Gold is going to tumble, or, Why We Are Never Going Back to the Gold Standard

     It is endlessly reported that gold is a hedge in uncertain times.  What is it a hedge against, exactly?  It is a hedge against the collapse of Western Civilization.

     Millions of people are taught every day by Glenn Beck, talk radio, Sarah Palin, and even some elected officials, that the Obama administration is destroying America. 

     The main reason the western world will never return to the gold standard (unless there is a complete return to barbarism) ...



... is that people in charge aren't about to put half the world's money supply into the hands of the people who buy jewelry.  This situation is only getting "worse" for the gold bugs.  The last graph showed where the total gold supply is, the next graph shows where each year's mined gold is going.



     So, what use is gold, really?  It has a poetic, historic role.  It never rusts, it is easily divisible, and it is fairly easy to detect fake gold, so, 3000 years ago, until the invention of the printing press, surely, it was the ideal solution to handle the issue of money.

     I suspect gold will fall as low as 600 an ounce, maybe down to about 550 intraday, before bouncing back to 800.  I also suspect that it will be this, and not anything Glenn Beck says, which will be his downfall, his viewers will resent his bad financial advice.

     Drone missile strikes against suspected militants continue in Pakistan along the Afghan border, in case you'd for some reason become optimistic.  Officially, this program does not exist, so don't tell anyone I mentioned it.

     Kyrgyz authorities are rounding up people as a result of last week's Kyrgyz-on-Uzbek ethnic violence.  They still blame former President Bakiyev's supporters, so it would seem likely that they are rounding up their own political enemies.

     North Korea is having its first leadership meeting since 1966.  Scuttlebutt is that Jong-Il's 27 or 28 year old son Jong-Un will be given a very senior job so that when his dad dies he can take over.

     Taiwan and China are signing a tariff reduction pact.  The AP finds a factory worker to state that this is just a plot for China to take over Taiwan.  It is the official policy of World News Today that we think both Taiwan and China are damn fools for asserting there is only one Chinese government and that they are it.



     Hong Kong's air has lots more pollutants than some places.  The AP found an office worker who said it stings when she goes outside.  No mention of why recent electoral reforms (increasing the size of the parliament and the candidate selection committee) should help.

     The drug cartel situation in Mexico remains grim, in case you'd become optimistic.  While the authorities have arrested one of the co-heads of the Sinaloa crime family involved in Colombian cocaine smuggling, only a year after they arrested its top leader, shootouts between the gangs and the authorities still occur regularly with a handful of people dying in each incident.

     The AP has found Chinese bloggers speaking intemperately about the presence of a US aircraft carrier participating in South Korean war games.

     The AP found some soldiers who are complaining about the Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan.  Apparently, if they see a man of fighting age leave a building from which they are taking fire they can't fire at him unless they see him with a weapon or drop a weapon.  Surely this is poppycock, because, with half a brain, you could force the Afghan to the ground and capture him, leaving until later the effort to sort out whether or not he had been firing.

     The government of China seems to have taken a calm approach to strikes in the last month among industrial workers asking for higher wages.  Not only were they not quickly stopped by force, but they even let the media cover some of the events.

     Guinea is having an election today.  World News Today endorses Conde.  The election follows the death of the dictator Conte in 1998 and the Camara coup that followed.  While Camara originally said he'd have pretty quick elections and not run for office, he reneged and one of his Presidential guard shot him in the head.  He survives in Burkina Faso, recovering, while his former Deputy, Konate, turns out to be the hero of the piece, setting up a civilian government and organizing the elections of today.

     Rwanda is preparing for another fake election by cracking down on critical newspapers and the opposition, included among them are a figure who denies the 1994 genocide occurred, a crime in Rwanda.

     Romania's highest court, for no reason stated by the AP, ruled some of the recent austerity measures unconstitutional.  This puts an indefinite hold on a major IMF loan Romania is seeking.  The loan is why they passed the bill which cut pensions and government salaries.

     Cuba has been busy privatizing 2.5 million acres of land, about half of the total it expects to give away to Cubans who want to try their hand at farming.  Prices for crops will be set by the government and farms which don't produce within 2 years will be taken back.

     Mohammed el-Baradei, formerly of the IAEA, led a protest of 1000s in Egypt against police brutality which was not, perhaps surprisingly, brutally put down by the police.

     Bolivia's main opposition leader has been ordered arrested by a court which says he is funding finance foreign mercenaries.

     The European Union says that member countries do not have to recognize same-sex marriages.
     There have been some protests, put down violently, in Indian Kashmir this week, ostensibly over the police having killed some Kashmiris.

Why Religion Is A Disease

     We want people to be ethical, right?  To teach people morals you need to speak with authority.  If you tell people patent nonsense you undermine your authority and you undermine the morality of our culture.  Primitive people could not prove that the story of Noah and the Earth flooding was a complete lie, we can.

     The greatest lesson that these primitive religions teach the children of society today is that hypocrisy is acceptable. You can lie through your teeth and be a teacher of morals. 

     The Christian bible, and all the others I know about, pretend to be absolute truth and yet they are filled with lies and what other conclusion can children draw except that lying is acceptable, and that all adults are hypocrites?

     This is a disease that society has. Religion is a social disease.

Today's News, June 24th, 2010

     Misery.  It's 120 degrees in Iraq this summer and many Iraqis get 6 hours of power a day.  After some protests, the Minister has resigned and a new guy is going to try to take care of the problem created by the American invasion seven years ago.

     India now hopes to extradite Warren Anderson, in charge of Union Carbide when the Bhopal disaster happened, which eventually killed 15,000 people.  From their home in Hamptons his wife said he's sick and he's been haunted by Bhopal.  It is possible, although not confirmed, that some homes on the Hamptons wouldn't have him over for parties.  No reports on how he has been able to manage the snubs.

     The Malaysian government is obviously getting pretty badly corrupt since they've decided to cover their asses by banning published books of cartoons which criticize them.  I guess they've never heard of the internet.

     LANGUAGE AND THE NEWS: Recently there was a conference between France, Germany, Poland and Russia.  One of the first things they thought they could fix was Trans-Dniester.  It's an area with Russian speakers inside Moldova.  Today Moldova is demanding the Russian troops leave.  Not very helpful, that.  If it were up to me the Transnistrians, independent for nearly 20 years, would join their neighbors in Ukraine and Moldova would get absorbed into Romania.  The Transnistrians seceded back in 1991 because they were worried Moldova would become part of Romania.  Moldovans speak Romanian.  Part of the issue is that this little "fake country" of Transnistria is rife with all sorts of criminal activity.  The Ukrainian authorities, if it were part of the Ukraine, could handle it better.

     The major Jamaican drug smuggler, named Coke, is heading for America today, to face trial.

     Some strikes in France over plans to increase their retirement age, one of the lowest in Europe.  Some strikes in Italy against government austerity measures which, the transport unions say, hurts the poorest workers the most.

The Security Agencies in Kyrgyzstan are Lying

     If you were going to try to start an Islamist uprising somewhere, would you live in Belarus?  The security apparatus of Kyrgyzstan says former Soviet (godless, if you will recall) and former President Bakiyev's relatives are meeting with Taliban and other Islamist and they are behind the recent violence.

     It is doubly retarded for the security apparatus to make this claim when you realize that the violence in Kyrgyzstan, which has left 100s of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks homeless, is Muslim on Muslim.

     It is triply stupid when you consider that, basically, insurgencies attack governments, not poor people.

     I guess they can't control it. So sad.

Except when it is about Food or Survival

     If our attitudes about drugs, abortion and politics are really just about sex, then maybe Freud was more correct than I have given him credit for being.

     Welcome to the Neo-Freudian age. I just simply assumed that Freud's patients, wealthy women, not having to concern themselves with food or survival, naturally thought about sex a lot.

BP and Dividends

     Some politicians are saying BP should not pay dividends until the oil is cleaned up.  Today, Speaker Pelosi said that BP should use the dividends to fund the cleanup.

     The reasonable suggestion would be to take the dividend payments and put them in escrow.  We do not know today what the total cleanup costs will be.  At such a time as we know, then the money can be released.  This sets up good incentives.  BP will have an incentive to clean up the oil as quickly as they can.  If BP simply didn't pay dividends, they'd just have lots more cash on hand.  If they simply use it for cleanup, it doesn't make much sense because we won't really know it will be spent on the cleanup (BP can claim they are spending as much as they can on cleanup, but have constraints).

Bad People Want Religion

     This article discusses some relationships some scientists found between clean thoughts and clean minds and moral behavior, but I think the author missed a hum-dinger of a conclusion, namely, that it is bad people who want religion and we can't win with religion.

     In the referenced study, people who thought of bad things then fill in the blanks fill them with moral ideas.  People who thought of good things had no such tendency.  Bad people want religion to clean them of their sins!

     But, in a later study, once given some cleaning, people were less generous.  They became mean!

     Religion is a sign of badness in the first instance, and a creator of meanness in the second. 

     For some further reading, try this and this, both from the Not Rocket Science blog.

Don't Drunk Dial Freedom Works 1-888-564-6273

     I couldn't get the right size here, so, here is the youtube link.

Tolkein and Rand

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

The Catholic Church Inadvertently, I say, Encourages Molesting Little Boys

     I believe the abstinence program imposed on officials of the Church is what causes pedophilia, inadvertently.  The Church is denying exactly this is the problem, I think, because they know it is the problem. 

     Priests who are trying to be abstinent don't go to strip clubs.  They don't go to night clubs, either.  They probably don't go to nude beaches.  They probably avoid all the "scenes" where they know they will be tempted.

     Priests try to be celibate so they must be on their guard for temptation.  Priests are probably closely on their guard when in the presence of women showing a lot of décolletage.  They are probably also on their guard even around some men, because they know some men are gay.  And they are probably also on their guard around young women, even very young women now that menarche begins as young as 7 or 8. 

     If you were a rational, heterosexual, attempting-to-be-celibate male Priest you would probably feel safest around young boys.

     And yet, the desire to have sex hasn't really gone away, now has it?

Is Politics Behind the SEC's timing in charging Goldman Sachs?

     Some on Wall St. and some Republicans are saying that the SEC bringing charges against Goldman Sachs now is pure "political theatre" and is designed to help push through financial reform legislation that the Obama administration wants.

     The Obama administration denies it.

     Goldman Sachs was the largest corporate contributor to President Obama's campaign for the Presidency in 2008.  Here are a couple ways to look at what is happening:

1. Despite the recommendation of the SEC investigator, the SEC decides not to prosecute, and therefore the Obama administration looks like it is siding with a large contributor.


2. The Obama administration is not bought, and is willing to bring charges against its largest contributors (for justice, or for political advantage, I can not say.)

The WikiLeaks CollateralMurder.com video

     One thing to remember is that we, when viewing the video, are not in a vibrating helicopter.  It would be nice if we could know, for certain, what the Rules of Engagement were.  On MSNBC a Colonel claims they were "You may engage persons who commit hostile acts or show hostile intent by minimum force necessary." and "Do not target or strike anyone who has surrendered or who is out of combat due to sickness or wounds."  Wikileaks co-founder notes that the helicopter pilots are hoping the guy picks up a gun so they can shoot him. 

     Collateral Damage

Legal Hegemony

     Shari'a laws are primitive, and I bet if I talked to anyone I know, between them and myself, we'd agree on that point.  This agreement, however, in no way, shape or form gives us the right to go and tell any third person that our opinion is right for them.


     You might well have read any number of articles about the "rape law" in Afghanistan that would have allowed Shia men to rape their wives, in addition to a number of other backward ideas.  You could have read as many articles as you wanted in the US media and none would have mentioned that, in some parts of the United States, that was legal as recently as 1994, when the Violence Against Women Act was passed.


     This came to mind because I'm reading an AP article on the US backed government of Somalia.  This government has 1800 soldiers being paid by the US, since, without a paycheck, many simply defect to the enemy.  The US backed government is soon going to start an offensive to try to take back parts of the capital "most of which is held by al-Qaida linked Islamist rebels."  At what point does America say that a government which has lost most of its capital city is no longer really there?  By the way, the EU is also sending military trainers, but they are going to Uganda to do the training.

Russia Involvement in Chechnya

     No, I haven't read Sixty Years of War in the Caucasus, that was about Tsarist Russia's attempts to conquer the place.

     I have mostly finished the book Towers of Stone, by Jagielski, about the Chechen Wars (I'll publish some great, long quotes from the book later).  It looks to me like Moscow had been stupid when they assassinated Chechen leaders Dudayev and then Mashkadov.

     The first Chechen leader Russia killed, Dzhokhar Dudayev, had been a General in command of a Soviet Bomber Wing. He was no terrorist.  He had been the only Chechen ever to reach the rank of General in the Soviet military.

     The second Chechen leader Russia killed, Aslan Mashkadov, had been an incredibly diligent Soviet Army Colonel. He was no terrorist, although, to be fair, he hardly punished Shamil Basayev for his guerilla tactics.

     Some people might think that my statements somehow excuse today's bombings in Moscow.  Like most people, I believe that there are better people and that there are worse people, and, if you kill off the better people, all you have left to deal with are the worst people.  I'm saying that Russia's tactic, of assassinating Chechen leaders, seems to have backfired. 

     It's tragic that dozens of people died in Moscow.  Far more than 100,000 people die each day, but most of this is due to accident or disease, not because of a stupid war.

Proposed Solutions to the Problems of Maxwell's Demon

     Easy) Assume Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is right, then what the demon knows, the precise location and direction of every molecule in both chambers, is impossible to have, so the problem can not exist.  This is no criticism of Maxwell, who predates Maxwell.

     Easy) The demon's knowledge is infinite information, and therefore impossible to have in a closed box.

     2nd) Entropy is the loss of information, which the 2nd law of thermodynamics says can't happen in the box(closed system).  The extra information must come from the new locations/direction of all the molecules that the demon is keeping track of.

HotAir Misses Some History

     I don't know who Ed Morrissey is, but it is obvious that HotAir gets 100s of thousands more hits than I do, which is why it isn't at all amusing when Morrissey ignores important parts of history to make a point.

     Ed writes "Thanks to what amounts to a reversal of 20 years of American policy on settlements in Jerusalem, Obama has given the Palestinians a reason to refuse to come to the table that Israel simply can’t address."  20 years, Ed?  I'm pretty sure Ed counts himself as more of a conservative than a liberal, but did he really not know that in 2003 the Bush administration cut 100s of million in loan guarantees because of Israeli settlement activity.

     From PDF page 18 of this 2009 Congressional Research Service report (pdf)

On November 26, 2003, the Department of State
announced that the $3 billion loan guarantees for FY2003 were reduced by $289.5 million because Israel continued to build settlements in the occupied territories and continued construction of the security barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians. In FY2005, the U.S. government further reduced the amount available for Israel to borrow by an additional $795.8 million. Since then, no other deductions have been made.

Federal Health Insurance, Passed into Law in 1798

     Paul O'Rourke wrote an article a year ago about a 1798 law for sick and disabled seaman.  The Federal government passed the law which forced ship owners to collect out of seaman's salaries and give to tax collectors monies which were to go to hospitals and for caring for these seaman when they get sick or disabled.  The article piqued my interest, so I did some more research.  Here is the text of the statute.

     Some interesting things.  Seems like Representative Sewall from Massachusetts didn't like the idea because everyone in Massachusetts already paid into a public health insurance program that covered everyone, including seaman:

     Seems like this sort of accusation never goes away:

Language And Peace In The News: Myanmar

     The Shan language is part of the Daic (Thai) language family, while Myanma(Burmese) is part of the Sino-Tibetan.

     The junta of Myanmar is re-escalating its war with the Shan.

     Myanma is the pre-British name the ruling leaders at Ava and Pegu had for themselves.

Advice for the Lazy College Student

     I really like a variation on the Yerkes-Dodson law. If there's no pressure to do something, it won't get done for apathy. If there is too much pressure to do something, it won't get done because one will crack under the pressure. There is an optimal amount of pressure to get anything done.
You aren't feeling that pressure.

     There would be two natural reasons for that. Either the pressure isn't there, or your sensitivity to it is out of whack.

    Maybe the pressure isn't there. Then keep your powder dry and wait for it.

    Maybe the pressure is there. Then you have to ask yourself "What am I doing with my life that desensitizes me to the pressures of the world around me?" Perhaps it is just college life, where you have a roof over your head and a food in your belly without regard for how you proceed. It's not any sort of hell, but heaven, and, for many people, the last time you'll probably ever feel that way.

    If you are rich, you probably won't feel the pressure, either.

Language And Peace In the News: Norwegian

     Langauge And Peace in the news: Norwegians propose dropping lesser used Norwegian variant to present a more unified front.

Questions for Glenn Beck

• If you know the suffix proto-, what features of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressives were the most proto-fascist?
• the most proto-communist?
• What progress of the last 100 years would you see rolled back?
• You, and those who work for you and Fox News have done a fair job linking Progressives to both Nazis and Soviets through the use of the catch phrase "Social Justice." Are you aware of any professional or academic research that attempts to links the Progressives to the fascists? Please do not include any research you, or Fox News, has helped fund or has instigated.

Cops in NYC being bullied to arrest anyone, just to keep up quotas

"I'm not going to keep arresting innocent people, I'm not going to keep searching people for no reason, I'm not going to keep writing people for no reason, I'm tired of this[.]"

Trent Franks Compares Slavery Favorably to Abortion

And Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona said today that the abortion rate among black women means that “Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery."

From WIIIAI

Please Check My Blog

     From PleaseCheckMyBlog.blogspot.com

A little video response to the Health Care Summit

On YouTube

Sen Coburn on fraud

     It isn't clear if Senator Coburn's statements on preventative care were actually linked to any proposals, and therefore represent a sincere contribution, but his discussion of fixing "fraud" in government indicates, to me, insincerity.  He talks about doing it "tomorrow."  Tomorrow this little confab will be over.

The Crazy Nitze, NSC-68 continued

The assault on free institutions is world-wide now, and in the context of the present polarization of power a defeat of free institutions anywhere is a defeat everywhere.

     Really, Paul?  Really?  Our loss in Viet Nam meant freedom was defeated everywhere?  When the Soviets ended the Hungarian 1956 revolution freedom was defeated everywhere?  Where do they get these people?

NSC 68 by Paul Nitze, an important Cold War Document

     Somewhere into it I found this quote and instantly Glenn Beck jumped to mind, principally because he is amazingly irresponsible (as are many of his fans) but also because I wondered what he'd think of it, especially if you got someone to say it was from a bad source before he heard it:

The free society values the individual as an end in himself, requiring of him only that measure of self-discipline and self-restraint which make the rights of each individual compatible with the rights of every other individual. The freedom of the individual has as its counterpart, therefore, the negative responsibility of the individual not to exercise his freedom in ways inconsistent with the freedom of other individuals and the positive responsibility to make constructive use of his freedom in the building of a just society.

     Also, I find it odd that this paragraph, which I like, is in a national security document.  Nitze could have just said we are free and they are a tyranny, but he goes on here to define free.  I certainly wasn't expecting to find anything I'd like here, and I am finding quite a few sentences which are unbalanced (grave threats are mentioned, but so far none of our abilities to counter them are addressed, entirely one sided).

Is It Possible To Be Happy?

     Is It Possible To Be Happy?

     The meaning of the above is found in Google and based on the idea that $cientologists $uck.

Rachel Maddow Does the Job for Democrats

Youtube

Blair Spinning, Or Being Cagily Truthful?

     Headline from the Times UK reads "Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair slated for Iran threat claim" followed by

Tony Blair’s claims that Iran now poses as serious a threat as Saddam Hussein's Iraq have been dismissed as a "piece of spin" by the British ambassador to Tehran.

     Maybe Blair's just saying Iran poses no threat at all?

Simplifying the "shortest unique" string of DNA

     Find the shortest length of the beginning of the gene in question (AUG,...,...,...) which identifies that gene uniquely and only operate from there, hunting the shortest unique sequence that the cancer has.

More Specifically

     Referring to the last post

1. Sequence the person's (healthy) genome


2. Do a biopsy and sequence the cancerous mutation


3. Find the {edit:] shortest sequence in the cancer that isn't in the genome


4. Develop a broken, homing mega-endonuclease to locate it

Broken Homing Endonuclease Cancer Cures

     Homing Endonuclease seeks out certain sequences in DNA and cleaves it at that point.  Normally a ligase would simply find the two cleaved ends and fuse them together with some small ATP cost.  However, if the enzymatic functioning was broken, leaving one cleaved end difficult or impossible to rejoin to the other, the endonuclease could impair or kill the host cell.  While typically only short sequences of base pairs are recognized (as few as 6 base pairs in restriction modification systems in bacteria), mega-endonucleases which recognized far larger sequences might be developed to operate only sequences of base pairs associated with the patient's cancer.

     If perfect, only recognizing the cancerous cells, inundation of the patient with the broken homing endonuclease could be sufficient, but delivery via virus is certainly also a possibility.

Thank you President Bush

     During Bush's 8 years in office direct aid to Israel dropped from 4.1 to 2.4 billion dollars.

Why don't they just ask Cheney this?

     While you were in office, Vice President Cheney, you and the Bush administration set up the Transportation Safety Administration and had some role in setting its policies.  What rules or regulations that you and the Bush administration set up did President Obama change to make the Christmas bombing more likely?

     The way I hear it, there was so little explosive that the guy who put the fire out got some burns on his hands, and the attempted "bomber" got some 3rd degree burns.  Does anyone really think you can take down a plane with so little explosives that it doesn't even kill the guy who has the bomb in his underpants?

Ireland Now Has Blasphemy Laws

     Blashempy.ie has taken a nice step.  I was thinking of one, not listed, hopefully I'll remember.  I think my favorite listed one is:

Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!

-- George Carlin, 1999

Ah, now I remember:

What's the worst story from Thursday, December 31st, 2009?

     Savvy people know that the government cynically releases the worst news on Friday evenings, knowing that less people pay attention.  The worst news of the year, however, is saved for the week when almost no one is paying attention, Christmas - New Year's.  So, what was the worst story?  What story should we hammer and hammer and hammer and hammer?  My guess is lots of murdering Blackwater employees get off Scot-Free!

Unexpected Thing I Read Today about post-war Iraq versus post-WWII Germany and Japan

     The gist was that the Allies were planning for the worst, and their original occupation orders and rules of engagement included some pretty harsh counter-measures.  Public execuations, for example, not only were in the playbook, but actually happened, including of a 16 and 17 year old pair accused of recording and transmitting U.S. troop movements (to whom?!). 

     Very quickly, within months, in both Germany and Japan, it turned out that such orders were not required to keep the peace, and a process of scaling back the authority of individual unit commanders to dispense justice was curtailed.

     In passing, the author contrasts this with what happened in Iraq, where our side was convinced we'd be treated as liberators, and, just perhaps, [ed: I'm mentioning this crime, not mention in the article] crimes like looting were virtually ignored, rather than some sort of deadly penalty enforced.

     The article doesn't mention that the Bush administration put incompetent lackeys in charge of Iraq, while the same can't be said for Truman, Eisenhower and MacArthur's actions in WWII.  That never helped, and it would be nice to see Bush spend some years in jail just for that.

     Still, it seems like a good basis for arguing the Bush administration was too nice after the invasion, principally, of course, because they thought they were the best things ever, and figured everyone else shared the same view.

     Melissa Willard-Foster, "Planning the Peace and Ending the Surrender: Deterrence in the Allied Occuptions of Germany and Japan" Journal of Interdisciplinary History XI.1 (2009) 33-56

A more plausible, I think, version of the story of Jesus

     Well, I wrote it, so of course I think it is more plausible. Jesus the Galilean.

Josh Reads the NYT, Saturday, December 19th, 2009

     China, India, Brazil and South Africa strike climate legislation deal.  I'd swear that the NY Times was never as critical of George Walker Bush for his zero international climate treaties as they were of Barack Hussein Obama for his one, non-binding agreement.  If Russia Today's newscasts are any indication, Russia denies the existence of global warming as much as Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma. "Can we send him to Russia, please, Ma, can we, can we?" The NY Times fails to mention it.

     More stories of desecration in Iraq, this time of a Chaldean (Nestorian?) Church near Mosul and the Biblical city of Nineveh.  The 101st Airborne decided, out of profound humility, to paint their "Screaming Eagles" logo on the wall.  Way To Go, Cultural Sensitivity Training!

     The Times reports that non-profit medical center advertising claims are not reviewed for accuracy.  Hey, sorta like the NY Times itself. I mean, it would be nice if their own editors did that sort of thing.

     Per their long history, including places like Florida and Buffalo, the U.S. has entrapped more psychotic folk willing to earn lots of money, even if it happens to be for al-Qaeda.  These three Malians are obviously crackpots, saying al-Qaeda would "starve" without them.  Worse yet, they may have actually been involved in smuggling people into Europe.  Now that would have been something to keep tabs on!  Entrapment, illegal to do against us, them, not so much.

     Actual news: Pakistani Supreme Court trying to overthrow results of election by opening cases against "thousands" of politicians in the current Pakistani People's Party government.  Advanced Pakistani subject matter readers can get up to speed here. Intermediate readers are recommended to read this. These two are short and cover the basics. 

     Obama not an idiot! Unlike some Presidents of the last 5 years I could name.  Preventing nuclear terrorism, not new, mini-nuke bunker busters, is moving to the fore of our nuclear policy.  In related news, the U.S. and Russia are set to make another treaty reducing the world's nuclear arsenal.  The NY Times reports the next step, since stockpiles are getting fairly low, would have to involve the other permanent members of the Security Council.

     There were only a few hundred "hard-corps" members of al-Qaeda back in 2001.  Now, the U.S. insists, there are so many in Yemen we have to fire missiles into the country to deal with the problem.  No chance that could backfire, right?

     Kit Seelye, per usual, embarrasses the NYT.  Is she **cking someone, or lots of someones, to keep her job?  Is it blackmail?

Josh Reads the WaPo, Friday, December 18th, 2009

     Senator McCaskill wants more gov't oversight of contractors, 1/6th of the contracts audited, a small fraction of the total, is unaccounted for.  She questions what "additional controls are needed?"  How about not contracting at all and giving the job to the DoD?  In previous wars we've done that, but there aren't enough volunteers to fight these crappy wars, so we have to hire Hessians.

     Rep. Issa (R-CA-Extremist) wants the GAO to get law enforcement powers for the purposes of going after ACORN and the 0.0002% (rounded up) of the Federal Budget they get each year.  Way to prioritize Mr. Issa!  Can we send this guy back to the minors?

     I'm a born-anew Pashtun Nationalist.  While America continues to kill and murder with drone rockets in FATA, Pakistan, I support an indpendent Pashtuninstan for long-term stability in the region.  Has anyone polled the Pashtun about it?  I bet support would be over 80% except in the one or two regions which somehow benefit the most from the current chaos.

     Mexico has killed the #1 smuggler of cocaine into the United States.  That ought to fix it.

     Dana Milbank calls debating health care on Christmas Day "Unchristian!"  Puny human!

     I never thought the tax on expensive, private health insurance was a good idea, but someone points out today that the old and the sick, and even worse the old and sick, spend more.  Do they need a new tax?  Something tells me people who are old and sick aren't rolling in dough, and if they are, we can tax them some other way.

Climate Email Rebuttal

     For my own records, if I need to refer to what a crock of bull this widely-media-covered instance is: The Economist's Blog: Democracy in America, and in case that URL ever goes dead, it links to two more scienc-ey blogs, Tim Lambert and Things Break.

     I'd also note that the Economist's #1 "most recommended" comment is from a climate change denialist discussing one of the other supposed problems revealed by the e-mails (again, which would not even be important if not widely covered by Fox and other television stations), namely, that one of the e-mails talks about keeping two denialist papers out of the IPCC report, by nearly any means necessary.  The truth is that those two papers _were_ in the IPCC report, so nothing was ever squelched, and the further truth is that, after being published, they were both found to be full of holes... un-publish-worthy in the first place.

     The Democracy in America blog author, undoubtedly not anti-business, fails to see the utility in spreading doubt, not science.  Even if the oil/coal/gas industry can't disprove global warming, there is infinite utility if no one believes it is true.  At least, with rational people, one can argue and point to numbers, he should try debating the falsities of religion sometime!

Francis Parkman's Montcalm & Wolfe

A story of the French and Indian Wars, this part intrigued me:

The great colony of Virginia stood in strong contrast to New England. In both the population was English; but the one was Puritan with Roundhead traditions, and the other, so far as concerned its governing class, Anglican with Cavalier traditions. In the one, every man, woman, and child could read and write; in the other, Sir William Berkeley [ed: long-serving Colonial Governor of Virginia] once thanked God that there were no free schools, and no prospect of any for a century. The hope had found fruition. The lower classes of Virginia were as untaught as the warmest friend of popular ignorance could wish. New England had a native literature more than respectable under the circumstances, while Virginia had none; numerous industries, while Virginia was all agriculture, with but a single crop; a homogeneous society and a democratic spirit, while her rival was an aristocracy. Virginian society was distinctively stratified. On the lowest level were the negro slaves, nearly as numerous as all the rest together; next, the indented servants and the poor whites, of low origin, good-humored, but boisterous, and some times vicious; next, the small and despised class of tradesmen and mechanics; next, the farmers and lesser planters, who were mainly of good English stock, and who merged insensibly into the ruling class of the great landowners. It was these last who represented the colony and made the laws. They may be described as English country squires transplanted to a warm climate and turned slave-masters. They sustained their position by entails, and constantly undermined it by the reckless profusion which ruined them at last. Many of them were well born, with an immense pride of descent, increased by the habit of domination. Indolent and energetic by turns; rich in natural gifts and often poor in book-learning, though some, in the lack of good teaching at home, had been bred in the English universities; high-spirited, generous to a fault; keeping open house in their capacious mansions, among vast tobacco-fields and toiling negroes, and living in a rude pomp where the fashions of St. James were somewhat oddly grafted on the roughness of the plantation,--what they wanted in schooling was supplied by an education which books alone would have been impotent to give, the education which came with the possession and exercise of political power, and the sense of a position to maintain, joined to a bold spirit of independence and a patriotic attachment to the Old Dominion. They were few in number; they raced, gambled, drank, and swore; they did everything that in Puritan eyes was most reprehensible; and in the day of need they gave the United Colonies a body of statesmen and orators which had no equal on the continent. A vigorous aristocracy favors the growth of personal eminence, even in those who are not of it, but only near it.

T. R. Reid was on Washington Journal not so long ago

This Tumblr has it.

Immortality isn't so tough

And it may happen in our lifetimes. We need a gene therapy that adds on more TTAGT (telomere) on both ends of all your DNA. When that's worn off you start dying of "old age."

Next generation, of course, is going to wish for the scientific discovery that keeps people looking young. That's not too terribly tough, either, it just involves collagen. Not injections, I wouldn't think, but a real way to replenish it and prevent it from wearing out.

So, you may live for a real long time, you yourself, but you aren't going to be sexy anymore.

Also, people are going to have to stop being so mean to their livers and lungs if we live a real long time, since the problem solved above was just "old age" and not emphysema or cirrhosis. So, as we live longer, we'll be having less fun per year earlier on.

But the alternative to (eventually) banning alcohol and cigarettes is a lifetime of medical coverage for people who might live forever but who have killed their own body. I think pot will be OK, as long as it is ingested. See: Brave New World.

If I could sum up the Spartans and the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War...

     The Athenians were a commercial empire which demanded men or taxes from its allies, whom it would ruthlessly attack if they tried to secede.  The Spartans led a confederacy and demanded little from it, but instead from their countless slaves.  This reminds me of the U.S. Civil War.

     During this Greek civil war, which lasted decades, the Spartans took a large army and stood outside the walls of a city.  The leader of the Army, Brasidas, probably the General most respected by non-Spartans during the entire war, allegedly spoke these words:

Some of you may hang back because they have private enemies, and fear that I may put the city into the hands of a party: none need be more tranquil than they. I am not come here to help this party or that; and I do not consider that I should be bringing you freedom in any real sense, if I should disregard your constitution, and enslave the many to the few or the few to the many. This would be heavier than a foreign yoke; and we Lacedaemonians, instead of being thanked for our pains, should get neither honour nor glory, but, contrariwise, reproaches.

     This, perhaps, reminds you of Iraq.

Did I Ever Mention I'm A Total Techie?

     I think I did, a couple times, anyway, here's some more.

     I have a new server, hosted at a remote location, a server farm in Brooklyn.  I wanted to reconfigure some stuff with the network connection.  Fine.  How do you disconnect and reconnect, bring down and then bring back up, your network connections, from a remote host?  If you bring them down, you won't be connected to bring them back up!  Aha, you think, put it in a script.  That's part of it, but not all.  If the script is running and then you disconnect, the script will stop running unless you give it nohup.
#!/bin/sh
/sbin/ifdown eth0
sleep 4
/sbin/ifup eth0

then
nohup down_and_up

Is Sarah Palin Ignorant of the Constitution and History?

In her recent interview on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly [click for transcript] she says, concerning the choice by Attorney General Holder to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in NYC, "[W]e're going to create this circus atmosphere here in New York and try this terrorist in our court system that is reserved under our Constitution for American citizens to be able to have their rights exercised. That's a problem."

I'm sure Sarah Palin, if she were arrested for terrorism against a foreign country, would rather be tried on an isolated outpost serving as a military base than in a court, and I'd wager money that most Americans don't realize that close to 400,000 Nazis were kept in camps in States like Ohio, California and Texas. Personally, I'd be a bit more concerned about 400,000 Nazis than a couple hundred members of al-Qaeda, but maybe times have changed, and Americans are just a bunch of big scaredy-cats now adays.

But let's analyze that bit about the Constitution.  It turns out it isn't even close to correct.  One has to wonder whose Constitution Sarah Palin is reading!  From Article III, Section II, the only relevant portion of the Constitution of the United States...

The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.

Is the United States not an interested party in the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?  I believe it is.  Is there a single, cotton-picking word in there about rights?  Clearly, there is not.

As a Republican, I can only hope that Sarah Palin hangs her head and apologizes for this and countless, and seemingly endless, fundamental misunderstandings of the American political system.

Remember When Sarah Palin Was Relevant?

That's a question which will cause many a sentient being to smile, maybe even laugh, in the future, starting now, sinking in over the next few years until the completion of the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary, after which her relevance outside of the evermoreshamefaced Evangelical community will cease.

• [Slate] The Going Rogue Index: Sarah Palin didn't put an index in her book. So we made one for her.
• [NPR] A Conservative Read On Palin's 'Going Rogue'
• [Salon] The secret diary of Sarah Palin's ghostwriter

A Second Place for National Health Insurance in a Republic

Earlier I put forth the idea that communicable diseases was the place where everyone should get together; national health insurance for communicable diseases is consistent with our interests.

This morning, probably inspired by the discussions of health care yesterday, I realized another place where it makes perfect sense, preventative care.

I am here referring to things like nutrition (vitamin pills), exercise (gym memberships). In fact it is in all of our interests to make sure all of us aren't paying insurance premiums when we all get sick. In fact, it is clear that not only do we all save money on health care costs when we all don't get sick in the first place, but society itself operates more smoothely, less people call in sick, less people need to go on disability and replaced at their jobs, and the older, wiser folk will tend to live a little longer. All good things, and good for all
of us.

Also, since most private health insurers don't do that much in terms of preventative care, it means the government wouldn't be moving in on private industry.

Today I had an epiphany concerning the men who want to stop abortions.

These must be the guys who got women pregnant in order to force them to marry them.  Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when a lot of these guys were getting hitched, it was sort of like a game to them, the prettiest girl they could get pregnant would be their "prize."

If abortion is allowed, then their wives wouldn't have had to marry them, their life sort of become hollow and meaningless.

How come I never read that before?

Is the Voice of America getting drippingly sarcastic?

"Clinton Tries to Appease Arab Anger About Praise for Israeli Settlement Offer"

Clinton believes that the American commitment to the peace process is understood by Arab leaders. She thinks that, with their support, the process can move forward, despite what she calls the difficult and tangled history that too often prevents progress.

More Science Posts

• Sagan, de Grasse, Feynman and Nye


• Carl Sagan ft Hawking

Science Video Craziness

• DNA Replication 1:10, very accessible


• Apoptosis 4:38, no sound, laser sound effects


• The Life of the Cell, 8:00, nealy 100% technical

Just How Bad Is The State of Journalism Today?

     That reminds me to check the Columbia Journalism Review more often, not that they're perfect.

     I thought all three stories above the fold in today's Washington Post were awful, and here I'll examine one of them.

     "In Anbar, A Sense Of Abandonment" was written by WaPo staff writer Anthony Shadid.  If this is the best the post has to offer, it should be shut down.


     Above the fold Shadid only mentions one person who is actually unhappy, one person who got lots of money and guns from the Americans, and respect from the locals during the relevant period.

     After turning to page 8 we learn that, as expected, some Iraqis view the occupying U.S. military on their streets and busting into their homes as a foreign occupying military force and doesn't like it.  How many feel this way?  Certainly Anthony Shadid doesn't present any data. 

     In the 15th paragraph someone says that the British were better at occupying Iraq than the Americans.  You know, the British, who bombed the Kurds with chemical weapons and who summarily executed nearly 10,000 Kurds.  Didn't the Washington Post already tell you that maybe Saddam got the idea of gassing the Kurds from the British?  "[The British] understood how to take time to win someone to their side" the abysmal reporter Shadid dutifully echoes.  By the way, at no point does Shadid say how things went for the British after they left Iraq... within a few years the Iraqis were siding with the Nazis in WWII.  Could Shadid be any more stupid?

     Another unhappy guy, the second talked to in the article, now into its 28th paragraph, flashes a 25K rolex.  Listen, don't let this get back to the military or Sheik Issawi, but he's a crook who played the military for fools, and I'm thrilled he's now unhappy, and he can no longer loot the U.S. treasury.

     Anthony Shadid isn't worth shit as a reporter.  His Editor, the more responsible party, should be fired.

Language And Peace In the News: Honduras (UPDATE 1)

UPDATE 1: Added paragraphs past the first

     The best I can offer is the Google News Search for Honduras.  Without knowledge of Spanish, I simply can't read the Twitter search for Honduras, which makes you wonder, what type of people in Iran speak English? The elites, I betcha, the ones who can afford a device for twittering?

---

So, I translated this article from Portuguese to English, using Google translation.  It includes loads of facts I didn't find on CNN or Reuters or the AP.  1) 2nd Summit of the Countries of South America and Africa, going on now, has unanimously condemned Honduras/Micheletti. 2) The African Union has done the same, 3) the UN has decried the "acts of intimidation" against the Brazilian embassy.

The Best Weather Report for NYC

     This link should always get you the current 48 hour forecast from the National Weather Service in super sharp graphical format.  I have that linked tuned for summer, you'll want to tweak it slightly for winter.

     If you have a mobile device, you can point it to my service, here, which shrinks the image.  Red is temperature, Blue is sky cover %, Green is relative humidity, and Brown is precipiation potential.  This image gets updated a few times a day, rather than constantly.

You Bought It With Stolen Credit Cards

     If you were a normal person you'd have a hard time proving that you didn't buy something with stolen credit cards, wouldn't you?

Arms Control Wonk, I really used to like them

     I told more than a few people that the only people to trust on the subject of Iran and their nuclear ambitions, the only reasoned voices, were Dr. Jeffrey Lewis at Harvard and Ray Takeyh at the Council on Foreign Relations.  Well, Dr. Lewis's blog, ArmsControlWonk, has drunk the kool-aid.  Recent stories on Iran are completely one-sided and include all sorts of scare-mongering phrases like "a worrying development."  According to Ahmadinejad, they are one year ahead of their reporting requirements, and the IAEA will be able to inspect the facility, but for Andreas Persbo, this is "worrying."

     Even Jeffrey jumps on the scare-monger bandwagon, with his suggestion that the Qom site "ought to put the focus of our policy back on getting more access to the Iranian program to detect and deter the construction of undeclared facilities[.]"  For a moment, since there is no evidence to the contrary, let's take the Iranians at face value, and say that this is a facility for producing reactor fuel.  If so, Iran had every right to build it, and, no requirement to declare it before the shovels hit soil.  Are we really going to get into the business of stopping legal things?  Dr. Lewis doesn't leave me much wiggle room in interpreting his remarks.

---

Persbo suggests that any smuggling from Esfahan to Qom would be detectable by the IAEA, but he ignores the fact that the IAEA has already been invited to Qom.



Dr. Lewis writes "This is the scenario we’ve been warning about all along." but, if Iran is to be believed and the facility is for a nuclear power plant, what exactly are we being warned about?"

Hmm, Miami Herald Gets It Right

Here is the coverage of Iran's Qom nuclear facility from the Miami Herald. Quotes from Ahmadenijad

"I don't think Mr. Obama is a nuclear expert," he said. "We have to leave it to the IAEA, and let the IAEA carry out its duty."


"If you want to build a plant, you can do that." Iran notified the agency a year before it was required to do so, he said, calling that "a really positive measure. We did something well beyond what was required."

Crap

     Maybe it wasn't as close at it felt, but the Obama adminitration has taken a dive on the question of justice in Israel.

     Please let this serve as an apology to WIIIAI and Eli for any flak I'd given them so far.  Today the administration is calling a UN report saying Israel committed war crimes "unfair."  I bet the people killed by these war crimes don't think its unfair.  I bet they don't think at all, anymore.

Is it racism, or is it coincidence?

     Rep. Addison "Joe" Wilson is a man who stands up for racism, so he's a racist.  I'm sure plenty of the people against Obama today are racists.  If you were a real racist, wouldn't you be?  Lots of the players on the right, leading these vitriolic protesters by the nose have no problems with race discrimination, it's crystal fucking clear when they talk about what "white" or "black" people do, are, or like.  Are "white" people one way, and "black" people another?

     But is it racism?  It's sore loserism.  Did you ever wonder why so many right-wingers latched onto the "Sore/Lieberman" campaign poster motif in 2000?  I certainly did, at the time.  I didn't feel like a sore loser, and I had been very happy to vote for Albert Gore, Jr.  Pat Buchanan knows those 3,000 votes in Palm Beach County were for Al Gore, Jr., everyone knew, but George Walker Bush, a man without honor, accepted the victory anyway. 

     So why did the Republicans latch onto the sore loser idea?  I feel now like the answer is that's how they'd feel.  It is clear that huge numbers of Republicans, although certainly not all, are bad sports.  Similarly, although less culpable, there isn't a responsible Republican in power willing to talk these people down.  There isn't a major media outlet willing to treat them with the same level of interest and scrutiny as the anti-Bush protesters.

     It's a topsy-turvy world, where the most insane and ludicrous of us all are commanding the most attention.

Joe Wilson Vote

     Like they do with some Code Pink and Anti-War activists, after making an entirely inappropriate outburst the correct response is to pick up Rep. Addison "Joe" Wilson bodily and throw him out of the hall.

     However, any law or rule that tells me, whether or not I am a member of Congress, that I can be punished for calling the President a liar is a terrible, terrible rule.  Bush lied.  Whether he knew it or not, he spread falsehoods.  Whether his intentions were as noble as can possibly be or not, he deceived the Congress and the American people.  That President was full of shit, and maybe if more members of Congress had said it, because we didn't have a rule against it, we wouldn't be in Iraq today.

You Know, This Is A Pretty Classy Apology

     Nothing like what that primitive Addison "Joe" Wilson (R-SC) provided.  In fact, his outburst was really only, at best, a half-truth.  Anti-immigrant words were in the bill, but there wasn't anything new in the way of enforcement.  It's a flat out lie to say that there would be no enforcement, since there are many, many Federal agents charged with handling fraud by illegal immigrants.  To prove Joe Wilson to be the gibbering idiot that he is, the Democrats changed the bill to add enforcement.  What sort of lesson did we learn?  Obama should have just shut that stupid mother fucker down the second he opened his fat, ignorant mouth.

Researcher and Video Artist Suggestion: More Appropriate Times for Joe Wilson to Yell "You Lie!"

     I'm sorry I'm so incompetent and ill-prepared for this, I'll practice some tonight, the idea is to put Joe Wilson yelling "You Lie!" after each of the following lies, of which the embedded video is just a reasonable, but not entirely exceptional example.  If anyone submits audio of lies I'll post them on my website, a page especially dedicated to the unedited audio and video of George Walker Bush administration lies to get Americans to go to war.

My #1 Issue I Have Comes To A Head:

"The opposition, led by Tzipi Livni, accused Netanyahu of trying to perform some sort of conjuring trick, trying to have a freeze and construction at the same time." -- Al-Jazeera

"The settlers of Judea and Samaria should ask themselves why the settlements are not being taken off the agenda. It's hard to find an issue that unites the entire world more than opposition to the settlements." -- Ha'Aretz

"Israel's decision to approve the construction of over 450 new settlement units nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when and if announced, will have," -- Saab Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator

     George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to the Middle East, will be back in Israel in a week.  Netanyahu plans to time his pseudo-freeze with the meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month. Mahmoud Abbas has said, as a result of the settlement announcement, he will not meet with Netanyahu on the side at the UN meeting.


     So, will Obama cut off the billions of aid America sends to Israel each year?  Will he cut off at least the billion dollars of the three billion that is military aid?  Only if he is better than all the U.S. Presidents before him since Lyndon Baines Johnson, all of whom did nothing.

How To Profit From A Random Stranger's Death

     If you were rich and powerful, and you stood to profit if lots of people died suddenly, what sort of decisions do you think you'd make about things like toxic waste dumps and war?  Wall St. wheeler/dealers have cooked up just such a scheme, I guess they want to find out, too.

     What Could Go Wrong?

The NY Times, Pollyannas to the end, it seems, don't even consider that it might be a bad idea to have the rich and powerful have a stake in the making sure poorer people die quickly.  Not even a flit on their fucking radar.

     Eliot Spitzer, like he was with sub-prime mortgages, was out ahead of this issue in 2006, since it turns out part of the business of convincing seniors to sell their life insurance policies has tons of opportunity for predatory behavior.

Socialist vs Socialism, There Is A Difference!

     In that, according to graphs I generated at Capitol Words, the word socialist has been bandied about with fairly constant frequency by politicians over the last seven years, while the word "socialism" is at its period peak:

Really?

     Really?  In 1909 Hitler played Lenin at chess?  Hitler's art teacher drew the event?  Both men who would become dictators signed the back?  It's coming up for auction?  Yes to all:




(h/t A Blog About History)

Josh's Life Advice for Young Adults: Learn a Foreign Language

     You basically cannot learn a foreign language after 16 as you can before.

     Which one should you learn?  Arabic or Farsi will help the most with world peace, which all of us are going to have to appreciate, at least a little.  French and Italian are the prettiest.  Spanish is the #2 language in America (where I suspect most of my readers reside).  Chinese is the most widely spoken language on Earth.  Latin and Greek both have special places in academia.  Sanskrit, if you consider Panini, is undeniably special.  Most of the Slavic languages are inter-intelligible, so if you learn Russian, you cover a lot of the world.  Or, you might consider learning German, just to read Hegel and Goethe in the original.

Josh's Diet Advice #1: Your Sense of Thirst

     I am lucky in that I work with some very smart people.  Scuttlebutt around the office is that the human sense of thirst is particularly indistinct, or poor.  What they say is that sometimes you feel hungry, you are actually thirsty, your body just isn't good at distinguishing it.

     So, each time you are hungry, drink a glass of water (6 ounces should do) and wait 15 minutes.  If you are still hungry, then eat.

Reporting a Rumor: Israeli Settlements

     By repeating this rumor, I'm helping fan the flames of aides to Bibi Netanyahu who are spreading the rumor that Netanyahu is going to approve more settlements.  According to the rumor, Netanyahu pretends he is open to a settlement freeze for six to nine months after he approves more settlements.  If true, and I have no insight, either way, this is the worst short term news for the prospect of peace on Earth I can imagine.

I suppose this is pretty cute, if simplistic (UPDATE 1)

UPDATE 1: Add second paragraph

     Are fire insurance and health insurance really that close?  Actually, if your house burns down, and you are a neighbor, it is a risk to my house, so my life, too.  Still, it is not a bad video

     Much better is this, longish interview about Japan's healthcare system

Leaving the Bar: The Draft

     Last evening, I had picked myself up around sunset, placed my glass on the bar, and headed out of the very crowded place.  Someone else was leaving right ahead of me, and so made a path which I could follow.  The only words I picked up amidst all the murmur was "What I hear is All That's Important Is the Draft."

The Morale of the CIA Interrogators

     Many people, but especially the violent extremist Richard Cheney, unindicted Iraq War co-conspirator and former Vice President of the United States, have said that the morale of the CIA could be threatened by investigations of allegations of torture and abuse of people in their custody, and in the custory of the military of the United States.

     I say these people have got it completely backwards.

     Now, to be fair, if you are a criminal, and you are investigated, your morale is going to suffer, but I'm not terribly concerned about that lot, are you?  And, regrettably, since investigations have certainly gone wrong in the past, there will probably people who are innocent, but who have powerful bosses, or scumbag coworkers that will finger them to shift the blame.  Well, these people who were close to all the action, their morale will suffer, too, and, as I said, this is regrettable.  So, yes, the morale of the criminals and the people near them will suffer.

     But I'd like you to put yourselves in the suit of a good CIA interrogator, a decent person, a decent human being.  I'd like you to imagine that you never threatened to have someone's mother raped, that you never attached electrodes to a detainee's gonads, and that you didn't force them to sit in their own shit for 72 hours, or even one day.  If you can't do this, if you can't imagine being a human being, then you'd might as well stop reading this, since the rest of this won't make any sense to you at all.

     Now, from what I've heard, and this is based on the most recent information, there is no evidence whatsoever that serial fabulator Richard Cheney was correct when he said torture led to a stopped terrorist attack.  None, zippo, nada.

     So, you were the good interrogator, the human being, and you got your intelligence according to the rules, and some other interrogator broke the rules, and enjoyed beating people when no one was looking, and torturing people just because they were the enemy, not because there was any good intelligence to be had, and they are getting off scot free. 

     Well, I ask you, what's that going to do to your morale? 

     Hey, the guy who just beat you in the 50 meter dash is doping, but we are letting him off the hook, because we don't want to look backwards.  Hey, the cop who just arrested you planted evidence, but we wouldn't want to investigate because it might demoralize the police.  Hey, that politician just took Florida knowing full well the intent of 3,000 voters in Palm Beach County was to vote for Gore.  Look forward, not backwards, my son.

     In fact, it doesn't take a supra-genius to see that almost all criminal investigations are an exercise in looking backwards, mostly because we rarely ever prosecute people for murder unless someone has actually, and in the past, been wrongfully deceased.

     But to hear Dick Cheney, a man wanted by some in the NSA for his crimes, you'd think investigating crimes is un-American.

     It's easy to write off Cheney as "evil" or "batshit loony" but there might be a more reasonable explanation. My guess is that he feels very conflicted over his desires to rape people he keeps chained in his backyard.  My guess is that he believes that it is OK when we do it, because we are the good guys, and we'll always be the good guys, even if we have to keep you chained in the backyard and rape you to prove it.

Middle East Peace Beginnings: Still Up In The Air

     Long story short, Miami Casino billionaire Irving Moskowitz's second attempt to move right-wing, ultra-nationalist Israelis into Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem has an administrative decision "pending."  Last time it was 20 units, and apparently sanity won and the permits were denied.  This time it is 200 units.

     Obama administration, do not let brainwashed, Miami casino owners stop your as yet, completely successful attempts to make space for a new Middle East peace by preventing any new settlements.

Who's Not Embarrassed for Washington Week in Review?

     What's the first question on PBS's "Washington Week in Review" concerning health care reform?  "Will we see Michelle Obama get involved in the push for health care?"

Schadenfreude: Glenn Beck Shown To Be Biting Self, Via Daily Show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Charter Schools Help Divide America

President Obama's Education Secretary is a Charter Schools booster.  Sigh.

The NY Times Gets One Right

     I've been the NY Times website homepage only a few times in the last few years but I went yesterday, and what did I find, on the front page, top left, but this piece calling the stories about "death panels" "false rumors."  Sarah Palin wrote that the currently proposed legislation includes provisions for a government panel that decides whether people live or die.  They might even have killed her own son, Trig, for his abnormalities, she wrote!

     It's bullshit, but that hasn't stopped quite a few people from repeating the claim, or just using the term "death panel" without defining it.  The inestimable Bob Somerby covers the NY Times piece.  He even embarrasses me, though not by name, because I must have some power, and I feel like I've done precious little to stop the degradation of the public debate.  So, with that in mind, I'll comment on an ancillary piece of garbage that Bob brings up, Charles Lane's op-ed Undue Influence: The House Bill Skews End-of-Life Counsel, which, it turns out, Bob had suggested people wrestle with the day it was written.

     I don't have much patience for garbage, and I didn't even finish the article before I saw what Lane had done.  We are talking about catastrophe care.  Do you want doctors to leap tall buildings to save you if you will never recover, say, brain function?  If you've already been hit by a bus and are lying in a coma, it is too late to ask, so, of late, people have been encouraged to put their will down on paper.  This is often called an "advance directive."

     Section 1233 of H.R. 3200 is, I must say, quite explicit about what should be discussed when a doctor and patient have a discussion about, while being vague about such things as key questions (highlighted in orange) that a doctor must ask a patient to consider.  Lane is being fair when he points that out.  Lane makes a couple small boob moves, along with his amazing absurdity, and when he says that a doctor might think to offer the Roman Catholic Church or Dr. Jack Kevorkian as a "resources" to help with end-of-life planning.  Does your local Archdiocese provide such information?  They might.  If they did, would you want this information hidden from you?  Probably not.  Would a doctor be obeying this law if they provided a list that only included a local Church?  Definitely not, since the bill explicitly mandates the minimum list the doctor might provide (highlighted with blue in three places).

     One other lame move of Chuck's is his link to the full 1000 page PDF version of the bill, instead of something handy, like I provided above and again here.  And yet another is when he writes this piece of innuendo "If Section 1233 is innocuous, why would 'strategists' want to tip-toe around the subject?"  Strategists, a word which does not require quotes, have strategies, and if they told you what they were, they wouldn't be very good at being strategists.  Guess all you want, but if a strategist says they are doing something, that's probably part of the strategy, too.

     The real inexcusable insult to my intelligence in Chuck's logic comes when he tries to explain how a provision to fund consultations on advance directives might result in people signing away health care when they didn't want to, pressured by doctors to do so.  Section 1233 is "not totally innocuous" he writes.  He says that now doctors have an financial incentive to initiate conversations with patients concerning end-of-life care.  As closely as I can read the text of the legislation, I can't find anything that resembles a change in in the law concerning who might initiate a consultation, which makes me think Chuck is just making shit up, but I can pretend that I am reading the magic version of the bill that Chuck is, in order that I may shove this little tidbit down his reality-pipe.  If a doctor starts encouraging people to sign up for consultations, paid for by government, in order to make a buck, why on Earth would that same doctor recommend that the patient refuse catastrophe care?  There is no money to be made in letting a brain-dead, accident victim die.  A doctor only makes money keeping people alive.  Doctors have a financial incentive, except when it comes to making money, according to the Chuck Lane.  Does this guy have an editor?  If not, why not?

     This absurdity let's Chuck mock Representatives Blumenauer and Levin.  He doesn't forward any arguments by the Representatives, or anyone else, that 1233 doesn't do what he says it does, he just quotes people contradicting him and says they aren't being "realistic."

     Yes, please, fire, or at least demote, Chuck Lane, thank you.

The Pashtun

     Since I am always pointing people to these two articles, I should make them easier to find!

• The beginnings of the Taliban.  This was written by an ex-Soviet Central Asia/Caucasus specialst in 2001.  Turkmenistan never gets mentioned anymore, but they were there are the beginning.
  
• The Taliban == The Pashtun.  I think it is important to point out that the "Taliban" are a co-extensive with the Pashtun language community.  It makes strategizing much easier, once you know it.

Honest and Forthright, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

     Lots of Federal Reserve bank conspiracy theory nuts out there, but that's not me.  I was wondering who sits on the boards of the regional banks, and the first regional bank that popped up was my own local Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  Follow that link and you'll see there are three classes of boardmembers, and three in each class.  The first class is those voted in by the member banks to represent the member banks, the second class are voted in by the member banks to represent the public, and the third group is voted in by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. 
     Right now, there are two board seats vacant, both of those appointed by member banks to represent the public.  They do have one seated, though, and that is Jeffrey R. Immelt, the Chairman and CEO of General Electric.  Does anyone else think he's a real public advocate?  If so, could you show me any evidence of this?  Isn't it GE which refuses to clean up the mess they made in the Hudson River?  Update! It looks like, after thirty years, GE has decided to clean up the Hudson, at least partially.  Don't you worry, even if this guy oversees a company which refuses to clean up millions of pounds of cancer-causing chemicals from our Rivers, he is looking out for the public.

America is Right of Center, More Conservative than Europe

     I'm sure you've all heard that and, whatever the reason, for good or ill, it is true. 
     Well, if not Europe, what countries are about as conservative as America, and who is more conservative than us? 
     Let's use one metric, "religious/traditional" versus "rational/secular."  According to one of the largest surveys in the world, America is about as traditional as India, Poland, Vietnam and Northern Ireland.  We come out a bit more rational/secular than Turkey, Portugal, Indonesia, Chile or Argentina, and a bit more traditional/religious than Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Croatia, Spain and Australia.  The most traditional?  El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Tanzania and Morocco.  The most secular/rational?  Japan, Sweden, Norway, E. and W. Germany (these polls started when they were two countries) and the Czech Republic. 
(link)

I Was So Ignorant!

     The cop did not violate the law when he arrested Professor Gates.  Professor Gates was injuring the Officer's pride, so the Officer lured him outside where his, well, rants, would be a punishable offense.  The cop tricked the citizen.

     As I wrote before, "disorderly conduct" must be done in a public place, or where the public could become alarmed.  Now, on the face of it, there is no chance any of would be disturbed to the degree that we'd be inclined to call the police if we were to hear Professor Gates yell.  The cop, however, knew that wasn't important.

     Professor Gates was wrong to lose his composure, and not to insult the (almost certainly at least a little, aren't we all?) racist police officer with a raised voice, but to call him "Boy," "Stooge," or even "Fascist," in a calm cool voice, as if he ran the plantation, as if the Police Officer were his servant, a servant of the public, the public of which Professor Gates is a member.  If the cop acted in a racist way (and we'll never know quite for sure), then that may well have been within reason.

     But by raising his voice, Professor Gates opened up a possibility.  In your home you can call a police officer anything you want, and act in any "tumultous" way you desire, and talk about the Officer's family, too.  But on the street, you can't yell like that.

     So, ask yourselves, why did the officer ask Gates out of his home if not to entrap him?  Certainly he had broken no law so far.  Why did Gates act so immaturely and yell, instead of with dignity and disdain, if one poor slob didn't treat him with the respect he felt he deserved?

Where There Could Be A Consensus On National Health Insurance

     Communicable diseases are of special interest to all the citizens of a Republic.  Whether you have nothing, or are among the wealthiest people in the world, you have an interest in the detection and treatment of communicable diseases in the people around you. 

     In New York City in the first decade of the last century, Typhoid Mary infected more than 50 people that she came in contact with as a cook.  Poorer people generally both fill the service roles that wealthier people use, and, it can be imagined, are less willing to visit a doctor if they suspect they might be ill.  This is because they can't afford it, and they can't afford to lose their wages if they are sick and their illness forces them to be quarantined for any length of time.

     It is self-interest that none of are infected by the people around us, and we don't even care if the person doing the infecting is here in this country without documentation.

     It might be an issue whether or not STDs are covered.  That all STDs can be transmitted through other means suggests that they should be.  In addition, for good or ill, it is clear that most people share some risk.  Ironically, recent history has found some of the loudest critics of this state of affairs engaging in the behavior which puts us all at risk.

     As a general rule, it is also in all of our interests to be treated for communicable diseases.  People with health insurance mostly are already.

Obama Was Close, Cop Arresting Gates IgnorantAbusing His Power (UPDATE 2)

UPDATE 1: Added final paragraph.
UPDATE 2: Please ignore this post, it has been superseded by this one.

     Here's a case from the Massachusetts Supreme Court, Commonwealth v Joseph Mulvey, which says that disorderly conduct must occur in public to be an offense.  From the synopsis:

At the trial of a criminal complaint charging disorderly conduct in violation of G. L. c. 272, s. 53, there was insufficient evidence to prove the public element of the offense, and the judge therefore erred in denying the defendant's motion for a required finding of not guilty, where the defendant's conduct took place on purely private property, and the Commonwealth failed to establish that the disturbance had or was likely to have had an impact upon persons in an area accessible to the public. [582-585]

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     Thanks to Adam Winkler for cluing me into Commonwealth v Lopiano which cites Mulvey.  Thanks to Time magazine for publishing the same thing.

     The WSJ has a poll which shows fully 27% of Americans think Professor Gates was at fault.  Therefore we should recognize the media's role in this, muddling the issue.  In addition, the Chief of Police in Cambridge, in a public press conference, says that they shouldn't have dropped the charges, showing that he, too, is ignorant.

The Current Health Care Proposal - McCain-Hannity interview

     Sean Hannity interviewed John McCain concerning the health insurance bill before Congress.  They agreed that raising taxes right now, during a bad recession, is a bad idea.  The current proposal, if passed, will result in roughly 22% of small businesses paying for something they didn't have to before, either a new tax or health care.  It makes sense to me to amend the bill to waive this tax for the first year, or at least until a figure like GDP per capita starts increasing again.

As someone else wrote:

     The whole concept of employer based health care should be scrapped.  It [i]s an artifact of an attempt to get around a loophole in a price control schem[e six] decades ago.  It kind of made sense when people worked for the same company for 30 years, which isn't the situation today.