America to the Rescue

I have to admit it, I love the Daily Show. I am not sure there has ever been a stronger argument for a non-interventionist foreign policy than is made here. Simply tied together in a very real and historically correct way. Though it is aimed as a defense for Obama's lack of experience, it is actually a full on push for Ron Paul. "Oh billions and billions of dollars, is there any problem you can't solve?"

Post Katrina Theft of Weapons

Ok, so i have had this video as part of the blog main page for a few days now. Time to change it out with a new one. If you haven't already watched, it clearly shows the violation of US Citizens 2nd amendment rights by the police of New Orleans following Katrina. Poice beat and abuse citizens for the now crime of owning a firearm. To date, few of the taken firearms have been returned, despite a federal order to do so.

15 die eating puffer fish in Thailand

I'm glad I went for the Fugu in Japan instead of the "Salmon" in Thailand! Cute little guy isn't he?

BANGKOK, Thailand - Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday.

Although banned since 2002, puffer fish continues to be sold in large quantities at local markets and restaurants, said Narin Hiransuthikul of Bangkok's Chulalonkorn University Hospital.

"Some sellers dye the meat of puffer fish and make it look like salmon which is very dangerous," Narin said.

Narin said over the past three years more than 15 people have died and about 115 were hospitalized from eating the fish.

The ovaries, liver and intestines of the puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin, a poison so potent that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it can "produce rapid and violent death."

The fish is called fugu in Japan, where it is consumed by thrill-seeking Japanese gourmets for whom the risk of poisoning adds piquancy.

Every year, there are reports of people dying or falling sick in Asia from eating puffer fish. Eating the fish can cause paralysis, vomiting, heart failure and death.

Home

Just a short and quick update. I am finally back home in San Francisco :). I have some old posts to still put up once I get settled in...

Some lewrockwell.com articles

Our Criminal Government and Its Central Bank

Posted by Lew Rockwell at 12:36 PM

Governments inflate--what's called counterfeiting in the private sector--as an underhanded way to increase their spending, and as a reward to the big banks and other special interests, and the heck with the consequences.

The government's CPI has always understated actual price increases--the most visible effect of inflation--but now the Fed's buzzards are coming home to roost.

Inflation has a redistributionary effect from the people at large, especially the poor and the retired, to the government, the banks, and government contractors, who get the newly created money first, and can spend it before it diminishes in value.

Then the rest of us pick up the tab in the form, for example, of much higher food prices.

This is a criminal process no different than outright theft, except that it is disguised, and also brings on recessions and depressions. Oh, and we are supposed to admire the Official Crooks as versus the private variety.

As Murray Rothbard said, the state is only "a band of thieves writ large."

Mattel Toy Recall

Posted by Lew Rockwell at 11:48 AM

Writes Bryan Stewart: "The recent Mattel toy recall provides an excellent contrast in private sector vs govt sector, and their attitudes towards consumers.

"As many as 18.5 million Mattel toys are potentially affected. The logistics involved must be mind boggling, to try and track down all affected toys. Yet, the process is remarkably easy and efficient. Not knowing if my 2 1/2 year olds' toy truck was affected, I decided to find out. Mattel has organized their entire website for this, seemingly overnight. Plug in a little code from the bottom of your toy, and the site takes you through the steps to find out if it should be recalled. It is wonderfully organized, each type of toy having its own weblink. Turns out that my son's toy is affected. I provided my information, and a return receipt is on its way to me. The whole process took me about five minutes, and was hassle-free. We see the CEO on the website reassuring customers, and trying to salvage their business. The (voluntary) recall is being conducted with the safety and satisfaction of the customer as the highest priority. Can anyone seriously imagine the govt trying to process 18.5 million requests out-of-the-blue virtually overnight? Chaos would reign.

"Of course this story was the lead on the nightly news, too. I caught ABC's version with Charles Gibson last night and what a disgusting display it was, further proof that our entire culture has become governo-centric (if that is even a word). What to do if you think a toy you own could be affected? According to ABC, go to the govt's website for a list. Why not go to Mattel's directly? They did not raise this point. My experience was wonderful. And my favorite was the little line that 'the govt allows companies to monitor lead content themselves' (!) as if the govt owns the property and is merely leasing the rights to Mattel. It is easy to see how, to the politically naive, statism creeps in unnoticed with the full help of the MSM.

"The whole charade continued this morning on the news, and the focus turned of course to China. The threatening language of federal bureaucrats was just too much. Finding it unbearable to watch, I switched it off, but the take home message was essentially that the Chinese cannot be trusted, and the ultimate costs of cheap goods from China may be your child's lives. More not-so-subtle, empty-headed flag-waving. God help us all."

Guam

What is there to say about Guam? Well the first thing people generally ask me is "Where is Guam?" I am here and I am not exactly sure! Go look it up.

Guam is an interesting place of sorts. A smallish island, lush with vegetation, but mixed with a strong blend of poverty and wealth. The difference between the tourist area of the beach, filled with Louie Vitton, Coach, gold, jewelry, and resorts against the rest of the island is striking. Even there, strewn between the bastions of excess are strip clubs and massage parlors complete with there resplendent neon signs. It is a testament to the state of the islands economy. Gucchi for those that have it and a seedy massage parlor for those that don't. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other small businesses, but these two in such stark contrast tell a story all on their own.

I have had the opportunity to travel a fair bit the situation here is the same I have seen in other places. Yep, this is my social commentary moment. Here you have a long time domestic population that was colonized and subjugated. First by the Spaniards a few hundred years ago, and then ceded to the US in the late 1800's. It is a place that has been used with little concern for what happened to the area or native population. In WW2 nearly all American citizens (translated whites) were evacuated prior to the Japanese invasion. Everyone else was left to fend for themselves and when the Japanese invaded they were treated as an occupied enemy.

Today it would be generous to say people are left to fend for themselves. if that were the case I believe they would be much better off. Rather, it is an island that scraps by on tourism and handouts with unrealistic expectations placed on it. The real money goes to those that already have it and the scraps go to those barely getting by. What's the solution? Got me, but I think full autonomy would be a good start. I know, that is just crazy talk. What would people do with out the US Govt in their life? How would anyone survive?

Airport Hell

Right, so going to Guam I learned several things:

1) Just because you have a reservation and you’re told everything is GTG, don’t count on it. I showed up at the airport only to find that my ticket had not actually been purchased. Sorry Karl, this one is one you, we will reimburse you later…

2) Narita Airport, the major international airport in Japan, just outside of Tokyo, the King of Electronics, the “We install monster sized PV solar panels to save the earth” airport does not have any internal wireless network aside from the Executive suites where you are issued a name and password. As if I really want to be a part of that uber-elite wireless network anyway. Screw them and their “you will never know the joys of what’s behind these doors” selves. Just give me some peasant class wireless to go with my peasant class economy ticket. I’ll plug the damn thing into the network if I have to, just give me a place to do it. Oh yeah, they also don’t give you anywhere comfortable to sit down and wait when your flight is delayed 5 hours past the scheduled departure time.

3) Did I mention the screaming herd of kids sitting right behind me, right now? Anyone have a stun-gun? Where is security to drag these brigands to the bowels of the airport? Oh yeah, probably hassling some 65 year old grandmother with a brick of cheese in her luggage.

4) I want an iphone. However, it probably would not work here either.

5) Why are Japanese Cell phones so much better than ours. Don’t get me wrong, they are just as much evel about it as we are, all the phones are locked down to specific companies, but they are much more capable. For instance, with the phone I was using I was able to use the phones camera to scan Kongi (the Japanese / Chinese character) and it would translate them into English, or vice versa. Show me a phone in the states that can even come close to doing that! They almost all have built in currency exchange calculators and financial management assistance, and some go so far as to have a built in TV and / or radio tuners, all the while being only slightly larger if not the same size as what we have. US Cellular is holding out on us. (OK, this one has nothing to do with going to Guam)

Fugu Gump

Fugu… all the same thing. I went to Tokyo with the sole purpose of having a taste of this far east delicacy. Difficult to find, expensive, and potentially deadly all make this a bite to remember. It takes years for a sushi chef to become qualified and licensed to serve Fugu. A license is issued and national standards are set to qualify. A slightly wrong slice can prove deadly for whoever eats it. The exam is so difficult to pass, on 1-3 percent of those who take it pass.

My experience with Fugu: Unfortunately for me I read the Wiki article about it before I tried it. I read in great detail the manor in which the poison works and how it kills. See, it is a type of sodium blocker, as it takes effect it paralyzes the victim, losing all muscle control, yet not affecting the brain in any way. Eventually it shuts down the respiratory system and you suffocate to death, all the while totally aware of what is happening. There is no cure, if caught in time the only treatment is to place you on life support until the toxins are naturally cleared from the body. It also goes on to tell you that the some of the most toxic parts of the fish are its skin and its liver. Oh yeah, cooking does not reduce the toxicity of the poison.

I ordered the full course of Fugu, if I was going to do it, I was going all the way. 1^st course, Boiled skin of Fugu Salad. Wait a minute, I though this was something I wasn’t supposed to eat???? After the first bite my lips and tongue were slightly numb and I decided both the taste, texture, and thought of eating boiled skin fish was not very good. Did I mention I couldn’t feel my lips or tongue? Well, if they are willing to serve it to me, I am willing to eat it so down the salad of skin went.

One dish down… what next? Fugu Sashimi. Raw slices of the thickest, meatiest areas of the fish served raw over rice with a very nice soya sauce. Rating….. excellent. I really liked this and could have had several more servings.

NEXT! Grilled Fugu with vegetables. Another excellent dish. It was a bit more of a challenge than I anticipated though. Unlike the sashimi that had no bones, these pieces most certainly did. I think of myself as adequate with chopsticks, but I had never tried deboning a fish with them before this night. It didn’t go so well, and feeling sorry for me the waitress brought fork and knife which I eventually broke down and used (only when I had to). Hey, wait a minute, this piece looks different, waitress what is this? Oh, um liver of Fugu?? I didn’t think I was supposed to eat this either. Oh well, if they are going to serve it… and wow, so far the liver is my favorite part!

Are my arms starting to go numb???? Hard to tell, I should probably slow down on the beer just in case.

On to the next… Boiled Fugu Stew with vegetables.

This was very cool. All of the tables (all 4 of them) had induction cook tops built into them. The stew is made in a paper lined basket, right there at the table and served as each piece is ready.

Hold on, is that more liver, ohhhh two more pieces?!?!? Umm, ok. May I have a cup of green tea please? I think they were pulling livers out of other fish to give me so much, these pieces were huge compared to the size of one fish! Again, the liver was the tastiest. How could this be bad for me????

Boiled Fugu Stew rating…. Not bad. I think at this point I was starting to suffer from a little Fugu burn-out. One slice she was particularly proud of, “This is the face of the Fugu.” “The face?” pointing to my face. “Yes, the face.” Yummy, I ate the face of a fish. Again, back to the knife and fork to pick out every bit of Fugu Face goodness.

Here ends the feast of Fugu, the last two courses were a rice and egg dish, made in the same water the Fugu was boiled in, and an ice cream with tea for desert. As I was leaving the manager handed me a card with the restaurant's name and in large print across the top FUGU. I think the card was meant to be stapled to my head in the unfortunate case I stop breathing. Do it again…. Absolutely, but next time I am taking someone with me. I suspect the course I ordered was portioned for at least 2 if not three people to share.