Month: July 2008

Administration Calls for Congress to Act on Detainees – NYTimes.com

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Michael Mukasey, George Bush’s new bottom at the department of justice is now saying that allowing Gitmo detainees to actually be physically present in court to contest their detention would constitute an “extraordinary risk”, so Congress needs to act to prevent this.

His proposal:

  • All hearings heard in a single court (no doubt one particularly friendly to Bush and His Evil Minions™).
  • Detainees would remain in Gitmo for the hearings (meaning that they intend to keep the Gulag open).
  • The courts would not be allowed to release the prisoner.
  • The courts would not be allowed to delay trials.

One hopes that the Dems have some backbone on this, but I doubt it.

Obama Needs to Call Out Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen’s Electioneering

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Because his statement condemning a withdrawal timetable is right out of the Republican spin machine, and is clearly an attempt to influence the election.

Obama needs to make a clear statement that such a role is inappropriate for an active duty officer, particularly a general.

It ain’t just the Department of Justice that will need to be de-Bushified in 2009.

Revenge of Judith Iscariot

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Sue Jones-Davies, Mayor of Aberystwyth, Wales, is campaigning to remove a ban on the Monty Python movie Life of Brian.

It turns out that the ban was instituted 30 years ago, and then promptly forgotten about.

Her Honor, Ms. Jones-Davies, also played Judith Iscariot in the movie….Yes, it was her naked in that scene.

Funny the way that things come together.

BTW, the article mentions that George Harrison, who bankrolled the film, had a cameo. I must have missed that. Could someone email me with where it is in the film, preferably with a still?

I Cannot Believe that I am Quoting Robert “Traitor and Proud of It” Novak

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But he says something that I the punditocracy has studiously avoided saying until now:

In private conversations, Clinton has expressed the view that Obama’s emphasis on Iraq — her Senate vote for it, his against it — defeated her.

While this is blinding clear to everyone else in the world, to the pundits, where being wrong on Iraq is a sign of good judgment, acknowledging this fact is the political reality that dare not speak its name.

I will note that he gets one part wrong: Obama wasn’t in the Senate for the vote.

A Top Obama Fund-Raiser Had Ties to Failed Bank

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Well, it looks like I just beat the Wall Street Journal by 4½ months.

But they have now discovered Penny Pritzker and Superior Bank.

The bank, closed in 2001, basically created the securitization of subprime loans that is at the core of much, though IMNSHO not a majority, of the credit crunch.

And she is now Obama’s national campaign-finance chairwoman.

Well, we’ll be hearing this 24-7 for a while, if just to ignore the latest McCain flip-flops and screw-ups.

Economics Update

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The Leading Economic Indicators have now fallen for the 2nd straight month. It’s down 2.1% year over year, putting it in the 2001 recession category.

In a related matter, it appears that Freddie Mac may be trying to unwind its debt exposure a bit, as we have reports that it will be purchasing less mortgage debt from lenders, making getting a home mortgage more difficult.

Oil is back above $130/bbl, largely on concerns about Iran and Tropical storm Dolly, but gasoline prices continue to fall, it’s now about a nickel down from the record.

The dollar is slightly weaker today, but I think that the delta is more a non-movement than a movement.

For some well predicted hilarity, note that Bank of America profit took a 41% hit, in part because the newest member of their stable, Countrywide Financial, lost $2.3 billion this quarter.

I told you so.

They Have the Tape, Maliki Endorsed the Obama Withdrawal Proposal

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The New York Times reviewed der Speigel’s tape of the Maliki interview, and has pronounced the original statement endorsing Obama’s plan as accurate:

But the interpreter for the interview works for Mr. Maliki’s office, not the magazine. And in an audio recording of Mr. Maliki’s interview that Der Spiegel provided to The New York Times, Mr. Maliki seemed to state a clear affinity for Mr. Obama’s position, bringing it up on his own in an answer to a general question on troop presence.

(emphasis mine)

What’s more, we now have a statement from Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman who walked back the statement under pressure from Bush and His Evil Minions™, that having all troops out in 2010 would be a good thing, so they just endorsed Barack Obama’s position again.

Zimbabwe Update

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On the bright side, Mugabe and Tsvangerai have signed an agreement to enter into negotiations.

I’m not optimistic about the outcome, as Mugabe is still engaging in retribution, and just threatened to expropriate “unfriendly” firms.

Even more concerning is that Thabo Mbeki appears to still be the only mediator involved in the process, which seems to be a recipe for an “Epic Fail”.

It’s clear that his clear favoritism toward Mugabe has weakened the SADC, the regional governmental organization, with a number of countries, most notably Zambia and Botswana, breaking with Mbeki’s accommodation of Mugabe.

This Won’t Just Scare You, It Will F&$% You Up For Life

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Nouriel Roubini gives his assessment on the path forward for US banking and investment, and it’s, as is his wont, very negative.

He’s been right on everything so far with his predictions, except that reality has been even more bearish than he is.

That would be my assessment of the latest, because, I think that he underestimates the effect of the eventual stampede towards the exits of foreign investors in general and sovereign wealth funds in particular.

Raptor Ducking this Year’s Red Flag

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Considering the fact that it has been at previous Red Flags, and it has zero role in the so called “War on Terror”, and they could shake one loose for the Farnborough airshow but this year, when the Indian AF will be sending Su-30MKIs to the exercise, David Axe reports that they are too busy to participate.

They are doing their hair, or some such.

I’m certain that they guys who actually fly the F-22 want to see how their likely adversary, advanced derivatives of the Su-27 will perform against them, what sort of tactics would be used, and similar issues, but the guys who fly desks, and are still interested in additional purchases of the white elephant, so they don’t want any losses in exercises, to get in the way of that.

Another Reason to Remember Zeppo Marx

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He founded Marman Products, an aerospace manufacturing firm, which purchased the patent for a new type of hose clamp, now called the Marman Clamp, which found its way onto all sorts high pressure hoses in aerospace, and were particularly useful for turbochargers, an area where the US excelled in WWII.

Additionally, they found their way into space applications, “When John Glenn rode into orbit aboard Friendship 7 in 1962, a six-foot-diameter Marman-type clamp released the capsule from the Atlas rocket, with explosive bolts blasting open the clamp,” and is still widely used today.

RGE – American Un-Beauty: The Crisis of the Suburbian (McMansions and Gas-Guzzling SUVs) Way of Life

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Nouriel Roubini makes a very very good point in his essay American Un-Beauty: The Crisis of the Suburbian (McMansions and Gas-Guzzling SUVs) Way of Life:

The result was that the U.S. invested too much – especially in the last eight years – in building its stock of wasteful larger and larger homes and housing capital and of larger and larger private motor vehicles (whose effect on the productivity of labor is zero) and has not invested enough in the accumulation of productive physical capital (equipment, machinery, etc.) that leads to an increase in the productivity of labor and increases long run economic growth.

Basically, the as a society no longer invests in productivity, it invests in consumption (and I would add arbitrage to the mix), which means that in a world where increasing productivity is the path to greater standards of living, the United States is not even in the game.

McCain is Completely Fr#$@ed

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Well, it appears that in an interview in der Spiegel, Nouri al Maliki, when asked about Obama’s 16 month time frame, replied, “US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.”

As Marc Ambinder noted, “Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, ‘We’re f#@$ed.'”

Seriously, John McCain is more than “Iraq Forever”, it’s “Iraq Forever, with permanent military Super-Bases”, and while Maliki’s government has backed off a bit on the statement, there is no way they want those US bases there, and what’s more domestic politics makes it politically untenable for them to want those bases there.