the feds give the r&d away for free to the rest of the planet ... not
a good investment
On Dec 12, 9:38 am, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey PlainOl,
>
> So, you are opposed to space exploration? At any level, especially if
> this is somehow under the stewardship of federal government?
>
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 10:14 AM, plainolamerican <plainolameri...@gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > wrote:
> > I also agree with a possible GSE based, type of format for space
> > exploration.....Especially compared to the Socialist-Elitist Democrats
> > who
> > have foregone ANY space exploration, and have left that to the
> > Chinese and
> > Russians.
> > ---
> > the roi is too low ... besides, just how much does the USA have to
> > invest right now? Borrowing from peter for paul to invest is insanity
>
> > From a free market standpoint, there is a gamut of wealth to be found
> > in
> > space exploration, from minerals, to just the tourism aspect, and this
> > is
> > only short term visions...
> > ---
> > short term visions? na ... fully blinded
> > we have all the resources we need
>
> > On Dec 11, 11:20 am, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I also agree with a possible GSE based, type of format for space
> > > exploration.....Especially compared to the Socialist-Elitist Democrats
> > who
> > > have foregone ANY space exploration, and have left that to the Chinese
> > and
> > > Russians.
>
> > > From a free market standpoint, there is a gamut of wealth to be found in
> > > space exploration, from minerals, to just the tourism aspect, and this is
> > > only short term visions...
>
> > > On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 12:14 PM, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com
> > >wrote:
>
> > > > Good Morning Bruce,
>
> > > > I suggest you read the whole interview, and understand Gingrich's
> > > > thinking and observation, which I totally agree with:
>
> > > >http://web.archive.org/web/20080909224217/http://www.freddiemac.com/c.
> > ..
>
> > > > A GSE can serve a purpose, and the whole structure of Fannie and
> > Freddie
> > > > were good ideas, but were totally abused, possibly with good
> > intentions,
> > > > but nevertheless it was socialist Democrats that took Fannie and
> > Freddie
> > > > and (probably for profit in the case of Frank, Pelosi, Raines and
> > Dodd)
> > > > nevertheless took a government backed program which was designed for
> > first
> > > > time home owners and/or lower socio-economic individuals who had saved
> > > > their money and could qualify for home ownership. The Socialist
> > > > Democrats, despite the Republicans warnings, (including Gingrich!)
> > > > literally lowered all standards, thereby totally wreaking havoc on not
> > > > only the American economy, but the global economy.
>
> > > > Back to Newt Gingrich, again, I believe in the concept of GSE's. A
> > > > number of the VA programs, the Crysler Bailout, as well as other
> > > > significant programs have worked well. It is when these programs
> > become
> > > > socialist boondoggles and for whatever reason this is allowed to
> > happen,
> > > > where we run into trouble. The Federal Government cannot maintain and
> > > > support 300 million people!
>
> > > > On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 11:36 AM, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com
> > >wrote:
>
> > > >> Reason #1 why Newt Gingrich is a little bit frightening
>
> > > >> by RUSS ROBERTS on DECEMBER 8, 2011
>
> > > >> in HOUSING <http://cafehayek.com/category/housing>, POLITICS<
> >http://cafehayek.com/category/politics>
>
> > > >> By the title, I don't mean the most important reason. Not sure what
> > that
> > > >> is. This is just the first reason I'm listing. Maybe I'll list more.
> > And it
> > > >> turns out this reason is multi-faceted.
>
> > > >> Reason #1 comes from a blog post by Josh Barro<
> >http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/285056/newt-gingrich-gse-model-j...>
> > who
> > > >> digs up this interview with Gingrich<
> >http://web.archive.org/web/20080909224217/http://www.freddiemac.com/c...>.
> > > >> It's not exactly an interview. It was conducted by Freddie Mac
> > (whatever
> > > >> that means) and posted on Freddie Mac's website.
>
> > > >> There are many things that are frightening about Gingrich's remarks.
> > > >> First, they are for Freddie Mac who paid him something around $1.6
> > million
> > > >> for his "services." He described this work originally as being
> > payment for
> > > >> his historical knowledge of housing. Cue laughter, folks. This
> > interview
> > > >> gives you a glimpse of the real reason he was hired. He was hired, of
> > > >> course, to provide cover for Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac was a GSE, a
> > > >> government-sponsored enterprise. A GSE was quasi-private or
> > quasi-public,
> > > >> take your pick. Freddie (and Fannie Mae) bought mortgages from
> > originators
> > > >> and brokers. They provided "liquidity" for the housing market which
> > is a
> > > >> fancy way of saying that they increased the amount of credit
> > available. For
> > > >> a long while, they were relatively benign.
>
> > > >> Because they were thought to had an implicit guarantee of government
> > > >> support, they were able to issue bonds at relatively low rates of
> > interest.
> > > >> They were very eager to use that money to buy more mortgages. The
> > problem
> > > >> was that because of that implicit guarantee, they were constrained by
> > > >> regulation to only buy fairly safe mortgages with 20% downpayments.
> > > >> Starting in the mid-1990′s, Clinton (and then Bush) required them to
> > relax
> > > >> their standards. They didn't end up buying a lot of sub-prime, just a
> > lot
> > > >> of low down-payment mortgages that were very prone to end up
> > underwater if
> > > >> housing prices ever fell. This injection of credit into the market
> > pushed
> > > >> up the price of housing (starting around 1995) launched the housing
> > bubble
> > > >> and along with other government programs, helped make speculative
> > subprime
> > > >> lending.
>
> > > >> The alternative view is the animal spirits view that suddenly, around
> > > >> 1995, people began to believe that housing was a particularly good
> > > >> investment. But for this discussion, the cause of the bubble is
> > irrelevant.
> > > >> The important point is that Freddie and Fannie began to make
> > increasingly
> > > >> risky loans, encouraged by their regulators. (See Figures 6,7, and 8,
> > > >> here <http://mercatus.org/publication/gambling-other-peoples-money>.)
> > A
> > > >> number of economists on the left and right began to worry that the
> > taxpayer
> > > >> might end up on the hook for those loans if they ever blew up. They
> > did
> > > >> blow up. The bill is $150 billion and counting. But because political
> > > >> pressure began to build against Freddie and Fannie, they pushed back.
> > They
> > > >> hired people on the left (Stiglitz and the Orszags<
> >http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/stiglitzrisk.pdf>)
> > > >> to do research showing how safe the GSE's were. And they hired people
> > on
> > > >> the right like Newt Gingrich who could claim conservative credentials
> > and a
> > > >> really good Rolodex to reduce the pressure to reign in Freddie and
> > Fannie.
>
> > > >> So the first frightening thing about Newt is that he worked for
> > Freddie
> > > >> Mac at all. The second frightening thing is that he lied about it,
> > > >> pretending it was some sort of research position. But the really
> > > >> frightening thing is what he actually said in the name of making
> > people
> > > >> feel good about these so-called government-sponsored entreprises
> > which led
> > > >> to private gains and socialized losses. The worst kind of cronyism.
>
> > > >> Read the whole "interview."<
> >http://web.archive.org/web/20080909224217/http://www.freddiemac.com/c...>
> > It's
> > > >> short and you gives you a flavor of how Gingrich invoked conservative
> > > >> rhetoric to support Freddie Mac politically. But the highlight for me
> > is
> > > >> this part:
>
> > > >> *Q: A key element of the entrepreneurial model is using the private
> > > >> sector where possible to save taxpayer dollars and improve
> > efficiency. And
> > > >> you believe the GSE model provides one way to use the private sector.*
>
> > > >> *Gingrich:* Some activities of government – trash collection is a good
> > > >> example – can be efficiently contracted out to the private sector.
> > Other
> > > >> functions – the military, police and fire protection – obviously must
> > > >> remain within government. And then there are areas in which a public
> > > >> purpose would be best achieved by using market-based models. I think
> > GSEs
> > > >> provide one of those models. I like the GSE model because it provides
> > a
> > > >> more efficient, market-based alternative to taxpayer-funded government
> > > >> programs. It marries private enterprise to a public purpose. We
> > obviously
> > > >> don't want to use GSEs for everything, but there are times when
> > private
> > > >> enterprise alone is not sufficient to achieve a public purpose. I
> > think
> > > >> private enterprise alone is not going to be able to help the Gulf
> > region
> > > >> recover from the hurricanes, and government will not get the job done
> > in a
> > > >> very effective or efficient manner. We should be looking seriously at
> > > >> creating a GSE to help redevelop this region. We should be looking at
> > > >> whether and how the GSE model could help us address the problem of
> > > >> financing health care. I think a GSE for space exploration ought to be
> > > >> seriously considered – I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we
> > probably
> > > >> would be on Mars today.
>
> > > >> Gingrich says that the GSE model "marries private enterprise to a
> > public
> > > >> purpose." What we have learned is that that doesn't work very well.
> > But
> > > >> that's not the most frightening part of the quote. And the most
> > frightening
> > > >> part isn't that this "interview" took place in April of 2007, when
> > Freddie
> > > >> and Fannie were totally out of control, lending out money to buyers
> > putting
> > > >> less than 5% down in record numbers, money that would not return as
> > > >> expected.
>
> > > >> <http://cafehayek.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/figure8s.jpg>
>
> > > >> No, the really frightening part of this interview is the
>
> ...
>
> read more »
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It could be a call about a patient in crisis. Or a member of the local
Muslim community in need of help. Or a reporter seeking comment after
another public official has accused local Muslims of being a threat to
America.
Arain takes a deep breath and then responds in a calm, clear manner,
no matter what the crisis. It's a trait his colleagues noticed years
ago.
"He is pretty unflappable," said Dr. Tom Davis, who works with Arain
in the neurology department at Vanderbilt University. "I don't think I
have ever seen him lose his cool."
The past few years have been a handful for Arain, an associate
professor of neurology and the spokesman for the Islamic Center of
Nashville. Local Muslims have faced an organized campaign that has
accused them of having ties to terrorism and that claims their faith
should be illegal.
His response to critics is calm and straightforward: Nashville's
Muslims love America and are law-abiding citizens. Their faith teaches
them to respect their neighbors and be good people.
Arain believes Christianity, Islam and Judaism share common values
about how to live as good citizens.
"I don't think there is a race or competition between our faiths," he
said. "The only competition is to do good to others."
That's a lesson his father, a civil engineer, taught him early on.
When Arain was growing up in Pakistan, his parents respected their
Hindu and Christian neighbors and taught their children tolerance.
They also taught Arain and his four siblings — two brothers and two
sisters — the value of education.
Arain and his brother Fazal, a doctoral student at Vanderbilt, are
both neurologists. Another brother, who lives in Calgary, Alberta, is
an architect. One sister is a geneticist in Oman, and the other is a
biochemist in Pakistan.
His wife, Aneeqa, has a master's degree in sociology. She hopes to get
a doctorate once their children — Jinan, 7, and Nidal, 11 — are a bit
older.
Arain's interest in neurology also started at a young age. His aunt
had epilepsy, and he first saw her have a seizure when he was about 7.
He studied medicine in Karachi, Pakistan, and did a yearlong residency
in Flint, Mich., before moving to Nashville in 1995. Michigan was too
cold, he said. He finished a residency and then a fellowship in
neurology at Vanderbilt before joining the faculty in 2000.
Today, he studies the disparity in care for epilepsy, especially for
patients who don't have access to medicine, and how the disease
affects people with developmental disabilities.
As a fellow, he began caring for patients with epilepsy at Clover
Bottom Development Center in Nashville and continues to do so today.
"That's been a very humbling experience," he said. "I feel like I can
contribute to their quality of life."
An arranged marriage
Aneeqa and Amir Arain first met on their wedding day back in 1997.
Their parents arranged the match, and the couple hadn't so much as
spoken to each other before that day.
"All my friends were shocked," Aneeqa Arain said. "They asked me, 'You
didn't even talk?' "
The couple say their parents did a good job in matching them up.
Before their wedding, Aneeqa lived in Karachi, not far from Amir's
hometown. Her aunt knew Amir's family and recommended the couple's
parents to each other.
Aneeqa said her husband is a giving man who never says no to anyone
who needs him. Sometimes that means taking late-night phone calls
about patients or being out in the evenings at interfaith events.
"He's always ready to help anyone," she said. "If someone tells him
they need help, he will go."
Finding balance is not easy for Arain these days. Along with his
teaching and clinic duties at Vanderbilt and volunteering at the
Islamic Center, he serves on the board of the Epilepsy Foundation of
Middle and West Tennessee and volunteers for regular medical clinics
at a local mosque. Weekends are for his son's soccer games and
spending time with his wife and daughter.
His face lights up when he talks about Jinan and Nidal.
The walls of his basement office at Vanderbilt Medical Center are
covered with drawings from his daughter. There's a castle straight out
of a fairy tale, a heart that reads "Dear My Family, I love you guys,"
and a smiling portrait of Arain.
"If you ask her what she wants to be in her life, she says she's going
to be an artist," he said, smiling. "I am OK with that, but my son
tells her that she cannot take art history as a profession because you
won't earn much money."
He hopes his son will follow in his footsteps as a doctor, but Arain
won't push him if he chooses a different career.
"That main thing is that he is a good human being," Arain said.
Interfaith curiosity
The Arains' home is filled with books on politics, poetry and
religion, many in Urdu, one of five languages that Amir Arain speaks.
His library includes copies of the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu scripture,
along with Christian and Jewish versions of the Bible.
Those books and his own curiosity about the beliefs of the other
people also drive his interest in interfaith issues. He and some
Jewish friends have studied the Jewish and Muslim scriptures together
and a few years ago shared an interfaith Seder meal at this house —
served on the first night of Jewish Passover.
Donna Whitley, a retired neurologist and a member of Congregation
Micah in Brentwood, calls Arain one of the kindest people she knows.
The two have been friends of years, and Whitley lent Arain her
father's kiddush cup —– used on the Sabbath and other Jewish
observances —– for the Seder.
"If I have ever been to a better Seder, I don't know when it was," she
said.
Davis, Arain's colleague, has taken part in interfaith events with
Arian. He said he respects Arain for both his clinical knowledge and
his calm demeanor.
Davis said he is most impressed with how Arain lives his faith and
values in day-to-day life.
"He's like the church member who taught Sunday school and volunteered
for everything, and who is big on believing that the best witness to
your faith is how you live, not what you say," he said.
Contact Bob Smietana at 615-259-8228 or bsmietana@tennessean.com, or
follow him on Twitter @bobsmietana.
--
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Dear Join Pakistan
An article for Publication
December 12th, 2011
Fall of Dacca
by
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
December 16 comes every year to haunt the nation, particularly those few remaining who were witness to the debacle. I had the misfortune to be one. On this day the Quaid's Pakistan, which was considered an epitome of 'Divided we Stand', was actually divided by breaking loose all bonds of unity between the two wings. That day the largest Muslim army suffered the ignominious humiliation of the greatest defeat. This was the darkest day of our national history that stunned everyone. How did it happen? Equipped with the hindsight knowledge, I will try to reconstruct some of the sad saga.
In early July 1971 I was posted to East Pakistan as the Principal Staff Officer (GSO-1) to late Major General Rao Farman Ali Khan – in charge Martial Law (Civil Affairs). In my such capacity I was more or less responsible for the Civil Administration of the Province and had the opportunity of seeing the events unfolding themselves from the vantage viewpoint of the Governor House, Dacca – the then epicentre of the entire activity in East Pakistan. I had also access to the events of the past buried in the files which kept popping up randomly during my daily official work there. This all presented me with a fairly clear picture of all that was happening there and why.
If I am asked who to blame for the debacle I would say that we were all – from the common man in the street to the highest person in the office, equally responsible for it. The common man for committing the sin of keeping himself ignorant of the under currents simmering there ever since that fateful 19th day of March 1948 when Quaid raising his admonishing finger to the Bengali students at the Dacca University convocation had warned them that Urdu will be the only official state language of Pakistan, and not trying to assess the anguish caused to the Bengalis and take measures to bring any rapprochement. The highest in authority were guilty of being too greedy, power hungry and selfish. Unfortunately we all treated East Pakistan as a colony and never granted them their justly deserved status of being the major human organ of Pakistan's body – 54 percent of the population. As power barons of the Federal government mostly hailed from West Pakistan they never shared the power willingly or happily with their Bengali brethren. Imagine, the Bengalis though in majority going jubilant in 1956 when Suhrawardy got them 'parity' (equal treatment) with the West Pakistanis! Ever heard of a majority people thanking obligingly the minority people for treating them equal?! We did it again in 1971. The minority pronouncing the majority unpatriotic, traitor and secessionist! Minority forcing the majority to leave the country whose foundations they had laid in 1906! Not only, that the Bengalis were treated as unequals, but it is also a fact that they were the major revenue earner for Pakistan, mainly through the export of their Golden Fibre to Manchester and Dundee jute mills in the UK. They bore the major financial burden of Pakistan and happily too for more than 15 years and until 1962 the cash flow was from East Pakistan to West Pakistan. Thereafter, after an equilibrium of about two years the process revers ed but not that heavily. Bengalis had, therefore, every reason to be chary of and chagrin with the sala Punzabis. (every West Pakistani was a Punjabi to them). Though the Bengalis proved themselves to be equally, if not more, patriotic than the West Pakistanis during the 65 war with India, yet the state of mutual confidence between the two left more to be desired. By 1971 the relations deteriorated further and irreversibly. The last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was Bhutto's rejection of 1970 election results which had given Shaikh Mujib ur Rehman's Awami League a clear cut majority to form the government at the centre. ZAB's one after the other statements like "we will break the legs of anyone going to Dacca to attend the NA session there", "Udhar tum idhar hum" and "I would rather be a top dog of half of Pakistan than be an underdog of full Pakistan" left little doubt in the minds of Mujib and company who opted for the Civil Disobedience in the province. Their provincial autonomy stance kept becoming harder by the day and all negotiations between them and the West Pakistani leaders and the Federal government led by Gen.Yahya himself failed. The civil disobedience had transformed itself into an outright mutiny and to quell it the army struck on the night of 25th March 1971, starting an internecine guerrilla war between the military and Mukti Bahini lasting for 8 long months. On 21st November 1971 – Eid Day – the Indians launched a fully fledged armed attack on East Pakistan which lasted for 26 days of intense fighting by the Pakistan army under extremely adverse conditions of (1) being badly out-numbered in men and material – 3 Indian Corps' against one and that too lame, under-strength and ill equipped, no tanks, very little artillery – only the infantry and a battalion of Engineers, (2) hostility of the local populace – no army can fight without the support of the civilians, but here what to talk of the support the civil populace was totally hostile, supporting the Indians by providing them with the crucial intelligence needed by them, (3) poor communications and logistics – no reinforcements or arms and equipment could be supplied from West Pakistan. India had stopped the over flights since February 70 after the clever and clandestine planting of Ganga episode, (4) lack of air cover - the only squadron of the F-86s that we had could not operate as the runway of the only military airport Kurmi Tola had been rendered out of operation by the Indians bombing it incessantly. If anything, under such impossible conditions, it goes to the credit of the army that it could fight for over nine months in East Pakistan.
In the second half of the year 1971 those in power - both civil and military – seemed to be suffering from a stupor and behaving like silent spectators waiting helplessly for the catastrophe to fall. I distinctly remember Major General A Rahim Khan – later Secretary General Defence, while addressing a batch of newly posted two dozen Lt Cols and Majors to East Pakistan saying on or around 11 July 1971 "Gentlemen, the entire administration of the province had collapsed. I have made it stand but only on its knees. Now it will be for you to make it stand and stand it erect." Having said that the General went on to add, "I have given my word to the Chief (Gen. Yahya) to give me three months for the task, and if I cannot do it, he can -- (I murmured under my lip, hang me!) he can - replace me". I was shocked that the general had equated the stakes simply to his being replaced! There would be nothing in three months to replace him for !! On another occasion Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi – alias Tiger Niazi – the GOC Eastern Command as late as in October 71, before the start of a special briefing to the visiting high powered army team from the GHQ on the latest military situation in East Pakistan, advised his senior staff officers not to depress the visiting generals from the GHQ by giving them the dismal military picture of East Pakistan or ask them for more troops. He quipped, "gentlemen, if they send us more troops - more the merrier, but if they don't - lesser the better". With the result that the operational military map on the board showed more of 'Green' pins all over the area than the 'Red' pins depicting the area under Mukti Bahini control. Whereas the map should have been clustered with the Red pins. The GHQ team returned satisfied about all being hunky-dory in East Pakistan. Similar 'Sab Achha' reports kept ema nating from various sectors and parts of East Pakistan to West Pakistan, till the water passed over the head. But by then it was too late for any political solution that the likes of Gen. Farman were advocating from the beginning but being too junior in the army hierarchy were not given due importance. To a few others it was a case of misplaced egoistic valour – not to be dubbed as having been 'chickened out' in the army parlance. The true information was not only denied to the common man in West Pakistan but even to those at the helm also.
Handling of the East Pakistan issue at the International level, too, was a fiasco on our part. Not that we did not mobilise any world opinion in our favour, we on the contrary rather alienated them mostly. On the other hand Indira undertook a whirlwind tour of 19 countries in October 1971 propagating the imaginary atrocities against the Bengalis and particularly the Hindus of East Pakistan and yet assuring each one of them that India had no intentions of aggression. Ironically, while she was convincing and canvassing the world powers, her army's Eastern Command was giving the final touches to the Attack Plan in Fort William at the eastern bank of river Hoogli, Calcutta. Whereas in our case despite Nixon's more or less ordering Kissinger to 'do some thing' their 7th Fleet just passed by the Bay of Bengal without even radioing the customary courtesy good will message or tooting its horns thrice the Navy style. I am personally witn ess to the Chinese repeated enquiries as to what could they do for us, after we had established am emergency radio link with them? But all that we could get from the stupor struck President's Secretariat at Rawalpindi was, "Just wait, please". Hopes from the sincere Chinese friends were so high that when the Indian para troopers chuted down over Narain Ganj every one waived them jubilantly taking them to be Chinese coming to our aid! Our Eastern Command had a morbid fear of the Indians capturing a piece of land and passing it on to the Muktis to plant a flag there and declare it to be the Bangla Desh. The Indians would recognise it instantly thus giving birth to Bangla Desh. Consequently the troops were spread in a thin line all along the border that weakened the defence all over. There was no depth, no reserves, no second lines. There was enemy (Indians) in the front and enemy at the back (Muktis).They never realised that it was not the l oss of any territory but the fall of the capital of a country that mattered. It had to be the Warsaw, the Paris, the Moscow, the Berlin and in our case Dacca that until captured the country would not fall. If they had only concentrated all the troops in Dacca, made a fortress out of it and held it for months, which they could do, the East Pakistan story would have been different today. Agreed, the Bangla Desh would have still come into being but instead of taking birth in battle field it would have come into being on a negotiating table. Negotiations by the world powers and probably the UNO itself and Pakistan would not have had to suffer the ignominy of the defeat.
End:
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30, Werstridge-1
Rawalpindi46000
Tel: (051) 5158 033
TO DOWNLOAD ABOVE AS ATTACHMENT. PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
--
30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
Tel: (051) 5158033
E.mail: jafri@rifiela.com
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