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Category: The Economy

What recession?

John McCain and his economic advisor, former campaign co-chair Phil Gramm tell us the recession is all in our heads. Well, here' s more 'proof' that the recession is just 'mental.' U.S. business bankruptcies are up 45 percent from last year, mainly among those small businesses that are supposed to be the backbone of our economy. In fact, the latest rise is the 10th straight quarter that business bankruptcy filings have increased. Furthermore, Jack Williams, resident scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute, said "another 60,000 to 90,000 others probably have closed, because roughly two to three businesses fold for every one that files for bankruptcy." He adds, because bankruptcies were lagging economic indicators, they probably would "continue to increase at least for the next year to 18 months at the rate that we're seeing right now."

This is the real trickle down effect that Bush and McCain promised you. The politicians bail out the bankers and brokers that created the Bushenomic bubble that shows all this growth on paper and on which they made a ton of money, but when it bursts, it's us little guys that are left on our own to deal with the mess.

Category: Decision 2008

Nevada Republicans trample will of voters

You may recall when Nevada Republican Party abruptly cancelled the vote at their state convention when it became clear that Ron Paul supporters had staged a procedural coup and were likely to win the most delegates at the convention. Now, in a democracy trampling move, the state Republican "executive board" has decided not to reconvene the convention at all and will choose their delegates behind closed doors.

The GOP honchos claim they couldn't gather a quorum. Meanwhile, the Ron Paul supporters held their own convention in June and elected their own slate. Even though they also failed to gather a quorum, they say a rules violation at the original convention validates the results of that vote.

The argument between the two factions will probably end up in court and one would expect the entrenched power brokers will win, but as reader judarama, who flagged this story in comments notes, Nevada appears to have a political party stealing the selection of delegates from a whole state.

Not that surprising coming from a party that an ex-McCain advisor says stole a whole election in Georgia.

Category: John McCain

McCain compromises condel security

Since I can't possibly believe that John McCain would deliberately put Barack Obama and the rest of the congressional delegation traveling with him in danger, I can only conclude that he had another one of those 'senior moments. One that seriously endangered the delegation.

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.

This is a critical lapse of judgment that severely compromises the security arrangements for the visit. The media said for weeks now they weren't reporting the specific dates of the visit for security reasons. As an "experienced military veteran" McCain should certainly know that the remark violated OPSEC protocols. We can only surmise that he blurted it out inadvertently, perhaps out of fatigue from the rigors of the campaign trail.

Probably nothing horrble will come of this stumble, but if McCain makes these kind of slip-ups now, what could we expect if he were the president? If a crisis arises and he gets tired out from the stress, would he spill a state secret at a press conference?

Category: Global Warming

Hurricane Primer 2: ACE 2007 (trend or anomaly?)

Bertha's a hurricane again, after meandering around the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for quite some time. As the first post of mine this year was directed at just cursory information for this year's hurricane season, this post focuses on the interplay between the politics of hurricanes, when the "data" of these storms become pawns.

First off, for the newly initiated, Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) is a pretty simple summation of how some scientists measure the intensity of a hurricane and its season through wind velocity and duration of the storm. In 2007, the ACE of the season was actually lower than the normal median levels, which spawned a number of silly people trying to claim that global warming did not exist, and that 2007 proved it. Fox News layered on the thick, buttery spread of skepticism through Brit Hume on October 29th, 2007.

From Brit: "Plenty of other outlets covered this great news including Rush Limbuagh, Phil Valentine, NY Times, Bloomberg as well as numerous Florida newspapers. However, no mainstream media coverage occurred and none was expected. Hurricanes and climate change occurs at the intersection of politics and media and is an issue that does not lend itself to fair reporting."

And, they have a grad student to back them up, Mr. Ryan Maue of Florida State University.

But wait.

On the same site, Mr. Maue's current 2008 ACE measurements are showing an increase in ACE for the North Atlantic a mere 559% from the norm, as Bertha wanders through the middle of the ocean.

Mr. Maue's conclusions of 2007 and the subsequent "herald" of "fair-reporting" media may come back and bite everyone who touted his study, as well as a possible unfortunate result of making you look like the fool who started it, since they'd just blame you for making a mistake.

At the same time, now, we have to look at Bertha in the other pair of rose-colored goggles. Bertha hung around for more than two weeks, and the 2008 ACE numbers will already start high going into the meat of hurricane season.

This doesn't really mean that global warming is advancing hurricane ACE, but it does tend to reverse the notion that 2007 was a trend, and not an anomaly.

Either way, using ACE as "evidence" either for or against the argument of global warming affecting hurricanes is quite a ways away from a consensus.

A stalled hurricane like Bertha increases ACE, and the argument that 2007 was an anomaly of a season, but it also doesn't produce the doomsday scenarios of inconvenient truths, unless you're an eel in the Sargasso Sea. Mako out.

'Lemon socialism' in the financial market

Joshua Rosner in FT.com, an online version of the Financial Times, has a clear-eyed analysis of the dangers of the government's bailouts of Bear Stearns and now, far more ominously, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Pertinent quote:

"Given the choices we have seen from officials, who obviously have little faith in the ability of capital markets or our system of law, we will see the continued nationalisation of bad assets, placing the burden on the shoulders of the already overburdened American taxpayer."

My old boss Tom Bray had a good phrase for the government's assuming the risks of "bad assets" -- lemon socialism. The phrase describes the tendency of government to make taxpayers responsible for the cost of sustaining an economy's lemons -- currently the dodgy mortgage-backed securities packaged by Bear Stearns -- now folded into Chase - and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while allowing any profits and pay to go to the people who made the economic mess in the first place.

Category: John McCain

McCain forgives Gramm

After McCain's economic advisor, Phil Gramm called us a nation of whiners and said we were in a "mental recession" last week, McCain made a big show of repudiating his old friend and announced that Gramm would no longer be appearing on his behalf. At almost the same moment, Gramm was meeting with the editorial board of the Wall St. Journal, I'd guess to go over the latest campaign talking points and decide how Rupert Murdoch's newest publication would be fluffing up McCain and attacking Obama's creds.

Today, Robert Novak said McCain and Gramm patched things up and all was forgiven. Novak further advises that "Gramm will continue as an adviser and surrogate." The McCain was quick to issue an denial when the news started spreading.

Whether they publically leash Gramm or not remains to be seen, but one suspects that even if he gets the hook and stays out of the spotlight, he will join Karl Rove as an "unofficial" advisor on how to push the propaganda.

Update: It's official. Gramm resigned as co-chair of the McCain campaign. So he had no public role anymore but the Obama camp's response nails it. "The question for John McCain isn't whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years."

Is there an end?

Every time you think it is as dark as it is going to get, it gets darker. Kwame Kilpatrick's father is now on the list of people harmed by the Detroit scandals. All are linked to the legendary party and murder that brought hate and distrust to the mayor's administration in his first term.

Detroiters lost faith after the investigations turned up nothing and policemen were fired for trying to dig into the matter that so many people believed happened. I have never talked to a person that did not believe the party took place and most believe that a young lady was murdered to protect the mayor.

The probes and the investigations are all because of the atmosphere that has lead to the fall of so many good names, names that will never recover their integrity. Good people will be cleared from a legal problem, but never from the harm done to their names.

The Detroit City Council meetings have become sideshows as the nerves of its members are evermore on edge. There have been threats and hints that the mayor was going to expose crooked council members who were pushing his ouster. And people have always talked about the mayor and his friends making deals that were not open to the general public.

I was hoping we were coming out of the dark days that started with a party that did not happen and a murder that followed. But the days just keep getting darker and who knows how dark it will get before we see light that the end of the tunnel?

Is there an end?

Category: Global Warming

Carbon Bigfoot sighting...

Question: What do you call two Lincoln Town Cars, a Chevy Suburban and a driver who keeps the AC cranking for 20 minutes?

Answer: Al Gore's entourage parked outside his very own global warming sermon yesterday in Washington D.C.

Video (with "bonus" attendee interviews)

Please read: "Media Flocks to Gore Speech on Energy; Mostly Ignore His Use of Gas-Guzzlers to Get There"

[While doing a "Miss America wave" to KRM] How about a little (non-satirical, non-comedic) Dennis Miller on global warming?

Category: Pseudo Leadership

Jesse Jackson Is Beyond Old News

It should come as a surprise to no one that Jesse Jackson has found himself in the spotlight as another American of African descent is on the cusp of greatness. If there ever was a situation showing itself to be a case of professional jealousy, it certainly is being played out right now. Please Mr. Jackson, get over it, you are old news and an afterthought to many. You have bamboozled people for long enough, but now, your time is up. To use the "n" word in describing someone that has achieved something greater than you is just downright despicable.

Time and time again, I have been asked why I have not posted anything related to the Jackson controversy. My response was that I did not feel that he was worth me pecking away to express an opinion on the matter. I say that because I have never been a fan of him and I did not want to come across as just simply hating on the guy. However, this is the same guy that I had the chance to cast a vote for in 1984 during my first participation in a presidential primary. I chose not to do so then and repeated the non-casting of a vote for him in 1988. Lucky for me, I have never been one to fall prey to his self-righteous ways.

Like him or not, this is truly a sad day for all. And for the many that worshiped him and hung on to every word that came out of his mouth, you have got to be disheartened by his actions. This is the same guy that took advantage of being anointed by many as the mouthpiece for the black community. Far too many allowed him to become their leader and he in turn believed it to be true. I will say now what I said as a nineteen-year old in 1984, "he does not speak for all Americans of African descent living in America". He obviously has fooled many people, but I never bought in to him being a leader. So it comes as no surprise to me that he has shown himself to be what he really is in the way that he has disrespected the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Jackson's actions are truly a sad moment for black people is this country and contrary to what he and many others may think, he has been old news for quite some time. Let this latest hiccup serve notice to Mr. Jackson that it is now time for him to step away from the spotlight, along with his ego, and let others show that they can become the leader that on the surface, it appears he never became. He should be ashamed of himself and please, I am hoping that he will seek treatment for that problem with jealousy that he obviously seems to have.

Category: Election 2008

Jesse Jackson in hot water beyond 'nuts' comment

Now it's said that Jesse Jackson used the "n" word while miked up on FoxNews. He's apologized again. And his son says the reverend is devastated.

Jackson has railed against using the "n" word, a political and societal football. Some say the word is sometimes permissible, as in a rapper expressing the mood of the street. Or in comedy. And of course, there are plenty of reasons not to use the term.

Public reaction, apparently, hinges on what you are thinking at the time you use this pejorative or that. Nailing people for their thoughts is a dangerous road, but we do it anyway.

As a preacher, Jackson also called for living a moral life, and then went on to have a love-child with his mistress, Karin Stanford.

Here for Hillary's new political hairdo.

And here for Jackson.