« September 13, 2009 - September 19, 2009 | Main | September 27, 2009 - October 3, 2009 »

September 26, 2009

RayFltr --- state/secrets - multitasking - banks - contradictions - Israel

Good story - higher bar for 'state secrets' - hopefully this might decrease the amount of 'cya' classification ---
...
Good story - for me - multitasking - maybe I'm not as incompetent as I thought - they really don't have special skills - just less attention - freedom? - from work? - oversight? - just busy? - Ellen Goodman - I really liked this - my bias of course ---
...
Banks don't want regulation - there may be problems but trust us to address them - let's look forward - so we can get our bonuses moving again? ---
...
This MoJo piece shows what the problem is - McCain lambasted Obama for pulling the missile defense out of Poland and Czech - said he didn't know anything about the 'new' system - wrong - he actually earlier said that Obama should rely more on the Aegis system - tried and tested - how politicians contradict themselves and aren't called to account by the MSM ---
...
And more internal contradictions - healthcare reform - circular reasoning - Cantor - use an existing governmental program or find charity - huh? - everyone should have access to a program but not public option - double huh ---
...
And also ACORN - important definitive background story - why is the reaction against ACORN so much more than against KBR whose electrical work in Iraq electrocuted soldiers? - tax advisors on Wall Street whose work resulted in people losing their homes and crashing the entire financial system? - there is no defense for what ACORN did but fraud is endemic in military contracts and nothing happens ---
...
Lifestyles - insurance execs. - non-profit is meaningless when it comes to exec compensation - why should a non-profit taking advantage of the tax system pay its execs more than the US prez? - taking over the insurance cos could pay for the healthcare reform ---
...
Another firm cuts retiree health benefits - healthcare crisis? - of course not - huh? ---
...
A different perspective on chicken and fish - extreme? - maybe - grains of truth? - probably - just reinforces my belief - moderation - in  everything ---
...
Garrison Keillor and the American spirit of middle-finger contrarianism ---
...
And Israel - we caved again - I don't understand why we continue to give Israel $3 billion to free up their fungible funds to build settlements ---
...
...it is clear what he (Obama) should do next, which is make American support, economic, military and diplomatic support for Israel, conditional on a complete settlement freeze.
--- Avi Shlaim   Israeli historian, professor of international relations at the University of Oxford
...
This is so true it hurts ---
zzzzzzzzz
60s/70s - light rain - really great weather continues - enjoy the weekend

September 26, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 25, 2009

Letters to --- WashPost - CIA - murder - law


Dear Editors:
 
You recently ran an article that seven former CIA directors urged President Obama to end the investigation of CIA employees because "it would inhibit intelligence operations in the future...".   Based on the limited knowledge we have gained over actions of the past eight years; it would seem that operations should be inhibited.   If the 'cya' classified information was also made available, I'm sure it would be even more demanded.
 
That seven former directors feel that murder should not be investigated - remember these are essentially the only cases that will be investigated - says more about their morality, ethics, and disinterest in ensuring that our nation's actions are based on law than anything else.   It shows the extent to which a certain group of individuals feel that they are above the law and should not be held accountable.   This is reprehensible and is a solid indication that we need a through investigation from top to bottom.   Where is Congress?
 
Sincerely,

September 25, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 24, 2009

Letters to --- WashPost - ombudsman - reporting bias

Forgive me, but on reading your piece I had to laugh.   After a summer of stories about anti-healthcare reform quotes from conservatives repeated ad nauseam, after the unbelievable coverage of 'their day' on the mall, to say that they don't receive 'coverage' is absurd.   I don't remember that much coverage of other 'marches' or whatever.   The Post did have a few stories about the need for reform lately but it is too late as the repeated negatives are set in peoples' minds now.   One has to wonder what the situation would be if the Post had devoted as much space/time to examples of people without healthcare as to the anti group.   Isn't that more substance than just wild quotes?   Where were the indepth pieces on why 45,000 people die each year because they don't have insurance?   Where were the stories of 100,000 people dying each year because of medical errors?  Where were the stories of a majority of physicians and nurses wanting a public option?    If these stories had been repeated as often as the negative anti-reform pieces, people would understand why the push to reform the system.  
 
Regarding Van Jones, did the Post draw attention to the contradiction in the conservative push to get Van Jones because of past activities resulting in his resignation but the pushback against considering candidate McDonnell's past activities as being important, let alone his withdrawing?
 
Last week there were several articles about candidate Deeds - all negative.   The front page article had leads to other articles in the paper with the leads themselves being negative.   It wasn't until near the end that it was acknowledged that some business people had doubts about McDonnell.   Where was the question about what the 'net' benefit over 10 years of selling the liquor stores would be and what that would buy in transportation?   Where does McDonnell think he can put toll roads in Northern Virginia?   McDonnell doesn't think he will have to take funds from education because the economy will grow - huh?   The Republicans hit Kaine hard on having a 'rosy' outlook.
 
I have always loved the Post as a paper of record.  It is with dismay that I see what it has become.   I used to spend several hours reading Outlook because it had really solid pieces on substance not just the 'politics'; now I don't spend more than 10 minutes.   I'm not sure how long I'll feel like subsidizing the Post web site as it gets news that doesn't appear in print and it's free.   Now there's an idea for an article on the changing news picture - base it on the 'tragedy of the commons' as found in development literature.
 
Sincerely,

September 24, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 23, 2009

RayFltr --- healthcare - torture - teaparty/JohnBirchers - Gaza

 A question I think we all ask - why hasn't anyone from the Wall Street Casino gone to the slammer? ---
...
Healthcare - 45,000 die annually because of lack of insurance - 100,000 die annually because of medical errors - the system isn't broken? - what are they smoking? ---
...
Rockefeller won't vote for the Baucus plan - which will it be? - don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good -  or - don't let the terrible be the ally of the expedient ---
...
Torture - still? - again? - a short piece on why we must not quit - David Cole ---
...
But we must not forget ---
For every one torturer, there are a thousand people ready to risk their lives to save another.   For every soldier who shoots in a neighborhood, there are a thousand companeros who help and protect each other.
--- Isabel Allende
...
Forgive me for reading about manufacturing  but I liked this also - an extreme - no organization chart, no titles etc. - anarchy? - it works - admittedly may not be possible in other contexts - but ---
...
Is the right-wing hatred now similar to that before Kennedy's assassination? - is the tea-party similar to the John Birchers? - some of the statements about Obama are identical to those against Kennedy - we lived in Mississippi at the time of Kennedy's assassinations and it is true that school children danced and shouted for joy when the news came out - really scary ---
...
One in three conservatives from New Jersey believe Obama is the anti-Christ - you can't rebuild the village to suit the village idiot - is it fixable? ---
...
Southern Gentleman ---
...
Tom Tomorrow - our post-racial society ---
...
Bill Moyers/Sam Tanenhaus - Conservative Radicals - Politics of Vengeance - intellectual conservatism is dead - long but some good insights - also makes connection of John Birchers and Tea Party ---
...
James Carroll on the Gaza war report ---
zzzzz
60s/70s - how long can it last? - first day of autumn - enjoy it - be outside

September 23, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 21, 2009

Letters to --- The Nation - food - Africa


Dear Editors:
 
Thanks very much for your last issue on Food.   There is so much of it that I agree with based on my thirty years experience in Int'l Agriculture in more than 30 countries.   Every time that I entered a country for assessment, evaluation, or design; I would ask myself what would happen if the farmers were guaranteed world prices and in US dollars and in most cases the problems wouldn't be production or technology.
 
In Mali, one year the farmers couldn't afford to haul their millet to market because the price was so low.   The next year they didn't have a crop and food aid was required.   In India, there was a major impact when a million acres of new irrigation had been developed.   Less publicized was the fact that they lost almost that much irrigated land to salinization and drainage problems the same year.   Dependence on contract seed and high tech agriculture will require large operations and monocropping - what will happen to the small farmers displaced?   Jobs are not available and, for example in India, we're not talking a few million farmers moving to urban areas in search of livelihoods but hundreds of millions.
 
More effort must be placed on raising the average yield of the lowest yielding farmers - so they can stay on the farm - rather than increasing yields at the top.   Increasing yield from half a ton to a ton per hectare for these farmers will have a much greater impact on food, social stability, equity, and sustainability than increasing yields from 5 tons to 7 tons per hectare at the top.  It is, however, more difficult as it requires learning changes in cultural practices rather than just using fertilizers or water which too frequently result in long-term detrimental effects.
 
Sincerely,

September 21, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)