III. Apocalypse Now and Then

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II.
Life Imitates the Whiskey Bar

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I. Kulturkampf

I’d rather try to persuade the voters that progressives will defend those values than promise them phony remedies for problems that … are beyond government’s power to solve.

Meet Tom, a Chelydra serpentina — the common snapping turtle.

A big THANKS to Billmon for promoting this site with his piece: Moon of Alabama

A warm WELCOME to everyone who passes by for the first time. Feel free to poke around and to comment. Bookmark the site and come back.

You may want to check some recent posts here like Jérôme’s Energy Return On Energy Invested, Condoleezza’s Evidence by Bernhard or some great artwork by commentator anna missed.
There is also always an Open Thread around for otherwise off topic comments and -most important- there are threads for all Billmon posts.

Now why the f… IS this place named Moon of Alabama? Check here.

An article in the FT today puts the US-Chinese economic/trade relation in an interesting perspective, i.e. from the Chinese point of view.

China’s leaders are preparing their people for an end to the policy of pegging the renminbi to the US dollar, the bedrock of economic policy for a decade. [This] would have big implications for China’s economic management and, some in Beijing think, for its development strategy predicated on foreign direct investment inflows and export-led growth.

China’s exchange rate is also central to the growing debate over whether the current imbalances in the global economy – whereby the US has a large current account deficit while other countries accumulate dollar assets – can be sustained. Pressure on China to alter its exchange rate is particularly strong from Washington. The US Congress may force President Bush’s administration to take more aggressive steps to curb the trade deficit with China, which this week ballooned to a new record.

This is another look at global imbalances and their domestic implications both in China and in the US, and some suggestions for the Us domestic politics.

Cont. reading: China’s $ Problem or $’s China Problem?

Gunga Din

about the Coalition Formerly Known as the Coalition of the Willing…

Energy Return on Energy Invested – Public Relations

During the research for my nuclear energy post, I came across this graph:

It shows a highly favorable EROEI for nuclear plants. Of course, as it comes from the World NuclearAssociation, hardly a neutral party, I took it with a grain of salt and chose not to include it in my post.

The funny thing is that I received the following press release yesterday:

Cont. reading: EROEI PR

UPDATE:

He may be a demented old war criminal, but he’s a funny demented old war criminal. And in my book, that still counts for something.

Gin Rummy

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(Scene: A somewhat seedy looking diner somewhere outside of Houston, Texas. A line of nattily dressed corporate vice presidents — looking distinctly out of place in such a dive — sit at the counter reading menus. Behind the counter, Jack Abramoff, in apron and paper cap, is taking orders. There’s a pass through in the wall behind him, and in the kitchen we see a sweaty Tom DeLay, in a greasy apron and paper cap, working the grill.)
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Order Up (you wil love this meal)

The EU has just released its new demographic projections (pdf, 4 pages)

The conclusion is simple: France and the UK are the next power couple of Europe.

faute de combattants, as they say in France (for lack of fighters – elsewhere)…

So will they fight or will they talk?

Cont. reading: Euro (de)Population

Music for F-you boys and virile females: High Fidelity

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Straight From the Ass’s Mouth

Breaking the Senate filibuster on judicial nominees not only would make it easier to obtain lifetime appointments for fellow wing nuts, it would also be the opening wedge for getting rid of the filibuster entirely — making it easier for a slender GOP majority to pass all kinds of fun stuff, maybe even the Constitution Restoration Act. Or perhaps some sort of Emergency Enabling Act. . .

An Associated Press piece is available at the Guardian and the Washington Post website in different versions suggesting that the Washington Post is self censoring.

The piece by Anne Gearan, AP Diplomatic Writer, is titled ‘Senators May Have Blown Cover of CIA Agent’ and refers to yesterdays hearing of John R. Bolton at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

During the hearing, Senators Lugar and Kerry referred to a National Intelligence Officer by the name Fulton Armstrong. The
Washington Post version (also in print on A10) of the AP piece does not name Mr. Armstrong like AP does, but inserts instead the phrase ‘[the person in question]’.

Cont. reading: WaPo Self-censors Report on Bolton Hearing

News, views, opinions …

Krazy Kristian Kook

On ‘Dobson and his fellow ayatollahs’

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The World Turned Upside Down

Well, it’s only the House upside down, but a very nice lecture in contemporary history.

The vacuum cleaner nozzle has some problems and I drew the task to care for a spare part. I hate to fight with customer services. The machine is several years old and I expected trouble.

Cont. reading: Consumer Experience

Not really Ex yet, but soon to be: The Ex-Terminator

I have been requested to write about France’s nuclear energy programme. It’s a huge subject, and I have already spent too many hourse researching it, so what I will do now is provide a brief summary and a number of links that I have found for those of you that are interested in finding out more.

For the surrender-monkey-lovers amongst you, you can also go read my third installment on the French campaign for the referendum for or against the EU Consititution: EU Constitution – France Votes (III) What if it’s no?

So here we go.

Cont. reading: The Nuclear Option

The Heritage Foundation says Bush’s MBA may not be the real thing.

This Reuters report on Ben Bernanke as a possible successor for Alan Greenspan cites William Beach from the conservative Heritage Foundation:

Cont. reading: Heritage Foundation Doubts Bush MBA

The Internationale is still under capitalist copyright control, as is ‘Happy Birthday to You’. 

Meanwhile Sony has patented `The Matrix´ idea:

Cont. reading: Copywrong

About the "rule of law" nonsense: A Measure of Justice

Rarely has a conviction given me such pure physical pleasure:

Convicted in the nation’s first felony case against illegal
spamming, Jeremy Jaynes, 30, on Friday was sentenced to nine years in
prison for bombarding Internet users with the junk e-mails.

My only regret is that the jury didn’t see fit to sentence young
Jeremy to the full medieval rehabilitation routine (including a nice,
long counseling session on the rack), followed by drawing and quartering.

Pour toutes discussions, commentaires, articles, émotions, enthousiasmes à partager.

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