tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52453222011-07-14T19:45:45.702-05:00The Lunatic FringeA time and a place for everythingT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1125269929972981622005-08-28T17:57:00.000-05:002005-08-29T07:11:34.683-05:00This bit just came in over Stratfor Site Reps:0116 GMT - Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said Aug. 26 that authorities have arrested 28 people since the Aug. 18 raid that killed local al Qaeda leader Saleh al-Oufi. Al Arabiya television also aired footage of Saudi special forces engaged in firefights with militants and destroying buildings where militants were believed to be hiding. The InteriorT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1119398446039809682005-06-21T18:15:00.000-05:002005-09-20T17:12:33.370-05:00What passes for incessant and widening budget and current account deficits is really the unfolding of J. Peter Grace's contention in 1981 that compound interest and time would wipe out any amount of $$. " Given twenty years time and compounding there isn't enough money" ( read: without hyperinflation ) to pay for the future dimension of these programs, Medicare/Medicade; Soc Sec; et alia. T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1115351687906568472005-05-05T22:45:00.000-05:002005-05-05T22:54:47.910-05:00BOYCOTT CITGO NOWCastro's shill, Chavez and Venezeula own Citgo. Venezuela delivers US lots of crude/day. They own the marketeer, Citgo. They need to sell Citgo before they really attempt to inconvenience the US and since Citgo handles the thick crude from Venezuela if we boycott, they are really awash in thick, read discounted, crude they need to market elsewhere....thereby increase their T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1112200580751193662005-03-30T09:56:00.000-06:002005-03-30T10:36:20.753-06:00Roid RageProminent athletes enhancing performance through the use of drugs is nothing but another chapter in the successful evolution of the species. Drugs are one of many regimens used by athletes to overreach themselves in the grand tradition of species enhancement. The hue and cry against the genie now out of the bottle is a familiar song of the millenia. Imagine the neanderthal back from aT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1110646050014751032005-03-12T10:19:00.000-06:002005-03-12T10:47:30.016-06:00LOVE THE TSUNAMIImagine the crocodile tears shed by the ruling classes of the nations hardest hit. Let's take Indonesia. It doesn't get any better than this. Instead of a couple millions per year to monitor the surrounding oceans, the gross negligence of government there will result in a windfall to the ruling elites. After losing ~ 230,000 subjects killed and missing in a cataclysm, the T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1108857283424267892005-02-19T17:51:00.000-06:002005-02-19T17:54:43.426-06:00U.N. Nuclear Chief Offers to Go PersonallyThe U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector, Mohammed ElBaradei, called on North Korea's leader to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to return to his nation, offering in an interview released Saturday to go personally if it would help.And why not. Similar calibre and understanding, Mr. Kim, MR. ElBaradei. Expect big things.T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1104449458093355422004-12-30T17:29:00.000-06:002004-12-30T17:34:34.966-06:00Today, the SEC asked Berkshire Hathaway's General Re unit to provide information related to insurance products aimed at mitigating financial losses. Hmm, and the purpose of purchasing insurance would be exactly what if not to mitigate loss in the financial sense?
T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1103635801924683142004-12-20T21:09:00.000-06:002005-01-11T17:41:08.416-06:00At Powerline as Hindrocket told Time magazine, "The world is full of smart people who have information about every imaginable topic, and until the Internet came along, there wasn't any practical way to put it together."
The distributed nature of the blogsphere yields intelligence that is successful at rates that vanquish verticality in the Intelligence Services, viz. National Director of T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1101866159615291712004-11-30T19:46:00.000-06:002005-01-05T20:09:38.693-06:00Co-Optation for Peace
Maybe we could co opt the islamofacist agenda. Say we begin with 4$/gallon gas that contains an additional $1.5 in state and federal tax, tailored/incentivised to reduce deficits and fund entitlement programs Simultaneously, disarm the grand instigator, Israel, of her nukes. Remove, in a flash, the raison-d-etre of the mullah's and sheikh's need to go nuclear. Likely you'd T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1100577436672211292004-11-15T21:57:00.000-06:002004-11-30T20:29:07.010-06:00Outcome Based Management
Also known as smoothing. FNM records 9 Billion loss that was previously hidden. FRE records 5 Billion in gains also previously hidden.
We can see that as a result of a major circle jerk in mortgage-backed derivatives that FNM has BLOWN 4 Billion (9-5).
Does that = Musical Chairs over? Is it time to rip the guts out of bonds? Suggest the prudent investor start with U$T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1093308379506047682004-08-23T19:24:00.000-05:002004-09-04T16:18:58.226-05:00The Nuclear Race Is Almost Over
In 2001 Rafsanjani lost his cool at Friday prayers: "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1079750602331602392004-03-19T20:43:00.000-06:002004-03-19T20:46:38.700-06:00"Viruses are faster spreading, they're more complex in their payloads and the way the affect machines," Mr. Bridwell said. "When a virus like Slammer can affect the globe in less than 10 minutes, it's almost impossible for antivirus products or humans to react fast enough."
This from an article on the new mo' betta' virulence of computer viruses in today's WSJ: Damage Caused by Viruses
Rose LastT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1079657907890763482004-03-18T18:58:00.000-06:002004-03-20T18:28:21.233-06:00The Right Amount
Civil law judgements against wall st investment banks, specialists ( many owned by same investment banks ) & mutual fund companies amount to several billion U$D. This is just scratching the surface of the lemon. For decades as an independent trader, I paid mostly 1c per share. It is true that concurrently the big boys, the mutual fund investors, with real clout were paying ~5cT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1079410789127284802004-03-15T22:19:00.000-06:002004-03-15T22:23:00.716-06:00Kerry for President?
March 8 media sez Kerry was told by heads of state that he had their vote, White house responds promptly, asking for specifics and Kerry's people are silent. Then come's the Boston Globe reporter for political reporting saying the transcription was bungled and "foreign" leaders was in fact "more" leaders...This took place late in the day on 15 March ( the Ides of March ) T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1077934123442589192004-02-27T20:08:00.000-06:002004-02-27T20:11:32.530-06:00Add Back the Legal Fees: Interesting juxtaposition of articles in today's Wall Street Journal.
Grasso Lawyers, NYSE Exchange Letters
By KATE KELLY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The attorney representing former New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso has penned a strongly-worded letter to the Big Board, stating that he has no plans to return the $139.5 million retirement payT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1063982158230407592003-09-19T09:35:00.000-05:002003-09-19T09:35:57.926-05:00Thank You, Mr Grasso
Dick Grasso has just resigned as President and Chairman of the Board at The Exchange, aka New York Stock Exchange. He was shown the door because his board had compensated his superior stewardship with cash awards. Option awards were unavaliable given the corporate structure at NYSE. Had he been awarded an annual salary of single digit millions and options as is common in T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1060447219892464572003-08-09T11:40:00.000-05:002003-08-10T06:45:53.486-05:0028 Pages of National Security:
Princess Haifa, wife of the Prince Bandar, Saudi Ambassador to Washington for two decades, donates $130,000 to some woman named Ibrahim who she's never met who's married to some guy named Basnan who it turns out is a Saudi double agent. Omar al Bayoumi, a Saudi official of the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority and Basnan's bud, befriends two evildoers, Almidhar T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-1057238730678844182003-07-03T08:25:00.000-05:002003-07-03T08:25:30.630-05:00Child Soldiers: Central to the following argument is the following equation: A 12 year old Liberian is more mature than an 18 year old American. In terms of self sufficiency, political sophistication, and emotional maturity the child soldiers of the third world are less children than adults. The 18 year olds volunteering for our armed services are more children than adults. If child soldiers T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-955478602003-06-11T08:37:00.000-05:002003-06-11T08:54:13.000-05:00Donald Regan is dead. In his eighties, this former Chairman of Merrill Lynch and Ronald Reagan's Treasury Secretary and Chief of Staff, lost none of the clarity of thought he demonstrated as he and his president moved decisively to reduce federal income taxes from nosebleed levels ( top rate > 70% ). In a bald act of copyright infringement I retransmit here Mr Regan's editorial published in theT ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-953794652003-06-06T13:04:00.000-05:002003-06-06T13:07:09.000-05:00Mullah Ashcroft testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. No doubt fresh from a prayer meeting in his office at Justice, the Mullah stated that: "No major terror attack has occurred on American soil since September 11th." While outlining the specific accomplishments in the fight against the evildoers he pointed to the following: "Over 1,000 new and redirected FBI agents T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-950631952003-05-29T22:16:00.000-05:002003-05-30T07:35:38.000-05:00Iraq conquered. Administration hawks push regime change in Iran and support direct military action there just in case the nuclear program at Natanz is not decomissioned. The force of this logic is staggering. Since Saudi Arabia rulers began their putsch six months ago of the most militant mullahs, just under 2000 of the 80,000 religious leaders have been fired. Officially they've been sent T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-949718522003-05-27T22:42:00.000-05:002003-05-27T22:42:51.010-05:00The Treasury Department (news - web sites) had warned it needed the extension by next week "to preserve the confidence in the U.S. government and to prevent uncertainty that would adversely affect our economic recovery." The current $6.4 trillion limit was breached earlier this year, and Treasury paid its bills by shifting money from government retirement and other funds, maneuvers it said it T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-942931612003-05-13T17:59:00.000-05:002003-05-15T07:26:55.000-05:00May 12, Bad Hair Day for House of Saud:
Zealot bombers killed 30+ souls at 3 kaffir housing compounds in Riyadh. The good news is that apparently more Saudi shadid died than American kaffirs. Will the princes send 25k to the families of the shadid as they do to the martyrs' families in Palestine? Nah. It's tough to make the case that the martyrs weren't fighting Zionist crusaders, so expect T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-941244502003-05-10T18:51:00.000-05:002003-05-12T12:18:15.000-05:00Saddam Hussein's future is not bright. Assuming he's still with us he's now as dangerous as a wounded bear. All those microbes encased in tupperware avaliable for the asking to worthy holy warriors. And with this act come to peace with his maker and rival Sallauddin. Atone for a secular life and become an arab saint while offing the enemy by the tens of millions. A cancer on humanity, T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-935418212003-04-30T12:17:00.000-05:002003-05-10T21:58:32.000-05:00Facetime is Out; The Web is the Cure:
Since September 11, 2001 it has been said again and again that things are different. After SARS things get different by an order of magnitude. It's one thing to fear some pencil-necked extremeist with a bulge at the torso, it's another to fear anybody reaching for a handkerchief. By extension, the fear of the space occupied by the handkerchief weilding T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-928879132003-04-19T09:18:00.000-05:002003-05-08T22:45:56.000-05:00I Think I'm Turning Japanese; I Really Think So:
Used to be Europe/Great Britain was the leading indicator of securities trends here in the USofA. No longer. Asia now leads the curve in investment trends and the time lag appears to be around a decade. 1990 began with the Nikkei 225 Index at its zenith ~39,000. Think bubble. Think of Japan unable to get out of its own way for 13+ years. T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-927489022003-04-16T20:11:00.000-05:002003-04-16T21:20:16.000-05:00From today's WSJ: Syria, meanwhile -- which has been accused by the U.S. of experimenting with chemical weapons and charged by Israel with hiding Iraqi chemical or biological weapons -- said it would propose to the U.N. that the Middle East be declared a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The move was pointedly aimed at Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
I think T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-925471072003-04-13T18:01:00.000-05:002003-04-13T18:18:00.000-05:00History Repeats: Eason Jordan's Op-Ed piece from April 11 ( http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/opinion/11JORD.html?ex=1050638400&en=ea21e8c88feae21c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE ) reminds me of Stalin's relationship with the press. Reporters found it convenient to report on the idea of collectivisation and omitted the realities on the ground. Missing the destruction of millions of civilians. Once T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-923062132003-04-09T13:37:00.000-05:002003-04-13T18:16:17.000-05:00US State Department As Full of Beans As Ever: Today Undersecretary of State, James Bolton proved that State has it backwards, again. While kissing rings at the Vatican, he's quoted in today's Washington Post as follows: "We are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq that the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is not in their national interest".
One of T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-922659592003-04-08T22:39:00.000-05:002003-04-16T21:40:15.000-05:00"When the full stories of these two incidents (1993 WTC Center bombing and 1995 Oklahoma City bombing) are finally told, those who permitted the investigations to stop short will owe big explanations to these two brave women (Middle East expert Laurie Mylroie and journalist Jayna Davis). And the nation will owe them a debt of gratitude."
- Former CIA Director James Woolsey, "The Iraq Connection"T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-921828202003-04-07T18:50:00.000-05:002003-04-07T19:52:47.000-05:00Fundamentalists In Our Midst: It isn't just rioting Hindus at Ayodhya or Muslim zealots in madrassas who have passed on reason for large doses of revealed truth. Between 21 & 27 January, Harris Interactive ( www.harrisinteractive.com ) polled more than 2000 individuals online regarding their religious beliefs. The virgin birth held sway at about 78% regardless of race and ranged from 84% of T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-921128062003-04-06T18:40:00.000-05:002003-04-06T19:00:13.000-05:00Medicare: What I don't know about Medicare doubtless fills hundreds of volumes of rules and regs. I lose 3% of my income to these folks ...no matter the level of income. Why should individuals who engage in risky behavior, healthwise, get these services at the same cost as those folks who don't become unhealthy from avoidable behaviors? No really. Go to an airport and see how pasty folks T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5245322.post-919985342003-04-04T13:15:00.000-06:002003-04-04T13:15:33.543-06:00First Policy Statement: Characterizing idealogues and policies as left or right of center obscures perception. A continuum from anarchy to totalitarianism better describes the where of any political actor or action. On the ground there is no distinction between communist and facist. They're both bad for your health. Of course the other end of the continuum sounds attractive but it is T ChristopherPhillipshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02374718971744109521noreply@blogger.com