Donate to the University of Washington Medal of Honor Memorial

I covered the Pappy Boyington controversy last year, but now I have more favorable news to cover. The University of Washington is raising money ($100,000) to build a memorial to the 7 Huskies who have been awarded the Medal of Honor. KVI talk show host Kirby Wilbur was promoting this project this morning, and apparently until tomorrow the health insurance company Triwest will match all donations, up to a total of $25,000, until tomorrow. To do this put "KVI" in the comments box on the donation form, which you can find here.

The Fallacies of Cheap Labor

As I mentioned previously, I just got back from a trip to China. The trip was a tour sponsored by the business school, so as a part of this we got to visit a variety of companies, both Chinese and multi-national.

One of the most interesting visits was to Lenovo, the Chinese computer manufacturer who recently purchased IBM's PC division. They showed us around their new manufacturing facility, including a completely automated warehouse. The warehouse was stacked several floors up, and had aisles just wide enough to accomodate the tracks the robotic forklifts ran on, as they zipped back and forth to pick up the parts needed to fill orders for computers.

The most interesting part came with the explanation from our guide, that when the warehouse was built, they reduced the number of workers required from 100, to just 5. This is in China, the country that built the Great Wall with cheap labor, and has only added to its reputation since. But for them, the way to compete was still to become more efficient, to do more with less, smarter.

Another company that we visited, which will remain nameless, specialized in outsourcing certain data processing activities to China. They recruited a bunch of college graduates, because they needed people who could speak foreign languages, to sit in front of monitors and type in data all day. One of the managers grumbled to us that their only advantage, cheap labor, was being challenged, because wage rates were going up, and so other companies in lesser developed regions of China. The competition for skilled labor in their city was so great it was pushing up wages.

Even in China, you cannot fool with the laws of supply and demand.

Between which of those two companies will succeed, I will put my money on Lenovo.

The Chief in China

I haven't been posting much recently, one of the reasons being because I spent 2 weeks in China. It was a rather interesting trip. One of the reasons I decided to study Russian politics and history in college was because I found it complex, but they have nothing on the Chinese. How do you hope to understand a country with 1.3 billion people and a 5,000 year old culture, which simulataneously has a thriving capitalist entrepeneurial class, and a Communist dictatorship?

Going to China has also turned me into a bit of an environmentalist. I have no idea how they intend to host the Olympics next year, unless they shut down Beijing for 2 months. The smog was horrible. How ironic that they were exempted from the Kyoto Accords, given their air pollution was far beyond the worst nightmare of the Sierra Club types, not to mention the lack of sewage systems.

Here are some photographs I took. Hopefully a picture is worth a thousand words:

Mass Transportation in Beijing

The Reds are still there, and this was on a clear sunny afternoon

My artistic photo, at a kindergarten we visited in Beijing.

How Ironical

Would someone please explain to me the fuss they are making over a handful of attorneys being fired at the Justice Department. From the WSJ:

Mr. Stephanopoulos remains just as sober when working solo on Sunday mornings as the host of "This Week" or helping out on "Good Morning America." There hasn't been this much stone-faced comedy in circulation since Buster Keaton's heyday.

It's a pity, because Mr. Stephanopoulos might be able to help viewers understand why the firing of eight U.S. attorneys in the Bush administration has been by far the biggest television-news story lately, and yet when dozens of federal prosecutors were fired during the Clinton administration, it was barely noticed by network newscasts. According to the Tyndall Report, which tracks this sort of thing, during the week of March 12-16, the three network evening newscasts spent a total of 45 minutes on the prosecutors story, with the war in Iraq placing second at 16 minutes. "World News with Charles Gibson" logged 13 of those 45 minutes on the prosecutors.

By contrast, in 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno's wholesale firing of U.S. attorneys appointed by George H.W. Bush was a non-story on the ABC evening news -- literally a non-story, according to records kept by the Vanderbilt University Television News Archive, as in zero coverage. CBS also skipped it; NBC gave it 20 seconds.

And yes, I know ironical is not a word.

The Russians are Coming!

Now, I have covered a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, both here and over at Screw Loose Change, but this article on Russian weather control weapons sets a new benchmark:

Thanks to readers (and you know who you are) who supplied new links to valuable information, we find there are more players in the game of weather terror and control than the US with its HAARP system. One prime rival as you might expect is our old Cold War enemy, Russia. And perhaps it is no coincidence that Katrina as well as Ivan are both Russian names.

I almost hate to mention that Katrina is not Russian, the Russian equivilant is Ekaterina. Hmm, maybe that is why it snowed yesterday morning, and I was almost late for class.

Chris Story Finds Religion

Christopher Story, in his latest Leo Wanta pseudo-update, doesn't even bother trying to fake presenting actual evidence, instead he indicates that he missed his true calling as a evangelist on cable TV to instead edit an overpriced journal spreading silly financial rumors:

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: SEE BELOW

In the meantime, we display below the pertinent quotations from Scripture and other sources that have been appended to these reports recently, augmented by two new Scripture quotations. The point of these citations, self-evidently, is that they are ALL precisely pertinent to the Wanta case. They may also serve as a reminder to those perpetrators of Jewish extraction as to how far they may have strayed from the glorious tradition and enlightenment of their age-old community:'

YE SHALL NOT STEAL, NEITHER DEAL FALSELY, NEITHER LIE TO ONE ANOTHER'. Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 11.

'THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY EIGHBOUR'.Exodus 20, verse 16.

'THOU SHALT NOT DEFRAUD THY NEIGHBOUR, NEITHER ROB HIM'.Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 13.

Yeah, OK. You might want to keep that in mind the next time you try spreading a story about being able to pay $24 trillion a year in taxes to the IRS.

'Bout Damn Time!

Greg Kinnear gave a classic portrayal of him in We Were Soldiers:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -An unarmed helicopter pilot from Manchester, Wash., who flew through a hail of bullets to rescue 70 wounded Americans in one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War was awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday, 41 years after his heroism.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bruce Crandall, now 74, received the nation's highest military honor from President Bush in the White House East Room. The medal recognizes Crandall
for his valor in repeatedly flying into enemy fire to bring in ammunition and supplies and evacuate the wounded.

Crandall, then a 32-year-old major, completed a total of 22 flights in a 14-hour period on Nov. 14, 1965, most under intense enemy fire. His actions in the Battle at Ia Drang Valley were depicted in the 2002 movie "We Were Soldiers," adapted from the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young."

It was a long time coming, but you deserve it Colonel.

The Crash

Being in the Pacific Northwest we have been studying China a fair amount in B-school, so this is not that surprising:

Yesterday's plunge in stock prices around the world, including the steepest percentage decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in nearly four years, signals that investors may finally be re-evaluating their insatiable appetite for risky investments.

The catalyst was Tuesday's nearly 9% fall in stock prices in Shanghai, one of the hottest and most volatile markets in the world. That helped send U.S. stocks on a roller coaster that ended with the DJIA down 416.02 points, or 3.3%, to 12216.24.

While China has had phenomenal industrial growth over the last two decades, their financial and regulator systems are still rather backwards, so get ready for a rough ride. Many companies are poorly managed, and accounting systems tend to be rather... uh... loose. Hopefully things will shake themselves out over the next two decades, and not disrupt the world markets.

I am actually visiting China for a couple of weeks on a study tour, starting next week, including visiting the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Maybe I can get some tips?

Welcome Kos Kidz

The two blogs I work on have been cited in a number of places, Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, Time, US News, Vanity Fair, but this is the first time I remember being mentioned in the Daily Kos. Well... welcome. And to answer your questions, yes I am a conservative. No, I don't have a giant picture of George W. Bush on the wall that I bow to every morning. No, I don't sacrifice small children in the basement, and yes, I did graduate from high school.

A Summary of the Story Wanta

A writer named Sol Aris has compiled a rather comprehensive saga of the history of this whole Wanta/Story story in the Conspiracy Times. It is well worth a read for you Wanta buffs.

A Thieve's World

An article from the Capital Times I had cited earlier mentioned that Leo Wanta was mentioned in the book A Thieve's World. Due to the ongoing interest in this story, I decided to look up a copy, and see what it had to say. It was actually quite interesting.

The book as a whole covers the world of global organized crime, in fact the whole title is "A Thieve's World: Threat of the New Global Network of Organized Crime". Wanta is specifically mentioned in a section of the book, titled "The Great Ruble Scam", extending from page 169 to 225.

While the book can be rather speculative and maddenly vague at times, the author, Claire Sterling, suggests that Leo Wanta actually did participate in the ruble trade, as Wanta himself insists. Although she did not have him connected to the the US government, as Wanta claims he was a Secret Service agent, but tied to a shadowy group of mafia figures.

Wanta apparently did try to buy rubles at discount rates, at one point 140 billion rubles, but the deal fell through, ironically because of the US government. From page 180:

Whether or not Yeltsin consented personally, his closest adviser, Gennady Burbulis, did so implicityly: the proposal was referred to him, and he did not object. In fact, the Comission of Inquiry found an agreement already drawn up by Silaev's cabinet, accepting Wanta's offer. The agreement fell through, or seemed to, when the U.S. State Department warned that Wanta "had major debts and some credit card problems." ("I confronted him in November 1990, and he fled," said the chief investigator, Kalinichenko.)

It is also interesting the earliest mention of Wanta's involvement was in October 1990, because Wanta himself insists that then President Reagan sent him on this mission. Reagan of course left office in January of 1989.

There were evidently several attempts by various organized crime figures to buy up Russian rubles on the cheap, either as part of their crime business, such as money laundering, or an attempt to then get Russian resources, such as oil or gold at a discount. Most of these attempts failed, but some apparently succeeded, thus the title "The Great Ruble Scam". The author found no evidence that Wanta ever accomplished this though, and certainly not on the scale he has boasted about, in the hundreds of billions, or even trillions of dollars. In fact the entire value of Russian Rubles in 1990 was cited as $10 billion, hardly enough to for one person to make trillions of off trading.

The one trade which Wanta apparently was successful at was getting, was a contract to export petroleum, and import food, although no amount of money is cited. Sterling also speculates that Wanta may have been connected to a considerable amount of missing Russian gold, 2000 tons, although the only proof she gives for that is Wanta claiming that he was trying to sell large amounts of gold. It is odd that she just believes him, considering she spends the rest of the section, saying what a con man he is. From page 186:

Leo Emil Wanta, born in Appleton, Wisconsin, was a fifty-year-old, heavyset snake oil salesman, as Mr. X described him. Starting in out in the pinball machine business in Menomonee Falls, he had gone on to "work credit card and many, many other scam," said a senior FBI official.

For the U.S. Secret Service, where the files on him are a yard long, he is a "flim-flam artist," convicted in Switzerland for money laundering involving the Charleston Bank in Panama, deported to the United States to stand trial for tax evasion and wanted in Austria for aggravated fraud arising out of events going back to September 1990, just as he was moving in on the Russian government.

An eclectic trader, Wanta faxed offers to a worldwide clientele in the summer of 1990, including atropine tablets from Germany; ten million jute sandbags from Saudi Arabia; twenty million cartons a month of tax-free Marlboros from the Ukranian capital of Kiev; and two million gas masks from the U.S.S.R. "while the supply lasts." Apart from miscellaneous goods, Wanta was trading not just in rubles but in lire, yen, pesetas, deutche markes, Swiss francs, pounds sterling, and Singapore dollars for commissions up to 14 percent - the clear mark of a money launderer.

All in all, it appears he was up to something, but the line between fantasy and reality, becomes quite blurred.

I Didn't Realize Being an Idiot Was a Criminal Defense

I am still shaking my head at this Ehren Watada thing. They declared a mistrial because he didn't understand a document he signed. OK... I realize lieutenants aren't always the smartest people in the world, but he did somehow manage to graduate college and make it through OBC. I would assume he has at least basic reading comprehension skills. Anyway, Front Page Magazine has an interesting article pointing out that disobeying an order is actually only one of his problems.

Wanta Nutiness Now Even Nuttier

In our latest update, it is appears Chris Story is getting even more bizarre. Now British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and others, are at risk of being arrested by the ICJ.

Twelve of the 22 operatives facing ICJ warrants are senior US public officials. Associates of AmeriTrust Groupe, Inc. have informed the Principals that these officials are unconcerned about the ICJ warrants, even though they are now strengthened with jurisdiction within the United States – because they believe that President Bush Jr. will pardon them at the end of his term.

But this consideration does not apply to the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, and to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor herself – both of whom are now vulnerable to arrest for conspiracy to commit financial crimes in the Wanta Settlement context. This means that the crisis has split the West and that three Western Great Powers are now at each others’ throats, while Robert Gates [see below] is warning Congress to prepare for war with Russia and China.

As I mentioned before, the ICJ merely handles civil disputes between nations, and not criminal cases, so it doesn't even have arrest powers, nevermind trying to arrest a head of state.

Even stranger, 2 members of the US Supreme Court are involved:

03 February: Associates of AmeriTrust Groupe, Inc. inform the two Principals that former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra O’Connor and current US Supreme Court Justice Bader-Ginsburg are in Frankfurt, Germany, where they are engaged in monitoring and perfecting the international legal arrangements for the Wanta settlement. The same sources advise that a third US Supreme Court Justice is monitoring developments in the United States. As indicated above, the US Supreme Court Justices have explicitly extended US jurisdiction to the warrants issued by the ‘ad hoc’ Tribunal of three Judges implementing the orders of the International Court of Justice.

Hey, everyone knows, if you get any two justices of the Supreme Court together, they can do anything!

Story repeats his claim that the Federal Reserve is on the brink of being dismantled.

03 February: H.R. 2778 is to be approved by the US House of Representatives on
Monday the 5th February, when it will thus be ready to be signed. Under this Bill, the entire Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve is to be discharged, the Federal Reserve is to be abolished as a legislated authority empowered to issue currency on behalf of the US Treasury, and all Federal Reserve Banks and offices in the United States and around the world are to be closed. This will have the consequence that the US Treasury will again perform the functions of the United States’ Central Bank, reverting to the situation prior to the 1951 accord between the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve, which has hidden derivatives liabilities estimated at around $1,100 trillion. That explains why it is to be closed down.

With respect to this story, one of the posters at the JREF forum has done some good research. It is all pretty silly.

The End Game

Christopher story has to continually come up with stranger and stranger excuses to explain why Leo Wanta has not received the mythical $4.5 trillion due to him. Now apparently there has been a near coup in the US government:

Specifically, on Thursday 1st February, Cheney corruptly negated the authority of US Treasury compliance staff, preventing them from activating the prearranged banking codes and remitting the $4.5 trillion at last to the ambassador’s securities account.

CHENEY COUNTERMANDS EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT

In so doing, he countermanded the signed bank instructions of the President of the United States himself, representing an act of treason which probably has no historical precedent. This arrogant man appears to be running rings round President Bush Jr., who may or may not realise that Cheney, like Paulson, has been thumbing his nose at the White House for his own personal gain.

Prior to the arrest of US Treasury Secretary Paulson, we predicted that his rrogance would lead to a dramatic fall: and this duly happened. We now predict that Vice President Richard Cheney is heading for an even more humiliating stumble, and, having delayed his resignation, may find that his official colleagues turn sharply against him.

Dramatic fall? Paulson is doing fine, although he did get grilled in front of the Senate this week over China's currency policy.

Story now involves the Bank of England:

Investigators informed us at 3.00 am UK time on Friday 2nd February that enormously large dollar movements out of the United States to a ‘back room’ operation at the Bank of England, which functions round the clock, have been monitored. The Bank of England office is issuing short-term loans with interest rates starting at 25%, the informed New York financial sources tell us. These loans represent bridge (or ‘gap’) loans to large businesses.

Wow, 25% is higher than my credit card. Maybe they can a loan from ditech.com or something?

Even more bizarrely:

U.S. HOUSE BILL TO ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE
The US House of Representatives has a Bill to abolish the Federal Reserve (see previous postings) which had been expected to be approved on 1st February. The House appears to have refrained from voting on this Resolution, raising suspicions of collusion with the Cheney-directed (OMEGA OPS) conspirators, to enable further fiat money to be generated from Wanta’s funds pending the Fed's abolition – following which the Treasury will assume central banking functions.The House Bill [HR. 2778] contains a schedule for phasing out the Federal Reserve, details of which, like the Bill itself, have not yet been disclosed.

Somehow this was left out of my issue of the Wall Street Journal.

Do As I Say, Not As I do

John Edwards believes there are two Americas:

I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John to make America stronger. And we have much work to do, because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas...

(APPLAUSE)

... one, for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggle to make ends meet every single day. It doesn't have to be that way.

But apparently he is very happy to live in one of them:

Don Knight, Orange County building plans examiner, told CJ that, including the recreational building, the Edwardses’ home would be one of the largest in
Orange County.

Knight approved the building plans that showed the Edwards home totaling 28,200 square feet of connected space. The main house is 10,400 square feet and has two garages. The recreation building, a red, barn-like building containing 15,600 square feet, is connected to the house by a closed-in and roofed structure of varying widths and elevations that totals 2,200 square feet.The main house is all on one level except for a 600-square-foot bedroom and bath area above the guest garage.

The recreation building contains a basketball court, a squash court, two stages, a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room designated “John’s Lounge.”

Backwards Logic

I wasn't sure if I was going to post on this, mostly since this guy is getting repetitive, but a reader pointed out how humorous it was. So here it is, another interesting use of logic, from Christopher Story:

And isn’t it amazing that some critics seem unable to comprehend the reality that sensitive information such as we have published cannot possibly be posted unless it is true? Surely, a higher Degree in Logic and Philosophy is not necessary in order for the stark simplicity of this fact to be understood, even by those who remain confused?

This isn't even the first time that he has used this warped logic, from a previous post.

Intelligence on this subject which diverges in any way from what is posted on http://www.worldreports.org/ is by definition unreliable and cannot be trusted. It should be checked against our postings for veracity. Detailed information is available in International Currency Review [see website for further details].

So remember, anything he prints must be true, anything which contradicts it must be false, because.... well it just does.

Hilariously he also claims in this post:

The fact that the ‘mainstream media’ has to a large extent irresponsibly stuck its collective head in the sand, has been irrelevant for months. Our last posting was reproduced at least 20 million times within 24 hours, and our website hit rate has gone through the roof. As one correspondent has noted [see TREASONGATE UPDATE: OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT, 17th January 2007], isn’t it interesting how those who protest most loudly at the deceitful silence of the ‘mainstream media’, seek the ‘mainstream media’s' confirmation of what we have published?

That is odd, because a google search for the title of that posting "TREASONGATE UPDATE: OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT", returns a grand total of 5 hits, 1 of which is Story's own site. The last I checked that was well short of 20 million. I guess his demonstrated math skills explains the whole $70 trillion thing...

The Christopher Story Fan Club

Chris Story, who still hasn't served me with that libel suit, is no longer even trying to pretend he has any evidence, and is trying to backup his story by posting admiring letters to himself, or as he terms them "testimonials on Leo Wanta's courage". I am not sure what they are supposed to testify to, what is the merit of swearing to the validity of something which you have no actual knowledge of? Outside of the Wisconsin law enforcement community, you would be hardpressed to find someone who could even pick him out of a lineup.

The praise heaped upon Story is only exceeded by the adulations upon Wanta himself, who apparently, much to dismay of Greg Szymanski is on the verge of being beatified by Benedict XVI (OK, that part was sarcasm).

A number of attempts were made to murder the Ambassador, starting with the poisoned cheese in the Swiss dungeon, and followed by assaults in the various jails he was sent to in the US GULAG, plus no less than four attempts to have him certified insane. Throughout this ordeal, Leo Wanta displayed courage and fortitude, as well as a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which has no parallel in the personal experience of the Editor, and will astonish everyone when the full story is told. Therefore, when reading the Leo Wanta-related testimonials below, please transfer the kind remarks made about the Editor, to Ambassador Leo Emil Wanta, the greatest and most brilliantly distinguished American patriot of our time.

He even inserts the following as commentary into one of the letters:

[Comment: No, that accolade is reserved exclusively for the greatest God-fearing American patriot of our time, a man who has suffered without a cause at the hands of these criminals, who are now scared stiff and on the run. That accolade cannot be shared by anyone else! CS].

I think he is on the verge of having to follow every mention of Wanta with some blessing, much like devout Muslims say "Peace be upon him" after every mention of the Prophet Mohammed.

My favorite testimonial would have to be:

"You are to be applauded for your seamless righteousness in the face of clamorous Internet attacks against you. Numerous so-called 'patriotic' organizations exist today in the United States and throughout the world. Only a few of these organizations have been willing to report your story... The paid-for 'mainstream' media is useless. Individuals throughout the world credit your intelligence... which you have so kindly put where all can see".

– Claudia Treacey, 14 January 2007, Indianapolis, USA

Now considering that I am the only one who has been writing about this at length, I guess that would make me "clamorous". Wow, I didn't know I was so important. I wonder if I can put that on my resume?

Leo Wanta: The Movie

Some guy on the Net has come up with this bizarre video on this whole story. Hey, it is the Internet, everyone gets their 15 minutes.

Of Wishes and Wanta Claus

While I have received many positive comments on the posts I have done on this story, I have also received a fair amount of criticism. The critics seem to think I am in a state of denial, that my furtive desire to disbelieve this story is causing cognitive dissonance which compels me to overlook the obvious truth.

On the contrary, I would love for this story to be true. Chocolates would fall from the sky, angels would play Mozart... Let me explain:

Leo Wanta claims that the US will receive $92 billion a day in tax income from his stash of cash. Even if we assume that he is only talking about trading days, that is over $23 trillion a year. The entire US Federal budget, however, is only a relatively puny $2.8 trillion.

So this means, that not only could the federal government completely eliminate taxes on everyone not named Leo Emil Wanta, but they then could issue a yearly refund of $67,000 to every man, woman, and child in the country, even those who have never paid taxes in the first place.

That would be wonderful! I could buy a boat, sail the South Pacific, lie on the beach while nubile young native girls bring me pina coladas. But alas, a wish for something does not make it true. I gave up believing in Santa Claus a long time ago, and Wanta Claus is not a more convincing myth.

Is Christopher Story Losing It?

I am not a psychologist, but normally when people starting ranting incoherently, quoting bible verses, and blaming the Jews and the Vatican, it is a bad sign. I am starting to wonder if this guy is holed up in a room somewhere clipping out newspaper articles and tacking them to the wall:

8th January 2007: The text of this report was approved verbatim by Michael C. Cottrell, M.S., Executive Vice President, AmeriTrust Groupe, Inc., and separately by Ambassador Wanta. All details of the Paulson arrest scenario and the contents of the Diary coverage on this website, together with all the previous Wanta postings, are also pre-approved by Michael C. Cottrell, M.S., Treasurer and Executive Vice President, AmeriTrust Groupe, Inc, and by Ambassador Leo Emil Wanta.

10th January: For those kind Americans and others who may be concerned at vituperative 'Black' attacks on the Principals and this website, please be reassured that those who know the facts in sensitive places know that we are 'true', that the facts are the facts, that the 'Black' antagonists cannot 'succeed', and that the matter is being addressed by certain means which we are not at liberty to elaborate upon. In the meantime, we who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is come in the flesh, can rejoice at His assurances to us in Matthew Chapter 7, verses 16-20:

'Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?''Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit'.'Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire'.'Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them'.

Maybe this is just an elaborate publicity stunt. This one article managed to link to the home page of either World Reports or the International Currency Review an amazing 20 times.