The Banterer

David and Goliath

2011-12-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

The story of David and Goliath is basically the story of the demise of the leader of Philistinism.

In the current story that we are all living today through our watching and participation in Occupy Wall Street, or watching the joke of our political system unfold, or watching our Supreme Court Kow Tow to the corporate system, we are shown clearly that our capitalistic societal paradigm has broken down. The rich, the Philistines, claim socialism has taken over our governmental policies, all the while taking bailouts, using tax loopholes and deductions from the same government at the expense of the taxpayers. It is time to end this scherade.

I have chosen to do what ever part I can, in the capacity that I am able, in which to be the change I wish to see in the world and I have taken action. Since corporations are in the pockets of our highest court, one must find the impenetrable spot with which to strike the behemoths and take them down. We, as citizens, must do so within the confines of our legal system and beat the corporations at their own game. It ain't easy, but their own arrogance is what will become their own demise.

Due to the legal issues I am pursuing against the Financial Industry, the fact that my phones have been tapped and I have found radio signals passing through areas in my home to listen to conversations, I will be writing the next sections, that will present the entire story of fraud and corruption, in another more anonymous forum. The powers that be must be respected and also manipulated just as they do to the public at large.

It is not the court system that will be the conclusion, but the information that will be given to the public to understand what has transpired that will have much more of an effect on the banksters than anything else.

I have left the evidence trail to be found upon my demise.

My work here in this forum has come to an end.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

This, the 323rd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2007 - 2011 Doug Boggs

Pro Se or not Pro Se, that is the question.

2011-12-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Back in mid 2009 I received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service that I was going to be audited for the year 2007. Getting a letter like this holds never a comforting feeling. Whether one has had a good or bad financial year in question that doesn't make much difference when you are staring down at a letter from the IRS. One of the first things that did go through my mind was that the paper used was not from recycled materials. How many letters does my Uncle Sam put out every day? Where does all of the garbage go? We waste so much in this world...

It looked as though they were looking for $67,000. There was some change, but let's just use some round figures.

I have been computer audited before, but never had a scheduled meeting with an agent. I pondered the letter for a few days, wondering what all will be involved in such an act. I thought of McVeigh and maybe that was the reason he blew up the building in Oklahoma. There is a great resource for legal books called Nolo Press where I got a few books, one of which was called "How to beat the IRS". It was time to dig in and begin the defense, so I ventured into the attic to rummage through some boxes and pulled out all the documents.

Let's go back a bit to April 2006. I called my accountant's office to make an appointment to put things together to file an extension. I do that every year. Primarily, just to piss off the IRS. If I owe them money, which being self employed that tends to happen, I want them to wait to get their grimy little hands on my moola. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not at all against paying taxes. In fact, in today's economy it shows how much effort is needed to reconstruct our tax code, as this country is going down the toilet, pretty quick.
Anyway, I was told that my accountant retired. I really liked her. I knew that I pushed her to her limits, and things were always good. I could tell on her face when I was attempting a deduction that wasn't going to work. She kept me in check.

Now, it would be up to me. So, in 2006, I began using a popular tax software program. I read a lot. When one is in business for one's self it is good to read about tax issues, processes, codes, and the like. I even spent time at a few seminars for planning and strategies over the years. So, beginning to work with the software wasn't too difficult to navigate since I had the background knowledge for small business tax strategies.

I have subsequently done my taxes for 2006 forward. Oh, and I received a letter from the IRS. I know that when you are in business for yourself, and you do your own tax return, you are red flagged. So, it is vital that you have the documentation you need to substantiate your deductions you are going to be doing. It also helps to understand whether you can even begin to attempt to take some deductions prior to the tax year so that you can plan ahead with your business and structure things accordingly.

Anyway, to make a long story short...er, I scheduled a meeting with the tax auditor. She asked to have the meeting at my house, but I said no. You do not want the IRS in your home. Period.

The meetings began in the fall of 2009. Let's move forward passed three more meetings, and then two more meetings with two other auditors. Now, we are in May of 2011. The result was a letter I received that stated I was going to tax court. That is not something anyone wants to end up doing. I dug in deeper and began to prepare. The court date was scheduled for Oct. 2011.

In August of 2011, I received a letter from a tax mediator. She said she wanted to meet with me to go over everything, to which she had the power to decide if this case needed to go to court or not. She could then issue a statement to the tax attorney on record and recommend, if necessary, to settle out of court.

During the previous meetings that had taken place over the past year two years I would give as much information as needed. In legal proceedings, you never want to show your hand until its time. This was my last moment of truth, so I took whatever last documents I could muster to substantiate my deductions noted in my return.

The meeting went well. We discussed the year in question. I had showed her checks, statements, emails, and even some legal documents. She was clicking away at the computer and at one point sat back, looked at me and said, "I don't think you will owe anything." We discussed a bit why she came to that conclusion.

I laughed and said, "I'm not going to celebrate quite yet, until I have that in writing. But, if I don't owe anything as based on what you said, the tax differences between the deductions change a little, don't they?"

She looked at me, smiled, clicked away, and finally said, "Yes, it would seem that you might even be eligible for a refund. Now, I will do the final calculations and submit the findings to the court. It will be up to them to take this information and they will make a final decision as based on my recommendation. You should hear something from me in about 10 days."

About a week later, I got a call from her on my machine that said that I will not be needing to go to court and will be getting a check from the IRS for $4,500. Nice.

I waited.

The court date was approaching and I had no document that signed off the tax debt, the court date, or I had not yet received any refund. So, I called the mediator and told her I would still be showing up to argue in court on the scheduled date unless I hear anything otherwise. She said that wouldn't be necessary. I told her I needed a signoff document that would say that, or as far as I'm concerned I am scheduled for court. I told her I will go to court and show all of the documents I showed her and argue my case, and win, and therefore it will be a waste of time for all of us. She told me to hold tight and she would get the necessary documents for signoff completed by the tax attorney on record to the case and send them to me.

I received a letter from the IRS about a week later with the judges order. I would not have to show up to court and I would be receiving a refund for the amount we discussed. Two months later, I got my check.

I will say that it is a very empowering feeling to act as your own attorney, and win. In State Court that is called acting in Pro Per. In Federal Court that is called acting in Pro Se. It takes a lot out of someone to act as their own attorney and it is not easy. But, it can be done. That is how law began in the first place. Back in the old anglo world people would argue for themselves. What people don't realize is that attorneys are human and make mistakes. I have used attorneys before who have done nothing but take my money. Some attorneys do good work for their clients and some simply spin the wheels of justice. Their mistakes will cost the client a lot of time, aggravation, and money. Most attorneys lose a case on some minor issue that they overlooked, however, will never tell their clients that they fucked up. They will find a way to blame the evidence, the court, the system, but never them. So, I choose to defend myself as much as possible.

Now, there are a lot of other details I left out during this whole scherade, and I will include those in my book, however, I also wanted to point out that while I was going through this I was also dealing with the beginnings of a substantially more serious issue at the same time. I simply wanted to get a bit of a back story as I bring you into the other lawsuit that began taking shape.

I will follow with that story next.

This, the 322nd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2007 - 2011 Doug Boggs

Moral Authority

2011-11-25T23:06:00.001-08:00

These past couple of years has allowed a lot of time for reflection for me. I have not wasted that time. Although, I will say that time keeps rolling on and waits for no one. I have let some of that time slip away. I am looking to see if I can grab it again.

A lot has happened to us all in these past four years as we have all watched the meltdown of the capitalistic paradigm. We have all experienced the mayhem in one shape or form. Most people have been seriously affected by the economic downturn to a point that their lives, their hopes and dreams are forever changed. Some have profited highly through this debacle. We have stood by and witnessed the destruction of morals and are just now beginning to experience the reconstruction of our moral authority. It isn't over, and the new moral authority is in its infancy. The marching to our new destination has just begun. This does not happen on its own. We must all take shuffled steps to see things from new angles. We must take blind leaps in order to help others see things they refuse to acknowledge.

There are always messengers in madness. Some are shunned by the masses because the masses don't clearly understand the message, and some are followed because the few that see and believe are able to help clarify and spread the message. We must find the sun's rays through these reflection pools we sit and swim in. It's interesting how life is. One never knows where one will end up despite all of the energies one might put forth towards a specific goal. There are no guarantees to what you have planned in life.

Only a few years back I was building numerous eco friendly homes for investors in Texas. It was a labor of love. I designed the homes myself and thought I could help change the way homes were being built and designed. I was flying back and forth from California to Texas frequently to handle businesses I had in both states. I remember being on the phone with one of my investors and realizing that what was going on on Wall Street was going to collapse the rest of the world. Quickly. I finally saw the writing on the wall. Perhaps too late. But, I said to them, "I suggest you get out now, cut your losses. I cannot fix this. It is bigger than I know." They still had some faith left in my talents, but we both knew our investments were going south and were probably going to crash. Hard.

This was back in 2008, and none of us knew, at that time to what extent things would go south, but we knew it was going to get much worse.Actually, the leaders of Wall Street knew, and how much, but neglected to share any of this information to anyone else as they continued to ask for new investors, new money, all the while they were hedging against their own investments that they were selling. They knew and defrauded their investors and defrauded the people of this country. Many countries.

When you plan and prepare and things fall apart in front of your eyes it is a very enlightening and educational experience. I was unprepared for the fall and the outcome. I lost years of work in days. I watched a carefully orchestrated business dissolve in what seemed hours. I came back to my home in California and tried to put some pieces back together again. It was very difficult. My whole life was built around real estate and construction, at that time, and both of those industries were the first and hardest hit, and have not, and will not come back as they were before for some time to come.

I froze. I was in unknown territory. I usually had answers, but this time, I was lost. There was no work to be found for a long time. I sank into a dark hole, a place I wish for no one to find. I fought back, but my personal resources were wearing quite thin. I meditated a lot, and still do. That helped. Though, I found myself alone a few times, gun in hand, wondering what, why...

I'm still here. It took a lot of work to get to the place I am today. There is still a long way to go, but it is one step at a time.I have found a renewed strength to which I am moving forward with. There are still some very difficult days, but I am becoming more and more empowered as I learn more and more about how and what has happened to the world because of Wall Street and what can be done about it on a personal level, as well as, on a more public level. We all live our own lives, however, all of us effect one another whether we realize it or not. The butterfly effect is the idea that when a butterfly flaps its wings in California, a slight breeze eventually blows through the cherry blossoms in Japan.

The renewed strength has allowed me to take steps in directions that I never knew I had the capacity to take on. I did not know much about law four years ago, however, when I was blindsided by the economic breakdown I began taking small steps to rectify my situation. I will begin to explain what I mean by this as I follow with the upcoming posts. It is time for the message to get out. It is time that I step up and be a messenger. I hope you read, follow, understand, and pass it on.

This, the 321st entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2007 - 2011 Doug Boggs

It's about quality of work, not cheap price...

2011-08-13T08:33:00.001-07:00

As a producer, composer and voice artist, where much of my work is with corporate and documentary projects, I thought I might expound on a topic that I have experienced and found interesting as of late. I do hope it lends benefit to corporations, producers, other voice talent and others in the industry, or looking to be more involved in the multimedia world.

I take pride on delivering to my clients the highest in quality production value whether that is through music production or voice over production. With clients like Adobe, Kaspersky, SPIKE TV, PBS, ABC and others, I must be able to deliver that on a continued basis.

I receive demos from voice talent for projects all of the time. Most of the demos give the artist a good professional review of their work. These demos have been tweaked and edited to give the artist the best showing of their sound or voice. It is when I receive specific reads from them, for a specific project, that they have recorded with their own equipment is when things get interesting. In the professional recording world, there is a quality that is understood and generally adhered to, however, technology and software such as Garage Band or Audacity, has allowed nearly anyone to say they have a recording studio in their laptop.

You see, most voice artists today seem to have some sort of home studio or project studio set up that they work from. Some of those talents have spent thousands of dollars on creating a professional studio environment and some simply have a microphone, a digital converter, and a computer. The technology of the day has allowed either talent to create some quality productions. However, either talent and investment level in their equipment, can deliver either good quality or bad quality product.

Most voice artists were actors in high school, have a "good voice", know how to bring life to the written word, or all of the above. Many of the artists that I've come across are not studio engineers, or producers for that matter. However, in much of today's projects the voice artist is asked to deliver a read and act as producer, engineer, artist and tech geek for one low price.

If a client or producer asks for a read to be clean, with no effects, then the voice artist should deliver their tracks with no effects. If a producer asks for the files to be in aiff format v mp3, there is a reason for this request. A producer will give this request because of the fact that most voice talent are not studio engineers and are not familiar with the nuances of the compression that is inherent in an mp3 file. And how that compression is creating a dumbing down of quality to the recording world overall, but this is a discussion for another day. A voice artist is also generally not too familiar working with limiters, gates, or compression ratios that are used to enhance the voice quality or eliminate issues with the studio environment. Many times the voice artist will create a detrimental sound to their voice in order to mask off the noise of their recording environment, since it is just down the hall from their washer/dryer.

I feel voice talents and the voice over industry would benefit if artists would lend more effort to learning the art of recording and being able to deliver high quality product to their clients. Most clients I come across are willing to pay a bit more to be guaranteed that their product will be clean and professional rather than simply saving $100.

In the world of "Reality TV", that has pushed talented actors out of work and into the voice over world, it has put pressure on the voice over talent to step up, not simply reduce their price.

Email me if you would be interested in learning more.

This, the 320th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007-2011 Doug Boggs

What is Zen?

2011-08-01T07:35:00.001-07:00

What is Zen?

Many people feel they understand the term to be that of "meditation" or "being calm" within their chaotic life, or their quest and finding of enlightenment. The "finding" of that solace through meditation.

Zen isn't really that. Although this is a part of Zen. Enlightenment is not something that is "found", but something that is. Zen is being in its most natural state.

I was having a discussion with a woman the other day on a variety of topics stemming from health, relationships, politics and the economy. Somewhere during the conversation she asked me how do I "do it" ? I asked her what she meant by her question, to which she responded, "You have a calm about you that I wish I knew how to be, while the world seems to be so chaotic." I pondered the question and smiled, "I meditate..." She humphed and said, "I try, but I'm not very good at it. I need to practice more, I guess."

Therein lies the crux of the confusion for most people. It has taken me a while, and through much personal pain, frustration and confusion to be where I am. It takes continued connection to remain there. I wouldn't call it work, but habit might be a term I could use. There are still moments of challenge in order to remain in the state I have found. Life is a continuation of challenges, it could not be otherwise. This is a part of Zen.

However, getting back to the confusion for most people. Zen is not a place or a state of being that one is looking for, it is a place or state of being that one is. You do not search for Zen, you are Zen.

Zen is the idea of non-attachment. Not being attached to the outcome, but being one with the moment. Not being attached to the outcome of the situation in your life at the moment, but being attached to the situation in your life at the moment fully. While in your moments of life, you are there fully, and the outcome is not the measure of why you are doing anything, but it is the process of what it is you are doing. Then you are independent of everything and not attached to anything. This non-attachment is our most natural state.

To be in the most natural state is to be like a stone or a plant. My mantra throughout my life is to be like that of a duck. The water rolls off of the back of the duck and the duck floats across the water with little resistance.

I know so many people who spend so much time frustrating themselves to reach a perfection to a task or accomplishment. Then, when the task is completed I hear them find small issues that they wished they could have fixed so it would finally have been perfect. This is a never ending saga. This is not to say to not try to do your best with any task or situation at hand, however, one must realize that the end result is not the quest. To understand that there is no such thing as perfection is when we will reside in the most perfect existence. Perfection is a relative term and varies in its definition for everyone. Therefore, what one might feel is perfect, another will find a flaw as to their perception to it. It is not the outcome that one must attempt perfection, but it is in the moment of the process that one must reach for their limits.

I was once on a plane traveling from Houston to San Francisco. At 35,000 feet the pilot came on the speaker and told everyone to buckle their seats we were about to begin an immediate descent. Within seconds we began to drop. Inside the cabin of the airliner was chaos. The passengers began screaming out of fear. The baggage compartments began flying open and items were falling out. The flight crew were also frozen in their seats with fear. The woman beside me was crying. The man behind me was screaming. The woman and child across the isle from me were frozen with the fear of death. We kept dropping. It was mayhem. The only words one could hear were "We're going to die"... We kept dropping. I thought to myself, this is not the state I wish to end my life with. I will not accept my last moments to be of fear and chaos. I sat quiet for a few moments and breathed in deeply. I understood that I was certainly close to meeting my demise in this realm. We kept dropping. The oxygen masks dropped in front of everyone's faces dangling in the midst of the chaos and fear. I looked over to the woman beside me. I told her it would be okay, and helped her with her mask and told her to close her eyes and put her head into her lap. She did so. I then looked over to the woman and child. She was frantic in her attempts to assist her screaming child while she was uncontrollably weeping. I loosened by belt but remained buckled in, and reached over and touched her arm. I helped her with her mask and told her to calm down and help her child with his mask, reassuring her it would all be okay. She looked into my eyes, smiled and began to calmly help her son with his mask. I sat up and looked at the man behind me. I nodded to him and reached for his mask and motioned for him to put in on. I smiled and said it would all be okay and to just remain calm. I glanced at the passengers across from him and nodded to them in reassurance as they were fumbling with their masks. I then sat back in my seat, put on my mask, and closed my eyes again. The chaos was gone from my perception. It was still happening, but I was not a part of it any longer. I felt a peace come over me and I could hear nothing. I felt calm.

At about 10,000 feet we began to level off. Shortly thereafter we landed on a small airfield in the middle of farmland. There were 7 passengers who were quickly taken away to the nearest hospital because their eardrums burst, the others milled about the cornfield in a daze for a while. The pilot told us later that there was a signal that the cabin door was beginning to open...

To understand that life and death are all part of the same process of existence, we will have no fear of death anymore. To know that the difficulties in our life are only created by our perceptions through our reactions to those difficulties and mean nothing to anything otherwise. It is then that we will find no more difficulty in our life.

There is no practice to meditation. It is a state of being. When you sit to meditate to find enlightenment, you are looking in the wrong place. This is not to say you cannot sit and meditate, however, you can meditate while walking, eating, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, even working. If you do all of these tasks, acknowledging them in their moment and doing them to the best of your ability, with no goal in mind, no outcome to attain, except the best that you are capable of doing, you will be enlightened. Feel the earth beneath your feet when you walk. Experience the gravity holding you to the earth. Taste the herbs and the vegetables as you chew your food, as the tastes rolls around your mouth. Feel the water roll off of your hands as you are doing the dishes. Notice the texture and softness of the clothes as you fold them. Smell the freshness as you take the clothes from the dryer or off of the line. Experience the work you have chosen to spend so much of your conscious life doing. Listen to the sound of the computer keyboard as you type. Feel the hammer in your hand as you pound the nails.

We all have two things in life that we have in common. We were all born, and we will all die. Absolutely everything else becomes a measure of what we decide its value to be, as per our own perception.

This, the 319th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007 - 2011 Doug Boggs

War, what is it good for...?

2011-05-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

On this Memorial Day, I say;

War, what is it good for? I am an optimist, and probably more to fact, a Utopian theorist, and believe that the human condition can evolve out of its ego state and into a more communal hive society that can withstand the need for war, in the future. Perhaps, I might best be labeled a Protopian. As a healthy optimism might cause us to think that utopia is just over the horizon, something called "protopia" may be closer than we realise. Protopia is an intentional trend toward improved circumstances; a proactive bettering of prospects and living conditions due to applied intelligence combined with the optimistic belief in a positive future.

There has been much talk recently about altruism, and the billionaires that are "joining the club" of giving away their wealth to create a better world. I don't feel that money is what will create a better world. Make no mistake, because our current world is based on it, having it, and a lot of it, would help anyone's world be more comfortable. However, due to the fact that the rich run the world, to which their actions create the wars, and the policies, this is exemplary that simply having money is not the answer, as we all watch our world go down the toilet due to the greed and arrogance of an unthoughtful and in-compassionate and un-empathetic group of humans...but, I digress...Money alone cannot achieve a better future, it requires the energies of large numbers of intelligent, conscious, creative, and hard-working individuals if humans are to overcome the forces of dystopia and Idiocracy being unleashed by their oligarchical governments.

Pessimism can act as a paralytic, whereas optimism can act as an activator or motivator. Optimism is not based on temperament. It is a perspective that is, and should be, based on evidence and facts. It is a type of rationality that can, and should be, tested with facts. And tossed out if not true. Humans behave better when we are optimistic. Progress depends on innovation, and innovation needs optimism; where optimism is most present, so is innovation. Hot spots of innovation in history were hot spots of optimism in otherwise pessimistic societies. What we believe about our trajectory matters.

A lot of pessimism is correct. If things continue as they are we are doomed. Matt Ridley is the author of a recent book, The Rational Optimist, where he makes the case that human culture was created not by language (as per conventional wisdom) but by the exchange of ideas. Ridley writes: "If the world continues as it is, it will end in disaster for all humanity. If all transport depends on oil, and oil runs out, then transport will cease. If agriculture continues to depend on irrigation and aquifers are depleted, then starvation will ensue. But notice the conditional: if. The world will not continue as it is. That is the whole point of human progress, the whole message of cultural evolution."

The world will not continue as is, but will change the game.

Some optimists are temperamentally inclined to think positive, while most people have to work at it. There is evidence to suggest that optimism can pay big dividends. And pessimism can sap one's energies, imagination, and their will to solve problems.

All of this said, humans were not made for a Utopian type of society. Despite the best efforts of idealists, ideologues, revolutionaries, it is simply not in humans to work selflessly for the common good, like some type of hive animal...yet. This is not to say that, the future human condition might elevate itself to become more enlightened to the realization that in order to survive, as a specie, we must understand that we are a hive society, on this pale blue ball we call Earth.

One day an alien specie will come to this planet and let the world become conscious of this fact, and the dogmatic religious believers who continue their blind faith and accept the rhetoric that has been the "norm" throughout the evolution of man, might be shaken awake, and understand that we exist in this hive, and must learn to work together as a specie, in order to maintain the hive and our own longevity, as a specie. Because we do not as a specie fully understand our position in the Universe, and so many feel we are a superior being and alone in the Universe, we continue to ignore the idea that we are all one, and stuck here, in our hive and unable to change that condition.

The elite, oligarchy, ruling class of our world understands this, and take measured efforts to maintain the blind following of the mass in order so that those who are at top levels of government or positioned to be favoured by government contracts and disbursals of funds, will be greatly advantaged by such beliefs and trends. This is why politicians often use quasi-utopian language in order to gain power. Sometimes these "revolutionaries" mean well, and sometimes they are sociopathic power mongers or narcissistic seekers of adoration. Their motivations are irrelevant, since the end result, dystopia and Idiocracy, is the likeliest outcome of a continued thought process and action of the masses that we are indeed, not of one and currently still prisoners in our hive.

Of the three; Utopia, Dystopia, and Protopia; only Protopia has a future. While protopia can be assisted by persons of power and wealth, it is actually based upon a growing degree of competence, creativity, and optimism at the level of societal ferment. Such a shift in power -- from the top to the middle -- will only be possible with a diminishing of the top-down meddlings and dictates.

Also, the growing use of the enlightened mind. This is the most powerful part of the human condition that can tap into source and resource and understand what is necessary for this growth and what is unnecessary for the current conditions.

This, the 318th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007 - 2011 Doug Boggs

Anagram fun...

2011-01-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

I find this quite interesting. Here are a variety of Anagrams that make me wonder about language and the way we think, and formulate words and meaning. Is there some subliminal way we speak and form words? Or are the gods just having a good time...?

When you re-arrange the letters of these words, things take on such a surreal subliminal context.

DORMITORY - DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN - BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER - MOON STARER

DESPERATION - A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES - THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH - HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE - HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES - CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY - NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS - LIES, LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS - ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT - IM A DOT IN PLACE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO - TWELVE PLUS ONE

MOTHER-IN-LAW - WOMAN HITLER (I'm just funnin...)

This, the 317th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007-2011 Doug Boggs

A New America?

2011-01-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

Last week we saw a white Catholic male Republican judge murdered on his way to greet a Democratic Jewish woman member of Congress, who was his friend. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year-old Mexican-American gay college student, and eventually by a Korean American combat surgeon, and this all was eulogized by our African American President.

This, the 316th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007-2011 Doug Boggs

Naturally bring Happiness into you Life!

2011-01-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

"Let go of the life that you've been planning in order to allow the life that is waiting for you to arrive to show up! As like a snake, we must shed the old skin so that the new can manifest." ~ Doug Boggs

With our lives getting more and more cluttered every year, and the running back and forth between a hundred different things every day can make it difficult to maintain the ability to stay happy, upbeat and positive. However, being happy influences us and everyone around us, and it`s something we can control through our own choices.

Here are a selection of seven simple tips to help you stay happy and positive every day:

Breathing

Set aside a few minutes each day to practice deep breathing. You can do this any time, whether it`s just after waking up or in the afternoon when the stress of the day has started to build up, or even while lying in bed before you doze off. Focus on your breathing, and take about twenty deep and slow breaths. You`ll be able to focus more clearly afterwards and the extra oxygen will naturally lift your spirits too. Now, keep a journal and write down your dreams.

A Balanced Diet

Try to avoid heavily processed foods and snacks, and instead focus on eating more natural foods. Eating fresh fruit every day is a great way to help your body. Fresh, whole foods are often overlooked in the rush to finish off the myriad of trivial errands, and we pay the price with our energy and mood. Fast food is the "fastest" way to drag you down! Cut out the processed sugars!

Sunlight

Find a way to spend some time outside every day. Even during the winter, going outside for a short walk will help boost serotonin levels and vitamin D levels and regulate your natural circadian rhythm. Try parking a block or two away from work and walk the extra distance. Use the stairs and not the elevator, or split the trip.

Communication Skills

Learning to communicate with others is one of the most important ways to reduce stress and boost your happiness. Listening is a skill that will make people think you are the best conversationalist around. Listen not only to what people are saying, but also to what they mean by it. Many arguments are started when we take what someone says too literally, instead of hearing what they really meant by it. Slow down before you respond and think about what they`re really saying. Also, what a good time to take a deep breath or two!

Gratitude

Practicing gratitude and showing appreciation for others will drastically change your life and your mindset. Set aside a few moments every day to think about what you are truly thankful for. Then take action on those feelings of gratitude. Saying please and thank you will go a long way in building lasting relationships with people around you. One forgotten art is sending a hand-written thank you card. A hand-written note will stand out in the age of text messages and emails and really show how much you appreciate someone.

Live with Spontaneity

Be spontaneous. Do something you`ve been putting off and do it right now. Call someone you`ve been out of touch with or plan for that trip you`ve wanted to take. We sometimes get so caught up with the daily tasks and routines that we forget to actually live our lives.

Give

Find a cause and volunteer to help out. There are many charity and non-profit organizations that need help. Especially during these harder economic times. Use your skills to help them with their mission, or learn new ones as you volunteer. Remember, that it is of naught that we give of material possessions, but of self is true giving. For of possessions is but a simple thing that you guard for fear of necessity of morrow. Giving of Self replenishes with the art of the act so no fear of its depletion.

This, the 315th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2007-2011 Doug Boggs

IF

2010-12-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

I so enjoy this poem. I thought perhaps we could end the year with it, and enter into 2011 with joy, peace, and abundance.

IF.....
by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

This, the 314th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Giving is...

2010-12-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

Remember during this season that it is of naught that we give of material possessions, but of self is true giving. For of possessions is but a simple thing that you guard for fear of necessity of morrow. Giving of Self replenishes with the art of the act so no fear of its depletion. ~ djb

This, the 313th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

What you Gain When You Lose Everything...

2010-12-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Michael Gates Gill, former creative director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising and currently an employee at a Starbucks in Bronxville, New York. He is author of How Starbucks Saved My Life (Gotham)
* * * * *

Fourteen years ago, at age 53, Michael Gates Gill was at the top of his game — he had a lovely wife, an expensive home and a $160,000-a-year job in advertising.

By age 63, he was divorced, unemployed and nearly broke — then his doctor informed him that he had a slow-growing brain tumor.

In desperate need of health insurance and a regular paycheck, Gill took an entry-level job serving coffee at Starbucks for $10.50 an hour. To his amazement, he loved the work. Four years later, Gill no longer needs the health insurance — he now is old enough to qualify for Medicare.

He also has sold his life story to Hollywood (Tom Hanks is expected to portray Gill in the film), but he plans to remain at Starbucks — he enjoys the job.

He has chosen “watchful waiting” as the treatment option for his brain tumor.

Bottom Line/Personal asked Gill to share what recent years have taught him about life…

Your own expectations can constrain you. In my earlier life, I defined myself by my career and social status — I was an affluent, Yale-educated ad executive.

When I lost my job in advertising, I was certain that the solution to my problems lay in landing a new job in advertising or, if not that, a new client to get my own advertising consulting business on its feet.

My mental image of myself prevented me from considering opportunities that did not fit that picture.

I could not see myself in a service-sector job wearing an apron and a baseball cap — even though Starbucks’ generous health insurance plan offered a solution to my most immediate problem.

It took an outside force to break me out of this box. I was in my local Starbucks when, out of the blue, a manager asked me if I needed a job — it turns out that the Starbucks I had entered was having a “Hiring Open House.”

You may not know your true priorities. I spent most of my adult life chasing bigger paychecks, loftier job titles and flashier possessions.

These were my goals not because I chose them, but because I never considered that any other goals existed. My friends and family seemed to want these things, and I assumed that I wanted them, too.

When I accepted the job at Starbucks, it struck me that I probably would never again have money, titles or expensive possessions — yet one evening at Starbucks, I realized that I was as happy as I had ever been in my life.

This “low-level” job gave me supportive bosses and coworkers, lots of human interaction and enough money to live a simple life.

These were my real priorities, and I had never even known it. Instead, I had wasted most of my life pursuing other people’s goals.

Perhaps I could have discovered my true priorities long ago if I had listened to my heart, rather than allowing myself to get swept along in what those around me were doing.

Trust the universe. I thought of myself as a master of the universe when I was young and successful. Only later did I discover that no person is a master of the universe, and it is foolish even to aspire to be one.

Trying to master the universe means struggling against the tide of events, which rarely works. When the universe pushed me out of the executive suite, I tried to take charge and reclaim the life I had had previously.

I did not find happiness again until I stopped fighting the tide and started swimming with it to see where it led.

Any task can be worthwhile if it involves serving others. I had considered serving coffee an unimportant job — until I figured out that my job was not really serving coffee at all.

It was serving my customers and my coworkers. I might not be curing cancer, but I am doing my best to make life a little better for anyone who steps through the Starbucks’ door.

There are few feelings as wonderful as the feeling you get when you help someone feel better.

Having money only creates a desire for more money. I earned a lot in my previous career, yet I was always in debt and worried about finances.

Today I no longer have a car, a big house, stylish furniture or $2,000 suits… and I do not miss my former possessions in the least.

I can’t even remember why I thought they were important. Living without luxuries doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.

I love my cozy apartment. I love that I can go for a walk or sit at home reading a book and not feel that I should be out at a business event or an expensive restaurant.

The best jobs are those that keep you in the moment. Much of my 26 years in advertising was wasted in meetings. Many times we had meetings to prepare for other meetings. We were living not for the moment but always in the future.

Only when I started working behind a counter did I discover the joy of work that keeps you in the here and now.

There are no long-term projects in my new career. When I prepare a cup of coffee, I don’t worry about past mistakes or future challenges.

I just do what I am doing right now to the best of my abilities, and I immediately see the results of what I have done. That is a wonderfully gratifying way to live.

Most people work long hours and think about their jobs even when they are home. When I worked in advertising, a boss once ordered me to fly to Detroit on Christmas while my young children were still opening their presents. I went.

I love the fact that now when I leave work for the day, I do not think about my job again until my next shift. That is what a job should be — a relatively small part of life.

True, jobs that offer lots of free time are unlikely to be very lucrative — but the free time they provide can lead to even greater financial success.

I used some of my free time to write a book that will soon become a movie. If I were still a “successful” executive, I never could have found the time to write.
The only job that’s beneath you is one that you do not give your full effort to.

I no longer consider it degrading to clean the toilets in a coffee shop bathroom. What would be degrading would be cleaning them poorly. Doing a task well — any task — is a source of self-respect.

It is natural to fear change, but things are rarely as bad as we fear. When we’re faced with change, we worry that we will not be able to adapt or that we will not enjoy our new situation.

I was scared of taking a job at Starbucks… scared that I wouldn’t get along with coworkers half my age… scared when I was put in charge of a cash register, because I have never been very good with money.

Each time, I was scared before the change occurred — yet once it did, it was never as bad as I had feared. Sometimes we just have to take that leap into a completely unfamiliar situation and expect that we will rise to the challenge.

* * * * *

I had an online discussion with someone on this topic. It is herein:

December 12th, 2010 at 11:05 am

Phiby:
That story is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read.

I can see the movie sponsored by Starbucks. Like the UPS one made by the actor who will play any part for the buck.

Gill is still in advertising. He took the job hoping for that big pay off and he got it in the form of a bonus from Starbucks for bringing in the customers and for getting cheap labor for Starbucks.

Oh, and of course, he will take the money for the movie rights.

Can you see that playing as the story for the children of the wealthy? No, but it will do for the children of the middle class. They should be satisfied serving the rich and successful.

What a crock! There is nothing wrong working for a fast food enterprise. I work for one. I have for 9 years and I enjoy my work.

But it is not the job, I encouraged my children to look forward to. I encourage the to seek higher education to enlarge their possibilities.

Sorry, didn’t mean to rant. Just had to get that off my mind.

Philby

* * * * *

December 12th, 2010 at 11:21 am

Doug:
Philby, it sounds as though you might have a screenplay in the works or complete that you are having a hard time getting signed. Perhaps, you might trade a brain tumor for your desired success…somewhere, it sounds as though you missed the message.

* * * * *

December 12th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

Philby:

Doug:
Okay, maybe I did miss the message. So could you please tell me in simpler terms than that slop what was his message?

* * * * *

December 12th, 2010 at 5:48 pm

Doug:
Philby,
First, there are many movies with which Starbucks pays for product placement. That is simple capitalism and corporate advertising in today’s economic environment. That is the decision of the corporation and not the one suffering a job loss and brain tumor.

What most people don’t understand is that EVERYONE is ALWAYS and consistently in advertising within their own lives everyday. They get dressed to look a certain way, people pick a certain car, pick a certain college, pick a certain neighborhood, people pick on job over another, people even pick one friend over another, etc. in order to advertise themselves as a certain person that they wish others to perceive them to be. It is human nature, and has nothing to do with having a brain tumor or losing a job.

I am friends with a woman who had a death sentence read to her due to breast cancer. She chose to take a more holistic approach to her healing after spending $250,000 for western doctors that did not make her any better. She is now alive and well. She wrote a book on the subject. Her intention was not to make millions from her book, as most authors rarely make a lot of money, but to help as many others who might learn from her plight. Due to the courage of her plight and the message that the book holds she is getting a new life and her book is being well received. In fact, I will plug it herein, (as I will be interviewing her for a Documentary I am producing)

Her name is Ani Kaspar and the book is “Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies”

http://www.amazon.com/Pelicans-Coconuts-Butterflies-Conquering-Cancer/dp/1890427942

I don’t think Gill took the job at Starbucks hoping for that big pay off, as there are no guarantees in anything in life. It was a point of finding purpose in his chaos, and insurance for his condition.

I can assure, you from my own experience in life of reaching a fork in the road, there has been much powerful moments and times of reflection, as people reach points, or an abyss, a bridge or a precipice to which their life will never be the same due to the life changes that have, are or taking place, that the reflection begins to show them what, at their core, to them what life to them is really all about. In our society, in this modern life of capitalism, of do or die, hustle and bustle, to reach the golden egg, what does it all mean? Why?

When going through a life experience that Gill has and is going through, finding solace in service is finding the golden egg. The secret lies in the happiness of life and not in the monetary success. Although, corny as it is, you cannot take it with you. Life is not the amount of breaths you take, but the breaths that take you away.

It is good that you enjoy your work. The message of Gill is not to settle and work for a Starbuck or McDonald’s, there is nothing wrong with this, however, if you do and you find solace, peace and happiness in that chosen job, then enjoy the process and time spent there. If you move on and move up, fine, enjoy that too.

It is not the mastery of capitalism that holds the secret to life. It is not the mastery of the art of making money, although that seems to be what our society tries to teach each new generation. So you have a Bentley, so you have a home on Lago di Como (Lake Como), in Beverly Hills, and Manhattan, it is still a building with a roof and a pile of steel with tires. Albeit, very high quality, but so what. Anyone would enjoy that, but it is only a roof over your head and a car that goes from here to there. You still need a plumber, you still need a mechanic…

Life is the mastery of the self. The peace within the self and the understanding of one’s own purpose on this pale blue dot or within the infinite of this thing we call life.

On another lesson that life gave me was once I was on a plane trip once from TX to CA, when at 35K feet the pilot purposefully put the plane into a free fall dive due to a cabin door opening. It was chaos and mayhem inside the cabin of the DC10. Everyone thought they were going to die. It was at that moment, for me, that I chose not to leave this place in a state of chaos, in a state of sorrow or panic. I turned and assisted others in their scared, and chaotic state to help them with their oxygen masks. I then sat in my seat and calmly put on my mask. I then proceeded to meditate to a point of calm and acceptance. We were falling, things were falling from the storage units above, people’s ears were blowing, there was screaming…it was not an easy situation. However, there are moments, those bridges, those points of being at the abyss, at the precipice where you find secrets within the Universe that help you see, and feel what life is truly about.

This, the 312th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

The GOP try to break Legal Tender...

2010-12-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

The GOP, with their widely varied and limited available viable picks for a 2012 opponent against Obama for 2012, are afraid that they may not be able to defeat Obama at to the polls in 2012. They are fronting for the financial institutions that no longer have any individual national concerns or loyalties. They are simply about the money!

They have reached a level of brainwashing that will become unprecedented. You MUST PAY attention to the propaganda. You must understand it is a tactic to brainwash the masses. They are using a serious con artist, Brian Hunt, EIC of Stansberry Investment Advisory, to head up a financial scare to move the electorate towards the Republican Party by scaring them into believing that the US economy is headed for failure. (Note: The disclaimer that is posted on the bottom of his websites include - "We are not registered investment advisors or brokers/dealers and we do not purport to be. We make no representations, warranties or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the content featured on our site or in our emails. Furthermore, the article authors and contributors featured on this site may own securities mentioned in their articles and not disclose this information.") He will and is claiming that the US dollar will lose its status as the world’s currency, which is bogus. The GOP will try anything to keep Obama out of office. Anything just might include creating chaos so extreme that the masses will riot for fear of the mythical "failing dollar as the world currency".

The present situation is being used by Mr. Hunt for purely financial gain. It works by forcing huge numbers of investors to act on fear. He profits from investing ahead of the response he hopes to have occur because of his scare tactics. The Right and the Republicans profit because the scare is that this can only happen if Obama is in office to force socialism on the people.

Hunt’s lies are so bold that he actually claims that businesses in America do not have to accept the US dollar as a legal currency. He purports that “other moneys are being used rather than the dollar right here today in the USA." The guy is a liar that will say anything to make a buck. His claim that the people in New Orleans suffered through their own ignorance is ludicrous. But the truth has to suffer so that he can tell the republican supporters that their leadership did all they could to help the ignorant minority groups.

Their will be NO rioting in the streets just because Obama is President. The Right and the Republicans will tell any lie to win. The Democrats are just too inept to fight them. They have no balls and no cohesiveness. If the people cannot be motivated to go to the polls and support the group that is trying to change the status quo, then and only then might the GOP scare play out!

As I see it white America is willing to give the keys back to the driver that wrecked the car. They don’t care as long as the driver isn’t an OTW (Other Then White). The Republicans and the Right are playing the racist cards for all they are worth and hoping it will be worth the White House. In the meantime, they will use any scare tactic they can think of. And for white America money is the safest. Tell whites they will lose their money and they will follow you to hell and back.

So they drag out Mr. Hunt and the scare is on.

My advice, open your wallet and remove ANY denomination of paper money, on it you will see a statement in the bottom left hand corner of the bill. It says, “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.” So if some con artist makes a great case to convince you that in some places in the USA, US currency is not accepted and in fact we already have substitutes that are more accepted, then you can take the rest of his bullshit and put it where you would put that story.

But if you are one of those who would toss out your American currency for the “new better one made by ??????, then you are probably someone who also believes that its the media that is making Sarah Palin look dumb. I will send someone to collect any US currency you wish to give up and I will replace it with whatever play money you have in mind.

Do NOT believe the upcoming hype. This country will NOT collapse, that is unless the GOP have their way! This time it is is imperative as we have seen what the GOP wants for this country. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, TURN OFF FOX, and read between the lies and the lines!

This, the 311th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

What is Thanksgiving?

2010-11-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

When you celebrate Thanksgiving, make sure you understand what it truly is in its origins and the modern meaning you give it. Don't let yourself be blinded by what our anglo society wants you to be brainwashed into thinking its meaning is.

Make sure you understand the murderous atrocities that the white people, those early settlers that came to this land, did to the Native Indians. Our society has a selective amnesia as to this day and the mass murder of tens, if not hundreds, of millions of indigenous peoples of this land over a span of a few hundred years. As well as, the racist, social and environmental enslavement and control of the Indians that were and are left standing.

The falseness of giving thanks over a meal and celebrating through the "union" of the pilgrims and the Indians shows the ignorance of our society.

The truth of history is never taught in schools. The history of the social manipulation of a people, done by the white people of this land. It is never taught in schools because it is still going on. The turning away of this truth makes everyone in our society compliant in its continued spread of injustice to minorities in this country most people are so blindly proud of.

Teach your children well and responsibly of this day so that the thanks that you are giving is to make a society become responsible for its actions rather than the continued blind complacency in its ignorance.

As more than half of the current $14 Trillion national debt is owed to the PRIVATE BANK institution called THE FED, the mass enslavement of a people continues...controlled by a small, elite group of rich white people, most of which are not even of this country...

Teach your children well.

This, the 310th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Use Your Brain to Ease Your Pain Without Pills!

2010-11-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

A few days ago an old High School friend messaged me to find if I could send her some music and other means that would help calm their 7 year old son. She told me that he is ADHD (which I personally think is over diagnosed and is another means of Dr.'s to prescribe drugs that they get commissions for-but that is another story) and holds much anxiety. She wanted to know of some relaxing music or meditation music, etc.

I feel that the mind is much more powerful than our "modern" society allows it credit. Perhaps it is because the corporations cannot make money on your mind. No, so they find drugs and make up new names for diseases that you must ask your doctor to see if you have it...and the doctors make commissions...oh, like I said, another story...

Meditation, mind altering consciousness, altered states, prayer, or intention all are the same thing. The North American Native Indians, Mayans, Polynesians, and many other cultures that are near extinct or lost in the caverns of linear time, know the power of this kind of healing.

I have much to say and will expend on this at another time, but I came across this interview and found it necessary to post.

Use Your Brain to Ease Your Pain Without Pills

By James N. Dillard, MD, DC, CAc

More people are disabled by chronic pain than by diabetes, heart disease and cancer put together. An estimated 27% of US women (and 29% of men) suffer from debilitating pain, yet the problem remains vastly undertreated.

Pain medications do not always bring sufficient relief — plus they can lead to side effects and/or addiction.

The good news: Like everything in your body, pain is affected by the workings of your mind. No matter what the cause of your pain, you can harness the power of your brain to reduce your suffering. Here’s how…

Your limbic system, the most primitive part of your brain, controls your involuntary nervous system and emotions. Pain activates the limbic system, triggering the fight-or-flight response. As stress hormones are released, your heart beats faster, blood pressure soars, muscles tense… and various emotions are sparked, including anxiety, panic, anger and sadness. Normally, these responses are temporary — but with chronic pain, the stress of these intense reactions creates a downward spiral.

Example: The pain of chronic arthritis provokes a continuous release of stress hormones, leading to headaches and insomnia that exacerbate discomfort.

As your body weakens, it produces fewer mood-boosting endorphins. Soon you’re too tired and despondent to socialize, and the resulting isolation only makes you feel worse.

Helpful: If you learn to cultivate a sense of distance from your pain, you can mute the limbic system’s response, reducing physical pain signals and easing the accompanying emotional suffering.

At least twice a day, go somewhere quiet and safe where you won’t be disturbed… sit or lie in whatever position is most comfortable… and practice one or more of the techniques below for five to 15 minutes.

CALMING BREATH

Pain can take your breath away, triggering a pattern of shallow breathing that increases muscle tension and deprives cells of oxygen.

Deep breathing — especially when combined with a meditative focus — helps by relaxing muscles, stimulating endorphins and reducing emotional distress.

Remember: For both of the deep-breathing techniques below, inhale slowly through your nose and then exhale slowly through your mouth.

Clear your mind, and focus only on your breath. If other thoughts intrude, let them float away and refocus on your breath.

Flare-control breath. This is particularly effective for pain flare-ups. As you inhale, notice your lungs filling with the vitality of your breath.

Imagine your breath flowing to the area of your pain, bringing healing energy to this spot. As you exhale, imagine the pain flowing out of your body along with your breath.

Purifying breath. This is especially helpful for easing troubling emotions that accompany pain. Picture your body surrounded by pure, white light.

Inhaling: Imagine this light being drawn into your lungs and then spreading until your whole body glows with healing light. Exhaling: Picture a dark essence — representing fear, anger and sorrow — being expelled with your breath, leaving your body pain-free and your mind at ease.

HEALING IMAGERY

The guided imagery method quiets the nervous system by convincing your mind that it does not feel pain. Close your eyes and imagine either of these…

A place of peace. Picture yourself in an ideal setting of your choosing — a favorite vacation spot, a mountaintop, a lush garden, a tranquil lake.

Immerse yourself in this scene by imagining what you see (majestic trees, an azure sky)… feel (a soft breeze, the warm sun)… smell (a campfire, fresh lilacs)… hear (singing birds, rustling leaves)… and taste (the salty sea, a perfect strawberry).

The more details you can conjure up, the more effective the imagery is.

Soothing hues. Take a few deep breaths, then focus on your pain. Note its location and intensity… describe its qualities (aching, throbbing, burning).

Think of a color that represents pain (black, purple, hot pink), and imagine that your painful area is suffused with that color.

Now choose a healing hue (such as white, silver or pale blue), and imagine that it has the power to dissolve your pain.

Visualize the healing color pouring onto the painful area and spreading out wider and wider, until the painful color completely disappears.

In your mind’s eye, let that healing color continue to pour out for as long as you want — you have an unlimited supply.

PAIN-RELIEVING ACUPRESSURE

Like acupuncture, acupressure is based on a principle of traditional Chinese medicine — that chi (energy) flows throughout the body along invisible channels called meridians, and that pain occurs when the chi becomes blocked or unbalanced.

In terms of conventional Western medicine, the firm pressure applied during acupressure is thought to distract the nervous system, halting pain messages from traveling up the spinal cord to the brain.

The following techniques are particularly good for head, neck and shoulder pain, but they also ease the tension that pain elsewhere in the body can trigger in the neck area. Do each technique for several minutes per side.

Catwalk. With your right hand, feel along the top of your left shoulder for any tender, tight or tense spot… then massage that area by “walking” your index, middle and ring fingers along it (like a cat kneading with its paws). Do this repeatedly and quickly — each finger press should last only about half a second. Repeat on the other side.

Thumb press. Place your right hand behind your head, palm facing you and thumb pointing downward.

With the pad of your thumb, press firmly into the base of your skull, working all the way across the right side and paying extra attention to any tight or tender spots. Repeat on the other side.

SOOTHING AROMATHERAPY

Certain scents can invigorate you when pain saps your energy… or calm you when pain leaves you tense or anxious.

Aromatherapy also distracts your attention from pain and may relax muscles.

Add a few drops of essential oil to a hot bath or sprinkle a few drops on a handkerchief that you hold near your nose (do not apply essential oil directly to skin).

Or: Smooth a scented lotion into your skin, especially on painful areas.

Invigorating scents. Try cedar… eucalyptus… or peppermint (this one also eases the nausea that can accompany pain).

Calming scents. Try bergamot… geranium… lavender… rose… or sandalwood.

Women’s Health interviewed James N. Dillard, MD, DC, CAc, a board-certified physician, doctor of chiropractic and certified medical acupuncturist who pioneered the integrative model in pain medicine.

He is author of The Chronic Pain Solution: Your Personal Path to Pain Relief (Bantam).

Previously he was an assistant clinical professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and medical director of Columbia’s Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, both in New York City. Dr. Dillard now maintains private practices in New York City and East Hampton, New York. http://www.drdillard.com.

This, the 309th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

On a Ride to Paradise

2010-10-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

On a Ride to Paradise
(c)copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Turning over stones that I remember as a child
rumage through the visions that I thought that I held mild
my mother came to help me in the caverns of my mind
when from the lips of angles did I find an ax to grind

looking for the spires to which my memories remain
the walls within the churches of the panes that are stained
the stones that have been thrown are from a message in the chain
taken by the judges and tossed out into the rain

each day that passes I find a bit more
through all of the confusion I am learning what for
I'm on a ride to paradise and am eager to arrive
with no walls, fences, gates that are there to deprive

she stood there alone to be appointed in her stead
I arrive to find her in a moment to my need
she took me by the hand to which my heart began to bleed
I could hear the thunder of the lust and of the greed

ignite a sacred candle so to bring upon the light
extinguishing the flame with every war that we fight
never told to ponder on the other side of blight
the politics of wrong becomes the politics of right

each day that passes I find a bit more
through all of the confusion I am learning what for
I'm on a ride to paradise and am eager to arrive
with no walls, fences, gates that are there to deprive

justice has its curfew when the bullets are in flight
the armour that we build is from the bottom of the heights
the withering of hopes and dreams we look to reunite
searching for the truth is just so never black and white

take me to the edge of where the water turns to wine
I want to see in mirrors of the things I find divine
meet me at the center where the power is defined
I have had my moments where I'm out beyond the time

each day that passes I find a bit more
through all of the confusion I am learning what for
I'm on a ride to paradise and am eager to arrive
with no walls, fences, gates that are there to deprive

This, the 308th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Why are Loan Modifications not working...?

2010-10-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

I will start this by stating that I am actually an optimist. Although, it is getting more and more difficult to find that place in today's world of finance and political and corporate malfeasance.

The arrogance and greed of Wall Street and Washington and the frustration and confusion of the citizens is the game. The mob mentality and the manipulation of fear is the fuel...This is the largest corporate/governmental land grab in history. As the government owns Freddie and Fannie, do to the failed bailouts, (these institutions back 90% of American home loans) and the other banks are making record profits after they received their bailouts, yet are foreclosing en mass and not lending, this tells the story. Quite simple really. When the people begin to believe the level of corruption, from BOTH parties, and the fraud and corruption on Wall Street, and ACT against it things will change. And it can change overnight. France is a good current example.

This will go down in history, that is if the future history books are NOT written in TX, as the largest governmental and corporate land grab in history. The people that deny that this is taking place are not living in the real world. The people that refuse to think the world is this way are not living in the real world. You MUST wake up in order to take back what Wall Street, The FED, and Washington has taken from you! This is a NON PARTISAN situation...

People are asleep, and in denial of the true actions taking place. People are walking away from homes before playing their last hand, because they don't understand the game, their options, their state's foreclosure laws, the banks legal options, or even the fact that they have the opportunity to challenge the bank. People are nervous about their credit more than they are their home. The world of credit scores as it existed is over and new lines and rules MUST be redrawn. All a FICO score is is a calculated measure of risk tolerance that banks use. Fair Issac, the FICO people, and the 3 credit score firms are also deep into their own fraudulent situations. The whole system is in free fall. The mass media is trying to pacify the people with falsehoods, mis and dis information so the entire system doesn't simply collapse. Yet the people and "their own little" system of paying bills and having food on the table has collapsed. Understand that your government, a bank or any corporation is NOT ON YOUR SIDE. They can write off losses, or get bailed out. They care NOTHING about the loan holder, or card holder...

If you have stopped paying your mortgage, don't start again until the bank gives you a new mortgage in line with the current values and percentages. They will send a letter of foreclosure to you, they will threaten you. Possession in 9/10ths of the law. Each state has different Foreclosure policies, timelines, and practices. Learn them!! When the bank forecloses, they must go to court. You should also go to court. There will be a moment when you can ask the court that the bank produce the ORIGINAL loan document to the property in question that has YOUR INK! Due to the fraud, corruption, and criminal activity on Wall Street and the packaging and repackaging of loans that took place, and is still taking place, over 80% of the time the bank is UNABLE to produce the appropriate documents. It is their obligation to supply that document as without it they are in NO position to sue for the right to foreclose. Then follow this with a lawsuit against the bank for harassment, intent to commit fraud, coercion, and along the way we can think of many others...repackage that into massive class action lawsuits...you know...

All of their threatening phone calls, threatening letters of intent is designed to get the homeowner to collapse under that pressure BEFORE it reaches the courtroom. Foreclosure court is currently at the advantage of the homeowner, and not the bank. Why else would the banks and those firms involve forge signatures. Because they don't have original documents, because they know that they cannot win in court if the people begin to challenge. Now, put that en mass!! That is where the power lies!! They must forge because they cannot come up with the appropriate documents. The paperwork is lost in the shuffle of the Wall Street fraud and corruption of packaging and repackaging loans to resell on the open market. There are even options that traders can buy for options on loans. To trade on loan packages and the real estate market.People spend money to agents that say to them that they will help them with their failed mortgage. This is the one of the biggest frauds being perpetuated today. They tell the homeowner that they will help them with the mortgage company to refinance their loan into a modification. Then they take their money and walk away, knowing the people don't have the money to sue and come after them for fraud. If the bank cannot help you, that agent cannot help you. And the banks are NOT helping people. Simple. Do not use these con artists.

It is more cost effective for the banks to play the ..."oops, we pushed a wrong button" game, or "we didn't get that paperwork" response. They do this to drag out the process. To wear down the people to a point that people give up or feel that they will lose in the long run, so cut the loss now and move on. People are in a state of confusion with their loss of money, jobs, pride, family turmoil to understand that the banks care NOTHING about helping people. It is the banks position to help their stock holder, thus the Wall Street suit can get the bonus...

It is so simple, but most people don't want to believe that this is how the world is. IT IS... This is the world we live in. Believe it. The beautiful, wonderful world we live in also has very dark and shitty corners. Understanding this will HELP you live in it. Hiding and not wanting to feel that this is the case will NOT help you. That is his world and the world of the elite on top that create war for profit, buy the judges, lobbyists and congresspersons in order create rules and regulations that help them win in situations like we are in.This will end when people step up and challenge the banks, en mass.

How about this - Everyone simply stop paying all of their mortgages, and credit card debt. Let the banks try to come at every single person in the country begging. The money savings to the people will be put back into the economy in much more productive means than simply paying corporate debt. This corporate debt will be washed away anyway, through the corporate laws allowing them to buy down and write off their debt. The stockholders will take a hit, so sell before begin this process...But what about FICO score. FICO scores are already dead in the water. The credit system that was designed is over. FICO means nothing when the banks are not lending. They are finding it easier and more cost effective for the banking institution to foreclose.Consider this:Does the government REALLY want to clean up this mess or can they find ways to meander through it until the world "gets back to normal" all the while making massive profits along the way...

Okay, let me put it to you this way, and you take it for what it is...In July 2008, Indy Mac failed and was seized by the FDIC. The assets of Indy Mac bank were sold to One West Bank in March 2009. One West Bank was created and is owned by Goldman Sachs VP Stephen Munchen and Billionaires George Soros and John Paulson. All of the residential 1st mortgages were purchased at 70% of the par value of the loan, and all HELOC's were purchased at 58% of the par value of the loan. Then, the deal these men made with our tax dollars via the congress and senate who agreed to the deal, was that the FDIC would cover 80%-95% of the losses due to any short sales or foreclosures. Now, these men bought the loans at 70% of the value and are guaranteed to 95% of their money back. But, here is another part of their deal. The losses that are guaranteed are to be calculated on the original loan balance. This leaves a spread of profit on the table of a minimum of 20%...GUARANTEED. They CANNOT lose. Your tax dollars are securing their profit margin.

So let me spell it out a bit more clearly...(This is a real real estate transaction) The foreclosed homeowner had a loan balance of $485,000. One West Bank paid @ 70% 334,600 for this loan. Now, this homeowner is offered a short sale from the bank or in the marketplace of $241,000. Now, the ORIGINAL loan amount is what the FDIC agreed to back the percentage loss to One West Bank (or should I say Goldman Sachs and friends). So the difference in the adjusted loss is $244,200. So, the FDIC writes a check to One West for 80% of the loss to the tune of $195,360. So, now you would add the $195,360 from the government, to the profit of the short sale of $241,000 to reach a total of $436,360. But wait, One West only paid $334,600 for the loan. You see, all the bank had to do was sell it for WHATEVER they wanted to...the bank CANNOT lose money on this deal...So, Goldman Sachs, I mean, it's subsidiary One West Bank, just profited on the sale $101,760.Thanks to YOUR tax dollars and the arrangement with the FDIC, the Goldman Sachs, I mean, it's subsidiary, One West Bank will be doing this every day, hundreds or even thousand of times for a few years to come...GUARANTEED!!!!

So, if you are still asking yourself "why is it so hard to get a loan modification?" the answer might be simply that there is TOO much money to be made with write offs, short sales, and foreclosures than on loan modifications...You see, Goldman Sachs, damn I keep doing that, I mean, One West Bank actually profited from the sale to the tune of $101,760 even though it was sold for a lesser amount than what they bought it for...DO YOU SEE, YET? DO YOU GET IT?And, by the way, the FDIC recently announced that it needs to start borrowing money from the Treasury. Now, the Treasury is the place where all of the Goldman Sachs people come from. You know, Hank Paulson, Meg Whitman, and so many others...

The Treasury is the government, who Constitutionally, has the right to print their own money, butcancelled this right in 1913 made a deal with the PRIVATE group of white, rich, elite men from Germany, Austria, Switzerland to create the PRIVATE bank called THE FED. Note, I said PRIVATE BANK called The FED...

This, the 307th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

"Enemies of the People" - a Documentary

2010-10-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

I went to a movie screening tonight (the trailer is shown below) of the multiple award winning documentary entitled "Enemies of the people". I was quite moved by the film. The screening included a personal question and answer with the co-director/c0-producer of the film, Rob Lemkin. It is always such a pleasure to hear some of the thoughts, or the out takes, the impetus and inside little stories from someone like Rob. The film is a Must See!, and it shows the honesty and the complexity within the struggle of Cambodia over the past 40 years.

A bit about the film...

The Khmer Rouge ran what is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most brutal regimes. Yet the Killing Fields of Cambodia remain unexplained.

Until now.

In ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE the men and women who perpetrated the massacres – from the foot-soldiers who slit throats to the party’s ideological leader, Nuon Chea aka Brother Number Two – break a 30-year silence to give testimony never before heard or seen.

Unprecedented access from top to bottom of the Khmer Rouge has been achieved through a decade of work by one of Cambodia’s best investigative journalists, Thet Sambath.
Sambath is on a personal quest: he lost his own family in the Killing Fields. The film is his journey to discover not how but why they died. In doing so, he hears and understands for the first time the real story of his country’s tragedy.

After years of visits and trust-building, Sambath finally persuades Brother Number Two to admit (again, for the first time) in detail how he and Pol Pot (the two supreme powers in the Khmer Rouge state) decided to kill party members whom they considered ‘Enemies of the People’.

Sambath’s remarkable work goes even one stage further: over the years he befriends a network of killers in the provinces who implemented the kill policy. For the first time, we see how orders created on an abstract political level translate into foul murder in the rice fields and forests of the Cambodian plain.

We have repeatedly used the expression ‘for the first time’. This is because Sambath’s work represents a watershed both in Cambodian historiography and in the country’s quest for closure on one of the world’s darkest episodes.

The United Nations and the Cambodian government have set up a tribunal to try the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for international crimes. Brother Number Two’s trial is expected to start in 2010. The trials are widely expected to deliver a form of justice but fewer expect the truth finally to come out through this process.

Sambath says: “Some may say no good can come from talking to killers and dwelling on past horror, but I say these people have sacrificed a lot to tell the truth. In daring to confess they have done good, perhaps the only good thing left. They and all the killers like them must be part of the process of reconciliation if my country is to move forward.”

Enemies of the People Movie Trailer from Rob Lemkin on Vimeo.

This, the 306th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Cucumbers

2010-10-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5 Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

This, the 305th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

REPUBLICAN MANIFESTO: THE PARALYZING OF AMERICA

2010-10-03T07:36:00.001-07:00

REPUBLICAN MANIFESTO: THE PARALYZING OF AMERICA

By Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration
Chicago, Ill.

I am exhausted listening to people talking about their exhaustion defending the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. As I listened to the lady at the recent town hall meeting who said she was exhausted with trying to defend President Obama to others who are disenchanted, I became even more exhausted. Not once did I hear her say that she was exhausted with the obstructionisms, the odious smears, innuendos and lies being told about our president. I also did not hear her say that she would do all she could to discourage the GOP from blocking and preventing most of the progressive, humane agenda that the president has laid out to benefit all of America’s citizens.

What is so troubling to me is that Democrats are sitting back and allowing the tea party and the Republicans to dominate the conversation by perverting all the good the Obama Administration is doing. These detractors are deliberately twisting and distorting the truth. Their 24/7 attention to the constant repetition of lies has so numbed and confused the average person that they are accepting these lies as the truth.

I am exhausted listening to people criticizing and disrespecting our president. I am exhausted listening to all the ranting and ravings of the tea partiers and ultra conservative Republicans, all designed to derail the Obama presidency. I’m exhausted realizing how many stupid, non-thinking and easily manipulative people there are in the United States of America.

I’m exhausted witnessing how the American education system has deteriorated to the point that Americans are ready to embrace mediocrity, ignorance and prejudice. We have produced a nation of automatons and clones who are incapable of thinking and cannot make decisions that are in their own best interests. I’m exhausted knowing that President Obama inherited the biggest and most chaotic and devastating situation ever to occur in American history.

Today, September 23, 2010, the Republicans came out with their manifesto which in essence will paralyze America. To return to the policies that put our country in the greatest financial crisis since the original Depression of 1929 is criminal. They openly admit that they will dismantle all the progressive programs advanced and passed by the Obama Administration.

Now if you want to see exhaustion, wait and do nothing and let the Republicans replay their scenario of man’s inhumanity to man, catering to the rich and powerful, decimating the middle class and totally dissolving the lower class until they become the underbelly of society. Should the Democrats be negligent enough because of lack of fervor to allow a Republican takeover, then I want to hear that same lady who so eloquently dressed the President down for the millions of people all over the world to see and hear; I want her to speak out. Speak out if she has a voice left after bemoaning our country going to hell in a hand basket as they take us back to the conflagration that put us in the condition we are in now. Dante’s Inferno could be no worse.

You think you’ve got it bad now? Why? Is it because you are ungrateful for all this Administration has produced despite the obstreperousness of the right wingers? It will be worse than during the Bush Administration because we have not learned from history or psychology. Doing the same failed things over and over gets the same failed results.

It is time for Democrats to stop moaning and groaning and to knock on every door, open the white pages and call everyone in the telephone directory to save our country. We have a good team and it is getting better. We have made enormous strides and progress in less than two years.

The jobs are coming and they will be created here in America to make products by Americans and for Americans so that we can all get above the flood waters that we have been drowning in because of the Bush years – eight to be exact. Painstakingly these were eight years of mismanagement, pandering to the rich and the elite, shipping our jobs overseas depriving American workers of the ability to sustain themselves, and running up overwhelming debt while borrowing money to fund two wars.

We have destroyed lives and properties in two countries, simultaneously; and, now we are rebuilding what we have torn down. Our own infrastructure is outdated and seriously in need of repair or replacement. Let’s bring our money home to take care of home.

We had an ill conceived education program which did nothing except further dumb down America’s children and turn them into drones for passing tests. It did not matter that they were not learning or gaining knowledge or being prepared as lifetime learners, as long as they could pass these arbitrary tests, they were passed along.
Is this what we want for our children, America? Is this what we want for ourselves? Haven’t we suffered enough, America? If you say yes, then do something about it. If you don’t have genuine enthusiasm, fake it until you make it. Don’t allow our country to become paralyzed again with ill prepared, ill informed tea partiers replacing knowledgeable, forward thinking Democrats.

Let’s go forward! Let’s defeat the prognosticators! Let’s take our country back to the Clinton years, to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt years, to the good old days when a man and a woman who were willing to work were able to find a good paying job and then be able to circulate money within our country to stimulate our economy so we can again know the prosperity that wiser, humane Administrations created for us.

This is our Democracy, let’s practice what is necessary to sustain a thriving Democracy by voting for the Democratic lawmen who really and truly practice, COUNTRY FIRST. It is time to EXHAUST all your energies and your resources to keep the bums out! We don’t need witchcraft or voodoo economics, we don’t need to be paralyzed.

We need a functioning, thriving Democracy where all of her citizens are given an equal opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness. This is what we owe ourselves. This is what we owe our children and their children and their children’s children. This is America. We are Americans.

Let’s start acting like Americans who have always heeded the call to treat the least of these as we would want to be treated ourselves. We are our brothers and sisters keepers. This is our manifest destiny!hb

This, the 304th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Put your Dreams To Work

2010-09-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Do you know that you can train your brain to deliver very specific insights about decisions you’re struggling with, problems you can’t seem to solve or even ways you might smooth out a difficult relationship by literally “dreaming up” a solution?

With added purpose and intention, the tradition of dream analysis can take on a whole new level of meaning for you.

Guiding your dreams is a unique area, so I spoke with two experts on how to do it — Judith Orloff, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and author of Second Sight:

An Intuitive Psychiatrist Tells Her Extraordinary Story and Shows You How to Tap Your Own Inner Wisdom… and Christina Bjergo, MS, LAc, a qigong expert and author of the new book, The Tao of Tarot:

“The Way” to Health, Happiness and Spiritual Illumination through Qigong Dreaming.

Dr. Orloff (you may remember her from another recent story — “Use Your Intuition to Guide Your Health,” Daily Health News, January 19, 2010) told me that it was by using this technique that she decided to attend medical school.

At a time when she was trying to figure out what to do in her career, a dream pointed her in the direction of what she now recognizes as her “true calling.

” Working with an intuitive researcher from UCLA during what she calls her “hippie phase,” she dreamed of herself as a medical doctor and psychiatrist who helped legitimize intuition in medicine.

This was especially surprising because she’d never had an interest in science or medicine… and it is exactly what she has done with her medical career.

DREAM WEAVER…

You can start dreaming productively tonight, but you’ll be more likely to gain valuable information if you do some advance preparation. Here are some suggestions…

If you are not already in the habit of doing so, set aside five or 10 minutes daily to sit in silence and just focus on your breath, in and out.

This will help you learn to pay attention to your interior state, without distraction.

Start a “dream journal” where you will record your dreams.

Dr. Orloff suggests buying a really beautiful notebook “to honor your commitment” and adds that she likes to use a pen that lights up so that if she happens to awaken in the night she can write down her dreams without having to turn on a light. Keep these by your bedside.

Consider designating a “dream buddy” with whom to discuss your dreams.

Dr. Orloff advises selecting someone you trust, who will enjoy and feel comfortable with this type of conversation.

Sharing your dream life in such a way increases your attention and focus and — who knows? — you may find that he/she has insights you’d not have come up with on your own.

Plan to build some time into your morning routine to linger in bed.

Even a few minutes is helpful (though longer is even better) to allow you to bring your dream, in as much rich detail as you can recall, into your conscious mind.

MAKE DREAMS WORK FOR YOU

Ready to start having productive dreams? Dr. Orloff suggests that you begin with a question — just one, but a specific one.

At bedtime, after you’ve turned out the lights, direct your thoughts to a vexing problem or a creative challenge — for instance, how can I improve my marriage or how can I heal my back pain?

Limiting your effort to one question helps to concentrate your creative efforts — but try not to be intense about this. Just fall asleep and enjoy the state of sleeping, allowing yourself to relax and be open to whatever your dreams may bring — or not bring, as the case may be.

If you awaken during the night, quickly record your dreams.
Don’t worry if they don’t seem to make sense and don’t analyze them — just write down whatever you remember.

You can examine your notes later for clues to issues or problems in your life.

Be silent and stay in bed for at least five minutes when you wake up each morning to prolong your stay in the state between sleep and alertness.

Bjergo suggests trying this qigong technique to connect with your dreams. Upon awakening in the morning, lay in your bed, face up, hands relaxed over your belly.

To get properly balanced, a woman should place her left hand on top of her right, a man his right hand on top of his left.

Focus on the movement of your breath, and let your belly rise and fall naturally. This can often bring back details from dreams you had the night before — and there’s a bonus, too: This will also help your energy flow all day.

When you feel ready, write down whatever comes to mind — including a narrative of any dreams that you remember, along with the details that stand out and even those nonsensical odd intrusions that seem to make no sense whatsoever.

Also describe how you feel now, as well as how you felt in the dream — some dreams are happy and invigorating, while others invoke anxiety, sadness or any number of other emotions.

Now, examine your dreams for answers — direct or indirect ones — to the question you posed before falling asleep.

Follow this routine for a week and see what answers come your way.

Over time, you may find that you can detect certain themes in your dreams. Does the same person or situation continuously present itself?

Ask yourself what in your life might be represented in your dreams — even beyond the questions you’ve asked at night. Are there clues about any unresolved issues in your life? What healing needs to occur?

And, if you really have difficulty remembering your dreams, Dr. Orloff has one more suggestion:

Try making your bedtime request the statement of an intention rather than a question, such as I will remember my dreams.

Another idea: If you aren’t feeling ready to deal with the mystical aspects of intentional dreaming, try it by asking a practical question, combining your intention with something specific you really want to know — such as, I will remember in my dreams where I left my glasses. Let me know how it works!

Source(s):

Christina Bjergo is a licensed acupuncturist, renowned body-dream-work instructor and Grand Master of Sacred Serpent Spiral Qigong.

She is based in Vancouver, Washington, and is an international motivational speaker teaching others how to incorporate dreaming in their lives for greater health, joy and spiritual insight.

Bjergo is author of The Tao of Tarot: “The Way” to Health, Happiness and Spiritual Illumination through Qigong Dreaming (O Books).

Judith Orloff, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

She is author of Second Sight: An Intuitive Psychiatrist Tells Her Story and Shows You How to Tap Your Own Inner Wisdom (Three Rivers Press), and the New York Times bestseller Emotional Freedom (Harmony). For more information about dreams, http://www.drjudithorloff.com.

This, the 303rd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Rental Cars

2010-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Photograph Your Rental Car Before Driving Away

Take photos of the exterior, interior and trunk to document all visible damage and any missing items. If your camera allows you to add a date to each photo, make sure that you leave this function turned on and the date properly set. Documenting damage will ensure that you are not liable for anything that you did not cause.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Nancy Dunnan, editor, TravelSmartNewsletter, 800-FARE-OFF, http://www.travelsmartnewsletter.com.

This, is a bonus entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Big Questions have small answers...

2010-09-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

I received this message from a follower and reader recently and thought I might share. (The name has been changed)

* * * *
Hi Doug,

I wanted to know where you are in the book (Eat, Pray, Love) and what you think of it. I'm deep into India. Without sounding like a total dork, this book is moving me quite so. Embarrassed to admit it, but I'm not a big reader and I can be very impressionable, however I am also very strong in my views too. I have rejected traditional religion for quite some time now, raised Catholic, but I have a deep belief in a higher power and talk to the Universe when I "pray". However this is sparking an interest in me to find "something" because I do feel something is missing for me. Since you are a Meditation Guru I was hoping that perhaps you could introduce me to the beginning of a spiritual path. I'm interested in Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. Is there a philosophy out there that embodies all three? How does one begin, find a spiritual leader, and meditate?

Biq questions I know, from a strnager of sorts, but I think you are very approachable and hope you don't mind :)

Sherry

Sherry,
I just started it...there is no need to be embarrassed, just read more, since you recognize that in yourself...

My first question to you is this:
1. "What is it that you feel is missing?" Once you define what you feel you are missing, you will begin to find viable solutions to fill this void. Such as, if you are missing spiritual community, finding a church or other spiritual organization that you do enjoy will fulfill this. If you are missing 'answers', that is a much more detailed path and discussion...

2. "What is spiritualism to you, and what is it that you wish to achieve when you 'find' it?" The quest for spiritualism is a personal issue. It comes in many ways, means and configurations. There is no 'finding it', excepting that one respects, recognizes and enjoys the quest and its process. As we learn and grown we find more questions to answers...

I have worked with various facets of numerous religions and their beliefs and practices. I have found that the philosophy that embodies all is understanding that all of them give the answers you are looking for. The truth will show when you are ready to see it. I also find, that the philosophy that embodies them reveal nothing in their dogmatic approach. Therefore, where are the answers? They lie within the perception of the answers to the questions you ask.

To search for a preacher, or a teacher, or a guru, or a master is a personal issue that, again, the answer will show itself to you and you will know when it is in front of you.

I do not follow organized religion any longer. I am a seeker of truth through thought, feeling, science and meditation. What I mean by that is, I have experienced some amazing spiritual connections to source through understanding my own personal role in it and in life and how that understanding can help to manifest answers to the questions I ask.

My studies and experiences with Field Theory and Quantum Theory through a spiritual lens have shown me much more than my life of Sundays in institutional spiritual organizations. The universe, higher power, god, or whatever, is there just the same. The nomenclature of religion and the semantics is what makes us get in our own way on our path.

There is not a path 'to' enlightenment. There is the recognizing that one is learning more and more about their truth. That is the path, and you are already, always have been, and are always on that path.

This, the 302nd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

LOTF

2010-09-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Log On The Fire
© 2010 djboggs

(Chorus - sung)
(slowly fade in with OWS chanting of "We are the 99%" to formulate the basic rhythm)
There's a log on the fire, log on the fire
We sit and watch the flames get higher, the flames get higher(on top of the crowd chant)

(Verse - rap) mmm, mmm, oooh, ooh, yeah, yeah, (underneath rap)
There's people down on and their knees begging you please don't turn your back on the masses and leaving our asses to rot in the streets, or to wait in the lines, when all we see is behinds, (ya know), for food and for jobs, (ya know), the one's we've been robbed of, the one's that been hyped by the Barron's of Wall Street. 'No idea how they sleep, or if we'll ever ever get the chance to meet so that I can give them all a piece of my mind of the cards with the fines they give out with the money that they received from us, by the way that they deceived all us from the bailouts that they conceived of.

(Chorus - sung)
There's a log on the fire, log on the fire
We sit and watch the flames get higher, the flames get higher(on top of the crowd chant)

So, we fend for ourselves, the alley cats we are, by the fat cats they are who coral our moral, control and congregate us, lead and masterbate us to a point of separation, no lines of delineation, a world out of control, where's the remote control? FF to a time where we don't need these rhymes, a time in the future where we heal from the sutures from the doctor's themselves or the minds of our own selves, not insurance cartels that continually swell from the profits of the meds and the beds of the dead. 'Cause baby, we don't need this shit anymore...

(Chorus - sung)
There's a log on the fire, log on the fire
We sit and watch the flames get higher, the flames get higher
There's a log on the fire and the flames are getting higher
dazed we close our mouths don't even utter a sound
and it just makes the fire grow(on top of the crowd chant)

(Verse - rap) mmm, mmm, oooh, ooh, yeah, yeah, (underneath rap)
The bars on the windows of the homes of the widowed. We're hairless monkeys to the brokers in D.C. who serve the invisible white elite. While the bullets are flying and the people are dying in the homes of the cities where the citizens care but they are left there to dare and bare the brunt of it all, while we watch the towers fall. Yo, Bernanke, BP, there's something fishy to me, from what I can see of how all the shit that went down, but all we're shown are the clowns that you all propped and made to take the place of the truth that is hidden behind bodies that are riddled with the rounds that were fired from the guns that were hired and there's still no true explanation of the annihilation that left a gaping hole in our soul, hey, where's that remote control.

(Chorus - sung)
There's a log on the fire, log on the fire
We sit and watch the flames get higher, the flames get higher
There's a log on the fire and the flames are getting higher
what is there to do
dazed we close our mouths don't even utter a sound
and it just makes the fire grow(on top of the crowd chant)

(Verse - rap) mmm, mmm, oooh, ooh, yeah, yeah, (underneath rap)
We're told to pity the poor souls left to fend for ourselves and by our official's, as well, who are they they say they represent, as they sit on the bench. Hey, we all had our hands out, but look who got the bailout and now they've got even more while they've shut the door to any assistance although we're fucking persistent and will maintain our consistancy. We watch what we're fed by the media that's dead of any social responsibility tell me where's the liability, or would that be culpability, of their deniability of spreading the lies from the suits that deny yet they'll espouse their belief in God on Sunday and turn their thumbs down on Monday.

(Chorus - sung)
There's a log on the fire, log on the fire
We stand and watch the flames get higher, the flames get higher
There's a log on the fire and the flames are getting higher
what is there to do
We won't close our mouths it's time to utter our sounds
and we can watch the phoenix grow

This, the a supplemental entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2007-2011 Doug Boggs

What kind of person are you going to be...?

2010-08-21T11:33:00.001-07:00

There is a saying that, “There are three kinds of people in this world. People that make things happen, people that watch things happen, and people that say ‘What Happened?’.” Most people lie in the third realm. Much, they feel, to no fault of their own. They are trained to act this way. The planet’s elite society has designed systems of communal interaction over the past 5000 odd years to keep people complacent, to keep people asking, ‘What happened?’

All systems of government are designed from a top down mentality, a trickle down theory, as Reagan called it. We all know that this does not work. Yet, we all hope that the new ‘lamb’, that sacrificial person to take on the challenge of becoming the next President to save us from ourselves, that this next time it will be different…The ‘lamb’ is but one, and our system is designed so that the One cannot recreate the system for the many. So, the elites maintain their club and job security. The elite even designed new rules that even make up people, that don’t truly exist. Those ‘People’ that vote, make money, make rules, create and eliminate jobs. Those made up people that have rights, just like REAL people. Those fantasy people that become the greatest asset to the ruling elite because these certain people think and act just like them…these ‘people’ are called corporations.

The word “corporation” derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a “body of people.” Entities which carried on business and were the subjects of legal rights were found in ancient Rome, and the Maurya Empire in ancient India. In medieval Europe, soon churches became incorporated, as did local governments, such as the Pope and the City of London Corporation. The point was that the incorporation would survive longer than the lives of any particular member, existing in perpetuity. The alleged oldest commercial corporation in the world, the Stora Kopparberg mining community in Falun, Sweden, obtained a charter from King Magnus Eriksson in 1347. Many European nations chartered corporations to lead colonial ventures, such as the Dutch East India Company or the Hudson’s Bay Company, and these corporations came to play a large part in the history of corporate colonialism.

During the period of colonial expansion in the seventeenth century, the true progenitors of the modern Corporation emerged as the “chartered company”. Acting under a charter sanctioned by the Dutch monarch, the Dutch East India Company (VOC), defeated Portuguese forces and established itself in the Moluccan Islands in order to profit from the European demand for spices. Investors in the VOC were issued paper certificates as proof of share ownership, and were able to trade their shares on the original Amsterdam stock exchange. Shareholders are also explicitly granted limited liability in the company’s royal charter. Make note, the corporation defeated the Portuguese forces…Halliburton, Blackwater(Ze), Bechtel, and more…we think our civilization has changed much over the millenia? Think again. Well, yes, it has, it has become substantially more corporate efficient.

Yet, we all think that those elites will change the rules for the betterment of the society at large. And we all see, continually, this does not happen. In fact, new recent laws were passed that allow corporations to spend any amount of money they wish to aid in the campaigns of politicians… Yet, most people still expect Washington to put up campaign finance reform to make elections ‘more fair and honest’… People expect Washington to put together time limits for Senate and Congresspersons served… People expect a new President to take away some of the power given to them, that the previous President instilled while quietly ripping apart the Constitution they vowed so vehemently to protect… People expect to have their jobs… People expect to have their retirement they continually feed money to… People expect their Social Security and Medicare to be there… People expect their schools to give them an education… People expect their marriages to last their whole lifetime… People expect God to save them from their retribution. People expect so much, but do not truly understand that they must fight for everything they expect…ALWAYS! Most people spend so much time complaining about the shit that happens in their life, all the while thinking that their Senators, Congresspersons, Governors, City Supervisors, managers, bosses, etc. will have their interests in mind when negotiating or out fighting for their own cause. This, as a general rule, is just not the case. There certainly are exceptions to be found… Most people continually fail to understand that no one will come to their rescue. NO ONE.

When most people are asked who would you trust most to run the country, they never say themselves. But to answer, One’s self, is the best interest of the self.. There is nothing wrong with this, and we should all learn that this should be the answer WE ALL GIVE! Otherwise, you become victim and give your life to the betterment of someone else. But, we must learn!

Years ago, while doing some self help workshop, I participated in an activity called “Lifeboat”. It was designed that with the group of 100 people you must stand and explain why your life is worth living in order to attain one of the 12 seats of the “lifeboat”. It is an interesting exercise to how people see themselves in their lives and their role in society and community. People must tell their life story or their problems, wants, desires, etc. so that the others will vote you into the boat to be saved. In this exercise, I didn’t make the boat. Subsequently, it is imperative that we learn from our lives, circumstances and repercussions. Thus, later on in the workshop, we did another exercise called Queen for a Day. This was based on the old TV show titled the same (google it). In this exercise, contestants are told to tell the audience why their life sucks so bad that they should be the one to win the new refrigerator, or washer dryer set…I learned! I won! I was crowned Queen for the Day! I was the ONLY one to walk the room with the tiara… I told nothing of what my real life was. I told a story of what I thought would be a life I did not want to have. I designed a story that sucked so bad that the rest of the people would also hate to have that life so bad, too. I was rewarded for that ingenuity.

This is to prove a point. We are at a precipice in our global societal lives. We are all standing at the abyss. The global economy is shit, the global environment is damaged, the systems are broken. The economy is stagnate due to everyone. People and corporations are standing at the abyss, the unknown. Most people, real and corporations, are waiting to see what is going to happen, so then they can plan their lives, their retirements, etc. once again and try to get some of their ‘life’ back, and money flowing to them. But, generally, as we really truly know, that history will teach us nothing. Most people will begin to use credit cards again. Most people will ask their manager what is best for them and to have them go to the upper management to fight for it. The statistic already show this. Many people have stopped looking for jobs, because the jobs just aren’t there. They have lost their momentum and their self esteem has been beaten and battered. The elite know this, so the jobs that are available or that will come back will be for less money in order for them, and their best friend the corporation, to maintain the higher profit margin.

The elite and their best friend, the corporation, the global conglomerate, will once again ask you the worker to believe that things have changed and to reinvest in them and they will handle your retirement plan… For most people, history will teach us nothing… Many people have given up dreaming because their dreams have been taken away. Many people blame their circumstances on someone else. And for many, there are actions and reactions done by others that helped create their demise and situation, as well as, our global situation to become the detrimental economic social destruction tool. Yet, also, most people wait to listen and find the answers from the same people that created and continue to create the rules using the same game plan as before. In Washington, not much has changed in reference to Wall Street. Their rulebook has not changed by much. A few things were done to passify the masses, but if you go back to the trough and continue to play the credit game, you will once again get fleeced. If you go back to the trough and believe that Washington will save you, you will once again get fleeced. It is not that I am a pessimist, actually I tend to be quite the opposite. It is just that the game is stacked. We have heard it spelled out recently by some of its main puppetiers. Once people begin to TRULY understand this, and participate in the game knowing THIS, they will begin to play different and take more control of their own lives.

What kind of person are you going to be?!

This, the 301st entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy
the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Sychronicity of life...

2010-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

I don't believe in coincidence, but I do believe in synchronicity. We are where we are, and doing what we are doing for reasons only we have asked for, whether we like it or not. Have you ever thought about someone just before they called you, or they showed up minutes later at the store you're shopping in? Or have you taken a different turn on the way from work then to learn of an accident that occurred at that same moment and the route you usually go on. We've all had these timely events that impact you or even save you from dire situations. These aren’t simply meaningful coincidences, but are direct signs from the Universe, at a quantum level, and they are important points in our lives. These unexpected, but meaningful coincidences are called synchronicities. Look for them, they are everywhere and everyday. Become conscious that they are there and you will begin to learn to recognize them more easily and use them to your advantage.

Once you begin to understand how your life and the circumstances you reside within are intertwined, you will understand that synchronicity is a blessing from the Universe. A conversation with the dance of life you are creating. You need to trust yourself and your inner voice which tells you what the synchronicities point to.

Also, a synchronicity can appear as an irony. The Universe is mysterious, fun, and under our full control. When you begin to understand this you will not be bothered by and see that a comical irony is being played on us for us to learn. Take advantage of your synchronicities, by taking time to reflect, laugh and be open to the opportunities that are calling. The Universe will offer you the opportunities numerous times and in numerous ways until we recognize them and accept them or they will lay dormant and unseen and whither away because we are too afraid to step out of the “box.”

WALKING LIKE BABIES WALK
(c)2010 Doug Boggs

I do believe in miracles
In wishes that do come true
and I do believe in paradise
I hope you believe it too
There is a part of circumstance
that runs beyond control
but if you believe in here and now
you can make the long hard road

Walking like the babies walk
talking like the children do (2x)

I don't believe in telling lies
to hide what you don't know
the truth will stare from behind the eyes
revealing as you go
seeming from illusion
though truth is not hard to find
the hurdles continue standing there
those mountains you must climb

just beyond your footsteps is a passageway
just look beyond your senses to find your dreams
whatever you can get is there for you
whatever you will get will make it true

Walking like the babies walk
talking like the children do (2x)

There is a part of circumstance
that runs beyond control
but if you believe in here and now
you can make the long hard road

Walking like the babies walk
talking like the children do (4x)

This, the 300th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Prana

2010-07-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Prana is the sum total of all energy.

Just as red, blue, and green light is a part of white light, all energy, is a part of Prana. Prana is a self-perpetuating, self-propagating, auto-energizing force which creates, maintains and also destroys. Energy permeates every individual, every living being, everything we see and do not see in the Universe at all levels and dimensions. Prana acts not only as physical energy that we manipulate daily, but as mental energy where the mind gathers information, and as intellectual energy where information is examined, processed and filtered. Prana acts as sexual energy, spiritual energy, as well as, cosmic energy.

Prana is energy. Energy is a vibration. All that vibrates in this Universe is Prana: heat, water, light, gravity, magnetism, thermal, vitality, electricity, life and spirit are all forms of Prana. It is the cosmic personality, potent in all beings and non-beings. It is the prime mover of all activity.

One who knows Prana understands the workings of the Universe. The Prana in the cosmos is what we call the cosmic energy. The activation of cosmic energy will enable you to use the powers within you. This energy is ready to use and can be used for many purposes. This energy is permanent and remains forever with you. This can be used according to your intent and is programmable. There is one cosmic Prana (consciousness life force) manifesting in numerous names and forms in the Universe. It is the origin of every thing. It is in raw form waiting for user to program according to their wishes. The cosmic energy has no limitation in function. The only limitation will be the user's capability to explore it. You can learn to use this cosmic energy for healing, manipulating nature or environment, transferring energy to any object or activating an object with the cosmic power, prosperity, protection, exorcism, manifestation and more.

As your cosmic connection level increases, you will be able to communicate with the cosmos more easily. Your Intentions will result in astonishing manifestations. The life becomes easy and the body becomes a better place to live. This intention makes a shift in your cosmic connection level.

All the vibrations of Prana flow through you continuously. The flow never stops. Thus you are a permanent channel of energy. No matter how much energy you spend, the gap is filled in the next moment by the incoming energy. Thus you become a source of energy. When ever you want to use the energy, the speed of flow increases to provide you all the energy you want. It is just like a river. You go on using… more will come to you.

As you practice through meditation, you will find yourself reaching higher levels of cosmic connection and higher levels of Pranic vibration. This will transform all levels of your being.

The more you meditate or practice, the faster you will see your connection and development. Your cosmic connection level goes on increasing as a result, your spiritual development comes much faster. Your vibration in aura will change the whole energy around you to be a very positive vibration.

In the next few weeks, on this forum, I will be bringing you meditations to activate and manifest Prana and Intention. We will work with vibration to activate this energy through sound frequencies and guided meditations. Stay tuned.

This, the 299th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Some Have Coffee, Some have Tea

2010-07-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Scene- Interior of small bustling NY Soho cafe during summer weekend at peak of the breakfast time. Staff moving about with plates, coffee, water, and menus. Glasses, utensils and plates clatter to create the background white noise where the morning thoughts disappear into. The menus for the group show up from anonymous hands to the table of four friends.

Angelina is a stylish corporate, young, vivacious, English woman from Bath with a bohemian side. She is successful monetarily and is her own woman. There is something missing in her life that she wants desperately to find, although is afraid to look for it.

Angelina - I know the USA, while playing Big Brother, Charitable Giver and World Policeman - and occasional bully to international tyrants and despots has a reputation for sometimes being a bit more Earp than Wyatt would have liked. So, for those Yanks who listen to my pre-recorded comments on my morning radio spiel, do not be too offended. We just want you to Police the right people!

Axel is a London based bar musician with multiple piercings, a goatee, brimmed hat tattoos and multiple bracelets and necklaces. He looks as though he just woke for the breakfast gathering.

Axel - Then the big question is who are the right people? They police only those countrysides promising a business later on. If there is no oil, but only orange juice or olives there, human rights and dictators like Saddam Hussein, can well be disregarded!

Claude is a world traveling airplane designer. He resides in the south of Florida, talks with a severe southern grovelling accent, is a fisherman and personal philosopher. People guess he originates from the Appalachian Mountain region of Georgia. He holds a Phd in Entomology from Georgia Tech.

Claude does not open a menu. Axel handles the menu with limited attention.

Claude - It's more of a self-selection process. The right ones always stick their heads up out of the sand just in time for the missile to strike them. We usually have no choice in the matter, they choose themselves by how the behave. I can't be offended by that.

Angelina - It's only commercially viable in a world driven by money to throw money into an area where there may be a return one day. Not my rules, but the rules of Free Enterprise - not my invention either!

The Banterer is a wandering renaissance man, raised middle class in a small midwest town, with a gypsy styled anytime yet tugging away at the past kind of optimistic soul forever in loose clothes, sandals and a scarf. He comes from behind Angelina, from the pastry counter where he was searching from his morning treat and found to no avail.

The Banterer - ‎...occasionally(?) build tyrants? That is their job, the USA, in order to make the flawed unsustainable financial system, based on debt, continue. It is flawed and irresponsible. Taxes against labor are Un-Constitutional. The FED is a private organization run by the elite families of this planet.

Angelina - Well, then you have explained it better than Greenspan ever could and therein lies the answer to the good old 'American way'...which really worked well till 'Crawford Man' and his Power Broker Puppeteers put in their ten cents worth!

Axel - ‎Banterer, yes, it is not popular to accept that debt of State are debts of our children. And their children's children. Therefore political systems are unwilling to shift to a sustainable financial system, besides it would promote a lot of cruelties in the actual political business. You say: "Taxes against labor are unconstitutional". Well, any regulation will have effects of being against labor. Though this does not stop the political systems of the world. I'm from Germany, tell me what constitution you mean and what sort of system you are thinking about!

Axel sets his menu down and begins tapping his fingers on the table top. Claude sits back listening intently to the conversation while trying to not be distracted by Axel's ADD temperament.

Angelina - Smarter minds than mine have tried to work out a political system that would work the Western countries and have failed, Axel. I do know socialism does not work any where. And free Enterprise Capitalism breeds corruption and misuse. But. I have no answer. It will take an economic genius (and an honest one) to solve the problem.

Claude - I myself wonder just what is a political system? Is it a pack of nitched symbions who are only biologically feeding on the masses while leaning toward parasitic tendencies?

Andy is short, stout balding everyday man from a small town in the English countryside. All of the girls tend to like him as he is the nice guy in the room. Andy seems to be one step behind.

Andy - Hey, I have a good idea. Get rid of the `EGO`, well that was easy, problem solved!

The Banterer - The reasons that the system for the current arguments on this said table won't work is that we re working in a paradigm that is unable to change within the parameters of consciousness that we currently reside in as a global society. The change that we all are seeking as a specie may not be able to successfully happen until our specie is wiped clean of the historical lessons, and Ego, as Andy has suggested.

For a Paradigm shift necessary to create a new viable system one must come from a clean slate or a pure heart with no memory of existing excesses or successes. Greed and hate are not embedded into our DNA, these are societal traits that are learned through interaction, as found through the work of Skinner. Just as we have numerous governmental systems throughout the world and various leadership styles there are a myriad, perhaps unknown to our polluted consciousness at this time, of ways and means that are capable of the human specie existing outside of the current paradigm we play with to date.

The Ego of the human specie makes us think we are highly intelligent, yet, we create a system of action and interaction that enslaves one "bug" over another. We are simply one of the organisms surviving on this planet like the billions of others, although for some reason, we feel that the planet and its systems and resources are ours to create and control, despite the fact that we are one of the newest specie that has developed on this pale blue dot. There is a specie of Ant that enslaves another worker specie, which build massive communities and societal structures (just like humans do) and will survive on this planet much longer than the human specie as it has long before.

The change that we are seeking actually holds nothing that has to deal with commerce or governance, but of consciousness. We have placed ourselves, as a specie, into a situation that the only way to change our reality is to understand our place is not at the top of anything, but within a structure that coexists. Our unnatural means of control and manipulation through technology is what has allowed us to become the dominant specie, and there actually is nothing wrong with that. Excepting when using ones dominance to the detriment of the natural process one must take this into consideration else there becomes a natural void that must be regulated in order for the natural order to maintain.

Angelina - Banterer, dear fellow. I sense idealistic dream-time here. I agree with disposal of our most dangerous species but not being suicidal and not having access to a button with a 'no fail safe' mode in place, I fear we must wait till nature takes its course. But do not worry, with Iran and North Korea in their current mood we may not have long to wait. I have written to Kim Jong who is really-Il and asked him to wait till I see my horse wins the Melbourne Cup.

The Banterer - Perhaps he will abide by your wish, dearest Angel. I am not a pessimist, or wishing our demise, and in fact am quite the optimist, however, simply pointing out the inevitable truth as a realist. No matter how much control we wish to partake in upon ourselves... I do not wish or mention a button to be pushed, and would state, that as to my earlier diatribe that there is no true "fail safe" mode that could be created with our current state of consciousness.

Axel - ‎"nitched symbions who are only biologically feeding on the masses while leaning toward parasitic tendencies?" You are right Claude, the insects have already taken over. A shame that we did not recognize it. Bye the way, as we know from ants, they don´t have an ego as well.

The Banterer - Ah, Axel. The human ego of that statement shines through. Perhaps it would be that as we know from Ants thus far, that we believe they do not have an ego, as far as we are able to comprehend at this moment in time, as based upon our knowledge that is continually changing.

The world was once flat, if we all recall...

Has anyone ever had the eggs poached here?

Angelina - We may be advancing technologically, Banterer, but it does not alter the fact we are the most dangerous species on this planet and will remain so for hundreds of years longer, perhaps hundreds of centuries. But, as you can guess we will as have other species on this speck of dust be the eventual cause of our own demise, so there's no real point in worrying about it.

Andy - Eureka moment here! The parasite is the Ego! (He closes is menu with a failed snap)

The Banterer - There is disagreement on this end with that, Angel. Ego is also that which is NOT confident. It finds solace within its own self deprecation, as well as, achievement is a variable means of measurement...

Angelina - Methinks you must be into Scientology or a Buddhist if you swallow that baloney, Banterer. You are talking to a hard core pragmatist here!

The Banterer - I see I've touched a sensitive point of reference for a pragmatist and am watching the Ego step in to save you..

Andy - Well, I wholeheartedly agree with that Banterer.

Angelina - Pull the other leg, Banterer, dear fellow. My ego is in healthy condition and 25 psychologists working in unison couldn't change my perception of reality! (she snaps her menus shuts and looks about for the waiter)

The Banterer - I would enjoy pulling on either of your legs, Angel, my sweet. Ego is always in a healthy condition, it is whether you wish to continue to feed it either way is what we all struggle with.

Angelina - My point in Banterer, is that I, personally struggle with nothing. No conflicts, not inner doubts, no guilts. no nightmares. But that doesn't means to say my state of mind is the same as others. On the contrary I see more self doubts in your comments that perhaps you realize even exist.

(Banterer slowly closes his menu.)

The Banterer - I appreciate that, for what is seen in others is what we do not see consciously within ourselves to be made as a subconscious point of reference for our Ego to feed itself upon. I guess this is why I was drawn to you. I

Angelina - Point well taken!

The Banterer - I appreciate the dialogue and do so look forward to much more. (The waiter approaches)
The Banterer -May we order? (The waiter takes out his pad and pen)

Angelina - Coffee!

The Banterer - I would like a cup of tea.

Andy - Nice! (Andy sits back in his natural nervousnes)

This, the 298th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

Oil Lies in Water

2010-05-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

I rub my eyes wondering how this could all be happening
we play hide and seek with our wisdom and faith
it was all here far before we knew better

The streets a mass with people searching for their dreams
lost at the waters edge stoic like a rock wedged into the
wailing wall of tears

oil, lies in water
the distance of solutions is far off on the horizon

They were here first but the tides are turning
bits of desire float like clouds robbing oxygen away from the rest
I breathe as they smother asunder

What do we do now? What the hell is going on?
the dust settles onto the water creating a sinking feeling of reality
as life floats to the bottom

bright eyes with tears as the children stand crying
on the beach grains of sand disappears in the tides of time

mother was here before me
mother remains as I am gone
mother shuns her loving hold
mother turns her care away from us now

oil, lies in water
the distance of solutions is far off on the horizon

the sun breaks the day as the dark clouds grow
a sting is in the air and the water fills its gallows
a chance to fall spins us around and the world keeps turning

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

This, the 297th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

In the Air...

2010-05-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

There is a new feeling coming through the air from the past few years of confusion, frustration and mass mind manipulation to the clearing in the forest. The edge of the trees are now in sight. We have discovered many enlightening things that will take us all to the next level of consciousness. We can wake the global senses to see the inherent truth that Ayn Rand discusses in her famed novels. We can find the path to the future consciousness through the literary works of Lynne McTaggart, Lila Rajiva, Michael Talbot, and Michael Rothschild and more.

My upcoming documentary will take us into the kitchens and minds of people to explore this exact issue. To see the eyes wide shut begin to open to the light that is beginning to shine onto the truth of world!

there you have some hints for some homework...more soon!!

This, the 296th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Zeitgeist Addendum! Once again, Learn the truth!

2010-03-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

I posted the first Zeitgeist Video a long while back. This is an addendum to that highly controversial YouTube viral documentary. This is relevant information for intelligent people in our modern decaying society. We must change the paradigms of our rote thinking. We must begin to transform the greed and desires that are controlled and manipulated by our society, the elite, corporations and religions with a new thought and action paradigm that will create a more honest and pure sustainable society for humans, as well as, all other living entities within our biosphere.

This, the 295th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

The Hunt for heretics and inherent truth...

2010-02-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

The following is an online conversation which began from a post from the article in The Washington Post titled, "The GOP's misguided hunt for heretics"
By Kathleen Parker - Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Banterer- ... "Hunting for heretics pretends to be a principled fight for ideological purity, but behind that mask is an uglier impulse, an attempt to intimidate and insist on conformity . . . a reminder of what the Czech dissident-turned-president Václav Havel once wrote:

'Ideology offers human beings the illusion of dignity and morals while making it easier to part with them.' "

There is an inherent value system to the universe and the ideologies to the human specie. It has nothing to do with religion or politics. What tends to run against those inherent values is when an organization begins touting what those values are or are to be. Ayn Rand discussed the concept 'that there was an inherent truth'. One that lie just behind the perceived truths that our society creates and places on nearly everything.

Scot- The inherent truth is in the work of the risen Jesus Christ and our choice to accept that and spend each day being more like him. Quite simple really... we choose to complicate it and debate it in our fallen state and expect different results. The right and the left do not hold any moral or ethical high ground unless they are grounded in this.

The Banterer- I believe that Jesus was a messenger to the inherent truth. The inherent truth is much larger than that.

Scot- Sounds like you subscribe to a relevant truth which does not work because if we subscribe to that then those who wield the most power in terms of resource and physical strength will always impose their truth..Christ was not a mere messenger but the embodiment of it and it does transcend all things of this world.

The Banterer- That is your belief and I respect that. My truth, just as yours, is as inherent to me as yours is as relevant to you. Mine works without the intrusion of others, as you may think.

Brent- Aww shoot, Scot, ya had to go all JESUS on us, didn't you?

The Banterer- LOL! These types of diatribes are always good to expound upon to broaden, as well as focus, one's deep seeded beliefs and ideals. The challenge is to do so without emotion and to maintain the purity of source in order reach the inherent truth within.

Chris- so basically, Doug's truth isn't dependent on a mission statement of an organization? I can buy that...and Jesus rising from the dead is probably an indication his words were true? interesting, I'll have to check out Ayn Rand.

The Banterer- Just for fun I will throw out a movie title...2007 "The Man From Earth" I look forward to the discussions that this may bring.

Terry- Ayn Rand said that her views were inherently incompatible with the teachings of Jesus.

The Banterer- Terry, you are referring to the subtext within a writing of hers, such as Atlas Shrugged? Or do you have a quote of her stating that? I ask only because, yes, she was a self proclaimed atheist, although a writer of a novel, like that of, Atlas Shrugged, is a novel based on the importance of rationality and man... See More’s own individuality and freedom of choice. So, the novel will surely show that incompatibility due to its subtext.

All of the teachings of Jesus are not necessarily incompatible to atheism. Atheism is incompatible to the ideal that Jesus was a divine entity that lived and transcended through man. The teachings of Jesus are separate from the spiritualism of the resurrected spirit of the man named Jesus. Many of the teachings of the Jewish man, known as Jesus of Nazareth, transcended from previous teachers, masters, and yogis that came before him. Although, the Chrisianity religion based around those same teachings, or that of the resurrection of the man into spirit, are indeed incompatible to the ideal of Objectivism.

Rebecca- I think the christianity religion is incompatible with the teachings of yeshua of nazareth. i love yeshua, i love his teachings, they're radical & wise
[what i believe i know of them....] i hate the lies & the dogma that make me run screaming from the church.
i dont think he jew yeshua would join up wi. that horrible church either...

Terry- Doug, Rand stated on numerous occasions that the teachings of Jesus were incompatible with her philosophy of Objectivism... it wasn't so much the theism that she hated (although she disapproved of that as well) it was the altruism. Jesus taught unselfishness and self sacrifice for others... Rand considered those concepts abhorrant....Objectivism is pretty much the exact antithesis of everything that Jesus taught. It's IMPOSSIBLE to follow both Rand and Christ.... the attempt to do so is the cause of a large portion of the problems with the "Religious Right" in America.

links:
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/texts/jesus.html

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/adrianbiblestudents/jesusvsrand.html

The Banterer- The last thing the religious right do is 'the subordination of one's soul (or ego) to the wishes, desires or needs of others, which means the subordination of one's soul to the souls of others.'

Although, the dogmatic, self proclaimed, religious right, politically motivated, capitalistic pedophiles, due to the use and manipulation of the ego of the human specie, coupled with the species fear of death due to the true lack of faith, or proof or understanding, due to the inherent desire of the human sentient being for truth, do they get away with such lies disinformation and untruths.

She goes on to say, 'This is a contradiction that cannot be resolved. This is why men have never succeeded in applying Christianity in practice, while they have preached it in theory for two thousand years. That is why the history of Christianity has been a continuous civil war -- both literally (between sects and nations), and spiritually (within each man's soul).'... See More

The Objectivism or 'all about me' ideal is actually quite emblematic to the Glenn Becks, Sarah Palins, George Bushes, Bill O'Riell's, Michele Bachma's, most televangelists, et al. hidden by the lies and disinformation of the populace. Their knowledge of the mob mentality of ideas propagates this and feeds itself due to the laziness of people to search for truth rather than be spoon fed it through the words of man cloaked behind the fear of an unknown.

I am a very religious man, and respect the teachings of many masters throughout the passing of time which includes Jesus, Buddha, Rumi, Confucius, Ghandi, and others. Many of their messages are borrowed from each other, and Jesus was not the first to espouse much of the teachings to which he spread (and certainly not the last with John Smith and Jim Jones-I never thought of the elementary irony of the names of these men before I wrote that).

My reaction to religion is that the early Catholic church manipulated the inherent truths in order to benefit the state. There is an irony to the Bible, the manipulation of inherent truth and promulgation of a fear based religion. The printing press created the opportunity for the human specie to learn on their own rather than be taught by wrote through greedy and power hungry Kings, clerics and politicians.

There is also in interesting harmony of the advent of the internet over the past 15 years, and the recent news of the Pope telling the world that believers and non-believers are welcome...(funny that gays and transvestites aren't, but that's another topic to discuss the 'love thy brother' issue. As people become more informed and free to think, as Rand touted, dogmatic religion begins to break down.)

This is not to say that the belief in a higher power is diminishing within the global populace, but it is transforming its concept for structure and availability to all. Which is going back to the root of an 'inherent truth'.

This, the 294th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

The Universe knows what you need...

2010-01-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

There was once a man who possessed a priceless jewel that he left to his wife and daughter when he died. Afraid that unscrupulous creditors might discover the jewel, the mother sewed the jewel into the lining of the daughter's coat. Unfortunately, the mother passed away unexpectedly, without being able to tell her daughter about the jewel. Destitute, with no home or money, the daughter wandered the land for many years, with only her coat to protect her from the harsh elements. Then one day, the threadbare coat split at the seams and out spilled the jewel, so valuable that she would never want for anything again.

We already possess all the resources we will ever need to secure a fulfilling life, even though we may not yet recognize it.

This, the 293th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

The Letter

2010-01-14T23:32:00.000-08:00

Do not hold onto anything so as to stifle its own necessary growth for your personal needs or desires. One of the hardest parts of the human condition is the quell the Ego.

This is a song I just completed for a movie soundtrack called
The Letter

This, the 292th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee…How do you handle adversity?

2009-11-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about fifteen minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ‘ Tell me what you see.’

‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, ‘What does it mean, mother?’

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water.
Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

‘Which are you?’ she asked her daughter. ‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance
that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

This, the 291st entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Living with Intention

2009-10-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

Intention is the art of self.

You've been Twitted, 'Booked, 'Spaced, IM'd, emailed, YouTubed, and more. Your FB friends all wish you great things, and most know nothing of you and your struggles. The television whispers stale nothings as most people try to empty their minds from the day just to do it again tomorrow.

We are told we are happy. We are told we live in the age of reason. We are told we are better off than at any other time in history. Yet, most people feel lost as if they wander through their life aimlessly looking for something.

All of the distractions in the world are taking people away from themselves. It is time that we take back our lives for ourselves and begin to live in the world we create with intention.

There is nothing that is created without intention. Your thoughts create your reality. If you intend to have a peaceful, wonderful experience in your life you will. You must block out what your previous intentions have been and rewrite your life's intention. It takes work to make your own life.

The world you live in was brought to you, by you. Your intentions have created the world you live in. Many of those intentions have been spoon fed to you by the mass media and the mass mob mentality of society that feeds into its own dogma. You can change your diet of intention by focusing your thoughts on the life you wish to create rather than the life that you have.

This new focus of intention will bring about new experiences based on these new intentions. Keeping your attention on your intention will change the frequency of your life and the circumstances and experiences that you create.

Paint your life as though it was your own movie. Although there are no orchestral movements that help guide your emotions, your life is your own movie that you watching every minute of every day. Your life did not come with a script to be read and acted, it comes with a director who guides the actions of your life. That director is you. The story and script are written by you. You can edit it any time you choose. The actors that play supporting roles in your life are directed by you. You are the cast director and decide who those players are. You are the cinematographer who decides what your scenes are to look like. You are the editor, and with the help and guidance of you the director, you can change the scenes of your life in order to accommodate your intention, your vision. You are the sound designer and create the soundtrack by creating the music through words, music, and nature.

This, the 290th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Wind in the Wood in the Rain

2009-10-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is a new composition just completed that will give you 10 minutes of serenity and solitude. Use this soundscape for your meditation. It will be released on my upcoming Meditation Compilation via mp3 download or you will be able to order the CD. The compilation will also include some guided meditations.

Enjoy!

Wind in the Wood in the Rain

This, the 289th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Et Cum Spiritu

2009-10-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is a new track from an upcoming meditation CD I will be releasing titled

Et Cum Spiritu

Et Cum Spiritu

This, the 288th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

You Must Act On Your Dreams

2009-10-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

YOU MUST ACT ON YOUR DREAMS.

-----------------------------------------------

You have to make your own opportunities.
Your future isn't a matter of chance,
it's a matter of your choice.
It's not something that you wait for,
it's something that you pursue.

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities.
Seize common occasions and make them great.
Opportunity sometimes comes disguised
in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.

Start today, right where you are.
Distant fields will always look greener.
Yet, golden opportunities are all around you.

You can live your dreams if you pursue them.

----------------------------------------------

This, the 287th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

I believe you believe...

2009-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Prologue -

He told me to write a book...so, I'm writing a book. It goes something like this...

BOOK ONE
Chapter One

The interesting relationship has gone on now for some 17 years or more. I sometimes call him my friend. I sometimes call him my mentor. I sometimes call him strange. All of which are true. We've had some amazing conversations over the years that have enlightened me to a point of clarity that I never thought I would know. There have also been times that I have been able to be the teacher in our relationship. We had some conversations that could go on for hours, and sometimes a simple two minute chiming in was all that was needed. Although, all of this simply created more questions, but I know that I know of a reality much more than nearly everyone else. But I could never really discuss it with other people, because they just couldn't grasp the concepts. Their reality couldn't seem to handle it. For me, it's not a matter of belief, but a matter of knowing. It's a matter of proof. The funny thing about that is that he told me in the beginning of our relationship that no matter what he would leave things to have some sort of a plausible deniability. A means that I would know, but could never prove what I know.

My mother once told me, "I believe you believe." This was her response when I tried to tell her of my experience of seeing the UFO's, but she couldn't quite reach the point of belief of what I saw was real. I backed off at that point trying to understand how powerful that this truth could be. Most people's world would be turned upside down. Many people say that they believe that aliens are out there, but if they were to have actually seen something that they cannot explain, something other worldly that they cannot quite understand or prove, it would make most people's heads spin. I relish in my curiosity. I mean, how many people actually know the truth? It made me feel good knowing this secret, despite the fact that I couldn't really talk with other people about it.

I believe you believe. I struggled with that one for a long time. As I am an adult and was back when this began, I still believe that a child yearns for their parents approval despite their age. My father once discussed this matter with me during the last days of his mother's life. He mentioned that despite the fact that he was in his sixties, at times he felt like a child when he was talking with his mother. He later told me that that feeling didn't go away until his mother died, finally leaving him in the world on his own, so to speak. The man was in his sixties.

There is a void in our modern society for men. The right of passage from boy to man no longer exists. He is left to go out into the world and be a responsible man without knowing that he has graduated from being a boy. The child remains cloaked within the man wandering around not knowing when or how to stop being a boy and to be the man that society expects the boy to become. Women have a different process. Their body helps to tell them when they have become a woman. The menstrual cycle gives each girl a sign which tells them they are entering into their woman. When women give birth, they go from being a woman to becoming a mother. Their body goes through a physical process which allows them to feel and experience the change in order to know and understand that something different is happening to them and their place in the world.

I guess, a part of me will continue to be that boy laying down on my neighbors driveway looking for understanding and acceptance of my thoughts and ideas by my parents until they leave this life. As I have no right of passage, no celebration of boy to man that I have been given the keys to move on and experience life from a different perspective I must rely on my own intuition that
I have become a man and own my own thoughts, actions and reactions.

Perhaps the discussions with my parents on this alien/UFO issue was difficult for them because they felt that I was going insane. Perhaps it was because, as their child coming to them with such honesty on a topic that was so outlandish to them, meant that they might actually find truth in it. If this were the case it could begin to chisel away at the very fabric of their belief systems that have guided them their whole lives.

There have been subsequent discussions with them and other friends throughout the years that I would bring to the table. Many times it was simply to see what reactions I could get, but mostly I was speaking my truth to a table that could not comprehend the possibilities. Because of this I knew that there would not be much response to many of the questions that I might posit.

He knows too much that is impossible to know, as a human. He knows things that I am feeling. He knows things that I have done...while alone...He has been privy to some of my private conversations and then was able to discuss them with me later. He has appeared before my eyes. He has disappeared before my eyes. He has made things appear and disappear in my home, when nobody was there and the alarm was on. He responds to my thoughts. He responds to my feelings.

Perhaps I might start out by stating that I was raised in a very religious familial environment. During my developmental years, I and my family, was involved heavily in the church and its numerous functions. I, at one point, thought I might become a preacher. I loved the music and enjoyed the happiness, introspection, and lessons that came from the services and people on Sundays.

I will also state, herein, that I believe in alien life. Extraterrestrials. ET. Ever since my childhood, when I lay down on my neighbors driveway to watch a shiny blip called "Skylab" cross over our home I have been curious of the Universe. It's grand scale of the infinite. I mean, really, in the billions of other galaxies, that contain billions of other stars, that have numerous other planets whirling around them there has got be to some other kind on life form out there. We are not alone. We can't be, it just is not scientifically feasible. The fact that the Universe, as we know it, is some 13 billion years old, and our earth is 4 billion years leaves a large gap of time in which some other beings could have evolved. Their evolution and head start on technology could have easily placed other sentient beings out into the Universe to explore other worlds. You know, as in the words of Capt. JT Kirk or the star ship Enterprise, "..to boldly go where no man has gone before."

My mother once told me that she doesn't read what I write any longer because it is blasphemous. I respect her opinion, and I believe that she believes this. I remember in my philosophy class in college my professor once asked the students attending his lecture who in the room could prove the existence of god. I thought, with my religious conviction and sturdy belief from those many years of attending church 4 days a week that I could pull this one off. So I raised my hand. He gave me the floor to which I made my catechismic diatribes taken directly from the good book. I spoke of the fact that Jesus was a real man. He is documented as a living human being at that time and was tried under Pontious Pilate and was crucified on a cross. He did speak to groups throughout Galilee and other surrounding areas. He was a Jewish man from Jerusalem who grew to become a popular teacher of his time. I spoke about the necessity of God. The need for a creator of all things, otherwise, what? Poof, it all just showed up? I discussed the fact that science shows that there was a huge flood and Babylon, Ephesus and more. I went on for about 15 minutes and let my argument stand. I thought I made a fairly strong case. I made some good points to which I was concise and deliberate. He asked if I was done to which I sat and answered to the affirmative. He then gave me kudos for a well thought out and delivered argument to a very difficult topic. He went on to discuss how ingrained into our consciousness as a global society were the truths that I espoused there in the room. As he spoke he made it seem as though I had tamed the dragon. I thought to myself, my work here is done. I felt good. I felt intelligent. He then spent the next 2 hours discussing my points, one after the other, slowly chipping away at my truth by allowing the question of, "...really?" to become part of the conversation. When one asks, "..really? Why? How? Can you prove this?", it begins to whittle away at the basis of the core of religious doctrine. He left the class sitting there dumbfounded. I certainly was. My truth to what I had adhered myself to, to which shaped the person I was at that point in my life was being ripped open. A different sort of light was shining into me. That light of inherent truth was peeking through the shadows of societal consciousness leaving me stripped like a newborn child. A child with a new beginning and a blank slate with which to begin to search for new meaning again beyond the religious dogma that had permeated my life for so long.

Perhaps it was this kind of result that my mother does not wish to partake in as her life is much farther along than the short 18 years that I had experienced this world before my professor broke me. But, isn't this a calling that religious doctrine professes to its followers. To go out into the world and spread the word. And by doing so does it not mean that you will be challenged by your actions and must reach deep within oneself in order to stand firm in one's convictions and beliefs? But to have that kind of shake up to which turns your reality upside down, well, some people just are not ready for it. Some people will never be ready for it.

Everything I have said about my alien friend could be placed within the confines of a religious doctrine, but change the word alien to God or Jesus or Buddha or Mohammad, et al. I mean, what if Jesus were an alien? What if Buddha and Mohammad were an alien. What if God were simply a grand design given to us from an alien specie that has been visiting this planet for hundreds of thousands of years used in order to maintain a civil society of its inhabitants. That could explain a lot. No one can prove otherwise and it is strictly conjecture at this point but why not play with the thought. I have for quite some time.

Belief is something different than truth. As Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, discussed in truth that there is an inherent truth that lies beyond the societal truths that permeate our lives. There are myths that become truths over time. There are certainly lies that become truths simply by enough people that believe in a story over time it will eventually become the story to which the masses believe. A truth by proxy. This is what our society has become accustomed to in this age of instant information. Our Wikipedia society to where a collected argument becomes truth without verification of facts. The blog world of current events and opinions of facts. Rand went on to state that before the dawn of man, truth lived. The essence of truth, a Universal truth, existed before man and will certainly exist after the eventual demise of the human specie. The extinction of species stifle certain truths and new stories begin as the evolution of species bring new actions and reactions to their existence. But, beyond the parsed truths that sentient emotional beings might carry from generation to generation there does lie Universal truths.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My memory places it back to my childhood, somewhere around the age of 8 or 10 years old, however, I cannot truly place the time but the vision still periodically reoccurs to this day. The room has no floor or walls or ceiling. It is void of dimensions. The acoustics make it seem as though the room is approximately 20 feet by 20 feet despite the fact that there is no sound with which to discern any sound relfection. One can feel the space through the thickness of the air. The air smells clean as though it has been mechanically purified in some way. There is light but it is directionless. The source of the light is as if it emanates from all around. It is a slowly pulsing glow of white that fills the light fog which twists and morphes itself into shapes that are indecernable. There is a voice that spoke softly so as not to disturb the meditative comfort that is throughout. It is a voice of a near whisper yet precise in its words and clear in its meaning. The words are heard but nothing is said. There are questions asked but nothing is audible. In the vision, the active participant, or the point of view of the vision, looks around the space to try to put some sort of semblance to it and give is some sort of a known reality. The vantage point is likened to that of being in a doctor's office and sitting on the exam table although there is no surface of any kind and no form of which that is sitting or standing on anything. It simply... is. There is a clear sense of calm despite the unknown and unfamiliarity of any surroundings.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It started sometime back in 1992 when my girlfriend and I were heading out to the beach to watch the sunset. It was nearing dusk and the summer sun had yet a little ways to go before it would disappear. We stopped in Mill Valley to pick up a few things for our romantic evening in the sand. Before we left to head over Mount Tamalpais we stopped at the small local sex/head shoppe to browse through the store which sold nearly everything, just for a fun peek around. She was looking at some earrings for her mother's upcoming B Day while I perused through some magazines. I found a couple of UFO mags that I thought would be fun to read and purchased them.

(...tune in because there is much more to come!)

This, the 286th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Superfoods For Your Brain

2009-09-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Mark Hyman, MD

The UltraWellness Center

he aging American population is facing a sharp increase in diagnosed cases of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect about 10% of people 65 and older. Among those in their mid-80s and older, up to half have a significant degree of cognitive impairment.

Millions of younger Americans suffer from less obvious mental impairments, including mild memory loss and diminished alertness, as well as brain-related disorders, such as depression and chronic anxiety.

Neurologists now believe that most mental impairments are caused by lifelong exposure to toxic agents, including pollution and tobacco, and to naturally occurring molecules that damage brain tissue and impair circulation to the brain.

Research clearly shows that some foods can improve mental performance and help prevent long-term damage. Best choices...

Sardines. They have two to three times more omega-3 fatty acids than most other fatty fish. Our bodies use omega-3s for the efficient transmission of brain signals. People who don’t get enough omega-3s in their diets are more likely to experience learning disabilities, dementia and depression.

Bonus: Omega-3s reduce inflammation and inhibit blood clots, the underlying cause of most strokes.

Fatty fish also are high in choline, a substance used to manufacture one of the main neurotransmitters (acetylcholine) involved in memory.

Recommended: Three cans of sardines a week. Sardines are less likely to accumulate mercury or other toxins than larger fish.

Caution: Many people believe that flaxseed is an adequate substitute for fish. Although it contains alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a type of omega-3, only about 10% of ALA is converted to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) oreicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the most beneficial forms of omega-3s and the ones that are plentiful in fish oil.

If you don’t like sardines, you can take fish oil supplements (1,000 mg twice a day).

Omega-3 eggs. They’re among the best foods for the brain because they contain folate along with omega-3s and choline. Folate is a B vitamin that’s strongly linked to mood and mental performance. A Finnish study of 2,682 men found that those with the lowest dietary intakes of folate were 67% more likely to experience depression than those with adequate amounts.

Recommended: Up to eight eggs a week. Only buy eggs that say "Omega-3" on the label. It means that the chickens were given a fish meal diet. Eggs without this label contain little or no omega-3s.

Low-glycemic carbohydrates. The glycemic index ranks foods according to how quickly they elevate glucose in the blood. Foods with low glycemic ratings include legumes (beans, lentils) and whole-grain breads. They slow the release of sugars into the bloodstream and prevent sharp rises in insulin.

Why it matters: Elevated insulin is associated with dementia. For example, diabetics with elevated insulin in the blood have four times the rate of dementia as people without diabetes. Elevated insulin damages blood vessels as well as neurons. The damage is so pronounced that some researchers call Alzheimer’s disease "type 3 diabetes."

Recommended: Always eat natural, minimally processed foods. They’re almost always low on the glycemic index. For example, eat apples instead of applesauce... whole-grain bread instead of white bread... or any of the legumes, such as chickpeas, lentils or soybeans.

Nuts. They’re among the few plant foods that contain appreciable amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain antioxidants, which reduce brain and arterial inflammation that can lead to cognitive decline.

Most of the fat in nuts is monounsaturated -- it lowers harmful LDL cholesterol without depressing beneficial HDL cholesterol -- important for preventing stroke.

Recommended: One to two handfuls daily. Walnuts and macadamia nuts are among the highest in omega-3s, but all nuts are beneficial. Avoid highly salted and roasted nuts (the roasting changes the composition of the oils). Lightly toasted is okay.

Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale. They contain detoxifying compounds that help the liver eliminate toxins that can damage the hippocampus and other areas of the brain involved in cognition.

Recommended: One cup daily is optimal, but at least four cups a week. Cooked usually is easier to digest than raw.

B-12 foods. Meat, dairy products and seafood are our only source (apart from supplements) of vitamin B-12 in the diet. This nutrient is critical for brain health. A study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutritionfound that older adults with low levels of vitamin B-12 were more likely to experience rapid cognitive declines. Older adults have the highest risk for B-12 deficiency because the age-related decline in stomach acid impairs its absorption.

Recommended: Two to three daily servings of organic lean meat, low-fat dairy (including yogurt) or seafood. Also important: I advise everyone to take a multi-nutrient supplement that includes all of the B vitamins.

Green tea. It’s a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that also stimulates the liver’s ability to break down toxins. New research indicates that green tea improves insulin sensitivity -- important for preventing diabetes and neuro-damaging increases in insulin.

Recommended: One to two cups daily.

Berries, including blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. The darker the berry, the higher the concentration of antioxidant compounds. In studies at Tufts University, animals fed blueberries showed virtually no oxidative brain damage. They also performed better on cognitive tests than animals given a standard diet.

Recommended: One-half cup daily. Frozen berries contain roughly the same level of protective compounds as fresh berries.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Mark Hyman, MD, founder of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. He is editor-in-chief of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, a peer-reviewed professional journal in the fields of integrative medicine and alternative medicine. He is on the board of advisers and faculty of Food As Medicine, a professional nutrition training program at The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, Washington, DC. He is author of many books on wellness, includingThe UltraMind Solution (Scribner). www.ultrawellness.com.

This, the 285th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Decisions for the Best Treatments for You

2009-09-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

DECISIONS FOR BEST TREATMENTS FOR YOU

Comparative effectiveness research (CER)... if you’ve been following the health care reform battles, you’ve heard the term -- but do you know what it means? CER is a hot topic in health care today, as the federal government has allotted $1.1 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package to research that compares the effectiveness of one type of medical treatment with another.

GOOD IDEA OR NO?

Of course this theoretically makes sense -- how else to determine which treatments are most effective and least risky? But critics of the CER program warn that taking this step toward government involvement in health care might move us closer to a system where medical treatment is uniformly dictated by statistics rather than allowing doctors and patients to make choices based on individual needs and preferences. Cost is another worry -- even with all the stimulus funds for CER, this is big-ticket reform. How will it be funded once the stimulus funds dry up? And my personal concern is that while the concept certainly makes sense, like certain aspects of health care reform itself, in the real world CER may turn out to be good in theory but untenable in execution.

To gain perspective on comparative effectiveness research, I turned to Edward F. Howard, JD, executive vice president of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Alliance for Health Reform (www.allhealth.org) in Washington, DC.

A SOLUTION -- NOT THE SOLUTION

Yes, changes need to be made. As matters now stand, few clinical trials of drugs, devices and treatments evaluate new ones against others that already exist -- rather they are merely measured against placebo. Howard points out that drug manufacturers must only establish that a new medicine is safe and effective and better than doing nothing to gain approval by the US Food and Drug Administration -- and this offers precious little information to a doctor prescribing a course of treatment. The standards for medical devices are lower yet -- manufacturers often must only demonstrate a new one is similar to other devices already in use, again giving patients and doctors no idea which is the "better mousetrap."

In contrast, comparative effectiveness research directly measures how two or more therapies in current use for a particular medical problem stack up against one another, says Howard. (Of course this can lead to an infinite number of comparisons.) The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has identified 100 key areas for comparative effectiveness research, suggesting highest priority to topics such as health care delivery systems. Other IOM-identified priorities include heart disease, mental disorders (including depression) and cancer.

MORE DOESN’T MEAN BETTER

Other countries already use CER to make decisions about payment rates and which treatment procedures will be covered. This is frightening to drug and device makers, hospitals and doctors, all fighting to protect their incomes by making sure that quality -- not cost -- remains the key determinant. They warn that head-to-head comparison may result in a situation where insurers try to limit access to certain treatments, at least for those whose medical bills they are paying. The truth is, this happens already.

DO YOUR OWN COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH

Each of us makes health-related decisions every day... small ones, like whether to have blue cheese dressing and fries with a salad at lunch, and other days, larger ones -- like whether to address a diagnosis of diabetes with gastric bypass surgery, medication or by eating less and exercising more. On the individual level, comparative effectiveness works very well -- and it’s usually quite clear how the analysis of cost and risk versus benefit plays out. As for health care policy, we will have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Source(s):

Edward F. Howard, JD, executive vice president, Alliance for Health Reform (www.allhealth.org), Washington, DC. The Alliance for Health Reform is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit health policy education group.

*****
Note: I am unclear as to why this all seems so difficult...

This, the 284th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Wasp Spray vs Pepper Spray

2009-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Wasp Spray

I have a friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area who was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp pray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection.

You could also keep it in your car and it would be legal. I Thought this was interesting and it might be of use to lots of ladies... Pass it on ....

This, the 283rd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Beware and aware!

2009-08-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Warning..!!!! Warning..!!!! Warning..!!!!

Just last weekend we parked in a public
parking area. As we drove away I noticed a sticker on the rear window of the car. When I took it off after I got home, it was a receipt for gas. Luckily my friend told me not to stop as it could be someone waiting for me to get out of the car Then we received this email yesterday:

WARNING FROM POLICE_THIS APPLIES TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN

BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE--
NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS (NOT A JOKE)'

Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating.. You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside You start the engine and shift into Reverse. When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. So, you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.

And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car. So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are now compromised!

BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of personal information and dentification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.

This, the 282nd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Is the Birther Movement 10,000 years old?

2009-08-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

Bill Maher has created a powerful frenzy with his sentient truth to help stave off the whole Birther Movement spreading ignorance and untruths across the world assisting in making the United States look, once again to the rest of the world, like a bunch of uneducated idiots. The people who believe this rightwinged infused nonsense are the same people who think there is validity in the thought that the world is only 10,000 years old...but, those people are out there and they vote...and one left the White House this past January...

This, the 281th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Blind Ear !?

2009-08-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent this to me and I found it to be quite interesting. In its infancy there are such possibilities for some very creative soundscapes. I will need to look into this further, but wanted to pass this on for others to see.

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the Common Chorus

2009-08-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

It is quite interesting how inherent the music language is for all people the world around. Composer, Performer, Conductor, Writer, et al Bobby McFerrin, shows the suits and the audience at the World Science Festival a bit of unity to the human condition through music and the pentatonic scale.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

This, the 279th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Welcome to our new name!

2009-07-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

We have renamed ourselves to the moniker, "The Banterer", or what we have been calling ourselves for over 270 blog entries!!

Welcome to this new address and we look forward to offering you the same great banter that we have been having for over a year now in blogworld!

For the curious, who have stumbled upon this blog before knowing....

Cries from the Iranian People

2009-06-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Iranian people have so much at stake with the results of their election and feel the resentment to their needs from their government. They are reacting normally from a group of people getting their rights and freedoms taken from them.

Perhaps we might learn from their leadership to the right to protest for their freedom. We did nothing while the Bush Administration took office illegally...twice...

This, the 278th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Don't Make These Costly Mistakes When Naming Beneficiaries

2009-06-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Mary Randolph, JD
Nolo Press

If you have drafted a will, you may think that it dictates who inherits all of your assets and how those beneficiaries will split them. But if you are not careful, the bulk of your assets could end up being distributed in very different ways than you intended.

Example: Beneficiaries you designate for life insurance policies... certain investment accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs... and even US savings bonds... take precedence over those you name in your will.

Some of the biggest mistakes...

NAMING THE WRONG BENEFICIARIES

MISTAKE: Naming your estate as beneficiary. If you name your estate as beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance (or don’t designate a beneficiary at all), these assets will be subject to probate, a time-consuming and expensive legal process in which a court oversees the payment of debt and distribution of assets. Creditors will be able to make claims against these assets during the probate process. Also, your heirs will not have the option of allowing the assets in your tax-advantaged retirement plans to continue to grow on a tax-deferred basis. That’s because tax laws allow human beneficiaries to withdraw money from inherited IRAs slowly, based on their remaining life spans, while estates do not have this right.

Example: Tom, 71, named his estate as beneficiary of his life insurance policy. The $500,000 payout was tied up in probate for nearly a year, and probate fees totaled $25,000.

What to do: Name a spouse or child as beneficiary, or name several children as co-beneficiaries.

MISTAKE: Naming a trust as beneficiary of a retirement accountwhen there are significant differences in the ages of the heirs.

Snag: The designated beneficiaries of your tax-advantaged retirement accounts can choose to allow these funds to continue to grow tax-deferred after your death. The beneficiaries are required to make withdrawals based on their own estimated remaining life spans, which means many decades of tax benefits for younger beneficiaries. When a tax-advantaged retirement plan’s designated beneficiary is a trust, all of the trust’s beneficiaries must make withdrawals based on the age of the oldest beneficiary.

Example: Martha wanted her three children, ages 38, 40 and 58, to receive her IRA funds after her death. Had her children been named the account’s beneficiaries, the younger two would have reaped the benefits of tax-free growth for decades. Because Martha named a trust as beneficiary and her children as the trust beneficiaries, the two younger children had to take faster withdrawals based on the estimated remaining life span of the oldest sibling.

What to do: Name beneficiaries directly in retirement accounts, and take those designations into account when apportioning other assets to beneficiaries in your will.

OMITTING KEY STEPS

MISTAKE: Failing to obtain a spousal waiver for your 401(k) account if you do not wish the assets to go to your spouse. If you are married, by law your spouse is the beneficiary of your 401(k), even if your will or a prenuptial agreement says otherwise.

Example: Harold, 65, remarried after the death of his first wife. His new wife, Gwen, 62, had assets of her own and signed a prenuptial agreement stating that Harold’s savings should pass to his children from his first marriage. But because Gwen did not also sign a beneficiary waiver for Harold’s 401(k), those assets still passed to her.

What to do: Obtain a signed waiver from your spouse.

MISTAKE: Ignoring “transfer on death” (TOD) opportunities. In most states, it is possible to name a TOD beneficiary for an investment or bank account and, in some states, for a home and/or car. This is comparable to joint ownership except that the TOD beneficiary does not have any control until the owner dies. Naming TOD beneficiaries can be a good way to help your beneficiaries avoid the time and expense of probate. Ask your brokerage house, mutual fund company or bank for the necessary forms.

Example: Sally, a 73-year-old Arizona resident, wanted her home to pass directly to her only son, Kevin, when she died, without the expense of probate. She could have named Kevin co-owner of the home, but that would have put the home at risk if Kevin divorced or was sued. Instead, Sally signed and recorded a new deed that listed Kevin as TOD beneficiary.

What to do: Consider TOD designations if they are available in your state. For TOD rules in your state, check www.nolo.com (click on “Wills & Estate Planning,” then “Avoiding Probate in Your State”).

FAILING TO UPDATE

MISTAKE: Overlooking the descendants of deceased children in beneficiary designations for retirement plans, life insurance policies and savings bonds. Parents with several adult children often designate their children as equal beneficiaries. Unfortunately, this seemingly fair system becomes inequitable if one of the adult children dies before the parents do. In such cases, the children of the deceased child could get nothing.

What to do: Use your will to help balance out distributions. Example:Leave your surviving children as the only beneficiaries of your life insurance policy. Then name the children of your deceased child as beneficiaries of an appropriate amount in your will, to balance how much they get with how much your living children get. Include an explanation in the will of why this was done so that no one feels unfairly treated. Alternatively, you could put money into a bank account naming the grandchildren as beneficiaries “payable on death” of the account holder.

MISTAKE: Forgetting to update beneficiary designations when you marry, divorce or are widowed. Even those who remember to update their wills when they gain or lose a spouse may forget to update retirement plan and life insurance policy beneficiary designations.

What to do: Contact your investment and life insurance companies to ask how to update your beneficiary designations, or ask your estate-planning attorney for assistance. To update the “co-owner” or beneficiary designations on US savings bonds, contact the Federal Reserve Bank (800-245-2804, www.treasurydirect.gov) to obtain the forms necessary to have the bonds reissued.

MISTAKE: Purchasing savings bonds in unequal amounts for grandkids. Grandparents who purchase savings bonds for their grandchildren every year might accidentally leave significantly more to some than others. When the grandparents pass away or no longer can afford to purchase savings bonds, older grandkids often have been named beneficiaries on many more bonds than younger ones.

What to do: As new grandchildren are born, buy savings bonds only for them until they catch up with older ones.

This, the 277th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Butterfly Effect

2009-06-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Universe and Mind meld through lucid purity.
The ground swirled like that of an Edvard Munch painting.
Pondering the circle of life while watering the yellow squash,
I watched the butterfly dance in the mist.

The Quail cooed in the orange glow of the lingering sunset over the bamboo
softly blowing in the wind painting a small rainbow that danced in the garden.
Grounded in the unity as my feet lose touch with the grass,
I enjoy the moment of oneness without purpose, accepting the sign.

Sensation of clarity if only for a moment
albeit a moment is but a part of time to which
is now, then, and the morrow's morrows.

This, the 276th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Holographic Universe we are in...

2009-06-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have been having a difficult time finding either time or material to blog about. I apologize to my readers for the lack of attention these past few months, but let's move on and hope that I can become more fluid again with ideas, as well as, time...

I have been reading the book, The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot. It is a study of the Universe as a hologram and the two worldly noted scientists of David Bohm and Karl Pribram, who both came to these findings and subsequent conclusions rather independently. The theories and premise of the book help to explain the paranormal and other anomalous phenomena to which science disregards since it cannot find other theories to explain such experiences.

There are a myriad of other scientists and their theories and conclusions that are included as well, but the school of thought was developed by Bohm and Pribram. Bohm was noted and respected for his work with Albert Einstein, Quantum Physics, and the Manhattan Project. While Pribram was most noted for his research in brain and cognitive functions.

I will be delving deeper into this topic as I get into the book more, but I will relate the discussions to previous entries, as well as, books to which I have read and discuss here in this blog previously.

For a bit of homework, I encourage you to watch "The Matrix" as a start to the upcoming discussions.

More later!

This, the 275th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Great Minds Think Wried!

2009-05-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Only great minds can read this.
I received this from a good friend fo mine who from tmie to time sends me smoe geart mtareail.

This is weird, but interesting! fi yuo cna raed this, yuo have a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed this forwrad it

This, the 274th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Enough Said...already...

2009-05-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

Baby Banter? Translation?

This, the 273th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Treasonous Hannity...

2009-04-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at the FOX noize network and what they contrive as news. In a recent interview with Dick Cheney and the lying style of "Enquirer" antics of news reporting from Sean Hannity, he asks Cheney if it was dangerous for Barack Obama, (Fox network never calls him our nations President,) to be photographed shaking hands with dictators such as Hugo Chavez!

First, Hugo Chavez is not a dictator. He is a freely elected official. Whether the right wing, or any wing of, for America likes this or not.

He is asking Cheney this quesiton?! Cheney has spent decades being photographed with the dictators that the administrations he has worked with created. With the Reagan Administration, who illegally sold arms to Iran, there are countless shots with Rumsfeld or Cheney doing business with the now criminal state they profess to be so dangerous to our country. They created this criminal country.

There are countless shots and business dealings with Rumsfeld and Cheney creating the regime that Saddam Hussein built. That same regime that they in turn turned on and declared dangerous to the world and decided to start the failed waste of a war. The Administrations to which Cheney and Rummy belonged to built this regime as well.

Yet, Hannity and his insanity, has the gall to make up the threat that our President, Obama, is dangerous in shaking hands with Chavez?! A freely elected official?!

Oh, by the by, Happy Earth Day!! Stop listening to FOX and save the earth!!

This, the 272th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Blood of The Lazarus Heart

2009-04-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

He looked beneath his shirt today
There was a wound in his flesh so deep and wide
From the wound a lovely flower grew
From somewhere deep inside
He turned around to face his mother
To show her the wound in his breast that burned like a brand
But the sword that cut him open
Was the sword in his mother's hand

Every day another miracle
Only death will tear us apart
To sacrifice a life for yours
I'd be the blood of the Lazarus heart
The blood of the Lazarus heart

Though the sword was his protection
The wound itself would give him power
The power to remake himself
At the time of his darkest hour
She said the wound would give him courage and pain
The kind of pain that you can't hide
From the wound a lovely flower grew
From somewhere deep inside

Every day another miracle
Only death will keep us apart
To sacrifice a life for yours
I'd be the blood of the Lazarus heart
The blood of the Lazarus heart

Birds on the roof of my mother's house
I've no stones that chase them away
Birds on the roof of my mother's house
Will sit on my roof someday
They fly at the window, they fly at the door
Where does she get the strength to fight them anymore
She counts all her children as a shield against the rain
Lifts her eyes to the sky like a flower to the rain

Every day another miracle
Only death will keep us apart
To sacrifice a life for yours
I'd be the blood of the Lazarus heart
The blood of the Lazarus heart

Words and Music by Sting

You can watch Sting perform this LIVE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f24Y66ZBOwE

Happy Easter to all you Christians!

This, the 271st entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

We Work The Black Seam

2009-04-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

This place has changed for good
Your economic theory said it would
It's hard for us to understand
We can't give up our jobs the way we should
Our blood has stained the coal
We tunneled deep inside the nation's soul
We matter more than pounds and pence
Your economic theory makes no sense

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together

The seam lies underground
Three million years of pressure packed it down
We walk through ancient forest lands
And light a thousand cities with our hands
Your dark satanic mills
Have made redundant all our mining skills
You can't exchange a six inch band
For all the poisoned streams in Cumberland

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together

Our conscious lives run deep
You cling onto your mountain while we sleep
This way of life is part of me
The is no price so only let me be
And should the children weep
The turning world will sing their souls to sleep
When you have sunk without a trace
The universe will suck me into place

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together

Words and Music by Sting

Watch Sting create this amazing song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRc3u0mzSOI

This, the 270th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Not in Texas...

2009-04-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's called Carbon 14. 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon discovered on February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, CA. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples.

But not in Texas...

Radiocarbon dating is a method that uses (14C) to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 60,000 years old. The technique was developed by Willard Libby who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work. One of the frequent uses of the technique is to date organic remains from archaeological sites. Plants fix atmospheric carbon during photosynthesis, so the level of 14C in plants and animals when they die approximately equals the level of 14C in the atmosphere at that time.

But, not in Texas...

However, the radioactivity decreases thereafter from radioactive decay, allowing the date of death or fixation to be estimated. The initial 14C level for the calculation can either be estimated, or else directly compared with known year-by-year data from tree-ring data (dendrochronology) to 10,000 years ago, or from cave deposits (speleothems), to about 45,000 years of age.

But, not in Texas...

A calculation, or (more accurately), a direct comparison with tree ring or cave-deposit carbon-14 levels, gives the wood or animal sample age-from-formation. The technique has limitations within the modern industrial era, due to fossil fuel carbon (which has little carbon-14) being released into the atmosphere in large quantities, in the past few centuries.

But, not in Texas...

You see, The Texas Board of Education has decided to throw logic and science into the wind and begin to teach the children of that state that it is highly possible that the world began only 10,000 years ago by the hand of God...

Textbooks have to be changed to reflect this doubt in evolution to bring in a more "realistic" view of the possibility of divine intervention only 10,000 years ago. This socially conservative viewpoint will begin to be a standard in textbooks in that state as early as 2011.

This is a perfect example of a separation of church and state...?

There are those who's non-religious beliefs give them pause, and rightfully so, to abstain from saying the Pledge of Allegiance due to the fact of the statement of God and Country, etc. because of our Bill of Rights and Freedom of Religion. Only now, that child has to be brain fed the garbage of the religious right that the world is only 10,000 years old...

...We work the black seam together...

This, the 269th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Black is In!

2009-04-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

The most powerful politician in the world is Black.

The head of the Republican National Committee is Black.

The best known media mogul on earth is Black.

The greatest golfer in the world is Black.

The top female tennis players in the world are Black.

The highest grossing actor worldwide is Black.

The fastest racing driver in the world is Black.

The brightest Astrophysicist under the sun is Black.

The Superbowl-winning Head Coach is Black.

The most successful brain surgeon in the world is Black.

The fastest human on the planet is Black.

... Michael Jackson must be kicking himself.

This, the 268th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Spoon...

2009-03-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

A lesson on how consultants can make a difference in an organization.

Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant, 'Steve's Place,' and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket.

It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket.

Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, 'Why the spoon?'

'Well, 'he explained, 'the restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all of our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour.

If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.'

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he replaced it with his spare. 'I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.' I was impressed.

I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly.

Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So, before he walked off, I asked the waiter, 'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'

'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice. 'Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also learned that we can save time in the restroom.

By tying this string to the tip of our you-know-what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39%.

I asked quietly, 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'

'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon.'

This, the 267th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Ponzi or no Ponzi? That is the Question...

2009-03-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

According to an AP story running this morning, it seems that, the IRS is giving people a break who invested in Madoff and other known Ponzi schemes.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told Congress the new guidelines are for taxpayers who have suffered losses from Ponzi investment schemes such as the massive Madoff swindle.

He said the guidelines will apply to victims of all Ponzi schemes — financial scams in which early investors are paid returns from money put in by later investors. But given the scope of the Madoff scandal, the IRS wanted to establish an easy system for investors to recover taxes they paid on "fictitious income," Shulman said.

You know, when you think about it, anyone who invests in the stock market, based on what we have been seeing this past decade or so, should fall within this parameter. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and so many others that have pumped their stock to gain investors money in a fictitious manner. For those that cashed out on the rise of the stock are those who have made money in the scheme. However, there are many that stuck with the firm and ended up losing everything, and I'm finding it difficult to tell the difference any more of a stock market or a Ponzi scheme.

Let's see, this would also mean that we should all be able to deduct our expenses that are taxed us for the country's social security program. That is the largest Ponzi scheme ever concocted. Or what about our Medicaid or Medicare, these too are also failed Ponzi schemes that are in need or revamping their systems.

Based on these new IRS rules, there could be some money coming to all of us here real soon.

This, the 266th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The truth from behind the curtain...

2009-03-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

I found this article on the Daily Kos. I read this periodically and find the information quite interesting. I thought I would pass this one on...

Jim Cramer Uses CNBC to Manipulate Stocks
by TocqueDeville
Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 04:56:48 PM PDT

I've been waiting for a good time to bring this story to Daily Kos and, since it's CNBC day (or week hopefully), I figured now would be a good time.

By now, everyone should have heard about the ongoing war that CNBC is waging against the Obama administration and its plans revamp the economy. From it's constant anti-Obama propaganda and commentary to its shady PR stunt to manufacture a bogus uprising against Obama's mortgage plan, CNBC has been working overtime as a propaganda front against the Obama agenda.

And now, Jon Stewart has joined in for some good fun. But you haven't seen real fun until you've immersed yourself into the story of Deep Capture.

* TocqueDeville's diary :: ::
*

This rabbit hole involves the thugs surrounding Jim Cramer and some of the top financial "journalists" from the New York Times, WSJ, Fortune magazine and BusinessWeek, top hedge funds, the Mafia, and the DTCC. It also includes "blackmail, smear campaigns, espionage, fraud, harassment, extortion, bribery, rumor-mongering, sabotage, off-shore money laundering, political cronyism, frivolous lawsuits, witness tampering, biased financial research, false identities, bogus credit ratings, bribery, libelous blogs, bad science, forgery, wiretapping, counterfeiting, collusion, lying, cheating, threats and theft."

And if that wasn't fun enough, it may be the underlying story of what collapsed the entire, global banking system or at least served as the catalyst for the collapse.

Unfortunately, this story is so rich and multi-dimensional that I cannot possibly hope to do it justice here. So I will primarily focus on the financial media angle and, specifically, Jim Cramer and his thug cronies.

The story begins when a very highly respected journalist and business editor for the Columbia Journalism Review, Mark Mitchell, decides to look into allegations made by the CEO of Overstock.com, that some top hedge fund managers, in cahoots with a circle of financial analyst and reporters, had conspired to make a lot of money by betting short on companies and then systematically destroying those companies by spreading false negative information about them and employing other tactics such as flooding the market with "phantom shares" to drive down a stocks value.

To understand this you have to understand how short selling works. A short seller will borrow stock (say at $10) and then sell it immediately and pocket the money ($10). Then, when the company's stock value plummets ($1), they buy it at its deflated value and pocket the difference ($9). This is perfectly legal. But there's another variety that takes place because of a flaw in the system.

This is where a short seller sells stock that they haven't actually borrowed yet. There are loopholes that allow shorters to do this legally, but those loopholes have allowed the practice to be abused - which is illegal. Therefore, it is quite easy to fraudulently put on the open market shares of stock that do not, nor ever will, exist. These phantom shares do nothing but crash the value of a stock and therefore make legitimate short transactions highly profitable.

This is what Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne had discovered had been done to his company. Naked short selling combined with bogus financial analysis, lies and rumors propagated by CNBC reporters all served to trash his company's stock. So he decided to fight back. He gave a big conference call presentation to a bunch of corporate CEOs and broke the story. That's when Mark Mitchell comes in. (For the record, Byrne is a Republican. I don't much care for him. But this is completely irrelevant to this story.)

To the 500 Wall Street honchos who listened in to this conference call, Patrick said that a network of miscreants was using a variety of tactics – including naked short selling (phantom stock) – to destroy public companies for profit. He said this scheme had the potential to crash the financial markets, but that the SEC did nothing because the SEC had been compromised – or "captured" – by unsavory operators on Wall Street.

In January 2006, I [Mark Mitchell] was working as an editor for the Columbia Journalism Review, a well-respected ( if somewhat dowdy) magazine devoted to media criticism. Patrick had claimed that some prominent journalists were "corrupt" and were working with prominent hedge funds to cover up the naked short selling scandal, so I called to discuss.

Patrick picked up the phone and said: "Chasing this story will take you down a rabbit hole with no end." He said that the story had it all – diabolical billionaires, phantom stock, dishonest journalists, crooked lawyers, black box organizations on Wall Street, and a crime that could very well cause a meltdown of our financial system [This was in 2006].

Not only that, Patrick said, but "the Mafia is involved, too."

Well, Patrick seemed basically sane. I decided to write a story about the basically sane CEO who was fighting the media on an important financial issue while harboring some eccentric notions about the Mafia.

I figured it would take a week.
* * * * * * * *

Months later, my desk was buried under evidence of short seller miscreancy, I had done nothing but investigate this story since the day I first called Patrick, and I had just gone to a topless club to meet a self-professed mobster who told me all about a stockbroker who had peddled phantom shares for the Russian Mafia and the Genovese organized crime family.

Heh, it gets better. But, again, way too long to address here. So back to the media angle:. Here's Mitchell later on:

I have analyzed well over a thousand stories written by this clique of journalists. The vast majority of them were sourced from a small group of short-sellers who are also friends of Cramer. Other popular sources for this group of journalists include convicted felons, mobsters, dubious private investigators, crooked lawyers, hired stock bashers, and gun-toting goons - most of whom are tied to the Cramer constellation of short-sellers.

Some of the stories written by these reporters are accurate enough. But many are not. The journalists misconstrue data with seemingly purposeful intent. They exaggerate and obfuscate. They publish innuendo or merely repeat, Deus Optimus Maximus, the words of their hedge fund and criminal friends. A single negative story by one of these reporter-thugs can send a company’s stock tumbling by more than 50% — pure profit for their hedge fund sources, who of course sell the company short (often right before the articles are published). Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of the companies targeted by these journalists will also be the victims of phantom stock selling and other shenanigans. The journalists do not mention this in their stories, and in fact go out of their way to deny that phantom stock exists.

Anyone who says otherwise is subjected to a vicious media smear.

To fully appreciate the Jim Cramer angle a little journey to his past is in order. This is from Cramer himself:

"We had it down to a science in 1992: my wife would pick stocks that technically looked ready to go up, or she would keep track of merchandise to see what was down to tag ends. She would then generate a list of stocks that could move quickly on good news. Jeff would then go to work calling the companies to try to find anything good we could say about them. I would call the analysts to see I they were hearing anything. When we found a stock that looked ready technically to break out, or where the supply had been mopped up, and Jeff found something positive at the company, and I knew the analyst community didn’t know anything positive, we would load up with call options and common stock and then give the good news to our favorite analysts who liked the stock so they could go do their promotion. That would get the buzz going and we would then be able to liquidate the position into the buzz for a handsome profit." (Confessions of a Street Addict, page 61).

This is Cramer's big secret. He figured out early that the way to make money betting on stocks was to rig the game - control the news and you control a stock's value. Now he has his own TV show.

Nicholas Maier worked for Cramer until 1998. He quit and wrote a book about it called, Trading with the Enemy: Seduction and Betrayal on Jim Cramer’s Wall Street (New York: HarperCollins, 2002). Here's an excerpt showing that Cramer was into naked short selling early on:

Jim turns toward his head trader. "Mark, sell ten thousand Bristol Myers."

"We never bought any Bristol Myers," Mark replies.

"We own the calls," Jim corrects Mark impatiently, aggravated by the delay.

"So sell it short?" Mark asks for clarification. Mark knows that according to the SEC rule book, selling stock you don’t already own (even if you do own the call options) must be marked and executed as a short sale.

"You are confusing me with someone who gives a shit. Just sell it! I said hit the fucking bid!" adds Jim, not interested in wasting time over petty semantics. Skirting the "plus tick" rule in this case won’t necessarily make us a lot of extra money, but in Jim’s eyes, the rule is still an unenforceable annoyance. "And don’t ever ask me that again!" (Trading With the Enemy, pages 70-71).

The story of Jim Cramer cannot be fully presented here. BUt here's an excerpt from Mitchell's book length expose that will get you into the ballpark:

Cramer, who is a sociopath, owns TheStreet.com with Marty Peretz, who is an aristocrat. Peretz is also the former editor of the New Republic magazine. He dabbles in high finance and Harvard professing, which has resulted in his entrusting a large portion of his family fortune to a close-knit group of hedge fund managers, several of whom were his students. For example, Cramer was his student. Then Cramer was destitute. He lived in a car with a loaded gun hidden under the seat. Eventually, though, Peretz gave Cramer some money to start a hedge fund, which Cramer managed with celebrated ruthlessness until he resolved to seek spiritual enlightenment as a TV news host.

Cramer had originally planned to run his hedge fund out of the offices of Ivan Boesky. Shortly before he was to move in, however, the feds busted Boesky for insider trading, making him one of the most famous criminals of the 1980s. (This is not necessarily to suggest that Boesky is the "Sith Lord" mentioned in Patrick’s "Miscreants Ball" presentation. Some people have wagered that Patrick was referring to Michael Milken, a business colleague of Boesky known as the "junk bond king," who also went to prison in the 1980s. Patrick has since modified the analogy, saying that the crime has multiple masterminds - "like Al Qaeda").

When Boesky went to prison, Cramer worked instead with hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt. The media portrays Steinhardt as a financial wizard, a deep thinker and an all-around swell guy. The truth is, he’s a thug who perfected the concept of trading on privileged information, and pounded it into the heads of his employees. "What’s your edge!?" he’d shout, pacing his trading room floor. "What’s your fucking edge!?" After one of Steinhardt’s tirades, a top employee (and the godfather to Steinhardt’s children) had a heart attack. It is said that Steinhardt showed no remorse.

Indeed, Steinhardt has one of the most fearsome reputations on Wall Street. Which is perhaps unsurprising given that Steinhardt’s father, Sol "Red" Steinhardt, was a mobster once described by a Manhattan district attorney as the biggest Mafia fence in America. Steinhardt Sr. worked for the Genovese organized crime family, with goons like Meyer Lansky and Vinnie "Blue Eyes" Alo, before he was sentenced to a number of years in Sing-Sing prison.

By Steinhardt Jr.’s own account, the principal partners in his first hedge fund were the Genovese Mafia, Ivan Boesky, Marty Peretz (the aristocrat who funded Cramer), and a man named Marc Rich. Rich is closely connected to Ronald Greenwald, described in the authoritative book Red Mafiya as the man who, along with the Genovese family, brought the Russian Mob to America.

In 1983, Rich was indicted for trading illegally with Iran while Islamic revolutionaries were holding the American embassy hostage in Tehran. Along with his associate, "Pinky" Green, he fled to Switzerland. In 2001, Steinhardt, a big-time operator in Democratic circles, convinced Bill Clinton to give Rich a scandalous presidential pardon, but Rich remains in Switzerland to avoid paying his tax bill.

In the early 1990s, Steinhardt shut down his hedge fund after he was implicated in a scheme to corner the U.S. treasuries market - a horrendous infraction with serious implications for the U.S. economy.

So this is a rough crowd. Says one Wall Street trader: "It was the day the bad guys came to town — when Steinhardt and his people arrived."

One of Steinhardt’s people is Jim Cramer. Another is Cramer’s wife, who was known as the "Trading Goddess" when she worked as Steinhardt’s head trader. Maria Bartiromo, a CNBC anchor known as the "Money Honey," is married to the top partner in Steinhardt’s newest hedge fund. (A former employee of Cramer’s hedge fund has written that Cramer often fed tips to the Money Honey, trading ahead of her stories, and it is rumored that she recruited him to CNBC.)

And then there is David Rocker, the short-selling hedge fund manager believed to be scheming, along with Cramer and Herb, with Gradient Analytics, the financial research shop under SEC investigation in 2006.

Cramer says he’s met Rocker only once - apparently while squeezing the grapefruit at some grocery store. But the truth is, Cramer knows Rocker well. Rocker is a former employee of Steinhardt’s hedge fund. He worked there at the same time as the Trading Goddess.

And, until recently, Rocker was the largest outside shareholder in Cramer’s website, TheStreet.com. Cramer sometimes quotes the hedge fund manager on his television show, and once interviewed him live. Rocker is also a regular writer for TheStreet.com, where he bashes stocks that Cramer subsequently also bashes in multiple stories on both the website and CNBC.

In February 2006, the SEC is investigating Gradient Analytics for disseminating false information about public companies. The agency has affidavits from former employees who say that Gradient’s "independent research" is produced by recent University of Arizona graduates who know little to nothing about finance and essentially take dictation from hedge fund managers, including David Rocker.

One of these employees says that Herb conspired with Rocker to hold his negative stories (premised on Gradient’s false information) until Rocker could establish short positions. This is called front-running - a jailable offense. It is reasonable to suspect that Rocker had similar relationships with TheStreet.com (of which he has owned a substantial portion) and other media.

Not long before Cramer announced his SEC subpoenas, Rocker sold all of his shares in TheStreet.com. Cramer sold around $2 million of his own shares. If Cramer knew about the SEC investigation before he sold his shares, which was almost certainly the case, he was trading on insider information - another jailable offense.

But Cramer don’t know nothin’ about nothin’. And Herb thinks the SEC investigation is an outrage. So Herb and Cramer have commandeered CNBC. They are live on CNBC. Herb has jabbered something about a conspiracy - a conspiracy to get Herb.

And now Cramer is going to show us something.

He’s pulled out a big, red magic marker. Veins are popping, rope-like, from his bald cranium. And he’s snarling. Cramer is actually snarling while he uses the big red magic marker to scribble something on a piece of paper.

He holds the paper up to the camera.

It’s...it’s his government subpoena...Cramer has vandalized his government subpoena! On live TV... in big red letters...

It says, "BULL!"

Jim Cramer is a crook. Wall Street is full of crooks. The next time you see CNBC, keep that in mind. They are not reporting. They are trying to sell you something and, quite possibly, trying to manipulate the market.

Now, one last bit about how this all relates to the financial crisis. The SEC is investigating whether abusive and illegal naked short selling brought down Bear Stearnes and Lehman as well as many other companies.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, 55, told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday the agency is investigating whether illegal trading contributed to the collapse of Bear Stearns in March and the 75 percent drop in the market value of Lehman Brothers this year. The probe focuses on traders who seek to profit by intentionally spreading false information about the New York- based firms.

In the Jon Stewart video, you can see Cramer talking up Bear Stearns. That doesn't sound like he or one of his hedge fund buddies going short. But remeber, naked short sellers will often try to pump a stock before they trash it to create a wider spread and, consequently, more profit.

But that said, there is some evidence Cramer changed his tune after that SEC subpoena. After mocking people who complained about naked short sellers, he eventually joined the call for reform. Always covering his ass.

Watch Bloomberg's report, which was inspired by the work of Deep Capture, on Naked Short Selling here.

This, the 265th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The banks are doing better????!

2009-03-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

What gets me is that no one in the press core is asking JP Morgan, Citibank, or Bank of America, who are claiming that they are doing better this quarter than expected, is because they have received bailout funds.

They are not doing any better! They have bailout funds! Their math doesn't equate, because they are including these funds in their calculations as to the public perception of doing better they are once again blindsiding the public into thinking things are getting better...

People, Wake the fuck up!

This is another means of manipulation of the markets for the benefit of the corporations. Their accounting is off and no one cares or is calling it!

This, the 264th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

The Alley of Love

2009-03-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

This one came to me as I awoke this morning. I nurtured it a bit before I got out of bed...

The Alley of Love

Like a felled feline she tended her wounds
of the double edged dagger sharp words.
The wet, vibrant colours of dreams dried slowly
on the canvas heart of this art of warred lovers.

The saline drained out of the depths of darkness from her quiet eyes
leaving trails from tears of blurred visions of forgotten strikes of shouted swords.
Her nails yet to recoil though her heart yearned again for his touch.

The alley of love began to heal as the soft word "sorry" filled the air
from the two warriors as the battlefield had quieted.

He searched through the trash of truths that were spewed
and on a bin lid he held her wiping her pain softly stroking her.

The lesions of love began to purr again between them...

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

This, the 263rd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Is Madoff going to Get Off?

2009-03-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

Is there going to be more example of how the rich get away with everything in this "democratic" society? Or are we going to see an example set with Bernie, like we did with Bernie Ebbers? You remember him. He is the other most recent rich white dude that our system decided to use as an example to make a statement to the public that our system is fair. I wrote about that Bernie irony back on January 2, 2009.

It looks as though Madoff is going to "Get Off". Well, it's not sure just what getting off for him means, but a plea bargain is being negotiated at this time. He may get as little as one count of securities fraud which would lead him to a 20 year sentence, along with a $5 Million fine. The fine should be easy for him to cover. As far as the jail time, I think that he will be golfing for a few years and then get out, or even do no time at all. Which would be no surprise.

Although, he could also get a bit more. With one count for every client which would lead him to a life in prison sentence. Being that there is no record of any trades ever made through the years of his bilking $50 Billion from his clients, I would say that only one count of securities fraud, for him, may be a bit on the lenient side.

What if there were no other rich white folks involved in this situation. Is it that there is pressure from our societies elite families that Madoff is going to be dealing with the system. If there weren't rich people that were scammed, and Bernie, being the "highly respected, investment guru, socialite of New York, would he be doing time? Without the blasphemous words from the elitist crowd of the upper crust of society, those movers and shakers that get the prosecutors, mayors, and police Chief's elected, would there be such a stink for justice?

Will we ever know...?

This, the 262nd entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

American life exists somewhere between Barbie and Paul Harvey...

2009-03-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

At Fifty years young, and not looking a day over 36 or 24 or 36, nearly all ask what is her secret...Plastic!

Happy Birthday to an icon, Barbie. On March 9, 1959, she made her first appearance at the International Toy Fair in New York. Her Goddess, her maker, her mother, Ruth Handler was watching her daughter play with paper dolls repeatedly play acting in adult rolls. Ruth found no dolls on the market that filled this need, as all dolls at this time were infant type. She told her husband her idea, as he was co-founder of Mattel, and the rest is history.

Although, not at first. Mattel found it very difficult, at that time, to make a doll with small detailed features that Ruth was requesting. They couldn't seem to make it happen.

On a trip to Europe in 1956, Ruth came across a doll that was exactly what she was thinking of. This German doll, named Bild Lilli, came from a comic strip by Reinhard Beuthin who's character was that of a prostitute, and was originally sold as a gimmick sex toy for men.

Ruth bought three dolls, one for her daughter and two for Mattel. The company bought the rights to the doll and began their makeover. A few years later Barbie was released.

It is said that there are three Barbies sold from around the world every second of every day.

And in the words of one of the greatest voices of American radio, Paul Harvey, "..and now you know the rest of the story...!"

I have fond memories of listening to Paul Harvey, with my father in his Ford F150 with 3 on the column, pick-up truck as we would drive, go fishing or eat lunch on a jobsite. These were quiet moments that we would listen intently to the voice that made the radio feel like home. The "Rest of the Story" made our own lives feel important in their own way as having our own stories that could one day be told. His ways of finding the heart of a story that would normally go unnoticed and be lost in the hustle of life gave every life and all of its moments real meaning.

Paul, your voice spanned 7 decades on radio. You will be sorely missed.

To you, "Paul Harvey...Good Day!"

This, the 261st entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

What if Atlas Shrugged?

2009-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas". Zeus condemned Atlas, for he and his brother's sibling rivalry, in conjunction with the war between Titans and Olympians. The war that followed angered Zeus to the point of reprimanding Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia(the Earth), and hold up Ouranos(the Sky), on his shoulders due to his shenanigans.

In many more modern mythical mishaps of marketing and advertising we see Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, rather than the stars. If it were the world on his shoulders, what if Atlas shrugged...?

This is where the idea of one of the great novels of modern literature comes from. In the book by Ayn Rand called, Atlas Shrugged, Atlas is used as a metaphor for the people who produced the most in society, and therefore "hold up the world" in a metaphorical sense.

I am continually awed by how life imitates art. John Galt is the protagonist in the book which explores the idea of the working class to withhold their ideas or contributions of their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas of any kind to the rest of the world.

Today we call this protectionism. The idea is the same. Only when the working people begin to understand that they hold the power, and not the rich, they can begin to see the essence of what life holds for all. Today's ills find America discussing buying America to cure the economy. Despite the fact that the world is the economy and not simply an American economy, or European economy, or a Chinese or Japanese economy.

The metaphor of producing the most, from the book Atlas Shrugged, is the key phrase there. The elitists of Wall Street have exemplified to the world that they actually produce NOTHING. They created NO value. Everything they do can be done on a grass roots level with today's modern technology.

When the Twin Towers were felled by Saudi extremists orchestrated by the elite rich of the world through...sorry, this is another topic for another day...Our sitting President (literally sitting and reading a childrens book, albeit upside down,) came out from behind the curtain and told America to go shopping.

We have seen our society become consumed with the idea that consuming, buying, spending is the means to happiness. We have spent centuries trying to teach others around the world the same philosophy. But is this "the way".

Irrational Exuberance, was the phrase to which former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan stated in a speech given at the American Enterprise Institute during the stock market boom of the 1990s. The phrase was interpreted by financial pundits as a typically cryptic warning that the market might be overvalued.

Irrational Exuberance is also the title of the best selling book by Yale economics professor, Robert Shiller, on the analysis of speculative bubbles in relation and special reference to the stock market and real estate.

We are entering into what Ayn Rand called "Obectivism". Her claims is that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest. This is the key phrase in today's society, rational self-interest. Today we come to grips with irrational self-interests and exuberance.

We are witnessing modern capitalism and its plagues and problems within its structure. We are seeing new paper being printed with the guarantee that it holds value, although is on a valueless based system. We are seeing that professed value become valueless overnight. We are seeing institutions fall, destroyed by their own misguided structures of governance and process. We are seeing our savings and our guarantees being thrown out and given back to those same institutions to which have failed us. We are being told to trust that they will do better this next time around.

This is a perfect moment in our history to come to terms with the fact that the system as we know it is broken, and some say does not work. Some say it is simply a matter of time and this is a sign that that time will come. Rather than bailout a failed system, we should recognize the opportunity that is in front of us. We are blessed with a moment in time to which we can change what is broken. Our society has run out of band-aids and it is time to throw out what does not work.

Perhaps it is time for Atlas to shrug. We all carry the weight of our own world on our shoulders. What if we all simply shrugged, and said, "Well, that doesn't work, let's just start over with a blank slate, but a decent outline."

We could all simply erase our debt, like the banks are doing. We could simply begin again with a new number, since the FICO score system is now failed and no longer can apply.

We have the opportunity to take pieces of what we have created over the past centuries of capitalism, merge it with some concepts of nationalism, and sister that with some principles and practices of socialism, all the while we attempt to make things equal for all as under the auspices of communism...

With so many isms out there, why do we have to stick with one?! I don't understand that...

So, like Atlas, I shrug.

This, the 260th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Obama's first Address to Congress - Full Text

2009-02-24T19:41:00.000-08:00

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:

I've come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.

I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven't been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has - a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don't need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It's the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It's the job you thought you'd retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that's now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.

But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:

We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities - as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.

The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before. The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before.
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In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely - to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that's what I'd like to talk to you about tonight.

It's an agenda that begins with jobs.

As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President's Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government - I don't. Not because I'm not mindful of the massive debt we've inherited - I am. I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships. In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years. That's why I pushed for quick action. And tonight, I am grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law.

Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector - jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.

Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue caring for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make.

Because of this plan, 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut - a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.

Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college. And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm.

I know there are some in this chamber and watching at home who are skeptical of whether this plan will work. I understand that skepticism. Here in Washington, we've all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending. And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right.

That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort - because nobody messes with Joe. I have told each member of my Cabinet as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend. I have appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to ferret out any and all cases of waste and fraud. And we have created a new website called recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where their money is being spent.

So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track. But it is just the first step. Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system.

I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue tonight, because every American should know that it directly affects you and your family's well-being. You should also know that the money you've deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; and you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system. That is not the source of concern.

The concern is that if we do not re-start lending in this country, our recovery will be choked off before it even begins.

You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education; how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll.

But credit has stopped flowing the way it should. Too many bad loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of too many banks. With so much debt and so little confidence, these banks are now fearful of lending out any more money to households, to businesses, or to each other. When there is no lending, families can't afford to buy homes or cars. So businesses are forced to make layoffs. Our economy suffers even more, and credit dries up even further.

That is why this administration is moving swiftly and aggressively to break this destructive cycle, restore confidence, and re-start lending.

We will do so in several ways. First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.

Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages. It's a plan that won't help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values - Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about. In fact, the average family who re-finances today can save nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage.

Third, we will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times. And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.

I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions. But such an approach won't solve the problem. And our goal is to quicken the day when we re-start lending to the American people and American business and end this crisis once and for all.

I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.

Still, this plan will require significant resources from the federal government - and yes, probably more than we've already set aside. But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation. And I refuse to let that happen.

I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American taxpayers. So was I.

So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you - I get it.

But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job - our job - is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can't pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can't get a mortgage.

That's what this is about. It's not about helping banks - it's about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they'll finally buy that car, or open their own business. Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more. Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.

So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves necessary. Because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession. And to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system. It is time to put in place tough, new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation, and punishes short-cuts and abuse.

The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we're taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America's economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren't preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America - as a blueprint for our future.

My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we've inherited - a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

Given these realities, everyone in this chamber - Democrats and Republicans - will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.

In each case, government didn't supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive.

We are a nation that has seen promise amid peril, and claimed opportunity from ordeal. Now we must be that nation again. That is why, even as it cuts back on the programs we don't need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education.

It begins with energy.

We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we've fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.

Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders - and I know you don't either. It is time for America to lead again.

Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history - an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology.

We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.

But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.

As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.

None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy. But this is America. We don't do what's easy. We do what is necessary to move this country forward.

For that same reason, we must also address the crushing cost of health care.

This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas. And it's one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget.

Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold.

Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade. When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for eleven million American children whose parents work full-time. Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives. It will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time. And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control.

This budget builds on these reforms. It includes an historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform - a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American. It's a commitment that's paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it's a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come.

Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that is why I'm bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week.

I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.

The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.

In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity - it is a pre-requisite.

Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. And half of the students who begin college never finish.

This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education - from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.

Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life. We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students. And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children's progress.

But we know that our schools don't just need more resources. They need more reform. That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We'll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools.

It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education. And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country - Senator Edward Kennedy.

These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home.

There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down.

I'm proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities.

Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we're starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them. We'll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we're not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don't use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn't make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you'll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime. In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut - that's right, a tax cut - for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way.

To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans.

Finally, because we're also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules - and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.

We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war.

And with our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda and combat extremism. Because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens half a world away.

As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy. To each and every one of them, and to the families who bear the quiet burden of their absence, Americans are united in sending one message: we honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support. To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines. And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned.

To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend - because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists - because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.

In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun. For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America. We cannot shun the negotiating table, nor ignore the foes or forces that could do us harm. We are instead called to move forward with the sense of confidence and candor that serious times demand.

To seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors, we have appointed an envoy to sustain our effort. To meet the challenges of the 21st century - from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty - we will strengthen old alliances, forge new ones, and use all elements of our national power.

And to respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe. For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world's.

As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us - watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead.

Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times. It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege - one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans. For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world for good or for ill.

I know that it is easy to lose sight of this truth - to become cynical and doubtful; consumed with the petty and the trivial.

But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn't tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community - how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild. "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."

And I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

We are not quitters.

These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.

Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us.

I know that we haven't agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

And if we do - if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, "something worthy to be remembered." Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

This, the 259th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Obama's Home Foreclosure speech (full text)

2009-02-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

I'm here today to talk about a crisis unlike any we've ever known - but one that you know very well here in Mesa, and throughout the Valley. In Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs, the American Dream is being tested by a home mortgage crisis that not only threatens the stability of our economy but also the stability of families and neighborhoods. It is a crisis that strikes at the heart of the middle class: the homes in which we invest our savings, build our lives, raise our families, and plant roots in our communities.

So many Americans have shared with me their personal experiences of this crisis. Many have written letters or emails or shared their stories with me at rallies and along rope lines. Their hardship and heartbreak are a reminder that while this crisis is vast, it begins just one house - and one family - at a time.

It begins with a young family - maybe in Mesa, or Glendale, or Tempe - or just as likely in suburban Las Vegas, Cleveland, or Miami. They save up. They search. They choose a home that feels like the perfect place to start a life. They secure a fixed-rate mortgage at a reasonable rate, make a down payment, and make their mortgage payments each month. They are as responsible as anyone could ask them to be.

But then they learn that acting responsibly often isn't enough to escape this crisis. Perhaps someone loses a job in the latest round of layoffs, one of more than three and a half million jobs lost since this recession began - or maybe a child gets sick, or a spouse has his or her hours cut.

In the past, if you found yourself in a situation like this, you could have sold your home and bought a smaller one with more affordable payments. Or you could have refinanced your home at a lower rate. But today, home values have fallen so sharply that even if you made a large down payment, the current value of your mortgage may still be higher than the current value of your house. So no bank will return your calls, and no sale will return your investment.
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You can't afford to leave and you can't afford to stay. So you cut back on luxuries. Then you cut back on necessities. You spend down your savings to keep up with your payments. Then you open the retirement fund. Then you use the credit cards. And when you've gone through everything you have, and done everything you can, you have no choice but to default on your loan. And so your home joins the nearly six million others in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure across the country, including roughly 150,000 right here in Arizona.

But the foreclosures which are uprooting families and upending lives across America are only one part of this housing crisis. For while there are millions of families who face foreclosure, there are millions more who are in no danger of losing their homes, but who have still seen their dreams endangered. They are families who see "For Sale" signs lining the streets. Who see neighbors leave, and homes standing vacant, and lawns slowly turning brown. They see their own homes - their largest single assets - plummeting in value. One study in Chicago found that a foreclosed home reduces the price of nearby homes by as much as 9 percent. Home prices in cities across the country have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2006; in Phoenix, they've fallen by 43 percent.

Even if your neighborhood hasn't been hit by foreclosures, you're likely feeling the effects of the crisis in other ways. Companies in your community that depend on the housing market - construction companies and home furnishing stores, painters and landscapers - they're cutting back and laying people off. The number of residential construction jobs has fallen by more than a quarter million since mid-2006. As businesses lose revenue and people lose income, the tax base shrinks, which means less money for schools and police and fire departments. And on top of this, the costs to a local government associated with a single foreclosure can be as high as $20,000.

The effects of this crisis have also reverberated across the financial markets. When the housing market collapsed, so did the availability of credit on which our economy depends. As that credit has dried up, it has been harder for families to find affordable loans to purchase a car or pay tuition and harder for businesses to secure the capital they need to expand and create jobs.

In the end, all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. And all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to deepen - a crisis which is unraveling homeownership, the middle class, and the American Dream itself. But if we act boldly and swiftly to arrest this downward spiral, every American will benefit. And that's what I want to talk about today.

The plan I'm announcing focuses on rescuing families who have played by the rules and acted responsibly: by refinancing loans for millions of families in traditional mortgages who are underwater or close to it; by modifying loans for families stuck in sub-prime mortgages they can't afford as a result of skyrocketing interest rates or personal misfortune; and by taking broader steps to keep mortgage rates low so that families can secure loans with affordable monthly payments.

At the same time, this plan must be viewed in a larger context. A lost home often begins with a lost job. Many businesses have laid off workers for a lack of revenue and available capital. Credit has become scarce as the markets have been overwhelmed by the collapse of securities backed by failing mortgages. In the end, the home mortgage crisis, the financial crisis, and this broader economic crisis are interconnected. We cannot successfully address any one of them without addressing them all.

Yesterday, in Denver, I signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which will create or save three and a half million jobs over the next two years - including 70,000 in Arizona - doing the work America needs done. We will also work to stabilize, repair, and reform our financial system to get credit flowing again to families and businesses. And we will pursue the housing plan I am outlining today.

Through this plan, we will help between seven and nine million families restructure or refinance their mortgages so they can avoid foreclosure. And we are not just helping homeowners at risk of falling over the edge, we are preventing their neighbors from being pulled over that edge too - as defaults and foreclosures contribute to sinking home values, failing local businesses, and lost jobs.

But I also want to be very clear about what this plan will not do: It will not rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible by throwing good taxpayer money after bad loans. It will not help speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell. It will not help dishonest lenders who acted irresponsibility, distorting the facts and dismissing the fine print at the expense of buyers who didn't know better. And it will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford. In short, this plan will not save every home.

But it will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild. It will prevent the worst consequences of this crisis from wreaking even greater havoc on the economy. And by bringing down the foreclosure rate, it will help to shore up housing prices for everyone. According to estimates by the Treasury Department, this plan could stop the slide in home prices due to neighboring foreclosures by up to $6,000 per home.

Here is how my plan works:

First, we will make it possible for an estimated four to five million currently ineligible homeowners who receive their mortgages through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance their mortgages at lower rates.

Today, as a result of declining home values, millions of families are "underwater," which means they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. These families are unable to sell their homes, and unable to refinance them. So in the event of a job loss or another emergency, their options are limited.

Right now, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - the institutions that guarantee home loans for millions of middle class families - are generally not permitted to guarantee refinancing for mortgages valued at more than 80 percent of the home's worth. So families who are underwater - or close to being underwater - cannot turn to these lending institutions for help.

My plan changes that by removing this restriction on Fannie and Freddie so that they can refinance mortgages they already own or guarantee. This will allow millions of families stuck with loans at a higher rate to refinance. And the estimated cost to taxpayers would be roughly zero; while Fannie and Freddie would receive less money in payments, this would be balanced out by a reduction in defaults and foreclosures.

I also want to point out that millions of other households could benefit from historically low interest rates if they refinance, though many don't know that this opportunity is available to them - an opportunity that could save families hundreds of dollars each month. And the efforts we are taking to stabilize mortgage markets will help these borrowers to secure more affordable terms, too.

Second, we will create new incentives so that lenders work with borrowers to modify the terms of sub-prime loans at risk of default and foreclosure.

Sub-prime loans - loans with high rates and complex terms that often conceal their costs - make up only 12 percent of all mortgages, but account for roughly half of all foreclosures.

Right now, when families with these mortgages seek to modify a loan to avoid this fate, they often find themselves navigating a maze of rules and regulations but rarely finding answers. Some sub-prime lenders are willing to renegotiate; many aren't. Your ability to restructure your loan depends on where you live, the company that owns or manages your loan, or even the agent who happens to answer the phone on the day you call.

My plan establishes clear guidelines for the entire mortgage industry that will encourage lenders to modify mortgages on primary residences. Any institution that wishes to receive financial assistance from the government, and to modify home mortgages, will have to do so according to these guidelines - which will be in place two weeks from today.

If lenders and homebuyers work together, and the lender agrees to offer rates that the borrower can afford, we'll make up part of the gap between what the old payments were and what the new payments will be. And under this plan, lenders who participate will be required to reduce those payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income. This will enable as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.

So this part of the plan will require both buyers and lenders to step up and do their part. Lenders will need to lower interest rates and share in the costs of reduced monthly payments in order to prevent another wave of foreclosures. Borrowers will be required to make payments on time in return for this opportunity to reduce those payments.

I also want to be clear that there will be a cost associated with this plan. But by making these investments in foreclosure-prevention today, we will save ourselves the costs of foreclosure tomorrow - costs borne not just by families with troubled loans, but by their neighbors and communities and by our economy as a whole. Given the magnitude of these costs, it is a price well worth paying.

Third, we will take major steps to keep mortgage rates low for millions of middle class families looking to secure new mortgages.

Today, most new home loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which guarantee loans and set standards to keep mortgage rates low and to keep mortgage financing available and predictable for middle class families. This function is profoundly important, especially now as we grapple with a crisis that would only worsen if we were to allow further disruptions in our mortgage markets.

Therefore, using the funds already approved by Congress for this purpose, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will continue to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities so that there is stability and liquidity in the marketplace. Through its existing authority Treasury will provide up to $200 billion in capital to ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can continue to stabilize markets and hold mortgage rates down.

We're also going to work with Fannie and Freddie on other strategies to bolster the mortgage markets, like working with state housing finance agencies to increase their liquidity. And as we seek to ensure that these institutions continue to perform what is a vital function on behalf of middle class families, we also need to maintain transparency and strong oversight so that they do so in responsible and effective ways.

Fourth, we will pursue a wide range of reforms designed to help families stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure.

My administration will continue to support reforming our bankruptcy rules so that we allow judges to reduce home mortgages on primary residences to their fair market value - as long as borrowers pay their debts under a court-ordered plan. That's the rule for investors who own two, three, and four homes. It should be the rule for ordinary homeowners too, as an alternative to foreclosure.

In addition, as part of the recovery plan I signed into law yesterday, we are going to award $2 billion in competitive grants to communities that are bringing together stakeholders and testing new and innovative ways to prevent foreclosures. Communities have shown a lot of initiative, taking responsibility for this crisis when many others have not. Supporting these neighborhood efforts is exactly what we should be doing.

Taken together, the provisions of this plan will help us end this crisis and preserve for millions of families their stake in the American Dream. But we must also acknowledge the limits of this plan.

Our housing crisis was born of eroding home values, but also of the erosion of our common values. It was brought about by big banks that traded in risky mortgages in return for profits that were literally too good to be true; by lenders who knowingly took advantage of homebuyers; by homebuyers who knowingly borrowed too much from lenders; by speculators who gambled on rising prices; and by leaders in our nation's capital who failed to act amidst a deepening crisis.

So solving this crisis will require more than resources - it will require all of us to take responsibility. Government must take responsibility for setting rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced. Banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that got us into this crisis in the first place. Individuals must take responsibility for their own actions. And all of us must learn to live within our means again.

These are the values that have defined this nation. These are values that have given substance to our faith in the American Dream. And these are the values that we must restore now at this defining moment.

It will not be easy. But if we move forward with purpose and resolve - with a deepened appreciation for how fundamental the American Dream is and how fragile it can be when we fail in our collective responsibilities - then I am confident we will overcome this crisis and once again secure that dream for ourselves and for generations to come.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God bless America.

This, the 258th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs

Can we regulate Greed? Part One...

2009-02-18T06:29:00.000-08:00

I believe that we are reaching the bottom of this real estate downturn. I say this due to the fact that of the news of housing starts have reached their lowest level ever since records of this have been kept beginning in 1959. We have reached the bottom, but is it the final bottom?

With Obama now looking to mend the pain of the mortgage crisis it may begin to heal the lending portion of the real estate business. With the fact that NO ONE has been able to get a mortgage at this time, despite the billions that we have given banks, they continue to NOT lend. Once people are able to borrow again they will get back to wanting to own a home, or borrow for their businesses.

The housing boom also created a huge inventory of new homes. When the lending shut down the amount of homes on the market dramatically began to increase due to no sales. With the additional foreclosure market adding to the inventory it simply added more inventory on top of inventory. This halted the new build construction industry nearly overnight.

As the construction market nearly stopped completely one of the largest industries began seeing high unemployment and reducing wages through more competition.

Usually, when new housing slows, the remodel business picks up. This didn't happen due to the fact that banks shut down most people's HELOC (Home Equity Lines of Credit) hereby nearly stopping the residential construction business overnight. As banks shut down lending, business couldn't get money either, thereby shutting down the commercial tenant improvement business as well.

I believe that Obama must get some rules to the financial industry to distribute the bailout money. We have reached a point in which the government, which is deeply entrenched in the financial industry with money at this time, must also be deeply entrenched in how it orchestrates these funds. We have reached a point of social finance, but the legislators are refusing to accept this and go there fully. Too late, my friends. The money has exchanged hands and it is now time for the rules of the game to be set. If we don't find ourselves accepting a socialistic approach to finance with full disclosure and accountability Wall Street will find new avenues to bleed the system and once again stifle the necessary growth for the country.

Greed must become regulated in order for this crisis to end.

This, the 257th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!

(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs