Update from the Heartland
No.407
28.9.09 – 4.10.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
No.407
28.9.09 – 4.10.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- The Senate Finance Committee rejected efforts by liberal Democrats to add a government-run health insurance plan to health care reform legislation [396 & sub] – a setback for President Obama and the Democrats.
-- The New York Times reported that “experts” think Senator John Eric Ensign of Nevada [392-3] may have violated ethics laws with his handling of the aftermath and consequences of his affair with the wife of an aid. Ya think!
-- In the first bilateral talks since the revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America discussed the IRI’s nuclear development program and specifically the newly revealed uranium enrichment plant at Qom [405-6]. The Iranians reportedly agreed to international inspections and committed to send most of its openly declared enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel or medical isotopes.
-- Swiss diplomat Heidi Taglivini compiled and reported the European Union’s 9-month international investigation into the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia [348, 357]. They concluded that Georgia triggered the war, but that Russia had prepared the ground, broke international law by invading Georgia as a whole, and that Russian-backed South Ossetian militias conducted ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians. They also found evidence that regular Russian troops as well as volunteers and mercenaries had entered South Ossetia in Georgia prior to the war.
Voters of Ireland approved the Lisbon Treaty by a 2-to-1 margin in a dramatic shift of sentiment after the treaty was defeated last June. The European Union sucked in a deep breath of relief on the vote. The treaty establishes a permanent EU president and foreign minister among other important changes. This appears to be a great move that will strength the EU.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in yet another 2nd Amendment case – McDonald v. Chicago – which involves a citizen and yet another, stringent, municipal, gun-control law. I trust the Supremes will reach the same conclusion they did in District of Columbia v. Heller [553 U.S. ___ (2008); No. 07-290] [342]. In macabre punctuation, four teenage boys beat another teenage boy to death in Chicago. In Wichita, a young police officer – Sedgwick County Deputy Sheriff Brian S. Etheridge – was ambushed by a lone killer bent upon killing one or more cops; the police definitively terminated the perpetrator; possibly a death-by-cop incident, in my opinion. An individual, intending to kill, will resort to any tool to accomplish their objective. The key, central element of the case at hand . . . Citizen Otis McDonald wants to own a handgun for protection of his family. The issue never has been, is not, and never will be the tool(s) a killer chooses to carry out his dastardly deed(s). I understand the interest and motives of the gun-control folks; I want all killing to stop regardless of the tool of choice. Penalizing 90+% of law-abiding citizens because we are nauseated by the senselessness of the killer hardly seems like a rational endeavor.
With all this incessant talk of hope and change, ain’t it all just warm ‘n squishy comforting to know the corruption of our Federal servants never changes?
“Defense Bill, Lauded by White House, Contains Billions in Earmarks”
by R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post
Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092803862.html?hpid=sec-nation
Reading Smith’s reportage, I found it extraordinarily difficult to contain my anger. I’m getting to the point where I will not vote for and will actively encourage anyone who will listen to not vote for ANY incumbent, no matter who. Earmarks [257, et al; too many citations to list] are probably the most corrupting influence I know, even more so than campaign contributions, slush funds, lobbyist bribes, et cetera – the scale is vastly greater. These earmarks are unchecked taps on the PUBLIC TREASURY – our Treasury, not theirs. They attempt to convince us that they are doing the People’s work, that they are doing good work. Despite all the yammering about reform, about transparency, about improving ethics in Congress, we get the same old crap . . . and that is doing injustice to cow excrement.
Congratulations to German Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkel, née Kasner, and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won handily in last week’s elections. The election enabled her to abandon the coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and form a new coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which means Germany has shifted slightly farther to the right on the political spectrum.
To understand and appreciate alternative relationships other than the societal norm:
“Straight spouses advocate same-sex marriage”
by Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Published: Monday, September 14, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/14/state/n031538D39.DTL&type=printable
Another reason the State should NOT inject itself in private relationships.
After 15 years of painstaking care and work, researchers in Ethiopia and the United States made public fossils from a 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus, or “Ardi” for short – a pre-cursor hominid, a million years older than the iconic “Lucy,” the primitive female skeleton that has long symbolized humankind's beginnings. We have another challenge to the evolutionary sequence.
News from the economic front:
-- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculated that the global financial crisis will produce US$3.4T in losses for financial institutions, between 2007 and 2010. The estimate is US$600B less than the IMF April forecast. Rebounding global securities markets have reduced the IMF's estimate of bank losses, but banks still face possible additional write-downs of US$1.5T by the end of 2010.
-- Penske Automotive Group ended its acquisition of General Motors’ Saturn unit, citing concerns over the availability of future GM-made vehicles, thus sealing the fate of the Saturn line. In June, Penske agreed to acquire the brand with the exception of its manufacturing operations . . . I imagine to avoid the stifling union contracts. With the current administration and a pro-union Congress, I highly doubt whether unions will figure it out. C’est la vie.
-- August retail sales surged 1.3%, the biggest jump since a 1.6% gain in May 2008, driven by back-to-school spending and the government’s cash-for-clunks program. Household income rose a modest 0.2%.
-- Initial claims for jobless benefits rose 17,000 to 551,000 last week. Unemployment claims by laid-off workers for more than one week decreased by 70,000 to 6.1 million in the week ending 19.September.
-- The Labor Department reported that employers cut another 263,000 jobs last month, far more than forecast, and the national unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in August.
L’Affaire Madoff [365]:
-- The court-appointed trustee for liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities – Irving H. Picard [383, 389, 393] – disclosed new allegations against Palm Beach, Florida, investor Jeffry M. Picower [388]. In court documents, Picard alleges Picower made approximately US$7.2B in profits (US$2B more that he estimated in May) that he claims should be returned for distribution to other investors. For that kind of money, this could get very interesting.
-- Liquidation trustee Picard also pressed his ill-gotten-gains, recovery effort as he filed civil suit against Madoff's brother, sons and a niece for nearly US$200M. In court papers, Picard claimed the monies received by the family members were a consequence of preferential payments, fraudulent transfers and breaches of fiduciary duties.
Comments and contributions from Update no.406:
“As usual you raise some important issues in your update. Iran, this must be the biggest current threat to global peace. Are they really stupid enough to believe they can develop a nuclear device and launch it against the Zionist people without a terrible reaction from Israel’s friends. Do they honestly believe they cam continue indefinitely to produce weapons grade Uranium and cock a snoot at the rest of the world. How far will they push their luck? I cannot believe they will take the route of no return. However Cap, the country is being governed by some very determined hard-nosed characters who not only wish to cling to power but stay very much in the minds of the world’s leaders.
“If they are not careful however they will push Israel into a corner and then sparks will fly and we should not rule out the possibility of a pre-emptive strike by her friends. We shall see, I’m certain that we are keeping a close eye on developments and should the need arise we will act. It is a worrying situation Cap, we are both hard pressed elsewhere.”
My reply:
To place the threat to Israel posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, imagine if you will the threat your brethren would feel if an antagonist like Nazi Germany might possess a nuclear weapon that could vaporize half of England, or for us, half the United States. I think that is a realistic representation of the threat the Israelis must feel.
On the flip side, the IRI is not suicidal (as such an attack would surely be for them), and they are too clever to take such a direct approach. What is far more likely is nuclear material “showing up” in a dirty bomb, or an obtuse threat like “submit or we will detonate the bomb in Tel Aviv harbor.” Who knows? The unpredictably of the theocracy that advocates and honors suicide for Allah makes the threat calculus virtually impossible. Further, regardless of producing a fission device, weapons grade, enriched uranium or plutonium is equally dangerous to living things, and especially human beings.
The IRI is so far beyond my reaction threshold. The World should have reacted more aggressively and preemptively years ago (we passed the equivalent 1936 at least two years ago).
Israel has been in the corner for years. I truly believe the only thing constraining Israel is the United States. They attacked Osirak, Iraq, in 1981. They attacked Tall al-Abyad, Syria, in 2007. I would bet money they have been rehearsing a strike on one or more sites in the IRI, but such an air operations would have to have tacit U.S. and Saudi sanction to penetrate the air defense network that grew after the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
The follow-up news items:
-- The Senate Finance Committee rejected efforts by liberal Democrats to add a government-run health insurance plan to health care reform legislation [396 & sub] – a setback for President Obama and the Democrats.
-- The New York Times reported that “experts” think Senator John Eric Ensign of Nevada [392-3] may have violated ethics laws with his handling of the aftermath and consequences of his affair with the wife of an aid. Ya think!
-- In the first bilateral talks since the revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America discussed the IRI’s nuclear development program and specifically the newly revealed uranium enrichment plant at Qom [405-6]. The Iranians reportedly agreed to international inspections and committed to send most of its openly declared enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel or medical isotopes.
-- Swiss diplomat Heidi Taglivini compiled and reported the European Union’s 9-month international investigation into the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia [348, 357]. They concluded that Georgia triggered the war, but that Russia had prepared the ground, broke international law by invading Georgia as a whole, and that Russian-backed South Ossetian militias conducted ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians. They also found evidence that regular Russian troops as well as volunteers and mercenaries had entered South Ossetia in Georgia prior to the war.
Voters of Ireland approved the Lisbon Treaty by a 2-to-1 margin in a dramatic shift of sentiment after the treaty was defeated last June. The European Union sucked in a deep breath of relief on the vote. The treaty establishes a permanent EU president and foreign minister among other important changes. This appears to be a great move that will strength the EU.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in yet another 2nd Amendment case – McDonald v. Chicago – which involves a citizen and yet another, stringent, municipal, gun-control law. I trust the Supremes will reach the same conclusion they did in District of Columbia v. Heller [553 U.S. ___ (2008); No. 07-290] [342]. In macabre punctuation, four teenage boys beat another teenage boy to death in Chicago. In Wichita, a young police officer – Sedgwick County Deputy Sheriff Brian S. Etheridge – was ambushed by a lone killer bent upon killing one or more cops; the police definitively terminated the perpetrator; possibly a death-by-cop incident, in my opinion. An individual, intending to kill, will resort to any tool to accomplish their objective. The key, central element of the case at hand . . . Citizen Otis McDonald wants to own a handgun for protection of his family. The issue never has been, is not, and never will be the tool(s) a killer chooses to carry out his dastardly deed(s). I understand the interest and motives of the gun-control folks; I want all killing to stop regardless of the tool of choice. Penalizing 90+% of law-abiding citizens because we are nauseated by the senselessness of the killer hardly seems like a rational endeavor.
With all this incessant talk of hope and change, ain’t it all just warm ‘n squishy comforting to know the corruption of our Federal servants never changes?
“Defense Bill, Lauded by White House, Contains Billions in Earmarks”
by R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post
Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092803862.html?hpid=sec-nation
Reading Smith’s reportage, I found it extraordinarily difficult to contain my anger. I’m getting to the point where I will not vote for and will actively encourage anyone who will listen to not vote for ANY incumbent, no matter who. Earmarks [257, et al; too many citations to list] are probably the most corrupting influence I know, even more so than campaign contributions, slush funds, lobbyist bribes, et cetera – the scale is vastly greater. These earmarks are unchecked taps on the PUBLIC TREASURY – our Treasury, not theirs. They attempt to convince us that they are doing the People’s work, that they are doing good work. Despite all the yammering about reform, about transparency, about improving ethics in Congress, we get the same old crap . . . and that is doing injustice to cow excrement.
Congratulations to German Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkel, née Kasner, and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won handily in last week’s elections. The election enabled her to abandon the coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and form a new coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which means Germany has shifted slightly farther to the right on the political spectrum.
To understand and appreciate alternative relationships other than the societal norm:
“Straight spouses advocate same-sex marriage”
by Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Published: Monday, September 14, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/14/state/n031538D39.DTL&type=printable
Another reason the State should NOT inject itself in private relationships.
After 15 years of painstaking care and work, researchers in Ethiopia and the United States made public fossils from a 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus, or “Ardi” for short – a pre-cursor hominid, a million years older than the iconic “Lucy,” the primitive female skeleton that has long symbolized humankind's beginnings. We have another challenge to the evolutionary sequence.
News from the economic front:
-- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculated that the global financial crisis will produce US$3.4T in losses for financial institutions, between 2007 and 2010. The estimate is US$600B less than the IMF April forecast. Rebounding global securities markets have reduced the IMF's estimate of bank losses, but banks still face possible additional write-downs of US$1.5T by the end of 2010.
-- Penske Automotive Group ended its acquisition of General Motors’ Saturn unit, citing concerns over the availability of future GM-made vehicles, thus sealing the fate of the Saturn line. In June, Penske agreed to acquire the brand with the exception of its manufacturing operations . . . I imagine to avoid the stifling union contracts. With the current administration and a pro-union Congress, I highly doubt whether unions will figure it out. C’est la vie.
-- August retail sales surged 1.3%, the biggest jump since a 1.6% gain in May 2008, driven by back-to-school spending and the government’s cash-for-clunks program. Household income rose a modest 0.2%.
-- Initial claims for jobless benefits rose 17,000 to 551,000 last week. Unemployment claims by laid-off workers for more than one week decreased by 70,000 to 6.1 million in the week ending 19.September.
-- The Labor Department reported that employers cut another 263,000 jobs last month, far more than forecast, and the national unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in August.
L’Affaire Madoff [365]:
-- The court-appointed trustee for liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities – Irving H. Picard [383, 389, 393] – disclosed new allegations against Palm Beach, Florida, investor Jeffry M. Picower [388]. In court documents, Picard alleges Picower made approximately US$7.2B in profits (US$2B more that he estimated in May) that he claims should be returned for distribution to other investors. For that kind of money, this could get very interesting.
-- Liquidation trustee Picard also pressed his ill-gotten-gains, recovery effort as he filed civil suit against Madoff's brother, sons and a niece for nearly US$200M. In court papers, Picard claimed the monies received by the family members were a consequence of preferential payments, fraudulent transfers and breaches of fiduciary duties.
Comments and contributions from Update no.406:
“As usual you raise some important issues in your update. Iran, this must be the biggest current threat to global peace. Are they really stupid enough to believe they can develop a nuclear device and launch it against the Zionist people without a terrible reaction from Israel’s friends. Do they honestly believe they cam continue indefinitely to produce weapons grade Uranium and cock a snoot at the rest of the world. How far will they push their luck? I cannot believe they will take the route of no return. However Cap, the country is being governed by some very determined hard-nosed characters who not only wish to cling to power but stay very much in the minds of the world’s leaders.
“If they are not careful however they will push Israel into a corner and then sparks will fly and we should not rule out the possibility of a pre-emptive strike by her friends. We shall see, I’m certain that we are keeping a close eye on developments and should the need arise we will act. It is a worrying situation Cap, we are both hard pressed elsewhere.”
My reply:
To place the threat to Israel posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, imagine if you will the threat your brethren would feel if an antagonist like Nazi Germany might possess a nuclear weapon that could vaporize half of England, or for us, half the United States. I think that is a realistic representation of the threat the Israelis must feel.
On the flip side, the IRI is not suicidal (as such an attack would surely be for them), and they are too clever to take such a direct approach. What is far more likely is nuclear material “showing up” in a dirty bomb, or an obtuse threat like “submit or we will detonate the bomb in Tel Aviv harbor.” Who knows? The unpredictably of the theocracy that advocates and honors suicide for Allah makes the threat calculus virtually impossible. Further, regardless of producing a fission device, weapons grade, enriched uranium or plutonium is equally dangerous to living things, and especially human beings.
The IRI is so far beyond my reaction threshold. The World should have reacted more aggressively and preemptively years ago (we passed the equivalent 1936 at least two years ago).
Israel has been in the corner for years. I truly believe the only thing constraining Israel is the United States. They attacked Osirak, Iraq, in 1981. They attacked Tall al-Abyad, Syria, in 2007. I would bet money they have been rehearsing a strike on one or more sites in the IRI, but such an air operations would have to have tacit U.S. and Saudi sanction to penetrate the air defense network that grew after the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
With respect to the earmarks, what do you think brings them about? Yep, "campaign contributions, slush funds, lobbyist bribes, et cetera." The goodwill of the voters back in the district plays a part, but follow the money to contractors and other vendors, then check against campaign contributions and whatever you can learn about the slush funds and bribes. Dollars to donuts you'll find a very strong correlation
MrMacnCheese,
Indeed! I would be surprised not a whit that a majority, if not all, earmarks are payback for the money and goodies slathered onto congressmen by lobbyists, special interest groups, and yes, corporations. There is no inducement for politicians to change, which is the whole point to Tytler Cycle – the Downfall of Democracy. We, the People, and our servants in Congress have figured out how to tap the Public Treasury. The end will be collapse of our economic system. History often refers to pegs the end of the Roman Empire circa 476 AD. The reality is the beginning of the end occurred centuries earlier when corruption corroded the political structure and the Populus lost their will to defend themselves.
Take care and enjoy.
Cheers,
Cap
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