Change, my precious, cha-aaaannnge!
We’re now at about the time when candidates for next year’s U.S. presidential election start positioning themselves for a run. The incumbent has indicated he’ll have another go, plus that odd-looking real estate guy who’s got his own reality TV program. So I’ll throw the floor open today and ask, a) who’s going to run, b) who would you like to see running, c) who will win the Republican nomination (or Democratic, if you think anyone other than the current guy is a possibility), and d) who will win in November next year?
Apart from being pleased in principle that America actually voted for a black guy as their leader, I’ve found him mediocre at best, and shrouded in mystery at worst. Leaving aside the whole business of his birth certificate, I read here that Fox News contacted some 400 of his “classmates” from Columbia University’s 1983 graduating year and not one of them could remember him. (Obama’s supporters have since produced exactly two ’83 alumni who now say they do). One of them, 2008 Libertarian Party candidate Wayne Allyn Root, observed,
I think the most dangerous thing you should know about Barack Obama is that I don’t know a single person at Columbia that knows him, and they all know me. I don’t have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever!
Furthermore, he doesn’t appear in Columbia’s 1983 yearbook. Excuses like oh, he was living off-campus and kept to himself don’t wash with me, or most people who have been to college either. The lengthy Wikipedia article on the first 35 years of Obama’s life devotes just two terse sentences to the entire three-year period 1981-1983. And then, before he begins at Harvard Law School, he does a stint at Business International Corporation, well known as a CIA front company? Either he got into Harvard in the basis of his outstanding grades—which he now won’t disclose—or for some other reason. It all doesn’t pass the smell test.
Some of LibertyGibbert’s American readers have expressed mild surprise that foreigners should take so much interest in their local politics. The explanation, of course, is that when you guys sneeze, the rest of us catch a cold. You have the world’s largest economy, up till recently you were the world’s largest manufacturer, and you’ve got the world’s largest military.
Despite your noble efforts in the first half of the twentieth century to stay out of the rest of the world’s fights and act as an honest mediator (dating back to 1905, when Theodore Roosevelt personally brokered an end to the Russo-Japanese War), oligarchs, bankers and political intriguers alike wouldn’t let you stay out. As a result, you’re now expected to act as the world’s policeman, a job with which I’m sure you’re completely fed up. As far as Australia is concerned, well if it wasn’t for America I’d probably be writing this in Japanese. You’re the largest foreign landowner and investor in Australia, by a long way. As a signatory to the ANZUS Treaty, we have mutual defence obligations and have always accompanied you on foreign peace-keeping and other military missions, adventures, or whatever.
So you see, the make-up and policy of the next U.S. administration affects us directly. I’m sure our readers in Britain, Ireland, Europe and elsewhere could say much the same. Plus, your presidential elections are such bloody good theatre. So, who’s going to run, and who’s going to win?
BREAKING NEWS… Obama announces Bin Laden dead, killed in Pakistan, body in U.S. custody, DNA tests confirmed. Rot in Hell ya bastard.
Be Responsible - Be Free! 
Ozboy,
The field of GOP contenders is rather diffuse at the moment. Donald Trump is a joke. His only redeeming quality is that he forced Obama’s hand and he had to release his fake birth certificate too early. Oh, I have little doubt Obama was born in Hawaii (I never doubted it) but the document he released is a fake…it might be accurate, but it’s a fake (you can take apart the layers with Illustrator). Who ever heard of a race being defined as “African”, especially in 1961?
The guy I kinda like is Gov. Mitch Daniels from Indiana. He’s about the most Libertarian of the lot. Daniels actually privatized the toll roads in Indiana. It saved the state a fortune and the customers received vastly improved service. Daniels believes government can’t do ANYTHING better than the private sector. He’s a fiscal hawk and very pragmatic. But he’s short and bald and not possessed of rock star charisma (this might be another reason I like him).
Then we have Gov. Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota. He used to favor cap & trade but has since become an apostate from the Church of Global Warming. I don’t think Sarah Palin will run but I have to admit, I like her more lately than I used to. Sarah DOES have rock star charisma and the left is scared shitless of her. There’s a chance Rep. Michele Bachmann from Minnesota might throw her hat in the ring. I like her but I’m not convinced she’s electable. Former Gov. Huckabee from Arkansas is out I think. Freakin’ Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may yet take a stab at it…I sure hope not. Former Gov. Mitt Romney is still in it. He has the stain of the prototype for ObamaCare in MA on his record, but he’s still a viable candidate. Libertarians Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson have announced their candidacy. They have no chance in hell of winning the nomination.
I’d love to see Sen. Jim DeMint from South Carolina run but he’s not interested. I think he would be damn near unbeatable. There’s a lot of enthusiasm to get newly elected Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Allen West from Florida to run. These guys are definitely rising stars but it’s too early for them. Another cadre is screaming demands that relatively recently elected Gov. Chris Christy from New Jersey run. Christy, too, may be a player in the future. Right now he has no interest. He wants to be Gov. of New Jersey and clean up decades of socialist democrat blight. He’s impressive, though. He’s a big, fat guy. He speaks his mind without hesitation and tells his constituents very uncomfortable truths. He has been fearless about punching public sector unions squarely in the nose. Trouble is he is on the wrong side of the Second Amendment issue.
I think it’s way too early to make any predictions. Personally I’d like to see a relatively new face that we haven’t seen in previous elections. We’ll have to wait and see. The great sage, Rush Limbaugh, has pointed out that no matter who the GOP candidate is, the next election will be all about Obama and how many will vote AGAINST him.
As I sit here and type all these names I can’t help but think, “how are you guys supposed to even know who these people are?” After tomorrow we’ll know who the new PM of Canada is. Right now that seems more interesting to me. I guess I can understand why you care. If Obama wrecks even more of the US economy in the next 20 months the effect will be felt globally. For the sake of the nation it is very important that we elect a Republican to the White House next year. Equally critical, however, is that the GOP take back control of the Senate. Right now the USA is borrowing $188M per HOUR and the Democrats have absolutely no interest in stopping the spending.
ozboy as Ireland is officially neutral I don’t think they give a rats about USA military policy however as the second most important economy to them after the UK economically they care.
As for who will win I think it’s going to Obama after the biggest rigged election in history they are pulling a lot of rabbits out of their arse’s lately the latest on Drudge is Bin Laden is dead and they have the body.
Kitler,
Holy crap!!! I usually don’t check Drudge on Sunday evenings because they rarely update much. This news is HUGE!!! This ought to boost Obama’s approval ratings (even though he had nothing to do with it). The CIA has relentlessly hunted this pig-dog for nearly a decade. I gotta go watch some TV news….
Dr Dave I have blamed his demise on Global warming.
Dr Dave as Osama may have worked for the CIA it may explain why they took so long to catch him and it’s always nice to have a bogey man on the loose, however you can answer this how long can a person survive on dialysis?
Well the squawking heads on TV are going nuts.
As much as I despise Obama, he gave the best speech he ever has tonight. Damn! It was actually inspiring. There are huge cheering crowns outside the White House. It’s almost like the cheering throngs of filthy Muslims cheering in the streets after the twin towers fell. Gonna be some GREAT talk radio tomorrow…
Dr Dave the crowds are all college kids Obama supporters.
I don’t know if y’all ever read any of the political thrillers by Vince Flynn but this episode unfolded just like a chapter out of one of his books. The CIA spends years hunting down a bad guy, they put an operational plan together, get the Presidential nod and then send in special forces to take out the the target and disappear. Wow!
Kitler,
With access to modern facilities, one can live indefinitely on hemodialysis if they are given supplemental doses of hematopoetic growth factors to prevent anemia. I rather doubt this pig-dog was ever in renal failure.
OK well events have overtaken this thread, haven’t they? Feel free to discuss whatever.
Oz, the A. Phillips type makes me want to crack coconuts. Or something. There’s no getting through….!
Dave, it would have been more inspiring if he could learn a line or two instead of reading it. Makes him seem insincere even if he isn’t. You know that Reagan or either of the Bushes would have spoken from the heart, even if the lines were memorized (and nothing wrong with that).
BTW, my husband taught relatives of Dubya at the school in Houston where Dubya himself went for a time. Nice people, good students. A little extra protection in the bodyguard department, as well….
Oz: ‘Rot in hell ya bastard’… Is it just the way you say it??
Do you think that possibly some creep-us-outs somewhere are feeling a bit put out by this?
Lord, I hope so. Suck it up, you unspeakable ———!
Amanda,
I’m a simple sort. I don’t really care what Obama said tonight. I am just thankful that the last thing to go through bin Laden’s mind was an American made bullet.
Notice it wasn’t a “United Nations” team, or a “NATO” team, or a “coalition” team that did this. When the seriously nasty people come out of the woodwork, who ya gonna call?
Truly, God Bless America.
Ozboy,
You’re absolutely right. These weren’t the guys in the funny blue helmets with Swedish accents. These were extremely badass US Navy SEALS who deftly applied the lead. These boys are the best in the world. Over the years I’ve met a few of them. Other than being exceptionally physically fit, you could easily mistake them for an insurance agent or a banker. They don’t stick out like Rambo…they blend. Most are just ordinary family men with very extraordinary jobs. For missions like this there are none better.
Dr Dave I met an ex SAS guy once, nothing seemed extraordinary about him small guy but he did explain the ethos they live by. If you were asked to climb a tall mountain armed with only a pistol then attack an enemy airfield on the other side you just did. Hard buggers.
Good news America…… Job well done.
That’s great, now we can do away with all those stupid airport security check, and disband all the special teams of cops and, and, and
Oh well.
Will his deformed little soul burning brightly for eternity beneath our feet, add to globular warmering?
and, were all of the environmental impacts assessed and stated by approved consultants and then approved by the competent authorities – following a period of public consultation- before this operation was allowed to go ahead?
With particular regard to carbon emissions (dangerous to human health(US EPA)) lead contamination (go to Caliph-ornia and, like everything else does, once it gets over that state line it’ll cause birth defects and may cause cancer), and most seriously of all, pollution of marine environments (we should do it for the little fishies).
Perhaps the UK domestic extremism guys will look into it, they seem to be well up on environmental stuff 😛
John R Lott, the guns and violent crime researcher, sort of knew the big zero at one of the universities.
Said that 0 was not a pleasant individual, aloof, dismissive, and would not debate with anyone he disagreed with.
The grades issue is amusing, apparently G W Bush’s Harvard grades were better than John Kerry’s – but hey, W was just so dumb…
Someone was saying that the dem senators had made John McCain produce his long form birth cert before he was allowed to run for pres, but anyone wondering about the zero’s is a “Birther” conspiracy theorist.
Is it just me or does anyone else think there is something ‘fishy’ about this Bin Laden Dead report?
I thought he had been reported dead several times before – didn’t Benazir Bhutto say she knew who killed him in an interview once?
Just seems a bit sudden, caught, shot, photographic confirmation, DNA test done, buried at sea, all in 12 hours or so, and no possibility of a post-mortem.
I don’t do conspiracy theories but I still smell a rat!
Con Coughlin said ‘This is a truly glorious moment for US President Barack Obama. He has personally masterminded this operation’.
Of course it is, but the genie’s now out of the bottle and he can’t put it back.
Was it that difficult to put his signature to the completion of a popular venture that his predecessor initiated, and then take all the credit ?
Was it that difficult to give the go-ahead to something which his seals (?) had been training for for months in a full-scale replica of the ‘compound’ ?
Just passing through. Couldn’t be around for 10k at DT. Missed the fireworks. Is there any cake left? Oh. Must dash back home and wash the greenfly off.
Mel,
US intelligence has known where bin Laden was for over 6 months. I have no doubt they blew his brains out yesterday. The timing is somewhat suspect, but I have no reason to doubt that Osama bin Laden is, indeed, dead. US Navy SEALS punched his ticket. It was a highly professional hit job.
This has been the mission of these guys. They’ve been focused on this for nearly a decade. What sickens me is the Left in this country giving all the credit to Obama. At the same time we have the Right claiming it was all due to Bush’s policies (which is largely true). In the end this was a triumph of the US intelligence agencies and US special forces. These unsung heroes are the BEST. This was NOT a victory of any politician…it was a victory for the peoples of the free world.
With Dr Dave (see above) adamant that the new ‘birth certificate’ is a fake and Obama’s popularity at an all-time low, the opportunity to assassinate ‘public enemy N0.1’ seems too good to be true, but may well rebound.
Already it looks as though new regional alignments will be forged ( how about China, Russia, Pakistan, Saudi, anybody ?) with the US and UK on sidelines saying ‘but look we gave you all our money, why aren’t you grateful ?’
The Libyan ‘operation’ is getting daily more embarrassing. Is the US in or out ? Are we serious about killing Gadaffi or was killing his three little grandchildren a mistake, just as it was when we killed his little step-daughter all those years ago, or don’t you remember that ?
Napoleon asked of all his potential officers ‘has he luck ?’
It seems where Obama and Cameron are concerned, the answer is no !
Oy suffolkboy, where’s that drink you promised us all after the 10K ?
I think just for today, I’m re-naming this place the Osama Bin Laden Memorial Alcohol Consumption Establishment – Oz 👿
Bin Laden’s eternity in Hell begins the moment his seventy-two virgins simultaneously lift their veils.
Oh, to see the look on his face!
God’s justice is indeed infinite.
Computer hindcasts from established models show no evidence of a Little Imbibing Activity around 10K. That little dog over there ate the original data so you can’t hold me to it. { Gulp, cough, splutter. } How much rum went into this cake? Must dash. I have to homogenize the data for the UK April air temperatures by merging them with some Libyan data.
Congratulations SB, you’ve just posted LibertyGibbert’s 14,000th comment! Many thanks once again to all those who have contributed – Oz
toad,
The Obama birth certificate is, indeed, fake. I t may be accurate…but what was released was faked. It was photoshopped. Anyone with Illustrator can take the released PDF apart. Only a fringe group maintained Obama was born somewhere other than the USA. Most “birthers” maintain that no matter where Obama was born he is not a natural born citizen because his father was a foreign national and his mother was (at the time) legally a minor. The opportunity to take out bin Laden would be irresistible to ANY politician. We’ve always had the ability. What we have lacked is the information. No longer an issue…
Countries like OZ may allow sea hags from Wales to become PM, but in the US we’re fussy about those little details. Apparently not fussy enough. If you ask me the US has absolutely NO business in Libya. Libya didn’t attack us and we don’t even buy oil from Libya…Europe does. Apparently even European “super powers” can’t handle a third world nation like Libya w/o US aid.
It all disgusts me.
Dr Dave. I wouldn’t dispute a thing. I can just see it all rebounding on him though, and the US & UK will both be losers (until 2012)’
I trust you saw the sea hag at the Royal nuptials. Not a pretty sight !
You know, with a regal wave of her hand, Joolya’s minions could produce a perfectly legitimate birth certificate, short form, long form, any form you like, proving she was born in Walkabout Creek in 1969. Even though, in fact, she was born in Barry, Wales in 1961 and emigrated to Australia at five.
Something to think about – Oz
BTW any mail on GE’s return?
Some are taking a wider view of recent activity:
“”Pakistan, in particular, has big questions to answer. What part did its army – and in particular its intelligence service, the ISI – play in allowing bin Laden to stay in the country? And did it have a role in the events that led to his death? ”
Have you ever bothered to read the comments from the more informed Telegraph readership then you would already be well aware that we have known for years that the ISI is Al Qaeda and the root of most of the world’s Islamist terrorist plots for years.
Even now, President Obama David Cameron and the rest of the politicians simply don’t get it. The Journalists, the West Minister media village and the rest of the “official” chatteri are busy keeping the sheeple distracted with the predictable red herrings and willfully asking the wrong questions:
“How can Osama Bin Laden have found refuge just outside a military academy so near the capital of Pakistan?”
“How could the Pakistan government been “unaware” of this?”
The answer is extremely simple and very easy to find in Musharraf’s complaints about how the US raid was a violation of Pakistan Sovereignty:
http://www.politico.com/news/s…
Probably because the Pakistan government didn’t have the opportunity to do exactly what they did last time:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…
In other words, Pakistan IS the enemy and needs to go the way of Nazi Germany.
Only once this has been accomplished will the Islamists be deprived of a major base of operations in which to launch the 75% of Islamic terrorist operations that have been known to been launched by Pakistan against the UK and the West.
The real question that everybody is really asking “is when are the US and the West going to declare a real war (not some stupid media proxy war) on Pakistan and bomb then back to the Stone Age” as they had promised us before (it wouldn’t take very long after all):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wor…
I hope that the Americans now co-ordinate with the Indians to carry out similar raids to seize Pakistan’s Nuclear weapons before it is too late.
Ever since it has come into being, Pakistan has been a backward, reactionary, pariah nation that regularly trains terrorists and exports terrorism to it’s neighbours and the rest of the world.
The ISI created the Taliban, most of Pakistan’s military are stationed at the Pakistan / Indian border rather than “hunting” down terrorists in its usual Janus like fashion.
Pakistan murders it’s citizens if the state deems them to have committed “blasphemy” and routinely turns a blind eye to Islamist violence against all other minorities.
Pakistan is no more than a fascistic, totalitarian theocracy ruled by primitive superstitions and the sooner that we in the West actually recognise this, the sooner we can stop playing games and actually start the the real business of systematically eliminating all Islamists terrorists and their supporters from the face of the earth”
That’s a wider view? Talk of “systematically eliminating from the face of the earth” has a frighteningly familiar ring to it – Oz
Sorry “wider view” was my hasty description of the quote; perhaps “alternative” would have been a better choice of descriptor. Or no description at all.
But looking at it from another angle, calls to war probably do not get much wider than that.
My reading of it was that the poster thought OBL was irrelevant, probably expendable, and it is unlikely that the world is a safer place tomorrow.
farmerbraun it’s probably best to wait, India and Pakistan will try to annihilate each at some point this avoids all moral hazard on our part. I have the suspicion that a highly advanced civilization in the area managed to do this in the past so it’s probably genetic by now.
Did you happen to watch the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup in Punjab? Every sporting encounter between these two countries has the electric atmosphere of nuclear brinkmanship – Oz
Ozboy well maybe by bringing them cricket we may have allowed them a way out after all it’s yet another British game invented by shepherds tired of the attractions of sheep.
Found this on the daily bayonet…
The two obvious questions then.
Why did the Pakistan government not know that Bin Laden was living in their lounge.
Why did America dump Bin Ladens body into the sea, as quickly as possible?
The headline speech at the US National Rifle Association’s* annual bun fight called for Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, to resign over the scandal of US gun cops facilitating the “walking” of guns across the border to Mexico’s drugs cartels.
With the Osama story, the NRA one didn’t make it onto the TV news.
The NRA is one of the biggest, if not the biggest grass roots lobbying groups in the US. Despite its usually placid and sleepy nature in seeking rent to negotiate away that which “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”, its scoring of candidate’s records on gun rights issues are keenly sought by politicians.
If the NRA makes a congress varmint’s score dependent on support for full congressional hearings into “gunwalker”, it is likely to get them.
No one died in the Watergate building, it appears at least 3 Fed employees have been shot already with guns walked over the border by the ATF, along with many more Mexicans.
O/T
Oz,
I was watching a vid of economics Professor Jesus Huerto De Soto, talking about the need for 100% reserve banking with gold standard.
I was also reading estimates that for the US to go onto a full gold standard, it values its’ gold reserve at around $33,000 / oz!
I’ve not read prof De Soto’s books to check out the details, but it strikes me that going for a 100% gold backed financial system, as a means to avoid the mal investment of inflationary bubbles with fiat currencies, is asking for one hell of a big mal-investment – in gold exploration and mining.
Traditional deffinition of a mine: a hole in the ground with a Cornishman at the bottom.
Mark Twain’s definition of a mine: a hole in the ground, with a crook on top.
I wonder whether the guys remember Bre X and the Busang “deposit” in 1997?
I haven’t fully thought it through, but it strikes me that the guys calling for gold, and thinking that it can’t be inflated, even if gold is the least bad option, they haven’t much background in resources.
Whatchathink?
Luton Ian,
There’s not enough gold extant in the world to match the world’s wealth without ridiculously inflating the value of cold. This would destroy international trade.
or deflating the inflated face value of our currencies which are currently produced out of thin air by state owned and centrally planned monopolies, and constantly tinkered with (banking is a textbook example of German model socialism, it is not a free market at all).
their value was inflated without basis giving the illusion of wealth that never existed, re denominating them to gold would, after a brief period of haggling, probably not change the amount of goods that an individual’s income could buy.
The quantity of Gold in the world, was Tricky Dicky’s excuse for de-coupling the Dollar from Gold (so that he could increase spending by printing more money, hence the inflation of the 1970s and onwards).
The theory goes that with a relatively un-inflatable money supply (gold), that prices of goods and services decrease over time, as greater efficeincy in production puts more goods on the market while ammount of money remains constant.
Governments are then unable to finance excessive spending by printing excess ammounts of money
(; Kitler has some scans of Zim Dollars in denominations up to $100,000,000,000, if he’d like to post one or forward it to Oz. They were worth less than a square of toilet tissue).
the interest rate returns to a market determined level, determined by people’s relative preferences for goods now, or goods at some time in the future.
and from the information on selling price and interest rates, entrepreneurs are better able to judge whether to invest in producing goods which will be sold to consumers in the very near future, like your weekly groceries, or in longer term goods and capital investments, like new factories office blocks and new houses.
The theory goes that under the current system, central banks issuing cheap debt, which they’ve created out of thin air, to lending institutions and this creates an inflationary bubble in which entrepreneurs and consumers are fooled into borrowing money and investing it in capital goods, like real estate, but once it becomes clear that this was unsustainable, there was no real money there, everyone was on borrowed money rather than savings, and they can’t pay it back, those bad investments must be liquidated, hence the corrective bust.
Here’s De Soto, he explains it better than me:
http://blog.mises.org/16733/huerta-de-soto-interviewed/
I don’t thing that going to gold backed 100% reserve banking would destroy trade, but I think there would be some interesting problems with it, that aren’t being discussed.
Not least, diggers and dump trucks appearing on any and every gold occurrence in modern day gold rushes, and all of the interesting shenanigans of the “gold loans” which in part lead to the gold price crash in 1997.
Fenbeagle’s 2 questions do need attempting !.
1. Why did Pak Gov not know ? I imagine someone MUST have known, someone in a position to ensure that the rest of those helicopters were not shot down, but someone who decided that it would be better if they looked inept rather than be complicit in the assassination of a ‘hero’, and risking their own death.
2.Why did US dump body in sea quickly ? The temptation is to say ‘cos there wasn’t one. Either because the bird had flown or more likely because they already knew he was long dead (but surely the ‘survivors’ – Mrs OS et al will have talked by now – or aren’t they in the ‘care’ of Pakistani authorities ?)
None of what I’ve said really holds water, what does anyone else think ?
(by comparison, forging a birth certificate was easy, but when you consider what was at stake anything is possible)
My Missus called BS on the whole thing, which surprised me, she’s normally quite fond of The Zero.
Luton Ian,
The annu8al GDP of the USA is about $15 trillion. If gold were set at $1,500/oz the amount of gold necessary to match each dollar with a fungible asset like gold would require a cubic lump of gold about 25 meters on a side. That’s just for the USA for a single year. Gold is a fungible asset. Wealth is a concept.
I suspect photos of a dead bin Laden will be available shortly.
When’s the Blu-ray coming out?
Me, I’m waiting for the video game – Oz 😀
Luton Ian,
Check out this site:
http://www.serpholicmedia.com/news/osama-bin-laden-dead-19091
Dr Dave,
here’s a link to where I got the figures estimating the number of dollars covered by the US gold reserve.
http://mises.org/daily/5150/Fear-the-Boom-Not-the-Bust
they’re in the investing in gold part.
I wish I’d had the money to buy some gold back in the late 90s when it crashed to about $275 / oz, and the Blair government was auctioning off Britain’s reserves.
Typical socialist choice of timing, auctioning while gold was at its lowest price compared to other investments in over a century.
Instead I’d spent all my money going back to college for a year, and geologists were all driving taxis or fighting over bar jobs when I came out.
Yuk
Ian,
I think Ozboy should do a separate article about the gold standard. This is a thorny issue in economics. It makes good sense for an individual nation but it could be a disaster for international trade. Who would set the global value of gold? I’ve read some of von Mises, more of Hayek and a lot of Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. For simple trade, a gold standard works well. When you start factoring in futures and commodity trading, derivative markets, interest, etc. it no longer remains that simple.
Five or six years ago I bought some metals on a whim. I thought I’d try may hand at silversmithing. I goof around with stuff like woodworking, knife making, DIY projects, gardening, etc. I really wanted to play around with doing silver inlay. So I bought 20 ounces of silver and one 1/4 oz gold coin (to meet the minimum purchase price). I lost interest in the endeavor and put the metals in a wooden box in my gun safe and forgot about them. I checked metal prices last week. The $250 I invested several years ago is worth about $1,400 today. I could kick myself. The silver was only $4.75/oz at the time. A $1K investment in silver a few years ago would be worth $9K today. But is this inflation in value real? A very good investment in the US is hand guns. Guns don’t depreciate like most other things. The first hand gun I ever bought is a S&W .38 spl Mod.15 revolver in nickel finish. I paid about $250 for it 29 years ago. Today I could sell it for more than I paid for it (although if you factor in inflation this may not be such a deal). But if you actually did correct for inflation I could buy the same (or similar) firearm for about the same money. The functional and intrinsic value did not change much. So why did $100 worth of silver become worth $900 in the space of about 5 years? A gold (or any asset) standard prevents governments from printing money and artificially inducing inflation but at the same time it serves as a boat anchor for the growth of real wealth. We’ll have to discuss this at greater length when Ozboy writes a piece about it.
I’ve thought about giving the gold standard a run on its own. Anyone else want to see it? – Oz
Media reaction in Australia. The Age is owned by left-wing Fairfax press, and the Herald-Sun by the right-wing Murdoch press. Seen outside a Melbourne newsagency this morning:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/picking_sides/
And another thing. Memo to Julian Assange. Here’s what you get when you merrily release thousands of government papers without knowing their import or the danger that their release can expose others to:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/05/wikileaks-files-contained-clue-bin-laden-abbottabad-hideout/37252/
Off-topic.
Hello Ozboy. I take it that you will *not* be buying one of these for Ozgirl (aptly named though, don’t you think)?
http://www.amazon.com/Nutcase-Little-Watermelon-Street-X-Small/dp/B004QV6ADA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1304480062&sr=8-9
Ermm – no.
Good to see you back on deck Amanda. Clearly this topic has a lot more blog life in it yet. If that isn’t enough to tempt our GE back to his keyboard, I don’t know what is!
On that subject, after hearing a lot of encouragement to do so I relented last week and started posting again over there, as some of you have noticed. It doesn’t appear to have sparked any conflagration, so all’s good – Oz
Just read Dave’s reply to me. Love it. You’re so right. I was doing the equivalent of looking at Grace Kelly and complaining because somebody behind her has a bad haircut.
‘The last thing to go through his mind…’ Ha ha!
By the way, the statement quoted by Toad sound like Dan Hannan’s exact words on *his* DT blog.
When I awoke this morning I grabbed a cup of coffee and fired up my computer. Sure enough…bin Laden was still dead. I’m already sick of it but I imagine this story still has about about a week or so of life left in it. The left in the US will make every attempt to keep it alive until November of next year. Limbaugh today made a very salient point. He said Nixon was President when we landed a man on the moon. Did everyone credit Nixon for this accomplishment? No! That was JFK’s baby. Nobody credited LBJ or Nixon. So the Bush administration collects all the vial intelligence and sets the stage for taking out bin Laden. It comes to fruition on Obama’s watch and we’re supposed to give him all the credit? I’ve re-listened to Obama’s “inspiring speech” and was somewhat astounded by his use of “I”, “me”, “my” and “mine”. This is the same administration who pushed for court martial of Navy SEALS who gave a captured Iraqi terrorist murderer a fat lip! It’s all horseshit! But trust me my friends…Osama bin Laden finally got it through his head he shouldn’t f*ck with the USA.
On a lighter note, there was great news! Canada elected a majority conservative legislature. They have seen the light and they are following it. May there be spillover from the Great White North to the USA.
Flash!….The Saviour of the universe.
http://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/
You’re the Maestro of Merciless Merriment – Oz
Hello Oz. Well, we’re kind of switching shifts, then, because I WON’T be posting over there but I WILL show up now and then over here! This is my attempt at ‘moderation’. Over at DT, I was beginning to feel like the karaoke babe who won’t let go of the microphone: ‘Oops, I did it again….’
Fenbeagle. Fantastic job, one of your cartoons is worth a 1000 words. Ridicule is what really hits home !
Amanda. Shame about that, the night shift will be rather flat without you ! (see you soon)
The ‘assassination’ questions again.
Cui bono ? (Can we guess ?)
Why now ? Isn’t the 2012 election campaign about to start ?
As that great Middle East Expert Con Coughlin told us two days ago ‘This is a truly glorious moment for US President Barack Obama. He has personally masterminded this operation’
(Sorry that should now read ‘has personally signed the piece of paper Leon Panetta put in front of him’)
Re GE’s return. He did threaten us with this yesterday. (but with so many ‘doppelgangers’ around !)
So how’s about a non-functioning computer ?
toad…. GE has said he is not quitting just giving it a break so he will be back as to when who knows but he is missing all the big stories.
Toad: Thank you very much, I appreciate that.
BTW I was utterly wrong about Dan Hannan having said those words — must have been somebody else — probably in Slate or possibly Commentary. (I know I haven’t read Con.)
But as you point out, just as no president or prime minister invents the economy on the day s/he takes office, so Obama did not create the Navy SEALs, build the American warfighting machine, or initiate and maintain our Blowback Against Anti-Modernism counter-revolution, as well as win the biggest battles (i.e. depose Saddam, take back Iraq from psychotic terrorist tyranny, uproot the Taliban, and drive bin Laden into hiding). That was owing to Dubya — and a lot of hell he caught for it, too.
Blowback Against Anti-Modernism counter-revolution, or BAAM! for short.
Oz, about gold and the economy. Sounds like a good thing to write on. I wouldn’t understand it, probably. All I know is that we have been buying both gold and silver from many months now, and it’s commodities where we have been making money lately, for the most part (including, ahem, wine). The U. S. Mint seems intent on selling its coins at ultra-reasonable prices, so basically, if you can get in quick enough to buy one, you’ve already made a substantial profit.
The G E Returns!!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100086418/dont-let-the-watermelons-kill-the-shale-gas-revolution/
GE’s back, but Meltemian beat me to it.
60 to go to the 11000 mark. Superficial comment or trolls wanting the last word will take us there ! We’ll get there (for Amanda – Aaaah !)
Kitler. Good job he didn’t cover the ‘killing’. Most DT bloggers have made themseves look ridiculous, especially Odone & Coughlin. Toby Harnden is the honourable exception !
Yes, Toad, I’m counting on YOU to get that thread to 11 Gs. Remember the battle cry we’ll then have, another arrow to add to our quiver:
THIS BLOG GOES TO 11!
I’m with you in spirit. And lurking. :^)
Update: Toad, I see that there are 149 posts still to go.
Maybe not, then.
Well, it’s just a number.
Morning everyone.
So, our GE’s back! I sort of imagined him doing this in style (riding into London on an elephant, RealityReturns and CommonSenseMajority waving palm fronds over him, Amanda anointing his brow with oil, etcetera). I fully expect him to be a salt-bleached surfie blonde by now, and look forward to his updated blog photo. Disappointing to hear his health’s not up to par, but we’ll certainly keep the fire burning down here in the antipodes at LibertyGibbert.
toad well everyone has taken the Obama koolaid on the DT I doubt JD would be ass kissing like the rest of them.
The BBC headlines say that the 0 won’t allow any photos of the stiff to be released, because they might cause outrage…
Like the extra judicial killing of the c**t was less of an outrage than showing photos of the results?
Now, what’s the latin phrase used in law when there’s no body to show that a crime occured, Hocus Pocus or something like that?
G’day Oz,
Saw the post on James’s blog, how’s ya doin’?
Mate, you’ve got a lot to say, speak a lot of sense and admirably – you’re still doing so.
Hope that you’re also still sticking it to Joolya! What a God awful bint – frightening harpy she is.
Talking of Socialist nutters… .
We’ve got Harriet Harman and Caroline Lucas (in the UK), both bring me to the edge of an inner darkness.
Both are utter hypocrites and cannot see it, no one’s perfect [least of all me] but Jeez these two are truly mentally malformed and a result of a specially inspired – socialist insanity.
For all my sins, I’ve never ever considered that: Socialism could lead to salvation for the world, anybody who does, needs
shootingyears of restorative therapy in Abu Ghraib/to walk the length of the Ghan barefoot without water.Keep the faith Oz, you know it.
G’day Edward, always great to see you here at the Bar and Grill.
New post here everyone – something topical – Oz