Perspectives . . .

FROM THE ISS. In spite of humanity's foibles, it's a beautiful world, even if some parts of it suffer from too many Stevie portraits. Have a fortunate 2012.

Northern Aurora

Nile Delta

Historical failure . . .

ONCE UPON A TIME, THE USAAF got a bright idea for a bespoke night fighter, which resulted in the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. Not one of John Northrop's successes. Over-weight, overly complex, the USAAF European theater generals wanted the de Havilland Mosquito, instead, but they got the P-61 because that's what the procurement process had produced. Mind you, it was not a Brewster Buffalo failure, the P-61 did OK, but it was an unnecessary redundancy and economic waste. For what it's worth, the USAF isn't the only beneficiary; the Navy and Army get their opportunities, too. A classic case is the expensive frustration of the M247 Sergeant York self-propelled antiaircraft vehicle.

Well, according to Dina Rasor at TRUTHOUT, the tradition is alive and well. Her article, "F-35 Fighter Is Latest in Long Line of Wasteful Weapon Failures", describes the stumbling to date.

There has been a flurry of articles in the defense press Tuesday about an internal Department of Defense (DoD) report on how the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's newest attempt to buy a fighter jet, is skating toward potential mechanical and monetary disaster. The DoD top civilian weapons buyer put together a team to do a quick look at how the fighter was doing in its journey to become the next main fighter in the DoD arsenal. The report has the usual DoD hedge wording and qualifiers, but the answer is: not too good.

• • •

Now, the newest fighter is falling under its own bloated procurement weight. Is the system, which has given us generation after generation of overpriced and technically dubious fighters, tanks, and other weapons finally succumbing to its own folly? 

• • •

To understand why this keeps happening to our weapons acquisitions and to try to change it, you have to know some history on how the system works and what has happened in the past. It is a sad tale of déjà vu all over again.

Ernest Fitzgerald, the well-known Pentagon whistleblower who fought the bureaucracy in hand-to-hand combat for better weapons and realistically priced weapons from the 1960s to 2006, came up with a simple law of why this sordid history keeps repeating itself. Fitzgerald's first law of weapons procurement is: "First it is too early to tell, second, it is too late to do anything about it." I have found that this is the way that the DoD, the military services and the defense contractors squeeze every last dime out of the procurement budget and then even more, while making sure that their weapon doesn't get so obviously gross as to go on the rare weapons' chopping block.

It's like watching a slow-motion train-wreck, and thanks to Stevie and Airshow, we're paying for a ring-side seat. Think of it as a solid gold plank in the gallows that is being built for the Conservative Party.

Times are tough, and friends are few?

The R.A.N.'s the place for you!

That would be the Royal Australian Navy which, in case you hadn't been approached by some digger with a funny looking cap, is making some interesting offers.

Apparently the Aussies are feeling a bit pinched.

As it competes with industry for skilled personnel, the ADF has focused its recruitment effort in Britain, which is cutting back heavily on defence as part of a government-wide austerity drive.

However, Australian navy chief Ray Griggs has given an undertaking to his British counterpart, First Sea Lord Admiral Mark Stanhope, that Australia will not recruit personnel the British need to maintain their capabilities.

And to find enough trained personnel to crew its submarines and the fleet of new warships now being built, the navy is also recruiting from the US, Canada and New Zealand.

 Their own sailors are heading for the Never Never to cash in.

The RAN is facing tough competition for engineers from the booming resources industry.

It is preparing to provide crews for a new fleet that will include potent Air Warfare Destroyers and giant 28,000-tonne landing ships, bigger than Australia's past aircraft carriers.

But many comprehensively trained naval engineers deployed to submarines based at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, have found themselves quickly moving on up to the Pilbara mines after being offered big pay rises and less arduous working conditions.

 To sweeten the offer, there's this:

Applicants must apply for a permanent resident visa before coming to Australia.
They must also give a written undertaking that they will apply for Australian citizenship as soon as they are eligible. This is normally two years after permanent residence is granted, but an exception will be made for these service personnel, who will become eligible after three months' service.

The army is asking for a rather specific lot:

The army is looking for bomb-disposal experts and is also particularly keen to recruit Catholic chaplains.

Odd mix, that, but you're a figjam bombo with a rosary and you haven't got a brass razoo to you're name, well it might be time to go walkabout.

Or, you could just bypass the whole uniform thing and apply for double the pay.

Still, the Oz navy looks like a bonzer go, what with their own TV series and all.

(Not to mention we had a hand in training some of their officers).

Those of you who are dashing about packing a tucker and booking a Qantas flight should practice this.

How much crap do you need?

CONSUMERISM. You look at the Boxing Day ads, ya gotta wonder, doesn't everybody have a flat-screen TV? Like the song goes, buy, buy . . .

More on the "Blessed" Season . . . .

As Rodney King would say:  "Why can't we all get along?"

From the CBC and other sources today:

Clergymen brawl at Bethlehem church

Fight erupts at traditional site of Jesus' birth

The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

_______________

A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.

_______________

Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.

Why is this not at all surprising?

How very moral and upright of them . . . .

Dragon's Den ? ? ? ?

Michael Byers has an excellent analysis on China, the Arctic, oil and international relations in today's Al Jazeera:

The dragon looks north

China grows hungry for Arctic resources and shipping routes as northern ice melts.

_______________

Snubbed by Arctic countries

China's laissez-faire approach to Arctic legal disputes has, however, been shaken by the recent actions of Arctic countries.

In 2009, China applied for permanent observer status at the Arctic Council, a regional organisation composed of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US. It was a reasonable request, since countries as distant as Poland and Spain had already been accorded that status.

However, the Chinese request came at the same time as one from the European Union, which was caught up in a dispute with Canada over restrictions on the trade of seal products. When Canada retaliated by blocking the EU's request for permanent observer status at the Arctic Council, China's application was collaterally suspended - and has remained so ever since.

_______________

China is respecting international law and has legitimate interests in the Arctic. Its request for permanent observer status should be granted forthwith.

Dragons, even well behaved ones, do not appreciate being snubbed.

Indeed . . . .

Corporate history . . .

OCCUPY WALL STREET has created an extended awareness of the corporation as enemy of the people, a viewpoint shared by most thoughtful people. However, while a lot are concerned, a lot of us have no real idea how the corporation came to be.

RIBBONFARM is a site that proclaims its purpose "experiments in refactored perception". One of its principals, Venkatesh Rao, has a fascinating post, "A Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100", chronicling the rise and fall of the corporation.

On 8 June, a Scottish banker named Alexander Fordyce shorted the collapsing Company’s shares in the London markets. But a momentary bounce-back in the stock ruined his plans, and he skipped town leaving £550,000 in debt. Much of this was owed to the Ayr Bank, which imploded. In less than three weeks, another 30 banks collapsed across Europe, bringing trade to a standstill. On July 15, the directors of the Company applied to the Bank of England for a £400,000 loan. Two weeks later, they wanted another £300,000. By August, the directors wanted a £1 million bailout. The news began leaking out and seemingly contrite executives, running from angry shareholders, faced furious Parliament members. By January, the terms of a comprehensive bailout were worked out, and the British government inserted its czars into the Company’s management to ensure compliance with its terms.

If this sounds eerily familiar, it shouldn’t. The year was 1772, exactly 239 years ago.

• • •

In its 400+ year history, the corporation has achieved extraordinary things, cutting around-the-world travel time from years to less than a day, putting a computer on every desk, a toilet in every home (nearly) and a cellphone within reach of every human. It even put a man on the Moon and kinda-sorta cured AIDS.

So it is a sort of grim privilege for the generations living today to watch the slow demise of such a spectacularly effective intellectual construct. The Age of Corporations is coming to an end. The traditional corporation won’t vanish, but it will cease to be the center of gravity of economic life in another generation or two. They will live on as religious institutions do today, as weakened ghosts of more vital institutions from centuries ago.

The ghastly Gipper . . .

THE ENDLESS VENAL LUNACY OF THE GOP can overwhelm, and it's easy to lose track of where a large part of this originated. SLATE has a reprise of a delightful article by the late Christopher Hitchens, "Not Even a Hedgehog / The stupidity of Ronald Reagan".

Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they'd both unite against an invasion from Mars. Ronald Reagan used to alarm other constituencies by speaking freely about the "End Times" foreshadowed in the Bible. In the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan told Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal, on two separate occasions, that he himself had assisted personally at the liberation of the Nazi death camps.

• • •

I only saw him once up close, which happened to be when he got a question he didn't like. Was it true that his staff in the 1980 debates had stolen President Carter's briefing book? (They had.) The famously genial grin turned into a rictus of senile fury: I was looking at a cruel and stupid lizard. His reply was that maybe his staff had, and maybe they hadn't, but what about the leak of the Pentagon Papers? Thus, a secret theft of presidential documents was equated with the public disclosure of needful information. This was a man never short of a cheap jibe or the sort of falsehood that would, however laughable, buy him some time.

Like Gil Scott-Heron said, the man is cheap-steak tough. 

bennie Speaks . . . .

But should anyone listen?

From Global Post yesterday:

Pope Benedict XVI urges faithful to see through "superficial glitter" of Christmas

Pope Benedict XVI has urged worshipers to see through the "superficial glitter" of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI lamented the commercialization of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said, Euronews reported.

He went on to urge worshippers to "see through the superficial glitter of this season" and to discover its true meaning, "the child in the stable in Bethlehem," according to the BBC.

 

Of course, he was surrounded by the glittering gold in the pic above and in the article itself while making this astute observation.

No doubt wearing the nifty little red numbers to the left, also.

His hypocrisy knows no bounds . . . .

T'is dark,
And I like it.

T'is silent,
And I am reflective.

T'is peaceful,
And I am reminded of my friends.

To all of you, may you and all who surround you have a joyful holiday season.

* About the graphic: We are not snowballs, it's not the correct size family and I would never wear a hat like that.

Deborah Grey gives Harper a reformer wedgie

On CBC's The House, Evan Solomon asked Reform Party matriarch Deborah Grey about Harper. Harper used to be her legislative assistant so we can probably safely assume she has some insight into the way he thinks. While she waxed on about how wonderful Harper is and how he's a Conservative and therefore the neatest thing since the invention of peanut butter, she slipped from referring to "conservatives", in a general sense to "Reformers", specifically. Solomon latched on:

Solomon: Is he still a Reformer?


Grey: Pardon?


Solomon: Is Stephen Harper still a Reformer?


Grey: Oh, I'd say so.

So much for the "mellowing" his supporters keep trying to foist on us. If you go to link and listen to the audio you can pick it up at about minute 18.

Something they would rather not discuss ...

Unless you live in British Columbia you might not consider yourself affected by the goings on at BC Ferries. That would be until you realize that, while BC Ferries fares have skyrocketed since they became not-quite-a-Crown-corporation at the hands of Gordon "privatize-everything" Campbell, they also receive provincial and federal taxpayer subsidies.

On 22 December the relatively new Coastal Inspiration slammed into the berth at Duke Point, just outside Nanaimo. The result was about 12 people with minor injuries, a ship that is out of service until the vehicle deck weathertight doors are repaired and a shut down of the strategically important Duke Point terminal for months.

I have a pretty good idea what happened but, unlike the grossly uninformed commenters to the various media outlets carrying the story, and the failure of those media outlets to actually blow away the dust to see the real story, there is a story out there.

On The Waterfront started by looking below the surface. Tidal Station reaches in and pulls out some guts. What is interesting is that BC Ferries, once Campbell had crowbarred it away from government oversight, had refused to cooperate with any Freedom Of Information requests on the basis that they were a "private" company. In October 2010 they were compelled to behave as what they actually are - a government-owned operation - and started answering FOI requests. They didn't come along nicely either.

What Tidal Station produces is something that BC Ferries probably did not want you to know (since it was kept hidden away until forced into the light by an FOI request). The propulsion system on those awesome Super C ferries was a source of concern before they even finished building. In fact, the potential problem described in the 2007 report is likely exactly what happened.

A Christmas Message From America's Rich . . .

AND YOU WON'T LIKE IT. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi has a posting, "A Christmas Message From America's Rich". These people are evil. Really.

The very rich on today’s Wall Street are now so rich that they buy their own social infrastructure. They hire private security, they live on gated mansions on islands and other tax havens, and most notably, they buy their own justice and their own government.

• • •

Just look at how Chase behaved in Greece, for example.

Having seen how well interest-rate swaps worked for Jefferson County, Alabama, Chase “helped” Greece mask its debt problem for years by selling a similar series of swaps to the Greek government. The bank then turned around and worked with banks like Goldman, Sachs to create a thing called the iTraxx SovX Western Europe index, which allowed investors to bet against Greek debt.

In other words, Chase knowingly larded up the nation of Greece with a crippling future debt burden, then turned around and helped the world bet against Greek debt.

Does a citizen of Greece do that deal? Forget that: does a human being do that deal?

Kinda puts a new spin on "Greek Style", don't it?

— H/T to SCANNER

Y'know, I have never voted so someone could tell me what to do

That premise may not sit well with the fuckwad beer drinkers who think Steve Harpers "Lawnorder" agenda is cool.

They haven't read any of it and that's what Brother Harper is counting on. They just keep on doing, (racking up credit card debt), and ignoring whatever changes are happening around them. Brother Harper is counting on that too.

Eventually one of them will walk into a hospital and be asked for a credit card. They'll hand it over and three weeks later we'll see some whining prick complaining that it cost him $10,000 for a 4 hour visit to the emergency room.

What happened to universal health care? Well, you voted it out ... shithead. You bought shiny bright fighter jets because, if nothing else, you support the troops.

So do I. But then, I was one of the troops. I expected that being one of those people meant I was trying to preserve what this country was all about. We looked after each other and, because we have unimaginable wealth (something I learned because I went to the shitholes of the world you sent me to) we were more than able to take advantage of it.

I read a lot. Sorry if that disturbs you. I don't hate you for being politically unengaged. Hell, I may actually admire you. But I will never forgive you for electing an unimaginative, ideological demagogue into office.

You don't care now ... but you will. Eventually, after it's far too late, you'll pay the price for not being a corporate executive. You'll look at your meager existence and wonder why a hospital wants to attach your house. And the only person to blame will be you.

You want more prisons. You want more punishment. You approve of your taxes going down a hole you cannot even identify.  And then you'll wonder why the crime rate is increasing. Stupid you.

You'll reject science. Well, not all science. Just the science which makes you uncomfortable. The rest of of it you'll use to support your arguments for why the same science today isn't valid. That makes you a hypocrite, but that word is never spoken at morning coffee. And then you tell us that snow is proof that global warming is not happening. As if you actually paid attention in grade 10 science class. It was always your life's dream to make Fords. Something I will only buy if the price is right and the warranty guarantees a 10 year life span. Science is a pointless exercise. Spin that bolt and dream of the next sports event - on TV. You don't play; you watch.

You claim to be informed. You wouldn't know a fact from a Magic Bullet ad.

Lie to yourself. Or let somebody else do it for you.

I don't hate you for your politics. I hate you because you're lazy.


I've had it with you

An Engineer's Guide to Cats . . .

HAVE A SAFE, WARM AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS. There are three things I wish for 2012: 1) Stevie gets his; 2) the US Navy's fusion project gets green-lighted; and 3) that we are all here this time next year to bitch and complain.

ENGINEERS AND PUDDY-TATS: I once had the pleasure of co-habiting with a very large, white, fluffy long-hair by name of Fred (you had to groom him 2-3 times a week to keep knots from forming). On dry winter days, he could build up a static charge on wool carpet that could've started a Peterbilt. A visiting friend, an electronics engineer, surveyed the problem and the room and advised grounding Fred as necessary against the mesh fireplace screen. Worked like a charm. Anyway, the video proclaims —

Two professional engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats. None of the cats, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed.

Does this mean she doesn't like him anymore?

There are a lot more other important things going on, but this is truly smile worthy.

Discrimination . . .

UGLY PEOPLE ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST; the human mind has a hard-wired appreciation for facial symmetry, for example (and the reason I don't draw caricatures anymore). Like the old joke goes, she was so ugly, they had to tie a pork-chop around her neck to get the dog to play with her. . . cruel? Yes, life is hard, then you die.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a thoughtful appraisal of this part of the human condition, with an article by Rachel Shteir, "Taking Beauty's Measure". 

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a man I worked for said to me, "You're beautiful." Then he quickly added, as if he regretted paying me such an expansive compliment, "in your category."

Had I read the new crop of scholarly books on beauty, I would have considered legal action. Or I would have contemplated a makeover. Either I had been a victim of "lookism"—a form of discrimination as toxic as racism, sexism, or classism—or I needed to spend more time applying mascara.

It says much about the 21st century that these books—aka "beauty studies"—regard beauty less as a noble, an aspirational, or even a sentimental ideal than as either an injustice that can be handled only by the law or something that women must slyly turn to their own advantage. After the waves of 20th-century feminism, we seem to have circled back to the notion that beauty hurts. But what is new about these books is their reliance on social-science methods to expand that point of view: Now beauty is often viewed through economics, particularly, to calculate its harm to anyone—not just women—who is not a perfect 10.

Please park the knee-jerk, and check out what Rachel has to say. 

Creationism creep

Genie Scott explains how the christian conservatives are trying to sneak their way into the US school curriculum with bogus "academic freedom" laws.



As Panda's Thumb points out, it could be called "Academic Anarchy" without any loss of meaning.

Murphy: Harper is as bad as all preceding prime ministers ... at their worst.

I don't pay much attention to Rex Murphy. While able to wax eloquent on most any topic, that is, in my opinion, his only strength. He calls himself a "skeptic" on the topic of global warming. I submit that an earth scientist is a skeptic on that subject; Murphy is a denier by any test and unqualified to assess the science of climatology.

He is, however, qualified to opine on topics political. We all are.

The problem with Murphy is that he sprays himself with the same eau de toilette when pontificating on Canadian politics as he does when he spouts on about things climatological. He attempts to portray himself as a pundit with no particular champion to promote.

I have never accepted that premise and Murphy's latest defence of Stephen Harper is sufficient enough evidence to impeach Murphy as a Harper flack.

Read it at your leisure. Try not to vomit while absorbing Murphy's new definition of tinkering.

Then read James Morton, who makes the singular point which underscores the salient feature of the Harper government: ... at best Murphy's argument suggests the Conservatives have been corrupted by power and corrupted badly.

Murphy's assertion that Harper has never showed the kind of disrespect for MP's (and by extension the electorate) as that of Pierre Trudeau is laughable. Setting aside the fact that the reason Harper's government fell in March 2011 was because it was found in contempt of parliament, Harper is smart enough to know that Trudeau's exhibited arrogance was unpalatable to almost all Canadians.

When Harper wants to smear somebody or demonstrate his contempt, he has somebody else do it for him.

Just because....

It might be the most breathtaking protest song I’ve ever heard.

My true love drowned in a dirty old pan
Of oil that did run from the block
Of a falcon sedan 1969
The paper said '75
There were no survivors
None found alive

Come Fly With Me!

Peter (Airshow) MacKay just keeps on feeding the beast.

Defence Minister Peter Mackay spent $4,752 for two one-way plane tickets to go to the 2010 Grey Cup in Edmonton.

I wonder what retired brown-noser MacKay's office will troop out this time to defend Mr. Indefensible? 

Justin time . . .

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, we have the ANTI-STEVIE . . .

Indian defences . . .

INDIAN DEFENCES are chess openings characterised by the moves: 1. d4 Nf6 as you see:

Well, Indian defence is top-of-mind for more than chess players. This has to do with the Seychelles, the red spot on the map below.

CHINA MILITARY POWER MASHUP: kind of mashed-up moniker, but a way interesting site for those interested in the Chinese part of realpolitik. The article, "Is China's Naval Base in Seychelles a Threat to India?" gets right to the question.

Type 039B Submarines

There's been much talk in the media of an apparent offer by the Seychelles of a base for Chinese ships deployed to the Gulf of Aden and the West Indian Ocean, to help combat piracy. While it's not yet clear if the offer has been accepted, Chinese media reports suggest that Beijing is actively considering it as a "resupply" base.

• • •

With this in mind, it's clear that the Chinese naval presence in this part of the Indian Ocean is not in India's interest. But what's China's interest in establishing a base in the Seychelles?

For a start, it satisfies China's hunger for a firm foothold in the Indian Ocean. The Seychelles provides the PLA Navy an ideal platform from which to counter any threat to its sea lines of communication from Africa by the U.S. Navy operating out of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean region. In addition, to assist with the resupply, rest and refit of PLAN ships undertaking anti-piracy duties in the region, China requires a large logistics depot, which can be supplied by air and merchant/naval ships. The Seychelles base could therefore eventually be developed into a permanent naval base.

Checking out other sections of the site, the confrontation with Taiwan is going to be very interesting, when it arrives. One report "Hu Jintao orders China navy to speed up its development" is rather ominous, for sabre-rattling:

China's navy should speed up its development and prepare for warfare, President Hu Jintao has said. He told military personnel they should "make extended preparations for warfare".

Christopher Hitchens. Gone.

Never met him but, oh, how I wish I had. He will live on in ways I don't think even he could imagine.

Jail the fat white man with the disgusting hat

Jason Kenney believes that the Charter of Rights, established under the Constitution of this country is something stupid. 

"I'm sure they'll trump up some stupid Charter of Rights challenge. That's democracy. They're welcome to object. "

In short, he has expressed the belief that the governing party trumps the Constitution.

Every bullet fired from the barrel of a police pistol was my bullet. If you call that murder, then I am the murderer. Finally I alone created, on my own initiative, the State Secret Police Department. This is the instrument which is so much feared by the enemies of the State, and which is chiefly responsible for the fact that in Germany and Prussia today there is no question of a Marxist or Communist danger.

Herman Goering

Jail him now. Don't bother with a trial. Don't concern yourself with his rights. If it's a problem for him he can make a stupid Charter challenge. That's democracy. He spends time in jail and we ignore him until he resurfaces. 

Caveat emptor . . .

THE LAST F-22 HAS BEEN BUILT. According to David Axe, at WIRED, in an article, "Buyer’s Remorse: How Much Has the F-22 Really Cost?". Scary stuff:

So what’s the cost? As little as $137 million per jet and as much as $678 million, depending on how and what you count. The thing is, the best way of calculating the F-22′s cost may be the most abstract. But any way you crunch the numbers, the world’s best dogfighter has also been one of the most expensive operational warplanes ever.

OUCH! So, why should you care? Well, the article has an interesting comment on the F-35:

By contrast, the F-35′s unit cost should stabilize at around $157 million, owing to a massive 2,443-plane production run. That’s assuming the Joint Strike Fighter doesn’t get canceled or curtailed following revelations of new design flaws.

• • •

F-35 lifecycle plus unit cost, assuming nothing else goes wrong? $469 million, according to Air Force figures quoted by the GAO.

So: F-35's are going to be around 157 million dollars a piece, and almost $500 million EACH over their service-time? The Super Hornet gets better and better.

Marketing 101 . . .

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING. Really. According to Matt Hardigree at JALOPNIK, "How a mom came up with the ‘Condoms prevent minivans’ bottle cap slogan":

Images of a Magic Hat Brewery bottle cap with the slogan "Condoms prevent minivans" have been floating around the Internet for a while so I decided to track down the story behind this insightful slogan. It turns out a mom came up with it!

Vermont's Magic Hat Brewery produces more of the #9 "not quite pale ale" fruit brew than any other beer. They describe it as an "ale whose mysterious and unusual palate swirl across your tongue and ask more questions than answers."

• • • 

It may be funny, but it's more than a joke. Magic Hat has partnered with safe sex advocacy groups in the past and even sells their own condoms with the message "Get tested, get a condom, get it on!"

Just do it safely so you don't end up with a minivan.

Monsanto's superweeds . . .

The corn rootworm.  Photo: Jimmy Smith

"THE BUGS THAT ATE MONSANTO", by Tom Laskawy, at GRIST, is worth checking out. Monsanto's been one of the majors in bringing genetically-modified crops to market, and they've pissed off legions of farmers on both sides of the border. It's been high-tide-and-green-grass for Monsanto, but it seems there's problems . . .

Now that 94 percent of the soy and 70 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, Monsanto -- one of the companies that dominates the GMO seed market -- might look to some like it's winning. But if we look a little closer, I'd say they're holding on by a thread.

Their current success is due in large part to brilliant marketing. The company's approach was both compelling -- their products were sold as the key to making large-scale farming far simpler and more predictable -- and aggressive: Monsanto made it virtually impossible for most farmers to find conventional seeds for sale in most parts of the country.

• • •

Over the last several years, so-called "superweeds" have grown resistant to the herbicide RoundUp, the companion product that's made Monsanto's herbicide-tolerant (aka RoundUp-Ready) corn, soy, and alfalfa so popular. Those crops were supposed to be the only plants that could withstand being sprayed by the chemical. Oops.

The superweed problem is so bad that farmers in some parts of the country are abandoning thousands of acres because the weeds are so out of control, or dousing the crops with ever more toxic (and expensive) combinations of other herbicides. Thankfully, it's an issue that's getting more and more media attention.

And now Monsanto's other flagship product line, the pesticide-producing "Bt crops," named for the pesticide they are genetically modified to emit, is in trouble.

Go visit to find out more. The site has all sorts of interesting things.

Here there be weasels . . .

THE TIMES COLONIST has a couple of pages you must read. They sum up the egregious behavior of the Stevie government so far. The first, "Political honesty a fading value" asks common-sense questions:

Has lying become acceptable behaviour for politicians? It's a serious question. Society is, at its core, a network of relationships. Relationships rely on honest communication for survival. If dishonesty and amorality become the norm in politics, than democracy and society are threatened.

And recent behaviour by federal Conservatives raises questions about whether the governing party considers dishonesty normal and nothing to apologize for.

• • •

Finally, there is Conservative house leader Peter Van Loan, who defends a party operation that has flooded the riding of Liberal MP Irwin Cotler with calls telling people he is resigning and there will be a byelection and asking for their support. Cotler has not resigned. The calls are sleazy and dishonest. Yet Van Loan maintains his party's right to free speech includes spreading misinformation.

 Yet Van Loan maintains his party's right to free speech includes spreading misinformation — YIKES! My simple mind equates misinformation with lying. You know, like ol' Joseph Goebbels, the original "Big Lie" Spinmeister.

The second Times Colonist page, a cooment by Robert Radford, "Politicians are wasting money" is a nice summation of grief to date.

What is most disheartening is that the spokespeople for Canada's, I mean, Stephen Harper's government, don't seem to be concerned about the reputation or credibility of the government in the eyes of Canada's "99 per cent," whose hard-earned wages they are squandering.

Except, of course where Stevie decides to abolish or neuter by budget obliteration. Well, this may be a good thing because at this rate, just about every sentient voter will be fed-up in time for the next election. Disturbingly, the Stevie mind-set has a bloody-mindedness in his government's sleaze that is different from the Liberals' trough-raiding, but maybe it's just all those Stevie portraits. 

Baaaaaaa!

USE CAUTION WHEN USING TEETH TO CASTRATE LAMBS. Sounds like good advice. According to  Marc Abrahams at io9, 

"On June 29, 2011, the Wyoming Department of Health was notified of two laboratory-confirmed cases of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis among persons working at a local sheep ranch. During June, two men had reported onset of symptoms compatible with campylobacteriosis. Both patients had diarrhea, and one also had abdominal cramps, fever, nausea, and vomiting. One patient was hospitalized for 1 day. Both patients recovered without sequelae. During June, both patients had participated in a multiday event to castrate and dock tails of 1,600 lambs. Both men reported having used their teeth to castrate some of the lambs. Among the 12 persons who participated in the event, the patients are the only two known to have used their teeth to castrate lambs."

Human behavior has an almost infinite range. The more people there are, the more possibilities. With almost 400 million people, the US and Canada have the feedstock to produce a lot of bizarre behavior. We ain't seen nuthin', yet.

Order to go . . .

MAYBE STEVIE SHOULD ORDER CHINESE. Seems like we need new army trucks. China builds army trucks. With Cummins diesels, too. According to AUTOBLOG,

Built by Wuhan-based Xiaolong Automotive, the XLW2090 is one of a dozen or so configurations the company builds on an adaptable chassis. The three-axle off-road truck packs a 4.5-liter Cummins four-cylinder diesel engine, over 17 inches of ground clearance, a 55.5-degree approach angle and a claimed 7,700-pound payload.

Maybe they could build a "Popemobile" from one of 'em, for Stevie and Airshow to review the troops?

The poor, their power brakes, their power steering and their colour TVs

All assets possessed by the poor whom Margaret Wente stunningly suggests are much better off than we are led to believe. The column is worth reading if only to give you a feel for the callousness of Wente and the constituency she represents. One of the commenters to the online column described it best:

Thinking the poor are doing better is what helps Margaret Wente sleep at night.

What kind of logic is Wente using when she chooses to compare current conditions of poverty with conditions from a century ago?

There is desperate poverty in urban and rural regions across Canada. The kind where low-income individuals and families don't have enough to eat or a safe and healthy place to live (no matter how big or small). The poor trade off decisions such as paying their heating bills against buying food or paying the rent.

There's a glut of showing a direct correlation between poverty and reduced life expectancy and poor health - in countries like Canada and the USA.

What a sad and misguided commentary that trivializes the daily hardships experienced by low income individuals and families.

Indeed. But she doesn't leave it there. As she approaches the end of her verbal bowel movement on the poor she tries an subtly unsuccessful "drive by" of Margaret Atwood and then goes on to attempt to bring our gaze on one particularly offensive caste.

The real problem, argues Prof. Cowen (and I agree), lies with the elites of the financial class who’ve grabbed a gargantuan share of the spoils by means of fancy financial engineering that creates no value, and sometimes destroys it on a massive scale. Nobody knows how to keep them from wrecking the system every so often. The financial lobby is the biggest and most powerful interest group on Earth. Their ability to rig the system so as to enrich themselves has overwhelmed the ability of the politicians and the regulators to keep them in check. As Prof. Meyer puts it, “People don’t mind losing, but they don’t like being cheated.” And that’s the inequality worth worrying about.

That would be true if it weren't so limiting. The truth is something Wente doesn't really want to discuss. The cheating and inequality extends well beyond her so-called "financial class". It goes to corporate executive compensation which has ballooned to unimaginable levels such that a large number of U.S. CEOs are being paid greater than 90 times their median production worker.
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While were at it, let's take a look at another of Wente's ramblings where she congratulates Peter Kent for being a true Harper Conservative and herself for being in lager with the likes of Rex Murphy.

As Roger Pielke Jr., one of the saner voices on the climate scene, points out, the hurricanes have failed to blow since Hurricane Wilma hit the Gulf Coast back in 2005. Despite the dire predictions of the experts, the U.S. has now experienced its longest period free of major hurricanes since 1906.

Which is proof that Wente either didn't read this, doesn't know how to read it, didn't have anyone else read it for her or she's being intentionally dishonest.
First, Roger Pielke Jr. is no form of earth scientist at all. He is a political scientist.

Second, Roger Pielke Jr. did not say what Wente suggests at all. He was discussing hurricanes which made landfall on the US coast and the relationship of damage done by those that did. Hurricanes have not failed to blow, as Wente implies. In fact, the 2011, 2010 and 1995 Atlantic hurricane seasons were tied for the third most active on record. 2011 produced 19 Atlantic tropical cyclones against an average of 11. Wente would have you believe that because only one of them made landfall on continental North America that hurricanes are nearing some form of extinction.

Third, labeling Roger Pielke Jr. as "one of the saner voices ..." is purely conjecture on her part. Two years ago junior threw his own little pity party claiming on his blog that he was being smeared by liberals. In his 2005 paper he said this:

Although damage is growing in both frequency and intensity, this trend does not  reflect increased  frequency  or  strength  of  hurricanes.  In  fact,  while hurricane frequencies have varied a great deal over the past 100 + years, they have not increased in recent decades in parallel with increasing damages.

Taken alone that would raise the ire of any earth scientist, especially oceanographers. There is no clear trend on Atlantic basin hurricane frequency or strength farther back than 1970. How can anybody claim to know more than the statistical record? The answer lies in the context of Pielke Jr.'s paper. He was referring to only to US landfalls, (as evidenced by the chart he used and the references supplied). Some might call that misleading, and I would be one of them if I hadn't studied the paper closely.
What Wente and, to a certain degree Pielke Jr., do not report is the conditions which create and strengthen hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. The conditions which create the Cape Verde hurricanes are expanding with consistently increasing sea surface temperatures and wider expanses of dry air.

So, either Wente was duped or she cherry-picked. Either way, it makes her look like a fool.