Pacific Ethanol adds to third-quarter loss

Those poor deluded souls, excited by Bill Gates's investing in Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ GM: PEIX), "Meeting the demand for clean burning fuels", will feel let down after the Sacramento refiner revealed the third-quarters loss just got worse, although the adjustment won't affect the company's cash outlays.

The corn based ethanol producer has announced it's increasing its non-cash "impairment charge" resulting from its decision last fall to suspend construction on the new plant in the Imperial Valley.

The charge was increased to US$40.9 million. Last week, in announcing its earnings, the company had pegged the charge at $26.6 million.

That brings the company's total loss for the quarter came to $69.2 million, or $1.23 a share. With profit margins eroded by lower ethanol prices and higher costs for corn, investors saw the shares down 3 cents to 70 cents.

Despite this setback the company are still upbeat and claim that they have achieved their goal of
220 million gallons per year of ethanol production capacity in 2008 - which they intend to grow to 420 million gallons total capacity per year in 2010.

In addition, they are working to identify and develop other renewable fuel technologies, such as cellulose-based ethanol production and bio-diesel.

Bill's Cascade Investments which had 21% of the company however saw the light almost exactly a year ago on November 18th 2007 and bailed out. They converted its preferred stock to 10.5 million common shares and selling. He lost US$24 million on the investment. He paid US$84 million for his stake in 2005.

US average ethanol producer price last week was US$ 1.8768 per gallon (ethanolmarket.com) , the pump price for gasoline (EIA) this week is US$2.08 .

Corn used for ethanol production for 2007/8 is said to have increased to 3.3 billion bushels, up from expected use of 2.125 billion bushels in 2006/07.

Aerial bombing continues relentlessly in Afghanistan

In total, 52 close-air-support missions were flown in support of the ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols reports the US November 14th Airpower summary .

On November 16th an Air Force MQ-9A Reaper and an Air Force MQ-1B Predator used Hellfire missiles against anti-Afghan forces who were placing IEDs along a route in the vicinity of Bolocan. The missions were confirmed a success by on-scene joint terminal attack controllers.

Always remembering that On November 6th , an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper dropped guided bomb unit-12s and used Hellfire missiles against anti-Afghan forces who were firing rocket-propelled grenades at coalition forces in the vicinity of Bolocan. The mission was confirmed a success by an on-scene joint terminal attack controller.

In the vicinity of Bari Kowt, an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle dropped a guided bomb unit-31 and GBU-38s on enemy fighters who were attacking coalition forces from behind a tree line. A JTAC declared the mission successful.

In total, 51 close-air-support missions were flown on November 16th in support of the ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols.

28 year old Cuban model Mayra Veronica is said to be the modern equivalent of Betty Grable

Herman Simm - Super Spy in Talinn - but who for ? Russia ? US ? Israel ?

Herman Simm, 61, a high-ranking official in the Estonian Defense Ministry in Tallinn,and his wife Heete a lawyer at Estonia's National Police Board were arrested in Tallin ,Estonia (pop 1.3 Mn.) on September 21st. it was an event that received little publicity. Kommersant 23rd September 2008 IHT 2nd September 2008

It appears that Simm had access to nearly all documents exchanged within the EU and NATO and it is assumed that every document that circulates between EU member states was passed on to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR -- including confidential analyses by NATO on the Kosovo crisis, the war in Georgia and even the missile defense program.

Teams from NATO and the EU are said to be investigating this spy scandal which is said to be the equivalent of the breaches undertaken by Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who for years funneled information to the Russian intelligence service, then called the KGB.

A US official from NATO heads the teams as they are unearthing the enormity of the betrayal. A German government official has called the situation a "catastrophe," and Jaanus Rahumägi, a member of Estonia's national parliament who heads the parliamentary oversight committee for the government security agency, fears "historic damage."

It appears that Simm started his contact with the Russian intelligence service as early as the late 1980s. When Estonia's NATO membership was first discussed "in the mid-1990s, Simm was officially recruited by the Russian government," claims Rahumägi. There is evidence indicating that the relationship was fairly loose to begin with. It's possible the KGB successor organization, the SVR, kept Simm as a "sleeper."

Simm rise in the small government service was rapid and in 1994 he became the Estonian chief of police in the new democratic government headed by Mart Laar. Later, he was transferred as a department head to the Defense Ministry, where he was responsible for the secret coordination with NATO and the EU - which also invloved extensive EU travel using a diplomatic passport.

Simm's principal motivation appears to have been financial, as he owns several plots of land and properties around Tallin in Raplamaa, Suure-Jaani, Ida-Virumaa, Padise and Pärnu with family members (Paul and Martin Künnap, the sons of his stepsister) and a smart lavishly renovated, whitewashed residence in the small city of Saue near Tallinn. Visited it appears by an SVR contact believed to have been travelling on a bogus Spanish passport.

Estonia's spy scandal hits relatives of Herman Simm Estonian business channel 17th October 2008

Now the hunt is on for other active agents - it can only be assumed that the Russian intelligence apparatus maintains a number of Simms in the Baltic States.

Jutta Rabe, a German journalist says Simm was involved in the cover-up of the evidence about weapons smuggling from Russia to Israel.

The Estonia was a Swedish and Estonian joint-venture ferry that operated between Stockholm and Tallinn and sunk on September 27th 1994 and was regularly used to transport military contraband with the approval of the Swedish state, led by Carl Bildt. In the weeks prior to the sinking, contraband military shipments from Russia had been transported on the ferry and taken to Arlanda airport where they had been flown to a third country with the knowledge and support of the Swedish state. The third country was Israel. Over 1,000 people died.
See - War materials smuggled on Estonia 12th February 2004

Rabe, speaking on 14th anniversary of the sinking at an event at the Estonian National Library in Tallinn , days after the Simms arrest told the audience of relatives and news reporters that Simm had been on the "dive platform" during the first official dive to the wreck after being "exchanged" at the last minute for another person.

This was not reported in Estonian papers but was published published in the Finnish newspaper, Turun Sanomat published in Turku on the 2nd October.

If Simm did not work for the Russians in 1994 - who was he working for ? The US ? Israel ?

Rabe says that at the time of the dive, Simm was the highest officer of the Estonian secret police, and he requested that divers go to the cabin of Captain Avo Piht and search for the pilot's case belonging to a certain Aleksandr Voronin. Voronin is suspected of being involved in shipping hi-tech military contraband from Russia to Israel.

The divers on the wreck that day worked for Rockwater, a subsidiary of Brown & Root Energy Services (BRES). Each diver had signed a lifetime agreement obliging them to remain silent about what they did on the wreck some 200 feet below the surface. BRES is a subsidiary of Halliburton.

Copies of the diving logs, show that the sought-after case was finally found in Cabin 6230, the cabin usually reserved for VIP guests or the relief captain [Avo Piht], who was also on board.

Aleksandr Voronin was traveling on Estonia with Vassili, his 15-year-old son, and his father-in-law, Vassili Kruchkov. After being rescued, they told the press they were on a business trip to Denmark.

It is interesting to note that the much sought-after and recovered pilot's case belonging to Voronin and was in the hands of the Swedish and Finnish authorities, disappeared and has not been seen or heard of again. Who wanted it recovered and disappeared ?

The first independent Estonian government was headed by Mart Laar (1991-94) who had close Zionist connections. Laar, for example, was one of the three people involved in Estonia's first purchase of weapons – a very bad $50 million deal with Israel. It later became evident that Israel had sold Estonia very poor quality weapons captured in Lebanon, most of which did not even function in cold temperatures. Estonia was compelled to sue Israel as a result of the fiasco.

Laar was also involved in financial scandals concerning transfers of Russian rubles to Chechnya In a 1994 no-confidence vote, parliament removed Laar from office amid opposition accusations of lying to the people, following sale of billions of rouble notes collected during the 1992 Estonian monetary reform to the cash-deprived Chec hen Republic of Iskeria instead of delivering them for free to Russian fedeartion, as the latter had demanded. He did however return as Premier March 25th 1999 to January 28th 2002.

Andrus Öövel, a former Estonian defense minister, said: "As far as I can recall, Herman Simm was advanced rapidly to his high position during Mart Laar's first government."

After the Rose revolution in Georgia, Laar became advisor to US educated puppet , President Saakashvilli .

Simm, it appears, was a key agent of Laar, who, in turn, was a big friend of Israel. This is a key point, because the evidence indicates that the Russian military contraband being carried on Estonia was bound for Israel.

Andrus Öövel, a former Estonian defense minister, and now Head of the Border Security Programme at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is quoted in Der Spoegel : "As far as I can recall, Herman Simm was advanced rapidly to his high position during Mart Laar's first government."

Police renew appeals for help in finding Natalie Bracht and her 5 children

Northumbria Police have made another call for help in finding 35 year old Natalie Bracht and her 5 daughters who left their home in Sunderland 6 months ago (17/5/08).

See - Thursday, June 26, 2008 - Natalie Bracht disappears - oh and five kids as well, on the lam for a month and no National Press for more information about this very strange case which involves according to her testimony - Mossad, South Gosforth Reformed Synagogue, Reformed (non-religious) Rabbi: Dr Robert Ash (organiser/handler), the mysterious funder of Nu-Labour David Abrahams . Bernard Schaeffer (along with pretend wife who wants to 'look after' five children), Sir Jeremy Beecham, Dr. Marc Orlim Bereleowitz ('interviews' children) David Hozen - Judge brought in from Manchester to rule in custody case . (These names may be incorrectly spelt).

See also story at Indymedia 26th June 2008, on role of Tony Gosling and his arrest after meeting and interviewing Natalie Bracht

Det Ch Insp Ian Bentham, who is leading the search, said: "After so much time now, we all want to know if they're safe and well. " It is said that Natalie Bracht has been assessed by independent medical experts as suffering from a personality disorder

The girls are known as : Manjuh Vossing, aged 13; Naomi Joy Sharan Vossing, 12; Indira Zoe Pirijo Bracht, 10; Naima Sina Isis Marjaleena Anutosch Bracht, 9; and five-year-old Margo Noemi Elinour Chrisanty Bracht.

Anyone with information can call Northumbria Police, on 03456 043 043, or contact the Missing People charity, on 0500 700 700 or email seensomeone@missingpeople.org.uk.

Also for Missing persons details http://www.missingpeople.org.uk/areyoumissing/missing/detail.asp?dsid=1555

World Toilet Day - something to celebrate

It is either serendipity or excessively prescient planning that whilst the financial services and systems of the developed world are disappearing down the toilet that globally we will all be celebrating World Toilet Day on Wednesday.

The local representatives for this jamboree, engineered by the quaintly named World Toilet Organisation are the secretive DEFRA quango , The Consumer Council for Water (CCW). This was set up in 2005 , "to provide a strong voice for water and sewerage consumers in England and Wales" the Chairman is Dame Yve Buckland - £48,554 for a 3 day week.

According to them, in the UK we visit the loo or water closet as Lord Patel's nanny quaintly called it, 2,500 times a year and spend in a lifetime some 3 years perched on it.

The CCW have undertaken research (February 2008 - Educating the Public - Research into flushable products 62 page pdf ) which has revealed that ," the majority of consumers are unaware that many items, unlike toilet paper, don't break down and can get caught in pipes, building up a blockage over time".

Apparently we collectively use the toilet for the disposal of everything from Toilet cleansing cloths, face wipes, baby wipes, cotton wool, tampons, sanitary towels, condoms, nappies, razor blades and plasters, along with fats, oils and grease which can all lead to blocked drain horror syndrome - unsightly, smelly and expensive to repair.

The French who have long celebrated the public function of toilets are holding events throughout France sponsored by suppliers : Point WC, Evolance, Roca, Laufen, Dyson, Renova and Horay. Visit any of these venues and see how they have interpreted this very special day.

Should you be unaware of the laudable aims of the World Toilet Organization they include ;

World Toilet Organization (WTO) stands up for the 3 "WE (s)" in the theme "We Deserve Better".
1. Toilets deserve better social status. WTO has been striving to elevate the status of toilets to make them status symbols and objects of desire. WTO speaks on behalf of toilets "WE DESERVE BETTER SOCIAL STATUS".

2. Toilet cleaners. WTO aims to professionalize the sanitation and restroom industry and to upgrade the skill sets of the restoom cleaners. WTO speaks on behalf of the toilet cleaners "WE DESERVE BETTER PAY, RESPECT AND PROSPECTS".

3. WTO speaks on behalf of 2.5 billion toilet-less people, "WE DESERVE BETTER PLACES TO DEFECATE -- PROPER TOILETS".

Perhaps WE could also add that they should adopt measures to prevent our Governments sending our cash, curency, savings, pension plans, investments down the pan as well.

Shopping is patriotic - if not essential

At a Press Conference at 10 Downing St. post 9/11 the (then) Dear Leader said.
"People in this country ask what should they do at a time like this," Mr. Blair said. "The answer is that they should go about their daily lives: to work, to live, to travel and to shop"

Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York, on CNN on September 21, 2001 said “Come here and spend money, just spend a little money, go to a store, do your Christmas or holiday shopping now, this weekend. … buy your birthday gifts for the next three or four months.” He added: “We’re the best shoppers in the world.”

Apparently Alastair Darling is preparing whopping tax cuts for us all so we can rescue the bankers by all going shopping.

Consumption and retail therapy is the universal - if not global, cure - all.

Moves to impose stricter controls on rearing captive game birds in the UK.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) have published their opinion (17 page pdf) on "The Welfare of Farmed Gamebirds ". This follows on from a DEFRA report after Newcastle disease broke out in farmed pheasants in 2005 which took 5 days to produce.

A Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds is in preparation which follows on from that currently in operation designed by the The Game Farmers Association (GFA) which is a trade organisation dedicated to the production of quality game birds for the UK shooting industry -the FAWC is contributing to the working group on these deliberations. The revised Defra Code of Practice on the Welfare of Farmed Gamebirds is expected to be published in 2009.

The FAWC report says that "There is little evidence of industry audit of compliance with industry Codes of Practice. "

The scale of the business in rearing pheasants and red-legged partridge ( a non - native species - the native Grey Partridge is on the RSPB Red list of species needing urgent action to address population decline) to supply the needs of people who want to (legitimately and legally) kill them for entertainment is remarkable.

Approximately 40 million gamebirds (30 to 35 million pheasants and 5 to 10 million partridges) are estimated to be released each year in Great Britain for shooting (the report does not cover reared quail, grouse or ducks ). The FAWC say that about half the pheasants reared and up to 90% of partridges are imported into Great Britain. These imports are mostly as hatching eggs, with a lesser number as day-old chicks from France.

Day-old pheasants are placed for rearing on about 400 farms in Great Britain for up to 7 weeks, prior to sale and release. Up to another 2,500 smaller premises with gamekeepers rear birds for their own estate. It is estimated that there are up to 7,000 shoots registered to release pheasants. Furthermore, there are up to 1,500 premises rearing partridges and 3,000 releasing them.

There is little information about survival of birds bred prior to shooting or the fate of those who escape the "sportsmen". It is said that some 2 Mn birds survive until the following spring.

Current legislation covering the business of rearing birds to shoot

European Directive 98/58/EC lays down minimum standards for the protection of animals bred or kept for farming purposes. Article 1(2) (b) states this Directive shall not apply to "animals intended for use in competitions, shows, cultural or sporting events or activities". This is claimed to exclude gamebirds destined for shoots from the protection of the Directive - even though they are kept under ostensibly farmed conditions on agricultural land.

In the UK this Directive is translated into domestic legislation as the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 (with similar legislation in Scotland and Wales) in which a ‘farmed animal’ means an animal bred or kept for the production of food, wool or skin, or other farming purposes, but not including "an animal whilst at, or solely intended for use in, a competition, show or cultural or sporting event or activity."

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 (and similar legislation in Scotland) defines an ‘animal’ as a vertebrate other than a human and a ‘protected animal’ as one commonly domesticated in the British Isles, one under human control, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, or one not living in a wild state.

This should give farmed gamebirds protected animal status when they are under human control, even if they are not ‘farmed animals’ under the law. The lack of clarity in the law does not ever appear to have been tested at law.

Paradoxically gamebirds whilst in transit on journeys of more than 65 km is covered by the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 (and similar legislation in Scotland and Wales).


The Game Act of 1831 still applies in England and Wales - Scotland has different but essentially the same legislation which combine to impose close seasons for shooting.

A game licence is required, under the 1831 Act, in order to hunt game species. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) suggested in 2005 that only around 40,000 guns (of the claimed 450,000 participants ) bother to buy a licence as the police rarely prosecute on a failure to have a licence alone.

Joan Ruddock, junior environment minister, announced in July 2007 changes to the Game Act the £7 Game licences will no longer be needed to shoot or sell pheasants and other game and there will be no restrictions on selling game birds and venison all year round - changes that came into effect on August 1st that year. Lord Rooker, the rural affairs minister, said: "Many of the laws surrounding game licensing are outdated and irrelevant. We don't need laws that were originally intended to stop peasants killing pheasants."

David Fursdon, the Country Landowners Association President, said: "The removal of these outdated laws shows that the Government takes both shooting and the game industry seriously, and that the announcement takes place at the CLA Game Fair highlights the significance of the announcement to all people interested in country sports. "

Given the low level of observation of the law the fee of £6 (+£1 admin fee) produced an income of £251,884 in 2006, whereas its administrative costs amounted to £307,732. Game fishermen continue to pay a licence fee of £61.25 and coarse fisherman £22.25.

Economics and costs of the gamebird industry in the UK

As many as 70,000 jobs are said to depend on the game shooting industry and shooting is quoted as being worth £1.6 billion to the UK economy which involves 480,000 people who entertain themselves by shooting live quarry (research commissioned by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the
Countryside Alliance). It is estimated that there are up to 7,000 shoots are registered to release pheasants and 3,000 for partridges.

Information supplied by the industry to FAWC that day-old chicks reared in Britain cost between 80 and 100 p each (but as little as 40 p each for French imports). Poults reared to 7 or 8 weeks of age are sold to shoots between £2.50 - £4.00. Prices have risen in the 2008 season in response to significant increases in feed prices.

Shot birds may be worth as little as 50 p each to the shoot for meat - although many shoots simply bury the shot birds as the costs of packing / distribution etc., cannot be covered by the price the food industry will pay for what is a very limited market for game.

New EU Food Hygiene Regulations came into into force on 1 January 2006. The Regulations cover the supply and handling of game meat and require that anyone supplying game to a registered game dealer will have had to undertake the necessary training to meet competent person status.

Meat Hygiene Service (MHS)data puts the total farmed game processed between July 2004 and June 2005 at 1.6 million units - this includes ALL game species including rabbits / hares .

A day's shooting can cost the "sportsman" between £25 and £40 per bird shot, although such prices vary widely. The cost of a day’s shooting varies between £100/gun for a smaller shoot,
to £1000s/gun on a larger shoot.

Welfare concerns in breeding gamebirds in the UK

FAWC identified a number of potential and actual welfare problems associated with the intensification of gamebird breeding and rearing in Great Britain.

Most of the welfare concerns relate to selection and sourcing of breeding stock, housing systems, confinement, transport, stockmanship and the use of various management devices and procedures, including:

1. Confinement of semi-wild species, either in open pens offering birds a challenging nvironment, exposed to adverse weather, or various cage systems offering a barren environment, restricting space and potentially the expression of normal behaviour;

2. Use of management devices, including bits, spectacles, and brailles;

Bit – a strip of hard material, usually plastic, fitted round the upper mandible, preventing the beak from closing.
Bumpa-bit – a plastic bit with an additional loop of plastic in front of the upper mandible.
Spectacles – flaps of plastic clipped to the top of the beak restricting forward vision.
Braille – Loop of canvas or similar material twisted into a figure-of-eight round the wing, restricting its full extension and, thus, flight.

3. Beak trimming instead of, or as well as, bitting;

4. Stockmanship, including training, record keeping, seeking of prompt vet-erinary advice and development of best practice;

5. Transport of day-old or rearing birds in vehicles, crates or other receptacles that may not be suitable;

6. Availability of licensed medicines to treat or prevent disease;

7. General biosecurity; and adaptation/acclimatisation of birds to outdoor conditions prior to and during release.

FAWC Recommendations

The report recommendations cover Paras 58 - 73 Including Banning beak trimming, use of Spectacles and research is required into the effects of bumpa-bits on the welfare and health of pheasants. Brailles for pheasants should only be used in open pens, where there is strong evidence that otherwise birds would be lost from these pens.

Barren raised cages for pheasants should not be used. If industry does not phase out barren cages then Government should act to ban them within five years from the publication of this Opinion.

Small, barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used, particularly to house birds continuously for three years.

Pics : November 4th was the first day of the "hunting" season Cyprus - the weekend saw thousands of "hunters" with their dogs dressed like war fighters shoot anything that moved. This loathsome fool was happy to swagger about to display his trophy and be photgraphed.

Macaulay said "the Puritans banned bear baiting, not because it pained the bear but because it gacve pleasure to the spectators". Anyone who kills semi-domesticated animals for "sport" is beneath contempt - one might as well justify abortion because it provides an income for the medical profession as justify shooting on the basis that it suports a wide rural industry to support the slaughter.

See also for more details - Friday, May 16, 2008 Pheasant Shooting - getting ready for the annual slaughter

Another UK soldier dies after vehicle is hit by bomb in Helmand province

The 2nd Ghurka (2nd Battalion the Royal Ghurkha Rifles )and 125th UK soldier to die in Afghanistan was killed in an explosion yesterday when his patrol in the Musa Qala District of Helmand Province was struck by a bomb, according to the International Security Assistance Force.

The MoD said he was taking part in a routine road move when the vehicle he was travelling in struck an explosive device. No details have been released about the type of vehicle he was travelling in.

An MOD post from 18th September 2008 quotes ..."Jackal is a beast, an awesome piece of kit," said Royal Marines Captain Orlando Rogers on the eve of his first deployment to Helmand province."

Other units, including Gurkhas, (see pic) have been familiarising themselves with new kit during the five-month preparation:

"We have had an intense training period and we feel ready in all aspects," said Capt Rogers. "There's a lot of quality to the kit and we can have a personal choice. It's spot on. A few years ago kit was good. Now we have the best."

See - Saturday, November 15, 2008 The Jackal with the soft underbelly

UPDATE : D Telegraph Monday reports that it was an IED that caused the explosion.

The Daily Mail Monday reports that the Ghurka was travelling in a 25 ton Warrior tropp carrier - they explain that Warrior vehicles first entered service in 1988, but they have been overhauled and had their armour upgraded to meet the threat from Taliban and al-Qaeda bombs.

Together with the British Army Mastiffs, a company of Warriors are based outside Musa Qala, in Forward Operating Base Edinburgh, to ferry soldiers to and from the outposts, ringing the town.

Until recently they were largely considered "mine proof" says the Mail article, but they have learnt that, " at least three Warrior's have been damaged "beyond repair" in the last eight months as the Taliban bomb makers set ever bigger charges in British soldiers' paths." See Guradian report as well

See video as Warriors arrive in Afghanistan mid 2007 and also here

UPDATE Monday 17th Nov. Just discovered - Days of the Jackal: Supacat’s HMT Vehicles
02-Nov-2008 http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/british-uor-to-field-130-supacat-mwmik-patrol-vehicles-03404/

Further Update Monday the MOD have named the dead soldier as Colour Sergeant Krishnabahadur Dura

The rarest flower in the world Brighamia insignis

Brighamia insignis also known as alula to the Hawaiian islanders where it is an endemic plant of scrublands on the islands of Kaua'i and Niihau is also called Cabbage on a Stick or the Hawaiian Pine. In the wild there are said to be 65 plants and natural reproduction has finished due to the disappearance of their sole pollinator which is an unknown sphingid moth with an extraordinarily long tongue (probably itself extinct) which can reach the base of the lengthy calyx. All but one population, consisting of a single plant, is currently known in the wild on Kaua`i (Ken Wood, pers. comm. June 2007).

Dutch horticulturalists have produced clones from root meristems and dispersed them worldwide hoping that someone can produce seeds. The above flowers , wich have rarely been reported on these plants were photographed last week on a single plant in Cyprus.

It is highly unlikely that the plants are self fertile - we will report the success of the human replacement of the essential moth , by a lady armed with a scalpel and a paint brush.

See -Gemmill,C. E. C., T. A. Ranker, D. Ragone, S. P. Perlman, K. R.Wood. 1998. Conservation genetics of the endangered endemic Hawaiian genus Brighamia. American Journal of Botany 85(4): 528-539.)

Gordon Brown is mad. Official.

“This is not about the abstract language of communiques, but real issues that affect people’s daily lives. By the actions we take, savings are safe, people will be able to keep their jobs, they will not lose their homes in all or (sic) our countries.”

The Dear Leader at a Press Conference at the British Embassy in Washington, hailing .." the “historic” agreement at the G20 summit to push ahead with reforms aimed at reversing the current global economic downturn."

Fresh from admiring Hank the Bank's chutzpah we must turn our attention to Gordon. Whose beliefs are so self evidently untrue ;

1. Savings are safe
2. People will keep their jobs
3. People will not lose their homes

Perhaps these points could be printed on a handy little card adorned with a red rose to remind us all of the perpetual economic miracles that Gordon has wrought.

It first became evident that Mrs Margaret Thatcher was clinically insane when she was seen stabbing litter in St. James's Park for the assembled press in March 1988 .... it is clear that Gordon has also turned the corner.

The Jackal with the soft underbelly

The taxonomy of UK Military vehicles is a fascinating field for study but which requires some considerable care and caution as the military mind, whilst given to an obsession with detail and order can suprise any sleepy sub-editor.

Therefore when Royal Marines , Robert McKibben and Neil Dunstan who were part of Task Force Helmand's Information Exploitation Group were reported to have died in their new in a new £600,000 Jackal mine-resistant armoured car (Daily Mail) after a hit from a roadside bomb in Garmsir district of Southern Helmand, Afghanistan, on Wednesday afternoon , the normally well informed technical section of our military staff were non-plussed. (MOD report)

This follows the death of 21 year old Trooper James "Magpie" Munday, of 1 Troop, D Squadron, the Household Cavalry Regiment, on Wednesday 15 October 2008 who was serving as a Jackal driver on Operation HERRICK 8 when he was killed in action in Helmand province. His Troop was conducting a routine patrol approximately 23km north of Forward Operating Base Delhi when he was killed by a contact explosion. (MOD report)

The "Jackal" first saw life as a military vehicle when on Monday 25th June the MOD announced that under an Urgent Operational Requirement for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan , (which as Lord patel's old batman pointed out they don't hand out with the rations.Sir.) 130 new new MWMIK 's , (Mobility Weapon Mounted Installation Kit) will begin deploying out to operational theatres "early in 2008", Lord Drayson, Minister of State for explaining shortages, overunning costs, and delays in Defence Equipment and Support, said:

"These vehicles are well armed, swift, and agile and will boost our capability with some serious firepower. MOD and the Treasury have worked hard to get these powerful vehicles to our troops in quick time, and they will start going out to theatre early next year." see Saturday, June 30, 2007 WMIK - Patrolling Afghanistan in a convertible

Then in September they announced the purchase again ..Wednesday, September 05, 2007 MOD announce ordering 130 MWMIK air cooled 6 x 6 Supercats at £250,000 each for Afghanistan next year - AGAIN

Sharp eyed readers may note the absence of protection of the crew - all handily placed immediately over the axles, where if contact is made with a mine they can expect the maximum explosive force.

The vehicle was based on 6x6 wheel drive design from Supacat Ltd from Honiton in Devon, with a claimed top speed of 80 mph. Universal Engineering Ltd manufacture the steel framed chassis, Cummings the engine, and Allison the transmission.

Sharp eyed observers might also notice that any mine protection is - if present, fairly minimal.

Quite when the name Jackal was applied to this hybrid vehicle - when the Mail on Sunday introduced it in September 2007 it was "80mph "Mad Max" monster targeting the Taliban"

Looks like it is becoming a soft target for Taliban ... as we said at the time ... Patrolling Afghanistan in a convertible .. not forgetting Friday, January 27, 2006 Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan

Forget TARP .. just spread a little money around...

You have to admire the remarkable combination of chutzpah and financial legerdermain of US Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. AKA Hank the Bank, on the remarks he made during his press conference reviewing ...his er.... "Financial Rescue Package "

First he sends a 3 page bill for US$700 very, very, very , very big ones to Congress without any detail of how he was going to spend it.... but we were assured that this was a Troubled Asset Relief Program which became abbreviated to TARP.

As credit markets froze in mid-September, the Administration asked Congress for broad tools and flexibility to rescue the financial system. We asked for $700 billion to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions. At the time, we believed that would be the most effective means of getting credit flowing again.

From this clear mandate to buy up the so called toxic debts .. it is / was but a small Paulsenian step to ....

It was clear to me by the time the bill was signed on October 3rd that we needed to act quickly and forcefully, and that purchasing troubled assets – our initial focus – would take time to implement and would not be sufficient given the severity of the problem. In consultation with the Federal Reserve, I determined that the most timely, effective step to improve credit market conditions was to strengthen bank balance sheets quickly through direct purchases of equity in banks.

Nor was he slow to show how fast he had been in distributing this tax payer largess to the failed banks on Wall Street - many his old friends and cronies, when he was the world's highest paid banker..

We announced a plan on October 14th to purchase up to $250 billion in preferred stock in federally regulated banks and thrifts. By October 26th we had $115 billion out the door to eight large institutions. In Washington that is a land-speed record from announcing a program to getting funds out the door

Fear not anxious tax payer, your Secretary has not forgotten his other friends...

Since announcing the Capital Purchase Program, we have been examining a wide range of ideas that can further strengthen the financial system .... we must continue to stand ready to prevent systemic failures. That is the basis for Monday's action to purchase preferred shares in AIG

Which is a simple way of explaining how AIG have somehow managed to hoover up, burn their way through US$ 155 Bn .. and it seems will soon be back for more ...."Too big to fail "

But there is more ..

First, we are designing further strategies for building capital in financial institutions. Stronger capital positions will enable financial institutions to better manage the illiquid assets on their books and better ensure that they remain healthy.

Second, we are examining strategies to support consumer access to credit outside the banking system.

..and we haven't even got round to shelling out billions to keep the Detroit rust bucket belt in the luxuries which we can afford.

The result of all this ? Well Reuters reports today ..."Short-term interbank lending rates have risen over the past two days because "there has been a change of sentiment since the latest rewrite of the Treasury's asset rescue program," said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, in Jersey City, New Jersey."

Three-month dollar London interbank offered rates rose more than 8 basis points to 2.23625 % , the biggest rise since Oct. 10. Thursday's increase broke a streak of 23 consecutive declines.

The gap between 3 month dollar Libor over T-bill yields, the so-called TED spread, widened slightly to over 200 basis points.

The ECB said on Friday that overnight deposits rose, as banks continued to hoard rather than lend cash. Banks deposited 127.566 billion euros at the ECB, up from 103.318 billion the previous day.

Just to round off a week of exciting news US Retail sales fell by 2.8pc in October – the biggest drop since records began – and the fourth consecutive monthly fall.

Mr Paulsen is 63.

Bibi snaffles 'bama's best ideas

Blue State Digital had a big role to play in designing the Obama website and have now produced the transition website change.gov . Already on the website you can share your “American Moment,” a story from the campaign trail about what this election means to you.

However if you are Benjamin Netanyahu, you can share Obama's Web site design for his campaign for your forthcoming Israeli presidency.

“Imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” says Ron Dermer, a campaign adviser to 'Bibi' Netanyahu. “We’re all in the same business, so we took a close look at a guy who has been the most successful and tried to learn from him. And while we will not use the word ‘change’ in the same way in our campaign, we believe Netanyahu is the real candidate of change for Israel.” (gulp)


Sani Sanilevich, is Bibi's manager of his Internet campaign and is quoted ...“The main advantage of the Internet is the ability to communicate with citizens and people directly,” he said. “You can actually hear them and get them involved in this campaign. The whole idea is, together we can succeed.”


Hmmmm .... “Together we can succeed” .. which is Bibi's campaign slogan sounds a lot like “Yes we can.”

There is an excellent analysis of the Obama web campaign , which developed from Howard Dean's pitch for the Democratic nomination in 2004 in the FT, Hot-button election: How the internet drives the US campaign By Kevin Allison and Richard Waters Thursday September 11 th 2008

Tina Fey is not a Bond girl but she has a very special agent

The New York Post reported on October 1st that a publisher had offered US$5 Mn. to Sarah Palin's doppleganger , comedy star, Tina Fey, to write a book of non-fiction humour and other bidders drove the alleged advance up to US$6.Tina is married to Jeff Richmond, a Second City director

Her agents are the Endeavor Talent Agency formed when a group of four agents left International Creative Mangement (ICM) in 1995: Ari Emanuel, David Greenblatt, Rick Rosen and Tom Strickler

The person who handles her literary work is the much reviled Richard Abate, who left ICM to head up the East Coast operations of Endeavor (152 W 57th St., 25th Floor, New York, NY 10019) - which resulted in a law suit from ICM (which they lost) - revealing that on January 30th 2007 Abate flew out to Los Angeles to met the president of Endeavor, Ari Emanuel whilst still their employee.

Subsequently a U.S. District Court judge refused to grant ICM's request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Richard Abate from leaving the agency to start a literary division at rival Endeavor (along with 48 of his 50 clients) until his contract expired at end 2007. His evasiveness and porous memeory however failed to impress Judge Leisure ; "Your lack of memory on things transpiring only 30 to 60 days ago surprises me," Leisure said, "and you're not making a good impression on the court."

Richard Abate has also negotiated one of a promised slew of post election navel gazing books. He acted for Anne Kornblut, who covered the presidential election for The Washington Post and will soon be reporting for the paper on the Obama White House, her book will have the positive title - Rejection: Why America Isn't Ready for A Woman President for the Crown imprint of Random House - for an advance said to be in mid 6 figures US$'s.

Chairman of Endeavor is Ari Emanuel, bro of Obama's puppet meister Rahm Emanuel , and another son of Irgun.

Is Shrillary going to get that 3. am call ?

The question that everyone wants an answer to - is the Democrat Party / President / AIPAC ready to give Shrillary a job ? - NYT Obama’s Talk With Clinton Starts Buzz ... Mrs. Clinton, as a former first lady, has Secret Service protection and travels in a government S.U.V...... by early evening a small motorcade of black sport utility vehicles emerged from the garage of the downtown Chicago building where Mr. Obama has his transition office, just minutes before Mr. Obama’s own motorcade left it. "

"One potential downside for Mrs. Clinton taking a top job in the cabinet: she would presumably have to disclose much more about Mr. Clinton’s earnings, especially from foreign sources, and donors to his presidential library than they have been willing to disclose so far."

Lawyers start to sue Baxter over tainted heparin supplies

Regular readers will be aware of regular posts on the effect of deliberate substitution of oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, or OSCS--that is derived from animal cartilage -- in supplies of heparin -- derived from pig intestines -- in China which first showed up in deaths and illness in users of Baxters heparin in the US during twice weekly kidney dialyisis sessions earlier this year. (see Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Baxter Healthcare Heparin crisis grows - active ingredient traced to Chinese production plant that was not inspected by the FDA )

This week's Time magazine has helpful update detailing some of the personal tragedies this has caused - Heparin's Deadly Side Effects By Bill Powell/Shanghai Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008

The article claims that (as many have suspected) that OSCS's key benfit is -- as a Baxter spokeswoman is quoted by Time, a "virtual mimic of heparin" in most tests and, according to a congressional investigator, costs only $20 per kg, vs. $2,000 for crude heparin. The suppliers, investigators believe, colluded to substitute OSCS in the crude heparin they passed along for the standard price and pocketed the $1,980 difference for each kilogram they sold.

Naturally in the land of the lawyers , plaintiff attorneys have filed 60 suits to date against Baxter and their Chinese based heparin suppliers, Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC (SPL), in federal courts. (Pic of Changzou SPL factory outside Shanghai)

SPL CEO Strunce can claim his company's heparin met Chinese standards, but that's probably a meaningless defense in a U.S. trial. For American drug companies using sources in China, quality control is not just China's problem--it's also their problem.

It is of interest that Waunakee, Wis., based SPL was started in 1976 by Oscar Meyer (now part of Kraft Foods) , top hot dog merchants throughout the USA. SPL have no connection now and are an independent company - " As a truly independent company, SPL is extremely nimble, entrepreneurial and customer-focused .... While we retain the levels of quality and compliance from our “Big-Pharma” roots.." (website)

Time points out that the gruesome connection is that half the world's pigs are to be found in China and Oscar Meyer handles a lot of them and so set up the company to manufacture and trade the many proteins used in the world wide pharmaceutical industry.

Thos interested in the further story of how Baxter's competitors in the USA , APP was taken over by dailysis speciaists Fresenius (FREG_p.DE: Quote) and the fascinating career of their fascinating Chinese born founder Patrick Soon Shong - Wednesday, July 09, 2008 who is till busy counting the US$3 Bn. he collected on selling out. Heparin -another chapter in the tale APP taken over by Fresenius - Patrick Soon Shong trousers US$3 Billion

Singapore Dollar v Pound Sterling

The Puritan Gift - the rise and the role of Wall Street, MBA's and Accountants in the post war decline and export of US manufacturing industy

THE PURITAN GIFT Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream by Kenneth Hopper & William Hopper I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2007 Website Amazon

THE PURITAN GIFT traces the origins and characteristics of an American managerial culture which, over the course of three centuries, turned a handful of small colonies into the greatest economic and political power on earth. It argues that the energy, social mobility, competitiveness and capacity for innovation, all of which lie at the heart of that culture, have their origins in the discipline and ethos of America’s first wave of European immigrants: the Puritans.

Essential reading for the fall and rise of post WWII US manufacturing industry the malign rise of Management Schools and their graduates and the role of accountnats and the relentless demnds for increased quaterly returns being reported to support an ever rising share price and ultimately the reliance not on shareholders funds but funds from banks.

On November 4, 2008, Peter Day of BBC Global Business interviewed Kenneth and William about THE PURITAN GIFT. Visit Day's Global Business page and click on "Listen (23 mins)".

Short video describing the book


The cavity magnetron was invented in November 1939 by two British scientists, Drs Randall and Boot, working at Birmingham (UK) University under Professor Mark Oliphant. There was a need then for shorter-wavelength, higher-frequency oscillators for more accurate radar detection of planes, U-boats, etc, at frequencies that existing glass-valve oscillators couldn't generate. Randall and Boot (aged 22 at the time) came up with the idea of a "cavity magnetron" that produced high-power centimetric radar.

Early in 1940 Sir Henry Tizard suggested to Winston Churchill that Britain should disclose its scientific secrets on military matters to the USA and Canada in exchange for desperately needed assistance in technology and production. Tizard was Rector of the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London and had been chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence since its formation in 1935; this committee had been largely responsible for starting and promoting the work on radar in the UK. In 1939 Tizard was the chief scientific advisor to the Air Ministry and was a central figure in organizing science for the British war effort. The proposal for an exchange of information with the USA and Canada was the subject of intense debate after Churchill became prime minister in May 1940. The resulting maneuvers, both bureau-cratic and political, at this highly critical time just after the fall of France now appear quite extraordinarily short sighted. This sorry situation is well described in Zimmerman’s book Top Secret Exchange.

Churchill gave final approval on August 9th for a mission headed by Tizard to go to Canada and the USA.

James P. Baxter, the official U.S. historian of scientific developments in WW II, said of the first cavity magnetron brought from the UK to North America :

When the members of the Tizard Mission brought one toAmerica in 1940, they carried the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores. It sparked the whole development of microwave radar and constituted the most important item in reverse Lend-Lease.

The Hoppers give this as an example of the skills of US industry in adopting ideas and revving up manufacturing ...The outstanding performance of the magnetron disclosed by the Tizard Mission in September 1940 persuaded the Americans of the need for a major laboratory to develop microwave radar. The result was the immediate establishment of the Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA., which became the major US radar laboratory.

So successful was the programme at the Radiation Laboratory that the first experimental airborne 10cm radar was tested in a Douglas B18, with Bowen on board, on 27 March 1941, only seven months after the Tizard Mission had arrived in the USA. Their first 10cm AI (SCR720), accompanied by Bowen, was demonstrated in the UK in August 1941 and later became known as AI Mk IX.

In the course of the next year the Radiation Laboratory grew in size and soon became the most important and productive radar laboratory in the USA; by the end of the war the staff numbered about 4,000.

The Tizard Mission, was highly successful. It drew the attention of the Americans to the importance of radar as a weapon of war, introduced them to airborne radar, accelerated the development of centimetre-wave radar by giving them the cavity magnetron and helped them to set up the highly successful Radiation Laboratory.

Coins in his pocket

The major problem the UK had in ming their cavity magnetrons was in making the multiple chambered device central to the valve - it was for this reason that help was sought from the US and Canadian allies. An engineer drafted in to the meetings, had a habit of shuffling coins from his pocket from one hand to the other.

He realised that carefully designed and engineered slices woul enable rapid and precise fabrication. A secret they failed to share initially with their allies.


The Germans first discovered the multi-cavity magnetron on February 2nd, 1943, when
a British Pathfinder bomber on a raid on Cologne was shot down near Rotterdam, the plane containing an H2S airborne radar using a 10 cm wavelength magnetron (type CV 76).

The explosive charge, designed to destroy the radar set when the plane crashed, failed to explode.

The Germans were astonished at this microwave radar and very rapidly made Chinese style copies of the magnetron (even as far as copying the type number). Later in 1944
an H2X radar was captured from a crashed American bomber and the 3 cm wavelength magnetron was copied and was in production by early 1945.

Aerial bombing campaign continues unabated... nothing changes

With complete command and control of the skies over Afghanistan and what used to be called Iraq the US and allied Air Forces maintained their stauration bombing... detailed at Air Force Link November 11th when we remember the dead of 2 World Wars.

In Afghanistan, an Air Force B-1B Lancer and an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle dropped a guided bomb unit-31 and GBU-38s onto anti-Afghan forces who were firing rocket- propelled grenades at coalition forces conducting operations in the vicinity of Shkin (4 miles from the Pakistan boarder at an elevation of 7800ft see map) . The missions were confirmed a success (as ever) by an on-scene joint terminal attack controller.

This brings to mind an incident on April 9, 2003 when the USAF killed 11 civilians and wounded one. A coalition bomb hit a home after an Afghan militia checkpoint came under attack in Shkin on the Pakistani border. Four militiamen were wounded in the attack. A quick reaction force from Coalition Task Force 82 responded to the attack on the checkpoint, said officials. The checkpoint is very near the firebase in Shkin and about a mile and a half from the border. The force spotted two groups of five to 10 enemy and chased them toward the border. The force requested air support, and Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers responded. One Harrier engaged the enemy with cannon fire and the other dropped a 1,000-pound laser-guided bomb. That bomb missed the intended target and struck the house.

In total, 62 close-air-support missions were flown in support of the ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols.

Total failure to control Prison drug trade in Wandsworth ..and probably in all prisons

Spyblog identifies the continuing problems of drugs in our largest prison and the failure to tackle to import and usage of mobilephones which sustains the prison drug trade. 2007 - 2008 Independent Monitoring Board annual report for Wandsworth prison

Section 10.5 Access to Drugs

1. Drugs continue to be widely available within the prison. This is supported by the high level of positive MDT’s. As of June 07 this was 12%.

2. Increased drug availability is fuelling bullying, intimidation, prisoner debts and a gang culture.

3. Mobile phone usage is increasing as demonstrated by the number of phones being found.

In their comments on the current position they reveal ...

Phones are not just used to drive the drugs trade in Wandsworth. We have seen a phone seized by Security which had the most graphic and violent images taken in another prison, including forced sex and stabbings. With the possession of mobile phones within prisons now being a criminal offence we look forward to the Police taking a more active role in arresting and charging those found with mobile phones in prison. We had very high hopes last year that the BOSS (Bodily Orifice Security Scanner) chair would be used to try and detect more phones being brought in by prisoners. Unfortunately it has hardly been used at all.

"BOSS is a unique, fast, non-intrusive, inexpensive, high sensitivity detector designed to etect metal objects hidden in body cavities. It is commonly used in corrections facilities to scan inmates for weapons and contraband objects hidden in anal, vaginal, oral and nasal cavities. At some sites visitors are also screened.Suggested Retail: US$8275.00 (website)see pic

It is evident that there is no serious attempt to control the prison drug culture, nor to attack the problem of corrupt prison staff or block the usage of mobile phones nor track their usage by readily available technology such as Path Intelligence , who supply FootPath™, that provides retailers an automated measurement technology that can continuously monitor the path that your shoppers or passengers take from their mobile phone signal.

They can of course listen to MP's interviewing their constituents....REPORT ON TWO VISITS BY SADIQ KHAN MP TO BABAR AHMAD AT HM PRISON WOODHILL , REPORT OF INVESTIGATION BY THE RT HON SIR CHRISTOPHER ROSE, CHIEF SURVEILLANCE COMMISSIONER, February 2008. ..." The conversations between Mr Khan and Babar Ahmad on 21 May 2005 and 24 June 2006 were monitored. The monitoring was carried out lawfully under the legislation. It was properly authorised and fully documented."

Here's one we found earlier

Top TV academic Laurie Taylor on BBC 4's "Reading Aloud" just now, established how liberal his editor is, by reading an e-mail from a listener raving about BBC bias on the reporting of the US election and the uncritical acceptance of the saintly nature of Barack Obama and family and their putative dog.

Naturally the writer, labouring over his spittle flecked keyboard predicted (incorrectly) that his ourtrage would not be broadcast ....

Possibly because, so blinded with unfocussed bile and hate his brain ran ahead of his fingers and he managed to produce the word pariahtors to describe the capitalist scum who own the world's Press and TV.

Someone out there may have the mot juste to describe such serenditpitous neologisms - surely lexicographers have manufactured the appropriate collective noun ?

These are of course a distinct species from the Freudian slip - a word that was sought but replaced by a mother.

The Guardian's Simon Hoggart was not unknown to entertain with such witty and inventive wordplay - a career gone into decline since he discovered that he was sharing la Quinn's pudendal playground with the loathsome David Blunkett. No doubt he spends too much time laving his loins with powerful antiseptics and his lily white and sensitive hands are too sensitive to pound his portable.


It is worth noticing that in the debate over ending lifetime tenencies for council house it is revealed today that heartless cuckold Blunkett's Sheffield has the longest council house waiting list in the country. Some 87,773 households are waiting for a home – equivalent to 39.7 % of the city.

Nudge,nudge...wink, wanker - behavioural economics

This smug looking well fed, grey haired white man and chosen advisor to President elect Obama is Richard H. Thaler (b. 12th Sept 1945)he is is the theorist behind the juvenile concepts pushed in the dreamy eyries of academe called behavioral economics / finance. He has promoted these insane nostrum along with Daniel Kahneman and is is coauthor, with Cass R. Sunstein, of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale University Press, 2008).

Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for hemselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful “choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice.

Amazon review - 'This book is terrific. It will change the way you think, not only about the world around you and some of its bigger problems, but also about yourself.' --Michael Lewis author of The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game and Liar's Poker

Thaler started out at Case Western Reserve University in 1967 with a BA . At the University of Rochester, he received his M.S. in 1970 and his Ph.D. in Economics in 1974.

Floating in the world of movers and shaklers at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, he must have bumped into Obama . He is an associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His academic record is impresive but seems l to lack ony business experience of any value. He has previously taught at Cornell University and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Thaler presides as an in-house expert who regularly consults with Barack Obama's top economic advisor for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, Austan Goolsbee .

Thaler has also organized a series of behavioral finance seminars along with Robert Shiller, another behavioral finance expert over at Yale School of Management.

Thaler gained some attention in the field of economics for publishing a regular column in the Journal of Economic Perspectives from 1987 to 1990 titled Anomalies, in which he documented individual instances of economic behavior that seemed to violate traditional microeconomic theory.

Thaler also is the founder of an asset management firm that enables a select group of investors to capitalize on cognitive biases such as the endowment effect, loss aversion and status quo bias.(Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, Inc. is an institutional investment firm managing approximately $1.5 billion* in long-only and long/short equity assets. Founded in 1993, the firm is 100% controlled by key professionals. We are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. )

Thaler has also written a number of books intended for a lay reader on the subject of behavioral finance, including Quasi-rational Economics and The Winner's Curse, the latter of which contains many of his Anomalies columns revised and adapted for a popular audience.

In one of his most recent papers together with three Dutch economists Thaler has analyzed the choices of contestants appearing in the popular TV game show Deal or No Deal and found support for behavioralists' claims of path-dependent risk attitudes.

Basically his crass belief is that economic behaviour can be "nudged" not necessarily by stock pickers in the financial press, tipsters on the sports pages but by ...say the careful placement o healthy and nutritional foods at the canteen checkout - ignoring the fact that profit pr sq foot determines placing the impulse buys at the check out not rational behaviour.

Anyway if you have the patience read the guff and choose for yourself from the management self help bookshelf at Wal Mart whe his books are handily stocked by the National Enquirer and Hello magazine.

With advisors like this, expect some really, really good ideas for resolving the problems of the US auto industry.

Obama's economic advisors.. Spot the nigger

It was revealing when Obam revealed his smug, smiling economic advisors (the "economy posse")- with some 30,000 professors of the subject and a few of them black and Hispanic , few have shown the democratic values needed to support and advise their president elect.

Always assuming aconomic advice is worth taking .. pout two economists in aroom and get three sets of advice.

Mr. Obama is acting with the greatest urgency (it says here) toward choosing a Treasury secretary and is said to be considering Lawrence H. Summers, who held the post during the Clinton administration, and Timothy F. Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. (NYT)

Assembled to offer wide-ranging advice, the group of 17 included Mr. Summers and his predecessor as Treasury secretary, Robert E. Rubin; Paul A. Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, and Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google. The billionaire investor Warren Buffett is to attend by speakerphone.

Other participants included Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles; former Commerce Secretary William Daley; William Donaldson, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Anne Mulcahy, chairman and chief executive of Xerox; Laura Tyson, former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, and Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan.

All these look like a re-tread of the Clinton era and also hang with them the smell of the foul smelling pardons he provided the day he left office ....

It was of course Antonio Villaraigosa, who with Congressman Xavier Becerra and State Senator Richard Polanco - the three most prominent Mexican politicians in Los Angeles who lobbied (after receiving handy campaign donations) to write letters and make telephone calls to President Clinton urging him to pardon Carlos Vignali.

Horatio Vignali , Argentinian immigrant made good, and very weathy father of Carlos Vignali gave $200,000 to Hugh Rodham, Hillary Clinton's fat, sleazy , brother brother, to convince Bill and Hillary to release his cracl dealing son Carlos Vignali - but none of his poor, black and Hispanic co-defendants.

Carlos Vignali and 30 black gang members were caught planning to distribute over 800 pounds of crack cocaine. He and the 30 blacks were imprisoned after pleading guilty to the crack cocaine distribution charges.Carlos is active today in his father's extensive real estate businesses in downtown Los Angeles.

On Clinton's last day in office, he signed the pardon (sentence commutation) releasing Carlos Vignali from prison. He was then serving the 6th of 15 years in prison.

For further details of Obama's list of economic advisors go here also see piece above about Thaler and his lunatic ideas.

Russian Bear increases it's energy hug on Italy / Europe - oil / gas and nuclear deals signed up

RIA Novosti are reporting that our old pal, Mr Vagit Alekperov , president LUKoil is prepared to slash their current projected investment programs from US$ 8 Bn. to US$ 4 Bn. if the price of oil falls to US$ 45 per barrel.

"We have worked out three pricing scenarios: at US$ 80 / 65 and a third, crisis price of US$ 45 per barrel." Investment would be reduced by USD 2 billion at each pricing stage, from US$ 8 Bn. to US 4 Bn. He told journalists the investment cuts could affect refining projects but investment in the development of new fields would not be reduced. He added that "We will not postpone launching new deposits."

Berlusconi signs big energy deal with Russia

LUKoil signed a 1.35 Bn Euro deal to purchase a stake in Italian refiner ERG which will allow them to enter into a joint venture to break into European markets.

The agreement between the two firms was signed as part of an Italian-Russian intergovernmental summit at which Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met in Moscow on November 6 in a deal to be finalised on December 1.

LUKoil will pay cash during the year,” LUKoil agreed in June to acquire the 49 % stake in the Isab refinery in Priolo, Sicily, but the global credit crunch and dropping oil prices threw the deal into question. Alekperov and ERG CEO Alessandro Garrone sealed the deal in Rome on June 23rd 2008. Under the deal, LUKoil will acquire a 49% stake in the Joint Venture for EUR 1.35 Bn. excluding inventory. ERG will retain 51%. The transaction provides LUKoil with an option to increase its stake in the future.

Alekperov said at the time that “The establishment of a refining joint venture in Italy is a cornerstone of LUKoil’s growth strategy in the area of developing its downstream operations in Western Europe. LUKoil’s overall refining capacities will increase by 13% and overseas refining capacities will increase by 60%. The refinery’s advantageous location and an opportunity to process Russian crude make this project very attractive.” According to Lukoil the ISAB refinery complex is one of the largest refineries in the region and is well positioned to meet the growing middle distillate demand in Europe.

The refinery includes two sites which are united by a pipeline system and integrated in a single refining unit with a total annual refining capacity of 16 million tons. The Russian oil company said that each partner will procure its share of crude and market its share of products in accordance with its JV equity stake. The ISAB refinery has the flexibility to process crude such as Urals, and LUKOIL intends to fully integrate its share of the refinery into its supply chain.

Alekperov said on November 6 LUKoil had applied to Vneshekonombank for a US$ 1.8 Bn. loan toward the purchase of new assets and to help refinance its debts, Interfax has reported.

If the purchase goes through it should increase LUKoil’s refining capacity and smooth its expansion into Europe, where it already manages refineries in Bulgaria and Romania.

Italy relies on Russia economically. Energy supplies dominate trade between the countries with Russia supplying almost 30 % of Italian energy needs (Currently - and this will grow).

With Russian gas monopoly Gazprom improving its ties with Italian energy company ENI this figure is set to go far beyond its current level.

Russia and Italy also reached electricity and nuclear deals. Russia’s electricity trading company Inter RAO UES will work with Italy’s Enel to develop Russia’s power industry. According to the memorandum, a working group will be established to handle appraisals of commercial and investment prospects in nuclear production.

Any production would be done jointly by Inter RAO and Enel. Inter RAO is also taking part in a project to build the Baltic Nuclear Power Plant and is looking for foreign investors. Enel has indicated it is interested in working on that project as well.

On the nuclear front, the Russian Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom, intends to cooperate with Italian partners in creating nuclear reactors of the third and fourth generations. “This work may begin as early as next year,” Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters in Moscow on November 6 after signing an agreement on cooperation in nuclear power industry with Italy’s Economic Development Ministry.