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Showing posts from 2010

The Greatest Story You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2010

The mystery missile fired off the LA coast has been one of the greatest cover up stories of the year. In fact, if our military complex truly doesn't know who fired that missile- we have wasted billions on our missile defense systems and we have a bunch of asshats sitting at the controls. http://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/2010/11/mystery-missile.html The mystery missile was the second greatest story of the year to fall into obscurity. There was only one larger. The FED's disclosure that they loaned 9 TRILLION dollars during the financial crisis ranks as the greatest story you have likely not heard about. The FED fought like hell to keep this information from being disclosed. Once it was, the MSM, the (main-stream-worthless-media) hardly even noted the event. So how in the hell could the FED loan 9 trillion to the banking sector with no collateral- with over night rates so fractional- we didn't make shit? Why did Hank Paulson plead for the 700 billion dollar bailo...

Quick Silver Update

If you haven't bought any gold or silver lately, have a feeling a dip is coming. Both silver/gold dealers I use were reporting that people were selling more than they were buying today. As I was speaking to one of them, a gal walked in and plunked two 100 oz. bars on the counter and walked out with 6100 bucks. Said she had paid 1200 bucks for them in 1987. Once the shakeout occurs at this level, maybe a few weeks, expect prices to continue to rise. I am going to wait for some more dips. Just a thought.

U.S. Thugocracy Criticizes Russia, Ain't That Just Rich?

The United States is upset with Russia. Russia has jailed their richest billionaire oil tycoon and now have tacked on a few more years to his sentence. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40819489/ns/world_news-europe/ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a chorus of political figures in the United States and Europe in condemning the verdict. It "raises serious questions about selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations," she said. Khodorkovsky is nearing the end of an eight-year sentence after being convicted of tax fraud in a case seen as punishment for challenging the Kremlin's economic and political power, in part by funding opposition parties in parliament. Now I don't know whether Khodorkovsky is guilty of tax evasion or siphoning off billions. I do know that Putin used to be the head of the KGB. He might know a thing or two about Khodorkovsky. At any rate Mr. Putin, here's how we do it in the...

Selfzilla

Imagine if you will, hooking up with an attractive attorney. She blows gobs of money planning your (her) wedding- nearly 100k. Because, don't you know, she's entitled to that...you live in America. Then in some moment of clarity, the groom realizes that he is about to marry Selfzilla. He beats feet. Selfzilla is pissed. Rather than write her own careless spending off to poor decision making, she gets angry, starts spewing blame- which has become a great American past time. I don't know who that groom is. But something tells me he dodged major big time shit. The best money you'll never spend brother. Imagine a few years down the road in divorce court. That 100k gonna look like something you put in parking meters. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40821215/ns/today-today_people?gt1=43001

Well at Least They Haven't Outlawed Parents Rights to Profile, Yet

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Dad, I met the neatest guy last night. I spent the night at his place.

Honey, When Is the Yeti Going To Get Here With Our Pizza?

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I had hoped to buy some more silver at a sub 30 dollar price. I may have missed the boat. Silver crashed the 30 dollar gate, closed above that level and is not hovering around 30.60. That represents a better than 4% move in two days. I am waiting for everyone that bought around 14 or 15 and has doubled their money to off load some gray matter and give us a dip. I'm not sure that's going to happen. Gold has been rising steadily as well. It held the 1400 dollar mark. I've tried to explain the inverse relationship that gold and silver have to the value of money. In researching debt levels- I came across a fantastic and historical piece of web history from four years ago. Congress was raising the debt ceiling to 9 trillion in 2006. Check out this headline. You'll love it. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5282918&ps=rs In four years time, our debt level has risen 60%. That is a parabolic move. Not quite as ridiculous as flipping a house you owned...

Wussy Gov Gets Game, Economic News Bad- POMO Market Will Ignore It, Gold and Silver Blast Off

The Pennsylvania Governor will get his Vikings-Eagles game tonight. This after calling all of us wussies because some upper crust NFL types saw fit to practice a little blizzard caution on Sunday. How 'bout them Saints? Let's hope Governor Rendell stays away from local news. He may discover that some fully grown adults actually fondle and molest children. He will then call us a nation of "cho mos." That is slang, ya know, for cho mos'. I have followed Michael Vick's (aka Ron Mexico) career closely. From Virginia Tech, to Atlanta, to yelling at him because he could not complete a ten yard pass, to giving out anonymous herpes, to dog fighting, to prison, and back to the Eagles. I think Vick is just some crazed kid that won the DNA lottery for football skills. I have been secretly rooting for him. I believe in second chances. Dude has actually been throwing the balls to his receivers rather than the turf. Tonight, I will be rooting for him and the Eagles de...

When Did Gallup Start Polling Crack Houses?

Geezus. I think I need some valium. Barack Obama is the most admired man? Hillary Clinton, that sexless would be spy, the most admired woman? Gawd we're in a lot of trouble. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20101227/ts_yblog_theticket/2010-polls-obama-most-admired-man-palin-top-religious-newsmaker

Governor Calls Us a Nation of "Wussies"

NFL cancels Vikings v Eagles game due to snow, this is the response. Governor Ed Rendell joined countless fans upset about the game's move to Tuesday when he told FOX News :  "It's an absolute joke. I was looking forward to this. It would have been a real experience. This is what football is all about. We're becoming a nation of wussies." Now there are only a few things in life worse than having a politician call you a wussy. Perhaps an 11 year old daughter calling her mother immature. Or a guy living at the mission telling you to get your shit together. Whenever someone makes some blanket statement that raises my hackles, I check to see if they have a law degree. It's just a weird thing with me. Twenty five years worth of listening to their bullshit- bullshit spewed from what they think is the intellectual high ground. So of course, not only is Rendell a lawyer, he is married to a Federal Judge. A double whammy. It reminds me of a story. The state ...

The Case for Precious Metals

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day! Yesterday, I paid a visit to my neighborhood coin/precious metals dealer. I picked up another 7 oz. of silver. I have been buying gold and silver incrementally on dips in price. I have done gobs of research on precious metals. I frequently post some of the funniest videos on here. I thought what I'd do is explain some things about precious metals that you might have not heard before. My chief reason for buying precious metals is that I don't think most people understand precisely what Ben "Bernank" is doing. I also don't think most people understand why he can't stop doing it. The last great act of hyperinflation is money printing. That has happened in Zimbabwe, Weimar, Germany and other places. The last great store of wealth in the United States is private and public investment accounts. Virtually everyone's wealth is tied somehow to the stock market. Real estate has taken it's haircut. If the stock...

Christmas Eve

There was a fundamental shift in my family this year. Now as I refer to family, I am talking about my brother, sister, mother, and significant others. They want to go to church tonight. This is new. We have done comedy clubs, movies, and other things on X-Mas eve but church is something we haven't done for many years. My father is singing in his choir. Last night, my sister and brother trimmed the tree. That is their annual job. My brother hung the tuna fish can on the tree. I watched and teased them about how shitty the tree looked. This always kicks off the usual "get your ass over here and help" rhetoric which I counter with I am the eldest and it is still my job to keep you guys in line. At 50, and after a few decades, you'd think they'd learn by now. My family became a little fractured after my parents' divorce. It took us a long time to recover.  But we are recovering. Each year it gets better and this year I saw real spiritual progress and growth....

Pilot Commits No Crime, Thugocracy Seizes Firearm, Try to Connect These Dots

Think the government is running scared? I just saw this posted at American Thinker. I looked everywhere for the pilot's videos and they must have been pulled. Lord knows, the only first amendment rights we have are the ones that our government masters give us. I am still trying to determine what illegal act this pilot did that allowed our THUGOCRACY to descend upon him. You decide. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/12/tsa_punishes_pilot_for_critici.html How could this be a month old? This link is worth cutting and pasting anywhere it needs to go. Found a second link to the Channel 10 story. http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=113529&catid=2 The bottom part of the article answers many of my questions of why this has been a mystery. Because they wanted it to be. PS 12/24/10...a big thank you to Jim at Conservatives on Fire for getting this Fox News link...apparently this story is now getting out. Like to hear what nanny government has to say... h...

All the Investing Advice You Need- in 37 Seconds

In Other WTF! News, There Is This...

Be forewarned, there are some things in life that once imprinted on your brain, you cannot remove. And then there is this survey, way too funny to miss... http://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2010/12/dont-ask-if-you-dont-want-to-know.html

The Lost Quatrain of Nostradamus

While diligently working last night, and posting hateful comments, I stumbled across this lost quatrain of Nostradamus. I've been staring at it all morning but I'll be damned if I can figure it out. Bats what be from moon start circling the great city, Great plagues arise as hordes inhale the toxic guano fumes, The printer tries to save the wretched city, but hordes remain steadfast Crippled birds replaced by fresh fowl, bat shit stuck on brooms.

The Mighty Penny

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One of the last acts of the Roman Empire, not unlike those acts of the current United States, was to remove valuable metals from coinage. First we saw gold coins disappear. In 1965, we saw silver disappear. In 1983, we saw copper disappear. We now make coins out of essentially worthless zinc and reclaimed Buick parts. The last two coins of value, where the melt price exceeds their face value, is the nickel and the penny. In 2006, Congress passed a law preventing you from melting your own money. So as JP Morgan has essentially cornered the copper market (which is not illegal) and the price is ramping up, your pre-1982  pennies are now worth nearly three times their face value. It presents an interesting argument. What is worth more? A dollar that has lost 97% of it's value, or a penny that has tripled in price? Note the value of ten dollars worth of old pennies in the box below... Base Metal Coin Melt Value Calculation Generated on December 22, 2010.       ...

Black Swan

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I've been trading stocks, a lot of options, for years. I learned everything the hard way. College classes, economics, business. I read every book in the library. Chart theory, random walk theory. I've done some exotic option buying, I've used options as insurance. And I am certainly not going to say I was victorious all of the time. I've made a lot of trading mistakes. Some were brutal. One Chinese shell corporation I bought was a horrible trade. Three years ago, I packed it in after I had my very own black swan event. Parked my dough in treasuries. I did ok in 2008, while the equity universe got a haircut. I cashed out in 2009. I am getting ready to get back in. The reason is simple. I think that we are on the verge of a major black swan event. I think the odds are better than 60-40. As a gambler and an odds maker, I make a personal line for everything. And trust me, I am not going long. The Black Swan Theory or "Theory of Black Swan Events" was deve...

Government Extorts More Money From Tax Payers, AIG Avoids Prosecution

Well after the government let Countrywide thief Angelo Mozilo out of jail in lieu of 67 million dollar in fines...I see they are at it again. This time, they let AIG officials off the hook for stealing from workman's compensation pools. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-22/aig-will-pay-146-5-million-to-settle-50-state-insurance-probe.html Apparently we no longer have any rule of law in this country. Commit widespread fraud and grand theft and buy your way out of prosecution. Post your bail and subsequent forfeiture with taxpayer funds. It doesn't cost you a dime. Hey USG...what's the fine for a murder or two? You truly can't dream this shit up.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal-

Much ballyhoo over nothing. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40777922/ns/politics-white_house I have paid little attention to "don't ask, don't tell." I dealt with that issue long ago. It was easy. Like all things the libertarian way. Years ago, I hired an openly gay man. Not because he was gay, but because he was the best man for the job. The macho guys, and the homophobes, gave me a fair amount of ridicule. I think the funniest part was watching them walk by my office with their hands covering their backside. They thought that shit was funny and it was. Lefties might gasp here. I had a feeling it would stop when he came on board. It did. He turned out to be an excellent cop, nobody was molested, and the world didn't stop turning. I never had one complaint about the guy. When public servants serve together a weird thing happens. Battles, in any theater, tend to have a unifying effect on people. The small shit gets forgotten quickly. He only stayed with us a ye...

If Obama Has Such a Lofty IQ, When Will He Unveil It?

I don't like bashing President Obama any more. At this point in his presidency, I think he has demonstrated what kind of man that he is. As I have written about many times before, he has an agenda which has nothing to do with what this country really needs. He lacks the capacity of perception and he lacks personal courage. Late last night I was reading an article on "American Thinker." I like AT but I think the authors go overboard on Obama bashing. I think a lot of people feel deceived or angry. Like they bought a handsome lemon. Obama has not been any mystery to me. He was never properly vetted by any stretch of the imagination and let's face  the truth- this country was so angry at Bush that they would have voted for anyone. I'd like to introduce that AT article, "Obama's Problem as the Smartest Person in the Room." http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/obamas_problem_as_the_smartest.html I commented on this article, 5 or 6 comments down, as...

11 Reasons Not to Buy a Chevy Volt

Just 4 days after writing my blog, "10 Reasons Not to Buy a Chevy Volt" out comes this report... http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1633/hyped-hybrid-the-chevy-volt-gets-average-mileage-for-a-hybrid/ This article makes comparisons to other vehicles but leaves out- perhaps the best in class hybrid.  http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/hyundai-sonata-hybrid.html If you wanted a real electric car, with a one hundred mile range, and still a lot cheaper...here's the Leaf. It would save you a lot more than the Volt. http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/specs-features/index Here's the Prius. For 15 grand less.  http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/trims-prices.html The Chevy Volt. Overpriced, over hyped, ho-hum. GM never stood a chance once government got involved.

Young Cop, Old Cop

I thought I'd tell you  a couple of funny war stories today. I need a break from all of this government nastiness. War stories from small town America. Cops.   Years ago, we hired this young, skinny kid. He didn't have a whisker on his face or maybe even a hair on his ass. You know the type. Nice kid, naive. I think he was 22 but looked 18 or so. Still had pimples and shit. His situation was further complicated because we couldn't find a uniform to fit him from the storeroom. Cops aren't particularly known for being nutritional specialists or health nuts. Well not back then anyway. So after our guys died of weight related complications, we would nab their old uniforms. So it was, we found this kid a couple of uniforms that hung off him like a potato sack. We should have had them tailored while we waited for those special order- petite sizes to arrive. Now older folks tend to take getting pulled over a little better than young folks do. But as nice as some of those...

Is This the Worst Congress Ever?

Gallup says so. http://www.gallup.com/poll/145238/congress-job-approval-rating-worst-gallup-history.aspx A 13% approval rate?? Could it get any worse? I view this as very good news actually. It may mean that people are willing to set aside whatever partisan views they have and actually start seeing this crew for what they are. It makes you wonder just who those 13% percent were that approved of this Congress...where did they find those people? Harry Reid is one of the biggest idiots in Congress. After barely retaining his seat, through some shady tactics that involved union workers literally being threatened and shuttled to voting booths, this moron has the balls to propose another gargantuan waste of money- the 1.2 trillion porkubus spending package. While the lame duck session is in, of course. Reid is either brain dead, contemptuous, or both. I wish he were retired. http://newsok.com/proposed-omnibus-bill-was-affront-to-u.s.-voters/article/3524531 I am not a partisan hack. I...

I Fall in Love So Easily

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Some things make me yearn for summer. Like the background in this photo, the green grass, the trees, the autumn colors- no snow. Oh yea, and maybe this absolutely gorgeous bike. Check out those ape hangers- a tad much even for me. Given a choice of Anne Coulter or this bike...well, let me think for a moment. After ten years or so, I'd still love the bike.

I'd Rather Be a Piano Player in a Cathouse

This is what happens when I get snowed in. I find stupid shit to post from my hotel room. I guess there's worse places than Reno to ride out a blizzard. Actually you'll love this...stolen without remorse from William Banzai at ZeroHedge. The last outpost of truth. This first piece is rated PG. The second one, a catchy tune, is a re-run and rated R.   hehe

Smart Young Men and Dumb Old Geezers

My retirement seminar occurred in November this year. This is a group of fossilized people who gather for one day to hear all of the nuances of our public retirement system. For thirty years, the date "1/1/11" has been etched into my mind. Limping into retirement with a few marbles, a few teeth, and some hair. The word hair, as I use it, is singular. As I took my seat near the back of the fossil room, we were given these clicker things. They ask you some questions with associated slides and you click on the appropriate answer. They split us into four groups and that way we could have some silly competition. It's all a lot of malarkey and the real reason we were given clicker things is so that our answers would be recorded. There is no real reason to take your name and the serial number of the device you are using unless you are keeping an individual tally. After all, it's not like I came to the fossil meeting looking for a nice new clicker to steal. I have too damn ...

Ten Reasons Not to Buy a Chevy Volt

I've watched the Chevy Volt saga for years. I watched as President Obama demanded that the price of the car remain as close to 30k as possible. I suppose when you allow your government to buy a bankrupt auto maker, you get the proven track record of an owner that has screwed up everything it has touched. Obama, master car designer and businessman, lynched GM CEO Rick Wagoner shortly after the takeover. It was an easy sacrifice. I mean after all, Wagoner had the audacity to fly in a corporate jet to those congressional hearings. The outrage! The Chevy Volt costs an astounding 41k. Throw in some sales tax, an option or two, dealer prep and doc fees, some bank interest and voila! You have a 50k car. Oh you'll be eligible for a tax credit.The same tax credit you'd get on another hybrid vehicle. I can't get excited about GM's new flagship car. Here are my reasons why in no particular order. 1. The price. I don't give a shit about tax credits. The cost of this c...

Time to Pony Up

Thankfully, we voted in those Republicans just in time to extend the Bush tax cuts. Give the elite a little more largesse. That and they kicked the can down the road exactly two years- to the next election. To call these guys cowards- gives cowards everywhere a bad rap. Our government simply doesn't have the spine God gave a jellyfish. Each taxpayer in this country owes 125,000 dollars. That's you. Go ahead and just send it to me and I'll take care of it for you. Make your check payable to Frankenstein Government. If you are feeling really responsible, scroll down to the bottom line and note that you actually owe just a shade over a million bucks and send that amount in. I'd do it now before interest rates rise. http://www.usdebtclock.org/ Travel day for me. The smoldering ruins of Boise States' Rose Bowl dreams, Reno.

Shitageddon!

I started writing publicly about five years ago. Back then, I would craft what I believed to be some insightful masterpiece, edit the obvious errors, and whack the publish button. I would then tuck myself in for the night. I had three problems back then. I was writing on a business site that I did not control, I was the Police Chief and I was expected to behave accordingly, and I had an idiot for an editor. I eventually resolved those first two issues but alas, I cannot resolve the third. I still have an idiot for editor. There are some emotional risks that you inherently agree to- when you write publicly. You are about to expose what kind of person you are, your readers are going to dissect what you have written, and most importantly- if you are a shitty writer people won't be interested in reading what you write. Those are some of the risks. That and nasty commenters. Imagine being a small town Police Chief, having "die hard" libertarian views, and trying to write...

Government Failure, Ignoring The Role Of Restorative Justice

In my waning years as a lawman, I was introduced to the concept of restorative justice. Initially I bristled at this new term as I pondered what it meant for traditional crime and punishment themes. That and I inherently did not trust the liberals that introduced new concepts like this to me in Moonbat Valley. I quickly became a convert. On a small local scale, I had the unique ability to actually listen and comprehend what crime victims were telling me. In our offices, in our courtrooms, and at our post office. Victims who would find that our criminal justice system doesn't really give a rat's ass about their being victims. Was that true? Well, I had heard it dozens if not hundreds of times. So often actually, it became difficult to ignore. The problem the legal system has is the same problem our government has. It makes sense- they run both systems. They don't listen. They don't think they have to. Here then is a comparison and the different approaches of these ...

Beat the Rush To Chernobyl! Make Your Travel Arranngements Early

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I can't tell you that visiting a radioactive graveyard is on my bucket list. Apparently the Ukraine thinks they have found some sort of nuclear disneyland. In reality, I'm sure there will be people "just dying" to see the place. I do not number among them. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_ukraine_chernobyl_tourism;_ylt=AsPUxb5kAEiX8eeMb976GQRv24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTM2NWxlOTZkBGFzc2V0A2FwL2V1X3VrcmFpbmVfY2hlcm5vYnlsX3RvdXJpc20EY2NvZGUDdmlld3NoYXJlBGNwb3MDOQRwb3MDOQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3VrcmFpbmV0b29wZQ-- I found the price. Reasonable. Only about 150 bucks. Tour information. http://www.ukrainianweb.com/chernobyl_ukraine.htm I love that part about the reactor still leaking. That'll draw them in by the thousands. I'm guessing you have to pay in advance.  

It's Official...ObamaCare Supporters Prove Sheep are Brilliant, Now Willing to Pay an Oxygen Tax For the Air That They Breathe

We can all agree on one thing. We need affordable health care. We can agree on a second thing. We don't have affordable health care. We might even agree that you cannot fix health care by writing a 2407 page health care bill that nobody in Congress bothered reading before passing. Or do you think they read it? Everything that has happened during and after that sham of a bill passing, the backroom deals in Louisiana and Nebraska to buy votes, this great national debate, is a waste of time. Everything. I am no longer willing to debate the merits of a law that was a non starter to begin with. Obama, the Democrats, and that bill have done more to divide our country than any single piece of legislation in our history. I am convinced of it. We fight among ourselves, we debate the merits and legality of a law that has no Constitutional authority. A bill that slicked in income reporting, taxes on real estate sales, and everything else they could think of. A bill that created the most...

Virginia Judge Strikes Down ObamaCare

So I read this article on Yahoo. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101213/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul_virginia Then I think, the White House will be calling the judge any minute. Asking the judge to resign. Have you noticed the increasing number of idiots who compare compulsory health insurance to auto insurance? We are truly a nation of idiots. My sis in Seattle has survived quite nicely without a car most of her life. She actually chooses to ride her bike to work. Thus she avoids depreciation, bank interest, car insurance, taxes and registration, and the Saudi gas subsidy. She has taken those savings and piled up quite a bit of cash for retirement. She figures it amounts to 5 to 6 thousand dollars each year. My sister cannot avoid health care. Like many of us, choosing to live in pain or die, is not an option. It's not a choice.  Like owning a car might be. We haven't given up our divine rights, bestowed by our Creator, to a life at the mercy, pleasure, servitude, ...

The Christmas Goose

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Last week our President caved in to political pressure. He extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest and bartered for 13 more months of government largesse for the unemployed. Then he went on national TV to whine about it. Later at a press conference, Obama turned the podium over to White House Lewinsky molester, Bill Clinton. Then Obama ran out of the room. Clinton as you might recall, is married to astute cattle futures trader and international spy, Hillary Clinton. http://www.therightscoop.com/obama-walks-out-leaves-bill-clinton-at-podium The newly elected Republicans, bent on protecting their elite friends, drew a line in the sand. Obama, the Coward in Chief, nabbed the consolation prize- a few billion more from the taxpayers for his unemployed voters. Let me score this. Government Cowards 2, American Citizens and Taxpayers 0.  Now lest ye think I am picking on the current crop of cowards, let me retrace my steps back to Bush II. Bush as you might recall, was the Pr...

The Sons Of Miners

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Next week on Jun 8th at the Butte Archives there is going to be a lecture about the greatest hard rock mining disaster that had ever happened up until that moment in time- Jun 8, 1917. So I thought I'd edit and re-run this old piece from 2010. This is an old story. It is about an agreement that I made some forty years ago. An agreement I made with my friends and the effect it had on my life as I got older. It is about loyalty, blind trust, and misconceptions. I told this story recently and as I reflected back on it, I realized it was an indoctrination. It was not necessarily true or untrue. But we believed that it was true. It was a choice we made. We were just kids, many of us, the sons of miners. I wasn't the son of a miner. In the 1900's, Butte, Montana was known as the richest hill on earth. The city was bustling and busy- a stark contrast with today. A huge open pit mine had replaced underground operations but I can still remember the electric whirr and ...

Mark Madoff Taps Out

When I was a child, newspapers had a habit of telling the truth about one's cause of death. If someone committed suicide, the obituary would often state that the deceased took their own life. Over the years, I have noticed a shift in the way obituaries are written. We no longer state the truth. Telling the truth is no longer important to us. We are far more concerned with being "sensitive." We justify and rationalize that sensitivity for a grieving family outweighs any need for telling the truth. If Mark Madoff had been just anyone, I doubt the manner of his death would have ever been disclosed. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101212/ap_on_bi_ge/us_madoff_son The sad truth is that many of the citizens of this country fear suicide to such a degree that we are forbidden by custom from even discussing it. Many believe that suicide is something to be ashamed of. We feel guilty when our loved ones take their own lives. We feel diminished or less than because we could not p...

Sales Tax on Home Sales, More Government Sleight of Hand

A few days ago, I had a good friend of mine tell me that Congress had passed a new sales tax on home sales or purchases. I didn't think that statement was true simply because a new tax like that would have caught my attention. Could I have missed some bill? Last night I googled "sales tax on home sales" and this is what I found. http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2010/09/19/a-sales-tax-when-you-sell-your-home/ http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/a-38-percent-sales-tax-on-your-home/ I clipped this piece from the second link. The truth is that only a tiny percentage of home sellers will pay the tax. First of all, only those with incomes over $200,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly) will be subject to it. And even for those who have such high incomes, the tax still won’t apply to the first $250,000 on profits from the sale of a personal residence — or to the first $500,000 in the case of a marrie...