SABRINA = RES IPSA LOQUITUR

It’s Monday morning. And yr so tired yr having trouble thinking up a snarky yet clever caption to go with this picture of Sabrina.



Notice how looking at the picture just exacerbates the problem.

Never mind. At least yr awake now.

Points west,

This is dF

DEF XMAS PLAYLIST 2009: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS

I’m not sure how much airplay Tom Lehrer gets in the states even on morning shows that resort to the occasional novelty record – I’m guessing not a whole lot, unless it’s on NPR or something, you know, highbrow.

But he really should be a Christmas staple, seeing as how he wrote one of the most accurate Christmas carols ever.

"Batman (1989) Original Trailer" (Watch on YouTube)

BONUS TRACK: Lehrer wrote something for Hanukkah too.

"Shrapnel "Combat Love" Nov. 1980 on Cable TV" (Watch on YouTube)

Brother here we go again,

This is dF

ATTN BANK MANAGERS: WHO’S READY TO GET HIGH?

ITEM: Drugs money worth $352 billion kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, says Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

"Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.

There are some obvious jokes here, and of course the banks are denying this (wouldn’t you?).

But assuming it’s true, I’m rather struck by this in the context of the entire War On (Some) Drugs, which is a key reason why the illegal drug business is as lucrative as it is. And I’m sure that the $352 billion doesn’t represent the entire gross revenues of the drug kingpin sector. So considering the US has spent around $22 billion on the WO(S)D this year to help generate at least a third of a trillion in dope revenues, that’s a pretty good margin.

And you thought irony was dead, etc.

It’s tempting to argue that if more banks had turned a blind eye to money laundering, we could have avoided the meltdown altogether. On the other hand, as Charles Stross (of all people) points out, the implications of this go beyond the concept of shoring up failing banks with drug money:

What we've just seen, hidden in the euphemism here, is a confession that drug cartels and other organized criminals have gone on a $352Bn asset-buying spree — and the banks and regulators, world-wide, turned a blind eye to this because the alternative was to allow the banks to collapse. And the corollary is that these investments are now in the system, laundered, whitewashed, and legit. These narcodollars aren't neatly bundled up inside the mattress any more; they're in the system, doing their owners' bidding.

Obviously, there's no single Mr Big here, no Blofeld investing SPECTREs ill-gotten billions in an ambitious bid to go legit.
But one wonders whether the "organised criminals" have been investing in anything innovative. (Politicians, if they're smart.) And what the long-term consequences are going to be ...

Invest wisely,

This is dF

NORTH CAROLINA: ATHEISTS NEED NOT APPLY

ITEM: Opponents of Cecil Bothwell – a freshly elected city council member in Ashville, NC – are claiming he can’t take office because politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office in the state of North Carolina.

Source: the NC state constitution:

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

Which is fun, since (1) Article VI of the US Constitution says: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States”, and (2) Maryland had a similar requirement that was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.

In 1961.

Anyway, it’s interesting that it took this long for electing atheists to even become an issue in North Carolina, seeing as how the only way it would become an issue at all is if an atheist (1) ran for office and (2) won.

Believe it or else,

This is dF

SUPPORT THE TROOPS (FOR MEN ONLY)

Yr depressing and most undervalued headline of today is:



It’s worth mentioning that male troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan have faced another version of the same thing. They might get the free beer and the pat on the back, but are given little or no support when it comes to PTSD and making the adjustment from living in a war zone to being back on the block.

Which is ironic, seeing as how eager most Americans were to send these people on the fools’ errands that were (and are still) Iraq and Afghanistan, but can’t take the time to understand just what these people actually go through over there and how hard it is to just switch all that off and become “normal” people again.

On the other hand, Americans are getting a lot more in-depth information on Tiger Woods’ affair itinerary. So I guess it balances out the guilt nicely.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I confess, part of my interest in this is literary: I’ve had this character in the back of my head for years, a female war vet searching for her best friend (and fellow vet) who disappears under mysterious circumstances. Part of the idea was to explore the idea of women in combat (an idea I was in favor of even when I was in an Army combat unit, and not for the usual obvious reasons), but this throws an interesting spin on the argument – how they’re treated when they get home.

A quiet normal life,

This is dF