Merry Everything!

Why not?  And Peace Always!

Occupy the Works

Occupy SEC isn't exactly monkey wrenching, but used effectively, simply participating in administrative rule-making on behalf of the public can be effective as sabotage. Occupy SEC is composed of financial industry Occupy sympathizers plus a few others from the original encampment. The group uses its expertise to comment on proposed rules and regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. They are weighing in with the big corporations to bird-dog the details. I hope they succeed, that their efforts lead to regulations that serve the public rather than private profit interest. Edward Abbey would approve, I am sure.

The Occupy element of this effort comes from its genesis and public presence. Members began talking last fall in Zucotti Park. Now the group meets weekly at 60 Wall Street. Its covered atrium is a “privately owned public space,” according to signs posted in the marble-lined space. Occupy the SEC is one of the first blossoms of the Occupy Spring, where the public presence of last year's encampments will continue to to spread. Beyond location, though, Occupy the SEC carries the spirit or the Occupy movement by simply occupying space in the public forum of administrative rule-making. Unlike an encampment, Occupy the SEC cannot be evicted from the regulatory process.

This spring I look forward to many such blossoms.

Early Post-War Results

Juan Cole is always good for understanding the Middle East, Arab and Islamic cultures. His observation on the outcome in Libya sounds about right to me.

Libya is nowhere near the mess that France was after its revolution in 1789, and there is nothing like a Vendee or a Terror. There hasn’t been a civil war, though there are still a few pockets of insecurity. Those hoping for bad news really haven’t had all that much considering that the country had been left with no functioning institutions after decades of personalistic Qaddafi totalitarianism.

Libyans are truly at ground zero, starting a journey filled with opportunity and all sorts of risks to that opportunity. After Qaddafi Libyans will, I hope, recognize those risks and build a society based on social and economic justice.

Good News. Caveats Included.

Voters in Australia throttled the governing Labor Government for reneging on its commitment to a carbon tax..

Labor hemorrhaged votes to the environment-focused Greens party as the government was punished for shelving plans to charge major polluting industries for every ton of carbon gas that they emit. ...The Greens' record support in the polls increased the party's Senate seats from five to nine, giving them the leverage to become kingmaker in deciding which major party controls that chamber.

Reality check: The opposition Liberal Party is led by a climate change skeptic. His coalition took one seat more than Labor.

At Foreign Policy Charles Kenney makes a credible case that the past decade has seen genuine progress.

Even the wars of the last 10 years, tragic as they have been, are minor compared with the violence and destruction of decades and centuries past. The number of armed conflicts -- and their death toll -- has continued to fall since the end of the Cold War. Worldwide, combat casualties fell 40 percent from 2000 to 2008. In sub-Saharan Africa, some 46,000 people died in battle in 2000. By 2008, that number had dropped to 6,000. Military expenditures as a percentage of global GDP are about half of their 1990 level. In Europe, so recently divided into two armed camps, annual military budgets fell from $744 billion in 1988 to $424 billion in 2009. The statistical record doesn't go back far enough for us to know with absolute certainty whether this was the most peaceful decade ever in terms of violent deaths per capita, but it certainly ranks as the lowest in the last 50 years.

Lots more in the article, including a sobering reminder of "humanity's malignant effect on the environment...". The first comment notes that the decade has been not so good for the US.

Mandatory Good News Report

As a frequent critic of the US government, I am happy to report a success. Law enforcement personnel apprehended individuals with hostility toward and a willingness to attack Americans. The arrests are the result of what appears to be a systematic surveillance of a group of wanna-be jihadis. More of this and less war, please. I think everyone will be safer and happier.

The arrests also show how amateur the would-be attackers were. Making videos? Giving others access to the video? The police had a tip, they and the FBI investigated and pulled a sting. They even had an Egyptian infiltrator. Classic tactic. It worked. That's what I want my public safety officials to do. Stop the bad guys before they can actually pull off their plans. Fortunately, most wanna-be's aren't hard to detect and disrupt but a few have demonstrated considerable finesse and skill. See 9-11. It pays to be alert and pro-active. Also see 9-11.

And remember, these were guys who came out of the blue. Imagine what this kind of talent could do to the not insignificant conspirators that we do know.

postscript

Operations sometimes have collateral damage. In this case, that will be Super Mario's Pizza and other food delivery businesses serving Fort Dix and, no doubt, other military bases. One conspirator claimed to know Fort Dix "like the back of my hand" from delivering pizzas from his family's restaurant. Sorry guys.