The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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Wall Street's Groupies.....

Groupies. If you have ever been to a concert, you can spot them. They hang around the groups there. Wangle to get the best seats. First up with the autographs and defend them to the death. The groups music is always the best and the members can do no wrong.

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Hurricanes and Climate Change

Living in Florida since 1964, I had the dubious privilege of experiencing numerous hurricanes. The first being Cleo, making landfall in Miami as a category 2 storm. I was living just the other side in Naples at the time so we did feel the effects of it for a few hours until it was north of us. Cleo came through just a couple of weeks after we arrived so we had our trial by water as it were.

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Cold War - Hot Profits

Anyone who was here state side during WWII can tell you of the rationing that went on. Everything was rationed. From bread to tires. They can also tell you that no matter what industry you were in, you were doing defense work. WWII took this country from nearly 30% unemployment to 0 unemployment over night. New businesses formed overnight to meet the demands. Struggling businesses like Willys Motors became major contractors.

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The Pursuit of Happiness.....

Warning. This diary does not contain any slams against republicans or democrats.

 

 

It has been said that the two biggest motivations of humans are to obtain pleasure and to avoid pain. I believe with some variations, this is mostly true. Add into this our instinct for survival and you can probably explain most behaviors. But I am just guessing here, I suppose.

This was a whole lot simpler when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s and even into the 1970s. We had to live with a very real - to most Americans and I would say also Russians - threat of global annihilation. I am not going into the propaganda factor here, because at the time this was not a consideration. For the people then it was very real. We had seen it right before our very eyes.

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Typical Republican Tea Party Trick - Worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret.

A big H/T to a facebook friend for bringing this to my attention. This story from The Palm Beach Post epitomizes the kind back handed governing that the tea party/republican governors engage in. PR and money over people.

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The infantile adults. America's immature elites.

There has been large number of explanations, reasons and even derogating of the elite and those on the right concerning their behavior and seemingly lack of compassion. Ranging from fascist ideology to even psycho-pathology. Greed, racism, ignorance, close mindedness and even mental illness. And I will agree that in a number of cases that more than a few of these do apply.

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A Piece of The Action. The Rise of Gangster Capitalism in the Face of Systemic Collapse.

We have heard a lot over the last four years on how those responsible for the economic/financial crisis of 2008-2009 have gotten away scot-free. That the policies of Bush have been not only replicated by Obama, but enhanced and refined.

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WE MISS YOU

The title says it all.

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Moody's downgrades 15 major banks

Well we can't say anyone didn't see this coming. But I still find it interesting, especially the timing.

Right on the heels of a fairly large corruption case that could...I repeat could, blow the lid off a lot of other fraudulent practices.  And the Euro Zone on a ledge.

In the US, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are among those marked down.

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Favorite Quotes
"Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort." Marshall Mcluhan

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