Why German Shepherds Have Had Their Day New York Times
Finger Scan Devices Coming to Washington County School Buses WJHG
Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From? Wall Street Journal
Steve Jobs and drug policy Glenn Greenwald. There is a long tradition of the use of hallucinogens to gain insight into the nature of our mental filters. It says a lot about our culture that we prohibit their use.
Rembrandt suit shines light inside S&P Sydney Morning Herald (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck)
Coming Soon: The Drone Arms Race New York Times
Congressional drones Charles Davis. From last week, still important.
Jalaluddin Haqqani, Once CIA’s ‘Blue-Eyed Boy,’ Now Top Scourge For U.S. In Afghanistan Huffington Post (hat tip reader Carol B)
Polish police arrest 2 in IKEA bombings in Europe Associated Press (hat tip Buzz Potamkin)
Leaving China for a couple weeks. But first, a threat McClatchy
Call for property price falls in Europe Financial Times
Democracy or the Banks – which do you want? Golem XIV (hat tip reader hello). However, note its set-up is incorrect. Per a regular reader of the German language press via e-mail:
The claim here that Slovakia has to pass it or else is wrong. The issue here is EFSF; it’s a Luxembourg incorporation; it’s not acutally a mulitinational organization like the EU. If Slovakia says no, then its tiny piece of the action has to be made up by the others. Since it’s tiny it’s of no consequence, really. That deal is done, now that the Germans have signed off.
Alabama’s immigration law prompts alarm Los Angeles Times
Immigrant kids shun Alabama schools over tough law Raw Story
Bruce Bartlett wants the Fed to target nominal GDP Ed Harrison
The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party Robert Reich
Keeping the ‘Wall Street’ in focus in the Occupy Wall Street protests Daily Kos (hat tip reader Carol B)
‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement stages first rally in Palm Beach County Palm Beach Post (notice the composition of the participants) versus Allen West And Steve King To Occupy Wall Street Protesters: Clean Up, Find A Message Huffington Post (hat tip Lisa Epstein). Note Palm Beach is in West’s district, and pretty much everything he says about OWS is wrong (as well as dismissive)
White House feeds off protest anger Financial Times. The Ministry of Truth wants to have its cake and eat it two.
Matt Stoller on Virtually Speaking w/Jay Ackroyd. On OWS.
Antidote du jour (hat tip reader Scott H):
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Me thinks Thomas Ferguson is wrong. The amendment to the EFSF framework agreement must be ratified by all parties who signed the original EFSF agreement. Otherwise the amendment can not come into effect as it alters the original contract and the Slovac Republic is party to the original agreement.
More here: http://www.efsf.europa.eu/about/index.htm
Cenk Uygur ruthlessly mocks Erin Burnett of CNN for mocking OccupyWallStreet :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCiAG7LF7Q4&feature=player_embedded
What a pathetic bimbo. I wonder if she’s ever worked a day in her life.
And I wouldn’t call sitting in a chair in a TV studio reading Wall Street’s propaganda as “work”.
I don’t know what to call it, actually. It’s not exactly recreation or socializing, and I do believe in freedom of speech, so I can’t call it anything really nasty.
Maybe its just what it is: An utter waste of everybody’s precious time, hers and ours. Whenever I watch TV it always reminds me why I never watch TV. ha hahah.
That’s why I don’t watch TV…much – too many cute bimbos.
I say that in a bad way, as an oppressed victim of the tyranny of good-looking, charisma-overflowing people.
Down with the tyrants!
This is a great interview with Harry Markopolos over at King World News re: Bank of New York Mellon case:
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/10/8_Harry_M._Markopolos.html
NYT German Shepherds article: How strange to see this. My beloved GS died this week at six years old and I am heartbroken. While her death was virtually overnight and sudden, she had suffered from autoimmune issues her entire life and this was almost certainly a result of in and overbreeding (she came from a very prominent W. German line).
I have had GS all of my life and have witnessed first hand the results of the over breeding. As problems have appeared – e.g. hip dysplasia – breeders react but end up with more issues. From what I have seen, there is now a stunning presence of autoimmune related disorders in purebred GS leading to sarcomas, liver and kidney failure and severe allergies. The only treatment for most of these disorders is a severe and long course of steroids which tears apart the dogs natural immune system.
I have loved all of my GS, but this was the last. It’s a complete heartbreak to watch the slow deterioration.
I’m sorry about your GS.
Last January I was attacked by an ex-police-trained GS. I was in a State Park, there were 3 dogs, the owner had let then run unleashed, I was getting out of my car and it came around to the door and mauled my hand, then let go and mauled my left arm.
I was completely helpless and at the will of whatever that dog wished to do to me. If he had decided to kill me, I would be dead. I hve never been so close to facing my mortality than in those moments.
I have always owned dogs. I am a dog person, but I am very wary now of other dogs. Maybe that wariness is a good thing, but that dog attack is something I wish had never happened. I don’t want to automatically blame the breed, though. It’s the training.
I’m so sorry you lost your GS. I know it’s hard to lose a pet. I’ve lost several over the years.
In the late 60’s I talked to a vet at a party. He said that as soon as a breed becomes popular, it’s all downhill because of inbreeding. For example, the Collie breed was destroyed by breeding for the “ideal” pointed nose”. It left no room for a brain in the skull.
Ever since then I’ve adopted from either the pound or friends who have mutt puppies available. I’ve found that mutts are more intelligent and are mostly free of the results of inbreeding, such as hip dysplasia.
We currently share our house w/ a dog who’s 50% Chow, maybe 25% Afghan, and who knows what else. She defends us to excess by barking and can track a squirrel or bunny at the end of the block (sight hound trait from Afghan). Woe unto any small critters, such as moles, voles and mice. She hears them and makes a body twist pounce to catch them, but doesn’t know what else to do with them. She points, at times, and can cast for a scent. Love those multi-talented mutts!
Occupy Wall Street – A Love Affair, by Doug Tarnopol
http://www.zcommunications.org/occupy-wall-street-a-love-affair-by-doug-tarnopol
First hand account of a guy who showed up and got involved.
Suppose they go to Boston and dump loads of Goldman Sachs preferred stock certificate into the harbor.
Then send out riders to the rest of the country crying
‘The banksters are coming, the banksters are coming!’
Interesting in connection with China’s threat
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_opinion/498743.html
re: “The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party,” Robert Reich
I really do think that the significance of the Occupation with reference to the D-Party really does go beyond whether or not it can have an impact on the Party, moving it to the left, making it more “populist,” etc.
On the surface that seems to be the case with the 99% theme. It also seems to be the case in terms of the repudiation of the Duopoly Party as being unrepresentative, etc, and rejection of electoral politics as usual.
The issue is not just that both Parties are unrepresentative, insufficiently “populist,” etc, but that they have been and are continuing to pro-actively enable a criminal class.
At some point, politicians and “policy intellectuals,” to use Krugman’s choice phrase, become wholly part of that criminal class, delegitimizing the entire government.
I see this Reich article as part of the attempt to normalize what has been going on here for the past two presidential Administrations by putting it into an overly familiar framework–“The D-Party is not populist and unlikely to become so.”
One productive outcome of the Occupation movement would be to take the storyline OUT of those frameworks.
The problem is not that the D-Party’s only popular constituency is the upper middle class. The problem is that the D-Party is facilitating the criminogenic environment, becoming itself a form of organized crime.
The longer we permit them to pretend that everything is normal around here, the worse it is going be.
That’s why when I say the Tea Party should impeach Obama, I am being tongue in cheek, but I am also being completely serious.
Occupy Wall Street bills itself as the “NYC Protest for American Revolution,” and here is Reich rehearsing an 8 year old complaint about being called a “latte drinking liberal” by “right wing populists.”
Gimme a break.
On Ed Harrison’s Bartlett piece:
There’s a certain irony, perhaps evolution, in the Reagan adviser Bartlett adopting Keynesianism and pushing fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Me thought Ed sufficiently in the know to understand that under the debt-based money system, coupled with having long ago reached the Biz-Gov debt-saturation point, that neither can do much, if any, good right now.
Especially, debt-based monetarism.
The Fed can only QE into the M3 for the most part, supposedly with purchase of bank-corporate financial instruments.
There the new money sits while the bankcorps await the crash. Nice try, Fed. (Or, is THAT the Bartlett plan?)
No aggregate demand push there.
With debt-based money, fiscal stimulus requires additional deficit spending.
Thus, without additional borrowing authority, sorry, not possible.
Can you say Republicans?
The solution is for the government to recognize the need for both monetary and fiscal stimulus to proceed, and to actually affect aggregate demand, we need to end the debt-based money system.
As called for in the Kucinich full-employment bill.
http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_Act_FINAL_112th.pdf
It’s time to stop pretending there’s another solution.
Regarding Steve Jobs and Drug Policy, perhaps we will get more out of the use of hallucinogens when we treat it as a serious undertaking…not as a recreational activity, indiscriminate and casual…but for the betterment of others and of the community, and only done after earnest, extended purificaiton rituals.
Sadly, it’s just one more aspect of our fast-food, throw-away, cruise-the-Rabbit-Lane culture.
“… but for the betterment of others and of the community …”
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/inside-lsd/
From WJHG, Panama City, Florida:
OWSTM
New acronym for Occupy Wall ST Movement
Pass it on!!!
A rather disturbing article in the NYT by Charlie Savage details the “legal” rationalisation for the drone murder of Anwar al-Awlake issued by DOJ Office of Legal Counsel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/middleeast/secret-us-memo-made-legal-case-to-kill-a-citizen.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Now, we know that OLC in the Cheney-Bush years offered “legal” absolution to an vast array of criminal action – at least by the standards of international law – which later was overturned by the courts or superceded by subsequent OLC memos. What makes this OLC ruling particularly distasteful is that one of the legal staff responsible for the drafting was Martin Lederman, professor of law at Georgetown Law School, and who was a vocal critic of OLC rulings during the Cheney-Bush era. He was a prominent blogger at Jack Balkin’s “Balkinization” website, and crafted superb arguments against the Woo-Bybee mindset of limitless Presidential action in “wartime”. I guess this shows that once a heretofore enlightened mind gets co-opted in the service of the Executive, old principals are cast by the wayside in deference to demands of the State. Very disappointing indeed to learn of this.
In fact, an excellent discussion of the implications of the OLC ruling, particularly as it apparently leaves with “mid-level” analysts within the NSC the job of finding “high-value targets” for dronification. Coupled with the TomDispatch piece recently cited, and the NYT article in todays’ LINKS, death-by-drones will soon be a ubiquitous “tool” in the hands of both state and non-state actors, with little or no oversight nor safeguards in place, “constitutional” or otherwise.
fyi, golemxiv = David Malone, an excellent documentarian and cinematgrapher. If you’re interested in the basic sciences or mathematics, he made some great programming for Channel4 and BBC4–
“What We Still Don’t Know” c. 2006-ish; Dangerous Knowledge, a history of mathematician Georg Kantor, c. 2008-ish; “High Anxieties” a beginner’s overview of chaos theory.
Check them out, they’re on youtube and probably bittorrent.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=high+anxieties&aq=f
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=what+we+still+don%27t+know&aq=f
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dangerous+knowledge&aq=f
may god bless and keep you always / may yer wishes all come true / may you always do for others / and let others do for you / may you build a ladder to the stars / and climb on every run / may you stay forever young
whatever happened to the big a—–? he gone? Maybe he’s out doing victory laps or Occupying some square someplace. I hope so.
Personally, I went back to Liberty Square last night and hung out for a few hours. Wanted to hear the general assembly but it never seemed to come off. Place was packed wall to wall with folks milling around and there in the dark under the faint yellow illumination of the street lights it seemed like some Purgatory of wandering shadow faced souls and bodies lying shirtless on the dark cement ground on mattresses of cardboard signs and piles of clothes.
God knows what was going on there. It was a continual surging movement of physicality finding its way forward through a darkened cave-like maze of circular pathways and the cerebral and erudite sharp energy of last week seemed to have leveled out and thickened into a syrupy kalidescope.
The crowd had tripeled, at least, from last Saturday and the square was fenced in with metal barricades and ringed with police. But there was no vibe of impending malice or violence, none at all. The double decker tour busses even drove by and they all looked at us in the square like you’d look at the zebras and antelopes from your Tanzanian jeep.
once again I asked a few of the young dudes behind the info desk what they want, what’s their platform or “demands” even thought I said I didn’t like that word. They didn’t know. Were there any leaders? no. Was there a process to come to some conclusion about these things? not really, it’s just figure it out day to day.
Was there any theme at all? yes, the system is broken and the people aren’t represented by democrats or anyone. there is no responsiveness at all.
How long will you be here? don’t know. until there’s change. aand how will you know there’s change? when the system can respond.
I think I got it.
I put another $20 in the donation box and said You guys are awesome.
Before you can plan you have to be able to see. and it seems to me this protest is still at a stage where it’s a cleansing of vision. poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world because they define languge and establish the primary vision that governs action, and this thing is still a form of poetry and theater. That can’t last forever, but it can last a lot longer than it has so far because seeing takes time, waking up takes time, to shake your dreams and illusions out of your mind while you look across the room and see the light coming in the window
Re: the Haqqani Network…classic blowback – read Chalmers Johnson’s eponymous book:
http://www.amazon.com/Blowback-Second-Consequences-American-Empire/dp/0805075593/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318183022&sr=1-1
Reich’s piece is incredibly muddled. OWS is not about the Democratic party. By putting the emphasis on whether or not the Democratic party embraces OWS and populism, he makes this all about the Democratic party. It’s not. I think we already know that the Democratic party insofar as it recognizes OWS at all is only concerned with how this nascent movement can be neutralized. But nowhere does Reich address why OWS participants, and populists, would want to be embraced by the Democrats, or more pointedly, their clear desire to steer clear of Democratic/Establishment entanglements. If Reich wants to be relevant he needs to drop seeing the world through Democratic glasses.
I’m not really sure where to post this essay I wrote about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. It seems that everyone is putting in their 2 cents so in the spirit of openness I believe the movement represents, I give you my thoughts…hope you don’t take offense.
I, along with the rest of the Nation, have been watching and reading about the Occupy Wall Street movement and demostrations and despite being naturally pessimistic about ultimate outcomes am cheered by the development of movement that gives voice against the crimes of Wall Street against the Nation and indeed all of humanity.
Like many folks I am well aware of the likelyhood that the movement could be co-opted or more importantly rendered politically impotent. I understand the desire to use this horizontal “concensus” building as means protecting the group from being led astray but I also see the increasing likelyhood the process for process sake given enough time could likely have a similar effect.
So for the sake moving the movement from the stage of getting poltical attention into the process welding poltical power for positive change I suggest the following.
The OWS make alliance with the Nurses Union and other Labor groups and allow help organize a better means responding to the the corrupt corporate press. I believe the Union are in better position than letting the media attack dogs pick on some random “dirty hippy” dude as the so-called representatives of the group. The media will do this regardless of the truth and so it is better to Union folks deal with these problem so that the movement generally can work on an building up a movement and a platform of common cause.
Second, I suggest we avoid putting in negative agenda’s into a common platform. By negative agenda I means something like “ban oil drilling” or “ban hog farming.” While many go arguments could be made against any number of practices and injustices in our current system simply attacking “wrong” practices is not the route to effective political change. Many people work in such jobs as “oil drilling” or “hog farming” and thus the a subtle point about the wrongness of current state of affairs resulting from the overall system will be lost on many who would ready to join common cause and so any negative agenda’s will result in pretty disputes. In short, the movement must capture more flies with honey and make common cause with the 99% as a whole.
So since the eyes of world are on us we must not only express our displeasure with the injustices of the times but respond in a way that will lead us out of our current situation and that can only be done by offering common goals and causes to which of the 99% can benefit. Occupy Wall Street must be positive construction of better future by taken concrete measures and actions.
I believe that must include demands and despite some people calling the making of poltical demands “technocratic” it must be done and soon or the movement will not be around to truly make a cause to polticial effect much the poltical failures of the Indignados of Madrid. To truly be the movement for the 99% you must argue for the what the 99% need to happen and you cannot do this by avoiding making poltical demands. You may call this “technocratic” and authoritarian but it is not and failure to demand what must be done is to fail at the leadership that this moment in history demands.
As such I suggest thisthe 99% have a common plan to counter the Elite’s plan as represented by the Presidential Candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan.
The 99% percenter Plan’s should be the 3-3-3 plan which is .
1. Bailout Mainstreet by
a. Stopping all fraudclosures for 3 years or the duration of the crises
. b. A moratorium on Student Debt for 3 years or the duration of crisis
c. A ban on all Credit card interest over 13%.
2. Ensuring Economic Security for all by
a. Offering Medicare to all who want it.
b. A Job to all who want one by (a ELR program)
c. having infrasture building programs that builds public transport for all (a high speed rail program) along with other services such as water and sewer systems.
3. Making Wall Street Pay by Financial Reregulation and Taxes.
a. Restoring Glass Steagal and Prosecuting Fraud.
b. Taxing Wall Street Speculation through a Tobin Tax on Stocks. Bonds, Options, Derivatives, etc..
c. Nationalization of the Federal Reserve so power over the currency is restored to the People to whom it rightly belongs.
I think these flow nicely as 1.2. and 3. flow into a, b, and c. for each of the 3 points.
Simply put “We the 99% will have Mainstreet Bailedout by Ensuring Economic Security of all Americans by Making Wall Street Pay through Financial Reregulation and Taxes.”
Once Americans know this is what Occupy Wall Street stands the movement will become unstoppable because we all (99%) really do want this to happen.
As soon as you let Big Labor become the voice of OWS, that will be the end of it ….
Good ideas, I think we need a three pronged approach: 1) help for the 99%; 2) break the power of the rich, prosecute the banksters, and restore the funds they have stolen over the last 35 years; and 3)clean out our completely corrupt political system.
A suggestion for an Occupy Wall Street slogan to go along with “We are the 99%” (which I like):
“Stop Wall Street Socialists Now!”
One of the major issues is that Wall Street, with the complicity and active assistance of Congress and both recent Administrations, privatizes profits but socializes the losses across the broad society.
It needs to be made clear that the banks and other financial entities have our specific permission to go bankrupt.
Chile’s version of Occupy Wall Street (theirs started earlier), led by a fetching commie lass from FECH:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/camila-vallejo-latin-america-revolutionary
‘More credibility than the traditional politicians’ — how could they not, when the failed political ruling class has ZERO credibility?
A talk by Michael Burry given last spring.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2011/09/missteps-to-mayhem/
Michael is not a happy boy.
I saw Tavis Smiley talking about some “poverty tour” he’s doing on Countdown with Keith Olberman last week, this was in relation to OWS, made me sick to my stomach because he helped sell so many subprime loans to black communities for Wells Fargo. What a chump.
Although it’s a lovely Indian Summer pre-holiday Sunday night in NYC, the coming week is going to be a wintery Volcker Rule noise week. Tonight is as good time as any to highlight a few recent developments.
The first oddity, out last night, is new to me.:
Wall Street CEOS May Be Held Liable If Their Bank Breaks Volcker Rule
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/08/volcker-rule-wall-street-ceo_n_1001380.html.
There hasn’t been much reporting that the regulators were considering appending the Volcker Rule to SOX, but this is an interesting development. Are the regulators winking at their constituents, (we didn’t go after Mozzilo, much less Fuld, not to worry), or are they getting serious enough to include Volcker rule compliance in SOX regs in the hope that a post O admin might actually enforce this law? I like to hope the latter is the FDICs goal. There have been rumblings that foreign Banks (i.e DB,SG,BNP. Barclays) may not have the arb advantage they presumed if their US based staff is transacting for their London or other Euro based desks.
Next: I’ve looked at the draft, which seems to hew pretty closely to the intent of the law.
Also note it was leaked (and “debunked” by the ABA) Before the UBS scandal.
So I expect much surprise and dismay by the bank lobby when it’s released this week.
My pet peeve, that the difficultly in distinguishing real prop vs technically defined prop trading, seems to be getting increasingly irksome to the TBTF, since the regulators first draft seems to recognize the distinction.
If the final rule defines prop trading as a net market risk exposure that exceeds what might normally be expected of a ‘market maker’ to incur in the normal course of making a market, then I think we’ve made progress.
If the final rule is not so clear I think we’ve been conned once again, and I’ll keep yammering on about the stupidity ( or complicity) of the rule makers till they get it. (or don’t)/