Congratulations, Lets Get to Work

Welcome to Washington President Obama. Now we can start sending our e-mails to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when we want to Contact Obama. And today, we can raise our voice in unison on a specific economic issue: Obama's proposed tax cuts.

The Godless Liberal Homo blog lays out some rationals for sending this message to Team Obama:

Bush's tax cuts have been disastrous. The small checks for middle class and poor people did nothing to help our economy. They might have stimulated China's economy marginally, but China doesn't buy much anything from us.

Bush's enormous tax cuts for the rich have played a key role in our desperate economic situation. They contributed significantly to our government and foreign debt while doing nothing to create jobs here in the US. The wealthy used these unearned windfalls in an orgy of speculation, creating bubble after bubble (stocks, subprime mortgages, oil, gold, etc.) leading to crash after crash. Our treasury was looted to a huge extent to create money which mostly disappeared in 2008.

He's not alone. The January/February 2009 issue of Mother Jones Magazine also lays out the most "stimulating" actions that government can take to keep this recession from going further south.

You can read the Mother Jones article Stimulus is for Suckers for an explanation of the chart above. It's hard to see in the graph, but according to this analysis from Moody's Economy.com, an across-the-board tax cut only generates 3-cents of stimulus per dollar in cuts, whereas food stamps generates 73-cents per dollar of stimulus.

A bit wonkish I admit, but when Obama said in his inaugural speech that we need to be more responsible, this level of attention is part of what he was talking about.

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Investigate Israeli War Crimes

The crimes begin with failure to protect the civilians of an occupied land; not only does Israel violate social norms by the omission of "protection," Israel's violation is one of commission by collectively punishing the occupied civilian population. This is done, not only by blatant, disproportionate military violence, but by Israel's multi-year blockade of travel and commerce for Palestinians.

It has the effect of slow genocide or slow ethnic cleansing, in part because some Palestinians are fed up with the incessant check points, humiliations, and inability to develop their business enterprises... they're leaving (being cleansed) from their homeland.

I could continue adding to the list of war crimes, but the information is available elsewhere (just not in the US establishment-controlled media). We need to raise our voices against impunity and for justice to be served. It's also high time for more attention to the strategy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel.

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MLK Video by SleptOnTV

This 5 min. video by SleptOnTV goes into King's challenges, beyond civil rights, into questioning the economic system. Now is a good time to listen again to King's words.


SleptOnTV on YouTube

SleptOn Website

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GDAE Podcast Episode 3

Episode 3 - January 15, 2009 returns to a wider variety of music, current events, and laughs (at Joe Scarboro):

• Music by Ryan Harvey on a corporate globalization scheme, song entitled "Plan Puebla Panama."
• Joe Scarborough (MSNBC) gets comeuppance from Zbigniew Brzezinski via Wakeup AM Podcast.
• Two false narratives by the US media on Gaza are exposed.
• Rickbackbookbock on the prosecution of George W. Bush.
• Auto industry bailout: Can't take our eyes off of this one. Opportunities and risks.

Update: Israel uses exotic, experimental weapons.

LINK to the GDAE Podcast Website or Subscribe via Buttons to the Right.

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Israel Uses Exotic, Experimental Weapons

The Israeli use of exotic, experimental DIME* weapons is goulish. While not 100% confirmed, a Norwegian doctor reports strange looking mutilations.

According to Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor who worked at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza during the Israeli assault,

The muscles are sort of split from the bones, hanging loose. And you also have quite severe burns where this energy wave has hit.

This is corroborated in an article entitled, Israel Tests New Highly Lethal, Cancer-Causing Tungsten Bomb in Gaza.

This is shown in the photo to the right from a different source (RaiNews).

Gilbert continues,

The additional effect in animal studies on the DIME weapon is that the residuals in the muscle in mice will cause a very severe form of muscle cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, which easily spreads to the lungs.

The DIME weapon was used in Gaza in July and August 2006: Italian TV Exposes Experimental IDF Use of U.S. Weapon Which Severs and Burns Limbs Below Genitals.

Abstract describing DIME [1].

* DIME: Dense Inert Metal Explosives. Developed by the US Air Force in 2006, they release intense power in a relatively confined area without shrapnel. They were developed under the banner of "limiting collateral damage". The physical mutilations result from what is like an intense, localized energy wave that shreds tissue.

According to a US military web site,

the projectile comprises a carbon-fiber casing filled with tungsten powder and explosives. In the explosion, tungsten particles - a metal capable of conducting very high temperatures - spread over a radius of four meters [12 feet] and cause death.

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Sources:

1. Internet FAQ Archives, USAF, Aerojet look for damage limitation from their version of M1 HE 105 mm shell, Gibson, Neil, Jane's International Defense Review, 2006.

Oscar Grant

Thanks to Dusty for her post on Justice for Oscar Grant. Mr. Grant is just the latest in a pattern of similar police killings in the SF Bay Area (and other places).

We need to raise our voices on this. The media cannot be silent on this pattern of police brutality. As the country sinks into economic depression, and fear grows among the establishment insiders, it's critical that the rank and file police not be allowed to serve as their Praetorian Guard. We need to call them on it now.

DemocracyNow Coverage.

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Now What? Do we Prosecute?

Another American hero is born: Susan Crawford.

"We tortured Qahtani," Susan Crawford said in an interview with the Washington Post published on Wednesday. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Crawford, a retired judge who also worked in the Reagan administration, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.

Go to Change.gov and send a note to Team Obama. They really need to hear our collective voices. If the Bush people have impunity, the fabric of civilization will unravel.

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U.S. official says Guantanamo detainee was tortured

Korean Blogger Arrested?

Paul Krugman ponders why Team Obama's economic plan falls short of providing enough stimulus to reduce unemployment to "natural" levels. His calculations suggest, within three years the Obama plan will push unemployment down to about 7.3% (from an estimated peak of 8.7%.... "natural full employment" is pegged at 4.3%).

My Comment on the matter:

Maybe Team Obama is considering a two-objective problem in which the objectives conflict with each other:

1) Minimize Unemployment
2) Minimize Inflation

Perhaps they have a trade-off curve that shows a break-point when unemployment is at 7.5% with diminishing returns on driving down unemployment as inflation goes through the roof.

Elaboration: As US dollars are flooded into the world market they loose their value. The Fed has already pumped out way more than the Treasury Department's $700 billion for the financial bailout, with little fan fare. Word is that inflation is a certainty and will likely be taking off while the uninformed TV pundits are still lamenting the deflationary economic collapse.

BTW, has you heard about the popular Korean blogger who was arrested after he posted a piece on Korea moving away from US Treasuries? Here's a Digg article on it for you to help promote.

The word is that the mad rush from US Treasury bonds is going to take place fairly soon; there is already movement away, in part because there is legitimate concern the US cannot pay off the bonds, as mentioned recently in an opinion piece published by the Washington Post [1].

I'm thinking about 1) Taking a loan, the interest of which will be inflated away (that's effectively the US plan for getting out of debt), 2) Buying assets now (stocking up on the basics like toilet paper while it's still cheap), and 3) Gold.

Update: What happened to the blogger Park Dae-Sung?

The 31-year-old Park, better known as his pen name "Minerva,'' was arrested early this year on charges of circulating false rumors in cyberspace but was exonerated in April. The prosecutors appealed the court decision, though.

MORE from the Korea Times, September 28, 2009.

Sources:

1. Washington Post, DEFAULT OPTION: We're Borrowing Like Mad. Can the U.S. Pay It Back? January 11, 2009.

War Crimes and Pop Culture

I know nothing about the CBS show "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service," which airs on Tuesdays at 8pm. Here's the preview of tonight's show:

Preview of 'NCIS' 6.13: Broken Bird

One of the team members takes the fall in the next episode of "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service". In "Broken Bird", Ducky (David McCallum) will be stabbed at a crime scene, leading to a revelation of his disturbing past that occurred more than 30 years before.

After Ducky is attacked while on duty, the NCIS team must delve into his clandestine past and they uncover a horrible truth about him. He was accused as a war criminal, torturing and killing citizen of Afghanistan.

How many more people like Ducky has the Bush administration turned into low-level war criminals? People who will be haunted by guilt for the rest of their lives? According to a Mother Jones article, Torture Comes Home, Ben Allbright (photo) watches The Daily Show, worships Dave Eggers—and still wound up "softening up" prisoners in Iraq. He now has to ask himself, "Am I a Torturer?"

If we are a just nation, and anyone should face prosecution, it should start at the top with George W. Bush.

Flattened by the Blues

If you want to see this blue montage right-side-up, you'll have to Click Here for a little repliderium.

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It's Ultimately So Sad

Now we must struggle to "make the world a better place," knowing that we have so much to over come just to get back to where we were eight years ago. But the reality is that Bush has done irreversible damage to so many aspects of our existence. * sigh * I guess it's time to get to work.

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NPYD Wants Cell Phone Control

According to Wired Magazine, "The New York Police Department wants to be able to shut down cell phones, in case of a terrorist attack."

This desire was voiced during testimony on January 8 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

"For now, Kelly said, the NYPD is taking a whole range of measures to stop another Mumbai-style spree -- from working with private businesses to interdicting boats to training recruits in heavy weapons to installing a spycam network across downtown Manhattan."

Concerned about your civil liberties? You might think twice after seeing the movie LOOK, which features the results of surveillance cameras in retail store dressing rooms (people steal stuff using dressing rooms you know). Review and revealing photo.

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Sources:

WIRED Magazine, NYPD Wants to Jam Cell Phones During Terror Attack, January 8, 2009.

Digg: As of January 11, 2009, this Digg post for the Wired article had 1615 "votes" on Digg.

"That's So Gay" is So Uncool

Very short educational video. I wasn't aware of this issue, but with a kid in my house, I'm now sensitized in case the issue comes up.



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Thanks to Godless Liberal Homo blog for raising my awareness.

Dennis Blair: Withdraw Nomination

My latest note to Team Obama via "comments" at Change.gov:

State Department documents show that Dennis Blair, nominee for the top intelligence post, ignored his formal instructions to tell the military leader of Indonesia to stop using militias to kill civilians in East Timore. (This occurred during the Clinton Administration).

His nomination should be withdrawn, otherwise there will be a very embarrassing fight in the Senate confirmation process.

MORE from DemocracyNow!

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Economic Stimulus Message to Obama

Below is a message I just sent to "Comments" at www.Change.gov (will anyone read it? Probably a young staff person, who will be slightly more educated as he or she engages others in Washington, DC.)

A bit wonkish, but...

You don't have to pay Paul Krugman, but you should heed his advice. Too much tax cut, as a stimulus, won't be effective.
1. Some of it goes into savings.
2. Much of it goes to cheap goods from WalMart/Chnia
3. It is merely consumption, not investment, e.g., in infrastructure.

As a State government manager, I urge you to a) fund local government jobs, b) fund design work, not just "shovels in the ground." Designer jobs are jobs too and we can expect to need well over a year of stimulus, so today's designs will be tomorrows "shovels in the ground."

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Click on the Change.gov link above and leave a message for Obama's young staffer. You'll feel better for it.

Sources:

Thanks to Paul Krugman for the motivation on this one.

Privatize Social Security!

Sounds rather funny today, the idea of having your safety net invested in the stock market a year ago, doesn't it? A lot of Republican ideas are like that.

But Bush's failure was the salvation of many Americans. The thought, "Dodged a Bullet" comes to mind. Unfortunately for some Italians, their government "succeeded" in partial privatization of their version of social security. It's that fascist tendency thing... government and corporations become one.

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Israel's Two-Front War?

Initial corporate media accounts are down-playing the significance of rockets fired from Lebanon as being isolated. But give Israel's gross violations of legal and ethical norms, an uncontrolled escalation is a risk.

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Reuters, Rockets from Lebanon hit Israel amid Gaza offensive, Haim Shafir, January 8, 2008.

Palestinian AP Reporter Article to go Viral...

.... with your help.

AP Gaza reporter finds hometown in rubble

If you have a yahoo account, skim this article, go to the bottom, and click "Recommend." Then, click "BuzzUp" and add a comment.

If you don't have a yahoo account, you might consider starting one if only so you can participate in the buzz wars. Alone we are little, together we are large.

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Sources:

AP Gaza reporter finds hometown in rubble, IBRAHIM BARZAK, January 7, 2008.

March on Washington for Gaza

(please send to friends and lists)
LET GAZA LIVE!
Stop the U.S./Israeli War Against the Palestinian People

National March on Washington
Saturday, January 10 Assemble at
the White House (north side) at 1:00 PM

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Blaming Hamas Rockets is an Excuse

First, Hamas is a political party that functions similarly to the Irish IRA, which had military, social and political wings.

Second, the most recent truce was broken by Israel on November 4, 2007 when they entered Gaza to conduct a targeted assassination raid. No rockets were being fired at that time. After several more targeted assassination raids, murdering twenty three Palestinians, resistance from Gaza was expressed by firing rockets at Israel.

Third, for two years Israel has conducted a siege on the Gaza Strip. This came after the US and Israel waged an increasingly brutal campaign against Hamas, despite its legitimate parliamentary election victory in 2005. This ended when the US and Israel attempted to provoke a Palestinian civil war by arming and training members of the Pelestinian Fatah party. Their attempt failed when Hamas exposed the US/Israeli coup plot and used force to eject Fatah party leaders from Gaza .

Fourth, the rockets initially fired from Gaza, in response to the targeted assassinations by Israel, were weak, home-made devices typically with warheads weighing about 5 kilograms (11 lbs)[1]. This compares with farm more powerful weapons being used by Israel. It's true that Palestinian weapons have marginally improved since 2006, but this link comparing only the Apache helicopter armaments to Palestinian rocket, not describing F-16 jets, drones, tanks, navel artillery, it's clear that Israel is applying disproportionate force, that is killing scores of Palestinian civilians.

Fifth, other Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation, including Fatah members, are also firing rockets. It's not just Hamas.

No rockets are being fired from the Palestinian West Bank, yet Israel conducts routine military operations in that area resulting in Palestinian deaths.

The rockets from Gaza are a provoked excuse by Israel to get rid of the democratically elected Hamas, because Israel and the US cannot get rid of Hamas via the democratic process. This is the lesson of the current Israeli/Palestinian situation.

The following 7 min video is not for the faint of heart. I simply feel obligated to demonstrate my opposition to Israel's collective punishment and other violations of international law. I don't blame Hamas for the images in this video. Hamas is standing up for democratic principles. How many times have we seen this play out in history?

Gaza Children, Why were they Killed?

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[1] http://www.weaponsurvey.com I cant' vouch for this site.

Cartoon Economics

Four minutes worth watching for a humorous refresher on how we got into this economic mess, and a prediction for the future.



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Thanks Martha!

GDAE Podcast: Episode - 2

OK, if you want to subscribe to GDAE Podcast, click on the link below. It opens a webpage that lets you subscribe via the MP3 player of your choice, e.g., iTunes.

RSS LINK - Subscribe

It's easy to un-subscribe: Just delete the GDAE Podcast show from your list of podcast shows.

Or, you can listen to the GDAE Podcast directly from my new GDAE Podcast web page. The current format is about a half-hour. Check it out!

Episode 2:

You might call this episode of GDAE Podcat a "Special Edition" because much of the 30 minute show is devoted to voices from the homes of Palestinians in the midst of the first days Israeli attacks. The illegal Israeli invasion continues allegedly against the legitimately elected Hamas government. But there is more than that....

• Prosecute Bush: A call to vsit Obama's Change.gov website and vote forf appointing a special prosecutor ("How To" below)*,
• Voices from the Besieged Gaza Strip: Gripping interviews with Palestinians living in the Gaza strip as US-made Apache helicopters fire their guns[1],
• A visit by Rick Back Book Bock: Parenting Wayword Financial Corporations,
• Music: "Brazilita," acoustic guitar and xylophone, Pat and GDAEman.

* Simple "How To" vote for Bush's prosecution on Obama's "Change.gov" website:

1. Go to Obama's Transition Team web site, Change.gov
2. Go to the "Open for Questions" page
3. Sign In to your Change.gov account, or register if you don't have one (it's easy)
4. Search for the questions using the keywords: Special Prosecutor (or Gaza)
5. Vote in favor by clicking the Check Mark

Note: Many people have asked the same question (over 500). You can vote on as many of them as you like.

Sources:

[1] Flashpioints Radio, December 29, 2008 Episode.

Tinkering

At the end of 2008 I posted my first Podcast. I've finished my second, but am in the midst of that internet-tinkering-thing, in addition to beating the drum for the criminal investigation and prosecution of George W. Bush and his associates.

I'm looking into using WordPress for a more robust web site, in addition to this blog... Yadda yadda. Any free advice would be welcomed. But for now, it's back to tinkering.

Sources:

Tinkering Raccoon: Mary Mouse, Rackety's Robot.

Sign the Petition for a Special War Crimes Prosecutor

Get Website Badge for Petition for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate Bush War Crimes

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And if you Think Israel is Carefully Chosing Targets...

Think again...

Reuters Cameraman Killed by Israeli Tank
April 2008

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Prosecute Bush: Change.gov

I've tried to beat the drum on the reasons Bush should be prosecuted. You probably agree, so now lets create the pressure. Here's an important drum to beat:

1. Go to Obama's Transition Team web site, Change.gov
2. Go to the "Open for Questions" page
3. Sign In to your Change.gov account or register if you don't have one (it's easy)
4. Search for the questions using the keywords: special prosecutor
5. Vote in favor by clicking the check mark (NOT the X)

Note: Many people have asked the same question (over 500). You can vote on as many of them as you like, just beware of the "truth commission" cop out questions mixed in... you might not want to vote for them.

As of today, the most popular "Additional Issue" under "Pick a Topic" is the following:

"Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor - ideally Patrick Fitzgerald - to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

14,350 votes "yes" as of today. Lets go viral and get that number to 500,000 million before the January 20 inauguration.

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Thanks to the Godless Liberal Homo for the instructions on Obama's site.

My First Podcast Dec 2008

In less than 30 minutes the GDAE Podcast brings you...

• Music by Ryan Harvey, "It's Not Just Bush," on hard-driving acoustic guitar
• WakeUp Am podcast satire on the Bush presidential library
• Rick Back Book Bock (Ricky) on art and other things
• Van Jones on Green Jusice
• GDAEman sings "This Old Man" (humor)

... all for the price of your time, which I know is valuable. So, don't waste it. Be sure to get pissed off and make your voice heard in response to this podcast. We certainly can't depend on Obama to get us out of the mess we're in.

Episode 1 - Click Here

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On Free Podcast Hosting Sites

I'm not impressed. True, the for-pay versions might not be any better, but the free ones have left me unimpressed.

My brother recommended Switchpod. It says 450MB for free unlimited transfers. For a little extra you can remove ads from your web page. Then you register and, "welcome, you have 250MB to play with." Huh? What about the 450MB? And how hard should it be to upload a 30MB mp3 file? Pretty hard. It has failed twice.

Other sites offer archiving... that is, you get 100MB per month of fast access space, then your old episodes are "archived" to slower access storage. The storage is unlimited, but the download transfers are limited. So, hopefully your podcast won't get too popular. Huh? OK I can live with that for starters, the only problem is the sites don't work that well.

Take Libsyn.com for example. Liberated Syndication. They have this cool feature called the "Sandbox." You login: sandbox, with password: sandbox, and presto! you're able to test out their system. Only problem is, it isn't too hot. Images fall off the page. Setting the look/feel of the web page didn't work for me. Uploading a podcast file ... got uploaded, but then I wasn't able to do anything with it. Not impressed.

So, what about MyPodcast.com? Looked good. Nice clean web pages. Player right on the page, with option to download and many options for subscribing. Comments. A place for adding links. Now the down-side. They embed an audio ad in each of your podcasts... that's maybe OK if they are just advertising the free podcast hosting, but it's probably more than that. The on-screen player didn't seem to work... it worked once, but that was it.

Then there is podserver.info/. Doesn't accept Yahoo e-mail accounts. Maybe that's a good thing, but I didn't want to give my other personal e-mail, so had to set up a Gmail account. OK...

So, I continue to search and ponder the $4/month option.

Update:

Finally went with GoDaddy, bought a URL and use a service called Quick Blogcast. Works fairly well. Still thinking about going into my own website.

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The Hole is So Deep

Lamenting the US trade deficit, the Baltimore Sun Editorial, "Trade Trouble" December 28, 2008, presents two paths for the US to get out of the deep hole we're in:

The U.S. must either get its economic house in order, by reducing debt-financed consumption and rebuilding savings, or learn to live with a decline in American buying power and its influence.

It is certain that we are heading for Option 2. Obama has promised a stimulus package as big, or bigger than, the $700 billion financial industry bailout that's been added to the US debt. Option 1 would spell a depression, so as cathartic and healthy as that might be in the long run, "There are no atheists in fox holes, and no Libertarians in charge of managing an economic crises."

You might look to the Plaza Accord of 1985 as a possible "third way." The Accord, signed by five major nations, agreed to depreciate the US dollar in relation to the Japanese yen and German Deutsche Mark by intervening in currency markets. The intent was to balance US trade deficits with Germany and Japan, but it didn't work. Prepare for less buying power and less influence.

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The Fair Trial of George Bush

In an essay, "Why Bush and Cheney Should Get A Fair Trial," Nightprowlkitty at Docudharma poses the question, Why should they get a fair trial? Much of the piece presents variations on the theme:

One reason is because so many have not gotten a fair trial, both here in the USA and abroad.

Underlying that theme is a message that the legitimacy of the United States system of Justice depends on it.

If we do not hold those in power accountable for their crimes, then who will ever believe the average American has any chance of a fair trial? Why should our faith in our justice system continue?

This is a very powerful rationale for letting blind justice take its natural course, rather than having the natural flow dammed by the establishment. But there is another powerful reason.

Impunity of the elite from justice is a certain path to social breakdown. We know the crimes committed by George Bush and others. In the words of chief American prosecutor at Nuremberg, Robert H. Jackson:

To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

The crimes are not in question. The only question is whether society will allow Bush to get away with these crimes. If it does, the rule-of-law will become illegitimate in the eyes of many more people and the thread of civil order will unravel further.

Put another way, do the elites want orderly Justice or disorderly Justice? I saw the dot-com bubble burst coming, I saw the Bush wars coming, I saw the housing bubble-burst coming, I see inflation coming and I see social breakdown coming if Bush and his associates are not prosecuted.

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Evil

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Another Plaza Accord?

On September 22, 1985 the Plaza Accord was signed by 5 nations - France, West Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. The agreement, named for the Plaza Hotel in New York City in which it was signed, was intended to depreciate the US dollar in relation to the Japanese yen and German Deutsche Mark by intervening in currency markets.

The exchange rate value of the dollar versus the yen declined 51% over the two years following the agreement, and prices of Japanese goods increased by 51% over that time... price inflation. The intent was to stimulate US production for export by making US products cheaper for the Japanese and German markets in the face of the lingering economic down turn of the early 1980s. The US imbalance of trade didn't significantly re-balance due to this accord, and in 1987, The Louvre Accord was signed in Paris to halt the continuing decline of the US Dollar.

A friend says that another Plaza Accord might be in the wings. Word is that devaluation of the dollar, orderly or disorderly, is inevitable. Whether or not other nations collaborate with the US to seek an orderly devaluation remains to be seen. The message is that inflation is on the way.

I'm thinking of taking out a loan at a modest interest, and having it inflate away over the next few years. We'll see if I act on that.

Related: A war for the future of "free trade" is raging. Obama is tied to Schumer and Lindsy Graham, who have been beating the drum for protectionism for two years.

Update: Weaker Dollar Worries Japan, Germany , Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2008.

Sources:

NationMaster.com Encyclopedia, Plaza Accord.