Wind tunnel helps show how birds fly so far without water Los Angeles Times (hat tip reader mitchw)
A More Progressive Tax System Makes People Happier, 54-Nation Study Finds Science Daily (hat tip reader May S)
Supercomputer predicts revolution BBC (hat tip reader Expect the Unexpected)
Libyan Rebels Hound Black Refugees IPS (hat tip reader May S)
Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing a Wider Siege New York Times
9/11 lost decade: The American dream, and the missing years Independent (hat tip reader Paul S)
A Pivot Point in American Opinion: The Debt Ceiling Negotiation and its Consequences Public Opinion Strategies (hat tip Pat Caddell)
Democrats Fret Aloud Over Obama’s Re-election New York Times
The GOP’s One-Sided War on Dems Daily Beast (hat tip reader Paul T)
Living Wage Calculator Pennsylvania State University (hat tip reader Carol B)
Economic Roadkill Mike Whitney CounterPunch (hat tip reader Carol B)
Recent college graduates face long-lasting economic damage Daily Kos. Would really like to see this graphed against college costs, but we know what the conclusion is without having the image.
Clawbacks Without Claws Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times
Weekend Reading: Psychopaths Among Us, the Madness Rises Again, and the Necessity of Law Jesse
Antidote du jour:
31 comments
Comments are closed.
Naked Capitalism! More than the beam of a dutiful flashlight in the 911 dustcloud – glittering jewels! powerful, elegant, expert writing, fearlessly seeking truth! Thank you Yves. I wonder if you would have created this blog if 911 hadn’t happened.
I agree. And thanks for the animal pictures, Yves. Keep ’em comin’. They’re a welcome reminder that we live in a beautiful, beautiful world.
Loved Jesse’s screed until it became a morality tale.
Enough already. I can be against, and develop consequences for, psychopaths without ascribing morality or setting forth some apologia for my decision.
I don’t like psychopaths; I’m willing to identify them, expose them, humiliate them, and incarcerate them. It doesn’t mean I’m better than they are. It doesn’t mean there is some (obviously non-existent) morality that justifies my actions. I’m just doing what I think is best for me and my family. I’m so tired of all the judgments. You’re all selfish; you’re all doing what you think is best for you; there is no such thing as universal morality; it’s a myth; get over it and get on with your life. Enough.
We can develop consequences for murder (or anything else) without some foolish belief in morality. Too bad no one has the balls to accept that.
No one is saying you are better than them Jones.
Actually, I found the article remarkably
free of moralizing. After all, he describes
psychopaths as “differently wired” from
you and me, and as using “different
strategies” to get what they want.
Very neutral and empirical terms.
How to identify the garden variety psychopath?
They like to test boundaries in initial meetings. If you feel like your boundaries have been crossed in an odd way that leaves you scratching your head, start getting analytical.
super computer:: wondering where all that illegal wiretapping was heading to? predicting social unrest like predicting the weather. “uh, marcy, weve got a category 4 riot here in downtown los angeles. it is actually difficult for me to stand here right now due to the torrential downpour of stones. the police are predicting a 90% chance of teargas…” but seriously, if such can be had using only PUBLIC info, imagine what is possible with private info. if the nsa can build the supercomputers before the us govt collapses… imagine mapping the likelihood of spontaneous protest based on the “mood” of private emails exchanged between a loose collective of activists. automagically. if what you are after is the precision to predict violence by a single individual, you get tge aggregate for free–notwithstanding the nonlinear hurdles. lets be 100% confident that our enterprising mathematicians will be able to churn out something useful.
Fireworks boomed for hours last night, and the cops didn’t seem to care. They were celebrating 9/11 — the terrorists won!
After all, the unPATRIOTic ACT, the TSA goon squad, and the comprehensive spying on Americans’ email and phone calls remain with us.
And now we’re bankrupt to boot, thanks to the Bush-Obama permanent war on terror.
Osama and his 72 virgins are laughing their ass off.
Jim Haygood, thank you. I tried to say something along those lines by copying and pasting a comment Krugman made on his blog for this 9/11 occasion. But it seems to have been censored.
Socionomics:
Bad Politics make people angry.
OR as a socionomic guy would word:
Angry people view politics as bad.
Over here in Tokyo, it’s the six-month anniversary of 3/11’s earthquake and tsunami. The business elite want the nukes restarted asap, TPP free trade, continuation of the nuclear village’s regional power monopolies, and other self-interested items likely to further erode threadbare social contracts, public trust and domestic demand. The Economy and Trade minister, appointed Sept 2, resigned last night after joking about, eg, rubbing a little radiation on a reporter. Here’s hoping Japan learns cheaper lessons from 3/11 than America learned from 9/11. And all the best to Yves Smith for this invaluable blog.
Fear is the mind-killer.
“As the nation prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a pair of leading internet archivists are launching an ambitious project called “Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive,” which catalogs 3,000 hours of domestic and international TV news footage from 20 channels from the week around September 11, 2001. Television news coverage of the September 11 attacks and their aftermath not only documented one of the most important events in mass memory but also influenced public perception. We feature excerpts of coverage from the global archive and speak with its organizers, Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger. Kahle is an internet entrepreneur, activist, digital librarian and founder of the Internet Archive and the Open Content Alliance, a group of organizations committed to making a permanent, publicly accessible archive of digitized texts. Prelinger is an archivist, writer, filmmaker and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years’ operation. “[9/11] was a major event that was really a television event. People really understood this through television,” says Kahle. He adds that seeing “how people are starting to come to grips with it really shaped how we saw the whole event.” [includes rush transcript]”
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/24/the_9_11_tv_news_archive
Ah, using a supercompulator to justify your biases. Bravo.
WashingtonsBlog, Thanks.
Very Interesting live stream conference yesterday and today, a 911 Commission, Version 2:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/911-commission-version-2-0.html
9/11 Commission Version 2.0?
Posted on September 8, 2011 by WashingtonsBlog
Panelists include Ferdinando Imposimato (Honorary President of the Supreme Court of Italy. Former Senior Investigative Judge, Italy. Presided over several terrorism-related cases, including the kidnapping and ultimate assassination of President Aldo Moro, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, other political assassinations and kidnapping cases and several cases against the Mafia. Former Senator who served on the Anti-Mafia Commission in three administrations. Former legal consultant to the United Nations regarding institution of laws to control drug trafficking.)
Streaming Live:
……..
High-Level Officials Eager to Spill the Beans About What REALLY Happened on 9/11 … But No One In Washington or the Media Wants to Hear
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/high-level-officials-eager-to-spill-the-beans-about-what-really-happened-on-911-but-no-one-in-washington-or-the-media-wants-to-hear.html
…….
Airplanes Have Been Flown By Remote Control Since 1917
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/airplanes-have-been-flown-by-remote-control-since-1944.html
…….
9/11 and the War on Terror: Polls Show What People Think 10 Years Later
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/911-and-the-war-on-terror-polls-show-what-people-really-believe-10-years-later.html
more info on live streaming now of The International Hearings on The Events of September 11, 2001:
http://current.com/technology/93441191_the-toronto-9-11-hearings-9-11-11-global-research-tv.htm#voteUp_93441191
http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2011/09/toronto-911-hearings-91111
In case you missed the mention of the Toronto hearings (kennymotown show) going on as we speak here is the link:
The International Hearings On The Events Of September 11, 2001.
International Living Learning Centre, Ryerson University, 240 Jarvis Street, Toronto, Canada. September 8, 9, 10 & 11, 2011
Schedule and Live Coverage
Live coverage of the Toronto Hearings will be available and the link to the broadcast channel.
http://torontohearings.org/schedule-and-live-coverage/
Four distinguished panelists will hear the evidence presented at the Toronto Hearings. The panelists will help in creating the final report that will include their conclusions.
The final report will also consist of all expert witness testimonies presented at the Hearings. The report will be edited by Attorney James Gourley, the Director of the International Center for 9/11 Studies.
Objectives of the Hearings:
(1) To present evidence that the U.S. government’s official investigation into the events of September 11, 2001, as pursued by various government and government-appointed agencies, is seriously flawed and has failed to describe and account for the 9/11 events.
(2) To single out the most weighty evidence of the inadequacy of the U.S. government’s investigation; to organize and classify that evidence; to preserve that evidence; to make that evidence widely known to the public and to governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations.
(3) To submit a record and a summary of the Hearings, together with signed Statutory Declarations by witnesses, to relevant governments, groups and international agencies with the request that a full and impartial investigation be launched into the events of September 11, 2001, which have been used to initiate military invasions and to restrict the rights of citizens.
(4) To engage the attention of the public, the international community and the media through witness testimony as well as through media events broadcasted via the Internet during the four day event.
http://torontohearings.org/
Panelists:
Ferdinando Imposimato, Herbert Jenkins, Richard B. Lee, David Johnson.
Witnesses:
Mike Gravel, Lance DeHaven-Smith, Peter Dale Scott, David Ray Griffin, Michel Chossudovsky, Barbara Honegger, Paul Zarembka, Jay Kolar, Jonathan Cole, David Chandler, Laurie Manwell, Niels Harrit, Richard Gage, Graeme MacQueen, Kevin Ryan.
In order to get funding required for a professional gathering of petition signatures in the appropriate states to eventually be able to have subpoena power:
The International Hearings on the Events of September 11, 2001
http://torontohearings.org/donations/
Donations
Private funding to carry out the work of the Toronto Hearings is being provided by citizens from around the world.
The International Center for 9/11 Studies is actively fundraising for the initial September hearings and subsequent hearings to follow, with the ultimate goal of finding the truth pertaining to the events of 9/11 and triggering the corresponding international and national legal recourses.
Please contribute generously to the International Hearings Project by making a donation to one of the following four donor categories:
Friends of 9/11 Truth ($100 club – 1,000 members)
Pillars of 9/11 Truth ($1,000 club – 200 members)
International Cavalry for 9/11 Truth ($10,000 club – 50 members)
Supporters of 9/11 Truth (all other donations)
Donations by credit card and Paypal can be made at this link.
Please make a note if you would like your donation to go toward the expenses of a specific participant.
For tax exemption purposes, Tax exemption letter IC911S. Checks made payable to The International Center for 9/11 Studies, with a memo of “Toronto Hearings”, can be sent to:
The International Center for 9/11 Studies
2201 N. Central Expressway, Suite 225
Richardson, TX 75080
To donate to former Senator Mike Gravel’s citizen initiative which will allow subpoenas to be issued if funding helps meet the petition ballot requirements:
http://9-11cc.org/index.php/donate/
Donate
by Paypal, credit card or check
To contact us with general questions about donations, please send email to:
campaign@9-11commissioncampaign.org
Checks are also gladly accepted. Please make your check out to “9/11 Campaign Committee,” and mail it to:
“9/11 Campaign Committee”
c/o Patricia Yee
Hall, Yee & Associates
1156 Clement Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
………
About this actionable effort by Mike Gravel and others:
http://9-11cc.org/index.php/2011/08/18/press-room/
Massachusetts Initiative Campaign Launch!
Posted on August 18, 2011 by Byron Belitsos
September 7, 2011 [updated]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Rich Aucoin • 781-956-6013 • RichAucoin@comcast.net
Unprecedented effort for new investigation to be launched on 9/11 anniversary
U.S. SENATOR LEADS MASSACHUSETTS
INITIATIVE CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW 9/11 COMMISSION
(Boston, MA) Senator Mike Gravel announced today the inauguration of a citizens’ campaign to authorize a new investigation of the events of September 11, 2001 after his proposed ballot measure was certified today by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley.
[The text of the initiative is posted below or is available as a PDF: Initiative Petition for a Massachesetts Law.]
If adopted by the voters, the new law would create an independent, citizen-led investigatory commission that would be seated in Massachusetts and be vested with subpoena power and the power to take testimony under oath. “I personally initiated this effort to create a new 9/11 commission,” stated Gravel, “in response to the outpouring of calls for a new investigation—in the light of new evidence—from Americans across the political spectrum. Because our gridlocked Congress is obviously incapable of taking up this issue, I believe that state initiatives are our best alternative approach. Massachusetts is an optimal state in which to begin this work.”
Gravel is a former two-term Senator from Alaska and a 2008 presidential candidate who is also considering a run for the presidency in 2012 at the urging of grassroots groups. The Senator is currently chair and founder of the Citizens 9/11 Commission Campaign (911cc.org), a California-based citizen’s group that is filing similar ballot measures in other states, notably Oregon and Alaska.
snip
Statewide Ballot Initiative Campaign for a New 9/11 Commission
Senator Gravel—a native of Massachusetts—will kick off the ballot initiative campaign on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 with a major press conference, followed by a 12-day tour of the state. The press conference will be held on September 13, 2011 at 11:00 am on the steps of the Massachusetts state house on Beacon Hill. (While in Boston, the Senator will also make a private visit to the Boston Logan International Airport 9/11 Memorial. The new memorial commemorates the 206 victims of the 9/11 attacks who had ties to Massachusetts.)
Senator Gravel will be supported in the state by a coalition of Massachusetts 9/11 advocacy groups and local concerned citizens led by Rich McCampbell, a Cambridge-based biotech engineer, and Rich Aucoin, former Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor who has worked in senior positions in three previous initiative campaigns. Working with Gravel, the statewide alliance will create awareness and raise the funds needed for running a petition campaign. The group’s slogan is “9/11—Never Forget.”
…….
Direct Democracy: The Way Forward
Presently, our heroic 9/11 truth activists can continue to educate Americans and the world’s people with the hope of pressing the U.S. Congress to act. However, it is evident to me that the federal government won’t act to change the official 9/11 story line; and the American people simply can’t act, given the structure of our representative democracy. All the people can do is educate, agitate and protest, and give their power away to representatives on Election Day. That’s because of one obvious reality: the way to meaningful citizen participation in public policy is blocked by the elites now in control of the mainstream media and of government (regardless of party). Citizens lack access to the legislative procedures needed to implement the central power of government––lawmaking––at the federal level. Indeed, this is true as well in most governmental jurisdictions of the United States. But fortunately there are 24 states that have some form of initiative lawmaking where people can enact laws.
snip
The key element of the proposed initiative is the use of a Joint Powers Agreement, whereby similar laws enacted in several states are harmonized to create one single commission. The Joint Powers Agreement also facilitates the endorsement and participation of other state governments at a later time, thereby adding their grand jury powers to the Commission. Our plan envisions enacting an initiative law in one or more states. These proposed initiatives would be presented to state voters for their decision on November 6, 2012.
snip
The Challenge Ahead: Building an Effective Citizen’s Campaign
Success or failure will be determined by the resources that can be brought to bear on our organizational efforts and the petition campaigns to qualify the initiatives and secure their approval by the people. Success will require money––the mother’s milk of politics.
If we are able to raise the necessary funds for this undertaking, I believe there is no possibility of failure. Regardless what happens we will certainly advance the national debate on 9/11––alerting more Americans to the problem, and more importantly, pointing to an actionable plan where the people are the solution––not the government.
Re: “Democrats fret…”: I said it elsewhere and I’ll say it here – if the moneypeople sense the game is up with Obama, they will move to anoint HRC as their choice, and, after a heart-to-heart with Barack, he will be convinced that it’s an ideal moment to announce that he indeed will be spending more time with his growing family. Sayonara, mate, it’s not that “we hardly knew ye”, but we knew you too well.
I think Obama’s value to the financial elite, in the “Richard Nixon goes to China” sense, would be very hard to replace. HRC might be willing to play the same role, but I think the transition from the one to the other might require enough playing to the masses that it would constrain her. Also, I think patience with her would be shorter.
So their best move might be to make sure the Republicans put up someone extreme enough to scare disillusioned Democrats back into line. Perry talking about abolishing Social Security fits in with that perfectly.
The fux is in to get Ogama reelected. Otherwise why would they put a ooupla GQ wannabes and big hair makeovers so unabashedly.
Obama is doing unified in money Republican and Democrat corporatist bidding. He’s done nothing but implement and extend everything Bush.
from PROJECT CENSORED:
Unanswered Questions of 9/11: 911 Prewarnings, Building 7 Collapse, Flight 77 and the Pentagon, Israeli Involvement, United Airlines Put-options, War games, Atta and the $100,000, 9/11 Terrorists Still Alive
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/unanswered-questions-of-911-911-prewarnings-building-7-collapse-flight-77-and-the-pentagon-israeli-involvement-united-airlines-put-options-war-games-atta-and-the-100000-911-terrorists-stil/
………..
From Ralph Nader:
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/2307-Roundtable-Discussion-on-911-Monday,-September-12-in-D.C..html
Roundtable Discussion on 9/11 – Monday, September 12 in D.C.
For Immediate Release:
Event date: September 12, 2011
Time: 12:30- 2 p.m.
Location: 2021 14th St NW; 14th and V St NW
(Washington, D.C.) – Ralph Nader and Busboys & Poets will host an unusual roundtable discussion on Monday, September 12 looking at the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in a forthright way that promotes forward thinking.
Nader recently suggested in a “USA Today” article that many Americans might want to pause to recognize – or unlearn – those reactions and overreactions to 9/11 that have gravely harmed our country and other regions abroad. He says we should do this so we don’t allow such serial blowbacks in the future.
Roundtable participants will include:
– Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell and adjunct professor of government at William & Mary University;
– Mike German, policy counsel on National Security, Immigration and Privacy at the ACLU and former FBI agent;
– Bruce Fein, adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and former executive editor of World Intelligence Review.
– Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and people’s lawyer.
This memorable presentation will be held at 2021 14th St NW, and is open to the public.
Gretchen Morgenson totally confuses disgorgement with SOX-based clawbacks. Her numbers, though low, overstate how much the SEC has done, which is almost nothing.
This is a far better piece on the topic …
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.5/francine_mckenna_dodd-frank_sarbanes-oxley_wall_street_financial_reform.php
Gretchen Morgenson confuses disgorgements with SOX-based clawbacks. The number of clawback cases is even lower than she reports.
For a better article on the topic, see Francine McKenna’s piece in Boston Review (which may have inspired the Morgenson piece) …
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.5/francine_mckenna_dodd-frank_sarbanes-oxley_wall_street_financial_reform.php
OT, but interesting article in Spiegel online today about speculation in food: Speculating in Lives, How Global Investors make money out of Hunger http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,783654,00.html
That piece on polling and the debt ceiling negotiations is a timely find – thanks.
To me the most surprising finding is on p. 20, where they say that in fall 2010 confidence in government economic management was all the way up at 47%. By that time the performance of the government during the run-up to and aftermath of the crisis was pretty well out there on the record for anyone who cared to look.
Maybe that number was inflated a little by the stock market bounce post-Jackson Hole?
I Love Paul Krugman :) for this:
That polling piece about the debt ceiling negotiations is a timely and valuable read.
To me the most surprising finding was on p. 20, where they say that overall confidence in the government’s economic management was as high as 47%. By that time the government’s performance before and during the crisis was pretty well out there on the record for anyone who cared to look.
Maybe that number was inflated a little by the market bounce after the signalling of QE2 at Jackson Hole?
That was a typo. I meant to say ‘the fix is in on Obama’
But why was my other comment also censored? Maybe its not cool to copy and paste from another blog -even with attribution and comment?
Or maybe what Krugman was afraid of in comments would occur on such a controversial declaration could (on second thought) attract similar problems here on NC?
I just happen to think Krugman’s comment on 9/11 is refreshing -and surprising -very.
And obvious typos on this blog are not, as far as I know, usually reason for censorship.
I’d like to know.
Thank you.
LeeAnne,
Your comment was not removed. As you can see, it is there in the thread.
The site was both moved to a new server and switched over to a new version of WP this afternoon, perhaps that led to it appearing on a delayed basis.
But I do object to your use of the word “censored”. That is aggressive and critical, when commenting here is a privilege, not a right. I’ve pointed repeatedly to Barry Ritholtz’s comment policy as Web standard, and I am far less aggressive in implementing it than he is. Blocking or deleting comments that violate comments policy is not “censorship,” it is enforcing rules.
FWIW: “A Pivot Point in American Opinion: The Debt Ceiling Negotiation and its Consequences” is a very interesting set of slides, but it should be cautioned that Public Opinion Strategies is self0identified as a Republican polling company. This is not to say that the presentation is necessarily bad, but some bias points do need to be subtracted at least. POS did after all (per CNBC) report that a “majority of the respondents believe the Bush tax cuts should be extended” in September of last year, “even for people making more than $250,000 a year,” while other polls clearly showed the opposite to be the case. [http://www.cnbc.com/id/39267093/Poll_Extend_Bush_Tax_Cuts_Say_Americans_Worried_About_Economy] Worthwhile reading nonetheless, but I wouldn’t be planning my election strategy around it.