Did the buck start here?

"This is why Miller doesn't want to reveal her "source" at the White House -- because she was the source."
Huffinton suggests strongly that Judy Miller outed Valerie. It is not inconsistent with Millers behavior in the past.
It explains why Fitzgerald would jail her. It is not clear that Fitzgerald has a case against anyone else: they might not have seen the "secret" on the memo, and they may be truthful in saying "I found out Plame was CIA from a reporter"

Chinese riot farmers regain land

Footage of the riot

Chinese farmers have won a dispute over land rights which culminated in a bloody riot last month in the northern province of Hebei, state media says.

Humans are not objective. And they are not subjective

Two comments from one of my regularly visited blogs. Interesting perspective on objective-subjective duality.

Richard, criticism is a good thing, China opens itself up to the world, it knows what that means at the first place. It knows criticism, challenges are part of the game. As long as one is being objective, there would be no harsh feelings. But how can human beings be objective?

Posted by Chinese Queen at July 24, 2005 11:34 PM

Chinese Queen,
I like the way you think.
Let me suggest an answer to your question "How can human beings be objective?" - and my answer comes from Modern Western science, which agrees with Ancient Chinese philosophy:
My Western answer is: Humans are not objective. And they are not subjective either. All Human knowledge is participant - it comes from participating with other things or other people.
Late Modern physics has demonstrated this. There is no such thing as objectivity OR subjectivity.
ALL knowledge and ALL experience, comes from participation with other things and other people, and the influence is always mutual, always in both directions.
As you are (or seem to be) Chinese, I assume you know that this idea of Modern Western Science is very similar to what Lao Tzu taught. (Well, personally I like L
And so, China has more in common with the Modern West than many Westerners or Chinese imagine. :-)

Posted by Ivan at July 24, 2005 11:56 PM

Mysterious disease kills 17 in southwest China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in southwest China are investigating a mysterious disease that has killed 17 farm workers and left 41 others ill after they handled sick or dead livestock, state media said on Monday.

The government of Sichuan province has dismissed speculation that the deaths were caused by bird flu or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an assessment affirmed by the World Health Organization.

"From the information we have it doesn't seem to be related to bird flu. We made that distinction based on the symptoms described to us by the government," Bob Dietz, a WHO spokesman in Manila, told Reuters by telephone.

"This (disease) doesn't seem to have a large pneumonia content or a large respiratory problem," Dietz said.

The deaths were probably caused by a bacteria that spreads among pigs, the state-run China Daily quoted Zeng Huajin, a senior official with the Sichuan provincial health department, as saying.

"Streptococcus suis (a pig pathogen) would fit the symptoms described to us, but we will wait for an analysis from the Ministry of Health," Dietz said.

SARS emerged in south China in 2002 and spread across 30 countries, infecting nearly 8,500 people and killing about 800.

It re-appeared in China last year but there were only a few isolated cases. The Chinese government was accused of initially covering up the disease.

Global health officials also have been on high alert over a bird flu virus that has killed over 50 people in Asia since late 2003.

Initially, 20 farm workers suffered fever, nausea and haemorrhaging after handling sick or dead pigs and sheep in 12 towns and 15 villages in Jianyang city and Ziyang city's Yanjiang district, the China Daily said.

Memo on Plame Was Secret

Anyone who read the document should have been aware information was classified, say officials.

Public Announcement of the People's Bank of China on Reforming the RMB Exchange Rate Regime

July 21, 2005

With a view to establish and improve the socialist market economic system in China, enable the market to fully play its role in resource allocation as well as to put in place and further strengthen the managed floating exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand, the People's Bank of China, with authorization of the State Council, is hereby making the following announcements regarding reforming the RMB exchange rate regime:

1. Starting from July 21, 2005, China will reform the exchange rate regime by moving into a managed floating exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of currencies. RMB will no longer be pegged to the US dollar and the RMB exchange rate regime will be improved with greater flexibility.

2. The People's Bank of China will announce the closing price of a foreign currency such as the US dollar traded against the RMB in the inter-bank foreign exchange market after the closing of the market on each working day, and will make it the central parity for the trading against the RMB on the following working day.

3. The exchange rate of the US dollar against the RMB will be adjusted to 8.11 yuan per US dollar at the time of 19:00 hours of July 21, 2005. The foreign exchange designated banks may since adjust quotations of foreign currencies to their customers.

4. The daily trading price of the US dollar against the RMB in the inter-bank foreign exchange market will continue to be allowed to float within a band of ±0.3 percent around the central parity published by the People's Bank of China, while the trading prices of the non-US dollar currencies against the RMB will be allowed to move within a certain band announced by the People's Bank of China.

The People's Bank of China will make adjustment of the RMB exchange rate band when necessary according to market development as well as the economic and financial situation. The RMB exchange rate will be more flexible based on market condition with reference to a basket of currencies. The People's Bank of China is responsible for maintaining the RMB exchange rate basically stable at an adaptive and equilibrium level, so as to promote the basic equilibrium of the balance of payments and safeguard macroeconomic and financial stability.

Freedom

I never said Karl Rove is a terrorist

It's GW who is ultimately responsible for the people he hires and for their behavior while in his employ. Rove is a fat pig and I'll enjoy the crackle of his flesh over the fire, but his boss is the one who belongs tied to a rail.

Sales and Selling

I've been thinking about sales, selling and marketing after attending a horse related event organized Pat Parelli. The Parelli corporation is an amazing marketing and selling machine and the influence they conjure over the folks in their attendance is quite amazing to behold.

Pondering this experience, I was thinking that the process of selling could be defined as:

Selling: The process of overcoming an individual's natural inclination to allocate their financial resources in a rational, practical manner by eliciting from them a powerful emotional response stemming from an unmet need and connecting fulfillment of this need with a product or service.

HOOAH! What a load of Crap!

HOOAH! Bars Not Just for Troops Anymore

The new HOOAH! Bar, an energy bar that has earned praise from soldiers, is now being distributed in U.S. commercial retail outlets and via the Internet.

GNC, the national chain best known for its vitamin and nutritional supplements, will begin to carry HOOAH! bars this summer, said D'Andrea.

"We're always looking for the best and most innovative products to market to our customers," said Joe Weiss, vice president of diet and energy at GNC.

Of course, the fact that battle-hardened soldiers found this product energy sustaining, if not a treat, doesn't hurt the marketing for the typical GNC customer, Weiss added.

"Since this bar was developed with the demanding energy needs of the military in mind, we feel that it makes sense to make it available to our customers as well."

Is this an ad I post? NO!!!!!!!!!! It's a "news" item on FoxNews.com. That's right, the energy bar that "has earned praise from soldiers" can now be bought by you, the every day person. Now you can support the troops and keep your energy up too. This is news worthy! Does it have value? We report, you decide. As for reporting, why does Fox News NOT report on todays press conference where Scott McClellan got grilled on Karl Roves treason.

Pundit Parody
Ever wonder what Ann Coulter thinks about Aliens -- the movie? Writers Tom Bissell and Jeff Alexander have. Bored with lame DVD commentaries they began writing their own, imagining what partisan pundits such as Noam Chomsky and Ann Coulter would have to say about hit movies. Produced by Derek John.
Go to DVD commentary transcripts on McSweeney’s Website
Buy Speak, Commentary, by Alexander and Bissel

Find The Dozer

An interesting Powerpoint

Army Quietly Pays Halliburton $1B More For Same Services In New Iraq Contract...

The Washington Post | READ STORY | permalink

The Army has ordered nearly $5 billion in work from Halliburton Co. to provide logistics support to U.S. troops in Iraq over the next year, $1 billion above what the Army paid for similar services the previous year.

The new order, which comes despite lingering questions about the company's past billing, replaces an earlier agreement that expired last June but had been extended through this spring to ensure a continuous supply of food, sanitation, laundry and other logistical services for the troops, according to Linda K. Theis, an Army spokeswoman.

Newsweek: Rove spoke to reporter before leak - Jul 3, 2005

Newsweek readies another apology in anticipation of reporting news not to the administrations liking. Time Magazing still taking baby steps and surrenders notes: "Hey, we are talking money here!" said the magazine.
In a related story, reports of walking and talking magazines have been, ummmm, reported.

Reporters that walk the walk dept.

Credibility, hard to come by, looks like they are going to keep theirs, maybe set an example: here, guys, this is how it's done!

What else might they be concealing?

"'You can't assume these so-called streakers will always have peaceful intent,' Wolfgang Niersbach, vice president of the organizing committee, said Friday. 'We don't want to imagine, for example, what would happen if one had a knife.'"
Or a gun. Or a purse with a knife AND and gun. And an STD.

The New Rules Project

Why New Rules?

Because the old ones don't work any longer. They undermine local economies, subvert democracy, weaken our sense of community, and ignore the costs of our decisions on the next generation.

Happy Canada Day!

America Beyond Capitalism

Get it at your library...

From Publishers Weekly
Scheduled for publication on the 75th anniversary of the Black Thursday stock market crash, this closely argued treatise from University of Maryland political economist Alperovitz (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb) claims we are in the midst of another deep economic, social and political crisis. Capitalism, democracy, equality and liberty have disappeared from the United States, he says. Corporations and rich people control the wealth and government; their power destroys liberty and the entrepreneurial freedom necessary for capitalism. Traditional reforms are inadequate. Progressive taxation and social programs only redistribute income; we need to redistribute wealth. Easier voter registration and campaign finances miss the point; federal power must be reallocated to regional governments and local citizens’ associations whose scale makes participatory democracy possible. We need shorter work weeks, stronger labor unions, worker-owned or directed firms, less debt and more respect for the environment...

From Booklist
Alperovitz, an academic and political economist, calls on Democrats to "change the system," believing many Americans are searching for new policies as we face large deficits; unemployment; terrorism; and loss of belief in equality, liberty, and democracy. In his view, our unresponsive government, growing inequality, corruption, sprawl, and rising personal debt are reflections of a creative free market system that is no longer completely free or totally creative. Examining the extraordinary income and wealth controlled by elites and major corporations, he suggests that the future requires the development of a more community-centered, democratic market system. The author offers four fundamental suggestions to address current problems, including developing new institutions that hold wealth on behalf of small and large public groups (community-centered enterprises and worker-owned firms), and a regional rather than continental political system to appropriately represent a rapidly growing American population. His well-framed insight will appeal to a more liberal segment of library patrons during this presidential election year.

On supporting our troops

This is one of the better blog posts I've seen in a while. Must share!

On supporting our troops

To the Democratic leadership in Congress:

Consider the following statements from your Republican colleagues.

"You can support the troops but not the president"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"[The] President…is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W. Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years"
-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem."
-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

"Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

These statements were all made in the context of the 1999 U.S. interventions to stop the genocide in Kosovo. As you can see, the Republican class of 1999 had absolutely no interest in the sort of fanatical "support our troops" rhetoric in which they so love to wallow today. Was the news media of 1999 full of SCANDLE!!! and OUTRAGE!!! over Tom Delay’s inappropriate questioning of the president in the middle of a war, or over the Republican leadership’s complete and utter failure to "support our troops"? Was Republican disloyalty the big story of 1999?

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite blogs: Sadly, no. In 1999, our "liberal media" were extremely busy. They had spent several years already working closely with the right wing OUTRAGE!!! machine to take down a popular second-term president in a journalism-major circle-jerk of unimaginable proportions, culminating in the president’s acquittal in his impeachment trial. As Sally Quinn’s November 1998 editorial in the Washington Post (entitled "Not in Their Back Yard") made perfectly clear, the Washington politico-journalistic establishment regarded the Clintons as low-class hillbilly interlopers in their genteel and rarified world. They needed to make an example of these crackers, lest the great unwashed west of the Potomac get the notion that just anybody can come to Washington. They were defending their class interests, and had no time at all for silly distractions like supporting America’s troops.

My, how the times have changed.

Here’s my point: Stop depending on the approval of the major news media outlets. Institutions like the Washington Post and the New York Times have openly and brazenly declared their loyalty to this administration and their hostility to any Democrat left of Joe Lieberman. The press corps as a whole stand revealed as a clique of middlebrow "cool kids" more interested in access and popularity than in stodgy, old-fashioned concepts like “truth” and "investigation".

More crucially: Never forget that the men of the Republican Leadership don’t give a tinker’s damn about our troops. They didn’t give a damn in 1999, and they don’t give a damn today. They let our lunatic president send thousands of them to their deaths in a war with no good plan, no clear goal, no exit strategy, and no price tag. They have allowed him to underfund and overextend our armed forces to the point that we can only pray that an actual war doesn't break out somewhere. Every time they open their braying cry-holes to howl and screech about patriotism and supporting our troops, it is nothing but a cynical ploy to distract the people from the gross incompetence and open corruption of this Republican government.

STOP PLAYING THEIR GAMES.

Every time they start cranking up the OUTRAGE!!! machine, remind them of Tom Delay’s words:

"You can support the troops but not the president"

Stop letting them punk you. Stand up, fight back, fight hard, and don’t stop fighting until we’ve taken this country back from this gaggle of cut-rate cleptocrats who have brought nothing but dishonor to our great nation.

Duke, MZM Inc. & the Bush Administration

If you've been following the interesting case of a congressman whose house in California was bought for outrageous sums of money by a company that has benefited by that congressman's votes as well as that same company buying a yacht for that same congressman to live on in Washington D.C. here is another twist found on the talking points memo blog:

Before the whole Duke mess broke out, MZM Inc. was an awfully popular place.

Buried down in Marcus Stern's piece in today's San Diego Union-Tribune is the news that shortly before the CunningScam story broke someone named Kay Cole James had signed on as the company's "senior executive vice president for national security transformation". She just resigned on Friday.

Before signing on with MZM, Kay Cole James was President Bush's highly-controversial Director of Office of Personnel Management.

Yeah, lets....

Let’s go back to Sept. 14, 2001 when hundreds of young Iranians, clad in black as a sign of mourning, held a silent candle-lit gathering in Tehran to pay homage to the thousands of victims of the terror attacks in the United States. At the time, AFP quoted one of those demonstrators as saying: “We wanted to show our solidarity with the American people, which is in pain.”

The Zen Fund Manager

From Hussman

The Buddha said “with our thoughts we create our world.” Our self-talk – the phrases we quietly and often unconsciously say to ourselves, and the questions we ask – contain the concepts, filters, blinders, and occasionally, the crystal clear windows through which we observe and interpret reality. If we approach the world with expectations to be met, rather than an openness to accept (or at least begin with) what is there already, those expectations become the source of our own misery. If we form tight, detailed concepts of what we need to be happy, those concepts become the root of our unhappiness, because they shut out all of the opportunities to find happiness already around us.

There are two main questions I constantly ask myself as I manage the Funds from day-to-day. They're from chess: “what is the opportunity?” and “what is threatened?” Those bits of self-talk are my way of constantly getting back to the present moment, rather than getting caught up in hope about the future or distress about the past.

Another bit of self-talk comes from a sign that a veteran trader once had on his wall. It said, simply, “It ain't gonna happen that way.” It's a constant reminder to allow for uncertainty, and not to form detailed “scenarios” about future market movements.

That one takes a while to learn. There's a constant tendency to want to plan out the market's future course, draw trendlines, plan on a strong second-half, etc. Just like our detailed concepts about what we need to be happy can often make us miserable when something seems missing, our scenarios about the specific future path of the market can drive us absolutely out of our minds if the market moves the “wrong” way.

From the AlterNet blog:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/#23164

The public servant known as Karl Rove

Posted by Tai Moses on June 27, 2005.

Michael Moore, who posts letters from servicemembers on his website in the hopes of irritating the powers-that-be-behind, has posted a blistering note from one Celeste Zappala, who wants to know why Karl Rove won't take her calls. Rove's recent rant against the Democrats did not make Mrs. Zappala very happy. Her son, a National Guardsman who was killed in action in Iraq in April 2004, was, she says, "a very liberal Democrat" -- the very breed of individual Rove derided in his speech as pansies who pass out petitions. Writes Mrs. Zappala of her son,

When he was deployed, no one asked his opinion or his politics, and after he lost his life protecting the people looking for those weapons of mass destruction no conservative hawk came forth to take his place....I hope Mr. Rove will show his true colors and sign up for a guard unit; no one is too old now, Pennsylvania guardsmen in their 50s are serving. If he is too busy slandering half the people in this country perhaps he could send a child he loves dearly to take my Sherwood's place?

Celeste Zappala gave up her son for Karl Rove's war; the least he could do is return a freakin' phone call.

Follow the money

according to the analysts at globalsecurity.org, the invasion and occupation of Iraq have so far cost the United States more than $178bn.

Who is making all this money? Where is it going?

Hey, man, it is just a list!

"The purpose of the system . . . is to provide a single central facility within the Department of Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum school requirements for military service," according to the official notice of the program.
(There is, of course, no such list for gun owners, as that, with some reason, might violate the 2nd amendment)

The US for sale

Financed by.... the US! :-)
Oil prices have made everybody rich.
The rate of change in everything is going through the roof. Everything new is old again.
Thus, we see very large political shifts, (tipping points?) and economic shifts, technology, science, and waiting in the wings:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Heeeeeeeeere's Climate Change!
Change: "ride the horse in the direction it is going", "be the change", "go with the flow"

Bill Moyers on "Democracy Now!"

Bill Moyers: "The Radical Right Wing is Very Close to Achieving a Longtime Goal of Undermining the Independence of Public Broadcasting"

With the increasing politicization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the threat of funding cuts in Congress, public media in this country is facing a serious crisis. We spend the hour with legendary journalist Bill Moyers - the subject of much of the pressure brought by CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson.
Moyers says, "I think we're at a moment in American history that is unique. I think we are in danger of losing our democracy because of the domination, the monopoly of power being exercised by the huge economic interests, both directly and indirectly. In public broadcasting we need to get back to the revolutionary spirit of dissent and courage that brought us into existence in the first place, and this country does, too."

God Hates Colorado Springs

The city of Colorado Springs was hit by a heavy thunderstorm on Tuesday resulting in heavy flooding, lightning, water, and mud damaged homes and a foot of hail on the ground in some locations. The question is why is god punishing Colorado Springs?

"It's just not right!" say the Christians...,

and off they go doing God's political works. If you are a free thinking, open minded, mature, responsible, well adjusted, independent individual, or supportive of any individual in that class, the conservative government of the United States has a message for you: "Fuck Off."


Commission Bans County From Recognizing Gay Pride

AND

"Disastrous" bill would cut public-broadcasting service

News Gleanings

Yet more criminality in the administration, the Washington Post reported that:

A top Justice Department official threatened to remove a government expert from its witness list if he did not water down his recommended penalties for the tobacco industry, the witness said in an interview yesterday.

The foxes are indeed in charge of the proverbial henhouse. I’m wondering when the smear campaign will start?

In other interesting news Joe Biden has promised that “If he has a clear chance of winning” he is planning to run for president. In a move seen as exposing his intentions, Jeb Bush immediately opened an investigation to see if Biden had been involved in Terry Schiavo’s collapse over twenty years ago and if he could account for forty some odd minutes on the morning that she did.

In the “Why the fuck there is little sympathy for you motherfuckers” department the recording industry of America has added another layer of “protection” on their CD recordings so that not just anyone can put the music they “bought” on just any listening medium. Of course if anyone finds out how to bypass this “protection” it is an illegal act, in this great free nation of ours, to tell anyone how to do it.

Trade Deficit at Record High

The latest report from the Commerce Department says the trade deficit now stands at $195.1 billion USD.

FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets expressed his disbelief Monday over the "sheer amount of shit Americans will buy."

"Why the demand for so many kitchen gadgets?" Chen said. "I can understand having a good wok, a rice cooker, a tea kettle, a hot plate, some utensils, good china, a teapot with a strainer, and maybe a thermos. But all these extra things—where do the Americans put them? How many times will you use a taco-shell holder? 'Oh, I really need this silverware-drawer sorter or I will have fits.' Shut up, stupid American."

"Last week, I took testimony from several young female workers from Shenzhen who said they were locked in a work room for 18 straight hours making inflatable Frisbees," Gao said. "Finally, the girls joined hands on the factory floor and began to chant, 'No more insane flying toys for Western pigs!' They quickly lost their jobs and were ostracized by their families, but the incident was a testament to China's growing disillusionment with producing needless crap for fat-ass foreigners."

Feeling the Hate

"fascism [...] would not return wearing swastikas and brown shirts. Its ideological inheritors would cloak themselves in the language of the Bible; they would come carrying crosses and chanting the Pledge of Allegiance."

...

Then as now, Adams said, too many liberals failed to understand the power and allure of evil, and when the radical Christians came, these people would undoubtedly play by the old, polite rules of democracy long after those in power had begun to dismantle the democratic state.

What the reporter said

'I've had reporters say to me, I have orthodontia, I have tuition, I have mortgage, I need access, I'm not writing your story.'

Let's Talk About Iraq - New York Times

"Let them eat cake!" Marie Antoinette
"Bring em on!" George Bush
"Double the number of troops" Friedman
Gee, why stop there? Triple the troops!

Timely Tsunami warnings: part one in a series

"'We just headed out,' he said. 'The streets were packed with cars -- it was complete chaos.'"

Gore Vidal: Something Rotten in Ohio

Outside the oil and gas junta that controls two and a half branches of our government (the half soon to be whole is the judiciary), there was a good deal of envy at the late British election among those Americans who are serious about politics. Little money was spent by the three parties and none for TV advertising. Results were achieved swiftly and cheaply. Best of all, the three party leaders were quizzed sharply and intelligently by ordinary citizens known quaintly as subjects, thanks to the ubiquitous phantom crown so unlike our nuclear-taloned predatory eagle. Although news of foreign countries seldom appears in our tightly censored media (and good news, never), those of us who are addicted to C-SPAN and find it the one truly, if unconsciously, subversive media outlet in these United States are able to observe British politics in full cry.

More...

After Downing Street Dot Org :: In Support of a Resolution of Inquiry

I really really wish someone, besides me, would put together an authoritative script on how the Iraq war was and is seen, the overarching great view. (And by gum, it IS a war! amazing! and for all the crap we are taking, it's hard to believe that we started it)
Whatever the reasons, there absolutely is a complete and utterly rational view that is still being played out. We might not like the reasons, may cry fie! fie! but they are there.
A well written 1 or 2 page essay could do it. The people don't need to know.

Something deeply disturbing about this quote...

"September the 4th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget."

--President George W. Bush
New Jersey, October 18, 2004
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041018-11.html

I mean who get's this date wrong? WHO?

Is he THAT out of touch? Was it planned on the 4th? Why did I not hear about this quote until this past weekend?

Seeing things you really didn't need to and now you know you don't want to..

from the let's see what technology brought us today dear dept...
'I'm seeing people in a whole new way,'' says Phillip Swann, president of OnHD.TV, an online magazine. ''If somebody's aging or if they've got any old acne damage, it just jumps out at you. They've got no chance.'

Memo: U.S. Lacked Full Postwar Iraq Plan

"Even your best friends won't tell you"
(Talk about really bad breath!)

Can you say "savings and loan"? I thought you could :-)

"Banking regulators have been raising red flags over the past weeks, warning the lenders they supervise that competition to win borrowers must not compromise lending standards."
oops, my bad

A vigorous stalemate

There will be no peace: Bush & Co. just do not see the world that way. No peace, not ever. Although we could just get ignored if the corporations figure out how to write us off... but, could happen.
The entire 20th century was only 100 years long.

Bill O'Reilly's Videogate

From comments at the above link

It's bad enough that O'Reilly attacked Biden and then stole his ideas. The worst offense is that O'Reilly deliberately doctored the ABC video to distort Biden's words into the exact opposite of what he actually said.

(White) Women We Love

I don't recall a black person ever gone missing.
Who likes this stuff anyway?

Around the Bloggosphere(AtB): Now is a very, very good time to be Chinese

The staggering magnificence of China

It is almost beyond belief: China is in its blossom and no sight could be more gorgeous. As you walk the streets of its capital, there is a wonderful mood of joy and optimism, even invincibility. The restaurants are crowded, and smiling, well-dressed people seem to be everywhere. Who would believe that not that many years ago this nation was suffering from seemingly insurmountable upheavals and crises, political, social and economic –all swept away by a focused, strong and determined leadership the likes of which the nation (and the world) had never seen before?

Yes, people who were here just 10 years ago and who are returning for the first time are calling it a miracle, and indeed it is. This is an engine that simply cannot be slowed, let alone stopped. And it all came about thanks to the vision of one man and one party that knew exactly where China should go and how it should get there. From an isolated and humiliated nation, China has emerged as a true superpower.

The transition hasn’t been easy nor has it always been gentle. The truth is, to keep the momentum going and achieve its high goals, the government has had to be strict. At times, protestors have been dealt with harshly, and many were imprisoned. But when you have an entire nation to watch over, it is simply impractical and impossible to allow dissent and criticism to get in the way. And the Chinese people agree. This is their day in the sun, and they have expressed a sincere love of their government, a love that is utterly without precedent. They have simply never known such success, such glory.

Some on the outside have complained about the persecution of “unfriendly” religious groups, and even acts of violence against them. That cannot be denied, but I’m sure it will improve. Many Chinese see these groups as dangeorus cults, and are only too happy to see them dealt with firmly and efficiently. But these are little things, far overshadowed by the greatness of the economy and all of the benefits it brings.

Some have also said that government spending is behind much of the prosperity. This is true to a certain extent, but other nations have dipped into the state coffers before, and as the economy grows the debts will be paid. The massive spending is worthwhile and will bear results.

As proof of just how high China’s star has soared, the country has been chosen to host the Olympics! Can you believe it, looking back at the relative chaos of 20 years ago? How fast and how explosive this growth has been! The Olympics – this gives China and its regime a patina of respectability and validation like nothing else could. It is a sign of international respect and has elevated national pride to new pinnacles.

Possibly the most extraordinary aspect of the new China is the sheer irrepressible optimism of the people. They are boisterous and proud. They can do anything, they can even help make China a master of the world! They know about the criticisms of the government, the charges of suppression, but it’s water off a duck’s back.

Now is a very, very good time to be Chinese, and they respect the rules. China is a country of laws. You understand and respect the need to not call for changes in the government or to stir up trouble. Yes, the government is everywhere and watches everything, but it’s a tiny price to pay for its pulling China up by its bootstraps. And as long as you mind your own affairs and leave the government free to do its vital busines, your prosperity will continue.

So let’s give China in the year 2003 all of the praise and recognition it deserves.

But wait a minute. There is one big lie in the tribute above: It is not about China and it has nothing to do with the year 2003.

It is all about Nazi Germany in the year 1936. Every word. Go back and see. Just substitute Germany for China and Germans for Chinese.

So what’s Richard’s point? Only to point out the irony of how something that seemed so picture-perfect in 1936 not long afterward was perceived as something very different. Some of us who are critical of right-wing regimes tend to allow the glare of China’s successes to blind us to the inequities and iniquities inherent to any police state. I was blinded about it myself for some years. I am not drawing any direct comparisons of the CCP to the Nazis, tempting though it may be. The CCP is at least showing dramatic signs of continuing reform. But there are still interesting historical parallels.

Meanwhile, I want to see China continue to grow and prosper, because I care a lot about the people there. Looking aqt all that prosperity and success, it is so easy to forget that it's a country still in the iron grip of tyranny. You wouldn't know that from the smiling faces and jubilant mood in Beijing and Shanghai. But it is.

Like a highway full of potholes

Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China. Lately, I have responded like this: If India and China were both highways, the Chinese highway would be a six-lane, perfectly paved road, but with a huge speed bump off in the distance labeled "Political reform: how in the world do we get from Communism to a more open society?" When 1.3 billion people going 80 miles an hour hit a speed bump, one of two things happens: Either the car flies into the air and slams down, and all the parts hold together and it keeps on moving - or the car flies into the air, slams down and all the wheels fall off. Which it will be with China, I don't know. India, by contrast, is like a highway full of potholes, with no sidewalks and half the streetlamps broken. But off in the distance, the road seems to smooth out, and if it does, this country will be a dynamo. The question is: Is that smoother road in the distance a mirage or the real thing?

What a Shocker!

[deadpan sarcasm]
I mean can you believe it? What crazy antics those guys at the Justice Department must have gone through. Now just moments from a record breaking fine due to a proven conspiracy by the big tobacco companies to hook people, primarily young people, to their addictive product, suddenly out of now where they offer a much reduced penalty. Wow, who'd have thought such a thing could happen.
[/deadpan sarcasm]

[republican spin]
Well those lawyers must have screwed something up I’m sure. Leave it to the government to screw it up.
[/republican spin]

Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty

U.S. Seeks $10 Billion Instead of $130 Billion

By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 8, 2005; Page A01

After eight months of courtroom argument, Justice Department lawyers abruptly upset a landmark civil racketeering case against the tobacco industry yesterday by asking for less than 8 percent of the expected penalty.

Google Print

I hadn't seen this before. It appears to have a LOT of titles, and you can get inside them pretty easily, as long as you have some idea what you're looking for. This helps me imagine what it would be like for libraries to be fully on the web. I have a similar service at work that allows me access to many, many technical books, but this is more fun.

Hyperweatlh

Does not the very naming assert a disease? Would not naming it be a cure?

Look for the loyalty statements. Felt is no hero: he isn't dead

Gergen calls Felt a snitch.
Anybody who has anything good to say about Felt: no place in Bush administration, that's for sure.
Presidential candiate "X" said , "Gee, I hope if I do something bad there is someone like Felt to turn me in to the authorities. Someone like that who has the true welfare of the nation in mind, not just me, the president."
No. Felt is no hero. He did the dirty work that someone had to do. Coming out before he was dead, that was a disservice and a great big mistake. Heros do NOT accept congratulations.
Real heros know that real heroes are under the stones and crosses.

Discovery of 'Momma' T-Rex

Answers to questions*
1. female
2. related to bird
3. medullary bone

*For creationists
"God" or "we really don't know"or leave blank for full credit

the 35 hour week: isn't a that where we want to go?

A good, clean, safe life full of leisure for thinking and creating... isn't that where capitalism is supposed to go? Why shouldn't one resist going backwards?
The yardstick of a persons life appears long, but used as a measure against human events much less geologic events, it is like trying to measure out a small town with a 12" ruler.
Jeffrey Sachs says that up until 200 years ago, essentially everyone was poor. Period. So wealth for semi regular people is really only 200 years old and that really is true.
The middle class: gee, that's just a post WW II phenomenon. Post Keynesian, brand new, unheard of prosperity. However, the disparaging tone directed at people accused of self indulgency for expecting what was totally expected, is way way out of line. Just a few years ago, the US was glory bound with William J Clinton and his man Robert Rubin running the economy.
When the man calls out This Way! make sure he is going forward before you follow. Running backward with great purpose: Monty Python does that.

MTV rejects Nine Inch Nails' performace image

They Hate America, They Hate Freedom, They Hate Apple Pie too.

Too funny for words except that it is so sad.

"President" Bush on Tuesday dismissed a human rights report as "absurd" for its harsh criticism of U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the allegations were made by prisoners "who hate America."

More Hussman

From this week's Hussman report:

There continues to be pressure on China to revalue the yuan. In standard Orwellian fashion, China 's maintenance of a fixed and stable exchange rate with the U.S. dollar is being criticized as “manipulation.” We should be careful what we wish for – the deep current account imbalance with China owes far more to profligate fiscal policy in the U.S. than to unfair currency policies abroad. Sure, the yuan appears undervalued, but before pushing for a revaluation, U.S. policy makers would be really, really smart to get our own fiscal policy in order so we wouldn't be so heavily dependent on foreign capital inflows to finance U.S. economic activity.

Unless that happens, a revaluation of the yuan will do more to stifle growth in U.S. gross domestic investment than any single policy move that Congress could contemplate. Thinking about this in general equilibrium is a disaster: the stuff we buy from China isn't really stuff we make at home, so we'll observe import price increases without enjoying much increased demand for domestic production, the stuff that China competes with us to import (mainly oil), being priced internationally in U.S. dollars, will become cheaper to China, thereby exacerbating energy prices, and the major source of growth in U.S. gross domestic investment in recent years (foreign capital inflows from Asian central banks) will drop off substantially. This is going to be interesting.

Don't miss the message here.

Candidates Loyal to Hariri Sweep Election and elect his son.
(Blood is way way thick. Everything else is water or worse.)

A Bane Amid The Housing Boom: Rising Foreclosures

Is "news" the reporting of something changing, or is it just a matter of convenience, accident or pile on?
"Hey, the lights good over here: lets write about this."
Dunno: does seem to say that the caution flag is out for buyers.

Trial balloon

"Meanwhile, retired Gen. Wesley Clark predicted 'a substantial pullout of American troops' from Iraq by the end of the summer. The former presidential candidate was a speaker at the senior convocation at upstate Ithaca's Cornell University"
The spin machine is reving up. As of May 28, victory is scheduled for September.

Bubbles

"About 54 percent of home buyers in the District purchased their homes using interest-only loans so far this year, according to LoanPerformance, a San Francisco-based company that tracks loan originations nationwide. About one-third of buyers in Maryland and Virginia are buying with interest-only loans. Just five years ago, only about 2 percent of home-purchase loans in the Washington area involved interest-only terms."

WW III

No other way to describe it. Bigger and better, as this is a war without borders: it's your neighbor.

Interesting

"Tell your boss you have to deal with a drinking problem and you'll be fine; say you want more time with your family and you're on the endangered species list."

Everything is OK. Go back to sleep.

This is a government that lives to make itself look good, so that people remain placid and accepting of (or better still, oblivious to) the shit going on around them.

This is a quote from a blog about China, but you no doubt first thought it was about our own government. This is why W likes China so much, his government is just like theirs.

Rates: swimming in deep waters.

"It may just be a confluence of all these. But many economists are concluding that, in a world of rising savings and cheap money, returns on Treasury bond investments may simply be the best of a bad bunch."
GMB: Which would make I-bonds an easy entry.
But the underlying reasons examined here are a cautionary tale. Basically, nobody has clue, not really.

post-digestive art

uh, thanks. no more for me.

luckily we now know that...

It's All Newsweek's Fault

The right's rage at Newsweek is all too reminiscent of the contempt it heaped on Specialist Thomas Wilson, the soldier who dared to ask Mr. Rumsfeld at a town hall meeting in Kuwait in December about the shortage of armored vehicles. Mr. Wilson was guilty of "near-insubordination," said Rush Limbaugh; the embedded reporter who helped him frame his question was reviled by bloggers as a traitor. Yet Mr. Wilson's question was legitimate, and Mr. Rumsfeld's answer (that the shortage was only "a matter of production and capability") was a lie.

The Rumsfeld Stain

Rumsfeld: presentation is everything. aka don't let them see you sweat. aka too dumb to know you're dead (eg, Bush)
As to the war, it's over: the Sunni's have joined the government.
Not only will this quell the violence in Iraq, it will ripple through all of Islam. The Islamic Reformation has reached critical mass.
Finally, ALL the media seems to be carrying the heckling of Laura... makes no sense. Heckle Laura? George hides behind a skirt?
But none of it is going to matter: it's over.
(Yeah, Bush can still screw it up... if peace in Iraq does not bring oil or even promises less,, ummm, maybe that's just not acceptable: keep fighting.)
Ah, but HOW could he screw it up ?

Why worry about yuan?

From Hussman:

Now, why would international financial market participants want to hold onto their yuan but get rid of dollar holdings (or even borrow them)? Hmm.

While I don't yet anticipate an abrupt revaluation of the Chinese yuan (a change in the currency peg that would make the yuan appreciate, or equivalently, the U.S. dollar depreciate), suddenly all of this talk about China and other central banks wanting to “diversify” their holdings away from U.S. dollars seems to be having more bite. Anticipation of that type of event would tend to create just the sort of yuan hoarding and dollar borrowing that's reflected in Eurocurrency spreads (you want to borrow dollars if they're expected to depreciate, of course, so you can pay them back with cheaper dollars later).

Though I discussed the risk that an abrupt revaluation of Asian currencies would have, I also viewed that risk as somewhat remote - an important element to watch but not any sort of imminent threat. After all, China and Japan seemed to be willing to continue with the status quo, and nobody in the Administration would possibly provoke an event that could so profoundly destabilize the U.S. economy.

Well, in a move that is simply beyond comprehension, Treasury Secretary John Snow last week tried to jawbone China and Japan into revaluing their currencies relative to the U.S. dollar (i.e. to allow their currencies to become more expensive). In the unilateralist, partial equilibrium, no-unintended-consequences world that is the Bush Administration, more expensive Asian currencies are a way of protecting U.S. manufacturers from the competition of cheap imports. In the general equilibrium world that is reality, the potential effect of this policy could be disastrous.

How to quickly eliminate our gaping current account deficit

Recall that every major expansion in the U.S. economy has begun with a current account surplus. This means that the U.S. had not only enough savings to finance its own investment, but was even sending savings overseas by purchasing foreign securities. This allowed the U.S. to finance huge investment booms, first by drawing on those excess savings, and then by quickly moving to a current account deficit and importing savings from foreigners. Needless to say, with the U.S. presently running the deepest current account deficit in history, our ability to finance much sustained growth in domestic investment (factories, housing, equipment, capital spending) is sharply limited. Even our present level of economic activity is dependent on the largest inflows of foreign capital in history, largely from China and Japan.

In effect, the factor that allows the U.S. to continue its consumption binge, finance its investment, extend its housing boom, run irresponsibly large government deficits, swap corporate debt payments into ridiculously low short-term interest rates, and maintain unusually high valuations in the equity markets - the quiet support that keeps this whole house of cards standing - is the willingness of Asian economies to accumulate an endless supply of U.S. dollar assets (largely Treasury and U.S. agency securities). That willingness is driven by one goal - to hold their currencies down in relation to the U.S. dollar.

Incomprehensibly, the Administration is now trying to pressure China and Japan to give up that goal. If this effort succeeds, and particularly if that success is abrupt, surging short-term interest rates, higher corporate defaults, and a collapse in U.S. domestic investment would likely follow. As I used to teach my students, there is a really quick way to "balance" a current account deficit (which is also the main way that it happens in practice): plunge the economy into a deep recession. This isn't our expectation yet. It is, however, an increasing risk born of misguided economic analysis.

I-Bonds are at 4.8%

You have to hold them for at least a year, and you'll pay a 3 month interest penalty if you cash them before 5 years. But compared to the best 12 month CD rate I've found at 4.2%, which required opening a new bank account and paying bank fees, 4.8% and the terms are pretty good. If rates are higher after a year, it comes to a 1.2% penalty to get out at 12 months, so the APY would then be 3.6. The move-to rate would have to be at least 6.0% for this to be a sensible move. Seems like a decent place to stick cash.

Why I'm still a liberal

Evans: Why I'm still a liberal

May 22, 2005

I am, in most things, liberal because to my mushy eyes, the American "welfare state" has been (mostly) a success. Not a big fan of government, but a believer that some things are best done together, rather than individually.

History is quite clear about what happens when the "haves" don't bother to take care of the "have nots," or even the "have somes": Rule by the rich, the few, who will, eventually, lose control, often violently.

But as diehard conservatives insist we move from America's New Deal ethic into Ayn Rand Adventure Land — minimal taxes; everyone out for themselves — I can't imagine why they think our (far from perfect) system has been so awful.

After all, since Roosevelt, the United States has won the only war that really mattered, blasted into the economic stratosphere, raised standards of living, cultivated the middle class (that powerful antidote to pluto-oligarchy), become a technological Godzilla, and built the most dominant (if excessive) military in history.

Gee, what a trainwreck.

But people like change, I guess, and these days we seem to be demanding it regardless of the likely consequences.

In Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt piously declares that raising taxes on "hard-working families" is immoral even as he strives to eliminate Medicaid services for the poor. This Christian politician seems to have missed one of Jesus's most oft-repeated messages: Take care of the poor.

In Kansas, the state board of education proposes redefining science as "a systematic method of continuing investigation" that does not limit its inquiry to the natural world. Under such Dark Ages claptrap, the "supernatural" would be fair game in Kansas science classes.

The supernatural they are after, of course, is God. But thousands of years of inquiry have not brought "naturalistic" proof of God, and good, old-fashioned faith has had to suffice. And once you open the door to the supernatural, what's to stop a kid from writing a biology paper on werewolves, unicorns or Oz?

I keep wondering if these people even "believe" in science, and if they are willing to eschew the medicine and technology — produced by "naturalistic" science — that has granted them such cushy lives.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration is in high dudgeon over a Newsweek item about alleged "Quran abuse" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A small item, since retracted (though it's bolstered by substantial evidence), "caused" Muslim riots in Afghanistan, according to the Bush spin.

Now the White House, ignoring the undisputed abuse and murder of Muslims by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, is playing the schoolmarm, telling Newsweek it has blood of 16 Muslims on its hands.

No mention of the tens of thousands of Muslims killed in ill-advised military actions, or the 1,622 U.S. troops killed (and more than 10,000 casualties) in Iraq because of much more egregious "errors" by our elected armchair gladiators.

And if we are to believe Newsweek is to blame for these deaths, then why aren't we blaming loudmouth ideologues in Congress for the dangers faced by judges who don't rule as some think they should? Following the tragic Terri Schiavo case, for example, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) suggested that we can hardly blame wackos for going after judges when they don't like their rulings.

Chicago Judge Joan H. Lefkow, whose husband and mother were murdered by a lunatic who didn't like her dismissal of his malpractice suit, chastised the agitators last week. Such rhetoric, she said, "can only encourage those who are on the edge ... to exact revenge on a judge who displeases them."

But our outrage is now selective, directed by people drunk on their vision of an America unfettered by collective responsibility, a society ruled by belief over facts, a judiciary beholden to party politics, and a foreign policy that may make us feel like kick-ass warriors from afar, but in fact makes the world more dangerous.

Call me what you will, but what, exactly, is so appealing about that grand vision?

Contact Clay Evans at (303) 473-1352 or evansc@dailycamera.com.

Wal-Mart and America

Protecting your god given right to shop.

Hiring is Obsolete

Web startup costs = living and eating.

RealMoney on Walmart

More Downside in Store for Wal-Mart
By James Cramer
It's clear that Wal-Mart is vulnerable, and things are going to get worse before they get better for the retailer, says James J. Cramer. The competition that Wal-Mart faces from slicker, more consumer-friendly rivals is hurting Wal-Mart, even with its low prices. Wal-Mart will continue to suffer until it gets in someone who can merchandise or unless we get a nasty recession. Until then, this stock is a sell.

The Note: carnage

"We say with all the genuine apolitical and non-partisan human concern that we can muster that the death and carnage in Iraq is truly staggering.
And/but we are sort of resigned to the Notion that it simply isn't going to break through to American news organizations, or, for the most part, Americans.
Democrats are so thoroughly spooked by John Kerry's loss —- and Republicans so inspired by their stay-the-course Commander in Chief —- that what is hands down the biggest story every day in the world will get almost no coverage. No conflict at home = no coverage.

This Is Your Brain on Motherhood - New York Times

Becoming a parent... can power up the mind with uniquely motivated learning. Having a baby is 'a revolution for the brain,' Dr. Merzenich says."

Interesting

Wal-Mart as an employer.

One America Committee: Blog

This is John Edwards site: it has content, it has speeches, message and links to a podcast. Highly recommended. It is message, it is leadership: Mr Edwards is using his exposure as vice presidential candiate to do good (ala Jimmy Carter) as opposed to running for office... it's the act of a statesman.

One America Committee: Blog

This is John Edwards site: it has content, it has speeches, message and links to a podcast. Highly recommended. It is message, it is leadership: Mr Edwards is using his exposure as vice presidential candiate to do good (ala Jimmy Carter) as opposed to running for office... it's the act of a statesman.

peoplewhoshouldbeshot: Bill Frist

'The message is that the Democrats who oppose a tiny handful of President Bush's judicial nominations are conducting an assault 'against people of faith.' By that, Senator Frist and his allies do not mean people of all faiths, only those of their faith.'
Shoot that fuck.
(All except that last sentence is from the NY Times editorial.)

Language!

"Because certain trees are sprouting in the Middle East, the world will soon end. Because the European Union has grown to its current size, fiery death and plagues of locusts are about to descend on the planet. Because Israel established a homeland, non-believers will, in a short while, suffer agonizing horrors before being damned to an eternity of pain."
See what can be done!
(Do you have the gift of language? You too can speak complete crap! Put your heart into it!)

Crazy Shit Department: Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- If you think video games are engrossing now, just wait: PlayStation maker Sony Corp. has been granted a patent for beaming sensory information directly into the brain.

The technique could one day be used to create video games in which you can smell, taste, and touch...

Economic tsunami?

"'If the world's central bankers accumulate fewer dollars, the result would be an unrelenting American need to borrow in the face of an ever weaker dollar - a recipe for higher interest rates and higher prices. The economic repercussions could unfold gradually, resulting in a long, slow decline in living standards. Or there could be a quick unraveling, with the hallmarks of an uncontrolled fiscal crisis.'
-- New York Times editorial"

From the vaults: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Moon declares himself the Messiah before a congressional reception

Hitler and Stalin have been "reborn as new persons."

More than a dozen lawmakers attended a congressional reception this year honoring the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in which Moon declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons."


CapHillBlue? Nope, the Washington Post.

Moon has claimed to have spoken in "the spirit world" with all deceased U.S. presidents, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and others. At the March 23 event, he said: "The founders of five great religions and many other leaders in the spirit world, including even Communist leaders such as Marx and Lenin . . . and dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons."

Details of the ceremony -- first reported by Salon.com writer John Gorenfeld -- have prompted several lawmakers to say they were misled or duped by organizers. Their complaints prompted a Moon-affiliated Web site to remove a video of the "Crown of Peace" ceremony two days ago, but other Web sites have preserved details and photos.

AtB: April 6, 2005 Tan Lucy Pez asks "Is this guy running the country? Who IS?"

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles. (Some of us are. Some of us just do the puzzle...no reading.)
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country -- if they could find the time -- and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents once ran the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country ... or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all for which they stand. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped-minority-feminist-atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy provided, of course, that they are not Republicans.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
12. None of these are read by the guy who is running the country into the ground. I'm not so sure he can read.)

Hussman: The economy is basically a big karma train

As a sidenote, the gross domestic investment - plant, equipment, capital spending, real estate, etc - in the economy is exactly equal to saving in the economy (including imported savings from foreigners). So for instance, the savings that people create through their 401K programs and so forth do finance real investments, but those savings need not increase the value of stocks and may not even be of benefit to stock-issuing corporations at all, even if the savings are invested in stocks. For instance, if Mickey (who is a construction worker) invests new savings in a stock mutual fund through his 401K, the fund goes out and buys stock from Ricky, who gets Mickey's cash and invests it in a money market fund, which buys debt securities issued by a government agency, which purchases mortgages made by Nicky's bank, which lends the cash to Nicky, who uses it to pay construction workers to build a house. Though that route was more direct than most, savings really do equal investment for the nation as a whole. The economy is basically a big karma train.

Hussman

From this week's Hussman report.

The risks of a shift in Chinese currency policy are heightened by the still-polite but increasingly palpable tension between China and the U.S. revolving around Taiwan's hints at independence. It doesn't help that the Administration is filling important international finance and diplomatic posts with judgment-impaired political hacks rather than individuals with suitable talent to address the risks.

In short, international interest rate spreads are useful to watch here. In addition, credit spreads (corporate minus Treasury or low grade corporate minus high grade corporate) are also important. At this point, a further deterioration in credit spreads would be a very strong signal to batten the hatches.

The information is always in the divergences.

AtB: March 24, 2005:The Unintended Consequences of Laws...

An interesting tidbit from Crosblog

The Law of Unintended Consequences...
Ohio passes a gay marriage ban that bars "creating or recognizing a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals."

Ohio also has a domestic violence law that makes it a felony for someone with a previous domestic violence conviction to assault a family member.

Correction - that may be "had" a domestic violence law. Since "legal status for relationships..." is now barred, a judge reduced a felony assault on a repeat abuser's live-in girlfriend to a misdemeanor, finding that the new language barred giving the unmarried couple any additional benefits.

Prosecutors are appealing. From the hip analysis from someone who's never read an Ohio statute or case - call it a longshot.

If it's said boldly and without a hint of shame then...

From the final paragraph a NYTimes story about the popular uprising in Kyrgyzstan:

"In Washington, meanwhile, a State Department spokesman, Adam Ereli, said Wednesday that the United States had urged the Kyrgyz government to avoid violence and open a dialogue with the opposition. The message being sent by the United States and other nations, he said, was that 'violence is not an acceptable means for resolving differences.' "

Around the Bloggosphere(AtB): March 22, 2005

In my continuing time crunched effort to keep content flowing here at TCA I provided you with another installment of “Around the Bloggosphere”. Since being a dad is a brand new job for me I think I will continue to do these AtB posts for a little while.

Ken

Subject: Campaign finance reform.
Blog: Toehold

I have an idea.

• Individual Americans (and corporations too!) will contribute to a single fund for all campaigning.
• Legitimate political parties (with some fair definition of "legitimate") will draw equally from the fund and distribute what they draw equally to their candidate(s).
• No campaign spending except from this fund.
• All private campaign ads will be funded as if they were a political party.

Keep holding fund raisers, and keep getting those fat checks from fat cats, but share with your opponents. How do you like them apples?

Problems:

• The legitimization of the Party party leads to the public funding a campaign which enjoys itself thoroughly without doing any campaigning.
• The most popular candidates don't want to raise funds.
• J. Random Billionare has a free speech problem if the private ad fund is short. On the other hand, J. Random could contribute enough money to make up the difference and think of it as a tax on "free" speech.

My original idea was to pay for campaigns through a poll tax. Each candidate would account for all campaign spending, and there'd be a number next to the name on the ballot. That number is how much the voter will pay in taxes to fund the campaign if it wins. Slick Politician can run a huge campaign, but the voters may vote for the cheap guy instead. The collected taxes first pay for the accounting and then go to repay the campaign's donors. The result:

• Cheaper campaigns are more appealing to voters.
• Donors prefer to donate to the candidate who wins, but only because they get a refund.
• Candidates still end up with an obligation to the donors because of the risk they took, but an increase in "campaign tax" could eliminate that too (in which case, "donating" to the winner becomes an investment that produces a return).
• How does this account for independent advertising? Maybe it doesn't.

What to do if the candidate spends less than what was given for the campaign? Take the remainder of the pool and distribute it evenly among the donors. This encourages many small donors and discourages individual large donors. If one donor gives half the total pool, and that amount is spent, that donor gets back the money donated, divided by the number of donors. People who donated the least could get back more than they originally put in.

There are probably lots of odd situations I haven't thought of, so I've designed toward behavior that's bad, and it's possible that behavior I think is desirable really isn't. Ultimately I'd like a system in which politicians are "paid for" by a majority (e.g., everybody) rather than any minority. I'm tired of our elected officials being beholden to monied interests instead of the people who elected them. I want to disconnect their funding from the funders. Make all donations anonymous? Easy to defeat.

Maybe someone has solved this problem, and I just haven't seen it. Unfortunately, I suspect a real working solution would never be implemented.

permalink posted by Kyle : 7:39 AM

Around the Blogosphere

Here is an alternative perspective on the world...

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Are We Sinners In Need Of Salvation Or Not?

I am always impressed what deceived men will do for a lie. This afternoon I had two guests who are of the Jehovah's Witness persuasion. They talked and talked and (I know, we've all experienced it) and talked. Yet, if I had not forced the conversation into the direction of Paul's letter to the Romans, we would never have talked about salvation.

What are the issues in evangelization? Are Tim LaHaye's books the main way to convince people to come to Christ? How about rock'n for Jesus at a concert? How about throwing a party at church to show that men need to repent? That seems to be the method today. We could have a Super Bowl party for Jesus.

I am not saying there are not different ways to evangelize. We all use different methods to "springboard" our conversations into the Gospel message. I am simply wondering if we often compromise or miss the message altogether. Have we become like the JWs and missed how the Spirit of God commands us to proclaim God's Word faithfully? Just a thought.

Here is one of the most powerful sermons I have heard in a long time. John Piper preaches on Romans 9. How should we proclaim the Gospel? Click Here.

posted by Howard Fisher | 5:19 PM

American Jobs Blog By Greg Spotts

This is the kind of stuff that Walmart depends on... only it ain't Walmart anymore: it's coming up the food chain.
You can also find him on a report on PBS NOW.
Here's a good book, one that goes way back. You don't even have to read it, you just have to read the title: "Small is Beautiful: economics as if people mattered."
The book is written by a hardbitten, real life economist. Minister of Mines, I think, in the UK. No bleeding heart, he.

Big oil won: we're paying the price in dollars, time and lives

Plan A: end Opec
The industry-favoured plan was pushed aside by a secret plan, drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which called for the sell-off of all of Iraq's oil fields. The new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the Opec cartel through massive increases in production above Opec quotas.

Plan B; (the industry plan) keep prices high
Privatisation blocked by industry
Philip Carroll, the former CEO of Shell Oil USA who took control of Iraq's oil production for the US Government a month after the invasion, stalled the sell-off scheme.
Mr Carroll told us he made it clear to Paul Bremer, the US occupation chief who arrived in Iraq in May 2003, that: "There was to be no privatisation of Iraqi oil resources or facilities while I was involved."

Activist Judges Rule!

"Judge Richard Kramer of San Francisco County's trial-level Superior Court likened the (gay marriage) ban to laws requiring racial segregation in schools, and said there appears to be 'no rational purpose' for denying marriage to gay couples."

China is Wal-Mart to the world

In the same way Wal-Mart sends the small local retailers packing, China is putting entire countries out of business. They undervalue their currency and undercut the rest of the world. With their hundreds of millions eager and hungry for low paying factory work, they can win at this game.

Wal-Mart is not the problem here. They are just the most noticeable symptom here in the U.S. (and increasingly in other countries) of China's strategy.

China needs to play fair with international trade, or they should face restrictions.

TiVo.com | The TiVo Homepage

If you have a TV and you don't have Tivo, you are wasting your time, your money, and letting TV run your life.
NOT having Tivo is, in a word, silly. It costs $100. There is a monthly subscription fee: it is well worth it.
Oh, you can transfer Tivo recordings to your computer. You can print them to VHS or DVD, whatever.
For those who do NOT watch TV, that's fine: you'll never watch "TV" again. You will only watch Tivo: you will watch what you want when you want, and if you've found you've "caught a fish" you don't like: you throw it back. Better yet, your kids never watch TV again: they watch Tivo and you get to say what's on Tivo: end of story.
Phone rings? hit pause: the machine goes into record mode immediately. Continue watching tomorrow if you feel like it.

saddam capture: staged?

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.
Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.
"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.
"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said.
Interesting. He's a US Marine. And he is of Arab descent. He's an American citizen (probably, but not necessarily) but where do his loyalties lie: with the US, with the Middle east, or maybe it's just the truth? Of course, one thing for certain: he is a volunteer: that could cut both ways.

response to query: Your Uncle Sam wants to know what you want to know.

OK: I did the search on fertilizer and diesel fuel. Just like that. No quotes.
This is what google said. (I had tried A9 .com: it said there were NO results. (When did you even do a search, without quotes, that came up with NO results???))
Google gave me the following page, saying the site violates our policy.
So, we know that the government IS looking at our queries and is most certainly recording them.
403 Forbidden

Terror Suspects Buying Firearms, Report Finds

Official comments from the world-of-reality dept:
1) so what: the shit is mostly harmless and no more than what is available to any citizen, resident, or sidewalk shopper. Fertilizer and diesel fuel? Hmmm, have to google that.
2) ummm, why are they "suspected" and by whom and for what?
3) Catch 22, in particular the character of Milo Minderbinder is a must read for economics, politics, policy, philosophy, humor, anthropology.

Derelict Plants Are Crippling Iraq's Petroleum Industry

"And with the petroleum sector crumbling, Iraqi officials must soon decide whether to invest in time-consuming repairs and upgrades, or try to extract everything they can from the creaky equipment, as Saddam Hussein did. It is a tricky decision: Because the rebuilding effort is financed from oil revenues, shutting down the system for desperately needed repairs cuts back on the money available for further repairs."
oh oh
Free at last, free at last, thank god I'm.... poor at last????
See, the good news was that President Bush was really tight in the oil business. The bad news: he (personally) utterly failed at it. His friends, of course, did not.

Brain Research Raises Boggling Issues

"Terry Harrington had served more than two decades for the 1978 murder of a Council Bluffs night watchman when the court reversed the conviction. Something called 'brain fingerprinting' convinced the court that the 'records' in Harrington's brain did not match the scene of the crime or the details of the case."
Ummm, this is something that one would like to know a little more about... it could go either way, no?