Credit card companies are doing their part to help make the economic crisis worse -- they're reducing Americans' credit limits as a matter of policy and canceling credit cards that aren't generating charges. Of course, both strategies will reduce ordinary people's credit scores through no fault of their own, making it that much harder to obtain loans.
[ Wall Street Journal ]
Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General? I know next to nothing about Sanjay Gupta beyond his famous and false smearing of Michael Moore over the facts in Sicko, and for me that's enough. Someone who's famous for lying is a poor choice for medical advice.
[ New York Times ]
In Venezuela, "the Israeli ambassador and part of the personnel of the Israeli embassy" have been expelled -- a reasonable, appropriate response to Israel's murderous assault on Gaza, if you ask me.
[ PressTV (Iranian state media) ]
An Israeli assault on a United Nations school in Gaza killed three people or up to 40, we are told in frustratingly vague reports. I expect we'll know more by tomorrow, but of course, the bigger the number the less we'll hear about it in the American media.
[ Reuters News Agency ]
Feds and JetBlue forced this guy to cover his Arabic/English t-shirt before he could fly. It cost them (and us) $240,000.
And GW Bush and Dick Cheney had this guy imprisoned and tortured for six years, lying that he was among "the worst of the worst" terrorists when there's no evidence he's anything but a guy who reads the Koran. Bush and Cheney did this to thousands of people, killed hundreds of thousands more, and for this they'll pay no penalty, ever.
[ New York Times ]
We're told so often that Arabs want to wipe Israel off the map it's become a cliché, if I hear another serious pundit suggesting that Israel's survival is in doubt I'll hurl a tomato at my television. Israel's in about as much danger of being driven into the sea as Switzerland, and Switzerland is landlocked.
Excerpt: President-elect Barack Obama says the nation probably faces huge deficits for years to come, but heavy spending is needed now to spur the economy.
Obama said Tuesday the deficit appears on track to hit $1 trillion soon. Speaking to reporters after meeting with top economic aides, Obama said: "Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on."
The way I see this, there are two direct components to the Federal deficit: spending and revenues. On spending, it is highly likely that Obama's advisors are telling him not to begin major cuts to spending, no matter how pointless the expenditures because doing so would cause job losses and turmoil (to the welfare queens masquerading as Federal contractors and employees...)
On revenues, the Washington consensus is that taxes need to be cut, whether or not spending is cut, and Obama seems to want to work with the Republicans since he doesn't have a super-majority of 60 Democratic Senators (even including the political transvestite, Uncle Joe Lieberman :-)
So just on that score, the deficits must continue and continue, always deferring the hard choices to Manana -- which will possibly be the point where foreign lenders decide to stop lending so much to America. No politician wants to raise taxes, and it appears that Obama is now triangulating every decision to his 2012 re-election even though he hasn't even taken office!
BUT another way to look at this is that assuming the naive young lawyer/president -- who knows jacksh*t about making money the old-fashioned way and running an enterprise grounded in hard cash -- continues to run trillion dollar deficits to keep the US economy from collapsing. Well, the US is also running massive trade deficits. So what his mega-trillion dollar bailouts actually do is stimulate the economies of the Rest of the World, especially our direct trading partners.
Also, the credit crisis collapsed stock markets around the world by anywhere from 40 -> 60 percent. But the US is *the* country where everyone went bankrupt at the same time. So it is totally reasonable to assume that over a five year period, the Rest of the World will grow nicely while Uncle Sam stumbles along with slow growth and crushing indebtedness (this is not to say that America doesn't have some World Class corporations but overall the big American corporations are actually global corporations with no particular loyalty to the US and they will have no shame about cutting American jobs while building up their foreign subsidiaries.)
A nice 30 year run as a public servant comes to a screeching halt. Maybe MSNBC will show him on their most heinous show, "Lockdown" (MSNBC loves to run prison reality video instead of news during holidays -- which I totally cannot understand -- but it would be worth watching to see politicians behind bars, and I wouldn't mind spending all Christmas and New Years 2010 watching that!!!)
Excerpt: The alleged demands by Sen. Vincent Fumo included $15 million for a small Philadelphia charity linked to him; $10 million for neighborhood redevelopment in his district; and $10 million in deposits at Pennsylvania Savings Bank, the Democratic lawmaker's family bank.
As there's been lots of news lately about the dire circumstances of American newspapers, I thought you might like to see this speculation on the business from my timeline.
This is a somewhat long-winded piece by necessity, as it deals with matters some 40 odd years from now. And I must needs describe the environment then to help readers understand how and why some things will likely have changed so much in the news industry by that point.
The inspiration for this section was an actual newspaper reporter asking me for my thoughts on this subject, way back around 2000, I believe.
2050 milestone: Mid-sized and smaller local news organizations (such as newspaper publishers) have undergone a revolution in many regions of USAmerica and other developed nations
Curiously congruent with where my head's been at the past few days -- lots of awareness of old media crumbling (been watching old episodes of Lou Grant), with some interest in science fiction :)
A lot of the things mentioned here, from the on-line ad screens where windows used to be to the "public witnesses" that feed data to viewers, on and on, are all things that would motivate me to, ah, let's say, send a letter to the editor wrapped around a brick.
Helen & Harry Highwater
Comment: (1/8/2009) There's also the possibility the change in news could combine with our various gadgets to make for a wider net of employment opportunity for everyone.
Well, I suppose that's possible, she said with a smile. Like it's possible that we could get make a living publishing on-line. It's possible, but not likely.
Helen & Harry Highwater
Dr. Ruhs and associates, I know you were in Westport for the holidays. Have you been able to find out any info as to what is going on with this case/trial?? Rogers has been bragging as to how he has helped 4 out of 7 of the judges to get elected with his illegal financing of their campaign ,in other words, suggesting that he will get off on all charges or that this will all "go away" mysteriously or get swept under the rug. How can this be?? Where is the justice?? Please fill me in if you have any new news on this matter. Thanks and keep up the good work!!!
We haven't heard from the good doctor in a few weeks (presumably he's out of town for the holidays) but I thought his response to an earlier inquiry pretty much answered such questions.
Helen & Harry Highwater
Comment: (1/8/2009) Not out of town, just dealing with adult children, one of who has gone home and the other, the mother of the grandson, is moving in.
But that is not the whole reason for my absence. The news is all worse than yesterday and makes yesterday's thoughts obsolete in a crescendo of outrageousness. In the presence of the cacophony I just haven't heard anything worth an original comment. I mean, how many times is it reasonable to yell fire in a theater that is on fire? The only thing I can think to say at this point is to talk to your neighbors -- A LOT!
I used to urge people to talk to their neighbors, co-workers, family, friends, strangers, back when it was just a matter of talking people into voting for Obama. And that worked, for whatever it might be worth. But I get nowhere talking to neighbors et al about the real situation, so I've pretty much given up on that. I talk to my friends about it, but they have to be really good friends and even then they'll usually end up rolling their eyes by the time I get around to telling them to stock up on canned foods and a few extra can openers...
Helen & Harry Highwater
Comment: (1/9/2009) Yes, we are in a particularly dry patch. Other places in the world
(creativity is always on the periphery), particularly in South America, are beginning to show evidence of a tectonic political shift toward mutuality. Here in the US of induced Amnesia it may take a while and require some real dream interrupters, but even here the seeds of mutual aid lie dormant in the heartless soil of Corporate America.
In his book A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered, M. Scott Peck talks about his group's experience assisting folks with the work of forming community. That community, under the proper circumstances, can be constructed deliberately at all is a miracle.
As always I am a generous interpreter of basic human nature and have great confidence that when coercive power is tamed sanity will reassert itself.
Please send your news tips, comments, criticisms, and insights to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
The federal "bailout" for financial institutions is now running more than ten times the originally announced $700-billion, to $7.36 trillion dollars. I'm still wondering whether anyone in a position of power will ever be even mildly annoyed by this, and meanwhile, the evidence mounts that all this money isn't accomplishing anything beyond making the rich and powerful richer and more powerful.
[ CNBC News ]
A internal FBI memo says President Bush OK'd violations of the Geneva Conventions to intimidate Iraqi prisoners in 2004. We've already established that the President of the United States is above the rule of law, so if you care about such things just picture the President giving you a Bronx cheer -- pthththth.
[ The Public Record ]
Democrats in the Senate are making elaborate plans to keep Roland Burris, the guy named by embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat, from ever taking office. The Governor is the Governor and he gets to pick the Senator and there's no legal grounds I can see for blocking Burris from the Senate. And if you remember how quickly Senate Democrats rolled over to approve monstrosities like Michael Mukasey for Attorney General or Sammy Alito or John Roberts for the US Supreme Court, it's hilarious to see how hard the same Democrats are willing to work to keep a 71-year-old, ever-so-slightly scandal-tinged Democrat out of the Senate. David Vitter and Larry Craig are good enough to serve in the Senate but they draw the line at Roland Burris? Nah, the bum's rush for Burris is just for show, but when something matters principle goes out the window.
[ Associated Press ]
Welcome to the world as seen by American media, where "terrorist is the word that follows Arab", and the American and Israeli link to terrorism is never acknowledged or mentioned.
Two people have complained, so it's perhaps time to add a specific disclaimer: Spammers know how to send mass mailings disguised to look like they're from someone else, but we simply never send emails, except to answer your emails. So if you get an unexpected email from us, it's not from us.
Minnesota election officials have certified Al Franken's victory in the Senate race there. Now the incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, will file several lawsuits, Republicans will lie loudly and repeatedly about the performance of election officials, and over the next few weeks it'll become "common knowledge" that Franken stole the election (though of course, he didn't). As you may remember but he won't, Coleman said shortly after the election -- when he was ahead by a couple of hundred votes, instead of behind by a couple hundred votes -- that Franken should ask the state to skip the mandatory recount, because that's what he (Coleman) would do if he was behind.
[ Associated Press ]
Speaking of swindlers, remember when Dear Leader Bush was utterly fixated on privatizing Social Security? They bought that line in Italy, and the government is now looking at how it can bail out the 1.2 million people who jumped at the joys of privatization and saw their retirement funds largely vanish.
[ Bloomberg News Service ]
Leon Panetta is a weird choice to head the CIA. He has no intelligence experience, and that's a plus. He was a congressman years ago, he was Bill Clinton's chief of staff, and he was a member of the heavily-hyped Iraq Study Group in 2006, which gave some semi-sensible advice on Iraq that Bush-Cheney ignored. I'm adamantly opposed to the CIA's existence, but Panetta is adamantly opposed to torture, which makes him a hell of an improvement over the past eight years. Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-California) seems opposed to Panetta's nomination, which reminds me once again what a Nixon Democrat she is.
[ Washington Monthly ]
The choice of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel is among Obama's best picks, and briefly pierces my cloud of cynicism.
[ Salon ]
Here's an interesting and much more even-handed look at high-seas piracy than you'll see in corporate-controlled media. To some extent, the pirates are good guys.
[ The Independent (London, UK) ]
ABC's new series glorifying jackbooted thugs, Homeland Security USA, is apparently every bit as awful as it looks in the network's omnipresent ads.
[ LewRockwell.com ]
Yeah, by law Bush's Secret Service protection ends in ten years, and yeah, he's the first President to "face" such a cut-off of Secret Service protection. But assuming he's alive and well in ten years, GW Bush will still be the most despised person in American politics, and he'll still be the subject of a parade of death threats from nuts in America and abroad, and his Secret Service protection will be quietly extended to last for life.
[ McClatchy Newspapers ]
Barack Obama's Twitter account was offering free gas after a hacker gained entry.
[ EurWeb ]
Special people get special justice, when driving drunk and ramming a parked police car. The only thing unusual here is that it made the news ...
[ Hartford Courant ]
1) He plans an ex-post facto type of law changing taxation on businesses which lose money this year and next: if they paid any taxes in the last five years they'll be getting paychecks from the IRS. What is soooooo heinous about this is that it rewards the "loser" companies, who, for the most part, are the companies that got us into this mess. But it also includes car companies and other "losers". Individuals used to be able to "income average" their taxes but that benefit was stripped away by previous Congresses. The government gave losers vast sums in bailout money already and now is doing even more for the very worst loser companies, are run by executives who have proven that they DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THEIR JOBS -- and now Obama wants to reward them even more, but sneakily.
2) Obama want to generously cut taxes on individuals by a gigantic (haha) amount of up to $150 billion dollars. BFD, after the 8.5 trillion squandered on the criminal corporations that created this mess (to say nothing of the pay raise Congress just gave itself for holding the towel while Bush & Co gang-raped the country.)
The problem with Obama's tax cut is that he considers "middle class" people to earn as much as $200,000 a year. That is ridiculous and proves that he has no clue, regardless of his wonderful speechifying. People earning $200,000 ALREADY GOT PAID with the best stock market rally that government can buy. It makes no sense to push money into the hands of millionaires (which is basically what people earning $200,000 a year can be categorized as.)
The rationale behind the Obama giveaways to the rich and powerful is probably a) they have lobbyists; and b) they vote.
I see no evidence that Obama understands what needs to be done about the economy. None. I am fairly sure he will be a one-term president because he will be taking over the helm of the Titanic with full rudder ahead. He'll have to accept the blame for what happens after he takes office because he did not change the course of the ship.
Here are associated comments from Peter Grandich, a person I do not follow or recommend -- but these comments and his take on things now seem very solidly grounded in reality. I have some comments of my own after this excerpt:
Excerpt: After you're done praying, I think there are some cold hard facts we must make part of our future planning:
* America is a fallen empire. Its ability to be the world's #1 economic power is gone. We've gone from the world's biggest creditor nation to the world's biggest debtor nation. When we add the tremendous debt of states, municipalities and consumers themselves, we see the American people drowning in a sea of red. This debt will greatly impair our government and our fellow Americans' ability to operate and to live a lifestyle that has become unsustainable.
* Uncle Sam is no longer the world's favorite Uncle. In fact, to many in the world, they hope he never comes to visit again. The loss of political and economic clout may not be seen in our daily lives, but it will impair us nevertheless.
* No matter what any politician tells you, taxes can only go up. Medical costs will continue to rise sharply. Government services will either be curtailed or end. On the State and local government level, things are actually worse because they can't print money.
Pandora's Box is the 78 million baby boomers that have already started to qualify for Social Security and soon Medicare. As this video will show, they are going to be an economic tsunami to the Social Security and Medicare system. (Watch this video. It was made "before" the credit crisis).
The financial playing field going forward is unlike anything ever faced by Americans. No matter what the financial services industry tries to portray (and the airwaves and print media is full of things can only get better predictions), the pieces that make up the playing board are mostly landmines that can wound or destroy players. Opportunities to profit will still exist but the methods used to capture them will be radically different.
Me again...My take is to make medium term -- 5 year -- conversions, using dollar strength as an opportunity, from $$$ into "assets" in other countries, especially into oil/gas, mining, gold, silver, ag/food, and drugs.
This is purely defensive based on the view that US dollars will depreciate significantly during the next 5 years. I am picking countries which a) have trade surpluses or are basically in-balance; b) have reasonably competent governments and somewhat conservative central banks; c) are not involved in a bunch of damn wars or terrorist baiting games; d) have reasonably bright futures.
Also, I am taking the viewpoint that the world geopolitical situation will cool off a fair amount with Obama in office. So...Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, India, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. (I realize that India is feuding with Pakistan and that Australia's government is full of bonehead Bush wannabes...and I would consider adding South Korea at some point...and I acknowledge that my picks are somewhat imperfect, but I feel it is better to spread things around since any one country could get blown up at a moment's notice...)
Someone recently mentioned the Livestation site [per Wikipedia, "a platform for distributing live television and radio broadcasts over a peer-to-peer data network" --H&HH]. Well, I've finally got it up and running on my updated computer system -- the main reason I went through the hassle and expense. I've already spent quite a lot of time selecting the channels I want to watch or listen to from the approx. 3000 offered. For me, the whole thing is about gaining access to more news from around the world. Thankfully, there are quite a few news channels that broadcast in English, so if I start referring to them don't be surprised. Even if only a little tidbit of NEW news is offered, that is enough to get me going.
So far I've found channels from the UK, France, China, Korea, Oman, Iran, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, and Russia. I can now also view all of the C-SPAN stations and hear NPR and C-SPAN radio. I'm still checking out what Denmark and a few others have to offer. Some have their own language along with English. Some have low bandwidth and are hard to view while others have such good bandwidth that its just like watching regular TV -- e.g. Press TV.
Anyway, it is Press TV from Iran that I want to mention. They've got their own live link to Gaza and their man there, too. They also link to the US and elsewhere in order to talk to experts -- right now the main subject is the Gaza situation. It is easy to note down the names of the experts and check out their credentials. For now, I've found their coverage to be what I'd call award-winning!
Related to Gaza, I definitely view it as the Israelis massacring Palestinians. Since I'm in the same time zone as Israel & the Palestinian Territories, I was watching Press TV last night at about midnight when the action increased. The most important finding from a weapons expert they talked to is that Israel is using several BANNED and ILLEGAL types of weapons. The heat of one forces people out into the streets so that they can be burned and also picked off and murdered in other ways since Israel uses flares that light up large areas as they drop down by parachute. Otherwise there is a blackout. Another weapon enters small but rips up people's insides and then causes cancer if they happen to survive. It's been really horrible hearing about all of this.
Turkish TV has also used a direct live link to Gaza. So, on the first night when the Israeli ground forces went in, all of the Arabic was translated as things unfolded. It seems that the Israelis have met up with more resistance than they expected. In addition, those from Gaza doing the fighting are NOT just Hamas people. There are other groups of resistance fighters there. Pretty early on Israel banned media coverage which is a sign that they are hiding something.
At this time the number of Gazans murdered seems to be 550 with over 3000 injured. The Gazans have reported the deaths of 16 Israeli soldiers with 30 injured. The Israelis are saying it's less. From now on the news will be related to the cities and towns that get captured in the 32 mile long and about 10 mile wide strip.
It seems that the Israelis with their advanced weaponry opt for nighttime fighting. So I will be turning to Press TV shortly.
New technology rarely appeals to me, but I'm a little disappointed that Livestation won't work on my computer. Anything that presents choices to challenge the media monopoly is a good thing and this sounds like a great thing.
PressTV is, of course, brought to you by the Iranian government, which leaves it open to complaints of propaganda. But I mention this only as a mild disclaimer, because people need to be aware of what they're reading and/or watching. That said, though, I'll also say this -- I've read numerous PressTV news accounts on their web pages, and my impression is that Press TV's coverage is generally more factual and less obvious in its tilt than the ordinary Middle East coverage we see in thirty second 'reports' broadcast on American news networks, which of course tilts in the other direction.
Helen & Harry Highwater
Comment: (1/7/2009) As far as I know Livestation is just a little easier to use fancier version of this site wwitv.com which has lower bandwidths but a lot of the same stations including Press TV. The stations at this site are also offered free. Probably, this is because they are mainly non-commercial channels or channels already freely offered. Perhaps some (e.g. about religion) have been put up just to make them available to a larger audience.
I assume that most of the news stations are put up by the governments of the various countries, so that’s how I view them ALL. Despite that limitation, I figure that some idea of what different countries are focusing on and of how things are viewed can be found along with those tidbits of NEW news I hope to discover and investigate further.
Below are a few links to stories I caught while recently viewing Press TV:
(1) This one is about the illegal and horrible DIME weapons Israel is using.
(2) This one reports on a recent interview Ron Paul had with Press TV that I caught only a little of.
(3) I assume that this is the actual interview presented in two articles on the Press TV Internet site. In the 2nd., US foreign policy related to Iran is focused on and in the first. (see the link with “economic crisis may be a blessing”) Paul’s view of foreign policy under President Obama and some of his ideas about the Federal Reserve are mentioned. Surprisingly, he doesn’t say anything about the FED being a private bank that charges interest.
In addition, now that I can, I’m planning to use more audio/visual documentary materials. They should provide still more sources of news and views. Of course, no matter what the source, I try to make sure the details I mention are accurate.
I can't see anything but error messages at wwitv.com, but that's because our computer is so old. Later this afternoon or tomorrow I'm hoping to try again, on a neighbor's computer that's a little more 21st century. Assuming it works, I'm very much looking forward to checking out PressTV's video feed, along with al-Jazeera and a few others.
Helen & Harry Highwater
I figure Obama has maybe six months to have an FDR eureka moment and realize that tinkering with the collapsing economic system won't accomplish crap. The rules of corrupt American economics need to be rewritten from top to bottom, without any input from the people who've so thoroughly rigged the present system. If he wakes up and smells the coffee, Obama might be able to save the nation ... and if he doesn't he's a one-term President and America will be out of business entirely by the time President Palin or President Huckabee takes office in 2013. Welcome to Guatemala.
When George Bush and Al Gore were running for President, if America had been given a glimpse of the George Bush future instead of "which guy would you rather have a beer with" and lies about Al Gore lying, Gore would've won in a historic landslide.
Please send your news tips, comments, criticisms, and insights to <unknownnews at inbox.com>. If that address ever fails, check our contact page for our alternate email addresses.
He's tortured the truth a lot, but once in a great while even Dick Cheney makes sense. On Sunday he explained that since George W, Bush and the Bush-Cheney administration were never impeached, never punished for anything, it stands to reason that they did nothing illegal. And that ought to make you furious all over again, at the Democrats who've let the most criminal administration in American history get away with everything.
[ Raw Story ]
I've always had a hard time divining the distinction between Israel's crimes and America's. Israel, of course, has no plans for peace, for the same reason the Bush-Cheney administration had no exit strategy for Iraq --
they didn't want an exit, and Israel doesn't want peace. Juan Cole is doing a good job of righteous indignation over Israel's ongoing slaughter in Gaza, while Israel's National Information Directorate controls the mainstream media's disinformation. If you or anyone you know have been bamboozled by the lies that pass for coverage of Gaza, this link offers a helpful debunking kit -- nothing new, but plenty that might be 'news' to people watching Katie Couric et al.
[ Dissident Voice ]
Maryland State Police spied on, harassed, and in many cases labeled as 'terrorists' a far broader range of harmless activists than they'd previously admitted -- everyone from PETA to pacifist nuns to consumers protesting a rate hike for electricity.
[ Washington Post, distilled by Baltimore Nonviolence Center ]
"Kept afloat by billions of dollars in American and other foreign aid, the government of Afghanistan is shot through with corruption and graft." Isn't this exactly the situation with both Egypt and Israel too? Anyone can look it up on the net for themselves: the $billions in annual aid, plus the immense internal corruption. Although heavy censorship also exists in regards to all this, plenty of factual info has leaked through, none-the-less.
[ New York Times ]
The war machine has called up another grandpa. Paul Bandel, age 50 and out of the military for fifteen years, has been ordered back into uniform and will be deployed overseas until 2010.
[ WSMV (Nashville) ]
The Washington Post is starting a new blog site, and that's not news that would interest me very much except that it'll be the new online home for Greg Sargent. For a couple of years now, Sargent has been the byline I respect most at Talking Points Memo, with solid reporting and good insights, and I'll definitely be following him when his Post page is up and running.
[ Talking Points Memo ]
And on the other side of the coin, NBC's David Gregory is settling in as the new celebrity host of Meet the Press. He's long been, in my opinion, an absolutely average reporter in
an industry where that's no compliment, and with him asking the questions, there's no reason to watch Press the Meat unless you're trying to keep current with the propaganda.
[ Salon ]
"If you get serious about the Bible, it will really mess you up." This is an interesting story about a Christian who spent a year trying to live like Jesus would, and found it wasn't easy.
[ USA Today ]
The owner of this business has shut off the heat and makes no apologies. "If you don't want to work here quit, otherwise shut up and do your job. The next person I hear complaining is off for two weeks. We don't have heat!! You guys screwed up, not us. You want to blame someone, look in the mirror." I think I worked for this schmuck, metaphysically speaking.
[ KING-TV (Seattle) ]
David Frost is complaining about Frost/Nixon. No word yet from Nixon. Me, I've wasted enough time and money on Ron Howard movies. He hasn't made anything that hasn't stunk since Backdraft, and nothing actually enjoyable since Cocoon.
[ World Entertainment News Network ]
Excerpt: ...some civil libertarians say that the precedents of the Bush years are so threatening to a constitutional balance of powers that Obama should act swiftly in the new administration to restore that balance.
"The countless abusive policies of the past eight years and the extreme legal theories on which they were based have left our nation weaker and our constitutional framework in a precarious position," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D) of Wisconsin in a Dec. 10 letter to the president-elect.
"In light of this recent history, I believe that one of the most important things that you can do as president is to take concrete steps to restore the rule of law in this country," he added. "I am sure that as a constitutional scholar you can appreciate that we must ensure that the Bush administration's views of executive supremacy do not become so ingrained in our system of government that they become the 'new normal'."
As a practical matter, Obama might require those extra powers to get vitally important changes past the resistance of the Republicans and their mainstream media in the near term. But those powers will be dangerous to America in the long term if he and Congress and the courts don't restore the normal balance in government at some point -- plus make it much, much harder for someone like Bush/Cheney to ever perform a repeat of the last 8 years in those terms. Unfortunately, there's also a long term trend of Congress (no matter which party controls it) to acquiesce to the President on certain easily controversial matters like war, national security, and foreign policy -- primarily to avoid blame when things go wrong, while at the same time enjoying increased spending in their constituencies related to same (so Congressional wimpiness is usually a personal 'win-win' in that instance, from a distressingly short-term perspective).
And once again, we return to the vital issue of possessing a robust investigative free press to help keep us on an even keel. Something we lost at least around 8 years ago (9-11-01), and possibly much further back than that.
We must revitalize our mainstream media. That's the only straightforward way to resolve some of our thorniest problems of the recent past. Trying to stiffen the backbone of Congress by comparison might be a much tougher job to do. Although removing big private money from election campaigns, and forcing more truth in political advertising from all parties might help. For if the politicians could no longer get away with lying to cover up their cowardice and laziness, they might be forced to do their jobs instead.
As a general rule, any time you have a media which promotes non-stop military war against innocents and political war against the non-rich (typically by telling more lies than truths), that tends to worsen all things across the board -- including economic.
It would sure have been tough for me and my siblings to go to school in the 1960s and 1970s if these rules were in effect, since we depended heavily upon the cheapest clothes available, as well as a diversity of hand-me-downs from relatives, and the stuff almost never fit well. Plus, worn spots and patches weren't unusual either. I guess there's no poor people in that neighborhood...
Some of that school's rules make sense, I suppose, but what's the thinking behind no stripes, solid colors only? Sounds like a power-freak administrator to me.
Helen & Harry Highwater
I really do wish I were twenty years old and oblivious to the world around me because parenting when you've seen all this crap really makes it hard to fill the youngster's head with any kind of hope for the future. I never got the chance to ask my parents what they were thinking during the Cuban missile crisis, but it must have been hard to look at the kids and smile and behave normally when they were worried we'd all be toast.
I thought I'd feel some sort of relief after the election, but I really don't. I'm glad that crew will be out of there soon, but what I'm seeing so far from his appointments hasn't been inspiring confidence. A never ending carnival of stupidity. I can't bring myself to blog because really, what is there to say?
Excerpt: Conservatives fear that some of these Obama transition advisers are too far left on the political spectrum and are a sign of radical policies to come.
"It is disturbing," said Roger Clegg, a conservative opponent of Lee's appointment who is now watching the Obama advisers at the Justice Department. "The transition team as described to me was made up of nothing but people on the far left. Though Obama is more moderate, that makes you wonder what kind of advice the president is given, and what range of choices he'll be given when it comes time to make appointments."
Radical ???....I suppose if you are General Francisco Franco or Joseph Goebbels his appointments might seem a bit radical.
What he is saying: the M1 Money Multiplier has gone below 1, which seems to imply that each new dollar of freshly printed money actually reduces the GDP. The ONLY benefit of the TARP money is to bail-out the people who created the problem, but their salvation means our doom...if these articles are correct.
Karl Denninger is saying that the amount of outstanding debt, federal and private, is so monstrously excessive that the only recourse now for The System is to allow the debt defaults to take place -- the alternative is to completely destroy the US dollar.
I don't know if this is true, or why it is so, but perhaps the role of CDS' is greater than we imagined. Pumping money into the system won't help if it is hoovered up in the black hole of failed derivative wagers (which exceed $500 trillion in notional value.) It is like giving a blood transfusion to someone who actually requires a tourniquet.
Another possible explanation is that most dollars Bernanke and Paulson are printing are immediately leaving the United States for safety. Certainly, when interest rates on T-Bills are at zero, the situation is dire in the extreme (i.e. everything that isn't a T-Bill or note is liable to be vaporized, which explains the velocity of money dropping toward zero...)
"Elsewhere" is looking really good... and the sooner the better, IMO.
I first listened to Fitts an KPAF radio Flashpionts show part of the Pacifica network where Amy Goodman from during the california energy robbery enron theift along with Greg Pallist
she kept saying where is the money to cayman islands then swiss bank accounts what they said at time was a year or so later in the regular media. and saw that what she was saying was correct
during the enron robbery is when i got pissed of getting robbed, and started questioning what heard in press so made my own solar hot water heater, insulatition on house made my electric motorcycle so on as i know more about vehicles than houses flashpionts has had fitts on for some time 2 years ago was saying just flat out the wall street owned governement is a criminal enterprise eirlier this year was saying the sub prime loans is criminal inducement as these loans did not come from local lenders but from the very top citibank and those at top when they designed these loans in 1993 i think, they were the same people sending jobs out of the US so they knew people would not be able to pay back loans so now she has solutions get your money out of the tape worm and be self sufficent
archived shows ... you can go to wednesday shows Community Business with Catherine Austin Fitts, kinda have to listen to several to get all info from feb or may onward
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Excerpt: ... the conservative drumbeat over the Fairness Doctrine is much ado about nothing. It's fearmongering -- which may be good for fund-raising. Conservatives claiming that the Obama administration will mean the death of right-wing radio seem to forget this fact: Limbaugh and other conservative talkers thrived during the Clinton years.
Excerpt: Democrats in the US House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers' personal retirement accounts -- including 401(k)s and IRAs -- and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.
Comment: Relax, this report is just another flat-out lie. The proposal comes from exactly one economist you've never heard of, Teresa Ghilarducci of Notre Dame (not New College, as the article falsely reports). She's one among dozens of economists who briefly testified in low-level Congressional hearings in early October, and she's the only one who made this proposal, and there's been not a peep of interest in the idea from any member of Congress. The claim that Congress is "conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers' personal retirement accounts" is more Republican fearmongering, from the liars who brought you "Obama is pallin' around with terrorists" and "the Democrats will confiscate your guns".
Excerpt: The imagery sure doesn't sell me a soda, which would be the top priority of an ad for Pepsi. Seems much more likely it's someone's idea of an joke. It's a blog post, and it links back to another blog called "Feminist Law Professors" by Ann Bartow, a real law professor who writes an interesting blog, but her source is a blog about advertising, which cites another blog which posts a wide assortment of images and very few words, and where a site-specific search led to all three of Pepsi images. That whole blog seems to be artistic imagery, and much of it's actually quite good, but there's no claim that it's a Pepsi ad, and a quick web search yields nothing as yet to validate any claim that it's a real Pepsi ad.
Excerpt: Three of our readers have sent us this link to this news, but we're not convinced. The author's remark is based not on fact but on long-simmering rumor that Track Palin was prosecuted for vandalism and/or drug dealing, and offered a choice by the judge -- join the Army, or face a jail stint. Problem is, the record is sealed because Track Palin was a minor, so there's no knowing whether it's true.
Excerpt: What customers of what bank in Florida are going to accept Ameros, the fictional currency of the fictional North American Union? At what business can Floridians spend these Ameros?
Excerpt: It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Sarah Palin is a racist. She's a Republican in a position of power, so I'd be a little surprised if she wasn't a racist. But before we can put it in the news section on our website, we'd need to hear about her racism from a more reliable source than "Dick & Sharon's LA Progressive" quoting "a waitress" and "an insurance agent" and "Juneau observers" -- a bunch of anonymous Alaskans who may or may not exist.
H&HH
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Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution. viz: Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
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Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.
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