Sparky speaks
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Posts posted by Sparky speaks
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Yep, Chomsky and Turley below are real nut cases. How do you think they will get the US involved in an attack on Iran? Nations have been doing this for years. Battleship Maine, Lusitania, Gulf Of Tonkin, Operation Northwoods, etc., etc. To get the people to back an unpopular military action nations have created incidents to mislead their people into war. It is fact.
“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” Hermann Goerring
False Flag: Leading Analyst At Pro-Israeli Think Tank Publicly Discusses How U.S. Can Be Forced Into War With Iran
Jonathan Turley
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Netanyahu says that Iran will have nuclear capabilities by next summer, and that the world needs to act. He also brought up the fact that Iran has denied the holocaust. He then waved the blueprints for Auschwitz.
To me, that is in bad taste. The reality of Auschwitz should not be a bargaining chip for a U.S. invasion of Israel. The Iranian distortion of history will not be the deciding factor as to whether or not they will act aggressive to their neighbors. It seems odd, as if both Israel and Iran feel that the holocaust is the main reason Israel should, or should not be attacked. Bizarre.
It has been his MO for years. I think many people are getting tired of the same old rhetoric being used to promote Zionism. Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Muslims are jihadists. Zionist terrorism is just as bad as jihad terror. We should stay out of that conflict altogether or we will surely pay a terrible price in American lives. But, I don't think that is going to happen. The war plans are complete and about to be implemented I'm afraid.
This doesn't bode well for the future either...
Mitt Romney – a danger to USA and world peace
By embracing the right-wing Israeli viewpoint, neo-conservative presidential advisers have always advocated American and international disengagement allowing Israel to impose its conditions while ignoring international law by building illegal Jews-only settlements on occupied land.
Almost a year ago at a Republican debate, Romney pledged that before making important decisions he would call his “friend Bibi Netanyahu” to ask him: “Would it help if I said this? What would you like me to do?”
Romney supposedly met Netanyahu when they worked at Bain Consulting Group in the 1970s.
In the same debate, Romney fondly said that Netanyahu was “not just a friend, he’s an old friend”. “We can almost speak in shorthand.”
However, his “old friend” Bibi is not so sure. Responding to a Vanity Fair magazine question this summer, Netanyahu said: “I don’t think we had any particular connections, I knew him and he knew me, I suppose.”
Besides lying about his friendship with Netanyahu, it was remarkable that a US presidential hopeful would publicly commit to let the leader of a foreign country decide US foreign policy.
At every corner Republican pundits come to Romney’s defence and say the Harvard-educated nominee’s statements are “not articulate”, “not elegant” or “gaffes”.
Parroting his advisers’ remarks is Romney’s main predicament. He lacks ingenuity and, like George W. Bush, would let his advisers run the White House.
Such traits are not those of a national leader, but of a man who poses a dangerous threat to America and world peace.
Imminent Iran nuclear threat? A timeline of warnings since 1979.
http://www.csmonitor...ew/print/422252
Noam Chomsky: Israel is a pretty crazy state. The U.S. is just a rogue state
CHOMSKY: Well, Israel is a pretty crazy state. My suspicion is that they are trying to create the circumstances under which the U.S. will attack Iran - they don't want to do it themselves.
LEZAMA: They want to set up a rationale?
CHOMSKY: I would not be surprised if they staged some kind of an incident in the Persian Gulf, which would not be hard. You and I can do it. The Persian Gulf is lined with U.S. Naval missiles, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and so on. Any small incident, a skiff, or, a boat bumping into an aircraft carrier could lead to a vicious response.
Actually, we should bear in mind that the United States is already at war with Iran by Pentagon standards. The assassinations - which is terrorism - the cyberwar, the economic warfare, are all considered by the United States as acts of war if they are done to us, but not if we do it to them. So, by our standards, we are already attacking Iran. The question is how much further we will take it. An important aspect of this never discussed in the United States. You never read about it. I write about it, maybe two or three other people, but you never read about it. There is a pretty straightforward solution to this, a diplomatic solution. Namely, move towards establishing a nuclear weapons free-zone in the region. That is strongly supported by virtually the entire world. The U.S. has been blocking the solution for years. However, support for it is so strong that Obama was forced to agree to it in principle, but stated that Israel has to be excluded. Well, that is a joke. Israel has hundred of nuclear weapons, carries out aggression, is a violent state, refuses to allow inspections, and so on. To say that Israel has to be exempted, then, kills the prospect of a nuclear-weapons free zone in the Middle East. This situation is coming to a head in December. There is to be an international conference on a nuclear weapons free-zone in the Middle East; Israel just announced that it is refusing to participate.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2012/09/27/chomsky-israel-crazy-state-usa-rogue-state/
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I didn't watch the whole thing, but he does mention the name of an investment fund patron and also says some annonymous donor. After that I turned it off.
LouieB
That's why you don't understand what the Fed is doing to our economic system, Lou. You have to try to put aside your biases and try to get something out of it. I grudgingly listen to and read about what Obama and Romney say and I can't stomach either of them. You take a little from here and a little from there to try to piece things together. If you don't try to learn something new or get someone's perspective that doesn't quite jive with your own then you get stuck in the same old left right paradigm that brings us nowhere. Hey, I was a bleeding heart socialist leaning liberal no more that five years ago. I saw the discrepancies and the flaws in those beliefs at the time but I was convinced the other guys were nuts and had nothing to offer. Eventually, I found that the libertarian view of war and constitutional and economic freedoms better fit my way of thinking and helped settle the conflicts I had with the left and right both of which I now consider statists no different from each other. Stockman has some interesting things to say in this clip despite his past. People change. Trickle down would work if there was a free market. It's better than the trickle tsunami up we have now in the corrupt crony capitalistic system that is destroying us. Investment funds help drive our economy. When they get put out of business by the Fed policies, where will future business get the funds to start up or grow which in turn will provide jobs for people? Socialism and centrally planned economies are a dead end and not conducive to freedom or prosperity of any kind. That's why those countries who practice it all fail eventually. Those of us who have government or taxpayer funded jobs are endangered species in the next ten years if not sooner. There ultimately will be no money left to pay us. The only hope is the private sector which is being destroyed by the Fed's actions and over government regulation which benefits certain government favored businesses over the rest. Just look at how small business is faring in today's economic climate. Not, too god, but yet that is where most jobs are created when they are faring well. Hold your nose and watch some of these things.
Campaign button of the day...
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If you could listen to his answers and not know who was speaking could you tell if he was the Democratic or the Republican candidate ?
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If you want to gain some knowledge of the destructive policies of the Federal Reserve and how neither candidate or other politician, except for two or three, is addressing the real reason why we will never recover economically no matter who is president, watch this. It is not that complicated. Stockman explains it all including how crony capitalism and Fed. policies are destroying capitalism. Borrowing more to pay the bills and debt that resulted from excessive borrowing is crazy. There is no good end to what they are doing. Both Obama or Romney will be powerless to stop what is in progress and the financial day of reckoning that is coming...
"There are mad men in charge of the printing press."
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Quantitative Easing Did Not Work For The Weimar Republic Either
Did printing vast quantities of money work for the Weimar Republic? Nope. And it won't work for us either. If printing money was the secret to economic success, we could just print up a trillion dollars for every American and be done with it. The truth is that making everyone in America a trillionaire would not mean that we would all suddenly be wealthy. There would be the same amount of "real wealth" in our economy as before. But what it would do is render our currency meaningless and totally destroy faith in our financial system. Sadly, we have not learned the lessons that history has tried to teach us. Back in April 1919, it took 12 German marks to get 1 U.S. dollar. By December 1923, it took approximately 4 trillion German marks to get 1 U.S. dollar. So was the Weimar Republic better off after all of the "quantitative easing" that they did or worse off? Of course they were worse off. They destroyed their currency and wrecked all confidence in their financial system. There was an old joke that if you left a wheelbarrow full of money sitting around in the Weimar Republic that thieves would take the wheelbarrow and they would leave the money behind. Will things eventually get that bad in the United States someday?
Of course we are not going to see hyperinflation in the U.S. this week or this month.
But don't think that it will never happen.
The people of Germany never thought that it would happen to them, but it did.
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These are the assholes who have the ears of our leaders...
Israeli Lobbyist Blatantly Suggests a False Flag Event for War With Iran
Even in the age of YouTube, this is pretty stunning. This is the response of Patrick Clawson, who heads the Washington Institute’s Iran Security Initiative, in response to a question about what should happen if negotiations with Tehran fail.
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The Bay City Rollers. I think they will be the next Beatles.
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Voted. I can't wait for the junk emails to come now.
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Tweedy convinced me...I'm voting for Gary Johnson.
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I totally agree with Sparky on this. So there.
There's hope for you yet.
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Didn't we avoid war with the USSR and China for over a half century? We can avoid war with Iran by minding our own business. We have been told since 1992 that Iran is on the verge of nuclear weapons. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/09/20/1992-breaking-news-netanyahu-says-iran-close-to-nuclear-weapon/ The lies continue. We marched into the Middle East we can march out to paraphrase the former presidential candidate from Texas. It is that simple. Neither Obama nor Romney will have the balls to stand up to Israel and tell them to we are not going to back them if they attack Iran. We have hundreds of bases surrounding Iran. It is part of the neocon plan to attack them. See Wesley Clark's interview from 2007 below...
Remember, this is from 2007. There is only one country left on that list.
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Check out what Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said the other day....
"The truth, however, is that nobody on the committee, nor on our staffs at the Board of Governors and the 12 Banks, really knows what is holding back the economy. Nobody really knows what will work to get the economy back on course. And nobody – in fact, no central bank anywhere on the planet – has the experience of successfully navigating a return home from the place in which we now find ourselves. No central bank – not, at least, the Federal Reserve – has ever been on this cruise before."
Way to instill confidence Rich. It is the cruise of no return sort of like the Titanic.
Morgan Stanley's, Adam Parker wrote...
"QE3 will likely be insufficient to significantly boost equity markets and we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Fed dramatically augment this program (i.e., QE4) before year-end, particularly if economic and corporate news continue to deteriorate as they have over the past few weeks."
The bankers are already counting on QE4(more money creation) before they have received a dime from QE3. They know the extent of the disaster we are facing but most folks are clueless. See the Howard Stern clip.
Here's how the Federal Reserve is destroying Social Security...
"By law, the Social Security trust fund must be invested in U.S. government securities. But thanks to the low interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve, the average interest rate on those securities just keeps dropping and dropping. The trustees of the Social Security system had projected that the Social Security trust fund would be completely gone by 2033, but because of the Fed policy of keeping interest rates exceptionally low for the foreseeable future it is now being projected by some analysts that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2023. Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. Yes, you read that correctly. The collapse of Social Security is inevitable, and the foolish policies of the Federal Reserve are going to make that collapse happen much more rapidly."
The Fed policies over the past four years have not eased unemployment so why are they continuing them? Continuing the same failed policies and expecting a different result is insane.
Their policies will do nothing but pump up stock prices in the short term and make the wealthy wealthier at our expense.
The "exceptionally low interest rate" policy of the Federal Reserve is absolutely devastating for those that have saved for retirement and that are relying on interest income for their living expenses.
Why should the rest of the world continue to use the U.S. dollar to trade with one another when the United States is constantly debasing it and playing games with its value? Soon other nations will wake up to this reality and scrap the dollar for some other currency. Most likely the new Chinese Yuan which will be backed by gold. http://www.zerohedge...backed-currency Wait to see what things will cost using US fiat currency when that happens.
From Thomas Woods...
The most significant argument against the Fed, though, is not political but economic. The Austrian view is that a central bank is not merely unnecessary but harmful. There is no need for a monopoly institution, by means of artificial money creation, to prevent the natural and healthy phenomenon of falling prices. There is likewise no need for a “lender of last resort” for the banking industry any more than for the personal computer industry or the shellfish industry. As long as the banking system is run on sound principles—an unlikely outcome, while there is a central bank with powers to prop up unsound banks—there is no reason for the bankruptcy of one or two major banks to provoke a systemic crisis, as can happen under the Fed system.
Then there are the problems that stem from artificial money creation. Not only do people on fixed incomes suffer from the rising prices that increases in the money supply bring about, but the process of money creation inevitably enriches politically well-connected groups at the expense of everyone else. The powerful are in a position to receive the newly created money first and spend it before prices have commensurately risen.
Under fiat money, currency without commodity backing, the central bank can artificially lower interest rates by increasing the supply of money—and thus the funds banks have available to lend—through the banking system. This is supposed to stimulate the economy. What it actually does is mislead investors into embarking on investments that the artificially low rates seem to validate but that cannot be sustained under existing economic conditions. Unprofitable investments are made to seem profitable, and over time the result is the squandering of untold resources in lines of investment that should never have been begun.
If lower interest rates are the result of increased saving by the public, those greater saved resources provide the means with which to see the additional investment through to completion. But the situation is very different when lower interest rates result from the Fed’s creation of new money out of thin air. In that case, lower rates do not reflect an increase in the pool of savings from which investors can draw. Fed tinkering, in other words, does not increase the real stuff in the economy. The additional investment that the lower rates encourage therefore leads the economy down a path that is not sustainable.
You see, the policies of the Federal Reserve are the most important issues not being discussed by either candidate.
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By John C. Williams, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of
San Francisco
For delivery on July 2, 2012
"Over the past four years, the Federal Reserve has more than tripled the monetary base, a key determinant of money supply."
Top 10 Reasons to End the Federal Reserve
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/top-10-reasons-to-end-the-federal-reserve
More good books to read if you want to understand the economic mess we are in...
http://www.amazon.com/Meltdown-Free-Market-Collapsed-Government-Bailouts/dp/1596985879
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This is funny...
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The problems we face come from over spending and over borrowing and the solution proposed by the Federal Reserve and our brilliant politicians is more over spending and over borrowing. That is nothing but a Ponzi Scheme and it will end like a Ponzi scheme ends. Probably much sooner than later. Good luck with that.
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I am going to guess that not a single one of our snide (or not snide ) right wing advocates can even attempt to answer this question. The furor over Romney's secretly recorded comments at the fundraising meeting blows the roof off of the real issue here. Demoncrats are not less fiscally responsible than Republicans. That whole thing about tax and spend Democrats has lots of traction, but Republicans are just spend and don't tax supporters. So the poor and the old and disabled suck. But it sucks to be poor and old and disabled (or any combo thereof.) But as a society particularly one as rich as this one, has a responsibility to support those folks, even if it sucks to do so. Meanwhile everyone should be able to keep everything they earn, but too fucking bad. If you make a ton of money, you owe something back, unless you just really don't give a shit.
And we really have to stop giving subsidies and tax breaks to corporations that don't need them and starting wars that we aren't willing to tax people to pay for. And yes, you can shut down some stupid ass federal programs that really don't help anyone or have a high degree of fraud. I work on a few of them and you can take them when you are ready. But leaving the poor, elderly, or disabled high and dry, that's just plain wrong.
(Oh yea and for all you capitalists out there or those who just want to retire one day.....the stock market does better under Democrats too. Don't ask me why but it seems to be a fact.)
LouieB
Lou, the institution that allows both parties to keep spending to infinity is the Federal Reserve. They just keep on creating fiat money out of nothing for both parties to spend on war, bailouts, welfare, pet projects, etc., etc. It is the politicians private money printing press. We really don't have to pay taxes because they create so much money for the pols to spend, our tax money is but a drop in the bucket when you look at what our debt is.That's why it should be the main issue of this campaign and future ones. It is the reason our currency is being devalued and why we have suffered the collapse of the housing market and all that other good financial disaster stuff we are experiencing. But yet, everyone thinks we need more Fed involvement like they somehow are going to make things better. It is a result of their failed policies over the last century that have brought us to this point. But yet both parties refuse to reign this private cartel of bankers in. Until they do, nothing will change. Most of the issues people discuss here as problems that need to be solved, would be solved by going back to a stable currency backed by some commodity like gold and silver. It would put a brake on the endless spending of both parties and shut down the perpetual printing press the Federal Reserve runs. A "flexible" money system has destroyed our currency. The stock market rise and fall is also a by-product of Federal Reserve manipulation of interest rates. If you can borrow money at 0% interest, you are not going to invest it in new factories and business enterprises that would create jobs for people. You will invest it in the stock market and create a bubble raising demand for stocks that artificially raise their price. This bubble will surely pop when interest rates rise as they are sure to do when the rest of the world refuses to accept US dollars as the world's currency as a result of QE to infinity.
The market needs to adjust on it's own. The pain we are going to eventually suffer will be much worse because of Fed and government involvement in trying to forestall the inevitable. It is not government's responsibility to take care of everyone who can't make it. How much socialism will it take until all the wealth that creates jobs is redistributed? Where will the investment capital come from in the future if there is no incentive to take chances with one's money? Why would I want to start a business knowing that if I succeed my property will be confiscated by the government through taxation and redistributed to others who take no risks? That's what happened in the USSR, Cuba and every other failed socialist economy. We are not only socialist welfare state we are a corporatocracy to boot. Crony capitalism is just as destructive as the welfare state. We are actually a fascist/socialist mix. Something that probably hasn't existed ever in history to the extent is does here. Until our so called political leaders begin to discuss these issues we will continue to sink into the quicksand of a destructive collectivist economy.
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Beatles 96% Some Ringo tunes, Revloution #9 and Maxwell's Silver Hammer drop them a few points.
Dr. Dog 95% Not too many I don't listen to.
Wilco 85% Never listen to WTA except for One Wing. -5 just for You And I.
Neil Young 80% Early stuff makes up for some crap in the 80's but have to deduct some points because of it.
CSNY, CSN 80% Again, heavy on the early stuff, big fall off after the mid 70's
Poco 70% Great stuff until Furay left. Dropped off my radar after Schmidt left.
Jay Hawks 60% Hollywood Town Hall one of my favorites. After the Green Grass #2. Most of the rest not interested in.
Jackson Browne 55% Again, early stuff blows the later releases out of the water.
Black Crowes 50% The usual suspects rock. Some I can't listen to.
Steve Earle 45% Love the bluegrass stuff not much else.
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Eagles
Police
Squeeze
Matthew Sweet (except for Girlfriend)
John Mellancamp
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Saw them last year at the Paradise in Boston, on my college son's recommendation. Good band, good show, but don't think they (yet) have the song book to hook me as a favorite band. Don't know if they will. Definitely not in the Tweedy/Wilco league.
Btw, what time did they come on? Seeing Heartless Bastards at Royale also a 6:00 show, wondering what to figure.
Dr. Dog came on a little after 8PM and played to about 9:40. They might not be on the level of Wilco, but who is? They have quite a few songs I would rank up there pretty high with my favorites however. Pretty catchy tunes with decent lyrics and I like both singers voices. Like I said, I will give them a couple of more albums to see what they can do but I've been listening to them in the car and on the iPod pretty regularly since the summer and haven't tired of them yet. Seeing them live has only added to my opinion of them.
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This is the issue that needs to be discussed and no candidate currently in the race is discussing it. Keynesian economics and the Federal Reserve are destroying us...
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My son dragged my ass up to Boston last night to see Dr. Dog again at the Royale. I have to say if I was to pick another band other than Wilco to obsess over I think it would be them. They are fast becoming my next favorite band. Will they challenge my allegiance to the boys from Chicago? I'll give them a couple of more albums before I make any drastic decisions but damn they are good live. Cotton John opened but we got up there late because of traffic on the Mass. Pike and only heard three songs. They were ok but kind of mellow for my tastes. I think I was the oldest person in the theater. Huge college crowd into Dr. Dog big time. I kind of compare them to Wilco around 1997. Almost there but not quite. Maybe they have their YHF coming up next.
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Don't recall if this was posted already. Pretty clever...
Presidential Race (Respector Edition)
in Tongue-Tied Lightning
Posted
Then expect a total collapse of the current economic system. The math just doesn't add up and if no change in policiy is imminent the chances of that happeneing are 100%. It is only a matter of time.
Government intervention in the economy always results in higher costs for the taxpayer and the consumer. Just look at government college loan subsidies, Obamacare, etc. There is no incentive to keep prices down and little competition to do so when the supplier can count on the government paying the bills and not the individual.