The John Batchelor Show :: Schedules: July 2011 Archives

Podcasts

Saturday 30 July 2011 & Sunday 31 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 29, 2011 1:39 PM | 3 Comments

Saturday 30 July 2011

John Batchelor Show podcasts:
http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

Saturday 905P Eastern Time: Withdrawing Under Fire: Lessons Learned from Islamist Insurgencies, by Joshua L Gleis I http://www.amazon.com/Joshua-L.-Gleis/e/B004IC9QBU

Saturday 920P Eastern Time: Withdrawing Under Fire: Lessons Learned from Islamist Insurgencies, by Joshua L Gleis II http://www.amazon.com/Joshua-L.-Gleis/e/B004IC9QBU

Saturday 935P Eastern Time: The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait by Daniel Mark Epstein I

Saturday 950P Eastern Time: The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait by Daniel Mark Epstein II

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific): In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson I

Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific): In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson II

Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific): Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino I

Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific): Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino II

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific):

Normandy Crucible:

The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe by John Prados I

Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific):

Normandy Crucible:

The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe by John Prados II

Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific): Normandy Crucible:

The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe by John Prados III

Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific): Normandy Crucible:

The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe by John Prados IV

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific):

Deep Future:

The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth by Curt Stager I

Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific):

Deep Future:

The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth by Curt Stager II

Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson

Saturday/Sun 1250A (950P Pacific): Exeunt. Jupiter: liquid metallic hydrogen. City of David in Jerusalem of 2,000 yeas ago: discovery of a tiny, golden bell that once hung from the hem of the robes of a priest of the Second Temple. See Exodus: pomegranates of blue and bells of gold.

________________________________

Sunday 31 July 2011
John Batchelor Show podcasts:
http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

Sunday 905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: Pres Obama announces that a deal of some ilk has been struck.
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: Hayabusa inspires three different Hollywood-type movies. Off-the-shelf 3D printers prove they can create tools in weightlessness. Russian space chief says ISS to be deorbited in 2020. Space war in Congress over NASA. Subpoena issued. NASA says new rocket won't launch for 21 years! The Earth's first Trojan asteroid has been discovered, using WISE data. A big story on the climate: Based on satellite data for the past 20 years, all global warming models have now been shown to be completely wrong. They all failed to predict how much heat the atmosphere traps (which is much less than expected). A Roy Spencer paper.
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, and Simon Constable, WSJ The News Hub Show, in re: Slow growth stirs recession fears: the economic recovery is grinding to a halt, raising the risk that the US could fall back into recession and tightening the screws on Washington to resolve the debt-ceiling debate. US will very likely be downgraded; increasing interest rates, and existing Treasurys will lose value on the secondary mkt - from which $62 bil has flown out in the last two weeks. Will affect banks, insurance companies, even the US govt. Scott Minard, manages billions, says the Republicans could have agreed to close some loopholes and the Dems also declare victory. US downgrade has already been factored into the market; higher interest rates will come slowly, not in a straight line; we're in a cyclical phenomenon now, heading into a slowdown. All the recessions and recoveries since WWII, never been a sustained and robust recovery without a sustained and robust recovery in housing, which is not currently on the radar. There's no consumer cash till jobs are more plentiful. There's so much govt in the economy right now, employers are reluctant to jump in and hire; it needs to vamoose a bit and let private business get a toehold.. Housing may come back in five years, might be ten. If we're at bottom now, it sure won't be a V-shaped recovery - we could limp on for another decade. If you're in a home and it's being foreclosed on, you may actually be able to live there for the rest of your life. "Jungle capitalism": when prices fall, entrepreneurs snap it up if they know the govt won't be competing with them. SiliconValley is doing well; mfrg may be coming back.
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): Lara Brown, Villanova and author, Jockeying for the American Presidency, in re: reminiscent of nullification; the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay, did not win the presidency.. The president lost the country on the healthcare bill. Entitlements vs. taxes is the big fight for the years ahead.

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific): Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, and John Fund, WSJ, in re: "Sugar-coated Satan sandwich." "If ten per cent of any group are committed ideologues, they'll get what they want." Democrats have been completely outmanouevered in the last few weeks. If this fails, who gets blamed? "The game of who gets blamed is everything in the next few hours. Nancy Pelosi has ironclad command over half of the Democrats." Now the Dems can potentially be blamed for tanking the markets.
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific): continued. Did the president of the United States get rolled? "Taegan - is Mitt Romney at your house?" "No; I was hoping he was at your studio. He's been absent from this debate; interesting strategy, seems to be too grave for him to speak up." JF: "He's running as the new Rorschach test." JB (anent Democrats): "Hard to understand how you can be this weak with the Senate and the White House."
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Larry Johnson, No Quarter blog, and Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re:
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes.com, and Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia, in re: in Kashgar, the premier Uyghur city in Xinjiang, 14 people were hacked to death as the Uyghurs fight back against Han jackboot.
Chinese property bubble, prices have soared way beyond the means of most Chinese people. Property mkt can't drop by 50% (as claimed by a smiling banking report) and the highly-exposed banks still stay afloat. A lot of banks's loan have been transferred to off-balance-sheet accounting; China is a huge Enron.
Not doing too well with innovation - in China, this is similar to intellectual property theft - as the pattern is "borrowing" or "learning from": trying to become an innovation economy while lacking practice or a practical foundation. R&D centers in foreign companies. China will become an innovation society at some point in the future: after the Communist Party no longer is in control, as it perforce demands obedience from kindergarten through post-doc; not helpful for independent thinking.

An impressive volume of patent filings conceals serious challenges to Beijing's R&D aspirations. Hardly a week goes by without a headline pronouncing that China is about to overtake the U.S. and other advanced economies in the innovation game. Patent filings are up, China is exporting high-tech goods, the West is doomed. Or so goes the story line. The reality is very different. China is indeed mounting considerable efforts on the innovation front. However, many of the pundits seem to confuse inputs with outputs. The "inputs" for innovation are impressive. China's R&D expenditure increased to 1.5% of GDP in 2010 from 1.1% in 2002, and should reach 2.5% by 2020. Its share of the world's total R&D expenditure grew to 12.3% in 2010 from 5.0% in 2002, placing it second only to the U.S., whose share remained steady at 34-35%. According to UNESCO, China now employs more people in science and technology research than does any other country.
Gen Chen complained about a recent visit by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, saying Washington and Beijing fretted endlessly over protocol in advance. "Such meticulous preparations signify bad bilateral relations. I don't think Seoul and Washington would make the careful and meticulous preparations we did if Mullen goes to Seoul, because they are allies." The outburst put Seoul in an awkward position and apparently aimed at repaying South Korea for complaining about China's close relations with North Korea, observes speculate. Kim tried to defuse the situation by suggesting Seoul and Beijing "strengthen bilateral military exchanges and cooperation," according to a Defense Ministry official. Chen then expressed hope that a South Korean Navy vessel will visit China, adding the details can be left to working-level officials. Earlier on, Kim paid a call on Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and asked him to ensure that five family members of a South Korean prisoner of war who recently fled from North Korea to China make it safely to South Korea.
China's move to make its currency more international has had unintended consequences, including opening a path for "hot money" to flood the country. If the yuan floats, could it sink?

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): Joseph Bergeron, author, Science Magazine, in re: "What caused Jesus' death?" I
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific): Joseph Bergeron, author, Science Magazine, in re: "What caused Jesus' death?" II
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific): Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Syrian tanks stormed Hama, killing 136 or more. The assault on the opposition stronghold appears to be part of nationwide offensive ahead of the start of Ramadan. Mobile phones take horrifying photos. Deir az-Zour also has been assaulted; Assad regime brutalizing its own people. Pres Obama speaks out, bt no sign that the US will do anything, Germany and Italy requesting special session of Security COuncil Nail bombs exploded in Damascus. Assad replacing political leaders, esp telecoms. Fri demos were vs Arab silence: "Your silence kills us" Also demos vs Nasrallah. Secret Serice derailed a train to deter people from Aleppo from attending a demo. This, in turn, became another issue between the people and the regime. Demonstrations in support in twenty cities around the world. Egypt: Sinai pipeline of gas to Israel repeatedly bombed. Ikhwan demos this past weekend shook up Egyptians - supposed to have about 20% support; in fact, showed enormous power, have a large enough bloc and apparently are able to take full control of apparatus. Turkey: entire highest general staff resigned en masse. Army has been guarantor of democracy since Ataturk. Erdogan has consistently diminished the power of the army to an alarming degree; resignations seem to be an act of desperation. Europe, in its requirement for Turkey to "put the military under civilian control," gave excuse to strip it of its democracy-guarding function. Cairo: will televise Hosni Mubarak's trial; huge show trial of Mubarak, his sons, his former allies; some for capital offenses. Syria: no solution other than the collapse of the state. Hezbollah claim that they're not participating in the butchery; this has been proven to be a lie.

Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific): Catherine Rampel, NYT, in re: many employers won't hire anyone unemployed. Millions of workers out of work for six months or two years, and are flat out of luck.

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific): Gene Marks, in re: small business slowdown.
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): Sara Reardon, Nature magazine, in re: Agincourt armor
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific):

Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, and Simon Constable, WSJ The News Hub Show, in re: Slow growth stirs recession fears: the economic recovery is grinding to a halt, raising the risk that the US could fall back into recession and tightening the screws on Washington to resolve the debt-ceiling debate. US will very likely be downgraded; increasing interest rates, and existing Treasurys will lose value on the secondary mkt - from which $62 bil has flown out in the last two weeks. Will affect banks, insurance companies, even the US govt. Scott Minard, manages billions, says the Republicans could have agreed to close some loopholes and the Dems also declare victory. US downgrade has already been factored into the market; higher interest rates will come slowly, not in a straight line; we're in a cyclical phenomenon now, heading into a slowdown. All the recessions and recoveries since WWII, never been a sustained and robust recovery without a sustained and robust recovery in housing, which is not currently on the radar. There's no consumer cash till jobs are more plentiful. There's so much govt in the economy right now, employers are reluctant to jump in and hire; it needs to vamoose a bit and let private business get a toehold.. Housing may come back in five years, might be ten. If we're at bottom now, it sure won't be a V-shaped recovery - we could limp on for another decade. If you're in a home and it's being foreclosed on, you may actually be able to live there for the rest of your life. "Jungle capitalism": when prices fall, entrepreneurs snap it up if they know the govt won't be competing with them. SiliconValley is doing well; mfrg may be coming back.

Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): Exeunt

Friday 29 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 29, 2011 1:37 PM | No Comments

Friday 905P Eastern Time: .Jim McTague, Barron's, in re:

Friday 920P Eastern Time: .Lou Ann Hammond, Driving the Nation.com, in re: Ford globalizes

Friday 935P Eastern Time: .Julia Angwin, WSJ, in re: iPhone apparatus for face recognition: for law enforcement - and for use by retailers and by just any-ol'-body?

Friday 950P Eastern Time: .Gene Marks, NYT, in re: small businesses; how to survive.

Friday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): .Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re: Republican victory in the House, 218-210; bill then went to Senate, where Mr Reid immediately tabled it. Twenty-two Republicans voted against the bill - because they favor default, or because they're running for the presidency or the Senate or who knows what; Senate will probably strip the bill and put in additions, Heaven only knows what. Boehner: "I stuck my neck out a mile." GDP is down to 1.35% per annum. San Joaquin Valley is the epicenter of government gone wild. If you tax people, they'll leave. We've been the model of the green revolution - cut off our water to save smelt in San Francisco Bay, a dozen other examples; been regulated into penury, 20% unemployment. We've been waiting ten years for green jobs and high-speed rail. Still waiting.

Friday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): .Paul Vigna, Dow Jones Market Hub, in re: it's not just the 1.3% GDP, but the revision of annualized rate of growth in Q1 from .9 down to .4. Can argue that the only growth is govt spending. Also incl benchmark revisions - the recovery was weaker than we thought. Basically, the recession has never ended. Seventy per cent of GDP is consumer spending - which for cause is not happening. People do not have money to go out and spend. Jobs not being created, wages not rising. Coming: in 2012, seeing 2% at best - no jobs, vulnerable to shock, any disaster. Tsunamis, uprisings in Middle East, Washington's present sideshow - all constitute shocks; and states spending has been holding us up since 2010, and states and municipalities have perforce ceased spending. If you can strip out govt spending, what's left in the economy is not growing. Ford is about to put $1 bil in Gujarat to bld engines and assemble cars; large US mfrs foresee most of their profits in East Asia, are not investing in US markets.

Friday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): .Christina Harper, Bloomberg, in re: Goldman Sachs loses luster. Trouble ahead.

Friday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): .Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in az-Zintan, Libya, in re: death of Younes.

Friday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): .Joseph Bergeron, author, Science Magazine, in re: "What caused Jesus' death?" I

Friday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): .Joseph Bergeron, author, Science Magazine, in re: "What caused Jesus' death?" II

Friday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): .Michael Balter, Science Magazine, in re: the dinosaurs killed by asteroid

Friday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): .Sara Reardon, Science Magazine, in re: what will happen to the polar bears?Where did they come from?

Friday/Sat 1205A (905 Pacific Time): .Becca Aaronson, Texas Tribune, in re: Which candidates get get money from Texas.

Friday/Sat 1220A (920 Pacific Time): .David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: Rick Perry profile

Friday/Sat 1235A (935P Pacific Time): .Matt Kaminski, WSJ, in re: Arab Spring so far.

Friday/Sat 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Thursday 28 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 28, 2011 9:08 PM | No Comments

John Batchelor Show podcasts:

http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

Co hosts:

Mary Kissel, WSJ

Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Thursday 905P Eastern Time: David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: debt ceiling negotiations - could start on Friday evening and have it done by Monday. If the market got scared and the DJIA dropped precipitously, that might give everyone in Washington enough cover to vote in favor of the bill. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann: no; Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan: yes.

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: Mary Kissel, WSJ, in re: Pres Bush's trade deals, waiting to be sent to Congress because Pres Obama has been holding them back; he keeps changing the goal posts. "Trade Adjustment Assistance" (TAA) - a labor union slush fund, hugely expanded by current president, who claims that govt union members will have their jobs jeopardized by free trade internationally. (No idea where the money goes.)

Thursday 935P Eastern Time: Jim Henson, Texas Politics project, University of Texas, in re: Rick Perry

Thursday 950P Eastern Time: Mary Kissel, in re: Australia. In the Nineteenth Century, our forefathers defeated the most powerful navy in the world; since then we've assumed that our laws were sovereign. It's over. The EU has mandated a fee from all carriers in respect of global warming, and now the World Court, have decreed that Americans have to pay, too. In Australia, Julia Gillard, who favors such things, is not winning in the polls. Oppo Tony Abbot speaks on how she'll police an "invisible, odorless, weightless, [imperceptible] substance." Why are we about to start talking with the North Koreans? Fifty South Korean citizens have recently died from DPRK attacks. In Bali recently, the North and South got together and decided that they'd have talks about talks. State: "No cost here. Wrong: shows weakness. "There's always a cadre of State Dept officials who want to talk to North Korea because they want something to do."

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Turkey, Iran, Syria. Iranians supplying weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan - looking for a surrogate for Syria. Iranian interview today: "Sanctions make us stronger; if the US attacks us, we'll play soccer with the soldiers' heads." Escalating verbal attacks.

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Ariel Cohen, Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, Heritage Foundation, in re: Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas; Lebanon/Hezbollah (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iran) have created a border dispute to claim the Israeli gas reserves. Rather than develop their own resources for their own people, they're creating "another Shaba Farm." Nations normally negotiate between themselves; Hezbollah wants the UN to intervene. Israel is not a party to the Law of the Sea Treaty, had to respond lest the H complaint gain standing. Within the 200 mile economic zone; talk of a pipeline to Cyprus. US is not very supportive, says., "You resolve it."

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: [Kevin McCarthy in DC: no vote this evening. Midnight 1 Aug deadline moves toward us.] The UDI, imposing borders on Israel, is lawfare by Palestinians. The PA - fifteen guys with their bank accounts sitting around in France - may change their minds again. Arab nations have pledges $900mil to PA, have paid about 20%; PA firing employees. Raided Dahlan's house today - he used to be Gazan boss - and 23 of his assistants for being a kleptocracy. Economy in very bad condition. Arabs not eager to see an armed uprising among Palestinians, considering everything else that's going on. Jordanians, and more Euros, have stated opposition to UDI. Juniper Copra, a most successful military exercise. Israel is the only stable ally in the region. Egypt: collapse of the economy; all dire news every direction. Ikhwan no longer the masters of the situation. Tourists avoid Egypt, for cause. Reemergence of tribal rivalries in Syria.

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Yuli Edelstein, Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, Israel, in re: Israel. Delegitimization campaign. UDI - unilateral declaration of independence by Palestinians. Working to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel; trying to bring in trade unions, all sorts of international institutions. Small group of very well-funded, motivated people, but still small. The world sees only TV sound bites, is not well informed. Can disagree with Israeli policies, but you can hardly hear anyone anywhere saying that Israel has no right to exist. Large number of places in Palestine named for terrorists and mass killers, including a summer camp after Mugrabi; why no intl objection? A square in Ramallah named after a terrorist; world keeps mum. Not only a current moral problem, but of future peace: school children taught to revere IED martyrs and to kill Israelis. [Abbas as a tired old man who hasn't heard from his bankers recently.] We still have a long row to hoe.

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Ahron Horovitz, Executive Director, City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies, in re: Rare archaeological find, Second Temple period - a tiny golden bell, 1.5 cm, pulled after 2,000 years from an ancient sewer beneath the Old City of Jerusalem. The high priest wore garb with tiny bells sewn along its hem, as did some others, according to the Bible; apparently one fell and has just been found. The sewage canal was directly under the main street which ran to the Shiloah Pool in the south; on the last lap of the path taken by pilgrims three times a year. Monumental: 50 meters wide at the base of the hill."Exodus: . . . all of wool, . . . along the skirts thou shall place pomegranates and bells . . . ." We've also found thousands of shekels made by rebels against Rome, inscribed, "To the redemption of Zion." Also special pottery of vessels taken down to sewers by refugees. Romans found them, broke through the road and took them out to kill them. Still find breaks in the pavement.

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Danny Ayalon, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, in re: history of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in a concise, easy-to-follow video on YouTube. Saeb Erekkat made cynical remarks about this video; does not care for a simple, accurate historical recounting. Threatened by the vid because his own legitimization has been secured by decades of lies. For too long we've been reactive, not pro-active; I decided to make a careful, clear statement on precisely what's happened.

http://www.dannyayalon.com/News/409/ The Truth about the West Bank

Danny Ayalon also has a twitter account: twitter.com/DannyAyalon

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Michael Balter, in re: Birds and dinosaurs

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in re: Libyan rebels

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re: debt crisis. Mrs Pelosi has delivered zero Democratic vote tonight ("If you vote aye, you can forget about any DCCC funding in 2012.") Rules Committee has met, that box has been checked. The president's plan was rejected 97-0 at the beginning of the year. Veteran members of the House are so incompetent they can't deliver the votes to the Speaker. The Speaker, himself, has said this is not a good plan. I like no part of this bill; but we don't have the Senate or the presidency, so we have to get the best bill we can. Tonight, the veterans are totally incompetent. Thad McCotter led the fight against TARP now fighting with these veteran incompetents - many of whom voted in favor of TARP. The Tea Party is not the problem. The president doesn't want to reform any of the programs, he just wants a $2.4 trillion increase. The Devin Nunes plan is to move the date to September 30.

Thursday/Fri 1220A (920 Pacific Time): John Burns, in re: George Osborne exposure to Murdoch scandal

Thursday/Fri 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Richard Epstein, Hoover, in re: Progressive tax vs flat tax.

Thursday/Fri 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 27, 2011 8:50 PM | No Comments

John Batchelor Show podcasts:

http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Co-host: David Livingston, The Space Show

Wednesday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): Sen Rand Paul, Kentucky, in re: debt talks continue. Sen Paul opposes Boehner plan. Never balances: over ten years, never achieves balance; also, over ten yrs it adds 7 trillion dollars to the national debt - a harbinger of a real crisis; no change from how things have been done in Washington. Cut/cap.balance: we agreed to take on some debt in the future if we have balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution - over five years, after three years to get the amendment accepted by the states. We;re willing to talk with the president and with Harry Reid to discuss statutory caps; if they're opposed to the balanced budget amendment, please explain to the 75% of Americans who favor it. August 2 has always been an artificial deadline; he privately assures us that we won't default. We bring in $ __; and ___. Plenty of money each month for interest, Social Security checks, and to pay the military. Wish the president wouldn't scare elders while we're discussing something serious. The president caters to those I call "the beseechers" - visitors to Washington with agendas. If and when interest rates rise, this could spiral out of control We pay most debt at 2.5%; if they go to their historic average, we'll add billions of dollars over the next five years. It's coming - we need a leader. Borrowing a trillion dollars from China. A banker told me today that they have by-laws that are being altered to accommodate a less-than AAA rating of US Treasurys.

Wednesday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time): Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re: rumor (only) in DC that Pelosi as said: Vote for this, your money's cut off from DCCC for the election. This comes out as: every Democrat in America vs John Boehner. My opinion is that on Aug 2 we will not run out of money. Pres Obama

Wednesday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time) David Livingston, Dr Space, and Lawrence Krauss, astrophysicist, in re: The Shuttle was a dud but space Is Still Our Destiny -NASA failed to deliver its primary goal: cheap human space travel. Next time we need to go farther and learn a lot more. Humans aren't designed efficiently to go into space. Leadership is the biggest problem we face in the space program. I'd be surprised if we didn't find at least fossilized life on Mars - and I'd be surprised if they weren't our cousins.

Wednesday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance!, in re: Watching the markets watch Washington with the debt negotiations. When the TARP vote failed in Sept 2008, the market really went down. Financial guys are now starting to wake up to the possibility that this could turn out badly, that nobody is in charge. Pres Obama asked people to call congressman, Boehner's plan not working; and then there's the Senate. Harry Reid's plan has the approval of the ratings agencies. Let's assume that we do get a downgrade. Downgrade is a much greater danger than default. Heard that $15 trillion is tied directly to AAA: Treasurys, muni debt, Fannie and Freddie. This is a truly dangerous game our elected officials are playing. Bond houses: We have rules! (Well, just guidelines). Need 217 votes to pass the House. Right now, we'd be lucky to get 116.

"The sharp 2.1% m/m fall in US durable goods orders in June confirms that the US economy is still struggling, but the numbers do not alter our forecast that annualized second-quarter GDP growth was 2.3% compared with the consensus of 1.7% (data due Friday)."

Wednesday 1005P Eastern (705P Pacific Time): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: Elvin Lim: "America is the only country in the world that has the luxury of creating an economic crisis when there isn't one. Ours is the only democracy with a debt ceiling, with the exception of Denmark, which raises its ceiling well in advance of when it would be reached. Economists say that our 'debt crisis' is an unforced error, because people are more than willing to lend us money, at pretty good rates. This is the benefit of having a really good credit score." Eventually, someone will have to take the Reid plan and the Boehner plan and put them together. Try "Reid-altered Boehner plan." New arrivals in Senate wil filibuster; can slow it down three or four days. Pretend the House can as this on Thursday,, get it to Senate; have three days till Monday. Check 11PM on Monday, same conversations from the Senate gallery. Senate: only No votes. House: no Dem votes.

Wednesday 1020P Eastern (720P Pacific Time): Hal Boyd, Deseret News, in re: Faith in the GOP: how fishing for religious votes in Iowa could lose them the general election. Rick Perry, of Texas A&M, Texas ags, and unannounced candidate for the presidency from Texas, has embraced evangelical Christians, which may affect the Iowa caucuses. "G W Bush's brilliance with the religious right was that he had photo ops behind closed doors, only." August 6 prayer meeting in Houston at the Reliance Stadium - prayer and fasting event - will help him in Iowa, South CArolina, and the entire Tea Party. If he wins the GOP nomination,, he'll face voters who will not support his Christian ways. Right now, all he's trying to do is win Iowa. If he does that, he has good shots at the rest. He may back out of part of the August 6 event.

Wednesday 1035P Eastern (735P Pacific Time): Vikas Bajaj, NYT, in re: High-value products like industrial machinery, automobiles and car parts are leading the way in an escalation of exports from India. Mr Gautam Adani, from the Mumbai diamond trade, a self-made man, is India's sixth-richest man with ten billion dollars, good at special project for the government; has got access to land at favorable rates - some of it barren, that he's made productive; however, unlikely that he cold have accomplished this much without stellar governmental connections. He's based in Mundra, Gujarat, a seacoast town with lots of mangrove wetlands; salt industry was a big employers; Gandhi famously marched here about salt production. ere huge riots in 2002 where many died; did the govt abet the problem, or look the other way? Very business-friendly state -- get clearances easily, unlike in the rest of India; have to control your entire supply chain - have coal (might be from Indonesia), move it to your power plant (might need ships), and the like. No help from the government. Adani was having dinner with important business contact when the Mumbai attack occurred; he was sent into the kitchen, survived, and left the next morning. Indian politicians do get rich - amass large amounts of money from apparently nowhere.

Wednesday 1050P Eastern (750P Pacific Time): Steven Erlanger, NYT, in re: In Oslo, Norway recovers from Breivik madness

Wednesday 1105P Eastern (805P Pacific Time): John Prados, author, Normandy Crucible I

Wednesday 1120P Eastern (820P Pacific Time): John Prados, author, Normandy Crucible II

Wednesday 1135P Eastern (835P Pacific Time): John Prados, author, Normandy Crucible III

Wednesday 1150P Eastern (850P Pacific Time): John Prados, author, Normandy Crucible IV

Wednesday/Thurs 1205A Eastern (905 Pacific Time): James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Obama and Star Trek, and debt limit

Wednesday/Thurs 1220A Eastern (920 Pacific Time): Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute at az-Zitan, Libya, with rebel forces in re: news of the day

Wednesday/Thurs 1235A Eastern (935P Pacific Time): David Livingston, Dr Space, and Lawrence Krauss, astrophysicist, in re: The Shuttle was a dud but Space Is Still Our Destiny -NASA failed to deliver its primary goal: cheap human space travel. Next time we need to go farther and learn a lot more. Humans aren't designed efficiently to go into space. Leadership is the biggest problem we face in the space program. I'd be surprised if we didn't find at least fossilized life on Mars - and I'd be surprised if they weren't our cousins.

Wednesday/Thurs 1250A Eastern (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

JBS Tuesday 27 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 26, 2011 9:27 PM | No Comments

John Batchelor Show podcasts: http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC and WABC radio

Tuesday 905P Eastern Time: Michael McConnell, Hoover Institution senior fellow & Stanford Law, in re:

Tuesday 920P Eastern Time: John Fund, WSJ, in re: will the president be primaried? "I think the president is aware of the sentiment of the majority of the American people, and they are sold on the idea that we reduce our debt," the Democrat said. "It would be suicidal for the president to disregard the desires of the people."

Tuesday 935P Eastern Time: John Taylor, Hoover, & economics Nobelist, in re: (Summary: Best way to improve the economy is through limited government. Keynesian intervention doesn't work; excessive government regulation doesn't work; we need growth.) We're growing at 1.5%, close to zero, susceptible to negative growth (= recession). First, settle budget in a gradual, credible way. Monetary policy needs to be steadier. Regulatory policy been too interventionist in the last years: focus on the rule of law, rules/law-type policy - markets, limited govt, economic freedom. When we've deviated from that, we've always got in trouble. Keynes - the damaging part - is the notion that big govt can intervene and help; this has been proven wrong time and time again. Moratoria on [large] regulations. Small businesses: 51st employee brings on a carload of regulations and costs, so small bz refuses to hire one employee over 50. I'd even go to a commitment not to increase taxes - that'd be a boost. Getting deficit down in credible way, remove overhang; not increase taxes. Have to get there in steps: two trillion, two-and-a-half trillion, then the rest. Take Fed funds rate to 1%, increase gradually. We need to get the debt ceiling issue solved soon and without tax increases. Right now, with so little growth, we could slip back into recession.

Tuesday 950P Eastern Time: Larry Kudlow, in re: Feds saying they can delay default from 2 to 10 August because of some revenue source; Boehner has delayed vote till maybe Friday 29 July. Spoke with David Beers, head of Sovereign Debt division of S&P: hints of $4 trillion around; I asked him about $3 trillion: sufficient to prevent a downgrade? He declined to say for sure. What the ratings agencies want is reduction of debt to GDP - now at 70%, will be 90% in a decade. In other AAA-rated countries, they've all come up with plans to put debt on a downward trajectory. We're underperforming our peers. An actual default is off the table because we have the revenues to pay the interest.

Tuesday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Steve Moore, WSJ, in re: Boehner has perforce delayed the vote and Treasury has discovered funds until 10 August. Cut/cap/balance has intrinsic problems. A ten-year budget is total fantasy; only a two- or three-year budget can have any accuracy. Of we have less than 10.5% growth, where's the plan from the Republicans? Both Udall and Bennett of Utah signed on to the Gang of Six tax reform, had a huge mtg of fifty-plus senators. A financial anarchist: the president of the United States.

Tuesday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Larry Kudlow, in re: 26 July, president spoke to the nation in familiar tropes of class warfare; he seems to want to wreck any sense that the opposition and his side can possibly come to terms. Common theme of initiatives had been about redistribution of income; he has no idea how to generate new income. No point bashing Obama, who's an ideologue stuck where he is. I think the Republicans need to work out a collaboration with Harry Reid and move it through irrespective of the president. If the Boehner-Reid plans don't work, this whole thing could spin out of control. Why can't Boehner speak well of some of Reid's proposals? Because of his Tea Party backers. Boehner and Reid are good negotiators - low-key, don't fly off the handle. Eke Mitch McConnell. Obamanomics chickens are coming home to roost.

Tuesday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in az-Zintan, Libya, in re: the rebel front. Since 14 July, Zintan, a hundred miles (160 km) southwest of Tripoli, has been ground zero for the rebellion against Moammar Gaddafi in Libya's Western mountains. Internet in town will be turned off at midnight because no one's paid the current bill. Farming area; population 25,000 before the war, may have decreased as families sent women and children to Tunisia for safety, but many have returned. Increase of refugees from Gaddhafi-held areas. No sign of UN or NGOs here. Few planes overhead; maybe a NATO plane late last night. A runway has been painted on the highway 60 km from here; regular flights from here to Bengazi. Front lines have stalled again, no movement past Brega because Gaddhafi has mined roads and booby-trapped buildings.

Tuesday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Catherine Rampell, NYT, in re: employers and ads say: don't apply for a job if you're unemployed. This is ruled not to be discrimination by EEOC.

Tuesday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Joshua Gleis, author, Withdrawal Under Fire I

Tuesday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Joshua Gleis, author, Withdrawal Under Fire II

Tuesday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: space. Obama's dream of going to an asteroid, combined with bad journalism. (See post at long behind the black.com entitled, "Junk Journalism.") China's first space station module is being readied at the launchpad. Science: Water surrounding distant quasar. Opportunity is within 3600 feet of Endeavour crater's rim. Water from Enceladus rains down on Saturn. Unusual dead volcanoes on the far side of the moon. Juno, US's next Jupiter probe, goes to the launchpad for its launch in August.

Tuesday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Bret Stephens, WSJ, in re: Oslo shooter is a millennarian of a sort we've seen before.

Tuesday/Wed 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re: All-drama Obama and the debt ceiling talks

Tuesday/Wed 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Jack Ewing, International Herald Tribune, in re: the trouble with Greece; Deutsche Bank reports are weak.

Tuesday/Wed 1235A (935P Pacific Time): John Taylor, Hoover, & economics Nobelist, in re: We're growing at 1.5%, close to zero, susceptible to negative growth (= recession). First, settle budget in a gradual, credible way. Monetary policy needs to be steadier. Regulatory policy been too interventionist in the last years: focus on the rule of law, rules/law-type policy - markets, limited govt, economic freedom. When we've deviated from that, we've always got in trouble. Keynes - the damaging part - is the notion that big govt can intervene and help; this has been proven wrong time and time again. Moratoria on [large] regulations. Small businesses: 51st employee brings on a carload of regulations and costs, so small bz refuses to hire one employee over 50. I'd even go to a commitment not to increase taxes - that'd be a boost. Getting deficit down in credible way, remove overhang; not increase taxes. Have to get there in steps: two trillion, two-and-a-half trillion, then the rest. Take Fed funds rate to 1%, increase gradually.

Tuesday/Wed 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;  Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;  Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,  The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  The ceremony of innocence is drowned;  The best lack all conviction, while the worst  Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;  Surely the Second Coming is at hand.  The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out  When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi  Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;  A shape with lion body and the head of a man,  A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,  Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it  Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know  That twenty centuries of stony sleep  Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,  And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,  Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Monday 25 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 25, 2011 9:52 PM | No Comments

Cohosts:
John Avlon, CNN and Newsweek International
Dave Weigel, Slate

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time):   .President Obama
Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time):   .John Boehner
Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time):   .John Avlon, David Drucker, David Weigel, in re: the president's speech
Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time):   .John Avlon and Dave Weigel: debt ceiling. Hyperpartisanship. Conservative populist impuls, hunts down anyone who disagrees at all, leads to dysfunction. Neo-Republicans - the cut, cap, balance coalition - are issuing a threat to primary any dissident; however, may not have as much oomph as they did last year. Debt-celing deniers.
Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time):   .John Avlon; David Weigel, and Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, in re: The Democratic president cited Ike, Reagan, G W Bush. Ratings agencies - Moody's , S&P, Fitch - all say that irrespective of deeds, downgrade is imminent. Unless deficit reduction is around $4trillion, along with raising of debt ceiling, it's definite. Taegan, as a veteran of journalism and financial industry, doesn't see a way out. Every time Pres Obama speaks, he seems to embrace John Boehner - which sticks a knife in Boehner's back. However, there's still a back channel between these two - like school girls: not speaking directly but passing notes to each other. How cognizant are the ratings agencies of their effect in Washington? Watch Mitch McConnell - been silent for the last forty-eight hours - who's argued emphatically that we must avoid default, including "technical default" - a short-term version - because that'll destroy the US credit rating. report that minutes after Republican proposal was issued this afternoon, word came that there aren't enough Republican votes to pass it. need Democrats. Fifty-nine will not vote for raising the debt ceiling. Many House members actually think that a shutdown won't cause harm. Markets: take us down 700 points tomorrow and we'll get some cooperation in Washington.
Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time):  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, in re: James Carville said this evening, "The Democrats keep looking for someone to accept their surrender, can't find anyone." Nothing will move these markets guys; it's a very dangerous game. I don't think they'll really care till August 2 comes and goes with no vote to raise the debt ceiling. They seem to be imputing rationality to the pols - but, as we know, the politicians aren't rational. Potential cataclysm in financial markets; you'd have to be a moron not to realize this. It just doesn't compute on Wall Street. Greece: solve it on the full faith and of Italy and Spain. The market will sell the moment it absolutely has to. Hitherto, there's always been a bailout, so why sell before that? People going into Swiss francs, yen; big investors haven't yet gone into gold or it'd be twice a high. May go into Treasurys.
Monday 1035P (735P Pacific Time):   .Gordon Chang, The Daily & Forbes.com, in re: on July 23, Wen Jiao, high-speed train, two cars jackknife off an overpass. Many wounded and dead; several railroad officials fired- and the govt has ordered the two cars to be burying at the scene. Long slit trenches, backhoes; cars put in and covered. May still be people trapped inside.nJournalists ordered out of the area; Chinese blogosphere is outraged and incensed. Belief that the technology was pirated from Japan, where a power outage stops trains. Here, a front train was struck by lightning and the next one went ploughing in: they stole the technology and omitted the safety measures. The accountable persons need to be the nine guys running the country and the Standing Committee. Road accidents train disaster: leaders have decided to gun growth to keep the nominal 10.3% growth, the populace be hanged. The Jasmine Revolution was snuffed out: authorities overwhelmed the protest sires, beat people up , used water cannon, disappeared people. Soon thereafter, actual insurrections - bombing police stations, strikes, probably over 200,00 protests in China last year. Train line from DC to Dulles Airport will take over five years; how does China do it in a trice? Recall the pancaked schools where countless children died in Szechuan Province in the earthquake because here was no rebar - although the Communist Party bldgs held up fine. Our debt is held by China, but China holds its own people in prison.
Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time):   . John Avlon, Dave Weigel, in re:

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time):   .Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in re: Libya, from the Tunisian-Libyan border, in medical convoy bound for rebel stronghold in Libya. report of armed groups on streets of Tripoli, kidnappings and lawlessness. Sounds like a breakdown of Gaddhafi regime's authority on Tripoli. rebels oppose any ceasefire, even for Ramadan, or any power sharing at all. Insist on trials within Libya lest the Europeans be too soft on him. Demand unconditional surrender.
Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time):   .John Bolton, AEI, in re: State talks with North Korea again - what use? - and the PSI that really works
Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time):   .

Jason Felch, Chasing Aphrodite I

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time):   .

Jason Felch, Chasing Aphrodite II



Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time):   .Landon Thomas, NYT, in re: the trouble with Greece
Monday/Tues  1220A (920 Pacific Time):   .Laura Kasinof, NYT, in re: suicide bomber in Yemen, failing state.
Monday/Tues  1235A (935P Pacific Time):   .

John Avlon, David Drucker, David Weigel, in re: the president's speech

Monday/Tues  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.  Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray.

Saturday 23 July & Sunday 24 July, 2011

By John Batchelor on July 23, 2011 2:10 PM | 1 Comment

Adolf Hitler Adresses National Socialists, 1938

Saturday 23 July, 2011

Guest-host: Simon Constable, WSJ

Co-host: Sara Eisen, Bloomberg

Saturday 905P Eastern Time: Simon Constable and Sara Eisen, in re: Norway. US economy; bond markets. Economic news trawl.

Saturday 920P Eastern Time: Larry Johnson, NoQuarter blog, in re: Norway. Diabolical. Europol can only check in to the extent of deeeds.

Saturday 935P Eastern Time: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com and The Daily, in re: China's fake Apple stores. Perfectly imitated fake Apple store In Kunming, China, selling real product (probably gray-market). Amazingly, even the staff thought they were working for a real Apple store. China refused to allot the name "Apple" for sales, only for maintenance. When you go into China, assume that you'll lose control of your brand. Expect fake Apple stores in Bolivia, Riyadh, Minsk. Beijing encourages its merchants to steal; rationale is that the West was (genuinely) harsh 150 years ago, so CHina is still a victim.

Apple probably should make a deal with the pirates to license out the brand. Naomi Rovnick of SCMP: govt disbanding groups of CHinese economic reporters in order to prevent release of any critical analysis or negative statistics. Govt-issued stats are often off by a factor of 2. Current political transition makes the Beijing leadership even more waffly than usual. Wen Jia-bao is a weakling, and worse now than before. All they can do is beat up on reporters. Forty-eight to 52% of poor people's income goes to food. Potentially destabilizing. Power shortage caused yesterday's fatal train accident. Leadership is doing all the wrong things. Minor insurrections among workers. Beijing isn't really influencing events on the ground - or making poor decision; are merely witnesses to events.

Saturday 950P Eastern Time: Jon Decker, White House correspondent, Sirius XM, in re: budget talks. Look for increase in debt limit, a trillion or two in cuts, and no tax increases. WSJ is sure that Pres Obama has the upper hand; I don't think so - Republicans can hold firm and please their constituency, whereas the president will anger his liberal base.

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific): Simon Constable and Sara Eisen, in re:

Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific): Joseph J Minarik, Committee for Economic Development, in re:

Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific): Melik Kaylan, Newsweek International, in re: Syrian-Turkish border

Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific): Stan Collender, qorvis.com, in re: budget talks. In Greece, people are willing to pay but may not have the capacity; in the US, we have the capacity but not necessarily the will.

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific): Bill Roggio, LongWarJournal, in re: Norway

Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific): Kenneth Chang, NYT, in re: private-sector space race. Google has put up a purse of $30 million for X-Prize. Just getting it off the ground is probably $50 million; will have to make money later.

Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific): Coralie Galyean, The Weather Channel, in re: the massive heat cloud descended on the eastern US, from St Louis to New York, from central Maine to the Carolinas.

Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific): Lara Brown, Villanova University, in re: migraines, Rep Michele Bachmann

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: final shuttle flight

Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re:

Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): Jay Bahadur, author, Pirates of SOmalia, in re: Somalia: society, piracy, starvation, bureaucrats

Saturday/Sun 1250A (950P Pacific): Exeunt.

________________________________

Sunday 24 July, 2011

Sunday  905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg, in re:
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): Jim McTague, Barrons, in re: was in a small town in northern Indiana; my tires were slashed; I went to the only place in town to get new tires, WalMart - and was the only customer there. Westchester, New York: malls having sales 20%, 40%, 50% off. This is the worst summer since 1948 for teenagers' employment. Elders have kept on working because their 401Ks were obliterated in 2008; thus, no place opens up for younger people. Govt seems to think that the corporate sector will begin to invest again in a few years(!). White House in panic mode.
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes, and Bruce Bechtol, Jr, San Angelo State, in re: "North Korea and Iran 'jointly working on building nuclear missile'; report claims North Korea and Iran are jointly working on weapons programmes designed to build a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, a leading British security think tank has said."
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister will visit New York soon for bilateral talks with the US. Bilateral is what the DPRK has been pressing for; the frequent Six-Party Talks of the last years have gone nowhere. It's bldg nukes to hit the US, which is likely to occur in the next nears. Talks or no talks with North Koreans, they have no intention of giving up HEU (miniaturized to go on NoDong/Shehab-3 missile) or Pn programs, or of stopping proliferation that's kept the top guys in a lavish lifestyle and put nukes hither and yon. Iran is N Korea's oldest and main buyer. Probably Chinese pressure on the US to open talks. In the US, two camps, one of which says, "We should talk with the North Koreans." We now have a deadline, as Secy Gates pointed out, a lifter for missiles. John Bolton clarified that a third nuclear test is on its way, probably of an HEU weapon and so for the benefit of Iran. Will keep some HEU warheads for themselves; Iran will threaten Israel and - with the Shehab 4 - NATO HQ in Brussels. GC: I don;t think diplomacy fails; rather, Washington has subcontracted out US policy to Beijing, so nothing in our interest gets done. DPRK: "When diplomacy doesn't work, use coercion." There was a bizarre high-speed train crash late on Saturday, where two car jack knifed off a bridge; three senior railroad honchos were fired. China has already begun to bury the rail cars, no investigation. Dumping them into enormous ditches. Astounding. Perhaps shoddy mfr and shoddy infrastructure. Also, electrical outages. Why are they bldg a high-speed train with parts that fail. In military as well? Yes, in short-range missiles (the ones facing Taiwan) - so they place some of their best artillery officers there.
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: White House says "short-term" is six months or less; really , anything before Nov 2012.

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ; Taegan Goddard, Poilical Wire; John Avlon, Newsweek International, in re: debt ceiling talks. Harry Reid's plan is "short-term" - $2.7 trillion. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told House Republican lawmakers that he " wanted movement on the negotiations within the next 24 hours, before Asian markets open Sunday night U.S. time." Gamesmanship pose a major problem to the chance of damage to the full faith and credit of our currency. Hyperpartisanship is in the way of stable governance - a sobering consideration. In a conference call tonight, Boehner said, we know that the president cleaves to keeping this issue alive through the 2012 elections. Who'll be hurt out of all this are the American people and out economy Republicans want a multiphase project - issue arise again well before 2012. John Avlon: Situational ethics, hacking partisanship; shameful. John Fund: Sen Bernie Sanders (VT) is unhappy with the president, who's not consulting with the Senate. Our economy is now two years into a recovery. No economic school at all - Keynes, Hayek, vegetarian - says you raise taxes in a recession. Perilous.
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific): continued. Is there a primary for the president? Not really. Jeb Bush suddenly opened a door. Looks as though Rick Perry will get in, probably right after the straw poll in Iowa. Calls himself a social conservative. Thirty per cent of Republicans at Tampa will be from the South. Tim Pawlenty foolishly criticized Michele Bachmann's headaches. Bad job.
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Larry Johnson, No Quarter blog, and Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, in re:
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), in re:
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific): continued.
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific):

Ashlee Vance, , in re: cyberwar upgrade

Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific):

Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: Launch dates for both SpaceX and Orbital Sciences cargo missions to ISS have been set. Landing site on Mars has been picked: Gale Crater. Mercury in color, from Messenger. The Russian orbiting radio telescope has successfully unfurled in dish antenna. The universe's oldest water.

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg, in re:

Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): Ross Ramsey, in re: Ron Paul.
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific): Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes, and Bruce Bechtol, Jr, San Angelo State, in re: "North Korea and Iran 'jointly working on building nuclear missile'; report claims North Korea and Iran are jointly working on weapons programmes designed to build a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, a leading British security think tank has said."

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister will visit New York soon for bilateral talks with the US. Bilateral is what the DPRK has been pressing for; the frequent Six-Party Talks of the last years have gone nowhere. It's bldg nukes to hit the US, which is likely to occur in the next nears. Talks or no talks with North Koreans, they have no intention of giving up HEU (miniaturized to go on NoDong/Shehab-3 missile) or Pn programs, or of stopping proliferation that's kept the top guys in a lavish lifestyle and put nukes hither and yon. Iran is N Korea's oldest and main buyer. Probably Chinese pressure on the US to open talks. In the US, two camps, one of which says, "We should talk with the North Koreans." We now have a deadline, as Secy Gates pointed out, a lifter for missiles. John Bolton clarified that a third nuclear test is on its way, probably of an HEU weapon and so for the benefit of Iran. Will keep some HEU warheads for themselves; Iran will threaten Israel and - with the Shehab 4 - NATO HQ in Brussels. GC: I don;t think diplomacy fails; rather, Washington has subcontracted out US policy to Beijing, so nothing in our interest gets done. DPRK: "When diplomacy doesn't work, use coercion." There was a bizarre high-speed train crash late on Saturday, where two car jack knifed off a bridge; three senior railroad honchos were fired. China has already begun to bury the rail cars, no investigation. Dumping them into enormous ditches. Astounding. Perhaps shoddy mfr and shoddy infrastructure. Also, electrical outages. Why are they bldg a high-speed train with parts that fail. In military as well? Yes, in short-range missiles (the ones facing Taiwan) - so they place some of their best artillery officers there.
Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): Exeunt.

Friday 22 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 22, 2011 2:07 PM | No Comments

DDay Utah Beach, British and Canadians.

Friday 905P Eastern Time: Jim McTague, Barron's, in re: debt deal

Friday 920P Eastern Time: Bill Roggio, LongWarJournal.org, in re: Oslo Under Attack

Friday 935P Eastern Time: Connor Dougherty, WSJ, in re: layoffs

Friday 950P Eastern Time: Lou Ann Hammond, DrivingTheNation.com, in re: Ford Goes Green

Friday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: debt deal

Friday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Larry Johnson, No Quarter, in re: Oslo Under Attack

Friday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Ashlee Vance, in re: cyber war

Friday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Michael Vlahos, author, in re: Europe is weak

Friday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Chris Rowland, National Journal, in re: Romney bundler in Florida

Friday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Jeff Zeleny, NYT, in re: Romney in LA

Friday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): John Barry, Newsweek, in re: Petraeus retires

Friday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Adam Nossiter, NYT, in re: Sierra Leone Prenatal Care

Friday/Sat 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Ross Ramsey, Texas Tribune, in re: Ross Perot for President Again

Friday/Sat 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Gary Rivlin, in re: Elizabeth Warren for Senate?

Friday/Sat 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Lowell Ponte, author of "The Inflation Deception"

Friday/Sat 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt. Anna Louise Jackson, in re: credit cards fuel and food

Thursday 21 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 21, 2011 1:55 PM | No Comments

DDay Point du Hoc above Normandy's Omaha Beach

Co-hosts:

Mary Kissel, WSJ editorial board

Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Thursday 905P Eastern Time: Mary Kissel, in re: America's newest overweening regulatory agency: CFPB run not by Elizabeth Warren but by her second-in-command, the former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. This isn't the president backing down; it's he with bazooka guns saying, "I'm going to politicize this." Cordray sued banks, ratings agencies, everyone in sight. Republicans will not confirm. Congress technically in session; can he receive and out-of-session appointment? Elizabeth Warren'c concern over funding. Dodd-Frank. Agency can spend taxpayers' money up to several hundred million - but can decide what we're allowed to buy or not. Fair lending mandate: CFPB can join with Justice to go after banks not lending to poor people, being usually Democratic voters. Functionally a repetition of the 1990s Fannie/Freddie debacle. The danger of an unaccountable 'Consumer-Protection' czar: the SEC and FDIC are led by boards. Why should one person have sweeping powers over the economy?

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: Steven Shepard, National Journal, in re: President Obama has a scant, four-point lead over his closest Republican rival in the crucial battleground state of Ohio, while Sen. Sherrod Brown holds healthy advantages in his re-election campaign, according to a new poll released today. The poll underscores Obama's vulnerabilities in the Buckeye State. Main issues: economy, health care; support for partial exemption from Obamacare. Unpopular governor. Many swing districts will be redistricted, made more Republican, so they won't cede 2010 gains. One-third of unemployed Americans have been jobless for more than a year. Rust belt Ohio has percentage equal to national. Fifteen straight weeks of 400,000. Layoffs at Lockheed, Cisco, Cracker Barrel, even Goldman. No end of weakness in sight.

Thursday 935P Eastern Time: Malia N. Politzer, staff writer, Mint-HT / livemint.com, in re: Indian development

Thursday 950P Eastern Time: Mary Kissel, WSJ editorial board, in re: The last carbon taxer

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Abbas having little trouble climbing dow from threats. Flotilla: French yacht sought to break the blockade; Israelis, recalling the last event, simply and without any trouble took the yacht. Gazans have a huge shopping mall and boutiques with expensive items; not exactly a society of deprivation. Ottoman Empire redux: Erdogan determined to restore Turkey to the center. Delusional statements about spreading his power is a way to rally the people. Is a fundamentalist, but also a nationalist. Has no real external enemy, but his relationship with Iran is ultimately doomed. Iran has just shot down a drone plane in Qum., where the regime is operating substantial underground nuclear enrichment plants.

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): David Schenker, Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute & Levant country director, Office of the Secretary of Defense, in re: Egypt. July 20 announcement that elections are suspended, the army takes over, won't surrender power to an elected civilian government. Secular nature of Egyptian polity. Maintaining order? Terrible economic conditions. Remittances and tourism have collapsed, my be a harbinger of a true economic collapse. Egypt has absorbed $40bil in economic assistance pledges; the larger problem is post-Mubarak economic reform - can the world count on Egypt to have an economy that's Western-oriented? Egypt and China - two ancient powers with similar governance (old fogeys with their boot on everybody's neck).

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Egypt: food staples prices have doubled in the past year. Most Egyptians make $2/day. In the Muslim Brotherhood, there are some splits internally; but using every mosque as a political organizing stations; will emerge with a bigger bloc in the new parliament. Generals wondering, how t maintain the big chunk of the economy they control. Try constitutional transfers power to civilian control, stop cronyism, try capitalism, open relation with neighbors and allies to allow trade to flow. Instead, the fossils want to maintain a nontransparent budget under a junta - which is not stable. The Peoples Liberation Army of China is a stabilizing force. hah. Adm Mullen finally says Iran is a regional predator - only at the end of his tour. Mullen and Panetta finally acknowledge that the US is at war with Iran (years late): Al Quds force sending arms to Iraq and Afghanistan to kill Americans. Iran is responsible for more combat deaths than any other cause since Vietnam. Rockets being fired from Gaza in Sderot and Negev: all as a direct result of Iran. Also arms shipments to Taliban. Iran is everywhere to take advantage of Arab Spring, stimulate instability. Iran has painted itself into an economic crisis (no largesse to Turkey) and Syria's travails are a problem for Iran. Price increase in oil give Iran a cushion. Iran's power and activities are increasing. Where is the policy to counter that? What are we prepared to do?

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Rep. Eliot Engel, in re: Hugo Chavez; U.S. policy and Syria. Two of Rep Engel's amendments anent State passed: cut off US aid to PA if it goes to the UN for UDI, or to train small children in violence. [Has to go through the Senate, where it won't pass.] Chavez's prostate cancer ought theoretically be treated in Venezuela - but it's probably grave, so he goes to Cuba where his condition is secret. Chavez's brother is said to be [more noxious] than Hugo. Elections scheduled in 2012. Chavez has closed opposition newspapers, jailed dissenters. Venezuela is said to have the world's larges oil reserves! this week, House Committee on Homeland Security: Roger Noriega's assessment of two parallel terrorist groups - Hezbollah and Iran's al Quds Force. Links to drugs trafficking. Flights directly in a triangle: Iran, Syria, Venezuela. Not tourists. Iran finances terrorism; two spectacular attacks in 1990s, both in Buenos Aires, Iran behind both. Fascist dictatorship, Iranian people deserve better. WaPo editorial: no one has stopped Iran's predation. We started late and haven't made much progress (Russia and China threw debris in our way); may be too little too late, but we should truly enforce sanctions.

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Pat Caddell, Democratic pollster, in re: recent polls showed American Jewish voters admired President Obama's personal qualities, but had deep concern about the state of Israeli-US relations and Administration policies. Pat Caddell seems to have surprised the Washington Post with his release of data. WaPo had a 26-yr-old Soros employee blog in opposition. On Israel and Middle East policy, the polling numbers turned very. very negative. US policies endangering the State of Israel? 38% said yes. We found that 43% said they'd definitely vote for the president. What I find annoying is that people who know nothing about polling attack polls. Of Jewish American voters, 67% were concerned or very concerned about what the president might do if he weren't facing another election. You can attack us, but that doesn't change the truth. We had a large sample (600). I offered to debate __ nationally. We've given the questionnaire to Roper. 93% of voters [consider Israel to be under siege]. Wishing/hoping/make it go away don't work. President's policies - reaching out to Muslim voters, inter al. - have not been helpful to Israel. Lots of doubt. Almost all Americans view Iran is a real danger both to the region and to the US if Iran gets nuclear weapons. If the administration wants to correct the problem, its right there. Their national security establishment frankly isn't friendly to Israel. Having trouble raising money from Jewish voters. The president;s problems haven't yet spilled over to Democrats in general. Beware. These issues transcend ideology, go to the very heart of what we hold dear and sacred.

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Fred Fleitz, Newsmax.com & former CIA, DIA, State, and House Intelligence Committee staff, in re: US intelligence community assessments of Iran's nuclear ambitions. The 2007 NIE (national intelligence assessment) concerning Iran's ambitions for a nuclear weapons program:politically generated and inaccurate. An NIE is supposed to be the most dispassionate, best analysis. The 2007 claimed that Iran's nuclear program was halted in 2003 - which simply was not correct. Intelligence sort of backed away from this in 2008 - but the current intelligence community is to the left of Obama and the UN: US intelligence capacity is now largely broken after 2002; are intensely risk-averse. We know that A Q Khan helped North Korea and Iran. Motivation was to deny the president any basis for stronger action - refuted by all observation. The 2011 NIE is basically, "We don't want to admit we were wrong." September 6, 2007, Israeli air force launched an attack against Syrian nuclear installation; was that part of what made the authors afraid? Can't comment.

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Bob Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: Shuttle lands safely. Launch date is set for first docking of Dragon to ISS. Cosmic rays do cause more clouds, cooling. CERN chief censors scientists over result.

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Sheryl Gaye Stolberg, NYT, in re: Bachmann migraines and Pawlenty campaign smear

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Lisa Lerer, in re: Romney and the joblessness of Bain successes

Thursday/Fri 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Laura Kasinoff, NYT, in re:; Yemeni deterioration, tries transitional council

Thursday/Fri 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Malia N. Politzer, staff writer, Mint-HT / livemint.com, and Mary Kissel, in re: Indian development

Thursday/Fri 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Hour 1
Season of the Witch by Atli Orvarsson
Deadwood by Various Artists
India: Kingdom of the Tiger by Michael Brook
Mad Max: Beyond Tunderdome by Maurice Jarre

Hour 2
The Bourne Ultimatum by John Powell
The Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri
Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi

Hour 3
Prince of Persia by Harry Gregson-Williams
Star Trek by Michael Giacchino
Gangs of New York by Howard Shore

Hour 4
Shawshank Redemption by Thomas Newman
Brotherhood of the Wolf by Joseph LoDuca
India: Kingdom of the Tiger by Michael Brook
Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones

Wednesday 20 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 20, 2011 1:52 PM | No Comments

DDay Utah

Co-host: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com and The Daily

Wednesday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): Rick Fisher, Intl Strategy and Assesment Center, in re: New version of a classic: While America Slept.

PLA is bldg a navy with which to challenge the US, and Washington is sleeping.

Hainan island is being turned into the largest Chinese naval base. The US is entering a frenzy of budget-cutting and is pussy-footing around

Gaining an edge up and down the West Pacific littoral. By 2002, it'll have more nuclear attack subs and could have several aircraft carriers; as it sends them into areas sensitive to the US, could be a problem, as were now cutting back.

In Southeast Asia, nations would blanch at the idea of defending themselves - a failure of US diplomacy. Each country will cooperate with the US individually and quietly; but c getting together is something China has been working to prevent for 20 yrs. Even though China is the aggressor, it's positioned itself economically to get its way.

Now, Sec Clinton en route to ASEAN meeting. China is sending research subs to find minerals in the Pacific and to plant a flag to claim the undersea mining area. Success with this submersible will lead to larger craft to harvest the copious supply of deep-sea minerals

China sees the US as in its way out, will do what they can to push us out. US once had a submersible to go down 11,000 feet to get to the bottom of the Marians Trench; now we can't even get 5,000 feet down.

Gen Chen Bing-de is an aggressor and a predator. Adm Mullen is leaving; whoever is the replacement will not stray far from his State Dept transcripts. Chen ahs been assembling means to vanquish the US for 15 years; Chen could be the combattent commander that US forces need to deal with in the latter part of this decade.

Wednesday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time):

Sadanand Dhume, AEI, WSJ.com and @dhume01, in re: Sri Lanka.
Tamil Tigers are gone; current president has many brothers: governance is now suspected of being "nepotism on steroids." China has closely encouraged this. Beijing is courting countries around India to annoy New Delhi. India is the most democratic, transparent country in the region; China endorses antidemocratic regimes. The world is cleaving between authoritarian regimes and democracies. Has turned the entire country into a classic banana republic. Does he think he can take on his largest trading partner, India, and all of India's friends, when he's backed only by the Chinese. If so, he'd turn Sri Lanka into a version of "Myanmar" - Burma - which would be pretty unhealthy.

Wednesday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time): Hotel Mars. David Livingston, TheSpaceShow.com, and Haym Benaroya, Rutgers, Turning Dust to Gold, in re: building a future on the moon and Mars. Moon is three days away, we can get back in an emergency, and we have a lot off learning to do to prepare for farther travel. The moon is a marvellous training ground for deep space. Space elevator can bring transport cost down to $100/lb! Mon living quarters will be surface; igloos or tin-can shape; half-dozen people for 6 mos at a time. Might take years to carry prefab housing. Can later transport these to Mars. Subterranean is a practical solution to protect from radiation and other problems. Might need human gene therapy over time. A whole generation born on the moon: unknown results in microgravity or 1/6 gravity. Uncharted world.

Wednesday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): Motel California. Carla Marinucci, SFChronicle, in re: Romney, Perry, Huntsman all in California. Romney ah the forst nonfundraising event: a simple press conference in North Hollywood to a mall. A Dem counter demo with Mayor Villaragosa: Romney has a terrible jobs record at Bain and in Mass. Growing Latino population in southern Cal has a lot of influence, even in the very rightist Orang County. Romney has a ten-room mansion in La Jolla.

Wednesday 1005P Eastern (705P Pacific Time): Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American attorney, past president of Uyghur-American association, in re: incident in East Turkestan. Xinjiang - "New Territories" in Chinese, having been occupied by China fairly recently - was inhabited almost exclusively by Uyghurs, now demographically overwhelmed by Han Chinese sent in by the trainload. Event in Hotan: Chinese police opened fire on a group of Uyghur demonstrators who, in the desert town of Hotan, protested against the forced confiscation of their lands and indiscriminate arrests againsppression of Uyghurs has been going on for decades . Uyghurs love their culture and homeland, feel suffocated by Beijing's overlordship, will until Chinese change their view and quite abusing people who've lived in their homeland for a thousand years or more, including the Tibetans, mongolians, and other "Small Nationalities." Beijing hopes that under force the situation will eventually achieve stability. Uyghurs forbidden to speak their own language, to practice their own religion, and are discriminated against in the job market. Mandela, Aquino, Havel, have all triumphed against huge odds over times. Uyghurs predate even Islam; have always been seen as a threat since about 800 AD. Uyghurs getting strong support from Congress, but not from the administration. Note that Pres Obama entertained HH the Dalai Lama in a casual setting instead of at a state dinner.

Wednesday 1020P Eastern (720P Pacific Time): Naomi Sarah Rovnick, South China Morning Post, in re: Chinese banking system: bad loans, system rotted from within? China Economic Times had an excellent investigations team; has been disbanded, after being demanded to write only happy economic stories, no more muckraking of corruption. Dictatorial regime: "no human rights or freedom of speech, and in return we'll give you a good economic environment." China's nonperforming loan percentage is said to be less than 2%. Rather odd NPL number; not credible. Central banking regulator says that over 70% of loans are not covered by cash flow. A new financial district twice the size of Manhattan island in fishing villages. Massive skyscraper; offices rented by Chinese banks. Nobody else is there. Moody's says that 12% of loans are bad. Are the most thinly-capitalized among emerging markets (Fitch Ratings today). when it collapses, will we go with it? All these ghost cities have to be paid for - the savings of a nation are now going down the drain in empty buildings and cities. China is a naked predator.

Wednesday 1035P Eastern (735P Pacific Time): Jonathan Kaiman, NYT, in re: ethnic music tests the limits of Beijing's nationalist patience. Mongolian music - throat-singing (famous from Tuva) and morin khuur stringed music - for example; also Uyghur and Yi (from Yunnan) music, among dozens of different national aesthetics within the Chinese empire. The son of a cowherder took the money for his high school and went to Beijing to play (cf, Bobby Dylan). A band from the grasslands of Chinese-occupied Mongolia (Inner Mongolia), HangGai; rhythms that sound like the galloping of horses. Some people say that the music in Beijing is so dynamic and innovative that it's the best music scene on Earth. Government imposes limits, unfortunately. Official music: lyrics about how supportive the Communist government is; tons of smiles. This is a metaphor for Chinese society, including religion. The brilliant domestic bands constantly tour Europe and have got to the US. Han constitute 92% of population; perhaps 400 "national ethnic minorities."

http://www.myspace.com/hanggaiband

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/asia/17music.html?_r=2&ref=world

Wednesday 1050P Eastern (750P Pacific Time): Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia, in re: inflation and management in China. Capital controls: $11.2 TRILLION in Chinese bank deposits that cannot be deposited overseas. Can build massive balances but cannot deploy: except to bail out failing banks. Govt sets very low rates for savers, lends funds out at higher rates, which is how the banks have stayed afloat. If China had just done the right and obvious thing, they'd be in phenomenal shape. Nonproductive use of one of the world's biggest financial resources. People work hard, save money sedulously; banks use the money, people left no richer, being raped by the system. Like a feudal state; called "the tiger in the cage." Afraid that Beijing ren will get wise and take their money out of Chinese banks. The money is jailed in low-paying deposits because he system would fall apart if citizens had options.

Wednesday 1105P Eastern (805P Pacific Time): Sue Craig, NYT, in re: Goldman earnings "miss" cutbacks

Wednesday 1120P Eastern (820P Pacific Time): Rachel Donadio, NYT, in re: euro crisis over Italy and Spain; ministers meet

Wednesday 1135P Eastern (835P Pacific Time): Graham Bowley, NYT, in re: Cameron answers Parliament questions

Wednesday 1150P Eastern (850P Pacific Time): James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Watergate and Bernstein phone hacking 1972; LA TImes against tabloids

Wednesday/Thurs 1205A Eastern (905 Pacific Time): Eric Larson, Garden of the Beasts I

Wednesday/Thurs 1220A Eastern (920 Pacific Time): Eric Larson, Garden of the Beasts II

Wednesday/Thurs 1235A Eastern (935P Pacific Time): Hotel Mars. David Livingston, TheSpaceShow.com, and Haym Benaroya, Rutgers, Turning Dust to Gold, in re: building a future on the moon and Mars. Moon is three days away, we can get back in an emergency, and we have a lot off learning to do to prepare for farther travel. The moon is a marvellous training ground for deep space. Space elevator can bring transport cost down to $100/lb! Mon living quarters will be surface; igloos or tin-can shape; half-dozen people for 6 mos at a time. Might take years to carry prefab housing. Can later transport these to Mars. Subterranean is a practical solution to protect from radiation and other problems. Might need human gene therapy over time. A whole generation born on the moon: unknown results in microgravity or 1/6 gravity. Uncharted world.

Wednesday/Thurs 1250A Eastern (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Music

Hour 1
The Hunt for Red October by Basil Poledouris
India: Kingdom of the Tiger by Michael Brook
Aliens by James Horner
Hotel California by The Eagles

Hour 2
Season of the Witch by Atli Orvarsson
Tomorrow Never Dies by David Arnold
Powaqqatsi by Philip Glass

Hour 3
Road to Perdition by Thomas Newman
Alexander by Vangelis
The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat

Hour 4
Valkyrie by John Ottman
X-Files by Marc Snow
Antarctica by Vangelis

Tuesday 19 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 19, 2011 1:49 PM | No Comments

DDay gliders Normandy

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC and 77 WABC

Tuesday 905P Eastern Time: David Kotok, Cumberland Advisors, in re: bullish markets

Tuesday 920P Eastern Time: Simon Constable, WSJ, in re: best stocks

Tuesday 935P Eastern Time: Peter Wallison, AEI, in re: government-sponsored meltdown

Tuesday 950P Eastern Time: Larry Kudlow, CNBC and 77 WABC

Tuesday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Phil Izzo, WSJ, in re: sluggish economy

Tuesday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), in re: debt ceiling

Tuesday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Bret Stephens, WSJ, in re: WikiLeaks and News Corp

Tuesday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Arif Rafiq, ForeignPolicy.com and Bill Roggio, LongWarJournal.org, in re: US-Pakistan relations

Tuesday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Graham Bowley, NYT, in re: Murdoch testifies, debate in Parliament, Cameron on defense

Tuesday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Chris Rowland, Boston Globe, in re: Romney bundles a lobbyist for foreclosure mills

Tuesday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Bob Zimmerman, BehindTheBlack.com, in re: Vesta and Oppy

Tuesday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): John Bolton, AEI, in re: North Korea and Iran

Tuesday/Wed 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: the tax hike and the Democratic strategy for 2012

Tuesday/Wed 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Seb Gorka, FDD, in re: Morocco democracy and anti-democracy

Tuesday/Wed 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Peter Wallisen, AEI, in re:

Tuesday/Wed 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Music List

Hour 1

Sin City by Robert Rodriguez, John Debney and Graeme Revell
The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat
L.A. Confidential

Hour 2

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest by Hans Zimmer
Hotel California by The Eagles
Burn After Reading by Carter Burwell
Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi

Hour 3

The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat
Road to Perdition by Thomas Newman
Star Trek by Michael Giacchino
The Hurt Locker by Marco Beltrami

Hour 4

Assassin's Creed by Jesper Kyd
There Will Be Blood by Johnny Greenwood
Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones

Monday 18 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 18, 2011 1:19 PM | No Comments

DDay Canadians

Co-hosts:

John Avlon, The Daily Beast

Margaret Hoover, author of "American Indivdualism"

David Drucker, Roll Call

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): John Avlon, The Daily Beast and Margaret Hoover, author of "American Individualism", in re: debt talks

Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time): Margaret Hoover, author of "American Individualism"

Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time): Paul Barrett, Bloomberg, in re: Murdoch in Crisis

Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: Reince Priebus

Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Taegan Goddard, PoliticalWire.com, in re: debt deal, Bachmann's husband, Murdoch

Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Nick Summers, The Daily Beast, in re: Murdoch in Crisis

Monday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Jay Root, Texas Tribune, in re: Rick Perry

Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Bill Roggio, LongWarJournal.org, in re: Taliban execution in Pakistan

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): David Carr, NYT, in re: News Corporation

Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): James Fallows, The Atlantic, in re: News Corporation

Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Daniel Mark Epstein, author of "The Ballad of Bob Dylan"

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): continued

Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re: cut, cap and balance

Monday/Tues 1220A (920 Pacific Time): David Kirkpatrick, NYT, in re: Mubarak health mystery

Monday/Tues 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Paul Barrett, Bloomberg, in re: Murdoch in Crisis

Monday/Tues 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Music List

Hour 1

The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat
Civil War by Various Artists
Frost/Nixon by Hans Zimmer

Hour 2

Appaloosa by Jeff Beal
True Grit by Carter Burwell
Green Zone by John Powell

Hour 3

Burn After Reading by Carter Burwell
No Direction Home by Bob Dylan

Hour 4

Shawshank Redemption by Thomas Newman
Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri
The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat
Antarctica by Vangelis

Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 16, 2011 1:17 PM | No Comments

DDay Utah

Saturday 905P Eastern Time: The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age (American Portraits) by H. W. Brands (Paperback - May 31, 201 I

Saturday 920P Eastern Time: The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age (American Portraits) by H. W. Brands (Paperback - May 31, 201 II

Saturday 935P Eastern Time: The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss by George A. Bonanno (Hardcover - Sep 22, 2009 I

Saturday 950P Eastern Time: The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss by George A. Bonanno (Hardcover - Sep 22, 2009 II

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific): Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson (Hardcover - May 31, 2011 I

Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific): Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson (Hardcover - May 31, 2011 II

Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific): The Churchills: In Love and War by Mary S. Lovell (Hardcover - May 9, 2011 I

Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific): The Churchills: In Love and War by Mary S. Lovell (Hardcover - May 9, 201 II

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific): The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby A. H. Wilkinson (Hardcover - Mar 15, 2011 I

Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific): The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby A. H. Wilkinson (Hardcover - Mar 15, 2011 II

Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific): The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby A. H. Wilkinson (Hardcover - Mar 15, 2011 III

Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific): The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby A. H. Wilkinson (Hardcover - Mar 15, 2011 IV

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific): Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski (Hardcover - May 31, 2011 I

Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific): Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski (Hardcover - May 31, 2011 II

Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): Oil on Water: A Novel by Helon Habila (Paperback - May 16, 2011)

Saturday/Sun 1250A (950P Pacific): Exeunt.

The Giza Necropolis is an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex. It is located some 9 km (5 mi) inland into thedesert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 25 km (15 mi) southwest of Cairo city centre. The pyramids, which have always loomed large as emblems of ancient Egypt in the Western imagination,^[1]^[2] were popularised in Hellenistic times, when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is by far the oldest of the ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.

________________________________

Sunday  905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg, and Mona Charen, NRO, in re: How the bursting of the consumer bubble continues to hold the economy back. Nelson Mandela's 93d birthday; hooray. The Teutonic League in Europe has a euro worth $1.80+; the Latin League has a euro worth 65 cents.
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, and Jim McTague, Barron's, in re:

How the bursting of the consumer bubble continues to hold the economy back.

Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog and Foreign Policy magazine, in re:  Afghan army soldier shoots dead at least one serviceman in Helmand.
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): continued

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific):

Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, and John Avon, CNN and The Daily Beast, in re: breaking news, including the arrest and ten-hour police interrogation of the Briton with the fab red tresses.

Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific):

Larry Johnson, NoQuarter blog, and Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re: Q1 through Q4; no jobs coming for a year and a half (or more); housing bubble not resolved, many homeowners underwater. Tax bases dwindled - 50 or 60% in some places. Congress is wrestling with a long-term problem -"which is like Custer worrying about saddle burn before Little Big Horn." People taking holidays on Porchville, doing home repairs, helping neighbors. No one spending. Small businesses in Pennsylvania re teetering on an edge. LJ: Banks need to forgive a lot of underwater mortgages.

Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Security Council has to have UDI application weeks in advance; looks as though Palestinians will skip the SC and go right to the GA to upgrade their membership. Jordan, Canada, US, all oppose, which diminishes he gravity of the applicatin. If the West shuts down aid to the PA, problem for Abbas. Egyptian Foreign Minister resigns because of pressures of the street, and PM's promises to institute huge reforms and change the govt. All of this is being exploited by Ikhwan, backed by Iran. Egyptian govt: want to control the security situation (country can't function with lawlessness; economy in a mess, no tourism) but if the generals bail out, that leaves the field to Ikhwan, which dos not bode well. Syria: near Lebanese brder, refugees piling up, some crossing into Lebanon. Assad is sending in tanks to commit more mass murder. Russians and Chinese blocking sanctions in the Security Council. Situation has much deteriorated, many dead; removing Assad does not leave any national force that can keep the country together - it could divide into six tribal regions. Horrors committed against Christian, the West does nothing. Hezbollah said to be recruited in Syria, while Iran is very involved in subjugating Syrian people, including with IRGC. Iranians also accelerating high-tech eqpt being given to their agents in Iraq to kill Americans. Also, Iran in South America, expanding across the continent. Chavez to Cuba for cancer gain, left some authority to his brother (governor of their home region), reputed to be extremely vicious.
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): China has a strategic pork reserve (a day or two of stockpile) in reaction to food inflation. What does a strategic pork reserve look like? China has accelerating inflation and slowing growth. HH the Dalai Lama sat down to chat with the US president; Beijing went nuts - even though he's entirely relinquished his political role. Lousy foreign policy in Beijing. China has succeeded in getting huge numbers of people to work to work for low wages in factories; no clue how to move the up a few notches economically. Want to have the yuan replace the dollar as global reserve, but refuse to make it a hard currency because they'd lose control of exports. Can't be done. Chinese export-only economy; US is beholden to it. US has options to solve its problems, whereas China is rather stuck.

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): David Weidner, in re: Ron Paul for president again
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific):   Gretchen Morgenson, NYT, in re: the Justice decision of "deferred prosecution"
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific): Rebecca Kessler, Science, re the fish that uses tools
Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: Vesta - the second-most-massive object in the asteroid belt - mission. Heavier materials have sunk to the core; lighter materials on crust (330 mi across; not quite spherical). Dawn is in orbit; instruments on board reveal some craters, but not in detail as sharp as we've got from other spacecraft. "Soft" resolution. From scientists's perspective, good spectroscopy of chemical components was more important. Trying to understand how planets form themselves. Obliquity. Paleoclimate research. Falcon Heavy/ SpaceX: capable of replacing the failed NASA manned missions.

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific):   Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg, and Mona Charen, NRO, in re: How the bursting of the consumer bubble continues to hold the economy back. Nelson Mandela's 93d birthday; hooray. The Teutonic League in Europe has a euro worth $1.80+; the Latin League has a euro worth 65 cents.
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, and Jim McTague, Barron's, in re: How the bursting of the consumer bubble continues to hold the economy back.
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog and Foreign Policy magazine, in re: Afghan army soldier shoots dead at least one serviceman in Helmand.
Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): continued

Friday 15 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 15, 2011 1:03 PM | 1 Comment

Solar eclipse June 15, 2011

Friday 905P Eastern Time: .Paul Viigna, WSJ, in re: markets, jobs, economy, Europe

Friday 920P Eastern Time: .Kate Taylor, NYT, in re: the Egyptian antiquities minister, Zahi Hawass, is under scrutiny for plunder of ancient Egyptian artifacts

Friday 935P Eastern Time: .Bret Stephens, WSJ, in re: the courage of the Arab Spring in Syria, Libya, Egypt

Friday 950P Eastern Time: .Mary Anastasia O'Grady, WSJ, in re: hydropower in Chilean Patagonia

Friday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): .Dan Henninger, WSJ, in re: Obama presser, fragile economy, debt talks

Friday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): .Rebecca Kessler, Science, in re: the tool-using fish (an Australian, of course)

Friday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): .Reuel Marc Gerecht, Weekly Standard, in re: failures in Syria by the Obama team

Friday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): .Andrew Romano, Newsweek, in re: the breaking bad-premiers season

Friday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): .Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

Friday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): .Henry Miller, Hoover, in re: boondoggle of affordable-care acts and public health

Friday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): .Jeff Bell, WSJ, in re: truckers' game vs the computers monitoring their trucks; Robot and the Bandit

Friday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Ken Croswell, Physica Today, in re: famous black hole in Cygnus.

Friday/Sat 1205A (905 Pacific Time): .David Weidner, WSJ, in re: Bruce Wasserstein, godfather of M&A, from Heaven. Dare to be big.

Friday/Sat 1220A (920 Pacific Time): .Reid Wilson, Hotline, in re: SuperPACs and cash from campaigns

Friday/Sat 1235A (935P Pacific Time): .Gary Rivlin, Newsweek, in re: Dodd-Frank and the slowdown by the GOP. What's wrong with Dodd-Frank?

Friday/Sat 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Thursday 14 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 14, 2011 1:00 PM | No Comments

DDay Utah Beach

Co-hosts:

Mary Kissel, WSJ

Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Thursday 905P Eastern Time: Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re: In Pennsylvania, Pres Obama losing women, white males, and blue-collar workers, people who aren't getting jobs connected with the Marcellus shale.

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: MK: The McConnell plan is creative; we'll see how it turns out. JB: Somehow, they'll pass over to the president of the US the ability to raise the debt limit several times; all the members of the Republican Party get to vote against it. The rating agencies, president, and Republicans are all satisfied? DD: McConnell's plan is brilliant: Over the next three years . . . leading to an automatic disapproval. Can it get 218 votes in the House? "If we sign on to your plan, how much will actually be cut next year? "Two billion dollars" [everything was going to be backloaded]. Plan can prevent default and keep Republicans off the hook for blame. Harry Reid said he'd have a look. JB: This is amazing. We're completely bamboozled. DD: Yes, it feels like pure breakdown.

The Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, John Kerry, has finally found his groove, following a four-year period bookended by professional failures: emerged as an effective chairman and chief Obama ally. He has expanded the policy scope of the panel, enjoyed major legislative success on the president's foreign policy priorities and traveled extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East on diplomatic missions that were closely coordinated with the White House.

Thursday 935P Eastern Time: McKay Coppins, The Daily Beast, in re: Michele Bachmann has a lot of appeal hither and yon, but is considered by other Republicans (read: Romney supporters) to be an economic lightweight. "This is a leak from the Romney team, yes?" "Even though she was an IRS tax lawyer and takes Hayek on vacation with her?" Another part of the strategy is that they see her as a culture warrior, and Romney assumes that Republican voters see the economy as more important than abortion and the like. They're so worried about Bachmann because she represents the [populist] faction of the Republican Party that won't vote for Romney: he's elitist, he went to Harvard, he's a Mormon - and he said he switched from supporting Al Kayline to the Boston Red Sox. Former governor ofMassachusetts wins in New Hampshire, where all the stations are based in Boston and owned by people in Mass.

Thursday 950P Eastern Time: Mary Kissel, in re:

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: absent for two weeks, no help at all in Hariri; Turkey vs Assad; Teheran's missiles; Mullen and Panetta saying that al Quds forces have been providing weaponry to kill Americans; Cairo, where generals have again postponed he elections in deference to young revolutionaries even though the Army wants out s=asap and only the Ikhwan is ready to run a candidate; Obama administration has been speaking with the Ikhwan surreptitiously for some long time. Amr Moussa, overtly anti-West and anti-Israel, seems to be the frontrunner - twenty candidates fielded, but Moussa was fired by Mubarak as foreign minister, and has always been hostile to Israel. In a recent poll, two-thirds of Egyptians favor maintaining peace with Israel. Unilateral declaration of independence by Palestinians was originated by Moussa. Turks see that Assad is on the losing side and don't want to be stuck.

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), in re: the flotilla sailing to Gaza to beak the sanctions on Gaza. Rep Berkley got a call asking her to find the Greek ambassador to Washington to ask Athens not to allow the flotilla to leave Greece. The ambassador had not heard of the plan; was successful in preventing the departure, which demanded much courage from the Greek government. France and others also were clear that the notion of the flotilla was entirely a propaganda stunt. Ninety per cent of Americans agree with this; only the State Department doesn't seem to get it. At the UN, threatening a GA resolution unilaterally asserting a Palestinian state: not favored by most Americans. Palestinians need to build an infrastructure, hold free and fair elections, evince transparency in governance and establish some sort of economic development plan - then they''ll be ready for statehood.

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: UDI, unilateral declaration of independence: Palestinians intend to buy enough votes in the UN General Assembly to get a vote in favor of establishing a Palestinian state (not technically feasible without the Security Council's approval). Today was a critical deadline; need 2/3 of GA, assumed they have those , with Arab League and Iranian crews. Canada, Romania, US, most Europeans, Czech Republic, Germany, Jordan, all oppose the UDI. UDI can't change things n the ground, but they can demand an upgrade in the UN organization, be able to go in front of the Intl Court of Justice, et al. PA is in serious financial straits; what will he do: go all out, force a US veto an then go to the GA? Go to the ICJ to sue Israel? None of his intended deeds addresses the genuine needs of Palestinian people: jobs and teh foundations of nationhood. Tripoli, Cairo, Tunis, Damascus, Ankara, Sanaa, Baghdad - the facts have all changed; the Arab street is no longer there in any familiar form to back up the PA. JB: A fog has descended on the globe - Europe, the US, widely - and we cannot get a consensus on anything,. Can't get people engaged in clear violations of order in that region. MH: Economic chaos everywhere; people aren't interested in external problems - and that's pretty dangerous. Naive tho think these issues can be separated - when oil gets cut, we'll wonder what happened.

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Lenny Ben-David, former Israeli diplomat in Washington, in re: discovered 22,000 photographs in the Library of Congress, pictures taken by an American colony in the Holy Land from the late 1800s to 1940, donated to LoC and now mostly digitized and online. Photos from 125 years ago ell a real story about who was in the land during all these years. Portrait of a Yemeni family in the Silwan Valley outside of the the Old City of Jerusalem; were not well received by some Jews inside; stayed in their own colony till they were chased out by Arab demonstrations in the 1930s. From 150 years ago, a photo of what we now know was the City of David. Joseph's Tomb, Rachel's tomb, visible near railroad station; nothing else. A few migrant Arab workers who had stands to sell to tourists. Mostly be Eric Mattson, a Swede in the American colony of Christian utopians who formed an almost-communical society in the 1880s. During the visit of the German king of Prussia, some pix they took sold well, so they took more photos. By the 1940s, they moved to the US; then an Episcopalian nursing home donated them to the LoC. Found a picture of Jews being kicked out of the Old City in 1936 and times before; jews expelled and returned several times. No evidence at all of Joseph's Tomb having been any sort of mosque. In 1920, Arab demos against Zionists.

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, strategic issues, with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, in Netanya, in re: Has Chavez's illness changed Teheran's strategy in South America? Iran perceives Venezuela as a major springboard from which it can develop more proxies in surrounding states and attack the US. Since there are no cultural or historical bonds between the two countries, what binds them is hatred of the US and its hegemony. Same in Africa and Middle East (including Israel). Are there 20-meter-deep holes for missile sin Venezuela? German paper reports short- and medium-range missiles emplaced; not confirmed. Hiding places for centrifuges. Teheran also helping Hizbollah to build tunnels. Construction arm of IRGC. Likely correct that Iran has raining camps for Venezuelans. Large Lebanese community in South America, incl Venezuela. Also in Tri-Border Region, ongoing Hizbollah ops: drugs trafficking & money laundering to raise funds. Probably no training camps in Brazil but there is a Shia community there. Hizbollah is a tailor-made Iranian organization to serve Iran in Lebanon and around the globe. If e connect the dots: 20% enrichment they spoke of a month ago & place it under the missile exercise of two weeks ago, and the enriched uranium together with launch capability - up to 2,000 km - there is the risk. Cold war deterrence doctrine: We have silos and can launch; Iran is creating the next cold war.

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Ruth Gavison, Professor of Human Rights Law at Hebrew University Law Faculty, and author, "There's no right of return" (Jerusalem Post, July 5, 2011), in re: Right of return is the position that all people who left Israel in 1947-48: their descendants (sometimes four generations) are to be allowed to return and settle in pre-State Israel; that there's no discussion, its absolute, that they have the right to return under freedom of movement protocols. Historical precedent? And how about Jewish refugees who were chased out? The Palestinian context is the only one that includes descendants. Unprecedented in post-WWII for people to say they have the right to go back; one thinks of Germans . . . Note the current refugee problem in Cyprus, similar to what we have in Israel; court declared that it's not a right. Is it a question of rights or of negotiation? In Clinton parameters; present Quartet position is shrouded in total ambiguity. In recent Obama road map, issue is relegated to the future! refugees are a central element of the conflict.

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Mary Lovell, The Churchills in Love and War I

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Mary Lovell, The Churchills in Love and War II

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Felix Gillette, Bloomberg Business week, in re: Murdoch's scandal

Thursday/Fri 1220A (920 Pacific Time): David Kirkpatrick, NYT, in re: protestors back in Tahrir Square

Thursday/Fri 1235A (935P Pacific Time): McKay Coppins, The Daily Beast, in re: Michele Bachmann has a lot of appeal hither and yon, but is considered by other Republicans (read: Romney supporters) to be an economic lightweight. "This is a leak from the Romney team, yes?" "Even though she was an IRS tax lawyer and takes Hayek on vacation with her?" Another part of the strategy is that they see her as a culture warrior, and Romney assumes that Republican voters see the economy as more important than abortion and the like. They're so worried about Bachmann because she represents the [populist] faction of the Republican Party that won't vote for Romney: he's elitist, he went to Harvard, he's a Mormon - and he said he switched from supporting Al Kayline to the Boston Red Sox. Former governor ofMassachusetts wins in New Hampshire, where all the stations are based in Boston and owned by people in Mass.

Thursday/Fri 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Music

Hour 1
The Eagle by Atli Orvarsson
Victory at Sea by Various Artists
War of the Worlds by John Williams
Proposition by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

Hour 2
Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi
Alexander by Vangelis
Passion of the Christ by John Debney

Hour 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops by Sean Murray
Khartoum by Frank Cordell

Hour 4
Minority Report by John Williams
Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri
True Grit by Carter Burwell
Antarctica by Vangelis

Wednesday 13 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 13, 2011 12:58 PM | No Comments

DDay Utah Beach

Co-host: Gordon Chang, The Daily, and Forbes.com

Wednesday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): Rick Fisher, International Strategy and Assesment Center, in re: China has an enormous army which it's preparing for war vs the US.

Gen Chen Bing-de (who's been the center of preparation for war vs Taiwan & the US since the early 1990s) scored many points during a joint press conference with Adm, Mullen, who in turn would have served our interest better by speaking more bluntly. (see http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4824 )
Chen called on US govt to reduce defense spending in order to lighten the burden on US taxpayers.
In fact, among China's goals are to take out the US Navy in the Western Pacific, and take out US ability to control our own strategic interests & economic prosperity in that region.
Adm Mullen inspected a squadron of Sukhoi 27s (outdated technology).
It was Chen who fired the antisat missiles in 2005-7 that have created an enormous hazard to space travel. He could become next Defense Minister or the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Central Military Commission -- "He's a little bit Tojo and a little bit Yamamoto."
Mullen went to Beijing and was lectured by Chen Bing-de. China can say anything it wants; if no one challenges it, they can get away with it - esp if most of the audience is their own people.
China has a copycat space program so far; seeks to construct the American & Russian Cold War dream of Earth-moon infrastructure: satellites, space satellites and space plane, and a robust moon presence; and to control the space between Earth and moon. Expect moon landing by 2020 & a permanent base by 2049.
The entire Chinese space program is controlled by the PLA, and of course has military applications. Their Shenzhou capsule plays at least a dual use; same for the Space Lab later this year and henceforth. A base on the moon can observe all the satellites between Earth and moon (e.g., US DPS, which protects us by tracking and warning us of ballistic missile launches on Earth. Imagine a satellite Pearl Harbor -- would take us out).
In Beijing: abuse of apparatus, & PLA rising.

Wednesday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time): David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power, in re: AMericans are barely aware of the fact that the Chinese tyrants brutalize Christians in China Shou Wang is an urban house church in Beijing with abt 1,0000 members, al rather upscale members, have operated openly in the twilight zone of urban house churches there. In April, they were kicked out of their rented property and prevented from taking the key of property they'd bought. Police started arresting and detaining them under house arrest - the upper middle class that's becoming Christian. Scares the daylight out of the leaders since they're not longer only materialists. People who weren't enemies of the state but were made so by governmental coercion. They have no political agenda, just say that the head of the Show Wang Church is Jesus Christ, not the government. Meanwhile, the govt is landing its boots on Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong, Buddhists, everybody. Americans need to be brought up to date: Christians are considered to be a serious threat to the power of the Chinese Communist Party.

Alliance of house-church pastors all over China. Shou Wang has its own website and even its own literary journal, quotes Winthrop quoting the Sermon on the Mount: "We shall be a citty on a hill."

Wednesday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time): First-ever segment: Hotel Mars. Robert Zubrin, Mars Society founder; and David Livingston, Dr Space of the Space Show, in re: keynote speaker at Mars Society in Texas: Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory. Also fellow on radioisotope rover so it'll never stop; vaporizing gadget for rock analysis, many other topics. Other speaker: chief engineer of SpaceX; guy who studied Mars meteorite; Homer Hickam will be the first speaker.

.. .. ..

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Ashwin R. Vasavada, Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the next-generation Mars rover set for launch this November, will serve as banquet keynote speaker at the Fourteenth Annual International Mars Society Convention in Dallas, Texas, August 4-7, 2011.

.. .. ..

Can we do all funding privately? Not yet, but we're getting there. Looks as though we're going from being a can-do society to a can't do society. The real challenge aren't money. technical, capacity - they're having the courage and will to press forward. "Without a frontier, America will wither." Frontiers have made America the most inventive county in history -- lightbulb, steam boats, aeroplanes, so many. US is 4% of the world population, and responsible for 100% of the people who've gone to the moon.

Wednesday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): Jeff Bliss, the Bliss Index, and Joe Garafoli, SF Chronicle, in re: Hotel California.

Wednesday 1005P Eastern (705P Pacific Time): Gordon Chang, in re: HH the Dalai Lama in March resigned from all his political positions and remains the spiritual leader of Tibetan people. Chen Bing-de, head of the Chinese military, recently expressed concerned about His Holiness - a conspicuously gentle man clearly filled with compassion, spiritual depth. The nine guys who run China assume that everybody is as venal and nasty as they are, so are afeared of sweet and transparent humility. In March, Tibetans had an election; Lobsang Sangay, 41 and a Harvard professor, won to become the first Prime Minister of Tibet.

Wednesday 1020P Eastern (720P Pacific Time):

Lobsang Sangay [pron: loh-sang sang-gay], first Prime Minister of Tibet, in re: taking over the political leadership. His Holiness the Dalai Lama devolved all his power to [political leaders]; "I have to fulfill his vision to have a secular Tibetan society and have Tibetan people stand on their own feet; to have freedom of Tibetans, and to see His Holiness return to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. GC: Important for you to bring many different groups together. LS: I am spiritually blessed by HH and have been given a democratic mandate. We don't have divisions or factions, merely multiple [strands of thinking]. In India, at Dharamsala, we're working on unifying our democratic and our freedom movements.

JB: For years, there's been no good reporting from Tibet. WSJ has been looking for internal forced migration, brutality to the monks, et al. LS: This year the Chinese govt observed the 60th anniversary of what it calls liberation, we call oppression -- under martial law with sharpshooters on roofs, no tourist allowed. They celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in the same manner. His Holiness has been in Washington for the last week, yet his photo is forbidden in Tibet, where you could be tortured or killed for having it. GC: Your father in India sold a cow to send you to school; now you have a doctorate from Harvard; it's been an amazing journey. LS: My father was a monk, came to India to live on an acre of land. I spent my vacations in the forest fetching wood and walking around the countryside looking for grass for the cows. I got a Fulbright to do my Master's in Law; completed a doctorate at Harvard; now I happily return to India to serve as Prime Minister for a salary of $367/mo. I'm born Tibetan, will live and die proudly as Tibetan.
[Question concerning the PM's responsibilities.] LS: Yes, have to observe every development around the world in relation to Tibet. my situation pales in comparison the to the sacrifices made by Tibetans every day. My sacred duty is to be their spokesperson. I'm trained and ready; will lead the Tibetan people.
JB: Lobsang Sangay was born in 1968, and elected Prime Minister on April 27, 2011. Now he's Head of State.

Wednesday 1035P Eastern (735P Pacific Time): Matt Siegel, NYT, in re: Julia Gillard's proposed tax on polluters

Wednesday 1050P Eastern (750P Pacific Time): Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia, in re: infrastructure in HK (debate over new runway for the airport) that will have a broader China-infrastructure theme.

Wednesday 1105P Eastern (805P Pacific Time): Toby Wikinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt I

Wednesday 1120P Eastern (820P Pacific Time): Toby Wikinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt II

Wednesday 1135P Eastern (835P Pacific Time): Toby Wikinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt III

Wednesday 1150P Eastern (850P Pacific Time): Toby Wikinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt IV

Wednesday/Thurs 1205A Eastern (905 Pacific Time): James Taranto, WSJ, in re: Obama the Impatient

Wednesday/Thurs 1220A Eastern (920 Pacific Time): Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg, inre:

Wednesday/Thurs 1235A Eastern (935P Pacific Time):

Hotel Mars. Robert Zubrin, Mars Society founder; and David Livingston, Dr Space of the Space Show, in re: keynote speaker at Mars Society in Texas: Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory. Also fellow on radioisotope rover so it'll never stop; vaporizing gadget for rock analysis, many other topics. Other speaker: chief engineer of SpaceX; guy who studied Mars meteorite; Homer Hickam will be the first speaker.

.. .. ..
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Ashwin R. Vasavada, Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the next-generation Mars rover set for launch this November, will serve as banquet keynote speaker at the Fourteenth Annual International Mars Society Convention in Dallas, Texas, August 4-7, 2011.
.. .. ..
Can we do all funding privately? Not yet, but we're getting there. Looks as though we're going from being a can-do society to a can't do society. The real challenge aren't money. technical, capacity - they're having the courage and will to press forward. "Without a frontier, America will wither." Frontiers have made America the most inventive county in history -- lightbulb, steam boats, aeroplanes, so many. US is 1/30 of the world population, and responsible for 100% of the people who've gone to the moon.

Wednesday/Thurs 1250A Eastern (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Music

Hour 1
Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi
Battlestar Galactica by Stu Phillips
Hotel California by The Eagles

Hour 2
Kundun by Philip Glass
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome by Maurice Jarre
Last Emperor by Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Byrne

Hour 3
The Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri
Assassin's Creed by Jesper Kyd

Hour 4
Frost/Nixon by Hans Zimmer
X-Files by Marc Snow
Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones

Tuesday 12 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 12, 2011 1:59 AM | 1 Comment

DDay Canadians

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC and Kudlow Radio, WABC

Tuesday 905P Eastern Time: Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ, in re: The eurozone is in a panic. LK: Tea Party movement showing up against phony debt-ceiling discussions. JH: The Fed is putting together an exit strategy. Bernanke's favorite word is now "transitory." No easy policy solution. If the economy slows down; if it doesn't come back in the second half of the year . . . LK: Chinese money supply

Tuesday 920P Eastern Time: continued. Inside the disappointing US recovery - JH: Absent a resolution, on August 3 the government will have to quit spending somewhere.

Tuesday 935P Eastern Time:

Steve Moore, WSJ editorial chief financial writer, in re: taxes. Senate wrote up a ill to put enormous burdens on the rich; are Democrats satisfied to be the party of taxes? SM: Yes. Now they want another two trillion. LK: Obama wants lower COLAs, extending the retirement age - but wants a massive new tax increase on top of the old ones. Will the Republican party stay true to its roots? Mitch McConnell was repudiated: was about to allow Pres Obama unilateral power to raise debt ceiling. Very worried that if they allow a shutdown, people will blame the Republicans. LK: Need $125 billion as baseline. Eric Cantor is supposedly in charge of spending for House Republicans, but we have no clue what they're talking about. They're talking about spending cuts two or three presidencies from now, totally phony. Cut spending now and repeal Obamacare. LK: There's enough revenue flowing monthly to finance the essentials.What we don't know is what a shutdown would look like on nonessentials. The Ryan budget actually slashes $120 bil; comes to $6 trillion in lower growth. See the Kent Conrad phony budget: $2 trillion in increases. Four Senate Dems who don't want to vote for tax increases. McConnell - reverse rescission authority? Nuts. This is a White House with all these weird left-wing opinions - mau-maus; don't understand where the investors and taxpayers stand in ths country. Wants an infrastructure bank, or another stimulus plan. David Obey, who drew up the original plan, now says it was too small and ineffective. Agreement? Further away than a month ago. A clash of ideologies. Political and philosophical disagreement on the proper role of government in budgetary decisions and expenditures.

Tuesday 950P Eastern Time: Larry Kudlow, in re:

Tuesday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): John Fund, WSJ, in re: Sunshine State poll of 1,000 likely voters (Florida is a major concern), 54% disapprove of how the president is doing his job. Bleak economic landscape. WH is worried that they're looking down the barrel of a repeat of 1979, when the country was in bad shape and Pres Carter was seen as ineffectual. White House has only one more mode left: blame the Republicans. A small plurality of Americans say it's more important to deal with the long-term economic condition of the country than to avoid problems from debt-ceiling default. The Paul Ryan budget has been nixed by Republicans. The WH could get a better economy with certain reforms, but that would engender a Democratic primary challenge, such as in 1980 (stagflation) -- Howard Dean, or Dennis Kucinich. This president is too ideological to do what's politically smart. Has sown the seeds of his own political destruction.

Republicans say the debt limit is Obama's problem: "This debt-limit increase is his problem, and I think it's time for him to lead by putting his plan on the table, something that the Congress can pass." -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

Tuesday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re: Not a lot of people believe Geithner - TARP and the rest. We are nowhere near any deal; the way the House and Senate work, we have very little time for a breakthrough before August 2. To some degree, I think the president wants this: he thought he could go to Wall Street ad get the bankers going, and the Republicans would cave. Not. Now they think they can threaten not to pay Social Security checks. After August 2, this administration can blame the Republicans - but in my reality, a huge number of my constituents are out of work. Next week, letters will be sent to military and elders: Anticipate not being paid after August 2. The real date is September 30. Impact on the Republican caucus: not quite sure.

Tuesday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Hamid Karzai's brother, one of the largest dug dealers in the world, was shot by a commandant in his office. Ahmed Wali Karzai was the leading strongman in southern Afghanistan. Taliban claim responsibility, but unclear if they were really behind the attack. Big blow to US efforts to stabilize the south as it tries to move east. Pres Karzai's troops immediately gunned down the killer. Mukhtar, Pakistani defense minister, speaking for himself, frequently makes outlandish remarks but has no real power [--Arif Rafiq]. A sort of Baghdad Bob type. Press loves his inane quotes. Eight militants killed in South Waziristan, Pakistan army territory. Pak army went only into the eastern part. Forty-three strikes in South Waziristan this year, an increase. The US intensified strikes in North Waziristan, so al Qaeda and Taliban moved to friendlier areas. Karzai death: will benefit Pakistanis with further destabilization of the South. US is also trying to push Eastward to get at the Haqqani network. Will make it more likely that the US will deal with Mullah Omar.

Tuesday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in re: Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, was slain in his home by his own body guard. President Karzai called his brother a "martyr." Voice of America described him as a "controversial power broker" and "the most powerful figure in the southern province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban." Ann Marlowe was more direct in a May 2010 piece, calling AWK the "mafia don of southern Afghanistan" and exposing the president's brother for selling materials to produce IEDs to kill U.S. troops, dealing massive amounts of heroin, and other crimes. AWK was not only a massive drug dealer, but a conduit for American funding. Big mistake on our part. We created another position worth killing for. Undue concentration of power in very much the wrong hands.

Tuesday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Thor Hanson, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle I

Tuesday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Thor Hanson, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle II

Tuesday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black,com, in re: Sixty-five million years ago, comet crashed that was said to have extinguished dinosaurs; paleontologists sceptical, attribute some of the death to vulcanism in India, and also sea-level & climate change, where the asteroid dealt the final blow. Published today: found a fossil closer to the K-T boundary. As scientific journals disagree on tiny terminology, causes a dinosaur impact gap to open between London and Washington. Al Gore now re-energizing global warming alarums. Twenty-four-hour event via Net. (Robert Zimmerman considers this to be bogus.) Global sea surface temperatures show zero warming over the last decade; show slight cooling. For the last three hundred years, we've been slowly moving out of the Little Ice Age. Every single model advanced in decades has failed to predict the future - every single one.

The Eighth and Ninth Centuries AD climate change that collapsed five empires across the Silk Road, Constantinople to the Yangtze. Mysterious: the simultaneous collapse of major empires during the Eighth and Ninth Centuries - correspond with many sunspots, suggest a warming period. Also, in American Southwest, cultures prospered during that time, then died when it got cooler. Note: no SUVS s in the year 800 on the Silk Road.

Tuesday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Graham Bowley, NYT, in re: the News Corp Murdoch scandals and the end of the B Sky B purchase by News Corp; the scandal grows.

Tuesday/Wed 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Jack Ewing, NYT & IHT, in re: the trouble with Greece, more emergencies, more uncertainty; meeting on Friday to find another deal.

Tuesday/Wed 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Kori Schake, Hoover, in re: the trouble with Greece is that it's going to default, and it's time to look at why.

Tuesday/Wed 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Steve Moore, WSJ editorial chief financial writer, in re: taxes. Senate wrote up a ill to put enormous burdens on the rich; are Democrats satisfied to be the party of taxes? SM: Yes. Now they want another two trillion. LK: Obama wants lower COLAs, extending the retirement age - but wants a massive new tax increase on top of the old ones. Will the Republican party stay true to its roots? Mitch McConnell was repudiated: was about to allow Pres Obama unilateral power to raise debt ceiling. Very worried that if they allow a shutdown, people will blame the Republicans. LK: Need $125 billion as baseline. Eric Cantor is supposedly in charge of spending for House Republicans, but we have no clue what they're talking about. They're talking about spending cuts two or three presidencies from now, totally phony. Cut spending now and repeal Obamacare. LK: There's enough revenue flowing monthly to finance the essentials.What we don't know is what a shutdown would look like on nonessentials. The Ryan budget actually slashes $120 bil; comes to $6 trillion in lower growth. See the Kent Conrad phony budget: $2 trillion in increases. Four Senate Dems who don't want to vote for tax increases. McConnell - reverse rescission authority? Nuts. This is a White House with all these weird left-wing opinions - mau-maus; don't understand where the investors and taxpayers stand in ths country. Wants an infrastructure bank, or another stimulus plan. David Obey, who drew up the original plan, now says it was too small and ineffective. Agreement? Further away than a month ago. A clash of ideologies. Political and philosophical disagreement on the proper role of government in budgetary decisions and expenditures.

Tuesday/Wed 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Monday 11 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 11, 2011 1:38 AM | No Comments

DDay June 6, 1944, Utah Beach

Co-hosts:

John Avlon, CNN and Newsweek International, in Denver

David Drucker, Roll Call, in the District of Columbia

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): .Patrick O'Connor, WSJ, in re: Bachmann's tax Attorney job was with IRS. Patrick went to Minneapolis and drive four hours to speak with Marvin Manypenny on the White Earth reservation - sixty mi NE of Fargo - on his locking horns with Mrs Bachmann over a taxes on a complex land deal (which Mrs Bachmann dismissed out of hand).

Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time): .Aaron Task, Yahoo Markets, in re: markets and jobs. Is the market problem now a reflection of the Congressional tangle over the debt ceiling? It'd be irrational for us to go into default - but Wall Street starts to awaken to the fact that Congress is not always rational. Does a 150-point drop mean a whole lot? Mmm, less than long ago. The politics now matter a lot more than formerly. If we get to August 2 with no deal, markets may freak out. This is why gold is back near its all-time high.

Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time): .Dave Weigel, Slate, in re: 1937 stimulus: have the Democrats got messaging right or wrong? was it worth the amount put in? What happened when FDR quit stimulus cash. How relevant is Keynes these days?

Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): .Eli Lake, Washington Times, in re: Syrians attack US and French embassies: government supporters stormed into the American embassy compound in Damascus on Monday and vandalized the building, according to news reports (sent by Bachir al Assad). The butcher of Damascus is slaughtering his own people; the US ambassador there travelled to Hama "in sympathy." Why does the US have an ambassador in a charnel house of barbarism? Israel says it doesn't care if Assad stays in power, probably on the thought, Better the devil we know than a devil we don't. The present regime has a huge security apparatus; if Assad goes, how far down the ladder do people need to be tried or at a minimum fired? If Assad decides to take hostages, what's this administration's plan?

Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): .Major Garrett, National Journal, in re: No clear political or legislative path to raising the debt ceiling by the August 2 deadline, and the chances of partial default on US government obligations is now more than just technical. No one panicking yet, but that doesn't mean they won't or shouldn't.

Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): . Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, in re: political gossip of the day. Did Mrs Obama order a fast-food lunch sporting 1500 calories today? Shake Shack: Shackburger, fries, and Diet Coke (1700 calories is a mathematician's accounting). What really matters in Washington are: what and where you had lunch. This really stupid story has garnered major attention while goons are rushing our Damascus embassy. Next debt negotiations: sit 'em all down in a Cabinet hall of mirrors with a burger, fries and a shake; maybe they'll mellow out for a minute. (Are we starting to amuse ourselves to death?)

Monday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): .Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: As Gen. David Petraeus prepared to end his tour as the supreme military commander in Afghanistan, he said that handing over security to Afghans remained "do-able" despite setbacks. Meanwhile, the Indian foreign minister, S. M. Krishna, expressed approval of the US decision to suspend military aid to Pakistan. Krishna said that too much US aid would create an imbalance of power in the region. In Pakistan: US said, if there are no trainers, no other support will arrive. US suspended military aid in the 990s, which left a whole generation of Pakistani military officers oppose to the US. Looks as though this will be repeated in substance. How does US pullout from Afghanistan affect our situation in Pakistan. Bad for Pakistan: depletion of border forces (huge amount of cross-frontier traffic, closely aligned with al Qaeda. However, US presence is a root cause of the Pakistani insurgency, which presumably could be reduced or ceased when the US leaves. New SecDef, Leon Panetta, makes strong remarks about Iraqis deciding if they want the US present or not. Twenty thousand troops staying in country? We're at war in Libya, same in Iraq, basically the same in Afgh and Pakistan; watching butchering in Syria, having no luck with Karzai. Is this why the American electorate voted for the current president?

Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): .Brett Healy, John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, in re: In the first eight days of July, nearly three million dollars were sent to Wisconsin by national liberal organizations and individuals, with more than two million dollars coming from large national labor unions. Big Labor has now sent more than six million dollars to finance recall efforts in Wisconsin according to a review of campaign finance reports conducted by the MacIver News Service. The figures account only for disbursements reported to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board; the organizations don't have to report expenditures made for efforts to communicate with their own membership.

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): .Gretchen Morgenson, author, in re: no prosecution of financial bubble crimes.

Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): .Motoko Rich, NYT, in re: the unemployment checks run out at year's end.

Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): .George Bonanno, author, The Other Side of Bereavement, I

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): . George Bonanno, author, The Other Side of Bereavement, II

Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time): .Dan Ephron, Newsweek, rin re: Moussa for president of Egypt?

Monday/Tues 1220A (920 Pacific Time): .Britta Friedensdorf, National Journal, in re: Michele Bachmann

Monday/Tues 1235A (935P Pacific Time): .Dave Weigel, Slate, in re: 1937 stimulus: have the Democrats got messaging right or wrong? was it worth the amount put in? What happened when FDR quit stimulus cash. How relevant is Keynes these days?

Monday/Tues 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt. .

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Music

Hour 1
Deadwood by various artists
True Grit by Carter Burwell
Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi

Hour 2
Appaloosa by Jeff Beal
Green Zone by John Powell
Shawshank Redemption by Thomas Newman

Hour 3
Cindarella Man by Thomas Newman
The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat

Hour 4
Passion of the Christ by John Debney
Mark Twain by various artists
Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones

.. .. ..

Saturday 9 & Sunday 10, 2011

By John Batchelor on July 9, 2011 10:45 PM | 1 Comment

DDay DeGaulle June 14

Saturday 9 July 2011

Guest-host: Simon Constable, WSJ News Hub
with Christopher Brownfield, author of, My Nuclear Family

Saturday 905P Eastern Time:   Christopher Brownfield, in re: Japan's nuclear disaster. Today's Tokyo Times: within 100km radius of Fukushima, the hot spot is: 2.71 microSieberts per hour. Outside of there into the Miyagi Prefecture, 0.6: about the same as in New England, lots of granite. (Contrast with Gorbachov, who concealed Chernobyl.) Japanese reactors's cooling systems got knocked out; lots of pipes severed during magnitude 9 earthquake. Is it safer to have men go underground to dig up coal, or to use nuclear? Radioactive waste vs carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
Saturday 920P Eastern Time:  Gordon Chang, The Daily, in re: Beijing is up to no good: want to buy Facebook so they can excise any simulacrum of the Arab Spring that might be festering, so to speak, in China. Leaderless revolution; vide Seattle where small affinity groups brought down the entire conference. Chinese speak of social media and of being attacked by he West via Facebook and twitter, which they view as a mortal threat and forbid. Last year, 280,000 major protests in China. Is there a Bradley Manning in there waiting for a thumb drive? Hsinhua took 48 hours to issue a nondenial denial of Jiang Ze-min's death. Even official stats show a massive jump in inflation: June, 6.4% (up from 5.5 % in May); food is 14.4%. Pork has gone up 58% in one month, and government numbers are known to be unreliable. Poor people spend half their income on food - not a harbinger of stability, esp in China, where rumors fly like rain.
Saturday 935P Eastern Time:   Jeff Bliss, the Bliss Index, in re: bizarro events in California.    Will and Kate: they were not wolfing down SlimJims and slurpees; rather, movie shindigs, Gov & Mrs Jerry Brown met them at the airport, presented them with a California icon (not debt), an iPad. CAlifornia legislators get their pay docked if they don't pass a budget on time, so the kerfuffle increased. Taxing online sales ("the Amazon levy") is supported by Target, et al., who want to level the playing field (in truth, want to level Amazon); but Cal has ten to twenty thousand Amazon individual affiliates who now have been notified that Amazon can't afford to work with them and they'll lose their independent jobs. In CA-26, Jane Harmon decided to retire, but ads & stories ran that were unfavorable to the designee, so a Republican may win.
Saturday 950P Eastern Time:   Joseph Brusuelas, Bloomberg senior economist, in re: the economy. There's a whiff of panic in the air in Washington.

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific):   Jed Babbin, American Spectator; former   United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in re: military problems we inherit from Bob Gates. In Defense, we've cut to the bone; need an analysis of threats; ballistic missile defense has absolutely been proven to be effective, both ship-launched and long-range [Chris Brownfield disagrees]. Our president is simply not engaged in the debt talks, as though he were a marriage counsellor. He's merely trying to get elected, won't do anything to raise the debt ceiling except raise taxes. Murphy's Law really does apply here.
Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific):  Jon Decker, Reuters TV, in re: Washington debt talks; also, the final Space Shuttle launch.
Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific):   Financial roundtable: Alix Steel, TheStreet.com TV, and Deborah Borchardt TheStreet.com TV, in re: expected that the country would produce up to 90,000 new jobs in June; the number was 15,000 (a lagging indicator).  All sorts of commercial numbers are comparatively good; it's just that too many of us are unemployed and desperate. Debt deal: everybody expects something to get accomplished on Sunday ($4 trillion?). The key date is July 22 so Congressional staffers can convert a compromise into law. Then there's the mess in Europe. China is going gangbusters; copper is he metal that'll matter the most in the next years. Wall Street hustlers making pots of money while 14 million citizens struggle to find paid work. Decoupling of the average population from the traders and investors in the market. Next liquidity splash won't be called QE3, but maybe QE2.1.
Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific):   Tunku Varadarajan, editor-in-chief of Newsweek International, in re: Rupert Murdoch, and News of the World deep-sixed ("The editor of British tabloid, News of the World [NoTW], becomes its undertaker as he puts its edition dated July 10 to bed for the last time").

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific): Bill Roggio, LongWar Journal, in re: latest on terrorism
Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific): Liesl Schillinger, New York Times, in re: pop-up picnics.
Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific):   LouAnn Hammond, Driving the Nation.com, in re: flying cars - coming soon to you.
Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific):  Trevor Butterworth, The Daily, in re: the joy of video games

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific):  Mark Albrecht, in re: Falling Back to Earth: a First Hand Account of the Great Space Race and the End of the Cold War.
Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific): Josh Kron, NYT, in re: jubilant Independence Day in South Sudan
Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): Jay Bahadur in re: Somali pirate interview
Saturday/Sun 1250A  (950P Pacific):   Exeunt.

Sunday 10 July 2011

Sunday 905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax advisor, in re:
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): continued.
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author of Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: US in Pakistan; Chief of Staff Kiyani is under pressure from both the US and his own military hardliners; result will be worsening of US-Pakistani relations. Things have deteriorated so badly in our relations with Pakistan that the Administration had no choice but to suspend military aid.
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): continued. RP: We seem to be going backwards in relations with a Pakistan; some optimism in ISAF that even without support from them we could still make headway - in the South, not necessarily in the East. Reset coming: some of Karzai's advisors are seriously anti-America; no feasible path out of here unless we get an adequate working relationship with the government. BR: We're already on a path of departure. Can we be successful without Pakistan on board? No. We're at the peak of our forces now; it's all downhill henceforth. Administration is putting out the fantastic notion that all we have to do is kill ten or twenty people (unnamed) and al Qaeda will be permanently disabled.

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ and American Spectator; John Avlon, CNN and Newsweek International; Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, CQPolitics.com, in re: all 2012 all the time, in the guise of debt limits, Medicare, tax cuts, spending. Yesterday, Boehner said a "big deal" wouldn't take place. Republicans would like to prevent a default but continue he discussion for absolutely as long as possible. Boehner and Obama wanted a grand deal in anticipation of an election year: should address spending cuts, entitlements reform and revenue increase. Temper tantrums all around. John Boehner recognizes the levers of power. Friday's jobs numbers were s disastrous the president will be well advised to make adjustments. Dem left wing will just have to swallow it.
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific): continued
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Larry Johnson, NoQuarter blog; Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re:
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes.com, and Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia, in re: the mercantilist slave astate of China: inflation surging. Enormous expansion in credit that they engineered; once you unleash this tidal wave, can;t mop up without an inflation wave, Further, if citizens can't vote the crooks out, got to worry about political and social stability. Not massive, ghost malls, train stations, whole cities, where they poured in money during the property bubble. Is there a plan in Beijing? Hard to know because it isn't really a market economy, lacking Fed-style tools with which to work. Inflation numbers seem to be about twice the official ones. Twenty-five bip increases - yeah, big deal; have done this before with no effect. Train running down the tracks, no one in the engineer's seat. Hong Kong is highly concerned. WSJ: The scale of this is much greater than might be thought..

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): Dan Henninger, WSJ, in re: School Shooter, video game. Re-enact Columbine or Virginia Tech, blow up children. Brown vs Entertainment Merchants, Supreme Court. Reviewed California law requiring minors to get parental permission before buying a game in which humans are murdered, dismembered, sexually assaulted: ruled that that's a violation of First Amendment free speech clause. Parents are supposed to step up and take parental responsibility. Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas both dissented. Breyer: the idea of community standards; would require many citizens, including the media, to speak out about abuses. Critics have become passive, beaten-down, accepting of any raunch or sleaze. If something violates community standards, time for all of us to push back vigorously. The vulgarity of 1970s and 80s was shocking; we who objected were told to mind out own business. In fact, it's shameful; the cumulative effect is that we wind up with a shameless culture. Do we want this? Congr. Weiner is a product of that, is Exhibit A. (Imagine, video: "Congressional Madman, North American Tour.")
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific): Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re:
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific): Henry Miller, Hoover, in re: EPA and Frankenfoods
Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: space

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax advisor, in re:
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): continued.
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author of Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: US in Pakistan; Chief of Staff Kiyani is under pressure from both the US and his own military hardliners; result will be worsening of US-Pakistani relations. Things have deteriorated so badly in our relations with Pakistan that the Administration had no choice but to suspend military aid.
Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): Exeunt
.. .. ..

Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 9, 2011 1:11 AM | No Comments

DDay DeGaulle June 14

Saturday 9 July 2011

Guest-host: Simon Constable, WSJ News Hub
with Christopher Brownfield, author of, My Nuclear Family

Saturday 905P Eastern Time:   Christopher Brownfield, in re: Japan's nuclear disaster. Today's Tokyo Times: within 100km radius of Fukushima, the hot spot is: 2.71 microSieberts per hour. Outside of there into the Miyagi Prefecture, 0.6: about the same as in New England, lots of granite. (Contrast with Gorbachov, who concealed Chernobyl.) Japanese reactors's cooling systems got knocked out; lots of pipes severed during magnitude 9 earthquake. Is it safer to have men go underground to dig up coal, or to use nuclear? Radioactive waste vs carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
Saturday 920P Eastern Time:  Gordon Chang, The Daily, in re: Beijing is up to no good: want to buy Facebook so they can excise any simulacrum of the Arab Spring that might be festering, so to speak, in China. Leaderless revolution; vide Seattle where small affinity groups brought down the entire conference. Chinese speak of social media and of being attacked by he West via Facebook and twitter, which they view as a mortal threat and forbid. Last year, 280,000 major protests in China. Is there a Bradley Manning in there waiting for a thumb drive? Hsinhua took 48 hours to issue a nondenial denial of Jiang Ze-min's death. Even official stats show a massive jump in inflation: June, 6.4% (up from 5.5 % in May); food is 14.4%. Pork has gone up 58% in one month, and government numbers are known to be unreliable. Poor people spend half their income on food - not a harbinger of stability, esp in China, where rumors fly like rain.
Saturday 935P Eastern Time:   Jeff Bliss, the Bliss Index, in re: bizarro events in California.    Will and Kate: they were not wolfing down SlimJims and slurpees; rather, movie shindigs, Gov & Mrs Jerry Brown met them at the airport, presented them with a California icon (not debt), an iPad. CAlifornia legislators get their pay docked if they don't pass a budget on time, so the kerfuffle increased. Taxing online sales ("the Amazon levy") is supported by Target, et al., who want to level the playing field (in truth, want to level Amazon); but Cal has ten to twenty thousand Amazon individual affiliates who now have been notified that Amazon can't afford to work with them and they'll lose their independent jobs. In CA-26, Jane Harmon decided to retire, but ads & stories ran that were unfavorable to the designee, so a Republican may win.
Saturday 950P Eastern Time:   Joseph Brusuelas, Bloomberg senior economist, in re: the economy. There's a whiff of panic in the air in Washington.

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific):   Jed Babbin, American Spectator; former   United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in re: military problems we inherit from Bob Gates. In Defense, we've cut to the bone; need an analysis of threats; ballistic missile defense has absolutely been proven to be effective, both ship-launched and long-range [Chris Brownfield disagrees]. Our president is simply not engaged in the debt talks, as though he were a marriage counsellor. He's merely trying to get elected, won't do anything to raise the debt ceiling except raise taxes. Murphy's Law really does apply here.
Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific):  Jon Decker, Reuters TV, in re: Washington debt talks; also, the final Space Shuttle launch.
Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific):   Financial roundtable: Alix Steel, TheStreet.com TV, and Deborah Borchardt TheStreet.com TV, in re: expected that the country would produce up to 90,000 new jobs in June; the number was 15,000 (a lagging indicator).  All sorts of commercial numbers are comparatively good; it's just that too many of us are unemployed and desperate. Debt deal: everybody expects something to get accomplished on Sunday ($4 trillion?). The key date is July 22 so Congressional staffers can convert a compromise into law. Then there's the mess in Europe. China is going gangbusters; copper is he metal that'll matter the most in the next years. Wall Street hustlers making pots of money while 14 million citizens struggle to find paid work. Decoupling of the average population from the traders and investors in the market. Next liquidity splash won't be called QE3, but maybe QE2.1.
Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific):   Tunku Varadarajan, editor-in-chief of Newsweek International, in re: Rupert Murdoch, and News of the World deep-sixed ("The editor of British tabloid, News of the World [NoTW], becomes its undertaker as he puts its edition dated July 10 to bed for the last time").

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific): Bill Roggio, LongWar Journal, in re: latest on terrorism.

The notion that the US can kill a dozen al Q bigshots and disable the entire organization is fallacious. Cause inconvenience, yes; destroy operational ability? No. Dying in the cause of jihad is considered good, and the goal is to establish a [hemispheric, at least] caliphate. Yemen: al Q is taking over cities; Somalia: al Q controls al Shebaab, which controls much of the country. Al Q is setting the stage to attack the US and take greater power in Southeast Asia. The Arab Spring as a fresh direction is much overrated.
Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific): Liesl Schillinger, New York Times, in re: pop-up picnics.
Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific):   LouAnn Hammond, Driving the Nation.com, in re: flying cars - coming soon to you.
Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific):  Trevor Butterworth, The Daily, in re: the joy of video games

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific):  Mark Albrecht, in re: Falling Back to Earth: a First Hand Account of the Great Space Race and the End of the Cold War.
Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific): Josh Kron, NYT, in re: jubilant Independence Day in South Sudan
Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific): Jay Bahadur in re: Somali pirate interview
Saturday/Sun 1250A  (950P Pacific):   Exeunt.

________________________________

(prelim version)

Sunday 10 July 2011
Sunday 905PM Eastern (605P Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax advisor, in re: debt negotiations, where neither side will concede and resolution must be achieved by July 22 for Congressional staffers to draw it up into legislation.
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific): continued.
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author of Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: US in Pakistan; Chief of Staff Kiyani is under pressure from both the US and his own military hardliners; result will be worsening of US-Pakistani relations. Things have deteriorated so badly in our relations with Pakistan that the Administration had no choice but to suspend military aid.
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific): continued. RP: We seem to be going backwards in relations with a Pakistan; some optimism in ISAF that even without support from them we could still make headway - in the South, not necessarily in the East. Reset coming: some of Karzai's advisors are seriously anti-America; no feasible path out of here unless we get an adequate working relationship with the government. BR: We're already on a path of departure. Can we be successful without Pakistan on board? No. We're at the peak of our forces now; it's all downhill henceforth. Administration is putting out the fantastic notion that all we have to do is kill ten or twenty people (unnamed) and al Qaeda will be permanently disabled.

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific): John Fund, WSJ and American Spectator; John Avlon, CNN and Newsweek International; Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, CQPolitics.com, in re: all 2012 all the time, in the guise of debt limits, Medicare, tax cuts, spending. Yesterday, Boehner said a "big deal" wouldn't take place. Republicans would like to prevent a default but continue he discussion for absolutely as long as possible. Boehner and Obama wanted a grand deal in anticipation of an election year: should address spending cuts, entitlements reform and revenue increase. Temper tantrums all around. John Boehner recognizes the levers of power. Friday's jobs numbers were s disastrous the president will be well advised to make adjustments. Dem left wing will just have to swallow it.
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific): continued
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific): Larry Johnson, NoQuarter blog; Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re:
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific): Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes.com, and Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia, in re:

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific): Dan Henninger, WSJ, in re: School Shooter, video game. Re-enact Columbine or Virginia Tech, blow up children. Brown vs Entertainment Merchants, Supreme Court. Reviewed California law requiring minors to get parental permission before buying a game in which humans are murdered, dismembered, sexually assaulted: ruled that that's a violation of First Amendment free speech clause. Parents are supposed to step up and take parental responsibility. Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas both dissented. Breyer: the idea of community standards; would require many citizens, including the media, to speak out about abuses. Critics have become passive, beaten-down, accepting of any raunch or sleaze. If something violates community standards, time for all of us to push back vigorously. The vulgarity of 1970s and 80s was shocking; we who objected were told to mind out own business. In fact, it's shameful; the cumulative effect is that we wind up with a shameless culture. Do we want this? Congr. Weiner is a product of that, is Exhibit A. (Imagine, video: "Congressional Madman, North American Tour.")
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific): Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: abortion and the missing girl population
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific): Henry Miller, Hoover, in re: EPA and Frankenfoods
Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific): Robert Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: space

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific): Mona Charen, NRO, and Jodi Schneider, Bloomberg senior tax advisor, in re: debt negotiations, where neither side will concede and resolution must be achieved by July 22 for Congressional staffers to draw it up into legislation.
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific): continued.
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific): Rufus Phillips, author of Why Vietnam Matters; Bill Roggio, Long War Journal; Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: US in Pakistan; Chief of Staff Kiyani is under pressure from both the US and his own military hardliners; result will be worsening of US-Pakistani relations. Things have deteriorated so badly in our relations with Pakistan that the Administration had no choice but to suspend military aid.
Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific):

Friday 8 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 8, 2011 1:02 AM | No Comments

D-Day at St Lo, August 9

Friday 905P Eastern Time: .Joseph Brusuelas, Bloomberg senior economist, in re: jobs number - 15,000 generated in June - is a total disaster. "Ugly." The Fed was sucker-punched by this. Is a lagging indicator. Lost 40,000 state & local governmental jobs. Average wage declined by a penny; average earnings are up 1.9%, while headline nflation is up 3.5%. Significant run-up in gasoline prices. Americans have fallen a bit behind in 2010 and 2011. Macrosqualls - Greece, et al.: if the Europeans want this to end, they'll put an end to it. Japan is a much bigger problem. Downgrades coming for banks? Yes, Italian and Spanish banks.

Friday 920P Eastern Time: .Brooks Barnes, NYT, in re: Captain America (Steve Roger, born in 1917).

Friday 935P Eastern Time: .Charles Kenny, Center for Global Development, in re: illegal immigration. Said to be 11 million illegal immigrants, fewer each year as the economy sags. Do they cost more than they contribute to the economy? National Bureau of Economic Research: The most negative studies suggest that, even factoring in all the costs and services, cost is 0,07%. Other studies show that the economic contributions of illegal immigrants are strongly positive. California and Texas have the largest numbers - because employers there have work for them. Any impact on US workers would be on unskilled laborers. Might reduce their wages by and average of 2%, whereas Mexicans' arriving enjoy a 250% increase, which creates a globally favorable impact. Arrivals also need to eat, for example, and create demand for more goods and services. If immigrants didn't create demand, we'd have a much larger unemployment rate. In the Northeast, anecdotally we see immigrants here to work hard, are ambitious, have children in school. Effect here, plus remittances back to Peru, for example - and the remittances improve health and education, and values spread from immigrants here back to home, where understandings of democracy advance.

Friday 950P Eastern Time: .Nicholas Confessore, NYT, in re: Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York at Albany; former HUD Secretary. Strategic.

Friday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): .Paul Vigna, Dow Jones Markets Hub, in re: jobs. Wages have to be above inflation for anybody to do all right. A gain of one cent an hour in wages is not.

Friday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): .Josh Kraushaar, Hotline, in re: Senate battle in Virginia: How Tim Kaine, with DNC and lots of funds, does against an established Republican, will tell us a lot about 2012. In Massachusetts, Scott Brown victory of 2010 was important; for 2012, he as yet has no Democratic challenger, having scared everyone away with his formidable fundraising abilities. Elizabeth Warren could mount a populist attack, but has evinced no interest in doing so. Indiana: Sen Dick Lugar, close to Obama, faces Richard Murdock, Tea Party, who hasn't raised much money yet. [more]

Friday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): .Joe White, WSJ, in re: muscle cars come back; new ones are vastly better engineered than their models of forty years ago and have much better mpg. With 300 HP, mileage is 30 on the highway. Made for boomers in their fifties or sixties who have a little money to burn and time to play; also younger people, twenties or thirties, who love cars and will spend more to get exactly the car they want. Camaro is probably doing he best in this group (note: Tranformers movie). If CAFE standards require 56mpg in a few years, Detroit will build as many as possible now, before the gate comes down. A V6 Camaro I tested was great - style, attitude, modest gas usage. The 550 HP V8 might feel like to much engine. All handle so well you can get them up to 80 or 90mph and not realize it.

Friday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): .David B Roberts, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute (Qatar), in re: Qatar rising. From Doha: The Emir of Qatar is jokingly called the Emir of Qatar in Libya. Reporting from Libya often reports Qatari agents. Qatar's foreign policy of recent years began with al Jazeera, funded by the emir. Total population of over a million, with only a few hundred thousand being native Qataris. Has Qatar offered itself as a cut-out for Washington and London so they can say they're not actually fighting in Libya? Rumors of daily planes to Benghazi. The emir and foreign minister/prime minister are both highly educated and alert. Reported wikileak: Qatar gave $100 million to repair damage of Katrina. Al Jazeera's reporting is easily the equal of the BBC's. In the mid-Nineties, in instituted a huge revolution in the Arab media; showed regional leaders in a light never before seen in the Arab world. Safe to say that ambassadors have been recalled as a result. Arab leaders have been upset - but it puts Qatar on the map. It's not without problems, but has been an exciting if mixed road to success. Qatar was by far the smaller brother to Saudi Arabia. In 1995 the new emir came to power, lots of money came in with gas; the country blossomed, which was an absolute shock to Saudi Arabia No Saudi ambassador in Qatar in the late 2000's; returned only recently.

Friday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): .Megan Woolhouse, Boston Globe, in re: the economy in New England.

Friday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): .Matt Wald, NYT , nuclear waste in casks forever.

Friday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): .Richard Epstein, Hoover, in re: POTUS against corporate jets

Friday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): .Richard Epstein, Hoover, in re: against the Boeing decision for South Carolina

Friday/Sat 1205A (905 Pacific Time): .Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: right to life, and missing girls of the planet

Friday/Sat 1220A (920 Pacific Time): .James Taranto, WSJ, in re:

Friday/Sat 1235A (935P Pacific Time): .Oil on Water: A Novel by Helon Habila

Friday/Sat 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

Thursday 7 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 7, 2011 12:53 AM | No Comments

DDay German surrender July 1

Thursday 905P Eastern Time: Bryan Curtis, Newsweek & Daily Beast, in re: a phony sports fan is a terminally irritating creature. Romney grew up worshipping a Detroit Tiger, then checked into Harvard in the mid-1970s and shifted to "my Red Sox." Not one person in Detroit or Boston believes him either way. Romney has season tix to the Red Sox; that's his big connection. Pawlenty, on the other hand, crows endlessly about how he loves hockey fights. Michele Bachmann was seen wearing a Randy Moss (Minnesota football) jersey in her campaign ads. When Moss was booted out, that web page evaporated. Pres Obama is a genuine basketball fan. "If I were Obama, I'd make Boehner play basketball with me."

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: Joshua Greene, Boston Globe, in re: Tea Party and GOP: murder-suicide pact with debt-limit talks

Thursday 935P Eastern Time: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal, and Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: Adm Mullin, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes remarks against Pakistan and Iran. "Almost certain" that Kashmiri is dead, but no official statement from al Qaeda. Recall that Haqimullah was said to be dead (he wasn't). Adm Mullin has been careful in his previous statements; now makes a connection between the Pakistan government and high-profile killing, including Shazahd. Mr Gates has just handed over the Pentagon to Mr Panetta; interesting timing. Seems to be a greater willingness by this Administration to be blunt about the realities of what it sees. "Directly supporting extremist Shiite groups that are killing us; IRGC is shipping arms to Afghanistan." US media have been ignoring Iranian involvement in Iraq, although this has been happening for well over six years. Nothing new, but Adm Mullin is highlighting it now. Problem is, we do nothing about it. When military commanders are on their way out the door, they tend to say what they see is going on. Mullin is done playing politics, the guy trying to get everyone to play nice in the sandbox.

Thursday 950P Eastern Time: continued. ISAF US forces pulled out of the Kandesh district where recent attacks occurred. They came at us in waves; our guys shot for hours, it went on all night. The attack of the last several days was just an aftermath. Taliban gone wild situation, bands of hundreds of fighters, creating havoc across the region. That level of anarchy was exacerbated last year. Both sides, Afgh & Pak, unable to secure the border. Shelling by Pakistani military. Very messy; may be a sign of things to come as the US withdraws.

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Seb Gorka, FDD, in re: Secretary Clinton has stated that she intends to speak in some fashion with the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact that it was timed for hr last moment before 4 July weekend, delivered in Budapest, shows that this administration was avoiding ruffling US feathers. Embracing an organization that in US federal court has been listed as an unindicted co-consprititor with illegal organizations (esp the Holy Land Fdn). Inimical to democracy; the only explanation is that we've given in to the Arab concept of working with the strongest horse. In Tahrir Square last week, tea-vendors. Egyptian economy collapsing as it's been dependent on tourists, who arrive only in a stable country. Egypt is tipping toward anarchy. Mrs Clinton may have been responding to this situation. Supreme Military Council was to be the stable entity leading into the new regime; it was coopted by the Ikhwan; smooth transition no longer credible, as Ihkwan doesn't have complete support and its young members dissent on some issues. Fragmentations. Think of Russia in 1917, Iran in 1979. Replay of the West Bank and Gaza. The MB don't answer to anybody, takes decisions quit independently. Explosion in Sinai that destroyed the gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel. Hard to imagine a collapse from one day to the next, but could be anarchic in isolated urban neighborhoods.

In a surprise move, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood announced that it will participate in Friday demonstrations, which are being held under the slogan "The Revolution First." The group announced last Saturday that it would not participate in demonstrations for several reasons, but chiefly because the demonstrators were demanding a "constitution first." The statement from the Brotherhood said that they are now joining tomorrow's protests "in light of recent developments," because families of martyrs are suffering injustices; there has been a sharp slowdown in trials for tyrants, murderers, and the corrupt; and some officers accused of killing the "martyrs" are being released and some are being tried at large.

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Reza Kahlili, A Time to Betray, in re: Western intelligence: Iran helping Gaddafi in confrontation with NATO.

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Josh Kron, NYT, in re: Southern Sudan at Juba independence on Saturday 9 July.

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Dan Henninger, WSJ, in re: the video games Supreme Court and Parents's Rights

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time):   Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America (I) by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America (II) by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): David Weidner, WSJ, in re: Dodd-Frank.

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Sara Eisen, Bloomberg, in re: Greece

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Eric Martin, Bloomberg, in re: No. 2 pencils and Chinese dumping

Thursday/Fri  1220A (920 Pacific Time): Jeb Babbin, American Spectator, in re: Secretary Gates's legacy.

Thursday/Fri  1235A (935P Pacific Time):   Bill Roggio, Long War Journal, and Arif Rafiq, Pakistan Policy blog, in re: Adm Mullin, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes remarks against Pakistan and Iran. "Almost certain" that Kashmiri is dead, but no official statement from al Qaeda. Recall that Haqimullah was said to be dead (he wasn't). Adm Mullin has been careful in his previous statements; now makes a connection between the Pakistan government and high-profile killing, including Shazahd. Mr Gates has just handed over the Pentagon to Mr Panetta; interesting timing. Seems to be a greater willingness by this Administration to be blunt about the realities of what it sees. "Directly supporting extremist Shiite groups that are killing us; IRGC is shipping arms to Afghanistan." US media have been ignoring Iranian involvement in Iraq, although this has been happening for well over six years. Nothing new , but Adm Mullin is highlighting it now. Problem is, we do nothing about it. When military commanders are on their way out the door, they tend to say what they see is going on. Mullin is done playing politics, the guy trying to get everyone to play nice in the sandbox.

Thursday/Fri  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Hour 1 Appaloosa by Jeff Beal Game of Thrones by Ramin Djawadi  
Hour 2 Assassin's Creed by Jesper Kyd Tears of the Sun by Hans Zimmer Sin City by Robert Rodriguez, Jon Debney and Graeme Revell  
Hour 3 The Civil War Collection by Jim Taylor Star Trek by Miachael Giacchino 300 by Tyler Bates
  Hour 4 The Ghost Writer by Alexandre Desplat Passion of the Christ by John Debney,  Salt by James Newton Howard

Wednesday 6 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 6, 2011 12:03 AM | No Comments

DDay, destroyed German Panzer, US troops advancing.

Co-hosts:

Gordon Chang, The Daily and Forbes.com

Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index

Thursday 905P Eastern Time: Chris Gadomsky, Bloomberg nuclear reporting, in re: Fukushima and TEPCO: stil not enough transparency, but the French-built filter seems to be working, creating sludge as promised. US nuclear industry is opaque, arrogant, wholly inadequate.

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: Nate Hughes, Stratfor.com, in re: Chinese rebuilt Russian aircraft carrier, launch it for sea trials on 1 July, ninetieth brothday of the founding of the Communist Party of China. It was going to be named after Mao Tse-tung, but they feared it'd be sunk or fail, so they named it Shi Long. Chinese have been building aircraft kits from Russians; problems abound with corrosion from seawater while landing and taking off on carrier; also, daunting problems with design of myriad useful things like wheels, gears, et al. The Soviets never quite got to the level of an American supercarrier. Take-off and landing are quite unforgiving. High costs involved. Also, this Chinese carrier is now spurring everybody else to build their own. Chinese have fallen behind in amphibious mfr.

Thursday 935P Eastern Time: John Steele Gordon, author, An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, in re: California has a fabulous climate, enormous geographic diversity, excellent agricultural land, geological deposits of minerals, including gold. James Polk was expansionist, wanted to extend to California; gold was found while California was still (for another few months) Mexican territory. Jeff Bliss's grandfather went to California, was in silent movies, so the family moved from Massachusetts to California. In the 1970s, the Prop 13 referendum capped property taxes, also to cap government expenditures, which brought mad spending to a halt for fifteen years. The earlier governor, Pat Brown, governed while California was growing at an extraordinary rate: jobs were plentiful, schools were great, plenty of land. The 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara galvanized ecological thinking. Environmentalism, practiced by the upper middle class (who can afford it), has become an unforgiving religious practice. Currently, the public unions not only sit on one side of the table but decide to a large extent who sits on the other side. They produce no revenue; instead, they decide who gets how much of the revenues.

Thursday 950P Eastern Time: continued. Fourteen hundred California state employees, mostly prison doctors, dentists and nurses, made over $200K PA in 2010; some made $700K and will get commensurate pensions. A shrink got $500K for two-and-a-half years of unused sick time.

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Dr Christine Loh Kung Wai (陸恭蕙) , CEO of the think-tank Civic Exchange and author of Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, in re: Rumor for the last thirty-six hours that Jiang Ze-min, former Party Secretary, is dead or about to be. Was successor to Deng Xiao-ping, and was most powerful man in China during his tenure. Current top dogs now need time to prepare to make the death announcement. Mainland has complete radio silence, including Internet blocks of his name, whereas in Hong Kong, the main TV channel is running continuous coverage. Compare open society with a tyranny. Makes a farce of the death of an eighty-four-year-old man. China cloaks something to accommodate positioning [elbowing] going on among the leadership; deal-making. JohnBa tchelor: Mahgrebi pashas ruthlessly commanded loyalty, didn't always prepare for passing of the regent. In the Seventeenth Century, the minions of one such ran his corpse around in a carriage for months before they organized the transition to suit themselves. Jiang's choice was Xi Jin-ping, who obviously didn't make it. Dr Loh: Right; Mr Xi is the expected leader. Relative positioning of the two top leaders and other leaders - they're not ready for Jiang to die yet, which is why he's riding around in a carriage . . . This is how mobs, gangs, work. The longer the delay after Jiang's death, the more it shows that the Party isn't [all that harmonious]. Weeks ago, a motorcade arrived at 301 Military Hospital in Beijing (where top leaders go when ill). Even the number 301 has been blocked on the Internet. Hide the Dead Leader, a Chinese game. Mockery in Hong Kong either is starting now or soon will be evident.

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): continued: Chinese Communist Party has a secret: Mainland legally owns Hong Kong, but is too chicken to have an office there. In fact, it's illegal in HK under the Societies ordinance. It may stand to lose more than it would gain by operating openly in Hong Kong. One type will say they're Party members, work for govt-type institutions in HK. Others, who don't hold official positions, sneak around silently.

A businessman on the board of a company with ties to the Red Cross Society of China has resigned after a nationwide scandal centered on his girlfriend raised questions about corruption in that and other state-run charities.

Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel), RGE paper "Under the Rug, Behind the Couch: How Much Debt Is China Hiding?" We estimate almost 80% of GDP & rising. http://t.co/4Bhtej2

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Vikas Bajaj, NYT, in re: A search of vaults at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy (a name for the god Vishnu) temple found a vast collection of gold coins, jewels and precious stones worth an estimated $22 billion. Temple is in the capital of Kerala State, in Travandrum City, far in the south of India. It's one of the few where there hasn't already been research and discovery. Temple administered by the raja Travancore's family, who simply act as servants/regents of the god. Court demands to have the treasure audited because the family is said to have neglected to keep the temple guarded. In fact, it;s very well controlled: only Hindus may enter and wear prescribed garb. Large courtyard with 35 pillars; inner sanctuary, dimly lit by butter lamps, leads to a resplendent Padmanabhaswamy (pad-ma na-bha swami). There appear to be vaults off to the side; padlocked, but not clear what;s hat. The room they'll enter on Friday has been quite inaccessible so far. Teh assets remain the property of the temple. The fellow who brought the case wants the temple taken from the royal family that protects it and have all the wealth given to the state. The local government has swung from Communist to Congress parties; Kerala is not in dire eded for money, and he state government says it doesn't want he money (what a political mess that would be). Police and commando units from Kerala are watching it now.

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia business editor, in re: trip to Indonesia. BRICs plus Indonesia (BRICI?), which is growing at 6%. Could be the next China or India - 240 million people, democratic since late 1990s, post-Suharto. Can the government overcome some problems: the KPPU, the competition watchdog. Passed an anit-truct law, KPPU, to create a bad envt for foreign investment because the decisions on antitrust law are so erratic, as they don't understand the economics of the issues. Also trade, tax, fuel-subsidy policies are counterproductive. This type of law is problematic all over Asia. subject to abuse. Indonesia passed the law under pressure from the IMF, with assistance from German lawyers. A widespread thought seems to be: if you want to reform your economy you have to have all the legal regimes of the West - which is not true; just need to privatize and make transparent rather than emulate bureaucracies. Carrefour (supermarkets) is in Jakarta, but KPPU has also tried to break up domestic companies. Ambivalence about integrating economy into the outside world. "Indonesia is the country of yes and no" - sort of willing to develop modern legal institutions, but not quite pulling it off in the right way.

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): H W Brand, author, The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield I

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): H W Brand, author, The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield II

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): David Livingstone, thespaceshow.com, in re: The James Webb Space Telescope, infrared and a robot, is very late and so over budget that it's consuming all the funds of the division. Absent the Shuttle, we have nowhere else to turn. NASA management has made a stew of a lot of activities: want to roll the budget back to 2008; remove $2bil from 2011. Four billion going to vehicles that have no destination; it's not a bridge to nowhere but a heavy rocket to nowhere. They think they can do superduper technologies in tight timelines and on tight budgets. Not likely. Overwhelmed: whole process, from meetings to contractor incentives to all ht sign-offs - Wayne Hayle had to sign many dozens of documents to launch one shuttle, couldn't even know what was on the documents. NASA wants $500 mil in hte next two years even to be able to have a chance to launch in 2015. Shut down James Webb? Pay cancellation fees to subcontractors and we'd have no space telescope. Might be able to park it for a while . . . Thousands of people on public and private payrolls will be out of work.

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Glen Johnson, Boston Globe, in re: Mitt Romney in Utah and New Hampshire; endorsements and polling

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Major Garrett, national Journal, in re: Captain America cannot solve the debt negotiation squabble.

Thursday/Fri 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Reza Kahlili, author, in re: the Supreme Leader threatens the US and Turkey over Syrian anarchy.

Thursday/Fri 1235A (935P Pacific Time): John Steele Gordon, author, An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, in re: fabulous climate, enormous geographic diversity, excellent agricultural land, geological deposits of miners, including gold. James Polk was expansionist, wanted to extend to California; found gold while it was still (for another few months) Mexican territory. Jeff Bliss's grandfather went to California, was in silent movies, so the family moved from Massachusetts to California. In the 1970s, the Prop 13 referendum capped property taxes, also to cap government expenditures, which brought insane spending to a halt for fifteen years. The earlier governor, Pat Brown, while California was growing at an extraordinary rate. Jobs were plentiful, schools were great, plenty of land. The 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara galvanized ecological thinking. Environmentalism, practiced by the upper middle class (who can afford it), has become an unforgiving religious practice. Currently, the public corporations not only sit on one side of the table but decide to a large extent who sits on ht other side. They produce no revenue; instead, they decide who gets how much of the revenues.

Thursday/Fri 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Hour 1
Tora, Tora, Tora by Jerry Goldsmith
Tomorrow Never Dies by David Arnold
Hotel California by The Eagles

Hour 2
L.A. Confidential by Jerry Goldsmith
India: Kingdom of the Tiger by Michael Brook
Hero by Tan Dun

Hour 3
Mark Twain by various artists
X-Files by Marc Snow
Appaloosa by Jeff Beal

Hour 4
Batman by Danny Elfman
Brotherhood of the Wolf by Joseph LoDuca
Hotel California by The Eagles
Thirteen Days by Trevor Jones

Tuesday 5 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 5, 2011 11:57 PM | No Comments

DDay cattle drive behind British lines.

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, WABC radio and CNBC

Tuesday 905P Eastern Time: Joseph Brusuelas, Bloomberg senior economist, in re: Moody's cuts Portuguese rating to junk. (Also Greece.) Loans rebound on best consumer credit since '06. Probably 3% rebound coming - good news, but we need it to be better.. Each penny gas falls is roughly a billion of discretionary spending into the economy. Also, a big motor vehicle increase in July. Core inflation likely to drop. Growth: weak dollar provides net stimulus for net exports; as it gets stronger later this year, will present problem for exports next year. LK: Economy growing at <2%; exports still a fraction of the economy. Real interests are still negative. Money supply growing like gangbusters. J Brusuelas: Dollar will rise in reference to the euro, but weak vs a broader basket of currencies. Ten-year rate down today, but recently has been up. As spending picks up, the 10-year rate will, too. LK: JOb-destroying factors damaging the whole economy. J Br: People were pricing in the European sovereign debt problem. Until that's resolved, will be a hurdle for small businesses' hiring. Expect labor to grow by 100,00 in June. LK: IMF subjugating Greeks to so many requirements, they'll never recover in my lifetime. res Obama is again waging war against business.

Tuesday 920P Eastern Time: LouAnn Hammond, Driving the Nation.com, in re: U.S. auto sales in June ran at the slowest pace in 12 months, as small-car supply dwindled, Toyota Motor Corp.'s inventory thinned and consumers deferred purchases amid a slowing economic recovery. Ford is doing OK, as are GM and Chrysler, but only a total of a million sales (11.5 million PA) - not good. Sold a handful of Volts. A salesman in Colorado is working on selling one more. In general, people haven't the money to pay for new cars because the Japanese tragedy has increased prices all across the board. Even new cars are pricier. White House now mandates 62.2 mpg; will we have two requirements, Federal and California? LK: We bail them out with public money then hose them over with requirements. Oil went from $95/Bbl to 91 back to 97. If it doesn't drop a lot, we're back to square one. LouAnn Hammond: Silverados: yes, mfr too many pickups, but they sell well and are more profitable than are small cars - but they sell well when gas prices are going down. LK: What about big trucks? LH: Better this month, but 152 days on the lot is not a good idea.

Tuesday 935P Eastern Time: David Malpass, EncimaGlobal, in re: Wall Street Journal article, Malpass and Moore: "America's Troubling Investment Gap." Low Treasury rate has attracted billions to US bonds. If they can't get a dependable profit out of the US, they just park the money in Treasurys. Let's say I'm a foreign investor: as the dollar weakens, I lose money when the currency value goes down. Not investing in stuff that creates jobs, but defaulting to Treasurys. Not just the Chinese channeling money to Treasurys or the Fed - the banks are doing the same thing. Under Reagan, $6 trillion invested in the US by foreigners. All goes together with structural reform. Tax cut, and dollar from weak dollar under Carter to strong under Reagan. Some are hoping for punishment of the US for profligacy; I think the bond market won't stand up to the US Treasury. China has moved out of notes and bills.

Tuesday 950P Eastern Time: Larry Kudlow, in re: Michele Bachmann has a strong pro-growth, supply side, flat tax rate, Tea Partier position on spending; hawkish on a strong dollar. A political force to be reckoned with. She averred, "The dollar in 2011 should be the same as it was in 1911." Herman CAin agrees with 5% growth. Pawlenty should have done nothing but talk about his growth plans, day in and day out. He's not. Politics is all about repeating your message. Romney is a man of the private sector, is mostly attacking the Obama economy - which is a good idea. Taking his time putting out his own detailed blueprint. Perry will enter and force Romney to speak out on some issues.

Tuesday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Devin Nunes CA-19): Is Obama constitutionally allowed Just to ignore the debt ceiling all together? I sit on the Ways and Means Committee - things have to originate in the Congress and these matter have to pass through the Ways and Means. I don't understand [this methodology]. LK: WSJ is posting an editorial tonight: If obama lowers the tax rate, you'll be glad to get rid of the reductions. DN: We've held multiple hearsing in exactly tat; no argument form Republicans or Democrats. Last week the president of the United Staes said: corporate jets and oil companies. When Paul Ryan and I spoke seriously, we see images of Paul Ryan pushing grannies over a cliff. There's a theory that the president and his ec advisors think the economy is going south; if we default, they can blame he republicans for sending us into an economic tailspin. I don't see a president who's been serious about debt reduction anywhere in his career.

Tuesday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: The presidential primary here is wider open than it has been in decades, as conservative activists, rank-and-file Republicans and many GOP insiders search for a candidate with just the right combination of philosophy, pizazz and electability to beat President Barack Obama. In South Carolina, no favorites. "Endorsements don't matter, but Jim DeMint's could." There are only two possible instant front-runners would be Rick Perry or Sarah Palin. Spartanburg County chairwoman, Mrs Riggs: the economy is the issue. "We need a job-creator - I have relatives who're about of work" Will allow a little wiggle room in various policies as long as there are more jobs. Above all , they want to beat Pres Obama. National security, fiscal, and social issues constitute the three-legged Conservative stool.

Tuesday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Aaron Klein, WABC radio, in re: flotilla unsails; Sinai gas explosion; Syrian troubles. bedouins are allied with Hamas, being adherents of Hasan al-Bnna and the Muslim Brotherhood, which is having an internal debate - not on the desirability if a global caliphate, but should there be [a simulacrum of] democracy? Bedouins don't like how Hamas and the MB are engaging in democracy. They're now willing to speak with ISrael in order to gain international recognition. There were secret talks yesterday in the US embassy in Cairo with the MB. Syria powder keg: Khamenei vs Ahmadinejad - exporting Mahdist theology vs. bldg Persian empire. Turkey has been arming ht anti-Syrian forces to the hilt. Turkey, a NATO member, is competing with Iran. Gas line from Sinai to ISrael has been cut.

Tuesday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Liam Stack, NYT, in re: trouble in Cairo

Tuesday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): Stephen Erlanger, NYT, in re: new accusation against Strauss-Kahn.

Tuesday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Bret Stephens, WSJ, in re: Strass-Kahn

Tuesday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Bob Zimmerman, behind the black.com, in re: See the 1955 film, Dambusters: blow up the dams of the Ruhr that are producing electricity for the Third Reich. RAF has to figure out how to do that from the air. The solution comes in a music hall, has to do with searchlights, trigonometry.

Manned flight: 1. Shuttle launch on Friday. The shuttle's legacy, for good or ill. 2. China readies the first module of its space station for launch in the fall. Climate: 3. Climate science: global warming scientists have determined that the cooling in the past decade occurred because China has been burning a lot of coal, a fossil that puts CO2 into the atmosphere. 4. The sun's wimpy maximum continues. Robot space science: 5. Dawn's approach to Vesta continues.6. Hubble makes its one-millionth science observation.

Tuesday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Jack Ewing, International Herald Tribune, in re: trouble in Greece.

Tuesday/Wed 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Fred Burton, Stratfor.com, in re: las Zetas's armored trucks on the border.

Tuesday/Wed 1220A (920 Pacific Time): Michael de la Merced, NYT, in re: manufacturing activity at midyear slows down.

Tuesday/Wed 1235A (935P Pacific Time): David Malpass, EncimaGlobal, in re: Wall Street Journal article, Malpass and Moore: "America's Troubling Investment Gap." Low Treasury rate has attracted billions to US bonds. If they can't get a dependable profit out of the US, they just park the money in Treasurys. Let's say I'm a foreign investor: as the dollar weakens, I lose money when the currency value goes down. Not investing in stuff that creates jobs, but defaulting to Treasurys. Not just the Chinese channeling money to Treasurys or the Fed - the banks are doing the same thing. Under Reagan, $6 trillion invested in the US by foreigners. All goes together with structural reform. Tax cut, and dollar from weak dollar under Carter to strong under Reagan. Some are hoping for punishment of the US for profligacy; I think the bond market won't stand up to the US Treasury. China has moved out of notes and bills.

Tuesday/Wed 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Music

Hour 1

The Mask of Zorro by James Horner

Sin City by various artists

300 by Tyler Bates

Hour 2

Hotel California by The Eagles

Clash of the Titans by Ramin Djawadi

Assassin's Creed by Jesper Kyd

Hour 3

L.A. Confidential by Jerry Goldsmith

Star Trek by Michael Giacchino

Alexander by Vangelis

Hour 4

The Expendables by various artists

Burn After Reading by Carter Burwell

Antarctica by Vangelis

Monday 4 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 4, 2011 3:41 PM | No Comments

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time): .Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (I) by Fred Burton and John Bruning

Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time): .Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (II)

by Fred Burton and John Bruning

Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time): .Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (III)

by Fred Burton and John Bruning

Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time): .Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (IV) by Fred Burton and John Bruning

Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): .Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness (I) by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): .Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness (II) by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Monday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): .Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices (I) by Noah Feldman

Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): .Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices (II) by Noah Feldman

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): .Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool (I) by Taylor Clark

Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): .Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool (II) by Taylor Clark

Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): .Ancient Chinese Warfare (I) by Ralph D. Sawyer

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): .Ancient Chinese Warfare (II) by Ralph D. Sawyer

Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time): .AXIS SALLY: The American Voice of Nazi Germany (I) by Richard Lucas

Monday/Tues 1220A (920 Pacific Time): .AXIS SALLY: The American Voice of Nazi Germany (II) by Richard Lucas

Monday/Tues 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Crapshoot Investing: How Tech-Savvy Traders and Clueless Regulators Turned the Stock Market into a Casino by Jim McTague

Monday/Tues 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt. .

Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 3, 2011 2:11 PM | No Comments

New Mexico, 1940.

Saturday 905P Eastern Time (Best of JBS):
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff (Kindle Edition - Apr 26, 2011) - Kindle eBook

Saturday 920P Eastern Time:
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff (Kindle Edition - Apr 26, 2011) - Kindle eBook
Saturday 935P Eastern Time:   We Got Him! A Memoir of the Hunt & Capture of Saddam Hussein by Steve Russell (Paperback - Apr 15, 2011)
Saturday 950P Eastern Time:   We Got Him! A Memoir of the Hunt & Capture of Saddam Hussein by Steve Russell (Paperback - Apr 15, 2011)

Saturday 1005P (705P Pacific):  The Liberty Bell (Icons of America) by Gary B. Nash (Paperback - Feb 22, 2011)
Saturday 1020P (720P Pacific):The Liberty Bell (Icons of America) by Gary B. Nash (Paperback - Feb 22,2011)
Saturday 1035P (735P Pacific):  The Rogue Republic: How Would-Be Patriots Waged the Shortest Revolution in American History by William C. Davis (Kindle Edition - Mar 28, 2011) - Kindle eBook
Saturday 1050P (750P Pacific):   The Rogue Republic: How Would-Be Patriots Waged the Shortest Revolution in American History by William C. Davis (Kindle Edition - Mar 28, 2011) - Kindle eBook

Saturday 1105P (805P Pacific):   Edward Bancroft: Scientist, Author, Spy by Thomas J. Schaeper (Hardcover - Mar 29, 2011)
Saturday 1120P (820P Pacific):   Edward Bancroft: Scientist, Author, Spy by Thomas J. Schaeper (Hardcover - Mar 29, 2011)
Saturday 1135P (835P Pacific):   The Long Road Home: The Aftermath of the Second World War by Ben Shephard (Hardcover - Feb 22, 2011)
Saturday 1150P (850P Pacific):   The Long Road Home: The Aftermath of the Second World War by Ben Shephard (Hardcover - Feb 22, 2011)

Saturday/Sun 1205A (905 Pacific):
Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown by Roger L. Simon (Kindle Edition - Feb 8, 2011) - Kindle eBook.

Saturday/Sun 1220A (920 Pacific):
Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown by Roger L. Simon (Kindle Edition - Feb 8, 2011) - Kindle eBook)

Saturday/Sun 1235A (935P Pacific):  Charles Hill.
Saturday/Sun 1250A  (950P Pacific): Exeunt.

________________________________
The Best of JBS.

Sunday  905PM Eastern (605P Pacific):
Search & Destroy: Why You Can't Trust Google Inc. by Ira Brodsky and Scott Cleland (Kindle Edition - May 4, 2011) - Kindle
Sunday 920PM Eastern (620P Pacific):
Search & Destroy: Why You Can't Trust Google Inc. by Ira Brodsky and Scott Cleland (Kindle Edition - May 4, 2011) - Kindle
Sunday 935PM Eastern (635P Pacific):
The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin (Hardcover - Mar 23, 2011)
Sunday 950PM Eastern (650P Pacific):
The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin (Hardcover - Mar 23, 2011)

Sunday 1005PM EDT (705P Pacific):
The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets by Emily Lambert (Hardcover - Dec 28, 2010)
Sunday 1020PM EDT (720P Pacific):
The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets by Emily Lambert (Hardcover - Dec 28, 2010)
Sunday 1035PM EDT (735P Pacific):
Poisoned; The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat by Jeff Benedict (Hardcover - May 16, 2011)
Sunday 1050PM EDT (750P Pacific):
Poisoned; The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat by Jeff Benedict (Hardcover - May 16, 2011)

Sunday 1105PM EDT (805P Pacific):
When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation With New Technologies by Robert Vamosi (Hardcover - Mar 29, 2011)
Sunday 1120PM EDT (820P Pacific):
When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation With New Technologies by Robert Vamosi (Hardcover - Mar 29, 2011)
Sunday 1135PM EDT (835P Pacific):
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff (Hardcover - Feb 15, 2011)
Sunday 1150PM EDT (850P Pacific):
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff (Hardcover - Feb 15, 2011)

Sunday/Mon 1205AM EDT (905 Pacific):
Commie in a Cadillac by Paul Olofson (Kindle Edition - May 22, 2011) - Kindle eBoo
Sunday/Mon 1220AM EDT (920 Pacific):
A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher by Joel Achenbach (Hardcover - Apr 5, 2011)
Sunday/Mon 1235AM EDT (935P Pacific):
A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher by Joel Achenbach (Hardcover - Apr 5, 2011)

Sunday/Mon 1250AM EDT (950P Pacific): Exeunt.

Friday 1 July 2011

By John Batchelor on July 1, 2011 2:07 PM | No Comments

Friday 905P Eastern Time: Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), author of "Seize Freedom!: American Truths and Renewal in a Chaotic Age"

Friday 920P Eastern Time: continued

Friday 935P Eastern Time: Nicholas Wade, NYT, in re: clearing the scientific record of American natural scientist Samuel Morton

Friday 950P Eastern Time: Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re: Gov. of PA trying to expand school choice

Friday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Greg Miller, Science Magazine, in re: new scientific breakthrough on spinal cord research

Friday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): Daniel Indiviglio, The Atlantic, in re: civil suit against Countrywide

Friday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Sid Perkins, Science Magazine, in re: evolution of the Rocky Mountains

Friday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Art Harmon, SaveMannedSpace.com, in re: final manned space flight

Friday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): John Anderson, author of "Art Held Hostage"

Friday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Matthew Wald, NYT, in re: nuclear power being revived in Alabama

Friday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): Michael Burgess, author of "Doctor in the House"

Friday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): continued

Friday/Sat 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), author of "Seize Freedom!: American Truths and Renewal in a Chaotic Age"

Friday/Sat 1220A (920 Pacific Time): continued

Friday/Sat 1235A (935P Pacific Time): Ann Gibbons, Science Magazine, in re: tracing the origins of homo habilus

Friday/Sat 1250A (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

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