Maggie's Farm

Congrats to the US Navy for downing the satellite.

Congrats also to our intelligence community for running ( for US consumption) the cover story about the hydrazine being the big bad wolf in the story.

Truth is the hydrazine had a The “contamination zone” for the hydrazine tank of a radius of about 27 meters — that is very nearly 1/4 of a hectare (which is an area 100 meters square. Now I'm not saying that if you're under that 100 sq meter area you're going to have a nice day but it was the top secret equipment on board the bird that the NRO didn't want to fall on terra firma.

The satellite in question was without much doubt a KH-11. It is a truly remarkable bird and if you care to read about it's capabilities (to a degree) you can find them here:
http://tinyurl.com/2adpav

The bird in various iterations has been around for over 30 years, constantly being tweaked into a better platform. Not only is it terribly expensive to build and launch one ,but it is a heartbreak to have it then not work. They are very ,very complex. The loss of one also leaves a giant hole in our spy capabilities.

But it had to be done and the Navy, from the sea, brought it down, Good job Navy.

The cover story was for US consumption as the Russians and Chinese both know a good deal about the KH-11's capabilities...but they would have loved to have gotten their hands on some pieces of some of it. Too bad commies, but in outer space we've got you fully covered.

Oildrum has done a nice job of explaining what we are facing and the politicians are not facing.

They'll come a critical day when saving a few caribou and a small patch of tundra, the ANWAR will pale in the face of our needs.

Of course it would be nice if we went on a robust schedule of expediting the building of nuklar plants, but once again our Socialist Democrats are binding up the progress...and they called themselves the Progressives. t would be a nice question to ask Obama in the Presidential debates..pro or con, up or down on drilling the ANWAR.

One thing I did not get from the article which some of our reader/contributors might know is what day we'll run out of oil/gas? I'd like to make sure I fill up just before that.
If we'll have enough until I'm dead and gone then it ain't my problem.

But we do need to do it for the children.

" But I don't have any children"
"Oh shut up you old curmudgeon"

Meta,
The ISTE folks better get me a new ass then cause I worked a good deal of mine off in college, had some chewed off in the Marine Corps, what was left was taken by the IRS.

Also you said the kids would ride on the donkey carts, My vision had them holding on to the protruding axles and walking the cart from the side, thus avoiding donkey void and flatulence.

I mean we are doing it for the kids.

"but Habu what if a child goes lame?
"no problem, we'll have extras tied to the end of the cart"
"Habu, that's coffle"
"what's your point?"

Meta,

That story is a gas. I mean not only do the kids lose weight but the ones that totally crap out are gaining carbon credits for their families. Yep, a win-win, or perhaps a wind-wind.

Obama, a BJ, smoking crack, and the gathering storm

One of the biggest questions roiling just barely beneath the MSM and Internet surface is when will the Obama and Sinclair story break. Will Sinclair prove the veracity of his statements on buying coke from Obama and snorting it while Obama burns up some crack, while getting his knob slobbed by Sinclair?

This all putatively happened back in 1999 but Sinclair will soon undergo a polygraphs (2) and then the storm will break. Obama has already admitted to the press that he has done things that would totally prohibit him from becoming close to the Presidency and yet soon he could have the nuclear codes within an arms reach.

Whether this is sleaze or truth the American public MUST know the character of this pretender to the crown. He can not be allowed to breeze through the electoral process unexamined to the n-th degree. And his cynical wife Michele from hell needs a good vetting too.

The site Whitehouse.com promises in the days to come and prior to the Texas primary it will release the findings of it's polygraphs, the names of the operators and others who know about the Obama BJ and crack episode. Should be interesting

Iran 'has nuclear warhead factory

THE Iranian opposition group that first exposed Iran's controversial nuclear fuel program has given the UN's nuclear watchdog details of what the group says is a working nuclear warhead factory, visited by North Koreans.
The NCRI is the Paris-based political wing of the Mujaheddin e-Khalq, an exiled military group that has been seeking to overthrow the Iranian regime since the mid-1980s.

It has at least twice given detailed information to the IAEA that the agency's inspectors have later verified, including the original information thatexposed Iran's uranium-enrichment program and the location of those facilities in 2002. The NCRI says it develops its information with the help of contacts inside Iran.

(more) http://tinyurl.com/2e6gps


Habu: If true it is going to be virtually impossible for Bush to forestall an air assualt on Iranian nuclear facilities, nor should he. It will be massive and could happen at anytime.

The bad news is in video at the bottom

Coming into this week,the S&P, INDU and Russell were all tracing out bearish "churning" patterns under respective resistance of 1405, 12800 and 735. So what else?

There is a massive disconnect right now between the credit markets and the equity space.

If credit can catch a bid and spreads narrow, we’ll see a upside move.
If credit doesn’t improve—or worse, continues to deteriorate—the DJIA could shave 1000-1500 points.

The market has been dealt a historic hand and the global stakes have never been higher.

For the last six years, the ace up the Federal Reserve’s sleeve has been the U.S. dollar. They’ve let the greenback devalue with hopes that a legitimate economic recovery would take the place of the credit expansion that has dominated this decade.

Since 2002, the world’s reserve currency declined 37% while everything measured in dollars appreciated in kind. This dynamic passed largely unnoticed by stateside players but it’s been a source of stress for foreign holders of dollar denominated assets.

We call this “asset class deflation vs. dollar devaluation” which is to say that we’ll toggle between the two as policy makers pull fiscal and monetary strings. While both sides of that equation can potentially falter, the deck is stacked against both the dollar and asset classes rallying in synch.

As global players pile their chips on the trading table, credit jokers have appeared with greater frequency. It started with subprime debt, moved into asset-backed commercial paper, spread to auction rate securities and is now migrating to municipalities. AMBAC etc.

While near-term nuances are difficult to digest, the big picture has come down to a simple question. Will foreigners allow the dollar to devalue further, paving the way towards hyperinflation, or will capital drain from the system and introduce a prolonged period of deflation?

The Reckoning

What’s clear is that the game itself has experienced a seismic shift. Central banks have been extremely proactive in what they do and how they do it. This has been going on for years but the efforts increased appreciably since last summer. We opined at the time that something was afoot and the pieces have seemingly fallen in place.

We are approaching a critical crossroads. Structural imbalances have cumulatively increased since the back of the tech bubble and risk has built to a crescendo. The credit contagion simply served as a catalyst to bring this conundrum to bear. All that remains to be seen is where the bear will domicile.

Let’s look at both sides To the left is the socialization of markets, nationalization by governments and hyperinflation. To the right, we have asset class deflation, risk aversion and the unwinding of the debt bubble.

If the Northern Rock nationalization is the first in series of similar steps, we could conceivably see the stateside assumption of mortgage debt by the U.S government. This would hit the dollar and spike equities, at least until interest rates rose to levels deemed attractive as an alternative investment.

That is the hyperinflation scenario, one that is presumably preferred by the powers that be as an alternative to watershed deflation. The “haves” would fare better than “have nots,” which would include the former middle class that suffers as a result of moral hazard, as the costs of goods and services skyrocket.

The other scenario is the draining of liquidity from the system, which would ignite the fuse for a higher greenback as currency becomes scarcer. Asset classes across the board, from commodities to equities, would deflate and impact the top tier of our societal structure that is tied to the marketplace.

This is, quite obviously, problematic for many policy makers and the constituencies that bankroll them. Deflation in a fractional reserve banking system means that they have, for all intents and purposes, lost control of the economy. It is an admission of defeat, albeit one that may be unavoidable.

Problem is too tough
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson hands are tied with regard to how they publicly posture themselves.

The banking system, stymied with credit contagion, is not operating normally and the communication thereof is delicate. Hidden behind proposed bailouts, stimulus packages, super-conduits, term auction financing, mortgage rate freezes, foreclosure freezes and working groups are politicians attempting to engineer a business cycle that long ago lost it’s way.
None of these plans will affect the larger deflationary credit contraction. Debt deflation is occurring outside of the Fed’s control at the world’s money center banks, where supply and demand for credit has undergone a rapid and significant decline.

This process will take years to manifest but will ultimately yield positive results. The destruction of debt will allow world economies to build a solid foundation for future expansion that is entirely more secure than what we currently have in place.

Deflation will cause paper wealth to evaporate and rich nations will be forced to pour real money—as opposed to cheap debt—into developing economies as a redistribution mechanism. While the path might be painful, the destination will be a sustainable starting point for future generations.

There is a marked difference between taking our medicine, which is a function of time and price, and injecting the system with drugs with hopes that the pain will pass. The latter matter continues to be the diagnosis of choice, as evidenced by current events, but the patient would be well served to understand the prognosis.

There are no easy answers but there are certainly simple truths. The sooner we prepare for the worst, the better we can in good conscience hope for the best. ( most parts plagiarized by a dummy so he can sound smart)

THAT WAS THE GOOD NEWS, NOW FOR THE BIG REALITY

This is the bottom. If nothing else watch this interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2QE137fRvs

Great minds ...after the article the first thought I had was of Alfred E. Neuman and "What, Me Worry"...and I guess it's probably not bad advice. In reality what can we do with numbers and problems that immense?

We can only do our best with our part, and I know we will.

Semper Fi