5-30-2010

5-30-2010—There has never been a challenge that the American people, with as little interference as possible by the federal government, cannot handle. La. Gov. Bobby Jindal, March 24, 2009
--Add another entry to the list of worries for the global economy and financial markets: labor unrest in China. Rapidly rising industrial wages are beginning to allow China’s workers to share in their country’s rising prosperity. The question is whether these gains can be maintained and even increased without disrupting supply lines to companies around the world, and without discouraging much future investment by Chinese and global companies alike. The biggest eye-opener for multinationals in China recently has been a nine-day-old strike at a sprawling Honda transmission factory here in Foshan, about 100 miles northwest of Hong Kong. The strike, which has forced Honda to suspend production at all four of its joint venture assembly plants in China, has shown that Chinese authorities are willing to tolerate work stoppages at least temporarily, even at high-tech operations on which many other factories depend. Chinese policy makers are trying to let wages rise to create the foundations of an economy driven by domestic demand, without derailing the export machine that has produced the world’s strongest economic growth over the last three decades. Even before the strike, manufacturers and buyers of low-cost products were already actively seeking alternatives to China, like Vietnam and Cambodia, said Richard Vuylsteke, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. –NYT 9

5-26-2010

5-26-2010—[GOP candidate for SC governor] Nikki Haley, has been hit by charges, leveled b one of her supporters, that she had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with him three years ago. NYT A12

--After 30 years in which the godlike, self-regulating market became a bipartisan article of faith, we have no suffered through a cataclysmic series of market failures, each disaster abetted by business-friendly regulators whose complacency was ensured by the same rotten ideology—if not simply purchased out right y the business interests. It’s as if the invisible hand was trying to slap some sense into us.—Thomas Frank WSJA15

5-19-2010

5-19-2010—American deaths in Afghanistan surpass 1000—NYT A11
--In papers filed well before the [Rekers rent-boy] scandal broke, [GOP Attorney General Bill McCollum, appealing the overturning of Florida’s anti-gay parent law] denounced the court’s “wholesale disregard” of testimony by Dr. Rekers ... stressing Dr. Rekers’ qualifications and stating that “the trial court entirely discredited him based on his religion.” NYT A15
—[Fort Wayne Congressman Souder said] he was “focused upon .. renewing my walk with my Lord.” NYT A14

5-17-2010

5-17-2010--British troops who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer far lower rates of post-traumatic stress than Americans do, according to the most rigorous psychiatric study of Britain’s military so far. While estimated rates of the condition in troops returning to the United States range from 10 to 15 percent, the new study found a rate of just 4 percent among Britons — even though they and the Americans have seen equal amounts of combat in recent years. ... Another big difference between the two countries is national health care. In Britain, returning soldiers are covered free for life; in the United States, they are entitled to five years of free care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, though service-related injuries are covered for life. “I’ve brought this up with American military commanders; why not switch to nationalized health care?” Dr. Wessely said. “Went over like a cup of cold spit.” –NYT A10 [no faggoty socialism for OUR troops...]
--Right-wing extremism may be the same as it ever was, but it clearly has more adherents now than it did a couple of years ago. Why? It may have a lot to do with a troubled economy. True, that’s not how it was supposed to work. When the economy plunged into crisis, many observers — myself included — expected a political shift to the left. After all, the crisis made nonsense of the right’s markets-know-best, regulation-is-always-bad dogma. In retrospect, however, this was naïve: voters tend to react with their guts, not in response to analytical arguments — and in bad times, the gut reaction of many voters is to move right. That’s the message of a recent paper by the economists Markus Brückner and Hans Peter Grüner, who find a striking correlation between economic performance and political extremism in advanced nations: in both America and Europe, periods of low economic growth tend to be associated with a rising vote for right-wing and nationalist political parties. The rise of the Tea Party, in other words, was exactly what we should have expected in the wake of the economic crisis. –Krugman [d’oh...]
-That spring was supposed to bring a flowery conclusion to their [B.U., class of 1970] four years of academe. But President Richard M. Nixon had invaded Cambodia. National Guardsmen had gunned down students at Kent State, killing four and wounding nine. Young men still faced the draft. And this campus, like many across the country, was in turmoil, with strikes, sit-ins, building takeovers and fire-bombings. The situation became so incendiary that, for safety’s sake, university officials called off final exams, canceled graduation and sent students packing. This weekend, on what would have been the 40th anniversary of that ceremony, the university sought to make amends with a proper graduation. ... “This is not an apology,” Robert A. Brown, the president of the university, said in an interview beforehand. “We did exactly the right thing by calling off exams. It’s an opportunity to reach out to this cadre of alums and say, ‘Come, be with us.’ ” ... The ice-breaking social event was an extensive slide show of photographs taken by Peter Simon, a member of the class and brother of Carly Simon. “Forty years ago I probably never would have gone to graduation because I was such a hippie,” Mr. Simon said to chuc kles and applause. But now, he said, “time has mellowed me.” Mr. Simon said that when he speaks about his photography around the country, students frequently say to him, “God, I wish I’d been alive and been part of your generation because it’s really boring now.” He said he responds by saying: “But you have all this texting! You have cellphones!” “And they say they’d give all that stuff away for the kind of experiences we had,” he said. “And I have to say, I agree.” --NYT A16 [NEVER let it be...]

5-14-2010

--5-14-2010--[Defending itself in US Court] the Holy See will argue that it has no jurisdction over bishops' conduct WSJ A3 [and if you believe this, the Resurrection is EASY...]

--[A former Eton pupil recalls seeing] Eton head up two lists: the highest number of old boys as MPs, and the highest number in jail, compaired with other schools. WSJ A16 [as if there was a difference]

--After 40 years, the US war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds and thousands of lives and for what? .. Even US drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn';t worked. SBT A4 [the market always wins]

catchup, May 12, 2010

5-12-2010-A majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll says Afghanistan is not worth the cost. NYT, A23
--New analysis of a student’s audio recording from the shootings in which four students were killed at Kent State University in 1970 shows that Ohio Natoinal Guard troops received orders to fire into a crowd of unarmed students... NYT A18
--Four Nerds and a Cry to Arms Against Facebook. ... The Diaspora* group was inspired to begin their project after hearing a talk by Eben Moglen, a law professor at Columbia University, who described the centralized social network as “spying for free.” –NYT A19
--5-10-2010—Had the calculation been done correctly, Anthem would have needed an average increase in the individual market of only 15%, not the 25% it proposed. NYT A20
--NYRB, May 27, 2010 pp. 53, 56. Mark Lilla: Anarchistic like the Sixties, selfish like the Eighties, contradicting neither, [a new strain of populism] is estranged, aimless, and as juvenile as our new century. It appeals to petulant individuals convinced that they can do everything themselves if they are only left alone, and that others are conspiring to keep them from doing just that. ... They don’t want the rule of the people ... they want to be people without rules.
2003—There were what, 3000 dead? Historically, that’s insignificant. As a US example, 50,000 died at the Battle of Gettysburg. What is significant, as my old profs said, is they struck at the heart of the Empire. In previous conflicts—Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War—the Empire managed to keep the barbarians outside its gates, its borders. In that sense people may look back on 9/11-and I stresss MAY—as the beginning of the great barbarian invasion.—Barbarian Invasions.
413 AD. “So long as it lasts,” they say, “so long as [our country] enjoys material prosperity, and the glory of victorious war, or, better, the security of peace, why should we worry? What concerns us is that we should get richer all the time, to have enough for extravagant spending every day, enough to keep our inferiors in their place. It is all right if the poor serve the rich, so as to get enough to eat and to enjoy a lazy life under their patronage; while the rich make use of the poor to ensure a crowd of hangers-on to minister to their pride... Augustine Bk II. Ch. 20

5-6-2010

5-6-2010—In his and Dr. Reich’s view, Neanderthals interbred only with non-Africans, the people who left Africa, which would mean that non-Africans drew from a second gene pool not available to Africans.—NYT A9
--The Journal also found that the safety record of US offshore drilling compares unfavorably, in terms of death and serious accidents, t other major oil-producing countries. –WSJ A4

sit down in safe chair before reading

5-5-2010—Amount of spill could escalate, company admits—NYT a1
--A bill that would require speedier disclosure of stock trades by lawmakers has languished for years on Capitol Hill... WSJ A6
--[the new dean of Harvard business school] co-authored a 2008 Harvard Business Review article that ... argued for a code of ethics—an oath of sorts—like the ones doctors and lawyers must take. Students at the school later took up the cause and launched a voluntary MBA Oarth. WSJ B9

May 4

5-4-2010—40th anniversary of Kent State killings
--Halliburton was providing a number of services on the [BP oil] rig, including cementing, which is a method of aping the well to control pressure from the oil and gas beneath.—NYT A1 [hey, they were great in Iraq...?..]
-- Only about 6.7 percent of Swedish-Americans live in poverty. ...When two economists calculated Swedish poverty rates according to the American standard, they found that 6.7 percent of the Swedes in Sweden were living in poverty. ... There are certain high-trust regions where highly educated people congregate, producing positive feedback loops of good culture and good human capital programs. This mostly happens in the northeastern states like New Jersey and Connecticut. There are other regions with low social trust, low education levels and negative feedback loops. This mostly happens in southern states like Arkansas and West Virginia.-- David Brooks, NYT A25

catching up, May 3, 2010

5-3-2010--To the wide array of programs offered by evangelical megachurches like Westside, the group adds what Ms. Renaud says is something long overdue. While churches have addressed pornography use among the men in their congregations and among the clergy, a group for women who say they are addicted to pornography is new territory, she said. –NYT [or they can work for the SEC or GOP]
5-3-2010—[Warren Buffet’s long time partner] placed the lame on lax or dysfunctional government regulations WSJ C1 [d’oh]
5-1/2-20100--...as the oil approached the shore this week Mr. Crozier was rethinking his position [that industry had embraced environmental protection in recent years]. WSJ A5 [d’oh...]
--5-2-2010—Bloomberg names ex-mayor of Indianapolis ... to No. 2 post—NYT A13 [hoosier bails out NYC]
4-30-2010—US report on Afghan war finds few gains in 6 months—NYT A16 [d’oh...]
--NYRB, May 13, 2010—And one more thing: Greece has a long history of default—in fact, the nation has been in arrears on its debt for half its modern history. P.11
--IBID—If politicians were painters, with FDR as Titian and Churchill has Rubens ...Bill Clinton might aspire to to heights of Salvador Dali (and believe himself complimented bythe comparison). P. 21
IBID—The flight of Iraquis since the 2003 invasion ranks as the largest human displacement in the Middle Est since 1948. P. 26
NYRB, April 8, 2010--...the Mediocre University at New York City the kind of place where people paid vast sums so their spawn could take hard drugs in suitable company, draw from life on their laptops, do radical things with viedo cameras and caulk...—p.16
--IBID. ..television preferences ... are now the best predictor of a voter’s political preferences. P. 20
--IBID. We—the left, academics, teachers—have abandoned politics to those for whom actual political power is far more interesting than its metaphorical implications. P. 27
--...the Irish and Germans continued to be social outsiders until the last years of the nineteenth century when a new wave of immigrants, originating in Italy and Eastern Europe, arrived to raise anxieties about the purity of the American. Having settled in, and looking more American than the newcomers, the Germans and the Irish became, Painter writes, “the second enlargement of American whiteness to become constituent parts of the American. P. 74