From ctmock at gmail.com Fri Jul 4 18:49:15 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:49:15 -0500 Subject: [News] July 4th Newsletter- July 4, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?Most Americans lie in the middle, wisey embracing a more thoughtful definition of patriotism that allows for multipe, equally meaningful ways to support American ideals. Consider a US Today/Gallup Poll out this week: 80 percent of Americans consider supporing U.S. policies around the world an act of patriotism. At the same time, narly as many, two-thirds of those polled, say protesting U.S. policies als is patriotic. For ordinary Americans, patriotism is an abstract love ofcountry but also a commitment to it, to help it achieve its promise and ideal," says Nancy MacLean, history department chair at Northwestern University. Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - What, at heartis patriotism all about? Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 4, 2008. So what is patriotism anyway? Americans feel it strongly. We rank among the highest of ll nations in national pride, telling University of Chicago researches we'd rather live in the United States than in any other country. Amerians also know it when they see it. Flying the flag, voting and military servie are all widely cited as patriotic acts. But what does patriotism actuallymean? As we pause to celebrate Independence Day, as we reflect o an election season in which Barack Obama has been forced to defend his patiotism, it's worth digging deeper and searching for a definition we can all ebrace. Most Americans would agree that patriotism is more than wearing - or not wearing -- a flag pin. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.co/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-what-at.html Obama creates his own ptriot revolution By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Time Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 19:55 | Last updated: June 30 200819:55. Barack Obama on Monday sought t portray himself as a mainstream American patriot and put his Republican opponents on notice that he would ?not stand idly by? when others questioned his support for the S flag. Mr Obama?s speech, which he delivered in Independence, Missour, the birthplace of Harry S.?Truman, the former president who was known for is unassuming Mid-Western style of patriotism, comes after months of poted attacks on his biographical credentials. Opinion polls suggest that MrObama?s biggest challenge is to convince the electorate that he is an athentic American who is also ready to be commander-in-chief. Mr Obama, whomone in ten Americans continue to believe is a Muslim, has recently taken to earing an American flag pin, having been attacked for not doing so. He has lso taken to speaking against a backdrop of the Stars and Stripes. ?Thequestion of who is ? or is not ? a patriot all too often poisons our politial debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together,? he saidyesterday. ?I have come to know this from my own experience on the campaign trail.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-creates-his-own-pa triot.html patriotic signpost By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Jul 2, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama is wearing his American flag lapel pin again,most appropriately during his speech this week in Missouri on patriotism. Hs critics may call that a flip-flop. I call it a sign that he's learning As recently as the deate before the Pennsylvania primary, the presumptive Democratic presidetial nominee gave eloquent reasons why he didn't think a flag pin was as impotant as the patriotic beliefs he held in his heart. But flag-pin lovers voe too. It's too bad so many voters invest so much in symbols, but that's areality of politics and human nature. Polls show a small but not insignifcant slice of voters continue to question Obama's patriotism, especially n white working-class areas. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/patriotic-signpost.html Save the press. By Timothy Egan. Copyright by The International Herld Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. On the lobby wall of the newspaper whee I got my first reporting job are the Thomas Jefferson words that U.S. journlists like to trot out as America's Independence Day nears: "Were it lef to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or ewspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer th latter." Of course, Jefferson also said the only reliable truths in newsppers were the advertisements, and that he was happiest when not reading te papers. But as to his iconic quote, it's no secret that we're trending tward the former. And anyone who cheers the collapse of the newspaper indusry should consider why Jefferson put aside his distaste for the vitrioland nonsense of the press for the larger principle of healthy democracis needing informed citizens. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-press.html International British economy falling into American-style slump - In an echo of the United States, conomists now predict the U.K. is likely to fall into a recession this yea. By David Jolly. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: uly 3, 2008. PARIS: A housing market in shambles, inflation at the highest lel in years and signs that the economy is headed for, or already in,recession. Sound familiar? The British economy, like its counterpart acrss the Atlantic, has fallen on hard times, and in many ways the experience apears to be mirroring that in the United States. Indeed, the run last Septeber on a British mortgage lender, Northern Rock, was one of the events that elped to embed the terms "credit crisis" firmly into the global consciousnes. "A recession is more likely than not by the end of the year," Peter Newlad, who covers the British economy for Lehman Brothers in Lndon, said Thursday, summarizing a recent string of dismal economic data that have led economists to revise their growth forecasts downward. "Activity seems to bedeclining across the economy," he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogsp.com/2008/07/british-economy-falling- into-american.html Editorial Note: conomically and globally, Tony Blair was joined at the hip with George Bushs policies. Eurozone inflation soars to new high By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankurt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 0:57 | Last updated: June 30 2008 19:29. Eurozone inflation rose in une to the highest rate since the bloc?s 1999 formation, new data showed on Mnday as political opposition mounted to a widely-expected move by the Europan Central Bank to raise its main interest rate later this week. n its initial estimate of inflation for the month, Eurostat, the Euroean Union?s statistical office, said prices were 4 per cent higher in June han a year earlier ? twice as high as the ECB?s inflation target. The figures come as oil prices hit a fresh record of $143.67 a barrl and commodities recorded their largest first half of the year price jump fo at least half a century, exacerbating global concerns about inflation. TheJefferies-Reuters CRB index ? a global benchmar for commodities prices such as oil, corn or copper ? jumped to a record high of 467.60 points on Monday, bringing the first-half increase to 30.4 per cent, the largest since record began in 1957. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/euroone-inflation-soars -to-new-high.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Urbe?s rescue deserves acclaim. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 19:31 | Last updated: July 3 2008 19:31. Colombias dramatic hostage rescue has vindicated President Alvaro Uribe?s hardline ecurity strategy and inflicted another devastating blow on the Farc, the solated and increasingly fragmented leftwing guerrilla group. By freeing Inrid Betancourt, a charismatic former presidential candidate, and 14 other hig profile long-term hostages without firing a shot, Mr Uribe has also confonded international critics, such as Venezuela?s President Hugo Ch?vez, wo had been pressing him to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Mr Uribe merits laudits for sticking to his guns and restoring the public?s faith in the Coombian state. But his next task should be to avoid hubris and look to strenthen independent institutions./Colmbian troops rescue Betancourt By Richard Lapper in London, Anastasia Moloney in Caracas and Naomi Mapstone in Lima. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publhed: July 2 2008 20:55 | Last updated: July 3 2008 10:13. ?lvaro Uibe, Colombia?s president, secured one of the most significant triumphs of is political career on Wednesday when troops freed Ingrid Betancourt ad 14 other hostages held by leftwing Farc guerrillas. ?I believe thatthis is a sign of peace for Colombia, that we can find peace,? Ms Betancour said, weeping as she thanked the Colombian military in her first publi comments, carried on Colombian radio station Caracol. Minutes later, a pae but smiling Ms Betancourt landed at Bogota?s air force base, walking dow the stairs of the plane and hugging her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, on the runay. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fiancial-times-editoria l-comment.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Mugabe steals an election, Africans look away. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.Published: July 1, 2008. Robert Mugabe brazenly and brutally stole his lates re-election as president of Zimbabwe. Now Africa's leaders, who have lookedthe other way for far too long, must decide what they will do. They can cotinue to enable Mugabe out of political cynicism or misplaced solidarity wh a former liberation leader turned tyrant. Or they can follow the wiser eple of the living symbol of African liberation, Nelson Mandela, who las week condemned Zimbabwe's "tragic failure of leadership." The signals fom Monday's opening session of the African Union summit, with Mugabe smuglyin attendance, were not encouraging. While African election monitors rihtly denounced the voting, few summit speakers went beyond muted and indirec criticism. More than truth telling is at stake. Zimbabwe and its people re dying at Mugabe's hand - ravaged by an imploding economy, skyrocketinginflation, man-made famie and a governmental machinery whose only visible function is to reward the dictator's collaborators and cronies and beat and kill his critics and opponents. http://iretiredfmnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editoria.html Mess-o-potamia "Opening up a third front right now would be exremely stressful on us," Mullen acknowledged during a Pentagon news confernce. He added moments later, "This is a very unstable part of the world, nd I don't need it to be more unstable." Adm. Mike Mullen Military chie warns against striking Iran By Aamer Madhani. Copyright ? 2008, ChicagoTribune. July 3, 2008. WASHINGTON ? The words Wednesday from Adm. Mike Mulen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were notable for their blunt pramatism: An Israeli airstrike on Iran would be high-risk and could further desabilize the region, leading to political and economic chaos. On Iran's wetern border, the U.S. military is more than five years into a war in Iraq tha has taken 4,113 American lives and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $600 bilion. And on Iran's eastern border, American commanders are now openly questoning whether they have los their way in the fight against a resurgent Taliban. Israel, the United States' closest ally in the Middle East, has refused to rule out a strike against Iranian nucle sites, and this week's New Yorker magazine reported that the U.S. has steped up its covert operations inside Iran. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogpot.com/2008/07/military-chief-warns-aga inst-striking.html Pentagon exteds tour of Marines in Afghanistan By LOLITA C. BALDOR. Copyright 2008 Assoiated Press. 6:20 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extened the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months theunit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whichis doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 daysand come home in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Laan confirmed Thursday. Military leaders as recently as Wednesday stressed th need for additional troops in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of he Joint Chiefs of Staff, has often praised the work of the 24th MEU infighting Taliban militants in Helmand Province. Defense Secretary Robert Gats, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the US. Marines in Afghanistan, calling their deployment there an extraordinary, one-time effort to help tamp down the increasing violence in the south. Asked about the possibility of an extenion in early May, Gates said he would "be loathe to do that." He added tat "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation." ttp://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-extends-tour-of-marines-in.html Coalition deaths in Afghanistan hit a record high By MarkMazzetti. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2 2008. WASHINGTON: More American and coalition troops died in Afghanisan last month than during any other month since the U.S.-led invasion bega in 2001, the latest evidence of a strengthening Taliban insurgency thathas menaced NATO forces and reclaimed control over some southern and easter parts of the country. The violence in Afghanistan has surged at the sam time as the number of attacks and American deaths in Iraq has fallen. Amng the American-led forces in the two countries, there were 46 troops killd in Afghanistan in June, compared with 31 in Iraq, the second straigt month in which combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq. A recnt Pentagon report about Afghanistan paintd a stark picture of security conditions inside the country, a militant force that has "coalesced into a resilient insurgency" and a central government in Kabul that still cannot extend its reach into the hinterlands. http://itiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coalition-deaths-in-afgh anistan-hit.html Wounded Iraqi forces say they've been abandoned By Michael Kamber. Copyright by he international Herald Tribune. Published: July 1, 2008. BAGHDAD: Dawoud Ameen, a former Iraqi soldier, lay in bed, his shattered legs splayed before him, worrying about the rent for his family of five. Ameen's legs were shredded by shrapnel from a roadside bomb in September 2006 and now, like many wounded members of the Iraqi security forces, he is deeply in debt andstruggling to survive. For now, he gets by on $125 a month brought to himby members of his old army unit, charity and whatever his wife, Jinan, can beg from her relatives. But heworries that he could lose even that meager monthly stipend. In the United tates, the issue of war injuries has revolved almost entirely around the care received by the 30,000 wounded American veterans. But Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been wounded in greater numbers, health workers say, and have been treated far worse by their government. A number of the half-dozen badly wounded Iraqis interviewed for this article said they had been effectively drummed out of the Iraqi security forces without pensions, or were receiving partial pay and in danger of losing even that. Coping with severe injuries, and often amputations, they have been forced to pay for private doctors or turn to Iraq's failing public hospitals, which as recently as a year ago were controlled by militias that kidnapped and killed patients ? particularly security personnel from rival units. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/wounded-iraqi-forces-say -theyve-been.html Palestinian goes on rampage in Jerusalem; 3 killed By STEVEN GUTKIN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:54 PM CDT, July 2, 2008. JERUSALEM - A Palestinian laborer driving a construction vehicle rammed into packed buses, tossed cars into the air and rolled over pedestrians in a deadly rampage Wednesday that killed three people and wounded dozens in Jerusalem. The attacker's unusual weapon -- a yellow Caterpillar front loader transformed into a deadly assault vehicle -- threatened both Israelis' sense of security and Palestinians' fragile status in the city. Hundreds of panicked people were sent running for cover before the attacker was shot dead by security forces. Three Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for the onslaught, the first major attack in Jerusalem in four months. However, Israeli police said the assailant, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Arab east Jerusalem, apparently acted alone. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man was working on a railway project in Jerusalem. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/palestinian-goes-on-ramp age-in.html Scientist: Pakistan knew of NKorea nuke deal By MUNIR AHMAD. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:55 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said Friday. Khan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. His claims contradict his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya -- and Pakistan's repeated denials its army or government knew about Khan's nuclear proliferation activities. Khan said the army had "complete knowledge" of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientist-pakistan-knew- of-nkorea-nuke.html Bomb blast kills young girl, wounds 11 in Pakistan. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:02 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. QUETTA, Pakistan - A bomb exploded on a busy street in the southwestern Pakistan city of Quetta on Friday, killing a 4-year old girl and wounding 11 other people. The bomb was rigged to a motorcycle and it exploded outside a commercial bank, said Raja Mohammed Ishtiaq, a Quetta police officer. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Four of the wounded were traffic police on duty nearby, and others were passers-by, said Mohammed Khalid, another police officer. The wreckage of the motorcycle -- to which Ishtiaq said the bomb was attached -- lay scattered on the roadside. The windows of cars parked in front of the bank were damaged. Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, where authorities have blamed armed tribesmen for bombings and attacks against the government. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomb-blast-kills-young-g irl-wounds-11.html National Chicago Tribune Editorial - Catastrophe ahead. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 29, 2008. Midwesterners still mopping up from the worst flooding in 15 years might be surprised to learn that a plan in Congress would put them?and everyone else in the country?on the hook for major hurricane damage in Florida. It's called the Homeowners Defense Act of 2007, and it passed the House last fall. The bill would create a taxpayer-financed federal program that would back up giant private insurance companies when disasters strike. The government would provide what's called reinsurance, basically insuring the insurance companies against catastrophic losses. This has been likened to the troubled National Flood Insurance Program, which ought to make taxpayers very nervous. By underpricing risk, the flood program has encouraged building in areas prone to flooding. Just this spring, Congress approved a $17 billion bailout because of excess losses from floods in 2005. Two big private insurers, Allstate and State Farm, are firmly behind this. It would be less expensive for those companies to buy reinsurance coverage from a federal pool than the private market. The companies promise to pass along their savings to homeowners. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editoria l-catastrophe.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: The fragile center of America's Supreme Court. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. In some ways, the U.S. Supreme Court term that just ended seems muddled: disturbing, highly conservative rulings on subjects like voting rights and gun control, along with important defenses of basic liberties in other areas, including the rights of detainees at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. The key to understanding the term lies in the fragility of the court's center. Some of the most important decisions came on 5-4 votes - a stark reminder that the court is just one justice away from solidifying a far-right majority that would do great damage to the Constitution and the rights of Americans. The Supreme Court abandoned its special role in protecting voting rights when it rejected a challenge to Indiana's harshly anti-democratic voter ID law. Critics warned that the law, which bars anyone without a government-issued photo ID from voting, would disenfranchise poor people, minorities and the elderly, all of whom disproportionately lack drivers' licenses. The critics were right. In the Indiana presidential primary, shortly after the ruling, about 12 nuns in their 80s and 90s were turned away at the polls for not having acceptable ID. In another sharp break with its traditions, the court struck down parts of the District of Columbia's gun-control law. After seven decades of holding that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms is tied to raising a militia, the court reversed itself and ruled that it confers on individuals the right to keep guns in their homes for personal use. The decision will no doubt add significantly to the number of Americans killed by gun violence. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune.html Scalia's selective history By Jack Rakove. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 30, 2008. Appeals to the evidence of history figured prominently in last week's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller, striking down a sweeping ban on handguns and affirming that the 2nd Amendment protects a fundamentally individual right "to keep and bear arms." Yet read the two main opinions by Justices Antonin Scalia (for the conservative majority) and John Paul Stevens (in dissent), and you will see that different ways of defining and reading what counts as historical evidence expose a fault line between them. One would have to be terribly naive to think that how these two very amateur historians reason about history actually explains why the court divided as it did. But it does reveal important differences in how we think about the origins of the Constitution and its interpretation, and thus judge which argument seems more persuasive. As the lead author of a historians' amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief filed in support of the district, I persist in thinking that Stevens has the better account of why the 2nd Amendment was adopted. Here's why. Looking back Begin with what I read as the historical fault line. Scalia's opinion argues that private ownership of firearms for personal use, including self-defense, was a "pre-existing" right that adoption of the amendment only confirmed. The addition of the prefatory statement about the value of "a well-regulated militia" gave a further purpose to this right, but did not otherwise alter its prior understanding. Scalia actually has very little to say about why the amendment was even adopted. He says almost nothing about the constitutional debates of 1787-1789, and dismissively observes that relying on the actual "drafting history of the 2nd Amendment" would be of "dubious" value. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/scalias-selective-histor y.html The law says what they want it to - Next time, Supreme Court could rule differently on guns BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 1, 2008. In the course of many years in this line of work, I've often had occasion for somebody to inquire of me, "That must be illegal. What does the law say?" The implication always is that somewhere there are these magical tablets containing the applicable statutes for the specific fact situation at hand, and if I only would consult the tablets, all would be revealed to me. And what I usually say in response is that the law isn't like that. It's not something finite that allows you to check the books, plug in the facts and ascertain the outcome. That's because in the end, the law only says what somebody decides it says. And the highest-ranking somebody gets the final say??... I submit to you that the laws on abortion are not much different. Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, until a majority of Supreme Court justices decides it isn't, and then it won't be. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/law-says-what-they-want- it-to-next-time.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Four gun regulations would make us safer. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. If Charlton Heston were alive, he'd be beaming. The man who filled the silver screen with chariot races and a parting of the sea played another prominent role in later years -- president of the National Rifle Association. Heston treasured his constitutional right to own a gun and was fond of intoning at NRA conventions, with his rifle held aloft, that his weapon would be taken only "from my cold dead hands." Now, thousands of fervent gun rights advocates can celebrate their most important court victory -- the Supreme Court decision last week that interprets the Second Amendment as giving citizens the right to have guns in their homes for self-defense. The ruling applies to residents in Washington, D.C., and soon will apply to all Americans. In the wake of that victory, paradoxically, this might be a perfect opportunity to impose a few additional common-sense regulations on gun ownership. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-four-gun.html California fires prompt evacuations. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune By Jesse Mckinley and Mitchell L. Blumenthal. Published: July 3, 2008. BIG SUR, California: As flames on nearby mountaintops licked at this nearly abandoned coastal retreat on Thursday, officials in Santa Barbara County, far to the south, declared a state of emergency as a wildfire swept out of the mountains and threatened several hundred homes. Officials ordered the evacuation of about 1,500 residents of Big Sur on Wednesday as flames flared on the nearby mountaintops and moved steadily toward this famed resort area. Firefighters have been attacking a fire near Big Sur for 12 days and had been helped in recent days by fog, moist conditions and lighter winds. Seventeen homes have been lost here ? more than half the total destroyed statewide from the first major wildfires of the season ? and about 1,200 remained threatened, but many residents had been allowed to remain as the fire stayed to the east and south. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/california-fires-prompt- evacuations.html Chicagoland Budget showdown?again. The governor is calling lawmakers back to Springfield to balance the state's spending plan. They say it's a politically motivated waste of their time. By Ray Long and David Mendell. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 3, 2008. Gov. Rod Blagojevich is in a bind with the state budget and he's looking for someone to blame. He estimates that the budget lawmakers have sent him is about $2.1 billion out of balance, so he's calling them back to work next week to find the funds to pay for the spending. If they don't, and there's no sign they will, the governor wants the public to know he's not the only one responsible for the resulting cuts. "I still cling to the hope that they might act appropriately and responsibly and pass funding," Blagojevich said Wednesday. "I'm hopeful that the House won't force these cuts." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/budget-showdownagain.htm l Soaring taxes lead to sore taxpayers BY CAROL MARIN cmarin at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. There it was, right in front of me, the face of the Dump Todd Stroger Revolution. I witnessed it at the Starbucks on Racine and Wrightwood at 6:38 a.m. Tuesday. The guy ahead of me was getting his usual, a grande coffee, caf not decaf. Monday's price: $2.04. Tuesday's price: $2.07. The young man behind the counter explained a county sales tax hike necessitated the price hike. The guy was grumbling. I didn't catch all of it, but two words were crystal clear: "Todd Stroger." Let's get the obvious out of the way. Lincoln Park Starbucks sippers are not the ones hardest hit by cranking up the sales tax; poor people are. The grumbling guy could downsize by dropping by Dunkin' Donuts, but he has enough money to avoid such sacrifices. Furthermore, latte lovers in Cook County barely know there is a Cook County. They can name their alderman, but their county commissioner might as well be from Mars. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/soaring-taxes-lead-to-so re-taxpayers.html I want more taxes, and so should you - The nagging voice of doubt is trying to talk me out of writing this column: By Eric Zorn. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Originally posted: July 3, 2008. You want to call for more sales taxes in Illinois? The very week Cook County residents are reeling and seething over the latest hike? Yes, more sales taxes. Not higher taxes, but more taxes on more consumer transactions. Such as? Well, shoe repair, to name just one. When a shop fixes your boots in Illinois, you pay a fee but no tax. That's a good thing. Sure, if you're a cobbler or if your uppers are distressed. But if you own or shop at a store that sells new shoes and every purchase now includes up to an additional 10.25 percent in sales taxes, it's not such a good thing. It's unfair and illogical. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-want-more-taxes-and-so -should-you.html Your Lack of Money Limbaugh signs radio contract worth $400m By Joshua Chaffin in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 00:25 | Last updated: July 3 2008 00:25. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host, has signed an eight-year contract extension said to be worth as much as $400m. The deal, with Clear Channel Radio and Premiere Radio Networks, comes during the 20th year of The Rush Limbaugh Show and is among the most lucrative in broadcasting history. It is also a reminder of Mr Limbaugh?s enormous value to the US?s ailing radio industry even as pundits have suggested his political influence may be waning. The conservative movement that Mr Limbaugh helped propel has suffered a string of electoral setbacks and appears to have crested. At the same time, his programme is now battling for attention amid a cacophony of political bloggers. This year, John McCain managed to secure the Republican presidential nomination in spite of opposition from Mr Limbaugh, who questioned his conservative credentials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/limbaugh-signs-radio-con tract-worth.html US jobs fall for sixth straight month By Daniel PImlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 14:34 | Last updated: July 3 2008 15:39. The US lost jobs in June for the sixth month in a row while unemployment remained elevated, signalling an ongoing deterioration in the labour market and helping to push back thoughts of a hike in interest rates. Non-farm payrolls fell by 62,000 last month, only slightly more than the 55,000 jobs that economists had predicted, and in line with the upwardly revised 62,000 jobs lost last month. However, revisions to earlier reports showed that 52,000 more jobs had been lost in the prior two months than previously thought. ?The net number is grim,? said Ian Shepherdson, economist at HFE, adding that there was ?worse to come?. The unemployment rate held at 5.5 per cent, 0.1 percentage point higher than expected. Economists had been hoping that the jobless rate would dip down again, arguing that the previous month?s sharp uptick - the biggest monthly rise in 22 years ? was a statistical quirk caused by the inclusion of too many school and college leavers in the figures. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-jobs-fall-for-sixth-s traight-month.html Dow enters bear market as stocks slide. Thu Jul 3, 2008 12:05am BST. Copyright by Bloomberg News NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow sank into a bear market on Wednesday as U.S. stocks fell on growing concerns about the toll that record oil prices are taking on the economy and corporate profits. After flirting with bear market status for several sessions, the Dow closed 20 percent below its October peak as it was no longer able to withstand the avalanche of warnings about banking losses, surging inflation fears and weakening consumer confidence. Merrill Lynch struck a negative chord early in the session when it downgraded General Motors, saying the automaker will need $15 billion to shore up liquidity. Merrill added that bankruptcy is "not impossible" for GM if the auto market continues to slump, sending GM's shares down more than 15 percent. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dow-enters-bear-market-a s-stocks-slide.html Small US banks feel the pinch By Saskia Scholtes. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 29 2008 17:55 | Last updated: June 29 2008 17:55. When Southern California?s oldest bank, PFF Bancorp, was sold for the fire-sale price of $30.5m this month, it was buckling under the weight of soured loans to real estate developers and its stock had plunged more than 95 per cent from its 2006 peak. Like many small regional and community banks, PFF increased its loan portfolio over the past decade ? doubling it to more than $4bn ? in large part by financing commercial and residential developers and homebuilders during the house price boom. Now, as these companies struggle through the housing slump, lenders such as PFF are feeling the pinch. Banks? first-quarter losses on such real estate loans were more than 15 times the amount of the same quarter last year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Regulators are growing increasingly concerned that many small banks have high concentrations of such loans on their books at a time when inflated house prices are collapsing and land values are falling further still. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/small-us-banks-feel-pinc h.html Factories feel pain as their costs rise. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. Each week, Ira Cooper opens a letter from another supplier with the same message as the last: We're raising our prices, effective immediately. We can't tell you how long the new prices will last. "We used to get quotes good for six months," said Cooper, president of QED Inc., a lighting company based in Lexington, Ky. "Now you're lucky if you can get a quote good for 15 days." Manufacturers of everything from wallpaper to cereal are feeling the same hit. The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index of prices manufacturers pay for raw materials hit 91.5 in June, up from 87 in May and the highest reading since 1979. Its overall index of manufacturing activity was 50.2, barely breaking a five-month contraction streak. Any reading above 50 signals growth. "While it may be too soon to say that manufacturing has begun to start growing again, it is possible that a bottom is being reached," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pa. At the same time, "Fed members may not be as happy with the costs index moving into the stratosphere." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/factories-feel-pain-as-t heir-costs-rise.html Auto sales hit 17-year low - Normally strong June sees 18 percent slide By Rick Popely. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. June didn't bust out all over for the auto industry. It just went bust. Though it's usually one of the strongest sales months, this June was the industry's worst in 17 years, according to figures reported Tuesday. And there's no sign of improvement with carmakers on track to sell fewer than 15 million vehicles this year, the lowest annual total since 1995. "Nobody expected it would be this bad," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. Industry sales in June slid 18 percent, to 1.19 million, a level typical of traditionally slow January. For the first half, sales fell 10 percent, to 7.4 million vehicles. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/auto-sales-hit-17-year-l ow-normally.html Ford Motor's June sales skid 27.9 percent By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:57 AM CDT, July 1, 2008. DETROIT - Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales tumbled 27.9 percent in June as high gas prices and a weak economy continued to cause trouble for Ford and the rest of the auto industry. Ford was the first automaker to report sales data Tuesday. Analysts had predicted June auto sales could drop by double-digits to their lowest monthly rate in 16 years. Ford sales sank to a new 52-week low, while rival General Motors Corp. shares are trading near their lowest level in more than a half century. Dearborn-based Ford blamed the latest sales decline on high gas prices and low consumer confidence, which sent buyers to the sidelines. It reported steep drops in June sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, including a 41 percent year-over-year decline for the F-Series pickup, a perennial best-seller, and a 52 percent drop for the Ford Explorer SUV. U.S. auto sales had already fallen for seven straight months as of May, the longest period of consecutive monthly drops in eight years, according to the auto information Web site Edmunds.com. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ford-motors-june-sales-s kid-279-percent.html Starbucks to close 600 stores nationwide - Slow consumer spending leads to more cutbacks By Wailin Wong. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 9:56 PM CDT, July 1, 2008. You might have to walk a whole extra block to get your latte. Starbucks Corp. will begin shuttering 600 stores nationwide at the end of July, cutting about 7 percent of its global workforce as it sheds unprofitable locations and responds to a drop-off in consumer spending. The Seattle-based company said Tuesday that the store closings, coupled with a scaled-back expansion plan for its next fiscal year, will help the specialty coffee giant meet its longer-term targets for profitability. While Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said in a conference call, "We believe absolutely we're seeing a major impact from the economy," he also acknowledged that Starbucks' aggressive growth strategy of recent years created problems with cannibalized sales and market saturation. Looking ahead, management will use a "much higher level of scrutiny on store performance to make sure we take action earlier," Bocian said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/starbucks-to-close-600-s tores.html Deal to let Tribune draw against $300 million in future assets By James P. Miller. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 2:05 PM CDT, July 3, 2008. Tribune Co. said Friday that it signed a $300 million asset-backed commercial paper facility with Barclay's Bank PLC, in essence raising cash against future trade receivables due to the company. The debt-heavy Chicago media concern, which went private late last year through an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout led by real estate magnate Sam Zell, said that it initially borrowed $225 million under the facility. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deal-to-let-tribune-draw -against-300.html GM considers marching Chevy Beat mini-car into U.S. Market. Copyright by the Associated Press. July 4, 2008. DETROIT ? General Motors Corp. is considering a new Chevrolet mini-car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic consumer shift from trucks to cars linked to high gas prices, a spokesman said Thursday. GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat, which is about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris mini-car, to the U.S. is among the options the company is studying. "It is certainly one of the things that is being looked at from a portfolio perspective," Allen said. The comments came as GM shares have been trading near their lowest levels in more than a half-century, raising investor worries about the automaker's future and its ability to adjust quickly to demand for more fuel-efficient cars. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-considers-marching-ch evy-beat-mini.html Chrysler explores Chinese partnership By John Reed in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 09:13 | Last updated: July 3 2008 12:23. Chrysler has signed a memorandum of understanding with China?s Great Wall Motor to explore long-term business ties in areas including distribution, components and technology. Chrysler is the smallest of Detroit?s three struggling automakers, and has been scouting for foreign partnerships to complement its shrinking, core US business, which is currently focused on large vehicles. Chrysler said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the move was part of the company?s drive for greater involvement in China?s auto industry. Daphne Zheng, a Chrysler spokeswoman, told the Financial Times the company would ?assess the feasibility of a number of options,? and that no decisions had been made yet. She added: ?We are talking to a number of Chinese automakers as part of our ongoing efforts to explore growth opportunities in this important market.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chrysler-explores-chines e-partnership.html Virgin rips 3 airlines' proposed alliance- American nearing pact with potential partners. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 4, 2008. LONDON ? An alliance between British Airways PLC, American Airlines and Iberia SA should be blocked, competitor Virgin Atlantic Ltd. said Thursday, amid reports the trio are close to applying for U.S. antitrust immunity to form a trans-Atlantic joint venture. The three airlines aim to reach an accord on profit and revenue sharing this month, the Financial Times reported, citing executives at the carriers. "[British Airways] has been in talks with American Airlines and Iberia for some time, but no decisions have been reached," said British Airways spokeswoman Cathy West. British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American, the world's largest carrier, have failed in the past to win an exemption from U.S. antitrust laws to work more closely together because of their dominance at London's Heathrow Airport, where the pair have more than half the capacity to and from the U.S. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/virgin-rips-3-airlines-p roposed.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: LA Confrontational. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 19:25 | Last updated: July 3 2008 19:25. Think of it as Kramer vs Kramer remade by Billy Wilder. An amicable break-up turns sour as two ex-partners battle to get what they want ? at a moment of crucial change in the movie business. With a superstar cast, the intriguing tale of a possible strike by Hollywood actors is gripping Tinseltown. It started with a dramatic split. The Screen Actors Guild and the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists fell out after a 27-year partnership when one discovered that the other had gone behind its back to lure away the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful . The two unions are now negotiating separately about how actors should benefit from film sales on DVD and online. The unions need to co-operate but, predictably, want different things. The negotiations are a cliffhanger. When authorities such as Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey are at the table, all bets are off. Thank goodness that George Clooney has offered to mediate. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-la.html Commodities Oil $144.18 Silver Bullion $18.25 Gold Bullion $932 Platinum Bullion $ $2033 Euro $1.5689 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Laden's Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $144 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices have raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration policies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The Iraq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of the constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, and I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bin Laden ever could. Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.25% 6.27% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.77% 5.84% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.30% 7.38% 5/1 ARM 5.58% 5.70% 7/1 ARM 5.86% 5.99% The McCain Residences: A Google Earth Tour: Inspired by the McCains' recent tax default, I decided to go on a little tour of their many homes across the nation. Enjoy! http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/the-mccain-resi.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Inflation, oil dependence and the Fed's next step. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: June 30, 2008. Last month, Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, broke from the usually banal official pronouncements about the dollar to talk bluntly about the risks of inflation. He told an international conference that a weakening dollar had caused an "unwelcome rise" in inflation and pledged to guard against such dangers. Until this recent round of comments - which other Fed officials have now joined - the Fed had focused on the turmoil in the financial markets and slowing growth, not rising prices. With the markets relatively calm during most of June, it apparently felt freer to raise warnings about inflation. The Fed's decision last Wednesday to hold interest rates steady - after a string of cuts to stabilize financial markets and support the economy - underscored its growing concern about prices. Then came Thursday and Friday. The stock market plunged into bear market territory, leaving no doubt that the credit crunch persists and the economy is still very fragile. At the same time, oil prices surged, sharply increasing inflationary pressure. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_30.html Bush Bashing Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Laden's Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $144 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices have raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration policies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The Iraq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of the constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, and I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bin Laden ever could. Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report. Army history of Iraq war's first two years says U.S. was unprepared for chaos. U.S.-led coalition didn't have enough troops after Saddam Hussein's fall, report says "This is a recipe for disaster," one general recalls saying of one decision. Copyright by CNN News. June 30, 2008 (CNN) -- The U.S. Army's official history of the Iraq war shows military chiefs made mistake after mistake in the early months of the conflict. Failures to recognize the chaos engulfing the country and to send in enough troops to restore order after the 2003 invasion have long been highlighted by critics, but a new report shows the Army assessing itself. Frank opinions from officers serving in the 18 months from the start of war to Iraqi elections in January 2005 reveal there were concerns at the time, not just about assumptions made by planners but at decisions taken once U.S.-led coalition forces had control of Iraq. "I flipped," Gen. Jack Keane, then the Army's deputy chief of staff, told the historians of his reaction to a June 2003 decision to transfer control of all coalition troops away from the land forces command that had been preparing for the mission. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/army-criticizes-itself-i n-iraq-invasion.html Bush used phony patriotism to start war By ANDREW GREELEY agreel at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. The Russians call World War II "The Great Patriotic War." The current longest of our wars could well be called the same thing. It is a war that originated in the orgy of patriotism ("U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!") that followed the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and has been sustained by the patriotism of those who support it ("Our soldiers are defending American freedom") and false promises of some latter-day prophets ("We are winning the war in Iraq.") It is likely to be revived by the Iranian attack that the McCainites see as their main chance of winning the election. The president was right in his spontaneous reaction when he first heard of the attack -- "This is war!" The subtext was, "Now I'll be a wartime president and people will forget about Florida and how Antonin Scalia stole the election." The Arabs had killed 3,000 Americans; we had to kill at least that many of them. The issue was: Which Arabs? The obvious target was Saudi Arabia. Most of the terrorists were from that country, indeed products of the religious education that the country provided for its devout young men. But the Saudi royal family has excellent relations with the American oil companies. So very early in the discussions the neo-cons in the administration began to promote the idea of attacking Iraq. The road to Jerusalem, they argued, is through Baghdad. The administration's neo-cons were (and are) very heavy thinkers. They write great memos. The days when the country was hesitating, some of them found a story about cooperation between al-Qaida and the Iraq government that seemed to legitimate an attack on Iraq. Some of their allies in the media, most notably the Wall Street Journal, insisted that this fable was true. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-used-phony-patrioti sm-to-start-war.html Judges cite nonsense poem in Guantanamo case By MATT APUZZO. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 2:03 PM CDT, June 30, 2008. WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court reviewing evidence at Guantanamo Bay compared a Bush administration legal argument to one made by a hapless, dimwitted character in a 19th century nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited the 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark," in ruling that the military improperly labeled a Chinese Muslim as an enemy combatant. The ruling was issued last week but an unclassified version of the opinion was released only Monday. It was the first time a court has reviewed the military's decision-making and considered whether a detainee should be held. The ruling provides guidance to federal district judges, who are about to begin reviewing dozens of such cases now that the Supreme Court says detainees can challenge their detention in federal court. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/judges-cite-nonsense-poe m-in-guantanamo.html U.S. interrogators were taught Chinese coercion techniques at Guant?namo By Scott Shane. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2, 2008. WASHINGTON: The military trainers who came to Guant?namo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of "coercive management techniques" for possible use on prisoners, including "sleep deprivation," "prolonged constraint" and "exposure." What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 air force study of Chinese techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners. The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Chinese interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency. Some methods were used against a small number of prisoners at Guant?namo before 2005, when Congress banned the use of coercion by the military. The CIA is still authorized by President George W. Bush to use a number of secret "alternative" interrogation methods. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-interrogators-were-ta ught-chinese.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: More waste, fraud and abuse. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 1, 2008. Congressman Henry Waxman recently asked a question for which we would also like an answer: "How did a company run by a 21-year-old president and a 25-year-old former masseur get a sensitive $300 million contract to supply ammunition to Afghan forces?" Waxman raised the issue after executives of a Miami Beach arms dealer, AEY, were indicted on fraud charges this month, accused of pawning off tens of millions of banned and decrepit Chinese cartridges on the U.S. Army to supply Afghan security forces. The Pentagon's folly with the fly-by-night trafficker is just the latest example of the Bush administration's cynically cozy contracting practices and shockingly weak oversight that have wasted billions of dollars of taxpayers' money. Congressional investigators took testimony from a U.S. military attach? who accused the American ambassador in Albania of helping to cover up the Chinese ammunition's origins. The ambassador, John Withers, denies wrongdoing. But Waxman is wisely working to map the dimensions of fraud and waste. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_01.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Prosecuting war profiteers. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. Unless the U.S. Congress closes a gaping hole in the law against war profiteering, companies ripping off taxpayers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may never be fully prosecuted. This is because the latest conflicts are not declared wars. The anti-fraud law dating to World War II allows prosecution of contractors up to three years after a war ends. But this statute of limitations was omitted from the resolutions authorizing military force in Iraq and Afghanistan, which carried no formal war declaration. Investigators say that current war fraud runs into untold billions, including faulty ammunition and vehicles and not-so-bullet-proof vests. Investigative officials and the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction have testified that they're hampered by the ongoing conflicts and need more time to catch contract thieves after they end. The solution is a bipartisan bill clarifying that "war" absolutely includes congressional authorizations of military force. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_03.html Indecision 2008 Obama "Dignity" TV Ad http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1185304443?bctid=1634707861 Can Obama rescue Bush legacy? By Jonah Goldberg. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. Breaking news! The ultimate White House insider plans a tell-all book about the Bush years. With boasts of unprecedented access to the president's thinking, it will run counter to almost everything we have been told about Bush's radical presidency. Who will be the latest to break the code of silence after former White House press secretary Scott McClellan? George W. Bush. At least that's what went through my mind listening to the president during a meeting with journalists in the Oval Office Monday. The session, maddeningly and often foolishly punctuated by long, off-the-record musings and soliloquies, mostly dealt with foreign policy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-obama-rescue-bush-le gacy.html McCain shuffles staff as criticism mounts By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 00:04 | Last updated: July 3 2008 00:04. John McCain has reshuffled his senior campaign staff amid mounting Republican concern at his ability to compete with Barack Obama in November?s election. The Republican presidential candidate has put Steve Schmidt, a combative former aide to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, in charge of day-to-day operations in an effort to sharpen his campaign. Rick Davis, a longtime McCain ally, will remain campaign manager but shift his focus to long-term strategy. The shake-up follows weeks of grumbling among conservative commentators and some Republican operatives at Mr McCain?s performance. Critics say his campaign has been erratic and error-prone and slow to build grassroots operations in swing states. McCain officials dismiss much of the criticism as Washington tittle-tattle, pointing out that Mr Obama?s average five-point lead in recent national opinion polls is hardly insurmountable. They argue it should be Democrats who are alarmed by the tightness of the race, given the strength of political headwinds blowing against the Republicans. But Wednesday?s staff changes indicate that some of the concerns are shared by Mr McCain. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-shuffles-staff-as -criticism.html Blogs bring new reality to US polls By Richard Waters in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.Published: June 30 2008 22:12 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:12. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have crossed swords with the biggest names in the media world, but that did not help either recently when they came up against a 61-year-old Californian amateur brandishing a $40 Sony digital voice recorder. Mayhill Fowler, a blogger for political maven Arianna Huffington?s Huffington Post website, represents something new in election-year politics. For all their mastery of the TV soundbite, the stump speech and the staged debate, it is becoming increasingly difficult with ?citizen journalists? joining the fray for campaign media managers to influence how their candidate?s message is disseminated. ?The campaigns work harder and harder to prevent disasters but, inevitably, there will be cracks in the fa?ade,? says Ms Fowler, an enthusiast who has paid her own way to be on the campaign trail almost continuously since late December. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blogs-bring-new-reality- to-us-polls.html GLBT Historic Pride 2008: Pride perseveres by Amy Wooten. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. A rather unique Pride Parade made history as it welcomed John Pennycuff and Robert Castillo ( pictured ) , who married in San Francisco last Friday. Photo by Kat Fitzgerald. See many more by Tracy Baim, Robb Olson, Amy Wooten and Kat Fitzgerald at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com/photos/PrideParade2008-AmyWooten2 and at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com/photos/PrideParade2008-KatFitzgerald. Chicago proved that, rain or shine, it is going to celebrate Pride./450,000 turn out on streets of Boystown By Matt Simonette. Copyright by Chicago Free Press. June 2, 2008. A few downpours and delays were not enough to dampen the spirit of most revelers who turned out for the 2008 Gay Pride Parade in Chicago. Parade officials estimated that about 450,000 people lined the parade route from Belmont and Halsted to Halsted and Broadway, and back down Broadway to Diversey. More than 250 entries registered for the parade and represented a breadth of community, political and business interests. One parade viewer, looking at a bus sporting the names of several prominent law firms, commented, ?Thank God we?ve become so boring.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/historic-pride-2008-prid e-perseveres.html Politics, pageantry mingle at Chicago gay pride parade - Participants seek support for same-sex marriage By Kristen Kridel. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:37 PM CDT, June 29, 2008 The first sign that the throngs lining East Lakeview streets Sunday could see on the convertible of Robert Castillo and John Pennycuff was a big thank-you to California on the hood. Smaller posters on the sides and back boasted "Just married." "Yeah, California!" a man shouted to the local newlyweds, who took advantage of the California Supreme Court's decision last month to overturn a ban on gay marriage. Support for same-sex marriages surfaced in various ways during Chicago's 39th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Castillo and Pennycuff planned their wedding trip so they could return just in time to take a celebratory lap along the route, parade coordinator Richard Pfeiffer said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/politics-pageantry-mingl e-at-chicago.html Michelle Obama pledges support for GLBT rights By Samantha Gross. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 2, 2008. NEW YORK?Barack Obama will fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic presidential hopeful?s wife told a gay Democratic group June 26. Recalling his past work as a community organizer to help struggling families, Michelle Obama said he would take the same approach as president. ?Barack believes that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws,? she said at a Manhattan fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee?s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council. Michelle Obama also drew a connection between the struggles for gay rights and civil rights. ?We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union,? she said at the event, held days before the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays and New York police, and the city?s annual gay pride parade./Chicago Free Press Editorial: A chance for change. Copyright by Chicago Free Press. July 2, 2008. It was a great speech Michelle Obama gave to the Democratic National Committee?s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council June 26 in New York. Obama went point by promising point, pledging her husband?s active support to pass employment protections for GLBTs, end the military?s ban on openly gay and lesbian personnel and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. ?Barack believes that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws,? Michelle Obama said. ?The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds.? She showed just how much she gets it by eloquently connecting two iconic moments in the struggles blacks and GLBTs have waged for equality. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/michelle-obama-pledges-s upport-for-glbt.html Greg Harris talks civil unions by JOHN LENDMAN. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. With the dust settling on the Great California gay-marriage rush, state legislators in Illinois are working on passing the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act ( House Bill 1826 ) as a model for the rest of the Nation to follow. Windy City Times recently spoke with the only openly gay member of the legislature, State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the sponsor of HB 1826, on why this may be the most important piece of legislation this year. Rep. Greg Harris: Did you see the Chicago Tribune Today? The lead editorial is in support of civil unions in Illinois. It's like the biggest Republican newspaper in the state; it's a big deal. Windy City Times: Yeah, that is surprising. How is House Bill 1826 progressing in the general assembly? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/greg-harris-talks-civil- unions.html Cook Co. commissioners pass same-sex measure. News Update Tues., July 1, 2008. Copyright by The Windy City Times by Amy Wooten. Cook County commissioners just approved a measure that changes a county ordinance to benefit same-sex couples that get married in another state. The Cook County State's Attorney Office told Windy City Times that the measure, spearheaded by Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, was passed July 1. Two commissioners?Liz Doody-Gorman and Gregg Goslin?voted against the measure, which changed the ordinance so that same-sex couples who work for the county won't lose their benefits if they are married elsewhere. If the measure didn't pass, couples would not have been allowed to remain registered with Cook County and receive domestic-partner benefits. The approval follows a recent California decision legalizing gay marraige. Since June 17, gay and lesbian couples across the U.S., including couples from Cook County, have flocked to California to tie the knot. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/cook-co-commissioners-pa ss-same-sex.html Historic trans hearing takes place in Congress by Bob Roehr. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. The first every federal hearing on workplace protection from transgender persons took place June 26 before the education and labor subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Shannon Minter. Reps. Barney Frank ( left ) and Tammy Baldwin testified at the June 26 hearing. Photos by Bob Roehr Subcommittee Chairman Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said under federal law it is permissible to fire persons, or refuse to hire them, because they are transgender or are perceived to be gender non-conforming. ?To me, this makes no sense whatsoever.? Employment should depend only upon how well one does the job. He added, ?We don't measure our duty by the quantity of those who are aggrieved, we measure it by the depth of the grievance of those who are being discriminated against.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/historic-trans-hearing-t akes-place-in.html Dyke March: Different neighborhood, same message by Yasmin Nair. Copyright by The Windy City Time. 2008-07-02. This year, Dyke March moved to Pilsen, and attracted over a thousand people, according to organizers?the largest contingent in its history. In the weeks beforehand, several questions were raised, including one often voiced anonymously: Are there any queers in Pilsen? More photos at www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/DykeMarch2008-EmmanuelGarcia and at www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/DykeMarch2008-TracyBaim Others wondered: What would happen when mostly white tranny fags, dykes, lesbians, queers, and gender-fuckers found themselves in the midst of a vibrant neighborhood that's embattled by immigration raids; where the predominant language is Spanish; and whose residents have frequently been painted as homophobic? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dyke-march-different-nei ghborhood-same.html Schism means two Black Prides by MARK CORECE. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. Due to conflict and disputes, 2007 was an unstable year for Windy City Black Pride. After a successful pride celebration with former president Charles Nelson, the then-9-year-old organization began to wilt when accusations of Nelson being ?incompetent? and an ?overzealous leader? bothered board members. Although some form of celebration has been around since the early ?90s, Windy City Black Pride was not official until 1998 ( not being recognized nationally until 2000 ) ; it was spearheaded by Ken Pickens, who remained president until 2000, according to current treasurer Keith McCoy. Thayer Johnson followed Pickens from 2001-2003 and each year following 2003 a new president has surfaced; 2004 being a year with no president at all. Some may have predicted this given the presidential turnover of Chicago's Black pride. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/schism-means-two-black-p rides.html Ryan White?s mom talks about fight with AIDS By Matt Simonette. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. July 2, 2008. The Center on Halsted observed National HIV Awareness Day June 27 with a morning-long forum that included a keynote presentation given by Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of Ryan White. White-Ginder described her son?s initial bouts with hemophilia, his diagnosis with AIDS, their community?s hostile reaction and the family?s eventual activist work. White-Ginder said of her son, ?He was only supposed to live three to six months. Instead he lasted five and a half years.? By getting his story across, she added, ?He felt like he had something to live for.? ?Ryan felt like he had a responsibility to let everyone know what it was like to live with AIDS,? she said. Ryan was infected from using Factor 8, an experimental drug that was to treat his hemophilia. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ryan-whites-mom-talks-ab out-fight-with.html Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. July 2, 2008. Q: We are planning to get married in California next month. We have wills but wonder if our marriage will offer us any extra benefits? What else beside a will do you suggest that we have? A: Even though you may be married in California, that will carry no legal benefit in Illinois. A periodic review of changes in the estate planning laws, tax laws and updating your powers of attorney are essential to all couples if you want to have a worry free legal support system, even though married. The following are four points that I think relevant for 2008 to all married and non-married couples. Appointment of Agent To Control Disposition of Remains. Pursuant to the new Disposition of Remains Act, effective January 1, 2006, unless a decedent has left directions in writing for the disposition of the decedent?s remains as provided in the Crematory Regulation Act, only certain persons, in the priority listed, have the right to control the disposition, including cremation, of the decedent?s remains. None of them listed include your LGBT partner. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/appointment-of-agent-to- control.html Health Care Sense of crisis prevails in US healthcare By Nicholas Timmins Public Policy Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 22:19 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:19. America?s healthcare system is broken. If there is one statement on which the majority of Republicans and Democrats agree ? along with employers and individuals and even some health plans ? that is it. Fixing it will be another matter. Hard numbers explain the sense of crisis ? and why all the presidential candidates in recent US primaries felt the need to offer at least a partial blueprint for reform. Since 2000, premiums have risen 91 per cent on average, while wages have risen 24 per cent, and there are now 47m people ? 16 per cent of the population ? without insurance for all or part of the year, though they include the young, fit and well-off who eschew cover. But as worrying for the sense of national wellbeing is what is happening to a 25m-strong group known as the ?under-insured?, whose plight is taking the healthcare crisis to the heart of the middle class. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/sense-of-crisis-prevails -in-us.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Stalling on AIDS bill puts more lives at risk. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. June 29, 2008. Congressional foot-dragging on a $50 billion, five-year plan to extend the fight against the global AIDS pandemic has gone on long enough. A band of fiscally conservative Republican senators is blocking a vote on the bipartisan President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In April, the House passed its version of the bill that targets HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and other parts of the world. The bill is a compromise, containing elements we disagree with, but it's better than nothing. A key issue was whether countries would be told how to spend money dedicated to HIV/AIDS or would they have the automony to spend it as they saw fit. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-stalling-on.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Docs and secret shoppers. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 30, 2008. Ever sat simmering in the doctor's office, waiting for a delayed appointment? Ever had to deal with rude, unhelpful or otherwise surly desk clerks, assistants, nurses or other staff in the same office? Ever felt treated like a chart or a statistic, not a human being? We're guessing that many readers are nodding their heads right about now. But we're also guessing that many of them either don't complain to the doctor or don't complain effectively. And maybe doctors and their staffs aren't listening all that carefully. A committee of the American Medical Association recently suggested another way to gauge performance in the doctor's office: Send in a secret shopper. Secret shoppers are dispatched to retail stores, restaurants and hotels to pose as customers in order to measure customer service and quality. So why not send them into doctor's offices to do the same? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editoria l-docs-and.html Technology Microsoft to sell Office, OneCare for $70 a year By JESSICA MINTZ. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:00 AM CDT, July 2, 2008. SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will begin selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis starting mid-July, in a bid to reach thrifty PC buyers who would otherwise pass on productivity software. The software bundle, which also includes Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software, will be sold at nearly 700 Circuit City stores for $70 per year. Bryson Gordon, a group product manager for the Office group, said in an interview that the agreement with Circuit City Stores Inc. is not exclusive, and that the bundle will be available at other retailers and on PCs sold by the likes of Dell Inc. in the future. Subscription pricing for software has become commonplace in businesses but is a relatively new concept for consumers. The Microsoft Equipt bundle -- formerly code-named "Albany" -- includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus OneCare and a handful of existing free Windows Live applications. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/microsoft-to-sell-office -onecare-for-70.html AT&T offers new option of iPhone without contract By PETER SVENSSON. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:55 AM CDT, July 1, 2008. NEW YORK - AT&T Inc. will sell the new version of the iPhone without a service contract for $400 more than the price with a two-year plan, a break from the rules set when Apple Inc.'s popular touch-screen gadget debuted last year. Two new models of iPhones go on sale July 11 for $199 and $299, depending on the amount of memory, with two-year AT&T contracts. The contract-free versions will cost $599 and $699 and will be sold sometime "in the future," AT&T said. The phones sold under contract are subsidized by AT&T, which expects to make the money back through monthly service fees over the life of the contract. Without a contract, users can cancel service without incurring an early termination fee. But both contract and contract-free phones will be "locked" to work only on AT&T's network, and the monthly service plans available will be the same, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe. The plans add a $30 monthly charge for data like e-mail and Web surfing on top of a calling plan. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/at-offers-new-option-of- iphone-without.html Other Ebay ordered to pay ?38m to LVMH over fakes By Nikki Tait in Brussels and Richard Waters in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 13:13 | Last updated: June 30 2008 20:31. A French court has hit at the heart of Ebay?s business model by ordering the online retailer to pay almost ?40m to LVMH, the French luxury goods maker, for failing to do enough to block sales of counterfeit goods. The world?s biggest e-commerce company was also ordered to block sales of genuine bottles of perfume made by four LVMH brands after the court ruled that it had breached the selective distribution agreements LVMH uses to control where and how the perfume is sold. Ebay said it would appeal against both rulings, claiming the decisions could have much broader implications for online commerce by imposing restrictions on the way goods can be sold and hence consumer choice. The French ruling comes as a US court prepares to issue its verdict in a similar high-profile case brought by Tiffany, bringing to a head the long-running dispute between Ebay and owners of some of the world?s most famous luxury brands. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebay-ordered-to-pay-38m- to-lvmh-over.html Humor A worldwide poll http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/worldwide-poll.html 9 Dangerous Words Women Use http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/9-dangerous-words-women- use.html New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat Jul 12 16:13:14 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:13:14 -0500 Subject: [News] Killing the Constitution Newsletter- July 12, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Justice Antonin Scalia: "It is not therole of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct." Stepen Colbert: He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job.The court's job is to overturn elections. Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Ladens Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be 144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arbia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washingto. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- abot six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $14 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices ave raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration olicies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The raq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of te constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, ad I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bn Laden ever could. A national cleansing By Nicholas D. Kristof. Copyriht by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 6, 2008. When adistinguished American military commander accuses the United States of commiting war crimes in its handlingof detainees, you know that the country needs a new way forward. "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investiated abuses in Iraq, declares in a powerful new report on American torture fom Physicians for Human Rights. "The only question that remains to be answeed is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to accout." The first step of accountability isn't prosecutions. Rather, we Ameicans need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul-searching nd national cleansing. That was what South Africa did after apartheid, wit its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and it is what the United States di with the Kerner Commission on race and the 1980s commission that examind the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. http://iretirdfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/national-cleansing.html Internationa Herald Tribune Editorial: Compromising the Constitution. Copyright by The nternational Herald Tribune. Published: July 8, 2008. The U.S. Congress hs been far too compliant as President George W. Bush undermined the Bil of Rights and the balance of powers. It now has a chance to undo some of hat damage - if it has the courage to stand up to the White House and fr the Constitution. The Senate should reject a bill that would needlessly xpand the government's ability to spy on Americans and ensure that the counry never learns the full extent of Bush's unlawful wiretapping. Th bill dangerously weakens the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, r FISA. Adopted after the abuses of the Watergate and Vietnam eras, the lw requires the government to get a warrant to intercept communications between anyone in the United States and anyone outside it - and show that it is investigating a oreign power, or the agent of a foreign power, that plans to harm America. The FISA law created a court to issue those warrants quickly, and over 30 yars, the court has approved nearly 20,000 while rejecting perhaps a haf-dozen. In any case, the government can wiretap first and get permissionlater in moments of crisis. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.cm/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_08.html International Herad Tribune Editorial: The U.S. government and your laptop. Copyright b The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 10, 2008. The U.S. Depament of Homeland Security is routinely searching laptops at airports whn Americans re-enter the United States from abroad. The government then pres over or copies the laptop's contents - including financial records, meical data and e-mail messages. These out-of-control searches trample the prvacy rights of Americans, and Congress should rein them in. There hav been widespread reports of the government searching - and often seizin - laptops, BlackBerrys, iPhones and other poable electronic devices at airports. It is not clear how often these searches occur, and the government will not say. The Association of Corporate Travel Ecutives says that of 100 people who responded to a survey it conducted this yar, seven said they had had a laptop or other electronic device seized. Ths goes well beyond examining a piece of luggage. Because of the enorous amount of private information people keep on their laptops, the searchs are more akin to rifling through someone's home and reading every letter,financial record and personal journal. At a Senate hearing last mont, civil liberties, civil rights and business groups testified about the har the program is doing. Businesses object that their trade secrets are beig jeopardized. Lawyers and journalists say the government should not have accss to their confidential communications with clients and sources. Muslimscontend that they are being singled out for particularly intrusive searches. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-ti bune-editorial_10.html US Senate approves wire-tapping bill By Andrew ard in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: Ju 9 2008 20:21 | Last updated: July 9 2008 22:53. The US Senate approveda bill overhauling domestic eavesdropping laws on Wednesday, ending more tan two years of wrangling over President George W. Bush?s terrorist survellance programme. The legislation provides the government with sweeping new powers to monitor communications involving suspected terrorists and gives legal immunity to telecommnications companies that co-operated with secret wiretapping after the Septmber 2001 attacks. Mr Bush said the measures would make it easier for his ainistration and future presidents to keep America safe. ?This bill will hel our intelligence professionals learn who the terrorists are talking to, hat they?re saying, and what they?re planning,? he said. Barack Obama, the emocratic presidential candidate, was among the 69-28 bipartisan majorit that backed the proposals, reversing his opposition to earlier versions of he bill as part of his gradual shift towards the political centre. http://ietiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-senate-approves-wire- tappig-bill.html Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify on Hill By BEN EVANS. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 11, 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justce Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former emocratic governor of Alabama. Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove wasbreaking the law by refusing to cooperate ? perhaps the first step toward hlding him in contempt of Congress. The White House has cited executive privlege as a reason he and others who serve or served in the administraion should not testify, arguing that internal administration communications ae confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify. Rove ays he is bound to follow the White House's guidance, although he has offere to answer questions specifically on the Siegelman case ? but only with o transcript taken and not under oath. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blgspot.com/2008/07/rove-ignores-subpoena-re fuses-to.html Court tossesWhite House appeal on visitor logs By PETE YOST. Copyright 2008 Associated Pess. 10:53 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. WASHINGTON - A federal appeals courton Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its vistors secret. The Washington court threw ot the government's appeal in the case in which a watchdog group is trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. Despite the ruling against the White House, the decision does not necessarily mean that visitor logs will be subject to public disclosure. The White House can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret. But appeals court Judge David Tatel said the document request from the private roup is narrowly drawn and can be processed. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/court-tosses-white-house -appeal-on.html Languag a great leader makes By Brian Groom. Copyright The Financial Times Limied 2008. Published: July 11 2008 18:32 | Last updated: July 11 2008 18:32. hatever happened to the art of political phrase-making? The leaders f the developed world were on show this week at the Group of Eight summitin Toyako, Japan. Faced with the triple challenge of a food, oil and financia crisis, their response was as tongue-tied as it was ineffectual. ?We saw ey to eye,? was all Yasuo Fukuda, Japan?s prime minister, could muster as he ought to look positively at an outcome that merely voiced concern at ising oil prices and toyed with ideas on food shortages. Ah, you may sy, the problem lies with actions ? or lack of them ? not words. Summits area hopeless way to resolve complicated problems. If you have nothing to sa, say nothing. ? ?Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to spea and remove all doubt? (an unsourced remark sometimes attributed to Araham Lincoln). Yet at times of stress, we still look to elected leaders to express our collective anxieties and stiffen resolve.... But it is a painful irony that Mr sh, himself a war leader, counts Churchill as a hero yet shares so little of is gift. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/languagegreat-leader-ma kes.html International Financial Times Editorial Commnt: Pipe dreams and cigar smoke. Copyright The Financial Times Limitd 2008. Published: July 9 2008 20:19 | Last updated: July 9 2008 20:1. For proof that the G8 has outlived its usefulness, one need look no furthr than the inability of the world?s richest democracies to forge an agreed gobal strategy for tackling climate change. The refusal by China and India toendorse its proposed cuts in carbon dioxide emissions renders this week?s 8 summit in Japan pointless. Any notion a club of eight nations could run th world ? never plausible ? is now so discredited as to call into question th value of all its declarations. World leaders have since Monday talked abot global warming, rising food and oil prices, African poverty and the financil strains of the global credit squeeze. But what use is a ?shared vision? of utting carbon emissions without the endorsement of the developing world? fastest-growing and biggest polluter? How is it possible to pronounce on inflation and try to tame soaring oil prices without the involvement of Saudi Arabia, the world?s biggest crude oil producer? And who i the G8 has the influence or power to isolate Zimbabwe?s Robert Mugabe when no African nation is present? The G8?s problem is that it has becom so divided and poorly led that its annual summits have deteriorated int little more than photo opportunities and exercises in drfting bland communiqu?s. The severity of the current financial crisis nly emphasises the G8?s impotence. The world has changed beyond recognitionsince the original group was formed more than 30 years ago to discuss economc policy. Financial markets are much deeper and the flows between asset clases have grown more complex. The G8?s influence over the markets has dimiished with the power of its finance ministers to move them. Moreover any discussion on exchange rates, where governments and centra banks can still be effective, is doomed to be unproductive while China says a non-member. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fiancial-times-editoria l-comment-pipe.html The pain of the G-8's By Nichoas D. Kristof. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Publised: July 10, 2008. As President George W. Bush and the Group of 8 leadrs who are meeting in Japan again shun their responsibilities in Darfur, thre is a serious argumentto be made that genocide is overrated as an international concern. The G-8 leaders implicitly accept that argument, which goes like this: Genocide is regrettable, but don't ose perspective. It is simply one of many tragedies in the world today - nd a fairly modest one in terms of lives lost. All the genocides of the lat 100 years have cost only 10 million to 12 million lives. In contrast, ever year we lose almost 10 million children under the age of 5 from diseaes and malnutrition attributable to poverty. Make that the priority, not Dafur. Civil conflict in Congo has claimed more than 5.4 million lives ove the last decade, according to careful mortality surveys by the Internationa Rescue Committee. That's at least 10 times the toll in Darfur, but becaus Congo doesn't count as genocide - just as murderous chaos - no one has pad much attention to it. Does a mother whose child dies from banditry,malaria or AIDS grieve any less than a mother whose child was killed bythe janjaweed? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pain-of-g8s.html Data raise fears of eurozone recession By Ralph Atkins in Frankfrt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 208 18:34 | Last updated: July 10 2008 18:34. Steep falls in eurozone indusrial production on Thursday highlighted the economic slowdown under way acros the 15-country region, raising the risk of technical recessions in at leastsome member countries. France and Italy reported far sharper than expectd drops in industrial output in May, echoing similarly weak German producton and export data released this week and reinforcing expectations that secon quarter eurozone growth figures would be bad. The change in mood has been sharpest in Germany, where the economy is thought to have contracted in the three months to June after an exceptional growth spurt t the start of the year. ?The tone of the debate in the eurozone mightshift quite quickly from inflation concerns to straightforward growth cncerns,? said Marco Annunziata at Unicredit, suggesting Germany faced an ouside risk of recession ? two consecutive quarters of negative growth. In Ita the risks were higher, Mr Annunziata said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blgspot.com/2008/07/data-raise-fears-of-euro zone-recession.html South Koreanfatally shot by North Korean soldier By JAE-SOON CHANG. Copyright 2008 Associted Press. 6:24 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. SEOUL, South Korea - A North Korea soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist Friday at a mountain resort in te communist North, prompting the South to suspend the high-profiletour program just as South Korean's new president sought to rekindle strain ties between the divided countries. The news of the unprecedented shootng of a 53-year-old woman at Diamond Mountain resort emerged just hours afte new President Lee Myung-bak delivered a nationwide address calling forrestored contacts between the two Koreas, which have been on hold since he ook office in February. Kim said South Korea would suspend future Diamnd Mountain tours until it completes an investigation. The other some1,200 tourists already athe resort are to complete their tours as scheduled by as late as Sunday, said Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company that operates the resort. http://iretirdfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/south-korean-fatally-sho t-by-northhtml China Bush defends decision to attend Games opening By Sheryl Gy Stolberg. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July , 2008. RUSUTSU, Japan: President George W. Bush arrived Sunday on the lush ad mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido to talk to world leadersabout climate change, soaring oil and gas prices and aid to Africa. But firt, he defended his decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijig Olympics next month - and got a little help from his host, Prime Ministe Yasuo Fukuda of Japan, who announced he would go, too. "I view theOlympics as an opportunity for me to cheer on our athletes," Bush said at apress conference in nearby Toyako, after the two leaders met privatey. He said not going the opening ceremony "would be an affront to the Chiese people" that might make it "more difficult to be able to speak frankly ith the Chinese leadership." Human rights advocates have been urging a bycott of the Games, to protest China's crackdown on anti-government protst in Tibet, and its support for the regime in Sudan. Other world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon rown of Britain, are skipping the opening ceremonies. But after meeting privately with Bush, Fukuda seemed to adopt the president's reasoning. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blopot.com/2008/07/bush-defends-decision-to -attend-games.html ?Anti-China? grups threaten Olympics By Mure Dickie in Beijing. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: July 4 2008 22:13 | Last updated: July 42008 22:13. A top Chinese security official has warned that ?anti-Chna? forces and other hostile groups are intensifying efforts to sabotage nextmonth?s Beijing Olympics. The warning from Yang Huanning, executive vice-minster for public security, reflects concern among Chinese leaders about the pssible disruption of an event in which they have invested enormous political apital. It is also likely to further spur sweeping security measures in Bejing and other Olympic cities that some observers say could cast a chill overGames events. Tougher implementation of visa rules in recent months has alrady sent the number of tourists arriving in the Chinese capital plummetin. Some western critics have already dubbed the Olympics the ?no-fun? Gaes, although local public enthusiasm for the event still appears to be stong. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/anti-chna-groups-threat en-olympics.html China?s trade surplus shrinks By Geoff Dyer in Beijing. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 134 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:34. China?s trade surplus fell by 20 percent in June over the same month last year in a sign that the weaker gloal economy is having a serious impact on the country?s export sector. The rade figures, which show export growth slowing sharply, could strengthen he hand of officials in Beijing who are arguing for a slowdown in therate of appreciation of the Chinese currency to protect exporters. Te deputy head of the Communist party?s policy research office, Zheng inli, was quoted in state media on Thursday calling for slower renminbi rises ?We are not the Asian tigers. We need time to upgrade the structure and o handle the pressure,? he said. Government officials maintain they are stil committed to a tight monetary policy. The currency has appreciated by more han 6 per cent against the US dollar so far this year, helping to ease soe of the international pressure over China?s foreign exchange policy. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinas-trade-surplus-shr inks.tml China?s algae spread to resorts By Geoff Dyer in Baishatan, Shandong. Coyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 22:30 | Lst updated: July 11 2008 22:30. The algae outbreak that threatened the Olymic sailing competition in Qingdao has spread hundreds of kilometres up the cost to popular tourist areas, even as Chinese officials on Friday claimed nearvictory over the thick green sludge. Th long stretch of beach at Baishatan, 150km north of Qingdao, has been lined in recent days with 10-metre-wide slicks of algae that gave out a noxious odour to the f tourists who braved the sand, causing panic among tourist operators. Xu Xin who has a stall selling seashells near the beach at Baishatan, said tat the boardwalk would usually be packed at this time of year. ?But look t it now, there is almost no one here,? she said. In front of her stll, two large earth-moving machines were scooping up chunks of the green alge that covered most of the beach. ?They have cleaned the beach twice alreay, but it keeps coming back.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/200/07/chinas-algae-spread-to-r esorts.html Mess-o-potamia International erald Tribune Editorial: Iraq and Afghanistan: Where do we go from here? Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. The resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes t even more imperative for the United States to begin planning for a swift nd orderly withdrawal from Iraq. For far too long, President George W. Bush' disastrous war of choice in Iraq has leached resources and attention from th war of necessity in Afghanistan. A grim new statistic underscores just howbadly things are going there: 46 American and allied forces died in Afghanisan in June, more than during any other month since the war began in 2001 And for the second straight month, combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded tse for U.S.-led forces in Iraq, where 31 troops died. The recent decline in violence in Iraq is very welcome, but it has yet to be matched with essential political reforms Instead of planning for a serious drawdown of U.S. troops, the White House i using its self-proclaimed success as one more excuse for staying on. Bushs successor will almost certainly inherit an Iraq with at least 130,000 US. troops still fighting there. Until now nearly all of the presidentialdebate has focused on whether and when a withdrawal should occur. Senator Jhn McCain says he will stay on until "victory" is achieved. But he hasnot fully explained what that means or how it can be accomplished, much les how it can be accomplished while simultaneously routing militants in fghanistan. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/internaional-herald-tri bune-editorial_09.html The Boston Globe Editorial: Keep col on Iran. Copyright by The Boston Globe. Published: July 11, 2008. Afte Iran test-fired nine missiles Wednesday near the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil passes, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wisely refused to overeact. "There is a lot of signaling going on," he said. "But I think evrybody recognizes what the consequences of any kind of conflict would be. Ad I will tell you that this government is working hard to make sure that te diplomatic and economic approach to dealing with Iran, and trying o get the Iranian government to change its policies, is the strategy and s the approach that continues to dominate." The missile tests ostensibly sowed Iran's ability to retaliate against any attack on its nuclear facilities but military experts tend to view the display as overblown. Gate insisted that there is nothing in the missile tests to alter current adminitration policy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boson-globe-editorial-k eep-cool-on.html Iran test-fires missile in the GulfBy Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 20. Published: July 9 2008 11:42 | Last updated: July 9 2008 17:51. Iran tst-fired ballistic missiles on Wednesday in an exercise officials said wa designed to show how the country could retaliate against a US or Israeli attck, state television reported. The test ? by Iran?s elite Revolutionar Guard ? came amid escalating international tensions over the country?s nucler program me. There has been speculatin in recent weeks that Israel could mount an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Suspicions were fuelled by recent Israeli military manoeuvres in the Meditrranean, which some US officials described as target practice for an Iran trike. The aim of the test was to prepare ?for a quick and crushing responseand retaliatory blows in the event of an enemy attack?, said Mohammad-Ali Jfari, chief commander of the Revolutionary Guard, before the missileswere fired. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/iran-test-fes-missile- in-gulf.html Six die in US consulate attack in Istanbul By Vncent Boland in Ankara. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pubished: July 9 2008 10:03 | Last updated: July 9 2008 11:55. Three police fficers and three assailants were killed in an exchange of fire outside th US consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday in the most serious attack on a freign target in Turkey for five years. Gunmen attacked the fortress-like purpose-built consulate north of the city centre at about 11am, witnesse said. A gun battle broke out that lasted about 10 minutes. The three attckers who died were Turkish citizens, according to the governor of Istanbul. ?This is an obvious act of terrorism,? said Ross Wilson, the US ambasador to Turkey. He said No consular staff or US citizs had been killed, and security was being strengthened at the Ankara embassy and at another US consulate in the southern city of Adana. There was no immediate caim of responsibility for the attack, which was condemned across the poltical spectrum in Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, saidit was a ?heinous? attack against ? the stability and tranquillity of Turky?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/six-die-in-us-consuate- attack-in.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Act fast to stemthe Taliban's rising tide. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 11, 2008. The swelling forces of Taliban and Al Qaeda fightrs in Pakistan's border region pose a grave threat to U.S. and NATO troops i Afghanistan. They also pose a grave threat to Pakistan's people. Pakistans Taliban militias, like their Afghan counterparts, are trying to impose heir harsh version of Islamic law. More than a thousand Pakistanis have bee killed in terrorist attacks in the past year, mostly in the border areaswhere radical Islamic fighters are strongest. Pakistan's new military nd civilian leaders, caught up in their own power struggles, have been dagerously derelict in confronting the threat. Instead, they have deluded themslves that they can negotiate a separate peace with fanatic Taliban leaders.Experience has proved that will not work. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogpot.com/2008/07/international-herald-t bune-editorial_11.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - The menace in Pakistan. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 12, 2008. Pakistan's new ambassador to the United Stats is asking for understanding as the new civilian government tries to cope ith the persistent insurgency in tribal areas along the border with Afghnistan. That is asking a lot of the U.S. and its Afghan allies, whose ast patience has not been rewarded. If Islamabad wants time, it needs toshow the world it is prepared to act firmly against a chronic menace thatendangers not only the Pakistani government, but Afghans, and quite posibly, Americans. The insurgents include elements of the Taliban and Al Qaed. They have terrorized Pakistan, and they have launched attacks more frequntly this year across the border into Afghanistan. American forces recently klled 11 members of Pakistan's paramilitary forces by mistake, in a bombing ttack on enemy units along the border. Menwhile, Taliban forces struck at a prison in Kandahar, freeing some 1,200 prisoners. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sai he would send troops into Pakistan to "destroy terrorist nests"?though he probably doesn't have the forces to carry out the threat. http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-menace-n.html Bomber near Pakistani mosque kills at least 11 By Joel Elliott. Coyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. ISLAMBAD, Pakistan: At least 11 people died Sunday when a suicide bomber set offan explosion next to a group of poice officers guarding an area near the Red Mosque, where a restive crowd had gathered to commemorate a deadly clash between Islamic militants and gvernment security forces in July 2007, the authorities said. More than 2 people were wounded, doctors at a nearby hospitalsaid. Most of the dead and wounded appeared to be police officers. About 30 officers had been standing on a sidewalk near a police station, just a few hundred yards fr the Red Mosque in the center of Islamabad, when the explosion occurred. housands of people were at the mosque to commemorate an eight-day siege therea year ago that ended when commandos stormed the sprawling complex befre dawn on July 10. Security forces and Islamic militants armed with automati weapons, rocket launchers and grenades battled for an entire day in theconfrontation, which left more than 100 people dead. Within minutesof the suicide bombing, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, medic were rushing dozens of wounded people to nearby hospitals and thouands of worshipers were fleeing the area near the mosque. http://retiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomber-near-pakistani-mo sque-klls-at.html It Was Oil, All Along By Bill Moyers & Michael Winship. Copyriht by The BILL MOYERS JOURNAL. July 7, 2007. Oh, no, they told us, Iraqisn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationles went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bottom turns out to be...the bottom line. It is about oil. Alan Greenspan said so last fall. The frmer chairman of the Federal Reserve, safely out of office, confessed in hismemoir, ??Everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.? He elaboratedin an interview with the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, "If Saddam Hussin had been head of Iraq and there was no oil under those sands, our resonse to him would not have been as strong as it was in the first gulf war" Remember, also, that soon after the invasion, Donald Rumsfeld?s deputy Paul Wolfowitz, told the press that war was our only strategic choice. ??e had virtually no economic options with Iraq,? he explained, ?because the ountry floats on a sea of oil.? Shades of Daniel Plainview, the monstrous ptroleum tycoon in the mie THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Half-mad, he exclaims, "There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet!" then adds, "No one can get at it except for me!" No wonder American troo only guarded the Ministries of Oil and the Interior in Baghdad, even as lootrs pillaged museums of their priceless antiquities. They were making sure n one could get at the oil except... guess who? http://iretiredfromnesletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/it-was-oil-all-along.htm l Iraq city hasbrittle calm and war scars By Alissa J. Rubin. Copyright by The Intenational Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. BAQUBA, Iraq: Less thn an hour east and north of Baghdad sprawls Diyala Province, once the garden f Iraq, known for its date and orange orchards, its rice and its barley farm. More recently it has been known as one of Iraq's worst killing fields. he religious and ethnic diversity that made it a microcosm of the countryalso meant that every lethal division played out within its borders. Sunni and Shiites, Kurds and Arabs live in close quarters here. By 2006, whoe villages were burning. There were months last year when kidnappings weredaily occurrences and headless bodies routinely showed up in the fields and floated down the rivers. Intermarriage, once a way of life in the province, was forbidden by many families The province became the headquarters of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the extreist Sunni insurgent group most associated with suicide bombings and beheadins. The danger was great enough that Western reporters could visit Diyala oly while embedded with American troops. But in late June, a New York imes reporter and photographer traveled to the provincial capital, diving in old Iraqi cars with an interpreter to see how much had changed. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/iraq-city-has-brittle-ca lmand-war.html Desperation, depression creates female bombers in Iraq By lissa J. Rubin. Copyright by The New York Times. 10:37 AM CDT, Jly 5, 2008. BAQOUBA, Iraq ? Wenza Ali Mutlaq walked a bit uncertainy up the long street near the main government offices here on June 22, the ht wind stirring her heavy black abaya. She passed the concrete barricdes put up to ward off suicide car bombers and made her way alone, almost aphazardly. Suddenly, a police car zoomed in. A policeman got out to talk with her. And then their lives were over ? torn apart, along with 14 other people, by the huge blast of fire from her concealed explosive vest. Mutlaq, who was in her 30s and whose attack was captured on a security video, was the 18th female suicide bomber of the war to strike in Diyala province, which has been hit by female attackers much more frequently than any other province of Iraq, according to Iraqi police records and the U.S. military. So far, 11 of the 20 suicide bombings carried out by women in Iraq this year have occurred in Diyala. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/desperation-depression-c reates-female.html Bodies of 2 missing US soldiers are found in Iraq By DAVID AGUILAR. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 3:26 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. DETROIT - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families said Thursday night. The military would not immediately confirm the report. The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Mich., had been identified in Iraq. Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007 in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." The body of the third seized soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bodies-of-2-missing-us-s oldiers-are.html A blind eye on soldiers' suicides By James Carroll. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 4, 2008. 'Support the troops" is an American lie. This nation is grievously and knowingly failing the young men and women who wear the uniform of its military services, and nothing demonstrates that more powerfully than the suicides of soldiers. According to the U.S. Army's own figures, the rate of suicide among active duty personnel nearly doubled between 2001 and 2006. The number then grew even higher in 2007, when suicide ranked third as the cause of death among members of the National Guard. Even if proximate causes vary from war zones to home fronts, such data are anomalous, since suicide rates among soldiers historically go down during wartime, not up. Veterans, too, are in trouble. In May, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health warned of "a gathering storm." Thomas Insel told the American Psychiatric Association that one in five of the 1.6 million soldiers who have been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan (or more than 300,000) suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome or depression. Potentially life-threatening mental disorders, including self-destructive behavior like addiction, raise the prospect, in Insel's words, of "suicides and psychological mortality trumping combat deaths." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blind-eye-on-soldiers-su icides.html National America?s human capital is tested By Clive Crook. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 6 2008 17:43 | Last updated: July 6 2008 17:43. A startling and profoundly important fact about the US economy has received surprisingly little attention. The educational quality of the country?s workers is starting to decline ? not just relatively (because other countries are catching up and moving ahead) but also, for the first time, in absolute terms. Over the coming years, baby-boomers departing from the labour force will have better educational qualifications than the younger workers replacing them. If the ultimate source of an economy?s ability to grow and prosper is its human capital, the US is in trouble. For decades the educational quality of the US labour force surged. In 1940, less than 5 per cent of the population aged 25-64 had at least a four-year college education. By 2000, the proportion had increased to nearly 30 per cent. Successive generations of workers improved on the educational attainments of their predecessors. Retiring workers were replaced by better-educated youngsters. This remorseless accumulation of human capital helped fuel the country?s postwar growth. According to at least one authoritative study, it was the principal driver. This trend came to a halt with workers now aged 55-59. Younger cohorts are no better educated than these soon-to-retire boomers. Broadly speaking, educational quality has topped out ? and on at least one measure, it is actually deteriorating. In 2006, Americans aged 55-59 collectively possessed more masters degrees, professional degrees and doctorates than Americans aged 30-34. This impending loss of educational capital is entirely outside the country?s experience. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/americas-human-capital-i s-tested.html So how dumb are we? - Duh! Younger Americans stumped in knowledge tests in our visually driven global info age By Lisa Anderson. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:32 AM CDT, July 5, 2008. NEW YORK?Who hasn't snickered at "Jaywalking," a "Tonight Show" segment in which host Jay Leno flummoxes unsuspecting young people on the street with such tricky questions as: In what country is Paris located? Or cringed to see Miss America 2007 humiliated by a brainy bunch of 10-year-olds?who just happened to know the sun is the heavenly body with the greatest mass in our solar system?on "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Or witnessed the consternation of a cashier presented with a $20 bill and two quarters for a $12.50 tab? Some consider such deficits in knowledge and ability no laughing matter, citing it as evidence of the "dumbing down" of Americans, particularly young adults. Others believe any decline in book smarts simply reflects the evolution of new ways of learning and "knowing," forged in a fast-paced wireless world where the data of the ages are downloaded in a nanosecond at the touch of a keyboard. So, which is it? No one really knows. But the topic clearly is percolating through the popular culture: Read the less-than-reassuring poll of "What Do Americans Know" in Newsweek's July 7-14 Global Literacy 2008 issue. Or the cover story in The Atlantic magazine's July/August issue: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid? What the Internet is doing to our brains." Or the just-published "DISTRACTED: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age," by Maggie Jackson. Dumbest generation? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/so-how-dumb-are-we-duh-y ounger.html Pentagon to build ?safer? cluster bombs - Under pressure, military agrees to modify bombs in 10 years. Copyright by The Associated Press. updated 8:52 p.m. CT, Mon., July. 7, 2008. WASHINGTON - Faced with growing international pressure, the Pentagon is changing its policy on cluster bombs and plans to reduce the danger of unexploded munitions in the deadly explosives. The policy shift, which is outlined in a three-page memo signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, would require that after 2018, more than 99 percent of the bomblets in a cluster bomb must detonate. Limiting the amount of live munitions left on the battlefield would lessen the danger to innocent civilians who could be killed or severely injured if they accidentally detonate the bombs. Also, by next June the Defense Department will begin to reduce its inventory of cluster bombs that do not meet the new safety requirements. The new Defense Department plan comes more than a month after 111 nations, including many of America's key NATO partners, adopted a treaty outlawing all current designs of cluster munitions. The agreement also required that stockpiles be destroyed within eight years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-to-build-safer- cluster-bombs.html 1,000 sickened in salmonella outbreak - Jalapeno peppers join tomatoes on list of suspects, but hard answers still elude U.S. health officials By Stephen J. Hedges. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Salmonella poisoning has sickened more than 1,000 people in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, and federal health officials have now linked jalapeno and serrano peppers to the outbreak. Illinois has reported 100 salmonella-related illnesses, the second highest total among affected states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 26 state residents have been hospitalized. Texas and New Mexico, where the outbreak was first detected, have 384 and 98 cases respectively. As of Wednesday, 1,017 cases in all had been confirmed, with 203 hospitalizations. The death of a Texas man in his 80s has been linked to the outbreak, The Washington Post reported. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/1000-sickened-in-salmone lla-outbreak.html Many more readers say they feel 'Trapped' in sexless marriages By Cheryl Lavin. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 9, 2008. 'Trapped" is not the only person living, unhappily, with a spouse who can no longer have sex. Today we hear from several more Gayle: I'm 45, my husband is 53. We have two children and are committed to being an intact family. But we don't have sex because of his health. I yearn for the spiritual and physical connection that I can't get from him. His indifference to my suffering has made me seriously contemplate divorce over the last eight years. I even went so far as to hire a lawyer. Many people might say you don't have to have intercourse to have sex. I know that. We've tried many times to re-create the intimate feelings in alternative ways, but to be perfectly honest, it just makes me miss the sex even more. Your advice to have a discreet affair has some value, but with whom? All the men I know are friends of ours. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/many-more-readers-say-th ey-feel-trapped.html What Kind Of Economist Is Phil Gramm? Copyright by The Wonk Room. July 11, 2008. Our guest blogger is James K. Galbraith, author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. A former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee, Galbraith teaches at The University of Texas at Austin. Phil Gramm is not John McCain?s pastor. He?s his closest economic adviser, and according to many reports practically the designated Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration. John McCain believes Phil Gramm to be a great economist. To the extent that John McCain has economic ideas, he gets them from Phil Gramm. Or did, until yesterday. So it is perhaps worthwhile to ask, what kind of economist is Phil Gramm?/Phil Gramm?s Greatest Hits: ?Poor People Are Fat? And ?There Should Be No Minimum Wage? Copyright by Think Progress.org. July 11, 2008 During the last two days, the McCain campaign has gone into damage control over top economic adviser Phil Gramm?s belief that America has ?become a nation of whiners? and is only ?in a mental recession.? McCain tried to disavow the remarks by saying that ?Phil Gramm does not speak for me.? But McCain?s distancing doesn?t change the fact that Gramm is considered his ?econ brain.? McCain thinks so highly of Gramm that he was even the chairman of his failed 1996 presidential bid. As it turns out, this is not the first time that Gramm, a self-styled ?foot soldier of the Reagan revolution,? has advocated controversial views on the economy. In the past, he has criticized public works projects, the existence of a minimum wage, and the federal welfare program. Here are some highlights from McCain?s ?econ brain,? as compiled by the Houston Chronicle [2/20/95]: http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-kind-of-economist-i s-phil.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial -Bitter Taste Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. Tens of thousands of people were streaming away from the lakefront and Taste of Chicago after the city's July 3 fireworks show when a southern flank of the Loop turned into a shooting gallery. One person was killed and three were wounded. The next night, July 4, there was another shooting near the Taste festival. And people who came to the park for the fireworks report they were intimidated by roving gangbangers in Grant Park. The Loop shootings didn't happen at the Taste itself. But there were 25 arrests at the festival July 3, most for reckless conduct, and 23 arrests outside the grounds. Last year, only six people were arrested in and around the grounds on July 3. In both 2007 and 2008, police reported eight arrests on July 4. The city's July 3 fireworks show is hugely popular, drawing some 1 million people. Taste attracted 3.5 million over 10 days. It's difficult to police?and protect?such big and fluid crowds. So we won't jump to the conclusion that the Chicago Police Department, under new Supt. Jody Weis, blew the assignment. And talk that what happened last week might affect the city's 2016 Olympics bid? Well, that's just silly. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-bitter-taste.html Mice Close Whole Foods Store - Mice, supermarkets and food safety. Posted by Renee Enna at 10:00 a.m. CDT. Copyright ? 2008, The Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. The discovery of mouse droppings that closed Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park offers a sage reminder to cityfolk that we're not the only ones who like food-centered businesses. The store, at 1000 W. North Ave, was closed Wednesday by the Chicago Department of Public Health after inspectors found mouse feces throughout the premises, including more than 100 droppings in one walk-in cooler alone, according to the department. Also found was a dead mouse on a glueboard trap. Wednesday's visit was a follow-up to an inspection on June 27, when inspectors ordered management to eliminate the infestation and warned that there would be a re-inspection, according to Tim Hadac, the department's spokesman. On Wednesday, inspectors found "no compliance," which automatically raises the violation from ?serious? to ?critical,? which prompted the closing, Hadac said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mice-close-whole-foods-s tore-mice.html Speculation grows on governor?s pick to succeed Obama By Dennis Conrad. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 9, 2008. WASHINGTON?If the nation?s voters decide to send Sen. Barack Obama to the White House, there would be another election of sorts in his home state of Illinois. Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat at odds with members of his own party, would alone choose who succeeds the state?s junior senator. Some politicians are talking openly about the possibility of being appointed to the Senate and bloggers have begun playing the ?who?s next? game about the person to fill out the remaining two years of Obama?s term. ?I?m sure a lot of people are trying to tell the governor what to do?absolutely,? said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), who did not rule out accepting an appointment. Recently, the governor was asked about Obama?s seat and he mentioned several members of Congress. He also mentioned Tammy Duckworth, the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans? Affairs who in 2006 lost a bid for Congress. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/speculation-grows-on-gov ernors-pick-to.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Get to work, for law's sake. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 9, 2008. Let's end the madness already. State legislators are due in Springfield for a special session today, called by Gov. Blagojevich to figure out how to fill what he says is a $2 billion hole in the state budget that began July 1. The outcome is all but certain, which makes this session of two days or more yet another waste of time and taxpayer money. The Associated Press Tuesday estimates a two-day session costs $80,000. By Friday, Blagojevich is expected to have cut $1.5 billion from the budget by trimming funds for social services, health care, economic development, public safety and more. Before then, the House will go through the motions of considering Blagojevich's favored revenue bills. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-get-to-work.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Killing the sales tax hike. Copyright by The Chicago Tribune. July 7, 2008. Day after day, Cook County Board members who voted to raise the sales tax awaken to more headaches that will keep their dereliction of duty right where it belongs: in the forefront of furious voters' minds. Last week Fitch Ratings, an influential national firm, changed its outlook for some $3 billion in Cook County debt from "stable" to "negative." That could portend a downgrading of the county's bond rating, which would raise taxpayers' cost to service that debt. Here's a key Fitch sentence: "With the highest sales tax rate in the nation, the county faces political and economic pressure to provide tax relief for county residents." Political and economic pressure. That's you, Taxpayer?if you choose to demand repeal of this full-percentage-point increase. This week, County Board member Tony Peraica intends to finish drafting a resolution to do just that. Other board opponents of the hike, notably Michael Quigley and Forrest Claypool, likely will join as co-sponsors. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-killing-sales.html Sorry about that 'sorry': State has good side By CAROL MARIN cmarin at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 12, 2008. My brain is withering in the July heat. So when I finish writing this, I'm off to vacation for two weeks. But before I go, there are a few words I'd like to reconsider. Wednesday, I wrote a column about the state Legislature and the blood feud between Gov. Blagojevich and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan. In it, I used a term I'd like to take back. I called us a "sorry state." That isn't exactly what I meant to say. Oh yes, the misery drenched General Assembly in Springfield, the corroded legislative process, the political corruption that is woven into all levels of Illinois government, is beyond sorry. So is the governor, who in retaliation for not getting his way on the budget last week, cut the operating funds of potential gubernatorial rivals far more than his own. He slashed Attorney General Lisa Madigan's budget by 25 percent, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias' office by 13 percent, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's by 17 percent, Secretary of State Jesse White's by 14 percent and Comptroller Dan Hynes by 11 percent. But when it came to the governor's own office, he cut with a butter knife, not a machete. A mere 2.7 percent. It was petty and sorry. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/sorry-about-that-sorry-s tate-has-good.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - 'We need to get out of the way' Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. Imagine Frankie Valli and the boys, standing on a Jersey street corner, smacking their Nicorette gum. It just wouldn't be the same. But the Jersey Boys have been forced to stub out their cigarettes onstage, thanks to Chicago's smoking ban. The only surprise is that it took this long. A year ago, representatives of Chicago's theater scene lobbied the City Council to create an exemption to the ban so that actors could smoke while in character. Other cities with smoking bans and thriving theater scenes?most notably New York?have carved out similar exceptions. But the Chicago proposal died in committee, after Ald. Ed Smith (28th) and others who had championed the ban suggested the producers should rewrite their scripts instead. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-we-need-to.html Your Lack of Money International Herald Tribune Editorial: The shrinking U.S. job market. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 6, 2008. Judging from the jobs report for June, released last Thursday, the U.S. economy has shifted into reverse. For the sixth month in a row, the economy shed jobs, for a total loss of 438,000 jobs so far this year. About half of that came in the past three months, the worst second-quarter showing since 2003, when the nation was mired in joblessness from the previous recession. It appears that things will get worse before they get better. Jobs in the private sector are typically harder hit in a downturn than government jobs. In the current downturn, however, government jobs are vulnerable too. That is because state tax revenues are getting clobbered in large part by flagging sales taxes, the linchpin of many state budgets. As consumers pull back - a reaction to dwindling home equity, stagnating wages, job loss, high levels of debt and rising prices - states and municipalities face layoffs and other cost-cutting. Even the economy's one bright spot, exports, is doing little for employment. As the dollar has weakened, exporters have been selling more, helping to sustain overall economic growth. But manufacturing jobs have fallen every month for the past two years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_06.html Wall Street slumps into bear market territory By Jeremy Lemer in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 9 2008 14:07 | Last updated: July 9 2008 21:38. US stocks slumped decisively into bear market territory on Wednesday as investor sentiment buckled on concerns about the health of the financials sector and fears that slowing economic growth would hurt earnings at technology firms. Nine of the ten leading industrial sectors fell, knocking the benchmark S&P 500 down 2.3 per cent to 1,244.63 - its lowest level since July 2006 and its first bear market since 2002. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.1 per cent to 11,246.06 while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.6 per cent to 2,234.89. All three leading indices closed down more than 20 per cent from their recent highs. Wall Street stocks rallied the most in a month on Tuesday as falling commodity prices boosted consumer-facing stocks and comments from the chief executive of JPMorgan that the credit crisis would ease helped financials roar ahead. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/wall-street-slumps-into- bear-market.html Recession is not the worst possible outcome By Wolfgang M?nchau. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 6 2008 17:53 | Last updated: July 6 2008 17:53. If this had been a mere financial crisis, it would be over by now. The fact that we are suffering its fourth wave tells us there might be something at work other than merely financial euphoria and bad regulation. Maybe this is not a Minsky moment after all. Hyman Minsky, the 20th century US economist, formulated the long forgotten, and recently rediscovered, financial instability hypothesis, according to which capitalist economies, after a long period of prosperity, end up in a vicious circle of financial speculation. The Minsky moment is the point when what economists call this ?Ponzi game? collapses. But there might be better explanations. As the Bank of International Settlements said in its latest annual report, subprime might have been the trigger for this crisis, but not the cause. We do not have a full understanding yet of what happened but the BIS suggested that fast expansion of money and credit must have played a role. I would go further and say this is not primarily a crisis of financial speculation, but one of economic policy. Its principal villains are therefore not bankers, but economists ? not in their role as teachers and researchers, but as policy advisers and policymakers. So who are they? I recall a wonderful episode told by Jagdish Bhagwati in his book In Defense of Globalization when he quoted John Kenneth Galbraith as saying: ?Milton?s [Friedman?s] misfortune is that his policies have been tried.? In fact, this is not the worst that could happen. The worst is for economists to try out their own theories themselves. This happened to several highly respected academics who have since become central bankers or finance ministers. If, or rather when, they turn out to be wrong, they risk a double reputational blow ? as policymakers and as academics. So do not count on them to change their mind when the facts change. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/recession-is-not-worst-p ossible-outcome.html IndyMac is latest credit turmoil casualty By Joanna Chung and Saskia Scholtes in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 12 2008 00:44 | Last updated: July 12 2008 01:24. IndyMac Bank on Friday night became the biggest savings ? or thrift ? bank to fail in decades and the latest victim of the credit crisis as regulators closed down the troubled mortgage lender. The closure came after it was no longer able to meet continued demands by customers for their deposits. Regulators said the bank was in an ?unsafe and unsound condition?. Regulators said the California-based bank, with assets of $32bn, is the second largest US financial institution to be closed down, ranking only behind the $40bn Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Company, which closed in 1984. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the bank?s main regulator, said ?the immediate cause? of the closing was the deposit run that began and continued following the release of a letter from Charles Schumer, the New York senator, expressing concerns about the bank?s viability. IndyMac was seeking to arrange a capital infusion or find a buyer, but the letter ?undermined the public confidence essential for a financial institution and took away the time IndyMac needed to pursue a recovery,? OTS said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/indymac-is-latest-credit -turmoil.html GM denies bankruptcy near - Shares fall to lowest level since mid-1950s. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 11, 2008. Shares of General Motors Corp. slid to a five-decade low Thursday, even as its chief executive dismissed speculation that the largest U.S. carmaker might soon seek bankruptcy protection. GM shares fell 64 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $9.69 Thursday, after tumbling as low as $9.32 earlier. The low marked the Detroit-based automaker's lowest share price since July 2, 1954, when its stock dropped to $9.15, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes. CEO Rick Wagoner said comments in the past week about a potential bankruptcy are "not at all constructive or accurate." GM has $24 billion in cash and $7 billion in credit facilities, he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-denies-bankruptcy-nea r-shares-fall.html GE reaffirms full-year earnings target By Justin Baer in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 13:25 | Last updated: July 11 2008 14:49. General Electric on Friday released second-quarter results which were in line with expectations and reaffirmed its full-year earnings target. The industrial conglomerate, which in the first quarter shocked investors with a surprise drop in earnings and the slashing of full-year forecasts, is widely held as the bellwether for the health of the global economy. The latest set of figures may help alleviate concerns about GE?s health in the face of an economic slowdown and the ongoing credit market crisis. GE?s quarterly diluted earnings per share fell 4 per cent to $0.98, as loan losses from a financial-services unit crimped results, but the results met the expectations set earlier this year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ge-reaffirms-full-year-e arnings-target.html GE to spin off consumer and industrial business By Justin Baer and Francesco Guerrera in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 16:22 | Last updated: July 10 2008 16:22. General Electric, under pressure from investors to shed slower-growing businesses and lift the conglomerate?s slumping share price, is preparing to spin off its consumer and industrial business to shareholders next year. The decision comes two months after GE said it would seek buyers for the division?s appliances unit. While Jeff Immelt, GE?s chief executive, had noted that ?scaling up? a spin-off to include the lighting and industrial branches of the business was under consideration, he also said the appliances group had drawn inquiries from several potential bidders. Mr Immelt has opted to focus on spinning off the entire division. ?It became clear the fastest, most efficient step we could take in completing the transformation of our industrial portfolio would be to focus on a possible spin-off of the entire unit,? he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ge-to-spin-off-consumer- and-industrial.html United to take $2.7 billion in 2Q charges. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 8:41 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. UAL Corp. expects its second-quarter financial results to be affected by several noncash accounting charges totaling $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion. The Chicago parent of United Airlines said the largest portion of the charges relates to the goodwill impairment, which will result in a noncash special charge of between $2.2 billion and $2.3 billion, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday. UAL expects to also record second-quarter noncash special charges of $246 million for the impairment of some B737 aircraft that are being retired from its operating fleet, aircraft pre-delivery deposits and some indefinite-lived intangible assets other than goodwill. Also, the company said it expects to record severance charges of $82 million related to staffing reductions as a result of the capacity reductions and other largely noncash charges of $60 million related to certain projects that have been terminated or indefinitely deferred by UAL, as well as an adjustment to increase some employee benefit obligations. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/united-to-take-27-billio n-in-2q-charges.html Chicago Tribune to cut 80 newsroom positions By Phil Rosenthal. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 2:43 PM CDT, July 8, 2008. The Chicago Tribune began informing staff Tuesday it will eliminate around 80 of its current 578 newsroom positions by the end of August and reduce the number of pages it publishes by 13 percent to 14 percent each week. There also will be a reduction of jobs in other Chicago Tribune departments, but that number was not immediately available. A paper spokesman declined comment. Because some newsroom jobs have been left unfilled in recent months, the actual number of staffers to exit the paper is expected to be between 55 and 58. "Like many newspapers, we're feeling financial pressures," Hanke Gratteau, the Chicago Tribune's managing editor for news, said. These reductions are the paper's fourth since late 2005, when its newsroom had around 670 positions. They have been expected since Randy Michaels, chief operating officer of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co., said last month in a conference call with lenders that all the company's papers would be cutting staff and the number of pages by mid-September in response to steep declines in publishing revenue so far this year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-to-cut-8 0-newsroom.html Commodities Oil $145.08 Silver Bullion $18.82 Gold Bullion $964 Platinum Bullion $ $2041 Euro $1.5877 Oil hits record above $147 By Robert Cookson. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 09:37 | Last updated: July 11 2008 13:47. Oil prices rose $5 to a record above $147 a barrel on Friday as strike threats and deepening geopolitical tensions raised fears over the safety of supplies. Having rallied more than $5 overnight, Brent crude rose a further $5.22 to $147.25 a barrel. Nymex West Texas Intermediate rose $5.25 to $146.90 a barrel, having traded below $136 a barrel on Thursday. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/oil-hits-record-above-14 7.html An Open letter to All Airline Customers: From: www.stopoilspeculationnow.com. Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/open-letter-to-all-airli ne-customers.html Editorial comment: Read below two articles. The China bubble fuelling record oil prices By Daniel Gros. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 9 2008 18:49 | Last updated: July 9 2008 18:49. What is behind the ever-increasing price of crude oil? Most economists and energy experts argue that even the current sky-high price is justified by fundamentals, namely the high growth in demand by emerging markets, in short ?China?. The one important fact usually adduced to support this position is that supply and demand seem finely balanced as inventories are not increasing. But this argument is wrong. The observation that inventories are not increasing is irrelevant since there is a very convenient way to store oil that is not measured by inventories data: just leave it in the ground! Many experts also stress the observation that, in spite of very high prices, production has not really increased (last year, for example, saw an increase of only 1 per cent). However, this argument, like the one about inventories, is wrong because it does not take into account the nature of oil as an exhaustible resource. The big choice for any owner of an ex haustible resource, such as King Ab dullah of Saudi Arabia, is only inter-temporal: extract today or extract to morrow. If the king extracts today, he gets today?s price (minus the extraction cost). If he extracts tomorrow, he will get tomorrow?s price (minus the same extraction costs), discounted at today?s interest rate. The supply of oil today will thus increase only if tomorrow?s price is low relative to the price today. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/china-bubble-fuelling-re cord-oil-prices.html On subsidizing the price of oil by Carlos T Mock, MD http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-080707oil_briefs,0,28 05737.story. July 7, 2008. The editorial board recently speculated that there is an "oil bubble" and that as soon as politicians regulate the markets the price of oil will come down ("For the love of speculators*," July 2). What would you do if you were a President Bush? Explain to Americans that reducing the oil price will involve trading in that truck for a Mini? Or blame it all on "speculators" and promise drilling in the offshore continental shelf? How about a tax holiday for the summer months? We've heard the president blaming Congress for "not acting in the best interest of consumers" - a sentiment shared by Republican candidate John McCain. First, to those blaming speculators for high crude prices reason that the marginal cost of producing a barrel is about $75. The current oil price is almost double that figure. Clearly, much money has gone into commodities recently. Therefore, speculation explains the "excess" and clamping down on it should push prices down. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-subsidizing-price-of- oil.html Is it Safe Now to Admit Jimmy Carter Was Right? By Joseph Wheelan. Copyright by History News Network. July 7, 2008. Mr. Wheelan is the author of four books on American presidents and American history, the most recent published in January, Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress. Misunderstood, mocked, and maligned, the 39th president (1977-81) will forever be associated with the Iranian hostage crisis and the botched rescue attempt; the human rights-inspired Olympic boycott and grain embargo; inflation; the infamous rabbit attack; and, above all, skyrocketing fuel prices. Americans, who hate to be told they must change, roundly condemned Jimmy Carter?s memorable ?Crisis of Confidence? speech of July 15, 1979. In it, Carter outlined a program for achieving energy independence: ?On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.? We admirers have long endured ridicule whenever we dared to defend Carter?s prescient plan for reducing U.S. dependence on oil. But today, after all the abuse and scorn heaped on Jimmy Carter and his supporters, we find ourselves paying more than $4 a gallon at the pump to fill our hulking gas guzzlers. It turns out that Carter was right after all. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-it-safe-now-to-admit- jimmy-carter.html Oilman sees a shift in the wind - Ex-corporate raider T. Boone Pickens is pushing for $1 trillion investment to lessen need for foreign oil By David Greising . Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:45 PM CDT, July 9, 2008. T. Boone Pickens made his name tilting at windmills?trying in the 1980s to buy oil companies that didn't want to be bought?and now he has turned to building windmills on a parched patch of Texas scrubland instead. True to form, though, former corporate raider Pickens cannot resist taking on a daunting crusade worthy of Don Quixote: Trying to convince the country that the government and private investors should spend $1 trillion over 20 years to erect thousands more windmills in hopes of cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Billions more, he knows, would be needed to build transmission lines to carry the wind power across the country. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/oilman-sees-shift-in-win d-ex-corporate.html Dollar continues to head south By Peter Garnham. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 11:35 | Last updated: July 11 2008 16:39. The dollar dropped towards its record low against the euro as concerns over the health of the US financial sector increased. The currency suffered as US equities fell amid reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the US state-sponsored mortgage providers, would have to raise fresh funds. But it received some respite early on Friday on reports that the US government was considering taking over one or both of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, the effect soon wore off and the dollar retreated later in the session after Hank Paulson, US Treasury Secretary, offered no hint that any government bail-out was imminent. Neil Mellor, at Bank of New York Mellon, said that the fact that such a plan had to be considered in the first place highlighted the depth of the problems in the US financial system. He said this merely served to emphasised the difficulty the Federal Reserve would have in raising US interest rates in the near future. ?As such, an assault on the $1.60 level by the euro against the dollar still looks a realistic proposition from here.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dollar-continues-to-head -south.html Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.13% 6.25% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.64% 5.77% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.20% 7.30% 5/1 ARM 5.48% 5.58% 7/1 ARM 5.81% 5.86% US housing recovery hopes subside By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 8 2008 18:37 | Last updated: July 8 2008 18:37. Hopes that the beleaguered US housing market may be in the early stages of a recovery were dented on Tuesday after an index of pending home sales recorded an unexpectedly steep 4.7 per cent drop in May. The National Association of Realtors index, which measures contracts that have been agreed but have not yet closed and is a leading indicator for completed home sales in the future, fell from 88.9 in April to 84.7 in May, surprising economists who had been expecting a smaller drop of about 3 per cent. The figures were released on Tuesday as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke promised that the Fed would issue new rules on mortgage lending next week. ?The overall decline in contract signings suggests we are not out of the woods by any means,? said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. A jump in pending home sales in April had fuelled hopes that the US house market was reaching its bottom as bargain hunters began to snap up cheap homes in the areas hardest hit by the subprime crisis. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-housing-recovery-hope s-subside.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Fannie and Freddie are feeling unwell. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 19:14 | Last updated: July 11 2008 19:14. With the price of a barrel of oil exceeding $146 and stock markets reeling, the global economic turmoil has worsened this week. Yet most remarkable of all has been the sight of socialist turkeys coming home to roost in the US, home of free-market capitalism. These sorry birds, colloquially known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are ?government-sponsored enterprises?. What exactly that means we may soon discover. With combined liabilities of $5,300bn, about 38 per cent of US gross domestic product, these massive fowls are universally deemed too big to fail. Since they account for nearly three-quarters of new mortgages, they are too important to do so. If they ceased to lend, the housing market might collapse, so devastating US financial stability. Yet if the federal government had to place the debt of the two entities on its books, the gross financial liabilities of the US government would exceed 100 per cent of GDP. Fortunately, things are not as bad as that, since the assets of the two lenders will continue to have value. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_12.html Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in turmoil By James Politi in Washington and Ben White and Saskia Scholtes in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 16:05 | Last updated: July 11 2008 15:35. Shares in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae plummeted further in early trading on Friday amid speculation that a bailout of the government-sponsored mortgage financiers was imminent, and that such a bail-out would leave little if any value for current shareholders. Fannie was down 44.7 per cent early on Friday morning, while Freddie?s shares fell 44.5 per cent. That came after frantic trading on Thursday in New York had already dragged both mortgage giants? shares down to their lowest levels since 1991. The US Treasury and Bush administration have discussed ?contingency plans? that would co-ordinate a rescue of the two government-sponsored enterprises, but no such rescue would be undertaken unless and until the agencies are deemed undercapitalised, according to people involved in the talks. In response to the reports of contingency plans for a rescue, Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, said in a short statement that he was committed to supporting the two mortgage finance companies in ?their current form? and gave no hint that the government was about to bail them out. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/freddie-mac-and-fannie-m ae-in-turmoil.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Broker backstop. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 9 2008 20:09 | Last updated: July 9 2008 20:09. A doctor does not stop a sick patient?s medicine just because they have been taking it for six months. It is similarly inconceivable that the Federal Reserve would turn off its emergency lending facility for investment banks while their access to credit is still very much crunched. That has consequences, however: there can no longer be any prospect of a return to regulatory ?business as usual? on Wall Street. Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, has given a strong steer that the central bank will continue to allow broker-dealers such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch to borrow at its discount window after mid-September. That facility means that the brokers can be all but certain of borrowing overnight at only 25 basis points above the Fed?s main interest rate; in turn, the knowledge that such a fail-safe exists is an inducement for private investors to lend to the investment banks. Fed support ? and the assumption that, after Bear Stearns, it will not allow a large investment bank to fail ? has done much to restore market confidence. The only surprise is that it has not done even more. Rumours, accompanied by wild share price fluctuations, have continued to afflict the weaker of Wall Street?s brokers. That is evidence, if any more were needed, that while central banks can take away the risk that an institution becomes illiquid, doubts about balance sheet losses at banks and brokers persist. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_10.html Indecision 2008 Rev. Jackson's 'Obama trauma' By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2008. What did the Rev. Jesse Jackson mean when he accused Barack Obama of "talking down to black people"? That was the second question on my mind in a telephone interview with Jackson. My first was something like this: "Did you really say you wanted to castrate Obama?" As the world knows by now, Jackson says he didn't know he was wearing a "hot mic," a turned-on microphone, on the set of a Fox News program when he made what one newspaper headline called, his "cutting remark." Remember the old saying about how character is what you do when nobody's looking? Jackson's inflammatory whispers suggest a new twist: Character is what you do when you don't know everybody is listening. Jackson's comments showed the influential civil rights leader at his worst: frustrated and marginalized. Jackson was smarting over Obama's recent call to expand President Bush's faith-based initiatives. Twice Jackson snapped that Obama has been "talking down to black people." That was in reference, Jackson says, to Obama's Father's Day address at the predominantly black Apostolic Church of God on the South Side. It was a speech in which Obama revealed his inner Bill Cosby, calling for more parental responsibility, whether assisted by government help or not. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/rev-jacksons-obama-traum a.html Barack Obama and his surge to the middle By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 9, 2008. Until recently one of the biggest raps against Sen. Barack Obama from conservatives was his delicate dance around any issue that might upset his core constituents. How can he claim a break from "politics as usual," they said, if he wasn't willing to upset the left? They can't say that anymore. Now they say he's flip-flopped. That's OK. If you want to please everybody, you don't belong in politics. Obama's bigger worry is the old slogan of liberal commentator Jim Hightower, a former Texas officeholder: "There ain't nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow line and dead armadillos." In recent weeks the likely Democratic presidential nominee has taken that risky road. He has softened or abandoned his earlier positions on a parade of issues, including wiretaps, abortion, trade with Mexico and Canada, gun control and public funding of his own campaign. Liberal bloggers, like Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, have howled that Obama's selling out the left. But, viewed another way, he's buying into the middle. He's reaching for what former Secretary of State Colin Powell has called the "sensible center," that big, broad place in the political middle where most American voters live. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/barack-obama-and-his-sur ge-to-middle.html Obama seizes on Iraqi calls for timetable By Daniel Dombey in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 9 2008 19:58 | Last updated: July 9 2008 19:58. Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to overcome a wave of criticism of his stance on Iraq by seizing on Baghdad?s call this week for a timetable for a US withdrawal. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has been attacked from right and left during the past week for saying he could ?refine? his plans for a 16-month pull-out after consultation with commanders in the field. Although Mr Obama insists his policy for ending the war has not changed, some critics saw his comments as an attempt to tone down his antiwar stance at a time when the number of US casualties in Iraq is falling. John McCain, Mr Obama?s Republican rival, has argued that a hasty withdrawal from Iraq could risk chaos and genocide, while the Bush administration also says any drawdowns should be based on conditions on the ground. But this week, Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq?s prime minister, altered the terms of the debate by pushing for a timetable for withdrawal, a demand repeated by his national security adviser. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-seizes-on-iraqi-ca lls-for.html Obama proposes bankruptcy changes. Copyright by The Associated Press. Published: July 8, 2008. POWDER SPRINGS, Georgia: Barack Obama proposed on Tuesday changing bankruptcy laws to fast-track the process for military families, help seniors keep their homes and protect people recovering from natural disasters. The Democratic presidential hopeful also accused his Republican rival, John McCain, of repeatedly siding with the banking industry, saying, "When it comes to strengthening the safety net for hardworking families, he's been part of the problem, not part of the solution." Both candidates are in the midst of weeklong efforts devoted to the economy, the top concern of voters four months before the election as gas prices and job layoffs rise while the credit crisis and housing crunch continue. Each senator is trying to portray himself as most in tune with the needs of the middle class and the other as out of touch. It was in that vein that Obama castigated McCain - and sought to link him to the unpopular President George W. Bush - as the Illinois senator announced his proposals before a few thousand people in a high school gymnasium in this city outside Atlanta. "Like the president he hopes to succeed, Senator McCain does not believe the government has a real role to play in protecting Americans from unscrupulous lending practices," Obama said. "He would continue to allow the banks and credit card companies to tilt the playing field in their favor, at the expense of hardworking Americans." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-proposes-bankruptc y-changes.html Europe promises cheers for Obama ? and little else By Philip Stephens. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 18:54 | Last updated: July 10 2008 18:54. Barack Obama is coming: Europe can scarcely contain itself. The Democratic contender for the White House is crossing the Atlantic to burnish his credentials as a world leader. Europeans just want to cheer. I have my doubts as to whether Mr Obama will profit much from a series of photo-opportunities with the old continent?s tired and beleaguered leaders. The Middle East leg of his trip may make more news at home. The crowds in Europe will be another story. When he steps out of his pre-presidential limousine Mr Obama can expect to be greeted as a messiah. As far as Europe is concerned, the US has made its choice. The pundits in Washington may only now be speculating about the possibility that Mr Obama could win by a landslide. Europe has already decided: it will get the American president it deserves. The ballot on November 4 is no more than an irksome formality. Europeans are almost jealous. After all, when did they last get to cast a vote in a ?transformational election?? Even those whose sympathies are with the Republican John McCain are caught up in Obamamania. My bet is that David Cameron, Britain?s Conservative leader, will be as eager as Prime Minister Gordon Brown to catch some of Mr Obama?s stardust. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/europe-promises-cheers-f or-obama-and.html Why Obama has Georgia on his mind By Andrew Ward in Atlanta. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 20:45 | Last updated: July 10 2008 20:45. When Barack Obama visited Georgia this week, he could have headed for one of the Democratic strongholds on the black-dominated south side of Atlanta. Instead, he held a rally in Cobb County, home to Atlanta?s wealthiest northern suburbs, where George W. Bush won more votes than anywhere else in the state four years ago. The venue was a bold statement of intent by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to campaign aggressively in Georgia and across the south after decades of Republican dominance. At a fundraising event before the rally, he told donors: ?We?re going to compete here in Georgia. We?re going to compete in North Carolina and Virginia. We?re going to try and transform the political map.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-obama-has-georgia-on -his-mind.html The audacity of listening. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune By Gail Collins. Published: July 10, 2008. We have to have a talk about Barack Obama. I know, I know. You're upset. You think the guy you fell in love with last spring is spending the summer flip-flopping his way to the right. Drifting to the center. Going all moderate on you. So you're withholding the love. Also possibly the money. I feel your pain. I just don't know what candidate you're talking about. Think back. Why, exactly, did you prefer Obama over Hillary Clinton in the first place? Their policies were almost identical - except his health care proposal was more conservative. You liked Barack because you thought he could get us past the old brain-dead politics, right? He talked - and talked and talked - about how there were going to be no more red states and blue states, how he was going to bring Americans together, including Republicans and Democrats. Exactly where did everybody think this gathering was going to take place? Left field? When an extremely intelligent politician tells you over and over and over that he is tired of the take-no-prisoners politics of the last several decades, that he is going to get things done and build a "new consensus," he is trying to explain that he is all about compromise. Even if he says it in that great Baracky way. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/audacity-of-listening.ht ml Language a great leader makes By Brian Groom. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 18:32 | Last updated: July 11 2008 18:32. Whatever happened to the art of political phrase-making? The leaders of the developed world were on show this week at the Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Japan. Faced with the triple challenge of a food, oil and financial crisis, their response was as tongue-tied as it was ineffectual. ?We saw eye to eye,? was all Yasuo Fukuda, Japan?s prime minister, could muster as he sought to look positively at an outcome that merely voiced concern at rising oil prices and toyed with ideas on food shortages. Ah, you may say, the problem lies with actions ? or lack of them ? not words. Summits are a hopeless way to resolve complicated problems. If you have nothing to say, say nothing. ? ?Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt? (an unsourced remark sometimes attributed to Abraham Lincoln). Yet at times of stress, we still look to elected leaders to express our collective anxieties and stiffen resolve.... But it is a painful irony that Mr Bush, himself a war leader, counts Churchill as a hero yet shares so little of his gift. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/language-great-leader-ma kes.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Bring back the real McCain. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 19:44 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:44. In the US presidential race, the odds are stacked high against John McCain. He represents an unpopular party and is associated with a failed president. The country wants a change. Aside from this, which is already bad enough, Mr McCain?s tactical calculations are far more difficult than the ones confronting his rival Barack Obama. In short, Mr McCain deserves some sympathy: he is by no means the principal author of his predicament. Lately, though, it has seemed that he is doing what he can to worsen it. The unpopularity of the current administration is so great, and excitement at the prospect of an Obama presidency so strong, that Mr Obama can move to the centre ? even to the extent of offending much of the party?s base ? and still expect to turn out loyalists in his support. Mr McCain commands no such enthusiasm among Republicans. Many support him reluctantly and suspiciously; and Hillary Clinton is not there to arouse their passion. If he moves too much to the centre, apathy in the party could cost him votes in November. But if he stays where he placed himself to win the nomination ? intent on appealing to the base ? he will lose centrists to Mr Obama, and with them the election. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-bring.html Gramm Remark Adds to McCain's Difficulty Addressing the Economy By Michael D. Shear and Jonathan Weisman. Copyright by The Washington Post. Friday, July 11, 2008; Page A01 BELLEVILLE, Mich., July 10 -- Sen. John McCain ventured to an auto-parts supplier in this hard-hit Detroit suburb to express sympathy for those affected by Michigan's economic malaise and to talk up his ideas for creating jobs in the region. But a day after a top McCain economic adviser dismissed the nation's struggles as a "mental recession," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's message landed with a thud, as workers sat in stony silence. McCain was already running into a stiff headwind because of an ailing economy, and his task only became tougher after former senator Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) suggested that the United States has "become a nation of whiners." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gramm-remark-adds-to-mcc ains-difficulty.html Gramm?s Whiners? video http://utteroutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/gramms-whiners-video.html McCain adviser: Nation suffering from a 'mental recession' Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand. Copyright CNN News. July 10, 2008. Gramm is a top economic adviser to McCain. (CNN) ? Democrats blasted former Senator Phil Gramm, a top McCain economic adviser and campaign co-chairman, Thursday for saying Americans who have named the economy as a top concern this campaign cycle were ?a nation of whiners.? http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/10/mccain-adviser-nation-suffer ing-from-a-mental-recession/ Editorial review: CNN had to close the comments section as per requested by the McCain campaign. It was still there as of today, but I copied each complaint to: http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-adviser-nation-su ffering-from.html McCain dodges question on Viagra, contraceptives By CHARLES BABINGTON. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:12 PM CDT, July 9, 2008. PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - Republican John McCain prides himself on being a straight talker. But he resisted being dragged into a discussion Wednesday about insurance companies that cover Viagra but not birth control products. "I certainly do not want to discuss that issue," the presidential candidate said when a reporter asked him about it on his campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express." A few seats away was Carly Fiorina, a top McCain supporter who stirred talk about the topic at a recent Washington breakfast with reporters. The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, discussing consumer-driven health insurance, mentioned something "I've been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-dodges-question-o n-viagra.html And the Viagra moment: http://www.wikio.com/video/314833 GLBT How are gays and lesbians getting married? Any way they want By Derrik J. Lang. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 9, 2008. WEST HOLLYWOOD, California?Who may now kiss the bride when there are two grooms? Since the state of California began issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples earlier this month, questions about wedding rituals and etiquette?not just politics?have grown faster than a wedding reception guest list. With no long-established gay wedding traditions, partners-to-be and the wedding industry are making it up as they go along. ?I generally don?t see this type of excitement for weddings,? said Los Angeles-based wedding planner Wendy Rhodes, who?s coordinated two same-sex ceremonies since the ruling. ?They?ve been dreaming about being able to actually get married for a long time, so these couples know exactly what they want.? And what they want is immersed in tradition. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-are-gays-and-lesbian s-getting.html Obama, McCain take opposite sides on California marriage By Gary Barlow. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. July 9, 2008. Groups on both sides of the referendum on California?s gay and lesbian marriages claimed last week to have won the backing of either Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, or Sen. Barack Obama, his presumptive Democratic opponent for the White House. ?I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states,? Obama said in a letter to San Francisco?s Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. Obama also ticked off his positions on other GLBT issues. ?I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law,? Obama?s letter stated. ?That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the ?Don?t Ask Don?t Tell? policy, and the passage of laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-mccain-take-opposi te-sides-on.html Study: Military gays don't undermine unit cohesion By ANNE FLAHERTY. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:50 AM CDT, July 8, 2008. WASHINGTON - Congress should repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center. The study was conducted by four retired military officers, including the three-star Air Force lieutenant general who in early 1993 was tasked with implementing President Clinton's policy that the military stop questioning recruits on their sexual orientation. "Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion," the officers states. To support its contention, the panel points to the British and Israeli militaries, where it says gay people serve openly without hurting the effectiveness of combat operations. Undermining unit cohesion was a determining factor when Congress passed the 1993 law, intended to keep the military from asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members can't say they are gay or bisexual, engage in homosexual activity or marry a member of the same sex. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/study-military-gays-dont -undermine-unit.html Gay-Bashing Alabama A.G. Caught Having Gay Sex? By: Logan Murphy on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 2:10 PM ? PDT. Copyright by CrooksandLiars.com. This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude?s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG?s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details. AG in question is Troy King, who, of course, is only interested in outlawing homosexuality and sex toys. His gay lover is either a college ?buddy,? or a very young youngster and ?Homecoming King? from Troy University. What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what that Will & Grace was about?) Read on? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gay-bashing-alabama-ag-c aught-having.html Defending sex By Paul Varnell. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press and Paul Varnell. July 9, 2008. I don?t know, maybe it?s just because last week I reviewed an art exhibit focusing on post-leather kinky sex and then this week wrote a long review of a book (which I had to read through several times) called ?The Big Penis Book? (see review elsewhere in this issue), but for some reason I?ve been thinking a lot about sex lately. It seems to me?and this can hardly be a news flash for anyone?that much of the opposition to gays and gay legal equality is based on hostility to our sexual behavior. If we all stopped engaging in ?sodomy,? there would be far less opposition. For instance, consider the long persistence of rarely enforced anti-sodomy laws in many states ?as a statement of our social values,? as presidential candidate George Bush put it in 2000. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/defending-sex-by-paul-va rnell.html Genetics By Jennifer Vanasco. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press and Jennifer Vanasco. July 9, 2008. In the worldview of evolutionary biology, if genes and behaviors aren?t useful, they die out. If you?re gay, you are less likely to produce biological children (or were, before IVF and the gayby boom). So why does gayness still exist? I can think up a hundred answers to that question: An omnivorous sexuality that seems to exist in most creatures; the pressures of various ancient and not-so-ancient sexually segregated societies; the rich and artistic communities gay people tend to form; the wish to cultivate an outsider identity. Science, so far, has come up with two. Of course, what science is looking at is homosexuality, not gayness?that is, they?re specifically looking at why men have the urge to sleep with other men (women, it seems, are too complicated to figure out.). http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/genetics-by-jennifer-van asco.html Immigration America's unique lamp beside the door By ANDREW GREELEY agreel at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 9, 2008. Last weekend, Americans indulged in phony patriotism, accompanied by fireworks and trumpets and pompous voices trying to sound like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Little attention was given to the people who Americans have oppressed -- the aboriginal people, the African slaves, the hated Asians, Jews and Catholics. Nor was there any mention of the many unjust wars that Americans have fought. The Statue of Liberty appeared often in the blue sky over the weekend, but there was no interest in Emma Lazarus' remarkable sonnet engraved on the statue -- "Keep ancient lands your storied pomp!" cries she. With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Who are these huddled masses, the wretched refuse, these tired poor, these tempest-tost? We are. At the time Lazarus, a Jew of Portuguese background, wrote, they were the Irish, the French Canadians, the Italians, the Poles, the Slovaks, the Slovenes, the Hungarians, the Greeks, the Jews. Look at the pictures of them filing into Castle Island or later Ellis Island and shudder with the real Americans of that era at the sight of our grandparents and great-grandparents -- an ignorant, confused, ill-clad, dirty, smelly, dull, perhaps dangerous invasion. What would we ever do with them? How could they ever become good Americans? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/americas-unique-lamp-bes ide-door.html Tougher immigrant measures expected By Antonio Olivo. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 2:21 AM CDT, July 9, 2008. Businesses that employ illegal immigrants as workers can expect tougher enforcement through the end of 2008, Julie Myers, head of the federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, said Tuesday. In an interview with the Tribune editorial board that also covered the quality of federal detention sites and efforts to deport suspected gang members who are in the U.S. illegally, Myers said stepping up prosecutions of criminally negligent companies is a top priority before the next president takes office in January. The agency has been criticized in recent months by Immigration rights advocates for treating employers too lightly while aggressively pursuing illegal immigrant workers during work site raids and other actions. Business groups, meanwhile, have balked at state and local enforcement measures around the country that, among other things, would revoke the licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants. Since October, there have been about 4,100 arrests stemming from Immigration enforcement, with 900 of those apprehended charged criminally. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/tougher-immigrant-measur es-expected.html Group's focus is getting immigrants to vote By Teresa Puente. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 7, 2008. Over the next several months, Rebecca Shi plans to knock on doors and visit churches, high schools and beauty shops in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood, where she will ask a couple of simple questions: "Are you a U.S. citizen? Are you registered to vote?" Shi is participating in a voter-registration campaign to mobilize the votes of new Americans. The campaign's goal in Illinois is to register 20,000 new immigrant voters. "We want to mobilize and empower the community by getting them out there to vote," said Shi, 22, who moved to the United States from China when she was 10. Two years ago, she became a U.S. citizen, and she is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago, with a degree in U.S. history. She will vote for the first time in this year's presidential election. Shi was one of 60 people -- all in their 20s -- who took part in a six-day boot camp sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights last week. Youth from cities all over the country will work with community organizations to register voters. "We want to show the political power of the immigrant communities," said Catherine Salgado, a spokeswoman with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/groups-focus-is-getting- immigrants-to.html Health Care Obama wants ban on risk-based pricing By Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 6 2008 23:37 | Last updated: July 6 2008 23:37. A Barack Obama administration would seek to ban risk-based pricing on all individual health insurance plans to stop companies cherry-picking healthy customers, a senior adviser has said. David Cutler, a Harvard professor who helped to draft the health plan for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said: ?Under our plan you cannot be priced higher because you are sick.? Insurance companies usually charge standard group rates to corporate scheme members but individuals have to pay different premiums, or not have some conditions covered at all, depending on their risk profile. Mr Cutler said an Obama administration would consider automatically enrolling people in approved health insurance plans unless they chose to opt out. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-wants-ban-on-risk- based-pricing.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Republicans delay action on global AIDS program. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 9, 2008. A tiny group of Republican senators continues to block a vote on an important bill to increase U.S. spending on AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world. Their obstructionism has deprived President George W. Bush of a legislative achievement that could help him spur other industrialized nations to contribute substantially more money as they meet to discuss global issues in Japan this week. But better late than never. It remains important to blast through the legislative roadblock and bring this broadly supported bill to a vote on the Senate floor, where it is sure to prevail on the merits. The bill, similar to one already approved by the House and endorsed by the president, would authorize spending $50 billion over the next five years to combat the three diseases. That would be a significant jump above current spending levels - and a wise investment in improving global health and repairing America's tattered image around the world. For barely a nanosecond in recent days, it looked as if the impasse had been broken when the reputed ringleader of the obstructionists, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, negotiated a compromise with the bill's sponsors that enabled him to lift his opposition to a vote. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_9939.html Roche to drop HIV therapy research By Andrew Jack in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 20:01 | Last updated: July 11 2008 20:01. Roche, one of the world?s largest international pharmaceuticals groups, has decided to abandon research on medicines to treat HIV in a significant blow to doctors treating the spiralling international Aids epidemic. In a memo circulated this week to Aids specialists and activists, executives said because of disappointing results in clinical trials, the company had cancelled its programme for the compounds in development that were targeting two different ways to attack HIV. ?While we had initially been hopeful about their potential, we now have concluded that none would provide a true incremental benefit for patients compared to medicines currently on the market,? said Jenny Edge-Dallas, global leader for Roche?s HIV Franchise. The move reflects Roche?s strategic decision to focus only on medicines that provide a significant improvement to existing rival drugs available in the market at a time of growing demand for value for money from governments and healthcare systems. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/roche-to-drop-hiv-therap y-research.html Your Health by Omeed Memar, MD, PhD, and Jamey Bell, RN. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine. July 9, 2008. Injections to Dissolve Fat - Is It True? For many years, liposuction has been the only option for quickly reducing some unwanted fat and sculpting and refining areas of the body, which may not respond to those hours in the gym. However, within the last couple years, more and more media attention in the U.S. has been given to a procedure called Mesotherapy, also know as lipolysis and lipodissolve injections. My patients often inquire about this ?fat-dissolving? procedure, so what exactly is mesotherapy and is it safe? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-health.html Olympic swimmer discovers cancer -- still makes the team. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 10:54 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. ATLANTA - Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau is heading to Beijing with a devastating diagnosis: He has cancer. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Shanteau said he learned just a week before the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., that he has testicular cancer. His doctors cleared him to compete in that meet and he surprisingly made the team in the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing second ahead of former world-record holder and heavy favorite Brendan Hansen. "If I didn't make the team, the decision would have been easy: Go home and have the surgery," Shanteau said. "I made the team, so I had a hard decision. But, by no means am I being stupid about this." Although Shanteau's doctors have advised him to have surgery now, he's planning to put it off until after Beijing because he doesn't want to disrupt his lifelong goal. The 24-year-old Georgia native will be monitored closely over the next month and vows to drop out of the Olympics if there's any sign is cancer is spreading. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/olympic-swimmer-discover s-cancer-still.html Technology Shoppers in clamour for Apple?s 3G iPhone By Rob Minto in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 10:03 | Last updated: July 11 2008 22:25. Excited customers queued in cities around the world for the global launch of Apple?s 3G iPhone on Friday, undeterred by concerns that there might not be enough handsets. With a co-ordinated launch in 22 countries, some analysts were worried that the limited initial stock, estimated at 1.5m handsets, would be insufficient. Some Japanese iPhone fans had queued since Tuesday with collapsable chairs and energy drinks. Their reward was a place near the front of a queue of more than 1,500 people./Apple?s 3G iPhone aims to dominate smartphones By Paul Taylor in New York, Kevin Allison in San Francisco, and Andrew Parker in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 9 2008 19:59 | Last updated: July 9 2008 19:59. When the 3G iPhone goes on sale in the US and 19 other countries on Thursday, Apple and its network partners will be aiming to stamp their mark on the fast-expanding smartphone market with a device designed to appeal to both mass market consumers and corporate users. Despite its technological and other limitations, the original 2G touchscreen-based iPhone, launched just over a year ago in the US market, was a success measured by sales volume. Almost 6m units were sold worldwide before supplies ran out in May, according to Apple. While Thursday?s launch is likely to lack the same fanfare as the iPhone?s original launch in the US last year, its effects could be longer-lasting, both for Apple and its network partners. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/apples-3g-iphone-aims-to -dominate.html Verizon Wireless to pay $21 million to settle lawsuit over termination fees. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 11, 2008. Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by California customers upset with the company's early termination fees, a lawyer on the case said. Many details of the settlement need to be worked out and authorized by an Alameda County Superior Court judge, said Alan Plutzik, an attorney for the customers. AT&T Inc. is next up for trial, Plutzik said. "We are recovering cash" that would "be available" to Verizon mobile phone customers who paid fees to end their contracts early, Plutzik said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/verizon-wireless-to-pay- 21-million-to.html FCC chief says Comcast violated Internet rules By JOHN DUNBAR. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:31 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. WASHINGTON - The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast Corp. that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of "file sharing" software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data. "The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press late Thursday. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles." Martin said Comcast has "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fcc-chief-says-comcast-v iolated.html Other Putting a leash on veterinary costs - Owners can ease pain of pet medical bills, which totaled $10 billion in '07 By David Colker. Copyright ? 2008, Los Angeles Times. July 13, 2008. Veterinarian Gregory Hammer laughed as he recalled the average price his clients paid for an office visit in 1973, when he started in rural Kansas. "It was $6," said Hammer, now president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Good luck getting so much as a torn nail clipped for that these days. Americans spent more than $10 billion on veterinary care last year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. A single visit to a vet cost an average of $135 for a dog owner as of 2006, the last time the veterinary group took a survey of those costs. That's up 83 percent from 10 years earlier. Inflation played a major role?the costs of office space, staff salaries, equipment and supplies have all shot up. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/putting-leash-on-veterin ary-costs.html Humor Subject: LAYWER VS. INS.COMPANY.. WHO'S THE SMARTEST http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/laywer-vs-inscompany-who s-smartest.html I Have no enemies http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-have-no-enemies.html And the Viagra moment: http://www.wikio.com/video/314833 New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat Jul 19 12:48:23 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:48:23 -0500 Subject: [News] Summer of discontent Newsletter - July 19, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?This is a summer of discontent, and it's only the middle of July.? GregBurns Bad news comes in waves for economy By Greg Burns. Copyright ?2008, Chicago Tribune. July 16, 2008. She's a North Sider who survived th Depression, a customer for more thn 20 years, and after hearing the bad news about the economy over the weekend she marched into the bank to see the boss. Although the institution is sound and the nation's fnancial system in no danger of collapse, Matt Gambs dropped everything to aswer her worried questions. The images of depositors waiting on long lines ater Friday's failure of IndyMac Federal Bank had shaken her confidence. "Youcan't discount people's feelings," explained Gambs, chief executive of iamond Bank at North Avenue and Clark Street. These are scary times in theU.S. economy, and Tuesday brought more trouble to the fore. Federal Reserve Cairman Ben Bernanke voiced concerns about inflation, even as the housing bus continued to slow economic growth. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Ma remain on track for a taxpayer-financed rescue. The dollar stands at record low. Unemployment is rising, and struggling General Motors Corp. sai it needed to eliminate more jobs. This is a summer of discontent, and it' only the middle of July. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/7/bad-news-comes-in-waves- for-economy.htl A bank fails: Should you worry? Copyright 2008 Associated Press. July 15, 2008. The government's seizure of IndyMac Bank may raise concerns for many consumers about whethr their banks might be next. While it is unlikely the nation will see thousads of banks fail as they did during the savings and loan industry collape in the late 1980s and early '90s, analysts predict more battered financial nstitutions will be unable to survive in today's marketplace. "IndyMac' failure is certainly a broader issue," said Eva Weber, an analyst at Aite Goup, a financial-services research firm. "Those who are trenched in more rsky business, who are feeling more heavy losses, may be at more risk." On Friday the Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of the Caliornia lender to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. because it did not thin IndyMac could meet its depositors' demands. By Monday the bank reopened as ndyMac Federal Bank FSB, and customers whose deposits were insured by the FIC were able to access full banking services, including online banking, dring normal business hours. IndyMac, like many of the nation's banks, wa facing pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising forecosures. In recent weeks it had experienced a run on the bank, with depositorspulling out $100 million a day. Here are some answers about the government' role when a bank fails and if other banks are at risk: http://iretiredfromnwsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bank-fails-should-you-wo rry.html Have baks bottomed out? - Despite stock price jump for many this week, analsts see problems continuing By Becky Yerak. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribne. July 19, 2008. Don't break out the bubbly just yet.That's the thinkingof several bank watchers who, despite seeing financial serices stocks end the week on a high note, say the worst probably isn't ove as the credit crisis approaches its one-year anniversary. As the week startd, many braced for the worst. IndyMac Bancorp Inc. had just been seized by .S. banking regulators. And the federal government felt compelled to ofer assurances that it would help out mortgage financiers Freddie Mac and Fanie Mae. The news drove down the KBW Bank Index by 8.5 percent on Monday.http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/have-banks-bottomed-out- espite-stock.html FBI probes IndyMac for possible fraud ? Reuters Limite. WASHINGTON, July 16 ? Failed bank IndyMac is under investigation by the FI for possible fraud involving its mortgage lending, unnamed law enforcemet officials said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how lng the FBI?s probe of IndyMac has been underway. The bureau said on Wednesdy it had raised to 21 from 19 the number of corporate targets in its investigtion of the mortgage industry. US banking regulators seized mortgage lender ndyMac on Friday after withdrawals by panicked depositors led to the thrd-largest banking failure in US history. The FBI declined to comment on IdyMac, and law enforcement officials spoke about the bank on condition thatthey not be identified. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07fbi-probes-indymac-for-p ossible-fraud.html Editorial comment: It?s always ice to shut the barn door after the cow escapes. International Charges fied at International Criminal Court against Sudan president over Darfur warcrimes By MIKE CORDER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:56 AM CDT, July15, 2008. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) _ The prosecutor for the Internationa Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant Monday for Sudan's presiden on charges of waging a campaign of genocide and rape in Darfur, a high-risk strategy that could backfire against the people in the war-torn desert region.The indictmentarked the first time prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes trbunal have issued charges against a sitting head of state, though President Oar al-Bashir was unlikely to face trial any time soon. Sudan denounced he indictment as a political stunt, saying it would ignore any arrest ordeand was considering all options, including an unspecified military response. ne Sudanese lawmaker said his government could no longer guarantee the safe of U.N. staff in the troubled region. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo fled 10 charges against al-Bashir related to a campaign of extermination ofthree Darfur tribes that the U.N. says claimed 300,000 lives and drivn 2.5 million people from their homes. A three-judge panel was expected to tke two to three months to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/charges-filed-at-interna tionl-criminal.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Stand up to Russia ver Georgia. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publishe: July 15 2008 18:45 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:45. If proof were neede of the significance of the crisis facing the troubed Caucasus state of Georgia, it came yesterday with the start of exercises involving 1,000 US troops. US officials insist the long-planned wargames have nothing to do with the recent dispute between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But the give Washington a chance to support pro-west Tbilisi at a critical time The exercises come just after Moscow brazenly admitted sending war planes oer South Ossetia last week, allegedly to stop an attack by Mikheil Saakashvli, the Georgian president. While Russia has encroached on Georgian air spacmany times in supporting Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this was the firs time in recent years that it has openly confessed to what was a flagrant vioation of Georgia?s territorial integrity. With the action coinciding with visit to Tbilisi by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, the messag to the west was brutally clear: stay off our turf. http://iretiredfromnewsltters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-stand.html Erope looks no longer immune to U.S. economic storm By Mark Landler. Copyrigt by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 15, 2008. FRANKFURT: urope, which held the world's economic storms at bay for the last year, hs finally succumbed. Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in, or on the brik, of a recession. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And German, the sturdy locomotive of Europan growth, is suddenly faltering - dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States. On Tuesday, an influential pll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannhem found that confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since the surveywas started in 1991. Shares in Spain swooned after that country's housing risis claimed its first big casualty: a property developer that filed for prtection from creditors. And in Britain, the inflation rate surged - as it hs elsewhere in Europe - to 3.8 percent because of soaring prices for food an fuel. "We've seen a sea change in Europe," said Thomas Mayer, the chief Eropean economist at Deutsche Bank in London. "All the bad news around the orld has finally come to us." While most economists had predicted that Euope would suffer fallout from the financial market chaos and the broader Ameican malaise, the speed of the deterioration has surprised the soothsaers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/europe-looks-no-onger-i mmune-to-us.html UK consumer inflation hits 16-year peak By Andrew Taylor and Delphine Strauss. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 22:00 |ast updated: July 15 2008 22:00. Unions on Tuesday night dismissed calls om the chancellor to curb pay demands as inflation hit its highest level fo 16 years, leaving little prospect of near-term cuts in interest rates. Theannual rate of consumer price inflation shot up faster than expected from 33 per cent in May to 3.8 per cent in June, the Office for National Statisticssaid ? the highest since 1992 and nearly double the Bank of England?s 2 per ent target. Food prices are now more than 10 per cent higher than year ago, and the average price of petrol has risen 5.3p a litre in th past month to 117.6p. Policymakers? biggest fear is that the speed of th pick-up in prices ? much faster than the Bank forecast in May ? will lead pople to expect continued high inflation, and stoke it by demanding wage incrases. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/uk-consumer-infltion-hi ts-16-year-peak.html The Boston Globe Editorial: Club Med. Copyrigh by The Boston Globe. Published: July 14, 2008. For all its contradictins, the European Union has shown the rest of the world the way to endingrecurring wars among nation-states. The possibility of replicating elsewhere the EU model of cooperation justifies a much-criticized diplomatic gala in Paris, where the leaders of some countries gathered on Sunday to inaugurate President Nicolas Sarkozy's projet for a Union of the Mediterranean. It is easy to find fault with Sarkozys proposal for an economic and political union of most, if not all, of the 2 countries bordering the Mediterranean. Critics saw it as a way of brushingaside Turkey's bid for EU membership and shunting the Turks into the antechamer of a Mediterranean Union. Germany was particularly put off by the nitial proposal and Sarkozy's manner of pursuing it. Chancellor Angela erkel made no secret of her annoyance at Germany's exclusion from an organiztion that would receive money from the EU's neighborhood fund. Germany also omplained that Sarkozy had been ignoring a fundamental EU principle - that Euopean states do not make important decisions without consulting fellow EUmembers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boston-gloe-editorial-c lub-med.html Australian credit crisis casualties sell asses By Elizabeth Fry in Sydney. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. ublished: July 15 2008 10:39 | La updated: July 15 2008 10:39. Shares in Centro Properties and Allco Finance, two of the biggest Australian casualties of the global credit crisis, rose on Tuesday afer both companies sold assets as part of efforts to improve their balancesheets. Centro, an Australia shopping mall operator that also has asset in New Zealand and the US, on Tuesday said it had sold 29 of the 31 propertes in the Centro America Fund for A$735m ($720m). The price struck represens a 10 per cent discount to the book value of the properties. Tuesday?s sae is part of a divestment strategy by the shopping mall group aimed at reducng Centro?s debt, which stands at A$6.6bn. The group spooked the market n December when it defaulted on A$1.3bn of loans and was forced into a ?work-ut? by creditors. Since then Centro has won a number of extensions from it lenders on A$2.3bn of short-term debt, which has to be repaid on December 1. It owes A$462.9m to US private placement note holders. Centro said on uesday it also expects to raise a further A$1bn shortly by selling a potfolio of four of its Australian shopping centres. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/australian-credit-crisis -casualties.html U.S. Sodiers No Longer Find Haven in Canada By IAN AUSTEN. Copyright by The ew York Times. Published: July 13, 2008. TORONTO ? James Corey Glass, apprntice mortician and United States Army deserter, was keeping an unusually clse eye on the text messages coming into his cellphone.He was hoping to hear that a court had blocked the Canadian government?s attempt to send him back to the United States. James Corey Glass, an Army deserter, is appealingn immigration removal order in Canada. On Wednesday afternoon, the messae came: Mr. Glass, 25, could remain in Canada while he appealed his removal oder by the country?s Immigration Department. It was a welcome reprieve, he sid, but well short of a guarantee that he and other deserters could make Canaa their new home. The Canadian government?s effort to remove Mr. Glass ontrasts with the warm reception given to deserters and draft avoiders from te United States during the war in Vietnam. And although the war in Iraq hs very little support among Canadians, the situation of Mr. Glass and others ho abandoned their military positions provokes a wide range of responses. Fo American soldiers seeking an escape, Canada is no longer a guaranteed haven.http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-soldiers-no-longr-fi nd-haven-in.html China China?s economy slows in second quarter By Geff Dyer in Beijing. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pulished: July 17 2008 08:35 | Last updated: July 17 2008 12:16. China?s groth rate slowed again in the second quarter of the year due to weaker export mrkets and restrictions on lending, although the economy is still expandng at double-digit rates in the face of a global slowdown. The government aid that the economy grew 10.1 per cent in th second quarter, down from 10.6 per cent in the first quarter, which was the fourth quarter in a row of declining growth in gross domestic product. The result wasthe lowest growth rate since the last quarter of 2005 and was also slightly low analysts? forecasts. The government also announced mixed news on infltion. While consumer price inflation continued to decline from 7.7 pr cent in May to 7.1 per cent last month, factory gate inflation rose againfrom 8.2 per cent to 8.8 per cent. The batch of new figures underlined te delicate challenge that the Chinese authorities are facing of trying to col the economy in the face of high inflation without prompting a sharpdrop in activity and employment. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/07/chinas-economy-slows-in- second-quarter.html China and Fanie Mae. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July17 2008 09:32 | Last updated: July 17 2008 11:00. Fannie Mae and Freddie Macmay not have many friends these days, but they should be able to count on acertain loyalty in Beijing. China is the biggest foreign holder of ebt issued by the troubled government-sponsored enterprises and a relatiely captive buyer of the paper. US Treasury data shows that mainland Chines investors owned $376bn of agency long-term debt at the end of June lst year, almost one-third of total foreign holdings of the agencies. Vrtually all of this is likely held by the State Administration of Foreign Echange, an agency under the central bank which oversees the bulk of reserves.Extrapolating on the basis of China?s growth in foreign assets, US economisBrad Setser reckons the country now holds $500-600bn worth of agency paper, or about one-tenth of the total outstanding stock of agency debt. Rshovelling up the agencies? asset-backed securities ? at the end of June last year, China held $206bn. This paper may well be trickier to dump. Even in more normal times, commercial banks ? the other natural buyers ? often have balance sheet constraints. Pricing is also more sensitive to changes in the market rates. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/china-and-fannie-mae.htm l Threat of ?no-fun? Olympics By Mure Dice, Geoff Dyer and Jamil Anderlini. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Published: July 18 2008 20:47 | Last updated: July 18 2008 20:47. Just thee weeks before the Beijing Olympics, concerns are growing that China?s sweepng security measures could end up sucking all the fun out of the world? biggest sportsfest. Pre-Olympic jitters are almost a tradition but a Chinee visa crackdown that has sent visitor numbers plunging, heightened security hecks, dire warnings of terrorist attack and curbs on Beijing nightlifehave led to some observers dubbing the 2008 Olympics the ?no-fun Games?. Mchael Payne, the International Olympic Committee?s head of marketing for th two decades to 2004, said that in meetings with top Beijing organisers he hs stressed a single word of advice: smile. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/threat-of-no-fun-olympic s.html Chicago Tribune Eitorial - Olympics clean? Not likely Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July12, 2008. For years, sprinter Michael Johnson?Olympic gold medalist, word champion, world record holder?defended his sport from those who said it as overrun with drug cheats. He pointed ut that track and field athletes are tested often for performance-enhancing drug use. But in March, after learning that former teammate Antonio Pettigrew had taken human owth hormone (HGH) and erythropoietin (EPO) from 1997 to 2001, Johnson change his tune. "Now I feel that I have been naive," Johnson wrote in a piece ublished in the Telegraph of London. "Many of the athletes who have now ha to admit to using banned substances never tested positive." In other words, hey gamed the system and got away with using performance-enhancing drugs. nd that is likely to be the case again this summer, when the world's bes athletes arrive in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Danish researcher studying the effects of EPO found that the drug markedly improves athletc performance. The researchers also found that the labs accredited by theorld Anti-Doping Agency to test athletes' urine samples are inconsistent at icking up evidence of EPO use. While some of that may have to do with diffeences in the labs, a bigger problem ishe test itself. Bottom line: Athletes who inject themselves with EPO have almost no chance of getting caught. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-olmpics.html Mess-o-potamia International Herald Tribune Editorial: Who sread false tales of heroism? Copyright by The International Herald Tribue. Published: July 16, 2008. Widespread - and, we suspect, self-induced - anesia among Bush administration officials and its Defense Department has mad it impossible for House investigators to determine whether top officialshelped spread two bogus stories of heroism used to bolster support for te wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It now looks as if we may never know ho kept stoking the impression that Corporal Pat Tillman, a U.S. Army Rangr who became an icon of the war on terror, had been killed by the enemy in Aghanistan (in a battle that won him a questionable Silver Star) long after he military knew he had been killed accidentally by fire from America forces. Nor are we apt to find out who promoted the false story that Pivate First Class Jessica Lynch had been captured in Iraq after a Rambo-lik performance in which she emptied her weapon and was wounded in battle.In fact, she had been badly hurt in a vehicle accident during an ambush ad was being well cared for by the Iraqis. Althouh the administration made a show of cooperating with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Democratic investigators were frustrated by the professed nability of top officials to recall who knew what. There was also a puzzlingabsence of documents that logic suggests should have existed. In some 1500 pages of White House e-mail messages and other documents about Tillman,there is not a single mention of fratricide. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.logspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_16.html Intrnational Herald Tribune Editorial: Baseline maneuvers. Copyright by The ternational Herald Tribune. Published: July 14, 2008. In an act of comon sense, U.S. troops deploying overseas will now undergo computerzed neurological screening before they leave. The aim is to have a baeline measurement of a soldier's brain function in case she or he is wounded Since a battlefield injury in Afghanistan or Iraq is likely to invlve a roadside bomb and a traumatized brain, anything that can improve the tratment of such injuries is highly welcome. Not to mention long overdue. The nvasions of those two countries began in 2001 and 2003, and it wasn't long beore brain injuries emerged as the persistent affliction. A study this yar by the RAND Corp. found that nearly one in five service members, or about320,000 people, were likely to have suffered a traumatic brain injuryin Iraq or Afghanistan, but that the majority had never been evaluated for on. There is no excuse for the delay. As long ago as 1997, after the first Gulf War, President Bill Clinton signed a bill requiring the military to "accurately record the medical condition of mmbers before their deployment." That law was prompted by the mysterious oubreak of ailments known as Gulf War syndrome, and by the bitter legal battles over when and how soldiers had fallen ill. http://iretiredfromnewslettes.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_7279.html Ca bomb in Iraq kills 18, including children; U.S.-led forces hand ove control of province By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA. Copyright 2008 Associated Pres. 2:39 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. BAGHDAD (AP) _ A car bomb killed at least sevn children and 11 other people in a northern city, providing a reminder tht militants still can cause casualties despite security improvements that ledU.S. troops to return a southern province to Iraqi control Wednesday. Ninty people also were injured in the blast at a popular outdoor market in Tl Afar, said a police official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not uthorized to speak to the media. The city, a one-time stronghold of Sunni nsurgents 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, was targeted in offensives by U.S.and Iraqi troops that prompted American leaders to describe it as a succes story in the effort to stabilize Iraq. But sporadic attacks continue. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.bogspot.com/2008/07/car-bomb-in-iraq-kills-1 8-including.html Iraq recruits hit in dual suicide attack By Ernesto Londo?o in Baghdad. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Published: July 15 2008 11:57 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:44. At least28 Iraqi security force recruits were killed on Tuesday in two suicide bombins in Diyala province north of Baghdad, where the government has said it pans a military offensive against insurgent groups. The twin bombings ocurred at Camp Saad, a police recruitment centre east of Baquba, the prvincial capital. The first bomber detonated explosives among a group of recuits ? with the second targeting those who fled the site ? according to the ommander of the Diyala military operations centre. At least 57 people were ounded in the blasts, he said. A police recruit wounded in the attack sad he ran from the site of the first attack. ?When I fled the place running, aother suicide bomber blew himself up among the recruits who were not woundedin the first explosion,? he said in a phoe interview from a hospital where he was being treated for injuries on his face and legs. ?This time I got injured.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ira-recruits-hit-in-dua l-suicide.html Electrical risks at U.S. bases in Irq worse than reported By James Risen. Copyright by The International HeraldTribune. Published: July 18, 2008. WASHINGTON: Shoddy electrical work b private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespreadand dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks tha the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal army documents. Duringjust one six-month period ? August 2006 through January 2007 ? at least 28 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq,including the military's largest dining hall in the country, documets obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrial fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while anothe was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. And hile the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrcuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, acording to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building cmplex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving eletrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis. http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/electrical-risks-at-us- ases-in-iraq.html Bush agrees withdrawal deal with Iraq By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 20:09 | Last updated: July 18 2008 0:09. George W. Bush has agreed to commit the US to ?time horizon? for withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, marking asignificant shift by a president who has long opposed setting target dtes for ending the war. The president struck the agreement with prime ministr Nouri al-Maliki on Friday as part of negotiations over the long-term fuure of US forces in Iraq. The White House insisted the goals would be subjct to continued improvement in security conditions, in contrast to the Dmocrats? call for a fixed timetable for withdrawal. The Iraqi government hd been pressing the Bush administration to commit to withdrawal dates as par of a proposed bilateral agreement to replace the United Nations mandatethat currently authorises US operations in Iraq. http://iretiredfromnewslettes.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-agrees-withdrawal-d eal-with-iraq.html Iraqis ivided on pull-out plan By Sudarsan Raghavan in Baghdad. Copyright The Fiancial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 19:30 | Last updated:July 18 2008 19:30. As Barack Obama prepares to visit Iraq, people across te country and politicians are divided over the presumptive Democratic nominees plan to withdraw US troops in 16 months if be becomes president. ?Iaq will be in hell and we will find ourselves at the gates of civil war,? aid Maied Rashed al-Nuaemi, a provincial council member in Mosul, where forcs are struggling against the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. ?The Aerican presence in Iraq is the safety valve to keep this country quiet. If they withdraw, that will lead to calamity.? But Mosul?s deputy governor, Khasru Koraan, said: The US presence in Iraq is useful now but if the security situationgets better, I think it?s not necessary to keep all these big numbers o soldiers here.? Iraq?s future is at stake in the US presidential electionsthis November and so the capital is rife with rumours of Mr Obama?s arrivl, expected in a few days. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.cm/2008/07/iraqis-divided-on-pull-o ut-plan.html Deadly attack on US base snds worrying signal for commanders hunting Taliban and al-Qaida By FISNIK ABASHI. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:11 PM CDT, July 14, 2008. KABL, Afghanistan (AP) _ An insurgent raid that penetrated an American outpos in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine soldiers, has deepened doubts about th U.S. military's effort to contain Islamic militants and keep locals on its sde.Moving in darkness before dawn Sunday, some 200 fighters surroundd the newly built base in a remote area near the Pakistan border without eing spotted by the troops inside, said Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the rovincial police chief. He said people in the adjacent village of Wanat aided the assault. About 20 local families left their homes in anticipation of the raid, while other tribesmen stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight,"Jangalbagh said. The result was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in fghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rcket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter. Violence has been increasg in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining, not losing, momentum seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion. http://iretiredfromnewstters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deadly-attack-on-us-base -sends-worrying.html Candians fear Afghan role not 'peacekeeping' - Critics say mission too much defnse, too little diplomacy By Kim Barker. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune July 18, 2008. BOWMANVILLE, Canada ? Near the corner of Temperance andChurch Streets, a granite monument honors this town's dead soldiers and liss where they died. But when Darryl Caswell was killed by a roadside bomb ast year in Afghanistan, no one was sure how to add his death, the town's 103d military fatality but the first one in 43 years. Town leaders had planned t etch the word "peacekeeping" above his name, but to many in Bowmanville,a town of 31,000 east of Toronto, that description of Canada's role fightingwith NATO in Afghanistan seemed wrong. "I don't see where the peacekeepin comes in," said Paul Caswell, Darryl's father. The war in Afghanistan ha changed the way Canadians view war and their military ? and in some ways, temselves and the U.S., their mighty neighbor to the south. After Canada decined to participate in the Iraq conflict, a decision to send up to 2,500 trops at a time to the bloodiest part of Afghanistan has transformed Canad from a nation proud of its peacekeeping missions to a nation figuring ut how to be at war. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/cadians-fear-afghan-ro le-not.html Is Iran Bush's answer for a legacy? By Raja Kamal. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. History can be very harsh and subjective It seems that the significant accomplishments of President Bill Clinton willbe unfortunately overshadowed by his personal indiscretions while i office. Historians will never shy from emphasizing that he was the second US. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Clinton'slegacy, as a result, has been sadly tarnished. How will historians judge th legacy of President George W. Bush? And, as he approaches the end of his secnd term, is it possible for him to influence or redefine his legacy? The anser to the first question is not favorable. During his tenure, the Iraq wa was poorly conceived and implemented. It is now a quagmire with no end i sight. With more than a half-trillion dollars and counting, this war is afecting essential programs here at home. Hurricane Katrina also proved tat Washington was incapable of responding efficiently to natural disasters o the home front. And then there is the economy. Most economists would agree hat the country is in a recession and possibly a severe one. More Amercans are finding themselves jobless every week. The high cost of energy is compounding matters, and polls are giving the administration a very low performance rating?confirming at the nation is going in the wrong direction...Attacking Iran may camouflge the legacy of the Bush administration. Yet redefining the president'slegacy by a conflict with Iran may prove to be an even more dangerous path tan that of Iraq. Will there be a dark day in November? Let's hope not. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-iran-bushs-answer-for legacy.html National International Herald Tribune Editorial: America'swar dead, seen only from afar. Copyright by The International Herald Tribun. Published: July 14, 2008. There's a propaganda edge to waging every war and a sad hallmark of the Bush administration's approach has been to den America the candid sight of flag-draped coffins of sacrificed soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. A nation at war should confront the eality of war. The muting of bad war news, which started at the Pentagon, s now an issue as well at Arlington National Cemetery. A public affairs irector at the cemetery was recently fired after complaining that ules were tightened to isolate the media 50 yards away - well beyond the point at which news organizations could hear, never mind photograph or videotape, burial ceremonies. The Pentagon says it is only following the wishes of families and that it has not changed its procedures. But there are serious reasons to doubt both protestations. Gina Gray, the fired director, said last April that the rules for the media at Arlington were indeed tightened, and she promised the Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank that she would work to ease them. In the ensuing controversy, military officials promised to work out some middle ground. But that did not save the job of Gray, who complained that cemetery officials had been calling families to encourage them to deny media coverage of their loved ones' burials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_15.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Posturing and abdication on climate change. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 13, 2008. The Bush administration made clear on Friday that it will do virtually nothing to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. With no shame and no apology, it stuck a thumb in the eye of the Supreme Court, repudiated its own scientists and exposed the hollowness of President George W. Bush's claims to have seen the light on climate change. That is the import of an announcement by Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, that the EPA will continue to delay a decision on whether global warming is a threat to human health and welfare and requires regulations to address it. Johnson said his agency would seek further public comment on the matter, a process that will almost certainly stretch beyond the end of Bush's term. The urgent problem of global warming demands urgent action. And the Supreme Court surely expected a speedier response when - 15 months ago - it ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles (and, by extension, other sources) endangers human welfare and, if so, to issue regulations to limit emissions. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/posturing-and-abdication -on-climate.html SEC set to fight short selling of financials By Joanna Chung in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 21:31 | Last updated: July 15 2008 21:31. US regulators will take emergency action to stop abusive short-selling of stock in financial institutions such as mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and investment bank Lehman Brothers. Christopher Cox, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, told legislators on Tuesday that the agency would issue an emergency rule to stop so-called ?naked? short-selling of shares in significant financial entities. The SEC will also consider new rules to extend those trading limits to the rest of the market. Short sellers aim to profit from share declines ? usually by borrowing a stock, selling it and buying it back in the market. But in a ?naked? short the shares are sold without being borrowed first. The emergency rule, which would be in effect for up to 30 days, would require anyone making a short sale to borrow the security first. It would apply to Fannie and Freddie ? the government-sponsored entities that own or guarantee almost half of US mortgages ? and all primary securities dealers including Lehman, whose shares have been battered by rumours the bank says are false. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/sec-set-to-fight-short-s elling-of.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial - Your sales tax calendar. Days since the Cook County Board raised the sales tax: 16. Days until the Feb. 2, 2010, Illinois primary election: 566. July 16, 2008. The push to roll back Cook County's increase of a full percentage point in the sales tax has begun. County Board member Tony Peraica on Monday filed the formal paperwork asking the board to reverse this most egregious of tax hikes. Peraica needs nine votes on the 17-member board to get traction. His measure now boasts seven sponsors. Let's salute them and hope their number grows. The seven, all of whom voted against the tax increase in the crucial Feb. 29 meeting of the board's Finance Committee, are: Forrest Claypool, Elizabeth Doody Gorman, Gregg Goslin, Peraica, Michael Quigley, Tim Schneider and Peter Silvestri. No, this is not an all-Republican effort: Claypool and Quigley are Democrats?as is every board member who voted for this $426 million tax boost. We hope the other board member who sided with these seven sponsors on the losing side of that 9-8 vote, Roberto Maldonado, remembers why he fiercely opposed the regressive unfairness of this sales tax hike on his poor and elderly constituents. Maldonado needs to join as a sponsor of this tax repeal?and then needs to vote accordingly. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-your-sales.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - And they get a raise? Copyright by The Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. Anyone who's ever managed a family budget understands that paring your spending to match your income is rarely painless. For those of us dealing with household-size budgets, the $1.4 billion that Gov. Rod Blagojevich sliced from next year's state budget sounds excruciatingly painful, especially when amplified by the anguished cries of those afflicted by the cuts. It's worth remembering that the $28.3 billion left on the table when Blagojevich finished his work is $800 million more than the previous year's budget. Fully 70 percent of the governor's cuts simply eliminated increases over last year's spending. Lawmakers had approved an additional $515 million for schools, for example, but the governor cut construction costs, laptop computers and other items to trim the increase to $330 million. There were casualties, to be sure. Many social service agencies face real funding cuts. Child welfare services, substance abuse programs and transit subsidies for students and disabled riders all took hits. And the governor couldn't resist gouging some of his political nemeses, including Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who had backed an unsuccessful move to let citizens recall state officials, not that we're naming names or anything. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-and-they-get.html Senators avoiding Statehouse to protect post-election pay raises - Returning to Springfield would force them to vote on 7.5% wage hike By Ray Long and Jeffrey Meitrodt. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:21 PM CDT, July 15, 2008. SPRINGFIELD ? The House is back this week to fight Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget cuts, but the Senate is avoiding the Statehouse in a move that protects lawmakers' chances of getting a post-election pay raise. Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) has said there is no need for the Senate to meet because his chamber, unlike the House, has already approved funding plans that would alleviate the need for the governor's veto of $1.4 billion in spending from the new state budget. But critics said returning to Springfield also would force the Senate to vote on whether to boost base salaries for lawmakers next summer by 7.5 percent, to $72,985. Jones has not scheduled the Senate to return until after the November election, when it would be less volatile for lawmakers to take a vote. A consistent advocate of boosting legislative salaries, Jones made his position clear this year when he told reporters: "I need a pay raise. I need a pay raise." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/senators-avoiding-stateh ouse-to-protect.html Your Lack of Money Bernanke highlights risks facing US economy By Krishna Guha and James Politi in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 15:19 | Last updated: July 15 2008 21:38. Ben Bernanke highlighted the ?numerous difficulties? facing the US economy in a sobering testimony on Tuesday that sent markets on a rollercoaster ride as he signalled serious risks on both the growth and inflation fronts. The Federal Reserve chairman told Congress that strains in financial markets, declining house prices, a weaker labour market and higher oil prices were all putting pressure on the outlook. Shares in the US ? already weak before Mr Bernanke spoke ? fell sharply, before rallying on a substantial decline in oil prices. But the main European and Asian markets fell sharply throughout the day with financial stocks particularly hard hit. In London the FTSE 100 closed down 2.4 per cent at 5,171.9, its lowest level since October 2005. By the close, oil had slumped to $138.74 a barrel after trading at an early high of $146.73. As oil slid, the euro, which hit a record high of $1.6038 in earlier trading, eased back. Gold rallied to its highest level in four months. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bernanke-highlights-risk s-facing-us.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Monetary minefield. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 19:33 | Last updated: July 16 2008 19:33. The tightrope that the Federal Reserve is walking keeps getting thinner. The need to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage lenders sponsored by the US government, is a reminder that financial conditions pose significant risks to growth; headline prices now 5 per cent higher than a year ago mean a rising risk of inflation. The Fed may not be able to keep its balance much longer, and if it falls, it must be on the side of controlling inflation, not sustaining growth. The package of support for Fannie and Freddie has few direct consequences for the macroeconomy. It eliminates the risk of an unlikely but catastrophic event ? the failure of one of the two ? but draws attention to the strain that the pair could place on the US government?s balance sheet. Fannie and Freddie can now keep lending, but some regional banks, such as troubled IndyMac, may not be able to. Tough credit conditions, and the fear of another Bear Stearns-style crisis, remain serious threats to growth. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_17.html US consumer price jump fuels inflation fears By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 14:02 | Last updated: July 16 2008 16:44. US consumer prices rose by 1.1 per cent in June, recording their biggest monthly jump since Hurricane Katrina as food and energy raised the cost of living for many Americans and justified inflation concerns among policymakers. The increase in the consumer price index was well above economists? expectations of a 0.7 per cent gain. At the core level, which excludes food and energy, the CPI also disappointed the market, gaining 0.3 per cent compared with an average expectation of a 0.2 per cent rise. The sharp increase in monthly inflation - which was the biggest since September 2005 and the second biggest since June 1982 ? highlights the difficult balancing act that is being performed by the Federal Reserve as it weighs slow growth, rising unemployment and turmoil in financial markets against sharply rising prices. On a yearly basis, the CPI gained 5 per cent in June, its largest increase since 1991. One source of comfort in recent months had been that core inflation was relatively under control, suggesting that soaring food and energy prices weren?t being passed on to the cost of other goods and services. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-consumer-price-jump-f uels-inflation.html Fed considered rate hike to hinder inflation. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 17, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Worried about rising inflation, Federal Reserve officials at their meeting in June thought the Fed's next move on interest rates was likely to be up. Documents released Wednesday provided insights into the Fed's thinking at the June 24-25 session, when they ended a nearly yearlong string of rate reductions, aimed at bolstering a teetering economy. At that time, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues were increasingly concerned that galloping energy and food prices could spread inflation through the economy, so they left the Fed's key rate at 2 percent. "With increased upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations, members believed that the next change in the stance of policy could well be an increase," according to the documents. However, because of the high degree of economic uncertainty, the timing of any such increase was far from clear, the documents suggested. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fed-considered-rate-hike -to-hinder.html Boost from stimulus checks may not be enough to save restaurant profits By LAUREN SHEPHERD. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 2:14 PM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK (AP) _ Consumers may have had a bit more money this spring courtesy of Uncle Sam, but that small windfall is unlikely to translate into big second-quarter profits for restaurants. And with the average price of gas now topping $4 a gallon, industry analysts are also no longer expecting much improvement in the months ahead. "Frankly, I don't think we're going to go back to the good old days," said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of consumer research firm Technomic Inc. in Chicago. It's been a difficult year for the restaurants, which depend on consumers' willingness to spend their cash to indulge in a lunch away from their desk or a dinner out. Falling home values, higher utility bills and skyrocketing gas prices have taken a big bite out of discretionary income. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boost-from-stimulus-chec ks-may-not-be.html Service sector contracts as orders fall. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:30 PM CDT, July 3, 2008. NEW YORK - Higher oil prices caused service businesses to shrink in June, as falling new orders and rising costs hit the nation's coffee shops, paper mills and corner stores. The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that the services sector index fell to 48.2 in June from 51.7 in May. It missed economists' prediction of a reading of 51.0, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR. A reading above 50 signals growth. The sector had been growing modestly, while much of the rest of the economy stalled. June's decline in the sector, coupled with Thursday's employment report showing the sixth straight month of job losses, added to the recent streak of bad news about the economy. Bruce Kane, a Smithtown, N.Y. home accessories manufacturers rep, said stores he sells to are afraid to place orders for Christmas. "Come September, with home heating oil prices, they don't know what the customer is going to do," he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/service-sector-contracts -as-orders-fall.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: A decent burial for Fannie Mae. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 14 2008 18:22 | Last updated: July 14 2008 18:22. Several financial institutions are considered too big to fail by US regulators. But most of them are small fractions of the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises hold or guarantee $5,200bn in mortgage debts. The moves to shore up the two giants over the weekend are welcome. However, policymakers must decide what they want to do with them in the long term. Responding to fears about the mortgage behemoths? liquidity and solvency, the Federal Reserve responded on Sunday by allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to borrow from its discount window. They now have access to emergency lending on the same terms as banks and primary dealers. Meanwhile, the US Treasury is seeking permission from Congress to increase its credit lines to the giants and for the right to purchase equity in them. The Fed and US Treasury had little choice, but it was still the right course of action. Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, federal reserve chairman, have therefore staved off short-term liquidity problems./Fannie Mae and the limits of public obligation By John Kay. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 18:23 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:23. Still the bills roll in. Taxpayers have already written impressively large cheques for Northern Rock and Bear Stearns. This week they are asked to dip into their pockets for Fannie Mae and Equitable Life. Ten billion pounds is more than a week?s public spending. But the sum is now the small change of subvention to failing financial services businesses. The common cause of all these calls on the public purse is the gap between the responsibilities government is thought to have assumed and the powers and competence government has to discharge these responsibilities. Equitable Life, the mutual life assurer that closed to new business in 2000, did not fail. Most of its policyholders did not do badly, but they did less well than they had been led to expect. Regulators did not cause the crisis, but things might have been done that were not done and there were specific procedural failings. In a world populated by real people, hindsight will almost always reveal such mistakes./The rescue of Fannie and Freddie by Hankie and Feddie By Willem Buiter. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. July 14, 2008. The bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the combined forces of the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board is the ugliest exercise of its kind I have ever observed outside early transition economies and mature banana republics. There are two open-ended (possibly permanent) measures by the US Treasury and one supposedly temporary measure by the Fed. The Treasury?s proposals require Congressional approval to become effective, something that should be forthcoming some time next week. The Fed measure does not require Congressional approval. The open-ended Treasury commitments are the creation of a facility enabling the U.S. government to become a major shareholder in the two GSEs, possibly for as much as $15 billion equity in each of the two institutions. The existing Treasury lines of credit to the insitutions (currently limited to $2.25bn each) would, as far as I can tell, become open-ended and uncapped. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_15.html Opposition, from both parties, over U.S. Treasury bailout plan By Stephen Labaton and David M. Herszenhorn. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. WASHINGTON: The Bush administration's plan to rescue the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies ran into sharp criticism in Congress on Tuesday as some lawmakers questioned the open-ended request for money that could be used to help the companies. The criticism prompted House leaders to push back their timetable for approving emergency housing legislation, saying final action would take at least until early next week. The move came after a growing number of Republicans voiced skepticism and, in some cases, angry opposition, to the administration's proposal to help the two companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac./Fannie and Freddie, damned by a Faustian bargain By John Eatwell and Avinash Persaud. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 19:26 | Last updated: July 17 2008 19:26. The rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced by Henry Paulson, US Treasury secretary, on Monday was the inevitable consequence of the ?marketisation? of banking that has transformed central banks from lenders of last resort to buyers of last resort. These government-sponsored agencies own or guarantee $5,000bn of mortgages, equal to half of US government debt. Unless regulators change track, there will be more rescues to come. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become the symbols of the switch from bank finance to market finance. They did not originate loans but owned or guaranteed securitised loans originated by others. When a report into accounting improprieties in 2003 led Freddie Mac to scale back its activities, banks, then looking for a new source of income after the dotcom bubble, tried to replicate the model and push the envelope. The main cheerleaders for the marketisation of banking were the gnomes of Basel ? the centre of international bank regulation. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/opposition-from-both-par ties-over-us.html Freddie Mac Registers With SEC, Capital Is Sufficient By Dawn Kopecki. Copyright by Bloomberg News. Last Updated: July 18, 2008 13:43 EDT. July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, removing the biggest obstacle to selling common stock and increasing its mortgage holdings. Freddie Mac intends to proceed with a $5.5 billion capital raising plan it announced in May that ``will include both common and preferred securities,'' the company said in a statement today. The filing, which doesn't say when Freddie Mac plans the offerings, fulfills an agreement made six years ago with lawmakers before the government-chartered company's plans stalled after uncovering $5 billion of accounting errors. ``Becoming an SEC registrant marks an important milestone for the company and demonstrates our commitment to enhanced transparency and financial reporting,'' Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron said in a statement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/freddie-mac-registers-wi th-sec-capital.html Google shares drop more than 9 pct after 2Q earnings miss expectations amid sputtering economy By MICHAEL LIEDTKE. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:23 AM CDT, July 18, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Google Inc. shares tumbled more than 9 percent by midday Friday after the Internet search leader's second-quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations. Management said economic turmoil in the United States and parts of Europe appears to be causing consumers to click less frequently on the ads that generate virtually all its profits. That unnerved already jittery investors, although Google managers said they expect the Mountain View-based company will thrive even if the economy weakens further./AMD names Meyer CEO as quarterly loss widens - Chip giant's shares fall 10% as Ruiz steps down By Benjamin Pimentel. Copyright by MarketWatch.com. Last update: 12:07 p.m. EDT July 18, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell 10% Friday morning after the chip giant reported another quarterly loss and announced that Chief Executive Hector Ruiz, who led the chipmaker's scrappy battle to take market share from tech kingpin Intel Corp., has stepped down. Announcing the switch after the markets closed on Thursday, AMD said Ruiz, who became CEO in 2002, will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer. Ruiz was named AMD's executive chairman and will remain as the company's chairman of the board. The change marks a major reshuffling at the Silicon Valley icon that emerged as an aggressive challenger to Intel (INTC: 21.99, -0.01, -0.1%) , but which has recently struggled with shrinking market share, production missteps and mounting financial burdens. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-shares-drop-more- than-9-pct.html Slowdown hurts profits at tech arch-rivals By Richard Waters, Chris Nuttall and Kevin Allison in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 23:49 | Last updated: July 17 2008 23:49. Worries that an economic slowdown was starting to eat into profits at both Google and Microsoft hit shares of the tech industry arch-rivals late on Thursday after each reported quarterly earnings that fell short of most analysts? estimates. Both companies, however, claimed to be riding out the downturn with little immediate impact and expressed cautious optimism that their international reach would continue to protect them from the worst. The resilience of the technology industry?s biggest and most diversified companies was also underlined on Thursday by the latest figures from IBM. The biggest supplier of technology to the corporate market raised its full-year outlook and reported better than expected sales and profits as it continued to be buoyed by growth in emerging markets. Microsoft shares fell more than 6 per cent on its latest earnings, as well as financial guidance that disappointed. But the world?s biggest software maker said a strong PC market and its diversified business was helping it ride out uncertain economic times. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/slowdown-hurts-profits-a t-tech-arch.html Nokia's 2nd-quarter profit falls 61 percent due to one-time gains in year-ago quarter By JARI TANNER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:15 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. HELSINKI, Finland (AP) _ The world's No. 1 mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. on Thursday said profit fell 61 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago, when the company booked a large gain from its network joint venture with Siemens AG. In an earnings report that came in above expectations, Nokia slightly upgraded its forecast for the global handset market in 2008, and said it expected to keep growing its slice of the pie. Four in 10 mobile phones sold worldwide are now made by the company based in Espoo, Finland./Harley 2Q profit tumbles on fewer shipments By DAN STRUMPF. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:56 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK - Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell sharply as a weak economy, record-high gas prices and lower consumer confidence continued to hobble the iconic motorcycle maker's shipments and sales. But the Milwaukee-based company stood by its outlook for the year, and its earnings beat Wall Street's expectations. Shares of Harley climbed in premarket trading. Harley said its earnings for the quarter ended June 29 fell 23 percent to $222.8 million, or 95 cents per share, from $290.5 million, or $1.14 per share, in the same quarter last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/nokias-2nd-quarter-profi t-falls-61.html Citi?s $2.5bn loss less than feared By Ben White in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 11:56 | Last updated: July 18 2008 15:14. Citigroup on Friday said it lost a smaller than expected $2.5bn in the second quarter, driven by $7.2bn in writedowns and an increase of $4.5bn in credit costs. Analysts had predicted a loss of closer to $4bn. Citi, the largest US bank by assets, itself last month warned of further large writedowns driven by continued ?unprecedented? market conditions. Citi shares rose 5.6 per cent in early Wall Street trading after the bank said it lost $2.5bn, or 54 cents a share, compared with a profit of $6.23bn, or $1.24 cents, last year. The loss was about half the size of the $5bn decline Citi posted in the first quarter. The bank has lost more than $17bn in the last three quarters and taken in excess of $58bn in writedowns and increased credit costs since mid-2007. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/citis-25bn-loss-less-tha n-feared.html Merrill Lynch hit by $9.4bn write-down By Francesco Guerrera and Ben White in New York and Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 22:04 | Last updated: July 18 2008 02:10. Merrill Lynch on Thursday spoiled investors? appetite for financial stocks with larger-than-expected write-downs of $9.4bn that underlined banks? continuing struggles to emerge from the credit crunch. In an unusual move, Merrill waited until after the market closed to report a $4.6bn loss in the second quarter and announce asset sales aimed at raising $8bn in much-needed capital. The performance, which trailed analyst expectations, brings Merrill?s losses for the past four quarters to about $19bn and has left the battered investment bank as one of the biggest casualties of the financial turmoil. Merrill?s results are a setback for John Thain, chairman and chief executive, who was hired in December to stem the investment bank?s tide of losses and tighten risk management./JPMorgan earnings beat expectations By Francesco Guerrera in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 12:32 | Last updated: July 17 2008 12:32. JPMorgan Chase provided a relative bright spot for the US financial sector on Thursday, reporting second-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations despite $2.4bn in new write-downs and credit provisions. Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive, tempered the better than expected results with a note of caution, warning that the economy was likely to weaken and capital markets would remain under stress in the months to come. ?Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak ? and likely to get weaker ? and for the capital markets to remain under stress. We remain conscious that since substantial risks still remain on our balance sheet, these factors will likely affect our business for the remainder of the year or longer,? Mr Dimon said in a statement./Northern Trust, First Midwest post better-than-expected profits By Becky Yerak. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. Better-than-expected results posted by two Chicago-area banking institutions were warmly received Wednesday by a Wall Street crowd that has been frowning lately on financial stocks. Shares of Northern Trust Corp. closed up 13.1 percent, at $76, after the area's only big locally headquartered bank reported second-quarter profits that exceeded analyst expectations. It also said its operating revenues surpassed $1 billion for the first time. Meanwhile, shares of First Midwest Bancorp Inc., one of the area's mid-size banks, gained 26.5 percent Wednesday, to $17.71, after it too exceeded profit forecasts despite a rise in delinquent loans. It posted quarterly loan growth the likes of which it hasn't seen in seven years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/merrill-lynch-hit-by-94b n-write-down.html Coca-Cola sees $5.3bn writedown By Jonathan Birchall in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 16:46 | Last updated: July 18 2008 01:10. A one-two punch of higher commodity prices and increasingly frugal US consumers is forcing Coca-Cola?s largest bottler to write down the value of its business by $5.3bn. The non-cash writedown by the bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, led Coca-Cola itself to take a $1.1bn writedown in its second-quarter results, reducing its earnings per share by 40 cents to 61 cents, 23 per cent down on the same period last year. CCE, which is 35 per cent owned by Coca-Cola, bottles, distributes and markets 80 per cent of Coke?s drinks in the US. It also distributes in the UK and other parts of Europe and handles about 18 per cent of Coke?s total sales./Coca-Cola Co. 2nd-quarter profit falls 23 percent as it takes charge related to its bottler. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:35 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. ATLANTA (AP) _ Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell 23 percent as it took a one-time charge related to its bottler. The world's biggest beverage company earned $1.42 billion, or 61 cents per share, compared with $1.85 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 17 percent to $9.05 billion from $7.73 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings were $1.01. The quarter's earnings included a 40-cent-per-share non-cash charge related to bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coca-cola-sees-53bn-writ edowncoca-cola.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Stormy weather. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 18:54 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:54. What a difference a year makes. Last year during the Paris Air Show, the aviation industry was on a high: the world economy was booming and credit was cheap. Orders for civilian airliners stretched far into the future. This year at Farnborough, there have been the usual choreographed announcements of orders for new aircraft (if fewer than in Paris last year). But this masks a future for the industry that looks far bleaker than it did a year ago. The price of jet fuel has doubled since then and economic growth has slowed in the face of a credit crisis. For manufacturers based in Europe, the weak dollar has given a relative advantage to their competitors in the dollar area. Some marginal airlines have already gone to the wall, and more may be expected to follow. Others pursuing novel strategies, such as business-only operators, have failed. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_1612.html Delta and American parent AMR swing to $1 billion-plus losses in 2nd-quarter By HARRY R. WEBER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 12:31 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. ATLANTA (AP) _ Delta Air Lines Inc. said Wednesday it swung to a hefty loss in the second quarter despite a strong increase in sales, pushing its red ink to more than $7 billion since the start of the year.But the carrier's shares soared as the results, hit by unprecedented fuel costs and a decline in the company's market value, still beat Wall Street estimates when one-time items are excluded. Oil prices plunged by more than $4 a barrel Wednesday, bolstering stocks in the airline sector. The parent of American Airlines also reported second-quarter results Wednesday, swinging to a big loss in the second quarter as high fuel prices swamped an increase in revenue and led the nation's largest carrier to write down the value of its jets. The results were not as bad as Wall Street had feared, as both companies topped analysts' expectations./American Airlines to cut 1,500 maintenance jobs. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:26 AM CDT, July 18, 2008. DALLAS _ American Airlines will cut 1,500 jobs in its maintenance division as it reduces its fleet of aircraft. The nation's largest airline told employees of the cuts in memos this week. American did not break down the cuts by location. Tami McLallen, a spokeswoman for the airline, said Friday that those decisions had not yet been made. The airline has maintenance hubs in Kansas City, Tulsa, Okla., and Fort Worth, Texas, plus many smaller bases around the country. Besides maintaining American's jets, workers at the hubs also work on jets brought in by other carriers./Continental swings to 2nd-quarter loss from year-ago profit on hefty fuel costs By DAVID KOENIG. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:55 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. DALLAS (AP) _ Continental Airlines Inc. said Thursday it swung to a second-quarter loss, hurt by record high fuel prices and weakening economic conditions. But the result was far better than expected, and shares rose 73 cents, or 7.9 percent, to $9.92 in trading after the opening bell. For the quarter ended June 30, Houston-based Continental said it lost $3 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a profit of $228 million, or $2.03 per share, a year ago. Excluding $22 million in one-time gains, the carrier lost $25 million, or 25 cents per share, in the latest quarter. Analysts, who usually exclude one-time items from their calculations, expected a loss of 49 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial./Qantas cuts 1,500 jobs as fuel costs soar By Elizabeth Fry in Sydney. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 02:38 | Last updated: July 18 2008 05:23. Qantas, Australia?s national carrier, on Friday said it would cut 1,500 jobs and abandon plans to increase flying capacity as part of a stringent cost cutting plan aimed at dealing with the impact of record fuel prices. The job cuts, equivalent to 4 per cent of Qantas? workforce, come after weeks of speculation that the carrier would be forced to take drastic action to cope with the crisis that is crippling the aviation industry world wide. Qantas said it would also scrap plans to hire another 1,200 workers in the new financial year, after abandoning plans to increase capacity in 2008/09 by 8 per cent. The airline said it would close its call centres in Tuscon, Arizona and London. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/delta-and-american-paren t-amr-swing-to.html GM suspends dividend and eyes asset sales By Bernard Simon in Toronto. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 14:22 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:38. General Motors has suspended its dividend and is considering asset sales as part of a ?self-help? plan to improve liquidity in the face of a downturn in the North American vehicle market. ?Our progress has been threatened as US economic conditions have become more difficult,? Rick Wagoner, GM?s chief executive, told employees on Tuesday. GM announced last month that it would close four North American plants building pick-up and sport utility vehicles. But Mr Wagoner said ?in the past six weeks, US markets and economic conditions have continued to decline?. A sharp drop in GM?s share price and speculation about a possible bankruptcy filing have complicated efforts to raise capital. The measures unveiled, based mostly on internal cost-cutting, are designed to generate $15bn in cash by the end of 2009. GM?s automotive operations held cash reserves of $23.9bn at the end of March. They assume a drop in US light-vehicle sales to 14m units this year and next. Sales totalled 16.3m in 2007, but fell to an annual rate of 13.6m in June. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-suspends-dividend-and -eyes-asset.html Commodities Oil $128.88 Silver Bullion $18.15 Gold Bullion $955 Platinum Bullion $ $1861 Euro $1.5833 Dollar leads the ?ugly parade? By Neil Dennis and Sarah O?Connor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 17:02 | Last updated: July 15 2008 17:02. The fallout from the US rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday sent dollar bulls scuttling for cover while raising the question: how much more pain can the battered US currency take? Relief over the Treasury?s announcement that it would seek to provide funding for the two US government-sponsored mortgage groups has quickly been replaced by fears that conditions in the financial system are worsening. The dollar sell-off was broad-based. It drove the euro to a record high against the US currency ? taking it back above $1.60, while the pound broke through $2, to its highest level since March. The greenback also fell more than 1 per cent against both the Swiss franc and the yen. The latest bout of weakness comes only a couple of months after some analysts had forecast a major improvement in the dollar?s fortunes. Rising US inflation prompted tough talk from Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. He said the time of lower US interest rates was over, helping the currency to rally modestly between mid-April and mid-June. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dollar-leads-ugly-parade .html Oil rebounds while gold consolidates By Chris Flood. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 09:40 | Last updated: July 18 2008 09:40. Oil prices staged a rebound on Friday after dropping below the $130 level in the previous session while gold prices traded in a narrow range. Nymex August West Texas Intermediate rose $1.71 to $131.00 a barrel after sinking to a low of $129.00 on Thursday, led lower by a sharp fall in US natural gas prices. WTI ended Thursday?s session $5.31 lower at $129.29 and has corrected by 12.2 per cent since reaching an all-time high of $147.27 last Friday. Traders said the expiry of August WTI options on Thursday was an influential factor in dragging futures prices lower. ICE September Brent rebounded $1.70 to $132.77 a barrel after dropping to a low of $130.73 on Thursday. Brent ended Thursday?s session $4.74 lower at $131.07 and has corrected by 11.1 per cent since reaching a record $147.50 last Friday. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/oil-rebounds-while-gold- consolidates.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: The lure of offshore drilling. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. President George W. Bush's decision to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling first imposed by his father 18 years ago is designed to ratchet up the pressure on Congress to do likewise. Congress should resist. Offshore drilling will not bring short-term relief from $4-a-gallon gasoline, nor can it play much more than a marginal role in any long-term strategy for energy independence. The oil companies already have access to substantial unexplored resources. At issue are about 19 billion barrels that, the Interior Department says, lie in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Until Monday, these resources had been protected by two parallel moratoriums. One was an executive prohibition on offshore drilling in the Lower 48 states, imposed in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez disaster. This moratorium was extended by President Bill Clinton, who added protections for Alaska's Bristol Bay, a rich fishing ground. Bush lifted the Bristol Bay protections last year and has now eliminated the rest. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_4556.html US to open 3.9m acres in Alaska for drilling By Sheila McNulty in Houston. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 22:57 | Last updated: July 16 2008 22:57. The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices. ?This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,? said C.?Stephen Allred, assistant US Secretary for Land and Minerals. ?Together with proposed new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help to stabilise energy costs.?? The Alaska decision follows one by President George W.?Bush on Monday to lift a presidential ban on drilling on the US outer continental shelf, off Florida. That decision still requires Congress to lift a separate ban on the area before the area can be leased for development. But the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, said the Alaskan land that will now be offered requires no other approvals and will be up for leasing in the autumn. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-to-open-39m-acres-in- alaska-for.html Florida willing to get tough over oil drilling ban By David Fickling in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 22:29 | Last updated: July 17 2008 22:29. The governor of Florida would consider going to court to guarantee his right to permit offshore oil exploration around Florida?s coasts. But Charlie Crist, who has been cited as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, told the Financial Times that in preference to court action it would be ?more productive? for Congress to overturn its ban on offshore drilling. Oil exploration in all but a few sectors of US coastal waters has been prohibited since the 1980s by separate congressional and presidential bans. However, George W.?Bush on Monday lifted the White House?s moratorium and called on Congress to do the same. That move followed calls from Mr McCain last month to end the federal bans. He argued that domestic oil production needed to rise to assure affordable fuel for Americans, who have seen the price of petrol increase by a third to more than $4 a litre in the past year. Mr Crist echoed that view. ?It is a significant crunch on Florida families,? he said. ?And I think the difficult decision that I have to make, as somebody who cares about the environment, is to realise that my fellow Floridians are hurting financially right now.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-oil-reserves-may-rais e-false-us.html Don't heed promises of easy fuel solution By ANDREW GREELEY agreel at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times. July 16, 2008. Sometimes Sen. Phil Gramm is not all that wrong about American protests over high pump prices to sustain their behemoth autos as they soak up the oil reserves of the world. Ever since President Jimmy Carter, warnings have been issued about the risks of dependence on foreign oil. Conservation, we were told, was the only solution. Actually there were other solutions, such as legislating stern mpg requirements, as European countries did, imposing heavy taxes on gas. In fact, the four and a half dollars a gallon Americans must now pay for gas is less than Europeans have been paying for 30 years. However, Americans were convinced that they had the right to cheap gasoline and that no power in the world should take that right away from us. Now that the right has been sopped up, it ought to be clear that gasoline is an expensive commodity. Yet Americans continued to purchase it at a discount provided by their government. Environmentalists warned every year that disaster was waiting just around the corner, but Big Auto insisted that Americans wanted big cars and small trucks and especially SUVs, gas-consuming monsters that were rarely used either for sports or utility purposes, but mostly to reinforce the masculinity of drivers of either gender. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dont-heed-promises-of-ea sy-fuel.html Bush Spins a Big Lie About Offshore Drilling. Posted by A Siegel, Get Energy Smart! NOW!!! Copyright by Alternet.com. 10:56 AM on July 14, 2008. "At what point does 'truthiness' and disingenuous arguments simply become lying?" The push is on, big time. The solution to all of America's problems, evidently, is to drill, drill, drill. This is now the Republican mantra as they seem to believe that they have found a winning political issue, no matter what the implications of this "win" might be for America's future. Let us be clear. Efforts to increase (actually, struggle to maintain) America's oil production can be part of a holistic energy package. But, only part: far more critical is to use efficiency to produce negagallons to help provide some breathing space to move as much of America's transportation off oil. (To me, the most fruitful path for results by 2020 is mass electrification: rail and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles along with GEM-full flex-fuel for the liquid portion of the ground transportation system.) Even if transportation is 100% non-oil, we will still want oil for many industrial processes and to support manufacture of many products. But, efforts and discussion to explore additional oil production should be part of a larger discussion. And, they should be grounded in truth. George W Bush, in Saturday's radio address, provided a clear example of how truthiness, rather than truth, reigns in the efforts to promote oil exploration and drilling in the outer continental shelf (OCS). http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-spins-big-lie-about -offshore.html Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.33% 6.13% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.86% 5.64% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.28% 7.20% 5/1 ARM 5.73% 5.48% 7/1 ARM 6.08% 5.81% New York construction boosts US housing By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 14:01 | Last updated: July 17 2008 14:01. New US housing starts rose an unexpected 9.1 per cent in June, but economists cautioned against interpreting the jump as evidence of a bottoming of the US residential property market. The commerce department said the surge to a pace of 1.066m units was driven by multi-family construction in New York, where new building codes were enacted last month. Meanwhile, single-family housing starts across the country dropped 5.3 per cent to their lowest level since 1991 and overall new home construction, setting aside multi-family homes in the northeast, dropped 4 per cent. New building codes came into effect in New York at the beginning of July prompting builders to start and seek permits for multifamily structures before then. The housing meltdown has been at the heart of the economic crisis and policymakers and economists have been searching for some signs that it may be ending. Woes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored mortgage lenders, over the past week, have increased fears of a protracted slump in housing. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-york-construction-bo osts-us-housing.html US builders forced to sell off holdings By Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 22:26 | Last updated: July 18 2008 22:26. For decades American builders have, in the words of the Joni Mitchell song, ?paved paradise and put up a parking lot?. Now, a combination of the housing slump, the energy crisis and soaring prices for food is helping to keep the bulldozers at bay. Demand for new homes on the outskirts of US towns has fallen spectacularly in the last three years, while foreclosures and speculative building have created a far greater supply of homes than there are buyers. At the same time, soaring fuel costs have made the long commute to work that much less attractive. The result is that farmland close to cities that has often been the seedbed for new housing developments is becoming less valuable to builders, at the same time as farmers want more of it. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-builders-forced-to-se ll-off-holding.html Bush Bashing Bush Admin. Worried About Possible Criminal Prosecution. Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side By Scott Horton. Copyright by Harpers Magazine AUGUST 2008. In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration?s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who ?made it happen? (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program ?24,? which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-admin-worried-about -possible.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: History goes missing at the White House. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 13, 2008. After watching wholesale lots of the Bush administration's most important e-mails go mysteriously missing, Congress is trying to legislate against any further damage to history. The secrecy-obsessed White House is, of course, threatening a veto - one more effort to deny Americans their rightful access to the truth about how their leaders govern or misgovern. The House approved a measure last week that would require the National Archives to issue stronger standards for preserving e-mails and to aggressively inspect whether an administration is in compliance. The Archives needs spine stiffening. Congressional investigators found that its staff backed off from inspections of e-mail storage after the Bush administration took office. We fear we may never find out all that has gone missing in this administration, although we urge congressional investigators to keep trying. What we do know is that the Bush gaps of missing e-mails run into hundreds of thousands during some of the most sensitive political moments. Key gaps coincide with the lead-up to the Iraq war - and the White House's manipulation of intelligence - as well as the destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations and the outing of the CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_14.html Video of teen's Guantanamo interrogation offers glimpse into questioning at US military base By CHARMAINE NORONHA. Copyright by The Associated Press http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-canada-guantanamo-deta inee,0,3771728.story. 9:11 AM CDT, July 15, 2008. TORONTO (AP) _ In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay. "Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.The 10 minutes of video ? selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent ? provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged. The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/video-of-teens-guantanam o-interrogation.html Bush claims executive privilege on CIA leak material, Waxman delays contempt vote By LAURIE KELLMAN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:11 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush has asserted executive privilege to prevent Attorney General Michael Mukasey from having to comply with a House panel subpoena for material on the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.A House committee chairman, meanwhile, held off on a contempt citation of Mukasey ? who had requested the privilege claim ? but only as a courtesy to lawmakers not present. Among the documents sought by House Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman are FBI interviews of Vice President Dick Cheney. They also include notes about the 2003 State of the Union address, during which President Bush made the case for invading Iraq in part by saying Saddam Hussein was pursuing uranium ore to make a nuclear weapon. That information turned out to be wrong. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-claims-executive-pr ivilege-on-cia.html Court Backs Bush on Military Detentions By ADAM LIPTAK. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: July 16, 2008. President Bush has the legal power to order the indefinite military detentions of civilians captured in the United States, the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled on Tuesday in a fractured 5-to-4 decision. But a second, overlapping 5-to-4 majority of the court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, ruled that Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar now in military custody in Charleston, S.C., must be given an additional opportunity to challenge his detention in federal court there. An earlier court proceeding, in which the government had presented only a sworn statement from a defense intelligence official, was inadequate, the second majority ruled. The decision was a victory for the Bush administration, which had maintained that a 2001 Congressional authorization to use military force after the Sept. 11 attacks granted the president the power to detain people living in the United States. The court effectively reversed a divided three-judge panel of its own members, which ruled last year that the government lacked the power to detain civilians legally in the United States as enemy combatants. That panel ordered the government either to charge Mr. Marri or to release him. The case is likely to reach the Supreme Court. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/court-backs-bush-on-mili tary-detentions.html Indecision 2008 McDumb As Bush http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsiADdmoh3E Can we afford another president who thinks it's smart to be dumb? The Comedy Stylings of Shecky McCain. Copyright by Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. Tuesday, July 15th, 2008...7:44 am. John McCain made the mistake of watching Verdict yesterday where they had a John McCain sycophant go on and on about how McCain stuck by his principles when he bucked his party on immigration. He and the host failed to note that he was lining up with the president and the business community on the issue (not exactly ?bucking? the folks in charge), and when the heat came down he didn?t even support his own bill that this guy was giving him credit for. But hey, he?s a maverick, right? Also, the guy noted that he has this great sense of humor. I gotta give him credit here and there for poking fun at his age, but for the most part, his humor is awkward at best and usually mean spirited. For example, how many folks remember this one: Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno. For reference, this was back in 1998, when Clinton was seventeen. Nice. Okay, that?s too far back for some of y?all. McCain made an appearance in Nevada just last month and when asked about avoiding campaigning with Governor Jim Gibbons. In response, he decided to make the old ?And I?ve stopped beating my wife? gag. It wasn?t that funny back when Richard Nixon used it, and it sure as heck isn?t funny given that Gibbons was accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress just last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/comedy-stylings-of-sheck y-mccain.html McCain's take on birth control By Katha Pollitt. Copyright ? 2008 The Nation. July 18, 2008. I realize it's not as world-shaking as the caricature of the Obamas on the cover of The New Yorker, which has the high-end media in a total tizzy. It's probably not even as important as the raunchy joke Bernie Mac told at an Obama fundraiser last week, which was bumped from the tizzy list by the New Yorker story. But can't the commentariat take a break from itself and let the world know how much John McCain opposes birth control? Vastly more people rely on contraception than read The New Yorker or know who Bernie Mac is from mac 'n' cheese. In fact, vastly more people use birth control than believe Obama is a secret Muslim. They might like to know that when it comes to contraception, McCain is no maverick. Here's the story. Last week, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who has been helping McCain look bright-eyed and estrogen-friendly, told reporters that women wanted more choice in their health-care plans. For example, it bothered women when plans covered Viagra but not contraception. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-take-on-birth-co ntrol.html And the Viagra moment: http://www.wikio.com/video/314833 Crosby, Stills & Nash - "Denver" (6/26/08) - Antiwar DNC Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young have created a new version of their song, ?Chicago,? which spoke of the 1968 Democratic convention riots with the words ?Won't you please come to Chicago?? and ?We can change the world, rearrange the world.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/crosby-stills-nash-denve r-62608-antiwar.html WATCH VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_iwiZ6wjk Financial Times Editorial Comment: Obama takes a tour of the world. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 20:11 | Last updated: July 18 2008 20:11. Purely as a matter of domestic politics, Barack Obama?s impending tour of foreign parts could be the most important manoeuvre of his campaign. When voters are asked whom they trust to do a good job, the Democrat comfortably leads John McCain on most issues ? with the vital exceptions of national security and foreign affairs. During his stops in Europe and the Middle East over the coming days, he has a chance to alter that perception, perhaps decisively. No question, a trip of this kind has risks: there is always the danger of some memorable gaffe. But if Mr Obama avoids making any big mistakes, the effusion of goodwill he is likely to meet, and the sheer sense of occasion, are likely to hand him a public relations triumph. Anticipation of the trip in the United States, to say nothing of the elaborate preparations, is as though for an actual president rather than a mere candidate. Assured of wall-to-wall press and television coverage, Mr Obama will be trailing a vast retinue of US media, including a trio of television network anchors. (At this one gasps: such eminences rarely venture from the studio.) When Mr McCain travelled recently, we believe to a country in Latin America, nobody cared and few even noticed. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-obama_19.html Obama arrives in Afghanistan By Jeff Zeleny. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 19, 2008. WASHINGTON: Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee by meeting with U.S. commanders there before heading to Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the two major U.S. war zones. Obama touched down in Kabul just before noon, according to a pool report released by his aides. In addition to attending briefings with military leaders, he hoped to meet with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan before flying to Iraq later in the weekend. Obama, a member of the U.S. Senate from Illinois, gave a brief outline of his trip Thursday to two pool reporters traveling with him from his home state to Washington. "Well, you know, I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking," Obama said. "And I think it is very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it's the president's job to deliver those messages." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-arrives-in-afghani stan.html Obama holds to course By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. It's hard to keep up with Barack Obama's positions on the Iraq war. When he entered the presidential race, he offered a plan that would take more than a year to withdraw from Iraq. In September, he said he would withdraw all our combat brigades over 15 months or so. This week, he vowed to pull those forces out within 16 months of taking office. Wow. He's really been all over the lot, hasn't he? No one can possibly tell if President Obama will get us out in February of 2010, or if he'll put it off till April. Small wonder that a John McCain spokesman said that on Iraq, Obama "has held almost every conceivable position." Or that a blogger for the conservative American Spectator said Obama "has entered John Kerry territory when it comes to changing positions on Iraq." See for yourself. Obama was against the war before it began?and then, in a complete reversal, he was against it after it began. When he launched his campaign in early 2007, he favored a phased withdrawal. But now, with the Democratic nomination in hand, what does he favor? A phased withdrawal. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-holds-to-course.ht ml In Obama Fundraising, Signs of a Shift From Online to In-Person By Matthew Mosk. Copyright by The Washington Post. Friday, July 18, 2008; Page A06 Sen. Barack Obama reversed a three-month fundraising slide by raising $52 million in June, a monthly total that has been surpassed only by his own performance in February in the history of presidential campaigns, aides announced yesterday. The Democrat's June effort easily topped that of Republican Sen. John McCain, who announced earlier that he will report raising $22 million for the month. The two are now nearly even in remaining resources. When combined with money gathered by their national party committees, they both began July with just less than $100 million in the bank. Obama's campaign would not say how much of his total was raised from small donors who gave online, and official reports are not due to be filed until Sunday. But an examination of his campaign schedule -- which has been packed with high-dollar fundraising events -- would suggest that he relied less on Internet donors than he did in February, when he took in $55.4 million. That month, he raised $30 million in donations of less than $200. Donors contributing similar amounts gave $23.5 million in March, $19.3 million in April and $13.3 million in May, Federal Election Commission records show. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-obama-fundraising-sig ns-of-shift.html In Obama's Circle, Chicago Remains The Tie That Binds By Shailagh Murray. Copyright by The Washington Post. Monday, July 14, 2008; Page A01. For once, Barack Obama left his iPod and stack of news clips at his seat and worked the front cabin of his campaign's chartered plane, laughing and reminiscing with the people who know him best. The senator from Illinois does not typically travel with an entourage, instead spending his time on the plane reading, working or listening to music. But this was a special occasion -- the night last month when he was claiming the Democratic presidential nomination. Joining him and his wife, Michelle, for the flight from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., were half a dozen of their closest friends, a biracial cross section of the city's business and professional elite: Martin Nesbitt, a parking lot magnate; Valerie Jarrett, a prominent businesswoman; Eric Whitaker, an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center; and John Rogers, the founder of an investment fund. Some were mainly social friends from Hyde Park, their Chicago neighborhood. Some have played a major role in Obama's campaign, including Penny Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt hotel heiress and Obama's national fundraising chairman; James Crown, son of Chicago billionaire Lester Crown and another prominent member of the local Jewish community; and David Axelrod, who has been Obama's Chicago-based political adviser and confidant since his U.S. Senate campaign in 2004. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-obamas-circle-chicago -remains-tie.html Barack Obama's $52 million June - The Obama campaign asks: Buddy, can you spare five bucks? by Mark Silva. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Posted July 17, 2008 6:50 AM. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in June, his campaign manager said Thursday morning - not quite a record for the high-flying campaign, but close to it. The campaign had raised $55 million in February, during the Democratic primaries. But it's still more than twice what Republican rival Sen. John McCain raised during June -- $22 million. Yet the Republican National Committee, which is backing the party's presidential candidate with its own resources, also had nearly $68 million in the bank - a combined treasury which the Obama campaign was mindful about in reporting its own June haul. "Supporters like you helped raise $52 million,'' campaign manager David Plouffe said in an e-mail to campaign supporters this morning. "And together with the DNC, we now have nearly $72 million in the bank. That's a very strong financial position to be in.'' http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/barack-obamas-52-million -june-obama.html Why the Obama cartoon cover bombed- Is it funny? Is it true? Is the target worth it? By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 16, 2008. I winced. I'm sure that's what The New Yorker's esteemed editor David Remnick expected me to do when I saw the Barack and Michelle Obama caricature that everybody's talking about. Every so often the quiet little liberal-leaning literary and cultural magazine presents a cover that is intended?like a high-class editorial cartoon?to startle us. Back in 1993, for example, during a time of high tensions between blacks and Jews, cartoonist Art Spiegelman raised hackles from some and heartfelt praise from others with a cover that depicted a black woman kissing an Orthodox Jewish man. The controversial Obama cover by artist Barry Blitt is just as startling in its image, but not nearly as clear in its meaning. If a casual observer didn't know that The New Yorker was a liberal literary and cultural magazine, he or she might easily believe Blitt's drawing was trying to promote the right-wing smears that it intended to lampoon. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-obama-cartoon-cover- bombed-is-it.html They get it By Timothy Egan. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. MISSOULA, Montana: They get it. A big red-headed guy in a pickup pulling a fishing boat stopped in front of Barack Obama headquarters here - loaded for bear, as they say. Land Tawney, a fifth-generation Montanan with a gap-toothed smile, was wearing a plaid shirt and a camouflage cap atop his head. He belongs to Sportsmen for Obama, which sounds like Facebook Users for McCain, or Linguists for Bush. I asked him whether fellow members of the hook-and-bullet community are concerned about Obama's race, or the depictions of him as un-American. Montana, after all, has a black population of less than one-half of one percent. "For 95 percent of the people, it doesn't matter or even come up," said Tawney, whose name suggests that he was predestined never to spend his days under fluorescent lights. "For the other 5 percent, yeah, there's some talk." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/they-get-it.html Obama Leads by 8 Points In Poll - Economy Remains The Top Concern By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen. Copyright by The Washington Post. Wednesday, July 16, 2008; Page A01. Sen. Barack Obama holds his biggest advantage of the presidential campaign as the candidate best prepared to fix the nation's ailing economy, but lingering concerns about his readiness to handle international crises are keeping the race competitive, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Overall, the Democrat has a lead of 50 percent to 42 percent over Republican Sen. John McCain among registered voters nationwide, lifted by a big edge among women, and he has also regained an edge among political independents. But it is Obama's 19-point lead on the economy that has become a particularly steep challenge for McCain. Economic concerns continue to eclipse other issues, with half the country saying the economy will be "extremely important" to their vote. Gasoline and energy prices, which voters rarely mentioned at the start of the year, come in just behind. The Iraq war, which was again the subject of direct engagement between Obama and McCain yesterday, ranks third. A cluster of domestic issues, including education, health care and Social Security, ranked behind the war, as did the issue of terrorism. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-leads-by-8-points- in-poll-economy.html In July, dumb stuff fades in background By Garrison Keillor. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. Summer nights! The fragrant dark descends, the night creatures chitter and chirrup, and we linger on the porch, a little wine in the glass, children coming and going, and we inhale the sweetness of life. In Pasadena, Calif., people are lined up outside a bank, hoping to get their money out before it goes belly up, and John McCain's friend Phil Gramm says we are a nation of whiners complaining about a recession that is only mental, but we are engulfed in summer and don't notice. We are sitting on the porch, inhaling the breeze from the trees, and we are American optimists. We grew up with cheapo gasoline and our children won't and anything you hear about rolling back prices at the pump is just election-year blather. Supply is not rising to meet demand, what with China and India booming, and that drives the price up: You learned about this in the 7th grade. So our kids will have to deal with new realities, which they can manage better than we can, and when gas goes to $7 and $8 and $10 a gallon, they will roll with it....The huge crowds that Obama draws are stunned by the fact that someone like him, with that interesting name, is?hang on now?a mainstream candidate for president of the United States and that he is, on close examination, One of Us. An earnest striver with a sense of humor. He is so much more One of Us than the privileged ne'er-do-well son in the White House or poor Rush Limbaugh living alone with his cat in his Palm Beach compound with the cherubs on the ceiling just like at Versailles and the life-size oil portrait of himself. Imagine having to look at that as you come down to breakfast. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-july-dumb-stuff-fades -in-background.html GLBT Chicago Free Press Editorial: Turning a blind eye. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. July 16, 2008. Talk about Orwellian?by the year 2010, assuming California continues to allow gays and lesbians to marry, it?s expected that tens of thousands of same-sex couples will have gotten hitched in the Golden State. They would join the thousands of gay and lesbian couples married in Massachusetts, not to mention those U.S. couples with Canadian marriage licenses or the possibility that by 2010 more states may be letting gay and lesbians have equal marriage rights. Nope, says the U.S. Census Bureau?that?s just not happening because, well, we don?t want to admit that it?s happening. So there. What the Census Bureau said last week, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News in California, is that when it gets the forms back from its 2010 Census, it won?t count gay and lesbian couples in California, Massachusetts or anywhere else as married. That?s in spite of the fact that those couples would have the same marriage licenses?and legal recognition by their home states?as their straight, married neighbors, who the Census Bureau does recognize as married. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-free-press-edito rial-turning.html John McCain opposes LGBT adoption by Lisa Keen, ?2008 Keen News Service. 2008-07-16. Adoption became an issue this week in the presidential campaign?at least for Republican nominee-apparent John McCain. The New York Times, in an interview published July 13, asked the candidate whether he agrees with President Bush's position ?that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children.? ?I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family,? said McCain, ?so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption.? The question came up in an interview conducted by Times' political reporters Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper. Nagourney is co-author of Out for Good, a 1999 book looking at the gay civil-rights movement in the United States. The context was a discussion of what kind of conservative McCain sees himself as. The Times said McCain had worried Republican conservatives in recent weeks with remarks suggesting a willingness to address global warming and citizenship for illegal immigrants. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/john-mccain-opposes-lgbt -adoption.html Report: Races see gays differently by Bob Roehr. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-16. African Americans are more likely than whites ( 65 percent vs. 53 percent ) to oppose marriage equality for gays and lesbians. They ?are virtually the only constituency in the country that has not become more supportive over the last dozen years, falling from a high of 65 percent support for gay rights in 1996 to only 40 percent in 2004.? That finding was a key element in a report, ?At the Crossroads: African-American Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs toward Marriage Equality,? that compiled and reviewed all existing polling data on the subject. It was a joint effort by the National Black Justice Coalition and Freedom to Marry, and is being shared with other organizations but not released to the public. ?Nearly three-quarters of blacks say that homosexual relations are always wrong, and over one-third say that AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior,? according to the report. ?Overall, blacks are 14 percentage points more likely to hold both positions than whites.? Younger persons generally are more supportive of GLBT rights than older persons are. But, significantly, more black youth ( 55 percent ) ?believe that homosexuality is always wrong? than do Latino ( 36 percent ) or white ( 35 percent ) youth, according to a recent study from the University of Chicago. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/report-races-see-gays-di fferently.html Gay US bishop fights exclusion from meeting By RACHEL ZOLL. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:46 PM CDT, July 13, 2008. LONDON - The first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn't become a focus of the global event. Anglicans on all sides of the issue agree: The strategy has backfired. New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson has been embraced by sympathetic Anglicans in England and Scotland who view his exclusion as an affront to their Christian beliefs. Robinson plans several appearances on the outskirts of the Lambeth Conference to be what he called a "constant and friendly" reminder of gays in the church. "I'm just not willing to let the bishops meet and pretend that we don't exist," Robinson said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press before preaching at St. Mary's Church Putney. "They've taken vows to serve all the people in dioceses, not just certain ones." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gay-us-bishop-fights-exc lusion-from.html Nomination Deadline for Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Extended to August 12, 2008. The 2008 deadline to nominate individuals and organizations for induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame has been extended to August 12. Nomination forms can be downloaded or printed from the Hall of Fame?s Web site (www.GLHallofFame.org) or requested by calling 312-744-7911 and leaving a mailing address. Completed nominations should be sent to: The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on LGBT Issues, 740 N. Sedgwick Street, Floor 3, Chicago, IL 60654-3478. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/nomination-deadline-for- gay-and-lesbian.html Borah honored. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-16. Homewood attorney William J. Borah, who has crusaded for eliminating sexual orientation-based discrimination, received the 2008 Community Leadership Award from the Illinois State Bar Association ( ISBA ) June 27 during the organization's 132nd annual meeting in St. Louis. The award?given by the ISBA's Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ( SOGI ) ?recognizes individuals for efforts to foster understanding of LGBT individuals and their concerns. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/borah-honored.html Immigration McDonald's franchisee will pay $1 million in Nevada illegal immigration case. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:18 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK (AP) _ A McDonald's Corp. franchisee will pay a $1 million fine after pleading guilty in Las Vegas federal court to felony immigration offenses for giving false Social Security numbers to illegal aliens. The charges follow an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who have said management of Mack Associates Inc. knowingly hired illegal alien workers in Reno, Nev.-area McDonald's restaurants, supplying them with false identification. The Justice Department released details of the plea agreement late Wednesday. In U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, attorneys for Mack Associates filed guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien's unlawful residence in the U.S. and one count of aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the U.S., which are felony offenses. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mcdonalds-franchisee-ple ads-guilty-in.html Health Care Senate agrees to triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa, elsewhere worldwide By JIM ABRAMS. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 12:27 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate voted Wednesday to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The 80-16 vote committed the United States to spending up to $48 billion over the next five years for the most ambitious foreign public health program ever launched by the United States. The legislation would replace and expand the current $15 billion act that President Bush championed in a State of the Union address and Congress passed in 2003. That act expires at the end of September. In a statement, ' said that when the program was launched in 2003, about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today, the program supports lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.7 million people around the world, he said. It also has supported treatment and prevention programs that have helped HIV-positive women give birth to nearly 200,000 infants who are HIV-free. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/senate-agrees-to-triple- funds-to-fight.html House votes to override presidential veto of bill protecting doctors from cut in Medicare pay By KEVIN FREKING. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:56 PM CDT, July 15, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to override President Bush's veto of legislation protecting doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients.The vote was 383-41, easily meeting the two-thirds threshold needed for an override. The Senate also must conduct an override vote, and it was expected to do so later Tuesday. Bush has vetoed bills nine times, and Congress has had the muscle to override him only three times before, on a water projects bill and twice on a farm bill. The president supports rescinding the pay cut, but objects to the way lawmakers would finance the plan, which would be largely by reducing spending on private health plans serving the elderly and disabled. "I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/house-votes-to-override- presidential.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Kids and statins. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2008. Most people know that heart disease can start early and so can prevention. But should that include giving kids as young as 8 powerful cholesterol-fighting drugs known as statins to shield against future heart attacks? That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in its new guidelines released Monday. That's an aggressive stance. And it may strike many people?many parents?as extreme. That was our reaction. The recommendation stirred furious debate among doctors, with one proclaiming himself "embarrassed for the AAP." Let's be clear about what the academy is?and isn't?saying. It isn't saying that all or most or many kids who are overweight or obese be given these drugs. It isn't saying that the drugs are better than the proper diet and exercise for lowering cholesterol levels in kids. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-kids-and.html Why they didn't tell us that these pills could kill our kids By David Michaels. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2008. Since 1986, every bottle of aspirin sold in the United States has carried a label advising parents that consumption by children with viral illnesses greatly increases their risk of developing Reye's syndrome, a serious illness often involving sudden brain or liver damage. Before that warning was required by the Food and Drug Administration, the toll from Reye's syndrome was substantial: In 1980 alone, 555 cases were reported. Many others likely occurred but went unreported because the syndrome is easily misdiagnosed. One in 3 diagnosed children died. Today, less than a handful of Reye's syndrome cases are reported annually. But this public health triumph is bittersweet, because while aspirin manufacturers were arguing that the science linking aspirin to Reye's syndrome was incomplete, uncertain and unclear, an untold number of children died or were disabled. The medical community knew of the danger, thanks to an alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control, but parents were kept in the dark. The industry even issued a public service announcement claiming, "We do know that no medication has been proven to cause Reyes." (Emphasis in the original.) http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-they-didnt-tell-us-t hat-these-pills.html Other ABC News Tire danger http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897 Humor Blond Mortician http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blond-mortician.html "Star Trek Lost Episodes" http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/star-trek-lost-episodes. html Dog Prayers http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dogs-prayers.html Creation vs. Evolution http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/creation-vs-evolution.ht ml New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat Jul 19 13:04:04 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:04:04 -0500 Subject: [News] Summer of discontent Newsletter - July 19, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?This is a summer of discontent, and it's only the middle of July.? GregBurns Bad news comes in waves for economy By Greg Burns. Copyright ?2008, Chicago Tribune. July 16, 2008. She's a North Sider who survived th Depression, a customer for more thn 20 years, and after hearing the bad news about the economy over the weekend she marched into the bank to see the boss. Although the institution is sound and the nation's fnancial system in no danger of collapse, Matt Gambs dropped everything to aswer her worried questions. The images of depositors waiting on long lines ater Friday's failure of IndyMac Federal Bank had shaken her confidence. "Youcan't discount people's feelings," explained Gambs, chief executive of iamond Bank at North Avenue and Clark Street. These are scary times in theU.S. economy, and Tuesday brought more trouble to the fore. Federal Reserve Cairman Ben Bernanke voiced concerns about inflation, even as the housing bus continued to slow economic growth. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Ma remain on track for a taxpayer-financed rescue. The dollar stands at record low. Unemployment is rising, and struggling General Motors Corp. sai it needed to eliminate more jobs. This is a summer of discontent, and it' only the middle of July. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/7/bad-news-comes-in-waves- for-economy.htl A bank fails: Should you worry? Copyright 2008 Associated Press. July 15, 2008. The government's seizure of IndyMac Bank may raise concerns for many consumers about whethr their banks might be next. While it is unlikely the nation will see thousads of banks fail as they did during the savings and loan industry collape in the late 1980s and early '90s, analysts predict more battered financial nstitutions will be unable to survive in today's marketplace. "IndyMac' failure is certainly a broader issue," said Eva Weber, an analyst at Aite Goup, a financial-services research firm. "Those who are trenched in more rsky business, who are feeling more heavy losses, may be at more risk." On Friday the Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of the Caliornia lender to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. because it did not thin IndyMac could meet its depositors' demands. By Monday the bank reopened as ndyMac Federal Bank FSB, and customers whose deposits were insured by the FIC were able to access full banking services, including online banking, dring normal business hours. IndyMac, like many of the nation's banks, wa facing pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising forecosures. In recent weeks it had experienced a run on the bank, with depositorspulling out $100 million a day. Here are some answers about the government' role when a bank fails and if other banks are at risk: http://iretiredfromnwsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bank-fails-should-you-wo rry.html Have baks bottomed out? - Despite stock price jump for many this week, analsts see problems continuing By Becky Yerak. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribne. July 19, 2008. Don't break out the bubbly just yet.That's the thinkingof several bank watchers who, despite seeing financial serices stocks end the week on a high note, say the worst probably isn't ove as the credit crisis approaches its one-year anniversary. As the week startd, many braced for the worst. IndyMac Bancorp Inc. had just been seized by .S. banking regulators. And the federal government felt compelled to ofer assurances that it would help out mortgage financiers Freddie Mac and Fanie Mae. The news drove down the KBW Bank Index by 8.5 percent on Monday.http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/have-banks-bottomed-out- espite-stock.html FBI probes IndyMac for possible fraud ? Reuters Limite. WASHINGTON, July 16 ? Failed bank IndyMac is under investigation by the FI for possible fraud involving its mortgage lending, unnamed law enforcemet officials said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how lng the FBI?s probe of IndyMac has been underway. The bureau said on Wednesdy it had raised to 21 from 19 the number of corporate targets in its investigtion of the mortgage industry. US banking regulators seized mortgage lender ndyMac on Friday after withdrawals by panicked depositors led to the thrd-largest banking failure in US history. The FBI declined to comment on IdyMac, and law enforcement officials spoke about the bank on condition thatthey not be identified. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07fbi-probes-indymac-for-p ossible-fraud.html Editorial comment: It?s always ice to shut the barn door after the cow escapes. International Charges fied at International Criminal Court against Sudan president over Darfur warcrimes By MIKE CORDER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:56 AM CDT, July15, 2008. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) _ The prosecutor for the Internationa Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant Monday for Sudan's presiden on charges of waging a campaign of genocide and rape in Darfur, a high-risk strategy that could backfire against the people in the war-torn desert region.The indictmentarked the first time prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes trbunal have issued charges against a sitting head of state, though President Oar al-Bashir was unlikely to face trial any time soon. Sudan denounced he indictment as a political stunt, saying it would ignore any arrest ordeand was considering all options, including an unspecified military response. ne Sudanese lawmaker said his government could no longer guarantee the safe of U.N. staff in the troubled region. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo fled 10 charges against al-Bashir related to a campaign of extermination ofthree Darfur tribes that the U.N. says claimed 300,000 lives and drivn 2.5 million people from their homes. A three-judge panel was expected to tke two to three months to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/charges-filed-at-interna tionl-criminal.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Stand up to Russia ver Georgia. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publishe: July 15 2008 18:45 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:45. If proof were neede of the significance of the crisis facing the troubed Caucasus state of Georgia, it came yesterday with the start of exercises involving 1,000 US troops. US officials insist the long-planned wargames have nothing to do with the recent dispute between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But the give Washington a chance to support pro-west Tbilisi at a critical time The exercises come just after Moscow brazenly admitted sending war planes oer South Ossetia last week, allegedly to stop an attack by Mikheil Saakashvli, the Georgian president. While Russia has encroached on Georgian air spacmany times in supporting Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this was the firs time in recent years that it has openly confessed to what was a flagrant vioation of Georgia?s territorial integrity. With the action coinciding with visit to Tbilisi by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, the messag to the west was brutally clear: stay off our turf. http://iretiredfromnewsltters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-stand.html Erope looks no longer immune to U.S. economic storm By Mark Landler. Copyrigt by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 15, 2008. FRANKFURT: urope, which held the world's economic storms at bay for the last year, hs finally succumbed. Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in, or on the brik, of a recession. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And German, the sturdy locomotive of Europan growth, is suddenly faltering - dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States. On Tuesday, an influential pll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannhem found that confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since the surveywas started in 1991. Shares in Spain swooned after that country's housing risis claimed its first big casualty: a property developer that filed for prtection from creditors. And in Britain, the inflation rate surged - as it hs elsewhere in Europe - to 3.8 percent because of soaring prices for food an fuel. "We've seen a sea change in Europe," said Thomas Mayer, the chief Eropean economist at Deutsche Bank in London. "All the bad news around the orld has finally come to us." While most economists had predicted that Euope would suffer fallout from the financial market chaos and the broader Ameican malaise, the speed of the deterioration has surprised the soothsaers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/europe-looks-no-onger-i mmune-to-us.html UK consumer inflation hits 16-year peak By Andrew Taylor and Delphine Strauss. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 22:00 |ast updated: July 15 2008 22:00. Unions on Tuesday night dismissed calls om the chancellor to curb pay demands as inflation hit its highest level fo 16 years, leaving little prospect of near-term cuts in interest rates. Theannual rate of consumer price inflation shot up faster than expected from 33 per cent in May to 3.8 per cent in June, the Office for National Statisticssaid ? the highest since 1992 and nearly double the Bank of England?s 2 per ent target. Food prices are now more than 10 per cent higher than year ago, and the average price of petrol has risen 5.3p a litre in th past month to 117.6p. Policymakers? biggest fear is that the speed of th pick-up in prices ? much faster than the Bank forecast in May ? will lead pople to expect continued high inflation, and stoke it by demanding wage incrases. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/uk-consumer-infltion-hi ts-16-year-peak.html The Boston Globe Editorial: Club Med. Copyrigh by The Boston Globe. Published: July 14, 2008. For all its contradictins, the European Union has shown the rest of the world the way to endingrecurring wars among nation-states. The possibility of replicating elsewhere the EU model of cooperation justifies a much-criticized diplomatic gala in Paris, where the leaders of some countries gathered on Sunday to inaugurate President Nicolas Sarkozy's projet for a Union of the Mediterranean. It is easy to find fault with Sarkozys proposal for an economic and political union of most, if not all, of the 2 countries bordering the Mediterranean. Critics saw it as a way of brushingaside Turkey's bid for EU membership and shunting the Turks into the antechamer of a Mediterranean Union. Germany was particularly put off by the nitial proposal and Sarkozy's manner of pursuing it. Chancellor Angela erkel made no secret of her annoyance at Germany's exclusion from an organiztion that would receive money from the EU's neighborhood fund. Germany also omplained that Sarkozy had been ignoring a fundamental EU principle - that Euopean states do not make important decisions without consulting fellow EUmembers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boston-gloe-editorial-c lub-med.html Australian credit crisis casualties sell asses By Elizabeth Fry in Sydney. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. ublished: July 15 2008 10:39 | La updated: July 15 2008 10:39. Shares in Centro Properties and Allco Finance, two of the biggest Australian casualties of the global credit crisis, rose on Tuesday afer both companies sold assets as part of efforts to improve their balancesheets. Centro, an Australia shopping mall operator that also has asset in New Zealand and the US, on Tuesday said it had sold 29 of the 31 propertes in the Centro America Fund for A$735m ($720m). The price struck represens a 10 per cent discount to the book value of the properties. Tuesday?s sae is part of a divestment strategy by the shopping mall group aimed at reducng Centro?s debt, which stands at A$6.6bn. The group spooked the market n December when it defaulted on A$1.3bn of loans and was forced into a ?work-ut? by creditors. Since then Centro has won a number of extensions from it lenders on A$2.3bn of short-term debt, which has to be repaid on December 1. It owes A$462.9m to US private placement note holders. Centro said on uesday it also expects to raise a further A$1bn shortly by selling a potfolio of four of its Australian shopping centres. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/australian-credit-crisis -casualties.html U.S. Sodiers No Longer Find Haven in Canada By IAN AUSTEN. Copyright by The ew York Times. Published: July 13, 2008. TORONTO ? James Corey Glass, apprntice mortician and United States Army deserter, was keeping an unusually clse eye on the text messages coming into his cellphone.He was hoping to hear that a court had blocked the Canadian government?s attempt to send him back to the United States. James Corey Glass, an Army deserter, is appealingn immigration removal order in Canada. On Wednesday afternoon, the messae came: Mr. Glass, 25, could remain in Canada while he appealed his removal oder by the country?s Immigration Department. It was a welcome reprieve, he sid, but well short of a guarantee that he and other deserters could make Canaa their new home. The Canadian government?s effort to remove Mr. Glass ontrasts with the warm reception given to deserters and draft avoiders from te United States during the war in Vietnam. And although the war in Iraq hs very little support among Canadians, the situation of Mr. Glass and others ho abandoned their military positions provokes a wide range of responses. Fo American soldiers seeking an escape, Canada is no longer a guaranteed haven.http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-soldiers-no-longr-fi nd-haven-in.html China China?s economy slows in second quarter By Geff Dyer in Beijing. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pulished: July 17 2008 08:35 | Last updated: July 17 2008 12:16. China?s groth rate slowed again in the second quarter of the year due to weaker export mrkets and restrictions on lending, although the economy is still expandng at double-digit rates in the face of a global slowdown. The government aid that the economy grew 10.1 per cent in th second quarter, down from 10.6 per cent in the first quarter, which was the fourth quarter in a row of declining growth in gross domestic product. The result wasthe lowest growth rate since the last quarter of 2005 and was also slightly low analysts? forecasts. The government also announced mixed news on infltion. While consumer price inflation continued to decline from 7.7 pr cent in May to 7.1 per cent last month, factory gate inflation rose againfrom 8.2 per cent to 8.8 per cent. The batch of new figures underlined te delicate challenge that the Chinese authorities are facing of trying to col the economy in the face of high inflation without prompting a sharpdrop in activity and employment. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/07/chinas-economy-slows-in- second-quarter.html China and Fanie Mae. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July17 2008 09:32 | Last updated: July 17 2008 11:00. Fannie Mae and Freddie Macmay not have many friends these days, but they should be able to count on acertain loyalty in Beijing. China is the biggest foreign holder of ebt issued by the troubled government-sponsored enterprises and a relatiely captive buyer of the paper. US Treasury data shows that mainland Chines investors owned $376bn of agency long-term debt at the end of June lst year, almost one-third of total foreign holdings of the agencies. Vrtually all of this is likely held by the State Administration of Foreign Echange, an agency under the central bank which oversees the bulk of reserves.Extrapolating on the basis of China?s growth in foreign assets, US economisBrad Setser reckons the country now holds $500-600bn worth of agency paper, or about one-tenth of the total outstanding stock of agency debt. Rshovelling up the agencies? asset-backed securities ? at the end of June last year, China held $206bn. This paper may well be trickier to dump. Even in more normal times, commercial banks ? the other natural buyers ? often have balance sheet constraints. Pricing is also more sensitive to changes in the market rates. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/china-and-fannie-mae.htm l Threat of ?no-fun? Olympics By Mure Dice, Geoff Dyer and Jamil Anderlini. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Published: July 18 2008 20:47 | Last updated: July 18 2008 20:47. Just thee weeks before the Beijing Olympics, concerns are growing that China?s sweepng security measures could end up sucking all the fun out of the world? biggest sportsfest. Pre-Olympic jitters are almost a tradition but a Chinee visa crackdown that has sent visitor numbers plunging, heightened security hecks, dire warnings of terrorist attack and curbs on Beijing nightlifehave led to some observers dubbing the 2008 Olympics the ?no-fun Games?. Mchael Payne, the International Olympic Committee?s head of marketing for th two decades to 2004, said that in meetings with top Beijing organisers he hs stressed a single word of advice: smile. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/threat-of-no-fun-olympic s.html Chicago Tribune Eitorial - Olympics clean? Not likely Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July12, 2008. For years, sprinter Michael Johnson?Olympic gold medalist, word champion, world record holder?defended his sport from those who said it as overrun with drug cheats. He pointed ut that track and field athletes are tested often for performance-enhancing drug use. But in March, after learning that former teammate Antonio Pettigrew had taken human owth hormone (HGH) and erythropoietin (EPO) from 1997 to 2001, Johnson change his tune. "Now I feel that I have been naive," Johnson wrote in a piece ublished in the Telegraph of London. "Many of the athletes who have now ha to admit to using banned substances never tested positive." In other words, hey gamed the system and got away with using performance-enhancing drugs. nd that is likely to be the case again this summer, when the world's bes athletes arrive in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Danish researcher studying the effects of EPO found that the drug markedly improves athletc performance. The researchers also found that the labs accredited by theorld Anti-Doping Agency to test athletes' urine samples are inconsistent at icking up evidence of EPO use. While some of that may have to do with diffeences in the labs, a bigger problem ishe test itself. Bottom line: Athletes who inject themselves with EPO have almost no chance of getting caught. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-olmpics.html Mess-o-potamia International Herald Tribune Editorial: Who sread false tales of heroism? Copyright by The International Herald Tribue. Published: July 16, 2008. Widespread - and, we suspect, self-induced - anesia among Bush administration officials and its Defense Department has mad it impossible for House investigators to determine whether top officialshelped spread two bogus stories of heroism used to bolster support for te wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It now looks as if we may never know ho kept stoking the impression that Corporal Pat Tillman, a U.S. Army Rangr who became an icon of the war on terror, had been killed by the enemy in Aghanistan (in a battle that won him a questionable Silver Star) long after he military knew he had been killed accidentally by fire from America forces. Nor are we apt to find out who promoted the false story that Pivate First Class Jessica Lynch had been captured in Iraq after a Rambo-lik performance in which she emptied her weapon and was wounded in battle.In fact, she had been badly hurt in a vehicle accident during an ambush ad was being well cared for by the Iraqis. Althouh the administration made a show of cooperating with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Democratic investigators were frustrated by the professed nability of top officials to recall who knew what. There was also a puzzlingabsence of documents that logic suggests should have existed. In some 1500 pages of White House e-mail messages and other documents about Tillman,there is not a single mention of fratricide. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.logspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_16.html Intrnational Herald Tribune Editorial: Baseline maneuvers. Copyright by The ternational Herald Tribune. Published: July 14, 2008. In an act of comon sense, U.S. troops deploying overseas will now undergo computerzed neurological screening before they leave. The aim is to have a baeline measurement of a soldier's brain function in case she or he is wounded Since a battlefield injury in Afghanistan or Iraq is likely to invlve a roadside bomb and a traumatized brain, anything that can improve the tratment of such injuries is highly welcome. Not to mention long overdue. The nvasions of those two countries began in 2001 and 2003, and it wasn't long beore brain injuries emerged as the persistent affliction. A study this yar by the RAND Corp. found that nearly one in five service members, or about320,000 people, were likely to have suffered a traumatic brain injuryin Iraq or Afghanistan, but that the majority had never been evaluated for on. There is no excuse for the delay. As long ago as 1997, after the first Gulf War, President Bill Clinton signed a bill requiring the military to "accurately record the medical condition of mmbers before their deployment." That law was prompted by the mysterious oubreak of ailments known as Gulf War syndrome, and by the bitter legal battles over when and how soldiers had fallen ill. http://iretiredfromnewslettes.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_7279.html Ca bomb in Iraq kills 18, including children; U.S.-led forces hand ove control of province By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA. Copyright 2008 Associated Pres. 2:39 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. BAGHDAD (AP) _ A car bomb killed at least sevn children and 11 other people in a northern city, providing a reminder tht militants still can cause casualties despite security improvements that ledU.S. troops to return a southern province to Iraqi control Wednesday. Ninty people also were injured in the blast at a popular outdoor market in Tl Afar, said a police official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not uthorized to speak to the media. The city, a one-time stronghold of Sunni nsurgents 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, was targeted in offensives by U.S.and Iraqi troops that prompted American leaders to describe it as a succes story in the effort to stabilize Iraq. But sporadic attacks continue. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.bogspot.com/2008/07/car-bomb-in-iraq-kills-1 8-including.html Iraq recruits hit in dual suicide attack By Ernesto Londo?o in Baghdad. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Published: July 15 2008 11:57 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:44. At least28 Iraqi security force recruits were killed on Tuesday in two suicide bombins in Diyala province north of Baghdad, where the government has said it pans a military offensive against insurgent groups. The twin bombings ocurred at Camp Saad, a police recruitment centre east of Baquba, the prvincial capital. The first bomber detonated explosives among a group of recuits ? with the second targeting those who fled the site ? according to the ommander of the Diyala military operations centre. At least 57 people were ounded in the blasts, he said. A police recruit wounded in the attack sad he ran from the site of the first attack. ?When I fled the place running, aother suicide bomber blew himself up among the recruits who were not woundedin the first explosion,? he said in a phoe interview from a hospital where he was being treated for injuries on his face and legs. ?This time I got injured.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ira-recruits-hit-in-dua l-suicide.html Electrical risks at U.S. bases in Irq worse than reported By James Risen. Copyright by The International HeraldTribune. Published: July 18, 2008. WASHINGTON: Shoddy electrical work b private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespreadand dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks tha the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal army documents. Duringjust one six-month period ? August 2006 through January 2007 ? at least 28 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq,including the military's largest dining hall in the country, documets obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrial fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while anothe was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. And hile the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrcuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, acording to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building cmplex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving eletrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis. http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/electrical-risks-at-us- ases-in-iraq.html Bush agrees withdrawal deal with Iraq By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 20:09 | Last updated: July 18 2008 0:09. George W. Bush has agreed to commit the US to ?time horizon? for withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, marking asignificant shift by a president who has long opposed setting target dtes for ending the war. The president struck the agreement with prime ministr Nouri al-Maliki on Friday as part of negotiations over the long-term fuure of US forces in Iraq. The White House insisted the goals would be subjct to continued improvement in security conditions, in contrast to the Dmocrats? call for a fixed timetable for withdrawal. The Iraqi government hd been pressing the Bush administration to commit to withdrawal dates as par of a proposed bilateral agreement to replace the United Nations mandatethat currently authorises US operations in Iraq. http://iretiredfromnewslettes.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-agrees-withdrawal-d eal-with-iraq.html Iraqis ivided on pull-out plan By Sudarsan Raghavan in Baghdad. Copyright The Fiancial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 19:30 | Last updated:July 18 2008 19:30. As Barack Obama prepares to visit Iraq, people across te country and politicians are divided over the presumptive Democratic nominees plan to withdraw US troops in 16 months if be becomes president. ?Iaq will be in hell and we will find ourselves at the gates of civil war,? aid Maied Rashed al-Nuaemi, a provincial council member in Mosul, where forcs are struggling against the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. ?The Aerican presence in Iraq is the safety valve to keep this country quiet. If they withdraw, that will lead to calamity.? But Mosul?s deputy governor, Khasru Koraan, said: The US presence in Iraq is useful now but if the security situationgets better, I think it?s not necessary to keep all these big numbers o soldiers here.? Iraq?s future is at stake in the US presidential electionsthis November and so the capital is rife with rumours of Mr Obama?s arrivl, expected in a few days. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.cm/2008/07/iraqis-divided-on-pull-o ut-plan.html Deadly attack on US base snds worrying signal for commanders hunting Taliban and al-Qaida By FISNIK ABASHI. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:11 PM CDT, July 14, 2008. KABL, Afghanistan (AP) _ An insurgent raid that penetrated an American outpos in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine soldiers, has deepened doubts about th U.S. military's effort to contain Islamic militants and keep locals on its sde.Moving in darkness before dawn Sunday, some 200 fighters surroundd the newly built base in a remote area near the Pakistan border without eing spotted by the troops inside, said Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the rovincial police chief. He said people in the adjacent village of Wanat aided the assault. About 20 local families left their homes in anticipation of the raid, while other tribesmen stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight,"Jangalbagh said. The result was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in fghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rcket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter. Violence has been increasg in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining, not losing, momentum seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion. http://iretiredfromnewstters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deadly-attack-on-us-base -sends-worrying.html Candians fear Afghan role not 'peacekeeping' - Critics say mission too much defnse, too little diplomacy By Kim Barker. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune July 18, 2008. BOWMANVILLE, Canada ? Near the corner of Temperance andChurch Streets, a granite monument honors this town's dead soldiers and liss where they died. But when Darryl Caswell was killed by a roadside bomb ast year in Afghanistan, no one was sure how to add his death, the town's 103d military fatality but the first one in 43 years. Town leaders had planned t etch the word "peacekeeping" above his name, but to many in Bowmanville,a town of 31,000 east of Toronto, that description of Canada's role fightingwith NATO in Afghanistan seemed wrong. "I don't see where the peacekeepin comes in," said Paul Caswell, Darryl's father. The war in Afghanistan ha changed the way Canadians view war and their military ? and in some ways, temselves and the U.S., their mighty neighbor to the south. After Canada decined to participate in the Iraq conflict, a decision to send up to 2,500 trops at a time to the bloodiest part of Afghanistan has transformed Canad from a nation proud of its peacekeeping missions to a nation figuring ut how to be at war. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/cadians-fear-afghan-ro le-not.html Is Iran Bush's answer for a legacy? By Raja Kamal. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. History can be very harsh and subjective It seems that the significant accomplishments of President Bill Clinton willbe unfortunately overshadowed by his personal indiscretions while i office. Historians will never shy from emphasizing that he was the second US. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Clinton'slegacy, as a result, has been sadly tarnished. How will historians judge th legacy of President George W. Bush? And, as he approaches the end of his secnd term, is it possible for him to influence or redefine his legacy? The anser to the first question is not favorable. During his tenure, the Iraq wa was poorly conceived and implemented. It is now a quagmire with no end i sight. With more than a half-trillion dollars and counting, this war is afecting essential programs here at home. Hurricane Katrina also proved tat Washington was incapable of responding efficiently to natural disasters o the home front. And then there is the economy. Most economists would agree hat the country is in a recession and possibly a severe one. More Amercans are finding themselves jobless every week. The high cost of energy is compounding matters, and polls are giving the administration a very low performance rating?confirming at the nation is going in the wrong direction...Attacking Iran may camouflge the legacy of the Bush administration. Yet redefining the president'slegacy by a conflict with Iran may prove to be an even more dangerous path tan that of Iraq. Will there be a dark day in November? Let's hope not. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-iran-bushs-answer-for legacy.html National International Herald Tribune Editorial: America'swar dead, seen only from afar. Copyright by The International Herald Tribun. Published: July 14, 2008. There's a propaganda edge to waging every war and a sad hallmark of the Bush administration's approach has been to den America the candid sight of flag-draped coffins of sacrificed soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. A nation at war should confront the eality of war. The muting of bad war news, which started at the Pentagon, s now an issue as well at Arlington National Cemetery. A public affairs irector at the cemetery was recently fired after complaining that ules were tightened to isolate the media 50 yards away - well beyond the point at which news organizations could hear, never mind photograph or videotape, burial ceremonies. The Pentagon says it is only following the wishes of families and that it has not changed its procedures. But there are serious reasons to doubt both protestations. Gina Gray, the fired director, said last April that the rules for the media at Arlington were indeed tightened, and she promised the Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank that she would work to ease them. In the ensuing controversy, military officials promised to work out some middle ground. But that did not save the job of Gray, who complained that cemetery officials had been calling families to encourage them to deny media coverage of their loved ones' burials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_15.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Posturing and abdication on climate change. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 13, 2008. The Bush administration made clear on Friday that it will do virtually nothing to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. With no shame and no apology, it stuck a thumb in the eye of the Supreme Court, repudiated its own scientists and exposed the hollowness of President George W. Bush's claims to have seen the light on climate change. That is the import of an announcement by Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, that the EPA will continue to delay a decision on whether global warming is a threat to human health and welfare and requires regulations to address it. Johnson said his agency would seek further public comment on the matter, a process that will almost certainly stretch beyond the end of Bush's term. The urgent problem of global warming demands urgent action. And the Supreme Court surely expected a speedier response when - 15 months ago - it ordered the EPA to determine whether greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles (and, by extension, other sources) endangers human welfare and, if so, to issue regulations to limit emissions. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/posturing-and-abdication -on-climate.html SEC set to fight short selling of financials By Joanna Chung in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 21:31 | Last updated: July 15 2008 21:31. US regulators will take emergency action to stop abusive short-selling of stock in financial institutions such as mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and investment bank Lehman Brothers. Christopher Cox, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, told legislators on Tuesday that the agency would issue an emergency rule to stop so-called ?naked? short-selling of shares in significant financial entities. The SEC will also consider new rules to extend those trading limits to the rest of the market. Short sellers aim to profit from share declines ? usually by borrowing a stock, selling it and buying it back in the market. But in a ?naked? short the shares are sold without being borrowed first. The emergency rule, which would be in effect for up to 30 days, would require anyone making a short sale to borrow the security first. It would apply to Fannie and Freddie ? the government-sponsored entities that own or guarantee almost half of US mortgages ? and all primary securities dealers including Lehman, whose shares have been battered by rumours the bank says are false. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/sec-set-to-fight-short-s elling-of.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial - Your sales tax calendar. Days since the Cook County Board raised the sales tax: 16. Days until the Feb. 2, 2010, Illinois primary election: 566. July 16, 2008. The push to roll back Cook County's increase of a full percentage point in the sales tax has begun. County Board member Tony Peraica on Monday filed the formal paperwork asking the board to reverse this most egregious of tax hikes. Peraica needs nine votes on the 17-member board to get traction. His measure now boasts seven sponsors. Let's salute them and hope their number grows. The seven, all of whom voted against the tax increase in the crucial Feb. 29 meeting of the board's Finance Committee, are: Forrest Claypool, Elizabeth Doody Gorman, Gregg Goslin, Peraica, Michael Quigley, Tim Schneider and Peter Silvestri. No, this is not an all-Republican effort: Claypool and Quigley are Democrats?as is every board member who voted for this $426 million tax boost. We hope the other board member who sided with these seven sponsors on the losing side of that 9-8 vote, Roberto Maldonado, remembers why he fiercely opposed the regressive unfairness of this sales tax hike on his poor and elderly constituents. Maldonado needs to join as a sponsor of this tax repeal?and then needs to vote accordingly. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-your-sales.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - And they get a raise? Copyright by The Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. Anyone who's ever managed a family budget understands that paring your spending to match your income is rarely painless. For those of us dealing with household-size budgets, the $1.4 billion that Gov. Rod Blagojevich sliced from next year's state budget sounds excruciatingly painful, especially when amplified by the anguished cries of those afflicted by the cuts. It's worth remembering that the $28.3 billion left on the table when Blagojevich finished his work is $800 million more than the previous year's budget. Fully 70 percent of the governor's cuts simply eliminated increases over last year's spending. Lawmakers had approved an additional $515 million for schools, for example, but the governor cut construction costs, laptop computers and other items to trim the increase to $330 million. There were casualties, to be sure. Many social service agencies face real funding cuts. Child welfare services, substance abuse programs and transit subsidies for students and disabled riders all took hits. And the governor couldn't resist gouging some of his political nemeses, including Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who had backed an unsuccessful move to let citizens recall state officials, not that we're naming names or anything. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-and-they-get.html Senators avoiding Statehouse to protect post-election pay raises - Returning to Springfield would force them to vote on 7.5% wage hike By Ray Long and Jeffrey Meitrodt. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:21 PM CDT, July 15, 2008. SPRINGFIELD ? The House is back this week to fight Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget cuts, but the Senate is avoiding the Statehouse in a move that protects lawmakers' chances of getting a post-election pay raise. Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) has said there is no need for the Senate to meet because his chamber, unlike the House, has already approved funding plans that would alleviate the need for the governor's veto of $1.4 billion in spending from the new state budget. But critics said returning to Springfield also would force the Senate to vote on whether to boost base salaries for lawmakers next summer by 7.5 percent, to $72,985. Jones has not scheduled the Senate to return until after the November election, when it would be less volatile for lawmakers to take a vote. A consistent advocate of boosting legislative salaries, Jones made his position clear this year when he told reporters: "I need a pay raise. I need a pay raise." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/senators-avoiding-stateh ouse-to-protect.html Your Lack of Money Bernanke highlights risks facing US economy By Krishna Guha and James Politi in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 15:19 | Last updated: July 15 2008 21:38. Ben Bernanke highlighted the ?numerous difficulties? facing the US economy in a sobering testimony on Tuesday that sent markets on a rollercoaster ride as he signalled serious risks on both the growth and inflation fronts. The Federal Reserve chairman told Congress that strains in financial markets, declining house prices, a weaker labour market and higher oil prices were all putting pressure on the outlook. Shares in the US ? already weak before Mr Bernanke spoke ? fell sharply, before rallying on a substantial decline in oil prices. But the main European and Asian markets fell sharply throughout the day with financial stocks particularly hard hit. In London the FTSE 100 closed down 2.4 per cent at 5,171.9, its lowest level since October 2005. By the close, oil had slumped to $138.74 a barrel after trading at an early high of $146.73. As oil slid, the euro, which hit a record high of $1.6038 in earlier trading, eased back. Gold rallied to its highest level in four months. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bernanke-highlights-risk s-facing-us.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Monetary minefield. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 19:33 | Last updated: July 16 2008 19:33. The tightrope that the Federal Reserve is walking keeps getting thinner. The need to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage lenders sponsored by the US government, is a reminder that financial conditions pose significant risks to growth; headline prices now 5 per cent higher than a year ago mean a rising risk of inflation. The Fed may not be able to keep its balance much longer, and if it falls, it must be on the side of controlling inflation, not sustaining growth. The package of support for Fannie and Freddie has few direct consequences for the macroeconomy. It eliminates the risk of an unlikely but catastrophic event ? the failure of one of the two ? but draws attention to the strain that the pair could place on the US government?s balance sheet. Fannie and Freddie can now keep lending, but some regional banks, such as troubled IndyMac, may not be able to. Tough credit conditions, and the fear of another Bear Stearns-style crisis, remain serious threats to growth. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_17.html US consumer price jump fuels inflation fears By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 14:02 | Last updated: July 16 2008 16:44. US consumer prices rose by 1.1 per cent in June, recording their biggest monthly jump since Hurricane Katrina as food and energy raised the cost of living for many Americans and justified inflation concerns among policymakers. The increase in the consumer price index was well above economists? expectations of a 0.7 per cent gain. At the core level, which excludes food and energy, the CPI also disappointed the market, gaining 0.3 per cent compared with an average expectation of a 0.2 per cent rise. The sharp increase in monthly inflation - which was the biggest since September 2005 and the second biggest since June 1982 ? highlights the difficult balancing act that is being performed by the Federal Reserve as it weighs slow growth, rising unemployment and turmoil in financial markets against sharply rising prices. On a yearly basis, the CPI gained 5 per cent in June, its largest increase since 1991. One source of comfort in recent months had been that core inflation was relatively under control, suggesting that soaring food and energy prices weren?t being passed on to the cost of other goods and services. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-consumer-price-jump-f uels-inflation.html Fed considered rate hike to hinder inflation. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 17, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Worried about rising inflation, Federal Reserve officials at their meeting in June thought the Fed's next move on interest rates was likely to be up. Documents released Wednesday provided insights into the Fed's thinking at the June 24-25 session, when they ended a nearly yearlong string of rate reductions, aimed at bolstering a teetering economy. At that time, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues were increasingly concerned that galloping energy and food prices could spread inflation through the economy, so they left the Fed's key rate at 2 percent. "With increased upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations, members believed that the next change in the stance of policy could well be an increase," according to the documents. However, because of the high degree of economic uncertainty, the timing of any such increase was far from clear, the documents suggested. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fed-considered-rate-hike -to-hinder.html Boost from stimulus checks may not be enough to save restaurant profits By LAUREN SHEPHERD. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 2:14 PM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK (AP) _ Consumers may have had a bit more money this spring courtesy of Uncle Sam, but that small windfall is unlikely to translate into big second-quarter profits for restaurants. And with the average price of gas now topping $4 a gallon, industry analysts are also no longer expecting much improvement in the months ahead. "Frankly, I don't think we're going to go back to the good old days," said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of consumer research firm Technomic Inc. in Chicago. It's been a difficult year for the restaurants, which depend on consumers' willingness to spend their cash to indulge in a lunch away from their desk or a dinner out. Falling home values, higher utility bills and skyrocketing gas prices have taken a big bite out of discretionary income. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boost-from-stimulus-chec ks-may-not-be.html Service sector contracts as orders fall. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:30 PM CDT, July 3, 2008. NEW YORK - Higher oil prices caused service businesses to shrink in June, as falling new orders and rising costs hit the nation's coffee shops, paper mills and corner stores. The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that the services sector index fell to 48.2 in June from 51.7 in May. It missed economists' prediction of a reading of 51.0, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR. A reading above 50 signals growth. The sector had been growing modestly, while much of the rest of the economy stalled. June's decline in the sector, coupled with Thursday's employment report showing the sixth straight month of job losses, added to the recent streak of bad news about the economy. Bruce Kane, a Smithtown, N.Y. home accessories manufacturers rep, said stores he sells to are afraid to place orders for Christmas. "Come September, with home heating oil prices, they don't know what the customer is going to do," he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/service-sector-contracts -as-orders-fall.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: A decent burial for Fannie Mae. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 14 2008 18:22 | Last updated: July 14 2008 18:22. Several financial institutions are considered too big to fail by US regulators. But most of them are small fractions of the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises hold or guarantee $5,200bn in mortgage debts. The moves to shore up the two giants over the weekend are welcome. However, policymakers must decide what they want to do with them in the long term. Responding to fears about the mortgage behemoths? liquidity and solvency, the Federal Reserve responded on Sunday by allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to borrow from its discount window. They now have access to emergency lending on the same terms as banks and primary dealers. Meanwhile, the US Treasury is seeking permission from Congress to increase its credit lines to the giants and for the right to purchase equity in them. The Fed and US Treasury had little choice, but it was still the right course of action. Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, federal reserve chairman, have therefore staved off short-term liquidity problems./Fannie Mae and the limits of public obligation By John Kay. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 18:23 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:23. Still the bills roll in. Taxpayers have already written impressively large cheques for Northern Rock and Bear Stearns. This week they are asked to dip into their pockets for Fannie Mae and Equitable Life. Ten billion pounds is more than a week?s public spending. But the sum is now the small change of subvention to failing financial services businesses. The common cause of all these calls on the public purse is the gap between the responsibilities government is thought to have assumed and the powers and competence government has to discharge these responsibilities. Equitable Life, the mutual life assurer that closed to new business in 2000, did not fail. Most of its policyholders did not do badly, but they did less well than they had been led to expect. Regulators did not cause the crisis, but things might have been done that were not done and there were specific procedural failings. In a world populated by real people, hindsight will almost always reveal such mistakes./The rescue of Fannie and Freddie by Hankie and Feddie By Willem Buiter. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. July 14, 2008. The bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the combined forces of the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board is the ugliest exercise of its kind I have ever observed outside early transition economies and mature banana republics. There are two open-ended (possibly permanent) measures by the US Treasury and one supposedly temporary measure by the Fed. The Treasury?s proposals require Congressional approval to become effective, something that should be forthcoming some time next week. The Fed measure does not require Congressional approval. The open-ended Treasury commitments are the creation of a facility enabling the U.S. government to become a major shareholder in the two GSEs, possibly for as much as $15 billion equity in each of the two institutions. The existing Treasury lines of credit to the insitutions (currently limited to $2.25bn each) would, as far as I can tell, become open-ended and uncapped. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_15.html Opposition, from both parties, over U.S. Treasury bailout plan By Stephen Labaton and David M. Herszenhorn. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. WASHINGTON: The Bush administration's plan to rescue the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies ran into sharp criticism in Congress on Tuesday as some lawmakers questioned the open-ended request for money that could be used to help the companies. The criticism prompted House leaders to push back their timetable for approving emergency housing legislation, saying final action would take at least until early next week. The move came after a growing number of Republicans voiced skepticism and, in some cases, angry opposition, to the administration's proposal to help the two companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac./Fannie and Freddie, damned by a Faustian bargain By John Eatwell and Avinash Persaud. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 19:26 | Last updated: July 17 2008 19:26. The rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced by Henry Paulson, US Treasury secretary, on Monday was the inevitable consequence of the ?marketisation? of banking that has transformed central banks from lenders of last resort to buyers of last resort. These government-sponsored agencies own or guarantee $5,000bn of mortgages, equal to half of US government debt. Unless regulators change track, there will be more rescues to come. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have become the symbols of the switch from bank finance to market finance. They did not originate loans but owned or guaranteed securitised loans originated by others. When a report into accounting improprieties in 2003 led Freddie Mac to scale back its activities, banks, then looking for a new source of income after the dotcom bubble, tried to replicate the model and push the envelope. The main cheerleaders for the marketisation of banking were the gnomes of Basel ? the centre of international bank regulation. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/opposition-from-both-par ties-over-us.html Freddie Mac Registers With SEC, Capital Is Sufficient By Dawn Kopecki. Copyright by Bloomberg News. Last Updated: July 18, 2008 13:43 EDT. July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, removing the biggest obstacle to selling common stock and increasing its mortgage holdings. Freddie Mac intends to proceed with a $5.5 billion capital raising plan it announced in May that ``will include both common and preferred securities,'' the company said in a statement today. The filing, which doesn't say when Freddie Mac plans the offerings, fulfills an agreement made six years ago with lawmakers before the government-chartered company's plans stalled after uncovering $5 billion of accounting errors. ``Becoming an SEC registrant marks an important milestone for the company and demonstrates our commitment to enhanced transparency and financial reporting,'' Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron said in a statement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/freddie-mac-registers-wi th-sec-capital.html Google shares drop more than 9 pct after 2Q earnings miss expectations amid sputtering economy By MICHAEL LIEDTKE. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:23 AM CDT, July 18, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Google Inc. shares tumbled more than 9 percent by midday Friday after the Internet search leader's second-quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations. Management said economic turmoil in the United States and parts of Europe appears to be causing consumers to click less frequently on the ads that generate virtually all its profits. That unnerved already jittery investors, although Google managers said they expect the Mountain View-based company will thrive even if the economy weakens further./AMD names Meyer CEO as quarterly loss widens - Chip giant's shares fall 10% as Ruiz steps down By Benjamin Pimentel. Copyright by MarketWatch.com. Last update: 12:07 p.m. EDT July 18, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell 10% Friday morning after the chip giant reported another quarterly loss and announced that Chief Executive Hector Ruiz, who led the chipmaker's scrappy battle to take market share from tech kingpin Intel Corp., has stepped down. Announcing the switch after the markets closed on Thursday, AMD said Ruiz, who became CEO in 2002, will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer. Ruiz was named AMD's executive chairman and will remain as the company's chairman of the board. The change marks a major reshuffling at the Silicon Valley icon that emerged as an aggressive challenger to Intel (INTC: 21.99, -0.01, -0.1%) , but which has recently struggled with shrinking market share, production missteps and mounting financial burdens. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-shares-drop-more- than-9-pct.html Slowdown hurts profits at tech arch-rivals By Richard Waters, Chris Nuttall and Kevin Allison in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 23:49 | Last updated: July 17 2008 23:49. Worries that an economic slowdown was starting to eat into profits at both Google and Microsoft hit shares of the tech industry arch-rivals late on Thursday after each reported quarterly earnings that fell short of most analysts? estimates. Both companies, however, claimed to be riding out the downturn with little immediate impact and expressed cautious optimism that their international reach would continue to protect them from the worst. The resilience of the technology industry?s biggest and most diversified companies was also underlined on Thursday by the latest figures from IBM. The biggest supplier of technology to the corporate market raised its full-year outlook and reported better than expected sales and profits as it continued to be buoyed by growth in emerging markets. Microsoft shares fell more than 6 per cent on its latest earnings, as well as financial guidance that disappointed. But the world?s biggest software maker said a strong PC market and its diversified business was helping it ride out uncertain economic times. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/slowdown-hurts-profits-a t-tech-arch.html Nokia's 2nd-quarter profit falls 61 percent due to one-time gains in year-ago quarter By JARI TANNER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:15 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. HELSINKI, Finland (AP) _ The world's No. 1 mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. on Thursday said profit fell 61 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago, when the company booked a large gain from its network joint venture with Siemens AG. In an earnings report that came in above expectations, Nokia slightly upgraded its forecast for the global handset market in 2008, and said it expected to keep growing its slice of the pie. Four in 10 mobile phones sold worldwide are now made by the company based in Espoo, Finland./Harley 2Q profit tumbles on fewer shipments By DAN STRUMPF. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:56 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK - Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell sharply as a weak economy, record-high gas prices and lower consumer confidence continued to hobble the iconic motorcycle maker's shipments and sales. But the Milwaukee-based company stood by its outlook for the year, and its earnings beat Wall Street's expectations. Shares of Harley climbed in premarket trading. Harley said its earnings for the quarter ended June 29 fell 23 percent to $222.8 million, or 95 cents per share, from $290.5 million, or $1.14 per share, in the same quarter last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/nokias-2nd-quarter-profi t-falls-61.html Citi?s $2.5bn loss less than feared By Ben White in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 11:56 | Last updated: July 18 2008 15:14. Citigroup on Friday said it lost a smaller than expected $2.5bn in the second quarter, driven by $7.2bn in writedowns and an increase of $4.5bn in credit costs. Analysts had predicted a loss of closer to $4bn. Citi, the largest US bank by assets, itself last month warned of further large writedowns driven by continued ?unprecedented? market conditions. Citi shares rose 5.6 per cent in early Wall Street trading after the bank said it lost $2.5bn, or 54 cents a share, compared with a profit of $6.23bn, or $1.24 cents, last year. The loss was about half the size of the $5bn decline Citi posted in the first quarter. The bank has lost more than $17bn in the last three quarters and taken in excess of $58bn in writedowns and increased credit costs since mid-2007. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/citis-25bn-loss-less-tha n-feared.html Merrill Lynch hit by $9.4bn write-down By Francesco Guerrera and Ben White in New York and Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 22:04 | Last updated: July 18 2008 02:10. Merrill Lynch on Thursday spoiled investors? appetite for financial stocks with larger-than-expected write-downs of $9.4bn that underlined banks? continuing struggles to emerge from the credit crunch. In an unusual move, Merrill waited until after the market closed to report a $4.6bn loss in the second quarter and announce asset sales aimed at raising $8bn in much-needed capital. The performance, which trailed analyst expectations, brings Merrill?s losses for the past four quarters to about $19bn and has left the battered investment bank as one of the biggest casualties of the financial turmoil. Merrill?s results are a setback for John Thain, chairman and chief executive, who was hired in December to stem the investment bank?s tide of losses and tighten risk management./JPMorgan earnings beat expectations By Francesco Guerrera in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 12:32 | Last updated: July 17 2008 12:32. JPMorgan Chase provided a relative bright spot for the US financial sector on Thursday, reporting second-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations despite $2.4bn in new write-downs and credit provisions. Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive, tempered the better than expected results with a note of caution, warning that the economy was likely to weaken and capital markets would remain under stress in the months to come. ?Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak ? and likely to get weaker ? and for the capital markets to remain under stress. We remain conscious that since substantial risks still remain on our balance sheet, these factors will likely affect our business for the remainder of the year or longer,? Mr Dimon said in a statement./Northern Trust, First Midwest post better-than-expected profits By Becky Yerak. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. Better-than-expected results posted by two Chicago-area banking institutions were warmly received Wednesday by a Wall Street crowd that has been frowning lately on financial stocks. Shares of Northern Trust Corp. closed up 13.1 percent, at $76, after the area's only big locally headquartered bank reported second-quarter profits that exceeded analyst expectations. It also said its operating revenues surpassed $1 billion for the first time. Meanwhile, shares of First Midwest Bancorp Inc., one of the area's mid-size banks, gained 26.5 percent Wednesday, to $17.71, after it too exceeded profit forecasts despite a rise in delinquent loans. It posted quarterly loan growth the likes of which it hasn't seen in seven years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/merrill-lynch-hit-by-94b n-write-down.html Coca-Cola sees $5.3bn writedown By Jonathan Birchall in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 16:46 | Last updated: July 18 2008 01:10. A one-two punch of higher commodity prices and increasingly frugal US consumers is forcing Coca-Cola?s largest bottler to write down the value of its business by $5.3bn. The non-cash writedown by the bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, led Coca-Cola itself to take a $1.1bn writedown in its second-quarter results, reducing its earnings per share by 40 cents to 61 cents, 23 per cent down on the same period last year. CCE, which is 35 per cent owned by Coca-Cola, bottles, distributes and markets 80 per cent of Coke?s drinks in the US. It also distributes in the UK and other parts of Europe and handles about 18 per cent of Coke?s total sales./Coca-Cola Co. 2nd-quarter profit falls 23 percent as it takes charge related to its bottler. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:35 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. ATLANTA (AP) _ Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday its second-quarter profit fell 23 percent as it took a one-time charge related to its bottler. The world's biggest beverage company earned $1.42 billion, or 61 cents per share, compared with $1.85 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 17 percent to $9.05 billion from $7.73 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings were $1.01. The quarter's earnings included a 40-cent-per-share non-cash charge related to bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coca-cola-sees-53bn-writ edowncoca-cola.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Stormy weather. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 18:54 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:54. What a difference a year makes. Last year during the Paris Air Show, the aviation industry was on a high: the world economy was booming and credit was cheap. Orders for civilian airliners stretched far into the future. This year at Farnborough, there have been the usual choreographed announcements of orders for new aircraft (if fewer than in Paris last year). But this masks a future for the industry that looks far bleaker than it did a year ago. The price of jet fuel has doubled since then and economic growth has slowed in the face of a credit crisis. For manufacturers based in Europe, the weak dollar has given a relative advantage to their competitors in the dollar area. Some marginal airlines have already gone to the wall, and more may be expected to follow. Others pursuing novel strategies, such as business-only operators, have failed. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_1612.html Delta and American parent AMR swing to $1 billion-plus losses in 2nd-quarter By HARRY R. WEBER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 12:31 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. ATLANTA (AP) _ Delta Air Lines Inc. said Wednesday it swung to a hefty loss in the second quarter despite a strong increase in sales, pushing its red ink to more than $7 billion since the start of the year.But the carrier's shares soared as the results, hit by unprecedented fuel costs and a decline in the company's market value, still beat Wall Street estimates when one-time items are excluded. Oil prices plunged by more than $4 a barrel Wednesday, bolstering stocks in the airline sector. The parent of American Airlines also reported second-quarter results Wednesday, swinging to a big loss in the second quarter as high fuel prices swamped an increase in revenue and led the nation's largest carrier to write down the value of its jets. The results were not as bad as Wall Street had feared, as both companies topped analysts' expectations./American Airlines to cut 1,500 maintenance jobs. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:26 AM CDT, July 18, 2008. DALLAS _ American Airlines will cut 1,500 jobs in its maintenance division as it reduces its fleet of aircraft. The nation's largest airline told employees of the cuts in memos this week. American did not break down the cuts by location. Tami McLallen, a spokeswoman for the airline, said Friday that those decisions had not yet been made. The airline has maintenance hubs in Kansas City, Tulsa, Okla., and Fort Worth, Texas, plus many smaller bases around the country. Besides maintaining American's jets, workers at the hubs also work on jets brought in by other carriers./Continental swings to 2nd-quarter loss from year-ago profit on hefty fuel costs By DAVID KOENIG. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:55 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. DALLAS (AP) _ Continental Airlines Inc. said Thursday it swung to a second-quarter loss, hurt by record high fuel prices and weakening economic conditions. But the result was far better than expected, and shares rose 73 cents, or 7.9 percent, to $9.92 in trading after the opening bell. For the quarter ended June 30, Houston-based Continental said it lost $3 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a profit of $228 million, or $2.03 per share, a year ago. Excluding $22 million in one-time gains, the carrier lost $25 million, or 25 cents per share, in the latest quarter. Analysts, who usually exclude one-time items from their calculations, expected a loss of 49 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial./Qantas cuts 1,500 jobs as fuel costs soar By Elizabeth Fry in Sydney. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 02:38 | Last updated: July 18 2008 05:23. Qantas, Australia?s national carrier, on Friday said it would cut 1,500 jobs and abandon plans to increase flying capacity as part of a stringent cost cutting plan aimed at dealing with the impact of record fuel prices. The job cuts, equivalent to 4 per cent of Qantas? workforce, come after weeks of speculation that the carrier would be forced to take drastic action to cope with the crisis that is crippling the aviation industry world wide. Qantas said it would also scrap plans to hire another 1,200 workers in the new financial year, after abandoning plans to increase capacity in 2008/09 by 8 per cent. The airline said it would close its call centres in Tuscon, Arizona and London. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/delta-and-american-paren t-amr-swing-to.html GM suspends dividend and eyes asset sales By Bernard Simon in Toronto. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 14:22 | Last updated: July 15 2008 18:38. General Motors has suspended its dividend and is considering asset sales as part of a ?self-help? plan to improve liquidity in the face of a downturn in the North American vehicle market. ?Our progress has been threatened as US economic conditions have become more difficult,? Rick Wagoner, GM?s chief executive, told employees on Tuesday. GM announced last month that it would close four North American plants building pick-up and sport utility vehicles. But Mr Wagoner said ?in the past six weeks, US markets and economic conditions have continued to decline?. A sharp drop in GM?s share price and speculation about a possible bankruptcy filing have complicated efforts to raise capital. The measures unveiled, based mostly on internal cost-cutting, are designed to generate $15bn in cash by the end of 2009. GM?s automotive operations held cash reserves of $23.9bn at the end of March. They assume a drop in US light-vehicle sales to 14m units this year and next. Sales totalled 16.3m in 2007, but fell to an annual rate of 13.6m in June. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-suspends-dividend-and -eyes-asset.html Commodities Oil $128.88 Silver Bullion $18.15 Gold Bullion $955 Platinum Bullion $ $1861 Euro $1.5833 Dollar leads the ?ugly parade? By Neil Dennis and Sarah O?Connor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 15 2008 17:02 | Last updated: July 15 2008 17:02. The fallout from the US rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday sent dollar bulls scuttling for cover while raising the question: how much more pain can the battered US currency take? Relief over the Treasury?s announcement that it would seek to provide funding for the two US government-sponsored mortgage groups has quickly been replaced by fears that conditions in the financial system are worsening. The dollar sell-off was broad-based. It drove the euro to a record high against the US currency ? taking it back above $1.60, while the pound broke through $2, to its highest level since March. The greenback also fell more than 1 per cent against both the Swiss franc and the yen. The latest bout of weakness comes only a couple of months after some analysts had forecast a major improvement in the dollar?s fortunes. Rising US inflation prompted tough talk from Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. He said the time of lower US interest rates was over, helping the currency to rally modestly between mid-April and mid-June. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dollar-leads-ugly-parade .html Oil rebounds while gold consolidates By Chris Flood. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 09:40 | Last updated: July 18 2008 09:40. Oil prices staged a rebound on Friday after dropping below the $130 level in the previous session while gold prices traded in a narrow range. Nymex August West Texas Intermediate rose $1.71 to $131.00 a barrel after sinking to a low of $129.00 on Thursday, led lower by a sharp fall in US natural gas prices. WTI ended Thursday?s session $5.31 lower at $129.29 and has corrected by 12.2 per cent since reaching an all-time high of $147.27 last Friday. Traders said the expiry of August WTI options on Thursday was an influential factor in dragging futures prices lower. ICE September Brent rebounded $1.70 to $132.77 a barrel after dropping to a low of $130.73 on Thursday. Brent ended Thursday?s session $4.74 lower at $131.07 and has corrected by 11.1 per cent since reaching a record $147.50 last Friday. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/oil-rebounds-while-gold- consolidates.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: The lure of offshore drilling. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. President George W. Bush's decision to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling first imposed by his father 18 years ago is designed to ratchet up the pressure on Congress to do likewise. Congress should resist. Offshore drilling will not bring short-term relief from $4-a-gallon gasoline, nor can it play much more than a marginal role in any long-term strategy for energy independence. The oil companies already have access to substantial unexplored resources. At issue are about 19 billion barrels that, the Interior Department says, lie in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Until Monday, these resources had been protected by two parallel moratoriums. One was an executive prohibition on offshore drilling in the Lower 48 states, imposed in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez disaster. This moratorium was extended by President Bill Clinton, who added protections for Alaska's Bristol Bay, a rich fishing ground. Bush lifted the Bristol Bay protections last year and has now eliminated the rest. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_4556.html US to open 3.9m acres in Alaska for drilling By Sheila McNulty in Houston. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 16 2008 22:57 | Last updated: July 16 2008 22:57. The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices. ?This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,? said C.?Stephen Allred, assistant US Secretary for Land and Minerals. ?Together with proposed new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help to stabilise energy costs.?? The Alaska decision follows one by President George W.?Bush on Monday to lift a presidential ban on drilling on the US outer continental shelf, off Florida. That decision still requires Congress to lift a separate ban on the area before the area can be leased for development. But the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, said the Alaskan land that will now be offered requires no other approvals and will be up for leasing in the autumn. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-to-open-39m-acres-in- alaska-for.html Florida willing to get tough over oil drilling ban By David Fickling in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 22:29 | Last updated: July 17 2008 22:29. The governor of Florida would consider going to court to guarantee his right to permit offshore oil exploration around Florida?s coasts. But Charlie Crist, who has been cited as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, told the Financial Times that in preference to court action it would be ?more productive? for Congress to overturn its ban on offshore drilling. Oil exploration in all but a few sectors of US coastal waters has been prohibited since the 1980s by separate congressional and presidential bans. However, George W.?Bush on Monday lifted the White House?s moratorium and called on Congress to do the same. That move followed calls from Mr McCain last month to end the federal bans. He argued that domestic oil production needed to rise to assure affordable fuel for Americans, who have seen the price of petrol increase by a third to more than $4 a litre in the past year. Mr Crist echoed that view. ?It is a significant crunch on Florida families,? he said. ?And I think the difficult decision that I have to make, as somebody who cares about the environment, is to realise that my fellow Floridians are hurting financially right now.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-oil-reserves-may-rais e-false-us.html Don't heed promises of easy fuel solution By ANDREW GREELEY agreel at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times. July 16, 2008. Sometimes Sen. Phil Gramm is not all that wrong about American protests over high pump prices to sustain their behemoth autos as they soak up the oil reserves of the world. Ever since President Jimmy Carter, warnings have been issued about the risks of dependence on foreign oil. Conservation, we were told, was the only solution. Actually there were other solutions, such as legislating stern mpg requirements, as European countries did, imposing heavy taxes on gas. In fact, the four and a half dollars a gallon Americans must now pay for gas is less than Europeans have been paying for 30 years. However, Americans were convinced that they had the right to cheap gasoline and that no power in the world should take that right away from us. Now that the right has been sopped up, it ought to be clear that gasoline is an expensive commodity. Yet Americans continued to purchase it at a discount provided by their government. Environmentalists warned every year that disaster was waiting just around the corner, but Big Auto insisted that Americans wanted big cars and small trucks and especially SUVs, gas-consuming monsters that were rarely used either for sports or utility purposes, but mostly to reinforce the masculinity of drivers of either gender. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dont-heed-promises-of-ea sy-fuel.html Bush Spins a Big Lie About Offshore Drilling. Posted by A Siegel, Get Energy Smart! NOW!!! Copyright by Alternet.com. 10:56 AM on July 14, 2008. "At what point does 'truthiness' and disingenuous arguments simply become lying?" The push is on, big time. The solution to all of America's problems, evidently, is to drill, drill, drill. This is now the Republican mantra as they seem to believe that they have found a winning political issue, no matter what the implications of this "win" might be for America's future. Let us be clear. Efforts to increase (actually, struggle to maintain) America's oil production can be part of a holistic energy package. But, only part: far more critical is to use efficiency to produce negagallons to help provide some breathing space to move as much of America's transportation off oil. (To me, the most fruitful path for results by 2020 is mass electrification: rail and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles along with GEM-full flex-fuel for the liquid portion of the ground transportation system.) Even if transportation is 100% non-oil, we will still want oil for many industrial processes and to support manufacture of many products. But, efforts and discussion to explore additional oil production should be part of a larger discussion. And, they should be grounded in truth. George W Bush, in Saturday's radio address, provided a clear example of how truthiness, rather than truth, reigns in the efforts to promote oil exploration and drilling in the outer continental shelf (OCS). http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-spins-big-lie-about -offshore.html Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.33% 6.13% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.86% 5.64% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.28% 7.20% 5/1 ARM 5.73% 5.48% 7/1 ARM 6.08% 5.81% New York construction boosts US housing By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 17 2008 14:01 | Last updated: July 17 2008 14:01. New US housing starts rose an unexpected 9.1 per cent in June, but economists cautioned against interpreting the jump as evidence of a bottoming of the US residential property market. The commerce department said the surge to a pace of 1.066m units was driven by multi-family construction in New York, where new building codes were enacted last month. Meanwhile, single-family housing starts across the country dropped 5.3 per cent to their lowest level since 1991 and overall new home construction, setting aside multi-family homes in the northeast, dropped 4 per cent. New building codes came into effect in New York at the beginning of July prompting builders to start and seek permits for multifamily structures before then. The housing meltdown has been at the heart of the economic crisis and policymakers and economists have been searching for some signs that it may be ending. Woes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored mortgage lenders, over the past week, have increased fears of a protracted slump in housing. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-york-construction-bo osts-us-housing.html US builders forced to sell off holdings By Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 22:26 | Last updated: July 18 2008 22:26. For decades American builders have, in the words of the Joni Mitchell song, ?paved paradise and put up a parking lot?. Now, a combination of the housing slump, the energy crisis and soaring prices for food is helping to keep the bulldozers at bay. Demand for new homes on the outskirts of US towns has fallen spectacularly in the last three years, while foreclosures and speculative building have created a far greater supply of homes than there are buyers. At the same time, soaring fuel costs have made the long commute to work that much less attractive. The result is that farmland close to cities that has often been the seedbed for new housing developments is becoming less valuable to builders, at the same time as farmers want more of it. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-builders-forced-to-se ll-off-holding.html Bush Bashing Bush Admin. Worried About Possible Criminal Prosecution. Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side By Scott Horton. Copyright by Harpers Magazine AUGUST 2008. In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration?s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who ?made it happen? (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program ?24,? which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-admin-worried-about -possible.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: History goes missing at the White House. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 13, 2008. After watching wholesale lots of the Bush administration's most important e-mails go mysteriously missing, Congress is trying to legislate against any further damage to history. The secrecy-obsessed White House is, of course, threatening a veto - one more effort to deny Americans their rightful access to the truth about how their leaders govern or misgovern. The House approved a measure last week that would require the National Archives to issue stronger standards for preserving e-mails and to aggressively inspect whether an administration is in compliance. The Archives needs spine stiffening. Congressional investigators found that its staff backed off from inspections of e-mail storage after the Bush administration took office. We fear we may never find out all that has gone missing in this administration, although we urge congressional investigators to keep trying. What we do know is that the Bush gaps of missing e-mails run into hundreds of thousands during some of the most sensitive political moments. Key gaps coincide with the lead-up to the Iraq war - and the White House's manipulation of intelligence - as well as the destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations and the outing of the CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_14.html Video of teen's Guantanamo interrogation offers glimpse into questioning at US military base By CHARMAINE NORONHA. Copyright by The Associated Press http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-canada-guantanamo-deta inee,0,3771728.story. 9:11 AM CDT, July 15, 2008. TORONTO (AP) _ In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay. "Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.The 10 minutes of video ? selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent ? provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged. The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/video-of-teens-guantanam o-interrogation.html Bush claims executive privilege on CIA leak material, Waxman delays contempt vote By LAURIE KELLMAN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:11 PM CDT, July 16, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush has asserted executive privilege to prevent Attorney General Michael Mukasey from having to comply with a House panel subpoena for material on the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.A House committee chairman, meanwhile, held off on a contempt citation of Mukasey ? who had requested the privilege claim ? but only as a courtesy to lawmakers not present. Among the documents sought by House Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman are FBI interviews of Vice President Dick Cheney. They also include notes about the 2003 State of the Union address, during which President Bush made the case for invading Iraq in part by saying Saddam Hussein was pursuing uranium ore to make a nuclear weapon. That information turned out to be wrong. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-claims-executive-pr ivilege-on-cia.html Court Backs Bush on Military Detentions By ADAM LIPTAK. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: July 16, 2008. President Bush has the legal power to order the indefinite military detentions of civilians captured in the United States, the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled on Tuesday in a fractured 5-to-4 decision. But a second, overlapping 5-to-4 majority of the court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, ruled that Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar now in military custody in Charleston, S.C., must be given an additional opportunity to challenge his detention in federal court there. An earlier court proceeding, in which the government had presented only a sworn statement from a defense intelligence official, was inadequate, the second majority ruled. The decision was a victory for the Bush administration, which had maintained that a 2001 Congressional authorization to use military force after the Sept. 11 attacks granted the president the power to detain people living in the United States. The court effectively reversed a divided three-judge panel of its own members, which ruled last year that the government lacked the power to detain civilians legally in the United States as enemy combatants. That panel ordered the government either to charge Mr. Marri or to release him. The case is likely to reach the Supreme Court. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/court-backs-bush-on-mili tary-detentions.html Indecision 2008 McDumb As Bush http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsiADdmoh3E Can we afford another president who thinks it's smart to be dumb? The Comedy Stylings of Shecky McCain. Copyright by Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. Tuesday, July 15th, 2008...7:44 am. John McCain made the mistake of watching Verdict yesterday where they had a John McCain sycophant go on and on about how McCain stuck by his principles when he bucked his party on immigration. He and the host failed to note that he was lining up with the president and the business community on the issue (not exactly ?bucking? the folks in charge), and when the heat came down he didn?t even support his own bill that this guy was giving him credit for. But hey, he?s a maverick, right? Also, the guy noted that he has this great sense of humor. I gotta give him credit here and there for poking fun at his age, but for the most part, his humor is awkward at best and usually mean spirited. For example, how many folks remember this one: Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno. For reference, this was back in 1998, when Clinton was seventeen. Nice. Okay, that?s too far back for some of y?all. McCain made an appearance in Nevada just last month and when asked about avoiding campaigning with Governor Jim Gibbons. In response, he decided to make the old ?And I?ve stopped beating my wife? gag. It wasn?t that funny back when Richard Nixon used it, and it sure as heck isn?t funny given that Gibbons was accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress just last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/comedy-stylings-of-sheck y-mccain.html McCain's take on birth control By Katha Pollitt. Copyright ? 2008 The Nation. July 18, 2008. I realize it's not as world-shaking as the caricature of the Obamas on the cover of The New Yorker, which has the high-end media in a total tizzy. It's probably not even as important as the raunchy joke Bernie Mac told at an Obama fundraiser last week, which was bumped from the tizzy list by the New Yorker story. But can't the commentariat take a break from itself and let the world know how much John McCain opposes birth control? Vastly more people rely on contraception than read The New Yorker or know who Bernie Mac is from mac 'n' cheese. In fact, vastly more people use birth control than believe Obama is a secret Muslim. They might like to know that when it comes to contraception, McCain is no maverick. Here's the story. Last week, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who has been helping McCain look bright-eyed and estrogen-friendly, told reporters that women wanted more choice in their health-care plans. For example, it bothered women when plans covered Viagra but not contraception. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-take-on-birth-co ntrol.html And the Viagra moment: http://www.wikio.com/video/314833 Crosby, Stills & Nash - "Denver" (6/26/08) - Antiwar DNC Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young have created a new version of their song, ?Chicago,? which spoke of the 1968 Democratic convention riots with the words ?Won't you please come to Chicago?? and ?We can change the world, rearrange the world.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/crosby-stills-nash-denve r-62608-antiwar.html WATCH VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_iwiZ6wjk Financial Times Editorial Comment: Obama takes a tour of the world. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 20:11 | Last updated: July 18 2008 20:11. Purely as a matter of domestic politics, Barack Obama?s impending tour of foreign parts could be the most important manoeuvre of his campaign. When voters are asked whom they trust to do a good job, the Democrat comfortably leads John McCain on most issues ? with the vital exceptions of national security and foreign affairs. During his stops in Europe and the Middle East over the coming days, he has a chance to alter that perception, perhaps decisively. No question, a trip of this kind has risks: there is always the danger of some memorable gaffe. But if Mr Obama avoids making any big mistakes, the effusion of goodwill he is likely to meet, and the sheer sense of occasion, are likely to hand him a public relations triumph. Anticipation of the trip in the United States, to say nothing of the elaborate preparations, is as though for an actual president rather than a mere candidate. Assured of wall-to-wall press and television coverage, Mr Obama will be trailing a vast retinue of US media, including a trio of television network anchors. (At this one gasps: such eminences rarely venture from the studio.) When Mr McCain travelled recently, we believe to a country in Latin America, nobody cared and few even noticed. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-obama_19.html Obama arrives in Afghanistan By Jeff Zeleny. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 19, 2008. WASHINGTON: Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee by meeting with U.S. commanders there before heading to Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the two major U.S. war zones. Obama touched down in Kabul just before noon, according to a pool report released by his aides. In addition to attending briefings with military leaders, he hoped to meet with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan before flying to Iraq later in the weekend. Obama, a member of the U.S. Senate from Illinois, gave a brief outline of his trip Thursday to two pool reporters traveling with him from his home state to Washington. "Well, you know, I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking," Obama said. "And I think it is very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it's the president's job to deliver those messages." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-arrives-in-afghani stan.html Obama holds to course By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. It's hard to keep up with Barack Obama's positions on the Iraq war. When he entered the presidential race, he offered a plan that would take more than a year to withdraw from Iraq. In September, he said he would withdraw all our combat brigades over 15 months or so. This week, he vowed to pull those forces out within 16 months of taking office. Wow. He's really been all over the lot, hasn't he? No one can possibly tell if President Obama will get us out in February of 2010, or if he'll put it off till April. Small wonder that a John McCain spokesman said that on Iraq, Obama "has held almost every conceivable position." Or that a blogger for the conservative American Spectator said Obama "has entered John Kerry territory when it comes to changing positions on Iraq." See for yourself. Obama was against the war before it began?and then, in a complete reversal, he was against it after it began. When he launched his campaign in early 2007, he favored a phased withdrawal. But now, with the Democratic nomination in hand, what does he favor? A phased withdrawal. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-holds-to-course.ht ml In Obama Fundraising, Signs of a Shift From Online to In-Person By Matthew Mosk. Copyright by The Washington Post. Friday, July 18, 2008; Page A06 Sen. Barack Obama reversed a three-month fundraising slide by raising $52 million in June, a monthly total that has been surpassed only by his own performance in February in the history of presidential campaigns, aides announced yesterday. The Democrat's June effort easily topped that of Republican Sen. John McCain, who announced earlier that he will report raising $22 million for the month. The two are now nearly even in remaining resources. When combined with money gathered by their national party committees, they both began July with just less than $100 million in the bank. Obama's campaign would not say how much of his total was raised from small donors who gave online, and official reports are not due to be filed until Sunday. But an examination of his campaign schedule -- which has been packed with high-dollar fundraising events -- would suggest that he relied less on Internet donors than he did in February, when he took in $55.4 million. That month, he raised $30 million in donations of less than $200. Donors contributing similar amounts gave $23.5 million in March, $19.3 million in April and $13.3 million in May, Federal Election Commission records show. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-obama-fundraising-sig ns-of-shift.html In Obama's Circle, Chicago Remains The Tie That Binds By Shailagh Murray. Copyright by The Washington Post. Monday, July 14, 2008; Page A01. For once, Barack Obama left his iPod and stack of news clips at his seat and worked the front cabin of his campaign's chartered plane, laughing and reminiscing with the people who know him best. The senator from Illinois does not typically travel with an entourage, instead spending his time on the plane reading, working or listening to music. But this was a special occasion -- the night last month when he was claiming the Democratic presidential nomination. Joining him and his wife, Michelle, for the flight from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., were half a dozen of their closest friends, a biracial cross section of the city's business and professional elite: Martin Nesbitt, a parking lot magnate; Valerie Jarrett, a prominent businesswoman; Eric Whitaker, an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center; and John Rogers, the founder of an investment fund. Some were mainly social friends from Hyde Park, their Chicago neighborhood. Some have played a major role in Obama's campaign, including Penny Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt hotel heiress and Obama's national fundraising chairman; James Crown, son of Chicago billionaire Lester Crown and another prominent member of the local Jewish community; and David Axelrod, who has been Obama's Chicago-based political adviser and confidant since his U.S. Senate campaign in 2004. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-obamas-circle-chicago -remains-tie.html Barack Obama's $52 million June - The Obama campaign asks: Buddy, can you spare five bucks? by Mark Silva. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Posted July 17, 2008 6:50 AM. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in June, his campaign manager said Thursday morning - not quite a record for the high-flying campaign, but close to it. The campaign had raised $55 million in February, during the Democratic primaries. But it's still more than twice what Republican rival Sen. John McCain raised during June -- $22 million. Yet the Republican National Committee, which is backing the party's presidential candidate with its own resources, also had nearly $68 million in the bank - a combined treasury which the Obama campaign was mindful about in reporting its own June haul. "Supporters like you helped raise $52 million,'' campaign manager David Plouffe said in an e-mail to campaign supporters this morning. "And together with the DNC, we now have nearly $72 million in the bank. That's a very strong financial position to be in.'' http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/barack-obamas-52-million -june-obama.html Why the Obama cartoon cover bombed- Is it funny? Is it true? Is the target worth it? By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 16, 2008. I winced. I'm sure that's what The New Yorker's esteemed editor David Remnick expected me to do when I saw the Barack and Michelle Obama caricature that everybody's talking about. Every so often the quiet little liberal-leaning literary and cultural magazine presents a cover that is intended?like a high-class editorial cartoon?to startle us. Back in 1993, for example, during a time of high tensions between blacks and Jews, cartoonist Art Spiegelman raised hackles from some and heartfelt praise from others with a cover that depicted a black woman kissing an Orthodox Jewish man. The controversial Obama cover by artist Barry Blitt is just as startling in its image, but not nearly as clear in its meaning. If a casual observer didn't know that The New Yorker was a liberal literary and cultural magazine, he or she might easily believe Blitt's drawing was trying to promote the right-wing smears that it intended to lampoon. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-obama-cartoon-cover- bombed-is-it.html They get it By Timothy Egan. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 16, 2008. MISSOULA, Montana: They get it. A big red-headed guy in a pickup pulling a fishing boat stopped in front of Barack Obama headquarters here - loaded for bear, as they say. Land Tawney, a fifth-generation Montanan with a gap-toothed smile, was wearing a plaid shirt and a camouflage cap atop his head. He belongs to Sportsmen for Obama, which sounds like Facebook Users for McCain, or Linguists for Bush. I asked him whether fellow members of the hook-and-bullet community are concerned about Obama's race, or the depictions of him as un-American. Montana, after all, has a black population of less than one-half of one percent. "For 95 percent of the people, it doesn't matter or even come up," said Tawney, whose name suggests that he was predestined never to spend his days under fluorescent lights. "For the other 5 percent, yeah, there's some talk." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/they-get-it.html Obama Leads by 8 Points In Poll - Economy Remains The Top Concern By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen. Copyright by The Washington Post. Wednesday, July 16, 2008; Page A01. Sen. Barack Obama holds his biggest advantage of the presidential campaign as the candidate best prepared to fix the nation's ailing economy, but lingering concerns about his readiness to handle international crises are keeping the race competitive, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Overall, the Democrat has a lead of 50 percent to 42 percent over Republican Sen. John McCain among registered voters nationwide, lifted by a big edge among women, and he has also regained an edge among political independents. But it is Obama's 19-point lead on the economy that has become a particularly steep challenge for McCain. Economic concerns continue to eclipse other issues, with half the country saying the economy will be "extremely important" to their vote. Gasoline and energy prices, which voters rarely mentioned at the start of the year, come in just behind. The Iraq war, which was again the subject of direct engagement between Obama and McCain yesterday, ranks third. A cluster of domestic issues, including education, health care and Social Security, ranked behind the war, as did the issue of terrorism. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-leads-by-8-points- in-poll-economy.html In July, dumb stuff fades in background By Garrison Keillor. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2008. Summer nights! The fragrant dark descends, the night creatures chitter and chirrup, and we linger on the porch, a little wine in the glass, children coming and going, and we inhale the sweetness of life. In Pasadena, Calif., people are lined up outside a bank, hoping to get their money out before it goes belly up, and John McCain's friend Phil Gramm says we are a nation of whiners complaining about a recession that is only mental, but we are engulfed in summer and don't notice. We are sitting on the porch, inhaling the breeze from the trees, and we are American optimists. We grew up with cheapo gasoline and our children won't and anything you hear about rolling back prices at the pump is just election-year blather. Supply is not rising to meet demand, what with China and India booming, and that drives the price up: You learned about this in the 7th grade. So our kids will have to deal with new realities, which they can manage better than we can, and when gas goes to $7 and $8 and $10 a gallon, they will roll with it....The huge crowds that Obama draws are stunned by the fact that someone like him, with that interesting name, is?hang on now?a mainstream candidate for president of the United States and that he is, on close examination, One of Us. An earnest striver with a sense of humor. He is so much more One of Us than the privileged ne'er-do-well son in the White House or poor Rush Limbaugh living alone with his cat in his Palm Beach compound with the cherubs on the ceiling just like at Versailles and the life-size oil portrait of himself. Imagine having to look at that as you come down to breakfast. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-july-dumb-stuff-fades -in-background.html GLBT Chicago Free Press Editorial: Turning a blind eye. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. July 16, 2008. Talk about Orwellian?by the year 2010, assuming California continues to allow gays and lesbians to marry, it?s expected that tens of thousands of same-sex couples will have gotten hitched in the Golden State. They would join the thousands of gay and lesbian couples married in Massachusetts, not to mention those U.S. couples with Canadian marriage licenses or the possibility that by 2010 more states may be letting gay and lesbians have equal marriage rights. Nope, says the U.S. Census Bureau?that?s just not happening because, well, we don?t want to admit that it?s happening. So there. What the Census Bureau said last week, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News in California, is that when it gets the forms back from its 2010 Census, it won?t count gay and lesbian couples in California, Massachusetts or anywhere else as married. That?s in spite of the fact that those couples would have the same marriage licenses?and legal recognition by their home states?as their straight, married neighbors, who the Census Bureau does recognize as married. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-free-press-edito rial-turning.html John McCain opposes LGBT adoption by Lisa Keen, ?2008 Keen News Service. 2008-07-16. Adoption became an issue this week in the presidential campaign?at least for Republican nominee-apparent John McCain. The New York Times, in an interview published July 13, asked the candidate whether he agrees with President Bush's position ?that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children.? ?I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family,? said McCain, ?so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption.? The question came up in an interview conducted by Times' political reporters Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper. Nagourney is co-author of Out for Good, a 1999 book looking at the gay civil-rights movement in the United States. The context was a discussion of what kind of conservative McCain sees himself as. The Times said McCain had worried Republican conservatives in recent weeks with remarks suggesting a willingness to address global warming and citizenship for illegal immigrants. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/john-mccain-opposes-lgbt -adoption.html Report: Races see gays differently by Bob Roehr. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-16. African Americans are more likely than whites ( 65 percent vs. 53 percent ) to oppose marriage equality for gays and lesbians. They ?are virtually the only constituency in the country that has not become more supportive over the last dozen years, falling from a high of 65 percent support for gay rights in 1996 to only 40 percent in 2004.? That finding was a key element in a report, ?At the Crossroads: African-American Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs toward Marriage Equality,? that compiled and reviewed all existing polling data on the subject. It was a joint effort by the National Black Justice Coalition and Freedom to Marry, and is being shared with other organizations but not released to the public. ?Nearly three-quarters of blacks say that homosexual relations are always wrong, and over one-third say that AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior,? according to the report. ?Overall, blacks are 14 percentage points more likely to hold both positions than whites.? Younger persons generally are more supportive of GLBT rights than older persons are. But, significantly, more black youth ( 55 percent ) ?believe that homosexuality is always wrong? than do Latino ( 36 percent ) or white ( 35 percent ) youth, according to a recent study from the University of Chicago. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/report-races-see-gays-di fferently.html Gay US bishop fights exclusion from meeting By RACHEL ZOLL. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:46 PM CDT, July 13, 2008. LONDON - The first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn't become a focus of the global event. Anglicans on all sides of the issue agree: The strategy has backfired. New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson has been embraced by sympathetic Anglicans in England and Scotland who view his exclusion as an affront to their Christian beliefs. Robinson plans several appearances on the outskirts of the Lambeth Conference to be what he called a "constant and friendly" reminder of gays in the church. "I'm just not willing to let the bishops meet and pretend that we don't exist," Robinson said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press before preaching at St. Mary's Church Putney. "They've taken vows to serve all the people in dioceses, not just certain ones." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gay-us-bishop-fights-exc lusion-from.html Nomination Deadline for Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Extended to August 12, 2008. The 2008 deadline to nominate individuals and organizations for induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame has been extended to August 12. Nomination forms can be downloaded or printed from the Hall of Fame?s Web site (www.GLHallofFame.org) or requested by calling 312-744-7911 and leaving a mailing address. Completed nominations should be sent to: The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on LGBT Issues, 740 N. Sedgwick Street, Floor 3, Chicago, IL 60654-3478. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/nomination-deadline-for- gay-and-lesbian.html Borah honored. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-16. Homewood attorney William J. Borah, who has crusaded for eliminating sexual orientation-based discrimination, received the 2008 Community Leadership Award from the Illinois State Bar Association ( ISBA ) June 27 during the organization's 132nd annual meeting in St. Louis. The award?given by the ISBA's Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ( SOGI ) ?recognizes individuals for efforts to foster understanding of LGBT individuals and their concerns. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/borah-honored.html Immigration McDonald's franchisee will pay $1 million in Nevada illegal immigration case. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:18 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. NEW YORK (AP) _ A McDonald's Corp. franchisee will pay a $1 million fine after pleading guilty in Las Vegas federal court to felony immigration offenses for giving false Social Security numbers to illegal aliens. The charges follow an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who have said management of Mack Associates Inc. knowingly hired illegal alien workers in Reno, Nev.-area McDonald's restaurants, supplying them with false identification. The Justice Department released details of the plea agreement late Wednesday. In U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, attorneys for Mack Associates filed guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien's unlawful residence in the U.S. and one count of aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the U.S., which are felony offenses. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mcdonalds-franchisee-ple ads-guilty-in.html Health Care Senate agrees to triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa, elsewhere worldwide By JIM ABRAMS. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 12:27 AM CDT, July 17, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate voted Wednesday to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The 80-16 vote committed the United States to spending up to $48 billion over the next five years for the most ambitious foreign public health program ever launched by the United States. The legislation would replace and expand the current $15 billion act that President Bush championed in a State of the Union address and Congress passed in 2003. That act expires at the end of September. In a statement, ' said that when the program was launched in 2003, about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today, the program supports lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.7 million people around the world, he said. It also has supported treatment and prevention programs that have helped HIV-positive women give birth to nearly 200,000 infants who are HIV-free. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/senate-agrees-to-triple- funds-to-fight.html House votes to override presidential veto of bill protecting doctors from cut in Medicare pay By KEVIN FREKING. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:56 PM CDT, July 15, 2008. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to override President Bush's veto of legislation protecting doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients.The vote was 383-41, easily meeting the two-thirds threshold needed for an override. The Senate also must conduct an override vote, and it was expected to do so later Tuesday. Bush has vetoed bills nine times, and Congress has had the muscle to override him only three times before, on a water projects bill and twice on a farm bill. The president supports rescinding the pay cut, but objects to the way lawmakers would finance the plan, which would be largely by reducing spending on private health plans serving the elderly and disabled. "I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/house-votes-to-override- presidential.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Kids and statins. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2008. Most people know that heart disease can start early and so can prevention. But should that include giving kids as young as 8 powerful cholesterol-fighting drugs known as statins to shield against future heart attacks? That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in its new guidelines released Monday. That's an aggressive stance. And it may strike many people?many parents?as extreme. That was our reaction. The recommendation stirred furious debate among doctors, with one proclaiming himself "embarrassed for the AAP." Let's be clear about what the academy is?and isn't?saying. It isn't saying that all or most or many kids who are overweight or obese be given these drugs. It isn't saying that the drugs are better than the proper diet and exercise for lowering cholesterol levels in kids. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-kids-and.html Why they didn't tell us that these pills could kill our kids By David Michaels. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 13, 2008. Since 1986, every bottle of aspirin sold in the United States has carried a label advising parents that consumption by children with viral illnesses greatly increases their risk of developing Reye's syndrome, a serious illness often involving sudden brain or liver damage. Before that warning was required by the Food and Drug Administration, the toll from Reye's syndrome was substantial: In 1980 alone, 555 cases were reported. Many others likely occurred but went unreported because the syndrome is easily misdiagnosed. One in 3 diagnosed children died. Today, less than a handful of Reye's syndrome cases are reported annually. But this public health triumph is bittersweet, because while aspirin manufacturers were arguing that the science linking aspirin to Reye's syndrome was incomplete, uncertain and unclear, an untold number of children died or were disabled. The medical community knew of the danger, thanks to an alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control, but parents were kept in the dark. The industry even issued a public service announcement claiming, "We do know that no medication has been proven to cause Reyes." (Emphasis in the original.) http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-they-didnt-tell-us-t hat-these-pills.html Other ABC News Tire danger http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897 Humor Blond Mortician http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blond-mortician.html "Star Trek Lost Episodes" http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/star-trek-lost-episodes. html Dog Prayers http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dogs-prayers.html Creation vs. Evolution http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/creation-vs-evolution.ht ml New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat Jul 26 14:23:54 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:23:54 -0500 Subject: [News] The Lackluster campaign Newsletter - July 26, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?The media-bias charge would be bad news, if it were true, Sentor. But I think your real problem is worse: You are the victim of a lackuster campaign. I say this, by the way, as one of your longtime defenders. have a soft spot in my heart for my fellow Vietnam-era veterans. And, as hitory is your witness, you certainly sacrificed a heckuva lot more in that wa effort than I did. It's been so hard to find excitement in your news eventslately, you're making my profession look bad. Please cut it out. ? ClarencePage McCain vs. Obama World By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, ChicagoTribune. July 27, 2008. Memo to John McCain: You're probably kicking yoursel right about now for goading Barack Obama into getting out to see the world. That's like throwing ol' Br'er Rabbit into a briar patch. Before you could say "photo o," the junior senator from Illinois was turning Obama Nation into what ooked like Obama World. You said Obama needed to return to Iraq, wherehe had not been in more than two years, and find out the real truth on te ground. You must have known trouble was afoot when Obama agreed to expand hat idea into a fact-finding tour of the Middle East and Europe, too, witha sizable chunk of America's news anchors, reporters and TV cameras beggingto come along. You must have known it was a good omen for Obama and, as suh, bad for you when Obama joined some of our troops on a basketball court i Kuwait?and threw a long-distance basket from behind the three-point line. S-wish! Ah, for the good old days, you must have thought, when Obama was awkwadly trying to bowl his way though the Pennsylvania primary. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-vs-obama-world.ht ml Young Republicans worry about McCain's appealBy Chris Lawrence. Copyright by CNN News. (CNN) -- From cyberspace to colege campuses, many young conservatives are worried that Sen. Jon McCain is not appealing to their generation. Sen. John McCain says he kows how important young voters are. At a town hall meeting in Ohio this monh, a student told McCain that Republicans were a dying breed on his campus "I understand the challenge I have, and I understand that this election i really all about the people of your generation," McCain said. Many youngRepublicans said Sen. Barack Obama -- the 46-year-old junior senator frm Illinois -- is inspiring voters their age, but McCain -- the 71-year-old enator who has been in office since the early '80s -- is not. Eric Pearlmuter, a member of the Young Republicans at the University of Southern Californi, said the roaring enthusiasm that follows Obama is missing among conservaties his age. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/young-republians-worry- about-mccains.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Worldly sccess for Barack Obama. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pblished: July 25 2008 19:54 | Last updated: July 25 2008 19:54. Barack Oama?s world tour was a success. Nothing went wrong for the Democratic party cndidate for the US presidency. And four big things went right. The firstand most important success was in Iraq. Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime miniter, effectively endorsed Mr Obama?s plan for a withdrawal of American troops That has blunted one of the most dangerous attacks on the Democrat ? thathe is prepared to throw away hard-won progress in Iraq. And there were tree other big pluses for Mr Obama as he progressed from Afghanistan to the Midle East and then on to Europe. In Afghanstan, the evident deterioration of the security situation has served to bolster Mr Obama?s argument that Iraq has been a distraction from the ?central front n the war on terror? ? in Afghanistan and Pakistan. http://iretiredfromnesletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_26.html A big story is our biggest bias By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chiago Tribune. July 23, 2008. A respected group of media researchers has ound that Barack Obama gets a lot more coverage than John McCain. I didn't eed a think tank to tell me that. After all, Madonna gets more coverage tan McCain does, even when she doesn't want it?although it is hard to imaine when she wouldn't. Obama gets more media attention than John McCain ecause, as we have heard over and over again, Obama is the "rock star" of oday's political scene. McCain, by contrast, is an attractive candidate andwar hero who is less intriguing precisely because, in a political wold where "fresh" and "new" has become the highest virtue, we know him sowell. Even some liberals have a lot of affection for the Arizona senator asa man and maverick, even when he's been talking a lot less maverick lately But, running against Obama often brings to mind grumpy ol' Mr. Wilsn chasing Dennis the Menace off his lawn. The public tells us media workrs this with their viewing and reading habits. For example, a Time magazine2006 issue with Obama on the cover was Time's econd-best-selling issue of the year, and a September 2006 issue of Men's Vogue with Obama on the cover outsold every issue but the debut, according to The Washington Post. Newsweek agazine has done six issues with Obama on the cover over the past year, two ith McCain. Rolling Stone has given Obama two covers in the last year. Ifthey don't know rock stars, who does? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-story-is-our-biggest-bias-by.html Is McCain's Age Showing? Tongues Wag Over Flubs By Howard Kuz. Copyright by The Washington Post. Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page C01. We interrupt the nonstop coverage of Barack Obama's overseas trip to bring yu some breaking whispers about John McCain. He has been making a seriesof verbal slips -- invariably described as "gaffes" -- that are starting to icochet from liberal blogs to the mainstream media. And fairly or not, ome critics are suggesting the 71-year-old Republican candidate is showing hs age. McCain referred to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" in a "Good Morning Amerca" interview; since there is no such border, he must have meant Afghanista-Pakistan. He has twice referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that ceased t exist in 1993; mixed up Sunnis and Shiites; and identified Vladimir Putin as president of Germany. Aides to the Arizona senator dismiss the missteps as meaningless, noting that their man is far more accssible to journalists than Obama. "When you engage with reporters from :30 a.m. till 8 at night, you're bound to make a gaffe," says McCain communcations director Jill Hazelbaker. "People are yearning for the kindof president who takes tough questions, and that's who John McCain is."/McCai gaffes pile up; critics pile on By MIKE ALLEN & JIM VANDEHEI. Copyright b Politico.com. 7/22/08 5:13 AM EST. A string of erroneous word choices is elping opponents make his 71 years a matter of age, not experience. Sen.John McCain (R-Ariz.) said ?Iraq? on Monday when he apparently meant Afghanistan?, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammnition to the opposition. Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mstaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football?s Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ironically, the errors have been concentrated inwhat should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs. McCain will turn 72 th day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party?s nomination for prsident at the age of 47, caling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain?s advanced age three days before the start of his own convention. The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty offlubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstaed place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent aroud as YouTube links. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-mccains-age-showing-t ongues-wag-over.html McCain's own Tony Rezko - LINCON S&L - Arizona senator received rebuke by ethics panel BY ABDON M. PALASCH Political Reporter. apallasch at suntimes.com. Copyright by The ChicagoSun-Times. July 21, 2008. Amid crumbling bungalows on Chicago's South Sid or ranch-style homes in the Phoenix suburbs, an ambitious politician canstill get too close to a wheeler-dealer developer. Democratic presidential cndidate Barack Obama admits it "was a boneheaded move" for him to buy proerty from his friend and donor Tony Rezko's wife after headlines proclaimedfederal investigators were looking into Rezko's manipulation of state pensin boards for his own profit. Rezko was later convicted on 16 fraud counts. The candidates' dangerous liaisons. Republican candidate John McCainadmitted he made a "serious error" in not reporting free trips to the Bahams he took on friend and donor Charles Keating's private jet. McCain was ne of the "Keating Five" senators who met with federal regulators to askthem not to crack down on Keating's failing Lincoln Savings and Loan. eating's political hardball bought him an extra two years. Dring that time, the cost to tax-payers of bailing out his thrift grew from $1.2 billion to $3.4 billion. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-own-tony-rezko-l incoln-s.html McCain Still Waitingfor His Turn at Good Luck By Michael D. Shear. Copyright by The WashingtonPost. Thursday, July 24, 2008; Page A06. It seemed like a great way to couter Obamamania. Sen. John McCain would board a helicopter in New Orleans toay, skim quickly over the Gulf of Mexico and land on an oil rig -- a made-fo-TV moment to highlight his call for offshore drilling, an issue that Repulicans believe will be a big winner in November. Then came Hurricane Doly, a Category 2 storm that made a helicopter ride impossible. And then, imprbably, a 600-foot oil tanker collided with a barge on the Mississippi Rive, creating a 12-mile oil slick and causing diesel fumes to waft over the cty's French Quarter. The trip was off. In this campaign, it seems, McCain ust can't catch a break. Through a series of missteps, gaffes and bad luc, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has endured a difficult wek in what has been a choppy campaign. He now has no major event to offse Sen. Barack Obama's speech at Berlin's famed Victory Column, where a huge tunout is expected. Instead, he will be in Columbus, Ohio, speaking at a nightime cancer event./Obama's Tour de Force By David S. Broder. Copyright by Te Washington Post. Thursday, July 24, 2008; Page A19. It made no sense hen Barack Obama left the country on his nine-day overseas tour for soe of my fellow columnists to describe it as a high-risk venture. Forign leaders, who can read the polls as well as anyone, would go out of ther way not to embarrass a man who may, six months from now, be president of he United States. Obama prepares thoroughly for the big occasions. He isalmost always well briefed, and he was traveling in sharp company -- with Sens. Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel -- so you knew he would be ready for these meetings. The chanceof a major screw-up was minimal. And as millions of Americans who watched he primary campaign learned, Obama is invariably articulate. There would e no verbal gaffes. So where was the risk? It existed mainly in the mind of some journalists and, perhaps, in the musings of Obama staffers who waned to hype the journey. Acknowledging all that, it is still the case that Obma is pulling off this trip in great style and thereby has enhanced hisOval Office credentials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/208/07/mccain-still-waiting-for -his-turn-at.html Video ? Mc Cain Who? http:/www.linktv.org/video/2763?gclid=CNDDjLeS3pQCFQOuFQodaE5TRA NBC News defendedtheir coverage of Barack Obama. They've been accused of giving himmore favorable treatment than John McCain. And today NBC News denied it. Tey said, "That's ridiculous, we've never even hed of John McCain." (Jay Leno) To give you an idea how bad things are for McCain right now, the only way he could get less coverage is if he got a primetime show on NBC (Jay Leno) Back Oama for commander-in-chief By Gideon Rachman. Copyright The Financial Time Limited 2008. Published: July 21 2008 18:38 | Last updated: July 21 208 18:38. The American economy is in a mess. The US is involved in two draning wars. The Republican party is deeply unpopular. The McCain campaign isin chaos. So why is Barack Obama just four points ahead in the polls? ne answer is that Americans think that John McCain, the Republican candiate for the presidency, would make a much more convincing commander-in-chie than Mr Obama, his Democratic rival. According to one recent poll, 72 pe cent of Americans think Mr McCain would be a good commander-in-chief Just 48 per cent thought the same of Mr Obama. Mr Obama?s world tour is desgned to counteract the idea that he is an innocent abroad. But it cannot realy offset Mr McCain?s record as a military veteran and his decades of expence in foreign affairs. For all Mr McCain?s credentials, however, there i still one powerful reason to prefer Mr Obama as America?s next commander-in-hief. He is much less likely than Mr McCain to unash another ?war of choice? by attacking Iran. The two candidates? positions on other foreign policy issues are closer than they would care to acknowledge. Both aim to increse America?s commitment in Afghanistan. And, despite the bitterness of ther exchanges over Mr Obama?s plan for withdrawal from Iraq, circumstances migh push them towards similar policies. In a recent interview with Fareed Zakara, Mr Obama would not rule out the idea that the US might have up to 0,000 troops left in Iraq 10 years from now. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/back-obama-for-commander -in-chief.html Intrnational ?In the end, the difference between Obama and McCain might com down to something beyond ideology -- temperament. McCain is a pessimist abut the world, seeing it as a dark, dangerous place where, without the constan and vigorous application of American force, evil will triumph. Obama sees aworld that is in many ways going our way. As nations develop, they become ore modern and enmeshed in the international economic and political system.To him, countries like Iran and North Korea are holdoutsagainst the tide of history. America's job is to push these progressive forces forward, using soft power more than hard, and to try to get the world's major powers to solve the world's major problems. Call him an Optimistic Realist, or a Realistic Optimist. But don't call him naive.? Fareed Zakaria Obama, Foreign Policy Realist By Freed Zakaria. Copyright by Newsweek. July 21, 2008. The rap on Barack Obama, at least in the realm of foreign policy, has been that he is a softheaded idealist who thinks that he can charm America's enemies. John McCain and his campaign, conservative columnists and right-wing bloggers all paint a picture of a liberal dreamer who wishes away the world's dangers. Even Pesident Bush stepped into the fray earlier this year to condemn the Illinis senator's willingness to meet with tyrants as naive. Some commentators have acted as if Obama, touringthe Middle East and Europe this week on his first trip abroad since effectivly wrapping up the nomination, is in for a rude awakening. These critiques, however, are off the mark. Over the course of the campaign against Hillary Clinton and now McCain, Obama has elaborated more and more the ideas that would undergird his foreign policy as president. What emerges is a world view that is far from that of a typical liberal, much closer to that of a traditional realist. It is interesting to note that, at least in terms of the historical schools of foreign policy, Obama seems to be the cool conservative and McCain the exuberant idealist. No candidate for the presidency ever claims to have a doctrinal world view. Richard Nixon never said he loved realpolitik. Jimmy Carter never claimed to be a Wilsonian. There's no advantage to getting pigeonholed, and most politicians and even policy folk are clever enough to argue that they want to combine the best of all traditions. So John McCain says he's a "realistic idealist." Former national-security adviser Anthony Lake, who now counsels Obama, calls himself a "pragmatic neo-Wilsonian." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes herself as an "American realist." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-foreign-policy-rea list-by-fareed.html Karadzic arrested in Belgrade By Neil Macdonald in Belgrade and Stefan Wagstyl in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 21 2008 22:32 | Last updated: July 22 2008 11:55. A picture shown to reporters at a press conference in the Hague on Tuesday showed an unrecognisable Karadzic, markedly thin, with a long white beard and flowing hair. Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs arrested on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, had been living freely in Belgrade under an elaborate disguise and working in alternative medicine, it was announced at a press conference in the Hague on Tuesday. Mr Karadzic was seized in a suburb of Belgrade on Monday after more than a decade on the run from international justice. He was indicted on 15 charges, including two of genocide. He will be sent for trial to the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague once legal obstacles are cleared, prosecutors said on Tuesday. One of the world?s most wanted men, Mr Karadzic was captured by Serbian security officers, according to a statement issued by the office of Boris Tadic, the Serbian president. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/karadzic-arrested-in-bel grade.html EU widens Zimbabwe sanctions By Tony Barber in Brussels. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 22 2008 16:25 | Last updated: July 22 2008 16:27. The European Union on Tuesday broadened its sanctions against supporters of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe?s president, in spite of tentative steps towards an easing of the severe tensions between government and opposition. EU foreign ministers said they were adding the names of 37 individuals and four companies to a list of more than 130 of Mr Mugabe?s relatives and officials who are blacklisted by the 27-nation bloc. By giving their approval to the new sanctions, which were agreed in principle last week, the ministers made clear that EU governments remained to be convinced that the new talks on power sharing in Zimbabwe would bring about meaningful political change. In a deal mediated by Thabo Mbeki, South Africa?s president, Mr Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition leader, decided on Monday to hold two weeks of negotiations aimed at reaching a power sharing agreement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/eu-widens-zimbabwe-sanct ions.html China Human rights activists have sent a letter to President Bush, asking him to raise human rights issues with the Chinese government during the Olympics. Unfortunately, they also sent a letter to the Chinese government asking them to bring up human rights issues with President Bush. So, it's pretty much a wash. (Jay Leno) International Herald Tribune Editorial: The world will be watching China's unreality TV. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 22, 2008. China has gone to extraordinary lengths to spruce up its image before next month's Olympics: shuttering factories to reduce air pollution, mopping up algae in sailing waters, harassing critics and threatening journalists. To win the right to act as host to the Games, Beijing promised to expand press freedoms for foreign reporters and implied that opening China to the world would help expand human rights more generally. We will never know whether China's leaders intended to keep their word. What we do know is that the International Olympic Committee, corporate sponsors and governments around the world should have held China to its word. They have not, and China has read their silence as complicity. China has jailed critics, denied visas and threatened news organizations that negative coverage could jeopardize their chance to cover the Games. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_22.html Threat of ?no-fun? Olympics By Mure Dickie, Geoff Dyer and Jamil Anderlini. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 20:47 | Last updated: July 18 2008 20:47. Just three weeks before the Beijing Olympics, concerns are growing that China?s sweeping security measures could end up sucking all the fun out of the world?s biggest sportsfest. Pre-Olympic jitters are almost a tradition but a Chinese visa crackdown that has sent visitor numbers plunging, heightened security checks, dire warnings of terrorist attack and curbs on Beijing nightlife have led to some observers dubbing the 2008 Olympics the ?no-fun Games?. Michael Payne, the International Olympic Committee?s head of marketing for the two decades to 2004, said that in meetings with top Beijing organisers he has stressed a single word of advice: smile. ?The biggest challenge they have to face now is ensuring that the security doesn?t suffocate the festival,? Mr Payne said. ?The Olympics are only special if there is a festival outside the venues.? The atmosphere was less than festive this week at a checkpoint in Yanjiao on the outskirts of Beijing, one of hundreds thrown up around the capital where police with laptops and sniffer dogs halt traffic. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/threat-of-no-fun-olympic s.html China?s currency needs to rise further By Morris Goldstein and Nicholas Lardy. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 22 2008 20:13 | Last updated: July 22 2008 20:13. T?he currency regime China adopted three years ago this week is faltering. Official reserves grew by a massive $280bn (?140bn, ?177bn) in the first half of 2008. The central bank has strengthened controls on capital inflows. Consumer price inflation has risen to 8 per cent. The currency has become more flexible and appreciated about 20 per cent against the dollar. But on a real trade-weighted basis the appreciation has been only 15 per cent. China?s current account surplus has soared, from 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2004 to 11.3 per cent last year. The under-valuation of the renminbi has in fact increased in the past three years because the equilibrium value of the currency, the value consistent with economic fundamentals, has risen even faster, as its external surplus has mushroomed and as rapid productivity growth in export industries has enhanced China?s competitiveness. The appreciation in China?s real trade-weighted exchange rate is only about a third to a half of what is needed. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, recently characterised the renminbi as ?substantially under-valued?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinas-currency-needs-to -rise-further.html Making a Dent in China By: Patricia Nell Warren. Copyright by The Bilerico Project and Patricia Nell Warren. July 20, 2008 12:00 PM. Some years ago, I was visiting two Chinese friends, wife and husband, at their home in Palos Verdes. Both of them, and their well-to-do families, had somehow survived the Cultural Revolution and succeeded in leaving the People's Republic of China many years before that. Yet despite their opposition to communism, their love for their mother country was still strong. As we sat in their living room and talked, I was noticing the collection of family antiques that they'd managed to bring to the U.S. with them, now casually displayed in a big glass cabinet -- everything from Ming porcelains (1400-1600) to Shang bronzes (1500 BC). The wife saw me noticing. She talked feelingly about the sense of continuity and connection with their motherland that the collection radiated into their home. "It's about all those ways that endure for thousands of years," she said, "no matter what kind of government is running the country, and how well or badly they're running it. No matter whether people are living well or times are hard. That's something that many Westerners will never understand about China. That's why foreign religions never made a dent in China. The missionaries tried hard, but Christianity never dented us, and never will shop TLA video. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/making-dent-in-china.htm l Mess-o-potamia The benefits of presidential term limits By Carlos T Mock, MD. July 19, 2008. Back in June, when Mr. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for President, his idea of withdrawing American troops from Iraq in sixteen months after taking office seemed naive. We even had the Republican Party presumptive nominee saying that troops would stay in Iraq for a ?hundred years.? What a difference a month makes! Just a few days before meeting with Mr. Obama, the Iraqis agreed yesterday to commit the US to a ?time horizon? for withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, a significant shift by a lame duck president who has long opposed setting target dates for ending the war. The president struck the agreement with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday as part of negotiations over the long-term future of US forces in Iraq. A White House spokesman denied the agreement represented a U-turn, arguing it was consistent with existing strategy to gradually hand control back to the Iraqis as security improved. ?These are aspirational goals, not arbitrary timetables based on political expediency,? he said. Mr. Obama has reformulated his position on the withdrawal of US forces so many times?latterly twice in the space of a few days?that one?s head spins. The McCain campaign has produced an eight-minute video compilation of these iterations, and it hits home. Most recently, Mr. Obama has again stiffened his commitment to bring combat troops home within 16 months of the election, playing down any conditions and qualifications. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/benefits-of-presidential -term-limits.html Bush's shifting foreign policy undercuts McCain By Elisabeth Bumiller. Copyright by The international Herald Tribune. Published: July 26, 2008. WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush and John McCain have long been in agreement on major elements of U.S. foreign policy, particularly in their approach to Iran and North Korea and in their commitment to staying the course in Iraq. But now the administration's agreement to consider a "time horizon" for troop withdrawals from Iraq have moved it, at least in the public perception, in the direction of the policies of Barack Obama, McCain's presumptive Democratic foe in the U.S. presidential election. That has thrown McCain on the political defensive in his opposition to a timed withdrawal, Republicans in the party's foreign party establishment say. On Friday, McCain went so far as to say that the idea of a 16-month withdrawal, which Obama supports, was "a pretty good timetable," although he included the caveat that it had to be based on conditions on the ground. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bushs-shifting-foreign-p olicy-undercuts.html McCain's confusion on Iraq By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 24, 2008. If there is any fixed position in John McCain's policy agenda, it's that we must never, ever, set a timetable for leaving Iraq. He regularly flogs Barack Obama for proposing to withdraw by the summer of 2010. So it was a surprise to hear him say Monday, when asked if our troops might depart in the next two years, "Oh, I think they could be largely withdrawn, as I've said." I guess that makes it unanimous. This week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he's amenable to bidding the U.S. goodbye on Obama's schedule. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown indicated his forces also will be heading home soon. Even President Bush has now come around to establishing a "time horizon" for "the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq." In other words: "We're going to leave, but it's none of your business when." Despite creeping toward withdrawal himself, McCain continues to lambaste Obama for setting a timetable. But if the current policy is the stunning success depicted by McCain, it should be eminently practical to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis by the middle of 2010. If it is impossible to do that, more than seven years after the occupation began, how can McCain say the existing strategy is working? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-confusion-on-ira q.html Obama?s troop withdrawal plan wins support By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 22 2008 20:10 | Last updated: July 23 2008 00:44. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, on Tuesday welcomed the ?growing consensus? around a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. Speaking in Jordan following a two-day visit to Iraq, Mr Obama stressed that Iraqi leaders were ready and willing to take responsibility for security. ?The best way to support Iraqi sovereignty and to encourage the Iraqis to stand up is through the responsible redeployment of our combat brigades.? Mr Obama and John McCain, his Republican opponent, have amplified their rhetoric on Iraq in recent weeks as the steady improvement in security has shifted to debate to questions of when the US should withdraw its troops. Mr Obama has vowed to withdraw US combat forces within 16 months of becoming president. He gained momentum over the weekend when Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, appeared to back his plan in an interview with Der Spiegel. Mr Maliki?s spokesman claimed the comments were misinterpreted, but then later said Iraq hoped US troops could leave Iraq by the end of 2010, just eight months beyond the timeframe set by Mr Obama. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obamas-troop-withdrawal- plan-wins.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Next steps: Leave Iraq, focus on Afghanistan. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 21, 2008. As Barack Obama tours the Middle East this week, Americans must grapple with a thorny question. The surge is working, and the United States and Iraq have agreed to set some sort of "time horizon" -- as yet unspecified -- for a further reduction of American troops. So now what? President Bush has been rightly hammered for leading America into a battle of little benefit to our country and for his prosecution of the war once we were there. Now, he deserves praise for the success of the surge and the apparent breakthrough agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But as Bush heads out the door, we must consider the plans of both men vying to replace him. They leave us leery. Obama has called for a complete withdrawal of combat troops by 2010, but he can't allow that deadline to turn into a trap. He can't be compelled by politics to meet such a specific timetable if the ground shifts beneath us in Iraq -- always an obvious possibility. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-next-steps.html National The national minimum wage increases by 70 cents today to $6.55 per hour, meaning Americans now need to work just two hours per day to be able to afford to drive to work. (Jake Novak) International Herald Tribune Editorial: A Texas wildcatter rides the wind. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 22, 2008. The legendary wildcatter and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens has decided that drilling for more oil is not the answer to America's energy problems. President George W. Bush should listen to his longtime political ally. The 80-year-old Pickens does not oppose drilling. He's been doing it for most of his life. Nor has he become a born-again eco-warrior. But he knows something that his friends in the White House won't acknowledge: that a nation holding less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves while guzzling 20 percent of the world's production will never be able to drill its way out of its dependency on foreign oil. He also considers it absolute madness - financially and in terms of national security - to be spending $700 billion every year on imported oil. His answer is to develop wind power in states with steady, forceful winds (like Texas) and use it instead of natural gas to produce electricity (natural gas now generates about one-fifth of the power in the United States). He would then use the natural gas saved to fuel cars and trucks. He predicts that oil imports would drop by 40 percent and the United States would save $300 billion a year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_9185.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial - And they get a raise? Copyright by The Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. Anyone who's ever managed a family budget understands that paring your spending to match your income is rarely painless. For those of us dealing with household-size budgets, the $1.4 billion that Gov. Rod Blagojevich sliced from next year's state budget sounds excruciatingly painful, especially when amplified by the anguished cries of those afflicted by the cuts. It's worth remembering that the $28.3 billion left on the table when Blagojevich finished his work is $800 million more than the previous year's budget. Fully 70 percent of the governor's cuts simply eliminated increases over last year's spending. Lawmakers had approved an additional $515 million for schools, for example, but the governor cut construction costs, laptop computers and other items to trim the increase to $330 million. There were casualties, to be sure. Many social service agencies face real funding cuts. Child welfare services, substance abuse programs and transit subsidies for students and disabled riders all took hits. And the governor couldn't resist gouging some of his political nemeses, including Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who had backed an unsuccessful move to let citizens recall state officials, not that we're naming names or anything. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-and-they-get.html Left speechless? By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 20, 2008. When a microphone at Fox News Channel caught Rev. Jesse Jackson's cutting under-his-breath remarks about Barack Obama, it turns out that "nuts" was not the reverend's only troubling N-word. Besides whispering to another guest on the set that he would like to de-sex the Democratic presidential candidate, Jackson also accused Obama of "talking down to black people . . . telling niggers how to behave." Jackson has since issued two statements of apology for his self-described "trash talking." He also might issue this word of advice: If you want to whisper something that could be damaging if traced back to you, don't whisper it over a microphone. Am I surprised by Jackson's use of the racial slur? Not really. I was more surprised to hear that so many other people are shocked, especially non-African Americans. Ethnic etiquette has always given greater latitude to epithets expressed about one's own ethnic group, as long as they are expressed inside of one's ethnic group. That's how people talk within one's family or ethnic group, especially when you regard your ethnic group as affectionately as you regard your nuclear family. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/left-speechless-by-clare nce-page.html Your Lack of Money President Bush said that Wall Street "got drunk," and now it's "got a hangover." If they have the hangover, why is it that we all have the headache? (Pedro Bartes) Cherished myths fall victim to economic reality By Paul De Grauwe. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 22 2008 19:09 | Last updated: July 22 2008 23:14. The financial crisis continues to create victims. Not only people but also some of our most cherished ideas risk falling by the wayside. Take the hugely influential idea that financial markets are efficient. Its proponents told us that when financial markets were left free, they would work miracles. Savings would be channelled to the most promising investment projects, thereby boosting economic growth and welfare. In addition, these financial markets would spread risk around over a large number of participants, thereby lowering the risk of doing business, again boosting growth and welfare. In order to achieve these wonders, financial markets had to be freed from the shackles of government control. The country that embodied these principles most was the US. Helped by the missionary zeal of successive American administrations and pushed by international financial institutions, country after country freed their financial markets from pernicious government controls, hoping to share in these economic wonders. The credit crisis has destroyed the idea that unregulated financial markets always efficiently channel savings to the most promising investment projects. Millions of US citizens took on unsustainable debts, pushed around by bankers and other ?debt merchants? who made a quick buck by disregarding risks. While this happened, the US monetary authorities marvelled at the creativity of financial capitalism. When the bust came, a large number of Americans who had been promised a new life in their beautiful homes were told to move out. This boom and bust cycle cannot have been an example of efficient channelling of savings into the most promising investment projects. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/cherished-myths-fall-vic tim-to-economic.html Costco warning adds to US retail gloom By Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 23 2008 14:59 | Last updated: July 23 2008 14:59. Costco, the largest warehouse club chain in the US, warned that fourth-quarter earnings would be ?well below? analysts? expectations, as it battled higher energy costs and maintained lower prices to retain customers. The company, which has hitherto benefited from US consumers ?trading down? to less expensive stores amid the slowing economy, said its earnings would suffer as higher oil prices cut into margins at its petrol stations and it absorbed cost inflation on goods ?to help drive sales and maintain the confidence of our members?. ?Factors negatively affecting our fourth quarter earnings outlook arise largely from inflation, particularly as to energy costs,? said Richard Galanti, chief financial officer. Costco?s customers pay an annual fee to shop at its warehouse clubs, which sell everything from cut-price computers and fresh foods to bathroom supplies. Costco said it now expected fourth-quarter earnings per share to fall far short of current Wall Street estimates of $1.00. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/costco-warning-adds-to-u s-retail-gloom.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: The lost decade. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 25 2008 19:59 | Last updated: July 25 2008 19:59. The S&P 500?s earnings season is in full swing, but for US equity investors, the outlook is hardly clearer than it was a month ago. Investors who made short-term punts on financial stocks in the past fortnight could have made a killing, or been killed, depending on the day of the bet: financial shares had gained more than 20 per cent in 10 days, and then on Thursday suffered their worst fall since 2000. At such times it is tempting for amateur day-traders to ride the roller-coaster. That temptation is worth resisting: bear markets are unforgiving playgrounds. For the longer-term investor, a mixed earnings season has provided little information. Few investors, anyway, are setting too much store on recent earnings. Commodity companies are enjoying windfalls that may or may not be repeated. Bank results are viewed with suspicion, because too much lies beneath the surface to provide great confidence. For the record, they were awful, but not as awful as investors had expected. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-lost.html US regulators seize two more banks ? Reuters Limited. WASHINGTON, July 25 ? US regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank, the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch. Two weeks after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seized IndyMac, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it closed First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California. First National had total assets of $3.4bn and $3bn in deposits while First Heritage had assets of $254m and $233m in deposits, regulators said. The FDIC said the cost of the transactions to its insurance reserve is estimated to be $862m, adding that the two failed banks represent just 0.3 per cent of the $13,400bn in total industry assets at about 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions. The FDIC said the 28 offices of the two banks will reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank. Over the weekend, customers can access their money by writing checks, using automatic teller machines or debit cards. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-regulators-seize-two- more-banks.html Regional US banks in fears of cash calls By Saskia Scholtes in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 20 2008 20:47 | Last updated: July 20 2008 20:47. US regional banks will draw scrutiny during earnings season this week amid fears that losses on home equity and residential construction loans may force some to raise fresh capital or put themselves up for sale in turbulent markets. Shares of regional lenders have come under heavy pressure on fears about the ability of smaller institutions to ride out the turmoil in the banking sector. Such fears were thrown into stark relief last week after US banking regulators took over California-based IndyMac, making it the second-largest banking failure in US history, and leading to queues of anxious depositors outside branches. After mixed earnings reports from regional lenders thus far, a flurry of banks with large portfolios of real-estate loans will report their second-quarter results on Tuesday, including SunTrust, Regions Financial, Fifth Third and KeyCorp, while National City will follow on Thursday. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/regional-us-banks-in-fea rs-of-cash.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Bad debts mean more bank bids. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 20 2008 19:22 | Last updated: July 20 2008 19:22. Last week was not glorious for the banking industry. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed government support; regional savings banks in the US wobbled, and one of them, California?s IndyMac, failed; investors responded to a succession of capital-raisings by UK banks with disdain; and Merrill Lynch, the Thundering Herd itself, announced yet another $9.4bn in writedowns on its assets. Yet what is now happening ? more than a year after the first subprime problems emerged ? is that problems are being brought into the open: and admitting a problem is the first step to solving it. Banks have not met many new problems this year but their existing woes have become more acute. Mortgage markets have deteriorated, not bounced back, so more assets have to be written off. Banks with ample customer deposits remain reluctant to lend to their weaker brethren and the securitisation markets remain closed. In anticipation of recession, meanwhile, markets now anticipate bad debts across banks? lending books. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-bad.html Chrysler shifts away from leases - Resale values tumble on returned pickups and SUVs By Rick Popely. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 26, 2008. Chrysler customers accustomed to leasing vehicles should expect to get a stronger pitch to buy their next vehicle. Chrysler LLC, burned by declining resale values on vehicles coming back from leases, particularly trucks, said Friday it would stop writing leases through its Chrysler Financial unit on Aug. 1. Instead, Chrysler has boosted incentives for customers to buy vehicles, extending zero percent financing to more models. "The advantages of leasing have really disappeared. The economic formula that made leasing attractive 15 to 20 years ago is not there now," Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chrysler-shifts-away-fro m-leases-resale.html Toyota overtakes GM in global vehicle sales By Bernard Simon in Toronto. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 23 2008 17:57 | Last updated: July 23 2008 17:57. Toyota pulled well ahead of General Motors in global vehicle sales in the first half of 2008, putting it on track to become the world?s undisputed number-one carmaker. Toyota?s first-half sales, at 4.82m vehicles, were 2.2 per cent higher than a year earlier, while GM slipped by 3 per cent to 4.54m. Second quarter sales totalled 2.41m and 2.28m, respectively. The two companies were neck-and-neck in 2007. Both have been hit by softening demand in the US, western Europe and Japan, which still make up more than half of global light-vehicle sales. The US market contracted by 13 per cent in June compared with a year earlier. Sales in Japan are at their lowest levels in a quarter of a century. Toyota said last week it was reviewing its global sales target for 2008. It is expected to lower its projection from 9.85m units to about 9.5m. But demand continues to grow at a sizzling pace in emerging markets, notably China, Russia and Brazil. Mike DiGiovanni, GM?s sales analyst, predicted on Wednesday that in spite of the setbacks in the three industrialised markets the global car market would expand by 2.5 per cent this year to 72m units, the seventh annual record in a row. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/toyota-overtakes-gm-in-g lobal-vehicle.html Ford to shift direction after $8.7bn loss By Bernard Simon in Toronto. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 24 2008 12:52 | Last updated: July 24 2008 15:12. Ford Motor has unveiled an ambitious facelift for its troubled north American operations aimed at shifting its focus from big pick-up trucks and sport-utility vehicles towards smaller, more fuel-efficient passenger cars. Announcing a net second-quarter loss of $8.7bn, the number-two Detroit carmaker said on Thursday that it would bring six small European models to north America, and convert three existing truck and SUV assembly plants to small cars. The conversions are in addition to plans announced earlier to cut SUV and pick-up production for the remainder of this year. The carmaker also plans to accelerate the introduction of a new fuel-efficient V6 engine and to double four-cylinder engine capacity. It quashed speculation that it might eliminate the Mercury premium brand from its product line-up. Alan Mulally, chief executive, said the moves were designed to respond ?to the rapidly changing business environment?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ford-to-shift-direction- after-87bn-loss.html GE launches radical shake-up By Justin Baer, Francesco Guerrera and Joanna Chung in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 26 2008 00:19 | Last updated: July 26 2008 00:34. General Electric on Friday launched a radical restructuring of its sprawling business, in the latest attempt by Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive, to revive its flagging share price and regain the trust of disgruntled investors. The move placed the infrastructure unit at the core of GE and further shifts the company?s centre of gravity away from its manufacturing roots. The reorganisation plan, unveiled after the GE board?s approval, came as the group disclosed in a filing that its financial services arms had drawn scrutiny from securities and environment protection regulators. GE?s four segments, Technology Infrastructure, Energy Infrastructure, GE Capital and NBC Universal, represent the sectors that Mr Immelt believes puts the company in the best position to accelerate profit growth and revive the group?s stock price. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ge-launches-radical-shak e-up.html Commodities A report says the U.S. could convert completely to hydrogen power by the year 2050, with an investment of $200 Billion. Unfortunately, the government has invested $1 Trillion just to secure the oil in Iraq. (Jim Barach) Oh, the price of oil has dropped to under $125 a barrel for the first time in two months. And gasoline is down six cents a gallon. You know what this means. The White House will call for an emergency bailout to help the struggling oil companies. "We got to stop the bleeding!" (Jay Leno) Oil $123.26 Silver Bullion $17.40 Gold Bullion $929 Platinum Bullion $ $1765 Euro $1.5683 Br. Pound $1.9877 Curbs on US energy speculators halted by Republican Senators By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Hal Weitzman in Chicago. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 25 2008 23:13 | Last updated: July 25 2008 23:13. A US Senate proposal designed to curb speculation and increase transparency in the energy markets was blocked by Republican legislators on Friday. The move frustrates Democratic efforts to show the party is taking action on record petrol prices. The Stop Excessive Speculation Act, sponsored by Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, fell 10 votes short of clearing a procedural hurdle. The defeat strengthened the view that the Republicans are gaining traction in the public debate over how to address record oil prices ? an issue that has taken centre stage in the presidential election campaign. The vote marks a victory for the futures industry and Wall Street banks, such as Goldman Sachs, which lobbied heavily against Mr Reid?s proposal, and is a setback for the airline and trucking industries, which strongly supported it. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/curbs-on-us-energy-specu lators-halted.html Harvest the sun - from space. By O. Glenn Smith. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 23, 2008. As America faces $4.50 a gallon gas, we also know that alternative energy sources - coal, oil shale, ethanol, wind and ground-based solar - are either of limited potential, very expensive, require huge energy storage systems or harm the environment. There is, however, one potential future energy source that is environmentally friendly, has essentially unlimited potential and can be cost competitive with any renewable source: space solar power. Science fiction? Actually, no - the technology already exists. A space solar power system would involve building large solar energy collectors in orbit around the Earth. These panels would collect far more energy than land-based units, which are hampered by weather, low angles of the sun in northern climes and, of course, the darkness of night. Once collected, the solar energy would be safely beamed to Earth via wireless radio transmission, where it would be received by antennas near cities and other places where large amounts of power are used. The received energy would then be converted to electric power for distribution over the existing grid. Government scientists have projected that the cost of electric power generation from such a system could be as low as 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is within the range of what consumers pay now. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/harvest-sun-from-space.h tml Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.39% 6.33% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.95% 5.86% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.56% 7.28% 5/1 ARM 5.91% 5.73% 7/1 ARM 6.27% 6.08% US existing home sales tumble By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 24 2008 16:35 | Last updated: July 24 2008 16:35. Sales of previously-owned homes in the US tumbled by 2.6 per cent in June, which was much more than forecast by economists, spreading more gloom across the damaged US housing industry. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales dropped to an annual rate of 4.99m units in May to 4.86m units last month ? the lowest in a decade and 15.5 per cent below where its level in June 2007. Meanwhile, a measure of the inventory of unsold homes, which needs to be reduced for the housing market to recover, rose to an 11.1 month supply from a 10.8 month supply in May. ?There are few redeeming features in the numbers, with the economy showing little capacity to work down inventories that over time are being inflated by foreclosed homes,? said Alan Ruskin of RBS in Greenwich, Connecticut. Goldman Sachs economists said the data pointed ?towards continued home price declines?./Chicago home sales drop 28% in June By Margaret O'Brien. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 9:18 AM CDT, July 24, 2008. Sales and median prices for existing homes in Chicago and the state dropped in June as the real estate market remained strained by low consumer confidence and a troubled economy. In the nine-county Chicago market, total home sales dropped 27.9 percent to 7,656 units. The median home sale price for the Chicagoland area was $256,000 in June 2008, off 3.3 percent from $264,700 in June 2007. In Cook County, median prices were off a slight 0.9 percent in June at $274,500 compared to $277,000 in June 2007. Illinois home sales, which include single-family homes and condominiums, were down 27 from a year ago to 11,643 units, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors latest report. The Illinois median price in June reached $200,000, down 6.1 percent from $213,000 in June 2007. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-home-sales-drop- 28-in-june.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Fannie and Freddie are feeling unwell. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 23 2008 19:55 | Last updated: July 23 2008 19:55. Ten days ago Henry Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, responded to alarm over the prospects of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the twin ?government-sponsored? ? but privately owned ? giants of US housing finance. Mr Paulson asked for authority to lend them whatever it would take to keep them afloat, or to shore up their capital by buying their equity, or both. This power is to be appended to a bigger housing market measure that Congress has been considering, with its usual urgency, for months, and whose arrival on the president?s desk is promised imminently. What US taxpayers may wish to know is how much the fiction that Fannie and Freddie would never be a charge on the public purse is, in the event, going to cost them. The independent Congressional Budget Office, accustomed to being asked impossible questions, took a shot at this one this week. Its widely reported estimate of the likely cost of Mr Paulson?s request was $25bn, but note what this figure represents. It is an average that weights together the chance of no outlay at all (a better-than-even bet, the CBO says) with the smaller but still significant chance of spending far in excess of $25bn, and indeed possibly in excess of $100bn (a 5 per cent probability, the CBO guesses, rather optimistically). http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment_24.html US builders forced to sell off holdings By Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 18 2008 22:26 | Last updated: July 18 2008 22:26. For decades American builders have, in the words of the Joni Mitchell song, ?paved paradise and put up a parking lot?. Now, a combination of the housing slump, the energy crisis and soaring prices for food is helping to keep the bulldozers at bay. Demand for new homes on the outskirts of US towns has fallen spectacularly in the last three years, while foreclosures and speculative building have created a far greater supply of homes than there are buyers. At the same time, soaring fuel costs have made the long commute to work that much less attractive. The result is that farmland close to cities that has often been the seedbed for new housing developments is becoming less valuable to builders, at the same time as farmers want more of it. As residential opportunities drain away, builders are seeking ways to cut their losses. In areas on the outer edge of suburbs this can also mean looking to sell to farmers and farm investors. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-builders-forced-to-se ll-off-holding.html Bush Bashing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is calling the Bush presidency a total failure. Total failure. I don't know, I think he's done okay. I think he's done okay if you don't count Iraq. The economy. The environment. Afghanistan. The mortgage crisis. The deficit. Gas prices. Hurricane Katrina. Illegal wire tapping. The national debt. Tainted food. Failure to catch bin Laden. CIA leaks. Other than that, I think it's been pretty good. (David Letterman) Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to President Bush's time in office as "a total failure." Yeah, Bush defended himself saying, "Oh, come on, I've hardly spent any time in my office." (Conan O'Brien) The White House has rejected a plan to regulate greenhouse gases, saying it could cripple the U. S. economy. And if there is anything the Bush administration knows about, it's crippling the economy. (Jim Barach) President Bush signed a bill giving phone companies immunity for letting the government spy on its customers without a warrant. Isn't that unbelievable? President Bush said 9/11 changed everything. And you know, he's right, because violating the Constitution and breaking the law used to mean jail time. (Jay Leno) Is Iran Bush's answer for a legacy? By Raja Kamal. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 18, 2008. History can be very harsh and subjective. It seems that the significant accomplishments of President Bill Clinton will be unfortunately overshadowed by his personal indiscretions while in office. Historians will never shy from emphasizing that he was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Clinton's legacy, as a result, has been sadly tarnished. How will historians judge the legacy of President George W. Bush? And, as he approaches the end of his second term, is it possible for him to influence or redefine his legacy? The answer to the first question is not favorable. During his tenure, the Iraq war was poorly conceived and implemented. It is now a quagmire with no end in sight. With more than a half-trillion dollars and counting, this war is affecting essential programs here at home. Hurricane Katrina also proved that Washington was incapable of responding efficiently to natural disasters on the home front. And then there is the economy. Most economists would agree that the country is in a recession and possibly a severe one. More Americans are finding themselves jobless every week. The high cost of energy is compounding matters, and polls are giving the administration a very low performance rating?confirming that the nation is going in the wrong direction. What could overshadow the Iraq war, Katrina and bad economy to provide a new defining moment? The answer is Iran....Attacking Iran may camouflage the legacy of the Bush administration. Yet redefining the president's legacy by a conflict with Iran may prove to be an even more dangerous path than that of Iraq. Will there be a dark day in November? Let's hope not. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-iran-bushs-answer-for -legacy.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Wounded warriors, empty promises. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 25, 2008. The bad news about the U.S. Army's treatment of wounded soldiers keeps coming. The generals keep apologizing and insisting that things are getting better, but they are not. The latest low moment for army brass came on Tuesday in Washington, where a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing to examine the sorry state of the Army Medical Action Plan. That's the plan to prevent the kind of systematic neglect and mistreatment exposed by The Washington Post last year at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After a flurry of apologies, firings, investigations and reports, the army resolved to streamline and improve case management for wounded soldiers. Under the plan, "warrior transition units" would swiftly deliver excellent care to troops so they could return to duty or be discharged into the veterans' medical system. Each soldier would be assigned a team to look over his or her care: a physician, a nurse and a squad leader. It all sounded sensible and comprehensive. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_25.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: The right to know. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 23, 2008. In the face of near hysterical opposition from the Bush administration, the Senate Democratic leadership intends to take up a proposed shield law to provide journalists with limited protection against being compelled to reveal confidential sources in federal court. A similar measure won House approval last October in a bipartisan landslide. But the White House is playing the fear card, orchestrating a barrage of warnings that the law would "wreak havoc" on national security and "completely eviscerate" the ability to investigate terrorism. The Senate must not be cowed. Only through robust reporting has the nation learned of President George W. Bush's illegal programs to eavesdrop on Americans and run torture prisons abroad. The bill has ample protection for law enforcement and national security while making sure journalists are not hounded into jail for protecting sources who point to government law-breaking. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_23.html GLBT Hearing examines 'don't ask, don't tell' policy - Discussion intended to look at effect of gays-in-military rule By Amanda Erickson. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 24, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Whether gay men and women should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces was considered by a House subcommittee Wednesday for the first time in 15 years. Congress had not re-examined the "don't ask, don't tell" policy since it was approved by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993. Recruiters are not allowed to ask enlistees about their sexual orientation and members of the armed forces may not engage in homosexual conduct or aggressively display homosexuality. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, supports retention of the policy while likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama backs its repeal. Legislation has been introduced to repeal the policy, but Wednesday's hearing was not intended to advance the bill. At the 2 1/2 -hour hearing, lawmakers focused on two questions: what effect a change in the policy would have on troop unity and whether the current policy is hurting recruitment and retention of service members who are gay. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/hearing-examines-dont-as k-dont-tell.html Poll shows California support for marriage rights By Amanda Fehd. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 23, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO?More California voters say they would oppose a November ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the state?s constitution than would support it, according to a survey released July 18. The Field Poll found that 51 percent of likely voters say they would vote against Proposition 8, while 42 percent say they would vote for it. The poll shows a turnaround from 2000, when 61 percent of voters cast ballots in favor Proposition 22, which strengthened the California?s?s 1978 one-man, one-woman marriage law with the words ?Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.? That vote came a year after the California Legislature enacted the first of a series of laws awarding spousal rights to domestic partners. This year?s ballot initiative comes on the heels of a landmark California Supreme Court decision in May that granted marriage rights to same-sex couples. Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples have flooded county clerk?s offices throughout the state to receive marriage licenses since the ruling took effect in June. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/poll-shows-california-su pport-for.html Orgullo en Accion LGBTQQ Pride Picnic By Nilsa Irizarry. Copyright by Orgullo en Accion. July 20, 2008. On July 19, 2008, as the raindrops glazed our faces and music lingered in the windy background, Orgullo en Accion?s Latina/o LGBTQQ Pride Picnic commenced in Humboldt Park and we celebrated diversity, culture, intergenerational unity, families, community and much more. I honor the commitment of all, who embraced the rain with us, and participated in the amazing performances and activities, as Mother Nature rested and granted us the beauty of sunlight. I give deep gratitude for all OEA board members; who worked beyond the call of duty to make this event a reality, all the electrifying volunteers, and to a special host who provided a safe space to gather in the evening and continue the celebration, we thank you. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/orgullo-en-accion-lgbtqq -pride-picnic.html Young, Gay and Murdered. URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/147790. Kids are coming out younger, but are schools ready to handle the complex issues of identity and sexuality? For Larry King, the question had tragic implications. By Ramin Setoodeh. Copyright ? 2008 by NEWSWEEK. Updated: 1:56 PM ET Jul 19, 2008. At 15, Lawrence King was small?5 feet 1 inch?but very hard to miss. In January, he started to show up for class at Oxnard, Calif.'s E. O. Green Junior High School decked out in women's accessories. On some days, he would slick up his curly hair in a Prince-like bouffant. Sometimes he'd paint his fingernails hot pink and dab glitter or white foundation on his cheeks. "He wore makeup better than I did," says Marissa Moreno, 13, one of his classmates. He bought a pair of stilettos at Target, and he couldn't have been prouder if he had on a varsity football jersey. He thought nothing of chasing the boys around the school in them, teetering as he ran. But on the morning of Feb. 12, Larry left his glitter and his heels at home. He came to school dressed like any other boy: tennis shoes, baggy pants, a loose sweater over a collared shirt. He seemed unhappy about something. He hadn't slept much the night before, and he told one school employee that he threw up his breakfast that morning, which he sometimes did because he obsessed over his weight. But this was different. One student noticed that as Larry walked across the quad, he kept looking back nervously over his shoulder before he slipped into his first-period English class. The teacher, Dawn Boldrin, told the students to collect their belongings, and then marched them to a nearby computer lab, so they could type out their papers on World War II. Larry found a seat in the middle of the room. Behind him, Brandon McInerney pulled up a chair. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/young-gay-and-murdered.h tml Moving In Together ? A Legal Checklist By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. July 22, 2008. Q: My partner and I are planning on buying a house together and combining our finances. We are not ready to fly to California and tie the knot. We may never marry, but we want to leave that option open. What kinds of things should we be thinking about to protect our relationship? A: Agreements do not have to be drafted and executed every time two people decide to live together or to help each other financially. But when decisions are made which involve long periods of time and serious financial commitments, you should document your intentions. Partnership/Living Together Agreements. LGBT couples should reach an agreement that covers the economic aspects of the couple?s life. Their assets, their present and future earnings, children, inheritances, expectations and hopes of each member regarding their own and each other?s property. Such an agreement should specifically state who owns what individually, what is owned collectively, and whether joint property is owned by all parties in equal shares or in shares proportional to their economic contributions. Who pays what proportion of the common expenses - housing, food, laundry, phone and electric, etc. And what happens to the house in case of a split. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/moving-in-together-legal -checklist.html Immigration According to a recent study, a great number of Mexicans are returning to their country because of the economic recession in the U. S. Maybe this was Bush's plan all along against illegal immigration - just run the economy down and wait for them to leave? (Pedro Bartes) Being bilingual offers all sorts of advantages By TERESA PUENTE tpuente at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 21, 2008. Bilingual isn't a bad word. But some people are complaining because Barack Obama recently called for more bilingualism in the United States. "Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish," Obama said. "You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language." I couldn't agree more. Being bilingual gives you all kinds of advantages. As a reporter, I got plenty of scoops because I could interview people in Spanish and other reporters couldn't. It opens you up to different cultures and reading in another language. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/being-bilingual-offers-a ll-sorts-of.html Health Care Viagra may revive women on depression drugs - Popular men's pill may ease sexual side effects, small study shows. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. 6:38 p.m. CT, Tues., July. 22, 2008. CHICAGO - Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills. The research involving 98 premenopausal women found Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex such as desire, researchers report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. "For women on antidepressants with orgasm problems, this may provide some wonderful relief," said psychologist Stanley Althof, director of the Center for Marital and Sexual Health of South Florida in West Palm Beach, who was not involved in the study. "But it will not improve their desire or arousal." Antidepressants can interfere with sex drive and performance even as the drugs help lift crippling depression. Switching drugs or reducing the dose can help. But many people, men and women, stop taking them because of their sexual side effects. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/viagra-may-revive-women- on-depression.html McCain's take on birth Viagra By Katha Pollitt. Copyright ? 2008 The Nation. I realize it's not as world-shaking as the caricature of the Obamas on the cover of The New Yorker, which has the high-end media in a total tizzy. It's probably not even as important as the raunchy joke Bernie Mac told at an Obama fundraiser last week, which was bumped from the tizzy list by the New Yorker story. But can't the commentariat take a break from itself and let the world know how much John McCain opposes birth control? Vastly more people rely on contraception than read The New Yorker or know who Bernie Mac is from mac 'n' cheese. In fact, vastly more people use birth control than believe Obama is a secret Muslim. They might like to know that when it comes to contraception, McCain is no maverick. Here's the story. Last week, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who has been helping McCain look bright-eyed and estrogen-friendly, told reporters that women wanted more choice in their health-care plans. For example, it bothered women when plans covered Viagra but not contraception. Big mistake! McCain had voted against a bill that would have required plans to cover birth control if they covered prescription meds at all, like, um, Viagra. McCain's non-response when queried about this by a reporter was astonishing. As you can still see on YouTube, he squirms and grins and smirks (Viagra! embarrassing!) and fumfers about evasively. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccains-take-on-birth-co ntrol.html And the Viagra moment: http://www.wikio.com/video/314833 Statins May Spur Dementia By: Sylvia Booth Hubbard ? 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved. Friday, July 25, 2008 9:21 AM. Statin drugs, which are used to lower cholesterol, may adversely affect a particular group of brain cells important to the health of aging brains, according to researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. ?There has been a great deal of discussion about a link between statins and dementia, but evidence either way has been scant,? said Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., the research team leader. ?This new data provides a basis for further exploration.? The team looked specifically at the effect of statins on ?glial progenitor cells.? These are flexible brain cells held in reserve which the brain can change and customize according to whatever type of cell it needs to stay healthy. The researchers found that statin drugs spur the glial progenitor cells, which are similar to stem cells, to become a particular kind of cell and to lose their crucial ability to change. In other words, statins cause the cells to take a final form of some kind which the brain can no longer modify or transform. In their study of glial progenitor cells, the scientists ran a test to see which genes are more active in these cells compared to other brain cells. They found out that several were related to cholesterol, in particular to an enzyme which is highly involved in the production of cholesterol and is the primary target of statin drugs. ?It was quite surprising that the cholesterol-signaling pathways are so active in these cells,? Goldman said. ?Since such signaling is blocked with compounds used literally by millions of patients every day, we decided to take a closer look.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/statins-may-spur-dementi a.html In inner city, risk is reality of sex By Johnathon E. Briggs. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 20, 2008. I've got news for fans of "Sex and the City": If that TV show, now a hit movie, were about black women, HIV might have been diagnosed in one of them. That's right. If the show had been "Sex in the Inner City" chronicling the sexually liberated adventures of four black women?let's call them Wanda, Jalissa, Tracy and Kim?one of the lead characters could credibly have tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. You see, condom use rarely was discussed or shown on the risque HBO series. And given that federal health data show that black women are nearly 23 times more likely to get a diagnosis of AIDS than white women, an HIV story line in "Sex in the Inner City" would have been most believable. For decades, the public service message on HIV infection has been, "It's not who you are, it's what you do." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/in-inner-city-risk-is-re ality-of-sex.html Technology Unlike McCain, many seniors depend on the Web By JOCELYN NOVECK. Copyright by The Associated Press. Sunday, July 20, 2008; 10:43 PM. NEW YORK -- If Sen. John McCain is really serious about becoming a Web-savvy citizen, perhaps Kathryn Robinson can help. Robinson is now 106 _ that's 35 years older than McCain _ and she began using the Internet at 98, at the Barclay Friends home in West Chester, Pa., where she lives. "I started to learn because I wanted to e-mail my family," she says _ in an e-mail message, naturally. Blogs have been buzzing recently over McCain's admission that when it comes to the Internet, "I'm an illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get." And the 71-year-old presumptive Republican nominee, asked about his Web use last week by the New York Times, said that aides "go on for me. I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself." How unusual is it for a 71-year-old American to be unplugged? That depends how you look at the statistics. Only 35 percent of Americans over age 65 are online, according to data from April and May compiled by the Pew Internet Project at the Pew Research Center. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/unlike-mccain-many-senio rs-depend-on.html Other Dark Knight? sets record with $155m weekend By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 20 2008 23:03 | Last updated: July 20 2008 23:03. The latest instalment in the revived Batman franchise scored Warner Brothers the best weekend opening by a film, giving the studio a significant boost and generating $155.3m (?77.7m, ?97.98m) in its first two days of release in the US. The Dark Knight broke the previous record of $151m, which was set last summer by Sony?s Spider-Man 3 and dominated the weekend, outperforming Universal?s Mamma Mia, which generated $27.6m. ?We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did,? said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. The studio expects the film to have generated more than $200m in box office receipts by the end of the week. The film, which brought in an additional $40m from 20 international territories, had been expected to make about $100m in its first weekend. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dark-knight-sets-record- with-155m.html Humor Insurance company rules? http://www.TrueMajority.org/HealthCareRules The Barometer http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/barometer.html New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino S