March 2009 archive

Everyone who ever watched the X-Files is familiar with the sinister figure of the “cancer man,” the chain-smoking head of the conspiracy to manipulate humanity for its own good (and that of its secret government).

The image of the cancer man is much in my mind these days as I ponder the question of how Geithner and Summers were appointed to determine Obama’s economic policies. After doing a bit of fruitless Google searching to answer this question, I realized that I already knew the answer. These men were put in place by people who wish to remain unknown, because their actions as the true controllers of the Executive Branch of the government of the United States are contrary to the beliefs of the American people and the founding principles of our nation.

When the cancer men selected Geithner and Summers they guaranteed that the interests of wealthy individuals and powerful financial corporations would be placed above the interests of ordinary taxpayers. Since the arithmetic of Democracy opposes such an outcome, they must operate in secret, and that is why there is no available anwer to the question of who proposed Geithner and Summers. What is even more interesting is that this question is not even raised in the press.

How do the cancer men conceal their role? They use the age-old devices of indirect action and influence that have corrupted politics for millenia. A key corruption mechanism is the “marker” system of exchanging favors. Ambitious and well-connected people keep a mental ledger book of favors done and received for and from powerful acquaintances. Dealing reliably with markers qualifies a player in this system for advancement to a powerful position. Geithner and Summers were appointed in exchange for loyal past service in protecting the interests of very wealthy and powerful people. They understand that people who accumulate these markers will be able to cash them in at the end of their public service for very comfortable living arrangements.

Similarly, the people who put Geithner and Summers on the (very) short list for Obama cabinet appointments were accumulating markers for future redemption. The beauty of the marker system is that there is no immediate quid-pro-quo to compromise the players. Temporal separation of corrupt action and subsequent reward sterilizes the transaction and frustrates investigation. Even if we could find every last phone log, email, and meeting transcript pertinent to the Geithner and Summers nominations, we would never find a direct inducement of bribery. All we would see is powerful people “suggesting,” through intermediaries, that these men would be “good choices” for Obama.

So I ask you all to ponder why nobody in the press knows who recommended Geithner and Summers for their jobs, and, more importantly, why nobody even cares about this question: Who are the people who control the Obama administration?

Who are the cancer men?

  Michelle “We Need A Revolution” Bachmann(M)Mars

Your Foreign Corespondent Behind

Enemy Lines

White House Debate Led to Plan to Widen Afghan Effort



By HELENE COOPER and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: March 27, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan came after an internal debate in which Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. warned against getting into a political and military quagmire, while military advisers argued that the Afghanistan war effort could be imperiled without even more troops.

All of the president’s advisers agreed that the primary goal in the region should be narrow – taking aim at Al Qaeda, as opposed to the vast attempt at nation-building the Bush administration had sought in Iraq. The question was how to get there.

The commanders in the field wanted a firmer and long-term commitment of more combat troops beyond the 17,000 that Mr. Obama had already promised to send, and a pledge that billions of dollars would be found to significantly expand the number of Afghan security forces.

Grieving Parents Gain Clout In China

 Party Steps Lightly In Wake of Disasters

?By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, March 28, 2009; Page A01

BEIJING — When Zhao Lianhai created a Web site for parents of children hurt or killed by contaminated milk, he did not set out to challenge the Communist Party. He did it because his son was sick. The 3-year-old had been diagnosed with kidney stones and Zhao was scared. He needed advice.

Within days, more than 4,000 families signed up, and soon the discussion evolved from technical questions and answers about medical care to demands for punishment and compensation. It wasn’t long before the 37-year-old former advertising salesman became the de facto spokesman, organizer and lobbyist for thousands of parents across the country whose children had suffered after drinking infant formula or milk that had been illegally doctored with the industrial chemical melamine.

USA

Thousands flee Fargo as floodwaters threaten

Says one resident: ‘The only thing now is divine intervention’

NBC News and news services

FARGO, N.D. – Thousands of shivering, tired residents got out while they could and others prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold Friday as the surging Red River threatened to unleash the biggest flood North Dakota’s largest city has ever seen.

The agonizing decision to stay or go came as the final hours ticked down before an expected crest Sunday, when the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago.

The city got a one-day reprieve Friday night when the National Weather Service pushed its crest projection back from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, saying frigid temperatures had slowed the river’s rise.

The Koban

Jason Leopold reported today that the Senate Armed Services Committee is very close to releasing — “possibly as early as next week” — its 200 page, 2000 footnote

… voluminous report on the treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody and the interrogations methods they were subjected to, according to Defense Department and intelligence sources, who described the report as the most detailed account to date of how the Bush administration and Defense Department implemented interrogation methods widely regarded as torture.

Levin and the SASC’s investigation is a gold mine of information about how the Bush administration implemented its torture program. Both the documents produced by the investigation, and the declassified 19-page summary released by Sen. Levin last year contained important new information, such the details surrounding John Yoo’s drafting of the torture memos.

Nice move

In response to an increase in the number of women returning to the workforce during the economic downturn, the government has granted approval for daycare centers to open in private homes.

The Gap clothing store said it would open a shop in a 12-story building in Ginza after Louis Vuitton pulled out, citing sluggish sales of luxury goods. The store, due to open in 2011, will be the largest Gap in Japan.

The Imperial Household Agency announced that the emperor and empress would like to invite 100 couples from around the country to help celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on April 10. The couples, who have also all been married for 50 years, would join an hour-long tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace.

In response to a government move to lower the price of expressway tolls on weekends, JR West slashed fares by 40 percent on its Sanyo shinkansen line.

Every now and then I re-read all of Chaim Potok’s books.  I get in a certain mood, you see.

You may know Potok’s work from one of his biggest selling books, The Chosen.

All of Potok’s books deal with protagonists who eventually must confront the limitations of the touchstones they were given through childhood, their bedrock belief systems.  With the exception of Davita’s Harp, that touchstone is an Orthodox Jewish community.

In My Name is Asher Lev, we get to know Asher, the son of a man accomplished in the Jewish community, the right-hand assistant to the Hassidic Rebbe who is the highest authority in the community, a man who works hard to build yeshivas all over Europe, a man of integrity, all that.  And Asher, his son, is an artistic genius on the level of Picasso.  Long story short, Asher finds that his masterpiece painting expresses itself with a crucifixion as part of its form.  Needless to say, that causes a bit of a stir in his community, which already looks askance at his painting to begin with.  Add the family dynamic to that, and Asher is confronted with a heavy task.  And he is fully aware after he paints the picture exactly how much it will hurt his family, why it will hurt his family, and the kind of disapproval and anger it will draw down upon him.