From sanderico1 at gmail.com Wed Apr 1 08:34:44 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 07:34:44 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Frank and Dodd are asses Message-ID: <6634e19e0904010534mddccd8fm584122aadc3aa9a0@mail.gmail.com> Good morning All, For your reading pleasure this morning, note that Mr. Sowell thinks about as highly about our "honorable" Senator Dodd and Representative Frank as I do. Believe me, that's not saying much. Tar and feathers would be a darn good start. Rik __________________________________ http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell032409.php3 Jewish World Review March 24, 2009 28 Adar 5769 * Cheap Political Theater * By Thomas Sowell [image: Printer Friendly Version] [image: Email this article] *http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |* Death threats to executives at AIG, because of the bonuses they received, are one more sign of the utter degeneration of politics in our time. Congressman Barney Frank has threatened to summon these executives before his committee and force them to reveal their home addresses? which would of course put their wives and children at the mercy of whatever kooks might want to literally take a shot at them. Whatever the political or economic issues involved, this is not the way such issues should be resolved in America. We are not yet a banana republic, though that is the direction in which some of our politicians are taking us? especially those politicians who make a lot of noise about "compassion" and "social justice." What makes this all the more painfully ironic is that it is precisely those members of Congress who have had the most to do with creating the risks that led to the current economic crisis who are making the most noise against others, and summoning people before their committee to be browbeaten and humiliated on nationwide television. No one pushed harder than Congressman Barney Frank to force banks and other financial institutions to reduce their mortgage lending standards, in order to meet government-set goals for more home ownership. Those lower mortgage lending standards are at the heart of the increased riskiness of the mortgage market and of the collapse of Wall Street securities based on those risky mortgages. *FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER* *Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. ** * Senator Christopher Dodd has played the same role in the Senate as Barney Frank played in the House of Representatives. Now both are summoning government employees and the officials of financial institutions before their committees to be lambasted in front of the media. Dodd and Frank know that the best defense is a good offense. Both know how hard it would be to defend their own roles in the housing debacle, so they go on the offensive against others who are in no position to reply in kind, given the vindictive powers of Congress. This political theater is in one sense cheap beyond words. In another sense, it is costly beyond words. It is cheap because the politicians who are creating this distraction from their own role also voted for the very legislation that enabled contracted bonuses to be paid by companies like AIG that received government bailout money. If members of Congress can't be bothered to read the laws they pass, then they have no basis for whipping up lynch mob outrage against people who did read the law and acted within the law. Just as everyone seemed to be a military expert a couple of years ago, when it was chic to say that the "surge" in Iraq would not work, so today everyone seems to be an expert on executive pay. Whether the particular executives who received bonuses were the ones responsible for AIG's problems, or were among those who warned against those problems, is something that those of us on the outside don't know. That includes those in politics and the media who are making the loudest noise. The politicians claim to be protecting the taxpayers' money. But having politicians trying to micro-manage any business is far more likely to make those businesses lose more money, including the taxpayers' money. Securities based on risky mortgages are what toppled financial institutions but it was the government that made the mortgages risky in the first place, by making home-ownership statistics the holy grail, for which everything else was to be sacrificed, including commonsense standards for making home loans. Politicians and bureaucrats micro-managing the mortgage sector of the economy is precisely how today's economic disaster began. Why anyone would think that their micro-managing the automobile industry, or executive pay across a wide sweep of other industries, is likely to make things better in the economy is a mystery. The real point is to pander to envy and resentment against people who make a lot of money. Envy is always referred to by its political alias, "social justice." But to put the lives of the wives and children of executives at risk for the sake of Beltway grandstanding shows how low our political saviors have sunk. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090401/c87ab61e/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 1 10:34:48 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 10:34:48 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Know anybody who was a U. S. Marine? Message-ID: I am posting an excerpt from an email circulating among some of our former military: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, National Guard or reserve is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life." That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it. "We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism." - Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev, 1959 Mornin Patriots and Patriettes -- I am forwarding this e-mail because I believe that every patriot out there should be aware of our Commander in Chief's beliefs. I know that there are a few Obama supporters out there within our ranks and please don't misconstrue this as political. Obama has already been elected as our President and is accepted by all as that. This is an informational e-mail to make you aware of where we all stand in the eyes of our elected President of the United States. In his statement below he states that patriotism is - going to fight for your country but does not stop there. We are expected to pay the monetary price of the medical treatment in conjunction with fighting for our country. And he further states that he is puzzled by the amount of opposition to his plan. In essence he is calling those that do not support his plan as non Patriots. Read it and decide for yourself Have a great weekend, God Bless America and Semper Fi, John This is despicable, since it is voiced by our President. Where is his sacrifice! This individual is incapable of a coherent thought. Apparently anyone in the United States military services has volunteered to have their marrow sucked dry. Their employer wants nothing to do with their health and welfare. Since when is this the employees responsibility. It is clear President Barack (the shah) Hussein Obama has no idea what comprises a Patriot. Semper Fi, 'Doc' Jeffrey Levine THIS TELLS OUR MILITARY A LOT. Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 12:41 PM HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO LET THEMILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR INJURIES.......SEND THIS TO EVERYONE TO SHOW JUST WHAT THE NEW COMMANDER IN CHIEF THINKS OF OUR MILITARY WHO FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY AND GET HURT PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM!!! Obama's response: Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans' private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty. The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal. "Look, it's an all volunteer force," Obama complained. "Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn't compute.. "I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country," Obama continued. "I wasn't asking for blood-just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I'd have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation's deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090401/c6967773/attachment-0001.html From bill at effros.com Wed Apr 1 12:24:40 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:24:40 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] U.S. Plans to Drop Case Against Former Senator From Alaska Message-ID: <49D39548.6050400@effros.com> U.S. Plans to Drop Case Against Former Senator From Alaska April 2, 2009 By NEIL A. LEWIS (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/neil_a_lewis/index.html?inline=nyt-per) WASHINGTON ? The Justice Department moved on Wednesday morning to drop all charges against former Senator Ted Stevens (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ted_stevens/index.html?inline=nyt-per) of Alaska, who narrowly lost his seat last year shortly after being convicted on seven felony counts of ethics violations. In a stunning development, Justice Department lawyers told a federal court that they had discovered a new instance of prosecutorial misconduct in the case and asked that the convictions be voided. There would be no new trial in the case. Mr. Stevens, who is 85, had been the longest serving Republican in the history of the Senate. He had been charged with lying on Senate disclosure forms by concealing an estimated $250,000 worth of goods and services he received, mostly to renovate a chalet he owned in Alaska. Prosecutors said he received most of the goods and services from Bill Allen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/william_j_allen/index.html?inline=nyt-per), a longtime friend who had made a fortune by providing services to Alaska?s booming oil industry. But in their filing on Wednesday, government lawyers said that trial prosecutors had concealed from Mr. Stevens?s defense lawyers the notes from an interview with Mr. Allen that raised significant doubts about the charges. Among other things, Mr. Allen asserted in the interview that the work on the Stevens home was worth only about $80,000, they said. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., who made the decision to move to drop the charges, said in a statement that "I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial.? He said it was "in the interests of justice? to dismiss the indictment and forgo any new trial. Mr. Stevens?s lawyers, Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr. and Robert M. Cary, issued a statement on Wednesday welcoming the decision, decrying the conduct of the prosecutors in the case and hailing Mr. Holder as ?a pillar of integrity in the legal community.? The statement called the case ?a sad story and a warning to everyone? that ?any citizen can be convicted if prosecutors are hell-bent on ignoring the Constitution.? Senator Mark Begich (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/mark_begich/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the Democrat who defeated Mr. Stevens in November, issued a statement calling the Justice Department?s decision ?reasonable.? ?I always said I didn?t think Senator Stevens should serve time in jail, and hopefully this decision ensures that is the case,? said Mr. Begich, a former mayor of Anchorage. ?It?s time for Senator Stevens, his family and Alaskans to move on and put this behind us.?Mr. Stevens had risen to become one of the most powerful figures in Congress, helping to direct enormous sums of money to Alaska, whose history as a state virtually paralleled his career. His lawyers tried unsuccessfully to get his trial shifted there. Mr. Holder noted that the department?s Office of Professional Responsibility was conducting a review of the prosecutors? conduct in the case, but he said that no conclusion had yet been reached. Even so, it appeared that the prosecutors who tried Mr. Stevens on ethics charges would themselves now face ethics charges. Judge Emmet Sullivan had delayed sentencing Mr. Stevens, who faced a prison term, because of several previous disclosures of prosecutorial misconduct. The judge repeatedly scolded prosecutors during the trial over a series of incidents in which they concealed important information from defense lawyers that might have been used by the defense. Judge Sullivan recently ordered that some of the government lawyers involved be held in contempt of court, including the two top officials of the Justice Department?s public integrity division, the section that prosecutes official corruption. In the new filing on Wednesday, which was first reported by NPR, the government said that it had recently discovered previously undisclosed notes made by prosecutors of an interview with Mr. Allen on April 15, 2008. In the interview, Mr. Allen was asked about a note he received from Senator Stevens on Oct. 6, 2002, discussing the situation of former Senator Bob Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was forced to resign from office over the issue of failing to disclose gifts. The Justice Department said the notes from the interview showed that Mr. Allen made different statements about that exchange than he had during his testimony at the trial. Mr. Stevens?s lawyers should have had those notes to help them cross-examine Mr. Allen, the department said on Wednesday. The motion said that in addition to asking that the indictment be voided, the government had determined, based on the totality of the circumstances, that it would not seek a new trial of Mr. Stevens. Judge Sullivan first displayed his annoyance with the prosecutors? conduct almost four weeks before Mr. Stevens was convicted. On Oct. 3, the judge almost declared a mistrial after discovering that prosecutors had not told the defense team about an F.B.I. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org) interview with the prosecution?s chief witness. ?How does the court have confidence that the public integrity section has public integrity?? Judge Sullivan asked that day. The chief prosecutor, Brenda Morris, apologized for her team?s mistakes. But she also called the errors careless, not purposeful. But last month, an F.B.I. agent who had worked on the investigation disputed that characterization of events, accusing prosecutors and a fellow agent of willfully concealing evidence from Mr. Stevens?s lawyers. The agent, Chad Joy, wrote in the complaint that he had ?witnessed or learned of serious violations of policy, rules, and procedures as well as possible criminal violations.? Days later, Judge Sullivan held Ms. Morris and three other members of the prosecuting team ? William Welch, Kevin Driscoll and Patty Stemler ? in contempt after the Justice Department failed to produce documents the judge had requested to assess Mr. Joy?s complaint. From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 1 18:26:45 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 18:26:45 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Special test for Mike W. Message-ID: http://funstufftosee.com:80/frogleaptest.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090401/86aca1c2/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 2 06:13:14 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 06:13:14 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Frank and Barney Message-ID: <50C3C527C59449039FF53555C2CC775B@YOURB88038198E> Rik, I agree that "Tar and Feathers" would be appropriate. It should be public done. Stripped naked in public and completely covered in warm tar and goose feathers. I would include Timothy Geithner because of his tax issues. I would include Henry Paulson because ethecially he should have reclused himself from involvement because of his association with Goldman, Sachs. All this should be done in public. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090402/a059888e/attachment.html From mweisner at ebsmed.com Thu Apr 2 09:28:01 2009 From: mweisner at ebsmed.com (Michael D. Weisner) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 09:28:01 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Special test for Mike W. References: Message-ID: <5C0340C077BB4B55A999AF07EF6CE020@D9X7C761> Ed, This is a very old test problem. I think that it was a homework assignment in an undergraduate computer programming course way back when. Shall we talk about chickens and foxes crossing the river next? BTW, why was is written in Portuguese? I would have thought that you would support English as the native language. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Kroposki To: Swift Water Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 6:26 PM Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Special test for Mike W. http://funstufftosee.com:80/frogleaptest.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090402/7a631c5f/attachment.html From bill at effros.com Fri Apr 3 03:39:37 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:39:37 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges Message-ID: <49D5BD39.2000601@effros.com> Brad, Note they just let Stevens go for doing exactly the same stuff Obama did, on the basis of "prosecutorial misconduct". They are circling the wagons around the Big O. Will they dare say Fitz is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct? These guys really play hardball, and since they got away with it so easily on Stevens, we can expect to see it again. The only difference is that Fitz is a much better prosecutor than the woman in Alaska who kept making sloppy errors all the way through the procedings. B. Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges Apr 2, 7:03 PM (ET) CHICAGO (AP) - Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five others were indicted Thursday on charges of scheming to auction off President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, pressuring a congressman for campaign money and lying to FBI agents. The 19-count alleges Blagojevich and his aides discussed the possibility he could get a Cabinet post in the new president's administration, substantial fundraising assistance or a high-paying job in exchange for the Senate seat. Obama's Deputy Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, said the White House would not comment. The indictment also charged that Blagojevich was involved in a corrupt scheme to get a massive kickback in exchange for the refinancing of billions of dollars in state pension funds. It said he took part in a plan with convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko and two others to make money while Blagojevich was governor, then split the profits after he left the office. Blagojevich, 52, and others are accused of illegally pressuring an Illinois congressman for help in raising funds and lying when FBI agents came to question him. His publicist, Glenn Selig, said a statement would be issued shortly. Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on a , and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald had faced a Tuesday deadline to supplant it with an indictment from a . The Democrat's arrest meant curtains for his political career: The Illinois House impeached him Jan. 9, and the Senate convicted him and removed him from office Jan. 29. Others charged in the indictment include the former governor's brother, Robert Blagojevich, one-time chief fundraiser Christopher G. Kelly, former aide Lon Monk, Springfield lobbyist-millionaire William F. Cellini and former chief of staff John . Prosecutors said Harris has agreed to cooperate in the case. Blagojevich's administration has been under federal investigation for years. Kelly and Rezko already have been convicted of federal crimes and are facing prison. The former governor's wife, Patti, had been mentioned prominently in the complaint and was the focus of considerable speculation, but she was not charged in the indictment. From flybrad at gmail.com Fri Apr 3 07:24:24 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 06:24:24 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges In-Reply-To: <49D5BD39.2000601@effros.com> References: <49D5BD39.2000601@effros.com> Message-ID: <400985d70904030424x2d2cd686qcfd568b5fe1abc7@mail.gmail.com> Bill, Funny how Rezko and Blago's wife Patti's names keep popping up throughout the indictment. Who was the real estate agent on The One's house? Stevens was a crook as well as a bad Senator and I'm glad to see him gone by any means. However, the prosecutors "stacked the deck" for the election. I love the spin the White House is putting on Holder trying to make him look like the good guy in this mess. This is the same Holder who fought for the pardon of Marc Rich. Better buy some more popcorn. I don't think Fitz is interested in a position in the Obama White House, and Rahm and Jarrett have their hands full running the Presidency without keeping the Blago trial under control (and Rezko's still singing). They can't just let this run its course, they're all too wrapped-up in the events. People get the government they deserve! Brad On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 2:39 AM, Bill Effros wrote: > Brad, > > Note they just let Stevens go for doing exactly the same stuff Obama > did, on the basis of "prosecutorial misconduct". > > They are circling the wagons around the Big O. > > Will they dare say Fitz is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct? > > These guys really play hardball, and since they got away with it so > easily on Stevens, we can expect to see it again. ?The only difference > is that Fitz is a much better prosecutor than the woman in Alaska who > kept making sloppy errors all the way through the procedings. > > B. > > > > Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges > > > > Apr 2, 7:03 PM (ET) > > > > CHICAGO (AP) - Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five others were > indicted Thursday on charges of scheming to auction off President Barack > Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, pressuring a congressman for campaign > money and lying to FBI agents. The 19-count ?alleges Blagojevich and his > aides discussed the possibility he could get a Cabinet post in the new > president's administration, substantial fundraising assistance or a > high-paying job in exchange for the Senate seat. > > Obama's Deputy Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, said the White House would > not comment. > > The indictment also charged that Blagojevich was involved in a corrupt > scheme to get a massive kickback in exchange for the refinancing of > billions of dollars in state pension funds. It said he took part in a > plan with convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko and two others > to make money while Blagojevich was governor, then split the profits > after he left the office. > > Blagojevich, 52, and others are accused of illegally pressuring an > Illinois congressman for help in raising funds and lying when FBI agents > came to question him. > > > > > His publicist, Glenn Selig, said a statement would be issued shortly. > > > Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on a , and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. > Fitzgerald had faced a Tuesday deadline to supplant it with an > indictment from a . > > The Democrat's arrest meant curtains for his political career: The > Illinois House impeached him Jan. 9, and the Senate convicted him and > removed him from office Jan. 29. > > Others charged in the indictment include the former governor's brother, > Robert Blagojevich, one-time chief fundraiser Christopher G. Kelly, > former aide Lon Monk, Springfield lobbyist-millionaire William F. > Cellini and former chief of staff John . > > Prosecutors said Harris has agreed to cooperate in the case. > > Blagojevich's administration has been under federal investigation for > years. Kelly and Rezko already have been convicted of federal crimes and > are facing prison. > > The former governor's wife, Patti, had been mentioned prominently in the > complaint and was the focus of considerable speculation, but she was not > charged in the indictment. > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > From flybrad at gmail.com Fri Apr 3 07:59:52 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 06:59:52 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Accounting Message-ID: <400985d70904030459k6af629c6y6c99729a5ca5702b@mail.gmail.com> That didn't take long - just six months while we watched the markets tank. Now they decide to dump mark-to-market accounting. Thanks a lot! Brad ------------------ Did DE-regulation Just Turn Around the U.S. Economy? Posted By edgelings On April 2, 2009 @ 12:15 pm In Business, Opinion DID DE-REGULATION JUST TURN AROUND THE U.S. ECONOMY? by Michael S. Malone Readers of my ABCNews column or Wall Street Journal opinion pieces will remember that I?ve regularly listed four things that needed to be done to improve the U.S. economy. Now the first one has fallen: mark-to-market accounting. Today, under pressure from both lawmakers and financial institutions, the five-member Financial Accounting Standards Board ? the arbiter of accounting rules in the U.S. ? voted unanimously on new guidance for mark-to-market. Mark-to-market accounting, instituted in 2007, but given real punch by FASB and the SEC in a ?clarification? last September, has been called the single most important reason the stock markets crashed so abruptly last fall. It all-but forced corporate auditors to set the most conservative valuations on the holdings of financial institutions ? and in the process led to massive mark-downs and the collapse of the capital markets. The new mark-to-market changes let companies use ?significant? judgment in determining the prices of some investments on their books, including mortgage-backed securities ? a move that could help banks reduce their write downs and boost net income. Better yet, FASB has fast-tracked the matter, meaning that financial institutions will be able to apply the changes to their first quarter results. Nobody has fought louder or more brilliantly for the end of mark-to-market than Steve Forbes, Forbes? publisher Rich Karlgaard, and CNBC?s Larry Kudlow. They deserve everyone?s thanks ? especially all of those stockholders? who are now watching the markets turn upwards again. That still leaves three to go: 1) Make Sarbanes-Oxley voluntary; 2) Abandon options expensing as unrealistic; and 3) Leave the capital gains tax alone. We?ve now seen what an improvement of just one of those can do. Adoption of all four will bring us back to prosperity. From mweisner at ebsmed.com Fri Apr 3 09:30:20 2009 From: mweisner at ebsmed.com (Michael D. Weisner) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 09:30:20 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] New Stimulus Package? Message-ID: <5B4721F75ADE4CF49AB3E93AC416BC42@D9X7C761> This just received to my inbox: This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" Dear Mr. President, How about a "Patriotic Retirement Program?" There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force; pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations: 1) They leave their jobs. With forty million job openings, unemployment is fixed. 2) They buy NEW American cars. With forty million cars ordered, the auto industry is fixed. 3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Now the housing crisis is fixed. Bang, Zoom, Done! What's the next problem? From sanderico1 at gmail.com Fri Apr 3 12:22:00 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 11:22:00 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Accounting In-Reply-To: <400985d70904030459k6af629c6y6c99729a5ca5702b@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904030459k6af629c6y6c99729a5ca5702b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904030922l2fed8a91kec914415c4e055fa@mail.gmail.com> Brad, Thanks a lot is right!! Do ya suppose they could have done this BEFORE they pissed away a couple trillion of the public's dollars?? There I go again ..... expecting any kind of good sense from the gov't. What was I thinking??? Rik On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 6:59 AM, Brad Haslett wrote: > That didn't take long - just six months while we watched the markets > tank. Now they decide to dump mark-to-market accounting. Thanks a > lot! > > Brad > > ------------------ > > Did DE-regulation Just Turn Around the U.S. Economy? > > Posted By edgelings On April 2, 2009 @ 12:15 pm In Business, Opinion > DID DE-REGULATION JUST TURN AROUND THE U.S. ECONOMY? > by Michael S. Malone > > Readers of my ABCNews column or Wall Street Journal opinion pieces > will remember that I?ve regularly listed four things that needed to be > done to improve the U.S. economy. Now the first one has fallen: > mark-to-market accounting. > > Today, under pressure from both lawmakers and financial institutions, > the five-member Financial Accounting Standards Board ? the arbiter of > accounting rules in the U.S. ? voted unanimously on new guidance for > mark-to-market. Mark-to-market accounting, instituted in 2007, but > given real punch by FASB and the SEC in a ?clarification? last > September, has been called the single most important reason the stock > markets crashed so abruptly last fall. It all-but forced corporate > auditors to set the most conservative valuations on the holdings of > financial institutions ? and in the process led to massive mark-downs > and the collapse of the capital markets. > > The new mark-to-market changes let companies use ?significant? > judgment in determining the prices of some investments on their books, > including mortgage-backed securities ? a move that could help banks > reduce their write downs and boost net income. Better yet, FASB has > fast-tracked the matter, meaning that financial institutions will be > able to apply the changes to their first quarter results. > > Nobody has fought louder or more brilliantly for the end of > mark-to-market than Steve Forbes, Forbes? publisher Rich Karlgaard, > and CNBC?s Larry Kudlow. They deserve everyone?s thanks ? especially > all of those stockholders? who are now watching the markets turn > upwards again. > > That still leaves three to go: 1) Make Sarbanes-Oxley voluntary; 2) > Abandon options expensing as unrealistic; and 3) Leave the capital > gains tax alone. We?ve now seen what an improvement of just one of > those can do. Adoption of all four will bring us back to prosperity. > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090403/a5ba62d8/attachment.html From bill at effros.com Fri Apr 3 22:36:02 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:36:02 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges In-Reply-To: <400985d70904030424x2d2cd686qcfd568b5fe1abc7@mail.gmail.com> References: <49D5BD39.2000601@effros.com> <400985d70904030424x2d2cd686qcfd568b5fe1abc7@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <49D6C792.6020308@effros.com> I hope you're right. Haven't heard a peep out of anyone about the Stevens thing. No question the prosecution was political, and Fitz is a much smarter prosecutor, and didn't try to nail Obama before the election (much to our regret) but there is going to be a tug of war over where the prosecution stops, and Holder will point to his Stevens (Republican) decision to put pressure on Fitz to call off the dogs. These guys only play hardball. Fitz is trying to wait for the wheels to fall off the wagon before he makes his move. Please not the Stevens thing fell apart because an FBI guy blew the whistle on the prosecutors he works for. Then the decision to let the old man retire without another trial. They barely beat him, even with the trial hanging over his head. You've got to think had he won...what would have happened had he won? The Dems picked up a seat on this. B. Brad Haslett wrote: > Bill, > > Funny how Rezko and Blago's wife Patti's names keep popping up > throughout the indictment. Who was the real estate agent on The One's > house? > > Stevens was a crook as well as a bad Senator and I'm glad to see him > gone by any means. However, the prosecutors "stacked the deck" for the > election. I love the spin the White House is putting on Holder trying > to make him look like the good guy in this mess. This is the same > Holder who fought for the pardon of Marc Rich. > > Better buy some more popcorn. I don't think Fitz is interested in a > position in the Obama White House, and Rahm and Jarrett have their > hands full running the Presidency without keeping the Blago trial > under control (and Rezko's still singing). They can't just let this > run its course, they're all too wrapped-up in the events. > > People get the government they deserve! > > Brad > > On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 2:39 AM, Bill Effros wrote: > >> Brad, >> >> Note they just let Stevens go for doing exactly the same stuff Obama >> did, on the basis of "prosecutorial misconduct". >> >> They are circling the wagons around the Big O. >> >> Will they dare say Fitz is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct? >> >> These guys really play hardball, and since they got away with it so >> easily on Stevens, we can expect to see it again. The only difference >> is that Fitz is a much better prosecutor than the woman in Alaska who >> kept making sloppy errors all the way through the procedings. >> >> B. >> >> >> >> Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges >> >> >> >> Apr 2, 7:03 PM (ET) >> >> >> >> CHICAGO (AP) - Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five others were >> indicted Thursday on charges of scheming to auction off President Barack >> Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, pressuring a congressman for campaign >> money and lying to FBI agents. The 19-count alleges Blagojevich and his >> aides discussed the possibility he could get a Cabinet post in the new >> president's administration, substantial fundraising assistance or a >> high-paying job in exchange for the Senate seat. >> >> Obama's Deputy Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, said the White House would >> not comment. >> >> The indictment also charged that Blagojevich was involved in a corrupt >> scheme to get a massive kickback in exchange for the refinancing of >> billions of dollars in state pension funds. It said he took part in a >> plan with convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko and two others >> to make money while Blagojevich was governor, then split the profits >> after he left the office. >> >> Blagojevich, 52, and others are accused of illegally pressuring an >> Illinois congressman for help in raising funds and lying when FBI agents >> came to question him. >> >> >> >> >> His publicist, Glenn Selig, said a statement would be issued shortly. >> >> >> Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on a , and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. >> Fitzgerald had faced a Tuesday deadline to supplant it with an >> indictment from a . >> >> The Democrat's arrest meant curtains for his political career: The >> Illinois House impeached him Jan. 9, and the Senate convicted him and >> removed him from office Jan. 29. >> >> Others charged in the indictment include the former governor's brother, >> Robert Blagojevich, one-time chief fundraiser Christopher G. Kelly, >> former aide Lon Monk, Springfield lobbyist-millionaire William F. >> Cellini and former chief of staff John . >> >> Prosecutors said Harris has agreed to cooperate in the case. >> >> Blagojevich's administration has been under federal investigation for >> years. Kelly and Rezko already have been convicted of federal crimes and >> are facing prison. >> >> The former governor's wife, Patti, had been mentioned prominently in the >> complaint and was the focus of considerable speculation, but she was not >> charged in the indictment. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090403/c8844a26/attachment.html From bill at effros.com Fri Apr 3 22:39:41 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:39:41 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Message-ID: <49D6C86D.1050508@effros.com> Anyone know Michael's current status? B. From ekroposki at charter.net Sat Apr 4 04:40:23 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 04:40:23 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Message-ID: Bill: Yes Since you are in the area, give him a phone call. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090404/1eb75703/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Sat Apr 4 05:21:34 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 05:21:34 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Anybody from Pennsylvania? Message-ID: <3BC70CC1184B4F9189152C703F7764A5@YOURB88038198E> See: http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/ Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090404/dd10bbec/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Sat Apr 4 05:31:08 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 05:31:08 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] The Camel Car Message-ID: <9636D337EAFA4D1EB0D27C4392D8B7A0@YOURB88038198E> Industrial Policy Arrives In The?USA By James G. Wiles, For The Bulletin Friday, April 03, 2009 A camel, the old saw goes, is a horse designed by a committee. With the change of name at Detroit from General Motors to Obama Motors, can a similar change in American-made cars be far behind? Brace yourself, America, for the return of Trabant ? the car which gave Communism a bad name. The Trabant, made in East Germany from 1957?1989 (when the Wall came down), was a triumph of socialist engineering. With a top speed of 70, a two-stroke, lawn mower engine which generated 26 HP and a body made from Duroplast, a resinous compound often containing cotton or wool, the Trabi emitted six times the average amount of pollution as other European cars and burned like a torch when hit. Among other movies, the car starred in Go, Trabi, Go, a German comedy produced in 1990. It?s now achieved cult status, with green models said to be lucky, and a Serbian rock band featuring the song, ?Blue Trabant.? The car is also featured in U-2 videos and on the album Achtung, Baby. Given the infamy of the Trabant name, doubtless the new GM sedan (all other brands will be eliminated, especially the Cadillac) will be all gravitas and will be called the ?Barack.? It will be available in only one color, will have a maximum speed of 70 and have solar panels on the roof. For those seeking a sportier look, there will be the ?Michelle,? a coupe featuring a choice of bright colors, a convertible top, a trunk in which you can grow organic vegetables and, natch, a fuzzy interior. Oh, and muscle tires on the front. This buffoonery is by way of introducing a far more serious topic: the takeover this week of a second American industry (the first was financial services) by the federal government. Chrysler, Washington has decreed, is to be sold to the Italian company, Fiat. GM will be controlled by a board of directors whose majority is appointed by the government and whose new CEO is acceptable to the White House. Somehow, no one has thought to even mention that these companies make most of the U.S.?s military vehicles. Chrysler, for instance, makes our main battle tank. Not even Franklin Roosevelt, at the height of the Depression, dreamed of exercising such control. Only the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia after the October Revolution and the fascists in Italy, Germany, Japan and Spain had such power. Now we have it being wielded here by Mr. Obama and the wizards he?s brought with him to Washington. Ronald Reagan, of course, correctly warned us that: ?a government strong enough to give us everything we want is also a government strong enough to take from us everything we have.? It is because of the failings and corruption of American capitalism and American government that Obama et al. have been enabled to start us down the path we are headed on. I cheer Rick Wagoner?s departure from GM; if he hadn?t had a self-selected board of directors made up of pet rocks, it would have happened long ago. The contrast with Ford Motors, where the Ford family is still in control, and clearly is willing to go down with the ship rather than surrendering ? and instructive. Somewhere, deep in the fires of hell (remember River Rouge and the Battle of the Overpass!), Old Henry is smiling his chilly Ulsterman?s smile. In the meantime, while Secretary Geitner works on crafting conditions for the TARP which give the feds veto power over all fundamental management decisions at our major financial institutions, expect the idea of ?federal chartering? of our major corporations to re-emerge in Congress after nearly 40 years of oblivion. This is the idea, first promoted by the Progressives and Teddy Roosevelt in the early 1900s, that big corporations should be governed by a federal corporate code and the federal courts rather than by state corporation laws and state courts. Long championed by Ralph Nader, it was last prominent in the mid-?70s after Watergate. Finally, looking at the obvious violations of federalism and the separation of powers inherent in the stimulus bill, the TARP bail-out and other Obamanotions, it seems to me it?s time for a little ?public interest litigation,? this time commenced by conservatives. After all, it was the federal courts, in such cases as Schecter Poultry, which nixed the first New Deal, including the industrial codes of the National Recovery Administration. It?s time for Barack?s wizards to receive their own dose of that medicine. Let a thousand lawsuits bloom! James G. Wiles can be reached at jwiles at thebulletin.us http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090404/a06669e3/attachment-0001.html From flybrad at gmail.com Sat Apr 4 06:44:36 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 05:44:36 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] The Camel Car In-Reply-To: <9636D337EAFA4D1EB0D27C4392D8B7A0@YOURB88038198E> References: <9636D337EAFA4D1EB0D27C4392D8B7A0@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <400985d70904040344j57146bc9xbffb075a5842fa4e@mail.gmail.com> Ed, Here's a great image - http://tinyurl.com/cqucr6 What an arrogant bunch! Obama hasn't so much as run a paper route or a hot dog stand but he's going to run a command economy? Ask Mao how that works. He needs to worry about pitch forks, and not those aimed at bankers. Where do we meet and when does the march on DC begin? Brad On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 4:31 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > Industrial Policy Arrives In The?USA > > By James G. Wiles, For The Bulletin > > Friday, April 03, 2009 > A camel, the old saw goes, is a horse designed by a committee. > > With the change of name at Detroit from General Motors to Obama Motors, can > a similar change in American-made cars be far behind? Brace yourself, > America, for the return of Trabant ? the car which gave Communism a bad > name. > > The Trabant, made in East Germany from 1957?1989 (when the Wall came down), > was a triumph of socialist engineering. With a top speed of 70, a > two-stroke, lawn mower engine which generated 26 HP and a body made from > Duroplast, a resinous compound often containing cotton or wool, the Trabi > emitted six times the average amount of pollution as other European cars and > burned like a torch when hit. Among other movies, the car starred in Go, > Trabi, Go, a German comedy produced in 1990. > > It?s now achieved cult status, with green models said to be lucky, and a > Serbian rock band featuring the song, ?Blue Trabant.? The car is also > featured in U-2 videos and on the album Achtung, Baby. > > Given the infamy of the Trabant name, doubtless the new GM sedan (all other > brands will be eliminated, especially the Cadillac) will be all gravitas and > will be called the ?Barack.? It will be available in only one color, will > have a maximum speed of 70 and have solar panels on the roof. For those > seeking a sportier look, there will be the ?Michelle,? a coupe featuring a > choice of bright colors, a convertible top, a trunk in which you can grow > organic vegetables and, natch, a fuzzy interior. > > Oh, and muscle tires on the front. > > This buffoonery is by way of introducing a far more serious topic: the > takeover this week of a second American industry (the first was financial > services) by the federal government. Chrysler, Washington has decreed, is to > be sold to the Italian company, Fiat. GM will be controlled by a board of > directors whose majority is appointed by the government and whose new CEO is > acceptable to the White House. > > Somehow, no one has thought to even mention that these companies make most > of the U.S.?s military vehicles. Chrysler, for instance, makes our main > battle tank. > > Not even Franklin Roosevelt, at the height of the Depression, dreamed of > exercising such control. Only the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia after the > October Revolution and the fascists in Italy, Germany, Japan and Spain had > such power. Now we have it being wielded here by Mr. Obama and the wizards > he?s brought with him to Washington. > > Ronald Reagan, of course, correctly warned us that: ?a government strong > enough to give us everything we want is also a government strong enough to > take from us everything we have.? It is because of the failings and > corruption of American capitalism and American government that Obama et al. > have been enabled to start us down the path we are headed on. I cheer Rick > Wagoner?s departure from GM; if he hadn?t had a self-selected board of > directors made up of pet rocks, it would have happened long ago. > > The contrast with Ford Motors, where the Ford family is still in control, > and clearly is willing to go down with the ship rather than surrendering ? > and instructive. Somewhere, deep in the fires of hell (remember River Rouge > and the Battle of the Overpass!), Old Henry is smiling his chilly > Ulsterman?s smile. > > In the meantime, while Secretary Geitner works on crafting conditions for > the TARP which give the feds veto power over all fundamental management > decisions at our major financial institutions, expect the idea of ?federal > chartering? of our major corporations to re-emerge in Congress after nearly > 40 years of oblivion. This is the idea, first promoted by the Progressives > and Teddy Roosevelt in the early 1900s, that big corporations should be > governed by a federal corporate code and the federal courts rather than by > state corporation laws and state courts. Long championed by Ralph Nader, it > was last prominent in the mid-?70s after Watergate. > > Finally, looking at the obvious violations of federalism and the separation > of powers inherent in the stimulus bill, the TARP bail-out and other > Obamanotions, it seems to me it?s time for a little ?public interest > litigation,? this time commenced by conservatives. After all, it was the > federal courts, in such cases as Schecter Poultry, which nixed the first New > Deal, including the industrial codes of the National Recovery > Administration. It?s time for Barack?s wizards to receive their own dose of > that medicine. > > Let a thousand lawsuits bloom! > > James G. Wiles can be reached at jwiles at thebulletin.us > > http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/ > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From mweisner at ebsmed.com Sat Apr 4 09:49:58 2009 From: mweisner at ebsmed.com (Michael D. Weisner) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 09:49:58 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Jet Blue Hangar Incident - Foam Message-ID: Brad, I don't know if you saw this video yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EbFSpOoZrg Premature foam discharge in JetBlue hanger at JFK-81. Two planes were in there for service. Aircraft in the middle was an E190 and was out of service. The doors and windows were left open and the foam went all the way to row six. The aircraft at the end needed both engines overhauled due to the corrosive nature of the foam Mike -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090404/560a7ec7/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: JetBlue Foam.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 82908 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090404/560a7ec7/attachment-0001.jpg From flybrad at gmail.com Sun Apr 5 06:53:43 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 05:53:43 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Jet Blue Hangar Incident - Foam In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <400985d70904050353g739f87d7m140c5c653e0ab2f5@mail.gmail.com> Mike, Thanks. Ouch! Wonder what the story was behind that? When I was a junior 727 Second Officer we used to park our 727 inside the WardAir hangar in Toronto during the day layover. That night you'd get to do your preflight inside a nice, warm, building while a blizzard would be going on outside. One night (it wasn't me) the S/O followed his usual habit pattern and fired-up the APU upon entering the cockpit. The heat from the exhaust set off the sprinkler system but it was water, not foam. Frankly, I didn't know the foam was that corrosive. Few people use it for gear-up landings anymore because most pilots misjudge the reduced drag and overfly the foam anyway. Brad On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 8:49 AM, Michael D. Weisner wrote: > Brad, > > I don't know if you saw this video yet: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EbFSpOoZrg > > Premature foam discharge in JetBlue hanger at JFK-81. Two planes were in > there for service. Aircraft in the middle was an E190 and was out of > service. The doors and windows were left open and the foam went all the way > to row six. The aircraft at the end needed both engines overhauled due to > the corrosive nature of the foam > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 6 13:01:59 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 12:01:59 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Star Spangled Banner Message-ID: <400985d70904061001v1ba542b8j4215160cc4a125a8@mail.gmail.com> Last week was the birthday of Marvin Gaye. It got lost in the shuffle of life, but, I meant to post this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvVzaQ6i8A That is still one of my favorite renditions of the National Anthem, right next to the Texas Cuties - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284 Over the years, I've had the good fortune of knowing a substantial number of immigrant citizens and green card holders. Forgive me for not being able to handle a civil conversation about this Hawaiian, Indonesian, Kenyan, Chicago thug - Marxist you idiots elected. I'm singing along with Marvin and his spirit until the "better Angels" return to government. Brad From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 6 13:53:31 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 12:53:31 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Junk Message-ID: <400985d70904061053vdce0a37hf150294e6b233832@mail.gmail.com> Derivative markets Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans). Word gets around about Heidi's drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on security markets worldwide. Naive investors don't really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses. One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due to his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. Heidi demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy. DRINKBOND and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans. The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment extentions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers. The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers. Finally an explanation I understand ... From hparsons at parsonsys.com Mon Apr 6 14:26:48 2009 From: hparsons at parsonsys.com (Herb Parsons) Date: Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:26:48 +0000 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Junk Message-ID: Pour me another round, and this time make it a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, with a shot of triple-garage. -----Original Message----- From: Brad Haslett [mailto:flybrad at gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 6, 2009 01:53 PM To: 'Letters to the Editor' Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Junk Derivative markets Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans). Word gets around about Heidi's drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on security markets worldwide. Naive investors don't really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses. One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due to his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. Heidi demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy. DRINKBOND and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans. The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment extentions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers. The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers. Finally an explanation I understand ... _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090406/88362287/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 6 14:35:23 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:35:23 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Iron Men of Metz Message-ID: <400985d70904061135g4e15727fic9b8e34cec381f82@mail.gmail.com> One of the downsides of having all this time off is you get tagged for all the jobs no one else wants to do. When my older Sis says "jump" I ask "how high?" Jumping through hoops for Sis today, I ran across this article - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPHJSnNJ8Rg Sis and I are planning a Southern Illinois get-to-gather for just the four principal Louis & Bonnie Haslett children with their parents. This will be the last time this entire family unit will be together and it isn't easy to pull off. Dad hated military unit reunions. I'm trying to find an honor guard from the 95th (they're still a unit) to pay final respects when the time has come. What a generation! Brad From bill at effros.com Tue Apr 7 13:10:28 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:10:28 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] The Ultimate Rhodes-22 Message-ID: <49DB8904.60906@effros.com> I'm going to see Stan in a couple of weeks about building me the "Ultimate Rhodes-22". In addition to all the latest bells and whistles, I want an electric motor that spins backwards when not in use to charge the batteries. http://www.asmomarine.com/2005/asmo_uk/04.shtml I know about the Torqueedos, but the ones I've heard are quite noisy, and I want something extremely quiet. If the motor is an inboard, it could be mounted in the Laz. I want a place to mount a little Honda generator that won't kill me when in use to give my electric motor virtually infinite range. The Honda will also give me "shore power". The boat will also need a 12 volt system for all the normal boat stuff. I want to do more under the gunwales, which is space that mainly goes to waste on my boat. Suggestions welcome. One thought is a fresh water ballast system that automatically pumps water to tanks high in the gunwales to keep the boat flat, and the skipper from having to change sides when tacking. The fresh water would also be used as a flush for the head. I'll want an autopilot. What kind of batteries? The big electric motors run on 48 volts. Lithium? (I don't think Lithium batteries are 1.5 volt increments, but I don't think that matters to big electric dc motors.) I'll want the latest model Boom Room, which Stan showed me the last time I was there. Sequoia makes a table that locks into the base with a twist that looks good. They also offer a locking rain cap. I'm open to bow modifications. I want to keep the anchor locker because I use it, but I'm open to thoughts below. I want all LEDs -- White and Red. Of course, my Link 10 (which is highly recommended by electric motor manufacturers.) A stereo system and a computer table. Battened Main. I guess I'll go for the best roller furling jib although the Spitzer model has never given me any trouble. I understand Stan now makes his own trailers, so I'll get a new one. Where do you think the batteries should go? 4 12 volts can be tied together or apart for use as either a 48 volt or 12 volt system. Long runs are not much of a problem, so the batteries can be located for weight distribution. I want a single large Ice Box, not top opening, surrounded by foam. I just put multiple small rectangular coolers inside and they insulate each other. Any ideas are welcome. The price is not much of an obstacle -- it's my toy, and it should last for the rest of my life. Bill From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 7 15:50:32 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 15:50:32 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Obama Poll Message-ID: <277F16AF32524703A3D7D759AA0B6FCF@YOURB88038198E> Rik: Here is a chance for you to express your opinion: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493093/ Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090407/e9949da4/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Tue Apr 7 17:45:51 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 16:45:51 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Obama Poll In-Reply-To: <277F16AF32524703A3D7D759AA0B6FCF@YOURB88038198E> References: <277F16AF32524703A3D7D759AA0B6FCF@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904071445j42e63c4ar2712f6a3baa8728b@mail.gmail.com> Ed, Sure wish they'd ask why he's getting a failing grade. That might actually be instructive for someone. Rik On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 2:50 PM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > Rik: > > Here is a chance for you to express your opinion: > > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493093/ > > Ed K > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090407/faf61675/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 7 19:00:25 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 19:00:25 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Failing grade Message-ID: To see the grades means you voted. I bet they are not happy they put the last choice there... Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090407/90a4e631/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 9 06:03:05 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 06:03:05 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] western north shore of Long Island Sound? Message-ID: Michael M, Has all the ice melted on the western north shore of the Long Island sound? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/758e1310/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Thu Apr 9 12:11:05 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 11:11:05 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Our heros at it again Message-ID: <6634e19e0904090911s114c7bc1sfddde8a7d8f1718d@mail.gmail.com> Good morning All, For your reading pleasure this morning I offer up: The G-20 .... what a joke!! Unfortunately, the joke is likely to be on us. Here's some guys who are quite likely, this year, gonna' show us how quick you can go from hero to zero. I was especially impressed with Gordon Brown's decision to not only sell gold at the lowest point the market has seen in years, but to telegraph his plan to do so ahead of time so he could sell it even cheaper..... And we let these people run our business for us. Who are the real idiots here??? Rik http://www.whiskeyandgunpowder.com/g-20-was-about-big-government-getting-bigger/ ___________________ G-20 Was About Big Government Getting Bigger Apr 8th, 2009 | By Dan Denning| Category: Featured , Macro Economics [image: leadimage] There?s a new committee to save the world in town! They got together and had a fancy dinner. They blamed hedge funds, corporate fat cats, tax dodgers, and the credit ratings agencies. They threw some more money at the IMF so that it can send gift baskets of currencies to poor countries. Then they took a silly class photo and immediately began congratulating themselves on how smart and courageous they are. There you have it. The summit in sixty-two words. Yes, the G20 meeting has ended in London and its results have been met with rapture by participants and the media alike. But looking at the group photo this morning, we couldn?t help thinking these guys are absolutely clueless (or very good actors). It looked like a room full of American auto executives who don?t fully appreciate the existential threat their institutions face. We?re talking about the institution of government. Because that?s what this G20 meeting was all about. It was about Big Government getting even bigger. It was about Big Government using the crisis as a chance to put the shackles on the free market. And it was about Big Government defending the way it funds itself (through debt and paper money). But we suppose we should at least let you know what the G20 leaders agreed to. They?ve tripled the lending power of the International Monetary fund to US$750 billion. This is mostly in the form of creditor countries like Japan loaning the IMF money so it can loan it out to debtor countries like Mexico. Loans to make loans. They?ve also expanded by US$250 billion the IMF?s Special Drawing Rights (SDR), which are an obscure but emerging kind of uber reserve currency. No one is really sure what this means yet or where it is taking us. As far as we can tell, the rest of it was just bashing of the private sector. A new Financial Stability Board will be set up at the IMF to oversee the vague new agreements on the regulation of hedge funds and the treatment of tax havens. The French wanted to ?name and shame? the tax havens for non-compliance with OECD rules on transparency. But the Chinese apparently shot the naming and shaming down. So really, what do we have here? Is this, ?the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession,? as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said? Is it, ?A turning point in our pursuit of the global economic recovery,? as President Hopeychanger added? Or is just a bunch of well-heeled guys in suits trying to convince the world they are in charge and know what they are doing? Our take on that below. But first, how are markets taking the news? Stocks are up and gold and government bonds are down. That?s the short story. It wasn?t news, but the summit statement reiterated a plan floated by the IMF last year to sell 403 tons of gold. The IMF planned on doing this last year to fund its operating deficit. It?s advancing the idea again to raise money. Gordon Brown said, ?Gold of the world is now being used to help the poor of the world.? When Gordon Brown sells gold, it?s usually good for gold. In his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Brown infamously decided to sell half of Britain?s gold at rock bottom prices in May of 1999. Not content with selling gold at the bottom of a 20-year cycle, Brown actually announced the move ahead of time, depressing gold prices even further before the selling began. Gold sold for an average price of US$276 an ounce that May. It bottomed around $252 in July of that year and is up 247% since then, if you?re using yesterday?s futures price of US$876. This is why Bill Bonner?s trade of the decade-sell stocks, buy gold-was so successful in the last ten years. But what about the next ten years? Can gold do even better? Or is this concerted effort by the G20 to reinflate the credit bubble, sell gold, and increase debt and spending going to lead to temporary rally in stocks and a sell-off in gold? Let the G20 leaders have their self-congratulatory moment in the New World Order sun. Their plan is a failure because it blames the credit crisis on de-regulation, fraud, free markets, and bad bankers. This is a deliberate attempt to obscure the origins of the credit crisis and the recession/depression we now face: the credit boom that preceded it. Governments themselves were largely responsible for that credit boom. Their coordinated interest rate cuts and the dollar-pegged global currency system led to an explosion in money, credit, and inevitably, leverage, risk-taking, and now, losses. They are trying to prevent those losses by throwing more borrowed money at the recession to ?fight it.? That?s moronic. ?A recession is the liquidation period following an inflationary cycle,? writes Harry Browne in ?How You can Profit From the Coming Devaluation.? How right he is. More from him in a moment. Don?t get us wrong. Greed and poor regulation certainly had a huge role in the credit boom. Leverage was allowed to go unchecked. Lending standards were lax and in many cases, non-existent. Ratings agencies gave gold-plated credit ratings to the collateralised assets flogged by Wall Street to pension funds, insurance companies, and Central Banks. Mistakes were made. But it?s clear the G20 leaders have no desire to admit their Prime Mover role in the formation of the credit bubble which has now popped. It is politically unacceptable to endure a recession which liquidates the bad investments. It means you have to stop pretending that bad bank assets are merely ?impaired? and admit they are worth a fraction of their nominal value. Instead what you see is the G20 moving to consolidate the position of government as the most powerful and intrusive institution in your economic life. Their tax harmonisation efforts would normally be called anti-competitive collusion. But by branding nations that offer low tax rates as renegades, they hope to make it impossible (practically speaking) for you to move your money and your assets to places that treat capital well. So yes. It?s just more of the same. A wealth and power grab. Steal from the future with borrowing. Rob from savers with inflation. Use the coercive power of the law to accomplish your goals. And wine, dine, and fly at taxpayer expense to achieve it all. Realistically, we think this counter attack by Big Government to stave off the second wave of the credit crisis gives you time to sell stocks into a rally and diversify your assets ahead of the coming devaluations and inflation. Ultimately, the credibility of national governments and their currencies will be eroded and damaged beyond repair, based on unsustainable fiscal and monetary policies. But for now they are pretending it will work and that everything is fine. Maybe that?s what they really think. Or maybe that?s all they know. ?In thousands of years of monetary history,? writes Harry Browne, ?only one temporary solution [to warding off recession] has ever been discovered.? ?Governments know only one way of holding back recession. What do you suppose it is? Yes, the only solution they can think of is to continue the inflation. The ?boom? is regenerated with more bank credit and government subsidies. Companies appear to come to life again.? ?Prices go higher, but in such irregular patterns that businessmen and wage earners are unable to make rational decisions from the distorted price structure. Inefficient businessmen stay in business with more credit-at the expense of other companies.? We think Harry is right. But the question is, which prices? It doesn?t look like consumer prices will be rising any time soon. There is still massive global production over capacity. But the money bomb dropped on markets by the G20??more money than ever before,? said Gordon Brown-may sucker people back into the stock market and ignite a short round of leveraged risk taking. What should you do? The IMF may be selling gold. But we reckon a lot of people are happy to buy it. With the massive expansion in global stimulus, borrowing, and spending, we are approaching the next phase of this crisis. And we reckon when the G20 meets in New York again in September, they may not be smiling anymore. Regards, Dan Denning www.dailyreckoning.com.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/dc5590da/attachment.html From mjm at michaelmeltzer.com Thu Apr 9 16:30:35 2009 From: mjm at michaelmeltzer.com (michael meltzer) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 16:30:35 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <49D6C86D.1050508@effros.com> References: <49D6C86D.1050508@effros.com> Message-ID: <098501c9b952$095f09d0$1c1d1d70$@com> You rang? -mjm -----Original Message----- From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 10:40 PM To: SwiftwaterGazette Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Anyone know Michael's current status? B. _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazet te From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 9 19:01:23 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 19:01:23 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Message-ID: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing conditions on LIS? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/15eeedd1/attachment.html From mjm at michaelmeltzer.com Thu Apr 9 19:36:21 2009 From: mjm at michaelmeltzer.com (michael meltzer) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 19:36:21 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> References: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> Did not see it ? and the boat is on the trailer right now. From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Ed Kroposki Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:01 PM To: Swift Water Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing conditions on LIS? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/f7bc9750/attachment-0001.html From bill at effros.com Thu Apr 9 21:28:13 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:28:13 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> References: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> Message-ID: <49DEA0AD.6080907@effros.com> Michael, I was up in Westport Sunday, and will be down at GB in 10 days. Was wondering if there was anything you needed transported. Not too late if there's anything you'd like me to bring to Stan or Elton or Rose. B. michael meltzer wrote: > > Did not see it ? and the boat is on the trailer right now. > > > > *From:* > swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com] > *On Behalf Of *Ed Kroposki > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:01 PM > *To:* Swift Water > *Subject:* [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM > > > > Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing > conditions on LIS? > > > > Ed K > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/cd33dc7b/attachment.html From mjm at michaelmeltzer.com Thu Apr 9 22:36:26 2009 From: mjm at michaelmeltzer.com (michael meltzer) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 22:36:26 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <49DEA0AD.6080907@effros.com> References: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> <49DEA0AD.6080907@effros.com> Message-ID: <002501c9b985$25407520$6fc15f60$@com> Thanks for the offer, nothing at this point, I need to catch up with Elton but it can wait a few weeks until he "off the road" -mjm From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:28 PM To: SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com Subject: Re: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Michael, I was up in Westport Sunday, and will be down at GB in 10 days. Was wondering if there was anything you needed transported. Not too late if there's anything you'd like me to bring to Stan or Elton or Rose. B. michael meltzer wrote: Did not see it ? and the boat is on the trailer right now. From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Ed Kroposki Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:01 PM To: Swift Water Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing conditions on LIS? Ed K _____ _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazet te -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/46d62218/attachment.html From bill at effros.com Thu Apr 9 22:59:37 2009 From: bill at effros.com (Bill Effros) Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:59:37 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <002501c9b985$25407520$6fc15f60$@com> References: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> <49DEA0AD.6080907@effros.com> <002501c9b985$25407520$6fc15f60$@com> Message-ID: <49DEB619.4070908@effros.com> Elton was moving slowly the last time I saw him. Is there a story? B. michael meltzer wrote: > > Thanks for the offer, nothing at this point, I need to catch up with > Elton but it can wait a few weeks until he "off the road" > > -mjm > > > > > > *From:* > swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com] > *On Behalf Of *Bill Effros > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:28 PM > *To:* SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > *Subject:* Re: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM > > > > Michael, > > I was up in Westport Sunday, and will be down at GB in 10 days. Was > wondering if there was anything you needed transported. Not too late > if there's anything you'd like me to bring to Stan or Elton or Rose. > > B. > > > > michael meltzer wrote: > > Did not see it ? and the boat is on the trailer right now. > > > > *From:* > swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com] > *On Behalf Of *Ed Kroposki > *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:01 PM > *To:* Swift Water > *Subject:* [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM > > > > Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing > conditions on LIS? > > > > Ed K > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/7cc5d5a1/attachment.html From mjm at michaelmeltzer.com Thu Apr 9 23:06:04 2009 From: mjm at michaelmeltzer.com (michael meltzer) Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 23:06:04 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM In-Reply-To: <49DEB619.4070908@effros.com> References: <9BA96F531BC44005B1B4C437A34FF5F2@YOURB88038198E> <000901c9b96b$fd5539b0$f7ffad10$@com> <49DEA0AD.6080907@effros.com> <002501c9b985$25407520$6fc15f60$@com> <49DEB619.4070908@effros.com> Message-ID: <003901c9b989$49782b00$dc688100$@com> Than more than "life truly does suck", quoted by "the mad Russian" during his quite smoking program. -mjm From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 11:00 PM To: SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com Subject: Re: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Elton was moving slowly the last time I saw him. Is there a story? B. michael meltzer wrote: Thanks for the offer, nothing at this point, I need to catch up with Elton but it can wait a few weeks until he "off the road" -mjm From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:28 PM To: SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com Subject: Re: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Michael, I was up in Westport Sunday, and will be down at GB in 10 days. Was wondering if there was anything you needed transported. Not too late if there's anything you'd like me to bring to Stan or Elton or Rose. B. michael meltzer wrote: Did not see it ? and the boat is on the trailer right now. From: swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwatergazett e.com [mailto:swiftwatergazette-bounces+mjm=michaelmeltzer.com at mailman.theswiftwat ergazette.com] On Behalf Of Ed Kroposki Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 7:01 PM To: Swift Water Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] MJM Bill was inquiring why you didn't reply to the question about sailing conditions on LIS? Ed K _____ _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazet te _____ _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazet te -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090409/414a808c/attachment-0001.html From flybrad at gmail.com Fri Apr 10 16:48:45 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:48:45 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Tax Facts Message-ID: <400985d70904101348j32845bc9w9e5516913ef29a44@mail.gmail.com> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI - Gone to S. Illinois for the weekend to see the parents (and take Cora to Six Flags) - off to Orlando as guest at a seminar on Wednesday (Advanced Baron Seminar, haven't flown one in 28 years, this should be interesting!) - back to reality late April - run the world for me, will ya? Brad From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 13 06:40:39 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:40:39 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] China Balks Message-ID: <400985d70904130340t758eec66xdc839e1306b267a1@mail.gmail.com> The New York Times can't give up its role as cheerleader for The One long enough to do any real analysis. "The main effect of slower bond purchases may be a weakening of Beijing?s influence in Washington as the Treasury becomes less reliant on purchases by the Chinese central bank." Bullshit! Statements like that are why the NYT's is going bankrupt and deserves to go bankrupt. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/business/global/13yuan.html?_r=2&ref=global-home Brad From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 13 07:53:18 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:53:18 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] More Palin Family Dirt Message-ID: <400985d70904130453u6477670bj17da59a48ac2d80e@mail.gmail.com> OK, so I lied! Shoot me! I could care less about Bristol Palin's personal issues other than to empathize with her plight. I don't care about Joe Biden's daughter using cocaine or Al Gore's son driving drunk other than to understand the pain of the parents and hope for a happy outcome for the adult children. Anyone but me notice the MSM is pretty selective about which political relatives they report about and invite to talk shows and which ones they don't? For example, when is this guy appearing on Oprah? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6079235.ece Frankly, I think the uncle who is a Marxist thug campaigning for Islamic law in Kenya is far more interesting. Brad From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 13 07:56:39 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:56:39 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Hyperinflation? Message-ID: Brad, Are you suggesting that history has shown that just printing money has lead to hyperinfalation and political turmoil? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090413/c742fa13/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 13 08:27:12 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:27:12 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Hyperinflation? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <400985d70904130527s2b22b8b2raba057ada55aa075@mail.gmail.com> Ed, No sane and rational person can explain how we're going to pay off these staggering amounts of debt we're taking on without inflation. Paul Krugman, Nobel winning economist, keeps cheerleading the plan in the NYT's, but I digress - no sane and rational person can explain how we can avoid inflation. The Chinese are looking at their investments in US Dollars and sense exactly where this is going. Our economy IS suffering, as in unemployment is at 25 year highs (8+ per cent) but not Great Depression like suffering yet with near 25% unemployment levels. Whatever you choose to call our current situation, a recession/depression/correction, etc., the Obama administration is using it as an excuse to implement a hard leftist political agenda that has nothing to do with long-term economic recovery. Inflation? I'm waiting for a sane and rational explanation on how it can possibly be avoided. Someone, anyone? China is waiting too! Brad On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 6:56 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > Brad, > > Are you suggesting that history has shown that just printing money has lead > to hyperinfalation and political turmoil? > > Ed K > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From flybrad at gmail.com Tue Apr 14 09:59:46 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:59:46 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Change! A Whole Lot of Change! Message-ID: <400985d70904140659v2670505bg95ef6f9025dd1624@mail.gmail.com> " Illinois transportation officials hope to garner extra money that will be redistributed if other states can?t use theirs within the act?s strict deadlines." Strict deadlines? Welcome to the Chicago way. Contracts are written so the winners are pre-selected. Don't be surprised if your state ends up being one of "the other states" . Obama - Chicago - check. LaHood - Illinois - check. Rahm - Chicago - check. Jarrett - Chicago - check. "Projects are being approved ahead of schedule, and they are coming in under budget.? Uh, run that by me again, Mr. President. How does a project come in under budget when it hasn't started yet? Ever heard of the Big Dig? Your buddy Ted can fill you in on the details. "Just got home from Illinois" (credit to CCR) after visiting Mom & Dad. My guess is that most of the Illinois "stimulus" money will stay in Chicagoland (no one needs political influence downstate). This article (below) is from ChicagoBusiness. Brad ----------------- Illinois snags chunk of fed stimulus work By Paul Merrion April 13, 2009 (Crain?s) ? Illinois is getting a jump on the federal stimulus program, claiming more than 12% of the road and bridge projects approved so far by the U.S. Department of Transportation. At a televised appearance Monday before about 50 DOT employees, President Barack Obama announced that 2,000 projects nationwide had been approved by the agency since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act became law Feb. 17. ?Just 41 days ago we announced funding for the first transportation project under ARRA and today we?re approving the 2,000th project,? Mr. Obama said. ?I am proud to utter the two rarest phrases in the English language: Projects are being approved ahead of schedule, and they are coming in under budget.? As of April 1, DOT had approved 243 projects in Illinois totaling $629 million, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told the Illinois congressional delegation in a meeting that day. In the last two weeks, three more projects were added, according to a Transportation Department spokeswoman. Mr. LaHood is a former Republican congressman from Peoria. Illinois has obligated $605.2 million for the projects approved so far, she added, out of the $935 million available to the state for road and bridge work. Illinois transportation officials hope to garner extra money that will be redistributed if other states can?t use theirs within the act?s strict deadlines. Bids were due April 3 for 134 Illinois projects, which totaled $291 million, $10 million less than the state estimated, says a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Transportation. A second round of bids is due April 24. From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 16:53:39 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:53:39 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Tea? Message-ID: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> Off to a Tea Party in one hour! I just wrote a 4 figure check to my 'friends' to supplement the high 5 figure number they've already got for 2008. Boys and Girls, I give this country 18 months to turn this thing around or me and my family are off to Hong Kong. Unlike those Hollywood assholes, I'm not bluffing. Here's your video for the day - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI&feature=player_embedded Brad From sanderico1 at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 18:25:57 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:25:57 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Tea? In-Reply-To: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904151525o66424448ta855efed04aa524d@mail.gmail.com> Brad, I hope it all does some good. Lord knows if Sandy could get around better, we'd be at one today too!! So make a little extra noise for us if you would. Rik On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: > Off to a Tea Party in one hour! I just wrote a 4 figure check to my > 'friends' to supplement the high 5 figure number they've already got > for 2008. Boys and Girls, I give this country 18 months to turn this > thing around or me and my family are off to Hong Kong. Unlike those > Hollywood assholes, I'm not bluffing. > > Here's your video for the day - > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI&feature=player_embedded > > Brad > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090415/1fe791d6/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 21:32:18 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:32:18 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Tea? In-Reply-To: <6634e19e0904151525o66424448ta855efed04aa524d@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> <6634e19e0904151525o66424448ta855efed04aa524d@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <400985d70904151832o7d93c8e2x785483bc941e820a@mail.gmail.com> Rik, The crowd in Memphis was probably around 2 to 3 thousand. Everyone was pleasant and well behaved despite a handful of plants and trolls trying to stir-up trouble. I'd say it was mostly a non-partisan event - folks seemed equally pissed at both parties. Perhaps the light bulb is starting to go off for people. A lot of small kids were holding signs their parents had made saying things like, "keep your hands off my piggy bank". They truly are the ones who will suffer if we don't stop this madness. This isn't just about taxes, or policies, or party affiliation. We can't possibly pay off this amount of debt without devaluing the dollar. The Chinese get it, maybe we're starting to see the average American understand it as well. Brad On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Eric Sandberg wrote: > Brad, > > I hope it all does some good. Lord knows if Sandy could get around better, > we'd be at one today too!! So make a little extra noise for us if you would. > > Rik > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: >> >> Off to a Tea Party in one hour! ?I just wrote a 4 figure check to my >> 'friends' to supplement the high 5 figure number they've already got >> for 2008. ?Boys and Girls, I give this country 18 months to turn this >> thing around or me and my family are off to Hong Kong. ?Unlike those >> Hollywood assholes, I'm not bluffing. >> >> Here's your video for the day - >> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI&feature=player_embedded >> >> Brad >> _______________________________________________ >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From sanderico1 at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 21:43:42 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:43:42 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Tea? In-Reply-To: <400985d70904151832o7d93c8e2x785483bc941e820a@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> <6634e19e0904151525o66424448ta855efed04aa524d@mail.gmail.com> <400985d70904151832o7d93c8e2x785483bc941e820a@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904151843q5f5d3426w9dee8c3d4189b17e@mail.gmail.com> Brad, Looks like congress and our new President have a big chance right now to prove they are as smart as the average American...... Think they're up to it??? Maybe by the time the crowds have increased from 2 to 3 thousand to 20 to 30 thousand. Rik On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 8:32 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: > Rik, > > The crowd in Memphis was probably around 2 to 3 thousand. Everyone was > pleasant and well behaved despite a handful of plants and trolls > trying to stir-up trouble. I'd say it was mostly a non-partisan event > - folks seemed equally pissed at both parties. > > Perhaps the light bulb is starting to go off for people. A lot of > small kids were holding signs their parents had made saying things > like, "keep your hands off my piggy bank". They truly are the ones who > will suffer if we don't stop this madness. This isn't just about > taxes, or policies, or party affiliation. We can't possibly pay off > this amount of debt without devaluing the dollar. The Chinese get it, > maybe we're starting to see the average American understand it as > well. > > Brad > > > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Eric Sandberg > wrote: > > Brad, > > > > I hope it all does some good. Lord knows if Sandy could get around > better, > > we'd be at one today too!! So make a little extra noise for us if you > would. > > > > Rik > > > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: > >> > >> Off to a Tea Party in one hour! I just wrote a 4 figure check to my > >> 'friends' to supplement the high 5 figure number they've already got > >> for 2008. Boys and Girls, I give this country 18 months to turn this > >> thing around or me and my family are off to Hong Kong. Unlike those > >> Hollywood assholes, I'm not bluffing. > >> > >> Here's your video for the day - > >> > >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI&feature=player_embedded > >> > >> Brad > >> _______________________________________________ > >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > >> > >> > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090415/a092fa23/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 22:19:45 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:19:45 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Tea? In-Reply-To: <6634e19e0904151843q5f5d3426w9dee8c3d4189b17e@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904151353i61513d63gf98d554c9a8014ec@mail.gmail.com> <6634e19e0904151525o66424448ta855efed04aa524d@mail.gmail.com> <400985d70904151832o7d93c8e2x785483bc941e820a@mail.gmail.com> <6634e19e0904151843q5f5d3426w9dee8c3d4189b17e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <400985d70904151919t12c3e7fk2bfb8480a26b7544@mail.gmail.com> NOPE! I say throw all the bastards out and start fresh. On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Eric Sandberg wrote: > Brad, > > Looks like congress and our new President have a big chance right now to > prove they are as smart as the average American...... Think they're up to > it??? > > Maybe by the time the crowds have increased from 2 to 3 thousand to 20 to 30 > thousand. > > Rik > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 8:32 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: >> >> Rik, >> >> The crowd in Memphis was probably around 2 to 3 thousand. Everyone was >> pleasant and well behaved despite a handful of plants and trolls >> trying to stir-up trouble. ?I'd say it was mostly a non-partisan event >> - ?folks seemed equally pissed at both parties. >> >> Perhaps the light bulb is starting to go off for people. ?A lot of >> small kids were holding signs their parents had made saying things >> like, "keep your hands off my piggy bank". They truly are the ones who >> will suffer if we don't stop this madness. This isn't just about >> taxes, or policies, or party affiliation. ?We can't possibly pay off >> this amount of debt without devaluing the dollar. ?The Chinese get it, >> maybe we're starting to see the average American understand it as >> well. >> >> Brad >> >> >> >> On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Eric Sandberg >> wrote: >> > Brad, >> > >> > I hope it all does some good. Lord knows if Sandy could get around >> > better, >> > we'd be at one today too!! So make a little extra noise for us if you >> > would. >> > >> > Rik >> > >> > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: >> >> >> >> Off to a Tea Party in one hour! ?I just wrote a 4 figure check to my >> >> 'friends' to supplement the high 5 figure number they've already got >> >> for 2008. ?Boys and Girls, I give this country 18 months to turn this >> >> thing around or me and my family are off to Hong Kong. ?Unlike those >> >> Hollywood assholes, I'm not bluffing. >> >> >> >> Here's your video for the day - >> >> >> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4OeKmWjOI&feature=player_embedded >> >> >> >> Brad >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> >> >> >> >> >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> > >> > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette >> > >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 15 22:28:48 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:28:48 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Iron Men of Metz Message-ID: <400985d70904151928x184b4d45i35423fef6e35e483@mail.gmail.com> Better late than never. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/041509dnfrenchlegion.3d3c821.html?nTar=OPUR Dad still wakes up early every morning even though he no longer needs to, and Sunday morning he and I spent an hour or so looking through old WW2 photos while everyone else still slept. He wouldn't share much when I was a kid but is eager to talk about his experience now. He told me a story about loading one of his buddies on a stretcher who had been killed instantly after being hit by a shell fragment at Metz. It was the first time I'd ever heard him tell the story. He expressed his regret for not visiting the boy's parents after the war. Anyway, Metz was one of many "forgotten" battles. I'm glad to see Sgt. Johnson get recognized 65 years later. The 95th ID was Dad's outfit. Brad From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 16 12:48:23 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:48:23 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Susan Boyle - Message-ID: <2D40E9A7525B46FD85F2963649F6156A@YOURB88038198E> Here is the U-Tube that has hit it world wide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090416/b1d9ccdc/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 16 13:04:10 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:04:10 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Susan Boyle - In-Reply-To: <2D40E9A7525B46FD85F2963649F6156A@YOURB88038198E> References: <2D40E9A7525B46FD85F2963649F6156A@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <400985d70904161004y7d1bfad0ne0d7c583b10b013b@mail.gmail.com> Ed, Thank you! Thank you for showcasing a small person from humanity with great talent and courage! Thanks for all the "small people" with courage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man God Bless America! Gone flying (teaching in Orlando). Mickey Mouse stuff! Brad On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 11:48 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > Here is the U-Tube that has hit it world wide: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY > > Ed K > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From sanderico1 at gmail.com Thu Apr 16 13:51:52 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:51:52 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] What your Mama should have taught you about gov't retirement Message-ID: <6634e19e0904161051i4b6a78dar53bef5183fd2ecc6@mail.gmail.com> Good afternoon All, Way back when, when the gov't first offered up retirement savings accounts, everyone urged me to get in on this great deal. Fortunately, I guess, I was skeptical then and I remained skeptical for all these years. I never did get involved in the govt's savings program. Probably a good thing. Bad enough they ran off with all that social security money. Rik For your reading pleasure today: http://www.whiskeyandgunpowder.com/a-tax-day-lament-and-a-warning/ A Tax Day Lament and a Warning Apr 15th, 2009 | By Gary Gibson| Category: Currencies , Featured , Personal Investing , Politics [image: leadimage] Your editor is as rueful as can be today, Shooters?absolutely full of rue? I?m like a former child star, tidying up the cell he shares with his prison boyfriend and wondering where it all went wrong? How many of you are wondering on this latest April 15 ? as I am ? how this present slavery became so thorough? I just grudgingly did my taxes. Turns out I owe my lecherous Uncle Sammy more money in fees and surprising amounts of progressive taxes than I can truly hope to pay in one natural lifetime. How could this have happened? It?s a sad and sordid tale of misspent youth, ruinous debt and the women and booze that caused them. You see, I wasn?t always the stalwart Austrian economic schoolboy and ascetic doomsayer you?ve come to know and love. Like my fellow benighted consumer statists, I prayed in the same temple of credit worship and government trust. I thought Citibank would lovingly provide my electronic toys and shiny vehicles at negligible interest forever and ever. I thought the government was giving me the best of every world with social security and the stock-boosted defined benefit plan. Live and learn. The 401(k) is a trap. The banks and the government ? as usual ? have given the populace enough rope to hang themselves with credit and intimations of retirement security?and the ability to borrow from the retirement accost or even withdraw from it?at very high cost? Try to take out that money you?ve been saving. I dare ya. See, the deal is that you cannot use it before the age of 59 ? except under a narrow band of circumstances. If you contract with the devil, don?t be surprised when you wind up in hell. If you need that money before you?re halfway through your 59th year ? say to pay off those enormous debts that the banks were so happy to let you run up ? then expect to pay a 10% vig off the top and then have whatever you save count as income on the year. In a progressive tax system, that means you get to watch roughly half of it disappear. The 401(k) only works under circumstances that don?t exist in the real world. The fiat currency in which you save won?t be worth diddly by the time you are allowed to get it. Try to take it out before that and the government will kill you with fees and progressive tax. And I certainly hope you don?t still believe the one about growth and interest outpacing inflation. Looking back, the come-on does bear a strong resemblance to those internet scam letters I get in my inbox. The maliciousness of the scammer and the greed of the victim have to work together closely and well for the crime to take place. ?We?ll let you save pre-tax (taxes we impose in the first place) dollars, and guard your account (forbid you from taking it out without making it extremely costly).? When I jumped ship from my last job to become your editor, I made the mistake of demanding all the money I?d trusted to Fidelity under the rules of the defined pension plan. I wanted nothing further to do with them or the banks?but they sure don?t make escape easy or cheap. *For the love of God and the sake of liberty, don?t do it.* Steer clear of these complications. Having the government guard your retirement money is more than a little like putting a wolf on watch duty at the door of your hen house. Much like Morgan Freeman?s character in *The Shawshank Redemption* told the parole board: I wish I could meet the young man I used to be, talk some sense into him. I?d tell him that the bankers and the government were not his friends, that those mortgages, credit cards and tax-deferred government accounts were not in his best interest. Alas, it is too late. I entered into this bondage willingly, but ignorantly. I didn?t have a clue how dangerous bankers and government gangsters were. I accepted the promises of ease and plenty and I?ve been justly rewarded for my gullibility. I suspect I?m not alone. I don?t believe, however, that most of my fellow slaves have woken up yet. More and more, however, are starting to stir. Surely millions of them will be sending off a hefty check to their masters even as they stew about how the government is bailing out rich, evil banksters. As you read this I will indeed be joining a few folks that have some notion that government by its nature uses money that it doesn?t earn. They demand at least a little accountability, a little representation to go with the taxation. Roving Whiskey reporter Samantha Buker and I will be attending the Tax Day Tea Party in both Annapolis and Baltimore. (We?ll let you know how it goes.) These Tea Parties will be held nationwide today. Folks want to know what the hell is going on with the money continually hijacked from their paychecks. But how many of them wonder at the criminality of the income tax itself, no matter what it goes to support? How many realize that greedy conmen in nice suits are eating out their substance, legally but immorally? Does anyone question the notion that government must be funded? An income tax and a fiat currency: what a fine pairing. The one is a gun in the face and the other is a shell game. Both break the Eighth Commandment and both will lead to complete ruin. Far be it from me to incite you Shooters more than I normally do. Whether or not you fund the fraudulent thug that is government is between you, your god and those with the power to investigate and arrest you. This tax day, I just want you to think very carefully about the whole shebang. At the very least, stay the hell away from any enticements the government may offer. You have to earn an income in their paper and odds are there?s no way to keep them from tracking everything you collect?but instead of a 401k, you may want to look at gold and silver. For those of you already entangled in the web of the defined benefits plan, tread very carefully. As we say here in the *Whiskey* Room: sometimes there is no forgiveness, only punishment. And today your editor accounts for the sins of his youth. Oh well, Baltimore is a fantastic place to make less money and ride out an economic disaster all while owing obscene amounts of money to the imperial government. The city never really picked itself up from the postwar urban freefall. Won?t be so good in the event of the collapse of industrial society, but if you?re gonna be down and out, this is the place to do it. Regards, Gary Gibson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090416/ee40bb54/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Fri Apr 17 07:39:46 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:39:46 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Local South Carolina News Message-ID: <9C1004AE22624104A1CC7F8F77B144C7@YOURB88038198E> April 17, 2009 Bear killed on U.S. 25 By E. Richard Walton STAFF WRITER A bear was struck and killed by a driver on U.S. 25 in northern Greenville County on Thursday night, authorities said. Lance Cpl. Jeff Gaskin, a Highway Patrol spokesman, said late Thursday night that an emergency dispatcher reported to him that "a car vs. bear" incident occurred south of the North Carolina state line after 9 p.m. He said no more information was available. The trooper said he didn't know if the driver suffered injuries. Tom Swayngham, a wildife spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources, said an officer was at the site but no details of the incident were available. He said bears "are waking up this time of year. April is the month we get a lot of calls." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090417/15aff8c7/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 4484 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090417/15aff8c7/attachment-0001.gif From ekroposki at charter.net Fri Apr 17 15:58:08 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:58:08 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Hey Brad, the recording is broken again... Message-ID: He sure knows how to pick'em. He either looks for crooks or they're all crooks or idiots. How about his choice for Homeland Security? They refuse to call our enemies terrorists but she considers our veterans possible terrorists. 2010 can't come soon enough. APRIL 17, 2009 a.. By PETER LATTMAN and CRAIG KARMIN Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments under scrutiny in a probe of an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Securities and Exchange Commission complaint says a "senior executive" of Mr. Rattner's investment firm met in 2004 with a politically connected consultant about a finder's fee. Later, the complaint says, the firm received an investment from the state pension fund and paid $1.1 million in fees. The "senior executive," not named in the complaint, is Mr. Rattner, according to the person familiar with the matter. He is co-founder of the investment firm, Quadrangle Group, which he left to join the Treasury Department to oversee the auto task force earlier this year. Neither Mr. Rattner nor Quadrangle has been accused of any wrongdoing. Mr. Rattner did not return calls for comment. View Full Image Bloomberg News Steven Rattner, a chief adviser to Obama's automotive task force. A spokeswoman for the Treasury, which is in charge of the auto task force, said that "during the transition, Mr. Rattner made us aware of the pending investigation." In the long-running pay-to-play case, authorities allege that about 20 investment firms made payments in exchange for investments from the $122 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund. The case, being investigated by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the SEC, has led to three criminal indictments and a guilty plea. The attorney general's office and the SEC declined to comment. The next phase of the investigation is expected to focus more on the investment firms, which include Quadrangle, Carlyle Group and Odyssey Investment Partners. The three firms say they have cooperated and are not targets of the investigation. Authorities are trying to determine whether any of the firms violated securities laws in paying fees to a placement agent for access to the state pension fund. The main legal issue for the investment firms turns on whether they knew, or should have known, that fees they paid to certain entities for access to the New York fund were legitimate or were improper kickbacks, and whether they were properly disclosed, according to people familiar with the matter. The SEC alleges in its complaint that a meeting was arranged between the senior Quadrangle executive and a brother of New York's then-deputy comptroller to discuss acquiring the DVD distribution rights to the low-budget film, "Chooch." The deputy comptroller, now under indictment, and his brothers produced the movie. Associated Press David Loglisci, top left, and Hank Morris, bottom right, former advisers to New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi, have been indicted on charges they took kickbacks and other payments to steer billions of dollars in state pension-fund investments to favored companies. Quadrangle, through an affiliate called GT Brands, agreed to acquire the rights for $88,841, and three weeks later the deputy comptroller told the senior Quadrangle executive that Quadrangle would get a $100 million investment from the pension fund, according to the complaint. Quadrangle then paid the $1.1 million finders fees to a company affiliated with the political consultant, according to the complaint. GT Brands was a DVD publishing company that did business as GoodTimes Entertainment. One person familiar with the deal says it was a standard movie deal, where GoodTimes made an investment and the producers of the movie received payments after GoodTimes recouped its investment. Mr. Rattner, 56 years old, is a veteran deal maker who co-founded New York-based Quadrangle in 2000 after spending years as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to the No. 2 spot. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama tapped him to lead a task force of two dozen people to figure out how to restructure ailing U.S. auto makers General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Placement agents play a key role in the hedge fund and private-equity fund-raising business. Typically, they serve as middlemen between investment firms and prospective clients, and get a percentage of the investments as fees. Hank Morris, who was the top political adviser and chief fund-raiser for former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi, was a placement agent named in the SEC complaint. The deputy comptroller, who helped produce "Chooch," was David J. Loglisci. Both men were arrested last month and charged in a 123-count state criminal indictment that included money-laundering, enterprise-corruption and bribery charges. The SEC filed civil-fraud charges against the two men. Attorneys for the two men have denied the accusations. The SEC suit charges that Mr. Loglisci told firms interested in managing New York's pension money that they should hire Mr. Morris. After the money managers agreed to pay Mr. Morris a fee, then "Loglisci approved the proposed deal with the investment management firm," the SEC alleged. The SEC complaint says that in 2004, the senior Quadrangle executive met with Mr. Loglisci to solicit an investment for the firm. In December, "Morris met with the Quadrangle executive and solicited a finder fee arrangement between Quadrangle and Morris," the complaint alleges. Although Quadrangle had already retained a placement agent, the complaint says, "Quadrangle entered into a written agreement...to pay Searle [a placement agency affiliated with Mr. Morris] 1.1% of any amount invested by the Retirement Fund with that private equity fund." Quadrangle paid a $1.125 million fee to Searle, with Mr. Morris receiving 95% of that amount, the complaint alleges. The SEC alleges that Quadrangle wasn't the only firm to invest in "Chooch." An executive at the private-equity firm Riverstone Holdings, which paid fees to Searle through a joint venture with Carlyle, invested $100,000 in the movie, according to the SEC complaint. Riverstone has said it has cooperated with the investigation, and that neither the company nor its executives have been advised that they are targets. Write to Peter Lattman at peter.lattman at wsj.com and Craig Karmin at craig.karmin at wsj. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090417/d160fff2/attachment-0001.html From ekroposki at charter.net Sun Apr 19 12:18:40 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:18:40 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Storefront Banner in Annapolis, MD Message-ID: <50809A7A9A6742F795C25D778AB85626@YOURB88038198E> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090419/3526e38c/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Navy vs Pirates.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 55627 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090419/3526e38c/attachment-0001.jpg From sanderico1 at gmail.com Sun Apr 19 21:45:44 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:45:44 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Storefront Banner in Annapolis, MD In-Reply-To: <50809A7A9A6742F795C25D778AB85626@YOURB88038198E> References: <50809A7A9A6742F795C25D778AB85626@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904191845n16b4064g2081e0d8d8f8c45b@mail.gmail.com> Ed, This whole pirate thing is just amazing to me. Who is crewing these vessels .... men, or a bunch of helpless old women??? Why are they not arming/defending themselves??? Rik On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090419/489da542/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 20 07:38:56 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:38:56 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik asked, "Why are they not Message-ID: <3FADAA84CA3D42DDA2BB8C0B19D264AF@YOURB88038198E> Rik asked, "Why are they not arming/defending themselves??? There are two reasons in the background. First, is that when they enterport they would have to declare guns and amunition aboard and probably lock them with the harbor master. Second, if they used them to shoot at boats belonging to another country, notwithstanding they might be pirates, they would be subject to lawsuits in international courts for alleged inadvertant damages, etc. A Ben C.'s dream. With the recent administrations the U. S. has accepted jurisdiction of these international courts. Can you imagine Obama fighting such jurisdiction? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090420/8e987ee6/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Mon Apr 20 09:11:38 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:11:38 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik asked, "Why are they not In-Reply-To: <3FADAA84CA3D42DDA2BB8C0B19D264AF@YOURB88038198E> References: <3FADAA84CA3D42DDA2BB8C0B19D264AF@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904200611j3991bb3cgaacaa23c838eb2e7@mail.gmail.com> Ed, *"they would be subject to lawsuits in international courts for alleged inadvertant damages, etc. A Ben C.'s dream". When are people going to begin to understand what a joke this is?? When we punish people for attempting to defend themselves, we open the door and invite in the would be pirate, terrorist, dope dealer, etc. in other words, somebody you're probably gonna' have to kill to get to court anyway. Courts look great to the collective, ie, the ones who aren't being shot at, in any given situation. They don't do shit for the individual. You cannot give back a life that has been taken or ruined, no matter how high the court. There is only one good way to deal with people that don't care about the rules and would take what you have by force. It's called "Gun Control" .... one shot, one kill. Worry about asking questions after your attackers are dead. Let the court try to restore life back to the pirate, the one who asked for the trouble in the first place. Rik * On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:38 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > *Rik asked, "Why are they not arming/defending themselves???* > ** > *There are two reasons in the background.* > ** > *First, is that when they enterport they would have to declare guns and > amunition aboard and probably lock them with the harbor master.* > ** > *Second, if they used them to shoot at boats belonging to another country, > notwithstanding they might be pirates, they would be subject to lawsuits in > international courts for alleged inadvertant damages, etc. A Ben C.'s > dream.* > ** > *With the recent administrations the U. S. has accepted jurisdiction of > these international courts. Can you imagine Obama fighting such > jurisdiction?* > ** > *Ed K* > > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090420/43847a6a/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 20 13:52:06 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:52:06 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blue Heron Message-ID: <89ED1F003538427DA3B65E6E7CE511CB@YOURB88038198E> Rik, Invite the guy off the Rhodes List aka Blue Heron, to join this forum. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090420/5bbbad30/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Tue Apr 21 12:10:01 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:10:01 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik asked, "Why are they not In-Reply-To: <6634e19e0904200611j3991bb3cgaacaa23c838eb2e7@mail.gmail.com> References: <3FADAA84CA3D42DDA2BB8C0B19D264AF@YOURB88038198E> <6634e19e0904200611j3991bb3cgaacaa23c838eb2e7@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <400985d70904210910y2f3940bfyd4f9a756792f88f8@mail.gmail.com> Rik, "When are people going to begin to understand what a joke this is??" What joke is that? Do you mean; why did it take the US Navy four days to "off" 3 teenagers with AK-47's on a small boat versus a Navy destroyer? Answer is.......lack of will. I'm just getting caught-up on emails after spending three days in Orlando as a guest at the "Advanced Baron Seminar", and one of the emails neglected was from a friend who's Marine son has been on three deployments to Iraq. The internet allows military types to gossip without revealing their identity or risking their careers. Here's the "rumor mill" version of events. The One (TM) wanted a "peaceful" outcome at all costs. The ROE (rules of engagement) straight from the Commander in Chief was "no shooting". The commander on the spot had endured enough after four days and changed his interpretation of events to this; an AK47 being pointed at the Alabama Captain's back was "imminent danger" (as if the previous three days of pointing wasn't imminent danger). He got another chance at a clean shot and took it - three times simultaneously. The One (TM) and his minions (especially the MSM cheerleading squad) immediately began to praise his decisive action and The One's (TM) decisive leadership. I can send you the whole story if you like. Anyway, it was a happy ending - the US Navy destroyer was successful over a rowboat. Thomas Jefferson would be proud! Brad On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 8:11 AM, Eric Sandberg wrote: > Ed, > > "they would be subject to lawsuits in international courts for alleged > inadvertant damages, etc.? A Ben C.'s dream". > > When are people going to begin to understand what a joke this is?? When we > punish people for attempting to defend themselves, we open the door and > invite in the would be pirate, terrorist, dope dealer, etc. in other words, > somebody you're probably gonna' have to kill to get to court anyway. Courts > look great to the collective, ie, the ones who aren't being shot at, in any > given situation. They don't do shit for the individual. You cannot give back > a life that has been taken or ruined, no matter how high the court. > > There is only one good way to deal with people that don't care about the > rules and would take what you have by force. It's called "Gun Control" .... > one shot, one kill. > > Worry about asking questions after your attackers are dead. Let the court > try to restore life back to the pirate, the one who asked for the trouble in > the first place. > > Rik > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:38 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: >> >> Rik asked, "Why are they not arming/defending themselves??? >> >> There are two reasons in the background. >> >> First, is that when they enterport they would have to declare guns and >> amunition aboard and probably lock them with the harbor master. >> >> Second, if they used them to shoot at boats belonging to another country, >> notwithstanding they might be pirates, they would be subject to lawsuits in >> international courts for alleged inadvertant damages, etc.? A Ben C.'s >> dream. >> >> With the recent administrations the U. S. has accepted jurisdiction of >> these international courts.? Can you imagine Obama fighting such >> jurisdiction? >> >> Ed K >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette >> > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 21 14:50:58 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:50:58 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] non sailing, non political UTubes Message-ID: <75B7C8B5B0894081932EFE46CAD5DFBF@YOURB88038198E> This is for Brad in case the prop takes off something: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhi4Q8EDTU This one comes from Rummy who does not want the Rhodes List to know his varied interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090421/68923419/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Wed Apr 22 00:21:22 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:21:22 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik asked, "Why are they not In-Reply-To: <400985d70904210910y2f3940bfyd4f9a756792f88f8@mail.gmail.com> References: <3FADAA84CA3D42DDA2BB8C0B19D264AF@YOURB88038198E> <6634e19e0904200611j3991bb3cgaacaa23c838eb2e7@mail.gmail.com> <400985d70904210910y2f3940bfyd4f9a756792f88f8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904212121n1d3b5b4cqec64ddbf601b326a@mail.gmail.com> Brad, Yeah that too, but ...... If that ship had had armament aboard, the captain probably would never have had need to be rescued by the navy in the first place. There ain't gonna be no pirates boarding ships off of rowboats if the crew of the ship is blowing the boat full of holes as they approach. For any ship to be traveling through that area unarmed is just stupid. I could understand it the first time a ship was highjacked. Now that we've known what these people are up to for how long??? Anybody traveling through those waters unarmed is nothing but a damned fool. If it were my ship I'd say, I'll be carrying arms ..... or I won't be coming. Get some other dumbass to bring your stuff. Rik On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 11:10 AM, Brad Haslett wrote: > Rik, > > "When are people going to begin to understand what a joke this is??" > > What joke is that? Do you mean; why did it take the US Navy four days > to "off" 3 teenagers with AK-47's on a small boat versus a Navy > destroyer? > > Answer is.......lack of will. > > I'm just getting caught-up on emails after spending three days in > Orlando as a guest at the "Advanced Baron Seminar", and one of the > emails neglected was from a friend who's Marine son has been on three > deployments to Iraq. The internet allows military types to gossip > without revealing their identity or risking their careers. Here's the > "rumor mill" version of events. The One (TM) wanted a "peaceful" > outcome at all costs. The ROE (rules of engagement) straight from the > Commander in Chief was "no shooting". The commander on the spot had > endured enough after four days and changed his interpretation of > events to this; an AK47 being pointed at the Alabama Captain's back > was "imminent danger" (as if the previous three days of pointing > wasn't imminent danger). He got another chance at a clean shot and > took it - three times simultaneously. The One (TM) and his minions > (especially the MSM cheerleading squad) immediately began to praise > his decisive action and The One's (TM) decisive leadership. > > I can send you the whole story if you like. Anyway, it was a happy > ending - the US Navy destroyer was successful over a rowboat. Thomas > Jefferson would be proud! > > Brad > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 8:11 AM, Eric Sandberg > wrote: > > Ed, > > > > "they would be subject to lawsuits in international courts for alleged > > inadvertant damages, etc. A Ben C.'s dream". > > > > When are people going to begin to understand what a joke this is?? When > we > > punish people for attempting to defend themselves, we open the door and > > invite in the would be pirate, terrorist, dope dealer, etc. in other > words, > > somebody you're probably gonna' have to kill to get to court anyway. > Courts > > look great to the collective, ie, the ones who aren't being shot at, in > any > > given situation. They don't do shit for the individual. You cannot give > back > > a life that has been taken or ruined, no matter how high the court. > > > > There is only one good way to deal with people that don't care about the > > rules and would take what you have by force. It's called "Gun Control" > .... > > one shot, one kill. > > > > Worry about asking questions after your attackers are dead. Let the court > > try to restore life back to the pirate, the one who asked for the trouble > in > > the first place. > > > > Rik > > > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:38 AM, Ed Kroposki > wrote: > >> > >> Rik asked, "Why are they not arming/defending themselves??? > >> > >> There are two reasons in the background. > >> > >> First, is that when they enterport they would have to declare guns and > >> amunition aboard and probably lock them with the harbor master. > >> > >> Second, if they used them to shoot at boats belonging to another > country, > >> notwithstanding they might be pirates, they would be subject to lawsuits > in > >> international courts for alleged inadvertant damages, etc. A Ben C.'s > >> dream. > >> > >> With the recent administrations the U. S. has accepted jurisdiction of > >> these international courts. Can you imagine Obama fighting such > >> jurisdiction? > >> > >> Ed K > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > >> > >> > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090421/1e1a3506/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 22 07:48:39 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:48:39 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Cartoon from the Chicago Tribune - 1934 Message-ID: I am trying to send a 1934 Cartoon by attachment. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090422/3f634403/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 1934 Cartoon.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 193512 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090422/3f634403/attachment-0001.jpg From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 22 18:49:38 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:49:38 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Timid advocate of Freedom Message-ID: April 21, 2009, 4:00 a.m. A Timid Advocate of Freedom President Obama has failed his early foreign-policy tests. By Mitt Romney At last week's Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. His response to Ortega's denunciation of our effort to free Cuba from Castro's dictatorship was that he shouldn't be blamed "for things that happened when I was three months old." Blamed? Hundreds of men, including Americans, bravely fought and died for Cuba's freedom, heeding the call from newly elected president John F. Kennedy. But last week, even as American soldiers sacrificed blood in Afghanistan and Iraq to defend liberty, President Obama shrank from defending liberty here in the Americas. In his first press interview as president, he confessed to Arabic television that America had "dictated" to other nations. No, Mr. President, America has fought to free other nations from dictators. And in Strasbourg, the president further claimed that America has "showed arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." London's Daily Telegraph observed that President Obama "went further than any United States president in history in criticizing his own country's action while standing on foreign soil." Of course, it was not just the Daily Telegraph that was listening: People around the world who yearn for freedom, who count on America's resolve and support, heard him as well. He was heard in China, in Tibet, in Sudan, in Burma, and, yes, in Cuba. The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire. It was the same confidence that had been ignited decades earlier when John F. Kennedy declared to a people surrounded by Communism that they were not alone. "We are all Berliners," he said, because "freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free." Franklin Delano Roosevelt's confident commitment, spoken as he led us into the war that would free millions in Europe, inspired not only Americans but freedom fighters around the globe: "The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." Such words of solidarity, of confidence, and of unwavering conviction that America is indeed "the last best hope on earth" are what freedom's friends would have expected to hear from our president when our nation was slandered. Instead he offered silence, smiles, and a handshake. Even more troubling than what he has or has not said is what he has not done. Kim Jong Il launched a long-range missile on the very day President Obama addressed the world about the peril of nuclear proliferation. As one of the world's most oppressive and tyrannical regimes is on the brink of securing the "game changing" capability to reach American shores with a nuclear weapon, the president shrinks from action: no seizure of North Korean funds, no severance of banking access, no blockade. Not to be outdone by Kim Jong Il, President Ahmadinejad announced that his nation has successfully mastered every step necessary to enrich uranium, violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has signed. So, like North Korea, Iran will have changed the world's equation for peace and security: It will be capable of devastating Europe and America, and of annihilating Israel. And as with North Korea, the Obama administration chooses inaction - no new severe sanctions, no hint of military options. Ahmadinejad can act with confidence that the forceful options once on our proverbial table have been shelved. Vice President Biden was right that the new president would be tested early in his administration. What the world learned was not good news for freedom and democracy. The leader of the free world has been a timid advocate of freedom at best. And bold action to blunt the advances of tyrants has been wholly lacking. We are still very early in the Obama years - the president will have ample opportunity to defend America and freedom, and to deter nuclear brinkmanship. I am hoping for change. - Mitt Romney, formerly the governor of Massachusetts, was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTYyYzEzMzBhNTgzMTBkZTk1N2I0MDIxZGMxN2Q3MDM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090422/1cd633cb/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 07:17:18 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:17:18 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Timid advocate of Freedom In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <400985d70904230417x32f227a8g7f30498a63b37781@mail.gmail.com> Ed, How interesting it is that we mere citizens weren't allowed to ask questions about The One's (TM) Muslim background during the campaign without being called a racist or an islamophobe. Now, we're supposed to be encouraged by The One (TM) telling Middle Eastern (non-Israeli that is) leaders that they can trust him because of his first, second, and last name? Forgive me if I'm a little confused. I've never been a member of a cult before and certainly didn't join this one! As a long time student of history, I find these are certainly interesting times. I can't think of a single POTUS that trash-talked his own country while holding office (Carter did but only years after leaving the WH). If nothing else, Barry Hussein makes for an interesting study. Watch where these inquiries and threats of investigation on torture go - I predict nowhere. Everyone on both sides of the isle knew what was happening and no one gave a shit about water boarding three suspects, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. In fact, those policies thwarted an attack on Los Angeles. BO and his minions will eventually have to back-off the attacks on the previous administration before this childish game blows-up in their face. On the other hand, they may really be petty tyrants of the of South American dictator ilk. If that is the case, we're all doomed and it was a nice 233 year run while it lasted. Then, there's that small matter of a rather large debt. I'm still waiting for a sane and rational explanation of how we plan to pay off this record debt (record by historic margins) without rampant inflation. Hello? Anyone? God Bless America! Brad On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 5:49 PM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > April 21, 2009, 4:00 a.m. > > A Timid Advocate of Freedom > President Obama has failed his early foreign-policy tests. > > By Mitt Romney > > At last week?s Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a > 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and > interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. His response to > Ortega?s denunciation of our effort to free Cuba from Castro?s dictatorship > was that he shouldn?t be blamed ?for things that happened when I was three > months old.? Blamed? Hundreds of men, including Americans, bravely fought > and died for Cuba?s freedom, heeding the call from newly elected president > John F. Kennedy. But last week, even as American soldiers sacrificed blood > in Afghanistan and Iraq to defend liberty, President Obama shrank from > defending liberty here in the Americas. > > In his first press interview as president, he confessed to Arabic television > that America had ?dictated? to other nations. No, Mr. President, America has > fought to free other nations from dictators. And in Strasbourg, the > president further claimed that America has ?showed arrogance and been > dismissive, even derisive.? London?s Daily Telegraph observed that President > Obama ?went further than any United States president in history in > criticizing his own country?s action while standing on foreign soil.? Of > course, it was not just the Daily Telegraph that was listening: People > around the world who yearn for freedom, who count on America?s resolve and > support, heard him as well. He was heard in China, in Tibet, in Sudan, in > Burma, and, yes, in Cuba. > > The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of > freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to ?tear down > this wall,? a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the > bounds of the evil empire. It was the same confidence that had been ignited > decades earlier when John F. Kennedy declared to a people surrounded by > Communism that they were not alone. ?We are all Berliners,? he said, because > ?freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.? > Franklin Delano Roosevelt?s confident commitment, spoken as he led us into > the war that would free millions in Europe, inspired not only Americans but > freedom fighters around the globe: ?The American people in their righteous > might will win through to absolute victory.? Such words of solidarity, of > confidence, and of unwavering conviction that America is indeed ?the last > best hope on earth? are what freedom?s friends would have expected to hear > from our president when our nation was slandered. Instead he offered > silence, smiles, and a handshake. > > Even more troubling than what he has or has not said is what he has not > done. Kim Jong Il launched a long-range missile on the very day President > Obama addressed the world about the peril of nuclear proliferation. As one > of the world?s most oppressive and tyrannical regimes is on the brink of > securing the ?game changing? capability to reach American shores with a > nuclear weapon, the president shrinks from action: no seizure of North > Korean funds, no severance of banking access, no blockade. > > Not to be outdone by Kim Jong Il, President Ahmadinejad announced that his > nation has successfully mastered every step necessary to enrich uranium, > violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has signed. So, like North > Korea, Iran will have changed the world?s equation for peace and security: > It will be capable of devastating Europe and America, and of annihilating > Israel. And as with North Korea, the Obama administration chooses inaction ? > no new severe sanctions, no hint of military options. Ahmadinejad can act > with confidence that the forceful options once on our proverbial table have > been shelved. > > Vice President Biden was right that the new president would be tested early > in his administration. What the world learned was not good news for freedom > and democracy. The leader of the free world has been a timid advocate of > freedom at best. And bold action to blunt the advances of tyrants has been > wholly lacking. We are still very early in the Obama years ? the president > will have ample opportunity to defend America and freedom, and to deter > nuclear brinkmanship. I am hoping for change. > > ? Mitt Romney, formerly the governor of Massachusetts, was a candidate for > the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. > > ________________________________ > National Review Online - > http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTYyYzEzMzBhNTgzMTBkZTk1N2I0MDIxZGMxN2Q3MDM > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 07:54:07 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:54:07 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Brownshirts Message-ID: <400985d70904230454v209f6701ga1ed5e5f33746394@mail.gmail.com> Remember when some of us posted the video during the campaign where The One (TM) casually threw out the idea of a civilian "service" branch as large as the military? We were derided as being overly paranoid. Still funny? Brad -------------- Are You an "Extremist"? Thomas Sowell Tuesday, April 21, 2009 While the rest of us may be worried about violent Mexican drug gangs on our border, or about terrorists who are going to be released from Guantanamo, the Director of Homeland Security is worried about "right-wing extremists." Just who are these right-wing extremists? According to an official document of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, right-wing extremists include "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." It also includes those "rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority." If you fit into any of these categories, you may not have realized that you are considered a threat to national security. But apparently the Obama administration has its eye on you. According to the same official document, the Department of Homeland Security "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." But somehow they just know that you right-wingers are itching to unleash terror somewhere, somehow. So-called "honor killings" by Muslims in the United States, including a recent beheading of his wife by a leader of one of the American Muslim organizations, does not seem to arouse any concern by the Department of Homeland Security. When it comes to the thuggery of ACORN -- its members harassing the homes of bankers and even the home of Senator Phil Gramm when he opposed things that ACORN favored -- the Department of Homeland Security apparently sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil. Maybe they are too busy worrying about right-wing "extremists" who don't like abortions or illegal immigration, or who favor the division of power between the state and federal governments established by the Constitution. In one sense, the Department of Homeland Security paper is silly. In another sense, it can be sinister as a revealing and disturbing sign of the preoccupations and priorities of this administration -- and their willingness to witch hunt and demonize those who dare to disagree with them. Reportedly, the FBI and the Defense Department are cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security in investigations of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. That people who have put their lives on the line for this country are made the target of what is called the Vigilant Eagle program suggests that this administration might be more of a threat than the people they are investigating. All this activity takes on a more sinister aspect against the background of one of the statements of Barack Obama during last year's election campaign that got remarkably little attention in the media. He suggested the creation of a federal police force, comparable in size to the military. Why such an organization? For what purpose? Since there are state and local police forces all across the country, an FBI to investigate federal crimes and a Department of Justice to prosecute those who commit them, as well as a Defense Department with military forces, just what role would a federal police force play? Maybe it was just one of those bright ideas that gets floated during an election campaign. Yet there was no grassroots demand for any such federal police nor any media clamor for it, so there was not even any political reason to suggest such a thing. What would be different about a new federal police force, as compared to existing law enforcement and military forces? It would be a creation of the Obama administration, run by people appointed from top to bottom by that administration -- and without the conflicting loyalties of those steeped in existing military traditions and law enforcement traditions. In short, a federal police force could become President Obama's personal domestic political army, his own storm troopers. Perhaps there will never be such a federal police force. But the targeting of individuals and groups who believe in some of the fundamental values on which this country was founded, and people who have demonstrated their patriotism by volunteering for military service, suggests that this potential for political abuse is worth watching, as Obama tries to remake America to fit his vision. From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 23 08:35:47 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:35:47 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] minions Message-ID: It was said, "BO and his minions will eventually have to back-off the attacks on the previous administration before this childish game blows-up in their face. On the other hand, they may really be petty tyrants of the of South American dictator ilk. If that is the case, we're all doomed and it was a nice 233 year run while it lasted." I suspect that even the best security and counter measures cannot stop everything. Doomed will be only a momentary condition until what is called violence clears the air. As I recall you support the general policies of your local MOC who happens to be Democrat. Does that person follow the line like a sheep? I hear no black sheep these days. Only a few Republican black sheep can be heard. I still say that even a white sheep deserves to have a black sheep offered as an alternative. Ask your big boss if they would discretely pay a filing fee for a black sheep? You are still young enough. And have a good understanding. If I was ten years younger I would join the black sheep. I do continue to help the black sheep. Have you read about George Soros's newest book, Crises 2008? I usually do not read books that just come out, so I will wait until it is on the used paperback market. I heard an interview with George the other day. It was interesting. He is a one worlder. He fails to grasp that the one world he seeks just will not happen. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090423/1f49a021/attachment-0001.html From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 12:00:13 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:00:13 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] minions In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <400985d70904230900q79305b88i17e1b30b5a07ad45@mail.gmail.com> Ed, "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato Frankly, neither party offers much at the moment and apparently I'm not the only one that feels that way based on the attendees I witnessed at the April 15th Memphis Tea Party. There is a genuine movement in this country to "take back our government" and both parties will ignore the Tea Party movement at their own peril. The Dems are following Obama over the precipice to their own (and our nations) demise while the GOP has tried to latch onto the Tea Parties as their own, and have been publicly rebuked. Alas, 38% of the population contributes nothing to federal funding and well over 50% are net beneficiaries of federal public funding. Are we at the tipping point? Obama certainly thinks so and is using his momentum and every trick in the Alinsky handbook to force his will. We would not be the first nation to follow a cult leader to its final demise nor the last. Can this be turned around? We'll see soon enough in the mid-term elections. As Deng Shao Peng said, "No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat". Time for some new cats in DC! Brad On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 7:35 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > It was said, "BO and his minions will eventually have to back-off the > attacks on the previous administration > before this childish game blows-up in their face.? On the other hand, they > may really be petty tyrants of the of South American dictator ilk. If that > is the case, we're all doomed and it was a nice 233 year run while it > lasted." > > I suspect that even the best security and counter measures cannot stop > everything.? Doomed will be only a momentary condition until what is called > violence clears the air. > > As I recall you support the general policies of your local MOC who happens > to be Democrat.? Does that person follow the line like a sheep?? I hear no > black sheep these days.? Only a few Republican black sheep can be heard. > > I still say that even a white sheep deserves to have a black sheep offered > as an alternative.? Ask your big boss if they would discretely pay a filing > fee for a black sheep?? You are still young enough.? And have a good > understanding. > > If I was ten years younger I would join the black sheep.? I do continue to > help the black sheep. > > Have you read about George Soros's newest book, Crises 2008?? I usually do > not read books that just come out, so I will wait until it is on the used > paperback market.? I heard an interview with George the other day.? It was > interesting.? He is a one worlder.? He fails to grasp that the one world he > seeks just will not happen. > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 23 12:28:36 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:28:36 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] "No matter if it is a Message-ID: <0692A5BD21A94D3BB2E87A0EB068E57A@YOURB88038198E> Brad said, ""No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat". So, go the harder way, as an independent. The House of Representatives has some who claim to be independents. They are often aggressively wooed by both parties who need their votes. This is harder to do. But suit yourself. Let me find my old how to organize booklet. Can we draft Rik as treasurer? Keep in mind that independent is not third party. Are you willing to go for it? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090423/71c16b52/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 23 15:57:06 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:57:06 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Woodstock Message-ID: <400985d70904231257i10c249cama138dc268454b3ed@mail.gmail.com> Yup! Youngest of four, started HS in 71' . I lived Woodstock through my siblings ( well, not Sis but that's another story). Larry was in 'Nam' for 68' Tet and back to 'Nam again in 72'. Where were we? Oh yeah, Woodstock - http://www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.html I really do remember it, really! (gawd, am I getting old or what?) Brad From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 23 17:47:57 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:47:57 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] gawd, am I getting old or what? Message-ID: <765FAA7093444B55A9DF171D02DFBE90@YOURB88038198E> Brad, Not to old to run for public office! Where is Rik? Michael W sometimes inhabits this list. Is he ready to run for public office? Let me see, isn't there going to be a U. S. Senate contest in New York? Hum... Now what state is Paul Granholm in? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090423/a900d20d/attachment.html From mweisner at ebsmed.com Thu Apr 23 18:39:25 2009 From: mweisner at ebsmed.com (Michael D. Weisner) Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:39:25 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] gawd, am I getting old or what? References: <765FAA7093444B55A9DF171D02DFBE90@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <9F651AD85580443F9D7C61CF6A3D1AA8@ebsoffice> Hi Ed, I'm still very much here, just very busy (not a bad thing, considering ...) Not ready to run for public office, yet. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Kroposki To: Swift Water Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 5:47 PM Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] gawd, am I getting old or what? Brad, Not to old to run for public office! Where is Rik? Michael W sometimes inhabits this list. Is he ready to run for public office? Let me see, isn't there going to be a U. S. Senate contest in New York? Hum... Now what state is Paul Granholm in? Ed K ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ SwiftwaterGazette mailing list SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090423/adf08b5a/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Fri Apr 24 07:32:51 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:32:51 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Not ready to run for public office, yet. Message-ID: Michael, Sometimes there are obligations that we inherit just from being here. Whereas, under Marxist theory, it is each to ability, each to his need. Under freedom there is still the obligation 'each to his ability'. That is where Marxism got its first half. Under a free system the product of the effort is different. You get the product or profits or results. It is your decision on how to use the result, profits, benefits... If you have the ability to run for public office and possibly get elected, the obligation is there. The obligation is to yourself and your family and your community. The obligation is to the future, for tomorrow. So then are you a disciple of Chuck Shummer? Do you believe his attitude is correct and in the best interest of America? Submitted for yours and others considerations ( a hum, independents?). Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090424/1bcde47c/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Fri Apr 24 08:05:44 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:05:44 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] "No matter if it is a In-Reply-To: <0692A5BD21A94D3BB2E87A0EB068E57A@YOURB88038198E> References: <0692A5BD21A94D3BB2E87A0EB068E57A@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904240505v617baf56x1fd757d9c34273d1@mail.gmail.com> Ed, Treasurer, eh? I reckon I could, but there's one thing sure. I don't know any fancy math ..... certainly not the kind these Obamaniacs are using these days to persuade us our great grand children will be able to repay these debts. Rik On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: > Brad said, ""No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it > can catch mice, it is a good cat". > > So, go the harder way, as an independent. The House of Representatives has > some who claim to be independents. They are often aggressively wooed by > both parties who need their votes. > > This is harder to do. But suit yourself. Let me find my old how to > organize booklet. Can we draft Rik as treasurer? > > Keep in mind that independent is not third party. > > Are you willing to go for it? > > Ed K > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090424/9e33da9c/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Fri Apr 24 08:15:27 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:15:27 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Woodstock In-Reply-To: <400985d70904231257i10c249cama138dc268454b3ed@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904231257i10c249cama138dc268454b3ed@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904240515o5e85ed68ybac8f2c46dd11342@mail.gmail.com> Brad, Good ol' Joe ..... always did sound like he was trying to sing with a mouth full of marbles. Yeah ...... I remember too .... doesn't even seem like that long ago..... Rik On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 2:57 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: > Yup! Youngest of four, started HS in 71' . I lived Woodstock through > my siblings ( well, not Sis but that's another story). Larry was in > 'Nam' for 68' Tet and back to 'Nam again in 72'. Where were we? Oh > yeah, Woodstock - > > http://www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.html > > I really do remember it, really! (gawd, am I getting old or what?) > > Brad > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090424/bd9422e1/attachment-0001.html From flybrad at gmail.com Fri Apr 24 08:58:34 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:34 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] "No matter if it is a In-Reply-To: <6634e19e0904240505v617baf56x1fd757d9c34273d1@mail.gmail.com> References: <0692A5BD21A94D3BB2E87A0EB068E57A@YOURB88038198E> <6634e19e0904240505v617baf56x1fd757d9c34273d1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <400985d70904240558u10187defi24615a23beff59b4@mail.gmail.com> Rik, Maybe this is our calling - http://www.savetheredneck.com/ I think we'd make good directors for a save-the-redneck foundation. Brad On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 7:05 AM, Eric Sandberg wrote: > Ed, > > Treasurer, eh? I reckon I could, but there's one thing sure. I don't know > any fancy math ..... certainly not the kind these Obamaniacs are using these > days to persuade us our great grand children will be able to repay these > debts. > > Rik > > On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Ed Kroposki wrote: >> >> Brad said, ""No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it >> can catch mice, it is a good cat". >> >> So, go the harder way, as an independent.? The House of Representatives >> has some who claim to be independents.? They are often aggressively wooed by >> both parties who need their votes. >> >> This is harder to do.? But suit yourself.? Let me find my old how to >> organize booklet.? Can we draft Rik as treasurer? >> >> Keep in mind that independent is not third party. >> >> Are you willing to go for it? >> >> Ed K >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SwiftwaterGazette mailing list >> SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com >> >> http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette >> > > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From ekroposki at charter.net Fri Apr 24 14:19:20 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:19:20 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] You misunderstood ! Message-ID: <0413A5B306DA47F1A8BE8CE05DEF5A45@YOURB88038198E> A MISUNDERSTANDING !! Wait a minute now, I didn't authorize ATTACKS on the Pirates. I authorized A TAX on the pirates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090424/e8626ad3/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 16062 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090424/e8626ad3/attachment-0001.jpe From flybrad at gmail.com Fri Apr 24 15:33:21 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:33:21 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Strange Bed Mates Message-ID: <400985d70904241233j3cb94c9dp4185f53f99734844@mail.gmail.com> Barney has been in bed with Fannie Mae for quite some time - literally (sorry for that image but one of Barney's ex-lovers was an executive at Fannie Mae. Damn that you tube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5qKYfqALE&feature=player_embedded That was then, this is now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFVd6CKcipI&feature=player_embedded Who you gonna believe, you or your lyin' eyes? Brad From mweisner at ebsmed.com Sun Apr 26 09:22:45 2009 From: mweisner at ebsmed.com (Michael D. Weisner) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:22:45 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] This is so sad, recognize anyone? Message-ID: <4BAA91CE0D244227ABC91E48D5B070D1@D9X7C761> What a great country? Can you believe lives are lost to keep these folks "free"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090426/0d3fa085/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Sun Apr 26 12:28:16 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:28:16 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] This is so sad, recognize anyone? In-Reply-To: <4BAA91CE0D244227ABC91E48D5B070D1@D9X7C761> References: <4BAA91CE0D244227ABC91E48D5B070D1@D9X7C761> Message-ID: <400985d70904260928o3df000c4j16f13e638ea3f6c1@mail.gmail.com> Mike, Yup! I recognize many of them - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8 Brad On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 8:22 AM, Michael D. Weisner wrote: > What a great country?? Can you believe lives are lost to keep these folks > "free"? > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE > > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > > From flybrad at gmail.com Mon Apr 27 08:01:37 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:01:37 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Got Gold? Message-ID: <400985d70904270501v2a902e09g7b6ba1adf54c7140@mail.gmail.com> Are you getting tired of hearing this because I'm getting tired of repeating it - THE CHINESE DON'T THINK WHAT WE'RE DOING WILL WORK! We cannot borrow our way to prosperity. The Chinese know this and are about to say NO! Stand by for rampant inflation as the printing presses fire-up. Brad -------------- China admits to building up stockpile of gold Alfred Cang and Tom Miles, Reuters A file photo of gold bars. China has admitted what many gold bugs have long speculated: it's been stockpiling gold since 2003. SEBASTIAN DERUNGS/AFP/Getty Images SHANGHAI/BEIJING - China revealed on Friday that it had secretly raised its gold reserves by three-quarters since 2003, increasing its holdings to 1,054 tonnes - or a pot worth about US$30.9-billion - and confirming years of speculation it had been buying. Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told Xinhua news agency in an interview that the country's reserves had risen by 454 tonnes from 600 tonnes since 2003, when China last adjusted its state gold reserves figure. The confirmation of its surreptitious stockpiling is likely to fuel market talk about Beijing's ability to buy secretly and its ambitions for spending its nearly US$2-trillion pile of savings. And not just in gold: copper and other metals markets are booming thanks to China's barely-visible hand. Speculation has gathered speed over the last year, since the tumbling dollar has threatened to weaken China's buying power - and give it yet more reason to diversify into gold, oil and metals. Gold prices jumped on the news of Chinese buying and were up more than 1% on the day at US$912.05 an ounce at 0715 GMT. By a Reuters calculation, China's holding of gold would be worth around US$30.9-billion at current prices. That accounts for only about 1.6% of China's total foreign exchange holdings and is little more than one-tenth of the value of the U.S. gold reserve, the world's biggest. It also means gold has slipped as a share of China's total reserves from about 2%, based on end-2003 prices. Only six countries hold more than 1,000 tonnes, and China is ranked fifth, having leap-frogged Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands with its announcement. However, the International Monetary Fund and the SPDR Gold Trust exchange traded fund are even bigger, leaving China with the world's seventh-biggest pot of gold. Several gold market participants said they thought China had bought on the international market, helping to absorb hundreds of tonnes sold off by central banks and the International Monetary Fund in recent years. "China has been buying via government channels from South Africa, Russia and South America," said Ellison Chu, director of precious metals at Standard Bank in Hong Kong. But Hu said the increase in China's stocks was achieved by buying on the domestic market and from domestic producers. China is the world's largest gold producer and does not permit exports of gold ingots, only jewellery, leaving plentiful supplies for the domestic market. China produced 282 tonnes of gold last year, meaning the state bought around one quarter of domestic production, assuming 454 tonnes increase in state purchases were spread out over the six years since China last reported a change in its holdings. Despite the rumours, buying by the state was partially obscured by soaring demand for gold as an investment, especially after the bursting of the Shanghai stock market bubble last year. Investment demand in China rose to 68.9 tonnes from 25.6 tonnes in 2007. But that was still less than one third of retail demand in India, where total bullion consumption topped 660 tonnes last year. Hu said China recently reported the change in its gold holdings to the International Monetary Fund and would include the latest change in central bank reports and balance of payment statistics. She did not say when China notified the IMF. Although gold rose after Hu's comments were published, the price move was not a huge one for the highly liquid market. Prices had jumped by US$13 in the space of an hour on Thursday. Gold market participants said the news signalled likely further buying by China. "The comments indicate that China will buy more gold as reserve to improve its foreign reserve portfolio. This is a trend," said Yao Haiqiao, president of Longgold Asset Management. Hou Huimin, vice general secretary of the China Gold Association, said China should build its reserves to 5,000 tonnes. "It's not a matter of a few hundred, or 1,000 tonnes. China should hold more because of its new international status, and because of the financial crisis," he said. "The financial crisis means the U.S. dollar value is changing fast, and it may retreat from being the international reserve currency. If that happens, whoever holds gold will be at an advantage." The European Central Bank recommends its member banks hold 15% of their reserves in gold, but among Asian nations the percentage is far smaller, said Albert Cheng, World Gold Council managing director for the far east. From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 27 09:11:18 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:11:18 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] China using cash reserves to hoard commodities - comments on Brad's post Message-ID: See: http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?StoryId=6d349008-8731-45db-923d-8f2094df43c0 But see: http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/forex-strategy/gold-oil-usdjpy/2009-04-27.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/50982676/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 27 09:40:30 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:40:30 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Educational - Political - especially for Brad Message-ID: <49FCE2E3E7694E9C93D30DF87F969F70@YOURB88038198E> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5cs50l5X0Hk&refer=home Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/1ea2a4ed/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 27 10:26:01 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:26:01 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] refusal? Message-ID: <6E2166F45DDD49D09EA0098D3A740792@YOURB88038198E> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/b9f7e772/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 49682 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/b9f7e772/attachment-0001.jpe From ekroposki at charter.net Mon Apr 27 19:31:13 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:31:13 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Letter to Obama circuilating internet Message-ID: <4E7BC13D985F4A82B1793B4E4C17A385@YOURB88038198E> Mr. Obama: I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally. You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this? Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you! You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you? I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it. What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses.. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now. I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country. Sincerely, Franklin T. Bell, CFM, RPA, FMA cc:Senator Barbara A.. Mikulski Senator Benjamin L. Cardin Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (D), 1st Congressional District C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III (D), 2nd Congressional District John P. Sarbanes (D), 3rd Congressional District Donna F. Edwards (D), 4th Congressional District Steny H. Hoyer (D), 5th Congressional District Roscoe G. Bartlett (R), 6th Congressional District Elijah E. Cummings (D), 7th Congressional District Christopher Van Hollen, Jr. (D), 8th Congressional District -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/90edcf4b/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Mon Apr 27 23:46:24 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:46:24 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] gawd, am I getting old or what? In-Reply-To: <765FAA7093444B55A9DF171D02DFBE90@YOURB88038198E> References: <765FAA7093444B55A9DF171D02DFBE90@YOURB88038198E> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904272046y3059543bme75bf5bd59e524db@mail.gmail.com> Ed, I'm here. Been gone for a couple days .... out racing. I don't think you'll ever have to worry about getting me elected to any public office. I'm WAY too plain spoken to ever get elected. Rik -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090427/e25c87ca/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 28 07:28:43 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:28:43 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik, but you are still Message-ID: <44AC7260FA60430FB90DFC878A5C9478@YOURB88038198E> Rik said, "I don't think you'll ever have to worry about getting me elected to any public office. I'm WAY too plain spoken to ever get elected." But you do not have to take Brad's approach and not choose a political party. Pick one of the major parties and find out when they have meetings, precint meetings, county meetings, and just go and listen. Then since you have proven to us that you can write, write a letter or two about the meeting and your opinion to the officers of the meeting. Try to bring a younger person to such meetings. Those elementary meetings are the basis of politics in America. That is groups of Americans locally discussing issues. They are the worker bees. They are the guys who get out the vote. They are the guys who drive likely agreeing voters to the polls. They make elections. You do not have to be a candidate, but it would help if you go and be 'plain spoken' in language everybody understands. We see Brad who could still make an impact say he in not a Republican nor Democrat. But have you seen Brad say what a good job those guys are doing? This past Saturday, I attended the county Republican Convention. There are four guys saying that they want to run for Governer in 18 months. I met the leading candidate, Gresham Barrett, and I had a few words with him. I suspect that he will be the next Governor of South Carolina. He was advocating tax breaks for creating new jobs. I had my comments over this issue. He said the better idea would be to do away with the IRS. I asked him why he was not saying that on stage. Now I have to write him a letter asking him why he has not been advocating his real belief in Congress the last six years. Get involved. Get others involved. Ask Michael W. if he really believes Senator Chuck Shummer is doing the right job. Mike is Chucky's constitutent. Bye the way, Senator Lindsey Graham was at the meeting and addressed the meeting. About four people appaulded him. The lack of recognition was noticeable. At least we did not boo... Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090428/e203766e/attachment-0001.html From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 28 07:44:21 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:44:21 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Obama descretely advocates limiting email communications Message-ID: Obama surrogate has descretely advocated limited email communications. See: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96301 "A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government," he wrote. "Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom's name." Cass Sunstein, nominee to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090428/3f9ba803/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 28 18:07:37 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:07:37 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Rik's Used Cars Message-ID: <46B7DD96FC4B497F93E32DDE837A0E46@YOURB88038198E> See Riks used cars at: http://www.billsretroworld.com:80/cars.htm Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090428/30a50172/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 29 08:27:22 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:27:22 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] A Little Music For Your Morning Message-ID: <400985d70904290527p69bfda09yf3f1c995d10b5a24@mail.gmail.com> Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfjXd3nIedE From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 29 10:29:15 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:29:15 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] For young scientist Message-ID: <23AEE3437C5147B6B55920C799C2A9FD@YOURB88038198E> The following website is for young scientist. Feel free to foward this website to any that you know. http://www.ted.com:80/index.php/talks/kary_mullis_on_what_scientists_do.html Invest in young minds. ed k -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090429/08843b2e/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 29 10:37:45 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:37:45 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Neat sailing Homepage Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- See: http://www.mylne.com/index.php?option=com_user&view=login&return=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5teWxuZS5jb20vbXlsbmUtYXJjaGl2ZS9kZXNpZ24tbGlzdC5odG1s give it a few seconds. High speed access best. Check out Gallery and see old videos of 1930's Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090429/3ddf3177/attachment.html From flybrad at gmail.com Wed Apr 29 15:41:03 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:41:03 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] The First Hundred Days Message-ID: <400985d70904291241k1fd4d557ia150782138321a6@mail.gmail.com> More music Boys and Girls! http://www.pjtv.com/video/ZoNation/Under_My_Bus/1796/6580/ Who's gonna pay for all this? Not me baby, I got kids. Brad From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 30 13:13:27 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:13:27 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] New foreign owners of Anheuser-Busch change style Message-ID: The new foreign owners of Anheuser Busch bring in new Budweiser distribution style for the summer: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090430/c1e13f2d/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 63945 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090430/c1e13f2d/attachment-0001.jpe From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 30 17:12:14 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:12:14 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Swine Flu Message-ID: <400985d70904301412v5b29809fya686ddf0fcd193f7@mail.gmail.com> Oh for God's sake, literally in this case - http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/30/probable-case-swine-flu-reported-shelby-county/ This location is one block away from me. The founding Principal of this school was my next door neighbor - she now lives on the same lake as Ed and Rummy. Today is Cora's 7th birthday and we took her in for her annual exam. She's a girl, seven, and in perfect health. I asked the attending doctor whether we should be concerned about heading to China in June with the Swine Flu outbreak. I'm too lazy to type his whole response other than to say, "my Dear, thou doth protest a bit too much!" Get a grip on reality, folks. Hey, what's that smell? Is the Reichstag burning? Quick, we need a Fuhrer. People get the government they deserve, and damned if they didn't elect a stupid one this round. Brad From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 30 18:39:40 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:39:40 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Responsibility! Message-ID: <400985d70904301539m7ce72c75y6b1527c85b81f6c7@mail.gmail.com> For most people, "China" is some foreign "thing". For me, it is listening to good friends make fun of us. Trust me, they are laughing their asses off! (and they ain't buyin' our debt). Brad ------------------------ The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism Tea parties, 'ethical populism,' and the moral case against redistribution. By ARTHUR C. BROOKS There is a major cultural schism developing in America. But it's not over abortion, same-sex marriage or home schooling, as important as these issues are. The new divide centers on free enterprise -- the principle at the core of American culture. Despite President Barack Obama's early personal popularity, we can see the beginnings of this schism in the "tea parties" that have sprung up around the country. In these grass-roots protests, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans have joined together to make public their opposition to government deficits, unaccountable bureaucratic power, and a sense that the government is too willing to prop up those who engaged in corporate malfeasance and mortgage fraud. The data support the protesters' concerns. In a publication with the ironic title, "A New Era of Responsibility," the president's budget office reveals average deficits of 4.7% in the five years after this recession is over. The Congressional Budget Office predicts $9.3 trillion in new debt over the coming decade. And what investments justify our leaving this gargantuan bill for our children and grandchildren to pay? Absurdities, in the view of many -- from bailing out General Motors and the United Auto Workers to building an environmentally friendly Frisbee golf course in Austin, Texas. On behalf of corporate welfare, political largess and powerful special interests, government spending will grow continuously in the coming years as a percentage of the economy -- as will tax collections. Still, the tea parties are not based on the cold wonkery of budget data. They are based on an "ethical populism." The protesters are homeowners who didn't walk away from their mortgages, small business owners who don't want corporate welfare and bankers who kept their heads during the frenzy and don't need bailouts. They were the people who were doing the important things right -- and who are now watching elected politicians reward those who did the important things wrong. Voices in the media, academia, and the government will dismiss this ethical populism as a fringe movement -- maybe even dangerous extremism. In truth, free markets, limited government, and entrepreneurship are still a majoritarian taste. In March 2009, the Pew Research Center asked people if we are better off "in a free market economy even though there may be severe ups and downs from time to time." Fully 70% agreed, versus 20% who disagreed. Free enterprise is culturally mainstream, for the moment. Asked in a Rasmussen poll conducted this month to choose the better system between capitalism and socialism, 13% of respondents over 40 chose socialism. For those under 30, this percentage rose to 33%. (Republicans were 11 times more likely to prefer capitalism than socialism; Democrats were almost evenly split between the two systems.) The government has been abetting this trend for years by exempting an increasing number of Americans from federal taxation. My colleague Adam Lerrick showed in these pages last year that the percentage of American adults who have no federal income-tax liability will rise to 49% from 40% under Mr. Obama's tax plan. Another 11% will pay less than 5% of their income in federal income taxes and less than $1,000 in total. To put a modern twist on the old axiom, a man who is not a socialist at 20 has no heart; a man who is still a socialist at 40 either has no head, or pays no taxes. Social Democrats are working to create a society where the majority are net recipients of the "sharing economy." They are fighting a culture war of attrition with economic tools. Defenders of capitalism risk getting caught flat-footed with increasingly antiquated arguments that free enterprise is a Main Street pocketbook issue. Progressives are working relentlessly to see that it is not. Advocates of free enterprise must learn from the growing grass-roots protests, and make the moral case for freedom and entrepreneurship. They have to declare that it is a moral issue to confiscate more income from the minority simply because the government can. It's also a moral issue to lower the rewards for entrepreneurial success, and to spend what we don't have without regard for our children's future. Enterprise defenders also have to define "fairness" as protecting merit and freedom. This is more intuitively appealing to Americans than anything involving forced redistribution. Take public attitudes toward the estate tax, which only a few (who leave estates in the millions of dollars) will ever pay, but which two-thirds of Americans believe is "not fair at all," according to a 2009 Harris poll. Millions of ordinary citizens believe it is unfair for the government to be predatory -- even if the prey are wealthy. Political strategy aside, intellectual organizations like my own have a constructive role in the coming cultural conflict. As policymakers offer a redistributionist future to a fearful nation and a new culture war simmers, we must respond with tangible, enterprise-oriented policy alternatives. For example, it is not enough to point out that nationalized health care will make going to the doctor about as much fun as a trip to the department of motor vehicles. We need to offer specific, market-based reform solutions. This is an exhilarating time for proponents of freedom and individual opportunity. The last several years have brought malaise, in which the "conservative" politicians in power paid little more than lip service to free enterprise. Today, as in the late 1970s, we have an administration, Congress and media-academic complex openly working to change American culture in ways that most mainstream Americans will not like. Like the Carter era, this adversity offers the first opportunity in years for true cultural renewal. Mr. Brooks is president of the American Enterprise Institute. From flybrad at gmail.com Thu Apr 30 19:07:17 2009 From: flybrad at gmail.com (Brad Haslett) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:07:17 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Idiot! Message-ID: <400985d70904301607r5d94f6dfqbce89a8a1ee40c8c@mail.gmail.com> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPA3uBruiBE Idiot! From ekroposki at charter.net Thu Apr 30 19:23:31 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:23:31 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Brad, you saved me the effort Message-ID: <491F61EC3AE44DD78F15CAE1017FCB9C@YOURB88038198E> I have a reference to look up Brooks latest article. You found it for me. Thanks. Did you see the jerks comments on the tea party people? Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090430/6b618149/attachment.html From sanderico1 at gmail.com Thu Apr 30 23:36:22 2009 From: sanderico1 at gmail.com (Eric Sandberg) Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:36:22 -0500 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Swine Flu In-Reply-To: <400985d70904301412v5b29809fya686ddf0fcd193f7@mail.gmail.com> References: <400985d70904301412v5b29809fya686ddf0fcd193f7@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6634e19e0904302036o7f3ab38bu2567bbc2b13ecdac@mail.gmail.com> Brad, Do not fear. Our messiah will soon appear before us with his magic teleprompter and change all this pestulance away. Rik On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 4:12 PM, Brad Haslett wrote: > Oh for God's sake, literally in this case - > > > http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/30/probable-case-swine-flu-reported-shelby-county/ > > This location is one block away from me. The founding Principal of > this school was my next door neighbor - she now lives on the same lake > as Ed and Rummy. Today is Cora's 7th birthday and we took her in for > her annual exam. She's a girl, seven, and in perfect health. I asked > the attending doctor whether we should be concerned about heading to > China in June with the Swine Flu outbreak. I'm too lazy to type his > whole response other than to say, "my Dear, thou doth protest a bit > too much!" > > Get a grip on reality, folks. > > Hey, what's that smell? Is the Reichstag burning? Quick, we need a > Fuhrer. > > People get the government they deserve, and damned if they didn't > elect a stupid one this round. > > Brad > _______________________________________________ > SwiftwaterGazette mailing list > SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com > > http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/swiftwatergazette > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090430/abe9df8f/attachment.html From ekroposki at charter.net Tue Apr 28 08:56:44 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:56:44 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] advocates limiting email communications References: Message-ID: <31D5E12599794259B9265A2CC2536779@YOURB88038198E> Rummy said, "This is Conservative bull shit. All the articles in a google search on this subject are dated 2008 or later. Find a different axe to grind. This one just isn't true." Part of your reply is correct, that is, he started advocating his opinion in this area in the late 1990's. However, he continues support of his thesis currently and is a dedicated "Progressive". He aggressively is advocating progressive ideology as initially stated by FDR in a current book under the concept of " a second Bill of Rights". Natually government is to pay for the new rights with no understanding of the burden on working people paying for others benefits. We understand that your father was an original "Progressive". If Progressive concepts produced so much good, why are the states with many progressives having trouble keeping businesses and developing new businesses, i.e. economic opportunity. Yes, new business is running to Detroit, now that is your bullshit. I am sorry, government does not create wealth. Progressivism only redistributes the efforts of others. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090428/9ebf3513/attachment-0001.html From ekroposki at charter.net Wed Apr 29 07:55:50 2009 From: ekroposki at charter.net (Ed Kroposki) Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:55:50 -0400 Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Neat sailing Homepage Message-ID: See: http://www.mylne.com/index.php?option=com_user&view=login&return=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5teWxuZS5jb20vbXlsbmUtYXJjaGl2ZS9kZXNpZ24tbGlzdC5odG1s give it a few seconds. High speed access best. Ed K -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com/pipermail/swiftwatergazette/attachments/20090429/d3b89a8c/attachment-0001.html From ragdollelle at yahoo.com Tue Apr 21 14:26:30 2009 From: ragdollelle at yahoo.com (elle) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:26:30 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] From elle: Abuse by our troops Message-ID: <858915.30600.qm@web111204.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Sorry about all the 'forwarded' stuff...couldn't get rid of it...thught you'd like to see examples of the abuse The One is referring to: Hope the pix come out. elle --- On Tue, 4/21/09, windlass wrote: From: windlass Subject: Abuse by our troops To: ragdollelle at yahoo.com Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 2:19 PM HSA 8 You don't get much--but it's free! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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