In October of 2008 I stated that I didn't think that the spending would create jobs in the real economy.
When the shovel ready projects seemed to be road construction dollars and grants to the states to offset real estate shortfalls the question has become, where are the jobs? And nobody takes for granted their job is secure.
I really think that it was unrealistic to expect jobs to accrue from stimulus spending unless that spending is targeted outside of existing channels of the economy.
Specifically I believe that you can stimulate an economy by say creating more ship building jobs of a type that have not been built as an example a corvette that is not currently being built by an existing company in an existing shipyard, the spending creates new jobs and interjects competition into the industry in smaller yards or new locations. These would be new jobs.
or..
Investment in green energy creation where actual mega watts are produced, ergo.. the availability of electricty would lower costs in markets where you could target say an area.. Detroit are and bring on allot of wind and lower the costs in that market.. where lower energy costs could be parlayed into a manufacturing advantage and create new jobs.
But the real issue is this Where's my bubble dude?
In short I'm not surprised that the stimulus did not do anything more than prevent systemic default and a break the buck run on money markets. That said I still supported it. I was critical of France of Germany for not doing more in their stimulus and the results?
OECD Cuts 2009 German GDP Forecast, Warns On Jobless Rise
The point is this, that exporting labor to low cost economies is a pump and dump policy in economics at the macro level, candidly unless there is not an increase in cosumer purchasing in China or other labor intensive nations, then there will be no recovery for quite some time.
The Bubble is not returning and the retreat on interest rates this last week has not convinced me that inflation is a certainty and that another leg down in the larger economy is not possible (if not probable.)
But uless there is "new job creation" attempting to stimulate the old economy will not prove fruitful unless the goal is to inject enough liquidity for settlement in a deflationar cycle.
As a new job creation effort I think to a satement by an individual who held up his cellphone and stated: When I first bought my wife one of these it cost a thousand dollars, was the size of brick, had limited coverage, and the pundits said the public didn't want them. He then suggested that solar energy needed the same innovation.. I agree *see woolsey previous blog
As a new job creation I think of a company doing market research and determining that nobody wants a personal computer. Honeywell releases the H316 "Kitchen Computer", the first home computer, priced at US$10,600 in the Neiman Marcus catalog. Xerox announces that it will create a computer laboratory to research digital technology. (The resulting laboratory, PARC, will develop many personal computer technologies, but fail to bring them to market.) and of course... BILL GATES makes a fortune... Bill Gates's dream: A computer in every home
I happen to agree with a pretty intelligent guy who unequivocally states: Unless we can get solar on every home, make the technology ubiquitous, the markets we have known in the past are unlikely to occur again.
Dirty fact.. the stimulus money went to states to meet the tax shortfalls from falling real estate taxes and the capital gains from an asset bubble on Wallstreet, both these bubbles.. created the illusion of wealth and via poor regulation created the scenario we have today.
There is few real options to create "new jobs."
I suggest setting aside some money for a reward/prize in an innovation contest connected with solar.. or if that fails.. start some small ship building cuz we are chock full of real estate currently...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Supreme Leader is a supreme Taco
In order not to undermine a religion it is best to have a seperation of Church and State. The Supreme Leader is a good example of this. The Supreme Leader is now a supreme Taco. He has become very worldly..... the quote from Koresh is appropo, both became "very worldly." Nothing better for a religious leader to do than stand contrary to facts.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I tried as hard as I could but the Iranian demonstrators didn't listen
Some of the best reporting I have seen on the topic is done by http://opensourcegeopolitics.blogspot.com/. While I'm a agnostic of histoorical interpretation I typically want to point out aside from primary sources and texts it is hard to generalize about Iran now. I almost balk at the comparrison with the Endlish Civil War due to a close examination of the reasoning behind the contemporary writtings.
Russell was a prominent historian on the origins of the English Civil War. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979), Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). His work on early Stuart Parliaments was profoundly influenced by the work of Alan Everitt, who had argued that the English gentry were preoccupied with defending their positions in the localities rather than responding to the demands of the Crown. This no longer seems entirely plausible in the light of the work done by Richard Cust, Peter Lake and Christopher Thompson. Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of long term constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1642 and in the context of the problems of the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, a hypothesis for which he was indebted to the pioneering study of H.G.Koenigsberger. This area is still being explored by historians like John Adamson and David Scott even if their detailed conclusions vary from those reached by Russell.
wiki
The point is this, most of the people during the English Civil war were ILLITERATE! They did not have a notion of the Parliament rules or structures, giving ordinary Americans a game show question on the US government or geometry demonstrates the awareness if you will the difference between the educated political animal ascribing events and that of the members of the crowd.
It would be conveneint to say that the slogan "remember the alamo" or that George Wahington tossed a dollar over the potomac were pivotal moments in US history, they were not!
Not only has Iran done a poor job of responding to the crisis by blaming the US for it.. a hallmark of the belief that Al Gore invented the internet, or the myoptic view that only governments get stuff done.. but the US press has been poor in explaining what is happening in Iran.
That is why good sources and sound reasoning are valuable.
Now I think Fruede ascribes much more intelligensia to the crowd (mod) than is warranted.. I think there is a sense of change in the air.. a unexplainable "Zeitgeist" that westerners don't get.
I mean looking back to 2003 and the US push to war, I see people at USNI arguing over the cause/reasoning of the war and that was only five years ago..
There is no reasoning in the crowd of parliamentary issues.. it is a "Zeitgeist" of change where the institutions of the Iranian government either stand up to the people expectations of respnsiveness or they do not.
I see no winner unless there is a secondary election, where the votes are all really counted, where the "Zeitgeist" is that there was a fair election, else the institutions of governmet take a credibility hit.. that simple.
There is a "Zeitgeist" that the US cannot influence, that the Iranian institutions cannot influence, that only a fair election can settle.
I guess what gets me is that Persians are not Arabs.. and there has been many statements that Arabs can't do democracy... are incapable of it.
Seems to me Persians have a deeply rooted sense of democracy, and the "Zeitgeist" is that that the democracy has been ignored.
Laughably there has been more demonstrations in Iran that in the US between Gore AND Bush..
So really the US media has had this wrong..
Nobody in Iran tuning into CNN or FOX to get the message to dress in black, wear green, or march in silence...
The "Zeitgeist" just demanded it.
Finally at 7:50 6/18 the US press states the patently obvious:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2nLN4ZQox1u86JhXYpCrPFQsK2QD98TCSG80
Neither countries press much to brag about, no wonder fish wrapper sales are down
Russell was a prominent historian on the origins of the English Civil War. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979), Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). His work on early Stuart Parliaments was profoundly influenced by the work of Alan Everitt, who had argued that the English gentry were preoccupied with defending their positions in the localities rather than responding to the demands of the Crown. This no longer seems entirely plausible in the light of the work done by Richard Cust, Peter Lake and Christopher Thompson. Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of long term constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1642 and in the context of the problems of the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, a hypothesis for which he was indebted to the pioneering study of H.G.Koenigsberger. This area is still being explored by historians like John Adamson and David Scott even if their detailed conclusions vary from those reached by Russell.
wiki
The point is this, most of the people during the English Civil war were ILLITERATE! They did not have a notion of the Parliament rules or structures, giving ordinary Americans a game show question on the US government or geometry demonstrates the awareness if you will the difference between the educated political animal ascribing events and that of the members of the crowd.
It would be conveneint to say that the slogan "remember the alamo" or that George Wahington tossed a dollar over the potomac were pivotal moments in US history, they were not!
Not only has Iran done a poor job of responding to the crisis by blaming the US for it.. a hallmark of the belief that Al Gore invented the internet, or the myoptic view that only governments get stuff done.. but the US press has been poor in explaining what is happening in Iran.
That is why good sources and sound reasoning are valuable.
Now I think Fruede ascribes much more intelligensia to the crowd (mod) than is warranted.. I think there is a sense of change in the air.. a unexplainable "Zeitgeist" that westerners don't get.
I mean looking back to 2003 and the US push to war, I see people at USNI arguing over the cause/reasoning of the war and that was only five years ago..
There is no reasoning in the crowd of parliamentary issues.. it is a "Zeitgeist" of change where the institutions of the Iranian government either stand up to the people expectations of respnsiveness or they do not.
I see no winner unless there is a secondary election, where the votes are all really counted, where the "Zeitgeist" is that there was a fair election, else the institutions of governmet take a credibility hit.. that simple.
There is a "Zeitgeist" that the US cannot influence, that the Iranian institutions cannot influence, that only a fair election can settle.
I guess what gets me is that Persians are not Arabs.. and there has been many statements that Arabs can't do democracy... are incapable of it.
Seems to me Persians have a deeply rooted sense of democracy, and the "Zeitgeist" is that that the democracy has been ignored.
Laughably there has been more demonstrations in Iran that in the US between Gore AND Bush..
So really the US media has had this wrong..
Nobody in Iran tuning into CNN or FOX to get the message to dress in black, wear green, or march in silence...
The "Zeitgeist" just demanded it.
Finally at 7:50 6/18 the US press states the patently obvious:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2nLN4ZQox1u86JhXYpCrPFQsK2QD98TCSG80
Neither countries press much to brag about, no wonder fish wrapper sales are down
Allegations of US meddling in the Iranian election
The allegations of US meddling in Iranian elections are the best proof yet that the Iranian government is unconnected to the crowds. It is the best proof yet that the demonstrations have at the core real grievances, a government unconnected with reality and the people.
The assertion that hundreds of thousands of people inside Iran are acting as a consequence of US "meddling" or influence seems to dismiss facts in a manner where it underscores the complete lack of accountability by that government to the people, as if the government could make an assertionn completely unconnected with the facts, and that was a satisfactory response.
Not only is the assertion laughable in the US and western society, ridiculed in the press, and certainly a feat that is not tactically possible by the US or even Iran for that fact.. it is also laughable in Iran itself.
The allegtion itself is the best indicator to date that the government is no longer responsive. I think that the demonstrations will prevail and a real change is at hand, if not immediately then soon, as responses such as blaming the US for a lack of responsiveness and reform internally is the last desperate act of denial of change at hand.
How unconnected is the Iranian leadership? When hundreds of thousand Iranians protest, they blame the outsider... they are incapable of an honest dialouge internally to address the issues of change. That inability to change is the definition of their numbered days.
Here is my attempt to meddle in Iran, hey.. please all protesters march in Iran with a loaf of bread on your head... lets see if these people march en masse per my request or if they march on their own?
The Iranian government is unconnected to reality.
The ignoring of facts does not of course change them.
Here are the facts, the US is incapable of doing what the Iranian government states, and the reasons of the protests are not being acknowledged, but instead ignored.
So get the popcorn, ignoring people is the best way to motivate them, they will drive the point home if you fail to hear it.
The protests will become increasingly larger.
The assertion that hundreds of thousands of people inside Iran are acting as a consequence of US "meddling" or influence seems to dismiss facts in a manner where it underscores the complete lack of accountability by that government to the people, as if the government could make an assertionn completely unconnected with the facts, and that was a satisfactory response.
Not only is the assertion laughable in the US and western society, ridiculed in the press, and certainly a feat that is not tactically possible by the US or even Iran for that fact.. it is also laughable in Iran itself.
The allegtion itself is the best indicator to date that the government is no longer responsive. I think that the demonstrations will prevail and a real change is at hand, if not immediately then soon, as responses such as blaming the US for a lack of responsiveness and reform internally is the last desperate act of denial of change at hand.
How unconnected is the Iranian leadership? When hundreds of thousand Iranians protest, they blame the outsider... they are incapable of an honest dialouge internally to address the issues of change. That inability to change is the definition of their numbered days.
Here is my attempt to meddle in Iran, hey.. please all protesters march in Iran with a loaf of bread on your head... lets see if these people march en masse per my request or if they march on their own?
The Iranian government is unconnected to reality.
The ignoring of facts does not of course change them.
Here are the facts, the US is incapable of doing what the Iranian government states, and the reasons of the protests are not being acknowledged, but instead ignored.
So get the popcorn, ignoring people is the best way to motivate them, they will drive the point home if you fail to hear it.
The protests will become increasingly larger.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Snatch and Dash! Stolen election in Iran
In this full video of a denial of the crime by the looter and thug Ahmedinejad he asserts to have stolen at least 63.4 per cent of the vote! But notice the truth semantics, notice the head movement left-to-right repeatedly, the neck muscles tense, and the structure of the statements.
He stole the election fair and legal.... so of course he must shut down the internet..
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Looking Forward
Putting aside the Hermit Kingdom's oddities, we are now faced with an aging dictator who has to at the end of life admidt invalidated life ideals or act in a manner unexplainable by many.
I'm not sure if this is a calculation on the Hermit's part that China will not enforce any measures, or a design of the Hermit to increase aid when Taiwan and Japan reinitiate shelved tehcnology to create their own arsenals
The dead enders act this way..
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Looking back
I had to take a look back to see what Von Brunn had to say.
http://web.archive.org/web/*sa_/http://www.holywesternempire.org/
I guess the meds were needed when he tried to perform a citizen arrest of the federal reserve. And I guess I wondered about the narcissism expressed with a failed life?
narcissism
A person that is only concerned with their wants and needs and is a me me me person. They will do whatever is necessary, lie, cheat, steal, kill, to achieve their goals for their own personal elevation and satisfaction. In other words, they do whatever is necessary to get what they want and will walk over or destroy anyone to achieve this purpose. They are without conscience.
I wonder if the Narcissistic personality disorder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will evoke a similar act? Failed ideas or political theory, old age, and narcissim.
I held off on Kim Jong-il and the topic awaiting progress in a rational approach to this situation. To see that Russia and China got serious about the circumstance underlies their ability to see the world rationally.
But what of the narcissistic personality disorder? Ignore it? When it gets politcal it is like the Jim Jones' Jonestown operation. I'll make a prediction, not on an election but another political event.. Kim Jong-il drags North Korea into the deep end of the Koolaid and the fallout will be on the entire region.
That religous mind set, political intolerance, really.. truly the narcissistic personality disorder will result in millions of North Koreans dying from a nuclear response.
And look at the facts.. you have to take these people at their word, and we don't because we confuse our empathy and humanity with their ability to discern and make judgements and decisions when that capability is absent.
At an old age these types are dangerous and the narcissistic personality disorder fatal.
While the Sr. members of the security council could make a rare concensus on security, I nonetheless feel that they under estimate the circumstances. And that is the real fatal mistake.
Yep.. meds were needed when he tried to perform a citizen arrest of the federal reserve. What does it take to get the attention these people crave?
http://web.archive.org/web/*sa_/http://www.holywesternempire.org/
I guess the meds were needed when he tried to perform a citizen arrest of the federal reserve. And I guess I wondered about the narcissism expressed with a failed life?
narcissism
A person that is only concerned with their wants and needs and is a me me me person. They will do whatever is necessary, lie, cheat, steal, kill, to achieve their goals for their own personal elevation and satisfaction. In other words, they do whatever is necessary to get what they want and will walk over or destroy anyone to achieve this purpose. They are without conscience.
I wonder if the Narcissistic personality disorder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will evoke a similar act? Failed ideas or political theory, old age, and narcissim.
I held off on Kim Jong-il and the topic awaiting progress in a rational approach to this situation. To see that Russia and China got serious about the circumstance underlies their ability to see the world rationally.
But what of the narcissistic personality disorder? Ignore it? When it gets politcal it is like the Jim Jones' Jonestown operation. I'll make a prediction, not on an election but another political event.. Kim Jong-il drags North Korea into the deep end of the Koolaid and the fallout will be on the entire region.
That religous mind set, political intolerance, really.. truly the narcissistic personality disorder will result in millions of North Koreans dying from a nuclear response.
And look at the facts.. you have to take these people at their word, and we don't because we confuse our empathy and humanity with their ability to discern and make judgements and decisions when that capability is absent.
At an old age these types are dangerous and the narcissistic personality disorder fatal.
While the Sr. members of the security council could make a rare concensus on security, I nonetheless feel that they under estimate the circumstances. And that is the real fatal mistake.
Yep.. meds were needed when he tried to perform a citizen arrest of the federal reserve. What does it take to get the attention these people crave?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A recurring theme
The economic downturn is making the world less safe.
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/news/134/3rd-annual-global-peace-index-points-to-economic-crisis-as-main-cause-of-decline-in-peacefulness/
An Estimated US$4.8 Trillion Could be Added to Global Economy if World Became More Peaceful
New Zealand World's Most Peaceful Country, United States Climbs Six Spots to 83rd Place
Bosnia & Herzegovina Most Improved; Moves Up 23 Places
Madagascar Sees Biggest Fall; Drops 30 Spots
I recall Jeff Stein poo pooing the DNI Global Trends reports that performed analysis on this topic, then he poo poo's a lack of a strategy or focus of US intel. I think that an emphasis on economics and the social impacts of economics will dominate the future.
I have wondered what metric could be wrapped around the issue of the economy and violence and have come to the conclusion that the nominal cost of energy is reflected through the social prism. What I find curious is a lack of a sense of urgency to create a transformational electric grid infratsucture that would provide national security, provide a framework for growth, and promote peace. As I consider the political will of the handling of GM where loans were made to 'prevent' bankruptcy where that result was baked-into the numbers, I see the cost of inaction of creating a national electrical grid delayed much more expensive.
The lack of this grid will produce a compound interest in a misery index. If GM can launch VOLT would we be able to support it?
The obvious is always the most difficult. Never underestimate the human capacity to see the truth, and yet again the ability to ignore it.
GM is bankrupt; I'm shocked... National energy grid delayed...
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/news/134/3rd-annual-global-peace-index-points-to-economic-crisis-as-main-cause-of-decline-in-peacefulness/
An Estimated US$4.8 Trillion Could be Added to Global Economy if World Became More Peaceful
New Zealand World's Most Peaceful Country, United States Climbs Six Spots to 83rd Place
Bosnia & Herzegovina Most Improved; Moves Up 23 Places
Madagascar Sees Biggest Fall; Drops 30 Spots
I recall Jeff Stein poo pooing the DNI Global Trends reports that performed analysis on this topic, then he poo poo's a lack of a strategy or focus of US intel. I think that an emphasis on economics and the social impacts of economics will dominate the future.
I have wondered what metric could be wrapped around the issue of the economy and violence and have come to the conclusion that the nominal cost of energy is reflected through the social prism. What I find curious is a lack of a sense of urgency to create a transformational electric grid infratsucture that would provide national security, provide a framework for growth, and promote peace. As I consider the political will of the handling of GM where loans were made to 'prevent' bankruptcy where that result was baked-into the numbers, I see the cost of inaction of creating a national electrical grid delayed much more expensive.
The lack of this grid will produce a compound interest in a misery index. If GM can launch VOLT would we be able to support it?
The obvious is always the most difficult. Never underestimate the human capacity to see the truth, and yet again the ability to ignore it.
GM is bankrupt; I'm shocked... National energy grid delayed...
Friday, May 29, 2009
A civil responsible and serious discussion on energy.
Christine Todd Whitman, James Woolsey, John Podesta and Karen Harbert recently debated energy policy and focused on the pros and cons of nuclear energy at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
I was channel flipping and caught this debate. I think a search of dee illuminati would find that I have always been appreciative of James Woolsey and Christine Whitman. What impressed me was that the two sides were essentially advocating the same goals.
I guess what was really different about the discussion is that it is so unlike what we consume on TV as news or what is politicized. Consider when Ann Coulter degenerates into her tourette syndrome attacks, where when she leaps off subject and just makes a statement that leaves you wondering if that crazed look in her eyes is an act? You appreciate a rational republican position, you like and trust Christine Todd Whitman. On energy, Woolsey doesnt need an introduction and mentioned "Peak Oil."
The irony of course is that there was oncensus on so many points when psychotic politicians are absent.
Worth catching and the link has a stream and download.
And the winner of the debate?? The audience, they were treated as adults instead of being fed WWF wrestling.
It is a damn shame these two don't run together for office
I was channel flipping and caught this debate. I think a search of dee illuminati would find that I have always been appreciative of James Woolsey and Christine Whitman. What impressed me was that the two sides were essentially advocating the same goals.
I guess what was really different about the discussion is that it is so unlike what we consume on TV as news or what is politicized. Consider when Ann Coulter degenerates into her tourette syndrome attacks, where when she leaps off subject and just makes a statement that leaves you wondering if that crazed look in her eyes is an act? You appreciate a rational republican position, you like and trust Christine Todd Whitman. On energy, Woolsey doesnt need an introduction and mentioned "Peak Oil."
The irony of course is that there was oncensus on so many points when psychotic politicians are absent.
Worth catching and the link has a stream and download.
And the winner of the debate?? The audience, they were treated as adults instead of being fed WWF wrestling.
It is a damn shame these two don't run together for office
Monday, May 25, 2009
My Daddy blah blah is afraid of prosecution
This is why nepotism and torture doesn't work. I picked up both speeches on Thursday from C-span. I believe that the POTUS has handled the issue about as well as could be handled and that the reservations about a "lack of a plan" are a political red herring.
I will await the next election and attempt to ask as many Republicans as possible to support or repudiate the former VP's assertions about torture.
This clip pretty much sums up my previous posts.. nepotism and war crimes. Not pretty is it?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Obama auto emmisions and efficiency controls
"The status quo is no longer acceptable," Obama said in an announcement that will pressure carmakers to transform and modernize the industry to produce more efficient vehicles. Barack Obama
Indeed the status quo is no longer applicable.
Plateau theory drives Total to oil sands
As I read the news I follow the news that matters, the policy that matters, and the facts behind modern economics. I follow oil in all it's permutations.
I liked the title: America’s Energy Future: The National Security Risks of Business as Usual
I feel a sense of urgency on this issue, and if the American people are called to responsible action will respond. The segment "A Direct Appeal" in the report must be made.
I feel that the auto emmisions standard was the beginning of this appeal and that this is the right direction.
This lifelong Republican calls that "change we can believe in."
I'm optomistic that after we perform allot of floundering about and allot of unnecessary pain as a culture western society will make the required changes... I just want to see those changes made as quickly and smootly as possible.
Our consumption habits and lifestyles must change pretty rapidly, it is as if this generation might be looked back upon as the 'greatest generation' not for what we asked of others, but what we offered of ourseleves.
This legislation should have passed years ago, it is a good day.
Indeed the status quo is no longer applicable.
Plateau theory drives Total to oil sands
As I read the news I follow the news that matters, the policy that matters, and the facts behind modern economics. I follow oil in all it's permutations.
I liked the title: America’s Energy Future: The National Security Risks of Business as Usual
I feel a sense of urgency on this issue, and if the American people are called to responsible action will respond. The segment "A Direct Appeal" in the report must be made.
I feel that the auto emmisions standard was the beginning of this appeal and that this is the right direction.
This lifelong Republican calls that "change we can believe in."
I'm optomistic that after we perform allot of floundering about and allot of unnecessary pain as a culture western society will make the required changes... I just want to see those changes made as quickly and smootly as possible.
Our consumption habits and lifestyles must change pretty rapidly, it is as if this generation might be looked back upon as the 'greatest generation' not for what we asked of others, but what we offered of ourseleves.
This legislation should have passed years ago, it is a good day.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Summing up the issue? Or prelude to an investigation?
There has been many books written after the congressional hearings into the "intel failure" that lead to the Iraq war. I see a trend; no matter what the fact: CIA is the dumping spot of the politicians. There is one thing to be learned here beyond the allegations and that is that intelligence is not a craft, science, or a programme but instead an art of politics.
I think the "facts be damned" and that it is the general rule that you stick your finger in the air, get a sense of which way the wind is blowing, and then create a product that reflects that concensus.
I often posted about the book by Hoffer the The True Believer. In that book there is a segment about the "after effects" of mass movements. In essence the identifying trend of a mass movement is that it is repudiated and the organizers of the movement "consumed" to use Hoffers words by the movement.
Why is that important? It is that society has a genetic drive to make sense of these events. And in history we do so. This whole issue is like a live-time unfolding Hoffer mass movement. And the fallout is still unknown.
It is a opportunity for education if one has the capacity to view it objectively.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
"Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened,"
Quote: Leon Panetta
I posted on this topic previously, this issue is not going away.
Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of fantasies about the vice president," she said on ABC's "This Week."
I think that Liz is responding to the assertions:
[E]ven when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.
And the story:
THE ISLAMIST terrorist who was the key source of the false intelligence used to trigger the US and UK 2003 military invasion of Iraq has been found dead in a Libyan prison cell.
Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi allegedly commited suicide by hanging in the prison where he was being held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. His death followed a visit by a team from Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.
The al-Libi affair opens a window on an extraordinarily close espionage link that existed between the government of the former US president, George Bush, and the authoritarian Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Al-Libi was the unnamed source that Bush, his former secretary of state, Colin Powell, and other administration officials relied upon prior to the Iraq invasion to assert that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was helping a terrorist organisation run by al-Qaeda. Al-Libi was known to Powell and Bush by the codename "Curveball".
And for clarification:
How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'
This raises more questions than are answered.
An investigation by The Times based on interviews since May with about 30 current and former intelligence officials in the U.S., Germany, England, Iraq and the United Nations, as well as other experts, shows that U.S. bungling in the Curveball case was worse than official reports have disclosed.
Meanwhile (as the suicide occured) Woman in Rendition Case Sues for Immunity
The lawsuit asks the court to order the government to invoke diplomatic immunity, provide her with legal counsel in Italy and pay her legal bills and other costs associated with the case.
State Department officials declined to comment, noting that the case is at a highly sensitive stage.
I wonder what the former Deputy Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney thinks of the case?
This ain't going away.............
I posted on this topic previously, this issue is not going away.
Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of fantasies about the vice president," she said on ABC's "This Week."
I think that Liz is responding to the assertions:
[E]ven when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.
And the story:
THE ISLAMIST terrorist who was the key source of the false intelligence used to trigger the US and UK 2003 military invasion of Iraq has been found dead in a Libyan prison cell.
Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi allegedly commited suicide by hanging in the prison where he was being held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. His death followed a visit by a team from Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.
The al-Libi affair opens a window on an extraordinarily close espionage link that existed between the government of the former US president, George Bush, and the authoritarian Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Al-Libi was the unnamed source that Bush, his former secretary of state, Colin Powell, and other administration officials relied upon prior to the Iraq invasion to assert that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was helping a terrorist organisation run by al-Qaeda. Al-Libi was known to Powell and Bush by the codename "Curveball".
And for clarification:
How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'
This raises more questions than are answered.
An investigation by The Times based on interviews since May with about 30 current and former intelligence officials in the U.S., Germany, England, Iraq and the United Nations, as well as other experts, shows that U.S. bungling in the Curveball case was worse than official reports have disclosed.
Meanwhile (as the suicide occured) Woman in Rendition Case Sues for Immunity
The lawsuit asks the court to order the government to invoke diplomatic immunity, provide her with legal counsel in Italy and pay her legal bills and other costs associated with the case.
State Department officials declined to comment, noting that the case is at a highly sensitive stage.
I wonder what the former Deputy Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney thinks of the case?
This ain't going away.............
Thursday, May 14, 2009
More questions than answers on torture
I have to categorize the decision not to release photos of the abuse and torture as a pragmatic decision that will reduce the harm as a consequence of the acts. I see no reason to further exasperate the circumstances where soldiers and populaces meet and these photos would be circulated.
Do We Really Need To See Photos of Children Being Raped and Sodomized in Front of Their Mothers in Abu Ghraib?
For clarity to the reference above:
"Debating about it, ummm ... Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
I don't think so. But I think that they should be used to investigate the decision to use torture. I think that the assertion that torture was used to make the case of non-existent WMD requires investigation.
We also now know that techniques, including waterboarding, had already been employed, and that those briefing me in September 2002 gave me inaccurate and incomplete information.
I think what I find interesting is that we cannot use the photos as part of a basis for an investigation to find out if all people were prosecuted as Cheney suggested, inquire if the torture was used to support claims of WMD, and finally establish a timeline of when legal briefs were offered, when torture began and under what directives, and finally: when the abuse was understood who called for an end to the activity?
JEDDAH, 16 November 2005 — Liz Cheney, US deputy
She claims that the rumors about torture in American prisons are untrue, the idea that American liberation of Iraq resulted in more terrorism is wrong, and that Afghanistan is “absolutely better” and the world safer after removing the Taleban from power. She said that Syria and Iran are a concern for the United States, that capturing Osama Ben Laden is not a key issue in winning the war on terrorism and that new methods need to be used in this war.
..................
On the reports about torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and violations of Geneva Convention, she said that what happened in Abu Ghraib was a crime and not America’s policy and those who perpetuated the crime were tried and will be punished.
......
Cheney defended the US success in the war on terrorism both in Afghanistan or Iraq. “What made Saddam dangerous was not only the stockpile of weapons he had but also he had the scientists who had the technology to make these weapons; we know that they were working with and training Al-Qaeda members. The danger was not necessarily of giving the weapons to the terrorists but that the technology would fall in the hands of terrorists,” she said.
I don't think this post could be complete without this observation.
Q Sir, taking on Charlie's question a bit -- and I can give you actual examples from coalition forces who talked to me when I was over there -- about excesses of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, and that is in dealing with prisoners or in arresting people and how they're treated after they're arrested. What are the obligations and what are the rights of the U.S. military over there in dealing with that? Obviously, Iraq is a sovereign country now, but the United States is responsible for training and expects to turn over the security mission to them. So what is the U.S. obligation in addressing that, preventing that? And what can we do? And what are we doing?
SEC. RUMSFELD: That's a fair question. I'll start, and Pete, you may want to finish. But we are working very hard to train and equip the Iraqi security forces. So is NATO. So are some neighboring countries. There are a lot of people involved in this and dozens of countries trying to help train these Iraqi forces.
Any instance of inhumane behavior is obviously worrisome and harmful to them when that occurs. Iraq knows of certain knowledge that they need the support of the international community, and a good way to lose it is to make a practice of something that's inconsistent with the values of the international community. And I think they know that.
Now, you know, I can't go any farther in talking about it. Obviously, the United States does not have a responsibility when a sovereign country engages in something that they disapprove of; however, we do have a responsibility to say so and to make sure that the training is proper and to work with the sovereign officials so that they understand the damage that can be done to them in the event some of these allegations prove to be true.
Q And General Pace, what guidance do you have for your military commanders over there as to what to do if -- like when General Horst found this Interior Ministry jail?
GEN. PACE: It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it. As an example of how to do it if you don't see it happening but you're told about it is exactly what happened a couple weeks ago. There's a report from an Iraqi to a U.S. commander that there was possibility of inhumane treatment in a particular facility. That U.S. commander got together with his Iraqi counterparts. They went together to the facility, found what they found, reported it to the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi government has taken ownership of that problem and is investigating it. So they did exactly what they should have done.
SEC. RUMSFELD: But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it.
GEN. PACE: If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it.
Q If I may follow up. To what extent do you think these allegations of abuses by the Iraqi security forces, particularly some of the complaints and allegations from Sunni Iraqis that the largely Shi'a security forces are engaged in abuses, to what extent do you think that's an indicator that the Iraqi military -- Iraqi security forces are not yet ready to assume control of the country?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, I don't think it is. I mean, you're going to have allegations back and forth. We're deeply concerned by -- that there could be conflict among the various elements in that country after the end of major combat operations, and there hasn't been, and that's a good thing. First of all, what we're doing is we're prejudging these remarks and allegations and reports, and I just can't do that. And what's going to happen is the Iraqi government is going to be formed after the December 15th election in two weeks -- whatever -- and it'll be seated by the 31st of December. The --
Q So it's your sense that these abuses are not a widespread problem that threaten the --
SEC. RUMSFELD: I -- my sense is I don't know. And it's obviously something that one has to be attentive to. It's obviously something that the -- General Casey and his troops are attentive to and have to be concerned about. It -- I'm not going to be judging it from 4,000 miles away -- how many miles away? --
GEN. PACE: It's a long ways.
SEC. RUMSFELD: It's a long way -- 5,000, 6,000 maybe.
Yeah?
The point is that there was no "government" aside from the following:
Following the invasion, the United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq.[35] Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004, and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. More than 140,000 troops, mainly Americans, remain in Iraq.
And for the record: I think the POTUS was wise to hold back the photos but needs to hold some invstigations.
So lets reiterate:
Elizabeth Cheney states that torture is a violation of the Geneva convention and should be prosecuted.
Rumsfeld wants it reported:
SEC. RUMSFELD: But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it.
General Pace says there is an obligation to stop it.
GEN. PACE: If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it.
And I make the observation that Congress needs to investigate it.
Just too many unanswered questions about torture.
Do We Really Need To See Photos of Children Being Raped and Sodomized in Front of Their Mothers in Abu Ghraib?
For clarity to the reference above:
"Debating about it, ummm ... Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
I don't think so. But I think that they should be used to investigate the decision to use torture. I think that the assertion that torture was used to make the case of non-existent WMD requires investigation.
We also now know that techniques, including waterboarding, had already been employed, and that those briefing me in September 2002 gave me inaccurate and incomplete information.
I think what I find interesting is that we cannot use the photos as part of a basis for an investigation to find out if all people were prosecuted as Cheney suggested, inquire if the torture was used to support claims of WMD, and finally establish a timeline of when legal briefs were offered, when torture began and under what directives, and finally: when the abuse was understood who called for an end to the activity?
JEDDAH, 16 November 2005 — Liz Cheney, US deputy
She claims that the rumors about torture in American prisons are untrue, the idea that American liberation of Iraq resulted in more terrorism is wrong, and that Afghanistan is “absolutely better” and the world safer after removing the Taleban from power. She said that Syria and Iran are a concern for the United States, that capturing Osama Ben Laden is not a key issue in winning the war on terrorism and that new methods need to be used in this war.
..................
On the reports about torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and violations of Geneva Convention, she said that what happened in Abu Ghraib was a crime and not America’s policy and those who perpetuated the crime were tried and will be punished.
......
Cheney defended the US success in the war on terrorism both in Afghanistan or Iraq. “What made Saddam dangerous was not only the stockpile of weapons he had but also he had the scientists who had the technology to make these weapons; we know that they were working with and training Al-Qaeda members. The danger was not necessarily of giving the weapons to the terrorists but that the technology would fall in the hands of terrorists,” she said.
I don't think this post could be complete without this observation.
Q Sir, taking on Charlie's question a bit -- and I can give you actual examples from coalition forces who talked to me when I was over there -- about excesses of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, and that is in dealing with prisoners or in arresting people and how they're treated after they're arrested. What are the obligations and what are the rights of the U.S. military over there in dealing with that? Obviously, Iraq is a sovereign country now, but the United States is responsible for training and expects to turn over the security mission to them. So what is the U.S. obligation in addressing that, preventing that? And what can we do? And what are we doing?
SEC. RUMSFELD: That's a fair question. I'll start, and Pete, you may want to finish. But we are working very hard to train and equip the Iraqi security forces. So is NATO. So are some neighboring countries. There are a lot of people involved in this and dozens of countries trying to help train these Iraqi forces.
Any instance of inhumane behavior is obviously worrisome and harmful to them when that occurs. Iraq knows of certain knowledge that they need the support of the international community, and a good way to lose it is to make a practice of something that's inconsistent with the values of the international community. And I think they know that.
Now, you know, I can't go any farther in talking about it. Obviously, the United States does not have a responsibility when a sovereign country engages in something that they disapprove of; however, we do have a responsibility to say so and to make sure that the training is proper and to work with the sovereign officials so that they understand the damage that can be done to them in the event some of these allegations prove to be true.
Q And General Pace, what guidance do you have for your military commanders over there as to what to do if -- like when General Horst found this Interior Ministry jail?
GEN. PACE: It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it. As an example of how to do it if you don't see it happening but you're told about it is exactly what happened a couple weeks ago. There's a report from an Iraqi to a U.S. commander that there was possibility of inhumane treatment in a particular facility. That U.S. commander got together with his Iraqi counterparts. They went together to the facility, found what they found, reported it to the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi government has taken ownership of that problem and is investigating it. So they did exactly what they should have done.
SEC. RUMSFELD: But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it.
GEN. PACE: If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it.
Q If I may follow up. To what extent do you think these allegations of abuses by the Iraqi security forces, particularly some of the complaints and allegations from Sunni Iraqis that the largely Shi'a security forces are engaged in abuses, to what extent do you think that's an indicator that the Iraqi military -- Iraqi security forces are not yet ready to assume control of the country?
SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, I don't think it is. I mean, you're going to have allegations back and forth. We're deeply concerned by -- that there could be conflict among the various elements in that country after the end of major combat operations, and there hasn't been, and that's a good thing. First of all, what we're doing is we're prejudging these remarks and allegations and reports, and I just can't do that. And what's going to happen is the Iraqi government is going to be formed after the December 15th election in two weeks -- whatever -- and it'll be seated by the 31st of December. The --
Q So it's your sense that these abuses are not a widespread problem that threaten the --
SEC. RUMSFELD: I -- my sense is I don't know. And it's obviously something that one has to be attentive to. It's obviously something that the -- General Casey and his troops are attentive to and have to be concerned about. It -- I'm not going to be judging it from 4,000 miles away -- how many miles away? --
GEN. PACE: It's a long ways.
SEC. RUMSFELD: It's a long way -- 5,000, 6,000 maybe.
Yeah?
The point is that there was no "government" aside from the following:
Following the invasion, the United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq.[35] Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004, and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. More than 140,000 troops, mainly Americans, remain in Iraq.
And for the record: I think the POTUS was wise to hold back the photos but needs to hold some invstigations.
So lets reiterate:
Elizabeth Cheney states that torture is a violation of the Geneva convention and should be prosecuted.
Rumsfeld wants it reported:
SEC. RUMSFELD: But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it.
General Pace says there is an obligation to stop it.
GEN. PACE: If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it.
And I make the observation that Congress needs to investigate it.
Just too many unanswered questions about torture.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Steele: On Moderates
All you moderates out there, y'all come. I mean, that's the message," Steele said at a news conference. "The message of this party is this is a big table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the front.
"Understand that when you come into someone's house, you're not looking to change it. You come in because that's the place you want to be." .......
"That vote on the stimulus bill was the effectiveness of a party call," he said. "That was a stand-up moment for every Republican.... And so, you voted yourself out of the party. We didn't kick you out." ......
Steele - who appeared to be the only African-American in the room Friday - said when he visited a Maryland Republican Party dinner in the mid-1980s he was "obviously a stranger in the room." But he said he was quickly embraced and rose to county party chairman two years later. From there, he went on to become state party chairman and lieutenant governor. ........... "The problem isn't that Americans are less conservative," he said. "It's that our credibility with them is shot. It's that we left them along the side of the road on our way to drinking that Potomac River water, getting high on power and influence and forgetting how we got where we are."
Well I'm from Maryland, I'm a Republican, and I was active in the 80's as well. I also supported the stimulus plan under Bush and Obama. In fact as I read the article I thought back to those days in the 80's when we supported Wayne Gilchrest against Roy Dyson, when we offered a simple solution; heh lets run an honest person who will not get intoxicated by the Potomac waters. And years later Wayne was not drunk on personal power or corrupted and yet not Republican enough.
I wonder who the GOP thought was the door to door foot soldiers? Who were these people that drove Dorchester county and posted signs at the firehouse, psoted signs in yards, went door to door and on election day helped get out the vote of the elderly?
Let me say again, in this blog I stated that I would "hold my nose" and vote for the aid to the economy. I said this as an American and a pragmatist with experience in finance, brokerage trading, private sector business, and international finance. I did not vote myself out of the party.
As a matter of fact if Steele claims his start as I do at the same time in MD, I propose that he "vote himself out of the party" as this is still my party as well. My blog has long supported Sen. Warren, Sen McCain, Sen Hagel, Colin Powell, Wayne Gilchrest, and other moderate republicans. If truth be told the party has been hijacked by a segment of the party who were marginalized when we "built the party" back in the 80's and 90's.
I'm glad that there is a recognition that there was a "drinking of koolaid" an intoxication of power. And I still think that the GOP doesn't get it. I think the GOP "gets it" when they reconnect with the Mainstreet Republican's. I think the GOP gets it when they stop claiming a monopoly on the ideas of the party and what divides, but instead focus on a gameplan ahead that people can participate in.
But lets get real.. there is no litmus on being Republican and seeing the systemic default risk, seeing a crisis, acting decisively, and supporting the market intervention. As a matter of fact what was irresponsible was starting two wars and going on a drunken spending spree, what made that "republican?" I mean it took this "new type of republican" to suggest a pre-emptive war, tax cuts, and an expansion of police state powers while waving a fetus to bring the GOP where it is at today.
I just want to point out two things, I have been republican as long as Steele has, that we both have but one vote, and that the only real difference is that I'm not seriously advocating that Steele leave the party, or that he has "voted himself out of it."
There is a serious absence of ideas and pragmatic solutions and approaches to the challenges we face where we hear the same old tired out rehearsed wedge issues from the now fully discredited pundits of the right.
Yeah we need new faces, new attitudes, and a new approach to imagining that the GOP is a "house party being hosted at our house."
Lets try taking the party back into the public, back into the library meeting room, and lets stop pretending that the party is "owned" by the few and instead belongs to us all.
If you try that approach that worked close to a quarter century ago you will foind that it works and that the people who will be unwelcome are the ones that don't want to observe those observations made above.
It's not your party... It's our party.. get use to it!
"Understand that when you come into someone's house, you're not looking to change it. You come in because that's the place you want to be." .......
"That vote on the stimulus bill was the effectiveness of a party call," he said. "That was a stand-up moment for every Republican.... And so, you voted yourself out of the party. We didn't kick you out." ......
Steele - who appeared to be the only African-American in the room Friday - said when he visited a Maryland Republican Party dinner in the mid-1980s he was "obviously a stranger in the room." But he said he was quickly embraced and rose to county party chairman two years later. From there, he went on to become state party chairman and lieutenant governor. ........... "The problem isn't that Americans are less conservative," he said. "It's that our credibility with them is shot. It's that we left them along the side of the road on our way to drinking that Potomac River water, getting high on power and influence and forgetting how we got where we are."
Well I'm from Maryland, I'm a Republican, and I was active in the 80's as well. I also supported the stimulus plan under Bush and Obama. In fact as I read the article I thought back to those days in the 80's when we supported Wayne Gilchrest against Roy Dyson, when we offered a simple solution; heh lets run an honest person who will not get intoxicated by the Potomac waters. And years later Wayne was not drunk on personal power or corrupted and yet not Republican enough.
I wonder who the GOP thought was the door to door foot soldiers? Who were these people that drove Dorchester county and posted signs at the firehouse, psoted signs in yards, went door to door and on election day helped get out the vote of the elderly?
Let me say again, in this blog I stated that I would "hold my nose" and vote for the aid to the economy. I said this as an American and a pragmatist with experience in finance, brokerage trading, private sector business, and international finance. I did not vote myself out of the party.
As a matter of fact if Steele claims his start as I do at the same time in MD, I propose that he "vote himself out of the party" as this is still my party as well. My blog has long supported Sen. Warren, Sen McCain, Sen Hagel, Colin Powell, Wayne Gilchrest, and other moderate republicans. If truth be told the party has been hijacked by a segment of the party who were marginalized when we "built the party" back in the 80's and 90's.
I'm glad that there is a recognition that there was a "drinking of koolaid" an intoxication of power. And I still think that the GOP doesn't get it. I think the GOP "gets it" when they reconnect with the Mainstreet Republican's. I think the GOP gets it when they stop claiming a monopoly on the ideas of the party and what divides, but instead focus on a gameplan ahead that people can participate in.
But lets get real.. there is no litmus on being Republican and seeing the systemic default risk, seeing a crisis, acting decisively, and supporting the market intervention. As a matter of fact what was irresponsible was starting two wars and going on a drunken spending spree, what made that "republican?" I mean it took this "new type of republican" to suggest a pre-emptive war, tax cuts, and an expansion of police state powers while waving a fetus to bring the GOP where it is at today.
I just want to point out two things, I have been republican as long as Steele has, that we both have but one vote, and that the only real difference is that I'm not seriously advocating that Steele leave the party, or that he has "voted himself out of it."
There is a serious absence of ideas and pragmatic solutions and approaches to the challenges we face where we hear the same old tired out rehearsed wedge issues from the now fully discredited pundits of the right.
Yeah we need new faces, new attitudes, and a new approach to imagining that the GOP is a "house party being hosted at our house."
Lets try taking the party back into the public, back into the library meeting room, and lets stop pretending that the party is "owned" by the few and instead belongs to us all.
If you try that approach that worked close to a quarter century ago you will foind that it works and that the people who will be unwelcome are the ones that don't want to observe those observations made above.
It's not your party... It's our party.. get use to it!
Kryptos sculpture
The next clue will include geomancy and the celtic working cross, compass, rose cross, compass rose.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_rose
See
Before the development of the compass rose, a wind rose was included on maps in order to let the reader know which way the cardinal directions pointed within the plan view. No differentiation was made between cardinal directions and the winds which blew from said direction. North was depicted with a fleur de lis, while east was shown as a Christian cross to indicate the direction of Jerusalem from Europe.[1]
The last clue is interactive and the coordinates were given for that purpose. A sculpture would take geomancy and those crafts into consideration and have knowledge "along those lines."
Friday, May 1, 2009
Jeremy Rabkin, George Bush, Caligula
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Recent developments and channeling fisher
Germany contracts 6pc as eurozone bank deposits fall at fastest rate since Depression I pointed out in my recent post that it was ridiculous to be formulating policy around a concern about inflation. What Germany and France should have been doing is targeting inflation. I think that history will judge the decision not to go to the wall with stimulus supply side measues will be taught internationally in business courses for years to come.
I will be on a forced sabatical, a euphemism for unemployment soon. I will take that time to brush off some of the old websites from the past, tag back to the waybackmachine and internet archive and have some fun.
I posted a while back that I felt bad about making an assertion at USNI after the pirate hostage rescue that the USA had not "won one lately." As an update there is a thought provoking thread along an ongoing line...
Time to ask the tough questions
In addition there was:
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/04/phase-0-operations-for-failed-states.html
And these questions revolve around:
Increasingly, the national security agendas of policymakers will be dominated by five questions: whether to intervene, when, with whom, with what tools, and to what end?
We live in a changed world, are we color blind yet? No but we are getting closer.
I read many editorials wanting to close borders and think it a bad idea for allot of reasons. But this drives the point home:
"Closing borders is dangerous because many goods needed in a pandemic are made abroad, said Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, including most masks, gowns and gloves, electrical circuits for ventilators and communications gear, and pharmaceutical drugs and the raw materials to make them. ...
'You cut those off and you cripple the health care system,' he said. 'Our global just-in-time economy means we are dependent on others.' Much of our food is from overseas. 'A Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bar has ingredients from nine countries in it,' he noted."
I watched the Arlen Specter announcement live and thought back to the club for growth election that I covered here and what Wayne Gilchrest went through. I read that Michael Steele wears his hat backwards. Having been a life-long registered repblican I understand the comment. I think that anger and billigerance doesn't sell as well in Maryland and that there is a schism in the GOP. I know I was alienated by some of the tactics that were employed in the GOP primary in the congressional 1st. I also know that Steele is more mainstream (or reasonable, pragmatic, and civil) than many in the GOP who want to be angry. Steele attended the Kent Island Bull Roast in support of Wayne and the attacks upon him are unwarranted.
I just know for a fact that not all of the GOP wants to be like Coulter and Limbaugh.
I think we will know by Sunday what kind of flu we have. I agree with Biden that avoiding public transport makes common sense. This might be an existential event beyond the realm of forseeable events that will take a bad economic circumstance and make it worse. How bad will be understood more fully when math models can be better realized.
In closing channeling Irving Fisher to fight inflation was a mistake, Germany needs to understand that we are all in this together and needs to do what can be done when it can be done prior to things getting worse.
I will be on a forced sabatical, a euphemism for unemployment soon. I will take that time to brush off some of the old websites from the past, tag back to the waybackmachine and internet archive and have some fun.
I posted a while back that I felt bad about making an assertion at USNI after the pirate hostage rescue that the USA had not "won one lately." As an update there is a thought provoking thread along an ongoing line...
Time to ask the tough questions
In addition there was:
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/04/phase-0-operations-for-failed-states.html
And these questions revolve around:
Increasingly, the national security agendas of policymakers will be dominated by five questions: whether to intervene, when, with whom, with what tools, and to what end?
We live in a changed world, are we color blind yet? No but we are getting closer.
I read many editorials wanting to close borders and think it a bad idea for allot of reasons. But this drives the point home:
"Closing borders is dangerous because many goods needed in a pandemic are made abroad, said Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, including most masks, gowns and gloves, electrical circuits for ventilators and communications gear, and pharmaceutical drugs and the raw materials to make them. ...
'You cut those off and you cripple the health care system,' he said. 'Our global just-in-time economy means we are dependent on others.' Much of our food is from overseas. 'A Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bar has ingredients from nine countries in it,' he noted."
I watched the Arlen Specter announcement live and thought back to the club for growth election that I covered here and what Wayne Gilchrest went through. I read that Michael Steele wears his hat backwards. Having been a life-long registered repblican I understand the comment. I think that anger and billigerance doesn't sell as well in Maryland and that there is a schism in the GOP. I know I was alienated by some of the tactics that were employed in the GOP primary in the congressional 1st. I also know that Steele is more mainstream (or reasonable, pragmatic, and civil) than many in the GOP who want to be angry. Steele attended the Kent Island Bull Roast in support of Wayne and the attacks upon him are unwarranted.
I just know for a fact that not all of the GOP wants to be like Coulter and Limbaugh.
I think we will know by Sunday what kind of flu we have. I agree with Biden that avoiding public transport makes common sense. This might be an existential event beyond the realm of forseeable events that will take a bad economic circumstance and make it worse. How bad will be understood more fully when math models can be better realized.
In closing channeling Irving Fisher to fight inflation was a mistake, Germany needs to understand that we are all in this together and needs to do what can be done when it can be done prior to things getting worse.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Gardening and Michelle's garden
While I don't think it was calculated initially I think that there is a covenant between gardeners. I don't know how much support that this created but I would say that the demographic is rural.
Sites like the http://assoc.garden.org/about/ offer tips and more for gardeners and have done so for quite some time.
Courtesy of http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2009/victory_garden.htm
But I think that something else is going on. I received a marketing item from a corporation yesterday, sunflower seeds with a corporate logo. And I thought with a 20% increase in gardening and that growth in the younger demographic, that somebody in a tough marketing economy had 'thought, planned, and executed efficiently."
I will plant the seeds.
The point here is that the gardens are as much about the change in the world around us as a statement about our place within it. It is not a negative response, but instead an empowerment response.
I guess as I see the response from a world of bad news stories at least by dropping some seeds in dirt something good comes from it... "it's the empowerment stupid."
And it is very smart marketing...
I'll post some pics of my bucket garden...
still not too late to plant this year
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Channeling Irving Fisher
I have said it before so I will say it again, that the actions ECB has acted too slowly.
In the above photo Trichet channels Fisher to fight inflation.
He rejected allegations that the ECB has been too slow or timid in its response to the crisis, noting that it was the first central bank to begin extraordinary provision of liquidity to money markets during the crisis, back in August 2007..........
"We trust that this solid, medium-term anchoring of inflation expectations is part of our duty to be a solid anchor of stability and of confidence, and we can tell our fellow citizens: You can have confidence in the fact that we are there as a solid anchor and we will deliver what we say we'll deliver - price stability over the medium term - and we are trusted to be able to deliver."
hmmmmmmmmmm
Gold slightly lower as deflation worries continue
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
HAMBURG, Germany, April 15 (Reuters) - There remains little risk of deflation in the euro zone, European Central Bank Governing Council member and head of the German Bundesbank, Axel Weber, said on Wednesday.
Well let me tell you this, I posted this to point to it later; and very soon.
Dump the Euro as collectivvelly it is more than the French and German industrial output or consumption and Easter Europe is in a mess. Dump Gold, it is not being utilized in manufacturing production and the fear sales are saturated. And finally as a consequence of the ECB decision; go long the dollar.
Now let me point out this, that treating third world economies outside the Euro as 3rd world economies is one thing, treating economies within the Euro in Eastern Europe as third world economies is another~
The concept that the ECB would through costs externalization evoke a recovery, utilizing the argument:
The provision of more social services by governments in emerging Asia, including China, would encourage residents to spend more and save less, and would help stabilize economies that have suffered in the current downturn because of their focus on exports rather than domestic demand.
Is laughable..
I think that by the time that the ECB wakes up to the hard facts that deflation is spreading, and that that deflation will go well beyond oil, metals, and third world exports, that that will spread to Eastern Europe... will leave the ECB as a study in the future as to what not to do in a similar crisis.
God help us... the man is still fighting inflation~ instead of establishing an inflation target.
Weber and Trichet are bankers.. they say that there is no danger of deflation, when was the last time you saw a banker make a bad call?
In the above photo Trichet channels Fisher to fight inflation.
He rejected allegations that the ECB has been too slow or timid in its response to the crisis, noting that it was the first central bank to begin extraordinary provision of liquidity to money markets during the crisis, back in August 2007..........
"We trust that this solid, medium-term anchoring of inflation expectations is part of our duty to be a solid anchor of stability and of confidence, and we can tell our fellow citizens: You can have confidence in the fact that we are there as a solid anchor and we will deliver what we say we'll deliver - price stability over the medium term - and we are trusted to be able to deliver."
hmmmmmmmmmm
Gold slightly lower as deflation worries continue
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
HAMBURG, Germany, April 15 (Reuters) - There remains little risk of deflation in the euro zone, European Central Bank Governing Council member and head of the German Bundesbank, Axel Weber, said on Wednesday.
Well let me tell you this, I posted this to point to it later; and very soon.
Dump the Euro as collectivvelly it is more than the French and German industrial output or consumption and Easter Europe is in a mess. Dump Gold, it is not being utilized in manufacturing production and the fear sales are saturated. And finally as a consequence of the ECB decision; go long the dollar.
Now let me point out this, that treating third world economies outside the Euro as 3rd world economies is one thing, treating economies within the Euro in Eastern Europe as third world economies is another~
The concept that the ECB would through costs externalization evoke a recovery, utilizing the argument:
The provision of more social services by governments in emerging Asia, including China, would encourage residents to spend more and save less, and would help stabilize economies that have suffered in the current downturn because of their focus on exports rather than domestic demand.
Is laughable..
I think that by the time that the ECB wakes up to the hard facts that deflation is spreading, and that that deflation will go well beyond oil, metals, and third world exports, that that will spread to Eastern Europe... will leave the ECB as a study in the future as to what not to do in a similar crisis.
God help us... the man is still fighting inflation~ instead of establishing an inflation target.
Weber and Trichet are bankers.. they say that there is no danger of deflation, when was the last time you saw a banker make a bad call?
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