Saturday Night Cartoon

Santa's Workshop ~ 1935

Saturday Morning Cartoon

JACK FROST ~ 1934

Corrie Ten Boom: ESCAPE TRIBULATION? WRONG!

Corrie Ten Boom's House - The Hiding Place

"There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days."
~ Corrie Ten Boom

This excerpt was sent to me by many people today, apparently one of the internet ministries had run it in an e-mail flyer. Miss Corrie Ten Boom happens to be a very famous name among the Christians, and for good reason. She is a holocaust survivor. Her story can be found here. What follows below is excerpted from a letter she wrote in 1974:


ESCAPE TRIBULATION? WRONG!
~Corrie Ten Boom, 1974

"The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible
for them to do this because they are overcomers.

Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.

My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.

We may have been the Lord's only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." We too, are to be overcomers - bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.

Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" for I have found where it is written that Jesus said, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son." This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive - but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.

Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick. "Yes, the Lord will heal me,", Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I vould not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.

It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy's death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated - raptured." Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly, "We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes - to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation.

There is no way to escape it. We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus' sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation."
Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, "Nothing could be any worse than today." But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
on their part evil is spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified."
(I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah! Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!"

In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand
Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, "Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?"

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood. "When I was a little girl, " I said, "I went to my father and said, 'Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."

"Tell me," said Father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?"

"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."

"That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need - just in time."

My African friends were nodding and smiling. Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing, "In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore."

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago. But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.

How can we get ready for the persecution? First we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.

Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary.

Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.

In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be
the dominant force of every Christian's life. Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years,
including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.

When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner
strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down.

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him", for I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!
~ Corrie Ten Boom

Matisyahu
Lord, Raise Me Up

Happy Chanukah from the Al Qaeda Dancers!

Take me to the Gazprom

The Millionaire Waltz
Queen

Oil, Gas, Natural Resources & Energy Related Missing Links for the last week or so. He who owns and controls your energy is Superpower of the New Order of the Glowing Ball. Why do I look at all of this crap? Because these stories also telegraph future events as well as the Gold Man Sacks stuff I posted below:

Nuclear Energy Heads to the Gulf

UAE seeks US congress nod for nuclear agreement


U.S. and UAE forge nuclear-cooperation deal

French Utility to Buy 49.9% of US Nuclear Giant

Acergy Gets $250 Million Deal To Develop Pipeline Network In Angola

Entrepose Contracting Unit Sees Making $300 Million On Angola LNG Job

Southcentral Alaska's gas situation is grim

Chevron’s new CFO joins SF Fed’s board

Oil Giant Chevron Ties with Burmese Military Junta

Amazon pollution case could cost Chevron billions

MUSD, Chevron and Bank of America complete energy efficiency project

Petroleum companies delay expansion, new projects

Oil Companies See Cloudy Future

Oil Companies Are Hitting the Pause Button


Oil Falls Below $36 as Worsening Economy Increases OPEC Doubts

Iran proposes up to 2 million bpd OPEC cut

StatoilHydro expects OPEC cut of up to 2 mln bpd

Oil Rises to $50 as OPEC’s El-Badri Says Sizable Cut Is Needed

OPEC cuts oil output by 2.2 million barrels a day
That's the largest cut, ever.

OPEC Loses Its Muscle

EU exec to seek more information on OPEC oil cut

Venezuela to Cut Chevron, BP, Shell Output to Meet OPEC Quota

OPEC Asks Russia to Cut Oil Supply by 400000 Barrels

OPEC system 'not applicable' to Russia: top Gazprom official

Russia may cut in limited sympathy with OPEC

Russia Dashes OPEC's Hopes

Energy deal with Russia splits Serbian government

Russia may not join global deal on climate change

Gas Exporting Countries Forum: The Russian-Iranian Gas Cartel

US says no fuel shipment to DPRK without nuclear verification deal

Russia urges for oil aid to DPRK

Russia to make N. Korea fuel shipment

Misreading the Kremlin Costs BP Control in Russia Venture

The TNK-BP Autopsy - Robert Amsterdam

Former Television Correspondent to Advise Gazprom


Gazprom to Develop Five Sports Complexes in St. Petersburg
The Czar is always building


Ukraine, Russia will stockpile $89 billion of carbon credits

Gazprom, Rosatom ink 6-year cooperation deal

Arabtec to finalise Gazprom deal

Gazprom may court foreign investors

Gas exporting nations to meet in Russia

Moody's changed Gazprom's outlook to stable

Gazprom moves on Yamal development

Gazprom, Shell JV Begins Year-Round Oil Export From Sakhalin

Gazprom Predicts 40% Drop in Natural Gas Prices for Bulgaria

Gazprom, Naftogaz to continue talks over Ukraine gas debt

Gazprom is preparing for a new gas war with Ukraine



Gazprom issues warning on Ukraine pipes



Gazprom brass cancel holiday, raising specter of New Year standoff

Naftogaz head leaves for Moscow for talks with Gazprom

Naftogaz of Ukraine CEO Oleh Dubyna returns to Kyiv

Gazprom, Japan to build gas processing facilities

Gazprom interested in majority stake in Fõgáz (FRANCE)

Gazprom invests in Sochi

Gazprom Wins Hydrocarbon Development Tender in Algeria

Gazprom is setting the stage for the February showdown

Gazprom Says Gas Supply To Hungary May Be Cut In January

Hungary Doubling Efforts for Nabucco Ahead of Budapest Summit

Nabucco needs EU solidarity

Time for EU-Turkey 'Urgency'

New push for Nabucco

Czechs to push for Nabucco gas pipeline at EU helm

Turkey: Iran, Iraq could supply gas for Nabucco

Topolánek: Nabucco has to be European project to have a chance

Italy: There could be no Political Objections to a "Suitable Libyan Stake in Eni"

Emerging-Market Stocks Fall Most in 3 Weeks; Russia, China Drop

The Big Gas Troika: A Lot of Hot Air

Australian firm to build zinc plant in Iran

Nuclear Industry Growing Without Federal Handouts

WFRL: DJ Mikael Spins...

Steelyeye Span
Gaudete ~ 1972

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus

Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus,

Carmina laetitiae devote redamus.

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus

Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Deus homo factus est naturam erante,

Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante.

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus

Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Ezecheelis porta clausa per transitor

Unde lux est orta sallus invenitor.

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus

Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro,

Benedicat domino sallas regi nostro.

Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus

Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.

Gold Man Sacks: Satan Clause ~ The Anti-Santa

Dan Fogleberg
The Power of Gold

On June 19th of this year I ran this post:

Goldman Sachs Double Speak ~ 3 Wood

This was the article 3 Wood was commenting on in that post:

Hormats calls for U.S. global policy restructuring:

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - As the world's economies become more globalized and the U.S. dollar competes with a stronger euro, America needs to restructure its global policies to attract more foreign capital, Robert Hormats, vice president of Goldman Sachs International, said Wednesday.

The next U.S. administration will need to make "important policy changes to take advantage of new global opportunities," Hormats said during a speech at an Asian banking and finance conference at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.

Those changes include realizing the U.S. needs to accelerate improvements in its trade balance to reduce dependence on foreign money, boost competitiveness by reasserting the Doha Round global effort and be a leader in global policy creation, he said.

The collapse of U.S. domestic savings, compounded by a widening trade deficit and increased consumer borrowing, have contributed to U.S. dependence on foreign capital, Hormats said. "Exports are rising at a much more rapid rate than imports," Hormats said, citing that 95% of the world's consumers now are outside the U.S. "About one-third of the profits of S&P 500 companies come from activities abroad."

Hormats also said the Doha Development Round, a set of international negotiations to promote free world trade, is stalling, and the U.S. needs to take initiative to open global markets for goods and services.

"If this round falters, and I think in the current moment there's a good chance that it will ... then the U.S. and other trading nations would do well to devote their efforts to improving -- and ensuring firm adherence to --- existing rules and dispute settlement procedures," Hormats said. He said the U.S. needs to focus on improving itself economically, but it also should become a leader in crafting international economic policies.

"We have to give if we want to get, which means negotiations," he said, adding that "the changing global landscape demands new institutions, new patterns of cooperation within existing institutions and new ways of ensuring that greater cooperation among institutions take place when their responsibilities overlap."

Dig the language in it.
In hindsight you can clearly see they were telegraphing big time what was to come in October.

To remind you, Czar Paulson, his Igor, Kashkari & the current head of the World Bank, Zoellick, are all from Goldman.

SPLEEN SEARCH: GOLDMAN SACHS

Many times since October I have said here that if you watch carefully what the Gold Man Sacks buys, sells, values, devalues, and publicly announces, you can accurately predict many future events and thus prepare for them.


Gold Man Sacks Missing Links for the past week or so:

Goldman Sachs, CDH invest nearly 100 mln usd in China's Himin Solar

Turkish markets firm, eyes on Goldman results

Goldman says investment in China will accelerate

Goldman's Stand in Japan Crumbles

Goldman, Deutsche Bank Are Said to Cut Jobs in Japan

Goldman Sachs sees oil at $30 a barrel in next three months

Goldman Sachs predicts fall in oil prices to $45 a barrel - not $200

Goldman Sachs turns bearish on oil in 2009

Barel Karsan: Goldman Sachs' Wonky Oil Predictions

Crude gives back 9% as US auto-rescue plan founders

Sector roundup: Utilities, auto parts suppliers

Valeo Rises on Goldman Sach’s Upgrade

Goldman Sachs cuts Caterpillar to sell

Apple downgraded to neutral at Goldman Sachs

Bally Technologies Upgraded By Goldman Sachs

Goldman cuts AT&T to neutral

Telstra Drops as Goldman Sachs Cut Rating

Goldman Sachs upgrades Baidu.com

Goldman adds Viacom to conviction buy list

Goldman Sachs upgrades US Gaming sector to attractive

Goldman Sachs Poised to Sell Sanyo Stake to Panasonic

Goldman Sachs, economy, Best Buy, fertilizers

Goldman Sachs ups gold forecast on dollar view, haven appeal

Investors focusing on energy, currency and rates

Default won’t bring an end to dollarization, Goldman Sachs’ Ramos said
dollarization?

Goldman, AT&T ‘Apologize’ to Democrats With Post-Election Gifts

Goldman Sachs cites global recession, new-product pause

Goldman, The Fed, The Future and ETFs

US Stocks Advance on Rate-Cut Speculation; GE, Goldman Gain

ADRs surge after US rate cut, Goldman

Big Loss For Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs workers net $2.6bn bonuses despite losses

Goldman's Loss Is Europe's Gain

Only One Bank Cites a Loan From TARP Money

Moody's cut Goldman Sachs ratings one notch to "A1"

Goldman Sachs’s Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 Million

Who Aided And Abetted Madoff, Mr. Ponzi?

Goldman Sachs Outlines 2009 Financial & Credit Expectations

Once again, 'follow the money'

Advent and Eschaton and Apocalypse

Spandau Ballet
Gold

UPDATES:

Former Goldman Sachs official Gensler to be CFTC head
'Financial regulatory reform will be a top priority of mine.'
— President-elect Barack Obama

Zero - Goldman Sachs, Federal Reserve, Depression, Stocks


Paulson Takes Lead in Auto Rescue Talks

Gold Man advises on Arab banking merger

ARAB BANKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA:

OK... WHOTF IS DAVID LEUSHEN?

Mr. Leuschen is a Founder and Managing Director of Riverstone. Mr. Leuschen has extensive M&A, financing and investing experience in the energy and power sector. Prior to founding Riverstone, Mr. Leuschen was a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and founder and head of the Goldman Sachs Global Energy & Power Group.

Mr. Leuschen joined Goldman Sachs in 1977, became head of the Global Energy & Power Group in 1985, became a Partner of the firm in 1986 and remained with the firm until leaving to found Riverstone. Mr. Leuschen was responsible for building the Goldman Sachs energy and power investment banking practice into one of the leading franchises in the global energy and power industry. During this period, Mr. Leuschen and his team participated in a large number of the major energy and power M&A transactions worldwide. Mr. Leuschen also was a founder of Goldman Sachs' leading Master Limited Partnership franchise.

Mr. Leuschen also served as Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Energy Investment Committee, where he was responsible for screening potential private equity capital commitments by Goldman Sachs in the energy and power industry. Further, Mr. Leuschen was responsible for establishing and managing the firm's relationships with senior executives from leading companies in all segments of the energy and power industry, including Amerada Hess, Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, BP Amoco, Chevron, Cross Timbers, ENI, Kinder Morgan, Koch Industries, Kuwait Petroleum, Lasmo, Mobil, Phillips, PDVSA, Union Pacific Resources, Santa Fe International, Transocean SedcoForex, Unocal, and many others. Mr. Leuschen has served as a Director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Cross Timbers Oil Company, J. Aron Resources, Mega Energy, Inc. and Natural Meats Montana. He currently serves on the board of directors of Belden and Blake Corporation, Mariner Energy, Inc., Seabulk International, Inc., Frontier Drilling ASA and Mega Energy LLC.

He is also president of Switchback Ranch LLC and has served on a number of nonprofit boards of directors. Mr. Leuschen received his A.B. degree from Dartmouth and his M.B.A. from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business.

Holiday Cinema: It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life
1946 - Directed by Frank Capra
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

In the grand scheme of things, Mr. Potter,
I'd say you're nothing but a scurvy little spider.

Can't you understand what's happening here?
Don't you see what's happening?

A toast! A toast to Papa Dollar and to Mama Dollar, and if you want the old Building and Loan to stay in business, you better have a family real quick.

To my big brother George,
the richest man in town.

How Hitler Stole Chanukah!

How Hitler Stole Chanukah!

NAZI HATRED OF JUDEO-CHRISTIAN MORALITY

TODAY: Berlin's poor should catch rats, says politician

He stole Christmas too, the perennial prick....

Chanukah in a Nutshell

Chanukah -- the eight-day festival of light that begins on the eve of Kislev 25 -- celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materialism.

More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G-d.

When they sought to light the Temple's menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. At the heart of the festival is the nightly menorah lighting: a single flame on the first night, two on the second evening, and so on till the eighth night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled.

Maccabeean Revolt Frieze

On Chanukah we also recite Hallel and the Al HaNissim prayer to offer praise and thanksgiving to G-d for "delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few... the wicked into the hands of the righteous."

Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil -- latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (doughnuts); playing with the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, "a great miracle happened there"); and the giving of Chanukah gelt, gifts of money, to children.

Click here for a comprehensive "How To" guide for the observances and customs of Chanukah

"What is Chanukah?" asks the Talmud, and encapsulates the essence of the festival in the following lines:

When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they contaminated all of its oil. When the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious over them, they searched and found only a single cruse of pure oil that was sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), enough to light the menorah for a single day. A miracle occurred, and they lit the menorah with this oil for eight days. The following year, they established these [eight days] as days of festivity and praise and thanksgiving to G-d.

Apocrypha: 1 Maccabees

Apocrypha: 2 Maccabees

WFRL: DJ James T Kirk Spins...

Hurra Torpedo
Total Eclipse of the Heart

Pat: The Art of Muslim Jew Hate

Rav Shmuel
The Protocols

London gallery shows anti-Semitism in Arab media

An exhibition documenting the widespread use of anti-Semitic cartoons in the Arab press opened in London on Tuesday.

At the launch of an exhibition on anti-Semitism in the Arab media, London

"Cartoons and Extremism: Israel and the Jews in Arab and Western Media" will run until January 16, with a possible extension, at the Political Cartoon Gallery in central London. The exhibition shows the frequent use of classic anti-Semitism to demonize the State of Israel . Appearing in publications across the Arab world, the cartoons revive depictions of Jews as sadistic and bloodthirsty monsters, solely interested in money, power and blood, to use as anti-Israel propaganda."

As is usual in such cases, the newspapers fails to actually depict samples of offensive cartoons, thus reducing the story profile. This is all too common now, and it occurs because the writers and editors are afraid to offend the distributors and audience of this vile trash - Muslims. This art is actually religious dogma in modern Islam and it is sick. To show you what we mean, here are a few selected examples, including some at this very show

Palestinian, with the Orthodox clothing and the requisite hooked nose.
A European stereotype is often used in depicting Jews.

Actually Iranian and so not Arabic. Note that Iran does not officially believe in the Holocaust, but it is used regularly in cartoons by Muslims.

Blood Libel. The idea that Jews drink the blood Arabic children in religious rituals.
Another European ripoff.

Palestinian. Arabs love to compare Jews and Israelis to Hitler. Hitler is a hero to Arabs, so the comparison is mixed. Their attempt to bestow quilt on the Jewish people is flavored with the express desire of Muslims for another holocaust.

Euro stereotypical appearance along with an American anti-Semitic theme of media control.

World control.

This is just laughable.

And lastly, a new theme:

Pre-emptive strike, Arabs hoping to pull Obama in their direction by ridicule.

Nazis, holocaust denial coupled with Jews as holocaust guards, blood libel, greed, clothing and facial stereotypes, media control, USA puppeteers. Day in, day out. Childish and often directed at a European media where some are actually published.

After 8 years of Bush, America has witnessed the degeneration of political cartoons descending into pure hatred. The left, throughout the West, has engaged in a hate contest amongst themselves that deteriorated into misogyny (think Palin), racism (Rice as perceived by Ted Rall), bigotry (Catholics, The Pope, born again Christians), and lunacy ( any Bush policy and Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution) and despicable delusion. But this behavior barely approaches the accepted norm in Muslim countries for Jew hatred. And it is creeping Westward. We can guess who will be first onboard this new wave of mendacity. ~ Pat

Source

Iranian Cartoon

WFRL: Burgermeister Meisterburger Must Die!

Kringle Fights the Power
Scenes from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
synched to Public Enemy ~ Fight The Power

3 Wood: Outlook Not So Good

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Bing Crosby

A consensus is forming that the economy is now in the middle of the recession.

Worst of recession upon us, forecasters say:

"WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- After several months of a relatively mild contraction, the U.S. economy has now fallen into a really nasty recession, according to top forecasters at IHS Global Insight.

"We are in the worst part of the recession now," said Brian Bethune, an economist for Global Insight. Bethune and his colleague Nigel Gault have won their second consecutive Forecaster of the Month award from MarketWatch, based on their predictions on 10 key economic indicators in November."

What that means is, the bad news will keep coming for a while, the the outright shocks should be over. The market is starting to get it's head wrapped around the situation. So do the next few months hold?

Looking ahead, the pair of economists thinks the December payrolls report will probably be "another very bad number," although no one's predicting another 500,000 job loss.

"We've got to anticipate that firms are struggling to cut back staffing as rapidly as possible," Gault said.

The job losses are coming from everywhere, from construction and manufacturing, and from financial services and retailing.

"The shakeout in financial services will take several more months," Bethune said. The people losing jobs in financial services industries may have never been laid off before, he said, and many of them don't have the ability to quickly adapt to the informal sector.

Construction workers may be able to get work that's paid under the table, or to barter their services, but no one needs the services of an investment banker in exchange for a haircut or a tune-up.

Those investment bankers will have to think of something, however, because the industry is "permanently downsizing," Bethune said.

Bethune said it's important for the Federal Reserve to keep lowering rates and flooding the economy with money. With the economy weakening so rapidly, "there's no use leaving any ammunition in the bunker."

The general view is that we should start seeing a turn around in about 6 to 9 months. As I have been saying for some time, when it does turn around, look out for very high inflation. With all the money that has been pumped into the banking system, once things start rolling again the economy will expand (based on the multiplier theory) about 10 times the amount of money that was injected. We will quickly outgrow our production capacity and the result will be high inflation.
~ 3 WOOD

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Al Jolson

WFRL: Ho Ho Hoey

Gary Hoey
Carol of the Bells



Gary Hoey
You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Q-Burn solves the housing crisis before breakfast...

Talking Heads
Burning Down the House

Way back in the good old days, September 2008 it was.. right before the USA became the USSA, this uneducated former realtor posted a wacky idea for solving the housing crisis right here on this very blog.

Instead of foreclosing, the banks should let underwater homeowners start paying market rent in return for turning over the deed to the bank, therefore saving them the trouble and expense of foreclosing.

The homeowners would become renters, saving their credit and saving money, market rent being much less than their mortgage payment in most cases. The bank would have a performing asset that might recover in value rather than an empty house to be dumped at a fire sale price. And everybody else in the neighborhood wins, with one less foreclosure on the market to drive down the value of their house.

Then I forgot all about it. Until I saw this in the New York Times a few weeks later:

But recently a proposal came across my desk that I believe is so smart, and so sensible, that I hope our nation’s policy makers will give it a serious look. It comes from Daniel Alpert, a founding partner of Westwood Capital, a small investment bank. I have quoted Mr. Alpert frequently in recent columns, because he has been both thoughtful and prescient on the subject of the financial crisis.

Here’s his idea: Pass a law that encourages homeowners with impaired mortgages to forfeit the deed to their lenders but allows them to stay in the homes for five years, paying prevailing market rent. Under the law Mr. Alpert envisions, the lender would be forced to accept the deed, and the rent. After five years, the homeowner-turned-renter would have the right to buy the home back, at fair market value, from the lender.

There are so many things I like about this idea that I hardly know where to begin. Let’s start with the fact that it doesn’t require a large infusion of taxpayers’ money. Indeed, it doesn’t require any government money at all. It also doesn’t let either homeowners or lenders off the hook, as many other plans would. The homeowner loses the deed to his home, which will be painful. The lending institution, in accepting prevailing market rent, will get maybe 60 or 70 percent of what it would have gotten from a healthy mortgage-payer. (Rents are considerably lower than mortgage payments right now.)

That will be painful too. Moral hazard will not be an issue.As Mr. Alpert told me the other day, his proposal “admits the truth: the homeowner doesn’t have equity, and the lender has taken a loss. They should exchange interest, but not in a way that throws the homeowner out in the street.”

Doh! The fact it doesn't involve massive federal spending is probably the reason this idea has gotten no traction in the MSM or the halls of government. Instead, what do we have on the table? More bailout programs that actually reward the scam artists and encourage solvent homeowners to start skipping payments in order to get on the bailout train. All this does is accelerate the downward spiral while burdening our descendants with an unimaginable amount of debt.

Right now, 3% of American mortgages are in foreclosure and another 7% are behind. The numbers get worse every month as more money is thrown at the banks in the delusional belief that looser credit will solve a crisis brought on by loose credit. And more and more homeowners decide that skipping a few payments is in their best interest.

Want proof? More than half of the delinquent homeowners who modified their loans this year have already defaulted. According to the new U.S. Comptroller John Dugan, 53% of borrowers with loans modified in the first quarter and 51% with second-quarter modifications are already behind on payments.

And the more things "change", the more they will stay the same apparently.

Obama Team Boosts Paulson Proposal to Spur U.S. Home Purchases

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama ’s economic team is expressing interest in a U.S. Treasury plan to spur homebuying through new securities aimed at driving down mortgage rates.Incoming White House economic chief Lawrence Summers is seeking details of the proposal from Columbia Business SchoolDean Glenn Hubbard, who put together the plan’s foundation with Columbia’sChristopher Mayer. Mayer has briefed Federal Reserve Bank of New York staff.

Timothy Geithner, head of the New York Fed, is Obama’s Treasury-secretary designate. Obama’s encouragement is important for the program to proceed because the Treasury doesn’t want to start projects that could be abandoned after January, a Bush administration official said. The proposal, now on a fast track at the Treasury, would be the most comprehensive government effort yet to stimulate the housing market. It would accelerate the decline in mortgage rates already sparked by a Fed commitment to buy $600 billion of debt linked to home loans.

“This proposal is all about putting out the fire,” said Mayer, real-estate professor at Columbia in New York who is a visiting scholar at the New York Fed. “There is nothing else on the table that even has the possibility of preventing a large, further decline in house prices.”

Towards the end of the article, Professor Mayer makes perhaps the most idiotic statement in the history of the housing crisis: “there is no evidence whatsoever that reducing foreclosures will help house prices.”

Hey Chris! Where do you live? Take it from this college dropout and ex-realtor. If the house next door to you goes into foreclosure and sells at 50% of mortgage value, your house price is going down too. That's what happening right now in more and more areas. The government could provide 0% mortgages at a cost of multi- trillions and it will not stop the bleeding because foreclosures will STILL be flooding the market and driving down prices.

It's time to stop this madness. If you want to save America, please read the details laid out here and help spread the word about what Daniel Alpert calls the Freedom Recovery Plan. It could be our last, best hope to avoid the economic Armageddon our rulers and so-smarts seem hell-bent on bringing on.
~ Q-Burn

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