Working Dogs

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a dog story:

The Belgian sheepherder's name is Pepin. He's no hunting dog or sporting breed out for fun. He's a working dog, one of a few dozen highly trained, toy-crazed canines that are changing the way wildlife biologists such as Parker figure out what's lurking in the woods.

These dogs of various breeds don't rely on their eyes, the way puny-nosed humans do, to try to make sense of the world. They are trained to use their pronounced noses and superior sense of smell to canvass the landscape for animals, animal scat, rare plants and invasive weeds that too easily elude human discovery.

These elite detection dogs have sniffed out invasive, predatory snails in Hawaii and tree snakes in the jungles of Guam. They've climbed the mountains of Central Asia for telltale signs of snow leopards, hunted for nearly extinct rhinos in Vietnam, padded through Kenya in pursuit of cheetahs, and tracked moon bears in China.

More News of the Day

Europe's bond markets in a tizzy

IN 2008 a strike by French and Spanish lorry drivers cut off the supply of components from Germany to Volkswagen’s Auto Europa plant, south of Lisbon, forcing the factory to close for a day. Two years on there is a more serious threat to the supply lines of countries on the fringes of the euro zone. The yield on Ireland’s ten-year government bond vaulted towards 9% on November 10th, 6.2 percentage points above the yield on safe German Bunds (see chart); Portugal’s topped 7%.

  Bernanke's worse nightmare: Ron Paul to become subcomittee chairman

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ben Bernanke has had his hands full since his first day on the job as Federal Reserve chairman nearly five years ago. It's about to get even tougher.
His harshest critic on Capitol Hill, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, is about to become one of his overseers.

With the Republicans coming to power, Paul, who would like to abolish the Fed and the nation's current monetary system, will become the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy.
If you've never heard of the committee before, you're not alone. But Paul promises you'll be hearing a lot more from it.

Facebook shrinks the soul?

We know the consequences of this instinctively; we feel them. We know that having two thousand Facebook friends is not what it looks like. We know that we are using the software to behave in a certain, superficial way toward others. We know what we are doing “in” the software. But do we know, are we alert to, what the software is doing to us? Is it possible that what is communicated between people online “eventually becomes their truth”? What Lanier, a software expert, reveals to me, a software idiot, is what must be obvious (to software experts): software is not neutral. Different software embeds different philosophies, and these philosophies, as they become ubiquitous, become invisible.

First News of the Day

Christians falling to persecution in Iraq

Iraqi Christians might not be able to boast such a heritage – though even if there is no way of proving their belief that the apostle Thomas brought the faith to Iraq in the first century AD, theirs is still one of the oldest Christian communities on earth. Yet after a series of attacks in the past month by Islamist extremists – whose creed is the parvenu of the monotheistic religions in the country – fears are mounting that Christianity in Iraq is doomed to follow Judaism into oblivion.

The Blue State Budget Crisis

While massive state budget shortfalls are not limited to predominantly Democratic states, they are concentrated in them. "In California and New York," says John Hood of the John Locke Foundation, "the fiscal crisis flirts with bankruptcy." Explanations include rising Medicaid costs, increased spending on higher education, and the long-term challenge of funding public pensions. At the same time, says Hood, "All the major sources of revenue have cratered." The states doing worst are the ones, such as California and New York, that had irresponsible budgets going into the recession. States that were fiscally responsible during good economic times, such as Indiana, have had a softer landing.

Oil Headed to $100 on a weak dollar?

Oil prices have hovered around $78 a barrel most of the year, providing little excitement as other commodities, including copper, gold, and cotton, have enjoyed record runups. Global economic growth has not been brisk enough to drive up oil demand substantially, U.S. inventories have been ample, and the Saudis have been pumping enough to guarantee a plentiful supply.

A change in the oil markets may now be upon us. Crude may climb past $100 next year as central banks pump cash into their economies to revive growth, predict JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BC). The Federal Reserve's decision to buy $600 billion of Treasuries from commercial banks should lower U.S. interest rates and weaken the dollar further. Investors may turn increasingly to oil and other commodities to get a decent return.

QE2

A number of elections will not be decided until sometime later today, if not much later.  The most significant in my part of the world would be the Minnesota Govenor's race.  It looks as if the Republicans will seize both houses of the State Legislature for the first time since 1972. 

If they gain the executive mansion as well, the road will be paved for whatever program they come up with to deal with the state's budget shorfall.  Personally, I would prefer a real solution that is negotiated by both the parties, if that is possible.  Either way, much drama awaits in the months to come.

There is a lot of other news.  The Federal Reserve will announce more details about QE2.  That announcement should come out around 11am CDT.  Every aspect of the financial system is waiting for this announcement and will respond.  How?  Unknown.  There are some noises being made, however:

Libyia believes decline of dollar and food prices warrent $100 oil.
QE2 risks a currency war and the end of the reserve currency status for the dollar.
Will China use QE2 to sell our debt back to us?
Copper prices on the rise due to QE2.

and the list goes on...

State Legislatures

Driving through two media markets it looks as if both the Wisconsin and Minnesota Legislatures are going Red.  This makes the govenor's race in Minnesota even more important and magnifies the signifigance of Scott Walker's win in Wisconsin. 

This paves the way for re-districting but a lot of issues controled at the state house.  Conceal Carry in Wisconsin, addressing the budget deficiet in both states, Medicaid eligibility and so much more.  I, like everyone else, may have focused too much on the federal elections and not on what is going on in the states.

Minnesota State Legislature Maps

Mental Health is a Social Construct

so maybe they are not insane?

Exit polls suggest wider appeal of Tea Party

The Tea Party victories by Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida underscored the extent to which Republicans and Democrats alike may have underestimated the power of the Tea Party, a loosely-affiliated, at times ill-defined, coalition of grass-roots libertarians and disaffected Republicans.

In exit polls, four in 10 voters expressed support for the Tea Party Movement.In the case of Mr. Rubio and Mr. Paul, both of the new Senators-elect challenged far more established Republicans to win their primaries. Mr. Paul beat a Republican who was supported by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Mr. Rubio’s spirited run forced Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, a moderate Republican who was initially favored to win the Senate seat, to bolt from the Republican Party and run as an independent. And Democrats initially considered both so conservative — some Democrats called them “extreme” — as to be unelectable.

or

Grayson Gone

Daniel Webser (what a great name) replaces Alan Grayson who set a new low in baseless fear-mongering in comparing his opponent (an Evangelical) to the Taliban among many other foot-in-mouth moments.

Don't worry, dear reader, I am sure in this flock of Republican newbs we'll have some loud mouths (in addition to the one's the Republicans already have) for us to roll our eyes in response too and wish the defeat of.  Tonight is just our night to get rid of a few on the left side of the aisle.  Tomorrow is another day.