The U.S. economy may already be in recession; other countries might not be far behind. Japan, Britain, Spain and Singapore, which together represent about 12 percent of the world economy, are vulnerable as fallout from the U.S. worsens their economic weakness. Even emerging markets, including China, are likely to suffer as exports to the U.S. wane – Bloomberg

SocGen ‘alerted in November’ to rogue trades – Times On Line

Scandal stings not just bank, but French pride, too – International Herald Tribune, Nelson D. Schwartz and Jad Mouawad

A bank-sponsored bailout of the troubled bond insurance sector seems more like wishful thinking than market savior – The Street, Mark DeCambre

For expanded coverage visit Comments for the Net

Societe Generale detailed Sunday how a young trader evaded all its controls to bet some $73 billion — more than the French bank’s market worth — on European markets, saying he hacked computers and used other “fraudulent methods” to cover his tracks, causing billions in losses. The bank says the trader, Jerome Kerviel, did not appear to have profited personally from the transactions and seemingly worked alone – USA Today (AP)

Another U.S. interest rate cut this week would help worthy borrowers secure cheaper home mortgages or business loans, and perhaps begin to stanch the bleeding at global banks. It won’t avert a slowdown in the United States that threatens to tip its economy into recession, nor will it herald a return to the easy-money heyday that drove the housing market and corporate profits to unsustainable peaks in recent years – International Herald Tribune (Reuters)

For expanded coverage visit Comments for the Net

A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.

They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to be infected than their heterosexual neighbors, the researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable,” said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. “That’s why we’re trying to spread the message of prevention.”

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Longtime Hollywood publicist Julian Myers will turn 90 soon. And he worries the end may be near … for Hollywood.

Myers frets that the WGA stalemate — with all of its acrimony, vitriol and job losses — is a harbinger of ill things for the industry.

“The strike impasse is speeding the end of Hollywood filmmaking and television production,” says Myers, who has been working in the biz since 1939 and is still an IATSE member. “There are more union contracts coming up for renewal, and already unionists are crossing union lines. IATSE is urging its members to go right on through. Insults are being exchanged, faces will be bashed and fatalities are a possibility.”

Julian,  please don’t worry about it.  America will survive and become a much better country without it.  Getting rid of Hollywood would truly be a blessing of great magnitude.

He also made the point that he thought the Republican party needed to change and he thought Huck was the person to do it.  He thought that Huck was genuine and honest.  I have to agree with him about the necessity of remolding the Republican party and about the qualities of Huck.  I think the Reagan, Limbaugh days are numbered.  There is a new breed of Republicans coming into power and the party will move more to the center I think.  I know some of you will disagree and hope that I am wrong, but we will just have to wait and see.

Some are also saying that the low frequency vibrations will adversely affect the coccyx and cause depression at some point.  I don’t know where you  would invest to take advantage of this.  Give it some thought.

On Christmas Day with the subduing of the desires, the populace is more likely to concentrate on family togetherness and enjoying the fellowship of church services. This is the true value of Christmas. Somehow we have gone astray by over-commercializing Christmas.

I remember vividly my childhood with all the presents, Christmas tree and decorations, and the general anticipation of the whole event. When it was over I asked myself: “Is this all there is?” The commercialization of Christmas has decreased its value to me. There were a few years that I had in the late 70s where there was little materiality in Christmas; it was truly a spiritual event and most enjoyable. Presently the whole world is more concentrated on I, me, mine and what can I get. Try as I may, I cannot avoid absorbing some of these vibrations. We are forgetting Spirit and this is to our detriment.

Don’t think for a minute that you will escape the consequences of your wrong actions. It may not affect you in this lifetime but at some point, maybe in the next lifetime or perhaps several lifetimes down the road, the consequences will affect you. You must pay the price for your actions; there is no escaping it!

How many times in this lifetime has something strange affected you and you then wonder, “Why did that happen?” It was caused by something you have done at some point in your past in this lifetime or a previous lifetime. There is no such thing as fate. Everything that affects you has been generated by you, yourself.

Good actions will produce good karma and likewise bad actions will produce bad karma. The seeds of your actions remain in your consciousness until they are all sprouted and served their purpose. The only way to escape your karma is by deep devotion to God and extremely few souls have evolved to this level. Therefore you must pay the price.

Don’t fool yourself in thinking that you can avoid the consequences. Karma always wins.

We are constantly dissatisfied with what we have; we want something different. We have a good car or a good wife/husband or a good job and yet we want another. This unrest in our mental attitude is responsible for tension, divorce, high blood pressure, and a wealth of other undesirables. But yet we cannot be satisfied with what we have. Uncontrolled desires destroy us.

Yet all it takes is a change in our mental attitude. How simple! Yet we don’t have effective control of our mind where we can change our mental attitude. Happiness, then, is more a result of control of our mental attitude than it is of possessions. A desire for a possession of any type is nothing but a source for tension and unhappiness.

Our mind is a tool that has been given to us to use for good purposes. We must learn to control it.

There is much pleasure in being satisfied with what we already have.  Don’t seek more than we have been given.

Now news sources say that Mike Huckabee advocated quarantine back when he was running for Congress. He stated that homosexuality is sinful. We need that kind of moral strength as President. He has my vote.