tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2834992883865619805..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The ultimate answer to “government is useless”David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18223330945063999672016-12-28T02:41:45.943-08:002016-12-28T02:41:45.943-08:00That can't be true! Trump hasn't been inau...That can't be true! Trump hasn't been inaugurated yet, and Pence hasn't had time to draw pentagrams...Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18891834154756707102016-12-27T16:39:53.393-08:002016-12-27T16:39:53.393-08:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81335661162359361362016-12-27T15:24:05.885-08:002016-12-27T15:24:05.885-08:00Satanic Cult Operating out of the white House!
ht...Satanic Cult Operating out of the white House!<br /><br />https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/1519703Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32764293924897203512016-12-27T14:52:21.790-08:002016-12-27T14:52:21.790-08:00"I agree in the case of NC education funding,..."I agree in the case of NC education funding, there has not been time for serious effects. Maybe the incoming NC government can correct some of it, maybe not. The Party that did the damage will still control the Legislature, irregardless of last week's coup d'etat.<br /><br />But Kansas? This has been going on for almost SIX years. That's an entire high school class, hell, it's an entire Elementary school class. Like I said, the damage will be with us for decades to come."<br />=================<br /><br />In the case of NC, how much would the research triangle region put the brakes on dumbing down the schools? Highly skilled people want their children to have quality education. I don't know the specifics of NC school funding, so I'm curious here.<br /><br />As for Kansas, the brain drain is probably already a negative feedback loop to the point of no return, at least for the medium term future.Flypusherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14657531323848786076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42813907313524778052016-12-27T14:37:55.214-08:002016-12-27T14:37:55.214-08:00Jeff B., nice timing. I saw that article on NC dem...Jeff B., nice timing. I saw that article on NC democracy between writing my post and reading yours.<br /><br />As far as, <i>But, I do doubt NC's educational gutting has had long enough to have an effect. All these drastic changes have been enacted by existing political leadership, so is more effect than cause. </i><br /><br />I agree in the case of NC education funding, there has not been time for serious effects. Maybe the incoming NC government can correct some of it, maybe not. The Party that did the damage will still control the Legislature, irregardless of last week's coup d'etat.<br /><br />But Kansas? This has been going on for almost SIX years. That's an entire high school class, hell, it's an entire Elementary school class. Like I said, the damage will be with us for decades to come.Smurphsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38093473841233084492016-12-27T14:29:31.148-08:002016-12-27T14:29:31.148-08:00Catfish it goes the other way too. The USSR had tw...Catfish it goes the other way too. The USSR had two major achilles' heels. (1) Level;s of paranoia, while deeply embedded in Russian character - and now surging-enflamed, under Putin - were nevertheless much higher when the tiller was held by men who had actually experienced war and invasion. That started to change during the 1980s.<br /><br />2) Incompetence. Their system could build dams. But kept running into limits where stupid but polemical men were promoted over competent ones. Gorbachev used this against itself. Every time a major disaster happened:<br /><br />- KAL 800<br />- Matthias Rust flies a Cessna from Berlin and lands on Red Square<br />- Chernobyl<br /> and many others... each gave Gorby an excuse to fire a thousand dogmatic-incompetent cretins. And even after many years doing this, he barely succeeded. Same deal can happen in reverse. Witness Erdogan firing everyone competent from the Turkish government and military.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59453274552100842832016-12-27T14:19:40.483-08:002016-12-27T14:19:40.483-08:00@greg byshenk 12:32 PM
Are you Dutch too? The Tele...@greg byshenk 12:32 PM<br />Are you Dutch too? The Telegraaf doesn't come close at all, but GeenStijl, well they do have a nasty habit of trying to provoke. They tried it to me too once, long ago.<br />I'd say their danger lies more in their comment community, egging each other on.<br /><br />Paul SB 1:28 PM<br />Thanks for the answer and the links. I didn't google the word, for one reason or another it sounded too 'made-up' for me to think it would be used elsewhere. Assumptions, dangerous beasts...<br /><br />I wouldn't know how to use archaeology in this case, but then I used to do digs and that keeps your eyes firmly on the material side of the past, and on the small piece that you're doing at that moment. But even a long-term archaeological overview of how a culture changed, will show you what happened, and sometimes why, but mostly not what motivated the people to that change instead of another. For that you need other sources, if they're available.<br /><br />Agree that it could be very useful if a new historical discipline could shed some light on ignorance as a tool.<br /><br />Let's hope reCaptcha plays nice this time and my reply comes through. My last, at greg only, got stuck when I did get the images, but not the possibility to click on them.Twomindsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57215661481057930312016-12-27T14:13:37.153-08:002016-12-27T14:13:37.153-08:00@ anon - if you think that this group is ripe for ...@ anon - if you think that this group is ripe for the archdruid's propaganda then I have a bridge to sell you. <br /><br />Of course misinformation is deliberate. Anyone that argues otherwise is most likely a willing participant, spreading counter-intelligence-propaganda, or a naive waif. Other than dogmeat (the ent) I see no waifs here. matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11664620646326916812016-12-27T13:28:09.862-08:002016-12-27T13:28:09.862-08:00No, Alfred, you don’t need to be a demi-god to spr...No, Alfred, you don’t need to be a demi-god to spread disinformation and cloud the picture, creating ignorance. True, many people will seek better information, but many people won’t – and at times it will be enough to vote kleptocrats into office based on lies, false promises, fake news, childish innuendoes and thinly-veiled threats. Recent events bear this out. <br /><br />I think one problem is that you, like a lot of people, see things in terms of ideals. Yes, you can hunt down information and get at least some truth, where the information is available, but many people do not have the time, do not have the access, do not have the inclination. When looking at people it helps to look at them not in terms of what they could do. As Stephen Jay Gould once wrote, there are 3 horses you never bet one, the ones named Woulda, Shoulda and Coulda. Instead, look at actual behavior, and examine that bell curve. How many civilizations in human history collapsed because their populations exceeded the ability of their territories to produce the resources those populations needed? Nearly all of them. Sure, they coulda invented things to increase their resource extraction and/or production. Sure, undecided U.S. voters could have checked the facts on how much Donald Grope was lying vs. Hillary Clinton, but not many did. Much easier to just repeat the simple slogan “Liar, liar, pantsuit on fire!” Think less like your Sunday School teacher and more like the CDC.Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4472629514957320042016-12-27T13:25:40.299-08:002016-12-27T13:25:40.299-08:00Twominds,
I haven’t read “The Merchants of Doubt”...Twominds,<br /><br />I haven’t read “The Merchants of Doubt” myself. Time to read has gone beyond precious resource to rarely attainable dream in my life (a good argument for getting the hell out of my current profession). You are right that the article on Agnotology was short, but did you try googling it? I got over 32K hits, including some books. This stuff seems like it would be right up Dr. Brin’s alley, since it is the kind of stuff he has been talking about at least as long as I have been here. The nice thing is that it gives us a vocabulary to use.<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Agnotology-Unmaking-Ignorance-Robert-Proctor/dp/0804759014/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482856871&sr=8-1&keywords=agnotology+the+making+and+unmaking+of+ignorance<br /><br />and <br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Miseducation-History-Ignorance-Making-America-Abroad/dp/1421419327/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482856871&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=agnotology+the+making+and+unmaking+of+ignorance<br /><br />The first is listed as a textbook, which I find really interesting, while the second dates to this year. Maybe Agnotology will become a recognized sub-discipline. As a former archaeologist, I can imagine it would be extremely difficult to find evidence for, but as a historian it could lead in some very fruitful directions. In all the thunder and does of life in the Big Civilization, examining how disinformation is used to economic, political and religious ends would make for a really useful perspective – specially after this latest election!<br /><br />During the election, huge numbers of people bought the BS that Clinton would repeal the Second Amendment. This is why Donald Grope loves uneducated people so much. People who flunked out of high school civics obviously don’t know that a president cannot arbitrarily repeal an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I just heard a program on the radio yesterday where they brought together 4 Grope supporters with 4 Clinton supporters to presumably hash things out. The first Grope supporter started out by claiming that under Grope there will be law and order, and if someone hurts him that person will be arrested. But under Clinton that won’t happen. Seriously? Like the president is going to call local police departments all over the nation and order them to stop doing their jobs? Sorry, the president can’t do that. But that level of ignorance is exactly what Grope and his benefactors promoted, not just played on, to win the election. Yes, ignorance is manufactured. It is a tool for manipulating people.<br />Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43477656603032548112016-12-27T13:06:47.170-08:002016-12-27T13:06:47.170-08:00The idiots from METI are back in the news for some...The idiots from METI are back in the news for some reason:<br /><br /><a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-12-scientists-worlds.html" rel="nofollow">http://phys.org/news/2016-12-scientists-worlds.html</a>Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83131569870422587722016-12-27T12:32:00.935-08:002016-12-27T12:32:00.935-08:00And another very quick comment.
Twominds wrote:
F...And another very quick comment.<br /><br /><b>Twominds</b> wrote:<br /><i>FoxNews. The Netherlands don't have that, and do have a lively and effective extreme right wing scene.</i><br /><br />We don't have Fox News, but we do have <i>Geen Stijl</i> and <i>De Telegraaf</i>, which carry out some of the same functions.greg byshenknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32539833683344562362016-12-27T12:26:42.411-08:002016-12-27T12:26:42.411-08:00JeffB wrote:
"Paranoid groupthink" can b...<b>JeffB</b> wrote:<br /><i>"Paranoid groupthink" can be interpreted as the default orientation of the Russian leadership caste- the military, security services, and "elected" government officials. It does in fact exist, and has existed at least since the time of Lenin. It's a shorthand for a series of well-documented assumptions about their nation and its place in the world:<br />- despite the end of the Cold War, the West is deliberately antagonistic to their existence and their "greatness"<br />- this Western antagonism was the direct cause of the USSR<br />- this antagonism was responsible for the chaos in which they foundered after the Communist overthrow<br />- this antagonism is "proven" by the continued attempts by the West to "encircle" them with hostile states: the expansion of NATO the paramount example, but also meddling is places like the Ukraine and Georgia.</i><br /><br />All well and good, but what is interesting is that they are all (at least arguably) correct conclusions.<br />- Western antagonism was at least <i>a</i> cause of the USSR, in the form of both WWI and the attempts by the Central Powers to destabilize Russia.<br />- To be fair, my guess here is that what you meant to write was "...direct cause of the <i>end</i> of the USSR." But even here, various government types from the West have <i>themselves</i> argued that they helped end the USSR (the argument about the acceleration of the arms race, for example).<br />- There is an argument to be made for stupidity rather than malice, but Russians could hardly be blamed for concluding that the actions of the West in "helping" the economy after 1989 were antagonistic.<br />- The West, particularly in the form of the USA has been antagonistic to any independent (ie: not subservient to the USA) actions by Russia. I'm sure I'm not the only one who recalls all of the hand-wringing in the English language media about the danger of Germany getting close to Russia under Schroeder.<br />- The meddling and support of anti-Russian groups in former Soviet republics is well documented. (To be sure, a lot of the leadership in 1989 was corrupt, but it seems that the West is willing to forgive corruption as long as groups/parties are anti-Russian.)<br /><br />Thus, the conclusion:<br /><i>- the only way to guarantee Russian security is the a.) weaken its enemies in the west by sowing chaos and confusion, and b.) to undermine those governments on its borders so that they fall under Moskva's influence, and are neutered as threats.</i><br /><br />May not be the only reasonable one, but it isn't a crazy one. Indeed, if one accepts that the "enemies in the west" have been attempting to "sow[] chaos and confusion" in order "to undermine" Russia -- something which is arguable, but certainly a not unreasonable thing to believe, then such seems a reasonable conclusion.<br /><br />When I write this, let me be clear that I am no fan of Putin's Russia, but I do find the Anglophone press to be a bit one-sided on the subject. I have the sense that Americans think that when the US meddles, it does so for "truth, justice, and the American way", and so to be celebrated, but when Russia does, it does so for "pravda, spravedlivost', and mother Russia", which is completely different and therefore worthy of condemnation.greg byshenknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6563803118861354982016-12-27T11:45:22.291-08:002016-12-27T11:45:22.291-08:00When I think about what alarms me the most about t...When I think about what alarms me the most about this incoming travesty of an administration, I find it's a tie between the potential devastation of our scientific research and all the bigotry/xenophobia this thoughtless man-child has so carelessly stirred up. My impression is that Trump is personally indifferent on race; he's demonstrated that he's an equal opportunity asshole to anybody. But the bigots give him the worship he craves, so he eggs them on. He also looks to totally thoughtless on science, but most the people with his ear are actively hostile. The next few years are going to be rough.Flypusherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14657531323848786076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28519535308139635142016-12-27T10:33:45.972-08:002016-12-27T10:33:45.972-08:00Smurphs,
Not sure if this was posted here earlier...Smurphs,<br /><br />Not sure if this was posted here earlier, but to your point about KS and NC,<br /><br />http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article122593759.html<br /><br /><i>In the just released EIP report, North Carolina’s overall electoral integrity score of 58/100 for the 2016 election places us alongside authoritarian states and pseudo-democracies like Cuba, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. If it were a nation state, North Carolina would rank right in the middle of the global league table – a deeply flawed, partly free democracy that is only slightly ahead of the failed democracies that constitute much of the developing world.<br /><br />Indeed, North Carolina does so poorly on the measures of legal framework and voter registration, that on those indicators we rank alongside Iran and Venezuela. When it comes to the integrity of the voting district boundaries no country has ever received as low a score as the 7/100 North Carolina received. North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project</i>.<br /><br />But, I do doubt NC's educational gutting has had long enough to have an effect. All these drastic changes have been enacted by existing political leadership, so is more effect than cause. <br /><br />Jeff B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16023707420484356722016-12-27T10:24:50.117-08:002016-12-27T10:24:50.117-08:00Technology is dead! All hail the new pantheon: Ign...Technology is dead! All hail the new pantheon: Ignorance, Superstition, Fear, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death! All Hail!<br /><br />(And the lamentations of their women, etc.)Jeff B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44542668435415744002016-12-27T10:15:03.793-08:002016-12-27T10:15:03.793-08:00Hey Brin,
The God of Technology is over. Time to...Hey Brin, <br /><br />The God of Technology is over. Time to face REALITY.<br /><br />John Michael Greer (The ArchDruid): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8Vb3SBa9UAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53714919408105343162016-12-27T10:07:08.059-08:002016-12-27T10:07:08.059-08:00Alfred Differ said...
I sincerely doubt most igno...Alfred Differ said...<br /><br /><i>I sincerely doubt most ignorance is manufactured. I sincerely doubt the powerful are that powerful or even that smart. I suspect ignorance is more of an emergent process which the powerful might be able to seed and poke, but no more. </i><br /><br />I, too, try to avoid see the bogeyman behind every development I don't like, but ...<br /><br />Lately, in both Kansas and North Carolina, public education has been gutted. While the people who performed this cutting claimed it was for monetary reasons, their other policies, re: budgeting, has proved this to be a smokescreen.<br /><br />IN THIS INSTANCE (I make no broader claim), ignorance is being deliberately manufactured and will cause us misery for decades to come.<br /><br />Smurphsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7546162552495126912016-12-27T05:40:17.187-08:002016-12-27T05:40:17.187-08:00Responses...
@Greg: You're right, the Russian ...Responses...<br />@Greg: You're right, the Russian upper class loses people to sanity all the time. The critical point is that the 'paranoid groupthink' clique never lost control of the security apparatus, and as the 1990's economic collapse unfolded, this power was used to gradually thin the ranks of everyone who <i>wasn't</i> paranoid... everything from corruption prosecutions to targeted assassination was fair game, since by paranoid perception the existence of the Russian State was at stake. Until Putin, one of their own, was installed as President and the 'correct' (paranoid) worldview was restored to full power in the Kremlin.<br /><br />@danzelion: The Continental militia was a horrible ragtag operation from the start, and only the combined efforts of Washington, Hamilton, Lafayette, von Steuben, and the French made them into anything but a guerilla outfit. Guerilla outfits are actually pretty good at resisting distant central authority; anything else, not so much. <br /><br />Which is why the "citizen-soldier" militia eventually became the semiprofessional National Guard.<br /><br />@Alfred: <br />(1) What good did having minor German buffer states do? Without some organizing principle of spheres of influence, and the maniacal chaos that the inheritance rules promulgated, they seemed to spark wars as often as prevent them. Perhaps a better solution would have been zones clearly designated as Prussian, Austria, French, and Hanoverian/British, along the lines of the later Allied Occupation Zones. Otherwise I do not see what the point of keeping that cesspool bubbling was. The main effect of the 19th century was the switch from Austrian/Habsburg to Prussian/Hohenstaufen control; and the Prussians proved able to actually organize Germany as the Austrians could not. <br /><br />(2) Could you elaborate on how Canada ceased to be an expansion "threat" after 1814? I am guessing you mean "to the Old Northwest / present-day Midwest" but I don't quite get where you are going with that.<br /><br />(3) Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Some parts of the right-wing stew animating Trumpism were designed by various actors (the conservative think tanks, the Religious Right) but others evolved on their own and still others were emergent phenomena from much older things such as the now-defunct Lost Cause conspiracy.Catfish N. Codnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59876724375254820602016-12-27T04:52:20.961-08:002016-12-27T04:52:20.961-08:00@ Paul SB 7:26 AM and Alfred Differ 8:48 PM
On whe...@ Paul SB 7:26 AM and Alfred Differ 8:48 PM<br />On whether ignorance is manufactured: just now I stumbled on <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread-of-ignorance" rel="nofollow">The man who studies the spread of ignorance</a> on BBC.com. <br />I found it interesting but too short.<br /><br />Now I'm thinking about the book Merchants of Doubt. Has anyone here read it and is it worthwhile? As I can spend only so much on books, I don't want to buy randomly, or only on the recommendation of the sellers.Twomindsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88639055235679624022016-12-27T03:17:50.016-08:002016-12-27T03:17:50.016-08:00The government develops the caravel:
https://en.wi...The government develops the caravel:<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry_the_NavigatorJumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74738318639558460132016-12-27T00:00:40.075-08:002016-12-27T00:00:40.075-08:00To Alfred's comments about "demi-gods of ...To Alfred's comments about "demi-gods of intelligence"<br />I agree entirely!<br />Intelligence is a biological property like height - and as such will have a truncated skew normal distribution<br />Just as there are no 12ft tall men there are no "demi-gods of intelligence" duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58773634709959698992016-12-26T22:53:28.912-08:002016-12-26T22:53:28.912-08:00Heh. As I recall, there was an 1812 era invasion n...Heh. As I recall, there was an 1812 era invasion northward that led to some burning which provoked an understandable response and counter-burning. You have to look at how the war was resolved, though, to see the geopolitical point. We'd proven we could be beaten AND proven that the British were pre-occupied with the French.<br /><br />Attacking Canada was stupid except as an expression in opposition to the British. After the way the war resolved it was apparent they had better things to concern them, thus the motivation for sending forces northward evaporated on our side. Canadian understanding that they would stand against us without much help ended motivations from the other side. With no conflicts unresolved, that was that.<br /><br />We got our butts kicked in the 1812 war. Only a fool would have invited British or French attention after that for quite a while. In terms of growth, though, only Mexico had a chance of competing with us for North America. Canada was not a threat after 1814.<br /><br />(I am going to paste a paraphrasing of McCloskey's material on revaluation of Prudence tonight. Might be late.)Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45999261076134036582016-12-26T22:20:12.537-08:002016-12-26T22:20:12.537-08:00Alfred/Greg: I'm chuckling, ducking into conv...Alfred/Greg: I'm chuckling, ducking into conversations and ducking back out for family matters and work, BUT...<br /><br /><i>"Our friends to the north know we don't need to invade... now. That need vanished after the British largely left them defenseless in the early 19th century."</i><br /><br />I keep raising the War of 1812 as the death knell of the idiotic notion of the 'citizen soldier' in America. The Canadians wiped out several U.S. army forces in three separate invasions, each a complete disaster. We got beaten so badly each time we've never wanted to indulge in a rematch. (At least, not until shifting from irregular militias to a professional, national military force).<br /><br /><i>"In a geopolitical sense, the existence of a border isn't enough to cause battle. There must be unresolved reasons for conflict."</i><br />Typically: (1) 'Aggressor' believes it will gain more by attacking than it will lose (e.g., the Americans, when invading Canada, initially believed it would be a cake walk), and (2) 'Aggressor' is divided internally and the side favoring war believes that by gaining more than is lost, it will also gain primacy over Doves.<br /><br />Even before German unification, Prussia and Austria were very respectable powers nobody tangled with except Napoleon. But really, the age-old calculus was always in play: less 'buffer zone' and more 'do we get more than we pay for the benefit of calling some of those plots ours? do we get more for that than we do building a ship that can also protect trade routes?" Capitalism changed the war calculation immensely, making it far more lucrative (and even possible) to obtain wealth and glory in the factory rather than on the battlefield.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69906332388319604902016-12-26T22:18:41.905-08:002016-12-26T22:18:41.905-08:00Regarding Tim Harford's list, you have to be c...Regarding Tim Harford's list, you have to be careful with US contributions. When the US government funds projects after WWII, it becomes difficult to distinguish Government, Corporate, and University motivations. Each member of the triad does what it does, but together they are a force for innovation never seen on the planet before. When they act together, it is a mistake to argue one is more responsible than the others for a particular change especially after a generation of unexpected interactions among the innovations, people, and the institutions in which they are all involved. If Apple's Steve Jobs doesn't get credit for the iPhone, neither does Uncle Sam. If he does, so does Uncle Sam and everyone else involved.<br /><br />Great Care should be taken with making these distinctions when anyone from The West is involved. With the way globalization is racing along, we should probably extend that to anyone who voluntarily participates in our markets, but I'm wary of including nation-states playing the old mercantile game.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.com