Saturday, October 30, 2004

 
From the AP in The Oregonian on October 30: Industry analysts say era of 'cheap oil' probably over
In the article Art Smith of John S. Herold
thinks higher-than-usual prices are needed to moderate consumer and industrial demand and to spur enough new drilling to give oil markets a bigger supply cushion.
On October 21st I wrote that some like Bridgewater are warning us of $100 to $120 oil
Why not just pump more oil? Bridgewater says Oil production is pressing up against production capacity and the rate of growth in demand is exceeding our abilty to increase production.
How does Bridgewater arrive at $100 to $120 per barrel? It seems that the demand for oil is inelastic. It causes big increases in price to get consumers to change their behavior. Oil consumption today is about 2.7% of GDP. At its peak in the 1980's it took consumption at 8% of GDP to curb demand and interest rates were 16% briefly. It would take oil at $120 for consumption to equal 8% which would curtail demand (and slow economic activity).
I think the article in The Oregonian is much to cautious and we should be preparing for the consequences of much higher oil prices.
Mover Mike
 

The Real Story About Al Qaqaa???

Ever heard of Dr. Jack Wheeler? in To The Point , he writes about Al Qaqaa and the real story is that the CIA is behind the information that came out about the "missing" explosives. He believes there are leftists (Rogue Weasels in the CIA who believe like the State Department that the way to manage disputes between countries is to talk, accomodate, and appease. These Rogue Weasels are not happy with the war on terrorism, and want Kerry elected. He says this faction leaked information to CBS which was happy to run the story on Sunday the 31st. The plan was destroyed when an opposing group alligned with Porter Goss, the new head of the CIA, replacing George Tenet, went to the NYT with the story and it was run before CBS, and gave the Bush people time for rebuttal. On October 29th, Wheeler writes
This was the last gasp of the Rogue Weasels. Porter’s Purge is coming – upwards of eighty Bush-hating left-wing Kerry stooges are going to be fired at the CIA in November. Looks like the pro-America guys are going to be running the Company once again.

The(Rogue Weasels)leader of this effort at the CIA is Paul Pillar. His 1983 book, Negotiating Peace was a paean to appeasement with the Soviets – and yes, he was one of the main guys at Langley supporting Gulbuddin (of Afghanistan). Pillar’s the guy who leaked the gloomy NIE (National Intelligence Estimate, or rather selected portions of it) on Iraq so Kerry could bash Bush with it. Pillar knew it was OBE (Overtaken By Events, obsolete) by the time it was written in July, much less when it was leaked in September, as it was based on research conducted in April – but all’s fair in war.
Here's a link to PORTER AT THE PASS: HEADING OFF THE CIA’S OCTOBER SURPRISE by Dr. Jack Wheeler
Mover Mike

Friday, October 29, 2004

 

Do You Think We'll Get A Signed SF-180 before 11/2?

Pat at pawigoview said in a comment to me
Part of his(Kerry's) record may become public according to numerous blogs that are quoting the Swiftvet site saying a Secretary of the Navy said Kerry received a Less Than Honorable Discharge. Let us hope this can be verified before 11/2
Lets remember what Pat is writing about as I reprint the Thomas Lipscomb column that appeared in
The New York Sun
:
Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge
An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service.

The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.

According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163. "This section refers to the grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service. And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr. Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an honorable discharge.

A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, was asked whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an honorable discharge. There has been no response to that inquiry.

The document is dated February 16, 1978. But Mr. Kerry's military commitment began with his six-year enlistment contract with the Navy on February 18, 1966. His commitment should have terminated in 1972. It is highly unlikely that either the man who at that time was a Vietnam Veterans Against the War leader, John Kerry, requested or the Navy accepted an additional six year reserve commitment. And the Claytor document indicates proceedings to reverse a less than honorable discharge that took place sometime prior to February 1978.

The most routine time for Mr. Kerry's discharge would have been at the end of his six-year obligation, in 1972. But how was it most likely to have come about?

NBC's release this March of some of the Nixon White House tapes about Mr. Kerry show a great deal of interest in Mr. Kerry by Nixon and his executive staff, including, perhaps most importantly, Nixon's special counsel, Charles Colson. In a meeting the day after Mr. Kerry's Senate testimony, April 23, 1971, Mr. Colson attacks Mr. Kerry as a "complete opportunist...We'll keep hitting him, Mr. President."

Mr. Colson was still on the case two months later, according to a memo he wrote on June 15,1971, that was brought to the surface by the Houston Chronicle. "Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader." Nixon had been a naval officer in World War II. Mr. Colson was a former Marine captain. Mr. Colson had been prodded to find "dirt" on Mr. Kerry, but reported that he couldn't find any.

The Nixon administration ran FBI surveillance on Mr. Kerry from September 1970 until August 1972. Finding grounds for an other than honorable discharge, however, for a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, given his numerous activities while still a reserve officer of the Navy, was easier than finding "dirt."

For example, while America was still at war, Mr. Kerry had met with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegation to the Paris Peace talks in May 1970 and then held a demonstration in July 1971 in Washington to try to get Congress to accept the enemy's seven point peace proposal without a single change. Woodrow Wilson threw Eugene Debs, a former presidential candidate, in prison just for demonstrating for peace negotiations with Germany during World War I. No court overturned his imprisonment. He had to receive a pardon from President Harding.

Mr. Colson refused to answer any questions about his activities regarding Mr. Kerry during his time in the Nixon White House. The secretary of the Navy at the time during the Nixon presidency is the current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Warner. A spokesman for the senator, John Ullyot, said, "Senator Warner has no recollection that would either confirm or challenge any representation that Senator Kerry received a less than honorable discharge."

The "board of officers" review reported in the Claytor document is even more extraordinary because it came about "by direction of the President." No normal honorable discharge requires the direction of the president. The president at that time was James Carter. This adds another twist to the story of Mr. Kerry's hidden military records.

Mr. Carter's first act as president was a general amnesty for draft dodgers and other war protesters. Less than an hour after his inauguration on January 21, 1977, while still in the Capitol building, Mr. Carter signed Executive Order 4483 empowering it. By the time it became a directive from the Defense Department in March 1977 it had been expanded to include other offenders who may have had general, bad conduct, dishonorable discharges, and any other discharge or sentence with negative effect on military records. In those cases the directive outlined a procedure for appeal on a case by case basis before a board of officers. A satisfactory appeal would result in an improvement of discharge status or an honorable discharge.

Mr. Kerry has repeatedly refused to sign Standard Form 180, which would allow the release of all his military records. And some of his various spokesmen have claimed that all his records are already posted on his Web site. But the Washington Post already noted that the Naval Personnel Office admitted that they were still withholding about 100 pages of files.

If Mr. Kerry was the victim of a Nixon "enemies list" hit, one might have expected him to wear it like a badge of honor, like many others such as his friend Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, CBS's Daniel Schorr, or the actor Paul Newman, who had made Mr. Colson's original list of 20 "enemies."

There are a number of categories of discharges besides honorable. There are general discharges, medical discharges, bad conduct discharges, as well as other than honorable and dishonorable discharges. There is one odd coincidence that gives some weight to the possibility that Mr. Kerry was dishonorably discharged. Mr. Kerry has claimed that he lost his medal certificates and that is why he asked that they be reissued. But when a dishonorable discharge is issued, all pay benefits, and allowances, and all medals and honors are revoked as well. And five months after Mr. Kerry joined the U.S. Senate in 1985, on one single day, June 4, all of Mr. Kerry's medals were reissued.

This article was published by The New York Sun.



 

October 29 - Gold $428.20 up $3.50

Most people don't care and are not aware, but this kind of thing is liable to get investor's attention one of these days. With oil staying persistently above $50 per barrel and the US dollar closing weak, this monthly close of $428.20, the highest on a monthly basis in 16 years, is telling us that things are changing. The winner on Tuesday is going to have his hands full!
Mover Mike
 

IQ's and Lies

Let's make sure this is widely disseminated. Kerry says he has released all his military records. However, we know that the Navy has 100 pages not released, because Kerry has not authorized the release of those papers. He needs to sign SF-180 and he refuses to, but says his records are on his website for all to see. Now this, in his interview with Tom Brokaw:
Brokaw: Someone has analyzed the President's military aptitude tests and yours, and concluded that he has a higher IQ than you do.

Kerry: That's great. More power. I don't know how they've done it, because my record is not public. So I don't know where you're getting that from.
(my emphasis added)
Mover Mike
 

Stories and Facts (?)

Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine writes about something that I have felt for some time.
: The biggest lesson of our new news world is that news doesn't end when it's printed or aired. That's when it begins. That's when we hear other evidence and questions and perspective. News takes time.
First, we have a news story and the initial reaction. Then we tear the story apart with what seems like spin. After awhile, there is so much information, it's hard to keep all the stories and facts(?) straight. It becomes a flood of information and one needs to be an attorney to sort all the information. There is no black and white, no bottom line. It remains a debate that both sides of the story can claim theirs is the Truth. My eyes gaze over, and that's the strategy.
Mover Mike
 

Justice Delayed

From The Seattle Times
During a conference call with Republican leaders, (Rep. John) Boehner talked about the pending Ethics Committee probe of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich over the way Gingrich funded a college course he taught via satellite through a tax-deductible political-action committee.

A Florida couple intercepted and taped the call and gave it to McDermott on Jan. 8, 1997.

McDermott then leaked the tape to The New York Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

(District Court), has ordered Congressman Jim McDermott to pay $60,000 plus attorney fees that could total more than $545,000 to a Republican congressman (Boehner) who sued McDermott for leaking his cellphone conversations to news reporters. In a harshly worded decision received by attorneys this week, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan said McDermott's "willful and knowing misconduct rises to the level of malice in this case."

It's nice to see that the laws are applied to politicians and citizens equally!
Mover Mike

Thursday, October 28, 2004

 

Satellites and Wizbang

In 600,000 tons of Explosives Part 2, I raged
It's time to stop fighting with one arm tied behind our backs. We have satelites. We can see if trucks are ferrying materiel across the border into Syria. We had a no fly zone in the north and the south. Why the hell didn't we stop those trucks!
I'm indebted to Boyd at Texas Native
don't overestimate our ability to surveil the many sites of interest throughout Iraq. There are several difficulties.

1) You have a fixed amount of surveillance assets, in this case, satellites.

2) You have to prioritize your surveillance targets, because due to #1 above, you can't watch everything.

3) Photographic satellite surveillance doesn't work at night.

4) Photographic satellite surveillance doesn't work when it's cloudy.

5) Many, if not most, photographic surveillance satellites are not geostationary, so you look as you pass overhead a target area. When you don't have an asset in range, you can't see anything.

Even technical means of intelligence aren't omniscient.
The discussion at Wizbang is quite interesting. Wizbang has a theory that IAEA may have lied to the Security Council about quantities of RDX and HMX and that THIS is the big story that the MSM is missing.
 

WSJ Puts This in Context

The WSJ Opinion Journal under Saddam's U.N. Payroll
Oil for Food bribery means sanctions against Iraq were doomed to fail.
Anyone who has followed this story knows that there was a reason why France, Germany, and Russia were interfering with enforcement of the 18 UN Resolutions. Money! And, if sanctions were lifted, Saddam would have immediately started production of WMD's.
...a U.S. President would have eventually faced the same uncertainties and the same agonizing choice that Mr. Bush did when he decided to commit the U.S. to war.

Mover Mike-1000

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

 

CNN Reported...

On Betsy's Page, Betsy probably sums up what we are all thinking about the Gertz report
I sure hope that John Shaw wouldn't say this if he didn't have the chops to back it up.

Jedidah at Free Republic reminds us of the CNN report on April 6, 2003
A convoy of vehicles carrying Russian diplomats and journalists came under fire Sunday as it headed out of Baghdad...

The Russians were there in Iraq. It sure gives credence to Gertz's report.
Mover Mike
 

Those 600,000 Tons of Explosives Part 2

As I concluded in Those 600,000 Tons of Explosives on Monday 10/25 "To my daughter, we were right to go in. Thank the French and Germans and the left in this country for the delay. The war will be prolonged because eventually we will have to deal with those 600,000 tons of explosives."
Bill Gertz in The Washinton Times has learned, as just reported in The Drudge Report, that Russian Special Forces helped move weapons from Iraq to Syria in the weeks prior to March of 2003.

Now, we know we are at war, at least since 9/11! As a consequence of the WTC attack, we went after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. We declared that there is an Axis of Evil; including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, N. Korea, Libya and now probably Russia and maybe Saudi Arabia. We declared you are either for us or against us. We sought to use the UN and 18 Resolutions to get Sadaam's compliance with disarmament agreed to after the first Gulf War. Our supposed friends or allies delayed and delayed allowing materiel to be shipped out of Iraq. We know that at least two countries, France and Germany, were being bribed with the Oil For Food money.

It's time to change the rules of the war. It's time to scrap our support and participation in the UN. It's time to stop those in this country who give aid and comfort to the enemy. It's time call this behavior by its name: Treason. It's time to stop fighting with one arm tied behind our backs. We have satelites. We can see if trucks are ferrying materiel across the border into Syria. We had a no fly zone in the north and the south. Why the hell didn't we stop those trucks!
Mover Mike
 

Is The Oregonian Biased?

In the Sunrise Edition of The Oregonian on 10/26/04 is this top of the fold headline: Kerry seizes on explosives issue
The Democrat goes on the attack, calling losing the 377-ton cache a great blunder, as President Bush talks of terrorism
Now, I knew that the story credited to the New York Times News Service had already been discredited and the news of coordination with CBS News was out. I suspected that The Oregonian had gone to press to late to correct the story.
In the Sunrise Edition of The Oregonian on 10/27/04, I expected some sort of retraction, however nothing on the front page except for this on A4:
Kerry's latest ad accuses the Bush Administration of failing to secure nearly 400 tons of explosives that are missing from a military installation south of Baghdad.
Vice President Cheney is quoted as saying it is not clear that there were explosives there when we arrived.
Then I turned to the editorial page and The Oregonian runs this editorial, No clouding this Iraq story, Clearly, the missing explosives are an appalling concern
...no amount of dissonance from the talk jocks and conservative Internet bloggers is likely to shoot down the troubling story that The New York Times broke Monday.

First, we don't know if anything vanished as The New York Times charges.
Then The Oregonian said we were warned by the IAEA. But the IAEA called them conventional weapons. We have captured or destroyed 400,000 tons of explosives and armaments, out of 600,000 tons.
I think it is easy to sit back and Monday-morning quarterback. What's more troubling is the lack of journalism on The Oregonian's part, and the parroting the talking points of the Kerry campaign. Where's the outrage about CBS News and The New York Times trying to influence the election at the last minute?
Mover Mike

 

Foreign Investors Getting Tired?

Washington Post today asks.
It is a portentous issue. Foreign governments and individuals hold about half of the $3.7 trillion in outstanding U.S. Treasury bonds, for example, and the government has been heavily dependent on continued overseas bond purchases to finance the roughly $1 billion a day it has to borrow to pay its bills. Foreign lending and investment are also needed to finance the country's roughly $50 billion monthly trade deficit, while foreign capital has been a key prop to U.S. stock prices.
The fear among economists is that those foreign lenders may grow concerned that their portfolios are too swollen with dollar-denominated assets.

Mover Mike
 

Our Trade Imbalance

I was thinking about our balance of trade deficit, now running between $500-600 billion this year, over $120 billion with China alone. Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley, as I outlined in an earlier post, thinks the deficit as a percentage of GDP could be between 6 1/2-7% next year, 5% or more has been a danger sign in the past, e.g Argentina at 5.5%.

When you think about it we've got a pretty good deal with China. Suppose the dog has been getting up on the sofa for years and as many times as you've called in the upholstery cleaners, shoddy is the sofa's name. You go to a good furniture store and find that you can get a new sofa, eight way hand tied with hardwood frame, for $3000. The sofa is made in China as is most everything it seems. You give the store your credit card and the next day 2 Bees delivers your new sofa to you. For a week you forbid the dog to jump up and lay her head in your lap as you watch the BoSox.

Now the credit card company gives $3000 to the China manufacturer, they put some aside for business and the balance they invest in the debt of the US. They send back the money and we ship them some of our debt. The debt pays a small interest rate and is paid back in US Dollars. So far, now, we have their sofa, their recycled US Dollars and they have some of our debt. We take their dollars and make new loans to other families that need new sofas. Banks use fractional banking, which means that when you deposit $1000 dollars, $9000 worth of loans can be made. More US Dollars created means each dollar is worth less. Therefore the US debt that China owns is worth less.

How long does China continue playing this game? As long as they benefits them!
Mover Mike

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

 

Before Bedtime Tuesday Night

Congrats BoSox, only one team has come back from being down 3-0, and you know who did it. Put the curse to bed!
Mover Mike

Mitch Battros has some interesting posts on Earth Changes TV. First, he asks if recent volcanic activity (Mt. St. Helens) be related to El Nino. He quotes a source Robert Felix, author of "Not By Fire, But By Ice" that says "it's not global warming, it's ocean warming" Seems that "in the last decade thousands of...underwater volcanoes have been discovered."
Second, for the most part, the Kalama River is a small creek coming off Mt. St. Helens that is so clear you can read a newspaper underwater, that is, unless the mountain is going to blow. Then the locals say it turns a milky white color. They say it happened before the first major eruption that knocked 1300 feet off the top of the mountain and it happened just recently before this last eruption. Scientists studying the mountain say "no way that it could happen", but that doesn't convince the local fly fishermen.
Mover Mike

World Net Daily has another story about Kerry and some fundraiser "Hassan Nemazee, 54, a New York investment banker and former board member of a pro-Tehran lobby" who has raised $500,000 for Kerry.
Nemazee charges Aryo Pirouznia with defamation of character for accusing him of being an Iranian government agent. In a countersuit, Pirouznia, leader of the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran. contends that supporters of the cleric-led regime are funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Kerry campaign.

Kerry recommended in the debates that he would provide Iran with nuclear fuel and then monitor them to make sure the material wasn't used for development of nuclear weapons.
But when questioned under oath about the nature of the Islamic regime, Nemazee admitted it was sympathetic to terrorism and presented a threat to the world and the U.S.
Nemazee warned that Kerry should do nothing to lend credibility to the regime and that normalizing relations with Iran would be a mistake.
Is it just me or does Kerry seem awfully cozy with Anti-Americans?
Mover Mike
 

More on Wow! Post

Late last night I posted "World Net Daily is reporting Discovered papers: Hanoi directed Kerry. Mongo of Mongo's Mutterings writes in a comment to me
We already know he advanced their cause, and dishonored those who served honorably in Vietnam. I wish like hell we had a smoking gun, but this generic memo doesn't seem like it.
In The New York Sun today Thomas Lipscomb writes in his final paragraph of Hanoi Approved of Role Played By Anti-War Vets
The circular in the Texas archive states, "The antiwar movements in the US are trying to find means to cooperate... They are also trying by all means to support the seven-point peace proposal (of the PRG) [Viet Cong] and oppose the distorted interpretation made by the White House, the Pentagon and CIA."

Mover Mike

Monday, October 25, 2004

 

Wow!

World Net Daily is reporting Discovered papers: Hanoi directed Kerry
The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry's antiwar group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily.
Mover Mike
 

Those 600,000 Tons of Explosives

Before the war in Iraq to rid the world of Sadaam, my daughter and had a discussion of the pros and cons of going in there, as I'm sure many dads and daughters did at that time. I remember saying at the end of our discussion, "The worst outcome would be to go in and find no WMD's." And that really is the essence of the Kerry challenge. He argued while Clinton was in office that there were WMD's. That Sadaam was a threat. Edwards argued Sadaam was an imminent threat. Yet there were no WMD's. Bush is accused of lying, that there were other countries that were a greater threat, like N. Korea and Iran. So with that in mind it was interesting to Belmont Club commenting on That Missing RDX
...the RDX explosive was already gone by the time US forces arrived.

...most of the damage had already been inflicted by the dilatory tactics of America's allies which allowed Saddam the time and space -- nearly half a year and undisturbed access to Syria -- necessary to prepare his resistance, transfer money abroad and disperse explosives (as confirmed first hand by reporters).

...much of the really "criminal" neglect may be laid on the diplomatic failure which gave the wily enemy this invaluable opportunity. The price of passing the "Global Test" was very high; and having been gypped once, we now show ourselves eager to be taken to the cleaners again.

To my daughter, we were right to go in. Thank the French and Germans and the left in this country for the delay. The war will be prolonged because eventually we will have to deal with those 600,000 tons of explosives.
Mover Mike
 

Economics Rules Monday

This morning the US Dollar was down vs the Euro (over 1.28 dollars to the Euro). At Morgan Stanley Stephen Roach's opening paragraph on October 25th:
The delicate equilibrium in world financial markets may be starting to unravel. The dollar has broken out of its recent range, credit spreads are widening, equities are sagging, and riskless sovereign bonds are well bid. The message is worrisome: For an unbalanced and increasingly vulnerable world economy, the unrelenting rise of oil prices spells mounting risks of global recession in 2005. Financial markets are only just beginning to comprehend this possibility.
Stephen Roach's weekly commentary has been a must read by market professionals for some time.
Mover Mike

Midas at Le Metropole in his daily commentary says
Here we are approaching 16-year highs and so many potential gold investors are out of the market. What blows me away (it’s SO bullish) is how little interest there is in gold from a public participation level. The small spec open interest, the lack of the usual futures participants at some prominent brokerages, pitiful US gold coin demand, lack of volume in the smaller golds, and the Café Sentiment Indicator, are all a contrarian’s delight. Never has a market had such constructive bullish fundamentals and attracted such an anemic following. Never has there been a three year BULL MARKET like gold which has attracted such ennui.

Some day soon the Gold/Oil price relationship that has existed for years will get back in gear and prices of Gold will soar. I recall back in the '70's and '80's Gold prices were in the market updates that were broadcast on the radio. It's been a long time for the Red Sox. Seems like it has been that long for interest in Gold.
Mover Mike

One site I check almost every day is Financial Sense Online. Today there is an excellent article Today's Wrap UP written by Jim Willie CB titled LAST ACID TEST ON ANALYTIC VIEWS in which he discusses the US Dollar, inflation, deflation and the economy. A must read and a must read site. Our institutions do a disservice to the people of this country. Most of us are economically illiterate. No matter who is elected in eight days, the next four years could be very trying.
Mover Mike
 

Monday October 25, 2004

From Bloomberg.com, the dollar is a lot lower this morning 1.2876 to the Euro. That's a pretty big drop, and may have been triggered by a big drop of the dollar vs the Russian currency last night. Gold is also up $4.80 to $428.80 per ounce.
Mover Mike

Sunday, October 24, 2004

 

Anatomy of a Thread about Kerry-Bush IQ

As a newby blogger, I was intrigued by the complaint of David M that he had been plagarized by Dave's Blurbs and how it had cost him reads and clickthrus. When you are trying to build traffic, a connection to a high traffic blog is important. I saw my traffic jump when I got a mention in Hugh Hewitt's blog. We also want to get credit if we are first or near the top of a developing story. Sometimes I try to anticipate whats going to catch the news cycle's attention or try to be out in front with an article that I think will attract interest in the future. I can then be classed as an expert (?). An overriding factor: it has to be of interest to me! So it was interesting to see how the information disseminated from the V-Dare article that was published October 21st.

1)October 21 V-Dare Article

2)October 22 at 3:02AM Mickey Kaus writes
Is Kerry Really That Smart?--Part II:

"Does anyone in America doubt that Kerry has a higher IQ than Bush?"--Howell Raines, WaPo, August 27, 2004

Er, yes, someone does! [What makes him so sure?-ed He's got proof!] 3:02 A.M.

3)October 22, 2004 Prestopundit writes
BUSH VS. KERRY -- OFFICER TEST SCORES.

UPDATE: The NY Times is now running the story.
PS Steve Sailer emailed me with the IQ story, that's how
I got it. -- prestopundit

4)October 22 Friday Polipundit writes
President Bush has a higher IQ than John Kerry (link via KausFiles)
-- PoliPundit

Posted at 8:43 am Link to this post | Comments (14)

5) Mover Mike posted about it after seeing Prestopundit at 1:48 AM PDT on 10/23.
Prestopundit BUSH VS. KERRY -- OFFICER TEST SCORES has a link to some incredible research done by Steve Sailer at VDare about the IQ's of Kerry and Bush. The results might surprise you!

6)Betsy's Page posted at 8:57PM on 10/23.
The New York Times (!!!!) picks up the story that Bush has a higher IQ than Kerry.
posted by Betsy Newmark 8:57 PM

Comment (1) | Trackback (1)

7)David M posted at 10:47 PM on 10/23
Bush's IQ greater than Kerry's according to new study
Who beat us all,
Bush higher SAT score than John Kerry (vanity) (vanity) by SideoutFred on October 9, 2004
Thrasymachus Online
Kerry's IQ

Looks like Steve Sailer has divined John Kerry's IQ from his AFQT and is ready to publish on VDARE Thursday. The Bush-Kerry comparison will be interesting. According to Sailer, estimates of Bush's IQ based on his SAT are 120 or a bit higher.
October 19, 2004 at 06:44 PM

Saturday, October 23, 2004

 

Saturday October 23, 2004

This really pisses me off! When you think it can't get any worse, it does. Drudge reports the UK Guardian writing
On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?
Mover Mike

The Oregonian in the Business Section today has a news story titled Bush's cuts redefine tax code attributed to Jonathan Weisman of the LA Times-Washington Post Service. The article says that
since 2001, Bush has signed tax cuts of $1.35 trillion, $42 billion, $350 billion, $146 billion and $143 billion over 10 years.
That's a total of $2.031 trillion or $203.1 billion per year. The article goes on to say
Bush has lowered income tax rates at every income level and carved out a new 10 percent bracket from the 15 percent that had been the lowest. The child tax credit was expanded from $500 to $1000. Married couples, especially those in the middle-income range, received a significant tax break. The estate tax is expected to disappear by 2010.
There's more, but you get the idea. This is supposed to be a news story. Now we get the biased part
But all this come with a cost. ...The budget deficit of $413 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept.30 was a record in dollar terms, surpassing the record of $377 billion set in 2003.
Even as the economy has recovered from the 2001 recession, taxes as a percentage of the economy have fallen for four straight years to 16.2 percent of GDP
First, we had a recession, we were attacked, we went to war and we cut taxes by $200 billion per year, yet the deficit rose year over year by only $36 billion. That must mean that cutting taxes spurred the economy. Second, why is it a bad thing for taxes as a percent of GDP to go down? Can the government spend our money better than you and I can? Third, Weisman is relying on unified budget numbers rather than GAAP budget numbers which are about four times higher. We might have a greater propensity to economize if we knew the true extent of the government spending problem. I say, "Giving money to politicians only encourages them to spend more of our money!"Mover Mike

Jerry Fuhrman at From On High writes about the flu vaccine shortage. The NYT says there's a shortage because of the lack of an effective plan.... Jerry says that government controlled pricing has led to shortages. He suggests government get out of the way and let Capitalism do its job.
You know when the Libs see a problem, rather than let the market solve the problem, they bring in the government. Then when the government meddling causes other problems, they want more government.
Mover Mike

Prestopundit BUSH VS. KERRY -- OFFICER TEST SCORES has a link to some incredible research done by Steve Sailer at VDare about the IQ's of Kerry and Bush. The results might surprise you!

Speaking about research, be sure to read Desert Rat Ramblings. He has done some research into the amount of money THK paid in Social Security taxes. He asks do we have another Nannygate here?
Mover Mike

Friday, October 22, 2004

 

"Stolen Honor"

I just watched the 42 minute film "Stolen Honor". It is moving and powerful! My wish is that all see this movie before the election some 11 days away. Besides being charged with Heresy and Excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Kerry should be charged with giving Aid and Comfort to the enemy and convicted of Treason. I will never vote for this man. Never!
Mover Mike
 

Kerry's Record and Job Losses in One State, Nevada

Some of my Lib friends (yes, I do have them) think if Kerry were to win the election, that the economy would "right" itself and that there would be no more outsourcing saving jobs, we would be energy independent, we would restore the tax bite on the rich, and the economy would be humming again. Yesterday I cited Le Metropole. Let me share with you a letter that was quoted in the appendix:
Open Letter from the Mining Community to Senator John Kerry Regarding His Position on Mining

October 21, 2004

Dear Senator Kerry,

You stand before the American people day after day and promise more jobs under a Kerry Administration. Yet your policies and record in the U.S. Senate prove these promises empty. The time has come for you to explain your positions and stop misleading the people of Nevada and this country about what a Kerry presidency would really lead to: higher taxes, rapid job loss and more government regulation.

Mining is vital to the Nevada economy, and behind South Africa and Australia, this state is the third-largest producer of gold in the world. Yet you propose increasing fees on mineral mining by $600 million, a position you have failed to defend to the people of this state.

The reality is the results of your proposal would devastate the hard rock mining industry, costing as many as 44,000 jobs nationwide. For someone who is promising Nevadans jobs, here alone are 44,000 broken promises.

Studies show that your policies would result in a net loss to the Federal Treasury of up to $500 million, an earnings loss of $1.2 billion and an output loss of more than $6 billion. How can you promise a "stronger" economy when the word that best describes your fiscal policies is "loss"? Not only is your liberal ideology out of the mainstream, you are personally out of touch with the Nevada economy.

You have continually sided against the people, economy and interests of this state, so much so that you have repeatedly broken with your own party. How can you lead as President when even fellow Democrats abandon you?

When it was time to overturn a Clinton-era, environmentalist-backed legal interpretation of 1872 mining law that your colleague, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), referred to as "disastrous," you said no. Reid later declared the successful reversal, which brought mining out of a virtual standstill, "good for our economy, good for our nation and good for Nevada." Time after time, Sen. Kerry, you have been on the wrong side of issues important to us.

The working people of Nevada have for too long been asking themselves where you are and what you really stand for, and the time has come for you to clearly explain what convictions you hold. Frankly, Sen. Kerry, we find what we have seen thus far unimpressive and unacceptable.

Your record in the Senate is appalling. You missed a vote to cut the capital gains tax on investments in precious metals which Nevada Senators Reid and Ensign supported. You voted for repealing tax breaks available to hard rock mining companies, legislation which Nevada Senators Reid and Bryan voted against. You have voted to limit the tax deductions of mining companies while also supporting harmful royalty requirements on the mining industry. Where does it all end?

We can only assume that your failures as a Senator will translate into failures as a President, only on a much greater scale. Before you claim to have a plan for creating jobs, you must explain to the people of Nevada why you choose to deny them theirs.

Sincerely,

The Northwest Mining Association

CONTACT: Tracey Schmitt (703) 647-2790

John F Kerry is a Liberal and his policies will not help business create jobs!
Mover Mike

Thursday, October 21, 2004

 

Energy Consumption Leading to High Oil Prices

I subscribe to an online investment Service called Le Metropole
The Cyberspace Cafe for Investors
(there's a free trial available). We've all seen the high prices at the pump for gasoline, although adjusted for inflation gasoline is cheaper today than when we stood in gas lines. Imagine my surprise when Midas who writes a daily column at the James Joyce Table, quoted Bridgewater Observations.
"In our opinion, without a much greater tightening in both developed countries and China (which we do not think will occur soon), the engine will not be slowed enough to prevent a move in oil prices to over $100 to $120/brl… That is not to say that we do not expect the energy price rise to be more noticeable over the next few months, because we do. However, we do not expect it to have a material impact on either energy consumption or GDP growth."
Two questions:
Why not just pump more oil? Bridgewater says Oil production is pressing up against production capacity and the rate of growth in demand is exceeding our abilty to increase production.
How does Bridgewater arrive at $100 to $120 per barrel? It seems that the demand for oil is inelastic. It causes big increases in price to get consumers to change their behavior. Oil consumption today is about 2.7% of GDP. At its peak in the 1980's it took consumption at 8% of GDP to curb demand and interest rates were 16% briefly. It would take oil at $120 for consumption to equal 8% which would curtail demand (and slow economic activity).

On October 13th in Mover Mike I wrote of the relationship between the price of Gold and Oil. It traditionally has been one (1) ounce of Gold buys 15 barrels of oil. Gold at $423 buys almost eight (8) barrels today!
 

It's About Free Choice

I write about what interests me. I am pleased that you come to my blog and some of you stay long enough to read my views; even come back for seconds. My mom says going for seconds is a sincere form of flattery. I agree.

I have known that many Catholics, for years in this country, differed with the Vatican(The Pope) about birth control. I have watched this schism with interest, never hearing any threat to these people for not toeing the line. So it was interesting to me to see someone talk about heresy and excommunication in conjunction with abortion. I thought a Catholic could say, "personally, I oppose abortion and believe life begins at conception, but I defend your right choose. I will, also, defend your right to a partial-birth abortion." I thought a Catholic could say these things, and still be a Catholic and run no risk of reprisal from the Church. However, some Bishops started speaking out saying you forfeit your right to communion if you believe in a right to choose. Now, we have the latest information that Mark Balestrieri, received an unusual, indirect communication from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the pro-abortion stance.
That communication provides a basis, he said, to declare that any Catholic politician who says he is "personally opposed to abortion, but supports a woman's right to choose," incurs automatic excommunication.

Today, Robert Novak SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
writes about a loosely connected national network that is worried about Kerry endangering the Catholic position on abortion.
In a largely unpublished interview with the New York Times, (Charles J. Chaput), Roman Catholic archbishop of Denver, said: ''If the church challenges a President Kerry on 'destruction of unborn children through embryonic stem cell research,' it will appear to be interfering. If the church remains silent, it will appear cowardly.

Yesterday, I reported that
Father Augustine Di Noia, third-ranking official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal office, told Reuters that Balestrieri had hoodwinked the Church by misrepresenting himself.
"I thought I was advising a student who was working on a project. I referred him to a reliable theologian on the matter. I was acting in my capacity as a theologian trying to be helpful to a young person," he told Reuters.

I suspect the church has developed a backbone without appearing to interfere.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

 

Regarding Kerry, Is He or Is He Not Excommunicated?

Vatican Says Anti-Kerry Lawyer Hoodwinked Them
Father Augustine Di Noia, third-ranking official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal office, told Reuters that Balestrieri had hoodwinked the Church by misrepresenting himself.
"I thought I was advising a student who was working on a project. I referred him to a reliable theologian on the matter. I was acting in my capacity as a theologian trying to be helpful to a young person," he told Reuters.

So you gave the question to a reliable theologian on the matter. The answer that was given applies to just Catholics that are not US Senators? Hmmmmm!
Mover Mike
 

Why I Will Vote For Bush and Why I Am Against Kerry

I will vote for Bush because he connects with people. He believes we can make better decisions with our incomes than Washington. Bush is the guy next door. I would like to have a Bar B Que with the guy next door or talk about the Beavers and Ducks, share a non-alcoholic beer. The words he speaks about his wife and daughters are real and touching. I was glad to finally hear Bush say "in 1990 we assembled a large coalition, to repel Iraq from Kuwait, sanctioned by the UN and Kerry voted against it". Kerry "the wonk" doesn't have core beliefs. I am concerned that Kerry would never stand up for Americans and our way of life. The humorless Kerry finally laughed at himself in the last debate, but his wife doesn't share top billing with his Mom. I think that is a metaphor for his foreign policy.

I believe The Bush Doctrine is as important today as The Truman Doctrine was for the aftermath of WWII. For so many years we haved refused to act in our interests, even when attacked. It's about time!

 

Notice to the NEA and the OEA

USA TODAY has an interview with Terasa Heinz Kerry
Q: You'd be different from Laura Bush?

A: Well, you know, I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don't know that she's ever had a real job — I mean, since she's been grown up. So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things. And I'm older, and my validation of what I do and what I believe and my experience is a little bit bigger — because I'm older, and I've had different experiences. And it's not a criticism of her. It's just, you know, what life is about.

From NRO
From the White House:
Inspired by her second grade teacher, she earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Southern Methodist University in 1968. She then taught in public schools in Dallas and Houston. In 1973 she earned a master of library science degree from the University of Texas at Austin and worked as a public school librarian in Austin [until 1977].

The arrogance of Teresa. If I were a teacher I would be outraged!
Mover Mike

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

 

Looking for Some Outrage, Jack

Jack at Jack Bog's Blog got upset, rightfully so, at three women wearing t-shirts that said “Protect Our Civil Liberties,” who were kicked out of a Bush campaign stop in Medford, OR by an overzealous security person. Rightfully so, again.
Please show the same outrage at the incident at a campaign stop by Edwards:
During a recent campaign appearance in West Palm by the sue-happy senator, professional clown Jack "Banjo" Williams of Delray Beach showed up early to nab himself a good spot.

"Before the start of the speech, 70-year-old Williams worked the crowd in a star-spangled outfit that made him look like a patriotic Raggedy Andy with a top hat. Williams, a retired social worker, pulled an American flag from his clenched fist for a bit of magic. 'This flag right here doesn't belong to the Republicans,' he said. But the trick drew the ire of an Edwards camp volunteer. All signs and flags are outlawed at the event, Banjo was frostily informed," New Times reported

Mover Mike
 

Remembering "I, Pencil"

Ron Paul's weekly column Texas Straight Talk reminded me of an article I read a number of years ago. I'll get to that in a moment.
I consider myself an Libertarian Objectivist. I have been ever since reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in high school. IMO, this country has failed to teach the values of Capitalism to its children, the one thing that has contributed to our success in the world. When we have higher tax rates for capital gains, when we practice redistribution of income through our tax system, when we regulate and plan, we are no longer Capitalist, but a mixed economy moving rapidly toward Socialism. Every year we drift farther to the left. Our politicians, using Keynesian economics, pander to the masses, buying votes by providing more services, taking on more debt and having abandoned Gold, foisting a fiat currency on the world.

Here's the comment by Ron Paul that started these ruminations:
By contrast, capitalism--which is to say economic freedom-- raises the standard of living for everyone in a society. But we must understand what capitalism really is. Capitalism is not a system, but rather the result of free individuals taking economic actions without interference by government. A true capitalist economy is neither planned by bureaucrats nor steered by regulators. This is why it’s so important that we resist the idea that any president should plan our economy. If we accept that government “runs” the economy, we accept a fundamental tenet of socialism. We must understand that economic liberty is every bit as important as political and civil liberties.
Kerry, as you know, has a plan and in my October 15th post, I laid out just some of his plans. The following article was published in 1958 and demonstrates vividly how centralized planning couldn't coordinate all the things needed just to produce a pencil. Yet, some think that government is the answer to all problems in their lives. Normally, I would link to this article, however I think it is so important that I am going to make sure it is easy to find by publishing it each year.
I, Pencil
by Leonard E. Read

I am a lead pencil--the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that's all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery -- more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."

I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me -- no, that's too much to ask of anyone -- if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because -- well, because I am seemingly so simple.

Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.

Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye -- there's some wood, lacquer. the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.
Innumerable Antecedents
Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. But I would like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the richness and complexity of my background.

My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors: the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!

The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California. Can you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails and railroad engines and who construct and install the communication systems incidental thereto? These legions are among my antecedents.

Consider the millwork in San Leandro. The cedar logs are cut into small, pencil-length slats less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. These are kiln dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. The slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How many skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light and power, the belts, motors, and all the other things a mill requires? Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and included are the men who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas & Electric Company hydroplant which supplies the mill's power!

Don't overlook the ancestors present and distant who have a hand in transporting sixty carloads of slats across the nation.

Once in the pencil factory -- $4,000,000 in machinery and building, all capital accumulated by thrifty and saving parents of mine -- each slat is given eight grooves by a complex machine, after which another machine lays leads in every other slat, applies glue, and places another slat atop -- a lead sandwich, so to speak. Seven brothers and I are mechanically carved from this "wood-clinched" sandwich. My "lead" itself -- it contains no lead at all -- is complex. The graphite is mined in Ceylon. Consider these miners and those who make their many tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped and those who make the string that ties the sacks and those who put them aboard ships and those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse keepers along the way assisted in my birth -- and the harbor pilots.

The graphite is mixed with clay from Mississippi in which ammonium hydroxide is used in the refining process. Then wetting agents are added such as sulfonated tallow -- animal fats chemically reacted with sulfuric acid. After passing through numerous machines, the mixture finally appears as endless extrusions -- as from a sausage grinder -- cut to size, dried, and baked for several hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit. To increase their strength and smoothness the leads are then treated with a hot mixture which includes candelilla wax from Mexico, paraffin wax, and hydrogenated natural fats.

My cedar receives six coats of lacquer. Do you know all the ingredients of lacquer? Who would think that the growers of castor beans and the refiners of castor oil are a part of it? They are. Why, even the processes by which the lacquer is made a beautiful yellow involves the skills of more persons than one can enumerate!

Observe the labeling. That's a film formed by applying heat to carbon black mixed with resins. How do you make resins and what, pray, is carbon black?

My bit of metal -- the ferrule -- is brass. Think of all the persons who mine zinc and copper and those who have the skills to make shiny sheet brass from these products of nature. Those black rings on my ferrule are black nickel. What is black nickel and how is it applied? The complete story of why the center of my ferrule has no black nickel on it would take pages to explain

Then there`s my crowning glory, inelegantly referred to in the trade as "the plug," the part man uses to erase the errors he makes with me. An ingredient called "factice" is what does the erasing. It is a rubber-like product made by reacting rape-seed oil from the Dutch East indies with sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to the common notion, is only for binding purposes. Then, too, there are numerous vulcanizing and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; and the pigment which gives "the plug" its color is cadmium sulfide.
No One Knows
Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?

Actually, millions of human beings have had a hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others. Now, you may say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There isn't a single person in all these millions, including the president of the pencil company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of know-how. From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between the miner of graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type of know-how. Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with, any more than can the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil field -- paraffin being a by-product of petroleum.

Here is an astounding fact: Neither the worker in the oil field nor the chemist nor the digger of graphite or clay nor any who mans or makes the ships or trains or trucks nor the one who runs the machine that does the knurling on my bit of metal nor the president of the company performs his singular task because he wants me. Each one wants me less, perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, there are some among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would they know how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants. I may or may not be among these items.
No Master Mind
There is a fact still more astounding: The absence of a master mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. Instead, we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery to which I earlier referred.

It has been said that "only God can make a tree." Why do we agree with this? Isn't it because we realize that we ourselves could not make one? Indeed, can we even describe a tree? We cannot, except in superficial terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But what mind is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, the constant changes in molecules that transpire in the life span of a tree? Such a feat is utterly unthinkable!

I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies -- millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human master-minding! Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.

The above is what I meant when writing, "if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing" For, if one is aware that these know-hows will naturally, yea, automatically, arrange themselves into creative and productive patterns in response to human necessity and demand-that is, in the absence of governmental or any other coercive master-minding -- then one will possess an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without this faith.

Once government has had a monopoly of a creative activity such, for instance, as the delivery of the mails, most individuals will believe that the mails could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely. And here is the reason: Each one acknowledges that he himself doesn't know how to do all the things incident to mail delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could do it. These assumptions are correct. No individual possesses enough know-how to perform a nation's mail delivery any more than any individual possesses enough know-how to make a pencil. Now, in the absence of faith in free people -- in the unawareness that millions of tiny know-hows would naturally and miraculously form and cooperate to satisfy this necessity -- the individual cannot help but reach the erroneous conclusion that mail can be delivered only by governmental "master- minding."
Testimony Galore
If I, Pencil, were the only item that could offer testimony on what men and women can accomplish when free to try, then those with little faith would have a fair case. However, there is testimony galore: it's all about us and on every hand. Mail delivery is exceedingly simple when compared, for instance, to the making of an automobile or a calculating machine or a grain combine or a milling machine or to tens of thousands of other things. Delivery? Why, in this area where men have been left free to try, they deliver the human voice around the world in less than one second: they deliver an event visually and in motion to any person's home when it is happening; they deliver 150 passengers from Seattle to Baltimore in less than four hours; they deliver gas from Texas to one's range or furnace in New York at unbelievably low rates and without subsidy: they deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian Gulf to our Eastern Seaboard -- halfway around the world -- for less money than the government charges for delivering a one-ounce letter across the street!

The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society's legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed. I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good earth.

Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946 and served as its president until his death. "I, Pencil," his most famous essay, was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman.

Mover Mike

Monday, October 18, 2004

 

Heresy and Excommunication

Tonight's Headline at WorldNetDaily: Did Kerry excommunicate self from church?

At MichNews.com the headline reads: BREAKING: SEN. JOHN KERRY “EXCOMMUNICATED,” ACCORDING TO VATICAN RESPONSE

I don't what or if there are repercussions for Kerry, but I did find a definition of Heresy, which I thought was something from the times of Salem or the Inquisition.
According to De Fide What is Heresy?
HERESY, according to Can. 751 of the Code of Canon Law, is the pertinacious denial or doubt of an infallible dogma of Divine and Catholic Faith committed by a baptized Catholic: "High Treason," if you will, against the Faith.

A DOGMA of DIVINE and CATHOLIC FAITH, according to Can. 750-1 is 1) a doctrine contained directly within either Sacred Scripture or Sacred Tradition, and 2) proposed as revealed by either a) the Solemn Magisterium, i.e. Ecumenical Council, or b) the Ordinary Universal Magisterium, i.e. unanimously by the Pope in union with the Bishops in their day-to-day teaching.

Over the centuries, Heresy has always been held to be the greatest threat to the Common Good and salvation of souls. The Church teaches that to adhere willfully and with full knowledge to a doctrine contrary to one proposed by the Church as revealed is to fundamentally choose a lie instead of the Truth: You cannot serve two Masters at once.

The "Right-to-Murder" heresy, commonly known as the "Right-to-Choose Abortion," is a clear and present danger to the welfare of every American citizen in two respects: Temporally, it is a threat to the inalienable Natural Law right to life; Spiritually, every Catholic's, every human being's inalienable right to the True Faith as it is enshrined in the Fifth Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Murder," is placed in jeopardy.

 

Monday October 18, 2004

The Daily Reckoning has a look at the performance of several critical markets for the year to date. Oil is up 67% this year. What's interesting to me is the quote of Alan Abelson from Barrons
"China's decision to abandon attempts to cool off its over heated economy before the job was half done," says Alan Abelson, "is reflected in the resumption of the global bull in commodities, notably the spurt in copper and aluminum, as well as oil."

Abelson thinks China is starting to alter the way it recycles the flood of dollars it receives, focusing more on commodities and less on U.S. securities. "Greenspan & Co. may have no choice but to keep nudging up rates, if only to keep the dollar afloat," he writes.
The Dollar this morning is at a new low on this latest decline to 1.25 to the Euro!
Mover Mike at 9:36 AM

Yesterday I wrote about the charges filed in June charging Kerry with Heresy. Today I read inCatholic World News that Kerry has incurred the penalty of Excommunication!
Marc Balestrieri, a Los Angeles canon lawyer, who launched his case earlier this year by filing a heresy complaint in Kerry's home archdiocese of Boston, told EWTN's "World Over" program on Friday that he had received an unusual, indirect communication from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the pro-abortion stance.
That communication provides a basis, he said, to declare that any Catholic politician who says he is "personally opposed to abortion, but supports a woman's right to choose," incurs automatic excommunication. It also provided a basis for Balestrieri to broaden his canonical actions and file additional complaints against four more pro-abortion Catholic politicians: Democrat Senators Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Tom Harkin of Iowa; Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine; and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, a Democrat.
Mover Mike 10:42 AM

Then there's this from Geoff Metcalf (see Bio). You wonder why Kerry hasn't released his SF-180 of which there are 100 pages that the US Navy won't release without Kerry's authorization? Metcalf says:
The growing conventional wisdom (in military circles) is that Kerry GOT a discharge but it was other than honorable. He subsequently got Clinton to sign the fix in 2001.
It has been suggested (and probably true) that the sandbagged records are loaded with appeal efforts and reports of his having provided “aid and comfort” to the enemy.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

 

Sunday October 17, 2004

Code Words
The old, bald guy at Mongo's Mutterings deciphers liberal words and phrases for us, for example:
the rich, the wealthy = you
e.g. 'We'll fund things by taxing the rich.'

fair = huge, enormous
e.g. 'Everyone needs to pay their fair share.'

progressive (n.) = shrill left-wing nut
e.g. 'Michael Moore is a prominent progressive.'

If you watch current television you may be amazed at what is said on television. Some call it a coarsening of society. A few years back I wrote a poem that pointed out this change:
Code Words

They’re on the airwaves
they’re in the news
words that you and me couldn’t use.

You douche bag!

Douche bags and condoms
used on places we didn’t know we had
when we were kids.

Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce
knew all the words
that were scandalous to say aloud.
And now those words are flaunted
before daughters, on the silver screens.

No body function’s sacred.
Ad agencies must bill time in millions
for code words new, to name a few:

Sexual Reassignment
Nutrient Dense
Monostat 7
Femcare
Immodium-ID
Gynelotrium


Did you read The Mesopotamian Saturday? In The American Elections he has two reasons for the re-election of Bush:
1)if President Bush is reelected, this will prove to them that the American people are not intimidated despite all their brutality, and that their cause is quite futile. Yes there is little doubt that an election victory by President Bush would be a severe blow and a great disappointment for all the terrorists in the World and all the enemies of America. I believe that such an outcome would result in despair and demoralization of the “insurgent elements” here in Iraq, and would lead to the pro-democracy forces gaining the upper hand eventually.
2)If you lose this war, you are no more, and you will have to withdraw within you boundaries cringing and waiting for terror to strike you in your homeland, afraid to move around, afraid to travel, afraid to do business abroad. You will have to see all your friends abroad annihilated and intimidated and nobody will have any confidence or trust in you anymore. And you will have to watch from far with bitterness the forces of darkness and evil taking over in many parts of this earth, with feelings of impotence and inability to do anything about it. In other words you would lose all credibility, and the fiends of terror and obscurantism would go triumphantly dancing the macabre dance of mayhem and death, and darkness would descend and obliterate the light and the hope.
Pretty tough words.

Then late today(MIKE'S NOTE, SUIT WAS FILED JUNE 14TH AND AMENDED JUNE 29, 2004) comes word that In the Ecclesiastical Court of the Archdiocese of Boston Denunciation of U.S. Senator John F. Kerry for (five counts of) Heresy.

Count 1: Heresy
Count 2: Diabolical Scandal Leading to Heresy
Count 3: Immediate Formal Cooperation in Heresy
Count 4: Abjection of the Sacred Species
Count 5: Diabolical Scandal Leading to Murder

Now I'm no Catholic, although my wife and her family are, however these charges to me read as serious as anything I've ever read about concerning the Catholic Faith. Did Kerry get himself in trouble not only with his comments about Mary Cheney, but his comments about a woman's right to choose and how he disagrees with the Catholic Church on this issue. Didn't he also say he voted against partial birth abortion?(MIKE'S NOTE, SUIT WAS FILED JUNE 14TH AND AMENDED JUNE 29, 2004) It appears the penalty, if found guilty, is excommunication. How does that play with Catholic voters?
Mover Mike

Saturday, October 16, 2004

 

Osama Mama and The Oregonian

This morning I opened The Oregonian to the editorial page and this headline: Keep Murray in U.S. Senate. I was shocked! Keep Patty Murray "Osama Mama"! The woman who in 2002 said,
"...that bin Laden had been at work in unnamed countries 'for decades building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities. And the people are extremely grateful,'

"He's made their lives better. We have not done that," said Sen. Patty Murray "Osama Mama"
The Oregonian said Osama Mama "is becoming a rising force in the Senate" "is building seniority". While "she opposed granting George Bush the authority to attack Iraq, she has voted to fund the military since,". Nethercutt, her opponent, five term House Representative, only offers "his pledge of loyal support of Bush policies on defense, taxes, health policy and energy".
Is there no outrage or accountability for her comments about bin Laden? One problem I see is that we keep electing people to Congress because they are "building seniority". Just maybe the senator from Washington would have greater influence if they were from the party of George W Bush. The Oregonian already came out in support of Kerry, so I guess they don't want Bush's policies on "defense, taxes, health policy and energy".

To the Oregonian: You do not speak for me! Why don't you just publish the news, collect money from your advertisers, and stop telling the people in Oregon and SW Washington what to do!

Friday, October 15, 2004

 

I've Got A Plan...

Bill at Cactus Road posted, "This Guy (Kerry) Has More Plans Than MCI"
According to Team Kerry, their five-point energy plan to make America safer, stronger, and more secure will:
1)Create an Energy Security Trust Fund
2)Reduce Energy Bills for American Consumers
3)Diversify Sources of Energy
4)Avoid Blackouts
5)Create 21st Century Energy Jobs

Over at Iconoclast.ca,
ICONOMICS by R. Bastiat
outlines a representative sample, from A to Z, of the new and expanded programs he (Kerry) is proposing on top of his trillion-dollar add-on to government-funded healthcare:

After-school care for every child in America, AIDS initiatives, Amtrak expansion in sparsely populated rural areas, augmented benefits for veterans and military reservists, child-care grants to states, college tuition grants in exchange for community service, a Community Defense Service to organize Americans under "community service captains," a community service program for teenagers, conservation schemes, an "energy independence" project, farm subsidies, firefighter hiring subsidies, grants to states for tax relief, Head Start program expansion, housing subsidies, job-training initiatives, Native American funding and programs, No Child Left Behind expansion, renewable-energy subsidies, a Retired not Tired service program enlisting senior citizens, school construction and repair subsidies, scientific research funding, small-business subsidies, subsidies to private companies to provide health and retirement benefits, technology development subsidies, training of professionals to prevent childhood obesity, transportation and medical services for the disabled, venture capital investments by government, and zapping drug abuse with expanded treatment and prevention programs.

That list covers fewer than half of Kerry's spending proposals, but I'm sure you get the main idea: Big Brother will take care of you anywhere and everywhere, in all possible ways.

Moral: The more the government meddles the more dependent we become, the more we pay in taxes, or the more debt we have, or the more inflation we have. I thought the duty of the Federal Government was to protect our borders and to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Mover Mike

Thursday, October 14, 2004

 

Packaging the News

The November issue of Vanity Fair was laying on the sofa this afternoon. I thumbed through the pictures of beautiful women, all looking like movie stars, the perfume and high priced clothing ads and stopped to read an article by Michael Wolff titled The Plot To Sell The News. Wolff argues that the news articles we read in the MSM are not the same because of "liberal bias", but because of packaging. It's "Storifyable!" A story takes on a life of its own, it's easy to tell and it's understandable regardless of whether it is true or not. Some examples are the stories of WND's appearing on the front pages of the major newspapers and countervening articles are buried; or the story of Jessica Lynch, the hero; or one that caught my attention the other day: the story of protestors at Bush's inaugeration and how they forced the Bush entourage to stay in their cars and not take the usual walk through the streets. The press knew it happened, but it didn't get reported in the MSM.
Now what made this even more interesting to me is the idea from my market trading days that when everyone knows something it is already discounted in the price. In other words, herds don't make money!
Now from J.R. Nyquist comes his weekly article titled Talking Up The Russian Threat:
In the real world, as opposed to the mythical world of the sixty-second sound bite, the leading threat to U.S. security is not al Qaeda (an organization with nonexistent oil reserves, spurious WMDs and shadowy cave-dwelling leadership). The main threat to the United States is a large country with thousands of nuclear weapons. As Alexei Bayer pointed out in his Oct. 8 commentary ("Russia off the Radar Screen") for the Wall Street Journal: "[F]oreign policy elites in Washington have been mislead by their own claims and have come to believe that the U.S. is now the world's only military superpower, holding an overwhelming advantage over any potential rival. This is patent nonsense."

One might ask how this "patent nonsense" attained currency? As with all widely accepted nonsense, it was enthroned by that cleverest of clever in-groups - "the smart set." The problem with Washington, and the problem with America in general, is that too many people want to belong to the "smart set." And here is where comedy and tragedy become as one. With sadness I must report that there is no "smart set," and there never was. There is only a dominant herd that demands intellectual compliance as the price of admission. What is genuinely smart doesn't come in "sets," cannot be bottled, packaged or sold to mass audiences and political climbers. Thoughts and ideas that are bottled, packaged or sold to mass audiences are necessarily simple and shallow. The problem with the democratic process is that packaging political "truth" for the masses involves our leaders in dangerous mythologizing. As Mr. Bayer pointed out in his October 8 commentary, "The Pentagon Budget may be larger than the sum total of what the rest of the world spends on defense, but Russia can still incinerate all of the U.S. in about 15 minutes - hardly a condition for world domination by Washington."

Let's not get so carried away with the legitimate war on Radical Islam, that we forget that Communism is not dead. Commentary Magazine has an article on that point: Is Russia Going Backward?
The question to keep asking our politicians is, Are You Doing Everything Possible To Protect The People Of The United States? Well, Are You?
Mover Mike
 

"Who is John Galt?"

Remember last night when President Bush was asked about the shortage of Flu Vaccine? There's an editorial in the WSJ called Infectious Politics. The article states that today there are only two companies that make the Flu Vaccine and one of those, Chiron, is under legal attack.
The main question for public health ought to be how did we arrive at a place where closing a single plant can endanger so many people? The answer is that any company brave, or foolish, enough to make vaccines has had to run an obstacle course of price controls, regulation and tort lawyers. Until Congress and federal officials come to grips with these fundamental problems, life-threatening vaccine shortages will continue to occur.
The article goes on to out line other vaccines that are produced by from one (1) to three (3) drug companies.

Remember, in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, how CEO's, Presidents, Owners walked away from their businesses after they were harrassed in the same way they are today. When asked why this was happening, the answer was "Who is John Galt?" This most prophetic novel took 10 to 12 years to write published in 1957.
Atlas Shrugged is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world--and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder--and rebirth--of man's spirit.
Mover Mike
 

More on Oil and Trade Deficit

Today the Commerce Department announced
The U.S. trade deficit, propelled by a record foreign oil bill, surged to $54 billion in August, the second highest level in history. televisions.
...the August trade deficit in goods and services was 6.9 percent higher than a $50.5 billion imbalance in July. A small 0.1 percent rise in exports was dwarfed by a 2.5 percent jump in imports.

The nation's total foreign oil bill was driven higher in August by increased volume and higher prices. The average price for crude oil jumped to a 23-year high of $36.37 per barrel, up by $3.09 per barrel from July. Imported oil is likely to climb even higher in coming months reflecting rising oil prices that are now at record levels above $50 per barrel.

Mover Mike

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

 

Some Thoughts on the Final Debate

Both men did well tonight. I was troubled early when it appeared Kerry was humorless and Bush was smirky. I am distracted by Kerry's hand gestures. They don't seem to be appropriate to the words. It appeared to me early in the debate that Bush was either nervous or not presidential. I think Bush after about a half hour started scoring points. I don't think we can use iris scans or fingerprints as Kerry suggested to regulate the flow of illegal aliens across our borders. They are poor people and probably won't even register. We don't even know where all the people holding visas are! Kerry said that some have a goal of "playing for the American Dream". That didn't make sense to me. Bush seems weak on healthcare, but he really came on when he said "let me talk to the American workers" and did great talking about getting more money into their pockets. Kerry is a "wonk" and Bush is the guy next door. I would like to have a Bar B Que with the guy next door or talk about the Beavers and Ducks, share a non-alcoholic beer. I was finally glad to hear Bush say "in 1990 we assembled a large coalition, to repel Iraq from Kuwait, sanctioned by the UN and Kerry voted against it". There is no war that Kerry would approve. I was touched by the words of Bush about his wife and daughter. Kerry finally laughed at himself, but his wife doesn't share top billing with his Mom. I think that is a metaphor for his foreign policy.
 

Gold, Oil and the Dollar

There's a very good article in Asia Times Online by Jack Crooks, Ominous: The US deficit vs the dollar. The article makes a number of points:
1) The US is borrowing $540 Billion per year from foreigners or 5.4% of GDP.
...the deficit rose to a whopping US$166.2 billion for the second quarter of 2004. Annualized, that's $664.8 billion, or approaching 6.5% of US gross domestic product. As bad as this seems, it will probably get worse before it gets better.

2)In 1987 our trade deficit hit 3.5%. Our currency fell 42% before our trade went from deficit to surplus
"Economic history is utterly devoid of examples of current account adjustments that are not accompanied by significantly weaker currencies." - Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley

3)For the first time ever the world's major currencies are fiat currencies unbacked by Gold. The three...are the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen, with the Chinese Yuan pegged to the dollar.

4)The relationship between Oil and Gold used to average 15:1 In other words one ounce of gold would buy 15 barrels of oil. Currently, one ounce of Gold will buy only 7.73 barrels of Oil. The author argues:
if (Greenspan) can somehow get the dollar price of gold to increase, it might take a lot of pressure off of the global economy by reducing the real cost of oil and clear the way for sustained economic growth. If you're thinking that, then you're thinking a weaker dollar
.
5) here's where the author and I part company. GATA (Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, which is leading the way in exposing the manipulation of the gold market, orchestrated by various bullion dealers.) has for many years argued that there is an active suppression of the price of Gold. One reason being, a rising price of Gold would signal inflation. You and I know that the government statistics on inflation don't reflect our world. We see rising prices everywhere from groceries, to housing, to commodities. Yet, the alarm, a rising Gold price, is not working as it should. Sure, the price of Gold has moved from $250/ounce to $420/ounce, but if it traded insync with Oil it would trade at $750/ounce or higher. The consequences would be a sharply lower dollar, sharply higher interest rates and sharply higher prices.

Either Bush or Kerry will have two big problems; WW III and a Dollar Crisis.
Mover Mike

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

 

Some Random Thoughts...

Did you notice that in the first debate Kerry criticised Bush for not securing the nuclear facilities when we invaded Iraq? In the second debate he criticised Bush for not securing the Ammo dumps when we invaded Iraq. What happened during the two debates? Why the change in wording? Why not repeat the same charge? Did Kerry realize that if there were nuclear facilities that might be evidence of WMD's and thus a threat? If there were no nuke WMD's why is the IAEA worried about nuclear facilities smuggled out of Iraq and found in other countries?

Article in the Belmont Club about the beheading of Kenneth Bigley and that future captives should be written off to reduce the threat of further kidnappings. I was struck by this paragraph, which I think is truer than most would believe:
Radical Islam is self-evidently at war with the West because their efforts are limited only by their capability. And the West is just as clearly not yet at war with radical Islam because its actions are still limited by its intent. Zarqawi sawed off Bigley's head simply because he could; America spares Fallujah from choice.

Michael Moore alleges that President Bush has a family relationship with Saudi Arabia that is unhealthy for the American people. Hammorabi has an insightful article about
The Role of Saudi Arabia in Iraq. He says,
"The Saudis are playing a dirty game to keep the volatile security situation in Iraq. Though not declared like Syria and Iran the Saudi role is to destabilise peace in Iraq and to fail the US plan there. They are not in favour of GWB though JK spoke about substitute for their oil but he gave no explanation how so as difficult to trust."

Mover Mike
 

Evidence of Global Warming

I'm convinced that we are experiencing global warning, just not convinced that man's burning of fossil fuel is the reason. My understanding is that there have been periods in the past, confirmed by ice cores where CO2 has been much higher than today, before man could be blamed. That doesn't mean that there are some things happening where there is no historical record of ever happening before. Today, Whitley Streiber's Unknown Country has an article about Fish Turning Up In Strange Places.
In British Columbia, fisherman Gudy Gudmundseth caught the first Humboldt squid ever seen in that area. At 6½ feet and 44-pounds, it was an amazing catch.
James A. Cosgrove, of the B.C. Royal British Columbia Museum, says, "It seems silly to get excited about a dead squid, but it has such great implications. This is an animal that should be down in South America, not in British Columbia or Alaska."
While Canadians are trying to figure out how giant squids came so far north, people in Vermont are wondering where all their monarch butterflies are.

In another article Streiber says,
Levels of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere are sharply increasing, which means that climate change may occur sooner than expected.
Streiber and Art Bell are the authors of The Day After Tomorrow, from which the movie of the same name was based.

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