"They Swarm and Overwhelm."

Hackers recently gained access to computer systems used to design a new U.S. jet fighter. When I heard the news I remembered him. He told me about swarm and overwhelm tactics. Is that what the hackers are attempting to do?

He is an American. I sat next to him on a plane some time ago. He wanted to talk and I was content to listen. For more than 20 years he has worked for the same employer, a company based in Asia. He travels a great deal around the U.S. and the world. He talked about how his employer operates. The account was a bit chilling.

They swarm," he said. "The competition is simply overwhelmed. They push the envelope on everything relentlessly.

When fighting legal contests they bring in an army of lawyers, including specialists in every branch of the law that might conceivably apply to the case. They work 14 hours a day seven days a week to win.

"Even when they play golf," he said, "they shave strokes and look down on anyone who doesn't.

His employer has been rapidly buying U.S. businesses during the recession using these tactics. If a buyer doesn't want to sell, they find a way to force the sale.

In his travels he has learned a lot about the global competition U.S. companies face. He noted, for example, how Chinese companies systematically analyze products of U.S. manufacturers. Workers examine products piece by piece, then figure out how to improve and manufacture them at less cost.

Here in the U.S. he once watched two representatives of a Chinese factory, who had just purchased an expensive ($3,000+) bicycle, take it to their hotel room, disassemble it piece by piece and photograph each component. When finished they threw all the parts into a dumpster.

So, when the news reported how hackers had successfully invaded some U.S. defense systems, I wondered if there might be a connection between the hackers' actions and what my fellow traveller described.

I recently saw a television travel program in which the host knelt down on a dock along the Amazon River, a part of the river in which piranhas are particularly aggressive. He suspended a dead duck above the water and then lowered the carcass into the river and held it there for about 30 seconds. He brought it back to the surface for examination. I was amazed at how much flesh had been eaten in such a short period of time. The piranhas had swarmed and overwhelmed.

Is this what we're facing?

Socialism on the Horizon?

Critics of President Obama say that the president is taking the U.S. down a path toward socialism. Is that what Americans want?

It sounds like the kind of argument one might expect from disgruntled Republicans. How can it be true when President Obama has enjoyed the support of many capitalists including the likes of Warren Buffett and former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker?

But note these findings from a recent Rasmussen poll found recently in The Week magazine:

• 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism


• 20% say socialism is better


• 27% are not sure (!)

That's only a slim majority who favor capitalism. 47% have serious doubts that capitalism is better than socialism.

Note that our post dated October 22, 2008, contained this item:

"Adam Lerrick, professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, recently published an article in the Wall Street Journal...His assertions are based on startling data. Should we be concerned? Yes we should. According to professor Lerrick, 40% of eligible voters—89 million people—paid no income taxes in 2006."

The post went on to say that under President Obama's then spending proposals, the 40% would climb to nearly 50%.

Should we be surprised that 47% of the country's voters have doubts about capitalism? When a large percentage of voters pay no income tax, and yet benefit in some way from government spending as we all do, then perhaps it's no wonder.

Sound the alarm. Many people have doubts about the capitalistic system which, with all its shortcomings, made our country an economic powerhouse.

Now what?

Peace With Honor

That was the headline in The Plain Dealer in 1973 when the Vietnam war ended. I came across the old paper recently while cleaning out files. It was a reminder that sometimes it pays to step back in time.

What was more striking was a box below the fold. It said "Remember 45,933 Americans died in the war." Contrast that today with the running total of Americans who have died in the Iraq war, about 4,500. What a contrast.

Yet both wars seem to have had a similar impact on American attitudes despite the huge difference in severity of U.S. deaths.

Writing in The New York Times in 1973, columnist James Reston summed up the national mood this way:

"The guess here is that it will take some time to restore the self-confidence of the pre-Vietnam years in the United States, but it may be that the destruction of many popular misconceptions in Vietnam will produce a more mature, if sadder, nation."

How does our nation feel today? Are we now more mature, if sadder?

China and Nissan to Pilot "New Energy" Cars

Where would you plan a pilot project for electric cars? A large city? Small city? The People's Republic of China has chosen the city of Wuhan--population 9 million!

Actually, Wuhan is one of 13 cities, including China's largest cities, where pilots will be undertaken. Some 60,000 electric battery, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars will be tested. China hopes to produce 500,000 such "new energy" cars by 2011.

Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province. It is a major transportation hub that sits along both the Yangtze and Han Rivers. Wuhan has over 9 million residents, which makes it similar in size to Chicago in terms of population. That's if you count the greater Chiacgo metropolitan area which stretches into Indiana and Wisconsin.

It appears that Nissan and China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will jointly conduct the test of electric vehicles and a network of charging stations. Nissan is making a major effort to develop electric vehicles. It has already begun a pilot in Japan south of Tokyo. Some 1,000 charge stations are planned there within the next five years.

Wuhan skyline.

Quick Vue: This video will show you images of Wuhan.

Sources for this post include The Wall Street Journal and Wikipedia.

Remember "Is God Dead?"

That was the question posed by Time magazine on its cover many years ago. Since then we've seen the emergence of the mega church. And we can expect to see much more.

At least that's what John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge think. They are the editor in chief and Washington bureau chief, respectively, of The Economist magazine. They've written a new book entitled "God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World." In a recent Wall Street Journal article they made the following striking points excerpted and condensed below:

• Religion is a competitive business where organization and entrepreneurship count.
• Bill Hybels, of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL and Rick Warren, of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, are "pastorpreneurs." Each church has multiple campuses and thousands of members.
• Church growth outside the U.S. is huge. The Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea is an excellent example. It has 800,000 members.
• In China there are an estimated 100 million Christians.
• China will soon be the the world's largest Christian country--and possibly its biggest Muslin country too!

Quick Vue. This video is excerpted from a sermon given in 2007 by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church. The video's description states: "Scriptural truths, the message of salvation, Christ, and a little insight into Bill himself are unmistakably clear in this weekend message synopsis."

Right Speech, Just the Wrong Setting

Our last post stated incorrectly that Ronald Reagan's "A Time for Choosing" speech was given at the 1964 Republican national convention. Here are some key excerpts from the speech plus information about the correct setting. Bottom line: It is a speech as timely today as it was then.

Here are some key excerpts from the speech:

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream-the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.

Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.'

The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, 'What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.' But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we're always 'against,' never 'for' anything."

Source: http://www.presidentreagan.info/speeches/the_speech.cfm

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Correct information about the speech--from the blog "IllinoisReview":
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/03/ronald-reagan-speech-1964-republican-national-convention.html

"Dr. Eric Wallace:

One historical correction on your clip of Ronald Reagan in 1964. That speech was not made at the Republican Convention at the Cow Palace in Daly City near San Francisco in July. I was there. I did hear Reagan introduce Barry Goldwater's two sons at the Masonic Auditorium but he did not have a big speaking role at the convention itself.

The clip you posted is called "A Time for Choosing" and it was taped in October in a TV studio in Los Angeles for an invited audience. It was made into a 30-minute talk (what we now call an informercial) to help raise money for the national Goldwater-Miller TV Committee and the proceeds were split with the California Goldwater-Miller TV Committee. So much money came in so fast as a result of this speech that just the California committee had about $400,000 left over they could not spend by Election Day.

It is a great speech, but it was just not given at the convention.

Posted by: Mark Rhoads Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 11:52 AM"

6 Minutes, Please.

If you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, it doesn't matter. Please watch the first six minutes of this video. It is timely despite the fact that it is from an event that took place 45 years ago.

This is a video of Ronald Reagan addressing the 1964 Republican national convention. He was not the nominee. Pretend, for just the next six minutes, that you only know him as the actor and spokesperson for General Electric that he was at the time. That was how members of this audience knew him. Listen and think about what is being said.

Two years prior to this event Mr. Reagan switched from being a Democrat to a Republican. His address came to be known as the "Time for Choosing Speech" and marked the beginning of his political career.

At the time President Johnson was launching the Great Society initiative, marked by sharply increased social spending and the creation of Medicare.

The video is also a time capsule. You'll observe that in the way the audience is dressed and in Mr. Reagan's use of the terms "man" and "mankind" that suggest gender insensitivity if not discrimination. Regardless, the underlying message resounds.

Sources for this post include Wikipedia.