21
Nov
I love having fun with numbers. Numbers don’t lie, now do they? Based on the recent SurveyUSA poll, Patrick Fitzgerald’s popularity is a pitiful 18%. However, to be fair, only 16% don’t like him. Problem is, 66% have absolutely no opinion of the guy:
Considering I think he’s a Ken Starr wannabe, this is bad news for the Bush administration.
- Technorati Patrick Fitzgerald
- Google blogs for Patrick Fitzgerald
A lot has been made over the last five years of Bush’s economic policies. I mean, even outside the traditional political debate arena. For instance:
That’s a LEGAL paper.
Commondreams takes it to their usual over-the-top conspiracy level:
IT’S EASY to understand why the administration is plowing ahead with one immense tax cut after another. The Bush people oppose social outlays, and the best strategy for cutting public services is to starve government.
It’s a neat game: Cut taxes on the Republican watch (Reagan, Bush I), force intervening Democratic presidents to opt for fiscal prudence over social investment – someone has to – and then, when the budget is back in balance at a lower level of social outlay, do it again (Bush II).
This maneuver forces Democrats to take responsibility for periodically raising taxes to undo the economic damage. Putting budget balance ahead of social outlay also undercuts the traditional Democratic winning formula of delivering services that ordinary Americans actually value.
However, they do go on to make this assertion:
Right now, one thing is keeping a weak economy out of deep recession – very low interest rates. They lower the cost of everything from home mortgages to business borrowing to consumer credit. A wave of refinancings has put hundreds of billions of dollars into the pockets of consumers.
Now imagine what will happen if mortgage interest rates go back up to 7 or 8 percent. For the moment, despite rising deficits, the Federal Reserve is able to keep interest rates low because in a weak economy the forces of inflation are so mild. But in the past, inflation has caught the economy by surprise due to unanticipated events such a spike in the price of oil, bad harvests, or spiraling health care costs.
No need to imagine, Commondreams, it happened. We are THERE NOW. All of the above has happened, and more. We’ve had a spike in oil, bad harvests, spiraling health care costs. And, you can toss in a war, a major catastrophy striking New Orleans, as well as embargoes due to mad cow disease. It’s all there Commondreams. What did the economy do in light of all this? Not what they suggested. It EXPANDED. It grew. Unemployment went down, the GDP went up. Hell, the dollars’ even stronger against the Euro than when Commondreams wrote that article in June 2003.
But, the bottom line of this post is not how wrong Commondreams was, but the sentiment and political rhetoric Commondreams manifests. That the Republicans spend while taxing the poor. Today we had a fine example of the realities of that. Congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. It cuts a few billion dollars from the federal budget. Democrats then decided it was cutting from the wrong place ( read NIMBY ), entitlements ( not exclusively ). Final tally, 200 Democrats voted against lowering the federal budget, ZERO supported it. Nada. Not one. Not one single Democrat voted to correct Bush’s reckless spending.
Higher interest rates, war, all kinds of disasters, the economy hasn’t collapsed, and the Republicans are the ones practicing fiscal restraint while the Democrats protest.
Hey Commondreams ( Ted, Nancy, and Diane ) is this your worst nightmare come true? I’ll bet this turn of events leaves Howard Dean screaming like a banshee.
- Technorati Commondreams, Howard Dean, US Economy, federal budget, deficit spending, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
- Google blogs for Commondreams, Howard Dean, US Economy, federal budget, deficit spending, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
The Plame Blame Game headline of the day:
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley won’t say if he was the source who told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. But Hadley volunteered on Friday that some administration officials say he’s not the leaker.
Referring to news accounts about the case, Hadley said with a smile, "I’ve also seen press reports from White House officials saying that I am not one of his sources." He said he would not comment further because the CIA leak case remains under investigation.
I’m going to nip this farce in the bud. Be it known, unequivocally, I did not out Valerie Plame first. ( Moon typed with a smile. )
- Technorati Valerie Plame, Valerie Wilson, Plamegate, Stephen Hadley, Bob Woodward
- Google blogs for Valerie Plame Wilson, Plamegate, Stephen Hadley, Bob Woodward
The revelation left the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, grappling with an unexpected new twist – one that he had not uncovered in an exhaustive inquiry – and gave lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff and the only official charged with a crime, fresh evidence to support his defense.
It kind of amazes me that after spending millions of dollars on an investigation spanning over two years that Patrick Fitzgerald could only come up with indicting Scooter Libby, only to have it apparently shot down in flames within a couple of weeks. Kind of makes me wonder what that goal of Fitzgerald’s investigation is at this point. I mean, how many reporters have to know who someone is before it is considered common knowledge? How clandestine ( Plame was not covert ) could Plame have been if at least FIVE reporters knew who she was? None of them seemed to have considered her covert ( because she was clandestine ).
This saga of outing a non-covert CIA operative just keeps getting messier and messier because so many people apparently discussed this non-covert CIA operative that Fitzgerald can’t get anything to stick because as soon as he tries, someone else fesses up that they discussed her as well.
Regardless of what Fitzgerald is trying to prove, bottom line is Plame must not have been very good at not being covert. Actually, I don’t think she cared too much about not being too careful about not being covert. Otherwise, I don’t think she would have allowed her husband to make a public spectacle of both of them by publishing his comments publicly instead of covertly, as he was supposed to. If he had done what he was supposed to, and stayed covert, then no one would be worrying too much right now about his non covert wife being outed publicly now would we?
Give it up Fitzgerald, you’re definitely no Ken Starr.
14
Nov
Here’s the headline:
The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it’s proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that’s now the most-sought after drug in the world.
Rumsfeld served as Gilead‘s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.
Here’s Rumsfeld’s financial disclosure. The man goes so far as to state he gets about $500 a year from water rights on his farm. He’s as transparent as the day is long. He’s so scared of the press making something of this that he’s refusing to trade Gidean ( my advice, SELL! ):
Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead and became Secretary of Defense in early 2001. And late last month, notes a senior Pentagon official, Rumsfeld went even further and had the Pentagon’s general counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.
As the flu issue heated up early this year, according to the Pentagon official, Rumsfeld considered unloading his entire Gilead stake and sought the advice of the Department of Justice, the SEC and the federal Office of Government Ethics.
Those agencies didn’t offer an opinion so Rumsfeld consulted a private securities lawyer, who advised him that it was safer to hold on to the stock and be quite public about his recusal rather than sell and run the risk of being accused of trading on insider information, something Rumsfeld doesn’t believe he possesses. So he’s keeping his shares for the time being.
There’s nothing here other than fodder for conspiracy theorists that I’m sure will jump all over this because President Bush wants to stockpile Tamiflu in light of the avian flu scare.
The sad thing IMO, is when the stories like I ran on the side effects of Tamiflu become more commonly known, Rumsfeld will wish he had unloaded Gilead and faced the music. It’s not insider information any more.
11
Nov
Bush Forcefully Attacks Iraq Critics
That’s the headline on Yahoo. It’s even got an official AP
logo next to it. And, it’s accurate. Bush lays into people claiming
they were misled, lied to, etc., over the war in Iraq. He clearly states a
sentiment I have echoed a long time, that most of these people supported actions
against Hussein BEFORE Bush was even president and changed their minds during
the Kerry race.
What is important to me is I have often felt I was fighting that battle
alone. People who don’t really oppose the war don’t often fight the fight.
Those who oppose the war fight it every chance they get. And, they have a
lot of tools to work with with the Kennedys, Pelosis, Boxers, et al, claiming
repeatedly they were duped originally by George the Elder, then Clinton, and now
Dubya. It didn’t matter how shallow their claims appeared on appearance, I
was fighting it alone. I was fighting for someone who didn’t even care
enough to fight for their self. That’s a pretty lonely feeling sometimes.
Finally, the recipient of my fights is starting to come to life.
"Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the
intelligence and mislead the American people about why we went to war," Bush
said.He said those critics have made those allegations although they know that a
Senate investigation "found no evidence" of political pressure to change the
intelligence community’s assessments related to Saddam’s weapons program.He said they also know that the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing Saddam’s
development and possession of weapons of mass destruction."More than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate who had access to the
same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power," Bush
said.
You go Dubya! Don’t back down. Don’t ignore it.
Repeat that message over and over. Each time you do, it makes my efforts
to fight for you a LOT more rewarding.
8
Nov
I have been following the situation in France as have many other people. But, I don’t really have an opinion on it. Well, I do, but it’s not totally based on facts, so I’d rather become more informed. I know what I’m reading, but this is a very complicated issue that a blurb won’t cover. As with all infitadas(sp?), they want to be noticed. That’s what is fueling this IMO. I don’t really want to contribute to that.
France, along with Europe, has struggled with immigrant Muslim issues for some time, and don’t seem to be resolving it very well. The reason, and I hate to agree with Chirac, is because they have singled out Muslims and until recently, allowed them to more or less isolate themselves within the various contries they reside with their own rules. IMO, this was a mistake. Now, they are singling them out and attacking a lot of the core ethical practices (rules) of the Muslims. You can’t have it both ways. You’re confusing the people subjected to those conflicting expectations and when people are confused, they react unpredictably.
You’re not seeing these riots in the US because IMO, we are much more successful in accepting different cultures into our own than Europe has been. We expect any culture to live by the same laws a lifelong US citizen has. Even with the strains of post-911, we allow anyone to become citizens as any other person would be. Until Europe either closes its borders or gives them the same opportunities as the rest of their countries, there will be constant struggles and resentment. I don’t think either approach is necessarily wrong, but the European countries need to make a decision and go with it.
And then check out what the rest of the blogoshpere has to say.
2
Nov
This piece of garbage was actually proposed by the Sacramento City Council as part of city business:
PROPOSED SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION TO WITHDRAW U.S. TROOPS AND BASES FROM IRAQ
Whereas the United States government, in its March 2003 first-strike attack and subsequent military occupation of Iraq, a country which had neither attacked nor threatened the U.S.:
1. Violated international law, including the United Nations Charter, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Accords and the Nuremberg Principles and therefore is in violation of the U.S. Constitutional provision for treaties as equal to the Highest Law of the Land;
2. Caused the: a) deaths of an estimated 100,000 Iraqis and more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers; b) wounding and physically and psychologically disabling of tens of thousands of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers; and c) destruction of the homes, communities, and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis;
3. Undermined the image, moral values and credibility of the U.S. throughout the world; and
4. Misused over $300 billion of U.S. taxpayers money, including $246.7 million from Sacramento, money which could have been used for health care, affordable housing, environmental protection, and other purposes that would have improved the lives of people in Sacramento, the United States, and the world.
5. The continuation of the war and this misallocation of resources will cause grave harm to the people of Sacramento, especially its low income and people of color communities.
Whereas public opinion polls indicate that millions of Americans view the Iraq war and occupation as unwarranted or mistaken, and whereas an overwhelming majority of Iraqis cast ballots favoring U.S. withdrawal,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL ON BEHALF OF THE CITIZENS OF SACRAMENTO CALLS UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CONGRESS TO:
1. Immediately withdraw all U.S. troops and military bases from Iraq;
2. End military recruitment on high school and college campuses;
3. Publicly disclose and cease all attempts by the U.S. government and corporations to control the economy, agricultural practices, government, or resources of Iraq;
4. Issue an international statement which includes: a) a commitment of United States resources required to rebuild the damage that the U.S. caused in its first Gulf War (1991) and subsequent attacks and in the 2003 invasion and occupation, the control of which is to be under the Iraqi people and to financially compensate the families of all Iraqis killed and injured from U.S. actions and b) relinquishment of any debts or obligations that the U.S. claims it or its allies are owed by Iraq;
5. Ensure that returning veterans receive compensation and care including full mental and physical health, education, disability, and rehabilitation benefits; and
6. Significantly reduce the U.S. military budget and reallocate that money to programs that provide for human well being including: health care, education, affordable housing, and environmental protection
I could shoot massive holes in how misguided and flat out wrong most all of this is. I mean, some of it’s so stupid it defies imagination. I mean, a commitment to rebuild the damage the US caused in the first Gulf War? How’s about those fine folks on the Sacramento City Council DEMAND that Iraq reimburse Kuwait for the damages THEY did invading Kuwait? If they had done what the UN demanded, we would never have been in a position to take out Hussein. The rest of that resolution is just plain stupid.
But you know what, dumb gets dumber. They passed that stupid resolution with only one nay. The web site Sacramento for Democracy published all the council members phone numbers and is calling for an opponent for the one person who voted against that pathetic resolution.
Here’s the payback guys:
- Mayor Heather Fargo hfargo@cityofsacramento.org; 808-5300
- District 1, Ray Tretheway rtretheway@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7001
- District 2, Sandy Sheedy ssheedy@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7002
- District 3, Steve Cohn scohn@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7003
- District 4, Robert Fong rkfong@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7004
- District 5, Lauren Hammond lhammond@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7005
- District 6, Kevin McCartys : KMcCarty@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7006
- District 8, Bonnie J. Pannell bpannell@cityofsacramento.org; (916) 808-7008
Those are the idiots that supported it. Anyone know any fine people that prefer the US be in charge of things in the US as opposed to Muslim fanatics that live in Sacramento? Or better yet, give these people a call and ask them what the hell they are thinking and why they feel compelled to use Sacramento citizens’ tax money to promote their own personal political agendas. Sacramento needs eight good people that are more concerned about the well-being of the people of Sacramento than worrying about international politics. More importantly, they need eight good people that are smart enough to distinguish reality from rhetoric. If those people are running Sacramento based on the logic they’re using to promote resolutions like that, Sacramento’s screwed.
I have honestly never seen a worse abuse of position by a city council ever. What’s sad is how wrong this thing is. It’s kind of understating it to say Sacramento can do better than this. Honestly, I can’t see how Sacramento can do worse. And please, people of Sacramento, don’t try to prove me wrong. It’s your kids’ Sacramento these people are destroying.
I did a piece on the politicizing and hysteria over Avian Flu. Nevermind the hysteria, the fight is over. With a death total of 0 in the US, the avian flu has won according to some:
Never miss an opportunity to bitch. If Bush had done nothing, he would have been crucified as hating black people. For doing something, he gets criticized for something beyond his control in the past.
And it just boggles my mind how stupid Hillary’s comment is. It was the LACK of stockpiling that led to the perceived shortages in three of those five years. It wasn’t the lack of communication and distribution, it was a lack of product because the makers withdrew a huge portion of their stockpile due to questions of safety.
Surely, Senator Clinton remembers that. From her website:
This amendment creates a reserve fund that would support legislation to increase participation of manufacturers in the production of influenza vaccine.
In other words, increase inventory. In simpler terms, stockpile the vaccine. She also added this to her legislaton:
The amendment would also increase research and innovation in new technologies for the development of influenza vaccine. Senator Clinton said, "We need to move away from egg-based technology, and develop mechanisms that allow us to produce additional stocks of flu vaccine quickly and efficiently."
That’s in Bush’s plan as well. Hillary08 is kinda speaking out of both sides of her mouth. Again.
But, according to some, doing anything is too little, too late. According to me, doing anything other than encouraging people to take normal flu prevention precautions is a waste of money. At LEAST until we know for sure that it can be transmitted from human to human. And, if it does, what it is in that mutation.
2
Nov
The 2004 Presidential election yielded a few things. One of which was our current leader for four years. And, it resulted in all fifty states being tagged red or blue, conservative or liberal, etc.. A lot of discussion has centered on the redness or blueness of the US based on that one election. I’ve never really bought into that. Currently, a second phenomena is occurring, we are selecting a new Supreme Court judge. A second peeve of mine is the Roe V Wade Conservative Litmus test. In simpler terms, you can’t be truly Conservative unless you support Roe V Wade. I have never bought into that either. SurveyUSA recently took a poll surveying people’s opinions on Pro-Life v Pro-Choice. They even tallied it by Bush/Kerry states. What it shows is what I’ve felt my whole life. In the last election, thirty-one states went for Bush, nineteen went for Kerry.
However, in their poll, thirty-seven states favored pro-choice, thirteen pro-life.
In other words, a LOT of pro-choice people voted conservative in the last election. Since abortion rights didn’t deter them from voting conservative, OTHER THINGS MUST HAVE BEEN MORE IMPORTANT.
Bottom line? Drop the abortion litmus test. It’s obviously not terribly important to a lot of people. That’s all we hear in the SCOTUS search. There are other issues that obviously trump that issue with a lot of people. Let’s hear about those for a while. OK?
Please?
