US Foreign Aid... Stingy?

(Editor's Note: Lately, the USA has been criticized by pundits from within as well as from without for not doing it's part in aiding developing countries. The crux of the argument is that the US Government does not give as large a portion of its GDP in aid as smaller countries such as Norway. This analysis, aside from ignoring the sizable absolute differences in aid The US government donates more than the next two largest contributors combined), only scratches the surface of what the US delivers and the irreplacable role it plays in the global economy. Without the aid, stability, and markets the USA supplies, billions more would be in poverty, dying of disease, or engaged in senseless conflict. The last 50 years of American leadership have largely eliminated state on state conflict, provided secure reliable access to markets through control of the sea lanes and promotion of free trade, and provided access to trillions of dollars of cheap loans to developing countries. It should come as no surprise that the US also leads the world in debt forgiveness. -BBM)


-The USA provides multiple public goods that are not counted (like the fact that Norway and other European countries don't need to fund an army or navy, or defend themselves in any way, and operate in a background of stable peace enforced by the US military), leaving more money for them to spend on aid (as a percentage) and on their social programs, courtesy of the US taxpayer. In this manner, the EU aid is really subsidized to a large extent by the US.

-Aid to Afganistan and Iraq is not counted in the GDP calculation (which will be hundreds of billions).

-Debt forgiveness is not counted (again, the US leads the world here by a large margin) in the %GDP argument.

-US Private donations (to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, WorldVision, UNICEF, etc), which are well over ten times the US government donations (and amounted to over 240 Billion last year alone), are not counted in the calculation, as they are not US "government" funds.

-The USA accounts for 40% of the world's food, cash and humanitarian relief aid... but generates 25% or so of the world's GDP. So we are far overrepresented, actually.

-And that doesn't include billions more the United States spends in other areas, such as AIDS and HIV programs and other U.N. assistance.

-Perhaps most importantly, we also provide a vast and relatively open market for 3rd world goods, which has helped lift a billion people out of poverty over the last 50 years (mostly in China and India).

Can you imaging a world with out the USA as it is currently?

Let's say we retreat and allow the Non-Integrated Gap to go on its merry way. What will happen? Probably more of the same - Iran v. Iraq, Iraq v. Kuwait, various Middle Eastern Countries v. Israel, India v. Pakistan, Yugoslavia v. Yugoslavia, African civil wars, Turkey vs Greece, resurgent social/economic/ethnic tensions in Europe, and an ever-quickening spread of terror. Not hard to imagine, is it?

Or how about an isolationist, protectionist America? Leave aside the fact that all prices in the US would jump considerable without the competition of imports to keep the costs of food and clothing down... throwing millions of Americans into poverty. Or the lost American jobs in exporting. What would happen to countries at the economic margins and 3rd world countries that trade with the USA? Without markets in which to sell their wares, those countries would have minimal income. That would lead to more poverty and starvation, leading to competetion for scarce rescources and never ending loco-regional conflicts as despots vie for regional hegemony.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Foreign Aid

As you have no doubt heard, a large earthquake off Sumatra recently led to tsunamis that devastated the coastal areas. The death toll will probably exceed 100,000…even before the cholera outbreaks. Several amateur videos are compiled here, as well as an informative animation from the NOAA web site.

Though tragic and unavoidable, lives could have been saved by early warning equipment:

UNESCO’s International Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (ICG/ITSU) has an animated graphic showing that the wave was focused east-west, missing the tens of millions of very vulnerable people to the north. It could have been literally hundreds of times worse, with tens of millions dead.

Additionally, the early relief effort has, unsurprisingly, been unfairly criticized by some. There is information below on how to donate to several different organizations. Most of this information is cobbled together from Instapundit, The Command Post, and Tim Blair.

Amazon.com is accepting donations to the American Red Cross for Tsunami relief. The total is currently over $3 million, but it's rising very rapidly. "Stingy", eh?

Some readers complain that the Amazon tsunami donation page sends money to the Red Cross. But a lot of their complaints are aimed at the ICRC -- the International Committee of the Red Cross -- and not the American Red Cross, a different organization, and the one that's actually getting the money. I donated to them, but if you're uncomfortable, there are lots of places you can give money to. What interested me most about the Amazon phenomenon was how quickly and dramatically it worked, raising lots of money without a lot of overhead.

Hugh Hewitt recommends WorldVision. I haven't ever donated money to them, and don't know a lot about them, but if Hugh is recommending them I'm sure they're okay. The Salvation Army -- which is generally regarded as especially efficient at getting relief money to actual recipients with low overhead -- is taking donations, too. And, as I've mentioned several times before, there's an absolutely huge list of places to donate at the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, though I can't vouch for most of these. There's also a big list at The Command Post.

As always, you should be careful about who you give money to. Most of these organizations are probably honest, but it's best to take a little effort to make sure that your money will really go where it's promised to.

And while amateurs outperform the French government, the United States government is sending $35 million plus two Naval groups. Not that that has stopped people from critiquing the United States' response. It's almost as if they're determined to find fault no matter what.

Interesting Coincidence

(Editor's Note: How is it that AP cameramen keep stumbling onto bombings and assassinations as they happen? Could it be that they are being tipped off in detail before hand? Or just told to be at a certain place at a certain time? Or do they have "embedded" sources? In either case, it can there can be little doubt that they are at the very least being exploited for the terrorist's purposes... but effectively they are acting as a Fifth column for the enemies of decency and democracy. -BBM)

From The Belmont Club:


The execution of Iraqi election workers on Baghdad's Haifa street was probably not, properly speaking, a murder. It was a political act. There has been no suggestion that the killers of the electoral workers had any personal grudge against them. Probably any electoral workers would have done. While most killers seek to hide their faces and plan their attacks so no one can see them, these killers scorned masks and chose a busy street in Baghdad to carry out their work because they wanted to send a message. According to Abdul Hussein Al-Obedi of the Associated Press:

In Baghdad, dozens of gunmen-- unmasked and apparently unafraid to show their faces-- executed three election officials on Sunday, part of their campaign to disrupt next month's parliamentary ballot...

The deadly strikes Sunday highlighted the apparent ability of the insurgents to launch attacks almost at will, despite confident assessments by U.S. military commanders that they had regained the initiative after last month's campaign against militants in Fallujah. ... Meanwhile, in a message passed on by lawyers who visited him in his cell last week, Saddam denounced the elections as an American plot.
...

During morning rush hour, about 30 armed insurgents, hurling hand grenades and firing guns, swarmed onto Haifa Street, the scene of repeated clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents. They stopped a car carrying five employees of the Iraqi Electoral Commission and killed three of them. The other two escaped. The commission condemned the attack as a "terrorist ambush."

Two or three dozen people, at the most, would normally have witnessed these events. But due to the great good fortune of the killers, a photographer from the Associated Press was present and pictures of the execution were carried on newspapers throughout the globe, sending the executioner's message not merely to a handful of bystanders to hundreds of millions of readers throughout the world.

And this:


Glenn Reynolds links to Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh who takes up the Haifa Street murders.

The blogoshere is currently discussing the issue of how an Associated Press photographer managed to stand in the middle of one of Iraq's (and probably the world's) most dangerous roads and shot a picture after another of a ruthless murder in the middle of the day. ... The case at hand has to do with the brutal killing of 2 Iraqi heroes whose only mistake was trying to organize an election in their country. This is a moral case and we, the friends of Iraq and of the troops serving there, should not let this incident pass unnoticed.

And from Roger L Simon:

Is the Associated Press a Fifth Column?

I know that's an extreme statement, but that's the only way I could react when I read Jack Stokes', the AP's "director of media relations," explanation of his news agency's behavior with regard to the photographing of the brutal murder of electoral workers in Baghdad the other day. Mr. Stokes tells us:

Insurgents want their stories told as much as other people and some are willing to let Iraqi photographers take their pictures. It's important to note, though, that the photographers are not "embedded" with the insurgents. They do not have to swear allegiance or otherwise join up philosophically with them just to take their pictures.

What Stokes seems to be saying in his gnomic fashion is that because the "Insurgents" seek to have their stories told, the Associated Press is obligated to do so. It sounds as if the "Insurgents" were calling a press conference to express their campaign positions. But they weren't. What they were doing was brutally murdering innocent people in the street and they wanted the press there to record the event. The Associated Press, like good poodles of fascism, came along for that most necessary of tasks for terrorists in asymetrical war--publicity.

Stokes has the temerity to describe this as the "Insurgents" being "willing to let Iraqi photographers take their pictures." But we all know this is shameful lie because the AP itself has acknowledged the "Insurgents" called the AP photographer to invite him to a "demonstration." Of course these photographers "do not have to" swear allegiance to the "Insurgents" (Stokes' words here. He should do a better job.) He also assures us they are not "embedded" with the fascists. I agree with Hindrocket on that one. In the Post-Rather world, I reserve judgment. It is now incumbent on the media to prove their honesty. We can no longer take them at their word--and all we have now is the "word" of a "director of media relations." (How insulting, when you think about it? Where are the editors in charge of Iraq?)

Unless and until, the AP makes a full disclosure of their methods in this case, including the identities of their photographers, I will continue to regard their behavior as, in Orwell's words, "objectively pro-fascist." (I guess that's what Glenn Reynolds means by being "[not just anti war, but] on the other side.")

UPDATE: Unlike the AP, Cliff May gets it:

The enemy in Iraq is brutal, ruthless and, yes, evil. There's no other word for people who murder civilians organizing elections, bomb churches and mosques, and saw the heads off innocents while screaming slogans and making home videos.

But they are not stupid. They know that every time they stage a massacre, millions of people get angry - not at them, but at Don Rumsfeld and President Bush and Prime Minister Blair and the "neo-cons."

Ukraine Completes Peaceful Revolution

(Editor's Note: This is how a civilized country deals with election fraud... peaceful protests topple an attempted usurpation of power by Putin cronies. Recall that while Putin is a nominal ally in the war on terror, he is guilty essentially of all the crimes that the left tries unsuccessfully to pin on Bush. He limits the press, rigs elections, rules by intimidation, flaunts the rule of law, and tries to eliminate/usurp rival centers of power. Regularly. This development in the Ukraine will limit the reach, power, and influence of his authoritarian regime, and should give hope to moderates around the globe that are in similar situations. -BBM)


For information and background and analysis, see here.

An interesting question is raised here... where was the international left on this issue? They should be thrilled at the failure of authoritarianism and attempted reconstitution of the Russian empire. This former leftist thinks that the silence reflects a combination of anti-americanism and nostalgia for the " great experiment" of the former soviet union.

And one final question... where was the UN in all of this?

Iraqis Eagerly Await Election

In a post at Powerline, Haider Ajina has translated the results of a poll of 5,000 Iraqis, taken in and around Baghdad, that appeared yesterday in the Arabic newspaper Alsabah:

What will you base your vote on?
Political agenda: 65%
Factional origin: 14%
Party Affiliation: 4%
National Background: 12%
Other reasons: 5%

Do you support dialog with the deposed Baathists?
Yes: 15%
No: 84%
Do not know: 1%

Do you support the postponing the election?
Yes: 18%
No: 80%
Do not know: 2%

Do you think the elections will take place as scheduled?
Yes: 83%
No: 13%
Do not know: 4%

Powerline continues that "the only people who want the elections postponed are the ones who want them never to take place. The vast majority of Iraqis can't wait to begin exercising their privileges as free citizens. And it's good to see that an overwhelming majority expect the U.S. to stand by its commitment to January elections, rather than giving in to the terrorists and Democrats."

The Difficulty in Limiting CO2 Emissions

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Leave aside the fact that evidence for Global Warming is sketchy, and that if it does exist, the evidence that it is caused by human activity is also. I, like most, am susceptible to the "what if the environmental alarmists are right" argument? What can be done to reduce emissions of the most common greenhouse gas, CO2? CO2 production is more or less proportional to economic activity. This is why the USA is the largest producer. But, in the next 20 years, China and India, running inefficient coal based economies, will surpass the USA in CO2 production (though not economic activity). They would be excluded from the Kyoto protocol (one of the reasons it was defeated 98-0 in the US Senate during the Clinton Administration... another reason it was defeated is that even it's proponents admit that it would have no effect on climate change). Below is one study that examines what it would take to dramatically limit CO2/unit of economic activity/person in the atmosphere by 2050. It would appear that absent radical technoligical advancement, it will be pretty tough. Read the whole thing. -BBM)

Our Low Carbon Future?

BUENOS AIRES -- "To stop further damage to the climate we need a worldwide 60% reduction in emissions by 2050," declared British Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 2003. Setting aside the question of whether or not catastrophic climate change due to adding extra greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere is really likely, is Blair's goal feasible?

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a report here in Buenos Aires at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. It shows that achieving such steep reductions is probably impossible. The report assumed a goal of stabilizing carbon dioxide in the air at 550 parts per million (ppm) by 2050. The current level is 380 ppm. The report further assumed that the poorest people on the planet will want to enjoy the higher levels of prosperity that comes from economic growth fueled by access to energy supplies.

Presented by two oilmen, David Hone from Shell and Mark Akhurst from British Petroleum, the report outlines what it would take to attain those goals. They based their analysis on economic and GHG emission storylines devised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Third Assessment Report that assumed that carbon emissions would reach about 14 gigatons (14 billion tons) annually by 2050. Humanity currently emits about 7 gigatons of carbon (excluding traditional biomass burning of 1gigaton) annually in the form of carbon dioxide. Burning 7 gigatons of the current mix of hydrocarbon fuels produces about 22 gigatons of carbon dioxide.

To keep from building up carbon dioxide to more than 550 ppm in the atmosphere by 2050, no more than the current 7 billion tons annually should be emitted. Hone and Akhurst claim that the goal of doubling world energy supplies while emitting only 7 gigatons of carbon by 2050 can be accomplished using technologies now available.

Although they differ in some details, the WBCSD report relies a good bit on the analysis published in Science by Princeton University engineering professor Robert Socolow and his colleagues. Both use the concept of technological "wedges" which, when fully deployed in 2050, will result in 1 gigaton per year of carbon emissions reductions. Hone and Akhurst stressed that major technological transitions take a long time to implement -- there are no quick, easy and cheap ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To illustrate the point they offer a scenario in which some type of zero emissions vehicle becomes available in 2010. Beginning with the deployment of 200,000 zero emissions vehicles growing at a very unrealistic 20% rate per year, it would take until 2050 before such vehicles outnumbered conventional vehicles.

As an outlandish thought experiment, Hone sketched out a scenario in which all new power generation facilities emitted no carbon dioxide from now on, e.g., use only nuclear power, renewables, and coal power that somehow sequestered the carbon dioxide by perhaps pumping it into empty oil reservoirs. When would carbon emissions begin to decline? In about 30 years. Why? Because the old power plants would still continue to emit before they aged out and were replaced.

Who Really Likes Don Imus Anyhow?

I can't really say that this post is particularly noteworthy; rather, I simply hate Don Imus.


Courtesy of Reuters
Don Imus: Talk-show Host or Humanitarian?
"Imus in the Morning" or "Imus Is a Moron"...you choose. He's just plain boring. The only thing that's funny about his show is his infantile and pathetic attempt to sound shocking and conflagrant. I wish I could highlight something in particular that he says, but by the time his drug-abused brain has finally formulated a thought and slurred it in that moronic drawl of his into a coherent (yes, I am being generous here) statement, I've long nodded off. Seriously, how does he even manage to get guests on his show anymore? Then again, having tuned out his show years ago, and excluding my ramblings above, I really hadn't thought about him in ages...until I read this report, courtesy of the Smoking Gun:

A New York woman who briefly worked as a nanny for Don Imus has sued the radio host for wrongful termination, claiming she was canned for bringing a harmless cap gun and pocketknife with her during a trip last Thanksgiving to the family's sprawling New Mexico ranch. In her complaint, Mallette claimed that she brought the cap gun with her so that she and Imus's five-year-old son could "play cowboys" at the 4000-acre ranch.

In her lawsuit, Mallette alleged that she endured "frenzied questioning" by Imus and his wife Deirdre, who woke her at 1 AM to grill her about the pocketknife and the cap gun, which Mallette said she did not use nor show to Imus's son. After Deirdre Imus told her, "Pack your things, you're terminated," Mallette was escorted off the property at 4:15 AM by a ranch employee and the radio host.

Mallette, a Brooklyn resident, was hired by Imus last October 23 and cared for the star's son at homes in Manhattan and Connecticut, as well as the New Mexico property (according to its mission statement, the "sole purpose" of the so-called Imus Ranch is "to provide the experience of the great American cowboy" to seriously ill boys and girls and children who have lost siblings to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Mallette noted that during two separate stays at the ranch, which features a 14,000-square-foot adobe hacienda, "neither sick children nor children who had lost brothers and sisters to SIDS were present," just Imus, his family, and ranch employees.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that the ranch was predominantly for Imus' recreational use. Indeed, did anyone really think that he or his idiot brother have one genuine bone in their bodies? That Don Imus: What a buffoon!

First Steroids, Now Greed

The graves of Ruth, Gehrig, and Cobb must be turning round and round these days. First, Major League Baseball came under stinging criticism as result of their lackluster response to allegations, and then proof, that the league's best players, including Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, used steroids and growth hormone to augment their performance. Whether or not fans ultimately care whether players use steroids is not the issue; a definitive policy is required one way or the other in order to validate the integrity of the game and preserve the legacies of legends past.

Of course, if the steroid scandal was not bad enough, now comes news that the proposed move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. is in jeopardy. It appears that financing terms for a new stadium there have not been settled. The New York Times reports:

Major League Baseball on Wednesday rejected as "wholly unacceptable" a stadium financing plan approved the day before by the Washington City Council, throwing into grave doubt the city's plans to bring the former Montreal Expos here next season.

Baseball's statement came in response to legislation the Council approved late Tuesday night requiring that half of the riverfront stadium's projected $280 million construction costs be paid for privately, delivering a stinging rejection of a deal struck by Mayor Anthony Williams and baseball officials to finance the ballpark almost entirely with tax dollars.

Under the deal Mr. Williams reached with baseball owners to bring the Expos to Washington next spring, less than 20 percent of the stadium would have been financed by private funds, specifically through rent payments from the team.

Amid the uncertainty, the one clear thing on Wednesday was the stark and surprisingly forceful message the Council sent about growing public resentment toward the high cost of sports stadiums.

With land acquisition and service improvements, Mr. Williams had projected that the total stadium package would cost $440 million. But the city's chief financial officer has put the cost closer to $535 million, and other estimates have gone higher.

This whole deal reeks of blatant arrogance. It has gone on far too long that baseball owners abuse the tax-paying public vis a vis stadium construction while deriving the benefits of team ownership and the subsequent profit stream at little cost to themselves. Has respect for the loyal fan base been completely lost by Major League Baseball? Can team owners legitimately expect to continue to take advantage of cities in order to line their own pockets?

The most recent answer, as evidenced by the City Council of Washington, D.C., is a resounding no. I say "Bravo!" to Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp and her fellow colleagues for having the wherewithal to place the city’s financial budget ahead of the vanity and debt of hosting a professional ball club. If team owners truly want to reap the benefits of playing in a major metropolitan city, then they should be willing to help shoulder the costs in so doing. It is refreshing to see government officials finally sharing in this sentiment.

Japanese Birth Control

Japanese men have a new way to rest and relieve stress after a hard day on the job.


Courtesy of AFP
The Lap Pillow.
BBC News is reporting that the "lap pillow, shaped like the bottom half of a kneeling woman, is selling for about 9,429 yen ($90)". Apparently, the company responsible for this amazing new product has already sold about 3,000 of them.

The Lap Pillow's release follows closely on the heels of the Boyfriend's Arm Pillow, marketed predominantly to Japanese women as "the ultimate sleeping partner - a comfort to cuddle up to, but one which does not snore or make demands."


Courtesy of AP
The Boyfriend's Arm Pillow.
The announcements from Japan highlight and are representative of a growing problem around the world. Despite the little attention paid by the media, developed nations are suffering from ever declining birth rates. Specifically, the percentage of younger, working-age adults who contribute to entitlement programs, such as social security, welfare, and medicare, rather than receiving benefits from them, is falling precipitously.

The problem has become so severe that countries around the world, including Japan and Australia, are literally begging citizens to have children, in the form of tax refunds and cash payoffs...yes, that's right, cash payoffs. The BBC reports:

Japan currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. [And] the government says that unless the trend is reversed quickly, the shortage of children risks doing damage to the economy. The decline in Japan's birth rate is so severe they have invented a word for it -- 'shoshika', meaning a society without children. Unless women here start having more babies, the population in Japan is expected to shrink more than 20% by the middle of this century. Nearly half would be elderly, placing impossible burdens on the health and pension systems.

Government figures demonstrate that Japan is suffering from a fertility rate of 1.29 children per woman, as measured in 2003. By 2050, the country's population could drop from 127 million today to 100 million according to the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations.

Perhaps the solution is a little more straightforward: get rid of these ridiculous lap and arm pillows. Instead, the Japanese public should focus their attention on acquiring 'real' laps and arms. That's right, they're called people!

Curb Your Dog

So I'm walking to work this morning, the sun has yet to rise, it's freezing cold, and the streets are relatively empty...except for this young lady and her wee little dog. I think it was a Doberman Pincer, a Cocker Spaniel, or a Piranha...I can't be sure. In any event, the dog gets this squirrelly look, begins walking around in circles, and ultimately urinates on the sidewalk a few steps in front of me.

Now, ignoring for a moment the debate that could be launched regarding animals urinating and defecating in public (as many of you know, public urination by a human is illegal in New York City...and most other places, I would imagine), has the expression "Curb Your Dog" been lost on this woman? Indeed, has it been lost on all dog owners in the city? The concept is rather simple: train your useless mongrel to 'use the facilities' in the street, just by the curb, thereby leaving our already questionably 'clean' sidewalks free of urine and feces for the rest of us to enjoy, walk on, and perhaps even crawl upon after late night binges.

Frankly, it's not as though I don't have a dog. Rather, I leave him out in the country so that he may roam around happily and unperturbed by buses, taxis, pedestrians, and other pissing-and-crapping-on-the-sidewalk buggers. Dog owners of the city: FOR SHAME! And fellow citizens of the city: if you should happen to see a dog owner improperly attending to their pets in the middle of the sidewalk, feel free to kindly alert them to the decades old "Curb Your Dog" policy. They may even thank you for it.

Meanwhile, don't even get me started on pet owners who fail to clean up after their dog in the middle of the sidewalk. I may have a coronary.

Then again, what do I know? I only live here.

Humanitis

Human beings are, without a doubt, exactly like a virus.

One need only appreciate the magnitude of the statistics highlighted in a study conducted by the Brookings Institution:

By 2030, the U.S. will need 44% more total built space than existed in 2000 to accommodate population and job-growth projections.

The study, expected to be released today, estimates that only about half of the total 427 billion square feet that will be needed for residential and other uses by 2030 is currently standing. About 131 billion square feet of the total will need to be new construction, while 82 billion will be needed to replace the amount lost to disasters, demolition and other reasons.

Most of the new demand will occur in the South and the West, which together will require 251.5 billion square feet of space in 2030, up from 160.5 billion in 2000. About 136.3 billion feet of new and replacement space will be needed in the two regions.

Allow me to quote Agent Smith from "The Matrix":

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.

Sanctions, Totalitarianism, and Terrorism

(EDITOR'S NOTE: In excerpts from his column in The New York Times, Tom Friedman demonstrates the law of unintended consequences in Iraq. Economic sanctions are not necessarily more benign than military action. Totalitarianism in the Middle East eliminates all aspects of civil society except that of the mosque, which has radicalized the teeming youth in those societies. It is why we must continue to fight for democracy and freedom. However, this does not connote the use of purely military means. Now that we no longer have to coddle dictators as a result of the cold war’s end, we can apply more diplomatic and economic incentives. Hopefully, the next step will be to achieve energy independence from the mid east. -BBM)


The Suicide Supply Chain
By THOMAS FRIEDMAN
The New York Times
Thursday, December 9, 2004

From what I can tell from the new organizational flow chart for U.S. intelligence that Congress adopted yesterday, it is a god-awful combination of new titles and jobs at the top, without clear lines of authority to the people on the ground.

The right way to improve U.S. intelligence is to get more people on the ground who speak the languages we need and who can think unconventionally. If that sounds blindingly obvious to you, it is, but it is precisely the shortage of such people that explains to me America's greatest intelligence failure in Iraq - a failure we are paying for dearly right now. You see, we didn't invade Iraq too soon. We actually invaded 10 years too late.

Let me explain: America's greatest intelligence failure in Iraq was not the W.M.D. we thought were there, but weren't. It was the P.M.D. we thought weren't there, but were. P.M.D., in my lexicon, stands for "people of mass destruction." The failure of U.S. intelligence to understand what was happening inside Iraqi society during the decade-plus of U.N. sanctions that preceded our invasion is the key to many of the problems we've encountered in post-Saddam Iraq.

The U.N. sanctions pulverized Iraqi society - a society already beaten down by an eight-year Iran-Iraq war, the war over Kuwait and some 30 years of Saddam's tyranny. As Saddamism and sanctions chewed up the Iraqi people during the 1990's, many people of talent left...[moving] to Amman, Damascus, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Cairo, where they worked as professors, music teachers and engineers.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, those who had no access to Baath Party privileges got steadily ground down. Many Iraqi youth, unable to connect with the outside world and unable to find jobs at home, turned to religion. Saddam encouraged this with a mosque-building program. By wrapping himself in an aura of Islam, Saddam also hoped to buttress his own waning legitimacy.

Karzai Sworn In as Afghan President

Congratulations to the first popularly elected president in the history of Afganistan. Yes, problems remain, but liberal democracies aren't built in one day.

Hamid Karzai was sworn in Tuesday as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president, calling for sustained help from the international community to bolster a young democracy that still faces the twin threats of terrorism and drugs.

The U.S.-backed leader, wearing a traditional green robe and a black lambskin hat, took the oath of office in a solemn ceremony in a restored hall of the war-damaged former royal palace.

Vice President Dick Cheney, the highest-ranking American official to visit Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were among those who gave Karzai a standing ovation when he arrived.

Air Raid Pearl Harbor! This Is Not a Drill.

On this anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor, perhaps it's most appropriate to mark the occasion by highlighting excerpts from President Roosevelt's speech before Congress:

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Somewhat entertaining was Prime Minister Churchill's subsequent (private) response:

"To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder."

Quote of the Day

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they don't like."
-Will Rogers (1879-1935)

Steroids in Sports: An Admission

It's finally official: an active Major League Baseball player has admitted to using Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and anabolic steroids to enhance performance. Complicating matters, the admission comes from within the heralded New York Yankees organization. Accordingly to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, Jason Giambi admitted to taking the illegal substances while playing professionally.


Courtesy of the New York Yankees
Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees Has Nothing to Smile about Now.
Indeed, the revelation should really come as no surprise considering that the former MVP's career in baseball is essentially over as a result of exceptionally lackluster play the past couple years.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

New York Yankees star Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier, The Chronicle has learned.

Giambi has publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but his Dec. 11, 2003, testimony in the BALCO steroids case contradicts those statements, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceedings reviewed by The Chronicle.

The onetime Oakland A's first baseman and 2000 American League Most Valuable Player testified that in 2003, when he hit 41 home runs for the Yankees, he had used several different steroids obtained from Greg Anderson, weight trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds.

Giambi also said he had taken "undetectable" steroids known as "the clear" and "the cream" -- one a liquid administered by placing a few drops under the tongue, the other a testosterone-based balm rubbed onto the body. The 33-year-old Yankee said Anderson had provided him with all of the drugs except for human growth hormone, which he said he had obtained at a Las Vegas gym. Anderson also provided him syringes, Giambi said.

[He was] drawn to the trainer because of Bonds' success. Bonds has denied using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

And if you believe that last line, I'd love to personally speak with you about the sale of some historical bridge properties in the New York metropolitan area.

[Giambi] played in fewer than half the team's games this year, reportedly ill with an intestinal parasite and a benign tumor on his pituitary gland. His ties to BALCO fueled speculation that his illness was related to steroid use, but he told reporters in August that there was no connection.

Again, I'm not convinced that his illness and steroid use are unrelated. One way or another, it clearly cannot be healthy for the human body to absorb high-dosages of performance altering medications. Consider the following:

The New York Daily News reported Sept. 3 that the tumor was in his pituitary gland, which is at the base of the brain, and that Giambi's secrecy had stemmed from fears that news about the diagnosis would lead to further speculation about steroid use. Medical experts told The Chronicle that Clomid, the female fertility drug that Giambi was questioned about, can exacerbate a tumor of the pituitary gland. The drug's label warns physicians not to prescribe Clomid to patients with pituitary tumors.

It boils down to this fact: professional sports is big business. Accordingly, athletes will do whatever it takes in order to derive an edge over another player. While the use of performance-enhancing drugs is debatable, uncertainties and denials about their use impact the credibility and integrity of the league. Major League Baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA, and NHL, needs to determine what their stance will be vis a vis illicit drug use and then stand vehemently by their decision. Otherwise, they are cannibalizing their own billion-dollar product.

While I am not surprise by the Giambi admission, having been long ago convinced that drug use exists in professional sports, I am disappointed by the manner in which professional sports executives have addressed this dilemma. It sends a clear message to viewers, particularly children, that it's okay to cheat in order to get ahead. Again, as I said: not surprising, but terribly disappointing.