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Friday, November 22, 2013

"Who Really Killed Kennedy?" by Joseph Corsi If You Love America, You Must Read This

     I read today's article "50 Years Ago Today... and Today" and quite frankly,it STUNK. So you retraced the economic history since Kennedy but many of your facts were WRONG. Do just a little research
about Kennedy. I have read 70 going on 71 books about him. Read just one so you have some idea
what you are talking about: "Who Really Killed Kennedy?" by Joseph Corsi, Harvard University ,
Poltical Science,Ph.D.  This guy does research like you would hope a Harvard Ph.D. should.
You do not. Follow his example,please. Oh, and by the way, he is a Republican and I am a Democrat.
But this man leaves no stone unturned. You need to do the same.
     Thank you for your cooperation,
                       William Stewart

 From
"50 Years Ago Today... and Today":
Redefining the Country

Today, we can only speculate on the kind of country that might have been had JFK not been assassinated. Of course, it's the same thing with what might have happened post-Lincoln, post-Garfield or post-McKinley, too. Killing a president -- as with regicide since time immemorial -- bends the arc of history in ways we can scarcely begin to comprehend. We know what happened, after a historical fashion. Or do we?

A presidential life cut short -- and with it, the heart of a political administration -- makes for all manner of counterfactual speculation in a "what if" sort of way.

Indeed, as the superb instructors at the Naval War College used to emphasize, sometimes you cannot truly understand what happened with a historical event unless you take the facts and dissect what did NOT happen. (For example, "what if" Japanese carriers had been able to launch more fighters as air cover during the Battle of Midway?)

As one who was young when President Kennedy died -- third grade at Shadyside Junior School, next to Pittsburgh's Frick Park -- I "lived through" tumultuous events. But it wasn't until many years later, as I began to absorb the scope of historical record, that I really started to comprehend what happened on Nov. 22 half a century ago.

Along those last lines, I'd say that culturally we're still figuring JFK out. His legacy is unfixed, if not unmoored. That is, it changes with the times, and often as not to suit the current needs of those who invoke his ghost.

But at root, even when we think we "know" something about JFK, we really don't know all that much that we can trust. Consider a few common JFK-assassination concepts: Lone gunman? Former Marine? Soviet defector? Cuban connection? Mafia hit? Single bullet? J. Edgar Hoover? Lyndon Baines Johnson? Warren Commission... and with Gerald Ford on it? (Hmm... so THAT's how Jerry Ford wound up succeeding Nixon!)

Consider one key crystal from the Warren Commission report, its explanation of a single crazed gunman. Then toss in myriad of other facts that don't quite make sense -- and there are many. It's possible to come up with all manner of conspiracies, and then you need other conspiracies to hide the first conspiracy. Will we ever know?

Follow the Facts, Especially the Money

There's history and there's karma, too. Not long before he died, President Kennedy approved the assassination of President Diem of South Vietnam. Not long after the JFK assassination, President Johnson escalated the Vietnam War.    ( NOT TRUE - The CIA killed Diem against Kennedy's instructions.)

As the 1960s wore on, the country's Roosevelt-era New Deal morphed into the Johnson-era Great Society. Paying for all of this, plus that distant Vietnam War, began to wreck the value of the dollar.

By 1967, the U.S. government was frantically pulling silver out of circulation in coinage. Then in 1971, President Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard. By 1973, oil prices quadrupled, and by 1979 they quadrupled again. What saved the U.S. economy was an international agreement for oil to be priced in dollars. (That deal is wearing thin, by the way.)

It's not overstatement to say that post-JFK, from the mid-1960s to today, our economy has been a credit casino based on Federal Reserve Notes and the government's promise to tax people in the future to pay for overspending now. Which leads me to those investment comments I said I'd give you back in the early part of this note.

On this 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, it strikes me that JFK was the last "hard money" president. Certainly, Kennedy's was the last administration in which the American people used silver coins for the duration and carried silver certificates (remember those?) in their wallets.

Consider silver coins. Back in Kennedy's day, a 25 cent "silver" quarter (actually, 90% silver and 10% copper alloy) was worth... well, 25 cents. Today, just based on melt value of metal, an old silver quarter is worth about $3.60 -- meaning the current value is about 14.4 times the original value. Or look at it this way -- we've seen a 93% erosion in the purchasing value of an "old" silver-based dollar versus a new one over the past 50 years.

Or look at the price of gold. In Kennedy's day, the monetary value of gold was $32 per ounce. Today, it's about $1,250 -- depending on the day, of course. It's a diminishment of value by a factor of nearly 40, respecting the dollar versus gold. That's over a 97% decline in 50 years.

Or oil? Back in the early 1960s, a barrel of crude went for $2 or so. Today it's north of $108 (Brent quote). It's a change by a factor of 54 -- a decline of 98.2% in dollar purchasing power for oil.

Looking back, we may or may not know the truth -- and the whole truth -- about what happened with JFK long ago. But we can clearly see what has happened with the value of the dollar over 50 years. Its value has plummeted.

Looking ahead, we still may never know what happened with JFK. People have died off. Evidence has gone missing. The "conspiracy" industry has picked up a bad reputation, which is probably what the conspirators always wished would happen.

But also looking ahead, I foresee more and more inflation and further declines in the value of the dollar. I see no coming correction for government overspending and no way for the future economy ever to repay the debts of the past -- absent another 97% or so reduction in value of the dollar.

So here in OI, we'll keep looking for ideas to help preserve your wealth and keep you ahead of the inflation curve. Some periods in the market are better than others, but we're always looking for new ideas in things that will hold their value over time.

That's all for now. Thanks for subscribing to OI. Have a good weekend.

Best wishes...

Byron W. King

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Can you donate $3 today to make this year McConnell's last year in the Senate?


A brand new poll commissioned by MoveOn yesterday shows that Mitch McConnell is one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for re-election next year. Check out this headline in the Huffington Post:

It's clear that voters of Kentucky have had enough (over 50% of voters now disapprove of his job performance)—but McConnell has been the most vocal supporter of unregulated Super PACs, and they'll be spending tens of millions of dollars to keep him in the Senate.
We're building a war chest that can support a yearlong campaign next year to not only air ads across the state, but also to do real on-the-ground organizing—engaging new voters and making sure that Democrats turn out and vote next year.
There is no candidate anywhere who will get as much Super PAC support. It's clear from our polling that McConnell is vulnerable, but it will take everyone pitching in to match what the Koch Brothers and their allies will be spending to get him re-elected.
Defeating Mitch McConnell will not only virtually ensure that Democrats keep control of the Senate next year, but it will also send a powerful message that the American people are sick of having unaccountable Super PACs corrupt our democracy.
For years, McConnell has been the biggest advocate of unlimited and undisclosed campaign contributions. He called the Citizens United decision a "strong validation of a fight I've waged for nearly three decades."1
And just last month he argued before the Supreme Court in a case that could remove campaign contribution limits entirely. 2
Right wing Super PACs will be working nonstop for the next year to save their champion. If we ever want to curb their corrupting influence, then it has to start by defeating them in Kentucky next year.
One year from today, let's be celebrating the defeat of Mitch McConnell.
Thanks for all you do.
–Ilya, Milan, Matt B., Mariana, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. Mitch McConnell defends Koch brothers, Politico, June 15th, 2012
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77469.html
2. Mitch McConnell Will Ask Supreme Court To Scrap Campaign Contribution Limits Entirely, Huffington Post, November 3rd, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=294995&id=77702-15018975-Un7Tx6x&t=4 
Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Why Is An Epidemic Of Thievery Sweeping America?

thief_4
Desperate people do desperate things, and it appears that Americans are rapidly becoming a lot more desperate.  An epidemic of thievery is sweeping across America, and authorities are not quite sure what to make of it.  Down in Texas, cattle thieves can get up to $1,500 per head of cattle, and cattle rustling was up nearly 40 percent last year.  As you will read about below, cargo hijacking is becoming much more sophisticated, and it is being estimated that losses from cargo thefts will total about $216 million this year alone.  And for some reason, Tide laundry detergent has become a very hot commodity among common criminals all across America.  In fact, it is being reported that some grocery stores are “losing $10,000 to $15,000 a month” as a result of Tide thefts.  So why is all of this happening?  Well, as I have written about previously, crime is on the rise in the United States, and poverty is absolutely exploding.  In fact, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month.  Over the past five years, we have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of people that cannot take care of themselves without help from the government.  Millions upon millions of Americans that have been forced into poverty are becoming increasingly angry, frustrated and desperate.  And what we are watching right now is only just the beginning – all of this is going to get a whole lot worse.
When people think of the “social decay” that is happening to America, most of the time Texas and Oklahoma would not be the first places that come to mind.  But according to NPR, there was nearly a 40 percent rise in the theft of cows and horses down in that area of the country last year…
Ranchers saw a sharp jump in cattle rustling last year in Texas and Oklahoma. Over 10,000 cows and horses were reported missing or stolen. That’s an almost 40 percent increase from the year before. It’s a trend that’s surprised some in law enforcement.
And this is happening even though the penalties for cattle rustling have gotten much stronger…
Penalties against rustlers were toughened by Texas lawmakers in 2009. Now, the crime could put you in prison for up to 10 years. But ironically more and more cattle have gone missing or stolen since that law was passed.
Another trend that is baffling law enforcement authorities is the huge wave of cargo hijackings that they have been seeing.  According to a recent CBS News article, cargo thefts are becoming a lot more elaborate these days…
To steal huge shipments of valuable cargo, thieves are turning to a deceptively simple tactic: They pose as truckers, load the freight onto their own tractor-trailers and drive away with it.
It’s an increasingly common form of commercial identity theft that has allowed con men to make off each year with millions of dollars in merchandise, often food and beverages. And experts say the practice is growing so rapidly that it will soon become the most common way to steal freight.
You may not think that stealing truckloads of walnuts or cheese is a big deal, but the truth is that the dollar values of some of these thefts are absolutely staggering…
News reports from across the country recount just a few of the thefts: 80,000 pounds of walnuts worth $300,000 in California, $200,000 of Muenster cheese in Wisconsin, rib-eye steaks valued at $82,000 in Texas, $25,000 pounds of king crab worth $400,000 in California.
And this is not just happening in a few isolated locations.  We are literally seeing an epidemic of cargo theft that stretches from coast to coast…
Although cargo thieves prey on companies across the nation, the hot spots are places with shipping ports or rail hubs. California leads the nation. Large numbers of thefts have also been reported in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Perhaps most fascinating of all is the wave of Tide thefts that is sweeping the nation.  The following is an excerpt from a New York Magazine article from earlier this year…
The call that came in from a local Safeway one day in March 2011 was unlike any the Organized Retail Crime Unit of the Prince George’s County Police Department had fielded before. The grocery store, located in suburban Bowie, Maryland, had been robbed repeatedly. But in every incident the only products taken were bottles—many, many bottles—of the liquid laundry detergent Tide. “They were losing $10,000 to $15,000 a month, with people just taking it off the shelves,” recalls Sergeant Aubrey Thompson, who heads the team. When Thompson and his officers arrived to investigate, they stumbled onto another apparent Tide theft in progress and busted two men who’d piled 100 or so of the bright-orange jugs into their Honda. The next day, Thompson returned to the store’s parking lot to tape a television interview about the crimes. A different robber took advantage of the distraction to make off with twenty more bottles.
So why are criminals so interested in Tide detergent?
Well, apparently it is heavily used as currency in the drug trade
Southern California authorities say it’s a dirty business and a bizarre trend – drug users trading Tide detergent for crack.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says it’s a nationwide problem – people are stealing the popular but expensive detergent and trading it for marijuana and crack cocaine.
San Bernardino police Sgt. Travis Walker says detectives raiding dope houses in recent years were puzzled when they found lots of Tide. Turns out it wasn’t being used to make drugs but to buy them.
We live at a time when an increasing number of Americans will do just about anything for money.
Down in Florida, one mother was so desperate for money that she was actually prostituting her three teenage daughters.  Two of them were under the age of 18…
A St. Cloud mother was picked up Thursday on charges of serving as her three teenage daughters’ madam in a West U.S. Highway 192 prostitution ring, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
At 2:30 p.m., Paula Howard flagged down an undercover detective acting as a “John” in front of a bus stop and arranged for him to have sex with one of her girls, ages 16, 17, and 18, an arrest record states.
The daughter agreed to perform the act for $20 and hopped into the car, telling the detective, “Oh yea. That’s my family, but don’t even worry about it. They know what I do,” the report states.
But haven’t you heard?
Everything is just fine in America.  Barack Obama and the mainstream media keep telling us that over and over, so it must be true.
Right?
I think that we got a glimpse into the true condition of America last month when a “technical glitch” caused the system that processes food stamp card payments to malfunction for a couple of hours.  A Time Magazine article described what happened at one Wal-Mart in Louisiana…
Customers cleared shelves and police were called in to control crowds taking advantage of suddenly unlimited spending allowed on their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, which are issued to recipients of government food stamps. Spending limits on the cards were reportedly disabled for about two hours.
When a store in Springhill, La., announced over the loudspeaker that the glitch was fixed, shoppers simply abandoned loaded carts, according to Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd.
And similar “mini-riots” happened in a bunch of other locations as well.
For example, customers at one Wal-Mart in Mississippi just started taking groceries out of the store that they hadn’t paid for when their food stamp cards were not accepted…
Customers staged a disturbance then walked out of a Mississippi Walmart store with groceries that hadn’t been paid for Saturday night after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.
People in 17 states found themselves unable to buy groceries with their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards after a routine check by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a temporary system failure.
Shortly after the mini-riot, managers decided to temporarily close the store, citing customer safety.
Keep in mind that all of this was caused by a “technical glitch” that only lasted for a few hours.
What would happen if there was a problem that lasted for much longer?
That is a sobering thing to think about.
And as I wrote about recently, all 47 million Americans on food stamps just had their benefits reduced on November 1st.  This is causing food banks all across the country to brace for a huge influx of needy people
Food banks across the country, stretched thin in the aftermath of the recession, are bracing for more people coming through their doors in the wake of cuts to the federal food stamp program.
Food stamp benefits to 47 million Americans were cut starting Friday as a temporary boost to the federal program comes to an end without new funding from a deadlocked Congress.
Under the program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP, a family of four that gets $668 per month in benefits will find that amount cut by $36.
In fact, the president of the Food Bank for New York City says that members of her organization “are panicking”
As president of the Food Bank for New York City, Margaret Purvis expects those cuts will draw even more people to organizations that already provide 400,000 meals a day to hungry city folks.
“Our members are panicking,” she said as time wound down before the benefit decreases go into effect. “We’re telling everyone to make sure that you are prepared for longer lines.”
Purvis also told Salon.com that “when people cannot afford to eat food” it has the potential to start “riots”…
“If you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,” Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, told Salon Monday. Purvis said that the looming cut would mean about 76 million meals “that will no longer be on the plates of the poorest families” in NYC alone – a figure that outstrips the total number of meals distributed each year by the Food Bank for New York City, the largest food bank in the country. “There will be an immediate impact,” she said.
So will we see riots as a result of these food stamp cuts?
No, I do not believe that we will see riots yet.
But the volcano of anger, frustration and desperation that is simmering just below the surface of this country continues to get hotter.
Someday it will explode.
What will you do when that happens?
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Why is SmileyTraffic.com Down ? Is Vernon Chumbley Okay?

     I consider Vernon Chumbley to be one of the very finest people I know on the internet and I hope he is personally healthy.  I suspect that there has been a DOS attack but that is speculation on my part.
I would appreciate comments if anyone knows anything concerning the condition of SmileyTraffic.com .
   This is what I have been receiving since yesterday Nov.3,2013 when I try to connect:
"The connection was reset
The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.
    The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
    If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
    If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web."
    I will attempt to email and telephone him but I am sure he is swamped with messages.
   God Bless You Vernon, SmileyTraffic is the greatest !!!!
                    Your Grateful Customer,
                                  William Stewart , Owner of GlitzHits.com

Saturday, November 2, 2013

The Most Unfair Countries For Women; Stock News

       By many measures, the United States is the wealthiest economy in the world. However, according to a recent survey, women do not benefit nearly as much as men. The U.S. ranked 23rd in the world for gender equality, behind countries including South Africa, Cuba, and the Philippines. The World Economic Forum report, the 2013 Global Gender Gap Report, measured the disparities between men and women in 136 countries. In the nations that scored the worst, economic and educational opportunities, as well as political representation and health outcomes, were far worse for women than for men. According to the report, Iceland was the best country for gender equality, while Yemen was the worst. These are the most unfair countries for women.

Friday's top analyst upgrades and downgrades are in ANR, EPD, FB, GGP, GILD, GBX, NFLX, PVA, PETM, and VLO.
UBS has made some key changes to its US Focus List.
Shareholders believe Larry Ellison makes too much money. But with a supportive board, strong financial results, and a 25% stake in Oracle, no one is going to change that.
Here are 10 reasons Apple is selling off rather than rallying after beating earnings estimates.
Rumors are flying that AT&T may make a massive bid for Vodafone to rapidly expand internationally. We wonder if this is even possible.
Jefferies has a new list of stocks to buy based upon increased business orders and backlog. Some of the names are surprising, like Intel and Microsoft.
Barrick Gold destroys its shareholders to lower its debt.
Gold may be down and out, but a fresh view shows that gold added well over $210 billion to the global GDP in 2012 alone.
Google's Nexus 5 has to be extraordinary to break into the top tier of the smartphone market. It isn't.
Christmas comes early at Walmart.com
How mobile games are driving the smartphone business.
                                                                           Have a great day!
                                                                                JON C. OGG