| Sunday,
September 26, 2010 I have enough mail asking me about this
that I don't feel I am spreading rumors.
http://www.isthmus.com/
isthmus/article.php?article=30610
Harlan is an old friend. I have not spoken with him recently. I intend
to.
=======================
Pledge to America
http://theaccesspartners.com/?p=147x`
Technology, science, space, manufacturing and
energy are either ignored or given token mentions. For example, the
closest to any discussion of technology is a picture of Kevin McCarthy
holding an iPad on page 46. The sum total discussion of energy policy in
48 pages is:
We will fight to increase access to domestic
energy sources and oppose attempts to impose a national “cap and trade”
energy tax.
Not a word about science and not a word about
space. The only discussion of manufacturing or industry is a criticism of
the size of government:
Indeed, today more Americans work for one
level of government or another than work in all the goods-producing
industries, such as manufacturing, combined.
This is not a document of any serious
thought, it is a series of talking points. The good news is the document
was not well-covered and will soon be forgotten. The problem is if the
Republicans win, they are going to have to govern. Cutting taxes and
spending may not be enough to bring the economy back. There are serious
issues to address:
* Destruction of America's industrial base *
Dramatic increase in corporate profits through banking and non-productive
service industries * View that the high growth opportunities are outside
of the US * Lack of qualified American engineers and scientists * Dramatic
reduction in venture capital
The other side has lots of ideas, even if you
don't think they're any good. The White House has rolled out policies on
technology, commercializing space transportation, investing in small
business, and subsidizing green energy. You can read the entire pledge
document for yourself and decide if the document answers issues important
to you:
http://www.gop.gov/resources/library/
documents/solutions/a-pledge-to-america.pdf
I am not so critical, but I certainly do not rank this statement with
Gingrich's Contract With America. It hardly matters. My goal is a
restructuring of both American political parties in a direction back toward
the Old Republic; which means I don't really want a lot of new stuff, I want
to get rid of some. Auction off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and get out of
the real estate loan business. Stop shoveling money out to academia which
has only resulted in dramatically rising costs of education. Go back to
something like the Hatch Act for federal employees.
Cutting taxes and spending won't bring back the economy, but it won't
hurt, either. What is needed is cheap energy and more freedom. What is
needed is an economic miracle. We are still capable of that.
===============
The STUXNET virus has infected Iran's computers. All their personal
computers, and probably their nuclear power system control computers, seem
to have a root kit worm called Stuxnet that is so sophisticated that the
talk is that it must have been taken the resources of a nation state,
probably Israel. I have no data on this. The worm could conceivably allow
the nuclear power plant control systems to be enslaved by an outsider.
Symantec has a good report on this. There are other and less technical
article
here and
here, also
here. This will not be the last of this story.
I understand that the Pentagon has forbidden anyone with
internal computer access to bring in thumb drives, where were the probable
means of infection of the Iranian computers. I know that Zip Drives were
once a means of infection. Some years ago the CIA epoxied the USB ports of
most of its desktops to negate the threat of computer infection at Langley.
Of course iPods, iPads, and iPhones as well as other PDA's can be a means of
transmission. Internal firewalls help, but the nightmare of infection across
all Company and Pentagon system remains. Fun for all.
===========
The Israelis have ended their suspension of building new
settlements. The impact of this will be enormous. Israeli's ten month freeze
has not bought them much; but the end of the settlement road is full
occupation with all that implies, and probably means moving people in large
numbers.
Apartheid, segregation, or whatever softer term you wish to
use actually works; but it does mean that it must be enforced in both
directions. Building new settlements in the West Bank immediately opens the
problem of how to protect them (since new ones will not be on the Israeli
side of the Security Wall).
Israel is a democracy.
==========
Stephen Colbert appears before a Congressional Committee
where he gave the Congresscritters the benefit of his view on what
conservatives believe. Perhaps this is a good thing? It may be the only time
some of them ever heard a conservative idea expressed by anyone.
http://www.lfpress.com/entertainment/celebrities/
2010/09/25/15475551-wenn-story.html
American comedian Stephen Colbert brought
some laughs to Capitol Hill on Friday by appearing in front of a Congress
committee in character to discuss immigrant farm workers.
The funnyman, who portrays a fake right-wing
political pundit on his Comedy Central news show The Colbert Report, was
invited to testify in front of the immigration subcommittee of the House
Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C.
The subject of discussion was the number of
migrant workers who are employed in America, and Colbert couldn't resist
throwing in a few jokes.
He told the committee, "America's farms are
presently far too dependent on immigrant labour to pick our fruits and
vegetables... Now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating
fruits and vegetables. And if you look at the recent obesity statistics,
many Americans have already started."
"He comes before the committee, he has a point of
view, he can bring attention to an important issue like immigration,"
the House Speaker [Nancy Pelosi] said. "I think it's great." [NYDN]
====================
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