Friday, May 4, 2012

Run Away Screaming!

Original Source

New York (CNN) -- A pastel version of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch fetched nearly $120 million from an anonymous buyer Wednesday at Sotheby's in New York, setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

Experts had expected the masterpiece to break new ground at the famed New York auction house; its presale estimate of at least $80 million was the highest ever listed at Sotheby's.

It sold for $119,922,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby's.

Previously, the most expensive artwork ever sold there was Pablo Picasso's painting "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust," which brought in $106.5 million two years ago. The previous record for a Munch work of art was just over $38 million.

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Jim Grant - The Federal Reserve is the Giant Squid of Squids. It is the Vampire Squid of all Vampire Squids

Brother JohnF Silver Update - Pass/Fail

May 3, 2012 by

FBI provokes domestic terror plot

May 3, 2012 by

On Tuesday, the FBI thwarted a plan of five self-described anarchist who were planning to blow up a bridge near Cleveland, Ohio. It turns out the FBI played an instrumental role in helping the Cleveland Five plan the alleged scheme.

Loving the Smell of Data and Pine Trees in the Morning


Obama's tacky 'I Shot Bin Laden' ad has turned a military triumph into a political disaster

A classic critique from the UK Telegraph, you wont read anything like this in the US mainstream press....

Original Source

By Tim Stanley

Barack Obama’s “I Shot Bin Laden!” ad might be the worst political move he’s ever made. It tops the list because, unlike his many other foul-ups (50 percent structural youth unemployment, skyrocketing debt, supporting post-birth abortion), this is a rare example of him getting something completely right and then turning it into something horribly wrong. The man is so politically tone deaf he makes Joe Biden look like Machiavelli.

The ad features Bill Clinton celebrating Obama’s decision to send in the SEALs and kill Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. “Suppose the Navy Seals had gone in there and it hadn't been bin Laden?” says Bill. “Suppose they'd been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for him, but … he took the harder and the more honourable path and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result.” A question then flashes up on the screen that asks, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” The ad reminds viewers that Romney once opined that, “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” The implication is obvious: Obama killed bin Laden and is a hero; Romney didn’t think it was worth chasing the terrorist and is a girly-man unworthy of the presidency.

Obama deserves all the praise and glory for killing bin Laden; my only regret about the episode is that I didn’t get a chance to pull the trigger myself. And the Pres is wise to use the incident in his election campaign. In the debates, he should answer every point that Romney makes about the sluggish economy with, “Yeah, well I shot bin Laden!”..........this ad leaves the emotional impression that Obama personally swung into bin Laden’s compound on a rope and took the terrorist down with his own sweet moves. It’s tacky and unpresidential. Consider again Bill Clinton’s words, “Suppose [the SEALs had] been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for [the President].” Actually, it would have been rather more horrible for the American soldiers. Presumably, what Clinton means here is that Obama’s re-election would have been imperiled if he’d made the wrong call. Is that all that motivates this President, the hunger for four more years? If so, his need is so great that it’s causing him to make some bizarre, unforced errors.

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Keiser Report: Mafia vs OWS (ft. Geralde Celente)

May 3, 2012 by

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert discuss Treasury Secretary Secretary Timothy Geithner is like a monkey who sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil while Wall Street 'elks' are protected by the police from protestor 'wolves.' In the second half of the show Max talks to trends forecaster, Gerald Celente, about economic problems and years of heated geopolitical disputes to come.