Lectiones
Roviana
- Conspiracy Theory Dep’t (not that we need them—the stuff we know is bad enough).
Torture
- Churchill said “We don’t torture”. It was a big lie then too. Warning: the details are nasty.
- Jesus was tortured, so God must like torture, so it’s OK. For us to torture them, I mean. The bad guys, I mean.
- For the “not-me” file. Condi says: “I didn’t authorize torture, I just passed on the orders of those who did”. Maybe she really doesn’t understand that this doesn’t help.
- Nice idea: the US should exhibit contrition for its crimes.
New makeup
- On the bright side, I think this may help to drive the word “rebranding” out of polite discourse.
War
- Smarts and local knowledge win again over “superior firepower”. Plus: hearts and minds revisited. (This is one of the seven stages of failed foreign intervention. Next stage: our honor requires us to kill more people before we leave.)
Disease
- Let not the flu of swine enter thy body, saith the Lord. But with the Mexican thou mayst consort.
- Key phrases: “Ponzified risk management” … “exchanging pathogens at blinding velocity”.
- Pig earth revisited (Missouri is no. 6 in hog production).
Banks and other robbers
- Chrysler’s fate is in the hands of hedge funds. This is like having an undertaker in charge of your health.
- Congress and Geithner are wholly owned subsidiaries of the banks.
- In Sweden, on the other hand, the government owned the banks. But of course they’re socialists. The country must be run by women (see the last item below).
It’s not a recession. The economy’s just taking a little nap
- April reports: things are not improving soon.
- Starbucks profit down 77%.
- From model home to demolition, without that time-consuming intermediate phase of “habitation”.
Dirt
- The First Lady digs a little.
Feelings all the way down
- Fish feel pain. So do crabs. Another step on the path to panpsychism.
Treats from the Cato Institute
- Silly women don’t understand that libertarianism is good for them.
May 1, 2009
in Current Affairs
Sunday cat pix
A day at the fur factory.
Josie, 29 Apr 2009
Musa sniffs the air. Move the cursor over the pic to see Musa move.
Musa, 30 Apr 2009
May 4, 2009
in Cats
Pattern of the week
Sunday cat pix
The folded-paw stage of sleep.
Musa, 9 May 2009
May 11, 2009
in Cats
Sound of the week
Roun’ roun’ (4′49″).
Patterns of the week
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Sunday cat pix
Musa greets LG as he passes by.
Musa & LG, 9 May 2009
May 17, 2009
in Cats
We read stuff
Plus ça change
Obama’s new guy in Afghanistan set up a torture camp in Iraq. He denied access to the Red Cross. He was in charge of Iraq’s version of the Phoenix program, the purpose of which was the covert killing of people regarded as “insurgents”. He was part of the coverup of Pat Tillman’s death.
The opium trade in Afganistan is flourishing again. For some reason, Karzai’s brother wants to keep this good news secret.
You get the feeling that other than blowing things up and torturing people, the US Army hasn’t had much to do lately. But they are good at blowing things up.
Of course it doesn’t help that the people in charge don’t have a plan. (“Firing the field commander” is not a plan. It is, however, one of the Stages of Failed Foreign Interventions. In Pakistan, we are still on one of the early steps, roughly the Diem stage, supporting—or coercing—the government in its attempts to eradicate “militants”.)
Even more change
The chairman of the NY Fed, who has now resigned, had an interest in Goldman Sachs. It paid off: the 37,300 shares he bought in December have increased in value by $1.7 million.
Some see a problem. But I thought that abusing offshore tax havens was of the very essence of free trade.
Not corrupt
Joanna Lumley goes to bat for the Gurkhas.
The NYT goes to Toronto. Strange how every town looks like every other town in articles like this.
May 18, 2009
in Current Affairs
Wednesday garden pix
Peony with friend.
Update: actually not a friend; it’s a cucumber beetle; they eat flowers.
12 May 2009
Sunday cat pix
Musa under wraps. Bubble, that is.
Musa, 23 May 2009
May 25, 2009
in Cats