Interesting take from Sabrina Tavernise in the NYT:

The military and intelligence establishment remains unassailable. It is both revered and feared by Pakistanis, who suspect its nationalist fringes of maneuvering behind the scenes, with help from allies in the news media, to keep civilian governments off balance.

At the same time, the news media today need little prodding, and are more diverse, powerful and nationalistic of their own accord than at any other point in the nation’s history.

“The media has a larger-than-life role,” said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States. “It’s been setting the agenda for the country.”

Pakistanis themselves are not entirely comfortable with that development. In a Gallup Pakistan poll released last Friday, nearly one-third of 2,765 Pakistanis surveyed blamed the media for political instability in the country, according to the Gilani Research Foundation, which released it.

The anti-Americanism is part of that new media explosion. “It reached a fever pitch,” said Madiha Sattar, a journalist with the monthly magazine The Herald, who wrote a cover article on the topic in October.

Pakistanis have reason to mistrust the U.S. of course. Most notably our backing of the military dictator Zia who crushed dissent and executed the elected president. That was followed by ignoring the region once the Cold War ended. Now we're suddenly concerned again. It's no wonder the local Rupert Murdochs see a play in fomenting against the Great American Satan.

I wish I had the weekend off

THE DEPROLIFERATOR -- As you no doubt know, deterrence is the product of a balance of power -- nuclear arsenals, in other words, that are roughly equal. Constrained by the eye-for-an-eye principle, but to the umpteenth power, states armed with nuclear weapons, such as the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and India and Pakistan today, keep their nukes holstered.

But terrorists, according to conventional thinking, are immune to deterrence. If they ever obtained nuclear weapons, they'd suffer few qualms about using them. First, they're secure in the knowledge that they're ostensibly stateless. It's unlikely that the state which they've attacked with nuclear weapons, such as the United States, would retaliate against the state which served as their command center for the attack. (Can't speak for another possible target, Israel, though.)

In charting how far afield (or a'sea) that Somali pirates are venturing into the Indian Ocean, Gadahn at maritime blog Information Dissemination also points out. . .

With Army Generals in Afghanistan now pointing out that Al Qaeda has almost entirely shifted out of Afghanistan to Pakistan and Somalia, Somalia should be treated as an emerging asylum for the global jihad with intent to attack the United States. It is unreasonable to suspect Al Qaeda movement and activity in Somalia only to additionally assume they will ignore the incredible effectiveness of piracy originating from Somalia. The tactics, training, technology, and revenue streams surrounding the Somali piracy problem suggests an ideal environment for further expansion of Al Qaeda capabilities and techniques, and the absence of any containment off the coast of Somalia is an invitation to future disaster for western nations that depend on trade at sea. The ranges involved in recent attacks highlight that containment must be examined as the next step, because if the global community does not move to contain the expanding problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean, we are playing with gasoline in one hand, and a flamethrower in the other.

Do Agonist readers think al Qaeda would attempt to take over from the pirates or initiate copycat operations?

Flying is the pits, especially in America. It's also getting worse:

A failure early Thursday morning of a system that feeds flight plans to air traffic controllers snarled thousands of flights in the eastern United States. By mid-morning the system was working again, but the backlog caused wide airport delays.

The same system failed in August 2008, but it was not clear if the cause was the same this time. The system, the National Airspace Data Interchange Network, situated in Atlanta with a backup in Salt Lake City, was a casualty of another failure in the tightly linked [system], one official at the Federal Aviation Administration said. Technicians were still trying to determine the cause of the glitch.

This is just another argument for a better, more comprehensive and expanded rail system in the United States. Sure, it's not a 'shovel-ready' infrastructure project, but it is one that will help grow the economy, create jobs and increase the quality of life for many Americans.

The airlines would surely lobby against such a thing, however, just like Southwest lobbied heavily against a high-speed regional Texas rail system several years ago.

By now most people who follow Goldman Sachs in the news know that it received $13 billion from the Federal Reserve to liquidate its portfolio of derivatives with AIG. Because the Fed was willing to pay Goldman par value on these derivatives, even though the market valued them at about 48 cents on the dollar, Goldman walked away with no loss whatever from the AIG collapse. This has been described as a great gift for Goldman and all the other banks who dealt with AIG and who were treated the same way. Many others have described this as a colossal rip-off of the taxpayers.

How did this come about? We know a lot more this week about these transactions because of a report that has been issued by Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the bank bailout programs. The press has described this report as particularly damning of the NY Federal Reserve which negotiated these deals with the banks, and which was led at the time by Timothy Geithner, the current Treasury Secretary. These press reports, however, have mischaracterized what happened and what went wrong. The NY Fed acted properly and entirely as one would expect under the circumstances when they negotiated these contract abrogations. To see what really went wrong, follow along on the details below.

And people wonder why I am not a Christian anymore:

Posters to various message boards tell stories of seeing bumper stickers with the message “Pray for Obama – Psalm 109:8” on the highway, only to look up the verse and find, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” …

Anyway, now it’s a real thing: CafePress is selling T-shirts and bumper stickers . . .

However, as a number of commentators have noted, the wording that follows this bumper-sticker appeal is somewhat more disturbing:

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Love thy neighbor, indeed.

Just because I'm on a zombie kick (I watched Zombieland last night, Fun movie):

Never underestimate the zombie

Zombies are not mindless hunters. They are swifter and craftier than one might expect. A lone zombie can burst out of hiding and take a chunk out of you in the blink of an eye.

Never engage a zombie if you can avoid it

Though zombies are surprisingly quick in confined spaces, they are not swift runners. Engage the zombie only when you are trapped, and escape is not an option.

Focus on the task; keep fear out of your head

No one, no matter what their powers of description, can fully prepare you for your first encounter with a zombie. Their grotesque appearance and smell, along with the inhuman noises they emit, can induce a level of fear and terror that precludes rational response and causes one to freeze. You must not react to the zombie's appearance. Focus instead on delivering a combination of offensive and defensive strikes that will buy you enough time to escape.

More at the link. Thanks MC.

I'm a frequent critic of President Obama, but sometimes it's really important to read between the lines. Yesterday the AP posted this story. In it the writer reports that the upcoming 'jobs summit' at the White House isn't about jobs:

President Barack Obama says creating jobs isn't the goal of a coming White House forum on jobs and economic growth.

And the headline reinforces the lede:

Obama: Job creation not goal of Dec. 3 jobs forum

However, a close reading of the story in question would leave the reader confused:

More after the jump.

"The (task force) recommends against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years." U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, Nov. 17, 2009

"My message to women is simple. Mammograms have always been an important life-saving tool in the fight against breast cancer and they still are today. Keep doing what you have been doing for years - talk to your doctor about your individual history, ask questions, and make the decision that is right for you." Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, Nov. 18.

Talk about a short news cycle. A Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) appointed "best practices" task force dismissed the value of "routine" mammograms as a cancer prevention technique for women 40 to 49 years on Tuesday, November 17.

More after the jump.

I'm going to say right up front that I don't come to any conclusions in this post. I was simply struck the contrasting outcomes in these otherwise very similar stories.

First there is the news that the pseudonymous call-girl and author "Belle Du Jour" has revealed her true identity, as a PhD level cancer researcher named Brooke Magnanti. Check out how her illicit activities have paid off for Dr. Magnanti:

The Belle du Jour blog became a hot media property, spurring speculation about the true author, a lucrative book deal. The book was serialized on UK prime time television in 2007’s “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” starring actress of Billie Piper, and eventually played on pay cable in the US.

When I read this story, I couldn't help but recall the sad story of Brandy Britton, an American college professor who similarly dabbled in prostitution, but with a very different outcome:

More after the jump.

First they organize a tea bagging of a speech by Al Gore, then they vandalize the venue. I wonder if Koch Industries $ paid for the spray paint?

Full Disclosure: While I am not involved with this speech, I do consult for the Alliance for Climate Protection

The results of this poll are pretty interesting:

Americans don't want to shoulder the cost of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul themselves. They think the rich should pay for it.

I don't think it will happen that way, however. As a matter of fact, I know it won't. At least not yet. But it's another indication that Americans are much more progressive, especially when it comes to taxation, than politicians realize--I also think it is an indicator of just how pissed the middle class is with the wealthy in this country.

As I have noted many times here, I am in favor of a return to golden-era Eisenhower-like taxation, but I'm not holding my breath. If the Democrats really wanted a decent health-care plan, one that creates real health-care cost savings across the board, however, they could push one through. Instead we'll get a mushy-halfway plan that will be more of regressive tax on the middle class. But we all knew that, didn't we?

President Obama visited the Great Wall of China yesterday. Having seen the Wall in many different places in China, from the Badaling, where Obama visited, to the perilous angles and heights of Simitai and then all the way out in the West at the Jade Gate where the Han and T'ang walls peter out into the sand I can attest to its hold on the imagination. I've seen some amazing places in my travels but my first experience with the Wall stands head and shoulders above any other experience in China. The Great Wall is one of those places that is both cliche and profoundly impressing. It lives up to the hype.

If you are inclined to learn more about the Great Wall, its provenance and history I highly recommend this book by Julia Lowell. It is an insightful narrative history of the 'Long Wall,' its place in the Chinese psyche and that of the West. From the first tentative tamped earth ramparts built to keep out the marauding Rong and Di tribes to the massive Qing Walls that President Obama visited yesterday it is a wonderful, easy to read romp through Chinese history.

Bangkok | November 18

Bangkok Post -

Foreign investment for US bonds and other long term investments, including from China, rose beyond expectations despite concerns over the weakness of the dollar, official data showed Tuesday.

Net long-term capital flows to the United States climbed to 40.7 billion dollars in September from a revised 34.2 billion dollars the prior month, according to the Treasury International Capital Data (TIC) monthly report.

Most economists had expected flows to reach 30.0 billion dollars.

Consider two turkeys. One is a wild turkey, part of a flock that lives in our pecan bottom along the banks of the Guadalupe River. She finds food, shelter, water, protection from predators and all the other things she needs to survive in her environment.

The second turkey lives across the road, not more than a mile from the first, in a house full of domestic turkeys being fattened for market. This turkey has a roof over her head, climate controlled air, is never too hot, never too cold. Food and water is automatically dispensed at all hours of the day and night for her consumption. The walls keep predators at bay.

What am I missing? I keep seeing this woman's story pop up everywhere, from Daily Kos to the Huffington Post. I mean, who really cares? Why do we expend so much useless energy on stories like this? (And yes, I do recognize the irony of me posting about it.)

On that note: I had dinner with my Mom last night and even she was talking about her. Good grief.

98000reasons.org: Quanisha Scott from American Association for Justice on Vimeo.

The entire staff of the Agonist has already come out against the health care bill because it's essentially a giveaway to the big health insurance companies. Well here's one more reason to oppose it.

The video above tells the story of 29-year-old Quanisha Scott who underwent a partial thyroidectomy to remove a goiter at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Twelve hours later, she began to develop a shortness of breath and began feeling her neck tighten. Despite complaints to the nurses, her condition was not appropriately monitored or reported to a physician. She went into respiratory arrest and suffered severe brain damage. It was later discovered that she had a hematoma at the site of the surgery. She is now bed-ridden and totally dependent on her mother for care.

Things like this happen to 98,000 Americans every year. If we lose our right to sue bad doctors due to "tort reform" people like Quanisha will be dependent on the tax dollars of the rest of us for care while the doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies that harmed her walk away scot free.

The Senate has indicated (page 210, PDF) they're eager to throw out our right to sue bad doctors as part of the current "health care reform" package. See the excerpt in the full entry.

Disclosure: I'm proud to be helping the American Association for Justice fight for patient's rights.

Thanks to Sean Paul and Tina and all of you for having me post poems on Tuesdays. This will be fun.

The trumpeter Miles Davis used to say that he knew the music was good when he felt it "all up in his body." That's the way I feel about Rilke, who to me came as close to the pulsing undercurrent of everything as any poet ever has. Here is Sonnet #1 from the Second Part of The Sonnets to Orpheus in the Stephen Mitchell translation:

Breathing: you invisible poem! Complete
interchange of our own
essence with world-space. You counterweight
in which I rythmically happen.

Single wave-motion whose
gradual sea I am;
you, most inclusive of all our possible seas-
space grown warm.

How many regions in space have already been
inside me. There are winds that seem like
my wandering son.

Do you recognize me, air, full of places I once absorbed?
You who were the smooth bark,
roundness, and leaf of my words.

Nov 17

Gordon Brown hopes to fix Afghan pullout date

Gordon Brown tonight raised the prospect of agreeing a timetable for international withdrawal from Afghanistan, in a speech in which he claimed that almost half of al-Qaida's leadership had now been killed. Brown said he hoped a UN- sponsored London conference in the new year would set a timetable for a transition to Afghan security forces taking charge of their own country.

Delivering the traditional prime minister's foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet in the City of London, Brown said the damage already inflicted on al-Qaida gave international forces the chance to set a timetable for pulling out.

His speech came amid growing anxiety over strategy in the region. At the same time, there are signs of fracturing support within Westminster over Britain's involvement and the civilian and military casualties sustained.

_{** Tomgram: Pratap Chatterjee, Afghanistan as a Patronage Machine
** Taliban on motorcycles prove no match for U.S. helicopters
** US Military Deaths in Afghanistan Region at 839
** In Bed with the Rapists in Afghanistan
** UK's Brown Wants NATO Summit For Afghan Exit Timetable}

War-torn nations 'most corrupt'

War-torn nations remain the world's most corrupt, Transparency International (TI) has said.

Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are the lowest-ranked countries in TI's annual global survey. They were all at the bottom of the list last year as well.

"When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control," TI said.

_{** US military deaths in Iraq war at 4363
** Sunni politician, 12 others killed in Iraq
** Baghdad's once ravaged zoo comes back to life
** The day that all hell broke loose in Basra}

Please check comments for more related news and updated stories

Something hits me every time I see American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Several World War Two veterans and fellow Vietnam veterans I know have the same reaction. It has nothing to do with the politics of the wars. It’s the uniforms of our soldiers today, the ones in combat zones. They’re astonishingly tidy. Parade-ground tidy, one might even say. I know the reason and it’s partly my fault.

Even though there are no Vietnam veterans in the military anymore (unless there’s a white-walled sergeant major somewhere with hash marks like the Union Pacific railroad), the military looks back on the disciplinary troubles of the Vietnam War with horror and disgust – as a Calvinist minister would a drunken weekend in a Swiss whorehouse. The wayward minister could deny it ever happened, but our generals can’t. There’s news footage and a lot of us were there. Insubordination and AWOLs were on the rise. Morale and cohesion were on the decline. Discouraging words were heard as the peasants were daring to question the regime.

Wonder what Sinclair Lewis would say about this?

Like Blanche DuBois, the United States is "down on its uppers." We rely on the kindness of foreigners to finance our government.

A Whole Lot of Kindness

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Oct. 16, 2009

These customers must be extending kindness. How else do you explain the massive purchase of Treasuries Securities? They're ignoring wars that we can't afford and defense expenditures equaling 50% of the world's total spending. They're also ignoring the giveaways to failed Wall Street firms and others plus the forgiveness of the executives in charge by assuring their ongoing positions and bonuses.

It would be easy for an investor to look at the United States and say forget about it. But they don't. As a result, we're able to function, at least for a while, as though we're not totally upside down. Of course, there's self interest involved. If we hit the skids, they're likely to feel the back draft. But their self interest serves us well right now.

But there's another take on our benefactors. A "new kid" on the advocacy new block is sounding the alarm. Economy in Crisis is the new media group and their publication is America's Economic Report Daily.

"The American sellout is happening faster than ever as our companies are being taken over in a buying frenzy by foreign investors – like piranha fish consuming its weakened prey. Many of these companies have taken one hundred or more years to develop and were the source of our wealth, strength, and living standards; now overnight, gone. We should be concerned and even outraged that our government let this happen." About Economy in Crisis