Magritte Symmetry

I'm Back from vacation and re-entering the work-a-day world. Somewhere I read an article about investors that were given information on a yearly cycle as compared to investors that attempted to ride the market on a day to day basis. The less informed made decisions on long term factors and emerged with a reasonable profit. The day to day folks were able to say that they had a few instances of windfall profits, but over the summing period made less money overall. Relevant to this, I noticed that the same commentators are pushing the same memes and products, different only in which dilemma of the day was used to fill in the blank. The combination of too many cherry picked details giving the illusion of competence in the subject, an ahistorical worldview bounded by the last edition, blood specked frothing substituting for thinking, and an amoral determination to push the owner's product, leave you wanting less. I can feel my inner curmudgeon (or cynic, your call) returning in full force. In summary, vacations are good for the long term.

This Sunday's round-up reflects my just dipping my toe back in. I can't really sort it into catagories, so I'll list it chronologically.

• Pre-existing Rights: Of course, these are chartered and customary rights that pre-existed the creation of both the Confederation and the Republic. These were rights that the colonists possessed as part of their constitutional inheritance resulting from the struggles between Crown and Parliament in the 17th century, or which evolved as part of the colonial experience. Sullum has confused them with natural rights right from the start, and his entire argument suffers because of it.
• Something you already suspected Wealthy Defaulting More Than Others on Their Home Loans: Whether it is their residence, a second home or a house bought as an investment, the rich have stopped paying the mortgage at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population.
• Venus Envy: To European ears, President Obama's analysis -- a characteristic piece of consensus-building -- appeared wholly reasonable, even unexceptional. On Thursday, Jose Borroso, president of the European Commission, indicated his agreement, telling the British newspaper The Times, "The transatlantic relationship is not living up to its potential."
• Independence Day Eve: Whenever I hear someone claim that “our enemies hate us for our freedom,” I think first of the USS Vincennes and July 3rd, 1988. Twenty-two years ago today, Vincennes was as sophisticated as warships came and by far the most powerful surface vessel on Persian Gulf patrol.
• Anti-Miltiarism and the Right: On the face of it, that sounds right, but as Millman noted there was no Jacksonian backlash against McCain’s pro-Georgian enthusiasm. Why not? There is no way to be absolutely sure, but a likely reason is that when McCain’s “Jacksonian” supporters heard this (if they were paying attention to the August war at all) they took it in the spirit in which it was offered: as a fanatical statement of hostility to Russia.
• Futurists ponder planet, avoid despairing: Where We Are Winning – Where We Are Losing: Futurologists Publish Annual Report on Major World Problems and Opportunities.
• Debating Non-Violent Islamism: I found much to criticize in the book, including Berman's exceedingly thin engagement with the vast scholarly and historiographical literature, his still-puzzling obsession with Ramadan, and his tiresome infighting with a few liberal Western journalists such as Timothy Garton Ash and Ian Buruma. But looking past the polemics, there's a serious debate to be had about how to think about non-violent Islamist activism in Europe and the United States, the Middle East, and throughout the Muslim communities of the world.
• End of the Establishment: When Mitt Romney denounced the new START treaty in the Washington Post last week, he didn't simply demonstrate that he's determined not to allow Sarah Palin to outflank him on the right. He also affirmed something else -- the decline and fall of the Republican foreign-policy establishment.

I had lunch with my cousin Susan and she showed me around her town. Aparently NYC, in order to assure its watershead (or lebensraum, again - your choice), has been buying land and moving people.(not necessarily with their co-operation) Plenty of insider profit making opportunities and back room "for the greater good" monkeyshines. Shows to go you that all the less desirable characters don't necessarily live in D.C. or some far away foreign capital. Here in the future, homegrown isn't necessarily a guarantee of qualification.