Paul (internet tech, privacy, economics). Citizen K (hydrocarbon industry), and "devry" (online security, economics, Personal Plan B) are aboard. We also congratulate TTPers brenz90, dougk, edd7, and hardcharger for freelance link suggestions that met the test.

This week's Polis looks at polls and the media, and wonders about the TSA. Economos has some pretty important links for you, while Techne Logos looks hard at Facebook. Stratiootika covers the Mideast and China, and we add some resources at the end to help keep you sane through election season. As you can see around the world, a lot of your compatriots could use similar help right now.

To simplify your scans, I've divided the links into sections: Economos (global economy), Techne Logos (tech), Polis (domestic politics), Stratiootika (geopolitics & military), plus 1 Good News This Week item to brighten your week and/or make you better. Enjoy!

Polis

• Seismic Shift in Partisan Affiliation (A Line of Sight, Sept 4/12). jkatzman: Jack Kelly talked about this 2 weeks ago, and it deserves more attention. But toasty O? With a media this incredibly biased, that will take hard, patient, and respectful personal work.



• CBS Poll: GOP Has Huge Turnout Edge Over Dems (Sept 19/12). edd7: Fooookin' CBS, no less! Consider it another reminder about polls.



• The Pinocchio Press (Wall St. Journal BWT, Sept 4/12). jkatzman: Could the Romney campaign be better? Yes, a lot, and it needs to recover that really quickly. But there really is no other term for the current press, which has abandoned everything they're supposed to be about.



• Latest Word on the Trail? I Take It Back (NY Times, July 17/12). prosenberg: Surprise, surprise - the White House gets final say on what NY Times reporters print.



• Sussman Bans GOP Leadership from Press Herald, Kennebec Journal (The Maine Wire, April 2012). jkatzman: What did hedge fund mogul Donald Sussman give his wife, Rep. Chellie Pingree [D-ME] for her birthday? Maine Today Media, who owns 3/5 largest papers in the state: the Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal (Augusta) and the Morning Sentinel (Waterville).



• Big Chicago Mystery: What bar did Muslim Adel Daoud try to blow up downtown last week? UPDATED: Looks like it was Cal's at 400 S. Wells near Sears Tower (Sept 17/12). edd7: "A Muslim tries to murder mobs of people in Chicago and take out a bar in the heart of the city and the media here makes you have to investigate this story yourself to find out what happened since they won't tell you..."



• TSA Kicks Woman Off Flight For Bad Attitude (InfoWars, Sept 7/12). prosenberg: The thuggery at the TSA just keeps on coming. I keep thinking The Sadist Administration. Why aren't they a live wire election issue? It would galvanize a lot of people.

Economos

Lauren Lyster at Russia Today looks at ETFs - and specifically, the defects of the GLD gold ETF. More here. She's good - and it still blows my mind that I have to tune into Russia Today for stuff like this.

• How China's Rehypothecated "Ghost" Steel Just Vaporized, And What This Means For The World Economy (Zero Hedge, Sept 16/12). From dougk & brenz90. VERY important article. Now, connect this to the video you just saw about GLD...



• WSJ: China's Solyndra Economy (Sept 12/12). jkatzman: We've covered the subject before, but the extent of China's cleantech boondoggle bears repeating. Chovanec was a colleague of Paul Ryan's out of university, now a professor at Beijing's Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. His whole blog on China is well worth your time.



• Let's throw away the acronyms and explain Europe's crazy policies in plain English (Thomas Pascoe @ The Telegraph, Sept 10/12). jkatzman: A commenter or 2 goes 1 better.

Techne Logos

• Is Facebook damaging your reputation with sneaky political posts? (ZDNet, July 12/12). jkatzman: Probably, yeah. You need to check and cull your "likes."



• That Pretty New Facebook Friend? Probably Taliban (Gizmodo, Sept 10/12). jkatzman: Too bad, that camel was HOT! Seriously, everyone in uniform, and many people out of it, should learn from the Australian Army's experience.



• How to permanently delete your Facebook account, and all user information. jkatzman: Facebook make it VERY difficult to find, but it IS possible. Once you have deleted it, you have to leave your account alone for 14 days. If you don't, your account is automatically reactivated.



• Healthy lifestyle behaviors in old age add half a decade to life span (Life Extension, Sept 11/12). hardcharger: This is the first report of a large, longitudinal study of health habits for "advanced geriatrics". It's reported in the British Medical Journal, but this brief summary is done by a friend (Dayna Daye) at Life Extension out of Fort Lauderdale. As you will likely remember, that is the non-profit organization originally operated by Will Block and Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, now all of Life Enhancement in Nevada.

Stratiootika

• Muslim Rage & The Last Gasp of Islamic Hate (Newsweek, Sept 17/12). To channel submitter edd7 for a sec: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the cover of fooookin' Newsweek, no less! But hate always has more noxious gasps in it than you'd think.



• Peace Be Upon You (Slate, Sept 14/12). "You're living in the age of the Internet. Your religion will be mocked, and the mockery will find its way to you. Get over it."



• Army Wants Tiny Suicidal Drone to Kill From 6 Miles Away (WIRED Danger Room, Sept 10/12). prosenberg: And now... we get Kamikaze Drones. Over at Defense Industry Daily, Joe Katzman explains why the Pentagon thinks they make tactical and financial sense.



• Postcards From A Furious China (Zero Hedge, Sept 16/12). dougk: Check the pictures. Did you have ANY idea that this sort of stuff was going on? Thanks again to our ever-vigilant fourth estate for keeping us up-to-date on world news.



• Taiwan must rethink naval strategy: expert (Taipei Times, Sept 9/12). jkatzman: Taiwan can't last in a head to head clash. That means it will need different kinds of naval forces. The larger problem is that China will have air superiority, too.



• The Iranians Are Almost There - This is How They Did it (The Algemeiner, Sept 10/12).

Useful Web Resources

hardcharger suggested adding 1-2 clever web sites each week for bookmarking and use, to help people become smarter Internet users. Good idea.

• The People's Cube. jkatzman: Political semi-parody site, with amusing materials. Keep your spirits up as you fight in this election.

Over The Hump: Good News This Week

The next several weeks are going to be stressful. I highly recommend reading a number of Dr. Joel Wade's articles here, as part of taking care of yourselves. I also recommend a specific kind of meditation - MBSR was developed at U. Mass. Medical, and has zero religious content unless you choose to add yours. This is a great fast explanation of what MBSR is and why, but the core is... it works.

If you want to start, I recommend the Body Scan meditation. No TSA required: ignore the video, and just listen. This is a simple 15 minute sequence, but if you have more time, try a 45-minute sequence.

Reader with questions or submissions for next week can send a message to joe, over at windsofchange dot net.

For The Constitution!

Joe Katzman