Benchmarking Sweden

Election season in Sweden brought out a wide range of promise posters. Unfortunately after eight years in power for the ruling coalition (Moderates, Kristdemokraterna, Center & Folkpartiet) many voters will question bold political promises by Alliance weasels.

"From now we will do this." Maybe... Why not in the last eight years?

Folkpartiet seems the biggest pack of liars - suddenly "strong for education" when their present policies have created the money-grubbing struggling school system...

I'd like to see a major expansion of non-partisan benchmarking studies by government. Surely many of the lessons of Norway, Denmark and Finland are useful to Sweden, as well as systems and experiments in other parts of Europe and elsewhere.

We need data & reliable studies backing policy. Moderaterna are like smiling salespeople - nice, but citizens shouldn't forget they work for their own profit and will stretch truth to make a sale. We need facts and more transparency.

Instead of struggling after shrinking budgets, survey & evaluation activities should be greatly expanded at Statskontoret (Swedish Agency for Public Management). Hire hundreds more analysts, preferably including many "new Swedes" with overseas training and experience, and on a project basis fund dozens more studies by external researchers. Publish these analyses online in English to be useful as well for other nations.

Japan developed a great system of Special Zones for Structural Reform (構造改革特区) allowing local areas and small-scale citizen groups to test new ideas & initiatives under careful evaluation. If successful, wider national implementation could follow.

Sweden has many such possibilities for deregulation. A simple example is cellar-door wine & liqueur sales by local producers. Finland has instituted such a system; at what cost & with what benefits? Such experiments promise to boost local & regional tourism, but with monitoring and a proper benchmarking study we could & should know specific details, instead of politicized half-truths and rumors.

Statskontoret should be renamed, revamped & better funded.
"Public management" and public administration are now nasty words to laissez-faire capitalists. "Swedish Agency for Policy Analysis" is a better name. Sweden can usefully build its reputation as an analytic & scientific nation.

Influencing US Think Tanks?

Who truly employs America's policy analysts? Opinions for sale in the USA? 

Great article (link) in The New York Times:
Lipton, Eric, Brooke Williams & Nicholas Confessore. (2014)"Foreign powers buy influence at Think Tanks." in The New York Times. (6 Sept 2014).  Online at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/politics/foreign-powers-buy-influence-at-think-tanks.html

But what of Israel?
Why is Israel so little mentioned in the article and accompanying documents? Is the State of Israel missing an important opportunity for influencing opinion in the USA? In the midst of anti-Semitism, terrorism, investment divestment, boycott movements, etc., surely Zionist interests would support positive and friendly analyses.

Don't disregard Israel.

Sweden's Beggar Ombudsman

Important elections in Sweden this month may sweep the present US-leaning government from power.

Bravo. The Alliance centre-right coalition (Moderate Party, Centre Party, Folkpartiet (Liberal Party) and  Christian Democrats) has brought about mixed results, but after eight years in power their new election season promises now seem empty.

One area of poor performance:

Beggars - Sweden now has thousands more beggars than when "Moderaterna" took power. In Stockholm pitiful beggars have settled-down on the pavement outside virtually all the big shops and supermarkets. Our leadership has done virtually nothing about this; it becomes more of a problem with homeless beggars camping in parks and shitting among the bushes. I don't believe it's proper to allow unrestricted use of public spaces for camping and fundraising. Impoverished people can enroll in assistance programs. A dynamic society should plan how to assist the weak.

Begging is a type of fundraising open to abuse; these conditions need monitoring. Is there a Beggar Ombudsman? Many local people are concerned for beggar welfare, but we need not allow such people to take over our passageways without restriction. Surely we can require enrollment, and also impose controls.  
Some may object that many beggars are not local people. If poor people are coming to Sweden for begging, our response (or lack of response) is all the more important. Apparently the present government has done little or nothing. 

Ayeland the Brave

Scotland Independence
AYE !

Bound No More to London (& secretly to Washington)

Vote Yes for Independence

ayeland.com

Ayeland the Brave image free to use for freedom !                            

Radiation Enema

It's Bad News when the nuclear energy industry builds near your home.

PR on job creation & economic benefit is garbage. Visit Fukushima and judge for yourself - hurriedly evacuated dead zone, a leaky poisoned waterfront: a running gash of failed technology polluting mobile marine life and all the ocean.

Regardless of nuclear reactor safety, the commercial nuclear industry irresponsibly continues to store their nuclear waste in close proximity to their nuclear furnaces. Now the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decreed that even in cases of nuclear reactor shutdown, local-based nuclear waste dumps can continue same-site for 160 years. Unbelievable.

Industry calls this radioactive waste "spent fuel" - but it's deadly poison for centuries. There is no federal repository for these poisons; there's no consensus on providing truly safe systems. Anyone should know to keep a volatile dump far away from the generating furnaces, and keep it all far away from the seaside, far from public water systems, and far from population centers to minimize airborne pollution dangers. These basic points are typically ignored.

Profit-seeking corporations are a disastrous management formula, and cannot guarantee safety.

People in nuclear neighborhoods and districts either live in great fear, or they live in denial. The businessmen running the nuclear plants can simply declare corporate insolvency and skulk away (the executives don't live nearby)...

Renegotiated Union

What will happen when USA states begin seriously considering costs & benefits of union? Many local regions might do a better job with education, criminality, health care, immigration, defense, economics, etc. than Congress can capably provide, even when not deadlocked. Is the only choice to accept US Federal mandates?

Might states, regions, or sub-regions renegotiate their membership in the federal union?

The Federal budget is unaffordable.

The US central government gave private industry insiders huge monies via the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Not all lawmakers supported those "bailouts" + subsidies. The economy still has not recovered (not surprising - those who caused the crisis kept their jobs through the bailout).

Obama's government has done little to change a foul rot in Washington. Global empire bankrupted and targeted America.

There are dozens (or hundreds, or millions) of reasons people might wish to renegotiate the US federal union. Best consider arguments now for a revised USA. California may divide into six states (ballot initiative upcoming). Others seek to secede completely from the USA (see link to petitions throughout the nation). No doubt our overweight nation needs better care - many stars now shine dimly, or are partly obscured.

Geronimo Bin Laden

Geronimo, Pocahontas, Che Guevara, Malcolm X, Bin Laden ...
America's vanquished enemies.

Resist US military occupation, prepare to be hunted & killed. Our righteous leaders repeat the warning again & again & again.

But our military has no proper business in far-flung places. Shut-down the colonial outposts which cost too much money & blood. Build society on sustainable, humane & progressive domestic foundations. Bring our troops home !

Funny Pigs

(click to enlarge)

White House Deception

We're often deliberately fed half-truths and lies to deceive us. Remember the dramatic White House photo used to illustrate the killing of Bin Laden?

(BBC)  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-13257330

Pete Souza's photo remains incorrectly labeled (in Aug. 2014), after being reproduced dramatically around the world & criticized as posed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks especially tense, providing the "emotionally resonant punctum" (New York Times). Some of the flim-flam later unraveled. (Clinton claimed she was stifling an allergic cough). We may never know what all are actually watching...

What can we believe? Not much. A struggling American journalist is cruelly murdered in Syria? Does it justify the USA beginning a new war in Iraq? Did militarist spinmeisters believe a dramatic event would grease their operations? Ongoing contact with the captors now report (link) the murderers sought ransom money. And a failed rescue attempted last month killed people near where the captives had been held. Who could ever imagine what such crazies would do if double-dared & insulted: "You don't dare kill an American! Fucking pansies! Candy-ass camel jockeys!"  Ooops - say our militarists.
Who profits now?
...

Not Good Neigh

Who's now in prison for the European adulterated horsemeat scandal uncovered early 2013?  (link) How many millions of euro in fines have been paid?

Surely not enough was done as penalty. Spanghero? Findus? ICA? The "own label" producers traded trust for quick profits & should be fined heavily. They're more than ignorant retailers - with their logo and name on the box they share guilt. Super cheap raw materials - too good to be true - discarded veterinary critters? Stray dogs & cats? Food suppliers can't be trusted!

Of course, if the now-secret Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP is implemented, such adulterated European meats will also flow to America; we in Europe will be exposed when the US food supply becomes tainted through mislabeling or fraud. American food fraud is huge: seafood, honey and cooking oils are often (or reportedly more often than not) deliberately adulterated or mislabeled. Efforts to publicize food scams, such as via a "Food Fraud Database" - don't yet deliver easily understandable information. The US Food & Drug Administration, FDA operates with minimal budget to protect consumer food supplies, but some products (beef, chicken, eggs, etc.) are policed by the US Department of Agriculture, USDA. We're lucky if fraud's uncovered - the regulating & inspection agencies are grossly understaffed.


Part of the deterrent is to publicize the crime, consequences and penalties.

Dutch wholesaler Willy Selten may have sold as much as 50,000 tons of adulterated meat (link). Spanghero changed its name to "La Lauragaise" and reportedly is back in business. Other adulteration schemes no doubt operate now. This huge scam was more than a bit of bother. Without penalties? All quickly forgotten by consumer sheeple...
Must we eat shit or worse...   Mortuary meats?

Hillary's Hard Choice?

Hillary Clinton had one key "Hard Choice" - give up her Presidency efforts, or continue kissing the fat ass of Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mrs. Clinton proved she'll overlook troublesome details - systematic human rights abuses by the Israeli IDF, ethnic cleansing & genocide of the Palestinians are nothing compared to her personal quest. Hillary now works for the future of expansionary Zionism. She abandoned her own nation's interests for 30 silver shekels and a few fundraising dinners...

Authoritarianism

We are the Death Squad folk.

Far too many corrupt governments owe their existence to right-wing extremists from the USA. The assholes who rule over us.

People fought their own government for freedom, getting rid of dictatorship only at great human cost. But the poisonous spider of militarism lived on in the USA.

Kissinger instructs his Argentine puppet Videla

Chilean dictator Pinochet and his Naziesque henchmen

Far too often weasels from the USA install repressive authoritarian regimes. Doomed to fail, they cause death & destruction. Militarism enslaves. But slaves fight back against repressive opportunists & oppressors.

General Sisi, now US-backed Egyptian Pharaoh & President

Perverted Weather

Gaza Goals

Israeli government goals in the present Gaza violence are simple: making Gaza uninhabitable for Israel's enemies.

Unfortunately the government of PM Benjamin Netanyahu sees all non-Israelis (and his substantial Israeli opposition) as enemies.

Netanyahu and malformed sidekick Avigdor Lieberman are right-wing zealots trying to make Gaza uninhabitable. The people of Gaza who survive this punishment should wish to go away. Gaza will be a beachfront awarded to Israeli settlers.

God-Given Goal in Gaza = Ethnic Cleansing .

Human Waste

Too many people are underemployed. A healthy society cannot have large segments of its population without jobs or prospects.

Entertainment and the internet have thus far kept enough people engaged with something such that they don't RIOT.

But I fear the quiet is unsustainable. The rich and the workers are taught to strive forward, with little care for others. In America, you ultimately work for yourself. But who can put together policies that will depressurize our communities, or help each turn the corner toward a future prosperity?

The Republicans label public servants & teachers - parasites.

So short-sighted!

Incompetent Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy in Japan is often past the point of foolishness - it is senseless & harmful.

Obedient bureaucrats are convinced if properly filling-in every box and recording each detail, they're doing a good job. But that process wastes huge amounts of time & energy with often no gain, and easily interferes with more important goals. The stubborn administrator looks at his or her small patch of "responsibility" and calmly watches society burn.

My lamented mentor, the late Prof. Hideo Sato (佐藤英夫先生), often criticized Japan's bureaucracy in very negative ways. I'd believed then he overstated the problem. But now I wholly agree - and it's perhaps even worse these days as administrative systems are more rigid & ossified, and auditing more necessary.

Bureaucrats themselves are often nice people in a foolish situation, where a single largely irrelevant data point takes precedence over everything - no progress till corrected. There's no proportionality. Incompetence to a bureaucrat is "failure to collect all the paperwork"... When temporarily overruled so operations continue, the bureaucrat can be a distracting, haunting presence -- until page 7 question 66:d is properly dealt with. People should be better employed.

There are many ways to lampoon the bureaucrats, but it's better to warn policymakers of major potential problems with program implementation when fuck-headed idiots become the nation's guardians & gatekeepers.

 

(Personally I've not had any real problems, just foolishly wasted time. But the total of such foolishness must be multiplied by the 130 million Japanese sheeple = serious waste. Japan's bureaucracy is a parasite feeding off productivity & progress).

Politico Fails

Too many top politicians prove useless bags of shit. Perhaps starting with a few good ideas or a great policy proposal, they then ride that nag for decades. Worse than doing little or nothing, they contribute to deceit, social deterioration, and brutality.

Often these worst disappointments have demonstrated promise.

Barack Obama - I still believe he wanted to do good. He's joined The Dark Side, to impose imperial power through the universe. Like Darth Vader, he serves a master - Greed. President Obama now predicts the commands of rich businessmen, obeying before being told. 

Nick Clegg - claims he's liberal & democratic, but now only in comparison to the many right-wing friends he chummily dines with everyday. Solidly moved the UK away from fairness - supported huge tuition fees greatly favoring wealth & power (after repeatedly pledging to abolish fees); similarly gave-up on substantive House of Lords reforms. Still young & ambitious, however - maybe he'd do something positive to gain a better post.

Fredrik Reinfeldt - is a burikko (a Japanese phrase to feign cuteness). Sweden's Prime Minister does three things: strives to impose US influence on Sweden & neighbor nations, polishes his bald head, and makes-up his eyes to max cuteness. A clever person who's visualized his next move, he could still surprise with a progressive effort, trying to win-over those he's till now overlooked.

Kind to Kinder?

Cute kids push forward to cut the queue. Rather than wait in line, ambitious families risk sending their kids to the USA as illegal immigrants.

Others follow proper procedures, waiting like schmucks...

Cute kids? Clever & calculating parents? There's now no shortage of suffering American citizen kids; many cute & Christian & homeless.

The USA has created many problems in South & Central America by supporting repressive, anti-democratic oligarchs & right-wing death squads in Honduras and elsewhere. The orphans may plan vengeance. Remember in The Godfather when Vito Andolini returns to his hometown (as Vito Corleone) and skewers his familys nemesis... Our militarists and a certain wealthy elite could be similarly threatened for their continuing crimes.

The USA can't reward weasels cutting the line. The queue jumper must get no advantage. They can't expect to ignore and destroy our systems. The beguiling beggar must be sent away empty-handed.

Reward the queue jumper, & you ream folk respecting law, order & community investment. The cheater is encouraged to cheat again. Badly-behaving South and Central Americans will not be surprised at a Schwarzenegger (Terminator) welcome: "Fuck Off, Asshole."

Messing With Old Glory

News organizations worldwide are reporting on the Brooklyn Bridge American flags mysteriously vanishing  for whitewashed replacements.

The BBC is no stranger to colonialist symbolism, but reporters provided only the facts & no hypotheses:
"Authorities in New York are investigating who raised two large white flags on the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge early on Tuesday... John Miller, deputy New York police commissioner for intelligence and counter-terrorism, told reporters: "They will be prosecuted. We don't take these things lightly or as a joke or as art, or within the realm of speech." ...The flags appeared to be American flags bleached white. Authorities removed the white flags and are now searching social media for clues."

Serious & Dangerous !

Korea's Sewol Shame

The Sewol ferry disaster (16 April) gruesomely killed hundreds of Korean young people, highlighting both private-sector corruption and government incompetence. The gravely-overloaded ship was being operated criminally, but public rescue services were badly conducted. Ultimately, we saw meaningless crocodile tears from political leaders. The shocks continue.

South Korea's "Most Wanted" fugitive since the accident has been Yoo Byung-un (유병언), a Korean religious leader & wealthy industrialist whose family business networks reportedly owned & managed the MV Sewol. Details are shady due to cross-shareholding and murky definitions of asset ownership & wealth control. Korean government frictions with Yoo's religious organization have further fueled continuing corruption allegations.

In any event, "Korea's Most Wanted Man" has been in government custody for over five weeks while Korean police scoured the globe searching for him & his family. Yoo's body was found a short walk from his vacation home in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province on 12th June, but only identified today (22 July). The cause of death has yet to be determined. This long delay is surely another black eye for Korea's President, Park Geun-hye.

New Kids at the Wok

Thousands of grubby illegal immigrant children are demanding access to dining rooms & club facilities in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and other upmarket centers.

"All we want is a better life" said one 17-year old child, who claimed to have served American CIA interests in Honduras. "And we're not stupid - nobody wants to be bussed to Detroit."

Some lice-ridden children expect to gain entry to exclusive Yale University dining clubs. "Mi madre weep mucho to America now coming. Los chinos too much make or - Now us chancing!"

In related news, a parents rally in China's Shenzhen city (深圳) was broken up by security officials, who found 48 newly-loaded shipping containers - each already packed with hundreds of Chinese children & young adults prepared for US emmigration. "We're closer to the American Dream than 99% of Americans, who don't yet realize they're corporate-controlled. And sure we're being manipulated. But before US consensus that Charity begins at home, we suck the teat of Uncle Sam."

President Barack Obama's US$3 billion immigration emergency relief fund is now inundated with business provider requests as Americans debate if uninvited guests may be spoiled or boiled. For US-supplied Israeli forces now invading Gaza, it's all good: Busy Yankee, Minimal oversight. Suggestions the immigration crisis be funded from the much larger US aid-to-Israel budget are met with silence.

Dropping Rice

Not another post on eating sushi...!

In early April 2014, Condoleezza Rice was appointed to the board of Dropbox.

I missed that news. While that company's product always seemed suspicious and liable for abuse; it's now intolerable. I'm personally happy to discontinue infrequent usage - not as part of a boycott, but because corporate judgement at Dropbox is dangerously flawed - just like Condoleezza Rice.

Meltdown Rot

The "rescue" of the economy from the 2008 meltdown continues to poison and undermine the world.

Bad practices & rotten management were allowed to remain untouched and ulcerating -- in fact, US politicians rewarded defeated private-sector speculators with public-fund grants & interest-free loans. 'Self-regulation' championed by Alan Greenspan and slavishly supported by cronies of Bush, Cheney, Clinton &  maggot-breeding Robert Rubin proved complete failure. Politicians gave our public money to handpicked cronies - undermining any correction from capitalist competition. Creepy!

The parasites survive as the US ruling class. Look beyond them to a smaller number: active, brazen, callous, deadly predators.

Vipers patrol the nursery, while filth continues to fester ...

Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley or Congress... ?

Entitled to Kill

Preparing for the 2011 APEC meeting in Honolulu, Federal Agent Christopher Deedy had a night off. After drinking with friends, the night ended badly in the early morning hours, when perhaps over-eager Deedy executed a local man inside a Waikiki McDonalds restaurant.

Deedy is on trial for murder.

Do agents of our government have carte blanche license to kill?  Is it proper that aggressiveness or public disobedience be smothered by deadly violence? Our numerous security forces are not always welcomed cheeringly - at what stage are they entitled to kill?

The Hawaii tragedy continues ...

Numbnuts DRIP

Numbnuts PM David Cameron is forcing an extreme surveillance measure through Parliament with little chance for input and no public debate. He claims it's essential for continuing life as we know it - as captive servants to an unfit feudalistic "elite"...

Amazingly, the frightening law's called DRIP - Data Retention and Investigatory Powers bill.

It's a mistake to trust these jokers - or anyone. Our assorted valuable data is already compromised and misused. Assume the database is fully infiltrated. The Cameron government is riddled with drips, incompetents & money-grubbers no match for assorted outside specialist professionals intent on continuing to profit from the information El Dorado. The Prime Minister personally brought criminal operative Andy Coulson into the heart of government, working intimately with Coulson for over three years before denouncing him. (For previous work with Rupert Murdoch, Coulson's now been convicted of illegal wiretapping).

General Fear

The US government uses their golden hoard information to highlight suspected terrorists, sometimes to kill them.

The world's now knows NSA surveillance is everywhere.

It's time to ask the more difficult question: Who has Access?

Those knowing everything about everyone also know: such info can be extremely valuable. Information is sold & bartered, on and on…

Below may not be infiltrators -- they may be granted free access. Who knows?

- Government contractors

- Outsourced service providers

- JP Morgan Chase

- a girl Congressman Paul Ryan hopes to impress

- Halliburton & Monsanto

- Friends of General Butlick

- Right wing Zionists

- Nancy Pelosi's fancy man

- English pansies

- Collaborating American IT firms

- HRH King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

- Gentlemen formerly known as Blackwater

- The part-time cleaning lady at John Kerry's house
- Mr. Wu

- Bill, the cable guy

etc…

Stop Your Spying!

 

WIPE Out!

Fronted by the USA, Big Finance is muscling into every economy. The bigshots sponsor backdoor "trade agreements" fronting secretive Wealthy Investor Privileges & Entitlements - WIPE guarantees.

The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership) might as well be so much toilet paper -- which our government forces us to eat. TPP negotiators have imposed secrecy through 20 rounds - the latest big TPP dump starts in Ottawa today.

The word "Partnership" is bullshit -- it's a corporate trojan horse to domesticate the globe via client state entitlement guarantees, and we dumb "People" aren't even invited to comment. Get Alarmed !

There's no valid reason these WIPE talks should be secretive, and when instituted, tie the hands of democracy. Outrageous!

The citizenry should wipe their arses with these bogus entitlement agreements, which threaten to stitch-up our world...

Little Abe Acts Tough

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, like George W. Bush, is a cocky shadow of his father without wisdom; a rich little brat talking tough to hide truth: he don't know shit & never suffered or needed to work.

PM Abe is fully willing to sacrifice the nation. He's drunk with power, and hopes to cheer Japan to militarize; he's a tool of American strategies & war ambitions. What a jerk.

The Pitchfork Memo

Wealthy Nick Hanauer warns fellow rich people: pitchforks are coming for America's economic elite ! 

He claims rising inequality endangers the plutocrat class, and we must raise the minimum wage -- Unless rank & file workers earn more (and thus shop more), class war will surely destroy "the filthy rich" ...

Hanauer urges the predatory megarich to invest in the middle class. Otherwise he sees unsustainable capitalistic concentration leading to uprising, physically endangering the upper crust. Surely now our society wastes huge talent, but Revolution will tragically damage further good, productive people. Hanauer calls for counter-intuitive collective action, perpetuating America's social Darwinism. But malicious pitchforks are the more likely future -- however wrongheaded, illegal & cruel.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html

Boiled Frog?

Too many Americans have never heard of the "boiled frog" phenomenon - we sit quietly while opportunists harvest our resources, drain our energies, and murder our freedoms.

Hillary Clinton wishes to become Chief Commandante of Prison Camp America. Certainly she's a clever and energetic person, but if I support her, will she be working for me?

No way. Hillary Clinton works First for herself, and next for others glib & rich.

Ms. Clinton is just now a private citizen (not in government employment) with a huge pulpit from which to comment & criticize, but she says very little of value. She knows details of hundreds, perhaps thousands of scandals and shortcomings - typically her lips are sealed. She feeds us sound bites and semi-humorous entertainment. She's a poster girl for the obedient warder, the capo, the All American prison guard. Hillary Clinton is a clever political hack -- like thousands of others in Washington, passionless except for orthodox payoff issues.

Hillary Clinton is known for having been passionate about health care coverage expansion. But since 2002 when Congress amended HIPPA, (the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) government is able to vacuum-up the health data & doctor's records of any and all Americans (link). Do we hear Mrs. Clinton speaking up for our protection? Of course not!

The medical profession is now enlisted to spy on us:
“We may also disclose your PHI [Personal Health Information] to authorized federal officials as necessary for national security and intelligence activities.”

This statement is clear - it's not simply for "national security" (which might be argued) but they explicitly further added "intelligence activities" (which can mean whatever).