I guess it’s not so stupid if Obama goes on O’Reilly opposite John McCain’s acceptance speech.
So will the septuagenarians who make up the O’Reilly audience watch McCain or Billo?
Year: 2008
Honda Passes Chrysler in US Market Share
So this puts Chrysler #5 in market share.
Maybe if we weren’t spending more than the rest of the world combined in defense, we’d be more competitive in the civilian economy, though the overpaid incompetent management at the big little 3 auto makers has contributed to this quite a bit.
NATO Conducts Raid Inside Pakistan
Way to piss off an essential ally against terrorism in the region, by sending in a helicopter based infantry assault, and killing some number of civilians.
I’m not sure if this is the start of a new policy, a statement of displeasure regarding Pakistan’s Ramadan cease fire, or some attempt to gin up something for the us elections, but in either case, the consequences, in terms of destabilizing a nuclear armed Pakistan, are very concerning.
Note that this was not the NATO force that did this, as, “American troops in Afghanistan operate under a NATO chain of command, the Special Operations forces who carried out this attack answer only to American commanders.”
In any case, this does not bode well for US-Pakistani relations.
Palin Nomination: Bad for the Jews
Actually, the title is a joke, but it does reflect a sort of American Jewish political idiom that Palin will have to deal with.
The problem is that her church hosted a talk from David Brickner, and unlike Obama and Jeremiah Wright, Palin was in the audience listening happily (see also here)
David Brickner is the controversial founder of Jews for Jesus, a front group for evangelicals targeting Jews for proselytization. Additionally, while speaking before her church, and Palin, he, “told the congregation that terrorist attacks in Israel are God’s ‘judgment of unbelief’ for Jews who reject Christianity.”
Let me be clear, there are some politically conservative Jews who might find a way to alibi for Brickner’s quote, but never for a church inviting the founder of Jews for Jesus.
In American Jewish life, inviting him to your church crosses a line that cannot be uncrossed.
This trumps any concerns about Obama’s middle name for the bulk of American Jews.
In Texas, There is No Money Laundering
So long as you pay by check.
That is what the Texas Third Court of Appeals voted on a straight party line.
Thoughts on Sarah Palin’s Speech
I couldn’t listen to all of it, her voice really grates on me.
I would note that to the to the degree that I could listen to her, it’s clear that she is a big time “movement conservative”, and that her career has been the three Gsm Gods, Guns, and Gays (and abortion)….And not much else.
Certainly, this is getting the Christo-Fascist/Talibaptist* wing of the Republican party energized, but I’m not sure how it will play in Peoria.
*Which term do you think is better? I find that “Talibaptist” flows better, but that it implies that it’s only Baptists, while “Christo-Fascist” is a nice turn around of the admittedly absurd “Islamo-Fascist”.
You Cannot Make This Sh$# Up
It appears that the US is granting Citgo’s request for 250,000 BBL of crude from the US strategic petroleum reserve.
Citgo is the state owned oil company of Venezuela, and is thus controlled by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Time for a Painful Palinectomy, Dude
I’m not sure what the hell McCain was thinking, but my most likely reasons are that he:
- Did it in a fit of pique because his reported first choice, Joe Lieberman, who was shot down by the religious right.
- That he had no number two after his reported first choice, Joe Lieberman, who was shot down by the religious right, and he panicked.
- That he figures that after picking her to be the VP, enough will come out so that he can dump her after the convention, and select his his reported first choice, Joe Lieberman, who was shot down by the religious right.
My money is on the first possibility, but in any case, you have McCain staffers saying that she was not interviewed until the day before the announcement.
In any case, you have to love the irony of Dr. Laura saying that Palin is morally unfit to be VP.*, though the fact that Jamie Lynn Spears† sending a a gift of designer baby burp cloths to Bristol‡ Palin to show moral support comes close.
The strange thing is that as Josh Marshall notes, the McCain campaign appears to be doing it’s level best to pimp Levi Johnston, the alleged father of the alleged child:
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. Overwhelmingly, reporters are pressing eminently reasonable questions — her role in troopergate, her lack of experience, her connections to the AIP, her history of earmarking and lobbyists, etc. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is going absolutely non-stop about Palin’s daughter. It is unmistakable.
Look at the video. It’s clear that McCain is attempting to make sure that this self described “Red Neck” is front and center:
Of course, it would not be fair to mention the National Enquirer article which said that Palin was pressuring Bristol‡ to get a quickie marriage, but that, “Bristol, 17, refused to go along with the plan and that sparked a mother-daughter showdown over the failed coverup.”
Honestly, I expect that there was some shouting and screaming in such situations, but those are private matters, and the National Enquirer should be ashamed of itself.
That being said, Palin’s opposition to reality based sex education, along with her veto to slash funding from the Alaska program that helps teenage mothers get their lives together and keep their kids are legitimate policy issues that should be on the table.
Meanwhile, it appears that the state house investigation of “Troopergate” will be released a few weeks before the election, at least it will be if Palin’s private lawyer, hired at state expense, doesn’t manage to quash the investigation.
Thus far, we have already been treated to the spectacle of Sarah Palin filing an ethics complaint against … Sarah Palin in order to move the investigation to the state Personnel Board, whose members are appointed by … you guessed it … Sarah Palin!
Still, we have other ethical problems, such as her violation of state ethics laws by failing to disclose business interests.
Additionally, Time took a loor at her time as mayor of Wasilla, and found her systematically going after professional staff who were not sufficiently “loyal to the mayor”.
I believe that the translation for this is, “Heck of a job, Brownie.”
*Actually, you have to love the irony of Dr. Laura saying that anyone is morally unfit for anything.
†Yes, I know, she is, indirectly at least, one of Those Who Must Not Be Named, but there is a political context here.
‡Is it that I affect British English too much, or do other people find it odd that someone named their kid a slang term for breasts?
Economics Update
It’s generally not been a good year for manufacturing and construction, with the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index falling to 49.9, with any number below 50 meaning contraction, though I wonder how much inflation is being measured as “growth”, which is what I think is driving much of the US Commerce Department data showing an increase in factory orders.
I think that this is entirely export driven growth, a position that the abysmal auto sales reinforces, but these export sales are being driven by a cheap dollar, which will eventually drive interest rates higher in the US (foreigners will demand higher returns), crushing domestic consumption.
That being said, construction is clearly cratering, falling 0.6% in July, twice expectations.
Meanwhile, banking continues to look pretty heinous with the FDIC expanding office space in the expectation of a spate of bank failures, S&P downgrading two regional banks, and suggesting that 37% of regional banks will be down graded.
Additionally, when GMACis laying off thousands, you know that the industry is in dire straits.
With Euro zone inflation falling, it appears that the ECB will hold rates steady, for a while at least, which will serve to keep the dollar relatively strong, as evidenced by the US Dollar’s rise today.
Since the hurricanes in the Gulf were relatively mild, oil and gasoline have continued their downward path.
Russia Explicitly Claims Prerogatives as a Regional Power
Russia’s declaration of its regional interests is a major pushback against the US view, and desire for, a unipolar world.
One thing that was clear when the USSR fell was that the US as the single unchallenged hyperpower in the world had an expiration date, and I think that we have found out that it expired a few weeks back.
5 Months to Go, and Bush and His Evil Minions&trade Frantically Try to Make Things Worse
In this case, it’s a blatant assault on organized labor.
As it currently stands, if an employer chooses, they can elect to go with a card-check, as opposed to an election to certify a union.
Well, Bush is looking at signing an executive order making elections to certify a union a requirement for government contracts.
Only To go.
If You Can Make it There, You’ll Make it Anywhere
And the housing crash has hit New York, as Manhattan apartment prices are falling, and the same thing is happening with luxury homes in central London which is even pricier.
As the Caucuses Turns
Unsurprisingly, we have reports that Cheney to made promises to support Georgia while there.
Once again, Mr. Deferment is letting his mouth cut checks that someone else’s kids will have to cash.
No doubt he promised more welfare for American defense contractors to help rebuild their military, which the Georgians are reportedly very eager to do.
Additionally, it appears that once again, Cheney is determined to make another problem worse, as he is lobbying for the US terminating the civil nuclear cooperation pact with Russia, which is likely to mean more ill-secured nuclear material in that nation.
This isn’t to say that Russian diplomatic efforts are going well. They just got the kiss of death diplomatically, when Hugo Chavez of Venezuela backed the Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Also, in the, “I thought that this has already happened,” category, we have Georgia severing diplomatic ties with Russia.
I think that the final word on this conflict comes from William Pfaff:
Ukraine and the Baltic states have been given the lesson that great powers do not go to war against other heavily armed great powers just to settle ancient sectarian quarrels or linguistic rivalries in client countries, even if those are prospective NATO members.
Meanwhile, Saakashvili is beginning to see domestic push-back from his failed adventure, with the opposition now saying that some of the blame lays in the, “US educated Georgian leader,” for the spanking received from the Russians.
Meanwhile, the EU has been unable to come to a consensus on any diplomatic actions to take, which is an indication that the EU does need a change in governance structure, just not the one that they are trying to ram down the throat of the Irish.
Russia remains completely unapologetic about the whole affair, which is not surprising, as over the top as some of the statements made by Moscow on the conflict are, it’s clear that this is a real statement of how Russia feels about both Georgia and NATO expansion.
While I am not as big a fan of delving into the minutiae of military conflicts analysis as, for example, the War Nerd, Aviation Week does have an interesting report on Russian self-analysis on what happened in Georgia. (paid subscription required)
Not surprisingly, the RuAF comes in for most of the criticism. There was apparently little preparation on their point, and no attempts to use long range PGWs to take out Georgian air defense systems.
If This Was a War for Oil, We Fscked That Up Too
Because Iraq just signed a $3 billion contact for oil services with CNPC, the Chinese state owned oil company.
Bush and His Evil Minions&trade: fscking things up since day 1.
Another Failure for Bush and His Evil Minions&trade
Well, after expending all that time and effort on trying to ram through a US-India nuclear deal, it appears that even with the deal, India will be going with non-US companies for its nuclear needs, they will go to French and Russian companies.
It turns out that the Indian model, of purchasing whole systems from one vendor, does not lend itself to the way that the US nuclear power industry is structured.
So Bush isn’t even making money for GE and Bechtel out of this.
Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) Endorses Frank Kratovil (D-Stevensville)
This cross party endorsement for the MD-1 district is hardly a surprise.
His opponent, Andrew Harris, is a Paleolithic Republican, and he defeated Gilchrest in the primary.
Iraq Takes Over in Anbar
While both the John Sidney McCain III and Bush and His Evil Minions&trade will cast this development as a success, it’s clear that Nouri al Maliki will be using this as an opportunity to crack down on the Sunnis and centralize his power, which will reverse much of the progress.
Zimbabwe Update
Mugabe has lifted the ban on foreign aid groups, though there are still reports that some groups are being hindered.
Thabo Mbeki is trying to get negotiations going, though I believe him to be more of a problem than a solution.
Certainly, the fact that ZANU-PF is saying that there is no need for any more negotiations indicates just how worthless Mbeki is in his role.
OK…..
More Things that Make You Go Hmm about Sarah Palin
Or maybe it makes you go Hmm about John Sidney McCain.
A friend that I’ve never met offline who shall remain nameless* said the following:
But here’s something else. They [big name Republithug friends of my source] believe she was told she was going to be the VEEP pick on the flight to Ohio. She thought she was just speaking at the convention. We both believe McCain may have made this choice after Obama’s Thursday night speech … it sure did the trick of getting the news off of that speech … didn’t it?
If this is true, McCain is even more fracked in the head than I had previously believed.
*Yes, it is a thrill to have my own anonymous source.