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And now, intrepid explorers...TO INFINITY! AND BEYOND!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Irrelevant Comments on my Posts...They're Always Entertaining.

IRRELEVANT COMMENTS ON MY POSTS…
They’re Always Entertaining.

Dear Friends:

I am a staunch proponent of free speech as it was, some time ago, actually protected by the United States Constitution. It’s a delightful irony when some spammer or misguided soul posts an irrelevant or downright indecipherable comment on one of my blog posts for my consideration – it is at those times when I realize that the right to exercise “free speech” is sometimes actually interpreted by some to be synonymous with the right to promote “valueless speech,” which is something slightly different.

Here’s a great one that appeared in my inbox today regarding a post which I made on one of my old, inactive blogs. Before you read it, open a window, get a box of tissues and sit down in a comfortable chair.
_____________

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Public Service Announcement: HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED...":

“good morning dudes. I'm honestly into shoes and I had been digging as far as something that meticulous brand. The prices seeking the boots were approximately 320 pounds everwhere. But finally I bring about this locate selling them someone is concerned half price. I really love those [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]prada sneakers[/url]. I will absolutely purchase those. what can you tell me about these?”
Publish this comment. Reject this comment. Moderate  comments for this blog.
 
____________

If I were a mean-spirited fellow, which I am not, I would probably say something like, “The person who left that comment would probably sit down in a hardware store and order a corned beef sandwich.” But I won’t.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Two Paths for the US Economy: Extinction or Revolution.

Two Paths for the US Economy: Extinction or Revolution.

Dear Friends:

I do not believe that an economic recovery is truly in store for the United States, and I am extremely frightened by the two glaring alternate possibilities that lie ahead in the American Futurescape. Deeper indebtedness without a means of repayment never, ever works. Unemployment (and underemployment) is growing. Consumer and business credit markets are tightening… I see an endless chain of band-aids over a gangrenous body. Are we a terminally-diagnosed patient? Are we, the patient, a sovereign nation lying in a hospital bed whose life is being artificially, scientifically prolonged through illusions, rhetoric and deferred consequences (stall tactics).

The innovators and entrepreneurs, our most productive and prolific business population segment, are not being fed much more than lip service. Collectively and collaboratively, we are called upon to take our future into our own hands. We can only do this by uniting and cooperating. Through my work with The National Networker Companies, I was led to the notion of the GICBC – the Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community. I now see this new entity as an ark to transport the willing seedlings of a new socio-economic system to a safe landing place while the flood waters rise.

Look up the GICBC in a Google search. If you feel yourself compelled to help with the groundwork required to build a future that does not have to result in extinction or revolution, please click on http://bit.ly/contactTNNW , and reach out to us. Just be certain to put “GICBC” in the subject line.

àOne of the best treatments for emotional or economic depression is to take action. Isn’t it time we, as entrepreneurs, emerging business leaders, aggressive networkers and innovators, stopped standing idly by, hands at our sides, and watching a parade of blunders, gaffes, lies and post- mortem disclosures?  

The excerpted and edited information which follows begs several questions:
1. Who is making economic policy and is the ultimate controlling force in the US economy? Is it Congress, the Treasury or the Federal Reserve Board? Has the White House any real power to intercede or control – or is it merely a symbolic institution that routinely leaks or announces “news” that is actually palliative rhetoric? Who is in charge? Who (name them!) has the power?

2. Do the country’s citizens and taxpayers have any say whatsoever in this process?

3. What will be the ultimate implications and costs of this currency and bond printfest?

4. When will the inevitable aftershocks be felt?

5. Who will be impacted and how? Who will pay this incredible, unprecedented, chasm of unsupported and ever-growing debt? Can it ever be repaid?

àThe average US citizen has come to distrust the government, large corporations, and even the notion of “honest business.” The middle-class is fast evaporating. There are more “working poor” than ever before in US history, both in absolute numbers and in percentage of the total population. A smaller percentage of US citizens (and other parties) owns and controls more of the entire nation’s wealth than ever before. We are becoming very like a creature with a tiny brain and a giant body which is unfed. Don’t creatures like that tend to become extinct?

Please read the brief excerpt which follows…

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
_______________________________________

Dirty Government Tricks... Heartbreaking Tales of Corporate Chicanery... and the Biggest Investor Myth of a Generation...

February 23, 2010


NOTE: This material was excerpted from a direct email investment solicitation sent to me by THE MOTLEY FOOL. I have edited some of the content. I do not endorse their publication, its point of view, or any of its investment recommendations. I do not offer financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting, health or medical advice. I merely offer my opinion in a non-professional capacity for the purposes of illustration, edification and entertainment. Really.

Faithfully,


p.s. I occasionally quote other writers because I enjoy their style of writing, or because I believe that they might have something valid to express. I share these materials with my readers as I deem appropriate.
Dear Fellow American,
Talk about a low-down, bag-over-the-head, kick-to-the-groin tactic...

On Christmas Eve 2009, while Americans were smack in the middle of holiday festivities... wrapping presents, spending time with family and friends, and toasting the season...

The U.S. Treasury quietly issued a press release. In hopes nobody would notice. And few did at that moment.
Here's the story. In September 2008, when the government first stepped in and bailed out America's two largest mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Congress put a $200 billion limit on federal assistance...

Last year, the Treasury doubled the amount to $400 billion. And then on Christmas Eve 2009 -- they lifted the limit altogether!
The Wall Street Journal dubbed it "the Christmas Eve taxpayer massacre."


Of course, "bailout" and "federal assistance" are just government-speak for reaching into taxpayers' wallets and giving our money to failing and flawed companies.

You see, we're being forced to buy senior preferred stock from Fannie and Freddie to cover their exponentially mounting losses. And while the government would have us believe these firms are being nursed back to health, the truth, as you'll discover in a second, is more insidious than anyone could've imagined.

The government would have you believe the mortgage companies you're being forced to invest in (bail out) are being nursed back to health...
But would you believe these companies are actually being directed by the government to lose money? It's true.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "The loss cap is being lifted because the government has directed both companies to pursue money-losing strategies by modifying mortgages to prevent foreclosures."
In other words, Fannie and Freddie are now being permitted and directed to lose even more money, transferring wealth from taxpayers to overextended borrowers and flawed businesses.

In other words still -- we're being forced (by the government) to invest in companies directed (by the government) to lose money. Can there be anything worse?
####


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Sunday, February 21, 2010

My Friends Gabriel and Judith Write Me a "Get Well" Poem - Douglas Castle

My Friends Gabriel and Judith Write Me a "Get Well" Poem - Douglas Castle

Someone else might have bought me a slinky, or just phoned my wife to see that I had come through surgery successfully. Gabriel and Judith took the time to infuse a brief poem with their hearts and minds...with their personalities and feelings, because they wanted to give me a gift that mattered. Perhaps just for today, I'll set my skepticism aside, and just enjoy the feeling of being loved, and to love them back for caring about me enough to let me know. I am not particularly spiritual pr even receptive to the notion of the power of caring, but somehow the worst of my pain vanished when I received this simple, but profoundly generous gift. Kind words, when given expression, can heal the deepest wounds, both those which are visible, and those which we wear inside. -- Douglas Castle


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Urgent - New Addresses For THE NATIONAL NETWORKER COMPANIES

Urgent - New Addresses For THE NATIONAL NETWORKER COMPANIES

Dear Friends, Readers and Colleagues:

Recently, one of our url-shortening services, twitlik.com, ceased its business, relegating many of our links to "dead - end" status. We have replaced the service and are trying to repair (by some sort of reverse engineering) so of the links embedded into our archived articles for The National Networker Newsletter and The Blue Tuesday Report.

We do not want to lose touch with anyone, and we do not want to deprive new visitors of their chance to join TNNW's GICBC (Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community) as members, free of charge.

Here are some of the urls to our key pages and functions, both direct (i.e., long, but always working) and shortened through bit.ly, which is one of the more reliable services. Please keep these addresses handy, and consider this our invitation to communicate and collaborate with us.

Should you have any questions, please feel at liberty to email Adam J. Kovitz directly at Adam@TheNationalNetworker.com, or to simply click on http://bit.ly/ContactTNNW .

It promises to be a very busy week -- we are actively consolidating and re-designing our website, commencing on Friday (aaaaaah...) and I am going in for some minor surgery (a cranial expansion to accommodate my ego) tomorrow.

Here are the key addresses. Please use them with our compliments:

1. The TNNWC and the publications: http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com

2. The RSS and Daily Email Feed:

3. To subscribe to TNNW and Blue Tuesday, and to join us (free):

4. To receive the free RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheNationalNetworkerWeblog or

5. To receive the free Daily Email:

6. TNNW News Release and PR Services: http://tnnwcservices1.blogspot.com/ or

7. TNNW Buzzworks Services: http://tnnwc-tnnwbuzzworks.blogspot.com or
http://bit.ly/Buzzworks (learn about Buzzology)

8. TNNW Blogworks Services: http://tnnwc-tnnwblogworks.blogspot.com or

9. The National Newspicker: http://thenationalnewspickerpage.blogspot.com (20 minutes per day to be up-to-date on virtually everything in the news that matters

10.Comment On This Article (From Readers): https://ciof.wufoo.com/forms/comment-on-this-article/ or

11.Contact Us (for people who want to just communicate with us, co-venture with us or wish to write for us): https://ciof.wufoo.com/forms/contact-the-national-networker-companies/  or http://bit.ly/contactTNNW .

As always, thank you for fueling our growth, and for being a part of something wonderful -- a sea change in the quality of life for society, and a pradigm shift for the structure of a new form of business entity.

Welcome aboard.

Faithfully,

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Monday, February 08, 2010

"A nation that produces nothing but advice and advisors will ultimately find itself without clients or an economy." - Douglas Castle

"A nation that produces nothing but advice and advisors will ultimately find itself without clients or an economy."- Douglas Castle

Twitter Destination Tags: #GICBC   #TNNW_BUZZWORKS   #IEP_VOICE            #BRAINTENANCE   #GETGLOBALEDGE   #douglascastle

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Friday, February 05, 2010

DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for Links 4 Life

DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for LINKS 4 LIFE

Dear Friends:

A growing percentage of the U.S. population, including and increasing number of young children and teens, is taking prescription medications. Many of these individuals are taking several different prescription drugs simultaneously, for treatment of conditions ranging from ADHD to osteoporosis. More and more of us are taking antidepressents and antianxiety medications - sometimes, in a potentially dangerous scenario, we are taking several different drugs for several different purposes prescribed by several different healthcare practitioners.

Without passing judgment on the large pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) and the healthcare community, the sobering reality is that many of these drugs have dangerous side effects, dangerous (and potentially lethal) contraindications when combined with other medications (both prescription and over-the-counter nutrients). Due to a healthcare sytem in need of some logistical and ethical realignment, each of us, as a patient, or as a friend or family member who cares for someone who takes prescription medications, must be his or her own researcher and advocate.

While there are many sources of information about the side effects, contraindications and interactions associated with medications, most of the information available is provided by the large pharmaceutical companies -- the same companies which sponsor most drug research and testing -- the same companies which stand to profit by maximizing drug sales through expanding the prescription drug culture through lobbying in Washington and at the "grassroots level" -- hospitals, physicians and other healthcare practitioners are inundated with marketing materials and attention from representatives of drug companies eager to increase marketshare by increasing awareness on the part of practitioners of the availability of new drugs, each packed with a very substantial margin of profit while under patent.

There is a potentially dangerous conflict of interest when drug companies yield such sway over the Legislature and over the healthcare practitioners and virtually all of their professional organizations. Go into any practitioner's office and you will see an array of sticky notes, scribble pads, paperweights, pamphlets, pens and advertising specialties bearing the names of various new drugs or drug manufacturers.

Your doctor might have free "starter samples" of various drugs given to him to encourage him to give them out to his or her patients as if they were treats, or Halloween candy. Doctors' offices and healthcare institutions are beseiged by representatives from these companies every single day, and they are courted for their "business" non-stop. 

Before you fill a prescription for yourself, or for someone in your family, you must get unbiased, uncompromised information from some reliable sources about what the potential is for negative effects from those drugs, either when taken alone, or when taken in conjuction with other substances. If you have certain health problems, some of these drugs have the potential to make them worse. Certain people can have allergic reactions or suffer terrible, irreversible side effects when given either the wrong medications, or doses which are simply too high for safety's sake. Be your own advocate, and an advocate for those whom you love.

Before you take any medication, even if your doctor strongly advised you to take it, get information about the medication. Firstly, ask your doctor -- he or she has an obligation to advise you, to the best of his or her knowledge and ability, as to how important it is that you take the medication, the appropriate range of dosages, possible side effects and potentially harmful drug interactions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. and after you have gotten some information from the prescriber, do your own research.

An excellent new resource for information of about drug dangers, interactions, side effects can be found at http://www.DrugWatch.com. They are a self-funded organization without affiliations with any medical associations or pharmaceutical companies, and they have a constantly updated data base of information about all of the most commonly prescribed medications. I have found their information to be well-detailed, well-researched (well-supported by evidence) and organized in a very user-friendly and accessible fashion..

As of today, LINKS 4 LIFE is adding DrugWatch.com to its resource list. We'll be placing a direct link to their website on this site and on other sites and media with which we have an affiliation. Please note that neither LINKS 4 LIFE nor any of its sponsors has any financial or other business interest in DrugWatch.com.

I would also suggest that you make a list of the prescription medications which you are taking (as well as the prescribed dosages), and look them up on DrugWatch.com's site. It pays to educate yourself, and when it comes to matters of your health, sooner is always better than later.

Their information follows below:

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
--------------------------------------------------------
Drug Information – DrugWatch.com provides up-to-date information on the side effects of common prescription and over-the-counter medications.
--------------------------------------------------------
 
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Labels, Terms and Tags: drug contraindications, drug dosages, drug interactions, drug precaustions, drug side-effects, DrugWatch.com, Links 4 Life, medications, The National Networker Companies

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Thursday, February 04, 2010

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

"When the unconscionable becomes the norm, we stand at precipice of socio-economic extinction." - Douglas Castle

"When the unconscionable becomes the norm, we stand at the precipice of socio-economic extinction." - Douglas Castle

The article which follows was written by Douglas Castle, author and advocate of the Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC), a new form of entity based upon a collaborative paradigm of shared contribution and shared rewards which may provide a vehicle to save the fast-fading notions of democracy, government by the consent of the governed, government by and for the People, advancement based upon merit, and a form of industrious capitalism where currency is a means of exchange and store of value, but not a mountain of scrip standing between the entrenched and protected "ruling class," (a small minority of persons controlling in large part the fate of everyone) and the dispossessed, disillusioned and desperate masses who no longer experience a quality of life that gives them cause to live. Please do consider becoming a member of The National Networker Companies, an organization which is Humankind's first GICBC in the making. Become a member for free by clicking on http://twitlik.com/IN . I am honored to be the Vice-Chairman and Director of Strategic Planning for this instrument of change.

Dear Readers:

Two articles are re-printed for your information below. The first is labelled People's Exhibit A, and the second, People's Exhibit B.

The first article is the now-commonplace whining (with no actual question, answer, or opinion provided, at all -- very dry stuff, like cayenne pepper) about AIG awarding giant bonuses to a horde of unscrupulous, compunction-free gamblers who have all but stolen money from the ever-thinning wallets of the American People, and will, with great encouragement, continue to do so. The article is really just there to rile you up a bit. You'll be more receptive to Exhibit B when you are infuriated to the point of screaming until your vocal cords are bloody.

Exhibit A should get you you there. If it does not bother you, or if it makes you shrug your shoulders like Oscar Madison and say something along the lines of "So what else is new? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I'm going to get a coffee. Want some?" then don't read Exhibit B.

If what you might instead be looking at is. "How has it come to this? That here, in what used to be called 'The Land of Opportunity,' the poor, or even the middle class are no longer permitted a chance at becoming rich? That's not opportunity -- that some kind of trap. We need to pull this poisoned tree up by its roots, and plant something fresh and new in its place. The existing system is so convoluted and conflicted that trying to "fix it" is as futile as raising the dead by singing a song to a worm-riddled corpse. This has to be scrapped and replaced. This is like a 20-year old car that needs so much work every month that it would be cheaper to junk it and buy a new one...in fact, I could have bought three news ones by now with all the money I've thrown into that depreciating hunk of crap! Let's dump this vehicle and shop for something that works!"

If this reaction comes out in you, I heartily encourage you to read Exhibit B.


Message:
Author and Commentator Robert Reich is looking in the right place. Instead of complaining about "Big Government" he is concerned, and rightly so, about our shrinking Democracy. This is truly the core issue. I will be adding the Huffington Post to my Twitter resource and news update list, and I feel a blog post coming on...Google the term "GICBC."

Please stick around for the read...er....the ride.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
People's Exhibit A
Reports: AIG to pay out $100 million in bonusesAP
Wed Feb 3, 7:05 am ET

NEW YORK – American International Group Inc. is set to pay out about $100 million in a fresh round of bonuses to employees of its financial products division, the unit whose risky bets helped sink the company leading to a $180 billion government bailout, according to reports published Tuesday.
AIG agreed to cut the retention bonuses by $20 million but will still hand out $100 million Wednesday, The New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the negotiations.
The Washington Post, also citing people familiar with the situation, said the retention payments are for employees at the division who agreed to accept 10 to 20 percent less than AIG had initially promised them two years ago. In return, they are getting their money more than a month ahead of schedule.
AIG is still due to pay out tens of millions of dollars more in March, mostly to former employees who did not agree to the concessions, the Post reported.
A message was left with an AIG spokesman seeking comment.
New York-based AIG faced intense public and Congressional criticism last March when it paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in retention bonuses to employees months after receiving the government bailout.
When the credit crisis hit in the fall of 2008, the U.S. government rescued AIG from the brink of collapse in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the insurer. AIG's near collapse was not due to its traditional insurance operations, but instead risky derivatives contracts written by the financial products division. ####

People's Exhibit B

The item which follows was written by Robert Reich, and I happened to stumble upon it while glancing over the Huffington Post.

Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Former Secretary of Labor, Professor at Berkeley. Posted: February 2, 2010 06:24 PM

Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy

A version of this column appears in the current issue of The American Prospect.

I wish conservatives would stop complaining about big government and start worrying about the real problem -- small democracy. I wish we'd all worry more about our incredible shrinking democracy.
It seems as if more and more decisions that should be made democratically are being shunted off somewhere to a few people who make them in back rooms. Which programs should be cut, which entitlements pared back, and what taxes raised in order to reduce the long-term budget deficit? Hmmm. Let's convene a commission and have them decide.
Commissions are a default mechanism when politicians want to hand off difficult issues to "experts." But reducing the long-term budget deficit has almost nothing to do with expertise. It's about our nations' values and priorities. Nothing could be more central to the democratic process.
Democracy requires at least three things: (1) Important decisions are made in the open. (2) The public and its representatives have an opportunity to debate them, so the decisions can be revised in light of what the public discovers and wants. And (3) those who make the big decisions are accountable to voters.
But these principles are in retreat, and I say this not just because of the proposed deficit commission.
The notorious Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) began with a virtual blank check from Congress. Treasury officials then secretly decided which companies were to receive hundreds of billions of dollars. Why these particular entities were chosen and not others remains a mystery. For months, the Treasury didn't even disclose the identities of the major banks that giant insurer AIG repaid with its bailout money -- 100 cents on each dollar AIG owed them.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has gone far beyond its traditional role of setting short-term interest rates. It has bought up massive amounts of debt -- mortgage debt, Treasury bills, and debt instruments emanating several public agencies, many of them supporting a wide range of private entities. No one outside the Fed knows the ultimate beneficiaries of all this government backing, the criteria used by the Fed for making these commitments, or even how much debt the Fed is buying.
Even if the economic emergency justified such secrecy -- and it's hard to see exactly why it would -- the emergency is over, and yet closed-door decision making continues. Will Treasury use what's left of TARP to help stimulate more jobs and, if so, how? Will the Fed stop buying mortgage-backed securities? No one knows.
The same pattern is evident on other issues. Congress can't decide whether or how to limit the pay of financial executives. So where does the issue end up? The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Fed both say they're going to look at whether pay levels are appropriate. The House and Senate can't agree on what to do about climate change. Who decides? The Environmental Protection Agency concludes it has authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
The debate over health-care reform looked like democratic deliberation until you realize the key negotiations that framed the deal occurred behind closed doors, between the White House and Big Pharma and Big Insurance. The Administration promised these industries some thirty million new paying customers. In return, they agreed not to oppose the plan. Big Pharma even placed a firm limit on how much it would cut its costs over the next ten years -- $80 billion, and not a penny more. How do I know this? Not because this crucial deal was made in public, but because it was leaked to the press.
Personally, I want the government to limit the pay of financial executives, regulate greenhouse gases, and reform health care. And no one wanted a financial meltdown. But I'm appalled by the process that's been used to reach these objectives.
A big piece of the problem is this: Washington is now so overrun by lobbyists representing moneyed interests that it's become almost impossible to make policy in the open. If the Treasury and Fed tried to decide publicly which industries and firms should get hundreds of billions, they'd be inundated. Wall Street lobbyists are blocking real financial reform. The energy industry has filled the House's cap-and-trade bill with special subsidies and exemptions. Big Pharma and Big Insurance would have killed off the health-care reform if they hadn't been bought off. When it comes to the long-term deficit, Congress is incapable of acting because so many special interests have their hands out.
But the answer isn't to give up on democracy. Back-room policy making can succumb to private interests just as easily as lobby-infested legislatures (much of the public suspects the Treasury of being too cozy with Wall Street as it is).
The real answer is to recommit ourselves to cleaning up democracy. Yes, I know: The Supreme Court's recent grotesque Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which decided corporations are people entitled to First Amendment protection, complicates this. But the goal is still possible to achieve with more public money for congressional and presidential candidates who refuse private funding, more constraints on lobbyists, tighter rules for who must register as a lobbyist, fuller disclosure, and tougher rules on the revolving door between public service and private gain. Yale's Bruce Ackerman recently came up with another good idea: A $50 tax credit per person, which they can send to the candidate of their choosing.
Yet nobody seems to be talking about these sorts of reforms. They don't appear on Obama's agenda. True, they don't generate lots of public excitement or appreciation, and they're murderously difficult to enact. But without them our democracy doesn't stand a chance.####

Please stay with me. Follow me on Twitter, The National Networker, Linked In, the blog reviewers. Don't be afraid to get in touch with me directly.  If you are as ambitious as you are angry, then we are not merely destined, but obligated, to meet. I can be emailed at DouglasCastle1@live.com.  Thanks.


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