Soemthing Completely Different

Recently British businessman James McCormick was convicted of fraud. McCormick was director of ATSC (UK), a company which sold the ADE 651 a device which could supposedly detect explosives, drugs, ivory and even human bodies. It turns out that the ADE 651 is a fraud. The device, which has appeared under different labels, was used extensively in Iraq and Afghanisitan as well as countries ranging from Mexico to Thailand. It would make an interesting story; the ADE 651 as an allegory for greed, scientific ignorance, and corruption all leading to the fiasco of the Iraq war.

After the Dust Settles

We still don't everything about last week's bobmbing in Boston or what the motives of the Tsarnaev brothers might have been. In addition to investigating this one incident we should also have an inqury as to whether there was some intelligence failure or what we can do better to prevent another incident like this. We don't need any posturing nonsense from Repub pols like John McCain or Lindsay Graham who want Dzhokar Tsarnaev to be declared an "enemy combatant." Such a move would declare that America is a "war zone," and would do nothing to correct the problem. We should also resist any tendecny to engage in Isalmophobia or Chechenophobia. The situation calls for good old American coolness.

When Right is Wrong

Margaret Thatcher has died. To some she was the "Iron Lady" to the others she was "La Pasionaria of Privilege." I'm not an expert on British politics, but it's fair to say that Thatcher became the role model for Ronald Reagan and most right wing politicians, in the West at any rate. We should remember how she played a role in encouraing Bush II to invade Iraq. Though in her later years she allegedly made statements to the effect that invading Iraq was a mistake. In fairness, people who recognize their mistakes are preferable to those who persist in their stupidity.

How's That Again?

Marty Kaplan is a blogger for the Huffington Post and apparently some kind of "liberal" personality. His latest post strikes a strange note. "Daddy's Been Arrested" about Michael S. Steinberg, a 41-year-old stock trader for New York hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, who was arrested by the FBI at his $8 million Manhattan co-op. (Think about that number!) This is related to the scandal involving SAC employees indicted in the investigation of its founder, Steven A. Cohen, whose net worth is around $10 billion. Four of them have pleaded guilty. Apparently the FBI is trying to reel in and flip Cohen's conspirators in an alleged insider trading scheme, and Steinberg -- Cohen's golden boy -- is their latest catch. But here's the thing. It's like we're supposed to feel sorry for Steinberg and his ilk.

Since his name surfaced in the investigation, Mr. Steinberg has occasionally spent evenings in New York hotels to avoid being handcuffed at home in front of his two children. Federal agents refused to let Mr. Steinberg surrender of his own volition at F.B.I. headquarters downtown, expressing the view that white-collar defendants should not be given special treatment.

Oh really! Steinberg and his kind have caused so much economic harm to 99% of the planet's population. Not satisfied with the legal pilfering they can do, the now break the law as well. And we're supposed to feel sorry for them? Personally, I don't give a rat's hindquarter's for Steinberg, Cohen, or their defenders.