The Age of Apathy- The Sunday Collage

It's no secret that I put a little extra effort into my Sunday blogs. As my life unfolds and I rewind my historical observations and compare them to my current observations... some things come into sharp focus. I love to study all things human. They fascinate me.

So today I shall ramble with a purpose. As we approach the finish, it will all make sense. I think.

Frustrated by the lack of quality leaders or politicians back in 2006, I asked a friend of mine who was also a police chief, why we had such crappy political leadership and why quality people- of which there were hundreds- never seemed to run for office in Moonbat Valley. Indeed, many positions go uncontested, to this very day.

My friend responded with this. People come to Moonbat Valley to escape the rat race, the pressure of the city and to have a good time. They are rich liberals who really don't care about government. They may have at one time- but they have now secured their own little fortunes and government is no longer a concern to them. In fact, politics is one of the very last things they want to discuss. People don't care. You cannot make apathetic people care either- because that by it's very definition is apathy. That's why government sucks. People don't care about it anymore.

I pondered this for some time and I came to believe that it was true. That answered the first part of my question and today I hold the same belief. The majority of people in this country are either ill informed or simply don't care about politics at any level. They would rather floss their teeth with sandpaper. My ex hated politics. She refused to vote in order to escape jury duty. She has never been called.

So what about those good people? How come they never run? The answer to that question took several years for me to discover. First stop was Shakopee, Minnesota, circa Aug 1 of 2007, the day before the bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

I had pulled into a gas station as I toured the US on my Honda Valkyrie. I caught a Mexican man staring at my bike which was fully loaded. "God I wish I could do that" he said to me. That's what he used for openers. We talked for 45 minutes. Toward the end of the conversation I mentioned that I was going to spend the winter in New Orleans. He told me that I wouldn't like it. When I asked why, he said you will hate the black mentality although black is a much kinder word than the one he used. When I asked why... he said,  (and although I don't have it verbatim this is damn close) "They are missing the American dream. They think they are entitled to government handouts because they are the grandchildren of slaves. So rather than do anything with their lives, they sit around and bitch about the government and white people. They are professional victims." Then he said the kicker.

"They have no idea what it is like to be dirt floor poor. No gratitude whatsoever."

His comments were directed at blacks but as I left that place I wondered about me. Had I become a victim? And if I had, what was the solution? In New Orleans that fall, I met many unemployed blacks. I didn't see it that simplistically- they simply had no means with which to compete in a competitive environment. Lacking any kind of preparation may be a symptom of being poor- but I am not convinced it is a symptom of skin color.

So I think for a guy lacking spirituality, my spirit guide sent me to New Orleans. A miracle happened to me there. I had arrived in New Orleans while still hating the world. I had isolated and pissed off everyone I knew and I had recently become divorced. Miraculously, as the alcoholic and self centered fog that had been my life lifted, a miracle happened. For the first time in my life, I developed an incredible sense of gratitude. Gratitude is the foundation and the polar opposite of pity, of being a victim, of being self centered, of whining about your problems. In New Orleans I saw real problems. People diseased and dying. Stealing from each other, living under the bridge. There weren't going to be any retirements for them, no Chief of Police gigs, no Harley Davidsons, no Ralph Lauren sweaters.

When I heard a guy say he was grateful for clean socks, a guy living under the Claiborne bridge, it changed my life. At first I went huh...I just stared at him. When in my entire life had I been grateful for anything...let alone clean socks? I had found the solution and solved the riddle. The solution was perspective, humility and mostly gratitude. Some Mexican guy in Shakopee had said that. I guess I just needed a demonstration. I became profoundly grateful after that day. It changed my life. I took stock. I had some money, some toys, a decent resume, decent health. I eat well. I can string a few words together. I have clean socks. For the most part, I forever parted company with self pity, victimization, blaming others, and to some degree, self centered-ness.

Gratitude cures all of that?

Yes, it does. Show me a consistently happy person at work or a consistently happy person in a wheelchair and I will show you a grateful person. Show me a person focused on all of the gifts that they have received instead of that "forever wanting sickness" that seems to plague and infect our society- and I will show you someone who has found the solution.

So what does this have to do with apathy? I told you I'd get ya there...

Apathy is a symptom of self centered-ness. Self centered ness is a spiritual disease wherein the patient is only concerned with himself. Self absorbed or greedy people don't help others out of a profound sense of gratitude that life has given them abundance. Instead they are forever wanting something else. They are focused on what they don't have and how to acquire it- rather than what they do have or how they could put that to good use.

It's not that these people are stupid. They are just unconscious. This is something they may, or may not learn. They are on a journey of their own. Giving freely of oneself, without expecting anything in return, is a higher order of thought. It is selfless and it flows out of a sense of gratitude. That is the only genuine source. It is spiritual.

Unfortunately, we entered the age of apathy some time ago. Most people care very little about others. It is evident in the way that they talk, in the way they behave, even the way that they drive. Apathy has infected them. They are focused on earning more and more money, acquiring more and more things, coveting bigger houses and faster cars, credentials, boob jobs, and cellphones. Entitlement is what these folks possess. They deserve these things and you will hear them say that. The idea of helping people beyond their inner circle is seen as something wasteful and nebulous. They cannot see a larger picture or a potential ripple effect because they are forever focused on the micro view. What's in it for me? Our politicians run for office not out of a profound sense of helping others- but with some hidden agenda that benefits nobody other than themselves.

I can't deny the age of apathy exists- because the evidence is all around me. I can't really fight it because the other side doesn't care and I'm not here to change their minds. All I'm left with then.. is acceptance and some hard earned knowledge that gratitude is the spiritual key to caring about somebody other than myself. It's odd and I can't explain it fully but a sense of entitlement seems to have the opposite effect.

The GOP Has Nobody To Blame Except the GOP

For two weeks now, I've listened to the whine. I've seen it at Ace of Spades, at righty sites like American Thinker, Real Clear Politics, and even the smaller places like Conservatives on Fire hosted by my friend Jim.

Nasty chicago style politics or voter fraud. The Libertarians. The GOP voter base stayed home in protest.

I have a news flash for the GOP faithful. Nobody lost this election but you. There is a lesson to be learned here but sadly many of the GOP faithful will miss it.

Years ago as a very young cop, I lost a case in criminal court. The defendant had lied his ass off and his defense attorney spent an hour or two attacking me personally. Eventually the judge ruled in the defendant's favor. In the hallway, after the court room had cleared- my ass was on fire- I was pissed. I spotted the defense attorney and I called him a coward and a liar. Straight out. You know what that bastard said to me?

"Quit your whining. Get better or get used to losing."

I never forgot that attorney or that lesson. I did get better. But I never crossed the line. I didn't lie under oath ever. If I screwed up- I admitted it. That lawyer to this day, will assist his clients by coaching them on how to lie and not get caught. Can you win by lying? Sure. On a personal level, I got tired of being a cop- playing by one set of rules while the defense plays by another. Do cops lie? You bet your ass they do and often that's the only way they can lock up a defendant who has every court room advantage. I don't condone cops who lie but I understand why they do. That willingness to compete on any level- to win at all costs- is part of the question we all ask ourselves. Is it worth it?

The GOP and it's supporters are in the same boat. You've come to the gunfight armed with a knife, twice now. McCain and Romney are completely squish Republicans. In my eyes, they are liberals. This is the best your party could do? How can you guys get better, how do you win?

Here's the kicker. A real conservative, Dr. Paul, would have won. I'm not kidding. Ron Paul has the most predictable and conservative voting record in all of Congress. Paul appeals to the left and to the right. He appeals to the libertarians. But he wasn't pretty enough for the GOP. He wasn't squish or moderate. The GOP did everything they could to ruin Paul's chances even after he won Iowa in the primaries. And they did. In the process- they ruined their own chances of winning. Paul is very popular. Much more so than people think. But then again- you'd have to be in touch with the people who know that. Your very own base.

So I'm not going to shed a tear for the GOP or their adherents. You lost. "Get better or get used to losing."

Come up with a candidate with real conservative appeal. Old rich whitey with a liberal voting record has lost his appeal. Quit trying to be moderate by offering up people like McCain and Romney. The liberals aren't falling for that, neither are the independents. Quit whining, find a way to win, or go the way of the Whigs.

Let Me Know When The Weird Shit Happens

I couldn't help myself. I've been following the whole General Petraeus episode. This is the kind of stuff you can't make up.

When the initial scandal broke, I immediately started digging into the background of Petraeus' biographer, Paula Broadwell. Broadwell is from North Dakota, not far from the area I am from. Her schooling and credentials are outstanding. Clearly she had no aspirations on sticking around Bismarck. Ms. Broadwell is married and as a bonus- she is very attractive.

So the next thing I did, that secret little thing that many of us do and don't tell anybody about is- I googled a pic of Petraeus' and his wife. Then I did the same thing with Broadwell and her husband. I scored the whole thing like a diving judge at the Olympics.

Petraeus got the best of this deal- by far. I gave him an 8.5. I deducted 1.5 points for losing his job.

The problem with being a very powerful person like Petraeus' is that there is a certain segment of women lurking about who are absolutely turned on by powerful men. That these types of women make themselves sexually available to powerful men is nothing new. They will get your ass into a sling. In fact, I read an article recently wherein a number of female Obama supporters said that they have fantasies about having sex with the President. The President I think, is not that interested in women. He is married to Patrick Ewing's sister. I think he would rather have sex, prison style, with ol' man whitey.

The problem with a lofty fling on the top bunk of government for guys like Petraeus is that your detractors will now try to turn a simple, ongoing, and mutually satisfying event into an international spy v spy episode. That's when this stuff gets real nasty. Search warrants, international es-penis-iage, covert deals, Senate investigations.

All this because some man wanted to make sticky with some hottie. Soon, the Senate or some equally fraudulent body of ne'er do wells (every bit as lustful as the people who got caught) will grill Petraeus while he is seated in some uncomfortable wood chair drinking water out of a dixie cup. If Petraeus is any kind if man- he will look those inquisitors in the eye and say- yea.. it was worth it.

Have you ever noticed that it's always the people who aren't getting laid that are always the most deeply offended- at those folks who are getting some? Let's pray Feinstein or Boxer aren't part of the Senate inquisition.

All of this reminds me of Bill Clinton and the infamous blue dress episode. I have never been able to put that image out of my mind. Like Petraeus, I scored that episode in Clinton's favor. In fact, had it not been Monica, but Gennifer Flowers or even Whoopi Goldberg, Bill would have still come out on top given my special scoring system. I find all of those women to be vastly superior to Hillary.

Thankfully, Monica did not turn out to be a secret operative of the KGB.

The craziest thing about the whole Petraeus scandal might be Jill Kelley. I still haven't figured out how she fits into any of this, really. Jill Kelley is an absolute enigma. She is "close" friends with Petraeus. Other than throw parties and screw off- she apparently has no real function in life. Apparently Paula saw her as some sort of "would be" sexual rival and sent her a bunch of nasty emails. Then Kelley reported that to the FBI...an FBI agent who in turn...sent Kelley some topless pictures of himself. You can read some more about the vain and narcissistic Jill Kelley right here. Weird shit. I promise.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/11/wonderful-world-jill-and-scott-kelley/59095/

As near as I can tell Kelley knows General Allen and General Petraeus. How does a "socialite" get access to generals? Maybe she digs uniforms with all that shiny shit on it. (let this be a warning UPS) Kelley has plenty of time to do this. It's not like she has a job for chrissakes.

My favorite part about all of this is that the seductress, Broadwell, warned General Allen about the potential seductress, Kelley, in an email. Now that is some rich shit. Apparently Broadwell saw Kelley's methods of seducing generals and getting laid as some cheaper version of her own tactics. It's like a gutter drunk calling another gutter drunk, an alcoholic.

I was going to go get a copy of "All In" until I read this book review. Let me know when the weird shit happens- I don't want to miss anything.

That book was okay. I liked the military stuff, but got bored all those times it talked about his delicate touch or how his wife takes him for granted and doesn’t deserve his love.

Vicente Rivera

"Him"

From a reader tip. An Argentinian blog. Worth a glance.

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2012/11/him.html

"This Is No Longer A Theoretical Exercise"

Holy shit! A mainstream media outlet reporting some truthfulness? Has a giant space rock hurtling towards the earth been spotted at Palomar?

About two or three weeks ago, I made a point of telling readers that I believed we had just entered a bear market.

Bear markets don't just happen. Sure, there are warning signs like everybody's favorite Apple getting 20% shaved off, earnings in decline, and all of the usual stuff. But then there are the corroborating facts.

Why not sell and take profits in 2012 when you will be subjected to tax rates far superior to those in 2013? The increasing tax liabilities plus Obamacare plus a FED completely lacking credibility or effectiveness means....bear market. It's just that simple. I see absolutely nothing on the horizon to suggest anything different. If you are in this market, I think put options better be part of your strategy.

I also think this Christmas retailing season is going to suck. People are wary and nervous. WalMart missed today on the top line and they are getting their haircut.

I snatched this clip from ZeroHedge. It is a rare moment of complete honesty, I am thinking about writing CNBC and thanking this dude for telling the truth. It's about time.

The Leaderless Group Exercise Begins

The rich tax. Everyone wants to tax the rich.

I have to tell you this. After seeing Romney's 13% tax rate, I got a little angry. I pay more than that on a fixed income that isn't enough to pay the homeowners insurance on 2 or 3 of his 5 mansions. So Obama has opened with 1.6 trillion in new taxes spread over a decade. An absolute waste of time. Kabuki theater.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/14/news/economy/obama-taxes-deficit/index.html?iid=Lead

Let me break this down. That's 160 billion a year in new taxes per year. Whoopee. You are going to scratch your head when I tell you this....but get ready....

That entire amount, 1.6 trillion, will only pay 1.5 years worth of deficit spending in Obama's decade. So how are you going to fund the budget shortfall (or deficit) of 1.2 trillion per year if you only collect 160 billion extra per year? Where are you going to get the additional 1,040 billion a year you need to break even?

Or worse yet, how are you going to pay the 16.3 trillion you have already rung up that just sits there accumulating interest?

Answer, you can't. In fact, this new tax is like putting a band-aid on a dismembered body. Our country is completely and utterly bankrupt with no chance of digging out. We cannot repay what we owe. This whole thing is so laughable that it borders on complete insanity.

The greatest secret in the United States is that apparently the vast majority of citizens in this country cannot do basic math. This is coupled with terminal apathy. People are simply unconscious. When you lead a completely unconscious and apathetic life- you must pay the penalty. The penalty for being unconscious and apathetic is that you are going to find yourself with a third world standard of living and maybe sooner than you think. 

You will know the end is near when the rich start buying gold in earnest. In the meantime, just sit back and enjoy this latest rendition of the leaderless group exercise. 

Funniest Headline and Photo Of The Day

You cannot make this shit up. First there is this headline from Huffington Post. "Obama Urged Not To Panic Over Fiscal Cliff" Like any politician anywhere in Washington has a sense of urgency regarding our 16.3 trillion dollar debt, least of all Obama. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/fiscal-cliff-obama_n_2124832.html 

Then there is this photo. They actually showed this today- by mistake on ABC News.

Petraeus' biographer and newly discovered lover, Paula Broadwell, and her book, "All In."

If Obama Ever Shut His Yap...

...long enough to listen to anyone else, maybe he would actually learn something. But then again, when you already know everything, what's the point?

Muhammad Ali, about the time Barack was leaving Indonesia.

In 59 Philly Divisions- Not One Vote Was Cast for Romney

Let me try and hide my shock. Rigging elections.

First, Philadelphia. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/178742021.html

Then Ohio. http://www.examiner.com/article/joseph-farah-the-election-was-stolen-through-voter-fraud-and-manipulation

Obama received 99% of the vote in 100 precincts? http://marketdailynews.com/2012/11/12/election-fraud-barack-obama-won-more-than-99-percent-of-the-vote-in-more-than-100-ohio-precincts/

This author believes the election was stolen. http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/was_the_2012_election_stolen.html

From Big Hairy News. This was the Obama vote and where it came from.

Here's the deal. I don't care. The reason I am an unflinching cynic, is that this is the only way I can deal with the mind numbing reality that I may have to spend eternity with some of these dipshits.

“Show me somebody who is always smiling, always cheerful, always optimistic, and I will show you somebody who hasn't the faintest idea what the heck is really going on.” 
― Mike Royko

Quelle Surprise! SEC Decides Not To Charge JP Morgan Bankers

The crony capitalists are out in full force today. The SEC, the most spineless agency on the planet, ends another banking probe by not charging bankers. Instead, JP Morgan is going to pay another fine. A fine in all likelihood, comprised of the proceeds of taxpayers who bailed them out and continue to bail them out, courtesy of gawd knows how much in loans and currency debasement.

http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-executives-wont-charged-securities-sale-probes-wsj-062237653--sector.html

East Coast Now Feeling the Pain of Crony Capitalism

Right on cue, the crony capitalists are flexing their muscle in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Home owners are finding that insurance companies are weaseling out of paying claims. They do this via the small print. They enlist their front line troops, adjustors, who deliver the judgment- always on behalf of their company. This happens even when the homeowners think they were covered.

This is exactly what happened in New Orleans in 2005. Here is a great link. I especially loved the very last line. No kidding. http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/12/pf/insurance/sandy-flood-insurance/index.html?iid=Lead

Forcing people to buy insurance and then not paying claims is a grand scheme concocted by insurers, banks, and executed by lobbied lawmakers. Insurance companies, some owned by banks, reap the benefits via the policy's small print. That's the stuff nobody reads and your agent never discloses. It's a beautiful piece of crony capitalism. It's really just thievery err.. business in America.

Warren Buffet owns Geico. Like he needs some some money. Another odd coincidence. It's one giant King sized bed- and we ain't in it.

In 2005, home owners in New Orleans simply left after Hurricane Katrina and never came back. Many of their homes were complete losses and insurance companies offered mere pittances of 10 grand or so for wind damage on a 200k house needing 100k in repairs. When homeowners took insurance companies to court claiming Katrina was a wind storm- they of course- lost.

So they packed up and left. I still believe Katrina kicked off the housing collapse 12 months later. Many of those piles of rubble were still laying in the streets when I was there in 2007-2008.

To add insult to injury, those who were insured or perhaps just under insured, were subjected to the New Orleans practice of issuing contractor licenses to whoever paid the most bribe money. The greased applications flowed to the top and were processed quickly. Often those contractors were not contractors at all- but scam artists stealing from homeowners desperate to have their lives rebuilt. Once the fake and licensed contractors secured claimants money- they often did shoddy work, no work, or outright stole the money and never came back.

Homeowners were left with no recourse- of course. New Orleans officials who issued contractors licenses- covered their tracks by saying that fraudulent contractors were not their fault. Crony capitalism you see, leaks down into the smallest of cracks.

Often, I have warned people that in the new world of crony capitalism, the sole purpose of the capitalists is to take your money and fatten margins by ripping people off through various means. When you protest, they intimidate you by using front line troops like agents, adjusters, and lawyers. Governing bodies in many states are indifferent to the practice- many come from the insurance world anyway. 

They do what is barely legal. That is the only bar they jump over. Doing what is morally or ethically right is simply not part of their agenda. Those virtues are un-necessary in the new world of crony capitalism.

Unfortunately, claimants are overwhelmed and intimidated by the levels of opposition they find waiting for them.

Ultimately, I think suing agents and companies for errors and omissions when selling you a policy is really your only recourse and that is often just a crapshoot. Unfortunately, insurance companies have armies of attorneys to intimidate you. They also have the added bonus of knowing that most people will give up and move on with their lives. At worst maybe they'll offer up some intermediate level compromise. They hate going to court because that costs them real money.

You are better off taking a decent case all the way to a jury of your peers. That is really your best shot because your peers may very well have had similar experiences.

For some, that is the only recourse they will have. 

It's Been That Way Forever- The Sunday Collage

What will the world look like when people suddenly realize that we are completely bankrupt, with no capacity to get out of debt, and that our dollar is completely worthless? What will happen and how will we conduct business? What currency will we use once the current one implodes? 

The problem has always been- controlling the quantity of your currency. Invent a way to control the quantity of a currency and you will win a Nobel Prize. For the past 5000 years or so, nobody has been able to do that because bankers always find a way to weasel around those rules. Thus the defacto currency quantity minimizer has always been gold. The banker's enemy. Tie the quantity of currency to a rare and finite substance, like gold, and VOILA!... a stable, un-inflating, method of payment is produced. 

I love history and not just the history that the winners write.

I have been very excited during the last week or so. The election of the socialist, Barack Obama, has cemented the path of our country for the next four years. For guys like me, this is going to be a wonderful time. President Obama is a lot of things, but the one attribute he most certainly does not possess- is personal courage. It will take great personal courage and sacrifice to save our Republic- yet Obama has no sense of that nor any sense of urgency. Therefore we can continue to plan on manipulated employment and inflation figures, a deteriorating economy, taxes up the wazoo including Obamacare, and most importantly- a Fed Chief absolutely committed to the destruction of all personal wealth to save his crony bankers.

In short, Obama is going to make me rich. I love Obama. He is the best precious metals and firearms salesman of all time. Fortunately, I understand who Obama is. So my accumulation of precious metals and guns is oddly coincidental- both in timing and scope- with 2009. I realized the scope of what was unfolding. I became a wealth preserving nutter. In fact, I am such a nutter that I even horde pre-1982 pennies (all copper) and pre 2006 nickels (mostly copper) I have at least 100 pounds of both. I also have a lot of guns.

All great Republics and democracies fail. That is the historical nature of things. People that forget history are doomed to repeat it. That's why 2008 happened. The people born in 1909, aged 20 in 1929, were gone in 2000. We have no collective memory of that time. And so, like the idiots that we are, we did the same thing all over again- this time with real estate. And our solution was exactly the same. Bail out the bankers, print money, and inflate away all of that accumulated debt. 

If you are a history buff then you will know that throughout history- courageous men and mostly our founding fathers- hated central banks with a passion. Why? Because they knew human nature. They knew that given the power, bankers would strip away the wealth of this country and steal everything in sight. A random walk down Wall St.- should be sufficient enough to prove that point.

The creature from Jekyll Island, the Fed, was born in 1913. Some 15 years later, banks were loaning money for stocks and greasing the wheels for the Great Depression of 1929. After the collapse of stock markets, we eliminated gold in 1933 so that the Fed could counterfeit some (now unrestrained by gold) currency and keep the insolvent banks open. We never left the Great Depression. Twelve years later, Japan gave us something to do. Something to rally around (unless of course you were a Japanese American) and eventually that whole Great Depression thing went away. By 2008, we had forgotten about it, mostly.

History we think, never applies to us and is largely irrelevant. We think that somehow we are smarter than those old dummies. This time- it will be different. But it never is. History is just one giant feedback loop. We make the same mistakes over and over again. That's why, with certainty, I believe our economy and the dollar will collapse. It is completely predictable. Like death. We forget.

When the dollar collapses, government will have seen it coming. We will default. Government may in fact, already be working on a contingent way of conducting commerce. There will be deflation, and then hyper inflation, as the government and bankers feverishly try to mask it from us. Then we will have a collapse. Many people will be caught off guard. The insiders, the bankers, and the government won't. In fact, those people are already positioning themselves back into precious metals. Sneaky bastards. But then again, if they told everyone- think how much more they'd have to pay for gold and silver. I just read a story about George Soros buying gold. And don't think that old gold hating bastard Warren Buffet doesn't have some gold. In pig latin, Warren Buffet's name means approximately, "Old ego inflated bastard who profited handsomely from bank bailouts and now wants to pay some tax on it."

I don't envision some Mad Max scenario. Any number of things could happen and they will happen relatively fast. Local currencies, continental currencies, worldwide currency, or re issuing a new national currency. The government and bankers would dearly love to put us all on tracking cards, that way no income could go unobserved. Or un-taxed. I don't really care about all of that mostly because I am nearly 52 and soon- I and my wrinkly skin- will be removed from this game. Oddly enough, I really would hate to be age 30 or so right now. I think Gen Y is going to feel some real pain.

So I don't think it really matters a whole helluva a lot what the great deciders decide to do. However, it is historically possible to predict with absolute certainty that when the new currency and wealth distribution occurs, the people with the gold and silver will get the most. You might as well get some too.

It is the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. It's been that way forever.