Tangled Webs

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Sigh

These types of stories are so tiresome.

Not the bloggers doing the work of pointing it out, but that fact that it chronically happens. Every time I read some wanking reporter's political story I shake my head and wonder. I used to write about it a whole bunch, but I'm simply fed up with it.

My hat is off to other bloggers and Media Matters and any number of others who keep track of this sludge, point it out, and work to change the wankers. Until it improves, you simply cannot believe a whole bunch of what you see, hear, and read from the media.

Compare, Contrast

Always remember, the MoveOn ad was terrible!!!!

Congress Can't Read

And neither can the mainstream media and punditry.

Keep On Trainin'

Juan Cole gives us an update on the training of Iraqi's to be policemen, using the Pentagon's own assessment (so you know it has to be right!):

' The Pentagon report cited a litany of problems with the police. For example, it said as few as 40 percent of those trained by coalition troops in recent years are still on the job. Also, due to combat loss, theft, attrition and poor maintenance, a "significant portion" of U.S.-issued equipment is now unusable.'

Cole:

Just to underline what is said here, 60 percent of the policemen who got even the very minimal training on offer to them have disappeared from the force; and not much is left of the weaponry ("equipment") that the US gave the Iraqi police.

As for other progress? Read them and weep:

Note the first chart shows little change in the casualty rate. The second chart shows a drop in August in the number of attacks. But since casualties remained essentially unchanged this simply means that the attacks are getting more deadly .... hardly a good development.

What more can be said?

Friday, September 21, 2007

Rather Has CBS By The .....

In thinking about Dan Rather's gazillion dollar lawsuit, I think he made a great move. If it goes all the way to court, the revelations from him regarding CBS's ass kissing of Bush will be highly embarrassing. Rather can claim he's removing the veil from network wanking. And if CBS settle with Rather, he gets a pile of cash.

You go Dan.

A Good Question

Why are Senate Dems afraid of a real filibuster but not afraid to condemn MoveOn?

Guts

In a normal world, I'd say this takes guts. In our world and given the recent Republican stupidity in the Senate, I guess it would make sense .....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration may increase the amount of money it is seeking for the Iraq war for the 2008 fiscal year that begins October 1, the White House said on Friday.

The White House outlined a request for around $147 billion for fiscal 2008 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the administration is reviewing those figures and is considering giving Congress an updated request.

"I would expect it to be higher, I can't tell you what the number will be," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The Washington Post has reported the administration may increase its request by up to $50 billion, which would bring the total request to nearly $200 billion.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Helps Helio Ben to keep the government printing presses going.

Cholera

Yes, now on top of everything else, we have cholera reaching Baghdad. Why? It's simple .....

You see, insurgents have been blowing up chlorine trucks as a weapon. So what does the military do? Stop chlorine shipments into the area. But wait you say. Isn't chlorine necessary for drinking water? Well yes, drinking water is necessary. But without chlorine residents are left to drink the sewage water downstream of large populations. And of course, we know what that leads too.

But there haven't been any chlorine trucks blowing up!

Ironic

In a wild twist of irony, Helicopter Ben's interest rate cut has had the opposite of the intended effect ....

Logic suggests that if you cut interest rates homeowners with adjustable mortgages will have an easier time of it when adjustment time comes around.

But.

The above chart is of the longer end of the yield curve. In other words, interest rates on longer loans .... like mortgages. Because of fears of inflation (the money supply is expanding at a larger rate than right after 911), bond traders are selling bonds. What this means is that interest rates in the market place go up in order to attract money.

So Ben's actions to "save housing" have actually made the situation in housing worse ... much worse. Meanwhile, gold and other commodities are going through the roof. Watch for seriously higher inflation numbers next spring.

Poor Ben. He's made a serious rookie mistake in order to bail out his banking buddies. And like Bush, we'll all pay the price for his cronyism.

Back Down Maliki

Just as predicted, al Maliki backed down and the Blackwater convoys have resumed in Iraq. This certainly doesn't enhance Maliki's image as an independent now does it.

Next?

The Senate failed to get a filibuster proof vote to end the war yesterday. But this is what is really astounding ....

The vote, 47-47, fell 13 votes short of the 60 needed to pass.

...

Blocking the bill were 43 Republicans, Connecticut Independent Joseph Lierbman and Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. Whereas Nelson and Pryor say they are reluctant to embrace a timetable on troop withdrawals, Dodd said he refuses to support anything short of cutting of funding for combat.

So now with a year plus of the polls showing Americans want out of Iraq, and after all has been said and done by Senators wanking about supporting/not supporting Bush, the vote is right back where we started with the same actors keeping us in Iraq.

I don't care what any Republican says, it's their war and they are supporting Bush. Period. As for those Dems, they also are the usual suspects and are why I believe Reid is being quite careful with his political calculations. There are enough weak-kneed Democrats to cause embarrassment to the Democratic party. I still think they should freeze Senate business and keep this issue front and center. But I'm willing to admit that it's a weak Senate majority against the war.

So we're right where we started from. And I think Americans are getting fed up.

I know I am .... still.

Added: Further proof? Read it an weep. The inside the beltway idiots are wrong .... again ... still.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

A Quickie Reminder

As the dollar plunges in value, as bonds plunge in value, and as other countries like Saudi Arabia consider moving away from the dollar as a reserve currency, don't forget this little chart:

This is the chart of the upcoming adjustable rate mortgage resets. Mortgage interest rates (thus far) have reacted to the Benanke helicopter drop of dollars with a yawn. In fact, mortgage rates actually climbed after the announcement as the bond market is pricing in greater inflation on longer maturity bonds. Unless something changes (a surprise rate increase? .... lol), those adjustable rate mortgage holders are still in for a world of hurt.

If Bernanke and company are freaking out now, just wait for spring. Note on the chart that we are Sept. of 07. Take a look at the resets between now and summer of next year.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Weeeeee

After the great Petraeus show, our boy king has surged to an all time low in the polls!:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy.

Only 29 percent of Americans gave Bush a positive grade for his job performance, below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March. A paltry 11 percent rated Congress positively, beating the previous low of 14 percent in July.

Anyone with a brain can look at these numbers and see that it's about the war stupid. Too bad Congressional critters can add 1+1 and get 2.

Habeas Down Again

Those strong civil libertarian Republicans have successfully filibustered the Habeas Restoration Act.

Will the media scream about their obstructionist tactics? Hell, they can't even bring themselves to call it the "F" word

The 56-43 vote against the bill, by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., fell four votes shy of the 60 needed to cut off debate.

Whaaaa? 56-43 vote against? Oh yeah, up is down and down is up these days.

The Gasoline Dilemma

Bonddad has a great post up summarizing the gasoline situation right now.

The short version is that we're awash in oil, but gasoline supplies are at very low levels.

I wonder why refiners aren't keeping up?

Also of interest, consumer demand is up over last year despite higher prices and fuel efficiencies. That's not a good sign.

The Dilemma

Bernanke's rate cut yesterday was accompanied by language the stipulates that inflation is still a concern. What? How can you have a ginormous rate cut and be worried about inflation?

It's a simple answer and it's called stagflation. And as I've been saying for some time, we're in it. So far, it's not the hyper-stagflation of the 70's, but there's still time to get there.

The year over year inflation comparison data is about to undergo a big change. Put another way, inflation is going to look pretty bad, even by the government's nonsense numbers, in the next couple of months. Add to this record oil prices and rising gasoline prices (we've had our seasonal dip .... shorter than in the past).

Ben baby, get ready for your dilemma to increase as the economy continues to slow and inflation continues to rise.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Warner The Wanker

Remember all those headlines a few weeks ago about John Warner (Idiot-Vir) splitting with Bush on the war?

Fogetaboutit.

Habeas Restoration Project

If you care much about Habeas Corpus, it would be good to let you Senator know.

The Last? Or Another?

The title refers to gasoline ... as in gasoline on a fire ....

BAGHDAD - The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy's security provider Blackwater USA.

What is the evidence of the "mounting public outrage" in Iraq?

Is the U.S. laying low while things calm down, or putting pressure on Maliki to back down? The Iraqi government is already waffling on the "ban" of Blackwater claiming it's now "temporary". But given how popular the U.S. is in Iraq, you have to wonder if there isn't a bit of civil strife brewing over occupying black ops killing their citizens.

If this was occurring in, oh say, Alabama or Mississippi, how do you think citizens would react there?

Please please please please

Is Harry Reid saying to hell with em'?

After weeks of suggesting Democrats would temper their approach to Iraq legislation in a bid to attract more Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared abruptly Tuesday that he had no plans to do so.

The Democratic leader said he will call for a vote this month on several anti-war proposals, including one by Sen. Carl Levin that would insist President Bush end U.S. combat next summer. The proposals would be mandatory and not leave Bush wiggle room, said Reid, D-Nev.

"There (are) no goals. It's all definite timelines," he told reporters of the planned legislation.

...

Reid's hardline stance reflects a calculation by Democrats that Levin's proposal probably would have failed either way. Democrats hold a thin majority in the Senate and similar legislation has repeatedly fallen short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP filibuster.

When asked why Democrats won't soften the deadline, the majority leader said he doesn't have confidence Republicans are willing to challenge Bush on the war.

"I think they've decided definitely they want this to be the Senate Republicans' war, not just Bush's. They're jealous," he said with a smile.

Negotiating ploy or real? We'll see.

Added: Here's what Pelosi/Reid face:

A small band of moderate House Democrats and Republicans is hammering out a bipartisan position on the Iraq War that would avoid hard timelines for withdrawal, even as each party?s leaders still appear to be on a collision course.

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