Why Wall Street Always Blows It - The Atlantic (December 2008)

Plenty of blame to go around and don't think it doesn't touch you 'cuz it does...

21 Dumbest Moments in Business 2008 -- FORTUNE

Yes, it's one of those "click for a new page" deals that some sites use to pad their numbers, but here's a summary of the awful that's worth a few cringe-inducing, chuckle-releasing minutes.

All Spin Zone -- Alberto Gonzales Can’t Find a Job, Whines

Seeing as how it is the holiday season and all, I'll limit Myself to a bland "Fuck you, Alberto."

Religion may have evolved because of its ability to help people exercise self-control | Science Codex

Religion may have evolved because of its ability to help people exercise self-control | Science Codex:

"Self-control is critical for success in life, and a new study by University of Miami professor of Psychology Michael McCullough finds that religious people have more self-control than do their less religious counterparts. These findings imply that religious people may be better at pursuing and achieving long-term goals that are important to them and their religious groups. This, in turn, might help explain why religious people tend to have lower rates of substance abuse, better school achievement, less delinquency, better health behaviors, less depression, and longer lives."

Cornell Chronicle: Pocket-sized therapeutic ultrasound device

Cornell Chronicle: Pocket-sized therapeutic ultrasound device:

"Ultrasound is commonly used as a nondestructive imaging technique in medical settings. Sound waves, inaudible to humans, can generate images through soft tissue, allowing, for instance, a pregnant woman to view images of her baby. But the higher-energy ultrasound that Lewis works with can treat such conditions as prostate tumors or kidney stones by breaking them up. His devices also can relieve arthritis pressure and even help treat brain cancer by pushing drugs quickly through the brain following surgery.

(Inventor George K.) Lewis suggests that his technology could lead to such innovations as cell phone-size devices that military medics could carry to cauterize bleeding wounds, or dental machines to enable the body to instantly absorb locally injected anesthetic.

Lewis miniaturized the ultrasound device by increasing its efficiency. Traditional devices apply 500-volt signals across a transducer to convert the voltage to sound waves, but in the process, about half the energy is lost. In the laboratory, Lewis has devised a way to transfer 95 percent of the source energy to the transducer."

Miniaturized medical devices for greater effectiveness and efficiency in health care... We may be on the verge of a revolution of unheralded proportions for Our world's population.

Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption - The New York Review of Books

"Perhaps the most egregious case exposed so far by Senator Grassley is that of Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, chair of Emory University's department of psychiatry and, along with Schatzberg, coeditor of the influential Textbook of Psychopharmacology.[2] Nemeroff was the principal investigator on a five-year $3.95 million National Institute of Mental Health grant—of which $1.35 million went to Emory for overhead—to study several drugs made by GlaxoSmithKline. To comply with university and government regulations, he was required to disclose to Emory income from GlaxoSmithKline, and Emory was required to report amounts over $10,000 per year to the National Institutes of Health, along with assurances that the conflict of interest would be managed or eliminated.

But according to Senator Grassley, who compared Emory's records with those from the company, Nemeroff failed to disclose approximately $500,000 he received from GlaxoSmithKline for giving dozens of talks promoting the company's drugs. In June 2004, a year into the grant, Emory conducted its own investigation of Nemeroff's activities, and found multiple violations of its policies. Nemeroff responded by assuring Emory in a memorandum, "In view of the NIMH/Emory/GSK grant, I shall limit my consulting to GSK to under $10,000/year and I have informed GSK of this policy." Yet that same year, he received $171,031 from the company, while he reported to Emory just $9,999—a dollar shy of the $10,000 threshold for reporting to the National Institutes of Health."

Comparing the Great Depression With the Crisis of 2008 - InformedTrades

Comparing the Great Depression With the Crisis of 2008 - InformedTrades

No snip; just go read it. It'll take about 4 minutes and leave you wondering about what happened then and what will happen now.

Cheney's Legacy of Deception

The Nation.com

"That lame-duck Cheney was bellowing his claim of innocence in a series of friendly interviews should have been expected. For he, like the president he served, can use the self-proclaimed "global war on terror" as a convenient cover for eight years of treachery on all fronts: "If you think about what Abraham Lincoln did during the Civil War, what FDR did during World War II; they went far beyond anything we've done in a global war on terror." 

Actually, neither of those presidents authorized the waterboarding of prisoners or the other explicit acts of torture approved by this administration largely under the vice president's direction. But the true absurdity of Cheney's self-defense is in placing the nebulous war on terror at the same level of threat as the civil war that tore apart this country or the Nazi military machine that rumbled unstoppable across most of Europe, augmented by the military might of Japan. 

The invocation of a "global war on terror" is a big-lie propaganda device that has no grounding in reality. The proof that "terrorism" does not exist as an enemy identifiable by commonality of structure, purpose and leadership comparable to the World War II Axis or the Confederacy can be found in its use as a target to justify the invasion of Iraq. An invasion billed as a response to the 9/11 attacks, which had nothing to do with Iraq. 

The Bush administration, with Cheney in the lead, did not so much fight the danger of terrorism as exploit it for partisan political purpose. The record is quite clear that the administration was asleep at the switch before 9/11, blithely ignoring stark warnings of an impending attack. But the hoary warmongering after 9/11 afforded a convenient distraction from the economic problems at home. As I asked in a column on June 26, 2002: 'Has the war on terrorism become the modern equivalent of the Roman circus, drawing the people's attention away from the failures of those who rule them? Corporate America is a shambles because deregulation, the mantra of our president and his party, has proved to be a license to steal.'"

Emptywheel: Turnabout Would Be Fair Play: US Seeks 147 Year Torture Sentence

"U.S. prosecutors want a Miami judge to sentence the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 147 years in prison for torturing people when he was chief of a brutal paramilitary unit during his father's reign.
...
A recent Justice Department court filing describes torture — which the U.S. has been accused of in the war on terror — as a "flagrant and pernicious abuse of power and authority" that warrants severe punishment of Taylor.

'It undermines respect for and trust in authority, government and a rule of law," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Heck Miller in last week's filing. "The gravity of the offense of torture is beyond dispute.'"

Ha.

No, really: Ha. For torture the moron should get more than 147 years. And so should Taylor fils.

The Existentialist Cowboy: The US Army Document That Proves the US is the World's Number One Sponsor of World Terrorism

"In a 'manual' which is officially to be released only to 'students from foreign countries on a case-by-case basis only', the US Army outlines a program of what it now calls 'irregular warfare', in fact US state sponsored terrorism, insurgency, and PSYOPS. 

1-21. Waging protracted IW depends on building global capability and capacity. IW will not be won by the United States alone but rather through combined efforts with multinational partners. Combined IW [Irregular Warfare, euphemism for TERRORISM] will require the joint force to establish a long-term sustained presence in numerous countries to build partner capability and capacity. This capability and capacity extends U.S. operational reach, multiplies forces available, and provides increased options for defeating adversaries. The constituent activities of IW are: 

* Insurgency.
* COIN. (counterinsurgency)
* UW. (unconventional warfare)
* Terrorism
* CT. (counterterrorism)
* FID. (foreign internal defense)
* Stability, security, transition, and reconstruction (SSTR) operations.
* Strategic communication (SC).
* PSYOP. (psychological operations)
* Civil-military operations (CMO).
* Information operations (IO).
* Intelligence and counterintelligence (CI) activities.
* Transnational criminal activities, including narco-trafficking, illicit arms dealing, and illegal financial transactions that support or sustain IW. 
* Law enforcement activities focused on countering irregular adversaries.

1-22. The above list of operations and activities can be conducted within IW;
...
--Headquarters, Department of the Army, Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare, September 2008[PDF]" (Some Emphasis Mine.)

Read this list carefully. It defines what the U.S. of part of A. armed forces are now engaging in and will engage in to "fight" terrorism. With terrorism. With crime. With extensive violations of domestic and international law and open disregard for a foreign nation's sovereignty.

Is this the operations manual of a democratic country that purportedly stands for a moral and political high ground? Or is this the guidebook of a rogue state? 

The U.S. of part of A. spends more on its military than the next 15 countries combined. What does that kind of money and a rogue state combined mean?

The Noose Tightens | Newsweek.com

"But for those interested in tougher sanctions, one other possibility looms. Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and author of 'The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld,' points out that over 20 countries now have universal jurisdiction laws that would allow them to indict U.S. officials for torture if America doesn't do it itself. A few such cases were attempted in recent years but were dropped, reportedly under U.S. pressure. Now the Obama administration may be less likely to stand in their way. This doesn't mean it will extradite Cheney and Co. to stand trial abroad. But at the very least, the threat of such suits could soon force Bush aides to think twice before buying plane tickets. 'The world is getting smaller for these guys,' says Ratner, 'and they'll have to check with their lawyers very carefully before they travel.' Jail time it isn't—but it may be some justice nonetheless."

Here's an idea for President-elect Obama: Send those 20 or so countries tons of foreign aid money (it's not like We give a damn about debt, do We?) and let them do Our dirty work for Us. 

It's not like you're really going to do anything right about this, eh, Mr. President-elect? Why don't you surprise Me, okay?

Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

News.AOL.com:

"Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

'Katrina to me was the tipping point,' said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. 'The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter.'

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: 'Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin.'"

Oh, and Let's not forget the thousands upon thousands of people who lost their homes, their livelihoods and some of them even their lives during Katrina. Okay?

The Raw Story | Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse

"Deepening economic strife in the US could lead to civil unrest and violence that would require military intervention, warns a new report from the US Army War College.

'Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,' writes Nathan Freier, a 20-year Army veteran and visiting professor at the college.

A copy of the 44-page report, 'Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic Shocks' in Defense Strategy Development,' can be downloaded here. Freier notes that his report expresses only his own views and does not represent US policy, but it's certain that his recommendations have come before at least some Defense Department officials."

Have you noticed how the tone of the story has changed, from a sense of "WTF?" to "Here's a topic for discussion."

Here's My response: This is wrong, very wrong and absolutely wrong. There is NO justification for prepping and implementing a military force within U.S. soil to serve as a watchdog, an armed-to-the-teeth watchdog, whose sole purpose is to impose the government's will--it's will--on the people.

Webb Sets His Sights On Prison Reform

Washington Post.com:

"In speeches and in a book that devotes a chapter to prison issues, (Senator James) Webb describes a U.S. prison system that is deeply flawed in how it targets, punishes and releases those identified as criminals.

With 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States has imprisoned a higher percentage of its population than any other nation, according to the Pew Center on the States and other groups. Although the United States has only 5 percent of the world's population, it has 25 percent of its prison population, Webb says.

A disproportionate number of those who are incarcerated are black, Webb notes. African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but they comprise more than half of all prison inmates, compared with one-third two decades ago. Today, Webb says, a black man without a high school diploma has a 60 percent chance of going to prison." (Emphasis Mine.)

Oh, yeah, the system's fair. Of course it is. Uh-huh. Sure. No question. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now how about you sell Me some more of that swamp land in Lower Bumhole?

The Memory Hole -- The Anti-war Speech That Earned Eugene Debs 10 Years in Prison

"They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people. 

And here let me emphasize the fact--and it cannot be repeated too often--that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation. If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace... 

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain... 

They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches." (Emphasis Mine.)

This speech, so sadly relevant today, was given by Eugene Debs on June 16th, 1918. For it, he was prosecuted under the Sedition Act, sentenced to 10 years in prison and stripped of his U.S. of part of A. citizenship.

Lest you wonder, the Sedition Act was repealed in 1921, but under the murderous moron's regime, you can be arrested simply under suspicion of anti-war activities (considered to be "domestic terrorism") and unlike Debs in 1918, you would now have no recourse to protection in a civil court... because habeas corpus no longer applies.

Happy New Year.

Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent

"Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated 'terrorism'. So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles."

If your actions--especially your attacks--are spitting images of apartheid, terrorism and fascism, you cannot, you simply cannot claim to be a different case. You are what you are: a bully, backed by a superior number of weapons, imposing your will by force. You are nothing but a thug.

Did Bush surround himself with demented people? -- Will Rhodes Portmanteau

As My dad used to say, an idiot can always find other idiots to applaud and support him. In this case, too many of Us acted the part of "supporting idiots."

Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009 | War On You

I checked out all but numbers 19 and 22. 

Bernie's funda-mental defense

New York Daily News.com:

"If you thought Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.

“Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.”

Madoff’s grip on reality does show signs of slipping. The 70-year-old financier, now a prisoner of his East Side penthouse, wore a weird smile when he was photographed shortly after his Dec. 12 arrest. He’s also said to be taking a heavy dose of anti-anxiety medication."

The guy takes investors for $50 billion, dating back to the 70s, and the defense is "He didn't know what he was doing?!"

Uh-huh. And the Queen of England is Xeno, the Scientology lizard-dork from outer space.

Kevin Drum - Mother Jones Blog: Nightmare on Main Street

"AlixPartners LLP, a Michigan-based turnaround consulting firm, estimates that 25.8% of 182 large retailers it tracks are at significant risk of filing for bankruptcy or facing financial distress in 2009 or 2010."

How bad is this? Let Me quote from this brief article, again: "Lawrence Gottlieb, a New York bankruptcy attorney at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP says that only two retailers have successfully emerged from bankruptcy proceedings since the amendments to the code were passed."

Hmm... E-commerce, anyone?