w h o a r . c o . n z

“…Books like Diet For A New America, Skinny Bitch and the film Earthlings had a profound effect on Ellen’s decision to avoid animal products…”

(recommended-watch..)

go to source/story>>>Ellen DeGeneres on why she went vegan - Vegsource.com

i am just watching the re-run of ‘the nation’…

and sean plunkett starts up with a follow-through from a previous week..

..in that plunkett had been ‘hard’..on some leftys…(much as labour likes to be seen to be ‘hard’ on benificiaries..and didn’t they succeed at that..?..eh..?..)

anyway..plunkett did this rigorous interview with a lefty-group putting together a blockade-breaking convoy for gaza..

apparantly george galloway heard/saw this piece…and it pissed him off…

and he asked/demanded(?) an appearance on the show…to rebut the theses of the plunkett..

..and plunkett/the nation said ‘no!’…(?)

i mean..w.t.f. are they thinking..?..

aside from any ideological-consideratons…and just on a pure telly-level….

..it would make great television…

a smackdown between plunkett and galloway…?

whoar…!

(were i a producer at the nation i wd have fallen upon that offer with sobs of gratitude….’yes please..!’..)

..as i said…w.t.f. is wrong with them..?…

..that they can’t seem to see that…?

“…Worldly ambition inhibits true learning.

Ask me.

I know.

A young man in a hurry is nearly ineducable:…

… He knows what he wants and where he’s headed;…

… when it comes to looking back or entertaining heretical thoughts … he has neither the time nor the inclination.

All that counts is that he is going somewhere.

Only as ambition wanes does education become a possibility.

My own education did not commence until I had reached middle age.

I can fix its start date with precision: for me, education began in Berlin, on a winter’s evening, at the Brandenburg Gate …

… not long after the Berlin Wall had fallen…

By temperament and upbringing … I had always taken comfort in orthodoxy.

In a life spent subject to authority … deference had become a deeply ingrained habit.

I found assurance in conventional wisdom.

Now, I started, however hesitantly, to suspect that orthodoxy might be a sham.

I began to appreciate that authentic truth is never simple and that any version of truth handed down from on high —

– whether by presidents, prime ministers, or archbishops — is inherently suspect.

The powerful, I came to see, reveal truth only to the extent that it suits them.

Even then, the truths to which they testify come wrapped in a nearly invisible filament of dissembling, deception, and duplicity.

The exercise of power necessarily involves manipulation … and is antithetical to candor.

I came to these obvious points embarrassingly late in life.

“Nothing is so astonishing in education,” the historian Henry Adams once wrote …

… “as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”

Until that moment I had too often confused education with accumulating and cataloging facts.

In Berlin, at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate … I began to realize that I had been a naïf.

And so, at age 41, I set out, in a halting and haphazard fashion … to acquire a genuine education.

Twenty years later I’ve made only modest progress.

What follows is an accounting of what I have learned thus far…”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Andrew Bacevich: The Unmaking of a Company Man: An Education Begun in the Shadow of the Brandenburg Gate

“… Jack Norris and Matt Ball started Vegan Outreach in 1993 to fill a void they saw in animal activism at that time.

With the help of volunteers, they now distribute over 1 million pamphlets about the practices of modern animal agribusiness to college students every year.

Devoting a good chunk of his life to animal activism put Norris in touch with former vegans and vegetarians who had gone back to animal products for health reasons.

To figure out why this was and what he could do about it, Norris became a registered dietitian … and founded VeganHealth.org.

And through his blog JackNorrisRD.com, Norris dispels vegan nutritional myths (like that vegans don’t need to worry much about B12 or calcium) …

… and comments on new studies that are relevant to vegans and vegetarians.

I hadn’t heard of Norris when I quit veganism at the end of 2007.

If I had, maybe I would have hit him up for some brain fog dissipating tips before self-medicating with salmon, flounder and Thanksgiving turkey …

… enjoying the results and abandoning veganism forever.

Might I still be vegan if Norris had intervened in time?

If his reputation is to be believed, it’s not impossible.

I’ve heard from multiple vegans who say that following Norris’ Daily Recommendations for Vegan Adults is the surest way to avoid failure to thrive on a vegan diet.

There are plenty of ex-vegans who couldn’t hack it on raw, macrobiotic or low-fat vegan diets …

… but I have yet to interview an ex-vegan who said “I followed all of Jack Norris’ recommendations … and still couldn’t get it to work.”

That — along with Vegan Outreach’s willingness to critique counterproductive aspects of the vegan movement …

… rethink and improve its own strategy … and treat meat eaters as potential allies —

– makes Jack Norris one of the most formidable individuals promoting veganism today…”

(and..this is a p.s at the end of an excellent/informative interview..)

“…Is there anything you want to add?

The reason I decided to do this interview is that I suspect that you are saying publicly what a lot of people are thinking about veganism.

It would be easy for us in the vegan movement to pretend that people with your view should be dismissed as unreachable …

… but I think it’s a conversation our culture is going to have to have.

I just read your post about vegan weddings and it got me thinking about the difference between how you see the world …

… and how most ethical vegans see it.

While some animal liberation advocates approach the subject from a purely rational point of view …

… my sense is that most vegans come to view animals the way they do because they have had a meaningful relationship with one or more.

These relationships led to viewing animals as very similar to humans … with many of the same emotions and having an inner life.

To us, animals are “persons.”

In your post on weddings, you say the following about comparing killing animals to human slavery …

…. “Of course it’s an outrageous comparison, but that’s how many ethical vegans see it (your eyes can open to some truly offensive comparisons once you accept anti-speciesist logic).”

I have never seen someone explain how these comparisons are so offensive; …

… they simply state that they are … and then rely on other humans -who have a clear self-interest in seeing the world that way - to agree.

History has been riddled with one group exploiting another group … and justifying it by convincing themselves that the exploited group is inferior.

The exploiters have failed to recognize these claims of inferiority for what they were at the time – self-interested rationalizations.

So how likely is it that we have finally reached the pinnacle of moral evolution …

… and are now able to set aside our own self-interests to accurately recognize which other groups are inferior?

Even if human slavery is much worse than animal slavery …

… there is still room to believe that animals are more than just pieces of meat to be enjoyed at a wedding.

I hope most people would not consider their dog to be only a piece of meat to be eaten at a wedding reception.

Another difference is that you think veganism is only about symbolism … and doesn’t actually do any good.

If you believe that, then I can see why your attitude is critical towards vegans who are causing such a fuss over something you think is merely symbolic.

The idea behind ethical veganism is not only to remove one’s self from support of animal cruelty …

… but to be part of a growing movement that will one day become the norm.

If someone doesn’t actually become vegan themselves (or close to it) … they cannot be part of such a movement.

You have said that you believe it’s inevitable that any given vegan will one day reject veganism.

While some people try veganism for a while and then stop …

… I know many people who have been vegan for decades … and show no indication of changing.

Our numbers and impact are growing…”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Let Them Eat Meat : Interview With a Vegan: Jack Norris RD

“…As the postwar baby boomer generation begins to enter comfortable retirement … their children face a future of massive debt and uncertainty.

The baby boomers.

Born between 1945 and 1955 … they are busy ignoring the biblical calculus that a man’s span is three score years and 10.

Having enjoyed a life of free love, free school meals, free universities, defined benefit pensions, mainly full employment and a 40-year-long housing boom …

… they are bequeathing their children sky-high house prices, debts and shrivelled pensions.

A 60-year-old in 2010 is a very privileged and lucky human being – an object of resentment as much as admiration.

I’m at the heart of all of it – guilty as charged.

Born 21 May 1950, I’m the quintessential baby boomer.

And for the last three months, while most of the rest of the world has been getting on with their lives …

… I’ve been wrestling with the implications of my new seniority.

Sixty may or may not be the new 50 … but it is a significant milestone; …

… I’ve been on the planet for an awfully long time.

What sense can I make of the decades I have lived through?

To what extent am I and my generation unfairly lucky?

What is the best way to live my life from now on?

To a degree I have some sympathy with the resentment … marshalled in a cluster of recent anti-boomer books.

Individually, we may not have been the authors of today’s flux, uncertainty and lack of social and cultural anchors …

… but we were at the scene of the crime…”

(and..)

“…But when you trace the arc of the past 60 years … I am not so sure that where we have reached is especially stable.

If the launch of the SDP marked the beginning of an era in British politics, the coalition government defines the end.

The SDP and Lib Dem politicians who wanted to reinvent the left have ended up reinventing the right.

Yet the big question of our time, after the financial crisis and the prospect of years of low growth and high unemployment …

… remains what it was in 1968.

Capitalism cannot continue as it has at home and abroad.

There needs to be a countervailing force to hold it to account and keep it honest.

CEOs cannot enrich themselves for ever, without limit, with no wider economic and social consequences.

If today’s market economies cannot create jobs and prosperity for the mass of the working population …

… the restiveness will grow..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>The baby boomers and the price of personal freedom | Society | The Observer

“…What happens when a bland, grey society discovers a plant - a flower in this case -

- that turns their life into a perfect Utopian society …

… where the populace is happy, productive and energetic?

Why, the government steps in and bans it, of course.

Then it’s replaced with its legal alternative - alcohol - and the effects of that are widely known.

A strong political statement … The Flower is animated with a quirky and cartoony edge accompanied by a stirring soundtrack.

If you don’t feel a bit of strange emotion by the end of this video ….

…. then you are probably too thick-skulled to figure out what it’s about.

Enjoy…”

go to source/story>>>The Flower - Technorati Videos

being somewhat opinionated on a regular basis…i have succumbed to the lure of twitter…

my twitter-name is vegandogs50

” — In 1962, the historian Barbara Tuchman published a book about the start of World War I and called it The Guns of August.

It went on to win a Pulitzer Prize.

She was, of course, looking back at events that had occurred almost 50 years earlier ….

… and had at her disposal documents and information not available to participants.

They were acting … as Vietnam-era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara put it … in the fog of war.

So where are we this August of 2010, with guns blazing in one war in Afghanistan even as we try to extricate ourselves from another in Iraq?

Where are we, as we impose sanctions on Iran and North Korea (and threaten worse) …

… while sending our latest wonder weapons, pilotless drones armed with bombs and missiles, into Pakistan’s tribal borderlands, Yemen …

… and who knows where else, tasked with endless “targeted killings” which, in blunter times, used to be called assassinations?

Where exactly are we, as we continue to garrison much of the globe … even as our country finds itself incapable of paying for basic services?

I wish I had a crystal ball to peer into and see what historians will make of our own guns of August in 2060.

The fog of war, after all, is just a stand-in for what might be called “the fog of the future,”…

… the inability of humans to peer with any accuracy far into the world to come.

Let me nonetheless try to offer a few glimpses of what that foggy landscape some years ahead might reveal …

… and even hazard a few predictions about what possibilities await still-imperial America.

Let me begin by asking: What harm would befall the United States if we actually decided, against all odds, to close those hundreds and hundreds of bases, large and small, that we garrison around the world?

What if we actually dismantled our empire, and came home?

Would Genghis Khan-like hordes descend on us?

Not likely.

Neither a land nor a sea invasion of the U.S. is even conceivable.

Would 9/11-type attacks accelerate?

It seems far likelier to me that, as our overseas profile shrank …. the possibility of such attacks would shrink with it.

Would various countries we’ve invaded, sometimes occupied, and tried to set on the path of righteousness and democracy decline into “failed states?”

Probably some would … and preventing or controlling this should be the function of the United Nations … or of neighboring states.

(It is well to remember that the murderous Cambodian regime of Pol Pot was finally brought to an end not by us … but by neighboring Vietnam.)

Sagging Empire:

In other words, the main fears you might hear in Washington —

– if anyone even bothered to wonder what would happen … should we begin to dismantle our empire — would prove but chimeras.

They would, in fact, be remarkably similar to Washington’s dire predictions in the 1970s about states all over Asia, then Africa …

… and beyond falling … like so many dominoes … to communist domination … if we did not win the war in Vietnam.

What, then, would the world be like if the U.S. lost control globally —

– Washington’s greatest fear and deepest reflection of its own overblown sense of self-worth —

– as is in fact happening now despite our best efforts?

What would that world be like if the U.S. just gave it all up?

What would happen to us if we were no longer the “sole superpower” … or the world’s self-appointed policeman?

In fact … we would still be a large and powerful nation-state with a host of internal and external problems.

An immigration and drug crisis on our southern border, soaring health-care costs, a weakening education system, an aging population, an aging infrastructure, an unending recession —

– none of these are likely to go away soon …

… nor are any of them likely to be tackled in a serious or successful way …

… as long as we continue to spend our wealth on armies, weapons, wars, global garrisons …

… and bribes for petty dictators…” (cont..)

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Lowering the Flag on the American Century : ICH - Information Clearing House

“…Every five years, the U.S. government measures the amount of toxic waste in our food supply.

Dioxins are a class of industrial pollutants spewed into the atmosphere …

… that “accumulates in the fatty tissues of humans and food animals consumed by humans.

It is generally believed that the most significant exposure to DLCs [dioxin-like compounds such as PCBs] by humans …

… is from the dietary intake of animal and fish products.”

But which animal products pose the greatest risk?

According to recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency … second only to fish … in terms of PCB levels: … eggs.

This may help explain the findings of a recent study that found that egg consumption …

…”was associated with in increased odds of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, upper aerodigestive tract …

…(includes oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, larynx)…

… colon and colon and rectum combined, lung, breast, prostate, bladder ….

… and all cancers combined.”

Of all the cancers, egg consumption was most tightly correlated with breast cancer risk.

Those eating more than a half an egg a day were found to have nearly 3 times the odds of breast cancer ….

… compared to those that stayed away from eggs entirely.

The industrial toxins found in animal products don’t just contribute to cancer risk.

According to a recent commentary in the journal Reproductive Toxicology …

… “increasing evidence suggests that maternal exposure to toxic chemical compounds may be associated with various congenital [birth] defects …

… pediatric problems … skewed gender ratios … lethal cancers in children and teens … psychosexual challenges …

… as well as reproductive and endocrine [hormonal] dysfunction in later life.”

The author concludes:…

… “I anticipate that future generations of scientists will look back with disbelief at a medical culture that permitted poisoning of reproductive aged women …

… and ignored ramifications to unborn children.”

What if one chooses not to eat meat, fish, dairy, or eggs, though?…” (cont..)

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Vegans “Significantly Less Polluted” - Vegsource.com

“…The average British carnivore eats more than 11,000 animals in their lifetime …

… each requiring vast amounts of land, fuel and water to reach the plate.

It’s time to think of waste … as well as taste

If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment … the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat.

Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming…

…that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air … depends on oil and coal …

… and is significantly responsible for climate change.

The way we breed animals is now recognised by the UN, scientists, economists and politicians …

… as giving rise to many interlinked human and ecological problems …

… but with 1 billion people already not having enough to eat … and 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years …

… the urgency to rethink our relationship with animals is extreme…” (cont..)

(recommended-read…)

go to source/story>>>10 ways vegetarianism can help save the planet - Vegsource.com

“…John Armstrong writes that the working group’s prescription for change may be blinkered by ideology such as time limits.

There it sits, a very large and seemingly very juicy statistic buried in the back pages of this week’s discussion paper on welfare reform; …

… a figure which screams for attention as indisputable evidence that the present benefit system must get the chop or, at a minimum, serious restructuring.

Or so the first offering of substance to emerge from the welfare reform think-tank established by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett would like the rest of us to believe.

The inclusion in its discussion document of a $50 billion estimate of how much those now on a benefit will cost the state over their lifetimes is a clear pointer to the direction in which Bennett’s welfare working group - to give it its official name - is heading in terms of options for change.

Its recommendations are still some months away.

The question is whether this advisory group will come up with something truly innovative to cut back the numbers of those who have spent a long time on the unemployment, domestic purposes, sickness and invalids benefits …

… or whether the group’s prescription for change will be blinkered by ideology …

… and it will recommend measures such as time-limited benefits …

… which have had very mixed impact on beneficiary numbers in the United States.

The tone of the discussion document suggests ideology will win.

While that may please some … though not necessarily all the present inhabitants of the Beehive …

… any such surrender to dogma will prove counter-productive in the long term …

… if the Labour Party and the Greens cannot stomach the working group’s recommendations…

The Government has accordingly sensibly ring-fenced some areas from the review - the level of payment that individuals get, for starters.

It is also seeking “practical” recommendations from the working group.

However, in setting up the group which is ably led by former chairwoman of the Commerce Commission Paula Rebstock, National has effectively shattered what was an informal consensus on welfare policy.

That consisted of National trying to look more caring towards beneficiaries after its track record in the 1990s … and Labour trying to look tougher.

The net result has been the imposition of more obligations on beneficiaries to find work …

… backed up by increasingly tougher sanctions for non-compliance.

The working group will instinctively feel it has to be more radical than that to justify its existence.

It could hardly serve up a centre-left package for a centre-right government.

Likewise, its terms of reference requiring it to tackle “welfare dependency” … effectively preclude it from endorsing the status quo.

It has accordingly been quick to denigrate the present benefit system as “outdated” and “unsustainable”.

It seems to have few scruples about the way it is going about trying to reinforce such a view.

The “future liability” of $50 billion in benefit payments is a case in point.

Many news organisations covering Monday’s release of the discussion document highlighted that figure.

It gave a fresh angle on what was otherwise a rather long rehash of old arguments …

… about the consequences of being dependent on a benefit … and the desirability of finding paid work.

But the $50 billion figure is rather meaningless.

You could add up the lifetime costs of paying someone state-funded superannuation …

… but that would not be a reason on its own for no longer paying it.

Beneficiaries are in a different political category to pensioners, however.

The $50 billion figure has been concocted to paint the benefit system as an intolerable financial burden.

If this was part of a strategy to manipulate at an early stage what promises to be a humdinger of an argument …

… once some reform options go on the table …

…. then it worked even better than its proponents would have been hoping.

The $50 billion was widely misconstrued as being an estimate of the future size of the annual benefit bill.

For that to be the case, the total amount budgeted for welfare payments would have to blow out by nearly eight times its present levels…

The benefit system would have well and truly become unsustainable.

That is about the only funny note in a document that amounts to polemic masquerading as analysis.

It is highly selective in citing statistics that suit its argument.

It uses the experience of other countries to point to the relative failings of New Zealand’s social assistance policies.

Perhaps worst of all, it makes assertions that are just plain wrong…” (cont..)

(this has astonished me all week….how the media have just swallowed/regurgitated that ‘clownish’ $50 billion figure….

..with nary a demur/question…

..this was/is a total exercise in opinion-manipulation/black propaganda/marginalisation of the weakest poorest…

(..and incidentally…just another pre-election broken-promise from key….remember..?..)

..perhaps the key-figure/stat to take from this early report..

is that..in their worst-case scenarios…the percentage of beneficiaries in 2050…will blow out from 13% to 16%..

i mean..even aside from the farcical-nature of such ‘predictions’…

..where/what is the problem..?…)

go to source/story>>>John Armstrong: Huge numbers only part of benefit story - Politics - NZ Herald News

for those who don’t know him…farrar is a widely-read rightwing-blogger…

he is also the one who does much of the polling/focus-groups for national..(an ‘insider’..by any measure…)

..and he worked in shipleys’ office when she was prime minister..

and on his blog..has spoken with pride of ..at that time..urging shipley to cut more ..! more…!….during the ‘welfare-reforms’ of that government..

(that which sewed the seeds of the social-whirlwind/underclass pay-out we are now reaping/’earning’…)

..the beginning of this black-campaign from farrar is not unexpected…as bennet is now trying to sell this package…

..and farrar is..if nothing..always in sync…

..the problem for farrar…is that he ‘jumped-the-shark’ on this welfare-issue…some time back..

..when he published on his blog…a post from a ‘guest-columnist’…a (supposed) benificiary/sole-parent…

where this ‘benificiary’ wrote of scenarios of/in her life…

..the most incendiary for his frothing/foaming rightwing readership/audience…being..

of her sitting on her lawn with her other sole-parent mates..drinking beer…waiting for the pizzas to arrive…(the ‘good life’)

..and/while laughing at her neighbours …as they drove off to work…for being such mugs..

..(his ‘bubbly’ audience..reacted to this ‘revelation’ as expected/on cue…)

(and…just to add to the texture/colouring of this exercise…the fake-benificiary was maori….Tara Te Heke was the (eponymous) name chosen…)

this piece of vile/marginalising black-propaganda stands alongside the worst of the yellow-peril/anti-chinese-pamphlets…

..from back in those days of racist-shame…

(..but this is 2010…eh..?..you’d think ‘fomenting’ such hatred/prejudice as this..wd be against the/some law..eh..?..)

..and the ultimate irony in all this..is that farrar is using the same tactics as goebbels did against the jews…

(dissembling/lies/half-truths/’fake-profiles’…all designed to marginalise the targets…

…and all to inflame prejudices/hatreds/political-action against them…)

..yet farrar himself is european-jewish…(go figure..!..eh..?..)..and currently on holiday in austria/vienna…(!)

(quick..!..oxygen..!..i’m coming down with irony-overload..!..)

..farrars’ fake-benificiary was a nadir in the nz blogworld….(and his publishing career..)

…and totally destroyed any impartiality/credibility he may now claim to have on this issue…

..so we can expect nothing more from farrrar..

..except more of the same…

..and funnily enough..the most sense/clarity i have seen/heard on this issue came from rightwinger gareth morgan…(on national radio…)

who (having read the full report..rare amongst commenters on it/other experts..)

…expressed his disdain at how the terms of this inquiry had been orchestrated/fixed by key/national…

..in that the committee were proscribed from examining the two basic facts/components of the whole social welfare issue….

…namely…’is the level of payment sufficient to live on?’..

..and … about the onerous/crippling rates of clawback on any part-time-work monies..

(i.e..everything over $100pw faces ..after tax..an 85% payback to social welfare…

..plus..if a sole-parent lives in a state house…they face the double-whammy of the 85% clawback….plus their rent rising..)

these are some of the main bars on the/any poverty-trap….eh..?

and (’funnily’..again..)..morgan was in sync with the greens…(!)…

..calling for a basic guaranteed income/livable wage for all…and then take it from there…

..(morgan arguing the obvious benefits/lower-overheads/ease of administration/fairness .. of such a ‘real reform’..)

i have linked you to the start of the campaign from/by farrar…

…and on health/hygiene/’splash’-grounds…

..i wd advise donning full-body protection…

..before entering the fetid-swamp that is kiwiblog..(especially the comments-threads..)

..eh..?..

go to source/story>>>Armstrong on Welfare Reform | Kiwiblog

“…My readings tell me that:

1. The overuse of preventive antibiotics is probably fostering antibiotic resistant bacteria that can infect humans.

Antibiotics are needed to treat sick animals so they cannot be banned.

But they should not be used on all animals as prevention because they are kept in too close quarters.

2. There is a small but significant quantity of valid, scientific, peer-reviewed research that calls into question the meat industry’s claim that growth hormones are harmless.

Even if there was no contradictory research, the levels that the US Government sets for some meats as “GRAS” (generally regarded as safe) are not thoroughly tested and are unacceptably high to many other countries, including the European Union.

3. The use of CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) create major waste disposal problems for soil and water that are significantly lessened by distributed farming.

There are many good books on the subject, but here is a free document from the Union of Concerned Scientists “CAFOs Uncovered”.

If you are busy, at least read the executive summary at the beginning.

I understand that we are addicted to cheap protein as much as we are addicted to cheap oil.

I understand that cheap protein has helped the poor feed their families and kept school lunch prices down.

I understand that improved animal husbandry will likely mean higher meat prices.

If so, I think that we can absorb them.

I think that we have alternatives.

Those of us who can afford it will buy slightly more expensive meats.

Or maybe we will buy less.

Maybe some of us will buy other forms of protein and more fruits, vegetables, and grains.

And this might not be bad.

In addition to my desire to send a message, I have two other motives:

1. I have read scores of testimonials from vegetarians about how going meatless made them feel great.

I want to see how it makes me feel.

2. I love veggies and carbs almost as much as meat.

I want to challenge my outdoor cooking skills and see if I can discover and create new dishes that will satisfy my meat loving readers.

I will also use this as an opportunity to overcome my fear of flour.

I will try to learn to bake on the grill.

So beginning August 9, for 30 days I will become an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

That means I will forswear all animal flesh, but I will allow myself eggs and dairy.

Why not go all the way and leave out the dairy and eggs?

Because I’m chicken.

Ummm, I mean, I’m afraid.

I’m afraid that my cooking skills will let me down, that the temptation to stray will be too great …

… and that nutritionally there are some pitfalls to the strict vegan diet … and I am not knowledgeable enough to implement.

I have learned that one must really understand nutrition to be a strict vegan…”

(sheesh dude..!..it’s not that riddled with ‘pitfalls’..eh…?..that vegan-thing…

you could let google be yr friend… or you could check the vegan-section here at whoar…more info/recipies than you can poke a stick at..eh..?..

..and on a personal/anecdotal level…i’ve been vegan for about 11 years…and lacto-veg for 15 years before that…

..and as for the ‘feeling-good’-factor…?

i can confirm what those vegetarians have told you..and further tell you that one of the big surprises for me in going vegan…

..was that my expectations were for a minimal movement in that feel-good-factor..

..and i was surprised at what actually happened…

..the change from vegetarian to vegan…delivered a quantum-leap in said feel-good-factor..

..and i would submit that the change from vegetarian to vegan..delivers much more than you could possibly hope for…

i also have an 11 yr old vegan-dog…who looks/acts/moves/runs etc….like a hound a quarter of her age…

..(she salivates as i cut up apples for her..and loves tofu/seitan…both major sources of protein for her…)

so dude..why not step it up..?..and go the whole hog…?…eh..?)

go to source/story>>>Meathead Goldwyn: Meathead To Go Meatless: Call Me Potatohead

(this is the prediction i made back on feb ‘09…

..in the context of the current story that follows/confirms…

..it bears repeating….)

“…i’d like to go out on a limb here…and present what i think is obamas’ plan to prevent what is looking like a trainwreck of a mid-term election..

one that threatens to derail his presidency..forever..

there is one certainty around any predictions about the ’secret-plans’ of the obama team..

..that is that they will have to be radical .. to stop the current slide..

just to back up for a minute..what got me thinking about all this was an item buried on the business page of the new york times earlier this year.

..(and not commented on/examined in the american media since then..)

..that item was that obama had issued a presidential order/decree of sorts to the management of the (govt-run/owned) fannie mae..and freddie mac..mortgage companies..

that decree was that the previously-mandated limits on the monies the mortgage-companies could call on the federal government for were to be removed..

..and not only that..but that in the future there would now be no ceiling/limits on the amount of monies the companies could ask for…

now..that got me scratching my head..

..why was this done..?..

..there is/was no obvious answer that explains such a radical move..(more on that later..)

..my wondering/pondering on this was in conjunction with another examination of what obama has/has not done…

what brought this on..was that having published/linked to the earliest critiques of obama..(during the messianic-stage)..

..i now found myself running with the pack..on obama..

..and running with the pack makes me very very nervous..

..as the pack is usually way way behind the/any actual game..

so..i started looking at what obama has done..from a different perspective..and that proved to be somewhat revelatory..

the perspective i took was based on some givens:..

the first was the (previously-noted) train-wreck destination…(unless radical plans are enacted..)

the second was the political ’smarts’ of obama..(and how he cannot fail to see this ‘wreck’..)

..the third was that those political smarts were earned in one of the most brutal/cynical political machines in america..

..the chicago/illinois democrat party-machine..

i then moved to the history of democrat administrations…and what has traditionally nobbled/castrated them..

..and all of this led me to the conclusion that obama is one smart cookie..who is playing a ‘long game’…

..and that we are now (only) just past the end of year one of that eight-year game-time/plan…

and let’s look at what obama has done/achieved in that year..

two of the power-blocs in america that have traditionally opposed democrat presidents..are the military-hawks/industrial-complex…

..and wall st/’the banks’..

..and (however wrongly implemented)..obama has silenced both..for the seeming duration of his presidency..

..however you argue the rights and wrongs of the wars…

..their engagement there takes the military-industrial complex (sorta) out of any serious oppositional role against obama..

..(they are ‘too busy’..as it were..)

and as for wall st/the banks..?

once again..however arguably ineptly executed..obama inherited the world that bush jnr left him..and had to stop the collapse of the global financial system..

and in that execution..the banks/wall st have been given enough greed/corruption-rope..to hang themselves..

..and hang themselves they have..

..(is anyone else surprised at the rapid changes in reputational-fortunes of the (former) ‘masters of the universe’..?

..from hero to below zero..in the snap of a crash..)

the banks/wall st/financial establishment have..given the ‘bank’ of hatred they have built up..

..totally disempowered themselves for the duration of obamas’-game..

..and are now low hanging fruit..unable to mount a single moral argument against serious regulatory-reforms of their industries..

..so..at the end of year one..of eight..obama has emasculated/castrated two of the traditional anti-democrat power-blocs..

..no mean feats..!..eh..?

and feats..i would submit..that only strengthen my long-game thesis…

so..what will obama do..?..to ’save’ the midterm elections..?

one plan he has up his sleeve is a green-stimulus package..

(he still has most of his stimulus-money left..so i think it is a no-brainer that a ‘grand green stimulus plan’ will be announced pre-midterm..)

the other move he will make will not be less ‘grand’..but perhaps less obvious..

which brings us back to that fannie mae/freddie mac item/news from earlier in the year..

..now..we all know that nothing happens for no reason..esp in the world of politics..

..so..my conclusion/prediction is that obama will use those govt. agencies as the vehicles for a radical defacto nationalisation of the american mortgage industry..

..one of the main criticisms of obama to date has been that everything has been done for wall st..

..and nothing for the struggling american working/middle classses…

so..any move..to have any hope of success..must directly answer/deflect those valid criticisms..

..so what obama will do..

..is that he will tell all of those americans facing foreclosure/losing their homes..

..that they will be able to transfer their mortgages to fannie mae/freddie mac..

..and re-negotiate those mortgages to reflect their straightened economic circumstances..

..and i see this as being somewhat of a ‘brilliant stroke’ by obama..

..for two reasons…

..he ends those ‘nothing for main st’ criticisms ..in a spectacular manner…(back to hero..from zero..)

..and the cherry on this cake..is that he need not go near the (possible roadblocks/spoilers) senate/congress for any approval..

..he can just tell fannie mae/freddy mac to ‘just do it’…

..and the answer to ‘why that piece in the nyt?’..

..is that that is/was just the preparing of the ground…

(and those who would scoff at any ‘nationalisation-idea’..

..should maybe ponder the fact that due to the govt taking over the assets of banks as they crash..

.that the american govt is already the largest real landlord/’owner’ of private property in america..

..expanding the roles of fannie/freddy in a ’saviour-deal’ is not that much of a step further..)

..obama the man..wants to be bigger than fdr/’the new deal’..

he still has seven years to achieve that in..

..and if the ‘long-game-thesis’ holds true..

..is firmly on-track..

(sorry..!..having started with a train-pun/metaphor..(i couldn’t resist returning there for a full-stop..eh..?..)

go to source/story>>>whoar.co.nz » Blog Archive » comment@whoar:..how obama will ’save’ his presidency..(and is he (successfully) playing ‘the long game’..?..)

“…What is the defining myth of our times?

I’ve heard our culture described as materialistic … but we don’t seem to love the material world all that much.

I’ve also heard our philosophy labeled as “the myth of fact.”

Although I do see the academic world mad in its pursuit of facts, all carefully defined and counted, I think more simply that we are devoted to the myth of things.

We pride ourselves on the things we possess … and we go to school to learn things.

The things we learn are all sorted out and grouped together:…

We learn mathematical things and scientific things and even psychological things.

When I taught at universities, one of the problems I ran into — and no doubt one of the reasons they didn’t give me tenure —

– was trying to create thing-type exams for material that was not reducible to things.

It isn’t easy to adapt philosophical and religious issues to a multiple-choice exam.

At school, students cram for an exam.

“Cram” means to fill up or stuff.

Well, if you’re stuffing yourself for an exam, you must be filling yourself with things.

That’s how we imagine education: filling our minds with stuff.

The Greeks of old had a different idea that they called paideia.

This was education conceived as creating a cultured person who would be a mature citizen and leader.

Imagine if our focus in education was on the person rather than the things studied.

We’d be concerned that a student grow up and learn how to deal with life … and help others deal with it as well.

This education has two purposes: self-ripening and leadership.

In a thing-centered culture, we believe that our job is to teach the young what they need to have a job and support themselves.

Students are left on their own for learning how to cope with life’s existential challenges …

… how to relate well to others …

… how to lead maturely in business and government …

… how to raise children … and how to be married.

How to develop taste and values …

… and come to grips with human mortality … and make a contribution to world culture–

– these are largely left alone by educators …

…with the hope … apparently … that people will find their way unconsciously.

It’s a false hope …

… and the quality of our leadership in business and government … with some notable exceptions …

… betrays the failure of that hope.

Some things have to be taught … and eventually we discover that the most important things aren’t things at all.

They’re qualities of character … and hard-won values … and matters of taste.

The reason we have so many tasteless things in our society … is that we don’t teach taste …

… and the reason we confuse moralism with ethics …

… is that no one taught us the difference…”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Thomas Moore: Redefining Education: Cultivating the Soul

as it stands now….19 yr olds must have no alcohol….but the day they turn twenty….they can kneck nine beers…

…and still legally drive off down the motorway…?

..how is this not utter madness…?

you’d have to be a serious/heavy/regular drinker …with a high tolerance…to even think about driving after nine beers…

so..why is the alcohol limit geared to those heavy drinkers…?

most people couldn’t drive safely on nine beers….

that key won’t see sense on this….just indicates how much the big booze-pushers have this govt in their pocket….

(keys’ excuse of ‘more research needed’…is absolute obfuscating-horse-shit…)

“…Prime Minister John Key says he wouldn’t have more than one wine or two beers before getting behind the wheel of his car …

… but he is standing by the decision not to reduce the current blood alcohol limit until more research is done.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce last week announced a zero limit for recidivist and young drivers …

… but said New Zealand-specific research over the next two years would look at the level of risk posed by drivers with a blood alcohol limit of between 0.05 and 0.08 (50mg-80mg).

During today’s post-Cabinet press conference, Mr Key was asked if he would do a test to see how many drinks he could consume and remain under the legal limit, after a newspaper staffer was able to drink nine beers and still legally be able to drive.

“No, because I need to run the country the next day and I’d be messy after nine beers,” he replied…”

(what further ‘research’…is needed….?

our roads are far worse than other countries with the lower limit…

our binge-drinking culture..is only strengthened/emphasised by our legal approval of knecking nine beers in one sitting….

….(and then hopping behind the wheel of a car…(!)..woo-hoo..!…eh…?

but the strongest argument…is that most of us couldn’t drive after nine beers….

..so it is ..again..’utter madness’… to have the alcohol/safe-driving limit set to that ridiculously high level…

…key/national are totally swimming against the tide on this one…..(as they seem to be on quite a few fronts….eh…?)

..the mood of the country is for a tightening up on booze….on multiple fronts….

..you could almost see a prohibitionist party cracking 5%…

go to source/story>>>I wouldn’t drive on more than one wine - PM - National - NZ Herald News

i am just watching the re-run of the nation…

(and..i mean..first off…what’s with that programming meltdown..?..who the hell is so sad they will consciously sit down at 11.00am on a sat morn..to watch a political babble-fest..?

i am a political junkie…and have only ever watched the re-runs at 8.00am on a sun morn…

…why didn’t they originally schedule it for that time..?…it’s a perfect run-in to q $ a on one at nine..eh..?)

anyway..todays’ panel of experts are pontificating on the carter/goff brouhaha….

and what surprises me is their seeming ignorance of the fact we are living in an mmp world….

..they are all banging on about these matters with their fpp-blinkers firmly on…

..this isn’t a popularity/presidential contest between key and goff…

..there are also all the other players to consider…

..the next election will be a clear ideological battle…

…the conditions imposed/actions of this national party/leader have de-fuzzed the lines between the two old parties…

..(clark had dragged labour so far to the right..that key..(during his election campaign/promises..)..had to pretend to be more caring/sharing/centreist than clark..

..and he succeeded…it was a hollow-man performance par excellence…

..but now the mask has so badly slipped it is askew…

..and we/most can see it is just the same old same old….farmers’ subsidies are back at muldoon-levels..(ets-’exemption’..)..

..workers are being screwed over….(remember keys’ most potent-hollow-promise..?…’closing the wage-gap with australia..?..

..the hollow-echo from that one is quite resounding…(and leaves key standing naked/self-refudiated….eh..?..)

and then there are the massive tax-cuts for the top-earners…(which we are borrowing millions to pay for..(!)..i mean…how fecken stoopid is that..?..)

by election-time next year…this will all be much-worse…

..and if labour are not able to mount/fight a resonant old school (green-themed) labour-campaign around that scenario…

..they really should pack up and go home…eh..?

..my point being that the next election won’t be like the last one…which was presidential/personality/change-driven…

..this one will be about politics/ideology…

..and many of those who were seduced by key/change…have been badly hurt by the political realities of a rightwing national government…

..and the broken promises of key…(’i will not raise gst!’)…are the dead albatross he will be dragging into the next election..

..which brings us to the mmp-aspects of elections..

at the moment national has act…dunne….and the maori party…

..and under fpp wd hose into the next election…

..but the maori party are not a certainty for key/national next time out…

(maori are amongst those most hurt by the policies of this government….and they are/will be ready to be wooed back…

..i mean..what else can key offer/bribe with…?…his gift-bag is empty…)

the greens will go with labour…

(and i must eat some humble pie for grumbling at them for not even considering tying up with national last time..in hindsight..that wd have been disasterous..)

dunne may or may not be there…but he has already proven he is anyones..

..peters will be there…(and key tried to/succeeded in burying him last time…so..?..)

..now..to me…that all spells a very good chance for a labour party to return to its’ core-beliefs…and to be part of a centre-left/green coalition government…

i mean..you just have to do the maths..!..eh..?

…without even going into the succession what-if’s/who’s….questions….

..labour has no need to replace goff…

..and goff will be forced more to the left by his caucus/the unions/the times…

…i am still strong in my prediction that ..despite his high personal ratings…that key will suffer the ignominy of being a one-term prime prime minister…

..his policies/mmp will see to that…

(update:…goff has strengthened his case with a more than capable showing on q & a…)

(This essay was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).

“..Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism?

I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge.

It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: …

… scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena …

…in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible.

But in reality such methodological differences do exist.

The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult….

… by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately.

In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—

– been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature.

For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest.

The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country.

They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership … and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks.

The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution …

… and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday;…

… nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of human development.

The observable economic facts belong to that phase … and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases.

Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development …

… economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.

Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end…” (cont..)

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>> Why Socialism?  : ICH - Information Clearing House

i don’t really like watching sports that much…

..and rugby has been pretty boring for quite a while..

..in years past the ‘boy’ and i gave it a go…did the father/son watching the rugby test together thing…

we both found our interests fast waning..(c.f..’boring’-rugby..)..

and ..through mutual agreement..we drifted away/couldn’t be bothered…

he played soccer for quite a few years..so we did that number…

now..i don’t really write/bang on about sport that much….

..but the compare and contrast from last weekend…had me sitting up straight…and puzzled that nobody else seems to have noticed/compared…

..c’os on sat-nite we had this absolute ripper/cracker of a rugby game…(that had me going ‘whoar!’…repeatedly….)

i just had the delayed broadcast from prime playing in the background…and it quickly became my foreground..

…heavy/brutal/fast rugby..at it’s very best…..and compelling to watch…..

then on on morn….we had the soccer/’football’/w.h.y. final…

and that was an exercise in tedium…and strikingly like that simpsons’ piss-take on soccer/f.b./w.h.y….from way way back….eh…?

yet the media seems to have been all over the ‘excitement’ of that soccer/f.b/w.h.y. world cup final…

…and missed that game of champagne rugby…..

i hope they can do it again tonight…..eh…?

..much more of this and i’ll have to alert the ‘boy’…to have another look…

..eh..?

“…They’re often 20-something, usually blonde and not too hard to look at.

But a former newsreader and journalist reckons that is all viewers are getting with the current crop of female television reporters …

… whom she says provide great “eye-candy” … but deliver little else.

In her blog Adjust Your Set, former reporter Janet Wilson gives rival stations and her old bosses TVNZ and TV3 a serve …

… saying they are guilty of hiring pretty, young females for their looks and not their news-sense.

“They’re not there because they can do the job better than anyone else; sniff a story out at ten paces or craft a yarn that makes us think,” said Wilson.

“They’re there because they simply LOOK good.

Try contrasting that with female reporters in the American networks who aren’t considered up-to-speed journalistically until they’re approaching middle-age.”

Just one TVNZ reporter, Christchurch-based Charlotte Bellis, who was schooled in journalism in the United States, escapes Wilson’s tirade…”

(now…where to start with this one…?

1)…we are expected to presume that when wilson..in her telly-career…was hired for on-screen roles…

..that her ‘tits and teeth’ had nothing to do with it..?

2)..these young reporters are told what subjects to cover…by their bosses..

..so..to sheet the crap news/current affairs ’standards’ in this country…

(cf…’08 global-meltdown…that somehow..they didn’t ’see’ coming…and at the time..if you remember…they all just parroted the treasury ‘recession over by feb’ next yr bullshit/election-spin..eh..?…

how much more of an indictment of them could just that ‘one’ be….eh..?)

so..to blame our crap news/current affairs on these ‘young reporters’….is actually pointing to the wrong people..eh..?

which brings us to 3)….the irony overload/meltdown…

..in that the partner of wilson…one bill ralston…is the one generally credited with the institutional dumbing-down of our news/cf content..

..during the very long time he ran tvnz news/current affairs..(!)…

..whoar…!…eh…?

..he is the one who brought us to this place….

…and of course….both ralston and wilson have now gone to the ‘dark-side’/public relations….

and will now obfuscate/’spin’ for the highest bidder…eh..?

(ralston is currently ’spinning’ for both john banks…and the chinese dairy company trying to buy the crafer farms….)

..so…’y'know….!…i didn’t even have to go anywhere near ‘older woman jealousy’….to totally fisk this pile of bullshit….eh..?

go to source/story>>>Young female TV reporters all ‘tits and teeth’ - National - NZ Herald News

“…The number of people on the unemployment benefit has jumped in the past month …

… while the total number of people claiming a benefit has also gone up, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says.

About 2000 more people applied to be on the unemployment benefit last month, Ms Bennett revealed yesterday.

The number of people on any welfare benefit rose by 1.1 per cent.

She said the increase in those receiving the unemployment benefit was expected, caused in large part to seasonal work coming to an end.

“We knew recovering from a recession would be a long and bumpy road … but there are pockets of success.”

(really..!…’pockets of success’….eh..?..that’s a hoot…!..eh…?

..they’d be small-’pockets’…eh..?…those ‘pockets of success’…?

..more fob-pockets really…eh..?

..i mean…wtf has this govt done…(now half way through its term)..to fufill that pre-election job-creation promise/big-fat-lie….?

…eh..?

..from here…it looks like s.f.a…eh…?..

..all the ‘pockets’ look empty/’success’-free zones…eh…?)

go to source/story>>>2000 more collecting the dole - Employment - NZ Herald News

“..I was part of a trio representing the Auckland branch of the Institute of Architects in its submissions to the royal commission when it was working towards its fine model for the reconstituted city…

… (that is the well-considered one that got away … when eviscerated overnight by the politicians).

The basis of our submission (which was described by a commissioner as one of the most useful they had heard) …

… was that in the eventual structure of the new city - no matter how many sub-cities, mayors and local bodies finally eventuated - t

- here should be a number of clearly defined mechanisms which encouraged, no, demanded …

… that the design of the city be paramount in the long-term vision.

Surely, the design and maintenance of an overarching vision for Auckland is at the heart of the exercise to improve the governance of the city.

Any organisational structure will only be successful if it recognises and promotes the idea that the city, in all its multi-faceted aspects …

… needs to be designed in the widest sense of the word.

This involves much more than the physical … and should include issues of social, economic, and cultural import.

It needs to cover all aspects of the city, such as physical qualities, organisation, environment, identity, affordability, security and safety …

… and should reach across all socio-economic layers.

There are a number of ways this could happen, and the commitment to design should occur at many levels.

There could be a group charged with developing an overall long-term sense of direction …

… a vision which would outlast the relatively high turnover of mayors…”..(cont..

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>Just how super can this city be without vision? - Opinion - NZ Herald News

on q & a this morning…there was the clearest demonstration of parliamentary-troughing….

guyon espiner held up the file of the expenses of shane jones….

..it is the size of the auckland telephone book…(white-pages)

..he then held up the expenses-file for the same period of time..of michael cullen…

..this is a couple of sheets of a4….

whoar…!

..(’holy serial-gouging/troughing..!..batman..!..”..

and ‘holy presbyterian-fiscal-rectitude..!..batman..!’..

..in all areas of the life…)

and i guess that now would be a good time to give a nod of respect to cullen…

…for his meaness/parsimony in paying down our national debt..

..during the ‘good times’…

had cullen not done that..and had he heeded the call from national of wholesale tax cuts instead…

..we would now be in a far more parlous state than we actually are..

and the riff/meme that key/national run..is that they inherited this ‘mess’ from labour…

key knows that this is actually total bullshit….

..and that the ‘.meaness’ of cullen…

..was for all our ‘good’….

“…New Zealand’s first openly gay Cabinet minister is close to quitting Parliament because he is sick of being attacked as a “luxury-loving gay boy”.

Labour’s Chris Carter and his civil partner Peter Kaiser angrily hit back yesterday after being condemned for being among the worst offenders in the MP expenses scandal.

Party leader Phil Goff is tipped to demote Carter to the backbenches …

… after he topped the list of personal spending from the public purse during the term of the last government.

.
In an interview with the Herald on Sunday yesterday, Carter said: “I just have to make a decision: Do I want to keep putting up with this?

“Do you want to live your life with this stuff going on all the time?

You know, I love being an MP.

But there might well be a point soon where I think this is just not worth it.”

(so..carter is playing the tizard-card…by threatening to go….

..’cos if he bails out…judith tizard is next on the list…..

..and that would see her back in parliament…

(the ghost of useless-past..as it were…)

..and nobody but judiith…wants that…

and the question is…..will that bluff by carter steel goffs’ hand….or weaken it..

‘cos what goff has to take on board here…is that for labour to have any chance next time out…

..he has to make that clean break with the past..

…that past that carter et al just constantly remind us of…

goff has a team of next-generation very capable mp’s..

..and could replace most of his front bench….

..with nobody missing much those gone…

..and a new/fresh labour…raring to rip into national..

..i hope goff calls carters’ bluff..

..’cos if he dosen’t…he is just hastening his own death-warrant…

go to source/story>>>Big-spending MP may quit - National - NZ Herald News

“…How are we to promote the need for improved animal welfare … when battling religious views formed centuries ago?..

Last week, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohamad Ali Rustam, was quoted in the Guardian as saying that God created monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans.

Activists had been protesting against his approval of an Indian company’s proposal to build an animal research laboratory in his state.

They said that Malaysia has no regulations to protect animals in laboratories.

His answer was the reference to God’s purpose in creating animals.

If it were not for the dire consequences for the animals who will suffer in the laboratory … the chief minister’s remark would be hilarious.

Here is the head of a Malaysian state justifying the establishment of a scientific enterprise with a comment that flies in the face of everything science tells us.

The belief that the animals exist because God created them – and that he created them so we can better meet our needs –

– is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and … of course, to the fossil record …

… which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all.

Though the chief minister is, presumably, a Muslim, there is nothing specifically Islamic about the claim that God created animals for our sake.

Similar remarks have been made repeatedly by Christian religious figures through the millennia …

… although today some Christian theologians offer a kinder, more compassionate interpretation of the idea of our God-given dominion over the animals.

They regard the grant of dominion as a kind of stewardship …

… with God wanting us to take care of his creatures … and treat them well…”

go to source/story>>>Religion’s regressive hold on animal rights issues | Peter Singer | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

“…Far be it for me to make a dicey situation dicier but you can’t smell the sulphur in the air right now and not think we might be on the threshold of an age of rage.

The Spanish unions have postponed a general strike; the bloody barricades and the red shirts might have been in Bangkok not Berlin;…

… and, for the moment, the British coalition leaders sit side by side on the front bench like honeymooners canoodling on the porch; …

…but in Europe and America there is a distinct possibility of a long hot summer of social umbrage.

Historians will tell you there is often a time-lag between the onset of economic disaster … and the accumulation of social fury.

In act one, the shock of a crisis initially triggers fearful disorientation; the rush for political saviours;…

… instinctive responses of self-protection ..

… but not the organised mobilisation of outrage.

Whether in 1789 or now, an incoming regime riding the storm gets a fleeting moment to try to contain calamity.

If it is seen to be straining every muscle to put things right it can … for a while … generate provisional legitimacy.

Act two is trickier.

Objectively, economic conditions might be improving … but perceptions are everything …

… and a breathing space gives room for a dangerously alienated public to take stock of the brutal interruption of their rising expectations.

What happened to the march of income, the acquisition of property, the truism that the next generation will live better than the last?

The full impact of the overthrow of these assumptions sinks in … and engenders a sense of grievance that ‘Someone Else’ must have engineered the common misfortune.

The stock epithet the French revolution gave to the financiers who were blamed for disaster, was “rich egoists”.

Our own plutocrats may not be headed for the tumbrils but the fact that financial catastrophe …

… with its effect on the “real” economy came about through obscure transactions designed to do nothing except produce short-term profit aggravates a sense of social betrayal.

At this point, damage-control means pillorying the perpetrators: bringing them to book and extracting statements of contrition.

This is why the psychological impact of financial regulation is almost as critical as its institutional prophylactics.

Those who lobby against it risk jeopardising their own long-term interests.

Should governments fail to reassert the integrity of public stewardship, suspicions will emerge that, for all the talk of new beginnings …

… the perps and new regime are cut from common cloth.

Both risk being shredded by popular ire … or outbid by more dangerous tribunes of indignation.

At the very least, the survival of a crisis demands ensuring that the fiscal pain is equitably distributed…”

(as in tax cuts for the rich..?..d’yareckon..?..)

(recommended-read…)

go to source/story>>> The World Teeters on the Brink of a New Age of Rage : Information Clearing House - ICH

“…You do not need a lot of space for a productive garden.

Deck and terrace planters are a great place to start.

Amoung the features on the site are the Kitchen Garden Planner with plans for;

* Salad Bar Garden

* Cook’s Choice Garden

* All American Garden

* High Yield Garden

* Plant It & Forget It

* Salsa & Tomato Sauce Garden

There is also a feature to create your own layout.

The program lets you know how many plants or seeds are appropriate for a square foot.

On printing out your plans you get growning tips for the planting and care of your specific crops.

The site’s Vegetable Encyclopedia goes into even more depth on Herbs, Fruits and Vegetables…”

go to source/story>>>Planting a simple kitchen garden, the ultimate way to eat local

this morning i was musing on the similarities between now….and just before the last election….

how we were existing in this la-la land fantasy…totally divorced from the global realities that surrounded us…

(does anyone remember those pre-election treasury-forecasts..?..of happy days are here again..!..in a coupla months..?)

..while outside the 2008 meltdown was in full swing…

..but no politicians mentioned it…and of course..the media/chattering classes played along with/helped feed the group delusion..

and now we have the same thing happening..

outside we have the european union teetering on the point of (seemingly inevitable) meltdown/break-up…

and what nobody is mentioning there..is that most of that greek/spanish/portugese debt…is owed to the two supposed pillars of the eu…france and germany…

..and the american banks are also hideously involved..(globalisation…eh..?..)

and that is just part of the global shit coming down…

and here….we have a budget…that we are told..everyone is happy with..(except the poorest..and/but who gives a flying fuck about them..eh..?)

yet it is a budget that rewards the richest…in both individuals..and companies..and throws crumbs to the (seemingly) dumb rest of us…

..(and please..!..park that bullshit of ‘john key gives away his pm’s salary’ over there..!..eh..?

just consider for a moment..how much a multi-millionaire like him..and his cohorts..(hello lord ashcroft..!..pay day..eh..?..)..will make from his policy..”

it sets a new benchmark in political self-interest gratified/rewarded…

and of course..the budget addresses none of the major issues we face…

..(these were tidily summarised by russel norman from the greens..in his reply-to-budget-speech..)

and..also ignores those outside economic-meltdown reaities….

this of course amply illustrated by the farcical/deluded ‘forecasts’ from guess who..?

you got it..!..it’s those seers/sages at ‘treasury’….

and of course i find it somewhat disconcerting that so many new zealanders are so ignorant of the problems/realities we all face..

(..this of course due in no small part…to the failures of our media/chattering classes…)

and then i saw this quote from george orwell..and it sorta fitted..

“..They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality..

… because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them …

.. and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening..” : George Orwell

“…Duringan international conference in Switzerland in 2006 I told an audience that if I were to take a 20-year nap, one thing I would certainly not expect to see when I awoke would be a European Union …

… or at least not one that bore more than a passing resemblance to today’s model.

This followed an earlier claim of mine that the phenomenon popularly known as globalisation was in the process of rolling over …

… and that it will be replaced in the coming years by its opposite, localisation.

This was probably the least popular talk at the meeting …

… and a leading candidate for the talk that provoked the most hostile audience reaction of any I have ever given.

(I should mention that this was a conference of futurists.)

What a difference a year or two makes.

The driving force behind both these temerarious claims is what I call the “social mood” of a population.

No collective human activities or actions, such as globalisation or, for that matter, trends in popular culture such as fashions in films, books or haute couture, can be understood without recognising that it is how a group or population sees the future that shapes events.

Feelings, not rational calculations, are what matter.

To see what our world might be like tomorrow, next year or next decade …

… we need to spend time and money investigating “social mood”…”

(and..)

“..So how do we measure the social mood?

Public opinion surveys and questionnaires are of very limited use … since they don’t reflect what people actually do.

Nor do they take into account that people are influenced by others … and don’t make decisions independently.

The very essence of social cohesion is grouping together, or “herding” …

… which is the opposite of individuals making independent choices…”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>The wisdom of herds: How social mood moves the world - 19 May 2010 - New Scientist

(this first part is from matt mccartens’ latest column..)

“…Friday’s Herald-Digipoll showed Manukau mayor Len Brown beating Auckland’s mayor John Banks 48 per cent to 37 per cent in a two-way race for the Supercity mayoralty.

That would have shocked the establishment - and a few of Brown’s supporters as well.

Until this week I worried about Brown’s mayoral campaign.

For weeks, Banks has been successfully hogging the media and framing the campaign on his own terms.

Whenever Brown got into the picture it was as an afterthought.

Banks’ campaign is well funded and has a formidable team with heavy hitters: …

… former National Party president Michelle Boag as his campaign chair; Bill Ralston as his media minder; and David Farrar as his pollster.

However letting chief head-kicker Aaron Bhatnagar off the leash as his campaign’s official attack dog is counterproductive, I would have thought …

… given that Banks is trying to convince us he’s morphed into good ol’ mainstream Banksie …

… the champion of ordinary folk.

Banks’ summary of his own polling earlier this week showing he was slightly ahead seemed a little suspicious since he didn’t release the details…”

(um..!..does anyone else remember when ralston used to pretend to be ‘the champion of ordinary folk’..?

banks..boag…ralston..farrar..

..kinda like the four horse-people of the (auckland) apocolypse..eh..?

..and with (wannabe)-’heavy’..(snigger..!) bhatnagar..lurking in the background…cracking his knuckles…(and then going..’ow..!..that hurt..!’)

it’s great to see that everything is gong so bad for them..eh..?

..and ralston doing ‘media’..?..(double-snigger..!..)

whoar..!..cutting-edge..!..eh..?

this is the ol’-fella who puts his slippers on..and shuffles up franklin rd to collect his (days-late) print version of the british sunday papers..

..(instead of just clicking-online..?..)

..yeah..he’ll do some ‘cutting-edge-media’ for ya..eh..?

..that’s if yr into paper-cuts…eh..?..)

which brings us to farrar…

and anyone looking for the reasons key did the dirty on tuhoe..

..need look no further that the ‘focus-groups’ run by farrar in that centre/ghetto of auckland white-flight…the north shore..

surprise..!..surprise..!….they all leant in with the panic/racist point of view..

..is that the result farrar ..and those who ‘advise’ him wanted/were angling for…?…

‘cos..y’know..!..i cd gather a bunch of racist north shoreites..(lots of sth africans in the mix there..?..farrar..?..)..and come up with the same result..

whereas anyone not from that demograph..looks at the historical-facts/that case for tuhoe..and goes..’fuck..!..they were ripped-off/screwed-over..eh..?..

..why not give them back the ureweraweras..?..at the very least..?..

(i mean..are white middle-class/rich-folks wanting to flock there to build ‘beach-houses..?

no..!..’cos the settlers/colonialists stole all the tuhoe ‘good-land/coastal-access..eh..?

..and pushed them back into the bush…)

(i mean..even chris finlayson ..keys’ attorney-general sees no problem with returning..in some form..’ownership’ for tuhoe.

..and as a stickler for procedure..i am picking he is spitting tacks over key pulling the rug from under him…

..in such a pre-emptory/sudden/direction-changing manner..)

of course..when considering farrar..(nationals’ chief-spinner’)..it pays to take into account that he runs the rightwing blog..kiwiblog..

..and if you go there..(i wd advise donning full-body protection before entry..i always do..)

..there you will find a forum for the most vile/racist attitudes towards maori..and any idea of any restitution for past wrongs..

..and farrar ..while censuring/banning those critical of the vile ideas peddled in that little sewer..

…never demurrs…and these racists..and their racist-poison..

..they are enabled/have free-rein to say whatever they like about maori..(or as they say..’maari’…)

..that could not be a clearer indication of where farrar is coming from…

..and i wonder if key realises he has likely been ‘played’..by darker/racist forces within the national party/this govt..)..

..he has been ‘played’ by the reactionaries…

..aided and abetted by the centre-of-white-flight-chosen ‘focus-groups’…

(could we call this collection of reactionary/rightwing ‘identitys’..clustered around banks…a ‘coven’..?

..is that going too far..?..)

(and finally..here is the ultimate reason you should not believe the lies/bullshit from this little ‘coven’.,)

“..In the past, Banks has made selective use of poll data to position himself as the front runner.

The Herald obviously got wise to that tactic and commissioned its own.

Banks’ strategists are going to have a hard time getting media to believe their political spin from now on…”

go to source/story>>>Matt McCarten : Brown’s hope as Hide bulldozes public opinion - Politics - NZ Herald News

“… A growing band of stay-at-home dads and working mums are changing the face of parenthood.

Ahead of Mother’s Day, Indulgence spoke to parents about the juggle of modern life …

… and found it is no longer safe to assume that dad is looking after the baby only because mum is sick.

The Dad

Paul Waechter has to stretch his mind back more than four years to the last time he wore a suit and tie.

His uniform the day he answers the door at his Churton Park home is a pair of jeans and a loosely fitting bright- yellow T-shirt.

Not far behind him bounds his four- year-old daughter, Aneke. She proudly shows off her room, which is draped in her favourite colours, pink and purple.

Paul, 33, runs a tidy house. On the kitchen wall is a blackboard scrawled with the ABCs and a list of meals for the week.

When Aneke was born, Paul’s fiancee, Tina Long, stayed at home for the first six months.

Paul then took the remaining parental leave and had six months learning the ropes of full-time daddy day care.

The couple both worked at the same bank as bank officers, but it was easy to decide who would take over at home.

“We always wanted one of us to be at home,” Paul says.

“It just worked out better for me. It was surprisingly easy to walk away from work really.”

In the last four years, Paul says he has noticed more men taking on what has traditionally been seen as a woman’s role.

However, they are still among the minority, and he still gets the same questioning glances and curious comments when he ventures out with Aneke.

“You always have to explain yourself, whereas a woman wouldn’t have to.

If you’re a dad, you have to explain, ‘I’m not filling in because mum’s sick.

It’s not my day off.

I’m here because this is what I do’.”

Archaeologist and part-time childbirth educator Mary O’Keeffe teaches expecting parents at antenatal classes for the Wellington South Parents Centre.

She says watching apprehensive male partners begin to see their part in the childbirth process is an absolute delight.

“Suddenly, they really engage. You see them quite literally sit up in their chairs, lean forward and start to ask questions.”

Society has changed to the point where fathers are expected, and permitted, to be both at the birth and heavily involved from the first minute of their children’s lives, she says.

“In a sense, there isn’t men’s work and women’s work any more.

There’s just parenting…”

(disclaimer:..i have been doing this for the last decade and a half…being the prime-caregiver…since my son was born…

..and i hafta say…it has been an enormous privilege to have been such a large part/role in my sons’ life…

..and ..if you are so inclined..and are able to…i can recommend this choice to other men…

..it is a long slog..and if you factor in things like walking to and from school..and soccer-dad…and..and..

..it is surprisingly time-consuming…

..but as always..the years fly by…

..and really…i wouldn’t have done it differently…

eh..?..)

go to source/story>>>Taking on the mother load - life-style | Stuff.co.nz

“…It seems that “South Park” has parodied just about everything under the sun in it’s 200+ episodes …

… but some of the best (and non-life-threatening) parodies have been of popular TV shows, both good and bad.

From Cartman as Jim Cramer, to Cartman as Glenn Beck, to Cartman as Dog The Bounty Hunter (he’s a busy guy) …

… these TV show parodies are spot-on and hilarious…”

go to source/story>>>The 10 Greatest ‘South Park’ TV Parodies (VIDEOS)

(a cornucopia of good writing/journalism…enjoy..!..)

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>TheNation.com’s 15 Biggest Stories | The Nation

(what follows is the latest example of black propaganda/lies..about cannabis..

they start off with the current big lie..that the pot is so much stronger these days..(ooohh..!!..)

“..Cannabis now four times stronger..”

..which it is not…

the proof..?

two threads:..one personal/subjective..the other factual/objective..

first the personal/subjective:..

i have smoked pot since the late sixties…

..during the seventies etc…we had durban poison from sth africa..we had poisonously strong pot from indonesia..(sumatran..)..

..we had ‘buddah-sticks’ from thailand…we had hashish”.. and we had (high-quality) hash-oil…

..all of which were of very high quality…

..plus we had the beginnings of a healthy local-product..grown from the seeds of that imported pot..

..the pot now..is not stronger than those..some is equal..which is good..

..and hey..!..so what if cannabis is stronger..?..you need to smoke less..to get high..(what/where is the/any problem there..?..

or is it fear of overdoses..?..(snort..!..)

now..the objective/fact-based dismissal of this bullshit..

those facts come from the courts…in that over the years..as a component of court-cases..cannabis has been tested for thc-content/strength..

..these records..both here and in america….show that the thc-content of seized pot..has stayed roughly the same..

..facts that are hard to deny..eh..?

anyway..lets break down this piece of black-propaganda..eh..?

“..A secret police study involving scientists growing crops of cannabis has revealed New Zealand now has super-strength strains of the drug.

In May last year, Sunday News revealed police and Environmental Science and Research (ESR) used sophisticated hydroponic equipment to complete three cannabis growing cycles, nursing six plants at a time, 18 in total, to maturity.

The findings of the study, to be published in Forensic Science International, and released exclusively to Sunday News earlier this week, revealed the drug is now more than four times stronger than it was when ESR last tested it in 1996..”

so..what that tells us..is that scientists..able to work in optimum conditions..with none of the travails/dangers of blackmarket growers..

..were able to follow the textbook..and grow really good pot..eh..?

that’s all that tells us..

“..The THC level – the primary intoxicant – varied between 4.35% and 25.3% during the study completed under Ministry of Health licence between 2004 and 2006.

When ESR last tested the Class C drug, they found an average THC level of just 6%.

The THC levels varied considerably, as did yields, during the latest study – due to the growers lack of cannabis-cultivation knowledge, the ESR report read.

“The inexperience of the growers was evidenced by different problems encountered in each of the three cycles, each of which would be expected to negatively impact the yield and THC data obtained.”..”

so..what that tells us is that these scientists..should now be able to author/edit a killer ‘how-to’ book/pamphlet..eh..?

..(suggested title:..?..’know your cycles:..the definitive guide to growing cannabis’..)

..lets’ lift our national thc-rate..eh..?..”new zealand..we’re number one..!”..eh..?

“..Cannabis potency is believed to have remained stagnant from 1976 to 1996. But police believe it has increased significantly in recent years due to criminals using more sophisticated growing methods, helped by the availability of specialised equipment, like that sold at hydroponic specialist shops some of which police raided across the country this week. ..

..there you go..!..there is the reason for this latest bunch of lies/propaganda..

..two-years of police-time/resources..on a gardening-supplies chain..(!)

..while the streets are awash with ‘p’…?

and all of this at a time when california has had medical pot since 1994…and in november will vote in a binding referendum..to fully legalise/tax cannabis..

..here we just get anti-pot hysteria…up there with the best/worst of the ‘reefer-madness’ tales of yesteryear..

..eh..?

go to source/story>>Cannabis now four times stronger - national | Stuff.co.nz

(y’know..!..apart from anything else..can’t ‘damage’ the bar-take from the rugger-bugger fest..eh..?'’..and this isssue is a good political-’distraction’..eh..?..

..keeps the mug-punters/chattering-classes occupied/talking..while national/the govt can get on with their class-war-driven secret-agendas..eh..?..)

“..It is extremely unlikely that the Government will move to raise excise tax as part of its alcohol reform agenda,” Mr Power said this afternoon.

There would be a full outline of the Government’s position on the report within weeks, he said.

“The commission’s 153 recommendations require a considered response from the Government,” Mr Power said.

“I have previously made it clear that legislative changes to alcohol laws are likely, and my intention is to deal with this before the end of 2011..”

(gee..!..i wonder if the booze-barons have been ‘lobbying’ the gummint much on/over this one..eh..?..whaddayareckon..?..

..i wonder why power is so dismissive of one of the strongest recommendations..?..before even reading the bloody thing..eh..?

..has he/national already promised the booze-barons they ‘won’t raise the tax’ on alcohol..?..eh..?..whaddayareckon..?..

..sucessful lobbying by those booze-barons..?..or what..?

..and of course..those booze-barons ‘donate’ to both political parties..

..and have always had both ‘in their pocket’..

..some things don’t change..

go to source/story>>Government rejects liquor tax hike | Stuff.co.nz

“.. Thanks to globalization, the American, Australian and European promises of middle-class prosperity are on their way to extinction.

Class solidarity was such a good idea.

It really was.

Obviously, most of the people who need solidarity are in the world’s laboring classes.

After all, the rich have more than enough solidarity already ..

.. as was recently demonstrated by their successful execution of the greatest global financial heist in history.

Oh sure, we’ll see some state sponsored mock show trials of a few of them —

– they always throw a few of their own out of the sleigh to the wolves during their escapes.

The big heist was big news.

Working Americans will be applying Preparation H to their keisters for a long time to come.

But the ultimate accomplishment of the already rich, the newly rich and the corporate rich, has been their global solidarity on the corporate/financial front.

It’s been a long run up to globalism .. but the rich have great patience.

As an American, all my life I’ve heard their chief mouthpiece, the president of the United States, beginning with Eisenhower, right on up through Kennedy, Reagan, Ford, Carter and Bush, and now Obama, sing the same song.

Which goes moreover like this:

“Trade is the road to peace. Commerce and business know no national boundaries. They link nations together on productivity, creating jobs and peace across the world.”

It sounded good at the time.

Who would have thought that the people enjoying all this harmony and peace brought about through globalization would be enjoying it in a one big happy planetary work gulag?

And if they are not doing so at the moment .. they will be as soon global capitalism .. under the watchful solidarity of the rich ..

.. bears full fruit..”

go to source/story>>The Middle Class Game Is Up: We’re Heading to a Slave Labor Planet | | AlterNet

“..A cook’s-eye view on recession-friendly food .. what the Black Panthers did right .. and whether we really need more hip organic farmers.

Both Alice Waters and Van Jones praise Bryant Terry’s new cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen.

And not just for the recipes. Terry, a food policy fellow for the Kellogg Foundation, has a history of whipping up recipes for change, not just food.

After founding a youth nonprofit and hosting the public television series The Endless Feast ..

..Terry now travels across the country giving lectures on everything from the prevalence of diet-related diseases in the South .. to “food deserts” in Oakland.

He joined Mother Jones on video to whip up his healthy version of a quintessential soul food recipe ..

.. and talk about racism in the food system .. faith-based food activism .. and the Southern Organic Kitchen Project..”

go to source/story>>MoJo Video: Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen | Mother Jones

(now..now..!..c’mon..!..let him make his case..!..)

“.. Steve Anderson said Foodstuffs had a unique structure and while it respected its main rival, Woolworths, “we’re not having cups of coffee with them”.

“Our structures having independent operators running multiple retail brands means that I don’t see it as a duopoly ..

.. I see it as a large number of independent stores trying to protect ourselves against a large Australian multi-national..”

(so..did you get that..?

..it’s all about plucky little kiwis being forced to muscle-up against a big aussie monolith/behemoth…got that..?..

..that we have some of the highest costs for food..(especially emphasised as we are such a low-wage economy..eh..?)

..and that these high prices are set by two companies..who between them control the market..

..which..on the surface..looks/feels/smells/walks just like a duopoly..that is not the case..

..it’s more a wee echo of those darkest days of ww2 that the brits faced..eh..?

you go..!..you plucky kiwis..!..eh..?

(fuck..!..the new head of one half of the food-supply-duopoly we currently labour/sweat/are grossly-exploited under ..

..must just naturally assume that we are all as thick as pig-shit..eh..?)

a pox on both their duopolic-houses..eh..?

(new word alert..!..’duopolic’..i like it..!..)

go to source/story>>Keeping Foodstuffs in the black - business | Stuff.co.nz

“.. The cost of connecting to the internet over mobile networks looks set to drop soon, with Vodafone tipped to launch aggressive new mobile broadband plans and 2degrees close to upgrading its mobile network to 3G technology.

Vodafone is expected to announce plans that will close the gap between fixed and mobile broadband data pricing for at least some customers.

A spokeswoman says changes are planned “within the next quarter” but doubted speculation new pricing might be announced as soon as next weekend.

2degrees chief executive Eric Hertz says the launch of its 3G service is still months rather than weeks away.

“We are not disclosing the actual date, but things are going well,” he says.

The company halved the price of pre-pay calls when it launched its 2G network in August and has promised to be aggressive with mobile broadband.

Mr Hertz says he has heard rumours of Vodafone’s cuts.

“I would guess it is probably in anticipation of what we are going to do, but [the timing] is probably more tied to its budget cycle.”

Telecom is not expected to try to pre-empt Vodafone’s price reductions .. but has closely matched its price cuts in the past..”

(that’s why it’s called a ‘duopoly’..)

go to source/story>>Price of mobile broadband set to drop - business | Stuff.co.nz

“..Whew.

That was fast.

It didn’t take long for Wall Street to figure out how to game Obama’s new mortgage modification program, did it?

The plan was hyped as help for “struggling homeowners” .. but it turns out, it’s just another stealth bailout for pudgy bank-execs.

It’s funny, the program hasn’t even kicked in yet and, already, bigtime speculators are riffling through their filing cabinets looking any garbage paper they can find to dump on Uncle Sam.

Take a look at this on today’s Bloomberg report:

“Subprime-mortgage securities are rising at an accelerating pace as the U.S. begins to encourage reductions to homeowners’ balances ..

.. which may lead to fewer foreclosures and a quicker end to the housing slump….

.. Senior-ranked bonds tied to borrowers with poor credit will mostly benefit after the Treasury Department said for the first time it would seek to cut the size of mortgages ..

.. reducing the likelihood that loan modifications will fail, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc. (Bloomberg)

What does it mean?

It means that Obama’s mortgage modification extravaganza has touched-off a gold rush in toxic paper.

Subprime securitizations, which had been worth next to nothing, are now the hottest trade on Wall Street.

It’s a subprime bonanza!

The investment sharpies are scarfing up all the crummy MBS they can get their hands on ..

.. because they know they can trade it in for Triple A FHA-backed loans when the program get’s going.

It’s another swindle cooked up by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to keep the brokerage clan in the clover.

Here’s how a Wall Street veteran explained it to me:

“It looks like the investors in securitizations will be swapping underwater real estate for govt-insured paper…

.. I think the scam here is just to provide some cover so the hedge funds and other high net worth individuals can trade their low grade paper for Triple AAA mortgages ..

.. insured by the FHA at the taxpayer expense.”

That’s it, in a nutshell.

The faux-foreclosure prevention program has nothing to do with helping homeowners.

That’s just diversionary gibberish to confuse the public.

The real objective is to create a government landfill (aka–FHA) where the banks and other financial institutions can dump their toxic MBS-sludge and walk away with gov-backed loans.

Get a load of this:

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve’s completion this week of its program to buy $1.25 trillion in mortgage bonds probably won’t mean significantly higher U.S. home loan rates as investors return to the market, replacing the Fed…

What we are seeing is an effective handoff occurring between the Fed and industry buyers such as banks and pension funds,” said Christopher Sebald, chief investment officer for Advantus Capital Management in St. Paul, Minnesota…

Advantus is purchasing mortgage bonds after the Fed’s program drained supply in the $5.4 trillion market.” (Bloomberg)

Of course, they’re “purchasing mortgage bonds”, because the government is going to insure them.

It’s a “no brainer”.

And don’t you love that expression, “a handoff”, because that’s exactly what it is.

The government hasn’t stopped pumping liquidity into the system; ..

.. they’ve just found another entry-point where they can push it in.

Here’s how it works: The new program offers incentives to banks and other deep-pocketed investors (in mortgage-backed securities) to slash the principal on underwater mortgages which keeps people from strategic default or foreclosure.

Sounds good, right?

But here’s the catch: When the mortgage is refinanced, it’s converted into a FHA-backed loan which provides an explicit gov-guarantee.

So, for a slight loss on the face-value of the MBS, the investors (ie–investment banks, hedgies, etc) are able to resuscitate their moribund securitizations (MBS) and reap hefty gains.

It’s like taking Fido’s steaming pile on the front lawn and turning it into the Hope Diamond.

Abracadabra!

Geithner has figured out how to put together a bailout that will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars ..

.. without any money actually exchanging hands.

The value of the putrid mortgage-paper will soar because of the gov-underwriting ..

.. and the ginormous losses won’t be realized until the mortgages start blowing up sometime in the future.

That’s when FHA will be put-to-pasture along with fellow-homicide victims, Fannie and Freddie.

Pretty clever, eh?

So, the cutthroat speculators and bunko artists who fleeced us all with their dogshit subprimes ..

.. have returned for another dip at the public trough.

That means taxpayers will get scalped on the same investments a second time.

Hey, it’s a double-whammy!..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>Timothy Geithner is a Sniveling Scamster : Information Clearing House - ICH