Year: 2007

This is bad…This VERY VERY Bad.

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The Federal Reserve is allowing CitiGroup and Bank of America to make massive transfers to their brokerage sides.

Jesus H. Christ on Toast!!! Doesn’t anyone remember what happened during the depression???? It’s why, until the mid 1990s, banks were forbidden to own brokerage houses.

This unusual move by the Fed shows that the largest Wall Street firms are continuing to have problems funding operations during the current market difficulties, according to banking industry skeptics. The Fed’s move appears to support the view that even the biggest brokerages have been caught off guard by the credit crunch and don’t have financing to deal with the resulting dislocation in the markets. The opposing, less negative view is that the Fed has taken this step merely to increase the speed with which the funds recently borrowed at the Fed’s discount window can flow through to the bond markets, where the mortgage mess has caused a drying up of liquidity.

These rules are not for good times, they are for times like now. They are there to prevent the financial system from going down the drain as good money follows bad.

Helicopter Ben has made a very bad move.

Deep Thought

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In the midst of a post about real estate crashing and foreclosures, Rich Toscano mentions his, “Partner in dim sum consumption crime and occasional Econo-Almanac guest contributor Ramsey Su.”

My first thought was OH MY GOD!!!!! What restaurant, I have to know. Real estate is ephemeral, but the love of a Jew for Chinese food, that’s forever.

The weird thing is, Toscano is in San Diego, and I’ve never been there, and I have no urge to go there…well maybe…if there is some really good Chinese food.

Abusive Patent Practices

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Well, it looks like everyone’s favorite patent troll, Rambus is about to get spanked by the EU.

The European Commission has confirmed formal “patent ambush” charges against US memory chip designer Rambus.

…..

It said that “Rambus engaged in intentional deceptive conduct in the context of the standard-setting process, for example by not disclosing the existence of the patents which it later claimed were relevant to the adopted standard.”

…..

The FTC found that Rambus had through subterfuge, illegally gained a monopoly in four key memory technologies.

The gist of all this is that Rambus had an idea, a patentable idea, about how to improve memory performance.

It wasn’t a bad idea, but it wasn’t better than any of the other ideas out there either.

However, when the JEDEC was drawing up standards for the next generation of memory, Rambus, which participated in this board, deliberately, and deceptively kept the information that they had this IP, and that people who signed off on this standard would have to pay them royalties in order to use it.

Had Rambus revealed the status of their IP during the development of this standard, as required by law, the standard would have been drawn up in a way so as not to require their technology.

Personally, I think that people should go RICO on their butts, definately to the extent of putting them out of business, and hopefully to the extent of bankrupting principals in this scheme and sending them to jail.

In Which the Neocons Reveal what they REALLY Want

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A number of blogs have come across an article by noted Neocon Philip Atkinson on a prominent Neocon web site which called for nuclear genocide in Iraq, and a military coup to make GW Bush president for life.

I can think of no way of illustrating how un-American, angry, and plain bat$%#@ crazy these guys are than by printing his article in full:

Exclusive: Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy
Philip Atkinson

Author: Philip Atkinson
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: August 3, 2007

While democratic government is better than dictatorships and theocracies, it has its pitfalls. FSM Contributing Editor Philip Atkinson describes some of the difficulties facing President Bush today.


Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy
By Philip Atkinson

President George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005 after being chosen by the majority of citizens in America to be president.

Yet in 2007 he is generally despised, with many citizens of Western civilization expressing contempt for his person and his policies, sentiments which now abound on the Internet. This rage at President Bush is an inevitable result of the system of government demanded by the people, which is Democracy.

The inadequacy of Democracy, rule by the majority, is undeniable, for it demands adopting ideas because they are popular, rather than because they are wise. This means that any man chosen to act as an agent of the people is placed in an invidious position: if he commits folly because it is popular, then he will be held responsible for the inevitable result. If he refuses to commit folly, then he will be detested by most citizens because he is frustrating their demands.

When faced with the possible threat that the Iraqis might be amassing terrible weapons that could be used to slay millions of citizens of Western Civilization, President Bush took the only action prudence demanded and the electorate allowed: he conquered Iraq with an army.

This dangerous and expensive act did destroy the Iraqi regime, but left an American army without any clear purpose in a hostile country and subject to attack. If the Army merely returns to its home, then the threat it ended would simply return.

The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.

The simple truth that modern weapons now mean a nation must practice genocide or commit suicide. Israel provides the perfect example. If the Israelis do not raze Iran, the Iranians will fulfill their boast and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Yet Israel is not popular, and so is denied permission to defend itself. In the same vein, President Bush cannot do what is necessary for the survival of Americans. He cannot use the nation’s powerful weapons. All he can do is try and discover a result that will be popular with Americans.

As there appears to be no sensible result of the invasion of Iraq that will be popular with his countrymen other than retreat, President Bush is reviled; he has become another victim of Democracy.

By elevating popular fancy over truth, Democracy is clearly an enemy of not just truth, but duty and justice, which makes it the worst form of government. President Bush must overcome not just the situation in Iraq, but democratic government.

However, President Bush has a valuable historical example that he could choose to follow.

When the ancient Roman general Julius Caesar was struggling to conquer ancient Gaul, he not only had to defeat the Gauls, but he also had to defeat his political enemies in Rome who would destroy him the moment his tenure as consul (president) ended.

Caesar pacified Gaul by mass slaughter; he then used his successful army to crush all political opposition at home and establish himself as permanent ruler of ancient Rome. This brilliant action not only ended the personal threat to Caesar, but ended the civil chaos that was threatening anarchy in ancient Rome, thus marking the start of the ancient Roman Empire that gave peace and prosperity to the known world.

If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestiege while terrifying American enemies.

He could then follow Caesar’s example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court.

President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming ex-president Bush or he can become President-for-Life Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.

OH MY GOD! We Must Stop Bush and His Evil Minions™ NOW!!!!

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Marty Kaplan of the Huffington Post is right. This is all about the Bush and His Evil Minions™ attempting to revisit, and relitigate, the 1970s.

There’s no longer any doubt about the master narrative of the Bush Administration. Their purpose is to re-litigate the 1970s. Nixon’s downfall, let alone all that followed, clearly has stuck in Cheney’s craw. All his New American Centurions were so scarred by the fall of Saigon and the Church Committee reforms that even Morning in the Gipper’s America didn’t do enough to restore the imperial executive and the American imperium. So now we watch as FISA and FOIA are dismantled, checks and balances are declared Congressional overreaching, and the bully pulpit is being used like Stalin’s commissars used scissors and a paste-pot to purge and doctor the historical record.

So what’s next? No doubt some reactionaries are drooling to undo Nixon’s putting the coffin-nail in the gold standard. Perhaps others want to retake the Panama Canal which, after all, we stole fair and square. The Supreme Court’s already doing a decent job rolling back civil rights and civil liberties from the 60s; surely overturning Buckley v Valleo’s campaign contribution limits is next in line.

I’m putting my money on an attempt by GOP culture warriors to expunge disco from the national memory. Don’t you have a feeling that this crowd is still in a world o’ hurt from humiliations they suffered beneath a twirling mirrored ball yea many generations ago?

He’s wrong, and they must be stopped. They will be trying to bring disco back.

The horror….the horror….

The Biggest Threat to US and Israeli Security, Revisited

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Here’s another story on the disastrous nuclear deal that the Bush administration has cut with India.

Money quote:

India’s leftist parties object strongly to the accord. They say it undermines the country’s sovereignty and its right to conduct nuclear tests. They insist the government stall negotiations, scheduled with the International Atomic Energy Agency and others, until their objections are met.

So, what are the consequences of this deal?

  • India’s nuclear weapons program at best continues at the current pace.
    • Most likely scenario: this frees up resources from civilian nuclear power to go into the weapons program.
    • Almost as likely scenario: Civilian resources are hijacked to serve the military program.
  • Pakistan accelerates its nuclear program in response.
    • Pakistan’s state security apparatus is thoroughly infiltrated by Islamists and supporters of the Taliban.
    • Pakistan is very close to a failed stated, with the northern areas not under governmental control, a ruler installed by coup, civil society opposing the current government, and a large segment of the population supporting a Wahabi theocracy.
    • In the event of an Islamist takeover, it is likely that nuclear materials will be under the control of Islamists, who would seriously consider using them against the US and Israel.

This is quite literally a bigger blunder than invading Iraq.

The New Republic is Done…Put a Fork in It.

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There was an interesting post in Gawker about how the most recent issue of “The New Republic” was nearly ad free.

All that subscriptions pay for is ink on paper and postage, and generally, not even that. The money in newspapers and magazines in the ad revenue.

The fact is that TNR has been a weapon against liberals since Marty Peretz took it over. You hear it over, and over, and over again from Conservatives, “Even the liberal New Republic…..”

There will be a part of me that will be sad, because for its first 60 years it was a decent magazine, but since it’s become a welfare program for plagiarists (Ruth Shalit), fabulists (Stephen Glass), sock puppets* (Lee Siegel), and enthusiastic endorsement of poorly researched racist agitprop (Andrew Sullivan).

When you consider the contributors before it Peretz, John Dewey, W. E. B. DuBois, Walter Lippmann, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth, etc., it’s a bit of a pity that it will likely go away, and a bigger pity that Marty pissed all that down the drain.

*Full disclosure, I’ve sock puppeted. I acknowledge that this means that I have no personal credibility. Confirm what I write by going to the links I cite, and reviewing my arguments. Seriously. FWIW, I’ll try not to sock puppet in my own comments section. I haven’t yet.

Seriously, if I say the sky is blue, go check the Weather Channel to confirm this.

Gambling Dispute With a Tiny Country Puts U.S. in a Bind – New York Times

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The US-Antigua dispute over Net gambling is escalating, and it’s hit the NY Times, which means that it’s really hit the mainstream, but before I get into that, I have to acknowledge Dean Bakers incisive analaysis, and the magnificent snark therein, where he says “Antigua Threatens the United States with Free Trade“, which is absolutely true. IP restrictions are restrictions on trade through exclusive licensing.

A brief recap on the whole Internet gambling business, the US implemented an internet casino gambling ban. It still allows for other internet gambling, “including the online purchase of lottery tickets*, participation in Web-based pro sports fantasy leagues and off-track wagering on horse racing.”

Online casinos are a big part of the Antiguan economy. It’s the 2nd largest employer on the Island.

So Antigua takes it to the WTO, Antigua wins. Big whoop. Really….Who cares. If they are allowed to place tarrifs on US cars, or toothpaste, what difference does it make? Their population is around 70,000, so it’s a negligible impact, right?

Wrong

What the Antigua asked for, and received as a sanction was the right to ignore US IP restrictions, and to distribute US IP protected products without restriction.

While the drug manufacturers have nothing to fear, it’s not like they are going to become a Viagra® manufacturing powerhouse, the makers of non-tangible items, like movies, music, software, etc. are in the process of freaking out, which looks something like this: , because the island is well wired (from the online Casinos), and can set up an operation that would make AllofMP3.com look like a Sunday social.

Truth be told, the consequences will not be as dire as IP companies will make out. I expect that very few people who would otherwise pay for these products will download them, and my guess is that these companies know that.

The reason that they are concerned is that if I am right, and the consequences will be minor, then you will see another argument against draconian IP restrictions, because the sky did not fall.

This may be of particular interest to the Chinese too, as this ruling could be extended to the “Great Firewall of China.

*On the matter of state lottery tickets, I believe that they should be treated differently, being a state run activity and a revenue generator, but when we signed onto the WTO, it specifically forbade this.

New York Politics: Have I Mentioned Lately that Republicans Suck Wet Farts From Dead Pigeons?

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As you may or may not be aware, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and Republican Senate Leader Joseph Bruno have been in a bit of a pissing contest lately.

Bruno used state travel resources, including helicopters to go on political junkets, and Spitzer used the state police to document it and leak it to the press.

At this point, you could call it a run of the mill political pissing contest, with the Republican controlled state senate investigating misuse of the state police, and stricter rules being implemented on use of official travel, but the Republicans hired a man with the ability, and the history, that allowed him to take this well into the twilight zone of sleaze, Roger J. Stone Jr.

Mr. Stone, the youngest of Nixon’s dirty tricks sleaze operatives at 19, while still a student at George Washington University, he has not mellowed with age.

Well, Roger Stone made threatening phone calls to Elliot Spitzer’s 83 year old father. He was threatening arrest over a campaign loan that was made to an earlier Spitzer campaign, and he called the governor a “phony” and a “psycho.”

Caller ID confirmed that the phone was in his apartment, and in his wife’s name.

Stone has been fired, but is claiming innocence, maintaining that his landlord is a Democrat, and that he allowed someone into his apartment to make the call.

Of note, this is the same excuse he used in 1996, when it turned out that he and his wife put out ads in a swingers publications looking for group sex. (Ad here if you can stomach it) He claimed that someone had stolen his information, and sock puppeted him.

Yeah, right. Yeah, right. They were SO scared of you that they broke into your apartment, and made threatening phone calls to an old dude.

He’s also the most likely guy to have fed Dan Rather the forged docs about Bushes military (non)record.

Good News: The Constitution Applies to Gays Too

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Oklahoma has a lay which forbids recognition of gay adoptions. The federal court of appeals struck down down the law. It violates the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, which requires states to honor one another’s judicial judgments, including adoptions.

Good news. The law was mean spirited, Un-American, and probably got the full endorsement of both the Taliban and Al-Queida.

A Clarification on My ADL Post

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Regarding my prior ADL post, a clarification:

I think that their mealy mouth nod to genocide is insufficient, and that their position opposing the congressional resolution is morally reprehensible, and tantamount to denying the genocide.

Had they made no statement on the congressional resolution, and it’s clearly outside of their purview, I would have had no issue, but given that they have, they need to reverse themselves, and formally endorse this resolution.

The Judge Gave You 500 Quid for What???

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It appears that a man held up a bookie with pretending that a “rabbit” vibrator was a handgun.

One of the bookie’s customers (they are legal in the UK), Wayne Vakani, followed the man out, and managed to secure enough information, a hat from which the police drew DNA evidence, that the police were able to nab the perp.

The judge awarded Mr. Vakani £500 for his bravery.

I do understand that his actions were actually brave, he didn’t know it was not a gun, but I can imagine the ribbing that he is going to get from his buddies, something like, “Drinks on you mate, you’ve got the cash after standing up to a phony pickle wielding maniac.”

He’ll never hear the end of it.

How To Get Out of a Deceptive Mortgage

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(Via the Big Picture)It appears that failure to disclose loan terms according to the Truth-in-Lending laws can change the loan status.

It turns out that there is a provision in the Truth-in-Lending Act that allows debtors to rescind their loan and void their mortgages if the terms of the loan are not clearly spelled out.
You still owe the money, but they are now just another creditor, at the back of the line, and protections from homestead provisions and bankruptcy would still apply.

One wonders how *chough* Alan Greenspan ignoring the Fed’s role in mortgage lending *cough* the lenders could have screwed up so badly on something that was both cheap and easy.

This is a Cover Up

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This is mighty convenient, they are dropping the most serious charges against the only officer charged in the Abu Ghraib affair.

They send a bunch of soldiers and non-coms to jail, but when it comes time to try a relatively senior officer, one who probably has the goods on higher ups, there are procedural issues.

Yeah Right.

A military judge on Monday dismissed two of the most serious charges against Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, a reservist, after a general who investigated the scandal acknowledged he had not read Jordan his rights before interviewing him. The action left Jordan still facing four counts and a possible 8 1/2 years in prison.

Prosecutors on Monday amended one of those remaining counts, a cruelty and maltreatment charge, by narrowing its scope from three months to one day.

Is it just me, or has someone ordered these guys to throw the case?

…

In court Monday morning, prosecutor Lt. Col. John P. Tracy announced that Maj. Gen. George Fay had contacted prosecutors Sunday to say that he “misspoke” during a March 12 pretrial hearing in which he testified under oath that he had advised Jordan of his rights during an interview in 2004.

Tracy said Fay realized his error while preparing to testify at Jordan’s trial this week. Fay told government lawyers that “he indeed did not read Lt. Col. Jordan his rights,” Tracy said.

Does Fay have it right now? Or is he lying to keep things out of the public lie? If he did neglect to read him his rights, was it intentional, to provide a “get out of jail free” card for silence?

Jordan’s defense, led by Capt. Samuel Spitzberg contends that although Jordan was the titular head of the interrogation center, he spent most of his time trying to improve Soldiers’ deplorable living conditions at Abu Ghraib. The defense argued during an October hearing that interrogation conditions were set by two other officers: Col. Thomas Pappas, an intelligence brigade commander who was the highest-ranking officer at Abu Ghraib, and Capt. Carolyn Wood, leader of a unit within the interrogation center called the Interrogation Command Element.

Neither Pappas nor Wood has been charged with crimes. Pappas was reprimanded and fined $8,000 for once approving the use of dogs during an interrogation without higher approval.

So, now that Jordan can roll over on regular army officers, and ones who do know how high it goes, suddenly, there are “procedural errors”.

Mighty convenient, that.

Anyone Got a Spare Flux Capacitor?

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It appears that the car made famous in back to the future, the De Lorean, is re-entering production next year, albeit in a hand built form. At $58K, it’s pretty cheap for a handbuild (and cheaper than the original adjusting for inflation), and it might actually succeed, if just because they are shooting for lower numbers (about 2/month) for success than the original, which was intended for mass production.

The company that’s doing this, which sells refurbed De Loreans right now, has about 200 of the original engines on hand, though one hopes that they can coercesome more horsepower out of it.