Prop. 99 passed and Prop. 98 was defeated. The former just prohibited eminent domain for private projects, the latter was an attempt to eliminate rent control.
Month: June 2008
And in Other Primaries
Generally positive results in US Senate contests:
- Lautenberg wins in NJ.
- Neanderthal Steve Pearce is up for a drubbing from Tom Udall in NM.
Australian Activists Present Brief to International Criminal Court Against Former PM John Howard
Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcast Corp. reported June 1 that a legal brief has been sent to the International Criminal Court alleging Howard committed a war crime by sending troops to Iraq. A loose alliance of peace activists, lawyers, academics and politicians is behind the brief, organized by the ICC Action Group, based in Melbourne.
One paragraph in the article, but I’m beginning to thing that we should think of filing similar briefs on Bush and His Evil Minions™, because justice will never be served in the USA.
Gay Marriage Ban Gets on California Ballot
The polls show bigotry losing, but bigots are motivated voters.
Economics Update
ADP’s private report suggests 40,000 new jobs, though it should be noted that , “U.S. companies’ planned layoffs rose 15 percent in May from April to the highest monthly total since December 2005” it has been noted that, “ADP has been inaccurate of late, overpredicting payrolls,” so I would wait for the government figures.
On the other hand, productivity rose more than predicted in Q1 of 2008, though all indications is that this was not more stuff to do, but simply less stuff doing it, “Aggressive cuts in worker hours will help shield corporate profits and keep wage-related cost pressures under control, helping to reassure the Fed.”
Personally, I’m inclined to take the pessimistic assessment of this, because the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing index fell to 51.7, indicating a softness in the service sector.
Additionally, we have the forecasting a world wide growth rate of only 1.8% this year, and weekly mortgage applications fell to a 6-year low.
Inflation worries are now weighing down the dollar, though oil prices are down a bit more to $122.48/bbl, but retail gas prices rose to a new high again, $3.983/gal.
Lastly, we have a visit from our old friends, the monoline insurers, with Ambac and MBIA getting hammered because Moody’s is finally considering a downgrade on their debt.
Dems Set to Cave Again on Extension of Unemployment Benefits
Steny “Mr. Capitulation” Hoyer is saying that House Dems are, “likely to drop a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits” from the Iraq supplemental.
This is both craven and stupid. Make the Republicans, and for that matter the Bush Blue Dogs, vote against the unemployment extension.
Not only is it good policy in an economy in a tailspin, it’s good politics, since the extension is popular.
It passed with 75 votes in the Senate. If Bush vetos it, come back again, and again, and again, and again.
Wimps.
Piling On David Brooks
As John Amato of Crooks and Liars notes, along with half the liberal blogosphere, that when David Brooks says the following:
DAVID BROOKS, “NEW YORK TIMES”: Obama‘s problem is he doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee’s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there. He has to change to be more like that Applebee’s guy and as he‘s done that he‘s become much more transactional. Much more, I‘m going to deliver this and this and this to you on policy.
He gets one fact wrong, there is no salad bar at Applebee’s.
I guess he’s never been to one.
Matthew Yglesias (June 03, 2008) – The Math (Politics)
Matthew Yglesias finds this bit of political chart porn:
Since 1994, Democrats have been under performing their vote totals. The redistricting in 2012 or so needs to be done in a sensible manner, particularly the extremely Gerrymandered “Majority Minority” districts, which have contributed to this problem.
Shorter John McCain: Hey, You Kids! Get Off of My Lawn!!!
The high points of McCain’s speech last night, such as they are, courtesy of Mark Halperin.
The Annals of the Incredibly Obvious
The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), the Pentagon’s accountant, is saying that Lockheed-Martin needs adult supervision to stay on budget for the JSF contract.
The DCMA is predicting a 12 month schedule slip, and a $4.9 billion cost overrun.
Same old, same old, at the Pentagon.
Texas Observer Takes Down Phill Gramm
It’s a very good article, which places Gramm foursquare at the center of every major financial meltdown of the past decade.
My favorite quote:
Says Greenberger, “I am quite confident Phil Gramm didn’t understand what his legislation did. It was written by the banks and hedge funds.”
Note that Gramm was originally an economics professor.
It’s a good, and frightening, read on McCain’s economics guru.
FEC Should Have Quorum Shortly
Unfortunately, as Matthew Blake reports, it appears that new members will be selected for their political loyalty, rather than any commitment to clean elections.
Same old, same old.
Note that McCain is still committing a felony in his spending until the FEC votes on his withdrawal from public finance though.
Could The Democrats Please Trade Mark Penn to the Republicans for Some Future Consideration?
Seriously, I’d take Jack Abramhoff, or Larry Craig, or Randy “Duke” Cunningham.
Even now, Penn is suggesting going nuclear on the nomination process.
If there is any justice in the world, Penn will be selling shoes for a living in 6 months.
Gaah!!!!! 40 Years!!!!
Muckraked has a review of the book War Journal, My Five Years in Iraq, and we find this quote:
“This is the great war of our times. It is going to take forty years,’” [Bush told Engel]. “Bush said in forty years the world would know if the war on terrorism, and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, had reduced extremism, helped moderates, and promoted democracy.
And he doesn’t care if it works or not, because then he’ll be dead.
If there is any justice in the world, he will die in a prison cell.
Cool! I Broke $50.
After about 56 weeks of blogging, I broke $50 ad revenue:
By this time next year, should I continue writing, I’ll be able to get a baby sitter for the kids, and take my Sharon* out to a nice dinner.
Note: this is not a request that you click the ads, though if one catches your eye, that’s cool.
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
According to MSNBC, Obama is Over the Top
No link, just heard it on Tee Vee.
Dang, No Lawsuit Against MediaDefender
You may recall that I wrote about MediaDefender’s terrorist DDOS attack on internet TV station Revision3 last Friday.
As promised, I sent Revision3 an email saying that if they wanted to sue, and set up a legal fund, I’d throw in a few bucks.
Well they got back to me, and they are not suing, at least not now.
reprinted with permission
Jim Louderback <@@@@@@@@> Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 3:24 PM
To: @@@@@@@@@Ha, that’s a good idea. Probably won’t do it, but I appreciate the thoughts!
jim
–snipped forward form support email—
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “Matthew Saroff” <@@@@@@@@>
To: @@@@@@@@
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 12:10:55 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: The MediaDefender DDOS Attack, Will You Set Up a Legal Fund?Have you considered putting up a link for a legal fund to sue those folks?
If you did, I’d throw in a few bucks.
—
Matthew Saroff
Standard Disclaimer Applies
Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, I Gotta Blog
http://40yrs.blogspot.com
Sen. Robert Byrd, In Hospital
For lethargy and a mild fever. He’s 90, and you have to be careful about such things.
The U.S. Navy Seems to Be Without Procurement Vision
Interesting, it appears that the US Navy, from the CNO on down, is not aggressively pushing more DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyers.
At one Congressional hearing, when asked what the DDG-1000 brings to the Navy, CNO Adm. Gary Roughead said, “is an introduction of new technologies that will be very important to how we go forward.”
That is not a sterling endorsement of a ship that will be the largest surface combatant to be fielded in a long time, it’s 80% bigger than the Arleigh Burke Class, and a quick Wiki shows that the last hull of its size was built somewhere around 1950.
If you go read the article, it appears that the Navy has no real clue as to what it wants, with fuzzy thinking on anything, whether it be more Burkes, whether the CG(X) should be nuclear powered, LPD landing ships, maritime patrol aircraft, etc.
For some reason, except for carriers and submarines, the Navy seems completely adrift (pun not intended).
Kennedy Walking Following Surgery
Word is that he will start chemo today.