Pay No Attention to that Man in Your Bathtub - Fight or flight Americans almost always choose flight

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How refreshing.. someone (in the MSM?) who "gets it"..

Greg

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John Kass | Jan 07, 2014

What if you woke after a night of uneasy dreams to find a strange man standing in your bathtub?

Don't be alarmed. The strange man isn't some stark naked psycho. The strange man is fully clothed. Polite, even, efficient, neat and obviously well-educated.

He has a camera pointed at you. And the camera is rolling.

So what would you do?

"Hey, don't mind me," says the filmmaker, gesturing for you to keep on with your normal routine. "I'm just here to protect you in case some criminals try to attack when you're at your most vulnerable."

Would you shrug and say you always figured there was a filmmaker in your bathtub the whole time anyway?

Would you say you had nothing to hide, and seek to make the filmmaker welcome in your bathtub, perhaps even trot downstairs to fetch him an anisette biscotti and a nice hot cup of morning joe?

Or would you just stand there, confused American that you are, unable to process the cameraman-in-your-bathtub thing, frantically searching for a reason not to have a violent confrontation (because who wants confrontations when at your most vulnerable)?

And then it hits you:

He's right! He's just protecting you and other Americans from evil.

The human mind works this way. When confounded, we seek refuge in recognizable patterns. And for so many of us, trained for generations to studiously avoid confrontation, it solves so many problems, doesn't it?

So rather than become upset and risk an actual conflict, you just go along, because that's how we roll these days in America.

You bow politely, exit the bathroom, sigh a deep sigh, and begin repeating:

"I really have nothing to hide. I really have nothing to hide. I really ..."

Whether you have something to hide or not isn't my concern. Although I do hope when that you read this column that you have the decency to be fully clothed. But sadly, I have no control over that, either.

This might sound subversive -- and given what's going on in our country, it is absolutely subversive -- but what you do in your bathroom is your business.

What you do on the Internet, or on the telephone, should be your business, too.

Not my business.

Most definitely not the National Security Agency's business.

And certainly not U.S. Rep. Peter King's business, either.

The horrifying prospect of a bathtub visit by King, the New York big-government pro-NSA Republican, came to me after reading a story on Politico.com about his appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

King was whining about the cranky libertarian Sen. Rand Paul, another Republican who has dared criticize the American security state, particularly the NSA's habit of spying on Americans for their own good.

Paul is considering a presidential run in 2016, and apparently so is King, although we need a big-government Republican from New York in the White House about as much as we need a big-government Democrat from Chicago.

I'm from Chicago, where there are hives of cameras watching all of us on the streets, and where big-government Democrats and Republicans get along just fine. I call this bipartisan arrangement The Combine. And the rest of us are expected to doff our caps, fall to our knees and thank them for their benevolence.

Basically, King said that Paul had no business in Congress, was stoking "paranoia" in America, and had dared to compare NSA boss James Clapper (who lied to Congress about spying) to the master leaker, the wanted Edward Snowden.

"When Rand Paul is comparing Gen. Clapper to Snowden, saying Clapper belongs in jail with Snowden, talking about how all phone calls are being listened to, trying to create this paranoia among Americans that the NSA is spying on everyone, the fact is he has not been able to cite one abuse by the NSA."

According to King, the Kentucky Republican "creates this illusion" of spying in an attempt to play off Americans' fear in an "offensive" way.

But it isn't an illusion of spying. It is spying.

Spying on the American people.

Guys like King don't have any problem with it. Good for you, Peter. And I hereby promise never to show up fully clothed in your bathtub with a camera.

But I have a problem with the whole business of government spying on us for our own good. By objecting, am I subversive, perhaps even traitorous?

These days, many Americans say that they assume the government is listening to their conversations. And some don't merely accept it, they long for it, convinced that it will protect them.

What King, President Barack Obama and the rest of the big-government crowd ignore is a rather strange and now radical idea:

That the power of our government derives from the people -- that we don't work for them, they work for us.

For years now, even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, we've been led away from this idea.

Those doing the leading stood to benefit by latching onto power.

When it comes to liberty, big-government Democrats, like big-government Republicans, are two horns on the head of the same ravenous federal goat. Goats don't talk much about liberty. They chew and bleat.

And no one wants a goat in their bathtub.

$SPX $FXA $DXY

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I'm not sure what to make of this chart (10 year weekly).

I know I always considered $FXA [$AUDUSD] to be pretty much a "risk on" currency pair

We can see on the chart below that it trended up with the $SPX during 2006 / 2007, before the crash. And we can see that during the crash (2008, 2009) that it dropped precipitously with the $SPX. And we can see that as the $SPX soared through the middle of 2011 (thanks to central bank intervention) $FXA was a leading indicator to the upside.

So.. what's up with the odd looking crossover in early 2013 and subsequent divergent movement?

click for larger image

Not like I know.. I'm asking some of you smart people ;)

Greg

Let me know what you think on twitter @Ancient_Warrior

Example: $EURUSD h4 move tracked on m5

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Brief example of tracking / trading an h4 move entirely from an m5 chart

Greg

The #Matrix runs deep - You are fucked

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If you read my blog at all you know I like conspiracies ;)

Today I decided to look and see how incumbent republican senators, who are up for reelection in the 2014 midterm, voted on the Yellen as FED chair issue. The results were pretty much what I expected to find..

This is, in part, how the matrix operates. And I think for the most part this sort of thing is easily predictable.

These elite "representatives" consider the American people to be stupid enough to be easily fooled on a regular basis. Make things just a bit complex and the average American will never be able to figure out what's going on. Politics all the time while the decisions that are truly important remain part of a grand bipartisan conspiratorial scheme.

So you might ask what that scheme is..

I'll tell you what *I* think it is..

In 2008 our economy in the United States collapsed, this time for good. All the large (Too Big To Fail) banks.. failed, insolvent, bankrupt. Unemployment was running at 700,000 job losses per month as corporations dumped workers in an effort to remain solvent / protect profits.

We no longer have a capitalist system in this country.. As G.W. Bush himself stated rather clearly in 2008..

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BUSH; Well, I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse. I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system. I think when people review what’s taken place in the last six months, uh, and put it all in one, in one, (sigh), you know, in one package, they’re realize how significantly we have moved.
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To my knowledge that statement has yet to be retracted, by anyone..

"how significantly WE have moved" < We indeed.. Who is we anyway? Perhaps the treasury? The [private] Federal Reserve Bank? Corporations? And the "move" was indeed significant.. In the form of bailouts.. Rules (rule of law) were changed in order to artificially "prop up" failed banks (as seen here.. FASB Lets Banks Mark to Myth, Not Mark to Market) and Three non-bank businesses also received substantial TARP funds. These were AIG (the insurance giant), and General Motors and Chrysler. This included TARP I, II & III, all of which the American people were steadily resentful of.

Check these more critical articles about the bailouts and who benefitted..

Secrets and Lies of the Bailout - Rolling Stone

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Neil Barofsky is the former inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

He told Here & Now there is a “deep frustration that those perhaps most responsible for the crisis not only weren’t punished, they were rewarded for their conduct.”

More here.. Former TARP Watchdog: ‘We’re Headed Toward Another Financial Crisis’

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Dig a little deeper here.. The Bailout: By The Actual Numbers

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Clearly the response to the financial crisis was never at all about the American people. It was much more about robbing us blind to the benefit of banks and other corporations..

Republican senators up for reelection vs Yellen vote (Sources here and here)

Sessions AL Nay
Chambliss GA - retiring Yea
Jim Risch ID Nay
Pat Roberts KS Nay
Mitch McConnell KY Not voting
Susan Collins ME Yea
Thad Cochran MS Nay
Mike Johanns NE - retiring Nay
Jim Inhofe OK Nay
Lindsey Graham SC Not voting
Lamar Alexander TN Yea
John Cornyn TX Nay
Mike Enzi WY Nay
Tim Scott SC2 Nay

You can see here that republicans who find themselves facing the 2014 election voted no to yellen, for public consumption / political cover, while understanding completely that she would, without a doubt, be confirmed as the new chair(man) of the [private] Federal Reserve bank. (With the exception of always liberal leaning & or retiring senators (ie; Chambliss, Collins and Alexander)

The Federal Reserve is THE main player in all of this "prop up the rich and corporations and the poor and unemployed will be fine shenanigan..

Audit of the Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts

And, apparently, the Federal Reserve believes all that is required to "save the economy" is for a significant portion of the American people to continually accumulate ever more debt..

See: How government incetivises consumerism

And this bullshit continues to this very day where The ACA aka obamacare "law" is preparing to bail out insurance companies next (if open theft from the American populous via the mandating of the purchase of an individual product from a specific economic sector fails to perform as expected.)

As can be seen here, here and here

It's quite obvious that the elite have ALL of us by the short hairs..

Greg

Further reading..

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Latest #NSA ruling

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An excerpt from this article

U.S. NEWS
Judge Backs the NSA's Surveillance
Ruling on U.S. Phone Data Contradicts Recent Decision, Boosting Likelihood of Supreme Court Review

Judge Pauley:

"No doubt, the bulk telephony metadata collection program vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from, or within the United States. That is by design, as it allows the NSA to detect relationships so attenuated and ephemeral they would otherwise escape notice," he wrote. "As the September 11th attacks demonstrate, the cost of missing such a thread can be horrific."

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This is a perfect example of hype (in the name of National Security and terrorism) over substance..

Lets examine the statement "the cost of missing such a thread can be horrific"

While I agree the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans (13 years ago), whose only mistake was showing up for work, is, as defined, horrific lets take a common sense look at the use of the word "horrific" in this particular instance.

Is it equally "horrific" that..

Something close to 2,500 Americans die every single year from choking on "food"?

Mostly children, the most innocent among us..

That some 2,700 Americans die every year from "fire".

"A smoking gun isn’t the only thing that can kill — smoking, flaming and burning homes typically kill thousands of folks each year."

That 25,000 Americans die every year from "falls".

"Falls killed about 25,000 people in 2009, according to the National Safety Council, with those over age 65 making up the vast majority of the victims."

That 39,000 Americans die every year from "drugs".

"Drugs account for more than 10 times the amount of poisoning deaths of all other substances, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Top culprits are opioid pain medications, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone, with cocaine and heroin ranked second and third." (I might add many if not most of these drugs are legally obtained).

That 42,000 Americans die every single year from "auto accidents".

"If motorists would stop texting, cell-phone yakking, applying makeup and eating while driving, we’d surely have fewer than the 36,000 deaths associated with motor vehicle crashes the National Safety Council reported for 2009. Distracted driving is the No. 1 offender and young adults are the No. 1 offenders, with their fatal crash rate three times higher than any other age group."

2,000 Americans die each year of drowning..

Lets add up these annual death totals to arrive at 113,200 American deaths PER YEAR.

This is where I end up..

As "horrific" as it may be that 3,000 Americans died as the result of a terrorist attack 13 years ago (an average annual death rate of 230 Americans per year as a result of terrorism, excluding the 12 terrorism deaths attributed to Maj. Nidel Hasan since they are classified by our own government as "work place violence").

So my question is a rather simple one..

Where are the TRILLIONS of dollars of taxpayer fiat to battle the top 5 leading causes of American death over the last 13 years that total 1,471,600 vs not only the fiat, but loss of life and limb involved in ever present "war on terror"?

There's a big difference in passing mandatory seat belt laws and indiscriminately peering at every phone call, email and web browse of every person on the planet, including those of the people you are obligated to protect from just such Orwellian abuses of power.

Are you willing to give up your constitutionally garanteed right to privacy from government intrusion to fight the 10 times more likely death caused by fire?

I will vote for liberty and freedom every single time..

Greg

Above data from Top 5 Causes of Accidental Death in the United States

Happy Holidays plus a nice poem :) - Desiderata Poem by Max Ehrmann

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My cousin shared this poem with me & I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it with you as well ;)

The happiest of holiday wishes to everyone ;)

-Greg
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Desiderata Poem by Max Ehrmann

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --
Not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church"! -- see below

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

$SPY long term monthly chart $SPX

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