Oh, in other news of the Obama-engineered doomsday economy, China and Russia have both been calling for a new ‘world’ currency to replace the American dollar. Geithner recently said the following about the Chinese suggestion of a new currency:

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Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is “open” to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China’s central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and “evolutionary.”

“I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue,” Geithner said, saying that however his interpretation of the proposal was to increase the use of International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights — shares in the body held by its members — not creating a new currency in the literal sense. The continued use of the dollar as a reserve currency, he added, “depends..on how effective we are in the United States…at getting our fiscal system back to the point where people judge it as sustainable over time.”

It should be noted that when you’re the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury that you need to be careful what you say. Markets have tumbled since Geithner put his foot in his mouth. White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee had an exchange with Wolf Blitzer recently, as reported by ‘The Weekly Standard’:

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BLITZER: The Chinese suggesting today, this dollar, U.S. dollar, should be replaced as international currency, because they are beginning to have concerns that you are printing, the U.S. government is simply printing too many of these dollars and will lose its value as an international currency.

What’s your reaction?

GOOLSBEE: It strikes me as probably unlikely.

Different people have in the past argued for world currencies or new — new currencies before. I believe the U.S. at this point is the safest place to invest in the world. And it’s likely to remain that the dollar is a critical currency in the years ahead.

BLITZER: So, you — you don’t like some new international currency that some Chinese are proposing?

GOOLSBEE: Well, look…

BLITZER: I assume that’s right, right?

GOOLSBEE: I haven’t seen the details of what they are proposing.

I mean, the dollar is the dollar. If people don’t want to buy it, they don’t buy it. But I think you have seen sort of a flight to the dollar in — in times of trouble.

Meanwhile, Obama himself has flatly rejected a new ‘world’ currency. So what’s going on? Is this just more bumbling from the Obamatons, or are we seeing a trial balloon being floated?

I’d like to dedicate a song to Krog by the BeeGees.

“Its just your jive talkin
Youre telling me lies, yeah
Jive talkin
You wear a disguise
Jive talkin
So misunderstood, yeah
Jive talkin
You really no good”

And yet, the People won’t rise up. Why? A lot of the stuff Obama really wants to do is on the down low. But he will try to do them because he is a smooth-jive-talker who has people duped on his real agenda. This bank thing is only the beginning.

Between you and me, Javen, I think once Obama starts ‘jive-talking’ then people really will rise up in revolution. That’ll be the last straw.

’smooth-jive-talker’ … LOL! Thank you Javen, that brightened my day considerably.

As far as ‘We the People’ having elected Che Barack, it’s funny you point that out, because that’s his point as well. When asked if they felt that they had a mandate from the people to radically expand the scope of government, ramp up the deficit and muck up the economy, their reply was:

“We won.”

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President Barack Obama’s honeymoon period seems to have ended quickly. That’s because Mr. Obama doesn’t grasp the essentials of presidential leadership. Rather than making a compelling case for his economic policies, he has resorted to curt rebuffs, such as telling House Republican whip Eric Cantor, “I won.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the same thing the same day: “We won the election; we wrote the [stimulus] bill.” This is the trope of a party that has lost its ability to make an argument.

True dat!

And yet, the People won’t rise up. Why? A lot of the stuff Obama really wants to do is on the down low. But he will try to do them because he is a smooth-jive-talker who has people duped on his real agenda. This bank thing is only the beginning.

A lot of people seem to like Rorschach that I’ve spoken with. I think I can see why, he has an iron-handed way of dealing justice that I think we can all find agreeable.

“Men go to jail. Dogs get put down.”

Loved that line. It seems to me that Rorschach represented those of us who have and use our inner sense to gauge right and wrong. Rorschach is judge, jury and executioner all in one — he knows what’s right and he does what is necessary. Of course, I don’t know how well Rorschach would perform under a truly ambiguous moral situation. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be morally ambiguous to Rorschach, but still — you’ve got to love a movie that makes you think.

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His character archetype definitely seemed to be more like Spawn, whereas his former partner (his name’s escaping me now) seemed more like a mixture between Superman and Batman. He had an underground lair, gadgets, and his personality seemed more calm and fair; even his alter-ego was a lot like Clark Kent.

Agreed. NiteOwl II was the more ‘conventional’ superhero, with all the attendant moral hand-wringing. For example, NiteOwl says to Rorschach (after refusing to help him find the mask killer), “What happened to the good ol’ days, Rorschach?” To which Rorschach quickly replies, “You quit.” I may have said it before, but, I think people admire Rorschach for his purity. He’s insane, sure, but he knows what he’s about.

NiteOwl II represents the ‘everyman’ just trying to cope with all this madness. He seems more like an observer than an actor.

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I think the character that intrigued me most was Dr. Manhattan.

I found him interesting also, but my girlfriend positively hated him. I’m still trying to determine why she did, exactly.

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The background philosophies concerning human nature seemed ambiguous to me. At first they seemed almost Godless, like he saw life’s function as a Buddhist’s with a hard naturalist spin to it. Later, then, he spoke of life as a miracle, and used some language I might hear from an ardent theist.

I think Dr. Manhattan represented pure intellect, pure perspective, pure rationality, and consequently he was the least human of the heroes. He was able to see humanity with such rational distance that he could say, “The existence of life in the universe is overrated.” (paraphrased) Then at the end he realizes that there is a kind of miracle in life. Sure, he murders someone in cold blood moments later, but hey, there’s hope for atheists apparently!

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Of course, I haven’t read the novel. It’s one of the many my friend says, “YOU’VE GOT TO READ IT!” but never get around to it. I assume it’s more fleshed out there. :\

Every time I pass it in a bookstore I read a bit more, LOL!

1. There is great precedent in America for limiting the number of immigrants by their backgrounds, skills and/or origins. In the past America had a quota of immigrants they would allow into the country. For example, they would limit the number of Italian immigrants to 150,000 or some such number. I believe at one point the American goverment declared a moratorium on new Irish immigrants, on the simple basis that there were already more Irish in NYC than in Ireland, and that we didn’t need any more unskilled laborers.

Now, I’m of Irish stock, and this doesn’t bother me whatsoever.

Obviously if you were an Irish rocket scientist, then yeah, they would likely make an exception, as they should. It’s perfectly normal and rational for immigration policy to serve the best interests of the nation. Part of the reason why they limited the numbers of immigrants back then is that they had to courage to defend their own culture. They took in as many immigrants as they believe could be ‘acculturated’ to their new host culture. We need to continue to allow Muslims to come into Western countries, but it should be controlled and monitored. I know a few Muslims from Africa and they’re nothing like the Muslims from the Middle East. I would be willing to name a few countries as ‘problem’ nations and not allowing immigrants from that country, or of a particular ’sect’ of Islam.

And if they don’t like it, tough crap. There’s always Sweden!

Heck in most other countries you can’t even get in unless you have loads of money in a bank and/or have a skill that the host country would prefer.

Go look at the immigration standards for moving to Australia or New Zealand, Sam, and you’ll be shocked at the list of prerequisites.

2. We need to stop illegal immigration in America, period. If that means building a wall, a moat, or an army of T-1000’s to patrol the southern border turning illegal Mexican bordercrossers into a pile of cinders with a plasma rifle, then fine. It’s got to stop.

Instead, we have racial demagoguery turning this into claims of xenophobia. I love immigrants, I’m the grandchild of immigrants. All Americans, real Americans, LOVE IMMIGRANTS…. but they also believe in the rule of law. We have borders for a reason.

“Men go to jail. Dogs get put down.”

His character archetype definitely seemed to be more like Spawn, whereas his former partner (his name’s escaping me now) seemed more like a mixture between Superman and Batman. He had an underground lair, gadgets, and his personality seemed more calm and fair; even his alter-ego was a lot like Clark Kent.

I think the character that intrigued me most was Dr. Manhattan. The background philosophies concerning human nature seemed ambiguous to me. At first they seemed almost Godless, like he saw life’s function as a Buddhist’s with a hard naturalist spin to it. Later, then, he spoke of life as a miracle, and used some language I might hear from an ardent theist.

Of course, I haven’t read the novel. It’s one of the many my friend says, “YOU’VE GOT TO READ IT!” but never get around to it. I assume it’s more fleshed out there. :\

barbaric ‘analog’ mouth? lol

Take a picture of those my friend, before they’re phased out.

I can do more things with my finger than a cell phone. I can hale a cab, point and say”Look a car wreck!” you can’t whistle at a nice looking woman with your cell phone!

While that cell phone dies in tunnels or it’s batteries go dead. I can still get on my CB radio, by god and ask about the smokies ahead at mile marker 201. Can your cell phone do that? no!

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I’m curious to know how you feel about St. Barack’s progress so far.

Well I still lean fiscally conservative, so naturally I distrust the stimulus Smoke and Mirrors game being played.

Consider that the porkulus bill was passed without anyone being able to claim to have read it in its entirety, Marbleman. To me, that’s scary.

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But that’s part of the problem - most people feel intimidated by the sheer immensity of the crisis. I sympathize - economics was never my strong point either.

I think you’ve got the sentiment of the country right, but keep in mind that St. Barack & Co. very clearly intimidated people. The President himself made the statement that if the porkulus bill was not passed immediately (without being read) that ‘America may never recover.’ That’s self-serving, that’s dishonest, that’s downright evil in my mind. The President of the United States should not be ramming a bill through Congress by terrifying people.

Second, I would say that you’re correct that for most American economics is not their ’strong suit’. But we’re not talking about very complex issues here — we’re talking about simple supply and demand, about contracts, basic ‘Wealth of Nations’ economics. It has always astounded me how many people benefit from the free market but how few really understand it. I suppose the same could be said about cellphones, electricity, etc.

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But unfortunately, the public listens to whoever is loud and confident, while deliberation is seen as a luxury we can no longer afford.

We keep hearing: “Better do something than nothing!!!” Well, that assumption . . . that assumption is not serving us well, in politics or any other area of life, for that matter.

I wish I could be more positive right now, but I really think we’ve got a bumbling socialist fool for a president. He’s a rock star, not a president. Honestly, if you asked me to draft up a way to economically ruin the country, to do the maximum amount of damage possible, it would look a lot like what St. Barack is doing right now: keep changing the rules of business, inject capital into businesses that the market would allow to die, make economic decisions on the basis of populist politics, drive the country deeper into debt, demonize the business community with populist rhetoric, and finally, debase the dollar.

Obama is doing all of these things Marbleman.
He’s the worst president we’ve ever had.