Various Craziness, Not-So-Open Thread

It's Friday, I'm tired, I couldn't sleep and I'm pissed off because I have to endure yet another high temperature / high humidity day before the weather breaks. This is not an "open" thread because it represents yet another splendid opportunity for crazy people to get kicked off this website.

[image left, source]

The rest of you have nothing to worry about. Talk about anything you want. Comments are not moderated, but I do read them.

Craziness in America shows no sign of abating any time soon, which is always good for DOTE. There's never a dearth of material to talk about.

President Obama delivered his "acceptance" speech at the Democratic National Convention [DNC] last night. According to the mashable.com story Watch the Obama Speech That Set a Political Record on Twitter, "the speech was wildly popular on Twitter, peaking at 52,757 tweets per minute — a new politics-related record for the platform. That pushed overall tweets about the DNC past the 9 million mark, more than double the number sent about last week’s Republican Convention."

To put that in perspective, it takes approximately 37 days to get 52,757 page views on DOTE. That's how many tweets there were per minute regarding Obama's speech.

The Onion story Nation's Lower Class At Least Grateful It Is Not Part Of Nation's Middle Class deserves our attention.

CHAPEL HILL, NC—A survey released Wednesday by researchers at the University of North Carolina found that despite the many challenges they face, the nation's lowest-income individuals are nonetheless thankful they don't have to endure the unique hardships of the nation's long-suffering middle class.

According to the report, the 46 million Americans who fall below the federal poverty line, though struggling mightily, are at least glad they don't have to live up to some rapidly vanishing American dream of advancing in their career, making more money, and improving their lifestyle, the way their middle-income counterparts do.

"The unrealistic expectations and false hope they experience must be unbearable," Camden, NJ hotel clerk Allison Jacobsen told researchers, noting that while her $22,000 annual salary barely covers her rent and groceries each month, at least she doesn't operate under the flawed assumption that her situation will ever improve. "A life spent constantly stressing out over a dead-end job or struggling to pay off a fixed 30-year mortgage on a continuously depreciating three-bedroom townhouse? It's horrific."

"Can you believe people actually have to live like that?" Jacobsen added. "I feel just awful for them."

CNBC, which is shorthand for Crazy NBC, gave us a perfect lunatic moment when the Money Honey Maria Bartiromo interviewed Kim Kardashian, who said stuff like this—

On her party girl image — "I mean, I think that the party girl image has never been really truly who I am. It's only a side of me. I like to have a good time. My focus has always been business."

On social media — "I'm trying to use social media to figure out what my fans like and make a brand for my fans. Fashion, beauty, diet, fragrance that is what they are asking for when I'm reaching out to them via social media."

On the new cosmetic line — "I love makeup. It's something we're all passionate about.  If you can find something you're passionate about you'll be happy in what you're doing." 

Reality TV Star/Entrepeneur

And in some not-so-important news, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gave us the August jobs report.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 96,000 in August, and the unemployment rate edged down to 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in food services and drinking places, in professional and technical services, and in health care.

You might well ask how it is possible that the addition of a paltry 96,000 non-farm payroll jobs lowered the official unemployment rate by 2/10^ths of a percent. (from 8.3 to 8.1%).

The lowest percentage since September, 1981. Source

Mish always does a good job with the jobs data, so look there.

Another bizarre jobs report, but in the United States of Crazy, anything is possible. Just ask Dmitry Orlov.

And now, the floor is yours.

Comments

[Screech]

You're complaining about the weather? Futile! Futile! Futile!

Here's something that will help you to appreciate the weather a bit more.

Walker, Gabrielle: An Ocean of Air. Harvest Books, 2007.

Enjoy the weekend and look up often. It's fun.

[Ken Barrows]

The Democrats are mommy; the Republicans are daddy; the American voters are children. It's a good explanation for me.

[James]

Ken: But they are both abusive parents.

[Bill_M]

"You can come to no real understanding until you realize that we are all crazy" -- Mark Twain

[Dave Cohen]

Quotes from Mark Twain

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.

Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to each other; it will unriddle many riddles; it will make clear and simplify many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now.

The latter is from his essay What Is Man?

http://www.cancertutor.com/Quotes/Quotes_Insanity.html

However, and this should always be borne in mind, there is normal crazy and there is out and out batshit crazy. It is valuable to be able to distinguish between the two.

And remember the DOTE rule of thumb: the more divorced from Reality, the crazier people are

http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2012/07/is-america-crazy-you-betcha.html

-- Dave

[Dave Cohen]

You folks should watch the video in this Daily Ticker story The Betrayal Of The American Dream

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/betrayal-american-dream-161007626.html

Priceless, a truly honest analysis, a confirmation of virtually every damn thing I've ever said about the Empire's decline and the intentional dismantling of the middle class -- and all this in one short 5 minute video.

-- Dave

[The Practician]

Watched the video. Obviously not much in the way of new information in it for a regular reader of your blog, and obviously very little discussion on how the dismantling of the middle class may be as inevitable as it is intentional, given the irrational way our species deals with the harsh realities of resource constraints on our economies. The part at the end where they were questioning how long the underclass would put up with the extreme inequality reenforced my belief that most highly educated liberals tend to give the masses way too much credit when it comes to predicting how far the general public is going to be willing to be pushed before there is a serious possibility of revolution. Something as trivial as "inequality" is never going to do it as long as people are fed and have access to "entertainment" via tv/the internet. I don't imagine it will be until large numbers of people start going hungry and the grid starts to fail that revolution becomes a possibility, and we all know that by that point, it will probably be too late to do any good.

[John D]

You're having a crappy day and you go and watch a Kim Kardashian interview? Boy, you are a glutton for punishment!

ps: how does one go about becoming a 'reality TV star/entreprenuer'? Are there college programs for that?

[Ken Barrows]

James: Abusive parents and manipulative children, who don't know what they really want.

[Mark]

Hey Dave - You will love this discussion. If you are not hot enough, this will make you hotter. Absurd commentary that is so myopic it is frustrating to listen to. Near the end one of them tops off the discussion with the comment "I believe God gave man dominion over the earth". That is the kind of thinking that is magical and insane. How do you have a rational discussion with such irrationality?

Surprisingly, I enjoy most of Puplava's guests, but this one was a awful. It us these "experts" that help fuel the ignorance of carbon emissions and global warming.

BTW, keep up the good work.

http://www.financialsense.com/financial-sense-newshour/guest-expert/2012/08/25/03/tim-ball-joe-bastardi-marc-morano/global-warming-fact-fiction-or-conspiracy

[James]

Ken: Well said! Dysfunctional family all around!

[T E CHo]

More bad environmental news tonight, for those outside the USA...

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13707186-coral-in-caribbean-florida-in-sharp-decline-no-signs-of-slowing-report-finds?lite

And about 150 miles north of Dave's home is lake Eire, a nice place to visit, but...

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13733019-tens-of-thousands-of-fish-die-in-lake-erie-lack-of-oxygen-cited?lite

[Robert Cook]

I'm 65 and expect to die within a few years. Watching the collapse of industrial civilization, and American democracy, is a fair entertainment, but I feel this impulse to have it all speed up, because I can't live long enough to see a lot of it unfold at its present rate. I'd vote for Romney, to help it along just a tad, but living in California, that would be a waste of effort. I've been slowly drifting to the conclusion that human extinction is in the cards within 150 years, and our only salvation is worldwide nuclear war, and the sooner the better, to severely prune back the excess human population, and stop industrial civilization.

[Wanooski]

In other strange news, the yangtze has turned orange.

[Escrava Isaura]

Practician, job well done describing your point and even better describing the future—or should I say, not a great future when the population can’t help themselves.

Dave, just discovered you. Quickly browsed through DOTE…, congratulations for great work—not that my opinion matters much. Anyway, added you to my favorites.

Thanks you all and especially you Dave…, because you all seen pretty addictive, so is Pinot Noir.

[jonkirby2012.wordpress. com]

If you want some entertainment and a bit of a history lesson
And solving the financial crises all in one.
Watch on YouTube or my front page Bill Still's "secrets of oz"
jonkirby2012.wordpress.com