Foto by tgw, the Sky Above New York City, Anytime; at Any Moment
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Bulletin: As we have said: Obama is withdrawing the troops from Iraq but that doesn't mean that insane war is over. Nope, not by a long shot. The Iraqi people want us out of Iraq--we don't want to leave, but their parliament is kicking us out--except there'll still be 100,000 contractors there and the world's largest embassy will be guarded by Hillary Clinton's private State Department army of 12,000 troops--but as Obama said in his political campaign speech the other night, he's bringing the Iraqi troops home. WELL, not quite. The Pentagon is now planning to keep troops in Kuwait. AHA! Plus, the Pentagon is proposing sending Navy ships and Air Force reconnaissance planes and drones and shit to the Persian Gulf. Leon Panetta, a Clintonista, says we must not only keep troops close to Iraq in case the Iraqis decide to become belligerent and anti-American again, but MAINLY, we are in the throes of planning for the big war with Iran, our new nation of anti-American devils. Now say the USA was surrounded by Iran's troops--say Iran had 200,000 troops in Canada--you catch our drift? Wouldn't we be paranoid and crazy as hell, same as the Iranians are now? Plus, Obama's administration is finally grooving its military way into Africa with a series of secret CIA drone bases within Kenya (where corruption is so blatant it is causing a food shortage and Kenyans are beginning to starve to death) and Ethiopia (now seemingly our dickboys in that area) and probably in the Sudan. Get ready for another WAR, We the People of the USA. Another expensive venture that will end up killing more and more just plain folks--and the bullshit keeps piling up.
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Say goodbye to: Roy Smalley, Jr.--I remember Roy as the Cubs's shortstop prior to Ernie Banks arrival on the MLB scene when Roy was traded to the Milwaukee Braves. Last I remember Roy, he was with the Phillies. His son, Roy, was a shortstop later with the Minnesota Twins. Roy Smalley, Jr., 85, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies)
Say goodbye to: Emery Gulash, one of the great and early railroad filmmakers--shooting railroad videos from the age of Steam on into the diesel era:
DEARBORN, Mich. — Emery J. Gulash, 88, a prolific railroad photographer whose work lives on in dozens of books and video programs, died Friday, February 24. A Lansing, Mich., native who went on to a career with in drafting and management in the Detroit area with General Motors’ Fisher Body Division, Gulash was an early 35mm color-slide photographer, dating from his Army training days in Texas; he served in the Army Air Corps 1944-1946.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, Gulash traveled widely, shooting slides as well as 16mm color movies. Several years ago, as his health began to fail, he summoned publisher Bob Yanosey of Morning Sun Books to Michigan to turn over his slide collection, “so it has a good home,” and Gulash’s photos grace dozens of Morning Sun publications. Earlier, Gulash’s movies formed the basis for numerous video programs issued by John Koch’s Green Frog Productions.
"There is no secret in fortune making. All you have to do is buy cheap and sell dear, act with thrift and shrewdness and be persistent," Hetty Green (she inherited her father's fortune when she was 31. She became the richest woman in the USA from the 1860s until her death in 1916, worth in today's values at over 1 billion bucks).
Being a Descendant of "The Witch of Wall Street"
My father, an honest man, often told tales of what he declared to be our distant-past relative, Hetty Green, known around New York City and the Financial District as "The Witch of Wall Street." My father, this honest man, always ended his tales of this 19th-Century multimillionaire woman by emphasizing that Aunt Hetty's greatest piece of advice to the world was "NEVER trust bankers!" [This not quite true; Hetty kept her money in the Chemical Bank of New York--she had her own vault there, which the Chemical folks let her use as an office.] And, yes, my father, that honest man, had a coffee-can stash of cash. As a kid, I was just sure as hell he had hidden large sums of money somewhere because every time the bank statements came and my mother tried to balance the family books, inevitably I'd hear her asking him, "Karl, what is this, you only put three hundred dollars in the bank again this month? What the hell happened to that check Mr. Murphy gave you the other day?" And my dad inevitably had a sudden memory loss, like "What check?...Walter Murphy gave me a check? He didn't give me a check, that was only an order for some more work." Then my mother would accuse my dad of lyin' like a dog. Surely she was wrong, my father, the honest man, a lyin' man?...but then surely he was when it came to his finances. Remember, it wasn't Honest Abe who said "I can never tell a lie." And honesty to We the People of the USA is to turn found fortunes in to the local police precinct rather than hiding them in your attic until the coast is clear to spend them. In that Honest Abe sense of honesty, my father, the honest man, fit the bill to a tee. He once found on the sidewalk in front of his store a leather pouch with around fifty-thousand dollars in small bills along with a bank deposit slip. And rather than letting the evil Wolfe inside him rule, his sense of Honest Abe honesty prevailed and he took the leather pouch to its intended bank and turned it in. What did his honesty get for him? Zero. That's what. His honest way of thinking suspecting he was in line for a big reward. All he got was a systematic "Thanks a lot, see ya later"--that his only reward. I swore right then and there that if such an occasion happened in my life, I'd be damned if I'd turn it in. Fifty-thousand bucks in cash! Whooo-boy. That was a dream find for a poor boy like me--to hell with honesty.
My father and mother had a lot of banker friends. One couple in particular. A rancher couple on whose ranch oil was discovered. So much oil and a return of so much money, this couple decided to open their own bank. Which they did, The First State Bank of my hometown. This was a close friendship, especially between my mother and the woman, "Miss Addie," who I remember as fat, jolly, and very satisfied with life.
Also one of my dad's closest high school friends became president of my hometown's largest bank, the Farmers & Merchants Bank, where my father, the honest man, evidently allowed old Aunt Hetty's warning to go unheeded. It's where he banked all of his life. My mother, on the other hand, whose own mother and her mother never trusted anybody much less bankers, couldn't stand my father's bank-president friend, and kept her money in the other of the largest banks in my hometown, the Citizen's National Bank.
Another tale my father would tell at times had to do with checks. He swore up and down he'd written checks on everything from paper sacks, pieces of wallpaper, flour sacks, the back of one of his dress shirts, on a sheet of schoolboy writing paper...you name it, he'd written a check on it. "The bank has to respect it as long as your signature matches your signature they have on file."
I was taught that banks originated in the business of the businessman in a town who had the largest safe. That these guys began to allow customers to store their savings in their safes for a fee. The idea grew so rapidly, that soon these businessmen had to set aside a whole other building for this "banking" business; thus the origin of banks. I know now this much later in life that the origin of banks came along with the dawning of time--the idea evolving out of the Mesopotamian Ziggerats (the first pyramidal skyscrapers) and the ancient priest accountants and keepers of the city-state's wealth and assets (that given unto the heaven-dwelling gods). Math must have originated in the accounting world of those days.
So where did banks get their original monies? From depositors. Especially from the concept of the savings account where depositors could stash any excess monies they might make where it could be held safely in the bank's vault for them any time they needed it. Thus bankers became crooks when they realized they had all this cash in their vaults--they were paying interest on it--banks did pay interest on even checking accounts in those early days--so why couldn't they take that money and turn it into IOUs--the banker figuring out how to use the money in his vaults as investment capital. Also, the concept of using depositors's money to loan out to other depositors--MY POINT--I know, I'm over explanatory--what!--but anyway, my point is, banks would go broke over night if depositors withdrew their money, shut down their savings accounts--then quit paying on their loans, etc. Wow, the power of the people! Remember the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War cry of "Power to the People!"--and the People's Parks that were started...my generation...and what happened to those revolutionaries? I remember hearing J. Edgar Hoover, that cross-dressing pervert of a cowardly man, say that even though it might take 20 years, the FBI would eventually get every one of those revolutionary punks--and, by God, that old perverted cross-dressing queen was telling it like it is--and sure enough, 20 or so years later, the FBI had gotten and put out of business, Eldridge Cleaver, H. Rapp Brown, Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy...think about it.
Of course governments don't want their people to have any power. Of course the 1% who own us lock, stock, and barrel don't want us occupying any space near their space! Of course the CEO of General Electric (an Obama pal) doesn't want the Occupy Wall Streeters occupying any space near him, even the space across the street from the GE Building, which is the old RCA Building, John D. Rockefeller's proudest tower in his private empire in the very heart of Manhattan. The RCA Building once the home castle of a man they called General Sarnoff, the Russian immigrant who not only stole radio from Marconi but also stole television from Philo Farnsworth, the Utah inventor.
When we think of the Rockefellers, we think of oil, but oil wasn't where the Rockefellers did their crookedest best. Here's a 1976 article from educate-yourself.org entitled "The Family That Preys Together Stays Together." An article on at that time just how the Rockefellers stole most of their wealth and their Power-Elite control over most of the major corporations of this country (think about it--the Rockefellers held 5% stock still in Exxon (originally Esso (Eastern States Standard Oil)) in 1975 before this Standard Oil company combined with another Standard Oil company, Mobil (Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York)-Mobil (originally Magnolia Oil Company of Texas)--remember that scam when Exxon and Mobil were threatening to go out of business if they couldn't merge! So We the People of the USA amazingly put up no argument when our cowardly lion Congress and Justice Department said sure, go ahead, merge--so today what's the biggest Capitalist-pig company in the world? Anyway, read all about this family of money hoarders, worshipers of Mammon--those who know that MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL POWER! A fictional root according to true Economics laws since money is simply a means of exchange. From "The Family That Preys Together Stays Together" (1976):
And yet, incredibly, oil is not even the Rockefellers' biggest business. That honor is reserved for international banking. The Rockefeller family banks are the First National City Bank and the Chase Manhattan Bank. The Chase Manhattan is the third largest banking establishment in the world; and while only number three', it is by far the most influential.
The largest bank in the world is Bank of America in California, inventor of the bank credit card, Bank Americard, which now has 39 million cardholders worldwide. Bank of America became a giant through branch banking in California, where it has over 1,000 offices. Until recently, however, when it linked is overseas operations with the Rothschilds of Europe, the Bank of America lacked international horsepower. Now it too has joined the internationalists' crusade for World Government.
Chase Manhattan was created by the union of the Rockefeller-owned Chase Bank with the Kuhn, Loeb controlled Manhattan Bank. The marriage has been a huge success for both families; in 1971 Chase Manhattan claimed $36 billion in assets. This is impressive enough, but the New York Times has pointed out that it is not the whole story:
". . a major portion of their [Chase Manhattan's business carried on through affiliated banks overseas is not consolidated on the balance sheet."
Time also emphasizes the immense power of the Chase Manhattan, noting that "The Chase has 28 foreign branches of its own, but more important, it has a globe encircling string of 50,000 correspondent banking offices."Fifty thousand correspondent banks around the world! if each correspondent bank were worth only a paltry $10 million, it would give Chase potential world wide clout of five hundred billion dollars ! Such a figure is simply incomprehensible. Unfortunately, it is probably a conservative estimate of Chase's power and influence.
Such financial clout would give the Rockefellers the ability to create an international monetary crisis over, night. Could it be that it is they who have been yo-yoing the price of gold, dollars and foreign currencies during the past few years-creating panics for most investors, but profits for themselves?
Every time an international monetary storm blows up hundreds of millions of dollars flow into European banks. When the storm subsides, those who were 'in the know' at the beginning have made enormous sums of money, That the Rockefellers have been very profitably involved through the Chase Manhattan Bank and its overseas facilities, seems more than reasonable.
By almost any standard, Chase Manhattan has become virtually a sovereign state. Except it has more money, than most. lt even employs a full-time envoy to the United Nations.
As just one illuminating statistic, during 1973 Chase board chairman David Rockefeller met with 27 heads of state, including the rulers of Russia and Red China, plus scores of lesser dignitaries. Not even Henry Kissinger, he of the - shuttle diplomacy - and much- publicized state dinners, can match Rockefeller's influence with the men at the top.
Chase Manhattan's annual reports contain much information detailing the worldwide expansion of the bank. lt has gone international on the grand scale. And it shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, Chase Manhattan is the undisputed world heavyweight champion when it comes to international banking.
The damn Power Elite know where the money flows like wine: in the financial world, the world of money trading and money exchanging and basing our whole economy on how the fucking New York Stock Exchange's daily auctioning off of millions upon millions of shares of every company rich enough to buy a seat on this Power Elitist-controlled bourse--trading floor--gambling casino--where millions and millions of shares are traded daily tax-free--yep, no stock transfer tax on any of these trades.We the People of the USA can't buy groceries without paying a tax on them. We're even taxed on the food we eat when we eat out in restaurants. And the booze we drink. We are taxed on the property we own--a tax that is supposed to support our public school systems but doesn't. A nickel-a-trade stock transfer tax on stock trades would pay off the fucking national debt in a matter of a year or so.
We the Citizens of New York City pay taxes out our tired asses--in terms of payroll (earnings) tax, we're hit with a three-way slice out of our earnings right off the bat--the Federal government, the State of New York, and the City of New York slicing up our little pies. Plus, we pay a sales tax--now up around 9% now; plus if we have automobiles we pay outrageous bridge and tunnel tolls and highway tolls, which are taxes--here in New York City, the George Washington Bridge alone collects millions upon millions of dollars a day--money that is transferred by helicopter to the Port Authority counting room--this crooked as a snake at night New York-New Jersey Port Authority the Power-Elitist-controlled outfit that is wasting 20 billion of New Yorkers and New Jersyans tax dollars on this architectural embarrassment, #1 World Trade Center pink elephant, that so far has only two occupants, Conde Nast--given what amounts to free rent just to get them to commit to the building and the People's Republic of China (that's the old Red China...that's Communist China to you Baby Boomers). Plus we are insulted by the Bank of America and AIG Insurance building brand new skyscrapers up right in our tax-ripped-off faces--these crooked companies who pay no taxes; in fact, they get huge tax refunds every year; plus their well-heeled CEOs have their taxes so creatively accounted for, they pay only about 5% of their incomes in taxes while people working under them are paying 25% of their incomes on taxes. Working stiffs are still working the first 4 months of the year for the various governments into which they pay taxes.
The next revolution is the one begun already--a revolution against these world-ruling Power-Elite-owned (check out their foundations) financial institutions and banks.
By the way, last night's World Series game, #6, was one of the damndest, wildest, best baseball games I've ever seen. What a great sport baseball is, though it so pisses me off to see all the Bank of America advertisements all over both the Rangers and the Cardinals's stadiums--bankofamerica.com stenciled on all the railings around the dugouts--same thing stenciled along the back walls of the dugouts--then huge outfield signs declaring Bank of America as a sponsor of Major League Baseball.
thegrowlingwolf
for The Daily Growler
A Little Taste of American Art:
Spring Landscape, 1910, by Chauncey Foster Ryder
From www.askart.com/
American Tonalist landscape painter, Chauncey Foster Ryder, was born in Danbury, Connecticut in 1868. In 1891, he moved to Chicago and began his artistic training at the Art Institute and at Smith's Art Academy.
After moving to Paris in 1901, Ryder enrolled at the Académie Julian, where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens and Raphael Collin. He showed at the Paris Salon for the first time in 1903. During the four years that followed, he exhibited annually at the Salon. Although Ryder maintained a studio in Paris until 1910, he returned to America in 1907 and settled in New York, where he began to show at Macbeth Galleries.
Like many of his contemporaries, Ryder traveled during the summer months. Among his favorite haunts was the artists’ colony of Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he often stayed at the home of Miss Florence Griswold, a gathering place for artists working in the area. Ryder exhibited with the Lyme artists in 1910 and 1911 and was given the honor of painting one of the panels in the Griswold house dining room. During a stay in Old Lyme, he sold a painting to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. In 1910, he established a home and studio in Wilton, New Hampshire, where he spent summers for the rest of his life. Wilton was also a base for Ryder to travel to sites in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire in search of painting subjects.
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