| Monday,
June 14, 2010
Flag Day
Happy Birthday, Roberta
Afghanistan:
Here's a game changer:
: So much for "Afghanistan has nothing we want"
Dr. Pournelle,
Drudge notes the New York Times is reporting that
they've discovered "Vast Riches of Mineral Wealth" in Afghanistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/
world/asia/14minerals.html?src=twt&twt
=nytimes&pagewanted=all . Now the fun really begins.
"The previously unknown deposits — including
huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals
like
lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential
to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into
one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States
officials believe.
"An internal Pentagon memo, for example,
states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a
key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and
BlackBerrys. "
-- Robin Juhl Past Chairman, San Antonio Tea Party
Of course we knew there was oil in Iraq, but we didn't do much about
that. When we first went into Iraq I would have thought the strategy was to
get the oil flowing. Pump oil, keep the price down to $20/bbl. The DOW would
go to 14000 or more and stay there. It looked good for that -- and then they
sent in Brenner, one of the most arrogantly incompetent proconsuls since
Roman times, and that all ended.
One wonders if someone somewhere hasn't known about Afghanistan's vast
mineral wealth for a long time? It's the first I have ever heard of it,
although I can't say it's astonishing given the geology. Whether that can
translate into actual wealth is another story.
While it could take many years to develop a
mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in
the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are
profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from
generations of war.
We'll see. It's certainly a potential game changer. And pretty clearly
the discoveries are relatively recent: I'd bet the Russians didn't know
about them.
A gold rush to Afghanistan?
====================
For a pretty good summary collection of views from here:
http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/2010/02/economic-political-wisdom-jerry.html
========================
The new aristocracy.
Item: Thirty one probation officers, with the status of peace officers,
cannot be fired because the investigation took longer than a year, even
though some of them have been convicted of child abuse (to their juvenile
charges), one was living in sin with a parole, one was convicted of sex with
a minor (one of her charges), etc. But the union demanded statute of
limitations for peace officers automatically clears them if the
investigation -- which drags on and on what with the way things are -- takes
more than a year.
Item: LA cannot fire incompetent teachers no matter how incompetent. That
appears to be pretty universal in these United States.
Item: read about the Mineral Management Service and the saga of the BP
wells. Regulatory agencies are often captured by those they regulate.
Astonishing.
Item:
America's Municipal Debt Racket :
Nearly 40 years ago the Garden State borrowed
$302 million to begin constructing the Meadowlands. The goal was to pay
off the bonds in 25 years. Although the project initially went according
to plan, politicians couldn't resist continually refinancing the bonds,
siphoning revenues from the complex into the state budget, and using the
good credit rating of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition authority to
borrow for other, unsuccessful building schemes.
Today, the authority that runs the
Meadowlands is in hock for $830 million, which it can't pay back. The
state, facing its own cavernous budget deficits, has had to assume
interest payments—about $100 million this year on bonds that still stretch
for decades.
The story is not unusual, and variations can be found in many cities and
states.
The usual condition of mankind is that most live at subsistence levels,
while a small number enjoy wealth that is great compared to everyone else.
Now in ancient times it was pretty hard to be all that much wealthier than
anyone else: the wealthiest on Earth could not have good teeth after age
fifty or so, or travel from London to Paris in a couple of hours, and only
the very wealthy could enjoy ice in summer; while all that is pretty well
available to anyone now. Or has been; the pinch is closing in. Subsistence
level -- poverty -- is defined differently in the US than it is in Kenya. Or
in Mexico. Only with enough open borders and spreading the wealth around,
how long before we see real poverty here? Given enough mouths to feed, any
place can find itself flooded with the homeless and the hungry. But the
aristocrats will continue to enjoy their privileges.
Item: the purpose of public education, in theory, is to teach skills that
will make the next generation productive. Productivity is the key to wealth.
Does anyone seriously suppose that this is the purpose of public education
now? Or that, if it were the purpose, that is being accomplished? The
purpose of public education is to support the employees of the public
education system. Anything else is a long way secondary to that.
I could continue, but surely the point is made? The purpose of government is
to hire and support government workers. Anything else is a long way
secondary to that.
Where is Madame Defarge now that we need her?
==========
I have just heard the President's press statements about the Oil Gush.
Apparently he is about to take inventory of the resources of the area, and
ask the experts what ought to be done with them. His boot is still on BP's
neck. I am not sure what arse he is kicking tonight.
I would have thought that taking inventory of resources and getting the
views of experts would have been done long ago, but Washington Beltway Time
is different.
==========
Lamar Alexander: An energy strategy for grownups.
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/
2010/06/12/an-energy-strategy-for-grown-ups/
===============
Query: I will shortly have to go somewhere that will not have high speed, so
I will have to use dialup. I have an EarthLink account which I used for
years, but that was on older machines. I have no idea how to set up a dialup
connection in Windows 7. EarthLink shows a number of choices for dialup
telephone numbers, but I have no way of knowing which is local to the phone
I will be using. It used to be that you simply dialed O and a nice friendly
person, generally a young lady, would tell you what you needed to know. I
have the feeling that the telephone probably doesn't work that way any more.
It has been a long time since I was stuck with dialup and I have forgotten
how to do it.
I will be using the ThinkPad with 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. Any
suggestions welcomed.
Setting up a dial-up connection
The "Network and Sharing Center" off the Control
Panel will let you do this. In the bottom half, you'll see a "Set up a new
connection or network." Should be fairly obvious from that point.
Jeff Cohen
Thanks!
=================
Apparently it was Thoreau who first used the phrase a trout in the milk. I
would swear I first heard that in an opinion by Mr. Justice Holmes. Perhaps
I did, and didn't notice that Holmes was quoting. In any event it's a good
illustration of strong circumstantial evidence...
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