3 Ciment Brothers Holding Boo-Boos
I don’t have that many exciting thoughts this month. At home we are just holding the fort steady as Karen continues along her pregnancy and Elizabeth takes her first walks around the house; my office is much busier than usual as H1B filings spike going into March and April. We are so busy that we have cancelled Passover Holiday leaves for partners and employees. Unless Congress raises the H1B quota, the 2008 quota will be filled roughly by April 1, 2007 before the government even begins to accept applications for the 2008 year. Really nuts. A bill has been entered into Congress to raise the quota by Congressman Howard Berman of California.
Despite the market drop last week, I think it’s a short term story. The drop in China’s market was engineered by the government and it is known that their market is overvalued. Mergers are occurring because people anticipate a Democratic administration; the market will correct later when it accounts for the change in control over the government. Right now the Congress is legislating, Bush is moderating and dealing with reality, and the country is in pretty good shape….Hillary Clinton is benefitting from the fact that conservatives who used to hate her and her husband have been more docile. She has changed over the years and they have figured that her husband was not that liberal of a president considering the alternatives, and he DID balance the budget and didn’t really raise taxes.. I think Obama is flavor of the month and will not be the next president, but he does have a political future…Israelis voted overwhelmingly for a Eurovision song entry that talks about the nuclear annihilation threat from Iran. They really are worried about this and it would be a mistake to underestimate the wild card ability of the Israelis to pre-emptively strike against Iran if they think they can. Cabinet Minister Lieberman this week said they could and I’d listen very seriously to anything he says as a government minister…Nothing this month on the Palestinians; they are just talking to themselves negotiating ceasefires and making governments that don’t last 3 days and nobody else really cares so nothing is happening…..Does the North Korea deal mean anything? Maybe; they may have figured this is the best deal they’re going to get. The Iranians are also now going to talk with Bush and they may be figuring the same thing….
Interesting speaker at synagogue this week formed a foundation to take on evangelicals missionizing on or around military bases. He said that evangelicals involve top-ranked officials in the military, pentagon and White House from George Bush on down. Says Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns are first and foremost designed to hasten the end of days according to their radical view of Christianity. Went so far as to assume that generals might be happy to see the war theater heat up just to fit their religious scenario instead of try to put out fires which is what people hope the US military would be doing. I ran this against a friend of mine who is a squad commander in the air force, where this person says evangelicals are particularly focusing their efforts. My friend says that some of this goes on, but that it does not involve officers cramming religion down enlisted mean’s throats and that it is nowhere near as pervasive as the speaker charged. Anyway, something is probably going on here and given the publicity within the past year to top generals who talk about some wacky religious ideas, the issue may bear watching.
Ah, Finally, saved by the bell. Just as I was closing out the month, I get an e-mail at work with this crazy video that I thought was a spoof but it’s real. In it an Iranian “scholar” talks about Tom and Jerry cartoons as a Jewish conspiracy. This one is worth watching. It runs about 3 1/2 minutes. The Iranians are so caught up in their conspiracies that it’s likely to become a big joke if they keep at it, at least if this video is any indication.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40VFcJTIduw&mode=related&search=
