Saturday 21 May 2011
Guest-host: Joseph
Brusuelas, chief economist, Bloomberg LLP
Co-host: Paul Vigna, Wall Street Journal
Saturday 905P Eastern Time: Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and
Humanities at Bard College, and editor-at-large of The American Interest magazine, in re: contemporary social structure, politics and economics. The US transitions out the New Deal model into . . . what?
Saturday 920P Eastern Time: Walter Russell Mead II
Saturday 935P Eastern Time: Walter Russell Mead III
Saturday 950P Eastern Time: Walter Russell Mead IV
Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific): Joseph Brusuelas and Paul Vigna, in re: may not (or may) be the end of the world. Pres Obama's awkward speech. Newt Gingrich took Paul Ryan's plan,"the North Star for the Republican Party to get out of the economic train wreck," and successfully bashed Ryan's plan as the Democrats had been unable to do. A Republican citizen walked up to him and asserted, "You oughta get outta the race." Public rebukes: POTUS proposes returning to the 1967 borders (soi-disant; these "borders" don't in reality exist - check the history); Netanyahu in front of cameras turns to POTUS and says, "That's not going to happen." Giant diplomatic nonstarter. Pres Reagan spoke a tough game against the Soviet Union, but what he also did was establish a good relationship with Gorbachov, who then had confidence to do his work. No such thing obtains now.
Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ
Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO
Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific): Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific): Joseph Brusuelas and Paul Vigna , in re: assuming we have more than another hour to broadcast . . . the economy has already peaked, in Q2. Europe's endless sovereign debt crisis; Chinese fearful of inflation and cooling heir economy. See the April durable goods report - volatile and subject to massive revision had two (read 'em, only two) orders for aircraft at Boeing. Wall Street asks: How much will growth in the jobs market decelerate? New York State messed up its data. Earthquake damaged supply chain, Mississippi floods - volatility bouncing all over the place. It'll be July before we get an idea where the underlying trend in claims is. Four-week moving average: if it's below 420K, we'll see a positive gain in nonfarm payrolls; but one could get nervous about that - it's currently at 439K. Need to focus on other areas of the economy. We've squeezed as much productivity as we can out of this. We need 150K jobs increase per month just to keep steady.
Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific): Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: breakdown of the Blue State economic model. Can the US afford to pay for the public goods of both social security and international security? Walter Mead's brief is good on this, but he leaves out the inequality in wealth in the US - worse than Egypt, Tunisia, even Yemen. Harkens back to the 1890s. Over the past 20 years, more than 80% of the increase in income went to 1% of the population. We have a society based on democratic expectations with an economic structure that's extremely skewed. Mead speaks of our adjusting to a more modest standard of living - but if so, it'll have to be across the board. Both Right and Left lament the loss of an Archon class - people who dedicated their lives to public service. The entirety of the discourse now is so owned by lobbyists and media corporations that there is no longer a shared public space where Americans can collectively come to a common understanding of our situation. Internationally, in places where we have so invested our defense dollar, Mideast countries don't want the US to be primus inter pares. This could be good for us: we don't have to spend so much of our wealth on defending places that no longer want us. This doesn't mean isolationism, it means we have maybe a decade for prudent reorganization.
Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific): James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Newt, in contrast to FDR, has a first-class intellect and a third-class temperament. The presidential race isn't as far along here as it was four years ago. Need more plausible candidates in the Republican field.
Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific): Rabbi Robert N. Levine, Congregation Rodeph Sholom, in re: eschatology: We all know how fundamentally fragile existence is; as for tonight's purported end of the world, we're not put on this Earth to sit back and wait. Plenty of things to do that will make an enormous amount of difference. One thirteen-uyear-old with a will to accomplish can bring water to an impoverished village or feed a thousand American families. God put us here for a reason; we're covenantal partners with God. No one ever said your life would be unalloyed pleasure; we need to take control back. Leviticus 19: the point of being holy is not to disappear - Moses, Jesus, Mohammed all went up the mountain, but they came back and rolled up their sleeves. [In response to a request for, in effect, absolution lest the world in fact cease at midnight:] May G_d watch over you and your souls now, and grant eternal peace to all of G_d's children.
Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific): Walter Russell Mead I
Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific): Walter Russell Mead II
Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ.
Saturday/Sun 1250A (950P Pacific): Exeunt.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Music
Hour 1
Mermaid Avenue
Planet of the Apes
DaVinci Code
Hour 2
Independence Day
Escape from New York
The New World
Independence Day
Hour 3
The Ten Commandments
Land of the Dead
Signs
Exodus
Mermaid
Hour 4
The Passion
Land of the Dead
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2012
________________________________
Sunday 22 May 2011
Sunday 905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax analyst; Mona Charen, NRO, in re:
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): continued
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio,Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: A suicide bomber at a military hospital complex in Kabul killed six people and injured dozens of others. Taliban claimed responsibility. Pakistan: militants do have the capacity to infiltrate military installations. "Militants have assaulted and gained entry to the Pakistani Naval Station Mehran, a naval air station in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 22. The situation is rapidly evolving and ongoing, with Pakistani military commandos reportedly on the scene and working to clear the facility. The fighting is now in its [eighth] hour." There's long been multi-ethnic violence in Karachi; now there's religious, not sectarian, violence. Conversations shift to alarm: even Karachi is being devoured by the monster of jihadism.
". . . the just-concluded (May 20,2011) four-day visit of Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani to China during which he met, among others, President Hu Jin-tao and Prime Minister Wen Jia-bao. The visit had been fixed weeks before the Abbottabad raid to mark the high-profile observance of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries" -- B. Raman
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): continued.
A gun battle raged at a Pakistani naval air base in Karachi after militants stormed the premises with rockets and grenades targeting surveillance aircraft provided by the U.S., the biggest such attack in 18 months.
"They have captured one building, our forces are fighting them and there may be hostages inside," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi. "Al-Qaeda and Taliban are enemies of Pakistan and are trying to destroy our assets."
Army and Navy commandos were fighting between 10 and 15 militants, and "guarding assets inside the base which are all safe," Navy spokesman Irfan Ul Haq said by phone from Islamabad. Four navy personnel were killed and 9 were injured, he said. Two P-3C Orion, a maritime surveillance aircraft, were targeted and destroyed in the attack, Haq said. The U.S. handed over the aircraft to the Pakistan navy in April 2010 and said it will give a total of eight by 2012, according to the U.S. Central Command website. The reviled Interior Minister, under whose watch multiple disasters have occurred, "had the gall to stand proudly" and make announcements to the press. Afghanistan: madrassas constitute an "engine for jihad that keeps cranking out terrorists." If ISAF leaves Kabul and Afghanistan collapses: could very well happen if we try to turn it over to the Afghans to fast. JB: "Bug out from Saigon. Look it up."
Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ; Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, CQPolitics.com, in re: The Daniels decision to skip a White House bid has turned the attention of uncommitted Republican donors and activists to those candidates who actually are in the race, including the former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Roger Ailes, of Fox news, ". . . thinks things are going in a bad direction" . . . "Roger is worried about the future of the country. He thinks the election of Obama is a disaster. He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she's stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven't elevated the conservative movement." Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said insurers would have to defend rate increases [of over 10%] in an environment in which they are doing well financially.
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific): continued.
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Larry Johnson, NoQuarter blog; Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Lara Brown, Villanova, in re: POTUS raises a firestorm by cleaving to "1967 borders" - the first US resident in forty years to make such a demand. An immediately-following fundraiser ($10K per person) suddenly lost twenty guests. LJ: "How does this guy get a reputation for being a political genius? My golfing partners yesterday, all Jews, were offended and vowed never to vote for Mr Obama again." JB: I remember Wye River II when Bill Clinton and Yassir Arafat were negotiating borders down to streets - which is the only way to do this in discussing 1967 borders - and Arafat walked away." Chicago fundraising? SZ: Not looking good right now, but last time they spun us down then beat the estimates. However, in this instance, it looks real. JB: "There's a reason the president is acting plucky: all he has to do is beat the Republicans."
It'd take just 95 days to wipe out this year's economic growth if the US doesn't raise the federal debt limit. Huntsman takes his potential campaign for a test drive in New Hampshire.
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index, in re: California government: $6.6bil in unexpected revenue arrives, removes a main negotiating position for Gov Brown. Be harder to move Republicans who might have been thinking of crossing over; harder to persuade populace to cut programs and vote for new taxes. Sacramento looks lost.
Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): Joseph C. Sternberg, editorial page, The Wall Street Journal Asia; Gordon Chang, The Daily, and Forbes.com, in re: A large explosion ripped through a Foxconn high-tech plant in southwestern China Friday night, killing at least two people at a facility that is reported to manufacture iPads. A U.S. delegation will visit Pyongyang from May 24 to May 28 to discuss the possibility of delivering food aid as well as human rights issues. Also: Getting China ready to go abroad - companies need to revamp management structures and customer service before they can compete globally.
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific): Christine Rampell
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific): Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: attended AIPAC meeting. POTUS, following Steny Hoyer, greeted by 11,000 members; his remarks on 1967 borders and swaps, all controversial on Thursday, endeavored to clarify (not, however, the right of return): a nine-mile-wide neck is not defensible. Land swaps must mean taking land from 1947 armistice lines. "Swaps" is a term of art; does this refer to a map n an archive somewhere? Each person who used it had a different context for it. What's generally thought is: keep major settlement block (2% of West Bank territory), there'd be a swap between Israel and the new entity. Separate from considerations of the 1967 border. Compensate for East Jerusalem? Swap what for what? Also, include populated areas? Arabs don't want to go in to a Palestinian state. POTUS acknowledged that Israel cannot negotiate with Hamas while it calls for destruction of the state of Israel. He explained that he was going to Europe and wants to persuade Euros not to support the unilateral declaration of statehood of the Palestinians (UDI) - but Hamas has an automatic majority in the General Assembly. In 1948, Arab states declared war on Israel, told the Arab population there to leave. Hundreds of thousands who left, called the refugees. More than double that number were forced out of Arab nations, and were kept as political pawns, as refugees. Now Palestinians claim that seven million Palestinians, three generations, need to "return" to the intended state of Palestine. Does POTUS acknowledge that he's made a promise to Israel? No reference to the 2003 letter.
Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: Gliese 581d: humanity has already tried to make contact with the new planet. During Australia's National Science Week in August 2009, Cosmos magazine partnered with the Australian government, NASA and the CSIRO to run a thirteen-day campaign to collect goodwill messages from the public to be sent to Gliese 581d. The initiative, known as Hello from Earth, collected 26,000 messages, which were transmitted by NASA's Tidbinbilla facility. The signal is not due to arrive until January 2030. We're looking for organics in the habitable zone. On Monday at AAS meeting, a Kepler presser on exoplanets. trouble with tiles on Endeavor: seven gouges on an old tank; very close inspection, also made a 3D model on Earth and tested air flow - analysis says there's no danger, so they put it aside. Nine-hour space walk, greasing solar panels on the space station. As they pulled the cover off, found washers missing and loose nuts, all flying around. Space station is being prepped for a shuttle-less future.
Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific): Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax analyst; Mona Charen, NRO, in re:
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): continued.
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific):
Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: A suicide bomber at a military hospital complex in Kabul killed six people and injured dozens of others. Taliban claimed responsibility. Pakistan: militants do have the capacity to infiltrate military installations. "Militants have assaulted and gained entry to the Pakistani Naval Station Mehran, a naval air station in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 22. The situation is rapidly evolving and ongoing, with Pakistani military commandos reportedly on the scene and working to clear the facility. The fighting is now in its [eighth] hour." There's long been multi-ethnic violence in Karachi; now there's religious, not sectarian, violence. Conversations shift to alarm: even Karachi is being devoured by the monster of jihadism.
". . . the just-concluded (May 20,2011) four-day visit of Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani to China during which he met, among others, President Hu Jin-tao and Prime Minister Wen Jia-bao. The visit had been fixed weeks before the Abbottabad raid to mark the high-profile observance of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries" -- B. Raman
Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): Exeunt.
.. .. .. .. ..
Music
Hour 1
Inception
Hurt Locker
Hour 2
Inception
Hurt Locker
Hour 3
Thirteenth Warrior
Beowulf
Star Trek
Hour 4
Sherlock Holmes
Call of Duty
Red Dawn
