Fed Up

Al-Jazeera (05.31.06):

“Iraq’s prime minister has said his patience was wearing thin with excuses from US troops that they killed civilians by mistake, and his government would investigate the civilian deaths in Haditha.

Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that ‘there is a limit to the acceptable excuses‘.”

Al-Maliki tired of US excuses

“‘Yes a mistake may happen but there is an acceptable limit to mistakes,’ al-Maliki said, when asked about a US investigation into the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the western town last November.”

“‘We are worried about the increase in ‘mistakes’. I am not saying that they are intentional. But it is worrying for us,’ he added.”

On the other hand, he didn’t say they’re weren’t.

Day Late; Dollar Short

How much grief and anguish we and the Vietnamese would have been spared had we started down this road in 1963? Oh yeah. The Domino Theory. That was a good one, wasn’t it. AP (05.31.06):

“The United States and Vietnam signed a trade pact Wednesday that removes one of the last major hurdles in Hanoi’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.

The deal would knock down remaining trade barriers between the two countries, which saw bilateral trade rise 21.6 percent to nearly $8 billion last year, by ending U.S. quotas on Vietnamese textiles and garments and giving American companies greater access to a growing Southeast Asian market.”

U.S., Vietnam Remove Last Trade Barriers

“It also paves the way for Vietnam to reach its goal of becoming a member of the global trading body before Hanoi hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November, which President Bush is scheduled to attend.”

Except It Is The Economy, Stupid

And it sucks. Unless you’re wealthy, of course. Bloomberg (05.30.06), via Huffington:

“Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, laid out a plan to win the 2002 congressional elections by stressing national security. For 2006, Rove is framing a strategy for Republicans to sell the U.S. economy.

In a recent speech, Rove argued that Bush’s policies of tax cuts and trade agreements had pulled the nation out of recession, created millions of jobs, boosted productivity and increased disposable income.”

Rove May Find ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’ Won’t Work

“That record can help lead Republicans to victory in November, Rove said in the May 15 speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.”

Victory? Bring it on, Karl.

Jobs? Ha!! The employment-population ratio was the same in April, 2006, as it was in September, 2002.

Wages? The average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers (adjusted for inflation) in April, 2006, are less than what they were in November, 2001.

Tax cuts? Nope. “A recent paper by Federal Reserve economists Gene Amromin, Paul Harrison, and Steve Sharpe finds that the 2003 dividend and capital gains tax cuts did not raise U.S. stock values.” In fact, the tax cuts are gonna cost more in revenue than they’ll generate.

More tax cuts? Yeah. Go ahead Karl. Talk this one up all you want. “The top tenth of 1 percent, whose average income is $5.3 million, would save an average of $82,415. Those who make less than $75,000 — which includes about 75 percent of all taxpayers — would save, at most, $110 each.”

Even more tax cuts? “Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more, about one-tenth of 1 percent all taxpayers, reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003.”

Estate tax? Ha!! Let’s everyone start talking about “how 18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall of $71.6 billion.”

“Political experts say it may be a tough sell: Voters don’t feel optimistic, polls show, and growth rates are expected to slow as the housing market cools and gasoline prices remain near all-time highs.”

Ahhh yes. The housing market. Wait’ll that one hits the fan.

“‘The administration needs to change the electorate’s overall psychology,’ says Stuart Rothenberg, who publishes a nonpartisan Washington political report. ‘It would be a huge asset for the Republican Party if people could start to focus on the economy, appreciate it and see it as something that has worked, but I see no evidence that that’s going to happen.'”

Especially considering that smoking crack is illegal in most jurisdictions.

More Trouble Than Meets The Eye

And a helluva lot harder than it looks. NYTimes (05.29.06):

“After boasting last month that it had joined the ‘nuclear club’ by successfully enriching uranium on an industrial scale — and portraying its action as irreversible — Iran appears to have slowed its drive to produce nuclear fuel, according to European diplomats who have reviewed reports from inspectors inside the country.

The diplomats say the slowdown may be part of a deliberate Iranian strategy to lower the temperature of its standoff with the West over its nuclear program, and perhaps to create an opening for Washington to join the negotiations directly — something President Bush has so far refused to do.”

Iran’s Drive to Nuclear Fuel Slows, Diplomats Say

“Nuclear experts, accustomed to measuring the efficiency of uranium centrifuges rather than of diplomatic initiatives, caution, too, that the slowdown may mean that Iran has run into technical obstacles on its nuclear road.”

Technical obstacles? Yep. As in they broke the damned thing with their little research experiment. Washington Post (04.28.06):

“Iran announced two weeks ago that it had used a ‘cascade’ — or array — of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are expected to confirm in the report that Iran ran the cascade successfully, but several officials with knowledge of the nuclear program said yesterday that the cascade was no longer operating and that a number of the networked centrifuges had crashed during a fairly rushed process.”

U.N. Agency Finds Iran Noncompliant

Won’t slow down George and the boys though. “(H)ard-liners…say they are unconvinced and think any slowdown may be merely a tactical ploy by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Mahmoud Goes For The Gold

Wonder what the Supreme Leader will have to say about this? NYTimes (05.27.06):

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to consolidate power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic, apparently with the tacit approval of Iran’s supreme leader, according to government officials and political analysts here.”

Iran Chief Eclipses Power of Clerics

“Mr. Ahmadinejad is pressing far beyond the boundaries set by other presidents. For the first time since the revolution, a president has overshadowed the nation’s chief cleric, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on both domestic and international affairs.”

“In this theocratic system, where appointed religious leaders hold ultimate power, the presidency is a relatively weak position. In the multiple layers of power that obscure the governance of Iran, no one knows for certain where the ultimate decisions are being made.”

“But many of those watching in near disbelief at the speed and aggression with which the president is seeking to accumulate power assume that he is operating with the full support of Ayatollah Khamenei.”

“‘Usually the supreme leader would be the front-runner in all internal and external issues,” said Hamidreza Taraghi, the political director of the strongly conservative Islamic Coalition Party. ‘Here we have the president out front on all these issues, and the supreme leader is supporting him.'”

Not everyone’s happy with Mahmoud. Considering how much trouble he had with finding an acceptable oil minister, it’s safe to say he’s not the smoothest operator around. Still, it may be Mahmoud’s making some folks nervous enough to call the Ayatollah out over this.

To Kneel, Or Not To Kneel

And other matters of great consequence. LATimes (05.28.06):

“At a small Catholic church in Huntington Beach, the pressing moral question comes to this: Does kneeling at the wrong time during worship make you a sinner?

Kneeling ‘is clearly rebellion, grave disobedience and mortal sin,’ Father Martin Tran, pastor at St. Mary’s by the Sea, told his flock in a recent church bulletin. The Diocese of Orange backs Tran’s anti-kneeling edict.”

A Ban on Kneeling? Some Catholics Won’t Stand for It

“Though told by the pastor and the archdiocese to stand during certain parts of the liturgy, a third of the congregation still gets on its knees every Sunday.”

“At least two altar boys, the parish altar servers coordinator and three members of the parish council have been dismissed from their duties for kneeling at the wrong time, according to parishioners.”

Of all the issues over which these peabrains could be outraged, and they’re wrapped around the axle about kneeling.

Jesus H.

Form Over Substance

This is what’s known as going to Plan B. Reuters (05.28.06):

“President George W. Bush, beset by public doubts about his leadership, has opted for a more humble tone in discussing the Iraq war, including admitting mistakes, as a way to rebuild his credibility, analysts said on Friday.

Bush’s shift in attitude during a Thursday news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair was an indication he understands the depth of public discontent with the war and the criticism that he is too stubborn to adjust his policies, they said.”

Bush adopts humility on Iraq; policy unchanged

“Bush’s change in tone did not signal a change in policies, however. He and Blair refused to set a timetable for withdrawing troops and Bush said conditions on the ground would dictate future decisions about troop levels and commitments in Iraq.”

Is he sincere? Here’s a photo from the news conference. You make the call.

It’s good to be king and have your own way.
Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day.
And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings,
You’re out there with winners, yeah, it’s good to be king.

Let Us Tell You How It Will Be

And you thought we got rid of the Royalists back in 1776. Boston Globe (05.28.06):

“The office of Vice President Dick Cheney routinely reviews pieces of legislation before they reach the president’s desk, searching for provisions that Cheney believes would infringe on presidential power, according to former White House and Justice Department officials.

The officials said Cheney’s legal adviser and chief of staff, David Addington, is the Bush administration’s leading architect of the ‘signing statements’ the president has appended to more than 750 laws. The statements assert the president’s right to ignore the laws because they conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution.”

Cheney aide is screening legislation

Including, but by no means limited to “the option of bypassing a ban on torture, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and numerous requirements that they provide certain information to Congress, among other laws.” “Using signing statements, the administration has challenged more laws than all previous administrations combined.”

This is why George has become “the first president since the 1800s who has never vetoed a bill”. He never will, either. Why? Because if he ever did, Congress would have a chance to override. But by using signing statements like this, George can simply ignore Congress.

Funny how that works, eh?

People have fallen in line. “Knowing that Addington was likely to review the bills, other White House and Justice Department lawyers began vetting legislation with Addington’s and Cheney’s views in mind, according to another former lawyer in the Bush White House.”

“All these lawyers, he said, were extremely careful to flag any provision that placed limits on presidential power. “‘You didn’t want to miss something,’ said the second former White House lawyer, who also asked not to be named.”

Or else.

Is this unprecedented? Nope. “‘In every administration, Democratic and Republican, there are officials with strongly held constitutional views, including somewhat idiosyncratic views,’ said [Martin Lederman, who worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel].”

On the other hand, “‘(w)hat is new is that the extremely idiosyncratic and aggressive constitutional views are being adopted by the vice president and, therefore, by the administration.'”

Make no bones about it. Shooter is a royalist. Washington Post (10.11.04):

“Since he took office, Vice President Cheney has led the Bush administration’s effort to increase the power of the presidency. ‘I have repeatedly seen an erosion of the powers and the ability of the president of the United States to do his job,’ he said after a year in office, calling it ‘wrong’ for past presidents to yield to congressional demands.

‘We are weaker today as an institution because of the unwise compromises that have been made over the last 30 to 35 years.'”

In Cheney’s Shadow, Counsel Pushes the Conservative Cause

And his go-to guy has been David, the most powerful man you’ve never heard of.

Road To Ruin

Didn’t think it’d happen, huh. MSNBC (05.25.06), via Eschaton:

“In the suburbs of Dallas, Bridget Edwards comes home to uncertainty every day. She and her husband, James, are four months behind on their mortgage.

‘It’s been just like a roller coaster,’ Bridget says. ‘Our payments have been just up and down.’

Up and down, from $1,300 a month to more than $2,000.

Foreclosures on the rise nationwide

“The reason? “‘We have an adjustable-rate mortgage,’ she explains. ‘I really didn’t know it would change like this.'”

Nationwide, mortgage defaults between January and March have increased 72%. Chicago Tribune (05.28.06):

“Foreclosures on home mortgages are on the way up.

In Illinois during the first three months of 2006 nearly 13,700 properties entered foreclosure, up 32 percent from the fourth quarter of 2005, according to an analysis by property tracker RealtyTrac Inc.”

Mortgage defaults on rise

Michigan and Ohio have seen “increases of 91 percent and 39 percent, respectively, compared with last year’s fourth quarter.”

And this is just the beginning.

“‘The increases we’ve been seeing in foreclosures don’t even reflect the worst-case scenario that could happen when the $2.7 trillion in adjustable-rate mortgages are reset over the next 18 months,’ said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac.”

More here and here.

No One Else Wanted The Job

NYTimes (05.27.06):

“The Senate confirmed R. David Paulison on Friday as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a day after he assured lawmakers that tax-return errors found during the confirmation process would be quickly remedied.

Mr. Paulison, 59, a former chief of the Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department who heads the United States Fire Administration, has been serving as acting FEMA director since replacing Michael D. Brown in September.”

Senate Backs Several Nominees, Including Those for FEMA and Interior

David wasn’t exactly the first choice.

After All Is Said And Done

This is what we’re left with. Knight-Ridder (05.26.06):

“Southern Iraq, long touted as a peaceful region that’s likely to be among the first areas returned to Iraqi control, is now dominated by Shiite Muslim warlords and militiamen who are laying the groundwork for an Islamic fundamentalist government, say senior British and Iraqi officials in the area.”

Iranian-backed militia groups take control of much of southern Iraq

“Iranian influence is evident throughout the area. In one government office, an aide approached a Knight Ridder reporter and, mistaking him for an Iranian, said, ‘Don’t be afraid to speak Farsi in Basra. We are a branch of Iran.'”

Thanks, George. Thanks a lot.

Oh and that hearts and minds thing?

You can pretty much forget about it.

Spending More Now?

Not really. AP (05.26.06):

“The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending jumped 0.6 percent last month, the biggest increase since a 0.8 percent rise in January.

However, when inflation — reflecting $3 and more for a gallon of gas — was removed, the increase in spending was a much smaller 0.1 percent.”

Consumer Spending Up 0.6 Percent in April

Making more now? Sure sounds like it. “The government also reported Friday that personal incomes rose by 0.5 percent in April, matching the March gain, with the strength coming from the biggest increase in wages and salaries in the past year.

On the other hand, “(d)isposable incomes, the amount Americans have to spend after paying taxes … actually fell by 0.1 percent after inflation was taken into account.”

Even though we brought home a little less, we had to spend a little more. Huh.

How have we been making up the difference? “The personal savings rate dipped to a negative 1.6 percent, the 11th consecutive month it has been in negative territory. That means consumers are spending all of their disposable income and dipping into savings or increasing their borrowing to finance current purchases.”

We’ve been running a negative personal savings rate for almost a year. And when the savings run out and we can’t borrow anymore, what happens then?

Bloggerific

Unanimously speaking. AP (05.26.06):

“A state appeals court on Friday rejected Apple Computer Inc.’s bid to identify the sources of leaked product information that appeared on Web sites, ruling that online reporters and bloggers are entitled to the same protections as traditional journalists.

‘In no relevant respect do they appear to differ from a reporter or editor for a traditional business-oriented periodical who solicits or otherwise comes into possession of confidential internal information about a company,’ Justice Conrad Rushing of the 6th District Court of Appeal wrote in a unanimous 69-page ruling.”

Apple loses court bid to identify product-information source

“‘We decline the implicit invitation to embroil ourselves in questions of what constitutes ‘legitimate journalism,’ he wrote. ‘The shield law is intended to protect the gathering and dissemination of news, and that is what petitioners did here.'”

In other words, the means by which the dissemination of news occurs is not relevant.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation has the full opinion here.

Clueless

How out of it can you be? ThinkProgress (05.24.06) (links in original):

“This morning, DeLay’s legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie ‘The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress‘, by ‘Outfoxed’ creator Robert Greenwald.

The email features a ‘one-pager on the truth behind Liberal Hollywood’s the Big Buy,’ and the lead item is Colbert’s interview with Greenwald on Comedy Central (where Colbert plays a faux-conservative, O’Reilly-esque character).”

Desperate for Supporters, DeLay Turns to Stephen Colbert

“According to the email, Greenwald ‘crashed and burned‘ under the pressure of Colbert’s hard-hitting questions, like ‘Who hates America more, you or Michael Moore?'”

Does someone want to tell DeLay’s people that Colbert’s a comedian, and that he’s just acting?

On the other hand, it’ll be a lot funnier when they figure it out on their own.

What The Fuck Is This?

People get paid for writing stuff like this? Amazing. The Washington Post (05.24.06), no less, via The Grit:

“He pressed his stethoscope to the gorilla’s chest and narrowed his eyes. Kuja, a silverback patriarch, was breathing isofluorine.

He was the Senate majority leader of the gorillas, who negotiated disputes, back-slapped the ape boys and owned exclusive mating rights with the females.”

Bill Frist: A Doctor at Heart

The Senate majority leader of the gorillas? Back-slapped the ape boys? Owned exclusive mating rights with the females?

Oh, and it gets even better!

“The stink of ape sweat and gorilla testosterone soaked his hair and clothes.”

“At 9:30 a.m., Frist opened the Senate, gripping the corners of the lectern, as he had the operating table. Across the city, rolling in a bed of hay, Kuja opened his eyes and grunted. The gorilla kept touching his tongue to his tooth. Something had changed inside of the beast while he slept. Frist smiled and spoke unremarkably from the lectern, reeking of silverback testosterone.”

Bill must have been thinking about the cigarette they shared, eh?

Concupiscently speaking, does the author of this article (Laura Blumenfeld) have a thing for Bill, or what?

Wonkette really liked it.