A huge difference if you ask me.

Yeah, if you still believe the fairy tale that the government needs a warrant for anything. Jeeze, man, all that stuff went out the window decades ago. Nobody gives a shit. They're still voting for the same rat bastards.

It's too bad. I know of no other site that respects the sanctity of the indelible, un-editable comment as well as Slashdot does. If I do find one, I'm there in a New York second. This place isn't long for the world.

It is the very definition of bourgeoisie... I hope somebody totals up all the carbon they put out getting there, all so nicely dressed, with their pretty signs. A media created event if there ever was one..

Yeah, well, since you've been playing the part of Chuck Todd all this time, there was never any point in calling this an "argument". The best I can do in such cases is just throw out a couple of cheap shots.

Yeah, so am I...

I'm sorry, this is abuse. You want the room down the hall.

"Purpose" is something you made up, not me. With or without makes no difference to me, so it is in nature.

The panic is generally triggered by news stories which are written by people who don't understand the business they're writing about...

On the contrary, they know exactly what they're writing about. There are no accidents in this business. They trigger the panics on demand, like a water faucet. The people who run these markets are taking no more risk than any Las Vegas Casino does.

from what?

Dirt is without purpose.

Just like everything else, but it does exist (to us) regardless, eh? So who cares? If you want "purpose", you gotta make your own.

hyper-materialism

Means nothing. Accept where you come from, and what you are. And the fog will clear.

Yes, it's just a thing that everyone goes through, everything dissolves back into from where it came... but it hasn't yet, while you are here, in your non-dirt phase, make the best of it. And you should be impressed with what nature does with dirt. It created you and me out of it (who ever thought that dirt could daydream and fantasize? Yet here we are), and both you and I will return to that exact same state, leaving everything about this life behind, resistance is futile. Gruesome and gross with all the gristle and fat, but still tasty. Purpose is yours to make or break.

And don't forget, dirt is just another high level "abstraction". You gotta break it down to the base.

"Sanctions" are merely a method of stimulating cash flow from market to market, like any other trade deal, if you don't have "favored nation" status, you are being "sanctioned". This is how prices are determined. The fantasy of "supply and demand" doesn't even come up in meetings. It is tidal, cyclical in nature, like seasonal weight gain and water retention. Please get the silly politics out of your head, *Mr. Beal*. If you would like to know why the Russians appear a bit "pissed" these days, this should point you in the general direction of what makes the world go 'round. The Obama administration is amongst the most accomplished ever to the people that matter. I can assure you they have no complaints about his "foreign policy".

Yes they do, they need to keep people focused on them, or they might see someone else to vote for. You gotta keep the ratings up, or the show gets cancelled.