I read the news today, oh boy!...
When Iraq's Saddam started to sell oil for Euros (and not dollars)-- this was considered a big threat to the oil companies, Wall Street and the Pentagon. BushCo used the Shiites to defeat the Sunnis and Saddam. The fight goes on. We stirred up a hornet's nest when we invaded OilCountry. Time to get out and let the chips fall where they may.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wall Street makes their fortune by flipping papers
Do we have a real economy in the US? Is there hope for good jobs at decent wages? What's the deal?
China is the deal--it's the new, "New Deal." Sadly, the US economy is going down tubes--it turns out you really can't make a living from flipping houses and buying/selling credit default swaps. And manufacturing is not in the cards. Manufacture what? Green technology? China does it better, cheaper. Autos--see Japan. The stuff Wal-Mart sells--China. Besides, manufacturing something is a lot of work, what with plants, workers, products. Which leads us to the biggest sector in the US economy-Finances. No plant, no workers, and no products that can be bought in a store.
Harvard and Yale now have a majority of business majors--these potential greedsters/fraudsters invariably go to Wall Street, seeking their fortunes and bonuses as hedge fund people, commodity speculators, bubble creators, etc. In other words, our best are brightest are creating SHIT! Try living on that!
China is the deal--it's the new, "New Deal." Sadly, the US economy is going down tubes--it turns out you really can't make a living from flipping houses and buying/selling credit default swaps. And manufacturing is not in the cards. Manufacture what? Green technology? China does it better, cheaper. Autos--see Japan. The stuff Wal-Mart sells--China. Besides, manufacturing something is a lot of work, what with plants, workers, products. Which leads us to the biggest sector in the US economy-Finances. No plant, no workers, and no products that can be bought in a store.
Harvard and Yale now have a majority of business majors--these potential greedsters/fraudsters invariably go to Wall Street, seeking their fortunes and bonuses as hedge fund people, commodity speculators, bubble creators, etc. In other words, our best are brightest are creating SHIT! Try living on that!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bono wants Obama to help the world. (the anti-Bush)
What to solve the world's problems? Pass "Go" and don't stop at America. Empires create more problems than they can solve. The Brits did in India, Ireland, the middle east and a lot of other good places. Bono should know this. America did in the natives, the slaves, Vietnam, the middle east, Cuba, the Philippines, and this list goes on. The Dutch did in everyone on their spice route-. The Spanish did in Latin America--ditto the the Portuguese. Bono, give the world a break, stay smart, stay home!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Obama's Nobel
"I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace." --Howard Zinn
I'm with Zinn; he's rarely wrong when it comes to our imperial empire and the destructiveness it entails.
The best that can be said for Obama's getting the Nobel peace prize, yes, named after the guy who invented TNT and made a fortune from it, is, that it's a strategic move-- it will inspire Obama to think peace. But he has a heavy load on his plate, the empire comes with a lot of baggage: fighting resource wars in the middle east and elsewhere, keeping the Chinese, Russians and Muslims at bay, supporting Israel and its nuclear arsenal and attacking Iran for trying to achieve the same. And on and on. Empire ,it turns out , isn't easy, the Pentagon and Wall Street are voracious and Nobel must be laughing in his grave, the bomb man, who passes his baton to Obama , the empire man.
I'm with Zinn; he's rarely wrong when it comes to our imperial empire and the destructiveness it entails.
The best that can be said for Obama's getting the Nobel peace prize, yes, named after the guy who invented TNT and made a fortune from it, is, that it's a strategic move-- it will inspire Obama to think peace. But he has a heavy load on his plate, the empire comes with a lot of baggage: fighting resource wars in the middle east and elsewhere, keeping the Chinese, Russians and Muslims at bay, supporting Israel and its nuclear arsenal and attacking Iran for trying to achieve the same. And on and on. Empire ,it turns out , isn't easy, the Pentagon and Wall Street are voracious and Nobel must be laughing in his grave, the bomb man, who passes his baton to Obama , the empire man.
What are we fighting for in Afghanistan?
Why are gas and oil never mentioned in the talks over what to do in Afghanistan?
Outside of us being in Afghanistan as an energy pipeline protection force, I do not see the purpose of our being there. 8 years ago it was to find Osama bin laden, still no luck, and he is probably in Pakistan and the guys who rammed the planes into the WTC trained in Dresden ,Germany as well as the USA. Then there is the argument that we got to get them there or else they'll come here and create havoc. But people can prepare to attack the US from anywhere in the world-- Af/Pak, Dresden, New York or ???.
What was needed in Afghanistan was police/spy work; not invasion. Our military overthrew the Taliban-- the mainly Pushtun group, and Afghanistan's largest minority (43%), and put the smaller minority Tajiks in power. Guess what? The uproar continues .
Solution-get out now as our being there only causes more friction and let the Pushtuns and the Tajiks work it out.
Unless, of course, we're there as a energy pipeline protection force. Even so, this is a bad neighborhood for us to be in. China and Russia want their energy routes in this part of the world and we want ours. India and Pakistan are killer enemies and we are foolish to step in the middle of it. So, if oil and gas is your game, then fight it out in this tough arena and the hell with the toll in deaths and revenue--if not, get the hell out.
Short, to the point, Chomsky Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqX4Jg3DrzY
Escobar article: Pipelineistan's Ultimate Opera
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175121/pepe_escobar_pipelineistan
Outside of us being in Afghanistan as an energy pipeline protection force, I do not see the purpose of our being there. 8 years ago it was to find Osama bin laden, still no luck, and he is probably in Pakistan and the guys who rammed the planes into the WTC trained in Dresden ,Germany as well as the USA. Then there is the argument that we got to get them there or else they'll come here and create havoc. But people can prepare to attack the US from anywhere in the world-- Af/Pak, Dresden, New York or ???.
What was needed in Afghanistan was police/spy work; not invasion. Our military overthrew the Taliban-- the mainly Pushtun group, and Afghanistan's largest minority (43%), and put the smaller minority Tajiks in power. Guess what? The uproar continues .
Solution-get out now as our being there only causes more friction and let the Pushtuns and the Tajiks work it out.
Unless, of course, we're there as a energy pipeline protection force. Even so, this is a bad neighborhood for us to be in. China and Russia want their energy routes in this part of the world and we want ours. India and Pakistan are killer enemies and we are foolish to step in the middle of it. So, if oil and gas is your game, then fight it out in this tough arena and the hell with the toll in deaths and revenue--if not, get the hell out.
Short, to the point, Chomsky Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqX4Jg3DrzY
Escobar article: Pipelineistan's Ultimate Opera
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175121/pepe_escobar_pipelineistan
Charters and its discontents
“Disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools” argues the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof in a recent op-ed entitled, “Democrats and Schools.” Teacher Unions and the impossible-to-get-rid-of-bad teachers are the villains and charter schools are the good guys. But let’s wait a minute before we clean out the Augean stables.
In a recent Boston Globe story, it was reported that half of Boston’s Charter school high school students fail to graduate, and, according the Kathleen McCartney, Dean \of the Harvard Graduate School of Education , this is same as the public school rate for urban high schools . Moreover, we have the recent Stanford University study reporting that charter schools do not outperform public schools. This part is really odd, given that the charters cherry-pick their students and teachers. It seems that the "whiz kids" who teach in the charters are no better at their task than the "unionized dinosaurs" in the public schools.
Yet, charters have their fans as well as many parent advocates. Since it is not about academics, it must be about atmospherics. As parent-involvement is a must at the charters, a well-behaved student body will be evident (as any unruly are sent back to the public schools). With the charter movement, we seem to be on the road to a two-track public school system—raucous, underfunded publics and the well-mannered charters. And this just might be the beginning of the dismantling and privatizing of the public schools. And we will still be left with disadvantaged youths.
In a recent Boston Globe story, it was reported that half of Boston’s Charter school high school students fail to graduate, and, according the Kathleen McCartney, Dean \of the Harvard Graduate School of Education , this is same as the public school rate for urban high schools . Moreover, we have the recent Stanford University study reporting that charter schools do not outperform public schools. This part is really odd, given that the charters cherry-pick their students and teachers. It seems that the "whiz kids" who teach in the charters are no better at their task than the "unionized dinosaurs" in the public schools.
Yet, charters have their fans as well as many parent advocates. Since it is not about academics, it must be about atmospherics. As parent-involvement is a must at the charters, a well-behaved student body will be evident (as any unruly are sent back to the public schools). With the charter movement, we seem to be on the road to a two-track public school system—raucous, underfunded publics and the well-mannered charters. And this just might be the beginning of the dismantling and privatizing of the public schools. And we will still be left with disadvantaged youths.
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