lessing is more

Jan 31, 2008— [Upon receiving her Nobel Prize—delayed because of health—Doris Lessing said] “There isn’t anywhere to go from here, is there—unless, like some exemplars, recent ones, I could get a pat on the head from the pope. ” ... She did not say whom she was referring to, although Tony Blair, who she described in a recent interview as “a disaster for Britain,” had talks with Pope Benedict XVI last year before his conversion to Catholicism.-- NYT A6

the surge are working

Jan. 30, 2008 -- Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer ... White House officials said Mr. Bush had been taking the opportunity ... to prepare Americans for the possibility that, when he leaves office a year from now, the military presence in Iraq will be just as large as it was a year ago, or even slightly larger. NYT A8

lame

Jan. 29, 2008—In the last seven years, [Bush] has signed spending bills containing about 55,000 earmarks worth more than $100 billion for [earmark] projects... Mr. Bush was notably silent on the subject until after his fellow Republicans lost control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections. NYT

WSJ catches up w/ NYTMag

Jan 28, 2008—Beneath all of this is a broader truth about this year’s Davos conference, which ended yesterday. ... This year, it is finally clear that the US is no longer the only big kid on campus. WSJ A2

--The much bigger question is whether Wall Street has run amok and, as a result, is dragging down the rest of the economy. ... The inability of the industry’s leaders to appreciate the obscenity of paying record aggregate bonuses at such a time is disturbing... WSJ C12

NEWS FLASH!! (NYT WAKES UP!!)

So now, rather than bestriding the globe, we [as in NYT USA] are competing—and losing—in a geopolitical marketplace alongside the world’s other superpowers: the European Union and China. ... Many poor reagions of the world have realized that they want the European dream, not the American dream. ... Many of the foreign students we shinned after 9/11 are now in London and Berlin: twice as many Chinese study in Europe as in the US. ... More broadly, America controls legacy institutions few seem to want... Without firing a shot, China is doing on its southern and western peripheries what Europe is achieving to its east and south... The self-deluding universalism of the American imperium—that the world inherently needs a single leader and that American liberal ideology must be accepted as the basis of global order—has paradoxically resulted in America quickly becoming an ever lonelier superpower. NYTMag, 36, 37, 65

weekend update Jan 26, 2008

Jan. 26, 2008—“And wouldn’t it be embarrassing if the Fed had to make one of the biggest emergency rate cuts ever because of some rogue trader?” NYT B1

--The NYPD produced a detailed analysis in 1998 opposing plans by the city to locate its emergency command center at the World Trade Center, but the Giuliani administration overrode those objections. The command center later collapsed from the damage in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. NYT A14

--Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Friday that he was sending more forces to Mosul for what he vowed would be a “decisive” struggle to ride the city of insurgents. ... By most accounts, the struggle is likely to be challenging, and unlikely to be final. NYT A7

clueless

Jan. 25, 2008--Federal Reserve CHairman Ben Bernanke faces a perception problem: It looks like he is too ready to respond to a falling stock market. That criticism was sounded after the Fed moved to cut interest rates Tuesday, in part because of fears that an overseas stock market plunge would spill over to the US. The drumbeat grew more intense yesterday as critics and others confronted the possibilitiy that the global selloff was at least partly a false alarm, reflecting French bank SocieteGenerale's unwindiong of a rogue trader's bad bets, and due less to economic anxiety. WSJ A2
--[GOP Colorado State Representative Douglas] Bruce delivered a swift kick to the knee of a photographer for the Rocky Mountain News who was snapping his picture during a ceremonial prayer." NYT A13

fools on holiday

--Jan. 23, 2008--Funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities in the war on terrorism expanded significantly in 2007," the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released on Wednesday. War funding, which averaged about $93 billion a year from 2003 through 2005, rose to $120 billion in 2006 and $171 billion in 2007 and President George W. Bush has asked for $193 billion in 2008, the nonpartisan office wrote.—Reuters,

--Jan. 24, 2008—The House failed again to override Bush’ veto of a children’s health-insurance bill, falling 15 votes shy of the need 2/3 majority. WSJ A1

--Jan. 24, 2008—American backed Sunni militias who have fought Sunni extremists to a standstill in some of Iraq’s bloodiest battlegrounds are being hit with a wave of assassinations and bomb actions, threatening a fragile linchpin of the military’s strategy to pacify the nation. NYT A1

--Jan. 24, 2008—John Brackney, president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce .. recalled being mocked when he wore one of his old [GOP] campaign shirts to the neighborhood pool last summer.. “That wouldn’t have happened eight years ago,” Mr. Brackney observed.

--Jan. 24, 2008—Some worry that the Fed, staving off a recession, is fueling inflation NYT C1

--Jan. 24, 2008—European Central banker says inflation still focus, eroding hopes that the Fed’s rate cut lead would be followed. NYT C9

--Jan. 24, 2008—Bill Gates issues call for kinder capitalism. WSJ A1

--2002-- The American ruling class is even more rudderless and clueless than its European counterparts [128] Todd, AFTER EMPIRE

damned lies and statistics

Jan. 23, 2008--...the research center say their work has documented "at least 935 false statements" on hundreds of occasions [by Bush and his pals concerning the Iraq War]... NYT A12, see also www. publicintegrity.org
--A new international ranking of environmental performance puts the USA at the bottom of the Group of 8 nations and 39th among the 149 countries on the list ... The top 10 countries ... were led by Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. NYT A8

editorial

I wish to voice my protest over the racist patronization which ran rampant during the recent MLK Day. The following scripts suggest the degree to which this African American hero was subjected to gross disrespect, in that the entire holiday seemed devoted MLK and his place in history, rather than that which every other USA holiday celebrates, viz., shopping:

· PRESIDENTS DAY: Washington: I cannot tell a lie, you’ll save big money at WalMart!

· ST. PATRICK’S DAY: Leprechaun: Begosh and Begorach, if I weren’t drunk as a skunk I’d save me a pot o’ gold at WalMart!

· PASSOVER: Moses: Oi vey! God COMMANDS you to shop at WalMart! You’ll save so much gold, you can make a COW!

· EASTER: Jesus: If I weren’t nailed to this cross, I’d be shopping at WalMart. But as soon as I rise from the dead, I plan to be there first thing Sunday morning!

· MEMORIAL DAY: Marines at Iwo Jima: American soldiers died so you could be free to shop at WalMart!

· JULY 4: Uncle Sam: As our President said after 9/11, the best way to fight terrorists is to shop at WalMart.

· LABOR DAY: Working Class Hero: If I had money, I’d be able to buy something at WalMart.

· COLUMBUS DAY: I know the blonde people found America before I did, but I discovered WalMart!

· THANKSGIVING: Turkey: Be thankful for WalMart!

· CHRISTMAS: Three Kings: We’re shopping at WalMart for the Baby Jesus!

So perhaps the honkey owned media could try something like this during Black History month to make reparations:

MLK: God didn’t let me into the Promised Land, but I have a dream that EVEYRBODY will save a mountain of money at WalMart!

AFTER THE EMPIRE

The dominant values in Europe---rather foreign these days to American society---are agnosticism, peace, and balance. . . American society, on the other hand, is the recent outcome of a highly successful colonial experience but one not tested by time—it developed over three centuries, thanks to the importation of literate workers to a world rich in minerals and other natural resources, and agriculturally productive, thanks to its virgin soil. America seems not to have understood that its success stems from a process of one-sided exploitation and expenditure of wealth that it did not create. . . America has always grown by playing out its soils, wasting its oil, and by looking abroad for the people it needed to do its work. . . The American system is no longer able to provide for its own population. . . Articles in the American business press that call for the modernization of the German and Japanese systems all have an unintended darkly comic side, since one might seriously wonder how the world economy would function if Germany and Japan began running up trade deficits on the scale of the United States [175 177 179f 180]

Emmanuel Todd, AFTER THE EMPIRE (Gallimard, 2002)

politics and the english language

Jan 21, 2008. It is now less than one year, and the most remarkable presidency in our [so-called] republic will be at an end. How to honor what this great and moral man has wrought both in history and the English tongue? By doing something great and moral to commemorate him in both history and language, of course. I propose henceforth that the most common and vulgar word in our abused language be replaced with the more commemorative and less obscene word, “bush.” I.e., hence forth we will say “bush you,” or, “go bush yourself,” or, “bush you, motherbusher.” The true Christians may also want to replace another word with “george,” as in “go george in your hat,” or, “Dad, Rover has left a steaming pile of george in the back yard, who’s going to clean it up?”

weekend update Jan 20, 2008

Jan 20,2008—For much of the world, the US is now on sale at discount prices... Foreign investors are buying aggressively, taking advantage of American duress and a weak dollar to snap up what many see as bargains, while making inroads to the world’s largest market. Last year, foreign investors poured a record $414 billion into securing stakes in American companies, factories and other properties through private deals and purchases of publicly traded stocks ... That was up 90% from the previous year and more than double the average for the last decade. .. During the first two weeks of this year, foreign businesses agreed to invest another $22.6 billion for stakes in American companies... NYT, A1

USA must be nearing a depression

Jan. 18,2008--In a rare sign of his willingness to cut a deal with Democrats in Congress, White House officials said Mr. Bush would not demand that the stimulus package include provisions that permanently extend his signature tax cutes from 2001 to 2003. NYT A1

politicians behaving badly

Jan 17, 2008—In 1995, Barack Obama sued Illinois over its voter registration rolls on behalf of the radical group ACORN...—John Fund, WSJ, A16

--A former congressman, Mark Deli Siljander [GOP, SW Mich] was indicted on conspiracy and other charges related to a terrorist fund-raising ring. WSJ A1

surprise surprise

Jan. 16, 2008—In the latest sign of America’s sinking financial fortunes, investors from as far afield as Japan, Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have come to the rescue of Wall Street. WSJ A1

--Highly promising figures that the administration cited to demonstrate economic progress in Iraq last fall, when Congress was considering whether to continue financing the war, cannot be substantiated by official Iraqi budget records, the GAO reported Tuesday. NYT A10

--US Admiral presses China on arms buildup NYT A11

--Many Americans remain ignorant about much of science [the National Science Board] said. Many are unable to answer correctly when asked whether Earth moves around the Sun (it does). NYT A15

ides of January

--Jan. 15, 2008. The Boston Globe’s Drake Bennett reports on the emerging field of “embodied cognition” which suggests that actions such as pacing the carpet or gesturing with one’s hands might clarify the thought process as much as anything going on in the brain. WSJ B12

--Jan 14 2008. The Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) has a number of exciting opportunities available for energetic, self-motivated US citizens to serve as INL Rule of Law Advisor at US Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq.—LAWYERS USA, p. 20

--3 Jan 2008. Unrestrained capitalism is, however, deeply corrosive of the “family values” that the moral right holds dear (it is hard to hold together families in a low-wage economy without parental help or affordable day care). Economic liberty often unleashes all sorts of other, more carnal liberties (it is no surprise that the rise of market fundamentalism in the US over the last four decades can be correlated with the proliferation of pornography, profane music and drugs).--Thomas Sugrue, LRB 3 Jan 2008, p 29

--1888. One cannot think and write, except sitting. (G. Flaubert) There I have caught you, nihilist! The sedentary life is the very sin against the Holy Spirit. Only thoughts reached by walking have value.—Nietzsche, TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS, sec. 34

getting so much better all the time

Jan. 15, 2008--Pakistan's premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy... NYT A1
--The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq's borders from external threat until at least 2018.--NYT A1
--When the elite of global business father in Davos, Switzerland, for their annual retreat next week ... Power and wealth have shifted from West to East, from major oil companies to petro-governments, and from US banks and hedge funds to the state-controlled investments funds of the Middle East and Asia.--WSJ A6
--Will the Iraq war produce peacetime technological benefits comparable with previous conflicts? So far, it doesn't seem so, says Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian. --WSJB12

feel safer? (you may answer yes...)

Jan 11,2008--Phone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals after the agency failed to pay its bills on time. WSJ A1

more on the empire's decline

Jan 10, 2008---Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are in talks to get additional capital infusions [about $13 billion] from investors, primarily foreign governments. WSJ A1

--Apple agreed to drop the prices of sons sold through iTunes in Britain, bowing to Europe’s antitrust regulator. WSJ A1

family values

Jan. 9, 2006—Should a motorcade be allocated to Carla Bruni, the girlfriend and possible fiancée of the French president? That is one of the protocol issues perplexing Indian officials as they prepare to welcome Nikolas Sarkozy for the nation’s Republic Day celebrations this month. NYT A7

--“I didn’t want to lie,” Mr. Sarkozy said of his romance with Ms. Bruni. “And I am breaking with a deplorable tradition in our political life—that of hypocrisy, that of lies.” NYT A7

--Already forced to drop his re-election bid over e-mail love notes sent from work to his executive secretary, [Republican] District Attorney Charles A. Rosenthal of Harris County faced new questions Tuesday with the disclosure of hundreds of other office e-mail messages containing racy jokes, racial slues and political campaign materials. ... Since Texas resumed executions in 1982, 102 of the 405 people put to death were convicted in Harris County ... One of the office messages showed Mr. Rosenthal trying to help his son, a lawyer, expunge old criminal offenses for a client. Others showed him gathering negative information against the Democrat planning to run against him, Clarence Bradford, a former Houston police chief, and against a Democratic state senator from Houston, John Whitmire, with whom he has clashed. ... About 130 of the messages were unsealed last week, showing Mr. Rosenthal, who is married to his second wife, in amorous exchanges with his secretary, Kerry Stevens, with whom he has acknowledged having an affair in the 1980s. ...Not all the political messages involved himself. On Aug. 14, Mr. Rosenthal forwarded to friends a message attacking the record of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and calling her “a disaster for all Americans.” His name appeared on messages comparing her to Karl Marx. And one of the images turning up as an attachment was Mrs. Clinton as a nutcracker. Mr. Rosenthal also forwarded to a friend a mock study of flatulence and a series of jokes making fun of University of Texas football players after several were arrested on various felony charges. He also forwarded the image of a sign saying “girls and fish have a lot in common” with graphic sexual references. Other material that was in Mr. Rosenthal’s e-mail but did not contain his name was a photograph, titled “Fatal Overdose,” of a black man lying on a sidewalk amid watermelon peels and Kentucky Fried Chicken containers.Other videos showed men pulling down the tops of women in the street, exposing their breasts. And several videos showed hard-core pornography, although it was not clear how they came to be among Mr. Rosenthal’s e-mail turned over as part of the lawsuit. NYT12

New Barack over Old Hillary

The goal for rulers today, as for radicals fifty years ago, is to take apart rigid bureaucracy. ... Only a certain kind of human being can prosper in unstable, fragmentary social conditions. This ideal man or woman has to address three challenges.

The first concerns time ... If institutions no longer provide a long-term frame, the individual may have to improvise his or her life-narrative, or even do without any sustained sense of self.

The second challenge concerns talent... In place of craftsmanship, modern culture advances an idea of meritocracy which celebrates potential ab ility rather than past achievement.

The third challenge follows from this. It concerns surrender; that is, how to let go of the past. ... This trait of personality resembles more the consumer ever avid for new things...

... The consultant engineering sudden change has to draw on a key element in the new economy’s ideal self: the capacity to surrender, to give up possession of an establish reality.

...We might get deeper into people’s everyday experience by exploring the distinctive ways in which people learn how to consume the new—new goods and services—and then ask ourselves, Do people indeed shop for politicans the way they shop for clothes? Rather than just as an angry voter, we might want to consider the citizen as a consumer of politics, faced with pressures to buy. –Richard Sennett, THE CULTURE OF THE NEW CAPITALISM (Yale, 2006) pp. 2, 3-5, 98, 133

Happy New Year

January 8, 2008--WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

January 3, 2008—The surging price of oil, from just over $10 a barrel a decade ago to $100 yesterday, is altering the wealth and influence of industries and nations around the world. ... The long oil-price boom is posing wrenching challenges for the world’s poorest nations, while enriching and emboldening producers in the Middle East, Russia and Venezuela. Their increasing muscle has a flip side: a decline of US clout in many parts of the world. Steep gasoline prices also threaten America’s long love affair with the automobile, while putting strains on many lower-incoem people outside big cities, who must spend an increasing share of their budgets just on fuel to get to work. WSJ A1

international update, 2007/2008

—Dec. 28, 2007--Some children push pedophiles into sex acts, [Tenerife Bishop Bernardo Alvaerz] says.... “there are 13 year old adolescents who are minor and who are in perfect agreement with it and who also want it. If you are not careful, they can provoke you.. EL PAIS, p.1

--Dec. 28. 2007--THE ART OF THE ASS. The last chance to see this collection of portraits of that celebrated object of desire, the female behind. Some 70 photographs, by Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Ralph Gibson, among others... Fundacion Canal Madrid. Ibid, 4

--Dec. 30 2007-- The Belarus government will expel the U.S. ambassador and ban trade in U.S. dollars if Washington broadens sanctions against the country, the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, said Sunday. ... Lukashenko also said Belarus might eliminate the use of U.S. dollars and switch to other currencies: "We can survive without the dollar," he said. "We are building up reserves in yen and yuan. We can switch to euros." IHT

Jan. 2, 2008--The switch to the euro Tuesday by Cyprus and Malta went smoothly, as citizens lined up at banks to exchange pounds and lira for the new currency without a problem. Fifteen countries now use the euro, which has gained clout of the US dollar. IHT Jan. 2, 2008 p 1

--Jan 2, 2008---Spain’s governing Socialist Party hit back Tuesday at the Catholic Church, two days after prominent bishops from across Spain lambasted the government’s social and family policies in a mass rally in Madrid. –EL PAIS p1/

--Jan 2, 2008--... democracy dissolves when those who ought to respect it, such as the bishops, thoughtlessly interfere in matters that are none of their business.—EL PAIS, p2, editoial