Year: 2008
No Banks Failed This Week Yet
No new entries on the FDIC: Failed Bank List, at not when I posted this.
Economics Update
Well, I guess that the lead story has to be Lehman Brothers, which appears to be collapsing Bear Stearns style, and looking for government funding of it’s eventual sale, Bear Stearns style, so negotions with potential buyers continue apace.
The Fed and the Treasury Department appear to be seriously twisting arms to make the deal go through, though they claim that there will be “no federal money” involved.
Seriously, all we are doing here is socializing losses. Nationalize the lot of them, throw out upper management, and go after their bonuses, otherwise, we will see more of the same.
Of course the fact that WaMu just had its ratings cut….again…Means that Paulson may have two things on his “to do” list this weekend.
There are already rumors that Washington Mutual is on the auction block.
In the real economy, the one that the rest of us live in, news ain’t great. The weekly job claims fell, but the 4 week moving average and the continuing claims, continue to rise.
Additionally, retail sales fell again in August, showing a continued weakening in the economy, as does the large gain in business inventory.
Real estate is looking worse and worse too, with foreclosures continuing to increase.
This has driven the dollar down, because it points toward the Fed cutting rates.
In energy, oil is continuing on a downward trend, because of hurricane Ike, selling briefly below $100/bbl (!), though the fact that it’s heading toward refineries is driving gasoline up.
I would note that this is actually normal market behavior. Knock out refineries, and the demand for oil decreases, and the price drops, but the demand for gasoline remains the same, so prices increase.
BTW, I’m not sure what is going on in insurance, but it is clear that American International Group is getting absolutely hammered, and when the subject of the short selling is the largest insurer in the world, something is whack.
Russian Sending Nuclear Capable Bombers to Venezuela for “Training”
The Tu-160 Blackjack, the Russian AF’s crown jewel, just two of them.
There are consequences for dick swinging, and I expect to see an increased Russian military presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, as a result of the meaningless assertions of machismo by Bush and His Evil Minions&trade.
But They Still Get the Golden Parachutes
It appears that Fannie Mae’s Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac’s Richard Syron will both get severance packages in excess of $5 million.
The little guys, and the tax payers, eat sh%$, and the Harvard MBA types walk away with millions.
To quote Bruce Cockburn, “If I had a rocket launcher, some son of a bitch would die.”
There Appears to be a Deal in Zimbabwe
The full details are not yet available
The real question here is to what degree is the ZANU-PF’s iron grip of the state security apparatus relaxed, and my guess would be, “not much”.
The Black Sea Follies
Not surprisingly, we have Cheney visiting the region before slinking off to an undisclosed location, and he is very clear on the fact that he wants a new cold war for political advantage, NATO membership for Georgia and the Ukraine, and pretty much anyone else, if only because it pisses off the Russians. (see here, here, and here)
Of course, the Ukraine’s coalition government appears to be on the verge of collapse, and while Ukrainian President Yushchenko is still going for NATO membership, while PM Yulia Tymoshenko* is more cautious, and less viscerally anti-Russian (and anti-ethnic Russians in the Ukraine) than the president.
It also appears that while the Ukranians are interested in EU membership, support NATO membership is somewhat more tepid.
Even with that, there is no unanimity within the EU over Ukraine’s membership.
I’m not sure if this is because of concerns with Russia, because the Ukraine is really not ready in terms of things like transparency, or because the EU is already suffering from massive growing pains and transfer payments from it’s breakneck expansion of the past few years.
Meanwhile, NATO appears to be taking a leading role in the rebuilding of the Georgian military, with NATO networking with NATO radars and their early warning system.
Meanwhile, we have a pretty good rundown of Georgian misstatements and flat out lies about the war, and that Georgia had been planning its invasion of South Ossetia for many months, as evidenced by this story from April regarding the radars being moved into the conflict areas.
What is clear is that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was hoping to draw NATO into his war, which is a pretty good reason not to even begin considering EU or NATO membership for Georgia until it is clear that the firebrand politician has left the stage; he was engaging in nuclear chicken by proxy.
In any case it appears that the Russians are deescalating, with a promise to withdraw all troops from Georgia proper.
*Why, oh why can’t news happen in places where the names are easy to spell?
KC-X Tanker Contest Canceled
Looks like SecDef Bob Gates is dumping this one on the next administration.
I can’t say I blame him. The Airbus is a better aircraft, more modern and with greater fuel offload capacity, and it’s already flying, whereas the Boeing Frankenplane, cobbled together out of 3 different 767 models, has stronger pork barrel congressional support.
A delay might move Boeing to submit a shortened 777 as a bid, which would be more competitive, but the 787 is out, if just because they are so far behind schedule that they would not be able to begin deliveries until some time around 2020.
It might also have something to do with the strike, which obviously makes Boeing hitting any delivery, for any customers, which would give the delegation from Washington State more of an opportunity to whine.
Funny Cartoon of the Day
Though I do think that Pat Oliphant is cruising for a lightning bolt.
The real issue, though, is far more serious. The Republicans speak in tongues to the press, and the press refuses to notice.
For example, in 2000, when Bush was speaking about “compassionate conservatism”, he was in fact speaking in tongues to the religious right, describing doctrine written about by Marvin Olasky and others, in which true compassion is to let poor people and their families fend for themselves.
Bush’s mention of Dredd Scott in the 2004 debate was the same thing; it was a dog whistle to the right wing about Roe v. Wade.
This is easy to understand, but the press refuses to cover it, so it continues.
Oh My God
Well, it turns out that while Mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s hand picked police chief, she had fired the predecessor for “insufficient loyalty”, instituted a policy of forcing rape victims to pay for their own rape kits.
It was the only town in Alaska to do so, and it so outraged the legislature that they passed a law against this.
Seriously, C-MI.
So, Now it Appears that John McCain Used His Office to Support His Sugar Mama Dope Abusing Wife
We know the basic story: Cindy McCain used a charity that she set up to steal Percocet and Vicodin to feed her habit.
One of the principals in this matter is Tom Gosinski, who discovered the abuse, and discovered that Cindy McCain was using his name to get the drugs, so he went to the DEA, and John McCain used his office to call in political favors to get the US Attorney to go after him.
While it is clear that Gosinski is no fan of the McCains, they got an investigation ginned up claiming that he had tried to extort them after he had been talking with the DEA for months, the picture that he is painting, both of McCain and of his family is unbelievably grim
Well, he’s now releasing his journals to the public, and among other things, there are allegations that the McCains medicated their kids unecessarily.
Gosinski details a conversation with Jeri Johnson, Cindy McCain’s aunt, regarding Cindy’s nanny, Diane, in a July 28, 1992 entry.
Diane voice concerns regarding Cindy’s use of drugs and the effect it is having on the kids. Diane told Jeri that Meghan recently told her to “f$#@ off” after trying to discipline her. She also told Jeri that she is concerned that Cindy is giving the kids drugs which unnecessarily sedate them. I hope that is not happening.
Concerns that Cindy McCain is unnecessarily drugging her children appear again in a July 31 entry — “Cari (Cindy’s adopted daughter) told the three that she fears Cindy gives the kids prescription drugs they do not need,” Gosinski wrote.
Republican family values, my ass.
What more, it appears that the Washington Post had an article about this recently, but it was scrubbed from the web site.
Talk about the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations!
Because, seriously for Bush and His Evil Minions™ to try to spin the continued breathing of Osama bin Laden with this:
Q: But Osama bin Laden is the one that — you keep talking about his lieutenants, and, yes, they are very important, but Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11 —
MS. PERINO: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and he’s sitting in jail right now.
I guess that bin Laden was some 6 foot 6 inch tall dude suffering from Marfan’s related kidney failure who occasionally attended meetings of the Ladies Sewing Circle & Terrorist Society, or some such.
Every time I think that I’ve grown too cynical to be shocked, they kick it up a notch.
The mendacity of these folks, even after 7 years, continues to stun me.
My Bizarre Thoughts 7 Years Ago
My first thought was that their might be a Chilean connection, since it was on 9/11 that Allende was assassinated, my second thought was that it was a Reichstag fire, and there were dozens, if not hundreds of other odd thoughts.
The oddest one, and the one that sticks with me was driving home.
I was taking the outer loop of the Baltimore Beltway (I-695), and at the junction with I-83, which sucks, I blew through in no time at all. There were perhaps a dozen other cars on my stretch of interstate, and I remember thinking, “So this is what it takes to fix the traffic here.”
Completely inappropriate, slightly demented, and it is the feeling that I still remember the most vividly.
I’m not sure if it’s just me that is weird, or all of humanity.
Bush and His Evil Minions&trade Multitasking: Fracking UP Latin America Too
So, now the Venezuelan and Russian naval units will be conducting joing exercises in the Caribbean.
Gee, you back a coup, with the idea that the coup plotters will kill the guy, then call him names for a few years, and he runs crying to the Russkies…How ungrateful.
John Sidney McCain III Has Been Nuts Since Birth
The stories of McCain and his temper, he once called his wife the C-word in public, are legion, and I always assumed that it had something to do with his stint as a POW.
It appears that, in addition to the more recent stories listed in the article, he has been prone to destructive tantrums since he was an infant:
At age 2, McCain’s tantrums were so intense that he’d hold his breath for a few minutes and pass out. His parents would dunk him in cold water to “cure” him, he wrote in his memoir, “Faith of My Fathers.”
Ummmmmm….Are there any sane Republicans out there? Anywhere?
Republicans Looking to Make Lieberman’s Party Change Official
This is no surprise, but he won’t change caucuses unless kicked out of the Dem caucus, which he should be, because Joe Lieberman is all about Joe Lieberman, and as a kinda-sorta Dem who spews Republithug talking points, he has more power, gets more face time, and is lauded as a bipartisan by the Beltway Gasbags, so I do not believe that Republicans will be successful in getting him to switch parties.
It’s a pity, because it would be good for the Democratic party and the nation.
Another Indictment of the LSI Concept
Here is a good short article on the problems with the Lead System Integrator (LSI) concept from Bettina Chavanne , and I agree with his categorization of this as, “A Fox in the Henhouse”.
She raises the concern that she is , “not sure the military can run its own acquisition programs any better than private LSIs,” though, and I think that she is completely wrong here.
There is far greater accountability in the military, no golden parachutes, and the organizational imperatives are directed more towards military needs than to profits.
The real problem is that the entire defense procurement process is completely broken.
Why My Posting has Been Light Lately
Things are fracked up busy.
- Desperately trying to learn the ins and outs of feeds, and how to get Google ads on them.
- Switching from lots of links to Google RSS reader.
- Lost my job.
- Dropped my cell phone in the toilet, needed to chase down a replacement.
- Still working on my 1987 taxes (big refund coming, I am a bloody idiot).
- Trying to get in some Torah study in while I have the chance.
- Trying to resuscitate a Minyan in the area.
Still, you learn something new every day. I’m about 8 bucks from my first Adsense check, and according to the Maryland DOL, I have to declare it when I file for unemployment.
ATK’s Sizzler Simulator and Me
I just had my resume submitted by a shop to ATK, which manufactures thing related to rockets, drones, and small arms, and then I came across the fact that they got a contract for a target drone to simulate the SS-N-27 Sizzler (Novator 34M-54E Klub).
It’s an interesting concept. It’s a two stage cruise missile proceeding at subsonic speeds for most of its flight path, but about 20-30 miles from the target, the second stages fires and it accelerates to somewhere around mach 2.9 for the final flight to target.
You end up with a supersonic approach just as it goes over the horizon, but the total package is much smaller, or the range is much greater, than something that would be supersonic along the complete flight path.
ATK’s job may actually be more difficult than making the weapon, as one would assume that you would want the possibility of recovery for the drone, at least when the defenders get it wrong in practice.
It’s called the Multi-Stage Supersonic Target (MSST).
Basically, you have a subsonic bus which carries the whole assembly, and the supersonic portion, based on the GQM-163 Coyote supersonic target drone is hung from a strongback.
Full disclosure: They have my resume in their hands right now, at least that’s what the shop told me.
OK, So I’ve Entered the Realm of the Jobless
So it goes…..
All in all, the end of my contract was a good thing.
Working in nuclear power produced a level of cognitive dissonance, I think that nuclear poser is unsafe and economically unviable, that was wearing me down.
The day after it ended, I went to my chiropractor, and realized that I felt much better than I had in months.
The workplace as a bunch of people was actually pretty good. They were good people, but for the first time in my life, the nature of the work made me miserable.
So, while I am still fat and bald, I am no longer working in nuclear power, which means that all Homer Simpson jokes are now “inoperative”.