By Eric Margolis
Japan’s nuclear calamity has shown once again the remarkable courage, patience, and stoicism of that nation’s people.
As a visitor to Japan for the past 36 years and former columnist for one of its leading newspapers, “Mainichi Daily News,” the giant earthquake and ensuing tsunami that savaged northern Japan filled me with anguish and sorrow.
I watched at first fifty, then a hundred nuclear technicians and firefighters know as the “kamikaze brigade” risk their lives in a miasma of lethal radiation to fight the fires and explosions at Fukushima’s ravaged nuclear plant. Many knew they were facing death or grave future illness, yet the charged forward in the heroic Japanese tradition.
In Japan’s samurai code, an act of supreme bravery occurs when a fighter confronts impossible odds, or knows his death in battle is inevitable, yet still decides to fight for honor’s sake. In samurai lore, this is know as “the nobility of failure.”
Japanese history and, of course, World war II, are replete with examples of self-sacrifice and boundless valor in the face of certain defeat.
Brave and resolute as Japanese are, the question remains, why did Japan decide to build nuclear power plants they knew could be potentially dangerous only 15 years or so after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Read more
Friday, April 8, 2011
Is Tribalism the Future?
By Patrick Buchanan
“This is a far, far away country about which we know very little,” said Neville Chamberlain in 1938 as he declined to take his country to war over Adolf Hitler’s claim to the Sudetenland.
Indeed, Chamberlain knew almost nothing of Czechoslovakia, inside whose borders, set at the Paris peace conference of 1919, dwelled 7 million Czechs, dominant over 3.25 million Germans, 2.5 million Slovaks, 800,000 Hungarians, 500,000 Ruthenians and 150,000 Poles, all of whom had been consigned to Prague without their consent.
Czechoslovakia was an artificial nation, its borders drawn up by Allied mapmakers to compensate the Czechs who had risen up against the Habsburg Empire and helped to defeat the Kaiser.
The world today is like Czechoslovakia 1938, only infinitely more so. ...
Read more
“This is a far, far away country about which we know very little,” said Neville Chamberlain in 1938 as he declined to take his country to war over Adolf Hitler’s claim to the Sudetenland.
Indeed, Chamberlain knew almost nothing of Czechoslovakia, inside whose borders, set at the Paris peace conference of 1919, dwelled 7 million Czechs, dominant over 3.25 million Germans, 2.5 million Slovaks, 800,000 Hungarians, 500,000 Ruthenians and 150,000 Poles, all of whom had been consigned to Prague without their consent.
Czechoslovakia was an artificial nation, its borders drawn up by Allied mapmakers to compensate the Czechs who had risen up against the Habsburg Empire and helped to defeat the Kaiser.
The world today is like Czechoslovakia 1938, only infinitely more so. ...
Read more
Are we entering a new age where democratically elected governments are replaced by banks?
By Old Holborn
It had to come. Portugal has run out of other peoples money, the Socialist govt has quit and new austerity measures, draconian to say the least, are to be enforced by the unelected of Brussels, their new masters.
Money will be controlled directly from the unaccountable (and very likely insolvent) European Central Bank, based on the future earnings of the Germans and overseen by the unelected European Commission. Taxes will be raised, services will be cut, interest rates will soar. ...
Read more
It had to come. Portugal has run out of other peoples money, the Socialist govt has quit and new austerity measures, draconian to say the least, are to be enforced by the unelected of Brussels, their new masters.
Money will be controlled directly from the unaccountable (and very likely insolvent) European Central Bank, based on the future earnings of the Germans and overseen by the unelected European Commission. Taxes will be raised, services will be cut, interest rates will soar. ...
Read more
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Economist Who Said "The Emperor Has No Clothes"
Unlike almost every other well known economist, Dambisa Moyo has not won the economics Nobel prize. Moreover, the economics Nobel Prize is an accolade for which Dambisa Moyo seems entirely unqualified since she has published neither block-busting economics textbooks, nor clever mathematical models in obscure economics journals. Indeed, she has published almost nothing at all, other than a book on development aid, and her latest work, "How the West Was Lost."
Despite her seemingly slight credentials, Dambisa Moyo has pointed out what none of America's many economics Nobel laureates seem to have noticed; namely, that America, and more broadly the West, is (a) going broke, and (b) facing imminent eclipse by Asia's economic giants. More importantly, she explains why.
The story is best told in her book or in abbreviated form in this lecture to the Commonwealth Institute of California:
Briefly, her account is simple and irrefutable. We are living beyond our means, massively over-investing in housing and other forms of consumption, imposing massive and unbearable financial burdens on our children through Ponzi healthcare and pension schemes, and ignoring a catastrophic decline in educational standards.
Housing bubbles she attributes largely to misconceived government programs that subsidize home ownership, proceeding on the assumption that housing, a basic necessity of life, should be expensive not cheap: an insane idea to anyone concerned with the welfare of the people, but one highly profitable to the construction industry and property developers.
The Ponzi schemes are, well, just that. Ways in which governments bribed voters with the voters' children's money, a symptom of a terminal decline in public intelligence and the morality of Western governments.
On education, she makes the obvious point that if English kids can't do math their contribution to the nation's declining industrial economy is likely to be small. Moyo does not enter directly into a discussion of the causes of the decline in educational standards throughout most of the West, although she touches on what is the most important factor: employment opportunity.
Western state have for a generation pursued a policy of unconstrained free trade, which has meant off-shoring and outsourcing of manufacturing and many service sector jobs including design work, computer programming and financial-services-industry back-office functions, mainly to Asian sweatshops where labor rates average less than 5% of those in the West. Under those circumstances, what is the reward for the hard work necessary to obtain a good education? LOL. They have plenty of good brains in India and China, so who's gonna rush to employ a math wiz. or programming geek who expects to earn a decent salary and who, in any case, is not permitted by law to work for less than than a minimum wage that a fresh graduate in India would die for.
But what Moyo does show is that under the conditions of World trade that currently prevail, the claim by the likes of Canadian economist, Jeff Rubin, that free trade benefits everyone -- the argument for comparative advantage, is a lie, thereby indicating the remedy that the West must employ if it is not to be driven into absolute poverty. We must allow Canadians, and Britons and Americans and Australians to make shoes and shirts and cars and cameras for one another. The time of exchanging bits of worthless paper for Asian made goods will soon be over, and if by then we have entirely destroyed our manufacturing, scientific and technological skills, we will never recover.
Despite her seemingly slight credentials, Dambisa Moyo has pointed out what none of America's many economics Nobel laureates seem to have noticed; namely, that America, and more broadly the West, is (a) going broke, and (b) facing imminent eclipse by Asia's economic giants. More importantly, she explains why.
The story is best told in her book or in abbreviated form in this lecture to the Commonwealth Institute of California:
Briefly, her account is simple and irrefutable. We are living beyond our means, massively over-investing in housing and other forms of consumption, imposing massive and unbearable financial burdens on our children through Ponzi healthcare and pension schemes, and ignoring a catastrophic decline in educational standards.
Housing bubbles she attributes largely to misconceived government programs that subsidize home ownership, proceeding on the assumption that housing, a basic necessity of life, should be expensive not cheap: an insane idea to anyone concerned with the welfare of the people, but one highly profitable to the construction industry and property developers.
The Ponzi schemes are, well, just that. Ways in which governments bribed voters with the voters' children's money, a symptom of a terminal decline in public intelligence and the morality of Western governments.
On education, she makes the obvious point that if English kids can't do math their contribution to the nation's declining industrial economy is likely to be small. Moyo does not enter directly into a discussion of the causes of the decline in educational standards throughout most of the West, although she touches on what is the most important factor: employment opportunity.
Western state have for a generation pursued a policy of unconstrained free trade, which has meant off-shoring and outsourcing of manufacturing and many service sector jobs including design work, computer programming and financial-services-industry back-office functions, mainly to Asian sweatshops where labor rates average less than 5% of those in the West. Under those circumstances, what is the reward for the hard work necessary to obtain a good education? LOL. They have plenty of good brains in India and China, so who's gonna rush to employ a math wiz. or programming geek who expects to earn a decent salary and who, in any case, is not permitted by law to work for less than than a minimum wage that a fresh graduate in India would die for.
But what Moyo does show is that under the conditions of World trade that currently prevail, the claim by the likes of Canadian economist, Jeff Rubin, that free trade benefits everyone -- the argument for comparative advantage, is a lie, thereby indicating the remedy that the West must employ if it is not to be driven into absolute poverty. We must allow Canadians, and Britons and Americans and Australians to make shoes and shirts and cars and cameras for one another. The time of exchanging bits of worthless paper for Asian made goods will soon be over, and if by then we have entirely destroyed our manufacturing, scientific and technological skills, we will never recover.
The American elite dismantling the nation
By William L. Houston
In the nineteenth century, Americans had another term for what we now call "the political class"—the Slave Power.
Americans gradually came to believe that there was a pro-slavery conspiracy to expand the range of slavery, erode the foundations of republican government, and undermine the dignity of free labor. This pro-slavery elite supposedly controlled both major political parties and used its influence to block all attempts at reform.
As the old saying goes, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes." The Cheap Labor Lobby isn't a perfect reincarnation of the Slave Power—but it uses the same arguments, pulls in the same general direction, and is driven by same fundamental appetites.
This elite has an apparently insatiable appetite for cheap labor and an uncontrollable urge to dismantle the American nation. ...
Read more
In the nineteenth century, Americans had another term for what we now call "the political class"—the Slave Power.
Americans gradually came to believe that there was a pro-slavery conspiracy to expand the range of slavery, erode the foundations of republican government, and undermine the dignity of free labor. This pro-slavery elite supposedly controlled both major political parties and used its influence to block all attempts at reform.
As the old saying goes, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes." The Cheap Labor Lobby isn't a perfect reincarnation of the Slave Power—but it uses the same arguments, pulls in the same general direction, and is driven by same fundamental appetites.
This elite has an apparently insatiable appetite for cheap labor and an uncontrollable urge to dismantle the American nation. ...
Read more
Britain bombs Libyan oil field to prevent Gaddafi from killing his own people with, um, oil fields?
Harriet Sherwood in Tripoli
The Guardian, Thursday 7 April 2011
British warplanes hit a major Libyan oilfield on Wednesday, killing three civilian guards and injuring an unknown number of other workers, according to the Libyan government. ...
Read more
The Guardian, Thursday 7 April 2011
British warplanes hit a major Libyan oilfield on Wednesday, killing three civilian guards and injuring an unknown number of other workers, according to the Libyan government. ...
Read more
Mass media and social disintegration
By Aangirfan
In 2003, the USA came 24th out of 29 countries when education attainment was measured. (Programme for International Student Assessment - Wikipedia.)
In 2007, Finland and South Korea were the top in education, according to a major international study.
The three-yearly Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) showed that Finland and Korea were in the top five for reading and maths.
"The UK has shown a downward turn in its standing - leaving the top 10 for both maths and reading despite an increase in spending on education." (Finland stays top of global class )
The UK was in 24th place for maths and 17th for literacy. (Pisa international rankings )
The last time we visited an international school, we were told that the most polite and hard working kids were the Scandinavians, Koreans, Japanese and Chinese.
The most disturbed and disruptive kids were the British, Americans and Australians.
This might suggest that the English language media has corrupted British, American and Australian families, and hurt educational attainment.
The Guardian reported on what happened in Bhutan when TV arrived.
Read more
In 2003, the USA came 24th out of 29 countries when education attainment was measured. (Programme for International Student Assessment - Wikipedia.)
In 2007, Finland and South Korea were the top in education, according to a major international study.
The three-yearly Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) showed that Finland and Korea were in the top five for reading and maths.
"The UK has shown a downward turn in its standing - leaving the top 10 for both maths and reading despite an increase in spending on education." (Finland stays top of global class )
The UK was in 24th place for maths and 17th for literacy. (Pisa international rankings )
The last time we visited an international school, we were told that the most polite and hard working kids were the Scandinavians, Koreans, Japanese and Chinese.
The most disturbed and disruptive kids were the British, Americans and Australians.
This might suggest that the English language media has corrupted British, American and Australian families, and hurt educational attainment.
The Guardian reported on what happened in Bhutan when TV arrived.
Read more
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Britain stopping dictators killing their own people with weapons provided by Britain
Is this obscene, or what?
Libya And Obama’s Defense Of The ‘Rebel Uprising’
By James Petras
Over the past two weeks Libya has been subjected to the most brutal imperial air, sea and land assault in its modern history. Thousands of bombs and missiles, launched from American and European submarines, warships and fighter planes, are destroying Libyan military bases, airports, roads, ports, oil depots, artillery emplacements, tanks, armored carriers, planes and troop concentrations. Dozens of CIA and SAS special forces have been training, advising and mapping targets for the so-called Libyan ‘rebels’ engaged in a civil war against the Gaddafi government, its armed forces, popular militias and civilian supporters (NY Times 3/30/11).
Despite this massive military support and their imperial ‘allies’ total control of Libya’s sky and coastline, the ‘rebels’ have proven incapable of mobilizing village or town support and are in retreat after being confronted by the Libyan government’s highly motivated troops and village militias (Al Jazeera 3/30/11).
One of the most flimsy excuse for this inglorious rebel retreat offered by the Cameron-Obama-Sarkozy ‘coalition’, echoed by the mass media, is that their Libyan ‘clients’ are “outgunned” (Financial Times, 3/29/11). Obviously Obama and company don’t count the scores of jets, dozens of warships and submarines, the hundreds of daily attacks and the thousands of bombs dropped on the Libyan government since the start of Western imperial intervention. Direct military intervention of 20 major and minor foreign military powers, savaging the sovereign Libyan state, as well as scores of political accomplices in the United Nations do not contribute to any military advantage for the imperial clients – according to the daily pro-rebel propaganda.
The Los Angeles Times (March 31, 2011), however described how “…many rebels in gun-mounted trucks turned and fled…even though their heavy machine guns and antiaircraft guns seemed a match for any similar government vehicle.” Indeed, no ‘rebel’ force in recent history has received such sustained military support from so many imperial powers in their confrontation with an established regime. Nevertheless, the ‘rebel’ forces on the front lines are in full retreat, fleeing in disarray and thoroughly disgusted with their ‘rebel’ generals and ministers back in Benghazi. Meanwhile the ‘rebel’ leaders, in elegant suits and tailored uniforms, answer the ‘call to battle’ by attending ‘summits’ in London where ‘liberation strategy’ consists of their appeal before the mass media for imperial ground troops (The Independent (London) (3/31/11).
Read more
Over the past two weeks Libya has been subjected to the most brutal imperial air, sea and land assault in its modern history. Thousands of bombs and missiles, launched from American and European submarines, warships and fighter planes, are destroying Libyan military bases, airports, roads, ports, oil depots, artillery emplacements, tanks, armored carriers, planes and troop concentrations. Dozens of CIA and SAS special forces have been training, advising and mapping targets for the so-called Libyan ‘rebels’ engaged in a civil war against the Gaddafi government, its armed forces, popular militias and civilian supporters (NY Times 3/30/11).
Despite this massive military support and their imperial ‘allies’ total control of Libya’s sky and coastline, the ‘rebels’ have proven incapable of mobilizing village or town support and are in retreat after being confronted by the Libyan government’s highly motivated troops and village militias (Al Jazeera 3/30/11).
One of the most flimsy excuse for this inglorious rebel retreat offered by the Cameron-Obama-Sarkozy ‘coalition’, echoed by the mass media, is that their Libyan ‘clients’ are “outgunned” (Financial Times, 3/29/11). Obviously Obama and company don’t count the scores of jets, dozens of warships and submarines, the hundreds of daily attacks and the thousands of bombs dropped on the Libyan government since the start of Western imperial intervention. Direct military intervention of 20 major and minor foreign military powers, savaging the sovereign Libyan state, as well as scores of political accomplices in the United Nations do not contribute to any military advantage for the imperial clients – according to the daily pro-rebel propaganda.
The Los Angeles Times (March 31, 2011), however described how “…many rebels in gun-mounted trucks turned and fled…even though their heavy machine guns and antiaircraft guns seemed a match for any similar government vehicle.” Indeed, no ‘rebel’ force in recent history has received such sustained military support from so many imperial powers in their confrontation with an established regime. Nevertheless, the ‘rebel’ forces on the front lines are in full retreat, fleeing in disarray and thoroughly disgusted with their ‘rebel’ generals and ministers back in Benghazi. Meanwhile the ‘rebel’ leaders, in elegant suits and tailored uniforms, answer the ‘call to battle’ by attending ‘summits’ in London where ‘liberation strategy’ consists of their appeal before the mass media for imperial ground troops (The Independent (London) (3/31/11).
Read more
Canadian Election: Canadian Food Inspection Agency Refuses to Test Milk for Radioactive Iodine
Updated April 9, 2011
It's good to know where the present government stands on the question of your right to know whether the milk your kids are drinking is toxic. There position is that you have no such right.
"There will be no testing of milk," Alice Danjou, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday [April 1, 2011].
Testing of milk for radioactive Iodine-131, that is: a highly toxic nuclide from melting-down nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan, which is now falling with the gentle rain on a cow pasture near you.
The Government's refusal to test milk comes despite the wishes of the BC Dairy Farmers Association :
But then our Government, ever thoughtful of the election outcome, doesn't want people thinking there is something wrong with it (the milk) when there is. After all, BC dairy farmers might then have to do what the Japanese dairy farmers are doing (see pic.), then there'd be claims for government compensation of farmers.
There would also be demands for hasty action, always hazardous to the governing party, since it's easy enough to do the wrong thing when under the gun.
For example, should milk be tested from every farm? The contamination comes from airborne particles washed to the ground by the rain. So contamination will vary with the amount of local precipitation.
Contamination will also depend on how cattle are being fed. Those kept indoors and fed on old newsprint and chicken manure will be fine! whereas organic milk producers with animals fed solely on grass may be producing highly contaminated milk.
No forget it. Let them drink Iodine-131. if the rate of child thyroid cancer spikes a few years from now, the election at issue will be long past.
Interestingly, the media are saying nothing at present about protective measures, i.e., the use of potassium iodide, although only a few days ago the US Surgeon General advocated stocking up on potassium iodide tablets in order to "be prepared."
But perhaps we shouldn't panic.
According to US measurements made a week or more ago, amounts of iodine-131 in milk from California and Washington states are less than 1 Bq per liter, which is not a lot compared with the staggering count of 5300 bq per liter in milk sampled in Japan on March 21, and well below the US Food and Drug Administration's limit in food of 170 Bq per kilogram (One Becquerel (Bq) equals 27 picoCuries (pCi), and 1 Bq equals one nuclear disintegratioin per second).
But, then the FDA limit in food, is 1500 times higher than the EPA's maximum contaminant level of only 3 pCi per liter, or 0.11 Bq. You'd think different agencies of the same government would be able to come to a closer agreement. But there you are, maybe it is a good idea, after all, to take some potassium iodide with your milk.
It's good to know where the present government stands on the question of your right to know whether the milk your kids are drinking is toxic. There position is that you have no such right.
"There will be no testing of milk," Alice Danjou, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday [April 1, 2011].
Testing of milk for radioactive Iodine-131, that is: a highly toxic nuclide from melting-down nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan, which is now falling with the gentle rain on a cow pasture near you.
The Government's refusal to test milk comes despite the wishes of the BC Dairy Farmers Association :
The news came as a disappointment to Robin Smith, executive director of the BC Milk Producers Association, which earlier this week called on the agency to test the milk in an effort to prove to the public the levels are low enough to consume. ...
“If there is radioactive iodine in the milk we want to know about it,” said Smith.
“This is a $400-million-a-year industry -the biggest farm industry in British Columbia -and milk goes to every household, so we’re really concerned about that. We don’t want people thinking there is something wrong with it when there isn’t.”
There would also be demands for hasty action, always hazardous to the governing party, since it's easy enough to do the wrong thing when under the gun.
For example, should milk be tested from every farm? The contamination comes from airborne particles washed to the ground by the rain. So contamination will vary with the amount of local precipitation.
Contamination will also depend on how cattle are being fed. Those kept indoors and fed on old newsprint and chicken manure will be fine! whereas organic milk producers with animals fed solely on grass may be producing highly contaminated milk.
No forget it. Let them drink Iodine-131. if the rate of child thyroid cancer spikes a few years from now, the election at issue will be long past.
Interestingly, the media are saying nothing at present about protective measures, i.e., the use of potassium iodide, although only a few days ago the US Surgeon General advocated stocking up on potassium iodide tablets in order to "be prepared."
But perhaps we shouldn't panic.
According to US measurements made a week or more ago, amounts of iodine-131 in milk from California and Washington states are less than 1 Bq per liter, which is not a lot compared with the staggering count of 5300 bq per liter in milk sampled in Japan on March 21, and well below the US Food and Drug Administration's limit in food of 170 Bq per kilogram (One Becquerel (Bq) equals 27 picoCuries (pCi), and 1 Bq equals one nuclear disintegratioin per second).
But, then the FDA limit in food, is 1500 times higher than the EPA's maximum contaminant level of only 3 pCi per liter, or 0.11 Bq. You'd think different agencies of the same government would be able to come to a closer agreement. But there you are, maybe it is a good idea, after all, to take some potassium iodide with your milk.
White Americans, the New Minority
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
America's child population grew more far diverse over the past decade as a decline in the ranks of white children was offset by surging growth of Asians and Hispanics.
All told in 2010, the Census Bureau counted 74.2 million people under age 18, up 1.9 million from 2000.
The number of non-Hispanic whites fell in 46 states and 86 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. In 10 states, white children are now a minority among their peers, including six that tipped between 2000 and 2010. Others will follow soon: In 23 states, minorities make up more than 40% of the child population.
The number of black and Native American children declined as well, but by a far smaller degree than whites, according to an analysis of 2010 Census data to be released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank in Washington. ...
Read more
America's child population grew more far diverse over the past decade as a decline in the ranks of white children was offset by surging growth of Asians and Hispanics.
All told in 2010, the Census Bureau counted 74.2 million people under age 18, up 1.9 million from 2000.
The number of non-Hispanic whites fell in 46 states and 86 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. In 10 states, white children are now a minority among their peers, including six that tipped between 2000 and 2010. Others will follow soon: In 23 states, minorities make up more than 40% of the child population.
The number of black and Native American children declined as well, but by a far smaller degree than whites, according to an analysis of 2010 Census data to be released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank in Washington. ...
Read more
The Failure of Multiculturalism and How to Turn the Tide
By Geert Wilders
Magna Carta Foundation, Rome, March 25, 2011
Signore e signori, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends of the Magna Carta Foundation, molte grazie. Thank you for inviting me to Rome. It is great to be here in this beautiful city which for many centuries was the capital and the centre of Europe’s Judeo-Christian culture.
Together with Jerusalem and Athens, Rome is the cradle of our Western civilization – the most advanced and superior civilization the world has ever known.
As Westerners, we share the same Judeo-Christian culture. I am from the Netherlands and you are from Italy. Our national cultures are branches of the same tree. We do not belong to multiple cultures, but to different branches of one single culture. This is why when we come to Rome, we all come home in a sense. We belong here, as we also belong in Athens and in Jerusalem.
It is important that we know where our roots are. If we lose them we become deracinated. We become men and women without a culture.
Magna Carta Foundation, Rome, March 25, 2011
Signore e signori, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends of the Magna Carta Foundation, molte grazie. Thank you for inviting me to Rome. It is great to be here in this beautiful city which for many centuries was the capital and the centre of Europe’s Judeo-Christian culture.
Together with Jerusalem and Athens, Rome is the cradle of our Western civilization – the most advanced and superior civilization the world has ever known.
As Westerners, we share the same Judeo-Christian culture. I am from the Netherlands and you are from Italy. Our national cultures are branches of the same tree. We do not belong to multiple cultures, but to different branches of one single culture. This is why when we come to Rome, we all come home in a sense. We belong here, as we also belong in Athens and in Jerusalem.
It is important that we know where our roots are. If we lose them we become deracinated. We become men and women without a culture.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Who are we fighting for?
By Patrick Buchanan
On March 20, Pastor Terry Jones, who heads a congregation of 30 at his Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Fla., conducted a mock trial of the Quran “for crimes against humanity.”
Pronouncing Islam’s sacred book guilty, Jones soaked a Quran in kerosene and set it ablaze in a portable fire pit.
Few noticed. But Hamid Karzai did. ...
Read more
On March 20, Pastor Terry Jones, who heads a congregation of 30 at his Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Fla., conducted a mock trial of the Quran “for crimes against humanity.”
Pronouncing Islam’s sacred book guilty, Jones soaked a Quran in kerosene and set it ablaze in a portable fire pit.
Few noticed. But Hamid Karzai did. ...
Read more
China to combine nine great cities into one hideous metropolis
The Daily Mail reports:
The idea that residents of this monstrous conurbation will enjoy the opportunity to "travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas," is truly bizarre. How few doctors or hospitals do they plan on having, that it will require people to "travel around" an area the size of Wales to obtain service?
All that this scheme will insure is a massive waste of energy and time as people are forced to commute long distances to obtain basic services that could be provided, and in a sane community would be provided, at the local level.
Well China does everything on a gigantic scale, including screw-up, apparently. The key to energy efficiency and the good life is to concentrate human dwellings on a small land base surrounded by parks and agricultural land, so that people have little distance to travel either to work, to shop or to find places for relaxation and recreation. That way urban areas can be rid of automobiles and the stink, noise, waste of energy and hazard to life and limb to which automobiles give rise.
See also:
Can England be once again a green and pleasant land
China is set to flex its industrial muscles on a scale the world has never seen -- with a 'mega-city' twice as big as Wales and a population of 42million.China seems to have been overtaken by development megalomania. The proposed city will pave over the entire Pearl River Delta to create a city with a population density of only 1000 per square kilometer, or one thirtieth the density of Mumbai, India, or one fourteenth the density of Shanghai. In other words, a catastrophic case of urban sprawl.
The project's senior consultant Ma Xiangming said: 'The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas.'
All that this scheme will insure is a massive waste of energy and time as people are forced to commute long distances to obtain basic services that could be provided, and in a sane community would be provided, at the local level.
Well China does everything on a gigantic scale, including screw-up, apparently. The key to energy efficiency and the good life is to concentrate human dwellings on a small land base surrounded by parks and agricultural land, so that people have little distance to travel either to work, to shop or to find places for relaxation and recreation. That way urban areas can be rid of automobiles and the stink, noise, waste of energy and hazard to life and limb to which automobiles give rise.
See also:
Can England be once again a green and pleasant land
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.
Read more
It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.
Read more
Dershowitz soon not welcome anywhere?
By Gilad Atzmon
In a recent article, notorious Zionist Alan Dershowitz reveals the scale of rejection he faced on his recent visit to Norway:
Ahead of his visit to the country, Dershowitz’ lectures were offered (without any charge) at the three leading Norwegian universities. These universities, who on earlier occasions had been happy to host Harvard Scholar Stephen Walt and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, clearly said ‘no’ to Dershowitz.
The Dean of the Law Faculty at Bergen University told Dershowitz that he would be honoured to have him present a lecture on the O.J. Simpson case -- as long as he was willing to promise not to mention Israel. ...
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In a recent article, notorious Zionist Alan Dershowitz reveals the scale of rejection he faced on his recent visit to Norway:
Ahead of his visit to the country, Dershowitz’ lectures were offered (without any charge) at the three leading Norwegian universities. These universities, who on earlier occasions had been happy to host Harvard Scholar Stephen Walt and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, clearly said ‘no’ to Dershowitz.
The Dean of the Law Faculty at Bergen University told Dershowitz that he would be honoured to have him present a lecture on the O.J. Simpson case -- as long as he was willing to promise not to mention Israel. ...
Read more
Facing the return to fiscal sanity
A historical perspective on the current insanity
By Kenneth Rogoff
...Normalising fiscal policy in the long aftermath of a deep financial crisis is a delicate task. The key is to see the bigger picture. Even if today’s government bonds seem pristine by the standards of pre-revolutionary France, future scholars will see our tax systems as Byzantine labyrinths funnelling money to powerful interests, creating staggering inefficiencies. They will surely be incredulous to see pensions and health insurance financed via Ponzi schemes as transparently unsustainable as the 1700s South Sea bubble. And will they believe that, back in the 21st century, there was no mechanism for putting insolvent financial institutions into bankruptcy? ...
Read the full article here
U.S. Republicans propose $6 trillion budget
By Bridget Johnson
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will warn at AEI today that the country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis that threatens to “curtail free enterprise” and lead to a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.”
The Wisconsin Republican detailed in today’s Wall Street Journal the magic numbers everyone has been waiting for: $6.2 trillion in cuts from President Obama’s budget over the next decade; $4.4 trillion in deficit reduction, as compared to Obama’s promised $1.1 trillion. ...
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By Kenneth Rogoff
...Normalising fiscal policy in the long aftermath of a deep financial crisis is a delicate task. The key is to see the bigger picture. Even if today’s government bonds seem pristine by the standards of pre-revolutionary France, future scholars will see our tax systems as Byzantine labyrinths funnelling money to powerful interests, creating staggering inefficiencies. They will surely be incredulous to see pensions and health insurance financed via Ponzi schemes as transparently unsustainable as the 1700s South Sea bubble. And will they believe that, back in the 21st century, there was no mechanism for putting insolvent financial institutions into bankruptcy? ...
Read the full article here
U.S. Republicans propose $6 trillion budget
By Bridget Johnson
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will warn at AEI today that the country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis that threatens to “curtail free enterprise” and lead to a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.”
The Wisconsin Republican detailed in today’s Wall Street Journal the magic numbers everyone has been waiting for: $6.2 trillion in cuts from President Obama’s budget over the next decade; $4.4 trillion in deficit reduction, as compared to Obama’s promised $1.1 trillion. ...
Read more
Monday, April 4, 2011
Otto von Bismarck, Master Statesman
By Henry A. Kissinger
In the summer of 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed minister-president of Prussia. His highest previous rank had been ambassador to Russia. He had never held an administrative position. Yet with a few brusque strokes, the novice minister solved the riddle that had stymied European diplomacy for two generations: how to unify Germany and reorganize Central Europe. He had to overcome the obstacle that Germany comprised 39 sovereign states grouped in the so-called German Confederation. All the while, Central European trends were warily observed by the two “flanking” powers, France and Russia, ever uneasy about — and tempted to prevent — the emergence of a state capable of altering the existing European balance of power.
Within nine years, Bismarck untied this knot in what Jonathan Steinberg, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, describes as “the greatest diplomatic and political achievement by any leader in the last two centuries.” ...
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In the summer of 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed minister-president of Prussia. His highest previous rank had been ambassador to Russia. He had never held an administrative position. Yet with a few brusque strokes, the novice minister solved the riddle that had stymied European diplomacy for two generations: how to unify Germany and reorganize Central Europe. He had to overcome the obstacle that Germany comprised 39 sovereign states grouped in the so-called German Confederation. All the while, Central European trends were warily observed by the two “flanking” powers, France and Russia, ever uneasy about — and tempted to prevent — the emergence of a state capable of altering the existing European balance of power.
Within nine years, Bismarck untied this knot in what Jonathan Steinberg, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, describes as “the greatest diplomatic and political achievement by any leader in the last two centuries.” ...
Read more
Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen
By Webster G. Tarpley
After two weeks of imperialist attack, Libya is being mangled by al Qaeda terrorists, civil war, NATO air raids, cruise missiles, Predator drones, and C-130 gunships – all made possible by the CIA-backed al Qaeda rebels of Cyrenaica. US, British, French, and Dutch commandos have taken leadership of the rebel forces, and are arming them with modern weapons in flagrant violation of the arms embargo specified in UN Security Council resolution 1973. Al Qaeda is also stealing heavy weapons on its own, as the president of Chad has reported. The singing tomorrows of the fatuous US-UK color revolution rhetoric have dissolved, exposing the hideous reality of a brutal, cynical, imperialist drive to destroy the modern nation-state itself.
Read more
After two weeks of imperialist attack, Libya is being mangled by al Qaeda terrorists, civil war, NATO air raids, cruise missiles, Predator drones, and C-130 gunships – all made possible by the CIA-backed al Qaeda rebels of Cyrenaica. US, British, French, and Dutch commandos have taken leadership of the rebel forces, and are arming them with modern weapons in flagrant violation of the arms embargo specified in UN Security Council resolution 1973. Al Qaeda is also stealing heavy weapons on its own, as the president of Chad has reported. The singing tomorrows of the fatuous US-UK color revolution rhetoric have dissolved, exposing the hideous reality of a brutal, cynical, imperialist drive to destroy the modern nation-state itself.
Read more
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