BMBS

Failure to show people what you’re doing doesn’t necessarily indicate guilt, but it sure raises doubts.  New York Times food expert Mark Bittman has reported that — while Iowa’s efforts to prevent scrutiny of farms (it’s “ag-gag” law) hasn’t passed yet — farms raising hogs, chickens and other food we eat are already off-limits to the press, consumer groups, and anyone else curious to see what’s going on.

We’re the big advocates of civil society all around the world — subsidizing them to demand access to basic information that affects their lives — but allow doors to close to it here.

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A Washington Post article on wealth in America recently cited the CIA’s World Factbook as ranking the United States as, in the WP’s words, “far more unequal than the European Union and the United Kingdom. The United States is in the company of developing countries — just behind Cameroon and Ivory Coast and just ahead of Uganda and Jamaica.”

Is our income inequality as severe as Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Uganda and Jamaica?

The answer is Yes, according to the “Gini Index.”

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A Nigerian immigrant made a mockery of the government’s and airlines’ security measures this week.  He boarded at least one flight without a ticket, without a government-issued photo ID, and without even a valid boarding pass.   His Facebook page boasted, “3 days, 3 cities, Chicago, Detroit and NOw i can spy with my little eye New york city from this Sheraton at Liberty Int’l Airport in NJ!”  His body odor almost gave him away on one flight.

How many billions have we spent on airport and airplane security?

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A respected research group at Brown University now estimates that the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have cost up to $4 trillion over the past decade.

The 20 experts involved in the project also estimate that 225,000 people have died in the wars — including 6,000 uniformed U.S. military.

That’s a lot of money and a lot of lives in order to achieve … ?

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The June 23 issue of the New York Review of Books has a fascinating review (first of two parts) of books exploring the surge in mental illness in the United States.  The problem is serious, and the causes are quite clear.

• A large survey of randomly selected adults, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted between 2001 and 2003, found that an astonishing 46 percent met criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for having had at least one mental illness within four broad categories at some time in their lives.
• Prozac came to market in 1987 and was intensively promoted as a corrective for a deficiency of serotonin in the brain. The number of people treated for depression tripled in the following ten years, and about 10 percent of Americans over age six now take antidepressants. The increased use of drugs to treat psychosis is even more dramatic. The new generation of antipsychotics, such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, and Seroquel, has replaced cholesterol-lowering agents as the top-selling class of drugs in the US.

The books being reviewed in the article present strong evidence that the drugs are driving the diagnoses, not the other way around; that placebos are almost as effective, without side effects; and that the drugs themselves cause long-term damage to the brain.

[Obama’s] election and inauguration were the high points of his presidency. Already the reelection of President Bush had convinced me that the malaise in American society went deeper than incompetent leadership. The American public was unwilling to face harsh reality and was positively asking to be deceived by demanding easy answers to difficult problems.  …  The fate of the Obama presidency reinforced that conviction. Obama assumed the presidency in the midst of a financial crisis whose magnitude few people appreciated, and he was not among those few. But he did recognize that the American public was averse to facing harsh realities and he had great belief in his own charismatic powers. …  He was reluctant to forthrightly blame the outgoing administration and went out of his way to avoid criticism and conflict. He resorted to what George Akerlof and Robert Shiller called the “confidence multiplier” in their influential book Animal Spirits. Accordingly, in the hope of moderating the recession, he painted a rosier picture of the economic situation than was justified.

— George Soros
Essay in New York Review of Books
June 23, 2011
(click below for longer excerpt)

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Virginia game officials have certified a 143-pound blue catfish caught over the weekend from the Kerr Reservoir as a state record.

The state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ State Record Fish Committee announced the feat Wednesday.

Nick Anderson of Greenville, N.C., caught the catfish measuring 57 inches long Saturday along the Virginia-North Carolina border.

The fish eclipsed the state record blue cat of 109 pounds caught in March on Buggs Island Lake near the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke rivers.

The International Game Fish Association will determine whether Anderson’s catch is a world record. The current world record of 130 pounds was set last year in Missouri.

UPDATE:  The Washington Post reported on July 1 that the blue catfish is a sort of monster, and its massive growth is facilitated by pollution!

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US refuses to pay Michigan insurer for Ferrari wrecked in Ky. during ride by FBI agent

By Associated Press  (Published in May 20, 2011, Washington Post)

DETROIT — An FBI agent assigned to move a rare Ferrari wrecked it during a short drive in Kentucky, and its owner is now suing the U.S. Justice Department, which has refused to pay $750,000 for the car.

The Justice Department recently responded to the lawsuit by saying it’s not liable for certain goods when they’re in the hands of law enforcement. The government also has refused to release most documents related to the crash.

The Ferrari F50 was stolen in 2003 from a dealer in Rosemont, Pa., and discovered five years later. The FBI kept it in Lexington, Ky., as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Continue reading →

Supreme Court sides with police followed smell of pot into apartment without having a warrant

By Associated Press, Published: May 16 |  Updated: Tuesday, May 17, 7:38 AM

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana and feared he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.

Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King’s apartment.

The court said there was no violation of King’s constitutional rights because the police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

Officers knocked on King’s door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated whoever was inside was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.

Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court that people have no obligation to respond to the knock or, if they do open the door, allow the police to come in. In those cases, officers who wanted to gain entry would have to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant.

But Alito said, “Occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.”

In her dissent, Ginsburg said her colleagues were giving police an easy way to routinely avoid getting warrants in drug cases.

“Police officers may now knock, listen, then break the door down, never mind that they had ample time to obtain a warrant,” she said.

The case concerned exceptions to the Fourth Amendment requirement that police need a warrant to enter a home.

The issue was whether warrantless entry was justified after the officers’ knock on the door triggered a reaction inside that sounded like the destruction of evidence. Continue reading →