Remembering September 10th

"What's that? September 10th? Doesn't he mean September 11th?" No, I mean September 10th. Here, from Rigorous Intuition is a recollection of the events of September 10, 2001 that bear remembering:

• The last day for suspicious trading on American and United Airlines. ... the Chicago Exchange sees the purchase of 4,516 put options on American to only 748 call - 60 times above normal. On the Pacific Exchange, the trading ratio on United is 25 times greater than normal. Later, investigators can't help but notice that no other airlines saw such trading in their put options. ...
  
• The last day for suspicious trading on Morgan Stanley, one of the World Trade Center's largest tenants. Between Sept. 7 and Sept. 10, the company experiences an increase of 27 times in the purchase of put options on its shares. ...
  
• Regarding the spike of unusual stock activity, Dylan Ratigan of Bloomberg says on Sept 20, "This could very well be insider trading at the worst, most horrific, most evil use you've ever seen in your entire life... This would be one of the most extraordinary coincidences in the history of mankind if it was a coincidence." ...
  
• Mohammed Atta calls Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the operational planner of 9/11, and receives final approval for the attacks. The call is monitored and translated by the US, though how quickly is unknown, as are the contents of the conversation. ...
  
• As reported in Newsweek, on September 10 a number of senior Pentagon officials cancel their commercial flights for the following morning due to security considerations. ...
  
• A FEMA team arrives in New York City for the "Tripod II" bioterror exercise. Before the 9/11 commission, Rudy Giuliani acknowledged that the FEMA camp was already in place to receive victims of the attack, and was larger and better equipped than the NYC terror response unit that was lost in the collapse of WTC building 7. ...

Not that I want to help spread conspiracy theories or anything, but you might want to look at the full timeline posting at Rigorous Intuition.

Of course, if thinking about September 10 and 11 have got you down, you could look forward to September 12. That's the day when the House of Yahweh says that the nuclear war is set to begin. But don't worry, odds are you'll survive the start and linger to perish a bit later on:

Beginning September 12, 2006 nuclear war will start that will kill a third part of man over a forth part of the earth; but that is not the end. The end will come thirteen months later with four-fifths of the population destroyed. Yes, the sin-filled religions are supporting their sinful governments to prepare for a mass slaughter. The Savior said the world would engage in nuclear war that will darken the sun.

You may laugh at this prophecy today - but come Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning, you'll be searching through your web browsing history trying to find that link to see what's coming next. If, that is, you've managed to be among the initial survivors.

Enjoy the weekend. Or, what's left of it, anyway.

Tags: September 10, September 11, timeline, insider trading, conspiracy theories, Yahweh, prophecy, nuclear war, September 12

"We're here not to agree but to hear each other"

Over the Labor Day weekend, more than 250 Jews, Muslims, and Christians from the Mid-East, Northern California, and elsewhere, gathered in the woods of Tuolumne County, California, near Yosemite National Park, to talk about peace.

Len and Libby Traubman have been running a group for local Palestinians and Jews in San Mateo, CA since the early 1990s to try and create a dialogue for peace. They began the camp three years ago because, as Len says, "Government itself can't do it. It doesn't have the consent or the will or the imagination."

Some campers said they were drawn to the weekend retreat because they dread another war in the Middle East. Others came to heal their wounds.
...
"I see ourselves as two sides of the same coin, but it's a volatile situation," [an Israeli participant] said. "I think Israel was born out of absolute desperation. They needed a place to live, and they didn't give a hell who they pushed out. ... I don't think anything will be solved with violence. Someday, people will get tired of fighting."
...
[A Palestinian man], who lived the first 18 years of his life in Ramallah on the West Bank, said suicide bombings are acts of ultimate desperation. "I imagine there were many people at Auschwitz who would have been ready to be suicide bombers if given the chance."
...
Across the glen, pairs were engaged in similar conversations. At the end of their dialogue, a young Jewish woman and a Palestinian man hugged in a long, tear-streamed embrace.

This annual camp began with only 45 attendees. This year there were more applicants than could fit. The people are hungry for peace. Included in the group this year were former Israeli soldiers, Palestinian fighters, and citizens from all over who have experienced the hatred and the fear and have tired of it.

At one point during the long weekend, the campers heard a story from the Coast Miwok, whose tribal ancestors once inhabited the Sierra region where they were gathered:

A boy tells his grandfather: "I feel that I have two wolves fighting inside of me. One is angry and violent. The other is loving and compassionate. Who will win?"

The grandfather responds: "The one you feed."

Read the full story at SFGate.com: TUOLUMNE COUNTY: Peaceful setting, intense dialogue.

Tags: peace, Israel, Palestine, Arab, Jewish, dialogue, Middle East

Corporations are our big cuddly friends who always look out for us

Sometimes I'm just surfing around through the blogosphere and I read something just makes me bang my head against my desk and ask, "Huh?"

This mornings' Huh moment came when I somehow stumbled across the "Esdena: Student Marketplace" blog and read a post called "Welcome back MIT! and Why Do People Hate Corporations." Now, I'm fine with the MIT part (welcome back to school), it's the rest of the post where logic leaves the writer behind.

The writer, Dominic Lee, says (in part - typos included):

I don't know about elsewhere, but at least here at Rice, people HATE corporations. Businesses and extreprenuers are seen as mercenary, greedy pigs that care only about money.

These people just never seem to remember their own parents probably will not have a job if it werent for these businesses...

There are several questions I want to ask:
Did Greenpeace invented Hybrid cars? Or did Toyota?
Did Friends of the Earth revolutionized the energy industry by introducing more efficient fuels? Or did BP?

My point here is, I believe for-profit corporations are more effective than non-profits organizations in achieving social means. ...

Okay. Good introduction. Good questions. Wrong conclusion.

First off, I don't hate corporations. I hate corrupt corporations, of which there are many. But I am not a knee-jerk, anti-business death-to-McDonald's type. In fact, I am a small businessperson with two companies of my own, one of which is consulting to nonprofit organizations. So, while I am very much "in the nonprofit world" I am also a businessperson.

Back to the question ... "Did Greenpeace invented [sic] Hybrid cars? Or did Toyota?" Well, obviously it was Toyota (or Honda, or whatever). But it does not logically follow that Toyota is more effective at achieving environmental mission than Greenpeace.

Greenpeace is not organized to invent technology. They are not in the field of engineering. They are advocates and activists. Their mission is about education and getting the public involved in environmental issues.

Toyota is not organized to solve the world's problems. They are organized to devise and sell vehicles that are in current demand by the marketplace.

It's a fairly simple chain reaction:
Greenpeace (and others) influence public opinion on fossil fuels -> Public demands more fuel-efficient vehicles -> Toyota (and Honda, etc.) develop hybrid engines -> Toyota Prius becomes top seller.

I applaud Toyota for their work. I mean to take nothing away from it. But, it is the work of Greenpeace (and a dozen other major and hundreds of smaller nonprofits) that made the change in society that resulted in the Prius being a top seller.

The same chain of nonprofits influencing public opinion, to the public demanding something from the marketplace, also holds true for the Friends of the Earth / BP question. Thank you BP for coming up with cleaner fuels. But first thank you to Friends of the Earth for getting out the message and influencing the market.

See how it works? Nonprofits influence the market. Corporations deliver in the market. They each play an important role. And then there are the thousands of things nonprofits do that have no market solution - or where the market is part of the problem - such as in the fields of hunger and housing.

Mr. Lee goes on to explain why corporations are better at achieving social goals:

Why? Because of tax breaks provided to companies when they make donations.

What? Yes, because of the tax breaks, very often, a company almost HAVE to donate some money. I mean, financially, they will have to pay anyway, they might as well build a good rep by donating those money they would otherwise in paying in form of tax.

Again, Mr. Lee states a fact (corporations give to nonprofits), but draws the wrong conclusion.

Corporate donations only make up about 4 to 5% of all charitable contributions. It's very nice, and we appreciate it very much, but this alone is certainly not what "achieves social means."

Final quote from the post:

... businesses will always donate to non-profits which fit the following criteria:

1. Have close connections with the corporations
2. Throw a good (by good, I mean luxurious most of the time) charity event
3. Able to create good PR for the business

Ok, so NONE of these 3 says anything about the non-profits ability to achieve their social goals.

Mr. Lee obviously knows nothing about the nonprofit sector, and his picture of the sector as providing nothing but good PR, tax breaks, and party invitations would be insulting if it weren't so laughable.

Mr. Lee, how about I ask you a few questions? Can you show me legitimate examples of where corporations have done a consistently better job of achieving the social goals of feeding the homeless, or rescuing wildlife, or fighting for civil rights?

Every social advance and achievement in this country over the past century was accomplished almost exclusively through the hard work and dedication of the nonprofit sector.

Yes, corporations have been involved (as they should be). But typically only after the change has been effected in the court of public opinion. The power of the marketplace to complete changes is incredible, and I mean to take nothing away from that. But, without the power of nonprofits to advocate for causes and lead the charges, very little would ever be accomplished in the area of social change.

You can disagree with me, but this is what I know.

Crossposted to the Nonprofit Consultant Blog

Tags: nonprofit, social change, Toyota, Prius, Greenpeace, corporations

PERRspectives on the slippery marriage slope

When you are defending the denial of basic civil rights to people, you've got to have a darn good argument. One the arguments conservatives love to trot out in defending discriminatory marriage laws is the slippery slope.

You know the argument: "If marriage isn't limited to just one man and one woman, why not open it up to 15 women and one man, or one man and a child, or a man and a box turtle." Yes, those arguments have all been used - even the box turtle.

A posting today on PERRspectives blog takes on Warren Jeffs, Tucker Carlson and Conservatives' Uses of Polygamy and explains why these arguments are just a distraction.

Same-sex marriage advocates merely argue that the state should recognize the loving relationships that free, autonomous and equal individuals choose to enter into and maintain. And that's where the analogy of gay marriage to polygamy ends.

By definition, polygamy institutionalizes a state of inequality between the spouses engaged in it. Whether involving multiple wives or husbands, the practice enshrines marital disadvantage in family standing, in livelihood, and in, well, consortium. Since the end of the Civil War at least, the United States has not looked kindly on involuntary servitude and has forbid individuals to enter (even freely) contracts that will abridge their freedom and equality in the future. Men and women are not free to be unfree.

This is an excellent post, but one additional point that I would add is to remember this: Warren Jeffs didn't make it to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list simply for polygamy. He got to be a top fugitive from justice for trafficking in underage women and forcing them into servitude.

The legal side of marriage is a civil contract. The last I checked, you needed to be an adult to enter into a binding contract. Not a child, not a dog, and not a box turtle. And, the last time I checked, and as PERRspectives points out, you could not legally enter into a contract that abridges your freedom.

No slippery slope. Just more excuses for denying citizens their rights based on sexual preference.

Tags: marriage, slippery slope, polygamy, conservatives, contracts, Warren Jeffs

From the folks who brought you the weekend

Happy Labor Day - I hope you're enjoying this day away from labor, and not one of those whose jobs require them to work on holidays. I hope you'll also take a moment to think about what it means to have one day each year to take time off to honor the labor movement in this country.

I can hear many of you whining now, claiming you never benefited any from the labor movement. You've done it all yourselves, every raise, every benefit, every day off - it's what you've earned all on your own. Yeah, right.

Labor unions have fallen upon difficult times, with dropping membership and fewer successes. But they've also been instrumental in making the workplace safer and more humane. The 40-hour work week, the end of child labor, health care benefits - these (and much more) were all brought about as a result of organized labor.

Yes, we're a nation that prides itself on us all being "rugged individuals." But, the fact is, much of our history flies in the face of that oft-repeated myth. Collective action and working in community with each other is what has always made us strong, and is responsible for our greatest achievements.

It is only the achievements we have accomplished by sticking together and supporting each other that have allowed us the freedom to be "rugged individuals" in the rest of our lives.

As a self-employed writer/consultant, I am not in any unions. In the past, I have been a member of AFSCME, and a member (and one-time president) of SHRA-EA. My wife has just finished up three years as the CTA rep for her school. We know first-hand that organized labor is not always as organized as we might like. We know the frustrations of paying dues and dealing with the national union bureaucracy. And we know what we've achieved through collective bargaining when we've brought new contracts to our co-workers. It's all worth it.

Have a toast to labor!

Tags: Labor Day, unions, rugged individualism, organized labor, collective bargaining

Humans rule! (follow-up)

Back in June I wrote about a web site called gethuman.com that gave tips on getting around automated phone systems and actually talking to actual customer service humans at various companies.

Yesterday, I received an email telling me about a new service that goes one step further. "BRINGO" claims to eliminate the phone trees altogether. What you do is search for the company you want to reach on their site, then enter your phone number on the site. They make the call, get through to a person, and ring you up when the human is on the line!

I haven't tried it yet, but if it works as advertised, it would be like having a personal secretary making the calls for you, and could save you (me!) a lot of stress and wasted time. The service is free to users (the site is full of ads that will hopefully support the cost of the phone lines).

Right now they're still in beta, so there aren't a lot of companies listed. But, if the ad revenue is enough to keep the service free, this could grow into something very helpful indeed.

Take that, you darn machines!

Tags: customer service, phone trees, human beings, new web sites

I'm on the YouTube...

I've been watching YouTube for a week or two, seeing the different types of videos people post, and thinking about it. But rather than write about YouTube, I'll just tell you in video...



Tags: YouTube, personal