Something to chew on...

This week has seen more of the same old sh*t, so I am going to let most of it just pass. I have an opinion. You have one, so we're even.



There were two stories that I noted over the past couple of days that troubled me a little bit, and both have to do with the middle east, (or that neighborhood).



Yesterday it was reported that the administration had plans to sell advanced weaponry to various governments in the region as a hedge against Iran. Big mistake. The United States and Russia are to weapons systems what Saudi Arabia is to petroleum. The world is as addicted to our product as we are to the black gold of the Persian Gulf, and to the influx of dollars that it brings. In the same week, I see that we are sidestepping our own stated policy of non-proliferation and selling India the means to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The ramifications of this move are, in my own mind, three fold. First, re-processed fuel has but one practical use at this time, weapons. See the rant above. Second, we are aiding and abbetting an economic competitor that wants to bury us. And finally, in licensing the technology to that competitor, we give it away, in the same way that we gave an economic advantage to China when we began to build manufacturing plants in that country. it doesn't take a great deal of IQ to see that there is a significant countercost to the economic gains that we reap from all of this.

We bring ourselves nothing but trouble by supplying arms to the peoples of the world. It is true that they will probably get them someplace, but what we are really doing is building for ourselves a legacy that will require our near destruction to obviate. Remember the evil empire, the USSR? Well, they collapsed and that was all well and good, but the people, the resources, the country is still there, same as before, without the bad reputation.

It will probably happen to us too.

And the new Ronald Reagan might be Iranian.

There. Have a nice day!

"...let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast & it is Google..."

Paraphrased just a little.

Today's topic is the cellular phone. Many of us have them, if we are of the teenage or yuppie variant, we probably base much of our social existence on them. Why speak to someone six feet away when one can stare resolutely at a 1.5 x 2 inch LCD monitor and give our thumbs something resembling carpal tunnel syndrome and send them a digital message that says the same thing? In doing it the newfangled way, if one or both parties happen to be drivers, they may be able to share the love with an innocent, (or at least uninvolved) third party as well.

But that is not why I bring this all up.


This industry is a study in marketing. Truth is, at least in my estimation, there really is not a need for the number of cellular phones that exist in the country today, but, a lot of people think that they need one, or two, or three. (I personally know at least three persons who carry, all the time, three separate cellular phones). Many people I know outfit their kids with them, for valid reasons, (I am one of them). Finally, the phones are fun, they are cool. Beam me up Scotty! (Let's not even mention the latest entry into the marketplace---the one from the company named after a piece of fruit....).


In the past few years, the giants of the wireless industry have been able to flex their influence with the powers that be to clear some of the prime frequency spectrum, formerly reserved for licensed citizen use, to be used for new and improved cellular services. OK, that was done, pretty much as they wanted it to be, and the frequencies formerly allotted to that industry were left behind, for the most part, unused.

Enter Google, who knows a wasting asset when it see's one. Google has pledged to bid something on the order of 4.6 billion dollars for the rights to use this portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been shunned by the big boys in the wireless game, and it really has them all fired up. Googles business model is to offer something akin to, excuse me while I clear my throat, free and open, cellular service. By free, I mean that one should expect to pay a nominal fee for an account and expect what is called, (in technical terms), shitty coverage, but, aside from that FREE service. Open means that one is not locked in to paying through the nose or other orifice for a phone from the carrier. Google says they will publish a specification and the consumer can go as elaborate or as cheap as they want to go with a handset.

Can you see how this business model can cause a few headaches for the AT&T's and Verizon's of the world?


Can you hear me now?

Good!


Free is a word that covers a multitude of sins in the consumer product world. Let's not be naive. With free service, one can expect annoying calls, data mining, all sorts of invasions of privacy that Google is (in)famous for already, (and, truth be known---the others are doing, except allowing the annoying calls....). Couple of decent commentaries this past weekend on this subject, read them here, here and here.


Call all your friends and tell them about this. Better yet, have them call their wireless provider and ask when their contract is up, say thank you and hang up. That will cause a few headaches....

I am going to resist.....

Well.

President Bush is going to undergo a colonoscopy tomorrow (saturday). It is said that he is leaving you-know-who in charge.

Tempted as I am, I am going to refrain from commenting or joking here, but I invite you, my loyal and faithful readers, (yeah, either of you), to go right ahead. Comment seriously, sarcastically, humorously, use this as the beginning of a 24 hour meme, whatever, just record your actions with a comment.

Have a good weekend.

and yet another week goes by

So much has happened in the past week, but nothing seems to have changed. The threat of a terrorist attack made the news briefly, when the head of Homeland Security noted a 'gut feeling' on his part that we were at increased risk. There was a flurry of obfuscation in the papers, the 'net and the TV networks and then the story disappeared. No use worrying the masses when you can't do much about it anyway....

The dog and pony show known as the presidential pre-primary race may have seen its first recognizable fatality. John McCain seems to be all but out of money. I have not been a McCain supporter, but I will say that I believe that he is the candidate with the most credibility and substance. When he backs the surge I Iraq, I have to listen, when he backs the Immigration Reform act, I have to listen. I mean, all the candidates of any party are a great deal of fun if you see them as cocktail party commentators, but McCain has some serious thinking behind his positions, and while I dislike some of his sucking up to the power centers of his party, and I really don't care for some of his conclusions, he was the man that could give some credibility to the GOP as something besides the "God Bless the rich and f*ck the rest of the World" party. I hope he can dig his way out, if for no other reason than to keep Hillary honest.

In the mean time, our old buddy, Russia, is out to complicate our lives by pulling away from a treaty known as CFE. They are bound and determined to capitalize on our somewhat tense situation, (ironic use of the term, say what?), vis a vis Iran and its weapons program and our effort to spend a gazillion dollars defending the Europeans from it. I guess the Russians believe that a radar system that doesn't move and is permanenetly pointed at the Persian Gulf is a threat to their forces in Northern Europe and Finland, so, we now have another set of asses to kick or kiss.

It just keeps getting better....

This is something I clipped from the paper a few years back, and have had in my desk ever since. This post is for my bud Woozie.