From fenton comes this tidbit.

SO tired. Ran myself ragged yesterday. Up too early, on too many buses, then kendo, then going out with Dave and the senpai and the new Sensei.
(Oh, it was good, it was good.)

But now I'm absolutely exhausted, even though I slept until almost one.


Just hanging 'round Dave's while he's at work--waiting for him to get home in an hour or so, pack up some stuff and be off to Baltimore. Figured I'd just steal his internet and then see him off.
(*is a mooch*)

This weekend is going to be interesting. I might sit and model for a while, I might go bar-hopping(I don't drink but the company ain't bad), I might go to a party, I might do kendo tomorrow morning or I might not.

I have called the IRS eight times today. Because I moved I didn't get my stimulus check, and it got bounced back to them. I could really use it for rent, though, so I've been calling and calling in the attempt to get my address changed. What keeps happening is, I get through the interminable amount of push-this-button, key-in-that-code, only to have the sweet-voiced computer woman say that there are too many people already on the line and hang up on me.
Sigh.

Facts:

1) John McCain is 71 years old. His campaign is trying hard to avoid using any recent photos of him to hide this fact from the public. Here are some current photos of him. He has flip-flopped on a number of key issues including the use of torture on prisoners (which he now supports). He is staunchly pro-Iraq war (which alienates many moderates) and uncomfortably liberal by conservative standards. (One said to me, "I'd be more comfortable with McCain if he ran as a Democrat.") He is traveling the country looking not for votes, but for money, and has been accused of staging town hall meetings.

2) Barack Obama is not a Muslim, nor was he sworn in with a Koran. He has consistently opposed the Iraq War. He has served in Congress but not with the records of McCain and Clinton. His campaign and platform have much in common with Kennedy -- as may his fate. Obama has raised over twice as much money as McCain.

3) Hillary Clinton served on WalMart's board and is an experienced corporate attorney (read: shill for the nation's true power). This is just one of many ways that she is a chip off the old Democratic neo-corporate block. Machine politician all the way, baby.

4) Ron Paul is still in the race for President. The Nevada Republican Party had to cancel their state convention to endorse McCain and reschedule because so many Republican Ron Paul supporters showed up to heckle. The media has consistently disregarded Ron Paul, which makes one wonder where they take their orders from.

5) Diebold (aka Premier Election Solutions) will choose the next President. The company's performance since 2002 has been extremely poor, especially compared to their performance as an ATM servicer. They have been sued by a number of local governments and credible allegations of Diebold-sponsored election fraud are rampant.

Are you sure your vote will count? Put your faith in Diebold, my friends.

If you want a good insight into post-collapse this is a good show to watch.

Sheryl MacPhee said she waited in line two hours Tuesday at an IndyMac branch in San Marino to liquidate a certificate of deposit. But when she took it to a Washington Mutual branch in South Pasadena to deposit, she said a manager told her their new policy was not to accept IndyMac checks. If the customer insisted, she said she was told, it could take eight weeks or more to access the full amount.

"Sure, IndyMac will give you a check," MacPhee told the Los Angeles Times, "but what good is it if no other institution will accept it?"

Officials at the Office of Thrift Supervision said that regulating agency is investigating complaints about the checks.

The Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of IndyMac to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday because it didn't think IndyMac could meet depositor demand.

William Ruberry, a spokesman for the Office of Thrift Supervision, said the agency has received several reports about problems that IndyMac account holders have had transferring their money.

"Our position is that other institutions should honor IndyMac checks," he said, "and we're looking into the situation."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2008-07-17-indymac-customers_N.htm?csp=34

Demand cash or wire transfer, don't take a check.

Like dozens of others waiting in line with her, Joan Rubin said she was drawn to IndyMac Bank by the high interest rates it paid and the friendly service her local branch provided.

All that was a memory on Tuesday, however, as Rubin and about 200 other anxious, embittered and sometimes angry customers swarmed an IndyMac bank branch in the San Fernando Valley, creating a Depression Era-like scene as they demanded their money just four days after the failing bank was seized by federal regulators.

"I've already lost three nights of sleep and three days of eating; now I'm done," Rubin, 52, said as she sat in a beach chair on the sidewalk in stifling heat. She planned to empty her account following the failure of the Pasadena-based bank, which has 33 branches, all in Southern California.

"It's a very sad day in America," Rubin said.

At one point police had to be called to the branch in the city's normally quiet Encino neighborhood. Tempers grew short when customers who had arrived before dawn accused others of cutting in line.

Some of the line jumpers had been turned away the day before but were given vouchers granting priority.

Police quickly restored order without arrests, and as the day progressed people were divided into two lines that each stretched for an entire block. People wanting to close accounts were let in, in groups of five.

Meanwhile, as the wait stretched into hours, people donned baseball caps or carried umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. Some fanned themselves with their bank documents as they sweated in temperatures that were already in the 80s by midmorning.

The Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of the bank to the FDIC on Friday because it didn't think IndyMac could meet depositor demand. Over the weekend, it became IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, and by Monday morning the scramble by bank customers to recover their money was on.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/273518/18/

As Paul Krugman noted last week, economic growth under the Bush administration was anemic on virtually all counts, except corporate profits. The ongoing eradication of the social safety net and the vast downscaling of defined-benefit pension plans has led the majority of Americans to risk their savings and retirement in the stock markets, often with reduced returns and hidden fees while the banks and lenders reap bigger profits -- but now, so many people are strapped for making ends meet that they're raiding their retirement funds just to pay the bills. The "ownership society" has disowned many people who did everything they were supposed to do -- work hard, save, pay the bills on time, keep their credit scores high -- and yet are still facing foreclosure, mountains of debt, a sagging job market, and an uncertain future.

These trends certainly accelerated under the Bush regime, but they go back at least as far as Reagan, who used his silly homilies and folksy ways to mask the most far-reaching campaign of financial and social deregulation in many generations, scaling back or removing scads of consumer protections against the vicissitudes of the market, while simultaneously driving us into record debt with massive defense-centric government spending. Yet because his words made people happy and feel good about themselves -- was there ever a guy better at making you feel good about getting screwed with no lube than Reagan? -- his philosophy of "government bad, market good" has produced generation after generation of increasingly incoherent and absurd policies that have shattered the social contract and empowered business to do whatever it can to squeeze every last ounce of profit it can from its customers, no matter the cost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-bosworth/reverse-robin-hood-steali_b_113319.html

Images portraying customers queueing to withdraw money following the biggest savings bank collapse in the US have focused on the turmoil gripping the financial system. “The nation is going into a depression,” said Bill Bergan, 86, who was trying to retrieve $100,000 savings from a branch in Santa Monica. “The whole banking system is in trouble.”

As customers queued at the IndyMac branch in Santa Monica, a car pulled up on the curbside and its driver addressed the crowd through his open window. “Bush economics didn’t work!” he shouted, while the customers cheered. “They are right-wing Republican thieves!”

One woman queuing for her savings in Santa Monica said she was disappointed by the candidates’ response to the banking crisis. “They’re just not talking about it enough,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do: hide our money under the mattress?”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/874858d2-535f-11dd-8dd2-000077b07658.html

Of the 266 distinct nations or entities on the world today, nearly 100 are now reporting continuing energy shortages, mostly in the form of inadequate electricity supply, but in a growing number of cases, shortages of liquid fuels and natural gas. The actual number of countries affected is probably well over 100 but there are dozens of isolated island-states scattered around the world that are rarely heard from and are almost certainly suffering in silence while waiting for the next oil tanker to come in.

Shortages, however, are not confined to small, poor states, but, in an increasing number of cases, are appearing in large, relatively well-off and active states on which the OECD world of North America, Europe and parts of Asia are very dependent. Several of the countries having energy problems are actually oil exporting states that, for one reason or another, are not able to turn their increasing oil wealth into smoothly functioning shortage-free economies. Unfortunately, several major countries appear to be on the path to an energy shortage-induced economic and perhaps political collapse within the foreseeable future which obviously will have serious consequences for us all.

http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3301:the-peak-oil-crisis-the-blackouts-spread&catid=17:national-commentary&Itemid=79

Oh man. bloofox is simply delightful. Go read his journal. You really truly do want to. Even if you don't know it yet. :)

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

Police ordered angry customers lined up outside an IndyMac Bank branch to remain calm or face arrest Tuesday as they tried to pull their money on the second day of the failed institution's federal takeover.

At least three police squad cars showed up early Tuesday as tensions rose outside the San Fernando Valley branch of Pasadena-based IndyMac. Federal regulators seized Pasadena-based IndyMac on Friday and reopened the bank Monday under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposits to $100,000 are fully insured by the FDIC.

Worried customers with deposits in excess of insured limits flooded IndyMac Bank branches on Monday, demanding to withdraw as much money as they could or get answers about the fate of their funds. When it was clear some wouldn't get in before closing, FDIC employees apparently took down names and told them to return Tuesday.

Other customers began lining up at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, and by dawn, tensions escalated because people on the list were getting priority. By 8 a.m., about 50 people on the list waited in one line and many more waited in another. Five people were allowed in at a time.

Customers became infuriated, and police told them they could be arrested if they didn't remain calm. Police stood by at some other branches around Southern California but there were no other reports of problems.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUsHq4hmx_WYzcFWVjAsPnbQHB9AD91UCKI01

The Caucasus Republic of Georgia, as nations go, is not apparently a major global player. Yet Washington has invested huge sums and organized to put its own despot, Mikhail Saakashvili, in the presidency in order to close a nuclear North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) iron ring around Russia.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the capital Tbilisi and made sharp statements against Moscow for supporting the separatist Georgian states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in essence blaming Moscow for an imminent war Washington has incited in order to bring Georgia into NATO by the December NATO summit.

Western media have either tended to ignore the growing tensions in the strategic Caucasus region or to suggest, as Rice does, that the entire conflict is being caused by Moscow's support of the "breakaway" republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In reality, a quite different chess game is being played in the region, one which has the potential to detonate a major escalation of tensions between Moscow and NATO.

Georgia is a strategic transit country for the Anglo-American Caspian oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. As well, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline has been key to Azerbaijan as an alternative to the control of the Russian state monopoly Transneft in order to convey its oil and gas resources toward the West. The entire Caucasus is part of what can be described as a new Great Game for control of Eurasia between Washington and Russia.

It makes abundantly clear that Washington is aiming its military strategy at the dismantling of Russia as a potential adversary. That is a recipe for a possible nuclear war by miscalculation. Rice's latest Caucasus and Czech visit only added to that growing danger.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JG16Ag01.html

Paratroopers from Russia's 76th Airborne Division arrived Wednesday in North Ossetia to participate in the active stage of large-scale military exercises in the North Caucasus.

The exercise, dubbed Caucasus 2008, involves units of the North Caucasus Military District, mainly the 58th Army, the 4th Air Force Army, Interior Ministry troops, and border guards.

"The personnel, equipment and ammunition are being unloaded at the town of Mozdok" in North Ossetia, a spokesperson for Russia's Ground Forces said Wednesday.

The paratroopers will make a forced march to the assigned zone of operation in the mountains, where they will conduct a series of tactical exercises, including live-fire drills.

The Pskov paratroopers will be later joined by units from an air assault regiment based in the Volga region, which will be transported to the Krasnodar Territory by rail and conduct a forced march to the exercise zone.

Lt. Col. Andrei Bobrun, an aide to the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, earlier said the exercise involves some 8,000 military personnel, about 700 combat vehicles and more than 30 aircraft.

The main goal of the exercise, according to the Russian military, is to work on interoperability between federal troops, Interior Ministry troops, border guards, and the Air Force in special operations against militants and in the defense of Russia's state borders, and to practice support of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080716/114129465.html

Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorian president, and Hugo Chavez, his Venezuelan counterpart, have entered into an agreement to build the biggest oil refinery on South America's Pacific coast.

The refinery plan announced on Tuesday will go up in El Aromo, 250km from Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, and should be ready by 2013.

"Instead of having refineries in the United States, we decided to keep them here in our geopolitical context," Chavez said.

Chavez hopes to wean Venezuelan crude away from the US, where Venezuela currently runs seven refineries.

Correa said that the joint $6.6 billion project by state-run oil firms from both countries will save Ecuador $3 billion in oil imports a year.

Venezuela and Ecuador are the only Latin American members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Future plans

Chavez said he plans to build other refineries in Brazil and Nicaragua.

"Everything ended up in the United States; that's what the empire and colonialism are all about," Chavez said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/07/20087161250585971.html

The Pakistan Army is gearing up for "any eventuality" in the wake of a build up of US-led coalition forces on the Afghan border. Villagers and officials in North Waziristan, requesting anonymity, said that hundreds of NATO troops had been airlifted to a border area near Lawara village.

"The coalition troops have started to strengthen their positions after setting up camp in the border areas adjacent to the Pak-Afghan border and US helicopters have been spotted hovering over target areas as support," the officials said. Reports from Afghanistan have said that helicopters have been transporting tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to Sarobagh and other landing strips in Khost province, which is close to Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the Daily Times reported.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080717/1707192.htm

The war in Afghanistan is spiralling so dangerously out of control that it now threatens to engulf Pakistan, in a process that is being actively encouraged by Nato.

US and British commanders talk openly about the “Pakistani Taliban” moving from regions that border Afghanistan to threaten a takeover of Peshawar, the regional capital.

The US is petrified that this could close its supply line running from the Pakistani port of Karachi through the Khyber Pass to the battlefields of Afghanistan.

There has been sporadic fighting in and around Peshawar for several weeks now, and convoys of US military supplies have already been targeted.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=15525

NATO-led forces say they have abandoned an Afghanistan military outpost that Taliban insurgents overran this week, killing nine U.S. soldiers.

In Sunday's incident in eastern Afghanistan, up to 200 Taliban insurgents mounted an attack on a temporary military observation post, killing nine U.S. soldiers and wounding 15.

http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/134979/

I look like the Patchwork Girl of Oz! Injuries come in so many colours. Massive kote bruise(greeny-brown), frightening bruise on right shoulder(dark purple, black, cranberry, gold) smaller one on my left shoulder(cranberry), one on each hip(pale brown and reddish), nearly perfect bite-bruise on my right bicep(green), two minor burns, one on each hand(slightly shiny). Obviously not all of these were acquired during kendo.

Life is pretty fair today. I'm achy, but I am well-fed and alert and I got enough sleep for once.
Had interesting dreams--dreamed I was trying to get to kendo and a wind came up and lifted me, shot me through the air at a terrible speed straight into a wall of rain. But I turned and got my feet pointed downward, landed on an overpass, controlled my motion and could use the wind to go in the direction I wanted, if sharply. I have never really paid attention to my feet in in-the-air dreams, it was different and neat. It was an empowering sort of dream.
I believe at some point there was a Tyrannosaurus.

(oblivion_jones: Yes, it was very large.)


Today--work! And then probably making chocolate cookies.

Russia and Saudi Arabia on my signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation.

The agreement was signed by the director of Russia’s Federal Service or Military-Technical Cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriyev, and the Secretary-General of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud said after signing an agreement on miliatry-technical cooperation with Russia in Moscow on Monday.

Speaking about oil prices, the prince said it was necessary to proetct the interests of both oil producers and consumers.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12869198&PageNum=0

Do you not find it odd that the Elitist of the Elite have gathered in France to celebrate Bastille Day? After all, the French Revolution was the rising up by the working class to overthrow the Elites.

The French Embassies around the world, which had been open to all expatriates to come celebrate are today invitation only.

Perhaps it's time to do it again?

linebyline
A writing prompt where members respond to single phrases and use them in their posts.