Obama tried to hide it but now the “truth” can be told

I use the word truth in the loosest sense of the word. 

US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.

Most important to understand about this latest attack by North Korea against its South Korean enemy is that under the existing “laws of war” it was a permissible action as they remain in a state of war against each other due to South Korea’s refusal to sign the 1953 Armistice ending the Korean War.

…

On the night of April 20^th the North Korean Mini Submarine manned by these “suicidal” 17th Sniper Corps soldiers attacked the Deepwater Horizon with what are believed to be 2 incendiary torpedoes causing a massive explosion and resulting in 11 workers on this giant oil rig being killed outright. Barely 48 hours later, on April 22^nd , this North Korean Mini Submarine committed its final atrocity by exploding itself directly beneath the Deepwater Horizon causing this $1 Billion oil rig to sink beneath the seas and marking 2010’s celebration of Earth Day with one of the largest environmental catastrophes our World has ever seen.

To the reason for North Korea attacking the Deepwater Horizon, these reports say, was to present US President Obama with an “impossible dilemma” prior to the opening of the United Nations Review Conference of the Parties to the Treat on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) set to begin May 3^rd in New York.

Ah another fine conspiracy theory brought to you by the lovely people at what does it mean (sorry no links for loonies).

I can believe that there was a terrorist attack, I can even believe that North Korea might want to try something like this.  What I have trouble believing is that if this was a North Korean attack and all this information was out there that it wouldn’t have leaked from someplace besides the Russian Northern Fleet, and that if the Russians were leaking it they wouldn’t have contacted someone a little more reliable than Sorcha Faal, say maybe the NY Times or the Washington Post.  Sorcha Faal was also behind a rumor last year the Obama was ordering 100,000 troops deployed.  Lew Rockwell’s site (the guy behind the anti-Semitic Ron Paul newsletters) was all over that rumor as was The Classic Liberal, so I am not going to be real surprised if they pick this one up and give it a lot more distribution than it deserves.

About halfway through Naked Economics

So far I highly recommend the book.  The author (Charles Wheelan) mainly agrees with me so he must be a genius.  Some minor disagreements, I think he is a little off on what drives health care costs, I think defensive medicine accounts for more of it that he seems to, a couple other things like that.  The author does seem to endorse my view of the Laffer Curve (i.e. That most conservatives misinterpret it as saying less taxes all always better, but that isn’t what it says at all).  In any case the book is easy to read and is actually pretty entertaining as well as informative.  The chapter on asymmetrical information also reinforces my views on government regulation.

Read Charles Wheelan’s Economics Laundry List (found via Greg Mankiw’s Blog)

Some discussion of the book from a class where it was used as a textbook, and from a lawyer

As I look around more it turns out Wheelan is running for Congress.  Here is his platform:

Economic stimulus that includes government spending should be carefully designed to ensure that only projects that have social value are funded. Infrastructure projects, identified by an objective panel, that likely would have been pursued without special funds are good candidates. If there are insufficient projects meeting a high cost-benefit threshold, additional stimulus should come in the form of tax cuts.

Any mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States should be pursued through market mechanisms that raise revenue, which can be used to reduce the personal, corporate and/or payroll tax.

The U.S. should make long-term investments in human capital, particularly in early childhood education for low-income and disadvantaged children.

Congress should promote free trade and work to reduce trade barriers around the globe. The best way to deal with the political costs of trade and the economic dislocation caused by international competition is to create a meaningful safety net for displaced workers.

Tax reform is necessary to improve the equity, efficiency and simplicity of the tax code. A priority of tax reform should be a reduction in the number of special incentives that narrow the tax base, induce tax avoidance and increase compliance costs.

The U.S. must deal with the looming fiscal obligations created by our entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Our current economic situation justifies increased deficits now, but today's policy must be attentive to the need for fiscal balance over the next several decades.

I would say that I agree with about 66% of his platform.  I’m not sure more economic stimulus is needed, but if that is the case then infrastructure is definitely the way to go.

The same with his position on greenhouse gases.  I’m not sure that the action is required but if so his plan is the best option.

I definitely agree with the need for human capital development (although I think studies have shown early childhood education to be largely ineffective especially compared to more school hours and longer school years)

The other two pieces I think stand on their own.

Naked Economics (and some other random crap)

Has anyone read this book? I picked it up yesterday at Barnes and Noble because the title caught my eye and because I am revisiting Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the wake of the current financial crisis. (Just trying to see if it rings any more true now than it did before. So far the answer is no.) Anyway I am about a chapter in and so far it seems a pretty coherent explanation of economic principles without all the math mumbo jumbo.

Speaking of the financial crisis: For some interesting viewing watch The Smartest Guys in the Room, The Warning and then compare the players in the Enron scandal, the 1998 problems and look at who got bailouts. To me there seemed to be some correlation. If you watch "The Warning" one of the things that jumps out is just how intellectually dishonest Lawrence Summers is.

Finally, I don't know if anyone ever participates in these things but this year The Big Read is "The Things They Carried" which is about infantrymen in Vietnam. I don't think I will be doing any of the discussion groups but I am going to read the book just to be part of the cultural zeitgeist (didn't think I knew that word did you).

Initially posted at Doubleplusundead

Passed the initial testing and got a contingent offer from TSA

Can’t say anything about the testing there is a non-disclosure involved, but part of it was actually more difficult than I anticipated.

Inside the Koran

Another one of those History Channel shows that has been on the DVR forever.

The show was actually worth watching, and it provided a lot of insight into interpretations of the Koran.  Using the interpretation that the History Channel went with, which as I understood it was based on Islamic consensus contemporary accounts, the book isn’t nearly as violent as many would have you believe.  The problem of course becomes those who accept the more radical interpretations and decide they need to act on them.

Here is what bothers me about the Koran, believers accepting it as the absolute word of God (Allah).  I knew that there was a time lag between when Mohammed began preaching and when the words were actually written down, but I thought that Mohammed had written them himself.  It turns out I was wrong.  The Koran wasn’t put into written form until after Mohammed had died.  Where people had written down some of his preaching it was gathered up, otherwise people wrote down what was remembered and it was recorded.  According to Wikipedia Mohammed’s followers were made to recite the Koran precisely many times in so it’s possible that his words were recorded correctly, but it seems like there is room for error.  Also according to Wikipedia there were multiple versions initially:

According to Shias, Sufis and scarce Sunni scholars, Ali compiled a complete version of the Qur’an mus'haf ^[2] immediately after Muhammad's death. The order of this mus'haf differed from that gathered later during Uthman's era. Despite this, Ali made no objection or resistance against standardized mus'haf, but kept his own book.^[32][36]

After seventy reciters were killed in the Battle of Yamama, the caliph Abu Bakr decided to collect the different chapters and verses into one volume. Thus, a group of reciters, including Zayd ibn Thabit, collected the chapters and verses and produced several hand-written copies of the complete book.^[32][37]

9th century Qur'an manuscript.

In about 650, as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian peninsula into Persia, the Levant and North Africa, the third caliph Uthman ibn Affan ordered the preparation of an official, standardized version, to preserve the sanctity of the text (and perhaps to keep the Rashidun Empire united, see Uthman Qur'an). Five reciters from amongst the companions produced a unique text from the first volume which had been prepared on the orders of Abu Bakr and which was kept with Hafsa bint Umar. The other copies already in the hands of Muslims in other areas were collected and sent to Medina where, on orders of the Caliph, they were destroyed by burning or boiling. This remains the authoritative text of the Qur’an to this day.^[32][38][39]

So my question is, how do you maintain that this can possibly be the unaltered word of God? At least with the bible the vast majority of Christians accept that it is the interpreation of God's word by prophets, or in the case of the New Testament a record of Jesus's life a teachings. Not the direct word of God.

News on the job front

Didn’t get the job at Starbucks, which sucks because the hours were perfect for school, but I did get a temp position with the Census, and I am in the testing stage of a job with TSA.  (Yes, I am feeding the Leviathan).  The TSA job is shift work but I believe the hours will work to allow me to continue classes.  Not what I thought I would be doing 2 years ago but it could be much worse.

Jesus, The Complete Story

The BBC and Discovery produced a series entitled Jesus - The Complete Story' . I recorded it a while back and actually got around to watching it yesterday and today. It’s three hours and the narrators voice will definitely lull you to sleep but it is also well worth watching. Looking at Jesus as a historical figure rather than the son of God it puts a lot of the historical settings and attitudes into context. It also examines some of the biblical claims but it doesn’t really pass any judgment on believers or disbelievers. Give it a watch.

America’s greatest patriot, Ron Paul, profiled at Doubleplusundead

Look, I'll make it simple for you neocon trash, if you do not love one Congressman Ron Paul, you do not love the Constitution, and if you don't love the Constitution, you do not love America.  If you do not lust for the warm embrace of one Congressman Ron Paul, you do not love America, it's that simple.  And before you say anything, you neocon warmonger, there's nothing gay in that, just profound respect for the Constitution...and maybe ear nibbling...just a little.

source

meanwhile America’s greatest patriot has joined with two others to break the Republican moratorium on budget earmarks.  In the last election it was mentioned that he adds earmarks quite often despite his reputation as a fiscal conservative so I am not really surprised.

Hot Air – Unemployment stays at 9.7% At some point companies have to start hiring again.  I know that health care reform is going to slow that down but it shouldn’t be stopping hiring entirely.

Riehl World View - Militia plotter anti-Bush Not surprising.  I mentioned before that back in Montana I knew some Freeman types.  They were just anti-government, it didn’t matter who was in charge.  I guess it does help disprove the idea that all the electoral anger is race based and aimed at President Obama though.

Little Green Footballs – Huttaree Leader fanatic Ron Paul supporter Again I can’t say I am surprised.

Bring the Heath Bring the Stupid – President Obama has refused all military requests from Israel since taking office.  I am not a big fan of Israel the country.  I know it’s the lone democracy and all that but I don’t trust their government.  Between the USS Liberty, all the Israeli spies arrested in the US over the years, and some of the events in Lebanon in the 1980s they have never really struck me as that great a friend, but this is going too far.  Doesn’t Obama realize that by chastising Israel and giving Hamas and Hezbollah a free pass he just makes both side more stubborn.  What we should do is recognize a Palestinian state that doesn’t not include East Jerusalem and tell everybody to live with it.  Tell the Israelis that we will be arming and training the Palestinian army and if there are anymore incursions we will treat that as an attack on an ally.  Tell the Palestinians if there are anymore attacks on Israel we will treat that as an attack on one of our allies and unleash a full shock and awe campaign.  An imposed solution is the only one that is going to work over there.

Washington Post - Derivative Regulation is on the way In general I am suspicious of business / financial regulation, but this may be a good one.