12/30/11

A reasonable Krugman verdict on the economy

Keynes Was Right - NYTimes.com:

"The bottom line is that 2011 was a year in which our political elite obsessed over short-term deficits that aren’t actually a problem and, in the process, made the real problem — a depressed economy and mass unemployment — worse.

The good news, such as it is, is that President Obama has finally gone back to fighting against premature austerity — and he seems to be winning the political battle. And one of these years we might actually end up taking Keynes’s advice, which is every bit as valid now as it was 75 years ago."

'via Blog this'

If Krugman would deal with the problem of the continuing commitment to a car and oil economy he might make sense more often.

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Romney kid's birther slur is no joke

The Associated Press: Romney son jokes about Obama's birth certificate:

"Brother Tagg Romney jumped in and said,

"That was not my dad who said that."

Matt Romney later tweeted regret that he'd repeated what he called "a dumb joke."

Mitt Romney has refused to release his tax returns but says he'd reconsider if he were the GOP nominee for president. Obama released his tax returns during the 2008 Democratic primary and in each year of his presidency."

'via Blog this'

And within minutes the well-oiled Romney campaign let the hammer down. Too late Mitt. It is the attitude not the substance.



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No one knows who'll win in Iowa

Undecided Voters Make For 'Wide Open' Iowa Race | Fox News:

'via Blog this'

No one knows who'll win in Iowa
First the process hems and then it haws
Such are the puzzles of democracy
Yet somehow we survive despite its flaws

The Great Downgrading of Salvation


Mark 10
44: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

Jesus' downgrades salvation
He shows that none are likely to be saved by their deeds
for three reasons
They will dishonor marriage
They will reject children
They will fall in love with possessions (wealth)

The realm of Abba is run on different principles than ours
We're to throw it all away 
To care for nothing
But the will and way of Abba

Two things we may conclude
The circle of those whose acts will save them is empty
The circle of those who see this and proceed by faith is miniscule

So what - in Abba's name - are we celebrating
Mostly cheap grace
We should stop talking Creed
And confine our lives to prayer 
And doing right by our fellow human beings
Thus Bonhoeffer

Abba's Way is a humble path 
For those who understand
That if all the world actually believed in Abba 
And followed him
Our values would reflect it
Starting with the substance of the text above
We'd be upright penitents
Jesus-aware iconoclasts
Strongly tolerant
No-nonsense helpful
Fiercely child-defending 
Universal democrats

No creed can trump the text above

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I guess we FB and G users win sort of

Google, Facebook rivalry to heat up in 2012 - Computerworld: "While most analysts think Facebook retained its wide edge this year, most agree that the battle is likely to heat up further in 2012. And that means users of both Facebook and Google+ should expect a lot of new features and more integration with third party products."

'via Blog this'

I am out of sorts today reflecting on the amount of energy and bandwidth given over to stuff like this when it seems to me the world is inching toward a catastrophe that unfolds much the way previous catastrophes unfold - because no one paid it much mind. I am referring to the saber rattling around oil and Iran which I have noted in myriad previous posts.

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The security backdrop to a Big Apple New Year celebration

New Year's Eve security in New York heightened – USATODAY.com: "The NYPD also will rely on a new network of about 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras carpeting the roughly 1.7 square miles south of Canal Street, the subway system and parts of midtown Manhattan. In recent years, police stationed at high-tech command centers in lower Manhattan began monitoring live feeds of Times Square, the World Trade Center and other sites.

Times Square isn't the only show in town this New Year's Eve — or the only security concern. Police also will be beef up patrols in Central Park, site of a midnight run, and at fireworks displays at the Statue of Liberty.
The NYPD harbor unit will keep an eye on 33 dinner cruises on the city's waterways. Add to the list the Phish concert at Madison Square Garden."

'via Blog this'



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Bird flu warning from China

China reports suspected human bird flu case | Reuters: "The patient, a 39-year-old man living in Shenzhen, developed symptoms on December 21 and was admitted to a hospital on December 25 because of severe pneumonia, the Centre of Health Protection of Hong Kong said in a statement. He is now in critical condition.

China's Ministry of Health said preliminary laboratory tests on the patient's specimen by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province had yielded a positive result for H5N1."

'via Blog this'

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Notch up 17 more for Syrian murderers

Seventeen dead as Syrians stage mass protests | Reuters:

'via Blog this'

What is the answer? Clearly the removal of the government by the max force possible and a global ethic that makes this behavior on the part of dictators increasingly dangerous to the criminal regimes. Then there are the Putins of the world including those in our own country. Replaying the Cold War. Not caring for who gets killed.

Giving up salt is simple and efficacious

High Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio in Diet Is a Major Heart Risk - NYTimes.com: "A major study, based on data from more than 12,000 American adults, took into account all those risk factors for death from heart disease. The researchers found that while a diet high in sodium — salt is the main source — increases your risk, even more important is the ratio of sodium (harmful) to potassium (protective) in one’s diet."

'via Blog this'

There is enough salt in everything to warrant no use of table salt or salt in cooking period. I've not used it forever. It helps also not to use processed foods. Obviously hidden salt is all over. Confining one's intake to foods that are largely salt free will work. Plus using salty accents that are indeed known and delicious. My personal favorite is soprasetta which I break into little pieces and toss into whatever I am cooking up. Not using the stuff even when called for in recipes is sensible. One of the few places that has salt free butter is Au Bon Pain. Getting their Jalapeno bagels to go with some of that butter is a current MO.

Here's a little bit more from the NYT piece which I venture to guess few will read through.,

"Despite widespread efforts to get people to consume less sodium, intake of this nutrient has increased significantly since the early 1970s as consumption has risen of processed and restaurant foods, which rely heavily on salt as a cheap way to enhance flavor and texture and preserve food. Because salt is categorized by the Food and Drug Administration as G.R.A.S., or “generally recognized as safe,” there is no limit to the amount food producers can use in a product."



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I Don't Think OWS Is A Harbinger of Violence

The Big Lie - The Daily Beast: "But it won’t just end with taxes. When the great day comes, Wall Street will pray for another Pecora, because compared with the rough beast now beginning to strain at the leash, Pecora will look like Phil Gramm. Humiliation and ridicule, even financial penalties, will be the least of the Street’s tribulations. There will be prosecutions and show trials. There will be violence, mark my words. Houses burnt, property defaced. I just hope that this time the mob targets the right people in Wall Street and in Washington. (How does a right-thinking Christian go about asking Santa for Mitch McConnell’s head under the Christmas tree?) There will be kleptocrats who threaten to take themselves elsewhere if their demands on jurisdictions and tax breaks aren’t met, and I say let ’em go!"

'via Blog this'

What seems to me the wave tends more to incremental demands that both educate the 99 and force visible changes. I do think that a rigged election of 2012 paid for by the Koch brothers and validated by the Supreme Court woould produce a violent reaction. And that OWS would be well advised to flag the most likely source of violence - criminal and official suppression efforts designed to discredit the movement.

Everything You Need  to Know to Boycott Koch Products


Inclusive love transcends a family

Abba's Way:

Inclusive love transcends a family,
For families mix love and war with ease;
The best of love is the love of enemy,
Which one can do. But who is there who sees?

'via Blog this'

To love an enemy is not that difficult. See the enemy as Abba does. Abba knows every reason this soul has to have acted as she or he did. Abba does not justify conduct to you. No permissive tolerance here. Abba enables his brand of tolerance which is not weakness but strength and freedom. When - in the only prayer Jesus taught, which we use daily in solitude - we forgive those who trespass against us (our debtors), there's no denial of the hurt, only the fact that we have opted (willed) to tolerate. We thus free our energy for other things than vengeful fuming. We need not broadcast our freedom. Better we don't. .Abba's knowing is more than enough. PS. This does not mean you cannot walk away from an enemy. There is a reason for the continuing relevance of the concept of shaking dust from our feet.


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Why Holy Spirit Beats Water for Baptism

The Tao in Mark:

"Hated seers spoke most precious words
A messenger of peace came from the wild
Water could not wash all sins away
A deeper power was brought into play
The lowest becomes highest
The least become the most
There is happiness in heaven"

'via Blog this'

Water is external even though it makes up most of us. There is a great deal in Jesus about internal and external. He understands the colon and accepts it. But when he gets down to big things, it's the heart alone that matters. That is internal. Jesus brings us a way to effect heart change. The realm of Abba is near. Abba is efficacious. Abba will occupy your heart of you ask, seek, knock. We are baptized by the holy spirit not by running around and finding some tongue-speaking enclave. But by daily solitary turning to Abba within. And giving our hearts to Abba's liberating agenda for all of us. Decent values that trump hypocrisy. It's that simple.

As China gears up for space surge

NASA no priority for most presidential candidates - BostonHerald.com:

'via Blog this'

We would not expect anything less.

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Alaska Eruption Triggers Air Traffic Alert

Air traffic alert after Alaskan volcano spews ash cloud - chicagotribune.com: "Ash from the 5,676-foot (1,730 meter) volcano is considered potentially dangerous to aircraft because Cleveland's peak lies directly below commercial flight routes between Asia and North America. Additional explosions producing larger ash clouds are possible and could come without warning, the observatory said."

'via Blog this'

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If Abba's Way was followed we would have better news every day

Abba's Way:

The deathly values we live by must go.
That happens to be our most crying need;
Or else we have a tasteless, gruesome show,
Our boot heels crushing Abba’s precious seed.

'via Blog this'

If Abba's Way was followed we would have better news every day. It can be done.

Global Online Privacy

Costs of using Cloud storage

Cloud storage sites by Amazon, Google, Apple, Carbonite compared - latimes.com: "Using cloud storage services such as those offered by Amazon, Google, Apple and Carbonite to protect your music, photos and other files is becoming more affordable."

'via Blog this'

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In The White House Honoring Five Artists (Video)

Behind the Scenes: The Ceremony at the White House before the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors | The White House:

'via Blog this'

Isn't it amusing to reflect that under the GOP this all might be swept away. For each of these artists there is a legion of others living and dead who witness to the transcendent function of art - to be not only a mirror to nature but a beacon which illuminates potential as a magnet to every individual.

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There is only one thing all people have in common


Abba within
Whatever name you use to designate the One within
The force that gives you life and the freedom to exercise your will

Otherwise each person - twin or no - is one being
On one trajectory
With one perception
And one destiny

The greatest tragedy of humankind is not to perceive 
And to relate to this One within
The greatest triumph is to perceive this One by understanding
Abba is in everyone
Everyone 
Calling us to
Tolerance
To helpfulness
To democracy
and to non-idolatry

This is the century of sea change
Spread the reality

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Putin Most Likely Gave Iran Our Spy Drone (Video)




Cap tip Robert Eckert

+

The stoking of global conflict is now at a red alert level IMO. My solution is a global disarmament conference ASAP.  And a reconsideration of our prodigal use of drones, now even beginning to appear within U.S. borders. This is impunity pure and simple.  Will an urgent international conference based on imminent peril happen in a political environment like ours? Not likely. Perhaps the disarray of our own military will be a presumptive argument to cease stretching ourselves too thin. Again most likely dreaming. The neo-con dynamic still holds sway and all we do is try to read tea leaves in Iowa as if THAT made any real difference.

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Only civilians can fix the U.S. Army (Video)

Army Charges Eight in Chinatown Soldier Danny Chen's Death - YouTube: "Nine years of over using our military fighting two unnecessary wars has degraded the US Army in particular. Soldiers who are not qualified to own pets have attained leadership positions. Sadists, serial killers, psychotic psychiatrists, finger collectors, all indicators that the US Army has had its "check engine" light on for awhile. Only civilians can fix the US Army."

'via Blog this'

Brutality is pervasive beyond politicians. Only a global sea change in values based on repentance will suffice.

Cap tip Robert Eckert
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RECCMENDATION Richard Gordon Quantum Touch

The Slow as Molasses Press