Looks like he did fairly well too, around 52% to around 33% for Clinton, and around 15% for Edwards from the CNN page right now.
Month: January 2008
Better Now Than in The General Obama-Rezko Edition
More Obama-Rezko stuff; this time it’s the fact that the Obama campaign has not returned all the Rezko related donations.
Truth be told, I don’t find this particularly meaningful from a policy or corruption position, but I do see it as significant from from a political perspective.
As I’ve said before, one of my concerns about Obama (ignoring the whole gay baiting McClurkin thing) is that he has never been in a serious campaign against a Republican.
He has always run in a dead girl/live boy* safe Democratic district, except for his Senate campaign, which was against Alan Keys, who is so obviously seriously mentally ill that it counts as the same thing.
What he is getting now is less than one one thousandth of what the Republicans would throw at him in the general election, and the his response, and that of his campaign, has generally been pretty good.
Besides, getting this cleared up in the primary, is better than waiting for the general.
*Edwin Edwards, when discovering that he would be facing David Duke in the Louisiana governor’s race, said that the the only way that he would lose were if he were, “caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy”.
$750 Million for Hypersonic Demonstrator
DARPA is getting$750 million for its “Blackswift” hypersonic demonstrator.
It’s performance is fairly mild as hypersonics go, about Mach 6-7, but it will take off and land under its own power, and use conventional hydrocarbon, as opposed to cryogenic fuels, so the utility of such a craft is significantly more than a lot of the other demonstrators.
It won’t need fuel tanks that are basically Dewar flasks, and it’s tanks should be much smaller, since hydrogen is much less dense than conventional jet fuel.
It integrates a turbine for low speed propulsion, using an, “inward turning inlet”
As you can see, this concept looks a bit less “tubby” than hydrogen powered systems/
The John Edwards “Grown Up” Ad
I think that this is an effective ad.
When Not To Hyphenate Your Name
This is an open thread, and I’ll see both of you Saturday night.
When not to hyphenate (H/t to Old Pinko):
Edwards Runs Ads Claiming to be from the “Adult Wing of the Democratic Party”
When all is said and done, this may hurt Clinton, but this will kill Obama.
Clinton is running on the ticket that, “She may be a scary bitch, but she’s our scary bitch”, while Obama is running against his own message.
In any case, I have not seen the ad, so if someone finds it on Youtube, put it in the comments.
Economics Update
Profits are still tanking, we now have Commerce Bank and Harley Davidson way down, and I see Harley as a real bellwether of a recession.
When middle aged guys don’t feel secure enough to buy their toys, it’s game over.
And we have another insurance downgrade, this time Security Capital is downgraded by Fitch.
And we have Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warning that we may sliding into a 1930s type ‘liquidity trap’.
Reports of Corruption in FCC D Block Auction
Once again, I would direct you to Harold Feld’s “Tales of the Sausage Factory”, here, and here, with a backup from Morningstar and News.com.
The short story is as follows, a company was formed, Frontline, to bid on the portions D block auction.
Frontline actively lobbied for the partnership with public safety agencies, and based its entire business model on such a network.
The idea was that whoever built the network would then sell access at a discounted basis to the public safety community. Any spare capacity would then be sold to the commercial wireless industry.
Frontline was expected to bid for 10 megahertz of spectrum, which would give the winner a national license with which they could build a next-generation wireless broadband cellphone and communications network.
…
O’Brien also told Frontline that in addition to negotiating for public safety agencies, Cyren Call intended to become the “monopoly buyer” of broadband service on the network once it was complete.
Under this arrangement, Frontline would be obliged to negotiate with Cyren Call when discussing terms of how the network would be built, and then be forced to sell the bulk of the access to Cyren Call once it was up and running.
OK, this seems straightforward, if a bit involved, but the FCC added something else, “In order to ensure the winner of the D-block license cooperates with the public safety community, the FCC rules say if it is deemed the licensee wasn’t negotiating in “good faith” it could be forced to forfeit more than $100 million and lose all rights to the spectrum it had acquired.”
But the FCC gave no direction as to what it meant. So it was completely vague.
It gets worse, Cyren Call, an organization set up by Morgan O’Brien (the Billionaire who founded Nextel) was negociating “on behalf of the public safety community”, but it is clear that his end goal was that he be the one of control of this spectrum, and so he was throwing around outrageous demands, such as a $500 million dollar fee.
He deliberately scared off Frontline’s investors so that he could be in control, despite the fact that he was representing the public safety providers and had a fiduciary responsibility to them.
One of the Joys of the Internet: Finding People Smarter Than Me
I don’t know his name, but the person known as “the Scanner” is one of them.
He has an ingenious proposal for dealing with the issue of bailing out financial institutions that are drowning in the “Big Sh%$pile”.
Here’s my proposal. I offer it at no charge to any member of Congress, presidential candidate or editorial writer willing to bear the calvary of getting the stink-eye next time at Harry Cipriani. If it becomes necessary to bail out the monoliners to prevent a depression, there will be terms. For once, the highly-paid beneficiaries of a taxpayer-financed bailout will not get off scot-free.
Congress shall specify that no bailout will take place unless and until (a) every bailed out monoliner and (b) every financial institution holding a bailed-out policy certifies that its employees have voluntarily agreed to accept a 25% federal income tax surcharge on every dollar earned above $200,000 for a period of 5 years. A young hotshot earning $300,000 would see $25,000 added to his tax bill. An elder pulling down $1 million would owe an extra $200,000. Since some of the biggest Wall Street multinationals are policyholders, and since this would apply to every one of their employees over $200,000, we could be talking about a lot of people and a lot of money. It could even go some way towards making the bailout pay for itself.
Politically, it’s a winner. Fiscally, it’s sound. It’s extraordinarily well-targeted to precisely the assholes who got us into this mess in the first place. John Edwards: Have your staff contact me through the comments box.
My only difference would be that I would go for a higher surcharge, perhaps something like 50%.
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) to Retire
Another Republican has decided not to stand for reelection.
There have been 22 retirees so far.
Part of it is an increasingly difficult political environment, but it’s also that being in the minority is much less fun, particularly if you have been in the majority.
Egypt begins closing Gaza border, five killed in airstrikes – 3rd Update : Middle East World
Now that the Israelis are saying, fine, “you broke the border, you own it”, to Egypt, it appears that Egypt has started cracking down on the border.
Gaza has no real economy, not enough water, no resources, and a bunch of very pissed off residents, so it’s no surprise that it’s becoming a hot potato.
Senate Looking at Well Endowed Schools
Get your mind out of the gutter, this is about the Senate is looking at tuitions exploding as university endowments skyrocket.
It’s a legitimate question. The US government spends billions sending students to increasingly expensive colleges and universities, but these same not for profit institutions are amassing increasingly large endowments as they hike costs for the students.
As Richard Vedder noted, there is a whole lot of excess going on in higher education.
The example that he gives is Whitman College at Princeton, a residence hall that, “cost $388,571 per room unit, nearly identical to what Donald Trump spent on his luxury resort Ocean Club Panama.”
The explosion in college costs started during the Vietnam War, where the alternative to college was combat, and it has continued unabated for the next 40 years, helped along by collusion among the top schools in tuition and financial aid.
Simply expanding student loan and grand programs make this worse. Regulation is needed to ensure that the managers educational institutions don’t take the money and build monuments to their own egos.
Constitutional Issue for Bush and His Evil Minions™ “Iraq Forever” Plan
Bush’s intent to make permanent and binding security arrangements with Iraq without congressional approval do appear to be unprecedented.
There were formal treaties for Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and NATO, and when Reagan entered into security arrangements with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, this was submitted to the congress for approval.
You know it’s out there when Dana Freaking Rohrabacher is saying that this is “arrogant”.
Tape Probe Update: One Hacked Off Judge
Judge Richard W. Roberts of the DC court has given the Justice Department 3 weeks to explain how the tape destruction in November 2005 did not violate his July 2005 order not to do so.
Signs of the Apocalypse: Financial Times Columnist Calls for Regulation of Bankers’ Pay
Martin Wolf, a columnist and editor for the Financial Times, is calling for regulations regarding the remuneration of banking executives.
Basically, he sees the current pay structures of banking, with enormous bonuses for short term results, as being a major factor in the current banking/credit crisis.
Further, he sees banking as an industry with an amazing talent for, “privatising gains and socialising losses.”
He says, “My attitude to the banking industry is not a prejudice. It is a ‘postjudice’.”, or to be translated into more prosaic language, he learns from the mistakes he observes, and prior behavior colors his attitude towards the industry.
It is the nature of limited liability businesses to create conflicts of interest – between management and shareholders, between management and other employees, between the business and customers and between the business and regulators. Yet the conflicts of interest created by large financial institutions are far harder to manage than in any other industry.
That is so for three fundamental reasons: first, these are virtually the only businesses able to devastate entire economies; second, in no other industry is uncertainty so pervasive; and, finally, in no other industry is it as hard for outsiders to judge the quality of decision-making, at least in the short run. This industry is, in consequence, exceptional in the extent of both regulation and subsidisation. Yet this combination can hardly be deemed a success. The present crisis in the world’s most sophisticated financial system demonstrates that.
Basically, he is saying that these institutions are immature and short sighted in outlook, but they possess the ability to destroy the output of the most of the rest of society, and so they need aggressive regulation.
Word up.
NYT Endorses Clinton and McCain
I’ve just finished reading the New York Times endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
They basically buy into the “experience” meme, and I think that they also don’t see any “there” there for Obama.
Their reasons for not endorsing Edwards, are pretty mainstream, basically the alibis rich and comfortable people use because so they don’t care about his issues.
I would disagree with them on “changing the tone of the campaign”.
Honestly, since Obama has taken a more combative turn, I have been more impressed with him as a candidate, if just because it shows some facility for dealing with the Republican Slime Machine.
If you want a good read though, I would suggest that you read the Times endorsement of McCain.
It’s not that they say such lofty things about McCain, but rather the degree to which they go after the Rudolph Giuliani clown show:
Why, as a New York-based paper, are we not backing Rudolph Giuliani? Why not choose the man we endorsed for re-election in 1997 after a first term in which he showed that a dirty, dangerous, supposedly ungovernable city could become clean, safe and orderly? What about the man who stood fast on Sept. 11, when others, including President Bush, went AWOL?
That man is not running for president.
The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.
Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking. When he claims fiscal prudence, we remember how he ran through surpluses without a thought to the inevitable downturn and bequeathed huge deficits to his successor. He fired Police Commissioner William Bratton, the architect of the drop in crime, because he couldn’t share the limelight. He later gave the job to Bernard Kerik, who has now been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.
Meow!!!!
Remember That “Russian” Cyber Attack on Estonia? Not So Much
This might refresh your memory.
It turns out that the Russians did not do it. It was an Estonian script kiddie, see here, and here.
My Letters to My Senators on Telco Immunity
I had to send two very different letters, because Ben Cardin voted against retroactive Telco immunity, and Barbara Mikulski voted for it.
To the Honorable Barbara Mikulski:
I have no idea why you were one of the 12 Democratic Senators to vote for Telecommunications Company immunity in the recent vote on the FISA update.
However, I will tell you as a lifelong Democrat, I can find no reason for you to do so.
Given the electoral dynamics of Maryland, you are at no risk, and in any case, you are not up for election this year.
The activity that you voted to indemnify PRE-DATED THE 911 ATTACKS, and the demands of the Bush administration, and were CLEARLY illegal.
Indemnification is an attempt to cover up the clearly illegal actions of the Bush administration and the NSA to illegally spy on Americans.
Absent a convincing justification for this vote, I cannot support you, or vote for you in the future.
This is not an issue of national security. FISA as it exists already includes the necessary mechanisms to make our country secure, notwithstanding DNI Michael McConnell’s lies on this matter.
This is not a matter for politics, or for listening to lobbyists employed by the telecommunications industry.
These actions were clearly illegal, which is why Qwest refused this access, and given the intensity of the desire of the Bush administration on this issue, I can only conclude that the purpose of this immunity is to cover up systematic surveillance of political opponents.
To the Honorable Benjamin Cardin:
I appreciate your vote on to remove telecommunications immunity from the FISA update.
This is a matter beyond politics, and it strikes at core of our constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches.
Much of the illegal activity in question was taken months before the attacks on 9-11, and it was unequivocally illegal.
The desire for immunity on the part of the Bush administration is clearly driven by a desire to cover up their role in illegally spying on American citizens, which very likely involved spying political opponents.
Personally, I would consider any vote to create retroactive immunity to be unacceptable, and dangerous to our republic.
You can find a list of the Democratic Senators who betrayed their oaths of office here.
Bush: “Osama Who???”
In an interview with (who else) Fox News, Bush is saying that it’s no big deal that Osama bin Laden is still breathing free air.
Interesting comment from George W. “Dead or Alive” Bush, don’t you think?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot????
Just when I think that I’ve become so jaded and cynical that Bush and His Evil Minions™ are incapable of horrifying me, they prove me wrong.
Paul Wolfowitz has been named by the State Department to sit on an arms control panel.
I guess because that whole WMD in Iraq thing worked out so well.
