Remain Calm

2009-04-04T06:12:00.002-04:00

Moving

At least for the nonce, I'm going to pare it back to this blog. I'll probably move again later since "brilliant-blue" is a color but also sounds, yeah.

2009-03-25T20:06:00.000-04:00

Ultra-Serious Post, Watch Now!

2009-03-25T17:37:00.001-04:00

Lots of Republicans Want the Current Administration to Fail

Adullamites:

Wikipedia definition: "[I]t has come to mean someone who is plotting against the established leadership of a political party or other group, a group of such plotters being called a Cave of Adullam."

Cornford definition: "The Adullamites are dangerous, because they know what they want; and that is, all the money there is going. They inhabit a series of caves near Downing Street. The say to one another, 'If you will scratch my back, I will scratch yours; and if you won't, I will scratch your face.' It will be seen that these cave-dwellers are not refined, like classical men. That is why they succeed in getting all the money there is going."

2009-03-24T18:36:00.003-04:00

Parliamentary Government, Unasked For Advice

     The Czech Republic won't have a government till sometime this Summer, the Likud Party in Israel joined in a coalition with Labor (traditional rivals) in order to form a government, and Belgium lacked a government for more than three months just last year. What's going on?

     In modern Parliamentary democracies, the majority party doesn't get to become Prime Minister automatically, instead they need to form a coalition of parties that forms at least half the Parliament. This is daft, and "not having a government for months on end" is just one of the problems.

     The vote of "no confidence" is how these types of governments usually end. It is a way of saying "No" to the current leadership without saying "yes" to any new leadership. A better way exists. Instead of "no confidence" votes, the Parliament should hold a new election for the PM job. Now, of course, you might ask "But if every party votes for their own leader, and no party has more than half the seats, don't you have the same problem?" Not if you use NOT BRAINDEAD STUPID voting systems like we have here in the "Greatest Country On Earth".

     Real voting is Cloneproof, Monotonic, and Condorcet, although the absolutely best voting system I haven't had time to prove, I have presented other people's work which shows that Schulze and Tideman are really good.

     Come to think of it, in a body as small as the Israeli Parliament (in any body small enough that the members know each other and will have to continue to work together) the Borda system can be even better, and maybe even the Borda-variant known as "Range Voting."

     Either way you get continuity of operations in the Parliament.

2009-03-24T16:24:00.001-04:00

WTF, Obama

Obama's first appointment to the Federal Bench has an UNQUALIFIED rating from the ABA? Thanks, Obama. Way to set the bar low.

2009-03-24T13:07:00.001-04:00

One of my Favorite Speeches of All Time

American Interests in the Cuban Revolution, Stephen Grover Cleveland's State of the Union for 1896.

2009-03-21T11:30:00.002-04:00

Cuba and Israel: Get Them To Fight?

     El Salvador and Costa Rica have ended their economic embargo/sanctions against Cuba. That means America is the only country left on Earth to have such a position.

     In the United Nations, only one country on Earth stands up for Israel, and that is America.

     For over a century Cubans in America have been agitating for America to take an active interest in that country (see Grover Cleveland's 1896(?) State of the Union address for an example). This interest, at all times, comes with a cost. Much the same can be said for Israelis in America, except the timeframe is only half as long.

     Cubans and Israelis are fighting over scarce resources. If we get them to fight it out, they can become each other's worst enemies, saving rational people the effort of having to point out how stupid America is being in both instances.

     Cubans Against Israel is a real group that I just made up that thinks U.S. Foreign Policy towards Israel is shameful, and Israelis Against the Cuban Embargo is another radical fringe element (which I just made up) who thinks economic sanctions against the Castro regime are getting America nowhere, and so the effort shouldn't be wasted.

2009-03-17T17:40:00.003-04:00

My post on Credit Default Swaps (the stuff that continues to sink AIG)

From April of 2008...

Are any of you homeowners?
Even if you aren't, you all know about fire insurance.
If your house burns down,
and you didn't do it,
a fire insurance policy is worth money.

What jumps to your mind
when you hear
about someone selling their fire insurance policy?
Only one things jumps to my mind,
maybe I've just listened to too many 1940s and 50s radio dramas,
insurance fraud.

That's exactly what the credit default swap market is all about,
a stock market for insurance policies.
It's a little more sophisticated,
as if you could divide up your fire insurance policy
and sell little bits to different people.
But what's more amazing than that,
this has to take the cake,
you can sell as many copies of your fire insurance policy as you want!

Instead of being about a house burning down,
it's about the value of a bond going down,
something the banks call a "credit event,"
like a rating agency downgrade,
or outright default.

The banks who sell these policies,
like I said,
can sell as many copies as they want.

I don't think it takes a supra-genius
to figure out what will happen
if everyone in town
stands to profit
if your house burns down.

Extra Fact: 13% of all the people buying this excess "insurance" are unknown, their names are simply unreported.

2009-03-09T19:10:00.004-04:00

New Wars, New Lies

Just how immoral is CNN? Kitty Pilgrim just did a segment for the Lou Dobbs show on Obama not answering "threats" to America.

The first issue was Iran. The simple fact is that there are enough processed uranium molecules in Iran to build a nuclear bomb. Let's put aside that America is violating its NNPT obligations. The simple facts that Dobbs/Pilgrim avoid, showing their lack of morals, are

All the uranium is under IAEA watch, none of uranium Mullen was talking about is a secret to the IAEA.
All the uranium in question is enriched below the 5% level. It takes more than 95% enriched uranium to use in a bomb, and there is not ONE IOTA of evidence that Iran has ONE ATOM of uranium enriched to that level. Nor could they enrich it to 95% without the IAEA knowing about it, or throwing the IAEA out.

Are Lou Dobbs and Kitty Pilgrim enemies of humankind? This is patently clear. The other two stories include the US warship searching for Chinese subs in being "harassed." The military claims the Chinese were boating recklessly, "forcing" the US Navy ship to maneuver to avoid collision. What exactly happened? If the military doesn't have satellite footage of the incident, they aren't doing their jobs. Until then, PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Pilgrim/Dobbs had the word "AGGRESSIVE" in huge letters plastered across the screen. What's a dumb person to think? The third of three was about a North Korean missile test and a provocative statement made by the North Koreans. Holy Crap! Read the North Korean newswire (www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm) for a while, folks, they never STOP saying batshit crazy stuff. I dare you. Go to any random day in their news archive, and there will be a story about uniting to defeat America and reuniting Korea.

Remember, the whole point of this piece was to claim that Obama was being a weakling, and to bully the American government into getting more aggressive.

2009-03-05T20:22:00.001-05:00

QUIZ TIME

This blog will close unless I get any answer.

What do David Mamet and Bob Dylan have in common?

2009-03-03T18:16:00.002-05:00

Concerning the Assassination of President Veiera of Guinea-Bissau

     The way I remember it, I was happy reading about the coup against him in 1998.

     I was especially pleased with the way the Chief of the Army, who ran the coup, set up elections within a year, maybe within 9 months.

     I was especially sad to read how, back then, forces aligned with the newly elected President killed the General in his home.

     The last line of the AP story is like magic for me, the CPSC being the only group that talked sense after the '98 coup.

Portugal said it would call an emergency meeting of the Community of Portuguese- Speaking Countries, an eight-member organization based in Lisbon.

Guinea-Bissau is Lusophone.

2009-03-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Winning Hearts and Minds

This fucker should be yanked from Iraq: fuck you, fucker. He should be called out. He should get what he threatens the Iraqi police with.

2009-02-22T10:20:00.003-05:00

I Promise To Turn the Moon Green by 2423!

Obama has promised to cut the deficit in half by 2013. Bush used to pull this kind of nonsense all the time. Every year it seemed he'd promise he'd cut his record-setting deficits in half... if we only gave him five years. What's so special about 2013? By then Obama will be past the 2012 election, and so whether or not he's fulfilled his promise, whether or not anyone remembers he ever made the promise, is entirely irrelevant.

I wish the media wouldn't bother reporting such fluff.

2009-02-17T20:38:00.001-05:00

Bleg

Seems like
Thursday night
Unless I hide in the corner
Some people might learn about my LanguageAndPeace.com website.

Would you mind looking at it and sending suggestions other than "Hey, there's no graphic design at all, you could sure use that!"
Merci beaucoup

2009-02-15T16:45:00.003-05:00

Colors/Graphics

The first graphic is very physics-nerdy... all the energy there is, the next is political, showing an overlay of Imperial Germany on modern Poland, the next is about religiosity in America (by State) as compared to other countries entitled "What Alabamanians and Iranians Have in Common" and the last is an article about red and blue.

2009-02-14T18:29:00.004-05:00

VICTORY IS MINE!

     So, for a thousand years, with some pretty stunning reversals, the Turko-Hunno-Mongol steppe-people (Turkey, the Soviet Stans, Mongolia) and the Persians fought it out.

     Yes, for about four hundred years, it seems as though the Mongols had the utmost power, after all, didn't the Chingis-Khanites reach past Iraq, wasn't Tamerlane ruling Persia, his capital their capital?

     Certainly the Timurids (after Tamerlane) ruled Persia, but only after making Persian their language. The same was true with the Mongols in China, who ruled, but could not impose the Mongolian language, or even rule with it, but spoke Chinese (a little more research required on that one, I'm sure of the rest).

     Say, about 1600, we want to say the major waves of war in this area came to an end. Where was the final, sustainable boundary? Here is Grousset describing it: "At the moment the empires were crystallizing, Persia was destined to remain to the Persians, as was ethnically fitting, and Turkestan to the Turks." (Grousset, 2005 9th printing, Rutgers U. Press, p. 468). By "Turkestan" here Grousset is refering to the countries which are now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kirghiz and Kazakhstans.

     The large scale brutality of the millenia of Turco-Hunno-Mongol wars seems to pretty much outdo any other in the history of the world. Memorably, Tamerlane was quite fond of huge pyramids of skulls, sometimes tens of thousands of heads from a city he had just taken. But when the pushing and shoving came to an end, the line in the sand was the one demarcated by language.

2009-02-13T20:02:00.003-05:00

Why Montesquieu?

In 1760 a youthful John Adams noted in his diary that he had begin to read The Spirit of Laws and planned to compile comprehensive marginal notes to insure his proper attention to the work. Roughly a decade and a half later, Thomas Jefferson, who was to suceed Adams to the Presidency, devoted no less than twenty-eight pages of his Commonplace Book to extracts from this same work, and in 1792, in an essay on "Spirit of Governments," James Madison compared Montesquieu's role in the science of government to that of Francis Bacon in natural philosophy. According to Madison, Montesquieu "had lifted the veil from the venerable errors which enslaved opinion and pointed the way to those luminous truths of which he had but a glimpse himself." --quote without permission from the Preface to 1977 University of California Press edition of the Spirit of Laws (DO NOT BUY! Horribly Abridged!)

As I mentioned earlier, George Washington studied Montesquieu and Blackstone for the Second Constitutional Convention. In addition, I've read John Jay and Alexander Hamilton also regarded the work quite highly.

So, when people who know too little point to the conservative John Locke (a lot of whose work was involved in the admirable task of refuting the Divine Right of Kings(1st Treatise on Government) and then setting up monarchical governments (Carolinian Constitutions)) point to Montesquieu.

It is the best way to shove the facts up the ass of the so-called originalists who fob off de Tocqueville and Locke and rose-colored glasses history on us until their eyes bleed.

2009-02-13T19:24:00.002-05:00

If one should see George Walker Bush

     One is encourage to say, in a loud voice so he can overhear, "Hey, it's President Shit-for-Brains, who single handedly did more damage to America than anyone in the history of the world."

     One is also encouraged to title him as such in print, for example, "During the era of President Shit-for-Brains..." or "George Walker Bush, who single-handedly did more damage to America than anyone else in the history of the world."

     Compliance in these matters is mandatory and appreciated.

2009-02-12T07:29:00.003-05:00

Language & Peace: Post-Conflict Courts

     Ellen Emilie Stensrud of Norway writes in the latest issue of the Journal of Conflict Research (Vol 46(1), Jan 2009) on the Cambodian and Sierra Leonean Special Courts set up under the auspices of the United Nations to try people for the Pol Pot era and Civil War years, respectively. The general conclusion of the article is that the Sierra Leonean trials were not doing much for the local judiciary, because most of the court were foreigners, while in Cambodia, most of the Judges were locals, and beholden to the new Government of Cambodia (which contains some people who were, at some points, members of the Khmer Rouge) and thus illegitimate.

     In private communication, Ms. Stensrud tells me that the Courts have been greatly hampered in Cambodia because all court proceedings are published in English, French and Khmer, a large cost and cause of delay, as qualified translators are rare. Although Sierra Leone courts are mostly in English, there are many witnesses who do not speak English.

     Thanks to the Journal of Conflict Research and Ms. Stensrud!

2009-02-10T15:06:00.002-05:00

LOL at the Ancients

     Do Reason and Logic lead to Atheism, Immorality and Anarchy? Well, undoubtedly the enlightment DID threaten the double frauds of Monarch and Church, and hence there were reasons(for some) to reject Reason and the Enlightenment.

     But there is a Science and Reason of Morality and Ethics, and it was simply because the Scientists of yore didn't want to step on the toes of religion and the rulers that they avoided studying it.

     It would be funnier if it weren't also a bit sad (considering those who have died and been suppressed by the Kings and Relidgiots for not rigidly adhering to the cockamamie theories of the long dead.

2009-02-09T17:47:00.002-05:00

Steve Forbes, Deceiving Fucking Idiot

     THROW THIS ASSHAT OFF THE BUS!

     Steve Forbes said that America suffers from high business taxes. Idiot actually says that American corporations face the "second highest corporate taxes in the industrialized world WHAT A DECEPTIVE BUNCH OF BULLCRAP, WHY DON'T INTERVIEWERS CALL THIS TARD ON IT?

     While technically accurate, this means nothing at all, because the EFFECTIVE CORPORATE TAX RATE IN AMERICA IS SECOND LOWEST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD. Not the top line number that people are supposed to pay, but the actual amount the corporations pay is lower than most anywhere, and FUCKWIT, TOTALLY INSANE STEVE FORBES, rich-guy, thinks they should be lower (fair) and tries to deceive you to get you to believe it, too (EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!).

2009-02-08T19:11:00.003-05:00

Fuck Buckley V Valeo

If money is speech, how come lawyers can't submit, in lieu of a closing argument, checks for 10s of thousands of dollars to the Jurors and a cool million for the Judge?

BECAUSE MONEY ISN'T SPEECH!

2009-02-05T18:38:00.003-05:00

Wow, those Tamil Tigers (LTTE) are HUGE!

     I mean, the Sri Lankan Defense Department says 700 Tamil Tigers are holding 100,000+ Tamils and using them as human shields. I guess each Tiger is just stapling 1000 Tamils to himself.

     Lots of foreign governments are saying 'Hey, Sri Lanka, ease up a bit, you are killing lots of innocent people' (they also said this many times about the U.S. in Iraq?) but Sri Lanka is like 'No way, Jos&eacut;, we aren't stopping till we have Papa tried and hung.' Papa, to the Tamil, is Velupillai Prabhakaran, the rebel leader for many years.

     I have to admit, with the relative success of the campaign (99%(?!?) of rebel held territory captured, according to the article) I'd be disinclined to stop, myself. After all, that's a Sinhala country now, and the Tamil can just learn to live with being a permanent minority, or get killed if they aren't so inclined. Sounds peachy, no?

BULLSHIT ALERT: Stories are saying the LTTE is reduced to 300 sq. km, and this story says they Sri Lankans have captured 99% of rebel territory, which, roughly, means the rebels had 30,000 sq. km, but Sri Lanka is only 65,525 sq. km, but the LTTE never held even nearly half of the land of Sri Lanka.

2009-02-04T18:17:00.003-05:00

Jim DeMint (R-SC)

This guy just said that his substitute economic stimulus bill is important because it "stops the planned tax increases in 2011."

WHO PLANNED THOSE TAX INCREASES, A**HAT? IT WAS THE REPUBLICANS, YOU FLAMING TURD!

2009-02-04T18:14:00.002-05:00

Mary Fallin (OK-5)

May this deceiving Congresscritter be defeated in 2010.

2009-02-04T17:52:00.002-05:00

GO GO GADGET GARBERVILLE!

I spent a summer in Garberville (Mene Mene Thx, Michael), and then another year and a half or so in Arcata (also in Humboldt County, California).

2009-02-04T16:46:00.001-05:00

Reality Sets In

     I have known since college that, in many ways, America is a brutal power, mostly overseas.

     I started paying attention to day-to-day political matters in November 2000, quite flummoxed when I learned that Gore had not won.

     Now we have a Democratic administration, and some of the haughtiness I hated from the Bush administration is coming from the Obama administration.

     Are we at a "real risk" of deflation, as Lawrence Summers said? Is deflation so bad? It is bad for non-rich people, which especially includes people in debt (most Americans). Deflation means prices fall. Are prices too high? Lawrence Summers apparently doesn't think so.

     But let's assume that Summers goal is just and noble and good, and that a deflation risk is A Bad Thing. Listen to this presumptious ninny: "I’ve got great confidence that in our country we do the right thing. So I expect a bill to be signed into law.”

     I expect a bill signed into law? Has this guy been mainlining ex-President Hubris? How about, instead of the previous way, he had said:

     "The Treasury Department of the United States believes that the most important legislation the Congress could pass to ensure the economic vitality of the United States is the fiscal stimulus package."

2009-02-04T16:40:00.003-05:00

Rep. Collin Peterson (MN-7) Pretty Good Idea

     Credit Defaults Swaps are insurance for bonds. Rep. Peterson wants to limit ownership of said insurance to people who actually own the bonds. This is the right direction.

     Of course, if you wanted to buy some CDSs for 10 million dollars, you wouldn't mind buying one bond in with the mix. In fact, the total value insured by the CDSs should not be allowed to exceed the values of the bonds, and the total amount of insurance held by anyone should not be allowed to exceed the value of their bond-holdings.

     In New York State we already have a law, says the husband of a Tax Attorney I know, that prevents anyone from buying insurance on something they don't have a material interest in. This, in small part, prevents people from buying life insurance policies on people they don't know (and, since the profit motive exists, trying to get said people killed).

2009-02-02T20:59:00.002-05:00

     The Somalis have elected a new President, the guy who lead the Islamic Courts Union government. Ethiopia, with US backing, did their best to kill him and his forces and drive them out. Maybe the U.S. won't do that again. The ICU is not entirely compatible with custom Somali laws, which don't, for example, include cutting off of hands. However, they are anti-pirate, and I understand that when the ICU was in power before, things were somewhat more stable (lack of stability is the status quo in Somalia since 1991, the last time the country was unified under one government.)

     2054 is the 1000th anniversary of the official Catholic-Orthodox split in Christianity. It was a language issue, in any event not a debate about whether the Holy Spirit comes from the father, or the father and the son. The Russians have a new Patriarch today, and he has no plans to heal the rift.

     Gaddafi has been elected Chair of the African Union, a body which has been making some really bone-headed moves in the last year (e.g. initial reactions to Guinean and Mauritanian coups). His idea? To create a United States of Africa. Another, imho, bone-headed move. I'm much more inclined to have a United States of Arabia (Morocco to Syria to Saudi Arabia) and a state over all Bantu African states. However, since governments usually trump people, it might make even _more_ sense to have two great blocks, of Francophone and Anglophone Africa. That would be a bummer, but, there isn't a Standart Bantu language.

     Shoe hurled at Prime Minister of China during speech. Do any shoes come with pie attachments?

2009-02-02T20:57:00.001-05:00

Michael Phelps pictured Hitting Bong!

This is a travesty! Michael, what are you doing? You are an athlete, and your body, including your lungs is your primary asset.

Don't you know you should be using a vaporizer?

2009-02-01T12:07:00.004-05:00

Furthering My Thoughts on Health Care in a Republic

     Democrats tend to be for federal government health care, I am not. I am not because I have a step-brother (Hi!) who likes Motocross. I'm sure I'd like flying through the air on a motorbike, but he's broken 11 bones doing this, including a couple that kept him in the hospital for weeks. Why should you or I pay for those hospital visits? If everyone was covered, wouldn't they take even more risks?

     Republicans tend to be against illegal immigrants, I am not for limiting federal health care to citizens, and, where it should exist (rather, where I think it should exist) it should be extended to illegal immigrants.

     If an illegal immigrant works at a restaurant you visit, and happens to have Typhus, Ebola or any other communicable disease, you would rather have them go to the doctor and get fixed up rather than infect you. The insight that came to me a few minutes ago is that the home government should pick up a share of the cost, and vice versa. What about sexually transmitted diseases, which are communicable? I believe we all hope an illegal immigrant who falls in love with our daughter (and vice-versa) would not be afraid of seeing a doctor to have themselves treated, or at least made aware of, sexually transmitted diseases they might have.

2009-01-30T18:29:00.004-05:00

Am I Even Supposed to Believe This?

    The Sri Lankan government, having surrounded a 120 sq. mi. region in the northeast of that country, has had its President say that the LTTE, the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam, should *not* prevent the 250,000 civilians from fleeing the area.

     Just days earlier this SAME Sri Lankan government claimed there were only 1,000 LTTE fighters left.

     I think we all know that each LTTE fighter is not in charge of guarding 250 Sri Lankans and preventing them from leaving the region.

     Of course not. The Sri Lankan government is Covering Its Globally Visible A** by saying this, so it can later say "We wouldn't have killed all those civilians if it the LTTE hadn't prevented them from leaving."

     What's even worse, in my humble opinion, than the words of the Sri Lankan President is that the NY Times-owned International Herald Tribune runs this AP story with the headline that re-inforces the governments claims. Are the AP and NY Times secretly in the thralls of the power of Sri Lanka? No, it is simply that they are against anyone, including the American Revolutionaries (see: Boston Tea Party, where uniforms were not worn), who would use violence to achieve a political end regardless of the merit of that end.

     In addition, the Sri Lankan military, PERFECT IN ITS ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH LTTE FROM TAMIL CIVILIANS, has decided not to declare any sort of ceasefire while encouraging the Tamil-speaking community to charge them and attempt to push through their battle lines (i.e. leave).

2009-01-29T18:46:00.002-05:00

Obama's Huge Blind Spot: Iran

     While I am not unpleased with what's going on with the Obama administration in the Levant, I am constantly displeased with Obama's fact-free rhetoric concerning Iran's nuclear ambitions (ambitions which, when the Shah ruled Iran, America promoted).

     There is no evidence of any current nuclear weapons program, and, in fact, the Iraq war haters (of which I count myself) have to deal with the NIE that says Iran stopped what little they had that qualified as a nuclear weapons program in 2003 as a result of the Iraq War.

     So, predictably, this is bad news

     "While Obama is taking the lead on policy towards Iran, the administration will soon announce that Dennis Ross will become a special envoy to the country[.]"

     Putting Dennis Ross in charge of Iran policy feels like declaring war on Iran. Let's all hope Dennis Ross suffers a career-ending (and severly painful) case of hemorrhoids, and let's hope Obama wakes up on Iran before we get in another war.

2009-01-29T05:18:00.003-05:00

The Bush Legacy and "His Fraudulency"

     I suppose one of the best ways to look at the Bush administration is Southern vengeance over what the Northerners did in 1876. The night of the election, Rutherford B. Hayes, soon to be known as "His Fraudulency," went to sleep thinking he'd lost. The Chair of the DNC was poring over the numbers, and realized Hayes was down by only one electoral vote. At this time there were still three Reconstruction governments in the South. (Northern) Federal Troops, numbering in the thousands, controlled a few square blocks around the capitols of South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana and kept a Northern-installed government in power. The Chair of the DNC called these occupation Governors and told them to prevent their States from being called, and then worked to disenfranchise as many Southern-sympathetic voters as they could. The tactic worked, and eventually all three Reconstruction States were counted for Hayes, although, it should be noted, this process took nearly four months.

     Not that Illinois Democrats were blameless! The only atheist ever appointed to the Supreme Court, Davis, had been selected as the "non-partisan" member of the Electoral Commission to decide what to do. The Illinois State Congress appointed Davis, a Republican appointee to the Court, as Democratic Senator from Illinois to curry favor for their side. Instead, Davis used this as an opportunity to recuse himself from the "non-partisan" slot, which was later filled by a Republican. The votes, the votes by the Commission on whether the three states would go to the North or the South split along party lines in all three cases.

     There has not been, nor likely should there be, an "Electoral Commission" again.

2009-01-28T13:45:00.004-05:00

Backsliding

     So, Rwanda arrests Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi wreaking havoc among the Congolese Hutus and anyone foolish enough to be standing near them, but days later the Tutsi militia operating in Congo, a group that broke away from the Congolese Army, announce their re-integration into the military will take some time yet. These are the forces who, for some years, alongside the Rwanda Tutsi militias, have been roaming the Congo hunting the 1994 genocidaires and anyone who tries to stop their murderous rampage. This has been the deadliest conflict of the last decade, and one which America (Bush and Clinton) have made worse.

     What I was thinking was that Obama stepped into the President a bit more Africa-Aware than the average bear, contacted Kagame (through an intermediary) and told them to pull back, but that forces (the relatively independent-of-Kagame ex-Congolese Army Tutsis) are still on the warpath. Please don't get me wrong, they didn't *actually* say "And we won't stop till every Hutu this side of the border is dead" but it is certainly clear that they don't want to take anyone's orders, and they live by the gun, so it is hard to imagine anything _but_ further pillaging/expropriation-of-natural-resources-by-force.

     COULD SOMEONE ASK WHERE THESE TRAINED KILLERS ARE ACQUIRING THEIR BREAKFASTS, LUNCHES, DINNERS AND DESSERTS?

2009-01-27T16:14:00.002-05:00

Jeb [...] wins the Presidency in 2016, easily defeating Caroline Kennedy and her "My father was shot in office--what else do you want?" campaign

Some funny stuff here.

2009-01-26T22:12:00.003-05:00

The Secret Truth About Sarah Palin, the Second Coming

Palin actually means "again," so that Palingenesis would be to be born again, a clear reference to the arrival of Jesus Christ again.

I hope Governor Palin goes ahead and writes a children's book entitled "How Godless, Criminal Democrats Stopped Me From Being Mommy to All America."

2009-01-26T22:10:00.004-05:00

Sanity Makes Me A Bit Teary-Eyed

I watched President Obama speak about Energy today. I know, I know, all the Conservatives are saying this recent economic downtown is really the result of Bill Clinton's economic policies, and if it wasn't for the Bush tax cuts of 2001, 2002 and 2003 (widely trumpeted as being good for the economy) this would be worse than the Great Depression. Personally, however, I am glad that we have a sane President.

2009-01-25T11:19:00.001-05:00

I never got to post this...

Bush Buddy Busted

Narco-Nabob, Not to be Named, Nipped Napping

Coke Connection for Connected Kids Collared

President Dude Ranch's School Daze Dealer Dropped

2009-01-25T09:35:00.004-05:00

I Have Never Had A Credit Card

This is a graph, copied from Megan McCardle at the Atlantic, who copied it from someone else, of the ratio of Debt to GDP. If I had to guess at the circa 1980 action which led to the current explosion, it would be Fed Chairman Volcker's decision to radically(?) change the main tool by which the Fed attempts to manipulate the economy. Previously, the government would print more, or less, money, in order to to grease or slow the wheels of industry. Since then, effectively, money supply has remained fixed, while the Fed has adjusted interest rates (the cost of debt) to achieve the same ends.

One (unintended?) consequence of this is that bond(debt) trading went from the sleepy backwater of "5%" to a market where millions could be made or lost quickly. Some of my understanding of this issue comes from the very readable "Liar's Poker," by Michael Lewis, which, although a bit naive at times, is a firsthand account.

2009-01-25T05:41:00.004-05:00

Department of Fatherland Security, Joe Lieberman and Janet Napolitano?

     As punishment for endorsing John "I picked Palin, but can't remember whether al-Qaeda is a Sunni or Shia group" McCain, Joe Lieberman gets to Chair the Senate's Fatherland Security Department Committee. Obama nominated Janet Napolitano to succeed Tom "Plausible" Ridge and Michael "I hunt Whitewater criminals!" Chertoff as Secretary.

     Chertoff was an abomination. No sane Senate should have confirmed the highly partisan Chertoff, unless they though Osama was doing questionable land deals through political connections in Arkansas. May Chertoff's name be ever associated with the Bush administration, and may the Obama administration's success be even greater, so that an appropriate amount of soil and shame falls on the 2001-2008 years.

     But does someone think Janet Napolitano is a security expert? She did work on part of the Oklahoma City Bombing case, but her first big political law case was Anita Hill. She should be appointed to the cabinet, as a successful politician from Arizona who is term-limited from running in 2010, but Fatherland Security? How about Interior?

2009-01-24T09:53:00.002-05:00

I have been sorely remiss, the LTTE

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam. The world's most prolific suicide bombers (Hindus killing Buddhists). This, like so much conflict today, has some roots in Colonialism. The British wanted to weaken the Sinhala-speaking, Buddhist (~75%) majority, so they gave all the powerful positions to the Tamil minority, who were a tad bit more sophisticated before the Brits arrived. After the Brits left, and Democracy was adopted, things went ever downward for the Tamil. The Sinhala bastards even tried to effectively outlaw their language, which led to mass riots.

Now the Sri Lankan government, dominated by the Sinhala, is on a tear, blowing up women and children and men and militants, asserting that they might be on the verge of destroying a terrorist group by force for the first time in history. Could someone talk to them? They are making sure the media is not allowed to witness their actions, atrocity or liberation, but, per usual, if it were just liberation, what would they have to hide?

2009-01-24T09:32:00.005-05:00

The News is Abominable: UPDATE 1

     UPDATE 1: Add third paragraph
     I watched some Fox and CNN last night. Even NY1 news was pretty bad. NY1 ran a segment on Gillibrand, who, instead of the entirely and wholly unqualified Caroline Kennedy, will be appointed Senator for New York by the Governor. Instead of teaching us anything but a sentence about Gillibrand, NY1 took time out of New Yorker's lives to ask them if they knew anything. Naturally, like myself, they didn't. One person said she was very smart and knew her stuff. I know some people don't think that matters, but for me, this is essential! If she is smart, and knows her stuff, THREE CHEERS FOR GOVERNOR PATTERSON.

     Except, of course, that he felt constrained to pick someone based on which reproductive organs they were born with.

     NY1 calls Gillibrand a "conservative" Democrat. She is, according to VoteView, a centrist, the most centrist of all NY Congresscritters, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, and to the right of all but about 20 House Democrats.

2009-01-20T23:32:00.004-05:00

The International Fugitive Gazan Law

     Whereas it is unlawful for any Gazan to leave the Gaza Strip, and

     Whereas it is possible, even likely, that some perfidious Gazans have escaped,

     Be It Therefore Resolved that any Federal Officer, of any of the Nations of Earth, who does not arrest and return a Fugitive Gazan shall be fined $1,000, and that the testimony of a single Israeli shall be proof that someone is Gazan and needs to be returned,

     Furthermore, Officers that do return Gazans to their just bombing shall be rewarded.

The 1850 Fugitive Slave Law in America fined federal officers $1,000, and were obliged to arrest and return any person to the South, to slavery, on the affadavit of a single slaveholder.

2009-01-16T16:47:00.001-05:00

Economic Wisdom You Can Trust

The Bush Boom.

Lawrence Kudlow needs another television show, after writing the foreword to this book.

2009-01-09T20:00:00.001-05:00

Bad Cop, NO DONUT!

     Why is it when cops take time out of my life to hassle me, they always call me a gentleman? Do these idiots get training to do so? Is it just a coincidence?

     Today, within five minutes of 3:3Opm, at 78th and 3rd avenue, a cop van, in the intersection, decided to turn on his siren to get a moving truck, a couple cars east of the intersection, to get out of its way. Then the cop raised his hand as if to say "What the F?" and I raised my hand back at him (after all, I moved in, myself, less than a month ago) and the cop asks me, in a manner I am 100% positive he considered intimidating "Do you have a problem?"

     Our conversation went on for a couple minutes, proof, if anything, that his blaring of his siren had nothing to, whatsoever, with any police emergency. After that, he dropped off a woman, likely a date, out of the truck. Who watches the watchers?

2009-01-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

Bush Trying to Usher In Rapture

Legacy to include unqualified support for one more war, this time in the Holy Land.

which really sucks, because I have just moved into this apartment and am cleaning it up sweetly.

2009-01-03T12:48:00.001-05:00

What do Military Planners Call This?

     The Israelis, who control most of the borders around Gaza, are not letting any Palestinians leave during the aerial bombing and artillery shelling.

     Is there a word for this? America did something similar in Fallujah in 2004, although America let women and children leave before the seige that cut off water and electricity.

     Is it called a Turkey Shoot? Shooting Fish in a Barrel? Inscribe and Conquer? I have to say, it doesn't seem very sportsmanlike.

2009-01-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

What do Military Planners Call This?

2008-12-27T09:55:00.003-05:00

The Timing Of These Israeli Strikes

     About 120 killed by Israel.

     We know, for a fact, that there is no pressing need for these strikes to occur now. The rocket attacks, while harmful, occur at roughly the same degree of lethality as they always have. Jay, earlier, commented that no one should have to accept such rocket attacks. Of course, if we played by those rules, there would be nearly endless wars on Earth. The Burmese and Thai would have to go to war. The Thai and the Malaysians would have to go to war. The Venezuelans and Colombians would have to go to war. The Indians and Pakistanis would have to go to war.

     The Israelis are using the annual media lull to get away with vengeance killing. 120 people dead? Does anyone think these airstrikes hit 120 rocketeers?

     My policy suggestion is to, for all intents and purposes, stop helping either side. We do send lots of money (100s of millions?) to the Abbas government, and billions (including military aide) to the Israelis. Cut them both off. Pronto.

     WHY DOES THE MUSLIM WORLD HATE US? It isn't because we are free, as Senator Schumer (D-NY) said on September 12th, 2001, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, it is because no matter what atrocity or treaty breaking the Israelis do, we keep sending them guns and money. U.S Foreign Policy is Dead! Love Live U.S. Foreign Policy!

2008-12-27T06:58:00.005-05:00

Global Capitalism and Guinea

     As a reminder, after the death of Lansana Conte, dictator/President for 24 years in Guinea, there was a bloodless coup by a mostly military group. Conte had come to power the same way 24 years ago.

     The Conte government took money from the international aluminum producers and made little to no effort on behalf of the Guinean people. The Camara gov't could be interested in making itself rich, and has sought power for that purpose... it could be interested in seeing benefits for its linguistic group (the Malinke)... it could be interested in helping everyone in Guinea except the Soussou (those who benefitted most from Conte's rule)... or it could be interested in serving all Guineans.

     The ironic part being that the global capitalist(best-price-seeking) mindset wants Capt. Camara to be a petty, selfish corrupt dictator bent on keeping the peace and being the only one who gets a slice of the pie.

2008-12-25T14:03:00.003-05:00

Christmas Attack Planned?

Those who follow the news might heave learned that Friday evening is the time to break "bad" news, because fewer people are paying attention. If you get to wait as long as you want, between the celebration of the birthday of dead Jesus and the end of the year in the calendar based on dead Jesus's birth is the time to bury a news story. This sort of thing is surprisingly common, no matter the location.

Certain people in the Gaza strip (total population > 1,000,000) fire small rockets into Israel. I think three people have died, and another dozen have been injured, in the 1000s of rocket attacks launched since Hamas took over Gaza. Israel is now threatening to invade Gaza, perhaps during this news lull, because of the (relatively) meaningless acts of a few. Of course the rocket attacks should not be ignored, but many, many suicide bombers have done more damage over the years. What's more important, and what the Isreaelis have always done is allow the actions of a few to justify retaliatory strikes against the many. For example, it has been alleged that a Corporal (G. Shalit) in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was kidnapped. Israel, in retaliation, bombed the electricity power generation facility that served 600 to 900 thousand people. I don't deny there is a strong possibility that the kidnappers were on that electric grid, but, we all know damn well that the other 599,995 to 899,995 people had nothing to do with it, but paid anyway. I've said for a long time that Israel is being very stupid in expecting the Palestinian governments preventing any single Palestinian attacking any Israeli. No offense, but if Israel can justify aerial bombardment with expectation of civilian casualties with any single attack, then certainly they are expecting the Palestinian government to control 100% of its citizens. I expect better of Israel.

2008-12-25T12:13:00.004-05:00

How Bad Is America? Pretty Bad This Time

     "One of the things we want to see immediately is a restoration of a civilian democratic rule," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

     "Civilian" "Democratic" rule? Conte was "civilian" in the sense that he was a member of the military. That alternative definition of "civilian" which includes "the military" will be sent to you in your new "Doublespeak Dictionary" arriving soon.

     "Democratic"? Conte took over in a coup. He was in power for almost 25 years, it isn't officially a one-party state, but his party has been in power the whole time. Back in 2004 he tried to force his man (the successor, by the Constitution) into the successor job, and Parliament wasn't really keen on the idea, so he made sure Parliament didn't meet until it agreed. That sounds more like the English Monarchy of the 1600s than "democracy." Again, your dictionary updates will be coming soon in the mail. Please also look for other new definitions:

     Profit: See, God

     Freedom: The wonderful power to do be allowed to do what you are told to do

2008-12-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

Better Than Any Newswire ...

... is Wikipedia's Coverage of the Coup Attempt in Guinea. Naturally, I am concerned that interested parties will attempt to manipulate this news, but, at least, it will be a bit clearer when it happens. As far as I was concerned, especially during the first couple days, their coverage of the South Ossetian crisis was also best.

2008-12-25T07:15:00.005-05:00

The Coup in Guinea

     I have read a little bit about the Mano River wars (a.k.a Charles Taylor wars) in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote D'Ivoire and Guinea, so I knew the name Conte and Conkary before Conte died two days ago, after having run the country since 1984 as dictator. He had taken over in a bloodless coup after the previous leader had died, nearly identical to the current situation. By the way, in the Mano River wars, Conte was generally against Robert Taylor, which is a plus. One of the big "problems" of these wars(was there a non-problem?) were everyone was rallying/paying militias to go over the border. People tend to be less brutal to their neighbors, while foreign contract killers have almost no incentive to be humane.

     Good and bad news in Guinea. The bad news is that every international organization has come out against the putchists. Guinea is in Francophone Africa, and France is particularly upset, AFP is using bogus ledes and headlines to paint the worst possible light (e.g. the new government has promised elections within two years, AFP actually wrote they had "ruled out" all elections for two years. AFP is making it up.).

     The language mix in the country is (table based on Ethnologue) is reported to be 40% Fulani, 30% Malinke, and 20% Soussou. Conte was Soussou and lots of the top people in the government he ran were, too. The putchists might well be a Malinke faction.

     Good news: No fighting so far (re-categorize under great news). Supposedly, most all Guineans are much happier with the idea of a non-corrupt military government than a continuation of the Conte legacy. They were planning a curfew, but the imposition of the curfew is being delayed till after Christmas. The former government was corrupt. Capt. Camara has pre-emptively accused the "loyalists" of getting ready to bring in foreign mercenaries. This suggests the idea behind his power is entirely Guinean. Camara has a way with words. Although only a Captain, he ran the logistics or supply division of the Army.

     Bad news: Camara's people already had a parade. As a practical minded-person, I can't see that there is any real utility in this, don't they have a government to set up? If I had to guess, the worst possibility is that this is going to turn into a "Malinke-turn-at-the-trough" after a quarter century of Soussou rule. I doubt neighbors will try to take advantage and move into Guinea, but certainly justifications like "in defense of the Constitutional order" are already winning wide approbation among the allegedly responsible parties. A dictator write a Constitution that says his hand-picked second-in-command should be put in charge if he dies is a meaningful document? I'm pretty sure that's all the Constitution amounts to in this case.

     If no one is dying now, how many Guineans would you be willing to sacrifice (i.e. kill, and since it is premeditated, therefore murder) in order to create a democracy that has "never" existed there?

     Oh, and if you are a Russian or South African, this is particularly bad news. Russia's Rusal and South African Anglo-Dutch Ashanti are probably among the biggest producers. They had deals cut with Conte, and now will have to renegotiate. English Rio Tinto, Australian BHP Billiton and American Alcoa are also present in Guinea, the world's biggest source of Bauxite, the raw material used for aluminum. Bloomberg is running a story principally based on the words of the EurAsia group, based in New York, which says the mining companies will face "constant extortionary pressure." Has there been any extortionary pressure? Did the mining companies used to pay off Conte, personally, so that little to no taxes or fees needed to be paid to the Guinean treasury? However, it should also be noted that most of the current event facts I have relied on have come from the Bloomberg Newswire.

2008-12-23T04:00:00.001-05:00

A Friend Says "He Madoff With Their Money"

     Madoff is under house arrest, allegedly not allowed to leave his multi-million dollar Manhattan apartment.

     What is a Ponzi scheme? Ponzi found that you could buy a type of postage stamp in Italy, sell them in America, and because of the exchange rates, you made money. This was entirely legal, a loophole in the system. In finance, this is called arbitrage, finding a gap between prices and exploiting it.

     Based on the amount of money people invested with him, Ponzi would have to transport millions of these stamps, but, regrettably for him, only 27,000 existed. So, he started paying off investors with the new money rushing, and quite a lot of it ended up in his pocket.

     How come Madoff still has a seven million dollar apartment? The idea behind not putting him behind bars, I've heard, is that he isn't a direct threat to anyone anymore. Are you sure of that? Are you sure he doesn't have an offshore company, which he is now free to manage? I think he'd be an absolute fool if he didn't have such a company. Can he manage it freely, of course not, but if he had much foresight, he could be managing it indirectly.

     I think we need to expect more, and punish more freely, the people who have more, and wield more power. The fine for jaywalking, for example, what sense does it make that a rich person pays the same $50 fine as a poor person? Since it means nothing to a rich person to pay such a fine, they are basically given a license to violate any law whose penalty is a fine. Speeding tickets? Who cares if you are rich!

2008-12-23T03:35:00.001-05:00

Is Every Senior Republican Senator A Hypocrite?

     I Hereby propose legislation for the 111th Congress, "The Hypocrite Awareness Act." Remember when all the Republicans were going to push something called the "nuclear option," which would have been a ruling by the Chair on a point of order that, on judicial nominations, no filibusters would be allowed. See, President Bush nominated lots of Judges to lifelong appointments on the Federal Court whose only "qualification" was ideological, sure to upset the Democratic ideological opposition. Character was not an issue, and many lacked it. Post-14th century views on the sexes or the races were, apparently, not uniformly required.

     Are these Republican Senators hypocrites? Were they lying when they said this was an important principle? How many of these same, exact Republicans would support the idea that they shouldn't ever filibuster an Obama judicial nominee?

     Truth be told, after starting to dig around, I thought there might be some merit to the arguments being made by the Republicans at that time. I wasn't convinced, but if the Republicans are willing to make it again, perhaps a little less pressured by time constraints (President-elect Obama, naturally, hasn't made any judicial appointments), and the issue might be resolved.

     Well, that, or the hypocrites might be exposed.

2008-12-21T12:10:00.003-05:00

Thanks, Washington Post

This paper does dirty work sometimes, but this is nice stuff:

2008-12-21T08:50:00.003-05:00

Caroline Schlossberg nee Kennedy

     Why was it a joke for Sarah Palin to run for President, but we should take Caroline Kennedy seriously as a potential Senator from New York?

     I already asked if anyone thinks George Walker Bush would have been considered for Governor of Texas, not to mention President, if his father hadn't been President.

2008-12-20T14:37:00.004-05:00

Civilization and Hats (really: hair)

     What gets in your hair? With so much surface area, hair picks up more particulate than any other part of your body, especially since, at least in the winter (if you are uncouth) most everything else is covered up.

     So, if you had to cover your hair, with a hat or hoodie, half the time, which half would it be? I always find drug stores to be quite smelly. I find health food stores to be quite smelly, but in an OK way. The air in NYC, least so on Monday mornings, very early, are always filled with dust of life (esp. industry, transportation and cooking). So, always when on the street. What about at work? I am thinking of old movies featuring newsrooms, where wearing hats indoors was the norm.

     Putting on your hat, you are saying the air could use improvement, taking it off, you are expressing satisfaction.

     By the way, I have always thought this concerning tying one's hair up, if it is long. Seeing people with long hair flowing on the subway (where the air seems foulest) makes me wonder... what do they smell when they get home? No, dears, wear it up in a bun, tie it in a pony tail, or, better yet, put it under a hat.

2008-12-20T12:47:00.004-05:00

Krugman On the Media

Krugman was saying that, in general, economics reporting has improved over the last decade, but he made one exception, here is a close paraphrase: that you can't be taken seriously on foreign policy unless you were wrong about Iraq, and you can't be taken seriously on the housing crisis unless you were wrong about the bubble. He was saying that the only people who get quoted who are "sell-side" in the housing industry.

Strangely, later he made a strange timeline mistake. Smoot-Hawley was passed in mid-1930, but Krugman said it was passed before the Great Depression started (1929). At least he said, following Ha Joon-Chang, that the numbers don't add up to pin any serious blame on Smoot-Hawley for worsening the depression. They do not add up at all.

2008-12-20T10:43:00.002-05:00

The Bailouts

Are the auto and finance industry bailouts a violation of America's World Trade Organization obligations? Would we actually pay the fine if found guilty? Don't expect any "journalist" to raise this question.

2008-12-20T10:31:00.003-05:00

Clan or "Ethnic" Based Polities (UPDATE 1)

UPDATE 1: Add Ferraro paragraph at end

     In many countries in Africa and the Middle East which have many linguistic or tribal groups, the government is often from one group. It is easy to imagine that qualified people outside the clan consider this unfair, unjust, possibly corrupt, or, at least, a bad recipe in the long run.

     Already in American politics, family often trumps quality. Let's face it, George Walker Bush was considered a real candidate not because he was a likable, upbeat idiot with a alcoholic, privileged asshole background, but because his father was President.

     Let's not hand the Senate Seat in New York to Caroline Kennedy. She is not an expert on our wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, she is not an expert in terrorism, she is not an expert in Russia (still the #2 nuclear missile power), China, India or trade issues, she is not an expert on the economy, she is not an expert on Health Care, she is not an expert on taxes, she is not an expert on the justice system.

     Instead of any qualifications, Caroline Kennedy has a very, very large rolodex. She has this because of the connections of her clan, the Kennedys.

     If she had even one of these expertises, I could consider supporting her. Instead I am embarassed for America and her increasingly clannish ways.

     It turns out Geraldine Ferraro wants Caroline Kennedy also not get the post, pointing out the same thing, and wrote to Governor Patterson should nominate one of the six, sitting female members of New York's Congressional delegation. Excuse me, Geraldine? You were abysmal during the Democratic primaries, and you are abysmal here. We should pick people solely on the basis of which reproductive organs they have? That is often a top priority for dating, but totally irrelevant in politics. Could we review the list of experiences (I forgot Global Climate Change! Another expertise Caroline Kennedy doesn't have) I presented?

2008-12-20T10:15:00.004-05:00

Bulls & Bears on Fox News

I have been out of touch with the idiot media recently. These numbnuts actually got me to yell at the TV! Is Obama bringing us to a command economy like the Soviet Union? The best way to understand the Soviet Union is a non-democratic government that, in addition to running National Defense, a National Pension, the Education System, the Health Care System... ALSO ran Ford, GM, Chrysler, Exxon/Mobil, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, ABC, NBC, CBS, et cetera, et cetera. The labels less unimportant.

Bulls & Bears had four or five guests talk about the issue with State Budgets. In this discussion, no one mentioned that States are, in most cases, bound to balance their budgets by their own laws. Four of the five simply hate government. The "defender" of taxes couldn't get the name of Gramm-Leach-Bliley out correctly, which makes me think he was being fed information.

2008-12-20T09:57:00.003-05:00

Piracy off the Somali Coast

By the way, there is a huge business beach-landing goods on the Somali coast and then moving it over the border into Kenya. This sidesteps their corrupt import bureau and tariffs.

Anyway, do you think Sharia law approves of piracy? America backed the Ethiopian military effort to destroy the last government in Somalia's capital Mogadishu a few years ago, called the Islamic Courts Union. You can be DAMN sure no one in America will receive the news from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN or FOX that piracy off the Horn of Africa is, in part, a consequence of American Foreign Policy.

2008-12-20T09:17:00.005-05:00

IDIOTS RUN THIS COUNTRY

Is there some great stain involved with being a journalist? Of course not. Then why are such dumb-asses getting the job?

I'm watching Fox & Friends this morning, and the idiocy has been non-stop. Not only have the stories (between multi-minute segments on a single mother-kills-daughter death) been dumb, the presentations have been idiotic. Little of it qualifies as "news." First they call Joe Biden saying the economy is tanking a "gaffe." What planet are they on? Biden also said the economy might need another 600-700 billion dollar plan, which the "hosts" talked about for a while, 2 of 3 saying that they heard it might be 1 trillion dollars, suggesting Biden never said anything wrong, and never committed a "gaffe," but they kept going on and on saying that he uses "colorful language" (doesn't that usually mean cursing?) and "hyperbole." As Bob Somerby says, but doesn't quite understand, they were repeating the script. Bob, they are idiots, they are lazy, if you tell them that Biden committes "gaffes" and then he says something they don't like, that must be the gaffe. It's certainly not a plot, it is a consequence of not being smart. Then they talked about Congressional pay raises. Rather than just say they hate the Democratic Congress, and Congress in general, they got some idiot from twitter to say it for them, and they read the person's comment on air. The person's comment was that Congress had done nothing at all, and so didn't deserve a raise. Nothing? One of the "hosts" said they should take the raise, and give it all to charity, because that would put it in the economy.

2008-12-20T09:05:00.003-05:00

Obama Has Many Choices

We can almost assume that not 100% of the people Bush appointed were idiots. There are thousands of political appointments, and he didn't know them all personally. Bush didn't get in any trouble at all, for anything he did as President, so I'd like to thank the shoe-thrower.

Here are some people who work for the government, or government started entities, and a review of them:

Thomas Stall	USAID Iraq Director	Worse than Worthless. Still saying "stay the course." Knee-jerk privatizer, people be damned
Raymond Gilpin	USIP Assoc VP (Econ)	Knee-jerk privatizer, somewhat forthright with bad news, not impressive, non-native English speaker
Paul Brinkley	Dep. UnderSec'y of Defense for Bus. Transformation	Not brilliant, still too pro-Business, but pragmatic. Keep
John Herbst	State Dept. Coord for Iraq Reconstru	worthless

2008-12-18T04:28:00.010-05:00

Things About My Father

This post is personal. Since I never write stuff like that, I thought I'd hide it, unless you push the button.

2008-12-13T19:55:00.003-05:00

Common Misconceptions

I don't think I held to any "common misconception" listed until I got to this one:

Lemmings do not engage in suicidal dives off cliffs when migrating. This misconception is due largely to the Disney film White Wilderness, which shot many of the migration scenes on a large turntable in a studio. Photographers later pushed the lemmings off a cliff using a broom.

Thanks to J.S. for the link.

2008-12-11T19:21:00.004-05:00

Perp Walk: 54 times

MSNBC running dog lackeys play Blackwater perp-walk 54 times in 15 minutes.

2008-12-08T16:13:00.004-05:00

Language & Conflict: A Report from Afghanistan

Many thanks to WIIIAI, for this link to a discussion of the language issue (Dari (vs Farsi) vs Pashto) in Afghanistan. Student conflicts have resulted in 100s of injuries. The Culture Minister is accused of being against all Iranian influence as foreign, and un-Afghan, but the same guy supports the use of English. One person says that people re using the language issue to divide Afghans, as part of a plot. If I have done that, I apologize. My main interest is justice, specifically administrative/legal justice, a requirement for good governance, which requires that the judge, jury, lawyers, witnesses, police and prison guards can all communicate reasonably effectively with the accused.

2008-12-07T10:34:00.004-05:00

Obama, Wasting His Time, America's Time

     Obama is going to have a press conference to announce the Secretary of Veteran's Affairs today. Is anyone going to try to convince me that putting him in front of a bunch of flags, telling us who is going to have a job, and giving us the rosies of his resume, is a useful use of time?

     Obama isn't President yet, but he's already wasting our time. The media, and people who tune into the media, for such events, are also to blame.

     This is one of the things I hated about the Bush administration, when a lot of the top officials in the entire country would be seated around a table with Bush, or standing in front of a bunch of flags, acting as stage props while Bush spoke, as if they were a bunch of trained seals. I know Bush believed in that kind of craziness, that the words sound more important if you can waste important people's time by making them stand behind you when you speak them, but I was hoping Obama was more intelligent than that.

2008-12-07T10:06:00.002-05:00

Good Economic News

For the last many, many months, pretty much all the economic news has been bad. Since there was little you could do about it, I've haven't really been making note of it. Well, there was some good news this week. The Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents the mortgage finance industry, reports on changes in the mortgage market. Last month the market firmed, by quite a bit. Of course, it is firming from a very low point, but we aren't talking about a little month-over-month firming, but the biggest jump in this statistic in the last decade.

That, and some of the jobs numbers, while really bad, weren't as bad as the month before, or as bad as "the surveys" expected. That's more of a "bad situation not getting bad at a worse rate" kind of good news, but, anyway.

2008-12-07T08:20:00.005-05:00

The Job of the Presidency

Was George Walker a front man for shadowy interests? When asked if Obama's election was a repudiation of him, he couldn't say yes, but he did say it was a "repudiation" of the Republican Party (it was a fairly close election, actually). Bush then explained

I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice to put him in as president. [emphasis mine]

These were not scripted answers, and Bush's understanding of the job of President appears to be revealed here, explaining what other people have decided.

2008-12-06T18:05:00.004-05:00

Obama's Birth Certificate

     Even though people are petitioning the Supreme Court to force Hawai'i to produce the document, the Obama campaign put this online months ago. Notice anything odd about it?

     I noticed something odd. The "race" field. Could someone explain to me how this is relevant? I suppose it could be used later to disprove that a person is who their birth certificate says they are ("Why, you're a white myn, but this here documents says you have two black parents!") but, gosh, lots of things we have now do that. Blood type is reasonable.&bbsp; Foot prints are often taken.

     Let's aim to erase "RACE" from public documents, like identity cards, just like we wouldn't (now) put your parents religion on your birth certificate, or put your religion on your identity card.

2008-12-05T18:31:00.003-05:00

I believe you, city dweller, shouldn't get anymore pets (dogs/cats/et cetera)

If your pet has the freedom to enter and leave your abode on its own whim, more power to it. Otherwise, if I get a say, I would prefer you not have any more pets.

2008-12-01T19:34:00.003-05:00

Yay!

I have added the RSS feed to the Daily Howler! It's available here. A year or more ago I got Dr. Imad Khadduri, formerly of Iraq's Nuclear program, to use a CSS stylesheet I gave him. Yay!

2008-11-28T23:44:00.006-05:00

Melbourne Shuffle: Pae and Sarah

Too hard, naturally. Skip ahead to about 1:02, 2:19, and then again to 3:40. Obviously you need to ignore the silly hat-spinning. Like "riverdance," these people don't really know what to do with their hands.

2008-11-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

Back The Attack (<-WWII era slogan) Georgian Admits Warmongeriness

Georgian Official Says Georgia Started War. He had been replaced as Ambassador to Moscow before these remarks.

2008-11-26T17:45:00.003-05:00

Me and the Government During the 110th, A Perspective

I have contacted the government three times in the last two years, although just now I can't recall the precise order. When it was announced the Bush administration would be seeking the death penalty for Gitmo prisoners, I called the Presidential Comment Line and told them the turning them into martyrs would be a bad idea. Later, during hearings on FISA, I spoke to a staffer of Senator Feingold's in person. I had printed out this for them, to help them understand what was going on. And then, more recently, I contacted the State Department after Secretary Rice spoke in support of the former government of Mauritania. The President was an Islamist who favored clerics who praise Osama bin-Laden. That's the guy America, the UN, the African Union, and most other international bodies supported. There had been a coup after he tried to fire the head of the Army, who led the coup and replaced him. He is not an Islamist, but relatively secular. The only people who supported him... the Arab Maghreb Union and the Arab League. Arabs and Muslims support the guy against al-Qaeda, America supports him. I tried to use the logic of my language and conflict theory to sway them.

2008-11-25T21:20:00.003-05:00

The Power of Brevity

Francis M. Cornford is impressing me more and more. He writes, in Thucidydes Mythistoricus: "The unknown author of the tract On the Athenian Constitution tells us in a few pages more about the Athenian Demos than we shall find in the whole of Thucydides". Here is a link to the two-three page On the Athenian Constitution.

2008-11-25T20:17:00.002-05:00

PUMA Po

The right wing idiots were all over themselves pushing the idea that millions of Hillary voters would actually lift the lever for McCain. Undoubtedly, some did. Was there a "puma" effect? Almost, yes, a little one, and it is visible here. In Arkansas and Louisiana, alone of the 50 states, did a lower percentage of people vote for Obama than Kerry. Arkansas is pretty natural. Louisiana is close by?

By the way, Your Idiot Press Corps never made a big deal that the Republican party was fractured in three: the religious, the hawks, and the economic conservatives/libertarians.

2008-11-23T07:56:00.005-05:00

Language And Conflict: New Categorization of Problem Types

     Noam Chomsky, to try to point out the error of my ways, pointed to the 1994 Rwandan genocide as an example of a deadly conflict within one language community. Of course I'd known about this event, and consider it only one among many major events in the last couple decades, but more recent e-mail conversations about Rwanda with Chomsky have led me to an insight I hadn't previously had.

     Some of the problems, and certainly the class Chomsky was thinking about, concern when groups speaking different languages share one country, or government, and fight over power, land or access to resources. I like to point to the examples of Switzerland and India as possible ways to handle this.

     A different set of problems emerge when you take one (large-enough) language community and divide it up with internationally recognized (sacrosanct) lines. Examples include, but are not limited to

Kinyarwanda-Rundi, although small, the part in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been particularly influential. I made that graphic specifically to show Chomsky what I was talking about, and it was key to helping me get to the understanding I am trying to relay in this post.
The Taleban, or, more exactly, the Pashtana tribesmen of the Hindu Kush and Koh-e-Sulaiman mountains (Pashtan is singular, Pashtun is the Indian corruption of the word).
The Sudan (Deby, President of Chad, comes from a tribe which is half in Sudanese Darfur.
The Kurds
The Somalis (still without a government, 17 years running).
Even Ossetia. Divided between Russia and Chechnya

Again, as if you needed any reminding, all of these borders were drawn up by Europeans, who, generally speaking, organized things for their own interests (if you look at the Pashtana map, it looks as if "divide and rule" was their interest).

Somali, Rwandan, Kurdish, Pashtana and Zaghawa speakers have all, definitely hosted rebel groups on one side of the border to attack and destabilize the government on the other. In fact, all of them are doing it today.

Peace out.

2008-11-22T20:21:00.004-05:00

COMPETITION!

Does anyone know any better writing on the internet than this Japan's Other Emperor? It's alien, historical, sad and true. Can I spoil it for you?

[Godaigo's heir] Hiromichi himself apparently remained grateful to the Allies even after the SCAP [Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Powers] brushoff. But generally, populist sentiments about the Occupation ran hot and cold. Hot when GHQ's [GHQ is another way to refer to SCAP] fiery New Deal lawyers promised them "a hand in the future" and lasting reforms; cold when SCAP went into business with the old guard. After Mao took over China and Korea heated up, SCAP was taken over by CIA types who didn't like people in movement period. They hurt the unions while boosting the war industries and the gangsters. They turned heavy-duty war criminals loose with big money in their pockets to help SCAP maintain "social harmony." "A-Class" [Japan classified its war criminals, A-class were the worst] rogues such as Kishi, Kodama and Sasagawa profited immensely by reviving the mobs and rescuing the "patriotic" societies. Kishi made prime minister; Kodama became one of Japan's three most powerful men; and Sasagawa Ryoichi, self-proclaimed "world's richest fascist," was several times seen jogging around Africa with Jimmy Carter and the Gandhi Peace Prize in his pocket. Older activists especially have a hard time feeling too pro-American about those days.

2008-11-22T17:48:00.003-05:00

Susan Rice

     Her name is popping up in relation, perhaps, to the post of the National Security Advisor under the Obama administration. I've read her name twice in the last month in relation to Africa. Is she any good? Not at all. Admittedly, in the first event I will relate, she was doing Bill Clinton's bidding.

     Twice in the last decade Kagame (Tutsi) of Rwanda and Museveni of Uganda have invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo because, principally, both Mobutu Sese Seko and then the Rwanda/Ugandan installed Joseph Kabila both "allowed" rebel Hutus, including 1994 genocidaires, to launch attacks into Rwanda. Rwanda and Uganda couldn't keep their act together, and one faction of anti-Kabila rebels became known as the RCD (you can call them "the Rally"). The Rally has few of their own aims (although, sure, they'd like to take over the Congo), they are a proxy military outfit of the Rwandans. When Susan Rice was Asst. Sec't of State for African Affairs, she met with the RCD leaders in Kigale, capital of Rwanda. This is about as big as endorsement of violent, raping, thuggish, thieving, mineral-smuggling rebels (who, admittedly, might also have some legitimate grievances) that can be imagined by one author.

     Later, under her own power, in December, 2001, Susan Rice declared that Osama bin-Laden had been arming and training the Somalia warlords (Gen. Farah Aideed, among others) who attacked and killed some U.S. troops in 1993. Is there any solid reason, post-9/11, to bring up the eight year old attack and blame al-Qaeda for it? No public U.S. or U.N. personnel in Somalia at the time ever noted any links to terrorists. The Somalis themselves deny it completely. There was a lot of (relatively misplaced) focus on Somalia at the time, and Susan Rice appears to be like on of those bloodthirsty Bushies when she (baselessly? entirely baselessly? seems like it) brands a whole country "terrorist."

     The book I was reading today, which reminded me of this incident, noted that Somalia is actually a pretty bad "safe haven" for terrorists.

There is no one to protect them from kidnappers, either.
There are no available western targets anywhere nearby (not one embassy, even).
They are foreigners, where there are almost no foreigners, and so would stick out badly.

No, if you are a terrorist, you want a big, multi-ethnic metropolis where you can blend in. You want an easily corruptible government that will overlook small, non-lethal parts of your operation (as long as none of the locals get hurt, and I make a buck, whats to stop me, says the cop, taking the bribe). Near perfect anarchy, however, is useless.

2008-11-21T20:54:00.003-05:00

Is There A More Useful Idiot ...

... than Thomas Friedman? It is hard for me to imagine a more malignant influence in the field of the printed word.

2008-11-21T06:40:00.003-05:00

Themed Post 2: On Categorization of Languages

The point is that mutual intelligibility is equality, but that there is also a "linguistic distance" between languages, which might be measured by the time it would take an average person speaking the first language to learn the second. All sufficiently alien languages, I would say, are equally distant. The distance between French and Italian, on the other hand, is relatively small. It might be possibly to plot these distances. It might be possible, given that linguists tend to come up with terms for features in a language like verb-subject-object order, that language distance roughly corresponds to the number of language feature differences.

2008-11-20T20:01:00.004-05:00

Can I Make This My Themesong?

The way Hoagie Carmichael's voice works, so that there are no clear breaks between when he is singing and not, amazes me. Lauren Bacall is 19 in this clip.

2008-11-20T19:38:00.003-05:00

Saying Farewell: Remembering the Bush Administration

This, a link I (re?) found via the Daily Howler who linked to Media Matters who liked to other Media Matters stories, is Ron Suskind's Without A Doubt. I read, soon after it was published, Suskind's book about/with former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, The Price of Loyalty. The money quotes from the very long article follow:

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." [emphasis mine]

The word "reality" comes from the word "royalty."

Malek approached him [Rubenstein, on the board of the Carlyle Group] described that time to a convention of pension managers in Los Angeles last year, recalling that and said: "There is a guy who would like to be on the board. He's kind of down on his luck a bit. Needs a job. . . . Needs some board positions." Though Rubenstein didn't think George W. Bush, then in his mid-40's, "added much value," he put him on the Caterair board. "Came to all the meetings," Rubenstein told the conventioneers. "Told a lot of jokes. Not that many clean ones. And after a while I kind of said to him, after about three years: 'You know, I'm not sure this is really for you. Maybe you should do something else. Because I don't think you're adding that much value to the board. You don't know that much about the company.' He said: 'Well, I think I'm getting out of this business anyway. And I don't really like it that much. So I'm probably going to resign from the board.' And I said thanks. Didn't think I'd ever see him again." [emphasis mine]

We all wish Rubinstein had been right.

And for those who don't get it? That was explained to me in late 2002 by Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president. He started by challenging me. "You think he's an idiot, don't you?" I said, no, I didn't. "No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!" In this instance, the final "you," of course, meant the entire reality-based community. [emphasis mine]

This is the Republican Party that elects actors, and hopefully the Party that will nominate Sarah Palin in 2012, to bear the biggest loss since Dukakis.

2008-11-17T21:14:00.002-05:00

New Strategy Required in Afghanistan

If part of the strategy involves some people acting as bullet sponges, we need a new strategy.

2008-11-17T21:02:00.004-05:00

This is all true.

This is, as best as I can recollect, a transcript of a conversation I had earlier this evening.

While eating, I heard people talk about terrorism. It turns out they were talking about the NYC real estate market, one of them, rationally, calling terrorism an "X factor."

Me: Well, it turns out the Taleban problem is co-extensive* with the Pushtun** tribesmen. And as stupid and primitive as it is, these people have a code.
First, it's hospitality. If you <indicating to the guy talking about terrorism> were to show up on their door, they'd have to take you in.
Others: <laughter>
Me: ... at least for three days. Second, is vengeance. Every time we blow up one of these wedding parties, they are duty bound to seek vengeance. Third, I forget third. Oh yeah, third is taunting. You have to taunt whoever hasn't killed the person they were supposed to seek vengeance on. And fourth is forgiveness. If you show up at their house with a goat
Others: <more laughter>
Me: Yeah, a goat, they pretty much have to forgive you.
Me: So, I figure, 25 million goats and the problem is solved. It might be a little embarassing to have to pay to apologize for things, and there would undoubtedly be a few holdouts... but basically PROBLEM SOLVED!

*) Not sure I used that word, but I got to the point none-the-less.
**) Turns out Pathan is an Indian corruption of the word Pakhtan or Pashtun, both of which are in the singular. Pashtana or Pakhtani is the nice way to refer to these folks.

2008-11-16T17:15:00.004-05:00

Themed Article 3: Custom and Tradition

     Primitive superstition and worship. Forgive the terms from a past era, but visiting a shrine and tying a piece of rock in a loop of cloth and hanging it around your neck to fight an illness is not strictly religion, since it delves into the land of medicine, and isn't strictly medicine, since a spirit powers the rock.

     How do these things spread? Surely by word of mouth. You wouldn't just believe something like this unless you heard it from someone you trusted, or you were desperate.

     Who do we trust? In another time, if we lived in a large clan, some of use might be brave and take the word of the itinerant story-teller, but family, proximity (for repetition), and familiarity (700 repetitions, ad-people say, to make it stick in your brain forever) suggests more people would get more knowledge from village wise-folk. People have a tendency to be able to recognize smarts, given enough time, and surviving a long time in such a time suggests intelligence.

     So you're a village elder, and have some clan-cred, and a distant cousin (aren't they all?) comes calling.

     He's deathly sick.

     You've noticed its been getting worse (you are perceptive, remember?)

     Some people wouldn't want to admit they don't know how to help.
Some people wouldn't want to tell them that it looks just like that thing that killed Fred and his brother, and would he kindly move away quickly.
Some people wouldn't want to tell them that there was no hope.

     Someone smart (that's you) might say something smart, like:

Go now (emphasize now!) to the place, the special place (if they say they ask which one, tell them they know the one!) and grab a piece of it and carry it with you for magic.

Who knows? When you die, people might carry away pieces of your gravesite.

(Note, I haven't put the first two "themed" articles up yet. The "theme" is that they were all drafted in the same setting, at the end of a day of study.

2008-11-16T12:01:00.002-05:00

Political Acumen

As political sophistication increases, so do the number of people and amount of territory that can be justly administered.

Why shouldn't rulers of "failed states" not be supported in efforts to carve up their state, or the reverse?

2008-11-16T10:30:00.002-05:00

Ack! Many Times!

I read this a long time ago and misread it. Not sure how it happened, but I remember reading that FDR was the most liberal, not the most conservative, of all Democratic Party candidates since his day. In at least a dozen places I'd said that FDR and Reagan were both the most extreme candidates, and therefore, even if you believed Obama was an ultra-liberal, maybe that wasn't so bad. Reagan was the most conservative President since FDR. Obama's short record in the U.S. Senate puts him to the right of FDR. Still, there is a very large gap between FDR and Eisenhower. There has not been a centrist U.S. President since (at the very least) FDR.

I apologize!

2008-11-11T20:15:00.002-05:00

Obama Meets Unconditionally With Warmonger

I found the title for this post somewhere else.

2008-11-11T19:22:00.004-05:00

On Keynesianism: The Ship Of State

On a stately cruise across the ocean \
our great Ship of State sail with Two Captains.
One looks on high and Always Steers Starboard \
One a bit lower and always cries "Port!"

Keynesianism says the government should be counter-cyclical. When the the environment of the government (the economy) is contracting, government should expand. The Democrats always want the government to expand. Keynesianism also says that when the economy expands, the government shouldn't. The Republicans always fight to contract the government.

There are no politicians who respect this divide. If elected I will be both Democrat and Republican, depending on the times.

2008-11-11T19:13:00.003-05:00

NewsBusters Bans Me

     They'd been threatening for a while. I think it was a combination of things. Quoting scripture to them probably irked them to no end. I think some of the people believed I was lying about being a Marine. I know I pissed off one of the authors who had the gall to deny that Republican lawyers tried to block military ballots in Florida in 2000. Because I am banned, I'll never get to school the 'tard.

     NewsBusters is run by some hard-core partisan Republicans, but the reasons to focus on them are serious. One) They are listed in news.google.com! This website breaks news? I never saw it. Total media criticism (some little of which is actually fair). Two) They only have a reasonable number of commenters. You can interact, in real time (if you are kinda fast), and people might be rude (they were vile, folks, you must have a very, thick skin) but at least there are some people who try to rebut you (and generally fail).

     Oh well, Newsbusters, I was a criminal to the Democratic Party to feed you any good tidbits. I tried to temper your Reagan worship by pointing out he funded Pol Pot. I tried to temper your horrid grasp of the facts.

2008-11-09T19:27:00.002-05:00

The Balinese Gamelan

Did I post this stuff before? I am unusually intrigued by the Balinese Gamelan.

2008-11-09T10:33:00.005-05:00

African Guerillas: Raging Against the Machine

That is the title of the book I was trying to read yesterday. It presumed I knew a lot more about all the wars and secessions in Africa since 1970 than I did, but I still dug it. Editors Morten Bøås and Kevin C. Dunn put together some good stuff. For those who don't know, you can get most european characters by looking at a chart of "html entities"

The most fun part was at the beginning, when they are dissing the people who call African wars "resource" wars. I had always found this term problematic, but they say (and, to a degree, show) that the claim is absurd and is usually made by people who want to portray the rebels as bandits/theives, so that no quarter need be given.

2008-11-08T18:48:00.004-05:00

?Wild? Guess?

     Byrd is stepping down from the most powerful committee in the Senate. Byrd, a Klansman decades ago, and publicly apologetic for it, is voluntarily giving up power?

     I am reminded of Trent Lott losing his leadership post, for praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat (segregationist) campaign for President.

     Name someone who voluntarily gave up the #1 spot. Maybe this had something to do with Obama's victory?