Thursday, November 16, 2006

Cutting Your Nose

To spite your face as they say. If it is profitable as a private company it is profitable as a public company. Especially with all the talk around nuclear power in the Tar Sands. And if it is sold off it will still cost taxpayers.

The federal government has approached nuclear energy executives to discuss the future of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., including its potential sale.

And this article quotes Energy Probe, the right wing pro-privatization, pro coal lobby, so don't trust them to be objective.

See:

nuclear power


Energy

CANDU


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Liberals Fault

According to the Conservatives Global Warming is a myth. So this too must be the Liberals Fault.

A storm known as a "Pineapple Express" carried warm winds and record rains to the area earlier this month, sending the river over its banks and forcing the evacuation of about 200 families. Smaller evacuations occurred near Hope.

Environment Ministry officials on Vancouver Island kept a watch Wednesday on the threatening Cowichan River for local flooding.

Complicating matters, in the pre-dawn hours, a tsunami watch was issued for the outer coast of the province after a strong 8.3-magnitude earthquake northeast of Japan.

It was cancelled after several hours when regions of Japan and Alaska reported only minor 30-centimetre waves.

See:

Rona Ambrose

Environment


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , ,
, , , , , , , , , ,, , , , ,
, ,

OJ and Double Jeopardy

Crimes of the Rich and Famous. It has nothing to do with race but class. If OJ is a murderer then chances are good that Michael Jackson is a pedophile. If you are rich enough you can do the crime and not the time. And then make a fortune confessing your sins. It is Double Jeporady

MIJAC PERFORMS ‘WE ARE THE WORLD’ IN LONDON:
World Music Awards performance marks return to stage after acquittal of molestation.

*Ironically, Michael Jackson was surrounded by a bunch of kids during a rendition of his song “We are the World” Wednesday night at the World Music Awards in London, which marked his first performance since he was acquitted of child molestation charges in June of 2005.

The 48-year-old was expected to sing his mega-hit “Thriller,” the title track of his landmark 1982 album that was being honored by the show for its upcoming 25th anniversary.


See:

Crime




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , ,
, , , , , , ,

Planes and Trains

Delta officially responds to US Airways' offer

Delta has officially responded to US Airways letter outlining its $8 billion acquisition offer. In a statement on its website, Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein says: "We received a letter from U.S. Airways this morning and will of course review it. Delta's plan has always been to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of 2007 as a strong, stand-alone carrier. Our plan is working and we are proud of the progress Delta people are making to achieve this objective. The Bankruptcy Court has granted Delta the exclusive right to create the plan of reorganization until Feb. 15, 2007. We will continue to move aggressively towards that goal."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (free registration) also has posted on its website a copy of the letter sent from US Airways CEO Doug Parker to Delta's Grinstein. In that letter, Parker tells Grinstein: "I was disappointed that you declined to meet or even enter into discussions in your letter of October 17, 2006 [in response to a previous merger inquiry by US Airways]. Because the benefits of a merger of US Airways and Delta are so compelling to both of our companies' stakeholders, we believe it is important to inform them about our proposal. Therefore, we are simultaneously releasing this letter to the public."

Later in the letter, Parker adds: "This proposal presents an opportunity for Delta creditors to receive significantly higher recoveries than they can receive under any standalone plan for Delta. It is also an opportunity for US Airways shareholders to benefit from the significant upside potential of the combination. Consumers will benefit from expanded choice as well as the reach and services of a large-scale provider within the cost structure of a low-fare carrier. Our employees will benefit from a more competitive employer and our willingness to adopt highest common denominator employee costs."



Seth Sandronsky, "When Economists Didn't Buy the Free Market. . . : An Interview with Michael Perelman"

Michael Perlman is a longtime professor of economics at California State University, Chico. A prolific author, his newest book is titled Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology (Monthly Review Press, 2006).


Seth Sandronsky: What did the top economists of the late 19th century grasp as the U.S. railroad industry grew?

Michael Perelman: Economists who studied the railroad industry, which was by far the dominant industry in the country, realized that competition would necessarily drive prices so low that the railroads would become bankrupt. What they saw was similar to the airline industry today. The extra costs to fly me from San Francisco to New York might cost $20 at the most on a flight that was scheduled but had empty seats. Unbridled competition would drive prices down toward $20, which was not enough to cover the fixed costs.

The economists at the time recognized that the industry's viability would require restricting market forces. They argued that the only hope for the industry was to restrict competition by allowing railroads to combine and at least collude to keep prices high.

SS: For non-economists, can you please explain what fixed costs are for industry, and the connections with prices in the marketplace?

MP: Fixed costs are expenses that do not depend on the quantity of goods or services provided. For example, in the airline industry corporations must pay interest on the debt incurred or payment on the leases for the planes that they use. Once a plane is scheduled to run, payments for the pilots and flight attendants as well as the landing fees are set, regardless of how many seats on the plane are empty. According to economic theory, the relation between fixed costs and prices is nonexistent under strong competition. Prices depend on marginal costs -- the cost of supplying one more unit. In the case of the airlines, the marginal cost of filling an empty seat is merely the extra fuel required to carry the extra weight, maybe a lunch, and the cost of handling baggage. Processing of tickets used to cost about $20 but now through computerization is practically nothing.

Fixed costs are also related to but not the same thing as long-lived capital. Economists rarely pay much attention to long-lived capital, except to applaud the concept of capital accumulation. The reason for their inattention is that capital goods require considerations of time, which complicates the simple economic models with which they are enamored. Once a company has invested in such capital goods, it is stuck with them because it will not get much for its investment on secondhand markets. Companies become desperate to utilize these capital goods as efficiently as possible. A large passenger airplane carrying only a couple people would be a disaster for the airline. They would have to do something to fill up their seats.

If all the airlines were in a similar situation, they would have no choice but to engage in the price war. This sort of competition occurred in the 19th century railroads. Bankruptcy became commonplace until J.P. Morgan began to organize them into large cartels to prevent competition.

Modern economics assumes away this tendency even though common sense shows that no really competitive industry today is very profitable. Profits are highest in industries protected by intellectual property or by the influence necessary to garner government contracts.

SS: What effects did the "Morganizing" of U.S. industries have on the economics profession?

MP: At first, many of the most important economists of the time applauded Morganization. They argued that a consolidated firm could be more efficient and even offer lower prices to consumers -- much like the contemporary justification of Wal-Mart. They also added that excessive competition was destructive.

Within a short period of time, the concern about excessive competition fell away, although the efficiency argument remained in vogue. After all, large corporations were coming to be common and conventional economists were not about to challenge them. After all, business forces already wielded tremendous influence in academia.

The Morgan-friendly economists introduced another argument, which fell out of fashion until it was re-adopted in the 1970s. This thesis proposed that elimination of competition was not necessarily bad because of potential competition. The idea was that if a company became too greedy and its profits soared, other companies would rush in to claim some of the profit. As a result, corporations would moderate their lust after profits, allowing the public to benefit from the lowered prices due to the efficiency of large business.

A few decades later, Joseph Schumpeter offered another wrinkle to the debate. Even if a corporation monopolized an entire sector, say, steel for example, other corporations that depended on steel could turn to other materials such as aluminum as a substitute. Using this argument, monopolistic power magically disappeared because of what economists call cross-product competition. I might mention that the dot.com era adopted Schumpeter as its patron saint because of his advocacy of the essential role of the entrepreneur.

But now, such debates have subsided. Instead, economists exude confidence that the market operates as a giant computer or even a super-brain, which allows it to ensure that business performs in the most efficient manner possible. So great is the divorce from reality that such theories persist even in the post-Enron era.

See:

Airlines


Pensions


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marxism in action

Marx Meeting


A bit o anarchy as the Marx Brothers wither away the State.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , ,

Communist Manifesto Toon

Communist Manifesto illustrated by Disney

This is a scream a must view

A tip o' the blog to NewsTrolls


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , ,

Assisted Suicide

Sleaze Crime reporter Nancy Grace has not yet been charged with aiding and abetting a suicide. Considering her outrageous style of accuasatory reporting, that all those accused of a crime are guilty, one would think she would have turned herself in already for the crime of bullying someone to death.

In 2006, Grace was involved in an incident reported heavily in US and international media when a 21 year old woman, Melinda Duckett, committed suicide following an interview given by Grace concerning the disappearance of Duckett's 2 year old son.

Duckett had reported her son missing to police on August 27 having finished watching a film, telling them that she returned to her son's room to find his bed empty and a 10in slit in a window screen in his room.

Grace had interviewed Duckett the day before her suicide, during which she banged her desk and attacked Duckett for her perceived lack of openness regarding her son's disappearance, asking Duckett "Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day?"[3] Duckett appeared to become confused, and was unsure if she had taken a polygraph test. When Grace asked her "why" she had not given out specific details, Duckett began to reply "Because I was told not...", to which Grace responded "Ms Duckett, you are not telling us for a reason. What is the reason? You refuse to give even the simplest facts of where you were with your son before he went missing. It is day twelve..." Grace then allowed Duckett a reply before cutting to a media psychologist.

The next day, Duckett shot herself to death, a death which relatives claim was influenced by media scrutiny, especially from Grace.Speaking to the The Orlando Sentinel, Duckett's grandfather Bill Eubank said, "Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end... She wasn't one anyone ever would have thought of to do something like this. She and that baby just loved each other, couldn't get away from each other.

See:

Crime




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , ,

Red In Tooth and Claw

Blogging Tory; mesopotamia west writes; There is one fact that binds Liberals, Socialists and Communists; a belief in the perfectibility of man, the feeling that somehow, someway, a loving, caring and compassionate humanity can be hammered out of the anger, greed and loathing of human nature.

Oh what a conceited negative view of oneself this poor man has. Clearly though since humanity is such a beast it must be dominated and ruled over. Hence we should make laws that protect us from ourselves. But wait he opposes this.

I can never understand how those who declare we are vestigial beasts can then turn around and declare we should have the right to bear arms, to kill each other at will, at a whim. As Mr. Mesopotamia West does. Since this would seem to be a contradiction. But wait no of course given that then we need to have both the right to bear arms and a police state to govern us.

What stupidity. What illogic. But of course one cannot take these kinds of arguments seriously, since the premise is incorrect. Humans are social beings, we like other animals live cooperatively, in solidarity, balancing out our personal needs with our social obligations. There is no need to hammer that into us. We are inherently compasionate, which is what all great religions in the world appeal to and tell us is so.

We are loving or we would have no families, kinship groups, tribes, why society would be nothing less than the war of all against all. Opps thats what Hobbes said to Calvin.

We are inherently socialist because we socialize, individualism is liberalism, socialism arose out of the liberal movement of the 18th century as did anarchism.While the conservative politics of Mr. Mesopotamia West are a Burkean throw back to Empire, to not just the rule of law, but the rule of tyrants, and empire. The rule of the Great Man who needs to hammer chains onto humanity to keep us from returning to our beastial selves.

Mr. Mesopotamia West refers to Stalin, as if he was a Marxist, when he was just another tyrant using ideology to justify his rule over the people. In fact he was truly a conservative the ideal Great Man that Burke and other conservatives love to praise.

Socialism and Anarchism recognize humanities 'human-ness', while conservatives deny that, they believe we are red in tooth and claw and in need of restraint. It is conservatives who created the State to satisfy their demented need to dominate others. The state will always be conservative, not liberating. Hence even Marx and Engels accepted the need for the withering away of the state.

What is truly loathsome is the rhertorical strawmen in articles like that written by Mr. Mesopotamia West.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,





Mr. Conservative

I watched the HBO special on Barry Goldwater, which is a brillant piece of famialial history done by his grand-daughter.It put Goldwater in a better historical light than he may be remembered by most due to the controversial Presidential campaign tactics used by the Democrats to denounce him.

In his old age he became more outspoken on the wrong direction that the Republican party was going in. Moving away from its libertarian roots to embrace the neofascist theological right wing.

This past election saw Goldwater vindicated in his concerns, and hopefully it will finally cause a reassessment on the right as to what damage aligning with the forces of bigotry can create in a political party.

Like the Republicans the Canadian Conservatives under Harper once gave lipservice to being libertarians, but have embraced the politics of the social conservative theocrats and authoritarian law and order types.

There are no Goldwaters in the Canadian Conservative Party anymore than there are Goldwaters left in the Republicans. Which is a damn shame.

To rephrase Lloyd Bensten's famous quote; Mr. Bush, Mr. Harper, Blogging Tories et. al I knew Barry Goldwater and you are no Barry Goldwater.

Barry Goldwater
By the 1980s, with Ronald Reagan as president and the growing involvement of the religious right in conservative politics, Goldwater's libertarian views on personal issues were revealed, which he believed were an integral part of true conservativism. This put him at odds with the Reagan Administration and religious conservatives who wanted stricter government control on public and personal morality. Goldwater viewed abortion as a matter of personal choice, not intended for government intervention. In fact, his own daughter, Joanne, chose to have an abortion before her first marriage at the age of 20, and he supported her decision. He was also not against gays in the military. As a passionate defender of personal liberty, he saw the religious right's views as an encroachment on personal privacy and individual liberties. In his 1980 Senate re-election campaign, Goldwater won support from religious conservatives but in his final term voted consistently to uphold legalized abortion.Goldwater also disagreed with the Reagan administration on certain aspects of foreign policy (e.g. he opposed the decision to mine Nicaraguan harbors). Notwithstanding his prior differences with Dwight Eisenhower, Goldwater in a 1986 interview rated him the best of the seven Presidents with whom he had served.


See:

Libertarian

Death Of Laissez-Faire Politics

Fukuyama Denounces War In Iraq

A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION






Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psudeo-Science vs Real Science

Before accepting a newspaper reporters assertions that climate change is bunk, one should at least google data on said reporter.

In this case right wing climate change denier
Christopher Monckton. Otherwise known as 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. A former member of the Thatcher government.A newpaper reporter given to creating puzzles. Not a scientist.

Top Tory in a kilt hit by visa 'racket' case - Sunday Times ...
A MILLIONAIRE aristocrat and one-time Downing Street adviser is under investigation by detectives probing an alleged international immigration racket.

Christopher Monckton, a former adviser to Lady Thatcher when she was prime minister, is at the centre of a criminal inquiry into claims that hundreds of eastern European migrants were brought to Britain on bogus visas.



Investigators at the National Crime Squad have raided a London-based employment firm that uses Monckton as an immigration adviser.

Monckton is credited as the brains behind the Thatcherite policy of giving council tenants the right to buy their homes. A scion of a famous Tory family, his sister is Rosa Monckton, who was a friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, and is chairwoman of the committee that selected her memorial fountain in Hyde Park.


Monckton appears to be at it again in the Telegraph, denouncing climate change scientists as being part of a conspiracy which he calls the climate change consensus. When rightwingers use the term consenus, it a.) demeans the science b.) is another tern for acceptance of the status quo c.) is a term used by conspiracy theorists.

In November 2006 two articles written by him criticising the traditional view of global warming were published in the Sunday Telegraph. His executive summary states his own set of criteria that would need to be met in order for global warming to be true, most of which are unusual in terms of scientific practice, such as a criterion of consensus, which Monckton defines as universal acceptance.

Monckton's debunking of the global warming was criticized by George Monbiot in The Guardian newspaper. In the article, Monbiot states that Monckton's arguments in are based on either misinterpretations and omissions of scientific and historical facts or pseudo-scientific discourse. Monbiot gives historical, political and scientific arguments Monckton's criticisms. Monckton was offered the right of reply to Mobiot's claims in the next day paper and vigorously defended his Sunday Telegraph articles.


As the debate over climate change gets heated those who go over the top on calling it a pending apocalypse allow for climate change deniers like Monckton to appear to give voice to reason.

Monckton brings up the Middle Ages Glaciation period as evidence that climatologists are wrong. However this right wing interpretation of the facts are wrong. As Jeffery Sachs pointed out to the Wall Street Journal editorial board who also used it to excuse America's position on Kyoto.

And as NASA points out paleo-climactic changes have impacts on climate change models. And in fact this model verifies the so called Middle Ages Glaciation period and the resulting increase in climate change.

Feature: Paleoclimatology: Understanding the Past to Predict the Future

Between 1650 and 1710, a period known as the Maunder Minimum, the Sun was relatively quiet, bombarding the Earth with fewer ultraviolet rays than normal. Decreases in the amount of ultraviolet energy hammering the Earth change the stratosphere by decreasing the amount of ozone that is produced. During the same period, paleoclimate data showed that Europe was colder than most other areas. Scientists estimated how much ozone levels would have decreased during the Maunder Minimum based on the decrease in ultraviolet energy from the Sun, and they plugged the information into global climate models. “A change in the stratosphere gave a change in the NAO,” Schmidt says. In fact, the models said the NAO should have been more negative on average during the sixty-year period, resulting in cooler temperatures over Europe.


What climate change deniers on the right cannot accept is that capitalist industrialization has increased the speed of climate change over the last century.
Denouncing the science and the facts as a 'consensus' does not make it any less true. But it does place these climate deniers like
3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in the same catagory of nutbars that believe in Jewish Conspiracy Theories.

See

Global Warming

Environment

Climate Change





Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,