Communist Party 17th Congress. They know who they are.
Why don't we see people for what and who that they say they are? Look at the stage for the current 17th Congress in China. It looks like they take communism seriously to me. The predicted purpose of opening trade with China was to teach them the lessons and power of capitalism over communism. How do you think that is working out?
One sided "free trade" with China is madness. It never made any sense and the results are beginning to be understood as Chinese government agencies recycle American dollars into more and more acquisitions of US technology that will be used to challenge America on a global scale. Many on the left think that is a good thing. Thankfully, most Americans do not.
It is in US vital interests to end the US trade deficit with China. It will not be easy but it can be done. The same defeatists that say we cannot control our borders will not agree, but they are wrong. A lot of mistakes have been made in the last thirty years. It is past time to demand complete reciprocity on all trade issues with China.
One sided "free trade" with China is madness. It never made any sense and the results are beginning to be understood as Chinese government agencies recycle American dollars into more and more acquisitions of US technology that will be used to challenge America on a global scale. Many on the left think that is a good thing. Thankfully, most Americans do not.
It is in US vital interests to end the US trade deficit with China. It will not be easy but it can be done. The same defeatists that say we cannot control our borders will not agree, but they are wrong. A lot of mistakes have been made in the last thirty years. It is past time to demand complete reciprocity on all trade issues with China.
Chinese cyber-attacks on Western governments are a real threat, says linton chiswick The First Post
Revelations that Chinese hackers are believed to be behind a series of cyber-attacks on British government departments further muddy the distinctions between organised crime, state terrorism and hi-tech warfare.
The latest attacks - aimed at the Foreign Office, among others - follow an assault last year that shut down a House of Commons network, a serious security breach of a Pentagon email system and the discovery of Chinese hacking software across German government networks and inside Chancellor Angela Merkel's own office.
All three attacks were traced back to China; and the last two specifically to the Chinese province of Guangdong, known to be a People's Liberation Army stronghold. The Chinese Government denies any involvement.
Hackers can either attempt to gain access to a secure network of computers by trying to find a single, vulnerable machine, or (as in the case of the attack on Estonian government systems in June) they can launch crude 'denial-of-service' attacks, in which networks of infected computers across the world are used to bombard a particular server with access requests - effectively shutting it down. In either case, it's almost impossible to reach a forensic certainty regarding responsibility.
The recent attacks on Britain, the US and Germany come after the Chinese government publicly committed itself to advancing 'informationised' warfare and achieving 'a solid foundation' by 2010.
The US has codenamed Chinese attacks on the Pentagon and other departments 'Titan Rain'. "The Chinese see no difference between asymmetric warfare and conventional warfare," one expert warned.
Last week, on a trip to Beijing, Angela Merkel demanded China respect "the rules of the game". Western governments need to think long and hard about how these rules might need to change in a 21st century of strategic information technology.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSooner or later, the truths are revealed.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the objective of "Free Trade"?
To improve the lot of the United States, or the world?
To improve conditions in Detroit or Shanghai. Cause things were screwed for the folk in Shanghai, and used to be very nice, in Detroit.
On a comparative basis, lifestyle to lifestyle, Detroit is still way ahead. For the masses.
"take a good look around
and if you're looking down
put a little love in your heart"
Thomas Sowell makes an interesting observation, remarking of some sentiments of DC politicos.
Too many Democrats in Congress have gotten into the habit of treating the Iraq war as President Bush's war -- and therefore fair game for political tactics making it harder for him to conduct that war.
In a rare but revealing slip, Democratic Congressman James Clyburn said that an American victory in Iraq "would be a real big problem for us" in the 2008 elections.
It is not "Victory" that would damage the Democrats, just the perception of it. That's all that is needed, politically.
The public mind, on the "Right" must be willing to accept "Vistory" in Iraq, by March.
General P's next report.
The election is then about one side saying the War's been Won
The other arguing the US has lost.
Who claims "Victory" in Iraq, first?
Who then argues, no, we've not beaten Saddam.
30,000 Troops on the 4th of July
Home for the Victory Parades
Johnnie comes marching home again, right up to Election Day
Hoorah! Hoorah!
Democratic Congressman James Clyburn said that an American victory in Iraq "would be a real big problem for us" in the 2008 elections.
But if the troops do not come home, "Victorious", the GOP well they'll be losers, and Americans cannot abide a loser.
The "Lesson Learned" at daddy's knee ...
Don't win a war to soon, son
don't win a war to soon, boy ...
Don't win that war to soon!
What if neither side claims victory?
ReplyDelete(W being obsessed with political defeet through "immigration")
We face defeet by default.
ReplyDeleteDefault of our feckless non-leader.
If neither side claims victory, the Dems win, the GOP disspirited by the pain of defeet.
ReplyDeleteW is blaming the lack of "good news" on the usual suspects, at the BC. The MSM not reporting that nothing happened, in Iraq.
But the admission of "Mission Accomplished", not politically viable, in his battle with the "Left".
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record, nearing $88 a barrel, because of concern Turkey may attack Kurdish militants in Iraq and disrupt shipments.
ReplyDeleteTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that measures against Kurdish groups are ``unavoidable.'' Parliament will tomorrow consider a plan for military action against rebels in Iraq, holder of the world's third-largest reserves.
$88 without a shot being fired ...
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi departed for Turkey on Tuesday for talks to "defuse" the crisis along the Iraqi-Turkish border, where Turkey is considering cross-border assaults against Kurdish separatist rebels in Iraq.
Al-Hashimi, a leading Iraqi Sunni Arab and one of Iraq's two vice presidents, was due to arrive in Ankara, the Turkish capital, by 1 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), for meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, a spokesman told CNN.
Meanwhile Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was due to hold emergency talks with his ministers Tuesday after calling on Ankara to avoid "military solutions" to the situation sparked by recent attacks in Turkey by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
"We are ready to hold urgent dialogue sessions with senior officials in the Turkish government to discuss and resolve all outstanding problems and to give assurances that will regulate the relationship between the two neighbors," al-Maliki said late Monday.
Anticipaaaa...ation, they're makin' me wait...
That's something Trish had right about BC:
ReplyDeleteLDS
Left Derangement Syndrome.
A War with the Vapors of one's immagination is an effort destined to defeet.
ReplyDeleteMs Pelosi would not be large and in charge had not the Pubs been Pigs, and their leader lacking.
ReplyDeleteThis scene is obscene.
Ms Pelosi and the Turds will determine what W is compelled to do next.
ReplyDeleteSay the Curse!
Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor
ReplyDeleteIn this eye-opening look at the contemporary American scourge of labor abuse and outright slavery, journalist and author Bowe (Gig: Americans Talk About their Jobs) visits locations in Florida, Oklahoma and the U.S.-owned Pacific island of Saipan, where slavery cases have been brought to light as recently as 2006. There, he talks to affected workers, providing many moving and appalling first-hand accounts. In Immokalee, Florida, migrant Latino tomato and orange pickers are barely paid, kept in decrepit conditions and intimidated, violently, to keep quiet about it. A welding factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma imported workers from India who were forced to pay exorbitant "recruiting fees" and live in squalid barracks with tightly controlled access to the outside world.
Ain't we got fun!
ReplyDeleteW wants more,
Good for Business!
Business wants more!
Good for Profits!
Dems want more,
Good for a permanent majority!
Socialism wins by default,
defeet won by business.
Considering the tiny island capital of Saipan, Bowe explores how its culture, isolation and American ties made it so favorable an environment for exploitative garment manufacturers and corrupt politicos; alongside the factories sprouted karaoke bars, strip joints and hotels where politicians were entertained by now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The detailed chapter gives readers a lasting image of the island, touted a "miracle of economic development," as a vulnerable, truly suffering community, where poverty rates have climbed as high as 35 percent. Bowe's deeply researched, well-written treatise on the very real problem of modern American slavery
ReplyDelete---
Instead of chains, modern slavery uses coercion in the form of threats of deportation, beatings, harm to families back home, or even death. Bowe focuses on three cases: a labor contractor named El Diablo, who held Mexican illegals in involuntary servitude, working in Florida orange groves, while ruling with terror and murder; a Tulsa, Oklahoma, man, owner of a steel-cutting plant, who contracted with an Indian-born American to recruit Indian laborers, who were overworked, underpaid, housed in squalor, and threatened with deportation if they resisted
"El-Diablo" and Indian-born guy are
ReplyDelete"Middle Managers"
in the
Brave New World
of
Free Trade is God.
When the sheriff's officers arrived, they found an empty van parked beside a lonely, narrow lane. The doors were closed, the lights were still on, and a few feet away, in the steamy hiss of night, a man lay facedown in a pool of blood. He had been shot once in the back of the head, execution-style. Beyond his body stood a pay phone, mounted on a pole.
ReplyDeleteThe 911 caller had offered a description of a truck the sheriff's officers recognized as belonging to a local labor contractor named Ramiro Ramos. At 1:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to Ramos's house.
It's unclear how much the officers knew about the relationship between Ramos and his employees. Migrant farmworkers-nearly all undocumented Mexican and Central Americans, in this case-usually arrive in this country with little comprehension of English or of American culture. Since they frequently come with little money and few connections, the contractor, or crew boss, as he's often called, often provides food, housing, and transportation to and from work. As a result, many farmworkers labor under the near-total control of their employers. Whether the sheriff's officers were or weren't clued in to the fraught implications of this dynamic, they would undoubtedly have gained insight into Ramos's temperament if they'd known the nickname for him used by his crew of seven hundred orange pickers. They called him "El Diablo."
---
It's All Good!
...just ask W!
(actually, you don't even have to ask, he'll cram it down your throat and up your ass)
ReplyDeleteWish I knew the boner's secret handshake.
In a Pickle in Tulsa:
ReplyDeleteIn Tulsa, Oklahoma, the John Pickle Company reaped profits for years making pressure tanks used by oil refineries and power plants. Feeling squeezed by foreign competition and government regulations, JPC partnered with an Indian and Kuwaiti firm to import workers from India. Under the guise of a “training program,” fifty-three workers, including college-educated Uday Ludbe, came to the United States, only to have their documents confiscated and to find themselves confined to a factory building.
Pickle laid off Americans and paid the Indians three dollars an hour.
A few weeks later, at dawn on May 1, 1997, local law enforcement agents, backed by the Border Patrol and the U.S. Department of Labor, returned to Ramiro Ramos's house armed with a search warrant. The house and office yielded an arsenal of weapons not generally considered essential to labor management, including a Savage 7-millimeter rifle, a Marlin .22 rifle, an AK-47, a semiautomatic rifle, a Browning 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, and a Remington 700 7-millimeter Magnum rifle. The agents arrested Ramos and charged him with immigration violations.
ReplyDeleteOne would think, perhaps, that authorities would have enough evidence to halt a clearly and alarmingly exploitive situation. Here were seven hundred workers on U.S. soil working under threat of death, for low pay or possibly no money at all.
Five days later, Ramos was released on $20,000 bail. The labor charges were dropped. Weapons charges were never brought. Business went on as usual. And the murder of Ariosto Roblero remains, to this day, "unsolved."
2164th,
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for griping about your prescient post on Gore getting the Nobel. On the other hand, you are sounding like a xenophobic (Muslim + baaaad), protectionist (stop free trade), seal the border and hunker down in fortress America kind of guy. Are you with Ron Paul on the issue of bringing all our troops home from everywhere outside our borders as well?
Michelle Malkin got in a kerfuffle with Geraldo on the O'Reilly Factor and Geraldo said he'd spit in her face if he ever saw her. He apologized a week later. Now Malkin has quit the show because she thought the apology was a farce. This follows a kerfuffle between Michael Savage and Ann Coulter over Coulter's remarks that Jews needed to be perfected by becoming Christians. Not to be outdone, on the left side of the stage, Hillary's campaign checkbook is $35 million dollars, slightly fatter than Obama's $32 million dollar checkbook, which explains his sudden shift into attack mode.
ReplyDeleteAsh,
ReplyDeleteYou are sounding like Ash:
Are you for real?
Ms T:
ReplyDeleteHillary Clinton. I can’t remember if I’m supposed to be scared of her so Democrats will think they should nominate her when she’s actually easy to beat, or if I’m supposed to be scared of her because she’s legitimately scary.
---
STEPHEN COLBERT is a NY Times Columnist
"This follows a kerfuffle between Michael Savage and Ann Coulter over Coulter's remarks that Jews needed to be perfected by becoming Christians."
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me we've come to the odd point where in order to show sensitivity, you can't even carry most (universalist) religious doctrines to their logical conclusions.
The basis of both Mohammedans and Christians is to convert others to their belief structure.
ReplyDeletePoint of a tongue or point of a sword. Both processes have been used, by both ca,ps, through the ages.
She did not accuses the Jews of killing Christ, just of needing the self improvement she knows they would find, through him.
Put a little love in your heart!
aQ's been defeated in Iraq, but do not tell anyone, it'd mess up the coronation.
'Mom' and 'Dad' banished by California
ReplyDeleteBRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Mom and Dad" as well as "husband and wife" effectively have been banned from California schools under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who with his signature also ordered public schools to allow boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa, if they choose.
doug,
ReplyDeleteI think free trade is good. I do not think the government should dictate what kind of products individuals should buy or not buy. I think it is impossible to seal America off from the rest of the world. The solution to the illegal immigration problem does not lie in a fence.
Ash, I am not against free trade. To have free trade it must be between equals. France, England, Italy, Canada, Australia come to mind.
ReplyDeleteYou can have preferential trade such as US trade with Latin America, where some advantage is given by the US to serve development and it is based on geo-political considerations.
Then there is stupid trade, where you have a country that steals intellectual property, engages in mercantilism and uses it's trade surplus to develop stolen military technology to build up a fortress China. You are welcome to explain to me and others the benefits of our trade with China, but do not leave out the little down side bits.
It is all about money. same as illegal immigration. Slap a $50,000 fine per illegal immigrant employee, on employers, and you will not need fences. Hang a few traitors or spies and you will reduce the ardor for illegal transfer of US technology to adversaries.
I agree with slow hand.
ReplyDeleteTo add:
ReplyDelete1/ Elect nationalists to office.
2/ Escort the internationalists to international waters, and leave them there.
One of the obvious benefits of trade with China is the low cost of the goods they produce and the competitive pressure and thus increased productivity that has exerted on other nations. Look to the low costs of computers and other electronics as an example. My business uses computers and the increases in productivity through their cheap price and escalating power have been a huge benefit.
ReplyDeleteYes trade need be fair and governments do play a beneficial role in regulating the environment. Treaties are a help in pushing these regulations and making trade fair. The WTO is one such treaty and organizing influence.
It has been interesting watching the current free trade debate in the US. Having sat here in Canada and witnessed the hand wringing over free trade with the US I see many similar arguments now being floated in the States. i.e. the lower minimum wages and looser regulation will suck all the jobs away. Canadians were very worried about this happening due to the lower cost environment in the US (i.e. no socialized medical care, lower taxes, less environmental regulation ect.)
I do find the role of state owned industry competing in a 'free' environment to be problematic as well the need for environmental protections and the elimination of subsidies. The farming industry is a mess of subsidy and regulation.
The flip side to free trade leads to cronyism, inefficiency, and higher costs. The corollary to free trade is the free movement of labor.
2164th,
ReplyDeleteWith respect to your first paragraph and how the capitalist integration leads to democracy here is a ATimes article specifically about that:
"On the business side, the 17th Party Congress will set policy principles for the country's economic development in the next five years which definitely will affect the stock market both in the short and long run.
On the other hand, the total capitalization of China's stock market now exceeds the its gross domestic product (GDP) and this plays an increasingly important role in the country's economic development, which the Communist Party's policy makers now must take into consideration. And since so many people are now involved in the stock market, party leaders cannot ignore their interests when they formulate relevant policies - if President Hu Jintao's "people first" principle is to be upheld.
On the political side, the development of the stock market is bound to have an influence on political development in China. There is now a view that by participating in activities on the stock market, the masses are having a baptism in democracy. The stock market's nature (excluding those illegal irregular activities) is essentially democratic, with every investor treated equally. Everyone holds his own views and makes his own decisions. And the movement of the market is decided by the majority, which a dissenting individual must accept. Furthermore, small shareholders can freely express their views in general meetings and cast votes.
Indeed, the "training" in democracy that the massive number of Chinese stock investors are receiving could enhance the country's possible democratization in future. While the Communist Party is unlikely to give up its rule in the foreseeable future in favor of a multi-party democracy, it has inevitably to develop democracy within the party.
The number of Chinese citizens involving in stock trading could be more than the 73.36 million Communist Party members as of the end of June. And in the past 10 years, the party has attracted more and more "red capitalists" as members. Among current stock investors and speculators alike, there are also many party members and government officials. Sooner or later, they will speak out and make efforts to safeguard their interests."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IJ17Ad01.html
Giuliani has been widely criticized for his decision to locate the Office of Emergency Management headquarters on the 23rd floor inside the 7 World Trade Center building. Those opposing the decision perceived the office as a target for a terrorist attack in light of the previous terrorist attack against the World Trade Center in 1993.[60][61][62] The office was unable to coordinate efforts between police and firefighters properly while evacuating its headquarters.[63] Large tanks of diesel fuel were placed in 7 World Trade to power the command center, and this fuel was later deemed responsible for the intense fire that caused that building to collapse hours after the Twin Towers.[64] In May 2007, Giuliani put responsibility for selecting the location on Jerome M. Hauer, who had served under Giuliani from 1996 to 2000 before being appointed by him as New York City’s first Director of Emergency Management. Hauer has taken exception to that account in interviews and has provided FoxNews and New York Magazine with a memo demonstrating that he recommended a location in Brooklyn but was overruled by Giuliani.
ReplyDeletewiki
Who is this Giuliani anyway? Is he a republican? He's been for affirmative action, against gun rights, for gay rights, against school prayer, and wouldn't let New York City employees report illegal immigrants to the Feds. And his father was a felon:) But the sins of the fathers are inhereited by the sons. He was a good-great-procesutor. Is he a reublican? What is he anyway. He woted for McGovern. Married three times. How many lovers?
Who is this guy? Just asking. The only guy who can beat Hillary?
What's his take on trade with China, free trade in general?
To get back to the technology aspect of this free trade story, it seems that as “virtual IT” departments have become more of a reality for many small businesses (and really businesses of any size) that need on-going technical support for their IT assets, the “rules” of the computer consulting industry have shifted and in some cases become a lot less rigid. In some cases this has caused problems. There have particularly been problems with security, and security breaches with major companies and small ones have become a huge issue since a lot of people that are non-technical business owners STILL don’t understand how critical protecting yourself against viruses, spyware, hackers, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs technology has become more “mobile,” so has the IT industry. I’m not sure how this is going to continue to progress, but I think there will probably always be a demand for personalized service that you can only get from someone that is a local provider (someone that can actually come onsite twice a month or more and handle your needs and not just do it remotely via phone, e-mail or the Web). That’s really why I keep advising small business computer consultants to stay local and focused, because the best clients are going to keep looking for local providers that can create personalized solutions.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChina doesn't design nor does it produce computers for western consumption. Assembly of computers for western consumption is made in Taiwan. The reason computer costs have come down is due to miniaturization. I.e. You can print more circuits per silicon wafer. China has little if anything to do with the intellectual property and knowledge that goes into making computers. What they do have they have stolen.
ReplyDeleteBut all of this is common knowledge. Which goes to show why trolls like Ash should NOT be allowed to post here.
If she stays, I'm out.
mats,
ReplyDeletesure the majority of the tech in computers comes from elsewhere (i.e. not the US and not China) there are a number of components that do come from China such as the cases. Microsoft is the producer of a large majority of the OS sold and ran on all those computers made outside of US borders. Add to that all those toys and clothes and there are tons of cheap goods coming out of China which us local people incorporate into our business. Where do you think Apple's iphone is "assembled, staged, and fulfilled"? Why Apple’s Shenzhen, China facility of course.
Ah, come on, Mat, it takes all kinds to make a world.
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteThat's why we have borders. Why we have fences. And why we have locks on our doors. That's my philosophy. I'm sticking to it.
He's a ex-US Attn, from the Bronx, whose dad was a low-end gangster.
ReplyDeleteHe's a pretty normal conservative, New Yorker. A rare breed, indeed.
A whole 'nother country, NYCity.
Kinda' like Texas, that way.
Pick the most impoetant issue, to you.
If it revolves around payback for 9-11, one way or another, he is the choice.
Understands blood debts and vendettas. May not speak to them, as such, but it'll drive him, like a character in a Puzo novel.
bob, mats just hates to be shown to be wrong so he gets petulant, stomps his feet, rants, and then runs away. kinda like our old friend Habu.
ReplyDeleteThe way to avoid controvery is to make generalized more or less meaningless statements, like I do:)
ReplyDeleteAlso, ask a lot of questions, another trick to argument free blogging!
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a certain Mr Craig will take strong exception to your comments. Best you be prepared to indulge him in his argument(s).
**At your home. **
ReplyDeleteCraig takes a wide stance, Mat, just like I do when arguing! He has appealed the judge's latest decision, by the way, if you missed it, so the sordid saga continues. Being inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame maybe went to his head:)
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteI imagine a similar feeling is being experienced by Ash, her being allowed to post here. Do we really want to encourage such feelings?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete