Month: May 2014

There’s a battle on for your mind, and you’re losing.

That’s OK.  If you’re married, in a relationship, or been there, done that, you’ve already lost your mind, anyway, but this morning’s headlines remind us of just how powerful little words are.

Take “coup” for example.

When the mobgov, with US and EU backing staged a coup in Ukraine it was called a “change of government.”

When the government went from democratic to taken over by the military in Thailand, well now we haul out the words military coup.

It isn’t funny how this stuff works.  It’s BS.

Meantime, if you’re following the Ukraine lingo-jingo, you’ll find headlines like “Ukraine rebels attack soldiers as Russia says troops withdrawing.”

Fine, except what’s not explicitly defined is that the “soldiers” being attacked are (themselves) rebels who seized power in the Western-backed coup.

I don’t mind people in Ukraine having a vote this weekend.  But what I do mind is when “computational statecraft” dictates that our tax dollars get committed to keeping the gas flowing to Ukraine. 

Big Trouble in China

How to you say “Regional insurrection in China?”

Well, you don’t.  If you’re western media, you paper this one over and chalk it up to terrorists because to do anything else would hint that the worker’s paradise ain’t such a happy place, after all..  Can’t have that.

The pot simmers, but none dare point it out because you know who buys our bonds and keeps us afloat.  Yep, thems must be terrorists, indeedy.

Happy Talk Rallies Markets

OK, so the Russians may not have left their border areas completely, just yet.  Still, the very prospect of such has buoyed markets.

Yesterdays bear-side fleecer-gasser was a 158 point gain in the Dow.  But today the markets are about flat, awaiting things like elections this weekend in Ukraine and the Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) which we chuckle about, knowing it’s an anagram.

The Reasonable Fed Guy

A serious economist, Stanley Fischer is about to sail into the Vice-Chair slot at the Fed after the requisite rigmarole in Washington.

The reason I call him the “reasonable Fed guy” is he’s one of the few who sees the xx trillion of excess liquidity that’s sloshing around the banking system and worries about it turning into ‘snap inflation’ when demand picks up.  Or if rates turn too fast.

He may have missed my notes on how robotics, 3D printing, and business process computers are likely to wreck any recovery before it really gets started.  Or the ones where I’ve explained how the impact of the LBGT movement is to seriously reduce housing demand by making “shared space” a lot broader than it used to be…

Still, he’s as reasonable a fellow as you’ll find in DC, here lately…

Commie or Context?

Here’s a fine puzzler for your second cup today:  What exactly did a democratic congressoid mean when he said “We’ve proved that communism works?”

NextWar: Electronic Pearl Harbor

Note from warhammer this morning is thought-provoking:

George,

Of late we’ve been privy to some information people ‘in the know’ have understood to be reality for quite some time – China is comprehensively engaged in industrial espionage against the U.S., among other nations.

What has been made very clear is the scope of China’s cyber sleuthing, and this is the information that should send a shiver down John and Jane Q. Sixpack’s chubby little spines.  The limited data released regarding key targets of Chinese cyber espionage, most of them aimed at U.S. nuclear power, heavy industry, solar, communications and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) dedicated companies.

The short of it is this:  China is deeply embedded in many of our critical national infrastructure supporting companies.  Most of the American public has no idea of the breadth of Chinese hacking.  We worry about the NSA having our personal information, yet the chances are very good that the Chinese military knows far more about any one particular U.S. citizen than Uncle Sam does.

Several news outlets nailed it, especially the Wall Street Journal, when they called the Chinese actions out for what they really are, “a state-sponsored act of aggression.”   

I call it “prepping the battlefield.”  The critical infrastructures and supporting corporations compromised by the Chinese are vital to keeping information and services flowing throughout the nation and among and between our top government, industry and military leadership.  In a time of war, compromising these data and services pipelines would give any opponent a serious edge, a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” if you will. 

For years, those who were warning of a cyber-Pearl Harbor were chided as modern day Chicken Littles, guilty of making self-fulfilling prophecies and turning China into the enemy that they did not really intend to be.  Regardless of the how and why, the China news is a calculated news release of what would surely be classified data, done to prep the public at large that the fox is in the hen house and nothing good can come of it.

This situation bears watching.  Indeed, the news could be a tactic strategically employed by the U.S. political leadership to defuse the damage caused by the Snowden leaks and justify a continued domestic cyber-vigilance on the part of the U.S. of A.  But several well placed independent organizations and other national governments have publicly reached the same conclusions in the past several years.  

My question is: “why did the U.S.

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Elaine and I had been kicking around the idea of moving.  Back to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to the kids.  Yet our home here in Texas has become more of an anchor than we thought it would ever be, thanks to the huge remodeling and “fun” we’ve put into the house.

Sure, it’d be nice to be near the kids and all, but  buying 30-acres of heavily treed land in  the Northwest would involve more bank robberies than we could fit on our schedule for the next 30 years. 

Worse, vacation homes are a financial  nightmare.  Having a place in the Northwest for 3-4 months (which it’s hottest in Texas) is something only the financially overweight can contemplate.  Washington state doesn’t have a state income tax, so they make up for it with property tax highwaymen.

Oh, and the property here is free & clear and we haven’t heard a peep from the seismic survey guys since the lawyerly fellow sent them a 6-page “Here’s how blasting caps might be set off my Mr. Ure’s ham radio if he doesn’t know you’re lurking about” letter.

Luckily, we found what looks like a dandy answer using www.airbnb.com.  This a a marvelous online service that lets people who have a room, level of their home, or detached property (the mother in law apartment kind of thing) and rent it out.

In our case, we found a one-bedroom condo unit which comes with wifi, cable TV, all utilities, a kitchen, queen bed, has its own private entrance, BBQ and more and all for $1330 a month.  There’s also a shared washer and dryer, it’s close to the kids (20 minute drive,k 7 minutes from friends) and it will give Panama (the brother in law) some peace and quiet around the ranch here.

He’s back to his ornery/spunky self… a good thing, indeed.

Second homes do have their place, I suppose.  But they are also god-awful expensive.  I’ve run the numbers and they just plain suck.  Worse, there’s the crime and squatter angle.

Hotels are nice, but our favorite haunt on the Tacoma waterfront is $200/night which means given the same amount of money the choice comes down to seven nights within walking distance of the best fish and chips in the Northwest, or 30 nights and a 20-minute drive.

The hotel, admittedly has a workout room, but besides the weight machine, about all it has is a treadmill, and that’s why God created shopping malls.  I figure Elaine will remain perfectly fit by going to South Center, Auburn, Tacoma, and Silverdale malls.  I expect to see weekly circuit training between ‘em all. 

Like anything else, you’ll need to p[ick up some of your own supplies.  TP, Kleenex, and such.  Maybe a small jug of Dawn for the dishes and some olive oil, butter, milk…you know that one. 

The Air BNB site has a number of filters, depending on your budget.  You can pick up a shared room (pass, but cheap), a private room (no thanks, but if you’re on a fixed income and still have some wanderlust and don’t mind a shared bathroom…) or you can get the “entire place.”

It seems to work even in resort areas.  Branson, Missouri has a couple of listings for $100 a night.  Hotels in season up there run more.  Again, it helps to study the pictures closely and shop a good bit.  Also, seasons matter but if you’re beyond kid-dragging, it’s worth exploring.

If you don’t have a lot of money to play with, and you want to fix some of your own meals, most of the units come with coffee makers, microwaves, basic stoves, utensils, and so forth.

No points or free air travel miles, but I sure like recycling money to regular folks instead of shareholders.  So thought I’d mention it. 

Between the discount cruise tips from Gaye over at www.backdoorsurvival.com, and this AirBnB thing, plus finally getting “this old house” near the finish line, there might just be a few years of grown-up fun left before the Big Sleep.

It’s almost too good to be true…so I expect someone will find a way to tax it away from us, yet.

Automatic Writing Project in the WoWW

We do lots of crazy stuff around here:  Chase the market (which often turns and chases us), play with ham radio, airplanes, gardening (but not this year – – yet – another story for another day) and lots of other fun, adventurous stuff including the odd vivid dream to report.

Oh, and let’s not leave out looking for the Bigger Contexts of life – those megatrends that are coming along which will toss us all about like unemployed ships in the storm of life.  3D printing, business process re-engineering, and all that.  Like yesterday’s report on “computational statecraft.”

Still, life doesn’t allow us enough time for all possible avenues of research that catch our eye.

The latest sparkler that’s calling to me is something called “automatic writing.”

Not too much is “hot” on the web around it right now, but automatic writing has a long and interesting history:  A bit from Wikipedia to set the stage:

Automatic writing or psychography is an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without physically writing. The words are claimed to arise from a subconscious, spiritual or supernatural source

Once you read that article (interesting stuff here) you run into another idea which has been largely debunked by psychology of the respectable (or at least peer-reviewed sort): Ideometry:

The ideomotor effect is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously; for example, the body produces tears in response to powerful emotions, without the person consciously deciding to cry.

The experiment is simple:  Just sit down in front of a keyboard and start typing.  But now something coming out of your mind (leastwise, directly):  Just let characters flow and see what comes out of it.

Some would argue that it’s a gateway to evil spirits, while others claim that there’s only subconscious trash to be taken out this way.  Yet, I can’t help but wonder if automatic writing has, chosen a very few to bless with knowledge of the future.

Another way to considered it is that ideas come out of your higher self and automatic writing simply reduces these to comprehensible content suitable for consumption by others.  Charity, chastity and oblong boxes of content come through, report some.

For now, it’s just a concept, something of a refreshing break from computational madness that seems to be overtaken society.  Let me know if you try it…and I’ll do likewise. 

I know the saying about a thousand monkeys with typewriters ought to be able to turn out  the works of Shakespeare over time.  But we don’t care about that.  Just a few good stock tips and lotto or Powerball numbers would be fine.

WoWW 2: Vortex in the Mower Shed?

Reader Warren (disappearing measuring tape and perpetual self-filling lawnmower) updates us on some lingering questions:

Yes, the mower lives just a few feet from the shelf where the tape measure lives. Not enough room for a cot, tho’. It’s a small shed, about 10′ x 10′ sitting on a concrete slab. I’ll start paying attention and see if I notice any ‘vortexes’ or electromagnetic effects and whatnot. 

Aside: One way to identify ‘vortexes’ and ‘grid points’ on ley lines is to see if any nearby bushes trees or saplings have trunks or limbs that are twisted in a spiral. Some dowsers look for the same things in their work. Apparently, they use this visual guide to help find underground streams or water sources.

This is an older house. At least several years older than either of us.

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When one makes “predictions” about the future, the reader or analyst is faced with a terrible statistical problem.

While a perfect “hit” would be an event – exactly as described –  there is the matter of “effective fulfillment” of a prediction.

When on pokes around the Internet, for example, and  offers various insights into future events, there is often (accompanying) a kind of disclaimer.  It says, in effect, that because the net is so large and impacting on mass consciousness, the ACTUAL fulfillment may not occur but a QUASI fulfillment would have to be counted.

When, for example, one writes about “massive flooding” to come, it is argued that “flooding” anywhere – even if just in headlines – would constitute fulfillment of a prediction.

But here’s the problem with that:  Flooding goes on regularly (and worldwide) every year.  So I can make a prediction of “flooding” and it’s bound to come true.

In eastern Europe, Serbia in particular at the moment, there is a worry that more flooding will come.   No doubt, somewhere on the net – in various dream, prediction, and channeling sites – someone will in the past month have mentioned a prediction of “floods.”

Yet, here we are this morning, with flooding persisting in Serbia, and now it’s even threatening a power plant that serves about half the region’s electrical needs, says the NY Times.

Now comes the problem of  whether “headlines” about a story qualify as fulfillment?

This is a long conversation that Chris McCleary at www.nationaldreamcenter.com and I will be having one of these days – as schedules permit – because we’re both finance guys (at least to the MBA level) and thus, both victims of statistics.

There’s no doubt that N (the number of data points) isn’t huge in any of this stuff, but the problem  which we might call Anti-N is hard as hell to track for comparison purposes.

So yes, if you find 3 predictions and one of them “hits” it might look like a very good success rate.

Suppose, however, that the number of predictions was much higher – and you took into account the totality of all predictions – not just those having to do with floods.  Then what?

CalQuake

This problem is far from theoretical.  And I mention is this morning reference my “CalQuake” dream that I wrote up in yesterday’s column in (amazing, even for my iMax-like  dream detail level).

Here the are on Monday and out comes the heading that says the SF Bay Area is due for a huge release of energy.  But will it come as one mega quake, or will it be a series?  The article “Bay Area’s future earthquakes: Knockout blow, or combination punch?” begins to ask the question and sketch out answers.

You see the problem, right?

The dream was of a much higher level of specificity and yet – by the very definition of some who make outrageous claims about predictive ability – my Monday morning post, followed some 10-hours later by huge headlines about involving exactly the area (the high tech hub) and earthquake risks, would have to be scored as a “hit.”

It’s an odd problem, for sure, but I’m not sure that the pseudo-hit is really legit. 

Remember, in the case of the plane/emergency landing dream, we had a “near hit” within a day of the dream posting.  Yet the actual (and rather precise “fill” didn’t happen for fully 10-days.

So while it’s interesting that the report came out, I’m skeptical, even though by past metrics I might have counted it as a hit.

Instead, I’m looking further out for a real big quake.  And let’s toss in the report of more than 70,000 fish dying in Marine Del Rey.  There are times when fish die-offs precede quakes.

About the only thing missing now would be a few dead oarfish this weekend off of Monterey and the stage would be perfectly set.

We shall see.,..but the problem of N and anti-N is a vexing one.  And it gets to the core of discernment or mental “slop.”  The poet in me says score it.  The numbers guy says nope, not enough data because anti-N hasn’t been calculated.

Twofer Tuesday in the WoWW

A couple of dandy reports on the ongoing trouble with reality becoming Swiss-cheesy of late.  Think of it as a Tuesday Twofer from the World of Woo-Woo (WoWW).

Remember a week or three back, we had a report about the woman who heard a mysterious female voice while taking a shower?  Well, she’s got a friend, apparently:

Hi George!

I wrote a couple of weeks back about hearing a female voice requesting she come into my bathroom while I was in the shower – and no-one there, of course.

Well, last week while at home alone, I heard a male voice (not a basso, but a deeper-pitched voice), briefly say “Hi, I…” and the transmission was interrupted by traffic noise from outside.

Since then, my husband and I have been hearing loud bangs around the house, and when we investigate nothing seems to be out of place. In fact on Friday night after I had gone to bed (I was still awake) there was an outrageous bang and a the sound of the table leaf hitting the table outside the bedroom door.

I have four cats so I suspected their involvement, but, no sign of anything out of place or cats in contest. I said out loud “ For heaven’s sake, I’m tired and trying to sleep. Just cut it out!” and since then it’s been quiet. Guess I opened a portal when I invited the female in, but it has seemed to have settled down since Friday night.

Keep up the good work, love what you are doing!

Somewhere in here, you might want to be nailing crucifixes up over all the exterior doors of your house, call Dial-An-Exorcism, have the rugs cleaned with holy water, run a few censors of incense through the place with all the doors open while chanting “I renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways”  and other commands to get out.

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No, I have no idea how all this “dream stuff” works, but for sure – as soon as I get the usual load of crap done around here this morning – I’ll be uploading this one to the www.nationaldreamcenter.com site.  Definitely a case of the world of woo-woo (*WoWW.)

It’s another one of those dreams that has the same “syrupy reality” feel to it that other dreams (with some precognitive content to them) have had.

And, what makes this one so interesting is that the amount of detail in the dream is very high.

Let me run through it, and then you can decide what to make of it:

I was not “George” but rather a younger version of “me” although a different personality, completely.  And, I was seeing the dream through the eyes of someone employed in a high tech firm which was doing something at the intersection of artificial intelligence, the web, and maybe (this is the weakest impression) something with remote (and possibly 3D) printing.

The day was going along fine, although time was not too clear.  The company was in a building which had previously been occupied by another high tech firm and it was a big building.  Lots of dark glass.

The building was also tall – got the impression that it was a high-rise of some sort, but couldn’t be sure.

About the company:  It had been in the software/business/invention area for a long time and a while back (5-years?) had a pretty good hit with on e of its products.  Everyone knew, however, that the money made in that success would run out at some point, so there was a major press on to finish the new project.

The company also had a “sister company” which was located in the Los Angeles area, and the direction from the company where the “dreamer” was located was “south”.  Which means the company I was dreaming about what up the coast a good ways, either Bay area or Seattle.

The reason for “knowing this” was really odd, too.  I was talking to someone in human resources (a female who was with a colleague of hers) and I was complaining about the lousy piped in music.

Specifically, there were four channels from which office workers could select and they were all universally bad.  Oh, and loud, too.

“Do you have anything more relaxing?  I mean like soft jazz, or something?  I can’t get my work done under conditions like this….” I complained to the “boss lady from HR.”

The answer was quite surprising:  “No, we used to get a feed from our company in Los Angeles because we had some leased data lines, but since they were acquired, that feed has gone offline.  Besides, we needed the data lines for the project.”

Hmmm…feeling slightly frustrated, I wandered off to my workspace which (oddly) had a strange printer with it that was capable of being used online.  Although it didn’t make sense in the dream, upon waking I figured out it was likely a 3D printer as it was that size and I was making adjustments to it.  In fact, I was only pretending to work because the HR ladies were still around and I needed to look busy.

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Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been working around to some of the deep, dark secrets of how the economy really works.  The stuff that doesn’t make it into the 5-o’clock news shows.  The one that explains how, rather simply, the Fed can print money like a house afire, and still not have inflation running through the roof.   All fine theory, of course.  But what’s the point, right?

This morning you’re going to learn to think in an unconventional way about what I call “The America Platform.”  Just like major software management tools, we can look at our own future, and that of “The America Platform,” with the same mindset as a software implementation team on a BPR project (business process re-engineering).  In this sense, “financial prepping” is a series of “use cases” in software design.  Or, you could considers it a personal financial stress test.

After some coffee, we’ll wrap it all up and make soup of it.  Included is a PowerPoint that you can share with your spouse and family members, too, if you’re so inclined.

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The Universe, apparently, jumps tracks now and then.

We’ve chronicled a lot of it around here:  Keys set down upstairs just fall through the floor when no one is looking.  A red vintage Cadillac you’ve been following (and admiring) turns into a Toyota Corolla when you glance away for a fraction of a second. 

And one of our favorites around here, things that simply “disappear” and then “pop” back into existence a few minutes, hours, or even months later.  All without explanation.

Taken as a whole, it suggests that the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics is not only real, but that the film The Adjustment Bureau may be another subtle example of what ThePowersThat be have discovered (and might be using for personal gain):  That there’s a ‘force’ out and about that sets things right.

This morning, we have the odd case of radio superstar Casey Kasem wandering off into the World of Woo-Woo.

To set the scene for this:  You may remember that Kasem – the long-time voice of cartoon character Scooby-Doo – was reported to have Parkinson’s.  Then some kind of family beef popped up and there were allegations that Kasem has been spirited out of the country.

One thing led to another, but the latest in the story is that he’s fine and that he and his wife had been visiting long-time friends up west of Seattle in Kitsap County.

Sorry to hear about the uproar; glad things can now settle down again.

Except for one small thing.

At least one of our readers was shocked at the report that Kasem was still alive.  One of our readers sent this…

Okay, I read his obit to Kim several months ago.  We all commented on who is now doing the voice.  Then today he’s alive.

WTF

All of which gets us to that odd borderland of human recall (or is it serious Woo-woo?) of people who are alive, yet folks remember them as being dead, or, in the reverse case, people who are dead yet are remembered as still being alive.

I’m not sure exactly how the phenomena works, but another case that comes to mind was that of Sid Caesar.

Now he actually is dead (says Wikipedia, passing February 12th of this year) but a lot of people thought he died years and years ago.  But just to make the point, you can find discussion groups posts on the web (like this one circa 2013) where people thought he was already dead, and wasn’t.

How we recall “fringe famous” people is apparently different than the “normal” kind of recall.  The people who slide into this gray area of memory aren’t usually the Super Stars (like an Elvis or a Kennedy).  Instead, they seem to occupy a kind of second or third tier of fame.  Household names, perhaps, and maybe even good trivia questions.

A number of radio stations (mostly adult-contemporary) have run features over the years with names like “Dead or Alive?”

In the schtick, listeners call it and are offered a prize is they can correctly guess 10-in a row of semi-famous people who are either dead or alive.  Damn few winners.

Is the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics the only possibility?  Why, no!

If you look around, you’ll find videos like this one (with just 12 views on YouTube when I found it) that goes off on an interesting mass deception track which (hate to admit it) would fit with some other conspiracies floating around the web.

All of which might be readily dismissed except for a couple of things.  And one of these is Project Blue Beam.

Back to point:  If you’re going to play the game of “dead or alive” might I recommend this site?

Hell, I would have sworn Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. was dead years ago.  But he just died two weeks ago.

Dead ort Alive?  Eventually, we all get to be contestants.

Thank You!

To all the people who sent in their comments on the FCC net-jack for corporations which are trying to slice up the internet and make it two different animals.  FCC Chairman Wheeler oughta resign.  His insincere insistence that “there’s only one Internet” smacks of the same dishonesty we’ve seen from politicians who support toll roads.

This slime will look you in the eye and say “Oh, toll roads [paid for with taxpayer money] are all part of the national highway system.  Which is a pantload:  It’s only part if you have money for the tolls.

Wheeler is a corporate apologist of the worst stripe.  It’s another example of how a “high bar” will be set (at first) and then lowered on the public when the corporate con artists finally leave office after doing irreparable damage.

If you like Toll Roads, you’ll love where the FCC is going with the Internet.  Beyond malfeasance, it’s corporate theft.  Which is why I won’t pay the king of Spain’s minions, or whoever else in the way of foreign beneficiaries operates toll roads, either.  I’ll take the FREEway that is really free.

Oh, wait….can speeding tickets be issued on a toll road?  I mean if the state isn’t the financial beneficiary….hmmm.

The real agenda:  Can’t have the Internet being too free, or too self-organizing.  Otherwise, what would the point of ‘government’ be if people could really govern themselves?

Why Does the USDA Need Machine Guns?

Another WTF moment here as we read through the US Department of Agriculture’s supplier query for 40-caliber submachine guns.

From the solicitation docs:

The U.S.

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We begin this morning with a simple request.  Invest a couple of minutes to click over to the AVAAZ.org site here and send a message in support of NET NEUTRALITY.

In a nutshell, some big corporations want to be able to set up a “fast lane” for their big streaming plans and to do that, they propose to throttle other internet traffic.

That really means block or make slow enough to be useless.  Unless the slow users step up and pay the corporate highwaymen fees to be in the fast lane.

If you ever valued freedom and actually want to do something about it, this is where the rubber meets the road.  Either the arms of the PowersThatBe steal the net today, or they don’t.

President Obama has been a lying sack on this.  Stack a Court with people who will also let corporations BUY ELECTIONS and what do you expect?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s wrong with America.  The country has been hijacked by corporate bandits who have taken over government via their K-Street lobbyist shocktroops and this turnaround on net neutrality is only one example.

So please, before you do anything else today, please take a minute or two to fill out the form and send your own note.  Mine was:

This is an outrage!  Obama promised net neutrality.  What is his (or any other political promise) worth?

Zip.  I reckon 90% of people in office are guilty of bait and switch…this is another classic.

The corporate “fix” is in, again.

And with the Courts (stacked with pro-corporate appeasers and fund-raisers)  we’ve just about put “America on eBay” – available for the taking by the shock troops of K-street.

Government has become a big pop machine:  Put money in,  and out pops corporate policy.

Is that what the Founders envisioned? Is that what our Service members fought and died for?

Or are ya’ll getting a few sips of the pop?

George Ure
United States of America  

Thank you.

The Internet is the one bastion on resistance to the Corporate takedown of World which is already well underway.  The FCC is holding a sham vote today and freedom is going….going…without a huge groundswell calling bullshit on the corporate takedown, the Net is in serious danger of being stripped of reasonable, questioning, non-corporate views.

The hopeful news is that the Senate may vote this summer on overturning Citizens United v. McCutcheon.  In other words, the Senate may be wondering if the public’s anger balance against corporate influence is changing.  Duh.

What genius, huh?  How much BS do we take before a good housecleaning comes to Washington.  Term limits for all, I say.  One term.

F’ing With Your Mind:  The “Narrative”

Also, please notice that in the process here lately, corpmedia are re-hiding the sausage linguistically by by delivering  “narratives” now instead of “stories” because “stories” can be too easily construed as lies, as in “he’s telling a story.” 

If you’re not brain-dead, or haven’t had your lobotomy yet, you know that when a politician is speaking, it’s sometimes (occasionally) a story although often a lie.  Sometimes it’s a bid request, too.  But, sure as shit it is not “narration.”  Unless you swallow the blue pill several times a day.  In the famous words of Morpheus:

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

The term blue pill means someone not aware; who doesn’t grok the Matrix.  Or you can price politicians by looking at who’s buying them over on www.opensecrets.org. Shows how much they cost, if you want to go shopping.

A narrative is associated with narration — as in the sound track that goes with a documentary,.  Ergo it must be more true.  Because no one is telling us a story.  Wrong, wrong, and bullshit.

Narrative is the media’s blue pill.  Constipated corporate communications consultant spew. C4S.  Take the red pill. GFR.

Consumer Prices

Now, onto some hard data:  The Consumer Price Report is just out:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.0 percent before seasonal adjustment.

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