View 641 September 20 - 26, 2010 (original) (raw)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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