united states

Chris Knight's avatar

This early on in the reporting of the story, I’ll admit to wondering if there’s more to this. But knowing what I do about how damned abusive and corrupt our own government has become, I’m also inclined to take this family at their word.

Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby, of Oxford in Granville County, North Carolina (not far from Raleigh) was the subject of a raid by federal agents who handcuffed him and took a LOT of his personal possessions. The feds claim that Lundeby made a bomb threat, but the family denies the charge, saying that someone hacked into their IP address and made crank calls through the Internet.

And now…

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there

...
Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

So the senator from Pennsylvania today declared that his party affiliation “has not defined who I am”.

And as an act of faith, the first thing Arlen Specter did to demonstrate his proclaimed values was… change parties.

Think about that for a moment.

Why should any person who claims to not be defined by party affiliation, even care enough to so grandiosely publicize that he or she is switching parties?

And wouldn’t a person supposedly not defined by a party, in keeping with his or her principles, choose NOT to belong to any party at all?

All Specter is proving is that America has scarce few real leaders. What America does have is an excessive amount of damned fools who aren’t shy about their willingness to be yanked around by their noses by whatever “the party” tells them. And Arlen Specter is one of ’em....

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

What the hell has become of America over the past few days?

From Drudge Report…

NANNY STATE: GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO WARN OF SADNESS/CRYING OVER ECONOMY

Mon Mar 30 2009 18:43:56 ET

The U.S. government is set to offer an online emotional rescue kit!

“Getting Through Tough Economic Times” will launch Tuesday with a media push across all platforms. The site is meant to help people identify health concerns related to financial worries.

The feds will warn of depression, suicidal thinking and other serious mental illnesses. It will raise warning flags for: Persistent sadness/crying; Excessive anxiety; Lack of sleep/constant fatigue; Excessive irritability/anger.

The guide will be available starting at midnight at http://www.samhsa.gov/economy.

Developing…

Is anyone else finding this order of words to be a little less than encouraging?

“The feds will warn of depression…”

“The feds will warn of depression…”

“THE FEDS WILL WARN OF DEPRESSION…“

Barack ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

The words I never, ever thought I’d hear a President of the United States tell the country…

“Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been, because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty.”

— President Barack Obama

And you thought “womb to the tomb” policies were bad. Now the federal government has got your car covered bumper to bumper.

And Obama’s firing the head of General Motors apparently didn’t take well with the markets today: they were down all over, including the Dow at -254 points.

...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

So not only are several countries wanting to ditch the U.S. dollar as the main instrument of international trade, but a United Nations panel is now calling for a new global currency. Officially it’s being touted as a “Global Reserve System”.

If this new money becomes a reality, it’s gonna need a name, just like for the dollar and the euro and the yen, etc.

“Global Reserve System”, eh? Well then, how about we call the base note of this proposed cross-borders currency…

– the greaser

– the grisly

– the gross

– the grue

– ?

My favorite pick is the grue. Like, you can have several grues in your wallet (where they like it dark). And just like the grues of the Zork games, they are always eager to devour the unwary.

Got any ideas? Let’s hear ’em! 🙂...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Remember how years ago we used to laugh at Pravda, the government-run newspaper of the Soviet Union? It would only print whatever news that the state deemed fit… and only with whatever spin that the Communist Party wanted it to have.

Here’s one more reason why the United States will soon have to owe the old Soviets an apology: there’s now a bill in Congress to “bail out” the struggling newspaper industry. If it becomes legislation, print news companies that accept government aid will be restructured as nonprofit, and will be banned from making political endorsements (very much like how churches are granted nonprofit status so long as their ministers don’t endorse candidates).

What the hell is happening to this country? I mean… government-managed newspapers?!?

Hey, I’ve worked in the newspaper industry. As a reporter. Twice. And there are a lot of reasons why newspapers are dying. And almost ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Can we call it “national socialism” now?

In the name of preventing damage to “the broader economy”, President Obama and his Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are now seeking power to seize a wider array of businesses, and not necessarily banking/finance-related firms either.

I was afraid this would happen.

The regulation pendulum has been swinging wildly between both far ends of the spectrum. During the administration of George W. Bush there was a lot less regulation of such businesses, and that’s a big reason why we’re in our current economic mess. Now the Obama gang, exploiting public outrage like that about the AIG bonuses, is going to drive us toward too much regulation.

When the American government begins seriously talking about nationalizing businesses, start worrying. One way or another, if Obama and his bunch gets this kind of “authority”, it ain’t gonna end well....

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Terence Corcoran of Financial Post has written a sobering article on his blog about the decline of the United States across the spectra of finance and politics…

As an aghast world — from China to Chicago and Chihuahua — watches, the circus-like U.S. political system seems to be declining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial markets are paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlook gets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America?

Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’s happened many times before, except for once,

...
Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

If the United States keeps “spending a bunch of money we don’t have”, it faces a collapse of its economy much like what has happened in Zimbabwe, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford predicts.

In case you haven’t heard, the financial hyper-inflation which has rocked Zimbabwe has led that country to issue a one trillion dollar bill as part of its currency. For one of those legal tender notes, you can currently buy a hamburger or two.

Sanford gets what’s really going on. Too bad there doesn’t seem to be many other elected officials who are likewise calling for fiscal sobriety right now....

Read more