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January 26, 2012
 Hugo came from the Pioneer Kennel. I got him as a puppy in November 2000 — hence his AKC registration name: Pioneer Millennium Baby Hugo. He was an outstanding dog in every way, especially his gentle temperament. All of eleven years old he was getting old for a Black Labrador, but I'd hoped he might live another couple years. It was not to be. He'd had trouble for the past month defecating. After he'd completely stopped for two days I gave up fiddling with his diet and yesterday took him to the animal hospital. Today, for the first time, he had trouble urinating, so the hospital took some x-rays, which showed several rather large and evidently fast growing cancers, under his backbone and above his colon (very much constricting it, which had caused the constipation), on his spleen, and elsewhere. The choice was massive surgical intervention plus chemotherapy or to put him to sleep. I chose the latter. Of course I was with him during the procedure, as was Sharon. She said a prayer, he seemed calm, and it was over quickly. He was much beloved and is ever so greatly missed.
January 24, 2012
 If tonight's State of the Union speech didn't remind you of Mr. Obama's transition, it should have done. The worthy things he called for are mostly non-starters in the Republican House while the rotten things he called for are conservative gimmes. Mr. Obama is, as always, a Republican decked out in liberal flourishes. For me, perhaps the most interesting aspects of the evening were close-up television shots of Representative Boehner and Senator McConnell, who seemed to choke inwardly at the notion that a few of their plans might be realized by the Democrats. In terms of pure electioneering the speech probably did Mr. Obama and the Democrats some good but I'll be completely shocked if he actually fights for any of the things he mentioned. And then, of course, even if he were reelected and even if the Democrats were to retake the House, and not lose the Senate, it's unlikely in the extreme — judging from recent history — that Senator Reid would try to get rid of the anti-democratic sixty vote cloture rule; in 2013, therefore, even in a "best case" scenario, obstruction plus a Republican agenda will continue to be the name of the game. Indeed, I'd guess Mr. Obama is counting on it.
January 22, 2012
 Conventional wisdom has it that Mitt Romney would be the strongest Republican to run against Mr. Obama. Accordingly, Newt's victory in South Carolina should augur well for those who prefer a lesser rightward shift, if his victory translated into Newt's nomination. But is Mitt really more electable? I'm not so sure. In particular, one must wonder whether any Mormon is electable — because so many Americans see Mormonism as a cult. They happen to be right about that and they probably won't be changing their minds anytime soon.
Continue reading "More Electable?"...
January 12, 2012
 So — Israel tells itself nobody knows what it's doing while it busily assassinates as many Iranian nuclear physicists as it can. Meanwhile, the serious Washington set struggles to find a one-sided definition of terrorism that's sufficiently salable, at least in a media pretend sort of way. But on that nuclear issue, let's not forget the NUMEC story. For a full accounting see Victor Gilinsky & Roger J. Mattson, "Revisiting the Numec Affair," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2010. It's behind a paywall, unfortunately, but the gist is that in the mid-1960s Israel probably surreptitiously (and very much illegally) took several hundred kilograms of highly enriched uranium from a plant in Pennsylvania, which Israel then used for its first nuclear weapons. Some "ally" — and the same applies for feverishly trying to get the U.S. to go to war with Iran...
 Not to complain... Oh, hell, why not? It was more than enough my dad having a heart attack on Thanksgiving — going to see him every day, sometimes twice a day, and occasionally three times a day has taken a lot out of me. Once he finishes rehab, in a few days, I'll be his physical therapy coach at home for some time. I'm happy to do all this and I tremendously appreciate the extra time we've got together. But it hasn't been a particularly timely time for problems of my own to crop up. Namely, my teeth.
Continue reading "Vacation Vicissitudes"...
January 11, 2012
 The EP Podcast will start the 2012 year on Friday, January 20th, the subject being Iran, with Ambassador John W. Limbert. The week following, Friday, January 27th, talking about nuclear power, my guest will be Dr. Victor Gilinsky, a former two-term Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A very, very smart guy. On Friday, February 3d, my guest will be Belén Fernandez, talking about her latest book, The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work (Verso, 2011). And Friday, February 10th, scheduled but not yet recorded, I'm talking again — for the fourth time — with Dr. Bruce Cumings, about North Korea. I look forward to being back! Thank you all for listening!!
January 3, 2012
 The market for oil is a global market. Not perfectly homogenized, but global. So if the U.S. and Europe say that they plan to further "punish" Iran for its nuclear program by implementing a European boycott of Iranian oil or sanctions generally against those who buy Iranian oil, well, that's the proverbial paper tiger talking. To be sure, the Iranians understand. It was, then, a very serious mistake for Iran to threaten to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, not only because it was unnecessary but because the threat turned war from a negligible possibility (because self-evident direct costs are too great) into something much more tangible. Although Iranian Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi walked back the Iranian position on Sunday, Iran's Army Commander in Chief, Maj. General Ataollah Salehi, further stoked the dispute on Tuesday, saying "We recommend to the U.S. warship [the USS John C. Stennis] that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to the Gulf of Oman not to return to the Persian Gulf... The Islamic Republic of Iran will not repeat its warning." Let's hope not. Going forward the Iranians would be extremely well advised never to say anything again about disrupting the West's oil supply.
Oil has not become a higher priority than nuclear proliferation but an American decision to go to war can sometimes have less to do with principles or objective calculations than with the inertial momentum of a vast national security apparatus. Hit the right buttons and war pretty much automatically ensues.
Continue reading "Miscommunications With Iran"...
December 28, 2011
 For the sake of argument, let's suppose that I'm right: if we want a functional, modern, democratic national government we must have an entirely new constitution and, in spite of the current odds against, that eventually we will have one. But, then, should we keep the name of our country the same? The United States of America seems such a throwback to the colonial era, in sync with our current dysfunctional government but perhaps not quite an appropriate name for a new government. And what about the American flag? Too much change in either our name or our flag, or both, would be difficult, perhaps in themselves as much a barrier to reform as it will be to devise and gain acceptance for a new constitution. Just something to ponder...
 If you're of a certain age you may remember that milk used to taste better. A cold glass of milk being a treat. And plain whole milk being just as good (or better) than half and half in coffee. Those were the days of local milk home delivery, in glass bottles. Somewhere along the way in the 1960s-1970s all that changed as we traded freshness and flavor for convenience. Of course, as people get older they tend to drink less milk anyhow so for most the loss seems less acute, or goes unnoticed. Younger folks have no idea. But if you live in Virginia or the DC area you may be able find outstanding retro milk — produced without the use of hormones or antibiotics — from the Homestead Creamery, sold in certain Whole Foods stores, and other outlets, and also home delivered in a limited area around southwest Virginia.
Continue reading "In Praise of Milk"...
December 16, 2011
 Chris Hitchens was a user, of people. I kept his last message to me on my answering machine for I don't know how long, but eventually erased it out of dismay regarding his militancy toward the former Yugoslavia. I could say more, but I think Sam Smith says it much better than I could ever do.
December 13, 2011
 On Thanksgiving Day, my dad, who's eighty eight years old, had a heart attack. A relatively mild one — his heart wasn't damaged. He was two weeks at one local hospital, discharged to a rehab facility for about six hours, suffered a second, very, very mild heart attack, and spent about a week at a different hospital. He'd had a quadruple bypass about fifteen years ago, with multiple stents added over the years, but these were his first heart attacks. Now he's got a new stent and his heart seems to be stable. This afternoon the hospital sent him to a second rehab facility (less than five minutes driving from me), so hopefully he'll be back up on his feet and getting around on his own much as before, though that may take a little while.
Continue reading "Family News"...
December 9, 2011
 It's more than passingly ironic that David Cameron, an arch conservative, should find himself the last defender of Keynesianism in Europe. Probably he doesn't see it that way but Cameron's entirely correct rejection of a new, treaty-imposed fiscal straightjacket means that the UK, alone among EU member states, will retain the ability for government to step in and spend when the economy experiences a lack of demand. For the rest of the EU the new treaty will mean leaping from the frying pan into the fire: national adjustments to balance of payments problems within the EU will become more difficult, not easier, and by concentrating on government debt instead of the regulation of financial markets the EU is only setting itself up for more market manipulation. In the throes of predictable balance of payments crises, one country after another will face withering fire from "nation state short-sellers" in the bond markets. The European financial crisis is about to get much worse.
December 1, 2011
 Now that Italy is firmly fixed in the crosshairs of the bond market and now that the Eurozone crisis is widely seen by the wise and the good as having the shortest of fuses before it implodes, two things are notable for their absence: The "fixes" under discussion don't include either the regulation or the closure of derivatives markets, and the political role of Germany on the loose has gone largely unnoticed. Why is that?
Continue reading "Euro Gestalt"...
November 26, 2011
 Same story, competing headlines. The UK version in the Guardian: "Britain unites with smaller countries to block US bid to legalise cluster bombs." The US version in the New York Times: "Talks on Cluster Bomb Restrictions Collapse." Entirely contradictory, as is their content. Note that the reporter for the Guardian is Richard Norton-Taylor, one of the most seasoned international correspondents in the world. Nick Cumming-Bruce for the New York Times, by coincidence also a Brit, is not so well known, but the paper has editors in New York. Nor is it a trivial story, in either substantive or political terms. So a prime example of corporate media stenography in the U.S. political system. (Read both and decide for yourself but for me it's obvious that the UK report is the correct one.)
November 25, 2011
 Today's podcast is the end of the season and of the year. I'll resume production in January 2012, though I haven't yet decided exactly when. I will, however, post advance notice a couple weeks ahead. And I won't be completely away: I'll continue blogging sporadically. If you miss the podcast please avail yourself of the archives — in six years' worth of podcasts I'm sure you'll find several of interest; or feel free even to download the entire archive, as newer listeners often do!
November 24, 2011
 A little while ago I had a filling fall out. Then, before I could get to a dentist, part of the tooth also fell out. But the roots and the base were okay, so I got a crown. Gold — what the hell... Coincidentally, about a week later Sharon was chewing on a sandwich at work and cracked a tooth. A "virgin tooth," it had never had a filling or anything wrong. But it cracked all the way down into the root. So it had to be pulled. She'll be getting an implant. And she'll be chewing Thanksgiving dinner only on the left side of her mouth. But I keep telling her, 'we're so lucky that there's this great modern dental technology available, and that we can afford it. You should be thankful, and proud, to have an implant.' A couple hundred years ago, if you broke a tooth, you lost the tooth. If you could afford it, then you got a denture made from wood, or ivory, or something, like George Washington had (and, remember, his dentures never worked very well for him).
Continue reading "Happy Thanksgiving!"...
November 20, 2011
 A lot has been made of the psychological mindset behind police brutality/police riots. See, for example, James Fallows. And, quite deservedly, police assaults are to be condemned. But I'm less inclined to see the question in mainly personal terms. Think back, for example, to Philip Zimbardo's work in The Lucifer Effect, or to the earlier Milgram experiments. Isn't it reasonable, and, indeed, much more fair, to assess police behavior as an expression of the constraints their own system imposes on them? Seen in that light the important question really is: Why does "the system" want to deploy indiscriminate violence against protesters?
Continue reading "Zombie Police"...
November 17, 2011
 The danger isn't police batons, it's infectious stupidity. Nobody in the Occupy movement should get drawn into a necessarily bounded discussion of "civil rights," the "law," the "First Amendment," or anything related. Of course the Occupy demonstrations aren't always legal. That's the point. And here is where a lack of leadership, organization, and agenda shows itself both as a blessing and a curse. More importantly — and much more interestingly — the dilemma also shows up a lack of outside leadership, whether from politicians, intellectuals, academics, the media, unions or the clergy. Which raises an additional, philosophical question of when it may be that going through the motions ineptly may be worse than not going through the motions at all.
Continue reading "Civil Disobedience"...
November 13, 2011
 Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post figure that the bumpkins who read their rags need to know much about Mr. Obama's plans for an expanded Asian-U.S. "free trade" zone. For a headline regarding his announcement yesterday at the Asia Pacific summit in Honolulu you'd have to turn to the BBC. Moreover, none of the mainstream outlets — including the BBC — should be expected to make much of the fact that more "free trade" for America means the loss of more manufacturing jobs. And, certainly, none will connect that fact to the ability of Mr. Obama to attract bipartisan support for his plan, claim credit for transcending politics, and to then kill off as many manufacturing jobs as he can before the election.
Continue reading ""A Little Bit Lazy""...
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January 27, 2012
 Few people know more about nuclear power than a former Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, especially the one who had the lead in responding to Three Mile Island. So when Dr. Victor Gilinsky suggests that it would be reasonable for the U.S. to phase out nuclear power, people should pay attention. After all, our concern is not about private profits. And apart from the safety of the reactors Victor makes an excellent point: If you think you want to try to cut down on greenhouse gases by using nuclear power you'll need thousands more nuclear power plants, all over the world. That will lead, almost inexorably, to a lot more countries having the bomb, at some point making the use of some of those bombs likely. A simple, powerful insight. Thanks, Victor! Total runtime forty minutes. Graviōra manent.
January 20, 2012
 As is typical of situations involving post-WWII imperial over-reach, U.S. distress with Iran is largely our own fault. If the CIA had not overthrown Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 — Operation Ajax — and if afterward the U.S. had not incessantly sought to get the Iranians to do what we wanted with their oil, relations today might even have been normal, but certainly would be far less fraught than they have become. Unless we sit down to talk through our differences this Cold War will go on and on, or maybe turn hot. Unsure of each other, both sides are capable of making extremely grave mistakes. It's all quite senseless. To get a helpful perspective from a former top State Department expert on Iran I turned to Ambassador John W. Limbert, who shares many of my concerns. Total runtime fifty minutes. Vāde mēcum.
November 25, 2011
 John Maynard Keynes understood that economics describes human beings, a fact that modern mainstream economics — the applied theory of "rational expectations" — effectively assumes away. Keynes' biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky, reminds us that our economic priorities should extend beyond our logical models to address real human concerns, that we should not assume we know complicated things that we don't, and that there is merit in asking very basic questions about commonplace things we take for granted. It was a great pleasure and an honor to talk with Robert and his insights have sharpened my thinking immeasurably. Buy his most recent book, Keynes: The Return of the Master , and thank me later. Total runtime thirty two minutes. Dum vīvimus, vīvāmus.
November 18, 2011
 When a retired four star Admiral provides support for nuclear arms control and a few other commendable things, the proper interrogatory is "yes." Or "yes, Sir." A gentleman with a friendly disposition and a cautious but lightning fast mind, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (Ret.) reasonably assesses the risks. Other political issues can wait for a rainy day... It was gracious of the Admiral to talk with me and to allow me a chance to keep up. Total runtime thirty eight minutes. Lupum auribus tenēre.
November 11, 2011
 In celebration of Veterans Day, here's a question: What if the U.S. had lost the battle of Midway? Mercifully, we'll never know. But the U.S. victory could not have happened without the codebreaking skill and the unflinching courage — a relentless determination to be heard — of Joe Rochefort, then head of "Station Hypo" at Pearl Harbor. Elliot Carlson tells the story of this complex, extraordinary man in Joe Rochefort's War. WWII may now seem like ancient history but there's still a lot we can learn from it. Thanks, Elliot! Total runtime forty five minutes. Bis peccāre in bellō nōn licet.
November 4, 2011
 Since elected officials don't seem so interested, around the country local groups are organizing to promote the reindustrialization of America. One of these is SFMade. Robin McRoskey Azevedo is on the board of SFMade and is also President and owner of the McRoskey Mattress Company of San Francisco (established in 1899). It was very kind of Robin to take time to explain some of what goes into making things in America — and, incidentally, I'm sure that having a high quality mattress is much more important than most people think. Total runtime forty minutes. Enjoy!
October 28, 2011
 Let's take the long view. We're unconsciously mired in unexamined 18th century beliefs that color our perceptions in unexpected — and exceedingly harmful — ways. Take one, for example: as Dr. Bernard Harcourt suggests, our notion of a "free market" is the direct intellectual descendant of a despotic belief in the natural order of things. The flip side is that those who challenge the supremacy of the "free market" are, by common consent, left to face the tender mercy of the criminal justice system. Thus we discover the logic of 18th century economists precisely replicated in modern form. Bernard's book, The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order (Harvard, 2011), explores a brilliant insight destined to become a fundamental metric for American reform. Thanks very much! Total runtime forty nine minutes. Aureo hamo piscari.
October 21, 2011
 John Stewart, voted the most influential environmental activist in Britain in 2008, who led the successful movement to block a third runway at London's Heathrow airport, was scheduled to be on a speaking tour around America just about now. U.S. immigration authorities, however, had other plans. On September 29th he was denied entry at New York City's JFK. What is the U.S. national security state so afraid of? It was kind of John to take time to explain about effective non-violent civil disobedience, and a real pleasure to talk with him. Total runtime thirty two minutes. Longum iter est per precepta, breve et efficāx per exempla.
October 14, 2011
 If you want to understand the Zeitgeist you could do worse than to read a mystery novel. But not all mystery novels are the same. A few being extraordinarily carefully crafted — every word, seemingly, playing its intended role. Every missing word a puzzle. A joy to read! Such are the international best-selling Inspector Chen novels by Dr. Xiaolong Qiu. It was a great pleasure to talk with Xiaolong and exceptionally generous of him to agree. Total runtime fifty one minutes. Verbum sat sapientī.
October 7, 2011
 It wasn't that long ago that "We may be alone in the universe" was a respectable scientific position to take. Now we know, however, that there are plenty of other earthlike planets, that the probability of intelligent life out there is overwhelming, and that the only question left is how do we get from here to there, or vice versa. Stanton T. Friedman has spent decades thinking about interstellar travel and researching reports of ET visitations, never mind the silly skeptics. Kudos to Stan! It's an awesome subject. Total runtime an hour and six minutes. Spectātum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.
September 30, 2011
 To be honest, the Lobby probably cannot be defanged until Israel ceases to be an apartheid state. That may take a while. Nevertheless, caring, ethical, smart Americans have a responsibility to try to block the Lobby from using Washington as its enforcer. A difficult job, but who said life was easy? To talk about what good-hearted people can do I turned to Alison Weir, a very courageous lady. Thanks, Alison! Total runtime forty three minutes. Tantum rēligiō potuit suādēre malōrum.
September 23, 2011
 This one is something of a walkabout. Dr. Thomas Ferguson has kept his eye on a critical part of our problem — money buying political power — something that far too many (indeed most) political scientists discount in favor of public opinion, or forget entirely when assessing the historical record. Every thoughtful critique helps. Thanks, Tom! Total runtime fifty five minutes. Ovem lupō committere.
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