Someone (who will remain nameless...heh heh heh) emailed me asking how I can be a Ron Paul fan when Dr. Paul opposes many of our Free Trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.
Click here to go to a great Reddit discussion of the same topic. Here's the first entry.....
Because NAFTA and CAFTA are not free trade agreements.
They are just named "free trade agreements".
If I named myself "Mr. Rape Victim Helper", yet I go around raping people, am I for or against rape?
And later on....
A free trade agreement should fit in a paragraph.
NAFTA and CAFTA are hundreds of pages of regulations.
I still like NAFTA and CAFTA, just because they eliminate some of the protectionist B.S.
And I'm not naive enough to believe that the good Dr. Paul might be protecting his own backside with some of his votes, and using the impurity of the agreements as a cover.
But it does make you wonder why something called a "Free Trade Agreement" has to be 900 pages long.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Pat Green at the Texas Motor Speedway, April 3, 2009
The Aggie and I got to hear Pat Green perform at the Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night.
Here's one of the best P.G videos that I've seen. All acoustic.
For the True Believers, here's an interview:
Here he is doing a radio promo in Ireland:
Even if Country Music isn't your thing, go hear Pat Green play. He will convert you.
Here's one of the best P.G videos that I've seen. All acoustic.
For the True Believers, here's an interview:
Here he is doing a radio promo in Ireland:
Even if Country Music isn't your thing, go hear Pat Green play. He will convert you.
But....It Creates Jobs ! ! !
This is from Lawrence W. Reed, with an outfit called the Foundation For Economic Education:
Adlai Stevenson’s description of the journalist as one who “separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff” was never more apropos than in the Sunday, April 5 edition of the New York Times. Adam Nossiter’s page A-16 article, “Louisiana, a Test Case in Federal Aid” makes lowly chaff seem like nothing less than the cream of the crop.
Imagine a thief who spends an afternoon pick pocketing a sizable crowd. In a few hours, he’s nabbed thousands of dollars in cash and a bag full of credit cards. He then spends a small fortune at some jewelry stores and makes off with the loot as a suspicious citizen who recognizes him cries “Stop!”
If Nossiter were covering this little episode, the story in the Times the next day would read as follows: “A Good Samaritan yesterday gave several gem shops a big boost when he bought more diamonds than the stores usually sell in a month. The benefits of the spending binge were confirmed by no less an authority than the store owners themselves, who promise to hire more employees if the generous customer comes back regularly. An obviously disgruntled passerby attempted to interfere in the matter by shouting as the customer left, but he was told by an angry store manager to leave well enough alone. Meanwhile, economists at the nearby state university are hailing the increase in local GDP.”
Make these substitutions and you have the gist of the actual Nossiter story in the April 5 Times: The Good Samaritan is the federal government, the jewelry store is Louisiana and the passerby who tried to rain on their parade is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl. Oh, I almost forgot: the people in the crowd whose pockets got picked are representative of the taxpayers of America but it doesn’t matter because they’re not mentioned in Nossiter’s story anyway.
The Times story notes that the feds have dumped more than $50 billion in money on Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. “Indicators suggest,” notes ace reporter Nossiter, that “dumping a large amount of reconstruction money into a confined space . . . has had a positive outcome.” It’s an “experiment” that he says bodes well for the flood of stimulus spending Washington is doling out to alleviate the nation’s financial woes.
Lo and behold, guess what has happened to construction in Louisiana? It’s up! (Apparently, not even government can spend $50 billion on construction without yielding some construction.) Nossiter quotes a professor who says this proves that “stimulus can have an effect.”
You gotta love it. You can read the rest by clicking here.
Adlai Stevenson’s description of the journalist as one who “separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff” was never more apropos than in the Sunday, April 5 edition of the New York Times. Adam Nossiter’s page A-16 article, “Louisiana, a Test Case in Federal Aid” makes lowly chaff seem like nothing less than the cream of the crop.
Imagine a thief who spends an afternoon pick pocketing a sizable crowd. In a few hours, he’s nabbed thousands of dollars in cash and a bag full of credit cards. He then spends a small fortune at some jewelry stores and makes off with the loot as a suspicious citizen who recognizes him cries “Stop!”
If Nossiter were covering this little episode, the story in the Times the next day would read as follows: “A Good Samaritan yesterday gave several gem shops a big boost when he bought more diamonds than the stores usually sell in a month. The benefits of the spending binge were confirmed by no less an authority than the store owners themselves, who promise to hire more employees if the generous customer comes back regularly. An obviously disgruntled passerby attempted to interfere in the matter by shouting as the customer left, but he was told by an angry store manager to leave well enough alone. Meanwhile, economists at the nearby state university are hailing the increase in local GDP.”
Make these substitutions and you have the gist of the actual Nossiter story in the April 5 Times: The Good Samaritan is the federal government, the jewelry store is Louisiana and the passerby who tried to rain on their parade is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl. Oh, I almost forgot: the people in the crowd whose pockets got picked are representative of the taxpayers of America but it doesn’t matter because they’re not mentioned in Nossiter’s story anyway.
The Times story notes that the feds have dumped more than $50 billion in money on Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. “Indicators suggest,” notes ace reporter Nossiter, that “dumping a large amount of reconstruction money into a confined space . . . has had a positive outcome.” It’s an “experiment” that he says bodes well for the flood of stimulus spending Washington is doling out to alleviate the nation’s financial woes.
Lo and behold, guess what has happened to construction in Louisiana? It’s up! (Apparently, not even government can spend $50 billion on construction without yielding some construction.) Nossiter quotes a professor who says this proves that “stimulus can have an effect.”
You gotta love it. You can read the rest by clicking here.
A NASCAR Marketing Failure
The Aggie and I went to Texas Motor Speedway for the weekend, an event that I'll write more about later.
There were preliminary races on Friday (with a Pat Green concert), a 300 lap race on Saturday, and a 500 lap race on Sunday.
There were display/merchandising/advertising/driver trailers peddling stuff all around the track. Organizations like Jack Daniels, Nationwide Insurance, Jeff Gordon, The U.S. Army, Kasey Kahne, Red Bull, Dale Earnhardt Jr., The U.S. Border Patrol (who sponsored a car and driver), Sprint/Nextel, Tony Stewart, The U.S. National Guard, OfficeMax, Kyle Busch, and enough food vendors to fatten up Darfur.
Halfway through the Sunday race, The Aggie decided she wanted to go look at the souvenir stands.
There appeared to be more than 100,000 spectators watching the Sunday race. Organizations had paid a fortune to have a presence outside the track. 100,000 drunk people with money to spend, email addresses to harvest, mailing lists to sign up for, and good will to promote were about to come pouring out of the racetrack. It was marketing heaven.
Guess which three organizations were closing down and packing their trailers before the race was over?
There were preliminary races on Friday (with a Pat Green concert), a 300 lap race on Saturday, and a 500 lap race on Sunday.
There were display/merchandising/advertising/driver trailers peddling stuff all around the track. Organizations like Jack Daniels, Nationwide Insurance, Jeff Gordon, The U.S. Army, Kasey Kahne, Red Bull, Dale Earnhardt Jr., The U.S. Border Patrol (who sponsored a car and driver), Sprint/Nextel, Tony Stewart, The U.S. National Guard, OfficeMax, Kyle Busch, and enough food vendors to fatten up Darfur.
Halfway through the Sunday race, The Aggie decided she wanted to go look at the souvenir stands.
There appeared to be more than 100,000 spectators watching the Sunday race. Organizations had paid a fortune to have a presence outside the track. 100,000 drunk people with money to spend, email addresses to harvest, mailing lists to sign up for, and good will to promote were about to come pouring out of the racetrack. It was marketing heaven.
Guess which three organizations were closing down and packing their trailers before the race was over?
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Hopey/Changey thing meets the Farm Lobby
Speaking of what happens when government decides which industries and individuals to smile upon....
WASHINGTON — Among the audacious proposals in President Obama’s budget was a plan to save more than $9.7 billion over a decade by putting strict limits on farm subsidies that are disbursed regardless of market conditions or even whether the land is actively farmed.I'd wondered how the Hopey/Changey people would do against the Farm Lobby. Oh well.
But Mr. Obama’s grand ambitions have run into political reality.
The budget outlines approved by the House and Senate on Thursday night do not include limits on farm subsidies at all, and even champions of change say that if the president’s plan can be revived, it will have to be scaled back so significantly that the savings could amount to just several hundred million dollars.
Picture of subsidy farm from here.
Adventures In Price Setting
This if from "The Turning Point", by Nikolai Shmelev and Vladmir Popov. Shmelev and Popov were economists in the former Soviet Union, a resume stain that I hope they've been able to overcome.
I've seen references to this story for years, but had no idea as to the original source. Its about what happens when government gets into the price-setting business instead of allowing prices to fluctuate on their own. This story happens to be about fur. .
"When Alice eats or drinks something in Wonderland, she either begins to shrink or becomes enormous, and she can't get back to her normal size. In actual fact Goskomtsen (the Soviet price-setting bureau) finds itself in a similar situation. It systematically either underestimates or overestimates the atual cost of a product and cannot "hit the nail on the head". At best, it is able only to correct the most obvious price disproportions several years after they appear.
In 1982, for example, to stimulate production of goods made of inexpensive fur, purchasing prices on moleskin were raised from 20 to 50 kopecks per pelt. State purchases increased, and now all the distribution centers are filled with these pelts. Industry is unable to use them all, and they often rot in warehouses before they can be processed. The Ministry of Light Industry has already requested Goskomtsen twice to lower purchasing prices, but the "question has not been decided" yet. and this is not surprising. Its members are too busy to decide. They have no time: besides setting prices on these pelts, they have to keep track of another 24 million prices. And how can they possibly know how much to lower the price today so they won't have to raise it tomorrow?"
Thomas Sowell says it over and over and over, and we still don't get it. Programs and policies should be judged and evaluated in terms of the incentives they create, not their stated goals and objectives.
I've seen references to this story for years, but had no idea as to the original source. Its about what happens when government gets into the price-setting business instead of allowing prices to fluctuate on their own. This story happens to be about fur. .
"When Alice eats or drinks something in Wonderland, she either begins to shrink or becomes enormous, and she can't get back to her normal size. In actual fact Goskomtsen (the Soviet price-setting bureau) finds itself in a similar situation. It systematically either underestimates or overestimates the atual cost of a product and cannot "hit the nail on the head". At best, it is able only to correct the most obvious price disproportions several years after they appear.
In 1982, for example, to stimulate production of goods made of inexpensive fur, purchasing prices on moleskin were raised from 20 to 50 kopecks per pelt. State purchases increased, and now all the distribution centers are filled with these pelts. Industry is unable to use them all, and they often rot in warehouses before they can be processed. The Ministry of Light Industry has already requested Goskomtsen twice to lower purchasing prices, but the "question has not been decided" yet. and this is not surprising. Its members are too busy to decide. They have no time: besides setting prices on these pelts, they have to keep track of another 24 million prices. And how can they possibly know how much to lower the price today so they won't have to raise it tomorrow?"
Well, they could stay out of it altogether, and let vendors try to sell fur for as much as possible, and let customers try to purchase it for as little as possible, and the Invisible Hand will determine at what price the transaction will take place.
On a related note, here's what has happened when California's government put a .05 cent bounty on aluminum cans. The idea was to conserve, be green, and save the earth. Instead, people are flocking to California with their aluminum.
Thomas Sowell says it over and over and over, and we still don't get it. Programs and policies should be judged and evaluated in terms of the incentives they create, not their stated goals and objectives.
Friday, April 3, 2009
"Newt Gingrich warns of a third party movement" - we can only hope !
From CNN — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is warning of a third party mutiny in 2012 if Republicans don’t figure out a way to shape up.
I bet this turns out to be just another broken promise. You could put the American public on the U.S.S. Bounty with nothing to eat but The Atkins Diet. We still wouldn't mutiny.
“If the Republicans can’t break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012,” Gingrich said Tuesday. The speech, to a group of students at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri, was recorded by Springfield TV station KY3.
But Gingrich, bemoaning President Barack Obama’s “monstrosity of a budget,” acknowledged that Republicans are partially to blame for the escalation in federal spending.
"Partially to blame?" The way that Heads is partially to blame for not being Tails on the same coin?
"Remember, everything Obama’s doing, Bush started last year,” he said. “If you’re going to talk about big spending, the mistakes of the Bush administration last year are fully as bad as the mistakes of Obama’s first two, three months.”
Well, the curve was a little less steep under Bush. But we're talking differences in degree, not differences in kind.
Gingrich told the students that the current governmental system “is so sick, so out of touch and so arrogant that you’re going to have a nationwide rebellion at the polls of people in both parties who are just fed up.”
At this point, I really don't think so. If they were going to get fed up, it would've happened within the last month. The damage has been done.
“You can do a Facebook page, you can Twitter,” he said. “I Twitter right now and I think we’re at like, I don’t know, 18,000 or 20,000 thousand people that follow my Twitter, which I have to say I think is nuts.
If 20,000 people follow Newt Gingrich on Twitter....Naw, I'm not going to go there.
But there are ways to communicate, you’re not trapped by CBS news.”
Gingrich has repeatedly said that he will decide in early 2011 whether he plans to seek the White House in 2012.
Mr. Gingrich is a very smart man. He knows a lot about history and economics.
He also masterminded the Republican Revolution of the early 1990's.
Here's P.J. O'Rourke on that non-event: "What a feckless, timid, timeserving revolution that was in 1994, as if the sans culottes had stormed the Bastille to get themselves jobs as prison guards."
Mr. Gingrich has been given a shot at stopping the madness, and didn't do anything but settle a few old scores. With that and some of his personal ethics issues, he might be the only Republican who would definitely lose to Obama. Let's hope it happens.
Bring on the third party mutiny ! Vote Libertarian !
I bet this turns out to be just another broken promise. You could put the American public on the U.S.S. Bounty with nothing to eat but The Atkins Diet. We still wouldn't mutiny.
“If the Republicans can’t break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012,” Gingrich said Tuesday. The speech, to a group of students at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri, was recorded by Springfield TV station KY3.
But Gingrich, bemoaning President Barack Obama’s “monstrosity of a budget,” acknowledged that Republicans are partially to blame for the escalation in federal spending.
"Partially to blame?" The way that Heads is partially to blame for not being Tails on the same coin?
"Remember, everything Obama’s doing, Bush started last year,” he said. “If you’re going to talk about big spending, the mistakes of the Bush administration last year are fully as bad as the mistakes of Obama’s first two, three months.”
Well, the curve was a little less steep under Bush. But we're talking differences in degree, not differences in kind.
Gingrich told the students that the current governmental system “is so sick, so out of touch and so arrogant that you’re going to have a nationwide rebellion at the polls of people in both parties who are just fed up.”
At this point, I really don't think so. If they were going to get fed up, it would've happened within the last month. The damage has been done.
“You can do a Facebook page, you can Twitter,” he said. “I Twitter right now and I think we’re at like, I don’t know, 18,000 or 20,000 thousand people that follow my Twitter, which I have to say I think is nuts.
If 20,000 people follow Newt Gingrich on Twitter....Naw, I'm not going to go there.
But there are ways to communicate, you’re not trapped by CBS news.”
Gingrich has repeatedly said that he will decide in early 2011 whether he plans to seek the White House in 2012.
Mr. Gingrich is a very smart man. He knows a lot about history and economics.
He also masterminded the Republican Revolution of the early 1990's.
Here's P.J. O'Rourke on that non-event: "What a feckless, timid, timeserving revolution that was in 1994, as if the sans culottes had stormed the Bastille to get themselves jobs as prison guards."
Mr. Gingrich has been given a shot at stopping the madness, and didn't do anything but settle a few old scores. With that and some of his personal ethics issues, he might be the only Republican who would definitely lose to Obama. Let's hope it happens.
Bring on the third party mutiny ! Vote Libertarian !
Thursday, April 2, 2009
An Apology To My Online Friends In The British Commonwealth
Hello all,
As you know, we don't think much of royalty in the U.S. As you know, in the United States, we worship the idea of royalty. We re-elect Kennedys and Bushes, and we used to go ga-ga over Princess Diana.
Giving a boxed set of DVD's to Prime Minister Gordon Brown was perhaps excusable as a rookie mistake.
Giving the Queen an iPod was not.
Especially an iPod that contains Barbra Streisand singing "People". (See the song list in the previous link.)
I hope this will do nothing to harm what Churchill called "The Special Relationship" between our countries.
Once again, my apologies. We're still working on things like which fork to use.
-TWS
Giving a boxed set of DVD's to Prime Minister Gordon Brown was perhaps excusable as a rookie mistake.
Giving the Queen an iPod was not.
Especially an iPod that contains Barbra Streisand singing "People". (See the song list in the previous link.)
I hope this will do nothing to harm what Churchill called "The Special Relationship" between our countries.
Once again, my apologies. We're still working on things like which fork to use.
-TWS
Bad Carma
Barack Obama is trying to assure consumers that if the government takes over GM and Chrysler, everyone's automobile warranties will be maintained.
From Bob Krumm comes the idea of FUBAR. That's the Federal Unionized Bureau of Auto Repair, in stead of the more familiar acronym.
And from the geniuses at Reason magazine comes this:
If you even think about buying a GM or Chrysler, you are out of your mind.
From Bob Krumm comes the idea of FUBAR. That's the Federal Unionized Bureau of Auto Repair, in stead of the more familiar acronym.
And from the geniuses at Reason magazine comes this:
If you even think about buying a GM or Chrysler, you are out of your mind.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
My Favorite April Fool's Joke
Somewhere around 1982, my mother played an April Fool's Day prank on me. We don't remember what it was, except that it was effective and complicated. I immediately vowed to have my revenge.
April Fool's Day in 1983, I was in my Delta State University dorm room with my roommate, Scott A. Moore. (Scott A. now busies himself playing trumpet in the Memphis Symphony. Hit the link.)
Scott and I waited until about 11:45 p.m., and then called my parents' house. My mother answered. (To preserve her anonymity, I'll call her Mrs. BlahBlah.)
"Hello?"
"Is this Elizabeth BlahBlah ?" Scott asked.
"Yes it is." (still coming out of a deep sleep)
"Are you the parent or guardian of Allen BlahBlah?"
"YES I AM !" (wide awake now)
"Mrs. BlahBlah, my name is John Jakes, and I'm with the Cleveland, Mississippi police department. Are you in a place where you can talk?"
"YES I AM !" (totally wide awake.)
"Mrs. BlahBlah, we have arrested your son Allen for possession of a controlled substance, and we're holding him in one of the cells at the Bolivar County Sheriff's department, and we need to know if either you or your husband can come down and post bond and.....
"You mean you've arrested ALLEN ??? MY SON ALLEN?" (Needing to be scraped off the bedroom ceiling.)
"Yes, Mrs. BlahBlah, as I said, we've arrested Allen for possession of a controlled substance and..."
At this point, my mother says the only thing she could think of was who she could get to ride to the jail with her.... Billy Joe Waldrup or Jerry Grissom. She wanted one of them (they're both really big men) to beat the hell out of me, because she didn't think my father would do it properly. To fully appreciate the situation, you also need to know that I was employed as the part-time choir director at a Baptist church. A nice drug bust at this time would've been....awkward.
Then Scott, still in character as Officer John Jakes, said "Mrs. BlahBlah, would you like to speak to Allen?"
I could hear her on the phone from halfway across the room. "YES I WOULD."
"Mama?" I said.
"ALLEN? IS THAT YOU THEY'VE LOCKED UP, ALLEN?"
"Yes," I said. "I just want to tell you something."
"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO TELL ME?"
"April Fools," I said.
That was 25 years ago. She's never done another April Fool's joke. Not on me, anyway.
April Fool's Day in 1983, I was in my Delta State University dorm room with my roommate, Scott A. Moore. (Scott A. now busies himself playing trumpet in the Memphis Symphony. Hit the link.)
Scott and I waited until about 11:45 p.m., and then called my parents' house. My mother answered. (To preserve her anonymity, I'll call her Mrs. BlahBlah.)
"Hello?"
"Is this Elizabeth BlahBlah ?" Scott asked.
"Yes it is." (still coming out of a deep sleep)
"Are you the parent or guardian of Allen BlahBlah?"
"YES I AM !" (wide awake now)
"Mrs. BlahBlah, my name is John Jakes, and I'm with the Cleveland, Mississippi police department. Are you in a place where you can talk?"
"YES I AM !" (totally wide awake.)
"Mrs. BlahBlah, we have arrested your son Allen for possession of a controlled substance, and we're holding him in one of the cells at the Bolivar County Sheriff's department, and we need to know if either you or your husband can come down and post bond and.....
"You mean you've arrested ALLEN ??? MY SON ALLEN?" (Needing to be scraped off the bedroom ceiling.)
"Yes, Mrs. BlahBlah, as I said, we've arrested Allen for possession of a controlled substance and..."
At this point, my mother says the only thing she could think of was who she could get to ride to the jail with her.... Billy Joe Waldrup or Jerry Grissom. She wanted one of them (they're both really big men) to beat the hell out of me, because she didn't think my father would do it properly. To fully appreciate the situation, you also need to know that I was employed as the part-time choir director at a Baptist church. A nice drug bust at this time would've been....awkward.
Then Scott, still in character as Officer John Jakes, said "Mrs. BlahBlah, would you like to speak to Allen?"
I could hear her on the phone from halfway across the room. "YES I WOULD."
"Mama?" I said.
"ALLEN? IS THAT YOU THEY'VE LOCKED UP, ALLEN?"
"Yes," I said. "I just want to tell you something."
"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO TELL ME?"
"April Fools," I said.
That was 25 years ago. She's never done another April Fool's joke. Not on me, anyway.
This month's Nigerian email scams
Don't bother reading these.
I repeat, don't read these.
I just post them for the Google hits, and to possibly prevent some sucker from getting ripped off. So don't bother reading any of this stuff.
But if you're gonna read some of them anyway, I've never seen one as direct as this. "Trish" has sent me a couple of political cartoons, just to keep me opening her emails. Then I get this bulletin:
From: Trish Yancey ytrish@hotmail.com
how are you , i traveled to West Africa in Nigeria for a program and i got robbed on way to the hotel .i cant believe this is happening to me right now. i need a soft loan of 1800$ from you . i will pay you back when i arrive.please get back to me immediately you get this mail OK. waiting for your reply.
Let the world know if you can help Trish out with her immediate financial needs in Nigeria.
Here are a few older ones:
Dear friend,
I hope my email meets you well. I am in need of your assistance. My name is
Sgt .Meijer Derrick. I am in the Engineering military unit here in Baghdad in
Iraq, we have about ten Million US dollars that we want to move out of the
country. My partners and I need a good partner, someone we can trust. It is oil
money and legal. We are moving it through diplomatic means, to send it to your
house directly or a bank of your choice using diplomatic courier service.The
most important thing is that can we trust you? Once the funds get to you, you
take your 15% out and keep our own 85%. Please we need your trust and
commitment. Your own part of this deal is to find a safe place where the funds
can be sent to. Our own part is sending it to you. If you are interested I will
furnish you with more details. But the whole process is simple and we must keep
a low profile at all times.I look forward to your reply and co-operation, and
I thank you in advance as I anticipate your co-operation. Waiting for your
urgent response.For security reasons I am using this email: (
info_vandijk@inbox.com )
Regards,
Sgt .Meijer Derrick. NB: You should provide me with your private email for
futher communications.
And then there's this gem. I've won ! I've won !
I repeat, don't read these.
I just post them for the Google hits, and to possibly prevent some sucker from getting ripped off. So don't bother reading any of this stuff.
But if you're gonna read some of them anyway, I've never seen one as direct as this. "Trish" has sent me a couple of political cartoons, just to keep me opening her emails. Then I get this bulletin:
From: Trish Yancey ytrish@hotmail.com
how are you , i traveled to West Africa in Nigeria for a program and i got robbed on way to the hotel .i cant believe this is happening to me right now. i need a soft loan of 1800$ from you . i will pay you back when i arrive.please get back to me immediately you get this mail OK. waiting for your reply.
Let the world know if you can help Trish out with her immediate financial needs in Nigeria.
Here are a few older ones:
Dear friend,
I hope my email meets you well. I am in need of your assistance. My name is
Sgt .Meijer Derrick. I am in the Engineering military unit here in Baghdad in
Iraq, we have about ten Million US dollars that we want to move out of the
country. My partners and I need a good partner, someone we can trust. It is oil
money and legal. We are moving it through diplomatic means, to send it to your
house directly or a bank of your choice using diplomatic courier service.The
most important thing is that can we trust you? Once the funds get to you, you
take your 15% out and keep our own 85%. Please we need your trust and
commitment. Your own part of this deal is to find a safe place where the funds
can be sent to. Our own part is sending it to you. If you are interested I will
furnish you with more details. But the whole process is simple and we must keep
a low profile at all times.I look forward to your reply and co-operation, and
I thank you in advance as I anticipate your co-operation. Waiting for your
urgent response.For security reasons I am using this email: (
info_vandijk@inbox.com )
Regards,
Sgt .Meijer Derrick. NB: You should provide me with your private email for
futher communications.
And then there's this gem. I've won ! I've won !
Dear winner,
You have won €450,000.00 in the Lotto ShopAward Lottery E-mail Lotto Shop Award Sweepstakes Program Corporation, held on the 19th of Mar 2009. We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you to contact the processing office immediately for the claim,Winning Information's(1) Batch No: BLN/1611/899 (2) Ticket No:BLN/AB1985(3) Lucky No: QBL/13977 (4) Serial No: SWNL/65201(5) Ref No: SWBDZ/1171Mr.Frank DorekTel:+34 691 955 349
Email:eurodepar@aim.com
Your full Names:Fax/Telephone:
Age:Congratulations!!!
Mrs. Angela Van Poort
In this one, Robert has fallen on hard times. The disease hasn't merely defied treatment, but it has also defiled it:
Greetings.
As you read this, don't feel sorry for me, because it is the destiny of everyman to die someday. I am Mr, Robert Lee Khalid,a naturalised Briton by birth and a business merchant based in the United Kingdom. I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer.
It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts. I regret that I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself), but my trade. I have decided to support charity work; this is what i want to be remembered for. So far, I have been able to reach out to a few charity organizations in the Singapore, Algeria and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore.
The last of my belonging which no one knows of, is the huge deposit of Eight Million US dollars ($8, 000, 000,00)that I have in a safe keeping company abroad, which I will want you to secrue and bestow to charity organizations. Please reply me via email: robertleekhalid@gmail.com
For your time and devotion, I have set aside a 20% of this for you. God be with you.
Mr : Robert Lee Khalid.
This one is short and sweet and to the point:
Dear friend
I am Janet Joseph, widow from sierra Leone residing presently in republic of
Benin as a result of war that erupted my country.
We have presently the sum of 18million U.S. Dollars which was deposited with
securities and finance firm by my late husband before he was killed by unknown
people.
We need your assistance to secure the funds from the securities company and also
in the areas of investments.
If you are interested, urgently contact my son Clifford,
who is presently on asylum in Europe through this email address
(cliffjoseph1004@aim.com) more details.
Regards
Janet Joseph
Another Lottery win ! ! !
The Shell Petroleum LotteryCompany Spain Shell Centre,Span,SE1 7NA, Spain.SHELL PETROLEUM WINNER NOTIFICATION.Attention Dear Winner,The Shell Petroleum Lottery Company Spain Espana wishes to congratulate you on your success as one of our Ten ( 10 ) Star oil lottery Prize Winner in this years 2009 lottery that was conducted over the internet with our automated email selecting machine .You have been declared the winner of €1.000.000.00 (One Million Euros Only).How to claim your Winning Prize,Contact the Financial Claims Manager Mr.Paul Van,for veriation and payment via his email address / phone number ( stad_sc@europe.com/+34634154602)Provide him with the information below for their Record purpose:Full Names:---------------------------------------------------Address:------------------------------------------------------Country Of Residence:-----------------------------------------Nationality:--------------------------------------------------Marital Status:-----------------------------------------------Age:----------------------------------------------------------Sex:----------------------------------------------------------Occupation:----------------------------------------------Mobile Number:-------------------------------------------Fax Number:---------------------------------------------------Ticket number:644 79543465 B448056490902Serial number:4708-325Lucky Number:4-13-33-37-17File ref:ILP/HW 7509/02Mrs Sarah Ferguson.Director of Promotions.2009 Shell Lottery Award Promotion,Email:shellpetroleumcompany@europe.com
This one is kinda dull....
You're invited to:
MR BALAH
By your host:
France Paris
Date:
Saturday March 21, 2009
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (GMT +01:00 Western Europe)
Location:
I am Johnson Balah the eldest son of the late Joseph Balah.
My father was the executive director of a quasi governmental corporation and the proud owner of balah international diamond company in Sierra Leone before he was killed during the war. After the death of my father our family lawyer brought some documents indicating that my father deposited forty five million dollars with gold and diamond with a security company in south Africa We have carefully checked and found the security company, where the valuables are being kept. The money, gold and diamond were deposited as family valuables and their real value was not made to known to the company. Presently my mother, little brother, sister, and my self are here in France as refugees.we are looking for trust Worthy person who can help move our properties in the security company out of Africa for investment purposes, this is why I need a foreigner who can stand as a business partner, who can help me carry the valuables out of Africa.If you are ready to help and support my family in this transaction, please send me a reply on jonsonbalah@aim.com as soon as you get this mail then we can also discuss what you would be getting out of the transaction by assisting us.
Yours Sincerely.
Johnson Balah
Update from April 11th....It looks like I've won a contest ! ! !
Dear Sir/Madam,
We wish to congratulate you over your email success in our computer Balloting .This is a Millennium Scientific Electronic Computer Games in which email addresses were used. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and 50,000,000 individual email addresses from all over the world. It is a promotional program aimed at encouraging intern et users; therefore you do not need to buy ticket to enter for it.
Your email address drew and have won the sum of 750,000 Euros ( Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Euros) in cash cr edited to file with REFERENCE NUMBER: ESP/WIN/008/05/10/MA; WINNING NUMBER : 14-17-24-34-37-45-16 BATCH NUMBERS : EULO/1007/444/606/08; SERIAL NUMBER: 45327 and PROMOTION DATE: 23rd MAR. 2009To claim your winning prize, you are to cont act the appointed agent below as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winnings with the below details.
1) Your Full Name: 2) Your Telephone Number: 3) Your Mobile Number: 4) Fax Number (If available)
LIBERTY SEGUROS S.A.MR. PATRICIO CARLOS
TEL: +34 634-138-556Email: libertyexe@gmail.com Congratulations once again from all our staff.
Mrs Hector Palmira. (Secretary)Euro Milliones Board.Madrid, 11th April. 2009.
Quote Of The Day
"It is perfectly possible for inertia to be beneficial and an improvement, if the alternative is poorer. It is the same fallacy as the claim of the current Government concerning the current economic crisis, that 'doing nothing is not an option'."
- Brian Moore
From Samizdata
- Brian Moore
From Samizdata
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)