So, well…it seems I’ve completely failed for my last two new years resolutions by not updating this blog.  It’s turned out to be somewhat like an in-law – you want to know it’s OK, will give it money when needed and may even check in from time to time, but constant contact…unthinkable!  I promise not to turn this post into a post about posting more…because, well, I’ll still do what I do and you’ll still get what you get.  Promises made to a computer technically don’t count, anyway.  And, so far, my long standing offer of being paid to blog goes yet unfulfilled.

There’s probably a lot I could write about.  Some good.  Some bad.  Some might even be therapeutic and good for me, given my circumstances.  Things aren’t terrible…but they have been and could be better.  I could also probably rant forever on any given mundane subject, argue the devil’s advocate or even tell a story about how this once hacker-gone-corporate career is going for me.  This post really doesn’t have a point…it’s just to get my words, my thoughts on the freaking page sometime in the year of 2011.

There’s plenty of the “heavy” that I could go on about.  Sheesh, my last post about gold had it at just over $1000 an ounce (now $1840) and silver was hovering at $14 an ounce (now $44!).  Compared to gold, we’ve seen almost an 80% devaluation of the dollar…and according to silver, we’re at nearly 300% devaluation.  I keep talking and only a few are listening.  But, those who have listened have certainly not regretted their decisions.

I was sent this thing from MoveOn.org the other day about a movement that would apparently bail out college/education loans.  I applaud the argument to actually help people, rather than private bankers and industrial complexes, but really?  They want to bail out the people who have their whole life in front of them?  I admit, a lot of college grads these days are working in service positions and other fields that don’t require formal education, and thus are being paid less than they deserve.  I’m sorry.  The problem is that our country’s policies don’t favor continental US industry anymore.  The problem is our trade agreements shipping our jobs to cheaper sources of origin.  The problem is inflation continues to devalue the dollar and things cost more.  The problem is, even given a choice, we’ll buy something from China rather than the USA because it’s cheaper.  You can bail out a bum for a lot cheaper, but unless the underlying issues are corrected…that person will remain a bum.

I’m doing something pretty cool this coming weekend.  Going to take the Magruder Corridor across the Rockies, from Idaho back into Montana.  It’s been termed the “longest continual gravel road” in the world at just over 101 miles.  It’s an old road that used to connect Lewistown, ID with Virginia City, MT for trade and mining purposes and now only this section over the Rockies remain.  Apparently, it was popular with the gold traders and back in 1863, some folks were murdered along the corridor upon returning from Virginia City to Lewistown including one prominent Lloyd Magruder, for which the trail is named after.  It’ll be good to get my Pathfinder out on some gravel roads, spend a couple nights under the stars and get a brief lesson in US history.

I did it.  Words on a page in 2011.  Sorry for the ramble, but felt like writing & just didn’t have a clear direction.

P.S.  Google Ron Paul 2012

 

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I’ve been drinking Deschutes Jubelale, a festive winter beer from Bend, OR, for quite a number of years now.  Well, surprise, surprise what my trip to the grocery turned up tonight!  A fresh off the line six-pack of Jubelale 2009!!!  Yea!  That “time of year” is finally here!  I wrote about it on a whim last season and have decided to continue in that tradition.

This year’s batch is just in time, too!  This is normally the type of beer that is oh-so satisfying during the winter months.  Well, here in Missoula…we apparently skipped fall and moved head on into winter.  At the moment, we’ve got snow on the ground and single digit temperatures at night…perfect weather to be thinking about a soul warming winter brew!

Perhaps it’s the amount of time between batches, as it’s a seasonal and only seen during late fall and winter months, but it seems to me that the beer takes on different dynamics with each successive year.  Some years, I’ve literally fallen in love with it, and yet others, it doesn’t quite draw me in that far, but it’s still good.  My impression of my first bottle of the year?  Fantastic!!!!  Reaching for my second as I write this post.

It seems with this year’s batch, the hops profile is more revealing and forward than it has been in years past.  I’ve always appreciated the dark malted goodness this beer offers, but as a big-time fan of IPA’s (India Pale Ale), I like a beer that isn’t afraid to use hops to liven things up a bit.  With this hop-forward lunge, it could possibly turn out to be my favorite of all the batches I’ve tasted.  I remember the 2004/2005 years, and oh were they good like that…but it seemed that 2006/2007/2008 batches were much more muted with the hops, allowing the dark malt to largely dominate the taste buds.

Then again, the season is still early.  This is a beer that ages with time and it’s dynamics change from month to month.  It does seem a bit early for the Jubelale…but I’ll be interested to see how it develops with this coming winter season.

Cheers to you!

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Don Harkins (1963 – 2009)

by Jeff on September 19, 2009

in General

I learned today, with great sadness, that one of my friends and one of our great patriots has passed away.  Don Harkins, founder and editor of the Idaho Observer, left us early this morning due to complications from a rapid onset of acute myeloid leukemia.

I learned about two weeks ago that he had entered intensive care, shortly after returning from a trip to Montana.  The news was quite disheartening, but I knew that many people would be praying for him and that he would receive the best care.  Over the course of two weeks, it would seem that his condition was rapidly improving – he regained consciousness, he was able to get off life support, and was ultimately able to leave the ICU.  It would seem that our prayers were being answered, but in hindsight, it was just a moment for him to know that he was loved by many people and to spend time with his closest loved ones.

From what I understand, he was ready to go and knew that he was going to see our Creator.  He was around all his closest people and, thank God, he was able to say goodbye and leave on the best of terms.

I am quite sad to see him go – I have read his paper, the Idaho Observer, for the last several years and worked with him closely in both Washington and Idaho’s Ron Paul presidential campaigns.  He was a great patriot who dedicated his life to informing the people, spent countless hours trying to make this world a better place and one who stood up for truth and justice, even when it wasn’t the most popular stance.  He was far too young to leave us, but I know he is in a better place now and I hope that he is able to look upon the legacy that he has left.

Don Harkins – you were deeply loved, will be greatly missed and I pray that I may see you again.  In memoriam.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4127856605555077362
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I watched this video, where a statement was made that took me by surprise.  They stated that if a person spent a million dollars a day, since the day Jesus was born (year zero), that it would take until now to reach what Congress has spent in the last few months on the various bailout packages.

This seemed so outlandish that I broke out the calculator and as it turns out, that wasn’t entirely true.  It would actually take until the year 2192, spending a million dollars a day, to reach the 800 billion dollars that have been spent on bailouts in the last few months.  So, it was off by a couple hundred years.  By now, you would have only spent about 766 billion dollars!

$1,000,000 x 365 x 2192 =$800,080,000,000.00

I couldn’t resist taking that one step further by using the same exercise to find out how long it would take, spending a million dollars a day since year zero, to equal the current US national debt of 10.8 trillion dollars.  I was almost afraid to figure it out and when I started having to go into year 10,000 plus, I really started to get alarmed.

It would take spending a MILLION dollars a DAY for twenty nine thousand six hundred YEARS to spend the 10.8 trillion dollars that is the US national debt.  And even that doesn’t quite get us to where it’s at today…rounding off didn’t really make that big a difference from my perspective.

$1,000,000 x 365 x 29600 = $10,804,000,000,000

If that doesn’t put our current situation into perspective for you, I don’t know what will.  I think it’s time for me to write a letter to Congress.  If this at all concerns you, I would adivse you to do the same.

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I recently received an interesting email that the US Treasury has apparently sold out the entire remains of the United States gold to the Federal Reserve for a steal – at nearly $900 per ounce less than current market values.  I have read several articles as of late relating to the balance statements of the Federal Reserve and it’s been pretty clear that there have been some drastic changes in the last few months.  My research has indicated that the balances are further out of whack than has ever been seen historically.  To put it simply, the percentage of loans vs. the retained assets of the Federal Reserve have been heavily skewed towards the loan side.  To put it in layman’s terms, it would similarly relate to a person making $30,000 a year taking out a loan for a million bucks.

Here is the copy of the email I received:

The entire 260,540,028 oz of Gold that was previously held by the U.S. Treasury has been issued to the Federal Reserve during the period of Feb 11-18, 2009 at a cost of $42.22 per troy oz.  The Federal Reserve issued credits to the U.S. Treasury  in the amount of $11 billion in federal reserve notes.  This transfer of gold represents the nation’s entire official gold stock.  In other words, a private bank, never having an independent financial audit, now  has all our nation’s real wealth!!!

It’s bad enough selling our gold, but why not at current market price of $950.00??  Are the taxpayer’s getting ripped off once again???

(The above information was released by the Fed on Feb 19,2009 in their Factors Affecting Reserve Balances–H4.1, table 8, page 1.)

I am not inclined to believe this information without first confirming it through the sourced references.  I was quickly able to find the sourced reference on the web, directly from the Federal Reserve’s web site.  You can check the information for yourself.

Though I am not an expert in these matters, I have had a fair amount of difficulty deriving the supposed stated facts from the sourced reference.  Specifically, I noted that the table referenced does not directly indicate any specific gold purchases, nor do any of the supposed values or purchase prices add up anywhere in the tables.  There is a row for gold certificate accounts which indicates zero change from both last week and last year.  So, with that said, I’m not entirely ready to believe the information I received in the email.

Through this research, though, I did take note of something interesting however, and I would like to bring it to your attention.  The assets relating to the Federal Reserve balances did increase at an abnormal rate.  If you look at the total assets and their reported changes compared to the previous week and previous year, you’ll see an asset increase on the magnitude of 72 billion dollars since February 11th.  Some simple math indicates this increase is just under twice the average week-over-week increase that we typically see.

Of deepest concern though is WHERE the increase of assets is coming from.  Interestingly, when looking at the referenced table, it’s pretty clear the largest increase has come from “securities, repurchase agreements, term auction credit and other loans.”  These are typically not real, tangible “right now” assests, but rather promises to pay and other IOU based assets.  Even more alarming is the breakdown of these sources and the elements that make them up.  If you take note, the “mortgage backed securities” increased this week at a rate 46 TIMES higher than the average week over week increases.  Some quick math shows the average weekly increase (total yearly divided by 52) is about 1.25 billion dollars.  In just this last week, that very same element increased by almost 58 billion dollars!

So what’s the deal?  Well, if you did any research on “mortgage backed securities” through the link I provided in the last paragraph, you’ll find that these are typically mortgage based loans, primarily in the residential markets.  Boiled down, that means that mean the Federal Reserve just bought a rather hefty percentage of the home loans and other property loans in the United States.  They’re well on there way to owning you, your life and your property.  No longer is it primarily the US taxpayers “promises to pay” (e.g. US Treasury bonds) that are backing up the dollar, but now your homes and property is what is giving it value.  That’s a very deep concern for me, especially considering it’s the private bankers at the Federal Reserve that have gotten us into this mess to begin with.

Even deeper, though, if you look at the other reported figures that millions may be defaulting on their home loans over the course of 2009 due to the economic recession…this could spell out a recipe for disaster.  As the Fed takes possession of our former homes, one-by-one they will begin to own and control huge percentages of personal property out there.  These guys are smart – they have the power to do this and they are beginning to exercise it.  They’re the biggest bank on the block and they’re priming themselves to control America, all the way down to our land and structures.

I did expect some increase of assets by the Fed though I wondered how they were going to do it.  It was essential because the huge loans that are being made to the US for bailouts and other disreputable causes have thrown the Fed’s balance sheet far too out of whack.  Foreign countries, banks and investors are looking at this to derive the stability and desirability of the US dollar and treasury bonds – getting too far out of balance would result in these entities going elsewhere for their investments.  I think we’ve reached the teetering point where the US taxpayers no longer have the ability to repay the huge debts that have been created – and now, the Fed is putting our private property on the line too.

The times, they are a changin’!

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