Strike a Go, But Obama Decides to Ask Congress

After the stunning defeat of the British measure which would have put Britain into war with Syria, president Obama today spoke from the White House on the situation following Russian president Vlad Putin  calling on the WH to show what evidence it has – any any that’s conclusive – to make the case that the nerve gas attack in Syria was carried out by forces loyal to Syrian president Assad.

In his remarks this afternoon, the president said he has decided to take military action against Syria, but again promised “no boots on the ground.” The actual date of the attack has not been set.

But the major deal point announced this afternoon is that the president noted that he’s the “President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy” and he announced that authorization will be sought from Congress when Congress returns from  recess.

On the other hand, he basically blew off the UN weapon’s inspector’s report, nor does hye foresee a need for UN decisions.

He noted that “Our action will be stronger” if Congress votes on this action, although he reiterated his belief that the president has the to order the strike without consultation.

Make no mistake, this has implications beyond chemical warfare,” the president said. “An attack made with chemical weapons must not just be investigated: It must be confronted.”

It had earlier been reported that SecState Kerry and SecDef Hagel were on the phone this afternoon talking with key members of the senate democratic caucus and the republican conference.

The presidents remarks, which had been scheduled for 1:15 PM Eastern were delayed about 41-minutes from its announced time for reasons which are not clear, although  this is obviously a fluid situation.  If you had listened (and watched) the streaming from the White House there was what sounded like protesters chanting “Leave it alone, Syria” way off in the background.

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Peoplenomics: The End of Labor Days: It’s Time to Tax Machines

Only an idiot would call this “Happy Labor Day Weekend” because of how quickly jobs are being lost not only overseas but to robotic automation. Can’t policy wankers track the destruction of the American job market or the percentage of people holding jobs?  I mean WTF? A second chapter is presented this morning for Peoplenomics.com readers of my next book.

Bet on War this Weekend?

I am not expecting the stock market to end the week on a positive note.  In fact, I would not be surprised to see the past couple of days of gains evaporate before the closing bell because of the rising odds of war breaking out in Syria this weekend.  Worse?  I’m not the only one who sees it this way.  Reader Randy H sent this late last night:

A reporter with Israel’s most widely read newspaper has been told by defense establishment officials that a US-led attack on Syria will begin on Saturday and end when Barack Obama meets Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

I suppose you’d like to know why – by end of the day tomorrow – there could be a second vote by the British and a green light for an attack, right?

Well, one theory which is getting legs on internet conspiracy sites is that Saturday will mark the 16th anniversary of the death (conspiracy theory calls it “assassination”) of Princes Diana who died 16-years ago tomorrow.  With ugly questions and charges still flying, some attention diverting might be in order.

OK, it’s a far-out theory, I’ll grant you that.  But, as a note from Nostradamus researcher G.A. Stewart notes, tomorrow’s Diana anniversary would certainly fit well with a lot of prophecy on topic:

THE ARAB PRINCE OF WAR APPEARS ON SCENE

Nostradamus Quatrain V-25
The Arab prince of Mars [war], Sun, Venus, Lyon [ Leo/August].
The rule of the church will succumb at sea:
Towards Persia (Iran) very near a million men,
Byzantium (Turkey), Egypt, the true serpent will invade.

AUGUST 29, 2013

Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria
Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.

WHY BANDAR BIN SULTAN’S THREATS TO RUSSIA AND PUTIN WILL CAUSE SAUDI ARABIA TO BURN
AUGUST 29, 2013
… As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory’s direction without coordinating with us. These groups do not scare us.

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Coping: My Nine-Point Congressional Platform

I have to admit I am thinking about it because lately, I have come up with a number of simple solutions which really could set America back on a reasonable course into the future.  I’m thinking about founding the Uretopian Party.  I’d have two members, probably, but that’s not the point.  Education and discussion is.  Some of the highlights of Uretopia Party platform?

1.  Overthrow the Checkbook Coup;  End all campaign contributions from outside of a district where an election is held.  If a congressman represents the 8th district (or whatever) then all funds must come from residents inside the district.  Pass-through donations would be barred and lobbyist groups would be barred by law from offering money, in-kind contributions, or organizing “grass roots” movements.  An example is lining up nursing home residents to all vote one way, and so on.

This would make good state law, too.  Realistically, congress will never reform itself as long as the good times roll for them.

3.  Baseball rules for all office holders:  3-terms in any office, at any level, and you’re out.

4.  Real Healthcare Reform. Healthcare for everyone under identical terms or no enforcement at all.  Congressional staff isn’t a special class.

5.  End all immigration to the US.  We have enough people here now.  If we need more people, we oughta encourage more mating.  More breaks for parents. The more who come in, the harder the turnaround will be.  Plus with 41-million college grads, we have enough brains. On point: Psychology Today has an infographic this month that says 15% of taxi drivers have a college degree up from 1% in 1970.  And we need to import brainpower?  Hell no! (It’s a good mag with lots of useful information…)  What we lack are jobs for them to do which gets me to…

6.  Tax Robotic Manufacturing.  Tax all worker-eliminating robots and automated systems as though they were income generating workers.  Fund social programs, pay down the debt, and then let’s get on with building a Uretopian world.  (Details of this taxing robotics problem in Peoplenomics for subscribers tomorrow.

7.  Truth in Politics Law:  If a politician makes representations that they will vote in one direction, but then they get into office and do the exact damned opposite…they’d be removed from office immediately and a replacement special election held.

8.  Return to Sound Money:  We would restore “solid money” and phase in a conversion to a market basket of energy and precious metals.  No “continuing resolutions.”  If congress can’t get it’s shit together enough to pass a budget, fire them all for malfeasance and elect new members.  Budgets must be balanced and end all off-books accounting.  That has made the Treasury’s best efforts to report the “Public Debt to the Penny” effort an effing joke.

9.  Read all Bills First. We saw a travesty (and it keeps being renewed) in the Patriot Act.  As if this one (and healthcare) aren’t clear enough, try reading the Tax Code sometime!  Immediately remove any politician who hasn’t read every word of what’s being voted on.  We’d have an empty congress overnight.

I don’t know what has gotten into me.  I was sitting at the airport here in Palestine talking to one of our www.eaa.org chapter officers about how easy it would be to “fix American” but we just don’t seem to have the will to do it.  What’s more, neither of the paid-for parties can do it either and the Tea Party was going in the right direction, but it was sometimes hijacked by the republicorp. 

The fellow I was test-preaching this to wandered off and didn’t leave me his wallet, so I may not really be cut out for politics.

Still,  we have an immediate need as a country for a new party and while the American Whig Party’s “Peace and Prosperity” sounds good, the word whiggery is just not fashionable.

If you find yourself with some spare time this weekend (with or without war breaking out) and you’d like to contribute to the really subversive cause of replacing the checkbook parties, thoughts are welcome, operators are standing by, this is a free call.

Warren’s WuJo, II

Follow up to this week’s story of the self-filling (with gasoline) power equipment.  If you remember, I asked about whether the source tank was down if the tools were refilled and now this gets interesting as Warren replies…

I didn’t notice the any change in the two gallon jug of gas for the mower.  When it gets low on gas, I put it in the trunk of the car and go re-fill it. Otherwise, I don’t pay much attention to it. However, now that I think about it, the last time I re-filled the gallon of gas/oil mix for the line trimmer, I noticed that it had lasted for a suspiciously long time. The only thing on my mind wrt to re-filling those gas cans is that I hate to make a special trip for the purpose.

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Coup Suit & the Syria Circus

The big story of the morning is that the US intel supporting a strike on Iran is on the weak side. So now, the WH is considering the option of going to plan B – War Show Lite.  The devil is always in the details…so here we go:

What could pending hostilities do to the price of oil – and hence gasoline?  The CNBC piece over here addresses some of that.

The RT story out Thursday about how Iran is pondering the possibility of suing the US for the CIA-backed violent overthrow of its democratic government in the country way back in 1953 is being considered.  It’s no secret that the US was behind the regime change there, and what most people don’t know (we weren’t old enough, eh?) was that the Shah of Iran (installed into that position by the US/West) was also a poster-boy for the the nuclear power lobby in the USA.  Check out the graphic over here.

Not only has the US decided that only “authorized/friendly” governments will get to move ahead on nuclear power projects, but now we’re on the verge of a lightning strike on Syria, which – in case you’d forgotten – would remove a major ground defense operator from Israel’s path to an air strike on Iran.

Clearly, the administration would not be pleased with such an open  affront to the US but that is what courts are for and if would certainly give the US public an opportunity to see what’s going on.  Ooops…that awful word transparency comes to mind.

Meantime, the speculation this morning over whether the perps of the alleged nerve gas attack were the rebel forces, backed by the US and West, or was it the Assad government? continues unabated and unresolved.  Articles like this one may be taken seriously, or not

Still, if you look at the 3D theater model, you can see that a lightning strike on Damascus would provide a convenient distraction  and an open window for the Israelis to zip over to Iran for a surgical strike on Iranian nuclear installations.

Impossible!!  Well, not quite:  As an indicator that this may be in the wings, we noted with interest the article in The Aviationist that “U.S. WC-135C nuclear radiation sniffing plane spotted over Europe. En-route to Syria?”

All of which might be understandable, except the Syrians aren’t believed to have nuclear weapons.  So what nearby country, which could be overflown by Israel enroute to, say, the Iranian Bushehr nuclear complex?  Such a strike could result in after-effects where the use of a WC-135C sniffer plane would be useful in order to reassure downwinders (like Russia)  that it was just a “clean” surgical strike and “No harm done…”  They hope…

It strikes a lot of readers, like this fellow Bill up in Idaho, that the US is acting a lot like a schoolyard bully:

Aho George,

The United States reminds me more and more of the schoolyard bully, that desperately wants to be looked up to and have friends, but thinks the way to do it is to beat the shit out of everyone. Makes me think also of the reality that if you keep poking someone in the chest because you are bigger and tougher….someday the recipient is going to get a 2X4 and even the score. The horrors of war seem to keep creating more whores of war. When will we ever learn.

No worries, Bill.  the 2 by 4 would be an attack on the US homeland and that would do marvels for police state trends and justify the further destruction of the Constitution.  Why, being in Idaho, I would have thought you’d have seen this.

But, in the meantime, you’re onto one thing:  Faced with declining revenues, all levels of government are facing crisis in coming months and years because of the damned unstoppable effects of compound interest.  And we need a scapegoat and Syria/Iran would be fine right up to lighting off a regional war.

A Note About War Costs

Whether we (as a nation) can afford to lob off a fleet of cruise missiles is certainly an issue.  Seeing as we’re broke and maxed out on borrowing to the point we have to borrow from ourselves with QE Infinitum.  As Steve Chapman notes in an OpEd this morning in the Chicago Trib, “Missile strikes won’t accomplish a thing…”

Obviously, although this is speculative on my part, I bet Steve Chapman’s retirement funds are not concentrated in holdings of large defense contractors like  Raytheon, as they make the Tomahawks.

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Coping: Preppers Planning in Stressful Times

A couple of buddies of mine from down in Houston (long term Peoplenomics subscribers)  were up here in the hinterlands this week looking at property near us.  Believe me when I tell you these are 24 kt. solid guys who have nice professional situations and high incomes down in oil patch country, but they’re also super bright and looking at backup plans

For them, that means looking at areas which are able to build local self-sufficiency and (no surprise here) they ended up looking at one parcel just up the street (goat path?) from us.

As often happens, another reader email popped in which gets to the same kind of strategic planning decision-making processes and it says in part:

“I have asked you before but I fear I may have asked you the wrong question.  And before I clarify let me say thy I know that nothing you write can/will/or should be construed as financial advice, yadda yadda, and all that.

Regarding the potential upcoming crash, I asked you what I should do with some cash I had on hand, and you replied via one of your posts, in so many words, continue investing in prepping.  This I know and agree is excellent advice, but here’s where I’m unsure.

You see, I already have a good deal of food stored – almost as much food/water/first aid/prepping items/books as my 875 sq. ft. Jacksonville Beach (I know, I know – ocean front property) attic can hold.  I am formally studying permaculture design and am already trying to become a better gardener, learning about sowing and saving seeds, harvesting, etc.  I have been actively learning about herbal remedies and plants, and am learning to do as many things ‘old school’ as I can.

So prepping I am, as much as I can do outside of my corporate, fulltime tech job.

I do have some cash available (about 75k), and my house and all my possessions are already paid off.  The only thing I am trying to find now is a reputable place where I can buy bullion, as currently I have none.  Do you know where I can safely purchase a single gold and silver coin?  I sure hope you have some ideas…

But, my real question is about my cash.  I am doing all that I can and buying all I have space for, and using some of my cash to purchase training.  Since I have some left over, what would you do with your cash if you found yourself in a very similar position, given the potential upcoming tank-pocalypse? 

Hypothetically of course.

Fortunately, this is a hypothetical answer:  If someone came to me and said “I know how to do permaculture and I’m looking for where to park some cash, I would sure hit the www.unitedcountry.com website.  I clicked on their “nationwide” search tool and put in one bedroom and $75,000 for a top price and 20 acres of land and came up with way more than 200 properties to choose from.

Now, I don’t usually do free commercials for folks, but here’s a search hint:  Put in a minimum price of $25,000 because that will weed out all the listings which don’t have a price (and some of a gazillion or more).  In fact, for giggles, I put in a nationwide search for 20 acres, minimum one bedroom, and $50,000 and under and still came up with five properties including a few that looked promising.

What they have in common is this:   they are generally rural, generally mobile homes, but if you’re serious about really “doing it” then this is one place to consider parking your money.

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The Nerve Gas Questions Linger But Evidence Builds

Further to this morning’s subscriber report, where we found some interesting archival data regarding past allegations of a “false flag “ nature regarding nerve gas use by parties in Syria, we have continued to dig around and (helped by a tip from reader DC) came across an article that seems to paint the “nerve gas” story buried in web archives as being an errant report on the part of a British media report.

As our reader put it:

I’m hopeful that this whole thing — chemical weaponry, impending invasion, and all — will also prove to be “completely fabricated”.  However, I’m not ready to apply the test of “hope in one hand, and … in the other…”

Sound judgment that, so we correct/append with this further data as we come across it in our best faith efforts to keep the story of what’s going on straight.

Nevertheless, it is troubling to see reports of how the administration is preparing “…to bypass UN on Syria response…” since they’ve already been hard at work bypassing due process here in the USA by so far keeping Congress from its constitutional role as the body that is charged with declaring war on behalf of the American people.

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False Flag Evidence and A Family Feud on ‘Peak Oil’

My brother in law announced to Elaine recently that “There is no ‘Peak Oil’and went on to explain how we have oil coming out of our ears and on thing ledto another and next thing you know, I was biting my tongue and slinking out thedoor toward my office because I wanted to write a rather lengthy responsebecause a number of readers, a few subscribers, and even my brother in law don’tthing that Peak Oil is real. So this morning we run through somedefinitional points and scale the reality. At it’s extremes, at $10,000 abarrel, there is no peak oil…but here in under $10/gallon land, that’s anothermatter altogether. But before we get into the modeling of how Peak Oilworks, we’ll run through some headlines and a cuppa coffee or three…How about we start with damning false flag which you can find here in web archives from January of this year? (Note this Link may not work in Explorer, but it works in Firefox…) You can follow the backlinks to the genesis of current events by following links to that storysource…

Housing Report: Welcome to 2004

As promised, here’s the latest look at the nation’s housing picture in the Case-Shiller/ S&P Monthly housing data:

New York, August 27, 2013 – Data through June 2013, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that prices continue to increase. The National Index grew 7.1% in the second quarter and 10.1% over the last four quarters. The 10-City and 20-City Composites posted returns of 2.2% for June and 11.9% and 12.1% over 12 months.

All 20 cities posted gains on a monthly and annual basis. However, in only six cities were prices rising faster this month than last, compared to ten in May. Dallas and Denver reached new all-time highs as they did last month, with returns of +1.7% each in June. San Francisco’s rebound is the largest, up 47.0% from its low in March 2009. Phoenix is second, 37.1% above its September 2011 low.

“National home prices rose more than 10% annually in each of the last two quarters,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “However, the monthly city by city data show the pace of price increases is moderating.

“The Southwest and California have consistently led the recovery with Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco posting at least 15 months of gains.

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War to Cover Financial Collapse?

This morning’s cheery thought (and discussion of the Blame Game) from your favorite East Texas nutter out in the boonies centers on the idea that as the approaching breakdown of economic order sneaks up on the Cyprus-like public, the more desperate officialdom will become for something, hell anything, to take the blame for economic collapse.  And pull off a massive bail-in.

So I thought it would be instructive this morning to look at some of the data which suggest Syria and Iran warfare could shortly be blamed for such outcomes, even though they really have nothing to do with it.

The first is the turnaround in interest rates.  As you can see in the long-term view of the US bond yields here, the Bond yields have been coming down since 1981.  When they bottom out (between now and 2018) there will likely be a financial panic as markets figure out that the lousy earnings and yields of today (and ghost of Christmas’ past) are gone.  But since the consumer class has been beggared, no one will have pricing power, and so stocks will crater along with bonds.

Then there’s the little matter of how long can the Fed keep buying up its own paper?  Surely, at some point, that little shenanigan will blow up.  When it does, the US dollar would naturally collapse in a heap.  By collapse what we mean is the dollar would drop precipitously in value which would cause bond yields to reverse course and head moonward, at just the worst possible moment.

What to do, oh what to do?

Bring on war!  Any war!  Big war!  Scary, frightening BIG war and toss in plenty of threats against the Homeland, too, since that would give us a reason to have martial law to keep a lid on things here at home.  Stifle dissent, ban gatherings…

Just to keep things in perspective, the US has always had a double-standard when it comes to nerve agents.  As the Monday issue of Foreign Policy reported, “CIA files prove American helped Saddam as he Gassed Iran.”  Yes, but he was working for US then….

But, now that the “foe is on the other shoot” we are acting all self-righteous and indignant about nerve gas.  Let’s kill some people and show them bastards.   Expediency is, deep down, what makes the geopolitical world go around.  Say, have you seen our moral high ground around anywhere?  We seem to have lost it…

In yesterday’s column, I explained to you how the identity of the sniper fire at the UN inspectors would be a key mediawar prelim round.  So far, because so many people are onto the game, the two sides of the conflict are simply charging one another as being the perps.

Over here, in this Boston Globe story, we find “The rebel coalition said the sniper shots occurred near the final checkpoint between rebel and regime-controlled areas, calling it an attempt by the [Assad] regime ‘‘to intimidate the UN team and prevent it from discovering the truth about Assad’s chemical weapons attack against civilians.’’”

On the other side, in this UPI dispatch, we read that “Friday the Syrian government accused the United States of manufacturing stories about chemical weapons use to justify support for the rebels. The Russian government made similar charges, CNN reported.”

The global financial mess is quickly picking up speed, meanwhile, so look for the war moves to come largely and quickly as we settle down toward S&P 1,540.  Dow futures are down a hundred and something.  Subject to revision as the Housing data comes in.

In overnight trading, Japan and China were both down half a percent and more, while in the early going in Europe France was down almost 1 1/2%, German down more than that and the British market was down 2/3rd’s of a percent, but it ain’t over yet.

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Coping: End Times Libretto

I suppose we should just slide into this morning’s deeper thinking topic slowly since there’s a lot of moving pieces to it.  With WW IV in the wings over Syria, since the Cold War might be scored as WW III, we have a number reader inputs this morning which are pretty interesting, starting with this one from Don:

“Good morning George,

Fear not Azazel.

According to the book of Enoch; He will not be dug up until the “Day of Judgment”. If we see that day ourselves, I expect a swift finish to the whole affair. Most likely God will be in a bad mood on that day, if He is not already and, he will simply jut say: “off with their heads”. Meaning, of course, all of us……give or take a hundred thousand or so.

I don’t reckon I will be one of those.”

No, but by golly, we’ll have had some fun and adventures, huh?  On a more serious note there was this reminder from Bernard Grover down in our Jakarta Bureau:

“Chief,

As Joseph Farrell says, “The fulfillment IS the deception.”  In short, if you write and/or control the interpretation of prophesy, then you can make it appear that the prophesy is being fulfilled.  Ergo, current events.  It serves the PTB to have everyone nervous as long-tail cats in a room full of rocking chairs.  Since religion is part of the command and control system, then making sure everyone is in church and begging for mercy perpetuates the system.

Besides, any decent Bible scholar will tell you Revelations was fulfilled in AD70 with the reign of Nero and the sacking of Jerusalem.  Didn’t Jesus say, “This generation shall not pass…”?

Feeding religious hysteria only perpetuates the command and control system and feeds the PTB.

Now, back to the clam chowder and sourdough…

B”

I looked in on the sourdough starter this morning and it didn’t smell particularly sour yet, but tomorrow morning I’ll make some flapjacks, a test run which the belt size argues should be put off for six months or 40 pounds, whichever gets here soonest…

Now, back to our End of the World notes…I heard back from G.A.

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MediaWar: Syriously

Bring on Gulf of Tonkin 2, the Niger uranium forgeries, and a whole host of other ‘Merica acting badly events from the folks who thought up Middle East regime change and, lest we forget, STUXNET and other computer crime like Duqu and Flame.  Hell, let’s toss in those mysterious undersea cable cuts (to isolate countries/regimes or install data drops – you did know about glimmerglas, right?)  while we’re at it…it’s almost time for another serving of them, anyway.

So much for the hyperbole and examples of bullshit behavior that belies how we have abandon the moral high ground (accelerating our decline as a world leader, shades of Rome) and  let’s get down to how to stampede ‘Merica into [yet another war] that 60% of the population is dead-set against.

Step 1: Spin to Win

We will likely never know the absolute truth about whether the US had a hand in the chemical weapons use which is alleged to have taken place in Syria.  But the US/corporate/mainstream press is not interested in balanced reporting so much as toeing the line.  Still, here’s a good summary which lays out in no uncertain terms allegations that the gas attack didn’t happen as reported by the corporate press.

Step 2:  Play the Blame Card

Next come headlines like “Confident Syria used chemicals, U.S. Mulls Action.”   And don’t miss the headline “Senior Administration Official: ‘Very Little Doubt’ Assad Regime Behind Alleged Chemical Attack.”

Step 3: Hope No One Thinks Things Through

This morning’s latest development is that “U.N. team headed to site of alleged chemical attack comes under sniper fire, turns back.”

Unfortunately for the powersthatbe, what we do a fair amount of around here is turn our brains on.  And this morning’s “sniper fire” report and turning back the U.N. team is just dandy because it frames the one question which would tell us the truth of what’s going on:

Step 4:  Pending Events

Other than spool up reports that the British Navy is getting set for a first strike on Syria?

We wouldn’t be surprised to head the word spread by spun media that it was rebel fighters who were doing the shooting at the UN inspectors this mroning, but in fact, that’s the $64-billion dollar question of the day.  Since the “inquiring minds want to know” logic outlined above is childishly simple, we wait to see how long it will take for the pro-war media to jump on the briefer’s mentioning [on deep background and not for attribution] that the shots were from Syrian forces.

I anticipate that development to come around by this afternoon….but for now the Washington Post coverage reports “The United Nations did not say which side had fired the shots. It urged “all sides .?.?. to extend their cooperation so that the team can safely carry out their important work.”

We’ll keep an eye on oil prices and the previous metals for hints of what’s to come.  But for some keen insight into the media war going on before the shooting war drags the West in (or, is that before we smell enough money to be made?) it will be instructive to see where blame comes from and which media labels the snipers first…

Step 5: Keep the Saudi’s Pressing

Take a look at the Wall St. Journal article about how Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud is working to topple the Assad government.

Yep, there’s them Saudis in play, again.

In the Background of Egypt

This from our news analyst fellow in the wilds of Winnipeg:

Dear Mr. Ure,
I wonder if Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood versus military rule fracas obscures the plan. Bear in mind that Egypt’s largest conglomerate with strong interests in media, telecommunications, and construction is owned by a family from the nation’s Coptic religious minority. A while ago the super-yacht set celebrated a member’s birthday in the budding tax haven of Montenegro offering some intriguing dot-connecting opportunities.

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Coping: The Great Sourdough Challenge

Many years ago, back when I was protecting Fairbanks (and later Anchorage) from a sneak attack by the Russians, I got to spend a bit of time with my late aunt Isabel.  She was one of the first female CPAs in Alaska, and the first female contracting officer at Elmendorf, AFB.

Besides introducing me (then 19) to the joys of fresh crab picked up on a tour of Portage Glacier, and washing it down with Champale (what ever happened to it?), she was also able to whip up the best sourdough pancakes on the planet.

I don’t know why they struck me as they did, perhaps it was the first time that I’d ever had some really good sourdough.  Up until then, I’d sampled some of the offerings from the Pike Place Market’s vendors down in Seattle, but most of them I found simply too sour for my taste.  Even now, San Franciscans seem to judge a bread not so much on it’s flavor but by how much pucker there is to it.

For no particular reason last week, I decided it was time to begin trying to get a proper sourdough start going and that meant spending just a few bucks to get the right gear including the starter itself.

After reading what seemed like dozens of sites on the ‘net and Mark Shepard’s quickie ebook Simple Sourdough: Make Your Own Starter Without Store-Bought Yeast and Bake the Best Bread in the World With This Simplest of Recipes for Making Sourdough (or Sour Dough), it was time to go shopping.

Sourdough is pretty simple stuff:  All it really takes to make a starter seems to be wheat, water, and some luck.  But I wasn’t after just any sourdough….I was after the full-bodied taste of Alaska sourdough which is less sour and a damnsight more flavorful, especially when made into flapjacks that more more like crepes plate-cakes.

Amazon has a “thing” where they offer some products as an “add-on” so while $13-bucks for two starter packets sounded a bit steep, I was all in for the $6 and change add-on to get a genuine ALASKA JACK’S Sourdough Starter Kit (Postcard Packet)

Of course, that meant I’d have to buy something other things to qualify for an add-on soooo….I invested in a Bormioli Rocco Fido Square Jar with Blue Lid, 17-1/2-Ounce which was a little north of $8 and it’s big brother and a couple of other doo-dads.

As soon as this morning’s column is done, I’ll be making the starter and setting it out on the screen porch where the temp will be more than warm enough…and then bring it in when we pass the 90-degree mark, somewhere around lunchtime.

After that, it should be simply a matter of feeding the sourdough every three days.  From what I’ve read so far, if you go more than three days without feeding the start, it drops from one stable state (which is the one I think I’m after) down to the next stable state which is a more sour version.

What I mean by state is a little hard to figure:  Sourdough is a symbiotic relationship between yeast and bacteria – lactobacillus.  The bacteria breaks down proteins and, in the process, makes sugars as a byproduct.  The yeast breaks down something or other and they reach a stable state.  However, if you go too long between “feeding” the starter (with water and wheat) the balancing act between the yeast and lactobacillus, according to some researchers, drops to a level when a different kind of stability sets up (more acidic).

All of which gets me to thinking San Franciscans are bad parents of starters or starter-abusers, but that’s only a suspicion until I can actually raise a good starter myself.

For the more worldly, there are several other starters out there, including some from Egypt where it was developed back in antiquity (before foreign aid, democratic revolutions and so on) in order to raise rye bread.  I’m not too keep on things Middle Eastern of late, so I’m sticking with Alaska for now.

My friend Gaye over at www.backdoorsurvival.com has been a long-time gourmet cook and we’ve got a friendly competition going on in the sourdough department; she’s a fan of the local starter done from air up in the San Juan Islands of Washington state.  The reason I got the smaller jar (the main start will live in the big one) is I’ll give a local start a try, also, but no telling what a Texas start will be like. 

One way, or the other, I figure that next Saturday morning after Peoplenomics is done, I will be able to cook up some sourdough flapjacks and then make some genuine Texas/Alaska Sourdough bread.

Which means that Elaine will have a project, too:  She makes the world’s best clam chowder (which starts with a half pound to a pound of lean bacon (if that’s not a contradiction).  Then there’s a half gallon, or so of Half & Half, minced and chopped clams, not to mention both some Russet potatoes (which break down and make it thick) plus some Yukon Golds, which retain texture.

The “master plan” is to make some medium plate-sized loaves, cut them when cooled a bit around their tops (like you would to carve out a pumpkin) and hollow them out and fill with clam chowder.

That’s about the best meal a fellow can have:  Mild sourdough flapjacks, a slam of ham, a couple of eggs over easy, and a cup of Kona roast for breakfast.  Then, about 4 PM, have a huge appetite worked up for the crusty Sourdough “bread bowls” of clam chowder.

If you have a cup of water and a cup of flour, it’s not too late to plan on making this kind of feast for yourself this coming weekend.  It’s an alternative to the sky-high beef prices which are now here that I warned you would be coming due to the Texas/Oklahoma drought.

Reader Shoot

With all of our discussion last week about vaccines and the risks (and rewards) attendant thereto, one of our readers was driving near Houston this weekend and noticed outside a major chain drugstore which at first looked like political signs.

They suggested pneumonia shots, shingles shots, and a number of others.

In the accompanying note, said reader wondered if this wasn’t a new way for the chain drugstores to make a little extra dough on the side:  Big money to be had on some of these.

My own discovery that the going rate for a shingles shot (without a health insurance program) was in the range of $250 (+) was enough to convince my Scottish genes that Life always boils down to risk, reward, and cash.

Two more good comments on vaccine use, including this anonymous note:

Being in healthcare I will no longer take vaccines. Not going any deeper into that. Have you noticed that your caduceus and so on look a lot like spiraling DNA strands? Just a thought.

I have thought of that and have often wondered if a lot of the Greek gods stories were all part of a larger event passed down from Sanskrit and elsewhere which got to the original human crossbreeding project and that became what we now call religion and more.  But that’s another topic entirely…so onto this note from reader Kathy:

“Was reading your article on vaccines and thought that I would add my 2 cents worth. I am not anti vaccine but I am against over vaccinating. And for the most part only vaccinate for something life threatening. However, I have had shingles twice now. Once when I was about forty and the a couple of years ago when I was in my late fifties.

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