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(part 1):
Because the Social Security and SSI benefits Your Correspondent gets (remember, he's so emotionally disabled that he can't work) can only go so far, he'd appreciate it greatly (as would this blog) if you'd be kind enough to make a donation (not tax-deductible, sadly) to the (fully-secure and encrypted, know) Virtual Tip Jar:
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(part 2):
If you're a blogger or webmaster looking to add value for money to your blog/website, please take a look @ these worthwhile options:
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BY NOW, YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD ABOUT THE SO-CALLED "HOLY LAND FOUNDATION" HAVING BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF RAISING FUNDS IN FURTHERANCE OF TERRORISM by claiming to be a "humanitarian aid society" which raised funds to (in theory) provide food, clothing and shelter for needy and deserving Palestinian Arabs in Palestinian Gaza--only to turn around and divert the monies to Hamas-affiliated terrorist organisations to commit infamous and notorious acts of terrorism against Israel.
Let this be a lesson and @ once warning to such who see supporting the Palestinian cause over that of the Jewish State of Israel to be one with the defence of European-American Racial Honour and Integrity--and excusing such on the (supposed) logic that "the enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine," never mind the majority of Palestinian Arabs being Muslims, with some Eastern Orthodox Christians in the mix, let alone Palestinian Arabs being otherwise seen by such unconventional sympathisers as "inferior mud peoples."
Not to mention frustrating such wanting to support the Palestinian cause in good faith and trust based on the arguments just summarised, all the while not wanting to be stigmatised as unwittingly supporting terrorism.
AFTER THE FLAP LAST TIME AROUND ABOUT THE EXCESSES OF CORPORATE EXCESS FLAUNTED BY THE EXECUTIVES OF DETROIT'S "BIG THREE" in attempting to beseech Congress for $25 billion between them (as in use of corporate jet aircraft to fly between Detroit and Washington rather than being more proletarian), it looks as if Detroit may have seen some sense for once.
As in the chief of Ford driving for once to and from Washington to plead his case in a Ford Escape hybrid--which, to Your Correspondent, probably makes more sense under the circumstances, not to mention demonstrates a willingness to embrace new fuel-efficent technologies, given financial incentives to do so.
For starters, though, I would recommend your making donations to Reduce the National Debt, perhaps in lieu of holiday greeting cards; send it, cheque or postal order, to:
Dept. G Bureau of the Public Debt PO Box 2188 Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188
In the Memo line of said cheque or postal order, please mention that it's intended as a Gift to Reduce National Debt Held by the Public.
As a show of Corporate Responsibility and Good Corporate Citizenship, may I also suggest that employers consider eschewing the traditional end-of-year holiday gifts to employees and good customers and instead donate the value thereof towards such a Worthwhile (if Underappreciate) Cause. Likewise among "the Four Hundred," as suggested previously.
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THE IDEA OF A SOVERIGN COUNTRY'S FLAGSHIP INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE BEING A CUT-PRICE SUCH SHOULD SEND SHIVERS down the spines of all concerned.
Case in point: Aer Lingus, Ireland's flagship carrier, has rejected a hostile takeover bid by value-for-money rival Ryanair valued @ €748 million (equal to €1.40/share), under which Aer Lingus would be operated as a separate brand under Ryanair management (think Procter and Gamble here).
An earlier, €1.5 billion buyout bid was rejected by the European Commission on fears that the Aer Lingus/Ryanair consilium would have too much market dominance on flights out of Dublin airport to the point of undermining healthy, free-market competition. (Sound familiar?)
Now, Ryanair is pleading changed circumstances in the airline industry to justify its Aer Lingus offer, citing high fuel prices, the global socioeconomic downturn and the "marginalisation" of Aer Lingus among European flag airlines in the wake of industry consolidation and retrenchment.
Still, however, the Irish Government and Aer Lingus employees, majority owners of its shares, rejected the offer (never mind where Ryanair already owns just under 30% of Aer Lingus' shares).
So what's Ryanair to do? (Especially considering where British advertising watchdogs are taking them to task for misleading advertising practices including flawed environmental claims, lack of transparency in disclosing special fare offers and unhealthy sexualisation.)
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AND YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHERE MUCH OF THE "TOXIC WASTE" IN MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES FINANCING "SUB-PRIME" MORTGAGE LOANS as are the Achilles' heel of His Fraudulency's flawed socioeconomic agenda is likely heading:
You guessed it--repackaged as "fully-secured, bank-guaranteed Accounts Receivable Acquisitions" offering "guaranteed" interest of between 20-30% per annum sold through "spam" e-mail offers as "high-quality" investments trivialising risks endemic to investments in general, including possible loss of capital.
As well as some of the repackaged "acquisitions" being offered to "High-Yield Investment Plans" which certain Zealots and True Believers in denationalised Social Security want to flog off upon the vulnerable and unsophisticate working poor as "Retirement Savings Funds" which are really based offshore more than likely, making them prone all the more to "skimming," "churning," "day-trading" and "market timing," among other deceptive equities-trading strategems which can only worsen the risk for loss of investments through fraud and mismanagement on the part of fund managers otherwise expected to exercise due care and skill in handling Other Peoples' Money.
And I believe there's still something called the Prudent Man Rule, is there not, as applies in such circumstances?
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BACK IN THE SALAD DAYS OF RADIO, THE PREVAILING LOGIC AND WISDOM AMONG THE POWERS-THAT-BE had it that those who smoked on a regular basis gradually developed a manlier, huskier, more authoritative voice which listeners could place trust and confidence in on a consistent basis--especially so newsreaders and dramatic actors.
Never mind the health risks likely to be associated with smoking on especially the vocal chords and larynx.
Which has you wondering if there was a subtle sort of homophobia prevailing back in Radio's Golden Age, as if implying that those who chose not to smoke out of principle were probably homosexual by implication (as if suggesting that such with sweeter-sounding voices were probably "having tendencies," as homosexuality was euphemistically alluded to back then in polite circles ... and, in the prevailing psychiatric thinking, would have more than likely been committed to the State Asylum for the Mentally Ill; until 1972, remember, the American Psychiatric Association held that homosexuality was a Serious Mental Disorder).
No wonder a lot of radio actors were busy endorsing cigarettes as being "soothing" and "comforting" to the throat. Case in point, from Stamford University's online collection of vintage cigarette advertising:
MEMO TO THE INTERSTATE CONSILIUM-IN-DEVELOPMENT ON CHI-MKE-MSP HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAIL: Something to think about in the choice of equipment, and having its origins in the legacy of the Milwaukee Road's flagship Hiawathas along the same route back in the day:
In view of the unpredictability of passenger volume from day to day, I would be the first to recommend using bilevel coaches based on those now in use on Amtrak's California network (as in the Pacific Surfliner, Capitol and San Joaquin services), with such having as much compatibility for the Chicago-Milwaukee quasi-commuter run as for the corridor-type runs further on to the Dells, LaCrosse, Winona and the Twin Cities--and, perhaps, Rochester, MN.
Coaches, of course.
Not to mention Business Class coaches.
And Café/Lounge cars with "wide view" seating, considering the scenic glories to be had in substantial measure along the way.
Which would probably be the most cost-efficent option, come to think of it. (For further insight, refer to Jim Scribbins' well-written The Hiawatha Story [Milwaukee: Kalmbach, 1970], which made note of where the Milwaukee, in developing the Hiawatha, sought a competitive advantage over rival Burlington's articulated-design Twin City Zephyr trainsets whose success reached such critical mass that the Burlington often had to run extra sections with standard equipment just to meet demand which the articulated equipment couldn't quite handle--and found it by using conventionally-designed coaches of lightweight construction.)
History does sometimes provide interesting lessons, does it not?
AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BY NOW, CONSERVATIVE TALKBACK RADIO HOST GLENN BECK HAS LEFT CNN HEADLINE NEWS for a new presence on Fox Prolefeed from early next year.
And as is well-known, Beck's CNN Headline News slot was rather infamous for playing fast and loose with truth in service to the Greater Conservative Agenda, in the classic McCarthyism stylee preferred by the GOP (or so Los Angeles Times commentator Neal Gabler suggests here), so attracting much criticism among the Secular-Progressive element.
Now occupying Beck's former CNN Headline News Prime Time slots weekdays is Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell.
In any case, it might not hurt to keep the old que vive on Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell for possible conservative "spin," bias and misinformation being packaged as prolefeed. And to keep CNN Headline News, not to mention Media Matters for America and the like, aware of any slips in this regard.
WITH COLD AND FLU SEASON NOW ABROAD HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI (AND YOUR CORRESPONDENT IS NOT EXEMPTED FROM ITS EFFECTS, KNOW), the above ad for so-called "medicinal" cigarettes (usually containing cubeb berries) perhaps seems relevant for the sake of corny nostalgia--especially so the suggestion "Breathe Freely--Keep Yourself Fit" by smoking cubebs for relief of head colds, asthma or hay fever.
In any case, cubebs' medicinal properties (or presumed) have since been discredited.
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HATH IT THAT HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GREAT WITHIN MAY HAVE IGNORED THE WARNINGS about relaxing restrictions on bankers and mortgage lenders selling certain high-risk ("sub-prime," in industry argot) mortgages in the secondary markets, knowing (un)consciously all the while that such carried significant risk of default.
That, and the want of safeguards to protect mortgage lenders and borrowers alike vis-a-vis such "no income proof" loans more than likely sold to High-Yield Investment Programmes in a misguided exercise in social consciousness based on conservative articles of faith emphasising contempt for the poor and marginalised when it comes to credit histories as much as standing in the Scala Natura Americana revered of conservative Zealots and True Believers in defence of a "pure" form of free-market capitalism being one with the defence of Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Pecuilar Among the Nations--and that the two must be intertwined pro Deo et patria.
Not to mention repackaged as "fully-secured, bank-guaranteed Accounts Receivable Acquisitions" for resale to less-sophisticated investors as "low-risk, high-quality" investments returning as much as 20-30%/annum (or so advertised in "spam" e-mails from offshore investment houses with likely connexions to Cosa Nostra and suchlike among the weird and unwholesome).
In any case, I, for one, would recommend taking a fresh look @ the traditional building society concept as a viable way to help the Lower Classes towards home ownership based on mutual self-help models such as conservatives are forever speaking about as the Next Wave in Social Welfare, "generating taxpayer value" in the process. Yeah, right--
"Money is the root of all evil." Why not invest yours in United States Savings Bonds?
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NEARLY SIX MONTHS ON AFTER THE SUDDEN STORM-FLOOD DRAINAGE OF LAKE DELTON SEEN BY FREEVEE VIEWERS ACROSS THE KNOWN WORLD, it looks as if Lake Delton near Wisconsin Dells is ready to make her return known to the world.
It took quite a lot of reconstruction work along County Rd. A in the area of the breach ... construction of a cofferdam and clay fill in the area of the breach's opening ... and rebuilding of the Lake Delton Dam which created the lake in question, originally intended as a summer retreat for Chicago's upper echelons until the Great Depression intervened and, after World War II, became more proletarian in approach. Had it been as originally conceived, could you imagine Munroe Street in the village of Lake Delton being on a par with such high-end shopping districts as Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue, Mayfair, the Champs-Élysees, Via Serlas and the Ginza?
Anyhow, before too long, Lake Delton, which had been a mudpit all of last summer, will be back to being Lake Delton with the gates of the Lake Delton and Mirror Lake dams closing to start the refill process over the winter, followed by a major killoff of carp and other species of rough fish in basin streams and ponds to improve fishing quality. In time, to speed the refill process, Mirror Lake Dam's gates will be opened through the winter, with full refill likely come the Memorial Day weekend start of summer season.
Hopefully, insallah, the Tommy Bartlett Show will be back to normalcy for its 57th season in Wisconsin Dells, 56 such on Tommy Bartlett Bay (including the truncated version last year dictated by the drainage). Not to mention a number of curiosity-seekers who saw the draindown on TV the world over wanting to see if the repairs will take hold.
(BTW, those as were the registered guests of Wilderness on the Lake when the lake was drained last June 9th will be entitled to stay free there on the one-year anniversary thereof for a special reunion and lake-refill celebration. And, for the record, tourism numbers in Wisconsin Dells were largely unafflicted by the Lake Delton drainage, especially so the outdoor waterparks making the Dells famous currently.)
It won't be easy, You'll think it strange When I try to explain how I feel, But I still need your love after all that I've done; You must believe me-- All you will see is a girl you once knew, Though she's dressed up to the nines, At sixes and sevens with you....
I knew it had to happen, I had to change, Couldn't stay all my life down-at-heel, Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun, So I chose freedom, Running around, trying everything new, But nothing impressed me at all-- I never expected it, too....
Don't cry for me, Argentina, The truth is, I never left you All through my wild days, my mad existance, I kept my promise--don't keep your distance....
And as for Fortune, And as for Fame, I never invited them in, Though they seemed to the world they were all I desired; They are illusions, They were not the solutions I hoped they would be-- The answer was with you all the time, I love you, and hope you love me....
Don't cry for me, Argentina....
Don't cry for me, Argentina, The truth is, I never left you All through my wild days, my mad existance, I kept my promise--don't keep your distance....
Have I said too much? There's nothing more I can think of to say to you, But all you have to do is look at me to know that every word is true....
READERS, VIA ENTRECARD OR OTHERWISE, AN APOLOGY IS IN ORDER: You may have noticed where, as of 16h CST (22h UTC) today, EntreCard has gone offline for emergency maintenance to deal with problems in the ad rotation cycle. They hope, in any event, to be back online as soon as possible while the problem is being properly worked on.
And they apologise for any inconvenience suffered in the interim.
HOW IRONIC A MESSAGE: About the same time that the preceding ad for Spuds, the first major national brand of mentholated cigarette, appeared, wild rumours were surfacing in certain circles claiming that the Axtell-Fisher Tobacco Company, which manufactured Spuds, employed a known leper on the production line.
Within six months, the company went bankrupt and Spuds were no longer on the market.
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SAUDI KING ABDULLAH WAS QUOTED IN THE PAPERS @ THE WEEKEND as suggesting where, in response to the NYMEX spot price for crude oil falling close to $50/bbl. in recent months, a "more reasonable" price for oil should be closer to $75/bbl.
How did he come up with that figure as an ideal benchmark for OPEC to consider in calling for further production cuts to stabilise market prices?
And Another Thing:
How would a policy of "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" rooted in "Wise Use" policies actually translate into cheaper gasoline, let alone the notion that cheap gasoline is one with the antient and pecuilar soverignty and soverign identity of the nation?
CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT I BELIEVE THE ABOVE WARNING SIGN TO PARENTS was spotted @ a Japanese onsen (hot-spring resort) to advise parents to be all the more careful with younger children in close proximity to the hot springs.
