Toyota sold more cars than GM sales in first half of the year, and it looks as if it will outsell GM for 2008, which would be the first time in 76 years that GM was not number 1 worldwide.
Month: July 2008
Allegations of Bribery In Indian Nuke Vote
The last link gets into the opposition of Kumari Mayawati to the measure. She is the defacto national representative of India’s Dalit (untouchable) population, and based on what I’ve read about her indicates that she is a very skilled politician, and so probably she’s setting herself up for a larger role in the next government.
One thing that I am sure of though is that it won’t make it through this session of the US Congress, because the Hyde Act requires that Congress be in session continuously for 30 days before a vote is held, and that will not happen in late July of an election year.
Novak Does to Pedestrian What He Does to the Truth
He ran down a pedestrian, and then tried to leave the scene of the accident, prompting a bicyclist to pull in front of his car to stop him.
Unfortunately, the man who gleefully leaked the name of one of the CIA’s chief covert operatives on WMDs is unlikely to get any jail time. He was only cited for “failure to yield.”
Barack Obama: Fire Cass Sunstein
BTD at Talkleft has the goods:
It appears that Sunstein has suggested that only the “Egregious Crimes” of Bush and His Evil Minions™ be pursued under an Obama administration.
While both BTD and I agree that the standard of Jonathan Turley on Olbermann, that all crimes by the executive are “egregious”, is excessive (Turley supported impeachment over “Monicagate”).
I would further argue that pursuing all the “high crimes and misdemeanors” of the Bush administration would not be possible, as there are simply too few lawyers in Washington, DC to do this.
That being said, there are certain crimes that must be pursued, because otherwise it subverts the rule of law, which is already quite weak inside the Beltway.
What sort of crimes? Things like illegal wiretapping, WHICH CASS SUNSTEIN SUPPORTED, and the military kangaroo courts of Gitmo detainees, WHICH CASS SUNSTEIN SUPPORTED (See here and here).
He justifies them by supporting the proposition that we elect a king with unlimited power every 4 years.
This should be reason enough to remove him completely from the campaign, and from any position in your future administration.
Economics Update
Fairly slow news day: retail gasoline down, oil down, and dollar up.
In what has to be the most obvious bit of analysis this week, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHE)) is saying that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may record more losses as a result of the moribund real estate market….Seriously, this could have come out of a fortune cookie, particularly since we are seeing more indicators that the housing market has not hit bottom:
Mortgage applications fell 6.2% last week, (again, note that this is a noisy number), and California foreclosures hit a 20 year high in the 2nd quarter….actually the most ever, since they didn’t start collecting the numbers until 1988.
It Appears that Some People Want to Relive the 1960s
Specifically, the Cuban Missile Crisis.
There are now rumors that Russia may start basing nuclear capable bombers in Cuba in response to the US installing an ABM system in Europe directed at them (let’s be honest, if it were actually aimed at the Iranians, as claimed, it would be further south, to give coverage to Turkey and Italy).
General Norton Schwartz, the nominee for Air Force chief of staff, said, “I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line, for the United States of America.“
I agree….as does the expansion of NATO eastward, and a the European missile defense system crosses a red line for the Russians.
Russian political culture is not driven by a need to engage in the world. Russian political culture is driven by a paranoia about the world, and we seem to be taking steps guaranteed to stoke their paranoia.
It’s almost as if someone wanted to recreate the Cold War for political gain.
3rd U.S. Circurt Court of Appeals Strikes Down COPA
They found the law uvague and an infringement on the first amendment and so declared the Child Online Protection Act unconstitutional:
“It is apparent that COPA, like the Communications Decency Act before it, ‘effectively suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and to address to one another,’ Reno, 521 U.S. at 874, 117 S.Ct. at 2346, and thus is overbroad. For this reason, COPA violates the First Amendment,” the judges wrote. “These burdens would chill protected speech.”
I expect an appeal, but the fact is that the mechanisms are more restrictive, and less effective than filters, and as such appear to be unconstitutional, though IANAL.
McCain’s Meets With Jindal
So it appears that John Sidney McCain III is spending some time in Louisiana, but besides mentions of a visit with governor Bobby Jindal, nothing else is specified.
Maybe they want the performing whack job, he has claimed to have performed an exorcism, to be VP. It certainly would be entertaining.
Of other note, it article indicates that Bob Novak got owned on the leak that McCain would announce a VP pick this week:
Robert Novak, the columnist who helped trigger the VP frenzy with a blog posting Monday, told Fox News on Tuesday that he might have been duped by a McCain campaign aide.
Novak said he was encouraged by “a very senior McCain aide” to put out the story that McCain would name his running mate this week. He said he since has been told by “certain people” he “may have been used.”
Gee….You think????
Bush Caves on Housing Bailout Bill
They now say that he will sign the bill.
I guess that he doesn’t want another override this month.
No, Wall Street is Choking on a Pretzel
It appears that at one of Bush’s closed fundraisers, someone had a home video camera, and caught him saying that, “Wall Street ‘got drunk’ and now has a hangover.”
I guess you talk about what you know.
McCain Spends in 11 States, Sees Results in 1
He dropped $16 million in on Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin, and West Virginia, and only saw results in Nevada.
Obama spent about 1/3 of this.
McCain lost ground in all but Iowa and Colorado, where he stayed steady, and he picked up in Nevada, and there are no polls for West Virginia.
heh
Records Unsealed in Rosenberg Case
I think that it’s clear that Julius was a spy, though his role in nuclear espionage is not certain, but Ethel has always been a question. In any case, this relase of data should keep a number of historians busy for the next few years.
Lame Duck Rush By Bush and His Evil Minions™ to Increase Exposure to Workplace Toxins
No, this is not satire. “Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers’ on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.”
They are doing their level best to do it in secret.
Only 180 days to go…..
What Member of Rodentia Scrambles to Leave a Sinking Ship?
Ah….Yes…Republicans…..
Senate Republican leaders are now allowing senators to vote as they wish in an attempt to keep seat losses to a minimum in November.
We also have reports that Republicans see Bush as a “jinx”, and that they are trying to avoid the party brand.
No wonder they aren’t letting press into Bush fund raisers. They are afraid of pictures of the candidate and Bush together showing up in the press.
Maybe Republicans should campaign with a more popular member of the Bush administration, like Dick Cheney….I think that I just threw up in my mouth.
Zimbabwe Talks to Begin Tomorrow
According to Zimbabaw’s state run newspaper, The Herald, reconciliation talks are to start tomorrow.
It’s not a bad sign, but I don’t expect to see progress while Mbeki is the chief mediator.
A slightly more positive note, the EU is pressing ahead with more sanctions.
So Now We Have the First Murder by Taser
Former Police Officer Scott Nugent tasered Baron “Scooter” Pikes NINE TIMES after he WAS ALREADY HANDCUFFED, and may face criminal charges, though I doubt it: It’s Winnfield, Louisiana, only 45 miles from Jena, and the victim was black:
Williams, who ruled Pikes’ death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes — shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon’s handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station — where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes’ chest.
“After he was given that drive stun to the chest, he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete, ” Williams told CNN. “He was electroshocked two more times, which two officers noted that he had no neuromuscular response to those last two 50,000-volt electroshocks.”
Williams said he had two nationally known forensic pathologists, including former New York city medical examiner Michael Baden, review the case before issuing his conclusions. He said it’s possible Nugent was shocking a dead man the last two times he pulled the trigger.
“This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven,” he said. “From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive].”
Curry said Pikes told officers he suffered from asthma and had been using PCP and crack cocaine. But Williams said he found no sign of drug use in the autopsy, and no record of asthma in Pikes’ medical history.
In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records — with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who has no public disciplinary record.
(emphasis mine)
Taser, International is claiming that they couldn’t have caused his death….Yeah, sure….whatever.
Nothing to see here….It’s just a n*****…move along.
Unfortunate Imagery
I’m not sure if this looks like something from the days of Stalin, but this McCain campaign poster just gives me the creeps:
The Sick Old Man Can’t Even Get the Facts Right on His Signature Issue
John Sidney McCain III barely graduated from Annapolis, 894 of 899, and then only because because daddy was a high ranking admiral.
Now, he gets the escalation in Iraq wrong, claiming that the so-called “Anbar Awakening” was the result of the “surge” even though it pre-dated Bush’s first mention of escalation in Iraq by 6 months.
Of course, this is Katie Couric’s CBS, so when the gaff was made, they edited it out, because by the rules of the “kule kidz” in the press corps, any gaff by McCain is an honest mistake, and the public must be shielded from seeing the “straight talker” when he shows himself to be a complete pratt.
Don’t Blame Us: Jews Hate Joe Lieberman Too
Really. Only 37% of Jews have a favorable view of Lieberman, as versus 48% who view him unfavorably.
OK, the 37% are complete tools, but that’s not much more than one out of three.
Mexican State Oil Company Threatens to Drill Outside of Mexico
Bloomberg.com: Exclusive: “Pemex May Drill Outside Mexico for First Time If Reforms Fail”
Pemex needs foreign help because it doesn’t have the technology to drill in water deeper than 500 meters (1,640 feet), he said.
Pemex may need foreign help, but it does not need a partner.
It can buy that expertise without a foreign partner. Oil field services companies like Slumberger (disclosure) can do this on a fee for service basis.
And it turns out that their “threat” is to do a partnership with Petroleo Brasileiro, which has more deep water experience.
They are trying to get through with a bill that will allow “partnerships” that are ownership in everything but name, because someone gets the fat “commissions” for brokering the deals.