Stalin & Tip O'Neill ?

There's an unseemly hurry to rename the Cape Cod National Seashore's year round Salt Pond Visitor's Center after former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr.

The problem is that in comparison to a few others, O'Neill's contribution to the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore was minor. U.S. Rep. Hastings Keith & U.S. Senators Leverett Saltonstall & John F. Kennedy sponsored and pioneered the legislation that created the national park. Further important influences were authors Henry David Thoreau (Cape Cod, 1865) and Henry Beston (The Outermost House, 1928). Although 2012 is the centennial of O'Neill's birth, he's already well-remembered and officially memorialized in assorted other projects, including the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Library at Boston College, the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel of  Routes 93, 1 & 3 (Central Artery) through Boston, and the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building.

It seems unwise to force local people to adopt such name changes. Projects meant to weather the ages should stand above short-term political expediency and partisan brown-nosing. In my opinion, the USA saw far too many things named after actor-President Ronald Reagan. The USSR named many things after Stalin. People hesitate to say "No."

The passage of time, a different sense of reason, or more forthright opposition may lead to another future change of name. Simmering conflict becomes rather insulting...

Best family members of Tip O'Neill decline the honor, or request others be memorialized.

Stalingrad, formerly Tsaritsyn, is now named Volgograd.

Leningrad has been Petrograd and is now Saint Petersburg.

Rich Rancor: Romney a Retard

Mitt Romney has failed to properly handle questions about his wealth & income, his work with Bain & Co., his IRA (individual retirement account) worth $100 million, etc. 

But Willard Mitt Romney bit the hand that fed him. His blustering explanations have fueled wider interest in offshore tax havens, investment banking loopholes, private banker links to unsavory foreigners, and how to hide details of who's the beneficial owner of wealth. A recent study (link) estimates the super-rich are hiding between $21-32 trillion ($21,000,000,000,000+) in secret tax havens, assisted by a "bevy of professional enablers in private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries" -- Seem exactly Mitt's kind of people !

Surely many mega rich now fear their furtive world might unravel... they prefer darkness, outside public awareness. Mitt became their enemy, because basically, he's stupid.

Capitalist Treachery

Keep people indebted, keep them dumb, keep 'em hungry...

Republicans and Mitt Romney are preparing the groundwork for a new America. Jobs will become available after the minimum wage is scrapped. The American people will work longer hours, in worse conditions, for less.

The richest among us too readily exploit weakness & suffering in the other 99%

Entrepreneurs & businessmen deserve to enjoy successes stemming from their efforts. The key argument rather is such businesspeople have no right to monopolize all of America's riches. We all deserve decency, a chance to learn, stable community life, leisure time, etc...

The dangers of profit maximization regularly threaten safety and health. This is clear when flimsy minimum standards collapse (link). As long as America's borders are open to trade, jobs will continue to be exported to sweatshops abroad.

In Sweden, the whole society enjoys five or more weeks of paid leisure holiday. The roads are good, education is free, excellent medical care is available to everyone regardless of income.

Tweedledee & Tweedledum

Paul Krugman on Romney's hidden finances:
"I’ve been awe-struck by the way questions about Mr. Romney’s career at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he founded, and his refusal to release tax returns have so obviously caught the Romney campaign off guard. Shouldn’t a very wealthy man running for president — and running specifically on the premise that his business success makes him qualified for office — have expected the nature of that success to become an issue?"

To me it is more of a question: why are our choices of leadership so poor?...  Romney's a fool; Obama is a tool of the oligarchs. 

Examine the charter of incorporation granted by states and foreign nations to companies infiltrating our communities. "Limited liability" allows companies to cut-and-run on debts & mistakes, often leaving their huge problems with local people. Should the funds of distant investors be allowed to buy the support of our elected officials? America's people are being shanghai'd -- "induced to do something by means of fraud" --
we're pushed to Elect the fool, or Re-elect the tool.

Fallen Heroes, Wounded Warriors

Why is America at war?

Or to rephrase - why is America still at war in Afghanistan?

Too many people have suffered & died for whatever's the lame answer. All over the world, families grieve for their injured and crippled. Thousands of people suffer psychological trauma from horrendous experiences in the war zones.

It is time the spotlight celebrating Fallen Heroes & Wounded Warriors is turned on our civilian leadership and their financiers.

Lakefront jet-skiing by Mitt Romney might be interrupted by a few sad moments -- sure, politicians & bankers can put on dark clothes and look grim for a few hours, but America's po' families grieve forever, along with the families of enemies abroad.

Vietnam, Laos, Iraq, Afghanistan - the soldiers are expended not for freedom, but so 1% enjoy a fancy lifestyle.

Shared sacrifice?

US Military Muscle Cramp

The 31,000 ton USNS Rappahannock recently fired on a small fishing boat off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, killing an Indian fisherman and seriously wounding others of the crew. As the two ships neared each other in the shipping lanes, the US vessel, a 677 ft (206 m) Naval support ship, came to believe the much smaller craft was a potential threat. The 25-foot skiff (which proved ultimately to have no radio and no weaponry), "ignored defensive, non-lethal warnings" by the US Naval vessel before being raked with machine gun fire and partially disabled.

(photos not to scale)

Such incidents are likely to occur.

American troops are deployed in assorted sensitive areas around the world, and must be sensitive to the threat of attack.

How can accident and bloodshed be avoided? Best redeploy in the mainland USA, and slowly shrink the size of the US military -- it is too large, too widely deployed, too expensive. Posting US military forces all around the world generates trouble.

Too often US military presence relies on cozy relationships with despotic and non-democratic unpopular regimes. When we prop-up the hated government, no doubt local people despise our presence. Bring the US troops home.

Shapely Olympic Females

The 1912 Olympics in Stockholm had 2407 athletes, including 48 women. Team USA did not send any female members - surprisingly, for similar reasons as Saudi Arabia until this year, due largely to modesty. - (link) "because U.S. team rules required women to wear long skirts in all their events, no American women competed."

Field Marshal Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's claims of loyalty to der Fatherland USA might be doubted. He himself ably avoided service during the Vietnam War, and among his five sons, none achieved the lowest rank of Private. That's because none volunteered for military service (one is training in medicine, others are fast-track finance or real estate executives).

US-based Romney's offshore financial manipulations make him a suspect citizen, otherwise he's cleancut and seems nice (fellow Republican Ted Bundy also seemed honorable, except for his serial killer weaknesses).

If Romney is elected US president, we'll have a chickenhawk leader seeking to prove his toughness through slaughtering other people's sons (and daughters). At 65 years old, Romney hasn't completed any great service projects or exhibited very honorable traits. He's served himself (and perhaps his family). Romney is a whiner and chickenshit, who'll cause great damage to the wider world.

Banks = Bank Thieves?

Another huge financial scandal has been settled, where credit card companies & major banks have agreed to pay retailers up to US$7.25 billion for price fixing. It's likely the largest antitrust settlement in history. (WSJ link)

This just after we learn giant international banks manipulated the LIBOR rate at our expense.

Ultimately and systematically, big finance screws you.

The collusion of these corporations is terrible. Is it criminal? Will hundreds of bankers & finance industry insiders be imprisoned soon for corruption?

Of course not! The corruption is part of the system. Many of the regulators are former or future employees of key financial firms. Some are related by family ties. We can expect no accountability for their 'ignorance' - which all surely deeply regret. Typical format is fines paid by companies, which avoid admitting guilt.

Note the embarrassing family link between former NASDAQ Chairman Bernie Madoff & the Securities & Exchange Commission, where SEC compliance official Eric Swanson married Madoff's niece Shana (she was a compliance lawyer for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities firm, her dad was Chief Compliance Officer). Corruption, compliance shortcomings and poor regulation helped Madoff & Co. launder tens of billions of dollars. But wrongdoing by most of his cronies & family co-workers is unproved, no charges have been filed - we're told nobody but Bernie knew nothing...

Would Romney Steal Love?

Mitt Romney seems to me an amoral weasel. He appears the type of person who'd somehow manage to "miss" World War enlistment, when I imagine he'd stay on the home front, wheeling & dealing, fiddling with deployed soldier girlfriends & wives, selling the military poor quality equipment at inflated prices...

Romney has no leadership quality at all. I'd not willingly follow him anywhere, as he seems a conman who'd steal or weasel something if he got the chance.

He's too much like Captain Francesco Schettino of the destroyed Costa Concordia: abandoning responsibility with sleazy excuses. Romney's shown his commitment to Mitt Romney Ltd. His financial scheming indicates he'll quickly dump America for personal profit. I don't respect him at all.

Made with Pride in China

The U.S. Olympic Committee is under siege by politicians (link) for purchasing uniforms from China for the Olympic team USA.

US Senator Harry Reid advocates burning the uniforms, because "We have people in America working in the textile industry who are desperate for jobs."

What a load of balderdash!

Senator Reid no doubt uses foreign-made goods himself.

Prior to US Independence Day, I  was recently in a Massachusetts shop full of patriotic goods: US flags, bunting, pennants, etc. Most of the products were made in China. I saw a large red, white & blue pennant proclaiming "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" made in Pakistan.

Hand-painted Christmas decorations can be odd: traditional winter scenes made in Bangladesh, where the artists have never seen snow...

Our global world can be strange.

Chop Chop

Infant circumcision is difficult to justify. Whether for boys or girls, the practice seems to me ghastly: irreversible genital mutilation upon individuals given no choice.

Religious groups may claim long traditions, but similar rituals of scarification or baby tattooing or sacrifice would not be tolerated.

Claims that some circumcised as children might eventually benefit medically must be counterbalanced by the reality that circumcision procedures sometimes lead to infection or sudden death. Even one such accident, or a single adult claiming the procedure was a violation, should be sufficient to ban the painful rite as child abuse.

In respect to culture & religion, youth should enjoy freedom to choose their own path and religion upon becoming adult. Adults can snip-off bits from their own bodies. But it seems to me very wrong that anyone be allowed to injure permanently the genitals of babies & children.

Children should not be medically disfigured with no informed choice. The procedure breaks a key rule of Hippocrates:  
Do No Harm.

This is a civil & human rights issue -- in my opinion, circumcising vulnerable young people is unsupportable & should be made a serious crime.

Tap Tap

The US government dipped into cellphone user accounts over 1.3 million times in 2011. Nine major US carriers (link) provided data released by US Rep.Edward J. Markey, co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus.

"Information shared with law enforcement includes data such as geolocation information, content of text messages, wiretaps, among others."

Carriers can be required to provide "cell tower dumps" of all calls & user data connected with an area tower in a given period; this includes location & data of many other people unrelated to law enforcement investigations.

There's very little judicial oversight of such activities. Rep. Merkey is reportedly concerned about what's done with the data collected.

The public also should be concerned: there's now no accountability as our private communications & on-line activities are monitored & exchanged among private sector technicians, the police, and ???.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation seeks to improve transparency and rule of law over such investigations.   You can join or donate here (link). Don't wait and be too late...

Hawaiian Wins Gold !

One hundred years ago today in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku representing the USA won the 100 meter freestyle gold medal.He twice bettered the Olympic Record in preliminary rounds. Duke went on to win a total of five Olympic medals (in the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Games). His last Olympic competition age 42 was on the US Water Polo team in the 1932 Games.

Born Hawaiian, Duke became a US citizen at the age of 9 (US Hawaiian Organic Act, 30 April 1900) after the USA annexed Hawaii as a colonial territory.

Another hero of the 1912 Olympics was Jim Thorpe of the USA, a mixed race athlete (typically labeled Indian or "redskin") who won both the Pentathlon & Decathlon Gold Medals.

These athletes struggled to overcome racism. Their successes helped pave the way for a brighter present day world.

 The Hawaiian Gazette  12 July 1912, pg 1

http://chroniclingamerica.com/lccn/sn83025121/1912-07-12/ed-1/seq-1/

 Sweden's King Gustaf V (on podium) confers Duke's 100-meter Freestyle Gold

A great celebrity, Duke Kahanamoku became perhaps better known for introducing & popularizing the Hawaiian sport of surfing around the world.

Yankee Go Home

Nearly 30,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea. Both governments seem satisfied with present arrangements. But it's ugly and frankly, it sucks.

Why should American taxpayers shoulder huge costs defending Korea? Korea is a proud member of the OECD and major economic power. The Korean people should police themselves.

Confronted with the American military, Korean civilians feel a mix of shame and anger.

The Japanese feel similarly about U.S. military forces in Japan (about 40,000 troops and US civilian employees). The Germans also dislike their foreign protectors. Regardless of good intent, the U.S. bases are military encampments, small violent destabilizing cities. Return the resources to decaying America.

Urgently: --- Yankee Go Home.

Nukenergy Luck

Successful nuclear power stations avoid accident -- perhaps through luck.

The downside to disaster is horrible.  Survivors face decades of life-changing cleanup.

It's not worth the risk.

Cut & Run Corporation

We are surrounded by, and rely upon, local, national & global companies. It should be more widely recognized that in times of serious trouble, most are constructed as "cut & run" corporations.

We give limited liability corporations the option of leaving creditors unpaid. Their cut & run often leaves the public holding the bag, paying assorted inflated costs for their mistakes. What an exit strategy!

Limited liability corporations should be very strictly regulated. A capitalist fundamental is to cut costs, so they can't regulate themselves. Horrible examples are Enron and the Madoff empires, found ultimately rotten to the core. TEPCO ("responsible" for Fukushima's nuclear safety) is another example.

The Libor rate manipulation scandal now engulfing major banks around the world shows corporate manipulation jerking the public to pay more. Again we're chumps, manipulated by insiders.

Such deceit and negligence must be criminal. The enabling conspirators should be heavily fined, shamed and imprisoned.

Joe Public pays the tragic flimflam costs... Republican "friends" never return his stolen money.

Dirty Facebook?

Be cautious with your Facebook network. Keep your network closed for safety, and purge little-known "friends" who never post (perhaps a data collector's sham alias).
Americans should beware commenting on their friend's health: leaked information can damage insurance coverage. (Prospective) employers also monitor social networks...

Dirtyhanded Paperboy

Though my paperboy is grubby, it doesn't stop me reading the newspaper.

The postlady may fart & smell bad, but I still open my mail.

Julian Assange of Wikileaks may be dirty (and he may be clean) but the important story is not his personal life, but rather the Wikileaks documents themselves.

The documents highlight scheming warmaking, dodgy financial acts, assassination, and underhanded diplomacy; these are the real issues. The Assange debacle continues to deflect attention from a wide assortment of bad behavior, high crimes and midemeanors orchestrated by others, well-documented by Wikileaks.

Julian's story is a sideshow, designed to distract attention from truly huge criminal activities waged by those more powerful. The failure of most big media organizations to highlight this fact clearly indicates corporate media comfortably treats us as dumb idiots to be hoodwinked.

Responsible Corp = Low Tax

We collect tax to pay for social investment & costs. One major cost is cleaning up after private interests. We sadly provide a cut & run option to Limited Liability Corporations -- companies can abandon their mistakes and leave society the cleanup costs.

This undermines everyone's economic security. It is not good.

Raise corporate tax rates on limited liability corporations !

Increase criminal penalties for corporate crimes.

On the other hand, we could register companies in formats that do not allow defection. Investors would be & should be liable for their actions. Responsible.

Responsible companies deserve lower taxes.

The Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) & Public Limited Company (PLC; "public" means publicly-traded) are formulated to serve private interests. They have incentives to cut costs, and to shift costs to others. To assure their operations don't become a public burden, their selfish activities are monitored and circumscribed; they should be highly taxed. 

LLC & PLC = High tax

SRC = Socially Responsible Corporation = low tax

Peon Prime Minister - UK

British Prime Minister David Cameron fortunately became a great friend of Rupert Murdoch & Co....       Cozy.
Can Cameron survive scrutiny? Yes he Cam!

News International Ltd. 

The Sun  

The Sunday Times

The Times

The Times Literary Supplement

News of the World

Dow Jones

The Wall Street Journal

Barron's

Star TV

National Geographic Channel

HarperCollins

The Australian

British Sky Broadcasting

20th Century Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox News

Peon Prime Minister - Sweden

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been a good pet of the USA.

To Adbusters & Occupy activists:

Dear Adbusters & Occupy activists

Many thanks for continuing agitation in support of humanity.

As we struggle against unchecked corporatist powers, an important theme might focus on the legal notion of corporate limited liability. We cannot afford giving a free pass to banks and mega-corporations acting irresponsibly & illegally. Too often we allow shut-down on company terms & schedule, as PLC & LLC corporations leave a violated public with their bills and environmental cleanup.

A case in point is TEPCO in Japan (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and the flaccid response to their shortcomings in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. TEPCO has received huge bailout funding from the Japanese public, with no clawback of past dividends paid out to company owners. Nobody has been found responsible or prosecuted for bad corporate policy decisions or engineering flaws. In any event, anyone punished would more likely be a draftsman, subordinate to the Board of Directors, President & CEO (the true corporate architects).

Kalle Lasn chronicled our need for corporate responsibility throughout his 1999 book Culture Jam, but also specifically highlighted the need that shareholders be partially liable for their activities (p. 158 in my paperback edition). We're too often berated to be fiscally responsible by corporate shills luxuriating in public-sponsored largesse. The limited liability corporation is an expensive loophole to be closed. Terminate Ltd. This is a meme we can work with:

Stop Limited Liability !

aloha

Insider Rape?

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders released an explosive report today (link) detailing monstrous low-interest & no-interest funding to insiders from the banking industry.

The report names 18 individuals profiting from insider relationships.

Over 4 trillion dollars is involved:
US$ 4,000,000,000,000.00
Big bucks !

"This report reveals the inherent conflicts of interest that exist at the Federal Reserve. At a time when small businesses could not get affordable loans to create jobs, the Fed was providing trillions in secret loans to some of the largest banks and corporations in America that were well represented on the boards of the Federal Reserve Banks. These conflicts must end," Sanders said.

The report does not allege illegal activities. It raises serious questions, however, regarding the relationships between private interests, the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Federal Reserve. The corporatist arrangement has favored a few insiders, at unprecedented scale. While America's corporate media discussed alleged wick-dipping by President Clinton and Senator Edwards, and the vindictive foolishness of Governor Palin, meanwhile huge wealth (value & title to our housing, and our legacy to future generations) was transferred under cover to pirates. Favored private interests have raped us of huge wealth.

The text of U.S. Senator Sanders (Independent, Vermont) report is reproduced below:

" During the financial crisis, at least 18 former and current directors from Federal Reserve Banks worked in banks and corporations that collectively received over $4 trillion in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve."

1. Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2007. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with $391 billion in total financial assistance. JP Morgan Chase was also used by the Fed as a clearinghouse for the Fed's emergency lending programs. In March of 2008, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with $29 billion in financing to acquire Bear Stearns. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided JP Morgan Chase with an 18-month exemption from risk-based leverage and capital requirements. The Fed also agreed to take risky mortgage-related assets off of Bear Stearns balance sheet before JP Morgan Chase acquired this troubled investment bank.

2. Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, served on the New York Fed's Board of Directors from 2006-2011. General Electric received $16 billion in low-interest financing from the Federal Reserve’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility during this time period.

3. Stephen Friedman. In 2008, the New York Fed approved an application from Goldman Sachs to become a bank holding company giving it access to cheap Fed loans. During the same period, Friedman, who was chairman of the New York Fed at the time, sat on the Goldman Sachs board of directors and owned Goldman stock, something the Fed’s rules prohibited. He received a waiver in late 2008 that was not made public. After Friedman received the waiver, he continued to purchase stock in Goldman from November 2008 through January of 2009 unbeknownst to the Fed, according to the GAO. During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs received $814 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

4. Sanford Weill, the former CEO of Citigroup, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in New York in 2006. During the financial crisis, Citigroup received over $2.5 trillion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

5. Richard Fuld, Jr, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in New York from 2006 to 2008. During the financial crisis, the Fed provided $183 billion in total financial assistance to Lehman before it collapsed.

6. James M. Wells, the Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks, has served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta since 2008. During the financial crisis, SunTrust received $7.5 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

7. Richard Carrion, the head of Popular Inc. in Puerto Rico, has served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2008. Popular received $1.2 billion in total financing from the Fed's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

8. James Smith, the Chairman and CEO of Webster Bank, served on the Federal Reserve's Board of Directors in Boston from 2008-2010. Webster Bank received $550 million in total financing from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

9. Ted Cecala, the former Chairman and CEO of Wilmington Trust, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in Philadelphia from 2008-2010. Wilmington Trust received $3.2 billion in total financial assistance from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.

10. Robert Jones, the President and CEO of Old National Bancorp, has served on the Fed's Board of Directors in St. Louis since 2008. Old National Bancorp received a total of $550 million in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility during the financial crisis.

11. James Rohr, the Chairman and CEO of PNC Financial Services Group, served on the Fed's Board of Directors in Cleveland from 2008-2010. PNC received $6.5 billion in low-interest loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.

12. George Fisk, the CEO of LegacyTexas Group, was a director at the Dallas Federal Reserve in 2009. During the financial crisis, his firm received a $5 million low-interest loan from the Federal Reserve's Term Auction Facility.

13. Dennis Kuester, the former CEO of Marshall & Ilsley, served as a board director on the Chicago Federal Reserve from 2007-2008. During the financial crisis, his bank received over $21 billion in low-interest loans from the Fed.

14. George Jones, Jr., the CEO of Texas Capital Bank, has served as a board director at the Dallas Federal Reserve since 2009. During the financial crisis, his bank received $2.3 billion in total financing from the Fed's Term Auction Facility.

15. Douglas Morrison, was the Chief Financial Officer at CitiBank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, while he served as a board director at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank in 2006. During the financial crisis, CitiBank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota received over $21 billion in total financing from the Federal Reserve.

16. L. Phillip Humann, the former CEO of SunTrust Banks, served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta from 2006-2008. During the financial crisis, SunTrust received $7.5 billion in total financial assistance from the Fed.

17. Henry Meyer, III, the former CEO of KeyCorp, served on the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland from 2006-2007. During the financial crisis, KeyBank (owned by KeyCorp) received over $40 billion in total financing from the Federal Reserve.

18. Ronald Logue, the former CEO of State Street Corporation, served as a board member of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank from 2006-2007. During the financial crisis, State Street Corporation received a total of $42 billion in financing from the Federal Reserve.

Bulger's Bitch Behind Bars

A fearsome story slowly draws to a close, as the long-time fugitive girlfriend of Whitey Bulger is sentenced to 8 years in U.S. Federal prison.

The story is creepy because James "Whitey" Bulger, a former Alcatraz inmate, was reportedly not only a mobster & multiple-murderer, but a U.S. government informant aided in his escape by U.S. Federal agents.

The story is further complex in that Bulger's brother Billy was one of Massachusetts' most powerful politicians for nearly two decades. Another brother was a Massachusetts clerk-magistrate (judicial hearing officer), a court official appointed for life (who was later convicted of felony perjury and sent to prison).

The fearsome dimension was those being strong-armed reasonably believed they couldn't rely on Massachusetts State officials or upon the U.S. Federal Government -- either was more likely to back bully-boy Bulger.

Even as a "Most Wanted" federal fugitive, anyone spotting Whitey took a risk: might a confidential tip-off create great personal danger? A $2 million reward went uncollected for 16 years...

Whitey Bulger & Catherine Greig were arrested in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, after 16 years as fugitives, much of the time on the FBI Most Wanted list. With them were $800,000 cash and 30 firearms, including pistols, shotguns & rifles -- still a highly dangerous pair. Greig nonetheless was offered a plea bargain without requiring she testify against Bulger. He's yet to come to trial...

Wild Thing

We celebrate the wild thing, enjoying song & excitement, honoring the dark & dangerous.

But when the wild approaches, pussies get nervous ...

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA is in an uproar over a single furry tourist: a black bear who likely swam across the Cape Cod Canal (or perhaps crossed one of the three bridges) and over two weeks gradually made his way down the peninsula to Provincetown, where the Pilgrims first landed.

Bruins fever has hit the Cape before, but this time there's a measure of conflict. Should the bear be left in peace (he's not as yet threatened anyone) or should he be captured and relocated?

Should the dangers of the wild be purged from among us?

Late last night, Massachusetts officials reportedly shot Cape Cod's only wild bear with an immobilizing dart, put him in one of their official vehicles, and carried him off.

State officials take sedated Cape Cod bear from Wellfleet's woods (Cape Cod Times photo by Lezli Rowell )

Formula Retailing?

Many formula retailing establishments are facing frictions in smaller towns. Revised zoning laws seek to "preserve local character" by limiting or prohibiting so-called formula restaurants or retailers that force patterned menus, uniforms, signage, shopfronts, etc. As ordinances are tested in court, the legal framework for such zoning control is adapting and gradually getting stronger.

Some argue this is simply an audacious barrier-to-entry imposed by greedy non-competitive local retailers. A new entrant might be severely limited in allowed retail space, but an existing business would be free to expand, devouring neighboring businesses with impunity ...as is natural in free enterprise.

Some see franchises and chain stores as a creeping illness, a disease that drains character from the local high street, making each Main Street nearly identical to many others, creating homogeneous retail districts, a bored subclass of clerks & consumers, and stale shopping experiences. Locally-owned franchisees send substantial franchise fees to far-off headquarters, while other local businesses may keep more money in the local community.

Formula retailing systems can be highly efficient, but efficiency may be expensive. Campaigns against formula retailing are growing in strength.

Thank you Dennis Kucinich

Rep. Dennis Kucinich early next year will leave the U.S. House of Representatives, after serving since 1997.

His persistence against American overseas militarism was often a lonely voice in top level American government. He advocated using such funds & energies at home, for American social services, and for peaceful outreach.

I thank Dennis Kucinich for stepping forward into the rough-and-tumble of public service, and for honorably persevering at a time when U.S. partisan politics often seems senseless and a tragic waste of life.

("Seems" senseless is used because what transpires is typically filtered by corporate news services - it's difficult for us common citizenry to gauge what really goes on). 

I thank Dennis Kucinich for his 2004 US Presidential Election efforts. Thanks to candidate Kucinich, the more contemptible dimensions of candidates John Edwards, Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama were clearly revealed (link). I'm deeply sad to have the pettiness of these other people clearly displayed, and but genuinely glad my own expectations and vote were not soiled by those bums.

Talent Wanted

Nobody wants to live or to raise their family in a shithole.

Place Appeal is an increasingly important dimension of management & government. Every locality needs talent, entrepreneurialism & jobs to sustain (or create) a viable community.

Labor has increasing opportunities for migration. Places are in competition with each other to attract & keep key people. Those whose ideas and energies can create and develop crafts, industries and jobs are most in demand.

But it's not enough to offer a good salary. Lifestyle and living environment are also vitally important. Talented people with choices look for a creative, fun & prospering community, and a nice place to raise a family.

Systematic development of place appeal is thus essential.

Nuclear Cheat

The whole world now knows:
            Fukushima = nuclear disaster

Japanese nuclear operator TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company's) Annual Report is thus frightening reading for us all (link).

The financial accounts show something of how the operator prepared & responded. The 11 March 2011 disaster circumvented a planned dividend payment for the end of March 2011. But though the firm suffered huge losses & liabilities, and received large injections of public funds, no explicit attempts were made to claw back the dividend handouts disbursed 30 Nov 2010 and earlier that year (some 81 billion yen, or nearly US$1 billion).

We can also see (p.14) TEPCO's total power generation capacity was 64,988 thousand kW, of which only 4 thousand kW were renewables (wind & geothermal). German energy supply was then (early 2011) 20% renewables, over 300 times TEPCO's percentage. TEPCO's pitifully small proportion of 0.006% renewables shows that management & those with policy oversight were terribly, perhaps criminally, shortsighted.

Due to TEPCO, Fukushima's glow now lights the world!

Stop nuclear profiteering.