OS is a golf geek. It's one of those things, and he knows there are therapists out there who can help with this sort of stuff. He just enjoys this vice too much for the moment.
It's Saturday morning in Tennessee, and European Tour Golf is broadcasting from South Korea, actually an island off the southern coast of South Korea. Household names like Gareth Maybin, Ted Oh, Marcus Fraser, and Soren Hanson are near the top of the leaderboard. The course is beautiful, striking flora and terrain, and these guys really play well, even if there aren't thousands of screaming fans. Not one fist-pumper among them...
Here on the third cup of coffee, it strikes OS that we live in a remarkable world, that allows that live broadcast from South Korea. Considering events of sixty years ago or so, it's remarkable there is a South Korea to broadcast from, much less one that has developed the kind of wealth and order that would allow the event to take place. Golf clubs don't come cheap, and they certainly aren't life-and-death essentials to any nation's economy. But they are built in places that are orderly, where wealth and literacy have developed.
Let's consider where the golf courses aren't, beginning with North Korea, which managed to stage a war sixty years ago that killed several millions, spread misery all over East Asia, and accomplished nothing. They still can't feed themselves, but are working feverishly to develop nuclear weapons with which to blackmail the world. No time for golf, or music, or much of anything else.
Somalia--nope. Chad--nope. Iran--definitely no. Don't expect to see the 'Tehran Open' in this lifetime, do we? But, then again, in 1950, who could have imagined this middle-aged guy drinking his third cup of coffee in Tennessee, watching the tournament live from South Korea, writing about it on a laptop, chatting with his wife on a mobile phone as she drives home from her business trip?
Lots of moving parts there...but made possible in great part by brave people like Harry Truman who decided that the West should make a stand against the Marxist plague in Korea, and all the brave people from all parts of the world who sacrificed so much in that cause. And by people who live their lives believing that making money by making things that make life better is a worthy pursuit. You know...capitalists. And that things like a free press and rule of law with the consent of the governed is the best way to live. You know...Western constitutional principles, which have thrived best in places like the US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. (Funny, that's where a lot of golf courses are located. How did that happen?)
See the connection yet? This generation's totalitarian plague is Islam, actually a repeat performance from previous centuries, but that's another discussion. We can't make it go away entirely, just like Marxism (after all, Harvard, Oxford and Berkley will always be with us...), but we can maintain the will to say: 'No. You don't get to take over. You can't even feed yourselves, and all you produce is murder and mayhem. You are the ones with the intrinsic problem, even if we have flaws. We're not going to apologize for being right, and we don't care if you get your feelings hurt.'
If we stand fast, here at home, and in other places where we have to, who knows? OS's grandson might watch Mickelson's grandson tee off in Tehran...
Here's hoping.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The State of Arizona Locates Its Spine: Illegal Immigration Is To Be Enforced By The State
Finally. About time. After heaven knows how many murders, kidnappings, shootings, tons of drugs and tens of thousands of illegal aliens invading Arizona for decades, the legislature and governor come to the obvious conclusion: The Federal Government is not interested in controlling the southern border of the United States. They have abdicated their responsibility, and care not a whit for the widows and orphans that litter the landscape because of unchecked illegal immigration.
And, it not just the Obama administration!! G.W. Bush acted like a man who had long ago been bought off by someone somewhere when it came to this issue. We all have to take our shoes off, be subject to searches, etc., etc., in the name of national security, and Bush refused to take action on the border, until he was forced into it. When he attempted to get an amnesty bill passed in the dark of night over Memorial Day 2007, he alienated the final loyalists of the Republican Party, and damn near destroyed it.
So, finally, Arizona takes back its Constitional prerogative.
OS has just one further word to add: YEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!
And this incident, which dates from today, gives insight into why Arizona is so long overdue.
Now, let's see how the Obama administration and its 'political organizing' minions go on the attack. Expect a flood of Federal civil-rights lawsuits, Federal prosecutions of local deputies, attempts to vacate the law in the Federal courts. If Arizona succeeds in asserting its Constitutional rights, Obama knows the floodgates will open against him, state by state, issue by issue.
It's not about immigration. It's about the rule of law, the Constitution, and who gets to rule.
OS is cheering for the states.
And, it not just the Obama administration!! G.W. Bush acted like a man who had long ago been bought off by someone somewhere when it came to this issue. We all have to take our shoes off, be subject to searches, etc., etc., in the name of national security, and Bush refused to take action on the border, until he was forced into it. When he attempted to get an amnesty bill passed in the dark of night over Memorial Day 2007, he alienated the final loyalists of the Republican Party, and damn near destroyed it.
So, finally, Arizona takes back its Constitional prerogative.
OS has just one further word to add: YEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!
And this incident, which dates from today, gives insight into why Arizona is so long overdue.
Now, let's see how the Obama administration and its 'political organizing' minions go on the attack. Expect a flood of Federal civil-rights lawsuits, Federal prosecutions of local deputies, attempts to vacate the law in the Federal courts. If Arizona succeeds in asserting its Constitutional rights, Obama knows the floodgates will open against him, state by state, issue by issue.
It's not about immigration. It's about the rule of law, the Constitution, and who gets to rule.
OS is cheering for the states.
Friday, April 23, 2010
This Is How Wars Begin: Obama's Three-fer This Week
Colonel James Corum is an experienced military scholar, a credible voice, now working in a sensitive corner of the world.
James Corum is Dean of the Baltic Defence College in Estonia. He has taught at American and British staff colleges and is the author of seven books on military history and counter-insurgency. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve (rtd) and has 28 years' experience as an army officer.
He's not a pudgy middle-aged white guy in his mother's basement, living in his 'Don't Tread On Me' tee-shirt and adding to his gun collection.
(OS feels compelled to say these things, because anytime anyone anywhere raises his hand and says 'Scuze me! I think Mr. Obama has got it wrong', someone else feels obligated to rant that the objector is some sort of ignorant non-entity. They exist, to be certain, but OS tries to avoid them at all times. There are enough sober voices in objection for a lifetime already.)
So back to Colonel Corum: He points out, calmly, in today's Telegraph that Our Beloved Leader has managed to publicly insult not one, not two, but three loyal allies of the United States, each in its own strategic corner of the world.
Sweeeet! Three in one week!
Now, does anyone think that political leaders (outside of nutters like Hitler) wake up in the morning, have their first cup of coffee, look out the window at the flower beds and singing birds, and say: 'I'm gonna start me a war today! Let's get a few hundred thousand people ushered into eternity this year.'
No, these things get blundered into, blind-side and backwards, often because arrogant twits refuse to remember who their friends are, the difference between simple right and wrong, and that totalitarian regimes inevitably blow up and take lots of people with them. They aren't the friends of freedom, 'cuz they're dictatorships!
So, the Colonel, an historian, concludes by sharing a bit of irrefutable history with us.
[begin quote, OS providing the bold emphases]
Alienating three close allies in one week is quite a trick, even for a president as inept in foreign policy as Barack Obama. However, it fits a pattern. President Obama has never shown any understanding for the basic rules of foreign policy which include cultivating allies, avoiding unnecessary friction, and doing one’s homework. These things happen because Obama is fundamentally uninterested in foreign policy. It is part of a pattern that began when Obama was elected to the Senate. In 2007 his party made him the chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Europe so Obama could claim foreign policy experience for his presidential run in 2008. Yet even though Obama’s committee had oversight of such vital issues as the U.S. relationship to NATO and the EU, Obama never held Senate hearings and his committee contributed no reports or played any role in setting policy. Few senate committee chairs have ever shown less interest in the work.
In his career in the Senate and as president, Obama enjoyed his foreign trips when it is all about him – such as receiving the Nobel Prize or basking in the adulation of the Euromasses. But rarely has a president had so much foreign travel with so little substance to show for it. So far, Obama shows no talent for learning on the job – so America’s friends should brace for more weeks like this one.
[end quote]
If you read this from overseas, OS will repeat himself: So many of us did not vote for this person, and so many who did deeply regret it. He's at the helm, but he does not speak for us! Especially to our cousins in the UK, of all stripes--we stand with you, even if he abuses your loyal friendship.
If you read this from the US, please--find a favorite candidate or three to support for Congress, Senate, governorships, and state legislatures who will stand up to these people. Don't just rant, and don't even consider spilling anyone's blood or blowing anything up.
Donate.
Get to work.
Vote, and make sure you take your family and friends with you.
It's about war, peace, and survival, that's all.
James Corum is Dean of the Baltic Defence College in Estonia. He has taught at American and British staff colleges and is the author of seven books on military history and counter-insurgency. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve (rtd) and has 28 years' experience as an army officer.
He's not a pudgy middle-aged white guy in his mother's basement, living in his 'Don't Tread On Me' tee-shirt and adding to his gun collection.
(OS feels compelled to say these things, because anytime anyone anywhere raises his hand and says 'Scuze me! I think Mr. Obama has got it wrong', someone else feels obligated to rant that the objector is some sort of ignorant non-entity. They exist, to be certain, but OS tries to avoid them at all times. There are enough sober voices in objection for a lifetime already.)
So back to Colonel Corum: He points out, calmly, in today's Telegraph that Our Beloved Leader has managed to publicly insult not one, not two, but three loyal allies of the United States, each in its own strategic corner of the world.
- Instead of attending the state funeral in Poland, to help console a grieving nation, he took the afternoon off to play golf. (The airport in Cracow was open, by the way.)
- He chased off the Israelis, who chose wisely not to attend the non-proliferation conference, where they knew they would be subjected to anti-Israeli rants by Islamic dictatorships, and--
- his government characterized the constitutionally appropriate removal of a Chavez-in-training by the Honduran Congress as a coup-de-etat.
Sweeeet! Three in one week!
Now, does anyone think that political leaders (outside of nutters like Hitler) wake up in the morning, have their first cup of coffee, look out the window at the flower beds and singing birds, and say: 'I'm gonna start me a war today! Let's get a few hundred thousand people ushered into eternity this year.'
No, these things get blundered into, blind-side and backwards, often because arrogant twits refuse to remember who their friends are, the difference between simple right and wrong, and that totalitarian regimes inevitably blow up and take lots of people with them. They aren't the friends of freedom, 'cuz they're dictatorships!
So, the Colonel, an historian, concludes by sharing a bit of irrefutable history with us.
[begin quote, OS providing the bold emphases]
Alienating three close allies in one week is quite a trick, even for a president as inept in foreign policy as Barack Obama. However, it fits a pattern. President Obama has never shown any understanding for the basic rules of foreign policy which include cultivating allies, avoiding unnecessary friction, and doing one’s homework. These things happen because Obama is fundamentally uninterested in foreign policy. It is part of a pattern that began when Obama was elected to the Senate. In 2007 his party made him the chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Europe so Obama could claim foreign policy experience for his presidential run in 2008. Yet even though Obama’s committee had oversight of such vital issues as the U.S. relationship to NATO and the EU, Obama never held Senate hearings and his committee contributed no reports or played any role in setting policy. Few senate committee chairs have ever shown less interest in the work.
In his career in the Senate and as president, Obama enjoyed his foreign trips when it is all about him – such as receiving the Nobel Prize or basking in the adulation of the Euromasses. But rarely has a president had so much foreign travel with so little substance to show for it. So far, Obama shows no talent for learning on the job – so America’s friends should brace for more weeks like this one.
[end quote]
If you read this from overseas, OS will repeat himself: So many of us did not vote for this person, and so many who did deeply regret it. He's at the helm, but he does not speak for us! Especially to our cousins in the UK, of all stripes--we stand with you, even if he abuses your loyal friendship.
If you read this from the US, please--find a favorite candidate or three to support for Congress, Senate, governorships, and state legislatures who will stand up to these people. Don't just rant, and don't even consider spilling anyone's blood or blowing anything up.
Donate.
Get to work.
Vote, and make sure you take your family and friends with you.
It's about war, peace, and survival, that's all.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Earth Day, Forty Years On: Seven Hundred Peer Reviewed Papers That Ummm... Disagree With AlGore
Lubos Moti is yet another informative blogger who is not a middle-aged guy living in Mom's basement. He offers us The Reference Frame, a most entertaining and informative read.
Today, in honor of Earth Day, he reminds us that it coincides with (drumroll, please), the birthday of one V. I. Lenin. In fact, the first Earth Day was celebrated on Lenin's 100th birthday.
Why, isn't that sweet!
In honor of the day, Moti offers a list of seven hundred publicly available, peer-reviewed articles that express serious doubts about human-sourced global warming. They are found listed on the Popular Technology site.
Hmmm, ya'll remember how we all get beaten up with the mantra: 'Global Warming is the consensus of the entire scientific community, and you are a polar-bear-murdering ingrate if you dare disagree!' Well, like almost all the drivel served up to us by the Left, it's not true.
Just to be fair, OS scrolled down the list, and picked one article at random, from The Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology.
The abstract concludes:
[begin quote]
The atmosphere may warm due to human activity, but if it does, the expected change is unlikely to be much more than 1 degree Celsius in the next 100 years. Even the climate models promoted by the IPCC do not suggest that catastrophic change is occurring. They suggest that increases in greenhouse gases are likely to give rise to a warmer and wetter climate in most places; in particular, warmer nights and warmer winters. Generally, higher latitudes would warm more than lower latitudes. This means milder winters and, coupled with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, it means a more robust biosphere with greater availability of forest, crops and vegetative ground cover. This is hardly a major threat. A more likely threat is policies that endanger economic progress. The negative effect of such policies would be far greater than any change caused by global warming. Rather than try to reduce innocuous carbon dioxide emissions, we would do better to focus on air pollution, especially those aspects that are known to damage human health.
[end quote]
The pdf of the complete paper is available at the cited link.
Well, just to be fair, maybe he's wrong. Or biased. And his peer reviewers and editors are biased. Only six-hundred-ninety-nine other articles to choose from that draw much the same conclusion, across a wide range of journals.
It has to be a conspiracy to discredit AlGore, the Winner of The Nobel Prize.
Or just maybe, he's blowing smoke...
Today, in honor of Earth Day, he reminds us that it coincides with (drumroll, please), the birthday of one V. I. Lenin. In fact, the first Earth Day was celebrated on Lenin's 100th birthday.
Why, isn't that sweet!
In honor of the day, Moti offers a list of seven hundred publicly available, peer-reviewed articles that express serious doubts about human-sourced global warming. They are found listed on the Popular Technology site.
Hmmm, ya'll remember how we all get beaten up with the mantra: 'Global Warming is the consensus of the entire scientific community, and you are a polar-bear-murdering ingrate if you dare disagree!' Well, like almost all the drivel served up to us by the Left, it's not true.
Just to be fair, OS scrolled down the list, and picked one article at random, from The Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology.
The abstract concludes:
[begin quote]
The atmosphere may warm due to human activity, but if it does, the expected change is unlikely to be much more than 1 degree Celsius in the next 100 years. Even the climate models promoted by the IPCC do not suggest that catastrophic change is occurring. They suggest that increases in greenhouse gases are likely to give rise to a warmer and wetter climate in most places; in particular, warmer nights and warmer winters. Generally, higher latitudes would warm more than lower latitudes. This means milder winters and, coupled with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, it means a more robust biosphere with greater availability of forest, crops and vegetative ground cover. This is hardly a major threat. A more likely threat is policies that endanger economic progress. The negative effect of such policies would be far greater than any change caused by global warming. Rather than try to reduce innocuous carbon dioxide emissions, we would do better to focus on air pollution, especially those aspects that are known to damage human health.
[end quote]
The pdf of the complete paper is available at the cited link.
Well, just to be fair, maybe he's wrong. Or biased. And his peer reviewers and editors are biased. Only six-hundred-ninety-nine other articles to choose from that draw much the same conclusion, across a wide range of journals.
It has to be a conspiracy to discredit AlGore, the Winner of The Nobel Prize.
Or just maybe, he's blowing smoke...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
A Purely Personal Persnickety Perspective
OS is up to his keister in projects with deadlines, bills to pay, and hoping that next week's schedule doesn't get blown to Kingdom Come by another volcanic outburst, cuz' he's expecting someone from London to get some work done that he spent weeks getting scheduled. He also just had a conversation with an apologetic FedEx agent who explained that service to the UK is still intermittent, and no he can't say when tomorrow's package of documents will actually arrive in England's Green And Pleasant Land.
Can't control volcanoes, so nothing to do but keep a sense of humor and think of Plan B.
Other stuff, humans do control. Great parts of the past two days have been spent with various Apple products, supposedly the Latest and Greatest, that simply will not function as advertised. Everything is very elegant, stylish, 'cool', etc. It just that, upon following all the instructions, not much works well.
He's an old middle-aged guy, admittedly, but he has one thing to say before trying to actually get some work done: Computers and software are tools. Think of hammers, screwdrivers, picks, shovels.
Tools.
We use tools to get stuff done. We don't care how elegant they are. All we care about is 'Hammer drives nail straight into beam.', 'Pick moves dirt, to be removed by shovel.' When the tool works, then it does what we paid for it to do. When it doesn't, we're not in the mood to be told by a 22-year-old kid with tats and piercings that 'We just don't get it'.
On the contrary, we do get 'it'. This hammer won't drive the nail, and we paid for both.
These things are tools. Before adding elegance, think function. Hammers drive nails.
Please.
Can't control volcanoes, so nothing to do but keep a sense of humor and think of Plan B.
Other stuff, humans do control. Great parts of the past two days have been spent with various Apple products, supposedly the Latest and Greatest, that simply will not function as advertised. Everything is very elegant, stylish, 'cool', etc. It just that, upon following all the instructions, not much works well.
He's an old middle-aged guy, admittedly, but he has one thing to say before trying to actually get some work done: Computers and software are tools. Think of hammers, screwdrivers, picks, shovels.
Tools.
We use tools to get stuff done. We don't care how elegant they are. All we care about is 'Hammer drives nail straight into beam.', 'Pick moves dirt, to be removed by shovel.' When the tool works, then it does what we paid for it to do. When it doesn't, we're not in the mood to be told by a 22-year-old kid with tats and piercings that 'We just don't get it'.
On the contrary, we do get 'it'. This hammer won't drive the nail, and we paid for both.
These things are tools. Before adding elegance, think function. Hammers drive nails.
Please.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Food-Stamp Nation
Mish Shedlock, as always, knows how to paint the picture accurately from both the macro to micro level. He understands that the economy is not about numbers, but about people, culture, behavior, ethics. Look to your right on this page, and allow him to enlighten you.
This post is especially telling.
Quoting below:
[begin copy]
Food stamp usage is up again except the program is now called SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Inquiring minds are looking at a SNAP Participation Table that shows a record 39,430,724 receive SNAP benefits, a 22.4% increase from a year ago.
Biggest State Increases
Arizona - 32.9%
Colorado - 32.9%
Florida - 38.6%
Idaho - 45.7%
Nevada - 46.9%
Rhode Island - 42.4%
South Dakota - 32.6%
Utah - 37.3%
Wisconsin - 38.9%
Wyoming - 40.0%
Those numbers are as of January 2010
Households
Household SNAP participants increased from 12,728,981 in Fiscal Year 2008 to 15,232,105 in fiscal year 2009, a 16.4% increase. For comparison purposes, watch the growth in household participation.
SNAP Household Participation
FY 2005 - 11,197,377
FY 2006 - 11,734,491
FY 2007 - 11,789,594
FY 2008 - 12,728,981
FY 2009 - 15,232,105
Cost of SNAP Program
FY 2005 - $31.07 Billion
FY 2006 - $32.91 Billion
FY 2007 - $33.19 Billion
FY 2008 - $37.66 Billion
FY 2009 - $53.63 Billion
Household and cost numbers are as of March 30, 2010.
Clearly the recession took its toll, and will continue to do so until there is a dramatic decrease in the unemployment rate.
[end copy]
Since Uncle Sam spent far less in the aggregate of the years cited on keeping people fed than on keeping firms like Freddie, Fannie, AIG, GMAC, Chrysler and GM on life support in 2008 and 2009, (and let's not forget the banks), let's not quibble about numbers. People in large groups who don't have enough to eat or feed their children do desperate and unpleasant things, and listen to people who advocate desperate and unpleasant things. Ask Marie Antoinette...
Still, we have constructed a culture that begins to look a bit like Louis XVI: Massive wealth and luxury flowing to fewer and fewer people connected to the court in Paris, small family business enterprise increasingly bled dry, a large proportion just barely hanging on beneath them (because small business can't expand and hire), and an intellectual/political elite out of touch with reality.
Stir gently, add a tablespoon of accelerant, heat slowly.
We don't want this to happen.
The glorious revolution of the 1790's was followed by the Napoleonic bloodbath, which was followed by...which was followed by...
This post is especially telling.
Quoting below:
[begin copy]
Food stamp usage is up again except the program is now called SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Inquiring minds are looking at a SNAP Participation Table that shows a record 39,430,724 receive SNAP benefits, a 22.4% increase from a year ago.
Biggest State Increases
Arizona - 32.9%
Colorado - 32.9%
Florida - 38.6%
Idaho - 45.7%
Nevada - 46.9%
Rhode Island - 42.4%
South Dakota - 32.6%
Utah - 37.3%
Wisconsin - 38.9%
Wyoming - 40.0%
Those numbers are as of January 2010
Households
Household SNAP participants increased from 12,728,981 in Fiscal Year 2008 to 15,232,105 in fiscal year 2009, a 16.4% increase. For comparison purposes, watch the growth in household participation.
SNAP Household Participation
FY 2005 - 11,197,377
FY 2006 - 11,734,491
FY 2007 - 11,789,594
FY 2008 - 12,728,981
FY 2009 - 15,232,105
Cost of SNAP Program
FY 2005 - $31.07 Billion
FY 2006 - $32.91 Billion
FY 2007 - $33.19 Billion
FY 2008 - $37.66 Billion
FY 2009 - $53.63 Billion
Household and cost numbers are as of March 30, 2010.
Clearly the recession took its toll, and will continue to do so until there is a dramatic decrease in the unemployment rate.
[end copy]
Since Uncle Sam spent far less in the aggregate of the years cited on keeping people fed than on keeping firms like Freddie, Fannie, AIG, GMAC, Chrysler and GM on life support in 2008 and 2009, (and let's not forget the banks), let's not quibble about numbers. People in large groups who don't have enough to eat or feed their children do desperate and unpleasant things, and listen to people who advocate desperate and unpleasant things. Ask Marie Antoinette...
Still, we have constructed a culture that begins to look a bit like Louis XVI: Massive wealth and luxury flowing to fewer and fewer people connected to the court in Paris, small family business enterprise increasingly bled dry, a large proportion just barely hanging on beneath them (because small business can't expand and hire), and an intellectual/political elite out of touch with reality.
Stir gently, add a tablespoon of accelerant, heat slowly.
We don't want this to happen.
The glorious revolution of the 1790's was followed by the Napoleonic bloodbath, which was followed by...which was followed by...
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble: Thrust, Parry, Evade, Repeat
Der Spiegel interviewed the Finance Minister last week, who seemed anxious to reassure the readers that 'No, we aren't going to bail Greece out', while assuring Greece that it wouldn't be allowed to fail.
It sounded like a few pages out of a John LeCarre novel. Bold emphases supplied by OS, because they bear reading. This guy is worried, and isn't telling half of what his fears might be.
SPIEGEL: Let's talk about Greece and the euro crisis. In 1992, a prominent member of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union, to which you belong, made the following promise to German citizens: "If a country accumulates high deficits as a result of its own behavior, neither the (European) Community nor a member state is obligated to help that country." Do you know who said that?
Schäuble: A lot of people could have said that.
SPIEGEL: It was the current German president, Horst Köhler, who negotiated the terms of the European Monetary Union (EMU) at the time, in his capacity as a senior official in the German Finance Ministry. Does the sentence still apply today?
Schäuble: I'm a firm believer in the monetary union. At the time, I felt exactly the same way as the current president. The only problem is that the world has changed. The capital market has become globalized to a degree that we couldn't have imagined at the time. And we have experienced a financial crisis from which we in Europe must draw a clear lesson: We cannot allow the bankruptcy of a euro member state like Greece to turn into a second Lehman Brothers.
SPIEGEL: You are exaggerating. In past years, it's happened again and again that a country couldn't pay its debts, and yet that hasn't led to a collapse of the global financial system. Why should this be different in Greece's case?
Schäuble: Because Greece is a member of the European monetary union. Greece's debts are all denominated in euros, but it isn't clear who holds how much of those debts. For that reason, the consequences of a national bankruptcy would be incalculable. Greece is just as systemically important as a major bank.
Is that the phone we hear ringing at the Fed and Treasury?
But wait, there's more!
SPIEGEL: That's not how German citizens have understood the monetary union. They were assured that the euro would be as stable as the German mark. Now their tax money is going to a country in which a quarter of the population works in the public sector and pensions are often higher than salaries. Is this the way to boost confidence in the euro?
Schäuble: I would caution against fueling cheap populism. First of all, every German who has spent a vacation in Greece knows that the standard of living there isn't higher than it is in Germany. Second, Greece is paying a high price for European assistance.
SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, for months the German government was vehemently opposed to government bailouts for Greece. Why did you give in and agree to the EU rescue plan that was recently hammered out and which will involve Germany forking out €8 billion ($10.7 billion) if Greece goes belly up?
Schäuble: We didn't give in. We have always said that before we talk about assistance, Greece has to do its homework first. Meanwhile, the Greek government has approved a credible austerity program that involves serious cutbacks for its citizens, and it even had to step up those measures recently. This is why the German government is now prepared to take on responsibility at the European level.
SPIEGEL: We understood the chancellor's words differently at the time.
Schäuble: That must be your interpretation.
Not even John LeCarre can make this sort of stuff up...and the US is headed in the same direction with its spending.
Once again, the questions arise: Who bails us out in ten years? A grateful Europe?
Do the people at the helm in Washington understand? Do they intend this?
It's wall-to-wall Ivy League degrees in the upper reaches of our government. It isn't like they are not intellectually adept.
It sounded like a few pages out of a John LeCarre novel. Bold emphases supplied by OS, because they bear reading. This guy is worried, and isn't telling half of what his fears might be.
SPIEGEL: Let's talk about Greece and the euro crisis. In 1992, a prominent member of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union, to which you belong, made the following promise to German citizens: "If a country accumulates high deficits as a result of its own behavior, neither the (European) Community nor a member state is obligated to help that country." Do you know who said that?
Schäuble: A lot of people could have said that.
SPIEGEL: It was the current German president, Horst Köhler, who negotiated the terms of the European Monetary Union (EMU) at the time, in his capacity as a senior official in the German Finance Ministry. Does the sentence still apply today?
Schäuble: I'm a firm believer in the monetary union. At the time, I felt exactly the same way as the current president. The only problem is that the world has changed. The capital market has become globalized to a degree that we couldn't have imagined at the time. And we have experienced a financial crisis from which we in Europe must draw a clear lesson: We cannot allow the bankruptcy of a euro member state like Greece to turn into a second Lehman Brothers.
SPIEGEL: You are exaggerating. In past years, it's happened again and again that a country couldn't pay its debts, and yet that hasn't led to a collapse of the global financial system. Why should this be different in Greece's case?
Schäuble: Because Greece is a member of the European monetary union. Greece's debts are all denominated in euros, but it isn't clear who holds how much of those debts. For that reason, the consequences of a national bankruptcy would be incalculable. Greece is just as systemically important as a major bank.
Is that the phone we hear ringing at the Fed and Treasury?
But wait, there's more!
SPIEGEL: That's not how German citizens have understood the monetary union. They were assured that the euro would be as stable as the German mark. Now their tax money is going to a country in which a quarter of the population works in the public sector and pensions are often higher than salaries. Is this the way to boost confidence in the euro?
Schäuble: I would caution against fueling cheap populism. First of all, every German who has spent a vacation in Greece knows that the standard of living there isn't higher than it is in Germany. Second, Greece is paying a high price for European assistance.
SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, for months the German government was vehemently opposed to government bailouts for Greece. Why did you give in and agree to the EU rescue plan that was recently hammered out and which will involve Germany forking out €8 billion ($10.7 billion) if Greece goes belly up?
Schäuble: We didn't give in. We have always said that before we talk about assistance, Greece has to do its homework first. Meanwhile, the Greek government has approved a credible austerity program that involves serious cutbacks for its citizens, and it even had to step up those measures recently. This is why the German government is now prepared to take on responsibility at the European level.
SPIEGEL: We understood the chancellor's words differently at the time.
Schäuble: That must be your interpretation.
Not even John LeCarre can make this sort of stuff up...and the US is headed in the same direction with its spending.
Once again, the questions arise: Who bails us out in ten years? A grateful Europe?
Do the people at the helm in Washington understand? Do they intend this?
It's wall-to-wall Ivy League degrees in the upper reaches of our government. It isn't like they are not intellectually adept.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Obama Hits The Links While Poland Mourns
Barack Obama decided not to attend the funeral in Warsaw of a fellow head of state, citing the disruption of air traffic due to the Icelandic volcano.
Well, ok. Fair enough. Not good to endanger another head of state enroute to the funeral.
But thoughts do come to mind....
The volcano may have been a factor, but there are routes to Poland that don’t involve flying over the North Atlantic east of Iceland. He had some other options available to him as well, had he cared to make use of them:
1. A video-taped or live-linked personal message of condolence to be broadcast in Poland, translated into Polish for local consumption. We have a State Department to arrange for things like that.
2. A visit to the Embassy to sign the condolence book, and to visit with the Ambassador and the staff of the embassy, many of whom surely lost friends in the tragedy.
3. An invitation for the Polish ambassador to visit the Oval Office, where condolences could have been offered, perhaps in conjunction with option 1.
4. He could have flown to Chicago to attend a Polish-language requiem mass in honor of the Polish leaders who passed away, which surely took place. He knows the way to Chicago, and his way around it, last time anyone checked.
5. He could have signed a presidential proclamation of condolence, and ordered the US flag flown at half-mast for the day of the funeral.
The list goes on, and these are just the obvious, easy things that could have been undertaken–need we continue?
Reagan, Carter, Ford, both Bushes, and probably Bill Clinton would have done at least three of the five. Clinton would have done them with the cameras running constantly, but he would have done them, probably with as sincere a heart as he was able to muster.
Obama hit the links, publicly, on the day of the funeral. Compare and contrast.
OS loves golf, and thinks it's good for everybody to play, especially people with large responsibilities on their shoulders. But, some days, it might be better to stay home...
We live in an age of medical miracles, but alas, there is no cure for lack of class.
Silencing The Music In Somalia: NY Times Story
The next time some self-impressed multi-culturalist drones on about how all cultures are equally valid, that Islam is a religion of peace that poses no danger to civilization, etc., etc., etc., share this news nugget with them.
13 April, 2010
MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 14 radio stations here in the capital stopped broadcasting music on Tuesday, heeding an ultimatum by an Islamist insurgent group to stop playing songs or face “serious consequences.”
The insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, issued its ultimatum 10 days ago and set Tuesday as the deadline to comply, saying that music was “un-Islamic.” In other parts of the country, insurgents have taken over or shut down some radio stations. Last week, the Shabab, the country’s most powerful insurgent group, said it was banning foreign programs like those broadcast by the BBC and Voice of America, calling them Western propaganda that violated Islam.
The radio stations that stopped playing music on Tuesday are based in both insurgent and government-controlled areas of the ruined capital. Those located in insurgent-held territory seemed to have little alternative, but some of the managers at stations in government-controlled territory argued that the lack of security and the loss of advertising income led them to comply as well.
Now, let's see. We have the suppression of music, the silencing of news programming, all under threat of death at the hands of Muslim jihadists. They have to get their money from somewhere--should we wonder where out loud? Why do the supposedly 'moderate' Muslim states not publicly raise unshirted hell about this stuff?
Now, just for a reality check, let's check out some of the cultural offerings in Israel in the coming weeks. You know, the place with orchestras and conservatories, museums, A FREE ****!!!!**** PRESS, all the things that make them odious to Islamists. And, apparently, Mr. Obama seems to like the Islamists better than the Israelis. He sure as shooting won't stand up to them. Something to ponder as we vote this November, and as we contribute in the days leading up to it.
When this country, and the rest of the West, are willing to finally stand up and say: 'These people are thugs, plain and simple, and we won't tolerate them a moment longer. And, we won't give an inch or a penny to anyone who tolerates them.', we'll be on the road to the solution of our challenges with Islam.
They are the ones with the problem, we aren't.
13 April, 2010
MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 14 radio stations here in the capital stopped broadcasting music on Tuesday, heeding an ultimatum by an Islamist insurgent group to stop playing songs or face “serious consequences.”
The insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, issued its ultimatum 10 days ago and set Tuesday as the deadline to comply, saying that music was “un-Islamic.” In other parts of the country, insurgents have taken over or shut down some radio stations. Last week, the Shabab, the country’s most powerful insurgent group, said it was banning foreign programs like those broadcast by the BBC and Voice of America, calling them Western propaganda that violated Islam.
The radio stations that stopped playing music on Tuesday are based in both insurgent and government-controlled areas of the ruined capital. Those located in insurgent-held territory seemed to have little alternative, but some of the managers at stations in government-controlled territory argued that the lack of security and the loss of advertising income led them to comply as well.
Now, let's see. We have the suppression of music, the silencing of news programming, all under threat of death at the hands of Muslim jihadists. They have to get their money from somewhere--should we wonder where out loud? Why do the supposedly 'moderate' Muslim states not publicly raise unshirted hell about this stuff?
Now, just for a reality check, let's check out some of the cultural offerings in Israel in the coming weeks. You know, the place with orchestras and conservatories, museums, A FREE ****!!!!**** PRESS, all the things that make them odious to Islamists. And, apparently, Mr. Obama seems to like the Islamists better than the Israelis. He sure as shooting won't stand up to them. Something to ponder as we vote this November, and as we contribute in the days leading up to it.
When this country, and the rest of the West, are willing to finally stand up and say: 'These people are thugs, plain and simple, and we won't tolerate them a moment longer. And, we won't give an inch or a penny to anyone who tolerates them.', we'll be on the road to the solution of our challenges with Islam.
They are the ones with the problem, we aren't.
You Say 'Eyjafjallajökull', I Say 'Eyjafjallajökull'
Or we could just say, 'Let's call the whole thing off'...the Brits did, and now hundreds of thousands are stranded around the world. The airlines, understandably, are climbing the wall, losing millions daily.
All flights grounded in and out of the UK through the 19th. Makes one wonder how many packages are stacking up in the FedEx terminal in Memphis and the UPS terminal in Louisville.
Also makes one reflect on how we take for granted the smooth workings of a complex economy. A lot of people have to do their jobs right, every day, in order to get those hundreds of flights safely flown around the world. It's impressive we have so few mishaps.
Everyone, keep yoh' sense of humor on, we allll gonna need it this week.
All flights grounded in and out of the UK through the 19th. Makes one wonder how many packages are stacking up in the FedEx terminal in Memphis and the UPS terminal in Louisville.
Also makes one reflect on how we take for granted the smooth workings of a complex economy. A lot of people have to do their jobs right, every day, in order to get those hundreds of flights safely flown around the world. It's impressive we have so few mishaps.
Everyone, keep yoh' sense of humor on, we allll gonna need it this week.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Steven Rattner Scandal And The Obama White House
It appears the man the Obama White House put in charge of the takeover of Chrysler and GM was already up to his hips in seriously unethical dealings with public pension funds.
It's a convoluted story, but at heart it was a 'pay-to-play' scheme, in which it is alleged Rattner obtained a $100 million dollar public pension fund investment for his firm by unethical means. He made a series of unrelated deals on behalf of people who made the decision to steer the investment in his direction. Wanna bet he landed a handsome bonus at year's end for his efforts?
He then went on to be put in charge of the 'rescue' of two dead auto firms, which by the way, are still....not viable. But tens of billions of dollars changed hands in the process, and deal after deal after deal were made along the way. That's what the man does, you know, make deals. It's his way of life, how he makes his living.
The obvious question has to be raised: What sorts of deals were made, and what small slices of those tens of billions ended up flowing in his direction? It all happened very quickly, all very confused, lots of smoke and mirrors, and massive skirting of bankruptcy law occurred, if memory serves.
Another obvious question: Before assigning him to the task, didn't the Obama White House vet this guy? Or did the fact that he was a major Democrat fund-raiser help them decide? Did these things matter, or did they hire him because of who he was, knowing the manner of the man?
In the meantime, back to this week's account:
"Mr. Rattner does not agree with the characterization of events released today, including those contained in Quadrangle's statement," said Jamie S. Gorelick, an attorney for Rattner. "He looks forward to the full resolution of this matter."
Standard lawyer boilerplate. But the name of the lawyer rings a bell! Why, OS scratches his gray head in wonder? Where has he encountered the name of Jamie S. Gorelick?
Here's one place. From the Washington Post, April 6, 2005:
Fannie Mae employees falsified signatures on accounting transactions that helped the company meet earnings targets for 1998, a "manipulation" that triggered multimillion-dollar bonuses for top executives, a federal regulator said yesterday.
Armando Falcon Jr., director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, said the entries were related to the movement of $200 million in expenses from 1998 to later periods. The result of the changes was an increase in Fannie Mae's 1998 earnings per share and the release of a $27.1 million bonus pool for senior executives.
Fannie Mae reported paying the following executive bonuses in 1998: chairman and chief executive James A. Johnson received $1.932 million; Franklin D. Raines, chairman-designate, received $1.11 million; Chief Operating Officer Lawrence M. Small received $1.108 million; Vice Chairman Jamie S. Gorelick received $779,625; Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard received $493,750; and Robert J. Levin, an executive vice president, received $493,750.
That's one reference...there are more, not difficult to find.
OS does not believe in conspiracy theories. No one was passing envelopes of cash to the President, or wiring vast sums to his offshore accounts. But the best thing one can say about having Rattner on board is that the White House staff were reckless and gullible.
This is not another Watergate. But it is indicative of attitudes. And as businesses and families struggle through The Great Recession, stories like this are demoralizing.
It's a convoluted story, but at heart it was a 'pay-to-play' scheme, in which it is alleged Rattner obtained a $100 million dollar public pension fund investment for his firm by unethical means. He made a series of unrelated deals on behalf of people who made the decision to steer the investment in his direction. Wanna bet he landed a handsome bonus at year's end for his efforts?
He then went on to be put in charge of the 'rescue' of two dead auto firms, which by the way, are still....not viable. But tens of billions of dollars changed hands in the process, and deal after deal after deal were made along the way. That's what the man does, you know, make deals. It's his way of life, how he makes his living.
The obvious question has to be raised: What sorts of deals were made, and what small slices of those tens of billions ended up flowing in his direction? It all happened very quickly, all very confused, lots of smoke and mirrors, and massive skirting of bankruptcy law occurred, if memory serves.
Another obvious question: Before assigning him to the task, didn't the Obama White House vet this guy? Or did the fact that he was a major Democrat fund-raiser help them decide? Did these things matter, or did they hire him because of who he was, knowing the manner of the man?
In the meantime, back to this week's account:
"Mr. Rattner does not agree with the characterization of events released today, including those contained in Quadrangle's statement," said Jamie S. Gorelick, an attorney for Rattner. "He looks forward to the full resolution of this matter."
Standard lawyer boilerplate. But the name of the lawyer rings a bell! Why, OS scratches his gray head in wonder? Where has he encountered the name of Jamie S. Gorelick?
Here's one place. From the Washington Post, April 6, 2005:
Fannie Mae reported paying the following executive bonuses in 1998: chairman and chief executive James A. Johnson received $1.932 million; Franklin D. Raines, chairman-designate, received $1.11 million; Chief Operating Officer Lawrence M. Small received $1.108 million; Vice Chairman Jamie S. Gorelick received $779,625; Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard received $493,750; and Robert J. Levin, an executive vice president, received $493,750.
OS does not believe in conspiracy theories. No one was passing envelopes of cash to the President, or wiring vast sums to his offshore accounts. But the best thing one can say about having Rattner on board is that the White House staff were reckless and gullible.
This is not another Watergate. But it is indicative of attitudes. And as businesses and families struggle through The Great Recession, stories like this are demoralizing.
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