Another round?

Sorry things have been so quiet here lately - there's been some good conversation in the "Comments" booths, if you check in there. Big shipment of salt-and-vinegar chips and bar towels to unload out back; we'll be setting 'em up again in a bit, though.

While you're waiting,there's a couple of things you might mull over:

1. The U.S. House passes the first ever bill not only accepting that us bipedal types may be messing with the weather but proposing a course of action. Too much? Too little? Just right?

2. The "wars" in southwest Asia grind on, even in Iraq where there seems to be no poltical solution. Is there a point where a U.S. politician can openly say "We're done."? Is there any evidence that the 27-percenters will EVER say it? And, while we're at i, is there an hope for a reasonable set of objectives in the 'Stan?

3. Honduras reminds us of the very real, very deep problems of Central America. While we're fiddling in southwest Asia, Mexico is burning. Yet little is being said openly about it in the corridors of power. What can and should we do about this?

4. The global economy is doing a pretty good impression of 1929 so far this year. Every time I pick up a paper the business section is full of little items touting an uptick in durable goods or downturn in unemployment applications as the End of The Great Recession. I'm not seeing it here. What are you seeing from where you sit?

5. Madoff will be in jail 100 years after he's dead, yet there appears to be no organized effort to really police the malefactors of great wealth. Olympia Snowe (D-WA) seems determined to save the profits of private insurers if it means impoverishing every damn American making under $40K/year. What does this say - if anything - about our political and economic masters?

6. Indefinite detention? Exeutive order? REALLY?

Oops - that sounded expensive. Here's your drink; sip, consider, and I'll be back in a bit.

Cyclical history, why some things are just to amusing to ignore.

Chief's post got me to thinking, and as always, I go to where I usually hang out at...Ancient history.
Sorry, it's a habit I have no intention of breaking anytime soon.

So, unless you have been living in a cave in the middle of the Mojave desert you know the current situation in Iran is a bit…um…tense.
And normally, I would address the current problems in Iran being somewhat analogous to other revolutions which began under similar situations.
But, not this time.
This time, I want to take a look at the underpinnings of the pretender’s win, and expose who really is in charge of Iran.
I think you’ll be…mildly surprised.
Ahmadinejad thinks he’s really is in charge, but herein is the quid pro quo of his authority. He has it so long as the Khamanei says he has it, but Khamanei gets to say Ahmadinejad has the authority only because the Revolutionary Guard says Khamanei has the authority to say who has the authority, and of course Ahmadinejad gets to say who he prefers in the Revolutionary Guard namely because the Revolutionary Guard likes those who like them.

The problem with the Praetorians in Rome is that they, themselves, grew fat, lazy and indolent with the power behind the throne. And it was a short time later that the guard kind fell apart under it’s own weight…well, with some outside help which we’ll call “wealth.” This wealth came in the form of bribes, blackmail, and gifts…which, on the surface we could ascribe as bribes and blackmail, but really was just following the age old tradition that all Romans practiced, Patronage.
So the Praetorians were little more than the muscle that enforced their own ideology, and as long as the butt that sat on the throne was game to keep things same-o, same-o then they were game to keep that particular butt in place until they were paid off by someone with more money, and better gifts.
Which brings us to today.
The Revolutionary Guard is playing the part of the Praetorians to Khamenei’s part of Nero, while Ahamadinejad is relegated to the role of Agrippina. This tripartite has a nasty habit of falling apart because eventually someone of the three is going to fuck up so bad that one or two of the three are going to be “retired” by the other. The Praetorians…er, I mean, the Revolutionary Guard are going to be the ones who decide who “retires” and who gets to pretend their still in charge when that fuck up occurs. So what fuck up could the other two do that would get them…”retired” by their guard dog? Very simple, try to dismantle the Revolutionary guard, or worse still, turn them back into cogs in the wheel. The Revolutionary guard has been sitting down to a feast of power for the past thirty years, plus…they are not going to be removed from their seat at the buffet by anyone, religious ideology or political ideology.

Privilege becomes it’s own ideology, and for a guard dog, a very nice citadel to defend.

So what does this all mean?
It means that Ahmadienjad, Khamanei, and pretty much all the turbans in the Iranian government have failed to realize is that they are not the ones in power, they think they are, but they’re not. The ones in power are the very ones keeping them in power is their guard dog, the Revolutionary Guard. And you see, that guard dog is now to big to do anything about…Ahmadienjad, Khamanei, the other turbaned mullahs are only figureheads to the true power…and there is nothing they can do, anymore.
They are, in truth slaves to the Guard dog they thought they were master, too.

U.S. 2: Esp 0

So with a good helping of luck, some hard men in the back and a touch of skill it turns out that a rank outsider can beat the best soccer team in the world.

Today's victory over Spain has to be considered one of the most stunning results in U.S. soccer history. While beating Mexico was considered miraculous in the day, the USMNT has pretty much owned El Tri over the past ten years, suggesting that the level of play in CONCACAF (while still pretty much wallowing down there with Asia and the better teams in Oceania) has levelled out, with the U.S., Mexico, El. Salvador and Honduras the pick of the litter.But this wasn't Mexico at the Azteca; it was the monster, the red-and-yellow beast that has swallowed European soccer whole and been chewing on it for the past three years, the Seleccion d'Espana. This isn't just David and Goliath; this is David whipping the Giant of Gath's feet out from under him and then doing one of those Buffy under-the-arm-backhand stabs to the heart.

Not since the days of Joe Gaetjens has the USMNT done anything like this. Admittedly, the goals were freakish (mind you, Gaetjens' was, too); Altidore got away with some pretty dicey pushing and then managed to riccochet the shot in off the Spanish keeper's right hand, Clint Dempsey should, frankly, be hunting up Ramos, the Spanish defender who managed to completely lose his composure six yards from his goal and tee the ball up so the Clintster could turn on it and slot the thing in, a shot a U-6 would have had a hard time missing. And, yes, the Spanish had most of the run of play, most of the shots, and Howard and the U.S. backline had to play like madmen to keep the clean sheet.

But the point is, they did. They DID. For the first time in history, a USMNT will play in a FIFA championship final.Somewhere where the fields are always green and level, the referees always knowledgable and fair, and the fans always rowdy and happy, Joe Gaetjens is juggling a ball with a little smile on his face.

And so do I.

Who IS that standing there?

I was doing something domestic the other morning while my bride was skimming channels and caught her pause on one of the network morning shows as someone (presumably a GOP talking head) was ranting: "If Obama gets what he wants you will find a government bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor!!"

I had kid lunches to find and breakfast to make, but I still had time to think,

"You smug, self-satisfied son-of-a-bitch, have you ever had a job shitty enough to have had lousy insurance? Because if you had, which I doubt, you insurance-company-donation-fattened hyena, you'd know perfectly well that there already IS a bureaucrat standing between me, and about 89% of the rest of Americans and their doctors. And it's a bureacrat even less objective, less reasonable, and less helpful than one from my government; its the one from my goddam insurance company."

I'm not sure why Obama's people haven't figured out that one of the few things less popular to the average Yank than our government bureaucracy are the meeching, grasping, parsimonious scriveners at our HMOs and insurance companies.

But there's a drum there, and I'm not sure why they don't beat it.

Update 6/23: Maggie Jochild over at Group News Blog gets it:

"They (the GOP and Congressional Dems shilling for the insurance companies) also claim it means a government worker will decide what kind of treatment you get. Well, currently those decisions are being made by cubicle drones for private insurance companies who receive bonuses for denying you care. Your disability and death have no impact on their bottom line. But a "government worker" will have no such incentive to keep you away from necessary treatment, and in the big picture, having more citizens alive and productive is better for the government's bottom line. You tell me which one looks more attractive."

Word.

“and what if that doesn’t work?”

The subject today is… ”Business can regulate itself in this market economy.”
True…or false?

Well, for the average individual the hip shot answer is “False, damn you and my depleted 401k account too!” but to actually articulate the reason for the false answer requires a lot more detail information than the quite understandably rational, yet emotional response that I, and I’m sure you have when it comes to that which is near and dear to our livelihoods…our collective financial future.

The problem is that what we are currently facing isn’t so much that business is evil, but rather that business is business and will act in its own self interest…at best.
At worst, for the sole interests of the individual corporate managers who have shown a rapacious appetite not just for monetary power, but for political power to keep their position secured from any form of accountability by you, me, or the government.
The examples of this throughout our history are replete dating way back to the 1800’s with the railroad barons, then to the banking industry of the early 1900’s, to the collapse of Wall Street in the 1930’s, to the late 80’s early 90’s S&L disasters, to today’s bottom falling out from the entire financial industry. And of course we have done the sane thing…we threw some form of legislative regulation at the problem each time hoping that the legislation will be…enough.
And of course…it never is.
If it was…we wouldn’t be here sobbing over our portfolios.
So no, business can never regulate itself because regulation and the spirit of business are two . very . separate . ideologies.
World views if you will allow that distinction.
How do we define the distinction between the two?
The Japanese model of business was, is, and continues to be a form of warfare, just without traditional weapons. And so too has our national business institutions have come to accept that in truth, business is like warfare. In short, company’s have become the new nation states, their MBA’s their soldiers, and the other companies…either short term allies…or the next conquest.
So, if you think about it, business, unlike the current U.S. military policy, is about Total War.
Business then is survival of the fittest.
Darwin would be proud…if he would stop rolling over in his grave every time I misappropriated his thesis for my pet subjects.
So, what does regulation do?
Or, more appropriately, suppose to do?
Regulation is suppose to prevent monopolies, it’s also suppose to prevent perfidy of those in the know against those who are completely and totally clueless about how the financial world operates, which would be pretty much all of us.
Regulation also forces the management of the banks to be accountable, even when they duck accountability by blaming everyone who had nothing to do with their mismanagement in the first place. But most of all Regulation protects Joe and Jane average from the predations of the Businesses who will not hesitate to bend the two over at the waist and ride herd on them till their broke.
So we now can approach the question with some knowledge and that is Business “will” not regulate itself because any form of regulation is considered a detriment to their over all war plan, and thus, must either be neutralized, or ignored.
And of course, the past 100+ years of economic history has born this out.
And so, that is why we will continue to have problems in our economy.
Not because the will to regulate doesn’t exist, but because whatever regulation that is legislated into the market economy will be neutralized by the corporations as soon as the ink dries.
Which brings us to… ”what can we do?”
Well, good question, but the historical evidence stands that whatever clever institutions we assemble to regulate the business institutions are subject to the whims of the political party that is currently seeking to rule.
Sorry, I shouldn’t use the word rule…but at this time…it seems appropriate.
Each and every regulatory edifice that has been constructed has been obstructed, or of little use other than to validate the evolving system of conquest…er, I mean, transactions that are being employed by the very institutions that the regulatory park statue is suppose to prevent.
As to what can be done…I will save that for the comments section…but so far…we have lots of regulatory statues collecting a lot of pigeon droppings, and considering the end result, we now know how useless they have been.
Well, not entirely true, perhaps they'll serve as a reminder that doing something for something’s sake usually ends up doing…nothing.

Some Father's Day Ruminations on Iran

1. I have no real understanding of Iranian culture and history, but it seems to me that the current regime is digging itself a hole by insisting on a greater legitimacy with the middle and educated classes than it has. It has become, in effect, the Holy Roman Empire for the 21st Century. If there is to be an Islamic Reformation, or even an Islamic Renaissance, it may well begin in Tehran in 2009.

Update 6/22: I should note that the "Islamic Reformation" in this case appears to be entirely urban and mostly young. As far as I can tell from what I read and hear the rural population of Iran still supports the mullahs; the unrest is in the cities. Bill Lind discusses how the split between urban and rural interests was a fairly common feature of the pre-Westphalian state.2. A real question is to what degree the armed forces will support the mullahs with armed force. Rob Farley has a terrific discussion of the issue here in the context of the aniversary of Tianenmen Square. His money graf reads:

"The thing is, Tank Commander is far more dangerous than Tank Man. Tank Man can simply be shot; most seem to believe that Tank Man was later executed, far out of sight of the international media. The regime survives if Tank Man dies, even if the death of Tank Man isn't the optimal outcome. The regime dies, however, if Tank Commander refuses to run over Tank Man."

3. For all the lying of the Right, any attempt by an American government to intervene seems likely to produce the opposite of the intended effect.

On the Road

I expect not to be posting anything until late next week. The wife and I are off to Washington, D.C., (yes, the enemy camp) to hang out with the child, who's going to be there for a conference. My wonderful daughter informs me she is going to take me to the Washington Nationals-Toronto Blue Jays game on Sunday, which just happens to be Father's Day. This will give me an opportunity to see the worst team in baseball as well as the grand edifice that the local taxpayers were generous enough to provide for those poor, underpaid major league baseball players.

Yeah, that's me. But I've lost weight since that was taken in California a few years back. Haven't grown any hair, unfortunately. And, yeah, that's the beast I drive. A 1988 560SL, which unfortunately has a governor limiting the top speed to 155 mph. Don't even ask about the gas mileage. I don't care. I will be buried in this car.

It's always interesting to be in D.C. I haven't been there for a couple of years and I suspect I may get a post or two out of this trip. Time permitting, I'd like to look up a couple of old friends who are still working in the business. They always tell me the truth. Clearances? We don't need no stinking clearances. Actually, I've just recently learned I'm still cleared. What fools these mortals be. I'd also like to look up this CNAS outfit, as embodied by abu whatever, and ask them if they have any adult supervision (that's in response to a question from Seydlitz).

We are taking the wife's laptop, so I may make some comments if I think of it. You fathers, have a great day. As my oldest has it, every day is Mother's Day and kids' day. There is only one Father's Day. Unfortunately, it looks as if the U.S. Open won't be concluded until Monday. Damn Mother Nature.

Incidentally, did you all know that there are more collect calls on Father's Day than on any other day in the year?