New Addition

to the blogroll, that is... Check out Tran Sient. A thought-provoking political guy.

Strange Blog Traffic

I've noticed a fair amount of international traffic lately on two rather strange posts on this blog:

• This photo of a fungus called "slime mold," which made an appearance in my flower bed for some reason last year, and
• This semi-political rant about the new Hooters in Shanghai. No one reads the post, they just dig the picture...

I can see why the Hooters post would be popular, but slime mold? C'mon...

Take That Property...

THIS, if true, would be perfect justice for the recent Kelo v New London Eminent Domain decision... Of course, it would never happen to a well-connected Supreme Court justice...

Gotcha!

I once had a corporate finance professor in college who, when occasionally off on a tangent about ethics, would say, "Never steal anything from your employer with a fair market value of LESS than one year's salary." In other words, don't steal.

My partners and I recently caught an employee of ours stealing inventory from us and selling it on eBay... Not enough to break us, but enough to be a felony. Strangely enough, a minor change in his normal routine is what exposed his process... To you employers out there, change up the routine on your employees every now and then. You might be surprised with what you learn. Trust, but verify.

It will be interesting to see if the wheels of justice roll as they should.

In Light of

the Supreme Court putting a "For Sale to the Highest Bidder" sign up on YOUR property this week, a new link must be added to this blog:

Get involved. It could be your house next. John from the Arkanssouri blog created a page to expose companies that are involved in eminent domain property theft: http://landthieves.wikispaces.org Take a look at his page, and vote with your wallet...

The Supreme Court

pissed all over the Constitution today. For those of you who haven't heard yet, the court ruled today that local governments can take private property and turn it over to other private parties through eminent domain. Now every city in America has a profit motive to use eminent domain. Whoever can bring in the most tax money gets the property. And you THOUGHT that you owned your house! Turns out, you don't.

(cross-posted on Framptonia)

An Interesting Discussion

about the Patriot Act is over on Whymrhymer's blog. Go read.

Frill America?

Take a look at THIS little commentary by Robert Reich on June 15 (National Proletariat Radio).

From his last sentence- "Its all just another sign of the widening gap – between frill and non-frill America," Mr. Reich continues his frequent attempts to incite envy and class warfare in this country. So there are people who want to live large. Big deal. Go out, make some money, and do it yourself if you want to. Nobody's holding you back.

Mr. Reich's play on economic ignorance is what really gets me. His first paragraph makes it sound as if all major airlines have conspired to take away from the have-nots (coach passengers) their beloved curbside baggage service and in-flight meals... He knows damn well that major airlines can't profitably deliver those services to coach passengers in today's market. The discount airlines have proven that passengers by and large just want to get from point A to B, no frills. The major airlines had to adapt.

The plain truth from his commentary: "Now, in cutting the amenities for coach and loading up on luxuries for business and first class, big airlines are merely responding to the market. You see, regular passengers increasingly care only about one thing: They want to lowest possible fare. But upscale passengers are eager to pay for more and more comfort and attention. That's what it means to be upscale in America today."

What a shame that airlines are responding to the market and to the needs of their customers- and maybe even making some money (only on the 'frills' types) while they're at it!

Soybean Rust May be a Problem After All

This is a recent satellite pic of Tropical Storm Arlene, which certainly has the capacity to bring Asian Soybean Rust to a significant part of the bean-growing area of the US... Up till now, rust has only been confirmed in Florida and Georgia. For those of you who don't know, Asian Soybean Rust can completely defoliate a soybean field within days - a serious problem for those who produce and consume soy.

I've said before that rust may not be a big problem in this country, mainly because it doesn't winter well here (Hurricane Ivan brought the infestation along in 2004- fortunately, that was late in the year, after beans were harvested). All bets are off when hurricanes and tropical storms enter the fray.

Here is a recent map of the soybean rust situation. This topic is not a problem for most of my readers, but here in the Midwest, it could be huge. I remain confident that rust will be contained with modern fungicides, even if the infestation becomes widespread. Time will tell.

Iraq Dinar a Winner

Take a look at THIS story... From the article: The upsurge in violence has worsened conditions for almost everyone and everything in Iraq, but the new currency. The Iraqi dinar is the winner as it has so far weathered the impact of mounting violence and car bombs that would have sent any other country’s currency tumbling.Since its launch in October, 2003, the new dinar has preserved its value vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar and other major countries. It is probably the only symbol of stability in a car torn by wars, civil strife and violence. However, Iraqi economists are not surprised to see the currency fending off the political turmoil and the descent into violence, a major characteristic of the past two years. Thanks, they say, are mainly due to the Central Bank, which is one of the few government branches of the post-war era untainted by corruption. “The (central) bank has pursued sound monetary policies,” says Thuraya Khazraji, Baghdad University’s professors of economics. Other factors leading to the currency’s stability, in her opinion, include “the slight improvement in oil exports and the writing off of 90% of Iraq’s foreign debts.” In the 1970s one Iraqi dinar was worth more than three U.S. dollars as Central Bank coffers were then stashed with hard cash, gold and other assets to support the currency. But the dinar started losing its shine in early 1980s mainly due to the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.And the currency began to decline drastically after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and plunged to nearly 3,000 to one U.S. dollar in mid 1990s. A new currency was launched shortly after the fall of the former regime. While Iraqis had no trust in the former currency, confidence is growing in the new dinar which is currently changing hands at about 1,400 for one U.S. dollar. “The adoption of new monetary policies by the Central Bank … has led to higher confidence locally, regionally and internationally in the new currency,” said Khazraji. Imad Ali, professor of fiscal economics at Baghdad University, said many Iraqis were even turning to have their savings in the new dinar instead of foreign currencies. “The issuing of the new currency has been very important for the Iraqi economy … it has offered Iraqis their first chance in nearly two decades to have their savings in the dinar rather than other hard currencies,” he said. Ali also praised Central Bank policies and its attempts to stabilize the currency. “Today demand for the dinar is higher than foreign currencies inside Iraq. The (central) bank’s polices have given a big boost to the dinar,” he said. Yahya Najar, of Baghdad University’s College of Economics and Administration, said the new currency “is backed by foreign cash and gold and has earned the trust of the public.”

This is good news, since I bought some New Iraq Dinars just for fun recently. It will be interesting to see if the Dinar ever returns to its former glory... If it does, I know several soldiers and contractors who will be quite wealthy...

Blogroll Update

I'm trying to keep only frequently-updated blogs in my blogroll- If yours makes my blogroll but disappears, it will likely be back when you're updating regularly... Just trying to keep my house clean...

Random Picture of the Week

A view from the Empire State building...