always had him up there as a candidate.

Hello DUers,

I've been thinking it doesn't make sense to not have Brussels, the capital of Europe, in the list of participating cities. However, the coverage of OWS over here has been very meager (much less so in Germany - they got 3 cities already, according to http://www.occupytogether.org ) and even though there is a strong buzz it will not be easy.

On top of that, I've got no practical experience organizing - and with facebook following you on every site with a "like" button even when you are logged out, I don't want to use that. I may be paranoid there, but I scrapped my FB account. London has been testing shutting down Twitter in the event of "riots" so...

At this moment in time I'm inclined to just go stand somewhere, take a placard, call myself Occupy Brussels day 1 and tell the invited media that if I've got nobody with me by the time the evening comes, the movement will die. I dream to much I'm afraid.

Any tips would be more than welcome
many thanks in advance
bmc

Came across this bit in our mainstream paper that covers the BP catastrophe the best, they are more comprehensive and ahead of US M$M. It's pretty shocking, haven't seen it on DU or found it in your M$M yet. Both excerpts are paragraphs of the same article, translation & bold are mine:



Have you heard confirmation of the subsurface leaks from BP? They are lying, again, imho. This information chimes in with dougr's posts on TOD. At this point I think it's becoming a race between the relief well and this erosion process. The best of the best (not BP but J Wright Company) are working on the relief well so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.




Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable. If I'd find US sources, I'd post in LBN, if any of you do, please go ahead.

ps: the main title of the article is "116 of world's rarest turtles put back into oil". They were put back after rescue and a bit later the oil also invaded their new location.

on edit: forgot the link, it's in dutch, apologies http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5397/Milieu/a... . Anyone that wants a translation of other parts of the article or the planet watch part of their site, let me know.

March was cold and rainy - so was much of april Still, I have some things to watch grow, and things I learned (the hard way).

From left to right:

Bed 1
potatoes I just "piled up" heaping soil around the plants so they are deeper inside if you will. Learning point: you really DO need 35 -40 inch between the rows or it becomes hard...

Bed 2
- spinach in various states of development - front ones I started in the greenhouse, at same time as sowing the other ones. Kind of surprising to see the front does better, but the nights have been cold for long... They must be like 5 weeks now, will harvest some leaves of each plant (should be able to do that 3 times). Should have taken new zealand spinach, easier to cultivate and spreads itself out.
- a small bed of radish which is ready (leaves are rather high, should have thinned a bit more) and a fresh seed bed next to it. Aside the radish, chervil, can't see it though.
- behind it with the dark green leaves: Rucola or nut lettuce or rocket salad (literal, unsure of the english name). They are going nicely BUT you do NOT plant them like regular lettuce - should be kept in rows or they shoot up too much. Oh well All kinds of lettuce is what I'll be sowing regularly anyway so as to keep that half bed filled.
- behind that, regular lettuce. Ate the first yesterday, can't find tender salad like that in the stores. Have to use pellets against snails which have really become a problem round here. All the lettuce crops come kind of at once - gonna look into (cold?) salad soup and gonna make some neighbors / family happy.

Bed 3:
- in front, chive. Wow have they grown since last year. It's flowering, looks nice but think it's not as good for the taste. Behind it, oregano, mediterranean herb. It's spreading even faster, already gave half to a neighbor. Under the small drape: parsley, attempt 2. germinates really slowly, helps if you presoak them for a day at room temp. Behind that, covered with anti cat netting, more chervil. Want to have enough for soup, but the germination :-/ Gonna redo it in the greenhouse I think. Behind: 3 rows of leek. Not happy about how they are doing - think I closed the deep planting holes too soon. Last year, I didn't plant them deep at all. Thus, hardly any white part
- aside of the leek: a row of onions, also on side of next bed, challots. Onion type plants are good against leek fly and carrot fly. Tried some insect netting - see the sad hoops - but cats and netting = fun and frolics. Love 'em but they seem to especially like leek, to lie on and poo between. Cats will do more dmg jumping on the tunnel nets than the flies so byebye nets. Next year, cat fence.

bed 4:
- in front, sorrel - a great addition to mashed potatoes. Needs to be more though.
- behind it, tarragon, to flavour vinegar and for real béarnaise sauce of course.
- rest: attempt 2 at carrots (under drapes). Attempt one is in the back of the row, no carrot sprouts to be seen but the weed was happy under the drapes, meh.

Behind it all: 5 berry bushes (red, green and white) that will (I hope) cover the ugly wall and yield more jam input material.

The strange color of the "pathway" grass in front is because I sprayed it - want that gone as it's a perfect start for weeds. Plus, better half wants things to look more tidy back here.

Next up, greenhouse (and 2 chickens besides and behind it). I should chalk the panes to avoid excessive heat. But look at my clean windows first!



Will not go into detail as by now nobody is still reading. Yes, that is a really stupid place for a rhubarb. Love 'em with sugar and raisins in it, gonna try jam as well. No pie experience here at home Planted tomatoes on the right are finally de-stressing (stem color no longer purple). Say nothing of the lettuce jungle to the left!
The styrofoam containers for sowing I got from local fish merchant, he was happy to get rid of some.

And finally, a look at the other small plot I started - since the neighbor is a young woman living alone, she didn't want to tend to the orchard or the plot of land. Well hellloo new garden



Pear and apple trees, and behind it 2 beds of early potatoes, 1 bed of late potatoes, 2 rows of leek (planted better and a bit later as well, the difference shows) with another cat-treated insect netting tunnel. A bed of peas that are an inch up and a bed of salsify to finish. Cucumbers and pumpkin can play in the back, seedlings out in greenhouse.
The REAL neat rows you can discern in the back is the garden of my 80 year old neighbor. Gardening 65 years vs. my umm 2...well suffice to say I spend a lot of time either talking to him over there or stealing with my eyes . We also share seedlings, you always have too many.


bmc

PS very few things compare to the joy of watching nature unfold the miracle of growth. About one fifth if that of my garden time is ummm non-leaning.

inspired by this press conference video.

OBAMA has a press conference every month.
BUSH had how many, 3 in total?

BUSH* was all hat no cattle, bantering in in a semi-hulk like posture that made you wonder whether he had left the hanger in his coat or that he was wired again.
OBAMA comes into the room like a normal person and seems to command respect without bravado.

OBAMA takes 6 minutes for a statement and the remainder of an hour for Q&A.
BUSH* started looking for the exit the minute the brief Q&A started. Often, he wouldn't come up with the A to the Q and neither did he find the exit.

OBAMA only briefly restates his position, seldom verbatim, and goes into detail in the answers. When he doesn't he DOES allow a comeback.
BUSH* had press conferences with repetitive utterances of randomly assorted phrases. Drinking games were the only option.

OBAMA thinks, on his feet, contemplates and answers both intelligently and eloquently yet still concise.
BUSH* had few people upstairs, and would never come up with something you hadn't heard too much before. He is known for bushisms, and eelowkwentz is, umm not his forte.

OBAMA has people genuinely smiling at his answers.
BUSH* made crude jokes, especially to get out of answering something he didn't like.

OBAMA* says about torture "whatever the legalities they used as justification, the rationale was wrong" and releases key memos that basically stamp GUILTY on the entire cabal.
He shuts a rendition prison and bars torture practice. Waterboarding IS torture. He actually SAID it.
BUSH* tortured. An american president had torture policy in writing.

BUSH* had terra terra evildoers in every other sentence.
OBAMA said "the dichotomy between security and ideals is a false one". I reject your premise!

BUSH* said "some call you the elite, I just call you my base" during a fundraiser, and corporate profiteering and cronyism was a given.
OBAMA said, on immigration, "let's go after the companies that employ those in the dark, not have raids on the workers".

BUSH* had the political savvy of a neanderthal (no offense intended to the latter).
OBAMA subtly yet clearly scores the important political points - "legislators that adopt complete opposition to my policies are probably not taking a smart position", "I was troubled by the political posturing in a time of crisis".

OBAMA actually can be humbled, and refers to the military in a way you feel he is speaking from the heart.
BUSH* and his cabal were the very definition of hubris, and he only had fake compassion with those in uniform. Veterans care? Slash. Showing coffins? Nope. Armor? No can do.

OBAMA wants to work with republicans since there are things in common. He even wants to give credit where credit is due. But when it comes to the policies that he promised change on he is not open for negotiation. He also recognizes the differences of opinion within the Democratic Party.
When BUSH* talked about bipartisanship, he meant something had to be rammed down someone's throat. With us or against us. I say jump you say how high.

OBAMA repeatedly emphasizes that legislature is a co-equal branch of government. The state secrets defense was invoked too often.
BUSH*'s presidency centered around the unitary overreaching executive. Shall I sign this law stating I don't intend to respect it? *ponder* hehe.

Night and Day


bmc

DISCLAIMER I am no fan of attributing messianic stature to anyone. I am under no illusion about the influence of lobby groups and large corporations. I am a social democrat and way to the left of Obama. The difference between automotive and banking bailout is my main beef so far. Yes, talking is cheaper than walking. No animals were hurt in the making of this post.
(*) Bush was not elected president, but selected by a partisan supreme court.

check out this video to hear Obama explain his rationale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibx-_8is-rY relevant part starts at 4 mins in.

"Where's my bailout?" is a question he receives often in his letters he says (great that he acknowledges the fact).
People ask why the bailout dollars don't go to benefit them directly. Perfectly legit question and I'm sure foremost on many workers' minds.

His explanation: one dollar to a bank may generate 8 dollars in lending.

Yay, lending a lot is better than actual dollars in your actual pocket to actually spend in the actual economy.
I think NOT.

To Obama it's key to get this lending going. You know, lending, the thing that got us where we are in the first place. The entire "unfreeze lending" through capital injections is BALONEY. The key problem is the distrust between the various financial parties because of the unknown toxicity (an unknown known yay Rumsfeld). That will only be lifted by firing the CEOs and management of these firms and getting in an independent team to assess the toxic assets for starters. Keeping secret where the bailout money is going is the exact OPPOSITE of what is needed. Fess' up already losers!! The receivership process as used by the FDIC in the S&L crisis is perfectly capable of dealing with these failed too big to failers.
Oh and if you really need to thaw the frozen credit market : well, have a government department lend out the trillions that are being thrown in a black hole now. Wow, may even generate some jobs! :idea:

Better get consumers spending than banks lending - it's really obvious imho. When he goes into "the stress tests will tell us how much more money they need"..hooray for greenies!

regards
bmc

PS: obviously, the entire performance of Obama in this economic address is WAY better than the unSound Bush* Economy Fundamentals, and refreshing to watch. His explanation of the crisis mechanism is very good for example. And on edit - if you watch all of the address, the other pillars for recovery Obama sees, such as health care, education and a focus on a green economy are really great. It's just that their funding will be and is dwarfed by the bank bailouts - cherries on a stale pie.

So I am reading up on the upcoming G20, esteemed to be crucial in outlining "the new financial world order".

The common european position being established as we speak is that Europe will NOT inject liquidity in the market ("quantitative easing") as the US just did (to the tune of 1.3 billion dollar, but that's just the latest withdrawal/print run). They are debating since three months on a european program for broadband and alternative energy - a program for 5 billion euro...

Der Spiegel in an article on the current EU summit:



Upon reading further, this brilliant article in Der Spiegel on the US capital injection ends like this:



What I see coming is the decoupling of US and european economies, I have been wondering about that since the start.

The quantitative easing may not seem to have much effect now, but once the economy picks up a little bit, all the money will become unglued and cause hyperinflation for the US. It seems we in europe don't intend to follow suit, we will probably have ourselves a severe recession / depression along classic lines.

If only the quantitative easing was done to all of YOU directly

regards
bmc

ps: the one who invented "quantitative easing" should get the Presidential Medal of Obfuscation. And a small golden money-printing press to boot.

simple as that.

From the wiki on the BDI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Dry_In...

"So the index indirectly measures global supply and demand for the commodities shipped aboard dry bulk carriers, such as building materials, coal, crude oil, metallic ores, and grains.
...the index is also seen as an efficient economic indicator of future economic growth and production..."

Of course, you don't stack ore on your shelves - but it is a precursor to finished products of course.

a chart:


Why? Because people in charge don't want to end up like the car companies, making an unsold pile on a shore.

Also, I understood the letters of credit that govern a lot of these huge import/export deals are very very hard to get nowadays...who still trusts who?

bmc

PS: my neighbour drives trucks for one of the largest in my region. They have 50 reserved trucks sitting at a dealership but they won't buy 'em. They have 200 trucks and 88 are driving (and often for short small trips).

I think we will see de-globalisation. Think global, act local...

We're not dead yet you giggling murderer!


Thought DU might like to know this
regards from the "chocolate country" in "Old Europe"
bmc

The Shock Doctrine: you exploit a crisis that comes by, or you manufacture one. Once the crisis is under way, you use the terrified state of the people to pass all kinds of deals they would not agree to under normal circumstances. There have been many historic examples, 9/11 and the Patriot Act being the most obvious one.

During the Lehman Brothers weekend, when all these insiders (Paulson being Goldman Sachs' former CEO ) are discussing what to do, they full well know that a huge part of the banking system is shady, unregulated and over-leveraged, in other words, a bubble. Please take a look at Krugman's explanation of "marble", classic banks versus the shadow banks, it's not this radical lefty making stuff up.

Still, they decide to puncture it.

Afterwards, they get to turn open the spigot on the US Treasury, to the tune of 8+ trillion already. Only a small part passes via the legislature, the 700 million bailout that we can all bicker about till kingdom come. Meanwhile, the majority of the money bleeds out through all kinds of emergency programs unknown to most and without congressional oversight. Check the Stock Market Watch threads in LBN, I'm not making this up either. Ooh, and on edit, let's not forget the nice little perk of massive layoffs during these unsuspected times. Hmm, try to break some unions and shed some pension plans too.

8+ trillion DWARFS any kind of government program EVER. (can't find the great graphic comparison I saw on DU ) Anyone thinking this bank robbery is merely an accident should think again. If and when we go into a deflationary depression, guess who will make the most money? Those who have the cash to buy assets when they are ultra-cheap, in other words the ruling elite. Hmmm, now who do we have getting truckloads of money and hoarding (NOT lending) it, merging with the lesser gods and talking about using the money for expansion?

Flame at will, I'm :tinfoil: covered.


edit: added link for Krugman.

I recommend to those interested in the crisis to listen to Paul Krugman on october 24th:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

My distillate from his speech + other facts:

He explains clearly that the bailout has been going to the shadow banking system ("completely unregulated...it's the Far West").
The US mortgage market is worth seven trillion dollar. The bailout stands at 8.4 trillion now. Krugman explains how all kinds of recent schemes (a whole bunch of acronyms) have been used to spend that money without Congressional oversight. Sound familiar?

So if the government bought everybody's mortgage, it would still cost less. It's clear the mortgages don't account for the amounts we are seeing. Which brings me to my main point: the biggest hoax surrounding the crisis is making everyone believe the mortgages are what caused the bigger part of the crash.

The reality is, the shadow banking system has speculated to the extreme on mortgages. They were highly leveraged, the leverage being the number of times they have magnified the risks. When nothing happens, this means astronomical earnings, as we have seen in banks. I remember Fortis making 5 billion dollars per quarter and how that upset me. However, once a major party calls someone's bluff, the entire trust-based system goes down. Oh, there was no bank run? There was a bank run,not by the people on the street, but by the big players.
Note on leverage: a maximum allowed leverage existed in the past, but was abdicated by the Bush*co regime. Surprising eh?

Which begs the question: who called the US bluff? Imho, the Chinese, as they found out the CDS on one mortgage was actually SOLD multiple times, and as they understood all the US debt, the mortgage on the entire US if you will, seemed about to default. I remember them expressing the immediate need for the US government to back Fannie&Freddie mortgages about one week prior to Lehman Brothers. Talk about a vote of no confidence...
Small note: the derivative market is worth 640 trillion dollars - twelve times the world gross product.

I'm just saying, the taxpayer is bailing out the shadow banks first. If anyone believes the Federal (not!) Reserve (not!) members, ie the haute finance, are gonna be the ones footing the bill,I think you're wrong. I wonder who is making money shorting the US? 30-something pages redacted out of a "commission" report a couple years forth?

And finally: compare the 8.4 trillion to the 25 billion for the auto industry. Maybe it's better if they fail first, so the pension plans can be shed to an underfunded government fund, and then they can be sold for pennies to the dollar. It's been done before, with the US steel industry and in former communistic countries in Europe, by Lakshmi Mittal. There was a great accounting of all of this on www.historyofsteel.com, but that gives a server error now and google gives no hits linking to that content anymore as far as I saw - the official Arcelor Mittal webpage is hit number two on the other hand. Interesting.

If people understood, there would be a revolution, or maybe I just long for one. Bush better step down before january the 20th.

shock doctrine baby
regards
bmc

Back in 2001, when all hope had faded
and the future was looking grim,
I had almost lost faith in America,
but stumbled across DU

Now, the veil of fascism is cast aside
once again, the races are joining
in a common fight for the unruly class

The Beacons of Democracy have been lit.
Gondor calling. Muster the Rohirrim!


inspired by Barack's speech "...and the countries that wondered whether the US would once again be a beacon of democracy - yes we can"

a gigantic to all of you Americans - I am proud in your place, in the face of the abyss I have hope you turned back.

A couple months ago, Belgian Banking group Fortis (previously "Generale") stated to be in need of cash to finance their acquisition of the dutch ABN Amro bank. This capital was found with the Chinese, and made the Chinese the largest shareholder of Fortis.

All my alarms went off. This same bank, which was an institution almost like the National Bank, got a takeover bid from Carlo De Benedetti. This provoked a huge outcry, it was "unacceptable" that foreign money would own such a belgian bank. This deal with the chinese on the other hand passed without a whisper.
Fortis has the biggest "risk" portfolio with exposure to the US. They needed money and got it from the chinese, who now own the bad assets as well.

And it was the chinese that requested the US government would backup Fannie and Freddy, or else! Which precipitated everything else; I read it on DU a week before the crash.

The chinese are só running the show. The lone superpower that PNAC speaks of, is no more. Except, in military terms...

regards
bmc

PS: the Federal Reserve is NOT a federal institution.

Our western society is based to a large degree on the selling of needs. Even when they are vacuous.

We need LCD TVs. Full HD preferably, never mind that the difference between full HD and HD-ready is invisible from the average viewing distance, or that the free channels carry ever less worth wile material, while ripping us through expensive cable and pay-per-view.
We need two cars. Never mind that a car is, besides polluting, a great way to spread your hard-earned money.
We have to travel at least twice a year, preferably outside our own country. Never mind that we hardly know our own history or culture.
We have to isolate ourselves from our neighbours, using fences hedges and whatnot. The facade of our houses has to be as pompous as possible. Never mind that through this isolation, we also tear apart the very social fabric of our society.
We have to look like the celebs. Aspiring to become the (dancing, singing, nothing) next star is a glimmer of false hope for the subdued masses. Trying to look like the celebs and models (desperately needing to EAT please) makes 95% of the women unhappy with themselves.

The examples of marketed needs that we don't really need are ubiquitous. I have done such marketing for years, I should know something about it. Banks, utility companies and raw material producers meanwhile drive up the price of life, and it isn't even faintly compensated by the index mechanism we have here. The price we pay is, obviously, having to work ever more stressful jobs to either make ends meet, and to fulfill the aforementioned "needs". And both have to work of course. As a consequence, looking at suicides and depression, the inescapable conclusion is that our society is sick. I have contemplated the first and experienced the second repeatedly, due to an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Coming from an upper middles class family with high achievement pressure, I unfortunately measured success in life along those lines.

But my disease (if you agree calling it that) has been a blessing in disguise. It has forced me to examine the difference between need and want, and to rethink my priorities. These things don't make me truly happy. Spending more time with my two sons IS.
Rethinking my way of life has been hard. Especially having one car, and giving that to my wife for her work, has been hard. Yes, very male and pretty stupid but there you go.

So I decided that also for the future I'm going to opt out of the rat race. I have focused my free time on trying to become more self-reliant, building a local network and starting a fruit and vegetable garden. I am not gonna return to the stone age, but all the technological needs I'm gonna take a pass on. Vista? Fuck off. A new graphics card for my game PC? Never mind. A new car? Nah, bought a second-hand bike and put it back in order. Dining out? No more once or twice a week, enjoying cooking (with produce from the garden if possible) instead. LCD TV? Fuck off, not watching much anyway and gonna borrow & read books much more. Cable may go out the window if my family agrees. Cell phone usage in the hundreds a months? Switched to pay-and-go, down to 20 euro/month through emergency use and text messaging only. Buying "A brands"? No Logo by Naomi KLein is on the way, and I buy as much as possible at Aldi (no brands, low prices). Trying to get a top (stress) job with my masters' degree? Nope, it made me miss my children (and also spend half a fortune on daycare and the like).

And even though it is hard, we may actually end up having more disposable income, and a family and personal life that is much more rewarding.

Be careful what you wish for...what you desire...what you you need.


bmc

PS I know many of you have done this before me, and purely out of necessity, maybe not having as many options as I did/do. My hat's off to you.