Alcohol is a troublesome hedge because it’s bulky by value, and spending it would likely be capitalizing on an alcoholic’s self-destruction.

Re: global warming, I’ve thought since the start that those arguing against it here were just here to hijack the dialogue. I was going to hunt down the funding of their sources but they’re using such consistent logical fallacies I became convinced they are immovable. You can tell when you see “all-or-nothing” thinking combined with responses that don’t actually directly address any argument you make. Is the green movement hijacked? Of course. That doesn’t negate it’s premises though.

“… I don’t get the Obama is not American stuff and I don’t get the there is no such thing as being able to change the environment – ie climate change.”

I take it to be a manifestation of American nationalism, if Obama is a foreigner (alien to the US) it’s a bad thing.

I agree climate change can and has occurred. My concern is how this issue seems to have been taken as a means to introduce regressive fuel-rationing (de facto) via punitive taxation. It appeals to the puritans of the green movement who get satisfaction punishing offenders, usually the soft targets.

“…I prefer conversations and debates about bankers, banks, markets, finance, Treasury, Fed, currencies. This notion that everything is a hoax can provide endless links to some other guy’s argument and there are loads of sites that cater to each side.”

I don’t mind varied topics, obviously the ‘truth about markets’ is a self-explanatory topic. The notion that ‘everything’ is a hoax, along with the tiresome rhetoric about the ‘mainstream media’ (whilst credulously sucking up ridiculous blogs and web-media like Rense or Infowars) is typical of the traditional paranoia of the American right. It was first commented on in light of the Goldwater US presidential campaign (where Reagan and the new-right first gathered):

[b][url=http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/conspiracy_theory/the_paranoid_mentality/the_paranoid_style.html]The Paranoid Style in American Politics[/url][/b]
By Richard Hofstadter†
Harper’s Magazine, November 1964, pp. 77-86.

Unfortunately that’s what happens if you associate with Alex Jones, many of his monomaniacal followers will express their concerns on your site, expecting it to align with your concerns. They don’t.

e.g. posts you made about the Honduran coup or the herd-effect on ‘new social media’ don’t register with those more interested in portraying the US president as a suspect foreigner, or who take the NWO/Bilderberg nonsense to be global conspiracies. Too bad: If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas.

It was pointless even trying to discuss the points you raised in those posts because most comments made in the threads were completely irrelevant. So I didn’t bother any more after a couple of efforts. It’s an effective way to block constructive debate and prevent relevant information from being shared and gaining circulation.

I think that’s a pity. For one thing, your points about ‘new social media’ are important, taking the sceptic’s position is quite distinct. Especially when you and Max both use twitter – and I seem to recall you called on others to sign up to it! ;-P

And for another, this blog is the only one I’ve seen to cover the Honduran coup as a serious event (beyond the most superficial level).

The only news network I’ve seen follow up on the story with full reports and background research/interviews is Al Jazeera, unsurprising given that it was the only English language network that actually covered the killing of protesters at the airport to keep Zelaya in exile.

Espionage, fraudulent securities and foreign exchange reserves
…
Hondurans ‘have right to revolt’

I don’t understand why you refer readers to a BBC account of the story. As you noted about their coverage of protests, it’s heavily propagandised reporting. A reputable agency report with maximum facts/quotes and minimal editorial opinion/analysis embedded in the report would be preferable.

e.g. in the BBC report you refer to, the protesters shot at the airport by the army have disappeared down Aunty Beebs memory hole (just as Orwell described Big Brother/The Ministry of Truth doing in 1984):

“Mr Zelaya’s dramatic attempt to fly back to Honduras failed earlier this month when the military blocked the runway at Tegucigalpa airport.”

Now there has to be a better report of Zelaya’s words than an abridged BBC version which omits relevant facts and inserts dubious editorial views. Agence France Press (AFP) often put the other agencies to shame for speed and accuracy (they got the details of the death at the G8/City protest first with quotes from the emergency services). Al Jazeera offered by far the most immediate and accurate English language coverage of events at the time, so why direct readers to the BBC which didn’t even appear to have a real team there on the ground?

Good gods! Really? Go figure.

You are going to tell me the Fake Ayatollahs are a real band and not just Max doing karaoke??

Hit the youtube link. Omid Malekan did the ultimate parody of the Band’s classic “The Weight” to visuals of the financial crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=712kRqri2No

Story on the original lyrics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight

I kid you not, Greenspan IS Crazy Chester.

I am sure back in junior high school, Max and TurboTax Timmy used to listen to it on Timmy’s turntable less than a mile from Max’s house.

Remember, Don Kirshner taught us you don’t really need a band… just some songs from the writers at the Brill building, some session musicians, a couple of voice overs, a couple of teen mag spreads, a little BS on tv and viola…

You have the Monkees and the Archies…

It is/was professional karaoke. Only Kirshner had more integrity than Wall Street…

@problemis – do you have a sample of some of the music of Goldman and the Rubinites? Sounds interesting . . .

With regard to Canada being a big beneficiary of Chinese investment… I can only say… I told the SS Rudd very clearly that they either go along with the Chinese and do what they want… or be abandoned.

Myself, I’m thinking of moving to the USA to take advantage of the free labour.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/around_town/shopping/Wow-Quadrillion-Dollar-Credit-Card-Bill.html?yhp=1

Maybe it wasn’t a glitch….. maybe they used this guys credit card account as a temporary SIV for all of their toxic junk on their balance sheet. Was Wachovia getting audited that day or something and needed to make their balance sheet of accounts receivable look pretty for 12 hours?

“Take a Load Off Fannie”

This one was written by “Crazy Chester” Greenspan…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=712kRqri2No

Wow, too much head banging…

I have a new band for you to manage. They are better than the Fake Ayatollahs.

Goldman and the Rubinites. There a grunge band…