The Military Industrial Empire has taken control of the US military in times of war there is a need for progress. But the eventual result of the automation of weapons is criticised for the emotional wreakage it makes of soldiers being worse that having their limbs blown off in the battlefield – does not really make a valid argument against their use. Soldiers are not just disposable, but now they can be invulnerable and reusable. It is merely a way of saying we have 100% survival and survival guilt rate. There is far less physical damage and death to tidy the soldier away as a statistic, so of course there is more emotional reaction to the potential of being promoted to wholesale rapid death murderer between your WoW sessions.

But that is not the issue. The issue is what are we doing? Why are we distancing ourselves from murder and distance between cultures instead of celebrating our differences and learning from each other?

Put another way – the idea that we have to kill (one another) to survive is outdated. We have already evolved an ability to understand and find ways of avoiding unnecessary conflict. But we also are evolving an ability to destroy more things more quickly and with less concern or cost, and create more of a mess doing it as our enemies imitate our actions.

Robot wars is like climate change. We will deny it is a problem until it is far too advanced and can kill everyone several times over.

If you did not watch it yet, here it is again: TEDTalk by PW Singer on military robots and the future of war

Every so often the right wing driven media come up with a new way for the terrorists to destroy America. Of course real doomsayers are so obsessed with the 2012 fear of the end of the world and wonder if it will do better at the box office than James Cameron’s Avatar, we hope not. One is the turgid dream of a truly grand artist who spends years crafting this new thing we are told, and the other is this well crafted set of special effects with a story best ignored, usually, firmly set in the soap opera mould. Both look fun.

The real paranoia comes about when they suggest something that the “terrorists” may never have considered otherwise. It may seem comparably just a fashion statement to detonate your stolen atomic bomb off in Manhattan (for a terrorist, not for anyone else) when viewed through the Hollywood creation of end-times as a physical manifestation is perhaps harsher on the nerves of today than big blue lumbering magical creatures may seem. It depends on their writers making the highly unlikely seem real.

Conversely, the danger of the actual live scenario outlined on USA Today is truly apocalyptic. If the terrorists did not drop the bomb into Manhatten but shot it into space, they could cripple the USA communication, command and military.

Terrorists are not the target of this article. It is pointing out how Iran has rockets going into the atmosphere, putting things into orbit and now are planning on a nuclear capability (even if not to make a bomb), that instead of defending upon a unclear and not present danger (The former Soviet Union), they should find a way of defending their national grid while making friends with those who mutually can assure destruction.

Or is the USA merely announcing that it has this capability aimed at space above other cities?

“[Former President] Carter, a Democrat, said that Joe Wilson’s outburst was part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators equating Obama to Nazi leaders.”

This was quoted in an article quoting the son of Joe Wilson saying “My dad is not a racsist!”.

Carter has waded into a generalized statement that the democrats should only use as a defensive rudder for political gain. Here he has used it as a defense and it sounds hollow.

His point is that Joe Wilson extraordinary interjection calling the President a lier would not have happened to a white President. But that is defensive as it does not deflect the political aspect of this, which is Joe Wilson calling the president a lier. Where is the formal allegation?

I do not care if Joe Wilson is a racist or if he picks his nostrils. But I do care whether the man who has the job of running the United States of America is or is not a lier.

If Joe Wilson can prove it, then he must. Or he should be a little more self controlled.

Insofar as criticism of Carter is concerned, it is just plain silly. He is a very old man and sees things in a light that no longer really exists. And he is not branding Joe Wilson a racist, he is lamenting that America still has the terrible scars of the legacy of slavery. He is commenting that there are those who can not see beyond the color of the skin that Joe Wilson is feeding, politically.

Sunspot activity is a cycle that cycles about every 11 years. Sunspots are indicative of increased cosmic radiation and since 2000 (the last peak) has been steadily declining. It is now at the low point in the cycle, and from now, for the next 11 years it will increase.

Link to interactive graph at SpaceWeather.com

This is normal, nothing to get excited about, except that sunspot activity increases may affect both climate change and it is also possible that with the world now far more reliable on microwave communications, cell phones, etc. that we will experience increasing interference. Since the cell phone revolution’s real growth has occurred in the past 10 years, if cosmic radiation becomes a factor, it could spell times when communications are disrupted. Business reliance on text messaging and other infrastructure issues are not going to cause a disaster, but may be more expensive to tax payers ultimately.

Unemployment is climbing and is rather bound to get worse. The 2 huge banking bailouts followed by the “Main Street” relief aimed at troubled mortgages will not solve the problem. By bailing out the banking industry, that had become a bit of a ponzi scheme attempting to leverage itself to heaven, the gold bricks have been left in place. The rescue of Ma and Pa Mortgages is well and good, but the future payments are still going to be a problem.

Creating jobs is well and good, but if they are not there in the future, there is a problem to be faced now. We must focus on what is true and tangible. Food on the table requires housing and that requires a fairer deal for all.

Economists that advise Governments (Greenspan,etc) fear inflation far more than unemployment as economies can recover from unemployment. But tell that to the person unemployed who is losing everything! The problem with inflationary measures (the rescue package for the economy as well as two for the banking industry) inflate the economy meaning the jobs so created are irrational (not caused by natural demand).

While Americans may try and blame their president for the consequences, it is what Americans do that will affect long term employment. The answer is simple – get the market rolling by intervention – stimulate demand. That is what Obama did – and it seems to have reverted the overall decline, but for the economy to flow through needs an economic equation – people working in needed activities and growth. Why do our economics direct resources into failure?

Is the government doing any good, or are they also part of the great illusion we once called “wealth creation”.

For there to be “wealth creation” or “job creation” there has to be a service or function that the market fails to selected as required, or it would be there.

The entire logic of market driven economics has given everyone in the world more than one cell phone. When there are still 1 billion hungry children – the average teenage American has to check in with Mom on Cell #2, while conducting illicit business on Cell #1? What is our economy creating?

What are we doing? Making a world where being two faced is normal? What happened to “family values” and “respect” being high on the agenda? Where does this infestation of greed we mistake for market demand spring from?

It is our natural urge to compete – to be the winner in anything we try. Harnessing that is the aim of the market. But economics dictate that we manufacture using the economics-of-scale – we make millions of useless bits of plastic outsourcing slave labour where-ever we can find it for customers who we think we can convince have a need for our market researched desired bits?

If what we manufacture has no inherent value, then the whole equation is false.

There is a fundamental market correction that has not happened yet. The end of the era of investment in parts of the economic cycle to the exclusion of all other parts. A return to value as it is necessary or people do not eat.

See also: Business Insider

The Chinese markets took a tumble with Shanghi closing 21% down over August.

Since China has been the supplier of cash to the world to supply American thirst for anything, this appears to increase the pressure on the international economy.

In fact it is just the pendulum swinging the other way, returning for the next assault on inflated value of American saving assets. Inflated by derivatives that became payable many times over the wealth it was protecting.

NY Times