17. desember 2003

Price of "11 pipers piping" increasing A joke price index shows that stuff is getting cheaper, people more expensive. Each year since 1984, PNC Advisors has provided a tongue-in-cheek economic analysis, based on the cost of the goods and services purchased by the True Love in the holiday classic, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”  Indeed, the cost of the five gold rings dropped by 5.6 percent, and the pear tree is down a full 28.6 percent from last year.  However, these discounts were offset by the dancers, pipers and drummers who have seen significant increases in the cost of their services over 2002. This has been a long-term trend of human societies for the last 3000 years at least, but 16 percent is a rather astonishing increase for one year, indeed the biggest jump since the index was started. The whole list of gifts costs a whooping $65,264 (the gifts were accumulative, remember) so it better be for your true love. 10:34:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

Frothing at mouth syndrome Sadly, it appears a number of democrats are losing it, faced with the prospect of a Bush reelection next year. Washington Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott famously claimed that Bush staged the arrest of Saddam Hussein in the weekend to score points at home. Presidential candidate frontrunner Howard Dean has suggested that George Bush had been tipped off in advance by the Saudis about the 9/11 attacks. Madeleine Albright, Clinton's Secretary of State, actually suggested that George Bush may have Osama Bin Laden "hidden away somewhere" to bring him out in perfect timing for the October election. She now claims this was a joke. So far, it seems the Democratic candidate who has profited politically on Saddam Hussein's capture is Joseph Lieberman. There is little doubt he has effectively positioned himself as the not-Dean candidate of the pack this week, and clearly the one placed solidly in the center. Of course, if Dean should win anyway, Lieberman may also have succeeded in hurting Dean badly for the fight against Bush. Democrats should take heart knowing that the election is almost a year away still. The problem is that no matter what they do, they already have the hate-Bush people coting for them. They have to win also some people who are undecided and are at least considering voting for Bush again. To do that, the current demonisation of Bush will not help. 9:49:00 PM    comment []  trackback []

Coffee before Saddam You can always trust Donald Rumsfeld to come up with some good one-liners. To him, it was not difficult to conclude that the CIA should have the main responsibility for interrogating Saddam Hussein: "It was a three-minute decision, and the first two were for coffee." 7:08:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

Turkey's revisionism The Swiss lower house has ruled the 1915 Turkish mass murder of Armenians as a genocide, a decision that is certain to upset the Turks. Turkey admits it was a massacre, but denies it was a genocide. It is, however, a historical fact, and by any reasonable historical or legal definitions it has to be classified genocide. Before the EU should even consider accepting Turkey, it should be forced to acknowledge that the massacre of Armenians was a genocide. It is not like any of today's leaders were even born! US presidents, be it Clinton or Bush, have consistently declined a similar congressional vote with a reference to US "national security." 3:43:11 PM    comment []  trackback []

Headline of the day "Iraqi minister tells UN to stop sniping, start helping" (Yahoo! News) Amen! Of course it's a hopeless request. The US is the enemy of the UN bureaucracy. Any US success is a threat to the UN system, so the UN will consistently hope for US failure, no matter what it means for the people of Iraq. 6:49:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

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