[News] Killing the Constitution Newsletter- July 12, 2008
Carlos Mock
ctmock at gmail.com
Sat Jul 12 16:13:14 CST 2008
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. Bush¹s 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. ²This
bill will hel our intelligence professionals learn who the terrorists are
talking to, hat they¹re saying, and what they¹re planning,² 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.
³We saw ey to eye,² was all Yasuo Fukuda, Japan¹s 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. ³ ŒTis better to be silent and be thought a
fool, than to spea and remove all doubt² (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 world¹s
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 week¹s 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 ³shared vision² of utting carbon
emissions without the endorsement of the developing world¹ 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
world¹s biggest crude oil producer? And who i the G8 has the influence or
power to isolate Zimbabwe¹s Robert Mugabe when no African nation is
present? The G8¹s 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 communiqués. The severity of
the current financial crisis nly emphasises the G8¹s 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 G8¹s
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. ³The tone of the debate in the eurozone mightshift quite quickly
from inflation concerns to straightforward growth cncerns,² 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
ŒAnti-China¹ 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
³anti-Chna² forces and other hostile groups are intensifying efforts to
sabotage nextmonth¹s 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 ³no-fun² 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
China¹s 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. China¹s 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 country¹s 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
party¹s policy research office, Zheng inli, was quoted in state media on
Thursday calling for slower renminbi rises ³We are not the Asian tigers.
We need time to upgrade the structure and o handle the pressure,² 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 China¹s foreign exchange policy.
http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinas-trade-surplus-shr
inks.tml
China¹s 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. ³But look
t it now, there is almost no one here,² 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. ³They have cleaned the beach twice alreay,
but it keeps coming back.²
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 Iran¹s elite Revolutionar Guard came amid escalating
international tensions over the country¹s 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 ³for a
quick and crushing responseand retaliatory blows in the event of an enemy
attack², 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. ³This is an obvious act of
terrorism,² 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 ³heinous² attack
against ³ the stability and tranquillity of Turky².
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, ³ŠEveryone knows: the Iraq war is largely about
oil.² 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
Rumsfeld¹s deputy Paul Wolfowitz, told the press that war was our only
strategic choice. ³Še had virtually no economic options with Iraq,² he
explained, ³because the ountry floats on a sea of oil.² 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
America¹s 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
country¹s 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 economy¹s
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 country¹s 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 country¹s
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?
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ounger.html
Pentagon to build Œsafer¹ 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
McCain¹s pastor. He¹s 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 Gramm¹s Greatest Hits: ŒPoor People
Are Fat¹ And ŒThere Should Be No Minimum Wage¹ 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 Gramm¹s belief
that America has ³become a nation of whiners² and is only ³in a mental
recession.² McCain tried to disavow the remarks by saying that ³Phil Gramm
does not speak for me.² But McCain¹s distancing doesn¹t change the fact that
Gramm is considered his ³econ brain.² 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 ³foot soldier of
the Reagan revolution,² 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
McCain¹s ³econ brain,² 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 ³serious² to ³critical,² which prompted the closing, Hadac said.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mice-close-whole-foods-s
tore-mice.html
Speculation grows on governor¹s pick to succeed Obama By Dennis Conrad.
Copyright by The Associated Press. July 9, 2008. WASHINGTON‹If the
nation¹s 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 state¹s junior senator. Some
politicians are talking openly about the possibility of being appointed to
the Senate and bloggers have begun playing the ³who¹s next² game about the
person to fill out the remaining two years of Obama¹s term. ³I¹m sure a lot
of people are trying to tell the governor what to do‹absolutely,² said U.S.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), who did not rule out accepting an appointment.
Recently, the governor was asked about Obama¹s seat and he mentioned several
members of Congress. He also mentioned Tammy Duckworth, the director of the
Illinois Department of Veterans¹ 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 Münchau. 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 ³Ponzi game² 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: ³Milton¹s
[Friedman¹s] misfortune is that his policies have been tried.² 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 ³unsafe and unsound condition². 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 bank¹s main regulator, said ²the
immediate cause² 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 bank¹s viability. IndyMac was
seeking to arrange a capital infusion or find a buyer, but the letter
³undermined the public confidence essential for a financial institution and
took away the time IndyMac needed to pursue a recovery,² 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 GE¹s health in the face of an economic slowdown and the
ongoing credit market crisis. GE¹s 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 conglomerate¹s 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
division¹s appliances unit. While Jeff Immelt, GE¹s chief executive, had
noted that ³scaling up² 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. ³It 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,² 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 ³China². 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 today¹s price (minus the extraction cost). If
he extracts tomorrow, he will get tomorrow¹s price (minus the same
extraction costs), discounted at today¹s interest rate. The supply of oil
today will thus increase only if tomorrow¹s 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 Carter¹s memorable
³Crisis of Confidence² speech of July 15, 1979. In it, Carter outlined a
program for achieving energy independence: ³On the battlefield of energy we
can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of
our common destiny.² We admirers have long endured ridicule whenever we
dared to defend Carter¹s 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. ³As
such, an assault on the $1.60 level by the euro against the dollar still
looks a realistic proposition from here.²
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. ³The overall decline in contract signings
suggests we are not out of the woods by any means,² 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 ³government-sponsored enterprises². 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 Freddie¹s shares fell
44.5 per cent. That came after frantic trading on Thursday in New York had
already dragged both mortgage giants¹ shares down to their lowest levels
since 1991. The US Treasury and Bush administration have discussed
³contingency plans² 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 ³their current form² 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 patient¹s 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 ³business as usual² 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 Fed¹s 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 Street¹s 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 Baghdad¹s
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 ³refine² 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 Obama¹s 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, Iraq¹s 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 continent¹s
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 ³transformational election²? Even those whose
sympathies are with the Republican John McCain are caught up in Obamamania.
My bet is that David Cameron, Britain¹s Conservative leader, will be as
eager as Prime Minister Gordon Brown to catch some of Mr Obama¹s 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
Atlanta¹s 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: ³We¹re going to compete here in Georgia. We¹re going to compete in
North Carolina and Virginia. We¹re going to try and transform the political
map.²
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.
³We saw eye to eye,² was all Yasuo Fukuda, Japan¹s 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. ³ ŒTis better to be silent and be thought a
fool, than to speak and remove all doubt² (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 McCain¹s 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
party¹s 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
Gramm¹s Whiners¹ 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 ³a nation of whiners.²
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. ³I generally don¹t see this
type of excitement for weddings,² said Los Angeles-based wedding planner
Wendy Rhodes, who¹s coordinated two same-sex ceremonies since the ruling.
³They¹ve been dreaming about being able to actually get married for a long
time, so these couples know exactly what they want.² 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 California¹s 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. ³I 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,² Obama said
in a letter to San Francisco¹s Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. Obama
also ticked off his positions on other GLBT issues. ³I support extending
fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and
federal law,² Obama¹s letter stated. ³That is why I support repealing the
Defense of Marriage Act and the ŒDon¹t Ask Don¹t Tell¹ policy, and the
passage of laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment
discrimination.²
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 dude¹s wife caught him, in
their bed. This is the rumor that the AG¹s 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 ³buddy,² or a very young
youngster and ³Homecoming King² 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 onŠ
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 don¹t know, maybe it¹s 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 ³The Big Penis Book² (see review elsewhere in this issue), but
for some reason I¹ve 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 ³sodomy,² there would be far
less opposition. For instance, consider the long persistence of rarely
enforced anti-sodomy laws in many states ³as a statement of our social
values,² 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 aren¹t useful, they die out. If you¹re 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, they¹re 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: ³Under our plan you
cannot be priced higher because you are sick.² 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 world¹s 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. ³While 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,² said Jenny
Edge-Dallas, global leader for Roche¹s HIV Franchise. The move reflects
Roche¹s 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 ³fat-dissolving² 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 Apple¹s 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 Apple¹s 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./Apple¹s 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 Thursday¹s launch
is likely to lack the same fanfare as the iPhone¹s 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
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