Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Humor Break

Q: How many homosexuals does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Wait, we're letting gay people change light bulbs now? See, this is what
happens when you elect a Muslim Kenyan socialist as president!!!

***

Awesome Quotes: Clint Eastwood on Gay Marriage

"These people who are making a big deal about gay marriage? I don't give a fuck
about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We're making a big
deal out of things we shouldn't be making a deal out of. They go on and on with
all this bullshit about 'sanctity.' Don't give me that sanctity crap! Just give
everybody the chance to have the life they want."

***

Andrew Sullivan's father figure
The tearful Newsweek writer speaks on why paternalistic acceptance from the
president is so meaningful
GLENN GREENWALD
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/14/andrew_sullivans_father_figure/

Andrew Sullivan — who has become the most reliable media hagiographer of an
American President since... the 2002 version of Andrew Sullivan under President
Bush — spent the past three years continuously insisting that President Obama's
opposition to same-sex marriages was largely irrelevant ("We will win not by
begging presidents to back us (they have no role in a matter involving state
legislatures, governors and courts")). Based on that view, he constantly berated
gay groups and gay activists for complaining about Obama's opposition to
marriage equality: "this desperate desire among some gays for some kind of
affirmation from one man is a little sad," he wrote just last week. But that was
when President Obama opposed same-sex marriage, so defending the President
required one to voice that position.

Last week, everything changed. President Obama "evolved" into a supporter of
same-sex marriage. So now let's hear what Andrew Sullivan has to say on this
topic. The day Obama announced his reversal evolution, Sullivan wrote that he
was "uncharacteristically at a loss for words"; that " it reaffirms for me the
integrity of this man we are immensely lucky to have in the White House";
"that's why we elected him. That's the change we believed in"; and that "there
are tears in my eyes." He then spent the next week on his blog hailing Obama's
courage, integrity and greatness as reflected by this decision of historic
significance (the same decision that he spent three years insisting was
irrelevant before Obama made it). He then penned this week's Newsweek cover
story in which he wrote that "when I watched the interview, the tears came
flooding down" and "to have the president of the United States affirm my
humanity — and the humanity of all gay Americans — was, unexpectedly, a
watershed."

That's from the same person who, to defend anti-gay-marriage Obama, has been
writing things like: "this desperate desire among some gays for some kind of
affirmation from one man is a little sad." I've long defended Sullivan as much
as anyone; I consider him a friend; and I understand that as one of the first
marriage equality advocates, he might be more emotional than most about this
admittedly emotional issue. Still, this has to be one of the creepiest episodes
in American punditry in some time, and that's true for two independent reasons:

First, it shows the dedication some media figures and Obama followers have to
glorifying and justifying whatever the President does, even when the acts being
defended are the exact opposite of one another. Sullivan spent three years
aggressively scorning everyone who criticized Obama's marriage position on the
ground that it's irrelevant and inconsequential what the President thinks about
marriage equality, even arguing that it's "sad" to watch gays seek presidential
approval; then, the minute Obama announces that he supports same-sex marriage,
Sullivan takes the lead role in depicting this act as the Peak of Human Courage
and Integrity, one of monumental significance, while he all but crusades for
Obama's instantaneous Sainthood. Given how effusive Sullivan now is about the
incalculable importance of Obama's support for same-sex marriage — for gay
youth, for equality generally, for all that is Good and Noble in Our Politics —
doesn't he at least owe an apology to all those gay activists who endured
Sullivan's condescending scorn when they were trying to pressure Obama to
"evolve"?

But the more important point is that it's dangerous, literally, to be willing to
twist one's own views this way to glorify whatever the leader does at any given
moment. Sullivan has been willing to criticize Obama more than most of the
President's most devoted followers, but this complete turnaround in the flash of
a presidential gesture is hard to watch.

Second, and much more important, it is wrong on every last level to relate to
the President as a "father figure." There was a time when I thought Sullivan's
serial blinding reverence for political leaders — Reagan and Thatcher, then Bush
43, now Obama — was the by-product of some sort of transferred British need to
be subjects of a monarch. But I don't think that theory explains much, since all
kinds of native-born Americans do the same (remember all this and this?). I was
supportive of Obama's marriage announcement because of the political benefits it
would engender, not because it gave me some kind of personal validation that my
father has finally accepted who I am. The President is not Our Father; he's a
politician who, like all people wielding political power, is in great need of
constant critical scrutiny and adversarial checks — from all citizens, but
especially media figures. Relating to him as some kind of guiding paternalistic
authority is, I'm sorry to say, really quite warped. But it's far from uncommon,
and that explains a lot.

***

Our real first gay president
Don't believe what Newsweek's cover tells you: The first gay president was James
Buchanan more than a century ago
JIM LOEWEN
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/14/our_real_first_gay_president/

This piece originally appeared on History News Network.

The new issue of Newsweek features a cover photo of President Obama topped by a
rainbow-colored halo and captioned "The First Gay President." The halo and
caption strike me as cheap sensationalism. I realize airport travelers look at a
magazine for 2.2 seconds before moving on to the next one. I grant that this
cover will probably get Newsweek a 4.4 second glance. I also understand that
Newsweek is desperate for sales. Nevertheless, I doubt that the Newsweek of old,
before it was sold for a dollar, would have pandered as shallowly.

The caption is a superficial way to characterize an important development of
thought that the president — along with the country — has been making over
recent years. It is also entirely wrong. Like the mini-furor a couple of months
back about the claim that Richard Nixon was our first gay president, the story
simply ignores that the U.S. already had a gay president more than a century
ago.

There can be no doubt that James Buchanan was gay, before, during and after his
four years in the White House. Moreover, the nation knew it, too — he was not
far into the closet.

Today, I know no historian who has studied the matter and thinks Buchanan was
heterosexual. Fifteen years ago, historian John Howard, author of "Men Like
That," a pioneering study of queer culture in Mississippi, shared with me the
key documents, including Buchanan's May 13, 1844, letter to a Mrs. Roosevelt.
Describing his deteriorating social life after his great love, William Rufus
King, senator from Alabama, had moved to Paris to become our ambassador to
France, Buchanan wrote:

I am now "solitary and alone," having no companion in the house with me. I have
gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.
I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to
find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide
good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or
romantic affection.

Despite such evidence, one reason why Americans find it hard to believe Buchanan
could have been gay is that we have a touching belief in progress. Our high
school history textbooks' overall story line is, "We started out great and have
been getting better ever since," more or less automatically. Thus we must be
more tolerant now than we were way back in the middle of the 19th century!
Buchanan could not have been gay then, else we would not seem more tolerant now.

This ideology of progress amounts to a chronological form of ethnocentrism. Thus
chronological ethnocentrism is the belief that we now live in a better society,
compared to past societies. Of course, ethnocentrism is the anthropological term
for the attitude that our society is better than any other society now existing,
and theirs are OK to the degree that they are like ours.

Chronological ethnocentrism plays a helpful role for history textbook authors:
it lets them sequester bad things, from racism to the robber barons, in the
distant past. Unfortunately for students, it also makes history impossibly dull,
because we all "know" everything turned out for the best. It also makes history
irrelevant, because it separates what we might learn about, say, racism or the
robber barons in the past from issues of the here and now. Unfortunately for us
all, just as ethnocentrism makes us less able to learn from other societies,
chronological ethnocentrism makes us less able to learn from our past. It makes
us stupider.

To think even for a moment about aspects of personal presentation other than
sexual orientation forces us to realize that we today are not necessarily more
tolerant. Consider facial hair. In 1864, with a beard, Abraham Lincoln won
reelection. Could that happen nowadays? Is it mere chance that no candidate with
facial hair has won the presidency since William Howard Taft — and he wore only
a mustache? Indeed, since Thomas Dewey in 1948 no major party candidate with
facial hair has even run for president, and Dewey wore only the smallest of
mustaches.

Perhaps the presidency is too small a sample. Let's add in the Supreme Court.
Since 1930, 34 different men have served on the Supreme Court. All save Thurgood
Marshall have been clean-shaven. (Lest readers think that Marshall's tiny
mustache might topple this argument, let me point out that during most of the
last 82 years, 70 percent of adult black males have had some facial hair, yet
the only three African-Americans to have served on the Supreme Court or as
president have had almost none.) The chance that a random sample of 33 white
males would have had no facial hair is something like (.9)33 or about .03, not
very likely.

"Even" today, many institutions, from investment banking firms to Brigham Young
University, flatly prohibit beards on white males. Brigham Young falsifies its
past to make this rule seem "natural." Its chief founder, John Maeser, usually
wore a full beard and mustache. In front of the building bearing his name stands
his bronze statue complete with full beard and mustache. In about 1960, however,
perhaps earlier, BYU banned beards. Then in 1986, the university commissioned
artist Ron Bell to paint a portrait of Maeser. Working from an old photograph,
Bell did; of course, Maeser wound up bearded. So the administration asked him to
remove the beard. "They didn't want today's students to believe they could
follow suit," in the artist's words. He complied.

If this example seems too religious, consider the huge secular company Walt
Disney Enterprises. The last time I visited Disney World, it still banned facial
hair, although it quietly made exceptions for African-Americans with
well-trimmed beards or mustaches.

In themselves, beards may not be signs of progress, although mine has subtly
improved my thinking. Nevertheless, we reached an arresting state of intolerance
when the Disney organization, founded by a man with a mustache, would not allow
one even on a janitor. Moreover, before we trivialize these examples by thinking
they apply only to facial hair, consider that Lincoln was also our last
president who was not a member of a Christian denomination when taking office.
Could a non-Christian like Jefferson or Lincoln be president today? It's not
clear.

All that said, President Obama's change of heart about gay marriage remains
significant. It does show increasing tolerance compared to our recent past.
During the nadir of race relations, that terrible period between 1890 and about
1940 when white America went more racist in its thinking than at any other time,
the U.S. also clamped down on beards, liquor (briefly) and, yes, homosexuals. As
Jackie Robinson was not the first black player in Major League Baseball, but
rather the first after the nadir, so President Obama is not our "first gay"
president (Forgive me: I cannot seem to retype Newsweek's silly headline without
putting quotation marks around the words), but only our "first" since the nadir.

Remembering that James Buchanan was homosexual complexifies our national
narrative, to be sure, but it is a complexity that we need. It prompts us to
remember that terrible era, the nadir, when we all moved backward, not just the
South. Not just organized baseball but also the Kentucky Derby, the NFL and even
previously "black" jobs like railroad foremen got redefined "white only."
Communities across the North became sundown towns, barring African-Americans
formally or informally. Even North Dakota outlawed interracial marriage.

Forgetting Buchanan's sexual orientation helps us forget all the other national
secrets we have packed into that closet with him. Ultimately, it prompts us to
succumb to chronological ethnocentrism. If, however, we can rid ourselves of the
fantasy that we are always getting better, then maybe we can create a nation
that actually becomes more tolerant. Then we might — again — elect a real gay
president. After all, just three months ago, Disney started letting white male
employees grow beards.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Going back on the Majestic Mo'Mints Radio Show to talk about the National
Foreclosure Settlement (its impact on the ability to get a loan mod and other
effects), state of foreclosure challenges in VA, and US, state, county and
municipal debt - how it will impact you.

You can listen or even watch on Ffx Public TV / online!! Mo has advised me that
those interested in listening / watching should go to:

Radio Show-Majestic Momints

www.fcac.org

Please forward to anyone you think might benefit from hearing the interview --
those seeking loan mods, short sales, to challenge a foreclosure, or those
interested in the state of the economy given the economic downturn caused by the
reckless and criminal behavior of the largest banks (libor rigging, money
laundering, targeting minorities with predatory loans, defrauding investors into
purchasing "certificates" backed by loans designed to go into default,
defrauding Fannie and Freddie by selling them loans that did not comply with
underwriting requirements, bribery in municipal bond deals, etc).

MajesticMo'Mints: Interview with Chris Brown on September 14, 2011
http://majesticmomints.blogspot.com/2011/09/interview-with-chris-brown-on-septem\
ber.html

Christopher Brown followed in his grandfather and father's footsteps as a third
generation principal of BB&B.  He graduated from Duke University with a degree
in philosophy and history, excelling in the classroom and on the football field
as running back for Duke's 1989 ACC Championship football team.  Mr. Brown
graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995 and joined the firm in
1997 after a judicial clerkship in the D.C. Superior Court.  He immediately made
an impact litigating insurance defense cases and to date has tried over 75 jury
trials in the DC and Virginia State and Federal Courts.
Mr. Brown has experience handling matters involving government leaders, top
government officials, and local administrative bodies.  He is widely-known and
widely-cited in briefs across the country for his 2003 record-setting $5.2
million verdict in the case of White v. BFI, an employment discrimination case
in the Eastern District of Virginia - a reputedly difficult jurisdiction for
discrimination claimants.??A seasoned litigator, Mr. Brown consistently proves
that a small firm with the right talent can truly "level the playing field."

Contact Info:
Brown, Brown & Brown, P.C.
6269 Franconia Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22310
Phone: 703.924.0223
Fax: 703.924.1586
brownfirm@...
www.metrotriallaw.net
www.facebook.com/virginiaattorney

*

Ex-UBS Bankers Guilty Of Scamming U.S. Cities
Basil Katz and Grant McCool
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/ex-ubs-bankers-guilty_n_1847501.html

Christopher Brown's Note: Manipulating Libor, laundering drug cartel money,
selling assets to clients knowing they are worthless (mortgage backed
securities), targeting minority communities with toxic loans, lying to
shareholders about risk, using legally meaningless documents to foreclose on
homes, and now bribing officials to get contracts to handle municipal bond
transactions. Is there anything these banks do with any integrity?

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Three former UBS AG executives were convicted on
Friday of conspiring to deceive U.S. cities and towns by operating a scheme to
rig bids to invest municipal bond proceeds.

The verdict by a federal court jury in Manhattan is the latest victory for the
U.S. Department of Justice in its broad investigation of the $3.7 trillion U.S.
municipal bond market. The widespread probe has touched some of the world's
largest banks.

The three defendants, Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz and Michael Welty, were charged
in 2010 as part of a probe focused on rooting out schemes to fix prices and rig
bids on bond transactions. The former bankers denied wrongdoing and said
government witnesses had lied to ensnare them.

Each defendant was found guilty on two counts of conspiracy. The jury also
convicted Heinz and Welty on other charges, but found Welty not guilty on one
wire-fraud count, and Heinz not guilty of witness tampering. Heinz was the only
one of the three to face that charge.

Ghavami, a Belgian national, left UBS in 2007 as global head of commodities.
Both Heinz, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Welty, of New York, worked on UBS'
municipal bond reinvestment and derivatives desk at the time of the suspected
offenses.

The two conspiracy charges involved rigging bids in 2001 and 2002 for guaranteed
investment contracts, which cities and counties use to park proceeds from
municipal bond sales.

The conspiracy charges carry a maximum of five years in prison each. No
sentencing date has been set.

Charles Stillman, a lawyer for Ghavami, told reporters: "We are obviously
disappointed with the verdict. We are looking forward to an appeal ... "

Lawyers for the other two defendants declined to comment.

Stillman told the jury in his closing arguments this week that his client "did
nothing more than his job entirely in good faith and that he never intended to
and never did cheat a municipality, the Internal Revenue Service, anyone."

During the trial, the jury heard from government witnesses who pleaded guilty to
similar crimes and agreed to testify against the defendants, and also heard
audio recordings of conversations between the bankers.

"It was fraud, plain and simple. It involved greed, deception and betrayal,"
prosecutor John Van Lonkhuyzen said in his closing statement to the jury on Aug.
27.

The jury began deciding the case on Wednesday afternoon. The trial began on July
30.

"It was horrendously difficult. It was a big deal, what we had to weigh," said
one juror, who asked not to be identified, after the verdict.

Thirteen people and one company have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the
bid-rigging investigation. A total of 19 people have been charged.

The U.S. government has a 10-year window to bring criminal charges over
suspected crimes that affect financial institutions.

In this case, since the three bankers were charged in December 2010, the case
falls within the statute of limitations, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has
ruled.

In May, three former financial executives were convicted of similar charges by
another federal jury in Manhattan.

In July, former JPMorgan Chase & Co banker Alexander Wright pleaded guilty to
one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for manipulating the bidding
process for a June 2002 contract.

Wright and former UBS employee Mark Zaino testified for the government at the
trial of the former UBS executives. Zaino pleaded guilty in 2010 to bid-rigging
charges.

The case is USA v. Peter Ghavami et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York, No. 10-cr-1217.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Robalini's 2012 NFL Football Predictions
(Plus Wednesday Opening Game Pick)

NFC

NFC North

This is a division with three real Super Bowl contenders, and I expect the
Vikings to be vastly improved.  In the end, I'm taking the Lions here, who will
add some maturity to their talent and become the most entertaining trash talking
team this side of Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 20 years ago...

NFC South

This may be the best division in the NFL.  The Saints will only drop a step, but
that will be enough to fall to third.  (Don't count out the Bucs either.)  In
the end, I'm going with the Panthers, because Cam Newton has an even greater up
side than solid Matt Ryan...

NFC West

Seattle may be underrated, but Niners Niners Niners...

NFC East

It'll come down to the Cowboys and Giants again, but this time Dallas will
deliver...

Division Winners:
Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys

Wild Cards: Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons

NFC Championship:
San Francisco 49ers over Detroit Lions

*

AFC

AFC North

I still don't take the Bengals too seriously.  Sorry.  In the end, this will go
down to two old and banged up teams.  I'm going for the Ravens, since they're
less banged up than the Steelers...

AFC South

This division should belong to the Texans...

AFC West

In a weak division, a second rate Peyton Manning is better than the
alternatives...

AFC East

Though I often do it, only a fool bets against Tom Brady.  I won't in this
division...

Division Winners

Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots

Wild Cards
Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers

AFC Championship:
Houston Texans over Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl

San Francisco 49ers over Houston Texans

Bonus Pick: Wednesday Kickoff Opener

Dallas Cowboys (+3 1/2) over New York Giants

The Giants have received so much deserved credit for their Super Bowl victory
that it has been forgotten their defense allowed 400 points last season, placing
them in the bottom quarter.  Meanwhile, for all the hatred heaped on Tony Romo,
his Passer Rating last season was 102.5 with a 31-10 TD to interception ratio. 
I could give a few reasons why the Cowboys will win, but it doesn't since they
just have to lose by less than a field goal.  It's a good bet...

All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


A little note: I'm not a big fan of parlay bets.  In the long run, they have a
smaller payout than if you bet one-on-one each game like I prefer.  I also have
found the "sure" bets tend to not do that much better than ones I don't have the
100 percent conviction of.  With that disclaimer attached, here's my favorite
three games:

Atlanta Falcons (-3) over Kansas City Chiefs
This one, believe it or not, started as a pick 'em.  The Chiefs are getting a
lot of hype at the start of the season, but I don't buy it at all, even if
they're at home.  The Falcons, on the other hand, are a real Super Bowl
contender.  Note the Dirty are also a even payout and not -110, so that makes
them a better value.

Seattle Seahawks (-3) over Arizona Cardinals
An even greater point spread swing, the Cards actually started favored by 2 1/2.
Again, the big bettors got this right: the Seahawks have a great coach, a great
and an a rookie QB who looks to be very efficient.  Seattle also is an even
payout and not -110.

San Diego Chargers (+1) over Oakland Raiders
Besides the Raiders home field advantage, the point spread must be due to the
Charger deserved notorious rep of starting slow.  But the Chargers are still a
seriously talented team who should take care of a Raiders team that has had too
much coaching turnover.

Here's my other six picks:

Philadelphia Eagles (-9 1/2) over Cleveland Browns
9 1/2 is a lot of points, but the Eagles are very good and the Browns aren't.

New York Jets (-3) Over Buffalo Bills
This is a tough game, but I'll take the Jets a field goal at home over a Bills
team that looks like a playoff threat.  The real selling point: the Jets are
another even payoff team rather than -110, making this a great rate of return
game.  (If it isn't even payout where you bet, I advise a pass on this game.)

New Orleans Saints (-7 1/2) over Washington Redskins
This game started as Saints -11, and that would've still been a tempting bet.  I
love RG3, but a rookie on the road in the Superdome against the most frightening
offense in football?  Forget it.

Detroit Lions (-7 1/2) over St. Louis Rams
The Lions like to beat up on weaker, helpless teams.  The Rams fit the bill.

Pittsburgh Steelers (+1 1/2) over Denver Broncos
Peyton Manning should have a tougher time in his return to the NFL against last
year's number one defense than Tim Tebow did the last time they played.

Baltimore Ravens (-7) over Cincinnati Bengals
I just don't take the Bengals seriously yet.  Sorry.

Here's the games I passing and why:

Chicago Bears (-9 1/2) Indianapolis Colts
The Bears are a serious Super Bowl threat, but 9 1/2 is a lot of points, and
before I give those points to the Colts, I want to see just how good Andrew Luck
is.  (My guess is he'll be, like RG3, real good from the start.)

Tennessee Titans (+5 1/2) New England Patriots
There's a lot of experts picking the Patriots to go undefeated this season and
it's not an implausible scenario.  Still, they looked out of sync in preseason,
and 5 1/2 points are a lot on the road against a team that had a winning record
last season.

Minnesota Vikings (-4) Jacksonville Jaguars
The Vikings were much better last year than their 2-14 record would suggest, and
they are at home.  But the Jags have MJD back, and running backs miss preseason
less than other players.

Houston Texans (-13) Miami Dolphins

The Texans are my AFC Super Bowl pick, and the Dolphins look really bad.  But 13
points is too much, especially against a Houston team that had real trouble last
year covering big spreads.

Green Bay Packers(-4 1/2) San Francisco 49ers

The spread start with the 49ers +6 1/2, which made this a real attractive dog
bet.  But 4 1/2 make this a tougher sell, especially since the Packers did have
an amazing track record last year covering spreads.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2 1/2) Carolina Panters
Surprisingly, the question mark here isn't Cam Newton, who I expect not to have
a sophomore slump.  My question is the Bucs, who ended last year with a 10-game
losing streak.  I think they're much better than their record last year would
indicate, and want to hold off on TB games until I see just how good they are.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Here's my results for week 1
W-L-T record: 5-5
Hot Picks record: 2-1

Though I went 2-5 on Sunday, I still had a .500 record thanks to Thursday &
Monday games.

Hot Picks (in order of hotness):

Washington Redskins (-3 1/2) over St. Louis Rams

This is the first time I've ever picked the Skins in a game since starting this
last season.  RGIII will do that to you.

Oakland Raiders (-2 1/2) over Miami Dolphins

Despite their loss to the Chargers, the Raiders looked surprisingly good, and if
they only had a decent backup long-snapper, they could've won the game.  The
Raiders need some work, but Miami is a great team to get in gear with.

Baltimore Ravens (+2 1/2) over Philadelphia Eagles

I was pretty sold on the Ravens after their crushing victory over the Bengals,
but Vegas isn't convinced.  I'll take them over the Eagles on the road.

My other four picks:

Cincinnati Bengals (-6 1/2) over Cleveland Browns

The Bengals weren't really that bad last week: the Ravens just were that good. 
The Browns didn't overplay last week: the Eagles just underplayed.

Houston Texans (-7) over Jacksonville Jaguars

I'm not convinced the Texans are the AFC top team now after seeing the Ravens in
action, but I am convinced they're better than the Jags.

Dallas Cowboys (-3 1/2) over Seattle Seahawks

In the past, the Seahawks are the kind of team the Cowboys would underperform
against.  That is the past.

San Diego Chargers (-6 1/2) over Tennessee Titans

The Chargers didn't look good last week, but I expect them to improve at home
against a Titan team humiliated by the Patriots last week.

Games I'm passing on and why:

New York Giants (-7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I'm not sure where these teams stand after Week 1, and the spread is too high to
bet on the Giants.

New England Patriots (-14) Arizona Cardinals

After their win over the Titans, I'm sold on the Pats being back at playoff
form.  But fourteen points is too much a risk.

Indianapolis Colts (+2 1/2) Minnesota Vikings

Both teams are a question mark still, and the Vikings are a -120 pick.

Carolina Panthers (+2 1/2) New Orleans Saints

I may still bet on this game, but am planning to pass since the Saints are a
-120 payout.  If you can get the Saints at -110, it's a great bet.

Buffalo Bills (-3) Kansas City Chiefs

The better bet of the two is Buffalo, but it's a -120 game.

Pittsburgh Steelers (-5 1/2) New York Jets

I like the Steeler, but think it's gonna be a close game.

San Francisco 49ers (-7) Detroit Lions

I love the Niners, but respect the Lions too much to give them a touchdown.

Atlanta Falcons (-3) Denver Broncos

I'm pretty big on the Falcons this year, but holding back due to the Peyton
X-Factor.

All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

When I  went to the Palace Station today, the Saints' bet went down to a -110,
so per my advice, I took them.

Meanwhile, the Ravens bet dropped to a -120 payout.  No problem: I bet on them
via the moneyline i-ad as a +130.


All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Billionaires & Ballot Bandits
by Greg Palast
GregPalast.com

To order via Amazon.com:

Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Ballot-Bandits-Steal-Election/dp/1609804783/t\
hekonformist

Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Ballot-Bandits-Election-ebook/dp/B008EDPP00/t\
hekonformist

If you're not sick and outraged and ready to vomit, then don't talk to me.

When I see a cruel bucket of garbage and winky-winky racism and bullshit and
venom like Paul Ryan talk to America like he's some kind of Boy Scout, I want a
gun, or a TV network where I can tell the truth or a giant washing machine to
dunk America and rinse off the crud of lies and pure manipulative evil that
they're feeding us.

But I don't like guns, I don't have a TV network, I just have this:  A book.

It's called Billionaires & Ballot Bandits:  How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy
Steps.

An investigation of Karl Rove, the Koch Gang and their billionaire Buck-Buddies.
The guys who bought Ryan.

It's the most important bullet I've ever fired.

I watch these smug jerks at the Republican Convention and I'm ill ... because I
know something they won't tell you on CNN or CBS, let alone Fox.  And here's the
facts, ma'am:

In 2008, no fewer than 2,706,275 ballots were cast—and never counted.

It didn't make a difference then, but it will make a difference now.

And, in 2008, no fewer than 3,195,539 legal voters were denied the right to
vote. Told to get the hell out of the polling station.

Add it up.  That's at least 5,901,814 legitimate votes and voters tossed out of
the count.

So God Bless America. By the way, these numbers are from the raw data supplied
to me by the US Elections Assistance Commission.
It's official. It's in your face.  It's sick.  It's unreported.

I cry.  I scream.  I retch.  Then I make jokes — but I give you the inside info
on the Koch Brothers ("Target 67C" as federal prosecutors called Charles Koch)
that will make your eyes pop.

Fact: The 2012 election's been stolen.  Already.  Stolen by billionaires who've
created data bases called "Themis" (the Kochs own that) and "DataTrust" (Karl
Rove's satanic machine).

The election has not been stolen from Barack Obama — it's been stolen from you. 
From We the People who march to the polls believing America is still a
democracy, the land of the Brave, home of The Free, and that our votes count.

The Rove-bots and the monsters behind the data bases have figured out how to
fiddle, finagle and ultimately throw your vote in the garbage.

America is on the line.  ON THE LINE.  I have two kids and God forbid if I stand
here silent with my hands in my pockets whistling at my shoes.

How did a sick little monster like Paul Ryan end up on the Republican ticket? 
Follow the money.  The big sugar daddy behind Ryan, his donor Numero Uno, is
Paul "The Vulture" Singer.  Singer's the guy who started the Romney super-PAC
"Restore Our Future" and he's funded Ryan up the Wazoo.

Why?  Because Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton told a federal court that Singer
The Vulture is a "threat to the entire financial system" of the planet.  And now
Singer wants their blood—and your dead carcass.

Frankly, I don't care, as Shakespeare said, if Obama's campaign "farts or
flies."  I do care if a billionaire can steal the votes of Black soldiers just
so he can make another billion.

So I want, I demand, I insist, that you order a copy of the exposé on The
Vulture and Romney's billionaires (and Obama's, too):  Billionaires & Ballot
Bandits:  How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps.

With a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "The Hostile Takeover of America". RFK
is as outraged as I am but a lot calmer.

And inside it, there's a 48-page comic book by Ted Rall because every cartoon is
worth a thousand bullets.

Don't be fooled again. This election is about a bunch of madly dangerous
financiers — "The Vulture," the "Ice Man," and guys so evil they don't even have
nicknames -- who can't tolerate the idea that Americans have a right to choose
our leaders, our destinies.

You want to know who owns your ballot?  Then get the book right now by ordering
it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Indiebound.  Or go and pound the counter at
your local bookstore and tell them that instead of another Yoga Diet Cookbook
you want a HAND GRENADE MADE OUT OF TRUTH:  Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.

Alternatively, make a donation and get a signed copy.
[Whichever way you choose to get it, your dollar goes to support the Palast
Investigative Fund. I am donating all my proceeds to the fund.]

Can a book make a difference?  Can't say. But I know this:  Ballot Bandits are
cowards, are cockroaches.  When we turn on the lights, they run run run away.

Do this now.  Get the info ammo and pass it on to your friends and mailing
lists.

And for my terrible language, I apologize.

Yours,

Greg Palast

Palast's brand new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election
in 9 Easy Steps, will be out on September 18. You can pre-order Billionaires &
Ballot Bandits from Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Indie Bound. Author's proceeds
from the book go to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund for reporting
on voter protection issues.

Or donate and get a signed copy of the book.

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse and Vultures' Picnic.

***

Colonels in Mirrored Sunglasses

Excerpt: Billionaires & Ballot Bandits
Greg Palast

To order via Amazon.com:

Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Ballot-Bandits-Steal-Election/dp/1609804783/t\
hekonformist

Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Ballot-Bandits-Election-ebook/dp/B008EDPP00/t\
hekonformist

Chapter One: Colonels in Mirrored Sunglasses

Here are the facts, ma'am: In the 2008 election, no less than:

767,023 provisional ballots were cast and not counted;

1,451,116 ballots were "spoiled," not counted;

488,136 absentee ballots were mailed in, but not counted.

Add it up: in the last presidential election, no less than 2,706,275 ballots
were cast—and never counted. I have not included a quarter million (251,936)
provisional ballots counted only in part (that is, for some offices). That's the
official number I've calculated from the records of the US Election Assistance
Commission. Approximately three million votes flushed away are ugly enough. But
it gets worse. In addition to the roughly three million ballots cast and not
counted, no less than:

2,383,587 would-be voters had their registrations rejected;

491,952 voters already registered were wrongly purged from the rolls; and

320,000 properly registered voters were simply turned away from the polls when
they tried to vote, mostly for not having IDs acceptable to a poll worker.

Add it up again and total grows to no less than 5,901,814 legitimate votes and
voters tossed out of the count. Let's call it the Missing Six Million. Karl
Rove, when he was senior advisor to President George W. Bush, summed it up
perfectly:

"We are beginning to look like we have elections like those run in countries
where the guys in charge are, you know, colonels in mirrored sunglasses."

Rove is not complaining, he's boasting about his own accomplishments. But for
strategist Rove, six million isn't enough. Through several front organizations
and affiliates, Rove and his comrades have launched a campaign making brilliant
use of the tactics originating from the Red Scare and the War on Terror.

Now, instead of the communist lurking under your bed or the al-Qaeda sleeper
cell next door, they've created a new monster to fear, to hunt, and to destroy:
the Fraudulent Voter.

There aren't any, of course. Or, to be accurate, so few you can literally count
them on your fingers—about six in any year—not six million, half a dozen jerks
convicted of voting illegally. In the whole country.

But in Rove's echo chamber of fear, in the Voter-Fraud Hysteria Factory, these
six become so threatening and dangerous that they will be used to take away the
vote from six million. Tracking ballot-bending tricksters, figuring out how they
game US elections and snatch the choice away from the electorate, that's my job,
my beat for more than a decade, for the Guardian newspaper and BBC television,
and in 2008, for Rolling Stone.

I started covering the election games in November 2000 when I got my hands on
two computer disks from the office of Secretary of State Katherine Harris of
Florida. My team cracked the computer codes and found the names of ninety-one
thousand criminals—felons—Harris listed to purge from voter rolls. We went
through Harris's list name by name. We didn't find felons. But most were guilty
of VWB: Voting While Black. "Purging" is one way to get rid of legal voters.
There are eight more tricks, and I'll take you through each in turn. It was bad
in 2000. It was worse in 2004 and 2008. But in 2012, it will be much worse. And
in 2016, worse than in 2012.

Chapter Two:

"Why Obama is Likely to Lose in 2012"

"Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012" is the title of a column Karl Rove wrote
in the Wall Street Journal in June 2011. It's not Rove's prediction: this is his
plan to make sure Obama will lose. That's fine with me—if Rove prefers vanilla
to chocolate, hey, it's a free country. But how Rove plans to take Obama down is
contained in the subhead, and it gives me the chills...

***

Cartoon Killers for Romney
Greg Palast, Seven Stories Press
Friday, 07 September 2012
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11379-cartoon-killers-for-romney

Greg Palast is back with a timely new book, "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How
to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps." Illustrated by Ted Rall and with and
introduction by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Palast warns of more than a decade of
Republican elections theft – and explains how they do it. And you'll also get
Palast's "Why We Occupy" DVD free, which includes a Palast talk, a rant by Lee
Camp, and a variety of other video segments.

Make a minimum donation and support progressive writers and Truthout.

Charles Manson can't vote, but Manson Inc., al-Qaeda LLC, and Putin & Co. can
run negative campaign ads on the Fox network.

And maybe they have.

In ancient times, before the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United,
the maximum amount you could give a candidate for president, legally, was two
thousand dollars. And, until 2010, to legally donate to a candidate, you had to
1) have a first and last name, 2) be a citizen of the United States, and 3)
breathe oxygen.

Then, in 2010, the US Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission decision (followed by a lower-court decision, SpeechNow.org v. FEC)
blew the doors off the limit on secret political campaign contributions.
"Unnatural" persons—headless, heartless creatures called corporations—could now
spend in election campaigns. And, unlike us mere mortals, these corporate
creatures are not limited to two thousand dollars.

As soon as Citizens came down, billionaires pulled out their debit cards and
went on a shopping spree.

In 2012, Paul "The Vulture" Singer, a billionaire, gave $1 million to Restore
Our Future, the super-PAC behind Mitt Romney. So did The Vulture's buddies John
Paulson (also a billionaire), Julian Robertson (billionaire), Bill Koch
(billionaire). Half a dozen other rich guys also ponied up millions to Restore
Our Future—including, of course, The Ice Man.

And a million bucks came into Restore Our Future from something called "F8 LLC."
Records indicate that F8 has estimated annual revenue of only $87,000 a year. So
that $1 million donation must have been a real sacrifice. The "principal" of F8
is listed as Mr. Diego Villasenor. No photo, so I looked up the F8 man in Google
image search and found this:

You may recognize Mr. Villasenor, a well-known assassin. But luckily, as a
cartoon, he only kills other cartoons. However, he does have a million in real
cash money to blow on making Governor Romney our president.

Whether this is the real Mr. Villasenor, or if there is a real Don Diego, or if
he's a Quechua Indian in Peru who believes photos will steal his soul, or if he
has a soul at all, well, that just doesn't matter. What matters is the "LLC,"
which stands for Limited Liability Corporation. And under Citizens, the letters
LLC mean F8 LLC can donate unlimited millions for political advertisements—and
F8's owner's name, whether it really is Diego, his nationality, or even if he
shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, is none of your damn business.

And what is Restore Our Future? Well, it is a kind of campaign Death Star that
can and does emit crushing blasts of money to mutilate and destroy candidates
who would oppose the electoral will of Paul "Vulture" Singer, F8, Bill Koch ($2
million donation), and the other billionaires.

In just the first couple months of 2012, Restore Our Future ran about $56
million through its cash colon to crap all over the opponents of Romney's
presidential bid. (Official records showed 87.4 percent of the super- PAC's
spending went into hate messages, i.e., negative ads and telephone calls.)

But why play? What do they want? And as Butch said to Sundance, "Who are these
guys?"

Well, despite the name "Citizens United," not all those united are citizens.
Less noted in the hubbub about corporate personhood was that the Citizens and
SpeechNow decisions OK'd political spending by foreigners. Look forward to
candidates funded by Zeta Gang Inc PAC. And while Charles Manson has lost his
citizenship and right to vote, Citizens has restored his right to form Manson &
Company Super-PAC.

The Chinese military is already positioned to support its Manchurian candidates.
In fact, the Peoples Liberation Army is already incorporated in the US via its
clothing line sold at WalMart called, "New Order." I kid you not.

And maybe they have. Senator John McCain has disappeared from TV screens since
letting the cat out of the bag that the largest contribution to "Restore," the
Romney super-PAC, likely came from China via the Sands Casino Corporation. It's
been a long time since Sinatra played the Sands in Vegas. Today, its entire
income comes from casino operations in Macau, China, an operation created in
partnership with Communist Party apparatchiks.

But there's no sense asking about it. Mr. Villasenor isn't taking questions.

For the full story of Karl Rove, the Vulture, the Ice Man, and the Kochs, donate
to Truthout.org and get a copy of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an
Election in 9 Easy Steps by Greg Palast, with comics by Ted Rall.

Greg Palast's investigative reports are broadcast by BBC Television's Newsnight.
His new book is Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9
Easy Steps (7 Stories Press/Palast Investigative Fund).

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Greg Palast Returns to San Francisco Bay Area
Sept. 24 & 25

With his new book:
Billionaires and Ballot Bandits

Berkeley
Monday—September 24
7:30 PM
St John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue
Santa Rosa
Tuesday---September 25
7:00 PM
Glaser Center, UU Congregation
547 Mendocino Ave

$10.00 donation at the door — no one turned away — Wheel chair Accessible

Benefit for Project Censored, Media Freedom Foundation, Flashpoints, KPFA in
Berkeley and KRCB in Santa Rosa

Book sales by Moe's Books in Berkeley and Copperfield's in Santa Rosa

In the 2008 election, no less than: 767,023_provisional ballots were cast and
not counted; 1,451,116 ballots were_"spoiled," not counted; 488,136 absentee
ballots were mailed in, but_not counted. Add it up: in the last presidential
election, no less than 2,706,275 ballots were  never counted.

Information contact:
Peter@...
707-874-2695
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***

The Worst Teacher in Chicago
by Greg Palast | For the Occupied Chicago Tribune
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
GregPalast.com

This is a true story.

CHICAGO.  In a school with some of the poorest kids in Chicago, one English
teacher – I won't use her name – who'd been cemented into the school system for
over a decade, wouldn't do a damn thing to lift test scores, yet had an annual
salary level of close to $70,000 a year.  Under Chicago's new rules holding
teachers accountable and allowing charter schools to compete, this
seniority-bloated teacher was finally fired by the principal.

In a nearby neighborhood, a charter school, part of the city system, had
complete freedom to hire.  No teachers' union interference. The charter school
was able to bring in an innovative English teacher with advanced degrees and a
national reputation in her field - for $29,000 a year less than was paid to the
fired teacher.

You've guessed it by now:  It's the same teacher.

It's Back to School Time!  Time for the editorialists and the Tea Party, the GOP
and Barack Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan to rip into the people who
dare teach in public schools.

And in Arne's old stomping grounds, Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is stomping on
the teachers, pushing them into the street.

Let's stop kidding ourselves. This is what Mitt Romney and Obama and Arne Duncan
and Paul Ryan have in mind when they promote charter schools and the right to
fire teachers with tenure:  slash teachers salaries and bust their unions.

They've almost stopped pretending, too.  Both the Right Wing-nuts and the Obama
Administration laud the "progress" of New Orleans' schools–a deeply sick joke. 
The poorest students, that struggle most with standardized tests, were drowned
or washed away.

One thing Democrat Emanuel and Republican Romney both demand of Chicago teachers
is that their pay, their jobs, depend on "standardized tests." Yes, but whose
standard?

Here is an actual question from the standardized test that were given third
graders here in NYC by the nation's biggest test-for-profit company:

"...Most young tennis stars learn the game from coaches at private clubs.  In
this sentence a private club is...."   Then you have some choices in which the
right answer is "Country Club - place where people meet."

Now not many of the "people [who] meet" at country clubs are from the South Side
of Chicago--unless their parents are caddies.  A teacher on the South Side whose
students are puzzled by the question will lose their pay or job. Students on the
lakefront Gold Coast all know that mommy plays tennis at the Country Club with
Raul on Wednesdays. So their teacher gets a raise and their school has high
marks.

And while Mayor Rahm promises kids in "bad" schools new teachers (the same ones
at lower pay) at high-score schools, in fact, they are never actually allowed
in.

But Rahm, after all, is just imposing Bush education law which should be called,
No Child's Behind Left.

You want to know what's wrong with our schools?  Benno Schmidt, CEO of the big
Edison Schools teach-for-profit business is a creepy, greedy privateer.  But he
told me straight: that before Hurricane Katrina, his company would never go into
New Orleans because Louisiana spent peanuts per child on education.  He made it
clear: You get what you pay for.  Not what you test for.

So the charter carpetbaggers slither in, cherry-pick the easy students, declare
success. The tough cases and special ed kids are left in the public system so
they can claim the public system fails.

Here's what the teacher who was terrible at $70,000 but brilliant at $41,000
told me:
"They're not doing this in white neighborhoods.  And they want to get rid of the
older, experienced teachers with seniority who cost more.  Get rid of the
teachers and, ultimately get rid of the kids.  And the charter school gets to
pick the kids who get in."

It's simple.  When you look at the drop-out rates in New York (41%) and Chicago
(44%), the solution offered is to pay teachers less. They punish those who dare
to work in poor schools where kids struggle and you can bet that "washing away"
half the kids in our schools is, in fact, exactly what they've planned.

It's notable that, when he lived in Chicago, Barack Obama played basketball with
city school chief Arne Duncan, but Obama sure as hell didn't send his kids to
Arne's crap public schools. Those are for po' folk.

His kids went to the tony "Lab" School in Hyde Park.  Obama believes what Duncan
believes and what Romney believes:  there's no need for universal education and
no need to spend money on it.  Yes, they like to say that "children are our
future."  But they mean the children of China are our future, the Chinese kids
who will make the stuff we want and the children of India who will program it
all for us.

After all, how much education does some obese kid from Texas need to stack boxes
from China in a Wal-Mart warehouse?

Education is no longer about information and learning skills.  It's now about
"triage."  A few selected by standardized tests or privileged birth will be
anointed and permitted into better and "gifted" schools.

The chosen elite are still very much needed:  to invest in India and Vietnam, to
design new derivatives to circumvent the laughable new banking laws, and to
maintain order among the restless hundred-million drop-outs squeezed out of the
colon of our educational system.

Democrats' Bantustans, Republicans' Value-less Vouchers.

The Obama/Duncan/Emanuel plan is to create Bantustans of un-chartered,
cheaply-run dumpster schools within a government system.  But Romney and the GOP
would give every child a "choice" even outside government schools with
"vouchers."

Of course, the "vouchers" don't vouch for much.  Romney's old alma mater,
Cranbrook Academy, runs at $34,025 a year, not counting the polo sticks and
horse.  The most generous voucher program is Washington DC's, beloved of the
GOP, which pays about $7,500, or if the student's "choice" is Cranbrook, about 2
months of school.  Hyde Park Day School Chicago is $35,900.  To give each kid a
real choice, not just a coupon, means a massive increase in spending per pupil. 
I didn't see that in the Republican platform, did you?

The experienced teacher in Chicago who took the pay cut was offered one
consolation.  She was told she could make up some of the pay loss by quitting
the union and saving on union dues.

So that's the program.  An educational Katrina: squeeze the teachers until they
strike, demolish their unions and drown the students.

Chicago's classroom war is class war by another name.

Class dismissed.

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse and Vultures' Picnic.

Palast's brand new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election
in 9 Easy Steps, will be out on September 18. You can pre-order Billionaires &
Ballot Bandits from Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Indie Bound. Author's proceeds
from the book go to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund for reporting
on voter protection issues.

Or donate and get a signed copy of the book.

***

Why We Occupy
Greg Palast - the film

"The first thing that the military police say is, 'Give us your film.' They had
real weapons and I had a fake press pass, so it was an easy choice.  They let me
keep my pen -- but they didn't know it was one of those Austin Powers jobs with
the video camera hidden inside."

For donors to the Palast Investigative Fund only:
"Why We Occupy":  Greg Palast LIVE.
Get the signed DVD, download the film or download the audio.

In an extraordinary talk mixed with live, undercover footage from his
investigations from around the globe, Palast rips the sheets off the One
Percent, exposing the Koch Brothers, Chevron, BP, Goldman Sachs, the IMF,
WTO—the bribers and billionaires in stories that grip you, scare you—and make
you laugh.

Right now, the Palast investigative team is taking on the Koch Brothers, the
super-PAC-men and the vote thieves in our most important investigation ever. 
Join us:  Make a tax-deductible donation of at least $30 to our not-for-profit
Fund and get, as thanks, the DVD Why We Occupy signed by Palast. Here are his
tales from his smash hit book, Vultures' Picnic, a five-continent hunt for the
fiercest financiers, petroleum barons and dons of the corporate crime wave.

The DVD includes two bonus segments, beginning with the 14 short films that go
with each chapter of Vultures' Picnic.  If you have the book or just want to see
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dawn in front the mansion of The Vulture, you'll want this DVD.  It's on the
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Plus—the in-your-face comic genius of Lee Camp with "A Moment of Clarity" taking
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Get the combo:  Donate at least $70 and get Vultures' Picnic, the hardbound
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Right now, get the info, support the work, change history.  Join the Palast
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Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse and Vultures' Picnic.

His brand new upcoming book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an
Election in 9 Easy Steps, will be out next month on September 18. You can
pre-order Billionaires & Ballot Bandits from Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Indie
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Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
konformist group:

Who is The Konformist Beast of the Year?

It's time for the annual pick of The Konformist Beast of the Year.

To read more of the nominees go to:

http://www.konformist.com/page4.htm



May 2011: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

June 2011: Paul Ryan

July 2011: Ken Feinberg

August 2011: John Lipsky

September 2011: Jersey Shore

October 2011: Peter King

November 2011: Brian Moynihan

December 2011: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt
Romney & Rick Santorum

January 2012: Eric Holder

February 2012: Chris Dodd

March 2012: Terry Gou

April 2012: Joseph Kony & Kony 2012


   o Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
   o Paul Ryan
   o Ken Feinberg
   o John Lipsky
   o Jersey Shore
   o Peter King
   o Brian Moynihan
   o Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney & Rick
Santorum
   o Eric Holder
   o Chris Dodd
   o Terry Gou
   o Joseph Kony & Kony 2012


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist/surveys?id=3116830

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

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Who is The Konformist Beast of the Year?

To vote for your pick go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist/polls

Or send email to: robalini@...

It's time for the annual pick of The Konformist Beast of the Year.

One nominee was chosen each month from May 2011 to April 2012. Here are the
choices:

May 2011: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Despite an attempt to suppress the horrifying effects via a collaboration of
political leaders and korporate media, strong evidence is quietly accumulating
that Fukushima is even worse than Chernobyl.  The coverup by the establishment
is not only in Japan and the US, but in the entire industrialized world, where
military industrial complexes profit off the false notion that nuclear power is
both safe and cheap.

June 2011: Paul Ryan
As reactionary and feckless as the Democratic Party has been in the age of
Obama, the GOP has become scary crazy.  Exhibit A: Paul Ryan's 2012 federal
budget plan, which would abolish korporate income taxes, estate taxes, taxes on
capital gains, dividends and interest, and heavily reduce tax rates on the
wealthy while ruthlessly cutting social programs, partially privatizing part of
Social Security to Wall Street and fully privatizing Medicare.  Some would call
this "Ayn Rand on Crack" (which may be an unfair smear of Ms. Rand, who was at
least a gifted writer) yet all but four Republicans in the the HOR and five in
the Senate voting for it.

July 2011: Ken Feinberg
Though not particularly well known, Ken Feinberg is a stunningly loathsome
individual: as the government-appointed pay czar for the BP Gulf oil disaster,
he has squeezed victims to sign off on lowball compensation claims or face long
painful legal battles while dealing with personal economic crisis caused by BP's
gross negligence.  This is not new: previously Feinberg had done the same
screwing victims of Agent Orange, Dalkon Shield and even the 9/11 disaster,
bullying them all in lawyer hardball for korporate and insurance giants. 
Unsurprisingly, the one time Feinberg hasn't ripped off those he administered as
a pay czar is in approving obscene salaries to beneficiaries of the Wall Street
Bailout via TARP.

August 2011: John Lipsky
If there's one news story over the last year that just stinks of a frame-up,
it's the supposed rape charge and continued harrassment of Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, former IMF Managing Director and (until the dubious arrest)
leading contender for the French presidency.  DSK was becoming an increasingly
strong critic of the neoliberal economic agenda and even suggested the taboo (as
far as the US banking system is concerned) of replacing the dollar as the
solitary international currency.  He was arrested in New York in potential
violation of both international law and diplomacy protocol before any evidence
had been properly analyzed, then dumped onto Rikers Island until he resigned,
conveniently timed to allow Lipsky to push the Greek austerity plan through.

September 2011: Jersey Shore
The idea that "Reality" TV is manufacturing a more depraved society in America
is a conspiracy theory The Konformist has supported for over a decade.  Jersey
Shore, the new low in culture trash, is pretty ironclad proof in our book.

October 2011: Peter King
Ten years after 9/11, Congressman King is perhaps the most notorious elected
official to engage in anti-Muslim rhetorics that is barely concealed
race-baiting against Middle Easterners.  His "Muslim radicalization hearings"
give him the stench of a modern-day Joseph McCarthy.

November 2011: Brian Moynihan
That none of the leaders of the big banks have been jailed for their crimes is
an outrage: that instead they were given billion in bailouts while homebuyers
were given the shaft is a complete offense.  That Bank of America under their
CEO Moynihan then tried to gouge customers with a monthly $5 debit card fee was
a complete insult to account holders who bailed out the company's ass in the
first place.  Fortunately, in the backlash that followed, account cancellations
increased by 20% and B of A backed down.

December 2011: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt
Romney & Rick Santorum
The six best arguments for Barack Obama in 2012 are these six jokers, who
represented the GOP in the campaign against him.  Whether it be they are true
believers or cynical opportunists, the policies and positions of these
politicians perfectly exemplify the toxic combination of cluelessness and
frightening demagoguery that dominates the Republican Party.  (Ron Paul, despite
his many flaws, was once again exempted from Beasthood due to his surprising
level of honesty, integrity and principled stands for a politician.)

January 2012: Eric Holder
While most analysis of Obama as a leader focus on the economy, his failures on
justice and civil liberties may be his more notorious legacy, a legacy
sanctioned by Holder as Attorney General.  The legacy includes sanctioning
unauthorized wiretapping, torture techniques and punishing whistleblowers. 
Meanwhile, the ruthlessness Team Obama has hunted whistleblowers, along with the
push for indefinite detention of supposed War on Terror suspects and the
legalization of assassination of Americans, has made a shockingly strong case
that Obama is even worse than George W. Bush was on defendingthe Constitution,
the supposed primary purpose of a prez.

February 2012: Chris Dodd
Based on their history of attacking freedom of speech, it would be reasonable to
assume the GOP would be behind the greatest threat in years to the Internet. 
Sadly, that would be false: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) may have had some
backings by Republicans and right wing business leaders (most notably the
repulsive Rupert Murdoch) but in the end it's fair to say it was a Democratic
Party bill funded by big Democrat money.  The biggest player was the Motion
Picture Association of America, the lobbying arm of the supposed "liberal"
Hollywood film industry in Hollywood, whose Chairman is the former Democratic
Senator Dodd.

March 2012: Terry Gou
If one is to make a case for the dark side of Apple, item one would be its
Faustian collaboration with Foxconn in making its products, all the more
offensive due to lack of necessity.  (Unlike most companies, Apple competes in
value rather than price, making the extreme exploitation of workers not part of
their business model.)  Still, the crude exploitation by Gou's Taiwanese goes
far beyond their partnership with Apple and indicts the entire electronics
industry.

April 2012: Joseph Kony & Kony 2012
What could be worse than an African war criminal whose deranged pseudo-religious
cult of mysticism pushes children into sex slavery and cannon fodder for his
theocratic Lord's Resistance Army?  (As Marlon Brando would put it Apocalypse
Now: "The horror.")  How about a movement pushed forward by a film that, no
matter how well meaning, seems to only the public on a Western invasion of
Africa, the real purpose of which seems to be to steal even more natural
resources from the continent?


To vote for your pick go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist/polls

Or send email to: robalini@...

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Were the Batman murders a covert op?
Friday, July 27, 2012
Jon Rappoport
http://www.naturalnews.com/036612_Batman_massacre_covert_op.html

(NaturalNews) The obvious way to begin an investigation is to look at the event
itself for any obvious contradictions or unexplained details.

For example, in the Batman murders, we have two witnesses who were in the
theater and implied there were accomplices.

One witness, Corbin Dates (aka Dayton), told Aurora news outlets a man sitting
in the front row took a cell phone call and went to a side exit, propped the
door open with his foot, and seemed to be signaling somebody. Ten to 15 minutes
later, James Holmes appeared in full gear with weapons as the exit door swung
open The other witness (no name as yet) stated that, during the massacre, a gas
canister was thrown from a direction where Homes wasn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fcD7pyfL8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4MW_qhAPAU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Hoaiw2jrpmE&NR=1

Despite the statements of these apparent witnesses, Aurora Chief of Police
Daniel Oates claims he is sure James Holmes acted alone.

But we need to back up. First of all, neither witness actually IDed Holmes. They
IDed a man who was dressed in black from head to toe, wore a helmet, body armor,
and a gas mask. Actually, no one has identified Holmes as the man in the
theater. How could they? His face and body were covered and concealed.

How did the shooter get into the theater? Clad in black, wearing body armor,
carrying several weapons, he buys a ticket and walks in with everyone else?
Authorities suggest he came through a side door. If so, how did he know the door
would be unlocked? After a few months of meticulous planning, he simply hoped it
would be?

Watching these two witnesses being interviewed by TV news reporters is extremely
frustrating. The reporters have their hands on potentially explosive information
and they don't follow up. Nor do they press police for comments on the witness
statements.

Nevertheless, from what we can provisionally surmise about the crime scene,
there are huge gaps in the official scenario---if we can even call it a
scenario.

Standing out above everything else is the fact that no one can ID Holmes as the
shooter.

We are told by police that, after Holmes was done killing people in the theater,
he exited a side door (the same door through which he had entered?), stood
quietly, and surrendered himself to the authorities. This, too, is unclear. The
police were already stationed at the exit door? Holmes waited until they
arrived? Was he still holding weapons?

It's said he was calm. He gave himself up.

After killing scores of people and wounding others, the first-time shooter was
calm? How could this be? Well, drugs would enter the equation. What drugs?
Vicodin. Others? Where were these drugs obtained? Who wrote the prescriptions?
Where is the doctor? Why have we heard nothing about a doctor? What, exactly,
going back into childhood, is Holmes' pharmaceutical history?

If this was a true covert op, it would have been easy for a pro shooter to
decimate the people in the theater, slip out the exit door with his accomplice
or accomplices, where the patsy, Holmes, drugged, was waiting with other
operatives. After dousing Holmes with gunpowder residue, the pros left the
scene, disappeared into the night, leaving a pre-programmed Holmes there to
confess to the crime and state that his apartment was rigged with explosives.

If this is how things happened, it would explain how Holmes, possessed of no
apparent knowledge about constructing bombs, could have had his apartment wired
with exotic devices. Holmes didn't put them together. The pros did.

At Holmes' court appearance on Monday, he certainly looked drugged as he moved
slowly in the courtroom and sat in his chair. If so, who gave him the drugs in
jail?

Of course, huge gaps exist in Holmes' life story. We have no explanation for his
transformation from a young eager science student into a blank-faced defendant
in a mass-murder case. Had he ever been to see a psychiatrist? If so, what drugs
were prescribed? Ritalin, which can cause violent behavior? Antidepressants,
which can cause violent behavior?

Had he ever been enrolled in a clinical trial of an experimental drug? During
his brief matriculation at the University of Colorado, Denver, had he been used
in a neuroscience experiment? The web page for the University neuroscience
department, where Holmes studied on a government grant, has been taken down.

One oddity about the investigation of the killings: the FBI presence is minimal.
We don't know what the FBI is doing behind the scenes, but by contrast, in the
1999 Columbine massacre the FBI was all over the scene in a very visible way.
They interviewed witnesses, processed evidence, and made public statements.
Here, they're in the background. Why?

I offer one possible explanation. In Columbine, the FBI became a lightning rod
for doubts and questions, and accusations of overlooking/suppressing evidence
that would lead to more than two shooters. Here in Aurora, it's all local: "we
have the killer, he's in jail, the case is proceeding, nothing to see, move
along." This appears to be an intentional strategy. Keep it simple, don't stir
up the populace.

We'll have to watch, as the disposition of the court case unfolds, to see
whether the "simple" strategy is extended. Perhaps we'll have a guilty plea and
a quick sentence. Or perhaps court-appointed psychiatrists will decide Holmes is
incompetent to cooperate in his own defense, in which case he'll be remanded to
a mental facility for a period of time, after which he'll quietly enter a guilty
plea and be sentenced. But what does "incompetent" mean? Drugged into
submission?

I believe there are specific items of evidence which, if known, would provoke
new questions on top of the witness statements above. For example, was an older
model (outdated) police car seen leaving the area of the theater after the
shootings? What was the blood evidence on Holmes' clothing and shoes? Whose
blood was it? Did it belong to victims inside the theater? Was Holmes, as he
stood at the exit to the theater and surrendered himself, covered in more blood
than he would have accumulated as a shooter? In other words, was he set up as
the designated patsy?

And are there more witnesses in the theater who saw accomplices? If so, as in
Columbine, they will, no doubt, be told by law enforcement to keep quiet. If
there is a trial, will Corbin Dates and the other anonymous witness mentioned
above be asked to testify? The chances are slim to none.

If the Batman murders are indeed a covert op, the motives behind it don't need
much explanation. The UN Arms Trade Treaty, which has been under final
discussions in New York since July 3rd, and is due to wrap up on July 27th, is a
new step in the direction of gun confiscation, despite its announced aim of
limiting only the export of weapons from one nation to another. Once the Treaty
is signed, it will need senate ratification to go into effect and impact the 2nd
Amendment. That ratification is the hard part for gun-control advocates. The
tragedy at the Batman premier on July 20 could act as a pressure wave-front on
senators to rubber-stamp the treaty.

Other motives to stage the shootings in Aurora? The manufacture of a consensus
for massive "crime prevention," and that means the extended use of medical drugs
to influence behavior and the brain toward the goal of passivity and
conformity---with the victims ENJOYING IT. (See Soma, the drug of choice in
Huxley's Brave New World.)

"Say something, see something" is only part of the picture. Creating a nation of
snitches is certainly on the DHS's to-do list. But we are in the Century of the
Brain. Researchers are eager to pawn off their discoveries for the development
of technology that can literally limit behavior and thought. Behind the facade
of "curing mental disorders," this is where brain research is heading. Free will
and choice are considered flimsy outmoded notions that need to be cast aside, so
the Brave New World can emerge. James Holmes becomes a classic case of a man
whose brain needs "restructuring." The globalist technocrats want every inch
they can win in the battle to convince the public that brain manipulation holds
a promising future for the human race. Of course, their idea of the future is
synaptic and neuronal control. Holmes is one more poster child for their
chilling agenda.

Brad Garrett, a former FBI profiler and now an analyst for ABC News, is one of
the prime go-to experts who deliver pronouncements on mass murderers. Garrett
supplies the public perception of these killers.

Here are his off-the-shelf conclusions about James Holmes: "[Mass killers are]
insecure, they start having, perhaps, dark thoughts that people are following
them or that there are voices---auditory voices---that are directing them...some
version of this happened to Mr. Holmes...the onset of whatever this chemical
imbalance might be, it starts taking over, and he starts withdrawing..."

It's a well-recognized fact that there are no chemical or biological tests to
confirm a diagnosis of any so-called mental disorder. The whole hypothesis of
"chemical imbalance" as the basis for mental disease is just that, a hypothesis.
Nevertheless, Garrett promotes it as if it's accepted science, and he doubles
down by suggesting that Holmes was hearing voices directing his actions.

But psychiatric drugs (e.g., Ritalin, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Haldol, etc.), used
to curb mental problems, instead actually CAUSE patients to experience paranoia
and hallucinations and withdraw---and plan and commit violence. It's the drugs.
Garrett is providing cover to explain Holmes' actions as mental illness, when in
fact he knows nothing about what Holmes experienced or why. If Holmes was, in
fact, a mind-control subject, that is hidden behind psychobabble.

Garrett supplies exactly the kind of narrative that calls for "early
intervention," prevention of crime throughout society before it occurs, which,
in the hands of brain researchers, means chemical and other means of controlling
"anti-social" impulses.

It is noteworthy that a young neuroscience student, Holmes, who was at one point
studying "the biological basis of mental disorders," winds up as an accused mass
murderer who is "obviously deranged" and "suffering from a chemical imbalance in
the brain."

At this point, we go down the rabbit hole, and the pieces of the puzzle are
strange and tantalizing.

A video has emerged of Holmes, at age 18, six years ago, lecturing to fellow
attendees at a science summer camp at Miramar College in San Diego.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lotOPjLlbDU

Holmes explains he has been studying temporal illusions and subjective
experience. A temporal illusion, he states, is the idea that you can change the
past.

At the Cannonfire blog (http://cannonfire.blogspot.com) there are comic-book
panels posted from what Joseph Cannon calls "the most famous passage in the most
famous of all Joker stories, Alan Moore's 'The Killing Joke.'"

The Joker is asked: "I mean, what is it with you? What made you you the way you
are? Girlfriend killed by the mob? Maybe brother carved up by some mugger...?"

The Joker replies: "Something like that happened to me, you know...I'm not
exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes
another...if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! Ha ha
ha!"

James Holmes, at 18 years of age, said he was studying temporal illusion, "the
idea that you can change the past," a feat the fictional Joker had obviously
accomplished.

In the last ten years, the film that explored this subject---and Holmes' other
interest, the subjectivity of experience---most deeply, through its treatment of
dreams and the insertion of synthetic experience in the mind, was Inception,
directed by Christopher Nolan, who of course also directed the recent Batman
trilogy, including The Dark Knight Rises. In yet another version of changing the
past, in 2000 Nolan directed Memento, which unraveled its story backwards, as a
victim of anterograde amnesia, who can't store memories, tries to revenge his
wife's murder by leaving clues for himself that will lead him to the identity of
her killer.

Are we simply talking about a neuroscience student's (Holmes') interest in
comics and films, or did he participate in experiments that attempted to alter
his subjective view of the world and his own past?

For example, there is wealth of information about the criminal experiments
conducted by Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Ewan Cameron, who operated with funding
from the CIA during the 1950s. Cameron ran MKULTRA Subproject 68, during which
he used massive electroshocks, sensory isolation, drug-induced periods of sleep
(7-10 days), and audiotapes of "re-patterning" commands to attempt to wipe out
patients' pasts, their memories, their former subjective mindsets, their very
personalities---in favor of recreating these patients as "new and improved
people."

As a teen, Holmes interned at the Salk Institute in San Diego. Salk carries out
studies using functional MRI, a technique of brain mapping that involves
correlating read-outs with various mental activities. It's only speculation at
this point, but somewhere along the line, did Holmes participate in such
experiments, and were the results used to map regions of his brain for later
inputs, so someone could achieve behavioral/thought control over him?

To even suggest Holmes may be a mind-control subject brings immediate criticism,
to which I would offer this counter: why accept the scenario of the crime put
forward by the Aurora police? Why do they deserve the benefit of the doubt? Why
limit and narrow the investigation to their story?

Was law enforcement correct about the JFK and JFK and MLK assassinations? Was
law enforcement correct about the Columbine massacre, in which 101 witnesses
state they saw other shooters? Was law enforcement correct about the lone duo of
plotters in the Oklahoma bombing? Was law enforcement correct about 9/11?

In all cases---no.

I'll tell you this. If the authorities really wanted to know what makes James
Holmes tick (a prospect I strongly doubt), their best chance would be to send
someone into his cell who could talk to him about Christopher Nolan, Inception,
Memento, functional MRI, the TV series, Lost, which contained time-travel themes
and was a show he and his friend, Ritchie Duong, used to watch together every
week when they attended UC Riverside. Talk to Holmes about what he wants to talk
about. Who knows what would eventually unravel?

It might be far more than the police wish to uncover.

Sources:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Nolan

About Jon Rappoport

The author of an explosive new collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a
candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California.
Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for
30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS
Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines
in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global
politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.

NoMoreFakeNews.com
QJRConsulting@...

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


Obamacare Constitutional but Still Sucks
Robert Sterling, Konformist.com

In a last minute reversal by Chief Justice John Roberts, Obamacare was ruled
constitutional by the Supreme Court.  It is important to note that in upholding
the law, the Supremes rejected the usage of the Commerce Clause to justify the
individual mandate, which is a victory for those who found such an argument to
be insidious.  Obviously, include myself in that group.

The claim that mere existence made one involved in commerce (which was central
to the Commerce Clause argument) had no historical precedent, as even judges who
had previously upheld the law had agreed in unanimty.  Even worse, any precedent
that was even close to this was one that no self-respecting progressive should
ever embrace.  (The most notable precedent being written by Antonin Scalia,
where he argued that due to the Commerce Clause, the War on Drugs trumps the
power of states to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.)  It was
disappointing to see so many so-called liberals, in their desperation to defend
Obamacare, to be totally oblivious and dismissive of such concerns.  It
shouldn't be surprising, as in the last four years what has passed for
liberalism has bottomed out to merely mean being a pathetic shill for Barack
Obama rather than represent any coherent philosophy.

Of course, that Obamacare is constitutional should be the minimum standards one
should expect for a law.  (Alas, in the age of torture and the Patriot Act, such
minimum standards is increasingly becoming a norm.)  Another standard is how
popular it is with the public.  On this score, Obamacare has been a major flop
since its inception.  A June 2012 NY Times/CBS News poll before the Supreme
Court ruling underscored this: 41 percent of all polled believed the entire law
should be overturned, while 27 percent wanted an overturn of the mandate.  Only
24 percent wanted the law to be upheld.  This was despite a relentless push by
the White House, Democratic Party and the media establishment to sell the public
on the law as some sort of progressive victory.  While there was a slight
increase in approval of Obamacare after the ruling (a bump that is normal in
terms of how polling goes) the general trend on Obamacare is unpopular with a
bullet downward.

That Obamacare is unpopular shouldn't be too surprising, and I for one am
someone who warned of this when the law passed.  And the establishment liberal
response to this unpopularity, merely dismissing the opposition to ignorant
dupes, is not only false but highly insulting to voters.  In this case, the
public rightfully smells a loser here.  While Obamacare is sold as a progressive
law, all its origins come from from right-wing think tanks, and its premises are
all based on snide contempt for the poor and working class.  It's solutions are
based on slashing funds to Medicare (a fact which proves the widely mocked
"death panels" cry to be not completely off-base) and the individual mandate is
based on the premise that poor young people are somehow cheating the system by
not purchasing health insurance they can't afford.  It is a Marie Antoinette
solution to our health care crisis, except cake is a lot cheaper and not
manufactured by parasitic oligopolies that rip off its customers at every
opportunity.  (The opportunities, thanks to Obamacare, will soon radically
increase.)  The worst thing about Obamacare isn't Obamacare itself, which I
assume will eventually fail and die due to its fundamental flaws.  The worst
thing about Obamacare is whenever a real progressive reform is ever proposed in
the future, it will be called Obamacare II, and it will be that much harder for
it to pass.  Sadly, any such skepticism will be deserved, as the liberal
apologism for the reactionary law known as Obamacare should rightfully discredit
any supporters further arguments on the issue of health care.

Poll URL source:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/new-poll-the-supreme-court-and-the\
-health-care-law/

***

John Roberts, evil genius
ROBERT E. MALCHMAN
Full Article:
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-28/news/32461302_1_individual-mandate-he\
alth-insurance-mandate-affordable-care-act

Chief Justice John G. Roberts is an evil genius. The ruling to uphold the
Affordable Care Act is, on its face, a win for President Obama both because the
media are saying it is and because it is the signature piece of legislation of
his first term. But it may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory, as Roberts
accomplished numerous, subtle victories for conservative Republicans.

First, remember that "Obamacare" and the individual mandate started out as a
proposal from the conservative Heritage Foundation as a counterproposal to the
Clinton administration's health care plan. The only reasons Republicans are now
opposed to it is because Obama proposed it and is getting credit for it. Before
it was Obamacare, the program was known as Romneycare in Massachusetts — and if
the 2008 election had gone the other way, it might be known as McCaincare today.

Meantime, the survival of the Affordable Care Act eliminates any clamor for
real, progressive health care reform, whether universal Medicare or for the
creation of a public insurance option. Such programs are anathema to
conservatives who want most things privatized — either for ideological reasons
or so that their corporate masters can further enrich themselves.

The effect of the law will be to drive millions of people to buy insurance from
insurance companies in many cases with federally subsidized funds, lining the
pockets of those corporations with the public's money. Is it any surprise that
health care stocks were surging in the wake of the ruling?

***

MLRs: Obamacare Silver Lining

Let's give Obamacare credit where it does deserve some: with the inclusion in
the law of Medical Loss Ratio.  From NBC News:

Affordable Care Act means $1.1 billion insurance rebate
Herb Weisbaum, The ConsumerMan
7-3-12
Full Article:
http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/03/12525490-affordable-care-act-mean\
s-11-billion-insurance-rebate

The nation's health insurance companies will refund approximately $1.1 billion
to their customers this summer. It's one of the new benefits of the health care
reform law.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department expects 12.8 million Americans to
get some of this money – although in the majority of cases that refund will be
sent to employers.

Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies are required to
disclose how much of your premium dollar they actually spend on health care and
how much they spend on administration, such as salaries and marketing. In the
past, consumers did not have a right to this information.
But here's the real game-changer: The 80/20 rule. If the insurance company
spends less than 80 percent of premiums on medical care it must rebate the
excess. For large group plans (the kind provided by companies that employ 50
people or more), health insurance companies must spend 85 percent of the
premiums on medical care...

The new law also requires health insurance companies to tell customers whether
they hit, exceeded or missed the 80/20 mark. If they missed the goal, they must
say by how much and what percentage of your premium will be rebated. This new
transparency is unprecedented...

Health and Human Services says it expects the average rebate for a family that
buys its own insurance to be $151. The states with the highest average rebates
per family in the individual market are: Mississippi ($651), Alabama ($582),
Maryland ($496), Delaware ($461) and West Virginia ($383). The average rebate in
the individual insurance market is zero for families in Arkansas, Hawaii, Iowa,
Maine, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont...

The bottom line:

The new 80/20 rule is a major step forward in making health insurance companies
responsible to their policy holders. It is hoped it will motivate insurers to
lower prices and/or improve their coverage to meet the new standard.

So what about this summer's rebates? Any way you look at it, a billion dollars
is a lot of money. But it won't solve the problem of skyrocketing medical bills.
It's just a drop in the bucket...

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

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illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

The Supreme Court & Citizens United
Robert Sterling, Konformist.com

The Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United has become widely loathed, and
rightfully so.  What has become less well known about the decision, however, is
as bad as the ruling may be, had they ruled against Citizens United, it would
have been decidedly worse.  And perhaps most surprising to Konformist readers is
that the issues in the ruling directly involve the history of The Konformist.

A little background: the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
involved a 2008 documentary by the right-wing Citizens United titled Hillary:
The Movie.  The movie was a hack attack on Ms. Clinton, ironically on the false
assumption that she would be the Democratic Party nominee in November.  In July
2008, the DC District Court ruled that advertisements for the film during the
election period would violate election finance laws.

Jeffrey Toobin is not the most trustworthy of writers, but in a May 2012 New
Yorker article he presents the facts pretty clearly, facts which have been
usually ignored in any discussion of the ruling.  The most telling part was the
exchange between the conservative Supreme Court judges and Deputy Solicitor
General Malcolm L. Stewart.  Here is the excerpt from Toobin's piece:

Since McCain-Feingold forbade the broadcast of "electronic communications"
shortly before elections, this was a case about movies and television
commercials. What else might the law regulate? "Do you think the Constitution
required Congress to draw the line where it did, limiting this to broadcast and
cable and so forth?" Alito said. Could the law limit a corporation from
"providing the same thing in a book? Would the Constitution permit the
restriction of all those as well?"

Yes, Stewart said: "Those could have been applied to additional media as well."

The Justices leaned forward. It was one thing for the government to regulate
television commercials. That had been done for years. But a book? Could the
government regulate the content of a book?

"That's pretty incredible," Alito responded. "You think that if a book was
published, a campaign biography that was the functional equivalent of express
advocacy, that could be banned?"

"I'm not saying it could be banned," Stewart replied, trying to recover. "I'm
saying that Congress could prohibit the use of corporate treasury funds and
could require a corporation to publish it using its—" But clearly Stewart was
saying that Citizens United, or any company or nonprofit like it, could not
publish a partisan book during a Presidential campaign.

Kennedy interrupted. He was the swing Justice in many areas of the law, but
joined the conservatives in all the campaign-spending cases. Sensing
vulnerability on the subject of books, he joined Alito's assault.

"Well, suppose it were an advocacy organization that had a book," Kennedy said.
"Your position is that, under the Constitution, the advertising for this book or
the sale for the book itself could be prohibited within the sixty- and
thirty-day periods?"

Stewart's answer was a reluctant, qualified yes.

But neither Alito nor Kennedy had Roberts's instinct for the jugular. The Chief
Justice wanted to make Stewart's position look as ridiculous as possible.
Roberts continued on the subject of the government's censorship of books,
leading Stewart into a trap.

"If it has one name, one use of the candidate's name, it would be covered,
correct?" Roberts asked.

"That's correct," Stewart said.

"If it's a five-hundred-page book, and at the end it says, `And so vote for X,'
the government could ban that?" Roberts asked.

"Well, if it says `vote for X,' it would be express advocacy and it would be
covered by the preëxisting Federal Election Campaign Act provisions," Stewart
continued, doubling down on his painfully awkward position.

Through artful questioning, Alito, Kennedy, and Roberts had turned a fairly
obscure case about campaign-finance reform into a battle over government
censorship. The trio made Stewart—and thus the government—take an absurd
position: that the government might have the right to criminalize the
publication of a five-hundred-page book because of one line at the end.

Source:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/05/21/120521fa_fact_toobin


Though Toobin makes the issues raised in the case seem surprising, they
shouldn't have been.  In fact, in communications with Citizens United before the
Supreme Court heard the case, I supported their side in the legal battle on this
basis.  By defining Hillary: The Movie (and any advertisement of it) as
electioneering rather than a work of speech, the FEC had turned speech into
something it could regulate.  The questions asked by the Supreme Court judges
were questions that should have been asked by implication of a ruling in favor
of the FEC, and the response by Stewart confirmed that siding with the FEC was
an extremely dangerous precedent.

Put it another way: let's pretend that instead of this case involving the 2008
documentary Hillary: The Movie, it was the 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 at
the center of the battle.  It is pretty hard to argue that Fahrenheit wasn't a
movie with a definite political agenda, and thus it too would be defined as
political advocacy.  Would it have been acceptable if the FCC had restricted it
during the 2004 election?

And since Stewart declared the FCC had the power to regulate books with
political advocacy during a campaign season, are there any books that could fit
this description?  In fact, there are many, but there's at least one I can think
of right away: 50 Reasons Not to Vote for Bush, a book written by myself and
published by Feral House in 2004.  By the FEC's own logic, this book (which I
admit was a work of political advocacy, something that is pretty hard to deny
when reading the title) could be regulated by virtue of election finance laws.

This was the fundamental issue behind the Citizens United case.  And in this
case, the FEC had way overstep its legal boundaries.  With Orwellian logic, the
FEC had redefined speech as campaign contributions, and turned a law designed to
restrict the perversion of politics by money into a law that could restrict the
presentation of ideas.

This doesn't mean I support the Citizens United ruling.  The Supreme Court could
have allowed the continued regulation of political commercials over public
airwaves, but declared the restrictions on Hillary: The Movie as an expansive
and unconstitutional abuse of power.  Even so, the can of worms opened by this
ruling (starting with the rise of SuperPACs) is just as much due to the FEC's
lack of respect for constitutional issues than it is the cynical posturings of
the Supreme Court's right wing.

***

The Supreme Court & Arizona Immigration

A common theme in news involving the Supreme Court and Obama lawyers is how
woefully incompetent Team Obama appears.  This may be charitable at best: the
Obama DOJ pretty much comes off as arrogant, dismissive of basic constitutional
questions and ultimately spineless to take any principled stand even if they
believed in any.  In short, the DOJ has become a perfect representation of
Barack Obama.  That was the case in the Obamacare challenge, was the case in the
Citizen's United case, and was the case in the recent Supreme Court battle over
Arizona's immigration law.

An AP news story from June 25 had the title "High court rejects part of Arizona
immigration law."  The story gets all the facts right: despite the extreme
right-wing tilt of the court, the Supremes overwhelming rejected the reactionary
law: "The court struck down these three major provisions: requiring all
immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers, making it a state
criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job and
allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants."

Despite these rulings, one key part of the law was left in place: "that police
must check the status of people stopped for various reasons who might appear to
be in the U.S. illegally."  Prez Obama decried this provision being left intact,
declaring in writing: "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion
just because of what they look like."

That Obama presented his objection in writing rather than one of his supposedly
awesome speeches should tell you something.  What was left out in the AP
article: the reason didn't reject the "Show me your papers" provision as an
in-your-face abuse of civil liberties is because the Obama DOJ never objected
the law on this point.  In fact, many of the Supreme judges could barely conceal
their disgust of the DOJ during arguments over this fact.  The reasons seem
pretty obvious: the Obama political team felt that sticking up for the rights of
Latinos would be an election loser.

The good news: though they didn't overturn the most offensive part of the law,
the Court made it pretty clear that they would if anyone could present evidence
to the court that the law has or could violate any person's basic constitutional
liberties.  It's a shame that Team Obama weren't the ones who did it.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-rejects-part-arizona-immigration-law-142916381.\
html

***

Rush to Judgment in Sandusky Trial?

It's hard to come to the defense of a man charged with serial pedophilia,
especially when there are so many witnesses against him, like there are against
Jerry Sandusky of Penn State infamy.  Fortunately, I won't be coming to his
defense.

But his lawyers in the case felt the trial timeline (seven months from arrest to
verdict) gave them inadequte time to fairly defend their client.  According to
Joe Amendola:

"We told the trial court, the Superior Court and the Supreme Court we were not
prepared to proceed to trial in June due to numerous issues, and we asked to
withdraw from the case for those reasons."

Source:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8088760/penn-state-nittany-lions-\
jerry-sandusky-lawyers-wanted-resign-judge-said-no


Regardless of what one thinks of Sandusky, one should expect he receive a fair
legal defense.

And besides, what's the harm in giving the defense more time, especially since
the case seems pretty airtight?  In fact, given that serial pedophiles like
Sandusky usually have even larger stat counts than they're charged, postponing
the trial would have allowed the prosecution to uncover even more victims.

And there's the rub: postponing the Sandusky trial would have allowed more time
for new evidence to pop up, evidence the prosecutors decided not to investigate.

Item one prosecutors chose not to investigate:

"I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen,"
Madden said on the radio. "I hear there's a rumor that there will be a more
shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation -- and hold on to your
stomachs, boys, this is gross, I will use the only language I can -- that Jerry
Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That was
being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak."

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/penn-state-scandal-rumors-sandusky-pimp\
ing_n_1086099.html


In other words, Sandusky faced a speedy trial in order for richer, more powerful
individuals to evade punishment.  Individuals so rich and powerful that Joe
Paterno became an acceptable scapegoat to demonize as an alternative.

It's a shame (but understandable) that prosecutors lack the tenacity of a
previous investigator:

The district attorney who tried and failed to prosecute Jerry Sandusky in 1998
after reports of sexual abuse emerged, has been missing since 2005 and was
declared legally dead in July.

Ray Gricar disappeared on April 15 six years ago after telling his girlfriend he
was going for a drive.

His body was never found, only his abandoned car and his laptop which had been
tossed in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania without its hard drive.

Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060027/Ray-Gricar-disappeared-2005-trie\
d-bring-sex-abuse-case-Penn-States-Jerry-Sandusky.html

***

Mexican leftist asks for presidential recount
Lizbeth Diaz
MEXICO CITY | Tue Jul 3, 2012
Full Article
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/us-mexico-election-leftist-idUSBRE8621\
6W20120703

The runner-up in Mexico's presidential election said on Tuesday he would ask
election authorities to recount the votes from Sunday's contest, alleging it was
riddled with fraud.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who finished about 6.5 percentage points behind
President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI), said the election had been corrupted by PRI vote-buying and other abuses.

Stirring up memories of the 2006 election, when he refused to accept defeat and
unsettled financial markets by calling out his supporters to stage massive
demonstrations in the capital for weeks, Lopez Obrador followed through on hints
he dropped during the campaign that he might contest the result.

He said his campaign would ask the Federal Electoral Institute to recount the
votes.

"We're going to ask them to clean up the election and make it transparent," the
he told reporters in Mexico City. "For the good of the democracy and the good of
the country, they need to count all the votes."

Financial markets were unmoved by his announcement on Tuesday.

Lopez Obrador, 58, has repeatedly accused the telegenic Pena Nieto of using
illicit funding, breaching campaign spending limits and being supported by
Mexico's mainstream media...

***

U.N. takeover of the Internet must be stopped, U.S. warns
A U.N. summit later this year in Dubai could lead to a new international regime
of censorship, taxes, and surveillance, warn Democrats, Republicans, the
Internet Society, and father of the Internet Vint Cerf.
Declan McCullagh
May 31, 2012
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57444629-83/u.n-takeover-of-the-internet-must-b\
e-stopped-u.s-warns/

Democratic and Republican government officials warned this morning that a United
Nations summit in December will lead to a virtual takeover of the Internet if
proposals from China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are adopted.

It was a rare point of bipartisan agreement during an election year: a proposal
that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described last year as handing the
U.N. "international control of the Internet" must be stopped.

"These are terrible ideas," Rep. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, said during
a U.S. House of Representatives hearing. They could allow "governments to
monitor and restrict content or impose economic costs upon international data
flows," added Ambassador Philip Verveer, a deputy assistant secretary of state.

Robert McDowell, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, elaborated
by saying proposals foreign governments have pitched to him personally would
"use international mandates to charge certain Web destinations on a 'per-click'
basis to fund the build-out of broadband infrastructure across the globe."

"Google, iTunes, Facebook, and Netflix are mentioned most often as prime sources
of funding," McDowell said. Added Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat whose
district includes Facebook's headquarters, many countries "don't share our view
of the Internet and how it operates."

What prompted today's hearing -- and a related congressional resolution
supporting a free and open Internet -- is a Dubai summit that will be convened
by the 193 members of the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union, which
was chartered in 1865 to oversee international telegraph regulations.

Called the World Conference on International Telecommunications, or WCIT, the
summit will review a set of telecommunications regulations established in 1988,
when home computers used dial-up modems, the Internet was primarily a university
network, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was a mere 4 years old.

That review has created an opening for countries with a weak appreciation of
free speech and civil liberties -- with Russia and China in the lead -- to
propose the U.N. establish an new "information security" regime or create an
alternative to ICANN, the nonprofit organization that has acted as the
Internet's de facto governance body since the late 1990s.

Unless the U.S. and its allies can block these proposals, they "just might break
the Internet by subjecting it to an international regulatory regime designed for
old-fashioned telephone service," Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican said.
(U.S. allies include Japan, Canada, Mexico, and many European countries.)

This is hardly the first time that the U.N. or its agencies wanted to expand
their influence over the Internet. At a 2004 summit at the U.N.'s headquarters
in New York, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan criticized the current system
through which Internet standards are set and domain names are handled, and
delegates from Cuba, Ghana, Bolivia and Venezula objected to what they said was
too much control of the process by the U.S. government and its allies.

Two years later, at another U.N. summit in Athens, ITU Secretary General Yoshio
Utsumi criticized the current ICANN-dominated process, stressing that poorer
nations are dissatisfied and are hoping to erode U.S. influence. "No matter what
technical experts argue is the best system, no matter what self-serving
justifications are made that this is the only possible way to do things, there
are no systems or technologies that can eternally claim they are the best,"
Utsumi said.

In 2008, CNET was the first to report that the ITU was quietly drafting
technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government, to define methods of
tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing
the ability of users to remain anonymous. A leaked document showed the
trace-back mechanism was designed to be used by a government that "tries to
identify the source of the negative articles" published by an anonymous author.

December's meeting has alarmed even the Internet's technologists. The Internet
Society, which is the umbrella organization for the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), sent a representative to
today's hearing.

ISOC's Sally Wentworth, senior manager of public policy for the group, warned
that the proposals to be considered are not "compatible" with the current open
manner in which the Internet is managed.

Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist, co-creator of the TCP/IP
protocol, and former chairman of ICANN, said the ITU meeting could lead to
"top-down control dictated by governments" that could impact free expression,
security, and other important issues.

"The open Internet has never been at a higher risk than it is now," Cerf said.

***

George P. Bush: Ricky Martin Meets Hitler
Robalini's Note: Beware the next generation of the Bush clan.  You heard it here
first...

George P. Bush: A Political Dynasty's Young Hope
Full Article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/george-p-bush-a-political-dy\
nastys-young-hope/259640/

His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather and uncle presidents, his
father governor of Florida. Now a new George Bush is contemplating going into
the family business.

George Prescott Garnica Bush, known to friends as "P," is not just a chip off
the old preppy block. The 36-year-old son of Jeb Bush and nephew of W. is
Hispanic -- his mother, Columba, is from Mexico -- with brown skin, thick black
hair, and a toothy, gleaming smile. He's a lawyer, a Navy vet who served in
Afghanistan, and a political fundraiser who works to expand the Republican
Party's outreach to Latinos and young people. Chatty without being overly
polished, he lives in Fort Worth with his wife, whom he met in law school at the
University of Texas, and runs half marathons in his spare time. It's as if the
ruling class kept pumping out new, less WASPy, more modern products to keep up
with changing demand.

Bush has been touted as a political prospect practically since he was old enough
to walk. At 12, he spoke at his grandfather's first nominating convention; at
24, he recorded TV commercials for his uncle's 2000 campaign. ("I have an uncle
who is running for president because he believes in ... opportunity for every
American, for every Latino," he said in the ad. "His name? The same as mine,
George Bush.") Of George H.W. Bush's 17 grandchildren, he once boasted of being
the favorite.

Now, Texas and Bush family observers wonder if his time is drawing nigh. As soon
as 2014, they speculate, he could run for Congress or state office in Texas.

In Washington this week to tout a new partnership on young voter outreach, Bush
proved adept at the political art of coyly encouraging such speculation. "I'm
weighing that in my own mind," he said of his political future. "I'm not
specifically looking at anything right now, but yeah, I'd be open to it."

He would, he said, want to do it on his own terms, not the strength of his
famous name.

"My family has always said ... if you're going to get into politics, do it for
the right reasons, not because you've got to carry on something," he said. After
graduating from Rice University, he noted, he "taught in an inner-city high
school," then became a lawyer, launched an investment company and joined the
military. At this point, he said, he's focused on his business, his marriage,
and hopefully having kids.

"So I don't know," he said modestly, having swiftly and skillfully recited his
sterling political resume. "I'm drawn to public service. I love politics, but
from the sidelines."

For now, that is. Bush's Maverick PAC recently transformed from a Texas to a
federal committee, and on Tuesday it announced an initiative to work with the YG
Action Fund -- the super PAC extension of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's
political operation. Together, they hope to bring young voters and donors into
the GOP fold -- a $5 million "effort to mobilize and elect the next generation
of conservative leaders." He also has a Texas PAC that recruits Hispanic GOP
candidates and frequently speaks on the need for a more moderate GOP line on
immigration. (The current Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, has been outflanked
by President Obama on immigration, Bush said Tuesday, but still has "an
opportunity to lead" if he will "be aggressive" on the issue, perhaps by
embracing the proposals of Senator Marco Rubio.)

Add up these efforts and it's clear that Bush is his family's missionary to the
next American generation, the embodiment and bid for relevance of the
multigenerational political clan. He's building a national network of
up-and-coming Republican donors and, with his work to bring the party's message
Latinos, bridging its widening gap with the demographic that stands to be
pivotal to its future electoral prospects.

"If George P. ever runs, you better believe he will be a Republican that carries
the Hispanic vote," says his friend Ana Navarro, a Republican consultant in
Florida who is close to Jeb Bush. "He gets inclusiveness and the big-tent
thing."

Navarro calls Bush "the real deal and a complete package -- has intellect,
personality, good looks, business experience, military service, is bilingual and
half Hispanic, and the family connections don't hurt."

Having been an up-and-coming political scion practically his whole life, Bush
seems to finally be on the brink of stepping into his destiny, and if this is
bad news for opponents of dynastic politics, it is music to the ears of
Bushworld.

"A lot of his dad's friends would love to see him run for office," Navarro said.
"I hope he gets around to it soon, so we're not all too old and tired to help on
one of his campaigns."

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


It's Official: Paranoia Magazine out!
http://paranoiamagazine.com/2012/05/27/paranoia-magazine-is-hot-off-the-press-an\
d-ready-for-delivery/

After an almost three year hiatus, Paranoia magazine has been revived from
dormancy in hard copy print, with a sizzling Summer 2012 issue. This insightful
and cutting edge publication is loaded with mind blowing articles, written by
insiders and experts. It covers an infinite range of topics, including
para-politics, alternative history, conspiracies, the paranormal and more!

Paranoia can be purchased at a reasonable subscription price of $28 (4 issues,
annually). PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Money Orders, or Cashier's Checks are
gladly accepted. Go to http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/subscriptions and order
the best damn conspiracy magazine on the planet!

Here's a letter from Paranoia Magazine's editor, Elana Freeland:As things
literally heat up in 2012—an election amidst solar storms and planetary
alignments, a global financial meltdown amidst shifting consciousness—Paranoia
magazine returns with what the Mockingbird media avoids at all costs.

Richard Spence, professor of History at the University of Idaho and author of
Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Feral
House, 2008), delights us with "Searching for James Shelby Downard," the
magister survivor of early 20th century Freemason persecution who strove to
prepare us to discern their wily hoodwinking in the 21st century.

In "9/11 & Israel's Nexus of Terror," Navid Kahn sees that like 2001, the year
2012 also has "occultic, esoteric, and kabbalistic significance" and ponders yet
more sinister "world theatrics" in Chicago with a new (Mossad asset) mayor, or
in London, city of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Adam Gorightly continues the "skullduggery and mindphuckery" theme by examining
"paranormal-conspiratorial-doppelgänger phenomena" from Lee Harvey Oswald to
Kenn Thomas (also in this issue)—including the sighting of his own double at a
late 1990s East Coast New Age conference.

And speaking of Aleister Crowley and London, we've included a peek into London's
Mystical Legacy by Toyne Newton & Jonathan Tapsell, due out on Illuminati Day,
May1, 2012 (Salamander and Sons). Madeline Montalban (1910-1982), ceremonial
magick student of The Beast himself, held positions of influence throughout the
1930s and 1940s, from private astrologer/secretary to the late Lord Louis
Mountbatten (Prince Charles' uncle), to scribe for Gerald Gardner, modern father
of Wicca. Given that spell-casters have played into the politics of war as much
as military tacticians and spies, what if Madame Montalban had something to do
with Hitler's abandonment of Operation Sea Lion for an ill-fated invasion of
Russia?

In his article "Mothman, JFK, UFO, MIB, and Me," Andy Colvin returns to the late
1960s when the legendary Fortean researchers Gray Barker and John Keel came to
his neighborhood in the Kanawha Valley of the Ohio River basin to investigate
the unusual creatures and craft people were seeing. Colvin ties the ancient past
of mound sites and earthworks derived from the same mathematics Stonehenge and
the Great Pyramid drew on to Mothman's recent haunts, including Union Carbide's
Blaine Island plant on a U.S. Naval Reservation, now operated jointly by Bayer
and Dow Chemical. Were the sightings hoodwinks to cover for something else going
on?

"Who are the Men in Black, Really?" by Olav Phillips examines various MIB
theories, from cultural constructs to tolpas to CIA and NASA weirdos, until
Phillips guides us to, "There is only one organization, and it is a shadowy one,
that fulfills all the prerequisites for Men in Black."

Iona Miller's "Did COINTELPRO & CIA `Back Pocket Agents' Kill Rev. King, Jr.?"
echoes Downard's diagnosis of the American political landscape when she
reexamines the murder of one of the Three Kings and says, "Manipulation of the
public collective unconscious constitutes Masonic hoodwinking at its best or
worst. Whether you think in terms of a shadow government or a government Shadow,
we all share responsibility for allowing shadow masters who get away with
murder, dreaming mind or no dreaming mind."

In his column "Profiles in Parapolitical Research," Kenn Thomas features two
researchers. For current work, he extols David Talbot of salon.com, whose book
and to-be film Brother: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years looks at the
military's overriding role in the brutal murders of the other two of the Three
Kings, the  Kennedy brothers, "twin traumas that set the country on a course of
violence and greed from which we continue to suffer today." As for the
researcher of great historic significance, Thomas extols Sherman Skolnick, a
legend in the parapolitical underground who, as Thomas points out, "is often
portrayed by the general media as just another conspiracy nut job." (Skolnick
died May 21, 2006.)

Past co-editor of Paranoia magazine and past editor of HunterGatheress Journal
Joan d'Arc weighs in with "The Manchurian Candidate Lives," an extremely
important revisiting of the CIA's MK-ULTRA program and its ongoing relationship
(60 years later!) with the false memory syndrome movement and
military-corporate-secret society cover-up.

And finally a primer by yours truly on the 21st century "non-lethal" technology
of your worst nightmare, "This Covert Electromagnetic Era: Domestic Use of
Directed Energy Weapons for Political Control."

Paranoia magazine lives! May your repast give birth to a thousand transformative
questions in preparation for the awakening consciousness of 2012.

***

BabeWatch: Rihanna & Sofia Vergara
http://robalini.blogspot.com/2012/09/babewatch-rihanna-sofia-vergara.html

Photos of Rihanna from Esquire.com & NYDailyNews.com...

Photos of Sofia from GQ, Vanity Fair and DailyMail.co.uk...

***

Kool Photos
http://robalini.blogspot.com/2012/09/kool-photos.html

SpongeBob Squarepants & Friends

Robalini Photos: Before & After
Photos taken June 4th before and after a shave & haircut...

Photo of my pop in the 1980s while on his second job as stunt double on Magnum
PI...

Kill Drones...

The Gay Oreo

Snow White Meets Apple

Blueboy & Fluffer, Konformist executive meeting...

Robert DeNiro's actual taxi driver license, which he received during research
and preparation for his role as Travis Bickle
Photo courtesy DangerousMinds.net

***

Inspirational Quote of the Day

"You guys, having some satanic guitar pick isn't gonna make your rock any
better... because Satan's not in a guitar pick, he's inside all of us. In here,
in your hearts. He's what makes us not want to go to work, or exercise, or tell
the truth. He's what makes us want to party and have sex with each other all
night long. He's that little voice in your mind that says 'Fuck you' to the
people you hate. Now you can stay out here and fight on the ground and cry like
babies, or you can go in there like friends and rock. So, what's it gonna be?"
Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny

***

Pixar story rules
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2011
http://www.pixartouchbook.com/blog/2011/5/15/pixar-story-rules-one-version.html

Pixar story artist Emma Coats has tweeted a series of "story basics" over the
past month and a half — guidelines that she learned from her more senior
colleagues on how to create appealing stories:

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's
fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually
about til you're at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of
that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like
you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite
at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously.
Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it's not perfect. In an ideal world you
have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times
the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you;
you've got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a
perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get
the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you
as you write, but it's poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that
your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty
lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens
if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it's not working, let go and move on - it'll
come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best &
fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get
them out of it are cheating.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you
rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can't just write `cool'.
What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you
know that, you can build out from there.

Presumably she'll have more to come. Also, watch for her personal side project,
a science-fiction short called Horizon, to come to a festival near you.

***

Why Every Team in Baseball Should Use Designated Hitters
MLB is the only major sports league where different teams have different rules.
Time for a change.
Jake Simpson
JUN 25 2012
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/06/why-every-team-in-baseb\
all-should-use-designated-hitters/258938/

Interleague play as we know it came to an end in the Major League Baseball on
Sunday night when the Yankees beat the Mets, 6-5, in the rubber game of their
latest Subway Series. As was the case in previous years, baseball set aside a
roughly six-week block for matchups between American League and National League
teams, so the only times players from each league will face other again this
season are the All-Star Game and the World Series.

But next year, interleague play will be coming to you daily. The Houston Astros
are set to move from the NL Central to the AL West, evening out the leagues for
the first time since 1997. Unlike the setup in the early 1990s, however, there
will be an odd number of teams in each league (15). That will lead to a wildly
different schedule with at least one interleague series at all times. It's not
inconceivable that a team could alternate between interleague and intra-league
games on a weekly basis for much for the season.

With that in mind, it's time to end a baseball anachronism: pitchers hitting in
one league but not the other. The new schedule means baseball just can't have it
both ways anymore.

A quick historical review: Both leagues required the pitcher to hit until
eccentric Oakland Athletics' owner Charlie Finley convinced the other American
League owners to adopt the designated hitter rule in 1973. The National League
stayed true to baseball purism and refused to adopt the DH, creating an odd
dichotomy with no true parallel in the sports world. No other major sports
league has such a significant rule disparity within its ranks, and all other
American sports leagues have the same rules for every team.

The rule difference was fine when AL and NL teams only played each other in the
World Series. It was inconvenient but acceptable when the two leagues only
matched up in designated interleague blocks. But when interleague play happening
all season long, the continuous switching between DH and no DH will have an
adverse effect on teams from both leagues. National League teams with short
benches will have to decide if they need to carry an extra hitter for their
trips to American League parks (in interleague play, the rules are based on
which team is at home). AL clubs would have to rethink the importance of their
DH, who would regularly be relegated to a pinch-hitter role for whole series at
a time.

The issue is not that the leagues would be playing each other constantly—as of
now, each team is expected to play 18 to 20 interleague games in 2013. The issue
is that the games would be spread out over an entire season, forcing each team
to change its strategy (and its lineup) multiple times a month. It may not be
earth-shattering, but even if it's just a major inconvenience, why not avoid the
problem entirely? What, exactly, is the rationale for keeping the rules
different in each league?

I say bring the NL into the 21st century, put the DH in both leagues and let
pitchers go back to spitting sunflower seeds on the bench when their team is up
at bat. The designated hitter has increased the number of players in the AL
(because really, who wants to see their team carry an extra middle reliever
rather than a power hitter off the bench as its 25th man?). It leads to more
offense, which is what the casual baseball wants to see—remember, chicks dig the
longball. And it allows aging hitters or poor fielders to keep a place in the
game.

The DH gave us David Ortiz and Edgar Martinez. It extended the careers of
Vladimir Guerrero, Eddie Murray, and Frank Thomas. It's allowing current AL
batting leader Paul Konerko to play every day, even when he needs a break from
playing first base. And it will very likely extend the careers of Alex Rodriguez
and Derek Jeter by a couple years each. Other than the downfall of "playing
baseball the right way," why wouldn't we want to see NL hitters have the same
advantage? Now that interleague play will be a season-long constant instead of a
month-long novelty, let's bring the oldest two-party system in sports a step
closer to playing like one league, rather than two.

***

Home Remedies Baking Soda Natural Cures
http://www.naturalnews.com/036059_home_remedies_baking_soda_natural_cures.html

Old wives cures

-- Baking soda is the best home remedy for whitening teeth. Sprinkle a little on
your toothbrush; brush and rinse as usual.
-- Gargle with baking soda and water to freshen your breath.
-- Prevent acne, remove excess facial oil and dead skin with a baking soda
scrub. Mix 1 tbs. baking soda with 1 tsp. water and rub gently on your face.
-- Make a foot soak to relive itching, soreness and odor. Mix 3 tbs. baking
soda, 1 tbs. peppermint essential oil, 1 tbs. salt and warm water and soak for
20 minutes.
-- Apply to skin to relieve bee stings, insect bites, itching from poison ivy,
oak and sumac. Mix baking soda with water into a thick paste for stings, or make
a thin wash to use with a compress.
-- Apply a paste of baking soda and water to canker sores and herpes lesions to
dry them up quickly.
-- Drink a mixture of baking soda and water to relieve muscle pain after
strenuous exercise.
-- Sprinkle baking soda on a damp nail brush and scrub nails to remove grime and
kill nail fungus.

Home remedies for acidity

-- Mix 1/2 tsp. baking soda in 16 oz. water and drink to relieve heartburn, acid
reflux and GERD symptoms.
-- Mix 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. baking soda with 2 tbs. fresh lemon juice or organic apple
cider vinegar to relieve acid reflux and create an alkaline-forming environment
in your body. It will foam and fizz, so use a tall glass and wait for all
bubbling to stop. Then add 8 oz. water and drink all at once. This mixture
neutralizes the pH, buffers stomach acid and reduces acidosis.

More baking soda home remedies

-- Douche with a mixture of 1 tbs. mixed with warm water to kill candida yeast
and stop itching.
-- Gargle with the baking soda and water mixture to remove oral thrush.
-- Treat a urinary tract infection by drinking an 8 oz. glass of water mixed
with 1/2 tsp. baking soda once or twice a day.
-- Relieve a thrombosis by drinking the mixture of baking soda and lemon juice
or apple cider vinegar mentioned above.
-- Use a mixture of baking soda and molasses to prevent systemic fungal
infections and protect against diabetes and cancer. In his book, Sodium
Bicarbonate, Dr. Mark Sircus discusses the findings of Dr. Tullio Simoncini with
regards to cancer being a yeast overgrowth and explores treatment protocols with
baking soda.

Warnings

Baking soda home remedies may deplete your body of essential minerals and
vitamins. It should not be used on a low sodium diet unless under supervision.
In some instances, it may interact with prescription drugs, so check first with
your pharmacist. Only use baking soda after it's been dissolved in liquid and
never consume it in dry powder form. Do not use baking soda home remedies for
more than a two week period without checking with your healthcare practitioner.
Baking soda should not be used by pregnant or nursing women or by children under
the age of 5.

***

Significa

Let's hear it for the Los Angeles Kings, for finally winning the Stanley Cup (as
a number eight seed, no less.)

Credit also to LeBron James for leading the Miami Heat to the NBA Championship
and winning the NBA Finals MVP:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/22/2862300/james-wins-finals-mvp-after-triple\
.html

And of course, Joey Chestnut won Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest for the 6th
year in a row on July 4th, swallowing 68 weiners in ten minutes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/joey-chestnut-wins-6th-straight-hot-dog-eat\
ing-title-in-coney-island-by-downing-68/2012/07/04/gJQAtphKOW_story.html


Binnall of America
http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Browse/playaudio/16374

BOAA707: Kenn Thomas
BoA:Audio celebrates the 4th of July by welcoming legendary parapolitical
researcher Kenn Thomas for a jam session that covers the world of conspiracy
theory and beyond.


I accidentally watched two minutes of one of Tyler Perry's movies and/or TV
shows this morning. (It must've been one of the shows, because there was a laugh
track.) Here's my review:

Hey, remember when black people were funny?


Great Moments in Rock History: "When the band walked for the first time onto its
biggest touring airplane, a Boeing 720, someone had spelled out 'Welcome Allman
Bros' in cocaine on the bar." Although as Gregg Allman is quick to point out, it
said "Bros" and not "Brothers" in the greeting. The lesson here: moderation is
the key...
Source: `My Cross to Bear,' Gregg Allman's Memoir
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/books/my-cross-to-bear-gregg-allmans-memoir.ht\
ml


A little tip to all celebrity photographers: there is no shame in getting beaten
up by the likes of Frank Sinatra or Sean Penn. But if Justin Bieber kicks your
ass, you must blow your fucking brains out...


Breaking Bad Returns for a final season:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/13/breaking-bad-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-season-\
5/


Car Talk hosts retire from NPR:
http://www.eonline.com/news/322265/car-talk-hosts-to-retire-from-npr


Anderson Cooper: "The Fact Is, I'm Gay."
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/anderson-cooper-the-fact-is-im-g\
ay.html


Online Movies of the Month

A Boy and His Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zabkj3FadUU

A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates
telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble
into an underground society where the old society is preserved. The daughter of
one of the leaders of the community seduces and lures him below, where the
citizens have become unable to reproduce because of being underground so long.
They use him for impregnation purposes, and then plan to be rid of him.


Astral City: A Spiritual Journey (2011)
http://www.hulu.com/watch/364775
Runtime 1 hr. 49 min.
Astral City tells the story of Andre Luiz, a doctor who experiences an
enlightening spiritual awakening after his death.


Kool Websites:

Off The Grid News
http://www.offthegridnews.net

Top Off-Grid and Survival Experts Share Their Secrets? FREE!

Off The Grid News is a fiercely independent, weekly email newsletter that is
crammed full of practical information on living and surviving today and in
future times when life may not be as easy...


My Patriot Supply
http://www.mypatriotsupply.com

MyPatriotSupply was founded in late 2008 by people with a passion for
self-sustainable living and emergency preparedness. We understand your concerns
and desires to practice preparedness because we share them! We believe that true
patriotism is not the expectation that others will care for your needs but that
freedom comes from attaining a certain level of self-reliance.


Gevalia
http://www.gevalia.com

No matter what your preference, Gevalia offers an assortment of roast coffee
that everyone will enjoy. Producing the characteristic color, taste and smell of
coffee beans, the coffee roasting process progressively transforms the more
mildly flavored original beans to a more pronounced, darker roast. Those that
enjoy Light Roast coffee tend to prefer a lighter body with higher acidity and
little to no roast flavor; our Café le Procope is a perfect example of a lighter
roast coffee. Medium Roast offers a greater balance of acidity, aroma and
complexity, while Dark Roast coffee is somewhat spicier with a much more
pronounced roast flavor. Get the benefits of coffee roasting heritage with
Gevalia.


Awesome Quotes: Johnny Depp
"I think everybody's weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be
embarrassed or ashamed of it."


RIP

Richard Dawson of Hogan's Heroes & Family Feud:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/richard-dawson-of-family-feud-and\
-hogans-heroes-dies-at-79/2012/06/03/gJQA2pi7BV_story.html

Ray Bradbury, Sci-Fi Author:
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/06/154424247/fahrenheit-451-author-ray-bradbury-dies-\
at-91

Henry Hill, the real life Goodfellas gangster:
http://www.tmz.com/2012/06/12/henry-hill-dead-goodfellas/

Rodney King, "Can't we all get along?":
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/17/us/obit-rodney-king/index.html

Sports artist LeRoy Neiman:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/story/2012-06-20/leroy-neiman-sports-artist-dies/\
55724176/1

Screenwriter Nora Ephron:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/movies/nora-ephron-essayist-screenwriter-and-d\
irector-dies-at-71.html

Andy Griffith:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/03/showbiz/andy-griffith-dead/index.html

Ernest Borgnine:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hPG1X0x0pWmJEys5tx8kOVt6xNUA

Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/07/-sally-ride-the-first.html

Sherman Hemsley of The Jeffersons:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/sherman-hemsley-george-jefferson-dies-a\
ge-74-article-1.1121023

Gore Vidal:
http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view/20120801gore_vidal_celebrated_a\
uthor_playwright_dies_at_86

Last but definitely not least, Neil Armstrong of Moon landing fame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCt1BwWE2gA

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


What Past Presidents Thought About Big Banks
Stephen D. Foster Jr.
June 3, 2012
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/06/03/what-past-presidents-thought-about-big-b\
anks

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been standing against the big banks for a
few months now. They are protesting the greed, irresponsibility, and fraud that
banks like Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase commit on a daily
basis. The big banks of Wall Street caused an economic collapse. As a result of
that collapse, Americans suffered job losses and money losses while the banks
got a bail out on the taxpayer's dime. Not one banker has been arrested for
stealing billions of dollars from the American people.

Throughout American history, big banks have sought to fleece the people and
control government. They have a caused economic turmoil, social injustice, war,
hunger, and crises too numerous to mention, all because of greed and a lust for
absolute power. Many American Presidents have risen to challenge them and hold
them accountable for their actions. So which Presidents would cheer on Occupy
Wall Street? What did past Presidents think about big banks? I'll let the quotes
speak for themselves.

1. "Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility,
prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will
do good."
~John Adams

2. "The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing
against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks
discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow
private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and
then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will
deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up
homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."
~Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1803.

3. "History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse,
intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over
governments by controlling money and its issuance." ~James Madison

4. "I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have
used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When
you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it
to the Bank. … You are a den of vipers and thieves."
~Andrew Jackson, 1834, on closing the Second Bank of the United States

5. "I have two great enemies, the southern army in front of me and the financial
institutions, in the rear. Of the two, the one in the rear is the greatest
enemy….. I see in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me
to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations
have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the
money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the
Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my
country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."
~Abraham Lincoln

6. "Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of
all industry and commerce… And when you realise that the entire system is very
easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you
will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."
~James Garfield (assassinated within weeks of release of this statement during
first year of his Presidency in 1881)

7. "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government
owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To
destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt
business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the
day."
~Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

8. "A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system
of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of
the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments
in the world– no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by
conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress
of small groups of dominant men."
~Woodrow Wilson

9. "We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace-business and financial
monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionism, war
profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as
a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know that Government by organized
money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in
history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand
today. They are unanimous in their hatred for me – and I welcome their hatred. I
should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of
selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said
of my second administration that in it these forces met their master."
?~Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Speech at Madison Square Garden

10. "All problems, depressions, wars, disasters, assassinations, all of them
were planned, caused, instigated, and implemented by the International Bankers
and their attempt to establish a central bank in every country in the world,
which they have now done, thanks to corrupt politicians who have been bought and
paid for. This is all you need to know about the history of the world."
~John F. Kennedy

For more than a decade now, banks have brought this country to near economic
ruin. They have successfully lobbied to repeal key regulations that have
prevented them from employing the harmful tactics they use to fleece the
American people in the name of profit. The big banks bet against America and
then expect taxpayers to bail them out when they fail. They then gamble with
that money and pay their executives millions. It's wrong and should not be
tolerated. The above Presidents knew how dangerous and harmful big private banks
can be. Presidents like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt fought hard
against the "den of vipers," and the "invisible government," and FDR had finally
put the banks in their place during his own Presidency. These Presidents would
most certainly stand with the Occupy protesters and would fiercely call for
breaking up and regulating the big banks. The banks have grown powerful and
corrupt once again and it will take another great President to rein them in. The
question is, who will be that great President?

***

HP to cut 27,000 jobs

The fact that Hewlett-Packard has started a wave of layoffs isn't really a
story, as it really represents business as usual.  That this isn't a story is a
story.

Believe it or not, there was a time when HP didn't lay off employees.  Seeing
workers as assets that were valued rather than disposable goods was part of a
philosophy known as the HP Way.  Indeed, it is fair to say no company so huge
has ever treated its workers so well as HP did.  That all changed under the
leadership of Carly Fiorina, who instituted the first wave of job cuts during
her time as CEO from 1999-2005.  The current round of layoffs merely represent
the realities of a new business philosophy.

(A little side note: I know a lot about the HP Way because my dad was an HP
executive who took great pride in how well the company treated its workers.  He
left early in 2001, seeing the writing on the wall that Fioriana was an abusive
CEO who didn't see the value of those beneath her.)

Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Fioriana was the GOP nominee in 2010 for the
California Senate race.  Likewise, Meg Whitman, the current CEO, was the 2010
GOP nominee for California governor.  Both are noted for being "moderate"
Republicans, whatever the hell that means.  Of course, the connection to the
Republican Party and HP isn't new: David Packard, the business brains behind HP,
was a Deputy Defense Secretary under Richard Nixon.  Despite his conservative
street cred, it was he who fully embraced the no layoff philosophy, believing
workers would only achieve at their fullest if they knew the company they served
stood behind them.

Today, there are really no corporate executives, either Democrat or Republican
in political loyalties, who share Mr. Packard's sympathetic and progressive
outlook.  In this sense, the job cuts at HP don't represent a change in merely
the philosophy of CEOs ore the Republican Party, but a change of view in workers
from the entire political establishment...

Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/HP-to-cut-27-000-jobs-on-weak-forecast-35\
81237.php

***

The Austerity Agenda
PAUL KRUGMAN
May 31, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-agenda.html

"The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity." So declared John
Maynard Keynes 75 years ago, and he was right. Even if you have a long-run
deficit problem — and who doesn't? — slashing spending while the economy is
deeply depressed is a self-defeating strategy, because it just deepens the
depression.

So why is Britain doing exactly what it shouldn't? Unlike the governments of,
say, Spain or California, the British government can borrow freely, at
historically low interest rates. So why is that government sharply reducing
investment and eliminating hundreds of thousands of public-sector jobs, rather
than waiting until the economy is stronger?

Over the past few days, I've posed that question to a number of supporters of
the government of Prime Minister David Cameron, sometimes in private, sometimes
on TV. And all these conversations followed the same arc: They began with a bad
metaphor and ended with the revelation of ulterior motives.

The bad metaphor — which you've surely heard many times — equates the debt
problems of a national economy with the debt problems of an individual family. A
family that has run up too much debt, the story goes, must tighten its belt. So
if Britain, as a whole, has run up too much debt — which it has, although it's
mostly private rather than public debt — shouldn't it do the same? What's wrong
with this comparison?

The answer is that an economy is not like an indebted family. Our debt is mostly
money we owe to each other; even more important, our income mostly comes from
selling things to each other. Your spending is my income, and my spending is
your income.

So what happens if everyone simultaneously slashes spending in an attempt to pay
down debt? The answer is that everyone's income falls — my income falls because
you're spending less, and your income falls because I'm spending less. And, as
our incomes plunge, our debt problem gets worse, not better.

This isn't a new insight. The great American economist Irving Fisher explained
it all the way back in 1933, summarizing what he called "debt deflation" with
the pithy slogan "the more the debtors pay, the more they owe." Recent events,
above all the austerity death spiral in Europe, have dramatically illustrated
the truth of Fisher's insight.

And there's a clear moral to this story: When the private sector is frantically
trying to pay down debt, the public sector should do the opposite, spending when
the private sector can't or won't. By all means, let's balance our budget once
the economy has recovered — but not now. The boom, not the slump, is the right
time for austerity.

As I said, this isn't a new insight. So why have so many politicians insisted on
pursuing austerity in slump? And why won't they change course even as experience
confirms the lessons of theory and history?

Well, that's where it gets interesting. For when you push "austerians" on the
badness of their metaphor, they almost always retreat to assertions along the
lines of: "But it's essential that we shrink the size of the state."

Now, these assertions often go along with claims that the economic crisis itself
demonstrates the need to shrink government. But that's manifestly not true. Look
at the countries in Europe that have weathered the storm best, and near the top
of the list you'll find big-government nations like Sweden and Austria.

And if you look, on the other hand, at the nations conservatives admired before
the crisis, you'll find George Osborne, Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer
and the architect of the country's current economic policy, describing Ireland
as "a shining example of the art of the possible." Meanwhile, the Cato Institute
was praising Iceland's low taxes and hoping that other industrial nations "will
learn from Iceland's success."

So the austerity drive in Britain isn't really about debt and deficits at all;
it's about using deficit panic as an excuse to dismantle social programs. And
this is, of course, exactly the same thing that has been happening in America.

In fairness to Britain's conservatives, they aren't quite as crude as their
American counterparts. They don't rail against the evils of deficits in one
breath, then demand huge tax cuts for the wealthy in the next (although the
Cameron government has, in fact, significantly cut the top tax rate). And, in
general, they seem less determined than America's right to aid the rich and
punish the poor. Still, the direction of policy is the same — and so is the
fundamental insincerity of the calls for austerity.

The big question here is whether the evident failure of austerity to produce an
economic recovery will lead to a "Plan B." Maybe. But my guess is that even if
such a plan is announced, it won't amount to much. For economic recovery was
never the point; the drive for austerity was about using the crisis, not solving
it. And it still is.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on June 1, 2012, on page A27 of the
New York edition with the headline: The Austerity Agenda.

***

From Meltdown To Mayhem
Are You Ready?
Gerald Celente
5-31-12

KINGSTON, NY -- If you had read the Winter 2012 Trends Journal, published in
early January, you'd know that we accurately forecast, in detail, virtually
everything going on right now in the financial world and in the geopolitical
arena.

We respectfully submit that no other publication can make such a claim. It's all
there in black & white, brilliantly illustrated in full-color, award-winning
graphics.

As a prelude to discussing the "Top 12 Trends" for 2012, we wrote:

"2012 is the year when many of the long-simmering socioeconomic and geopolitical
trends we have been forecasting and tracking will climax."

And climax they have.

We predicted the Greek debt crisis would not be solved, but would deteriorate,
even as European leaders were insisting they had solved it:

"Thanks to our efforts," bragged French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, "if there
had not been an agreement … it was not just Europe that would have sunk into
catastrophe, it was the whole world."

"Agreement" notwithstanding, the whole world is now demonstrably heading toward
"catastrophe."

We predicted an economic development that virtually no one else was forecasting:

"The BRICS will not escape repercussions from the economic decline of the West.
For example, as the US and Europe slip deeper into depression and their
appetites for foreign imports slacken, China, which sells heavily into those
markets, will take a severe economic hit. A weakened manufacturing-based China
will adversely affect natural resource-rich exporters including Brazil, Russia
and South Africa, among others."

Those repercussions are now being felt worldwide: commodity prices have
plummeted, strong currencies have weakened, and exports and imports have slowed
dramatically.

Regarding Iran, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the
Spanish Indignados, the newly formed political parties ­ you'll find our
accurate commentary and projections, chapter and verse, in the Trends Journal:
What would happen, why it would happen, and where it would lead.

If you want to do your audience a real service, if you want to show them
"History Before it Happens®" and help them prepare for the times ahead, you will
want to schedule an interview with Gerald Celente, publisher of The Trends
Journal.

To schedule an interview, please contact: Zeke West, Media Relations,
zwest@...  845 331.3500 ext. 1
©MMXII The Trends Research Institute®

***

The Energy Showdown in Argentina
Interview with Sam Logan
Jen Alic | Sun, 22 July 2012
http://oilprice.com/Interviews/The-Energy-Showdown-in-Argentina-Interview-with-S\
am-Logan.html

Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the
mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free
Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more.

Angering Spain by seizing and nationalizing a majority of Repsol's shares in YPF
and ramping up the rhetoric over the Falkland Islands as exploration deals
promise to make the territory a major oil player overnight, Argentina is making
few friends in the fossil fuels industry these days. Sam Logan, owner of the
Latin America-focused private intelligence boutique, Southern Pulse, speaks to
Oilprice.com about the politics of populism behind Argentina's energy
aggression.

Samuel Logan is the founding partner of Southern Pulse, a private human
intelligence organization focused on investigating security, politics, energy,
and black market economics in Latin America. Southern Pulse investigators
operate from hubs in Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile to
leverage Southern Pulse's HUMINT network, unique access, and deep understanding
of the region to mitigate risk for public and private sector clients with
exposure to political, security, financial, or legal risk in Latin America.

In the interview Sam Talks about:

•    Why Carlos Slim bought shares in YPF
•    Why Argentina won't take any definitive action in the Falklands
•    Why things will get worse for energy firms in Argentina
•    Argentina's brewing political crisis
•    Argentina's future relationship with Spain

Interview conducted by Jen Alic of Oilprice.com

Oilprice.com: In April, Argentina nationalized Spanish Repsol's shares in YPF
and now shareholders have approved a move that could see a sharp cut in dividend
payouts and a redirection of profits to investment. This is in line with
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's justification for nationalizing
Repsol's shares in YPF. She had accused Repsol of fleecing YPF by using too much
of its profits for shareholder benefits rather than investing in exploration and
turning Argentina into an importer of fuel. Will this essentially political and
economic populism help or harm Argentina?

Sam Logan: While there are certainly short-term gains to be realized, the
long-term effects of the Argentina-Spain relationship and Argentina's
relationship with other oil majors will result in significant setbacks in
investment confidence and overall appetite for working with the Argentine
government.

Oilprice.com: What we would like to know is what is missing from this story and
what role certain vested interests, such as the Eskenazi family (minority YPF
shareholders brought on by the Kirchners who later defaulted on their Repsol
loans) and Carlos Slim, have played in the YPF saga.

Sam Logan: The Eskenazi family really took a hit from this action. When brought
on board by the Kirchners, they took out loans to buy their stakeholder position
in YPF. The payback on those loans was based partially on dividend payments. So
the Kirchner nationalization and subsequent decision on dividends has left them
in default. Carlos Slim, who got 8% of YPF when Eskenazi defaulted, was simply
making a personal investment, not a political statement. When you're the world's
richest man, it's not particularly risky to make low-value purchases and hold
them long term to see if they pan out.

Oilprice.com: Populism is also at play in Argentina's renewed push over the
Falkland Islands. Last week, Premier signed a $1 billion deal develop Rockhopper
Exploration's Sea Lion field in the Falkland Islands and Argentina is
threatening to sue Premier for illegal activity. How will this play out for
Argentina, and for big oil? What can we expect in the near- medium-term?

Sam Logan: The Argentine lawsuit will move forward and the UK firms will ignore
the action, but BP could get caught in the crossfire as a UK firm with holdings
in Argentina. Already we've seen Kirchner's administration apply pressure to BP.

Oilprice.com: How are oil and the Falklands used as symbols of national
sovereignty in Argentina?

Sam Logan: The Falklands have long been used as symbols in Argentina, and this
is an issue that crosses party lines so there is more political currency
available for the Falklands issue across the Argentine political spectrum. There
could be more saber rattling, but at this point I don't see the Argentine
government taking definitive action.

Oilprice.com: Would you agree that at the heart of the matter is Argentina's
misguided energy policy, in place since 2003?

Sam Logan: It's not just energy. This is more about Argentina's overall economic
policies and the steadily increasing economic pressures the Kirchner government
is facing. Inflation, currency controls and price controls on gasoline all play
a huge role in this market, which extends well beyond the recent actions with
YPF. Let's not forget that until recently Argentina was a natural gas exporter.
Due to a long-term political negligence and mismanagement of infrastructure,
Argentina is dependent on multinational energy firms to develop deposits and
other known reserves - not to mention the potential for hydraulic fracturing.
Ultimately, the irrational behavior Argentina has shown against multinational
energy firms underscores a brewing political crisis that shows little to no sign
of abatement in the near-term. It's likely to get worse for energy firms in
Argentina before it gets better.

Interview by. Jen Alic of Oilprice.com

Visit our homepage for the latest oil prices and energy news.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

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Twenty Names
Excerpted from Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life by Michael Moore
June 12th, 2012
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/twenty-names

"Moore, YOUR SHIRTTAIL is out!"

It was the voice of Mr. Ryan, the assistant principal for discipline at my high
school, and he was right on my back. Not figuratively. He was literally on it.

"Turn around!"

I did as I was told.

"You know the rules. Shirts are to be tucked in."

I tucked it in.

"Bend over."

He was carrying "The Paddle," a shortened version of a cricket bat, but with
holes drilled in it to get maximum velocity.

"C'mon, this is not right," I protested. "It's a shirt!"

"Bend over. Don't make me tell you again."

I did as I was told. And as I was bending over, I marked the date on my mental
calendar as being the last time I would ever do what I was told to do again.

WHACK!

I felt that intensely. The flat board of hard wood smacking against my rear end,
and the two-second delay before the pain set in.

WHACK!

He did it again. Now it really hurt. I could already feel the heat of my skin
through my pants, and I wanted to take that paddle and bash him over the head.

WHACK!

Now the greatest pain became the humiliation I was experiencing thanks to the
growing crowd and the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria who was standing to get
a look at what was happening in the hallway.

"That'll do," the sadist said. "Don't let me see you with your shirt out again."

And with that he walked away. He had no idea how profoundly he had just changed
my life—and his. He had, in that one act of corporal punishment, created his own
demise. How many times had this man struck a child in his career? A thousand?
Ten thousand? Whatever the number, this would be his last.

It's funny, isn't it, how one minute you're just walking down the hall with your
shirttail out, you're thinking about girls or a ball game or how you're on your
last stick of Beaman's—and then the next hour you make a decision that will
affect all the decisions you make for the rest of your life. So random, so
unplanned. In fact, it puts the whole idea of making plans for your life to
shame, and you realize you really are wasting your time if you're trying to come
up with a college major, or how many kids to have, or where you want to be in
ten years. One day I'm thinking about law school, and the next week I've
committed all my meager teenage resources and energy to stripping an adult of
whatever power he thinks he wields with that big paddle.

I straightened upward, red-faced for all to see in the cafeteria. There were
plenty of snickers and guffaws, but mostly there was that look people have when
they've just seen something they've never seen before. I was known as a good
student. I was known as someone who had never been given the paddle. No one ever
expected to watch me being beaten by the assistant principal. I was not the type
of student you would see being told to "bend over." And that was what was so
entertaining about this particular beating to the gathering crowd.

It's not like Assistant Principal for Discipline Dennis Ryan hadn't been gunning
for me in the past, or that I hadn't done anything to deserve his wrath. I had
done plenty. By the time I was halfway through my senior year, I had organized
my own miniprotests against just about every edict that Ryan and the principal,
Mr. Scofield, had laid down. The latest of these revolts involved convincing
nine of the eighteen students in the senior Shakespeare class to walk out and
quit the class.

The teacher had just handed back to me my twenty-page paper on Hamlet with a
giant red "0" on top of it. That was my grade: Nothing. Zip. I stood up.

"You cannot treat me this way," I said to him politely. "And I am officially
dropping out of this class." I turned to the students.

"Anybody want to join me?"

Half of them did.?The zero grade would lower my GPA to a 3.3 by the end of the
year. I couldn't have cared less.

This was not my first run-in with a teacher. The teacher who ran the student
council class also flunked me. I never missed a day of that class. I made more
motions and participated in more debates than perhaps anyone else in there. And
that's what bothered the teacher who was the student council advisor.

"How can you flunk me?" I confronted him.

"I'm flunking you because you create too much trouble in here," he answered
smugly. "I like a nice quiet, peaceful student council. You have made this year
too difficult for me."

All of this weighed on my mind on the walk home that day of my public paddling
by the assistant principal. How would I exact my revenge? I had to look no
further that night than the evening newspaper.

A copy of the local Flint Journal lined the box of trash I was cleaning out in
our garage. I looked down and between stains of Miracle Whip and Faygo Redpop I
noticed a story that reminded me about how the voting age in America had
recently been lowered to eighteen. Hmmm, I thought, I'll be eighteen in a few
weeks.

I went back inside the house and, an hour later, I picked up the town weekly,
the Davison Index. There, on the front page, taunting me, daring me, my future
calling me: Hello, Mike. Read this!

The headline?

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION JUNE 12, TWO SEATS OPEN

Huh. I'll be able to vote for school board in a few months. Cool.

Wait.

Wait a minute! If I can vote...can I run? Can I run for a seat on the Board of
Education? Would this not make me one of the bosses of the principal and vice
principal? Yes? Yes? Whoa.

The next day, I called the county clerk's office, the people in charge of
elections.

"Um, yeah," I stammered into the phone, not quite believing I was making this
call. "Um, I was wondering that, now that eighteen-year-olds can vote, can we
also run for office?"

"No. Not all offices. Which office would you like to run for?"

"School board."

"Hang on, lemme check." Within a minute he was back on the phone.

"Yes. The required age for school board candidates is eighteen."

WOW! I couldn't believe it. But then panic set in. How could I afford such a
thing? They must charge you a lot of money to put your name on the ballot.

"How much does it cost to get on the ballot?" I asked the man.

"Cost? Nothing. It's free."

Free? This just kept getting better. Until he added the following:

"Of course you do have to get the required number of signatures on a petition in
order to have your name placed on the ballot."

Damn. I knew there was a catch. There were twenty thousand residents in the
Davison School District, comprising the town of Davison and the townships of
Davison and Richfield. Going all over the school district to collect God knows
how many signatures was going to be next to impossible. I mean, I still had lots
of algebra homework to do.

"How many names do I need on these petitions?" I asked with resignation.

"Twenty."

"Twenty??"

"Twenty."

"Did you say twenty?"

"Yes. Twenty. You need twenty signatures on a petition that you can pick up at
the board of education offices."

I could not believe that I only needed twenty names on a petition—and then,
suddenly, I would be an official candidate! I mean, twenty names was nothing! I
knew at least twenty stoners who would sign anything I put in front of them. I
thanked the man, and the next day I went to the superintendent's office to pick
up the petition. The secretary asked if I was picking up the petition for one of
my parents.

"No," I replied. And instead of adding "Would you like to see the welts on my
butt or would you rather I call Child Protective Services?" I simply said, "It's
for me."

She picked up the phone and made a call.

"Yes, I have a young man here who says he wants to run for school board. What is
the age requirement these days? Uh-huh. I see. Thank you."

She hung up the phone and bit her lip.?"How old are you?" she
asked.?"Seventeen," I replied.?"Oh, well, then, you can't run. You have to be
eighteen." "But I'll be eighteen by the day of the election," I blurted
out.?"One minute," she said, picking up the phone again.

"Can a seventeen-year-old run if he will be eighteen on election day? Uh-huh. I
see. Yes. Thank you."

"Apparently you may run," she said, as she reached into the file cabinet and
pulled out the petition. "Make sure that every signature is that of a registered
voter who lives within the boundaries of the school district. If you don't have
twenty valid names, you will not be placed on the ballot."

I had the names within the hour. When the twenty signers asked me why I was
running, I just said, "To fire the principal and assistant principal." That was
my entire platform on Day One, and it seemed to play well, at least to twenty
citizens.

"What about college?" my mother asked, perplexed when I told her I had decided
to run for school board. "How can you serve on the school board and go to the
University of Detroit?"

"I guess if I win, I'll go to U of M in Flint." She liked the sound of that. If
I won, I would not be leaving home. My parents were not the type to kick you out
at eighteen (though that is when my sisters would leave). They did not like to
see us go.

I returned the next day to the school board office and turned in my petition.
Word soon spread through town that "a hippie" had qualified to be on the June
ballot. I set a goal of knocking on every door in the school district. I handed
voters a flyer that I had written up outlining my feelings about education and
about the Davison schools specifically. I told people the administrators in the
high school had to go. I'm guessing this frightened most parents.

But there were some in town who were delighted with the idea of a young person
on the school board. OK, they were all under twenty-five.

And then there was the majority, the ones who noticed I had long hair. The week
I began to campaign, the racist governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace, won the
Michigan Democratic Presidential primary. Not a good sign for me and my chances.
(This was also my very first time voting. I cast my first vote ever as a citizen
for Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm for president.)

The Chamber of Commerce types in town were appalled at the thought of me, a kid,
winning, as were many of the Protestant pastors, the local rednecks, and the
pro-war crowd (which was made up of all of the above).

The problem was, the town pooh-bahs had a really bad strategy to stop me. Six of
them went down to the school board office and took out their own petitions to
run against me. Six of them against me. Clearly they missed a few days of civics
class when they were young. You don't win by running the most candidates –
you'll split the vote and your opponent will win with a plurality. It was to my
good fortune that they did not know the word plurality and I did. I taunted them
and challenged more Republicans to go get their own petitions to see if they
could beat me!

And that was when I got a taste of my own medicine. In addition to the six
older, conservative adults who would oppose me, an eighteen-year-old decided to
also run against me — and thus split the already very small youth/liberal vote I
was going to get. The other eighteen-year-old candidate was none other than the
vice president of the student council, Sharon Johnson — the girl who was one of
my only two dates in high school.

"Why are you running?" I asked her, a bit peeved that she was stealing my
thunder.

"I don't know, I thought it would be neat. We could both be on the school
board!" (Two seats were open on the board, and her idea was that we could both
win and serve together.)

Why was she still tormenting me? First student council, then the bra, then the
steamed-up windows, and now she's going to split the youth vote and sink any
slight chance I might have had to get elected.

A week before the election, I received my first anonymous hate mail. It was
addressed to the two eighteen-year olds running. It read:

Sharon Johnson
Michael F. Moore

What lame-brained fool ever talked you two brats into running for the school
Board?

Moore, you talk about your vast knowledge about all affairs. Where and when did
you acquire this? Why you haven't even got brains enough to get a haircut.

You are asking the citizens of Davison to vote you into the school board,
actually insulting their intelligence by so doing.

My advice to you both is this? Have your good Mother take your diapers off; get
a job or go to school, acquire some of this wisdom only acquired through
experience and hard knocks and then come around and run for offices. Why you
haven't even started to live as yet.

Sharon—at least you are a beautiful young lady and you deserve a better fate
than to be elected to a school board which is really a thankless job.

One who knows what he is talking about.


Yes, Sharon, you are a beautiful young lady, unlike that long-haired lug. As
hate mail goes, this was one of the nicer ones I would ever receive.

On the morning of election day I got up, ate my Cocoa Krispies, and went to
school. There were still five days left before graduation, and I had finals to
take. The yearbooks were handed out and they contained the results of another
election: the senior class had voted me "Class Comic."

When school recessed at 1:30 p.m., I went and voted for me. I had focused my
entire campaign on getting every eighteento twenty-five-year-old out to vote.
There were nearly two hundred eligible voters just in my senior class. I had
spent less than a hundred dollars on the campaign. We had spray-painted yard
signs with stencils in my parents' basement. There were no ads, only the
one-page flyer I handed out going door to door.

There was a big turnout at the polls, and when they closed at 8:00 p.m., the
counting of the paper ballots began. Less than two hours later, the results were
announced.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the district's assistant superintendent announced, "we
have the results. In first place... Michael Moore."

I was shocked. The group of hippie students who had gathered to watch the votes
being counted went crazy with delight. A reporter from a local station asked me
how I felt about beating seven "adults."

"Well," I said. "I'm an adult, too. And I feel great."

"Well, congratulations," the reporter said, "you're the youngest person ever
elected to public office in the State of Michigan."

"Is that true?"

"Yes, it is. You beat the previous record by three years."

Across the gymnasium where the votes had been counted, I could see the
disappointed looks on the faces of the realtors, the insurance salesmen, the
country club wives. The following day, a reporter from Detroit called to tell me
I was the youngest elected official in the entire country (there was no one
under the age of eighteen who held public office). Did I have a comment about
that?

"Wow."

What else was I gonna say? I was too deep in my own whirlwind about what had
just happened to my life. Now I was going to be one of the seven people in
charge of the school district, and the boss of both the principal and, most
important, the assistant principal, Ryan. I was now in a position to take that
fucking bat out of his hand.

The next morning, I went to school as I had for the previous twelve years.
Walking down the hall on my way to Mr. Hardy's creative writing class, I saw
Assistant Principal Dennis Ryan coming toward me. Funny, there was nothing in
his hand.

"Good day, Mr. Moore."

Mr. Moore? That was a first. But hey, after all, how else would you address your
new boss? Yet I was still a student under him. Weird. He kept walking and so did
I.

It became a week of high fives and black power handshakes (I know, I know — this
was Davison) among the students, many of them relishing what havoc I could
wreak. I was given a number of suggestions from my constituents: make the jocks
take real classes; put a cigarette machine in the cafeteria; institute the
"four-hour school day"; drop the white milk and have only chocolate; find out
what's in the "Thursday Surprise" at lunch and kill the person who makes it.

Five nights later on June 17, 1972 (non sequitur alert: at the same time,
burglars five hundred miles away were breaking into a place called the
Watergate), I lined up inside Davison High School with my nearly four hundred
fellow graduates, all of us in our maroon-and-gold caps and gowns. Dress code
rules were still in effect, but a number of students chose to secretly wear no
pants or skirts. They did make sure that the area at the top of the gown had the
requisite blouse and shirt and tie, because that could be seen by the
authorities. Flashing the nether regions would take place later on the football
field at the end of the ceremonies. Water balloons were also well hidden.

Mr. Ryan walked down the line five minutes before the ceremony inspecting each
of the students, mostly to make sure that there were no projectile devices in
people's hands and to be certain that every boy was wearing a tie.

And it was then that Ryan came upon Billy Spitz. Billy was a kid from a family
of simple means. His idea of a tie was what was called a "bolo tie" — two long
strings hanging from a knot or a clamp at the neck. For many who came from the
South to work in the factories of Flint, putting on a bolo tie was called
"dressing up." It was what you wore to a dance or to church. It was a tie.

Not to Ryan.

"Step out of line!" he barked at Billy. "What is this?" he continued, as he
pulled the bolo tie out from under Billy's gown.

"It's my tie, sir," Billy responded sheepishly.

"This is not a tie!" Ryan retorted for all to hear. "You're outta here. Go on.
Git! You're not graduating."

"But, Mr. Ryan —"

"Did you hear me?" Ryan snapped, as he grabbed him and physically pulled him
away from the rest of us, showing him the door. It sent a shock wave through the
line of graduates. Even in the final minute of high school, we had to witness
one last act of cruelty.

And not one of us said anything. Not the tough guy in back of Billy, not the
Christian girl in front of him. And not me. Even though I was now officially one
of the seven in charge of the schools, I remained silent. Maybe I was just too
stunned to speak. Maybe I didn't want to cause trouble before we got out to the
football field, as I was planning to cause a heap of it out there (I had been
chosen by the students to give the class speech). Maybe I was still cowed by Mr.
Ryan and it would take more than an election for me to stand up to him. Maybe I
was just happy it wasn't me. I really didn't know Billy, and so, like the other
four hundred, I minded my own business.

When it was my time to speak on the graduation stage, I got through the only
three sentences I had written. I had seven pages from a yellow legal pad rolled
up in my hands to make it look like I had prepared a typical graduation speech.
In fact, I had something else on my mind that I was going to say.

I had learned that one of our classmates, Gene Ford, was not to receive the gold
honor cords of the National Honor Society because, due to a serious disability,
he had to be mostly home-schooled. Even though his grades were high, no one made
any provisions for counting his home grades, which would have definitely
qualified him for the Honor Society.

Less than a minute into my speech, I came to an abrupt halt and told the crowd
that the student sitting in the wheelchair in the front row was denied his honor
cords because he wasn't "normal" like the rest of us. What if, I suggested, we
were the abnormal ones? Some of us seniors, I pointed out, had chosen not to
wear our honor cords because we did not want to separate ourselves from those
who, for whatever reason, didn't have the same grades we had. I went into an
extemporaneous rant about the oppressive nature of being in school and not
having rights or a say in your own education. I then said I'd like to present my
honor cords to Gene.

And so I left the stage and did just that. And the school board members who were
present? Well, they just got a coming attractions trailer to the movie they were
about to star in with me for the next four years.

* * *

The following day the phone rang and my mother said it was Billy Spitz's mom. I
took the phone. She was fighting back tears.

"My husband and I and Billy's grandmother were all sitting in the stands waiting
for Billy to walk across the stage, waiting for his name to be called. They
called the entire class and never called Billy's name. We couldn't see him
sitting with the rest of you. We didn't understand. We were confused. And then
we got worried. Where was he? We got up and looked everywhere for him. We went
out to the parking lot and to our car. And that's where we found him."

She began to cry.

"There, in the backseat, was Billy, all curled up in a ball, and crying. He told
us what Mr. Ryan had done.

"We can't believe this happened. He was wearing a tie! Why did this happen?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Spitz," I said quietly.

"Were you there?" she asked me.?

"Yes."

"Did you see Mr. Ryan do this?"

"Yes."

"And you did nothing?"

"I was still a student." And a coward.

"You were also a school board member! Isn't there anyhing you can do about
this?"

Of course, there was nothing I could do. They weren't going to hold graduation
over to correct this injustice. I had a chance, maybe, to do something about it
the night before. But I didn't. I would never forget this small but powerful
moment of my silence and looking the other way. I promised her I would not let
this rest and that, as I said when I ran for election, I would work toward Mr.
Ryan's removal.

Two days later I was told to go to the home of the school board secretary and be
sworn in. I rode my bicycle over to her house in my bare feet and was sworn in
without my shoes on. She said, "Where are your shoes?"

"I'm not wearing any," I said. She just glared at my feet.

I raised my right hand, and when it came time to say the words about "defending
the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic," I added, "especially
domestic." She looked at me and rolled her eyes. She had taught my mother in
high school. "She was maybe the worst teacher I had," my mother told me later.
Mom also told me I should have worn some shoes.

*  *  *

The honeymoon period in my first year on the board of education was longer than
any of us had expected. Most of the motions I made to improve the
schools—including establishing some student rights—were passed. The board
listened to what I had to say about how the high school was being run, and how
the assistant principal might do better being on the police force (in Chile). I
said that the principal was not a forward thinker; he stifled dissent and
created a climate where new ideas were not encouraged. In my first year I became
a conduit to the board for students, teachers, and parents so that their voices
could be heard.

One Monday night about eight months into my term, the superintendent presented
"letters of resignation" from the high school principal — and Assistant
Principal for Discipline, Dennis Ryan. I was stunned. I couldn't believe that,
just ten months after I was beaten with a high-velocity wooden board, the
mission I went on by running for the school board had actually been
accomplished. It caught me by surprise, as I did not think they were really
going to do anything about this problem. True, they were not going to publicly
fire them. They let them resign, to save face. Saving face was not yet something
I was interested in, as I was not yet old enough to have the necessary
compassion and mercy for two men who were just in the wrong job—and had a right
to be treated with dignity and respect, even if one of them had not accorded the
same to me and Billy Spitz and others. So to twist the knife in deeper, I asked
the superintendent at the public meeting if the principal and assistant
principal had made this decision on their own or did he, the superintendent, ask
for these letters? He nodded his head quietly and said simply, "The latter."

The next day, the students in the high school couldn't believe that one of their
own actually got to say "You're fired!" to the principal and assistant
principal. We started thinking — what else can we do?

That was a dangerous thought.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


SONIC's Wholly Guacamole® Dog and Chili Cheese Fritos® Coney "Reinvented"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv_fmkJOKbk

Guy 1: They have thrown convention right into the hot dog wind.

Guy 2: Guacamole on mine. You got fritos, chili and cheese on yours.

Guy 1: They got it all.

Guy 2: It reminds me of when you reinvented yourself. Called yourself JT.

Guy 1: That was so money, dude.

Guy 2: Yeah, you had that sideways visor. Used "funky-fresh" in every sentence.

Guy 1: Why did I ever stop that?

Guy 2: Weren't you beat up by a bunch of 14-year-olds?

Guy 1: Yeah, a bunch of them.

*

From The Ron Paul Family Cookbook:
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303640104577436251166644714.html

Easy Oreo Truffles
Monica Lovell
Alexandria, Va.

1 pkg. Oreo cookies, divided
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 - 8 oz. pkg. semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted

Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor and reserve for later
use. Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs. Place these in a medium bowl.
Add cream cheese and mix until well blended. Roll the cookie mixture into 42
balls, about 1" in diameter.

Dip balls in melted chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle
with reserved cookie crumbs. Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room
temperature for later use.

Refrigerate until firm, about an hour. Store the leftover truffles, covered, in
refrigerator.

Makes 3½ dozen or 42 servings of one truffle each.

HINT: For easy dipping, place truffle ball in melted chocolate to coat; roll if
necessary. Lift truffle from chocolate using two forks (this will allow excess
chocolate to run off) before placing on wax paper.

Easy Linguine Casserole
Carol Paul

8 oz. uncooked multigrain linguini
2 cups cubed ham or 2 cups cooked chicken breast, cubed
1½ cups shredded Swiss cheese (save some to sprinkle on top)
1 small can reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. reduced fat sour cream
1 box fresh sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped

Cook the linguini according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.
Combine with meat, cheese, soup, sour cream, onion, green pepper and mushrooms
in a greased 9" x 13" pan.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with the
remaining cheese. Bake 10-15 more minutes to melt cheese.

*

Here are a couple of recipes from The Truck Food Cookbook that might make family
dinner a little more fun.
Source:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/08/154591343/food-truck-cookbook-tracks\
-best-meals-served-on-wheels

Grilled Cheese Mac And Cheese Sandwiches

These sandwiches, inspired by The Grilled Cheese Truck, are all about texture.
But they're about goofball creativity, too — about adding cheese to cheese in an
act of righteous excess. Optional additional fillings served at The Grilled
Cheese Truck include caramelized onions and pulled pork.

Makes 2 sandwiches

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 slices white bread or Texas toast (see note), toasted

4 slices sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup macaroni and cheese (use your favorite recipe or, God help you, crack open
a box)

1. Heat the oil on a griddle or in a large skillet set over medium-high heat.

2. Top all the slices of Texas toast with a slice of cheese. Spoon 1/2 cup
macaroni and cheese onto 2 of the slices of bread and top each with one of the
remaining 2 slices, cheese side down. Place the sandwiches on the griddle and
let cook until the bread is nicely toasted, 2 minutes. Carefully flip the
sandwiches and cook on the second side until the macaroni and cheese is warmed
through and the Texas toast is golden, 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat if the
toast is browning too quickly. To serve, cut the sandwiches in half on the
diagonal.

Note: Texas toast is just white bread cut in double-thick slices. It's great for
toasting.

Spam Musubi

Travel in Hawaii and you'll notice these tiles of rice and Spam, bound in wraps
of nori, displayed in hot boxes on the counters at neighborhood convenience
stores. Spam is a vestige of World War II, when canned meat rations fed soldiers
stationed on the islands. In this musubi recipe, inspired by the Marination
Mobile, those pink slabs of pork get a quick fry in a pan and a douse of soy.

Makes 8 musubi

1 can (12 ounces) Spam

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 sheets of nori, cut in 2-inch wide strips (see notes)

4 cups cooked sushi rice

Furikake (see notes)

1. Remove the Spam from the can and set the can aside. Cut the Spam horizontally
into 8 equal slices. Cook the slices in batches in a skillet over medium-high
heat until a crisp crust forms on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer
the cooked Spam to paper towels to drain.

2. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high
heat and let come to a boil. Reduce the heat so that the soy sauce mixture
simmers, then add the drained Spam slices, turning them to coat completely. When
the soy sauce mixture has thickened, use a slotted spoon to remove the Spam from
the pan. Discard the soy sauce mixture.

3. Remove both the top and bottom from the can of Spam. Place a piece of nori on
a work surface. Position the Spam can upright on one end of the nori. Using the
can as a mold, fill it with some of the rice, pressing down on the rice with
your fingers until it is about 1/2 inch thick (it helps to moisten your fingers
with water when doing this). Sprinkle furikake (see notes) over the rice,
seasoning it to taste, and top the rice with a slice of Spam followed by another
layer of rice. Press hard on the rice to compress it. Carefully remove the can.
Wrap the nori around the rice and Spam, moistening the ends with a bit of water
to help seal the nori. Repeat with the remaining nori, rice and Spam, then revel
in the porky goodness that is Spam.

Notes: The Sushi Chef brand of nori is widely available; it comes in .45-ounce
packages.

Furikake is a Japanese condiment made from a combination of flavorings including
ground dried fish, sesame seeds and seaweed. It can be found at Asian groceries
or ordered online.

*

Bacon S'mores
http://www.tastespotting.com/features/bacon-smores-how-to

We only have two words today.

Bacon. S'mores.

We know there is nothing innovative about combining crispy, salty, fatty bacon
with the contrasting sweetness of chocolate, and we've been seeing a l'more
("lot more?") s'mores than we've ever seen b'fore, but we were inspired to make
our very own back when the very nice folks over at Jacob Bromwell gave us a
Campfire Cooking set to giveaway.

Bacon S'mores are exactly that easy — adding a few strips of crisp, cooked bacon
to the graham crackers, melting chocolate and sticky, soft marshmallows toasted
over a campfire (or an indoor "campfire" aka the gas flame on our stovetop).
Because there's bacon, we used little "housemade" graham crackers in the shape
of pigs.

*

The Most Disgustingly Awesome Thing You Will Eat This Summer: Burger King's
Bacon Sundae
June 12th, 2012
Lisa DeCanio
http://bostinno.com/2012/06/12/the-most-disgustingly-awesome-thing-you-will-eat-\
this-summer-burger-kings-bacon-sundae/

Bacon is good on everything. At least, that's the mantra Burger King decided to
apply to their ice cream menu this summer. Starting Thursday, June 14, the fast
food chain will begin serving up a bacon sundae, according to the Associated
Press. The dessert involves vanilla soft serve topped with fudge, caramel, bacon
crumbles and a single, glorious slice of bacon.

You're either salivating or gagging right now. (I'm salivating, if you couldn't
tell).

The treat packs in 510 calories, 18 grams of fat and 61 grams of sugar, so you
probably should avoid consuming it every day. But there's no better way to cool
off this summer than with a crispy slice of bacon, right?

Along with the bacon sundae, this summer, Burger King will also be offering a
Memphis Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich, a Carolina BBQ Whopper or Chicken Sandwich, a
Texas BBQ Whopper or Chicken Sandwich, sweet potato fries, and frozen lemonade.
All items are available through September 3, so get your taste before time's up!

*

10 Foods Made Better With Ranch Dressing
We'll start with "everything" and narrow it down from there. On second thought,
it might be faster to ask which foods aren't made better with ranch…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hiddenvalleyranch/10-foods-made-better-with-ranch-dressi\
ng

1. Pizza

Is there anything better than a piping hot slice of pie, dipped in a cup of
cool, creamy ranch? No, seriously, we're asking you because if there is, it
could probably bring about world peace.

2. Potato Chips

Goes best with greasy N64 controllers and crumb-filled sleeping bags.

3. Buffalo Wings

It's like an epic war of "hot" and "cold" being waged across your tastebuds --
and you always win.

4. Anything Made Of, Filled With, Or Covered In Cheese

For instance: mozzarella sticks.

5. Burritos

If a stuffed-to-capacity burrito dunked in zesty ranch doesn't scream "I'm
cultured," then we don't know what does.

6. Chicken Tenders

Also: chicken nuggets, chicken breasts, chicken salad, chicken strips, chicken
beaks, chicken feet, live sacrificial chickens, etc., etc.

7. Pretzels

Either the crispy bar-counter kind or the oversized "I cant believe the ball
park is charging nine dollars for these" kind.

8. Onion Rings

This is the closest we're getting to putting a vegetable on this list.

9. Tacos

Best eaten on the curbside at three AM after making some awesome decisions.

10. French Fries

Also: every other fried food in existence.

*

Just what America needs: Pizza vending machines
Rene Lynch
June 13, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-pizza-vending-machines-201\
20613,0,4694433.story

Ever have a sudden urge for crisp-crusted, ooey-gooey, cheesy pizza? You want it
STAT. Not in the time it takes to preheat the oven to 500 degrees for a frozen
pizza. Not in the 20 minutes it takes for the pizza delivery guy to arrive. And
certainly not in however many hours it would take to make homemade dough and
marinara sauce.

Get ready for Let's Pizza, a pizza vending machine that promises to deliver a
piping hot pizza pie made from scratch in less than three minutes.

The brainchild of Italian entrepreneur Claudio Torghel, the machine will be
distributed by A1 Concepts, based out of the Netherlands. It's expected to hit
our shores later this year, according to the industry website Pizza Marketplace.
The company is expected to set up its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.

What is remarkable about the new machine is that it truly makes pizzas to order,
including kneading and rolling out the dough. (The above video says the
leavening takes place in a blistering hot infra-red oven.) There are more than
200 toppings from which to choose. The machine can even  accommodate a variety
of dietary restrictions, such as those for vegetarian and Kosher diets.

"Let's Pizza is a huge success in Europe and especially in Italy. That was proof
for us that we have a very good pizza," A1 Concepts Chief Executive Ronald
Rammer told Pizza Marketplace.

The pizza arrives in an insulated take-away box. The machine takes cash and
credit cards. A 10-inch pizza will sell for about $5.95.

Rammer said Americans could expect to see the new machines at malls, airports,
hospitals, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, universities, gas stations and bus
stations...

*

Tilapia Grilled in Foil Pouch
http://www.schwans.com/products/recipeDetail.aspx?id=41913&kwid=searchtestGoogNL\
pcOutbrain58120023

Preparation Time:  10 minutes
Total Time:  30 minutes
Number of Servings:  4
You can either fill the foil packets with the fish, vegetables, season, seal and
grill-stem or you can make the packets ahead of time and freeze till ready to
grill. Works great and you're ready to pull how may you need...when you need!

Ingredients Steps
4 loins  Tilapia Loins with Seven Herb and Spice Blend, frozen
1  lemon, sliced
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 cup  cherry tomatoes, halved
2  carrots, julienned
1 each  green and red peppers, sliced (optional)
4 Tbsp  olive oil
Pepper to taste

1. Place fish, lemon, onion, tomatoes, pepper on to a 12"x16" square sheet of
heavy foil.

2. Season with olive oil, half of the herb packet, a salt and pepper.

3. Seal packet by bringing two sides up and folding to seal. Fold and seal the
edges.

4. Grill steam on medium-high heat for about 10-12 minutes or till packet
reaches 160 degrees.

Tip: You can also add a starch like rice or our Raosted Baby Bakers to make a
complete meal.

*

Spicy Corn Pakoras With Mango-Tamarind Chutney
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/12602/Spicy-Corn-Pakoras-With-Mango-Tamarind-Chut\
ney.html

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
1 and a half teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 6 ears corn)
4 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red or green chile, or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, tender stems and leaves
1 tablespoon grated ginger
Vegetable oil, for frying
Lime wedges
Mango-tamarind chutney (see related recipe, linked below).
PREPARATION

1. In a mixing bowl, combine chickpea flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, salt,
baking powder and turmeric.
2. In a food processor, grind corn kernels to a rough purée. Add purée to flour
mixture and stir well to make a stiff batter.
3. Put ghee in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add cumin, fennel and mustard
seeds. When seeds are lightly toasted and begin to pop, pour mixture into the
batter. Add chile, scallions, cilantro and ginger, and stir well. (Batter may be
prepared several hours in advance.)
4. Pour vegetable oil into a cast-iron skillet to a depth of 1 inch. Heat on
medium-high until oil looks wavy. Using two large soup spoons, carefully slip
morsels of batter into the oil, working in batches if necessary. Adjust the heat
so pakoras brown gently on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn pakoras and brown on
other side, about 2 minutes more. Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula and
blot on paper towels. Serve hot with lime wedges and mango-tamarind chutney, or
another chutney if desired.
YIELD 16-18 pieces (about 4-6 servings).

*

Lemon Blueberry Coconut Pancakes
Written by Heather Powers
July 6, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/recipe/lemon-blueberry-coconut-pancakes

Prep Time
10min

Cooking Time
15min

Total Time
25min

Heather Power from Clarksville, Tenn. runs Kiss My Broccoli a site dedicated to
healthy and delious meals.

When was the last time you took a bite of something and all your cares, worries,
and expectations melted away? Can't remember? Well then, might I suggest you
whip up a plate of these delicious and healthy pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 Cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 Cup oat flour (ground up rolled oats)
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/8 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 Cup unsweetened almond milk
1 Egg white
1 Teaspoon coconut oil, melted
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
5-7 drops NuNaturals Lemon Stevia
1/2 Teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 Cup blueberries

PREPARATION

Step 1:
Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium heat and coat with a thin layer of
coconut oil or non-stick spray.

Step 2:
In a small bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, and coconut.

Step 3:
In a separate bowl, add milk, egg white, oil, extract, stevia (or other
sweetener), and lemon zest and whisk to combine.

Step 4:
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, then carefully fold in blueberries.

Step 5:
Spoon batter onto skillet or griddle (mine made three cakes) and cook each side
approx. 5-6 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Step 6:
Layer with lemon-flavored Greek yogurt and top with more blueberries, toasted
coconut*, and lemon zest.

Note:
*To toast coconut, scatter in a dry skillet heated to medium heat for a couple
of minutes until brown. Shake the skillet occasionally to mix it up. Do NOT walk
away from the pan…believe me, you will only make that mistake ONCE! Burnt
coconut is no bueno!

*

Beat the heat with these dairy-free chocolate pudding pops
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Christy Pooschke
http://www.naturalnews.com/036191_chocolate_pudding_pops_recipes.html

Sweet frozen treats are perfect for hot summer days! Unfortunately, the lack of
nutrition and over-abundance of chemical ingredients in most commercial
varieties is far from ideal. This summer, try making your own. It's a great way
to control the quality of your ingredients! Even a novice in the kitchen can
easily whip up the simple homemade recipe included here. This dairy-free version
of chocolate pudding pops contains natural ingredients and a raw healthy fat
that you may not expect to find in a dessert!

Bananas are one of the natural ingredients in this recipe, and they add a good
dose of potassium to these pops. Avocados are the surprising star of this
dairy-free delight. They are packed with raw healthy fat that gives these pops
their dairy-like creaminess. Avocados are also loaded with fiber, and they
contain 60 percent more potassium per ounce than bananas!

Unlike commercial varieties, these pudding pops are sweetened with natural raw
honey - a sweetener that actually contributes to your health. Raw honey is full
of vitamins and minerals; it contains high levels of antioxidants and it
actually reduces the inflammation associated with many conditions (e.g.,
allergies, infections). Make sure you purchase honey that is truly raw because
heating (i.e., pasteurizing) honey destroys its natural health benefits! You
will most likely find raw honey at your local farmers market, natural food store
or health section of your regular grocery store. It is generally thicker and
less clear than regular pasteurized honey. In fact, it often must be scooped out
of its container rather than squeezed or poured.

"Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding Pops" Recipe

Makes 5 or 6 pops (4-ounces, each)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup raw honey
2 small ripe avocados (about 12 ounces total, weighed whole)
2 medium ripe bananas
3/4 cup + 1/8 cup water

Place ingredients into a blender in the order listed above. Blend on high until
batter is smooth, stopping to plunge the ingredients as necessary. Pour into
popsicle molds, and place in freezer until solid - about 8 hours. Run a bit of
warm water over the molds to ease removal if necessary. Enjoy!

About the author:

Christy Pooschke is the author of "Eating Additive-Free" - a natural cookbook
and shopping guide. If you want to eat less processed food but aren't sure what
to buy or what to eat instead, then this book is for you (includes 160 recipes)!
Hard copy and e-book versions are available for purchase on her website at
GroceryGeek.com. Christy blogs regularly on her website to teach you how to shop
for and prepare natural, additive-free foods. Subscribe today, and all of her
great tips will land right in your inbox! You can also follow her on Facebook.
For folks who desire a more individualized approach, Christy also offers
personal consultations and personal chef services!

In her free time, Christy operates CompletelyNourished.com - an online community
she created for folks interested in networking with regard to natural health,
green living and positive thinking. The site features 200+ natural recipes for a
variety of dietary restrictions (more recipes added weekly), natural living
videos, forums, discussion groups and more! Join today!

Christy's passion for eating REAL food was sparked in 2007 when she eliminated
her Fibromyalgia symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes. Until this time,
she had been eating a typical American diet of boxed dinners, soda pop, candy
and fast food; and she was very ill. Since regaining her health with an
additive-free diet, Christy has been on a mission to educate others about the
dangers lurking in their cabinets; and she has helped people around the world to
maximize their health by reducing their reliance on processed foods.

*

Cacao superfood smoothie recipe
Friday, July 06, 2012
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/036395_cacao_chocolate_superfood.html

When it comes to health-enhancing superfoods, cacao (chocolate) is one of the
most powerful and delicious foods on the planet. In addition to supporting
cardiac health and lifting moods, cacao is well known to east symptoms of PMS,
enhance glucose metabolism and may even help prevent colon cancer.

If you've never had an avocado cacao smoothie, you're missing out! Here's what I
drink daily to get the day started:

1 large avocado
1 large scoop of cacao powder
1 large scoop of palm sugar or other natural sweetener such as a banana
Sufficient almond milk to fill the blender jug
(Optional) I also add 3-4 scoops of various superfoods, depending on what I have
on hand. This can include Boku Superfood (www.BokuSuperfood.com), LivingFuel
(www.LivingFuel.com), Healthforce Vitamineral Green (www.HealthForce.com), Dr.
Hank Liers Rejuvenate Pro (www.IntegratedHealth.com) and the super delicious
X-Balance (www.SGNnutrition.com). I may also add hemp seeds (www.Nutiva.com) or
chia seeds.

Blend, pour and enjoy!

Yes, this is my breakfast. I couldn't imagine starting my day on processed white
bread, sugared-up cereals, pasteurized orange juice or cancer-causing bacon. My
day starts with a cacao avocado smoothie and it just gets better from there!

Try this yourself. You'll be amazed at the delicious taste and the difference it
makes in your brain function, physical stamina, moods and more.

*

Uncle Fats' Tasty Meal

Serve with lamb burgers on homemade pita bread.  Yum!

Sweet, Salty, and Spicy Watermelon Refresher
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-salty-spicy-watermelon-refresher-504000001\
21667

2012 Side Dish Smackdown Winner: Best Surprise
Southern Living JUNE 2012
Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings
Hands-on:30 Minutes
Total:50 Minutes

Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 jalapeño or 2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
1/2 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint
1 small seedless watermelon
1 small cantaloupe
2 English cucumbers
1 jicama
2 mangoes

Preparation
1. Combine lime juice and next 5 ingredients.
2. Place red onion, cilantro, and mint in a large bowl. Dice watermelon and
cantaloupe into 1-inch pieces; add to bowl. Peel and dice cucumbers, jicama, and
mangoes; add to bowl. Stir in lime juice mixture. Cover and chill 20 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Balsamic Strawberries
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/balsamic-strawberries/detail.aspx

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 2 Minutes Ready In: 12 Minutes
Servings: 4

"Warm balsamic strawberries melt the ice cream giving a strawberry Romanoff
decadence without the calories. You could also serve these over yogurt."

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup granular sucrolose sweetener (such as Splenda ®)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 scoops low-fat vanilla ice cream

DIRECTIONS:
1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the strawberry halves,
sucrolose sweetener, and balsamic vinegar. Cook until the strawberries are
heated through and darkened to a ruby red.
2. Place scoops of ice cream into dessert bowls or stemmed glasses. Spoon
strawberries over the ice cream and serve.

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Calories: 167 Amount Per Serving
Total Fat: 6.3g
Cholesterol: 25mg
Sodium: 71mg
Total Carbs: 27.1g
Dietary Fiber: 1.6g
Protein: 3.7g

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Is Global Trade About To Collapse?
Where are Oil Prices Headed? A Chat with Mish
James Stafford | Wed, 25 July 2012
http://oilprice.com/Interviews/Global-Trade-Likely-to-Collapse-if-Romney-Wins-In\
terview-with-Mike-Shedlock.html

Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the
mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free
Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more. Click here
to find out more.

As markets continue to yo-yo and commentators deliver mixed forecasts, investors
are faced with some tough decisions and have a number of important questions
that need answering. On a daily basis we are asked what's happening with oil
prices alongside questions on China's slowdown, which commodities or instruments
will provide safety in the current environment, will the Euro-zone split in the
future and what impact the presidential election is going to have on the economy
and markets?

To help Oilprice.com look into these issues and more we were fortunate enough to
speak with the award winning economic commentator Mike "Mish" Shedlock. Mike's
blog: Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis is one of the most popular and
informative economic blogs online. His millions of dedicated monthly readers
find his advice invaluable and we recommend anyone interested in learning more
about the global economy and financial markets to stop in and take a look:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

To find his blog, you can also do a Google search for Mish

In the interview, Mish discusses:

•    Why global trade will collapse if Romney wins
•    Why investors should get out of stocks and commodities
•    Why we have been oversold on shale gas and renewable energy
•    Why oil prices will likely fall in the short-term
•    Why the Eurozone is doomed
•    Why there may soon be an oil war with China
•    How government interference is ruining the renewable energy sector
•    Why we need to get rid of fractional reserve lending

Oilprice.com: With oil prices now in the high 80's and news out of Europe
getting worse every day, do you expect prices to stay in this range, or do you
see them dropping in the short term?

Mish: There are two conflicting forces here. One of them is oil prices over the
long-term and the other is oil prices over the short-term.

Even in the short-term you will find there are conflicting forces at play. For
example, stress in the Middle-East puts an upward pressure on oil prices.
However, economic problems in Europe, a slow-down in Asia and a slow-down in the
United States put downward pressure on oil prices. New orders are falling at a
staggering rate across the board in Asia, China, Japan, Europe, and the United
States which also puts further downward pressure on oil prices.

Long-term, forces such as peak oil and population growth in China are putting
pressures to the upside.

One needs to balance all of those factors out when they are about ready to give
a prediction on oil prices. My opinion is that over the short to mid-term, oil
prices will go down. Long-term, energy is a good place to invest.

Oilprice.com: If your prediction is correct and oil prices do go down – what
sort of impact do you see this having on the U.S. economy, if any?

Mish: That's an interesting question. However, the question puts the cart before
the horse.

Looking at prices in a vacuum is a mistake. One also has to look at why prices
are doing what they're doing. For example, falling oil prices that happen when
supply shocks are alleviated are a positive thing. Falling oil prices because of
falling demand is another. You seldom see this kind of distinction in mainstream
media.

Right now, oil prices are primarily falling because of falling demand, and that
is in spite of geopolitical tensions. That is not a healthy sign for the
economy.

Oilprice.com: As we have seen with the recent oil workers strike in Norway and
subsequent rise in oil prices. Geopolitical risks always remain to keep the
markets off balance. Apart from Iran are there any other geopolitical risks you
think people should be aware of?

Mish: A key geopolitical risk in the long-term is that China cannot continue at
its expected rate of growth. For years, the mantra has been "China, China,
China," and many thought China could maintain its 8% to 10% per year growth
going forward. That's not going to happen.

I agree with Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets, that China is more
likely to see 2% growth than 8% or even 6% growth over the next decade.

2% growth is a shocking reduction, even from the lowered expectations that we've
seen regarding China. The implication is commodity prices, especially base
metals, are going to be under extreme pressure because of China stockpiles. For
further discussion please see "China Rebalancing Has Begun"; What are the Global
Implications?

Oilprice.com: What are your longer term projections for oil prices – say 3-5
years out?

Mish: I think it's a fool's game to make such projections. Most of the
projections on the price of gold, silver and oil are ridiculous. They are
designed to sell newsletters. The bigger the hype, the greater the sales. On
occasion, I will make a call. For example, when crude hit $140+ in the summer of
2008, and others called for $200, I said oil prices would drop to the $45.00 -
$50.00 range or so. Oil went to $35.
Moreover, those predicting $200.00 never bothered to think what that would do to
the global economy. We saw the same thing in natural gas. People were predicting
$25. Look at prices now, at roughly $3.00 NG fell all the way to $2.20, lower
than even this staunch deflationist thought.

I'm not willing to go out on the same limb and predict energy prices three years
in advance. The reason is we really don't know for sure how central bankers are
going to respond. China is particularly important. If there's universal printing
of money everywhere, I would expect a lot of that to flow back into prices of
gold, perhaps of silver, and perhaps energy, but we really don't know what
they're going to do. We don't know when or how the Euro Zone is going to break
up. I think it will, but how is as important as when.

In the US, we don't know the results of tax hikes following the 2012 election.
Heck, we don't even know who the next president in the United States is going to
be. Will it be Republican? Will it be Democrat? Numerous political and economic
forces are pulling and tugging in different ways.

I don't believe there's anyone out there that can predict, with any kind of
accuracy, what oil prices are going to do. Which is why I believe trying to
predict oil prices in the midst of all of these possibilities is a fool's game.

Oilprice.com: What are your views on inflation and hyperinflation.

Mish: Hyperinflation is a complete collapse in currency. It is a political event
that kicks off hyperinflation, not a monetary one. Hyperinflation talk hit an
extreme when oil prices hit $140. Such talk was silly then, and it is still
silly now.

Hyperinflationists in general fail to understand the role of collapsing demand
for credit. The total credit market is over $54 trillion. Base money supply is
$2.6 trillion and excess reserves are about $1.5 trillion. Seems to me we had
huge expansion in credit and Bernanke is struggling to reignite demand. I
suggest he will not succeed.

The idea the US$ will suddenly go to zero is ridiculous. The US is the world's
largest holder of gold reserves, and that alone would stop it. Also note that
Bernanke, as misguided as his policies are, is still beholden to the banking
system. As such he has no desire for it to collapse.

As far as inflation goes, I am still widely misunderstood. I view inflation as
an increase in money supply and credit, with credit marked to market. Deflation
is the opposite. If one insists that inflation is about prices, then we are in a
state of inflation with 10-year treasury rates below 1.5%.

For those who woodenly view inflation in terms of prices, well, prices may or
may not rise. Price have generally risen, but credit is the key behind housing
prices, family formation, hiring, and in fact everything driving the economy.
So, where is credit going? Demographics and student debt suggests nowhere.
Indeed, credit has gone nowhere in spite of heroic efforts by Bernanke.

Oilprice.com: You just mentioned that we don't know who the next president is
going to be and sticking to this topic how big an impact do you see energy
prices having on this year's presidential elections?

Mish: I don't think energy prices are what's on people's minds. What's on
people's minds right now are jobs. Oil prices have kind of stabilized and in the
very short-term they are likely to stay stable unless there are some dramatic
results in the Mid-East or a dramatic slowdown in the US economy.  Both are
possible, but a major US slowdown is arguably more likely. Regardless, I think
energy prices are going to be a minor election issue.

Oilprice.com: The message on peak oil seems to be confused. Many are adamant
that peak oil is the largest threat to ever face humanity, whilst others believe
that with new technologies and new fields being found, peak oil is a myth and we
are actually swimming in oil. What are your thoughts?

Mish: The idea that we're swimming in oil is preposterous. Moreover, abiotic oil
is a ridiculous pipe-dream. That said, the idea that the global economy is going
to come grinding to a halt in the next year or two because of oil is also
preposterous (discounting a geopolitical Mid-East shutdown). In general, I would
side with the peak oil folks, noting that a global recession will likely
pressure prices more than anyone thinks, barring a breakout of war or supply
disruptions  in the Mid-East.

Long-term, 8% growth in China is mathematically not going to happen. People
really need to get a grip on exponential math and the implications thereof. If
China does attempt to grow at 8-10% as some people have predicted, there's going
to be an oil war of some kind between the United States and China because
there's simply not enough oil.

For a good discussion on the limits of exponential growth, please see Calpers
Pension Plan Reports 1% Return; Stunning "What If" Charts at Various Compound
Annualized Rates-of-Return Going Forward

Oilprice.com: Shale gas has been generating a great deal of headlines recently.
Do you believe it could be the solution to America's energy challenges? We are
also seeing developments in oil & gas extraction technologies. Have we been
oversold on such possibilities?

Mish: I think we're oversold on everything. We're oversold on the idea of cheap
energy, of free energy, of green energy, of clean energy. We're oversold on the
stock market. We're oversold on what Obama can deliver. We're oversold on what
Mitt Romney can deliver. We're oversold in so many areas, I can't even mention
them.

In regards to new technologies, how much water will it take to extract these
reserves in the midst of these droughts? What are we going to do with the
contamination, how do we get rid of the waste byproducts? These kinds of
projects look good on paper, but are they truly scalable in practice?

I hope I am wrong.

Oilprice.com: What is the role of government in alternative energy sources?

Mish: The role of government should be to get the hell out of the way and let
the free market work. If peak oil really is a problem (and I think it is), the
free market will come up with a solution if left alone.

Instead, the government is trying to pick winners. Look at the results.
President Obama backed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra and the DOE loan
guarantee scheme blew sky high.

Our ethanol program is a total disaster. By government mandate, corn has been
diverted to ethanol production smack in the midst of a drought. Corn is not an
efficient way to produce ethanol, even if there was not a drought.

Governments seldom back winners. Instead, government bureaucrats back companies
that contribute to their campaigns. This is worse than it looks because such
activities deprives companies with real solutions a chance at funding.

We need to get government out of the energy business completely and let the free
market work.

Oilprice.com: Sticking with the renewable energy theme, do you see them making a
meaningful contribution to global energy production over the next 10 years?

Mish: Adding to my previous answer, government subsidies of unviable products
and unviable ideas gets in the way of the free market actually producing viable
products and viable ideas. Simply put, the more government interferes, the less
likely we are going to see advances in the actual direction of a true solution.

Oilprice.com: In regards to presidential elections, how do you think energy will
fare under Obama and under Romney? Which sectors will benefit, and which will
suffer?

Mish: Mitt Romney has declared that if he's elected he is going to label China a
currency manipulator and increase tariffs on China across the board. That's
something that I believe he might be able to do by mandate. If he's elected and
he does follow through, I think the result will be a global trade war the likes
of which we have not seen since the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act compounded
problems during the Great Depression. Simply put, I think that global trade will
collapse if Romney wins and he follows through on his campaign promises.

Unfortunately, campaign rhetoric now is heating up to the point where President
Obama and Mitt Romney are trying to outdo each other on who's going to do more
to China. Thus, we may very well see a global trade war regardless of who wins.

As an aside, Mitt Romney is pledging to increase military spending. Given
Romney's statements on Iran, it's more likely he would start a war with Iran
than Obama. Note that the U.S. military is one of the biggest users of petroleum
worldwide and oil price shocks could be devastating.

None of this is any good for the world economy at all. I believe that Romney
will do what he says. I believe he's more likely to start wars than Obama, but
that doesn't make Obama any good. This is the worst slate of candidates in U.S.
history running for president, and I'm writing in Ron Paul.

Oilprice.com: As the global economy slows, where do you see the best investment
opportunities available to investors?

Mish: At this point, the best thing to do is wait for better opportunities. I am
talking my book, but something like 70-80% cash (or hedged equities) and 20-30%
gold seems reasonable. I'm telling people, "Get out of the stock market. Get out
of commodities except gold and perhaps a bit of silver."

A global slowdown is underway. Actually, I made a Case for US and Global
Recession Right Here, Right Now.

Although nothing is certain, central bankers worldwide are highly likely to pump
up money supply hoping to counteract the slowdown. If so, I think gold is going
to be one of big beneficiaries. Silver may be a huge beneficiary, and I like it
here. However, silver is also an industrial commodity, so gold is safer.

Bear in mind, I may seem like a broken record on this thesis given cash and gold
has been my call for the last year and a half or so.

In spite of calling the global economy exceptionally well, I've simply been
wrong about U.S. equities. They have risen far more than I thought, but I still
caution that risk is high.

I'm going to repeat my general message here, that another slow-down, and another
big downturn in the stock market is highly likely. Equities are quite overvalued
at this point, cash is not trash, and staying liquid now, with a percentage in
gold, is a good idea.

Oilprice.com: I was hoping you could tell us your thoughts on the Euro. You
mentioned previously, that you think the E.U. will split in the future, why do
you think this will occur, and what will the economic and political implications
be?

Mish: I think it's pretty clear that the euro's going to split because no
currency union in history has ever survived without there being a corresponding
fiscal union in place. Right now we're in a situation where Germany's Chancellor
Angela Merkel says that "There should be no fiscal union until there's a
political union." Francois Hollande said, "There should be no political union
until there's a banking union," and the German Supreme Court will not allow a
political union or a fiscal union, nor a banking union without a German
referendum."

I did a post on this, and it's called, "It's Just Impossible."

If politicians could not get agreements when times were good, how are they going
to get these agreements now, when they're bickering over every little thing,
including the amount of the ESM, whether or not the bailout of Spain should be
via the ESM or the EFSF, and whether or not the Spanish government should be
backstopping this loan.

They can't get an agreement on anything, and the German Constitutional Court is
hanging like a Sword of Damocles over the entire thing.

For these reasons, the Euro is going to bust up. What happens to the price of
the Euro depends on how it busts up. If the breakup is piecemeal and disorderly,
it means one thing. If it's orderly and prepared in advance with Germany leaving
and the northern states leaving, it's a completely different scenario. Any point
along that line is possible, but piecemeal seems more likely. How disorderly
remains to be seen.

For example, if Germany exits the Euro and goes on the deutschmark, the value of
the deutschmark will soar, whilst the value of the Euro will decline.

Instead, if we see a break-up by Spain leaving, by Greece leaving, by Italy
leaving, and the bulk of what's left is Germany and the northern States, then
the value of the Euro can soar. Those are the two conflicting possibilities
here. The market has not decided which one of those is more likely.

Meanwhile, the Euro is in a low 1.20 range to the U.S. dollar. A breakout or a
breakdown might be a signal that the market is expecting one of those
possibilities over the other.

We are in uncharted territory and everyone is guessing.

Short-term I am neutral on the US dollar at this level because the euro is a bit
oversold, the idea of a Greek exit is no longer unfathomable, and the Fed is
likely to initiate QE3 at some point. This is a change from my previous US
dollar bullish stance.

Oilprice.com: We mentioned China earlier, and I was wondering what you think the
future holds for China, both politically and economically.

Mish: A regime change in China is coming up. The current regime has been focused
on growth. However, I think the next Chinese government already understands that
the growth at any cost of the current regime is not sustainable. If so, we're
going to see a major shift away from an export-driven production model dependent
on investment on roads, on bridges, and more production, to a consumption-driven
model. That shift will be one of the major forces in the global economy.

If I'm correct on this, then it's going to be a painful adjustment, regardless
of what China does. For example, a Chinese slow-down towards consumption would
increase the value of the renminbi, would decrease their exports, would help the
balance of trade between China and the United States and Europe, and would put
intense pressure on commodity prices. In turn, asset prices and currencies of
the commodity producing countries, like Australia, Brazil, and Canada will come
under heavy pressure.

Oilprice.com: Mark Faber is not a fan of the Federal Reserve, blaming them for
the current US economic situation. He said, "Usually under a gold standard you
have a bubble under one sector of the economy but you don't have it across the
board globally and that's really what the Federal Reserve has done over the last
couple of years." Do you agree? Is the Fed to blame? And what can be done to
avoid this in the future?

Mish: I agree with part of it, if not most of it. However, the idea that the
gold standard itself causes bubbles is fallacious. The gold standard does not
cause huge bubbles. The real culprit is fractional reserve lending.
Historically, problems happened when banks lent out more money than there was
gold backing it up.

The gold standard did one thing for sure. It limited trade imbalances. Once
Nixon took the United States off the gold standard, the U.S. trade deficit
soared (along with the exportation of manufacturing jobs).

To fix the problems of the U.S. losing jobs to China, to South Korea, to India,
and other places, we need to put a gold standard back in place, not enact
tariffs.

Oilprice.com: Mish, thank you for your time this has been a very enjoyable and
enlightening conversation for us.

For those of you who haven't seen Mish's superb blog and daily economic
commentary we strongly recommend you visit his site:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com. You can also do a Google search for
Mish.

Visit our homepage for the latest oil prices and energy news.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


Japanese officials used claims of inaccuracy to divert release of critical
radiation data despite validating concerns
Authored By: Lucas W Hixson
Web URL:
http://enformable.com/2012/06/japanese-officials-used-claims-of-inaccuracy-as-a-\
diversion-to-releasing-critical-radiation-data-despite-validating-concerns/4/

Japanese officials have failed to justify why it took them over a month to
disclose large-scale releases of radioactive material in mid-March at the
crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A special government tool had been producing critical maps, and other data,
hourly since the first hours after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, some
of the maps clearly showed a plume of nuclear contamination extending to the
northwest of the plant, beyond the areas that were initially evacuated.

Japan's nuclear safety agency and the science ministry had data on the spread of
radioactive materials that could have prevented unnecessary radiation exposure,
but decided to sit on it instead of reporting it to the crisis management center
at the prime minister's office.

Accurate or Not?

The ministry has argued that the data was only predictions and releasing it
could have caused unnecessary public disorder, and since the tsunami had knocked
out sensors at the plant: without measurements of how much radiation was
actually being released by the plant, it was impossible to measure how far the
radioactive plume was stretching.

"Without knowing the strength of the releases, there was no way we could take
responsibility if evacuations were ordered," said Keiji Miyamoto of the
Education Ministry's nuclear safety division.

However as it turned out later its predictions were fairly accurate, yet SPEEDI
data was never used in mapping out the evacuation routes for Fukushima
Prefecture residents.

A new report from Japan's science ministry casts serious doubt on the officials
that the readings were inaccurate, and exposes that central government confirmed
that the  SPEEDI radiation fallout simulations were accurate, and reliable, but
still refused to release the data for more than one month after the nuclear
accident in Fukushima.

The science ministry's report reveals that not only were ministry officials
worried about the simulations, they also double checked the physical levels.

The Education, Science, Culture, Sports and Technology Ministry operates and
maintains SPEEDI and WSPEEDI (World Edition), these systems estimate where
radioactive material will spread based on data, including figures provided by
the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on the amount of radioactive
material released.

To use the model, scientists enter radiation measurements from various distances
from a nuclear accident. The model produces an estimate of the radioactive
material escaping at the source of the accident.

The ministry inexplicably decided such data would be unavailable due to the loss
of power at the plant following the massive March 11th earthquake.

That evening, it began projecting how much radioactive material would leak every
hour, on the assumption that one becquerel was released per hour, which was not
indicative of the actual release taking place at the crippled plant, rather in
line with Nuclear Safety Commission guidelines.

In essence, the SPEEDI predictions will not reveal the exact radioactivity
levels in a given area, or identify every type of radioactive isotope that may
be present, but merely provides a map of sorts, to identify which areas are more
likely to be affected than others.

Data from the costly high-tech system designed to predict the dispersal of
radioactive materials could have served as a reference for evacuation because,
although the amount of radiation was not accurately predicted, it still provided
a clear picture of areas with relatively higher or lower radiation levels.

NISA submitted some of SPEEDI's results to the Prime Minister's Office after
1:30 a.m. on March 12, but not all of the information was relayed.

Furthermore, as the results that were conveyed were accompanied by documents
suggesting the data "were not very reliable," they were not passed to then Prime
Minister Naoto Kan.

SPEEDI data around Namie alarmed experts

On March 15th, the ministry had made projections for what would happen if all
radioactive material was discharged from the nuclear plant. These figures were
not released for fear of panicking the public.

After being increasingly alarmed by the SPEEDI documents forecasting the spread
of radioactive materials that were produced, the ministry decided dispatched
officials to Namie Town, Fukushima to perform manual measurements.

Measurements showed that the town located 20 kilometers from the nuclear plant
did in fact have dangerously high levels of radiation, over 330 microsieverts
per hour, yet still the public was never warned.


Itaru Watanabe, an official at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology, has admitted that data produced by SPEEDI, was provided
to the U.S. before the Japanese public.

The data was disclosed to get the assistance of the U.S military for the relief
effort on March 14th, Watanabe said.

This data was shared with NISA, the commission and the Fukushima prefectural
government. However, none of these entities knew how to make maximum use of this
information.

The data release for the public "was delayed while it was being considered at
the government's disaster response headquarters," Watanabe added.

Media outlets had asked the ministry to provide SPEEDI data immediately after
the accident began on March 11th. The ministry, NISA and the commission
discussed what data should be made public, and concluded information that was
not highly accurate should not be released.

The ministry received a request to disclose more information on March 24th, and
public criticism of the lack of available information became louder. The
organizations eventually relented and released more of their SPEEDI data by May
3.

Municipalities around the crippled nuclear plant have realized that some of
their residents evacuated from their homes immediately after the crisis began to
places with higher radiation levels, unaware of the danger due to lack of
information.

As a direct result of the delay in the communication of critical data, people
who fled the coast of Fukushima Prefecture and went northwest ended up in places
where the danger was higher because spring winds at the time were blowing in
that direction, carrying radioactive fallout to areas well beyond the 20-km
radius evacuation zone.

Given no official guidance from the central government, Namie town officials led
the residents north, believing that winter winds would be blowing south and
carrying away any radioactive emissions.

Evacuees said that, believing they were safe in Tsushima, they took few
precautions.  They did not know that SPEEDI's projections predicted the
radioactive material would spread and accumulate over these areas.

For three nights, while hydrogen explosions at four of the reactors spewed
radiation into the air, they stayed in a district called Tsushima where the
children played outside and some parents used water from a mountain stream to
prepare rice.

Yoko Nozawa, 70, said that because of the lack of toilets, they resorted to pits
in the ground, where doses of radiation were most likely higher.

"We were in the worst place, but didn't know it," Ms. Nozawa said. "Children
were playing outside."

While the evacuees were waiting to return home, government computer system
models were showing that winds were blowing directly over the town where the
evacuees had escaped to, but the town officials wouldn't be informed for two
months, long after any protection could be offered to the residents.

"From the 12th to the 15th we were in a location with one of the highest levels
of radiation," said Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie.

Mr. Baba said that if the SPEEDI data had been made available sooner,
townspeople would have naturally chosen to flee to safer areas.

"But we didn't have the information," he said.  The withholding of information,
he said, was akin to "murder."

Mayor Tamotsu Baba has since said the Namie town government in Fukushima
Prefecture is considering filing a criminal complaint over delays in the
disclosure of radioactive material diffusion estimates under Japan's SPEEDI
system.

A report by an official Japanese government panel investigating the Fukushima
disaster did admit, "[Residents] had no option but to follow instructions issued
by their mayors, who were unaware" of the potential danger, but no remedy has
been proposed to ensure the same situation would not occur again.


Embattled Japanese officials at the heart of the SPEEDI scandal have continued
to maintain that the actions were justified because the data was "merely a
hypothetical calculation result", that releasing the data "would cause
unnecessary panic", and firmly insist that they did not knowingly imperil the
public, but critics inside and outside Japan argue that some of the exposure
could have been prevented if officials had released the data sooner.

In other interviews, officials at the ministry and the agency each pointed
fingers, saying that the other agency was responsible for SPEEDI.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano admitted in a public hearing
that the delay in releasing information from the System for Prediction of
Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) was a major reason the
government lost the public's trust.

On July 4, 2011, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, a group of nuclear scholars
and industry executives, said, "It is extremely regrettable that this sort of
important information was not released to the public until three months after
the fact, and only then in materials for a conference overseas."

In a 2011 interview, Goshi Hosono, the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis
acknowledged that certain information, including the SPEEDI data, had been
withheld for fear of "creating a panic."

Toshiso Kosako, a top Japanese expert on radiation measurement explained the
SPEEDI maps would have been extremely useful in the hands of someone who knew
how to sort through the system's reams of data.

Kosako also revealed that the SPEEDI readings were so complex, and some of the
predictions of the spread of radiation contamination so alarming, that three
separate government agencies — the Education Ministry and the two nuclear
regulators, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and Nuclear Safety
Commission — passed the data to one another like a hot potato, with none of them
wanting to accept responsibility for its results.

Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission, an
independent government panel that oversees the country's nuclear industry, said
that the government had delayed issuing data on the extent of the radiation
releases because of concern that the margins of error had been large in initial
computer models.

But he also suggested a there may have been a public policy reason for having
kept quiet.

"Some foreigners fled the country even when there appeared to be little risk,"
he admitted.  "If we immediately decided to label the situation as Level 7, we
could have triggered a panicked reaction."

For months after the disaster, the government flip-flopped on the level of
radiation permissible on school grounds, causing continuing confusion and
anguish about the safety of schoolchildren in Fukushima.

After the nuclear disaster, the government raised the legal exposure limit to
radiation from one to 20 millisieverts a year for people, including children —
effectively allowing them to continue living in communities from which they
would have been barred under the old standard.

The limit was later scaled back to one millisievert per year, but applied only
to children while they were inside school buildings.

About 45 percent of 1,080 children in three Fukushima communities surveyed in
late March 2011 tested positive for thyroid exposure to radiation, according to
an announcement by the government, which added that the levels were too low to
warrant further examination.

Seiki Soramoto, a lawmaker and former nuclear engineer to whom Prime Minister
Naoto Kan turned for advice during the crisis, blamed the government for
withholding forecasts from the computer system, known as the System for
Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, or Speedi.

"In the end, it was the prime minister's office that hid the Speedi data," he
said. "Because they didn't have the knowledge to know what the data meant, and
thus they did not know what to say to the public, they thought only of their own
safety, and decided it was easier just not to announce it."

Sources:
JiJi Press
NHK
CNN
The Japan Times
The New York Times
The Yomiuri

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


The Higgs boson 'God Particle' discovery explained in the context of conscious
cosmology
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/036376_Higgs_boson_conscious_cosmology.html

(NaturalNews) The ultimate goal of the study of physics is to decode the rules
and laws of the universe; to understand what "makes it all tick," so to speak.
That goal, of course, has remained elusive, but great strides have been made
toward it over the last few thousand years. Newton's formulations of the laws of
gravity, Kepler's laws of motion, Bohr's modeling of the atom, Maxwell's
equations on electromagnetic behavior... these all contributed to a deeper
understanding of the very fabric of reality. Einstein's theory of Special
Relativity, and then General Relativity, soon followed.

Our understanding of physics accelerated throughout the 20th century with
theories on the Big Bang, inflation and the inflaton field, string theory,
M-theory, supersymmetry, quantum mechanics, parallel worlds, bubble universes
and much more. It's truly fascinating to observe all this as a conscious being
sitting inside the very universe we're all trying to figure out, and one thing I
really appreciate about physicists in general is that they require an
extraordinarily convincing burden of proof before they announce something to be
"discovered."

That's in great contrast to the pharmaceutical industry which essentially just
"makes stuff up" and passes it off as "science." Drug companies give science a
terrible name, but physicists are the redeeming individuals who help restore
credibility to the very name "science."

(For example, in clinical drug trials, a pharmaceutical only has to work on five
percent of the test group in order to receive FDA approval as "safe and
effective for everyone!" In the realm of particle physics and cosmology,
however, experiments usually have to reach a level of certainty approaching
2,999,999 out of three million (5 sigma), thereby leaving only one chance in
three million of the conclusion being wrong. Now that's what I call confidence!)

This is why physicists, chemists and other "hard sciences" people who end up
throwing their hats in with the pharmaceutical / vaccine / chemotherapy
industries only end up discrediting themselves. The for-profit health care
industry is largely based on quackery that merely borrows the label of "science"
but follows none of its stringent requirements for proof. Physics and cosmology,
in great contrast, has (almost) nothing to patent and nothing to sell to the
public at monopolistic prices. Particle physics, cosmology and even quantum
field theory is truly all about the quest for knowledge and not about hyping up
some false pandemic to sell more dangerous vaccines to an unsuspecting public.

Even with the extreme attention to evidentiary detail, however, there's still
something the physicists have been overlooking for a long, long time:
Consciousness.

The quest for particles (while ignoring consciousness)

Why would anyone want to spend a few billion dollars smashing atoms together and
analyzing the results of the splatter? To find out what atoms are made of, of
course. But more importantly, to find out what the universe is made of. That's
what CERN is all about, and as long as its results are understood in the proper
context, it's valuable science.

There's a huge gap in all this, unfortunately, and that gap has its origins in
the thinking that atoms are made entirely of particles. The wildly misnamed "God
particle" known as Higgs boson has been the single most sought-after particle by
physicists in their quest to find physical evidence to back up their
mathematical equations of the "Standard Model" of the universe.

To understand why that matters, let's back up for a minute. Physicists and
especially cosmologists spend an enormous amount of time working in the abstract
realm of mathematics. The purpose of the mathematics is to attempt to model
physical reality, which is, of course, engineered into the fabric of the
universe with the language of mathematics. (Consciousness is also woven into the
fabric of reality, many argue, but that's a subject I'll revisit later.)

What's often lacking in this scientific quest is physical experimental evidence
that backs up the math. So it only makes sense to attempt to conduct real-world
experiments to either prove or disprove what the theory predicts. That's what
CERN is all about. Now that the Higgs particle has been convincingly
demonstrated to exist, this helps nail down all sorts of answers, thereby
leading to a deeper exploration of other questions, each of which grants a
measure of understanding to human civilization.

Ultimately, physicists are attempting to understand the origins of the universe,
which has turned out to be a tricky question for lots of reasons, some of which
are almost impossible to imagine. In addition to the parallel worlds and
multiverse theories that have joined the complexities, there is also "brane
theory" to deal with. It's a theory that says, in a nutshell, multiple universes
coexist intertwined with each other but not interacting. You can't touch another
brane world even though it may exist right alongside our own brane world.

What's important to realize in all this is that even the so-called "Standard
Model" of explaining everything is currently an unsatisfactory patchwork of
equations and mathematical transformations that don't play well together when it
comes to different physical contexts such as really small things or really
large, massive things. Try to meld large-scale equations of gravity, for
example, with really small phenomena such as quantum fluctuations of atomic
nuclei, and you get nonsensical mathematical answers such as "the answer is X
divided by zero!"

Virtually all present-day reality modeling equations break down at singularity
events such as black holes, too. The Standard Model is seriously lacking, in
other words, and one of the reasons there is so much excitement about Higgs
boson is because it would help fill in the gaps of the Standard Model
explanation.

There's little doubt that the Standard Model is only a temporary quick fix in
the bigger picture, of course. It's not "wrong" in the sense of being terribly
incorrect; it's most likely just incomplete. Ultimately, physicists hope to find
a "unified theory" that explains everything with a single set of mathematical
understandings and equations that apply to all observable phenomena in the
universe: electromagnetism, gravity, mass, light and so on. Einstein spent a
considerable portion of his life in search of the unification of these
fundamental forces but was unable to achieve it. This is a goal of understanding
that may yet take lifetimes to achieve.

If it were achieved, it would represent one of the most profound achievements in
the history of humankind.

Conscious cosmology

Yet, as I hinted above, there's still something missing from all this:
Consciousness. Without consciousness, the universe cannot be fully explained, as
consciousness is increasingly emerging as a fundamental force impacting the very
fabric of reality. This is really, really frustrating for many scientists
because, for starters, the majority of them don't even believe in the existence
of consciousness. Stephen Hawking is famous for his rather short-sighted remarks
that people are mindless, soulless beings -- "biological robots" -- and that
religion / spirituality is a realm for "people who are afraid of the dark."

He titles chapters of his book, "The Theory of Everything" and yet does not even
acknowledge the existence of consciousness or free will -- two things that are
fundamentally tied into quantum theory equations in the context of the
"Observer." It goes without saying that until modern-day physicists can embrace
and attempt to understand consciousness and the role of the Observer in shaping
the physical universe, even their most determined efforts to find a unified
theory of everything will come up short.

This is frustrating for physicists because, to date, there are no equations that
describe the behavior or properties of consciousness. Although consciousness can
be experienced first-hand by conscious beings, it so far has defied measurement
and experimental validation. How can anyone prove consciousness exists? Other
than the fact that it is self-evident to those who possess it, is there an
independent way to measure it and thereby confirm its existence?

This may ultimately prove impossible because of an error in the question. An
"independent" measurement, in classical physics, describes a measurement being
conducted by a mechanism that has no ties to any conscious observer. Yet in
order to become aware of the measurements, a conscious being must, one way or
another, interact with the results of the experiment. This interaction, as
quantum theorists are increasingly realizing, is itself part of the experiment
and may alter its outcomes even after the fact. The Observer cannot be isolated
from the events observed.

This also means that all of today's science is, in fact, biased toward
consciousness. All the evidence that makes up the entire history of known
science suffers from a glaring "selection bias" because it was all observed and
selected by conscious beings. Even this recent Higgs boson discovery may have
been brought into existence solely because so many conscious beings were focused
on bringing into reality what they imagined to be real. I know this almost
starts to sound New-Agey, but such is the nature of things in a conscious
universe: All science being conducted today is carried out under the influence
of "consciousness bias." And so we need to understand what this means and how it
impacts our understanding of reality.

Gaining a deep understanding of this may be exceedingly difficult for human
beings to achieve. It may, in fact, be beyond the capabilities of biological
beings with limited neurological capacity. Nevertheless, I believe that the more
modern science understands about the Higgs boson, quantum theory, particle
physics and cosmology, the closer science will be to initiating a scientific
study of consciousness.

We've got to get the hard sciences out of the way first, in other words, before
the interaction between mind and matter can even be approached.

Consciousness, parallel worlds and more

Consciousness, you see, isn't made of particles. Thus, you can't smash
consciousness in a particle accelerator and hope to see the tiny bits of what
it's made of. (You can crush free will, of course, but that takes a government.)
Yet there is increasingly compelling evidence that consciousness interacts with
the physical world and may even create parallel physical worlds when it is
exercised. Hints of this are emerging from the study of quantum physics, which
immediately leads to the possibility of "multiple worlds" and parallel
realities.

The search for Higgs boson, ultimately, is an important one, but the approach is
incomplete if our civilization seeks to uncover the fundamental forces that
unify our observable universe. Those forces do not exist in a vacuum absent the
minds of the conscious inhabitants of the universe. Where there is life, there
appears to be consciousness, and if there's one thing most physicists and
cosmologists agree on, it's that life is ridiculously abundant across the
cosmos. Not in terms of units of life per square meter, of course, since most of
the universe is, physically speaking, just empty space. The average density of
the known universe (roughly 28 billion light years across) has been estimated at
6 hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. That's a lot of empty space, but it's filled
with literally trillions of stars, each of which may harbor life and therefore
consciousness.

To achieve a fundamental understanding of the origins and mechanisms of our
known universe without factoring in the impact of consciousness and the
conscious observer is, to put it bluntly, a blind approach to ultimate
understanding. It's like trying to bake a cake but leaving out the flour. The
recipe of reality from which our universe has sprung must take into account
consciousness. If it does not, no unification of fundamental forces will ever be
complete, I believe.

Who or what created our reality?

Then there is the question of the Architect of this reality. Even if humankind
manages to decode the fundamental laws which govern the physical universe,
there's not only the question of "Who or what created the universe in the first
place" but the even more difficult question, "Who or what created the laws of
physics that govern the universe?"

Because on that question, even a particle accelerator the size of the entire
planet can't shed a single photon of light on the question. The consensus view
in physics circles today -- which is dominated, remember, by people who don't
believe in consciousness or free will -- is that our universe created itself out
of nothing, without any intelligent intervention. This is a strange argument of
"effect without a cause," and it simply doesn't add up.

The far more believable argument is that our universe was created by a Great
Intelligence -- an Architect or Creator, if you will. The explanations for this
Creator run the gamut. Several prominent physicists are right now suggesting
that our universe is a simulation, a physics experiment created by a vastly
superior race of beings who inhabit a higher dimension. On the more spiritual
side, the explanation quickly centers on a single consciousness known as God.
There are seemingly endless additional theories and thoughts on this subject
involving a vast array of philosophical and religious beliefs, but they all have
in common one idea which should be obvious to even a brilliant physicist: The
reason there is something rather than nothing is because someone (or something)
had to put it there, and that means there is an intelligence -- a consciousness
-- that exists above and beyond our known universe. Something with the power to
create our known universe, in other words.

That creative force / intelligence / consciousness is what I call The Divine. It
is divine because it is a Creator in every sense of the word. It creates
realities. It carefully selects cosmological constants so that those realities
have the capacity to support life. It imbues that life with small slices of
consciousness and grants that life the capacity for self awareness and self
determination.

These are divine concepts that underpin the deepest inner workings of our
universe... far beyond Higgs boson or any theory of particle physics. This gets
to the Creator behind the very laws of physics. How was the framework of quantum
mechanics created in the first place? Who selected and fine-tuned the
cosmological constants to support the formation of stars? How was the framework
of dark matter and dark energy engineered?

I intend to begin exploring precisely these questions in a series of upcoming
videos and articles on NaturalNews and other websites. I call this "exploring
conscious cosmology," and in my view, it dwarfs the importance of almost
anything else that might normally concern us, including politics, nutrition and
even exposing fraud.

Watch for announcements on "conscious cosmology" here on NaturalNews.com.

And yes, for the record, in case you were wondering, I am trained in the
sciences and have long been a student of many fields of knowledge, including
physics, philosophy, cosmology, anthropology, neurology and spirituality. I'm
not a master in any of these fields but rather a student of them all. My
strength is in understanding complex concepts and explaining them in simple,
everyday terms, usually in a way that's interesting to read. I intend to bring
that skill to the forefront as I spend more time focusing on conscious cosmology
which necessarily encompasses philosophy, spirituality, quantum theory, physics
and more.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

NYT Admits Lockerbie Case Flaws
Robert Parry
May 21, 2012
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/05/21/nyt-admitconcedes-lockerbie-case-flaws

Exclusive: Even in death, Libyan Ali al-Megrahi is dubbed "the Lockerbie
bomber," a depiction that proved useful last year in rallying public support for
"regime change" in Libya. But the New York Times now concedes, belatedly, that
the case against him was riddled with errors and false testimony, as Robert
Parry reports.

From the Now-They-Tell-Us Department comes the New York Times obit of Libyan
agent Ali al-Megrahi, who was convicted by a special Scottish court for the 1988
Lockerbie bombing. After Megrahi's death from cancer was announced on Sunday,
the Times finally acknowledged that his guilt was in serious doubt.

Last year, when the Times and other major U.S. news outlets were manufacturing
public consent for a new war against another Middle East "bad guy," i.e. Muammar
Gaddafi, Megrahi's guilt was treated as flat fact. Indeed, citation of the
Lockerbie bombing became the debate closer, effectively silencing anyone who
raised questions about U.S. involvement in another war for "regime change."


Libyan agent Ali al-Megrahi
After all, who would "defend" the monsters involved in blowing Pan Am Flight 103
out of the sky over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people,
including 189 Americans? Again and again, the U.S.-backed military intervention
to oust Gaddafi in 2011 was justified by Gaddafi's presumed authorship of the
Lockerbie terrorist attack.

Only a few non-mainstream news outlets, like Consortiumnews.com, bothered to
actually review the dubious evidence against Megrahi and raise questions about
the judgment of the Scottish court that convicted Megrahi in 2001.

By contrast to those few skeptical articles, the New York Times stoked last
year's war fever by suppressing or ignoring those doubts. For instance, one
March 2011 article out of Washington began by stating: "There once was no
American institution more hostile to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's's pariah
government than the Central Intelligence Agency, which had lost its deputy
Beirut station chief when Libyan intelligence operatives blew up Pan Am Flight
103 above Scotland in 1988."

Note the lack of doubt or even attribution. A similar certainty prevailed in
virtually all other mainstream news reports and commentaries, ranging from the
right-wing media to the liberal MSNBC, whose foreign policy correspondent Andrea
Mitchell would seal the deal by recalling that Libya had accepted
"responsibility" for the bombing.

Gaddafi's eventual defeat, capture and grisly murder brought no fresh doubts
about the certainty of the guilt of Megrahi, who was simply called the
"Lockerbie bomber." Few eyebrows were raised even when British authorities
released Libya's former intelligence chief Moussa Koussa after asking him some
Lockerbie questions.

Scotland Yard also apparently failed to notice the dog not barking when the new
pro-Western Libyan government took power and released no confirmation that
Gaddafi's government indeed had sponsored the 1988 attack. After Gaddafi's
overthrow and death, the Lockerbie issue just disappeared from the news.

A Surprising Obit

So, readers of the New York Times' obituary page might have been surprised
Monday if they read deep into Megrahi's obit and discovered this summary of the
case:

"The enigmatic Mr. Megrahi had been the central figure of the case for decades,
reviled as a terrorist but defended by many Libyans, and even some world
leaders, as a victim of injustice whose trial, 12 years after the bombing, had
been riddled with political overtones, memory gaps and flawed evidence."

If you read even further, you would find this more detailed examination of the
evidence:

"Investigators, while they had no direct proof, believed that the suitcase with
the bomb had been fitted with routing tags for baggage handlers, put on a plane
at Malta and flown to Frankfurt, where it was loaded onto a Boeing 727 feeder
flight that connected to Flight 103 at London, then transferred to the doomed
jetliner.

"After a three-year investigation, Mr. Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the
Libyan airline station manager in Malta, were indicted on mass murder charges in
1991. Libya refused to extradite them, and the United Nations imposed eight
years of sanctions that cost Libya $30 billion.  …

"Negotiations led by former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa produced a
compromise in 1999: the suspects' surrender, and a trial by Scottish judges in
the Netherlands.

"The trial lasted 85 days. None of the witnesses connected the suspects directly
to the bomb. But one, Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who sold the clothing
that forensic experts had linked to the bomb, identified Mr. Megrahi as the
buyer, although Mr. Gauci seemed doubtful and had picked others in photo
displays.

"The bomb's timer was traced to a Zurich manufacturer, Mebo, whose owner, Edwin
Bollier, testified that such devices had been sold to Libya. A fragment from the
crash site was identified by a Mebo employee, Ulrich Lumpert.

"Neither defendant testified. But a turncoat Libyan agent testified that plastic
explosives had been stored in Mr. Fhimah's desk in Malta, that Mr. Megrahi had
brought a brown suitcase, and that both men were at the Malta airport on the day
the bomb was sent on its way.

"On Jan. 31, 2001, the three-judge court found Mr. Megrahi guilty but acquitted
Mr. Fhimah. The court called the case circumstantial, the evidence incomplete
and some witnesses unreliable, but concluded that `there is nothing in the
evidence which leaves us with any reasonable doubt as to the guilt' of Mr.
Megrahi.

"Much of the evidence was later challenged. It emerged that Mr. Gauci had
repeatedly failed to identify Mr. Megrahi before the trial and had selected him
only after seeing his photograph in a magazine and being shown the same photo in
court. The date of the clothing sale was also in doubt.

"Investigators said Mr. Bollier, whom even the court called `untruthful and
unreliable,' had changed his story repeatedly after taking money from Libya, and
might have gone to Tripoli just before the attack to fit a timer and bomb into
the cassette recorder. The implication that he was a conspirator was never
pursued.

"In 2007, Mr. Lumpert admitted that he had lied at the trial, stolen a timer and
given it to a Lockerbie investigator. Moreover, the fragment he identified was
never tested for residue of explosives, although it was the only evidence of
possible Libyan involvement.

"The court's inference that the bomb had been transferred from the Frankfurt
feeder flight was also cast into doubt when a Heathrow security guard revealed
that Pan Am's baggage area had been broken into 17 hours before the bombing, a
circumstance never explored.

"Hans Köchler, a United Nations observer, called the trial `a spectacular
miscarriage of justice,' words echoed by Mr. Mandela. Many legal experts and
investigative journalists challenged the evidence, calling Mr. Megrahi a
scapegoat for a Libyan government long identified with terrorism. While denying
involvement, Libya paid $2.7 billion to the victims' families in 2003 in a bid
to end years of diplomatic isolation."

Prosecutorial Misconduct

In other words, the case against Megrahi looks to have been an example of gross
prosecutorial misconduct, relying on testimony from perjurers and failing to
pursue promising leads (like the possibility that the bomb was introduced at
Heathrow, not transferred from plane to plane to plane, an unlikely route for a
terrorist attack and made even more dubious by the absence of any evidence of an
unaccompanied bag being put on those flights).

Also, objective journalists should have noted that Libya's much-touted
acceptance of "responsibility" was simply an effort to get punishing sanctions
lifted and that Libya always continued to assert its innocence.

All of the above facts were known in 2011 when the Times and the rest of the
mainstream U.S. press corps presented a dramatically different version to the
American people. Last year, all these questions and doubts were suppressed in
the name of rallying support for "regime change" in Libya.

On March 18, 2011, I wrote: "As Americans turn to their news media to make sense
of the upheavals in the Middle East, it's worth remembering that the bias of the
mainstream U.S. press corps is most powerful when covering a
Washington-designated villain, especially if he happens to be Muslim.

"In that case, all uncertainty about some aspect of his villainy is discarded.
Evidence in serious dispute is stated as flat fact. Readers are expected to
share this unquestioned belief about the story's frame – and that usually helps
manufacture consent behind some desired government action or policy.

"At such moments, it's also hard to contest the conventional wisdom. To do so
will guarantee that you'll be treated as some kook or pariah. It won't even
matter if you're vindicated in the long run. You'll still be remembered as some
weirdo who was out of step.

"And those who push the misguided consensus will mostly go on to bigger and
better things, as people who have proved their worth even if they got it all
wrong. Such is the way the national U.S. political/media system now works – or
some might say doesn't work.

"Perhaps the most costly recent example of this pattern was the Official
Certainty about Iraq's WMD in 2002-03. With only a few exceptions, the major
U.S. news media, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, bought
into the Bush administration's WMD propaganda, partly because Saddam Hussein was
so unsavory that no one wanted to be dubbed a `Saddam apologist.'

"When Iraq's WMD turned out to be a mirage, there was almost no accountability
at senior levels of the U.S. news media. Washington Post's editorial page editor
Fred Hiatt, who repeatedly reported Iraq's WMD as `flat fact,' is still in the
same job eight years later; Bill Keller, who penned an influential article
called  'The I-Can't-Believe-I'm-a-Hawk Club,' got promoted to New York Times
executive editor after the Iraq-WMD claims exploded leaving egg on the faces of
him and his fellow club members.

"So, now as Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi reprises his old role as `mad dog
of the Middle East,' Americans are being prepped for another Middle East
conflict by endlessly reading as flat fact that Libyan intelligence agents blew
up Pan Am Flight 103 back in 1988.

"These articles never mention that there is strong doubt the Libyans had
anything to do with the attack and that the 2001 conviction of Libyan agent Ali
al-Megrahi was falling apart in 2009 before he was released on humanitarian
grounds, suffering from prostate cancer.

"Though it's true that a Scottish court did convict Megrahi – while acquitting a
second Libyan – the judgment appears to have been more a political compromise
than an act of justice. One of the judges told Dartmouth government professor
Dirk Vandewalle about `enormous pressure put on the court to get a conviction.'

"After the testimony of a key witness was discredited, the Scottish Criminal
Cases Review Commission agreed in 2007 to reconsider Megrahi's conviction out of
a strong concern that it was a miscarriage of justice. However, again due to
intense political pressure, that review was proceeding slowly in 2009 when
Scottish authorities agreed to release Megrahi on medical grounds.

"Megrahi dropped his appeal in order to gain an early release in the face of a
terminal cancer diagnosis, but that doesn't mean he was guilty. He has continued
to assert his innocence and an objective press corps would reflect the doubts
regarding his conviction."

But today, the United States has anything but an objective press corps. That
should be obvious when you contrast the U.S. media's certitude about Megrahi's
guilt last year – when outrage over the Lockerbie bombing was crucial in lining
up public acquiescence to another Middle East war – against the nuanced doubts
noted in Megrahi's New York Times obit on Monday.

To read more of Robert Parry's writings, you can now order his last two books,
Secrecy & Privilege and Neck Deep, at the discount price of only $16 for both.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the
Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous
Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and
can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege:
The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras,
Cocaine, the Press & `Project Truth' are also available there.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Falling Oil Prices Present a Great Opportunity
An Interview with Jim Rogers
By James Stafford | Wed, 04 July 2012
http://oilprice.com/Interviews/Falling-Oil-Prices-Present-a-Great-Opportunity-An\
-Interview-with-Jim-Rogers19.html

Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the
mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free
Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more.

World markets appear to be hovering over a precipice as Europe's sovereign debt
crisis, slowdowns in India and China and further bank downgrades threaten to
send stocks and commodities down even further. Falling oil and gas prices may
offer some respite to consumers but are they enough to help the economy or are
they a symptom of deeper problems?

To help Oilprice.com look at these issues and more we are joined by the well
known investor, adventurer and author Jim Rogers. Jim is the creator of the
Rogers International Commodity Index, he also recently completed a book called:
A Gift to my Children – which helps people learn from their triumphs and
mistakes in order to achieve a prosperous, well-lived life. Please click on the
following link to find out more information on A Gift to my Children:

http://www.amazon.com/Gift-My-Children-Fathers-Investing/dp/1400067545/thekonfor\
mist

In the interview Jim talks about the following:

• Why recent oil price falls are a good buying opportunity
• Why oil prices could fall to $40 a barrel
• Investment opportunities with the renewable energy sector
• Why he is optimistic about Nuclear energy
• Why agriculture offers good opportunities to investors
• Why Myanmar is the best investment opportunity in the world right now
• Why there could be further unrest in the Middle East
• Why we should let Greece fail

Interview conducted by. James Stafford of Oilprice.com

Oilprice.com: Jim, thanks for taking the time to join us today.

Jim Rogers: I'm delighted to be here, James. My pleasure.

Oilprice.com: It's been an interesting period in the energy world as we've seen
oil prices steadily decline over the past few months and with the problems in
Europe and slowdowns in India and China do you expect this trend to continue?

Jim Rogers: Well, there is certainly a correction going on for various reasons.
I think Saudi Arabia's trying to help re-elect Mr. Obama. There are also stories
that JP Morgan has problems in its London office with a lot of unauthorized
positions they're having to liquidate. I don't know what's going on, but I do
know that corrections are normal in the industrial world. There's nothing
unusual about it. If it continues, there's an opportunity to buy more.

Oilprice.com: I read a report by the Economist Phil Verleger who thinks that the
Saudi's massive increase in oil production along with other economic problems
could cause oil prices crash to $40 a barrel oil and $2 a gallon gasoline by
November. Do you think this is a reasonable forecast and we could see oil at
these levels?

Jim Rogers: We could see anything. We certainly saw lower prices than that back
in 2008 when there was a collapse. When things are collapsing, all sorts of
strange things happen. We found that out in 2008 and we will probably find out
in the future, as well. If oil does go to $40, that means it'll just be setting
up an even more bullish scenario for the duration of the bull market.

Oilprice.com: How do you see the energy markets reacting to the Iranian
sanctions, which are going to be coming into effect on the first of July?

Jim Rogers: Oh, I don't see that having much effect at all. Everybody already
knows about that - nothing new to the markets. They have long since adjusted to
this news, whether it be stock markets, smuggling, etc. The Iranian sanctions
are a non-event as far as I'm concerned.
Now, an attack on Iran would not be a non-event, but this is just more noise.

Oilprice.com: The Middle East Petocracy's, along with Venezuela and Russia must
be nervously watching the price of oil. Can you see potential problems
developing in these countries and other oil producing nations if prices continue
to fall?

Jim Rogers: That's part of what I was saying before. The lower prices go for the
fundamentals, the price of fundamentals improve, but for these countries the
money they have available to buy peace is running out and there are going to be
problems, because a lot of people have been lead to believe that the government
can solve their problems and if the government runs out of money, it makes
people upset.

Oilprice.com: Crude oil has dropped from $108 a barrel in February to $84 today.
Do you think low oil prices could provide an economic stimulus?

Jim Rogers: Certainly, it's an economic stimulus for everybody who buys oil.
There's no question about that. On the other hand, for people who produce oil,
it's a negative. Now obviously more of us buy oil than produce oil, but it's
important to remember it does cut both ways.

To view more discussions with other experts visit our new interview section

Oilprice.com: Less than 0.1% of U.S. cars and trucks run on natural gas and with
falling natural gas prices and America's dependence on oil and vulnerability to
oil price shocks – I was hoping to get your thoughts on natural gas usage for
transportation?

Jim Rogers: Well, If natural gas stays this low compared to oil prices, it does
give an incentive to develop natural gas powered vehicles and I think we are
going to see more and more developments here.  Is it going to end the use of
oil, combustion engines? Probably not any time soon. Someday it could, but
someday is a long way away.

Oilprice.com: Do you believe natural gas prices are near to a bottom, or do you
think they have further to fall?

Jim Rogers: U.S. natural gas is somewhere near its bottom, in my view. The
problem is I expect to see serious economic problems in 2013 and 2014 in the
U.S. If and when that happens, we're going to see a final panic in the markets
and the economy and everything will have a crescendo and a selling climax.

We're certainly a lot closer than we were. Although, when you have a selling
climax in markets, you go to levels much lower than most people believe possible
and that may happen. Whatever that bottom is, it's not too far from the recent
lows in natural gas.
Natural gas in many other places such as the UK are much, much higher than they
are in the U.S.

Oilprice.com: The Arab Spring shook energy markets in 2011 – are there any
potential geopolitical events taking place apart from the Iranian situation that
could cause oil prices to skyrocket?

Jim Rogers: There are always geo-political possibilities. If oil goes down,
Saudi Arabia's going to have more trouble buying peace. Any country's going to
have more problems buying peace.

Iraq is being driven into the arms of Iran. America has spent staggering amounts
of money in this region, and what we're getting for it is a possible alliance
between Iran and Iraq.
All sorts of things could happen in the future, especially if Iran and Iraq get
closer together. That's going to put America in a terrible situation, the world
in a terrible situation. The good news is the world is always changing
dramatically. The bad news is, the world is always changing dramatically.

Oilprice.com: The media has gotten behind shale gas and it's being promoted as a
worldwide energy saviour. What are your thoughts on shale gas? Do you think it's
been oversold or it really is the cheap and plentiful oil extender we have been
hoping for?

Jim Rogers: I don't know how cheap it is. The technology's getting better,
apparently. The cost too because the environmentalists and politicians are
getting worried about it. But I don't know enough about the technology to know
for sure. I do have confidence in mankind and someday we will have the
technology and expertise to fully exploit these resources.

Someday's still a long way away though, and in my case, I don't know how long
life the fields are. If these are short-lived fields and short-lived wells this
is nothing more than a flash in a pan, which may last for a few years.

To view more discussions with other experts visit our new interview section

Oilprice.com: Moving away from fossil fuels – I was hoping to get your opinion
on renewable energy. Do you see this as a sector investors should be avoiding –
or are there opportunities here in the future?

Jim Rogers: That is your premise, if oil stays high alternatives become more
competitive. Most alternative energy is not competitive at this moment in time
but that could change.
If oil prices go down and stay down the subsidies for alternatives are going to
have to be pretty massive to make it even viable.
However, having said that, if you can find competent companies that can make
money in the field, they'll make a fortune.  Find the right companies and you'll
do well.

Oilprice.com: Are there any alternative sectors you're more bullish on than
others? Say solar, wind, geothermal, hydro?

Jim Rogers: No, no. They all have pluses and minuses. I'd be most optimistic
about the ones that are economically competitive. I guess atomic energy is most
economically competitive.

Oilprice.com: What are your thoughts on nuclear energy? Is there a future for
this power source or due to public safety perceptions is it something
politicians will feel forced to abandon or sideline?

Jim Rogers: I don't think people will abandon atomic energy. It is competitive,
it is economic, it is very clean if controlled. If it's not controlled it's a
disaster of course. I suspect you're going to see another revival of atomic
energy. The French, the Koreans, the Chinese, many countries are going forward
with their nuclear power development plans.

Oilprice.com: I've seen in other interviews that you've predicted that 2013 and
2014 will be bad years for the economy. What is an investor to do? Are there any
commodities, stock or instrument people can go to for safety and capital
preservation?

Jim Rogers: No such thing as safe when you talk about it. Even if you put your
money in cash, if you put your money in the wrong cash, you lose a lot of money.
As the people in Iceland have found out, as the people in Europe on the Euro
have found out. So, no such thing as safe.

What I have done is I own commodities on the theory that if the world economy
gets better, I'll make money because of shortages. If the world economy does not
get better, people will print money. The best way to save yourself when money
printing is going on is to own commodities.
It does not mean between here and there, they can't go down in a panic. In the
meantime, commodities will be the thing to rally once that happens, but they can
go down. Therefore, I have also short stocks as a hedge against myself. If the
world economy doesn't get better, you're going to be losing a lot of money in
stocks.

Oilprice.com: Now are there any commodities you're particularly bullish on at
this moment in time?

Jim Rogers: I'm more optimistic about agriculture than anything else, just
because of the price. Most agriculture, I feel very depressed on the risk side
basis. Sugar is 75% below where it was 38 years ago. There's not much in the
world that's as depressed as agricultural current prices. So, I would say
agriculture.

Oilprice.com: You've owned gold for 11 years now and the price is currently
correcting. Do you see this as a buying opportunity or would you wait a little
longer?

Jim Rogers: I've actually owned gold for longer than 11 years. I'm not buying
now. Gold went up 11 years in a row, which is extremely unusual for any asset. I
don't know of any asset in history that's gone up 11 years in a row without a
correction.

Corrections are normal and are the way things should work, the way things do
work. Having said that, I don't know when the correction will stop. It's normal
in my experience for corrections to go down 30 or 40%. It's just the way markets
work.
Gold has not gone down that much. It's only gone down that much once in the past
11 years, and even then it ended the year up. I'm not buying gold at the moment.
If it goes down a lot, I hope I'm smart enough to buy a lot more. I'm certainly
not selling my gold, because I suspect gold will be much, much, much higher over
the next decade.

To view more discussions with other experts visit our new interview section

Oilprice.com: You've mentioned in the past that you're bullish on Asia. Where do
you see the best opportunities for investors in this region at present?

Jim Rogers: Probably the best investment opportunity in the world right now is
Myanmar. In 1962, Myanmar was the richest country in Asia. They closed off in
1962, and now it's the poorest country in Asia. I see enormous opportunities
there because they're now opening up. It's like when China opened up in 1978.
There were unbelievable opportunities going forward. The same is true in Myanmar
now in my view. North Korea, I expect to see the same sorts of developments.

Oilprice.com: You've mentioned previously that the 21st century belongs to
China. But China has some serious internal problems as its political stability
depends heavily on rapid economic growth. We are also seeing increasing tensions
between the wealthy coastal regions and the poor interior. My question is do you
think the internal forces building up in China can be managed as China is held
together by money not ideology?

Jim Rogers: What you just said about China's true of every country in the world,
more so in places like America and Europe than in China. China does have
internal problems. But their economy's much stronger than the western economies.
You had riots in the streets in the U.K., what, last summer. Terrible
instability, and there's going to be much more in the west. Greece, Spain,
Portugal, these countries have staggering instability.

In America in the 1930s we certainly had all sorts of political problems and yet
survived, partly because America was a very large credit nation and had the
assets to see us through. America came out of that and became the most
successful country in the 20th century. China's going to have plenty of
problems. Plenty. I'd still rather invest in China than in other places.

Oilprice.com: You mentioned that with Spain and Greece we should just let them
go bankrupt – what do you really see the implications of this being. Will it be
as bad as we have been led to believe?

Jim Rogers: Might be worse. The good news is we'll get their problems behind us.
The way the system is supposed to work is when people fail, they fail. Then you
come in, you reorganize. Competent people come in, reorganize, and start over
with a sound base. This has been going on for thousands of years.

It's a little bit like a forest fire. When you have a forest fire, it's
terrible, terrible, but it cleans out the underbrush, cleans out the dead wood.
The forest, when it's all over, is much stronger and has much better growth.
Same with financial problems and bankruptcies. You start over and things are
better.

Oilprice.com: Now, moving away from the markets, I was hoping you could tell us
a little bit about your book, "A Gift to my Children," the inspiration behind
writing it and what you hope it achieves.

Jim Rogers: Well, I came into parenthood late and I never wanted to have
children. I thought children were a terrible waste of time and money and energy.
I felt sorry for friends who had children. Then I had some.

I've had some failures in my life, I've had a few triumphs. I started writing
down the things I learned. I wanted to make sure my children knew all of these
things. That turned into a magazine article, and the next thing you know it
turned into a little book.
Grownups get a lot more out of it than children do because it's really a book
for grownups.

Oilprice.com: What are lessons within the book? Why would I go out and buy the
book? What am I going to learn?

Jim Rogers: I hope you'll learn to be famous, happy, rich and successful. Being
happy, that's the main thing I'm trying to help with. If you're happy, not much
else matters in life, at least in my experience. There's various ways to be
happy, of course. I'm trying to tell people the things that I have learned. I'm
trying to teach them to be curious, independent. It's very hard to think
independently, as you probably know. Extremely hard. Most people are not very
curious, If they see it on TV, that's what they accept instead of thinking,
what's really going on here? I'm teaching readers to be curious, skeptical,
independent thinkers.

Oilprice.com: Fantastic. Jim, thank you ever so much for taking the time to
speak with us. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.

Jim Rogers: My pleasure

To find out more about Jim's book A Gift to My Children – please visit Amazon
for more details.

Visit our homepage for the latest oil prices and energy news.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

October surprise to Carterize Obama
Webster G. Tarpley
Sat Sep 15, 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/15/261665/the-october-surprise-to-carterize\
-obama/

Prince Bandar bin Sultan and the Saudi Arabian royal family would likely prefer
Romney to Obama. Since the Saudi royals are the paymasters for the majority of
the death squads now operating in the Middle East, including Libya and Syria,
their support would be valuable in organizing operations like the attack on the
US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens."

Demonstrations have occurred in the past few days at US embassies in more than
20 cities across the world to protest the scurrilous California film originally
entitled "Desert Warrior" and then "The Innocence of Moslims."

In an attack designed to coincide with the protests, a Libyan death squad has
assassinated the US ambassador to Libya and three of his associates. The US
State Department has set up a crisis management center to monitor developments
24 hours a day.

The film in question was obviously designed as a provocation and nothing else.
But was this film, as the US media claim, the work of the isolated Cerrito,
California resident and Egyptian-American Nakoula Bassely Nakoula. aka Abanob
Bassely aka Israeli citizen Sam Bacile, an ex-convict with a drug problem, and a
few actors he hired? Persuasive evidence suggests that this is not the case.

Instead, we are dealing with an ambitious international intelligence operation
aimed at creating an October Surprise (a few weeks early) to shock world and US
public opinion for the purpose of discrediting and "Carterizing" the current
tenant of the White House, and installing Netanyahu's friend Mitt Romney in his
place. Since the US public identifies Obama as the patron of the color
revolutions and military interventions of the "Arab Spring," attacks on US
diplomats, assassinations, and possible hostage taking can be expected to weaken
his case for reelection. If Romney prevails, control over US foreign policy
would pass to the group of incorrigible warmonger neocons who are the Romney's
handlers for international affairs. The current crisis is a sign that the
neocons and their friends are attempting a comeback.

The networks involved in this operation appear to be these:

The CIA Mormon Mafia, featuring top officials across the US intelligence
community who are members of Romney's tightly-knit sect. This group can also be
referred to as the Brent Scowcroft faction. Scowcroft, Henry Kissinger's
right-hand man, used his entrenched bureaucratic position over decades to help
promote many of his co-religionists. This group wants Romney in the White House
because Romney and his transition team boss Mike Leavitt, also a Mormon, are
visibly embarked on a policy of favoring Mormons for top positions.

On Sept. 14, Google rejected an appeal by the Obama White House to remove the
controversial film worldwide. As Wired magazine noted on May 11, 2012, "former
National Security Agency chief Mike McConnell told the Washington Post that
collaboration between the NSA and private companies like Google was
`inevitable,'" and has been widely reported since January 2010. So Google's
refusal to cooperate with Obama tells us about the views of the NSA, and speaks
volumes about which presidential candidate the intelligence community is
backing.

The Netanyahu Likud During the past week, the reactionary Israeli Prime Minister
has intervened blatantly and outrageously in US election-year politics in the
attempt to secure the election of Mitt Romney, with whom he has been joined at
the hip since the two worked together at the Boston Consulting Group in 1976.

About a week ago, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the
United States has no "red lines" in regard to the Iranian nuclear program.
Netanyahu replied with an angry outburst, raving that those who have no red
lines have "no moral right" to give Israel a red light when it comes to starting
a catastrophic aggressive war against Iran. This was interpreted in Washington
as a call to vote for Romney. To underline the message, the deputy speaker of
the Israeli Knesset appeared on MSNBC cable news one morning to demand immediate
US war with Iran. Republican candidates are using this material for their
campaigns.

Some observers have pointed out that, while Netanyahu demands that the US
specify some future set of circumstances under which war must begin, the Israeli
government has never specified any red lines of its own, meaning that Bibi wants
Washington to be more Israeli than the Israelis. These brazen actions by
Netanyahu have evoked a wave of American resentment and hostility, even in
circles which are usually prepared to go along with the Israelis.

Some have also speculated that, since Romney has shown repeatedly that he has no
knowledge of world affairs, Netanyahu believes that he would be able to dictate
US foreign policy through his friendship with Romney. During the Republican
presidential debates, Romney promised to get Netanyahu's approval for every US
action in the Middle East.

US Neocons The pro-Israeli neocons of the Bush-Cheney era have attached
themselves to Romney as their main hope of getting back into power. This group
includes John Bolton (the likely Secretary of State if Romney wins), Eliot
Cohen, Robert Kagan, Robert Joseph, and Dan Senor (who now tells vice
presidential candidate Paul Ryan what to say about foreign policy).

Prince Bandar bin Sultan and the Saudi Arabian royal family would likely prefer
Romney to Obama. Since the Saudi royals are the paymasters for the majority of
the death squads now operating in the Middle East, including Libya and Syria,
their support would be valuable in organizing operations like the attack on the
US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

The French imperialist ideologue Bernard-Henri Lévy, who had strongly advised
President Sarkozy to start bombing Libya, is praising Stevens as a "secret
craftsman of [Libyan] liberation."

BHL says Stevens had accompanied Hillary Clinton to a meeting with Libyan rebel
chief Mahmoud Jebril on March 14, 2011, and had later helped convince Hillary to
call Obama and recommend that he order an immediate start to the bombing. (Le
Monde, Sept. 12) Given the Arabic and French language skills of Stevens, he was
then well qualified to serve as contact man with the pro-al-Qaeda militant
groups of the Benghazi-Derna-Tobruk extremist axis which did much of the
fighting against Qaddafi. Many of these armed groups have been transferred by
NATO into Syria to fight against President Assad, raising the question of
Ambassador Stevens' role in these currently ongoing operations. Less clear is
why he should be singled out at this time. Perhaps he was a witness whose
testimony could have proved embarrassing later.

On Tuesday evening, Stevens had left the US consular compound and taken refuge
in a secret safe house nearby. Somehow, the well-trained attackers knew of the
existence of this safe house and directed professionally accurate mortar fire
against these premises. How did they know where Ambassador Stevens was hiding?
We would need to ask the CIA and the Saudis.

Nakoula/Bacile served almost two years in jail after conviction for identity
theft and bank fraud involving credit cards. He is currently out on parole, and
one of the conditions is that he not use a computer. If authorities can prove he
posted the incendiary video, they can immediately revoke his parole and send him
back to prison for four years. Nakoula/Bacile looks like a patsy - specifically
a drug informant. (Peliske and Daly, Daily Beast, Sept. 14)

As for the film, it would appear to be the handiwork of a well-known
Islamophobic network reputedly inspired by US intelligence. According to the Los
Angeles Times, the permit for the film originally called "Desert Warrior" was
requested by a "Christian nonprofit" calling itself Media For Christ of Duarte,
California. The blogger Panglozz of The Daily Kos reports that Media For Christ
is owned by Joseph Nasrallah Abdelmasih, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian
activist and anti-Moslim firebrand. Nasrallah was prominent in the summer 2010
campaign to prevent the building of a mosque and Islamic community center not
far from the site of the former World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Nasrallah
was a speaker at a rally held at Ground Zero on September 11, 2010, to protest
the mosque. This rally was organized by a well-connected Islamophobic
organization known as Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA).

The main spokesperson and organizer for SIOA is Pamela Geller, a notorious
professional Islamophobe and the hostess of the Atlas Shrugs blog. Geller,
despite her venom, enjoys access to the US mainstream media. The SIOA rally just
mentioned was also addressed via video link by Ambassador John Bolton, a top
neocon, close adviser to Romney, and widely touted as a possible Secretary of
State in a future Romney regime. Another speaker at this rally was the
Netherlands xenophobic politician Geert Wilders, who also wanted to block the
mosque. Wilders' party has just suffered heavy losses in the Netherlands
elections earlier this week.

Bolton took a leading role in trying to turn the Stevens assassination against
Obama this past week. Bolton told a Washington, DC radio station: "I've said for
3½ years the President doesn't care about national security. He doesn't think
the world is terribly threatening. I think a weak reaction, a failure to
demonstrate American power and resolve, will help see this stretched throughout
the region." Bolton warned particularly that a new hostage crisis would replay
the "destruction of the Jimmy Carter administration," this time at Obama's
expense. (Politico, Sept. 13)

Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1946, Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley is a
philosopher of history who seeks to provide the programs and strategies needed
to overcome the current world crisis. As an activist historian he first became
widely known for his book George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography (1992), a
masterpiece of research which is still a must read. AB Princeton 1966, summa cum
laude and Phi Beta Kappa; Fulbright Scholar at University of Turin, Italy; MA in
humanities from Skidmore College; and Ph.D. in early modern history from the
Catholic University of America with emphasis on the role of Venice in the
origins of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). During 2008, he warned of the
dangers of an Obama presidency controlled by Wall Street with Obama: The
Postmodern Coup, The Making of a Manchurian Candidate and Barack H. Obama: The
Unauthorized Biography. His interest in economics is reflected in Surviving the
Cataclysm: Your Guide Through the Worst Financial Crisis in Human History
Against Oligarchy. His books have appeared in Japanese, German, Italian, French,
and Spanish.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Inside the strange Hollywood scam that spread chaos across the Middle East
A group of rightwing extremists aimed to destabilize post-Mubarak Egypt and roil
US politicians. They got their wish
Max Blumenthal
Thursday 13 September 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/13/egypt-libya-hollywood-film

Did an inflammatory anti-Muslim film trailer that appeared spontaneously on
YouTube prompt the attack that left four US diplomats dead, including US
ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens? American officials have suggested that
the assault was pre-planned, allegedly by of one of the Jihadist groups that
emerged since the Nato-led overthrow of Libya's Gaddafi regime. So even though
the deadly scene in Benghazi may not have resulted directly from the angry
reaction to the Islamophobic video, the violence has helped realize the
apocalyptic visions of the film's backers.

Produced and promoted by a strange collection of rightwing Christian
evangelicals and exiled Egyptian Copts, the trailer was created with the
intention of both destabilizing post-Mubarak Egypt and roiling the US
presidential election. As a consultant for the film named Steve Klein said: "We
went into this knowing this was probably going to happen."

The Associated Press's initial report on the trailer – an amateurish,
practically unwatchable production called The Innocence of Muslims – identified
a mysterious character, "Sam Bacile", as its producer. Bacile told the
Associated Press that he was a Jewish Israeli real estate developer living in
California. He said that he raised $5m for the production of the film from "100
Jewish donors", an unusual claim echoing Protocols of the Elders of Zion-style
fantasies. Unfortunately, the extensive history of Israeli and ultra-Zionist
funding and promotion of Islamophobic propaganda in the United States provided
Bacile's remarkable statement with the ring of truth.

Who was Bacile? The Israeli government could not confirm his citizenship, and
for a full day, no journalist was able to determine whether he existed or not.
After being duped by Bacile, AP traced his address to the home of Nakoula
Basseley Nakoula, a militant Coptic separatist and felon convicted of check
fraud. On September 13, US law enforcement officials confirmed that "Sam Bacile"
was an alias Nakoula used to advance his various scams, which apparently
included the production of The Innocence of Muslims.

According to an actor in the film, the all-volunteer cast was deceived into
believing they were acting in a benign biblical epic about "how things were
2,000 years ago". The script was titled Desert Warrior, and its contents made no
mention of Muhammad – his name was dubbed into the film during post-production.
On the set, a gray-haired Egyptian man who identified himself only as "Sam"
(Nakoula) chatted aimlessly in Arabic with a group of friends while posing as
the director. A casting notice for Desert Warrior listed the film's real
director as "Alan Roberts". This could likewise be a pseudonym, although there
is a veteran Hollywood hand responsible for such masterpieces as The Happy
Hooker Goes Hollywood and The Sexpert who goes by the same name.

Before Nakoula was unmasked, the only person to publicly claim any role in the
film was Klein, an insurance salesman and Vietnam veteran from Hemet,
California, who emerged from the same Islamophobic movement that produced the
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik. Styling themselves as
"counter-Jihadists", anti-Muslim crusaders like Klein took their cues from top
propagandists like Pamela Geller, the blogger who once suggested that Barack
Obama was the lovechild of Malcolm X, and Robert Spencer, a pseudo-academic
expert on Muslim radicalization who claimed that Islam was no more than "a
developed doctrine and tradition of warfare against unbelievers". Both Geller
and Spencer were labeled hate group leaders by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Klein is an enthusiastic commenter on Geller's website, Atlas Shrugged, where he
recently complained about Mitt Romney's "support for a Muslim state in Israel's
heartland". In July 2011, Spencer's website, Jihad Watch, promoted a rally Klein
organized to demand the firing of Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca, whom he
painted as a dupe for the Muslim Brotherhood.

On his personal Facebook page, Altar or Abolish, Klein obsesses over the Muslim
Brotherhood, describing the organization as "a global network of Muslims
attacking to convert the world's 6 billion people to Islam or kill them". Klein
urges a violent response to the perceived threat of Islam in the United States,
posting an image to his website depicting a middle-American family with a mock
tank turret strapped to the roof of their car. "Can you direct us to the nearest
mosque?" read a caption Klein added to the photo.

In 2011, during his campaign to oust Sheriff Baca, Klein forged an alliance with
Joseph Nasrallah, an extremist Coptic broadcaster who shared his fear and
resentment of the Muslim Brotherhood. Nasrallah appeared from out of nowhere at
a boisterous rally against the construction of an Islamic community center in
downtown Manhattan on September 11, 2010, warning a few hundred riled-up Tea
Party types that Muslims "came and conquered our country the same way they want
to conquer America".

Organized by Geller and Spencer, the rally was carefully timed to coincide with
the peak of the midterm congressional election campaign, in which many rightwing
Republicans hoped to leverage rising anti-Muslim sentiment into resentment
against the presidency of Obama.

Through his friendship with Nasrallah, Klein encountered another radical Coptic
separatist named Morris Sadek. Sadek has been banned from returning to his
Egypt, where he is widely hated for his outrageous anti-Muslim displays. On the
day of the Ground Zero rally, for instance, Sadek was seen parading around the
streets of Washington, DC, on September 11, 2010, with a crucifix in one hand
and a Bible implanted with the American flag in the other. "Islam is evil!" he
shouted. "Islam is a cult religion!"

With another US election approaching, and the Egyptian government suddenly under
the control of the Muslim Brotherhood, Klein and Sadek joined Nakoula in
preparing what would be their greatest propaganda stunt to date: the Innocence
of Muslims. As soon as the film appeared on YouTube, Sadek promoted it on his
website, transforming the obscure clip into a viral source of outrage in the
Middle East. And like clockwork, on September 11, crowds of Muslim protesters
stormed the walls of the US embassy in Cairo, demanding retribution for the
insult to the prophet Muhammad. The demonstrations ricocheted into Libya, where
the deadly attack that may have been only peripherally related to the film
occurred.

For Sadek, the chaos was an encouraging development. He and his allies had been
steadfastly opposed to the Egyptian revolution, fearing that it would usher in
the Muslim Brotherhood as the country's new leaders. Now that their worst fears
were realized, Coptic extremists and other pro-Mubarak dead-enders were
resorting to subterfuge to undermine the ruling party, while pointing to the
destabilizing impact of their efforts as proof of the government's bankruptcy.
As Sadek said, "the violence that [the film] caused in Egypt is further evidence
of how violent the religion and people".

For far-right Christian right activists like Klein, the attacks on American
interests abroad seemed likely to advance their ambitions back in the US. With
Americans confronted with shocking images of violent Muslims in Egypt and Libya
on the evening news, their already negative attitudes toward their Muslim
neighbors were likely to harden. In turn, the presidential candidates, Obama and
Romney, would be forced to compete for who could take the hardest line against
Islamic "terror".

A patrician moderate constantly on the defensive against his own right flank,
Romney fell for the bait, baselessly accusing Obama of "sympathiz[ing] with
those who waged the attacks" and of issuing "an apology for America's values".
The clumsy broadside backfired in dramatic fashion, opening Romney to strident
criticism from across the spectrum, including from embarrassed Republican
members of Congress. Obama wasted no time in authorizing a round of drone
strikes on targets across Libya, which are likely to deepen regional hostility
to the US.

A group of fringe extremists had proven that with a little bit of money and an
unbelievably cynical scam, they could shape history to fit their apocalyptic
vision. But in the end, they were not immune to the violence they incited.

According to Copts Today, an Arabic news outlet focusing on Coptic affairs,
Sadek was seen taking a leisurely stroll down Washington's M Street on September
11, soaking in the sun on a perfect autumn day. All of a sudden, he found
himself surrounded by four angry Coptic women. Berating Sadek for fueling the
flames of sectarian violence, the women took off their heels and began beating
him over the head.

"If anything happens to a Christian in Egypt," one of them shouted at him,
"you'll be the reason!"

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


MY FAVORITE CARS OF TELEVISION
MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012
http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/08/the-mystery-box-my-favorite-cars-of.html

I love lists that mention fave thangs.

It's fun, although highly subjective, but you can usually come away with
learning something ne to add to your pop culture brain-file.

So dear readers, here then is a compiled list of my favorite cars from
television. At first I was going to include films and also animated television
shows, and have them all mixed up, but decided not to, as those can be part of
future lists.

I'm sure that you will have your own favorite vehicles that did not make my
list.

Some folks worship KITT, David Hasselhoff's modified '82 Pontiac Trans Am
co-star in Knight Rider.

Others may drool over Magnum P.I.'s Ferrari 308 GTS—and for good reason, as that
is a mighty sweet car indeed!

Yes, there will be plenty of vehicles that people like but I just find boring.

Here at The Mystery Box H.Q. I have a particular fondness for vintage hot rods
and antique sports cars. Plus, I can never get enough of the unusual
one-of-a-kind rides and weird hybrids that were prevalent on sixties and
seventies TV shows. If you feel I left one of your faves out, then by all means
let me know about it.

In no particular order, except for the very last car, here they are!

BANANA SPLITS' BANANA BUGGIES

For two seasons (1968-1970) our heroes, Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky (or
"Snork" as he was called in the theme song) zipped around on these customized
six-wheel Amphicat all-terrain vehicles (so not really beachy dune buggies).
Each was designed for the character who drove it.

As the mayhem and adventures ensued, so too did my wish to hop on one of these
babies so that I might drive by, shaking fist in the air, past the dreaded Sour
Grape Bunch.

THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES TRUCK

Ah, the wonders that were 9 full seasons of The Clampetts!

As remarkable as the longevity of the show's run, is also what the clan drove to
Beverly Hills in the first place. Originally a 1941 Model 46 Roadster,
customized cars legend George Barris took a touring car body and married it to a
flatbed truck frame. He added Granny's rocking chair and some moonshine to the
back and made history. The truck varied over different episodes (and five
different vehicles were actually used for the series) as needed for a particular
story line.

In one memorable episode cousin Jethro Bodine turns himself into a "double
naught spy" and adds an ejector seat to the vehicle. In a rare moment when
Granny is sitting in the front passenger seat, she pulls what she thinks is an
"assist handle" and ends up ejected into a tree.

For another episode Jethro soups up the "not with it" truck into a flashy hot
rod nicknamed Granny's Haulin' Rod.

77 SUNSET STRIP'S T BUCKET

Credited with defining Hot Rod culture in the late '50s/early '60s, Ed Byrnes'
character, the hipster Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III often stole the
spotlight away from the stars of the show and became a huge star.

With his slang, his windbreaker and constant hair combing, as a valet who worked
at Dean Martin's Dino's Lodge restaurant next door to the 77 Sunset Strip
private detective agency, Kookie drove a souped up 1923 Ford Model T better
known as a T Bucket. Flames on a car would forever become synonymous with cool.

SAXONDALE'S 1973 FORD MUSTANG MACH 1

When he's not attending anger management classes, Steve Coogan's character, the
macho ex-roadie Tommy Saxondale, is highly devoted to his beloved car. Yet
unfortunately, he must sustain even further indignities by mostly driving a far
less glamorous Renault Kangoo to work as a pest controller.

THE GREEN HORNET'S BLACK BEAUTY

From 1966-1967, the same folks that brought Batman to success on television,
decided to once again (after several failed attempts in years past) give The
Green Hornet his own similar styled show. Instead of the campy quality that Adam
West and his Batman reveled in, The Green Hornet played it straight. Van
Williams, as media mogul/playboy Britt Reid was lucky enough to have as his
personal driver/partner Kato, be played by the legendary Bruce Lee, making his
television debut.

For many kids, it was their first time seeing martial arts used on an action
show. Show producer William Dozier was unhappy with what George Barris came up
with for his version of The Black Beauty, so he hired the other customized cars
legend, Dean Jeffries, who took a 1966 Chrysler Crown Imperial and turned it
into a classic. Loaded with an arsenal of weaponry and gadgets that included
Infra-green Headlights, Front and Rear Rockets, a Mortar, a front grill Gas Gun,
and of course the requisite Smoke-screen. You cannot get any cooler than a car
with a mortar being driven by Bruce Lee.

MAXWELL SMART'S 1965 RED SUNBEAM TIGER

On Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy spoof Get Smart that ran for 5 seasons, Agent 86,
as played by Don Adams, primarily drove around town in a red 1965 Sunbeam Tiger
that had been customized by Gene Winfield.

A machine gun, ejection seat and of course, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 in the
passenger seat, were a few of the special additions made to this a very special
TV car.

THE SAINT'S VOLVO P1800 (1962)

Roger Moore has always been cool as far as I'm concerned.

Not only did I really enjoy his work as 007, but he was making great television
shows and driving groovy cars long before the Bond films. His version of the The
Saint, is an absolute standout. Simon Templar drove this formidable Volvo P1800.

THE MONKEEMOBILE

Once again, car designer Dean Jeffries made television pop culture history when
he was enlisted in 1966 to come up with something for a new show featuring a
four wacky guys in a musical group. He took an already wild Pontiac GTO and
turned it into The Monkeemobile.

THE BEWITCHED "SUPER CAR"

For this particular episode of Bewitched, Darrin yearns for a flashy prototype
sports car (created for the show by Gene Winfield) which he sees in a car
enthusiast magazine.

In a super rare attempt to be friends with "Derwood" I mean Darrin, his
mother-in-law, Endora, gives him the car as a gift. Unbeknown to all, the actual
car, called The Reactor Mach II, was zapped from the engineers guarding it in
Detroit.

The same car also turned up in episodes of Batman, with big ears and a tail as
Catwoman's Kitty Car, in an episode of classic Star Trek, and on the show The
Flying Nun.

GRANDPA MUNSTER'S DRAG-U-LA

Grandpa Munster was always adept at tinkering with things, and so, in order to
once again bail out Herman, he had to invent something. Herman had lost the
family car, The Munster Koach (see entry below) in a drag race for the episode
Hot Rod Herman.

Grandpa had no problem coming up with this Gothic dream. Built by Tom Daniel who
was working for George Barris at the time, an actual fiberglass coffin, bought
out of the back door of a funeral home was used for the body. Immortalized in
music by Rob Zombie.

THE PRISONER'S "KAR 120C" LOTUS 7

Bearing the famous registration plate KAR 120C, Patrick McGoohan's Prisoner
character's choice of car, the Lotus 7, was nicely suited to the character
Number Six's ideas of freedom, and since the car was also available for real in
kit form,

The Prisoner's claim that he built the car with his own hands, also fit right
in. A tasty sports car that was both highly original and highly unusual, it
perfectly suited McGoohan, who created one of the greatest, and most original of
all television shows that have ever appeared on television.

SANFORD AND SON'S RED PICK UP TRUCK

For one of my all time favorite sit-coms, two red pick up trucks were used: A
1951 Ford Pickup, and a 1947 Mercury M-47 Pickup. The Ford, in all its faded
glory is the most famous and most remembered.

There are few joys in all of television history as wonderful as seeing Lamont
Sanford drive up in the truck while the Sanford and Son theme song, Quincy
Jones' "The Streetbeater" welcomes you into the world of Lamont and his father,
the King of Junk, Fred Sanford.

THE MUNSTER KOACH

For The Munsters, Herman Munster's family car was contracted to George Barris,
who then had his stable of car customizers come up with The Munster Koach.

His employee, Tom Daniel designed it and was paid $200.00 for his genius. The
car is a concoction using 3 Model T bodies, a handmade frame, radiator and
fenders, with a blood red interior and a gloss black custom hearse body.

Meanwhile, across town The Addams Family had a car that was rarely seen in
episodes —a beautiful 1931 Packard V-12.

THE 1966 BATMOBILE

I love vintage guitars, vintage shortwave radios, and well, I guess many, many
things that fall under the classification of "vintage", especially vintage cars.
Seems 1966 was a very good year for cars!

There are few artists in automobile design history that I do not worship as much
as the great George Barris, the King of Kustomized Kar Kulture, and his Barris
Kustom Industries is the stuff of legend. So of course his fantastic Batmobile,
which was used in the Adam West Batman TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968, has
to be among my own personal favorites ever.

You can keep taking things darker and darker with the Batman franchise, but I
still prefer the "Krunch", "Glurp" and "Kapow!" that was the trademark of the
most colorful and witty Andy Warhol/Pop Art Movement/James Bond craze inspired
Silver Age version that was the 1966 Batman.

In 1955 Ford Motors had a hand-built Italian made prototype for a car they would
call The Ford Futura. At a cost of over $250,000, the car never made it to
production and when in 1965 the producers for a new Batman show contacted George
Barris and told him they needed him to come up with a Batmobile fast, his Barris
Kustom City company managed to buy the Futura off Ford for $1.

He envisioned this Futura to be the perfect vehicle to match the Batman's needs,
and after some splendid Kustomizing, came up with masterpiece. for the record
George Barris came up with quite a few other masterpieces of Kustomized cars.

Say what you will about any Batmobile that has come since, this is still my
fave, and I wish I still had that original Corgi toy version from my youth...

SPECIAL MENTION:

PARTRIDGE FAMILY BUS

A school bus would normally have been an uncool turn-off to any kid, but this
particular bus not only had a modern art, Piet Mondrian inspired paint job, it
set off on cosmic adventures with passengers that were a loving family turned
rock band. Oh yeah, and the big sister was Susan Dey...

THE BRADY BUNCH STATION WAGON

What's not to love about this 1971 Plymouth Satellite station wagon?

The Brady's were a loving, close family that used the car to set off on not so
cosmic adventures, but then again, one of the passengers was Maureen McCormick
as Marsha Brady, so that made it all the more groovier.

A-TEAM VAN

No it wasn't a Chevy van, but instead a black and metallic gray 1983 GMC van,
one of six used on the show.

Inside, items such as a printing press, mega surveillance equipment a plethora
of Hannibal's disguise kits, and a bad azz mofo named Bosco "B.A." Baracus
a.k.a. Mr. T., made this van one for the ages.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Here's my results for week 2
W-L-T record: 3-5
Season record: 8-10

Thanks to a last minute bet on the Saints and betting on the Ravens via
moneyline, the week went from 4-3 to 3-5.  Football is a game of inches...

No more hot picks for me, after going 0-3 last week...

Here's my picks:

New York Giants (+2 1/2) over Carolina Panthers

The Giants are on the road with only three days rest and injured on offense, but
this is the kind of situation where Eli Manning delivers.  I'm siding with Mr.
Clutch on this one.

St. Louis Rams (+7) over Chicago Bears

One thing I like to do is identify a trend before it comes commonplace.  For
example, last year I jumped on the 49ers and Lions bandwagon early to my profit.
So the trend I'm betting on: the NFC West, beyond the 49ers, is much better than
it's given credit for.  After 4 years straight of being the worst division in
football, it no longer has the title.  (The new winner is probably the AFC
South.)  And the Rams, who I warned last year in the preseason was a fraud,
clearly are improving quickly under the coaching of Jeff Fisher.  Their defense
looks pretty solid, and Sam Bradford, after being way overhyped after his
overrated rookie season, is developing into a competent QB who doesn't make many
mistakes.  Compare that to Jay Cutler, who, for all his talent, looked awful
last week on the field and even worse in his snotty behavior to his teammates. 
The behavior of Cutler is a warning sign of self-destruction for a team (Fisher
should know about this: remember how Vince Young's outburst in 2010 imploded his
extremely talented Tennessee Titans?)  I could be wrong, but it looks like the
Bears will have a very disappointing season.  The Bears can still win, but give
the Rams a TD?  I'll take it!

San Francisco 49ers (-7) over Minnesota Vikings

After 2 weeks, the 49ers look like the best team in football, with dominating
(even if not overwhelming) wins over the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. 
The Vikings are not on this caliber of a team, so I expect SF to confidentally
trounce Minnesota.

Detroit Lions (-3 1/2) over Tennessee Titans

The Lions are much better than they've looked so far this year, and I think they
will show it against the Titans.

New York Jets (-3) over Miami Dolphins

Both teams are 1-1.  Which team do I think would hate having a losing record
more?  The Jets, which is why they will win.

Buffalo Bills (-3) over Cleveland Browns

The Browns have overplayed so far this year, a trend that should stop against
the still underrated Bills.

Arizona Cardinals (+4) over Philadelphia Eagles

The Cards, like the Rams, are a highly underrated NFC West team.  (So are the
Seahawks, though bettors seem to have caught up with them.)  Even with big
questions at QB, they have a dominating defense.  They are at home against a
very lucky 2-0 Eagles, who should continue to be error prone.  The Eagles can
still win, but I'm willing to bet even so, it'll be by a field goal or less.

Atlanta Falcons (+3) over San Diego Chargers

The Chargers have looked good so far, but the Falcons are the kind of team they
self-destruct against.

Houston Texans (-1 1/2) over Denver Broncos

The Texans were my preseason AFC pick, and Peyton Manning and the Broncos are
the perfect test for them.  I expect them to pass the test.

Pittsburgh Steelers (-4) over Oakland Raiders

Despite injuries, the Steelers defense looks as tough as ever, and Ben
Roethlisberger has been astounding on 3rd downs.  The Raiders look clueless
thanks to too many coaching changes.

Baltimore Ravens (-3) over New England Patriots

Baltimore is at home, and the Pats don't look in sync.

Green Bay Packers (-3 1/2) over Seattle Seahawks

Maybe they won't go 15-1 this year, but the Packers are still as dominating as
any team outside of San Francisco right now.

All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com


Q & A With Tom Morello
"I've Never Been Afraid of the Truth on My Records ..."
Thursday, 26 July 2012 11:24
Jason Leopold, Truthout
To read the interview:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10513-a-q-a-with-tom-morello-ive-never-been-af\
raid-of-the-truth-on-my-records

Tom Morello proclaims of his World Wide Rebel CD: "Troubled times call out for
troubled songs." Receive your copy and support Truthout's mission by making a
minimum donation of $25 - or a monthly donation of $15 - to Truthout.

It's hard to believe that November will mark the twentieth anniversary of the
release of one of the greatest albums of all time: the self-titled debut by Rage
Against the Machine, the Los Angeles-based quartet that fused the radical
politics of Detroit's MC5 with elements of rock, rap, thrash, punk, heavy metal
and Parliament-era funk and went on to become one of the most influential and
commercially successful bands of the 1990s.

I still have a vivid memory of walking into Tower Records on 4th and Broadway in
New York City on a Tuesday, the day when record labels release new product, and
purchasing a copy of the album on cassette, a decision based solely on the cover
art: Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Buddhist monk Thich
Quang Duc sitting in the middle of an intersection in Saigon in 1963, his body
engulfed in flames, in a sign of protest against the way Buddhists had been
treated by the South Vietnamese government.

The band's name, printed in white typewriter font across four black strips of
tape, was positioned below the image of Duc's self-immolation and looked like a
cross between a ransom note and a news report from an old copy of The New York
Times, and made me feel that there was a sense of extreme urgency to the album's
ten tracks.

I tore the cellophane off of the case and popped the cassette it into my Sony
Walkman before I exited Tower Records. By the time I got back to my dorm room at
New York University, just a few blocks away, "Bombtrack," the opening song on
Rage's album, ended, leaving me with an entirely different understanding of what
social inequality meant. The other nine songs on the album, particularly the
first single, "Killing in the Name," were just as intense - musically and
politically - and I credit it with igniting my passion for writing about
injustice, a common thread throughout my entire body of work as a journalist
over the past 16 years.

Rage Against the Machine did not sound like any other band in 1992. That was
largely due to the inventive guitar playing of Tom Morello, who somehow made his
axe produce sounds that I mistook for an MC scratching records on a turntable
and a number of other instruments until I read the liner notes, which said "no
samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record." Years
later, Morello would be honored as one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All
Time" by Rolling Stone magazine.

In addition to being a vehicle to showcase his musical chops, Morello used his
guitar to display social justice messages, such as "Arm The Homeless," whenever
the band performed live and, as a privileged white male who grew up in suburban
New York during an era that was dominated by hair metal and decadence, it was an
overtly political statement I had not previously seen before from any of the
artists I had worshipped.

Morello was my new role model.

Sixteen million album sales and two decades later, Morello is still speaking
truth to power and inspiring a new generation of activists. In 2002, he formed
the nonprofit organization Axis of Justice with Serj Tankian, vocalist for metal
outfit System of a Down, which aims "to build a bridge between fans of music
around the world and local political organizations to effectively organize
around issues of peace, human rights and economic justice."

Morello said racist and fascist imagery he saw being openly displayed by
audience members at the Ozzfest music festival in 2002 was the catalyst behind
the formation of the organization and the group sets up, free of charge, Axis of
Justice tents for touring artists, if they request it, to promote social justice
issues. Morello and Tankian also co-host the "Axis of Justice" radio show on
Pacifica's Los Angeles affiliate, KPFK.

After Morello's second band, the multiplatinum, hard rock (apolitical) super
group Audioslave, broke up in 2007 he started recording albums under the moniker
"The Nightwatchman" and reinvented himself as a "black Woody Guthrie," he told
Truthout in an interview, armed only with an acoustic guitar and his deep
baritone voice. He sang songs about corporate greed, class war and workers'
rights.

But on his fourth Nightwatchman album, "World Wide Rebel Songs," released last
summer, Morello plugged back in. Supported by a full electric backing band
called the Freedom Fighting Orchestra, Morello has described World Wide Rebel
Songs as "troubled songs for troubled times."

"I wanted to capture a vibe midway between Johnny Cash and Che Guevara, murder
ballads and Molotov cocktails," he said.

But World Wide Rebel Songs is far from another protest record, despite song
titles such as "Union Town" and "God Help Us All." It's Morello's most personal
album to date.

Get Tom Morello's World Wide Rebel Songs CD directly from Truthout for a
contribution of $25 or more...

***

Obama: 'Help Us Destroy Jesus And Start A New Age Of Liberal Darkness'
SEPTEMBER 6, 2012 | ISSUE 48•36
The president calls for his ultraliberal minions to join him in the godless
slaughter of Jesus Christ and the advancement of eternal sin.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-help-us-destroy-jesus-and-start-a-new-age\
-of,29478

CHARLOTTE, NC — With the savage roar of the heathen Democratic horde rising all
around him, President Barack Obama delivered an incendiary speech to close his
party's national convention Thursday night, commanding the ultraprogressive
minions in attendance to help him "destroy Jesus and usher in a new age of
liberal darkness that shall reign o'er the earth for a thousand years."

The thunderous 45-minute address—during which the president argued for a second
term so that he could "finally kill Jesus once and for all, as well as all those
who worship him"—was well received by the frenzied, wild-eyed audience, whose
piercing chants of "Four more years!" and "Slaughter the believers!" echoed
throughout the Time Warner Cable Arena.

"My fellow Americans and godless infidels, I command you to join me as we cast
an endless pall of far-left evil across the hills and valleys of our nation!"
Obama bellowed from the stage, as thousands in attendance moaned in compliance
and gyrated their hips and groins in a lascivious dance. "Together, as a
barbarian people forged by the wicked flames of irreligiosity and united by
visions of a liberal dystopia, we will rise up as one to scorch the earth with
boundless amorality."

"The streets shall run red with the blood of forced sodomy, performed daily upon
every American man, woman, and child!" the commander-in-chief shouted, froth
forming around his mouth as the crowd threw hundreds of aborted fetuses onto the
stage. "Die, Christians, die!"

Slamming his fists on the lectern until his hands began to bleed, Obama
proceeded to lay out a "three-point plan of sin and lechery" for his second
term. If reelected, the president said, he would begin by banning organized
religion entirely—starting with Christianity—and burning all churches to the
ground, preferably "with their wretched, Jesus-loving congregants still huddled
inside like rats."

As members of the audience violently tugged at their genitals and howled like
sex-starved, atheist wolves, Obama stated that his administration would then
seek to make free, taxpayer-funded abortions legal at any stage of pregnancy,
even up to one full year after birth, in order to supply his newly created
"federal stem-cell harvesting plants" with raw materials.

In addition, the cackling president vowed to "end traditional marriage as we
know it" by passing legislation that would allow only homosexuals to raise
children, a longtime Democratic policy goal.

"A glorious new age of sinister, unconstrained liberalism is dawning! Oh, dear
Satan, I can feel it coursing through my veins at this very moment!" shrieked
Obama, ripping off his shirt to reveal an ornate tattoo of a pentagram, with a
different homosexual act positioned at each of the star's five points.
"Agnosticism, contempt for human life, and radical sexual experimentation shall
rule the day! Any good, virtuous, family-values-oriented Christian Americans who
seek to topple our magnificent liberal kingdom of eternal darkness will be
powerless to stop us! We will crush them!"

Added Obama, "Thank you, may Satan reward you all, and may God tremble in fear
at the United States of America!"

The president was then handed an unbaptized, orphaned newborn baby drenched in
the blood of 666 slaughtered Christians, which he handed over to its new,
gleefully squealing homosexual parents.

***

BabeWatch: Gaga & Allesandra
http://robalini.blogspot.com/2012/09/babewatch-gaga-allesandra.html

Lady Gaga on September Vogue

Alessandra Ambrosia, courtesy of Victoria's Secret

***

THE BEAST OF ADAM GORIGHTLY
Collected Rantings (1992-2004)
AdamGorightly.com

The Paperback Is Now Made Available on Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/OHi1gp

Have you heard rumors about the mysterious deaths in Disneyland? Or that occult
ritual magick is behind the appearance of UFOs? Was mind control the hidden
trigger that blew JFK away? Exactly how does the Philadelphia Experiment fit
into the Montauk Mythos? Was Stanley Kubrick "taken-out" for revealing too much
about the Rich & Powerful's Sex Doll Monarch Mind Control program portrayed in
his last film EYES WIDE SHUT?

Mr. Gorightly, a certified "crackpot historian," has chronicled such unwieldy
subjects in his many articles and books. The Beast of Adam Gorightly is the
culmination of these arcane journeys into the hinterlands of high weirdness,
delving into the darkness, and unraveling the mummy folds that await his readers
there.

Proceed at your own possible ruin!

http://amzn.to/OHi1gp

***

Kool Photos
http://robalini.blogspot.com/2012/09/kool-photos_20.html

Robalini taking a photo of himself drunk in a bar bathroom...

Eleven...

Obama: Forward...

Mitt Romney: The Wimp Factor

Is Bob Dylan still cool?  Yes...

***

The strange saga of the Stirling Club
A real estate mogul, a legendary venue and a deal snuffed out in the middle of
the night
John Katsilometes
Thu, Jul 19, 2012
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2012/jul/19/landmark-limbo-strange-saga-stirl\
ing-club/

Late at night on May 17, the fate of the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place was
hanging in cyberspace.

Stephen Siegel had committed to buy the club, but he needed to move quickly.
Stirling Club was set to close May 18, a Friday night, hosting its "last dance"
at 10:30 p.m. A day earlier, Siegel sent an email to the Turnberry Place Master
Homeowners' Association saying he had agreed to buy the Mansion — home to the
Stirling Club and all of its amenities — for several million dollars. (Siegel
has declined to specify his offer, but those informed about the transaction have
tossed around figures between $9 million and $12.5 million.)

The Mansion and Stirling Club is a 3.5-acre recreational oasis just off the
Strip that was home for a decade to one of the city's chicest night spots for
Turnberry residents and their guests. Entertainment director and singer Kelly
Clinton-Holmes and her three-piece band played each Saturday night, and
entertainers from around Vegas, headliners like Clint Holmes (Kelly's husband)
and performers in production shows up and down the Strip, happened in to sing
and jam with the band. Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Frankie Scinta, Frank Sinatra
impressionists, Leigh Zimmerman of The Producers and Michelle Johnson of
Nunsense — stars of all variety have found their way to late-night hangs at the
Stirling Club.

Siegel can afford the sort of scratch it takes to buy a local landmark. He's the
founder of the Siegel Group, which owns 15 low-budget Siegel Suites residences
in Las Vegas and has vaulted into boutique hotel development with the purchase
of Rumor across from the Hard Rock Hotel on Harmon Avenue (the boarded-up St.
Tropez when the Siegel Group purchased it in 2009), Artisan, Gold Spike/Oasis
and the Resort at Mount Charleston. The Siegel Group's current reclamation
project is Atrium Suites, just north of the Hard Rock Hotel on Paradise Road.

Further north, across Paradise from LVH, is the Stirling Club, which for a few
hours in May also seemed destined to become a Siegel Group holding.

Siegel certainly pushed for a deal, even while lacking a proper contract to
formalize the sale. For a man who has built an empire on making broad-ranging
property purchases, the idea of sending several million dollars to a seller
without a binding contract seems a bit … unusual.

"All I had was an email agreement," says Siegel, founder of the Siegel Group and
a resident of Turnberry Place with two units at the high-end, high-rise
development. "I felt like our deal was done. I was wiring money without a signed
contract, and this was at 11 p.m."

He needed a majority decision from the homeowners' association to approve the
transaction, but that seemed a mere formality and was expected to be delivered
as early as the afternoon of May 18, the announced closing date. The plan to
announce the impending sale was as grandiose as the Mansion itself: Las Vegas
real-estate broker David Atwell, a Turnberry Place resident who has been
involved in some of the specifics of the proposed sale, and Stirling Club
Manager Mike Saye were going to tell the crowd filling the lounge that a deal
had been made between Siegel and the property owners.

Bedlam, or at least robust applause, was expected.

"But after we thought we had the deal, we heard half of the board members were
not available to vote on it," Siegel says. "The other half voted not to extend
the dues. I was stunned."

By voting not to extend the dues being paid by Turnberry Place residents — $400
monthly from about 700 residents — the deal was effectively snuffed out.

"I don't know of any other place like the Stirling Club," says Atwell, a
high-profile Turnberry Place resident who forged the massive real-estate deal
that led to the construction of the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and who also
negotiated the sale of the New Frontier land to the Israeli corporation El Ad
Group for $1.24 billion.

Atwell's 93-year-old mother, Candy, also lives at Turnberry Place and says,
"It's a special, old-Vegas place. We're proud of it, and we don't want to see it
closed."

But that's what it is, languishing on lockdown since that night in May when
Siegel's deal cratered. The owners of Turnberry Place, Jeffrey and Jackie Soffer
and their company, Turnberry Associates, have since posted the Mansion on the
Sotheby's International realty website. The asking price is $18 million, far
higher than the offer Siegel made on the parcel just months ago.

The link to the Sotheby's listing describes in lavish detail a multi-dimensional
fortress featuring a spa, pool, fitness center, tennis courts, two kitchens, 10
bedrooms, 20 baths and separate staff quarters in an 80,000-square-foot main
building. The hope is that a high roller of extravagant means (one resident
keeps talking wistfully of the Sultan of Brunei) will leap into the equation and
pay the $18 million asking price for the Mansion and then reopen the club.

To put it mildly, the idea that the aristocratic structure could serve as a
private residence for a billionaire is not universally accepted among Turnberry
Place homeowners.

"If somebody bought it as a private residence, you would need a 50-foot wall, at
least, to be built so residents couldn't see inside the pool and tennis court
areas," says Siegel Group Senior VP Michael Crandall, who also happens to live
at Turnberry Place. "It is not a private residence."

"It's licensed as a private club," Siegel says. "It has to stay that way."

Siegel still hopes to make a deal directly with the Soffer Group to buy and
reopen the club, piece by piece.

"I don't think I ever stop trying," he says. "It's a good asset, still. I think
we're all capable of putting a deal back together and making it right."

What doesn't make a lot of sense to Siegel is allowing the club to close and
surrendering the monthly dues from residents. Already, between 60 and 90
employees, full- and part-time, have lost their jobs.

"I'm not a fan of closing businesses," he says. "I don't like to kill something
that is still alive." Siegel adds that he has "a lot of different ideas to
modernize Stirling Club, ideas for upgrading the amenities that everyone will be
really, really happy with."

A few nights ago, Siegel says he was with a group of Turnberry residents looking
for somewhere to dine and hang out. For the past decade, the go-to hot spot was
Stirling Club.

"We were kind of lost," he says. "We were like, `Where do we go?'"

For now, back to the table, to work on a way to resuscitate the Stirling Club.

***

Cobblestone Corners 2012 Christmas Village
62-Piece Collection
http://www.dollartree.com/Cobblestone-Corners-2011-Christmas-Village-61-Piece-Co\
llection/p314078/index.pro

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE!

The entire collection in one box! Step back in time with this quaint porcelain
and resin holiday village collection. This carefully detailed set includes
everything needed to create a delightful wintry village scene for one low price.
Set also includes Santa's Workshop that is ONLY available when you purchase the
entire collection online (not available in stores)! Perfect for collectors,
crafters, and train enthusiasts, plus pieces are packaged for resale in gift,
hobby, and holiday shops. Each case includes the entire Cobblestone Corners®
2012 Christmas Village Collection, 36 pieces packaged for resale (62 pieces
total), ranging in size from 1" to 5" tall. Lights not included with village
set.

12 Porcelain Village Buildings:
Santa's Workshop (online only, not sold in stores), Barber Shop, Train Station,
Toy Shop, Jewelry Shop, Pet Store, Book Shop, Gift Store, 2 Houses, and 2
Churches

10 Resin Scenic Bases with People:

Townspeople Decorating Christmas Tree, Horse-Drawn Carriage, Couple Building
Snowmen, Gazebo, Crossing Bridge, Decorated Fence with Gate, Kids Ice Skating
with Santa, Townspeople Decorating Poles, Couple on Swing, and Christmas Choir

4 Packs of Trees:

· 2 Green Full Pines
· 2 Snow-Capped Full Pines
· 2 Snow-Covered Full Pines
· 2 Snow-Covered Cone-Shaped Pines

10 Packs of Resin People and Accessories (1¼ - 2¾" tall):
· 7 Packs of Various People, 3 people per pack
· 6 Lamp Posts
· 4 Potted Trees/Topiaries
· 1 Small Bench

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
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Producer Of Anti-Islam Film Was Fed Snitch
L.A. man began cooperating with prosecutors after 2009 fraud bust
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/nakoula-cooperation-756920

SEPTEMBER 14--In remarks stressing that the U.S. government had "absolutely
nothing to do with" the anti-Islam film that has touched off violence in the
Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday sought to quash Arab
concerns that the "disgusting and reprehensible" movie was somehow produced or
condoned by American officials.

However, Clinton's attempt to distance the U.S. from "Innocence of
Muslims"--and, by extension, its felonious producer--may be complicated by the
revelation that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula became a government informant after his
2009 arrest for bank fraud, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Though many key documents from the U.S. District Court case remain sealed, a
June 2010 sentencing transcript provides an account of Nakoula's cooperation
with federal investigators in Los Angeles (and how his prison sentence was
reduced as a result).

Nakoula, 55, was arrested in June 2009 for his role in a check-kiting ring that
stole nearly $800,000 from six financial institutions by using stolen Social
Security numbers and identities.  Nakoula was named in a six-count felony
indictment accusing him and unnamed "co-schemers" of perpetrating the bank
fraud.

Denied bail, Nakoula, a married father of three, was locked up at the
Metropolitan Detention Center in L.A. when he began cooperating with Justice
Department lawyers and federal agents. During a series of debriefing sessions,
Nakoula provided investigators with a detailed account of the fraud operation
and fingered the man who allegedly headed the operation, according to comments
made by his lawyer at sentencing.

Nakoula identified the ring's leader as Eiad Salameh, a notorious fraudster who
has been tracked for more than a decade by state and federal investigators. In
his debriefings, Nakoula said he was recruited as a "runner" by Salameh, who
pocketed the majority of money generated by the bank swindles, according to
James Henderson, Nakoula's attorney.

As a result of Nakoula's cooperation, Henderson told Judge Christina Snyder, "We
all know what's gonna happen. Salameh is gonna get arrested some day and based
on the debriefing information turned over, he is gonna enter a guilty plea or if
he doesn't, then Mr. Nakoula is gonna be called on to testify at trial."

It is unclear whether Salameh, whose whereabouts are unknown, has been charged
in connection with the bank fraud. Salameh was named in a 2006 federal criminal
complaint charging him with felony fraud. That complaint--filed under one of
Salameh's many aliases--was dismissed last year by federal prosecutors. A court
docket shows that no filings were made after the initial complaint, likely
indicating that Salameh was never apprehended.

With an Arabic interpreter standing by, Nakoula told Snyder about his decision
to inform.  He explained, "I decided to cooperate with the government to
retrieve some of these mistakes or damage happened. I want to cooperate with the
government that they can catch with this other criminals who is their
involvement."

In return for Nakoula's cooperation, prosecutors provided Snyder with a letter
noting that his substantial assistance to authorities warranted a sentence
reduction.

Along with citing the government missive--known as a 5K1 letter--Henderson told
Snyder that Nakoula's kin would suffer financially during his imprisonment since
he was he family's sole breadwinner. Henderson also reported that Nakoula
suffered from various maladies, including Hepatitis C, a "serious diabetes
problem," and "prostate issues" for which he had undergone surgery. "He is on
ten medications at this point," added Henderson.

Nakoula's involvement in the fraud, Henderson stated, was caused by his need to
support his family, including his elderly father. "At the time he did this, he
was out of work in the gas station industry, which is what he's really familiar
in this country," said Henderson, adding, "and he was working swap meets for a
few dollars every weekend trying to support his family."

Snyder eventually ordered Nakoula to serve 21 months in prison to be followed by
six months in a federal halfway house. The sentence was about a year less than
the punishment sought in separate submissions by probation officials and federal
prosecutors.

Before Snyder announced her sentence, Henderson referred to a character letter
written by a friend of Nakoula's who offered to provide work for the convicted
felon. The friend, the lawyer said, reported that he attended church with
Nakoula, whom he described as "a God-fearing man."

***

Yasser Arafat 'poisoned with Polonium'
Yasser Arafat may have been killed with a lethal dose of the highly radioactive
substance Polonium, it has been claimed.
Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
03 Jul 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/937401\
0/Yasser-Arafat-poisoned-with-Polonium.html

Tests performed by a laboratory in Switzerland found significant traces of
Polonium-210 on the late Palestinian leader's clothes, adding a new twist to a
case that has obsessed the Arab world for years.

Polonium-210 is the same substance used to poison the Russian dissident Alexader
Litvinenko in London.

The claims are likely to renew long-held Palestinian suspicions that the Israeli
spy agency Mossad assassinated Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital in November,
2004.

The Institute de Radiophysique in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element
on Arafat's personal effects. A urine stain in his underwear registered a level
of 180 millibecquerels of Polonium-210, more than 20 times the dose to kill an
average human being.

"I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of
unsupported Polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr Arafat that contained stains of
biological fluids," Dr Francois Bochod, the director of the institute, told Al
Jazeera, the pan-Arab television station.

Al Jazeera sent Arafat's clothes to the institute for testing after obtaining
them from his widow as part of a nine-month investigation into the
revolutionary's death.

Many theories have been advanced in the past for the cause of Arafat's death,
and his case notes – which are alleged to show that he had suffered cirrhosis –
have never been released.

A former speech writer for President George W Bush claimed he had contracted
Aids from a homosexual relationship with one of his guards, while aides of
Arafat have alleged that he was poisoned by Mossad with Thallium, another
radioactive element.

British police and doctors initially believed that Litvinenko, a former KGB
officer who defected to London, was killed with Thallium, a misdiagnosis because
Polonium-210 is harder to detect with normal hospital equipment.

Some of Arafat's symptoms, including vomiting, cirrhosis and coma, are
compatible with Polonium-210 poisoning, which results in a long and agonising
death. But it is not thought that Arafat suffered hair loss, which is thought to
happen in half of cases of significant exposure to the element.

The dose allegedly ingested by Arafat was much smaller than the amount that
killed Litvinenko, making it even harder to detect.

British police dealing with the Litvinenko case have alleged that only a
sophisticated, state-backed intelligence agency could source Polonium-210 in a
form that could be used to poison someone.

***

God and Gay Marriage
What Chick-fil-A Could Learn From Marriott
Diane Brady on July 26, 2012
Full Article:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-26/god-and-gay-marriage-what-chick-\
fil-a-could-learn-from-marriott

A few months ago, I had an interesting conversation with Bill Marriott. As a
prominent Mormon-controlled venture, his hotel company was an obvious target in
2008, when the church vigorously supported California's now-overturned ban on
gay marriage. The Marriott International chairman has never tried to hide his
deep faith, often referring to God in his writing and interviews.

In Marriott's personal life, marriage is something reserved for a man and a
woman. But he has long been reluctant to impose that view on the company his
father founded. Not only could that crimp the company's $12 billion in sales, it
might demoralize employees working in more than 3,700 Marriott properties
worldwide. With Mitt Romney's presidential run and same-sex marriage in the
headlines, we spoke about his stance as Mormon leaders were being held up for
scrutiny again.

"This church helped me raise a family and has brought great joy and happiness to
my life," he told me. But that didn't mean gay employees had any less status at
Marriott. "We have to take care of our people, regardless of their sexual
orientation or anything else," he said. "We are an American Church. We have all
the American values: the values of hard work, the values of integrity, the
values of fairness and respect." Marriott has both a deep faith and a deep
understanding of his responsibility as a leader. Many of his shareholders,
customers, and employees don't belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Their values matter, too.

"Our church is very much opposed to alcohol and we're probably one of the
biggest sales engines of liquor in the United States. I don't drink. We serve a
lot of liquor. You're in business. You've got to make money," he said. "We have
to appeal to the masses out there, no matter what their beliefs are."

As a result, when his church actively campaigned against same-sex marriage in
California, neither Marriott nor the hotel chain donated any money to the cause.
Instead, he stepped into the drama by publicly reinforcing his company's
commitment to gay rights through domestic partners benefits and services aimed
at gay couples.

Contrast that with the approach of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy. His company
is also committed to treating gay employees and customers at its 1,608 outlets
with the same "honor, dignity, and respect" as everyone else gets. "Going
forward," the company says, "our intent is to leave the policy debate over
same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."

But that statement didn't come from the mouth of Cathy or any other senior
executive at the Atlanta-based fast-food chain. In fact, it's nowhere to be
found on the company website. It is tucked amid the ads for peach milkshakes and
Cow Appreciation Day on the company's Facebook page. Go to Dan Cathy's Twitter
feed and there are cheerful references to great food and his great evening with
celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart. The issue of gay marriage doesn't come up.

It has certainly come up in other places. In fact, Cathy set off a nationwide
drama recently by saying he supports the "biblical definition of a family" and
believes Americans have a "prideful, arrogant attitude" about gay marriage that
risks "inviting God's judgment on our nation."

Those comments led to calls for a boycott of the chicken chain and ignited
emotions on all sides. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
have taken on former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee in escalating the food fight. The Jim Henson Company
pulled its Muppet toys from Chick-fil-A meals and promised to donate whatever
money those toys have made to the gay rights group GLAAD. Meanwhile, students
from at least seven schools have launched petitions on Change.org to demand the
removal of Chick-fil-A franchises from their campuses while conservative
activists are calling on people to eat there to show support.

The issue isn't that Dan Cathy disapproves of gay marriage; that's hardly a
shocker in a business so infused with Baptist values that its outlets are closed
on Sundays. The problem is that he crossed the line in letting his faith become
less about inspiration than alienation. Not only did he openly condemn the
beliefs of a big chunk of Chick-fil-A's audience, he implied that their views
are unpatriotic and even put the country at risk...

***

The CEO Plan to Steal Your Social Security and Medicare
Monday, 30 July 2012
Dean Baker, Truthout
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10600-the-ceo-plan-to-steal-your-social-security-\
and-medicare

Many people are following the presidential election closely with the idea that
the outcome will have a major impact on national policy. However, according to
Steven Pearlstein, a veteran Washington Post columnist and reporter, it may not
matter who wins the election. In a column last week, Pearlstein told readers
that the top executives of some of the country's largest companies are getting
together to craft a budget package that they will try to push through Congress
and get the president to sign.

While Pearlstein clearly sees these backroom meetings of corporate chieftains in
positive terms (he refers to them as "grown-ups" who have been noticeably absent
from the conversation about the budget), the rest of us might view this plotting
a bit differently. As Pearlstein openly acknowledges, this corporate coup is an
end-run around the electorate. As corrupt as the political process may have
become, at least we will get a vote in the election. Pearlstein's plotters are
not inviting the rest of us into the conversation.

Many of the same folks who brought the economy to ruin just a few years ago are
now going to come up with a plan that is supposed to set the budget and the
economy on a forward path. At the center of their proposal are big cuts in
Social Security and Medicare.

The most popular Social Security cut among this gang is a reduction in the
annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) by 0.3 percentage points. They are
betting that are ordinary people are too dumb to notice this cut since it is a
relatively small amount each year.

However, the effect of this cut accumulates into a much bigger deal over time.
After ten years, it is roughly 3 percent; after 20 years, it would be close to 6
percent; and after 30 years, it would be close to 9 percent.

If we assume that an average retiree collects benefits for 20 years, this
implies an average cut in their benefits of 3 percent. Is that a big deal? Well,
there are a lot of would-be Social Security cutters who are screaming bloody
murder because President Obama wants to increase the tax rate on a portion of
their income by a bit more than 3 percentage points. This means that if
President Obama's proposal to increase taxes on the richest 2 percent is a big
deal, then the plan to cut the Social Security COLA is also a big deal.

The corporate CEO crew is also considering a plan to raise the normal retirement
age for Social Security to 69. And, they want to reduce the benefit formula for
high-income workers, which, incredibly, they define as people who earn more than
$40,000 a year.

Their main trick for Medicare is to raise the age of eligibility from 65 to 67.
Apparently, our CEO gang has not discovered that the health insurance market for
older people is a disaster. They also continue to promote the misconception that
the problem is Medicare and Medicaid.

These programs are actually much more efficient than private insurers. The real
problem is our private-sector health care system which already costs more than
twice as much per person as the average in other wealthy countries, with few
obvious benefits in outcomes.

The scary budget projections that our CEOs like to tout assume that health care
costs will exceed 20 percent of gross domestic product in a decade. That would
imply costs of more than $34,000 for a family of four in today's economy. And
these costs are projected to keep growing through time.

The normal response to this situation would be to focus on the need to fix the
health care system. But many of Pearlstein's CEOs profit from the waste in the
health care system, so they would rather cut our Medicare benefits.

So there you have it, the richest people in the country - the big gainers from
economic growth over the last three decades - have plans to cut Social Security
and Medicare benefits for current and future retirees.

To get some perspective on this story, the typical near retiree has about
$180,000 in wealth, including everything, such as the equity in their home,
their 401(k) and any other savings. That is what our CEO gang makes in a week.
The average Social Security check of $1,200 a month is more than half of the
income for two-thirds of seniors and more than 90 percent for one third. Yet,
the CEOs think seniors are living too well.

But wait, there's more. We're all paying for their campaign to take away our
Social Security and Medicare. We do this through several different channels.

First, many of these CEO and honcho types come from Wall Street. For example,
Erskine Bowles, the co-chair of President Obama's deficit commission, is a
director of Morgan Stanley in one of his day jobs. Had it not been for the
taxpayers' generosity, the bank that Mr. Bowles directs would have died in the
fall of 2008, so it would not be around to pay him his six-figure stipend.

The other way we are paying for this corporate effort to cut our Social Security
and Medicare is by virtue of the fact that we allow the CEOs to pay for their
campaign with pre-tax dollars. If most of want to give $100 to a political
candidate or political cause, we have to first pay taxes on our income and then
make the campaign contribution out of what we have left.

However, if you are a CEO who wants to cut Social Security and Medicare, the
Supreme Court says you can make your contributions with pre-tax dollars, in
effect deducting this contribution as if you were giving money to charity.
According to Pearlstein, the CEOs' "charitable" contribution for cutting Social
Security and Medicare will be on the order of $278 million.

For most of us, that sum would be real money, but not for CEOs who control
trillions of dollars. And with the rest of us subsidizing through our tax
dollars this effort to cut our Social Security and Medicare, how can the CEOs
not take up Pearlstein's call?

Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and co-director of the Center for Economic and
Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at
the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University.
He is a regular Truthout columnist and a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
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It's Hip! It's Cool! It's Libertarianism!
Connor Kilpatrick, the managing editor of Jacobin magazine.
TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/07/connor-kilpatrick-its-hip-its-cool-its-li\
bertarianism.html#yRHFsf4O5KiVtl8R.99

Calling yourself a libertarian today is a lot like wearing a mullet back in the
nineteen eighties. It sends a clear signal: business up front, party in the
back.

You know, those guys who call themselves "socially liberal but fiscally
conservative"? Yeah. It's for them.

Today, the ruling class knows that they've lost the culture wars. And unlike
with our parents, they can't count on weeping eagles and the stars `n bars to
get us to fall in line. So libertarianism is their last ditch effort to ensure a
succession to the throne.

Republicans freak you out but think the Democrats are wimps? You must be a
libertarian! Want to sound smart and thoughtful in front of your boss without
alienating your "socially liberal" buds? Just say the L-word, pass the coke and
everyone's happy!

Just look at how they play it up as the "cool" alternative to traditional
conservatism. It's pathetic. George Will wore the bowtie. But Reason magazine's
Nick Gillespie wears an ironic D.A.R.E. t-shirt. And don't forget the rest of
his all-black wardrobe, complete with leather jacket. What a totally with-it
badass.

With such a bleak economic forecast for the Millennials, it shouldn't surprise
anyone that our elites want to make "libertarianism" shorthand for "political
disaffection." Now there's a demographic with some growth potential. And it's
inspired a lot of poorly-sourced, speculative babble about how "the kids have
all gone Galt," almost always through the personal anecdotes of young white men.

A couple of months ago, after Harvard released a poll on the political views of
Millennials, libertarians took to the internet to tell the world how the youth
of America was little more than a giant anarcho-capitalist sleeper cell–ready to
overthrow the state and privatize the air supply at a moment's notice. So I took
a look at the poll numbers. And you know what? It's utter horseshit.

Right off the bat, we're told that 79% of Millennials don't consider themselves
politically-engaged at all so, uh, keep that in mind.

Much is made of the fact that less than half of the survey respondents thought
the government should provide free health care to those who can't afford it.
What they don't mention is that that number (44 percent) is twice the percentage
who say they stand against (22 percent) such "hand outs." Nearly a third didn't
think one way or the other.

Then we hear that the poll proves kids don't care about climate change. But they
don't mention that slightly more Millennials wanted the government to do more on
that front than they're doing now–even if it hurt economic growth. Nearly half,
you guessed it, "neither agree nor disagree." (Come on kids, Rock the Vote!)

More Millennials identify as liberals than conservatives. Hardly any of them (10
percent) support the libertarian-embraced Tea Party. About three-quarters say
they despise congressional Republicans.

Nearly two-thirds voted for Obama in 2008. Slightly over half approve of him
now. Nearly three-quarters of Millennials hate congressional Republicans. 55%
trust in the U.S. military, one of the largest state-socialist programs in the
entire world, also responsible for, you know, those wars that libertarians
supposedly hate.

Over a quarter put their faith in the federal government all or most of the
time, and 55% "some of the time." Only 17% answered "never." And despite all
their supposed Ron Paul love, they trust the "globalist" United Nations even
more than they do the feds.

A little nibble here with only 36% approving of Obama's handling of the budget
deficit, but then again, that's actually better than his rating on the deficit
with Americans of all ages. Plus, worrying about the budget deficit is how dumb
people have tried to sound smart since the days of FDR. And most people are
dumb.

And when we finally get down to a hypothetical libertarian match-up between
Obama and Ron Paul—41 percent pick Obama and only 27 percent pick Paul.

Oh, but the kiddies are cool with gay marriage and tired of bombing brown people
overseas? No shit. That just makes them normal people living in the 21st
century. I'm for single-payer health care and can't stand Barney Frank. Does
that mean I sip the Kool-Aid at the Lyndon LaRouche compound?

None of this should be too surprising. For almost two decades, roughly
two-thirds of the American public have supported what we'd call a moderate
European welfare state—putting the average U.S. citizen significantly to the
left of the Democratic party, a center/center-right organization saddled, much
to their dismay, with a perpetually-disappointed center-left constituency.

But hey, our ruling class would shit a brick if any of that wealth
redistribution stuff happened over here. Which is why "this is a center-right
nation" has been a favorite Fox News talking point for over ten years. It's only
now—after Occupy Wall Street forced their hand—that the media is finally willing
to admit that it might be bullshit.

But libertarianism? Our ruling class is totally fine with that. Smoke your
reefer and sodomize whomever you please, just keep your mouth shut and hand over
your Social Security account.

Never trust a hippietarian

I get the appeal. The state's been sticking it to working folks for decades. It
seems almost unimaginable that Big Government could ever be run by us and not
the One Percent.

But child labor laws, the Civil Rights act, federal income tax, minimum wage
laws, Social Security, Medicare, food safety—libertarians have accused all of
them as infringements upon the free market that would lead to economic ruin. And
over and over again, they've been proven wrong. Life goes on—a little less
gruesomely—and society prospers.

"There is no such thing as a free-market," economist Ha-Joon Chang has said
repeatedly. "A market looks free only because we so unconditionally accept its
underlying restrictions that we fail to see them."

In other words, markets are social institutions, just as much under the thumb of
politics and government as everything else. Which means they're subject to
democratic pressures, as they should be.

And what you "earn" from said markets? Chang: "All our wages are, at root,
politically determined." Despite what Ron Paul's trolls might have you believe,
gold Krugerrands don't spray out your asshole every time you type up a
spreadsheet or pour a Grande mochachino for your next customer.

Capitalism has always been a product of Big Government. Ever since the railroads
of the nineteenth century, to Silicon Valley, Big Pharma and the banks, the
Nanny State has been there all along, passing subsidies and tax breaks, and
eating the costs the private sector doesn't want.

So whenever a libertarian says that capitalism is at odds with the state, laugh
at him. It's like saying that the NFL is "at war" with football fields. To be a
libertarian is to say that God or the universe marked up that field, squirted
out the pigskins from the bowels of the earth and handed down the playbooks from
Mt. Sinai.

When a Red like me wants to argue for something like universal health care or
free college tuition, we can point to dozens of wealthy democratic societies
doing just that. The Stalinist left is nothing more than a faint memory. But
where are the libertarian Utopias?

General Pinochet's Chile was a longtime favorite. But seeing as how it relied on
a fascist coup—with a big assist from Nixon and Kissinger—Chile's lost a bit of
that Cold War luster. So these days, for the slightly more with-it libertarian,
we get Singapore as the model of choice.

Hey, isn't that where the Facebook guy lives these days? That's pretty "hip"!

Ah, Singapore: a city-state near the very top in the world when it comes to
"number of police" and "execution rate" per capita. It's a charming little
one-party state where soft-core pornography is outlawed, labor rights are almost
nonexistent and gay sex is banned. Expect a caning if you break a window. And
death for a baggie of cocaine.

But hey: no capital gains tax! (Freedom!)

It's not like any of this will make it through the glassy eyes of the
true-believers. Ludwig von Mises, another libertarian pin-up boy, wrote in 1927
that, "Fascism and similar movements aiming at the establishment of
dictatorships are full of the best intentions and that their intervention has,
for the moment, saved European civilization."

Lately, Ron Paul's economic advisor has been claiming that Communist Party-ruled
China has a freer market than the U.S.'s.

So let's talk a little about this freedom they're always going on about. Or, to
paraphrase Lenin, the libertarian's ultimate nemesis: freedom for who to do
what?

Most American adults spend about half their waking hours at a job. And during
that time, libertarians do not give a flying fuck about your liberty. Instead,
they condone the most brutal of tyrannies all in the name of a private
employer's freedom.

Racial discrimination, verbal abuse, random drug testing, body-searches, sexual
harassment, illegal termination, email monitoring, union busting, even
withholding piss-breaks–ask any libertarian how they feel about workplace
unfreedom and they'll tell you: "Hey man, if you don't like it, you have the
freedom to get another job." If folks are hiring. But with four-and-a-half
applicants for every job, they're probably not.

Here's another thing libertarians always forget to mention: a free-market
capitalist society has never and by definition can never lead to
full-employment. It has to be made to by—you guessed it—the Nanny State. Free
market capitalism actually requires a huge mass of the unemployed—it's not just
a side effect.

And make no mistake: corporate America loves a high unemployment rate.

When most everyone has a job, workers are less likely to take shit. They do
nutty things like join unions, demand better wages and refuse to work
off-the-clock. They start to stand up to real power: not to the EPA, and not the
King of England, but to their bosses.

But with a real unemployment rate close to 20 percent, that ain't happening.
Well, fuck. Better sign up for that Big Government welfare state they're always
whining about. Hey, don't worry. You could always sell a little crack and turn a
few tricks. Libertarians totally support that.

After all, that's your freedom, dude!

Libertarianism isn't some cutting-edge political philosophy that somehow
transcends the traditional "left to right" spectrum. It's a radical, hard-right
economic doctrine promoted by wealthy people who always end up backing
Republican candidates, no matter how often they talk about civil liberties,
ending the wars and legalizing pot. Funny how that works.

It's the "third way" for a society in which turning against capitalism or even
taking your foot off the pedal is not an option. Thanks to our shitty
constitution and the most violent labor history in the West, we never even got a
social-democratic party like the rest of the developed world.

So what do we get? The libertarian line: "No, no: the problem isn't that we're
too capitalist. It's that we're not capitalist enough!"

Genius.

At a time in which our society has never been more interdependent in every
possible way, libertarians think they're John fucking Wayne looking out over his
ranch with an Apache scalp in his belt, or John fucking Galt doing…whatever it
is he does. (Collect vintage desk toys from the Sharper Image?)

Their whole ideology is like a big game of Dungeons & Dragons. It's all
make-believe, except for the chain-mail–they brought that from home. Elves,
dwarves and fair maidens for capital. Even with the supposedly "good
ones"—anti-war libertarians—we're still talking about people who think
Medicare's going to lead to Stalinism.

So my advice is to call them out.

Ask them what their beef really is with the welfare state. First, they'll talk
about the deficit and say we just can't afford entitlement programs. Well,
that's obviously a joke, so move on. Then they'll say that it gives the
government tyrannical power. Okay. Let me know when the Danes open a Guantánamo
Bay in Greenland.

Here's the real reason libertarians hate the idea. The welfare state is a check
against servility towards the rich. A strong welfare state would give us the
power to say Fuck You to our bosses—this is the power to say "I'm gonna work odd
jobs for twenty hours a week while I work on my driftwood sculptures and play
keyboards in my a chillwave band. And I'll still be able to go to the doctor and
make rent."

Sounds like freedom to me.

Please send as far and wide as possible.

Thanks,
Robert Sterling
Editor, The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com
http://robalini.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist

Steamshovelpress.com is back! New web content! New book product! New conference
information! PLUS: a new, daily, twitterish quip: "Parapolitics Offhand!"

Now available on CD and through US Mail only: Popular Parapolitics, 219 pages,
illustrated, of comentary on the nexus of parapolitics and popular culture. $15
post paid from Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

http://www.steamshovelpress.com

Paul Ryan's budget plan would destroy the middle class
Michael Hiltzik
August 15, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120815,0,1949780.column

It certainly hasn't taken long for the blue-eyed, smiling visage to be scrubbed
off Paul Ryan's putative policy masterwork, a federal budget proposal that
supposedly would cut the government deficit to a shadow of its former self, as
if by magic.

Within hours of the Wisconsin congressman's anointing as Mitt Romney's
vice-presidential running mate, the budget plan's salient features were being
widely publicized: It would deliver a handsome tax cut to the richest Americans
while eviscerating the programs and services the rest of the country depends on.
These include healthcare services, banking and clean water regulations, road
repair and education assistance.

Yet all the discussion has overlooked the real damage the Ryan budget would do
to an important segment of the American public. We're not talking about the very
poor and the near poor. Their lives would be made immeasurably worse, to be
sure, by a budget that would shrink Medicaid and force cutbacks in food stamp,
educational and law enforcement services, among so many other things. Ryan at
least pays lip service to maintaining the national safety net, ineffective as
his proposals to do so may be.

But the middle class would be destroyed. The Ryan budget's impact on
middle-income Americans comes in many forms, some of them exceedingly
disingenuous. Let's look at a few.

Start with the revenue side. Here, as in other respects, the Ryan plan is silent
on specifics, beyond asserting that "the key to pro-growth tax reform is
lowering tax rates while broadening the tax base."

Ryan advocates cutting the top income tax rate to 25% (from 39.6%, the pre-Bush
top marginal rate scheduled to take effect Jan. 1).

The only way to do so while keeping overall tax revenues at 19% of gross
domestic product, Ryan's stated goal, is to eliminate a wide range of tax
breaks. On the surface, this might look palatable to a middle-class taxpayer
convinced that the fat cats get all the breaks anyway. In fact, the most popular
breaks save billions for the middle class.

More than 70% of the mortgage interest payments claimed as deductions ($240
billion) appear on returns filed by people in the income range of $60,000 to
$200,000, according to the IRS. Many of these middle-class homeowners base their
annual financial planning on tax breaks such as the mortgage deduction. Only
about 1.4% of the total is claimed by taxpayers earning $1 million or more.

This is among the reasons that, as the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center recently
calculated, sharply lowering marginal rates while cutting out the most popular
tax breaks results in net tax cuts for the wealthy and increases for everyone
else. (This is what Ryan means by "broadening the tax base" — it means he's
coming for you.)

The more insidious assault on the middle class comes from program cuts. Most of
the commentary on Ryan's budget has focused on his master plan for Medicare and
Medicaid, both of which he would gut. But it's a mistake to think the burden
would be shouldered exclusively, or even chiefly, by the poor.

Ryan would replace the existing Medicare system of guaranteed treatment (with a
nominal individual premium) with one providing vouchers for service through
private commercial insurance plans. By design, the vouchers wouldn't cover all
costs, and because their value would rise in accordance with a standard
inflation measure, not with medical inflation, the gap would widen over time.

The Kaiser Family Foundation calculated that in 2022, the out-of-pocket medical
expenses of the typical 65-year-old would come to half his or her Social
Security income — double the level under traditional Medicare. There are two
reasons. First, private insurers would deliver benefits at a higher
administrative cost, and second, the vouchers would low-ball the retirees' real
costs.

As a device to reduce the growth in healthcare costs, which is the principal
component in government spending going forward, this is pure sleight of hand.
Costs will keep rising, and at a faster rate than before (Ryan would also repeal
the healthcare reform act, including its cost-reducing provisions). Less of the
increase would show up on the government's ledgers only because more would show
up in family budgets. The average American would be poorer for it.

Ryan contends that shifting the delivery of care from the Medicare bureaucracy
to private insurers will wipe out waste. Everyone who has contact with Medicare,
his plan states, "has stories about waste in the system — unnecessary tests,
redundant treatments, and the cost ... of mistaken billings and misplaced
records." Now, I've never come directly in contact with Medicare, but I've
experienced all those things — at the hands of the private insurers Ryan thinks
have the magic answer to rising medical costs.

Who are these Medicare beneficiaries? For the most part, their economic status
tracks that of America's elderly as a whole (as it should, as the program is
open to almost all Americans over 65). Some 60% get sizable portions of their
income from private pensions, more than a third get at least 10% from investment
income. On average they get 39% of their income from Social Security.

What happens if medical costs start taking up half their Social Security? Much
of the burden might shift to their children and grandchildren. Keeping in mind
that Social Security and Medicare always have aimed to remove this burden from
the next generation, that's a real leap backward.

A tsunami of pain for the middle class comes from the Ryan plan's treatment of
Medicaid. (In California, this joint federal-state program for the infirm and
destitute is known as Medi-Cal).

Ryan would push more of the expense of Medicaid onto the states. Repealing the
Affordable Care Act would remove funding for a Medicaid expansion that would
have covered 17 million people. It would also replace the current open-ended
federal subsidy to states with block grants keyed to population growth and
standard inflation. In other words, completely unconnected to the real drivers
of healthcare costs, which are the aging of the population and medical
inflation.

States will be able to relieve the resulting pressure on their budgets only by
cutting Medicaid enrollments, providing enrollees with fewer services, raising
taxes or covering the shortfall out of budgets straining to keep up with road
repair, K-12 education and public safety.

The Ryan budget won't do much to help states with those other items; his
insistence on reducing non-defense federal spending outside the health programs
and Social Security by more than one-fifth starting in 2014 implies
unprecedented cuts for state and local governments, which today get one-third of
those dollars. That's money spent today on education, law enforcement, roads,
clean air and water programs, and disaster response.

When payment for those services is demanded at the point of sale, as in a
post-Ryan world, it's the middle class that will pay. They've reached into their
pockets to pay for school arts and enrichment programs lopped out of state
budgets and carried the burden of tuition hikes at state universities. Teachers
of middle- class students — stalwart members of the middle class themselves —
will lose their jobs by the thousands. Under Ryan's budget, they'll pay higher
federal taxes for the privilege.

What accounts for the Washington establishment's tolerance for policymaking that
delivers so little of what it claims? For no one impolite enough to examine the
Ryan plan's assumptions and numbers, as opposed to taking Ryan's word for it,
believes that it would cut the budget deficit, either according to its own terms
or in the world of practical politics.

Perhaps it's that American politicians have become so notorious for dodging
tough questions that in a hick town like Washington anyone who produces a plan,
no matter how nebulous and flawed, will be hailed as an intellectual giant. ("At
least it's something," goes the refrain.)

Now that Ryan's in a national race, his budget will get nationwide scrutiny.
It's about time. People will learn that the strangest thing about Paul Ryan's
vision of America is how distant it is from the reality they face on the ground.

Ryan calls for eliminating consumer-friendly financial reforms enacted after the
2008 crash, removing environmental oversight of oil and gas production, and
eroding legal protection for unionized workers. With a straight face, he lists
these initiatives under the heading, "Ending Cronyism and Corporate Welfare."
The original version of his plan envisioned the national economic safety net as
"a hammock that lulls able-bodied citizens into lives of complacency and
despondency." (He removed this Ayn Randian phrase from the 2012 revision.)

What's frightening about the rise of Ryanesque policymaking isn't merely that in
today's Washington, the man with the plan is supposed to have credibility even
if the plan is incoherent and destructive. It's that Ryan has credibility
because he's amiable and earnest.

In a recent article, Peter Orszag, the former Obama budget director and current
executive at Citigroup, dismantled the Ryan plan but felt constrained to
mention, twice, "I like Paul Ryan."

How very Washington of Orszag. Outside the beltway, no one is talking about Paul
Ryan because he's likable. They're talking about him because he is now up for an
important national office, and he got there by promoting a vision of policy that
the average American should find repellent.