Gold prices could hit $1,500, fears Merrill Lynch CIO

CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR THE LINK http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2009/2/pages/02032009_6fce22dd78604ed19eeb0ca3276fb9b0.aspx Gold prices may hit $1,500 (Dh5,509) an ounce in the next 12 to 15 months, Gary Dugan, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Merrill Lynch, said yesterday. Dugan termed his apprehensions of gold striking such a high as a "fear" that may come true. He reasoned that such a price would mean the other commodities and streams of investments have been shunned by investors. With confidence in currencies shaken to the core, the yellow metal is increasingly assuming the role of "the most trusted currency", Dugan said. "We have never seen such a rush to buy gold. It's bringing in security and it's still affordable." Merrill Lynch commodity price forecast authored by Dugan showed that gold prices can rise from the currently prevailing $913/oz to $1,100/oz in the first quarter of 2009 and to $1,150/oz in the second quarter. "While demand for gold has been rising production has been declining. South Africa, which accounts for the major share of global gold production, is facing political issues and has energy problems," Dugan said. With reports of declining returns from other investment options, "cash" – keeping money safe in banks and investing in government bonds – is the option in front of investors, Dugan said. "Fear" and eventual decline of the greenback are the two factors that will drive gold prices, he said. While commodity markets could also bounce back in the first half of the year, a rebound is likely to be short-lived in the absence of strong US consumer demand. Precious metals, led by gold, could enjoy a more sustained rally with gold benefiting from a weakening of the dollar in the second half of the year, Dugan said. Dugan said the greenback, which has been strengthening for the past few months, will decline in value by the middle of this year. "That's when people will begin to realise that President Obama's policies are not having the desired impact," he said. Investors could also look to private equity, which produced strong returns during the downturns in 1991 and 2001, on an opportunistic basis. Some hedge fund strategies may be worth following but hedge funds should be treated with caution, Dugan said. Returns from private equity should remain in single digits in 2009 and a return of beyond 10 per cent should be treated as "fair value", he said. "Investors should remain cautious. They need to be prepared to take profits. We think any such rally would run out of steam by the second half of the year." Low risk assets could offer private investors the best prospects of attractive returns in 2009 as the world's leading industrialised nations face recession, Dugan said. With governments around the world striving to tackle the economic crisis, private investors could find value in a cautious approach towards asset allocation. Options include high-grade corporate bonds and high-quality, high-yielding equities in defensive industries. "Investors will look to long-term US government bonds as an important barometer of the progress of global recovery," said Dugan. "Sharply rising bond yields will show that the governments have overspent." While earnings downgrades are likely to dominate the first quarter of 2009, a rally in global equity markets could be on the cards for the first half of the year with consumer and cyclical stocks among the potential beneficiaries, Dugan said. Broad equities indices could also offer trading opportunities to private investors. "Equities could outperform as an asset class in 2009 unless there is a serious deflation risk. Our view is that deflation will be avoided," he added. Selective investment in high-grade corporate bonds could also provide attractive returns, Dugan said.

MANY WANT BUSH AND COMPANY TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES

RIGHTS: Call to Try Bush By Julio Godoy BERLIN, Feb 2 (IPS) - Now that former U.S. president George W. Bush is an ordinary citizen again, many legal and human rights activists in Europe are demanding that he and high-ranking members of his government be brought before justice for crimes against humanity committed in the so-called war on terror. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45636

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ARTICLE

O'BOMB'A SOLD AMERICA SNAKE OIL- GT A Bankrupt and Discredited Country The Era of American Leadership Is Over By Paul Craig Roberts February 02, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- -Vast numbers of people in the United States and abroad are hoping that President Obama will end America’s illegal wars, halt America’s support for Israel’s massacre of Lebanese and Palestinians, and punish, instead of reward, the shyster banksters whose fraudulent financial instruments have destroyed economies and imposed massive sufferings on people all over the world. If Obama’s appointments are an indication, all of these hopeful people are going to be disappointed. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21885.htm

RON PAUL ASKS, "STIMULUS, FOR WHO?"

http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=090126_2631,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml

MY BLACK CAT CAME HOME EARLY THIS MORNING AFTER DISAPPEARING TWO WEEKS AGO IN FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Since this picture was taken, Black Cat had his left eye removed due to a tumor. He also had just received his shots the week before he disappeared. On Wednesday January 14, 2009 my cat named 'black cat' didn't show up for breakfast. It's been 17 days since his disappearance. I assumed coyotes got him, or some cruel human killed him. (that's not uncommon, as I had that happen to a previous cat in Helena, Montana while I was passing through on a long vacation in my truck and trailer back in 2003.) Black Cat adopted me while I was visiting a friend's 30 acre raisin vineyard 20 miles west of Fresno, Ca in 2003. I had my trailer parked on a dirt service road that came into the vineyard from the main highway. A dirt drive way went perpendicular to that service road into the center of the vineyard where my friend's house was along with a large industrial shed. Black Cat showed up one day meowing and looking pretty skinny. I fed him some of the leftover cat food that my other cats had not finished. He gobbled it up and jumped in the trailer and stayed for a month. I took him to the local SPCA for shots and had his ears cleaned of ear mites for $80. A few days before I was to return to Idaho, Black Cat disappeared. I searched the local area (mostly acreage with a house here and there) which was large sections of land with streets maybe every mile or so. Found one place where he might have originated, but had probably been abandoned. Either that, or he got sick of the place and how he was treated. The night before I was to leave, I pulled my trailer in next to the house to fill up my water tanks. I slept there about 100 yards from where the trailer had been sitting for many days out on the main service road. Around midnight, Black Cat entered the trailer through the cat door and jumped up on the bed and said " MEOW!". I believe that meant, "okay, dude...I'm all yours!" We've been together ever since and he is the most affectionate cat I've had so far. We communicate so well, he almost speaks English. He is truly an amazing cat. Well, after disappearing for just over 2 weeks now, I had resigned myself that he was dead. At 3am this morning, he came in meowing to let everyone know he was back. I could not believe my eyes! He is pretty skinny, but he ate well and doesn't appear to be damaged, although he has a faint medical smell about him. He slept the whole night next to me and nuzzled me like someone who has just been released from a prison. I have to assume that he got locked up somewhere by accident. But how does an animal survive for two weeks without food, and especially, water. And it has been below freezing most of the time since he disappeared with one brief day or two where it went down to zero. Simply amazing! And I will never know what happened to him. He gets a trip to the vet Monday to be checked out. Nice to have my furry child home again.

46 Of 50 States Could File Bankruptcy In 2009-2010

http://freedomarizona.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/46-of-50-states-could-file-bankruptcy-in-2009-2010/

ANOTHER ARTICLE BY KARL

When I was 23, and thought I had gotten my girlfriend pregnant (she wasn't, just a young hysterical, hormonally off schedule young lady), I asked my father, (who had divorced my mother when I was two years old and had moved to Arizona to get away from her), for some money to get an abortion in Mexico,(That's where you went in 1967), he gave me his only 'fatherly advice' (I had almost no interaction with him in my entire life). He said, "keep your pecker in your pants!" I never forgot that advice. I didn't follow it...but I never forgot it. I returned the check he sent me, uncashed. Here's the link to Karl's article. http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/760-What-The-Nation-Is-Up-Against.html CREDIT TO GEIST FOR THE LINK

MUST READ...BY KARL DENNINGER

CREDIT TO GEIST FOR THE LINK THE END IS NEAR FOLKS... BETTER HAVE ALL YOUR PERSONAL DEFENSES IN PLACE AND DON'T TAKE ANY CHANCES WHEN OUT IN PUBLIC. http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/759-Here-It-Comes.html

WATCH THIS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZsY1rFr_yw

THURSDAY 1/29/09 TO ALL MY READERS

You've probably noticed that my postings on this blog have been slowing lately. I AM EXHAUSTED! Beyond the normal things I have to do, and all the winter problems, I have managed to enter some trades that required me to monitor them over night to prevent getting wiped out. Last night was one such night. In the last three days, I would be lucky to have gotten more than four hours sleep, AND NOT CONSECUTIVE HOURS! I will certainly get back to posting more regularly as Spring approaches and lightens up the winter duties and problems I have to deal with. Each weekend I intend to do things which I have been postponing because I simply HAVE to recharge my batteries and get a few hours of mental downtime. Having only Saturday and a part of Sunday before the markets open up again, leaves me very little time to have a life away from in front of a computer screen. Bear with me. I will find a way to more efficiently provide you with critical information and insight into the developing catastrophe that is slowly consuming us all. By now, you regular readers should be developing minds of your own so that you should be able to see what is happening all by yourselves. You already know how to deal with it, regardless of your financial positions. You simply have to do what you have to do with what you have. In the end, what will happen will happen. There is no guarantee of a happy ending in life. In fact, few endings are happy. Your choice is to leave this life having handled your affairs with responsibility so you don't leave unnecessary burdens on your loved ones who WILL be surviving you and will be FORCED to deal with conditions far worse than you will have to endure.

THE NEW WORLD ORDER BOYS AND GIRLS ARE MEETING IN DAVOS, SWITZERLAND TO PLAN OUR EXTINCTION

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 Updated at 27 January 2009 23:56 Moscow Time. The Moscow Times » Issue 4073 » Frontpage Top Putin to Seek New Economic Order at Davos 28 January 2009 By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will call for a change in the world economic order and deliver his assessment of what caused the global economic debacle in an opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday night. URL: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/373943.htm

THESE MAGNETS (JIM'S ANGELS) PULL THE GOLD PRICE TO THEM, UP OR DOWN

Gold’s Upcoming Magnets Posted: Jan 26 2009 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: January 26, 2009 at 7:39 pm Dear CIGAs, The next two magnets for Gold above $887.50 are the following: 1. $1060 2. $1245

GOLDTRADER WANTS TO KNOW

Please tell me what part(s) of the three blogs I have that you use regularly, or even occasionally. If occasionally, how often Do you only scan the charts on Goldtrader's Group? Do you read Goldtrader Comments? Do you visit the blogs but do not want to comment on anything? Or do you comment and want others to comment more? Any more ideas? I have had to reduce many of my usual posts due to lack of time. I have had little time to do much more than trade, sleep and fix things that have broken this winter. If I can get my life in order when winter lets up, my posts should increase. Right now I limit my most important posts to the charts and comments on Goldtrader's Group and any very important articles for Goldtrader Comments. Of course, I read all your posts on TalkbacktoGoldtrader and respond when appropriate or necessary. PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS POST BY CLICKING ON 'comments' DO NOT POST YOUR COMMENTS ON TALKBACKTOGOLDTRADER. This will help me keep them grouped here and allow you all to see what others have to say. GT

FROM CASEY RESEARCH 1/23/09

SECRECY NEWS ON THE O'BOMBA 'NEW ERA OF OPENESS'

GO TO THE BLOG TO SEE, AND USE, THE LINKS WITHIN THIS ARTICLE. LOTS OF GOOD INFO HERE, AND A GOOD SITE TO SUBSCRIBE TO FOR THEIR FREE EMAIL. YOU WILL LEARN LOTS ABOUT THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED ABOUT OUR GUV'MINT Format Note: If you cannot easily read the text below, or you prefer to receive Secrecy News in another format, please reply to this email to let us know. SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Volume 2009, Issue No. 7 January 22, 2009 Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/ Support Secrecy News http://www.fas.org/sgp/donate.html ** PRESIDENT OBAMA DECLARES "A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS" ** VARIOUS RESOURCES PRESIDENT OBAMA DECLARES "A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS" In a breathtaking series of statements and executive actions, President Barack Obama yesterday announced "the beginning of a new era of openness in our country." "For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," he told reporters at a January 21 swearing-in ceremony. "The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed" (a paraphrase of the October 2001 policy statement of former Attorney General John Ashcroft). "That era is now over." "Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known," President Obama said. Moreover, "I will also hold myself, as president, to a new standard of openness.... Information will not be withheld just because I say so. It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well-grounded in the Constitution." "Let me say it as simply as I can. Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." Accordingly, the President issued several new policy statements. A new policy on Freedom of Information directed that "All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure" and called for the Attorney General to develop new FOIA guidelines reflecting that principle. A broader statement on Transparency and Open Government directed agencies to "harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public," and ordered preparation of recommendations for an Open Government Directive. A new executive order rescinded an order issued by former President Bush that imposed increased restrictions on public access to presidential records. The whole package gained immense force from the fact that it was presented on the President's first full day in office. (By comparison, the Clinton and Bush Administrations did not get around to addressing FOIA policy until October of their first year in office.) The actions closely tracked the recommendations of openness advocates, and they represented a personal commitment to openness and accountability that goes far beyond what any previous President has dared to offer. Inevitably, several caveats are in order. A "presumption of disclosure" really only applies to records that are potentially subject to discretionary release, which is a finite subset of secret government information. Vast realms of information are sequestered behind classification barriers or statutory protections that remain unaffected by the new policy statements. "In the face of doubt, openness prevails," the President said. But throughout the government secrecy system, there is not a lot of doubt or soul-searching about the application of secrecy. For example, last week Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., the director of the ODNI Intelligence Staff, denied a FOIA request for declassification and release of the 2006 intelligence budget total, even though the 2007 and 2008 budget numbers have already been officially disclosed (Secrecy News, January 14). According to ODNI, the 2006 number is still classified, and its disclosure would compromise intelligence sources and methods. The problem here is not that doubt mistakenly yielded to secrecy instead of disclosure. The problem is that General Burgess and his colleagues cling to an obsolete and counterproductive classification framework. Unfortunately President Obama's new directives do not yet encompass the needed overhaul of the national security classification system. That may have to wait another day or two. VARIOUS RESOURCES "The Bush administration has left in its wake a demoralized national-security press corps, battered by leak investigations, subpoena-happy prosecutors, and a shift in the legal and wider culture away from the previous understanding of journalism's mission and First Amendment protections," writes Laura Rozen in the Columbia Journalism Review. See her story "Hung Out to Dry" along with a series of other articles on openness and secrecy. "Secrecy" by Peter Galison and Robb Moss, a movie that critically examined the national security secrecy system from several contrasting perspectives, is now available on DVD. It premiered last year to appreciative reviews. Attorney Sheldon I. Cohen represented a naturalized American of Israeli origin who was initially denied a security clearance after he said that he would not bear arms against Israel in the event of a conflict between Israel and the United States. Mr. Cohen describes the resolution of the case in a new write-up (pdf). The admiration that many Americans feel for President Obama is celebrated and ridiculed in a new anthology of Obama speeches and writings, published in the form of a "Little Blue Book" that "easily fits into pocket or purse." President Obama's "guiding principles will enlighten the minds of the people and prepare the way for a new era of change," the booklet promises. "In order to master the President's ideology, it is essential to study many of the basic concepts over and over again, and it is best to memorize important statements and apply them repeatedly." _______________________________________________ Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists. The Secrecy News Blog is at: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/ Secrecy News is archived at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html _______________________ Steven Aftergood Project on Government Secrecy Federation of American Scientists web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html email: saftergood@fas.org voice: (202)454-4691

GOLD SEEK ARTICLE 1/21/09

CREDIT TO FASTGT FOR THE LINK: Questions Begging Answers Posted Tuesday, 20 January 2009 By: Rob Kirby To say that markets have been behaving “strangely” recently is an understatement. In recent weeks and months we’ve been witness to historic lows in sovereign interest rates in-the-face-of record amounts of debt being issued by governments? We’ve seen the price of gold behave counter intuitively by “not rising” in-the-face-of unprecedented systemic global economic malaise? Last, but not least, we’ve witnessed a “complete flip-flop” in the traditional pricing of Brent Crude Oil [IPE-London] versus West Texas Intermediate [NYMEX-N.Y.]? So we have the price of gold, the price of crude oil and interest rates – three items vital to the integrity of the U.S. Dollar - ALL trading in total disregard for their underlying fundamentals? FOR THE REST, GO TO: http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1232485460.php

FROM MAUREEN DOWD, NY TIMES ON W'S DEPARTURE

Op-Ed Columnist Exit the Boy King By MAUREEN DOWD Published: January 20, 2009 WASHINGTON Not since Klaatu landed in a flying saucer on the Ellipse has Washington been so mesmerized by an object whirring through the sky. But this one was departing, not arriving. As W. ceased to be president, he flew off over the Capitol and across the Mall en route to Andrews Air Force Base, and then back to Texas. I’ve seen many presidents come and go, but I’ve never watched a tableau like the one Tuesday, when four million eyes turned heavenward, following the helicopter’s path out of town. Everyone, it seemed, was waving goodbye, with one or two hands, a wave that moved westward down the Mall toward the Lincoln Memorial, and keeping their eyes fixed unwaveringly on that green bird. They wanted to make absolutely, positively certain that W. was gone. It was like a physical burden being lifted, like a sigh went up of “Thank God. Has Cheney’s wheelchair left the building, too?” The crowd was exuberant that George Bush was now an ex-president, and 43 himself was jovial “the way he always is,” according to his last press secretary, Dana Perino. It was like a catharsis in Greek drama, with the antagonist plucked out of the scene into the sky, and the protagonist dropping into the scene to magically fix all the problems. Except Barack Obama’s somber mien and restrained oratory conveyed that he’s no divinity and there will be no easy resolution to this plot. It was a morning of such enormous emotion and portent — jaw-dropping, Dow-dropping and barrier-dropping — that even the cool new president had to feel daunted to see his blocks-long motorcade and two million hope-besotted faces beaming up at him, dreaming that he can save their shirts. The optimism was tempered by pessimism, a vibe of “Maybe this once-in-a-lifetime guy can do it, but boy, there are a lot of never-in-our-lifetime problems here.” Unlike W., Obama is a realist. He knows there is the potential of letting all these blissed-out people down. The day had its jittery moments: Teddy Kennedy’s collapse and Robert Byrd’s distraught reaction. There was also that match of the titan smarty-pants — the new Democratic president face to face with the conservative chief justice he voted against. First John Roberts had to say, Easy, cowboy, after Mr. Obama jumped the gun on “I” at the start of the oath of office. Then the president, who had obviously been looking over his lines, graciously offered the chief justice a chance to correct his negligent syntax, when he put the “faithfully” and other words out of place. Under the platform, near where I sat, Denzel Washington, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and P. Diddy looked on proudly as the new commander in chief showed he was in command of the script and the country. After thanking President Bush “for his service to our nation,” Mr. Obama executed a high-level version of Stephen Colbert’s share-the-stage smackdown of W. at the White House correspondents’ dinner in 2006. With W. looking on, and probably gradually realizing with irritation, as he did with Colbert, who Mr. Obama’s target was — (Is he talking about me? Is 44 saying I messed everything up?) — the newly minted president let him have it: “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” he said to wild applause (and to Bartlett’s), adding: “Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.” He said America is choosing hope over fear, unity over discord, setting aside “false promises” and “childish things.” Letting a little air out of the highest hopes about what one man, even “The One,” can do, he emphasized the word “our.” He stressed that rebuilding after the wreckage of W. and Cheney will be a shared burden and that “giving our all to a difficult task” isn’t as bad as it sounds. I grew up here, and it was the first time I’ve ever seen the city wholly, happily integrated, with a mood redolent of New York in the weeks after 9/11. The Obamas have made an unprecedented pledge to get involved in the real city that lies beyond the political Oz, and have already started doing so in many ways, including starting the night out at the D.C. Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. Downtown was a euphoric pedestrian mall of commerce and communal kindness. The patience that America is extending to Mr. Obama, according to a Times poll, was reflected across the capital, as the cram of people sparked warmth rather than antsiness. Strollers laughed as a peddler in a Rasta hat hawked his “Barack Obama incense.” And revelers stepped up to a spot where you could pick out a colored magic marker and complete posters that began, “Mr. President, I hope for ...” Entries ranged from “burning less oil” to “healthcare for all” to “a cure for cancer” to this lofty and entirely understandable sentiment: “a sick inauguration party.”

MOST LIQUID ASSETS

WATCH THIS 'FRONTLINE VIDEO' TONIGHT (in the wee hours) IF POSSIBLE

I watched "Dreams of Obama" last night, a one hour Frontline program, which you may be able to watch on the internet by going to PBS and searching for the Frontline Programs. It's re-playing in the wee hours (4am pst) tonight as listed on my cable listings on my Spokane PBS station (KPBS). It may be showing in your local area too. It showed just how premeditated Mr. O'bomb'a is, and has been, in his quest for a position of POWER. He is NOT the 'cool dude' you think he is. NO ONE gets to positions of power without catering to the whims and wants of OTHER POWERFUL PEOPLE and ORGANIZATIONS. Mr. O'bomb'a will merely finish off the hyperinflation of the DOLLAR money supply as he FUTILY attempts to avoid the INEVITABLE COLLAPSE of our economy and eventually the economy of the ENTIRE WORLD! The fact that he is a master at EVOKING EMOTIONS in his followers, has NOTHING TO DO with his ability(ies) to remedy the damages ALREADY DONE to our monetary system. His apparent affinity with Abraham Lincoln is NOT A PLUS! Please use this Archive listing for THOMAS DILORENZO: http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo-arch.html which will give you some insight into the TRUE Abraham Lincoln. Jim Sinclair today said that Lincoln was the BLUEPRINT for the Bush/Cheney Regime. Lincoln was a traitor to our Constitution. Everything you have been taught about him is just part of the MASSIVE GUV'MINT PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN you have lived under SINCE YOUR BIRTH! O'Bomb'a is just using that propaganda to appeal to your emotions to get your support. HE WILL FAIL MISERABLY given his stated remedies to THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM THAT CAN'T 'be fixed' without PAYING OUR DEBT. See the article below from THE DAILY RECKONING which clearly states that any FIX is just adding to the problem. THE ONLY 'FIX' is to PAY THE DEBT NOW and SUFFER THE PRICE AND PAIN.

THIS SAYS WHAT I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN, AND SAVES ME THE TIME

FROM THE DAILY RECKONING Wall Street Snubs Obama London, England Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Euphoria was almost universal yesterday...except on Wall Street. “Dad, don’t pick on Obama,” said Maria, calling from California. “I watched the inauguration yesterday. It was moving. Really moving. They seem like such nice people...and they really want to do what’s right. At least, that’s the way it seems to me...” We watched the TV news. The British press focused on the race issue. Blacks interviewed by the BBC spoke of the ‘historic moment’...of the dreams of Martin Luther King finally realized...of a new era of race relations. There were hoorahs and tears... We were never fond of racism, so we weren’t especially tearful upon reading the obituaries for it. Besides, we’re a little suspicious of the coroner’s report. We’d like to see the toe tag, just to be sure. Still, everyone wants Obama to succeed. His mother and grandmother, looking down from heaven. His relatives in Kenya. His party. His country. The entire world. Even we hardened cynics here at The Daily Reckoning wish him well. But we weren’t born yesterday. And neither was the stock market. The man who got the warmest welcome ever from the press and the public got the rudest brush off from Wall Street. It was the worst sell-off for an Inauguration Day in history. The Dow fell 332 points. Oil traded around $40. The dollar strengthened...to $1.28 per euro. O! Bama! Where is thy bounce? Perhaps it is already over. From their low in November, to their high a couple weeks ago, stocks worldwide recovered about a quarter of what they had lost. Now, they seem to be going down again. We don’t know what the stock market sees, but we see a lot more trouble coming. Houses in Southern California are down 35% from their peak. Japan says its economy is “worsening rapidly.” “Air France warns loss is likely” is one headline in Europe this morning; “German retailer to cut as many as 15,000 jobs,” is another. But the big news is in the banking sector. U.S. banks are “effectively insolvent,” says Nouriel Roubini. He figures losses in the United States might rise to $3.6 trillion – most of it in banks and broker-dealers. Which leaves the sector a little short. The banking system in the United States only has $1.4 trillion in capital. Last week, Bank of America posted a quarterly loss of $1.79 billion...the first loss it’s taken in 18 years. Citigroup out-did it, with a loss of $8.29 billion for the last quarter of ’08. As in Japan in the ’90s, the economic boat cannot right itself until this bilge is dumped overboard. But the feds are against it – fighting the correction with every tool they’ve got. Obama says his team with be “bold and swift” in its efforts to deal with the problem. But the action they take will be timid and slow. That is, they will try to hold on...to protect what we have...to prevent change at all costs. “Yes we can!” they will say. But they can’t make the mistakes of an entire generation disappear – especially if they try to prevent a correction. The truly bold and swift solution, on the other hand, would probably get him impeached. It would be to simply announce that the Obama government was letting nature take her course. No more bailouts. No more stimulus packages. No more federal guarantees or ‘refund checks.’ “Keynes is dead,” Obama should say; “the bankers will get what they deserve.” In a matter of days, the whole banking sector would go bust...along with GM (more about that, below)...and thousands of businesses all over the country. Millions of people would lose their jobs. Stocks would crash down to 3,000 on the Dow...maybe lower. There would be keening by widows, whose husbands had jumped in front of trains or slit their wrists...there would be gnashing of teeth by millions, whose hopes of getting something for nothing were suddenly dashed...there would be mobs in the street and revolution in the air. A few days later, banks that were still solvent would pick up the pieces of those that had gone bust. And gradually, the economy would pick up...building on a much more solid base. But don’t trouble yourself about it, dear reader. That won’t happen. Instead, Mr. Obama will take the more cautious route... More below. *** What can the Obama team really do? He plans a rescue for banks – above and beyond the $825 billion fiscal stimulus. He will “reform” health care – our guess is that he will want to make a system of European-style national health care his legacy contribution. He will offer more guarantees, more bailouts, more stimulus. He will probably turn the banks into quasi-public utilities...heavily regulated, with little appetite for risk and little taste for capitalism. “Creeping nationalization,” is how Bloomberg describes the process. In Britain, the Royal Bank of Scotland will serve as a ‘guinea pig.’ It’s lost 3/4 of its share value in the last two days. The government will keep it alive...but it will become a ‘zombie’ – more dead than alive...more ward of the state than independent financial institution. Of course, these fixes will do more harm than good. They will retard, delay, and detour the inevitable correction. Which will cause the Obama Administration to turn to other, more desperate measures. Here’s the real story... Yesterday’s front page headline from the Financial Times : “Treasury gives go-ahead to ‘print money.’” We felt like saving the paper. Like the Times edition that announced the German invasion of Poland in 1940, it is probably the start of something big. Something catastrophic.

JACOB HORNBERGER OF FFF.ORG COMMENTS ON THE O'BOMBA REGIME

USE THIS URL TO SEE, AND USE, THE LINKS WITHIN THE ARTICLE: http://www.fff.org/blog/index.asp Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Hitler Favored Self-Sacrifice Too by Jacob G. Hornberger The mainstream press is aglow over President Obama’s call for Americans to sacrifice for the common good. Obama’s plea mimics that of President Franklin Roosevelt, who asked Americans to do the same thing as part of his New Deal for America in the 1930s. Back then, it was someone else who was aglow over the president’s call for people to sacrifice for the common good: “The Reich chancellor requests Mr. Dodd to present his greetings to President Roosevelt. He congratulates the president upon his heroic effort in the interest of the American people. The president’s successful struggle against economic distress is being followed by the entire German people with interest and admiration. The Reich chancellor is in accord with the president that the virtues of sense of duty, readiness for sacrifice, and discipline must be the supreme rule of the whole nation. This moral demand, which the president is addressing to every single citizen, is only the quintessence of German philosophy of the state, expressed in the motto “The public weal before the private gain.” —from a letter Adolf Hitler sent to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Dodd on March 14, 1934, as quoted in John Toland’s book Adolf Hitler: The Definite Biography. “The chief Nazi newspaper, Volkischer Beobachter, repeatedly praised ‘Roosevelt’s adoption of National Socialist strains of thought in his economic and social policies’ and ‘the development toward an authoritarian state’ based on the ‘demand that collective good be put before individual self-interest.’ —from a review entitled “Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt: What FDR Had in Common with the Other Charismatic Collectivists of the 30s” by David Boaz of Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt’s America, Mussolini’s Italy, and Hitler’s Germany by Wolfgang Schivelbusch. In libertarian contradistinction: “I have come here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life.... It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing….It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.” —from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

MONKEY BUSINESS

Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He next announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch one! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each." The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys for 700 billion dollars. They never saw the man or his assistant again, only lots and lots of monkeys! Now you have a better understanding of how the WALL STREET BAILOUT PLAN WILL WORK !!!! It doesn't get much clearer than this................

ARE YOU A DEMOCRAT, A REPUBLICAN...OR A REDNECK?

Here is a little test that will help you decide. The answer can be found by posing the following question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you. You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do? ............................................................ THINK CAREFULLY AND THEN SCROLL DOWN: Democrat's Answer : Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed ? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the pistol have appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children? Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 9-1-1? Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have paint and weed day and make this happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this over a nice Chablis with some friends for few days and try to come to a consensus. .................................................................... Republican's Answer: BANG! ............................................................... Redneck's Answer: BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click..... (Sounds of reloading) BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click Daughter: 'Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?! ' Son: 'Can I shoot the next one?!' Wife: 'You ain't taking that to the Taxidermist!

FROM ROBERT FISK ON GAZA, THE INTERNATIONAL PIECES ALWAYS FIT TOGETHER, DON'T THEY?...GT

URL:http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21794.htm So, I asked the UN secretary general, isn't it time for a war crimes tribunal? Mr Ban said it would not be up to him to launch a war crimes tribunal. It was pathetic By Robert Fisk: January 19, 2009 "The Independent" -- -- - It's a wrap, a doddle, an Israeli ceasefire just in time for Barack Obama to have a squeaky-clean inauguration with all the world looking at the streets of Washington rather than the rubble of Gaza. Condi and Ms Livni thought their new arms-monitoring agreement – reached without a single Arab being involved – would work. Ban Ki-moon welcomed the unilateral truce. The great and the good gathered for a Sharm el-Sheikh summit. Only Hamas itself was not consulted. Which led, of course, to a few wrinkles in the plan. First, before declaring its own ceasefire, Hamas fired off more rockets at Israel, proving that Israel's primary war aim – to stop the missiles – had failed. Then Cairo shrugged off the deal because no one was going to set up electronic surveillance equipment on Egyptian soil. And not one European leader travelling to the region suggested the survivors might be helped if Israel, the EU and the US ended the food and fuel siege of Gaza. After killing hundreds of women and children, Israel was the good guy again, by declaring a unilateral ceasefire that Hamas was certain to break. But Obama will be smiling on Tuesday. Was not this the reason, after all, why Israel suddenly wanted a truce? Egypt's objections may be theatre – the US spent £18m last year training Egyptian security men to stop arms smuggling into Gaza and since the US bails out Egypt's economy, ignores the corruption of its regime and goes on backing Hosni Mubarak, there's sure to be a "compromise" very soon. And Hamas has had its claws cut. Israel's informers in Gaza handed over the locations of its homes and hideouts and the government of Gaza must be wondering if they can ever close down the spy rings. Hamas thought its militia was the Hizbollah – a serious error – and that the world would eventually come to its aid. The world (although not its pompous leaders) felt enormous pity for the Palestinians, but not for the cynical men of Hamas who staged a coup in Gaza in 2007 which killed 151 Palestinians. As usual, the European statesmen appeared hopelessly out of touch with what their own electorates thought. And history was quite forgotten. The Hamas rockets were the result of the food and fuel siege; Israel broke Hamas's own truce on 4 and 17 November. Forgotten is the fact Hamas won the 2006 elections, although Israel has killed a clutch of the victors. And there'll be little time for the peacemakers of Sharm el-Sheikh to reflect on the three UN schools targeted by the Israelis and the slaughter of the civilians inside. Poor old Ban Ki-moon. He tried to make his voice heard just before the ceasefire, saying Israel's troops had acted "outrageously" and should be "punished" for the third school killing. Some hope. At a Beirut press conference, he admitted he had failed to get a call through to Israel's Foreign Minister to complain. It was pathetic. When I asked Mr Ban if he would consider a UN war crimes tribunal in Gaza, he said this would not be for him to "determine". But only a few journalists bothered to listen to him and his officials were quickly folding up the UN flag on the table. About time too. Bring back the League of Nations. All is forgiven. What no one noticed yesterday – not the Arabs nor the Israelis nor the portentous men from Europe – was that the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting last night was opening on the 90th anniversary – to the day – of the opening of the 1919 Paris peace conference which created the modern Middle East. One of its main topics was "the borders of Palestine". There followed the Versailles Treaty. And we know what happened then. The rest really is history. Bring on the ghosts.

FROM JACOB HORNBERGER, FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Sacrificing Iraqis for the Greater Good by Jacob G. Hornberger It seems that Barack Obama is going to take his time withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Actually this shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that Obama is as much a welfare-state man as George W. Bush. Welfare state, you ask? What does devotion to the welfare state have to do with Iraq? Most Americans exuberantly supported the invasion of Iraq based on a theory of self-defense. Through a clever use of propaganda, innuendo, and implication, the president, vice president, and other high U.S. officials led Americans into believing that Saddam Hussein was about to unleash weapons of mass destruction, including mushroom clouds, on the United States. Thus, while Americans knew that the invasion would kill and maim countless Iraqis, they justified such killings as a necessary thing to do to defend the United States from an imminent WMD attack by Iraq. However, when it became clear that the WMD threat was bogus, many Americans remained exuberant supporters of the invasion and occupation. What they did is simply shift the principle rationale for killing Iraqis from one of self-defense to one of welfare — that is, helping the Iraqi people to establish democracy, something that they were having trouble doing on their own. Thus, once it became clear that the WMD threat had been baseless, there was no remorse over the killing, maiming, and torture of Iraqis up to that point. Instead, Americans quickly accepted the president’s alternative justification for invading Iraq: We’re doing it to bring democracy to Iraq and, therefore, it’s okay to continue killing Iraqis in the pursuit of that goal. Through it all, there was never an upper limit to the number of Iraqis who could be killed in the attempt to bring democracy to their country. All that mattered was the greater good of Iraqi society. The sacrifices that had to be made by the Iraqi people to achieve that goal were only of secondary concern. Hardly a week goes by without some newspaper article or speech referring to the 4,000 American soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq. Every Sunday in churches across America, ministers exhort their congregations to pray for the troops in Iraq. The troops are considered to be heroes for risking their lives in the attempt to bring democracy to Iraq. Yet, when do you ever hear any laments for the millions of Iraqi victims of the invasion and occupation — that is, those who have been killed, maimed, tortured, and exiled? Hardly ever. They are simply considered the necessary costs of bringing democracy to their country. And no price is too high to pay in terms of Iraqi deaths and injuries to achieve that goal. As we witness President Obama dragging his feet on ordering an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq, we shouldn’t forget that the principle justification that President Clinton relied upon for the brutal sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people during his term in office was the same welfare-state function that Bush ultimately relied upon to justify his invasion. When asked by “Sixty Minutes” whether the deaths of half-a-million children from the sanctions had been worth it, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright provided the Clinton’s administration’s welfare-state position:: “We think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.” She was referring to the price that Iraqi children had to pay in the U.S. attempt to bring regime change to Iraq. That’s what passes for morality in the mind of the welfare-statist — the propriety of sacrificing some for the greater good of all. It’s that perverse “morality” that has been used to justify more than 15 years of death, maiming, torture, and destruction in Iraq. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

FROM CASEY RESEARCH: O'BOMBA'S NEWER DEAL

http://caseyresearch.com/pdfs/20090116_ObamaNewerDeal.pdf NINE PAGE PDF

THE MOGAMBO GURU SAYS "GAAAAAAH"

FROM THE DAILY RECKONING JAN 20, 2009 A WORLD OF FINANCIAL FREELOADERS by The Mogambo Guru I was reading Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin at PrudentBear.com and I gulped in surprise and fear as he quotes Market News International as reporting that "The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that the fiscal year 2009 deficit will be $1.186 trillion" which, as bad as it looks, is actually on the low side of projections! Yikes! Even more horrifically, I have seen other people calculating that the budget deficit will range upwards to $2 trillion, and maybe more. Maybe much more! I say this because I thought I had become a hardened veteran of the government and the Federal Reserve acting like morons, and I had bravely resigned myself to the collapse that such idiocy deserved. As a result, I had a swagger in my step and a sneer in my voice to prove it, but now, this prospect of a multi-trillion dollar budget deficit caused me to have a little "accident" in my pants at the news that the federal budget, which was already scheduled to be $3 trillion before any of this stuff happened, is now going to have a deficit of trillions of dollars, all in an economy that is only about $13 trillion! Gaaaahhhh! I am freaking out here! I keep thinking to myself that this is so Freaking Much Money (FMM) that it would only cost $2 trillion to give $10,000 in cash to every one of the 200 million adults in the whole damned country! Gaaahhhhh! I seem to remember, and police reports confirm, that this horrific news sent me screaming into the night, shouting not only, "Gaaaahhhh!" but also, "We're freaking doomed, you morons! Buy gold and protect yourselves from Mother Nature's Backlash (MNB) against your constantly acting stupid by electing spendthrift, promise-them-everything morons to government office, who have allowed the Federal Reserve to create so much money and credit to accommodate government deficit-spending that that government has now spent you into debtor's hell to support a government So Freaking Huge (SFH) that the total of government spending constitutes half - half! - of all spending in the freaking country! Half!" Somewhere around 52nd Avenue I am heard saying, "And you have spent yourself to a debtor's hell as well, you morons, by buying your own debt to fund your own stupid retirement plans, which is akin to trying to make money by eating one's own, ummm, poop, you morons!!" Fortunately, I calmed down before the police could actually arrive and catch me in the act of disturbing the peace or actually making threats against my neighbor who is so stupid that he will not buy gold, no matter what I do, or even shut up long enough to listen to me when I am trying to politely explain to him what a moron he is for not doing as I tell him. And the reason that I calmed down was because I suddenly thought to myself, "Whoa! I sure as hell could use $10,000 for myself, and a nice $20,000 for being married; filing jointly for a wad of lovely, lovely cash would be lovely, too!" And then, as another benefit of giving money to people, I thought of older people who've had their damned grown children move "back home" to live with them, all crammed into the one house, sometimes dragging their kids along; but if you kick them out to live in their stupid car like they deserve, even offering to let them use the garden hose outback to clean up, everybody yells at me and calls me names, like I did something wrong! But with a $20,000 windfall between them, you would feel vindicated, and indeed righteous, to kick them the hell out of your house! "Get lost, parasites!" Hahahaha! Sweet! But apparently the "shocking" quality of this $1.186 trillion budget deficit has given the CBO a sudden clairvoyance, because they figure that the budget deficit will, somehow (they don't explain how, or why), "decline to $703 billion in FY10", which I mention only because I thought I could turn it into some scathing sarcasm of some kind before I lost interest in it, but, then again, a $703 billion budget deficit is still nothing to sneeze at! Even so, the article goes on, "The CBO report almost certainly understates the severity of the nation's fiscal woes", because. "For example, the CBO report does not account for the emerging fiscal stimulus bill that may cost more than $800 billion over two years" which brings us up to a budget deficit of $1.98 trillion! And while you are gasping for breath at the horror of it all, it certainly does not even take into account the inevitable hundreds of billions of dollars in "supplemental appropriations" that Congress routinely authorizes all year, every year, and which in the last 12 months amounted to more than an incredible $1.4 trillion dollars of additional public debt, and which now stands at the unbelievable sum of $10.635 trillion, in an economy that is only $13 trillion, where now these weenies are proposing to borrow and spend another $2 trillion freaking dollars! Gaaahhh! We are so freaking doomed! Those who are paranoid enough, smart enough or lucky enough to be sitting on piles of gold, silver and oil are no doubt sitting cool right about now, while those who are not similarly paranoid enough or well-stocked with gold, silver and oil must be going freaking nuts and their hearts are hammering boom, boom, boom as they watch their own destruction approaching. And as a guy who has some of all three, I say, "Whee! This investing stuff is easy!" Until next time, The Mogambo Guru for The Daily Reckoning

FROM THE DAILY RECKONING JAN 20, 2009

EXCERPT: Tomorrow, the man called Obama takes up the president's job. Poor man. He seems like a decent sort. A shame...something like that happening to him. But he hung around with the wrong crowd - lowbred types in high political circles - and look where it has gotten him. Tomorrow, he'll be called upon to stand before a hundred million viewers, put his hand on a Bible, and lie. To the question - will he swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States America - he will give the answer he has rehearsed. Yes, I can! Then, like almost every American president since John Quincy Adams, he will ignore it. But before we return to tomorrow, let's turn back to yesterday...or, Friday. So far this year, stocks are down nearly 7%. But at least the Dow bounced a little at the end of last week - up 68 points. Oil held at $42. And dollar was steady at $1.33 per euro. The excitement on Friday was in the gold market - the yellow stuff bounced $32. Why would gold go up...when the world economy is clearly going down? We don't know. But if we were Mr. Obama, we'd approach this new job like renting a car from a disreputable agency. We'd want to take a good look and take note of all the dents ands defects before driving off the lot. We wouldn't want to get charged for the previous drivers' mishaps! The founding charter of the U.S.A. made no allowance for going into the banking business...nor the auto business...nor any other kind of business. Neither did it allow invasions of foreign countries, without a declaration of war...or imagine a standing army that costs about as much as all the rest of the world's armies put together. In the beginning, the U.S. government was specifically limited in what it could do. Now, very little remains that it can't do. But in all matters - big or small...torturing people or taking their money - government leaders must pretend to be acting in the national interest. It's a low-down, dirty business that usually attracts people of the same sort. People like George W. Bush and Joseph Biden...people with no sense or no principles - or neither. People who don't know a lie when they hear it or...don't mind telling one. That's why we're sorry to see Obama in the trade; he seems like such a nice fellow. But politics...alas, someone's got to do it. As the old Latin expression puts it: The voters want to be deceived; then let them be deceived.

THIS CAN REPRODUCED FOR SIGNS, T-SHIRTS, ETC

GO TO THIS SITE FOR THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE IMAGE: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/arrestbush.htm

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PARDONING POWER

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40128.pdf 9 PAGE PDF

1/18/09 MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

USE THIS LINK: http://www.cmegroup.com/tools-information/holiday-calendar/files/2009-martin-luther-king.pdf GLOBEX will trade starting at 3:00pm pst Sunday afternoon 1/18/09

CELEBRATE THE BUSH ERA WITH THE NEW BUSH COINS

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/253.html

COURTESY OF GOLDMELTER

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." - John Adams "If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." - Mark Twain "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress . . . But then I repeat myself." - Mark Twain "I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." - Winston Churchill "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw "A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money." - G Gordon Liddy "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." - James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994) "Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." - Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian "Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850) "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." - Ronald Reagan (1986) "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." - Will Rogers "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!" - P.J. O'Rourke "In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other." - Voltaire (1764) "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!" - Pericles (430 B.C.) "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." - Mark Twain (1866) "Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it." – Anon =0 D "The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." - Ronald Reagan "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing20of misery." - Winston Churchill "The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin." - Mark Twain "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools." - Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903) "There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress." - Mark Twain "What this country needs are more unemployed politicians." - Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995) "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

I.O.U.S.A (30 minute version)

CREDIT TO GEIST FOR THE LINK http://www.iousathemovie.com/

DANGER, DANGER, DANGER, YOU ARE WARNED! DON'T ANSWER ANY MESSAGES FROM PERSONS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE!

CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR THE WARNING. IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT AREA CODE 809 We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code . The woman said 'Hey, this is Karen . Sorry I missed you--get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.' Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809 We didn't respond. Then this week, we received the following e-mail: Do Not DIAL AREA CODE 809 , 284 , AND 876 THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809 This one is being distributed all over the US .... This is pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get you to call. =0 ABe sure you read this and pass it on. They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc. In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls. If you call from the U.S. , you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute. Or, you'll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you'll often be charged more than $24,100.00 . WHY IT WORKS: The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (The Bahamas). The charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong. Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam. AT&T ALSO SAYS TRUE http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045 SNOPES SAYS A LSO IT'S TRUE: http://www.snopescom/fraud/telephone/809.asp

TIC REPORT FOR JANUARY 16, 2009

REMEMBER THAT OUR DEBT IS DECREASED BY A WEAKER DOLLAR. January 16, 2009 hp-1357 Treasury International Capital (TIC) Data for November Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for November 2008 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury website (www.treas.gov/tic). The next release, which will report on data for December, is scheduled for February 17, 2009. Net foreign purchases of long-term securities were negative $21.7 billion. Net foreign purchases of long-term U.S. securities were negative $56.0 billion. Of this, net purchases by private foreign investors were negative $18.9 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were negative $37.1 billion. U.S. residents sold a net $34.3 billion of long-term foreign securities. Net foreign acquisition of long-term securities, taking into account adjustments, is estimated to have been negative $33.7 billion. Foreign holdings of dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities, including Treasury bills, and other custody liabilities increased $51.1 billion. Foreign holdings of Treasury bills increased $82.1 billion. Banks' own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents increased $39.4 billion. Monthly net TIC flows were $56.8 billion. Of this, net foreign private flows were $64.7 billion, and net foreign official flows were negative $7.9 billion.

SURVIVING THE DEPRESSION

http://www.sprott.com/pdf/marketsataglance/MAAG.pdf A PDF DOC FROM SPROTT MANAGEMENT

JANUARY 15, 2009 FROM GATA

URL: http://www.gata.org/node/7090 Another analyst predicts a big official revaluation of gold Submitted by cpowell on Thu, 2009-01-15 02:36. Section: Daily Dispatches 9:24p ET Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: In commentary posted tonight at 321Gold, Stewart Thompson, editor of the Graceland Updates financial newsletter and a retired broker for Merrill Lynch, joins those who are predicting a coordinated, international, and massive upward revaluation of gold by central banks to devalue the dollar, stop the hoarding of cash, restart spending, and avert worldwide depression. Thompson acknowledges the need of central banks to control the gold market and expects, upon that revaluation, new controls on gold ownership if not quite confiscation. His commentary is headlined "Is President Obama Wearing a Giant Gold Mask?" and you can find it at 321Gold here: http://www.321gold.com/editorials/thomson_s/thomson_s_011409.html What may be the U.S. Treasury Department's most recent statement on confiscation of gold, silver, and related financial instruments can be found in an exchange of correspondence with GATA in 2005, reposted by GATA in 2007 here: http://www.gata.org/node/5606 In short, the Treasury Department claims the power, under the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917, to prohibit during wartime the private possession of gold and silver bullion and to freeze ownership of gold and silver mining company shares, as well as the power, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and upon a presidential declaration of emergency, to seize or freeze any financial asset, not just those related to gold and silver. The likelihood of such action by the Treasury is arguable, as are the prospects for compliance by the descendants of the men who fought at places like Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Bastogne, Okinawa, the Chosin Reservior, and Khe Sahn. But in any case the Treasury's statement of policy is probably not what Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote that song about "the land of the free and the home of the brave." CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

SPONSOR AN EXECUTIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhP4E4g9aSo

MONDAY 1/12/09 BUSH EXCUSES HIMSELF FOR EVERYTHING

Listening to our pathetically incompetent presidunt this morning, I believe that the unbelievable crap he is babbling to the press core, will be analyzed by professionals in all fields as the true representation of the total ineptitude and stupidity of George W. Bush. The man doesn't qualify to pick up flat cats out of the roadway. What a complete abomination he has been to the Office of the Presidency, the country, and to the entire World. Please shut up George, go back to Dallas or Midland, and wait to be indicted as the War Criminal you are. You have pushed the World backward centuries. History has already judged you...as the greatest FAILURE in history.

DON'T EXPECT OUR ARMY TO PROTECT US AT HOME...BE AFRAID...VERY AFRAID

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 The Real Value of the Standing Army by Jacob G. Hornberger VIEW THIS ARTICLE FROM THE FFF.ORG WEBSITE TO ACCESS THE LINKS WITHIN THE ARTICLE USE THIS URL: http://www.fff.org/blog/index.asp As commentators such as Salon’s Glenn Greenwald and Cato’s Gene Healey have reported, the U.S. military has deployed combat-tested troops to a homeland-defense mission here in the United States. The unit is the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which has just returned from duty in Iraq. The Pentagon is denying that the troops will be used for law-enforcement purposes. That, of course would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military as a domestic police force. However, let’s not forget that ever since 9/11, the Pentagon has considered the domestic United States to be part of the worldwide battleground in the war on terrorism, which has empowered the military to round up Americans as enemy eombatants and treat them accordingly, as they did with American citizen Jose Padilla — that is, with torture and the possibility of indefinite military detention. Thus, given the right circumstances, such as another 9/11 attack, there is nothing to prevent the Pentagon from ordering the 3rd Infantry Division to sweep into cities and towns across America and round up enemy combatants. When confronted by critics with the Posse Comitatus Act, all the Pentagon would have to do in response is declare, “Ever since 9/11, we have possessed the power to treat terrorism as either an act of war or a crime. On authorization of the president, we have declared the people we are rounding up as enemy combatants, not criminals. Therefore, our actions are justified and constitutional. We are protecting our nation and our national security.” And make no mistake about it: The troops would faithfully and loyally obey the orders of the president to effect such round-ups. While the troops take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, in their minds that is equivalent to obeying the orders of their commander in chief. That phenomenon was reflected by the willingness, even eagerness, to obey the president’s orders to invade and occupy Iraq despite the fact that there was no congressional declaration of war, as required by the Constitution. It has also been reflected by the willingness of the troops to establish the Pentagon’s prison camp at Guantanamo Bay for the precise purpose of avoiding the application of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as interference by the federal courts that the Constitution established. We also mustn’t ignore the convenient possibility that those combat troops could also be used to quell domestic unrest arising out of a catastrophic economic crisis, one that has nothing to do with terrorism. For example, suppose a perfect storm of economic chaos were to strike our nation — with an industry-wide banking collapse, a worldwide dumping of U.S. government bonds, a massive run on the dollar, and the financial inability of the federal government to meet all its trillions of dollars in obligations without hyperinflation. Imagine millions of old people angrily demanding their Social Security checks. And millions of sick people angrily demanding their Medicare payments. And millions of people angrily demanding their FDIC checks after their bank has gone under. And millions of angry stockholders who have lost their retirement funds in a stock-market crash. Who better to maintain order than the troops? After all, don’t forget that that’s what President Hoover did when World War I veterans marched on Washington during the Great Depression demanding an early payment of their war bonuses. Hoover sent U.S. troops, who faithfully obeyed orders, to attack the demonstrators and restore order. Don’t forget also the ruthlessness displayed by Franklin Roosevelt, who is an icon for President-elect Obama and other liberals as well as conservatives. His Justice Department criminally prosecuted Americans for owning gold, doing its best to convict them of a felony for committing that dastardly economic crime against the state. That same Justice Department also went after people like the Schechter brothers, who ran a chicken operation in New York, for violating inane New Deal regulations, and did its best to have them incarcerated. At the advent of the Great Depression, it was important for U.S. officials to immediately blame the Depression on the failure of free enterprise. They knew that if Americans were to discover that the 1929 stock-market crash, in which millions of Americans lost fortunes, was actually caused by the federal government, specifically the Federal Reserve, there would be tremendous anger and rage directed against the government. (Of course, we also witnessed this phenomenon immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when U.S. officials blamed the attacks on hatred for America’s freedom and values to avoid having Americans focus on what the U.S. government had been doing to people in the Middle East as part of U.S. foreign policy.) Today, however, many Americans have discovered the truth about the cause of the Great Depression. Even the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, openly admits that the federal government, not free enterprise, was the culprit behind the Great Depression. Thus, if a catastrophic economic crisis there were to occur, federal officials would undoubtedly blame it on the usual suspects — speculators, greed, OPEC, Big Oil, free enterprise, capitalism, businessmen, price gougers, profiteers, and Wall Street. And they know that the average American is just as likely to buy it as Americans did back in the 1930s. But U.S. officials also know that many Americans might well figure out that all that is nonsense and that it’s the government itself once again — and specifically its fiscal and monetary policies — that are the root cause of the catastrophe. In such a case, those combat-ready troops, purportedly stationed to protect Americans from the terrorists, would be conveniently positioned to suppress protests by angry and outraged citizens. Of course, as the Founding Fathers emphasized, that is the real value of a standing army. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

FRIDAY 1/9/09

You've all probably noticed I haven't posted much on this blog for a while. That's because I have been occupied with clearing snow and fixing the damage to my RV Jacks. Very little time to do anything but trade and sleep. Gradually, I will get back to having time to do more reading and posting of important articles for you to read. You should all be aware of the many authors that I recommend you read every day and be reading them already. Circumstances are changing so rapidly...for the worse...that you can't afford to be unaware of the slightest things that are transpiring as our economy, and culture, slip into the pit of no return. Jim Sinclair has recently posted that the DOLLAR IS DEAD ann that, if you don't have some gold by now, you will suffer greatly within SIX MONTHS! No more time to gamble. BUY YOUR GOLD AND SURVIVAL GOODS NOW! Have a productive weekend as you tidy up and fortify up your survival fortresses.

NEWSTOPIA EXPLAINS CENTRAL BANKING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIfH0vY2ANA&eurl=http://whatreallyhappened.com/&feature=player_embedded Australian Comedy News Program parodies Central Banks. 3 and 1/2 minute video. Watch it to the end.

THE SNOW ON THE TRUCKS IS ALMOST GONE

That glop of snow on top of my '85 Ford slid to the side later and hung over the side about a foot and a half before it fell off. If you drive around up here with a bunch of snow on top of your car, you can get a ticket, as it all slides forward over your windshield when you come to a stop. I've had it happen. It sounds like everything in the back of the truck is sliding forward, then all of a sudden your windshield is full of slush and it's usually more than your wipers can clear.

MY LAWN TRACTOR IS COMPLETELY EXPOSED

The snow around the lawn tractor disappeared and the silver tarp blew off in the wind.

MY HARLEY IS BECOMING VISIBLE UNDER THAT LUMP OF SNOW

The speed of the melt off is quite amazing. Rain tonight should speed it up. The snow and melt water is making walking very dangerous. Ice everywhere and NO FRICTION!

FOR PERSPECTIVE ON THE SIZE OF THESE ICE CHUNKS

Even with my hand next to it, it doesn't let you understand just how large these ice chunks are. They are about half the size of the ice you might buy at the market for your ice chest. This one is about one and a half feet long by 4 inches thick by 4 to 6 inches wide.

THE ICE BLOCKS THAT LET LOOSE FROM ABOVE MY FRONT DOOR ALONG THE AWNING TUBE AT THE ROOF LINE

There was a great crash at 2:30am pst this morning. I knew what it was, so I didn't get up to check. Then I got to wondering, as it was windy, and there are big bull pines with lots of dead limbs adjacent to my RV. These are some rather large chunks of ice that would surely do damage to your head if they hit you, falling from a height of at least 6 to 10 feet. This view is from my front door looking straight down at the ice chunks at the bottom of my front door steps.

LOOKING WEST ON MY STREET

The snowplows push the snow to the sides and it shrinks the width of the street. There are deep gullies on both sides which several people have mis-judged and sunk into which tips their cars/trucks about 45 degrees and there is no way they are getting out without a tow. I go out and pull them out with my big 4 wheel drive F350 and a pull strap.

MY 1975 DODGE VAN COVERED WITH ICE AND SNOW

This van hasn't moved for a long time as I am fixing an electrical problem. So this is the amount of snow that has accumulated on it since the start of the storms. I've only knocked off the snow on the hood and windshield a couple of times. A snow cornice is hanging off the back of the roof at least a foot and a half over the rear doors.

THE BUILD UP ON MY AIRSTREAM STORAGE TRAILER

Notice that the front window is gone. Somehow it came out and is buried in the snow. Funny, as it is a hinged window. I haven't had time or energy to dig it out. An Airstream, or similar type trailer, are excellent for gutting and turning into rolling storage units. This one has a workshop table and stores all my tools and a ton of stuff including my old 1974 Kawasaki 900 motorcycle which I am rebuilding. Her name is 'Jezebel' and I put 50,000 miles of heavenly trips on her up into Canada and all over the Western states of the U.S.

THE 7 FOOT T POST STAKES THAT MARK MY ABOVE GROUND GARDEN BOX

The stakes are pounded in about a foot, so they are at least six feet tall. This is NOT the actual snow fall level, as this is where we push the snow from the driveways. However, the actual snow buildup is at least 3 to 4 feet thick.

THAT'S MY LAWN TRACTOR UNDER THAT LUMP OF SNOW

Don't worry, it's covered with a good cover and a good quality tarp over that. I will be putting wheel weights and chains on it (I already have them) and the snowblower attachment (42 inches wide and blows snow 60 feet) which is already on order three weeks ago. They are on back order up here and there isn't a snow shovel do be found anywhere.

WHAT'S LEFT OF THE ICE CORNICE THAT FELL ON MY HOT TUB AFTER THE RV JACKS COLLAPSED

Chunks as big as cinder blocks and bigger were laying right where I would have been soaking my aching bones a few minutes later. I'm sure something major would have happened to my head.

THE SNOW AND ICE BUILDUP ON MY RV's LIVINGROOM PUSHOUT

That's about FOUR INCHES of ice under snow pack and powder snow on top

Sunday January 4, 2009 FROM CASEY RESEARCH DAILY EMAIL

You have to use this link EVERY DAY, or it updates to the next day's email. I haven't had time to find the archive link of previous emails. This link takes you to the current CASEY RESEARCH email: http://caseyresearch.com/displayDrp.php?e=true USE THIS LINK EVERY DAY TO ACCESS THE DAY'S EMAIL, OR SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE TO IT, AND GET IT SENT TO YOU. If you want to save the email's contents, you will have to copy and paste the email's contents into a 'document' and save it, as the link only takes you to the most current email. Excerpt from Saturday Jan 3, 2009's email: And then there's this... From Ed Steer: On New Years eve day, gold got sold off in the Far East a bit...and then the down trend accelerated through London trading, with the bottom being the London p.m. gold fix. From there...and to everyone's surprise...the price took off to the upside with some real authority. True, there hadn't been a lot of volume up until that point, but that changed from the London p.m. fix until the close of trading in New York. Silver's chart was very similar, with the metal turning in an outstanding day as well. Gold put in an "outside day key reversal to the upside"...which is a very bullish technical indicator. The boyz have never...ever...allowed this technical indicator to work in gold...and have taken gold down the very next day to negate it. The world's gold market's were closed on January 1st, but once early morning trading began on January 2nd in the Far East, the price spike in gold was killed immediately...and it became obvious that someone (JPMorgan, perhaps?) didn't want gold to rise and confirm that bullish technical indicator I just spoke of, so it was taken down with some authority...as was silver. This lasted until about 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, when both metals began to recover somewhat...but the selling pressure showed up again as soon as London opened, and continued that way, with both metals on the defensive when New York opened. Gold was not allowed in positive territory for the rest of the N.Y. trading session, but silver was allowed to tack on about 40 cents. Both metals would have done better yesterday, but it was obvious that someone didn't want runaway prices to the upside during London or New York...which is what would have happened if the moonshot open in gold that began in early Tuesday morning Globex trading had been allowed to run its natural course. In Tuesday's trading, gold open interest rose another 2,142 contracts to 300,448...with silver open interest actually declining 441 contracts to 85,312 contracts. New Year's eve's (Wednesday) open interest changes on the big spike showed an open interest increase in gold of a largish 6,203 contracts to 306,651. Silver o.i. rose 611 contracts to 85,923 contracts. It will be of great interest to see what Friday's open interest figures are like once they become available on Monday morning. The other item of interest on Monday will be the latest Commitment of Traders report. It will be interesting to see what the CFTC uses for a cut-off date. But regardless of which day they pick...neither Wednesday's nor Friday's dramatic action in gold and silver will be in that one. We'll have to wait four more days until next Friday to see who went long and who sold short these last couple of trading days. In gold news, the usual N.Y. commentator was not pleased (nor was I) about Indian imports of gold for December and all of 2008..."Yesterday the Bombay Bullion Association announced that India's December bullion imports dropped 81% from last year to 3 tonnes...and that the full year's imports were only 402 tonnes, down 47% from 2007's 759 tonnes." Equally disappointing was Turkish demand in December...a miniscule 227 kilos. His closing comment was the following..."The rally appears to be fuelled entirely by Western speculative sentiment, which can be very powerful. But with such a weak base in physical demand, it is likely to be short lived." We'll see. And lastly, I see that the GLD ETF added another 150,000 ounces on December 29th to a new record high total of 780 tonnes...if you believe that they actually have all the gold they say they do, that is. Oops...one more thing..."Apex Silver Mines Limited has received a delisting notice from the NYSE." If you're wondering why...just take a look at their hedge book...and the current zinc price.

FROM THE DAILY RECKONING DEC 31, 2008 EMAIL

Economies are not machines. Instead, they are organic, natural phenomenon in which the principal actor – man – is subject to fits of brutal sanity, interspersed by long periods of hallucination in which he is trying to get something for nothing. Fundamentally, it is a ‘moral’ system, not a mechanical system. When people make mistakes they have to pay for them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, GOLDBUGS!

This should be a very good year for us. Unfortunately, for the World, it will be disasterous. Use what you know wisely. Work harder than ever to prepare for what's coming. You will be on your own, no matter how many people you go through it with. Learn to say no to people that won't prepare for themselves. The wisest thing you can do is take care of yourself first, and your children second. Without you, they don't have a chance. Once again, Best Wishes in the year to come, and those that follow. GT

FROM RON PAUL'S CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, And Nobody This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

THIS WAS SENT TO ME BY MY NEIGHBOR, THE TRUCKER

I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace . Dr Phil proclaimed, 'The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished. So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now. Pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.

MONDAY EVENING 6:00PM PST

Well folks, Today has become eventful here in the Pacific Northwest. We have had another storm that dropped another foot plus of powdery snow on top of all the previous snow we have received. My neighbor, a long distance trucker out on a delivery, called and asked me to clean off the awning on his fifth wheel trailer, which he had not bothered to roll up, or tilt to allow the snow to be easy to sweep off. About noon today, after a much needed mid morning nap, I put on my Carharts, Elmer Fudd hat, snow boots and gloves and stepped out the door to go clean his awning. There was at least a foot of powder that had filled everything I had just cleared the day before. His awning couldn't be lowered enough to clean but the front part of it, which I did, and then, because the snow was high enough to be a pain to walk through, I got my snow blower out and cleared his driveway and in front of his awning, and then went to clear all around my area. This took at least and hour or more. I then started cleaning my entire area, which is extensive, which took lots of time and energy. When I went back to finish his awning, his girlfriend (a middle-aged woman who knows everything), who had come home, had attempted to push the awning from below, or some maneuver that managed to rip the awning completely from side to side along the roll up tube. To be fair, the awning was already ripping, but anyone with a brain should have know it took a different plan to clean the snow off of it. She didn't even come out of the trailer to say anything, even though I was making lots of noise. Nevertheless, I cleaned off the snow that had fallen off the awning to the porch, which I had previously cleaned, and I put the awning back in the proper position to keep it from being an obstruction. But the residual part of the awning was now hangin from the top of the trailer over the front door. It can be trimmed and repaired, but first you have to remove the hardware of the awning to be able to remove the remaining awning from the groove that secures it to the side of the trailer. After all that snow clearing and shoveling, I was pooped and thoroughly wet with sweat, so I decided it was time to quit and get dry. I went into my RV and stripped off my Carharts (now like getting out of a sweaty straight jacket) and put all my wet clothes into the dryer, but still had on my 'tighty whities' and my snow boots. I went into my bedroom in the front of the RV and was trying to pull off my first boot when the whole front of my RV fifth wheel front support jacks collapsed and the trailer dropped over a foot in the front and my cats went vertical. Apparently the weight of the snow and ice on the roof was too much for the pins that secure the extendable part of the jacks beyond the stable part that is gear driven. I had been just a few minutes away from jumping into my hot tub, which is along side the RV by the front door, above which had been hanging about two feet of snow and ice cornice completely around the RV. It was all now on top of the hot tub where my head would have been. Big chunks of ice the size of cinder blocks that were too heavy to lift off the tub with my snow shovel and had to be picked up by hand. I am now typing this to you as I sit in my business chair which is trying very hard to roll across the living room because of the angle of the trailer. I have to wait until tomorrow to get a local to bring a front end loader to lift the RV by the hitch and to jack it up and put in more substantial pins in the front jacks. I will never go under this RV again without it being securely jacked up with blocks. I have been under it to put heat strips on my sewage lines so they don't freeze up. There is no extra room under that part of the trailer and I would be squashed and die a painful freezing death if the trailer ever fell on me. Oh, every time I go outside to do something the damn gold market takes off and I lose the opportunity to make more than enough to fix all these problems and take a trip to Fiji. So, sometime tomorrow I will be on top of the RV clearing off the snow and ice and hoisting this monster back up to the proper position, hopefully before my back goes out from sitting at an angle trying to trade the market tomorrow morning. I don't think I will roll out of bed, but the cats are beginning to look at me strangely. Live and learn.