Update no.603

Update from the Heartland

No.603

1.7.13 – 7.7.13

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

The follow-up news items:

-- Late this week, we learn that Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered asylum to the fugitive Snowden [599 & sub].  The first two were expected; the latter one was a bit of a surprise.  Snowden is believed to be still in Moscow-Sheremetyevo transit area without a valid passport or travel papers.  Presumably, one of the three rogue countries will issue temporary travel papers to satisfy the Russian authorities.  I imagine the USG is considering every possible option to capture, arrest and return Snowden to the United States for prosecution of his crimes.  As one of many consequences of his betrayal, the European Commission ordered a complete, thorough sweep of their facilities presumably to find American bugs – I suspect more symbolic than real.  The saga continues.

This has been an unusual week.  I do not have much to talk about.  A lot has been said by the Press, media and politicians regarding the tragic deaths of 19 hot shot firefighters in the Yarnell, Arizona wildfire; however, I do not have anything to add other than, may God bless their immortal souls.  There is so much uncertainty regarding the situation in Egypt that my opinion, for what it’s worth, remains too soft and misty.  I am sure we will have more to discuss regarding the transition in Egypt – the country is very important to world commerce.  Also, the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport definitely has my attention, but key bits of information have not yet been made public.  They have the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.  The investigators will sort this one out in short order, although we probably will not know for a year or more.  Lastly, I have not had capacity to read the stack of recent Supreme Court rulings, as yet. 

News from the economic front:

-- The U.S. Labor Department reported that employers added 195,000 jobs in June, and they revised the April and May employment numbers upward by a combined 70,000 jobs.  The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, was unchanged at 7.6%.

Comments and contributions from Update no.602:

“Being stuck in the Transit Zone in Sheremetyevo might be apt punishment- akin to one of the circles of hell.  There have been people who have stayed there for up to a year- Chinese, Iranian dissidents.  It will get old very soon-having spent long hours, not days, there!”

My reply:

Jan,

            I’ve only been there once, and fortunately I was in & out both ways.

            I hope it gets really old, really fast for him.  It is refreshing the list of countries denying him asylum is growing.  We can only hope he runs out of options and surrenders himself to justice.

            The whole episode with President Morales is rather unfortunate, but the USG must have had sufficient reason for such an unprecedented action.  The dry hole will not endear us with our European allies.

            I suspect this is a long way from over.

Comment to the Blog:

“The Snowden affair continues. I have had contact with HireRight, the other company under the Altegrity umbrella with USIS. HireRight did not impress me, but then none of its competition did either. The entire employment verification industry struck me as sloppy and annoying. I would not trust them with important work. Let us hope the USIS investigation illuminates the state to which government work has fallen. I agree with you and your other commenter that too much work appropriate to government employees has been taken over by contractors. Despite the argument for this as a money-saving technique, it has become very expensive in many different ways.

“The investigation of the IRS’s treatment of nonprofit organization (NPO) applications appears to be turning up evidence that progressive NPOs were treated in a fashion similar to conservatives. That would be appropriate, balanced and make the whole thing a non-issue. No NPO is supposed to be primarily political regardless of position.

“The immigration/border security issue has remained active since Reagan. Good luck on a resolution.

“The slippery slope argument from gay marriage to polygamy merely illustrates why the slippery slope is a fallacy. Incidentally, I do not oppose either polygamy or polyamory as lifestyles, but the legal side of such marriages would be insanely complex.

“I am in full agreement with your argument for legalizing and regulating prostitution, and I would expand that to include marijuana at the very least. I will add to the categories of protected people the customers.”

My response to the Blog:

            Re: USIS.  Some tasks are probably appropriate for contractors.  The FBI used to do background checks, at least in my day.  I suppose after 9/11, they decided the FBI agents were needed for counter-terrorism activities rather than background security checks.  Some USG tasks should never be subjected to the profit-motive, i.e., there are more important motives.

            Re: IRS. Balanced is better than politically biased.  Regardless, as reported by the Press, many of the questions & demands they made were inappropriate no matter which side they are pointed at.  On the flipside, I am not too keen on tax-exempt status for any political organization, especially after Citizens United.

            Re: immigration reform.  I learned a long time ago, any action is better than inaction.  At least S.744 is a genuine attempt at immigration reform – not perfect but better than nothing.  At least they are doing something with bipartisan support.

            Re: marriage.  I suspect the legal complexity argument with non-traditional marriage is just as thin as the slippery slope argument.  Marriage is a contractual arrangement.  Dissolution of contracts can be adjudicated.

            Re: legalization.  We need to get the government out of all private affairs where there is no injury – prostitution, marijuana, all psychotropic drugs for that matter, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, all of it.  Our task must not be to protect people from themselves, rather it should be about protecting innocent folks from collateral injury.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)