Update from the Heartland
No.410
19.10.09 – 25.10.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
No.410
19.10.09 – 25.10.09
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- Government documents like General McChrystal’s Battle of Afghanistan assessment [406], or the Office of Legal Counsel memoranda [381, 384], or the notorious warrantless wire-tapping or torture disclosures [284 et al] make interesting reading and fertile fodder for public debate. The penchant for political leakage began in earnest with Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers [1971]. Leaks for right leaning civil servants are just as injurious as those by left-leaning civil servants. McChrystal’s assessment should have only appeared in public 20 or so years from now when declassified and as part of a history book on this era. Our toxic partisan political arena will encourage those civil servants with access to sensitive information to “leak” documents to serve their perception of political purpose.
-- Our system of justice assumes at its most basic level that people are inherently good, peaceful, and law-abiding; thus, we have many levels of protections to place the burden of prosecution on the State rather than the citizen. We have enacted laws in our attempt to deal with “organized crime,” e.g., the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) enacted by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 [PL 91-452]. We even have established case law regarding prisoners of war. As we have discussed, we do not have established / settled law with respect to stateless, trans-national terrorists and their supporters [025 et al ad infinitum]. Former U.S. Attorney General Judge Mike Mukasey gives us excellent, insider rationale for avoiding the criminal justice system when dealing with Islamo-fascist, jihadistani terrorists.
“Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists”
by Michael B. Mukasey
Wall Street Journal
Published: October 19, 2009; 11:06 A.M. ET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574475300052267212.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
-- Almost as predictable as the Sun rising in the East every morning, the Islamic Republic of Iran accused Great Britain and the United States of aiding and abetting the Baluchi attack that killed five senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officers [409] – ah yes, the ol’ refrain . . . the Great Satan America is always “their” nemesis. It just could not be that a local minority was unhappy with the oppression of the IRI regime.
-- The Justice Department announced they would no longer prosecute citizens who are legally using, selling or supplying medical marijuana. Long journeys begin with small steps. We must end the war on drugs [119 et al ad infinitum]
-- We learn the identity and conduct of the two French brothers arrested and interrogated by the DCRI for terrorist activities [408] – Adlene and Halim Hicheur. We have much more to learn about these educated brothers; thus, they are two more names we need to pay attention to in the War on Islamic Fascism.
-- The Episcopal Church and specifically the Church of England continues to struggle with non-heterosexual and female priests [174, 263, et al]. Now, Il Papa and the Roman Catholic Church have decided to inject themselves into the philosophical conflict . . . perhaps to make a public and/or ecclesiastical statement, or to begin building a bridge across the chasm that opened up in 1532. The Pope has offered Anglicans an opportunity to return to the fold with an enticement that they can retain of their Anglican liturgical traditions (which are at odds with Catholic processes). Apparently, some have already begun the conversion. This could be very interesting on a variety of levels.
The same Op-Ed column was published under two different titles, which is why I have included both titles and links to offer a slightly more inclusive image.
“Reefer sanity – The marijuana lobby goes mainstream”
by Kathleen Parker
Washington Post
Published: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/20/AR2009102003084.html
“Will women help bring sanity to drug laws?”
by Kathleen Parker
Wichita Eagle
Posted: Friday, October 23, 2009
http://www.kansas.com/opinion/story/1023670.html
It is a start! We have such a long way to go.
News from the economic front:
-- The fall was swift and sure. The hedge fund company Galleon Group is going out of business after the arrest of its founder Raj Rajaratnam [409] and facing an estimated US$1.3B in withdrawals of the US$3.7B in assets Galleon manages. Further, two of the brokerage firms Galleon normally deals with – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays – informed Galleon they will no longer trade securities positions with the fund firm.
-- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. [AKA Governor Moonbeam] has filed suit, accusing State Street Bank of defrauding his state’s largest pension funds – CalPERS [409] and CalSTRS [California State Teachers’ Retirement System]. Brown seeks to recover US$200M in alleged overcharges and penalties, and who knows what else when that can of worms gets opened.
-- The Federal government’s compensation czar, Kenneth Feinberg, has demanded a host of corporate governance changes at seven firms receiving large sums of TARP funds, as well as significant cuts in total compensation for 175 senior employees. The companies under Mr. Feinberg's authority are:
- AIG
- Bank of America
- Citigroup
- General Motors Co.
- GMAC Inc.
- Chrysler Group LLC
- Chrysler Financial
The reduction in total compensation will average about 50% with some as high as 90%, and a substantial portion of their compensation to be transformed from cash to long-term stock options, to emphasize stable corporate health rather than typical short-term gains.
-- The statistics bureau for the People’s Republic of China reported the country’s economy grew 8.9% in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, accelerating from the second quarter's 7.9% growth rate. The PRC’s economy appears to be gaining momentum beyond the government’s massive stimulus program.
-- Finnish handset maker Nokia filed a suit against Apple in the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple’s iPhone infringes upon ten Nokia patents, which are fundamental to making devices compatible with one or more mobile standards. Nokia claims it has invested approximately €40B in research and development, and accused Apple of failing to adequately compensate the company. I suspect this case will take quite some time to play out and will be very interesting to watch.
-- The UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped 0.4% in the third quarter, much weaker performance than expected, defying expectations of a rise and crushing hopes that the economy was emerging from recession in the last period.
-- The Wall Street Journal reported existing-home sales increased by 9.4% to a 5.57 million annual rate in September as buyers grabbed lower prices and a tax credit about to vanish. The median price for an existing home decreased 8.5% from a year earlier to $174,900. A Federal US$8K tax credit for first-time home buyers also has helped push up sales.
-- The FDIC took over Partners Bank in Naples, Florida, and American United Bank in Lawrenceville, Georgia, pushing the number of bank closures this year alone to 106. The process has more to go, undoubtedly.
Comments and contributions from Update no.409:
“I read the article to which you linked on the Nobel prize award. As best I understand from that piece, Alfred Nobel's instructions, while vague at best, directed the committee to award accomplishment rather than hope. Based on that and with some reluctance, my conclusion is that Obama has not earned such a prize to date.
“The attempts to reform health care continue. As one of the uninsured, I continue to wait. I can only hope that some assistance reaches me before I die of treatable illnesses. I saw a figure from an advocacy group stating that something over 1400 people here in Ohio die that way annually. I would rather not become one of those, but that's up to Congress and the President.
“I certainly agree that ‘faith-based’ (mostly Christian) organizations receiving public money give up any right of religious or belief-based discrimination in the use of that money. That seems blindingly obvious to me based on any possible reading of the Bill of Rights, but the Bush Administration set that aside and the Obama Administration has not seen fit to return to the rule of Constitutional law.
“Speaking of the rule of Constitutional law, I see the Tomgram article linked in your blog as the most important part. As this article is commentary rather than news, I do not need to verify its sources as much as I would news. I'll admit that I never heard of Tomgram or its author, but I find it very persuasive and well supported by news reports at all points of information.
“I'll note in passing that the Tomgram article addresses the discussion of the word "war" that you and I have conducted elsewhere. That's not the important part in itself, though. What matters here is the large, growing and unconstitutional power of the Presidency. I will let historians decide who gets more of the blame. What I want is to recognize that Congress is abdicating its Constitutional duty to exercise its legislative responsibility and authority, very much to the detriment of the entire US system of governance. Regardless of how we see a given President (Bush, Obama, Clinton, whomever), we cannot afford to become an empire, even with an elected emperor.”
My response on the blog:
As you note, the charter for the Nobel Committee is rather vague and thus ambiguous. I think the Committee provided their rationale, i.e., changing the tone of international diplomacy. If that was truly the statement they sought to make, awarding the prize next year might have gone down a little better. When put in the light of the very short, nomination window, this award is stretching the criteria significantly.
I hope a health care solution is achieved for you and many others. Presumably, you do have the Emergency Room option. I am torn by the public option. On one hand, I have a deep aversion to governmental involvement in our private lives – far too much already. On the other hand, the government already delivers medical care & coverage – military medical, VA medical, Medicare/Medicaid, TriCare, et cetera. I could go on, however, the bottom line remains; we must find a reasonable, equitable and sustainable solution to un-insured / under-insured citizens.
We are in precise agreement on the public conduct of “faith-based” organizations. While the Obama administration has been reluctant to correct so far, I think they are moving and will move away from the Bush administration’s blind faith in “faith-based” organizations.
My point on the Tomgram essay was what appears to be a politically biased focus on “W,” when I believe Nixon was a far more excessive and accomplished practitioner of presidential imperialism. Again, we are in agreement on “war” and congressional abdication. Even before we began our continuing exchanges, I wrote about President Bush’s mistakes. He was satisfied with the thinnest of justification for the actions he wanted to take, i.e., he stretched presidential authority. Worse, he failed to coalesce the support of the American People for the war he intended to wage – not least of which is the minimal authorization of both PL 107-040 and PL 107-243. Frankly, I would rather take what comes than attempt to wage war without the support of the American People. While I think the majority of Americans supported the President at the time of the Authorizations, he took that support for granted and failed to maintain that support. I could go on, but at the end of the day, we agree in the main.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“The ‘Emergency Room option’ won't do much for the most dangerous conditions I have, which are hypertension and chronic ear issues requiring a specialist. Besides, I'd rather not go bankrupt if I can avoid it. About 85% of bankruptcies are based on medical bills.
“Agreed about the need. I have talked to Canadians about their system; they like it and it works a lot better than the nothing we have.
“I certainly hope so. I know that the White House agenda is very full, but I would like to see at least a gesture that way.
“My point was and is that we need to rein in the Presidency in general or we lose the intent and many of the provisions of the Constitution.”
. . . my follow-up response:
I wish I could make it all go away. I would rather not have anyone go bankrupt, and especially friends. I have not seen a solution yet.
The old adage: something is better than nothing. Any action is better than inaction. I have experienced similar health care systems in England, France and Italy. I have no experience with the Canadian system, but from the Canadians I know, their system seems to be quite similar to the European versions. As with most systems / programs, there are good and bad aspects. From my experience, the good elements involve routine or basic health care – family physician or emergency type services. The difficulties are often displayed when access to a specialist is necessary. I have several friends in various countries who had to wait, 6, 9 and even 18 months to see a specialist. Of course, if you are wealthy, you go see a specialist whenever you want. We can all see where such inequity is headed once there is a general public health care service. Money buys legal protection and medical care. Nonetheless, as I said, something is better than nothing, and we must find some reasonable, equitable, humanitarian solution.
I’m all for reining in Executive power. The Federal government is into far too many areas, substantially beyond the intent of the Constitution. The Gov possesses unprecedented power to penetrate as deeply as they wish into the private domain of any citizen who attracts their attention. That is NOT how freedom is supposed to work. That is NOT government “for the People.”
Another contribution:
“I totally agree with your first para. On Afghanistan.
“I think the world was shocked about Obama and the Nobel Prize. Saw something yesterday saying that by law he cannot keep it nor the $$$ personally. Has to turn it in.”
My response:
I do not know whether there is such a law. Personally, I think not. However, Barack has already said he is donating the money to some charity or another – don’t know which one yet. If there is a law, I imagine it would be conflict of interest, i.e., could be seen as bribe money to elicit a desired response from a sitting president.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
The follow-up news items:
-- Government documents like General McChrystal’s Battle of Afghanistan assessment [406], or the Office of Legal Counsel memoranda [381, 384], or the notorious warrantless wire-tapping or torture disclosures [284 et al] make interesting reading and fertile fodder for public debate. The penchant for political leakage began in earnest with Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers [1971]. Leaks for right leaning civil servants are just as injurious as those by left-leaning civil servants. McChrystal’s assessment should have only appeared in public 20 or so years from now when declassified and as part of a history book on this era. Our toxic partisan political arena will encourage those civil servants with access to sensitive information to “leak” documents to serve their perception of political purpose.
-- Our system of justice assumes at its most basic level that people are inherently good, peaceful, and law-abiding; thus, we have many levels of protections to place the burden of prosecution on the State rather than the citizen. We have enacted laws in our attempt to deal with “organized crime,” e.g., the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) enacted by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 [PL 91-452]. We even have established case law regarding prisoners of war. As we have discussed, we do not have established / settled law with respect to stateless, trans-national terrorists and their supporters [025 et al ad infinitum]. Former U.S. Attorney General Judge Mike Mukasey gives us excellent, insider rationale for avoiding the criminal justice system when dealing with Islamo-fascist, jihadistani terrorists.
“Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists”
by Michael B. Mukasey
Wall Street Journal
Published: October 19, 2009; 11:06 A.M. ET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574475300052267212.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
-- Almost as predictable as the Sun rising in the East every morning, the Islamic Republic of Iran accused Great Britain and the United States of aiding and abetting the Baluchi attack that killed five senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officers [409] – ah yes, the ol’ refrain . . . the Great Satan America is always “their” nemesis. It just could not be that a local minority was unhappy with the oppression of the IRI regime.
-- The Justice Department announced they would no longer prosecute citizens who are legally using, selling or supplying medical marijuana. Long journeys begin with small steps. We must end the war on drugs [119 et al ad infinitum]
-- We learn the identity and conduct of the two French brothers arrested and interrogated by the DCRI for terrorist activities [408] – Adlene and Halim Hicheur. We have much more to learn about these educated brothers; thus, they are two more names we need to pay attention to in the War on Islamic Fascism.
-- The Episcopal Church and specifically the Church of England continues to struggle with non-heterosexual and female priests [174, 263, et al]. Now, Il Papa and the Roman Catholic Church have decided to inject themselves into the philosophical conflict . . . perhaps to make a public and/or ecclesiastical statement, or to begin building a bridge across the chasm that opened up in 1532. The Pope has offered Anglicans an opportunity to return to the fold with an enticement that they can retain of their Anglican liturgical traditions (which are at odds with Catholic processes). Apparently, some have already begun the conversion. This could be very interesting on a variety of levels.
The same Op-Ed column was published under two different titles, which is why I have included both titles and links to offer a slightly more inclusive image.
“Reefer sanity – The marijuana lobby goes mainstream”
by Kathleen Parker
Washington Post
Published: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/20/AR2009102003084.html
“Will women help bring sanity to drug laws?”
by Kathleen Parker
Wichita Eagle
Posted: Friday, October 23, 2009
http://www.kansas.com/opinion/story/1023670.html
It is a start! We have such a long way to go.
News from the economic front:
-- The fall was swift and sure. The hedge fund company Galleon Group is going out of business after the arrest of its founder Raj Rajaratnam [409] and facing an estimated US$1.3B in withdrawals of the US$3.7B in assets Galleon manages. Further, two of the brokerage firms Galleon normally deals with – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays – informed Galleon they will no longer trade securities positions with the fund firm.
-- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. [AKA Governor Moonbeam] has filed suit, accusing State Street Bank of defrauding his state’s largest pension funds – CalPERS [409] and CalSTRS [California State Teachers’ Retirement System]. Brown seeks to recover US$200M in alleged overcharges and penalties, and who knows what else when that can of worms gets opened.
-- The Federal government’s compensation czar, Kenneth Feinberg, has demanded a host of corporate governance changes at seven firms receiving large sums of TARP funds, as well as significant cuts in total compensation for 175 senior employees. The companies under Mr. Feinberg's authority are:
- AIG
- Bank of America
- Citigroup
- General Motors Co.
- GMAC Inc.
- Chrysler Group LLC
- Chrysler Financial
The reduction in total compensation will average about 50% with some as high as 90%, and a substantial portion of their compensation to be transformed from cash to long-term stock options, to emphasize stable corporate health rather than typical short-term gains.
-- The statistics bureau for the People’s Republic of China reported the country’s economy grew 8.9% in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, accelerating from the second quarter's 7.9% growth rate. The PRC’s economy appears to be gaining momentum beyond the government’s massive stimulus program.
-- Finnish handset maker Nokia filed a suit against Apple in the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple’s iPhone infringes upon ten Nokia patents, which are fundamental to making devices compatible with one or more mobile standards. Nokia claims it has invested approximately €40B in research and development, and accused Apple of failing to adequately compensate the company. I suspect this case will take quite some time to play out and will be very interesting to watch.
-- The UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped 0.4% in the third quarter, much weaker performance than expected, defying expectations of a rise and crushing hopes that the economy was emerging from recession in the last period.
-- The Wall Street Journal reported existing-home sales increased by 9.4% to a 5.57 million annual rate in September as buyers grabbed lower prices and a tax credit about to vanish. The median price for an existing home decreased 8.5% from a year earlier to $174,900. A Federal US$8K tax credit for first-time home buyers also has helped push up sales.
-- The FDIC took over Partners Bank in Naples, Florida, and American United Bank in Lawrenceville, Georgia, pushing the number of bank closures this year alone to 106. The process has more to go, undoubtedly.
Comments and contributions from Update no.409:
“I read the article to which you linked on the Nobel prize award. As best I understand from that piece, Alfred Nobel's instructions, while vague at best, directed the committee to award accomplishment rather than hope. Based on that and with some reluctance, my conclusion is that Obama has not earned such a prize to date.
“The attempts to reform health care continue. As one of the uninsured, I continue to wait. I can only hope that some assistance reaches me before I die of treatable illnesses. I saw a figure from an advocacy group stating that something over 1400 people here in Ohio die that way annually. I would rather not become one of those, but that's up to Congress and the President.
“I certainly agree that ‘faith-based’ (mostly Christian) organizations receiving public money give up any right of religious or belief-based discrimination in the use of that money. That seems blindingly obvious to me based on any possible reading of the Bill of Rights, but the Bush Administration set that aside and the Obama Administration has not seen fit to return to the rule of Constitutional law.
“Speaking of the rule of Constitutional law, I see the Tomgram article linked in your blog as the most important part. As this article is commentary rather than news, I do not need to verify its sources as much as I would news. I'll admit that I never heard of Tomgram or its author, but I find it very persuasive and well supported by news reports at all points of information.
“I'll note in passing that the Tomgram article addresses the discussion of the word "war" that you and I have conducted elsewhere. That's not the important part in itself, though. What matters here is the large, growing and unconstitutional power of the Presidency. I will let historians decide who gets more of the blame. What I want is to recognize that Congress is abdicating its Constitutional duty to exercise its legislative responsibility and authority, very much to the detriment of the entire US system of governance. Regardless of how we see a given President (Bush, Obama, Clinton, whomever), we cannot afford to become an empire, even with an elected emperor.”
My response on the blog:
As you note, the charter for the Nobel Committee is rather vague and thus ambiguous. I think the Committee provided their rationale, i.e., changing the tone of international diplomacy. If that was truly the statement they sought to make, awarding the prize next year might have gone down a little better. When put in the light of the very short, nomination window, this award is stretching the criteria significantly.
I hope a health care solution is achieved for you and many others. Presumably, you do have the Emergency Room option. I am torn by the public option. On one hand, I have a deep aversion to governmental involvement in our private lives – far too much already. On the other hand, the government already delivers medical care & coverage – military medical, VA medical, Medicare/Medicaid, TriCare, et cetera. I could go on, however, the bottom line remains; we must find a reasonable, equitable and sustainable solution to un-insured / under-insured citizens.
We are in precise agreement on the public conduct of “faith-based” organizations. While the Obama administration has been reluctant to correct so far, I think they are moving and will move away from the Bush administration’s blind faith in “faith-based” organizations.
My point on the Tomgram essay was what appears to be a politically biased focus on “W,” when I believe Nixon was a far more excessive and accomplished practitioner of presidential imperialism. Again, we are in agreement on “war” and congressional abdication. Even before we began our continuing exchanges, I wrote about President Bush’s mistakes. He was satisfied with the thinnest of justification for the actions he wanted to take, i.e., he stretched presidential authority. Worse, he failed to coalesce the support of the American People for the war he intended to wage – not least of which is the minimal authorization of both PL 107-040 and PL 107-243. Frankly, I would rather take what comes than attempt to wage war without the support of the American People. While I think the majority of Americans supported the President at the time of the Authorizations, he took that support for granted and failed to maintain that support. I could go on, but at the end of the day, we agree in the main.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“The ‘Emergency Room option’ won't do much for the most dangerous conditions I have, which are hypertension and chronic ear issues requiring a specialist. Besides, I'd rather not go bankrupt if I can avoid it. About 85% of bankruptcies are based on medical bills.
“Agreed about the need. I have talked to Canadians about their system; they like it and it works a lot better than the nothing we have.
“I certainly hope so. I know that the White House agenda is very full, but I would like to see at least a gesture that way.
“My point was and is that we need to rein in the Presidency in general or we lose the intent and many of the provisions of the Constitution.”
. . . my follow-up response:
I wish I could make it all go away. I would rather not have anyone go bankrupt, and especially friends. I have not seen a solution yet.
The old adage: something is better than nothing. Any action is better than inaction. I have experienced similar health care systems in England, France and Italy. I have no experience with the Canadian system, but from the Canadians I know, their system seems to be quite similar to the European versions. As with most systems / programs, there are good and bad aspects. From my experience, the good elements involve routine or basic health care – family physician or emergency type services. The difficulties are often displayed when access to a specialist is necessary. I have several friends in various countries who had to wait, 6, 9 and even 18 months to see a specialist. Of course, if you are wealthy, you go see a specialist whenever you want. We can all see where such inequity is headed once there is a general public health care service. Money buys legal protection and medical care. Nonetheless, as I said, something is better than nothing, and we must find some reasonable, equitable, humanitarian solution.
I’m all for reining in Executive power. The Federal government is into far too many areas, substantially beyond the intent of the Constitution. The Gov possesses unprecedented power to penetrate as deeply as they wish into the private domain of any citizen who attracts their attention. That is NOT how freedom is supposed to work. That is NOT government “for the People.”
Another contribution:
“I totally agree with your first para. On Afghanistan.
“I think the world was shocked about Obama and the Nobel Prize. Saw something yesterday saying that by law he cannot keep it nor the $$$ personally. Has to turn it in.”
My response:
I do not know whether there is such a law. Personally, I think not. However, Barack has already said he is donating the money to some charity or another – don’t know which one yet. If there is a law, I imagine it would be conflict of interest, i.e., could be seen as bribe money to elicit a desired response from a sitting president.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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