HEENE MONTAGE

Todays news was engulfed with a weird spaceship looking balloon and the sensationalized idea that a young boy was trapped aboard this craft 5000 feet in the air. Of course, news reports failed to mention this family regularly contributes live news videos to national news outlets and appeared on the special 100th episode of my absolute favorite guilty pleasure... "Wife Swap".

(click-the episode is here)

Falcon Heene and his family were just on Larry King Live (Wolf Blitzer sitting in) -- where he suggested his family set up the entire "boy trapped in a flying balloon" story, saying "You guys said that we did this for the show."





Kids do the darndest things... like busting on their parents publicity trip LMAO Wolf really dropped the ball not hammering them on this one- hmm, or is this family under contract with CNN? Either way hilarious.

Added Oct 17

Balloon boy father called FAA,then 9 news before calling 911

Added Oct 18

HA! Now they are brought up on charges. Check THIS out! One of the better songs on You Tube

I think I love them

CANADA

The Kanye thing. He's been all over the media. National debt, healthcare reform- which is HUGE- as in throw away the entire old system and make a new one, 2 wars, wildfires, sky high unemployment, inflation about to hit and THIS is what is on television for a week. Oh, how we love to be diverted. Why do I care? Don't really. Someone asked what the deal was about Kanye West. Knew nothing about him and as I'm all about being informed[wonder if that came off as serious?], I've decided to share. This is my encapsulated version:

He writes and produces most of his own stuff. He was in some accident (probably someone gave him a smackdown for being a jerk -ok, probably not but I have desires and imagination.). His jaws were wired shut for 9 months. He started writing poetry. He was very close with his mother who died a year or so ago. He's VERY popular. Does VERY commercial music. One time he decided he was boycotting an awards show if he didn't win an award. Was in competition with 50cent over who could sell the most recordings with the same release date. Megalomaniac FOR SURE. Muhammad Ali's ego in it's heyday had nothing on Kanye. Totally sensationalized fame hound.

Kanye West vids:

Love Lockdown

Gold Digger featuring Jamie Fox

Stronger- live version with Daft Punk

EGO (with Beyonce-who is married to Jay-z)

RUN THIS TOWN with Jay-Z and Rhianna (whom Jay-Z was rumored to have had an affair with while "on break" and just before he and Beyonce got married.) I have a lot of respect for Jay-Z's business sense, but that is another blog. The brushing off motion of Jay-Z at 2.30 is famous- Obama did it at pre election. Sorry right wingers- I'm still not hating on him.

Obama "brushing the dirt off"

Kanye ruining Taylor Swifts moment. She is young. It's her first VMA award. He was in the audience at the VMA's and jumped on stage took the mic from her and well- the rest is in this video. Even his crocodile tears non apology on Jay Leno (who cuts zero slack). He had no reason to be on that stage and was promptly escorted out. Was very nice of Beyonce to call Taylor up during her own acceptance speech.Seems like a publicity stunt,though. He's getting a lot of press and Taylor Swift is getting even more. New albums were just released and the music industry is transformation into who knows what. He did apologize, but hmm- motives are a rough guess. Maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe Kanye really is a jackass.

Obama responds like an actual human and says "he's a jackass"

Kanye on nationally televised fundraiser for victims of hurricane Katrina:

"Bush doesn't care about black people"

A good thing he does- That he can actually be admired for is his campaign against slavery with African diamond mining companies. This song contains a sample of the theme song for the 1971 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever as performed by Shirley Bassey. After gathering research on the plight of children in West African nations who since 1991 having been forced to mine conflict diamonds and die in civil wars financed by them.He still doesn't wear diamonds.Kanye West - Diamonds

BUT- I suggest you buy diamonds from CANADA, eh? They have some of the best diamond mines in the world. Not only quality but conflict free. What? Did you really think I'd close this post talking about him? Go learn something.

This is some interesting info on Canadian mines

NEGATIVE AMERICANS

I've been frequently asked why I'm so negative about the economy. I could bore you with economic minutia, but these are a few key points that are largest contributing factors. I will start with the car stimulus as I grew up in the Detroit area and it's still near and dear to my heart. What has happened there saddens me more than you can imagine.

The recent car stimulus program "Cash for Clunkers" has (arguably) been a resounding success! 700,000 new cars were sold!

Yes, the argument can be made that the foreign car makers have assembly plants here in the U.S.- BUT- Do you realize where the profit from these cars goes? Not here. Now the national debt is growing to subsidize profitable foreign companies? Living in a country trillions in debt- debt owed to other countries (mostly China. I sure hope they don't decide to collect anytime soon or my socialism rants will be replaced with your communism rants and my I told ya so's)- I just don't understand how ANY ONE OF YOU could buy a foreign car. 1 in every 100 jobs in the United States is/was a direct result of the auto industry. It is YOU who is paying for the welfare unemployed, non skilled laborers are/will be collecting. It's coming out of our social security money as well- so quit bitching about people on social services and how you'll never see your social security money. You're spending it on a Camry. I won't go on a socialism rant at this very moment, but one is always close to the surface lately and NOT because of Obama- Because of Joe right wing American. Because of Helicopter Ben and his crew. Because of Diebold voting fraud. Beause of the piss poor way things are done here on a consistent basis.

In order the top sellers were:

Ford Focus. Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Prius, Ford Escape. Toyota Camry. Dodge Caliber, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Fit, Chevy Cobalt

Top C4C trade in cars:

1998 Ford Explorer, 1997 Ford Explorer, 1996 Ford Explorer, 1999 Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Cherokee, 1995 Ford Explorer, 1994 Ford Explorer, 1997 Ford Windstar, 1999 Dodge Caravan

Initial clunkers legislation sponsored by Representative Betty Sutton, an Ohio Democrat, would have barred discounts for new vehicles manufactured overseas and offered higher payments for cars and trucks produced in the U.S. than for those made in Canada and Mexico. The “Buy American” provision was dropped from the final legislation because of opposition from foreign automakers and free-trade advocates who said it would conflict with U.S. obligations to the World Trade Organization.

As the cars being turned in are being destroyed, actually crushed - getting rid of the "clunkers", has made the base price of a used car higher than ever before ($5k). If we want to help the poor, why not give them these cars or sell them and make some of that tax money back? The new vehicles purchased tend to be sturdy and long lasting. How soon do you think these 'less than fortunate' people are going to buy another car? We've just set ourselves up with a glut of available cars for the next 10 yrs.

Yesterday I had the joyous experience of registering my 1 yr old car for the year. What cost me around $60 last year has now increased to $500. Starting Sept 1st reg. price is based on depreciation value of -10% each year (here in NV anyway). This of course is a higher number and does not coincide with the Kelley Blue Book value. So- the govt IS getting money back. Too bad. so sad for me it is from those of us who weren't even part of the program. Why not just write out checks to Japan and Korea?

I'm shocked that so many of my "smart" and "intelligent" cohorts don't/can't see the lies and "fuzzy math" being thrown around. It extends into every part of our economy- from car sales to packages of food with less contents and more air so they look the same. Nico Richter shows clearly how the housing numbers were altered to look positive by the powers that be: U.S. Existing Home Sales Data - ADJUSTED!

Jobless claims have stayed the same last month! GREAT NEWS! ...or is it? Could it be possible that those numbers are the same because hundreds of thousands of unemployment benefits ran out?

Green Day-American Idiot-Music Video

Vinny-Bob-O-Renno | MySpace Video

Thank you for reading and I hope you consider what I have just said.

THAT'S ALL

I LOVE THIS... That's all I wanted to say about it :)

DO YOU KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND?

I'm moving to a house. I've lived in LV for 10+ years and have finally decided to make it my permanent home. Needless to say commitment takes a long time for me! I've been very busy. Though the house is only 5 yrs old, it is a foreclosure (a lot of repairs). Thankfully there was no previous interior decorating. I've been able to make it mine from scratch. I will be back soon and updating on current topics of my -and I hope your- interest. My new house reminds me very much of a home in AGRESTIC. As I move on Wednesday- there will be no blogging out of me for a bit. I will be taking a break from sorting my life, placing items in tiny boxes and establishing my home base in a 2600 sq ft box.






Here is something for your amusement:

The Traveler IQ Challenge

My travel IQ is 109. I made it to level 11 on "World". There are many challenges. My personal worst was "Flags". I couldn't get past level 1! Let me know how you scored. This is a facebook application you can use with your friends on there. I like this sort of thing a lot- Do you?

I will be back to issues at and out of hand soon! :)

XOXO

UNPOPULAR

I've been hearing a lot of words thrown around lately. I'm by no means an economist. I understand the ideology of most world economies. I've not studied microeconomics as much as I'd like or intend to. I'm starting with a few definitions to clarify what I'm about to say. My opinion is not popular with my friends. Well, to be fair my friends haven't allowed me the luxury of explaining my views to them as they cut me off mid sentence with their opinions. It is, in fact SO unpopular that I discontinued ongoing conversations because my friends become hostile. Is their hostility misguided? Maybe my opinions are.

This post is very much "dummied down" as to write at length would bore you. I'm open to (and would appreciate) constructive conversation and criticism, but seriously, every time this subject is approached it's like slamming my face against a brick wall.

Here are some concise definitions:

• Capitalism - an economic system based on private ownership of capital.
• Socialism - a political theory advocating state ownership of industry
• Communism - a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership.
• Dictatorship - a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
• Fascism - a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism)
• Democratic Socialism - is a description used by various socialist movements, tendencies, and organizations, to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation. The term is sometimes used synonymously with 'social democracy'.

It is possible to be one or many of these at the same time. For instance in China, Russia, North Korea,Laos, Vietnam and Cuba - Communism is the ruling party. They practice Socialism in an extreme way that some would even call Fascist and are considered Dictatorships.

Here is a list of a few Democratic Socialist countries- Canada, Australia, India, Austria, Denmark, Iran, Syria, Columbia, Albania, Sweden, England, Germany, France... most of Europe.

...and the U.S. We are not becoming Socialist. We are. We have been. The recent bank take overs and government ownership of General Motors (which I will get back to in a future post as I, a person raised in S.E. MI have a lot to say) are just the most recent signals. It's been going on a long long time, if not since the birth of our country. What do you think Social Security, medicare ,medicaid, military, police and fire departments are? All public works projects like TVA (things that brought us out of the last depression) are technically socialist. We all chip in and things like schools, hospitals, govt. buildings etc are built. Unfortunately, most Americans distort the word "Socialism" to mean something negative - spouting words like "Hitler", "Communism", "Facism" and "Castro".

I guess what I'm trying to say here is this- Please know what you are talking about before you throw around words and concepts you have no idea about. Do ANY of us really know how our country is run? I know this post is extremely simplified. The average person on the street can't name the Vice President, much less tell me how to feel about political ideology. 11 % of Americans can't even find America on a map!

As long as I have the ability to prosper and enjoy a quality, healthy life I really don't care what the economic term is. Labeling can be a dangerous thing.

I encourage any of you to discuss this as long as you will engage in conversation and not yell extreme left or right wing slogans at me.

THIS COIULD BE

THE creepiest thing I've ever seen!


RUBBER JOHNNY





Can you top it?