When I got home from work last night my Ukranian housekeeper Olga was waiting for me,
I was pleasantly surprised, she normally leaves before I get back.
She's a cracking looking bird, tall, slim, blonde, big knockers, pert bum.. the works. Walking viagra.
Aye Aye! Whats up here then.. thinks I.
Well, she stood there in the hall, all big eyes and heaving bosoms.
Thats why I hired her in the first place. You don't want a scrubber doing your scrubbing do you?
So there I was, gazing at this vision of loveliness, as she looked me up and down.
She came up to me ... right up to me.
Close as a crab on a pubic hair.
I could smell her musky loveliness.
A bit like Chanel.
The English Channel.
I was so excited I could have hung a towel off it!
Then ever so slowly she whispered in my ear
"Mr Paul, would you like to take my dress off?
"Too right" says I
Then she says
"would you like to take my bra off?"
She bent down to pick it up and her cleavage was fantastic. Pert, plump, like to bald men dancing cheek to cheek.
Anyhow, she comes close.
Really close and looks at me with those big blue eyes.
Well I can tell you I was ready. Soldiers on parade and all that.
Then she rubs my hips and gently scratches my back and whispers
"would you like to take my kickers off?"
Well, what do you think?
Quick as a flash the drawers are on the floor and all is revealed.
But women being women, cantankerous lot, she turns on her heels, picks up the clothes and storms out of the flat!
The last thing she said to me.. bloody cheek.. was
"AND DON"T LET ME CATCH YOU WEARING THEM AGAIN!"
Although we typically post on Team Vox to let you know about things that are going on with Vox (to, uh, state the obvious), once in a while, we like to let you know about other cool things that are happening around the blogosphere. And we think the idea of four hilarious mommy bloggers traveling across the U.S. on their way to the BlogHer '08 conference - all the while blogging and video blogging the journey - is one trip you will not want to miss.
Four adventurous bloggers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group were selected to participate in the Summer Road Trip '08 and blog about their travels, hotel stays, media appearances, time away from their families, and life on the road. Six Apart helped them partner up with General Motors, who provided the blogging mommies with a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV to help make their journey comfy, safe, and a little more green.
In case you're not familiar with them, SV Moms is a group of over 200 bloggers who showcase the ups, downs, outrages, struggles, victories, and everyday humor of motherhood. There are currently nine regional and demographically tailored sites that give mothers from D.C., New Jersey, the Deep South, Rocky Mountains, L.A., and Silicon Valley a powerful voice and sense of camaraderie across the country. Whether you're a mother, a child, or just a person who enjoys a good blog, you'll really love reading the words of these amazing women.
The moms buckled into their Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV on July 11th and even got an encouraging message from Katie Couric to kick things off! They are currently somewhere in the middle of America making their way to San Francisco where they'll attend an SV Moms Group Party, as well as BlogHer '08.
You do not want to miss these entertaining and irreverent bloggers -- or their spontaneous contest giveaways! -- as they blog from the road. Experience the journey at MomRoadTrip.com.
And let us know about your summer road trip - or plane/boat/bus trip - in the comments! (I like to live vicariously.)
The American Empire is crumbling. Europe will rise again.
Let me say that again. The American Empire is crumbling.
Before you think I have lost my mind let me re-assure you that I am not going to start into a long rant about the despots and the injustice of American hegemony. Why would I?
Mostly the American influence on the world has been benign. In fact I would say that it has been a positive boon for and we must never forget that fact, but the stark reality is that like all good things it must come to an end and we are watching the demise of the empire that never thinks.
The basic facts are these:
Empires are built on a combination of fear and greed
Each goes through a stage of expansion, consolidation, over reach and collapse
The ability to engage and manage an empire depends ultimately on the aquiescence of the subject peoples.
There will be mistakes made in every empire that are genocidal in nature but ultimately of little consequence to the stability and longevity of the regime.
Changes in leadership can distort and and destroy the outer fringes much more rapidly than they can the centre.
The end of Empire is not usually swift and calamitous for the centre but it can cause huge destruction and disruption for the periphery.
All right so now that is laid out let me explain why I say what I say.
I can tell you how if you like, but the reason why is so complex that historians will debate about if for ten thousand years. I can tell you with certainty that not one of us has a clue about what makes empires ebb and flow. At least not in our lifetimes. We are too close and it is too complex but we can see how they fold in and consume themselves.
It is simple really. America has lost the faith of its closest allies and must resort to bullying and coersion to achieve its ends.
The most common, and dangerous chatter is about how America is root of all evil. Almost everyone outside the states loves to watch as the Pentagon and White House wriggle and squirm as they try to extract some degree of good PR from each and every change on the international landscape. Even Britain, stalwart ally of the USA since the day she allowed them independence by protecting their shipping in the times of slavery, has a majority that loves to smirk as America confidence is picked apart by a paranoid administration.
I know there is a media fixation with conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran and N Korea but they are really small elements in the mix. The major sore that has never, and will never, be tackled is Israel. Until they acknowledge the fact that using Israel as a permanent battle cruiser in heart of Muslim Arabia is a flawed policy the American Empire can never achieve a period of equilibrium.
But let's be honest here, there has never been a nation that engaged in any altruistic endeavours, once again with the exception of the British Empire in the late 1800's.
Take aside the rights and wrongs of the Israeli issue, of which there are many, and consider this:
Any occupation - no matter if it is justified in ancient texts or otherwise - will cause resentment from the indigenous populous. Add to that the ancient tribal mindset and the very modern obsession with oil and you have a permanently smouldering powder keg that will never be extingushed. If you then add in an implacable religious opposition and the continued support of despotic regimes like the Al Sauds and you have managed to create a permanent enemy who need never have been.
That is simply bad management. A real empire would never do that. It is elementary and foolish in the extreme. But then America has been deluding itself for a long time and claims to have no Imperial ambitions. What horseshit. Of course they have! If they didn't why would the be worried? No empire means no enemies and no enemies means no worries. Don't believe me? Ask the Swiss.
The American Empire a Jungian dream (pun intended). A entire nation exhibit classic symptoms of denial.
American citizens would be horrified if they thought that they were Imperial storm troopers but then they are horrified if someone points out that their beloved TV evangelists as charlatans and crooks. You see the problem is that American citizens are from all parts of the world and none. They are refugees - the poor the tired, the huddles masses and as a result they feel no allegiance or necessity to engage with anyone outside of their own homes. They have fled from the rest of us and who can blame them when they ignore us?
In standard American process, the need for foreign interaction is purely to benefit the dim witted citizens of America and the political elites on the coast. You simply do not see the USA engaged in altrusim. Nor should you. They are powerful, greedy and in command. That is what empire is about and yet America pretends otherwise. That is the way it has always been and pretending to be "the worlds policeman" is simply idiotic.
In previous Empires, successful and long lasting ones that is, there has always been a degree of engagement with the occupied countries by the regular citizens of the ruling power. Adopt the ways of the locals, adapt, go native and learn to manipulate the means for your own ends. If you impose a foreign ideology as well as a foreign burocrasy you are inviting disaster. Edmocrasy is not the answer and why for fucks sake anyone thinks it is is beyond me. You simply can't bring an entire culture to change overnight. Not even the Romans manged that.
On the other hand without engagement at some levels you will be certain of failure as well. Consider Russia and Belgium.
Both had overseas possessions which they lost in rapid order because they were too busy grandstanding to make any impression on the locals. Belgium fucked it up when Leopold massacred half of Africa and Russia is still trying to escape from a criminal take over in the mid 1990's. Neither will be remembered fondly and neither will gain in the long term from their policies in the past and I am afraid that the USA is similarly handicapped.
Imposing "democrasy" on foreign lands in order to obtain oil is disingenuous and pointless. Calling your enemies "rogue states" is ascenine to the point of idiocy and pretending that you can have it all and take no responsibility is called being a child, not a president.
This is why I say the dollar is over as the international currency.
It happened to the pound and it will surely happen again in the next few years.
America can't pay its bills. It can't maintain its military expenditure and wanton lifestyle. It has run out of friends as surely as it is running out of oil and the power balance is shifting in seismic jolts towards the east.
By contrast the Eastern power - Japan - has no inclination to join the world in any meaningful way and as such is neutered. China is corrupt, unbalanced and has little interest in taking responsibility for world markets yet. India is simply too poor so that leaves on place to put your money. One stable and reliable, multi-national, fundamentally politically neutral currency with ample resources and expertise to surplant the Fed.
That leaves the Euro.
When oil hits $200 a barrel and the interest rates in the US are almost zero and most of all when there is no confidence in the dollar because another plane hits another tower somewhere you will see the Euro smash its way through the barricades and the era of American dominance will be over.
Have a nice day, y'all.
Can't a Muslim book a one-way flight these days without someone having to call their supervisor?
-Little Mosque On The Prairie
A new day has dawned and finally the storm has passed by. There are patches of blue sky where once there were clouds.
Standing in the middle of the green sward the batsman is resilient. On his breast are three lions and in his mind there is only one target, the sumptuous tangible achievement of a maiden double century. It is a moment of divine anticipation where the crowd watches, breathless and the bowler and fielders survey the field of battle with contempt and resignation. It must inevitably be the moment when the batsman achieves his reward and he is rewarded with rapturous applause. 200 not out at the home of the game, Lords. Where the stands are filled by striped and aged tigers, all prowling the corridors and long rooms with rapt attention. Inscription of the name "Bell" on the board of champions beckons. It is a moment of such tangible sweetness that only the acrid sweat of the bowler adds any tartness to the proceedings.
It is not to be.
The bowler runs in. Perspiration drips from his nose and you can see his eyes stinging from the salt. Then the gutteral grunt as the ball leaves his hand, seam spinning in timeless orbit. The batsmans face creases as he follow the trajectory, his bat raised high comes to meet the sphere and with the movement comes nerves. A minute, infinitesimally small loss of concentration as the vision of eternal greatness shimmers on the surface of the pitch before it is gone. So fast that even the batter does not realise what his fervent wish has conjoured.
The wrist turn upwards and his sublime timing is awry, the shot becomes a tepid waft along the line of the ball and as slowly as the dream was constructed a deft right hand reaches out and catches it, mid-flight. The collective sob from the expectant observers will never be heard. Not one had anticipated this and not one was concious that the sound they made is that of a moment of joy being snuffed out. The crowd made the sound that accompanies death.
In the seconds after the only noise is that of the bowler. Even his delight at his accomplishment is muted, for who can truly deny that a miracle is something to be denigrated. In victory there is sorrow.
The batsman is caught and bowled for 199.
That will be the memory now for many. The memory of almost making it. Of almost being a legend. Of being one of the greatest.
But with hindsight was it really like that? Perhaps the number is 1 shy of immortality. Perhaps 199 is not enough to warrant inscription on the board and the adulation of generations of cricket players. Perhaps 199 will not be remembered by many in the long years afterwards. But in its own way perhaps 199 is a greater achievement than anything else. It is a unique score. Breathtaking and resolute. It is only because we measure in tens that 200 has any significance.
Will we look back and see it as failure or will we look back and see it for what it was. Astounding.
Perhaps it is time we looked at our own measure. Perhaps we should stop wondering about the run that never was and consider the 199 that was recorded.
Perhaps there is a lesson there for us as our worlds are caught and bowled at 199 and we wonder "what if". As banks collapse and governments fall, our children demonised and shallowness is rewarded. As idiocy and illiteracy is smiled up and intellectual achievement is denigrated and all the rules we thought were intractible are remade we wonder "what if" when wwe should be wondering about what is and what will be.
Perhaps we should take the applause and retire to the dressing rooms to consider what we will do the next time we are able to bat in front of a full house. We should use this time, whilst the storms rage overhead to consider what we will do when the rains have passed.
There are lessons in sport that we rarely examine. There are qualities in ourselves that we rarely acknowledge.
Perhaps it is time we did.
As you may have guessed I have a lot to say about what is happening to all of us thanks to the idiots who run America these days. From Wall St to Main St it seems that dumbing down has its results and the more we watch Fox the less we understand.
Anyway, as a gentle re-emergence from the purdah I have recently put myself in I thought I would give you a few lessons from financial history with the hope that you will be able to determine what the fuck is happening out there.
The first lesson however is from the most backward county I have ever visited - Papua New Guinea. The title is pidgin for "Food for though". Think on my friends.
Analysis
By Steve Schifferes
Economics reporter, BBC News
|
The current market jitters are centred on disturbances in the world's credit markets. Worries about the viability of sub-prime mortgage lending have spread around the financial system, and the central banks have been forced to pump in billions of dollars to oil the wheels of lending.
But what happened in previous financial crises, and what are the lessons for today?
There have been a growing number of financial crises in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Among the key lessons of previous major financial crises are:
- Globalisation has increased the frequency and spread of financial crises, but not necessarily their severity
- Early intervention by central banks is more effective in limiting their spread than later moves
- It is difficult to tell at the time whether a financial crisis will have broader economic consequences
- Regulators often cannot keep up with the pace of financial innovation that may trigger a crisis.
During the late 1990s, stock markets became beguiled by the rise of internet companies such as Amazon and AOL, which seemed to be ushering in a new era for the economy.
When AOL's Steve Case took over Time Warner, the dot.com boom peaked
|
Their shares soared when they listed on the Nasdaq stock market, despite that fact that few of the firms actually made a profit.
The boom peaked when internet service provider AOL bought traditional media company Time Warner for nearly $200bn in January 2000.
But in March 2000, the bubble burst, and the technology-weighted Nasdaq index fell by 78% by October 2002.
The crash had wider repercussions, with business investment falling and the US economy slowing in the following year, a process exacerbated by the 9/11 attacks, which led to the temporary closure of the financial markets.
But the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, cut interest rates throughout 2001, gradually lowering rates from 6.25% to 1% to stimulate economic growth.
The collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Market (LTCM) occurred during the final stage of the world financial crisis that began in Asia in 1997 and spread to Russia and Brazil in 1998.
LTCM was a hedge fund set up by Nobel Prize winners Myron Scholes and Robert Merton to trade bonds. The professors believed that in the long run, the interest rates on different government bonds would converge, and the hedge fund traded on the small differences in the rates.
John Meriwether, a Wall Street trader, headed LTCM
|
LTCM, which had borrowed a lot of money from other companies, stood to lose billions of dollars - and in order to liquidate its positions it would have to sell Treasury bonds, plunging the US credit markets into turmoil and forcing up interest rates.
So the Fed decided that a rescue was needed. It called together the leading US banks, many of whom had invested in LTCM, and persuaded them to put in $3.65bn to save the firm from imminent collapse.
The Fed itself made an emergency rate cut in October 1998 and markets soon returned to stability. LTCM itself was liquidated in 2000.
US stock markets suffered their largest peacetime one-day fall yet on 19 October 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average index of shares in leading US companies dropped 22% and European and Japanese markets followed suit.
Program trading on the New York stock market worsened the crisis
|
There were also worries about the value of the US dollar, which had been declining on international markets.
These fears grew when Germany raised a key interest rate, boosting the value of its currency.
Newly-introduced computerised trading systems exacerbated the stock market declines, as sell orders were executed automatically.
Concerns that major banks might go bust led the Fed and other major central banks to lower interest rates sharply.
"Circuit-breakers" were also introduced to limit program trading and allow the authorities to suspend all trades for short periods.
The crash seemed to have little direct economic effect and stock markets soon recovered. But the lower interest rates, especially in the UK, may have contributed to the housing market bubble of 1988-89 and to the pressures on the pound sterling which led to the devaluation of 1992.
The crash also showed that global stock markets were now closely linked, and changes in economic policy in one country could affect markets around the world. Laws on insider trading were also tightened up in the US and UK.
US Savings and Loans institutions were local banks which made home loans and took deposits from retail investors, similar to building societies in the UK.
Under financial deregulation in the 1980s, they were allowed to engage in more complex, and often unwise, financial transactions, competing with the big commercial banks.
By 1985, many of these institutions were all but bankrupt, and a run began on S&L institutions in Ohio and Maryland.
The US government insured many of the individual deposits in the S&Ls, and therefore had a big financial liability when they collapsed.
It set up the Resolution Trust Company to take over and sell any S&L assets that it could, including repossessed homes, taking over the bankrupt institutions.
The cost of the bail-out eventually totalled about $150bn.
However, the crisis probably strengthened the bigger banks by weeding out their weaker rivals, and laid the groundwork for the wave of mergers and consolidations in the retail banking sector in the 1990s.
The Wall Street crash of 1929, "Black Thursday," was an event that sent the US and indeed the global economy into a tailspin, contributing to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Franklin Roosevelt became US President after the crash
|
Despite efforts by the stock market authorities to stabilise the market, stocks fell by another 11% the following Tuesday, 29 October.
By the time the market had reached bottom in 1932, 90% had been wiped off the value of shares. It took 25 years before the Dow Jones industrial average recovered to its 1929 level.
The effect on the real economy was severe, as widespread share ownership meant that the losses were felt by many middle-class consumers.
They cut their purchases of big consumer goods such as cars and homes, while businesses postponed investment and closed factories.
By 1932, the US economy had declined by half, and one-third of the workforce was unemployed.
The whole US financial system also went into meltdown, with a shutdown of the entire banking system in March 1933 by the time the new President, Franklin Roosevelt took office and launched the New Deal.
Many economists on both left and right have criticised the response of the authorities as inadequate.
The US central bank actually raised interest rates to protect the value of the dollar and preserve the gold standard, while the US government raised tariffs and ran a budget surplus.
New Deal measures alleviated some of the worst problems of the Depression, but the US economy did not fully recover until World War II, when massive military spending eliminated unemployment and boosted growth.
The New Deal also introduced extensive regulation of financial markets and the banking system through the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the separation of commercial and retail banking through the Glass-Steagall Act.
The failure of a key London bank in 1866 led to a key change in the role of central banks in managing financial crises.
The Bank of England was at the centre of the world financial system
|
Overend and Gurney was a discount bank which provided money for commercial and retail banks in London, the world's financial centre. When it declared bankruptcy in May 1866, many smaller banks were unable to get funds and went under, even though they were otherwise solvent.
As a result, reformers like Walter Bagehot advocated a new role for the Bank of England as the "lender of last resort" to provide liquidity (cash) to the financial system during crises, in order to prevent a failure of one bank spilling over and affect all the others ("systemic failure").
The new doctrine was implemented in the Barings Crisis in 1890, when losses by a leading UK bank, Barings, made on its investments in Argentina, were covered by the Bank of England to prevent a systemic collapse of UK banking.
Secret negotiations by the Bank and London financiers led to the creation of an £18m rescue fund in November 1890, before the extent of Barings' losses became publicly known.
The bankers also organised a committee to renegotiate the outstanding debts owed by Argentina, but a banking crisis engulfed the country and foreign lending to Argentina dried up for a decade.
Do you live in or around Cincinnati, Ohio? If so, you're in luck because Scott and the Queen City Voxers Group have organized a Vox user meetup!
WHERE: Ault Park Playground. 3600 Observatory Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208. "We'll look for each other at the playground marked by the red X below. If it's raining, head for the shelter to the north of the [red] X."
To RSVP (which is not essential, but is appreciated), reply to Scott's announcement or send him a private message. All Voxers, as well as their friends and family, are welcome to attend.
If you do attend the meetup, have a great time and please take lots of pictures and send them to me so I can post them in Team Vox for everyone to see!
Thank you so much to Scott for organizing this meetup. Wish I could be there!
Congratulations to the transgender man who gave birth to a baby girl.
3rd JULY 2008, No.256
QUARTET
THE ORB - Mother Nature
+
caramel - ｳｯｰｳｯｰｳﾏｳﾏ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
Katerine - Je suis fete
| The Road Trip of Your Life |
 Your life is quite hectic. You try to slow down when you can, but it's not easy! You're willing to take a few risks in life. You may not take the road no one travels, but you're happy to take the road less traveled. You are able to find a fairly healthy balance between work and play. You work when you need to, but you never let yourself burn out. In another life, you could have been a great artist. You trust your creative instincts enough to let them lead you. |
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