In the long run, propaganda will reach the broad masses of the people only if at every stage it is uniform.
Will and Way by Joseph Goebbels

Billmon wrote a while ago:

Cont. reading: Uniform

NYT: Mystery Bidder Obtains Internet Patents

Cont. reading: Patent Pending

News, views, opinions …

jj kindly provided a link to The China price about the threat to the US’s manufacturing capacity from China’s ability to be 30-50% cheaper.

Meanwhile, articles such as this NYT piece (A Field Guide to the Falling Dollar) are becoming daily occurences, all warning about the dollar’s likely decline and basically saying that the only uncertainty is whether this decline will be rapid (bad) or slow (better).

These issues are inextricably linked and, as I have a little bit of time, I’d like to provide my view on the subject. Some of you here may find these controversial, so remember that I am a finance guy, with no actual links to the real world, and may thus be mistaken – but I am willing to listen and learn otherwise!

Cont. reading: Offshoring, the falling dollar and desindustrialisation

JTA News

FBI agents searched AIPAC’s headquarters here Wednesday, seizing files associated with two senior staffers who were interviewed in August amid allegations that a classified Pentagon document was leaked and passed on to Israel.

The agents also served subpoenas on four other senior staffers to appear before a grand jury later this month. The four were Howard Kohr, the group’s executive director; Richard Fishman, the managing director; Renee Rothstein, the communications director; and Raphael Danziger, the research director.

Though some AIPAC officials and lay leaders in past months sought to portray the investigation as dying down, sources told JTA that federal investigators have interviewed several former AIPAC employees in recent weeks.

This had indeed disappeared from the news completely, and it is interesting to see it popping up again. Any of you have any additional news on the topic? Any expectations on where this may go? Any chance in hell to lead to a real discussion of US-Israeli policies?

Rant away!

There’s something seriously wrong with America. Something, Seriously. Wrong. A recent survey shows that watching TV ranks above money, marriage and job security on the list of things that make us happy.
 
NYT article

(Hat tip – SusanG)

Actually, that’s good news – TVs are easier to find (and cheaper) than money, marriage or job security… Buy a pack of Kellogg’s corn flakes, get one free, and be happy!

Out of curiosity, which countries (or states) have you travelled to in recent times? Any particular experiences to remember?

Mine below in comments…

Cuba releases leading dissident
Last chance saloon for UN?
Methodist jury convicts lesbian minister
Eiffel Tower offers sky-high ice skating
Record lottery winner arrested on DUI, weapons charges
Nearly Half of Britons Unaware of Auschwitz -Poll

So, what news are you following? Anything missing above?

(Some left-over; for this drink of anti-kool-aid read first and check those 30? links later)

The intro on this public financed schools homepage is showing a spectacular picture of its pompous chapel.

Its principal recently sent a school wide email:

Ask the Lord to give us the wisdom to discover the right, the courage to choose it, and the strength to make it endure. The Lord is in control. He has a plan for each and every one of us. If we seek His will in our lives, we will find the "peace that passes all understanding."

Hallelujah!

Cont. reading: The School

The French Socilalists have voten convincingly in favor of the EU Constitution in an internal referendum.

The man leading the "no" campaign within the party, former prime minister and now deputy party leader Laurent Fabius, has accepted defeat.

He had tried to rally supporters by saying he loved Europe too much to let France sign up to a bad treaty.

For him, the European Constitution is too Anglo-Saxon, too much about free markets and competition, too little about workers’ rights or full employment, our correspondent says.

But others in the French Socialist Party opposed his campaign.

Socialist leader Francois Hollande agreed the constitution was not perfect, but said a "no" for the party and the country that helped build Europe would be catastrophic.

This internal referendum was called after Fabius called for a "no" vote in the national referendum on the Constitution, due some time in 2005, that will authorise or not the ratification by France of the treaty. Apart from internal politicking (Fabius probably saw this as a last ditch effort to exist in a party where he has been slowly marginalised, by jumping on a hot issue) and the reluctance of some Socialists to vote yet again alongside Chirac after the humiliating 2002 election, the real possibility that the Socialists would vote against ratification is a testimony to France’s lost bearings and (unwarranted) lack of confidence in its influence on the European stage.

So this unexpectedly strong showing for the Yes is reinvigorating. It comes in that most legitimate way, after a real, serious, open,  political debate, it improves the chances of France ratifying the Constitution (and thus avoiding a real crisis of confidence in Europe at a time when a functional Europe is more needed than ever), and it acknowledges that Europe’s constitution is neither "socialist" nor "liberal" (as each side likes to fear), but a way to describe how decisions are taken together on an expanding swathe of topics of common interests, and it shows that France is not completely hopeless!

So 3 cheers today for French Socialists!

I have good news – and I have great news.

The good news is that Bernhard has kindly given me a set of keys to the Moon, which I hope to use to keep this site going with all of you. I will try to keep the site as lively as Bernhard has managed to do, and keep the spirit of the place as it has been. Of course, your contributions will be essential to this endeavor and je compte sur vous to keep it humming as it has in recent times.

So, a big hurrah for Bernhard and a glass on the house to encourage you to stay around!

The great news, and I hope you will allow me to delve in this small personal item, is that I am coming back from the hospital, where I have just been told that my son’s tumor has been cut in half by the first round of chimio (expectations were – maybe, barely, some reduction will be noticeable). So the doctor is pleasantly surprised and we are ecstatic and I hope that the good news above will enable you to share our good spirits!

We often discuss depressing news and serious topic on this site; this will certainly continue, but can I enjoin you to take some time today to think about your friends and family, remember and celebrate whatever good news or happy events you have had recently, and share them (if only through a smile).

Remember, “in the long run, we’ll all be dead” – but in the meantime we can have some fun!