THE STEEL DEAL

Going for baroque ...

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  London - The Bank of England on Thursday cut interest rates to the lowest level in its 315-year history, taking it into uncharted territory as it attempts to ward off a prolonged recession.

  The half point cut in interest rates - to 1.5 percent - sees the central bank nearing the limits of conventional monetary policy after trims totaling 3.5 percentage points since the beginning of October and as Britain faces its bleakest year since the early 1990s recession.

  The bank's nine-member monetary policy committee said the world economy "appears to be undergoing an unusually sharp and synchronized downturn." "Measures of business and consumer confidence have fallen markedly," it said in a statement accompanying its decision. "World trade growth this year is likely to be the weakest for some considerable time."

  The half a percentage point cut was less dramatic than the 1.5 point trim it announced in November, and lower than the 1 point cut expected by some economists -- but still brings the rate down to the lowest level since the Bank of England was founded in 1694.

  The move follows aggressive cuts by other central banks. The U.S. Federal Reserve has already slashed its key interest rate to a record low, at a range of zero to 0.25 percent, while the Bank of Japan has dropped its rate to almost nothing, at 0.1 percent. Ye olde linke

  

To put that into perspective, they were hanging witches in old Salem, the United States was almost a century away, the Dodo had just become extinct and Isaac Newton had just discovered gravity. Johann Sebastian Bach was in his prime. It is my sincerest hope that three hundred years hence, someone will be able to look back on our times and find them half as historically monumental and a fraction as intellectually productive.

Perish that we may find ourselves, our great engines of economy and technology going the way of the Dodo.

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The Magic Money Machine - Committing Econocide

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   WASHINGTON - The forecast Wednesday of a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion one-year federal budget deficit will make it harder for President-elect Barack Obama to win broad support for a massive stimulus package that would add even more to the red ink.

   With his party controlling both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Obama's still likely to get the OK for spending and tax cuts that cost $1 trillion or more over two years and are designed to jump-start the economy and create or save 3 million jobs.

  However, while many economists, business groups and politicians agree on the need for something dramatic, Obama now concedes that he'll have to wait until February to get a bill to sign. He'll probably find conservative "blue dog" Democrats as well as Republicans balking at the idea of borrowing another $1 trillion on top of this new annual deficit.

  They could deny Obama the kind of broad, bipartisan approval that he hopes will signal not only that he's changed the political culture of a divided Washington but also that he's put forward a plan that's widely popular. Such approval is crucial as he moves to rebuild trust in the government and the economy.

  Yet even before he can point to a law meant to boost the economy or to post-stimulus efforts to rein in budget deficits, he has to deal with the fallout of the Congressional Budget Office's forecast that the current year's deficit will jump from last year's $455 billion to a record $1.2 trillion.

  "There's a sticker shock problem," said Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota and the author of a book on budget politics. "This is a new problem for Obama: How far out there are people willing to go?"  Kaching

   

  

   As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product - all the goods and services produced - the coming deficit will be almost three times more than in World War II. Granted, WWII was the only thing that saved us from FDR's New Deal and over a decade of the Great Depression, but the will - the focus - the national sense of urgency is not there for the grandiose schemes of the Left. What we'll wind up with is a mish mash of pet projects, political pork and ballooning bureaucracy. Throwing money at our problems will not solve them, didn't work for FDR and it will not work for BHO. There is only one thing that will drive our economic engines and push our productivity hard enough to turn this situation around. Only one thing will bring us all together and concentrate our efforts with the laser-like focus this country requires now. Only one single thing. We need a great big war.

Please post your suggestions for potential enemies and 'why' in the comments.

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Why did the scientists open up the shark?

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   A penguin, a seal, or even a human hand – what would you expect to find in the stomach of a great white shark? Scientists in New Zealand are about to discover just that when they perform a necropsy on a 10ft great white shark - believed to be the first of its kind, conducted in front of about 1,000 members of the public and streamed live online.

   The shark will be dissected and its organs investigated during the necropsy at Auckland Museum this Thursday where scientists hope the operation will help add to their limited knowledge of one of the ocean’s least known about animals. “It’s very exciting, we’ve never done anything like this in front of the public before,” Tom Trnski, marine curator at Auckland Museum, told Times Online. “It’s a rare opportunity for us. Little is known about the life history of these apex predators of the ocean, and we hope to learn more about the shark’s recent past before it came into the harbour.”

   Dr Trnski will join Clinton Duffy, a shark researcher with the NZ department of Conservation to perform the two-hour long necropsy – which is similar to an autopsy but whose purpose is for research, not to discover the cause of death. Unlike the famous scene in the shark horror film Jaws where Richard Dreyfuss cuts open a menacing great white to discover a car licence plate and a crushed tin, the NZ scientists hope to find objects of the (previously) living marine variety. “We’re interested in the gut content to see what the shark has eaten – it could be anything from seals, penguins, fish or even whale blubber,” Dr Trnski said, adding that the female’s reproductive organs will also be investigated. “We’re certainly hoping not to find any human bits inside, but you never know.”

   The shark, an adolescent female which measures 10ft and weighs 660 pounds, was accidentally caught by a local fisherman after it had become entangled in a gill net in Auckland’s Kaipara Harbour on Monday last week. Attracted by the large schools of trevally, the large shark had actually been caught alive the previous day and released by the fisherman, only for it to return to its death in the net. The scientists will dissect the shark in an open amphitheatre at the Auckland Museum and examine its stomach content, measure its internal organs and record all their findings for international shark research.The operation will watched by an estimated 1000 people at the museum and streamed live on its website to be viewed by millions more.  Ewww

  

   

I used to be a commercial fisherman and have used this platform to tell a few fish tales. Sharks are amazing creatures - almost indestructible - they have a portion of their brain on both ends of their spinal cord. I used to shrimp in the summers and you can't catch shrimp at night, so the crew is left to its own devices for recreation. We'd catch sharks. Easy enough, just throw garbage over the side and bait large hooks with fish and wait a few minutes. Pull the sharks in and gut 'em and put them on the hooks and soon, bigger sharks would come. By the end of the evening, you'd be catching 8 footers. One night, we caught an especially nice specimen and removed the jaws, cut the spinal cord at the tail, gutted it from stem to stern and stuck a hook in it and tossed it back over the side - that damned thing was trying to swim away. But that's not all. We grew tired of our 'sport' and hit the bunks, only to awake the next day to find that shark STILL trying to swim away. That should give you an idea of how hard they are to kill. Sharks are an endangered species today - primarily because of the appetite for sharkfin soup. I've had that and was not impressed, but it is so popular in Asia that the taking of large shark species has decimated the population worldwide. But this 'research' won't reveal much ...

... sharks eat anything that moves or smells of blood. Period.

 

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Through a glass darkly ...

   Rod Blagojevich may be so very motivated by personal power and self preservation that he qualifies as megalomaniacal - crazy - but he is not stupid. But his special brand of insanity is threatening us all. Had he been left to his own devices within the confines Illinois pay-for-play politics - whatever actions he might have taken would have affected those who elected him and they deserve no better. If the good voters of Illinois are so stupid as to elect such a monster - they have it coming. But the rest of the nation did not. The rest of us elected - for better or worse - Barack Obama, and his historical ascendancy should not be tainted by the likes of some pond scum like Blago.

   By refusing to step down in the face of overwhelmingly damning evidence of corruption, which by Chicago standards may be acceptable, and instead choosing Roland Burris to fill the empty U.S.Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, Blagojevich has shoved race in our face once again. Just when most people were heralding the dawn of a new age of race relations - along comes this most divisive of scenarios. Every single black politician is on record - including ex-Black Panther Bobby Rush - as stating categorically that no selection made by the disgraced Illinois governor would be acceptable under any terms. Then a week later he chooses Burris and the reversals of opinion within the black community are breathtaking in their gymnastic contortions. It should be physically impossible to be that hypocritical.

   Apparently not, because not only are all the black folks lining up in support of Burris, they are going to literally force the Senate leadership to seat him - under the threat of violence. I, for one, did not need any further demonstration of the hypocrisy of the Left, any more examples of racism on behalf of blacks and I sure as hell didn't need any further proof of the woeful lack of spines to be found in Democrats in general and their chosen leaders specifically. Nor did this nation. But even more troubling is that this situation may undo whatever real good Obama's election might have accomplished - because other than helping to heal centuries old racial divides - his tenure as President of the United States will certainly have scant benefit - if any at all.

   If Democrats had a scintilla of national pride, a drop of concern beyond politics and any commitment to their oft-stated desire for 'change', they would reject Burris' selection out of hand and call for a special election - like they all did before they realized they might just lose said election - even in the most politically corrupt State in the Union and in a State long in the graft-guided grasp of their own stinking monolithic party there. Perish the thought that they might have to actually compete, even on such an uneven playing field in a game with rules of their own making. How terribly ironic that at the same moment Obama - favorite son and shining example of racial harmony - is sworn in as POTUS, some little worm of a man will attempt to slither into the Halls of Congress at the behest of a truly reptilian example of the worst this species has to offer.

   And all the while, this grand theater of the most absurd and what is sure to be one of the darkest chapters in America's political history will have as its cheerleaders, people who can see no further than the color of their skin. If that is not a validation of a majority of this country's voter's worst suspicions about black people and Democrats, then I can not imagine what could possibly be more convincing short of armed insurrection ala post Katrina on a national scale. Where are the outraged black voices? Why isn't the black community up in arms over the blatant hypocrisy evidenced by the Black Congressional Caucus and black 'community leaders' and 'activists'? I can come to only one of two conclusions. Either being black is quite enough, no matter the circumstance OR they are too stupid to recognize the potential damage being done.

Exactly what I would say about the Ku Klux Klan. Racism is color elevated to blindness, ultimately to madness.

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Words DO have meaning.

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  Prison officials have been told not to refer to their charges as 'inmates' because it might offend them. Ministers claim the age-old term is not appropriate if criminals are to be treated with "respect and dignity".

   One prison officer leader attacked the move and warned jails have already become too soft as he called for a return to tough prisons in 2009. Opposition MPs said it was "politically correct nonsense". In a scathing outburst, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, called for an end to the "namby pamby attitude" that has led to soft prisons. "It never ceases to amaze me, the hypocrisy of politicians and senior civil servants," he said.

   "On the one hand they say we are not going to have soft prisons but on the other phraseology that has been around for a long, long time suddenly becomes offensive to our dear charges. "As far as I am concerned they are convicts, they are prisoners, they are inmates.

   Shadow Justice Secretary, Nick Herbert, said: "The government would do well to concentrate their efforts on stopping prisoners walking out of open jails, ending early release and tackling the drugs trade in prison which is rife, rather than this politically correct nonsense."

   A Prison Service spokesman said: "The term prisoner, rather than inmate, has been preferred for a number of years as it is more accurate and specific to those held in prison. The term 'inmate' can refer to anyone held in any type of institution."

   Earlier this year prison inspectors at Bullingdon jail in Oxfordshire, said prisoners should be addressed by their first names, given free condoms and be served evening meals later time to stop them feeling hungry in the night. Clink

   You see the implication here, don't you? An 'inmate' has earned his place behind bars, but a 'prisoner' is somehow transformed into a pawn of an uncaring society or an unjust State. Language does matter, and the Left is masterful at reforming our language to suit their political ends. Take 'pro-choice' for instance. Setting aside the arguments pro and con re abortion - the term 'pro-choice' implies that anyone who disagrees with abortion is somehow depriving someone else of their freedom of choice. This puts anyone opposed to abortion on the wrong side of the 'American way' - freedom of choice. But the reality is much more ominous - what of the choice of society to protect the rights of the least among us - the unborn? What of the choice of a voting majority to determine the direction of society? And wouldn't 'pro-abortion' be more apt ...if not 'pro-infanticide'? This is how our language can be corrupted - Orwell called it 'Newspeak' and this cavalier reworking of language poses a major threat to all of us. By changing terms, redefining meanings and slightly altering usage, ideologues are able, by repetition and acceptance, to misdirect our focus on meaningless tangents and red herrings, thus winning the battle of minds without firing a shot. I'm a stickler for language. A dictionary, unlike the Constitution, IS a living document - but lexogrpahers are loathe to change definitions. And when those changes are made to our words - they are made by 'convention - literally - a convention of knowledgeable experts gather to debate whether a particular definition should be changed to suit a changing usage. Historically, Webster's Collegiate Edition dictionaries were issued every decade or so, thus allowing for fad and fancy to pass before actually changing the way we speak. But since the early 20th century, the Left has become increasingly more adept at insinuating changes to our language - our way of thinking - without the aid of lexographers or dictionaries. A willing media, educational system and burgeoning functional iliteracy has made it possible to effect change 'from within' and has met with little resistance. Words matter - never let someone get away with misusing them - especially for political purposes.

'Bailout' vs 'stimulus' comes to mind.

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The Politically Correct Will Destroy the Earth!

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   A candidate for the Republican National Committee chair sent out a holiday CD to committee members that includes the song "Barack the Magic Negro," a parody first aired on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

   Chip Saltsman, the former campaign manager for Mike Huckabee who's considered a long shot in the crowded field for RNC chair, is a friend of the song's writer, Paul Shanklin, a comedian and frequent Limbaugh guest. The CD, called "We Hate the USA," pokes fun at liberals, their causes, and their slip-ups with titles like "The Star Spanglish Banner," "Love Client #9" and "Wright Place, Wrong Time."

   In a voice meant to recall Al Sharpton, Shanklin sings on the "Barack the Magic Negro": "They'll vote for him and not for me, cause he's not from da hood. See, real black men like Snoop Dogg or me or Farrakhan have talked the talk and walked the walk, not come in late and won."

   Limbaugh first aired the song, which draws on a column from the Los Angeles Times, on his show in 2007. PC gone amok ...

 

   The press would have you think this is a 'CD of the Magic Negro' - it is not. It's a compilation of parody songs by Rush Limbaugh's favorite - Paul Shanklin. Parody by definition, cannot occur without stepping on somebody's toes. The song itself has little to do with Barack Obama and everything to do with Al Sharpton, who, at the time of its release, was busy ripping Don Imus's lungs out, meddling in the Jena 8 trial and generally doing what he always does - race baiting. Remember Tawana Brawley? Now, if you want to hear the 'offending' song - poke the Reverend in the eye in the image above. This politically correct crap has to stop. This particular instance has nothing to do 'racism' and is squarely aimed at 'racial' politics within the BLACK community. Please recall that the good Reverend did run for President himself. And since when is this news? Is anyone out there old enough to remember Vaughn Meader? The number one album the year JFK was assassinated was 'The First Family' - a parody of the Kennedy clan and Camelot, rife with 'Irish' humor and Catholic jokes. And what of all the despicable racism found across the radio dials by the likes of 50 Cent and Snoop Fucking Dogg? PUBLIC airwaves, I might add. So anyone out there whose panties are in a bunch over this latest in a long history a good-natured American political parody can kiss my ass. Looks like Google is pulling down 'The Magic Negro' videos on Youtube - here's another version of the same song. Pass it on!

Click the CD

A nice rubber room with armed guards would do ...

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  Talked into a sidewalk news interview Friday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared as confident as he was in his Dec. 19 news conference, again denying any wrongdoing and vowing he'll be vindicated.

  "I think the accomplishments for people speak for themselves, and if somehow that's impeachable, then I'm on the wrong planet, and I'm living in the wrong place," Blagojevich said.

  "I know what the truth is, and the truth is I've done absolutely nothing wrong, and I've done a lot of things right," the governor said. "And even in this process, without saying too much, that was all about trying to end up with the right decision that could do the most things for the people of Illinois, and when the full truth is told, you will see precisely that."

  Asked about Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's call for his resignation, Blagojevich said, "I think I made it abundantly clear that I have no intention whatsoever of leaving a job the people of Illinois elected me to perform because of false accusations and a political lynch mob."

  The governor also disclosed that, beating President-elect Barack Obama to the doggy punch, a new puppy is now a permanent part of the Blagojevich family, though he appears to be allergic to it. Loon

  

The guy's certifiable, but in his insanity I detect a confidence that should worry the incoming administration. I do not believe Blago would be this tenacious nor fight so stubbornly if he didn't have some serious cards in the hole. When he ultimately cuts the deal that will keep him out of prison - it may very well involve numerous major players in Obama's inner circle - if not the Messiah himself.

If I were Patrick Fitzgerald, I'd put him in protective custody immediately.

From the Ministry of Culture ...

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   In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Andy Burnham says he believes that new standards of decency need to be applied to the web. He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama’s incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites. The Minister of Culture describes the internet as “quite a dangerous place” and says he wants internet-service providers (ISPs) to offer parents “child-safe” web services.

   Giving film-style ratings to individual websites is one of the options being considered, he confirms. When asked directly whether age ratings could be introduced, Mr Burnham replies: “Yes, that would be an option. This is an area that is really now coming into full focus.” ISPs, such as BT, Tiscali, AOL or Sky could also be forced to offer internet services where the only websites accessible are those deemed suitable for children.

   Mr Burnham also uses the interview to indicate that he will allocate money raised from the BBC’s commercial activities to fund other public-service broadcasting such as Channel Four. He effectively rules out sharing the BBC licence fee between broadcasters as others have recommended. His plans to rein in the internet, and censor some websites, are likely to trigger a major row with online advocates who ferociously guard the freedom of the world wide web.

   However, Mr Burnham said: “If you look back at the people who created the internet they talked very deliberately about creating a space that Governments couldn’t reach. I think we are having to revisit that stuff seriously now. It’s true across the board in terms of content, harmful content, and copyright. Libel is also an emerging issue.

   “There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is my view. Absolutely categorical. This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it.” You better read the rest ...

   In case you missed it, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his 'Christmas' message to the World on Channel Four, despite universal protests. And note, please. this man's 'job' - Minister of Culture. I am all in favor of protecting children from the Internet - I believe parental control and some sort of rating system or hardware modification is called for. However, what this man is suggesting goes far beyond protecting the children - he wants to protect us from ourselves - the central motivation of the Left. And while they scream bloody murder about the Patriot Act or Guantanamo, those on the Left happily embrace CCTV camera saturation in Britain which currently photographs every Briton at least 300 times per day and they gladly support and elect socialist ideologues such as Mr. Burnham - he with his 'high-minded' meddling and Ministry of Culture. There's a reason for that. As long as the Left can make enough noise to keep the useful idiots of this world focused on non-issues like the Patriot Act and 'warrantless wiretaps' - they can implement their own tyranny and its trappings. The Left is quick to call any intrusion they find counter-productive -'fascism'. But what they are really up to is far worse - totalitarianism.

Just ask George Orwell.

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Grand Theft Chutzpah

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  Las Vegas leaders are figuring out which public works projects could be funded under the one-trillion dollar federal stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama. Mayor Oscar Goodman is looking to bring more tourists and more traffic to the downtown area, and he says if federal stimulus money can help fund some big-ticket projects, such as the Mobster Museum, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and the proposed new city hall, then they'll take it. Goodman hopes to speak with Senator Harry Reid about the three projects, which he says will pay for themselves by attracting more development, residents, and businesses to the downtown area. Goodman says he hasn't submitted any requests, nor is anything formal yet. Stink

    Politicians and crooks taking taxpayer money and obligating future generations with a mountain of debt to build a museum showcasing mobsters, gangsters and crooks - there's a kind of poetic justice - a karmic validation in that. And in Sin City! The irony is beyond imagination. What I want to know is, when will the American taxpayer stop this insanity? Where's the outrage? This bailout/stimulus mentality is getting surreal in its scope and I am starting to worry we may not be able to stop it or recover from it.

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Crisis? You ain't seen crisis yet ...

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  CIT Group Inc., the commercial lender that ran short of cash this year, won federal approval to convert to a bank holding company, a step toward getting an investment of as much as $2.5 billion from the U.S. government. The stock rose 7.7 in extended trading.

  The Federal Reserve Board’s approval allows CIT to retain some non-banking subsidiaries, the Fed said in a statement today. The New York-based lender sold shares and bought back debt in order to raise enough cash to meet the government’s financial targets.

  CIT joins financial firms including American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services in the rush to collect retail deposits and get access to the U.S. Treasury’s rescue fund. The government has earmarked $700 billion to prop up companies hobbled by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. CIT has said it may seek $2.5 billion by selling preferred shares to the Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program.

  “Today’s announcement is an inflection point in CIT’s 100- year history,” Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Peek said in a separate statement. “Bank holding company status is expected to provide us increased access to funding and a new platform from which we will serve our middle-market and small-business clients.”

  Other firms seeking bailout money include auto and home lender GMAC LLC and Genworth Financial Inc. and Hartford Financial Services Inc. The two insurers announced plans to acquire lenders to qualify for federal funds. Stink

   There's something terribly wrong here. Credit entities created from whole cloth to avoid the strictures of legal banking practices and good common sense are now scrambling to become 'banks' under the guidelines of this current 'bailout' frenzy. Nevermind the fiscal or fiduciary considerations, disregard the regulations that have been on the books since your parents were babies - consider the implications.

  If these lending institutions are granted the same status as banks - then they have all the protections granted under the FDIC. The federal government will guarantee their 'investments' to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars per account holder. Think Lamborghini in the place of a simple savings account. Buy THIS car and nothing can go wrong because it is guaranteed by the United States government.

  Same with houses - or small businesses. Think about it. Nothing has been said about reining in the process, au contraire, they want to expand the ability of people to borrow money from as many outlets as possible. Not unlike the situation with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. Which brought the economic world to its knees.

  Here's what I think. I think the very notion, the whole concept of credit as an instrument of purchase has been so twisted by any number of sources, that we stand at the precipice of collapse. Not that I think we should return to currency under written by gold - but hang on a minute. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned thrift and accountibility?

  It is BECAUSE people, and government, have not saved that we are where we are now. Toyota just announced its worst quarter in history - 70 years. But they have 18 billion in cash and zero future debt. They can weather what our own industries cannot. They saved their money for a rainy day. We blow our wad if a kid gets the hiccups. And then it doesn't help.

  Let the market decide. Those left standing will be the stronger for it and those savaged by it will still have the largesse of the government as backup. I can see no reason why the taxpayer should keep throwing money at those who got us in this position in the first place. In fact, doing that will only make the inevitable that much more painful.

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