Educate yourself

One of the biggest issues I have with the political blogosphere is the placement of politics before economics. This is clearly putting the cart before the horse. It's nearly impossible for government, regardless of which party is in control, to make sound economic decisions. At best, the government can reverse prior bad economic decisions (this is the essence of most tax cuts).

In the long run, the importance of politcs pales before the importance of sound economic policy. Therefore, one's education should be in economics first, and politics second. Sadly, most people would prefer to play 'team sports' rather than switching teams (or deciding to look for a new team) based on rational economic decisions.

The Tea Parties are wonderful in this regard, but only so long as they remain essentially non-partisan. This doesn't mean that one party cannot respond to them better .. that would be fine. However, the movement should be ideologically (and economically) pure. The fact that pretty much all of the political establishment (from CNN reporters to GOP politicians) got their fair share of derision was very encouraging.

One of my current goals is to re-educate myself in the field of economics. This can not be done through conventional channels, unfortunately. From the idiotic boosterism of a clown like Cramer on CNBC to the various political arguments, one is constantly innundated with utter nonsense. One must scour the internet for independent voices.

The single best piece I came across today? This weekly analysis from an obscure fund manager. I'm not going to bother highlighting what I like about it. One should read, think, and decide for themselves.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 08:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 9

Can't even try to bring the funny today.  I'm now fully into the drudgery that is ridding myself of an incredibly unhealthy addiction.  So, some actual facts:

I'm using NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) to try to get past it.  I've tried this in the past with the gum, but now I'm trying the lozenges.  The lozenges (at least for me) have several major advantages over the gum.  I can chew the nicotine out of the gum super-fast, thus actually boosting my nicotine addiction while kidding myself that I was working to cure it.  Sure, I can chew up the lozenges, but this actually ruins their delivery mechanism rather than enhancing it.

The lozenges leave a nasty chalky aftertaste in my mouth which makes me want to use less of them, whereas I actually liked the gum.  This aftertaste can last for a long time.  Hell, I wake up with dry-mouth from these things.  So, on balance, I get a lot less nicotine in my system with the lozenges, while they actually last longer than the gum.  Although this front-loads the difficulty a bit, it's definitely good for actually quitting, rather than just substituting delivery mechanisms for my addiction.

The bottom line:  quitting any major addiction requires time and dedication.  Whether it be cold-turkey or NRT for smoking, a 30-day stay in Betty Ford for drinking, or whatever, there's a huge 'hump' you have to get over to even have a chance at making it last.  I'm still working my way towards the top of the hump, but I'm far more committed to quitting than I have ever been before.  Maybe this time I'm serious enough about it to make it last.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thank god cheap cameras weren't available when I was young

Some dipshit workers at Dominos got busted for doing nasty things to food. Anyone who thinks this kind of thing hasn't been going on for ages is a complete idiot. It's just that in this digital day and age, you can compound your teenage stupidity by putting it on film or in photos.

Now, I never worked for a fast food chain ... so those who were ordering fast food 25 years ago can consider themselves lucky. However, I did work for a hardware store. Once a month we went around changing all the burnt out 8-foot fluorescent bulbs that lit the store. Safe disposal? You wish. Javelin contests with dipshit stock clerks heaving these things at each other? Yep.

If, 25 years ago, we had the capability of filming our activities, putting them on the internet and laughing ourselves silly in a haze of pot smoke, do you think we would have? OF COURSE!!

People need to get over themselves. A felony and civil suits? Please. This is pretty standard teenage dipshittery. Roll your eyes, give them a slap on the wrist and move on.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 07:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Reserve Banking 101

... or how I learned to stop worrying and love recessions.

After noting The Market Ticker yesterday as a site that looked interesting, I've since read through a fair bit of the archives, and found that there is, indeed, tons of valuable material. If you're at all interested in economics, it's a site worth going through. I don't agree with everything there, and the writer can be a bit hyperbolic, but my thinking in a number of areas has been challenged, which is always a good thing.

One of my personal bugaboos has always been the 'end of the business cycle' crap. Putting off recessions, which we've been attempting to do for a long time now, is always a bad idea, and the more you try to do it, the worse the end result will be. This piece at The Market Ticker explains why recessions aren't only inevitable, they're an inherent part of the Reserve Banking system. People should be forced to read this piece (at gunpoint if needed) to get it through their thick skulls why playing politics with economics is not only a bad idea, it's futile (in the long run).

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The "Bailout" is no such thing.

In my current addled state, I don't have the capability to write clearly and concisely enough to address just how truly fucked up the global financial situation is. It's easy for me to state what I find to be obvious, like AIG being an utter sham which is now being operated as a conduit through which to pass money to vested interests. Getting all my references for this statement together and putting out a coherent piece is the problem.

So, for now, I'll just point at an interesting and thoroughly depressing piece, titled America is Being Looted.  The main quote:

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.

The author of the piece goes on to demonstrate just how true this statement is.  It's not a fun read, but hard truths are needed more than ever these days.

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Circle jerk for the ages

I defy ... DEFY! ... anyone to read this and still retain their sanity.

This news story could have been incrediby simple:

Headline: The U.N. is worthless.

Text: The U.N. has devolved into purely bureaucratic wrangling with zero accomplishments in ages. It might be amusing to catalogue the infighting among various bureaucracies, but then again, it might be amusing to cut yourself with a razor blade untill you bleed out. Why does the U.S. support this bunch of kleptocrats? Fuck only knows.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's not going to go away

For Obama, this may be a distraction, but the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden is not going to go away:

Defiant Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another U.S. cargo ship on Tuesday but failed to hijack it, officials said, just days after Navy SEALs rescued an American hostage after an earlier unsuccessful hijacking.

RPGs, eh?   Doesn't that sound familiar?  

"Our latest hijackings are meant to show that no one can deter us from protecting our waters from the enemy because we believe in dying for our land," Omar Dahir Idle told The Associated Press by telephone. "Our guns do not fire water. I am sure we will avenge."

This is an interesting take on the situation.  Never mind that the majority of incidents happen in international waters.  This sounds positively Islamic, if I may be so un-PC to say so.

The Egyptian boats were taken in the gulf off Somalia's northern coast. Said Mursi, Egypt's ambassador to Somalia who is based in Kenya, said the trawlers probably did not have licenses to fish Somali waters. "From my experience, I think that they were illegally fishing," he told The Associated Press.

Commercial fishing boats have been illegally harvesting Somalia's rich and varied sea life, including sought-after yellowfin tuna, since the country collapsed into lawlessness in the 1990s. The United Nations estimates the illegal fishing costs the Horn of Africa nation $300 million annually.

Ok, so some of this is two bunches of criminals fighting over territory.  Piracy isn't exactly a civilized repsone to illegal fishing, but whatever.  The thing that bugs me is the sentence in bold (my highlight).   It only costs Somalia $300 million if that nation had the capability of fishing their own waters.  Which they don't, because they're a bunch of savages.

Hell, I estimate that it costs me $10 billion annually when Microsoft sells their operating system, because I could otherwise be selling an operating system.  Never mind that I have no capability to do so.  Maybe I should hold a few Microsoft software engineers hostage so that I can get my fair share of the operating system profits.

All right, this post has kind of spun off the rails from a "We should do something about this before it really gets out of hand" kind of thing into a "The UN is completely stupid" thing.  The bottom line:  Nobody is going to take this seriously until it's completely out of control.  Which is kind of the stage where much of "Western Civilization" is at in regard to most issues right now.  Good luck with all that.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 10:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 7

Woo-hoo! One week smoke free!  I'm overjoyed thrilled happy utterly fucking miserable.

The good news is my brain shut itself down completely today, so I have almost no recollection of anything that happened.  Which is almost too bad as there's enough loose fur lying around the cave to make me wonder what the fuck did happen.  Maybe I have a subconcious urge to shave squirrels or something.  Once I have enough energy again, in a month or so, maybe I'll look around for some suspiciously naked animals in my neck of the woods.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 08:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Cutting through the Economic BS

As much of the blogosphere has stagnated, and almost everyone who tries to discuss economics or markets has no clue whatsoever, I'm always on the lookout for new sites (at least new to me).

The Market Ticker, after a bit of reading, reinforces a lot of my own views on economics, while at the same time challenging my thinking in regard to inflation and several other areas. It's a bit apocolyptic, but then again so are my opinions ... hell, I feel like I could have written a number of the posts myself. Er, that is if I were blogging when I was actually coherent and not from the depths of nicotine-deprived hell.

Anyway, it's a site to keep an eye on.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 6

Note to self:  Dried pine needles wrapped in leaves go up way too fast to smoke.

Side notes:  Research methods for rapid eyebrow regrowth/replacement.  Cancel order for nose hair trimmer.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Time to riot!

Phil Spector has been found guilty of murder. This is a racially-motivated outrage that cannot be ingnored! White people everywhere should get in their minivans, drive down to the nearest Lowes or Best Buy and start rioting and looting! There's a really nice table saw I've had my eye on that is just screaming to be liberated in the name of truth, justice, and extremely bad hair.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 5

Woke up in the middle of the night, hearing something rummaging around in my cave.  Forgetting what day it was, I figured it was just that damn possum again, looking through the trash.  Extremely pissed-off as the only time I can forget about my nicotine cravings is when I'm asleep (or unconscious).   Got out my trusty 4-iron (the perfect club to whack possums with) and proceeded to flail wildly around the cave.

Well, of course, it wasn't the damn possum, it was the fucking Easter Bunny.  Forgetting just how nasty the Easter Bunny can be, I tried to threaten him with the 4-iron into giving me a pack of smokes for Easter.  You can imagine the result:

The intense pain of my injuries have mostly overwhelmed the nicotine cravings, so I guess that's something.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 08:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well played on the pirate stand-off ... so far

Three scumbags dead and one in custody.  The captain made it out alive.  Nicely done Navy and big kudos to the captain who seemed to show courage and resolve throughout.  I'm not going to nit-pick Obama's ROE on this part of the operation, as it got the job done.

So, what next?  There had best be a 'next' as the current environment in the Gulf of Aden can not be allowed to remain as it is.  American lives and cargo were in jeapordy, and the Navy and FBI just expended a major amount of resources dealing with the situation.

As it looks like the remaining pirate basically turned himself in prior to the shootout, I'm fine with a range of options other than hanging.  I'd prefer that he not get an American trial, as that would just turn into a circus and cost us money keeping him behind bars the rest of his life.  I'm not sure what the best option is in dealing with him.  I doubt he wants to go back to piracy, as he'd likely be killed by other pirates at this point anyway.

However, the most important part of this saga is yet to come.  Will Obama have the balls to order a serious anti-piracy military operation?  I strongly doubt it ... I expect him to just breathe a sigh of relief that the captain is alive and get on with the business of spending the US into poverty.  Clinton did exactly that with far more serious attacks on the US around the globe (although the business he got on to was a bit more .... personal).  Come on Obama, surprise me and grow a pair.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 4

Apologies for there being no day 3 to this diary.  I had every intention of making an entry, but during a massive nicotine fit, I rammed my head into the cave wall so hard I knocked myself out until this morning.

Woke up with a terrible headache.  Comforted myself with about 2,000mg of ibuprofin.  Starting to think that repeatedly knocking myself unconscious, followed by massive doses of painkillers, may be the best strategy to overcome nicotine addiction.  Ran headfirst into the cave wall again.

Came-to once more at about 3pm in a pool of mostly-dried blood.  Found an interestingly shaped patch of scalp and hair stuck to the cave wall above me.  Tried to light it on fire and smoke it.  The smell of singed hair reminded me of the abuse I used to take during welding lessons in shop class.  Never really caught fire, though.

Decided to take out my frustration and aggression against defenseless inanimate objects.  Spent the rest of the afternoon smashing everything in the cave that looked like it couldn't hit back.  Feel much better now, and remembering that exercise is supposed to help with withdrawl symptoms.

I'd try to get some more exercise, but one of the things I seem to have smashed is my Wii-Fit board.  Just as well, as that fucking thing was always bitching at me about how long it had been since I had last used it.  Reminds me of a nympho-psycho-girlfriend from ages ago.  Tried to look up her phone number.  No luck.  Damn, I hate life.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 07:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm sure the pirates are terrified now

In one of the single most appalling news articles I have ever read, the AP (via Fox) discusses the FBI's investigation into the pirates:

FBI agents planned to interview the crew of a U.S. cargo ship Saturday as the bureau began building a criminal case against Somali pirates who attacked the ship and took the captain hostage.

...

"If there were ever a U.S. victim of one of these attacks or a U.S. shipping line that were a victim, our Justice Department has said that it would favorably consider prosecuting such apprehended pirates," Stephen Mull, the acting undersecretary of state for international security and arms control, told Congress last month.

Hey FBI -- thanks for supporting the military with your crack hostage negotiation skills, now GTFO.  And while I'm glad that the short-bus boys at Justice would at least consider prosecuting priates, why should they even be involved?

I sincerely hope that this is not the approach the administration is going to take.  This is not fricking Bonnie and Clyde running around hitting up banks.  If we don't take some serious military action, not only is the Somalia situation going to continue to degrade, the rest of the world is going to know it's open season on Uncle Sam.

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Belated Congratulations to Lindsey Vonn

I don't follow mainstream sports much these days, but I do follow the World Cup of Skiing. This year, American Lindsey Vonn cemented her spot atop the womens' ski universe by winning her second straight World Cup overall title, as well as the downhill and Super-G titles. Best of luck to her next year in the Winter Olympics, where she'll have the burden of being the heavy favorite in at least two events.

Oh, as an added bonus, she's rather attractive:

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Can I choose the activity if I win?

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Thoughts on the Pirate Standoff

The latest news report on the situation is here.  My thoughts:

• The only reason to drag this out is to allow the armed forces to gather intel on the pirates' operations.  Once they have sufficient intel to completely dismantle their operations, they should move to end the showdown.
• The pirates must not be allowed to move the captain to land, nor can they be allowed to transfer him to another vessel.  The military knows exactly where he is right now and that advantage cannot be handed away.
• The pirates want $2 million?  Our counter should be plain and simple:  Turn him over immediately and we'll let you live ... for now.  If you don't, we'll take no prisoners and you can either die fighting or be hung after capture.
• Once the immediate situation is resolved, which may unfortunately include the death of the captain, the forces built up in the area should give the warning that the shelling of pirate ports and vessels will commence after a reasonable time for people to leave the area.

The main complicating factor is that the pirates also hold hostages from other nations.  One hopes the administration is doing some behind-the-scenes work with their nations regarding that situation.  If the pirates attempt to bring those ships into play in the current standoff, it would create a huge set of additional problems, which makes prompt resolution of the standoff even more important.

America needs to send a very strong message that this activity will no longer be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.  Will we?  Probably not, as we've become so emotionally risk-averse as a nation, that securing the life of the captain will likely be our top priority, rather than doing our best to stop the pirates from committing more hijackings and hostage takings.  I sincerely hope the guy comes out of this in one piece, but it simply can't be our top priority.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 02:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 2

Note:  There is no Day 1 for this diary, as it's impossible to type when you're curled up at the back of your cave whimpering like Al Gore after Tipper has just found your porn stash.

Today, I had a somewhat better day.  I managed to work my way out of the fetal position around noon.  Spent a few hours searching for any shreds of tobacco lying around, and cursing myself for being so thorough in disposing of my old nemesis.

Found a scrap of cardboard from an old carton of Marlboros and spent about 45 minutes licking it.  Didn't really help.

Rummaged around the cave aimlessly until finding an old pellet rifle.  Put that aside and filled up the bird feeder hanging from a tree near the cave entrance.  Spent the rest of the afternoon taking pot-shots at the birds coming to feed.  Hands so shaky from lack of nicotine that I only managed to hit a crippled sparrow that couldn't even get off the ground to get at the feeder.  Tried to light the sparrow on fire and smoke it.

Well after dark and I gave up trying to smoke the sparrow.  The good news:  It's pretty well cooked through (although smelling strongly of butane), so at least I have something for dinner.  That's it for today.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Zombie fanatics getting out of touch

I know everyone over at DPUD reads the failblog, so I find it extremely surprising that this hasn't shown up there yet.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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