94% of you disagree with me. Interesting. But maybe, just maybe, I'm right. And Hope is here.

Three months into one of the greatest stock market rallies ever and you STILL don't see green shoots? You STILL think 0% interest rates, trillions in government spending and a tax cut don't matter?

Things are improving folks. The free-fall is over. Millions more will lose their jobs, GM will finally go bankrupt, California will need a bail-out, home prices will keep falling, and we've got one hell of a bill to pay (or inflate away).

But now, the numbers will get 'less ugly'. And then one day, they'll actually level off, and then they'll improve.

So it's time to come out of the shelter.

It was brilliant that you built the shelter, stocked it with supplies, and stayed there for the past two years. Congrats. You survived (I hope).

But really, come out. Take a peek. Everyone else is in the shelter. Takes a brave man to come out and take a peek. Be one of the first. Again.

Of course, get ready to head back down there one day again. Maybe at a moment's notice. There'll still be many (bad) surprises to come, it may be a WWWWW kind of chaotic recovery, there'll be fits and starts. But we've kicked the can down the road.

So really, come on out. Take a peek.

And remember - this blog is "Soot and Ashes - The World After the Crash". It's not "The End of the World is Here and Things Will Never Ever Get Better". Business runs in cycles. This one was a doozy.

But Hope is here. And so is the recovery.

It hath been foretold.

How you feelin?

And then the parasites claimed yet another victim. The unions have now officially bankrupted General Motors.

Suck the blood until there's no more blood left to suck.

Nice job UAW.

You couldn't have screwed your dues payers any worse!

(remind anyone of the NAR?)

I think this is real. Comedy gold. But I think it's real. Here you are, the future of the Republican Party.

I'm still confused how jesus goes along with low cap gains tax and environmental rape?

I didn't know whether to laugh, or be afraid.

Based on their 22%, I guess I'll just laugh.

Comedy gold.

One more time. Perhaps the best speech delivered by a US Congressman on the floor of the House in the past 100 years. Ron Paul's "What If"

Say what you will - America has gone from the most hated and disrespected president ever to, well, this: "Obama Most Popular Leader"

It's what America does best.

We throw the bums out, and try again.

Unfortunately, we don't jail the bums or send them swinging from ropes, like some other countries. But hey, at least we throw them out. Eventually.

I know a good number of you are Obama haters, and will be no matter what the guy does, but as an American overseas, it sure is nice not to be associated with an idiot in the White House anymore. A president represents a nation, like it or not, and around the world in January we instantly went from dumb, immoral, destructive and ignorant to something much, much better. That's a fact, and America and all Americans are better off for it.

Maybe one day you'll appreciate what you have. Especially compared to what you had.

Obama Most Popular Leader, Poll Finds

PARIS — President Barack Obama remains by far the most popular world leader among people in major Western nations and is the one political figure on whom people consistently pin their hopes in the economic crisis, according to new polls conducted for the International Herald Tribune.

About 80 percent of people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain have a positive view of Mr. Obama, a ratio that declines only slightly, to about 70 percent, in the other two countries surveyed, Britain and the United States. The only politician who comes close is Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who gets a positive rating from two-thirds of those in Continental Europe but from only one-third of Britons and Americans.

Lawrence Yun: The Worst Economist of All Time™.

Worldwide laughingstock.

The Worst Economist of All Time™

Poodle.

And still employed.

Here's some Yun low-lights over the past few years. It's really not funny. Aided by the idiot rip-and-readers in the MSM, he ruined lives. All for a buck. All because he wanted to pump the value of his DC condo. All because the NAR paid him to lie.

February 2009:

Yun added " "I think we are very near to the end of the housing downturn," Yun said (AP News).

March 2008:

The National Association of Realtors(R) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun has been named among the top 10 economic forecasters by USA Today.

February 2008:

"We are comfortable this is now the bottom"

November 2007:

"I don't anticipate any further major sales declines"

August 2007:

"We can thank steady media coverage of the real estate market “correction” for unfounded consumer concerns."

July 2007:

"We are encouraged that home prices, at least for now, have stopped declining"

September 2005:

"The chance of a housing price decline in the DC area is close to zero, in my view"

Here's Darth Vader trying to sell more sh*t

Seriously? WTF is Cheney doing out there anyway?

Man, this guy is a real piece of work.

Cause economic collapse, check.

Explode the government debt level, check.

Set the country on a path of unsustainable financial ruin, check.

Blame Obama, check.

BTW, is Dick Cheney running in 2012? Man, that would be amazing.

Although prison would be better.

Alright, have at it. What's up with WTC7?

I think two jets hit WTC1 and WTC2 and took them down.

But WTC7 has always been a bit odd.

That's where any good conspiracy theory starts.

Knowing what we know now, Dick Cheney's Halliburton sure had a lot to gain that day. All the Neocons had a lot to gain that day. The Military Industrial Complex had a lot to gain that day. They didn't need controlled explosions - jets loaded with fuel and hijackers seem to do pretty good work.

But WTC7?

Knowing what we know now about Dick Cheney, maybe it's time for a second 9/11 investigation?

Nobody has been able to convince me that anything other than crazed Islamic cult members with boxcutters were responsible that day. But I see now who was perfectly positioned, and who had the most to gain. And that Patriot Act sure got written pretty quick, eh? 9/11 was convenient for a lot of folks. Especially Dick Cheney.

And WTC7?

Interesting.

So have at it, even the Truthers. Give us your best conspiracy theory. Should be interesting.

So, we've just made it through two years of a mini-depression. How'd you come out?

Did you lose your job or business?

Did you get killed in the market, or did you hang in there to trade another day?

Did you god forbid listen to an idiot realtor on commission?

Did your house become the worst mistake of your life?

Or were you lucky enough to read Manias, Panics and Crashes, know what was coming, and things turned out pretty much OK?

In your name.

And you ask 'why do they hate us'?

Don't ask.


Photos show rape and sex abuse in Iraq jails

"These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency," Taguba, who retired in January 2007, was quoted as saying in the paper.

He said he supported Obama's decision not to release them, even though Obama had previously pledged to disclose all images relating to abuses at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.

"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one," Taguba said. "The sequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them, and British troops who are trying to build security in Afghanistan.

"The mere depiction of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it."

The newspaper said at least one picture showed an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Others are said to depict sexual assaults with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

Is it over for the US Dollar, and for US Treasury Bonds?

Sure looks like it.

Total freefall underway.

You know what that means.

And remember, all this stuff hath been foretold.

Schiff's current investment advice is the same as it has been for years: Get your money out of the U.S. dollar and into more fundamentally sound currencies like the Swiss franc or the Singapore dollar; buy some precious metals; and buy foreign, dividend-paying stocks, with an emphasis on natural-resources companies.

Here's Barney Frank in 2005, denying the housing bubble, and making public policy that took down the world financial system.

How does this idiot still have a job?

"You're not going to see the collapse that you see when people talk about a bubble".

Nice call Barney. Way to cost the US taxpayer trillions of dollars. Nice job destroying lives all over the land. Good job doing the dirty work for your corporate whores.

I guess Barney had 21 reasons too.

What would a nuclear war between North and South Korea do to the world economy?

Maybe the little guy ain't bluffing?

Ever consider it?

And boy, sure would be nice if China and Russia would take care of business in their backyard for a change. We need to sit this one out. We're broke.

Russia fears Korea conflict could go nuclear

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is taking security measures as a precaution against the possibility tension over North Korea could escalate into nuclear war, news agencies quoted officials as saying on Wednesday.

Should California split up into two or three states?

California is f*cked. T'hat's pretty clear now (thank you realtors!).

So maybe it needs a "Good California" and "Bad California" break-up?

Or is the whole thing one big unsalvageable ungovernable mess?

Did I mention that Great Britain is full of alcoholics and degenerates?

Come on over next year and chase the cheese.

Hey, beats spending your weekend shopping for crap at Wal-mart.

Did you ever think you'd live to see the day that a black American president would nominate an Hispanic woman appeals judge for the Supreme Court?

Especially after an army of coddled and corrupt white men ran the nation into the ground?

If this day doesn't give you hope for America, nothing will. And that would be too bad. Because America is moving on - with or without you.

What are economic conditions like in your town?

Restaurants closing down, or busy as ever?

Foreclosures everywhere, or business as usual?

Rampant unemployment, or people finding work?

And what's the word on the street - are people thinking things are getting better and this will all blow over, or are they stocking up the basement shelter?

And oh, right on schedule:

BREAKING NEWS: Consumer Confidence Index 54.9 in May Vs. 40.8 in April

Anyone seen Eric Holder? Anyone?

I worry about Holder. Maybe he's dead? Or maybe he's been kidnapped?

I bet Angelo isn't worried about him. Since you know he's evidently untouchable, and above the law and all.

It would seem that the CNBC "experts" should be giving Peter Schiff a bit more respect these days.

I was waiting for Tom Adkins and Mike Norman to show up anytime to join in the laughing and mocking of Schiff during this interview.

Idiots.

What does it take?

A note to cut-off GM and Chrysler dealers: Congrats! You don't have to sell sh*t anymore. Want a tip? Sell Peugeots. And stop being like the NAR.

I rented a Peugeot 307 last year. 67 MPG. Got it up to around 120 on the Autobahn where it just hummed. No shakes. No rattles. Wonderful ride for a fuel-sipper.

I rented a Ford. Piece of sh*t. Can't really say much more than that.

I think Americans are ready to buy good cars, that get ridiculous gas mileage. I think they're most definitely tired of buying pieces of sh*t.

US auto dealers remind me in some ways of the NAR and realtors - everyone hates them, outdated business model, scummy salesmen shoveling sh*t for a commission.

And now they'll either do a radical change, or they'll go away.

And the way forward for the survivors is to sell good high-MPG cars, sold by people on salary or an hourly wage.

No more shoveling sh*t for a commission.

In South Korea, corrupt and disgraced leaders kill themselves.

For over three years it's been "CASH IS KING". But now that governments are at 0% and the printing presses are running, WILL CASH BE TRASH?

We may have run the cycle:

· The upswing usually starts with an opportunity - new markets, new technologies or some dramatic political change - and investors looking for good returns.

· It proceeds through the euphoria of rising prices, particularly of assets, while an expansion of credit inflates the bubble.

· In the manic phase, investors scramble to get out of money and into illiquid things such as stocks, commodities, real estate or tulip bulbs: 'a larger and larger group of people seeks to become rich without a real understanding of the processes involved'.

· Ultimately, the markets stop rising and people who have borrowed heavily find themselves overstretched. This is 'distress', which generates unexpected failures, followed by 'revulsion' or 'discredit'.

· The final phase is a self-feeding panic, where the bubble bursts. People of wealth and credit scramble to unload whatever they have bought at greater and greater losses, and cash becomes king.

Based on how the dollar is melting down right now, even against weak and baseless currencies like the British Pound, it looks like the dollar is toast. People around the world who desperately rushed into dollars for 'safety' now evidently are rushing out as fast as they rushed in. And they're buying up stocks and commodities, and maybe even a little real estate here and there.

So what's your next move?

And are all paper currencies toast?

Barack Obama tells the American people the truth. Now, the question is, do the American people want the truth? Or do they want more fairytales?

"We are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.

So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.

So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit."

-Barack Obama, admitting the ugly truth, May 2009

Here's Peter Schiff, potential 2010 Senate candidate, with his 2006 speech to the Den of Evil (i.e. the Mortgage Brokers Association)

Can you imagine the stones it took to walk into a room of mortgage brokers and tell them that they'd all lose their jobs, and that the ponzi scheme they helped create was gonna come tumbling down?

Schiff's thinking about running for Senate I hear, as the GOP candidate to challenge scumbag Chris Dodd. He said if he ran and won, he'd be in it for one term, a non-politician sent to DC to shake it up.

It would be beautiful. Schiff vs. Dodd. And then once he gets in, 1 vs. 99, and the 1 burns the place down.

Let's get it on. I think the internets could raise millions for Schiff if he ran. And yes, I think he could win.

http://www.europac.net/contact.asp

What are you doing today to protect your wealth (assuming you have any wealth left)?

Getting out of cash yet?

If so, into what?

I love the internets. And wolf shirts.

Go read the descriptions. Trust me.

Someone post that it stops foreclosures. Or raises realtor commissions back to 2005 levels.

The name" t-shirt" does this item a great injustice

When does a shirt stop being just an article of clothing and becomes more? The answer is here, with this three wolf moon shirt. Governments should mass produce these and provide them for all citizens free of charge. Anything less should be deemed as a crime against humanity. If everyone had a three wolf moon t-shirt, there would be no war, no crime, no poverty; rather, the world would be a heaven on earth- a perfect society that was once thought to exist only in the after-life. I cannot tell you the exact effects this shirt will have upon you. It's powers are so great that it changes from person to person, giving the wearer exactly what they need and desire most. In summation: this is the single greatest item to exist on this planet. If I could only choose 100 things to take with me on while being stranded desert island for the rest of my life I would choose to take 99 of these shirts along with the maker of it, for such a man must be a deity of sorts.

(caption this post)

And then Jim Cramer essentially accused Nouriel Roubini of being a crook

"Does Roubini favor nationalization because he has people short through this RGE Monitor outfit? Is that what this is all about?"

- Jim Cramer on Roubini, May 2009


(my take - trust no one, especially perma-anythings)

Scraps of paper.

“All currencies are being debased dramatically by their central banks at extraordinary speeds and so in relative terms it appears there is no currency problem. In reality, however, paper money is highly vulnerable to a public catalyst that serves to acknowledge it is all merely vapor money.”

Lee Quaintance and Paul Brodsky of QB Asset Management, May 2009

I think it's pretty obvious now who was running America these past eight disastrous years. Dick Cheney. Halliburton CEO. America's Hitler.

Hey, anyone seen George Bush? You know, that guy who used to have the title of President?

Didn't think so.

So, what to do with Dick Cheney?

Hope that a foreign country picks him up and puts him on trial as a war criminal?

Hope that he keeps doing what he's doing, so that the GOP never recovers?

Or do we investigate his crimes? Even if it leads to a mercy pardon?

May America, and the world, never see the likes of Dick Cheney again.

Shame on you 51%. This guy should never have gotten close to the White House.

Barack Obama on March 3, 2009: "What you're now seeing is a profit and earnings ratios get to the point that buying stocks is a good thing"

Who needs Cramer or Kudlow or Roubini or Kass, when you got the Big Insider telling you what was to come.

Say what you will about Obama, he nailed the EXACT bottom. Maybe to the hour.

Best stock picker in America.

Game is fixed.

I don't think pro-torture Fox News will be having Jesse Ventura on again.

Any Questions?

Soot & Ashes Question of the Day

Thinking of buying a house?

Ron Paul today on the House floor, predicting a revolution: "Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds?"

"Insanity passed off as logic.

Ignorance pawned off as wisdom.

Violence the tool of change.

Preventative wars used as tools of peace.

Slavery sold as liberty.

Unlimited supplies of paper money.

We ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not too distant future."

Remember "Elevation Chandler", the dumbest and most corrupt condo project ever? The lender's CEO killed himself, and the developer is homeless.

Hundreds of years from now, they'll ask "what were they thinking?"

The answer?

They just wanted to get rich without working.

And they had 21 reasons. Wasn't that all they needed?

The Curse Of The Failed Condo Project
By twist

If ever there was an ill-fated condo project, it would be the Elevation Chandler project in Chandler, Arizona. This isn’t just a tale of bankruptcy and foreclosure. The is also a tale of suicide for the lender’s CEO and riches-to-rags for the developer- who now is without a home of his own.

Welcome to the future.

And in the future, you most DEFINITELY will not be driving a car run on gasoline.

It hath been foretold.

You know it's a joke, right?

Jesse Ventura takes out sissy-boy Sean Hannity

Man, I'm digging Ventura these days.

Don't agree with him on everything, but I think it's time for an honest, shoot-from-the-hip, clear-talking, surfing, anti-establishment guy. Especially one eager and ready to stand up to girlie-men like Hannity.

Britain's Speaker of Parliament got the boot today - first time in over 300 years. Why? You got it. Housing.

Just wait until they investigate the crap the US Senators and Representatives were doing with their mortgages and expenses.

Oh, wait, my bad. They're not investigating that. And the American MSM sits on their asses too. Oh well. Would have been a good story.

Britain's speaker resigns in scandal over expenses

For the first time in 300 years, the speaker of the British House of Commons has resigned following taxpayer outrage over excessive spending by lawmakers, the BBC reports.

Though Michael Martin was not personally singled out for the spending excesses, which included chandeliers, moat cleaning and mortgage payments, he was blamed for creating an atmosphere in which the excessive spending flourished, the Associated Press reports.

Martin, who will step down June 21, had resisted efforts to make the expenses process more transparent and to publish the claims.

It is the first time a speaker has been effectively forced out since 1695, the BBC says.

You're all a bunch of monkeys.

And then they found the missing link.

Darwin would be pleased.

And Sarah Palin still wouldn't understand.




Scientists Unveil Missing Link In Evolution

Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution.

Sir David Attenborough said Darwin "would have been thrilled" to have seen the fossil - and says it tells us who we are and where we came from.

"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of the mammals. This is the one that connects us directly with them. Now people can say 'okay we are primates, show us the link'. The link they would have said up to now is missing - well it's no longer missing."

Recovery: V, W, VL, L or U?

You know my take (and disagree with it pretty overwhelmingly) - the Great Recession is over.

I firmly believe that massive government spending, 0% interest rates and a tax cut have done what they always do - they pull you out of a recession. So in six months or so, you'll hear that the Great Recession ended in May 2009.

Fine. It hath been foretold. Yada yada yada. Econ 101 folks.

Now, the BIG question shouldn't be IF the Great Recession ended. It did. Go with me on that one (even if you disagree).

No, the BIG question is do we see a V or do we see a W? Or, worse case, do we see a VL?

We got the shot of Adrenalin to the heart. It's doing what it always does. But do we get right back up, dust ourselves off, and get on with things? Or do we get back up, dust ourselves off, and then collapse?

Also, the US is just one country of many in a heap of sh*t. The UK will likely see a U. The EU I'm thinking will be seeing a real long L. China feels like a W. Russia, Brazil and the oil producers a V.

Vegas gambled. Vegas lost. Big time.

Too bad.

We tried to warn them.

Soot and Ashes Quote of the Day

"If you despise the NAR because it is technologically inept, you’re hating it for the wrong reasons. The right reason to detest the NAR, and to seek its extinction, is because it makes war upon the free market in order to expropriate unearned wealth for brokers."

- Greg Swann, America's Most Discredited Realtor™, who himself is no longer paying his mortgage, having some sort of amazing HP/S&A worthy epiphany, May 2009

The Great Recession is Over.

It won't feel like it for quite some time, but it is.

0% interest rates and trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions in government cheese made it so.

It hath been foretold.

So the Great Recession is over. But how do we pay the tab?

(hint - printing press)

UK Mess: "We are rudderless and adrift in dangerous seas with nobody at the helm, a crew of discredited MPs and a Speaker who has lost all authority."

In America, we suffered under The Worst President Ever. Hands-down.

In the UK, they're still suffering under The Worst Prime Minister Ever. Hands-down.

And to make matters worse, Congress and Parliament were full of corrupt and incompetent stooges.

A perfect storm, leading their nations to ruin.

Have you downsized your life yet? Or are you thinking you might need to?

Guide to Simplifying your life:

1. Identify what’s most important to you.
2. Eliminate everything else.

Ron Paul's son announces run for the Senate

Hate to see this nepotism stuff, but Rand Paul's looking pretty good. And think about it - a Republican announcing his run on the ultra-left Rachel Maddow show. And getting a respectful response. It's almost like the Dems want a foil - a Frazier to Ali. A Nadal to Federer.

You want to see how the GOP comes back? They cast off the ultra-right wing idiots, and come to the libertarian center.

We know now that Ron Paul is too old, too timid, too meek. He whined when he should have shouted. And he simply doesn't have the fire in his belly.

Let's see if his son can do better.

Here's the tale of a corrupt mortgage broker who bilked people out of $30 million, then drove his truck off a cliff the day of his sentencing.

Don't get any ideas Angelo.

We want you in jail.

Not at the bottom of a cliff.

Don't worry too much. The future is on the way. And it's pretty freaking cool.

Thank god for smart people.

Our government and media may have been hijacked by dumb ones.

But have faith - the smart ones are out there too.

"We’re at 21% and falling–right in line with the number of cranks, reprobates, and loonies in the country." - Lawrence Wilkerson

Is the American consumer taking a break, or dead forever? Is "trade-down" permanent? And if the US consumer is dead, who'll pick up the slack?

"The American consumer recognizes they have to save and trade down. It's a permanent condition. Trade down is here forever."

Howard Davidowitz, retail industry consultant, May 2009

What's the secret to life?

RESIGN.

Bernanke and Goldman Sachs' CEO Hank Paulson got some splainin to do. INDEPENDENT SPECIAL PROSECUTOR ALREADY!

Man, those grifters were good.

Real good.

America doesn't need to make cars or tractors or TV's anymore. We'll just make great movies like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. Yeah, that'll save us.

Obammmy Gimme Unicorns!

Monkeys. Floating on a rock. Sometimes, the monkeys leave the rock. Meanwhile, back on the rock, monkeys concern themselves over trivial things.

Not what I'd call consensus so far... But looks like 11% are with me (89% against). Pretty much what I'd have guessed...

Fear	44 (23%)
Desperation	39 (20%)
Panic	12 (6%)
Capitulation	20 (10%)
Despondency	26 (13%)
Depression	24 (12%)
Hope	17 (9%)
Relief	3 (1%)
Optimism	2 (1%)

So there's a MASSIVE scandal breaking in the UK, taking down MP's left and right, destroying trust in government. Guess what's at the center of it?

You got it.

Houses.

The scam was MP's claiming expenses on second homes, supposedly justified so they could have a pad near Parliament in London.

Well, like almost all politicians all over the world, they were scum, and they ran crazy with deductions and profited wildly using taxpayer funds.

So, how did the dirty truth get out?

Someone sold the information to the Daily Telegraph. And now we have a massive, all-consuming scandal over here. And it's wonderful.

It's nice to see the media over here doing their jobs. And its nice to see politicians getting exposed for the crooks they are.

It's a start.

Now if we could just get an audit of every member of Congress' mortgage and expense records the past ten years. Oh, the stuff we'd find. It would shock us.

Or maybe not.

Anyone going to the Bilderberg Conference this weekend?

I didn't get my invite.

Probably lost in the mail again.

Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend?

The Bilderberg group, the topic of many conspiracy theories, is now meeting behind closed doors in Greece.

Those reportedly in attendance at last year's conference in Virginia include former U.S. senator Tom Daschle; Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and his predecessor Henry M. Paulson; former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice; Microsoft executive Craig Mundie; senior Wall Street Journal editor Paul Gigot; World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Is Dick Cheney pretty much finishing off the GOP?

It actually is quite strange. Cheney pretty much destroyed the country - took us into a stupid war, and led us into a horrific once-in-a-generation financial disaster.

Pretty much couldn't have f*cked up any worse.

His approval rating is just north of spit. He may actually be the most despised and hated person in America today.

You'd figure the Republican Party would order him back into his cave. That he'd just disappear, like Bush.

But nooooooo.. He's EVERYWHERE. Like he's gonna run in 2012 or something. He IS the face of the GOP.

And the Republican Party dies even more every day.

So, in the end, keep blabbing Dick. For the first time, you're actually doing the nation a service.

You're making sure the GOP is dead.

Ding dong. Dead.

Cheney attacks may not help GOP

To the chagrin, perhaps, of Republicans looking to rebuild the tattered party, Dick Cheney has grabbed the spotlight.

The recurring theme of the once-reclusive and largely unpopular former vice president: President Barack Obama has put Americans in danger of a new terrorist attack by promising to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and banning torture.

When Obama took office, former President George W. Bush went quietly to his new house in Texas, slipped intentionally into anonymity and honored protocol by staying silent about his successor.

But Cheney, widely remembered for heading to undisclosed secure locations at times of national crisis and for working invisibly behind the scenes, has done just the opposite.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It's been awhile. A lot of sh*t has gone down. So, where are we now?

I'll call it, and most of you will still disagree.

Remember, I have an optimism problem.

Hope.

We're without question in Hope. May not last, but that's what I sense. And if we are indeed in Hope, then Despondency was definitely in Feb/Mar, when it looked hopeless. And this whole damn thing hath been foretold by that one damn chart that we've been posting since 2005.

(Hey, does anyone know if you can fall backward on this thing?)

Electric cars from China

What year will 50% of new cars sold in America be:

1) Made in China

2) Electric

Gotta love Arizona State University. Just when you think it couldn't be more of a joke institution, it becomes more of a joke institution.

I think the funniest thing is that some people actually PAY to go to that school.

One word of advice when choosing a school kids: Return on Investment.

That said, the chicks are hot.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Arizona State Snubs Obama
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Why do idiot realtors on commission™ still spout crap from Ayn Rand? Haven't they got the message? It's yet another failed philosophy for dumb people.

I think it's pretty safe to say now that idiot followers of Ayn Rand are the ones who took down the world financial system - starting with her #1 disciple Alan Greenspan, and ending with idiot realtors on commission who spout her crap endlessly.

I'm not sure which is more disgusting - hearing realtors on commission quote Ayn Rand as if she was some sort of god or messiah, or hearing them justifying their evil ways via The Secret. Both make me hurl.

This Ayn Rand crap now goes into the dustbin of history of failed and discredited philosophies/religions, joining Marx, Hitler, Hubbard, Kristol and many others.

However, I don't think the realtors and mortgage brokers have got the message yet. Maybe when they're packing up their boxes from their foreclosed homes, THEN they'll finally understand.

Or maybe not. They really are that dumb.

FLASH: SEC PLANNING CIVIL FRAUD CHARGES AGAINST SERIAL MORTGAGE FRAUDSTER ANGELO MOZILO.

We knew what this criminal was up to since 2005, and SHOUTED from the top of our lungs for the SEC to put a stop to it.

They didn't.

It's now 2009, the damage has been done, trillions and trillions have been lost, millions of lives have been ruined and the world economy is in tatters.

And the Orange One finally gets some civil charges thrown his way. In other words, maybe he'll have to pay back some of his ill-gotten gains.

It's a start. Just a start. Wake me up with the CRIMINAL charges are filed. THEN and only then can we start the victory dance.

And a personal message to Angelo Mozilo: Go f*ck yourelf Angelo. You are scum.

Report: SEC staff seeks fraud case against Angelo Mozilo

Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission have decided to recommend filing civil fraud charges against Mozilo, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The SEC sent a so-called Wells notice to Mr. Mozilo several weeks ago alerting him of the planned charges, the people said. The potential charges include alleged violations of insider-trading laws as well as failing to disclose material information to shareholders, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Time for a comeback?

A) Yes

B) No

Adam and Eve and Suzanne, by Anon S&A'er

Adam: That's not the point

Eve: What is the point? What! I love that tree, plus the apples

Adam: We can die

Eve: No we won't. The serpent researched it.

Serpent: This apple is special Adam, you guys can do this

Eve: We can do this

Adam: OK

Eve: Are you kidding me? This is awesome!

Serpent: Oh that's great! Now let me get to work...

- Anon Sasher, May 2009

(for the love of god if you've got stuff that good, get a handle)

The lurking danger of Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the remnants of the now-dead GOP

I see the remaining remnants of the now-dead GOP as feral dogs.

One word: Desperate.

I hear the Hannity's and Cheney's and Limbaugh's and Beck's, and I sense danger. As well as a lot of misdirected anger. Just look in the f*cking mirror I say.

They had power, they took America and the world to the brink of ruin, and now they've been rightly tossed aside.

Rush, Cheney, Hannity and friends are trying to fire up the 21% of the country still clinging to the now-dead GOP. They're trying to blame the problems that they have caused on the newcomers. And it's not working. They've lost power, they have zero hope for the future, and their cause is lost.

Like Nazis after the war, most will come to see how tragically wrong they were. But a few never will. And those are the ones that are dangerous.

The Summer of Rage may go places we didn't expect.

Here's a view from the left. I think there's something to it.

The assassination jokes and "liberal" conspiracy theories on talk radio could be an ominous sign of things to come.

With the national Republican party in disarray, an argument is solidifying among grass-roots conservatives:

Liberals, who are now in power in Washington, hate America and want to dismantle its foundational institutions and liberties, including capitalism and private property. Liberals are rootless internationalists who cravenly appease those who want to kill us. The primary principle of conservatives, on the other hand, is love of country, for which they are willing to sacrifice and die. America's identity was forged by Christian faith and our Founding Fathers, to whose prudent and unerring 18th-century worldview we must return.

In a harried, fragmented, media-addled time, there is an invigorating simplicity to this political fundamentalism. It is comforting to hold fast to hallowed values, to defend tradition against the slackness of relativism and hedonism. But when the tone darkens toward a rhetoric of purgation and annihilation, there is reason for alarm.

I like Jesse Ventura. Libertarian. Centrist. Realist. Well spoken. Brutally honest. Competent. And makes sense.

Almost sounds like he's reading S&A, eh?

"In my opinion, George Bush was the worst president of my lifetime"

"It's a good thing I'm not president, because I would prosecute every person who was involved in that torture, I would prosecute the people who did it, I would prosecute the people who ordered it, because torture is against the law"

"Let our country legalize... people are going to do drugs Larry, it's that simple. We need to take our heads out of the sand and treat it like an adult"

Oh, Jesse, you had me at hello...

Now that the Republican party has died, maybe someone like Jesse Ventura could pick up the pieces and get something started. Ron Paul doesn't have the fire in his belly. I think Jesse Ventura might. You can only surf so long. The country needs him.

Jesse Ventura 2012?