Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Taliban have huge losses in Pakistan fighting



Strategy Page:

The Taliban and their al Qaeda allies have been fighting a large, and losing, battle against the army in the Pakistani region of Bajaur (right on the Afghan border). The fighting has been going on for a month now, and the terrorists have lost about a thousand dead, while the army has lost only 27 dead. The large disparity in losses is largely due to the Pakistani use of air power (bombers and helicopters) and artillery. The army controls the roads, forcing the Taliban to concentrate their forces, to avoid getting taken apart by road (and helicopter) mobile Pakistani infantry.

The fighting began when the Taliban, who had always been dominant in Bajaur, sought to take over completely and drive government officials out. The army responded with over 10,000 troops, and more following, and went after the towns, villages and walled compounds known to be bases for the enemy. The Taliban did not expect the army to respond so energetically. But the Taliban had prepared ambushes along the roads (by renting houses, and digging tunnels and bunkers next to them for shelter from artillery and bombs). In response, the army detected these preparations (with air reconnaissance, patrols and local informants), and avoided, or destroyed, these positions.

The situation has become so dire that the Bajaur Taliban has called for reinforcements from other Taliban groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan....

They are not getting much help. If the Pakistan army can sustain this effort in other provinces it should substantially shorten the war in Afghanistan.

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7 mil later, my own domain



It's www.rockybru.com.my now. Thank you for the 7 million. Incidentally, I've decided to accept an offer yesterday to migrate from blogspot to a domain of my own. It's a dotmy, too! Other than that, it will be the same brand of blogging and journalism you'll get from the Bru. Talk is rife that several more bloggers may soon be sent for short holidays, like the one that Sheih Kickdefella just came back from.
We need to do is keep the conversation going. I don't know of any other way to respond to attempts to intimidate the bloggers. If we stop blogging and you stop thinking aloud, we lose. Simple as that.

p.s. An anti-ISA forum will be held tonight (23/9) at 8 pm at the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur. Details h e r e.
To date, 64 individuals, including blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, are still being detained without trial under the ISA (read here).


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Thomas Sowell



Thomas Sowell, my favorite economist, gives some clarifying reflections on the financial crisis.

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Blogging About Blogging



September 29, 2008, 9:45 a.m.

"Censorship" and Anonymous Electronic Speech

The Daily Iowan has, without explanation, removed comments, and shut down the ability of readers to add more, to a couple of stories about the UI's President Sally Mason. Until the paper explains what happened and why it is premature to assume it was either a "computer error" or an outrageous bit of state censorship.

[See Amanda McClure, "No Raise for Mason," The Daily Iowan, September 26, 2008, and Amanda McClure, "Mason Apologizes to Regents," The Daily Iowan, September 26, 2008, and the six comments complaining about those deletions posted between September 26 11:34 a.m. and September 28 7:41 a.m. to Lauren Sieben, "Regent: No 2nd Thoughts," The Daily Iowan, September 26, 2008.]

But that's not the only bit of blogging news.

Some of the best literary as well as policy writing on the Press-Citizen's editorial pages occurs when the paper's own editorial page editor, Jeff Charis-Carlson, writes and publishes a piece that is entirely his own.

But it's a significant commentary about the role of blogs and other forms of electronic speech these days that someone who has such exclusive access to his own editorial page in a newspaper also chooses to communicate by way of a blog.

It's especially appropriate that he would do so in this case.

He's blogging about blogging.

Specifically, he's addressing some of today's hot issues surrounding the propriety of mainstream media permitting on their online Web sites anonymous comments from readers about stories in the paper's hard-copy edition. These comments can sometimes include those that are little more than name calling and mean-spirited allegations with little or no factual basis, coming from those able to hide their lack of decency and manners behind their anonymity.

Charis-Carlson sides with the practice of anonymous speech utilized by three of our nation's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Jeff Charis-Carlson, "Anonymous Online Comments: Good, Bad or Just Ugly?", September 24, 2008, 4:24 p.m. He begins:

I was asked to take part in an Iowa City Public Library panel discussion on Online News and Message Boards. I had prepared five-minutes worth of introductory remarks, but the organizers launched right into questions. So, I thought I'd share these remarks with the people who could appreciate them most -- anyone reading and commenting on www.press-citizen.com:

"Introduction for the Intellectual Freedom Festival: Online News and Message Boards."

Last week, I attended the annual convention of the National Conference of Editorial Writers — this year in Little Rock, Ark.

As you can imagine, our focus was primarily on trying to justify our own profession at a time when anyone with an Internet connection can set himself or herself up as a purveyor of opinion.

Not only did we discuss the issues arising from our own anonymity — writing the nameless consensus opinions of our editorial boards — but we had many discussions on the degree to which allowing anonymous online responses to news and opinion articles either:

a) Represents a revolution in citizen journalism (which is good),

b) Provides a crass way to drive up online traffic statistics at the expense of reasoned, vetted, well-edited news and opinion (which is bad), or

c) Does a lot of both (which is just ugly).
The three witnesses called by Charis-Carlson are, as you'll recall the authors of the famous and influential "Federalist Papers," writings encouraging the ratification of the Constitution while impressing the authors' interpretations of it upon the public and judges who followed. They chose to write anonymously, using the name, "Publius." (Originally published as newspaper articles, October 1787-August 1788, they were ultimately published in book form as The Federalist (J. and A. McLean, 1788).)

The courts have tended to look favorably upon anonymous speech as well -- and to some extent for the same reasons Charis-Carlson identifies: "at times, cyber-anonymity is the only way to allow contrary opinions to be raised without retaliation against those who dare speak out against majority opinion. At times it is the means by which a voice crying in the wilderness can find an audience." (See, e.g., "Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind. Persecuted groups and sects from time to time throughout history have been able to criticize oppressive practices and laws either anonymously or not at all." Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960).)

I guess, while I would not differ with the basic doctrine approving anonymous speech (with such a distinguished historical foundation), I do think it is not compromised by modifying it in the specific context of readers' comments on a newspaper-owned Web site.

As it was put in Justice Jackson's separate opinion in Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77, 97 (1949): "The moving picture screen, the radio, the newspaper, the handbill, the sound truck and the street corner orator have differing natures, values, abuses and dangers. Each, in my view, is a law unto itself."

The Court has made clear that the only people who have meaningful First Amendment rights in our monopoly-media-dominated society are those who own them. And those are only rights as against government action. Editors and journalists can be fired by owners; they certainly don't have any First Amendment rights as against the owners. Even though a paper has a local monopoly, and has posted rates for the sale of advertising, it can refuse to publish an ad just because it doesn't like the content. It can attack someone in its pages and refuse to sell or give them the space to reply. (See, e.g., Miami Herald v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974), overturning as unconstitutional a Florida statute providing for precisely that right.) Clearly, the public doesn't have any First Amendment right as against the owners. (All are actions that would in most contexts be violations of the First Amendment if done by governments -- a consideration that may impact on the propriety of The Daily Iowan's recent actions.)

As the Court argued in upholding the Fairness Doctrine (now repealed) in Red Lion v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969), the Congress/FCC could have decided to require broadcast licensees to share frequencies (that is, one licensee might broadcast Sunday through Wednesday, another Thursday through Saturday -- both in the same town and on the same frequency). Therefore the much lesser Fairness Doctrine requirement was clearly permissible (i.e., the sole licensee had to (a) deal with local controversial issues of his/her choice, and (b) present a range of views, also of their choice, in doing so).

Similarly, if a privately owned newspaper can refuse to carry any letters to the editor, and refuse to permit any comments from readers about its stories on its Web page, it would seem to me perfectly permissible for it to allow only the comments of those willing to identify themselves.

Most papers will go to some considerable lengths before publishing a letter to the editor to confirm that the letter submitted to the paper has been written and sent by the person indicated as the author. Of course, once published the author's name is known. And at least two of the standards the paper will use in deciding which letters to publish, presumably, are (1) the extent to which the letter makes a worthwhile substantive contribution to the community dialog, and (2) the civility of the language employed.

By what rationale does a paper apply such relatively rigid, responsible, professional standards to the letters to the editor in its hard copy edition, and virtually none to what amount to the "e-letters to the editor" in its online edition?

If (1) there is, in fact, a problem of outrageously offensive comments about stories being placed on newspapers' Web pages (what Charis-Carlson calls "grossly inappropriate commentary"), and if (2) there is reason to believe that requiring those placing comments to identify themselves might reduce or eliminate the problem, why would it be so wrong to require those commenting to identify themselves by their actual names?

On the other hand -- like President Truman's request for "a one-handed economist," would you really want me to be a one-handed blogger? -- the printing press has been around a lot longer than the World Wide Web. (China had movable porcelain type in 1040; Korea the first metal movable type in 1230. Johannes Gutenberg was a Johannes-come-lately, waiting around in Mainz until 1439.) The Congress and the courts have taken a somewhat lenient free market approach to the Internet's wild west excesses during its baby years. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 gives those who provide an opportunity for online comments from others something of a base on balls when it comes to what would otherwise be the provider's liability for third-party content.

Many papers and other services have at least some mechanism for readers to flag comments of others they believe to be over the top. As Charis-Carlson notes, "in the past year we’ve [the Press-Citizen] had to kick off dozens of participants for grossly inappropriate commentary."

But that sort of thing can raise other problems -- as anyone can quickly discover when their e-mail provider gets put on an industry-wide "do not receive" list, friends no longer get their emails, and there is little to nothing they can do about it. (It's kind of similar to the "Red Channels" list of tainted actors and writers during the "anti-communist" years of Senator Joseph McCarthy.)

Privately-owned papers are not restrained by the First Amendment. They can, legally, be selective about which readers' ideas will be permitted on their Web sites, and which will be removed. When the government opens up what is called a "public forum" it cannot make such content-based distinctions between who can, and cannot, use the facility. But even though not legally required to do so, the underlying principles suggest a similar standard would also make sense for privately owned newspapers. If you're going to open up your Web site to reader comments, a community dialog, doesn't it make more sense to permit all of them?

That's the way this blog of mine has been operated. The only comments I've ever removed are those that are clearly advertising for goods or services (primarily from gambling casinos; comments appended to blog entries dealing with gambling). As long as I get my say in the blog, I think readers are entitled to their say in the comments -- though I would tend to be more tolerant of comments criticizing me than comments bordering on defamation, or invasions of privacy, regarding others, were those situations to arise.

It helps, in trying to understand both the First Amendment and the utility of considering its underlying foundations' applicability to private media as well, to lay any proposal involving speech alongside the First Amendment's purposes to see how it fares.

1. "Marketplace of ideas." It is believed that "truth" is more likely to emerge from a public dialog in which all persons and ideas can be presented and weighed.

2. "Self-governing." If a self-governing people are to have a prayer at making democracy work they must at least have access to the maximum possible range of information and opinion on public matters (whether they take advantage of that access is, of course, another matter).

3. "Checking value." The press is sometimes called "the Fourth Estate" because it is both recognized in our Bill of Rights as an important component of government and one that is totally outside of government. As every school child knows, the legislative, executive and judicial branches provide a check on each other. But the media can serve as an additional "check" as well, not only on abuses by government, but abuses by other powerful institutions as well (this week think "Wall Street").

4. "Safety valve." There is a theory/assertion that by permitting the frustrated and angry an opportunity to speak we can reduce somewhat their alternative response: violent actions of one kind or another perpetrated against the community and the elements within it they perceive to be the cause of their misery.

5. "Self-actualization." Humans belong to, as a general semanticist has observed, "the only species able to talk itself into difficulties that would otherwise not exist." We are bested by the other species -- especially squirrels -- in many ways (speed and athletic prowess; sight and hearing; survival skills; the bats' radar; etc.). Our superiority is in our ability to create and use language. Speaking and writing -- and the analytical thought that, hopefully, precedes it -- contribute to our growth as individuals, our self-actualization, with regard to the only quality that sets us apart.

To the extent those "First Amendment values" resonate with you, most if not all would seem to be served by readers' comments on newspapers' Web pages.

As Charis-Carlson concludes, permitting them is: "an act of optimism as well as commercial exploitation, but we’re betting its potential benefits of increasing conversation will outweigh the current hazards of having those conversations end in a flame out."

# # #


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Green Debates in India and Canada



A

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Who's Buying the F-35?



The United Kingdom is considering pulling out of the F-35 project:
BRITAIN is considering pulling out of a £9 billion project with America to produce the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, intended to fly off the Royal Navy’s forthcoming aircraft carriers.

The move is part of an increasingly desperate attempt to plug a £1.5 billion shortfall in the defence budget. The RAF’s 25 new Airbus A400 transport aircraft could also be at risk.

Studies have now been commissioned to analyse whether Eurofighters could be adapted to fly off the carriers.

Since the Typhoon doesn't have a VSTOL (vertical/short take off landing) variant, this would seem to require a slight redesign of Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy's two proposed super-carriers. Those carriers are large enough to operate fixed-wing aircraft, but weren't initially expected to have catapults and arrestor gear. If the British dump the F-35, arrestor wires will need to become part of the design.

Of course, since the F-35B (the VSTOL variant) apparently only has three weapons bays (compared to eight for the Typhoon), this may not be such a terrible thing. This also comes on the heels of a major computer simulation that seemed to demonstrate that the F-35 was hopelessly outmatched by the Russian Su-35. Then again, that simulation may have been rigged in favor the Su-35, such that the Air Force could argue for more F-22s. Bill Sweetman has more details on that particular possibility.

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Give Bob a Medal.



This might be the most worthless column in the history of the Internet. Somerby has really nuked the shark.

[via]

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The Strange Story of Abousfian Abdelrazik



A

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Abdullah's last stand



Umno elections moved to March from this Dec. In a nutshell, the Umno president wants to see how many nominations he would be getting. He needs at least 58 divisions out of the 191 to nominate him in order to be able to defend his presidency. If he does not get enough numbers, it's settled there and then. If he qualifies but Najib gets more nominations, he's bought himself three additional months to go shopping and buy some frog meat for dinner. For many in Umno, the today's postponement is the ultimate act of futility, but one which has become necessary.

The other PM-in-waiting will have somethign to say about this. He has moved his press conference, originally scheduled for 3.30 this afternoon, to 1.30 tomorrow afternoon at his residence.

p.s. Recommended last words: "This is Your Captain Sleeping".


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Well done, sir!



Check out Masood's excellent piece in today's Columbia Spectator.
When one bases his judgment to go to war on so many disparate criteria, chances are that one of them will fit the bill some time or another. The lack of a single consistent principle for opposing a war allows politicians to pick and choose their wars based on the reason du jour. The fundamental problem is that even though politicians often accuse one another of supporting unnecessary and ill-conceived wars, rarely do they articulate a firm moral and philosophical foundation for how and when to use military force against others in general.
Want to meet the man himself? Come to tonight's meeting!

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Mojo Mom on the mend



It's been a crazy week all over, hasn't it? My personal plans got derailed Tuesday evening when I wasn't feeling well...I went to the local ER because my stomach hurt a lot and I couldn't get comfortable. To make a long story short, I ended up getting my appendix out on Wednesday morning. Abdominal surgery was definitely not in my dayplanner this week.

I did think of a Mojo Mom principle throughout all this: at 3:00 am I had a "Who's on your speed dial?" moment, making a list of people for my husband and mother to call the next day, both to cancel appointments and to ask my friends for help. I felt lucky to have a deep pool of connections--a resource you need to develop before the crisis hits.

So I am on the mend, feeling pretty tired, and a little antsy and frustrated that I just have to rest. This wasn't the break I was hoping for, but I thank goodness for health insurance and good medical care. I wish we could be spending some of the 700 billion dollars to provide health care for every person in the country right now.

The good doctors at UNC Hospitals said that they've seen a lot of appendicitis lately. I have noticed that all the Democrats I know in Chapel Hill are really stressing out about the election--what a roller coaster, even before the economic meltdown! So I can't help but wonder if there is a mind-body-stress-appendix connection. (I couldn't find any medical confirmation of that but I still have to think all that stress can't be helpful.)

I actually started taking a Mindfulness-based stress reduction class on Tuesday, but not soon enough, I guess. But it did help me pay attention to what was going on in my body.

Take home message--take care of yourself!

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Politicking 2.0: What You Should Know



A

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A coherent explanation of our financial meltdown



It's just an atrocious day on Wall Street and the close of trading can't come soon enough.

The US House has failed to pass the bailout bill and the Dow is down over 600 points as I type.

I realized I do have something constructive to contribute to this situation. I can recommend that you listen to the This American Life episode called The Giant Pool of Money. This show was produced in conjunction with NPR News last May. It is the most coherent explanation I've heard of the origins of the bubbles that are now popping.

Even if you have never downloaded a show before, you can just listen to it through your computer--no iPod or CD burner necessary. It is definitely worth 55 minutes of your time and attention.

I am so angry at this situation. Unlike an earthquake or tornado, this was a completely predictable disaster given that the core of our financial systems were rotting from the inside out for years.

It is definitely a Mojo Mom topic because we and our children will be paying the consequences for years, one way or the other.

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The end of the demutalised building societies



As this article points out, the nationalisation of the B & B means that all the demutalised building societies have been either taken over by other banks or nationalised. The claims they made at the time of demutalisation that this would make them better able to compete in the marketplace have proved false.

The only people who seem to have profited from demutualisation are the bosses of the firms - who paid themselves much higher salaries as they changed their organisations from building societies into banks - and those who gained fees and commissions from the process.

The carpet-baggers and other account-holders who got free shares, if they sold them, have managed to make a few hundred pounds. However, they have ended up paying more for mortgages and other financial services than they would have if their providers had stayed mutual.

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The Sexism of the Palin Pick



This gets it right:

In election season, there is a price for being turned into a symbol. When actual journalists, with a rep to protect, show up, they are going to do their job. Which brings me to the sexism of John McCain. He knew full well what Sarah Palin was going to face if he nominated her. He knew that reporters would go through her past, that they'd quizz her on the present, that she would need to be ready, and he shunted concern aside, and tossed her to the wolves. Think on that for a mement. For one last run at the White House, he risked a future star of the party he claims to call home. How do you do that? I don't meant to rob Palin of agency, certainly she is also a victim of her own calculations and ambitions. But where I am from the elders protect you, and pull you back when you've gone too far, when your head has gotten too big.

Of course the irony of all this is how conservatives have, for years, lampooned the liberal pursuit of multiculturalism/identity politics. But here's the thing, even when done haphazardly, awkwardly, and imprudently, the fight against bigotry and ignorance has rewards. But when you decide to not be a leader in the fight against sexism/racism and simply criticize those who do, you rob yourself of political experience. Put differently, there is a price--bigger than the black vote--to be paid for disengagement. You become ignorant of a growing sector of the world. They expected Hillary. And if it were a black man, they never even knew it could be someone like Barack Obama. So these guys go to the well one more time, and ressurect the old spectres of "Us against Them." But the fools haven't been paying attention--the "Us" has changed. This isn't Alabama, and it ain't 1968. There is a whole class of educated, working women, themselves, the children of educated working women. And this is what McCain has to say to them, "I don't care if you know a thing about foreign policy. I don't care if you know a damn thing about the economy. Here is what you are to me--breasts, hair and a lovely smile."

And, of course, the campaign's determination to cordon her off from all but rare and highly controlled media appearances is even more egregious. The Drama King's recent claim that it's dirty pool to report statements from her public appearances gets us to the full reductio ad absurdum.

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Miami makeover



I hadn't seen the new Miami Herald website until I noticed a mention at South Florida Daily Blog.

Yep, the site is easier to navigate for sure, much closer to what seems to becoming the standard site layout for newspaper front pages, rather like the NY Times.

Says Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal, about the makeover and the site:
Online readers of MiamiHerald.com have skyrocketed in the past year, making this the leading website for news and information in South Florida...
So, my question is, is the Herald online readership 'skyrocketing' because of the content and layout, or is it because in the last couple years bloggers like Rick of South Florida Daily Blog have been heavily linking to the best stories that readers might not have found -- or looked for -- on the site on their own?

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I never thought I'd be happy for Senator Chris Dodd...



... but if he sticks by his guns on this one ...

This from Al Jazeera:

US congressional leaders have condemned the Bush administration's $700bn financial bail-out plan aimed at ending more than a week of turmoil on global financial markets.

Chris Dodd, the Democrat chair of the senate banking committee, said on Tuesday: "What they have sent us is not acceptable. This is not going to work."

Richard Shelby, the most senior Republican on the committee, said "We have got to look at some alternatives."


This is clearly becoming an issue beyond party and beyond ideology.

Thank God.

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A Slippery Slope toward a Banana Republic?



During my years in the Virginia Army National Guard it was an annual event to see the infantry companies of the 1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division (Light) going through Civil Disturbance Training with riot shields.

On a variety of occasions our troops were called out in natural disasters (primarily floods), and had to provide security against looting in areas that had been evacuated.

That part of the mission always worried me, even though I could accept the necessity. The key part of this use of military force in a civilian setting, however, is that when our National Guard elements were so used, we were mobilized by the State of Virginia, under the command of the Governor, and paid by the State instead of the Feds.

This is a critical factor, along with the fact that 90% or better of the soldiers were citizens of the State in question.

Now, however, the Federal government is openly prepared Regular Army units for use on American soil.

From The Army Times:

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”


The image of American GIs helping flood victims is appealing; the idea of our own troops being employed by the Federal government against our fellow citizens is more than disquieting.

Civil Libertarians will rush to cite Posse Comitatus as a direct prohibition against the use of Federal military force in civilian settings, but--ala Alberto Gonzalez--the military Judge Advocate General Corps is already preparing the legal [or at least the semblance of legal] ground.

From The Myth of Posse Comitatus, by Major Craig T. Trebilcock, U.S. Army Reserve JAG:

The Posse Comitatus Act has traditionally been viewed as a major barrier to the use of U.S. military forces in planning for homeland defense. In fact, many in uniform believe that the act precludes the use of U.S. military assets in domestic security operations in any but the most extraordinary situations. As is often the case, reality bears little resemblance to the myth for homeland defense planners. Through a gradual erosion of the act’s prohibitions over the past 20 years, posse comitatus today is more of a procedural formality than an actual impediment to the use of U.S. military forces in homeland defense....

Does the act present a major barrier at the National Command Authority level to use of military forces in the battle against terrorism? The numerous exceptions and policy shifts carried out over the past 20 years strongly indicate that it does not. Could anyone seriously suggest that it is appropriate to use the military to interdict drugs and illegal aliens but preclude the military from countering terrorist threats that employ weapons of mass destruction? For two decades the military has been increasingly used as an auxiliary to civilian law enforcement when the capabilities of the police have been exceeded. Under both the statutory and constitutional exceptions that have permitted the use of the military in law enforcement since 1980, the president has ample authority to employ the military in homeland defense against the threat of weapons of mass destruction in terrorist hands.


The distinction between a true Federal Republic and a South American-style Banana Republic is civilian control of the military and--just as significantly--the prohibition against using military forces in civilian law enforcement.

While this last step is obviously a Bushco transgression, go back to the JAG excerpt above and note the precedents we've allowed to be set: use of the US military in the Drug War and against illegal immigrants.

Just like those whacko Libertarians have been trying to tell you for years....

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The 1st Presidential Debate



I don't like Obama's policies, but I'm starting to believe the guy is way smarter than me and is a master politician.

McCain is a mentally challenged stooge and I can't stand him. The number of personal stories, appeals to patriotism, and distractions in his answers were ridiculous. I couldn't find one thing he said that even made sense or didn't contradict something he said earlier in the campaign. The guy is so far off base on foreign policy. He can cut taxes all he wants, but he (and his party) were responsible for the biggest growth of government in US history.

If Obama didn't carry the ruling class's line about Russia being the aggressor in Georgia, I'd vote for him. However, it's very clear Obama is willing to be an interventionist and is also not willing to question support of zionists.

I don't like Ron Paul's endorsement of Chuck Baldwin. Bob Barr's past makes him a questionable candidate. I guess I need to look into Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney.

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Palin better than Obama?





Some clearly think so.

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George Phillies proves that comparison shopping almost always makes sense



George Phillies provides the following list of upcoming campaign events for Ralph Nader:

Sept. 24th, 2pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Morgantown, WV
West Virginia University, “Gluck Theater”, Mountain Lair Student Union
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(312) 208-4687 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 24th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Pittsburgh, PA
University of Pittsburgh, David Lawrence Hall, Room # 120
Suggested Contribution:$10/ $5 students
(504) 319-9312 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 26th, 2pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Los Angeles, CA
USC, Embassy Room- Davidson Building
3415 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90089
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(714) 803-9676 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 26th, 9:30pm
Bill Maher Show/ Debate After Party with Ralph Nader
Hollywood, CA
Social Hollywood Club
6525 West Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028
Contribution: $25-$100
Contact Rob: (202)471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 27th, 3pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
San Diego, CA
UCSD, “The Great Hall”, Eleanor Roosevelt College
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(858) 633-0490 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 27th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Encinitas, CA
La Paloma Theater
471 South Coast Hwy. 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(760) 436-8984 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 28th, 11am
Intimate Brunch with Ralph Nader
Los Angeles, CA
Contribution: $500 per couple
RSVP: (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 28th, 3:00pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Santa Barbra, CA
UCSB Corwin Pavilion
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(805) 455-1088 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 28th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
San Luis Obispo, CA
Cal Ploy Performing Arts Center, Alex & Faye Spanos Theater, Bldg. 44
1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93410
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(916) 834-9606 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 29th, 12:30pm
Intimate Lunch with Ralph Nader
Carmel, CA
Contribution: $50-$100
RSVP: (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 29th, 3:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Monterey, CA
Monterey Peninsula College, “Lecture Forum”, Room # 103
980 Fremont St. Monterey, CA 93940
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 29th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Santa Cruz, CA
Civic Auditorium
307 Church St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Suggested Contribution: $5
(415) 902-9250 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 30th, 12pm
Intimate Lunch with Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez
San Francisco, CA
Contribution: $200
RSVP (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 30th, 2:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
San Francisco, CA
SF State, McKenna Theater/ Fine Arts Bldg.
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sept. 30th, 8pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Oakland, CA
Grandlake Theater
3200 Grand Ave. Oakland, CA 94610
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org


Now compare this to the rest of the month for that party animal Bob Barr:

Sep 23
1714 SW 34th Street, Gainseville, FL 32607
Fundraiser Hilton Gainesville, FL
5:00 pm

Reitz Student Union Amphitheatre
Speech University of Florida
7:00 pm

Sep 24 Orlando, FL
Speech IAPP Privacy Academy
12:15 pm

UCF Student Union, Cape Florida Ball Room, 316 A/B
Speech University of Central Florida
5:00 pm

Sep 30 Physicians Auditorium
Speech College of Charleston
2:30 pm

69 Hagood Avenue, Charleston, SC
Speech Rotary Club of Charleston
12:30 pm

Wachovia Auditorium
Speech The Citadel
l1:00 am


One of these guys is actually running a campaign.

The other one is simply taking your money so he can travel around the country talking to a few like-minded friends.

There will be a test on this later.

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Can we find a D student from Barnard as an alternative?



I don't see the difference between this:



and this:



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American Religion Job Advertisement at Stanford



Search ad for American Religions Position

Stanford University, the Department of Religious Studies and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the field of American Religion, with a focus on ethnicity and race. The appointment will start September 1, 2009. A successful candidate will be expected to teach and advise students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Courses will include broad surveys introducing students to the study of religion in America and at least two courses through the Program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity that will focus on race, ethnicity, and religion. The person appointed will be expected to interact with faculty and students who work in a variety of fields and methodologies both in Religious Studies and in the interdepartmental Program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Candidates must have completed their PhD by August 31, 2009.

Please send a letter of application and your dossier, which should include a CV, a statement of research and teaching interests, any available evidence of teaching ability, three confidential letters of recommendation, and a short writing sample to: American Search, c/o Prof. Hester Gelber, Chair, Dept. of Religious Studies, Bldg. 70, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305-2165. Most of the interviews will be held between November 1 and 4 at the AAR. Deadline: October 7, 2008.

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Sunday, September 28, 2008

On Tristram Hunt 's The English Civil War



I have been reading Tristram Hunt’s book on the English Civil War. It is not a book that makes many conclusions to engage with. Instead, it offers readers information [particularly people like me who don’t know much of the details of the period or have long since forgotten!]. It includes a lot of quotes from primary sources which, although written in unfamiliar and difficult-to-understand English, are quite interesting.

Hunt highlights that, in 1640, no one expected things to transpire over the next decade the way they did. It was an unanticipated combination of circumstances that led to things turning out the way they did.

What is often forgotten is that it was a Scottish Covenanteer rebellion that led to the King needing money and so calling Parliament. Paradoxically the Covenanteers later ended up fighting on the King’s side against the English Parliament in the 'Second Civil War' – since they did not like the direction the religious policies of the English Parliament were heading.

The book also pays attention to Ireland. It was a Catholic rebellion and the weak royal response there that helped fuel indignation at the royal government among some Puritans. It is also where Cromwell later waged some of his most brutal campaigns.

The book, given my interests, does not focus enough on the Diggers and Levellers. However, it is clear that the whole process of raising an army – particularly one that was inspired by patriotic and religious ideas rather than a mercenary one or one based on feudal duty - itself meant that the populace was radicalised. The talk of liberty by parliamentarians meant that ordinary soldiers developed an awareness of the importance of the concept. They also wondered by they could not have the same liberty that the gentry were asking for.

The Civil War was the last major conflict that pitted one English army against another. As such, it caused a lot of death, destruction and devastation to the country. Something else that the firsthand accounts bring out is that the war became more brutal as time went on. People became more hardened and more callous.

The importance of religion in the era can not be understated as well. Part of the root of the conflict is the conflict between two interpretations of Protestantism – the Puritan one and the Laudian one. King Charles – for all the claims of his enemies that he was a papist – appears to have been loyal to the C of E. It is just that he had a very episcopalian and high-church view of it. The Puritans disagreed with this.

However, in addition to Puritans, there were others known as “Independents”. They were, in a sense, more radical than the Puritans. The Puritans aspired for a Church more like that of Calvin’s. The various sects of Independents wanted to go further. They often had socially and economically more radical views. They also pressed for religious freedom. They did not all support the idea of a state church – which both Laudians and Puritans did. The Levellers were among those who pressed for religious freedom. And, in this at least, they had the sympathy of Cromwell. Having fought the civil war for what he saw as liberty – Cromwell did not want to see religious liberty curtailed too much by Presbyterians within Parliament. That is one of the reasons why he fell out with the Scots Covenanteers – who wanted a Church of England similar to the Scottish model.

The republic that resulted from the end of the civil war and the execution of the King was unprecedented and unexpected. At the time, the only other republics in Europe were small Swiss states and the Netherlands. England became the largest republic – without a blueprint for how it would govern itself.

The trial of Charles I is also covered in detail. The trial does bring to mind some of the war crimes trials that have been held in recent history. Charles defends himself – like others in similar circumstances have done – by questioning the legitimacy of the court to judge him. By definition, trials such as his are political in nature and are not really ‘judicial’ events. The verdict was a foregone conclusion before the trial even started.

However, I would vehemently disagree with those who try and paint Charles as a martyr. The fact is – he could have avoided the civil war if he had taken a less haughty and high-handed approach to parliament in the first place. Additionally, if he had won, he would have meted out terrible punishment to the parliamentarian side. As such, I feel it would be one-sided to condemn the Parliamentarians for executing Charles given the circumstances they were in.

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I did not know this



Freedom of Information requests are sometimes freer with information than they should be.

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The Big Bailout: What Would Naomi Do?



A

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David Horowitz is the Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful etc. etc.



I have reviewed Party of Defeat. Full story as soon as I have time. What I really want to see is a cage match between Horowitz and Ramesh Ponnuru; is the Democratic Party the Party of Death, or the Party of Defeat? The world wonders!!!

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True Fasting



In light of the national financial emergency, the impending election, and our desperate need for revivial, please read, ponder, and apply the following truths from Isaiah 58 (NRSV). Let us fast, pray, repent, and seek God.

1 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practised righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgements, they delight to draw near to God.

3 ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’ Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers.

4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.

5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;

14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Najib to take over as PM next year?




Talk is that Abdullah and Najib have agreed to postpone the Umno elections to March or June next year. If that's true, many Umno leaders at the division and branch levels are going to be riled, especially those who want Pak Lah to quit by this December when the General Assembly and elections are due to take place. We'll know for sure after the Supreme Council holds a Special meeting tomorrow. The last time the Supreme Council met, the leaders asked Pak Lah to quit before year-end and not in mid 2010 as he had said he would. My sources said if tomorrow's meeting agree to postpne the elections, Pak Lah may hand over power to Najib by middle next year.

Tengku Razaleigh has also called for a Special press conference at his residence at 3.30 pm tomorrow.


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Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran



Spielberg, it's time for an article about the Jews:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians1

No one believed me, but now it's confirmed in the press. I predicted June, but I was off on account of Bush. Now, though, I am left speculating whether the Israel lobby will push both of the new mainstream candidates to do its bidding.

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Housing slumps and the divorce rate



This piece on Stumbling and Mumbling suggests that the slump in the housing market could lead to more couples splitting up. This seems to me to be counter-intuitive since, if prices and the volume of house sales are lower, it will make it more difficult for couples who are splitting up to sell their old home.

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Ignorance v. Stupidity: A Sarah Palin Steel-Cage Death Match



I've been having an argument today with my friend JJ about whether Sarah Palin is, as Jeeves says of his employer, "mentally negligible." JJ (who btw is a hardcore libertarian who is voting for McCain on a lesser of two evils basis) watched the latest clips from the Katie Couric interview and decided she was. I hadn't watched the clips, but in classic academic fashion I argued with him about it anyway, reasoning that while she is obviously a profoundly ignorant person in regard to the sorts of things a person who could become POTUS needs to know (like, um, various stuff about the US political and economic and social system), she surely isn't stupid in the she has an IQ of 88 sense.

So I finally watched the clips and, well . . . let's say my faith was shaken a bit. The best part are the cutaways to Katie Couric's face, which betrays a truly priceless incredulity at what she's hearing. What she's hearing are long strings of semi-literate English sentences that are both profoundly unresponsive to Couric's questions and seem to make little sense even as context-free linguistic gobbets.

Still, I don't think Palin is an actual idiot. I think it's extremely difficult for a person who knows almost nothing about a subject to fake her way through an interview on that subject, even if she's got a cheat sheet (which Palin glances at several times) and has had her head crammed full of catch phrases and stock responses that for the last month she's been coached to repeat.

Consider, for example, somebody who knows almost nothing about baseball having to fake a way through a conversation about baseball. Unless the person has a photographic memory and a gift for pathological lying, even a month of cramming on the subject isn't going to create a knowledge base sufficient to fool any baseball fan into thinking this person really knows anything substantial about baseball.

Contemporary U.S. politics and its institutions comprise a much more complicated subject. People who have spent their lives learning about, arguing about, participating in, etc. national politics will find it easy to underestimate what a fantastic amount of knowledge they've accumulated over the years on these matters.

OK, I'm sipping a latte as I type this, so I'm going to be blunt: Sarah Palin is a completely uneducated hick from a nowhere town in the deepest backwoods. She has spent her life surrounded by 4,999 other people who have very similar backgrounds to herself. I'm sure she knows a great deal about all sorts of things that have come in handy in the context of her particular social circumstances, involving field dressing moose, fixing snowmobiles with tools assembled completely out of dryer lint, etc. But she doesn't know ANYTHING about the sorts of things a person who might become POTUS needs to know. This is almost literally true. It's like taking somebody whose knowledge of baseball is pretty much limited to being able to identify Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, and that a batter gets three strikes and that there are four bases on the field, and then naming them general manager of a major league club. It's preposterous. It's insane.

It's also the ultimate reductio ad absurdum of populist politics -- the idea that literally anybody can be a competent and effective president of the United States if she has the right values and is an ordinary hardworking salt of the earth real American, even if she knows nothing whatsoever about almost any of the stuff that you, ideally, would want someone to know something about before she got within hailing distance of the most powerful and important political office in the world.

Good Lord.

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John McCain=Neville Chamberlain



I can't believe that John McCain has decided to appease the Democrats. Doesn't he understand the threat that the Democrats pose to democracy? Doesn't he understand that this appeasement will only be met with further aggression, including additional demands that John McCain attend debates that he's already agreed to? Where will it stop? WHERE WILL IT STOP!!!1?!?!?!?

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Where's a news researcher when you need one?



Interesting stuff in this first part of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin.

Obviously, she needs a researcher:
Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.


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And Malaysia's No 1 socio-political blogger is ...



Chedet.com, the blog started by Dr Mahathir Mohamad only in May, is the country's top SoPo blog, if you go by the rankings provided by Alexa in its Movers and Shakers' Traffic Graph. A posting in The Wayang Party Club of Singapore includes Malaysia Today in Malaysia's Top 3 but admits that Malaysia Today, is "more a news aggregator than a blog".

So, the winner is ...
Click h e r e for
The TOP 3 SoPo bloggers in Malaysia and Singapore


p.s. Chedet the blogger launched "Blogging to Unblock" last Thurs. Story and pics at Jinggo.


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Ike's surge knocked out fences 20 miles inland



NY Times:

Two weeks after Hurricane Ike blew through Southeast Texas, cowboys on horseback and in helicopters are still trying to round up thousands of head of displaced cattle.

The storm’s surge carried cows up to 20 miles from their pastures in coastal Jefferson and Chambers Counties. Dead cows can be seen rotting in the forks of trees, and lone calves wander looking for their mothers amid overturned tractors and grain silos crushed like tin cans.

“We’re still hearing about Katrina victims, but no one seems to know about this,” said Mike Latta, a rancher and rice farmer in this agricultural community about 10 miles from the Gulf Coast. “It’s total devastation.”

Mr. Latta said he had so far recovered only 15 cows from his herd of 400 and holds out little hope of finding the rest, even as rescue efforts continue. Thus far, about 10,000 of the estimated 25,000 missing cows in the region have been found alive.

Explaining how any survived the powerful surge with waves reported over 15 feet, Hollis Gilfillian, a rancher in nearby Winnie, Tex., said that “cows are surprisingly buoyant” thanks to their four air-filled stomachs. Mr. Gilfillian said he was able to recover half of his 350 head because “they sort of floated like boats.”

Displaced and severely dehydrated cows roaming the debris- and seaweed-strewn landscape have been herded into fenced pastures north of where the storm surge ended. They are marked with brands from the scores of ranches in the area and need to be sorted so they can be returned to their owners.

It is easy to tell where the storm surge stopped because the saltwater-burnt vegetation suddenly gives way to green, and fences reappear.

“There are no fences anymore for about 20 miles inland from the coast,” said Bill Hyman, executive director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas. The rushing water balled up barbed wire fencing into what looks like metal tumbleweeds.

In an effort called Operation No Fences, Mr. Hyman’s organization and the Texas Department of Agriculture, as well as the state’s AgriLife Extension Service, have been working to get hay and water to lost cattle and to help owners reclaim their animals.

Many roads remain closed in the area not because they are impassable but because roaming cattle pose a threat to motorists. Bales of hay and troughs of water have been placed on some highways to lure dehydrated and starving cattle out of the now-swampy countryside. The water troughs are replenished several times a day by fire department pumper trucks.

...

Search parties on horseback have been riding in near 90-degree heat, slogging through mud and clouds of mosquitoes. They have also had to contend with snakes and alligators left behind when the stormwaters receded. The state hired a helicopter on Wednesday to help drive cattle to safer areas.

...

State officials have been working with members of Congress to write an emergency appropriations bill to help affected ranchers. “We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars of damage,” said Todd Staples, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture. “You can’t imagine the destruction until you see it.”

...


Astros great Carlos Lee has donated hay to the recovery effort as have other ranchers. Since the ranch land was sparsely populated it has not gotten the attention of places like Galveston and Houston, but the consequences of the storm are hard to ignore.

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Away in Beijing



I'm will be in Beijing til the weekend, mostly on holiday with the family with some investment meetings thrown in on the side. So I won't be as active blogging this week ;-)

And gentle reminder to all golf enthusiasts, the DAP Damansara-Subang Jaya inaugural golf tournament will be held on 28th September, this Sunday at 1pm at Kinrara Golf Club. Please send in your forms soon!

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Seek



As far as the choices go, you must take the trouble to seek the truth, for if you die without worshipping the true principle you are lost. 'But', you say 'if he had wanted me to worship him, he would have left me some signs of his will.' So he did, but you pay no heed. Look for them; it is well worth it (158/236). --Blaise Pascal, Pensees.

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"Let Our People Stay"



Richard Cooper, former state chair of the NY Libertarian Party, writes on Columbia's use of eminent domain:

Eminent domain is a legalized assault on tenants, taxpayers and property-owners Moses said to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." The Libertarian Party says to our modern pharaohs, the politicians and bureaucrats, "Let our people stay." Bollinger cites our beloved Columbia’s educational mission and the infamous Kelo decision. Is it Columbia’s mission to teach that legalized theft is just and constitutional? Is it to teach that the end justifies the means?

Mark Axinn, a Manhattan real estate attorney and Manhattan LP treasurer, contends "I am particularly appalled that Columbia University, which already has significant real estate and financial resources far in excess of others is desirous of relying on the thuggery of government to force other real estate owners to relinquish their property rather than simply purchasing any land it desires on the open market. Surely an institution with the power and wealth of Columbia could, if it desired, simply buy contiguous property. By seeking to usurp others' legitimate property rights by eminent domain, a University of which I should be proud lowers itself to the level of the street bully simply taking what it wants from those weaker individuals who might also be on the schoolyard."

Discuss this and more at the meeting tonight!

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Watch this video





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Me



I have been working on an apologetics textbook since 2003. But I've decided to give that up in favor of a memoir. Everybody is doing it. They sell. After all, apologetics demands facts, arguments, qualifications, the examintion of argument forms, endless reading, writing, rewriting, analytical anguish in extremis. Enough is enough! There is hardly a personal pronoun in the entire manuscript.

The title of my new book: Me: The Audacity of Autobiography or How I Discovered my Sacred Self through Writing About Myself for Myself (and I Know You Will Find Me Fascinating Because I am Me, After All). Highlights will include:
  • How I made God my mascot and found a blessing in it.
  • The endless profundity of my pain.
  • How narcissism got a bad name and what I did about it.
  • My faith, myself, my God.
  • When it comes to me, nothing is glib, all is profound.
  • Reality and how I conquered it through journaling and psychotherapy.
  • How I used the Bible to build a better me for me.
  • I believe in God because God believes in me.
  • The Kingdom of God is within me, and that's just where it should be.
  • The world is wrong; I am right; get that straight before its too late.
  • It is so hard being me, but you are better for it.

Ah, the clear, alpine air of untrammeled autobiography! It is endless; I contain multitudes.

(This is a satire, for you unmusical folks.)




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It's Saturday Morning. Who's Destroying the World Economy?



Ron Paul will tell you:



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Friday, September 26, 2008

Victory for mortals



Gerard Baker:

Victorious Roman generals were reminded of the fickleness of their glory by a slave carefully positioned in earshot on the triumphal parade route.

“Memento mori,” the hapless servant would whisper to the wreathed victor as his chariot rattled along Rome's jubilant streets: “Remember you are mortal.”

They don't have slaves in America any more but perhaps the winner of November's presidential election should consider having one of his lower-paid deputy-assistants mutter something similar in his ear as he takes the tribute on Inauguration Day next January.

It is highly probable that that moment, the very hour that he takes office, will be the high point of his presidency. Whoever wins on November 4 will be ascending to the job at one of the most difficult times for an American chief executive in at least half a century. When the votes are counted his people might ruefully conclude that the victor is not Barack Obama or John McCain. The real winner will be Hillary Clinton, or Mitt Romney, or Mike Huckabee, or some now happily anonymous figure whose star will rise in the next four turbulent years.

2008 may be the best year there has been to lose an election.

This sobering reality was startlingly underscored this week by none other than Tom Daschle, the former leader of the Senate Democrats, the national co-chairman of Mr Obama's presidential campaign, and the likely White House chief of staff in an Obama administration. He told a Washington power breakfast that he thought the winner of the election would have a 50 per cent chance at best - at best - of winning a second term in 2012.

Consider the challenges.

The financial crisis and Washington's response to it have transformed the economic and fiscal environment in which the new president will take office.

The bailout/rescue plan/ socialisation of the banking system - whichever you prefer - has, in effect, already rendered null and void almost everything that the presidential candidates have been proposing for the past six months. It may not end up adding a straight $700 billion to the deficit over the next couple of years - the Treasury is surely right to insist that it will get some of that money back when the bad assets acquired from banks are sold off. But it would certainly not be prudent to expect there to be any room left over for promised tax cuts, spending increases on health, education or anything else.

The US already faced daunting fiscal challenges (admittedly smaller than those confronting most European and Asian countries). At some point reality will bite hard and politicians will discover that they simply cannot go on funding two wars, cutting taxes, creating vast new government health and pension programmes and doing the other essential things that the Federal Government does - all those bridges and roads and light-rail systems in parts of the country with closely fought congressional districts.

As some observers have noted, the bailout plan may simply have shifted the locus of the next financial crisis from the private to the public sector. This fiscal challenge is not just economic, but also geopolitical in nature. More government debt increases America's dependence on the financial interest of strangers; and not just any foreigners, but countries that hardly count as America's friends, such as China and Russia.

All this, and we almost certainly haven't even seen the worst of economic times yet.

...

There are opportunities in this crisis that could make the US even stronger and relieve the public debt in the process. The election will make a difference, because if Democrats are in charge they will spend that windfall on sinkhole investments in their constituents groups rather than invest it in paying off the debt and making Social Security more solvent. They will prevent energy exploration that will make our standard of living better and increase the revenue coming into the treasury.

We need a leader who will seize the opportunities and not waste them on Democrat programs that caused the mess to begin with.

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A Request.



Can I get a remix?



Something like, "Ah, ah, ah like big butts and I cannot lie..."

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Making It Big



Thanks to a friend who forwarded me this blog post, I now know who Adam Khoo is. He actually wrote this post actually a full 2 years back, but I certainly thought that it's will remain extremely relevant particularly to those who seek to build a business or are in the midst of building one.

Adam Khoo is a self-made millionaire in Singapore by the age of 26, and is now "the Executive Chairman and Chief Master Trainer of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd and a director of seven other private companies. Adam is also a director of the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB)." His latest post is with regards to "why he loves stock market crashes" which is certainly something useful to ponder over. I certainly believe that over one's lifetime, you just need 3 stock market crashes to make it big in terms of wealth - while at the same time not let greed blind you.

But this post isn't about the stock market. It's about "making it big", like Adam Khoo. He wrote that...
...recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, ‘How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?’ My reply was, ‘That’s why I am a millionaire.’ He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book ‘Secrets of Self Made Millionaires’). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex etc… (I shop at G2000 by the way) and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one.

...I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money.

Does that then make him a miserly miser? ‘What is the point in making so much money if you don’t enjoy it?’
The thing is that I don’t really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewelry or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while… it does not last. material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix...

Instead, what make ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see by companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries...

I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life’s work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc…) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a life no better than a prostitute.
His philosophy certainly resonates with me, and although I never made it as big or as fast as he obviously did, I share most if not all of his views on the post. And clearly, you don't have to be the Penang Chief Minister to fly economy. (This is however, not a plug for Adam Khoo's books and training - make your own informed decisions on that one ;-))

So for you young people out there with dreams of a bright (and well to do) future, remember to take a leaf of Adam Khoo. ;-)


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Posse Comitatus on the Merits



Over e-mail, Glenn has suggested that the origins of posse comitatus in the United States are irrelevant to the wisdom of maintaining the policy today. I only partially agree with that claim. To briefly set aside the question of the origins, and to entirely set aside the question of whether the incident Glenn mentions actually represents an erosion of posse comitatus, it is certainly worthwhile to examine whether or not posse comitatus is a policy worth maintaining. It's also worthwhile to dispose of this:
Even after the last 8 years, there are still plenty of people -- including, apparently, liberals like Farley -- who dismissively wave away concerns about presidential seizures of radical, dangerous and possibly illegal powers as nothing to worry about. That mentality bodes well for the McCain/Palin ticket and for authoritarian policies in general, and explains much of what has happened during the Bush era (throngs of people like Farley who mocked objections to Bush's radical executive power theories as "handwringing").

Yup.... C'mon, Glenn; just call me Neville Chamberlain. You know you want to.

Anyway, the case against posse comitatus runs something like this; giving the President the capacity to legally use the United States Army within the United States will lead to an increase in the militarization of our society, and an erosion in our civil liberties, the latter created by the increased capacity of the President to use force in the face of civil disobedience. Moreover, while the United States Army has a substantial organizational capacity, its strengths do not lie in crowd control, disaster relief, or other tasks that a President might wish to use it for; even though the Kent State incident didn't actually involve the US Army, more incidents like Kent State would occur if the Army was regularly used inside the borders of the United States. This is an entirely reasonable case, and one that reasonable people can hold to; if there's a part of the case that I'm missing, please feel free to indicate in comments, because I don't want to build and burn a strawman. It's also fair to say that no small percentage of United States Army officers hold to this position; the Army is not, by any means, seeking a larger internal role. Moreover, while posse comitatus in the United States was born of the effort to destroy Reconstruction, as a policy it certainly shares much with the concerns of the Founders regarding the dangers of standing armies.

So what's the case against? The first is merely practical; the military is capable of a multitude of tasks associated with disaster relief and crisis preparedness, and is regularly asked to execute the disaster relief role. It would be better, I think, if we simply accepted what everyone already knows (that the military will be asked to participate in disaster relief, as indeed is allowed by the Posse Comitatus Act), instead of regarding the semi-permanent designation of a brigade to handle and prepare for disaster relief as an encroachment on civil liberty. This brigade is not, in fact, the only one stationed in the United States, and is not the only one that would be asked to respond in the case of natural disaster. Moreover, the use of the military in natural disasters isn't something that started in the Bush administration, but rather has been ongoing for some time.

The case for holding the line on posse comitatus would be more compelling if the theoretical argument made more sense. Civil liberties come under threat not simply from the Federal Government, but also from states, localities, and private actors. Armed force is not inherently hostile to civil liberties; indeed, it can and has enabled people to take advantage of their civil and political rights, such as voting, assembly, and speech. As such, an increase in the ability of the Federal government (through use of the Army) to intervene in domestic situations does not necessarily lead to a loss of freedom. If rights come under threat from private actors, localities, or states, then the intervention of the Federal government can have a net positive effect on the ability of the people to take advantage of their civil rights. Moreover, the Federal government is a good deal more capable of protecting civil liberties than states or localities, because it enjoys far greater resources. Small government entities are no more likely to recognize civil liberties, political freedoms, or minority rights than the Federal government, and potentially could be a good deal likely.

Now, this may all seem terribly abstract; the intervention of the Federal government in a military sense could yield benefits for civil liberties, but is it likely to do so? The possibility of a direct confrontation between the Federal government and a state or local government that would require the use of the Army, or even the threat of the use of the Army, would seem pretty unlikely. This, I think, is where the history becomes relevant. In asking whether posse comitatus results in a net positive or negative for civil liberties, it hardly seems irrelevant to note that the Posse Comitatus Act was part of an explicit bargain to enable the re-establishment of a white supremacist regime across the South. In other words, the point of the act was to insulate states and localities from the threat of Federal force, such that those states and localities could either tolerate white supremacist activites (involving the disenfranchisement and murder of thousands of African-Americans) or directly engage in the support of those white supremacist activities. It's not as if this behavior stopped in 1952; states and localities bitterly resisted Federal efforts to disassemble the white supremacist regime that held sway over the South after Reconstruction throughout the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, efforts to resist the expansion of civil rights and civil liberties on the part of states and localities continue to this day, albeit through means less direct than those pursued in 1890.

In short, the Federal government might well try to use the Army to threaten civil liberties, but we absolutely, without a doubt know that states and localities will use force and other means to eliminate or reduce civil liberties, and we also know that the desire of states to do this has been a significant source of friction between those states and the Federal government for the last 130 years. This is why the invocations of Kent State, the Minneapolis police, and various other organs of state are rather beside the point in a discussion of posse comitatus; states and localities already possess considerable coercive capacity, and have demonstrated a strong willingness to use that capacity against groups and individuals that they don't care for. We also know that in the most egregious case of the destruction of civil liberties in US history (the end of Reconstruction and the establishment of Jim Crow), the states perceived the Federal government to be their enemy and sought a specific prohibition on the ability of the Federal government to mess with their business.

This point is not lost on conservatives. There's a reason that Glenn found it useful to cite Alan Bock, a right-wing libertarian who strongly opposes Federal interference in local affairs. Bock, to put it as simply as possible, doesn't believe that the Federal government had any business in enforcing respect for civil liberties during Reconstruction, or during any other period of note. It's not that he's afraid of what the Federal government might do; he thought it was wrong to use the Army to enable black people to vote in the first place. Similarly, Glenn cites right wing libertarian James Bovard in defense of his case for posse comitatus. These are hardly the only right wingers to share an aversion to Federal power; to the extent that "state's rights" has any content whatsoever, it has typically included a commitment to the privilege of state's to restrict the civil liberties of whatever minority groups that find distasteful.

And so yes, it is possible to have a reasoned objection to posse comitatus without necessarily being an appeaser of the Bush administration. Glenn (and some others) think that the Reconstruction story is irrelevant, but it's not at all difficult for me to envision the need for troops to protect the rights of African-Americans to vote, or of women to have access to abortions. It makes a substantial difference whether those troops belong to (say) the Alabama National Guard, or the US Army; I know that I'd strongly prefer the latter.

See also Yglesias, who touches on some of these points. Chris Quillen had a good article on posse comitatus in the Spring 2002 Parameters, the timing of which should also suggest that this debate was ongoing prior to the Bush administration. Finally, let me again recommend Nicholas Lemann's Redemption, which is a detailed account of the role that the US Army played in Reconstruction-era Mississippi.

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