Stocks, oil, gold tank on growing recession fears

NEW YORK – Stock markets around the world plummeted Friday and oil prices plunged to their lowest in more than a year. Even gold, the traditional safe haven in times of panic, fell sharply.

The common denominator was growing fears that governments, central banks and finance ministers seem powerless to stop the deepening of a global recession that will slam corporate earnings and lead to deep job losses around the world.

And I am blissfully ignoring it.
Baja, by the Astronauts....yeah, I'm almost there....

Sally....you crack me up. Here you go. I'm sure Steve is keen to the last two days, so I'm sure this won't hurt the readership any.

Sarah Palin look a like contest, FTW

Contestants take the stage during a U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin look-alike stripper contest at a strip club in Las Vegas, Nevada October 23, 2008. Contestants competed for $10,000 in prize money and a trip to Washington D.C. for the presidential inauguration.

Black Thursday

U.S. stock futures plummeted Friday, pointing toward a very scary open for stocks, after Asian and European markets broadly sold off overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 550 points, or 6.27%, to 8224 as of 8:15 a.m. here in New York. The S&P 500 futures were down 60 points, or 6.56%, to 855.20 while the Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 83.50 points, or 6.66%, to 1170. They have remained at that level since 5:00 this morning.

As you read this using euphemisms from 1929, stocks are taking it on the chin. Today is the anniversary of Black Thursday in 1929. The events that lead up to the crash would affect the economy of the world until the end of World War 2 in August of 1945. I jokingly asked my carpool this morning if the markets would notice it was the anniversary today. I guess they did. Hopefully this is not a reenactment.

I find surf rock songs particularly comforting when I'm watching my retirement slip away.
Surf over to nuTsie and check out the 100 Greatest Surf Rock Songs.
Trust me...I own stocks too...and this really works.



"Two girls for every boy."
How can you worry when you are thinking about that?

Ex-ACORN worker: 'I paid the price' for voter registration fraud

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Clifton Mitchell helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group ACORN. But not one of them actually existed.
Mitchell said ACORN threatened to close the office if he and his team didn't meet their quota to register 13 to 20 voters a day. So, without consulting their supervisors, he said, they came up with a plan.

That's perfect. At least they caught one of the bastards. I'm not sure why people think that the electoral process can be done this way. It's the one thing we are most proud of with our election process, THAT IT'S FAIR. Can you imagine having "international observers" here to mind our process?

And to top it all off...the federal government funds these assholes.

25 years ago

Never Forget. They came in peace.

What.The.Hell?

Woman in Japan jailed after 'killing' digital husband in role-playing video game
TOKYO - A 43-year-old player in a virtual game world became so angry about her sudden divorce from her online husband that she logged on with his password and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.
Bwahahahahaha, smitten online and resorted to digital murder. Wait...that's kinda scary.
Seriously...it's a freakin' cartoon world!

Hot for Teacher, Daytona Florida style

A former Warner Christian Academy teacher, Cynthia Horvath, 45, was arrested by Port Orange Police and charged today by two police departments with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student who attended the South Daytona school.
17 year old...I wonder how they caught them.

Why America is Great

God Bless America.

Can we muddy the water a bit?

The good news for John McCain? He's now receiving as much attention from the national media as his Democratic rival. The bad news? It’s overwhelmingly negative.
And the funny thing is...IT'S COMING FROM POLITICO!
Let's us all just muddy the water before the election.
Below are examples of media attempts to muddy the water with trivial crap or negative reporting in order to divert criticism of their favored candidate.

AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids' travel
GOP spent $150,000 in donations on Palin's look
No cavalry coming for McCain
Palin tells kids the vice president 'runs' Senate
While the media outlets of the AP and Politico are spam up with silliness the media miss the messages of the candidates.

Arrgh, they be comin' for us

NATO flotilla to start anti-piracy operations soon
BRUSSELS, Belgium – A NATO flotilla sailing toward the Somali coast will begin anti-piracy operations within the next few days, but officials said Wednesday the alliance was still working out the rules of engagement for the seven ships.
The NATO warships will escort cargo ships carrying U.N. food aid to Somalia and will patrol the pirate-infested shipping lanes off the Somali coast, where 30 ships have been hijacked this year and over 70 have been attacked.
I'm a little confused how 5 or 6 guys in skiffs can take over an entire oil tanker.
All the ships need for defense is a couple of .50 cal machine guns and the willingness to shoot first and ask questions later. You don't have to be a Navy SEAL to use a 50 cal. It's a spray and pray weapon and if the skiff is bouncing in the water then you know there will be little or no return fire.

They missed the September Holiday. That would have been a great day to launch the operation.

Miss Teen Louisiana, Lindsey Evans arrested after skipping out on tab

Lindsey Evans, the reigning Miss Louisiana Teen USA, has been uncrowned, according to TMZ.com.
Evans was arrested over the weekend with three of her friends for allegedly skipping out on a dinner bill of $46.07, TMZ.com reported. She later returned to pick up her purse, which she forgot in the restaurant. She was promptly arrested on theft charges and marijuana possession after cops searched her bag and found a stash of pot. Although she only had 10 days left on her reign, pageant officials didn’t want to wait.
It's just Louisiana gals havin' a good time.
Nice work.

Russia modernizes missiles in response to US plans

MOSCOW – Russia's efforts to upgrade its missile arsenals will help counter the planned U.S. missile defense sites in Europe, a top general said Wednesday.
Russia's Strategic Missile Force chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, said the military will commission a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile and modify the existing missiles.
Solovtsov said that the new RS-24 missile equipped with multiple nuclear warheads will enter service next year.
So their chances of actually lifting off when they launch increases to 33%? Good move.
Russia...you are seriously missing the boat on this. The only countries that will be launching missles at each other are the newcommers. Pakistan, India, North Korea, Iran.
Pakistan and India are doing the "mini-me" version of what Russia and America did for 40 years essentially point weapons of mutual mass destruction at each other.
North Korea is bullying people with their missles to get food.
Iran wants Israel wiped off the map. They also would like to see America reduced to ashes. We are just trying to protect our European friends with a missle shield.

I wish the Russian leader's wives and mistresses would tell those dumbasses how virile they are so they can stop thumping their chests at us.

Good news Fritz

Scientists Erase Specific Memories in Mice
(HealthDay News) -- It sounds like science fiction, by scientists say it might one day be possible to erase undesirable memories from the brain, selectively and safely.
Study co-author Joe Z. Tsien, co-director of the Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, says the "work reveals a molecular mechanism of how [memory deletion] can be done quickly and without doing damage to brain cells."
Hopefully someday you will be able to erase all those bad memories you've told me on numerous occasions you'd "like to forget".
1) Those days you spent as a towel boy in the bath houses of San Francisco
2) Being a Broncos fan
3) The numerous ass-whoppin's you took when we used to play Scrabble Online

I wonder if they ever make this a reality for humans, will our medical insurance would pay for it?

Only took them 20 years to catch him

TAMPA, Fla. - Former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge - who has cast a long shadow over the Chicago Police Department because of accusations he tortured suspects for two decades - was arrested this morning on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
It was long believed Burge could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. But the FBI arrested Burge, 60, at his retirement home near Tampa for allegedly lying about whether he and other officers under his command tortured suspects dating back to the 1980s.
Remember he was only protecting you. He must have forgotten America is not a police state. I know this happened in Floriduh, but contrary to what you've been told they are not a police state either.

Here's your timeline.

Bali bombers will be shot within a fortnight

THE execution by firing squad of the Bali bombers - Mukhlas, Imam Samudra and Amrozi - is set to go ahead within a fortnight. Indonesia's Attorney-General says he will reveal the details by Friday next week.
It is just over six years since two bombs ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar on Bali's popular tourist strip of Kuta Beach, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians.

FYI
A cleric and doctor will be present and, if the initial volley fails to kill a victim immediately, a gun is placed to the side of the head and fired.

Talk about swift justice. Yeah, that's gettin' after it.
These pieces of human excrement would be still alive 15 years from now if this trial had been in America.
Give Satan my regards, douchebags.

US drops charges against 5 Guantanamo prisoners

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Pentagon said Tuesday it has dropped war-crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees after the former prosecutor in their cases complained that the military was withholding evidence helpful to the defense.
I was going to say, "5 dudes just got rich" because you know they will sue the U.S. of A for wrongful imprisonment. But as I read the article the prisoners will not be released.
So they get to stay in the Guantanamo Hilton for, well, pretty much forever.
Welcome to being an enemy of United States.
Don't worry guys behind bars down there Obama will let you out, because he does want to choose sides or anything.
I wonder if these guys have finished up their voter registration with Acorn and cast their absentee ballots yet?

Kerkorian cuts Ford stake, weighs pulling out

NEW YORK (AFP) – Billionaire US investor Kirk Kerkorian announced via his holding company Tracinda on Tuesday that he had begun selling shares in car group Ford and was considering divesting his whole stake.
This could be bad news for Ford. This guy is seriously smart and knows what is working and what isn't.

When I first saw this headline I thought the worst. Mostly because I misread it.
Kevorkian cuts Ford....
Yeah if Kevorkian is planning your demise it's pretty much imminent.

Junk food causes a third of heart attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Diets heavy in fried foods, salty snacks and meat account for about 35 percent of heart attacks globally, researchers reported on Monday.
Their study of 52 countries showed that people who ate a "Western" diet based on meat, eggs and junk food were more likely to have heart attacks, while those who ate more fruits and vegetables had a lower risk.
Also this just in....
Guns kill people.
Spoons make people fat.
Alcohol causes drunk driving.
I'm pretty sure EATING junk food causes heart attacks.

McCain: Obama cash will lead to scandal

John McCain suggested that his Democratic rival Barack Obama’s record-shattering fundraising haul will lead to scandal in their presidential race and future races, and he hinted that there may already be funny business going on with Obama’s legions of small donors.
The Republican senator from Arizona was referring both to Obama’s reversal on a pledge to participate a system that gave McCain’s campaign $84 million in taxpayer money but limited his spending to that amount, and also to recent news reports highlighting over-the-limit contributions to Obama given in under-$200 installments from previously undisclosed small donors. Some were fictitious and had listed names such as “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will.”
Is anyone else outraged that it takes half a billion dollars to win a $400,000 a year job?

Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign to kill regulatory bill

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.
In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.
In the end, there was not enough Republican support for Hagel's bill to warrant bringing it up for a vote because Democrats also opposed it and the votes of some would be needed for passage. The measure died at the end of the 109th Congress.
Seriously, who is surprised by this? I am surprised it took them this long to find it out and report it to the people.

Freddie Mac's payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel's bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.
So again someone tell me how this Home Loan crap is President Bush's fault as the Speaker of the House has pointed out TIME and TIME again?

U.S. pilot was ordered to shoot down UFO

A former Top Gun said Sunday he was ordered to shoot down a massive UFO over Norwich, England, 50 years ago.
RAF controllers told U.S. pilot Milton Torres to “lock on” and launch all 24 of his rockets over the city.
But as he came within seconds of firing at the alien intruder — “the size of an aircraft carrier” on his radar — it vanished at 10,000 mph.
I want to believe.
10,000mph? What made the command structure think 24 rockets would even hit the UFO?




Do you think, maybe perhaps it was the Yamato?

How many of you readers even know what I'm talking about?

How big a nerd does that make me?

Don't be a hater that was a cool show.

Japanese team finds 'yeti footprints' in Nepal

KATHMANDU (AFP) – A team of Japanese adventurers say they have discovered footprints they believe were made by the legendary yeti said to roam the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet.
"The footprints were about 20 centimetres (eight inches) long and looked like a human's," Yoshiteru Takahashi, the leader of the Yeti Project Japan, told AFP in Kathmandu on Monday.
I want to believe this too.
I'm not sure why I want to believe in Bigfoot, Yeti, whatever. I just do.

The Secret to Saving Money on Auto Insurance

"People are using the Internet to find better rates for car insurance to help balance out the high cost of driving," says Carl Lammers, a former insurance executive and cofounder of SaveTodayAutoInsurance.com "Shopping online is an easy way for people to learn their car insurance options quickly.
So the big secret ISN'T being young and attractive as the picture would suggest. The secret is to shop around...no shit...I would not have figured that. I always thought it was being young and attractive.