Month: June 2007

Tax Fairness on Private Equity Will Define the Democrats in This Congress

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Seriously, this is a defining issue for Democrats.

The idea that the commissions that people get for investing other people’s money should be taxed as capital gains is a disgrace.,

Bill Is Offered to Increase Tax on Private Equity

By JENNY ANDERSON and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN

Interest on Capitol Hill in raising taxes on private equity and hedge fund managers reached a peak yesterday as leading Democrats introduced a bill that would more than double taxes on most of the income earned by partnerships, including private equity managers, venture capitalists and some hedge funds.

Representatives Charles B. Rangel of New York, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sander M. Levin of Michigan joined 12 other Democrats in introducing the legislation to tax the performance income earned by many partnerships, including private equity firms, at ordinary income tax rates of 35 percent instead of the current 15 percent capital gains rate.

“Congress must ensure our tax code is fair,” said Mr. Levin, who has been looking at the measure since a friend of his, a retired tax lawyer, brought the issue to his attention a few months ago. The congressman insisted the bill was meant to address equitable tax treatment and was not an attempt to penalize success. “Some Republicans have attacked us for trying to soak the rich,” he said. “I am not trying to soak the rich; I am trying to find tax equity.”

Exactly the point.

Soyuz rockets set to blast off from Kourou-21/06/2007-Paris-Flight Daily News

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Obviously, it will need to deal with the humidity at the launch site, but the boost from being the equator is significant.

Soyuz rockets set to blast off from Kourou

By Steve Nichols

Arianespace has signed a contract with Roskosmos, the Russian space industry, to buy the first four Soyuz rockets that will be launched from the Guiana Space Centre (GSC) in Kourou.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Anatoly Perminov, managing director of Roskosmos, signed the contract at the show, and confirmed launches will start in 2009.

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The medium-launch Soyuz fits in well between the existing Vega light launcher and the heavy lift Ariane 5.
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it is expected to become the most cost-effective path to orbit for commercial satellites in the 3 tonne class.

Very true. The Russian boosters are very mature technology, and most of the costs of their development have been amortized long ago.

Lawsuit shows how to sue spammers | CNET News.com

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Short version, he filed in Washington State, won a 31K judgement, and followed up with a suit in Florida to collect, and won there.

Lawsuit shows how to sue spammers

By Declan McCullagh

A recent decision in a lawsuit filed against a Florida credit counseling company offers a promising road map to follow for suing spammers.

After receiving at least nine unsolicited e-mail messages offering credit counseling services, Washington state resident Joseph Hylkema did more than just consign the spam to his junk mail folder: he decided to get even.

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MyNuMO Scores with Celeb Video Game

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I know the guy who runs MyNuMo, he’s one of those classic, “Friends that I’ve never met except through the net.” and some of the content there is in-dirtyword-credibly good.

The Jewish Mother ringtones are prize.

How they describe themselves:

MyNuMo is an online community that lets its members create, share, and sell mobile content. We make it possible for anyone to publish and sell content into the $9B Mobile Market. The MyNuMo portal delivers independently created content that’s rated and promoted by real people and delivered to any mobile phone. MyNuMo is selling user-generated content to mobile users with direct billing and delivery agreements on ALL major US Carriers.

In any case, they put a flash game up on the web. It’s amusing, and it doubled their traffic.

Applause: MyNuMO

Every once in awhile we find a reason to stand up and applaud a marketing/advertising campaign. For all of you Trads out there, this case study falls into the emerging markets category, so hold on to your PCs real tight while we head into the digital divide.

MyNuMo is a service that allows users to generate and post content, from short videos to ringtones for mobile phones. Unlike the soon to be released service from Nokia called Mosh (it’s in beta) when users download content from MyNuMo, the poster of that equity is paid a small sum. In order to promote and differentiate MyNuMo’s fledgling services, the creators of the site created a quick and entertaining flash game in which players try to….

I can’t go any further, because it would involve mentioning she who must not be named.

Indeed

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The origins of the Religious Right have to deal with their losing the right to be tax-exempt and segregated, not abortion.

Obama says some have ‘hijacked’ faith

By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press WriterSat Jun 23, 5:11 PM ET

Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right-wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division.

“Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart,” the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.

“Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us,” the Illinois senator said.

“At every opportunity, they’ve told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design,” according to an advance copy of his speech.

“There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich,” Obama said. “I don’t know what Bible they’re reading, but it doesn’t jibe with my version.”

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Not currently my first choice for Democratic nominee, but he’s right on the money here.

Defense Boondoggle, June 24 Edition

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I see an IP lawsuit. They are using my likeness (sort of) without my permission.

A more pressing question is how is Lockheed getting its cut of this?

Sentient world: war games on the grandest scale

By Mark Baard
Published Saturday 23rd June 2007 09:02 GMT

Perhaps your real life is so rich you don’t have time for another.

Even so, the US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality to see how long you can go without food or water, or how you will respond to televised propaganda.

The DOD is developing a parallel to Planet Earth, with billions of individual “nodes” to reflect every man, woman, and child this side of the dividing line between reality and AR.

Called the Sentient World Simulation (SWS), it will be a “synthetic mirror of the real world with automated continuous calibration with respect to current real-world information”, according to a concept paper for the project.

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Yes, It Is Racist, Beds Are Burning Edition

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(It’s a reference to the song by Midnight Oil.

Australian clampdown on Aborigines condemned as racist

Fri Jun 22, 1:44 AM ET

An Australian government plan to ban alcohol and pornography in Aboriginal communities to try to curb rampant child sexual abuse was labelled racist and knee-jerk by indigenous groups Friday.

Prime Minister John Howard announced the unprecedented measures on Thursday following a government report detailing paedophilia and juvenile prostitution in Aboriginal communities across Australia’s vast Northern Territory.

As government ministers appealed on national television for health professionals to help solve what Howard described as a “national emergency”, critics said Canberra’s plan had been hastily prepared and poorly thought out.

Indigenous activist Michael Mansell accused Howard of trying to stir hysteria against Aborigines ahead of national elections later this year, where the prime minister’s conservative government will seek a fifth term in office.

Mansell said the government’s plans singled out Aborigines.

“It would be different if his social behaviour strategy applied to everyone in Australia, but it doesn’t, making his policies racist,” said Mansell, the director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

“This is a racist attack on the weak and an immoral abuse of power, amounting to nothing more than political vote scoring.”

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Emphasis mine

T-Shirt Fun

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In 2001, I printed up the following T-shirt to protest GW Bush.


Photo: Texas State Library & Archives Commission, used with permission

It’s one way to get the opinion of the general public.

At the 7-11 where I filled up, the clerk said, “Nice Shirt”.

Once I got to DC, someone walked up to me, and asked, “Don’t like him, huh?”, and I replied “Yes.”, and we both grinned.

I had one person give me a thumbs up, and on my way back to the Metro, a guy in a shirt and tie, smiled at me and said, “Liar”.

We hit Barnes and Noble on the way home, and the clerk said that he liked my shirt.

You Have to be F&@#ing Kidding Me.

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I just came across the following Guiliani press release, dated March 1, 2007:

Mayor Giuliani Announces Theodore Olson as Chair of Justice Advisory Committee

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee today announced that former Solicitor General Theodore Olson will chair the Mayor’s Justice Advisory Committee.

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“Ted Olson is a renowned Constitutional expert, one of the very best lawyers in the United States and I am honored to have his support,” Mayor Giuliani said. “Judith and I are even more honored by his friendship.”
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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???? Is this some sort of dog whistle to the right wing Clinton haters of the Republican party?

This guy makes Jack Abramhoff look clean.

In America, Leaving a Tip is Felony Support of Terrorism

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Someone needs some face time on the nightly news, and this guy is brought up on charges.

I wish I lived in America, but that place seems to be gone now.

Loose mouth and loose change – $5 tip leads to terror finance rap

By George Smith, Dick Destiny
Published Thursday 12th April 2007 13:15 GMT

In the terror case against Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul R. Hall – sailor on the destroyer Benfold, the US government has another mangy cat in the GWOT.

“Material support of terrorism and disclosing previously classified information” are the beefs in the indictment against Abujihaad, according to a government press release from March. It sounds serious and the newsmedia did its usual listless job in reporting on it.

“Hassan Abujihaad, 31, is accused of supporting terrorism by disclosing secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them,” wrote Associated Press. “Investigators say he provided those secrets, in classified documents, to a suspected terrorism financier.”

If one looks at the indictment and evidentiary exhibits logged against Abujihaad, it’s thinner cloth.

Abujihaad bought videos from Azzam Publications and Babar Ahmad*, a London computer programmer locked up since 2004 and awaiting extradition for trial to the US, for running a website that promoted Islamic fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan, according to the press.

As for sending classified documents to Ahmad, what Abujihaad did do, and we’ll get to it in detail in a bit, is send rash e-mail, including video orders from the Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer upon which he served.

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Apparently, no plot. Abujihaad received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002 and wound up in Arizona, perhaps an unhappy young man, eventually acutely aware that he might be in trouble for his e-mails to Azzam.

However, when the US government argues that Abujihaad gave material assistance to Ahmad, one expects not to see the equivalent of mail order of three videos reclassified as terrorist activity. Yet this is exactly what is meant.

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In August, Abujihaad sends Ahmad thirty dollars for another video, Bosnian War.

In this order, he has overspent by five dollars. Ahmad writes “Please tell us what you want done with the remaining $5.”

“Dear Brothers, you guys can keep the remaining $5.00 and [add it] to the funds that you Brothers are spending in the way of Allah and the great Websites .. Azzam Pub.”

Material assistance to terror groups is, you read right, ordering three videos, overpaying slightly and telling the seller to keep the change. “By stating that he watched the video, [Abujihaad] demonstrated that he knew Azzam supported acts of terrorism.” Hmmm, maybe, but logically it seem to indicate many people not normally considered terrorists must now be included in the definition, too.

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It is a tale, and a bit of a sad one, in which someone which the book against, so far, does not show any serious involvement in terrorism. It is the story of a man who ordered videos and had loose lips when he should have kept his virtual mouth shut, a case of extraordinarily bad timing just prior to 9/11.

But since there is no shortage of experts who can be called upon by the government to insist, true or not, that Azzam Publications was allied with al Qaeda for the courts, Abujihaad’s fate looks grim.

Bloomberg: It’s About Greedy Political Consultants, Stupid

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Who wants Michael Bloomberg to run for president?

The press, leaves the important information at the end.

YAHOO FOR MIKE SWITCHEROO: BUBBA

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

June 22, 2007 — Former President Bill Clinton congratulated Mike Bloomberg yesterday for quitting the Republican Party – and predicted his wife will still be the next president even if the mayor joins the race.

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Experts estimated that with a half-billion-dollar campaign budget, at least $300 million would be spent on television commercials, $75 million for direct mail, and tens of millions more for high-end travel arrangements and operations around the country.

“Bloomberg would want to try to put 60 percent of $500 million on paid advertising – broadcast, cable, Internet, minority outreach, radio,” said GOP consultant Scott Reed.

Yep, it’s the political consultants, who get 30%-40% of each media buy by a campaign.

Scott Reed is drooling right now like the ghoul he is.

American gamble or bluff: WTO members bet on Antigua | The Register

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When you look at the legislation, and the debate in the Congress, it was clearly about protecting US race tracks and casinos.

There are some movies that I would dearly love to download form Antigua, and they could manufacture some very cheap generics of high demand drugs.

The drug tourism should more than make up for the loss of gambling revenue.

American gamble or bluff: WTO members bet on Antigua

By Burke Hansen in San Francisco

Antigua yesterday filed for formal trade sanctions against the United States, demanding $3.4 billion in compensation from the truculent, recalcitrant super power for failing to open its domestic market to remote gambling services. Antigua, as expected, was not alone; the hottest online gaming market in the world, the EU, also filed for sanctions.

Antigua has been embroiled in a four year battle with the US over the provision of remote gambling services, and the WTO has repeatedly ruled against the US, in increasingly stern terms. After the US tried to insist to the WTO that it had brought itself into compliance without doing anything at all – a novel argument that riled the WTO compliance panel – the WTO issued a definitive and far reaching ruling in favor of Antigua, opening the door for sanctions for the tiny Caribbean country that has seen one of its principal industries pummeled repeatedly by the American Department of Justice (DOJ).

The rules of the WTO typically provide for traditional tit-for-tat trade sanctions, but for tiny countries like Antigua that depend heavily on imports, such an approach can be economically devastating, while doing virtually nothing to penalize the offending nation. The WTO thereby provides an alternative: countries may suspend their own obligations to the offending country. Antigua thus could sell unlicensed copies of American movies or software, for example, to compensate itself for losses resulting from the American actions.
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Indian Navy prepares for MiG-29-21/06/2007-Paris-Flight Daily News

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It’s beginning to look like the Russians may have a growing business in providing low cost carrier capability to nations like India.

Indian Navy prepares for MiG-29

Only the first prototype of the Indian Navy’s new MiG-29s has flown, but the force’s preparations for the new aircraft are proceeding apace.
The Indian Navy has not operated conventional carrier -based aircraft since the withdrawal of the Hawker Sea Hawk in 1983, after which the STOVL BAE Systems Sea Harrier became the service’s only carrier-based fighter.
Captain GM Gopakumar of the Indian Navy told Flight Daily News that Indian Navy pilots are already flying exchange tours on Indian Air Force MiG-29s, and though delivery of the first INAS MiGs has been delayed from November 2007 until March or April 2008, pilot conversion training in Russia will commence in August.

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More power and more payload for Gripen demo-21/06/2007-Paris-Flight Daily News

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The Gripen can already supercruise clean, and the additional thrust should allow it to do so while carrying more.

More power and more payload for Gripen demo-21/06/2007

By Jon Lake
Saab chose the Paris Air Show to reveal details of its new Gripen Demonstrator programme. The Gripen Demo aircraft will act as a technology demonstrator and testbed for an upgrade configuration for the Swedish air force, and as the prototype for planned ‘Future Gripens’, including the Gripen N for Norway, the Gripen DK for Denmark, and perhaps even for a variant to meet India’s MMRCA requirement.

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The Gripen Demo aircraft will have a revised configuration, with a new forward-retracting main landing gear that frees up internal volume for extra fuel, and with distinctive bulged wingroot fairings underwing providing further increases in internal volume. The use of these fairings replaces the upper fuselage conformal tanks seen on previous studies, and will provide an extra 38% of internal fuel, taking the total to 3,130 kg.

The relocated and beefed-up undercarriage will allow a 2-tonne increase in maximum take off weight, to 16t. This in turn will allow the aircraft to carrier heavier warloads (up to 6,000kg), and to facilitate this, the Gripen Demo will have new side by side under-fuselage pylons (augmenting the single centreline pylon) and underwing hardpoints capable of carrying twin pylons.

The aircraft will be powered by a new 22,000lb engine, provisionally dubbed the F414G. ….. The F414G will deliver some 4,000lb more thrust than the RM-12, giving a useful boost in performance. Some sources give the new engine a 26,000lb thrust rating – doubling the advantage.

The aircraft will also be fitted with an AESA radar, probably based on Ericsson’s long-running NORA and Saab/Selex’ M-AESA programmes.

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More Housing Bubble Contagion

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As shown by this article, no one actually knows how much these collateralized debt obligations are actually worth.

What happens if the $800 million of securities sells for $700 million? What if they sell for $400 million? What if they sell for less?

A number of funds, and possibly firms, could become insolvent over night.

Bear Stearns Fund Collapse Sends Shock Through CDOs

By Mark Pittman

June 21 (Bloomberg) — Merrill Lynch & Co.’s threat to sell $800 million of mortgage securities seized from Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds is sending shudders across Wall Street.

A sale would give banks, brokerages and investors the one thing they want to avoid: a real price on the bonds in the fund that could serve as a benchmark. The securities are known as collateralized debt obligations, which exceed $1 trillion and comprise the fastest-growing part of the bond market.

Because there is little trading in the securities, prices may not reflect the highest rate of mortgage delinquencies in 13 years. An auction that confirms concerns that CDOs are overvalued may spark a chain reaction of writedowns that causes billions of dollars in losses for everyone from hedge funds to pension funds to foreign banks. Bear Stearns, the second-biggest mortgage bond underwriter, also is the biggest broker to hedge funds.

“More than a Bear Stearns issue, it’s an industry issue,” said Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. Hintz was chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the largest mortgage underwriter, for three years before becoming an analyst in 2001. “How many other hedge funds are holding similar, illiquid, esoteric securities? What are their true prices? What will happen if more blow up?”

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This is Why I Supported Howard Dean.

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From the Democratic Party, Dean’s radio address.

I know he won’t run for president this year, but I would like him to.

Dean: Democratic Candidates for President will End the War in Iraq, Republicans will Stay the Course

Governor Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, delivered the Democratic radio address this week. Chairman Dean outlined the stark differences between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on the Iraq War. He noted that all the Democratic contenders are dedicated to responsibly ending the war while the Republican field continues to embrace President Bush’s ineffective escalation of the war.

Dean also re-framed the debate about the war in Iraq and the War on Terror by drawing a contrast between the ineffective policies pursued by Republican leaders that have bogged us down in Iraq and Democrats who offer the American people an effective offensive strategy that puts America on the offensive against al Qaeda, by responsibly re-deploying our troops from the civil war in Iraq and into the fight with global terrorists.

To listen to his remarks, click
here.

Text of Radio Address:

Good Morning. I’m Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Last week, President Bush compared the Iraq War to our ongoing commitment in South Korea, suggesting a plan for a 50-year presence in Iraq. By saying this, President Bush and the Republicans showed once again that they simply do not get it.

It’s time to end the war, not escalate it. A 50-year plan for Iraq is a continuation of an ineffective strategy and it is not acceptable.
Our brave men and women in uniform deserve better. They have served with honor and distinction, but its time for the mission to change. It’s time for the mission in Iraq to focus on a political solution, not a military one. It’s time for a responsible end to this war.

This week the American people had the chance to see for themselves the crystal clear difference between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on the number one issue our nation and our next President will face.

Iraq.

Right down the line, we saw Republican contender after Republican contender embrace President Bush’s escalation of the war and now defend the 50-year plan for Iraq. The Republican field of presidential candidates only offer more of the same ongoing support for the President’s failed, ineffective strategies.

The Democratic candidates for president all stood united and firmly committed to responsibly ending the war in Iraq. This week, they each spoke passionately against any misguided stay-the-course plan that keeps our men and women in uniform policing a civil war.

The Democratic candidates have made it clear that they will not ignore the will of the American people and our military experts.

Democrats in Congress have stood up to this President and fought hard to keep him accountable. They passed a bill that established benchmarks with consequences and set deadlines to bring our troops home.

But the President vetoed it.

The American people hired Democrats last November to ensure that we end this war. So let me be clear, we know that if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again.

But we have to face the reality that Republicans in Congress are standing with President Bush as he stubbornly wields his veto pen in the face of overwhelming opposition to this war from the American people.

Democrats in Congress will continue to work hard to hold the President accountable and to pressure him to responsibly end this war. We want to ensure that we refocus our military efforts on fighting terrorist networks which are resurging in Afghanistan and that our brave troops have the resources they need both on the battlefield and when they come home.

But there is one way to truly ensure we end this war.

Elect a Democratic president in 2008.

There is one way to ensure that we have a commander in chief who understands that America needs a defense policy that is tough and smart, and ensures an effective strategy to keep America safe at home and around the world.

Elect a Democratic president in 2008.

Republican leaders have pursued ineffective policies that have bogged us down in Iraq for years and led to the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Democrats offer the American people an effective offensive strategy that takes the fight to our real enemies abroad.

Democrats understand that the Iraq war has kept us from devoting the resources we need to hunt down and capture the terrorists who are plotting to attack America. We no longer can afford to be pinned down in a war that has created more terrorists and made America less safe, as recent intelligence reports have shown. That is why we favor shifting more forces back to Afghanistan to win the fight there against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

We also want to make sure our military has the resources they need. And equally importantly, we want to restore our alliances around the world and regain America’s moral leadership.

Our men and women in uniform on the frontlines in Iraq have done their job with extraordinary courage and determination. They deserve an effective offensive strategy, one worthy of their dedication and skill, and one that can be executed successfully.

The best way to do that is to get them out of the middle of a civil war in Iraq.

And the best way to do that is to elect a Democratic president in 2008.

I’m Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Thanks for listening.