The Wurst Song

The Conchita Wurst song that won Eurovision 2014. 

Interview With Russian Foreign Minister

Interview With Marc Faber

Is This Me Soon? How can you invest if you can't trust any of the numbers you need to understand where to make a rational investment? Leverage, i.e. overborrowing, continues. Japan is just a hair away from diasater. China is in a credit crunch. On a personal level I could live very well, if only I could cancel my health insurance! Bizarre as it seems to me, it may make sense for me to immigrate to avoid this expense. My copay would pay for my medical expenses abroad, and after the expense of a foreign insurance policy I could actually live on what I would save on insurance. 

Dr Faber talks about how odd and dangererous everything is in this short interview.

James Rickards

This interview with James Rickards, author of Currency Wars and the Death of Money is more pessimistic than my own view, but it seems clear we are headed toward a crisis. This really should not be a surprize as the US has had many crisises over the last 50 years–the gas shortages of the 70's, the interest rate crisis of the 80's, the internet bubble of the late 90's and of course 2008. we are due for another one. 

I could not embed the interview, so click the link if interested. 

Sarah Palin, Comedian In Chief

I like Sarah Palin, although I completely understand that "your mileage may vary."  But to understand Palin you have to understand that you should not view her as a politician or even a pundit. She is first and foremost a comedian. And as the famous actor Lionel Barrymore (Drew's grandfather) supposedly said on his death bed, "Dying is easy, but comedy is hard."  

Sarah proves the truth of that observation at an NRA convention. Here is an excerpt:

I kinda (to use one of Sarah's verbal shortcuts) doubt that Sarah did much more than warm the pew at the Assembly of God congregation she attended. If she had actually paid attention, she might have realized how offensive this joke actually is.  

To compare torture to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, (for that is what baptism represents) is very offensive. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, including torture, to allow us entry into his church. No, water-boarding is not a form of baptism. 

Particularly annoying was the obvious relish her comments engendered in the audience. Considering the audience, I would guess that most were church-going kinda folks. Yet they seem to have mentally compartmentalized their politics away from their faith. This bizarre bifurcation is common among us church-going types, as I unfortunately know from past personal experiences. 

The subtitle of this blog is leaving Babylon the Great. You cannot leave the Great Whore if you eat her food, so I blog about health. You cannot leave that evil city if you vote for her politicians, so I blog about politics. You cannot leave Babylon if you watch her television and read her books, so I blog about books and media. We cannot avoid being in the world, as Jesus said, but we can do what Jesus commanded his 12 disciples at the last supper and not be of the world. 

Sorry Sarah, but Barrymore was right, comedy is hard, and you were not funny. Can we leave Babylon the Great if we laugh at her jokes? 

Rev 18: 4-8 from the Message

Get out, my people, as fast as you can,

    so you don’t get mixed up in her sins,

    so you don’t get caught in her doom.

Her sins stink to high Heaven;

    God has remembered every evil she’s done.

Give her back what she’s given,

    double what she’s doubled in her works,

    double the recipe in the cup she mixed;

Bring her flaunting and wild ways

    to torment and tears.

Because she gloated, “I’m queen over all,

    and no widow, never a tear on my face,”

In one day, disasters will crush her—

    death, heartbreak, and famine—

Then she’ll be burned by fire, because God,

    the Strong God who judges her,

    has had enough.