Republican Social Security Playbook

The detailed Republican strategy for changing social security is laid out in this 106 page PDF.  Details include everything from strategy to talking points to points of Democratic support.

Students: 1st Amendment is not big deal

Three out of four high school students upon having the the exact text of the First Amendment explained to them think that it goes "too far" in protecting free speech. Just over half of students think that newspapers should be allowed to publish freely with government approval of stories.

"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment."

The partners in the project, including organizations of newspaper editors and radio and television news directors, share a clear advocacy for First Amendment issues."

WSJ editorial suggests humility over elections

The WSJ editorial page published a measured editorial by a professor from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) which suggests that we use the good news from Iraq as an opportunity to assess both the positives and negatives of US record in Iraq.   

".. If the war has had its great successes, it has also had more than its share of bungles, evident in the chaos and suffering in Iraq, heavy loss of American life, and a battered reputation for the United States abroad."

"...The U.S. government that had not provided the structure needed to administer postwar Iraq would not admit his deficiencies and replace him. Instead, he, like George Tenet and Gen. Tommy Franks -- equally able and patriotic men, who also failed in key aspects of the Iraq war -- received the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

".....Here came the second class of failures. For a very long time, the U.S. government would not even use the word insurgency. Until recently it insisted that we faced only 5,000 "former regime loyalists, jihadis, and released criminals."……In guerrilla war nothing matters more than raising and training indigenous forces; we passed that job off to Vinnell Corporation, and only belatedly realized that we needed our best general, supported by American soldiers and Marines, to do the job."

Cat and mouse games: Iran

The US Air Force is flying combat aircraft into Iranian airspace in an effort to tempt Iranian defense forces into turning on their ground radars so that U.S. air crews can map their locations and develop an order of battle for possible future hostilities.

""We have to know which targets to attack and how to attack them," said one (administration official), speaking on condition of anonymity."

Meanwhile on the ground:

To collect badly needed intelligence on the ground about Iran's alleged nuclear program, the United States is depending heavily on Israeli-trained teams of Kurds in northern Iraq and on U.S.-trained teams of former Iranian exiles in the south to gather the intelligence needed for possible strikes against Iran's 13 or more suspected nuclear sites, according to serving and retired U.S. intelligence officials.

The US is also working with MEK, Kurdish group.  

The use of the MEK for U.S.-intelligence-gathering missions strikes some former U.S. intelligence officials as bizarre. The State Department's annual publication, "Patterns of Global Terrorism," lists them as a terrorist organization.

WSJ Poll: Bush's ratings on Iraq at all time low

60% of American's give President Bush a negative rating on his handling of the war in Iraq, a new high according to two years of constant polling reported in the Wall Street Journal.

"Since late March 2003, people were asked, "Overall, how would you rate the job Bush has done in handling the issue of Iraq over the last several months?"  When the poll began, only 40% of Americans gave Bush a negative rating.

What do these men have in common?

Brigadier General David M. Brahms (Ret. USMC), Brigadier General James Cullen (Ret. USA), Brigadier General Evelyn P. Foote (Ret. USA), Lieutenant General Robert Gard (Ret. USA), Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn (Ret. USN), Rear Admiral Don Guter (Ret. USN), General Joseph Hoar (Ret. USMC), Rear Admiral John D. Hutson (Ret. USN), Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (Ret. USA), General Merrill McPeak (Ret. USAF), Major General Melvyn Montano (USA Nat. Guard), General John Shalikashvili (Ret. USA),

The all signed a letter expressing deep concern about the nomimation of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General and urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to "explore in detail his views concerning the role of the Geneva Conventions in U.S. detention and interrogation policy and practice."  The letter goes on to outline the generals' opposition to positions taken by Gonzales in the his various memos and policy formulations.

No Increase in Iraqi forces in 2004

Condi Rice told the Senate that the US's ability to leave Iraq depended on increasing the number of Iraqi forces to provide security.  Unfortunately according to Global Security, a private intelligence service, "The US has made essentially no progress in increasing the number of Iraqi forces during the year 2004..."

"Even more striking are the changes between August 2004 and October 2004.....Over this three month period, the objective end-strength of Iraqi forces increased from 265,900 to 346,700, while the shortfall of troops increased from 30,100 to 165,500 over this same period."

Christine Todd Whitman: It's My Party Too

In her soon-to-be-released new book (It's My Party Too) Whitman, former governor of New Jersey and Bush cabinet member, challenges the Bush administration by arguing that moderates are important to the future of the Republican Party.

According to the Washington Post, "Whitman charges on Page 3 that Bush's three-percentage-point margin in the popular vote is the lowest of any incumbent president ever to win reelection.

"The numbers show that while the president certainly did energize his political base, the red state/blue state map changed barely at all -- suggesting that he had missed an opportunity to significantly broaden his support in the most populous areas of the country," Whitman writes. "The Karl Rove strategy to focus so rigorously on the narrow conservative base won the day, but we must ask at what price to governing and at what risk to the future of the party."

An Amazon review says that "Whitman refers to those on the far right as "social fundamentalists" whose "mission is to advance their narrow ideological agenda" by using the government to impose their views on everyone else. Though she admits that evangelicals may have helped to win the 2004 election, they have claimed much more credit than they deserve for Bush's success, and she warns that catering to this narrow group will have consequences."

Has the US become the "Dispensable Nation"?

The Financial Times (via the DailyKos) has written that becoming the world's only superpower militarily has had unintended effects under this administration. Faced with the prospect of bowing before US power or forging institutions to counter balance US influence, the rest of the world has set about forging the latter without US participation. The article lists example after example how the US is becoming irrelevant in many areas.

It's no suprise that while the US is wasting its wealth and youth fighting a misbegotten war in Iraq, that the rest of the world has moved ahead with building international networks without us. In doing so, it had become increasingly clear that US participation is not necessarily needed, much less US leadership.

"In other areas of global moral and institutional reform, the US today is a follower rather than a leader. Human rights? Europe has banned the death penalty and torture, while the US is a leading practitioner of execution. Under Mr Bush, the US has constructed an international military gulag in which the torture of suspects has frequently occurred. The international rule of law? For generations, promoting international law in collaboration with other nations was a US goal. But the neoconservatives who dominate Washington today mock the very idea of international law. The next US attorney general will be the White House counsel who scorned the Geneva Conventions as obsolete." Financial Times.

 

Chimeras: Part Man Part Beast

National Geographic is reporting that scientists in China have crossed rabbit and human cells which could eventually result in creatures that are part human and part animal.  The scientists at the Mayo Clinic are performing similar experiments.

"William Cheshire, associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Florida, branch, feels that combining human and animal neurons is problematic.

"This is unexplored biologic territory," he said. "Whatever moral threshold of human neural development we might choose to set as the limit for such an experiment, there would be a considerable risk of exceeding that limit before it could be recognized."

Next Up: Iran?

The current New Yorker contains an article by Seymore Hersh describing the Bush administration's commitment to taking down Iran, the next target.  Hersh was on the Daily Show last night, and his concerns came across in a much more palpable way.  We're really going to take them down.  Some other views.

For us old guys, there's an interesting parallel here. During early '60s the US thought it had learned its a lesson from Viet Nam: learn guerrilla tactics to be effective. So we got the Green Berets. Unfortunately the real lesson was that we were invaders opposing a popular movement because we were afraid of falling dominos; the 60's equivalent of WMD's in Iraq. We shouldn't have been there in the first place.

The parallel with our current situation is that the Neocon dominated Bush administration thinks that it has learned its lesson from Iraq: no nation building. In Iran the plan is to simply take the government down and let the populace rebuild the nation. 

The real lesson will be that the Neocon's imperialist dreams are just that: Dangerous dreams.

Required Reading

At a time when too many are defined by too few and misleading labels, Instapundit's first post should be something we all keep in mind.

What's a NeoCon?

According the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Neocon is a rather loosely defined term that is characterized by " an aggressive stance on foreign policy, a lesser social conservatism, and weaker dedication to a policy of minimal government." 

In distinguishing between neocons and traditional conservatives:

"Thus, according to Ryn, neoconservatism is analogous to Bolshevism: in the same way that the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy established ways of life throughout the world to replace them with communism, the neoconservatives want to do the same, only imposing free-market capitalism and American-style "liberal democracy" instead of socialism.

There is also conflict between neoconservatives and libertarian conservatives. Libertarian conservatives are distrustful of a large government and therefore regard neoconservative foreign policy ambitions with considerable distrust.

There has been considerable conflict between neoconservatives and business conservatives in some areas. Neoconservatives tend to see China as a looming threat to the United States and argue for harsh policies to contain that threat. Business conservatives see China as a business opportunity and see a tough policy against China as opposed to their desires for trade and economic progress."

Budget Deficit to Break New Record

The projected Bush budget deficit is up to record $427B or about 30% higher than projected before the election.  Analysts project decreased economic growth and a increased pressure on the dollar.  "Having racked up three of the largest deficits in history, the Bush administration is years away from reducing the deficit by half, or by any appreciable amount," said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

"Indeed, America's massive federal budget and foreign-trade deficits are spawning global financial anxieties and driving down the value of the dollar. The United Nations yesterday warned that the U.S. deficits are pulling the world economy off balance.

Copyright Law Gone Wild: AOL Pulls the Plug on UseNet

In another example of the detrimental effects of the influence of the RIAA and other traditional media groups on the Internet, AOL decided to pull its connections to UseNet.

Last summer, the ISP settled a long-running lawsuit brought by author Harlan Ellison. The science fiction writer had complained that AOL was partly to blame when one of its users posted digital copies of his published work in Usenet newsgroups. AOL argued that, under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), its liability for the actions of members was limited.  

The RIAA and traditional media groups have lobbied hard to extend the concept of copyrights to new technologies in ways that have stagnated creativity and freedom of expression.  These same approaches once threated the VCR, cassette tapes, and other new forms of media that have only expanded the markets for creative works, but in the case of the internet, traditional industries been more successful in cutting their noses off to spite their face through aggressive lobbying and heavy handed legal tactics.  Unfortunately the effect is to stifle creativity and limit free access to information which will inevitably place the US at a disadvantage when competing with other countries.

BBC Starts Iraq Election Log

For the next two weeks the BBC will offer daily accounts from people inside Iraq about their lives as the election approaches.  The BBC suggests bookmarking the link and checking regularly as new material is posted.

Let a Thousand Googles Bloom

"Copyright reform is vital to the spread of culture and information. By Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig is a professor of law at Stanford and the founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. His latest book is "Free Culture" (Penguin, 2004).

Last month, Google announced a partnership with major research libraries to scan 20 million books for inclusion in Google's search database. For those works in the public domain, the full text will be available. For those works still possibly under copyright, only snippets will be seen. The potential of this project is only beginning to be understood  it is likely to bring about the most dramatic changes in the nature of research and the spread of culture since the birth of Google itself.

But the excitement around Google's extraordinary plan has obscured a dirty little secret: It is not at all clear that Google and these libraries have the legal right to do what is proposed." Let a Thousand Googles Bloom

Europe leads in environment scorecard

A recent ranking of 146 nation’s environmental records put seven North and Central European countries and three South American nations in the top 10 spots in the 2005 index of environmental sustainability. The ranking, prepared by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities, placed United States 45th of the 146 countries studied, behind Japan, most West European countries, Botswana and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

No Surprise: Washington Post Outs DoD Spy Operation

Using the logic that  we are engaged in endless war, the DoD has set up its own spy operation in an effort to become less dependent on the CIA.  An interesting move in light of the recent over haul of the nation’s spy apparatus which apparently did not include the DoD because the Senate and House did not know about its existence. 

“ WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon, edging into foreign spy operations traditionally handled by the CIA, is now using its own intelligence support group to work directly with U.S. special forces troops in world trouble spots, defense officials said on Monday.

…One veteran private analyst told Reuters the Pentagon unit, which has been operating for nearly two years in Iraq and Afghanistan, made sense and apparently did not violate U.S. law.

"This is just a common sense way of getting more tactical intelligence value out of military deployments," said Loren Thompson of the private Lexington Institute.

"I don't see where they are breaking any rules. Rumsfeld's initiative is understandable, given the cautious and unreliable performance of the Central Intelligence Agency in similar operations," Thompson said.

Defense officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that the support unit in question -- including linguists, interrogators and case officers -- was for "tactical analysis" and had been operating with elite military units for nearly two years in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Washington Post, citing Pentagon documents and interviews with participants, reported on Sunday that Rumsfeld had created the Strategic Support Branch to end "near total dependence" on the CIA for human intelligence.

WHITE HOUSE DENIAL

"There is no unit that is directly reportable to the secretary of defense for clandestine operations as described in the Post article," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters on Monday.

He said the 9/11 Commission report on the attacks on America had stressed the need to expand and enhance human intelligence and that Rumsfeld and the Pentagon had moved to do so.”

Cutting the Deficit in Half? DoD will ask for $80B in new funds

 In its lastest step to balance the budget, the Bush administration is preparing to request an additional $80B in military spending to support the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Exactly how this request assists in balancing the budget is still unclear, but given this administrationâ€Â™s record for meeting its buget projections, it should come as no surprise.

“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration plans to announce as early as Tuesday that it will seek about $80 billion in new funding for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, pushing the total for both conflicts to almost $300 billion so far.

Administration and congressional officials said on Monday that the new request would come on top of the $25 billion in emergency spending already approved for this fiscal year.

That means funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will total nearly $105 billion in fiscal 2005 alone -- a record amount that shatters initial estimates of the cost.

In addition to money for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and for new Army equipment, up to $650 million is expected to be earmarked for U.S. humanitarian aid, reconstruction and military operations in Asian nations devastated by last month's tsunami, congressional aides said.”

Sex Trafficing in Cambodia - Nicholas Kristoff article

Kristoff's NYTimes coverage of the plight of teenage women in the developing worth is equal parts moving and frustrating.  Make sure you check out the multimedia section as well as the article.

Gonzales Covers Up Bush's DUI?

Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, Jan. 31 issue -

"Senate Democrats put off a vote on White House counsel Alberto Gonzales's nomination to be attorney general, complaining he had provided evasive answers to questions about torture and the mistreatment of prisoners. But Gonzales's most surprising answer may have come on a different subject: his role in helping President Bush escape jury duty in a drunken-driving case involving a dancer at an Austin strip club in 1996.

The judge and other lawyers in the case last week disputed a written account of the matter provided by Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It's a complete misrepresentation," said David Wahlberg, lawyer for the dancer, about Gonzales's account."

Mozart, Our Newest Crime Fighter?

UK police have enlisted a new crime fighting method:  classical music.

"The approaches to three ((subway) stations on the eastern edge of the District Line were subjected for six months to bursts of Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel and Mussorgsky. The result was a one-third reduction in the number of robberies and a general diminution of other anti-social incidents.

Cheap, clean and classy, the method is now being broached at a further 35 stations. It works as a deterrent effect rather than a corrective one. Hooligans are not reformed by Mozart, so much as driven away by a noise that is as alien and hostile to their world as whale song to a camel herd.

Psychologists, jumping onto a moving carriage, hypothesise that symphonic music leaves youths feeling œuncool, disoriented and at risk of ridicule. Train managers on Tyneside in northeast England report that it eliminated low-level nuisances such as swearing, spitting and smoking. The second Rachmaninov piano concerto in C minor had the highest success rate (odd that this Brief Encounter soundtrack should still cling to the railways like lichen).

Bus termini in the East Riding of Yorkshire experienced similar benefits and Co-Op stores in the West Country have been fitted with subverted ghetto blasters to fire salvos of classical music at the approach of any hostile looking gang of layabouts. Travellers in musically protected areas say they feel reassured for their safety and culturally enhanced by the accompaniment to their waiting time."

The Future of Media

 A provocative portrayal of the end of the fourth estate.

Say Again?

"President Bush's inauguration rhetoric yesterday that the United States will promote the growth of democratic movements and institutions worldwide is at odds with the administration's increasingly close relations with repressive governments in every corner of the world.

Some of the administration's allies in the war against terrorism -- including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan -- are ranked by the State Department as among the worst human rights abusers. The president has proudly proclaimed his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin while remaining largely silent about Putin's dismantling of democratic institutions in the past four years. The administration, eager to enlist China as an ally in the effort to restrain North Korea's nuclear ambitions, has played down human rights concerns there, as well. "

Was it only a round about way of saying what Cheney was saying in private?  Iran is next?

Bush's First Term: By the numbers

Interesting numerical description of Bush’s first term. 

Air America Gaining Ground

Air America,the liberal antidote to the endless stream of conservative talk shows, is gaining ground nationally according to the Wall Street Journal today. Clear Channel has tested Air America programming on some of its stations with very positive increases in listeners. Air America is now available in Seattle on 1090 AM KPTK. A complete listing of stations is available at the Air America site.

Bush Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon

 

Amid the most biggest security lockdown ever for an inauguration, a new CBS/New York Times poll shows that President Bush has the lowest approval rating at the start of a second term since Richard Nixon. Bush’s 49 percent approval is below Nixon’s rating of 51 percent in January 1973 and Bush trails Bill Clinton’s 60 percent and Ronald Reagan'€™s 62 percent at similar points.

The Wall Street Journal reported similar poll results today concluding that while Americans are leery of administration policies they are more approving of Bush's personal qualities, especially in a crisis.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Here's a link to the Capitol Steps site with numerous MP3 and RealAudio cuts from their performances.   "Lirty Dies: Kesidential Prandidates 2004" and "Enron-ron-ron" are favorites, and there's a link to their New Year's Eve Special.  If you haven't heard them, you owe it to yourself to visit the site.

Who Needs Harvard?

Why big corporations are hiring fewer Ivy Leaguers.

A Slate article discussing a recent paper by Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori, both of the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that prestigious degrees aren't as valuable at America's largest corporations as they were a generation ago.  The numbers crunched by Cappelli and Hamori suggest that big-time corporate America is less interested in Ivy League students today than it was in the past. It could also be the other way around.

Humor: Atom Films "The Real Hussein 2: "Iraq Without Me"

 The real Hussein returns in new Slim Shady spoof. Hear him rap about Osama, prisoner abuse and WMDs. Are you down with this deposed dictator?  Nice beat and pretty funny. You might have to endure a short film commercial (Elektra?) before the Hussein video starts.

Speaking of Zen: Dai Bai Zan - Cho Bo Zen Ji

Located at 1811 20th Ave., Seattle, WA, 98122 this Zen temple is a the center of an active Zen community.

The abbot, Genjo Marinello Osho, is also a psychotherapist in private practice and a certificated spiritual director from a program affiliated with the Vancouver School of Theology. The temple is in the Rinzai Zen Dharma Line, and Genjo Marinello Osho trains under the tutelage of Ven. Eido T. Shimano Roshi, abbot of DaiBosatsu Monastery in New York.

SMiLE: A Zen Interpretation

A webpage based upon the idea that Brian Wilson's SMiLE album is in essence a Zen koan, or riddle, the solving of which is used by the Rinzai Zen sect as an aid to spiritual enlightenment. Can't wait to explore the album which I just received as a gift.

No Ad Left Behind.

Politics and the Law: Administration hypocrisy is even too much for George Will

"In communist East Berlin, one sign of the government's swollen self-regard was the cluttering of public spaces with propaganda banners by which the government praised itself for providing socialism. In Washington today, the Education Department building is an advertisement for its occupants.

Eight entrances are framed by make-believe little red schoolhouses labeled "No Child Left Behind." High on the building's front are two other advertisements for that 2002 law: Large banners hector passersby to visit www.nochildleftbehind.gov. ......

"...When conservatives break with their principles, they seem to become casual about breaking the law, too. "

Iraq War Report Card: Administration Earns another "F"

Not only has the administration ended its fruitless search for WMDs, a new report by the CIA's own National Intelligence Council describes Iraq as the new training ground for foreign (non-Iraqi) terrorists who will eventually become active around the world. The report also adds Iraq to the list of conflicts "that have deepened solidarity among Muslims and helped spread radical Islamic ideology."

Ovio Bistro: Deserves its ranking in the Top 10

We had a ball last night at the Ovio Bistro in West Seattle.  We've never even eaten dinner in West Seattle before, and now we can't wait to return.  Relaxed with wonderful food.  Highly recommended.

Geography Quiz

Soneone once said that war is the way Americans learn geography. This link provides a more entertaining and less violent alternative.

Great Red Wine from Down Under

 Marquis Philips is a relatively new joint venture in Australian winemaking, but it is one that has received a lot of attention in the past couple of years, and as we found out last night, deservedly so.  At $9.99 a bottle the Shiraz is a steal.

Men Just Want Mommy?

Around here, one of the effects of this Maureen Dowd editorial has been to heighten concern among some mothers that down the line their  talented, accomplished daughters will have to make some hard choices between having a career and raising a family with an equally accomplished mate. The assumption behind Maureen's views about the role of mother have led to some interesting letters to the editor in the NY Times.

 

Quote:  "A few years ago at a White House Correspondents' dinner, I met a very beautiful actress. Within moments, she blurted out: "I can't believe I'm 46 and not married. Men only want to marry their personal assistants or P.R. women."

 

A similar theme is expressed in a December 14, 2004 NYTimes piece "Glass Ceilings at Altar as Well." about a controversial study of hypothetical choices made by college undergraduates conducted at the University of Michigan.  "...when asked about long-term relationships, the men showed a marked preference for the subordinates as opposed to the bosses."  Women did not evidence the same bias, nor did men when selecting a partner for a one night stand. 

Harrowing First Hand Description of Tsunami

Expat dive instructor in Thailand

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting around, day after Christmas, just staring at the TV, some movie we've seen before. Mid-morning, post-breakfast stupor controlling Karin and me. The power flickers and we moan. We'll have to get up and do something? Then we hear some yelling outside.

I look out the front door, still puffed up with pride about our new house, just 400 feet back from the beach. People are running up our street yelling. It looks like a fire at the large two story resort that effectively blocks our view of the beach. Smoke and dust coming up and all these people. (click on link to continue)

Texas Two Step or Republican Mis-direction

House Republicans gave with one hand and took back with the other today, although the focus was purely on the giving in most papers which covered only the first of two proposed rule changes.

Unlike former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who resigned in 1998 following a corruption probe and GOP losses in midterm elections, DeLay has never sought a big national name. He often avoids national media in favor of local radio networks. What Republicans learned from the Gingrich downfall is that a big name can mean a big target. Privately, some senior Republican leaders say that DeLay has lost a lot of ground in the reversal over ethics rules. "He spent all his capital on this," says one. "DeLay is becoming the issue," says another. "The visuals aren't good," says a senior GOP aide....

Even though GOP leaders dropped the most controversial features of their ethics overhaul, they did muscle through a rule change that scuttles an investigation if no action has been taken in 45 days or if the panel is tied. This enables a strictly party line vote to prevent an initial investigation.

Inflation Separates Bulls and Bears on Wall Street

WSJ.com - Wall Street's Crystal Ball Reveals an Overcast 2005

Question of the Day: How will the Dow industrials perform in 2005?

The Bull:

Oak Associates
Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist
Akron, Ohio
S&P 500: 1385; DJIA: 11700
Fed-funds rate: 3%
10-year Treasury yield: 4.5%
Dollar: The euro at $1.45 in the first half
"The most critical element of my forecast is my very benign outlook for inflation," writes Mr. Yardeni, who predicts inflation as measured by the consumer price index will hold steady at around 2% -- for the rest of the decade.
That's some forecast; he offers several reasons to back it up. The end of the Cold War and China's admission to the World Trade Organization accelerated globalization, he argues, spurring the integration of national markets around the world. That development acts as a catalyst to free trade, which helps keep down inflation through increased open competition.
In other words, writes Mr. Yardeni: "Prosperity, like love, conquers all."
* * *

The Bear:

Bank of America Securities
Thomas McManus, chief investment strategist
New York
S&P 500: 1200
Mr. McManus, one of the few 2005 bears we surveyed, thinks stocks have gotten too pricey relative to earnings. That makes them a risky bet heading into a year that will likely see rising interest rates, he says. Today's stock valuations "overlook the significant rise in inflation expectations," writes Mr. McManus.
Inflation isn't going to creep -- it's going to jump right in our faces, he says, since "we're going to see a plethora of rising prices" in the first several weeks of the year.
Investors have become overconfident, says Mr. McManus, and are ignoring a number of risks. Part of that overconfidence stems from the fact that P/E ratios, while high by some accounts, are still well off their historic highs. The operating P/E ratio of the S&P 500 companies currently is at 21.02, compared with 46.05 in December 2001. But as inflation ramps up, companies will have trouble maintaining their profit margins, he says, and that could hurt P/Es.
Copyright WSJ 2005

Hanuman

Hanuman, the powerful monkey deity from Hindu mythology, befriended Prince Rama in his battle with the demonic Ravana in the epic stuggle between good and evil: The Ramayana.   Believed to be an avatar of Lord Shiva, Hanuman is worshipped as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.

Senators denounce plan to jail suspects for life without trial

In the "Sort of undermines everything we stand for." category

Senators denounce plan to jail suspects for life without trial - Global Terrorism - www.smh.com.au

A reported US plan to keep Guantanamo Bay inmates locked up for life, even if the US Government lacks evidence to charge them in courts, has been condemned by a leading Republican senator, who has questioned whether it would breach the country's constitution.

The Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it was unwilling to set free or turn over to US or foreign courts. 

Southeast Asia and Tsunami Relief - How to Help

American Red Cross - Credit Card Donation

Link to the Red Cross for collecting donations for assisting the more than 100,000 people affected by last week's earth quake and tsunami.