Late numbers on clunkers

This issue has been reported on, on more than one occasion on this blog:

Remarks:

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/28/autos/clunkers_analysis/index.htm

Clunkers: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car

---

Auto sales analysts at Edmunds.com say the pricey program resulted in relatively few additional car sales.

---

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

---

The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates.

---

Please note that in order to print background color, you will need to enable background color printing in your browser's settings.

OK

Bush Preemptive Strike Doctrine Under Review, May Be Discarded

(Bloomberg.com)
http://fwd4.me/01J

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon is reviewing the Bush administration’s doctrine of preemptive military strikes with an eye to modifying or possibly ending it.

The international environment is “more complex” than when President George W. Bush announced the policy in 2002, Kathleen Hicks, the Defense Department’s deputy undersecretary for strategy, said in an interview. “We’d really like to update our use-of-force doctrine to start to take account for that.”

Bush outlined his doctrine of preemptive strike in a speech at West Point in June 2002. He elevated it to a formal strategy that September. For the first time in a doctrine, the U.S. expressed the right to attack a threat that was gathering, not just imminent.

‘Will Not Hesitate’

The doctrine says the U.S. “will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting preemptively.

Dyson launches the bladeless electric fan

Here's something interesting!

Clunky technology that never changes somehow interests me.

Now who's going to challenge the most arcane hold-over of them all... The windshielf wiper

The Dyson Air Multiplier fan – which looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie – uses advancements in airflow engineering instead of traditional blades to ‘multiply’ air 15 times and push out 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air every second.

---

---

Conventional electric fans have gone largely unchanged for years,” notes Mr Dyson. “The fundamental problem has remained the same for more than 125 years – the blades ‘chop’ the air creating an uneven airflow and unpleasant buffeting.”

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ba62a00-b755-11de-9812-00144feab49a.html

You decide

Here's the video of Larry King interviewing Ahmedinijad on the treatment of post-election protesters in Iran:



Here's the New York Times article on rape and torture of protesters (please click through to read the entire chilling and disquieting article):

Remarks:

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/world/...

Iranian Protester Flees Country After Telling of Rape and Torture in Prison

---

“I was ready to be tortured to death,” he said, his voice trembling. “But not ever to go through what happened to me there.”

---

Mr. Karroubi and another opposition leader and presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, have vigorously condemned the vicious tactics the security authorities used against the demonstrators, 72 of whom they say were killed. Yet, of all the allegations of brutality and abuse that were lodged, none have presented such a threat to the government as those involving rape and sodomy, which are culturally and religiously unacceptable in Iran.

---

Human rights groups say that Mr. Sharifi’s account conforms closely with those of other abuse victims. Omid Memarian, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, said he had confirmed the credibility of Mr. Sharifi’s story with people close to Mr. Karroubi.

Please note that in order to print background color, you will need to enable background color printing in your browser's settings.

OK

Top U.S. Commander Says Taliban Winning Communication Initiative

Tragically, organizations responsible to maintain the successes and momentum of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) dropped the ball, leaving the world more dangerous, and less equipped to manage current geopolitical challenges.

McChrystal's longing for authoritative religious figures to mediate the ideal of reconciliation was a design and achievement of the IRFWP 2o years ago. The US military has little access, understanding, or credibility in this community that is indispensable to the larger work of dissolving the unique challenges in Afghanistand and Pakistan.

Holbrooke has repeatedly complained that the Taliban has communicated more effectively than the United States. In June, he told a House subcommittee there was a need to refine the coalition's message and use new ways to reach Afghans, suggesting cell phones, radio and other means, the Post reported.

---

McChrystal said one way to accomplish this is to "disrupt and degrade" the insurgent networks. He suggests getting authoritative figures, such as religious leaders, to deliver messages "so they are credible," the Post reported.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/26/commander-says-taliban-winning-communication-initiative/

A good argument for the obvious

Rachel Brown in her CSM opinion piece offers some good examples and explanations for that which should be profoundly obvious. Women bear so much of the brunt of war and conflict, surely they must represent an invaluable resource for negotiations and deliberations in pursuit of reconciliation.

Remarks:

Middle East peace effort's missing key: female negotiators.

---

Women bear the brunt of conflict, so their input for peace is essential.

---

Medford, Mass. - While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the Middle East Quartet debate whether evictions of Palestinian families are a barrier or catalyst to a two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian women alike confront the realities of the conflict on the ground.

---

These women work toward a sustainable peace as committee members, as demonstrators, and as mothers raising and educating their children despite occupation. But their representation in formal negotiations is inadequate.

---

Because Israeli and Palestinian women are disproportionately affected by occupation and the threat of violence, their input into the national security debate – and international negotiations for peace – is essential.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0915/p09s01-coop.html

Please note that in order to print background color, you will need to enable background color printing in your browser's settings.

OK

A brighter side of the deeper parts of human nature

Remarks:

---

A Paradise Built in Hell

---

When disaster strikes, ordinary human beings very often do extraordinary things.

---

---

Disasters are terrible, awful things. No one could dispute that. But what do those extraordinary events tell us about ordinary humans? One view is that disasters crack society’s fragile social norms, releasing destructive primitive instincts in the form of hysteria, panic, crimes, and other acts of ruthless self-interest.

---

Another view says that disasters actually release what is best and, ultimately, most authentic about people, spawning amazing acts of compassion, generosity, courage, and self-sacrifice.
In A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit argues strongly on behalf of this latter view. And because it is overwhelming true in most cases, she says, it suggests new ways of thinking about how governments should approach disaster relief.

Source: http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/09/14/a-paradise-built-in-hell/

Please note that in order to print background color, you will need to enable background color printing in your browser's settings.

OK