Japanese Defense Minister Discusses How to Defend Against UFO Attack

I normally wouldn’t post something like this, since I try to stay out of the paranormal stuff, but I stumbled across this story from Bloomberg News and just had to post a link to it. There are plenty of websites out there that deal with UFO’s and the like, but it’s not often you see a news story in a respected business news site like Bloomberg that reads:

“Japan’s Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering how his Self-Defense Forces could respond to an attack by space aliens while adhering to limits on military action under the country’s war-renouncing Constitution. “

Needless to say, this has caused a bit of a brouhaha in Japanese politics in the last week. I do like the fact that Defense Secretary Ishiba promised to send out the military if Godzilla showed up. That’s awfully decent of him.

 

2007 In Review

Long-time readers of this blog may remember that I wrote a longish post in December 2006 looking at what 2007 might be holding in store for us. I thought it would be interesting to see how things have stacked up compared to what I was thinking a year ago.

What Lies in Store

Here’s a pretty good overview of the current global economic situation written from the perspective of someone outside the US/Euro spin machine.   The viewpoint being offered here is drastically different from the usual boilerplate Americans are offered, namely that ‘our   economy is strong’,  or that ‘the fundamentals are sound and improving all the time.’  As this article points out, much of the rest of the world doesn’t share our rosy outlook on things.

Now that the retail feeding frenzy is subsiding, it’ll be really interesting to see what happens economics-wise in the next few months.

Quick Thoughts on the 2008 Presidential Race

I’ve been doing some research on the candidates running for the presidency. Living in Minnesota as I do, the field of candidates will probably be reduced by the time I get my chance to voice an opinion. Some of the individuals in the race are well-known to me; others not so much.

Quick quiz: Guess who said this?

“They don’t control me. I’m not one of theirs. I’m not one of those guys that just owe my soul to the people on Wall Street. I’m not a wholly-owned subsidiary of them. I don’t live in the circles of power in Washington. I really do come right up from the people. . . . “

Housing – Simple as That

Interesting article by Dr. Chris Martenson on our current housing situation… the executive summary speaks for itself:

• A series of government bailouts attack the symptoms, utterly fail to address the root cause
• The bailouts were for the big banks, not you
• House prices need to decline in price by 30% to 50%, and they will.
• Trillions of dollars of losses lurk…in ultra-safe pension bond funds, small Norwegian towns, as well as in some unlikely places.
• The current crisis is one of solvency not liquidity

Michael Pollan – Our Decrepit Food Factories

Any time Michael Pollan writes a new story, it’s worth mentioning.   His latest, “Our Decrepit Food Factories,” is here.  (Free registration required, or you can us Bug Me Not).

Iran Stops Selling Oil in US Dollars

Here’s an interesting story I found while trolling ‘alternative media’ online recently:

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has completely stopped selling any of its oil for U.S. dollars, an Iranian news agency reported on Saturday, citing the oil minister of the world’s fourth-largest crude producer.

The ISNA news agency did not give a direct quote from Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari. A senior oil official last month said “nearly all” of Iran’s crude oil sales were now being paid for in non-U.S. currencies.

…

Nozari told ISNA: “In regards to the decrease in the dollar’s value and the loss exporters of crude oil have endured from this trend, the dollar is no longer a reliable currency.”

The Carter Doctrine Illustrated

“Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.”

President Jimmy Carter, January 23, 1980

Larger Map here. 

 

This map does an excellent job of showing where the oil is in the world versus who uses it. As you can see, the USA is in a category by itself when it comes to petroleum consumption.

This map also does a really nice job of showing why everyone gets a queasy feeling when there’s talk of Saudi Arabia’s oil production possibly peaking.

 

HT: Andrew Sullivan

 

Folk Dancing as Subversive Activity

Ran Prieur linked to an essay by Barbara Ehrenreich on the decline of group dancing and other collective expressions of joy & celebration.  Ran also links to this site about the Purtian ban on Christmas in 1600’s England.    Good stuff…

The midwinter celebrations of yore owed more to the ancient bacchanals like Saturnalia, Yule and the like than they did to Christianity, obviously.  If nothing else, they sound like they were a hell of a lot of fun.

The Death of 1,000 Cuts

The Fed cuts, but not enough.

The Market promptly gives back the gains it had racked up in the last few trading days.

Apparently cutting by only a quarter point is evidence of the ‘strong dollar policy’ our debt servicers demand.