Book Review: A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies

Full Disclosure. Circa 2001 I was probably what we would now call a 'Neo-Con.' I originally supported the current war in Iraq out of ignorance (of the evidence) and a belief that Bush would always, or at least usually, do the right thing. I now concede that I was WAY off. I now feel as though I was lied to or at least manipulated.

[One minor point ... though many have claimed that the Bush administration claimed that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks, I've never personally seen that claim.]

Title:
A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; First printing edition (June 8, 2004)
ISBN-10: 0385506724

Years ago (circa 1990), I read James Bamford's Puzzle Palace, the first time many of us had ever heard of the NSA. So Bamford is no newbie to this subject matter, with respect to writing A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies. He clearly has a number of trustworthy inside sources. I rememeber

In A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies, Bamford describes the roles of the CIA, FBI, and NSA from the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks to the Bush administration's marketing tactics in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. In short, it's a tale of incompetence, turf fights, bad luck, and bureacracy. While I generally find the vast majority of Bamford's narrative convincing and fair, I think at times he takes advantage of hindsight to put pieces together that were not necessarily clear before the events took place. This does not detract from the fact that numerous mistakes were made and that significant problems remain.

Some items of note from the book:
1. The Central Security Service is the NSA's paramilitary organization. p. 53
2. Site 'R' - an interesting tale. p. 64
3. 2857th Test Squadron, secret group, exists solely to extract POTUS and VP from the rubble of the White House after a nuclear attack. p. 64

4. Ike's secret govt. [particularly scary] p. 71
5. Building 7 of the World Trade Center, more information. p. 82
6. Camp Peary, the CIA's 10,000 acre training center near Williamsburg, Virginia. p. 131

7. NOC or 'Non-traditional Platform': a group within the CIA's Clandestine Service, still wrapped in mystery, few mknow many details, may involve deniability. p. 190
8. TIPOFF, State Department's terrorist watchlist. p. 228
9. Operation Bramble Bush. It sounds like few options are off the table for some clandestine ops. p. 264

10. David Wurmser, an adviser to Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, looking for a pretext for war allegedly claimed, "Crises can be opportunities." Reminds me of Rahm Emanuel. [You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before. -- Rahm Emanuel]
11. More detail about the Valeria Plame/Joe Wilson affair than I'd read before. After reading this account I'm beginning to believe that the Niger 'yellowcake' story was known by the Bush administration to be bogus, but taken at face value since it backed-up what they wanted to do.
12. Ahmed Chalabi was (is?) a questionable character with his own agendas, he looks to have played the U.S. like a fiddle at times. pp. 291-292

13. The Rendon Group. This part of the story is one of the most unsettling in my opinion. I immediatelly what else is being manipulated? Maybe it's easier to ask what isn't? p. 295
14. The Office of Strategic Influence. I don't care for the way that sounds. p. 296
15. The head of the CIA is only in control of 15% of the nation's intelligence assets, the rest fall under the Secretary of Defense.

As mentioned above, we can now see that it was poor decision-making, incompetence, bad luck, mistakes, and agendas that allowed the the 9/11 attackers to succeed, at times literally under the nose of the NSA. After 9/11 attacks the White House manipulated information, cherry-picked information, and appear to have lied at times in order to start a war with Iraq. The U.S. Congress clearly failed again and again in its oversight responsibilities and deferred too much to the White House. I think the bottom line is that if only half of what Bamford claims is true (and I suspect it's MUCH higher than that), we're in trouble. Even moreso than before, I question what were are told, and why we are told it. The book is a good read and a bit of an eye-opener. You may realize that the federal government and it's intelligence agencies are capable of much more than you expected.

Tuesday Grab Bag

Earth Day / Hour. (pic via REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)
Gore: Lighting candles while cursing the light (more here)
Earth Hour 2009 - The Big Picture

Travel.
Muslim island must give up polygamy as price of being part of France

Wow!
The Wunderland in 4 minutes - model railway Hamburg

Architecture.
The Joule Hotel by Tihany Design
City of Jaca Hockey Arena (hockey?)

Watches: Omega & Basel.
Omega 40th Anniversary Moonlanding at Baselworld 2009
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A NEWS CONFERENCE: The original space cowboys come to Basel
‘Panel of Heroes’ Tell Tales of Space and Time at BaselWorld
Louis Vuitton Eyes Up Buzz Aldrin For Fashion Campaign

Environment.
$8,000 for a 200-year green door?
Green dishwasher soap doesn’t work; Encourages soap smuggling

Misc.
Greek islands - a set on Flickr
Easy Rider - Popular Science
The Death Of Latin - CBS News (ht: LRC)

Today's Quotes

People are tired of liberty.
They have had a surfeit of it.
Liberty is no longer a chaste and austere virgin...
Today’s youth are moved by other slogans...
Order, Hierarchy, Discipline.
-- Benito Mussolini
(1883-1945), Italian dictator during WW2
Source: Speech, March 1923

I, however, place economy among the first
and most important republican virtues,
and public debt as the greatest
of the dangers to be feared.
-- Thomas Jefferson

By virtue of exchange,
one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others.
-- Frederic Bastiat
(1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before -- and immediately following -- the French Revolution of February 1848
Source: his book, Economic Harmonies

Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways; hence, there are
an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, bonuses,
subsidies, incentives, the progressive income tax, free education, the right to
employment, the right to profit, the right to wages, the right to relief, the
right to the tools of production, interest free credit, etc., etc. And it the
aggregate of all these plans, in respect to what they have in common, legal
plunder, that goes under the name of socialism.
-- Frederic Bastiat
(1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before -- and immediately following -- the French Revolution of February 1848
Source: Essays, 61

Who Do So Many Intellectuals Lean To The Left?

Ever wonder why so many so-called intellectuals have socialist leanings? And a need to control things? It seems that at times they can not stomach the idea of 'lesser' individuals doing things for themselves. (pic of Hayek from Wikipedia)

Below are two interesting items. First is a brief interchange between George Will and Friedrich A. Hayek from Meet The Press in 1975. Followed-by a good quote from Eric Hoffer.

Hayek Meets the Press in 1975 - Karen Y. Palasek - Mises Institute:
"Will: 'Dr. von Hayek, capitalism and particularly American capitalism would seem to have a good record at giving people a rising standard of living. Why are so many intellectuals, and particularly so many economists, skeptical about and even hostile to capitalism?'
Hayek: 'Well, I've been puzzling about it for a long time, particularly about the economists who ought to understand better. It's very difficult to know why they don't. I think it's the intellectual attraction of a system you can deliberately control, which is fascinating to the intellectual.'"

The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the
intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his
confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social
usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing,
instructing, and planning- from minding other people's business- and is bound
to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to
manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and
regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of
worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social
order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the
intellectual.
-- Eric Hoffer
(1902-1983) American author, philosopher, awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

Nassim Taleb Blasts Myron Scholes ...

This is brutal. And while off-topic, I really like that jacket. ;-)

Mr. Taleb Goes to Washington: A black swan meets some ugly ducklings. - The Big Money: "First, he says, we have to unmask the charlatans of risk like Myron Scholes. To Taleb, Scholes is the Great Oz in this Emerald City because his work on options and derivatives allowed the whole of the financial system to adopt poorly understood products-like the ones that brought AIG down-that hide risk. To Taleb, Scholes' academic work, which enabled the widespread use of complex derivatives, was like 'giving children dynamite.' 'This guy should be in a retirement home doing Sudoku,' Taleb says. 'His funds have blown up twice. He shouldn't be allowed in Washington to lecture anyone on risk.'"

Can Stats Finally Make Soccer a Success in the U.S.?

This might prove interesting. Moneyball is still in my queue. (pic via Wikipedia)

Doing A Number On Soccer - 04.07.08 - SI Vault: "Stats companies have been calculating all manner of soccer indicators for years, and, upon inspection, they turn out to be fascinating. (Though you'd never know it, as MLS doesn't release or track them for reasons 'more technical than philosophical,' says deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, which in essence means, We're too cheap to pay the stat trackers.) Among other things, players are rated by touches per 90 minutes, possessions won and passing percentage. In Europe, companies even track how far each player runs, with top midfielders logging more than 7.2 miles per game, or 7.19 more than David Ortiz on any given day."

Monday Grab Bag

Architecture.
Wine and Dine in New Zealand with Relais & Châteaux
Ritz-Carlton Berlin Marks Fall of Berlin Wall
Cabel Headquarters by Massimo Mariani

Food.
Ind. bakery lands new-to-the-States Pizza Cone

Watches.
Patek Philippe: The Seal, new standard of quality for mechanical watches

Fountain Pens.
J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche

Misc.
Who Needs a College Reunion? I’ve Got Facebook

Sunday Grab Bag

Cars. (pic via WSJ)
Formula One Declares War on Dull Races - WSJ.com
Formula 1 Hopes Adjustments Can Help It Through Stormy Times
Nissan's Compact: It's Fun, Cubed
Sector111 Lotus Exige

Architecture.
Eco Friendly Prefabricated Home - EcoFabulous House of Vancouver

Fountain Pens.
The Pen Addict: Ink Links
New Limited Edition Pens and Inks from Pilot/Iroshizuku

Twitter.
OMG, OnStar May Soon Let You Twitter From Your Car

Watches.
New York - Madoff sets Rolex back (more here)
Some Concord Photos from Basel (Including the C1 Quantum Gravity)
I'm in Basel with my new watch...

Style.
10 Style Tips Every Man Should Know
Leffot Blog - Corthay Vendome MTO

Misc.
Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Draw Quality Complaints
Scientist accidentally injects Ebola into finger
How marshmallow Peeps are made
Leatherman Freestyle Multitool
Every Craigslist

World's Most Expensive Men's Shoes

This is a fun list. If you appreciate fine mechanical watches, you might also appreciate the craftsmanship of fine men's shoes. Thanks to Stylecrave for this list. One day I would love to own a pair of Alden Cordovan, Crocket & Jones, and maybe Edward Green and Churchill. (pic is an Alden cordovan blucher, from Alden of Carmel)

There are numerous small brands, but English shoe maker John Lobb (holder of a Royal Warrant for the British Royal Family) might be analogous to Patek Philippe in the watch world.

Most Expensive Men's Shoes: "In a time when most large shoe brands have outsourced their labor, a handful of boutique shoe craftsmen have remain committed to the quality and care of an expert touch. While some may opt for a $20 pair of mass produced shoes at Target, there are others who appreciate the work of a true craftsman. When it comes to the craft of shoe making, the following 10 are some of the finest ever made– and also the most expensive. In a celebration of the historic craft of shoe making, here are 10 of the most expensive men’s shoes in the world."

Massachusetts: A Preview of Obamacare

Scary, but easily predicted.

Massachusetts's Health-Care Program Offers a Preview of Barack Obama's Universal Health-Care Plan - WSJ.com: "They're trying to manage the huge costs of the subsidized middle-class insurance program that is gradually swallowing the state budget. The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic. The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42% (!) since 2006. Like gamblers doubling down on their losses, Democrats have already hiked the fines for people who don't obtain insurance under the 'individual mandate,' already increased business penalties, taxed insurers and hospitals, raised premiums, and pumped up the state tobacco levy. That's still not enough money."

Daniel Hannan: A British Ron Paul?

Bravo! Daniel Hannan for Congress!

So I said to Gordon Brown, I said... :: Daniel Hannan: "One of the advantages about being outside the EPP is that you get to speak on important occasions. Today was such an occasion. Gordon Brown was in town in advance of the G20 summit. There were a couple of things I wanted to tell him on behalf of my constituents ..."


My speech to Gordon Brown goes viral :: Daniel Hannan: "The internet has changed politics - changed it utterly and forever. Twenty-four hours ago, I made a three-minute speech in the European Parliament, aimed at Gordon Brown. I tipped off the BBC and some of the newspaper correspondents but, unsurprisingly, they ignored me: I am, after all, simply a backbench MEP."

Saturday Grab Bag

Architecture. (pic from OfficePod)
OfficePOD: Changing the way people work
A Colorado Home Is Ready for Its Owners’ Old Age

Cars.
Car Review: 2010 Toyota Prius Tops 50 mpg (Easily)
First Look at Tesla's Stunning Model S
Late on a Car Loan? Meet the Disabler

Style.
Indestructable Doc Martens Offer Guarantee
Thom Browne Says He’s Not Close to Bankruptcy
Every Man Should Carry a Handkerchief

Animals.
Gordo the skateboarding parrot stolen from his cage (ht: Asylum)

Photography.
Red River flooding - The Big Picture
High-speed photographs ... pellet fired from an air rifle hits an object

Fountain Pens.
Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia Ink

Misc.
Seychelles: Paradise goes bankrupt
Manchester United will keep 'disgraced' AIG logo
BBC NEWS - 10 ways to get a really good sleep
BBC NEWS - What is it about trains in movies?
Phantom killer was a myth: Police track DNA of a cotton bud maker for two years

Milton Friedman on Other People's Money

Thanks to Club For Growth for the link. Dr. Friedman was a wonderful and brilliant man.



Misc. links:
Let Me Be Clear - The Unbroken Window
Celebrate Human Achievement, Not Earth Hour on March 28

Basel Watch Fair Updates: Hamilton, Longines, and More

More fun stuff. (Longines pic via Jorge/TZ)

Tag Heuer: Monaco-Mania Sweeps BaselWorld

MoCo Loco: Hamilton ODC X-02 Quartz
Hamilton Watch Novelties (fun stuff)

KronosBlog: AP Don Ramon

The new Breitling Chronomat B01 with in-house movement

Black Mamba Watch by Nubeo and Kobe Bryant

Ulysse Nardin Chairman Cellphone at Sybarites

Chronoswiss meets Audi Design = Der Tachoscope!

Testing Time: Explaining Greubel Forsey's EWT - Experimental Watch Technology

Enviro-Nuts Want To Ban Black Cars?

This is getting beyond humorous, and closing in on scary. Wait, what about a black Prius?!

But while we're on topic, should white cars be banned in cold climates?

California May Ban Black Cars: "The California legislature is considering regulating the color of cars and reflectivity of paint to reduce the energy requirements to cool them. A presentation on the proposed legislation by the California Air Resources Board is below. The problem isn't the color per se, but the reflectivity of the paint overall. And dark colors just don't reflect well, so they are likely out. 'Jet black remains an issue,' says the report. Anyone who's ever entered a very hot car knows that it can be cooled down immediately by driving a few feet with the windows open, effectively neutralizing any color-caused heat issues before engaging the air conditioner. But whatever, black is evil."

Basel Watch Fair Updates: Rolex, Omega, and More

Some good stuff in here. (Omega pic via James Dowling/TZ)

Glashütte Original.
Senator Perpetual Calendar - Ceramic
Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar

Omega.
New Omega PloProf in MASSIVE detail
Omega Re-Releases Their Most Sought After Diving Watch: The PloProf
BASELWORLD new from Omega

Hanhart.
Hanhart Primus All Black Chronograph

Favre-Leuba.
Favre-Leuba A.Schild Limited Edition
Favre-Leuba New Manufacture Caliber

Seiko.
Basel 2009 Seiko's brand new series called "Ananta"
Basel 2009 Seiko Sportura

Rolex.
BASELWORLD Rolex official pics
More Official Rolex Pics

Henry Hazlitt on The Housing Crisis

Slam-Dunk!!!

From Dr. Mike Munger of Duke, quoting Henry Hazlitt:
Kids Prefer Cheese: Mr. Hazlitt....He right: "Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad lAoans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to “buy” houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of the homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in they long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment. (my emphasis)"

Related links:
Walter Block on Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson
All posts tagged 'Henry Hazlitt'
Henry Hazlitt And Bastiat's Broken Window, A Comic

Friday Grab Bag

Architecture.
Read-Nest: a small getaway space
Luxury Lake House Design on Lake Austin, Texas

WTH? Is this for real?
Boxed Water Is Better

A minute? Are they serious?!
The Associated Press: Nick network wants kids to unplug on Earth Day: "NEW YORK (AP) — Nickelodeon will ask kids to unplug their games and gadgets for a minute on Earth Day to symbolize a commitment to helping the environment. The unplugged minute will come at nine o'clock in the evening on April 22, when many of Nick's viewers should arguably be in bed."
Leaving PCs on overnight costs companies $2.8B a year

Style.
AskMen.com - Fashion Interview: Bontoni Shoes (more)
The heeling process begins with the sole

Computers.
Gone but not forgotten: 10 operating systems the world left behind

Misc.
Walken in hilarious on Twitter
Holocaust Legacy Written in Letter
Police license plate cameras: Scans Thousands per Day!

Obama Wants You To Be A Slave To The State

This is scary business. (pic from our friends at The People's Cube)

Michelle Malkin : To GIVE and To SERVE: The $6 Billion National Service Boondoggle - Townhall.com: "Maybe it's just me, but I find federal legislation titled 'The GIVE Act' and 'The SERVE Act' downright creepy. Even more troubling: the $6 billion price tag on these bipartisan bills to expand government-funded national service efforts. Volunteerism is a wonderful thing, which is why millions of Americans do it every day without a cent of taxpayer money. But the volunteerism packages on the Hill are less about promoting effective charity than about creating make-work, permanent bureaucracies and left-wing slush funds."

Quotes:
When it becomes dominated by a collectivist creed, democracy will inevitably destroy itself.
-- Friedrich August von Hayek

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
--Thomas Jefferson

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
-- John Adams

Socialism in America will come through the ballot box."
-- Gus Hall
[Arvo Gustav Halberg ] (1910-2000) leader of the Communist Party USA and its four-time U.S. presidential candidate
Source: in an interview with the Cleveland Plain-Dealer (1996)

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
-- James Madison

Related links:
The 'GIVE' Act Calls for Your Kids to be 'Owned' by the State
Government Is Furiously Dancing the Two-Step by Robert Higgs

Thursday Grab Bag

Watches. (pic via Jorge/TZ)
Perpetuelle on the new Basel offerings:
- Patek Breguet Breitling
Ulysse Nardin Desk Clock Planet Earth
TX Technoluxury TX830 Linear Duo Chronograph
New Arrival - but I am a bit torn about this one...
Patek Philippe Has Released A New Chronograph

Architecture.
Prefabricated Floating Home Reinvents Houseboat Design
Japanese Home Design – a glass home
Tsun-miya House by Taira Nishizawa

Style.
Upgrade Your Suit, Ditch The Black
Edward Green - Three New Derbies
Sartorial Love/Hate: Madras

Signs of the Times.
New F-15 Silent Eagle Is Cheap Stealth Plane
US sperm bank offers stimulus deals

Cars.
2010 Toyota Prius: First Drive
Toyobaru coupe coming to Tokyo
Caparo's Exciting T1 Race Extreme
Factory Five Type 65 Coupe

Food.
America’s Unhealthiest Restaurants
Mich. baseball park to offer 4,800-calorie burgers

Misc.
What's it like to live on a submarine?
Leatherman Freestyle
Do older men have less intelligent children?
Mexico's drug war - The Big Picture

Today's Quotes

"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."
-- Thomas Sowell
(1930- ) Writer and economist

"The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."
-- Will Rogers
(1879-1935) American humorist

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
-- Patrick Henry

"The common man is the sovereign consumer
whose buying or abstention from buying
ultimately determines what should be produced
and in what quantity and quality."
-- Ludwig von Mises
(1881-1973) Economist and social philosopher
Source: The Anti-Capitalist Mentality, p.1

Tax Dollars At Work: Rochester City Schools and The Toothless

But their budgets are always too small. Previously from the Rochester City School District.

NY STATE PAID FOR DENTAL CLEANINGS FOR TOOTHLESS PEOPLE - New York Post: "ALBANY, N.Y. Auditors say the state Medicaid program may have overpaid $2.9 million for services like teeth cleaning for toothless patients."

RCSD Spent Thousands on Restaurants, Catering - 13WHAM.com: "(Rochester, N.Y.) – As the Rochester City School District was building a $61 million deficit, district officials were dining out and getting meals catered. Data obtained by 13WHAM News through the Freedom of Information Law shows the district spent nearly $240,000 on restaurants and caterers since the beginning of the 2007-08 school year. The catering expenses included more than $18,000 at Mr. Dominick’s Italian restaurant, more than $60,000 at Wegmans, more than $1,800 at Salvatore’s pizza and sub shop, $1,700 at Dinosaur Barbeque, $500 at E.J. Del Monte, and $270 at the Penfield Country Club."

Williams and Stossel on States' Rights

Two good pieces.

Walter E. Williams: States Rebellion Pending: "Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it's the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George's actions look mild in comparison."

John Stossel: Butt Out, Feds: "Authorities raided Charlie Lynch's California home. 'They say, 'Search warrant! Open the door, or we're gonna tear it down!' Lynch told me for my ABC special 'Bailouts and Bull'. 'I opened the door, and about 10 to 15 agents with shields, bulletproof vests, guns, masks. [They] threw me on the ground and ... had a gun to the back of my head.'"

Remember Earth Day and Earth Hour?

Here are a few good items Earth Day and Earth Hour.

Cafe Hayek: Capitalism Day: "On this Earth Day, I celebrate capitalism -- the institution that, far more than any other, has made human lives clean, safe, dignified, and culturally rich. Capitalism is also responsible for giving people the wealth and leisure to permit them to mis-perceive nature as loving and bountiful, and to enjoy nature in a way that few of our pre-industrial ancestors could ever have enjoyed it."

Cafe Hayek: "Earth Hour" and the Dark Ages: "The World Wildlife Fund arranged today's 'Earth Hour' -- a pledge by many people from around the world to turn off lights for an hour. The following is from a page on the WWF website ..."

The Real Meaning of Earth Hour by Keith Lockitch -- Capitalism Magazine: "On Saturday, March 28, cities around the world will turn off their lights to observe “Earth Hour.” Iconic landmarks from the Sydney Opera House to Manhattan’s skyscrapers will be darkened to encourage reduced energy use and signal a commitment to fighting climate change. While a one-hour blackout will admittedly have little effect on carbon emissions, what matters, organizers say, is the event’s symbolic meaning. That’s true, but not in the way organizers intend."

Wednesday Grab Bag

Architecture. (pic via Contemporist)
Seinfeld's Home For Sale
Curtin Avenue Residence by Optimum Resource
Modern Japan Architecture by Terunobu Fujimori

Cars.
New VW Golf GTD to debut in April, Rabbit GTD to follow for U.S.?

Style.
Fancy Foot Work - Leather Shoe Care (Barker Black)
Steve McQueen in Sports Illustrated
The Pleasures of a Shoe Shine

Marketing / Coffee.
As Starbucks brand slips, barista creates marketing magic
15 of the World's Most Brilliant Business Card Designs

Twitter.
Tweeting Food Truck Draws L.A.'s Hungry Crowds : NPR
How Not to Get a Job Via Twitter

Fountain Pens.
Pilot M90 Test review

History.
Greek fisherman nets 2,200-year-old bronze statue
British Museum finds relics of 39 saints after 100 years

Misc.
Classic writing guide celebrates 50th anniversary
Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (1950-1951)

Bernie Madoff Meets Nuni and Nooni Schoener

That's all I can think of as I read this story. (pic via Wikipedia)

This couple reminds me of the Schoeners (Nuni & Nooni) from Saturday Night Live, but real. To call it odd would be an understatement. ;-)

Don't miss the photo gallery.

Couple's Dreams of Immortality at Death's Door, Thanks to Madoff - WSJ.com: "The pair's work, based loosely on a movement known as 'transhumanism,' is premised on the idea that people degenerate and die in part because they live in spaces that are too comfortable. The artists' solution: construct abodes that leave people disoriented, challenged and feeling anything but comfortable. They build buildings with no doors inside. They place rooms far apart. They put windows near the ceiling or near the floor. Between rooms are sloping, bumpy moonscape-like floors designed to throw occupants off balance. These features, they argue, stimulate the body and mind, thus prolonging life. 'You become like a baby,' says Mr. Arakawa."

Misc. links:
A House Not for Mere Mortals - New York Times

Let's Have Another Look At Socialized Medicine

The American Thinker piece is excellent.

Thirteen die after C. diff outbreak at hospital - Telegraph: "Three died as a direct result of clostridium difficile while the bug was linked to a further 10 deaths at the hospital. A further 17 patients are still being treated for the fatal infection."

American Thinker: Inequities in socialized health care: "The goal of socialized health care is not to provide exceptional health care to the few but to provide 'cost-effective' health care to everyone. In theory this may be a worthy goal, but how does it work in the real world? The UK's National Health Service was created in 1948 and you would think by now they would have their act together but as any regular reader of this website knows, no one can outdo the British when it comes to health care horror stories. Here are just a few examples ..."

I LOVE Monk's Bread!

We love Monk's Bread, always have a loaf or two on hand. Made by area Trappist monks.

I see they also now sell coffee as well as the mustard I love. (pic via Monk's Bread)

Related links:
Who/what are Trappist Monks?
The Abbey of the Genesee Piffard NY

Rochester School Lunches: A Well-Examined Gift Horse

Think about this, nearly 30,000 students in one school district, getting their meals paid for by 3rd parties whom have no choice in the matter, are upset because they don't like it.

As for the argument that 'we have a responsibility to our neighbors' ... I agree, but that is not fulfilled by forcibly separating people from their property via confiscatory taxes. And as 90% of the money is state and federal, it's tough to make the argument that taxpayers in Delaware and Hawaii are the 'neighbors' of Rochester, NY school-children.

As an aside, is anyone preventing any of the parents of these children from bringing their own lunch that they find more appealing every day?

[See the video these kids made when they weren't learning science, reading, or math.]

I believe it.
"Rochester School Board President Malik Evans, a product of Rochester public schools ..."

Rally to protest Rochester schools' food - democratandchronicle.com - Democrat and Chronicle: "In the lunchroom at School 28 in Rochester, a girl pokes a congealed dollop of something green with a plastic fork, a boy on the verge of tears complains the food is inedible, and tinfoil trays filled with uneaten food spill into a trash can. They are images in Lunch is Gross! a documentary produced by students at the northeast city school whose title is the battle cry for a rally Thursday outside the Rochester School District headquarters. The goal: Improving school food. Organizers claim several hundred people have signed a petition calling for healthier cafeteria fare, and expect the demonstration to draw a couple hundred people, including parents, healthy food advocates and the third-grade students who created the video for a class project.
...
School food is a time-tested punch line for unappetizing jokes about mystery meat and gruel. But it is no laughing matter for the nearly 29,500 Rochester public school students who are eligible for free- and reduced-price meals.
...
This year, the district budgeted $13 million to feed students, about 90 percent of which is reimbursed by the state and federal governments, according to the district."

Misc. Economics Updates ...

Dr. Taleb minces no words when expressing his disdain for most economists and MBAs. ;-)

Don't miss this week's EconTalk interview w/ Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Interview With Nassim Nicholas Taleb - washingtonpost.com: "Options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb made his name and career anticipating the powerful historic events he calls 'Black Swans,'which include World War I, the rise of the Internet and the stock market crash of 1987. In two books published in 2001 and 2007, he urges readers to concentrate more on what they don't know than on what they do. More recently, Taleb has blasted bankers and economists who issued reassuring forecasts right up to the brink of the current global financial crisis. He spoke recently with Washington Post reporter Peter Whoriskey. ..."

Reassuring words from Dr. Gary Becker.
Nobel Economist Gary Becker: Now Is No Time to Give Up on Markets - WSJ.com: "As a young academic in 1956, Mr. Becker wrote an important paper against conscription. He was discouraged from publishing it because, at the time, the popular view was that the military draft could never be abolished. Of course it was, and looking back, he says, 'that taught me a lesson.' Today as Washington appears unstoppable in its quest for more power and lovers of liberty are accused of tilting at windmills, he says it is no time to concede. Mr. Becker sees the finger prints of big government all over today's economic woes. When I ask him about the sources of the mania in housing prices, the first culprit he names is the Fed. Low interest rates, he says, were 'partly, maybe mainly, due to the Fed's policy of keeping [its] interest rates very low during 2002-2004.' A second reason rates were low was the 'high savings rates primarily from Asia and also from the rest of the world.'"

This one from Dr. Boudreaux is excellent.
The Daily News Record: Op-Ed: Open Forum Opinion: "Keynesian economists also fail to understand what the great Austrian economist F.A. Hayek understood; namely, that markets allocate resources by relative prices. For example, suppose consumers’ taste for fish intensifies while their taste for beef weakens. Consumers will then spend more money buying fish and less buying beef. The resulting higher price of fish relative to the price of beef will signal to entrepreneurs, investors and resource owners to produce more fish and to produce less beef. This change in production patterns is precisely what should happen."

Good column.
Star Parker: We've legalized theft in America: "I have been looking through a new study, released by an organization called the Property Rights Alliance, called the International Property Rights Index. The study examines 115 nations worldwide and examines the correspondence between prosperity in a country and how secure private property is there. It shows a practically perfect correlation. The more secure private property is in a given country, the more prosperous it is. Countries rated in the top 25 percent in secure and safe private property have on average nine times more income per person than those in the bottom 25 percent. It's one of those things that makes so much sense that you wonder why you have to do a study to show it. The easier it is to steal in any given country the less likely the economy will function well there."

Related links:
All previous Nassim Nicholas Taleb related posts

Tuesday Grab Bag

Architecture.
The Dairy House
Party With The Stars at Résidence Supérieur
Chalkidos Street Residence by Armon Choros Architects

Cars?
Retrofuture Rides: A Dozen Funky Never-Produced Vehicles

Style.
Men Buying American - Portfolio.com

Watches.
J. Crew “Military” Timex: Coolhunted? (more here)
Gerald Genta's designs in 2009
BVLGARI Watchmaking - The Diagono Tourbillon (modem destroyer!)

Art.
Playboy Posts Unedited Back Issues Online, for Free

Misc.
The next innovation in cruise ship entertainment - real grass
Tiny hotel room may fit shrunken travel budgets
Loki the Siberian Husky
Runaway kangaroos on the loose in France

Today's Quotes

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
-- H. L. Mencken

The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main
vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery.
-- Sir Winston Churchill

Liberals have a new wish every time their latest wish is granted. Conservatives should make them spell out their principles and ideals. Instead of doing this, conservatives allow liberals to pursue incremental goals without revealing their ultimate destination. So, thanks to the negligence of their opponents, liberals control the terms of every debate by always demanding 'more' while never defining 'enough.' The predictable result is that they always get more, and it's never enough.
-- Joseph Sobran (1946- ) Columnist

A few items re: TARP funds ...

Hmmmm.

Michelle Malkin - TARP = Taxpayers’ Accounts Recycled to Politicians: "The Crap Sandwich yields dividends for the Chicken Littles in Congress who rushed it through. Via Newsweek, we get a glimpse of how TARP funds have been recycled as political campaign contributions ..."

Cafe Hayek: Why Not?: "Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today in a letter urged President Barack Obama and members of Congress to “return the $4.37 million they received in campaign contributions from AIG since 1989, including the $644,218 they received in 2008.” “If the American people are to believe all the angry words and threats coming from the White House, President Obama must return the $104,332 he received from AIG during the 2008 campaign cycle ..."

Congress ‘Hypocrisy’ on Trips Angers Hotel Executives - Bloomberg.com: "March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate last month passed a measure limiting “luxury” spending for corporate travel by recipients of federal bailout funds. Two weeks later, about two dozen senators of both parties left town for political meetings on the Florida coast."

Review: J. Herbin Scented Fountain Pen Ink - Encre Bleue

The good people at Exaclair were kind enough to send me some journals and J. Herbin fountain pen inks recently. The ink I was most interested in checking out was one of the J. Herbin scented varieties: Encre Bleue.



In addition to their fantastic 'traditional' fountain pen inks, J. Herbin offers a small selection of scented inks. Note that their Specialty Ink line includes two fun looking ones: Invisible Ink ('Encre Sympathique') [The ink turns blue when held under a light or other heat source. Writing disappears as the paper cools.] & Authentique Ink ('Encre Authentique') [... contains Campeche wood tannin for exceptional preservation. Lettering done with this ink is said to be legible for 300 years.].



Of course I can't really describe a smell too well in text, it's flowery and generally pleasant. I asked Pips (real name, Liz) my 7 year-old daughter and Sunny the almost 13 year-old lab what they thought. Pips liked it. Sunny, not so much. ;-)







For the review I used a Clairefontaine journal I was recently sent that is lined, wire-bound, and has several pockets.








I also decided to use my trusty Pelikan M75 GO fountain pen w/ medium nib.






Let's see what we got ...



And notice no bleeding through the paper!



In addition to the novelty of the scented ink, it seems reliable, dark, and well-behaved. I wouldn't hesitate to use it as an every day ink!

Misc. links:
J. Herbin Fountain Pen Inks, Ink Cartridges, and Refills
J. Herbin Specialty Fountain pen inks
Review: Swab Test of 10 Different J. Herbin Fountain Pen Inks
Review: Rhodia & Clairefontaine Journals, and J. Herbin Inks
Review: J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune ink
Review: J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche Fountain Pen Ink

Monday Grab Bag

Animals. (pic via Cute Otters)
Otter Cubs Born At Sea World
Zeus the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
Mini cows milk cuteness for all it's worth at Memphis zoo

Architecture / Design.
Planit Prefab House by Pircher and Bestetti
Modern Secret Rooms and Hidden Doors: New Trend?
Oceanfront residence by Grant Sinclair Architects

Cars / Bikes.
Ural Gear-Up Sahara

Healthcare.
Did Natasha Richardson Die from Socialized Medicine?

Computers.
Hive Five: Five Best Web Browsers

Watches.
Royal Oak Jumbo v Nautilus Jumbo
TimeZone: OK folks...let's see some Sinn watches... (modem destroyer!)
Photo report: An eye-opening wine and watch experience, thanks to Blancpain and Jeff Kingston

Misc.
The Problem When You Start Talking in Trillions
Towering skyscrapers in the 'Manhattan of the desert'
Classy beach cabins on Europe's coasts (ht: Shedworking)

Organic Food, Pets, and the Environment ...

These people are of course free to indulge in organic and 'local' food if they wish, but they wish to force it on you as well, regardless of what you wish.
Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? - NYTimes.com: "AS tens of thousands of people recently strolled among booths of the nation’s largest organic and natural foods show here, munching on fair-trade chocolate and sipping organic wine, a few dozen pioneers of the industry sneaked off to an out-of-the-way conference room. Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food."

Mr. Malthus, your acolyte is paging you ...
UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt - Times Online

Now even our pets need too be vegan?!
Op-Ed Contributor - Cat Got Your Fish? - NYTimes.com: "Coco, like most American cats, ate fish. And a great deal of them — more in a year than the average African human, according to Jason Clay at the World Wildlife Fund. And unlike the chicken or beef Coco also gobbled up, all those fish were wild animals, scooped out of the sea and flown thousands of carbon-belching miles to reach his little blue bowl. The use of wild fish in animal feed is a serious problem for the world’s food systems."

It almost sounds like they have their minds made up before the data are in?
Crawling the Web to Foretell Ecosystem Collapse - Wired Science: "The Interwebs could become an early warning system for when the web of life is about to fray. By trawling scientific list-serves, Chinese fish market websites, and local news sources, ecologists think they can use human beings as sensors by mining their communications."

Related posts:
Do you really need to be a locavore?
What the heck is 'Slow Food'?
Dr. Don Boudreaux on Localization
Freegans eat garbage by choice
Rationing Meat and Tracking Carbon Footprints

Sunday Grab Bag

Architecture.
Contemporary Country Home in Bedfordshire, England
Tatiana Bilbao & at103

Signs of the Times.
Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom - #490 at Amazon
Royal Bank of Scotland Canceled Its Private Jet Too
Getting Fired? Hurry, Buy This Suit
Could California Sell San Quentin?

I LOVE these Alden shoes! I really want to get a pair of Alden cordovan shoes one day.
One Shoe to Rule Them All

Watches.
Shockingly Cool Movado: Further Proof The 1960s Were Their Best Years

Healthcare.
Natasha Richardson and "Medical Capital"

Cars.
BMW Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo: 45 MPG Performance Sedan
BMW 5-Series GT Appears on Video

Economics.
Keynesian Myths Fuel ‘Stimulus’
Cafe Hayek: Did Roubini Get It Right?

Pens / Writing.
The Pen Addict: Ink Links

Misc.
SickCity: A Realtime Disease Detector Similar To Google Flu Trends
Gin: a fresh look on an old favourite
World's Sexiest Travel and Vacation Ideas

Update on the 'Teens capture images of space w/ balloon' story

Remember this story? [Teens capture images of space with £56 camera and balloon]

Now there are some great new pics to go with it. (pic via METEOTEK IES LA BISBAL SCHOOL/BARCROFT MEDIA)

Scenes from 30,000 meters above - The Big Picture - Boston.com: "On February 28th, a team of four Spanish teenage students and their instructor from IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia launched a weather probe they designed and built themselves. Their helium-filled balloon carried a payload of electronics and a camera to take atmospheric measurements and photographs throughout the trip. After getting permission from aviation officials and getting good weather, they released the probe on a trip that took it over 30,000 meters (19 miles) above sea level, through winds gusting up to 100 kph, and temperatures reaching -54C (-65.2F), and traveling 38 kilometers overland in a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. The Meteotek08 team has collected their images and data on both their blog and flickr page, and has kindly given me permission to share these photos here with you."

Saturday Grab Bag

Architecture. (pic via Inhabitat)
Inhabitat - Prefab Friday: PLACE Houses
Folded Corten House
Japanese Treetop Tea House

Cars / Bikes.
Steve McQueen Metisse Desert Racer Replica
Terrafugia Transition Completes First Test Flight
The New BMW Museum

You'll never have an adult relationship again.
‘Star Trek’ Fans Put Kirk’s Command Chair in Their Homes

Style.
The Elusive Meaning of 'Bespoke' - Newsweek
Allen Edmonds unsure if Obama will wear its shoes

Finance.
Best Credit Cards For The Buck - Forbes.com

Watches.
Linde Werdelin Releases The Oktopus: A Masculine 1,111 Meter Diver
Concord C1 QuantumGravity with liquid green energy indicator
Heartwarming Watch Storytime Hour: “The hooker sold my watch for a tattoo”

Misc.
The Overpaid, OCD Life Inside The Madoff Empire
North Korea to reopen military hot line with South
Avalanche guns may go silent in town that pioneered them

Today's Quotes

Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA – ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.
-- Heinrich Himmler; Reichsfuhrer-SS

I want people to be able to get what they need to live: enough food, a place
to live, and an education for their children. Government does not provide these
as well as private charities and businesses.
-- Davy Crockett
(1786-1836) American hunter, frontiersman, soldier and politician

A billion here, a billion there,
sooner or later it adds up to real money.
-- Everett Dirksen

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy.
That used to be a huge number.
But it's only a hundred billion.
It's less than the national deficit!
We used to call them astronomical numbers.
Now we should call them economical numbers.
-- Richard Feynman
(1918-1988) American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics (1965)

Union Bullies, Contracts, and AIG

First, think about the fact with this new AIG 90% bonus tax outrage, Congress is attempting to break legal contracts freely entered into by both parties. This fails all three tests: it's unconstitutional, immoral, and poor economic policy. [Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths] [Surviving A Lynch Mob - AIG Internal Staff Memo]

Then take a look at the latest chapter in the horrendously named 'Employee Free-Choice Act' saga. Using the power of the state, specifically U.S. labor law, the government can force a binding contract on two parties when one of the parties does not even want it.

Anyone else see the incongruity and problems here?

Unionize or Die - WSJ.com: "The Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would allow unions to organize worksites without secret-ballot elections, was introduced in Congress last week. And this week, we saw how far Big Labor will go to pass it. On Tuesday the Service Employees International Union posted a YouTube video about the horrific death of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, man who fell into an industrial-sized clothes dryer while clearing a jam of wet laundry. The accident occurred at a plant operated by Cintas Corp., a large uniform supplier. The implication is that the accident never would have occurred if the worksite had been unionized, and that opponents of the union bill have blood on their hands."

Related links:
Who is the next AIG? - Eamon Javers - POLITICO.com
Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths: Michael Lewis
Leaks: Surviving A Lynch Mob - AIG Internal Staff Memo
Charles Krauthammer : Bonfire of the Trivialities