INTRODUCING: BEYOND GOLD.

It's been an exciting year of new ventures for us here at Neon Gold, but we're not about to stop now. First came Popshop, bringing you the best new pop music the world has to offer the first Thursday of every month in the heart of the LES. Then there was our publishing joint venture* with Warner/Chappell, which resulted in the signing of Alex Winston as our first foray into the pub world. And up next, we're very pleased to announce a brand new online magazine called Beyond Gold, coming later this month with a launch party June 14th at Tammany Hall, featuring Grouplove, 1, 2, 3, Captain Cuts and more. With a rotating staff of contributors, Beyond Gold will be bringing you the best the world has to offer in fashion, design, art, music, culture and more, an online lifestyle magazine weaving together everything we love that falls just beyond the realm of Neon Gold.

We'll have more on Beyond Gold as we get closer to the June 14th launch, but for now it's a brilliant excuse to throw an amazing launch party with our dear friends Grouplove and 1, 2, 3 playing live, plus The Knocks, Xaphoon Jones and the NYC debut of Captain Cuts - whose remix of "Colours" is still the best song (remix or otherwise) we've heard this year - on the decks. It's one of the best lineups we've ever had the pleasure of assembling for a show, and at the low low price of $5 you really have no business being anywhere else on the 14th. And as if the bands and price tag weren't appealing enough, we've also got Absolut and Bomb Lager on board providing complimentary vodka and beer for the first hour from 7-8pm. You down? Yeah, we thought so. Tickets are available HERE, but with so much bang for so little buck, you're gonna want to move fast on these. Set times and mp3s below, get involved New York.

07:00pm: The Knocks (DJ) // DOWNLOAD: "Pumped Up Kicks" (The Knocks Remix)

08:30pm: 1, 2, 3 (LIVE) // DOWNLOAD: "Work"

09:30pm: Grouplove (LIVE) // DOWNLOAD: "Colours"

10:15pm: Xaphoon Jones (DJ) // DOWNLOAD: "The Jackson Pit"

11:00pm: Captain Cuts (DJ) // DOWNLOAD: "Colours" (Captain Cuts Remix)

And then here's the video for Grouplove's brand new single "Itchin' On A Photograph", just because we haven't posted it yet and we love them more than we love ourselves.

*just to clarify, our publishing JV is also called Beyond Gold, and though the magazine and pub imprint aren't directly related, they're not entirely unrelated either. if anything it's just confusion for confusion's sake, smoke and mirrors y'all.

How he strengthening Euro will impact gold prices

Stronger Euro Impacting Gold : Jeb Handwerger, editor of GoldStockTrades.com, discusses the impact of the strengthening Euro on gold prices."Well then in late January. When gold was experiencing a opposite -- we decline. We called for a rally at a measured move 600 dollar area.I encourage you. Are seasonal cycles so into June. We still expect that 16100 dollar area to be hit.the -- strengthening today it seems like that Germans are going to be loosening their stance regarding the Greek bailout. "

Conspiracies for You and Me

RWA1 has been letting me down lately: I rely on him for links to wacked-out rightwing spew, and I wasn't getting anything I could use. The best was a link to an article about David Mamet's self-touted conversion from liberalism, with RWA1's comment "It will be interesting to see what this gifted writer has to say. I went down this journey 50 years ago." I didn't write about that one because I've seen little of Mamet's work; what I have seen, however, not only didn't interest me much but supported what numerous people have said online: Who knew Mamet was a liberal?

There was also a link to a piece by Stanley Crouch attacking Cornel West. Not exactly daring, since West has been getting a lot of flack from liberals for his attacks on Obama. RWA1 commented, "Stanley Crouch has him dead to rights. The man is a charlatan, down to his shiny gold cufflinks. Liberal guilt has gone too far in accommodating him." I've read more Crouch than I have Mamet, and mainly remember Crouch's homophobic attacks on James Baldwin. I've got my own differences with West, but I wouldn't call him a charlatan. But remember, RWA1 thinks David Mamet is "gifted", that Jay Nordlinger's mind is "worth spending time with," and that George Will, Peggy Noonan, and Joe Rehyansky are sober, rational political commentators.

Anyway, today RWA1 linked to this article, with the comment "The Internet is speeding the spread of arrant nonsense." I can't really argue with that; the Internet has made it possible for all kinds of material to spread with greater speed than ever before, and there's no reason why arrant nonsense should be an exception. But still, RWA1's own fondness for arrant nonsense makes his complaint seem rather ungrateful. He gets lots of nuttery for free from the Right's propaganda mills and -- also for free -- links to it on Facebook to help speed it on its way.

Even better, after another of his friends made a little joke, RWA1 added: "Apocalyptic hysteria is always cropping up, but the conspiracy fantasies are really getting out of hand with the internet." That's especially ungrateful, given his fondness for conspiracy theories. (NPR must continue to receive government funding so he can listen to opera, despite their liberal anti-American news programs.) RWA1 has always been scornful of religious "Yahoos" as he likes to call them, though as with Dan Savage's fury over hearing that being gay is a choice, I find myself wondering why he takes apocalyptic hysteria so personally.

And what does apocalyptic hysteria have to do with conspiracy theories? The Truthout article RWA1 cited, "Theories and Hoaxes Are Blurring Reality", by one Greg Guma, began with a trendy comment on Harold Camping's failed prediction of the Rapture, but moved quickly from there to "offbeat" theories:
There are so many out there. Obama is a secret Muslim – millions of people believe that, secular humanists want to repress religion, and liberals are plotting to confiscate people’s guns and push a “gay agenda.” At the opposite end of the political spectrum, there is the assertion that 9/11 was an inside job and all that this entails. No offense meant. I’ve been called a “conspiracy nut” myself, specifically for saying that we should know more about the attack on the Twin Towers. Still, a modern-day Reichstag fire at multiple locations does qualify as a radical conclusion.
I think Guma is somewhat confused about what a theory is. (To say nothing of "radical.") Believing that Obama is a secret Muslim, or even that he grew up in Kenya where he was trained in anti-colonialism doesn't qualify as a theory. The theory would lie in who conspired to hide Obama's true background, and how they did it, but the claim itself isn't a theory. The 9/11 Truthers have some theories about what happens or doesn't happen to tall buildings when airliners strike them, and they believe that the Bush-Cheney administration carried out the destruction of the Twin Towers to justify the War on Terror they wanted to start. In some broad sense of the word that could be called a theory, I guess.

Calling an idea, a belief, or even a theory a "conspiracy theory" is an easy way of derailing a debate. In the first place, conspiracies do happen, so speculating about conspiracy is not like claiming that the Second Coming is near. The hard part is finding evidence that a conspiracy did in fact happen, and the burden of proof lies on the advocate of any given conspiracy theory. But some nutty claims, such as the one that the US government has been involved in the narcotics trade, or that the Reagan administration conspired to evade Congressional prohibition of military aid to the Nicaraguan contras by selling weapons to Iran, or that the US tried to assassinate Fidel Castro, have turned out to be true.

In the second place, there are perfectly mainstream conspiracy theories, like the one that a network of Islamic fanatics around the world is conspiring to destroy Western freedom. When I was growing up in the 1950s, anticommunist conspiracy theories were part of the mainstream. And indeed, there were Communists who spied on the US for the USSR, just as there were American spies who spied on the USSR for the US. The difference is that these conspiracy theories were promulgated in the mass media, from the Reader's Digest to the TV networks; or by groups like the American Legion, the Roman Catholic Church, and the FBI, who had access to schoolchildren. Even after the decline of McCarthyism, the US left has never had such access to media.

That's leaving out the less respectable, but still popular beliefs that circulated widely, some of them still current on the Internet. The atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair has a petition before the FCC to ban all religious broadcasting, and if Bible Believing Christians don't send them a million postcards, the Word of God will be driven from the airwaves! The United Nations has created a World Bible with all reference to the saving blood of Jesus Christ removed, because "we do not wish that any man be saved"! Hippies spat on Vietnam War veterans! Rock music contains secret messages recorded backwards that will turn listeners into devil worshipers! Paul McCartney died in a car accident and was replaced by a guy called Billy Shears, but the Beatles scattered hints about the matter throughout their later work. (Many people who don't believe that Paul died still believe that the hints are there.)

The funny part of RWA1's comment about conspiracy theories is that the Right generally is quite fond of conspiracy theories. Muslims are stealthily imposing sharia law on America! Liberals are filling TV with gay teen propaganda so teenagers will want to get gay married! Liberal scientists invented the theory of global warming and the liberal media are trying to scare us with it so that ... what? I'm not sure what the Right thinks is the secret, anti-American payload of global warming theory. (RWA1 is scornful of creationists and the Academic Left for their rejection of science, but he freely denounces science that doesn't suit his politics.) The liberal media are suppressing news about the Tea Party Movement and trying to make Sarah Palin look bad! Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11! President Bush had to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons that were an imminent danger to the US! President Clinton had to bomb Iraq because Saddam had expelled the weapons inspectors!

The biggest irony, though, is that this griping about the spread of conspiracy theories is itself a conspiracy theory. So is Guma's conclusion, after he concedes that there is something to some of the nutty claims that have been going around:
In short, some theories may be distractions or even deliberate deceptions, but others are worth considering, as long as we stipulate that they aren’t necessarily facts and resist exaggeration. The problem is that it’s becoming more difficult to tell the difference in an era when facts have been devalued. There are so many possibilities, the standard of proof appears to be getting lower, and theories tend to evolve, expand and mutate rapidly in unexpected ways as they circulate through cyberspace. As yet, there is little follow up to see whether new facts reinforce or discredit a particular idea or prediction. Corruption of truth meanwhile contributes to social division and civic decay. Yet there are apparently no consequences for stoking paranoia, intentionally confusing speculation with fact, or perpetrating a premeditated hoax.
"Facts have been devalued," Guma says, but by whom? Them, I guess, the bad guys who want to distract and distort and devalue facts. He doesn't consider the possibility that many people don't trust the US government because the US government has lied, often, about matters of great seriousness. The Bush administration, with a lot of help from the corporate media, stoked paranoia, intentionally confused speculation with fact, and perpetrated a premeditated hoax about Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to get support for their invasion of Iraq. The human cost, in terms of lives lost, refugees fleeing into exile, and the destruction of a country was staggering, yet there still have been no consequences for the perpetrators. Nor was Iraq an isolated case: similar distortions and "corruption of truth" attended most if not all American wars. (I specify American wars because of American exceptionalism, which freely admits the lies and aggression of other countries, but denies that the US would do such awful things.)

But are things any worse than they used to be? I don't know of any reason to think so, and Guma doesn't give any.

Conspiracies for You and Me

RWA1 has been letting me down lately: I rely on him for links to wacked-out rightwing spew, and I wasn't getting anything I could use. The best was a link to an article about David Mamet's self-touted conversion from liberalism, with RWA1's comment "It will be interesting to see what this gifted writer has to say. I went down this journey 50 years ago." I didn't write about that one because I've seen little of Mamet's work; what I have seen, however, not only didn't interest me much but supported what numerous people have said online: Who knew Mamet was a liberal?

There was also a link to a piece by Stanley Crouch attacking Cornel West. Not exactly daring, since West has been getting a lot of flack from liberals for his attacks on Obama. RWA1 commented, "Stanley Crouch has him dead to rights. The man is a charlatan, down to his shiny gold cufflinks. Liberal guilt has gone too far in accommodating him." I've read more Crouch than I have Mamet, and mainly remember Crouch's homophobic attacks on James Baldwin. I've got my own differences with West, but I wouldn't call him a charlatan. But remember, RWA1 thinks David Mamet is "gifted", that Jay Nordlinger's mind is "worth spending time with," and that George Will, Peggy Noonan, and Joe Rehyansky are sober, rational political commentators.

Anyway, today RWA1 linked to this article, with the comment "The Internet is speeding the spread of arrant nonsense." I can't really argue with that; the Internet has made it possible for all kinds of material to spread with greater speed than ever before, and there's no reason why arrant nonsense should be an exception. But still, RWA1's own fondness for arrant nonsense makes his complaint seem rather ungrateful. He gets lots of nuttery for free from the Right's propaganda mills and -- also for free -- links to it on Facebook to help speed it on its way.

Even better, after another of his friends made a little joke, RWA1 added: "Apocalyptic hysteria is always cropping up, but the conspiracy fantasies are really getting out of hand with the internet." That's especially ungrateful, given his fondness for conspiracy theories. (NPR must continue to receive government funding so he can listen to opera, despite their liberal anti-American news programs.) RWA1 has always been scornful of religious "Yahoos" as he likes to call them, though as with Dan Savage's fury over hearing that being gay is a choice, I find myself wondering why he takes apocalyptic hysteria so personally.

And what does apocalyptic hysteria have to do with conspiracy theories? The Truthout article RWA1 cited, "Theories and Hoaxes Are Blurring Reality", by one Greg Guma, began with a trendy comment on Harold Camping's failed prediction of the Rapture, but moved quickly from there to "offbeat" theories:
There are so many out there. Obama is a secret Muslim – millions of people believe that, secular humanists want to repress religion, and liberals are plotting to confiscate people’s guns and push a “gay agenda.” At the opposite end of the political spectrum, there is the assertion that 9/11 was an inside job and all that this entails. No offense meant. I’ve been called a “conspiracy nut” myself, specifically for saying that we should know more about the attack on the Twin Towers. Still, a modern-day Reichstag fire at multiple locations does qualify as a radical conclusion.
I think Guma is somewhat confused about what a theory is. (To say nothing of "radical.") Believing that Obama is a secret Muslim, or even that he grew up in Kenya where he was trained in anti-colonialism doesn't qualify as a theory. The theory would lie in who conspired to hide Obama's true background, and how they did it, but the claim itself isn't a theory. The 9/11 Truthers have some theories about what happens or doesn't happen to tall buildings when airliners strike them, and they believe that the Bush-Cheney administration carried out the destruction of the Twin Towers to justify the War on Terror they wanted to start. In some broad sense of the word that could be called a theory, I guess.

Calling an idea, a belief, or even a theory a "conspiracy theory" is an easy way of derailing a debate. In the first place, conspiracies do happen, so speculating about conspiracy is not like claiming that the Second Coming is near. The hard part is finding evidence that a conspiracy did in fact happen, and the burden of proof lies on the advocate of any given conspiracy theory. But some nutty claims, such as the one that the US government has been involved in the narcotics trade, or that the Reagan administration conspired to evade Congressional prohibition of military aid to the Nicaraguan contras by selling weapons to Iran, or that the US tried to assassinate Fidel Castro, have turned out to be true.

In the second place, there are perfectly mainstream conspiracy theories, like the one that a network of Islamic fanatics around the world is conspiring to destroy Western freedom. When I was growing up in the 1950s, anticommunist conspiracy theories were part of the mainstream. And indeed, there were Communists who spied on the US for the USSR, just as there were American spies who spied on the USSR for the US. The difference is that these conspiracy theories were promulgated in the mass media, from the Reader's Digest to the TV networks; or by groups like the American Legion, the Roman Catholic Church, and the FBI, who had access to schoolchildren. Even after the decline of McCarthyism, the US left has never had such access to media.

That's leaving out the less respectable, but still popular beliefs that circulated widely, some of them still current on the Internet. The atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair has a petition before the FCC to ban all religious broadcasting, and if Bible Believing Christians don't send them a million postcards, the Word of God will be driven from the airwaves! The United Nations has created a World Bible with all reference to the saving blood of Jesus Christ removed, because "we do not wish that any man be saved"! Hippies spat on Vietnam War veterans! Rock music contains secret messages recorded backwards that will turn listeners into devil worshipers! Paul McCartney died in a car accident and was replaced by a guy called Billy Shears, but the Beatles scattered hints about the matter throughout their later work. (Many people who don't believe that Paul died still believe that the hints are there.)

The funny part of RWA1's comment about conspiracy theories is that the Right generally is quite fond of conspiracy theories. Muslims are stealthily imposing sharia law on America! Liberals are filling TV with gay teen propaganda so teenagers will want to get gay married! Liberal scientists invented the theory of global warming and the liberal media are trying to scare us with it so that ... what? I'm not sure what the Right thinks is the secret, anti-American payload of global warming theory. (RWA1 is scornful of creationists and the Academic Left for their rejection of science, but he freely denounces science that doesn't suit his politics.) The liberal media are suppressing news about the Tea Party Movement and trying to make Sarah Palin look bad! Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11! President Bush had to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons that were an imminent danger to the US! President Clinton had to bomb Iraq because Saddam had expelled the weapons inspectors!

The biggest irony, though, is that this griping about the spread of conspiracy theories is itself a conspiracy theory. So is Guma's conclusion, after he concedes that there is something to some of the nutty claims that have been going around:
In short, some theories may be distractions or even deliberate deceptions, but others are worth considering, as long as we stipulate that they aren’t necessarily facts and resist exaggeration. The problem is that it’s becoming more difficult to tell the difference in an era when facts have been devalued. There are so many possibilities, the standard of proof appears to be getting lower, and theories tend to evolve, expand and mutate rapidly in unexpected ways as they circulate through cyberspace. As yet, there is little follow up to see whether new facts reinforce or discredit a particular idea or prediction. Corruption of truth meanwhile contributes to social division and civic decay. Yet there are apparently no consequences for stoking paranoia, intentionally confusing speculation with fact, or perpetrating a premeditated hoax.
"Facts have been devalued," Guma says, but by whom? Them, I guess, the bad guys who want to distract and distort and devalue facts. He doesn't consider the possibility that many people don't trust the US government because the US government has lied, often, about matters of great seriousness. The Bush administration, with a lot of help from the corporate media, stoked paranoia, intentionally confused speculation with fact, and perpetrated a premeditated hoax about Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to get support for their invasion of Iraq. The human cost, in terms of lives lost, refugees fleeing into exile, and the destruction of a country was staggering, yet there still have been no consequences for the perpetrators. Nor was Iraq an isolated case: similar distortions and "corruption of truth" attended most if not all American wars. (I specify American wars because of American exceptionalism, which freely admits the lies and aggression of other countries, but denies that the US would do such awful things.)

But are things any worse than they used to be? I don't know of any reason to think so, and Guma doesn't give any.

Lily Allen to launch fashion chain in Dubai

A Dubai boutique is due to start selling clothes from Lily Allen's Lucy in Disguise collection.

Fashionistas hoping to fit in with the jet set after catching flights to Dubai will have another option for looking fabulous, after Lily Allen announced plans to launch her vintage fashion concept in the UAE city.

The 26-year-old singer has recently taken a break from music to focus on launching Lucy in Disguise, which allows savvy shoppers to rent designer clothes for a glamorous night out.

Now, homegrown luxury fashion chain Boutique 1 will sell clothes from the Lucy in Disguise collection in Dubai, Arabian Business reports.

Other worldwide boutiques to offer clothes from the collection, include Le Bon Marche in France, Shopbop.com in the US, Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, and Harvey Nichols in London.

For more information visit here

Boston Logan Airport – Shopping & Dining Guide

Boston Logan International Airport is one of the United States’ busiest airports. Millions are served by this airport every year, and most of those millions leave this airport utterly satisfied! The airport serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways apart from handling some popular US airlines, code share and global alliance airlines.

Boston Logan Airport is an incredible facility that guides its passengers through a maze of services and amenities. It is a huge airport and features 4 terminals, each of which has its own fire department, police department, hotels and even a non-denominational chapel! Since it is such an enormous airport not many people are able to check out each and every part of Boston Logan. Here is an extremely compact Boston Logan International Airport Guide that offers information and tips on the shopping and dining options at the airport.

Terminal C – This terminal features some award winning restaurants and some wonderful shopping alternatives. From local to international, people can find a variety of delicious cuisines at this part of the airport. For shopping freaks, there is really no dearth of places where you can spend some of your hard-earned money, clothing, accessories, gifts, books, jewellery – you name it they have it. Log onto Boston Logan Airport’s website for more information on shops and eating joints at Terminal C! One can also check out other valuable Boston Logan Airport information while one is logged in!

Terminal E – This terminal is another paradise for food and shopping lovers. Terminal E features a duty-free shopping arcade which automatically makes it one popular place among travellers. Other shops that one can find at this terminal are TechShowcase, Brookstone and Zoom Systems.

Reasons Aplenty For Travellers to Book Flights to Hawaii

Hawaii is an incredible holiday destination – one that beguiles vacationers from all corners of this planet. The place is inundated with a stunning variety of natural splendours – be it vast sandy beaches, cascading waterfalls or tropical rainforest. Such natural marvels cocooned up in the warmth of locals and world class infrastructure makes Hawaii such a fine vacation spot among all kinds of people.

Top Charms of Hawaii
It is not surprising to know that cheap tickets on flights to Hawaii are highly popular as millions await their chance to get acquainted with the mesmerizing locales of the region. Hawaii casts a kind of enchanting spell on visitors who book flights to Hawaii and travel to the state. Check out some information on few of the most popular attractions and activities that await holiday makers in Hawaii.

Beaches
Beaches are perhaps the biggest charms of the Hawaiian state. Many book their seats on flights to Hawaii just to sample the myriad of beaches that grace the land of the region. Beaches in this part of the world are known for their excellent sand texture and remarkable water clarity.

The island of Maui in Hawaii is known for its beautiful, picturesque beaches that are immensely popular among foreign tourists. One can take part in a range of activities at these beaches like swimming, snorkelling or surfing. There surely is no dearth of interesting options when it comes having fun at the beaches in Maui. Popular beaches in the area are Kaanapali, Black Rock Beach, Kapalua Beach and Oneola Beach.

Sightseeing
There is a flood of options as far as sightseeing in Hawaii is concerned. Those people who are hard pressed for time on Hawaii holidays will find that it is really difficult to decide what all tourist attractions to miss out – they all are astonishingly wonderful! Still, if one has pick few of the most remarkable ones than they have to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Panaewa Rainforest Zoo, Waimea Canyon and Pearl Harbor Memorial. There is no point in getting seats on cheap flights to Hawaii if you are going to miss any one these must-see tourist delights.

Events and Festivals
Hawaiians love to celebrate and celebrate they do! It is this very spirit of joyousness and jubilation that sets Hawaii apart from others as a holiday destination. All throughout the year, Hawaii organises a variety of activities and events - ranging in size from gatherings of few hundreds to state-wide events with over 100,000 participants.

Hawaiians celebrate music and the arts, sports, culture, agriculture and traditions. Through music, dance, games, food, parades and competitions, festivals and events in Hawaii provide visitors with an experience that is way beyond just sun, sand and surf!

Some of the popular and significant events and festivals that are organised in the region are Merrie Monarch Festival, Aloha Festivals, Molokai Hoe Canoe Race, Spam Jam and Hawaii International Film Festival. It surely is worth the effort to schedule your trip in Hawaii keeping in mind some of the major festivals in mind!

Shopping
Just like every popular holiday destination, Hawaii too allures people with its enchanting range of shopping options. The place promises to satisfy and gratify even the most judicious of shoppers. Hawaii is most famous for its print clothing, long-lasting tropical flowers, and its unbelievable assortment of mementos and gifts.

Eating
Food is another big charm of this place. Hawaii features a number of eating joints that serve incredibly delicious food amidst the most soothing of surroundings. Try out any of the many regional cuisine joints to sample something unique and exceptionally delectable!

POPSHOP RADIO 006

It's a beautiful day, a short work week, and there's a motherfucking Popshop going down Thursday night at Tammany Hall - does life get any better than this? It does when you remember that not only do we have an amazing lineup of acts - shouts to Keepaway, Body Language, Computer Magic, Living Days and Xaphoon Jones - putting it down on our stage this month, but we also have OPEN BAR Absolut from 8-9pm plus Heineken throwing in a free keg of beer for a free brews free-for-all from 2-3am, just to make absolutely sure we all make as many poor life choices as possible.

To celebrate this most triumphant occasion, The Knocks are back once again with another Popshop radio minimix, a summery blast of kid-tested, Popshop-approved hits to make the unbearable wait to Thursday night just a little bit easier. Tracklist and stream/download below, don't forget to cop your advance tickets HERE. With so much free alcohol on offer you'll be able to drink away that $10 price tag in no time at all, so get your tickets now before it's too late.

1. "Trip" - Vacationer
2. "When You've Got Music" (ft. The Knocks) - Chiddy Bang
3. "Social Studies" (Plastic Plates Remix) - Body Language
4. "Electronic Fences" - Computer Magic
5. "Bad Things" - Cults
6. "Family Of The Son" - Keepaway
7. "The Old House Is Gone" - St Lucia
8. "Go Oblivion" - Living Days
9. "The Suburbs" - Mr. Little Jeans

Comments Turned Off

GoldMoney. The best way to buy gold & silver

I like to read comments others leave and have learned a lot from some of them. However, I have been overwhelmed by spambots promoting Viagra, penis enlargement, term papers, and a host of other products. I have decided to turn off the comment feature for now. Such is life in the wild, wild world of cyberspace.

Feel free to email me at abrochert - my mail server is yahoo (as in yahoo dot com) if you've got a comment, etc.

I hope to turn the comment feature back on in a month or so once the electronic cockroaches have moved on to greener pastures.


Buy gold online - quickly, safely and at low prices[Most Recent Charts from www.kitco.com]

The European Gold confiscation scheme unfold

The European Gold confiscation scheme unfold ,Let the whole banking system collapse, it's built on sand anyway.the US is next, that is why you should care. They are trying their scheme out on a small, basically defenseless country to see how it works, then they will 'grow' the program. The banks will own everything if nothing is done to stop them. They own most of the real estate in the US when you consider everyone 'borrows' to buy it and if they default, it goes back to the back, not the original owner it was sold from.
A very informative interview, we need to get Sprott, Ned and Morgan together with Max to discuss how to take over the warehouse supplies of silver...well done Max and Stacy!


The excessive printing of dollars to keep the economy from a great depression is fuelling inflation. PIMCO has lost faith in the US government and is investing in precious metals. As more people pull their heads out of the sand and stop watching X Factor on TV more of them will pile into the only real store of value - gold & silver etc.

Bearish Whispers

GoldMoney. The best way to buy gold & silver


I am not interested in shorting the stock market at this time. There is no confirmation that "the" top of the cyclical general equity bull market is in. This bull market is within the context of a secular equity bear market, which is far from over. When viewed in Gold terms (i.e. priced in Gold), this secular general equity bear market is deflationary. People still argue whether or not this bear market will end up being inflationary or deflationary when priced in U.S. Dollars. I hold my long-term savings in Gold, not U.S. Dollars, and I can appreciate the logic behind both the inflationist and deflationist arguments, but Gold will win either way due to the ongoing monetary chaos. When priced in Gold, we have unequivocal secular deflation that began at the turn of the century, and thus I will continue to hold the ultimate form of cash (i.e. Gold) until the dust settles. Having said all these things, there are some important bearish undertones to the general equity markets that suggest a cyclical general equity peak is near.

Things are always subject to change, of course, and this why punters have to pay attention more frequently than investors. On a speculative basis, I like to watch bonds, stocks, commodities, currencies and underlying technical measures of strength. All of the pieces tend to fit together, though not always intuitively. The chart that bugs me the most right now in the equity realm is China. And no, I am not talking about the FXI ETF for American traders, I am talking about the Shanghai Composite ($SSEC). Here is a 4.5 year weekly log scale chart of the $SSEC thru Friday's close:




Brazil's chart also doesn't look very good, and if any country is riding the global commodity and emerging market reflation wave, it is Brazil. Here's a 4.5 year linear scale weekly chart of Brazil's stock market ($BVSP):




And although Greece is a small economy and a basket case, aren't they really just another canary in the coal mine for what will happen to even larger economies before this secular bear is over? Here's a 6.5 year weekly log scale chart of the Dow Jones Greece Index ($GRDOW) thru Friday's close:




Larger, Western economies like the U.S. and Germany still have halfway decent looking charts that do not show confirmed tops yet. But the internals are starting to deteriorate in the U.S. markets. Financials and semiconductors, as sectors, failed to make new highs along with the S&P 500 last month. Also, here's a look at the percentage of NYSE stocks above their 150 day moving averages (i.e. $NYA150R), an intermediate-term look at the underlying "health" of the market (i.e. percentage of stocks participating in a bull run), using a weekly linear scale chart over the last 5.5 years thru Friday's close:




If this is a replay of 2007, a quick and scary 10% or so plunge (e.g., based on a Greek default) to scare everyone could set up one more run for a double top or slightly higher high in the S&P 500. This could also pull down Gold and silver and their stocks, a la August 2007. The government steps in, prints a lot more money, we get a bounce in stocks, and we get a major run in precious metals and their stocks while the equity bear market begins. Just a thought and not saying it will play out exactly like this, but it would fit nicely and shake out a lot of weak metal bulls before another run higher.

Here is another measure of deteriorating economic health, the Industrial metals ($GYX) to Gold ($GOLD) ratio. I will often use the copper to Gold ratio for this as well, but the $GYX:$GOLD chart over the past 14.5 years using a weekly log scale format chart gets the point across nicely:




When inflationary policy is "working" and trickling down to the real, productive economy, base metals should outperform Gold. Base metal use is a sign of demand related to building things and the kind of economic growth most people would like to see (though it isn't necessarily healthy growth as China's ghost cities and the burst USA real estate bubble demonstrate). When demand for Gold is rising faster than demand for base metals (assuming price is a reasonable crude estimate of demand), people are scared and looking to protect their wealth via Gold, as they don't see adequate capital projects in which to deploy hot money. This is my oversimplified view of economic reality, but it seems to work fairly well at "seeing" economic turns and I don't think this time will be any exception.

Finally, a look at short-term US interest rates. Here is a 7.5 year weekly log scale chart of yields on the 1 year US Treasury note:




Why would big money pile into 1 year government paper at a return of less than zero (i.e. when inflation is factored in)? Why wouldn't they just buy stocks instead? Or how about commodities? This is an unusual rate collapse at this point in the economic "recovery," this so-called recovery a government economic theory to which I obviously don't subscribe.

Once we have a confirmed cyclical equity top, I predict money will pour into Gold and Gold stocks. Much like in 2007-8, Gold and Gold stocks will rally despite a declining stock market. However, also like that time, speculators don't want to stay bullish in Gold stocks for too long, as the really big downdrafts in the stock market (which likely won't occur until 2012) will take the precious metals sector down as well. This should leave a good 6-9 month window for a classic (and potentially massive) fall speculative rally in shiny things in my opinion.


Buy gold online - quickly, safely and at low prices[Most Recent Charts from www.kitco.com]

Ignorance Is Strength

One of my Facebook friends from high school posted this on her status the other day:
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

MY GENERATION GREW UP RECITING THIS EVERY MORNING IN SCHOOL WITH MY HAND ON MY HEART. THEY NO LONGER DO THAT FOR FEAR OF OFFENDING SOMEONE!

LET'S SEE HOW MANY AMERICANS WILL RE-POST THIS AND NOT CARE ABOUT OFFENDING SOMEONE
As far as I can tell, it is false that "they" don't make kids recite the Pledge in school every morning. Attempts to block the requirement in court because of the "under God" clause (added in the 1950s) have failed. The cartoon I referenced in this post indicates that the Pledge is still alive and well in public schools; so do the younger friends I've asked about their own experience. So does the experience of Will Phillips, a ten-year-old who got national attention when he refused to recite the Pledge in class because gay people are discriminated against in America. If "they no longer do that", why did his teacher try to make him do it anyway?

But maybe I'm misreading it. I'm going to speculate, based on what I've learned about the way people (especially, but not only, those on the Right) see such things. Maybe the author of this status message (my friend, of course, was just reposting) wants every child to be forced to recite the Pledge. If even a few get away with not doing it (and there have always been people who refused, for religious and other reasons), then "they no longer do that for fear of offending someone!"

Stuff like this is why I am still on the Left, as vague as such labels are. The Left isn't perfect, and often gets things wrong, but the Right lies so consistently that you can generally look at its positions and claims, assume the opposite, and be pretty sure of being correct.

Ignorance Is Strength

One of my Facebook friends from high school posted this on her status the other day:
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

MY GENERATION GREW UP RECITING THIS EVERY MORNING IN SCHOOL WITH MY HAND ON MY HEART. THEY NO LONGER DO THAT FOR FEAR OF OFFENDING SOMEONE!

LET'S SEE HOW MANY AMERICANS WILL RE-POST THIS AND NOT CARE ABOUT OFFENDING SOMEONE
As far as I can tell, it is false that "they" don't make kids recite the Pledge in school every morning. Attempts to block the requirement in court because of the "under God" clause (added in the 1950s) have failed. The cartoon I referenced in this post indicates that the Pledge is still alive and well in public schools; so do the younger friends I've asked about their own experience. So does the experience of Will Phillips, a ten-year-old who got national attention when he refused to recite the Pledge in class because gay people are discriminated against in America. If "they no longer do that", why did his teacher try to make him do it anyway?

But maybe I'm misreading it. I'm going to speculate, based on what I've learned about the way people (especially, but not only, those on the Right) see such things. Maybe the author of this status message (my friend, of course, was just reposting) wants every child to be forced to recite the Pledge. If even a few get away with not doing it (and there have always been people who refused, for religious and other reasons), then "they no longer do that for fear of offending someone!"

Stuff like this is why I am still on the Left, as vague as such labels are. The Left isn't perfect, and often gets things wrong, but the Right lies so consistently that you can generally look at its positions and claims, assume the opposite, and be pretty sure of being correct.

Gold and Silver Rally Trade

Scott Redler, chief strategic officer for T3Live.com, says to trade gold and silver Friday and wait to go long.:'we're not exactly sure if and this bounce is gonna take just -- new highs or was this just healthy balance of -- for the short term. This is probably a spot to lighten up a little bit. It's I -- well you would be -- a week and next. Well you know market -- and I forget about when Rangers are tight before remove and how cold does have a four -- move. So if you look at them -- gold it might be hired among -- from now but I think you can get a better entry than chasing it on the fourth update. Typically silver -- just had a nice to reading move from what 35 to 37 -- so. I know it's not where was a 4049. And trying to get the forty to 41 yes but I just elect a better entry in today I believe is not the data and there silver Oracle (ORCL) but they stay here for awhile next week and prove that is demanding commitment to this balance. Then we'll get another entry and that could prove to be the entry for a move back to those how much -- as well. I don't think we get the multiple they're out of it to see you absorb this multiple -- and decide gold go from what 1470. -- around 1530."

South Africa visitors urged to catch Royal Show

A major agricultural show is expected to greet 250,000 visitors in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province this weekend.

Families and animal lovers alike are advised to fit in a trip to the Royal Show during their South African summer holiday.

Starting on Friday (May 27th), the ten-day festival features a wide range of attractions, including live music concerts, chainsaw racing, show jumping, fireworks displays and animal shows.

Celebrating its 160th anniversary, the highly popular event expects to draw around a quarter of a million visitors to the KwaZulu-Natal Showground, including many overseas guests on flights to South Africa.

Hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society, The Royal, as it is referred to by the locals, will include a wide range of wildlife, ranging from race horses to birds and livestock.

For more information visit here

I Can Talk to Strangers If I Want To, 'Cause I'm a Stranger Too

(The title comes from Randy Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby?", a song I'd almost forgotten until Ellen Willis mentioned it in her review of Newman's Twelve Songs.)



Some more quotable bits from Out of the Vinyl Deeps.



From a review of Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks (102):

His most nearly perfect triumph is "Donovan's Colours," an exquisite three-and-a-half-minute instrumental track that sounds like a nice, simple piano piece played by someone with six hands.
I love that sentence, but I'm not sure it accurately describes the track; listen for yourself. Virgil Thompson reportedly said that music criticism should be done by simply describing the music, and the description will be the criticism. I'm beginning to think, as I reread Willis's criticism, that she was not a very good music critic in Thompson's sense, though she was very good on culture and politics.



For example, her realization about Bette Midler's concert at the Palace, 1973 (94):

The real test of Bette's genius was whether she could make me believe in palm trees and cricket noises, feather-duster fans, the Harlettes in their chorus-girl outfits, and -- oh, God, as Bette would say -- Hawaiian dancing girls. Although I thought I was prepared, the overblown production jolted me into exactly the reaction it was calculated to elicit: What is this? Then I remembered that Bette Midler grew up in Honolulu, and I wondered -- as I was sure I was meant to -- at how the schlockiest elements of our popular culture always relate in some way to some person's real life.
On Simon and Garfunkel and "rock poetry" (103):

Bob Dylan, so we kept hearing, had banished the infamous Tin Pan Alley cliche. Accordingly, Paul Simon ... became a "rock poet," dealing with such noncliche subjects as the soullessness of commercial society and man's inability to communicate.
On the generation gap (it comes so soon) between the Sixties and the Seventies (111f):

When Grand Funk [Railroad] was becoming the most popular son-of-white-blues band in the world, I listened some more, on the usually reliable theory that a band beloved of teenagers must be doing something right. The music still didn't do much for me; I caught myself thinking of it as abunchanoise, and I knew what that meant -- creeping senility. Hadn't my parents reacted the same way to Little Richard? (Little Richard was the supreme test: my mother liked Elvis, but she couldn't stand Little Richard.)
Finally, something written not by Willis but about her, by her former student Evie Nagy and her longtime fan Daphne Carr in the book's Afterword. In 1995 Willis co-founded the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University.

CRC graduate Priya Jain remembers a shocking meeting of Ellen's Sex and American Politics class where she challenged liberals who argued that it was absurd to think gay marriage could lead to legal plural marriage or bestiality -- her suggestion, to everyone's extremely awkward horror, was that legally, perhaps it could. "What Ellen did was say those things with the full confidence that your liberal beliefs could withstand some of the more taboo arguments," says Jain. "It's not good enough to say there are areas where you're not supposed to make an argument -- all she really wanted you to do was articulate it, and once you articulate it, you realize how shaky it is, and from there you figure out how and where to draw the lines. And it doesn't mean you can't continue thinking that gay marriage, for example, is a good thing." For Ellen, as Lauren Sandler says, "there was no party line." Her consistency was in thought, not personal ideology, and it was one of the reasons she was so effective at putting herself in her work without indulgence, and teaching others to do the same [230-1].

It's hard to say whether I learned not to be afraid of following arguments to their conclusion from Willis -- there are other writers and thinkers who led in the same direction -- but she was surely an important influence on me. I tend to approach the kind of slippery-slope argument mentioned here from the other side, pointing out that plural marriage is a traditional Biblical value, so why don't conservatives support it? (Willis once wrote a satirical piece, "Toward a National Man Policy," reprinted in Beginning to See the Light, that played with the same idea.) But like her, I reject the common liberal response to many conservative arguments, Oh how can you say such awful things? because I believe that if those arguments are that absurd, they should be dissected, pitilessly. If rereading Willis these past two days has been somewhat less exciting than I expected, it's probably because so many of her radical ideas have become my common sense. Didn't I already know that? If I know it now, it's because I encountered it so compellingly in Ellen Willis's writing.

I Can Talk to Strangers If I Want To, 'Cause I'm a Stranger Too

(The title comes from Randy Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby?", a song I'd almost forgotten until Ellen Willis mentioned it in her review of Newman's Twelve Songs.)



Some more quotable bits from Out of the Vinyl Deeps.



From a review of Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks (102):

His most nearly perfect triumph is "Donovan's Colours," an exquisite three-and-a-half-minute instrumental track that sounds like a nice, simple piano piece played by someone with six hands.
I love that sentence, but I'm not sure it accurately describes the track; listen for yourself. Virgil Thompson reportedly said that music criticism should be done by simply describing the music, and the description will be the criticism. I'm beginning to think, as I reread Willis's criticism, that she was not a very good music critic in Thompson's sense, though she was very good on culture and politics.



For example, her realization about Bette Midler's concert at the Palace, 1973 (94):

The real test of Bette's genius was whether she could make me believe in palm trees and cricket noises, feather-duster fans, the Harlettes in their chorus-girl outfits, and -- oh, God, as Bette would say -- Hawaiian dancing girls. Although I thought I was prepared, the overblown production jolted me into exactly the reaction it was calculated to elicit: What is this? Then I remembered that Bette Midler grew up in Honolulu, and I wondered -- as I was sure I was meant to -- at how the schlockiest elements of our popular culture always relate in some way to some person's real life.
On Simon and Garfunkel and "rock poetry" (103):

Bob Dylan, so we kept hearing, had banished the infamous Tin Pan Alley cliche. Accordingly, Paul Simon ... became a "rock poet," dealing with such noncliche subjects as the soullessness of commercial society and man's inability to communicate.
On the generation gap (it comes so soon) between the Sixties and the Seventies (111f):

When Grand Funk [Railroad] was becoming the most popular son-of-white-blues band in the world, I listened some more, on the usually reliable theory that a band beloved of teenagers must be doing something right. The music still didn't do much for me; I caught myself thinking of it as abunchanoise, and I knew what that meant -- creeping senility. Hadn't my parents reacted the same way to Little Richard? (Little Richard was the supreme test: my mother liked Elvis, but she couldn't stand Little Richard.)
Finally, something written not by Willis but about her, by her former student Evie Nagy and her longtime fan Daphne Carr in the book's Afterword. In 1995 Willis co-founded the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University.

CRC graduate Priya Jain remembers a shocking meeting of Ellen's Sex and American Politics class where she challenged liberals who argued that it was absurd to think gay marriage could lead to legal plural marriage or bestiality -- her suggestion, to everyone's extremely awkward horror, was that legally, perhaps it could. "What Ellen did was say those things with the full confidence that your liberal beliefs could withstand some of the more taboo arguments," says Jain. "It's not good enough to say there are areas where you're not supposed to make an argument -- all she really wanted you to do was articulate it, and once you articulate it, you realize how shaky it is, and from there you figure out how and where to draw the lines. And it doesn't mean you can't continue thinking that gay marriage, for example, is a good thing." For Ellen, as Lauren Sandler says, "there was no party line." Her consistency was in thought, not personal ideology, and it was one of the reasons she was so effective at putting herself in her work without indulgence, and teaching others to do the same [230-1].

It's hard to say whether I learned not to be afraid of following arguments to their conclusion from Willis -- there are other writers and thinkers who led in the same direction -- but she was surely an important influence on me. I tend to approach the kind of slippery-slope argument mentioned here from the other side, pointing out that plural marriage is a traditional Biblical value, so why don't conservatives support it? (Willis once wrote a satirical piece, "Toward a National Man Policy," reprinted in Beginning to See the Light, that played with the same idea.) But like her, I reject the common liberal response to many conservative arguments, Oh how can you say such awful things? because I believe that if those arguments are that absurd, they should be dissected, pitilessly. If rereading Willis these past two days has been somewhat less exciting than I expected, it's probably because so many of her radical ideas have become my common sense. Didn't I already know that? If I know it now, it's because I encountered it so compellingly in Ellen Willis's writing.

WoWTrader- The EU "Search and Destroy" for your AH!


Those that are "in the know" already know. Those that don't, you are about to find out. Acy, a dedicated EU WoW player has announced a new site that they have started. Now EU players have an opportunity to see what the US has had in The Undermine Journal. 

Upon seeing the site, I contacted Acy to see if there was anything we can do to help this website become a success. After a bit of conversating, I was able to get some great questions for your reading enjoyment. If you are an EU player, I hope that you are as interested in this as I am, and you can help out by uploading your AH scans. Yeah, this means you! So enough of my preampt, here's the interview....


Who are you and what is your site all about?



I'm a WoW player who has been casually been playing since vanilla.
IRL I work in IT in the financial services sector so have an interest
in Trading in both real life and WoW.
wowTrader is a new EU based website that allows people to easily see
price trends and price gaps on World of Warcraft Auction Houses. The
data for the site is currently crowd sourced from Auctioneer data
files stored when doing a full scan of the AH. These files can be
uploaded by any registered user which then get analyzed for prices and
presented in the form of graphs and stats analysis. Once the WoW
armory API is released I will be looking to automate the data
collection direct from them.



I am sure that alot of EU players are willing to help, how do they go about doing it?




As the data is crowd sourced the best way for people to help is to get
registered and upload data files from their server, its a really
simple process and is documented on the upload page. In short, grab
and install auctioneer, do a full quick scan, log out, jump on
wowTrader and upload. The quality of the data on the site is only
currently limited to a resolution of 1 hour, just to keep the amount
of data being stored managable, so the more people that upload data
the better a resource it will be. As soon as a user uploads data for a
server it will become live and can be searched for items.



Please tell us more about the registration....




The primary reason for registering is so that users can build a home
page and set their personal preferences. Currently, registered users
can build a home page with all the items they trade in regularly which
a small graph for each item so you can see at a glance the trending
price for all the items.
A secondary reason is to track uploads, price manipulation is not
beyond the realms of possibility from Auc-ScanData files, tracking who
uploads what means I can keep an eye on any odd data.




What are your plans in the future with the site?




The site at the moment is a bare bones project that simply analyzes
and presents back stats and graphs. Future improvements include:
o Email alerts, triggered on specific price conditions for an item,
once the site sees the item you are tracking selling for more or less
than you specified you can be alerted by email. It is important for me
personally that people realize I hate spam, all emails will be opt in
and must be setup by the user. I will never, ever, use their email for
evil! 

 Better crafting integration. I plan to be able to let users select
the professions they have and the site tell them which items are most
profitable (and in demand) on their server at the current time. Dynamic graphs, they are currently static and rendered using HTML5,
I would like to improve these so they can be zoomed and scrolled but
currently the resolution of the data doesn't really warrant that.  Code clean up and bug removal, there are definitely a few gremlins
in the works are the moment but most of these just produce crazy error
messages and don't manifest as inaccurate prices
.

I hope that gives you an insight on what is happening with this great new addition to help you with your Auction House sales. I look forward to digging into this new site to see all that it has to offer, and keep a lookout for updates and "how to's" coming soon!

Virgin Australia launches A330 on Sydney to Perth route

Virgin Australia launches A330 on Sydney to Perth route


A new domestic route from Sydney to Perth has been launched by Virgin Australia.

The first Airbus A330 flights to Perth from Sydney with Virgin Australia have been launched, with new business class cabins and economy class features included.

Passengers in economy class can enjoy luxury leather seats and in-flight video entertainment on their own personal screen.

Meanwhile, business class options include daily newspapers, airport lounge facilities, meal service, additional carry-on luggage storage, and blankets and pillows on all flights that last three hours or more.

The new service will be running at a peak frequency of three times per day by July, carrying 33,000 passengers a week, the airline added.

Prices on this new service start at 219 Australian dollars (£143) each way in economy class and 1,399 Australian dollars each way in business class.

For more information visit here

Why Gold & Silver? FULL MOVIE - Mike Maloney Tells All

Why Gold and Silver ?  a Mike Maloney Movie . Thank you so very much for sharing your work for free viewing! I can only imagine how much blood, sweat, and tears you and your team put into creating this movie and I think it is extremely generous to share it. For those of us who are in difficult financial circumstances, whatever the reason, you are throwing a lifeline of sorts. Bless you!Visit http://www.goldsilverdvd.com for bonus features - 'How Does Mike Invest?', 'How Did Mike Get Started?' (hear the story of Mike firing his financial advisor), and 'How & What To Buy'. This is the full version of the movie, which features extra parts not yet seen on YouTube: Currency creation, the Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, how central banks steal our wealth, runaway deficits, the second wave of mortgage resets, Mike's prediction of short term deflation THEN hyperinflation, New Media, Ron Paul, and the Constitution.



Robert Kiyosaki just released an article at his conspiracyoftherich website called "Why Gold and Silver Aren’t Good Investments‏" He said "If the Fed stops printing money, there will be a giant crash causing a tsunami of pain and destruction. Cash will become king" 
It was fascinating to watch the film again and see how things have moved on since it was filmed in June of 2009. Gold was $950. Silver was $15. The Gold/Silver ratio was 65. You could pick up a monster box of eagles for a cool $8000.

Though the prices and ratios have moved on, the film is entirely relevant and still one of the best ways for a newcomer to get up to speed with gold and silver. It is jam packed with information and calm analysis by the top experts in their field, who have been right since the start of the last decade. If you have a friend or family member who wants to know about metals but you can't find the time to help them understand, or if there is someone you want to help but they just won't listen, or even if you just want to say 'Haha! Told you so!'....do them a favour and send them the link to this movie. Embed it on Facebook. Tweet it. The lot...

At least they won't be able to say 'Why didn't you warn me?' as they ask you for a loan!

"You know, we're in this period where governments are abusing their currencies worldwide, and gold and silver are going to account for all of this. And like I say, there are these brief moments throughout history where the investment with the single greatest potential gains in purchasing power, is also the safest place that you can put your wealth, for the past 5000 years! And I'm not going to let that pass me up, let me tell you!"

Thank you Mike Maloney, neither are we.

Bill Murphy and James Turk on Gold and Silver manipulation

Bill Murphy, Chairman of GATA the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, interviewed by James Turk, Director of the GoldMoney Foundation .Bill Murphy : ...the price of gold is gone so high a lot of people cannot afford an ounce of gold but they can afford Silver at these prices and because the west is so momentum oriented all of a sudden it is becoming fashionable that to own gold and silver , somebody the other day said they went to sell their silver and there was lines at the coin shops and they taught there was people going to sell their silver , they were (instead) buying !!! I think it is very encouraging from my stand point because it is making the life for the gold cartel and the people in the short side it is ruining them it is killing them , I mean they are deep under water , you well know they raid the market they tried tricks by raising the margins they attack at certain time , it is not working , in the old days years ago they will make moves like these there will be many many months before the price can recover because there was so much technical damage in terms of the technical market , now because of the physical market which you are talking about and that what I say that's where the importance is , you got these dips Floomps people are flocking in on every dip , so their games do not work like they used to and that's why we gonna to have something that's never been seen before in a market in America ...."

" I think that's too (the collapse of the dollar) , Silver is going bananas it's just bid bid bid , and the shorts at some point they have to cover something may be not the one being bailed out by the government but if you short silver .., just the other day I put in my commentary about Carlos Slim putting on hedges all type of Gold this is the richest guy in the world , he is not going to be the richest guy in the world if this keeps going on ......


Out of the Vinyl Deeps

I found something today that I'd known I wanted, but didn't expect to turn up: a new collection of Ellen Willis's pop/rock criticism, Out of the Vinyl Deeps (Minnesota, 2011), edited by her daughter Nona Willis Aronowitz.

Because her main interest was political (left/feminist/Zionist), Willis didn't write much about music after about 1980, though her rock criticism was always political. After her very professional essay on Bob Dylan was published in Cheetah in 1967, the New Yorker, of all places, hired her as their rock critic. She stayed on until 1975, writing fifty-six pieces for them. Her work was very influential but partly because she left the field and (mostly?) because she was female, it has been largely forgotten. This compilation and republication may help to remedy that situation -- I hope so.

As I read the book, though, I'm struck by some odd mistakes, especially in reviews of Bob Dylan's work. In the Cheetah article, for example, she refers to the "electronic beat" (11) of "Desolation Row", whose instrumentation consists of two acoustic guitars and an electric bass. Not exactly "Pump Up the Jam"; the arrangement owes a lot more to Marty Robbins's 1959 song "El Paso" than to the Rolling Stones. Again, she wrote that on 1970's New Morning Dylan "plays the piano for the first time since Highway 61 Revisited" (32) but Dylan had played piano on "Dear Landlord" on John Wesley Harding. (Hell, he's credited with playing piano on Blonde on Blonde.) These aren't big problems, just small annoyances, but couldn't they have been fixed for republication?

I'm also bothered by some more serious mistakes, as when she confused "bisexuality" with "androgyny" in a piece on David Bowie.
As for his self-proclaimed bisexuality, it really isn't that big a deal. British rock musicians have always been less uptight than Americans about displaying, and even flaunting, their "feminine" side. Androgynousness is an important part of what the Beatles and the Stones represent; once upon a time Mick Jagger's bisexual mannerisms and innuendos were considered far out. Bowie's dyed red hair, makeup, legendary dresses, and onstage flirtations with his guitarist just take this tradition one theatrical step further [39-40].
"Bisexuality" doesn't mean a man wearing a dress or wearing lipstick (strictly speaking, neither does "androgyny"): it means that one relates sexually to persons of both sexes. It's true that many male rock critics were upset by Bowie's theatrical effeminacy (Lester Bangs once referred to him as "the chicken-headed king of suck rock"), but Bowie's bisexuality involved writing songs about sexual/erotic love between males, most notoriously "Queen Bitch" from Hunky Dory. There were also rumors -- I'm not sure at this remove how seriously to take them -- of love affairs between Bowie and other male rockers. Willis doesn't mention any of this, and I don't believe she wasn't aware of it.

It occurred to me how much the job of writing has changed since the early 70s when Willis mentioned that Nils Lofgren looked "like a cross between Donovan and the lead singer of the McCoys" (36). The New Yorker's fact checkers were famous even in those days, so surely someone could have made a phone call and learned that the lead singer of the McCoys was Rick Zehringer (aka Rick Derringer), later to play with Johnny Winter, Steely Dan, and as a soloist; but nowadays you (or I, anyway) would expect a writer to do some Googling rather than leave out the name.

(Another mark of changing times: she refers to "the ten-dollar-top ticket prices" (37) for Elvis Presley's 1972 Madison Square Garden concert, clearly regarding that as a high price. It's like seeing an old movie featuring a gas station selling gasoline for under a dollar a gallon.)

Mostly, though, it's a pleasure to reread these pieces, many of which I read when they first appeared. I value Willis's writing so much because, as her New Yorker colleague Karen Durbin writes, she was "that wondrous creature, an intellectual who deeply valued sensuality". Even when I disagree with her, which I did more often later in her career as she became more of an apologist for Israel and even (to some extent, ambivalently) for the War on Terror, she's one of my most important role models as a writer and an intellectual.

(Which reminds me, I need to do a post about Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism, and when I do, I want to address Willis's review of it.)