What to see what it feels like to ride in a Shelby that goes 146 mph in a 1/4 mile?

The American family financials

Imagine the scenario below was your financial model:

Total annual income for your family: $21,700
Amount of money your family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the family budget to address your financial crisis: $385

What is wrong with this picture? Spending 2X your earnings and you have 7X in debt. Now add nine more zeros to the numbers and you have the U.S. 2011 federal budget:

U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000

Peter Coyote - Against The Grain

“I’ve reached the place,” he says, “where I do what I do, not because I think I will win, but because it’s the only way I know how to be human.”

3 things I learned while my plane crashed: Ric Elias on TED.com

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

This is a great speech for anyone. It reminds me of the Buddhist saying I live by which is "death is good for your practice."

...more effective than diplomacy

I heard this story on NPR, Working In Shadows: Best U.S. Policy Toward Iran? At the heart of it was the debate of are covert actions better than declaring or entering a state of war? The story goes on to say that yes these covert actions are better, I find this interesting. It cites "involving cyberattacks, assassinations and bombings, and defections — has proved more effective than diplomacy." Now it really has my attention.

What I find really interesting about this article is why does it exist? A story of this nature most likely came from some people wanting to make an impression or change the way the public would view these types of activities - covert action against Iran. Then I came across this article: One Last Battle: Spinning Bin Laden's Legacy. This article was about "the work of telling the story of the operation in such a way as to advance U.S. interests." It was about "strategic communication: putting out news that furthers your cause." It used examples of how they released false information about bin Laden using a woman as a human shield. It later mentioned that "Propaganda and spin are generally seen as efforts to manipulate or even deceive people." In the same article it is talking about strategic communication and propaganda. Why not entitle the article, how to lie to the public. Keep in mind, this article is about how the news is reported.

It goes back to my earlier post regarding Osama bin Laden and not really feeling that I can trust what I read or see in the media. If you think about it, the PR agencies that are creating the positioning for these types of stories are experts. They have a very specific agenda that they are quantifying constantly. They are well funded with our tax dollars. It is no accident that the stories change, that the information is true, then false, then it is a mistake. There are resources looking at each response from the public and making decisions based on that to continue the positioning of the stories moving forward. Remember where I started on this - reading about how we can justify an assassination if it fits our cause/agenda. My observations are without contribution - I have multiple cars, I am buying all sorts of things that use oil in one form or another as part of my buying behaviors. For the most part, I do not pay attention or care about the majority of all of these types of things. Just every once in a while I am shocked to see stories like these. It is like the buzz in my brain is saying "hey zombie, pause ESPN, they are publicly testing to see if you are awake. If you can process anything outside of the NFL. They are mixing terms like diplomacy and assassination in foreign policy - do you care?" Then I say to myself, well there are no tanks in my neighborhood, gas is expensive but it is still a rounding error, and my life for the most part is really good. I am crazy? I checked all my friends on Facebook and they are not talking about any of this - it is mostly where they have been recently, what they have bought, and pictures of their families. Reminds me of the movie The Matrix - the perception of the my world looks pretty good, should I care that it is not real?

Bang, bang, the witch is dead - really?

Before you read this blog on my reaction to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden, know the following: I am relieved that the leader of the largest publicly know terrorist organization is gone, that our countries efforts to reduce and eliminate terrorism continues to improve, and I am a proud, happy and patriotic U.S. citizen. With all of that being said, when I heard the news of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, my reaction was kind of modest. It goes back to 9/11 and all of the news since then. Initially I was surprised how quickly we announced as the responsible party for 9/11. My initial reaction was "wow that was fast." Then as time moved on I was reading other data points that made me really question was Osama bin Laden really the master mind behind 9/11. I remember seeing various movies like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 that claimed that the first flight out of the U.S. was the family of Osama bin Laden - why would we do that? I also watched Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, which was a film that used images from the news footage and was demonstrating that the planes that hit the tower were not commercial planes, but military planes. It also questioned the ability of a plane to hit the Pentagon based on its flight path, size of the hole in the building (being too small), and the lack of heat/fire damage based on what a plane that size would have left. All interesting stuff, all it did was confuse me on what really happened, unable to draw a clear conclusion.

Then I was always shocked how a country with our military size, strength and resources were unable to catch Osama bin Laden. I mean really, 10 years? I would read stories of near misses and how he was living on the run in caves in the mountains with large groups of his military protecting him. I think I read at one point the U.S. had a reward of $25M for information leading to his capture - and no one turned him in - really? In the end, he was not found in a cave - rather a million dollar complex next to the Pakistan military academy. Additionally, there was only three people with him when the 24 man seal team moved in - his son, unidentified woman and man - really? Where was his bodyguards? Where was his army? This was the master mind behind 9/11 and the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen. And with all of his wealth, he was left unguarded - really? The U.S. military immediately removed his body and buried him at sea - really? Why would we not capture him (I mean he was only protected by 3 other people), and question him? It is hard to believe that questioning the leader of the largest organized terrorist group is better off dead than interrogating him first. He was the most wanted man in the world. Last, why not take a picture of his corpse? I mean is he really dead as of two days ago? Just seems odd that there is no public proof that he is dead.

I guess I just don't know or trust what I hear in the news. It would make me feel better if the second biggest story after the announcement of his death was what this will this mean for the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I mean if the witch is really dead, and all is good in the world, then why are we continuing to send military into these countries?

Wachovia's drug money laundering and the global economic swindle

What does drug money laundering look like in the 21st century? Can you believe Wachovia, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, CitiBank, the Federal Reserve, and the biggest banks in the world, were intimately involved with Mexican drug cartels? And that the cash liquidity of the underground cocaine market is the only thing keeping the global financial sector running? Watch the video, read the story that broke in the Guardian, and make your own conclusions. Watch the sound byte pulled at the 7:00 minute mark. According to the UN investigators, in times when other bubbles burst, the only thing keeping banks afloat is the unceasing global demand for cocaine.

The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller's cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drugs war.
Criminal proceedings were brought against Wachovia, though not against any individual, but the case never came to court. In March 2010, Wachovia settled the biggest action brought under the US bank secrecy act, through the US district court in Miami. Now that the year's "deferred prosecution" has expired, the bank is in effect in the clear. It paid federal authorities $110m in forfeiture, for allowing transactions later proved to be connected to drug smuggling, and incurred a $50m fine for failing to monitor cash used to ship 22 tons of cocaine.

More shocking, and more important, the bank was sanctioned for failing to apply the proper anti-laundering strictures to the transfer of $378.4bn -- a sum equivalent to one-third of Mexico's gross national product -- into dollar accounts from so-called casas de cambio (CDCs) in Mexico, currency exchange houses with which the bank did business.

"Wachovia's blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations," said Jeffrey Sloman, the federal prosecutor. Yet the total fine was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3bn profit for 2009. On 24 March 2010, Wells Fargo stock traded at $30.86 -- up 1% on the week of the court settlement.

The conclusion to the case was only the tip of an iceberg, demonstrating the role of the "legal" banking sector in swilling hundreds of billions of dollars -- the blood money from the murderous drug trade in Mexico and other places in the world -- around their global operations, now bailed out by the taxpayer.

Pay Your Taxes? These 10 Companies Didn't.

Pretty shocking data about major corporations being above the law and not having to pay taxes.

Cool video from US Royalty

Forever Young

I know in advance how childish this posting is and for the record - I don't care. :-)

As a young kid I was always interested in fast cars. In high school all of my cars were hot rods. My fastest Mustang turned high 14's in the quarter mile and my fastest car was a Nova that was in the mid to high 13's. It was a bored out 396 with a big cam and carb, and a 411 rear end. It moved pretty well but it was like a tank with a rocket strapped to it - it could only do one thing go forward fast. My friends and I were fearless, bordering on careless, in fixing and racing cars. For the fews hours of the week that they actually ran, they were fun cars to drive. I had one that I had to park on a hill because the compression was so high that it kept stripping the starter wheel. My friend, shit man Dan, nick named me burner because of the famous amounts of tread I would leave on the hill to our high school. I will still never forget my junior prom when we decided to rebuild my engine for one of my Mustangs. It was 5 p.m. and I was finishing installing the rebuilt engine in my car with my Mom telling me that I had to shower. My poor girlfriend at the time - when we got out of the car for dinner I noticed that there was grease all over her prom dress.

Fast forward to modern day. I now drive a Ford GT500 Shelby Mustang - it is the fastest car I have ever owned. It is disguised as a regular Mustang with its black stripes on black paint. On my daily commute I get challenged once a week for a friendly race, so far my record is perfect. Today I beat a M3 BMW this morning, was not much of a race. At 540 hp and 510 torque, when the supercharger kicks in it is game over. Last week it was a new Chevy Camaro SS that was bright red with white stripes. He was surprised so much that he chased me down, rolled down his window and asked what I did to the car to make it so fast. He also commented on the sound of the engine. When the supercharger is called to duty it make a high pitched whine that is unique. It is also like being in an airplane when the wheels leave the ground, you can hear the change in the engines as they move to their highest RPM's. The races are usually over before I leave 3rd gear (somewhere just past 100 mph). A couple of weeks ago we were in Menlo Park and raced a Corvette Z06 which has a much bigger engine (7 liter versus 5.4), but less hp and torque. It could have just been the driver, but he was shocked. Oh well, I know how ridiculous and immature it is, but I must admit I am having fun.

The Force from VW

This is really good!

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome

Inspiring presentation about how this author faced personal challenges and motivated himself to happiness as a result. His three A's are: attitude, awareness, and authenticity.

2010 Shelby GT500 Mustang

Oh yeah, more on my super bad car!

Fast New Shelby Mustang GT500 Full Test

Oh yeah, I drive it to work every day!