New Alaska State Library & Museum Construction Advances

With construction of a new Alaska State Library and Museum scheduled for completion early in 2016 a grant has been awarded to start movement of pieces from 12 museums and cultural centers as well as from several individuals that will merge to form a 32,000 piece collection. One hopes global warming sea level rise will not require a reverse flow some day.

It might be interesting if the state natural history museum began a global warming collection to document the changes in the state from the past to the present era. 

http://www.adn.com/2013/09/10/3067451/state-museum-receives-grant-to.html

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/global-warming-slowdown-ipcc

Spaced Security at Washington Naval Yard

 Incredible as it seems the Washington Naval Yard security had no screening for guns of employees and contractors walking in to the building each day. Instead they relied on the honor system with the assumption that having passed an initial security check no one ever again required screening for weapons on site. The Naval Academy itself dropped the honor system decades ago.

Unfortunately the security lapse in the nation's capitol left twelve civilians dead. The President mentioned that another mass shooting had occurred, and it is tragic when mass is shot, yet that shouldn't be an excuse for the government to further disarm American citizens or substitute psychological profiling for common sense security measures that wouldn't let any contract employee take his shotgun and pistols t'work.

At least Starbucks has upgraded their security measures in response to the mass shooting and banned policemen with guns from troubling those slurping up coffee who don't like policemen or others legally carrying a weapon. Policemen will have to go to that Guns, Donuts and Coffee shop down the street it seems where the defense contractors go.

The politicians are familiar with mass markets, mass political opinion and mass shootings and so know how to go for the juggler politically speaking. Tossing a lot of postures into the broadcast air while classified work at the Washington Naval Yard continues on next wave ships with electro-magnetohydrodynamic drives (e.m.h.d's) that have fuel cells to power them when traveling ashore as hovercraft, or maybe e.m.h.d. spaceships exploiting charged electro-magnetic fields instead of water to flit about the solar system and to Alpha Centauri B doesn't need to develop as an excuse to attack civilians for the fault of government worker's lack of creative thought on security issues-such as don't let people take shotguns to work.

One wonders if security is any better at the Naval Yard than the N.S.A.? The naval yard probably doesn't let people take a cell phone into classified areas yet one can take in a shotgun properly bagged as a large loaf of French bread? While they are going to stick something in their computer thumb drives to stop downloading of government secrets will they let them take pictures of computer screens with cell phones or tiny fiber optic lapel camera lenses?

Making life easy for Wikileaks and hard for sailors with visits to government neuroscientists for screening may be a good bureaucratic way to posture up security. Physical security that prevents access to government facilities with a weapon cannot be replaced by psychological testing in a nation of 300 million souls. Even rational people may hate the government and seek to replace it with a better country ruled by a dictator of one.

No Obama-Nixoncare Medicaid Coverage Expansion for Poor in Alaska

In the state of Alaska medical coverage of the poor won't be arriving with the increase of Medicaid through Obamacare provision anytime while a Republican Governor is in office. Gov. Sean Parnell apparently threw the poor under the bus refusing to sign off on the Medicare expansion that the U..S. Supreme's left up to the states.  That's a better way to red-line states and keep the poor out compelling them to live in Warshinkclump D.C., California, N.Y. etc if they need a gall bladder removed. With a 21% unemployment rate for those earning fewer than $21,000 annually getting sick is dangerously costly. With medical debt easily piling up more than the price of a home or real estate it is realistic to consider buying a tent except in brown bear turf.

Juneau Alaska the state capitol is said to have more millionaires per capita than any other city in the U.S.A. (poor millionaires though compared to those of the real wealth concentrations such as N.Y.C. and Boston). In Alaska the poor are sometimes frozen into leaving the state after a winter or two of concentration at the extremely overcrowded Brother Francis Shelter in Anchorage or perhaps finding no work amidst the state workers and elites of Juneau though they scan Alexsys (The state of Alaska's dept of labor online job resource) religiously hoping for an interview though disadvantaged by not being an immigrant or homosexual.

The war on poverty morphed into the war on the poor somewhere along the way one might think. Pain and freezing homelessness can keep the U6 homeless from getting a beachhead of living in Alaska. Pulling teeth costs money in the north. For emergency dental it might cost two or three hundred dollars to have a tooth and immediate pain terminated. For serious medical problems the poor except for a few class exceptions will need to pile up debt at the emergency room and remain in the U6 of underemployed or unemployed that comprises about 15% of the people of the United States with the same number approximately comprising the poor of the U.S. population.

Obamacare is basically a laundered Richard M. Nixon corporate health care plan and of course in the era of concentrated wealth the President let the poor bite the bullet first in order to get the middle class on board. Mayor Sullivan of Anchorage already made it illegal to camp in Anchorage. Now if the homeless need emergency frostbite treatment or appendectomy and go to the emergency room they will be billed themselves without any sort of Medicaid assistance.

What should have been done instead of Obama-Nixoncare was just free health care for the poor and the U6 at an expanded V.A. Hospital system with outlet clinics and shuttle buses to major medical centers for those that needed it. Simple, cheaper, practical and humanitarian. That should be who Americans are.

Terrorist Hit On Washington Navy Yard? Twelve Dead

In a brazen daylight anti-personnel attack at the nations oldest naval shore installation, the Washington Navy Yard twelve people were killed possibly including the shooter identified as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year old contractor from Ft. Worth New York while authorities hunt for two additional suspects seen with a handgun and a rifle (That turned out not to be actual perps).

It is reported now that the shooter heard voices that were not just raving broadcasters, but from some non-traditional source such as demons, martinets or brain hay-wiring.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/aaron-alexis-identified-navy-yard-shooter_n_3935770.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24111481#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Some have reported that the nation's penal institutions are being used as terrorist training camps. That leads one to wonder if the mixed race report on the suspects at large-black and white, were part of a criminal training gang.

Terrorists from the Middle East at war on American interests have a fundamentally different metaphysical orientation than Christian Americans. Like godless atheists that believe this world is it before the Big Sleep some Mohammedans have a this world is useful only for evangelization with force attitude. Godless atheists want their 72 virgins here and now while Mohammedan radicals expect there's as soon as they break on through to the other side by killing godless atheists and becoming martyrs.

Godless atheists use treachery, force and lies to evangelize the world along with brainwashing media and corrupting global economics, and those technological channels of progress in turn enable those chasing 72 virgins and a fully stocked refrigerator in a cast right wing heavenly condo to easily fly about the world in pursuit of targets of opportunity such as a gay friendly naval yard in Washington D.C.

It is said that no Christian churches exist in Yemen and that the penalty for Christian evangelization is death. The Obama administration supporters also have an antipathetic attitude toward Christian faith. 

The attack at the Washington naval Yard may have been just a disgruntled worker taking revenge on government workers with job security, however improbable that seems. If it was another act of p.r. terrorism on America that should stimulate reform of the U.S. corrections system in such a way that it cannot serve as a terror training facility.

Probably those arrested for recreational drug use and no other crimes should be moved out of the normal criminal corrections systems and their arrest records (for new cases) made into some sort of a temporary, non-criminal paradigm such that after discharge from corrections hold in a separate facility than that of criminals they will not have any criminal conviction history.

Khat and Green Jobs; Advantage Greed

There was some demand for the video game called Advantage Greed with quantitative trading, dark pools, quantitative easing, collateralized debt obligations, tranches, hostile takeovers, leveraged buy out, hedge funds, mutual funds, down sizing, outsourcing, cheap foreign labor, cheap immigrant labor, externalities of ecosphere, plutocracy, oligarchy, concentrating wealth networking loops, public holding of a 17 trillion of dollar bag of debt, corporate welfare, higher-ed secret societies and government-corporate insider kickbacken, a revolving door military-industrial government complex, secret societies and swell graphics with lots of action and bosomy yet intelligent babes. I think that was before the rage of twittering overcame the country.

Then after 16 years of democrat party leaderships (looking to the entire Clinton and Obama terms) at deregulating Wall Street extending tax cuts for the rich and flooding the nation with cheap illegal alien workers the gaming seemed not as escapist for idealistic Republicans. Change has meant a ho-hum what's new sort of acquiescence in the concentration of wealth and forgetfulness of the war on poverty. Fortunately the administration threw in some new spice and still has wars in poor countries to stimulate a little action for defense industry fat cats.

Selecting to defend the defense of marriage act and pushing for a gay friendly military was just a start for President Obama. He has ordered the U.S. Government to stop enforcing laws against recreational marijuana use. Yet how will that set with the First Lady as advocate for health and lean diets for schoolchildren and the fat?

As has been pointed out people using marijuana get the munchies and put on weight. That makes them more tranquil and tolerant of wealth trickling upward in every networked transaction. Who needs to know or care what's what?

Khat is a mild natural leaf amphetamine that lets users chew it and skip meals while working harder. It's grown a lot in Yemen and might be considered equally as valid as marijuana for effecting body weight. It's said also to be a mild euphoric. Is the Obama administration considering advocating for khat chewing as well as marijuana?

If there is a good side to khat chewing it's that it would create green jobs in the U.S.A. that can't be outsourced. Khat chewing makes the teeth of a use turn green requiring more trips to the dentist for teeth cleaning and those dentists spend dollars locally. It may also create a demand for spittoon sales that have been in a slump since the effects of tobacco of causing cancer were discovered. One might do some data mining to learn if the government is considering promoting khat production in California's Central Valley by discovering if they have given medical research funds to find out if khat is at all carcinogenic.

Ig Nobel Prize Winning 'Beer Goggle' - U.S. Government Public Debt Nears $17 Trillion

When the Obama administration failed twice to let the Bush II era tax cuts expire the better opportunity to rescue the U.S. economy from the long range crisis of deep public debt was averted. At least the beer goggle effect that occurs when people think they look better after drinking a few beers was researched adequately in 2012. Some government economists may discover a real way to balance the federal budget and pay down public debt one day too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24061992 Ig Nobel Prize Award for'Beer Goggle'

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Blogs/Capital-Exchange/2011/02/08/Capital-Exchange-Simple-Solution-Let-the-Bush-Tax-Cuts-Expire

http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/budget-debt-ceiling-Obama-US/2013/09/01/id/523326

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Potential Syrian Political Settlement Evolution by Design v. 2.0 Syraq

Modern civil war may end when one side or the others delivers a knock out punch or alternatively when rebel forces burn out. If international forces support rebels an end may occur when they stop supporting the rebels. If international forces for-themselves have too many dead boots on the ground a political settlement can be a band-aid for retreat from the civil war to friendlier climes.

In the case of the Syrian civil war a realpolitik political settlement logic could be construction of a new synthetic state uniting Syria with Iraq called Syraq.

Syria's were drawn up in 1923 after Britain defeated the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the First World War along with Germany giving the French control of the newly delimited state. Over the next few decades strife often reached the region and the French lost control granting independence to Syria on the way. Hafez Assad led the first Alawite government starting in 1970. Modern Syrian history is as interesting as the history of modern Iraq- wars and strife, repression and survival epics, espionage, intrigue and pathos. Even the inventor of Baathism was from Syria.

Today a political settlement of the Syrian civil war imposed by rich, powerful global martinets giving power to Sunni rebels would mean the right of a majority to purge minority tribes and sects is supported by elites. It is improbable that a western-style democratic pluralism would follow a Sunni takeover of Syria. Sunni Syria probably would not usher an Age of Aquarius and democracy as ostensibly some non-Syrian interventionists may believe.

The Sunni of the Middle East are intolerant of Shi'a mosques. None for instance are in Palestine, Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Christians are attacked in Iraq and Egypt. Saudi Arabia does not allow Protestant Churches in Mecca, tourism in the kingdom is broadly suppressed, twerking occurs only in private-it's not Boston, San Francisco or Washington D.C.. The U.S. administration does little to condemn the Saudis for religious bigotry or hate speech toward Christians.

A better political settlement could be to join Syria onto Iraq. A new Kurdish state would be made in the midst of the new nation so it would end up being a three-state federation. Protecting the rights of minorities in Syria means dividing Syria into thirds with Kurds taking a third, Alawites, Shi'a and Druze sharing a third and non-Kurdish Sunnis taking a third. Each state would have a governor and very interesting parliamentary meetings in Baghdad-the future capitol of Syraq I would guess. The political parties of the new nation would be in a rough balance that might help stabilize Iraq as well as Syria.

It is unreasonable for the Obama administration to regard Syria as a nation of immigrants that can just vote for a democratic government if President Bashir Assad the Alawite strong man is removed. Ethnic group and religious groups mean more to people of that region than in modern America. They have fought as tribes for thousands of years to survive. They tend to bump out and displace rival tribes rather than to tolerate and regard them as equal citizens of a geographic area called a nation.

Syraq would be something of a political experiment that might work. Syraq is a potential emergent synthesis that could start a new contemporary history of democracy in the Middle East. Yet we see a lack of creative political thought in U.S. administrations since the Reagan era. King Cove Alaska for example needs an environment-trashing road built 13 miles through a wildlife refuge so people can get to an all-weather airport off the island. Wildlife needs to be protected from human predation. The better solution would be construction of a sealed people pipeline for an electric shuttle vehicle that would let people travel through without an ability to harm the wildlife. Because nothing like that is usually done its not on the Department of the Interior's easy solutions page. Nothing so far has been mentioned by State so far about Syraq either. Syraq isn't on their easy solutions page.

2nd Kings 18-20... ( Assyria and King Hezekiah-King James Version)

"18 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is in the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house.

16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

20 Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25 Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

27 But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:

29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

19 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

21 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

25 Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

32 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.

34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

20 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,

3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.

6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8 And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?

9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

12 At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

14 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.

15 And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord.

17 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.

18 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?

20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead."

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

Senator Kerry Has A 'Munich Moment' on Syrian Intervention

Secretary of State Kerry made N.P.R headlines again Saturday night detailing paradigm plans of attack on Syria's chemical war infrastructure. He made another bad analogy saying that this is a Munich moment such as occurred in 1936 with the appeasement of Hitler. President Assad of Syria doesn't seem likely to invade any foreign countries though as Nazi Germany did. It is the United State's President fomenting an attack on Syria spending weapons and quality military time costing possibly billions with dollars with e-dollars made real by Fed Chief Bernanke. With luck the U.S.A. won't experience the Reich's hyperinflation too.

It is challenging to find the language to describe America's traditionally ineffective, expensive and convoluted foreign policy as it applies to Syria. Below I will try to present the developing pattern of current policy. It is troubling that a government that cannot balance its own budget, design full employment or restore environmental health is the biggest fan of war. N.P.R. reported that Secretary Kerry spoke flawless French to the French and other Euros arguing for air attack. Very impressive-he looks French himself, yet in the language of his non-billionaire countrymen (generally) American English arguing for intervention he relies too much on historical clichés' using tunnel-vision logic on the Syrian conundrum.

If the Obama administration plans to enter the Twilight Zone in an attack on Syria consider that Nebuchanezzar II did long ago too Kicking the Assyrians out was a Biblical sort of political change for the region. Named for the god Nebu he trashed Ninevah in the 7th century B.C. and the Egyptian and Assyrian armies at the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C.

In entering the historical fray and lining up for a possibly eschatological swing of things the Obama administration seems rash. Nebuchadnezzar IIhad a mission from God. It seems unlikely that the Obama administration has a call from that source.

It seems the U.S.A. works hard to develop worst-case investment in foreign conflict events. One would think that neo-cons are in the Obama camp along with the Harvard economic elite consolidating wealth. They require someone to blame first to attack later. War on the installment plan. What that doesn't do is implement proactive economic policy that could serving as a good example for ordinary people of the world.

The American government just is too narrow minded to lead in peace and prosperity in a positive social and economic direction. Instead it too commonly relies on getting ignorant and war for international relation problem solving. If the country targeted is not really too dangerous to us we can attack. If the nation is too dangerous or difficult to attack we let it go and let it develop nuclear weapons such as North Korea. That isn't a John Wayne at Guadalcanal sort of policymaking, neither is it a 'blessed are the peacemakers' approach. It is a blessed are the war makers for they shall have war policy of international relations. The Sunni have much of world oil supplies. Wall Street and Washington are drawn to that like moths to a light in the darkness of a swamp.

Well balanced international relations ought to start with a balanced U.S. national budget, elimination of vast public debt, full employment, stable population, high standard of living and a recovering ecosystem. We can take a lesson from John Lennon by changing his lyrics a little bit to understand the administration policy; War is the answer, you got to let it grow, you've got to let it show so we can keep playing those war games forever, making more wars out of those that have gone before... Shouldn't war crimes charges be filed in a war crimes venue instead of entry of the U.S.A. into a war it has been promoting for at least two years?

The Obama administration seems determined to advance the project of creating a facsimile of a Sunni caliphate from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Atlantic as soon as possible by bumping out the only non-Sunni nation besides Israel in the way Syria (with Lebanon a sort of a polysectarian society) for the present. Lebanon had the P.L.O. and Yassir Arafat living there eventually being forced to move to North Africa, before the Shi'a of Hezballah increased power. Al Qaeada cadre may find it easier to organize and travel through a Sunni caliphate.

If Syria becomes ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, the Shi'a nation that Washington D.C doesn't like, will be isolated and bereft of friendly non-Sunni power on its borders. Probably Washington insiders have calculated that ditching Assad and the Alawite will bring the Age of Aquarius to the south shore of the Mediterranean and help Europe adjust to Sunni power and influence. The French may need to learn to speak Arabic.

India too- that developed independence when the immanent prospect of a vast Muslim-Hindu war prompted the war-weary Brits to exit may find bilateral relations with Pakistan more challenging if a Sunni Caliphate ruled by Wahhabi royals develops simplifying empirical power flow iterations for terrorists.

It is good to know that the Obama administration's drive to boot Assad and other non-Sunni  sectarian governments from power in North Africa and the Middle East say the Syrian wr must conclude through  a negotiated political settlement such as worked for the U.S.A. in Vietnam. The Paris peace talks were very cool. Everyone spoke French- Ho Chi Minh worked in Paris as a waiter in youth. A Sunni Caliphate will bring terrorists together under one orthodox Islamic political hegemony. Salifist and Wahhabist drifts toward intolerance of Christians and Jews and tourism in Saudi Arabia could evolve in different directions. The end of the Assad regime must bring visions of new market sales throughput and sugar plum fairies to the White House and Wall Street.

The homosexual elite of Boston seem like the administration's special advisors comparable to neocons lobbying the Bush II White House. President Obama's evolution of leadership may have a paradigm expecting Saudi Arabia's military to tolerate homosexual marriage and allow women to enter the ministry of the Koran to former mujahideen and mufsidoon that will repent their intolerance and lapses into use of hate speech. In a race to the top education program for Muslims of the Caliphate national policy usually regarded as decadence could be thought of as progress along with vast national debt requiring only broadcast media conditioning of the masses for making things hunkie dorrie.

Bombing Syria to bring peace and war-bucks to defense contractors is a giant leap for big brother government. As it is unlikely that a bombing mission will remove all Syrian chemical weapons-even a few gallons could kill many thousands used carefully, and only a Syrian capability of using chemical weapons against a conventional military force attacking in large numbers might be done though its unlikely that any large conventional military force besides the United States might attack Syria, the object of ending the threat of chemical attacks on civilians in Syria doesn't seem like a mission that can accomplished with a bombing 'to degrade the ability of the Syrian government to wage chemical war'. Since a basic rule of war is like that of a syllogism, or dictum de omni-the premises must add up to the conclusion, the logic of the administration seems faulty.

What seems lost in the hurricane of war planning activity by the administration is that vote by the Senate and House to support a quick affordable chastisement of Assad's military or to demure. Evidently the vote was just make-work for a Congress that hasn't anything better to do anyway. To keep them in practice in case they need to pass meaningful legislation one day when they least expect it is an executive responsibility. A good example of selective law enforcement upgrade by the President-just get the congress to waste time on resolutions to-be-ignored as well as laws.

Fuzzy Logic in Chess Patterns and Politics

Fuzzy logic instead of incomplete, precise logic seems generally a good idea sometimes. I guess it's comparable to describing atoms moving around in clusters as molecules instead of writing up quarks and everything-too much math for the circumstances. Not even tablet computers do that yet. Maybe there is a photo app for chess pattern choices that's in the public domain?

Kingscrusher made a  video example of using patterns instead of just calculation analyzing a game between Magnus Carlsen and Luke McShane.

In  general pattern analysis is used by good historians yet these days not too much in politics and macro-economics with any good effect. Good political leaderships needs to look at the movement of the woods and the health of the forest as well as individual trees.