Yes, Bush and His Evil Minions™ are claiming that Veterans not entitled to mental health care in a federal lawsuit in San Francisco.
I guess that PTSD must be an existing condition or something.
Year: 2008
When Giants Stumble
Well, it appears that EBay may have screwed the pooch with its recent changes in fees and feedback policy, and its competitors are doing its level best to exploit the current dissatisfaction.
Competitor sites are seeing their business increase by more than 50%, though when one looks at the numbers (less than 10,000 auctions), they are at this point a drop in the bucket compared to EBay.
One wonders if this will blow over, or if EBay will modify its changes in the coming days.
Fun Economic Indicators
The Big Picture discusses The Ticker Tape Parade Indicator:
- The NY Giants won their first Super Bowl in 1987; the Great US Stock Market Crash appeared later.
- The NY Giants won their second Super Bowl in 1991; the last US full-blown recession appeared; money center banks barely avoided the abyss.
- Before yesterday, the last NYC ticker-tape parade was 2000 (Yankees); the Great US Stock Bubble burst.
- The NY Giants won their third Super Bowl in 2008 and received a ticker-tape parade; head to the caves! Take it for what you will.
Me, I’m buying canned goods and bottled water.
Born Again Support for Republicans Drops
At least that is what this poll from the Barna Group Says.
The Barna group is a polling and publishing organization, “in partnership with Christian ministries and individuals to be a catalyst in moral and spiritual transformation in the United States.
Democrats Like Their Candidates
I was directed toward this comment from CNN’s Bill Schneider
There’s no doubt Democrats are torn between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. But the early exit polls show they are not bitterly divided: 72 percent of Democrats said they would be satisfied if Clinton won the party’s nomination, while 71 percent say the same about Obama.
What ever happens in the primary, it’s clear that Democrats will be voting, and pulling the D* lever, in November.
H/T to Digby for the catch.
*Yes, I know….lever voting machines are a vanishing breed.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, missed the vote.
The Senate stimulus package failed cloture by one vote.
Despite their return from the campaign trail, Democrats fell one vote shy of the 60 votes they needed to bring forward their preferred economic stimulus bill.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, missed the vote.
This is something that both Clinton and Obama, and for that matter Harry Reid, should be harping on right now.
The Tornados
If you want to donate to help the victims, I would suggest contacting the Salvation Army, not the Red Cross.
There is a bit of family history involved: My family was in Anchorage for the Good Friday Earthquake (9.5 on the Richter scale), and it was related to me (I was less than 2) that the Salvation Army did much better than the Red Cross, which was bureaucratic, and charged for things that the Salvation Army did for free.
Generally, I favor the secular solution, but considering the Red Cross’s direct role in killing most of the hemophiliacs in the US by fighting testing blood for AIDS, and their top heavy management, they are not on my giving list.
Well On Our Way to the Police State
What is a police state?
I would argue that it is a country in which all rights are sublimated to increasing the capabilities of the state security apparatus to conduct any business that it desires without impediment.
No bothersome warrants, no consideration of the rights of the accused, torture, no privacy, etc.
Cases in point:
- FBI intends to assemble a massive database of physical characteristics of people, including retinal and iris scans, palm prints, and tattoos.
- Of course my initial response to the idea of a database of tattoos was, “Why bother. Just tattoo numbers on people’s wrists. It worked so well the last time out.”
- And then we have some crypto-fascist at DHS who wants to require Real ID cards to track people’s cold medication purchases. I understand that pseudoephedrin can make meth, but this is insane.
- Of course, in a police state, you have to have massive prisons stuffed to the gills with people, so AG Mukasey wants congress to act because people who got disproportionate sentences under the racist crack laws might will get out earlier under the new sentencing guidelines.
- Dude, that was the whole idea of changing the guidelines. The disproportionate sentencing was deliberately racist, and demonstrably so, and this is why they want it changed. Rockefeller style drug laws have proved a failure. All it’s left the US with is the greatest proportioned of imprisoned in the world.
- Finally, we are requiring permission for USA citizens to return to the US.
Under new regulations and procedures announced to take effect over the next month, citizens of the USA will, for the first time, be required to obtain USA government permission in order to return home to their own country from abroad — from anywhere else in the world, by air or sea or land.
On no other aspect of the right to travel is international law more clear than on the right of return to the country of one’s own citizenship: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” The new regulations are a flagrant violation of the obligations of the USA as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights treaties, as well as a violation of the Constitutional duty of the USA government to treat such treaties as the highest law of the land.
I want my country back.
The CIA Knew That There Were No WMDs in Iraq
Slam dunk my ass!!!!
Tenet goes to the Hague too.
Hillary Loaned Her Campaign $5 Million
Well, we now have reports that Hillary Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million, and that some of her staffers are going without pay.
There are also reports that some staffers are going without pay.
This does not look good for her campaign, and I don’t see online small donations taking up the slack.
No predictions though. I suck at that.
Schadenfreude, Zell Miller Edition
After 2004, the Democratic Party adopted the “Zell Miller” rule, rule which disqualifies any “superdelegate” who endorses outside of his party.
This has now been applied to Joe Lieberman, because of his endorsement of John McCain.
Not sure why he got super delegate status in the first place. He’s not a Democrat, he’s Connecticut for Lieberman.
Buh-bye, you sanctimonious little prick.
Army Moving to Linux on FCS
While I think that this is a good idea, it appears that they have been creating this system, and the associated network, without thought of how to integrate it with the existing legacy Windows systems.
It’s kind of typical for FCS, putting the proverbial cart before the horse.
Republicans Threaten Fiscal Stimulus and National Security Over Telco Immunity
First, George W. Bush is threatening a veto unless he gets telco immunity, and the senate Republicans are refusing to allow FISA to move forward until there is agreement on a stimulus package.
Why do Republicans hate America?
White House Appears to Abandon Binding Agreement With Iraq
Well, it appears that Bush and His Evil Minions™ are abandoning it’s senate confirmation free “Iraq Forever” plan. (see earlier details here)
Someone threw a spanner into the works, and I’m wondering who and how.
James “Beat Your Child and Your Dog” Dobson is Threatening a Vacation
James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, is saying that he will sit on his hands if McCain is the nominee.
I don’t know why McCain is hated so much by the far right, as he is pretty paleolithic himself, but I am amused.
Bush Authorized Torture, and the AG Signed off On It
Well, we now know that the CIA tortured at least three suspects with waterboarding.
I looked around at some other articles, and found this on CNN:
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, who also testified at the hearing, said waterboarding remains a technique in the CIA’s arsenal, according to The Associated Press. He said it would require the president’s consent and legal approval from the attorney general, the AP reported.
I think that he just pretty much admitted that George W. Bush personally authorized torture, and that the AG signed off on it.
The Hague, bitches.
F-136 Alternate JSF Engine Killed in Pentagon Budget
I fully expect it to come back. This happens every year. The Pentagon kills it, and Congress puts it back.
I support the F-136 for two reasons:
- I believe that having two ending suppliers for the JSF will make for better cheaper engines in the long run.
- There will be weight growth, and the F-135 appears to be marginal in that case for the STOVL version.
Of course, it’s not put back on the budget for those reasons. It’s put back because GE is big in a lot of Congressional Districts.
Super Tuesday Returns
I am not going to be awake when California comes in, and I think that it will be California that defines victory on both sides of the ticket.
That being said, here are returns before I set up my computer to burn Avatar disks and go to bed, courtesy of Talking Points Memo:
CLINTON: AR, MA, NJ, NY, OK, TN
OBAMA: AL, CT, DE, GA, KS, IL, MN, ND, UT
HUCKABEE: AR, AL, GA, WV
MCCAIN: AZ, CT, DE, IL, NJ, NY, OK
ROMNEY: MA, UT
Illiquid
Illiquid sounds like a mile word.
It sounds like maybe the markets are thirsty.
It’s actually MUCH worse than that.
It means that a buyer cannot be found for your asset, so for the time being at least, it is worthless.
It’s like being marooned on a desert island with a pirate chest full of gold doubloons. Technically, you are rich, but you still have no shelter, food or water, and you die all the same.
The Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO)market is very nearly illiquid, according to Ross Heller of JPMorgan Securities, who is saying, “We’re definitely in a period of very low liquidity at the moment, which has actually been dropping precipitously in the last few weeks.”
Desert Island time.
I’m beginning to wonder if a Honda full of silver is over optimistic, and that instead we should fill it with canned goods and ammunition.
What the Hell is She Thinking?
It appears that Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer to debate on Fox News.
Stupid.
Then again, Barack Obama appeared on Fox and Friends. Also stupid.