Tea Leaves

I read the tea leaves, and as a commenter said - I was dreaming. All right, I was wrong about the swell – I heard late Tuesday it was well overhead and conditions were nice, but I have no hard evidence. I checked today, and it could have been all time – except for the east wind scallop. The pics as my witness.

In other news: Democracy Now reported - “In Honduras, a prominent supporter of the coup has won the nation’s presidential election. Porfirio Lobo, a rich landowner, received 55 percent of the vote. The election comes five months after the Honduran military ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. The leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and other Latin American countries say Sunday’s presidential election is invalid because it was backed by the coup leaders and could end any hope of Zelaya returning to power and completing his term, which is due to end in January. But the United States has vowed to recognize the results.No pro-Zelaya candidate ran Sunday due to a boycott of the elections called by Zelaya. Human rights groups reported widespread abuses by the Honduran military and police ahead of Sunday’s vote. In the city of San Pedro Sula, soldiers used water cannons and tear gas to break up a march by 500 unarmed protesters. On Saturday, 50 masked soldiers and police raided a collective of farmers and small scale agricultural producers known as Red Comal.” This is important because what you have is the US supporting land grab. And who knows, maybe provided support. The US is not happy with the way things are going in Central and South America. Democratically elected governments in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Ecuador, to name a few, are taking back natural capital from international corporations and going socialist – considering the people in the economic deal – everyone’s welfare optimized. This is real significant since the indigenous people of these countries have been the butt-end of capitalism since colonization. I am suspicious of US intentions given corporate ties and the ease of which the US accepted a military coup and supposed election. It works out great for corporate agriculture, wealthy landowners and the like. For me, it lends credibility to accusations by leaders in Venezuela and Ecuador regarding US ties to right-wing groups active in trying to overthrow the elected governments in their countries. How does land grab fit into neoclassical economics? Consider - Two U.S. corporations—Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Company and United Brands) and Dole (formerly Standard Fruit and Steamship Company and Castle & Cooke)—hold a disproportionate amount of the country’s agricultural land.

The Obama administration has decided not to sign an international convention banning land mines. What could possibly be the explanation? Can’t deal with nuclear weapons, nor can we deal with indiscriminate killing. Pussies. There is no change. Obama – change you can believe in? All I see is a change of color.

Neo-classical economics, the flavor of policy over the last five or more decades, pushes the free market and zero regulation/intervention. Keynesian thought includes regulation – the magic hand may eat itself. Now, why would those who are firm neo-classicals, Bernanke and Geithner, go in for regulation? Yet, they were the ones in charge of regulation. Check it: “We don’t really need new rules. The rules are there. What we need are regulators willing to use them. The Fed has all the power it needs. And the very fact that Chairman Bernanke yesterday was listing all the good things they had done proves that they had the power under existing laws. He just didn’t want to use them. Tim Geithner, as head of the New York Fed, could have done whatever needed to be done, but they didn’t do it.” So, why would those who firmly believe in the market apply regulation? They won’t – they didn’t. And the punch line – they are all still manipulating the puppet strings.

Hey – spill, baby spill. Officials believe that ice plugged up a pipeline and likely caused a rupture that sent 46,000 gallons of crude oil and water gushing onto snow-covered tundra on Alaska's North Slope late last month. More worries - I mean No worries. Anytime you hear somebody say technology has reached a level where the environment is safe from human endeavors – just say no!

Did get some surf up until Sunday - couple fun ones at Tiburones and Segundo Bol, but came down with the sickness and missed the epic swell I was touting. Serves me right.

Last Word
"I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top." John Cipollina  ¶ 12:30 AM