"I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
Election Will Decide Future of Interrogation Methods for Terrorism Suspects - NYTimes.com
Topic: Miscellaneous
1:21 am EDT, Nov 2, 2012
Romney:
We’ll use enhanced interrogation techniques which go beyond those that are in the military handbook right now.
Our American endorsement: Which one? | The Economist
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:47 am EDT, Nov 2, 2012
The extremism of his party is Mr Romney’s greatest handicap.
This article does a tremendous job of dissecting the present election choice in a fashion that is complimentary and critical of both candidates. Its a level of clue and objectivity that is almost impossible to find in our domestic political dialog anymore and I really appreciate it. The highest rated comments are very good as well.
The fact is that Romney could work, assuming, as the Economist says, that you ignore everything he has said during the campaign and focus on who he is - but the problem is a political party that has become too radical. Although they can be fooled into supporting a moderate candidate they believe they are fooling us, and they fully intend to be spiking the football and then pulling the knives out for fundamental facets of social order like equality before the law and the writ of habeas corpus just as soon as they get their man in office. That isn't acceptable.
Staten Island fury: Official blasts Red Cross response after Sandy as a 'disgrace' - U.S. News
Topic: Miscellaneous
10:40 pm EDT, Nov 1, 2012
“We’re talking about getting water of the tunnel. Let’s get the water out of the tunnel tomorrow, let’s get the people out of the water today. There’ve been thousands of people who have been displaced. There are people who are cold, who are hungry, who are without a place to go, and looking for warmth.,” Lanza said, according to Politicker.
“There are people still trapped. Yet we’re talking about marathons and tunnels.”
Apparently racist nativism has a fully funded Washington think tank. I don't usually read the Washington Times but this headline popped up on my Google News:
Two-thirds of jobs go to immigrants during Obama’s four years
Often the concept of "immigrant" and the concept of "illegal immigrant" are conflated by activists who are opposed to illegal immigration. As an immigrant I find this annoying. I was surprised to find that this particular rabbit hole was a bit deeper - in this case focusing on "foreign born" versus "non-foreign born" people - irrespective of their citizenship.
“It’s extraordinary that most of the employment growth in the last four years has gone to the foreign-born, but what’s even more extraordinary is the issue has not even come up during a presidential election that is so focused on jobs,” said Steven A. Camarota, the center’s research director, who wrote the report along with demographer Karen Zeigler.
The author of the article provides this zinger, which is inaccurate enough that were this a real news paper it would raise questions about journalistic integrity.
He also said immigrants are quicker to jump into the rebounding job market while native-born Americans, who under federal law have more welfare options and access to unemployment benefits, are slower to find work.
The "He" referred to here is Cato Institute policy analyst Alex Nowrasteh. I'm interested to know whether he actually said something like this or if he is being misquoted. I suspect the later, but I'm not sure.
Native-born Americans do not have more welfare options nor do they have better access to unemployment benefits than naturalized U.S. Citizens. We're all equal under the law, except when it comes to the office of the Presidency.
I find it deeply troubling that a group which apparently advocates that some U.S. Citizens should be more equal than others receives funding and a credible reception in Washington as a serious organization. If Cato also subscribes to this nativist perspective that is much, much worse (but I doubt it - I think this is a misquote).
Who Needs Facts Anyway? | Neurobonkers | Big Think
Topic: Miscellaneous
2:59 am EDT, Oct 31, 2012
The drug war is a perfect example of this effect; we all know drugs have the potential to be dangerous but the facts become devalued when trusted sources overstate their case.
Unfortunately a situation seems to have prevailed in which young people learn to disregard claims about drugs from figures in authority. Suggesting that ecstasy is hundreds of times more dangerous than it really is or that cod is 210,000 times more overfished than it is utterly undermines the arguments one is trying to make. This effect could explain why drug prevention programs such as DARE have been found in many cases to result in an increased level of drug use (Lilienfeld, 2007, Werch and Owen, 2002).
We should not be surprised. That's the view of many climate scientists as they survey the destruction wrought by the superstorm that ravaged the Northeast this week. The melting of Arctic ice, rising sea levels, the warming atmosphere and changes to weather patterns are a potent combination likely to produce storms and tidal surges of unprecedented intensity, according to many experts.
Major devastation in New Orleans. 500 year flood in Atlanta. 500 year flood in Nashville. Unusual winter temperatures and snow fall levels. Record summer heat waves. Massive tornado outbreaks. Repeated, record water levels and devastation in NYC.
None of these extreme weather events is directly "caused" by global warming. Global warming makes extreme weather events more likely to occur, in general.
That process cannot be stopped and will continue to get worse as we move into the future. Therefore, events like these will continue to unfold and will become the new normal.
People will die as a consequence of these events.
Over the long haul, all the sarcastic dismissal of global warming that conservatives have engaged in will prove to be extremely politically damaging for them in light of the reality that people are now experiencing. They looked at a bunch of facts and made a long term political bet against them.
We're running right into those facts like a brick wall.
FRBSF Economic Letter: Boomer Retirement: Headwinds for U.S. Equity Markets? (2011-26, 8/22/2011)
Topic: Miscellaneous
1:54 pm EDT, Oct 29, 2012
Despite theoretical ambiguities, U.S. equity values have been closely related to demographic trends in the past half century. There has been a tight correlation between population dependency ratios, such as the M/O ratio, and the P/E ratio of the U.S. stock market. In the context of the impending retirement of baby boomers over the next two decades, this correlation portends poorly for equity values.
Not that long ago, the U.S. had that global economy all to itself. From the 1950s to the 1980s, it was the world’s dominant producer and consumer. In countries spanning Europe to Latin America, and throughout Asia, success was determined by how well they could siphon off a bit of this incredible growth. Things began to change in the 1970s, however, when Japan and Germany started making cars and factory equipment and electronic gadgets that beat their American competitors. And for the next 30 years, the U.S. struggled to adjust to increasingly competitive Asian and Latin American producers. But as long as it remained the world’s largest consumer market, the U.S. maintained lots of leverage. The government persuaded Pakistan to join the global war on terror, for instance, partly by promising its sock manufacturers duty-free access to its market.
Michael Hudson: how finance capital leads to debt servitude | Ian Fraser
Topic: Miscellaneous
1:52 pm EDT, Oct 28, 2012
This is the basic problem with the Anglo-American-Dutch banking system. Instead of extending loans to create new factories to employ people, new means of production, bankers look at what can be pledged as collateral on which they can foreclose.
Stock markets were supposed to supply “equity investment” capital. But they have been turned into a vehicle for debt-financed leverage buyouts (LBOs). Raiders borrow money much like landlords borrow to buy a rental property and bleed it. This turns corporate cash flow into interest. Governments permit this to be tax-deductible, so this encouragement of debt financing over equity worsens their fiscal position. It forces them into debt to bondholders. So the process becomes a deteriorating financial spiral.
