argus

Brought to us by the good souls at ScrappleFace.

Poor Audrometer — she’s gotten her first real cold. Stuffy head, runny nose, cough, fever… the works :( Few things are as heartwrenching as seeing your helpless yet still adorable little girl hacking and struggling to get a breath through her clogged-up teeny-tiny nose …and then smiling when she looks up at your face, just cause you’re there.

To make matters worse, it’s really starting to take it’s toll on The World’s Number One Mom & Wife (aka Nichole) in terms of sleep. Audrey doesn’t sleep for very long (although finally giving her some Children’s Tylenol seems to help), which means that we don’t sleep for very long. Check that: Nichole doesn’t sleep for very long, as she insists on being the one to get up at 4:28 in the AM when Audrey wakes up fussing and hacking, on the grounds that I have to get up and go in to work (”That’s your job..”) and she is supposed to take care of Audrey (”..and this is my job.”) I’ll take over for a while on particularly bad nights, but by and large she’s the pre-dawn trooper. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, now that further evidence is fresh at hand: I don’t deserve such blessings.

And please pray for the Buglet, so she can get to feeling better in time for her very first Christmas!

“The key in how low the dollar goes is the interest rates. In January, the Fed is going to have to make a decision which way to go. If Fed rates go up, the dollar will hold in the 78.33 range, but the stock market and the economy will tank. If next year the Fed lowers rates to keep the economy from crashing, the bottom will fall out of the dollar, and I see it going as low as 55. Once the dollar hits bottom, it will take the stock market and the economy right with it anyway. The Fed is in a box they can’t get out of.”

The dollar is headed for collapse. China will start unloading it first, then the oil industry will start to shift away from it. From there, it’s all downhill. Once things are really in the toilet, then Our Imperial Federal Government will Save The Day by proposing …the amero, the North American version of the Euro. National sovereignty is, like, so 20th century.

What can you do? Not much. Convert your dollar holdings to gold and silver if you can. If you’re really adventurous (and you have the money to invest), try an option straddle on the exchange of your preference: basically short the dollar’s strength against other currencies. But really, the whole fiat currency system is due for another flush down the john. As we have clearly forgotten history (or just never learned it in the first place), we are doomed to repeat it. Ultimately, all you can do is have a “pipe dream” disaster response plan in place so you don’t go to pieces when the fan gets hit with the proverbial poop.

Pop quiz: is the Federal Reserve a government agency/entity?

Some quotes to chew on…

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” — Henry Ford

The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution.

I. They are not among the powers specially enumerated…

II. Nor are they within either of the general phrases, which are the two following:-

1. “To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States.” … The [Congress] are not to do anything they please, to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose… It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect…

2. The second general phase is, “to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the enumerated powers.” But they can all be carried into execution without a bank. A bank, therefore, is not necessary, and consequently not authorized by this phrase.

It has been much urged that a bank will give great facility or convenience in the collection of taxes. Suppose this were true; yet the Constitution allows only the means which are “necessary” not those which are merely “convenient,” for effecting the enumerated power. — Thomas Jefferson, speaking against the bill proposing creation of the First National Bank

Buckle up.

Andrew McCarthy has an outstanding piece over at NRO titled “Negotiate With Iran?” Now that the Iraq Study Group has released it’s September 10th recommendations (replete with …absolutely no surprises), Mr. McCarthy’s piece is simply required reading. His history lesson of Iran’s central position in Islamic radicalism throughout the past quarter century puts the lie to the preposterous proposition of “talking” with Iran and Syria.

From my mother’s photo collection and emailed to me today. Her notes:

The larger you make this photo for viewing, the more the impact.

…notice the eyebrows…