Little Venice

Given that Athens and the surrounding Greek islands are to be my home this summer, I’ve been doing some research on Greek history.  One name that keeps popping up is Eleftherios Venizelos, a prolific Greek statesman who was at the country’s helm as Crete revolted from Ottoman rule and became a part of Greece. Venizelos was the deciding factor in Greece’s decision to side with the allies (the Triple Entente) in World War I. The Greek King, Constantine, was related by blood to the German monarchy and hence supported the Central Powers. The fact that Venizelos was able to prevail over his own King speaks of his power and tact. Due to Mr. Venizelos’ alliance with the Entente, he was granted a seat at the Treaty of Paris, where the winners of the war divided up the spoils. Greece then received the Dodecanese Islands, some coastal areas in West Turkey (Smyrna/Izmir and Thrace), which brought the newly enlarged Greek empire to the Constantinople’s doorstep (the Greeks had long dreamed of owning an empire that included Constantinople and coastal Anatolia).

When I first came upon his surname, Venizelos, I thought it must’ve been an ancient progenitor of the name of modern Venezuela (many cities in South America are named after cities in Europe). I found the true story to be much more interesting: Amerigo Vespucci, upon seeing villages built atop stilts in South America, was reminded of Venice’s homes and decreed that the land was to be called Venezuola, meaning “little Venice” in Italian. It was later hispanicized using a Spanish diminutive form -zuela, and hasn’t changed since.

At What Cost

Politico just leaked deets on former Press Secretery Scott McClellan’s new tell-all book:

Bush was “clearly irritated, … steamed,” when McClellan informed him that chief economic adviser Larry Lindsey had told The Wall Street Journal that a possible war in Iraq could cost from $100 billion to $200 billion: “‘It’s unacceptable,’ Bush continued, his voice rising. ‘He shouldn’t be talking about that.’”

Mr. Lindsey was then fired because his estimate was double Bush’s estimate ($50 billion).

The cost of the Iraq war stands at $523 billion, and will reach $600 billion by the end of 2008, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It has cost $1,738 per American. It’s 1200% over-budget using Bush’s initial war-cost estimate, or 261% over-budget when using Mr. Lindsey’s.

If Bush was angry at his economic adviser for projecting a $200 billion war, imagine how steamed he’d be if the true cost was known and reported back then.

Most economists and analysts estimate that the final cost of the Iraq war will exceed $1 trillion. When accounting for externalities like the increased price of oil and long-term care for war veterans, the cost rises to an incredible $4 trillion (~30% of U.S. GDP).

Exclusive: McClellan whacks Bush, White House – Politico

Tags: george w. bush, iraq, iraq war, iraq war funding, politico, Politics, scott mcclellan

Idle Hands

Perhaps police officers will always be hated.  They don’t do themselves any favors when they enforce laws in cases where no harm is being done.

A prime example: cops busted into a private art showing/gala in the Hamptons and asked the host to stop serving alcohol.  She refused.  Moments later, up to nine police cars and more than a dozen officers descended on the gallery and arrested [the host]. Then they carted out crates of fancy Champagne, wine and Grey Goose vodka.

Laws need to be removed and/or edited to ensure that they’re enforced only when someone is harmed. Also, police officers need to be non-confrontational and problem-solving, as opposed to their seemingly usual cavalier incitement of violence.

East End gallery owner carted off to jail for serving drinks without a license – NY Daily News

Shark Attacks

“Surfer Bruce Grimes from Texas was bitten on the arm on Saturday off nearby Playa Linda beach. Grimes, 49, said he paddled madly toward shore on his board after feeling the unmistakable sandy skin of a shark glide across the bottom of his feet as he straddled his surfboard.

“Then it bumped me really hard. I thought, ‘That’s definitely a big shark.’ I took about three more strokes and he grabbed my arm,” said Grimes, who pulled himself free and made it to the beach. He managed to drive himself to a hospital, where he received 100 stitches.”

Two attacks in April and May killed a Mexican and an American — the first shark deaths off Mexico’s Pacific coast in 30 years.

Mexico Navy hunts for sharks after attacks

Realize How Good We’ve Got It

“Uribe, elected in 2002 on the promise to crush [rebel insurgent group FARC], has boosted troop strength by 44 percent and driven the group into a strategic retreat from Colombia’s highways and major cities. Thanks to the offensive, kidnappings fell by 83 percent to 486 last year and terrorist attacks by 76 percent to 387 in 2007, the Defense Ministry says.”

I’m glad we don’t have that kind of violence where I live.

Colombia Rebels Name New Leader to Succeed Marulanda – Bloomberg

Obama Deconstructed

Perusing candidates’ positions can be time consuming, but I strongly recommend you do it. Even to the candidate whose party you haven’t supported in the past.

Here are some excerpts found at Barack Obama’s site:

Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

No way! A Democrat whose top priority is to cut taxes!? Awesome.

Obama will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers, so workers can stand up for themselves without worrying about losing their livelihoods.

I really don’t support this; it’s just anti-business. If you’ve got employees and they don’t want to work for you anymore, let them leave. If they strike, find replacements who will work. This is an area that the government has no business regulating. Interventionist regulation is often heavy handed and over-reaching. Toss this one in the garbage bin, Barack.

Barack Obama will raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation….

Indexing the minimum wage to inflation is genius — I don’t see why it hasn’t been instituted in the past.

However, it’s conceivable that there could be negative effects. For example, imagine a period of stagflation (recession and high inflation at the same time) like the one the U.S. experienced in the 1970′s: the recession would mean layoffs for workers as business slows down. When inflation picks up, businesses won’t be able to afford the higher labor costs (labor costs would track rising inflation) and you’ll see even more layoffs, all at the worst possible moment, creating a vicious cycle.

Support Job Creation: We need to double federal funding for basic research and make the research and development tax credit permanent to help create high-paying, secure jobs. Obama will also make long-term investments in education, training, and workforce development so that Americans can leverage our strengths – our ingenuity and entrepreneurialism – to create new high-wage jobs and prosper in a world economy.

Good call on the support for increased investment in education. Hopefully, the increased research budgets will pay dividends. My question: where is he going to get the money to do this? Hopefully it’s not a pipe dream.

Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Obama believes we can get broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

Thumbs up.

Golf Claps: The 21st Century G.I. Bill

The bi-partisan 21st Century G.I. Bill is one of the most progressive spending packages I’ve come across.  It provides access to a college education for American armed forces veterans. Under the previous system, a veteran could receive up to $9,600/year for four years, which covered only 60-70% of the average cost of four years at a public college or university, or less than two years at a typical private college.  The bill covers 100% of a public education, and matches dollar-for-dollar any scholarships given when attending a private institution. It also calls for a housing stipend, which varies by geographical area.

The new G.I. bill is projected to cost about $2.5 billion per year, roughly the cost of U.S. operations in Iraq for one week. Veterans organizations pointed out that a 1988 Congressional study showing that every dollar spent on educational benefits under the original GI Bill added seven dollars to the national economy in terms of productivity, consumer spending and tax revenue.

Seems like a good investment to me.

The bill passed the senate with a veto-proof 75-22 vote.

Kudos to both parties.

The 21st Century G.I. Bill

Foreclosures Really Getting Out Of Hand

To see how bad it’s gotten, you need only look to Facebook (I took this screenshot just now)

LG Decoy for Verizon

The LG Decoy has the honor of being the only phone with a built-in bluetooth headset, so you don’t lose it.

Thoughts?

Via Engadget Mobile

Hezbollah Goes High-Tech

A lot of people are unfamiliar with the impetus for the fighting between pro-government forces and Hezbollah last week: telecommunications equipment.

Excerpts from the WSJ:

“Hezbollah was secretly expanding a [fiber-optic] network that could provide secure communications in times of battle.

Mr. Hamadeh said the government tried three weeks ago to negotiate secretly with Hezbollah about dismantling the network, working through the army intelligence chief and the head of internal security. He said Hezbollah confirmed the existence of the expanded system but “absolutely refused to dismantle it, directing threats against officials” involved.“

Monaco Ocean Colonies and Global Warming

Word has just come that Monaco is considering reclaiming some of the Mediterranean to add to its 1-square mile size, a la Dubai.  This comes soon after PayPal co-founder and hedge fund manager Peter Thiel went ahead and funded The Seasteading Institute, which aims to build floating libertarian cities beginning soon with a pilot in San Francisco Bay. Their slogan: “Mark Twain, 1800′s: ‘Buy land. They’ve stopped making it.‘ Seasteading Institute, 2008: ‘Production resuming.‘”

Perhaps someday the UN will have to monitor and regulate these intrepid Seasteaders, especially if they start using up large swaths of sea.

Also, I came across an interesting article from the Hamilton Spectator:

Global warming hysteria challenged

An American TV reporter compared those who question the Kyoto Protocol to Holocaust deniers, which prompted a hippie into rethinking global warming. He wrote a book detailing those who stood up against climate pseudo-science called The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, And Fraud (And Those Who Are Too Fearful To Do So). The author, Lawrence Solomon, debunks the garbage science and hideous methods used by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, noting that the panel was banned from investigating the sun (the biggest determinant of our climate) as a culprit, and was therefore designed to produce a biased finding.

My question to you: do you believe that climate change is natural, and largely solar-driven, or do you find yourself in agreement with the IPCC and believe that greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the global temperature rise from 1965-1998?

Cramped Monaco plans new district – on stilts

Reversal of Fortune

Huntington Hartford inherited The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a 16,000 locations-strong national retailer akin to a modern-day Wal-Mart.

He’s more known, however, for squandering his fortune on a series of unfortunate investments. He bought what is now Paradise Island (that of Atlantis fame) and then sold it at a loss. He built the Gallery of Modern Art in New York City, and spent similarly large amounts trying to get his laggard magazine Show off the ground.

At one point, Hartford declared bankruptcy, but had a $500,000/year trust to keep him living the good life.

Yesterday, Mr. Hartford died at 97 years of age in the Bahamas.

Curiously, the man who successfully developed Paradise Island into what it is today, Sol Kerzner, has had just about the opposite life experience as the often failing Mr. Hartford.

Kerzner began life not as an heir but as the youngest of 4 children in a family of Jewish Russian immigrants. He put together a successful hotel chain, Sun International, and then got into development of gambling resorts. Since, he’s put together some of the most successful on earth, including Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun and Paradise Island’s Atlantis, in addition to building a luxury hotel portfolio with his One&Only hotels group (famous for their Cabo San Lucas resort of the same name).

He’s had 4 marriages, including former Miss World 1974 Anneline Kriel, and his current wife, the stunning Heather Murphy.

Great life for Mr. Kerzner, but quite the polar opposite of the first developer of Paradise Island, Mr. Hartford.

Just goes to show that it’s not about what straw you draw, it’s the fight inside you that determines your contribution in life.

A.& P. Heir Famous For Losing All His Money Dies At 97 – Luxist

Soviets Get Nostalgic

Russia is up to some of its old Soviet tricks: military grandstanding, corruption — even shooting down planes over foreign soil.

None of this prepared me for the sad state of South Ossetia. A breakaway republic formerly part of Georgia, it is not recognized by any foreign governments except for Russia and Abkhazia, its sister breakaway republic. Foreign journalists are harassed, arrested, and often told they need to return to Georgia. Russian troops walk the streets, and much of the population works for the security services or in law enforcement to squelch dissent and end demonstrations. The “security” is paid for by the Russian government. The rest of the population is forced into subsistence farming.

You ought to read the article. The word “former” in the title is, I believe, an attempt at humor:

Travels in the former Soviet Union

NetFlix Comes Of Age

NetFlix allows members paying $8.95/month or higher to stream movies from its library to a computer of their choice. The natural next step is to stream that content to the TV.

Over the last year, intrepid hackers have pieced together one solution that allows NetFlix content to be streamed to the TV using the XBOX 360 Windows Media Center.

If you don’t have an XBOX 360, you’re out of luck.

Until now.

NetFlix’s plans of dominating the living room have begun, with the introduction of a $99 box by Roku that slices, dices, and streams video without a hitch. Wired Magazine calls it “just shy of totally amazing.”

The player has access to more than 10,000 movies and TV shows, and will expand to close in on the nearly 100,000 that NetFlix offers in traditional DVD format.

Its competition, the Apple iTV, costs $229, but sports a hard drive, which the Roku box is without. Another competitor, Vudu, costs $295.

Apple is going with the a la carte model for media, but perhaps in this race, $8.95/month will win out. We’ll have to wait and see.

TV boxes let Netflix users bypass mail delivery – AP

Debtor Nation

The United States is a nation of a debtors, and a debtor nation, sporting large budget and trade deficits. We’ve yet to default on our debts.

Don’t ever lend money to Russia, though. Russia famously defaulted on their foreign debt obligations in 1998, sending the world economy into a tailspin.

They’ve avoided payment on other obligations as well.

During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, the French underwrote much of the Russian war effort with bonds. These bonds became worthless in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. French bondholders made noise about the issue for years, but to no avail. Finally, when a post-Communist Russia re-emerged in the 1990′s and wanted access to global debt markets, Russia needed to convince Europe (and the world) that they could be trusted to pay their debts. Russia paid off its debt to France with a one-time $400 million gift in 1996 — equal to roughly 1.5% of what the bonds would have been worth with 79 years of interest.

Don’t get caught in the same deal.

Russia to repay pre-1917 debt – Bloomberg News/NYT