Author: VD

It’s all fun and games

It’s all fun and games being a neocon, invading other countries, and spreading world democratic revolution, right up until the moment that someone accidentally pokes a nuclear power in the eye with “collateral damage”. If “well, we didn’t mean it” doesn’t work for kids, it’s probably not going to work for nations either:

NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis.

Pakistan retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in just under a third of the alliance’s supplies.

Pakistan should cease all cooperation with the US military. Why should they tolerate the US killing Pakistani soldiers in Pakistan any more than we would tolerate the Pakistani military killing American soldiers in the USA?

Mailvox: atheists are thankful too

MD drops a note:

Although we don’t have thanksgiving here, I admire the sentiment so I must give thanks to you for (although often infuriating; & even just sometimes plain wrong) relieving the tedium of the working life. Although I disagree with you at least as much as I agree with you, you are at least (& rarely for most of the media) both clever and interesting and free-thinking. Anyway, us Brits don’t do love-ins, so that’s enough til next year.

Clearly someone needs to set him straight about this being an atheist-hating, anti-science echo chamber of stupid Christards waiting for Round Two…. The truth is that I’m always glad to see intelligent and well-educated critics participate in the discussion and challenge my views, either privately or publicly, so long as it is in a straightforward and intellectually reasonable manner. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me on everything; my family and my best friends never have, so why would you or anyone else?

No one gets it right all the time. Certainly not me. Religion doesn’t claim to contain all the truth – now we see as though through a glass darkly – and any honest scientist is open about the limitations of science. How can we, who are mere mortals, possibly think to either know it all or even possess a proper understanding of what “all” means?

But I would encourage MD to give thanks to God rather than to me. Even if he doesn’t believe in Him… especially if he doesn’t believe in Him. After all, if He doesn’t exist, then what could be the harm?

Destroying the currency to save it

Apparently no one thought through the obvious implications of refusing to recognize an obvious credit event:

[P]erhaps the biggest sin of the lot was effectively to render all credit default swaps (a form of insurance against default) on sovereign debt essentially worthless, or void, by making the Greek default “voluntary”.

This has made it impossible to hedge against eurozone sovereign debt purchases, and thereby destroyed the market. Worse, it’s made investors believe that the euro cannot be trusted, that it’ll repeatedly find ways of reneging on contract. That’s the point of no return. This is no longer a serious currency.

It’s really astonishing that the European Union has refused to recognize that Greece has gone bankrupt. In trying to save the banks holding sovereign Greek debt, they went and destroyed the value of all the trillions in credit default swaps. It’s like declaring that corpses aren’t really dead, so therefore the insurance companies don’t have to pay out on any life insurance policies. That might save a company or two in the short term, but it destroys them all in the intermediate term for the obvious reason that no one is ever going to waste their money on life insurance again.

The future of eugenics

Steve Sailer contemplates a potential problem in human progress:

In general, the 19th Century British were just more effectual at dog breeding than are moderns. I strongly doubt that they had better techniques. They just had better goals. For example, the reporter goes to visit a man who has been breeding a healthier English bulldog for 40 years, but nobody much cares.

That reminds me that you occasionally read, although less often now than a decade ago, of somebody claiming that genetic engineering of humans will, Real Soon Now, change everything. I pretty much asserted that back in the 1990s.

Well, maybe, but leaving aside all the technical questions and consider this: humans have near-complete control over dog breeding today, and yet we are lousier at it than a century ago.

What Sailer clearly fails to keep in mind here is that the decline of canine breeding results can be blamed upon the democratization of dog breeders and the insidious pressures of the free market. Naturally, the breeders have oriented themselves towards the lowest common denominator, which is not necessarily the most efficient, effective, or objectively desirable by any scientific standard.

The new eugenics will not be left in the hands of interested amateurs, but will instead be based upon a sound foundation of genetic science and guided by scientific technocrats making wise, science-based decisions. What could possibly go wrong?

VPFL Week 12

72 Moundsview Meerkats (7-4-0)
53 RR Redbeards (4-6-1)

66 Macau Marauders (4-6-1)
41 Greenfield Grizzlies (7-4-0)

73 MS Swamp Spartans (6-5-0)
72 GroverBeach Quixotes (4-7-0)

91 Cranberry Rhyneauxs (4-7-0)
62 Bane Sidhe (5-6-0)

52 Green Reverends (6-4-1)
52 Bailout Banksters (6-4-1)

Happy Thanksgiving

There are many things for which I am thankful to God today. Among them, if not necessarily at the top of the list, is this eclectic collection of individuals who, for one reason or another, make up what passes for the online community here. I appreciate the critics because they prevent me from lapsing into carelessness and intellectual laziness. I appreciate the supporters, because they give me a reason to start putting a post together even when I’m not particularly in the mood to do so. And most of all, I appreciate those who contribute new ideas and open up new pathways for intellectual exploration.

As anticipated, this past year was difficult for many, if not most of us. I expect the next year will be much the same, if not even more “interesting”. But I am confident that regardless of how it turns out, there will be no shortage of reasons to once again give thanks to our Creator, to our Lord, and to our Savior.

Times must be bad

It appears Obama may be considering the time-honored strategem of attempting to distract the populace with fireworks during a time of economic difficulty.

Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: “The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart “immediately,” and Turkey’s foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria.” But probably the most damning evidence that the “western world” is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked… right next to Syria.

Apparently the Libyan affair ended too quickly and neither Yemen nor Uganda ever really heated up enough to crack the front page. One wonders what sort of vital American interest is supposed to be at stake in Syria. And I’m curious where all the Syrian immigrants will be settled, Nebraska or Idaho?

Invest in metals

If Karl Denninger is correct, lead and gold are about the only worthwhile investments these days:

It will not be long ladies and gentlemen, when the bulk of the folks running the algorithms deduce that they’re exposed to the same risks – they have to post margin too, you know, and if it can be stolen then their capital isn’t safe either. These deposits aren’t supposed to be “at risk” when there’s no position actively open — that’s a performance bond against possible failure to pay, but is supposed to be exactly as safe as a bank deposit in a checking account under FDIC limits.

Well, it wasn’t. The CDS you bought on Greece wasn’t. And it will only take another event like this or two before people conclude that everything is unsound as the jackals running the game will redefine the meaning of words to suit themselves and, failing that will simply steal the money.

30+ years of lawless behavior has now devolved down to blatant, in-your-face theft. They don’t even bother trying to hide it any more, and Eric “Place” Holder is too busy supervising the running of guns into Mexico so the drug cartels can shoot both Mexican and American citizens.

What am I, or anyone else, supposed to do in this sort of “market” environment? Invest in…. what? Land titles are worthless as they’ve been corrupted by robosigning, margin deposits have been stolen, Madoff’s clients had confirmations of trades that never happend and proved to worthless pieces of paper instead of valuable securities and while Madoff went to prison nobody else has and the money is still gone!

Without enforcement of the law — swift and certain — there is no deterrent against this behavior.

There has been no enforcement and there is no indication that this will change.

It will take just one — or maybe two — more events like MF Global and Greek CDS “determinations” before the entire market — all of it — goes “no bid” as participants simply stuff their hands in their pockets and say “screw this.”

It’s coming folks, and I guarantee you this: Whatever your “nightmare” scenario is for such an event, it’s not bearish enough.

What concerns me most about all of this is that with a few minor exceptions, most of my economic predictions have been correct with regards to the trend and incorrect because they were too optimistic. Since my medium term predictions are fairly negative, although not catastrophic, you can understand that this pattern of being overly optimistic tends to concern me somewhat.

For example, I expected firms like MF Global to collapse. But I did not expect to hear that they had stolen over a billion dollars that their clients had on account with them. The fraud and the outright theft by the cancerous financial sector is clearly much worse than I, or nearly anyone, had imagined. The fact that Corzine could operate without the proper license, then steal over ONE BILLION DOLLARS without being questioned, much less arrested, will destroy more confidence than even the most heroic measures pushed by the Federal Reserve, the government, and the financial media can create.

Karl is sometimes accused, and not entirely unfairly, of having some chicken little tendencies. But when Chicken Little turns out to be overly optimistic in some regards, it would appear to be indicative of a fairly serious situation.

Politicians are pricks

I know, I know, it’s a revelation:

Televised congressional hearings often serve as a platform for members of Congress to berate, bloviate and showboat for the cameras, but at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday, historian Douglas Brinkley wouldn’t stand for it.

The topic at hand was drilling in the the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The trouble began when Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young misstated Brinkley’s name after referring to the hearing as “an exercise in futility.” In a certain breach of protocol, Brinkley cut him off.

Young didn’t like that one bit.

“You just be quiet,” Young demanded.

“You don’t own me,” Brinkley shot back. “I pay your salary!”

The worst thing about it is that this report actually downplays the obnoxiousness of the representative. He didn’t just misstate the historian’s name, he confused the man with the university. And what could have simply been acknowledged as an innocent slip of the tongue instead revealed the ugly and arrogant face of the elected class that believes it is beyond all accountability.

If I was an Alaskan, I would want to be sure that Don Young was never mistaken for my “representative” again.

That didn’t take long

Newt Gingrich no sooner comes within sniffing range of frontrunner status than he promptly commits campaign seppuku:

The Republican presidential hopefuls are debating how to deal with the nation’s illegal immigrants, differing on how to deal with millions of people already in the United States. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that he wouldn’t “expel” those who have come illegally but have made lives in the U.S. He says that the GOP cannot call itself a party for family when it separates parents from their children born in the U.S.

This is a remarkably stupid stand in light of Rick Perry’s immigration self-implosion. The fact that foreigners have made criminal lives in the USA does not mean that they belong here, and in almost any other country in the world, the fact that a child was born in the USA wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever regarding his legal right to continue residing there.

Gingrich can hardly claim that it is unthinkable to tell foreigners, legal or otherwise, to repatriate in light of what the Mexican Constitution has to say on the issue:

Article 32

“Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable.” Foreigners, immigrants, and even naturalized citizens of Mexico may not serve as military officers, Mexican-flagged ship and airline crew, or chiefs of seaports and airports.

Article 33

“The Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.” It also states: “Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.”

The GOP should be a party for family and it shouldn’t separate parents from their children born in the U.S. The children should also return to their parental homelands, in which they hold citizenships. Birthright citizenship is a foolish, short-sighted and uniquely American policy; Canada and the United States are the only countries that grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens.

No one with half a brain should support the corrupt little troll in any circumstances, so it is fortunate that Gingrich has decided to sabotage himself so swiftly.