Month: January 2008

John Solomon Comes Home…To the Moonie Times

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John Solomon has been appointed executive editor of the Moonie Washington Times.

As to why this is coming home, Talking Points Memo has the definitive word, “Here’s what one former colleague of Solomon’s said last week: ‘I worked [X] years in the same office as Solomon, sometimes with him. The consensus: he’s lazy, and takes hit jobs handed him on a platter by opps research teams (and anyone will do.) And doesn’t do much to clean it up. I also know one of his fave and frequent sources is Barbara Comstock, former DOJ spxwoman and GOP attack dog.'”

In the Washington Post announcement of this move, he currently works for the Post, Mr. Solomon, ever the complete tool, says, “It’s going to be about being fair and balanced“. Straight out of Fox News.

BTW, if you want a rundown on a few of his misdeeds, Think Progress has the scoop.

The Racial Aspect to the Campaign

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The dynamic of the back and forth between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is interesting, and I think that Hillary had the better of the exchange, which, according to sources in both campaigns is now officially over.

Obama’s campaign is designed around a goal, to prevent the voting public from thinking of him as an angry black man who cries “wolf” about racism.

As Ezra Klein and John Aravosis have said, this exchange undercuts Obama’s primary message, that he is a new kind of politician who can bring people together, because people are hearing what they see as the same old tired litany (it’s not really tired, because we are a bigoted society) of accusations of racism.

It also gives Charlie Rangel, whose civil rights cred is unassailable, an opportunity to call Obama’s comments stupid.

BTW, if these little digs are causing a hiccup in Obama’s campaign, just wait and see what would happen if he gets the nomination.

Republicans will take those accusations of racism as a badge of honor, and they will, as they have in the past, run a campaign of racist code words.

I fear that Obama would be dead meat in the general.

This Explains the Subprime Problems, Banks Cannot Use Excel®

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Banks are petitioning theFinancial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to relax rules on non performing home loans. They say that the rules are too complex and difficult.

The rule in question, Financial Accounting Standard 114, “Accounting by Creditors for Impairment of a Loan”, is also fifteen years old.

Before FAS 114, banks could count non-performing loans on their books as if they were to be paid back in full, which meant that defaults would almost never show up on the balance sheet until too late.

It should be noted that these banks that are crying that this is too difficult have been applying it without difficulty to commercial mortgages and corporate loans for the past 15 years.

You can do this in Excel®, BTW.

This is not about complexity. It’s about concealing losses from the public.

Iraqi Bill to Reintigrate Baath Party Members Appears to Be a Fraud

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It appears that the bill is, “ So riddled with loopholes and caveats to the point that some Sunni and Shiite officials say it could actually exclude more former Baathists than it lets back in, particularly in the crucial security ministries“.

So my previous report on the issue is wrong, and al-Malaki is acting true to form and doing his level best to ethnically cleanse Iraq’s Sunnis.

It’s a phony success to create a phony victory in a real war.

New Build Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bomber Begins Flight Test

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I think that this is another indication of how Russia is rearming, and I think that it is driven by a fear of NATO in general, and the US in particular.

Of course, this suits the Republicans just fine, because they want a scary opponent who justifies high tech white elephants like the F-22.

FWIW, “New Build” appears to be kind of a technicality. It appears that the aircraft was manufactured from a partially completed airframe dated from the 1990s.

Economics Update

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First off, the Baltic Dry Shipping Index is falling off a cliff:

It’s the shipping rates on the 24 busiest routes. On January 10, it dropped 4.6%, and it’s dropped 28% from its November 13 peak. It’s basically an index of shipping rates of bulk items, which in turn is a pretty good indicator of where the world economy is going.

It’s going down, and it also indicates that the world economy has not “decoupled” from the US economy.

Then we have Citibank announcing a $24 billion write-down, (doubtless with more to come) , and announcing around 20,000 job cuts. What’s more, the it appears that the government of China has suggested that it will prevent a multi billion dollar investment in Citi by the state-owned China Development Bank.

This indicates that China is getting twitchy about making US investments, which does not bode well for the dollar, which is currently at $1.4877:€1.0000, within about a penny of its all time low.

And then there is the fact that banks are unable to sell Chrysler financing, amounting to about $7 billion. It had originally been $10 billion, but they could not “syndicate” (sell) that debt toward the end of last year.

Wolfgang Münchau has an interesting analysis of the Credit Default Swap (CDS) markets, which go much farther and deeper than subprime, and appear to be in at least as much trouble. (A primer on CDS, which are the most prevalent form of derivative, here).

Münchau makes a point, and I’m not even sure he notices, when he says, “A truly awful scenario would be a long recession. The US did experience some longish recessions in the past, for example from November 1973 until March 1975, but there was no CDS market around at the time.”

That’s the point. This brave new world of complex financial instruments has created a tsunami which is now looming over modern financial markets.

We also have Robert Shiller, co-creater of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index saying that falling house prices have gutted the value of Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America just purchased.

When he says, “I might have a lower valuation of Countrywide than Bank of America does,” he means, “Those idiots just threw money after bad.”

I said the same thing 3 days ago, but obviously, I’m an engineer, I’m not an economist, dammit*!

*I love it when I get to go all Doctor McCoy!!!.

Bush is Going to Keep Troops in Iraq

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Yes, he says that he he is open to the possibility of slowing or stopping plans to bring home more U.S. troops from Iraq, which means that he’s not going to bring them home.

He’ll make some announcements, but when the tire hits the road, they won’t be redeployed.

Why, because George W. Bush thinks that all that matters is “victory”, which he defines as staying in Iraq, no matter how many terrorists are created, or how many troops are lost, or how many unstable nations move toward nuclear weapons.

It’s all about him, and he needs to show that he’s “brave and resolute” with other people’s lives and other people’s money.

Another Republican House Seat in Play

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Rep. Jerry Weller (R-El Guatamala*) has decided not to run for re-election†, and both the Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to try to get the seat.

It’s been Republican for years, but appears increasingly competitive, With the vote being 46%D 43%R, and 11%Green in the last gubernatorial election.

*His wife is the daughter of Efrain Rios Mott, wanted by the ICC for genocide against Mayan Indians in Guatamala.
†He’s financially tied into Mott, and has a history of shady Central American land deals.

Justice Department Supports DC Handgun Ban

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Once again, we find a case where all the NRA Republicans think that the 2nd amendment as they define it stops where they live and work. In their brief to SCOTUS, the Justice Deptartment has said that the appellate court ruling was over broad.

It’s because these guys live and work in DC, and they are worried what will happen to them if black people are allowed to carry guns.

Gun control for me, but not for thee, I guess.

Toshiba Cuts Prices on HD-DVD Players

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Some HD-DVD drives are now less than $100, and the newer ones are less than $200.

I don’t think that it’s going to make a whole bunch of difference, and that, to the degree that spinning optical media will be the future of movie distribution, it looks like Sony’s Blu-Ray has won (I got that one wrong).

On the other hand, if you want a deal, and HD-DVD handles existing DVDs quite well, you might want to go shopping.

OK, Mukasey Actually Appears to Be Doing His Job

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Well, knock me over with a sledge hammer, it appears that Attorney General Mukasey is actually doing his job, at least in what has become the minority voting suppression division of the Justice Department under Bush and His Evil Minions™.

I’m pleasantly surprised, though Abu Gonzalez actually made me nostalgic for John Freaking Ashcroft, so it is a low bar.

First, John “Minorities will be Dead Soon” Tanner has resigned as head of the voting rights section, and is moving to the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in December, and last friday, his replacement, Christopher Coates, who was promoted from within the section, demoted Tanner’s former deputy chiefs, Susana Lorenzo-Giguere (who drew a salary while living at her Cape Cod vacation home) and Yvette Rivera (who has been accused of discriminating against blacks on staff).

Of note is that Rivera is being replaced by Tim Mellett, who was one of the professional staff who issued a report, subsequently overruled by the political appointees , that Tom Delay’s Texas redistricting was illegal.

Canadians Kill MP3 Player Tax

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This report does not make it clear as to why the Federal Court of Appeal struck down such a tax.

There are provision in the Canadian copyright laws that allow for audio recording media, on the theory that they are means of distribution, but an MP3 player is not a means of distribution of music, but rather a means of consumption of music.

Simply put, people don’t swap MP3 players, though obviously some people swap music files.

Torture for Thee but Not For Me

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This is just so Orwellian. U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell is saying that if waterboarding were used against him, it would be torture, but refuses to say if this applies to other people.

The level of corruption, immorality, and cowardice of Bush and His Evil Minions™ simply buggers the mind.

“If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful!” McConnell said in the article. “Whether it’s torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture.”

But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.

I want my country back.

No Telco Immunity for a While

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As a result of Dodd’s activism against Telco immunity, Harry Reid has decided not to attempt to pass such a provision while Bush is still in office. Instead, he’s looking at extending the last bill for another 18 months. (Note the article linked is a WSJ editorial, and so it is in many ways factually inaccurate where there are clear facts, and wrong in its analysis, read only if you have a strong stomach or an affection for dark humor)

Still, this is not good enough. The “Protect America Act” is an assault on the constitution and its principles. It should not be extended a day, much less 18 months.

Dodd is now out of the Presidential race, but in 2000, he lost to Daschle in a race for the Senate Democratic leader, and he should challenge Reid next time.