Saturday, February 27, 2010

HEALTHCARE OR SICKCARE



Are Americans sick? Well, they certainly must not be healthy unless you disregard the multitudes that crowd the "healthcare" centers, doctors offices, clinics and "care" facilities each day.


Has modern day man found the fountain of youth (never to be ill and live forever) at the doctor's office? "Just take these pills and see me in two weeks", speaks the Oracle of Eternal Wellness and Life; or "You need an operation to remove your oblangtarommor", or other organ whose presence was previously not revealed to you.


We Americans have learned to worship at the temple of the medics. What ever they say, prescribe or inject or remove has to be incredibly wise and correct, for after all they know so much that we, and the "specialists" know even more than they.


Wow, we can all live forever and never know sickness, if the government or our employer will just foot the bill (which would bankrupt the average patient if he had to come up with the cash cost).


Sick care has become so pervasive and complex that we have now tiered medicine

where one practitioner can't properly make you well, but has to refer you to a higher level of smart .


When we finally run out of funny money and wake up to the realities of life and health, start eating real food, drink pure water, wholesome meat, eggs and vegetables, can we enjoy the abundant life that God has provided.


with Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN

Friday, February 26, 2010

GET OUT

REF:"Sitting in the Shadows:A 21st Century Defense Policy for the U.S." by SSS,

www.TheBurning Platform.com 2/25/10

The following is extracted in part from the above referenced article:

"President Dwight Eisenhower once remarked, "I can destroy the entire city of Moscow with 3 nuclear weapons. Why do I need 30?" The wisdom of that observation is obvious, yet every president who succeeded Ike has totally ignored it, at a cost to our nation of tens of trillions of dollars of unnecessary defense spending. Ike believed in and practiced the SUFFICIENCY of a sound national defense posture, not superiority. We have not had a presidential practitioner of sufficiency for 50 years. And it's been ungodly expensive.

Here are some personal thoughts which reflect the sufficient defense of the U.S. in the 21st Century.

First, get out. The U.S. has too many troops in too many inexplicable places worldwide. Get out of where? In order of priority, with number of troops in parentheses: Germany (52,000), UK (9,000), Japan (36,000), and South Korea (somewhere between 25,000 and 37,000). Is there a rational reason why we have well over 100,000 troops in these four countries, which are economically prosperous, politically stable democracies, and possess sufficient defense forces of their own? All of our military facilities in these countries should be closed.

My exit stategy also includes Belgium (1,300, nearly all of whom are staff officers at NATO/SHAPE Headquarters; will 130 do?), Turkey (1,600), the Netherlands (500), Portugal (700), every country in eastern Europe, and the ever puzzling Serbian-Kosovo goat rope (9,000). Gone, kaput. Blunt message to Europeans, the Turks, Japanese, and Koreans: defend yourselves. We've left the bodies of several hundred thousand brave American soldiers on your soil in the past century and spent hundreds of billion dollars in helping to rebuild your now prosperous economies. We provided a massive defense shield for you for over 40 years of Cold War. That's enough. From now on, figure it out on your own.

. . .Nuclear defense strategy rests upon strategic nuclear weapons, the "big bang" bombs that deliver explosive forces of over 100,000 kilotons of TNT (100 kt), which is nearly 6 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Keep in mind that 100 kt is the lowest yield of a strategic nuclear weapon. Many are much more powerful. So how many of these strategic bombs do we and the Russians have? The true figure is highly classified, but George Bush and Vladimir Putin signed the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty (SORT) on May 24, 2002 which stated that each country would reduce their OPERATIONALLY DEPLOYED strategic nuclear warheads to 1,700. SORT expires on December 31, 2012 and is a totally unverifiable piece of garbage. The current DOD doublespeak, known as the Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, states that the U.S. will need between 1,700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons, with additional weapons kept in a "non-deployed status." In other words, we'll hide 'em someplace.

Let's do the math. If Ike could destroy Moscow with 3 nukes in the 1950s, today this means we are DOWNSIZING to a capacity to destroy somewhere between 600 and 700 cities the size of Moscow. And that doesn't include the nukes put into storage to avoid being labeled "operationally deployed" and the thousands of lower yield "tactical" nukes possessed by our armed forces. That said, a nuclear exchange with Russia, for example, would result, with 100% certainty, in the total disappearance of Moscow and Washington DC, just for starters. Without exception, a nation's leaders are on any target list, theirs or ours.) "

With Love and kindness,


THE HATMAN


Thursday, February 25, 2010

WILL TEXAS SECEDE (AGAIN)?

In 1861, Texas a slave state along with 6 other states declared the union with the United States to be dissolved

DISSOLVING THE UNION

Whereas,

the Federal Government has failed to accomplish the purposes of the compact of union between these States, in giving protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens; and, whereas, the action of the Northern States of the Union is violative of the compact between the States and the guarantees of the Constitution; and whereas the recent developments in Federal affairs, make it evident that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike down the interests and prosperity of the people of Texas and her Sister slaveholding States, instead of permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage and aggression:

Therefore,

Section 1
We, the People of the State of Texas, by Delegates in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, that the Ordinance adopted by our Convention of Delegates, on the Fourth day of July, A.D. 1845, and afterwards ratified by us, under which the Republic of Texas was admitted into Union with other States and became a party to the compact styled "The Constitution of the United States of America" be, and is hereby repealed and annulled; That all the powers, which by said compact were delegated by Texas to the Federal Government, are revoked and resumed; That Texas is of right absolved from all restraints and obligations incurred by said compact, and is a separate Sovereign State, and that her citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance to the United States, or the Government thereof.


Could a state secede from the Union? A constitutional question, unfortunately settled by a bloody war, not rational discourse. The question is being asked again, this time the issue is not tariffs, slavery or punitive action by the Northern states, but by a non-responsive spendthrift, dictatorial government in Washington, DC.

Those who claim that Texas reserved the right to secede , when they joined the Union are not quite correct, as no such provision in the state Constitution exists. However, Article 1, Section 1 states:""Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States..." (note that it does not state "...subject to the President of the United States..." or "...subject to the Congress of the United States..." or "...subject to the collective will of one or more of the other States...")

Neither the Texas Constitution, nor the Constitution of the united States, explicitly or implicitly disallows the secession of Texas (or any other "free and independent State") from the United States. Joining the "Union" was ever and always voluntary, rendering voluntary withdrawal an equally lawful and viable option Both the original (1836) and the current (1876) Texas Constitutions also state that "All political power is inherent in the people ... they have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government in such manner as they might think proper."

Likewise, each of the United States is "united" with the others explicitly on the principle[In the Declaration of Independence--not the Constitution] that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed" and "whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends [i.e., protecting life, liberty, and property], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government" and "when a long train of abuses and usurpations...evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

In these days of blatant disregard for the powers and restrictions of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, when we can no longer turn to the courts for judicial interpretation of the Constitution, it is no wonder that some are advocating secession.

A question to be asked now is not whether Texas can get along without the United States, but whether the United States can get along without Texas.

Texas is the largest geographical state in the contiguous 48.

Texas has more farm land than any other state.

More wool comes from the state of Texas than any other state in the United States.

Texas is referred to as the Silicon Valley of the South, with Dell, Compaq computer headquartered among many other high tech and software generating companies.

Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States; These towns are Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.

Texas has a cattle population of over 16 million.

ElPaso, Texas is closer to Needles, California than to Dallas, Texas 516 miles.

Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex has more residents than 31U.S. states.

The modern oil industry was born at Spindletop, Texas.

Texas is a prolific producer of oil and natural gas and has multiple refineries, petrochemical plants and salt water ports. The largest inland port in the U.S. is Laredo, TX.

Texas military bases include:Lackland AFB, Randolph AFB, Brooks City Base, Martindale army Airfield, Dyess AFB, Goodfellow AFB,Laughlin AFB, Ft. Hood,

Fort Bliss,Ft. Sam Houston,Corpus Christi NAS, Camp Mabry, Camp Bulis and Camp Swift.


Washington DC are you listening?


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN



Wednesday, February 24, 2010

REMEMBERING THE ALAMO

Yesterday was the anniversary of the start of the 13 day battle of the Alamo in 1836.


Much has been written and filmed of these 182 to 257 courageous men who defended their position in the Alamo Mission until death. [contrary to popular opinion, John Wayne was not among them]


We don't know the exact number of defenders, but most count the dead to be in the aforementioned range, while the Santa Anna horde of 4,000 was diminished by 400-600 dead. The defenders were commanded by Jim Bowie and William B. Travis.


The Texas Revolution was accented several months previously when the Texans (Texians) had forced the Mexican troops out of Texas and had garrisoned approximately 100 troops at the MIssion. Travis, sensing the impending disaster wrote letters pleading for reinforcement , but only a few responded. Following several skirmishes with the invading Mexican troops, the reinforced Mexican army marched on San Antonio de B′exar and laid siege to the Mission.


The cry of "Remember the Alamo" inspired many Texas settlers and adventurers to revenge the heroes by joining the Texican forces and defeat the Mexicans at the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836 in present day Harris County, Texas. Approximately 700 Mexican soldiers were killed and an equal number captured. We are told the battle lasted only 18 minutes. Santa Anna was captured and later signed the treaties requiring Mexico to abandon Texas thus solidifying the Texas Revolution and the Texas Nation.


Texas joined the Union of the United States in 1845, but seceded before Lincoln's inauguration to join 7 other rebelling states. The war between the states presumably settled the issue of whether a state can secede from the United States, yet questions remain.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

SO THERE TOO!

Joe Stack IRS Troubles

Section 1706 of the 1986 Tax Reform Act dealing with independent contractors

has a test to determine who is an employee and who is self employed. The determination called for is at best vague and subject to interpretation. The individual ruling is made sometimes years after the fact when an audit of the employing company is made. Joe Stack paid his required tax then later he was reclassified calling for huge back taxes and fines.


We Need to operate

Bill Sardi has written a new piece on surgery avoidance through the use of herbs and supplements: http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi153.html. He cites 10 common surgical procedures and supplements used instead of an operation:


Angina --catherization and stents........ Capsaicin the active ingredient in cayenne pepper has been shown to dilate blood vessels. Chili pepper improves circulation in males the heart of males.


Hemorrhoidectomy.........citrus peel extract (diosmin) available without a prescription,

Daflon is a popular brand name.



Hysterectomy..........Vitamin B12,Folic acid, B1, B2 and Vitamin C tend to normalize pap smears.


Gall Bladder Removal...........Taurine supplementation will often thin the bile and facilitate normal bile flow and relieve symptoms.


Cesaerean Section.......... 2000IU to 5000 IU of Vitamin D is thought to improve muscle tone along with old fashioned baby delivering skills to avoid this risky procedure.


Tonsillectomy..........Vitamin D therapy can be used to avoid this operation.


Cataracts........a 9-month course of instilling carnosine eye drops into the eyes of patients with beginning-stage cataracts (20/40 vision or worse demonstrably improves acuity, improved color vision and decreased glare among senior adults.


Glaucoma Treatment........ Hyaluronic Acid orally administered tends to lower intraocular eye pressure.


Kidney Stone Removal........ A component of bran IP6 called phytate dissolves

calcium stones.


Removal of Prostate Gland........Pumpkin Seed Oil inhibits testerone-generated growth of the prostate gland and can inhibit pre-cancerous changes in the gland.


CAVEAT: For all you ladies and gentlemen with letters behind your name, THE HATMAN is not trying to take away your livelihood, nor infringe upon your expertise. He claims no expertise in the above listed matters, nor does he even recommend the supplements and herbs listed. The above is written as a blog, representing information and ideas he wants to write about. So there too!


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Monday, February 22, 2010

JOE STACK WILL PROBABLY BE FORGOTTEN

On Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, 53-year-old, financially strapped software engineer Joseph Stack crashed a Piper Saratoga into an IRS officed building in Austin, Texas.

"In my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say." ~ Joe Stack

Whereas we cannot glorify his suicide nor the damage he caused, we can use this as an example of the utter frustration and growing rage sweeping across America

Joe Stacks gesture will be demeaned by our media.starting with the Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal, and will rapidly be dismissed as the act of a fringe lunatic.

Is it a populist lesson, as Stack states in his suicide note, "that there are two ‘interpretations’ for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us"? Is it a reality check that we "live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie"? Is it a social commentary on the "incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their ‘freedom’… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them"?

". . . I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at ‘big brother’ while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough."

Referring to an article by Paul Craig Roberts " A Country of Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs" 2/21/10:

The problems of the American economy are too great to be reached by traditional policies. Large numbers of middle class American jobs have been moved offshore: manufacturing, industrial and professional service jobs. When the jobs are moved offshore, consumer incomes and U.S. GDP go with them. So many jobs have been moved abroad that there has been no growth in U.S. real incomes in the 21st century, except for the incomes of the super rich who collect multi-million dollar bonuses for moving U.S. jobs offshore.

Without growth in consumer incomes, the economy can go nowhere. Washington policymakers substituted debt growth for income growth. Instead of growing richer, consumers grew more indebted. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan accomplished this with his low interest rate policy, which drove up housing prices, producing home equity that consumers could tap and spend by refinancing their homes.

Unable to maintain their accustomed living standards with income alone, Americans spent their equity in their homes and ran up credit card debts, maxing out credit cards in anticipation that rising asset prices would cover the debts. When the bubble burst, the debts strangled consumer demand, and the economy died.


There is a whole lot of suffering and misery out there and more to come Mordecai. In part, there is a sense of disconnect with our government, media, big Labor Unions, big Wall Street, Federal Reserve, Tax collectors and Tax Spenders. They talk , but it doesn't give any relief to Main Street.


A letter contained in Mr. Roberts article:

". . My husband and I could be it's poster children.[new economy] Nine years ago when we married, we were both working good paying, secure jobs in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. Our combined income topped $100,000 a year. We were living the dream. Then the nightmare began. I lost my job in the great tech bubble of 2003, and decided to leave the labor force to care for our infant son. Fine, we tightened the belt. Then we started getting squeezed. Expenses rose, we downsized, yet my husband's job stagnated. After several years of no pay raises, he finally lost his job a year and a half ago. But he didn't just lose a job, he lost a career. The semiconductor industry is virtually gone here in Arizona. Three months later, my husband, with a technical degree and 20-plus years of solid work experience, received one job offer for an entry level corrections officer. He had to take it, at an almost 40 percent reduction in pay. Bankruptcy followed when our savings were depleted. We lost our house, a car, and any assets we had left. His salary last year, less than $40,000, to support a family of four. A year and a half later, we are still struggling to get by. I can't find a job that would cover the cost of daycare. We are stuck. Every jump in gas and food prices hits us hard. Without help from my family, we wouldn't have made it. So, I could tell you just how that 'New Economy' has worked for us, but I'd really rather not use that kind of language."


The situation described above is unfortunately typical of so many today. The high flying days of the 80's and 90's are gone and no amount of "stimlus" is going to make them come back. Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, you are not heroes, but dopes, duped by those who would profit by the suffering of others and those college ignoramuses who think Keynesisan and Marxism is

holy grail.


Since 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created we have had boom and bust times. This time, paralleling the Great Depression, we are on a course leading to the Greater Depression, caused by spending and debt from which there will be no recovery.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Saturday, February 20, 2010

LAZY AMERICANS-IT MATTERS


American workers are not lazy--they work, or at least they show up for the job each day
Not only the husband, but the wife and all of the children over 16. They want and need that paycheck. That being the case why do we have that constant trade deficit ? Cheap labor overseas? True in part, but also foreign workers are willing to do more for less to advance their status; American workers already have what foreign workers desire.

No need to lecture Americans on the work ethic, they understand to get you have to earn, and to earn you have to show up for the job. With the job comes benefits, health care, pensions, unemployment insurance, social security etc. Cradle to grave security. What about the desire to excel? To achieve?

Sorry, foreign-born students, workers and professionals beat American-.born all the time, because of culture differences--they still have intense desire to do better . The same desire that Americans used to have , that made them and their country the envy of the world.

Dick Francis passed away February 14,2010


At age 89, one of our favorite mystery writers slipped away.

Mr. Francis worked all of his life, starting without any formal education, he

became a champion National Hunt jockey [steeplechase] , eventually riding for the Queen's colors. He claimed to have been tossed from his mount approximately every eight race or so. Suffering from broken bones and head injuries most of his racing career, he knew first hand the pain of his fictional characters.


Writing more than 40 best sellers, his heroic main character never varied from virtuous behavior in spite of beatings, torture and general mayhem. He did not delve into graphic sexual descriptions, nor murder or bad language [he claimed he didn't want to embarrass the Queen --a noted reader of his novels]. He lost his loving wife several years ago, who had collaborated in his writing. He has left us with 40 great books, a wonderful legacy, yet we will miss future gifts.


DICK FRANCIS R.I.P.

With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN

Friday, February 19, 2010

CHANGE YOU CAN COUNT ON

NORMAN THOMAS,leading American socialist, pacifist and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.

As the Socialist Party Presidential candidate, he said this in a 1944 speech:

The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name

of “liberalism.” they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day

America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” He went on to

say: “I no longer need to run as a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The

Democratic Party has adopted our platform.”


Bit by bit we accept the socialist agenda. With the Big Banks, Corporate America

and Big Labor controlling our government, we have the perfect definition of fascism--bring on the secret police and the storm troopers. TV dumbed America today accepts this as normal, as they spend their energies on who gets an Emmy or will Sarah Palin run for president.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN

Thursday, February 18, 2010

IRAN'S NUCLEAR IS A HOOT

True, but unfortunately not a laughing matter. President Ahmadinejad recently announced with pride that they would enrich their uranium to 20%. The cacophony from the Western media and Washington D.C. was immediate and intense.


The funny part is the way they can jerk the chain of the Israel lobby by making apparently innocent statements. 20 % enrichment is a long way from the 85-90% enrichment needed for a nuclear weapon. They have the incredible amount of 22 pounds of uranium--isn't that frightening? Further examination revealed that the 20% enriched is to be used for medical isotopes for cancer treatment and imaging-- also frightening?


Old Foot-in-Mouth Hillary Clinton joined the chorus by insisting Iran was working on nuclear weapons and claiming Iran is a "military dictatorship" ignoring other tyrannical regimes in the area. Iran steadfastly maintains it's nuclear efforts are for power generation, clearly permitted by the non-proliferation treaty and have been verified by inspections by UN and US intelligence units. Mrs. Clinton doesn't trust this information and prefers to believe Israel's rant.


The U.S along with authoring new sanctions is busy reinforcing U.S. military and Arab units in the vicinity to counter any potential Iranian retaliation for an American/Israel attack. Unbelievable. We are afraid Iran will not just let us attack them without retaliation.


The present geography has Iran as the meat in a sandwich between our military in Iraq and Afghanistan, with Pakistan a potential new seige potential.


How did Iran become our enemy and subject to our constant displeasure ? Go back 31 years to when the Iranians overthrew the U.S. installed Shah who pillaged the country's wealth for his personal fortune while maintaing ruthless oppression with his feared secret police.


Through the years, the animosity continued with freezing Iranian assets in the U.S.

and supporting Saddam Hussein in the war with Iran.


The beat goes on. Iran is no threat to the U.S. save for not agreeing to the hegemony

of U.S. and the Arab states. We need not worry about an attack on us, unless of course we continue to overtly provoke them, or our rogue ally Israel carries out their threat to bomb Iranian nuclear production sites.


Seems like a lot of nonsense over a way to boil water.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN




Wednesday, February 17, 2010

IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN

With all the justified criticisms of Obama, we look to the alternative. BUT Look again!


Obama just signed a bill raising the debt limit. No republican in the House or Senate voted for it. When George W. Bush was president and the GOP controlled both houses for most of his terms the debt limit was raised seven times.


The GOP talks a lot about smaller government, less spending and the like, but they are like the rest are crooks and liars. They lied about 911, they lied about weapons of mass destruction, they lied about Osama bin Laden. The gave us the Patriot Act They lied about Gitmo torture and took us to unprovoked war in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are pork barrelers big time,and freely accept the gratuities of corporate interests and Big Wall Street.


The point is that today's politicians, whether Republican or Democrat are not responsible to the voters, but to the fat cats that pay for their re-election. The only choice is 'none of the above' and absolutely none of the incumbents.


From: "Middle-Class Rage Against the Government" by Jack D. Douglas www.LewRockwell.com,


"The soaring, middle-class rage against government catastrophes, terrorism, and corruptions of all forms is in part due to the immense catastrophes they have seen government and Big Corporations working with government produce in front of their startled eyes over and over again. The Great Financial Crisis is certainly a colossal catastrophe they have seen crashing all around them, Government officials deny everything and try to blame it all on the local real estate guy or gal who worked with you to get a mortgage for your home, But even the terminally ignorant and dumb see that government did not prevent it and intelligent people are perfectly aware the government not only was the prime mover of it all by getting interest rates below zero in real terms and the government is now giving vast piles of their money to the Big Bank Perps, rewarding the corporate perps for the catastrophe they helped to create.

But they are also seeing the government catastrophes erupting ever more frequently everywhere, from Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan to Katrina in New Orleans and even to police terrorism in our homes and FDA catastrophes across the board endangering all of us."

VOTE THE BUMS OUT.

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

WHAT HAPPENED


Like Rip Van Winkle, those of us who have been around for awhile, grew up in a different era with different values such as grace, manners, virtue and honor, wonder what happened to that world.


Liberty was something we experienced, and didn't feel the need to talk about it.

Fear was not a national emotion. We went to war in 1941 after we were attacked,

not just because we might be.


Congress declared wars, made laws and levied taxes, not the executive branch.


How did the president get so much power?


To find out what had happened or might happen we read newspapers, listened to the radio or even TV. We trusted the veracity of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite even Walter Winchell, CBS and NBC. Now we don't trust the media which is managed and manipulated to spoon feed us drivel and lies.


This is not a treatise on nostalgia. It is a lament on the disappearance of real freedom representative government, common held virtuous values and individualism.


Presidents Day [yesterday] is nothing more than an excuse to give government employees and bankers a day off. We do not celebrate the heroes who have honored the President's office--they are gone and their messages to us are largely forgotten.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Monday, February 15, 2010

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL SYSTEM

www.LewRockwell.com "The Schools are Doing a Wonderful Job!" by Butler Shaffer

Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.~ Mark Twain
Mr. Shaffer laments:"I sometimes grow weary listening to people complaining that the government schools are doing a terrible job. I have many objections to this horrid system, but I must give it credit for accomplishing its actual – but unstated – purpose, namely, to dumb-down the minds of people so as to make them unquestioning and obedient vassals of the established order. There is nothing so disruptive to the status quo as a society of self-directed, independent-minded people both capable of and insistent on informed, analytical thought."

Admittedly, it has been a while since THE HATMAN has been inside a school room, and therefore his credentials may be in question, however, modern education being politically correct has departed substantially from the three R's of Readin', Rightin' and' Rithmetic.

Truly, with hand held calculators, iPods, Blackberrys and the like, an individual can get along adequately without knowing basics of arithmetic, spelling, grammar. geography, history and all of the other dry boring subjects that earlier generations had to endure in the classroom. Want to know the capital of Bulgaria? Just Google it and presto: Sophia appears on the screen.

"No Child Left Behind" sounds good and is politically viable, but comes right out of the communist manifesto to make everyone equal and subject to the state. To make everyone equal is to lower the standard to the lowest level so everyone passes and none fail. Unfortunately schools have been moving in this direction for several decades now, even before the Bush education doctrine and are producing a dumbed down populace who are incapable of independent analytical thought.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN


Saturday, February 13, 2010

SLEEPY TIME

According to Darryl Robert Schoon in his article Davos:The Bomb Shelter-www.321 gold.com, Each of us is in this picture.

"All of us, including the bankers, are in the above picture but we may not be where we think we are. Nonetheless, it is an accurate depiction of the current situation. The ship has hit an iceberg and is sinking. Only the time and manner of its demise are still unknown.

Some hope the ship can still be saved. It can't. We are in the endgame predicted by those who warned us; and now it is too late to do what could only have been done before. We chose to do nothing and by so doing allowed the current tragedy to happen.

The dawning realization of what is happening has come too late to save the nation. The warnings by America's founding fathers were ignored by all and the consequences are coming to pass as predicted."

Lies, lies and more lies

"If you still listen to, read or watch mainstream media for your news, you could believe any or all of the following:

(1) the "recession" is over

(2) Iraq had weapons of mass destruction

(3) 9-11 was the work of terrorists and

(4) Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.

If you believe any of the above, you don't need sleep aids as you are sleeping quite well on your own."


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Friday, February 12, 2010

SOVEREIGN ALCHEMY

RE: "Sovereign Alchemy Will Fail"by Ergon von Greyerz, Matterhorn Asset Management AG

"When we look at the world economy today, wherever we turn we see a wall of risk. And sadly this is an insurmountable wall with risks that are totally unprecedented in history. There has never before been a potentially catastrophic combination of so many virtually bankrupt major sovereign states (US, UK, Spain, Italy Greece, Japan and many more) and a financial system which is bankrupt but is temporarily kept alive with phoney valuations and unlimited money printing. But governments will soon realise that they are not alchemists who can turn printed paper into gold. The consequences of the global financial crisis are potentially catastrophic.

As the Austrian economist von Mises said: “There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency involved.”

the world economy has become a time bomb waiting to explode or more likely implode. All the so called experts have declared that it is impossible to identify the problems in the financial system in advance. For example, Greenspan, Bernanke, Geithner, other central bankers and government officials as well as Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and many bank heads have all stated that they couldn’t see it coming. Either they are lying or they are stupid. Sadly, it is most likely the former. It is virtually impossible to find an honest politician. They have one major objective – Power. To attain power they have to buy votes. But to buy votes they cannot tell the truth. No politician ever forecasts bad news because bad news does not buy votes. (Yes, there are exceptions like Ron Paul in the US). And as regards the bankers, it is definitely not in their interest to worry about risks to the financial system. For every year that they issue additional toxic debt and derivatives they earn more in that single year than most normal people earn in a lifetime."

"The list of countries at risk of bankruptcy is increasing by the day. The acronym used to be PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain). It is now PIIGSJUKUS and growing. The main contenders are currently: USA, UK, Japan, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, France, Portugal, Baltic States, Eastern Europe and many more. On a proper accounting basis all of these countries are already bankrupt, but since many nations can either print money like the US and the UK or increase their already high borrowings, like Greece or the Baltic States, they have technically avoided bankruptcy although in reality all the countries in the list above are basket cases with very little chance of a return to normality."

"It took almost 200 years for US Federal debt to reach $ 1 trillion which it did in 1981. In 2009 the debt increased by $ 1.9 trillion in just that year to $ 12.4 trillion. In the next ten years the US debt is forecast to reach $ 25 trillion. And this doubling of the debt does not include any funds to prop up a bankrupt financial system or the spending of tens or maybe hundreds of trillions of dollars on worthless OTC derivatives. The forecast also assumes growth in GDP which is extremely unlikely especially for the next 2-5 years. Currently US Federal debt is six times what it collects in tax revenue every year. With debt exploding and tax revenues collapsing, there is no chance that the debt can ever be repaid with normal money. Also, with debt out of control interest rates will rise substantially to 10-20% per annum. Applying a 15% interest rate to a $ 25 trillion debt would give an annual interest bill of $ 3.75 trillion which would be substantially more than tax revenues."

The prosperity illusion

"When you live in the midst of history you don’t realise that you are part of making extraordinary history. Therefore most people don’t understand that the last 100 years has been an extraordinary period in history and even more so the last 20-30 years. The perceived prosperity and increase in living standards have been achieved primarily through massive increases in borrowing, both by governments and by individuals. Take away the enormous debt that has been created during this period and the world would be a lot poorer. Alternatively, apply a market rate of interest on the debt. If governments had not manipulated interest rates and set them at artificially low levels, the normal forces of supply and demand would have forced rates considerably higher, most probably in double digits. The higher rates would have reduced demand for credit and thereby prevented the credit and asset bubbles that have caused the worldwide financial crisis. In recent years, Greenspan reduced rates from 6% to 1% between the end of 2000 and 2003. And Bernanke again applied the only remedy that central bankers know, in addition to printing money, when he reduced rates from 5% to 0% between 2007 and 2008. These people seem incapable of understanding that simple laws of supply and demand would have repaired the economy automatically without their incompetent and desperate interventions. By leaving monetary policy to market forces we would have normal recessions and minor booms that would be totally self-regulating. What the central bankers instead have created is the most enormous bubble in world history. And sadly like all bubbles, this one can only end in a disaster of a magnitude that will affect the world for a very, very long time.

So the last 100 years will be seen in history as an extraordinary period when governments thought that they had invented a new economic miracle based on unlimited credit and money printing. But sadly this miracle will be seen by future historians as another failed delusional economic theory dreamed up by politicians."

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN


Thursday, February 11, 2010

THE NEXT SHOE TO FALL

REF:"The Coming Pan-european Sovereign Debt Crises" by Reggie Middleton, www.SafeHaven.com


"Banks are the epicenter of the economic crises that face the developed and emerging nations over the last few years. Many appear to have allowed the media to carry the conversation away from the banks and into sovereign debt issues, social unrest etc., but the main issue still resides in the banks."

"The fact that governments worldwide have made the (generally unwise) attempt to bailout their big banks by transferring bad debts and liabilities from the private sector and bank investors to the public sector and taxpayers doesn't mean that the problem has been solved or even ameliorated. As a matter of fact, I believe the problem has now been amplified, for now we have effective increased the implicit leverage in the already excessively leveraged banking problems as well as removed the natural firewalls that may have been in place by having the problems in individual financial institution versus sitting on government balance sheets, able to affect all without the need of the "domino effect" that was feared from the Lehman collapse."

"This leverage stems from the fact that most European sovereign nations are considerably "overbanked". The levered assets of the banks in many Euro-sovereign nations easily outstrip those nations' GDP's. So when the nations' banks get in trouble from bad banking practices (and a very large swath have), the nations themselves not only are helpless in attempting to truly save the banks."

Following the example of the UK and U. S. of "uploading" the toxic assets of the banks[securitized weak mortgages, and other bad bet derivatives] the nations have put themselves in financial jeopardy.

Before we exhale "whew, I'm glad it's them not us", look again. our turn is at hand. Our central bank is way over bloated with worthless assets,bought with created dollars. This crises started with undisciplined banks and will be perpetuated in an attempt to conceal the rot within.

Our government's cosiness with banks and the undisciplined secret Federal Reserve has brought financial destruction to this nation as well as to the world. They may continue to pretend and extend , create and borrow funds for bailouts, but the end is certain.


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN




Wednesday, February 10, 2010

CRIMINALS STILL AT LARGE

REF: "Bush, Cheney and the Great Escape" by William Rivers Pitt www.Truthout 2/5/10
"With each passing day, it becomes more and more astonishing to encompass the fact that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their henchmen from the prior administration have managed thus far to escape any accounting whatsoever for the massive battery of criminal activity committed during their time in office. More than a year has passed since these men had their hands on the levers of power, and evidence of their myriad crimes and frauds is laying all over the countryside, yet nothing has come of it.

The British government has been running a wide-ranging inquiry into the manner in which the UK and United States were led to war in Iraq by then-President Bush and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. An astonishing amount of damning evidence and information has been uncovered and publicly aired, including the following statements delivered by a senior member of Parliament (MP) on Tuesday:

A senior Welsh MP said last night he knew "for certain" Tony Blair and George Bush struck a deal to invade Iraq at their notorious Crawford Ranch meeting in 2002 - a year before war was declared. Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, said he had seen a confidential memo to that effect, although he would not divulge its exact contents.

. . . MP Llwyd refers here to the infamous Downing Street Memos, a collection of British government documents that lay out George W. Bush's intent to invade and occupy Iraq whether or not there was any WMD/terrorism evidence to support the action, documents that further demonstrate Prime Minister Tony Blair's willing acquiescence to the plan. Most damning of all is the secret memo dated 23 July 2002, explaining that war in Iraq was coming, and if the facts did not support the action, those facts would be twisted and buried. "There was a perceptible shift in attitude," read the memo [emphasis added]. "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

These documents, along with testimony from the likes of MP Llwyd, offer a vivid portrait of a Bush administration far gone in the pursuit of its own militant plans, and more than willing to break laws and deceive the public to achieve the ends they sought. It was a nest of criminals that occupied the White House for those eight long years, proof of this continues to pile up in vast drifts, and nothing comes of it.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Perle, Feith, Wolfowitz, Rice, and a dozen other members of the Bush administration,
They lied through their teeth and broke any number of laws to see it done. They are guilty of much more than the war crimes they committed in both Iraq and the United States. They are guilty of bankrupting this nation with two wars begun on false pretenses and perpetuated to enrich the few."

Is there no justice in this nation? Justice for the few of the elites, but not the people.

With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Tuesday, February 9, 2010

STOP THE DOPES, LIARS AND IDIOTS


RE: 'Spending America Into Ruin" by Eric Margollis, wwwLew Rockwell.com

This is not a new subject, but comes easily to mind hearing the mindless nonsense

spouted by our public servants and wouldabes.


Quoting Margollis "One of history’s most important lessons is that politicians should never be given a free hand to borrow money to cover the costs of wars, overseas adventures, or military spending.

More empires have been brought down by reckless spending than by invaders. The late Soviet Union, which wrecked its economy by buying too many tanks[and invading Afghanistan], is the most recent example. Now, the United States appears headed in the same direction.

Even so, President Barack Obama calls the US $3.8 trillion budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.

What a dope, liar and idiot. Further, they have no respect for our constitution framed government nor the oaths they took to defend same. We elect people with absolutely no character, or principles other than to get into and stay in office.

The pig pen we call our national offices, executive, congressional and federal courts is overrun with swine wearing 3 button suits and icon flags in their lapels, mostly without a clue as to what the constitution says or even what it looks like and needless to say, what makes this country work and what made it great.

Yesterday, the GOP poster child, Sarah Palin was in Texas campaigning ostensibly for Rick Perry, speaking in one-liners someone had written for her, when she mentioned secession [probably to ditch it], the crowd erupted in thunderous applause and cheering, practically blowing her away.

Yesterday and today the world's super bankers are meeting in secret to determine our fate as well as others, since we turned over our financial sovereignty to them decades ago. How can this happen? We allowed it to happen by electing dopes, liars and idiots to be in charge of our affairs. They spent us into servitude with needless and expansive wars, social program give-a-ways and big non-representative government.[ e.g.Mrs. Pelosi's Boeing 757 ]

America has become the Sick Man of the Western World, an economic cripple like the defunct Ottoman Empire whose inept financial management was legendary.

Increasing numbers of Americans are rightly outraged and fearful of runaway deficits. But many do not understand their political leaders are also spending their nation into ruin through unnecessary foreign wars and a vainglorious attempt to control much of the globe – what neocons call "full spectrum dominance" – using the canard of terrorism to justify an imperial policy that often closely resembles that of the old British Empire.

Who sends these incompetent irresponsible dopes, liars and idiots to Washington?

No not some liberals in Massachusetts or Connecticut--We do ! By looking at candidates through smoke filled glasses and voting with party labels. We the electorate continue to choose between bad and worse--the only choices offered to us by the 'system'

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN


Monday, February 8, 2010

SARAH PALIN: WAKE UP!

You sound incredibly like Hillary Clinton, the original foot in mouth spokeswoman. Why should we attack or support an attack on Iran. They have done nothing to us, nor are we in jeopardy in any way except for a retaliation for an attack on them.


You could be the Republican hope for the future. Every foreign war in the 1900s and 2000,s was started by a Democrat president until George Bush and George W. Bush and their cronies, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, Wolfowitz and Gates. The Neocons took over the GOP and changed what the party had stood for. The GOP believed in non-intervention in foreign wars; A strong military as being the best deterrent to war; a strong limited federal government which lived within it's means and did not needlessly interfere with he rights and freedoms of the citizens.


Mrs, Palin, you could lead the way to return to Republican values instead of acting like an airhead with a pretty face, having an understanding of only superficial issues You and your running mate were defeated because the people wanted change from the Bush doctrines of war, spending and big bank cronyism. What they got with Obama was actually no change except for an aggressive Socialist/Communistic program.


Do you not know that there is a Great Silent Majority in this country that long for a return to moderate Republican ideals. By playing up to the Neocons and the Israel interests you might get a place on the GOP ticket, but you will be defeated again by this Silent Majority .


Please open your eyes to the real world and understand that Israel is not our friend.


This nation is the friend of no other nation, except themselves. Yes, they gladly receive our billions in aid and weapons, but will not respect human rights and the rights of other nations in their neighborhood. They cry wolf about Iran's nuclear weapons program, while not opening their own weapons program to international inspection. They are not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty. Iran is a signatory and is and has been subject to repeated inspections, Iran's nuclear weapons program smells a lot like Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction".



With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Saturday, February 6, 2010

THE PROBLEM WITH SOVEREIGN DEBT

When your friend owes you money and borrows money to pay you interest or gives you a new IOU, the debt problem is contained between you, your friend and the lender of the interest.


Sovereign debt [the debts of nations] however, is another matter. First all of the citizens are on the hook for the debt and the incumbrance will settled presumably with future tax receipts , except when the nation issues more debt and debt to to pay the interest on existing debt, which compounds the problem as the debt grows and grows until there is no possibility of the nation or its' citizens being ever able to pay off the debt. In addition the risk is spread to citizens of other nations all over the globe, hence the containment of the problem, such as the money your friend owes you no longer exists.


This circle of despair begins with the concept of credit or debt considered as money.

Any thing to be considered as money must have a constant value i.e. to be used as a store of value. Since 1913, when the Federal Reserve got control of our money it has gradually lost value, SINCE MORE AND MORE "MONEY' WAS CREATED. Example: in 1906 a 4 bedroom house in a good neighborhood cost less than $1,000. Now in most good neighborhoods you cannot buy a 4 bedroom house for $100,000. Our Federal Reserve Notes are not backed by any hard or constant value money--just an IOU.


The entire world is on a standard of debt money, without sufficient hard money such as gold or silver as collateral to back it's IOU's and as the debts rise into the never never land it becomes obvious to even the risk- blind investor that maybe his investment in the sovereign bonds may be in a black hole.


The debt balloon is starting to leak. First with Dubai, now with Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy, sovereign bonds are losing market value and ever increasing interest rates are needed to keep the game going. Money is flowing to safe havens. The USA is temporarily the beneficiary of this money flow. This will be true until the bell tolls for thee, since our debts are now so large as to be also unpayable. This 'money' flow is much like getting to a better seat in a sinking ship.


The saddest part of this sovereign debt implosion is that the largest purchasers of these bonds are pension funds, insurance companies and banks which have been relied upon to safeguard savings and retirement funds.


Central banks are unofficially banded together in a cabal to control fiat money and deny gold and silver accumulation. They are busy putting fingers in the dikes of debt, "bailing out" those who have been caught out as being insolvent. So we have essentially the lame leaning on the lame or if you will, the blind leading the blind into the ditch.


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN



Friday, February 5, 2010

AN INNOCENT TEST

You are having doctor visit. No real problems other than the usual aches, pains, gurgles and burps. After poking and pushing here and there the doctor says " Well to be sure there is nothing wrong let's do a CT scan." [your Medicare or health insurance will cover it] What do you say? Do you agree to have the test?


After all it's non-invasive and all that is required is for you to lay down on the sled and

the machine moves you into the tunnel, there is a lot of machinery noise, banging and groaning, you are moved out of the tunnel and you are finished, what's the big deal?


The big deal is that 15,000 people are known to have died per year from CT scans.

It is believed that 29,000 cancers each year are attributed to CT scans and perhaps many more since the manifestation of radiation damage is delayed sometimes up to 10 years.


The CT scan is fairly new technology based upon much older technology the X-ray.

The scan consists of collecting X-ray energies and composing them into images of

organs inside the body. How much of this radiation can you receive without harm? This is still being debated and is definitely not absolutely known . Several scientists maintain that any radiation is harmful and dangerous. Radiation affects the body at the sub-cellular level, attacking and modifying the DNA genetic codes.


Radiation is cumulative, it builds upon it's self. The more you receive from all exposures, the higher the risk. Unfortunately the CT Scans are getting to be as ubiquitous as X-rays in the dentist chair, or annual chest X-rays. Over 70 million will be performed this year.


Now the TSA wants to do full body scans at the airports. Exposing us to a different , but just as deadly radiation. Dr. John Gofman of the U of Cal , believes that 50%

of all cancers come from medical tests. Now they want to microwave us each time we fly.


What with cell phone, microwave transmissions , mw ovens and natural radiation

we have a ticking time bomb situation.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN