Archive for September, 2008
In Praise of Political Gentlemen… and Ladies
Heat and hostility in politics is as old as politics itself. Just open the Old Testament and you’ll see King Saul plotting to murder David, yet an act of mercy such as David shows Saul in the end is hardly a common plot point in today’s political dramas.
Merrill Jensen’s book, “The Founding of a Nation” tells a story from December 1763 about Massachusetts merchants attempting to prevent the renewal of the Molasses Act, saying, “Party warfare rather than colonial policy governed what followed.”
History is full of political figures engaging in petty squabbling like that seen in Congress’ failed bailout proceedings this past week, all those egos fiddling while Rome burns. Yet the fact that something is common or rooted in history is no justification for continuing wrongheaded behavior. Nasty and dishonest politics damages us citizens, and it belies the fact that we, as individuals, as parties, as a nation, can and should do far better.
Mourning the extinction of civil discourse
I recently discovered an article called “How to Debate Politics Civilly,” which said, “These days rousing, yet respectful political debate is practically non-existent. The new media, far from presenting balanced, in-depth coverage of the important, meaty issues of the day, spend their time constantly regurgitating manufactured scandals and fanning the flames of personality contests. Debates between men in person, and especially on the internet, quickly devolve into indignant shouting matches, where personal insults are substituted for rational arguments.”
Frankly, the bipartisan politics of the last twenty years is just not worthy of our once and future “shining city on a hill.” Even more importantly, our country has and should again be an example of the best aspects of western civilization. Specifically, we should demand that our politicians and their advisors engage in civil discourse, rewarding those who do with our votes, and writing passionate, pointed, and, yes, still polite letters to those who persist in gutter politics.
We can also show integrity by being civilized in our own political discussions, avoiding the distortions and willful ignorance that only increase the great partisan divide.
Raising the bar
Recently my husband and I were discussing a candidate for higher office, and he said, “Frankly, I think that candidate is about as smart as I am. That’s not good enough. I want the leader of my country to be a genius.” By the same token, we should outspokenly call our nation’s leaders to a higher standard of civilized behavior.
As Michael Seitzmann recently wrote of the first presidential debate on the economy and foreign relations, “Those issues are far too important to all of us to be obfuscated by the kind of pettiness we hope to never see in our leaders. Those who aspire to lead us are supposed to be the best among us. They are supposed to transcend and rise above those they would hope to lead.”
A breath of fresh air
It’s easy enough to cite examples of bad behavior on the parts of the Obama and McCain campaigns. It may be senior advisors and voiceover actors who say the words in the news and political ads, but we all know who “approved this message.”
So to inject a breath of fresh air into my small corner of our red-hot political atmosphere, I’m presenting recent examples of gentlemanly behavior in the 2008 presidential campaign. In at least one case, the kind words were intended to put right a former slight, which is important in its own right. To wit:
· After the dismissive reference by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to Senator Obama’s work as a community organizer during summers off from his studies at Columbia University, there was an outcry about the insult to community organizers, who work to “keep people in their homes, keep their lights on, keep food in the fridge.” Following that, at a memorial to the victims of the 9-11 attacks, including the firemen and law enforcement workers who died, Senator McCain said, “Of course I respect people who’ve served their communities, and Senator Obama’s record there is outstanding.”
· Following the announcement of Governor Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy out of wedlock, which was itself a response to a blogger’s conspiracy theory that the youngest Palin child is actually Sarah Palin’s grandchild, Senator Obama was asked for a comment. He said, “Let me be as clear as possible. I think people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.” He then went on to say that reporters should “back off these kinds of stories.”
· Perhaps the most inflammatory of all recent political figures, Bill Clinton, has had positive things to say about both current presidential candidates. On television’s “The View” program, he opined, “I genuinely like both of them. I genuinely admire both of them. I think that we make a terrible mistake believing we have to find something wrong with the people we can’t vote for.”
Let’s do our country a service and call on our politicians to behave like this, like gentlemen and ladies, to set their standard of behavior higher and engage in honest communication at all times and on every front. Our children need heroes to look up to, and so do we. As journalist-philosopher Walter Lippmann said, “When men are brought face to face with their opponents, forced to listen and learn and mend their ideas, they cease to be children and savages and begin to live like civilized men. Then only is freedom a reality, when men may voice their opinions because they must examine their opinions. “
Folks, this isn’t American Idol!
“She’s feisty. She’s adorable.”
“If she can run the PTA, she can be president.”
“People can identify with her. She has five kids. I have six.”
What is this? The American Idol of politics? Well, surprise, it isn’t. This is one of the most critical elections in our nation’s history, but the McCainiacs have fallen hook, line and sinker for the distraction effect that his campaign brain trust promised. Back at the beginning, McCain’s staff openly stated that they didn’t want this campaign to be about issues, but rather personalities. How pathetic. Do you really think he’s putting Country First? John McCain is doing a great disservice to the American people. I think he should drop that slogan just about as quickly as he should drop Sarah Palin. John McCain is putting John McCain first. That speaks volumes for the man and why he should never be president of the United States.
Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s remove the issues (like social security, health care, the energy crisis, the housing crunch, the Wall Street pig-fest, and the two wars) and take everything else that has gone on in the McCain campaign for the White House. I’m up for it because I find many, many disturbing things. If we’re talking personalities, so be it. However, character doesn’t get a bye here.
-John McCain doesn’t think. He simply reacts, and he’s a man of high drama. First, he postponed the opening of the Republican Convention because of Hurricane Gustav, which was headed towards New Orleans. What John McCain wanted you to believe is that he cares so much about the poor people of Louisiana. Yet the fact remains that Senator McCain has voted against a lot of the Katrina assistance. I can’t imagine he has any feelings for the people of New Orleans. For those who know his voting record, this doesn’t ring true. What does ring true is that he wants to get elected because, at 72, this is his last presidential hurrah. Will anyone even consider him at 76 years old? I doubt it.
-Round two of high drama was the selection of Sarah Palin as vice president. He loves big impact moves that keep the American public on an uneven keel. That way he can distract them from the issues. More on Palin and why she doesn’t belong on the ticket is to come, but suffice it to say that he didn’t even screen her himself. He left that to the secretive, ultraconservative right wing group, the Council on National Policy. Back in 2000 he referred to Christian conservatives as the ruination of the Republican party (he was right); today he’s in bed with them because he needs them to win. McCain met Palin only one time before offering her the VP slot. Let’s just say that his decision-making capabilities come into question here. He preferred Joseph Lieberman, but a quasi-liberal Jew won’t fly with the Christian conservatives who are damned intent on forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us. Don’t get me wrong. I’m absolutely no fan of Joseph Lieberman. I wasn’t even when he ran with Al Gore. Do I think he’s qualified? Yes, I do. Sarah Palin is a national joke. If she isn’t. She should be.
-Sarah Palin has been described as “feisty.” That’s not the word I’d use. I’d use snide and insulting, but not feisty. Notice I’m not calling her what the mainstream media called Hillary Clinton. She stood up at the Republican Convention and literally insulted and belittled community organizing. Does she have any idea how much a part of the American fabric of life community organizing is? Does she have a grasp on how important it is? When we were homeless the government was content to let my family hang on a limb, mostly because we were a “gay” family and - in its eyes - not legitimate. Let’s make one thing clear: Had it not been for community organizers we would not have gotten any help at all or gotten ourselves out of that situation.
-The notion that running the PTA makes you ready for the vice presidency and, potentially, the presidency is a joke. Sarah Palin has absolutely no foreign policy experience whatsoever. We are in the midst of two ill-advised wars that are both unwinnable. We’ve made enemies of the majority of our former allies and have a lot of rebuilding to do. Palin has defended herself by saying that she’s got foreign policy experience because she can see Russia from Alaska. Okay, maybe the first time this came out of her mouth one could chalk it up to nerves. However, Sarah Palin continues to use this childish example to defend her supposed foreign policy experience. She even managed to expand upon this defense and make it sound even more foolish when she spoke with Katie Couric:
“We have trade missions back and forth,” said Palin. “We, we do, it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to, to our state.”
Listening to Sarah Palin on the issues is like listening to a drunk person trying to regain some semblance of coherence. It would be funny if she wasn’t a heartbeat away from the presidency. When I worked for a Fortune 500 company, I built two departments from the ground up; I hired, promoted, demoted and fired employees; I ran $7 million dollars worth of budgets; and was responsible for my division’s marketing communications and technical communications functions. I even managed European personnel and traveled back and forth a great deal. I am not so presumptuous as to think that I’m remotely qualified for the vice presidency. I am not, and I would not expect the American people to accept my credentials. Again, this is John McCain putting his country second to his victory.
-Sarah Palin knows nothing about the economy. She barely has command of the English language. Here’s another excerpt from her interview with Kathie Couric, this time on the bail-out.
Katie Couric: Why isn’t it better, Gov. Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
Gov. Sarah Palin: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the — it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.
Someone should tell Governor Palin that the bail-out is, in fact, about none of that. It’s all about helping the party boys on Wall Street continue to feast on the taxpayers’ dollar. That’s what it’s about. Some insist she needs to be briefed better. That’s not the issue. The issue is that Governor Palin cannot think on her feet. She has no command or understanding of the issues. It requires more than briefing.
-Fire the SEC Chairman! That was John McCain’s instant solution/reaction to the Wall Street meltdown. Again, more drama. That’s because he really doesn’t have an understanding of the issue. For the record, John McCain has no grasp of economics either and he has admitted this publicly. So then, why did he have to “suspend” his campaign to run back to Washington (another thing he didn’t really do since he was in New York standing up David Letterman to go on with Katie Couric instead). Better idea, John, let’s get rid of the no regulation, free market Republicans whose 28 years of deregulation created this Wall Street mess just like it created the S & L scandal. For the record, he’s one of those Republicans. Do the words “The Keating Five” ring a bell? John McCain was one of the politicians who fought against regulating the Savings & Loan industry. When his friend Charles Keating, of Lincoln Savings & Loan, came under investigation, John McCain was one of five politicians who sought to throw that investigation off the track. After getting caught with his hands in the till, he reinvented himself as this maverick politician fighting against special interests.
-Of course, this maverick image is a lie too. Suddenly, Senator McCain is a populist! He may talk in forceful tones about the Wall Street lobbyists, but that doesn’t stop him from having 83 of them working on his 2008 campaign. He speaks against “golden parachutes” for under-performing executives, but his campaign’s chief economic advisor, Carly Fiorina, destroyed HP and walked away with a $42 million dollar golden parachute ($21.4 million in severance). On the other side of the coin, Fiorina’s poor performance and bad business decisions caused 20,000 people to lose their jobs. So, why the hell, then, is she his chief economic advisor? He had harsh words for the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bail out, but we now know that the man credited with reviving the McCain campaign, Rick Davis, took $15,000 a month payments from Freddie Mac right up until last month. Why? For access to John McCain to keep regulators off their tails. Lies. Lies. Lies. Do we want yet another liar for president? Been there. Done that. We’ve seen the results.
-John McCain refuses to release his medical records, and his wife refuses to release her tax records (and that’s where all the action is). John McCain has had multiple bouts with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. One was just a few weeks ago when a lesion was removed from his cheek. He also shows signs of confusion. He has difficulty identifying foreign leaders (witness the confusion over the leader of Spain). When questioned, McCain could not remember how many homes he owned. He cannot tell the difference between Sunni and Shia. He keeps referring to Czechoslovakia, a nation that has not existed since 1993. I believe that the American people are entitled to know his medical condition, considering the fact that we could end up with Sarah Palin running the country. I also believe that the American people have a right to know about his family’s financial condition. Everyone else has had to comply. If he cannot comply, then I believe that he should not be allowed to run.
-Perhaps John McCain has problems multitasking. That will be a problem for anyone inheriting the job he’s running for. Or perhaps his need to “suspend” his campaign over the current economic crisis was just to gain some attention for a faltering effort. Either way, it doesn’t say much good about the man’s character. First of all, the notion that he “suspended” the campaign is a lie. He told David Letterman he had to fly back to DC immediately to assist with the bail-out. Instead he went down the street and was interviewed by Katie Couric in an effort to minimize the damage done to his campaign by the horrible Sarah Palin interview. That’s really why he canceled Letterman, because the next morning he was still in New York speaking at Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative. He never flew back to DC “immediately.
And he never “suspended” his campaign either. To suspend something means to stop it. The bash Obama ads continued to run, and members of his staff spent the day on the air telling everyone that would listen that’s just how selfless McCain is. He suspended his own campaign to help the country…to put Country First. In reality, he wasn’t needed or wanted in DC. He would have nothing to do there had George Bush not covered for him and invited him to the White House. It was at those White House talks that the deal began to fall apart. He left the next day to go back on the campaign trail and attend the debate with Barack Obama. He then told the news media he was flying immediately back to DC after the debate to continue work on the bail-out. He never did that. More untruths. More lies. Work on the bail-out package continued Friday and over the weekend without John McCain. He insisted it could be handled by phone (by the way, the same reason he’s been criticizing Obama). Yesterday, before the vote on the new bail-out package, he took the credit for pulling it together. After it lost in the House, he blamed Barack Obama. Someone should tell Senator McCain that more Republicans voted “nay” than Democrats. Someone should also remind him that he never returned to Washington as he promised. The reality is that his “suspending” his campaign to become involved in the bail-out gave him a giant photo op. In other words, it was a fraud, just like so many things he’s laid at the doorstep of the American people. How’s that for leadership?
Issues aside, these are all the reasons I’d not touch the McCain-Palin ticket. We need to do more as a nation than elect someone who is “likable.” We need to elect someone who is forthright and capable. We’ve had the liars and ill-prepared for eight years. I believe that character and truth are essential. Add the issues in to the mix, and prospects for the American people are even worse under a McCain presidency.
North Korean Partners with Syria and Iran in New Mideast Mischief
Syria’s Assad Shakesup Officer Corp And Licks Iran and North Korea Boots.
North Korean nuclear technicians, likely paid by Iran, have recently returned to Syria this time working at installations scattered in different parts of the country. A year ago Israeli warplanes and agents destroyed Syrian’s North Korean built and Iranian funded plutonium making reactor. A month before General Mohammad Solieman believed to be the highest ranking Syrian officer in its nuclear weapons program was shot dead by a sniper.
Last weekend a powerful car bomb exploded outside of a Syrian security facility near Damascus killing 17 and injuring 14 others. The names of the casualties have not been released. Syria is said to suspect Israel but has been careful not to publicly say so. It is suspected that the bomb’s target was a high ranking Syrian officer involved in its covert nuclear bomb program.
The largest single purge in the annals of Syria’s armed forces was carried out on the orders of President Bashar Assad early in th summer. Forty percent of the staff officers with the general command in Damascus were dismissed or forced into retirement; half the Syrian divisional commanders in Syria and Lebanon relieved of their duties - laid off or assigned to minor staff positions in Damascus and elsewhere.
It has been Assad’s policy to rotate officers every couple of years but this was far more sweeping and really shook up Syria’s military. It is unclear how much of this was Assad’s paranoia; because of the apparent ease with which Israel has penetrated Syrian defenses or both.
First Polls After Debate Go To Obama
If Palin botches the Thursday debate she will sink the good ship McCain.
|
I |
n the first poll taken entirely after last Friday’s debate Barack Obama is attracting 51% of the vote while John McCain earns 45% marking the all-important majority of voters for Obama. Forty-six percent (46%) now say that Obama is too inexperienced to be President, 29% say McCain is too old. Obama is now viewed favorably by 58% of voters, McCain by 55%. However, 40% have a Very Favorable opinion of Obama while 26% have a Very Unfavorable view. The comparable numbers for McCain are 26% Very Favorable and 24% Very Unfavorable.
|
Issue |
Obama |
McCain |
|
War on Iraq |
46% |
45% |
|
Immigration |
43% |
40% |
|
Environmental Issues |
54% |
37% |
|
Balance Fed. Budget |
47% |
43% |
|
Negotiate Trade Agreements |
47% |
43% |
|
Taxes |
48% |
45% |
|
Social Security |
49% |
41% |
|
Healthcare |
54% |
38% |
|
Education |
53% |
36% |
|
Abortion |
47% |
42% |
Even though judging the debate was a near thing — 36% thought Obama won the debate, 33% gave the advantage to McCain, and 31% were undecided – Obama gained ground on every issue (see table insert).
Women continue to trust Obama more across the board, in many instances by sizable majorities. The gap, however, has narrowed dramatically in some cases among men, who have been more favorable to McCain. Men, for example, are now evenly divided at 47% each over which candidate they trust more on the Iraq war.
McCain’s campaign suspension apparently backfired. McCain has generally led in terms of voter trust on the economy issue by a slight margin. Last week he proposed delaying the first debate until the bailout plan was approved in Washington, but a plurality of voters (48%) thought that was a bad idea. Men now trust Obama more on balancing the budget 45% to 44%.
Polling this week in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia shows that Barack Obama has gained a net 3 to 5 percentage points in each state compared to the previous Fox News/ Rasmussen Reports poll as follows: Pennsylvania, Obama now leads 50% to 42%; Virginia, it’s Obama 50% and McCain 47%; Virginia, it’s Obama 50% and McCain 47%; Colorado (Obama 49%, McCain 48%), Florida (Obama 47%, McCain 47%), and Ohio (McCain 48% Obama 47%).
Widespread concern has set in about Sarah Palin in some conservative circles with a few pundits calling for her to resign. Many think if she botches the Thursday debate she will sink the good ship McCain.
“I’ve Got it!” 70-Years Later.
“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies”. Alexis de Tocqueville
On Sept. 30, 1938, 70 years ago today, Neville Chamberlain visited Adolf Hitler’s apartment in Munich, got his signature on a three-sentence declaration and flew home to Heston Aerodrome.
“I’ve got it,” he shouted to Lord Halifax. “Here is a paper which bears his name.” At the request of King George VI, Chamberlain was driven to Buckingham Palace, where he joined the king on the balcony to take the cheers of the throngs below. An unprecedented honor.
Then it was on to 10 Downing Street, where, to choruses of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” Chamberlain declared: “This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.”
This was Munich, the summit of infamy, endlessly invoked as the textbook example of how craven appeasement leads to desperate war. Chamberlain had indeed signed away the Czech-ruled Sudetenland to Germany enslaving 3,250,000 there.
Britain was utterly alone, and completely unprepared. Indeed, FDR had warned, “Those who count on the assured aid of the United States in case of a war in Europe are totally mistaken.”
Comparisons of then to now are eerily similar although some of the players have changed - some have not.
Russians can give you arms but only the United States can give you a solution. Anwar Sadat
Timely Advice From 1787
When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England,
Professor Alexander Tyler wrote (read about controversy here) about the fall of the Athenian
republic over two thousand years previous to that time as follows:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It
can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote
themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on
the majority always votes for the candidates promising the
most money from the public treasury, with the result that a
democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed
by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been
two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the
following sequence from:
1. bondage to spiritual faith,
2. spiritual faith to great courage,
3. courage to liberty,
4. liberty to abundance,
5. abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency
6. complacency to apathy,
7. apathy to dependency,
8. dependency back to bondage.
Alexander Tyler (1747 - 1813)
The Other $700 Billion That DID Go into the Market Today.
Today, in their usual manner, the Fed gave away $630 billion to the markets. Without permission, they just did it. They are unstoppable aren’t they? And look what effect this has had, world markets have plunged and hit new lows. The single American Bank Wachovia has assets of nearly $700 billion. So is the US government going to save just that bank with its loose change of taxpayers money ? It certainly couldn’t afford to save anyone else. Truly laughable. This is a wonderful example of The Fed “pissing against the hurricane”. Again.
From the PFXGlobal Site:
“I am usually anti-conspiracy. Not because I think policy makers are morally above it, rather I think it is because they are intellectually below it. However, you have to agree that this particular issue was definitely under-reported today. While everyone watched the Democrats and Republicans in a slap fight, the Fed slipped several hundred billion USD (or at least made it available) into the market. What do you think; was the drama on Capitol Hill a red herring? Either way, I still say there is a ton of opportunity for traders.
If you think the Fed/Treasury team was stymied in their efforts to flood the market with $700 billion today you would be mistaken. The fed increased swaps with just about every central bank out there to $620 billion from $300 billion and increased lending limits to $75 billion for 84 day loans.
A swap with another central bank is essentially a currency pair trade. The Federal Reserve in the US is acquiring foreign exchange reserves through the swap by selling USD to other central banks. Obviously the Fed does not usually enter into transactions like this and does not keep the same size of an FX reserve like most other central banks do. This shift in behavior is supposed to help the other central banks distribute more USD to their domestic banks to prevent global liquidity problems.
What that means is that the Fed is injecting a lot of cash (specifically USD) into the market to try and ease liquidity pressures. In order to keep rates this low, commercial and private lenders have to be willing to loan at low rates. Increasing the supply of the USD should (in theory) decrease its cost and therefore increase credit flow. Unfortunately, based on today’s movement towards a stronger USD and JPY, the plan does not seem to be very effective yet. This is not a big surprise. Fundamentally changing the risk environment in the market is no easy task and that is what the Fed/Treasury team is trying to do. The capital markets are massive and composed of millions of individual participants. Forcing them all to accept your view that risk is overstated right now is not going to be easy.
This has implications for the deal that is floundering in the US House of Representatives. If this injection was not enough will another $700 billion help? What about another $700B after that? Are they merely digging the proverbial hole deeper? In light of current market behavior I think the USD and JPY still look like strong buys whether congress passes a bailout or not.”
Pastors Stick Finger in IRS’ Eye
“The role of the religious leaders is to stand apart from government, to prophetically speak
truth to power.”
An evangelical Christian minister in Indiana told his congregation Sunday that voting for Sen. Barack Obama would be evidence of “severe moral schizophrenia.” The Democratic presidential nominee’s positions on abortion and gay partnerships exist “in direct opposition to God’s truth as He has revealed it in the Scriptures.” Johnson showed slides contrasting the candidates’ views but stopped short of endorsing Obama’s Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.
Rev. Ron Johnson Jr. and 32 other pastors set out Sunday to break the rules, hoping to generate a legal battle that will prompt federal courts to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship.
This is part of a national campaign, organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a socially conservative legal consortium based in Arizona, the Internal Revenue Service has pledged to “monitor the situation and take action as appropriate.”
In an open letter Saturday, a United Church of Christ minister, the Rev. Eric Williams said, “The role of the church — of congregation, synagogue, temple and mosque — and of its religious leaders is to stand apart from government, to prophetically speak truth to power,” Williams wrote, “and to encourage a national dialogue that transcends the divisiveness of electoral politics and preserves for every citizen our ‘first liberty.’ “
For Williams the dichotomy between the secular and the sacred a myth: “The issue is not ‘Are we legislating morality?’ This issue is ‘Whose morality are we legislating?’ “
Other clergy pledge to avoid endorsing political candidates. But, that blurs over issues like abortion and homosexual marriage.
Legal scholars generally agree this has little to do with the debate about separation of church and state versus separation from church and state although some less informed will contend it does connect. But, the issue is first the 1954 IRS code and to get the matter into court the IRS must act and “harm” a church or congregation. In that case there will be a legal scrap that could last for years.
Weekend Political Poll Roundup and A Snicker
Never let your dog watch your food; never let the Congress watch your money - Barry Goldwater, Jr.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday-including the two days of post-debate polling-is unchanged. Barack Obama once again attracts 50% of the vote while John McCain earns 45%. This five-point advantage nearly matches Obama’s biggest lead yet and marks the first time he has held such a lead for three-days running. Rasmussen says Obama has 200 electoral votes and McCain 174. Colorado (9); New Mexico (5); New Hampshire (4); Nevada (5); Ohio (20) and Virginia (13) are now all in the toss-up column. Clearly those 56 votes are pivotal. 55 other electors lean toward Obama and 53 are leaning toward McCain.
Gallup did not publish findings on Sunday. Obama lead by 5% in its Saturday polling. According to ZOGBY Obama won Friday’s debate by the narrowest of margins 44% to 41% who say McCain won. Rasmussen found Obama won the debate by 36% to 34% and 31% were not sure. While 16% said it was a tie. Women felt Obama won and men felt McCain did. Before the debate people felt Obama would win by a 4 to 3 margin. Obama/Biden leads 47.1% to McCain/Palin 45.9% in the “who would you vote for?” question.
PBS television personality Jim Lehrer won the debate by unexpectedly being fair and balanced. 76% say Lehrer was neutral. Seven percent (7%) thought he tried to help Obama, 3% thought he tried to help McCain and 14% were not sure.
Today, Barack Obama told Joe Biden to be less like Sarah Palin: “Stop talking to the press!” - Leno
Thirty-three percent of Likely Voters now favor the Wall Street ”bail out” plan while 32% are opposed and 35% are not sure. Just 49% understand that the government anticipates recovering a significant portion of the $700 billion when the assets purchased are resold. Those who understand that taxpayers will eventually get much of the money back support the bailout by a 2-to-1 margin. Narrow pluralities of both Obama supporters and McCain supporters favor the legislation and the reaction from liberals and conservatives are similarly mixed. Thirty-six percent (36%) of Investors support the plan while 31% are opposed.
In one of the most tumultuous weekend in college sports history nine of colleges top 25 football lost last weekend starting with Number 1 USC on Thursday night. Eleven won and five had a bye week.
Rice’s Admission of Torture Goes Unnoticed
With the media focus on the economy, the Wall Street debacle and the it-would-be-funny-if-it-was-make- believe McCain meltdown, one explosive story has been lost in the shuffle. On September 12, Condoleeza Rice signed a statement in response to an 18-month investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee stating that she led meetings in 2002 and 2003 (in the company of other senior Bush officials) to discuss the use of torture on Al Qaeda detainees. At the time, Rice was National Security Advisor. This is the first time a high-ranking official has formally acknowledged that the White House held such discussions. Torture is just one of the reasons impeachment should never have been delayed for so long, and why the process should continue in spite of the fact that Herr Bush has only a few months left. There is no statute of limitations on war crimes, so George Bush should not be allowed to find a safe haven even after he leaves office.
Condoleeza Rice knows how serious this is. She has retained legal counsel. Rice’s admission effectively makes a lie (surprise!) out of George Bush’s assertion that the abuse came at the hands of just a few bad apples. Of the meetings, Senator Carl D. Levin (D-Mich) said, “We’ve long believed they took place.” Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also stated that Rice’s admission is “new, concrete evidence that they took place in the White House.” Rice also identified others involved in meetings at various times as former Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto R. Gonzales (then Presidential Counsel), and Vice Presidential Counsel David S. Addington. Others have been sent the same letter as Rice, but have declined to respond. No surprise there. This is the administration that refuses to respond to anything, even subpoenas. Michael Mukasey refuses to do his job as the chief law-enforcement officer in the land. By this time in the Nixon regime, an independent prosecutor was appointed and an investigation was in full swing.
George Bush, Dick Cheney and their lawless minions have lowered the bar on American democracy. The Bush administration has effectively reduced this country to the level of those it is supposedly fighting to rid the world of. It is the height of hypocrisy: The image of George Bush riding on his white horse to rid the world of a brutal dictator (Saddam Hussein), all the while subverting the US Constitution, taking away our rights and authorizing the use of torture on detainees. Our leaders seem to have this arrogant, ugly attitude that we can break any law we deem necessary without being held accountable because we’re America. It is no wonder we are increasingly seen around the world as being brutish and arrogant. We’ve earned that status.
In June, Levin released documents that detailed a pattern of abuse and torture that was a deliberate policy of the Bush administration, not the brainchild of lower-level military personnel. The policy was approved at the highest levels of our government and was given cover by the Justice Department. The Bush administration justifies its actions by reinterpreting the law to its own pathetically-low standards, which are far less demanding than international law. However, the United States invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses. George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest who have participated in this disgraceful, clearly un-American activity should be shipped off to The Hague for trial under international law. At the end of the day, George Bush is no different than Pol Pot or Radovan Karadžić.
Menu of Pain
Herewith is an economic paper written by two professors of Economics at the University of Boston. This paper describes the fiscal debt situation as it was back in 2003 while the country was under the leadership of Bush Jnr. It is an enlightening read. Bye the way, all quoted fiscal debt - everytime you see $44 trillion dollars, please now read $59 trillion dollars, since this little noticed paper was written in 2003 (The situation is, of course, much worse now). What follows is a critique of those fiscal measures necessary to pay back the fiscal debt, herein referred to as the Menu of Pain.
By Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Jeffrey Sachs, 5/19/2003
“OUR GOVERNMENT is going broke. The feds face bills that are far beyond our capacity to pay — by $44 trillion to be precise. The longer we ignore them, the bigger they get. Yet President Bush is working overtime to deepen our fiscal trap. This $44 trillion figure is not ours. Nor is it some other academics’ calculation. It was produced last fall by economists and budget analysts at the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office. The study was ordered by then Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil and was slated to appear in the president’s budget, released in February.
O’Neil instructed his team, led by Jagadeesh Gokhale, Federal Reserve senior economist, and Kent Smetters, then deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury, to answer the following question: Suppose the government could, today, get its hands on all the revenue it can expect to collect in the future, but had to use it, today, to pay off all its future expenditure commitments, including debt service net of any asset income. Would the present value (the value today) of the future revenues cover the present value of the future expenditures?
The answer is no, and the fiscal gap is the $44 trillion. Now, that is big bucks by anyone’s definition. It’s four times current GNP and 12 times official debt. Imagine everyone in the country working for four years and handing over every penny earned to pay this bill, and you’ll grasp its size.
Unfortunately, we can’t ascribe the $44 trillion calculation to overly pessimistic assumptions. On the contrary, the assumptions are optimistic with respect to future longevity as well as growth in federal health expenditures, discretionary spending, and labor productivity.
Gokhale and Smetters asked a follow-up question: By how much would taxes have to be raised
or expenditures cut on an immediate and permanent basis to generate, in present value, the $44 trillion? Their ”menu of pain” is mind-boggling. Entree A is raising federal income tax collections (individual and corporate) by 69 percent. Entree B is raising payroll tax collections by 95 percent. Entree C is cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits by 56 percent. Entree D is cutting federal discretionary spending by more than 100 percent, which, of course, is not feasible. Combination platters are also available. For example, we might select quarter portions of entrees A through D. But no matter what combination we order, digesting this medicine is going to be plenty painful.
Why are the nation’s fiscal affairs in such a mess? The reason is straightforward. Baby boomers are just five years from starting to collect Social Security retirement benefits and eight years from starting to collect Medicare benefits. When all 76 million boomers are retired, we’ll have twice the number of elderly beneficiaries, but only 15 percent more workers to pay their benefits.
If the fiscal gap and its associated menu of pain are unfamiliar, there’s a reason. You can scour the thousands of pages of the president’s FY 04 budget, and you won’t find the analysis. It never made it in. When Secretary O’Neill was replaced last December, the analysis was yanked from the budget.
To be clear, limiting our need to know is not just a Republican responsibility. When it came to publishing a generational accounting analysis in the FY 92 budget, President Clinton’s political watchdogs overruled OMB and pulled the same trick. And bankrupting has been a collective effort of all postwar administrations, each of which has cared more about the next election than the next generation.
Our current team leader, President Bush, is doing his part. Taken together, his first tax cut and his proposed second tax cut, which is about to be passed by Congress, account for roughly a sixth of the fiscal gap. The president, an ardent believer in voodoo economics, is convinced his tax cuts will stimulate growth and dramatically raise revenues. Neither economic theory nor economic facts supports this view. In fact, the president is not only burying us in explicit and implicit debt, he’s undermining the economy’s future performance.
The stakes are now too high for more political games and flaky economic theories. Democrats and Republicans alike need to send our leaders a firm message: Deal responsibly with the coming generational obligations! If we don’t, we can look forward to massive cuts in future Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax hikes, high inflation, and bitter political strife. Putting aside the president’s latest tax cut would be an excellent start on the road to responsibility.”
Laurence J. Kotlikoff is chairman of the Department of Economics at Boston University. Jeffrey Sachs is professor of economics at Columbia University.”
The $700 Billion Bail-Out vs. US Bankruptcy
The compounded difficulties of an inflating and volatile dollar, the US fiscal debt, the cost of oil, the sub-prime credit problems and market turmoil are all contributing massively towards America’s coming bankruptcy. These problems are all incestuously connected to each other, fueling and interferring with each other’s effects. At the moment, in order to pay back America’s current total fiscal deficit, Americans would have to pay it’s government $400,000 each. Americans appear to be living on borrowed time as well as too much borrowed credit. I’m a European, and I am very aware that if the US goes bankrupt, then Europe must inevitably follow in this collapse.
I am also of the opinion that the $700 billion will have a very short term revival effect on the markets, - if any, after all the US has a growing fiscal debt of about $59 trillion dollars now which is growing like a cancer at $1.3 trillion a year. So a $700 billion injection seems pretty useless as a band-aid fix. Below, I present two videos - one a Dutch video looking at the US problem - there are some easily understood stories and metaphors that Peter Schiff - a well-known American investor - tells on this video to illustrate the economic effects of the dollar and America’s fiscal path now. The other is an interview by Marc Faber - a successful European investor who knows the current American economic status intimately.
Bernanke and the Dollar Collapse
Marc Faber on the £700 Billion Bail-Out
Much Ado About Not Much of Anything.
The California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation says it will no longer give foundation license plate frames and wallet-sized badges to members who donate $1,800 or more. It seems a lot of people think the insignia help luxury car drivers get out of speeding tickets.
A press release says the decision was prompted by illegal Internet sales of the 11-99 license plate holders, talked up in luxury auto chat groups as get-out-of-jail cards. The 11-99 Foundation is a Fullerton-based non-profit group that provides death benefits for California Highway Patrol families. Eleven-99 is two-way radio code for “officer needs assistance.”
The California State Sheriff’s Association still sells license plate frames on its website as do County Sheriff and some police departments. The frames are the minor part for them because county sheriff’s can and do issue concealed weapons permits and routinely give badges to financial supporters.
Such practices have been long standing across the nation. Years ago the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association gave so-called get out of jail “courtesy cards” urging any police officer to extend all courtesy to drivers.
Obama Throws Conniption About NRA Ads.
Obama Lawyers say stations have duty ‘to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.’”
Barack Obama is threatening radio and TV stations in Pennsylvania to stop running NRA ads blasting him and running mate Biden for longstanding anti-gun records. Obama is really angry about the NRA’s “Hunter” ad.
There are rumors of a so-called “secondary” boycott where Obama’s supporters are calling advertisers on stations running the ads and threatening not to use their services or products. Obama says his campaign has nothing to do with that.
Obama’s campaign general counsel Bob Bauer wrote stations seeking to censor the ads at stations in Pennsylvania saying, “Unlike federal candidates, independent political organizations do not have a ‘right to command the use of broadcast facilities,’” Bauer writes. “Moreover, you have a duty ‘to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.’” NRA lawyers are countering the threats and looking into what some say could be an illegal secondary boycott. The NRA has set up a web site detailing its position on Obama at www.gunbanobama.com.
Obama leads McCain in Pennsylvania by 5% with its 21 electoral votes.
Nutty Professor Warns U. S. Army Readied To Attack Fellow Americans During Election.
Bush administration may be seeking a justification to establish martial law and intervene militarily within the USA.
Canadian anti-war activist, erstwhile economist and devoted slobbering socialist Michel Chossudovsky has written one of the most wacky articles during this most bizarre of election cycles entitled “Pre-election Militarization of the North American Homeland. US Combat Troops in Iraq repatriated to “help with civil unrest”.
Yep, U. S. Army units are reploying into the U. S. to fight their fellow citizens.
Chossudovsky relies on “evidence” printed in the U. S. ARMY TIMES that the 3rd is coming home” just one month before the Presidential election to provide support to civilian authorities.”
He says, “What is significant in this redeployment of a US infantry unit is the presumption that North America could, in the case of a national emergency, constitute a “war theater” thereby justifying the deployment of combat units.”
Yeah right. Notwithstanding the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, and a few thousand court precedents.
But, Chossudovsky pressed on saying “The new skills to be imparted consists in training 1st BCT in repressing civil unrest, a task normally assumed by civilian law enforcement.”
“Civil unrest resulting from from the financial meltdown is a distinct possibility, given the broad impacts of financial collapse on lifelong savings, pension funds, homeownership, etc. ”
“The timing of this planned militarization is crucial: how will it affect the presidential elections scheduled for Tuesday November 4. ”
Only deep into the article with its blaring headline does he concede that such domestic turmoil could be provoked by a “false flag” terrorist effort to riot a population so beset. But, he couldn’t resist ending by saying, “But at the same time, the Bush administration may be seeking a justification to establish martial law and intervene militarily within the USA.”
So, the hated Bush Administration is now accused of plotting the imposition of martial law and military intervention within the United States apparently in a sinister election plot. After 9-11 Chossudovsky claimed to have uncovered a U. S. military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and a cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration — dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.”
This guy is an hysteric, a nincompoop, and a hypocrite. Holy Toledo!!
Russia Increases Spying On Israel Giving Intelligence to Iran and Syria.
Russia believes America is about to be propelled into an extraordinary shift toward socialism-isolationism ideas it can exploit.
Russia has intensified its spying on Israel and transferring that intelligence on Israel’s strategic capabilities to Iran and Syria. “(I)f the Russians help the Syrians get information, and the Syrians constantly pass it on to Hezbollah, it is a reasonable supposition that the information gathered by the Russians also reaches Hezbollah’s hands,” Col. Ram Dor, chief of information security in the Israeli military, said.
Russia has been monitoring Israel’s military and vital facilities via land, air and sea assets Russian warships are now routinely basing and staging out of Syrian’s Mediterranean naval base at Tartus that has now been converted 
to a permanent Russian naval base.
Officials said Russia has increased espionage operations inside Israel. They said Russian agents have been directed to identify and target young officers in the Israeli military and intelligence community. That is particularly insidious because there are more than 1 million Russian speakers linked to the former Soviet Union in Israel. Officials said Russian intelligence