From the NYTimes.com: Can’t Grasp Credit Crisis? Join the Club

A nice explanation of the Subprime credit problem that’s driving our country into recession.

From NYTimes.com: Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark

At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government.

Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say that $1 trillion to $2 trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the American occupation continues.

This is Bush’s legacy, sticking the American public with a quagmire and a bill for 2-4 trillion dollars for a war that were fought for false pretenses.  There’s no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq and Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction.  The war has diverted attention from fighting terrorists that roam Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Instead of creating a new breeding ground for terrorists, shouldn’t we have been out in force looking for Bin Laden?

From NYTimes.com: Chinese Rights Advocate Tried

One of the most prominent human rights advocates in China stood trial on Tuesday morning on subversion charges in a proceeding that lasted three hours and centered on whether his public criticism of the ruling Communist Party represented a threat to the state. A verdict is possible within a week.

However, a new examination of Chinese law enforcement statistics found that the number of people arrested in 2007 on suspicion of political crimes like subversion rose to the highest level in eight years. The analysis found that 742 people were arrested last year on charges like subversion, more than twice the number in 2005, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco that is involved in Chinese legal issues.

Mr. Hu has worked on many causes in China, including volunteering to help AIDS patients and participating in tree-planting campaigns. He is a prominent blogger who also disseminates information about peasant protests, dissidents and other issues often censored in the Chinese media.

The Freedom of Speech is a freedom that we take for granted here in the United States.  But this freedom should not just be an American freedom, but a freedom for all citizens of the world.  With the eyes of the world focused on Beijing for the Olympics, all countries should press the Chinese Government to improve its dealing on human rights issues.

Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury has unintentionally created a new word for our economic situation- a “down-cline”.  It was a mis-spoken word during an interview.  But, he goes on to say:

From Reuters: Paulson admits U.S. economy in sharp decline

“There’s no doubt that the American people know that the economy has turned down sharply. So to me much less important is the label that’s placed on it today. Much more important is what we do about it,” he told NBC’s Today Show.

So why not just call it what it is?  A recession.

From the Wall Street Journal: He Said, She Said: Hillary and Sinbad

Clinton has, throughout the campaign, talked about a harrowing trip to war-torn Bosnia as an example of the foreign policy experience that has prepared her to face future national security crises, should she become commander-in-chief.

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we jut ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base,” Clinton said.

But last week, the comedian Sinbad, who accompanied Clinton on the trip along with singer Sheryl Crow and then-first daughter Chelsea, said he remembers the landing differently. “I think the only ‘red-phone’ moment was: ‘Do we eat here or at the next place?'” he said in an interview with the Washington Post.

Clinton has said in her stump speech, “We used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small, or too poor, send the First Lady.”

Sinbad scoffed at this statement as well: “What kind of president would say ‘Hey man, I can’t go ’cause I might get shot so I’m going to send my wife. Oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.”

It’s stories like this that make me wonder if Hillary ever tells the truth without embellishment.  She’s really reaching to make being First Lady a qualification for foreign policy experience.

I guess this teaser trailer for the new Star Trek movie has been out for a while, but I just noticed it.  I thought the movie was originally scheduled to be released in December, but now it’s a summer 2009 release.  I can’t wait!

This is kind of cool- “live” camera images of the Enterprise under construction.  J.J. Abrams has brought some of his Cloverfield style of viral marketing to Star Trek.  To see the images, adjust the slider until you get to 100%.  Supposedly the 4th camera shows a glimpse of the interior hallway of the new Enterprise.  I’ve been watching it now for a while and haven’t seen anything yet.

I went to see a performance on Saturday night of Tan Dun’s “Water Passion” at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.  I really didn’t know a lot about the piece, but I loved the music that Tan Dun had composed for the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon“.

It’s a little hard to describe the piece, so I’m referring to an NPR story that describes it in more detail.

From NPR.com: View from the Choir: Tan Dun’s ‘Water Passion’

Performing for the noted composer presented plenty of new challenges for the singers, Lunden says. There were lip trills and overtone singing, and even more unusual sounds: growling and shouting, for example. And, Lunden recalls, “There were also passages of great beauty.”

I was not prepared for the growling and the strange noises coming from the stage.  I found it distracting.  And I didn’t find the music to be very engaging.

So the stage is awash in water, with 17 clear plexiglass bowls laid out in the form of a cross. Three percussionists “play” the water with a variety of homemade instruments.

Among them is David Cossin, who has performed the Water Passion since Stuttgart. “The main instrument is the water and there’s everything from just dripping sounds, to playing the actual water with your hands in different ways,” he says.

The use of water as an instrument was the one thing that I found interesting. But, I guess that means that I would have probably been better off watching Stomp or Blue Man Group.

I’m sure the performance was performed well, but overall it was just not my cup of tea.  There was good crowd in the hall.  I wonder what others thought of it.

From the NYTimes.com: Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace

Where did they go? The Chinook salmon that swim upstream to spawn in the fall, the most robust run in the Sacramento River, have disappeared. The almost complete collapse of the richest and most dependable source of Chinook salmon south of Alaska left gloomy fisheries experts struggling for reliable explanations — and coming up dry.

This is frightening.  When something that’s been around for years and suddenly disappears.  It’s a signal that something is wrong.  The problem is that there are a lot of questions and possible causes, but they’re not exactly sure what happened.

Cincinnati has gotten a severe case of Ikea madness.  I was told by a West Chester official that Ikea had to turn people away on Saturday because they were over the capacity of 10,000 people.  West Chester allowed the capacity to be exceeded slightly during the grand opening, but now they need to enforce the code because of liability issues.  Customers trying to enter the store were denied entrance and told to come back later in the day.  It seems that main problem is that people were going in and not coming out for 3-4 hours. 

Amazing.