The House Judiciary committee has finally filed suit to compel Bolton and Miers to testify.
Should have happened 6 months ago. If I were Speaker of the House, I would have already sent out the sergeant at arms to take them into custody, and locked them in that jail cell in the House basement.
Monsanto has created an astroturf group that is lobbying to prohibit rBST and BGH free labels. They argue that it is “too confusing to consumers”.
I understand that Monsanto wants to market its industrial waste as widely as possible, but I object to their attempt to keep me, and the rest of the general public in the dark about it.
This is not confusing at all. I don’t their crap in my kid’s milk. Period, full stop.
I’ve always been a fan of mail in voting, so I like the idea.
My guess will be that it will be the Obama campaign that expresses problems, because people have already voted, and in the event of a revote like this, they stand to lose, a lot.
Additionally, as shown by the results in Alabama on Super Tuesday, where a large win resulted in a nearly break even number in delegates for him, the revotes in MI and FL would be stacked against him delegate-wise.
Let me note that this is not evil. This is politics, and Obama is likely to favor something like a caucus instead, because it benefits his campaign.
That’s how political campaigns are supposed to work, to structure the process toward their candidate’s advantage, and absent stuff like Republican style vote suppression, it is neither good nor evil, it simply is, as Mount Everest is, and Alma Cogan isn’t.
OK, this is not the sort of thing that I was expecting from Elliot Spitzer. He has, “been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.”
I’ve noticed that he has some problems with overreach and arrogance, but this is a shock to me.
I’m not sure where it goes from here, though I am sure that any sympathy one feels should be reserved for his wife, Silda and his three children.
Yes, any Republicans reading this, Schadenfreude is normal, and probably justified at this point, though obviously I’m not feeling this at this point.
And yes, the phrase, “Shanda before the Goyim” does dome to mind here.
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Did Lack Of Regulation Cause This Mess?
Yes.
This has been another episode of stupid answers to stupid questions.
But Mike “Mish” Shedlock seems to think that it’s the FDIC which has caused all thi, because no one would have put a dime into countrywide in 2004 if not for the FDIC insurance, which created a moral hazard allowing people to place their money at risk, despite the fact that in 2004, Countrywide was golden with soaring stock.
Additionally, most of the money that Countrywide to bury itself was not the sub $100k investments of ordinary account holders. It was many times that from Wall Street investors, who had no guarantee at all, even for the first $100K.
This is mindless Randroid Objectivist claptrap, and it is actually the purveyors of this mindless Randroid Objectivist claptrap, most notably Alan Greenspan, who has never passed up an opportunity to deregulate a market, or to bail out a major capitalist bigwig, who created this mess.
Mr. Shedlock is therefore wanker of the day.
Krugman notes that while the capital infusions of the Fed are in the $200 billion range, outstanding mortgages are in excess of $ 11 trillion, so the Fed bailout is about 1.8% of the mortgage market, and the number rapidly dwindles when examined in the context of other markets also in trouble.
The idea is not that the Fed will save these markets, but rather that the it will “slap the market in the face” to calm it down from hysteria, much like those old film noire detective movies.
Thing is, the Fed has done this twice, and it’s not working. What’s more, the interest rates that really matter to the economy, “The rates that matter most directly to the economy, including rates on mortgages and corporate bonds, have been rising”, because people are having to price an unknown level of uncertainty into their lending.
This is what is meant when it is said that the Fed is, “Pushing on a string”. It can lower rates all it wants, but the rates paid by businesses and individuals are now rising.
One of the things that I harp on, but that Krugman does not have the space to deal with in the constraints of a New York Times editorial, is the effect of the strength of the dollar on the Fed, and the effect of the Fed on the strength of the dollar.
Specifically, when the Fed cuts rates, it reduces the returns on the US dollar, which makes the currency less attractive, which drives the currency price down.
While this does help exports and reduces the advantages of imports, it also raises prices, because foreign dollars compete more for US products, like groceries (I posted about this in yesterday’s economics update).
So we are in a situation where we cannot win, and we cannot get out of the game.
*It’s one of the few Yiddish idioms that I grasp as a 3rd generation America Jew. Nu literally means yes, but, “so nu” means, “So tell me something I don’t already know”?
Scott Horton details the political machinations of Alice Martin in Alabama.
They just banned state legislators from teaching at community colleges, where the legislator/instructors are almost all black Democrats, but it’s OK at 4 year colleges, where they are whiter and more Republican.
Surprise, the Bush Justice Department, after having purged its civil rights division, thinks that it’s all okey dokey to do this.
It’s about bloody time, it’s been a ratings millstone to MSNBC for a long time.
Here is hoping that Rachael Maddow gets the nod as his replacement.
I’d like to see them get rid of Chris “Tweety” Matthews too, but his ratings are actually supportable. How about getting rid of Glenn Beck on CNN? As Atrios puts it, “No one watches his sh%$$y little show”.
Obama is expected to denounce Farrakhan, who made his endorsement without consulting the campaign, and has never shared a stage with him, but it’s OK for McCain to stand next to an anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic bigot and smile during the endorsement, I guess because he’s white.
Let’s be fair though, McCain does say that he disagrees with Hagee on Catholics.
It’s like that old Eddie Murphy sketch on Saturday Night Live, White Like Me.
McCain can embrace a radical fundamentalist bigot because he is white, and because said bigot is white.
I only hope that I am never on the receiving end of his wonderfully savage sharp pen. It would scar me for life.
He writes on the Democratic primaries, and I won’t quote, because it has to be appreciated in its entirety, but the nickel version is, “stop whining and get to work.”
This is going to be an infrequent feature of my blog, basically, whenever the muse grabs me:
Hillary 43:21
Yes, and she will be like an avenging angel unto the Republicans, and she shall smite them, and yea verily, they shall cry out, and retreateth to the bathroom stalls, where they shall tappeth their feet.
Yea though they get down upon their knees, the Republicans shallst not be offering homage to God, but shall be doing geometric things to each other, and they shall proclaimeth that they not beith gay, but rather that a great misunderstanding hath overtaken them.
Yea verily, they shall declare, we have turned over a new leaf, just as soon as we shall get to the bottom of the page.
Have I mentioned that I’m going to hell for this?
The Home Secretary in the UK intends to deport a Lesbian back to native Iran, where her partner has already been sentenced to death.
It appears that the home office thinks that everything is “just hunky dory”, because so long as, “Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted”.
That the hell happened to the Labor party?
The PPP and PML-N have formed a coalition government, and they have almost 2/3 of the seats in Parliament.
In order to change the constitution, they would need a 2/3 majority, with impeachment requiring the same numbers, but their current majority appears to be enough to reinstate judges.
I don’t think that Musharraf is long to his post as president, and in fact, if the judges are reinstated, they may rule his last election to that post to be illegal.
The FBI is investigating Countrywide financial for possible fraud.
I kind of thing that this is a “well duh” thing, but I’m an engineer, not a lawyer, dammit!.*
When you look at just the appraisal process, it’s clear that something was very rotten in Denmark.
*I love it when I get to go all Doctor McCoy!!!
This is not the end of the world, any more than the delays on the Airbus A380 were, but there has been another 3 month slippage on the program, with the first flight moving from March to June.
It’s about a 1 year delay.
These are largely due to issues with suppliers, who have had much more authority than in previous aircraft, so one wonders if this might lead to a more centralized for the successor to the 737, which is likely next on Boeing’s plate.
It looks like people are starting to notice that the cost of groceries are going through the roof. According to the article, Bush’s dumbass corn-ethanol program, increased demand from overseas because the dollar has fallen, and increased energy costs are the primary drivers.
Then we have experts saying that Banks face a “systemic margin call” to the tune of nearly half a trillion dollars, according to analysts at JP Morgan.
“Systemic Margin Call” is a nice way of saying that the credit markets are imploding.
Thornburg Mortgage is teetering on the edge of liquidation as a result of more specific margin calls. They do not have the capital to repay their loans, and this will lead to more of their loans becoming non-conforming, resulting in more capital.
Thornburg is not the first, and it’s nowhere near the last.
He has written a book about his experiences:
“This is political,” Iglesias recalls Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton telling him shortly after he was ousted. “If I were you, I’d just go quietly.”
There are a whole bunch of people out there who should be going to jail, or at least losing their law licenses, after this.
He won 52 to 48% in a reliably Republican district against perennial loser, and Republican candidate Jim Oberweis.
The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee dumped a few million dollars into this, and I’m sure that they are not happy.
I am though.
The times is saying that he’s cementing his legacy, and I would agree.
George W. Bush is to good government what Jeffrey Dahmer was to fine dining.
We really need to send all of his senior people to the Hague for trial in 2009.
Looks to be about 59:41 plus or minus a point or 2.
I’m sure that the political junkies of Wyoming are happy that someone paid them attention.