Month: May 2008

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Warns Troops to Stay out of Politics

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I’m not clear if what Admiral Mike Mullen’s, “open letter to all those in uniform”, means, but it is a highly unusual step.

It could be exactly what it says, a statement that, “The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways….It is and must always be a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway.”

It could be a slap at those Generals **cough** Petraeus **cough**, who have pimped themselves out to Bush and His Evil Minions™ war, or it could be an attempt to de-legitimize the protests of retired military officers, or it could mean exactly what it says.

My guess is that it’s an attempt at damage control. I see it as a recognition that the politicization of the military in the past 7 years will have dire consequences if not kept in check during the presidential election.

South Africa/Zimbabwe Update

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Morgan Tsvangirai has now returned to Zimbzbwe, and is campaigning in the runoff.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has changed his campaign tactics, trying to work with small groups, as opposed to his previous mass rallies, and he’s railing against both Tsvangirai and the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, which I think is a prelude to some more violence and intimidation from his “war veterans”.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, Thabo Mbeki is calling the violence against refugees in his country a “disgrace”.

Of course, the largest group of refugees, those from Zimbabwe, were as a direct result of his policies supporting Mugabe, and the tensions are a direct result of their numbers.

Damn! Forgot My Anniversary!!!

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Luckily, not my marriage, my blog. My wife* is far less forgiving about such things.

I did a test post of footnotes on may 1, and my first real post on May 9 which described why I was blogging.

This will be up here for a couple of days, so scroll down.

1 year, 4088 posts, and I’m half way to getting my first ad revenue check, which will go towards pampering my wife*.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Nuclear Waste Import Standoff

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This is a nice rundown of the sh^% storm coming down about the importation of nuclear waste from Italy for processing and disposal.

Obviously, it all has to go somewhere, and the proliferation issues involved with it staying somewhere unsafe bear some careful thought.

Beyond that, I have no comment….I am currently working in the biz, though not on this specific project, and it would be inappropriate for me to make any further comment.

French Defense Procurement Faces Draconian Cuts

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It currently looks like France will be engaging in large wholesale cuts in its defense procurement, with the, “Rafale (from 294 to 200), a second aircraft carrier (PA2) (cancellation), and FREMM multimission frigates (17 to 12)”, being target for significant cuts.

At its core, someone needs to recognize that new weapons systems have become too damn expensive, with costs outpacing the ability to pay for them.

Innovative Helo Update

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Flight International is reporting that Sikorski’s X2 technology demonstrator is doing ground tests on its rotor system, and that Boeing’s A160T helo drone set an endurance record (18.7 hours) this month.

The former uses coaxial blades to offload the retreating blades, and allows for increased top speed, and the latter uses a variable speed rotor to increase efficiency to match the needs of the specific flight regime.

X2 technology demonstrator


A160 T

A Point on the Bear Stearns Bailout

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In the Washington Independent, Jonathan Macey asks a very important question, one that I missed completely: If Bear Stearns was too big to allow it to fail, why was it not broken up under antitrust laws?

In fact, there are plenty of tools at the regulators’ disposal to deal with systemic risk and other catastrophes before a cataclysmic event occurs. In particular, the purpose of the antitrust laws is to promote and protect competition and make sure that no single firm grows so large that it threatens the entire economy.

I’m kind of embarrassed to have missed this.

I would also note that if regulators want to be proactive, the best solution for everyone right now is to break up the large investment banks so that they aren’t too big to fail.

Go read.

Completely Bogus Government Statistics: Seasonal Adjustments to Inflation Edition

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I point you to some good work by Barry Ritholtz, who notes:

For example, crude energy materials “only” advanced 4.1% in April, with crude petroleum gaining 4.5 % and natural gas prices rising 4.3%. After the seasonal adjustments, these prices appeared rather odd: They showed energy prices falling by 0.2%, while gasoline costs dropping 4.6%.

It turns out that this all goes back into the numbers in July.

According to this article, if prices were flat, we would still see a 16.3% increase in July….Not pretty.

House Dems Looking to Short Circuit the Preemption Doctrine

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Over the past few years, an obscure legal concept called the preemption doctrine, has gained increasing currency in the Federal courts.

Basically, the concept is that if a medical product gets FDA approval, that this strips the consumer of any right to sue should it prove defective, even if deliberate wrong doing or a cover-up can be shown (think Viiox).

There has been a big push for this by Bush and His Evil Minions™, because they believe that poor people should not be able to inconvenience large companies.

In fact, the FDA supported consumer lawsuits as a way to help keep medical companies on their toes until 2002.

It now appears that Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is looking at eliminating this argument legislatively. He has started to hold hearings.

Point man for the Republicans is Connecticut’s 2nd most prominent prostitute*, Christopher Shays, who vehemently argued the administration’s position, “juries of laymen shouldn’t be usurping the rigorous decision-making process of federal scientists.”

Seeing as how politically appointed laymen are, “usurping the rigorous decision-making process of federal scientists”, throughout the Bush administration, this seems to me to be awfully weak tea.

In any case, I would expect legislation some time in 2009.

*Number 1 is Joe Lieberman….Come on, get with the program.

Should College be Necessary?

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Frequently, this question is phrased as, “Is college necessary?”, but to any observer, it is clear that the answer to that question is, “Yes”.

Increasingly, degrees, or more advanced degrees, are required for positions that in earlier times did not require this.

“Professor X”, who serves as an adjunct professor at a community college and a private liberal arts school, asks this question, and he concludes that the current educational requirements of our job market are unecessary.

An argument that the goal of universal College Education is not in the best interest of society.

The thesis is that much of education is a racket, with the modern American workplace as a co-conspirator. I agree.

Absurdity in IP, Hippo Birdie Two Ewes

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I found this as an interesting followup to yesterday’s Dr. Who based, “Knitting Needles of Mass Destruction”, we have the lowdown on the “Happy Birthday” song:

Abstract:
“Happy Birthday to You” is the best-known and most frequently sung song in the world. Many – including Justice Breyer in his dissent in Eldred v. Ashcroft – have portrayed it as an unoriginal work that is hardly worthy of copyright protection, but nonetheless remains under copyright. Yet close historical scrutiny reveals both of those assumptions to be false. The song that became “Happy Birthday to You,” originally written with different lyrics as “Good Morning to All,” was the product of intense creative labor, undertaken with copyright protection in mind. However, it is almost certainly no longer under copyright, due to a lack of evidence about who wrote the words; defective copyright notice; and a failure to file a proper renewal application.

Original paper here.