"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.

Maybe there is hope

Among the background noise of the past month has been the PR surrounding the publication of a book by Jenna Bush. There may actually be some merit in the book.

We've wasted a lot of money pushing the abstinence-only programs of our current government. Here's what Ms Bush writes in her book, "If you decide abstinence is right for you, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But if you decide that you're ready for a sexual relationship, the best way to protect yourself from HIV and other [sexually transmitted infections] is to be faithful to your partner and use a condom every time."

Sounds sensible to me.

Nothing you didn't know

In terms of discretionary spending, the government has had an annual increase of 5.3% under G. W. Bush. Under LBJ, who also fought a war and claimed that we could have both butter and guns, the annual increase was 4.6%. Surprising to me, under Reagan the increase was only 1.9%.

And Bush has another year plus to go.

Is Hanuman getting even?

Hanuman is the Hindu monkey god. So, in India many people think highly of monkeys. However, it does not appear that monkeys think highly of people, or, at least, some monkeys and some people.

The deputy mayor of Delhi was attacked by a band of monkeys last week. He was forced off the terrace of his house and was killed by the fall. Monkeys have long been a problem in Delhi. The city has hired monkey catchers to place the monkeys back in the wild. They even trained larger monkeys to go after and kill the pesky smaller monkeys. But, Hanuman protects his own and the city has not been able to stop the plague.

Whither the U.S. Navy

Robert Kaplan is one of the foremost analysts of our military and its strategy. In this month's Atlantic Monthly his subject is the U.S. Navy.

First of all you have to believe that the Navy is still relevant in the 21st century. How else would we ferry soldiers to battlefields? What other force is really so mobile? You don't need the permission of anyone to park a carrier 50 miles off the coast of Iraq.

Then, the question becomes whether we have a Navy that's right for the times; the times will need a military that can defeat non-state armies as well as other nations' armed forces. Kaplan is worried that we don't have enough ships and we don't have enough ships of the right type.

At the end of World War II our Navy had 6,700 vessels. By 1950 we had less than 10% of that - 634 vessels. By 1997 the number was down to 365. And, Former Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, thinks we'll be down to 150 if we continue to build only five ships a year.

The biggest obstacle to having the right ships is the Pentagon bureaucracy. It can take decades to get a ship into the water and by the time it is there it will likely not be equipped with appropriate technology.

To have the kind of Navy Kaplan thinks we need - and he does make a strong argument - will cost money, lots of money. He thinks our defense budget will have to go from 4.38% of GDP to 5%. I'm not so sure, as there is probably 1% or more of waste in the current defense budget.

Be wary of off balance sheet items

The major reason behind Enron's ability to go on so long even if it was essentially bankrupt was its ability to move things off their balance sheet. The accounting profession learned a lesson from this and changed the rules making it much more difficult to hide problems. However, they did not change the rules for banks.

As long as banks could demonstrate that any off balance sheet item held no risk for the bank itself, then they could create off balance sheet entities, which they called structured investment vehicles (SIV). What the banks did was have the entity borrow short term money via 'commercial paper' and invest it in long term assets, usually credit card debt and mortgages. The banks charged the entity good size fees and made a fair amount of money. Things were fine as long as the entities could borrow money short term and make money investing long term.

The problem started when the interest rate available in the commercial paper market rose a fair distance above the yield on Treasuries due, in no small measure, to the problems in the subprime area and the dawning realization that maybe the housing boom might not go on forever.

Banks had to acknowledge that in the light of day they really hadn't transferred all risk to the entities; the bank was on the hook. The question is when the problem will end. Will the Treasury and the major banks be able to put together their bail-out fund? Will the fund work if it only buys highly-rated debt? Will the fund be able to meet demands for bailing out lower-rated debt? We watch and wait.

"A House of Cards"

So says Karl Case, an economics professor at Wellesley, as quoted in an illuminating article on subprime loans the Wall Street Journal ran ten days ago. As I discovered earlier this year, subprime loans were not the exclusive province of the poor. Last year the number of those who earned $300,000 annually who applied for a subprime loan increased by 74%.

The Journal went beyond talking about the rich and subprimes. 29% of the new mortgages last year were for subprimes; as recently as 2004 that number was 16%. And second mortgages to cover down payments made up 22% of last year's mortgages, as contrasted with 12% in 2004.

While subprime loans were made in just about every state, California and Florida easily topped the list. Sellers in both states have started walking away and letting their properties go into bankruptcy.

The end has not yet arrived as the adjustable rate mortgages made in 2005 and 2006 have begun to see rate increases that will ruin many more real estate 'investors'.

More dumbing down

The Commissioner of Education in Maine wants to make graduation from high school dependent on students filing at least one college application, college being defined as a two or four year school or - get this - a career school.

How in the Lord's name will this improve Maine's educational system? Perhaps, Maine will get more money based on some arcane bit of the No Child Left Behind Act. Otherwise, this is just a strange reading of what education, the Constitution and reality are all about.

Shouldn't a high school graduate be able to complete an application? It does involve, reading, writing and thinking. This country tries to provide equal opportunity, not equality. People are different. Some are smart, some stupid, most are average. Some can build anything, some can't hold a hammer. Some can sing, some can't.

This idea that everyone should go to college is not new. Perhaps, 15% of my graduating class in 1958 should not have gone to college. Now, I suspect the number is closer to 50%. It says something about America in the 21st century.

Let the market prevail

That's the mantra of Bush & Co. except when it comes to being good stewards of our money. Apparently, they believe this even when the market is in a trough. They allowed the oil companies to evade market conditions. Now they're doing it with the Education Department.

DOE allowed student loan lenders to make guaranteed loans at 9.5% even though market rates were nowhere near that. They did this despite warnings from the GAO in 2004. They did this despite their Inspector General concluding that some of the techniques these lenders used ran counter to the criteria established for loans in the law. They did this despite warnings from middle management that loan companies were getting rich although they were not playing fair in accordance with the law.

The reaction of our Secretary of Education? Forget about it. One company, Nelnet, was paid $278,000,000 more than they were entitled. The Washington Post found that another $330,000,000 was garnered by ten of the lenders; I'm sure there are more than ten companies robbing us. But, hey, it's not Spelling's money, it's ours.

Masters of Disguise

Do you notice anything different about the coke machine on the right?

What are the two white things on the bottom of the machine?

They're shoes and the coke machine is not a coke machine but a person dressed in the latest fashion in Japan, fashion designed to avoid being robbed. They also offer a purse that can turn into a manhole cover. It's not as though Japan is suffering from an abnormal crime wave. It's just a fashion designer's attempt to stand out.

Lord of all he surveys

Retired Major General Charles Williams is in charge of Overseas Building Operations (OBO) for the State Department. And he really is in charge. He barred diplomats and Congressmen from entering the embassy being built in Iraq. The State Department refuses to have him grant interviews. His underling on the scene in Iraq, James Golden, was thrown out of Iraq by Ambassador Crocker for incompetence in overseeing the construction of the embassy, but Golden now oversees it from Washington.

One has to question Williams' ability as a construction manager. In August he announced that the embassy in Iraq would open in September. But, as we've seen, there are a few problems there. Now, the sprinkler system has been demonstrated to be faulty and there are questions as to how blast-resistant the building really is.

Williams strives to bring his projects in on time. However, sometimes he cuts corners to do so. In Berlin in order to meet deadlines he built one less floor in the new embassy, which means that one design goal - have all employees in one building - will not be met.

Finally, we have hints of skulduggery with regards to the building of the Iraq embassy.

Persistence is rewarded

Gypsy moths have been visiting Martha's Vineyard for the past couple of Springs.



They like our trees.



Eventually, the moths kill the trees

She had enough

Mona Shaw struck a blow for all of us who can't understand the demise of customer service in this country. Her particular nemesis was an old friend of mine.

Sports as Metaphor?

By now we're no longer surprised that an athlete has relied on drugs to boost his or her performance. Nor are we surprised to hear of youth soccer teams traveling to Europe to play, or youth leagues with budgets in six figures, or personal coaches for ten-year-olds. All of these aberrations are driven by someone - or his parents - striving to be a super athlete.

The fans seem to be going in the opposite direction - striving to get arrested. At a recent 'Monday Night Football" game in Buffalo, 58 fans were arrested for violations ranging from mischief to harassment, disorderly conduct, and assault. Over a hundred fans were thrown out of the stadium and 46 were not allowed in. Did you know that there was a courtroom inside Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium; it was used to arraign unruly fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. And all this says nothing about the language and the drunkenness and the general discourtesy to fellow fans.

Is there a message here?

A measure of how low we have sunk

The LA Times has a Military Obituary Editor. This position began work in May and reports only on California soldiers dying in our 21st century battles. Thus far, they have printed 56, or about one every three days.

Did this title exist in World War II? I can't recall it. There was no need, as this nation, not our volunteer army, was at war.

Is there a difference?

Who said this? "If Iran does not comply with its own commitments and the will of the international community, all options must remain on the table." It's not George W. It's Hillary R.

WOW!

Read this op-ed in today's Washington Post. It's written by twelve Army captains who served in Iraq.

It begins with these words:

"Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles."

And ends with these:

"There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice."

In between is a litany of failure.

The Free Markets

I'm not sure who said it recently - I think it was Robert Kuttner - but the financiers love a free market until they get in trouble. Then, they want the government to step in.

That's what happened over the weekend when the Treasury orchestrated the establishment of the Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit (you have to love that name), which is a consortium of huge banks led by Citicorp, Chase and Bank of America, that has established a fund of $80 - $100 billion to be used to tamp down the problems in the market for exotic credit instruments, instruments which most of us can't make sense of but which have brought the financiers a lot of bucks in the past couple of years. Supposedly, there is none of our money on the line here, at least as of today.

I think the fund is a good idea, but it does highlight the severity of the problems we are facing.

Obeying the Rules

We've been a member of the World Trade Organization since its founding. For all I know, we were one of the founders. Yet, we're having a hard time obeying the rules of the organization when it comes to farming.

The other day we lost another case when the WTO declared that the subsidies to our cotton farmers violated WTO rules. This decision affects more than agriculture as the aggrieved nation that made the charge - Brazil, in this case - can now apply punitive tariffs to any of our products they wish. This is not a good idea when our economy is becoming more and more dependent on exports.

That our agriculture subsidy system needs revamping is a cause of none other than Dean Kleckner, a former head of the nation's largest agricultural lobbying firm. He feels that the subsidies result in farmers being less sensitive to market matters and more concerned about their subsidy. Again, this is not good for our economy.

Of course, Kleckner is not advocating elimination of subsidies. He wants us to adopt the system used in Europe which is based on production history and acreage rather than ours, which is based on current production and prices. Could it be that he favors this because system because it will likely result in higher subsidies for the farmer as well as agribusiness?

Clearly, we have to do something about our subsidy system. But, whatever we do should not increase the amount of money going out of our pockets.

It's not only the U.S.

England has the same equally stupid approach to controlling drug use - prohibition. Now one of the leading police officers in England has proposed that this policy be abandoned. In his view, England's war on drugs has resulted in drugs being more available, the number of users increasing and drug-related crime is now a plague.

Our benighted policy is responsible for half of the people being in our prisons and huge but unknown costs of prohibition.

Can we agree on the meaning of a word?

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Gore and UN scientists is certainly a novel definition of the word 'peace'. It makes one question whether the translation from Swedish to English has been faulty for several years.

Moving in to Argentina

The Strategic Studies Institute has an interesting paper about China's moving into Argentina, particularly into the more advanced sectors of its economy.

Apparently, when U.S. telecommunications companies began to pull back when Argentina had economic problems in 2002, China moved in. Since the Chinese companies don't have the demands for profits that we do, they have moved into a leadership role in network technology, which is becoming more and more important in military matters.

Another area in which China has moved in Argentina is space technology. They provide Argentina with commercial launch services, satellite components and communication satellite platforms. Whether China, itself, will control any of the Argentinian satellites is a question that we should start thinking about.

Facing Reality

The Army is planning to expedite their increase in staff. Previously they had planned to increase the number of soldiers by 15% by 2012; now they want to do it by 2010. They are offering $2,000 bonuses to National Guard members who persuade someone to join the regular army.

Whether the new troops will be as qualified as the Army likes is debatable. As we have learned, the Army has accepted a number of soldiers who have not met the desired standards.

A Common Word between Us and You

138 Muslim leaders sent a letter to leaders of the Christian world noting that "If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace." The Muslims included representatives of their major branches - Shia, Sunni, Salafi.

A small step, but it's good to see it.

Declaring War

Ron Paul demolishes Romney.

Deja vu

Robert Kuttner sees parallels between the risks that resulted in the 1929 Crash and the risks in our 21st century economy. Here's his list:

• asset bubbles
• securitization of credit
• excessive use of leverage
• corruption of the gatekeepers
• failure of regulation to keep up with financial innovation
• the belief that markets are perfectly self-regulating.

It's this last parallel on which Kuttner focuses. In his view the regulators are more interested in protecting the speculator rather than the financial system.

Succeeding in Afghanistan

We tend to be focused almost exclusively on Iraq, but Lawrence Korb and Caroline Wadhams think that Afghanistan is at least, if not more, important and, surprisingly, is a war that we can win, if you define 'winning' as ousting Al Qaeda and building a stable, secure country. Afghanistan has a number of advantages over Iraq:

• The government represents the people and is supported by a majority.
• We actually have allies in Afghanistan who number almost half of the total troops there.
• There is little, if any, sectarianism.
• Polls seem to show support for us and against the Taliban.

I'm not as sure as Korb and Wadhams of the effectiveness of the NATO forces that are there; one gets the impression that they are not overly effective or that there are enough of them there.

Clearly, things have gotten worse there over the past couple of years, but the authors feel that we can succeed if we change our approach and start paying attention to the country by increasing our support. Specifically, they urge us to

• Increase the number of troops (including moving some from Iraq) and make sure there is enough equipment for all the troops.
• Increase our assistance in reconstruction tasks, but make sure we have an inspector general as focused as Stuart Bowen is with Iraq.
• Figure out a better way to interdict narcotics trafficking, one which does not penalize the farmers.
• Get more involved in shutting down the Pakistan strongholds of the Taliban, but not to the point of invasion.
• Help to improve the government.

These are sound ideas, but I doubt our leaders will do anything, as they are fixated on Iraq.

The Desert Warrior

Soon the V-22 Osprey will be flying the skies over Iraq. Its deployment in war has been a long time coming – 25 years – and has cost a bundle - $119,000,000 each. If the plane is as strong in the air as it has been in the political battles of the past 25 years, it will be a real winner. Unfortunately, it seems to be fraught with problems.

One place to begin is with Secretary of Defense Cheney. In 1989 he said, “Given the risk we face from a military standpoint, given the areas where we think the priorities ought to be, the V-22 is not at the top of that list. It came out at the bottom of the list, and for that reason, I decided to terminate it.”

The Army dropped out of the program in 1983, leaving the Marines, which has just about zero experience managing airplane programs, in charge. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons why the original goal - 1,000 planes in 10 years costing $40,000,000 each - was not reached. But, even the Air Force would have been challenged managing this program because the Osprey is both an airplane and a helicopter. It uses a technology referred to as tiltrotor.

In 1991 one of the first Ospreys crashed when taking off for its first flight; the wiring was faulty. In 1992 another Osprey crashed killing seven. In 2000 two more crashed, killing 23. The plane was grounded for a year-and-a-half. An analysis of the last two crashes revealed that testing was cut short by a significant margin, for example, night flying tests were scheduled for 131 hours but only 33 hours were actually flown. Recent tests in the desert have raised questions as to whether it can fly in dusty conditions, conditions which are common in Iraq.

As the development moved on, a decision was made to eliminate a forward mounted machine gun which would be used to strike against forces trying to shoot the Osprey down; the gun was considered too heavy. The only gun on the Osprey is a small machine gun mounted on the rear ramp. It can shoot its small rounds only to the rear of the plane – where the plane has been, not where it’s going – and only when the ramp is lowered.

It seems that the helicopter part of the technology lacks one advantage of a helicopter: if a helicopter’s engines are damaged, it can still coast to the ground, not smoothly, but there’s a chance of saving the occupants; the Osprey cannot, so if both engines are hit, forget about survivors.

Despite these problems, the V-22 is still rolling off the production line. The GAO has stated that these planes are being accepted “with numerous deviations and waivers” including “several potentially serious defects”.

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Update
One of the ten Ospreys flown to Iraq had problems getting from Jordan to Iraq and had to try twice to finally succeed.

Thoughts of some Iraqis about reconciliation

From today's Washington Post

"I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power."

Humam Hamoudi, a prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member, said any future reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through short-term political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.

"Reconciliation should be a result and not a goal by itself," he said. "You should create the atmosphere for correct relationships, and not wave slogans that 'I want to reconcile with you.' "

$5.5 billion is not chump change

That's the size of the bath Merrill Lynch is taking in its CDO/sub-prime business. In the summer, Merrill assured us that its exposure was "limited, contained and appropriate".

That brings the amount lost by investment banks in this debacle to $20 billion.

A Different Way to Extract Information

At least one World War II group of interrogators say they used brains and not muscle to extract information from enemy captives. The men from Fort Hunt in Virginia gathered yesterday at a Park Service ceremony and recalled their work in protecting this country in a war that called for sacrifice by just about everyone. The men lamented the interrogation methods we have adopted in the 21st century.

It's nice to feel protected

It's been a pleasure to go to sleep every night knowing my country is doing everything it can to protect me and my family. If it were not, I could not sleep. This concept of a country doing everything it can to protect its citizens is a new one and we all have September 11 to thank for this protection. Heck, if the terrorists hadn't attacked us, we would have remained in our dangerous state with no one to protect us.

I especially appreciate how the executive branch of our government makes sure that as few people as possible know exactly how this level of protection is achieved. Who knows what a Congressman might do if he knew the methods we use? He'd probably be as nasty as the NY Times and actually publish what we do or talk about it in public. These legislators don't realize that they are not part of the government; they don't care about protecting us.

I think that government is best which has as its primary goal our protection, whether or not that government abides by such outmoded concepts as a constitution, truth, justice, honor.

See you later. I have to go back to sleep.

The latest expert

Kim Jong Il is an Internet expert. Or, so says Kim Jong Il. He should get together with the guy who created the Internet, Albert Gore.

Buying arms from China

China's newest customer seems to be Iraq. Because we can't supply them with enough weapons for their police, Iraq has decided to buy $100,000,000 worth of arms from China.

Diplomacy in Action

Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs, remarked during a meeting at the Pentagon with British MPs, "I hate Iranians".

It's a numbers game

Why would a country issue banknotes whose face value is divisible by 9? Why would they report an attendance of 98,100 at a government rally? If that country believed in astrology and the value of lucky numbers, they would do so if 9 had become a lucky number. And, in Burma in 1987 9 did become a lucky number for the country's leader; hence, the bills in denominations of 9 (45 and 90 kyat). An attendance of 98,100 also contains the lucky number (9 and 8+1); ergo, the figure given for a recent government rally. The government's attacks against its people began on 9/18/2007 (9 and 2*9 and 2+7). Tom White of the BBC asks whether Imbari will be speaking with the astrologers as they "hold the key to the leaders' strategy".

White, who was an eyewitness to the 1988 uprising thinks sanctions are a waste unless China, India and other South East Asian nations are involved. He believes that the only hope is revulsion by the troops at the actions they have had to take, particularly that against the monks.

Even the weather report?

Have the rulers of Burma censored the weather report? That's the claim made by a Burmese now attending school here. The brief column is accompanied by a series of photos smuggled from Burma, one of which is shown below.


But, no matter what is said, printed or filmed or how many are imprisoned, wounded or killed, it looks like the junta has won.

Getting worse in Afghanistan

Attacks are up 23% over 2006, which was the worst year for attacks since the war of 2001. And the attacks have shifted from the conventional to the guerrilla, ala Iraq.

A unique charity

Who do you think of when you think of charitable organizations? Habitat, Red Cross, Boys & Girls Club, Boy Scouts, Salvation Army, etc. You have to add another organization to that list - Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC).

True, it is a different type of charity, but it is a charity in the eyes of the IRS because, as the company's CFO says, the company "lessens the burden on governance" and helps "the federal government and American industry to perform more effectively through the use of emerging technologies".

Most charities tout their specialty on the home page of their web sites Here's what CTC says on its home page

» Providing World-Class Services for World-Class Competitiveness

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) offers a broad range of services and capabilities. Areas of expertise include: Advanced materials & manufacturing Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) Force readiness Energy & environmental sustainability, and more. As a nonprofit organization, CTC conducts impartial, in-depth assessments and delivers reliable, unbiased solutions that emphasize increased quality, enhanced effectiveness, and rapid technology transition and deployment.

Did you catch that 'nonprofit organization' in the last sentence? This is a charity that has received over $100,000,000 in earmarks from Congressman Murtha. This is a charity where the top three people average $462,000 each. This is a charity that does work for the NSA and CIA. This is a charity that for two months employed a future deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force although he did no work for the charity.

This is a charity?

$10 trillion is in sight

Our wonderful Congress has once more increased the debt limit, this time to$9.815 trillion. Here's how its grown since 1980.

Still #1

The U.S. once more sold more weapons to developing countries than any other nation. In 2006 we sold $10.3 billion. Russia came close with $8.1 billion, while England was far behind at $3.1 billion.

One positive sign: although total sales reached $40.3 billion, they were down 15% from 2005.