Even Novak?

I haven't read a column by Robert Novak in maybe twenty years. So, I was somewhat surprised by his column about Bhutto's assassination. Novak feels that the administration had invested too much in Musharaff and did not believe that her life was in danger. Novak rejects the argument that Al Qaeda did it and urges an FBI investigation.

Against Partisanship

Norman, Oklahoma will be the site where a raft of middle-of-the-road politicians will gather next week to see whether there is anything that can be done to get the country out of the bitter partisanship that is driving us down the tubes. Politicians from both major parties will be there: Nunn, Boren, Hagel, Cohen, Graham, Whitman etal. They would like to see a government of national unity. Perhaps, a president unaffiliated with either major party might be able to restore our sense of unity.

Mike Bloomberg will also attend. He's been rather coy as to whether he will run as an independent, but the ads he placed in Iowa and New Hampshire lead one to believe that he will be a candidate, especially if he can get the support of the people attending this meeting.

Checklist vs. Drug Testing

In the weird world of the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) the use of a checklist as a tool to improve medical care is the same as the use of testing experimental drugs.

OHRP does have a major responsibility to those who become subjects in a research project. One of their rules is that the participants in the projects have a reasonable awareness of the risks they are undergoing and that the participants agree to participate in the testing. And, it's a good rule when it comes to drugs. But OHRP applies this rule to any alterations in medical care.

We are all well aware of the growing rise in the number of infections caused by poor hospital practices. Michigan tried to do something about the problem. Realizing that doctors and nurses are under tremendous pressures, Michigan thought that the use of a simple five-step checklist might cause medical personnel to be more likely to follow generally accepted practices (such as the use of sterile gowns and gloves or washing one's hands) known to prevent infection.

For the past year that's what's been happening in the ICU of just about every hospital in Michigan. And the results have been spectacular: hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars saved.

However, the doctors and nurses using these checklists did not get the permission of the patients allowing the use of the checklists. Hence, they violated medical ethics. The checklists were verboten.

Another example of the consequences of a slavish, mindless following of the rules.

Well, I did it

I was trying to add a Sphere widget and I guess I screwed up somehow. I lost my postings, but only temporarily as you can see. The only way to get the postings back seemed to be to use a new template. Hence, the changed format.

Hear what Richardson has to say on Pakistan

A way to a better world

The Pope has ordered dioceses to make sure that they have a number of exorcists on hand, as Satan appears to be a growing influence on the world.

Norma: an unlucky name?

Norma, the star of Bellini's opera of the same name, winds up swimming with the fishes. Norma Desmond of Sunset Strip fame winds up in the loony bin. And Norma CDO I Ltd. is the cover girl for an inside look by the Wall Street Journal at a devastated CDO.

Norma is a CDO that started out with rating agencies assigning a AAA rating to 75% of its securities in March of this year. By November the bloom was off the rose and Norma was thrown on the junk pile.

Norma started life being 'worth' $1.5 billion. However, only a small part of Norma was real, i.e., actual securities that you could touch and feel. Most of it was made up of derivatives that acted as insurance on BBB-rated mortgage securities. These derivatives (in this case called credit-default swaps) 'insured' BBB-rated subprime bonds, but the actual bonds were worth only about a third of what they were valued at in the CDO. So that, for example, $1500 in Norma represented only $500 in real assets. Furthermore, some of the pieces of Norma were themselves slices of other CDOs.

What were they smoking?

"We are not a charity"

So says the PR person for Concurrent Technologies. Yet in the records the company files with the IRS they claim to be. This is not the only way this company is taking advantage of the taxpayer.

Concurrent runs the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence in Johnston, PA, home of Congressman John Murtha. They have received hundreds of millions of dollars over the years and have produced many 'products' for the Defense Department. The problem is that very few of these products are actually used by DOD. Perhaps, it's because several of these products duplicate products produced by other companies which funded their own product development.

Illusion?

Con Hallinan at Foreign Policy in Focus argues that the surge is an illusion. He attributes much of the comparative silence in Iraq to a combination of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad and a decision by the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to bide their time while we support them with weapons and money. He does make a strong case.

He concludes with an appropriate quote from Patrick Cockburn of The Independent, "Nothing is resolved in Iraq. Power is wholly fragmented. The Americans will discover, as the British learned to their cost in Basra, that they have few permanent allies in Iraq. It has become a land of warlords in which fragile ceasefires might last for months and might equally collapse tomorrow."

Freedom of Speech in Malaysia

Only Muslims are allowed to say the word 'Allah". There are some real weirdos out there.

How hard a landing?

Nouriel Roubini thinks it will be very hard. He makes the interesting point that non-bank financial institutions are now very big players in the financial markets. And these institutions - investment banks, money market funds, hedge funds, etc. - do not have the access to the Fed and other agencies that banks have to mitigate their liquidity problems.

Parents say yes

In 2006 New York, which had 140 kids at the Judge Rotenberg Center, tried to ban electric shock therapy for behavior modification. Parents of some of the NY kids at the center sued to prevent the ban from going into effect. The parents won. I suppose that if you had a child that was out of control to such a degree that they were almost always in a drugged state or were destroying your house, attacking people and just flipping out - and they'd been doing this for years and years - you'd be thankful that their behavior improved considerably after spending some time at the center.

But, NY tried to ban shock treatments because they were dangerous and outdated and they were being used as punishment as well as behavior modification. Using shock treatments as a punishment is not supported by most of the scientific community. The lowest shock given at Rotenberg is considered to be twice what pain researchers say is tolerable for most people.

It is a difficult issue. But, we used to give shock treatments to those suffering from all sorts of mental problems. We stopped that years ago. It didn't work in most cases, was dangerous and is barbaric.

Life in today's military

Just about every quarter Lawrence Korb comes out with a trenchant article for the Center for American Progress. This quarter's article is about the quality of military life. The quality of life is not very good, but I won't repeat what Korb and Sean Duggan write. Just go here for a summary.

The News Cycle

Only two weeks ago I wrote about the privatization of firefighting services across the country. The lead article in today's Boston Globe makes you wonder whether this phenomenon will become popular in Massachusetts.

The article highlights the city of Gloucester as it discusses a deadly fire to which the city was able to send only one ladder truck with the driver comprising the total crew. Finances are tight in Gloucester and requests for a larger fire department budget have been repeatedly rejected by the voters. To generate revenue the department has become the group that responds to all emergencies, not simply to fires. When the department takes a heart attack victim to the hospital, the insurance company usually reimburses the department. But when the department transports someone to a hospital, the firemen doing so are not available should a fire arise.

Should Gloucester revert to a volunteer fire department?

Minister to the Homeless

It sounds as though he is doing God's work, defining God in a very broad sense as one who tries to help people live better lives. To read more about Steve Maki, click here.

It will take years

for this beer to be ready to drink.

You really should read Krugman's latest

It takes Greenspan and other ideologues to task re the sub-prime issue. Krugman also contends that home ownership will be lower post January 20, 2009, than before January 20, 2001.

A Global Market

The financial world is becoming more global every day, as the sub-prime crisis is forcing investment banks to shore up their capital. Singapore Temasek has been the biggest investor; over the past couple of years it has bought stakes in Standard Chartered, Barclay's, UBS and now it looks as though it will put $5 billion into Merrill. And China is getting into the act by giving Morgan Stanley $5 billion.

It's not over yet by any means. This sub-prime debacle will not only mean huge losses but will see our belief that we are #1 in the world of finance sorely challenged.

Cleaning house?

Is Rice cleaning house in the last year of her term? The IG resigned a few weeks ago, as did the head of diplomatic security. Yesterday the departure of the builder of the Iraq embassy, General Charles Williams, was announced.

Hot Rod

Why would a doctor be suspended for taking a photograph?

Bosses behaving badly

The current issue of Fortune Magazine has a section on the dumbest moments in business in 2007. A few CEOs who did something stupid this year are highlighted. I particularly liked this one:

John Griffin, CEO of a Livermore, Calif., startup, pockets about $750,000 of seed capital after lying to investors lured by the company's promise to develop a "dirt eater" to clean toxic soil. After reportedly spending the money on such necessities as a Ferrari, Super Bowl tickets, and steroids, Griffin is sentenced to 30 months in prison. The name of the startup: VaporTech.

In the news again

It's time once more for the Judge Rotenberg Center to be in the news. This time the center seems to be the victim of a prank by a former resident. The Center, which treats about 250 children and adults who are autistic, retarded or emotionally disturbed, operates from a central facility that monitors surveillance cameras in satellite facilities.

One of their satellite homes received a phone call in the middle of the night instructing the staff there to administer shock treatments to two of the residents who, the caller said, had misbehaved earlier. The staff was inexperienced, overworked and new to the Center. This was not the first time they had received a call from the central office. However, apparently there was no mechanism in place to verify that the call actually came from the central office. So, two teen-aged residents were given the center's standard shock treatments. One was shocked 77 times, the other 29 times. One had to be taken to the hospital for first degree burns.

The Center has survived two attempts by the state to shut it down. It's likely they will survive another one.

We need to bring back the draft

In the Washington Monthly Andrew Tilghman outlines the problem we have in retaining the best and brightest of our junior Army officers. Fundamentally, we're losing so many of the really good junior people that the dross is left to run the services. For example, 91% of captains are promoted to major. Does that make you think of the Lake Woebegone effect? The Army itself said back in 2005 that there was a"disproportionate loss of high-potential, high-performance junior leaders".

One of the reasons why the bright people are leaving is their perception of their bosses as not being very aware of the new face of war. In general, these bosses were in the lower half of the officer pool when the pool shrunk after Vietnam.

We've lowered our standards in recruiting privates. We're losing officers. We're paying billions to private companies for logistics support. How can one say the volunteer army is working?

Equality

Here's an article demonstrating the growing equality between the sexes.

JAG this!

It's all about control and squelching any dissent. That's the sense one gets from the Bush administration. Now they want to make promotion of the Judge Advocate General lawyers subject to the whim of a political appointee.

Coincidence?

Last month I had to call the oil company to fill my tank. In previous years they never needed a call. Last night my sister-in-law ran out of oil. Her oil company has been slow on deliveries because their accounts receivable have exploded.

The winter has just started. Will things get worse?

A merger of a different kind

Take a look at 3C321.

Can the War on Terror Be Won?

That's the title of an excellent article by Philip Gordon in a recent Foreign Affairs. Gordon focuses on possible outcomes of this 'war'. Of course, he recognizes that terrorism has always existed on this earth as some people have always felt left out and have tried to rectify their situation by violence. Gordon urges us to look at the Cold War when we consider what might happen with GWOT. His concluding paragraphs are worth quoting.

If, on the other hand, Americans accept that victory in the war on terror will come only when the ideology they are fighting loses support and when potential adherents see viable alternatives to it, then the United States would have to adopt a very different course. It would not overreact to threats but instead would demonstrate confidence in its values and its society -- and the determination to preserve both. It would act decisively to reestablish its moral authority and the appeal of its society, which have been so badly damaged in recent years. It would strengthen its defenses against the terrorist threat while also realizing that a policy designed to prevent any conceivable attack will do more damage than a policy of defiantly refusing to allow terrorists to change its way of life. It would expand its efforts to promote education and political and economic change in the Middle East, which in the long run will help that region overcome the despair and humiliation that fuel the terrorist threat. It would launch a major program to wean itself from imported oil, freeing it from the dependence that constrains its foreign policy and obliging oil-dependent Arab autocracies to diversify their economies, more evenly distribute their wealth, and create jobs for their citizens. It would seek to end the large U.S. combat presence in Iraq, which has become more of a recruiting device for al Qaeda than a useful tool in the war on terror. It would stop pretending that the conflict between Israel and its neighbors has nothing to do with the problem of terrorism and launch a diplomatic offensive designed to bring an end to a conflict that is a key source of the resentment that motivates many terrorists. It would take seriously the views of its potential allies, recognize their legitimate interests, and seek to win their support and cooperation in confronting the common threat.

If the United States did all that, Americans would have good reason to be confident that in the long run they will prevail. Ultimately, extremist Islamism is not an ideology likely to win enduring support. Terrorism is not a strategy with which Muslims will forever want to be associated, and eventually it will create a backlash within Muslim societies. With time and experience -- and if the United States and its allies make the right choices -- Muslims themselves will turn against the extremists in their midst. Somewhere in the Muslim world, at some point possibly sooner than many realize, new Lech Walesas, Václav Havels, and Andrei Sakharovs will emerge to reclaim their people's future from those who have hijacked it. They will seek to put their civilization on a path toward restoring the glory of its greatest era -- when the Muslim world was a multicultural zone of tolerance and intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievement. The agents of change might come from above, like Gorbachev, who used his position at the top of the Soviet hierarchy to transform the Soviet Union and end the Cold War. Or they might rise up from below, like the protesters in 1989 in Budapest, Gdansk, and Leipzig, who stood up against tyranny and reclaimed their future. If the United States is strong, smart, and patient, they will come. And they, not the West, will transform their world -- and ours.

More idiocy indicative of our decline

FlexPetz rents you a dog for $40 a day. As you've gathered from this blog, I'm not an animal lover. But, my god, if you like animals, pay the price and have the pet for 24x7. I won't be here to see it, but I'm convinced that this world will see a Rent-a-Kid business at some point.

No longer #1

Eisenhower was the prime mover behind the World Bank International Development Association, which provides loans and grants to the poorest nations in the world. We have always been the largest donor to this cause. That was yesterday; today it's England.

While we are still the largest donor to poor nations when all programs are considered, one wonders whether the World Bank situation is a harbinger of things to come.

Examples of Dignity Denied

Today's Washington Post has some concrete examples of life in Gaza today. The article highlights the effect of Israel's action on a group of deaf children, whose hearing aid batteries are dying.

Wow!

Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq, and his agency is being investigated by the FBI, Congress and the Army. Evidence about improprieties at SIGIR have been presented to a grand jury. The improprieties include excessive overtime (including some people working up to 1400 hours extra a year and making over $250,000), e-mail snooping by Bowen and the retaliatory firing of a whistle blower.

I've written in praise of Bowen several times. Of course, Bowen has a response to the allegations. Overtime was cheaper than hiring more people. The charges are made by disgruntled former employees. Looking at some employee's e-mail was justified.

Global Environment Outlook

The BBC has some dispiriting charts from the UN's Global Environment Outlook.

One More Hit

UBS, a relatively conservative investment bank, took a $10 billion sub-prime hit earlier this week. This is on top of a $4.4 billion third quarter hit. The total write-down of CDOs by investment banks now totals about $50 billion and people expect Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to add to their already high write-offs.

UBS was able to convince Singapore that it is still a good investment; Singapore paid almost $10 billion for a stake in UBS that could reach 10.5% This is not the first time that Singapore has bought a piece of an investment bank; it bought almost 2% of Barclay's this summer and 11% of Standard Chartered in 2006.

Investment banks are becoming more globally owned. 5% of Citibank is owned by Abu Dhabi. Another 1% of UBS was bought by an unnamed MidEast investor. China bought a piece of Blackstone last spring.

When will Congress start screaming about these foreign incursions?

"Dignity Denied in the Occupied Palestinian Territories"

"In Gaza the whole Strip is being strangled, economically speaking, life there has become a nightmare. And for that there is no solution that can be provided by humanitarian organisations", Beatrice Megevand Roggo, International Committee Red Cross director of operations for the Middle East. These comments were made with regard to a new report, "Dignity Denied", issued by the Red Cross. The headings of this report spell out the problem once more:

• Trapped in the Gaza Strip
• Enough to survive, not enough to live
• Shrinking agricultural production
• Crumbling infrastructure
• Restrictions on life in the West Bank
• Access to land
• Access to roads
• Harassment by settlers

Swimming lessons

From last night's NewsHour:

GWEN IFILL: I just would like to -- but do you think that waterboarding, as I described it, constitutes torture?

SEN. KIT BOND: There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming, freestyle, backstroke. The waterboarding could be used almost to define some of the techniques that our trainees are put through, but that's beside the point. It's not being used.

Emphasis added

Another player enters the blame game

Douglas Feith, one of the architects of our mess in Iraq, blames it all on Bremer. The original plan was to turn control over to the Iraqis almost immediately after toppling Saddam. Bremer opted for a longer transition.

Relief for Lt. Whiteside?

It appears as though the Army may not prosecute Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, who, although having severe mental problems, faced court-martial charges.. The hearing officer recommended against any further action against her. His words were "One of the Army values is integrity, which is defined as doing what is right, legally and morally. The moral thing to do is dismiss these charges, to allow 1LT Whiteside to end her military service and receive the benefits that she will desperately need for the remainder of her life."

That's one for the good guys, if the hearing officer's recommendation is accepted by the higher-ups.

Another cost of the war

Will a large segment of the upcoming generation of Iraqis be illiterate? There is a strong likelihood that will be the case, particularly among those who have fled the country. There are estimates of 300,000 or more Iraqi kids who are not in schools in countries to which they have fled. If you're scrounging constantly for food and housing, how likely is it you will be able to pay to have your child learn? Education becomes a luxury for a people that were considered among the most literate in the Middle East.

However, the Iraqi education system was in trouble before this war. Sanctions imposed on the country resulted in a starving of materials for the schools.

A really long haul

Stephen Biddle argues that, although things seem to be getting better in Iraq, we're going to have to be there a long time if we want Iraq to be a reasonably peaceful nation.

His argument is that the war in Iraq is now a civil war, which, by definition, means that there is little or no trust between the parties. That being the case, only an outside force can enforce the peace which would be brought about by a series of cease-fire agreements across Iraq. The outside force is us. Hence, we should not plan on seeing many of the troops come home for a long time.

He does make a point. But, what is the cost of a long occupation in lives lost, dollars wasted and political capital spent?

Privatization Run Amok

Did you know that there are at least 200 private companies that offer firefighting services? AIG has "Wildfire Protection Units" in 150 zip codes. The fire department of Rancho Bernardo, where 365 homes burned in October, does not meet minimum accreditation standards, yet a private firefighting company saved 200 homes there - homes that rich people were willing to pay for the services of this private company.

More and more cities and towns are outsourcing their firefighting obligations. Isn't firefighting a role for the government, you know that group of people who band together so that a group (government) can do things that can't be done by individuals but they are things that must be done (like fighting fires)?

When are we going to smarten up?

Make music, not war

The NY Philarmonic is going to play in North Korea in February.

Think you have a good vocabulary?

Try FreeRice. It's a new site that tests your vocabulary and distributes free rice to the poor.

Some scary numbers

Congressional Quarterly surveys crime statistics across the country every year. Here are some numbers for Detroit:
Murder rate - 47 per 100,000 residents (Southfield, a suburb, 1.3 residents per 100,000; NYC 6 per 100,000)
80% of black children are born to single parent households (in 1960 it was 25%)
50% of black men did not finish high school
Lowest median income in the U.S.
No wonder the middle class has left.

Starting off on the wrong foot

Israel is seeking bids to build 300 homes in East Jerusalem, which land is not recognized as Israeli land by the international community. Palestinians consider the land as part of what they hope will one day be a Palestine state. Israel says they can build anywhere on the land they captured in 1967. And, that's what they've been doing for the past 40 years or so.

Coming so soon after the Annapolis meeting, this just serves to make one wonder how serious the Israelis are about the latest attempt to bring peace there.

Default Rates of Sub-Prime Mortgages

The Boston Federal Reserve has published a fairly technical paper on defaults on sub-prime mortgages. The authors demonstrate that the holder of such a mortgage is six times more likely to default than the holder of a regular mortgage. That's a pretty high number and, I believe, serves to buttress the argument that not everyone should own a house.

Games people play

Strategic Studies Institute records some of the thoughts of Roger Myerson, winner of the 2007 Nobel in Economics, about game theory and the strategies of nations. Here is a summary from the foreword by Douglas Lovelace, the director of the institute.

The main conclusion is that a great power’s use of its military forces may be rendered ineffective or even counterproductive when there are no clear internationally recognizable limits on this use of force. Professor Myerson derives this conclusion from the basic observation that our ability to influence potential rivals depends on a balanced mix of threats and promises. Potential adversaries should believe that aggression will be punished, but such threats will be useless unless they also believe our promises that good behavior will be better rewarded. A reputation for resolve makes threats credible, but a great power also needs a reputation for restraint, to make the promises credible as well. Thus, international restraints on a nation’s use of military force may actually increase the effective influence of its military strength. So this monograph may be read as a contribution to our understanding of the vital relationship between diplomacy and military preparedness in defense of national security.

Restore the draft?

Leonard Wong argues that a draft or other form of 'mandated volunteerism' will not really solve our manpower problems.

It has not, however, always been this way. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French commentator on American democracy, wrote in 1835 of the American “principle of self-interest rightly understood.” He observed:

The Americans, on the other hand, are fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle of self-interest rightly understood; they show with complacency how an enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist one another and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the welfare of the state.

Tocqueville recognized that American citizens of that day lived by the principle of self-interest, but it was the principle of self-interest rightly understood. People during that period operated under the realization that citizens who acted to further the interests of society ultimately served their own self-interest through the betterment of the society in which they lived. Part of the uniqueness of America, as observed by Tocqueville, was that individualism was kept in balance by the principle of self-interest rightly understood. Today, that balance appears to be slipping.

The principle of self-interest rightly understood, however, cannot be restored by fiat or programs. Requiring mandatory volunteer hours for high school students, handing out “community service” sentences to celebrity wrong-doers, and even implementing a draft or compulsory national service program only serve to address the symptoms of a much deeper issue. America needs to discuss and debate the responsibilities of being a citizen in a democracy. As a society, we have gradually learned to major in our individual rights and minor in our obligations of being a citizen. In our zeal in chasing the American dream, we have neglected the American spirit. Restoring the principle of self-interest rightly understood must come from within the citizenry. It must come, as Tocqueville noted, from within the community—the family, houses of worship, and education. Unfortunately this task will be much more difficult and take much longer than merely imposing volunteerism from above. It is a task, however, that demands our attention now.

Emphasis added.

Here's my chance

Pope Benedict has announced that indulgences are available to those who visit Lourdes during its 150th anniversary year. If you can't get there, then you can obtain the indulgence by praying any time between February 2 and 11 in a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.

This indulgence will reduce my time in purgatory, assuming I make the grade and don't immediately drop to the next level.

Again, where are the moderates?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali reminds us once more of the silence of Islamist moderates in the world of the 21st century. Do they exist? She comments on the recent outrages against Muslim women in Egypt, Sudan and India and asks whether there can be many moderates when the Koran includes such commands as the following:

The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with 100 stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. (Koran 24:2)

PISA is not a city

The PISA I'm talking about is the Program for International Student Assessment, a project of the OECD that tests 15 year-old students every three years. This year the test focused on science, but also included some math and reading. The test was given to 400,000 students in 57 countries. The U.S. did not fare well.

The average scores for our kids were lower than the average for the group as a whole; it didn't matter whether the subject was science or math. We're just not getting the job done.

Interfering with the market

It looks as though the federal government will be offering a partial bailout to the people who have been injured in the sub-prime debacle. Rates will be frozen for the next five years so that the higher rates to which these people signed up will not kick in. Gee, can I get some relief from the results of bad financial decisions I've made? What happened to the supposed wisdom of the market?

Included in this proposal is a likely $200,000,000 for credit counseling firms that happen to be supposed non-profits. I've often said that non-profits can be wonderful businesses. If the non-profit can raise enough money, it can pay its owners enormous sums without having to concern itself with the mundane tax questions of a regular business. Further, does anyone know whether these credit-counseling firms really have any effect? My strong feeling is they don't; they are just another business masquerading as a beneficent organization.

This whole sub-prime business shows America at its worst: unrestrained greed, hypocritical belief in the virtues of the market, politicians' pandering to the voters, unwillingness to act before crises occur.

Another prediction

Who said that by the middle of January 2009 (a mere 13 1/2 months from today), it will be clear that “we have in fact achieved our objective in terms of having a self-governing Iraq that’s capable for the most part of defending themselves, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a nation that will be a positive force in influencing the world around it in the future.”?

If you guessed our VP, you'd be right.

There are a lot of other upbeat pronouncements in the article

Your grandmother didn't make these meatballs.

A veteran NYC police officer failed a drug test in 2005 and was booted off the force. His attempt to be reinstated his predicated on the assertion that his wife laced his meatballs with marijuana because she wanted him to resign.

It is a pretty good story.

A new method of fertility

Sit in a chair in a Naples church. Get blessed by a nun. And, voila, you're on your way to motherhood.

Dem Bones

The training of doctors requires that human bodies and skeletons be available for students to experiment with. Admittedly, this is not a practice we like to think about, but it's necessary. For obvious reasons, most countries have passed laws attempting to control the practice and, by and large, these laws have worked.

However, there is money in bodies and bones. And where there is money there are those who seek the money whether or not laws are violated. One country that seems to have a problem controlling the export of skeletons is India. In this article Scott Carney has summarized a fair amount of research into the issue.

A nice, clean skeleton can fetch thousands of dollars; a skull with teeth is worth $1,200. And getting a complete skeleton can take months and months. There is demand for the product.

India is meeting that demand. They have been very active sellers of skeletons for over 100 years, although the practice has been barred since 1985. In fact, the Indians are considered the market leaders with the best products. In some years they have sold as many as 60,000 skulls and skeletons.

It's been 4 years

We've threatened to attack Iran because they were building a nuclear weapon. Yet, the latest (?) National Intelligence Estimate asserts that Iran stopped their weapons program in 2003. When was this estimate actually made? Is this simply today's straw in the wind? Do our intelligence experts really know what they're doing?

Can't they learn?

The Washington Post reports the experiences of Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a veteran of Iraq who shot herself while a patient at Walter Reed. All the doctors (including the guy who is now Army Surgeon General) who treated her say she has severe mental problems. Yet, the Army seems to consider this an excuse and is considering a court martial on criminal charges.

Apparently, mental illness is not considered a real illness by the Army. The Army provides housing and other assistance for families who have a member in Walter Reed, provided that member is suffering from a physical injury. If it's a mental illness, forget about any help.

Is this the kind of country we want?

They won't let it die

The Idaho Statesman reports on interviews with several men who claim to have been approached by Senator Craig. The newspaper does not claim that the men's stories are true. They simply say they were unable to disprove them.

$100,000 per pound

That's what one of the super-rich paid for a truffle. That's a mushroom to the proletariat in the crowd.

It really is a strange world in which we live.

Will there ever be an end?

Gaza's hospitals are running out of fuel as the oil distributors of Gaza refuse to accept the reduced gasoline ration offered by Israel. It just gets worse and worse.

Gee, this is a surprise

First figures show Putin's party winning 61% of the vote for Parliament today. Kasparov likens the election to those of Stalinist days. If we are getting the correct story, he may be right.

There was an interesting article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal about Gorbachev. He seems to be of two minds with regard to his support of Putin; on one hand, he thinks Putin is doing the right job, on the other hand democracy is being squelched. Part of the problem seems to be Gorbachev's poor treatment under Yeltsin, whereas Putin has made life easier for Gorby and put him on some committees.

Of course, she should be lashed or shot

Now some Sudanese have taken to the streets in protest of the 'light' (15 days in a Sudanese jail) sentence given to the English schoolteacher who allowed her students to name a stuffed animal Mohammed. This is another fine example of the wonders that religion has wrought in our world.

There's at least one idiot loose in New Hampshire.

The BBC reports that hostages have been taken at a Clinton campaign office in Rochester. The hostage-taker supposedly has a bomb ready to detonate.

One way to ask for your vote

In Thailand there is a rumor going around that one of the candidates for parliament is giving Viagra to elderly male voters in an attempt to get their vote.

What would Rudy or Mitt think of this?

Maria Carolina, one of Chile's leading prostitutes, is donating her earnings from 27 hours of love to a telethon to benefit disabled kids.

What you can learn from crossword puzzles

I discovered a few puzzles from the 1940s in a NY Times puzzle book I bought for the plane. Each of these puzzles had clues related to the war. You may call it propaganda. But, I think it was due to the fact that, unlike today, the war was the central event of people's lives.

Brief Impressions of a Trip to France

Spending $12 on a mediocre scotch whiskey is something I probably won't be doing again very soon. But that's what 8 Euros converts to - $12. I suspect that not that many Americans will be traveling to Europe over the next year or so. Travel the other way - from Europe - will be strong as this country has become a bargain basement.
Contrast the experience of Americans with that of Orientals. Half the passengers in the plane from Paris to London were Oriental and were weighed down with packages. About 30-40% of the guests at our hotel in Paris were from Japan, China, etc.
Hell is traveling by airplane. An inner circle of hell can be found at Heathrow. Purgatory is a buffet breakfast at a popular 1000 room hotel.
Paris may just be the most beautiful city in the world. Is it because they seem to have been civic-minded for centuries? At the same time, the police have to accompany firefighters to some some sections of Paris.
Boating on the Rhine is a lot more interesting than boating on the Rhone.
Observing a true business team at a 50-seat bistro, Le Paradis on Rue du Maine in Paris. Whoever was free cleaned the tables. The bartender served drinks at your table. The owner delivered the meal. The waitress made drinks. Someone just automatically did whatever had to be done at that moment. Best of all was the price: a three course lunch with a carafe of wine for $55 including tip, a complementary Sangria to start and a complementary brandy to end.
The lack of SUVs and the predominance of small vehicles. I guess gas at $8 a gallon may have some effect on what we drive.
A true vacation, as I hardly ever thought about our 21st century world. Now, it's back to the salt mines.

Yea, though I pass through the valley of the euro

We're off to France for two weeks, despite the decline of the dollar. I will be away from a computer until the 28th. Come back then. Maybe I'll have something to say about an American in France in 2007.

Fortunately, we won't be traveling by train, nor will we be in Paris for 10 days. Perhaps the transportation strike will be over by then.

Who's paying the price?

That's the question Lily Hamourtziadou tries to answer. Yes, this country is paying the price in our wounded and dead soldiers, in dollars and in loss of respect in the world. But how many of us are fearful that their children will be killed on their way to school? Or, that we will be shot on the way to work? Or, a bomb will explode in the supermarket?

Honoring our veterans

The Veterans Administration has not been winning any awards lately. It seems to have a hard time serving its customers, the people who have put their lives on the line for us. Deb Derrick has an article in the American Prospect describing some of the difficulties veterans have in receiving the services they have earned.

Derrick's article focuses on those who served on the USS Calhoun County, whose job it was to dump radioactive and other waste into the ocean in which my kids and grandkids swim, the Atlantic. The fact that the ship was involved with radioactive materials is something that each claimant has to prove, although the ships records clearly prove that the ship was dealing with radioactive materials. There is even a document confirming that the Navy's attempts to remove radioactive contamination had failed and the ship should be sunk. Apparently, the system of processing claims is based on the premise that only evidence produced by the military is accepted. Evidence found in the National Archives, for example, will not typically be considered and its merits evaluated.

Is this really how we want our veterans to be treated?

A growing share

According to Paul Kasriel at Northern Trust, the profits from the country's financial sector now make up 31% of our corporate earnings. In 1990 it was 20%. In 1950 it was 8%. So, these massive writedowns by such as Merrill Lynch, Citibank, Wachovia, AIG, etc. will have a much larger impact today than in the last century.

I wonder what the drop in manufacturing's share of corporate earnings has been.

Renew the mandate?

The UN is about to considering renewing its mandate re the use of multi-national forces in Iraq. Last year, Maliki unilaterally recommended renewal. This year the Iraqi Parliament (at least a few more than half the members) has voted against renewal. It appears, however, that this vote will not be a factor in the UN's decision. If the authors of the article are correct, then what does this say about democracy and freedom in Iraq?

Our leaders seem to believe that we should support those 'democratic' nations that vote the way we want them to.

Youth speaks

You really should read this article by a senior at Columbia.

A debt to RJ

RJ Adams of Sparrow Chat features this movie on his site. More of us should do so.

A Blank Check

That's what it looks like we've given Pakistan when it comes to financial aid. Spencer Ackerman has an illuminating article in TPM Muckraker in which he claims that most, if not all, of the aid we send Pakistan is spent on whatever Musharaff wants. We give him $100,000,000 a month for his military needs and $200,000,000 a year for non-military needs.

Note that use of the word 'give' in the previous sentence. Unlike much of our aid to other countries, aid to Pakistan is not funneled through AID or some other agency; it's paid directly to Pakistan. And the only accounting is at an annual meeting which is secret. So, we have no idea how this money is being spent. We do know, however, that the military owns a fair share of Pakistan's economy. Is there a connection?

Pakistan ranks fourth in the amount of aid we have given other countries since 9/11. We've given $10.5 billion that can be traced. Only Israel, Egypt and Jordan have received more.

Then, you read a report about our relationship with Pakistan. The report, entitled "A Perilous Course ", by the Center for Strategic and International Studies argues that we have not been operating with a strategic goal(s) in mind; things have been very much ad-hoc and not at all aware of the importance of the relationship for at at least the next twenty-five years.

The Mafia's 10 Commandments

Courtesy of the BBC

1. No-one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.

2. Never look at the wives of friends.

3. Never be seen with cops.

4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.

5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife's about to give birth.

6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.

7. Wives must be treated with respect.

8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.

9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.

10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

Retention or Recruitment?

In order to meet its goal of increasing its size, the Army seems to be moving towards retaining its current cadre rather than trying to recruit new troops. The reason for the shift is, "We have a sinking pool of qualified candidates", in the words of the fellow in charge of recruiting at the Pentagon. The Army estimates that 26% of those between the ages of 17 and 24 are qualified to serve. The rest have drug or alcohol problems, criminal records, dependents or are just plain stupid. Of this 26%, 11% are in college. So, the base is pretty low. And, as a result, the Army has lowered its standards.

The recruiting problem is particularly acute with regard to officers. The Army needs 3500 more than they have

Who are the homeless?

Some think many of the homeless are veterans, particularly of the Vietnam era. Estimates are that 23 - 40% of the country's homeless are veterans of our many conflicts.

It took almost seven years

Finally, Congress has overridden a Bush veto. I'm not sure it was the right bill to do so. It was the water resources bill which will give a fair amount of money to the Corps of Engineers, whose reputation is not what it was.

It's a start. Will there be any more overrides? I'm not optimistic.

A Dream World

Some details are coming out as to how CDOs were valued by financial institutions. It seems that credit ratings were a key factor in determining value. The institutions compared the value of similarly-rated securities (e.g., corporate AAA bonds) in the marketplace. They would then value their AAA-rated CDO based on the value of corporate AAA-rated bonds.

There was one small problem in this valuation process: 90% of CDOs were rated AAA by Moody's etal, yet far fewer than 90% of corporate bonds were rated AAA.

Will it ever stop?

Now Mattel is recalling 155,000 toys made in Mexico.

S**t happens

The problem is it's happening right over and onto the heads of people trying to live in the Baghdad Police Academy. Over a year ago, Parsons Corporation, the contractor, told the U.S. that it would remedy all the problems at no cost to us. The problems have not been fixed. Parsons says that's the problem of its Iraqi subcontractor and the Army. Stuart Bowen, the IG for Iraq, suspects fraud was involved in this project which has cost $72,000,000 so far.

More word play

Isn't the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights supposed to be concerned with whether citizens are able to exercise their rights? Then, why would it criticize efforts to desegregate schools or make it tougher for minorities to enjoy the rights of full citizens?

One reason might be because it appears as though the law was violated when new commissioners were appointed. The law says that no more than half of the commissioners can come from one political party. Yet, the commission consists of two Democrats, four Republicans and two others who were Republicans when appointed but changed to Independent just before two new commissioners - Republicans both - were appointed. The ability to violate the law was approved by Alberto's DOJ, which could not say no to George W.

Since the new commissioners have come on board, the commission has pulled back from many hearings that used to be held to discover the facts. I know that many conservatives believe that they know all the facts and do not have to test their theories against reality. I just don't think that this is what a civil rights commission should be doing with our money.

Nearing the end?

The F-15 has been the country's premier fighter plane for thirty years and more. Last week an F-15 broke up in mid-air. As a result, all F-15s have been grounded, including those working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Will we get thirty years out of the F-22, the successor to the F-15 and the most expensive fighter plane yet? Critics think its design is outdated and geared to the Cold War.

Should we start worrying?

Some people want to get paid in euros, not dollars. Jim Rogers, a successful American investor, is not holding dollars.

Is $8 billion the magic number?

Last week Merrill Lynch announced an $8 billion dollar loss due to CDO problems and Stan O'Neal, the president, resigned. Today Citigroup announced an $8 billion loss and its CEO, Charles Prince, resigned. As with Merrill, a few weeks ago the CDO loss at Citi was much smaller.

Who's next?

Whose got the advantage?

AARP seems to be of two minds with regard to the Medicare Advantage plans. In one mind, they inveigh against these plans, which are sold by insurance companies to which the government pays 12% more than it does for services performed under the standard government-sponsored and run Medicare Parts A and B. In the other mind they advertise a Medicare Advantage plan of their own.

Which is the real AARP mind?

Your district or your country

Sure, most of our politicians try to get federal funds for their districts. But, are these funds being spent wisely? You've got to wonder when one legislator's district will get $192,500,000 from the bills currently being debated in Congress. Or, when $1.8 billion was added to a defense bill to pay 580 companies for work the Pentagon did not ask for. Or, when only 21 legislators were able to split $1 billion in earmarks, otherwise known as sole-source contracts (i.e., there is no bidding, if the legislator likes you that's it. There is no competition.)

I'm certain that some of this work that has been earmarked is of decent quality and of use to this country. But, why do we need a third National Drug Intelligence Center at a cost of $509,000,000? And why does it have to be located in Johnstown, PA? Is that really a hotbed of drug use for the nation?

Of what use is the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence when it gives $350,000,000 to the 'non-profit' Concurrent Technologies, also of Johnstown, PA, and there is no way to measure the results we got from this money?

Strategic Solvency

Linking solvency with defense strategy is something that has not been practiced in this country in the 21st century. Richard Betts, from Columbia and the Council of Foreign Relations, does make the link in the current issue of Foreign Affairs. Essentially, Betts argues that our defense policy has been based on fear rather than a clear view of just what our challenges are. Further, the real challenges are not necessarily going to be solved by spending more and more money.

Of course, Betts has to address the argument that the share of GDP spent on defense today is quite a bit less than that of the Cold War days. Betts points out that such an argument is one-sided in that it focuses only on spending and does not consider the "scope of commitments, the choice of strategy, and the degree of risk accepted", all of which are relevant to the issue. Further, the defense budget has increased at an annual rate greater than 6% in the past ten years; that's larger than any other decade since WWII.

Betts takes the straightforward position that the military does not always need the latest and greatest weapons; it needs weapons that can counter the enemies' capabilities. He considers finding terrorists as being a major challenge; what is needed is intelligence and special ops, not a hydrogen bomb.

Betts worries that we may be investing a huge amount of money in weapons that, when needed, will be technologically obsolete. And we've seen that our belligerent attitude has generated a fair amount of hostility and resistance to us around the world.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Burma expelled the UN representative because he issued a statement urging the junta to listen to the protesters. In the junta's view, the statement should have been cleared with them before being issued.

Who does it serve?

The Consumer Safety Product Commission, that is. A few days ago I wrote about the commission attempts to water down some proposed laws. Now, I learn that the commissioner, Nancy Nord, and her predecessor felt that it was okay to have their travel expenses - including a trip to China - paid for by the companies the commission is supposed to regulate. The commission appears to be led by someone who is certainly a consumer. The question is what does she consume.

Let's hope it bankrupts them

The father of a dead Marine was awarded $11,000,000 in winning his suit against the Westboro church which has been going around the country disrupting soldiers' funerals because the church feels that the war in Iraq is our punishment for tolerating homosexuality.

"I prefer to die rather than live a life like this"

That's a quote from a grocer in Gaza. I should say 'ex-grocer' as he has no goods to sell and no money to pay for goods he bought earlier. He has sold his wedding ring and his living room furniture to feed his family.

Israel has mounted a siege in order to defeat Hamas. Perhaps Hamas is being hurt, but the average people in Gaza are dying. Two-thirds of the jobs are gone, factories and stores are closed, sewage is in the streets. Now, the supply of natural gas will be cut. Where 800 trucks crossed the border each day, now only 55 do.

Are sanctions working here?

A blank check

Blackwater seems to have magic when it comes to checks. They get a lot of them from us for defending our diplomats and who knows who else. And, when the heat is on them, they get a blank check from the State Department.

When the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, a division of State, interviewed the Blackwater people who killed several Iraqis in September, they gave them immunity for anything the Blackwater people told the 'investigators' from State.

Now, although the Army says that Blackwater had no reason to open fire, it looks as though they will not suffer any consequences for their actions.

No to more money, more people, more power?

That's Nancy Nord, acting chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The Senate is proposing to increase the budget of the CPSC, add to its staff (which is half of what it was twenty years ago), give it more power to prosecute executives who violate the law. And Nancy says no, don't pass this law.

I guess Nancy is really not a bureaucrat at heart. She knows that one guy can test all the toys sold in this country and fifteen inspectors are all that the agency needs.

Think of all the money she is saving us. Who cares if we use unsafe products?

Vanity, thy name is Man

The newest form of plastic surgery that I've heard of is abdominal etching. It's an attempt to give men washboard abs, maybe not abs to die for, but a more defined body than they currently have. All for a mere $4,000 to $7,000 and days of pain and months of swelling.

Waterboarding is Torture

Excerpts from Malcolm Nance writing in Small Wars Journal:

We live at a time where Americans, completely uninformed by an incurious media and enthralled by vengeance-based fantasy television shows like “24”, are actually cheering and encouraging such torture as justifiable revenge for the September 11 attacks. Having been a rescuer in one of those incidents and personally affected by both attacks, I am bewildered at how casually we have thrown off the mantle of world-leader in justice and honor. Who we have become? Because at this juncture, after Abu Ghraieb and other undignified exposed incidents of murder and torture, we appear to have become no better than our opponents.

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The waterboard was clearly one of the tools dictators and totalitarian regimes preferred.

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There is No Debate Except for Torture Apologists

1. Waterboarding is a torture technique. Period. There is no way to gloss over it or sugarcoat it. It has no justification outside of its limited role as a training demonstrator. Our service members have to learn that the will to survive requires them accept and understand that they may be subjected to torture, but that America is better than its enemies and it is one’s duty to trust in your nation and God, endure the hardships and return home with honor.

2. Waterboarding is not a simulation. Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.

Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. How much the victim is to drown depends on the desired result (in the form of answers to questions shouted into the victim’s face) and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black out and expiration –usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threaten with its use again and again.

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3. If you support the use of waterboarding on enemy captives, you support the use of that torture on any future American captives.

John Yoo validated the current dilemma we find ourselves in by asserting that the President had powers above and beyond the Constitution and the Congress:

“Congress doesn’t have the power to tie the President’s hands in regard to torture as an interrogation technique....It’s the core of the Commander-in-Chief function. They can’t prevent the President from ordering torture.”

That is an astounding assertion. It reflects a basic disregard for the law of the United States, the Constitution and basic moral decency.

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Who will complain about the new world-wide embrace of torture? America has justified it legally at the highest levels of government. Even worse, the administration has selectively leaked supposed successes of the water board such as the alleged Khalid Sheik Mohammed confessions. However, in the same breath the CIA sources for the Washington Post noted that in Mohammed’s case they got information but "not all of it reliable." Of course, when you waterboard you get all the magic answers you want -because remember, the subject will talk. They all talk! Anyone strapped down will say anything, absolutely anything to get the torture to stop. Torture. Does. Not. Work.

According to the President, this is not a torture, so future torturers in other countries now have an American legal basis to perform the acts. Every hostile intelligence agency and terrorist in the world will consider it a viable tool, which can be used with impunity. It has been turned into perfectly acceptable behavior for information finding.

A torture victim can be made to say anything by an evil nation that does not abide by humanity, morality, treaties or rule of law. Today we are on the verge of becoming that nation. Is it possible that September 11 hurt us so much that we have decided to gladly adopt the tools of KGB, the Khmer Rouge, the Nazi Gestapo, the North Vietnamese, the North Koreans and the Burmese Junta?

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Not A Fair Trade for America’s Honor

I have stated publicly and repeatedly that I would personally cut Bin Laden’s heart out with a plastic MRE spoon if we per chance meet on the battlefield. Yet, once captive I believe that the better angels of our nature and our nation’s core values would eventually convince any terrorist that they indeed have erred in their murderous ways. Once convicted in a fair, public tribunal, they would have the rest of their lives, however short the law makes it, to come to terms with their God and their acts.

This is not enough for our President. He apparently secretly ordered the core American values of fairness and justice to be thrown away in the name of security from terrorists. He somehow determined that the honor the military, the CIA and the nation itself was an acceptable trade for the superficial knowledge of the machinations of approximately 2,000 terrorists, most of whom are being decimated in Iraq or martyring themselves in Afghanistan. It is a short sighted and politically motivated trade that is simply disgraceful. There is no honor here.

It is outrageous that American officials, including the Attorney General and a legion of minions of lower rank have not only embraced this torture but have actually justified it, redefined it to a misdemeanor, brought it down to the level of a college prank and then bragged about it. The echo chamber that is the American media now views torture as a heroic and macho.

Torture advocates hide behind the argument that an open discussion about specific American interrogation techniques will aid the enemy. Yet, convicted Al Qaeda members and innocent captives who were released to their host nations have already debriefed the world through hundreds of interviews, movies and documentaries on exactly what methods they were subjected to and how they endured. In essence, our own missteps have created a cadre of highly experienced lecturers for Al Qaeda’s own virtual SERE school for terrorists.

Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle need to stand up for American values and clearly specify that coercive interrogation using the waterboard is torture and, except for limited examples of training our service members and intelligence officers, it should be stopped completely and finally –oh, and this time without a Presidential signing statement reinterpreting the law.

Halloween 2007

It's certainly not what it was. Few costumes are made at home or by the kids. It's big business with little regard for what used to be appropriate costumes. Sexy costumes are made for six-year-old girls. Where will it end?

Our 21st century economy

Moody's downgrades some CDO securities from AAA to junk status in one fell swoop.

Microsoft buys a share of Facebook valuing it at 500 times earnings. If GE had the same valuation, it would be worth almost as much as the country's GDP.

A new college sport

The Martha's Vineyard fishing derby finished two weeks ago. It's a very serious but friendly competition drawing people from all over the world. Prizes were won by young and old fishermen. I think that the top prizes were a boat and a pick-up truck. I say 'think' because I'm not a fisherman. Many of my friends are and some usually come close to winning a major prize in the derby.

An article in Thursday's Wall Street Journal opened my eyes to the fact that fishing is becoming a major sport. It now has a tour analogous to the PGA; fishermen can win $1,000,000 in just one tournament. The top guys earn nowhere near what Tiger Woods does, but still $250,000 a year plus sponsorships is not chump change.

However, what really got me to read the article was that at least 83 colleges sent members of their fishing team to the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. One of the colleges was ASU, which I've never thought of as a hotbed for fishing. Maybe in a year or two one of these college fishers will win the Vineyard Derby.

That makes four

The BBC is reporting another recall by Mattel. This is because of the lead paint supposedly in a toy known as the Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boat. It is a small recall - only 50,000. And what's become de rigeur the toy was made in China.

How would you like to be the CEO of Mattel now?

Making a Television Program

Now FEMA has gotten into the television production business. Yesterday they held a press conference about the fires in California. It was shown on Fox News, MSNBC and other stations.

The press was invited. However, no reporters showed up because they were given all of 15 minutes to appear. But, then, you might be curious as to how one has a press conference if the press is not there? By having FEMA staffers portray reporters, silly. You just don't understand 21st century Washington.

Real reporters could have called in on an 800 line. Naturally, they could call in only to listen to the wonders FEMA is performing in California; they could not ask questions. Hey, the show might not have gone as smoothly if someone who did not work for FEMA asked a question. There was a tight production schedule.

Another example of how close we are coming to 1984.

Someone wants us to stay

South Korea wants us to stay even after a peace treaty is signed to end the Korean War.

At $92

Oil futures in Asia hit $92. Six weeks ago oil was at $80. I wonder whether there may be a problem somewhere.

It's getting closer

"It" is war with Iran. Will the sanctions help or hurt the Iranian people? Will the sanctions help or hurt our already tattered international reputation? Especially when we've been talking about a unified front vis-a-vis Iran.

January 21, 2009 seems so far away. There is plenty of time for these idiots to have us in another quagmire before they leave. Of course, I'm assuming someone with a brain and a real concern for us and the world will replace the current crop of idiots in all branches of government.

Free to speak?

The head of the CDC testified before Congress yesterday about the connection between climate change and public health. Before she spoke, her testimony was reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). You may ask what financial people know about climate change and public health. Well, it turns out that OMB has an Office of Science and Technology Policy, the head of whom is one John Marburger. His concern was that the CDC testimony about climate change did not align with the thoughts of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. So, time being short, he cut the testimony from 12 to 6 pages, eliminating just about all of the stuff about climate change. The head of the CDC was okay with this, at least in a public statement.

However, scientists who sit on the UN Panel do not agree with Marburger, as reported in the Washington Post.

"That's nonsense," said University of Wisconsin at Madison public health professor Jonathan Patz, who served as an IPCC lead author for its 2007, 2001 and 1995 reports."Dr. Gerberding's testimony was scientifically accurate and absolutely in line with the findings of the IPCC."

Just as the CDC director predicted climate change could exacerbate air-pollution-related diseases, the IPCC 2001 report predicted that dangerous summer ozone levels may increase across 50 cities in the eastern U.S., and said, "The large potential population exposed to outdoor air pollution, translates this seemingly small relative risk into a substantial attributable health risk."

Failure is no impediment

First Kuwaiti General and Trading, the builder of our embassy in Iraq, will be doing more work for us. It will build another embassy in Gabon and consulates in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. In this new work it is a subcontractor to an American firm, Grunley Walsh. That's a good American name, a Yank and an Irishman. However, the owner is a Lebanese who is very friendly with Michel Aoun.

First Kuwaiti must have some strong connections in Washington as it was awarded the Iraq embassy contract on a sole source basis.

Privatizing ourselves to death

Was it that many years ago when there were occasional articles about the Marines guarding our embassies and the occupants? I haven't seen such an article in this century. Now, we have a State Department that is spending four times as much on security contractors today than it did four years ago. Is this another result of our switching to the volunteer army?

Not only is this privatization costing us more money, it has not worked out very well in Iraq in that the contractors seemingly will do anything to protect an official whether or not their form of protection hurts our cause.

And while we have increased the number of contractors dramatically, the State Department staff overseeing their work is just about the same. Sure, the staff had tons of free time four years ago, so they can easily do the right job for us now when there are so many more firms to watch. Right!

Lourdes makes the Wall Street Journal

I was surprised to see an article on Lourdes, where miracles have supposedly occurred, on page 1 of yesterday's WSJ. It seems that a Dutch insurance company takes 600 disabled people to Lourdes every year. They've been doing this since 1990 not because they necessarily believe in miracles but they have found that these trips "lead people to compassion and friendship". Of course, the company also feels that it is good for business.

Lourdes has had a fascination for me ever since I saw Jennifer Jones as St. Bernadette in a film shown in a church basement many moons ago. A few years ago I did some research on Lourdes and came to the conclusion that:

Yes, man is gullible and easily deceived by others or his own wishful thinking. Mass hallucinations have occurred. Pious frauds have existed. Closer, more comprehensive and independent examinations have explained away a number of claims of the miraculous. And yet, there remains a doubt in my mind that questions the certitude of those who assert the impossibility of miracles.

Buttinsky

Now he's telling Cuba what to do.

Burma a few weeks later.

Here's what Jill Drew of the Washington Post reports about Burma after the protests.