Skiracer's stock slopes

[IIC]

Thanks Ski...That is one of the info sites I list on my Cups w/ Handles page http://sharptraders.com/_wsn/page7.html

In fact I even use some of his stuff which is contrary to the IBD CS method of trading this pattern; e.g. My Flash Point term coincides with Bull's Buy point. CS Pivot Point is .10 above rt. side high. Also, I like to often trade Bull's EARLY BUY as he describes it in his Trendline section and I think it is OK for the handle to go down 50% of the cup depth as he mentions in the HANDLE section....CS does not describe a handle going that low.

Now Bull says the left side run up should be 30%+...CS has changed to 20% as have I.

But I don't get Bull's Percentage Meeting Price Target 50%...What price target?

I've run numerous back tests on Stockfetcher and there are other patterns that score higher...But IMO only about 20% of stockfetcher CwH's are really CwH's anyway.

The thing that Bull does for his testing only takes into account the pattern as he calls it...But there are other factors involved depending on one's style, timeframe, goals etc. like fundamentals and perhaps other technical factors. I use other technical indicators and for intended longer term holds I use some fundamentals.

Then there is the idea that you have of catching the move up the right side development of the cup. Of course at that point we don't know if it will really form the pattern...But I think that is a good strategy and I've traded that way in the past sometimes. Problem is with me is that I run so many scans of different types I just cannot watch all the results.

Anyway...I think it is a pretty good pattern to start with and then those that are also interested in this pattern can take their dd a little further on those that they find interesting.

I'm not trying to try to talk anyone into trading them the way I do...I'm just offering up my initial leg work and maybe some comments on a few I like to the public....And from the feedback I get and the number of visitors to my site and the number of subscribers to my email I think that a lot of people appreciate it.

Since April I have completed 76 round trips from my CwH and PoI lists...Made $$$ on 58 of them...I'm satisfied so far.


...Doug

[skiracer]

The Geopolitical Foundations of Blackwater

By George Friedman

For the past three weeks, Blackwater, a private security firm under contract to the U.S. State Department, has been under intense scrutiny over its operations in Iraq. The Blackwater controversy has highlighted the use of civilians for what appears to be combat or near-combat missions in Iraq. Moreover, it has raised two important questions: Who controls these private forces and to whom are they accountable?

The issue is neither unique to Blackwater nor to matters of combat. There have long been questions about the role of Halliburton and its former subsidiary, KBR, in providing support services to the military. The Iraq war has been fought with fewer active-duty troops than might have been expected, and a larger number of contractors relative to the number of troops. But how was the decision made in the first place to use U.S. nongovernmental personnel in a war zone? More important, how has that decision been implemented?

The United States has a long tradition of using private contractors in times of war. For example, it augmented its naval power in the early 19th century by contracting with privateers -- nongovernmental ships -- to carry out missions at sea. During the battle for Wake Island in 1941, U.S. contractors building an airstrip there were trapped by the Japanese fleet, and many fought alongside Marines and naval personnel. During the Civil War, civilians who accompanied the Union and Confederate armies carried out many of the supply functions. So, on one level, there is absolutely nothing new here. This has always been how the United States fights war.

Nevertheless, since before the fall of the Soviet Union, a systematic shift has been taking place in the way the U.S. force structure is designed. This shift, which is rooted both in military policy and in the geopolitical perception that future wars will be fought on a number of levels, made private security contractors such as KBR and Blackwater inevitable. The current situation is the result of three unique processes: the introduction of the professional volunteer military, the change in force structure after the Cold War, and finally the rethinking and redefinition of the term "noncombatant" following the decision to include women in the military, but bar them from direct combat roles.

The introduction of the professional volunteer military caused a rethinking of the role of the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine in the armed forces. Volunteers were part of the military because they chose to be. Unlike draftees, they had other options. During World War II and the first half of the Cold War, the military was built around draftees who were going to serve their required hitch and return to civilian life. Although many were not highly trained, they were quite suited for support roles, from KP to policing the grounds. After all, they already were on the payroll, and new hires were always possible.

In a volunteer army, the troops are expected to remain in the military much longer. Their training is more expensive -- thus their value is higher. Taking trained specialists who are serving at their own pleasure and forcing them to do menial labor over an extended period of time makes little sense either from a utilization or morale point of view. The concept emerged that the military's maintenance work should shift to civilians, and that in many cases the work should be outsourced to contractors. This tendency was reinforced during the Reagan administration, which, given its ideology, supported privatization as a way to make the volunteer army work. The result was a growth in the number of contractors taking over many of the duties that had been performed by soldiers during the years of conscription.

The second impetus was the end of the Cold War and a review carried out by then-Secretary of Defense Les Aspin under then-President Bill Clinton. The core argument was that it was irrational to maintain a standing military as large as had existed during the Cold War. Aspin argued for a more intensely technological military, one that would be less dependent on ground troops. The Air Force was key to this, while the Navy was downsized. The main consideration, however, was the structure of the standing Army -- especially when large-scale, high-intensity, long-term warfare no longer seemed a likely scenario.

The U.S. Army's active-duty component, in particular, was reduced. It was assumed that in time of war, components of the Reserves and National Guard would be mobilized, not so much to augment the standing military, but to carry out a range of specialized roles. For example, Civil Affairs, which has proven to be a critical specialization in Iraq and Afghanistan, was made a primary responsibility of the Reserves and National Guard, as were many engineering, military-intelligence and other specializations.

This plan was built around certain geopolitical assumptions. The first was that the United States would not be fighting peer powers. The second was that it had learned from Vietnam not to get involved in open-ended counterinsurgency operations, but to focus, as it did in Kuwait, on missions that were clearly defined and executable with a main force. The last was that wars would be short, use relatively few troops and be carried out in conjunction with allies. From this it followed that regular forces, augmented by Reserve/National Guard specialists called up for short terms, could carry out national strategic requirements.

The third impetus was the struggle to define military combat and noncombat roles. Given the nature of the volunteer force, women were badly needed, yet they were included in the armed forces under the assumption that they could carry out any function apart from direct combat assignments. This caused a forced -- and strained -- redefinition of these two roles. Intelligence officers called to interrogate a prisoner on the battlefield were thought not to be in a combat position. The same bomb, mortar or rocket fire that killed a soldier might hit them too, but since they technically were not charged with shooting back, they were not combat arms. Ironically, in Iraq, one of the most dangerous tasks is traveling on the roads, though moving supplies is not considered a combat mission.

Under the privatization concept, civilians could be hired to carry out noncombat functions. Under the redefinition of noncombat, the area open to contractors covered a lot of territory. Moreover, under the redefinition of the military in the 1990s, the size and structure of the Army in particular was changed so dramatically that it could not carry out most of its functions without the Reserve/Guard component -- and even with that component, the Army was not large enough. Contractors were needed.

Let us now add a fourth push: the CIA. During Vietnam, and again in Afghanistan and Iraq, a good part of the war was prosecuted by CIA personnel not in uniform and not answerable to the military chain of command. There are arguments on both sides for this, but the fact is that U.S. wars -- particularly highly politicized wars such as counterinsurgencies -- are fought with parallel armies, some reporting to the Defense Department, others to the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The battlefield is, if not flooded, at least full of civilians operating outside of the chain of command, and these civilian government employees are encouraged to hire Iraqi or other nationals, as well as to augment their own capabilities with private U.S. contractors.

Blackwater works for the State Department in a capacity defined as noncombat, protecting diplomats and other high-value personnel from assassination. The Army, bogged down in its own operations, lacks the manpower to perform this obviously valuable work. That means that Blackwater and other contract workers are charged with carrying weapons and moving around the battlefield, which is everywhere. They are heavily armed private soldiers carrying out missions that are combat in all but name -- and they are completely outside of the chain of command.

Moreover, in order to be effective, they have to engage in protective intelligence, looking for surveillance by enemy combatants and trying to foresee potential threats. We suspect the CIA could be helpful in this regard, but it would want information in return. In order to perform its job, then, Blackwater entered the economy of intelligence -- information as a commodity to be exchanged. It had to gather some intelligence in order to trade some. As a result, the distinction between combat and support completely broke down.

The important point is that the U.S. military went to war with the Army the country gave it. We recall no great objections to the downsizing of the military in the 1990s, and no criticisms of the concepts that lay behind the new force structure. The volunteer force, downsized because long-term conflicts were not going to occur, supported by the Reserve/Guard and backfilled by civilian contractors, was not a controversial issue. Only tiresome cranks made waves, challenging the idea that wars would be sparse and short. They objected to the redefinition of noncombat roles and said the downsized force would be insufficient for the 21st century.

Blackwater, KBR and all the rest are the direct result of the faulty geopolitical assumptions and the force structure decisions that followed. The primary responsibility rests with the American public, which made best-case assumptions in a worst-case world. Even without Iraq, civilian contractors would have proliferated on the battlefield. With Iraq, they became an enormous force. Perhaps the single greatest strategic error of the Bush administration was not fundamentally re-examining the assumptions about the U.S. Army on Sept. 12, 2001. Clearly Donald Rumsfeld was of the view that the Army was the problem, not the solution. He was not going to push for a larger force and, therefore, as the war expanded, for fewer civilian contractors.

The central problem regarding private security contractors on the battlefield is that their place in the chain of command is not defined. They report to the State Department, not to the Army and Marines that own the battlefield. But who do they take orders from and who defines their mission? Do they operate under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or under some other rule? They are warriors -- it is foolish to think otherwise -- but they do not wear the uniform. The problem with Blackwater stems from having multiple forces fighting for the same side on the same battlefield, with completely different chains of command. Indeed, it is not clear the extent to which the State Department has created a command structure for its contractors, whether it is capable of doing so, or whether the contractors have created their own chain of command.

Blackwater is the logical outcome of a set of erroneous geopolitical conclusions that predate these wars by more than a decade. The United States will be fighting multidivisional, open-ended wars in multiple theaters, and there will be counterinsurgencies. The force created in the 1990s is insufficient, and thus the definition of noncombat specialty has become meaningless. The Reserve/Guard component cannot fill the gap created by strategic errors. The hiring of contractors makes sense and has precedence. But the use of CIA personnel outside the military chain of command creates enough stress. To have private contractors reporting outside the chain of command to government entities not able to command them is the real problem.

A failure that is rooted in the national consensus of the 1990s was compounded by the Bush administration's failure to reshape the military for the realities of the wars it wished to fight. But the final failure was to follow the logic of the civilian contractors through to its end, but not include them in the unified chain of command. In war, the key question must be this: Who gives orders and who takes them? The battlefield is dangerous enough without that question left hanging.




Tell George what you think

[riverbabe]

The Geopolitical Foundations of Blackwater

By George Friedman

Tell George what you think

More fantastic insight by Strategic Forecast. Thank you for sharing this. Riverbabe

[skiracer]

More fantastic insight by Strategic Forecast. Thank you for sharing this. Riverbabe

i felt the article was informative and quite worthwhile reading and almost all of their postings usually are although while i post some of what i think are the most relevant and should garner some interest hardly ever a mention from anyone. stkytreat's high school doings seem to generate more interest and dialogue. never fails to amaze me. glad you found it interesting enough to make a comment. thanks.
at one time i was quite close to this community and these types of outside contractors. i still have friends and contacts that do this type of outside work for our govt. agencys. some people just can't get enough of the action after all these years and the pay is astronomical but very risky and can be life threatening as is war and these types of situations in general. the armed forces has changed dramatically although the perception of how the armed forces operates has remained the same to the general public.
i guess operations like Blackwater have both their drawbacks and positive affects. the trouble is that some of these guys love the action and the killing so much and have been so unaccountable for their actions that they do get away with murder because their actions and operations are so mired in the many layers of bureaucratic agencies that they operate under and they think their shit doesn't stink and they can get do anything they please under the guise of protecting some govt. bureaucrat.

[riverbabe]

the trouble is that some of these guys love the action and the killing so much and have been so unaccountable for their actions that they do get away with murder because their actions and operations are so mired in the many layers of bureaucratic agencies that they operate under and they think their shit doesn't stink and they can get do anything they please under the guise of protecting some govt. bureaucrat.

That's really scary to me. But I know it is real and really exists.

[skiracer]

That's really scary to me. But I know it is real and really exists.

there is a really good movie with leonardo de capro in it called "blood diamond". plenty of soldiers of fortune out there looking to risk their lives for the action and the money. Blackwater is filled with them. most have no moral problem with killing or doing anything for the money. it's what they have been trained to do and all they know how or want to do. the general public has no idea what is really going on until one of these guys shoots up someplace and gets the operation exposed as what has just happened recently.

[skiracer]

Just got the website up and running and the virtual tour is up and running. This is one site that I am building in Seaside Heights, NJ. Very high end condominums units each with it's own elevator. If you are interested in taking a look visit www.shoresidevillage.com.
Any questions regarding anything about the units please post them here or PM me and I will get right back to you. Needless to say in this market we are piling on the incentive laden deals to promote sales and it is a good environment for the buyer right now just as it was for the seller a while back. Good time to buy before the pendulum starts to swing back the other way.

[skiracer]

Just got the website up and running and the virtual tour is up and running. This is one site that I am building in Seaside Heights, NJ. Very high end condominums units each with it's own elevator. If you are interested in taking a look visit www.shoresidevillage.com.
Any questions regarding anything about the units please post them here or PM me and I will get right back to you. Needless to say in this market we are piling on the incentive laden deals to promote sales and it is a good environment for the buyer right now just as it was for the seller a while back. Good time to buy before the pendulum starts to swing back the other way.

I know that I posted this pretty early this morning but it is beyond me that no one took a look at this post and no one had any comments whatsoever regarding it yet there were plenty of responses to other posts of much larger dribble and insignificance. I've been done here for some time but this one puts the lid on the pot for me. Just a bunch of bozos who should take a good look at what is being put forth here regarding insignificant dribble.

[skiracer]

Just got the website up and running and the virtual tour is up and running. This is one site that I am building in Seaside Heights, NJ. Very high end condominums units each with it's own elevator. If you are interested in taking a look visit www.shoresidevillage.com.
Any questions regarding anything about the units please post them here or PM me and I will get right back to you. Needless to say in this market we are piling on the incentive laden deals to promote sales and it is a good environment for the buyer right now just as it was for the seller a while back. Good time to buy before the pendulum starts to swing back the other way.

I know that I posted this pretty early this morning but it is beyond me that no one took a look at this post and no one had any comments whatsoever regarding it yet there were plenty of responses to other posts of much larger dribble and insignificance. I've been done here for some time but this one puts the lid on the pot for me. Just a bunch of bozos who should take a good look at what is being put forth here regarding insignificant dribble.

[IIC]

I know that I posted this pretty early this morning but it is beyond me that no one took a look at this post and no one had any comments whatsoever regarding it yet there were plenty of responses to other posts of much larger dribble and insignificance. I've been done here for some time but this one puts the lid on the pot for me. Just a bunch of bozos who should take a good look at what is being put forth here regarding insignificant dribble.

I wasn't up at 3 in the morning but I looked...The places look nice and the listed prices seem reasonable for the size and location compared to here....But I'm not familar w/ the going rates in NJ...And I have no plans to move there either...Although, a few years back my wife and I took a long quiz on the Net which was designed to tell you where your ideal place to retire would be.

Her's came out to be some seaside community in NJ...Mine came out to be Pahrump, NV...My comment was..."Well I guess we won't be seeing much of each other in our GOLDEN YEARS"

Anyway, the next time we drove to Vegas we took a day trip to Pahrump (approx 60mis NW)...For those of you that don't know...It is the home of Mabel's Whorehouse and there are quite a few other ones there too...But they are way outside of town...I think I'll take a pass on retiring there.

Anyway...Take a Chill Pill Ski...Stock Forums all over the net are dwindling...However, I've joined some new people who are scalpers(They found me thru my site) and it has been keeping me active although I will remain w/ the CwH/PoI types as my primary goal unless they stop working.

You mention incentives...Like I said I don't know the NJ market...In fact I don't know much about any markets outside of SoCal...But generally I tell people to wait if they are looking to buy. Sort of like stocks...Don't buy at the bottom and don't sell at the top...That would be nice...But it is too hard to do...My gut tells me that the bottom will not be reached anytime soon.

Good Luck on your venture...it looks nice for people who want a nice place in that area...Doug(IIC)

[skiracer]

I wasn't necessarily looking for accolades Doug. Just wanted to show something that I am proud of and that looks like a million bucks. They cost that much anyway. I thought the website and the virtual tours of the units was done professionally and gave a great picture of the inside and outside of the project. What gets me is that I have posted a number of decent plays and other posts regarding important geopolitical happenings here recently and not a whisper while some pretty mundane topics get alot of attention. No big one way or another. Thanks for looking at the site and your comments.

[IIC]

I wasn't necessarily looking for accolades Doug. Just wanted to show something that I am proud of and that looks like a million bucks. They cost that much anyway. I thought the website and the virtual tours of the units was done professionally and gave a great picture of the inside and outside of the project. What gets me is that I have posted a number of decent plays and other posts regarding important geopolitical happenings here recently and not a whisper while some pretty mundane topics get alot of attention. No big one way or another. Thanks for looking at the site and your comments.

I agree, it is a very well done site...

[skiracer]

here is a very good site for both technical and fundamental analysis. To much to mention and all for free. Must be checked out. www.chartfilter.com.

I'm posting charts again at Stockcharts.com's public chartlists in case anyone is interested. I posted about ZIXI awhile back and since then it has tripled. In a very nice cup and handle formation at the present time and looks very good. Worth taking a look at or check it out at by clicking on the link at the bottom left and go to the public charts list.

[billyjoe]

Ski,
Thanks for the link. It's hard to get good free info and lots that are pay sites aren't worth much. A good new source can prove to be very valuable.

----------billyjoe

[riverbabe]

Ski, that's a great link for free charting! Also, you got my vote for your ZIXI. Very nice analysis. River