Good morning, pups. It’s MoDo, Friedman and Kristof in the NYT today. MoDo, wants “A Penny for My Thoughts?” She ponders that if an online newspaper in Pasadena, Calif., can outsource coverage to India, she wonders how long can it be before some guy in Bangalore is writing her column about President Obama. Hmmm… I wonder if he’d do a better job? The Moustache of Wisdom gives us “Obama’s Iraq Inheritance” and says for the first time, there is a chance that a reasonably stable democratizing government, though no doubt corrupt in places, can take root in the Iraqi political space. Mr. Kristof, in Islamabad, writes about “Terrorism That’s Personal.” He says in Pakistan there is a cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got French toast casserole this morning. Now that the oven is empty I’ll get back to cookie baking — spice cookies this morning. Rain! We’re getting rain again today! Yay! Have a great day.

The “New Terror Distraction”

Take your minds off tracking down the real criminals behind the original 9/11 crime, the lies that took us into 2 wars of choice, and the subsequent “Financial 9/11″ with which we have now been “blessed,” by the very same Globalist Oily Banksters who brought you the prior incidents. Ignore the fact that all of your (s)elected politicians are under the total control of the global elite (AIPAC Division), enabling the theft of all your money right under your noses while you struggle to, in the immortal words of George The Lesser: “put food on your families.”

HERE COMES MORE TERROR!!!

“We warned you about the new terror threat in New York, and just to prove it to you, we blew up a bunch of shit in India not two days later!”

ARE YOU FUCKING SCARED YET?

Well you’d better be, because they are just getting started. They are going to start blowing shit up all around the world, and right here in the United States, and if you move against Washington to demand they stop stealing your money and blowing your shit up, they will impose Martial Law and send the pre-positioned military troops to the streets.

They are going to launch an all out war against either Russia, China or Japan in the coming months…because it’s profitable, with the added bonus of depopulation, a primary goal of David Rockefeller.

Google “Swift Luck Greens”

This is not a drill…

mornin’
oh what a lazy day.
we’ve got precip happening here, we’re right on the freezing line this morning so it’s variable.

Indian minister offers resignation over Mumbai attacks

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he would take “moral responsibility” for the Mumbai attacks, a Home Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

So everybody in charge on 9/11 got medals. No resignations here.

There is no word for accountability in Bushspeak

Or in congress, neither Rs nor Ds.

Morning everyone,
Why is there no accountability in the failed MSM?

Robert Samuelson decided to cash in on a seminal experience of his professional life, so he wrote a book about the 1970s inflation and he’s pimping it on WJ. Now that inflation was a big negative economic event, and “curing” it was brutal, but not quite up to Samuelson’s hyperbole.

Rhetorical Q, right?

Why is there no accountability in the failed M$M?

fixed it for ya and answered your question.

Right!

Everybody got medals for a job well done - a mission accomplished.

You don’t fire people without whom you could not have pulled off your conspiracy - you reward them.

The evidence of the “inside job” is in the aftermath itself. Nobody fired. Only awards. In a court of law, the jury would seriously consider this evidence.

There are no coincidences related to 9/11.

What does Occam’s Razor tell you about the ODDS that NORAD would be running a series of drills on the morning of 9/11 designed specifically to simulate an attack against America involving hijacked planes flown into buildings?

What does Occam’s Razor tell you about FEMA having been prepositioned in New York for the drill - which commenced at the same moment the first tower was struck?

What does Occam’s Razor tell you about the warning sent to Israeli Nationals two hours before the first plane struck?

What of the “Dancing Israelis,” Mossad Agents who set-up to film the strike of the first plane on 9/11 BEFORE the attack began?

Ignoring everything you have seen and heard to brainwash you to the contrary in its aftermath, what are the odds that a man in a cave could beat all of the defenses of the United States of America by coincidentally timing his attack to coincide with a total shut down of NORAD?

Occam’s razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or “shaving off”, those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.

Pieces of aircraft were scattered over a five mile area in Pennsylvania.

WTC 7 - though untouched by an aircraft, fell directly into its own footprint less than two hours after its owner ordered the fire department to pull back from the structure in order to “pull it.”

5 Israeli Mossad Agents with explosives expertise were arrested for filming the destruction of the twin towers. Their film has never been made public. They failed seven polygraph tests. They were quietly deported to Israel.

Norm Mineta testified before the 9/11 Commission that he personally witnessed Cheney commanding one of his subordinates in the bunker on the morning of 9/11 to allow the approaching aircraft to strike the Pentagon uncontested.

The manuvers made by the planes that struck both the Pentagon and the second WTC tower could not possibly have been made by any first time pilot - according to aviation experts.

Follow the money - and promotions, and the kickbacks - they all have names:

http://www.whodidit.org/cocon.html

The liars, and the lies they told:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAH3AeFy0SY

Hey mike, how ’bout them Sooners?

I’m not sure who’s going to play in the national championship game but I’m not worried. I’m sure any one of the top 4 teams in the Big 12 can easily handle anyone in the SEC.

Mornin all. Cold this a.m. with a big snow moving in. Anyone see Moyers? Had Michael Poulan the author of “The Omnivore’s Dilema” talking about U.S. food/ag policy. Very good disucussion about failed ag policy. Not about food and health for the American people but profits for agra business.

Whoa– better go get my tinfoil hat.

The U.S. media is but just another example of a failed institution. Rich celebrity talking heads that spew conventional wisdom and the necessity of maintaining the status quo, i.e. their positions of power and priviledge. They would have everyone be nothing more than a “celebrity.” Shallow and vapid.

I’ve seen him on book-TV. He’s a lot of fun. I liked his advice about only shopping the perifery of the supermarket to avoid all the packaged foods. I hadn’t realized consciously how supermarkets were organized (other than putting milk as far away as possible from the cashier) until he said that.

Is there a U.S. institution that hasn’t failed?

I would rather that it was the Sooners.

The banking and mortgage industry.

No, they haven’t failed, they’re getting “bailed out”. That was the intent.

Guess it depends on what your definition of failed is.

None that readily comes to mind. If you get a chance watch the rerun of Moyers discussion with Poulan. He raises some very provatice and revolutionary notions on food and agricultural policy. It’s all about the money.

Is there a U.S. institution that hasn’t failed?

this is a test?

;-)

you can watch it online.
thanks for reminding me, didn’t see it this weekend.

My coffee isn’t ready yet

Did he mention how disastrous U.S. ag price supports and U.S. “humanitarian” food aid are for third-world farmers?

Successful Failure (Losing On Purpose):

It’s time to view the global strategic game with fresh eyes, and realize that our assumptions about traditional victory and success run completely contrary to those of the GLOBALISTS who have stolen our country from us – and reside in our White House.

“The public leadership is put in place by power brokers with unlimited global access to high-level military, intelligence, economic, and strategic analysts, policy-makers, influence brokers, and puppet-masters. The broader objective of extending the power of the military/industrial elite without regard to national interest.

This kind of strategic chess game has been going on for centuries unabated. Manipulating a few dozen national entities and a few core industries simply does not require a unique brand of “smarts”.

Iraq is in ruins, U.S. corporate interests have taken the U.S. taxpayer debt incurred by the war and destruction and converted it into windfall profits, the U.S. has control of Iraqi oil, the country is in the midst of a violent conflagration that creates a power vacuum that strengthens both Israel and Iran, and we’re building massive military bases and the world’s largest and most heavily fortified embassy as a governor’s mansion for our new 51st state. Of course, 3,000 U.S. troops have died with many more severely wounded, and who knows how many Iraqis. U.S. casualties are especially tendered by Americans as proof of the catastrophic handling of the war. But this concern represents a total misreading of the mindset of military command.

Perhaps it’s time to get this straight: 3,000, even 10,000, dead soldiers means nothing to the Pentagon or the Defense Department. When will Americans get that through their heads?

Barton Kunstler, Ph.D

http://www.opednews.com/articl.....an_all.htm

“We are heroes in error!

Ahmed Chalabi

Yes. And isn’t it amazing how difficult it is to find one that hasn’t failed?

I’m waiting for someone to suggest colleges & universities. It’s hard to demonstrate that they’ve failed, but I’m not impressed by the largely irrelevant stuff that goes on there.

mornin’ all.

who’s got the coffee?

WJ talking about the inauguration. I just finished Dreams from My Father last night. I wonder if any of Obama’s Kenyan family will be in attendance, any of his organizing coworkers from Chicago. That will reveal a lot about his character.

Got some coffee
What is the goal and mission of the colleges & university?

OK, I’ll bite. By “irrelevant stuff” you don’t mean football, do you?

My daughter goes to Michigan State and I’m happy with the education she’s getting. Although I’m not too sure why the cost of tuition has been increasing faster than the rate of inflation.

Elliott’s M$M.
Priceless.

Dusting of snow on the ground. Spaniels in ecstasy. Frank Rich off for the day. Laura Bush ignoring the assaults on women of Afghanistan Pakistan because it doesn’t fit her worldview.

A good day to step outside. Be well, pups.

~ Sandy/Prairie, stoked with Marion’s french toast casserole with an extra drizzle of Minnesota maple syrup.

Remember the 20 heads of state that wouldn’t shake his hand?
There were reports he did most of the talking.
Did he inform them he’s the king of the world and is not going anywhere?
Fading Titanic theme song………

Whoa– better go get my tinfoil hat.

why? Keep in mind that the *official* version of 9-11 is, by definition, a “conspiracy theory”. The bad guys in that version, however, are all brown guys, and is thus acceptable. So acceptable, in fact, that no one even calls it a conspiracy theory.

Other versions of what happened, which are in fact much more plausible, and involve some non-brown people, immediately get the pejorative “Conspiracy Theory” label, and all the negative connotations associated therewith.

Me, I’m gonna accept the theory version which posits that 19 un-educated and essentially un-armed guys managed to defeat both the entire Unites State intelligence industry and defense system.

uh-huh.

Talks about the fast food industry and how they demand cheap prices of food commodities, particularly corn, sugar and soy among many other topics. Poulan was on for almost the entire hour.

Not referring to sports, though they are certainly irrelevant. I’m referring to “research” that is nothing but mental masturbation for the researcher.

College tuitions are going up for the same reason as medical bills & lawyers fees. They constitute the “mafia of the intelligentsia,” a term I coined in 1991 to describe industries characterized by the knowledge gap between buyer and seller which gived the seller pricing power. Mafia instead of cartel because in all 3 industries the customer is vulnerable: sick, in trouble with the law, or making lifetime descisions. That gives the industry even greater pricing power. It also allows the industry freedom from constraints to provide what the customers needs, which is why I am skeptical of what goes on in higher ed.

Tuition is going up to support growing bureaucracy same as with Medical costs.

Oh boyohboyohboy. Next guest on WJ gonna talk about the joint navy exercises between Russia & Venezuela. Can’t wait for the fear mongering to start.

That explanation begs the issue of why they can get away with it. My hypothesis is in 37.

Heh. Make that 38. Something weird went on with the comment numbers inbetween refreshes.

What irrelevant research are you talking about? Scientific research?

Well, you can start with the humanities, with the umpteenth analysis of Beowulf. And yes, lots of irrelevant stuff going on in science, I suspect. I’m not connected to the industry except for SUNY-New Paltz, which is a different animal, so I don’t have any first hand evidence. I’m inferring it from the fact that there are no economic constraints to keep things relevant. Not saying all research is worthless, just that a lot of it is.

Some of the cruise missiles on the Russian ships might be nookyaler tipped.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

This woman sounds pretty level headed. I’m pleasantly surprised.

Attitude alert: Sitting here cursing the cosmos because I couldn’t access “reply” to leave a comment. Okay, fine. I hadn’t logged in. Who’m I gonna blame (speaking of no accountability)???

Oh. Good morning.

And don’t forget to read Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea,” if you haven’t already. In fact, I think it was Christy who turned me on to it.

Powder-sugary snow in central MN. Bird feeders need filling. And saw a wonderful community ballet company’s rendition of “The Nutcracker” last night. Loverly.

Yes, me too. Very pleasant to have someone in the foreign policy area who talks sense.

If you don’t log out when you leave, you don’t have to log in when you come back.

“Three Cups of Tea” being non-fic about Mortenson’s efforts to build schools for girls in Afghanistan, btw.

Unless you clear cookies, though, right? I never thought of that when I do my daily cookie purge. (How disgusting is THAT?)

I love The Nutcracker! I used to take my daughter to see it. I really love the music.

Oh, I don’t know about that. I never clear cookies.

My favorite is NYC Ballet version, especially when gigantic tree gets pulled up. Have seen it plenty of times, though, so no more.

Why do you purge your cookies every day? They’re only 1KB files and sites load faster because of them.

or listen by podcast

Good question! I have no answer for it. The dog did it! Oh, wait, I don’t have a dog . . . .

Thanks for this video! One more video to get my blood pumping. I love the part where Babs & George Bush are getting an ear full!

We have that gigantic Christmas tree here in Flint, too. Of course we have local people but it’s a good production. Sometimes the lead role is danced by black guy!

My favorite part is when the chorus is singing on the side of the stage. I can’t remember which dance that is but it makes me feel high like I’m meditating.

In terms of air defense, it didn’t take a lot of trickery. NORAD and the air defense system, from the inception, was set up to identify and/or intercept inbound aircraft crossing the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Scrambling and intercepting any aircraft flying within U.S. airspace was a rare occurance and could not be designed to successfully prevent an aircraft from infringing on prohibited areas, but rather to identify them and sanction guilty pilots after the fact.

As far as the FAA, the pressure placed on the FAA at the time of 9/11, by airlines and politicians, was to increase capacity. The FAA was in the process of studying all sorts of methods to allow more passenger aircraft to depart the limited number of runways within the limited time frames they all wanted to depart. The most obvious shortcomming leading to 9/11 was the failure to sufficiently limit passenger carryone items, but the public would have revolted at any closer scrutiny during a time when their main complaint was flight delays. Additionally, airlines would have squawked at any requirement to have secure aircraft doors to the cockpit.

at least with regards to science, i don’t know exactly what relevant means.

It was a wonderful gig. Local community ballet company. Performances ranging from adorable through pretty good to pretty spectacular. The Sugar Plum and Cavalier were fabulous! (At least, I think that’s the roles they danced.)

Morning SD, Speaking of loading faster, why do I have so much trouble with Huffpo? Takes forever and if I go from there to one of the articles it is slow. When I try to go back I have to drop down on the back button because there are four entries for the article.

There’s that too.

I’m using the term in a very unscientific general way. More wrt to the economic consequences than anything else. But even there, I’m out of my depth in figuring out what science is economically productive and what isn’t. And I certainly wouldn’t want to include all fundamental science research as not relevant just because it has no short term economic payback. I’m sure there are economists who do that kind of evaluation, but I’m not familiar with that work.

caller into WJ talking about the need for missile defense. guest says she agrees with obama that the tech is not not yet working.

argh.

does that mean more research would be relevant? *g*

Did they know from the get-go that the space program would be economically productive wrt technical evolution that moved into venues well beyond NASA?

Mornin’, fhm. Off the top of my head it’s due to the layout of the site. Sites like CNN don’t have a lot of graphics on the home page, mostly links. Huffington has lots of stills plus links. If you have an ISP that doesn’t have a higher transmission rate that will slow things down. I’ve noticed that on Huffington clicking on one link will take to you a page with more graphics and links to stories that don’t appear on the home page. I’m with Verizon DSL and have mucho memory and processor speed and it even loads slowly for me.

More wrt to the economic consequences than anything else.

ah. ok.

That’s why it’s important to keep research open. You have to be careful not to allow politics to limit research. It’s kind of like tenure for professors– there’s a downside but allowing free pursuit of ideas is key to healthy universities.

maybe overloaded servers?

That orginated as a national pride thing in response to Sputnik.

Right, but it makes me wonder how many broadly speculative research initiatives have unanticipated payback, and who makes triage decisions?

Thanks, I am on Quest DSL but was wondering why there are four listings in the back button for one site.

Mornin’, selise. No, I don’t think it’s a server thing. Huffington has enough money that servers shouldn’t be a problem. I think the complexity of the site is the main reason. BuzzFlash is a much smaller operation that uses only links and there are more items on its home page than Huffington any day.

four listings in the back button for one site.

Could you describe that in more detail?

As I said, I think economists have taken a crack at that but I’m not familiar with that work.

Key Q is not whether research is good or bad, but rather what is the optimal level, including the probability of long-term paybacks of blue sky research.

don’t have any answers that satisfy me, but the problem with letting tax payer supported scientists have free reign on what to study is that they don’t represent the population as a whole - so their interests are not necessarily very well aligned with the people who fund them. an argument for diversity in the profession, but that’s hardly sufficient.

Who should answer that, scientists or economists?

by complexity do you mean page size or fancy javascript or something else?

The alternative is corporate supported scientists who represent the people even less.

… isn’t it amazing how difficult it is to find one that hasn’t failed?

possible answer: The part of the Post Office that delivers junk mail.

MMMMMgood morning pups. What’s up?
Snow and Nutcrackers. Coffee and a little crazy?
Ah, it’ a good Sunday morning.
Nice to see my friends happy finger tapping today.

Sounds like a joint project to me.

Glad you weighed in on that.

Kristol on Fox: Obama is not the change. He will continue Bush’s foreign policy.

The alternative is corporate supported scientists who represent the people even less.

no, no, no. yuck.

i just think there needs to be some thought given to some kind of on going conversation/process/i-don’t-know that give the taxpaying public a role in the decision making process - that it shouldn’t be left only to the scientists who are doing the research.

I think the same thing. Photos and videos slow things down. When I get impatient with the slow loading, I zip over to buzzflash too.

A combination of things. Used to be that everything was in html, then java and javascript made their appearance and now we have xml, NET and all sorts of stuff. Flash players are everywhere. All this stuff is embedded in the code, which you can see by clicking on Page Source on the View menu. The more tricks in the code the slower the page loads and operates.

that’s my view - that there are lots of different interests and expertise that imo needs to have a voice/role in the process.

just don’t have any idea what a process that does that would look like.

OK, you got a joint?

Well seriously, I agree with that. I thought that was how it’s done currently. Scientists write grant proposals to get funding. Somebody at a government agency who knows about economics decides which projects are funded.

Yeah, see my comment at 91. I think we all basically agree. :-)

i’ve noted that some javascripts run very slow for me (on my old ibook) but i think that’s a function of my processor speed (or lack thereof). still fumbling around trying to teach myself some of this wo the discipline of serious study.

Don’t do joints. My drug of choice is liquor.

I was thinking about evaluation after the fact. To try to determine what the optimal amount of $$ to allocate to supporting research.

Moving upstairs.

The more Java that’s embedded the slower the page will run. Java, as opposed to C or C++, is interpreted rather than compiled. It reads each line of code every time it’s run. That’s what allows Java to run on any platform. Windoze has a Java Virtual Machine that allows Java to run on Windoze. IIRC that’s not the case with a Mac OS or Linux.

thanks!

Heaven help the future should the creationists, the conceptionists, the anti-stem-cellists, the right to lifeists be given a voice over the direction research is to take. The scientists haven’t proven to be that bad in their self-direction to date; not perfect but light years ahead of their corporate, political, and economic brethren. Without training and education, are your opinions of any value other than as opinions? Be very careful about your answer, the result could kill off research altogether, or leave research in the control of monied interests.

I think the problem with HuffPo is as some suggested, they just put too much graphic and other data intensive crap on every page. This isn’t to say I don’t like HuffPo, but they could perhaps be more considerate of those who live without an excessive amount of bandwidth at their disposal. In the sticks where I live many don’t even have the option of high speed unless they opt for excessively expensive satellite based connections, no cable or even DSL for those too far removed from the last switch on the POTS (plain old phone system).

Now to seemingly almost go Off Topic by actually referring to the talking heads of Sunday Morning, or the Pundits of Puke as they so often seem to me, I would like to say how impressed I was with Ted Turner’s appearance on Press the Meat.

I found his straightforward honesty refreshing, especially his ability to push back whenever necessary to his fellow Montana land baron Brokaw’s stubborn attempts to ignore reality.

His refusal to give Brokaw a free pass to demonize Putin, or ignore the American culpability in the deteriorating relations between Russia and the US had me almost spilling my coffee as I tried to cheer and clap. As a native of America with too much self respect to live there, I get so tired of the continually expressed sense of American Exceptionalism and the idea that America can do no wrong. To see a man who has benefited from the opportunities that America CAN provide call a spade a spade is truly refreshing and to watch Brokaw sputter and show his stupidity a pleasure indeed.

Perhaps the statement about self respect is too harsh, but many years ago due to personal contact I lost all respect for the US Department of Justice, even though I won my personal battle with them, and have long since discovered a place much more comfortable to live. My chosen home isn’t paradise either, perhaps paradise isn’t accessible on this plane, but at least I manage to live without being surrounded by jingoistic, ill-informed people who spend their time arguing about issues that to much of the world aren’t even in dispute.

I also liked the brief discussion of Christianity and the way Ted Turner pointed out that labels aside, or no matter what he and Jane Fonda agree or disagree about, that with his ACTIONS working for peace and fighting poverty, and devoting some of his wealth to those less fortunate and/or the common good, he felt he was at least acting in a Christian manner. I could only think about those agents of intolerance whose idea of Christianity is more about what everybody else does or shouldn’t do, while they live lives of greed, violence and intolerance.

Then at the end of the show, for the MTP minute, I thought it an excellent touch to show a segment of Eleanor Roosevelt, pushing back herself to the same sort of head in the sand, self important yet ignorant questioning that Brokaw this morning showed is alive and well fify-one years later. Perhaps someone involved in putting the show together, obviously not Broken Record Brokaw, saw the symmetry of ending the show with this particular clip at a time when it appears you will once again have an intelligent and compassionate First Lady.

Are you familiar with EPU in firedog folklore? A wonderful commentor who always posted after everyone else had left the thread.

Thanks for the posting. I love the Lake!

Selise, maybe I can further clarify by saying that it is a matter of competency which should be addressed. With the state of public competency as it is, the public is poor material to use to decide such issues. About the only people showing competency are the scientists themselves and on the whole have conducted themselves exemplarily in reaching such decisions. Look back the last forty years at public competency at selecting their political leadership to get my drift. ;-)

I have something to ask that is totally off-topic:

Why is it necessary for Clinton to disclose his client base for his wife to be Secretary of State when no one demanded Bush pere disclose the client base of the Carlyle Group before his moron son was appointed president?

Without training and education, are your opinions of any value other than as opinions?

imo all the people paying the bills (ie the taxpayers) should have some voice in the research priorities. by this i mean priorities. for example how much should be spent on infectious disease research vs alternative energy. also, i’m a big fan of stiglitz’s proposal for prizes (big ones) in lieu of patents. the public’s priorities should also, imo, be reflected in the prizes (number and size) but this is aimed more at industry than academic science.

the technical/scientific approaches to fund i would give more weight to the scientific community (however that should be defined) via something like a modified nih study section.

like i said above though, i really don’t have any answers that satisfy me - just issues and interests that i’d like to see addressed.

About the only people showing competency are the scientists themselves and on the whole have conducted themselves exemplarily in reaching such decisions.

707!!!

hahaha. this is obviously where our thinking REALLY diverges. *g*

new thread upstairs, folks

Yeah, I’m familiar with the EPU phenomena. I have to get up at 6:00am PST to even see MTP, but even while I’m watching it it seems that all the pups have already moved on, if they were discussing the talking heads at all, rather than what everybody is having for breakfast.

BTW, I don’t get to see Face the Nation these days on my Seattle affiliate until 11:30pm tonite, if I’m even still up and about by then. But it is now approaching 9:00am PST and I’m going to subject myself to George S+many letters and George Will not be Right!