I've never watched the whole thing, and probably won't this time either...but when Lovell's wife said: "I don't want to clean. Let's sell the house", I got this wild notion....

Due to a complete lack of sleep, I'm going to wish you all sweet dreams and happy landings...

The older I get, the less I clean.

when I die, she will immediately burn my house down. That is a BFFE.

For you archeological viewing pleasure, here.


Aphrodite had a dolphin? I did not know that...

She just forgot her horde.

Too many generations, too much moving around...

Here.

I wonder if the spelling of "dis-pursed" instead of disbursed above is intentional? It's spelled fine in a couple other places on the site. Takin' it out of their purse?

Last edited Fri Jan 11, 2013, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

Too bad the ground is frozen.

Edit: I just spent an hour trying to remove a faulty driver update...as you can see, I was successful (dumb luck and a little learning)

As a result, I have lost my nerve and the will to do anything. Dealing with the Kid's spring fever is taking a lot out of me.

Has anybody ever had a progressive mandate for change and reform, and made the wrong choices so consistently?

God forbid they consider someone like Stiglitz, Krugman, Black, Galbraith...........


I guess Greenberg was busy. Maybe we'll get Angelo Mozillo for Sec. of HUD next.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/opinion/krugman-coins-against-crazies.html


...Let’s talk for a minute about the vile absurdity of the debt-ceiling confrontation...Under the Constitution, fiscal decisions rest with Congress, which passes laws specifying tax rates and establishing spending programs. If the revenue brought in by those legally established tax rates falls short of the costs of those legally established programs, the Treasury Department normally borrows the difference. Lately, revenue has fallen far short of spending, mainly because of the depressed state of the economy. If you don’t like this, there’s a simple remedy: demand that Congress raise taxes or cut back on spending. And if you’re frustrated by Congress’s failure to act, well, democracy means that you can’t always get what you want.

Where does the debt ceiling fit into all this? Actually, it doesn’t. Since Congress already determines revenue and spending, and hence the amount the Treasury needs to borrow, we shouldn’t need another vote empowering that borrowing. But for historical reasons any increase in federal debt must be approved by yet another vote. And now Republicans in the House are threatening to deny that approval unless President Obama makes major policy concessions.

It’s crucial to understand three things about this situation. First, raising the debt ceiling wouldn’t grant the president any new powers; every dollar he spent would still have to be approved by Congress. Second, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the president will be forced to break the law, one way or another; either he borrows funds in defiance of Congress, or he fails to spend money Congress has told him to spend. Finally, just consider the vileness of that G.O.P. threat. If we were to hit the debt ceiling, the U.S. government would end up defaulting on many of its obligations. This would have disastrous effects on financial markets, the economy, and our standing in the world. Yet Republicans are threatening to trigger this disaster unless they get spending cuts that they weren’t able to enact through normal, Constitutional means. Republicans go wild at this analogy, but it’s unavoidable. This is exactly like someone walking into a crowded room, announcing that he has a bomb strapped to his chest, and threatening to set that bomb off unless his demands are met.

Which brings us to the coin.

As it happens, an obscure legal clause grants the secretary of the Treasury the right to mint and issue platinum coins in any quantity or denomination he chooses. Such coins were, of course, intended to be collectors’ items, struck to commemorate special occasions. But the law is the law — and it offers a simple if strange way out of the crisis. Here’s how it would work: The Treasury would mint a platinum coin with a face value of $1 trillion (or many coins with smaller values; it doesn’t really matter). This coin would immediately be deposited at the Federal Reserve, which would credit the sum to the government’s account. And the government could then write checks against that account, continuing normal operations without issuing new debt...In case you’re wondering, no, this wouldn’t be an inflationary exercise in printing money. Aside from the fact that printing money isn’t inflationary under current conditions, the Fed could and would offset the Treasury’s cash withdrawals by selling other assets or borrowing more from banks, so that in reality the U.S. government as a whole (which includes the Fed) would continue to engage in normal borrowing. Basically, this would just be an accounting trick, but that’s a good thing. The debt ceiling is a case of accounting nonsense gone malignant; using an accounting trick to negate it is entirely appropriate. But wouldn’t the coin trick be undignified? Yes, it would — but better to look slightly silly than to let a financial and Constitutional crisis explode...Now, the platinum coin may not be the only option. Maybe the president can simply declare that as he understands the Constitution, his duty to carry out Congressional mandates on taxes and spending takes priority over the debt ceiling. Or he might be able to finance government operations by issuing coupons that look like debt and act like debt but that, he insists, aren’t debt and, therefore, don’t count against the ceiling. Or, best of all, there might be enough sane Republicans that the party will blink and stop making destructive threats. Unless this last possibility materializes, however, it’s the president’s duty to do whatever it takes, no matter how offbeat or silly it may sound, to defuse this hostage situation.

Mint that coin!

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/why-ronald-reagans-face-would-be-perfect-trillion-dollar-platinum-coin-used-rescue?akid=9910.227380.wVs0xf&rd=1&src=newsletter774115&t=19&paging=off

As part of their never-ending campaign to canonize President Ronald Reagan, conservatives three years ago proposed replacing Ulysses S. Grant on the 50 dollar bill with the likeness of the Gipper. But while his hagiographers mercifully failed in that quest, a new and altogether fitting denomination has emerged to memorialize Reagan. The much-discussed one trillion dollar platinum coin, the unfortunate gimmick that may be needed to circumvent the Republicans' dangerously real gimmick on the debt ceiling, would be a perfect home for Reagan's image. After all, President Reagan didn't merely triple the national debt in his eight years in the White House and establish budget-busting tax cuts as a permanent fixture in Republican politics. As it turns out, Reagan excoriated those in Congress who would jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States by refusing to increase the nation's debt limit.

...Forced to raise taxes eleven times to avert financial catastrophe, the Gipper nonetheless presided over a tripling of the American national debt to nearly $3 trillion. Federal spending grew several times faster than under President Obama, while the public sector employment expanded much more quickly than any time since. By the time he left office in 1989, Ronald Reagan more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by the previous 200 years of American history. It's no wonder that, almost 30 years after he concluded "the supply-siders have gone too far," former Arthur Laffer acolyte and Reagan budget chief David Stockman lamented:



It's also no wonder the Gipper cited the skyrocketing deficits he bequeathed to America as his greatest regret.

Despite the lessons of Reagan's tax-cutting debacle, his Republican heirs have never departed from the completely debunked supply-side orthodoxy that "tax cuts pay for themselves." President Bush, who nearly doubled the national debt, declared in 2004 that "you cut taxes and the tax revenues increase." When Congressional Republicans successfully blocked President Obama's 2010 proposal to end the upper-income Bush tax cuts, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl claimed, "You should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans." For his part, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rushed to defend Kyl's fuzzy math:



That may have been a view universally shared by virtually every Republican, but it happens to be wrong. Or as Reagan might have put it, "facts are stupid things."

...Of course, if all else fails, the United States can always make up a funding shortfall by selling arms to Iran.

are duns and foreclosure notices. It's all that man deserves.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-09/q4-2012-bank-earnings-outlook-lower-mortgage-volumes-suggest-anything

It’s time for Q4 2012 bank earnings and, once again, the message from the TBTF banks will be that all is well – although not as well as one might hope. As I noted in the Institutional Risk Analyst comment this week, “Bank Outlook 2013: Lower Mortgage Volumes, Higher Interest Rates,” the refinance boom is over. The question now is whether the banks will shift gears and start supporting more sales of new and existing homes.

Looking at street projections for 2013 and 2014, the assumption is a steady rise in new home construction and sales. Unless you believe that the major banks are going to shift gears and start writing a lot of non-conforming loans, it is hard to see how these high volumes will be funded...

IN OTHER WORDS, THE HOUSING MARKET IS STILL SCREWED, WHICH MEANS THE ECONOMY IS SCREWED, WHICH MEANS WE DO NOT PROGRESS....

IT'S CYA TIME

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/07/us-obama-nominations-brennan-idUSBRE9060Y820130107?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reuters+Politics+News%29

In White House councils, John Brennan has been privy to the most secret U.S. intelligence programs. Outwardly, he has been the administration's most public defender of one of President Barack Obama's most controversial practices - the expanded use of armed drone aircraft to kill terrorism suspects overseas.

This is the second time that Obama has sought to put Brennan at the helm of the CIA, and his confirmation process is likely to revisit old controversies over U.S. counterterrorism measures undertaken by the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush.

Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew his name from consideration as Obama's first director of the agency in November 2008 following liberals' criticism that he had done too little to condemn the use by the Bush administration of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, widely considered torture.

This time around, Brennan's defense of targeted killing by drones is likely to provide additional fodder for critics, although barring new revelations, he appears likely to be confirmed...

I'll be doing a lot of stuff, too: Euchre Night, and Saturday Brunch and Movie...

Maybe I should take the weekend off?

Anybody want to fill in?

The Birth of Venus. When I saw it at the Uffizi Gallery, I was struck immobile. I just stood there stupid and staring. Never happened before and hasn't happened since.

The Sacrament of the Last supper at the National Museum did it for me.

But my most interesting reaction was at the Notre Dame in Paris. I had just past the statue of Joan of Arc. I noticed all of this colored light on me. I looked up and saw the Rose Window of Notre Dame and was literally moved to tears. I just stood there, transfixed, tears streaming down my face. I could not explain it.

I later told my French host of the experience, telling her I felt as if I were in the soul of Paris or France. She smiled this cat like smile and said, "But you were".

Did you see this post by rug? http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018273853

Rose windows are particularly characteristic of Gothic architecture and may be seen in all the major Gothic Cathedrals of Northern France. Their origins are much earlier and rose windows may be seen in various forms throughout the Medieval period. Their popularity was revived, with other medieval features, during the Gothic revival of the 19th century so that they are seen in Christian churches all over the world... - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_window

[center] [/center]

Also this at Chartres: ... The north transept rose (10.5m diameter, made c.1235), like much of the sculpture in the north porch beneath it, is dedicated to the Virgin.[23] The central oculus shows the Virgin and Child and is surrounded by 12 small petal-shaped windows, 4 with doves (the 'Four Gifts of the Spirit'), the rest with adoring angels carrying candlesticks. Beyond this is a ring of 12 diamond-shaped openings containing the Old Testament Kings of Judah, another ring of smaller lozenges containing the arms of France and Castille, and finally a ring of semicircles containing Old Testament Prophets holding scrolls. The presence of the arms of the French king (yellow fleurs-de-lis on a blue background) and of his mother, Blanche of Castile (yellow castles on a red background) are taken as a sign of royal patronage for this window... - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartres_Cathedral

[center] [/center]

Note on origin: ... The German art historian Otto von Simson considered that the origin of the rose window lay in a window with the six-lobed rosettes and octagon which adorned the external wall of the Umayyad palace Khirbat al-Mafjar built in Jordan between 740 and 750 CE. This theory suggests that crusaders brought the design of this attractive window to Europe, introducing it to churches... - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_window

[center]

Suggest accompanying music:



[/center]

See also: http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Paris-N-Dame/table.htm

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRADE_GAP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-11-08-39-24

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. trade deficit expanded in November to its widest point in seven months, driven by a surge in imports that outpaced modest growth in exports.

The Commerce Department says the deficit widened 15.8 percent to $48.7 billion in November from October. U.S. exports increased 1 percent to $182.6 billion, while imports grew 3.8 percent to $231.3 billion.

U.S. exports to Europe, a region struggling with a prolonged debt crisis, fell 1.3 percent. The jump in imports was led by gains in shipments of cell phones, including Apple's new iPhone.

A wider trade deficit acts as a drag on U.S. growth. It typically means the U.S. is earning less on overseas sales while spending more on foreign products.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_WELLS_FARGO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-11-08-16-56

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wells Fargo, the country's biggest mortgage lender, says it earned a record $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter, up 25 percent from the same period a year before.

Revenue rose 7 percent, to $21.9 billion, beating the $21.3 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Measured per share, earnings were 91 cents, which also beat analysts' expectations of 87 cents.

The stock fell 40 cents, about 1 percent, to $35 in pre-market trading.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/11/uk-industrial-production-growth-weak-recession

UK industry posted sluggish growth in November, renewing fears that the economy shrank in the final quarter and pushing Britain towards an unprecedented triple-dip recession.

Manufacturing output dropped 0.3% in November, after a fall of 1.3% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The wider reading of industrial output – also including output from the energy and mining sectors – grew by 0.3% following a sharp decline in October, which was revised down further on Friday to -0.9%. November's figures were boosted by an 11.3% jump in oil and gas output – the biggest increase since 1968 – after maintenance of the Buzzard North Sea oil field was completed.

But both manufacturing and industrial production missed expectations, with analysts hoping for rises of 0.5% and 0.8% respectively.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/opinion/antilla-goldman-stock/index.html?hpt=op_t1

...By the time the ball dropped in Times Square, regulators had been notified that $65 million in Goldman stock had been granted a month early, helping a cluster of powerful multimillionaire executives trim their tax tab.

Among the 10 who shared that $65 million, Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar wound up with $8.4 million apiece in Goldman stock.

Blankfein's compensation in 2011 was $16.2 million. Cohn and Viniar that year made $15.8 million. Even Gordon Gekko would be impressed to see that bosses making that much money were able to catch a tax break for a couple hundred thousand.

The 10 executives who skirted 2013's higher rates were not the only Goldmanites who benefited from the "accelerated" vesting. Michael DuVally, a Goldman spokesman, acknowledged there was "a group larger than" the 10 but declined to say how many. DuVally would not comment on who made the decision to grant the shares early...

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-california-budget-surplus-2013-1

And today from Reuters: California Governor's budget has surprise: a surplus
The state expects $98.5 billion in revenues and transfers and plans [on] spending $97.7 billion, according to the proposal published on the state Department of Finance website.

That leaves a surplus of $851 million for the year, in addition to a projected $785 million surplus for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, allowing the state to put $1 billion toward a rainy day fund.

Brown said he saw a balanced budget for the next four years.
Spending in the upcoming year is set to rise 5 percent, or $4.7 billion, from the current 2012-13 budget. Schools and universities will see a $4 billion boost, health care spending will rise $1.2 billion, while transfers to local government will drop $2.1 billion.


Read more: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/01/the-california-budget-surplus.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CalculatedRisk+%28Calculated+Risk%29#ixzz2HfuHtR72

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/theres-violent-world-war-going-millions-casualties-oligarchs-vs-everyone-else?akid=9908.227380.b2xUVn&rd=1&src=newsletter773540&t=6&paging=off


History is littered with the corpses of those who thought they could conquer the world, or at least the “known” or “important” world, through force of arms. Many come immediately to mind: Alexander the Great; Caesar; Hitler; the Celts, Ottomans, and Catholics; various European, Asian, and American empires from the 17th Century Dutch to the 18th Century French, to the 19th Century British and the 20th Century Soviets and Americans. Others, like the Aztecs, are less well known to westerners, Europeans, and Asians, but no less ambitious, All used some variation on war, the force of military power, to accomplish their goal. All won, over the short-term, and then collapsed over the long term (making the relatively safe assumption that the American Empire is in the process of collapse right now).

So, who’s next?

While the rising economies of the world, like the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations, all have the potential, particularly the Chinese, all also are pretty focused on regionalism. But there is one group that has declared war on us - all of us, all over the world - and already won some significant victories. And that’s the creditor class, what economist Henry George called the “rentiers,” and we generally today refer to as “the billionaires.” ... We have become, in the United States, and increasingly all over the world, a society with only two classes: Those who own, and those who owe. The owners (or “Takers”) own vast wealth, and loan it out at interest to everybody from students to governments. They’re continually receiving that interest back in ways that are either tax-free or taxed at very low levels. (Here in the US we call it “capital gains,” “Interest,” “dividends,” and “carried interest.” While a working person will pay as much as 39% in federal income taxes, the federal income tax to the Mitt Romneys, Paris Hiltons, and Lloyd Blankfeins of the world is now capped at 20%. As Leona Helmsley famously said, “Only little people pay taxes.”) The owe-ers - the indebted - find themselves trapped on a lifelong treadmill paying interest and fees to the Takers. The owe-ers are also mostly the workers, the people who make things (from manufactured goods to hamburgers), and so are rightly called the “Makers.”

For a brief period of American history, the rapaciousness and greed of the Takers was kept in check by the Makers - mostly through the actions of their unions and elected officials like FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Glass-Steagal prevented banksters from gambling with your savings account or pension. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act and its heirs prevented the big fish from swallowing all the medium-sized and smaller fish, so cities and malls were filled with locally-owned businesses. Social and economic mobility were higher in the United States than in most other countries of the world. But with the election of Ronald Reagan, the Takers - whose favorite way of taking is through putting the Makers into debt - won a huge victory. They killed or weakened democratic institutions, like unions and politicians not dependent on them. They moved the Middle Class from prosperity into, first, credit card debt, then into second-mortgage debt, and finally into student loan debt. And then, in the final Coup de grâce, they made the formerly democratic governments of Western Europe and the United States indebted to them.

They knew from the beginning it was war. But a softer and more silent form of war than the world was used to. Not since the ascendency of the British East India Company in the 1700s had the world seen an economic, rather than sovereign, force so dominate the world. And now they’re in the final stages of their war. Having taken most all the resources of the West’s Middle Classes and thrown them and their children into debt bondage, they’ve moved onto taking over entire nations. This is what Republicans mean when they talk about “making government smaller” here in the United States, or “the austerity agenda” in Europe, Canada, and Australia. It’s all the same thing - transfer even more wealth and political power from those in debt (be they individuals, cities, states, or nations) to those who made the loans. From the middle-class Makers to the billionaire Takers...When Ronald Reagan came into office, America was one of the most socially- and economically- mobile nations in the developed world. Today it is among the least. Democracy is being replaced by plutocracy. Modern oligarchs are richer than the kings of old. And, still not content, they’re amping up the war with a coming July 4th attempt to amend the US Constitution so the wealthy need never again fear tax increases. It’s being led by the Goldwater Institute with its “Compact For America.” Look out. We’re moving from trench warfare to aerial bombardment. And when they’re done, Western Democracies will look far more like Italy in the 1930s…

*******************************************************

Thom Hartmann is an author and nationally syndicated daily talk show host. His newest book is The Thom Hartmann Reader.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20980486

American Express has announced plans to cut 5,400 jobs worldwide from its total workforce of 63,500 by the end of 2013.

The credit card provider said it took almost $600m (£370m) in after-tax charges in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The company said that these charges would halve its net profit for the quarter from $1.2bn to $637m.

It said the majority of the job losses would be in its travel business, which is being "fundamentally reinvented as a result of the digital revolution".

US Treasury prices falling fast, yields spiking from 1.88 to 1.92

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-fighter-jet-flights-diaoyu-senkaku-islands-2013-1

After repeatedly flying surveillance aircraft into disputed airspace with Japan, and Tokyo scrambling F-15s in response, China's now sending fighters of its own on "routine flights" into the East China Sea.

China Daily:

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that Chinese military planes were on"routine flights" in relevant airspace over the East China Sea. Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a press briefing in response to media reports that Japan sent fighter jets to head off a number of Chinese military planes spotted in Japan's "air defense identification zone" over the East China Sea on Thursday.

"China firmly opposes Japan's moves to gratuitously escalate the situation and create tensions," Hong said.

The area north of the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyus in China, is reportedly home to billions in oil and gas deposits claimed both by Japan and China.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-fighter-jet-flights-diaoyu-senkaku-islands-2013-1#ixzz2Hg2TlsQI

http://www.nationofchange.org/tarp-over-bailouts-will-continue-until-big-banks-are-broken-and-washington-knows-it-1357748717

By Robert Reich

TARP—the infamous Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out Wall Street in 2008—is over. The Treasury Department announced it will be completing the sale of the remaining shares it owns of the banks and of General Motors.But in reality it’s not over.... The biggest Wall Street banks are now far bigger than they were four years ago when they were considered too big to fail. The five largest have almost 44 percent of all US bank deposits. That’s up from 37 percent in 2007, just before the crash. A decade ago they had just 28 percent.

The biggest banks keep getting bigger because they can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. That’s because investors believe the government will bail them out if they get into trouble, rather than force them into a form of bankruptcy (as the new Dodd-Frank law makes possible). That’s why it’s necessary to limit their size and break up the biggest...Washington may be getting the message:

A few months ago Dan Tarullo, the Fed governor who specializes in bank regulation, proposed capping the size of the banks’ balance sheets.

Some former titans of Wall Street are saying much the same thing. Even Sandy Weill, who created Citigroup (which required $445 billion in TARP loans and asset guarantees) is proposing the biggest banks be broken up.

The new Congress may also be supportive. The new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, has been a strong ally of small banks in their push to rein in their bigger rivals, and has expressed concern about the largest being too big to fail.

It’s not irrelevant that the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve Board, in Hensarling’s home district, has also proposed breaking up the biggest.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, is a strong advocate for breaking up the big banks and is now on the Senate Finance Committee. And Elizabeth Warren, scourge of Wall Street, will sit on the Senate Banking Committee.

In other words, the timing is right. The oven is ready. All we need is another multi-billion dollar banking loss—like JP Morgan Chase’s last year—and the biggest banks are cooked.

I'm taking a mental health break this weekend...and I will not be starting the WEE thread.

This is a decision forced upon a mind about to turn into melted Jello.

I'm serious.

My body and mind are about jello now. I was up 'til 3:00am building a computer. Now, I'm trying to get the garden ready for the spring planting, but it's been so warm, everything that should be dead by now is proliferating. I have tomatoes up the wazoo, and the hot peppers are still cranking out an abundance from the spring planting. I just pulled out the broccoli, collards, and cauliflower, so I'll have room.

Now it's nap time. To be followed by happy hour. Then maybe happier hour.

around the edges myself.

I intend to pop a cork.

Like AnneD, I too feel crispy. Been a long .......... week in more ways than one. See you next week!