Here.
Al Wynn, very much a creature of the PG county machine endorsed Obama.
My guess is that this is simply covering the bases.
Month: February 2008
Yeah….Sure
Hillary Clinton is maintaining that Patti Solis Doyle exit as campaign manager was not a firing or shakeup.
And in related news, Senator Larry Craig says that he is not Gay.
Seriously, I understand that these lies are de regeur, but this convention insults our intelligence.
Reports of John Glenn Endorsement of Hillary Clinton
For what this news is worth, it will help her in Ohio, though I’m not sure how much.
An Interesting Point on the Gitmo Show Trials
Over at Will Bunch’s Attytood, an interesting point is made:
But the timing of this strikes me as just a little bit too much of a coincidence here. The likely unraveling of Guantanamo is Bush’s worst nightmare. A legitimate criminal trial under American laws of jurisprudence would expose the worst of the Bush-Cheney torture regime, including waterboarding techniques, and have a result that nobody in this debate wants: Making it impossible to gain real justice against the 9/11 planners, because of inadmissable evidence.
A quick trial under military rules, and a speedy execution, is the only long-shot hope for Bush and Cheney for making the worst of the torture nightmare that they’ve created go away. That said, this new push for an execution is likely to rally more opinion around the world — the death penalty has been abolished or is not used in most civilized nations — against the United States; at the risk of appearing cynical, I doubt this decision would be announced if Mitt Romney and his famed “double Guantanamo” move or if Rudy Giuliani were still viable candidates.
But as today’s articles note, it is unlikely, with appeals and the like, that any conviction and death penalty could be carried out as quickly as January. That lays the problem on the lap of the next president — regardless of whether it’s McCain, Clinton or Obama — who would have to either affirm the military tribunals, or else declare on the first day of their presidency that one of their first officials acts will be to overturn a death sentence for a 9/11 mastermind.
These are sick evil bastards, and I’m not referring to the 911 terrorists.
WYPR and Marc Steiner, the Saga Continues
While I’d like to know what is going on, if just for my own selfish voyeuristic edification, my initial reaction is that this is typical public radio bull#$@! politics. If someone wants to enlighten me, feel free.
In perusing the pages of WYPR and Marc Steiner’s blog, it appears that things are not developing in a kind manner regarding the cancellation of his show.
The President’s message about the cancellation has been updated so that it actually mentions the name “Marc Steiner”, and Steiner has a blog post suggesting that WYPR is attempting to minimize public input, and another which mentions that he’s hired on one of his WYPR producers has been hired on to his production company, The Center for Emerging Media.
In the middle of all this, WYPR has pushed back its membership drive from February to April, largely, I think, in the hope of it all blowing over.
Venezuela Threatens Oil Cutoff Over Exxon Lawsuit
Well, it looks like we’ll have to choose between the folks who poisoned Prince William Sound, and the average American driver, because we have a threat from Chavez to cut off oil shipments over Exxon lawsuit filed in London.
How a company based in the US files suit in the UK, over actions taken in Venezuela is beyond me.
FWIW, Venezuelan oil is not fungible. It’s a “sour” crude, and refineries have to be set up to refine it, so this would be a hole in the world oil supply.
Bush Is Now Promising No Permanent Bases in Iraq, Just for the Next Few Centuries
At least that is how I read a statement that says that he would , seek a military presence in Iraq for “years” but pledged in an interview aired Sunday that he would not establish permanent bases.“
He wants Iraq forever, but he does not want it to be an issue in the general.
A Rebuttal to An Earlier Post
I made a post on Barack Obama’s policies regarding the stimulus package, and Barack Obama’s and specifically his advisor, Austan Goolsbee’s position on the low income heating assistance program.
Dr. Goolsbee took exception to my post in the comments, and has granted me permission to reproduce it as a post, which follows:
This is totally bogus. I have never opposed LIHEAP as a program and neither has Senator Obama (who has voted many times to fund the program). The only objection to the program–in the CNBC clip and in all previous discussions–is trying to use LIHEAP as a stimulus program. Because there is an application process, it won’t get out the door quickly. Obama’s stimulus plan would cut checks for low income people that are BIGGER than the LIHEAP checks and would send them the money right away.
Proof that I support LIHEAP just not as a stimulus, see the debate over stimulus is the NY Observer of January 24
“For the most part, Goolsbee had little to take issue with. He had a much bigger problem with the Clinton plan’s call for $25 billion in emergency energy assistance for families facing skyrocketing heating bills. Goolsbee’s criticism of this component was consistent with his major beef with Clinton’s entire stimulus plan, which is that it would take way too long to enact, and therefore wouldn’t provide for any real stimulus at all.
Here’s Goolsbee’s critique: “It is a very detailed program. It is a very good program that people are familiar with but it just isn’t a stimulus. It is for winter heat and by the time this thing gets through we’d be talking about next winter. Two, it’s a five to 10-page application process which is significantly onerous.
He added, “After convincing the people to apply and getting them to fill out the application process, you then have an evaluation process, so this will take many months if not a year to get out the door.”
Note: there were some apostrophes that were munged by haloscan that I corrected. Otherwise it is as posted.
Republican Vote Theft in Washington State
It appears that the Washington State Republican committee is doing its level best to fix the result of their caucuses.
The State Republican Party declared a victor with only 87.2% of the votes counted, despite the fact that the spread between McCain and Huckabee is only 1.8%.
The reason given by the Chair of the state party?
Maybe it would have been safer if I hadn’t said anything. But it was an exciting and historic day for the state and I thought if I was confident about what the outcome would be I should share that with the people who had gone out to their caucuses.
Huckabee is protesting and sending lawyers, additionally, he’s evoking the USSR in this matter:
I would also note that this is just plain stupid. It potentially takes a couple of delegates from Huckabee, but he makes it a cause celebre for Huckabee supporters, shoots holes in McCain’s “straight shooter” myth, and is the easiest possible way to split the party.
Why, yes, I am feeling some glee regarding the discomfort that this is causing!
Clinton Campaign Replaces Campaign Manager
This is obviously not a good sign for the campaign. It indicates some level of disarray and rebuilding within the campaign.
Besides, they should have gotten rid of Mark Penn first.
Financial Meltdown Now Effecting Local Governments
The cost of bond insurance has skyrocketed, in some cases increasing the cost of borrowing by over 100% as a result of the credit crunch.
This means that new roads, sewer systems, schools, etc. are likely to be delayed.
As if falling house values, and hence falling property tax revenues were not enough of a cross for local and state governments to bear.
Military Incursion Into Gaza Likely: Israeli Defense Minister
This is not good, but nothing ever is in the Middle East.
The Israeli defence minister warned today that armed forces were preparing for a broad offensive against Gaza in response to rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns.
Another Nail in the Coffin for HD-DVD
Netflix goes exclusively Blu-Ray for high def.
Boy, did I get this one wrong.
Bush and His Evil Minions™ To Use Phony Gitmo Courts to Try 911 Suspects
The trials will be under the Any trials would be held by military tribunal under the terms of the Military Commissions Act, which is a mistake.
As representatives of the military say in the case, “Relatively little amounts of evidence will be classified,” and to use unfair and widely ridiculed courts at Guantanamo is a further stain on the reputation of the US.
I believe that Bush’s goals of this is two fold, to help the Republican presidential nominee in the general election, and to attempt to ensnare his successor in the military commissions quagmire, so as to avoid war crimes charges against himself.
These cases are, or should be, a …dare I say it… a “slam dunk, and they can, and should, be conducted in US courts under US rules, not phony courts under Gulag rules.
Rep. Tom Lantos Dead at 80
Here.
My condolences to his friends and family.
WaPo Endorses Donna Edwards In MD-4
Good.
Al Wynn is corrupt, ineffective, and a horrible person, and his campaign has been despicable.
Any democrat who voted to intervene in the Terry Schiavo, as Al Wynn did, case needs to be out of a job.
Very, Very, Wise
Lance Mannion gets to the core of Republican governance practice“
If the Goverment is a car setting out to give every one a ride to work, then for 40 years the Republicans have been puncturing the tires, pouring sand in the gas tank, stealing the distributer cap, and, whenever they can get their hands on the wheel, driving it straight into the nearest ditch and then, pointing to the wreckage as the tow truck backs up to it, saying, See, this proves that people were meant to walk.
And they do this so that they don’t have to chip in on gas.
Economics Update
Chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling has stated at a G-7 forum that the credit crunch will be a “prolonged adjustment”.
Auditors for AIG, the world’s largest insurer is showing “material weakness” ovalues some of its complex financial instruments, specifically its, “credit-default swap portfolio”, see here and here.
Basically, it needs to write down more of its holdings in the big sh^%pile.
In related news, credit-default swaps are becoming more expensive across the markets, which reflects the standard risk/return equation. People find these riskier, so they are demanding higher yields.
In real estate, experts are saying that home prices will drop for 2 more years. I think that it will be 5+ years, at least adjusted for investment.
A Morgan Stanley analyst has stated the obvious, that Fannie Mae will be seeing a lot mroe defaults on its loans.
In personal finance, credit card companies are jacking up rates of credit worthy customers. It appears that they are looking for cash flow to offset losses in various financial derivatives and the mortgage market.
Rupert Murdoch Dow Jones is ajusting the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with Bank of America and Chevron replacing Honeywell and Altria.
This really does not mean much, after all the Dow is not really a good metric anyway, Honeywell has become too small, and with the spinoff of Kraft, Altria is pretty much just tobacco. Nothing to see here, move along.
Finally, I recommend that you check out this examination of the US financial position compared to meltdowns in 5 other counties. It’s kind of grim, as these charts show:
The Big Picture | 5 Historical Economic Crises and the U.S. look at pics”/>
Ron Paul Basically Dropping out of Presidential Race
David Shuster Initially Defended the “Pimped” Statement
If you think that the video I posted of David Shuster’s “Pimping Chelsea” comment seemed to show an insincere apology, the email exchange with the Clinton campaign confirms that he was even less sincere than his bull%$#@ “If anyone was offended” faux apology.
A bit of the exchange, (Philippe Reines is a Clinton adviser):
From: David Shuster
To: Philippe Reines
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 9:29 p.m.No. That’s not what I’m saying. And if you bothered to look at the transcript and saw all of the glowing things I said about chelsea and the way she was raised, you would know that.
The issue is not her making calls. As + said on the air, I have no problems with that what so ever. The issue is not her refusing interviews. The issue is that the campaign has come down hard on reporters who merely sought to ask chelsea questions. You can’t have it both ways. Reporters have long respected the clintons desire that we avoid chelsea and let her have her space. But to get angry at reporters seeking to talk to her now is patently unfair. And you know that.
Honestly, this crap starts with Russert, who clearly hates the Clintons, and reaches a crescendo with Chris Matthews, though it appears that Shuster, who is twice the journalist of Matthews, and three times the journalist of Russert, will take the fall.