Enough is Enough

It is indeed Friday! Looking forward to the 3 day weekend and the full NFL Playoffs slate. I may do a preview/prediction post tomorrow but after last week (2-2) my powers of prognostication took a serious hit!

Enough is Enough
I am going to present a set of stories that all fit the same theme; the systemic corruption in America is alive and well and the very offices that are meant to serve and protect instead rob us blind. Add to this the world is so enamored of "pretend and extend" that it may well become a UN charter provision. In other words, nothing new!

In one of the best investigative journalism works in years, Diana Olick (of CNBC no less!) does the kind of work one can only dream of ever seeing from the press as a whole:
Big Banks Accused of Short Sale Fraud
I will not take away from the power of the article with any excerpts, you simply MUST read the whole thing. Suffice to say Diana Olick has big banks dead to rights in illegal procedures and even has phone conversations to back it up. I am dreaming of that call being played at a FED congress hearing or another big banker hearing sometime in my life time.

Next up, the mess that is Greece. I will not bore you with the nitty gritty of Greece's issues, ,lets just say they are broke. Instead of facing this, flushing the bad debt and moving on (sounds easy but I know it is very hard) we get more calls to just sweep it under the rug as not to, wait for it, put confidence in danger! No that!:
Europe cannot afford a Greek default
Key snippet:

If the eurozone fails to support Greece or makes the terms of any bail-out politically impossible for the country’s authorities to meet, Greece could default on its sovereign debt. The eurozone would then face a big problem. The financial markets would quickly turn their attention to other euro bloc economies with unsustainable fiscal positions and poor growth prospects. Italy, Spain and Portugal would find themselves paying dramatically higher borrowing costs, raising the likelihood of further fiscal crises.

Note the key phrase; unsustainable fiscal positions. The writer does not even try to suggest a way to undo terrible overspending and debt burdens but instead goes right for the "just bail them out" easy route. This thing is global!

So what can you do?

The short answer is, probably not much. Sorry.

The long answer will require me to delve into two areas I try and avoid: the political and the legal. Skip on if not interested; if you are then allow me a little room to roam.

Upfront: I am no fan of either political party. To me the best government is the absolute smallest one that takes the bare minimum of my money to pay for the big items like defense and infrastructure. Everything else is not the governments business in my book. Alas, that is not reality and you have to work in the system you are faced with.

That said, what can you do?

If you live in Massachusetts you can vote for Scott Brown for the US Senate seat on Tuesday January 19th. If Mr. Brown wins this will accomplish two things:
-Sends a message to Washington that the bailouts and other crap they have sat by and watched (or voted for) has pissed us off to the degree Massachusetts will elect a REPUBLICAN! This will scare the politicos more than a 500,000 person tea party on the White House lawn. This will have an effect.
-This will kill the terrible Health Care bill. We can debate all we want the details (I do not feel like it) but I can boil it down in simple terms that after review of all the information is the real deal:

You will be paying much more (both directly and indirectly) than you are now for either the same care or worse care.

Now you may be fine with this but I am not.

On the legal front, Mish has a few thoughts on spreading ideas:
Send a Message

With every letter you send, with every bill you write, and with every dollar you spend, send a message.

Here's how:
Go out and buy some stamps that say things like ...
"End The Fed"
"Got Gold?"
"Dump Bernanke"
"**** The Fed"
“Buy Gold; End the Fed”
"I Demand Honest Money"
"Dump the Dollar, Buy Gold"
Use your imagination.
By the way, "End the Fed" is better than "Audit the Fed" as that is the ultimate goal.
Red Ink Will Stand Out Better
You can get custom rubber stamps cheap in many places.
Stamp a loving message on all the bills you pay, on every letter you send, any piece of paper or form you send anywhere.
Order some stamps today and tell your friends to do the same.

Now Economic Disconnect would never suggest defacing US currency as that is illegal.

But as a pure thought experiment (only an experiment!!) allow me to suggest:
-"Audit the FED" is indeed better. "End the FED" is nice if you know what the FED is. Most people do not. Throw in a scary word like AUDIT and you get people's attention. Maybe get the stamp to have a little arrow pointing to the words "Federal Reserve" on the money and the label "Audit the FED". This will excite people as nothing is more enjoyable than somebody else getting audited!
-Buy the stamps in bulk and with the same ink in a large batch. Pass along the items far and wide. This way if a pissed off government tries to mass spec the ink or trace the rubber stamp there will too many to follow. Plausible deny ability and all that.

Friday Night Entertainment
Enough heavy lifting, it is weekend time!

It's All Mars All the Time
Loyal readers know I am a Mars fanatic. This week brought some news on the red planet front that I wanted to pass along.

First up, proving me right after all these years:
Proof of Martians 'to come this year'
This pertains to bacterial like life, but that's just the start!

New reader DIYer pointed out this amazing picture of dunes on Mars taken by the orbiter:

So here we have proof of microbial life and we see DUNES on Mars? What does it all add up to?

I think the martian life escaped to the planet core by tunnels:

See this for full read up.

Rock Blogging
Some songs to get you excited for the weekend!

I will lead of with something fun and it is not from the 80's or heavy metal! I know, you are shocked. Start it off with Sam Cooke and "Twistin' the Night Away":


New reader and fellow blogger Tom of the North asked for anything John Hiatt. I have to admit I had never heard of this artist. Some checking and I arrived at the song "Thunderbird" which I like very much:

Nice!

Reader Anon bypassed Elvis this week and asked for the Roy Orbsion classic "Crying" and who could say no to such a song? Not me:


Warning!: If you have been taking any psychotropic drugs please skip over Rusted Root and "Ecstasy":

Love the 2:30 mark slow section, fine guitar work!

Two more? You guys are demanding. Ok, I will do it.

No night is truly me without Ozzy and/or Iron Maiden. I am a creature of habit!

Enjoy Ozzy's better than you think song "Shot in the Dark":

Pretty good!

Last Call! Grab a drink, a girl, or both at the same time!

Equal parts cheesy 80's video, great lyrical talent, and hair band old time fun take a ride with Scandal (featuring John McEnroe's wife Patty Smyth) and "The Warrior":

Awesome!

Have a good night.