Month: March 2008

Bush Authorizes “the Furnishing of Defense Articles and Defense Services” to Kosovo

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While not an actual authorization of weapons sales, it does give official approval to more detailed negotiations on this matter.

I support the recognition of Kosovo. The nation of Serbia forfeited any right to the territory when it engage in Genocide, and the ability to support Kosavar security forces is a good thing.

That being said, the fact that I am agreeing with a foreign policy initiative of Bush and His Evil Minions™ does make me feel unsettled.

Once again, I am compelled to make the repeat the wisest thing that I’ve read this century:

But it does inspire in me the desire for a competition; can anyone, particularly the rather more Bush-friendly recent arrivals to the board, give me one single example of something with the following three characteristics:

1. It is a policy initiative of the current Bush administration
2. It was significant enough in scale that I’d have heard of it (at a pinch, that I should have heard of it)
3. It wasn’t in some important way completely f#$@ed up during the execution.

Seriously. I’ve yet to see anything wiser yet, and I’m using the loose definition of the 21st century which includes the year 2000.

So the obvious question is, how will they f#$@ it up?

Carole Channing is Biracial?

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From the wiki:

According to Channing’s memoirs, when she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist whom she had believed was born in Rhode Island, was in fact born in Augusta, Georgia to a German American father and an African American mother. According to Channing’s account, her mother didn’t want her to be surprised “if she had a black baby”. Channing kept her heritage secret so she would not be typecast on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, published in 2002 when she was 81 years old. Channing’s autobiography, although containing a photograph of her mother, displays none of her father or her son.

Economics Update

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Jobless claims
378,000, up 22K from the previous week, and the leading economic indicators fell for the 5th straight month by 0.3%.

Oil dropped nearly $4.00/bbl, and the dollar is up versus the Euro.

These are both driven by what is seen as reduced demand for oil, and a rate cut from the Fed which was around 25 basis points (0.25%) less than expected.

Still, it does not appear that the banks are optimistic Citi is looking to cut 2,000 jobs in their securities division (investment banking and trading). This is in addition to the 4k announced in January.

Just to remind you, it’s not just sub-prime, as Alt-A delinquencies and foreclosures are spiking too, and are trashing the related mortgage backed securities.

Finally, the Federal Reserve continues its extended bout of anilingus with the brokerage houses, making $75 billion in treasury securities available to investment banks.

V-22 AWACS

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It’s called the Tactical Organic Sensing System (TOSS), though Boeing is trying to change the rather unfortunate name.

One wag suggested that the radar be named Cerberus Advanced Battlespace Extension Radar (CABER).

This may very well be a winner for the various operators of V/STOL carriers, with the V-22 having better persistence and altitude performance than a helicopter based solution.

The aperture (antenna) size does appear a bit small, though it will be at least as good as the existing Sea King ASaC7.

Red Sox Stand Up For the Guys Who Stand Behind Them

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I’m not a great Baseball fan, but to the degree I am, I’m a member of Red Sox Nation, and the players just did the right thing when they briefly struck to ensure that the coaches and other support personnel for the team actually got paid for the exhibition games in Japan.

The net result was an hour delay in one game, and the coaches got paid.

I could insert a Yankees slam here, but it would spoil the moment.

Gene Kelley’s Widow Calls Out MoDo

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There is really not much that I can add to this:

I Knew Gene Kelly. The President Is No Gene Kelly. – New York Times
Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

…..

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

Read the whole thing.

Schadenfreude, the Fredddie Thompson Clown Show Edition

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It appears that Sean Hackbarth, “Co-eCampaign Director, Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc.” is begging for work.

He has a resume up, and his day jobs appear to have been pretty meager, and he did not graduate college (it just says “education”, not degree).

I will say that given that he is around 33, perhaps the infantry would be a good idea.

Not sure if I’m just posting because I didn’t want another chance to write, “Fredddie Thompson Clown Show”.

Journamalism at its Worst

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Yep, we have Brian Ross at his wankerriffic worst.

Hillary Clingon’s travel records as first lady are released, and what is the lede?

Is it whether or not she is imporperly claiming experience? NO.

Is it evidence of some sort of evidence of wrong doing? NO.

Nope, what’s important to Brian Ross is that Hillary Clinton slept at the White House on “blue dress day”.

What a bunch of shallow wankers.

This is high Broderism at its worst.

Judge Losing Patience with White House Stonewalling on Emails

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A Judge John M. Facciola has given the White House until tomorrow to show why they should not be required to copy the contents of all computer hard drives in order to ensure that no more emails are lost.

Judge Facciola rejected as “draconian” a proposal by the Archive that would have forced the White House to quarantine every computer workstation it had. Instead, Facciola proposed the White House make a “forensic copy” of all preservable data on every computer that could have been used by an employee between 2003 and 2005, the period in question.

Observing that even that step is “not without its costs,” Facciola gave the White House until close of business Friday to argue why it should not be required to make such copies.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the White House “fully intends to comply” with the order, which is currently being reviewed.

The semantic difference between “fully intends to comply”, and “intends to fully comply” is noted.

Mike Huckabee Defends Obama and Wright

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Huckabee seems to be rather more complex than his “Gomer Pyle” stereotype:

And one other thing I think we’ve got to remember: As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

My guess would be is that if he were still in the race, he would not be so benevolent, but it still a remarkably kind and thoughtful thing to say.

Water, It’s the New War Profiteering

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Yep. It appears that with, “As liquidity is drained from credit and money markets and pours into oil and gold, another asset class that could offer long-term returns to the discerning investor is water”, or at least so say the contemptible capitalist/terrorists who want to extract people’s wealth to line their own pockets.

This isn’t cell phones, it’s not electricity. This is water.

No water, you die. No clean water, your kids die. Get it.

We need to stop this before it gets rolling, and they start hiring lobbyists.

David Frum is a Lier, Marketplace Edition

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I sent this to the good folks at Marketplace:

In David Frum’s essay yesterday about Federal reserve policy, he stated that he remembered, “the little white stickers my family’s favorite steak house used to overwrite last month’s price”.

I would make two points here.

First, Mr. Frum is born and bred in Canada, specifically Toronto, Ontario, and it appears that the nearest American soil, Niagara Falls, New York, was about 80 miles away.

Given the number of steak houses available in Toronto, it is likely that the menu of which he spoke was for a Canadian restaurant, and using a Canadian restaurant to describe US inflation is not the basis for an honest discussion of any policy.

Second, this was in the days when plain paper copiers were a rare beast, so reprinting a menu was a significant issue, even if it was done only once a year.