Day: September 16, 2008

Our Economy Is Still Strong!

I want wehatever it is that McCain is smoking.  Apparently it distorts reality to the point of euphoria.
Today, Sep. 15, in Jacksonville, Florida, before a smaller than expected crowd, John McCain repeated his economic slogan. “Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” he said.

In the face of a five-year high in unemployment, six straight years of growing poverty, record numbers of home foreclosures, falling home values, 47 million Americans without health insurance, and a crumbling infrastructure, John McCain still thinks everything is OK. And today, two of the largest banks in the country collapsed: a warning siren by any standard of an unsound economy.
John McCain’s apparent confusion about the soundness of the economy and even the message of his own campaign may stem from his admission in early 2008 that he doesn’t understand economics very well.

His campaign also suffered a major setback in July when McCain’s top economic advisor and close friend Phil Gramm described Americans who fear economic recession as being in a “mental recession” and the country as being “nation of whiners.” Though Gramm was fired, his idea that everything is fine seems to have stuck.

McCain’s new top economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin outlined McCain’s tax policy recently, which both reflects George W. Bush’s tax policy and McCain’s inside the box thinking about the soundness of the economy. According to Holtz-Eakin himself, the McCain tax policy will hit working families hardest with some tax increases when McCain’s proposed health care tax is included.

Damn!  McCain sounds a lot like Hoover before the “big crash”.  He will fix the economy by drill off the US coastline, he will fix it by doing the same tradgic things that Bush and the Boyz have been doing.  If that idiotic grasp does not scare you, then we will get the f*cking of a lifetime in November.

Is Al-Qaeda Imploding?

Top U.S. counterterrorism officials Monday said al-Qaida is “imploding” and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims worldwide against the organization. “Absolutely it’s imploding. It’s imploding because it’s not a message that resonates with a lot of Muslims,” said Dell Dailey, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism.

Al-Qaida still remains the most dangerous threat to the United States. But of growing concern are organizations like Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, which combine social services, local governance, national politics with extremist attacks, said Undersecretary of State James Glassman.

Some hardline religious leaders who once wielded significant influence in al-Qaida have begun to criticize its violence against civilians, said Ted Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, in an August speech. Gistaro said al-Qaida senior leaders have devoted nearly half their airtime this year to defending the group’s legitimacy.

Despite these apparent fissures, al-Qaida is the most potent threat to the United States, according to U.S. intelligence officials and reports. A national intelligence assessment released last year said al-Qaida had regenerated its leadership and ability to conduct attacks in the ungoverned tribal region of western Pakistan.

This Is For All You Commie Haters

I remember back in the day all those haters of socialism said that if it was to come to the US then all the economy would be in the hands of the government.  Remember those days?  Well, dipsticks, what do you think the bailout of Fannie and Freddie are?  Do not hurt yourself–it is a form of nationalization, something that you say the commies want to bring.  Let us begin with my favorite couple–Fannie and Freddie, poster children of corporate greed.

The Financial Times has hailed the effective takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the US government as “what could become the world’s biggest ever financial bail-out.” Treasury secretary Henry Paulson has promised he will pump in ‘unlimited liquidity.’ Don’t you wish the government would grant you unlimited liquidity? When it comes to the food and fuel bills of the poor and the working class, the British and American governments find that the cupboard is bare. But now it’s not bare. Predictably markets all over the world have breathed a sigh of relief. Fannie and Freddie have effectively been nationalised – and big business thoroughly approves!

In the Financial Times (08.09.08), Clive Crook comments, in an article significantly entitled ‘Nationalisation in all but name,’ “The eventual cost to taxpayers is unknown. If the housing market rallies before long, it could be in the low tens of billions of dollars. If things keep getting worse, it could be in the hundreds of billions. But Fannie and Freddie have made themselves indispensable to any housing market recovery: the cost, whatever it is, will have to be paid.”

Like it or not….my favorite couple has been nationalized.  The best part about it is that it is being done by Republicans, who for years have seen hidden commies everywhere.

Why Not Follow Cuba’s Lead

When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Cuba offered to send help even before the storm had cleared but the administration in their infinite wisdom turn them down.  Why?  If anyone country on the face of the earth that has more experience with hurricanes than CVuba, they are keeping it a secret.  Politics got in the way of humanitarian aid.

As Hurricane Georges approached in 1998, a foreign aid worker living in Havana was astonished by the attention to preparedness, she told Oxfam.

“We had a steady stream of neighbors in and out of our apartment, counseling us to fill the bathtub with water, tape the windows, unplug all electrical items, get batteries or candles and put the car in the garage.”

At the same time, a neighborhood representative from the Federation of Cuban Women checked on the “vulnerable population,” including elderly people and single mothers who might need help evacuating. “Everyone, even the children, knew what to do,” the foreigner noted.

Despite its poverty, Cuba has a high literacy rate – almost 96 percent. Instruction in disaster preparedness begins in grade school and continues through higher education and into the workplace. Under a 1976 law, every adult receives civil defense training.

Before a new hurricane season starts on June 1, authorities review and revise disaster plans based on the prior year’s experience. In May, the entire country goes through a two-day hurricane drill, called Meteoro, that includes such practical measures as trimming tree limbs and checking for weaknesses in dams before a storm hits.

Most important, all those living in high-risk areas know beforehand where to take refuge – in sturdy homes on high ground or in group shelters, usually schools. Every shelter is stocked with food, water and medical supplies.

Agreed, that some of ththese are common sense, but their neighborhood watch program seems to be a pretty gooid one.  Mazybe the US should go back to the old Civil Defense days, it worked pretty good, in theory, against those darn pesky commies and the bomb  Anyway, ALL options should be pursued, no matter whose idea it is as long as it saves more lives during hurricanes.

Chile Joins The Sexual Revolution

Chile, long considered to have among the most traditional social mores in South America, is crashing headlong against that reputation with its precocious teenagers. Chile’s youth are living in a period of sexual exploration that, academics and government officials say, is like nothing the country has witnessed before.

The sexual awakening is happening through a booming industry for 18-and-under parties and an explosion of Internet connectivity, especially through Web sites like Fotolog.com, where young people trade suggestive photos of one another and organize weekend parties, some of which have drawn more than 4,000 teenagers. The online networks have emboldened teenagers to express themselves in ways that were never customary in Chile’s conservative society.

Chilean society was shaken last year when a video of a 14-year-old girl eagerly performing oral sex on a teenage boy on a Santiago park bench was discovered on a video-hosting Web site. The episode became a national scandal, stirring finger-pointing at the girl’s school, at the Internet provider – at everyone, it seemed, but the boys who captured the event on a cellphone and distributed the video. The girl’s parents removed her from the school and even tried to change her name.

The parents and grandparents of today’s teenagers fought hard to give them such freedoms and escape the book-burning times of General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. But in a country that legalized divorce only in 2004 and still has a strict ban on abortion, the feverish sexual exploration of the younger generation is posing new challenges for parents and educators. Sex education in public schools is badly lagging, and pregnancy among girls younger than 15 is on the rise, according to the Health Ministry.

The parents of most adolescents today never received formal sex education. Chile’s first public school programs were put in place at the end of the 1960s. But after the 1973 military coup, the Pinochet government ordered sex education materials destroyed, and moral conservatism took hold. It was not until 20 years later, in 1993, that a new sex curriculum was finally introduced in the schools.

Even so, by 2005, 47 percent of students said they were receiving sex education only once or twice a year, if at all. And now educators say they are struggling to keep up with an avalanche of sexual information and images on the Internet.

Crisis Deepens, But Can It Be Fixed?

Sarah Palin opened up her remarks here focusing on the current Wall Street financial crisis and how a McCain-Palin administration will put an end to the “mismanagement and abuses” on Wall Street.  In her usual folksy language calling the crowd “guys and gals”, she addressed the excited throng of a few thousand saying that the country’s economic problems need some “shaking up and some fixin’.”

Her economic remarks come on the same day the McCain campaign released a new ad touting the duo’s ability to fix the ailing economy. The ad explains how they will do it, “Tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings. No special interest giveaways. Lower taxes to create new jobs. Offshore drilling to reduce gas prices.”

The market fell 500 points yesterday, so the question is, does the Palin/McCain ticket really seem to have an adequate grasp on the situation.  According to them, the fix is to drill for oil domenstically, that will help repair the damage done by the subprime debacle.  So I missed that part of the rconomics class, where the supply of oil controls the price of my house.  I am sure some economic brainiac can make a case for that, but us “normal” peopole ain’t buying it.