Month: July 2008

John McCain Adulterer AND a Bigamist?

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One of the less inspiring parts of John McCain’s life story was when, after coming back from Vietnam, he dumped his first wife Carole to marry rich beer heiress Cindy.

Now it appears that he has been lying about some of the specifics:

  • McCain wrote that he had separated from Carol before he began dating Cindy, but his divorce gives the date of separation as Jan 7, 1980, 9 months after staring to date his 2nd wife to be.
  • His divorce was granted April 2, 1980, but he got Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.

Hmmmmm…….I’m sure that the press will find some way of making it “inspiring”.

Economics Update

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Well, it appears that it’s been an unsettled day, likely because of concerns about the GSE(s), which will get its own post, and as a result, oil hit a new intra day high, $47.50/bbl, before settling to $143.84/bbl.

Note that in addition to uncertainty in Iran and Nigeria, there is now a possibility of a strike in Brazil.

Gasoline prices fell though, finishing below $4.10/gal for the first time in a week.

In currency, uncertainty has driven the dollar down, but there is a bit of a bright side to all of this, because the falling dollar is pushing the trade deficit down.

The problem is that once the dollar settles down to a more sustainable level, there will be a high inflation interregnum where imports prices will go up, but there will be no domestic businesses to pick up the slack.

Nothing on US real estate today, but in the UK, their housing crash is the worst since the Great Depression.

Additionally, we have a monetary picture that appears to point toward a vicious deflationary recession spiral.

Chart pr0n:

International Committee of the Red Cross Reported Torture by US Forces

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Well, it turns out that the ICRC specifically warned members of the military and the Bush administration that they were engaging in war crimes:

Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001.

The book says that the International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were “categorically” torture, which is illegal under both American and international law.

….Citing unnamed “sources familiar with the report,” Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document “warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.” Red Cross representatives were not permitted access to the secret prisons where the C.I.A. conducted interrogations, but were permitted to interview Abu Zubaydah and other high-level detainees in late 2006, after they were moved to the military detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The book says the C.I.A. shared the report, which Ms. Mayer first described last year in less detail in The New Yorker, with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

I really hope that there is a prosecutor in The Hague getting his ducks in a row over this case now.

Krugman Nails it Again

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Toady, he’s writing about the Medicare vote, and he writes about the underlying issues, not the drama of Kennedy showing up to break a filibuster.

Specifically, he notes that in 2003, Bush and His Evil Minions™ got the so called Medicare Modernization Act though congress, and a big part of it was a very poison pill, large subsidies for the private insurer run Medicare Advantage.

Because these plans are heavily subsidized, they suck money out of the program, making a fiscal crisis even worse.

Because these plans require larger premiums, they also exclude the poor.

So you create a two tiered system, where the rich tier sucks the marrow out of the poor tier.

Basic Republican social programs: Reverse Robin Hood.

Krugman is also far more sanguine about the possibility of real reform next year, because the Dems held together, and the Republicans caved when hit with the full force of the AMA over the July 4th weekend.

Me, I’m more of a pessimist. My goals are less extreme. Just remove the preemption clause from ERISA, and let the states compete, and businesses will migrate to places where they aren’t shafted by the healthcare system.

Kiss of death for Fannie, Freddie from White House – MarketWatch

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Rex Nutting, the Market Watch Washington Bureau Chief says that the implosion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a certainty.

Why does he see it as a certainty? Because Bush and His Evil Minions™ don’t see it happening.

Other Things that Bush and His Evil Minions™ never expected:

  • Terrorists to fly airplanes into buildings.
  • Saddam Hussein to have been telling the truth about not having any weapons of mass destruction.
  • Iraqis to object to a long-term occupation by a foreign power.
  • Hurricane Katrina.
  • People in New Orleans to object to the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
  • The Democrats to take control of Congress.
  • The Democrats to cave in so easily on important issues after they took control of Congress.
  • Scooter Libby to get caught.
  • Jack Abramoff to get caught.
  • Abu Ghraib to be discovered.
  • Scott McClellan to smell the coffee.
  • The housing bubble.
  • The credit bubble.
  • The housing collapse.
  • The credit squeeze.
  • Bear Stearns to fail.

To quote Bender the robot, “We’re boned”.

Reid Appears to be Backing Away from Lieberman for 2009.

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His response to questions about whether Lieberman would be chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is now, “Let’s talk about this year.“

Not surprising. In addition to lying about the Democratic nominee, and endorsing the Republican, he’s also been a craptacular committee chairman. No hearings on anything that might embarrass Bush and His Evil Minions™, like the failures of Katrina.

It’s Fracking Ritual Cannibalism, Not a Cracker!

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Well, once again the forces of ignorance and hate, specifically those people who allow their own Satan to dominate their lives, have decided that what ever perverse god that they worship gives them the right to be and do evil.

As frequently happens, this story started with a, one Webster Cook, who decided that he would go to mass, and not eat the Eucharist, the cracker that is supposed to be the body of Christ, but instead, he would remove it from church.

It appears that he wanted to show it to a friend sitting in the back to help explain rituals of the church. A member of the church then assaulted him in an attempt to recover said cracker, or human flesh, or spiritual flesh, or whatever it is under Catholic theology, so Mr. Cook left.

What followed was a series of death threats from around the world, and Mr. Cook, fearing for his life, returned the cracker.

From what I understand of Catholic Dogma, and to be honest, this incident is making me far less interested in knowing or understanding, or respecting these beliefs, because those people who assaulted him and threatened his life are no different from the 19 men who flew planes into buildings on Septermber 11.

I understand that Mr. Cook did something that many Catholics find offensive. He shouldn’t have done it. In fact, he could have gotten one of the crackers before it was blessed, when it was still “just” a cracker, as opposed to some sort of mystical human flesh according to Catholic dogma, and showed it to his friend that way.

People had a right to be offended. They had no right to invoke behavior that reeks of the inquisition, and the behavior of the President of the School, the state school the University of Central Florida, who tacitly endorsed harassing the young man, should never be allowed to work in education again.

In any case, noted science blogger PZ Myers, of Pharyngula, came across this, and understood, as I do, that this behavior is not that of a fully developed human being, and noted that, “IT’S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER!“, and rightly condemned the behavior of the Taliban-Catholics.

Of course, now he’s being subjected to moronic harassment and likely threats of violence, in addition to demands to his employer that he be fired.

And, of course, racist and anti-Semitic bigot Bill Donohue, of the “Catholic League” (his own private rent-a-crowd) has had to weigh in on a witch hunt for Prof Myers too..

Satan does not exist in Jewish theology. Rather the Satan exists, where Satan is a title, meaning “adversary” or “prosecutor”. The Satan is our own evil inclination, and the people who are harassing Cook and Myers are doing their Satan’s work, not God’s work, because at their core, all they need is someone to hate.

I disagree with Mr. Meyers in only one area. It isn’t a cracker, it’s ritualized cannibalism.

There is actually a long history of cannibalism, both real and ritualized simulations, in religious observance, from Catholicism to the tribes of Papua New Guinea , and while I find it odd it’s not my business…Until you decide that your desire to eat human flesh, real, imagined, or spiritual allows you to justify violence against another.

If God is kind and just, and I believe he is, though it is impossible for a human to percieve the totality of God (Ein Sof in Kabbalistic Judaism), the God hates Bill Donohue and his ilk, because there is no greater sin than profaning his name (chillul Hashem).

Bush and His Evil Minions™ Pressuring Germany’s Merkel Over Location of Obama Speech

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Well, it appears that Barack Obama will be in Europe, and he wants to give a speech at the Brandenberg gate in Berlin, but members of the Bush delegation at the G-8 summit twisted arms to prevent this.

It appears that Merkel is interested in taking over Blair’s role as Bush’s poodle, though members of her CDU party are generally supportive of Obama speaking there because they want to hear what he wants to say.

Merkel has also gotten herself in an eye poking contest with the Mayor of Berlin, and member of the opposition (sort of, German party coalitions are complex) SDU Klaus Wowereit, who has made a point of calling Merkel out on her own overseas electioneering.

Update on the Tanker Clusterf%$#

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It appears part of the decision regarding the rebid has to do with DefSec Gates’ ongoing war with an insubordinate, and frequently incompetent, US Air Force.

Among other things, USAF has been removed from the bid process.

I don’t think that the decision will change, as Gates is asking for amended bids, not new ones, tough the competitors can submit a completely new bid, and he isexpecting to issue a new request for proposals (RFP) in August, with a final decision in December, and in order for Boeing to have a better aircraft, which it needs to have because its on time and on cost performance has been pathetic, it would need to submit some sort of modified 777.

Pelosi Says Judiciary May Hold Impeachment Hearings

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It appears that Kucinich is offering a “privileged resolution”, and Ms. “Not on the Table” says that there may be actual hearings.

“This is a Judiciary Committee matter, and I believe we will some attention being paid to it by the Judiciary Committee,” Pelosi told reporters. “Not necessarily taking up the articles of impeachment because that would have to be approved on the floor, but to have some hearings on the subject.”

Pelosi added: “My expectation is that there will be some review of that in the committee.”

Something odd is going on…I’m just not sure if it will be a good odd, or a bad odd.

GSE Dead Pool

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The Government Sponsored Entities (GSE), Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, are the second and third largest borrowers in the world, with the federal government being #1, and it appears that they are in trouble.Fannie, Freddie plunge on reports of feds planning bailout – Jul. 10, 2008

well, former St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole just said that the GSE’s are insolvent under fair accounting rules.

If they go boom, it’s not hoard gold time, it’s hoard canned goods and ammunition time.

This may sound alarmist, but the credit markets are already demanding the highest spread from Treasury debt ever, 74 basis points, and White House officials are drawing up contingency plans in the event that one or both of them fail, so Pool is not alone in his concerns.

We haven’t even made to the 7th inning stretch in the credit crunch.

Economics Update

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The Bank of England has decided to hold interest rates steady. It’s not like they had much of a choice. Inflation is heating up, and they are in the middle of a house bubble collapse that rivals ours, so doing nothing was the only option.

If they raised rates, they make the housing crash even worse, if they lower rates, inflation gets worse.

Their inaction appears to have strengthened the dollar, since it points towards few hikes by the European Central Bank too.

In employment, initial applications for unemployment are down from last week (it’s a noisy measure), but it’s still much worse than last year, and teen summer employment is the worst in 40 years, “If the average holds, total summer hiring in May, June, and July would be about 1.2 million, which would be the smallest gain in teen summer employment since 1958.”

In energy, retail gasoline prices fell a bit, but crude oil spiked above $140 again, because of tensions in Nigeria and the US and Iranian saber rattling.

In real estate, mortgage rates are a bit higher this week.

The Rude Pundit Picks His Battles

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The Rude Pundit notes that he gets a lot of chickensh#@ criticisms of Obama in his email from people who never listed to what Obama said, and so are shocked to find that he is pro gun, pro death penalty, pro “faith based program”, etc. and in his own profane way, says that these people are either clueless, or McCain concern trolls.

That being said, but he does state that there are valid critiques:

Like this one: Barack Obama’s reversal of his position on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was a craven, cowardly bullsh#$ move that ought to haunt him with the left (and libertarian right) for the rest of the campaign. By voting for the bill yesterday (including voting for cloture), Obama made a mistake that is the political equivalent of Hillary Clinton’s Iraq war vote. (They are not morally equivalent, since the dead would probably rather be alive and spied on.) And while there’s no telling how Clinton would have voted had she been the nominee, just as there’s no way to know how Obama would have voted on the war had he been in the Senate in 2002, the New York Senator was unencumbered and able to take the moral high ground and voted against the bill.

I honestly believe that the Rude Pundit cannot believe that he wrote that Hillary Clinton took the high moral ground.

I can’t believe that I’m writing that Hillary Clinton took the high moral ground.

In any case, if Obama loses to the sick old man in November, he did it today, because at its core, much of the power of movement supporting him comes not from the number of supporters, but from the enthusiasm of those supporters, and a whole lot of them are seriously non-enthused.

He just made the same vote that Hillary Clinton did to authorize the war. The only question is whether it will kill his campaign as it did hers.

In any case, go read his post. He’s always insightful and entertaining, if somewhat profane.

What Driftglass Said

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In a Democracy, the cure for a dimwit, sociopath king is not a hip, smart king who pledges to snake our overflowing toilets after he assumes the throne.

In a Democracy, we cannot allow there to be a throne in the first place.

Obama deserves condemnation for his FISA capitulation for this reason.

Go read the whole article, along with his masterful use of photoshop.