Getting to the Next Party

Somewhere in the world the party was still going on? The Roaring Twenties just moved to a new neighborhood, under the brightness of a new sun?

Somewhere in the world the party was still going on? After the Crash of 2008? People living off the labor of the masses. Like the Lost Generation, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, living in Paris. As the Germans paid the French war reparations. In the Weimar Republic, where the currency was delivered by the wheel barrow.

Like on Wall Street and their salaries? Somewhere the party would keep on going on. Like In China. On September 3, 2009, Chris Oliver wrote a piece about the biggest movement in gold which might have gone little noticed by currency traders. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which functions as the territory’s unofficial central bank, will transfer its gold reserves stored in other vaults to the depository later this year, and the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange had signed an agreement to use the depository for its physical settlement and storage needs.

Somewhere in the world the party was still going on? In China. What about the transparency of China? China and corrupt local political war lords, living off the backs of the laborer? The Chinese. A government that limited families to one baby each. To all those advocates of abortion and Planned Parenthood ( not to be confused with family planning decisions), how is that in the way of “choice?” How is that in the way of repression? Would I invest in China? In their currency? China and human rights. How would that be in the way of repression, when I bought into their system?

George Soros. Was it ethical to make $1 billion in one day against the British pound. When the UK, with all of its taxpayers, paid a price. Then the quest of Soros for power through funding the Democrat Party. Warren Buffet. Living off the backs of the laborer? With his growing investment income and value of Berkshire Hathaway. Which was not the same as blue collar hourly wage. These investors who were, who had, reshaped the Democratic Party.

The Democrats who chased away the blue collar worker. The Democrats who chased away the Catholic voter. All to get funding from those Warren Buffet and George Soros-types, reshaping party platform in the name of women’s rights? Or really not much different than in China? With all the transparency of China. China and corrupt local political party bosses, living off the backs of labor? The Chinese family, limited to one baby families. All those advocates of rescuing the free markets, when I bought into their system that allowed the pay scales at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, at the cost of the new blue collar worker enslaved by the technology of Bill Gates. Where workers were required to have cell phones and Black Berries and pagers. Even on vacation.

Economic collapse, with a falling currency? With little difference between the 2 political parties on issues of labor and economic policy. The only difference was based on “women Issues.”

Somewhere in the world the party was still going on, having just moved to a new neighborhood, under the brightness of a new sun? With the hyper-inflation still to come, should I buy in? In China?

Elections & Tailgating at TCF Stadium

It can happen in Minneapolis. It will happen here. In October in Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Dave Cieslewicz had proposed city budget cuts that would have closed five of the city’s eight ice skating rinks this winter. It was the system.

The system. As on display with the parking system at the new TCF Stadium. When only parking lots sanctioned by the Minneapolis City Council with their zoning laws, open to tail-gating. Local parking lots were shut down on game day, as part of the system, as designed and enforced by the Minneapolis City Council. When elected politicians lost touch with the real world.

The system. The system, with mayors like in Madison. I n Madison, where Mayor Cieslewicz was forced to back off his proposal to close those five city ice skating rinks this winter. Only after the uproar. It can happen in Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, where it actually has been proposed to have the Minneapolis City Council take over the sovereignty of the parks.

Steve BARLAND, dedicated to preserving the independent park board model to protect what has been offered at the parks in the past. Leaving the cornerstone in Minneapolis intact in hard times. As center of neighborhoods, with day care, music for pre-schoolers, youth development, and senior card clubs. The parks.

With green spaces left long ago within a city. These markers to ensure the parks would long endure. For the people. Parks. Those set asides with active use. BARLAND. Of the people, and for parks dedicated to the proposition that all men, all women, are created equal. BARLAND, who was running, who had come to dedicate his time that a portion of those fields would long endure. In the upcoming era which will be all about closings. And budgets.

BARLAND, dedicated to the proposition that the heart of our community is the recreation center as a gathering place to meet and play. Places to take classes or to play.

Steve Barland, championing the form follows function philosophy, after witnessing the power of recreational activities in lives. Life-long learning places about what really counts in a community, and then teaching the next generation. Learning at rec centers the lessons from your neighbors.

It is altogether fitting and proper that you should vote. And vote BARLAND. With his vow to vote to never close a single recreation center. Here was the Park Board Commissioner candidate whose well stated belief was to leave parks open as always, promoting increased participation in youth sports, as well as adult and senior programs. When difficult decisions about budget cuts arrive, Steve Barland as the 5th District Park Board Commissioner means a referee making calls to not only keep rec centers open.

The new world order and that system of the new world order. Politicians and the good old endorsement system, which prevented real people from wanting to get involved in the system. The new world order when regular working stiffs quit seeking public office. In a world with those political endorsements and connections. Until politicians lost touch with the real world. Like in Madison, Wisconsin. With candidates who did not quite understand quality of life came from having parks open. Or in St. Paul where city-run youth centers were expected to be reduced from 41 to a 25 in 2010. It can happen in Minneapolis. If you want a park board to resemble the Minneapolis City Council and their system, as demonstrated by the way the parking situation is handled at the new TCF stadium….well, it all started on election day.

For the next Board Commissioners dealing with budgets, the unfinished work of the parks begins. I want a commissioner with a direct connection with park and recreation leagues, and to the people who participated. I want a commissioner who remembered. Someone who was real. Someone who was of the people, for the people. Steve Barland as the 5th District Park Board Commissioner.
The system. It all started on election day. Now. It all started with simple park board elections.

BARLAND.

In Theaters Near You

In Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Dave Cieslewicz had proposed city budget cuts that would have closed five of the city’s eight ice skating rinks this winter. It can happen here. In Minneapolis. Now.

With some of the most difficult budgetary decisions that local government ever faced, Steve BARLAND
is running as a candidate of the Minneapolis Park Board.

When even the “land” in his BARLAND name conjured up images of generation of kids who used the park LAND in the pursuit of happiness. As Steve BARLAND believed.

Now! When the Minneapolis Park Board had a direct connections with youth in park and recreation leagues. Witnessed by Barland coaching and refereeing at 6 city parks, including Nokomis, McRae, and Pearl. In Minneapolis.

Who? A board member of Pearl Improvement and Recreation Council. The Pearl Park Volunteer of the Year in 1997, Steve Barland was the volunteer youth basketball coordinator at Pearl Park from 1993-2002 as the league grew from 8 teams to 32. Not just walking the talk, but running, shooting, throwing, and hitting, playing on the same South Minneapolis playgrounds. Now in the race of his life, running for Commissioner of the 5th District of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. And needing your vote on November 3rd.

Steve BARLAND.

The new world order. And that system of the new world order. Politicians and the good old endorsement system, which prevented real people from wanting to get involved in the system. The new world order when regular working stiffs quit seeking public office. In a world with those political endorsements and connections. Until politicians lost touch with the real world.

The system. Until elected politicians lost touch with the real world. As on display with the parking system at the new TCF Stadium. When only parking lots sanctioned by the Minneapolis City Council with their zoning laws would allow tail-gating. Local parking lots were shut down on game day, as part of the system.

If you want a park board like the Minneapolis City Council and their system, as demonstrated by the way the parking situation is handled at the new TCF stadium, it all started on election day.

BARLAND, dedicated to preserving the independent park board model to protect what has been offered at the parks in the past. Leaving the cornerstone in Minneapolis intact in hard times. As center of neighborhoods, with day care, music for pre-schoolers, youth development, and senior card clubs. The parks.

The system, with mayors like in Madison. In Madison, where Mayor Cieslewicz was forced to back off his proposal for budget cuts by closing five of the city’s eight ice skating rinks this winter. After the uproar. It can happen here. In Minneapolis. Where it actually has been proposed to have the Minneapolis City Council take over the sovereignty of the parks.

Leaving a mark to ensure within a city that long ago set aside green spaces, that the parks would long endure. With active use. Parks. Of the people. For the people. Parks. Dedicated to the proposition that all men, all women, are created equal. BARLAND. Who was running, who had come to dedicate that a portion of those fields would long endure. In the upcoming era which will be all about closings. And budgets.

BARLAND, dedicated to the proposition that the heart of our community is the recreation center as a gathering place to meet, play. Places to take classes or play.

Steve Barland, championing the places which contribute to the celebrated quality of life in Minneapolis. Places where he witnessed the power of recreational activities in lives. Life-long learning places about what really counts in a community, and then teaching the next generation. Learning at rec centers the lessons from your neighbors.

It is altogether fitting and proper that you should do this. Vote. Here was the Park Board Commissioner who believed in leaving the parks open as always. His belief was well stated. With his vow to vote to never close a single recreation center. When the difficult decisions about budget cuts, Steve Barland as the 5th District Park Board Commissioner means a referee making calls to not only keep rec centers open but an advocate promoting increased participation in youth sports, as well as adult and senior programs.

The new world order. And that system of the new world order. Politicians and the good old endorsement system, which prevented real people from wanting to get involved in the system. The new world order when regular working stiffs quit seeking public office. In a world with those political endorsements and connections. Until politicians lost touch with the real world. Like in Madison, Wisconsin. With candidates who did not quite understand what quality of life was all about.

The system. It all started on election day. Now. It all started with simple park board elections.

The political world might little note, nor long remember what happened every day on the hallowed ground called parkland. It is for the next Park Board Commission to be dedicated to the unfinished work of the parks, with Board Commissioners dealing with budgets. I want a commissioner with a direct connection with park and recreation leagues, and the people who participated. I want a commissioner who remembered. Someone who was real. Someone who was of the people, for the people, so that park and rec leagues would not perish from the Minneapolis earth.

BARLAND.

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

In January 2009, UnitedHealth based in Minnetonka, Minnesota agreed to shut down their Ingenix database and settled a lawsuit with the New York Attorney General by paying $50 million, it was reported in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. According to an item in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, the investigation by the New York Attorney’s General office uncovered a fraudulent and conflict-of-interest-ridden reimbursement system, which the state of New York then proceeded to replace with a not-for-profit company, FAIR Health Inc., to be headquartered at Syracuse University.

That $50 million was used to form a new, independent database at Syracuse University. After settlements with other similar companies, the New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday
a new independent database for consumer reimbursement as part of this Upstate research network in what sounds to be a reformed plan for Ingenix’s health care reimbursement database. Only this time allegedly with “transparency, accountability and fairness.” Funded by the litigation of Mr. Cuomo. Offering no defense of the operations at UnitedHealth here, public policy in New York apparently involves using the courts to transfer jobs to their state under the umbrella of the health care debate?

This new research network, reportedly funded with nearly $100 million in settlement money recovered during an investigation by Cuomo’s office into how the health-insurance industry reimburses consumers for out-of-network health care charges, “will develop a new Web site where for the first time consumers can compare prices before they choose their doctors.”

This is an innovative way for state government to create new jobs in their own state.

On Human Growth & Those Hormones

Commissioner Bud Selig told a New York Times columnist. “I’m concerned about the pace of the game.

Hypocrisy is a charge leveled when someone fails to live up to the virtuous standards being expounded.

On spectating. On the theatrics of spectating. I attended sports events to watch. More and more there are these spectating participants. Who stood up and blocked my view. And they looked for others in the crowd to do as they did. As if they were participating in what was gonna happen on the next pitch. Orchestrated. Over-managed ritualized standing, watching the Joe Girardis and the Ron Gardenhires over manage. Baseball 2009. Embracing the language of the age, and ritualistic noisemaking. On Fox Television.

Fox Sports. The prior owner of the Dodgers. Bigger than life Fox Sports that gave me week in and week out on their local affiliated cable station broadcasters that stole enjoyment from the game. It was like that Mr. Potter in It’s A Wonderful Life who owned everything in town. When the Mr. Potters controlled the broadcast rights. With an FTC that just allowed the media to drain credibility with sponsors who equally sponsored politicians through lobby groups. When baseball was just a small part of the problem, only reflecting all off society’s ills. Drugs. Steroid use. Sexual harassment, with the Mets. Those Stanford grads managing the Diamondback to a last place finish. Bud Selig’s New Age Baseball.

Bud Selig and dermatology. His thin Wisconsin skin that was bothered if he spent any time in October in New York. About criticism of umpires versus instant replays. Bud Selig making TV more important each October. What now happened each year with all post season baseball. Making the audience at home more important than the ticket buyer. With a disregard of playing conditions once a game began. Like the scheduling of baseball in November. Bud Selig New Age Baseball.

Fox Sports. During the regular season. Making television so important until no one was watching televised baseball during the regular season. Without regard to the clocks. And those 4 hours games. As if this was the NFL. Fox Sports and their good drones who cover the games, and don’t ask any uncomfortable questions.

TBS. And Chip Caray, never mentioning the incident of Miguel Caberra in the playoff game, of the circumstances of his drinking until 6 a.m. Too inconvenient for everyone. Those MLB partners. The Tigers. And Caberra’s wife. Not explaining how there might not have been a playoff in Minnesota.

TBS. And Chip Caray, making more errors than the umpires. Let’s share the performance enhancement drugs with the broadcaster. And Joe Buck. Whatever happened to likable broadcasters? Honest broadcasters who were not some shills of MLB, TBS, or Fox Sports. People who knew something and were worth listening to discuss baseball. Likable guys. Like Skip Caray. Or Jack Buck? Men not born with silver microphones in their mouths. People who reached the national stage not on their pedigree. But based on talent.

Joe Buck. Where there was melodrama everywhere. And “good at-bats.” Melodrama everywhere, created by your broadcasters. And Joe Buck encouraging those spectating participants in the crowd. To stand and block my view. While he sat in his pressbox. Elevated above it all.

I was a spectator. I knew my role. I had paid to watch. As ticket prices escalated. Thanks to collusion. When the commissioner was now colluding with the Major League Players Association. Every 4 or 5 year. In the basic agreement. When Bud Selig gets his $15 million cut each year. He was good at colluding, as an arbiter had once ruled. And so was Donald Fehr who was just given an $11 million severance package with his retirement. Collusion to increase revenue from the working stiffs who bought baseball tickets. While those artificial drones in the broadcast booths, and journalist still cheerleading the expenditures of dollars on free agents. In publicly financed stadiums. Thirty three years later after free agency began. New stadiums were needed to pay for this system.

Free agency. Because players would talked to the Peter Gammons s and the Murray Chase s who fed Marvin Miller’s New Age Music. All this artificial participation. But by stand up guys everywhere. In the stands and in the dugouts. Like Scott Boras and all those stand up cheerleaders in Dodger Stadium. Not just in L.A. Give Scott Boras a visible location and maybe more of his clients will sign with the Dodgers.

According to Joe Buck, there should not have been a focus in the attention given in an 10-1 game on umpires and the bad calls. Not in the newspapers. Joe Buck who thought about it, and five minutes later, in an intro of “not to beat a dead horse” umpire discussion, talking about the threat of baseball’s credibility, about replays. Instant replay.

About the threat of the loss of credibility. Joe. Get a mirror. Or listen to yourself tells us what wonderful baseball we were watching in New York, in spite of the rain and cold temperatures. And all these good at-bats that contributed to the perversions of length of game. The game was supposed to be about hits, not walks. When the purpose of the bat was to swing. And not have to listen to Joe Buck drone on and on. Get out of your heated booth and feel the rain for 210 minutes. Then tell us of the wonders of a good at-bat. Umpires used to postpone such games because of rain and cold. Maybe you can tell the writers what to write about in those wonderful games 10-1 games when the games take 210 minutes, however hard it was to be consistent in the spotlight so much on one microphone.

As ticket prices escalated. The threat of baseball’s credibility. When Commissioner Bud Selig told a New York Times columnist. “I’m concerned about the pace of the game.” With instant replays which would add to the length of game. Other than making TV and Fox Sports even more important. Those fans at home more important than anyone in the park. People in the park who paid to watch everything except the instant replays. Or what those spectating participants did not obstruct.

Bud Selig’s New Age Baseball. And Selig’s concern about “the pace of the game.” Hey Bud, what about the length of the season?

That Umpire Who Once Was a Bartender: I’ll Have a Double

Phil Cuzzi became well known Friday night in Minnesota. Major League Baseball only has umpires along the outfield foul lines in the All-Star Game and for post season baseball. He was the umpire whose only duties down the left field line was to judge fair or foul balls.

Cuzzi is a 54-year old umpire with decades of experience. Sunday night he is the third base umpire. If there is a fourth game, he will be at second base. “Unless you umpire, you can’t possibly understand,” in a phone interview Saturday night Cuzzi told The Newark Star-Ledger . “It happens. It happens at the worst possible time. And it happened to me.” Steve Politi wrote, he was standing barely 10 feet away, with an unobstructed view when he saw the ball curve down the left-field line and bounce. When reached Saturday night by Steve Politi, Cuzzi admitted he felt badly about blowing the call Friday night in which he ruled that Joe Mauer’s drive fell in foul territory.

How the heck did he miss that call?. “We’re not used to playing that far down the line,” Cuzzi told Steve Politi. “I think I may have been looking too closely at it. I never had a feel for where the left fielder was on the play.”

In 1993, Cuzzi was “released” from his duties as a AAA umpire, having been in 140 major-league games. Then in 1996 Len Coleman was the president of the National League staying as a guest at the Short Hills Hilton when he was approached by Cuzzi who was working there as a concierge. Cuzzi had stood in the hallway early one morning, waiting for Coleman’s door to open.

“I initially jumped back, and then he identified himself,” Coleman told the Newark reporter. “He was working at the hotel and figured I’d be going out in the morning. He already had 140 major-league games under his belt. But I told him there was no way he was getting back to the big leagues unless he started at A ball. And that’s exactly what he did. He got back into his car and rode all over the country, umpiring A-ball games from one league to the next, all because he wanted to get back to the majors so badly.”

After being fired as a minor league umpire in 1993, he becoming one of 25 umpires hired after a number of umpires resigned as part of a Ritchie Phillips’ labor scheme gone bad, writes Mark Gonzales in the Chicago Tribune. Gonzales described Cuzzi’s job in 1996 as that of a bartender.

The labor scheme gone bad involved mostly National League umpires in a Phillips’s scheme of having the umpires resign en masse to induce MLB to negotiate for a labor agreement to replace the agreement that expired three weeks before. In the board-conducted election, umpires voted by 57-35 for the Major League Umpires Independent Organizing Committee to represent them, which was the end of Ritchie Phillips. And it saw the likes of Phil Cuzzi to come back to the big leagues.

He still serves up a strong Manhattan.

Baseball 2009

If there was one league, it would have been quite a pennant race with two games left in the season. Especially if only one team went to the World Series as in before 1969.

Los Angeles 93 67 .581 - - - -
Philadelphia 92 68 .575 1.0 - - -
Colorado 92 68 .575 1.0 - -
St. Louis 91 70 .565 2.0 – - -

48 Hours

Hush money.

The Telegraph had the news of David Letterman’s revelation that he had sexual relationships with female employees of his show. Letterman said after his monologue last night on the air that he had received a demand by an alleged extortionist, according to CBS an employee of “48 Hours,” to either pay $2 million or risk his relationships being made public.

Letterman’s own production company according to the Los Angeles Times, does have a sexual harassment policy in place which does not prohibit sexual relationships between managers and employees, said a spokesman for Worldwide Pants.

After making a living off as a comic over Monica Lewinsky and Eliot Spitzer jokes, Letterman put the spin that the real story was about extortion, and the “threat” to him over his “creepy behavior.” According to Nick Allen of the The Telegraph.co.uk, during the CBS “Late Show with David Letterman,” Letterman revealed earlier that day he appeared before a grand jury about an alleged extortion attempt connected to his sexual liasons with women who worked for him which would clearly involve issues of sexual harassment in his admitted “creepy stuff…relationships.”

The Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, with a perceived timing orchestrated by Worldwide Pants, held a press conference within 14 hours to announce the specifics, revealing charges brought against CBS News producer Robert “Joe” Halderman.

Worldwide Pants. Caught without their pants on. “We have a written policy in our employee manual that covers harassment. It is circulated to every employee every year. Dave is not in violation of our policy and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.” So said the statement. Letterman’s own production company. Letterman did not believe in sexual harassment? He was an agnostic when it came to sexual harassment? What about the people who did not get the promotions that his staffers got in the Worldwide Pants world?

Thursday CBS said the “48 Hours” employee charged with attempted grand larceny was suspended from his job. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau in a press conference revealed the charges against CBS News producer Robert “Joe”Halderman. Mr. Halderman has not gotten the same public forum to address the world that Letterman was given about his alleged wrong doing. There also was no word on how CBS was dealing with the issues of sexual harassment, if corporate policy was violated. What a time for those human resource staffers. Apparently CBS feels extortion from an entertainment star was a worse offense than sexual harassment of female staffers, or the collateral damage of sexual harassment.

Fox News New York has reported that according to a search warrant, Robert “Joe” Halderman’s girlfriend Stephanie Birkitt was one of the women that Letterman slept with. According to Fox News New York, Ms. Birkitt is Letterman’s former assistant. Fox News New York has reported that the search warrant states the package Halderman sent Letterman contained copies of parts of Stephanie Birkitt’s diary and correspondence.

Entertainment Tonight showed later featured appearances of Stephanie Birkitt over the years on “Late Show with David Letterman” from venues like the Winter Olympics.

Letterman was quoted on his show as saying: “I was worried for myself. I was worried for my family. I felt menaced by this. And I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done.

According to Nick Allen of the The Telegraph.co.uk, “The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.”

Letterman described how three weeks ago he had got in his car early in the morning, found a letter within a package saying: “I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and that I can prove you do some terrible things.” The package contained the proof, Letterman said. He called his lawyer to set up a meeting with the alleged extortionist, with two subsequent meetings, the last one resulting in the delivery of the fake check. Robert “Joe” Halderman allegedly had threatened to write a screenplay and a book about him unless Halderman was given money.

According to Nick Allen, Letterman admitted on Late Night Show Thursday night to having “had sex with women who work with me on this show. My response to that is yes, I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Yes, it would. Especially for the women.”

According to Nick Allen of the The Telegraph.co.uk, after telling all to his audience Letterman lightened the mood. “I know what you’re saying. I’ll be darned – Dave had sex.”

So it was about hush money? The bizarre experience? The audience had scattered laughter throughout the confession.

Yeah. On with the show.

“It’s been a very bizarre experience. I felt like I needed to protect these people. I need to protect my family. I need to protect myself. Hope to protect my job.”

The bizarre experience! For the audience. An inappropriate place to make the revelation, by a host with an inappropriate sensibility about himself. A repeat offender. Someone who had to be making overtures. But on with the show. Before we gave it all too much thought. One-liners.

It might be a while before the president is going to be booking an appearance again.

Maybe Bill Clinton will show up next week to offer some support. Or guest Host Elliot Spitzer? What a time for those staffers trying to line up guests for next week.

The age of television. Performance enhancement egos and salaries. When the era of Rocky the Squirrel of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota was replaced by the era of Vigara sponsorship.

Performance Enhancement After Affects

Tsunami warnings. Times of panic. When the water recedes.

Money-market funds are no longer insured by the US Treasury. When the Reserve Primary Fund share price fell last September a bit below a dollar, the U. S. Treasury stepped in offering protection against losses, to prevent a “run” by money-market depositors. Commercial banks paid premiums for federal deposit insurance for such protection to the federal government which they are required to have. That money-market fund protection continued in the panicked climate of the last 12 months but came to a stop Friday.

On September 3, 2009, Chris Oliver wrote a piece about the biggest movement in gold which might have gone little noticed by currency traders. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which functions as the territory’s unofficial central bank, will transfer its gold reserves stored in other vaults to the depository later this year, the Hong Kong government said in a statement. Local newspaper reports said the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange had signed an agreement to use the depository for its physical settlement and storage needs. According to its International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity statement, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority reported $63 million in physical gold reserves as of July 31, 2009, thought to be stored in London.

A newly built 3,660-square-foot depository, located at the city’s main Chek Lap Kok Airport,will serve as a “storage facility for local and overseas government institutions. The facility would support Hong Kong’s emergence as a Swiss-style trading hub for bullion and would lessen London’s status as a key settlement-and-storage center, Chris Oliver wrote. Marketing efforts will be launched to convince Asian central banks to transfer their gold reserves to the Hong Kong facility, according to Raymond Lai, finance director with the Hong Kong Airport Authority. Managing director at Scotia Capital, Sunil Kashyap, said the facility was the first with official government backing in the region. Martin Hennecke, a financial advisor with the Hong Kong-based Tyche Group, said, “Central banks are increasingly aware of the importance of having gold reserves at time of financial crisis and having it easily available at their own disposal,” and this could be appealing to regional central banks unnerved after watching the global financial system teeter on verge of implosion last year.

Management firm Value Partners planned to launch an exchange-traded gold fund that will use Hong Kong instead of London as a repository for the gold backing the fund, a local newspaper reported. Traders said the new depository facility could foster new financial products, such as exchange-traded funds based on precious metals. “Having a central government-sponsored vault would create a situation where you could conceivably look at Hong Kong as being a hub, where metal could be traded for the region,” said Sunil Kashyap.

China has always shown a respect for the American dollar which comes from the history of the dollar. Now however, a larger interest is growing in China not to fall prey to wide currency fluctuations. Exports which have until now needed a reasonable balance in foreign accounts, a major share made up of the U S dollar. Paul Volcker spoke last night on the Charlie Rose show of the need in China to avoid social tension that is directly linked to currency.

The moves by the Fed last October are now starting to look a lot like a patient weened off steroids. It was not just the American electorate looking at how all the newly minted money was going to be paid for. It was either through tax increases or budget cuts. If the dollar was going to maintain any kind of value.

On the Loss of Perspective

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

There is more and more this comparative approach to life. The increasing secularization of the western world along with developments in modern science effectively have killed the Judeo-Christian God. In its place, comes the celebration, the substitution, called diversity.

In its place, life lacks purpose and nothing has any importance. Instead people retain only their own multiple diverse and fluid perspectives. This is the world of modern America where, without need for editorial comment, 40% of all births are out of wedlock, where there have been 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. The loss of its obligatory and above it its vitalizing and upbuilding power, then nothing more remains to which a human can cling and by which a person can orient one’s self. This in the age where American government grapples with how to deal with government employees who, in the name of America, tortured. In the same age,American government had no trouble allowing soldiers who raped in Iraq to be tried. This is the world of modern America which was not supposed to believe in caste systems. In an America, where during Watergate not even the president was above the law.

The ‘death’ of God eventually leads to the loss of any universal perspective on things, and along with it any coherent sense of objective truth. Welcome to the age of diversity and moral relativism. It is the philosophy of the American public school system. When the struggle for the grasp for the truth has never been harder, if you relied on the modern media that in comparative approach to life, for justice and equality.