Weekly News Updates-04/25/2011

When I have time, I will be trying to put up the various news items and blog posts by others that I want to pass on, on a weekly basis (hopefully on Mondays).  Currently my main concern is still the Japanese situation, and the MSM has done with THAT issue what they usually do with major news events: BIG HEADLINES...then slow the news down to a trickle and dazzle us with trivia like royal weddings and Charlie Sheen...but it is still in play and could get MUCH uglier. 

But other things at play in the world are the skyrocketing commodity prices, a looming global food shortage, the death of the dollar as a reserve currency (read: hyperinflation STRONG possibility), and a plethora of other issues, each of which would be greatly troubling, but combined are a part of the Death by a Thousand Cuts that will pretty much be the end of our civilization.  One can also add to the level of insanity by the response of our leadership to the nuclear crisis: let's build more nuke plants!  (Which seems to be the same response they have to the BP calamity: it didn't work the last time...let's do more of it!)  Are they evil, stupid, barking mad or a quality blend of all three of those flavors?  Well, it probably doesn't matter if the end result is all the same...

On the MUCH brighter side, I got together with 3 of my old bandmates from the group Soft War http://softwartheband.com/ for a trip down memory lane that was such a positive experience that we may be working together again in the near future.  I've been pretty much a solo recording artist (with the occasional acoustic show) for the past 15 or so years, so playing in a full band contest was incredibly gratifying...especially when playing with people I both like and admire AND who have such a high degree of musical aptitude that I never have to worry about much of anything.


Anyway...here's a bunch of stuff to make you happy (which I will be updating over the course of this week).

Economics:

http://www.dailyfx.com/forex/market_alert/2011/04/27/FOMC_US_Dollar_Loses.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economic-abyss

http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/04/the-banana-peel-of-destiny.html

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapril11/oil-USD4-11.html

(King World News has GREAT audio interviews that you can download as MP3s...I recommend that you do so as I think Eric King and his guests probably have the best bead on things of any of the Alternative Economics shows out there)

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/4/20_James_Turk_-_We_Live_on_the_Edge_of_Chaos,_Dollar_to_Plummet.html

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/4/20_Embry_-_JP_Morgan_Massive_Short_Position_Causing_Silver_Spike.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gold-opens-1520-silver-over-50-everywhere-comes-few-more-minutes

(I'm not a huge PM investor...I have SOME, but not piles of the stuff...I prefer preps, ammo, and heirloom seeds...but I have been gobsmacked by how fast and how far silver has broken out...my net worth keeps climbing while I sit back and twiddle my thumbs.  Considering that the rise in PMs is symptomatic of a collapse of the global economic system, I'm not too thrilled about it though.)

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/22/banks-spending-2011/

(Dodd/Frank was a lameass bill, but it's amusing how even THAT slap on the wrist is getting pushback.)

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pimcos-observations-us-reaches-keynesian-endpoint-qe2-ponzi-scheme-nothing-profit-illusion

Japan:

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-20-2011-fukushima-review-of-ines.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html 

Politics as Usual:

http://www.alternet.org/story/150724/wikileaks:_shocking_revelations_in_guantanamo_files?akid=6881.200602.L60KRs&rd=1&t=5

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/27/scotus-nukes-consumers/ 

(H/T to Joan and Satori)

Environment:

http://www.skepticalscience.com/Wakening_the_Kraken.html

(Hat tip to Tim/Jon/Sue on FB.)

http://www.fastcompany.com/1749695/monsanto-now-allowed-to-police-itself

(Hat tip to Syn.)

Insightful Commentary:

http://guymcpherson.com/2011/04/partial-understanding-on-planet-easter-island/

Primitive ritualistic behavior observed in the activities of homicidal mutant chimpanzee species (the Royal Wedding):

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/26/tom-the-dancing-bug-46.html

(Hat tip to Scott)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/25/royal-wedding-bells-fall-on-deaf-ears/?page=1



MUCH more to come...looks like a heavy news week (which always seems to happen when I travel, even just overnight.)