Roundup's Rants and Random Thoughts

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Humanitarian Mass Murder

I hope the people of Libya understand that it is better to be killed by NATO bombs than by Libyan bombs.

Amplify’d from au.news.yahoo.com

At least 40 civilians dead in Tripoli strikes: Vatican official

ROME (Reuters) - At least 40 civilians have been killed in air strikes by Western forces on Tripoli, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital told a Catholic news agency on Thursday, quoting witnesses.

"The so-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighborhoods of Tripoli," said Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.

"Yesterday I said that bombardments had hit, albeit indirectly, some hospitals. To be precise, one of these hospitals is in Mizda," he said, mentioning a town about 145 km (90 miles) southwest of the capital.

Martinelli said living conditions in the Libyan capital were getting more difficult by the day, while on the ground a military stalemate appeared to be taking hold.

"That is why I say that a diplomatic solution is the principal way to put an end to the spilling of blood among Libyans, offering Gaddafi a dignified exit," he said.

Read more at au.news.yahoo.com

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Creeping Toward WWIII

We have crazy people leading us into war. It is time for people who still have a conscious to speak out.

Amplify’d from www.msnbc.msn.com

Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

In interviews with American TV networks on Tuesday, Obama said the objective was for Gaddafi to "ultimately step down" from power. He spoke of applying "steady pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means" to force Gaddafi out.

Obama said the U.S. had not ruled out providing military hardware to rebels. "It's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. We're looking at all our options at this point," the President told ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

Read more at www.msnbc.msn.com

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The United States has murdered millions of civilians of the last few decades. And our forces are not slowing down. How the hell does the President have any 'moral authority' to attack another country for any reason?

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According to the official 2010 Social Security reports, between 1984 and 2009 the American people contributed $2 trillion more to Social Security and Medicare in payroll taxes than was paid out in benefits. What happened to the surplus $2,000,000,000,000 ? The government spent it!

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Defunding Education & Funding War

The ruling elite know exactly what they are doing. They are destroying everything that made America great to bring about their New World Order. If we don't wake up and fight back soon, we will lose more than tax money.

Amplify’d from www.activistpost.com

We need to spend our resources to better this country, not Afghanistan.  Our money needs to fund our education system, not Iraq’s.  Our income and hard work needs to fuel our economic engine, not China's.  The time is now to wake up to the reality that this country is being sold piece by piece to the factions of fascism.  We need to take our country back.

Defunding Education to Send America’s Future Abroad

As American politicians search for cuts in State and Federal spending to balance the economic scales, they are aiming to cut into social programs instead of concentrating their fire on the issues that have actually led to our current, monstrous debt situation: Military Expenditures, Corporate Welfare, and Foreign Aid.  As the Wars in the Middle East rage on, America is spending an astronomical amount of money in other nations while our own falls apart. 

We need to return to a time where American invention, intellect and innovation leads the world.  If we continue upon the path we are on currently, we will be a nation of debtors and mindless workers akin to the same system of our greatest competitor and now part owner, China, possesses.  This drive toward the fascist states of America needs to stop, and those responsible for its initiation should be brought to justice.

Yes; this is a Liberal approach to politics and national spending.  Yes; it is the same approach so vehemently attacked by some in the political realm of mass media, but it is a view that is enveloped in the Dream that once was so vibrant in America when it cared and supported the future of its people.  It is the embodiment of the words etched upon the base of the Statue of Liberty; the dream that seems to be dying so very quickly along with the voice of America being drowned out by corporate interests supported by politicians whose bank accounts grow larger each time they propagate the policies of deception and degradation rotting the very heart of our once great Nation. The time has come to reclaim our Liberty; if not for ourselves, then for our children.

Read more at www.activistpost.com

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the February deficit is nearly four times as large as the spending cuts House Republicans passed in their spending bill. What a joke!

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This is a great article to find tools for all aspects of gathering content, and sharing through aggregation and curation.

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Some useful tips for locating content, especially real time news, for your blog.

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The first day of the month is typically a good one for market investors.

Tomorrow is March 1st. Will be interesting to see if this pattern holds.

Amplify’d from www.zerohedge.com

The Calm Before the Storm

Courtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World

Tomorrow, of course, is March first and, as we all know, the first day of the month is THE BEST day to go long.  12 of the last 14 first day's of the month have been up days with the S&P gaining 17% on the first day of the month (Feb 1 not on this chart) and just 1.4% on all the rest of the day's combined!  

So, miss the first day and miss out on the rally is a bit of an understatement, isn't it?  In 2010 alone, the first trading day accounted for 123 of the 134 points the S&P gained. Essentially, the market traded flat the other 200-plus trading days.

Read more at www.zerohedge.com

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First they came for our papers, then they came for our junk, now they are coming for our DNA.

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Seems the US government cannot get enough war.

Even if we don't wage a war on the people of north Africa, our military industrial complex will surely benefit from the instability in the region.

Amplify’d from www.lewrockwell.com

War Über Alles

by Paul Craig Roberts

The United States government cannot get enough of war. With Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s regime falling to a rebelling population, CNN reports that a Pentagon spokesman said that the U.S. is looking at all options from the military side.

Allegedly, the Pentagon, which is responsible for one million dead Iraqis and an unknown number of dead Afghans and Pakistanis, is concerned about the deaths of 1,000 Libyan protesters.

War makes money for the politically connected. While the flag-waving population remains proud of the service of their sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, cousins, wives, mothers and daughters, the smart boys who got the fireworks started are rolling in the mega-millions.

As General Smedley Butler told the jingoistic American population, to no avail, "war is a racket." As long as the American population remains proud that their relatives serve as cannon fodder for the military/security complex, war will remain a racket.

Read more at www.lewrockwell.com

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"The Wall Street Journal reports that state and local governments in the United States currently have $3.5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities." That is like 3.5 million duffel bags stuffed with $100 bills (assuming $1,000,000 per bag).

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Untitled

Amplify’d from www.zerohedge.com

We're Rapidly Approaching the Crisis to Which 2008 Was a Warm Up

Submitted by Phoenix Capital Research on 02/25/2011 23:05 -0500

Stocks broke down in a big way this week, falling below the trendline that has supported them since late August. Indeed, it looks as though we not only broke below this line but have since rallied to retest it: a classic pattern during corrections.

The question now is if this is just a minor correction or the start of something more. The S&P 500 appears to have formed a rising bearish wedge pattern (see above), which usually is a termination pattern that results in the underlying security falling to retest its base (in this case 1050 or so on the S&P 500).

While this might not seem like a big deal, I can assure it is THE most significant issue the financial markets face right now. The reason for this is that IF the Bernanke “Put” is no longer relevant, that is additional liquidity and bailouts, doesn’t actually induce a rally anymore… then the entire financial system will collapse in one form or another.

Remember, the only thing that pulled us from the brink in 2008 was Bernanke printing like a lunatic. It’s the ONLY thing that has held the market together. And while it may have kicked off a major rally in stocks… it FAILED to address the underlying issues that caused the Crisis in the first place: namely excessive debt and leverage.

In fact, Bernanke has made the financial system even MORE leveraged than it was in 2008. So if the Fed’s moves no longer have an effect on the markets, then it’s time for the REAL Crisis… the Crisis to which 2008 was a warm up.

Read more at www.zerohedge.com

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Seems Overstock was getting too many .edu links.

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Proving it is hard to grasp the concept of BIG numbers.

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Untitled

Amplify’d from www.zerohedge.com

The US Today: What Happens When You Let Investment Bankers Run a Country

Investment banking as an industry runs almost completely contrary to wealth creation since it thrives on fees rather that capital appreciation. Investment banking is about making DEALS (any deals) regardless of whether the deals make sense or benefit both parties (after all, the advisors to the deals, the investment bankers, get paid based on commission and free stock).

  Indeed, investment banking is one of the few industries on the planet in which you can get rich by creating debt for others to pay off. Goldman Sachs, as you know, is an investment bank. And this financial crisis is riddled with former Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street execs.

  Indeed, you can see the “investment banking” stamp everywhere.  Consider the major deals the Feds have created and consider the actual benefit they offer to the parties involved:

  §  Bear Stearns/ JP Morgan

§  The US taxpayer/ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

§  The US taxpayer/ AIG (and all of its counterparties)

§  Merrill Lynch/ Bank of America

  All of these deals were terrible. All of them were rushed through. And all of them were allowed because of lax regulation/ poor analysis. To this day no one in the mainstream media seems to have adequately analyzed these deals in a way that includes actual numbers. Instead we get dopey adages like “it’s about stemming the tide,” it’s important to “stop the bleeding,” “it’s about saving the system.”

 Read more at www.zerohedge.com

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Just added a new PLR article pack to PLRDaddy.com. These Cuisinart product reviews are ideal for promoting Cuisinart products as an Amazon affiliate.