copyfight or Rhaetorian Guard

On the eve of the Davos summit, the APF reports this mystery:

The Swiss police commander overseeing security for the World Economic Forum in Davos was found dead Tuesday, police said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide. The announcement came as political and business leaders began arriving in the Swiss mountain resort for the start Wednesday of the annual blue-chip meeting. "Dr. Markus Reinhardt, commander of the Graubuenden cantonal police... was found dead in his hotel room in the morning," Swiss police said in a statement. "All indications point to a suicide." Reinhardt, 61, has headed the canton's police force since 1984. The force paid tribute to Reinhardt as a "treasured, important personality".  Local authorities said another senior police officer had taken over his duties for the forum, the Swiss news agency ATS reported.  World Economic Forum (WEF) organisers stressed that Reinhardt was not a member of its staff but said the forum had long worked with him in preparing for the annual Davos mega-conference.  "The World Economic Forum has with great sadness and regret learned of the tragic death" of the police chief, said a WEF statement.  "During the many years during which we co-operated with him over security for our Annual Meeting at Davos, we appreciated his professionalism and his kindness. "The (Swiss) Security Forces continue to have our full confidence and trust in their work," it added.
Of course, I am invited to re-tweet this news item, which seems much perferred to a sloppily cited cut-and-paste and is sometimes blocked by some unknown process.  I do not agree that sharing should be restricted to such conduits. Jinkies--this does sound like a case.  When thinking of the Swiss and security, I can only fathom up them guarding the Pope, which seems to be working well for all involved.

deep breath

Last summer, I ordered a terrific, hopeful T-shirt adapted from a vintage British World War II poster, advocating a stiff upper-lip and moreover to not panic.  "Keep Calm and Carry On."  I think that this Etsy entrepeneur is espousing equally good advice.  Etsy, which is a wonderful outlet for creativity and handicraft and represents those handmade gifts that are great to give and receive, is especially smart considering the sorry state of the economy and jobs market and the prospects for revival of such a monstrosity.  We should all hone up on our knitting skills.

gerrymandering

H and I just took a short trip this weekend to get out of the house and shed some of the winter detrius.  Had we been traveling during 1789 in the Holy Roman Empire, however, it's boggling to think of how many international boundries we would have crossed with city-states and peculiars of the Church and Crown.  How did so many separate jurisdictions cohabitate?  Surely it wasn't peaceable.

we won't be pwn'd again

Hoping I am not one of these merchants of gloom or persistant naysayers (though I am very quick to criticize US policy), I cannot see there was much good news for the Obama administration during this past week.  After the end of the Kennedy dynasty, the Supremes were quick to follow with another blow, relaxing campaign finance reform and reversing the goals of McCain-Feingold.  Politicians are already tools of corporate interests and their cherry-picking of candidates that will support their agendas should not be made any easier, and now the opinion of a gaggle of investors, stakeholders is on equal-footing and apparently just as sacrosanct in terms of First Amendment Bill of Rights™ protection as any individual voter.  That does not bode well for America's credibility or sincerity.  Mixed signals are abundant with the call for taxing the bohemoth banks and tripping over healthcare reform.

skimming with sharks

Overshadowed by the super-loss of their super-majority and other kinks in the process of cauterizing state-run health-care, there was a second news item (the story is no longer available) concerning nationalization of the multi-billion dollar student loan industry.  SallieMae was always a strange sort of quasi-governmental agency with a weird and shadowy sort of authority and potential to do its worse.  I wonder what it means for my Diploma Mill University, which was just re-accredited by the association of reputable accreitors, thank you very much--which I am sure were reliant on a lot of free and easy federally subsidized monies that seemed to be granted like wishes, or for those loan agencies that operated under the same federal umbrella.  I am not sure what this news could mean.

beating ploughshares into swords

Here's some disturbing reporting from ABC News--

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifles and sights provided to the US military by Michigan company, the 18 January report reveals. The sights are used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of native soldiers.  The maker, Trijicon, has a $660 million, multi-year contract to provide 800,000 sights to the Marines and Army.  Rules prohibiting proselytzing any religion in Iraq and Afghanistan were specifically drafted in order curb criticism that the US was engaging in a religious crusade.  One of the inscriptions read 2COR4:6 and apparently references 2nd Corinthians 4:6, which reads "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face or Jesus Christ."  There are more inscriptions citing the books of Revelations, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as the light of the world.  John 8:12, appearing on the gun sights as JN8:12 says, "Whomever follows me will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The report goes on to say that it allows al Qaeda and the jihadists to claim that they are being shot by Jesus rifles.  I wonder how exactly this report came to be--it's like some rudimentary, evangelical version of the Da Vinci Code combined with bombshell art, taking swipe at the military industrial complex for dragging its feet on the issue of a crusade.

capricorn

I've noticed, that either through intent or accident, we have a lot of goat-themed decor about the house--from the Picasso to the great-horned lamp.

jamming good with Weird & Gilly

Last week NASA released some photographs of the Martian terrain on sand dunes that look like they are covered with sagebrush.  This, however, is the result of shadows of sublimating crystalline pillars of dry ice frost now that it is spring time on Mars.  Even if it is sort of an optical illusion, it far surpasses the shadow that looks like a human face on Mars or a contrived Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich.  It seems a shame that there is all that unused real estate, by man or beast or sometging unimaginable on the other planets.  The only news on Mars, we would say, is when we send out rockets and robots there, or when those comets hurled into Jupiter.