When the DOW tanked on Tuesday (2/27), losing over 400 points, the comparison du jour was to the Black Monday crash of October 19, 1987 - which was of course silly, as the former was only a 3.3% loss in value, while the latter was 22.6%. Nonetheless, it prompts me to tell you a story, which starts in the Chang Tang Plateau of northern Tibet.  That's where I was at the time of '87 crash, leading an overland expedition from Beijing to Kathmandu across Tibet north to south.  We heard about the crash from BBC broadcasts on my short wave radio.  One expedition member, Big John Perrott, had a panic attack.  Having no way to reach his broker - northern Tibet is about as remote as you get - he thought he was bankrupt. By the time we got to Lhasa by the end of the month, and John could call his broker, the market - and his portfolio - were well into recovery.  He said he'll be forever grateful for being in the Chang Tang on Black Monday. But while I was in Tibet on Black Monday, a good friend of mine was in a meeting at the White House.

Suppose there's a Mafia Don.  Not a benign and pro-American Marlon Brando Godfather, but a ruthless brutal gangster who hates America and holds a bottomless grudge against her. Let's suppose this Mafioso has amassed an enormous personal fortune of ill-gotten gains.  Stashed away in hidden bank accounts and assets all over the world, his net worth exceeds 20 billion dollars - billion with a ‘b'. But say that's just his personal stash.  Say the total amount of money his gang has accumulated is 300 billion - almost a third of a trillion dollars in cash.  Say he controls it. Let's finally suppose that this centibillionaire anti-American gangster has an arsenal of several thousand nuclear bombs, most of them in the nose cones of intercontinental missiles aimed at us. If there were such a man, shouldn't we be a bit more worried about him than a bankrupt midget in Persia without a single real nuke to his name? For there is indeed such a man.  His name is Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

The only TV news I watch is Fox.  CBS has that blonde airhead, ABC/NBC have nonentities, and CNN is the English translation of Al Jazeera.  But lately I can't even watch Fox, for the only news it seems to cover is the ersatz drama about a bimbo with giant mariachis. No doubt that giant mariachis are among the most wondrous creations in the known universe - but endless discussion of the deceased possessor of two of them is not news.  At least, not any longer.  Shouting, "Enough already!", I either click the off button on the remote, or go in search of a CSI rerun or John Wayne movie. Pretty soon, of course, viewers will get bored with the Anna Nicole story and move on to some other silliness.  So let's do a thought experiment.  Suppose, just suppose, that Fox doesn't let up, keeps featuring the story, dissecting every detail, comes up with new revelations, month after month after month after month. Now suppose all other news outlets do the same.  For months, stretching on into the interminable future.  Would you go (a) out of your mind, or (b) no longer pay attention to nor have any interest in the news altogether? Welcome to the Anna Nicole Presidential Campaign - with no giant mariachis.

The streets are frozen solid here in Washington, its dangerous to even walk to the Metro much less drive around, and I am having so much fun.  It's a tossup over what's more hilarious, the global warming freaks in Congress having to cancel a hearing about how we're all going to fry because of snow blizzards and freezing rain, or the talking news heads endlessly blathering about Anna Nicole. Most fun of all though is how GW is leading Pelosi Galore right down Primrose Lane - right this way, Nancy. First he gets her to waste enormous amounts of time in full public view trying to get an impossibly stupid "non-binding" resolution devoid of meaning that has outraged her radical left hate-America base - because they want her to spend her time on defunding the war. Now that she's making an empty fool of herself to normal voters and infuriating her most fervent supporters at the same time, Bush gets her into a frothing tizzy over Iran.  "The President has no authority to go into Iran," she hyperventilates, thinking that GW is about to land the Marines at Bandar Abbas, seize the Iranian oil fields, bomb the nuke facilities into radioactive rubble, and plunge the world into genocidal chaos. The lady is being played like a Stradivarius, and she doesn't even know it.  She's oblivious!  This is a thing of sheer beauty.  It can snow and freeze all it wants.  I'm enjoying the view.

In this occasional series on science, which started a year ago (2/06) with The Search for Dark Matter, I discussed Einstein's concept of special relativity last August in A Personal Journey Through Relativity.  Jack Wheeler provided an engaging account of it two years ago (2/05) in Aristotle, Einstein, and Ayn Rand. Einstein though did not have a Theory of Relativity  -- ‘a' as in one.  He had two.  His Special Theory is about the relativity of time.  His General Theory is about the relativity of gravity.  The puzzles and paradoxes of the first pale in comparison to those of the second. So much so that most anyone can visualize clocks telling time at different rates and astronauts coming back from another galaxy much younger than the people they left on earth.  The math and explanations may be hard but one can at least visualize the effects of special relativity. It seems well-nigh impossible to visualize gravity not as a force but as a manifestation of curved space.

I very much appreciated the responses and comments regarding The Fragility of Islamofascism posted in the TTP User Forum.  I also received requests to explain the Koran's "Satanic Verses" more fully. The saga of the Satanic Verses starts with the earliest accounts of Mohammed's life written by accepted Islamic scholars such as Ibn Ishaq (died 767 AD) and al-Tabari (d. 923). "Accepted" means by Islamic tradition.  Mohammed supposedly died in 632 and Ishaq wrote about him over 100 years later - so could not have interviewed anyone who knew him.  Yet we only know of Ishaq through quotes of him by Tabari, who lived 300 years after Mohammed. Thus the earliest source of Mohammed's life and the alleged founding of Islam was written three centuries later.  The saga of Mohammed is a myth for which there is no genuine historical evidence whatever.  I discussed this in The Myth of Mecca, written a few days after the Moslem attack on America of September 11, 2001. So we are talking "sacred history" here, not actual history. 

What is a "hedge fund"? If you have trouble answering the question, you are not alone, because the term is commonly used to describe many types of pooled investments that may have little in common with each other. Yet despite the lack of agreement about what exactly are hedge funds, a host of politicians, commentators and financial regulators now advocate more regulation of them.  I am sure you are just so surprised.

For those doom-and-gloom pessimists convinced of the inevitability of the Islamization of Europe, here's a wonderfully cheery news bulletin:  Moslem imams are fleeing Holland in droves. Of course, the BBC reports this as proof of Dutch Islamophobia.  The tuth is that the Dutch are finally waking up to the threat of Islamofascism in their midst.  There are over one million Moslems in Holland now, and in cities like Rotterdam, well over a third of the children are Moslem. Now, if the Dutch could just get regular Moslem immigrants to follow their imams out of the country... Yet there is far better news in France.  The fate of Europe will be decided there in the presidential election on April 22, with a runoff if necessary on May 6.  The "Sego-Sarko" race is the most important political event in the world for 2007.

Wow.  That's my and everybody else's reaction to our first To The Point Rendezvous in Las Vegas last weekend (1/26-28).  The abundantly clear lesson we learned was:  members of To The Point really get along with each other! At every get together, I was so hesitant to begin speaking as I didn't want to interrupt folks who were having such an obvious good time together.  Then again, I had such a good time. Another thing I learned is that TTPers are a curious bunch.  I can't begin to remember all the topics we discussed.  Countries all over the world.  The Washington circus.  How politicians exemplify a Hyper-Peter Principle. The Peter Principle, that people are promoted to their level of incompetence, applies to companies.  Politicians (and bureaucrats in general) shoot way beyond it, into hyper-incompetence.  The just-elected governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons, is a perfect example.  He is an absolute fool, and is wife Dawn is an even greater ditz.  Sad to say, he's a Republican. Yet a neighbor Democrat governor, Bill Richardson, is...

It has become obvious that US action against Iran has dramatically sped up recently. The US Navy has a second carrier group now in the Persian Gulf, overwhelmingly intimidating military power on Iran's doorstep.  At last, Bush has authorized US forces to hunt down and kill or capture Iranian operatives in Iraq. The White House is targeting Iranian financial assets throughout the world. So, finally we are going faster - but towards what?  Is the US goal a democratic revolution effecting genuine regime change, with all the mullah terror masters out of power?  No - not if the State Department has its wish. Our Foggy Bottom Pinstripes are doing everything they can to prevent genuine regime change in Iran.  What they want instead is a palace coup, the seizure of the government by different forces within the government, not outside it. Here's how it's going to come down.

The fun of watching The Obamarama being dismantled by the Clintonista attack machine continues. It may, or may not, surprise you to learn that certain members of the PIAPS's "Oppo" team (opposition research) read To The Point.  When they saw The Audacity of Apostasy earlier this month, they promptly zeroed in on the meanest and stupidest way to attack Obama's Moslem upbringing. How his campaign is about to respond will totally blow you away.  You better be sitting down. But rather than let her campaign be blown away by him, she has already come out with an even more vicious assault.  Here are the entertaining details....

The conservative "activist" community here in Washington got itself into a foaming lather last week over the attempt by Senate Democrats to subject their activities to criminal penalties. Section 220 of the S.1 "lobbying reform" bill required all activists - even bloggers on the internet - who communicate in any way with 500 or more members of "the public" to register and file reports with the government as lobbyists, and face criminal penalties including heavy fines and one year in jail if they fail to do so. It was a straightforward and outrageous assault on the First Amendment, true blue fascism embedded right in the very first Senate bill in our new Democrat-controlled Congress.  The New York Times had nary a word of complaint, nor did the rest of the major media. Yet it was simply the latest example of the assault Democrats are making on our 1st Amendment free speech rights across the board.  For their "lobbying reform" is part of a growing comprehensive effort to silence and criminalize speech liberals don't like.

If Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez deliberately intended to sabotage his nation's economy, he would be hard-pressed to do anything different from what he is now doing to his country. It has been widely reported that Mr. Chavez has been increasingly taking control of the oil, telecommunications and energy sectors, as well as the media. What has not been reported is the full extent of the corruption in Venezuela and how this ultimately will destroy the economy. The financial scandal taking place there is far bigger than Enron, and may ultimately even exceed the U.N. "oil-for-food" scandal, the biggest financial disgrace of all time. Venezuela has had a rapidly growing economy for the last few years, due to high oil prices, but the house of cards is about to collapse.

There were a lot of responses to and questions about Arabia in America.  After discussing them, we'll discuss how "global warming" is just a scam to de-industrialize America and has nothing to do with cutting world-wide CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. John Boland made a very informed and cogent case for the safety and practicality of nuclear power.  Ryan M. asked about the role of natural gas, in light of The Natural Gas Solution from last May. Bill Gregory mentions the trillion barrels of oil in Colorado and Wyoming that can be extracted from oil shale with new in situ technology. While I am all in favor of more nuclear power plants, they produce electricity and not gasoline to run our cars.  I focused on coal not for power plants but on coal-to-oil liquefaction plants to replace the 11 million barrels of foreign oil we import every day. The grotesque phoniness of the Left on global warming is most clearly demonstrated regarding coal.  Pelosi Galore is forming a new House Committee on Global Warming, while Barbara Boxer is submitting a bill to ban all coal power plants in the country.  It's all hate-and-blame America all the time.

Notice from the header above that this article is in the category of "Replies from Dr. Jack."  It is my fault this category has been defunct for a while, even though it remains listed in the left side bar.  One reason is because I try to participate in our User Forums and respond to member questions there.  But this means a short response, and often a member comment or question requires something longer. So I am re-instituting the "Replies" section and will try to have at least one every week from now on.  What triggered this was a question member Jeffrey W. had regarding Red State Louisiana.  I had predicted that the destruction of the New Orleans' corrupt 9th ward meant the destruction of the Democrat Party machine in the state and the election of Republican Bobby Jindal as governor this coming October. Jeffrey asked:

Interesting article, but what are your thoughts about the machinery which re-elected Ray Nagin even after the Katrina disaster? How could this play out when the time comes to elect a new Governor? Do you think enough of this machinery is still intact to thwart a Republican victory? 

The Jade Steps Chapter Thirty: The Glory of Otumba They set off as dawn broke to stumble into Tlacopan where the chiefs of the city met them with fear in their eyes. "Malinche!" they addressed him.  "We warned you to stay here where you would be safe, and not to go to Tenochtitlan.  Now you have been destroyed, and we with you, for the Aztecs will soon follow to kill you and us." Cortez stood arrow-straight and calmly spoke to Malinali.  "Doña Marina, inform these gentlemen that we greatly value their friendship and shall see they not suffer for it." The chiefs remained worried.  "You must not stay here, Malinche, for the Aztecs are sure to attack.  Not far from here is the temple of Otoncalpulco with a large courtyard surrounded by a wooden wall.  There you will be safer.  I will order our people to carry your wounded on litters and help in which ways we may." Cortez thanked them profusely and the chiefs issued their orders.  One of them turned to Malinali.  "Malinche must know that we are Tepanecs, not Aztecs.  Our kingdom was the first to be enslaved by them. It was our hope that Malinche was the answer to our prayers to be free of their rule."  He looked pleadingly into Malinali's eyes.  "Is there any hope left?" Malinali returned his gaze.  "As long as Malinche is alive, there shall always be hope."

It is hard to get there if you don't know where you want to go. Despite the Democrats gaining control of Congress and his own previous mistakes, President Bush still has the opportunity to leave a constructive economic legacy, but to do so he must first clearly define his goals and determine what is realistically doable. It turns out there is a trio of legacies - regarding reforming Social Security, excessive spending, and excessive regulation - being made available to him.

Washington politics can be so much fun if you look upon them as the world's best circus.  This week's clown act was hilariously performed by the Breck Boy, John Edwards, announcing his candidacy for the presidency in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. It was especially funny for me, as I was in New Orleans at the time for New Year's.  The 9th Ward was the area most devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.  The day after Edwards' appearance, I drove my son Jackson through it. Endless block after block after block, street after street after street, the small cottage homes are unlivable and abandoned.  At the most, one home out of every two or three dozen is repaired and occupied. Even many of these, however, have only cosmetic repairs covering up irreparable damage from mold.  After all, all these homes were under water for weeks.  Thousands upon thousands of homes that have to be torn down are still standing because Mayor Ray Nagin insists they be rebuilt - which they never will be. What he can't face, what John Edwards can't face, is that the corrupt heart of Democrat control of Louisiana - New Orleans' 9th Ward - is gone.