this just in: 90% of all money is created out of thin air

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Modern Money Mechanics: A Workbook on Bank Reserves and Deposit Expansion” was first written by Dorothy M. Nichols back in 1961 and last revised by Anne Marie L. Gonczy in 1994.
Long out of print, the workbook was designed as a primer [...]

when bad karma comes home to roost, it usually ends in GM (General Misery)

AWAITING DESTRUCTION–Old Pacific Electric cars are piled up like toys at junkyard on Terminal Island, California, awaiting dismantling and destruction. -image from The Los Angeles Times - March 19, 1956
It used to be said that: “What’s good for GM is good for the country.”
 
Between 1926 and 1950, General Motors (together with Firestone Tire, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, the Mack Truck Company, [...]

g8: — gr8 taste –less filling

                                                    Okay, maybe it sucks AND blows.
 

                             I can hear the ocean.                                                             I think it’s mad.
Like that ancient Miller Lite commercial where Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus argue
over the eternal points as to what makes their beer best.   …”Great Taste — Less Filling”.  …Who cares!  It’s still just an insipid brew that’s made both of you (Dick and Bubba) overweight, slow-moving Neanderthals!  Just like the large, dottering G8 nations that are [...]

the 5-ring circus is coming to town

Moving Moments in Olympic History!
 
     Beijing.  Be There!   …Or else.
In our continuing coverage of the most amazing events in our humble human history,
we present our continuing series of ‘Moving Moments in Olympic History!’
 
As the Olympics get closer you’ll be able cut the tension (and the actual air) with a knife.  …Others may choose automatic weapons.
 
Beijing.   Be There!  …Or [...]

breakfast of champlain’s brings curd response from lactose intolerant

Party invite depicting Champlain as an explorer with a penchant for poutine offends the thin-skimmed.
Mon Dieu! You’d think we’d sent an armada of gravy boats off to declare war!
An ill-advised party invite from the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. promoting its 2008 Canada Day party has threatened Anglo-French realtions and gotten some folks sharply ‘cheesed-off’.
The invitation, depicting Quebec City’s founding father toting a big, honking [...]

this just in: — u.s. gov’t no longer thinks 90 yr old nobel peace prize winner is a terrorist

15 years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the world’s greatest statesman is removed from the U.S. terrorism watch list by  the world’s greatest   *-*-*-*-*-*-*.
File this one under: ‘keeping up with the Bin Laden’s and the Mandela’s…
In a radical ‘about-face’, and, proving once again how the US government has its big fat finger on the pulse of the [...]

next big battles: — economies, hearts, espresso macchiato addiction… — have no fear, help is in sight

You know world economies are tanking when Starbucks is set to close 600
company stores. Now also comes news that it will take billions and billions of dollars to ‘rehabilitate’ the woefully inadequate petroleum facilities and general infrastructure of Iraq…
“Ya mean we bombed it all to sh*t  and we can’t just go in there and start pumping!?  …WTF’s up with that!? [...]

to the victor go the spoiled ballots

  

Welcome democracy fans to ‘Election Night in Zimbabwe’!
 
This is our ongoing ’runoff election’ coverage, – so called because the opposition has had to ’run off’ for just a bit. — But don’t let that spoil your televisual pleasure…         It’s still a close one!
With just over 10% of the early returns in it looks like Robert Mugabe has captured about 50% of [...]

can you spare a squirt citizen?

 

“Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!”
 
It’s the checklist Robin calls out to Batman as they fire up the Batmobile, but in a time when Gotham’s gas prices could make any superhero gag, would Batman have to prioritize the kind of crime he fights?  Would Batman and Robin even entertain the idea of getting a bus pass and risk being [...]

more than just some second banana

If you happen to be strolling down Hollywood Blvd btwn Wilcox and Whitley Aves and
passing Pizza Al Forno at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard you might want to look down (that’s where Johnny Weissmuller’s star is) and give a look towards the heavens and a bit of a Tarzan yell in hopes that the ‘big T’ might come swinging to [...]