, drugs and pharmacology, endocrinology (particularly diabetology), and cardiology, amongst other specialist areas. Recommended web links are provided for many entries, and appendices have been expanded to include units of alcohol and the calculation of alcohol by volume, and a table of inherited medical conditions.
Selling over a million copies in previous editions, this is an essential A-Z for students and those working in the medical and allied professions, including nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers, hospital administrators, and medical secretaries. It is also an invaluable home reference guide for the general reader.
A Dictionary of Anaesthesia (2 ed.) Quick reference
'an excellent publication and a very useful quick reference tool' - Carl Waldmann, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Reading UK
Over 170 entries
A Dictionary of Anaesthesia clearly defines and describes essential terms relating to the science and practice of anaesthesia. These entries include the specific drugs that anaesthetists utilize, the techniques they apply to induce anaesthesia, the equipment and monitoring they use during surgery, and problems or emergencies that can arise during the process. In addition, a comprehensive weblinks section is provided with hyperlinks to important professional and educational material in the world of anaesthesia. New to the second edition is the inclusion of a number of schematic diagrams that accompany and enhance selected entries within the dictionary. All of the entries have been categorized according to the latest Oxford Taxonomy classification system, allowing for optimal search and reference facilities. These entries expand on and provide links to the coverage of the topic already present in Oxford Reference's general medical dictionaries. Recently updated to include significant advances in the field of anaesthesia, the second edition of this dictionary provides an authoritative and specialist source of reference and teaching for students and practitioners.
A Dictionary of Audiology (2 ed.) Quick reference
Over 230 entries
A Dictionary of Audiology features authoritative and detailed entries that clearly define and describe essential terms relating to hearing, balance, and related disorders. These entries expand on the audiology coverage present in Oxford Reference's general medical dictionaries to provide a specialist source of reference for students and practitioners. This second edition adds several illustrations and recommended web links, as well as more than 30 new entries.
A Dictionary of Biomedicine (2 ed.) Quick reference
Over 10,000 entries
This new edition fills the need to define the specialist language used within an evolving field by offering clear, concise definitions of even the most complex biomedical terms. It includes entries on all areas of biomedicine, focusing on areas that have developed since the first edition, such as genomics and biomedical science. Entries are authoritative and wide-ranging, covering terms from the related areas of anatomy, genetics, molecular bioscience, pathology, pharmacology, and clinical medicine.
A Dictionary of Dentistry Quick reference
Over 4,000 entries
This first edition of A Dictionary of Dentistry provides over 4,000 definitions covering all the important terms and concepts used in dentistry today. Entries are written in clear and concise English without the use of unnecessary dental or medical jargon, and many entries are supplemented by detailed line drawings.
The dictionary defines terms in a broad range of dental specialist areas including primary care, anatomy and comparative anatomy, biochemistry, radiography, orthodontics, restorative dentistry, oral surgery, pharmacology, ethics, and oral medicine. For completeness, some drugs, techniques, and instruments of historical interest have been included. It also includes a number of biographies of those who are considered to have made a highly significant contribution to dentistry.
An essential guide for dental practitioners and dental students, it is also an invaluable reference source for all members of the dental team, medical practitioners, lawyers involved with members of the dental profession, and the general reader.
A Dictionary of Epidemiology (6 ed.) Quick reference
Over 2,000 entries
This sixth edition of A Dictionary of Epidemiology—the most updated since its inception—reflects the profound substantive and methodological changes that have come to characterize epidemiology and its associated disciplines. Sponsored by the International Epidemiological Association, this work remains the essential reference for anyone studying or working in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, medicine, or the growing number of health sciences in which epidemiologic competency is now required.
More than just a dictionary, this text is an essential guidebook to the state of the science. It offers the most current, authoritative definitions of terms central to biomedical and public health literature—everything from confounding and incidence rate to epigenetic inheritance and Number Needed to Treat. As epidemiology continues to change and grow, A Dictionary of Epidemiology will remain its work of record.
A Dictionary of Nursing (7 ed.) Quick reference
Over 10,200 entries
This bestselling dictionary provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of all aspects of nursing. The new edition has been fully revised and updated to take account of recent developments in nursing practice and related fields. New coverage focuses in particular upon key areas such as nutrition, medical research, lymphology, and critical care nursing.
Written by medical and nursing specialists, it provides concise entries on the theory and practice of nursing, and comprehensive coverage of the ever-expanding vocabulary of the nursing professions. As well as nursing-specific terms, there are also many entries in the fields of medicine, anatomy, physiology, nutrition, statistics, and pharmacology. Almost 100 illustrations, and 16 appendices covering the Code of Conduct 2015, the calculation of drug dosages, essential skill clusters, religion and nursing practice, recommended alcohol intake, and much more, help to make this an essential reference tool for all nursing students and professionals.
A Dictionary of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Quick reference
600 entries
This dictionary provides up-to-date definitions of the terms used in the related fields of occupational science and occupational therapy. Entries cover a broad range of topics from activities of daily living and autonomy to task-oriented approach and work–life balance and have a clear occupational focus. They provide an overview of the complex nature of human occupation and the impact of illness, injury, social exclusion, marginalization, or transition, for example, on occupation and well-being. Descriptions and analysis are backed up by key theories from related areas such as anthropology, sociology, and medicine.
This is an authoritative resource for students of occupational science and occupational therapy, as well as an accessible point of reference for practitioners from both areas.
A Dictionary of Ophthalmology Quick reference
'Barry and Denniston provide a dictionary for ophthalmology that is both thoroughly comprehensive and highly readable. It is likely to become an essential reference work for ophthalmologists' - Dr Pearse A Keane, NIHR Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
600 entries
This dictionary contains entries on all aspects of the field of ophthalmology, with terms related to ocular anatomy and physiology, the diseases of the eye and of the visual pathway, and medical and surgical treatment of the same. There is also a full list of the entries by their respective subject to aid navigation and discoverability, dividing them between twenty specialist categories.
This dictionary is an excellent reference source for individuals from many different disciplines, including ophthalmologists (surgeons and physicians), optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, orthoptists, ophthalmic technicians, and visual scientists.
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I am trying to run the below code. It works for me but not for at least some of my users it doesn't work. It doesn't seem to error just no actually remove the DB's.
string sqlConnectionString=@"Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=master;Integrated Security=True";
var theSQL="DROP DATABASE DBName1, DBName2, DBName3, DBName4";
SqlConnection conn=new SqlConnection(sqlConnectionString);
Server server=new Server(new ServerConnection(conn));
Alternatively, what I really need is to remove the existing Replication Sets on those DB's so that I can setup the new ones. We moved to a new SQL Server but the database names are the same.
The subscription could not be initialized using an initial snapshot because one or more tables in the subscription belong to another publication, and therefore cannot be dropped. Consider initializing the subscription manually without using a snapshot.
Error they receive, though this would be after the above was supposed to run as this is during the Sync that happens next.


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It's essential to make sure your little one is safe and secure when you're on the road. Not only that, but it's important to remember that it's a legal requirement for children under 12 (or 135cm in height) to have an appropriate child seat.
Fortunately here at Halfords we stock a wide range of child seats, and our trained and approved staff can even fit them for you.
If you're unsure what child seat is best for you, then make sure to take a look at our handy child seat buyers guide.
It's important to know what's legal when considering buying a booster seat. With child or baby car seats there's often a lot more information as to the options available.
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Getting your child car seat fitted properly is essential. If you've bought a child seat and it isn't fitted correctly it can be disastrous.
So, why not take the guesswork out of it, and let Halfords trained professionals fit it for you. We'll even give you a demo so you feel comfortable doing it yourself.
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Imagine being on the forefront of medicines tailor-made for patients, creating new and better treatments and cures for genetic and acquired diseases, discovering ways to increase the nutritional values of food crops and decrease our dependence on fertilizers and pesticides, or uncovering ways to use bio products to remediate contaminated properties.
All these things are possible and they're happening at a small school with very big dreams and a history of pioneering spirit. North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has created the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) specifically to train the next generation of biotechnology scientists and expand North Carolina's already booming biotech industry. By establishing a faculty of nationally recognized scientists and educators and partnering with premiere biotech companies like Eli Lilly and Company, Biogen Idec, Novozymes and Wyeth to create curriculum, BRITE is becoming one of the leading biotechnology educational institutions in the nation.
The program began in 2006 when NCCU, along with several other state universities, the community college system and North Carolina biotech companies, formed BioImpact – a group striving to make the state a national center for biomanufacturing through superior educational training and innovative research. North Carolina already ranks third in the nation in number of biotechnology companies, with more than 450 organizations employing 55,000+ people and generating approximately $3 billion in annual revenue. The industry is particularly important to North Carolina as it offers employment opportunities that span a variety of skills and educational levels, from research scientists and medical doctors to technicians, laboratory researchers, and manufacturing workers.
BRITE was partially funded by another BioImpact affiliated organization – The Golden LEAF Foundation, created to invest North Carolina's tobacco settlement funds in economic development initiatives. The Foundation provided $20.1 million toward the creation of BRITE's 52,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility, which made it possible for us to design a curriculum that emphasizes hands-on learning. This approach ensures our students will make a difference in their work environments immediately upon graduation. We prepare our students by offering classes developed in conjunction with the very companies they may join upon graduation and the opportunity to work in industry-modeled labs throughout their education. We also provide scholarships, career development advice, work aid and graduate assistantships. B.S. and M.S. degree programs are available now and our Ph.D. program is currently in development.
If you're currently a student, we hope you'll contact us to learn more about a program that will put you on the forefront of advances in health care, agriculture, the environment and more. If you're already part of the biosciences industry, we hope you'll contact us to learn how you can help train the scientists of tomorrow or further your own education.
At BRITE, we believe the possibilities within our program are as limitless as the field of biotechnology itself. We hope you'll join us as we discover and explore new frontiers few can only imagine.
North Carolina Central University
(p) 919-530-6100
1801 Fayetteville St.
Durham, NC 27707


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Consumer finance needs better morals
Drawing moral lines in our rough-and-tumble capitalist system can be hard. But it should not tax too many ethical muscles to set aside some protections for trusting, unsophisticated borrowers of modest means. That is, unless you're a politician working on behalf of predatory lenders.
And it's amazing how many politicians do, making the recent successes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seem all the more miraculous. The CFPB was created in 2010 to set rules of the road for consumer financial products — mortgages, student loans, payday loans and such.
Last month, the bureau nabbed its first payday lender, Cash America. The company was caught robo-signing loan documents in Ohio, where that's illegal. Robo-signing refers to mass approval of documents without proper review. The sloppy paperwork often traps borrowers in a bureaucratic nightmare designed to wear them down.
Cash America also bilked military personnel on their loans. The legal limit for interest charged to American service members is 36 percent, itself no small amount.
Payday loans are the bottom of the borrowing barrel. Some borrowers are desperate for quick cash. Some don't have great credit histories. Thus, one expects them to pay higher rates of interest.
But lenders slip in outrageous charges on top of already steep borrowing costs. Those unable to pay off the entire amount in two weeks (the supposed next payday) are often forced to renew the loan, with another $50 fee tacked on each time. Some borrowers end up paying 400 percent interest.
For these lenders, the working poor are the perfect mark. They have a steady stream of income to divert but little schooling in the tricks being played.
Payday lending is so lucrative that "respectable" names in finance do it through subsidiaries. Cash America is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CFPB addresses abuses further up the consumer-loan food chain — in mortgages, student loans and other common credit tools. For home loans, it wants the contracts easier to undertand. During the housing bubble, many borrowers took loans with initially low "teaser" rates that later grew to shocking numbers. They should have been more careful, but piles of paper and legalese hid the snakes. The improved forms would show projected monthly payments, plus break down insurance and closing costs.
Mortgages will always be complex transactions. Much money is involved and paperwork required. Those too lazy to study the deal may be unpleasantly surprised. But borrowers willing to apply themselves should have more of a fighting chance to understand what's going on.
Last month, the bureau proposed new rules on collecting debts, which if approved would strike a new blow for decency. It would make financial institutions responsible for the behavior of the companies they use to deal with customers.
What happens is that big-name banks make loans and then outsource the servicing of them to thuggish third parties. The hirelings casually sue, harass and otherwise abuse borrowers, often using deceptive claims based on shabby paperwork. (See "robo-signing" above.) Sometimes they lack proof that the money is owed. But they have lawyers, and the little guy doesn't.
If the bureau prevails, the big banks won't be able to look away from the carnage. For example, they would have to monitor customer service calls.
Since its inception, many Republicans, led by Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, have been trying to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They filibustered against the director, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. They're still demanding the power to slash the bureau's budget, thus rendering the CFPB toothless.
Follow the contributions going into their coffers. You get the money part. But is there no political price for not having a conscience?
Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop.


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We received two comments last week criticizing us for reporting too many stories about rape and murder and death. In the past, some people have told us that these stories are too negative for us to report and take away from positive stories occurring in the health club industry.
I wish stories of rape and murder and death did not exist, but as long as they do, and as long as they affect health club owners, operators and members, we're going to continue to write about them.
Why? Because these stories involve real life. We don't live in a vacuum. If we don't report about charges of child molestation in fitness facilities, then we don't do a May cover story on how to keep kids safe in your clubs. If we don't report on the lawsuit involving a Planet Fitness employee allegedly ignoring the pleas to help a woman who collapsed in the locker room (and later died), then we don't do a blog on the importance of training your staff in emergency situations. If we don't report the mass shooting in an LA Fitness, like we did in 2009, then we don't do a story on how clubs could handle such a horrific event. All of these stories offer you valuable information to help protect you, your staff and your members.
On a different plane of negative stories are those that involve mergers and acquisitions and layoffs. In La-La Land, every club is making money and enjoying significant growth. But in the real world, some clubs are distressed and looking to sell. This year's Top 100 Clubs list, which is out this month, was greatly affected by the multiple acquisitions in this industry over the past two years. Some clubs on the list that had a disappointing 2012 reported a decrease in revenue from the previous year. That's life in the big city. The operators of those clubs had no qualms about reporting a negative number because they know how important this list is to the industry. I have as much respect for those clubs who reported negative numbers as I do for those who reported positive figures.
Sometimes, health club CEOs resign, whether by their own choosing or whether they were simply let go. Some club executives are let go en masse, as was the case with 24 Hour Fitness. We reported that story in March, and people are still reading about it four months later. Real lives were affected, and people want to know about it.
The choice to read these stories is up to you. I am not telling you to unsubscribe to Club Industry or "unfollow" or "unlike" as the case may be on Twitter and Facebook. Believe me, I follow some people on Twitter who frustrate me so much that I want to hit that unfollow button with full force.
One of my favorite follows on Twitter is Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. Although he does not write about the more serious topics mentioned above, his tweets sometimes get on my nerves, especially when he gets in back-and-forth elementary school-like spats with his followers. He'll even tell people straight up that they're the ones who continue to follow him, and if they want to unfollow, they can.
But those who unfollowed Deitsch would have missed what he did late Monday night. After a tip from reader Steven Bennett, Deitsch asked his followers if they had one photograph of the best moment of their lives.
The response was overwhelming. People tweeted him photos of their marriage proposals, their first-born children, their first day after cancer surgery, their last days with their loved ones. It was a film reel of real life before our eyes, captured by Twitter and, later, reported by The Atlantic. Had I chosen to unfollow Deitsch, I would have missed it all.
I'm sure there will be tweets and spats of his in the future that I won't care for, much the same way you may not care to read about some of the harsh realities taking place in our world, and in particular, our industry. But what we do here is report the news and trends that affect the fitness industry. It's the good with the bad. It's the film reel of our lives.