Must they save manufacturing?

http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/business/globalization/?p=865

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Back at Junk Value, Recyclables Are Piling Up - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/business/08recycle.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Linux on the iPhone

It's not far off...

Untitled

your homecoming will be my homecoming-

my selves go with you,only i remain;
a shadow phantom effigy or seeming
(an almost someone always who's noone)

a noone who,till their and your returning,
spends the forever of his loneliness
dreaming their eyes have opened to your mourning

feeling their stars have risen through your skies:

so,in how merciful love's own name,linger
no more than selfless i can quite endure
the absence of that moment when a stranger
takes in his arms my very lifes who's you

-when all fears hopes beliefs doubts disappear.
Everywhere and joy's perfect wholeness we're.
--e.e. cummings

if I should sleep with a lady called death
get another man with firmer lips
to take your new mouth in his teeth
(hips pumping pleasure into hips).

Seeing how the limp huddling string
of your smile over his body squirms
kissingly, I will bring you every spring
handfuls of little normal worms.

Dress deftly your flesh in stupid stuffs,
phrase the immense weapon of your hair.
Understanding why his eye laughs,
I will bring you every year

something which is worth the whole,
an inch of nothing for your soul.
--e.e. cummings

Weatherlea, Saturday, November 15, 2008 Part 1

Recorded on my iPhone using Cycorder. This is really only a test of the FOSS app. iPhonevideorecorder seems to have better compression, but is slower as a result.

Racist European Responses to Obama's Victory

http://m.npr.org/#_452748

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info

Kenyans React to Obama Campaign

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

L’homme qu’il faut

par Eric Fottorino

D’abord il faut écrire ces mots en toutes lettres. Les lire lentement à haute voix pour mesurer l’ampleur de la nouvelle, sa charge d’histoire et d’émotion : le peuple américain vient d’élire à la Maison Blanche un homme à la peau noire. Quelle intelligence, quelle maestria, quel sang-froid aussi a-t-il fallu à Barack Obama pour enlever un scrutin qui, rappelons-le, était tout sauf acquis, si l’on se reporte moins d’un an en arrière. Combien d’écueils évités, de pesanteurs et de préjugés vaincus, avant de donner par sa victoire un puissant signal d’optimisme à l’Amérique et au reste du monde. Obama a fait coïncider l’espoir avec le noir. Sans que jamais, et ce fut sa virtuosité, il apparaisse comme le candidat d’une communauté.

Mêlant sa jeunesse à la sagesse qui n’a pas d’âge, le sénateur de l’Illinois a su dépasser les fractures originelles d’une nation née dans l’esclavage et la ségrégation pour la rattacher à son idéal fondateur, le fameux "E pluribus unum" : faire un seul de plusieurs; considérer que la multitude des origines n’empêche pas le partage d’une aspiration commune. (more...)

Reactions from friends around the world

It's all too much to write about just yet, so here are responses from friends around the world:

"Bonjour et Felicitations. Toute l'Afrique salue cette action historique des americains. Nous prions pour que OBAMA puisse etre un President des USA qui puisse repondre aux inquietudes des americains d'abord puis le reste du Monde si possible. Bonne fete."

"Nous avons passé une nuit historique. Que Dieu Benise l' Amérique. Le monde peut etre fier de vous. Le plus difficile commence, changer le monde pour un monde meilleur."

From afribone.com:
Plein d’espoir après la victoire de Barack Obama
Les Européens ont salué avec enthousiasme mercredi l’élection de Barack Obama, avec l’espoir qu’il permettra d’instaurer un "new deal" entre les Etats-Unis et l’Europe, aux liens distendus sous George Bush. Cinq ans après la brouille entre Paris et Washington provoquée par l’intervention américaine en Irak, le président Sarkozy qui comme beaucoup d’Européens n’avait pas caché sa préférence pour le candidat démocrate a été le premier à adresser des félicitations élogieuses au premier président noir des Etats-Unis."Votre brillante victoire" couronne "une campagne exceptionnelle, dont le souffle et l’élévation ont prouvé au monde entier la vitalité de la démocratie américaine, en même temps qu’ils le tenaient en haleine", s’est ainsi réjoui Nicolas Sarkozy. Qualifiant sa victoire d’historique, la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel a elle souligné "l’importance et la valeur de notre partenariat transatlantique", en invitant M. Obama en Allemagne.

Herein I will imitiate the sun

I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

Sarah Palin prank call

Priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nGlFxpgaw4

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info
615-430-7445

Cheney Endorses McCain

I know, I know. That could be the dullest headline ever: "Cheney Endorses McCain". But here is the Dark Overlord himself giving his endorsement:



In prepared remarks scheduled to be delivered in Colorado on Saturday afternoon, is Obama's response:

I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support.

But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?

Colorado, we know better. After all, it was just a few days ago that Senator McCain said that he and President Bush share a "common philosophy." And we know that when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain and Dick Cheney share a common philosophy that thinks that empty bluster from Washington will fix all of our problems, and a war without end in Iraq is the way to defeat Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So George Bush may be in an undisclosed location, but Dick Cheney's out there on the campaign trail because he'd be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain. He knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policy and Dick Cheney's foreign policy -- but that's a risk we cannot afford to take.

Rachel Maddow Interviews Barack Obama, Part 2

Rachel Maddow Interviews Barack Obama, Part 1

Be sure and watch all the way to the end!

Stephen Colbert Endorses Barack Obama

American Stories, American Solutions

Here it is, the Barack Obama Prime Time Variety Hour, in its entirety.

Obama Leaves McCain Dumbstruck

Somehow I missed this particular exchange. I have posted it here for the sheer pleasure of seeing McCain blinking in surprised bafflement.

Warning: For Mature Audiences Only (Some nudity)

He'll hate me for this some day, but I just gotta post this photo of my nephew. It's too damn cute:

Bernanke Endorses Obama

Ben Bernanke apparently wants four more years as Federal Reserve Chairman. At least that's a reasonable conclusion after Mr. Bernanke all but submitted his job application to Barack Obama yesterday by endorsing the Democratic version of fiscal "stimulus." (more...)

Poésie du Jour

The Soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I’ve known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.

Crazy Protester Interrupts Palin Interview

Funny, and SFW mostly:

Crazy Protester Interrupts Palin Interview - Watch more free videos

Jon Stewart Discusses the "Real" America

Sarah Palin SNL Opening

Sarah Palin Rap on Weekend Update

Barack Obama at Alfred E. Smith Dinner

Fantastic. How can you not love this guy?

Part 1:


Part 2:

Realtime Electoral Vote Predictor

Debate: Barack's Closing Statement

Buckle Up -- We Haven't Reached Bottom Yet

By Steven Pearlstein
Wednesday, October 15, 2008; D01

In the wake of an unprecedented, coordinated effort by governments around the world, the global financial meltdown has been contained, at least for the moment. Amazing what you can accomplish with a mere $2 trillion!

If we're lucky, the panic phase of this crisis may be over -- the hoarding of cash, the tidal waves of forced selling and indiscriminate liquidation. As the various initiatives are put in place over the coming weeks, credit should begin to flow more freely again through the financial system and out to the wider economy.

There is no guarantee that the panic won't return, but certainly there is nothing that makes it inevitable. What is significant is that governments have now established that they are willing and able to do whatever is necessary to prevent the financial system from spinning out of control, which is crucial to putting a floor under investor and consumer confidence.

Do not confuse this moment of calm with a stock market bottom or a sign that a serious recession has been avoided. (more...)

More Hatred at a Palin Rally in Johnstown, PA

Proud to be an American...

That's not funny! (Okay, maybe a little.)

Today on Bloomberg a guy said that the stock market plunge is even worse than a divorce. He said he lost half his money but he still has his wife.

In these parlous times, a winning investment strategy

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you would have $33 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you would have received $214! Based on the above, the best current investment play is to drink heavily and recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

Intrade Prediction Market Electoral Map

Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

At the Zoo Bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCUDnx6mpJc

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info
615-430-7445

Zoo Bar, 12:06 am

How the markets really work

This is fantastic.

McCain dead wrong about position of his "friend of 35 years."

I'll confine my debunking of McCain's assertions in the first debate last night to one thing:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/16/Kissinger_Open_direct_Iran_talks/UPI-46971221579660/

Go Obama.

A Conservative for Obama

My party has slipped its moorings. It’s time for a true pragmatist to lead the country.

Leading Off
By Wick Allison, Editor In Chief, D Magazine

THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT “the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate,” the more I like him. Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan. To explain why, I need to explain why I am a conservative and what it means to me.

In 1964, at the age of 16, I organized the Dallas County Youth for Goldwater. My senior thesis at the University of Texas was on the conservative intellectual revival in America. Twenty years later, I was invited by William F. Buckley Jr. to join the board of National Review. I later became its publisher.

Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time. Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.

Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.

But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts—a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war—led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.

Today it is conservatives, not liberals, who talk with alarming bellicosity about making the world “safe for democracy.” It is John McCain who says America’s job is to “defeat evil,” a theological expansion of the nation’s mission that would make George Washington cough out his wooden teeth.

This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse.

Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.

Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.

“Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.

Write to wicka@dmagazine.com.

A bank in every African pocket? Mobile phones expand access to financial services

By Mary Kimani, United Nations Africa Renewal Reprinted with permission

Kigali--Ann Wanjiku walks up to a green-and-white booth with an “M-Pesa agent” sign on it. There she shows the agent her identity card and her cell phone, which displays a PIN number provided by a client. Using the PIN number, the M-Pesa agent takes just a minute to verify that the client has transferred payment for 1,000 traditional carvings into Ms. Wanjiku’s mobile money account. Ms. Wanjiku then withdraws the amount in cash.

Like 90 per cent of Kenyans, Ms. Wanjiku does not have an account in a regular bank. Across Africa, only 20 per cent of families have formal bank accounts, according to a World Bank survey. In Tanzania the percentage is as low as 5 per cent, and in Liberia 15 per cent.

But the proliferation of mobile telephone services around the continent has opened a new way to extend financial services to people like Ms. Wanjiku. In the few countries where they have emerged, companies such as M-Pesa can use any phone or phone card to provide affordable services to customers wherever there is a mobile phone signal.

Expanding such innovations in the use of modern information and communications technologies (ICT) more widely was a central topic at a Connect Africa Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda, in October. More than 1,000 private-sector, government and donor representatives discussed how such technologies can help in finding solutions to Africa’s development problems.

Money under mattresses
Most banks in Africa have branches only in urban areas. Brian Richardson, the chief executive officer of Wizzit South Africa, a cell phone banking facility, notes that expanding access to rural areas has traditionally involved opening new branch offices. “As long as you have that mind-set,” he says, “it becomes incredibly expensive to bring banking to the mass market.”

As a result, regular bank services are often simply unavailable. Ethiopia has just one bank branch for every 100,000 people, compared with Spain, which has 96 branches for every 100,000 people. Moreover, requirements to maintain relatively high account balances make such services too costly for most Africans.

Even in South Africa, which has a more extensive banking system, it is estimated that people keep about R12 bn (US$1.8 bn) “under mattresses,” says Mr. Richardson. “If we could take just a small portion of that into the formal banking system, the impact on the economy would be enormous.”

Established in 2004, Wizzit has signed up 50,000 South African customers. It hopes to reach 16 million others, in a country where some 60 per cent of the population has no bank account. Holders of Wizzit accounts can use any cell phone, even the cheap, old models popular in low-income communities. Users can deposit cash into their cell-based accounts through any post office or any branch of Amalgamated Banks of South Africa or the South African Bank of Athens. Salaries can be paid electronically into a Wizzit account. Account holders also receive Maestro debit cards accepted at ATMs and by retailers. There is no minimum balance or annual fee, but users pay the equivalent of US$0.15–0.78 per transaction.

According to Mohsen Khalil, the World Bank’s director of global ICT, Wizzit’s operation is one of the most innovative approaches to mobile banking, since it specifically targets the poor. If this model works in South Africa, he says, the World Bank will help the company expand coverage within and beyond the country. “We may be looking here at . . . the most effective way to provide social and economic services to the poor.”

Touch of a button
Some counterparts to Wizzit have emerged elsewhere in Africa. Like Ms. Wanjiku, about 1 million Kenyans use M-Pesa, a joint product of the Vodafone/Safaricom mobile phone company, the Commercial Bank of Africa and Faulu Kenya, a micro­finance organization. M-Pesa customers deposit money with a registered agent or phone vendor. The agent then credits the phone account. Users can send between 100 Kenyan shillings ($1.5) and 35,000 shillings ($530) via a text message to a desired recipient — even someone using a different mobile network. The recipient then can obtain the cash from a Safaricom agent by entering a secret code and showing personal identification.

Similar services are now available in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. In Zambia, Celpay, a product of First National Bank of South Africa, allows businesses to pay for services and receive payments via mobile phone accounts. Celpay currently processes up to $10 mn in payments per month.

In South Africa, First National Bank also partners with cell phone provider Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN), which provides services for South Africans who already have a bank account but also want to send and receive money over cell phones.

Between them, MTN and Wizzit enable 500,000 South Africans who do not have accounts to send and receive money to relatives, pay for goods and services, check balances and settle utility bills. Until the advent of the two services, South Africans often paid couriers the equivalent of $30–50 to deliver cash to relatives. Now such transactions cost only $0.50 through mobile bank networks.

The greatest impact is in rural areas, says Beyers Coetzee, a rural community officer for Wizzit. “Eighty per cent of all farmers do not have bank accounts.” Moreover, he adds, a Wizzit account, unlike a regular bank account, is not closed if the customer does not use it regularly. That is “very useful for seasonal workers” in particular.

Rob Conway, head of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, an international group of mobile phone service providers, says that such innovations have “changed the lives of millions of Africans, catalyzing economic development and strengthening social ties.”

Lauri Kivinen, head of corporate affairs for the Nokia Siemens network, agrees that this development is significant. “It means unprecedented, substantial change for ordinary people,” he told Africa Renewal. Through mobile phone banking, people can “extend their social and business networks, boost their productivity and so much more, all at the touch of a few buttons on a cell phone.”

Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator

Sarah Palin has picked out an All-American set of names for her children. There's Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

Ever wonder, What would your name be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out!

(link)

Me? I'm Claw Washout Palin.

Falling Down by Joseph Stiglitz

More than 75 years ago, confidence in the market economy got a rude shock as the world sank into the Great Depression. Adam Smith had said that the market led the economy, as if by an invisible hand, to economic efficiency and societal wellbeing. It was hard to believe that Smith was right when one in four Americans was out of a job. Some economists held true to their faith in self-regulating markets; they said, just be patient, in the long run the market's restorative forces will take hold, and we will recover. But Keynes's retort ruled the day: In the long run, we are all dead. We could not wait. Today, even conservatives believe that government should intervene to maintain the economy at or near full employment. (more)

My Gal by George Saunders

Explaining how she felt when John McCain offered her the Vice-Presidential spot, my Vice-Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, said something very profound: “I answered him ‘Yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

Isn’t that so true? I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and...more

The Sarah Palin Church Video Part Two

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84m2orSOaM

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info
615-430-7445

The Sarah Palin Church Video Part One

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG1vPYbRB7k

Peter L. Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info
615-430-7445

Fellow Mccain POW says McCain is "not cut out to be President"

Help send me to Mali!

Djeneba and I have been married for 5 months, and we haven't been able to be together the entire time. Her visa is being processed, but I am told that if we were to go together into the US embassy in Bamako, we could greatly expedite things. I have had several trips fall through since April, not to mention repeated setbacks on the job front. I have started to sell possessions in order to finance this trip, but I really don't have anything else to sell.

So now, I am basically begging for cash. Any little bit helps. If you click on the link below, you will be taken to a secure Paypal page where you can contribute whatever you want, and you can also include a note to me if you wish. Thanks in advance- we really appreciate it.

Clintowned!

Bill gets no love.

Village Phones in Uganda

direct link for those of us on iPhones

You Have Got to Read This:

Market-Based Solutions (UBS & Ashoka)

More Pictures

UPDATE: still more pictures

Malcolm Alexander Fuller

Born this morning around 7am, via c-section. Mother and son are doing well.

That's all I know for now, but details and, with luck, photos to follow.

UPDATE: Collum (as he will be known) weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz.

Rebecca's in labor!

Her water broke at around 11 last night. They just started a pitocin
drip. She's doing well, and Jeff and my mother are with her.