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Christmas Day Open Thread
To some, such as those few whose daily net worth is still a function of the policy vehicle formerly known as the 'market', it is a merry Christmas (at least until such time as the recoupling between central planning and reality once again inevitably occurs). To others, such as the 50 million (by now) Americans on food stamps, and billions of others around the world living in conditions of poverty, it is not so merry. But no matter one's current state of one's mind, there is always hope that the future will bring better days: after all that is what reflective holidays such as today are all about. We too hope that there is hope, if at the same time realizing that ever more of the promise of the future is packaged away in chunks of debt and securitized in order to fund an unsustainable present. We open up this thread to readers to share their hopes and concerns about the present and the future.
But before we do, we wanted to share a brief blurb from the Mises Institute on the "The Christmas Truce of World War I"
The Christmas Truce, which occurred primarily between the British and German soldiers along the Western Front in December 1914, is an event the official histories of the "Great War" leave out, and the Orwellian historians hide from the public. Stanley Weintraub has broken through this barrier of silence and written a moving account of this significant event by compiling letters sent home from the front, as well as diaries of the soldiers involved. His book is entitled Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce. The book contains many pictures of the actual events showing the opposing forces mixing and celebrating together that first Christmas of the war. This remarkable story begins to unfold, according to Weintraub, on the morning of December 19, 1914:
"Lieutenant Geoffrey Heinekey, new to the 2nd Queen's Westminister Rifles, wrote to his mother, 'A most extraordinary thing happened. . . . Some Germans came out and held up their hands and began to take in some of their wounded and so we ourselves immediately got out of our trenches and began bringing in our wounded also. The Germans then beckoned to us and a lot of us went over and talked to them and they helped us to bury our dead. This lasted the whole morning and I talked to several of them and I must say they seemed extraordinarily fine men. . . . It seemed too ironical for words. There, the night before we had been having a terrific battle and the morning after, there we were smoking their cigarettes and they smoking ours." (p. 5)
Weintraub reports that the French and Belgians reacted differently to the war and with more emotion than the British in the beginning. The war was occurring on their land and "The French had lived in an atmosphere of revanche since 1870, when Alsace and Lorraine were seized by the Prussians" in a war declared by the French (p. 4). The British and German soldiers, however, saw little meaning in the war as to them, and, after all, the British King and the German Kaiser were both grandsons of Queen Victoria. Why should the Germans and British be at war, or hating each other, because a royal couple from Austria were killed by an assassin while they were visiting in Serbia? However, since August when the war started, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had been killed, wounded or missing by December 1914 (p. xvi).
It is estimated that over eighty thousand young Germans had gone to England before the war to be employed in such jobs as waiters, cooks, and cab drivers and many spoke English very well. It appears that the Germans were the instigators of this move towards a truce. So much interchange had occurred across the lines by the time that Christmas Eve approached that Brigadier General G.T. Forrestier-Walker issued a directive forbidding fraternization:
"For it discourages initiative in commanders, and destroys offensive spirit in all ranks. . . . Friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices and exchange of tobacco and other comforts, however tempting and occasionally amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited." (p. 6–7)
Later strict orders were issued that any fraternization would result in a court-martial. Most of the seasoned German soldiers had been sent to the Russian front while the youthful and somewhat untrained Germans, who were recruited first, or quickly volunteered, were sent to the Western Front at the beginning of the war. Likewise, in England young men rushed to join in the war for the personal glory they thought they might achieve and many were afraid the war might end before they could get to the front. They had no idea this war would become one of attrition and conscription or that it would set the trend for the whole 20th century, the bloodiest in history which became known as the War and Welfare Century.
As night fell on Christmas Eve the British soldiers noticed the Germans putting up small Christmas trees along with candles at the top of their trenches and many began to shout in English "We no shoot if you no shoot"(p. 25). The firing stopped along the many miles of the trenches and the British began to notice that the Germans were coming out of the trenches toward the British who responded by coming out to meet them. They mixed and mingled in No Man's Land and soon began to exchange chocolates for cigars and various newspaper accounts of the war which contained the propaganda from their respective homelands. Many of the officers on each side attempted to prevent the event from occurring but the soldiers ignored the risk of a court-martial or of being shot.
Some of the meetings reported in diaries were between Anglo-Saxons and German Saxons and the Germans joked that they should join together and fight the Prussians. The massive amount of fraternization, or maybe just the Christmas spirit, deterred the officers from taking action and many of them began to go out into No Man's Land and exchange Christmas greetings with their opposing officers. Each side helped bury their dead and remove the wounded so that by Christmas morning there was a large open area about as wide as the size of two football fields separating the opposing trenches. The soldiers emerged again on Christmas morning and began singing Christmas carols, especially "Silent Night." They recited the 23rd Psalm together and played soccer and football. Again, Christmas gifts were exchanged and meals were prepared openly and attended by the opposing forces. Weintraub quotes one soldier's observation of the event: "Never . . . was I so keenly aware of the insanity of war" (p. 33).
The first official British history of the war came out in 1926 which indicated that the Christmas Truce was a very insignificant matter with only a few people involved. However, Weintraub states:
"During a House of Commons debate on March 31, 1930, Sir H. Kinglsey Wood, a Cabinet Minister during the next war, and a Major 'In the front trenches' at Christmas 1914, recalled that he 'took part in what was well known at the time as a truce. We went over in front of the trenches and shook hands with many of our German enemies. A great number of people [now] think we did something that was degrading.' Refusing to presume that, he went on, 'The fact is that we did it, and I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired. For a fortnight the truce went on. We were on the most friendly terms, and it was only the fact that we were being controlled by others that made it necessary for us to start trying to shoot one another again.' He blamed the resumption of the war on 'the grip of the political system which was bad, and I and others who were there at the time determined there and then never to rest. . . . Until we had seen whether we could change it.' But they could not." (p. 169–70)
Beginning with the French Revolution, one of the main ideas coming out of the 19th century, which became dominant at the beginning of the 20th century, was nationalism with unrestrained democracy. In contrast, the ideas which led to the American Revolution were those of a federation of sovereign states joined together under the Constitution which severely limited and separated the powers of the national or central government in order to protect individual liberty. National democracy was restrained by a Bill of Rights. These ideas came into direct conflict with the beginning of the American War Between the States out of which nationalism emerged victorious. A principal idea of nationalism was that the individual owed a duty of self-sacrifice to "The Greater Good" of his nation and that the noblest act a person could do was to give his life for his country during a war, which would, in turn, bring him immortal fame.
Two soldiers, one British and one German, both experienced the horrors of the trench warfare in the Great War and both wrote moving accounts which challenged the idea of the glory of a sacrifice of the individual to the nation in an unnecessary or unjust war. The British soldier, Wilfred Owen, wrote a famous poem before he was killed in the trenches seven days before the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. He tells of the horror of the gas warfare which killed many in the trenches and ends with the following lines:
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues —
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.[1]
The German soldier was Erich M. Remarque who wrote one of the best anti-war novels of all time, entitled All Quiet On The Western Front, which was later made into an American movie that won the 1930 Academy Award for Best Picture. He also attacked the idea of the nobility of dying for your country in a war and he describes the suffering in the trenches:
"We see men living with their skulls blown open; We see soldiers run with their two feet cut off; They stagger on their splintered stumps into the next shell-hole; A lance corporal crawls a mile and half on his hands dragging his smashed knee after him; Another goes to the dressing station and over his clasped hands bulge his intestines; We see men without mouths, without jaws, without faces; We find one man who has held the artery of his arm in his teeth for two hours in order not to bleed to death."
I would imagine that the Christmas Truce probably inspired the English novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy, to write a poem about World War I entitled "The Man He Killed," which reads as follows:
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.I shot him dead because —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; althoughHe thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.Yes, quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.
The last chapter of Weintraub's book is entitled "What If — ?" This is counterfactual history at its best and he sets out what he believes the rest of the 20th century would have been like if the soldiers had been able to cause the Christmas Truce of 1914 to stop the war at that point. Like many other historians, he believes that with an early end of the war in December of 1914, there probably would have been no Russian Revolution, no Communism, no Lenin, and no Stalin. Furthermore, there would have been no vicious peace imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty, and therefore, no Hitler, no Nazism and no World War II. With the early truce there would have been no entry of America into the European War and America might have had a chance to remain, or return, to being a Republic rather than moving toward World War II, the "Cold" War (Korea and Vietnam), and our present status as the world bully.
Weintraub states that:
". . . Franklin D. Roosevelt, only an obscure assistant secretary of the navy — of a fleet going nowhere militarily — would have returned to a boring law practice, and never have been the losing but attractive vice presidential candidate in 1920, a role earned by his war visibility. Wilson, who would not be campaigning for reelection in 1916 on a platform that he kept America out of war, would have lost (he only won narrowly) to a powerful new Republican president, Charles Evans Hughes. . . ." (p. 167)
He also suggests another result of the early peace:
"Germany in peace rather than war would have become the dominant nation in Europe, possibly in the world, competitor to a more slowly awakening America, and to an increasingly ambitious and militant Japan. No Wilsonian League of Nations would have emerged. . . . Yet, a relatively benign, German-led, Commonwealth of Europe might have developed decades earlier than the European Community under leaders not destroyed in the war or its aftermath." (p. 167)
Many leaders of the British Empire saw the new nationalistic Germany (since 1870–71) as a threat to their world trade, especially with Germany's new navy. The idea that economics played a major role in bringing on the war was confirmed by President Woodrow Wilson after the war in a speech wherein he gave his assessment of the real cause of the war. He was campaigning in St. Louis, Missouri in September of 1919 trying to get the US Senate to approve the Versailles Treaty and he stated:
"Why, my fellow-citizens, is there [anyone] here who does not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial rivalry? . . . This war, in its inception, was a commercial and industrial war. It was not a political war."
The great economist, Ludwig von Mises, advocated a separation of the economy from the government as one important solution to war so that business interests could not get government assistance in foreign or domestic markets:
Durable peace is only possible under perfect capitalism, hitherto never and nowhere completely tried or achieved. In such a Jeffersonian world of unhampered market economy the scope of government activities is limited to the protection of the lives, health, and property of individuals against violence or fraudulent aggression. . . .
All the oratory of the advocates of government omnipotence cannot annul the fact that there is but one system that makes for durable peace: A free market economy. Government control leads to economic nationalism and thus results in conflict.[2]
Weintraub alludes to a play by William Douglas Home entitled A Christmas Truce wherein characters representing British and German soldiers have just finished a soccer game in No Man's Land on Christmas day and are engaged in a conversation which very well could represent the feelings of the soldiers on that day. The German lieutenant concedes the impossibility of the war ending as the soccer game had just done, with no bad consequences — "Because the Kaiser and the generals and the politicians in my country order us that we fight."
"So do ours," agrees Andrew Wilson (the British soldier).
"Then what can we do?"
"The answer's 'nothing.' But if we do nothing . . . like we're doing now, and go on doing it, there'll be nothing they can do but send us home."
"Or shoot us." (p. 110)
The Great War killed over ten million soldiers and Weintraub states, "Following the final Armistice came an imposed peace in 1919 that created new instabilities ensuring another war," (p. 174). This next war killed more than fifty million people, over half of whom were civilians. Weintruab writes:
"To many, the end of the war and the failure of the peace would validate the Christmas cease-fire as the only meaningful episode in the apocalypse. It belied the bellicose slogans and suggested that the men fighting and often dying were, as usual, proxies for governments and issues that had little to do with their everyday lives. A candle lit in the darkness of Flanders, the truce flickered briefly and survives only in memoirs, letters, song, drama and story." (p. xvi)
He concludes his remarkable book with the following:
"A celebration of the human spirit, the Christmas Truce remains a moving manifestation of the absurdities of war. A very minor Scottish poet of Great War vintage, Frederick Niven, may have got it right in his 'A Carol from Flanders,' which closed,
O ye who read this truthful rime From Flanders, kneel and say:
God speed the time when every day
Shall be as Christmas Day. (p. 175)
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Welcome to the Jungle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8-E8may2Y
You can have anything you want but ya better not take it from me.
Wishing all ZeroHedge members and their family a very Merry Christmas.
Merry Chrstmas one and all. Thank you Tyler, and thanks to all that post here.
Man does not live by bread alone.
That right. That's why we come here: for the red meat.
Jen-na you're scaring me?
I know that's not true.
Merry/Happy YC.
Hope it all lasts long enough to fully prepare
The great economist, Ludwig von Mises, advocated a separation of the economy from the government
hallelujah
Use Bitcoin
You do realize that the Internet grew up from Darpanet(Arpanet) there was never a divorce. Who owns the root servers?
This and...
Who owns the communications infrastructure?
Happy solstice celebration one and all.
All I want this coming year is to laugh more. Not out of cynicism, out of pure joy.
I used to laugh a lot...lately, not so much. That needs to change.
Try to lower the bar a little; maybe laugh at car crashes, infernos, and crying babies...........
Let me try!
A fisherman catches a golden shark, and as usual the shark says if the dude has mercy and releases him back in the water, the golden shark with unusual powers will make three of his wishes come true.
The fisherman replies: "Screw that, we're going to the pawn shop!"
Merry Christmas ZH!!!
Let me put you in a touch with a guy who sells the finest Super Silver Haze. You will need a Buddha vaporizer as well but I guarantee you will be laughing your ass off!
Mr. Bernanke,
I want to apologize for the haters here. I think you're doing a fine job! But please can I get a new injection because I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms again.
Sincerely,
The artificial market.
"Hope beats eternal in the human breast" whazis his name said, so we have a tendency to hope, the question should be; Does hope have survival value, does the mind enfused with hope have a better chance of finding it's way out of a quandry, or faced with a seemingly hopeless situation does the mind which forgets hope, (and faith), for what is Faith but the hope that your beliefs will, in the moment of trial, deliver you from your hopeless situation, acccept the pragmatist's stance and say, let us fight on until the battle is won or lost! You know; on a long enough....ect. We are all defeated anyway we are just waiting for the final drum roll and the, figurative, drop...oblivion sweet oblivion!
Thanks Tylers for the thread and Thank You especially for approving my account on Christmas Eve!
Merry Christmas from the Ministry of Love!!
Welcome!
Who needs College Football, when I can watch the Goldman Sachs [Toilet Bowl ®] on Z/H.
Merry Christmas/ Happy Hanukkah/ and what ever else there is on December 25Th.
I just want to say I am so incredibly grateful for this sanctuary. All of you keep me sane and I am comforted by the fact that I am not alone in my beliefs. If there is ever a ZH convention, I will be among the first to buy a ticket as it would be a tremendous honor to meet all of you in person. Keep stacking that physical and enjoy life to the fullest.
The Master
We will be meeting at FEMA camp Zebra, attendance will be mandatory...
I'm sure we'll make the most of it!
The sun no longer shows his face, and treason
sows his secret seeds that no man can detect.
Fathers by their children are undone.
Might is right, and justice there is none
-Walther von der Vogelweide-
That must be the "special" re-education center for ZHer's.
+1
http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/65500/Merry-Christmas-from-Ben-Bern...
\
Merry Christmas Hedgemeisters! Nobody knows better than we, the lumps of coal we're about to see! http://shutupnsing.wordpress.com/2012/12/25/prepare-for-the-light/
Whether its Alpo or another form of dog food the ultimate game is going to be worse than even most doomers anticipate. My hope is I'm dead fucking wrong and the pollyannas get to laugh their asses off at me. On the other hand if I am correct... NO ONE will be laughing at this post apocalyptic economic crash. I still think there is "another side" that is coming and I hope its free of these fucking parasites that have sucked the essence of the freedoms that we once "thought" we had. gl ZH'rs and thanks Tyler. Maybe I'll see ya on the other side.
Merry X-mas to all
...don't mix your Xmas emotions with the ponzi scheme casino.....this sucker is going down!!!!
OR ELSE..you'll get run over not by grandma riding a reindeer, but by the casino managers pulling the rug from under your feet.
To Mr. Banzai, the Tylers, the ghost of Marla and even the MDB's who troll, a Merry Christmas to all and to all, a great P/L in '13!!!
And don't forget Sacrilege...
Where would we be without Sacrilege? :>D
Thx for the excellent (for the most part) commentary throughout the year; and especially the laughs. Mayhaps one day soon there will arise from the bottom up a system to supplant the tyrannical forces at work and give us reason to rejoice each new day for what we've become. eh.
The Silver Shine .....bitches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TehjTZRy48o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJ43Y824IM
Robert Kennedy Announcing the Assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Indiana
"My favorite poem, my — my favorite poet was Aeschylus," Robert Kennedy said, "and he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."
Two months later, Robert Kennedy himself was felled by an assassin's bullet.
.
Christmas is ruined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V43V4ELQjfY
.
24 December 2012
Joyeux Noël
'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all
people. ..."
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/12/joyeux-noel.html
.
Bill Hicks: Life is Just a Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1RQmnSJoRg
.
Bill Hicks - You are Free to do as we Tell You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mssKE_b48k
.
“I love the Pope, I love seeing him in his Pope-Mobile, his three feet of bullet
proof plexi-glass. That's faith in action folks! You know he's got God on his side.”
Bill Hicks
( an odd christmas collection of links )
Nice collection.
happy? holidays , season's greetings and
merry christmas jena ! more ..
Robert Earl Keene's Merry Christmas from the Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37xPiRz1sg
.
tom waits- christmas card from a hooker in minneapolis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS0VRN3pAYg
.
Joseph Spence - Santa Claus is comin to Town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpEWh9sg_7A
.
Narrator: Then he slunk to the ice box. He took the Whos' feast, he took the who pudding, he took the roast beast. He cleaned out that ice box as quick as a flash. Why, the Grinch even took their last can of Who hash.
(apologies for the reposting violations) but christmas
would not be complete ....
.
John Cale - Child's Christmas in Wales
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9IKnVVRsmk
.
With mistletoe and candle green
To Halloween we go
Ten murdered oranges bled on board ship
Lend comedy to shame
The cattle graze bold uprightly
Seducing down the door
To saddle swords and meeting place
We have no place to go
Then wearily the footsteps worked (forked)
The hallelujah crowds
Too late but wait, the long legged bait
Tripped uselessly around
Sebastopol Adrianapolis
The prayers of all combined
Take down the flag of ownership
The walls are falling down
A belt to hold
Columbus too, perimeters of nails
Perceived the mamma's golden touch
Good neighbors were we all
.
..... and there is much more but maybe later?..
to tylers and hedgee's worldwide ..... have an irie christmas- hit play all, sit back and spark up the christmas tree....(hey this coulda been awful, it's actually about 97% great, enjoy)
https://www.youtube.com/user/RastaClaus85?feature=relchannel
My Christmas wish is that in 2013 everybody, and I mean everybody, gets exactly what they deserve.
I believe that would involve a garrote wire for some.
Go forth then, and alleviate some suffering:
http://www.worldvision.org
I just hope the physicists at the Hadron Collider create anti-matter and end this scourge of Humanity.
For most men, particularly for those who have experienced the viciousness of aggression and defense, war is not natural or desired.
Yet even after the battle, watching comrades die, the two sides could come together and discovered they are much the same, human beings they be.
Actions such as what is described above should be lesson to those who lead and send young people to fight their battles. The soldiers on both sides depicted above are the true heroes, setting aside protocol and orders and daring to try the impossible.
I want to agree but could you find anything in common with:
The Obamaphone woman?
Eric Holder?
Black Panther people?
Janet Napolatano?
The wise Latina in the Supreme Court?
Any host of MSNBC?
The Los Angeles mayor?
Etc
Etc....
What common ground can we reach before the horror of war. The thing is, these people have no idea it is coming, nor what to do when it hits....
I reailize what you are saying, but none of those you mention are on the field of battle.
There is a big difference isn't there?
They don't have to kill, murder, risk their own lives.
When the world's military starts thininking for itselve, they may not be so quick to follow "orders"
Here is a true skeptic, wishing (cuz it aint gonna happen) the best for all.
How many times will Greece be "on the brink" this comming year?
Greece will be on the brink only "once" as she has always been throughout her long, glorious but troubled history.
"Through a Glass, Darkly"
General George S. Patton, Jr.
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/543355/posts
I'm poor, not on any govt assistance, and not participating any more than I must in our profligate, wasteful, juvenile culture - quite merrily.
This is my first Christmas without all the consumerist crap. Its wonderful.
Merry Christmas to all.
How did the family react? I have tried a time or two and it seems to revert back.
I wish the juvenile culture could keep me from aging. Merry Christmas Spastica and Ms C . Merry Christmas everyone
Merry Christmas to you too Davey! I like the aging thing pretty well myself. Would not trade my wisdom for anything else being offered. I strongly suspect the same is true for you too.
Merry Christmas to One and All.
For all the Muslims, Hindus and other denominations - well, have a nice day anyway!
Merry Christmas
Schöni Wiehnachte (Fröhliche Weihnachten)
Joyeux Noël
Buon Natale
Feliz Natal
Feliz Navidad
A Blythe Yule
Bonne Christmeusse
Why did Kyle Bass post dissapear?
It is transitory...............
Why did Kyle Bass post dissapear?
Dunno, but he did not seem high on Au as a pancea,nickles damn sure are not(LOL)
This one? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-19/hour-company-kyle-bass I have another one if this isn't right/?
I got your back EKM ;-).
Thx a lot but still doesn't work.
I bookmarked the youtube vid but extremely curious why it dissapeared.
Here is the direct YouTube link EKM/ I checked it, and it works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUc8-GUC1hY&feature=youtu.be
Fuck off you( ATHIEST) liberal piece of shit wanabe junkster!
Got it
Good it's worth watching, and I met Dante' His (wicked self).
Relax ekm. Sometimes there are multiple articles on the same topic in the release queue. The gatekeeper is the final authority on what gets released to the spacemonkeys.
The link has a date of 2012-12-29. It is a stale article that got release by mistake. Nothing weird just a minor mistake.
But if you liked that one take a look here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/113621307/Kyle-Bass
Kitty Kat, I clearly stated that I had 2 seperate articles/Dates! My link is valid, and the later link hasn't been posted!
Go figure, [Vertical Mini Blinds] for Corneas! Typical know it all!
That one's on the back side but if you don't show it to the front-al you will be better off going DOwn. These links are able to show us where it is YC now that it's NEW and improved Tylers can put it there instead. OK. Christmas now that it is time.
Bring it , cat woman! I'll bet you love the back side! You are Chinese/ You couldn't find a link if I payed you for one!
Beat it / North Korea has a job linking ( blutooth 2.3 for you)
Shame-shame YC for the holiday OPen THreAD is for sharing brotherly love not dreaming of such Obaminations. Your blue tooth may soon be dripping red as papa has the special sauce pre-prepared for your limit up daze. Ecstasy earned. Locks and keys.
But don't let me stop you YC. The path to you,re enlightenment is always an illumination for the folks who read and re-read the article trying to learn how to cross the currencies and make the proportional returns that are enormously claimed to be made by the aforementioned trader who in reality is just too good in hindsight but always leaps ahead in foresight. The holidays will always bring together the rambling muses who propel the fringe to deceive the masses. Lost and wandering. Wondering how, how are they going to make it like HE has it because in the end it's all taxed away anyhow. Anywhoo let's talk again soon. Tootles.
Bring it! Talks cheap/ Bitch
Touché my friend it is and always will be invigorating to engage your linear responses. Or with your permission I will abbreviate as {} douché. Please >echo \c to your creators that you still need MUch mmmore work in the personality department but your character has come a long way baby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1978_Virginia_Slims_ad.jpg
Bla Bla Bla/
swell post tyler!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
This is such a hopeful season.
“The politician shall dwell with the voter,
and the banker shall lie down with the worker,
and the worker and the banker and the fattened EBT cardholder together;
and a little choomster shall lead them.”
-apologies to Isaiah
Merry Christmas.
Remember that poverty is caused by central planning. Always. Poverty "is caused," i.e. it is not natural and does not occur on its own.
It's time to end central banking.
How much poverty do you want to be a witness to? How much "total war" do you want to be a party to?
Enough is enough.
No. More. Fiat. Money.
Peace
Given that this is an open thread, I'd like to take the opportunity to suggest a (tiny) social revolution. If you wish to join, please do.
"Christmas" is a religious holiday putatively to celebrate the birth of the Christian savior. In the USA, it has been completely cheapened and commercialized by our advertising and marketing industries, and has become a self-parody of most (if not necessarily ALL) Christian ideals.
I propose the SEVERANCE of the corporate consumerist frenzy from the Christian "holy" day. A week of marketing and sales and hucksterism is all perfectly fine to encourage, but it shouldn't be associated with a rather important (even foundational?) religious mythology.
If you run a store, work in one, manage a team, or just have friends and relatives who are sincere in their worship, please do what you can to distinguish between the traditional basis for this holiday and the disgusting orgy of conspicuous overconsumption we Americans have come to associate with "Christmas" or "Xmas" sales.
Thank you.
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PS: Although I am not a Christian, I do share most Christian values, and it came as a real insight that my hatred of the "Holiday Period" is shared by a very devout Catholic in-law who recently commiserated with me on this topic.
Well, the good economic news about the about the holiday season is that none of the crap bought will last more than two years, so it all will have to be replaced..
and you don't even need to break any windows.
Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas. It is derived from the word ???????, transliterated as Christos, which is Greek for Christ. Greek is the language in which the whole New Testament was written.
Originally, Xmas was an abbreviation where the X represents the Greek letter chi, with a hard ch, which is the first letter of Christ's name in Greek. However, because of the modern interpretations of the letter X, many people are unaware of this and assume that this abbreviation is meant to drop Christ from Christmas.
In ancient Christian art X and XR (Chi Ro--the first two letters in Greek of Christos) abbreviate Christ's name. In many manuscripts of the New Testament, X abbreviates Christos (Xristos). The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, fifty years before the first English colonists came to America and sixty years earlier than the completion of the King James Version of the Bible. At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of Christian and Christianity.
The abbreviation is widely but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to Christ. Similarly, Xianity is sometimes used as the abbreviation for Christianity (although this usage is much less common than "Xmas").
In the animated television show Futurama, which is set in the 31st century, Xmas is the official name for the day formerly known as Christmas.
Gift giving at the Winter Solstice:
The tradition of gift giving at this time of year has to do with distributing the harvest and culling the herds. In the northern latitudes tribes had the difficult task of either storing over winter or distributing the foods that they had worked for. The plan was to save as much as possible, but trade for stuff you don't have. Might as well throw a party, invite the folks upstream or downstream, play, flirt, trade, build a big fire, share news, learn a new skill, paaarty! Festivus Maximus in Rome was just the big roll up of a thousand different traditions from the conquered lands. The gift giving near the solstice predated Christianity for many thousands of years.
In the Pacific Northwest the natives held Potlatches. Whoever gave away the most berries, salmon, roots, or whatever got to be the biggest swinging dick for a year. Some years you had the big haul, other times it was another tribe. It worked fine as long as everyone shared.
The higher your latitude, the more your culture is tied to the swings in seasons and the solstices. Equatorial peoples celebrate for different reasons because the harvests there are not as urgent.
We have a tradition of gift giving now because the earth is tilted. It's just better economics to give it or trade it away.
Happy Holidaze FiSHeS!
May your stack glitter and glisten in the glow of the midnight candle.
Merry Christmas, bitchez!
The 2005 foreign movie,"Joyeux Noel" depicts that 1914 Christmas eve night and the 'brotherhood of men' concept very well.
I, like the German lieutenant in charge at that time, am Jewish. So Christmas, as he says in the movie, means absolutely nothing on a personal level. But we, as he also states, understand its importance and respect its (real-sorry Joe Consumer) meaning without limits
Oh, go fuck yourself Bernanke.
The 2005 foreign movie,"Joyeux Noel" depicts that 1914 Christmas eve night and the 'brotherhood of men' concept very well.
This is not the correct word for The First Nowell(real name), it did not show until 1833.
JUST an FYI.
The "War Machine" always has a percentage of 'Pawns' that become aware they are being "played" by their leaders
Well, not exactly, "nothing". Christ was born a jew. His mother was jewish.
Makes me think of this joke... I want to believe the zh sensitivity dial is on -1.
One Christmas morning, in FLA-rida, a Jewish woman was strolling the beach with her grandson... WHEN SUDDENLY...
A big wave came in and washed her grandchild away.
She prayed and prayed to God... "please bring my grandson back to me, please God, I'll do anything"... WHEN SUDDENLY AGAIN...
A big wave washed in and returned her grandchild unharmed on the beach.
She looked up at the sky and said, "He had a hat."
While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers,
Turn around and say good-morning to the night...
For unless they see the sky,
But they can't and that is why,
They know not if it's dark outside or light.
Merry Christmas - peace and goodwill to all!
Wel... except that fuckstick Bernanke and his lapdogs.
Ineptocracy:
A system of Government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing and where members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of the diminishing number of producers
We clearly have arrived at this point. Just shrug & let the lights go out.
Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night.
I hope some ZH readers have some choice comments about the liberal media publishing gun owners adresses.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/25/new-york-newspaper-faces-back...
I hope some ZH readers have some choice comments about the liberal media publishing gun owners adresses
Yep, I tried but when I found out the ONLY way to post a rebuttal, was sign up to FacePlant, I said screw it.
I think a Class action Lawsuit is in order here.
LE depts DO NOT even have this info, in their databases,unless a CCP holder has been pulled over, and then the officer may or may not be required by their Depts to notify.
Beat me to it Joe. How about a list of all welfare recipient/Obama voters in New Yawk?
Or better yet, identify the Jews in the mass media - all of them.
And to all dog lovers out there - Fleas Navidad;)
I think it only fair that the gun control nutjobs post signs on their property: "Gun-free zone!", right next to the sign that sez: "Please feel free to take my property at the most inconvenient time."
Obey Christmas!
Earn your "Citizenship"......max out your credit cards....spend, spend, spend and boost the economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pvsADU2OOWM#!
The lesson is, if War ever comes, NEVER EVER EVER go and die for your "government" it DOES NOT DESERVE IT, AS IT IS NOW.
I think the Hulkster wouldn't mind a little of that free green :)
williambanzai7
Is that a rich Proctologist?.
Homeskillet.
Whoa! A whole eight bucks (inner-city bus fare perhaps?)
ok. ok-playa's ..... for those who like their christmas mix a little mo' gangsta -
http://www.okayplayer.com/news/a-very-okayplayer-christmas-dj-brainchild...
YOU didn't nail yourself to that cross, somebody else made that happen.
Happy birthday to Isaac Newton!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you!
Keep fighting the good fight!
Merry Christmas to you all. Thanks for the laughs and info throughout the year. Here's to a profitable 2013!
Profitable? You're high on hopium, or on the wrong website.
Here's to successful capital preservation in 2013!
Yes, and Merry Christmas to the ZH team and all readers.
silver snakes bitchez
Have a SUKI (tm) Christmas, and a SUKI (tm) New Year! SUKI (tm), The New World Religion (tm) -- motherfucking religion.
Woe unto ye, unbeliever! The Flying Spaghetti Monster shalt strangle ye with noodley appendages!
God Bless You Tylers.... you are the beacon of light and truth in these darkening times.
“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea;
“Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. Selah.
“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her … Psalms 46: 1-5
"A trumpet shall sound, and we SHALL BE CHANGED!"
Fuck you, Bernanke (hope your Christmas tree catches fire).
Merry Christmas to all!
(Bitchez)
I am Spartacus!!!
I wish everyone a happy Christmas and I hope that you all get many many more good emotions than bad (as defined by the common, not the financial, person)
Shiny silver n gold CHRISTmas to all! And a happy thank you to Bernanke and company. My FRNs can buy the gifts that keep on giving... value.
Merry Christmas ZH'ers!
My father-in-law took my advice - "if you don't hold it, you don't own it".
Last night, he gave everyone silver bars in Christmas cards.
Thanks for all the info and banter, folks.
• 1)Wish on Bernankes "passover list" A truckload of "green Ink"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bernanke
P.S. EKM I posted the direct Bass link for you ^. I tested it, and it works.
It does.
Thx a lot
Your thanks made my day!
My Christmas wish is in the coming year all that is Just and True will come to bear. Not by political mandate, but by the culmination of the natural collective of the random acts of individual Men. Some may call it the act of "God", or "Reality", or the "Invisible Hand".
It somewhat irks during the 364 Scrooge-Days of the year, yet without knowing the Judgement, I am proud that we have placed a net under our Lost, Least, and Last. If what-will-be is harsh or mean, we have first fortified those who have no further to fall.
Although we have gathered the coming years in fear and fret, my experience tells me the fear of what may come to pass, is often outsized of what actually arrives.
We no longer need nor want the artifice of a few men in order to pretend we are safe and steady. They waste Us and our time chasing things which might fall. It is time to stop, and see if, and what will fall.
It is time to clean the way for laughter back to joy, and joy to a hopeful future.
We are truly greater People than we remember.
All we need is a truly healing challenge to remind ourselves.
What do reindeer taste like?
Venison, ya silly cat!
Victory? :)
Merry Christmas, and avoid the annual spike in the death rate at this time.
Family get togethers are bad for your mortality.
That's funny/ I enjoy being around my family. Maybe it's because we are all getting a little bit older now. No expectations.
We have all been there/done that. I like you Winston Churchill , you're good shit!
Unlike his/her namesake -- search for "Coventry" during WW2.
Will Do. Coventry smells like fine {Connolly Leather}. No Disrespect to the Irish/
What does everyone think about having the list of names and addresses of anyone with a hand gun being put out there like this?
http://www.lohud.com/interactive/article/20121223/NEWS01/121221011/Map-Where-gun-permits-your-neighborhood-
At least the literate criminals will know which homes to avoid...
For several reasons, it's not too good, Im not too sure if it is
public information to begin with but comes in handy for a gun confiscation or minions targeting gun owners which is not advisable, but VIPER units will make use of it.
MerryChristmas ZH Bitches.
Merry Christmas to all at ZH. Can't wait to see what next year brings around here.
"A trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible!"
Zombie apocalypse?
Ho, ho, ho! Merry Xmas!
Best to all of you. May love, liberty and justice prevail!
From my perch Zero Hedge has been a beacon on light and truth. We do not have to always agree with what is posted. We all make up our own minds here. But this much we know. So much of what we learn will never be on MSM. Even the remaining papers in print use only what they want, never mind the truth. We all hope for a better world, but just in case, we need to prepare and we need to protect those close to us.
Here is hoping for a better year in 2013. Maybe at some point MSM will start telling the true stories. Maybe then we will see change for the better.
Merry Christmas to Tyler, you do so much for us here. Merry Christmas to the entire staff of Zero Hedge. And as always, it is a pleasure for me to donate to keep the truth flowing.
The best to all and MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
To all a "Cool Yule" ! This is THE best place on the web, period.
Wanted to share a seasonal tune that does not seem to get the play it deserves in these parts - those of you who grew up/live in Europe may have some fond memories associated with Noddie and the Gang:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAUqI-cpMZE
That was sweetness Joy. Thanks much. I'm usually in Wailea, the "Blue Course" condo for the Holidays. Stay out of trouble ;-D
Classic tune. Another "Cool Yule".... for those that care to remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrAwK9juhhY
For almost four years I have been entranced and educated by the truth and information published here at ZH. For that I am grateful. Our time to be tested is coming soon. Until then, peace and liberty to all.
Time to donate some FRNs to ZeroHedge, then!
NEW END OF THE WORLD 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wgECvFPlVfw
Dear Deek,
You're a funny guy. I watch you often for a laugh, because you make the best black-humour, ever. You really kick the shit out of it. You're almost satanically-inspired one might say, not that I believe in any of that sort of mumbliness, but you just seem to slot right in there - nice! Mor-on that later.
But with your latest conspiracy-clown video you seem to have become oddly 'preachy'. It's like you're trying just a little bit too hard to convince people that you're right, and have isolated the important bits of comprehension. So thought I'd drop you a line here, at zh, because it's obvious from your videos that you read the 'hedge. Here's one of the things you said that stood-out this time;
--
--
Problem with that Deek is humans are also life, but humans have 'consciousness'. We're immediately aware of our reflections in a mirror from a young age, for instance. Sans a brain injury or growth abnormality we're highly self-aware critters.
It's why the word 'consciousness' so closely resembles the word 'conscience' (con-science if you prefer).
As you go back down the web of life's development, or the 'food-chain', you see less and less awareness of the impact of actions of critters. But it's still there, we know from experiments that is it there, but just less well developed. We see it clearly in primates and monkeys, at a lower level of conscious awareness and inner development.
So life, in this case, human life, has developed morality, so life does have morality. We may be really bad at it, but operating at this level in cities is actually new to us. Some of us are damaged and don’t seem to have any conscience, or more accurately, many conveniently decide to reject and minimise it so they elect to act like unaware and irresponsible animals without restraint.
But the thing you can be sure of is, that humans in general can be characterised by a sense of awareness of their own actions and how these affect others, and even how we affect other animals and the crack-whore earth. We may think humanity is a pack of deluded chimps, self-liars and unabridged hypocrites - sure. Easy to do, plenty of material there to chose from.
But the one thing life in the form of humans, time and again really can’t stand, is someone who has acted with no conscience or any sense of remorse for animalistic damaging actions to other humans, and to other animals, and towards our 'habitat'.
So good try with the degrading of human society and behaviour further, but like it or not mate, in this infinite state of 'existence' that contains life, the product of heightened awareness is in fact 'morality' and ethics and a fledging attempt at basic civil decency and harmonious behaviour.
If this juxtaposition of aware people exhibiting a sense of consciousness and the sociopaths and violent psychos running the show is just another evolutionary experiment, then the evolutionary trend to date suggests the sociopaths and psychos are going to be put down by people of conscience. Jus sayin.
This morality jive is all a bit new to this planet really, and we may not be the greatest exponents of the art yet, but it's happening, and in all cultures. And all those social cultures emerged from life. We won’t be going back to animal ways mate.
So be funny Deek, make us laugh at us, by all means, but don’t just be another short-sighted indulgent nihilist looking for excuses to miss the point or to acknowledge only a partial reality. ;)
Faith without works is dead.
http://www.worldvision.org
http://www.stlabre.org/
Toucan Sam and the Fruit Loops, are out today Element... Good post.
Merry Christmas ZH and All! I Love You!
http://www.bfsmedia.com/MAS/Dylan/Christmas.html
.
.."Bring out the tall tales now that we told by the fire as the gaslight bubbled like a diver. Ghosts whooed like owls in the long nights when I dared not look over my shoulder; animals lurked in the cubbyhole under the stairs and the gas meter ticked. And I remember that we went singing carols once, when there wasn't the shaving of a moon to light the flying streets. At the end of a long road was a drive that led to a large house, and we stumbled up the darkness of the drive that night, each one of us afraid, each one holding a stone in his hand in case, and all of us too brave to say a word. The wind through the trees made noises as of old and unpleasant and maybe webfooted men wheezing in caves. We reached the black bulk of the house. "What shall we give them? Hark the Herald?"
"No," Jack said, "Good King Wencelas. I'll count three." One, two three, and we began to sing, our voices high and seemingly distant in the snow-felted darkness round the house that was occupied by nobody we knew. We stood close together, near the dark door. Good King Wencelas looked out On the Feast of Stephen ... And then a small, dry voice, like the voice of someone who has not spoken for a long time, joined our singing: a small, dry, eggshell voice from the other side of the door: a small dry voice through the keyhole. And when we stopped running we were outside our house; the front room was lovely; balloons floated under the hot-water-bottle-gulping gas; everything was good again and shone over the town.
"Perhaps it was a ghost," Jim said. "
Perhaps it was trolls," Dan said, who was always reading.
"Let's go in and see if there's any jelly left," Jack said. And we did that.
Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang "Cherry Ripe," and another uncle sang "Drake's Drum." It was very warm in the little house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird's Nest; and then everybody laughed again; and then I went to bed. Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept. "
..
Dylan Thomas — A Child's Christmas in Wales
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCJd9Bc-qA
.
comments:
sacagaweah 1 year ago
Thank you so much for posting the original Dylan Thomas. This is sacred for me. It is how I've marked every winter since I heard it in high school on the Caedmon label. ? He brings the memories to life like a god breathing life into dust. I grew up in a small Oklahoma mining town where Welsh miners and other immigrants worked the pits of soft dark coal, iridescent as starlings.
Reply · 13
easelnorela 1 year ago
My favorite Christmas tale of all time, hands down.? A sacred thing.
Reply · 12
" ..she said 'would you like anything to read?'"
Slideshow of Irina Voronina Playmate Jan. 1, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPqF732XGDo
Why am I posting this?
Well, she's a hot chick in Christmas Lingerie...
and Tyler used her image as a tease for an October article.
Happy Holidays ZHedgers! I got what I wanted for Christmas earlier this year when I found this site and the answers to a lot of questions. More awareness than I ever imagined but still learning. 2013 could be a fascinating and scary year, but I am more prepared for it because of this site.
Thank you Tylers.
Happy Holidays ZHedgers! I got what I wanted for Christmas earlier this year when I found this site and the answers to a lot of questions. More awareness than I ever imagined but still learning. 2013 could be a fascinating and scary year, but I am more prepared for it because of this site.
Thank you Tylers.
I had a a terrible christmas. Just like any other day....I woke up. Took a big poop. Turned around and grabbed that turd as it was slithering around and skidmarking the bowl and my hands. Stuff it into my mouth nearly gagging and eyes watering savored its every morsel. I dont have issues you tunnel vision communists
Can Marla come back? :(
TPTB are intent on more conflict to increase their coffers, as decent Men and Women die for the sake of their avarice. Too many pander to the Pavlovian cry of consumptive consumerism; the world teetering on the shallow self-esteem of several generations.
We can hope and pray that re-coupling between central planning and reality occurs before we send thousands upon thousands more to die for the bankers and mammon lusters; and that most will live simply so others can simply live. That is my goal and the only thing I truly have control over.
A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to my fellow ZH'ers.
Thanks Zerohedge. I am with you for few years and you are still the No.0 site to go when I need some critical thinking. Most of the time I don't read the whole article. I jump right into the jungle of comments where I spend hours studying arguments. Thank you all for the humor and fun. It is precious.
Thank you
Merry Christmas Bitches. See y'all in the FEMA camps. Remember the secret handshake!!