Chavez’ forte was in sensitivity toward the downtrodden, and he might have been the only Venezuelan leader with the presence to focus the world’s attention there.

There are plenty of problems remaining. The country remains 95% dependent on oil for its revenue, a volatile market, and Venezuela doesn’t produce enough of its own food. The race is always on to prop up lower incomes with subsidies, but then the Bolivar deflates, and imports have to be purchased with hard currency. Inflation may exceed 30% this year. The numbers in May were terrible (I don’t have them in front of me at the moment).

Maduro surely has his work cut out for him going forward.

Well, there’s one bit of good news in these beleaguered times. It turns out that the Detroit Institute’s art collection will not be sold after all.

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/news/2013-06-14/michigan-attorney-general-rules-out-sale-of-detroit-institutes-art/

OTH it could be that Kevin Orr’s rumination about all assets being on the table, then glancing (or leering?) at DIA’s collection, was calculated for shock and awe. Now, my cynicism thinks everybody’s expected to be relieved and thankful.

Wasn’t that when Medvedyev said to O, “I’ll tell Vladimir. . .”?

Regarding Alan Grayson. . .

There is always something cheerful about him, even when he scolds.

But he’s not in the news a lot it seems. Almost as if he rations himself to concentrate the effect. He’ll never be overlooked, for which I’m thankful.

Regarding “France has lifted it’s [sic] objection. . .”

Somehow I find it hard to believe the arts sector in France had all along been the stumbling block for either “side” in beginning US/EU trade negotiations.

More likely it would be the EU’s continuing beleaguered predicament that softened things up a bit. So something new afoot is what’s needed now, virtually any distraction, a diversion, yet another controversy, to keep UK secession at bay, the Germans and Greeks on board, whatever. Or is it really about the Finns?

I wasn’t advocating anything there or pinning a label. Just trying to sort out what’s going on, and whether that report is accurate.

The unfriendlies nowadays would be expected to be more cagey than, say, the complacent Germans in WWII, where “Ultra” was allowed to be used for too long a time. It ripened and when cracked it gave the Allies a treasure trove of intelligence. It was so great, that there were fears about what should be considered actionable or not, lest the cracking of that code be realized causing the German spigot to be turned off.

I’m not sure this is unexpected, or whether Sunday talking heads will treat it as such. If it is true, did anyone lie recently about whether text was being tracked as well as to-from data?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-admits-listening-to-u.s-phone-calls-without-warrants/

Or is this all hogwash?

Maybe, maybe not. Assume a hydroelectric dam like Aswan would never be a valid military target under any circumstance.

Then consequences for its destruction would depend who the adversaries were, who won, who lost, whether there was a clear defeat or merely a cease fire leaving each combatant PTB still standing and in control of its respective side.

Plenty of variables are in play to determine whether a combatant would be held accountable for a war crime (like destroying Aswan), or not. No power will willingly allow itself to be subject to war crimes accountability — meaning unequivocal defeat is a prerequisite for accountability. I think it has always been that way.

Sounds like internment, warehousing. That’s a no no.

Instead, many tens of thousands will come to the US. France has already agreed to 5000. Germany needs to pony up big time, don’t know if they have yet.

And then, there are the über wealthy oil states in the M.E. Hmmmm?

That won’t prevent anything of the sort.

The scariness of chemical weapons is in their ease of manufacture, and that the knowhow is virtually out on the street. No treaty, ban, or convention can eliminate that knowhow and its permanent threat.

Their use against US troops would most likely be within a terrorist incident rather than within a coordinated battle plan. So many variables with a chemical attack — there would be no way to accurately predict outcomes. So, still useful for a terrorist, but of little value to a military chain of command.

It is possible, however, for one to be “seriously concerned” while doing nothing whatsoever.

Your heart’s in the right place; however, would anyone even notice a boycott of beleaguered Time Magazine? They’re not exactly in hog heaven nowadays and hankering for a fall.

It seems to me there is a familiar look and feel about this NSA gambit, paired with Snowden as the nemesis, (or the other way around, depending on one’s viewpoint).

It was a long time ago, but wasn’t there a similar aura around the issue of Canada-bound draft evaders vs Vietnam War boosters? In that one, the proper stance was driven by ideology and when or when not it was appropriate to challenge the resident PTB. It took a long time after the US withdrawal, but eventually the evaders won back respect and credibility by snatching them away from the scolds. Ouch.

I suspect the same will happen again, but it’s hard to say for sure. We don’t even know what details Snowden has, maybe NSA doesn’t know either, other than the generalized stuff the media has discussed and which any adversary could have long ago surmised as a potential to take precautions against.

Still, the look and feel of Feinstein is extremely worrisome. I don’t think she is play acting this time, which might mean Feinstein is terrified by not knowing everything for once, or she knows it all and a catastrophe has happened.

I agree, and think there isn’t any benefit whatsoever for Assad to use chemicals. He’ll do his thing the old, old fashioned way, and any chemical red line is meaningless. It’s a kabuki dance.

Thnx fatster. The Green Mountains aren’t far from me.

Sixty years ago I had a hat like that I’d put on when running my Lionel train set. I’ll have to find it and hurry to VT.

Well, you can pot-hole Syrian runways and their parallel taxiways. It can be done with small CBUs

Also the same for the few proxy landing areas on highways which might have load bearing capacity for a jet. Then the jet fuel depots, if need be.

The problem is that would stop Assad’s wheels, and it would cause a stink. Nothing which will work with a minimum loss of life will ever happen over there. I think O should stay out of this, and send Clinton to bed without supper.

Hmmm. . .

The number of chemical deaths seems to be around 150.

So if O had a red line for AK-47 deaths, and another for aerial bombardment deaths, I wonder what those numbers would entail. A meaningful chunk of 90,000?

There are still some outfits cobbling together Win 7 on both new and refurbished computers. Microseconds.net is one of them, or you can Google Win 7 computers for sale.

I bought a Win 7 laptop for my spouse in Feb and think there’s still inventory out there. Win 8 is dreadful unless you have a touchscreen. Buying a new keyboard I’d bet will be expensive unless it’s aftermarket, which might not work as well as the original.

Oh, also. . .

Around 1952 or ’53 when I was five or six years old my parents took me to Mt Washington, NH. We rode the cog railway up the steep mountain. It was a steam locomotive using gears for traction, with switchbacks, lots of noise, steam, smoke. Scary for a kid from New Jersey. We did get to the summit, though, and back down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Cog_Railway

They’re beautiful, mysterious things.

And re: CTuttle @ 26. . .

No, I never flew on a Martin 404. I did fly on a similar plane, the Convair C-131 (actually the T-29 variant for the Air Force) used in Navigator training at Mather AFB near Sacramento. I upgraded to pilot training later, but didn’t fly on T-29s again. The T-29 was the same vintage plane as the Martin and already getting old in 1970.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_T-29

Note the similarities between the Martin and Convair. At Mather one of our birds had tail number 1111 and was dubbed “Four Aces” due to its very frequent mechanical troubles, inflight emergencies, etc. Lots of leaks. Fun.

The Martin in your link with its tail on the ground. . . It looks like it’s cargo was improperly loaded too far toward the rear, throwing off the plane’s center of gravity, so the plane “sat down.” Could also have been due to first using all the fuel in a forward tank, causing the tail to become relatively too heavy. The T-29 could have the same problem, but I never saw one in that undignified stance.

Regarding “Ride the Skunk. . .”

Steam locomotives are notoriously temperamental.

For several years before 2000 Fort Worth had a century old steam locomotive running tourist excursions between the Stockyards and Grapvine, about 18 miles away. There had been a locomotive enthusiast tending to its needs, even fabricating parts, but it still broke down often and a bus would have to be dispatched to rescue the stranded, hapless tourists.

It was a real money loser, and the romantics finally gave up. I wonder how an entrepreneur could even get liability insurance for it let alone keep it running.

The train has been in storage since 2000. I remember seeing, hearing, and smelling it in 1997 on a visit there and thought for just a moment about riding to Grapevine and back. It seemed safer not to.

http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/fwwrsteam.html