Month: April 2010

OMFG!!!!! Epic Fail!!!!

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Fighting the Kha’ak, who lack staying power

You know, it’s not, “All Your Base Are Belong To Us,” but in naming the alien race in X3: Reunion the Kha’ak, pronounced “kawk”, it appears that someone has seriously jumped the shark.

The developers are German, and the dialogue, which explains why they don’t understand when a native English speaker might find it amusing when a character in the game says that, “The Kha’ak are not interested in dialogue,” though it does ring true.

I’m sure that this mirrors my wife’s, as well as my XGF’s experience.

Plane Crash Kills Polish President

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It appears that his plane crashed in a heavy fog, while attempting to land in Smolensk, killing Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski.

He was on his way to the Katyn Woods, where Polish and Russian authorities were to have a memorial service for the Polish officers and politicians murdered by the NKVD in 1940, which is kind of ironic:

Russian emergency officials said 97 people were killed. They included Poland’s deputy foreign minister and a dozen members of Parliament, the chiefs of the army and the navy, and the president of the national bank. They included Anna Walentynowicz, 80, the former dock worker whose firing in 1980 set off the Solidarity strike that ultimately overthrew Polish Communism, as well as relatives of victims of the massacre that they were on their way to commemorate.

…………

Among them, the Polish government said, were Mr. Kaczynski; his wife, Maria; Ryszard Kaczorowski, who led a government in exile during the Communist era; the deputy speaker of Poland’s Parliament, Jerzy Szmajdzinski; the head of the president’s chancellery, Wladyslaw Stasiak; the head of the National Security Bureau, Aleksander Szczyglo; the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Andrzej Kremer; the chief of the general staff of the Polish Army, Franciszek Gagor; the president of Poland’s national bank, Slawomir Skrzypek; and the commissioner for civil rights protection, Janusz Kochanowski.

My condolences to the victims families.

Note that President is a mostly ceremonial position under the Polish system, though a quick search through my archives seems to indicate that he was a bit of a euro-skeptic.

Guess What?

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All of the big banks used Lehman style accounting tricks to goose their numbers before quarterly reporting deadlines:

Major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

A group of 18 banks—which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.—understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42% at the end of each of the past five quarterly periods, the data show. The banks, which publicly release debt data each quarter, then boosted the debt levels in the middle of successive quarters.

Excessive borrowing by banks was one of the major causes of the financial crisis, leading to catastrophic bank runs in 2008 at firms including Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers. Since then, banks have become more sensitive about showing high levels of debt and risk, worried that their stocks and credit ratings could be punished.

Seriously, “business as usual” is better described as an “ongoing criminal enterprise.”

Breaking: Stupak Retiring

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Bummer of a birth mark, Bart

So, after making a bid for national prominence by grandstanding on a woman’s right to choose, and getting a primary challenger, the Teabaggers are still hating on him, and Rachel Maddow uncovered the fact that he was getting bribed with below market rents while he was living at “C Street,” so he will not run for reelection:

Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, who played a central role with fellow anti-abortion Democrats in negotiating a compromise in the final hours of debate that allowed the health care overhaul bill to pass, said on Friday that he would not seek re-election.

Mr. Stupak, a nine-term incumbent, has been under intense pressure from anti-abortion groups and others since the health care bill passed last month. At his request, President Obama signed an executive order outlining the prohibitions against the use of federal funds for abortion. But anti-abortion groups dismissed the executive order and pledged to defeat Mr. Stupak, whom they had once championed.

Let’s be clear here: The Teabaggers would always have supported a Republican in the general, because they are a Republican movement.

In fact, it could be argued that they have captured the Republican party.

And when you never had the Teabaggers, or the Republican party, and you’ve just told the Democratic party to go Cheney yourself, you do not have much left to win an election with.

BTW, here is his challenger, and now putative nominee, Connie Saltonstall’s Act Blue page.

Give generously, to keep the idiots at the DCCC and DNC from trying to anoint a Conservadem between now and the primary.

Justice Stevens to Retire

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Just Announced.

Obviously, the question now is who Obama will nominate to succeed him.

My predictions:

  • They will be Protestant
    • Stevens is the only Protestant on the court, the rest are Catholic or Jewish.
  • They will be a woman and/or a minority.
    • Because it will be his way to pander to the base when he chooses a basically conservative nominee.
  • They will be tepid, at best, on Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose in general.
    • Since Barack Obama has always been tepid, at best, on Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose in general.
  • They will generally favor a very expansive definition of the powers of the Presidency.
    • Since Barack Obama has aggressively asserted a very expansive definition of the powers of the Presidency.
  • They will generally be rather pro corporate, though not as much as Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy.
    • Since Barack Obama is ……… You get the picture.
  • They will not be particularly pro organized labor.
    • Obama has clearly been tepid on labor issues, as shown by his efforts to soft pedal the EFCA (Card Check).

What I would like to see, beyond ideology, is that:

  • They not have worked as a prosecutor, which tends to set people off on a legal path that is hostile to the rights of the accused.
  • That they not, and have not been, a sitting Federal Judge, which is increasingly the norm, and we need more diversity of experience in there.
  • Nominating someone who is publicly an atheist.

Things that could make this amusing, but will not happen:

  • Nominating Bill Clinton, just to make the ‘Phant’s heads explode.
  • Nominating a Muslim.
  • Nominating Hillary Clinton, just to make the ‘Phant’s heads explode.

But these will not happen.

A Bit Late on This But………

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Robert “Bad Hair” Ehrlich, who lost his bid for reelection against Martin O’Malley 4 years ago, has announced his intention to run for governor again.

Ehrlich seems to think that anti-incumbency gives him a leg up, but he has lost the advantages of incumbency, he cannot run against former Maryland Governor Paris Glendenning, as he did when he ran against Glendenning’s Lt. Governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend,* and O’Malley got his signature issue from 8 years ago, slots as a source of revenue, done.

And then there is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, which is that Ehrlich still speaks very positively of his former Lt. Governor, Michael Steele, which may harm him more among Republicans than Democrats.

On the plus side for him is the fact that he is keeping his radio show on WBAL until he formally files his paperwork in June, which gives him a very big megaphone to toot his own horn.

Still, I Ehrlich has to run the table, and O’Malley has to have a major stumble for him to be competitive in this thoroughly blue state.

*She’s a smart lady, she kicked Ehrlich’s butt during the debate in 2002, but she is the worst campaigner in the history of the Kennedy clan, and perhaps the worst candidate in the history of history.

I Wholeheartedly Approve

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Someone on DU related their experience with reporting someone threatening violence against Obama to the Secret Service: (Click for full size screen shot)

I called the Secret Service on a wingnut threatening Obama

Edited on Fri Apr-09-10 12:13 AM by Jack_Dawson

on his Facebook. “We need to take him OUT! BY ANY MEANS!” he said Friday night at 10:30 (one can only speculate whether alcohol played a factor).

I called my local SS field office on Saturday. Sent them screenshots. They followed up with him, and he mysteriously removed the OP. But that wasn’t good enough for the Secret Service. They called me again today to send them more screenshots – to see if he had redacted his comment. He had not.

Then about an hour ago, he posted this:

“I suggest REMOVING Obama from office through legal, lawful and Constitutional methods ONLY! I DO NOT AND WOULD NOT ADVOCATE VIOLENCE!

If you see / hear something similar, I suggest contacting your district office. They do follow up.

Indeed. There has been a lot of violent eliminationist rhetoric, and when it devolves to the point of being a specific threat, reporting it to the authorities is a civic duty.

I am not suggesting the sort of reaction that got Richard Humphreys 37 months in the clink for making “Burning Bush” jokes, but when speech becomes explicit threats, or an exhortation to specific violent action, it’s a problem.

Obama Authorizes Assassinations of American Citizens

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Radical Imam Anwar al-Aulaqi has now been placed on the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) target list, which means that he can be killed if spotted. (See also here)

Based on the reports that I’ve seen in the media, it’s pretty clear that there is probable cause to apprehend him on suspicion of a number of crimes, but basically, the JSOC is a hit list.

There won’t be any efforts to capture him, this means that he’s going to be taken out by a Predator drone or suchlike, and I find this to profoundly troubling.

Glenn Greenwald makes the point that this is authorizing the killing of an American citizen on the decision of one man, the President, a power that even George W. Bush did not claim, and I agree, though I am not quite as strident in my views.

Additionally, this has the effect of legitimizing the use of lethal force by other governments against those whom they deem terrorists.

Under the rules adopted, I could see the Chinese assassinating Uighur activists, the Russians assassinating Chechen activists, or the Turks assassinating Kurdish activists, on US soil.

Also, from a purely tactical perspective, if you have a person who is willing to die to accomplish their mission, and al Qaeda does, then it is rather simpler to locate the President of the United States than it is to locate Anwar al-Aulaqi or Saddam Hussein.

This may have the effect of encouraging direct action against American officials.

I Call This a Good Start

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The labor union the SEIU is starting a 3rd party named North Carolina First in that state.

They are collecting signatures to get qualified as a state party, and the implication is that they will be running candidates in the general against the Blue Dogs Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre, as well as conservative Larry Kissell.

My attitude is that this is a good thing.

To quote James “I hate that smarmy bastard” Baker, “F%$# them, they didn’t vote for us.”*

I don’t have a problem with this. There is a difference between a conservative Democrat, and particularly in a conservative district, I understand the difference.

Shuler, McIntyre, and Kissell are disloyal democrats, and they can reliably be counted on to vote against healthcare, financial reform, and fair labor rights.

Truth be told, if they want to go after just one of them, I would suggest going after Shuler.

He’s the whip of the Blue Dogs, and taking him down would make the rest of those guys think twice about playing to Fox News as a political strategy

I would note that my hostility towards Shuler might be a function of his tenure as a Washington Redskins over-priced first round draft pick washout.

*Yes, I am aware that Baker said this about Jews and the Republican party while serving in the Poppie Bush administration.

Economics Update

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Well, today is jobless Thursday, and the the new unemployment numbers disappointed big time, with initial claims rising to 460,000, as opposed to falling slightly to 435,000, with the 4-week moving average rising 2,250 to 450,250.

On the bright side, continuing claims fell by 131K to 4.55 M, though one wonders how much of that was because of Tom Coburn’s petulant filibuster against extended unemployment benefits, which likely has depressed the number, which (full disclosure) has effected me directly. (Will no one rid me of ……… Oh, never mind.)

Meanwhile in consumer spending, February consumer borrowing fell at a -5.6% annual rate, wiping out, and then some, the growth in consumer borrowing in January that had economists crowing, though the Institute for Supply Management’s service sector index grew faster than it has since July 2004 in March.

On the brighter side, delinquencies in consumer loans fell in the 4th quarter of 2009.

In the world of national finance and central banks, we have a few developments with the 3-year, 10 year, and 30 year treasury notes falling and their yields rising, which implies that investors expect interest rates to increase, at least a bit.

Meanwhile, in central bank land, the Bank of England has left its benchmark interest rate and its quantitative easing unchanged, and the Bank of Korea also left rates unchanged.

In real estate, it’s been a pretty busy few days with the 30 year fixed rate mortgage hitting an 8 month high, which, unsurprisingly has depressed mortgage applications.

In residential real estate, foreclosures are still rising, and distressed home sales hit a new high of 29% in January, though delinquencies on sub-prime mortgages fell for the first time since 2006.

I’m thinking that the sub-prime delinquency rate fell because we have finally run out of people who have those mortgages who haven’t yet been forced out of their homes.

In commercial real estate, mall vacancies have hit an at least 10 year high, there are no records prior to this, and office vacancies hit 17.4%, the highest since 1994.

Meanwhile, in energy and currency, the bad job numbers drove crude prices down, and new concerns about Greece have driven the dollar higher.

This is a Big Deal

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The US and Russia have signed a treaty calling for a 30% reduction of their respective nuclear arsenals.

This is a very positive development, though it is more timid that I would have liked.

Of course, it still needs a ⅔ vote in the Senate to be approved, and Republican Mike DeMint seems to be determined to be the turd in the punch bowl, and attempt to extract promises for an extensive missile defense installation in Europe, which the Russians consider a deal breaker.

Pretty much everyone who isn’t tied to Bush/Cheney, of both parties, find this a good deal, but considering the fact that many Congressional Republicans sold their souls, and their testicles, to the Bush/Cheney agenda some years back, it should get interesting.

Also, I predict that Joe “Shanda before the Goyim” Lieberman will speak forcefully about his deep concerns regarding the treaty, in the hope of getting lots of face time on the teevee.

Our Man in Kabul

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It appears that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is mad enough to say to members of parliament that if things don’t go his way, he might join the Taliban:

At one point, Mr. Karzai suggested that he himself would be compelled to join the other side —that is, the Taliban—if the parliament didn’t back his controversial attempt to take control of the country’s electoral watchdog from the United Nations, according to three people who attended the meeting, including an ally of the president.

Mr. Karzai blamed the lawmakers’ resistance to his move on a foreign conspiracy, they said. The Afghan president’s latest remarks came less than 24 hours after he assured U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he was committed to working with the U.S. That phone call was precipitated by a similar—but less vitriolic–anti-Western diatribe Mr. Karzai delivered earlier last week.

So he’s complaining that the Electoral Complaints Commission is appointed by independent judges and the UN, and that parliament is refusing to reorganize it so that he can appoint its members, and stack future elections.

It should be noted that the commission invalidated almost a million votes during his reelection bid, and found pervasive fraud by him and his allies, so I guess that he does not want a repeat of this.

Still, his statements make him both part of the problem, and probably completely f%$#ing nuts.

When juxtaposed with his ruinously corrupt drug running brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council, whose actions are so suspect that US forces have threatened to kill him the next time he is seen meeting with a Taliban representative, it’s really a heady brew.

I Really Want to Know the Whole Back-Story On This

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According to the associated article, “As firefighters cleaned up the scene late this morning, Kali Burns, who lives next door, ran up and down the street dressed in a gorilla suit and caught the attention of some firefighters. Burns said his friends dared him to put the costume on, so he did. He said he only wanted to ‘cheer everybody up.'”

I dunno, I think that there is something deeper involved.

You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

H/t Americablog.

Quote of the Day

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This is as about as succinct a statement as to what needs to be fixed as anything that I have thus far seen:

Our position was simple: products having no economic purpose except to achieve questionable accounting, tax or regulatory goals; or that raise serious concerns that customers will use them to issue materially misleading financial statements; or that meet any of the other bullet points in the 2006 statement’s list, should, at a minimum, be labeled presumptively prohibited.

—Susan P. Koniak, George M. Cohen, David A. Dana and Thomas Ross in a New York Times OP/Ed

Basically, any transaction that has as a significant part of its purpose to obscure the material health of the firm should be be used only with prior approval.

Of course, it’s much to sensible to be adopted, either in regulation by Geithner,* et al, or in law by Congress.

*But remember, the Cossacks work for the Czar.