Year: 2008

FISA Bill in Limbo

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Harry Reidwants a one mongh extension to the disgraceful “Protect America Act”, so that they can have time to work on the bill.

Once again, the Republicans are going with an all or nothing approch, with Kit Bond and Mitch McConnell blocking the extension in an attempt to give Bush and His Evil Minions™ everything that they want.

Um….Guys, this is a clue….In 11½ months Hillary and Her Evil Minions™, or Barack and His Evil Minions™ may have the reins of the state security apparatus, and one of the things that I like about her is that, unlike Bill, she appears to have an inclination for vengeance.

You don’t want to go there.

FWIW, the case for the changes provided by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has proven to be completely fraudulent.

Padilla Sentenced to 17 Years

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The prosecution asked for life, and for the U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke to ignore the fact that he was tortured for 3½ years, but the judge disagreed, and further disagreed about the severity of the offense

“There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere,” Cooke said. “There was never a plot to overthrow the United States government.”

…

In arriving at Padilla’s sentence, Cooke said she took into account the harsh, isolated conditions he faced during his time in a brig as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest. Defense lawyers claim he was tortured by the military, but U.S. officials denied that and Cooke never used the word torture.

Sentencing guidelines had suggested a range of between 30 years and life for all three, but Cooke used her discretion to go below even the minimum. Besides Padilla’s sentence, Hassoun got 15 years and eight months and Jayyousi 12 years and eight months.

It’s nice to see the prosecutors getting slapped down, at least a little over torture.

It’s Official, We are Insane

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A number of former defense officials from NATO Countries, including former JCS Chairman, and son of a Waffen SS member, John Shalikashvili, have recommended that NATO should reorganize to allow it to incorporate nuclear first strikes into it’s tactics.

Calling for a major change to Nato’s approach to defending its members and their interests, the authors of the report, which has been handed to Nato and Pentagon chiefs, said the first-strike use of nuclear weapons was a “indispensable instrument”.

I’m sorry, but anyone who says, “The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction,” is simply, and deeply nuts.

The fact that this is not just laughed out of NATO and Pentagon HQ is an indication that something is truly broken about the way we think.

Let’s Get Rid of Bush Dog Leonard Boswell

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Ed Fallon is challenging Leonard Boswell in the Iowa primary. (I guess that they only do the caucus for presidential stuff, could someone confirm?

It’s a good idea to take

FWIW, Gore barely won in 2000, and Bush barely won in 2004, so it’s a competitive district, but if this isn’t a year for Democrats, particularly given the economy, it I’ll eat my hat.)

You can contribute via Act Blue, Fallon’s web site is not yet up.

Fallon is popular in the district, he carried it in the gubernatorial primary that he lost state wide, and Boswell has never connected well with the district, he moved following redistricting in 2000, and he’s voted for the war without condition and the Patriot act.

The primary is on June 3.

Nobel Prize Winning Advice on Stimulus

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From Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz:

  • Improving unemployment, which Pelosi has already bargained away.
  • Provide assistance to state and local governments who will be hit with tax shortfalls, particularly in property taxes.
  • More spending on education.
  • Find a way to help victims of predatory lenders without bailing out the perps.

On Bush’s ideas for tax cuts, he says:

The Bush administration has long taken the view that tax cuts (especially permanent tax cuts for the rich) are the solution to every problem. This is wrong. Tax cuts in general perpetuate the excessive consumption that has marked the American economy. But middle- and lower-income Americans have been suffering for the last seven years — median family income is lower today than it was in 2000. A tax rebate aimed at lower- and middle-income households makes sense, especially since it would be fast-acting.

Bush Begging People Who Sowed the Seeds of 911

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Yep, this is the result of 6 years of failed Bush policies, he goes to the House of Saud to beg for help.

This must be some sort of definition of “returning honor and dignity to the White House” that I was unaware of:

……These days, President George W. Bush needs the world’s biggest exporter of crude more than it needs him.

With oil at about $90 a barrel, the U.S. economy at risk of sliding into recession and American banks trying to raise cash to ride out the subprime-mortgage crisis, Bush has become a supplicant for Saudi financial help.

….

Senator Hillary Clinton tried to turn it into an object of derision by describing Bush as “begging the Saudis” to cut the price of oil. “How pathetic,” she said.

I got your back on this statement, Hill.

Pathetic.

Economics Update: OMFG Edition

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First, of course, the Fed cut it’s Federal Funds Rate by 75 basis points, the biggest cut since 1984, and it did so a week before its regular meeting, which it hasn’t done since 911.

The US markets recovered after the rate cut, but still they were down by over 1% for the day.

I think that Paul Krugman’s analysis of this is accurate, Bernanke used to be the head of his department at Princeton, so I would assume that he knows him pretty well.

Basically, Bernanke is concerned about the Japanese slow down of the 1990s, when monetary tools simply stopped working:

What was so disturbing about Japan was the way monetary policy became ineffective; by the later 1990s the short-term interest rate was up against the ZLB — the “zero lower bound.” This is alternatively known as the “liquidity trap.” And once you’re there, conventional monetary policy can do no more, because interest rates can’t go below zero.

There was a lot of discussion of various unconventional monetary things you could do. But the best answer was not to get there in the first place. A 2004 paper co-authored by Bernanke argued that the ZLB could and should be avoided by “maintaining a sufficient inflation buffer and easing preemptively as necessary”.

In terms of corporate profits, Bank of America took a major hit, with profits dropping 95% as a result of $5 billion dollar writedown, and its, “tier 1 capital ratio – a key measure of its ability to absorb losses – stood at 6.87 percent at the end of the year, down from 8.22 percent in the previous quarter, due to its purchase of LaSalle Bank and lower net income during the second half of last year.”

Wachovia took an 89% hit on profits, “due to a $1.7 billion reduction in the value of certain portfolios and $1.5 billion set aside to cover bad loans”.

More real estate and derivatives.

And while we are on the topic of real estate and derivatives, bond insurer Ambac is looking for a buyer. If they take monopoly money, I’m game, but only if it’s less than one whole game.

Otherwise, the deal just does not make financial sense.

Of course, the one thing that we can be sure of is that if George W. Bush speaks, the market will tank, so, of course, they are talking again, and saying that they are looking at increasing the stimulus package beyond the $150 billion originally proposed.

My guess is that there is a “Bush Ranger” out there who wants a special tax break just for him.

Of course, we are already beginning to see the allocation of blame, aka “blamestorming”, with EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia saying that this problem is a result of excessive US trade deficit…..Ummmm…Well Duh!!!!…Though that whole deregulation of markets thing isn’t working either.

And on the housing front, California loan defaults reach have reached a 15-year high in Q4 2007, up 114% from the same time in 2006. Foreclosures are up 421.2% from 2006.

Strange Political Season: Actual Journalism Observed

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I though that journalism was extinct in the wild, existing only within specific preserves, like The Daily Show and Countdown, With Keith Olbermann, but it appears that a specimen has escaped to the wilds of ABC.

In a report on his nationwide cable TV buys, which BTW are a very good idea in terms of bang for the buck, the Obama stated that, “The DNC has consistently said that we have not broken that pledge.”

Well it appears that ABC News’ Teddy Davis actually checked the facts about that claim:

Obama’s claim is not true.

“The DNC has not weighed in on the pledge because it was a pledge with the state party chairs from the four early states, not the DNC,” DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton told ABC News.

I’m stunned and amazed.

I’m also waiting for the same scrutiny to be applied to Senator Keating 5 McCain.

It will probably be a while.

A Myth of Espionage

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Here is an intersting bit of information on Tsien Hsue-shen, the 96-year-old architect of China’s ballistic missile program.

The story goes that he was deported back to China in September, 1955, taking with him information in his head about the US Titan missile program, which he used to develop Chinese ICBMs.

Small problem though, first contract for the Titan development program was not let until October 1955, a, “full month after he was deported to China.”

D’oh!!!! Maybe, just maybe, this guy was a rocket scientist, and had some brains about him.

The First Act of Bush and His Evil Minions&trade Upon Squatting at 1600 Was to Trash the Email Archive System

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The Washington Post has a pretty good summary, though they soft pedal the conclusion.

Let’s make this clear, the Clinton administration got into legal trouble with a small problem with backups, the Reagan administration had its email backups used to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal, but somehow these folks, who have a pathological need for secrecy, just screwed up.

Yeah, sure.

The Cash Crunch is Hitting the Primaries, But Only for Republicans

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While Obama and Clinton are considering Super Bowl ads, Republican candidates are running short on cash.

Romney appears to be considering spending some more of his own money on the race, while in the Huckabee campaign, some aides are not being paid, and others have left, and insiders in the McCain campaign are admitting that things are tight.

Gee, if you screw up the economy badly enough, I guess that Republican donor Rodney Richpigge* won’t crack open his check book, because high taxes on some profits is better than no taxes on losses.

*Internet high 5 if you pick up the reference.

Probation Office Recommends 60 Years for Wilkes

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Yes, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the gift that keeps on giving. the probation office of the DoJ has recommended, Brent Wilkes, who bribed Cunningham, and might have other bribes outstanding, be given a 60 year sentence.

Note that this is the probation office, not the prosecutor.

Judges take these recommendations rather seriously.

If Wilkes other figures that he can roll on, now would be a good time for him.

The US Attorney Firing Scandal Continues

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It appears that the investigations by the DoJ’sof Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) are picking up steam.

Investigators from these offices have been questioning whether senior officials lied to Congress, violated the criminal provisions in the Hatch Act, tampered with witnesses preparing to testify to Congress, obstructed justice, took improper political considerations into account during the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and created widespread problems in the department’s Civil Rights Division, according to several people familiar with the investigation.

The internal Justice Department probe cannot bring charges but can refer findings to a U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia or a special prosecutor, who could then pursue a criminal investigation. One source close to the investigation expects the offices to issue a scathing report within the next three months, but they have not announced a timeline for their joint inquiry.

In addition, it appears that the Senate Ethics Committee has spent money to send investigators to Arizona, where former US Attorney David Iglesias alleged that Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) pressured him to engage in prosecutions for political gain.

We have allegations of violations of the Hatch Act and obstruction of Justice by some of the people involved.

The Hill expects for a report to be issued in the next few months, but I think that the DoJ will get it pushed back until after the elections.

Use Your Land Line Before Going to Bed

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Researchers working on behalf of the mobile phone industry :rofl: have discovered that exposure to cell phone emissions can interfere with your sleep cycle.

Obviously, there is a need for more study, but the methodology, where a group of volunteers were exposed to either 884 MHz signals, or to a sham signal, seems to be a pretty good study format.

I am not sure if this was single, or double blind. (in the latter, the researchers don’t know who got the placebo either).

Definitive word to my mind:

Dr Chris Idzikowski, the director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, says: “There is now more than sufficient evidence, from a large number of reputable investigators who are finding that mobile phone exposure an hour before sleep adversely affects deep sleep.”

It’s the 35th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade

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As a political issue, it’s always been a proxy for the SCOTUS decision to allow the IRS to strip tax exempt status from segregated institutions, but it bears note.

My take, not one step back on the terrorists whose goal is to criminalize a woman’s right to choose.

What’s more, we should go PATRIOT act on the asses of organizations that provide material aid to doctor murderers and clinic bombers.