The folks at The Talent Show note that the right wing slime machine is gearing up to go after Michelle Obama.
They suggest that that be our response:
I wholeheartedly agree.
Full story on stealing dope for her fix is here.
Year: 2008
US Gulags in Afghanistan Worse Than Gitmo
I want my country back.
Not Enough Bullets
CEO pay higher, even though profits are down, or in some cases, losses.
No accountability. Gotta love Bush style crony capitalism™.
Economics Update
The Empire State Manufacturing Index droppeed 5 points, to -8.7 (0 is neutral), indicating further weakness.
Oil is down for the day by a quarter, but it hit a new record of $139.89/bbl before settling, and retail gasoline hit another record, now having hit a record on something like 25 days of going back a month.
It’s not surprising that the dollar was down today, though I’m not sure if this drove oil, or oil drove this.
In banking, we have Barclays looking at selling shares to raise capital to cover losses in the US mortage market, and Lehman had some sort of hush-hush weekend meeting, which might indicate some problems, though it’s reassuring that they reduced their mortgage holdings by 20%, which indicates a bit of common sense.
Mugabe Makes it Official in Zimbabwe: He Will Not Abide by Election Results
He’s saying that he won’t give up power for a mere “x” on a ballot.
Nice to know that he’s frank.
Another Impact of the Housing Crash
At Calculated Risk, they note that the housing bust will reduce geographic mobility, because people owe more than they can sell their homes for.
The costs of this to the economy are only just beginning to be calculated.
Guantánamo Defense Attorneys to Challenge Tribunals in Federal Court
As a result of the Supreme Court decision.
At the very least, this should move the trials past the election season. Bush and His Evil Minions™ clearly timed the arraignments to give the maximum electoral effect for the trials.
It’s now likely that we won’t see any verdicts until the Avignon President is out of office now.
This is a good thing
Econ 101: Free Trade Does Not Necessarily Bring Lower Prices
Dani Rodrik has a good analysis:
Advocates of globalization love to argue that free trade lowers prices, and the argument seems sensible enough. Think of all the cheap goods from China that we can buy at Wal-Mart. But anyone who understands comparative advantage knows that free trade affects relative prices, not the price level (the latter being the province of macro and monetary factors). When a country opens up to trade (or liberalizes its trade), it is the relative price of imports that comes down; by necessity, the relative prices of its exports must go up! Consumers are better off to the extent that their consumption basket is weighted towards importables, but we cannot always rely on this to be the case.
Consider your typical Argentinian for example, who consumes a lot of wheat and beef. Since these are export products for Argentina, free trade implies a rise in the relative price of the Argentine consumption basket. (The gains from trade are still there, of course, but they derive from the usual allocative efficiency improvements, not from lower prices across the board.) And in the U.S., the Wal-Mart effect has to be qualified to take into account the fact that the relative price of the goods that the U.S. exports (including for example agricultural commodities) is higher than it would have been absent trade. Similarly, when the U.S. gets better market access abroad for its agricultural exports (a key demand under the Doha round), you can be sure that this will raise domestic prices for these goods, not lower them.
Highly recommended.
Not Getting it in the EU
Looking at this report on the responses to the failure of the Irish referendum on the new EU treaty, it’s clear that the many of the movers and shakers simply don’t get what their problem is.
I am generally not a big fan of the referendum as a process, but it is a valid process, and the degree that the Eurocrats are claiming that it is somehow illegitimate, they are reinforcing every negative stereotype about them.
The problem is quite simple, and has 3 parts:
- The new constitution is too damn complex. At 250 pages, no one understands all of its sections, and so this breeds distrust.
- The response to the failure of the last constitution, where France and the Netherlands had referenda that failed was to eliminate referenda, which further breeds distrust in the process.
- Among the Eurocrats, there seems to be the idea that the decision making structures of the EU must be insulated from politics, which means that they are insulated from democracy, which further breeds distrust.
Simply put, in order to update the EU governance structures such that they will win the support of the public, or at least the Irish public, since any change in Ireland mandates a referenda, these structures must be seen as less opaque and more democratic.
More Bang For The Buck
The Moonlight Bunny Ranch, a legal Carson City Nevada Brothel, is offering a two for one deal on anyone who spends their stimulus check there.
That’s funny, but it gets better:
But wait, there’s more! The legal bordello plans to have all 100 customers, plus some of the Bunnies, sign a thank you card and send it to President…Bush. Oy.
Heh,
When In a Hole, First Stop Digging
Unfortunately for Bank of America, it appears that CEO Ken Lewis is too invested in the deal to do this.
This will not end well.
F-35 STOVL Mission Not Likely Before Next Year
They have the first STOVL airframe flying, but it looks like we will have to wait for any demonstrations of its vertical capabilities.
Single Engine Enclipse 400 Nears 100 Orders
They are offering existing customers the option of downsizing to the 4 place one engine 400 from the 6 place two engine 500, whose price has increased over 40%, and about 100 have taken them up on it.
I wonder about the delivery schedule though. Eclipse has found that getting aircraft out the door was far harder than anticipated.
Europeans Looking at Man-Rating Their Space Cargo Module
The performance of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) space tug has been good, so now the Europeans are considering man rating the vehicle (Paid Subscription Required) to allow for its use as a manned system.
They are already working on a cargo-download capsule, so man rating the system would be less expensive than starting from scratch.
Researchers Regrow 2000 Year Old Judean Date Palm
This is kind of neat. Let’s hope that it’s a female tree, and thus can bear fruit.
Researchers confirm age of “Methuselah” tree
Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:00pm EDT
By Ari RabinovitchJERUSALEM, June 12 (Reuters) – Israeli researchers who grew a sapling from a date seed found at the ancient fortress Masada said on Thursday the seed was about 2,000 years old and may help restore a species of biblical trees.
Carbon dating confirmed that the seed — named Methuselah after the oldest person in the bible — was the oldest ever brought back to life, Sarah Sallon, a researcher at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, reported in the journal Science.
The seed came from the Judean date palm, a species that once flourished in the Jordan River Valley and has been extinct for centuries, Sallon said. It was one of a group discovered at Masada, a winter palace overlooking the Dead Sea built by King Herod in the 1st century BC.
……
Obama’s Donut Hole Social Security Tax
He is proposing restarting the tax for incomes above $250,000.
I’m not too fond of the donut hole he is proposing, but I understand the politics here.
There are a lot more voters between (IIRC) $104K and $250K, but a lot more money above 250K.
One thing that needs be done though is that the definition of “wages” needs to be expanded, or a lot of these folks will move “wages” to dividends and capital gains.
Airbus to Offer Reduced Max Weight A350
It’s intended for medium-haul routes, and there would actually be very few physical changes to the aircraft.
They would change the placards and manuals, and they might derate the engine some.
Why do this? Because landing fees are based on MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight), and this would generate lower landing fees.
Interesting concept.
Airbus A350 Changes
Airbus is refining the aerodynamics and structure of its A350.
Changes include:
- Modifications to the flap
- Going from 6 to 7 spoilers.
- Changes to winglet shape.
- Smaller tailplane and larger fin.
- Rearrangement of cargo door to allow for more pallets.
- 5 ton increase in max weight to account for increase in empty weight.
- Move from hydraulic to electric thrust reversers.
ONR Looking at Jumbo Size Hovercraft
The Office of Naval Research is looking at a very large hovercraft for amphibious operations.
It would have a 2500 mile range at 20kts, followed by a 250 mile 40+kt dash to the beach, with a 500-750 ton cargo capability, as versus the 70 ton capability with a 200 mile range for the LCAC currently in deployment.
If this runs true to Navy procurement form, we’ll next hear of it when it’s 18 months late and 35% over budget.
Australian Wedgetail Delayed Again
The oft-delayed Wedgetail, Australia’s choice for an AEW aircraft (see again), has been delayed again to July of 2009, with full capability, there are problems with the electronic warfare system, in 2010.
It was originally intended to be delivered in 2006.
It’s sh%$ like this that had the USAF giving extra points to Airbus on the tanker competition.