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.