[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
(via Wikileaks, probably the most exciting news operation on the planet at the moment)
Last week I launched a new TPN podcast callde “Cigar Talk”.
The basic format will be my partner in Perdomo Cigars Australia, Jason Nelson, and I talking to people who appreciate a fine cigar. Episode one features Filip Pilioras from Paladar Fumior Salon in Brisbane, his friend Nick and ChrissyD! Check it out below and go to Cigar Talk to visit the site.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj2AdcwWhUM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
On March 23, 2010, this site predicted that China and Russia would use a “HAARP-like instrument” to create earthquakes on the US West Coast.
On 28 March, 2010, a 7.2 earthquake hit Baja California.
Coincidence?
And in today’s news, there are concerns that these strange images appearing on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s site are evidence of HAARP being used to create violent weather in Australia. Believe it or not.
This morning I ran a quick experiment. I searched through News.com.au’s site for stories that mention Facebook in the title to see what percentage of those stories had a negative slant. My theory is that large media companies such as News are scared about the amount of traffic Facebook is getting, as it’s decreasing their own readership thereby affecting the revenue they can generate from advertising. So they are running Facebook scare campaigns.
News Corp, of course, has even more reason that other media companies to be hatin’ on the Facebook, because they own MySpace, Facebook’s biggest competitor.
So – on with the results.
NEGATIVE STORIES
Facebook pedophiles stalk TV star, 11
Police probe students’ Facebook hate group
Spook’s wife in strife over Facebook post
Pupil’s Facebook slur against teacher
Facebook affair behind murder, suicide
Teacher dies after nude Facebook photos
Facebook used to organise Auburn racial riot – police
Nicole Kidman bullied on Facebook
Teenager fired from job via Facebook
Fake police Facebook page fools users
Premier Bligh writes to Facebook boss
Facebook removes kill-a-prostitute page
Teen’s death posted on Facebook first
Parents use Facebook to trap paedophile
Facebook deal forces computer clean-up
Rail bash teen’s mates turn to Facebook
Smiling in a bikini on Facebook costs Canadian woman her insurance
POSITIVE STORIES
Facebook extended to iPhone, iPod Touch
Pure Digital Sensia radio goes on Facebook, Twitter
Orangutan photographer a Facebook hit
Thief nabbed by Facebook detectives
So… out of twenty-one stories, there are FOUR positive stories (19%) and SEVENTEEN negative stories (81%).
The question is – does this show a bias in coverage?
Discuss.
The very financial product that triggered the GFC – subprime mortgages, aka banks making home loans to people who can’t afford them – is apparently the hot new thing on Wall Street – again.
“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)
According to the Smirking Chimp:
This is 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!
I’m currently reading “The Creature From Jekyll Island” and “Whoops!“, two books about how the U.S. Federal Reserve, Congress, The White House and Wall Street have been working together for nearly a century (The Fed was created in 1910) to fleece the American public. The thing most people don’t understand is that The System is designed to encourage stupid risks which deliver massive profits to a small group of bankers for a decade, then collapse, only to be bailed out by the American public. It’s been going on for a century and isn’t about to stop anytime soon, because Congress and The White House are all on the payroll.