Memorial Day

Thank you to all that have served.

Summer's Here!

Woof!

Bernanke Re-Confirmation in Jeopardy: Contact Your Senator

The re-confirmation of Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve appears to be in jeopardy. A month ago, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that Bernanke would continue on as Chairman. Now, it appears some are looking at his record at the Fed and have determined that continuing with Bernanke while expecting different results might be the definition of insanity.

If you have an opinion one way or the other, call or e-mail your Senator and let them know.

If you oppose Bernanke's re-confirmation, but you're not sure what to say, you might start with:

Dear Senator [so-and-so],
I am a resident of [City, State] and ask that you please oppose the re-confirmation of Ben Bernanke for Federal Reserve Chairman. Bernanke has proven he cannot fulfill the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of price stability and full employment and thus has shown he is not qualified to serve a second term as Chairman.

The vote for cloture (to end a filibuster blocking a vote on his re-confirmation) looks to be close right now, so your input may make a difference if your Senators have not decided yet.

Simple Daily Backup Script for Subversion Repositories

Here's a simple shell script for backing up a Subversion repository on *nix:

#!/bin/sh

# get current date in YYYY-MM-DD format
CURR_DATE=`date +%F`

# define the filename for today's backup, e.g. repo-dumpfile.2009-11-22.gz
FILENAME="/var/backup/svn/repo-dumpfile.${CURR_DATE}.gz"

# set umask so that the file created has permissions of 600
umask 0177

# perform the backup
# note: stderr is being re-directed to /dev/null - you may not want this
/usr/bin/svnadmin dump /var/cm/svn/repo/ 2>/dev/null | gzip > $FILENAME

AZ MVD Either Super-Hip or Super-Unhip

Does the MVD know what this license-plate means?


Pretty sweet either way.

In Case You Forgot What a Dust Storm Looks Like...

Jen provoked this dust storm by getting her car washed and waxed yesterday; it's pristine. Luckily, we thought ahead and took the Cherokee, which is already at maximum dirtiness.

US Attorney Inserts Goldman Sachs' Foot into Goldman's Mouth

Bloomberg is reporting that Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti told a federal judge:

The bank [Goldman Sachs] has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways

Naturally, this is in contrast to Goldman Sachs' usage of the program to manipulate the markets in fair ways.

Facciponti made this statement as part of the criminal complaint filed against Sergey Aleynikov, a former trading platform developer at Goldman Sachs who allegedly (and admittedly, apparently) took a copy of the trading platform software when he left.

Now that Goldman's ability to manipulate the public stock and commodity markets is a matter of record, will there be an investigation into if and when Goldman Sachs has manipulated the markets to their advantage?

Surely GS did not develop the power to manipulate markets just to sit on it, especially given GS' role as the NYSE's Supplemental Liquidity Provider and ownership of more than 50-60% of the NYSE's program trading volume.

Independence Day

Here's what Thomas Jefferson and the Second Continental Congress had to say about Independence Day:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The Declaration of Independence is a key document and turning point in the history of our nation; I encourage you to re-read it. The Declaration lists many grievances, but the ones describing lack of representation by the people and the King's refusal to assent to laws struck the strongest chord with me.

I wonder what Thomas Jefferson and the other members of the Continental Congress would say about the current issues of our day: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bailouts of private banks and companies by the People, the influence of lobbyists in government, universal health care, cap-and-trade carbon taxation, etc. Would the Continental Congress say our current government is working as they hoped and intended? Would their viewpoints be relevant given the tremendous change of the intervening 233 years?

Today, the Declaration of Independence has reminded me that We have the right to petition the government and an expectation of response by our elected representatives. Further, the Declaration has reminded me that we have the right to change the government to serve the people. I hope it reminds you of something, too.