Worldwide Sawdust:: It's Not Too Late: Demand Obama Investigate Bush's War Crimes

Go to Change.gov and click "Additional Issues" and check the top question to make prosecution of the murderous moron and his hyena cabal's war crimes at least a discussion-level priority in the coming Administration. Please, do it now. Thank you.

Toward a Greater Separation of Power

Nolan Chart.com:

"I propose that, instead of three branches of government, we adopt three (or more) completely independent and non-territorial governments. I make this proposal because it is not the concept of checks and balances that has failed, but the inadequacy of the particular system in place that is the source of our problems. I know this is a radical proposal, but no more radical than the constitutional republic that we live under now was when it was first proposed. A radical solution is called for because, in my opinion, attempts at incremental reforms have been no more effective than efforts to liberalize the mafia or the Ku Klux Klan would be. It is simply not in the nature of a territorial or monopoly state to relinquish its power or operate in a non-coercive fashion."

Not a good idea. As Ayn Rand pointed out in the 60s (yes, I'm quoting Rand: she wasn't totally loony), what do you get with "competing governments," which is what happens when you have governments seeking to increase their power base, i.e., population and commerce.

Maybe We Should Try Stimulating Individuals Instead. THAT Would Stimulate the Economy. | Personal Finance Corner

AllBusiness.com

"What if it was given to individuals? What if the government took the rest of the $350 billion from the $700 billion bailout and gave it to the people? They could give $50,000 to $100,000 tax free to households making less than $250,000 and remain under that $300 billion mark. They're going to give that money to people who made bad decisions anyway, it might as well be regular folks who made bad decisions. Besides, if there was a massive stimulus package for individuals, many of us who made good decisions would be rewarded.

Congress could even stipulate that $10,000 of the money has to be spend on consumer goods. Now there's something that would stimulate the economy. And do it quickly. And just imagine how many people would go out and buy a new car. Auto industry gets help to! Plus, such a large chunk of money would help individual personal finances as well:

--Debt reduction.
--Increased investment (would help the stock market).

--Make substantial payments on mortgages (reduce foreclosures).

If our politicians are bound and determined (and they are!) to spend hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe they should abandon trickle down in favor of trickle up." (Emphasis Mine.)

Think about it: Your family and that of most everybody you know could have received something like $75,000 each, the government would have stopped its bleeding cash at just about $300 billion and what argument could there be against this as the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to jump-start the economy while also letting the current fat-cat idiots get their just desserts?

Activist Moving Homeless People Into Foreclosed Houses in Miami | Breaking News - Alternative News You won't find on CNN or FOX News

I can't come out and say this is right, but it feels right. But it isn't, even if it makes Me smile.

Credit cards: Dirty little secrets - by Peter Johns - Helium

Know what you're getting into, thinking about it creatively and being disciplined about it and you can make credit cards excellent tools to manage your money. Especially now.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (December 12, 2008) - Easier Said Than Done, Ctd.

"So why doesn't the USA just buy the Afghan poppy harvest, process it into painkilling meds, and distribute them to poor countries?

1. This would cut off the Taliban's chief source of funding.

2. It would put the average Afghan farmer on the side of the US-supported government instead of the Taliban.

3. It would play to our strength -- money. The Taliban has more local knowledge, more time, more patience, more willingess to shed innocent blood. But we have more money. They might be able to outfight us, out-corrupt us, or out-terrorize us, but they can't outbid us.

4. It would put the US on record as alleviating suffering all over the world.

5. By fighting the Taliban with dollars instead of (as many) soldiers, we'd suffer a lot fewer killed and maimed Americans.

6. It might even be cheaper. Soldiers, tanks, planes, humvees, night vision goggles, bullets, Predator drones, etc. are really, really, expensive."

AFP: Central American leaders agree on common currency

"The presidents of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, and representatives from Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic and Belize also agreed Friday on a 41-point economic blueprint to help the region weather the current global financial storm.

'At this time, the financial system is undergoing a very deep crisis that directly affects our countries. The most vulnerable economies, the societies with the highest rates of poverty, logically, are the first to suffer,' Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said at the summit opening."

It's not protectionism, it's regionalism. What's the difference? We shall see.

Are You Tired Of Your Children Being Raped? - The Market Ticker

Yes, the title is deliberately incendiary and it refers to the raping of Our financial system as a burden upon the next oe or maybe two generations. Once you're past that, and amidst a ticker-tape swirl of information and conclusions, comes this idea to straighten out the banking debacle:

"The good news is that we must (and can) protect the financial system without protecting any of the existing players. The means for doing so is in fact quite simple:

--Government should set up ten (10) new federal banks. Capitalize each with $20 billion dollars and immediately IPO off the bank to the public. The capitalization would carry a preferred coupon of 9%, incenting the bank to immediately replace that government capital with private capital, with dividends, executive bonuses and pay beyond $200,000 per annum (total compensation) being prohibited until the government capital is repaid in full.

--This would provide an immediate aggregate lending potential of two trillion dollars into the economy just off the Government Tier Capitalization alone. Private capital would fly into these institutions since they would be established with no debt of any sort.

--At the same time, withdraw all existing support programs by Congressional mandate. This includes Fannie, Freddie, the existing alphabet soup mess and all other taxpayer-funded backstops. The FDIC would be directed to provide deposit insurance only to the extent that it can document the safety and soundness, and expose same to public view, of the institutions it insures.

--If The Fed (which is technically unable to be compelled to comply) refuses, revoke their right to regulate the money supply and replace them, leaving them as simply another private bank forced to compete for funds in the open market like everyone else. They will go along rather than die.

--The consequence of this set of actions would be to force an immediate default of the excess (unservicable) debt in the private sector. Both banks and debtors would go bankrupt immediately, but the lending function would remain intact as the newly-chartered banks would exist to replace the "busted" institutions.

--At the same time Glass-Steagall must be reinstanced, reserve requirements for banks reinstated and enforced without exception, and leverage in the financial system must be strictly controlled at no more than 12:1."

There's plenty of enlightening--and scary--stuff in here. Read it and see.

The Associated Press: Malls, hotels next victims in new mortgage crisis

Washington Post: A Pall on the Mall

CBS News: Next Round of Foreclosures to Hit Retail

All those empty hulking boxes of often prime developed real estate... Who you gonna call?

Citizens’ Economic Stimulus Plan: Stop Paying Credit Card Debt

Global Research:

"I have argued in recent articles that the government should implement what I have modestly called the “Cook Plan,” whereby a dividend similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund would be paid to every U.S. citizen at the rate of $1,000 per month in vouchers for food, housing, and other necessities of life.

This dividend would be paid out of the U.S. Treasury, where I used to work, from an emergency self-financed account without recourse to taxes or government debt. The dividend would constitute each citizen’s fair share of the producing potential of the economy, as advocated by Social Credit reformers in the British Commonwealth nations for decades. The vouchers could then be deposited in a new network of community savings banks that would revitalize local economies through lending at zero-percent interest, charging only administrative fees and a small amount of lending insurance for access to capital."

1001 rules for my unborn son

No, I didn't write these. I wish I did. Here are 301 ideas (as of today) that are worth learning for unborn boys, and everyone else. Your idea is welcome, too.

The Right Way to Bail Out The Economy

"Let's do some figurin' on the back of this envelope: We have $700 billion to work with:

Health coverage for every child in America would cost between $8 and $10 billion. (Frame of reference point: we have been spending over $10 billion A MONTH killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan so $9 billion a YEAR to keep people alive here seems pretty reasonable, huh?)

Health coverage for the 47 million uninsured Americans would cost between $50- and $100 billion.

That still leaves us with between $600-$650 billion to spend on federal, state and local jobs programs, fixing and modernizing America's crumbling bridges, roads, schools, air traffic control system, fiber optic networks, sewage and water systems, that kind of stuff.

Hiring all the millions of engineers, high tech and construction workers required to accomplish such a monumental task would drop the unemployment rate like a rock. And those good construction wages would fatten the balance sheets of now-troubled banks, which would revitalize home mortgage and small business lending.

It's called “trickle up economics” and, unlike trickle down economics, it actually works."

Free For All Continues - 26 Things We Could Buy With Bailout Money | Dakota Democrat

Some of the items on this list: Buy an $857,000 house for EVERY homeless person in the U.S. of part of A.; pay off ALMOST ALL the credit card debt of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia; send $10,000 to EVERY person in the U.S.; employ EVERY unemployed person PLUS 10 million more...

But My favorite? "Cure whatever George Bush has."

HAHAHAHAHAHAspoton!

11 Steps for Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking | The Design Matrix

Why don't We learn about this in school? Don't give Me the "That's what they're teaching you," line; it's bogus. What I want is for school to delineate, define and put these critical thinking steps into use every day, until it becomes a part of a person's routing thought processes. 

Let's replace brainwashing via drive with brainbuilding.

Harness Energy At Home With FLOW Solar-Wind Power System | Device Daily

I get the feeling that if We really wanted to, We could basically solve the energy crisis in about a decade. And by "wanted to," I mean "Work around established interests."

Commentary: Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer - CNN.com

Harsh. Panic-inspiring in fat-cat land. Very likely the truest solution, if not the only solution.

RealScoop Tells You When Politicians And Celebrities Are Lying

TechCrunch.com

The old joke is "You can always tell when a politician's lying: when his lips are moving." Now We can do it Webtastic fashion and isn't that really what it's all about?

Operation: Sleeper Cell

You might know I love games, and I've posted one before because of its social conscience, but here's one that has a direct impact on a societal concern: cancer. 

Yes, play this game and you will help raise money for cancer research based in the United Kingdom. 

Every little but helps. And this one is more fun than most.

Sheila Tendy: To Congress: Please Read Before Bailing Out!

Here's a simple, practical, economical solution to the current financial "crisis":

"1) Mandate the renegotiation of the terms of all non- or poorly performing mortgages to a reasonable and fixed rate of interest.

2) Remove any other onerous terms.

3) Require each bank to analyze the loan portfolios they hold to determine the good, the bad, and the ugly.

4) Require the banks to present this information to the Government under oath with the threat of prosecution if the information has been falsified.

5) Allow homeowners to stay in their homes so long as they begin paying under the new terms and continue to act in good faith on their payment schedules.

6) Add any outstanding balances to the back end of the loans.

7) All of the above can be done without the Government actually purchasing the loans from the banks."

Read the post to see how it solves the regulatory and "executive overpay" obstacles as well...

Burning the Tide | Popular Science

Burning the Tide | Popular Science

We have two nearly-unlimited energy suppliers, the Sun and the oceans. Makes sense to be tapping them right about now.